I was contemplating posting an article on The Effingham Street Gasworks Explosion 24th October 1973 but found that there was some material on-line and I could not really add to it. The only information missing was the inquest into the \fatalities but I located a copy of the Times report of the inquest which took place in Sheffield on 2nd May 1974. This was over six months after the tragedy that claimed the lives of six men.
I was going through some old photos that were left by my late Grandmother and came across this
On the back was the inscription "Thomas McGravie D Company 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders
I have no idea why my grandmother had the photo but she did work in the Great War in Wharncliffe Military Hospital and I wondered if she had met Thomas there. There is certainly no family connection and so it is a bit of a mystery why she had the photograph
I found some information on Thomas and his family from a subscriber on Ancestry including his medal cards and they tie in with the inscription on the photograph.
I have just posted an article to the site with the title "The Heartless Conduct of Ernest Bromhead - Sheffield - Nottingham 1914"
"The children had been found by the inspector to be very badly clothed, with only "apologies for boots"
"it was one of the most shocking cases the Bench had ever had before them"
The case came before the magistrates in Nottingham but the destitution and squalor took place in Edgar Street Pitsmoor Sheffield
Edgar Street circa 1970
It was a bit challenging getting the right person - the surname BROMHEAD is often a BROOMHEAD. But I believe I have the right person and family. But what I found was that the information on "Ancestry Family Trees" was misleading to put it politely. In fact of the 16 trees that included Ernest Bromhead all were incorrect to a lesser or greater extent. None of them mention his second wife and a couple of the authors have given him a totally fictitious family based in Huddersfield.
And of course none mention his "heartless conduct"
This report appeared in the Times dated 13th May 1955
I was going to research the circumstances surrounding the crash at Milthorpe near Holmesfield but I found this excellent article. It is an impressive piece of research.
It names the pilot as 19 year old Pilot Officer Robert Anthony Tritton of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire who was killed instantly in the crash. It also identifies the site of the crash as Brookside Farm on Mill Lane, Millthorpe in the Parish of Holmesfield, Derbyshire.
Many years ago I posted an article to the site about the tragedy that occurred at Moscar near Sheffield on 25th August 1907
But there was an earlier incident that year involving a charabanc outing from Sheffield. This report is from The Scotsman Friday 14th June 1907
The Derwent Valley Water Works at Birchinlee is covered in Graces Guide. and was a popular day out for the people of Sheffield. The report does not state where the accident occurred but thankfully there were no fatalities. But eight people sustained injuries that required hospital treatment.
I am also wondering if this was the first incident of it's kind in the Sheffield area - it pre-dates the Moscar tragedy by two months.
This is also from The Sheffield Daily Independent dated 26th February 1926, the same edition that carried reports of the late Florence Hargreaves inquest and the prosecution of Sheffield's first licence evader.
It appeared that due to a severe housing shortage in 1920's Sheffield, Mr Kirk and his family took to living in a wooden shed on Meadow Head Allotments which contravened so many local by-laws the corporation were compelled to seek the demolition of the wooden building.
"LIABLE TO £400 PENALTY.
Wooden Building on Meadow Head Allotments.
When Bertram Kirk was summoned at Sheffield yesterday for failing to remove a wooden building- from the Meadow Head allotments within the period allowed by the local authority, Mr. G. H. Banwell, prosecuting, said the maximum penalty which could be imposed was about £400.
Mr. Banwell said that on January 25th last year, defendant was told not to use the building as a dwelling house. He received the formal notice to remove the dwelling and afterwards was convicted before the Court.
The period which had expired since the date of conviction was 211 days (the penalty which can be imposed is £2 per day). Mr. F. W. Scorah stated that defendant had a wife and child, and had applied to the Corporation fo» a house, but his name was about the 6,600th on the list.
Although the Corporation wanted to turn him out they were not prepared to find alternative accommodation.
He asked for an adjournment that defendant could make an appeal to the Ministry of Health.
The magistrates (Mr. Peter MacGregor and Sir Henry Hadow) said if defendant wished to lodge a local appeal they would allow him 14 days to do so.
The case was taken up by the local MP Mr Frank Lee who raised the matter in the House of Commons. a couple of days later.
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I have just posted to the site another piece of Sheffield's "criminal past". I came across it after a conversation with a neighbour earlier this week. I am a bit mystified why I missed the article in the past because it appears next to the report of Florence Hargreaves inquest (see The Strange Death of Florence Hargreaves - Sheffield 1926).
