A Swedish Spy in the Valley of Crockery

A portrait of R. R. Angerstein in 1755.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

A visitor to the mid-18th century Potteries was Reinhold Rücker Angerstein, an industrial spy in the employ of the Swedish government, who was tasked with gathering information on new or emerging technology. Between 1753 and 1755, he journeyed through England and Wales and produced a wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of the various industries and their practices. He appears to have visited the Staffordshire Potteries, which he labels rather colourfully as a ‘Valley of Crockery’, in about 1755. Here, after examining the manufacture of salt-glazed wares, describing the kilns in Hanley (including illustrations), the raw materials used, the prices of ware and various mechanisms employed in producing pottery (with still more pictures), he went on to add a few descriptions of the area that make for interesting reading.

He notes that in Hanley there were 430 makers of white ware and other types of pottery, adding ‘The kilns are everywhere in this district.’ and to prove his point he includes an illustration of the skyline of the town. There were also large numbers of potteries in Stoke and other places, ‘where mostly the same kind of ware as that enumerated is made and also some simpler crockery.’ He then adds a picturesque and slightly comical tale. ‘When as it sometimes happens, many kilns are glazing with salt at the same time, there is such a thick smoke of salt in these towns, that people in the streets cannot see 6 feet ahead, which, however does not cause any difficulties. On the contrary, the smoke is considered so healthy that people who are ill come here from far away to breathe it.’

Of the pottery itself, he writes, ‘The crockery produced is mainly sent to London or other sea ports, from which much of it is exported to America and many other foreign countries.’

R. R. Angerstein’s Illustrated Travel Diary 1753-1755, pp. 340-342.

The Ballad of Stevo and One-Armed Jack

On 26 January 1895, 27 year old George Stevenson, a habitual petty criminal and deserter from the British army was shot and mortally wounded in a backroom to a bar in Johannesburg, in Southern Africa, for informing on his fellow criminals after a robbery. The story made news locally as Stevenson, though born in Hixon near Stafford, had grown up in Hanley, where he had turned to a life of crime at a very early age. At the age of ten, after several run-ins with the law, he was sentenced to Werrington Industrial School for four years, where he did seem to turn his life around and in 1882 was released back to his parents. For several years Stevo, as he was known to his friends, worked in his father’s clay pits, then in 1886 aged 18, he joined the army and the next year was posted to Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. Though he stayed in touch with his mother, Stevenson never saw his family or the Potteries again.

At first Stevo enjoyed army life, but garrison duty bored him and at the end of 1889, he deserted and fled to Johannesburg arriving there early in 1890. There he led a brief inglorious life as a thief being quickly caught and sentenced to a year on a chain gang and though he escaped and went on the run he was eventually recaptured and sent to finish his sentence. Shortly after his release in 1893, he fell in with a villain and fellow deserter (from both the army and the Royal Navy) named Jack McLoughlin, who went by the nickname of ‘One-armed Jack’, from having lost his lower left arm during a jailbreak. At first the two men were good friends, but only a few months passed before tattled tales between their respective lovers caused them to have a falling out and they shunned each other for a time. It was only when McLoughlin needed several others to help him with a robbery a few months later that they patched up their differences enough that Stevo could join the gang. 

The gang robbed a safe at a railway station in Pretoria, it was a pitiful haul and their troubles started immediately after the robbery when they tried to take the train back to Johannesburg and realised the authorities were onto them. One of the gang stayed in Pretoria, while early in the journey Stevenson got cold feet and quit the train and doubled back. McLoughlin jumped through a window to escape while the train was in motion, leaving one man on the train who was arrested in Johannesburg. Stevenson and the gang member in Pretoria were also quickly caught. In custody and fearful of returning to prison, when he heard that another of the men was about to inform on them, Stevo got in first and told all to the authorities, naming McLoughlin as the ringleader. Stevenson avoided imprisonment as a result, but he knew that his life was now in danger as McLoughlin, who remained at large, was a vindictive man who hated informers. 

Stevenson and his lover Sarah Fredericks fled Johannesburg for a time, but foolishly drifted back into town a few weeks later and by January 1895, they were living out of a room at the back of the Red Lion bar close to their old haunts. With no sign of McLoughlin, Stevo thought he was safe, but on the 26 January he learnt that One-armed Jack was in town looking for him. Stevo and Fredericks retreated to their room hoping he would not find them. A few hours later, though, there was a knock at the door. Expecting a visitor Fredericks opened the door, only to find that it was McLoughlin, who had tracked them down. Brushing Fredericks aside, One-armed Jack then pulled a gun and shot Stevenson who was sitting on the bed, mortally wounding him before making his escape. Pursued by an angry mob, McLoughlin then shot and killed another young man who he thought was trying to stop him and fled into the night going on the run once more. Back at the Red Lion meanwhile, Stevenson lingered for a time, but presently died from his wound. His last request to Fredericks was that she send his ring back to his mother in the Potteries.

McLoughlin escaped and eventually fled South Africa, first to India, but later back to Australia and it was there in 1908 that he was arrested. When the Australian authorities realised McLoughlin was wanted for murder he was extradited back to South Africa where he was quickly sent to trial, found guilty of the double killing and hung in February 1909.

Reference: Charles Van Onselen, Showdown at the Red Lion: The Life and Times of Jack McLoughlin, pp. 288-342. Staffordshire Sentinel, 22 December 1877; 19 June 1878, p. 3; 28 October 1878, p. 3. 

Hanley Goes to Hollywood

Hanley Stafford, c.1945
Source: CBS Radio, Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Alfred John Austin had been born in Hanley on 22 September 1899, the eldest child of George and Emily Austin, he had a younger sister named Ann. In 1911 the family emigrated to Canada, settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the father George initially worked on the railway and later as a caretaker. Their settled life, though, was interrupted by World War One. It seems that young Alfred was keen to go to war as on 16 August 1915, he attested for the Canadian Army, claiming he was 19, though he was actually a month shy of his 16th birthday. Two days later his father George also attested for the army, though the two were posted to different units, Alfred joining the 79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada with whom he went to serve in France. In 1916, his father George Austin was killed in action, while Alfred for his part is said to have been wounded in the Third Battle of Ypres and his papers indicate that in 1917 he also suffered from shell shock. It was also in 1917, whilst probably visiting friends and relatives in the Potteries, that Alfred married his first wife Doris Roberts at St George’s Church, Newcastle-under-Lyme on 23 December. He returned to France, eventually rising to the rank of Company Sergeant Major, but got through his remaining service unscathed.

