General Chat

Thank you Hayley,

Maybe I will get back to adding again soon:-).


Susan
x

This a great thread.....and well worth a nudge...

good stories lil:)

jetxx

BLAST FURNACES SHUT DOWN

Sunday Times, April 30 1843

Some idea may be formed of the extent to which the iron trade of South Staffordshire is depressed, by the fact that out of 111 blast furnaces fifty-three are blown out, and are wholly unproductive either of labour or interest on the large capital expended on their erection. Some have been out more, and some less than a year; on an average, the whole number has been out at least that period, and as they would produce at least a full eighty tons of iron per week, the quantity drawn from the market is, at the lowest calculation, 220,480 tons, and yet, with this immense reduction in the make, the market is still over stocked, prices are receding, wages are still further reduced, and the capital necessary to the advantageous carrying on of the operations involved in the manufacture of iron, is being irrecoverably lost; while the sufferings of those usually employed at the iron works….are, from want of employ, on the increase.



A YOUNG LADY’S EDUCATION

Times, November 13 1843

GOVERNESS WANTED ---A lady belonging to the Church of England, competent to undertake the education of a young lady nearly 16 years of age. She must be a person of cultivated mind, of great steadiness of character, sound good sense, and cheerful temper. She is required to be proficient in the French, Italian and German languages, to be a good musician, and capable of teaching the piano and singing well. A proficiency in drawing and watercolour is particularly to be desired. Any lady wishing such a situation, and willing to be a companion to her pupils as well as instructress may find this a comfortable home.

A liberal salary will be given and very satisfactory testimonials required. Apply, stating qualifications, etc., with real name, to A. B., Mr. Hough’s, Monmouth.


Fag Ash Note….. He doesn’t want much does he? ...didn’t think Julie Andrews was about in those days.



Thank you to all those who have added to this thread I am glad you enjoyed reading it. I also hope it helps with envisaging and understanding a little of the life and times of our ancestors.

Good thread, most enjoyable reading..

INDECENT PERFORMANCES
Observer, Oct 16 1870

British Morality ----- Always successful in hitting the happy mean--- has drawn the happy line at the Can-Can, and we confess that it was certainly high time that the line should be drawn somewhere. At the same time the refusal of the Middlesex Magistrates to re-license the Alhambra and Highbury barn is not altogether satisfactory.

Messrs. Strange and Geovanelli must have known perfectly well that their performances were perfectly indecent; but at the same time it would have perhaps have been fairer--- seeing that the Can-Can is allowed in “ Orphee aux Enfers “ at the St James’s and prohibited at Leicester Square--- that some sort of notice should have been given of the intention to appeal against a renewal.



Thats it for now folks

FLIRTS AND FLIRTATION
La Belle Asemblee, June 1835

The first is a common sport to all men, the very laughing stock of those in whom she has made the greatest impression. She cannot rise in esteem ; and if she fall she is unpitied. Flirtation, however considered seriously or lightly, is injurious and unbecoming in woman.

It is broadly, an unblushing confession which the individual makes of her desire to attract the notice of men. What woman of common pride would say so much in words? Yet no language can be more unequivocal! If unrestrained by a sense of this humiliating interpretation, which even the weakest of male observers put upon flirtation, there are manifold reasons to restrain that silly appetite for display and notoriety. No girl ever made a happy union by flirtation: because no man capable of making a woman permanently happy was ever attracted by that which is disgusting to rational and refined minds; the fool may be so caught; and with the fool life will be what it aught to be between a flirt and a coxcomb!

Flirtation in a woman is equal to libertinism in a man; it is the manifestation of the same loose principles, only restrained by the usages of the world developing itself in a similar way.


Fag Ash Note: ----- Hmmm! Wonder if my ancestors read that.

A 'Coxcomb' started out as a jester, but then just become a figure of fun according to a google search.

THE FIRST ROLLER SKATE

Examiner, Aug 24 1823

A skate has been invented, with the design of rendering this amusement independent of the frost. It is like the common skate in general appearance; but instead of one iron it has two, with a set of very small brass wheels set in between, which easily revolving, enable the wearer to run along with great rapidity on any hard level surface, and indeed to perform, though with less force or nicety, all the evolutions of skating.