The Sheffield Daily Independent dated 26th February 1926 carried this report of these miscreants who listened to their radios in the comfort of their modest dwellings. One can only applaud the magistrates for their leniency towards these wrong-doers
Earlier this summer I posted an article to the site that centred around the death of a 10 year old boy Maurice Madden who was killed by a motor vehicle in July 1915.
The Madden family lived on Montgomery Road Nether Edge Sheffield
The tragedy was fairly well documented in the local press at the time. However in November 2021 there was an article that was written for The Grapevine Magazine by Mr. Jason Heath of the funeral directors John Heath and Sons. In the article there was a request by the author for further assistance in identifying the road etc and two months later in January 2022 there was a response under the title "Lost Funeral Found"
I believe that the photo of the funeral was taken in Montgomery Road but it may not be that of the boy Maurice Madden. The reason for this is that his father also called Maurice Madden died more or less two years to the day after his only son Maurice. (July 1917).
I think that the only way the funeral can be identified is by referring to the weather for the day of the funeral. The son's took place on 4th July 1915 and the father's funeral on 7th July 1917. If one of those days was "a gloomy Sheffield day" then it just may identify whose funeral it was.
This is from the Manchester Guardian dated 20th April 1871 and shows the census returns for Sheffield
Between 1861 and 1871 the population of the six townships that comprised Sheffield had increased by nearly 30% whilst the population of Crookesmoor had increased by 62%. It is a phenomenal rate of increase in just ten years
But the greatest increase occurred in Attercliffe where the population more than doubled. In fact it increased by a staggering 120% in the space of ten years
I have had this article for quite a few years. It is from The Scotsman newspaper dated 12th January 1927 and is a report of an inquest that was held into the deaths of Miss Marjorie Stewart and Mr Harry Fallows. They were found in a cave at Winnats Pass, Castleton, Derbyshire
Earlier this year I posted an article to the site with the title "Maurice Madden's Last Day - Friday 02 July 1915 Nether Edge Sheffield".
It was a family tragedy that received widespread coverage in the local press due to the fact that Maurice was only ten years old when he was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle near his home in Montgomery Road, Nether Edge Sheffield
This afternoon I was going through some old magazines, one of which was the local advertising magazine called "Grapevine." In the January 2021 edition there was this article that was submitted by Mr. Jason Heath of John Heath and Sons. It refers to a photograph that was taken in Montgomery Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield by the company some hundred years ago. There were no details on the photograph but a couple of local residents definitely identified the houses and the road as being Montgomery Road, the same road were the Madden family lived and died.
Of course you can never be sure but the funeral could well be that of either the son Maurice who died in July 1915 or his father who died two years later in July 1917. Apart from the location the fact that the aforementioned trees are in leaf would point a funeral that took place in summer rather than winter.
From the Sheffield Star dated Wednesday 17th November 2010
I came across this article from the now defunct Sheffield Weekly Gazette dated Thursday 10th March 2005. It relates to the death of Hugh Dixon who died at the age of 84. In the article it refers to the fact that Hugh was the first prisoner of war to return home to Sheffield in 1945.
This cutting is from The Sheffield Weekly Gazette dated Thursday 7th February 2008 and refers to the funeral in Sheffield of Squadron Leader Ken "Hawkeye" Lee (1915 - 2008), one of "The Few"
I have never written about the Sheffield Flood of March 1864 on the grounds that the tragedy was well covered both in print and on-line and there was nothing really I could add to the narrative. Two of my wife's ancestors had their businesses and property damaged and made successful claims but so did many others.
However quite a few years ago a neighbour gave me the following photocards of the disaster. He had had them in his possession for some years and seemed to believe that they were taken initially from lantern slides taken at the time of the disaster.
Images of the Sheffield Flood - March 1864
This is a report from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 19th May 1869 and refers to the annual Sheffield Whitsuntide Fair that was held 153 years ago this week
Sadly the print and image quality is poor and so this is a transcription of the report - apologies for any errors. The other amusing part of the report is the jaded recollections of the reporter who was sent to view the affair. Apart from the Queens Menagerie from Wombwell he was not at all impressed by the event!
"SHEFFIELD WHITSUNTIDE FAIR.
The Sheffield Whitsuntide fair of 1869 is precisely similar to that of last year, and to those of twenty years previous. There are same novelties to attract not only the attention of youth but even children of larger growth. There is food for the body and food for the mind. You "simply pay your money and take your choice."
Should you feel hungry and wish to dine economically score of portly purveyors are at your service, and having replenished the inner man the vulgarities of the " noble art of self defence" claim your patronage. In their saloon, for the trifling charge one penny, the human face divine can be beaten to a pulp with the gratifying knowledge that it has been accomplished by the renowned Ben Caunt, —the world famed Molyneaux, or the ever-to-be remembered rival of Tom Sayers.