Returning home to Canada with his new wife in 1919, he settled back in Winnipeg where he and Doris had a son, Graham, born in 1920. He had started acting with the Winnipeg Permanent Players on his return and through them, he got a job with a summer stock company that toured western Canada, but when the company folded he had to make a living in other ways, taking jobs working in wheat fields, hauling freight and working as an office stenographer. In search of more acting work, in 1922 he took his family to live in the USA, settling in California. Five years later on his application for US citizenship, to give himself a memorable stage name and in a nod to his place of birth, he stated that he wished to be known henceforth (in the States, at least) as Hanley Stafford. He then played in summer stock productions for eight years and then in tent shows. He was appearing in radio plays in Los Angeles by April 1932 and briefly went to Phoenix to manage a stock theatre company, but returned to Los Angeles in August to resume his stage and radio work. His career was going well, but at the expense of his marriage it seems and in 1934, he and Doris were divorced. The next year he married his second wife Bernice Bohnett.

After starring in the New York radio detective series Thatcher Colt from September 1936 to March 1937, Stafford again returned to Los Angeles and there took on a number of radio roles, providing voices for amongst others Speed Gibson and The Shadow of Fu Manchu. In December 1937, he also landed the role of Lancelot ‘Daddy’ Higgins, the oft-harassed father of mischievous Baby Snooks, a young girl played convincingly by a grown actress, Fanny Brice, originally in a series of sketches on The Good News Show and later on The Baby Snooks Show. It was the role that made his name and alongside his other work Stafford continued playing the part until the final broadcast on 22 May 1951, two days before the sudden death of star Fanny Brice. In 1939, Stafford also took on another notable role as J. C. Dithers, the boss of Dagwood Bumstead, in the popular radio comedy Blondie, again a part he would play for many years. That year, his second marriage failed and in 1940 he married Veola Vonn, who played Dimples Wilson in Blondie. They would stay married until Stafford’s death.

Between 1950 and 1963, Stafford also appeared as a guest star or in bit parts on various television series, these included The Popsicle Parade of Stars and Hollywood Premiere Theatre, episodes of  Cheyenne, Maverick, Shirley Temple’s Storybook, Sugarfoot, and 77 Sunset Strip, The Brothers, The Betty Hutton Show,  Angel, The Millionaire. and The Lucy Show. He also appeared in minor roles in several light-weight films such as Lullaby of Broadway starring Doris Day, A Girl in Every Port, Just This Once, Tell it to the Marines, Francis Covers the Big Town and The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. These, though seem simply to have been strings to his bow, radio being his preferred medium. In 1960 for his radio work, Hanley Stafford was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This was unveiled on 2 August 1960 at 1640 Vine Street, Hollywood, California; the venue was fitting as in Stafford’s heyday, the area around the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street was known as ‘Radio Row’ housing the four large radio stations in the city where he had worked for the past two decades.

Hanley Stafford, born Alfred John Austin, died at home from a heart attack on 9 September 1968, in Los Angeles, California, USA, aged 68. He was cremated and his ashes placed alongside those of his mother in the Columbarium of Heavenly Peace, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, Los Angeles. 

Reference: Wikipedia entry for Hanley Stafford; IMDb entry for Hanley Stafford; Find-a-Grave entry for Hanley Stafford.

Victim of a Mineshaft

At about 6.50 am on 12 December 1903, Thomas Holland, a 56 year old candle maker was walking along St John Street, Hanley, en route to his workplace in Charles Street, when the pavement suddenly caved in beneath him and he plunged to his death down a long forgotten mine shaft. Walking only a few yards behind Mr Holland that morning, was Joseph Pritchard a sanitaryware presser at Twyford’s, who was also on his way to work and was the only witness to what happened. Despite the fanciful stories that sprang up over the next few days about Holland plunging to his death whilst singing a prophetic Sunday School hymn, Mr Prichard’s account of the man’s demise was much more prosaic. Speaking to reporters only hours after the tragedy, he recalled how they had both been quietly walking along the street when the man in front of him ‘went all of a sudden. His arms went out, he went face forwards and the sudden fall jerked his basket into the gutter hole.’

As it was still pretty dark, Mr Prichard had not clearly seen what had happened and rushed forward thinking that the man had suffered a fit. Only when he bent down towards a dark patch on the pavement thinking it was the fallen figure, did he hear the sound of rocks tumbling down the pit shaft and the awful truth dawned on him.

A small crowd of residents and other early morning workers soon gathered around the hole, one of whom warned the Powell family in the nearest house, number 34, not to come out of their front door. Police, borough workmen and mine officials from Hanley Deep Pit were called and soon arrived on the scene with lamps and ropes hoping to effect a rescue, or to at least recover a body, but a lamp lowered down into the hole soon went out indicating that the mine was full of blackdamp or chokedamp, a lethal mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. By this time inquiries had identified the missing man as Thomas Holland and his family had been informed, but given the depth of the shaft and the presence of gas, there was no chance that he was alive and as a result his body was never recovered. Two days later with his family’s permission, a funeral service watched by thousands of people was held over the pit shaft, then contractors moved in to fill in the hole.

The tragedy caused a sensation in the district and a meeting was quickly arranged between Hanley Town Council, local colliery officials, foremen and workmen, H. M. Inspector of Mines and the Chief Constable. Here, in the light of a number of other incidents outlined in the meeting, it was decided that a thorough investigation would be made into the dangers posed by old pit shafts in the Potteries.

The danger was real enough. For decades the locals had known and accepted the risks. In the mid-1880s, builders converting the old Queen’s Hotel into Hanley Town Hall had discovered an old shaft, which they put to good use by dumping rubble down it. Local historian Henry Wedgwood mentioned old exposed pit shafts protected only by flimsy wooden barriers and Arnold Bennett had used such a shaft to dispose of the love-lorn Willie Price at the end of his novel Anna of the Five Towns, published a year earlier. Now a Sentinel report revealed a catalogue of near-misses prior to the tragedy. There were trees that had vanished down holes in the ground in Hanley Park; the story of a drayman who watched in horrified astonishment as a rolling barrel of beer had suddenly plunged down a hole that opened up before him in Market Square, Hanley. A Port Vale player had also narrowly avoided death when a part of the Burslem Park pitch caved in just after he had passed over it. The investigation that followed identified where old pit shafts and workings were located and how they had been covered or filled in. In Hanley alone over twenty shafts, mostly covered with wood, were discovered and subsequently bricked over. 

Reference: Staffordshire Sentinel, 12-16 December 1903.

Ghastly Relics - A Very Tall Tale of the Potteries

Occasionally, stories related to the Potteries appeared in newspapers both in Britain and abroad that either cannot be proven (at least not yet), grew in the telling, or are so ridiculous that they had obviously been made up. The infamous story of the 'Man and Dog fight' peddled by journalist James Greenwood in 1874 would arguably fall into this category except that scandal it caused and the eventual  unravelling of the tale make for an interesting bit of local history in itself outside of Greenwood's work of fiction. 