A patent has been obtained for the invention, and it is now practically exhibited at the old tennis-court in Windmill street, the surface of which is of course excellently adapted for the purpose.

Fag Ash Note :-- Googled Roller skate+inventor and came up with the following…….. A Belgian inventor named Joseph Merlin introduced the first patented roller skate in 1760 another type……..

can anyone else find the inventor of the 1823 roller skate with brass wheels ?

THE DRINK TRADE
Sunday in London, Feb 1834

GIN TEMPLES:- The expense is incurred in fitting up of gin-shop bars in London is almost incredible, everyone vieing with his neighbour in convenient arrangements, general display, rich carving, brass work, finely veined mahogany, gilding, and ornamental painting.

The carving of one ornament alone in the Grapes gin-shop, Old street Road, cost £100. ; the workmanship was by one of the first carvers in London. Three gin-shops have been lately fitted up in Red Lion-street at an expense, for the bar alone, of upwards of £2,000. Time was when gin was only to be found in by-lanes and blind allies – in dirty obscure holes, ‘ycleped dram-shops; but now gin is become a giant demi-god—a mighty spirit, dwelling in gaudy gold—beplastered temples, erected to his honour in every street, and worshipped by countless thousands, who daily sacrifice at his shrine their health, their strength, their money, their minds, their bodies, wives, children, sacred home, and liberty.

In these temples of the great spirit Gin, may be seen maudlin, unwashed multitudes, the ancient and the infant of a span long, old men and maidens, grand-sires and grandams, fathers and mothers, husbands wives and children, crowding jostling and sucking in the portions of spirit which the flaunting priestesses dole out to them in return for their copper offerings.

Fag Ash note:--- Hmmmm! I take it the writer didn’t approve of them then!

The defendants were released from prison six months later. Brooks had already gone back to sea, but neither Dudley nor Stephens were enamoured of the idea. Stephens settled down near Southampton and apparently supported himself through odd jobs. He continued to be absorbed by the events on the dinghy and over time went quietly mad.


Thomas Dudley immigrated to Sydney, Australia, where he became a small shopkeeper and managed to keep his past history a secret. He too was haunted, however, by memories of the dinghy, which according to one report, he tried to relieve by great quantities of opium. He died as the first victim of the bubonic plague that hit Australia in 1900.

There is more information on

PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
HAND-OUTS PAGE
http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/handout9.html

The Mignonette, 1884 (Queen v. Dudley)

most remarkably, Daniel Parker, RichardParker'seldest brother, forgave Dudley in open court, and even shook hands with him. Parker's family planted a tombstone on Richard's grave that read: .



"Though he slay me, yet I will trust him." (Job, xiii, 15)
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.


Update:
According to Law Without Justice: Why Criminal Law Doesn't Give People What They Deserve By Michael T. Cahill, Paul H. ( Robinson

John WANT was the prominent Australian Lawyer and politician who owned the Yacht MIGNONETTE

Thomas DUDLEY was 31 in 1884

STEPHENS = age 37

NED BROOKS = age 38 ( deserted his wife )

RICHRD PARKE = 17 ( both parents died by 1881 ) as a 14 year old orphan he went to sea.

There is also a photo of Thomas DUDLEY

TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP-WRECKED CREW

Sunday Times Sept 7 1884


By the arrival of the barque, of Hamburg, at Falmouth yesterday morning, news was brought of the terrible sufferings at sea of a shipwrecked crew. She landed Captain DUDLEY, Mr. STEPHENS (mate), and an able seaman named BROOKS, who belonged to the yacht Mignonette. It appears that they, with a lad named PARKER, formed the crew of the yacht, and were taking her to Sydney, New South Wales, for a gentleman residing there.

On July 5 last, they were compelled to abandon the yacht, which was in a sinking condition. They were then in latitude 27 S and 10 W. They left in a small dinghy, and so sudden was the abandonment that there was not time to save food or water. They only succeeded in getting 2 1b. Tins of provisions and some turnips, which were supplemented by a turtle they picked up on the fourth day after they left the yacht.

For twenty-four days they drifted about in the little open boat, enduring indescribable sufferings. On the eighteenth day the boy died, and the survivors, by eating his body, managed to keep themselves in existence till the Moetezuma picked them up.