Next you have the Hottentot Venus, a peculiar specimen of humanity weighing sixty stones, more or less, who might have been considered " a beauty had not itinerant showmen recently introduced to the British public the French Giantess whose colossal dimensions we should be afraid to describe.
Tbe man who rejoices in the possession of three legs and thirty toes should not be permitted to pass his days in solitude. So his keepers are of opinion, and during the time he is " on view " may be safely computed that it is £2 per hour to their advantage.
But the most attractive feature in the whole fair is the Queen's Menagerie, Wombwells Royal No 1. This noble collection has been several times exhibited in Sheffield, and on each occasion has received well-deserve patronage. is one of the largest in Europe, and comprises lions from South Africa and Barbary, tigers from the haunts of India, leopards from the Cape, the ocelot from Chile and Mexico, tibetan sun bear and the polar bear, the Tasmanian devil from Van Dieinan's Land, wolves from Egypt and Lapland, elephants from the southern part of India, and host of other wild and tame animate and birds, which to the student of natural history as well as to the public at large, must prove interesting and instructive.
The quantity of provisions necessary for the animals in this establishment is very large. The carnivorous or flesh eating animals require about 2 cwt. of meat daily, and it composed generally of bullock's shins, hearts, and heads; lion requires about 121bs. of solid flesh; tiger about the same, a leopard 51bs.; bears are fed almost exclusively on bread and sop; monkeys on rice, bread, sop, and fruits; and the herbivorous animals are fed much the same as horses. As a proof of the excellence of the menagerie it may be stated that it has been patronised by Royalty on four separate occasions.
There are other attractions "too numerous to mention," all of which, no doubt, will have sight-seers galore. The horse fair was not nearly so well attended as previous years, nor were the animals offered for sale much value. They were mostly cart horses, but the demand was very limited. The cheese fair was an equal failure. There was not one fifth of the usual quantity exhibited, and of little not more than half was sold. Cheshire thicks realised from 80s. to 95s and Derby cheeses from 80s. to 90s.
In Sheffield's City Road Cemetery there is a public grave (Grave Number 11933, Section X) that houses 14 bodies. Most of them died at their own addresses in Sheffield but all were so poor they could not afford to pay for a grave. One of the persons in the grave is William Blackshaw and this is his burial record
Blackshaw, William (Cutler, age 40). Died at Union Workhouse; Buried on December 13, 1882 in Consecrated ground; Grave Number 11933, Section X of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield.
He died in The Sheffield Union Workhouse but the manner of his death caused a great deal of consternation at the subsequent inquest.
This is the report from the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent dated December 19th 1882. As a footnote opium tincture or laudanum was widely used in the 19th century as a pain killer or sleeping aid; it was highly addictive, leading to many of its users forming a drug addiction.
Many years ago I posted an article to the site relating to the life and work of a Sheffield artist Kenneth Steel At the timer I had never heard of him and there was hardly any information either on-line or in print. But he had an interesting life that had more than its share of tragedy and sadness.
Since then awareness of his work has increased and over the last four months there has been an exhibition of his work at Sheffield's Weston Park Museum.
I visited the exhibition yesterday and to be quite truthful I was staggered by the number of exhibits and also the quality as well. It was very well laid out and informative. I just did not realise how prolific Kenneth was as an artist and also the range of his works. I did not know about his Mallorcan and Mediterranean works and so that was a bonus.
All in all the exhibition did Kenneth proud and I hope it does bring his life and works to a wider public.
Kenneth now has a dedicated website that vividly portrays his works and so is well worth a visit
The exhibition closes on Monday 2nd May 2022 and so there is only one week left to visit it.
A friend has asked me to post the following flyer on my blog. The event is for an Open Day on Bank Holiday Monday 2nd May 2022 at Loxley Cemetery Sheffield
I have just posted an article to the site entitled "The Tormented and Appalling Death of Ellen Thorpe - Sheffield November 1881" It was based on a cutting that I had from the London Times dated 7th December 1881 and relates to the death of 12 year old ELLEN THORPE.
The Sheffield Coroner stated that it was "the most abominable case of ill-treatment he had ever known" and severely admonished the father JOHN THORPE for his conduct and actions.. The Coroner did take the matter further but the eventual outcome was not what he and the jury had in mind when they delivered their verdict.
Note The insurance of £5GBP that he was due to as a result of her death is about £425 in todays money