At least Greenwood's tale initially had the gloss of truth to it and showed some imagination. Some stories though are simply the bits of nonsensical fluff that authors or reporters throughout history have concocted simply to fill up space. These often sensationalist tales were then repeated verbatim through syndication in other books or papers. The preposterous 'Ghastly Relics of Waterloo' is a prime example of the latter.

 Ghastly Relics of Waterloo.

(Cor. Boston Traveller)

'For the truth of the incident related below I have the most possible proof: George Shaw, a brave Englishman, when surrounded on the field at Waterloo by a number of the enemy, made a gallant struggle for existence, and fought his way back to his comrades over the dead bodies of a dozen Frenchmen whom he had slain. As a reward for his bravery, Wellington sent for the soldier, and in the course of his conversation with him, gave him permission to take home with him whatever relic he chose from the battlefield. Shaw's choice was the skeleton of a French General, killed in the action. The ghastly trophy was safely transported to England and hung in the soldier's closet at Hanley and Staffordshire, England, till he came to regard it is a nuisance and disposed of it to Samuel Bullock, a manufacturer of china. As bones form a large proportion of the ingredients from which English china is made, it occurred to the manufacturer that the remains of the poor General would look much better made up in some handsome ornament than dangling from a peg in an obscure closet; and in accordance with this inspiration, the French General was ground down, and, in due time, was metamorphosed into teacups and saucers; in which condition he adorns to this day the museum at Hawley, appropriately inscribed with the history of his transformation. It happened one day that Marshal Soult visited the museum, and his attention was attracted by the china, which has a bright pink tint and is ornamented with flowers. But when his eye rested upon the label, which enabled him to recognize in the collection the remains of one of his former generals, the marshal was deeply shocked; and, "wrapping his martial cloak around him," walked indignantly away. He did not forget to inform Napoleon, then at St. Helena, of the indignity which had been offered to the memory of their departed countryman. "It is no indignity," quoth Napoleon; "what more pleasing disposition can there be of one's bones after death than to be made into cups to be constantly in use; and placed between the rosy lips of ladies? The thought is delightful!" This was an aspect of the case which had net occurred to the prosaic marshal; but he was forced to content himself with it.'

The story seems to be a bare-faced mix of fact and fantasy the exploits of 'George Shaw' mimicking somewhat the story of Corporal John Shaw, a noted pugilist and artists' model who served with the Life Guards at Waterloo, where he was killed fighting several French cavalrymen. 

Reference: numerous US newspapers, see for instance The Somerset Press (Somerset, Ohio) 11 December 1879, p.1

England Expects

'The Battle of Trafalgar' by William Clarkson Stanfield
Source: Wikimedia Commons

On 21 October 1805, a British fleet of 27 ships commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson caught up with and attacked a combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships off Cape Trafalgar between Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar. In the battle that followed, Nelson was mortally wounded by a sharpshooter, but before he died he heard the news that his fleet had inflicted a devastating defeat on the enemy force, capturing 20 ships, thus ending for good any lingering threat of a French invasion of Britain. It was also a victory that established British naval dominance for the next century. 

Admiralty records held at The National Archives in Kew, clearly show that despite hailing from so landlocked a region several men from the Potteries were involved in this decisive sea battle. Two of them served together aboard Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory.

Corporal William Taft, Royal Marines, HMS Victory

Depending on which of his records you believe, William Taft, was born in Hanley Green (present-day Hanley town centre) in either 1775 or 1777, though the earlier date seems the most likely. There is no trace of his birth or of his parents locally, though their records like many others may have been lost when the registers of St John’s church in Hanley were destroyed in the Pottery Riots in 1842. Army and Royal Marine records, though, make up the deficit somewhat and through them we learn that William was the son of Ralph and Hannah Taft. In his teens he worked briefly as a potter, before he enlisted in the army in early 1793, joining the 11th Light Dragoons. He served with that regiment for just over two years before transferring to the 27th Light Dragoons on 25 April 1795. Records show that he was a smallish man being only 5’ 4¼” tall, (he was listed as 5’ 5” as a Royal Marine) with a fresh complexion, dark brown hair and brown eyes and the fact that he always signed with his mark reveals that like many common soldiers he was illiterate. Military life seemed to agree with him, though, and Taft remained with the 27th Light Dragoons until 20 October 1801, when for reasons unspecified he was invalided out of the service.

For a time Taft found employment as a labourer, but was soon drawn back to military service, though not this time in the army, enlisting instead in the Royal Marines at Rochester (probably the town in Kent) on 13 April 1803, where he joined Nº16 Company of the Chatham Division. Four days later Private Taft was posted as part of the marine detachment aboard HMS Victory. This big three decker first-rate ship of the line had just undergone an expensive reconstruction at Chatham dockyard and with its new crew on board in May it set sail for Portsmouth. Once there, the ship was joined by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson who chose Victory as his flagship.

The ship was in the Mediterranean when on 5 March 1805, William Taft was raised to corporal and he served in that capacity during Nelson’s dash across the Atlantic in pursuit of the Franco-Spanish fleet and later at Trafalgar. As the lead ship of the weather division, Victory was in the thick of the action from the beginning of the battle, crippling the French ship Bucentaure with it’s first broadside before becoming involved in a protracted fight with another French ship Redoutable and the ship’s company suffered many casualties as a result, most notably Admiral Nelson, who was shot by a French marksman and taken below where he subsequently died. Corporal Taft was another of the injured, badly wounded in the upper left arm during the fighting; his shattered limb could not be saved and was amputated at the neck of the humerus (i.e., just below the shoulder ball joint). Surviving the fight, the amputation and a violent storm that nearly wrecked the battered warships after the battle, Taft was admitted to the hospital in Gibraltar on 29 October 1805, being formally dismissed from Victory’s crew on 4 November 1805. On 10 January 1806, Taft was transferred to the hospital ship Sussex for transport home and just over a month later on 11 February and presumably back in Britain, he was discharged at headquarters. Only three other documents list his progress after that; on 3 March he was dismissed from the Royal Marines as an invalid and the next day he received a pension of £8. Then on 7 April in the Rough Entry Book for Pensioners we learn that he was a married man and was lodging at the Wheat Sheaf, Market Place, Greenwich. His fate after that is unknown.

Like all the surviving sailors and Marines who fought at Trafalgar, William Taft was also awarded prize money of £1 17s 8d and granted a Parliamentary award of £4 12s 6d. Presumably because of his career-ending injury, Taft also received £40 from the Lloyds Patriotic Fund.