The Captain of the German barque says that “When we fell in with the boat the three men were skeletons, and were horrible to behold”. They had not eaten the whole of the body, for a portion of the flesh was in the boat when they were rescued. During the time they were in the boat they had drifted 1,050 miles.


CHARGE OF MURDER AGAINST THE SURVIVORS *

Sunday Times Sept 14 1884

The circumstances were these:-

So terrible did their position become that at the end of the eighteenth day they deliberated as to the advisability of casting lots as to who should be killed to supply food for the others. This plan was proposed by the Captain, but one of the men objected, saying it was better they die together, and the proposal was not pressed. But after two days more of horrible suffering both the Captain and the mate suggested the boy PARKER should be killed, especially as his sufferings were so intense that he had become delirious. They also reasoned that he was only a lad, with no responsibilities, while they were married men with wives and families depending on them.

Eventually the captain and the mate decided jointly to kill PARKER, who was lying in the bottom of the boat in a state of exhaustion. DUDLEY, having offered up a prayer for forgiveness of the act, went to the boy and said “Now, DICK, your time is come! “ PARKER faintly cried “What, me, sir!” DUDLEY replied “Yes, my boy;” and thereupon ran a small penknife into PARKER’S Jugular vein. The lad offered no resistance, dying almost instantly. The survivors caught the gushing blood in their tins and drank it between them, then stripped the body of its clothes, cut out the liver and heart while yet hot from the body, and devoured them voraciously.

On arriving at Falmouth the men were taken to the Sailors’ Home, and later in the day were apprehended under a warrant.

* The survivors were condemned to death, the sentence being afterwards commuted to six months’ imprisonment with Hard labour…..Ed.



Fag Ash NOTE:....have found on google books.....TOM DUDLEY, RICHARD PARKER, NED (EDWARD) BROOKS, EDWIN STEPHENS......be great to find descendants of any of those mentioned.

35,000 MINERS ON STRIKE.

Sunday Times
Feb 13 1881

There are now 35,000 miners on strike in the South and South-East Lancashire, and the number is every day increasing, with little immediate prospect of a settlement being arrived at. Great inconvenience is being felt owing to the shortage of supply, and many mills will have to close in the course of a few days. The men continue very quiet.



BANK RATE 5 PER CENT

Times, Oct 7 1881

For the first time for three years the Bank of England rate has been raised to 5 per cent.



PARCELS BY POST

Times Aug 2 1883

The new parcels post came into operation throughout the country yesterday; and in all parts considerable preparations had been made to carry out the service.

At the General Post Office, St Martin’s-le-Grand, a new entrance reserved for posting parcels has been made at the north end of the building……During the first hours of the forenoon the number of parcels posted at the General Post Office, though not large, gave indication that the public were awaking to the advantages of this service. There was a large staff of men, headed by chiefs, not only of that, but of other departments, present.

The first parcels were critically handled to see that they complied with the regulations as to size, weight, and the amount of postage. Later on parcels came in fast and furious , and kept everybody fully engaged……It is estimated by those best able to know that from fifteen to twenty thousand parcels had passed through the sorting room at this office alone by 6 o’clock last evening.



REMARKABLE PHENOMENOM

Times, Dec 6 1883

Another remarkable sunset was witnessed on the south coast yesterday evening. The sky assumed a splendid crimson hue, which was reflected in the water. Here, as in London, the moon seemed to be of a pale green colour.

This is a brilliant thread Susan, Thank you.

Tina x

Anklets Fashionable

Le Follet,

January 1880

January gives us many novelties in the smaller details of la mode, and certainly the most notable of these is the wearing of anklets. This fashion, so rapidly gaining favour among the aristocracy, owes its introduction to the short ball dresses, and there is no doubt that the two will eventually serve to keep each other in existence.

The elaborately-embroidered stockings and profusely-decorated shoes of the present day are too becoming to the wearers, and far too elegant a finish to the toilette to be lightly discarded, and the ne plus ultra of distinction and elegance is reached by the addition of silver and gold anklets, with pendants of the same or of jewels.

The long trains are loose from the skirt, and are raised during round dances, either by some arrangement attaching them temporarily to the underskirts, or by a loop on the train itself through which a hand is passed.