Private William Bagley, Royal Marines, HMS Victory

William Bagley was born in Stoke in about 1774, though nothing is known about his parents, nor much about his early years, though at some point prior to serving in the Royal Marines he spent 4 years and six months as a soldier in the 4th Dragoons. He seems to have been married, certainly he had a daughter named Susannah who later lived in Hanley, but there are no local records of who William’s wife was, nor of Susannah, these again may have been victims of the records burnt in the riots in 1842. After his army service William may have returned to the Potteries as he was listed as having worked as a potter prior to joining the Royal Marines.

He enlisted in the Royal Marines on the same day as William Taft, 13 April 1803, and although Bagley was posted to Company 7 of the Chatham Division there seems to have been a connection between the two men, perhaps they were friends. It is notable too that after Bagley and William Taft were both posted to HMS Victory on 17 April, they were always listed together, Bagley and then Taft, in the ship’s muster roll. On his enlistment William Bagley was described as being 5’ 10” tall, with dark hair and a fresh complexion.

Unlike Taft, Bagley was never promoted, but he was much luckier during the battle of Trafalgar and survived the encounter uninjured. After the battle Victory was towed to Gibraltar for repairs before returning to Britain in December 1805. Bagley was discharged from the ship on 17 January 1806 at Chatham, but on 26 January he suffered a serious fall at headquarters and died from his injuries. He did not collect his prize money from the battle which was donated to the Greenwich hospital, while his personal effects were returned to his daughter Susannah in Hanley.

Private Richard Beckett, Royal Marines, HMS Royal Sovereign

Private Richard Beckett was a 24 year old from Burslem, 5’ 6” tall with light hair a fair complexion and grey eyes and prior to enlisting had worked locally as a potter. He had enlisted in the Royal Marines at Stafford on 2 May 1803 and served for 7 months with the Chatham Division before being moved to the Portsmouth Division where on 31 August 1805 he was posted as part of the Royal Marine detachment aboard HMS Royal Sovereign. Like Victory, this ship was a first-rate three decker and at Trafalgar she served as the flagship of Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, the second-in-command of the fleet. The ship had recently had her keel re-coppered and as a result she was a very fast sailer, a fact which showed as she led the lee squadron of the fleet into battle, racing ahead of the other British ships and being the first to break the enemy line. 

For most of the battle Royal Sovereign fought with a Spanish ship the Santa Ana. Both vessels suffered heavy casualties before the Santa Ana surrendered, but Private Beckett was uninjured. Like everyone in the fleet he was entitled to prize money, £1 17s 8d in his case, but did not collect it and the money was instead donated to the Greenwich hospital. He did, though pick up the Parliamentary award of £4 12s 6d given to men of his rank. He was illiterate and signed his mark.

Private Joseph Sergeant, Royal Marines, HMS Prince

Joseph Sergeant was born in Clayton in about 1775 or 1776. He worked briefly as a glazier, but on 10 January 1798 at Kidderminster he enlisted in the Royal Marines. On his enlistment he was described as 5’ 5” tall with brown hair and a fresh complexion. A member of Company 37 of the Chatham Division on 22 December 1803, Sergeant joined the marine contingent aboard HMS Prince a second-rate ship of the line attached to the Channel Fleet which by October 1805 was part of Nelson’s fleet set to engage the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar. A slow ship, Prince was passed by most of her division as they sailed into battle and by the time the ship arrived at the fighting the battle was nearly over, though opening fire on a couple of enemy ships Prince managed to set fire to and de-mast the French ship Achille. Prince launched boats to rescue Achille’s crew and managed this before the ship exploded. HMS Prince suffered no damage and took no casualties and proved herself a real godsend in the week of storms that followed the battle, rescuing numerous crews from sinking ships and transporting then safely to Gibraltar before going back for more.

Sergeant received his share of the prize money of £1 17s 8d from the battle but did not collect the healtheier parliamentary award and the money went to the Greenwich hospital. He stayed aboard HMS Prince and just over a year later on 12 November 1806, he was promoted to the rank of corporal of 58 Company. On 20 December 1808 he was promoted once more to sergeant of 55 Company. He remained in the Royal Marines until he was disbanded from the service on 13 September 1814. What happened to him after that, though, is unknown.

Private William Shield, Royal Marines, HMS Defiance

William Shield was born in Newcastle, Staffordshire in about 1778 and initially worked as a papermaker. He enlisted in the Royal Marines at Banbury on 14 July 1803 and attached to Company 101 of the Portsmouth Division. Only nine days later he was assigned to HMS Defiance, a remarkably short amount of time, which may indicate that Shield already possessed some military experience. He was described as being 5’ 5” tall with light hair, light eyes and a fair complexion.

HMS Defiance was a nimble 74 gun third-rate ship of the line that prior to Trafalgar saw action at the battle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805. At Trafalgar the ship captured two enemy vessels, storming the French ship Aigle with a full boarding party. Defiance suffered serious casualties as a result with 57 killed and 153 wounded, but Shield managed to get through the battle uninjured.

Shield collected £1 17s and 8d, his share of the prize money and stayed in the service until he was discharged on 16 October 1815 with ‘impared sight’. What course his life took after this is unknown, but he was still alive in 1847 when he applied for and received the Naval General Service Medal with the Trafalgar Clasp.

John Bitts, Landsman, HMS Naiad

John Bitts claimed to have been born in Stoke, Staffordshire, but as with many of the other men here nothing is known of his background or family, no local records mention him. He was aged 24 at the time of the battle of Trafalgar which puts his date of birth in 1781 or 1780. He seems to have been illiterate, signing with his mark and no indication is given as to how he had ended up in the navy, save that he joined the crew of the Naiad on 17 March 1803 as a volunteer. His ship was part of Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar, but being a small frigate Naiad kept out of the fighting between the bigger ships, though she was involved in the mopping up after the fighting ended. He escaped the battle uninjured and unlike many Bitts claimed both the prize money of £1 17s 8d and the Parliamentary award of £4 12s 6d. Nothing is known of his life and career after Trafalgar.

John Williams, Carpenter’s Crew, HMS Leviathan

According to his navy records, John Williams was born in Stoke, Staffordshire, in about 1778, but nothing more is known about his early life. The records state that he had been pressed into the navy and that prior to joining the Leviathan on 24 February 1803, he had served aboard the frigate HMS Pegasus in the Mediterranean. As part of the carpenter’s crew, Williams would have worked to keep the ship in a good seaworthy condition. The Leviathan was a 74 gun third rate ship of the line and at Trafalgar was one of the ships of the weather squadron that followed HMS Victory into battle, where she captured a Spanish vessel. Williams got through the battle uninjured and later received prize money of £1 17s 8d.

Reference: The National Archives, ADM 44 Dead Seamen's Effects; ADM 73 Rough Entry Book of Pensioners; ADM 82 Chatham Chest: ADM 102.

The Man Who Missed Isandlwana

British Mounted Infantry and Zulus at the Battle of Gingindlovu

Newspaper accounts of the local soldiers involved in the battle of Isandlwana that trickled back to the Potteries in early 1879 occasionally mentioned a Private Frederick Butler of the 2/24th Foot who had been seconded to the Imperial Mounted Infantry. Initial reports in early March indicated that he was a casualty, but these were wrong. In a subsequent report in the Sentinel on 5th April 1879, his father William, the publican of the Bell and Bear Inn, Snow Hill, Shelton, noted that his son had survived and that the family had received a letter from Frederick detailing the fighting he had seen, but this potentially interesting letter was never published in the paper, leaving the readers to wonder at what his story may have been. Frederick was alive, that much is true, but he lived largely because he was nowhere near to Isandlwana when the battle occurred. 

1199 Private Frederick Butler, 2/24th and 2nd Squadron Imperial Mounted Infantry

Frederick Butler was born in 1858 in Alsager, Cheshire, the second of five children born to William Butler and Ann nee Melbourne. By 1861, the family had moved to the Potteries where William became the landlord of the Bell and Bear Inn, Snow Hill, Shelton. Fred's mother died in 1869 and later that same year his father remarried to Sarah Lloyd, by whom he had two daughters. Fred joined the army in 1877, being assigned to the 2nd battalion 24th Regiment of Foot as 1199 Private Frederick Butler. Later that year he and his battalion were posted to South Africa.

Whilst in South Africa, on 1st September 1878 Private Butler was detached to the Imperial Mounted Infantry. This as the name implies was a mounted force that recruited soldiers from the infantry regiments who had some experience with horses, just as the son of an innkeeper might. Butler was posted to the 2nd Squadron Mounted Infantry under Captain William Sugden (1/24th) being employed as a saddler until 12th September1879, according to the pay and muster rolls of the 2/24th. This squadron was sent to serve with No.1 Column ('the Coastal Column') under Colonel Charles Knight Pearson and was commanded by Captain Percy Barrows of the 19th Hussars. This force was to enter the Zulu kingdom some 50 miles to the east of Lord Chelmsford’s Central Column that would soon fall victim to the Zulu counterattack.

With his unit Butler crossed into Zululand on 11th January and over the next week they made steady progress into the interior. The Coastal Column claimed the honour of first blood as early on 22nd January, the same day that the Centre Column was being cut to pieces at Isandlwana, Pearson's men successfully fought off the first Zulu attack of the war at the battle of Nyezane or Inyezane, and Private Butler as a member of the 2nd Squadron Mounted Infantry doubtless played his part in the fighting there. It seems very likely that when he wrote home it was that battle he was describing and misunderstandings by his family and local reporters perhaps gave rise to the story of him having survived Isandlwana. Without seeing the actual letter he wrote it is hard to say if this was the case, but if Pvt Butler had merely noted in his letter home that he had been in a battle with the Zulus on the 22nd this could have easily led to the confusion. The news of Isandlwana, or 'Isandula' as early reports called it, dominated the news, obscuring Pearson's success 50 miles away. Equally, ‘Inyezane’ (as the battle was originally known) could have been confused with ‘Isandula’

Whatever the case, Private Butler was very much alive and served throughout the rest of the war, probably seeing action again with his unit at the Battle of Gingindlovu (2nd April 1879). Though they were not involved in the climactic battle at Ulundi, the 2nd IMI did take part in the search for the fugitive Zulu King Cetewayo after the battle. Butler also got his name in the local press one more time before returning home when a few brief accounts of local men in Zululand were noted in the Sentinel. In it Butler sang the praises of their much-criticised commander-in-chief.

‘Frederick Butler, son of Mr. Butler, of the Bell and Bear lnn, Shelton, writing on July 13th to his parents, makes special reference to the esteem in which Lord Chelmsford is held by the general body of soldiers at the seat of war, observing that they look upon him as “a brave and reliable man.”  He also, speaks the hardships the soldiers have to encounter, but gives also the bright as well the dark side of warfare in Africa.'

Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial & General Advertiser, Saturday 23rd August 1879. p.4

Butler returned to the 2/24th regiment on 12th September 1879. For his service he was later awarded the South Africa Medal with 1877-78-79 clasp.

After the war Fred Butler remained in the army until the 1880s. After that he returned home to the Potteries and on 23rd August 1888 at Holy Trinity Church, he married Mary Jane Smith. At the time he was residing at 12 Brook Street. The couple would have two children. By 1891 Fred seems to have taken over the running of the Bell and Bear Inn from his father. He may also have joined the local rifle volunteers whose drill hall still stands at the top of College Road, Shelton. In this capacity he got his name in papers yet again in 1889, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

'A DANGEROUS PRACTICE. 

RIFLE SHOOTING AT SHELTON.

 DAMAGES £20. 

At the Hanley County Court on Wednesday, before his Honour Judge Jordan, an action was tried and decided, in which Frank Guildford, an engraver, living in Queen Anne-street, Shelton, sued to recover £50 damages from Fred Butler, William Butler, of the Bell and Bear Inn, Shelton; Sidney Smith, cabinet maker, Piccadilly; and J. W. Ault, sign writer, Snow Hill, for personal injuries. 

Mr. Boddam. instructed by Mr G. H. Hunt, appeared on behalf of the plaintiff; and Mr. Ashmall defended. £10 had been paid into Court, with a denial of liability. 

Mr. Boddam stated that the action was for damages done to the plaintiff being shot by the defendants. - The plaintiff was engraver, and was in the employ of Mr. Fennell, of Mollart-street, Hanley. the 2nd of Mav the defendants were practising shooting in a garden connected with Cleveland House, which was in the possession of Mr. Butler, of the Bell and Bear Inn. They were shooting with a Morris tube, a species of invention with which persons were in the habit of practising shooting at targets. The tube carried a small bullet to a tremendous distance. The plaintiff at the time was walking down the public road at the rear of Cleveland Gardens, and as he was so walking was shot in the head by a bullet, which he thought he (the learned counsel) could clearly demonstrate was projected by one the defendants. Two operations were found to be necessary to get out the bullet, and plaintiff had to remain away from his work for a fortnight. He had sustained a considerable shock to his system. 

The plaintiff stated that about a quarter past one o’clock on the 2nd May he was walking along Lime Kiln Walk with two other persons, when he was hit on the left temple with something. He began to bleed, and found that he had got a hole in his head. Directly afterwards the sound of bullet was heard. It struck some boards near where he was standing, and was afterwards taken out the wood. 

His Honour: The bullet hit plaintiff’s head and grazed it ? 

Mr. Boddam: No; it went in and stayed there. Luckily for the plaintiff his skull was so thick. (Laughter.) 

The plaintiff continued that after seeing the police he went to Mr. Charlesworth who attended him until the end of the month. Mr. Charlesworth took out a portion of the bullet on the 4th May, and the remaining portion on the 20th May. 