Fag Ash Note: love the fashions of years gone by, even the men dressed lavishly.....cept the poor of course. ....I expect if one was a servant there was the odd chance of getting the hand-me-downs.

Our present Prince of Wales seems very boring in contrast! lol

xx

Wonderful thread Susan! Thank you. Hope you will add any other articles of interest that you find. BC

MALE FASHIONS
Morning Post April 21 1808

In the Sunday Promenade (the Park) every one supposes he is taken for a man of fashion, and boasts of the Prince of Wales’s cut! As our object is to improve, and not to condemn their taste, we will give a minute description of the Prince’s style of dress for the approaching summer; observing, at the same time, that as the Heir Apparent is considered to be the most elegant, so has he always been deemed the best dressed Gentleman in England.

The Prince of Wales morning-dress is either a chest-nut brown, or a bottle-green cloth coat, with a fancy-stripe waistcoat, and light stone-colour mosquito pantaloons. The coat is made short in the waist and the skirts, without pockets or flaps, with a silk or covered button of the same colour; the cape or collar is made to sit close around the neck, with a becoming fall in the front. The lower part of the lapel is not cut in the usual vulgar manner, but forms an elegant slope the outline which was FURNISHED BY THE PRINCE OF WALES HIMSELF. No part of the waist-coat is to be seen beneath the lapel. No silk facings to the coat, nor slashed sleeves, Shoes and strings.

Ann Moore's fame even reached across the Atlantic, where a wax replica of her figure was displayed in a Boston museum to the accompaniment of "music on the organ or grand piano forte (Bodily Claims and Narrative Crises in Eighteenth-Century Science Karen Hollis)

Apparently her Cottage is still standing in Tutbury.

Mary Queen of Scot was imprisoned in Tutbury Castle after fleeing from Scotland

would appreciate it if we could, between us on the board, find exact bmd's and other children.....finding a descendant to pass all this information to would be great too.

( also anyone who is better at summarising than I is welcome to add as is anyone with more info )

Will carry on with other news from the past in the mean time or when time permits.

Death THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE
1824
By GEO. B. WHITTAKER

Anne Moore, formerly of Tutbury, but latterly of Macclesfield. This is the woman who, some years ago, excited the attention of the public, by declaring that she lived wholly without food. The imposture, after succeeding for some time, was at length detected, it being discovered that her daughter was in the habit of conveying her food daily, and concealing it under the bed clothes


The Book of Nature 1826
By John Mason Good
The newspapers have informed us that this poor woman
died at Macclesfield about the beginning of October 1825, at
the advanced age of 76

another source has her death as 20 Jul 1824 ( perhaps the PRs can tell us when )

A topographical and historical description of the parish of Tixall, by sir T. and A. Clifford
By Thomas Hugh Constable, Arthur Clifford
1817

About 35 years ago, the celebrated Ann Moor, the fasting woman of Tutbury, lived in this village. Her grandfather, Mr. Halford, was a surgeon of eminence at Norbury in Derbyshire, who indulging in an expensive style of life, left behind him at his death two orphan daughters, without any means for their subsistence. One of them was nursery maid at Tixall-house for many years and died a few years ago at Tixall village, greatly respected and esteemed for her piety and virtue, and for her many estimable qualities, which justly endeared her to all who knew her.

Her sister married Thomas Pegg, a common labourer, by whom she had a daughter, called Ann Pegg, now Ann Moor. About the year 1777, Ann Pegg entered into the service of Mrs. Savage, a widow lady, who, after her husband's death, occupied a small house in Tixall village. Ann Pegg was then about sixteen years of age, and is.said to have possessed a considerable share of beauty. She afterwards married John Moor, a labourer, but soon forsook her husband, and led for many years a disorderly life.

The fact of her total abstinence from food, during five or six years, alter having been generally believed, was at length proved to be an imposture : she however shewed that she had acquired great powers of abstinence, by remaining nine days and nights without any sustenance before she would own the deceit.


Note: John MOOR not James

James MOOR married Ann PEGG
14 Mar 1787 Ellastone, Staffordshire, England according to the IGI

we also know she had a daughter named Mary ( witness to signature )