Mr. Boddam stated that they had any number of admissions of liability. 

Mr. Ashmall said his clients were anxious to act generously with the plaintiff. 

Mr. J. Charlesworth deposed to extracting the bullet, most of which he took out the 4th May.

His Honour; Let me look at it. 

Mr. Boddam: You will see how admirably it was flattened by the gentleman's skull. (Laughter)

His Honour : A good job for him that he had got so thick a one. 

Mr. Charlesworth proceeded to say that the bullet was very bright and slightly grooved, from which circumstances he concluded that it had hit something else before striking the plaintiff; that in fact it was a richochet shot. The bullet lay one inch from the point of entrance.

His Honour: Was it in a dangerous position ?

Mr. Charlesworth: Not in very dangerous position. The wound was too high to be very dangerous: it struck on the thick part the skull. There would be no permanent injury. 

His Honour observed that the wrong being admitted, the only point for him to consider was the amount damages. 

Mr. Ashmall explained that two of the defendants were volunteers. The garden in which they were practising was ninety-five yards in length. There were palings at the bottom of it. On the other side of these palings was plantation twelve yards deep. This was bordered by another fence and beyond it, before the road was reached, was a field 300 yards in length, also bordered by a railing. The guns were sighted for 100 yards, he suggested that this bullet struck one of the trees, from which it glanced and then hit the plaintiff. There was nothing absolutely illegal in what the defendants were doing, and as soon as inquiries came to be made the defendants went so far to say that they would pay any reasonable compensation. 

His Honour said it was difficult matter to measure damages in a case of this sort. No doubt whatever that the defendants were engaged in a dangerous pursuit, and had they killed the plaintiff, would, he dared say, have been put upon their trial for manslaughter. The damages sustained by plaintiff were not serious, but still it was a dangerous thing to have bullet sent into his head. He thought that in giving a verdict for £20 and costs, he was giving a very moderate sum indeed.' 

Staffordshire Sentinel, Thursday 06 June 1889, p.3

Fred Butler appears to have died quite young, aged 33 in 1891.

References:

Info from Forces War Records and Rorkesdriftvc forum. 

Thanks to 1879zuluwar forum members Kate (a.k.a 'gardner1879'), John Young, '90th' and Julian Whybra for further information on Frederick Butler. 

The Great Storm of 1872

Being situated in such a hilly region, widespread flooding is a rarity in Stoke-on-Trent, but occasionally chance extremes of weather have briefly put parts of the area under water. One startling weather event occurred on the afternoon of Sunday, 7 July 1872, when what the Staffordshire Advertiser described as 'a thunderstorm of great severity', struck the Potteries. Though it only lasted an hour and a half, it was so fierce that it left in its wake many dozens of flooded or damaged properties and a somewhat shell-shocked populace. Considering the violence of the storm and the damage it caused, remarkably few people were injured, though it seems there were many close calls.

It had been cloudy all day, but in the afternoon the sky began to grow much darker presaging a storm, the light becoming so dim that newspapers could only be read near to windows or by candle or gas light. The dark clouds then gave way to ones with a strange yellow tint to them and it was then that it started to rain, not in drops, but as a veritable deluge driven in by a fierce wind and accompanied by loud claps of thunder and multiple bolts of lightning. In Hanley there was one very alarming event when a bolt of lightning passed through the Primitive Methodist school room in Frederick Street (now Gitana Street), entering by one window and out through another. The only damage was a scorched paint board on the front of the building, but the room had been full of children when the lightning shot through and these now fled the room in panic. They had to descend a flight of stairs to get out of the building and while none had been injured by the lightning, several now fell and were trampled underfoot and bruised in the crush, though none of them seriously. 

During a service at Shelton Church, it rained so heavily that water forced its way through the roof and poured down into the building in streams. Buckets had to be brought to catch the water and the noise produced during the saying of the litany is said to have made for a very curious sound. Elsewhere in town, the lobbies of Bethesda Chapel in Old Hall Street were flooded, so too were numerous houses in town, notably in Nelson Place where part of the road nearby carrying a tramway was washed away. In Hanover Street, the downpour lifted stones up out of the road and deposited them at the bottom of Hope Street, where a heap big enough to fill two barrows was collected. The bottom end of Hope Street itself flooded, filling the cellars with up to a foot of water, floating heavy beer barrels in a brewery and boxes of live chickens in one house. The damage done to yards and gardens was tremendous. Nor were the local pot banks immune. The Cauldon Place works were flooded, though no serious damage was caused. Hanley's satellite villages were likewise hard hit. At Basford a lightning bolt shot down a chimney and blew away a portion of a mantle shelf in one of the rooms; Etruria saw dozens of properties flooded, as too did Bucknall, where the water rushing down the roads and through the houses quickly threw the Trent into spate, causing it to overflow. This caused enormous damage on the low-lying ground of the neighbouring Finney Gardens where Bucknall Park now stands, some of the walks, plants and flowers being washed away by the sudden inundation. 

Probably in no other part of the Potteries were the effects the storm so severe than in Burslem. Reporters on the scene shortly afterwards noted that even the oldest inhabitants had never before witnessed such a tempest, one stating that the rain 'came down in bucketfuls'. The rain here was particularly heavy and for more than an hour the thunder and lightning was incessant and at one point the wind rose to a terrible pitch causing major damage in several places. On the Recreation Ground (where the old Queens Theatre now stands), Snape's Theatre, a temporary structure of wood and canvas which had been constructed for the town's wakes week, was in a matter of minutes blasted to smithereens. A number of the thickest supports were splintered like matchwood and many of the rafters and seats were destroyed, while the canvas roof was torn to shreds as the wind hit it. Mr Snape was a veteran travelling showman, well liked in the district and there was a great deal of local sympathy for him over his losses. In the aftermath of the storm a fund was set up, subscriptions to which would hopefully help him in repairing the serious losses he had sustained. 

The Big House, Burslem.

Just down the road from where Snape's Theatre was taking a battering, part of an eight-foot tall wall between a timber Yard and the Big House was knocked down by the wind and rain, the accumulated flood water then rushed through the ground floor of the Big House with great force, blowing the front door open and then pouring in a stream down the turnpike road. 

At the Roebuck Inn in Wedgwood Place, the violence of the rainstorm split some of the roof tiles, causing a mass of water to cascade into the upper rooms, then down the stairs and out through the front doors. The Town Hall too received a soaking, the basement of which was flooded to a depth of three feet, which caused no end of problems for the hall keeper and his wife who had the job of clearing it all out. Likewise the row of houses in Martin's Hole – literally a hole or hollow near the Newcastle Road, where the roofs of the houses were on a level with the road – 'presented a truly pitiable appearance', the buildings being flooded to a depth of four and a half feet, ruining food stores and furniture and forcing the luckless inhabitants to seek shelter on the upper floor. 

Almost everywhere else it was the same story with only slight variations. Longport received a severe visitation with most of the houses flooded to several feet. At Middleport the canal overflowed adding to the chaos. At Tunstall, water poured into the police station and several houses doing much damage. In Smallthorne numerous houses were flooded and smaller items of furniture were flushed out of the doors and sent floating down the street. At Dresden as well as the numerous flooded properties, the road at the lower end of the village was split apart by the storm, leaving it looking for all the world as if it had been heavily ploughed, which made it impassable to traffic and men had to be brought in to make repairs. In Stoke, Fenton and Dresden as in Burslem, many householders were forced briefly to live upstairs as their ground floors filled up, sometimes as high as the ceiling. Longton too suffered torrential rain and likewise had some flooding, but saw much less material damage, though at one pot bank the downpour extinguished the fires in their kilns. 

Then the storm passed, leaving the Potteries in a battered state that it would take several days to recover from. That evening another storm broke overhead, but this turned out to be a much less severe event and caused no more serious problems.

Reference: Birmingham Daily Post, Tuesday 9 July 1872, p.5; Staffordshire Advertiser, Saturday 13 July 1872, p.5.

Ken Ray's Soldiers: Private Philip Yates

Ken Ray, a long-time researcher into the lives of local soldiers has assembled an impressive list of North Staffordshire men who served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea and the numerous colonial conflicts Britain participated in during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He has very kindly given me access to some of his documents which chart the lives and careers of ordinary men from the region who might otherwise have been forgotten. This is one of those stories...

. . . .

Private Philip Yates, Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (Oxford Blues)

Napoleonic Wars

The Life Guards and Royal Horse
Guards (foreground) at Waterloo

Philip Yates was born in Stoke or possibly Hanley Green in 1784. His parents remain unknown and nothing is known of his background though he may have received some education in early life as he was later able to sign his name, albeit in a rather shaky hand. He initially worked locally as a plumber and glazier before attesting for the Royal Horse Guards at Nantwich, Cheshire on 13th March 1805 at the age of 21. 

Yates saw service with his regiment in the Peninsula War in Spain and France at the battles of Vittoria (1813) and Toulouse (1814). At Waterloo he served in Lieutenant Colonel Clement Hill's troop Royal Horse Guards which with the Life Guards and King's Dragoon Guards formed the Household Brigade of heavy cavalry, Yates's regiment forming the second reserve rank of the brigade. As the reserve, the regiment should have held back to exploit any opportunities missed by the front rank in any charge and then cover the withdrawal, but when great cavalry charge of the Household and Union Brigades was launched to counter the first full-scale French attack on the Allied line, the Blues followed suit, clashing with a large force of French cuirassiers who were advancing in support of the French infantry. Unlike the front line regiments, though, they did not advance too far, maintained their formation and made an orderly withdrawal back to the main line. The Blues also saw plenty of action later in the day, skirmishing repeatedly with the French cavalry during their charges against the Allied line in the late afternoon. 

After Waterloo and Napoleon's abdication, the Royal Horse Guards remained in France until 1816, when they returned to their base at Windsor and the rest of Private Yates' service was at home. On his discharge from the army on 5th February 1827, Yates was described as being 43 years old, 5' 10½” tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion; his conduct as a soldier had been good. The reason for his discharge was due to length of service and amounted to 22 years and 43 days with the Colours, plus the 2 extra years service granted to all Waterloo veterans.

Yates returned to the Potteries after his discharge, travelling from Windsor to Hanley Green, where he picked up the threads of his old life, helped on by a Chelsea pension. Five years later on 24th June 1832, he married widow Elizabeth Pope (possibly nee Orton) in Hanley. In 1841 they were living in Brunswick Street, Shelton. Philip was back working as a glazier, Elizabeth's trade is hard to read as too is that of her 15 year old son from her previous marriage, John Pope, though he may have been a pottery packer; the fourth member of the household was Philip and Elizabeth's eight year old daughter Elizabeth. On a personal note, when I looked at the 1841 census entry, I was surprised and pleased to discover that Philip Yates and his family lived only two doors away from my great, great, great grandparents Thomas and Ann Cooper and their family.

One Philip Yates died in 1847 aged 66 and was buried on 26th December 1847. He had lived long enough to apply for the Military General Service Medal, as it was awarded with the two clasps for his Peninsula War service.

Reference: UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949, Battle of Waterloo 1815, p.23; UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949: Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815, p.193; UK, Waterloo Medal Roll, 1815; UK, Royal Hospital, Chelsea: Regimental Registers of Pensioners, 1713-1882, p.58; WO97 Royal Hospital Chelsea: Soldiers' Service Documents;1841 census for Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Old News from the Potteries

Regular newspaper coverage of events in the Potteries only really started at the end of the 18th century with the advent in 1795 of the Staffordshire Advertiser paper, though as this was published in Stafford, it's coverage of the goings on in the north of the county was limited to the most noteworthy events. Another half century would pass before more local newspapers were being produced in Hanley, Stoke and Burslem. However, histories, travellers journals and some other national or regional papers occasionally carried tales from the Potteries from this early period giving us fleeting glimpses into life in the area.

* * * * *

The King's Touch

It was widely believed in the past that the King's touch could heal certain ailments. To this end on 29 August 1687, the minister and churchwardens of Stoke-upon-Trent gave John Bell of Cobridge a sealed certificate whereby he could obtain the King's sacred touch for his son Samuel Bell, who suffered from 'the King's Evil' i.e. scrofula. 

(John Ward, The History of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, p.281)

John Wesley is Pelted in the Potteries 

On 8 March 1760, the Reverend John Wesley, the founding father of Methodism, visited Burslem for the first of many visits to the region. He described Burslem as 'a scattered town, on the top of a hill, inhabited almost entirely by potters', a large crowd of whom had gathered to hear him at five in the evening. He noted that great attention sat on every face, but also great ignorance which he hoped he could banish. 

The next day Wesley preached a second sermon in Burslem to twice the number of the day before. 'Some of these seemed quite innocent of thought. Five or six were laughing and talking till I had near done; and one of them threw a clod of earth, which struck me on the side of the head. But it neither disturbed me nor the congregation.' 

(John Wesley, Journal, 8-9th March 1760)

The First Cut

After receiving the royal assent two months earlier for construction of a canal connecting the rivers Trent and Mersey, on the morning of 26 July 1766, at a site just below Brownhills, pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood cut the first sod of what would in time become the Trent and Mersey canal. James Brindley, the engineer who would oversee the canal's construction, and numerous other dignitaries were present, many of whom would also cut a piece of turf, or wheel away a barrow of earth to mark the occasion. In the afternoon a sheep was roasted in Burslem market place for the benefit of the poorer potters in the town. A bonfire was also lit in front of Wedgwood's house and many other events took place around the Potteries by way of celebration. 

(Jean Lindsay, The Trent and Mersey Canal, pp.31-32)

News from the North

'As you often give me London News, I will give you some from this Country, which has of late made a Figure. This Neighbourhood has for many Years made Pots for Europe, and will still do so, though the King of Prussia has lately clapt 28 per Cent, upon them. Our Roads were so bad that nobody came to view the Place where the Flint Ware is made, but now we have Turnpikes upon Turnpikes, and our Potteries are as well worth seeing as the Stockport Silk-Mills, or the Bridgewater Navigation, which we intend to beat hollow by Lord Gower's, now begun in our Meadows, and advancing apace towards Harecastle, on the other Side of which Multitudes of Men are at work, and before Christmas we shall have cut through the Hill, and made another Wonder of the World. There are already 100 Men employed on our Side, and 100 more will be added as soon as Wheelbarrows can be procured for them. Saturday last we had brave Sport at Earl Gower's, where 100,000 Spectators were present at the Prison-Bars played in Trentham Park. Among them were the Dukes of Bedford and Bridgewater. The Prizes were Ten Carline Hats, with gold Loops and Buttons, given by the Earl. The Cheshire Men were active Fellows, but unluckily their Lot was to wear Plod Drawers, to distinguish them from their Antagonists, which made the Crowd oppose their getting the Honour of the Day. During this Game, my Friend Bucknall loft his Boy, about Eight Years of Age, who was suffocated by going aslant down a Sort of a Cave into an old Coalpit, the top of which was fallen in. The Man that ventured to fetch him out, found a Number of Birds, supposed to have dropped down there by the sulphurous Stench issuing from the Pit. We have much Hay, and Cheese is plenty, and Corn without Barn-room, nor do we want Money. 

P. S. I have just seen a Hen, which laid Twelve Eggs only, from which she has brought up Twelve Cock Chickens, which is looked upon as somewhat remarkable.' 

(Extract of a Letter from Burslem,14  August 1766, Derby Mercury, Friday 29 August 1766, p.2)

Tunnel Vision

On 1 July 1772, an anonymous correspondent writing from Burslem related what he had seen the day before when he and some companions paid a visit to the first incarnation of the Harecastle Tunnel, situated between Tunstall and Kidsgrove and then under construction as part of James Brindley's Trent and Mersey Canal. 

'Yesterday we took a walk to the famous subterraneous canal at Harecastle, which is now opened for a mile on one side of the hill, and more than half a mile on the other, of course the whole must be compleated in a short time. As it is not yet filled with water, we entered into it, one of the party repeating the beautiful lines in Virgil, which describe the descent of Æneas into the Elysian fields. On a sudden our ears were struck with the most melodious sounds. - Lest you should imagine us to have heard the genius or goddess of the mountain singing the praises of engineer Brindly, it may be necessary to inform you, that one of the company had advanced some hundred paces before, and there favoured us with some excellent airs on the German flute. You can scarcely conceive the charming effect of this music echoed and re-echoed along a cavern near two thousand yards in length.' 

(Leeds Intelligencer, Tuesday 14 July 1772, p.3)

A Fungi to Be With

'A few days ago, a mushroom was got at Stoke-upon-Trent, in the county of Stafford, whose diameter was 5 inches, and 30 inches in circumference, it weighed 16 ounces. The above is very authentic.' 

(Leeds Intelligencer, 5 September 1775, p.3)

All in a Spin

'The following extraordinary phenomenon was lately observed here; at the latter end of last month, a field of hay belonging to Mr. J. Clark, near Burslem, was carried off by a whirlwind; the day when it happened was exceedingly calm, scarce a breath of air to be perceived. The people who were at work in the field observed, that in one part the hay began to be agitated in a small circle, at every wheel it increased in size and velocity, continually sucking more hay into its vortex; after a considerable time it began to ascend, taking along with it a silk handkerchief which hung rather loosely about the neck of one of the men who was at work; it continued ascending till entirely out sight, and in about an hour it began to descend, and continued to so for an hour's space, alighting at, or within a few hundred yards of the place from whence it had been carried up, so that the owner lost but a very trifling quantity of his hay.' 

(Hereford Journal, 23 August 1781, p.2)

A Tragic Accident

The following melancholy tale from the Potteries is related in a letter dated August 14 1785. 'As Ellen Hulme, a poor woman of Lane End, was returning to her habitation late last night, with her infant, six weeks old, in her arm, she unfortunately stepped into a coal-pit, which shamefully lay open close to the road, and even with the track which led to the poor creature's house. Her husband, whom she had been to fetch from an alehouse, immediately alarmed the neighbourhood, when her distressing cries were very distinctly heard from the bottom of the dreary pit every effort was attempted by the hardy colliers to fetch her up, but the damp prevailing very much, obliged them to use means to extract it, after which was found the mother with her infant upon her arms, both dead.' 

(Sussex Advertiser, 22 August 1785, p.3) 

A Hard Winter

During the harsh winter of 1794-1795, the better off inhabitants of Hanley and Shelton formed a committee which started a subscription list for the temporary relief the poor who were suffering great hardship during the cold weather. By February 1795 the committee had collected an impressive £150, enough to enable them  to supply nearly 500 local families with meat, potatoes, and cheese. The Wedgwood family gave a liberal amount and through them a Mrs Crewe kindly added a welcome donation of a quantity of flannel clothing. The Marquis of Stafford aided the relief fund by ordering 100 tons of coal to be at the distribution of the committee. 

A month later, in an issue of the Staffordshire Advertiser that noted that thermometers in Macclesfield had measured temperatures as low as -21° F (-29.4° C), the fearsome nature of the winter was highlighted dramatically by one small but rather macabre snippet of news. 'Through the inclemency of the night of Saturday last [i.e.,14 March] a poor man perished betwixt Hanley and Bucknall. He unfortunately lost himself in attempting to cross the fields, and was found on Sunday standing upright in a snow drift, with his hand only above the surface.' 

(Staffordshire Advertiser, 7 February 1795, p.3; 21 March 1795, p.3.)

Wild Fire

In late March or early April 1799, a dreadful accident happened in a pit at Lane End, the property of John Smith, Esq. Four men were blown up, and two them terribly burnt by what the colliers of the time described as 'the wild fire'. The explosion was loud, and the concussion so great that nearby houses shook violently. Two of the men were not expected to recover, while the other two were thrown to a considerable distance, and left badly bruised. The reporter noted that their hats were blown to the distance of 70 yards from the mouth of the pit. 

(Staffordshire Advertiser, Saturday, 6 April 1799, p.4)