Tales of our Horrible History
01 Jun 2011
Grisly murders, shocking cruelties, tragic accidents and ghastly suicides in Lancashire – they all provide a grim fascination for historian Jack Nadin.
Former Burnley miner, Jack Nadin, now a prolific writer, has trawled through archives and publications to find material for his latest plunge into Lancashire’s history, and he has come up with 356 episodes - one for each day of the year - in ‘A Grim Almanac of Lancashire.’
The almanac begins on January 1, 1858, when New Year reveller James Murray returned home in Oldham with his wife Ellen, accused her of ‘an act of indecency’ with a ruffian outside, sharpened a knife and attempted to kill her by slashing at her throat.
It ends on December 31 the same year when the Dublin Militia, stationed at Burnley Barracks, went on a drunken rampage through the town, smashing windows and attacking innocent townsfolk, and prompting a mob of Burnley folk to arm themselves and march on the barracks intending to mete out retribution.
In between, there are stories from over the years from the 17th to 20th centuries, proving beyond doubt why it was always considered to be ‘grim up north.’ Many of the stories provide examples of the Victorian artists’ penchant for the bloodthirsty, with pen drawings of snarling murderers and their terrified victims, looking like scenes from theatrical melodrama.
Here are a few examples of Mr Nadin’s yearbook of gore, month by month…
January 19, 1798: Pretty Hannah Corbridge set out from her home at Narrs, Laneshawbridge, Colne, with her 19-year-old lover Christopher Hartley, of Barnside, and was found a week later, poisoned and with her throat cut. Hartley was caught and later hanged, and it was said that Hannah’s ghost was seen wandering in the area and stones from the old Barnside ‘wept blood’ on the anniversary of her death.
January 30, 1865: Irish father-of-five Stephen Burke murdered his wife at their home in Brunswick Street, Preston, by battering her with a four-inch thick bedpost. Neighbours had heard screams but were
not unduly concerned because screaming was often heard from the Burke home. Domestic murders such as this have been sadly commonplace over the years but Burke’s booked his place in history – he was the last person to be hanged in public at Lancaster Castle, in March that year.
The artist imaginatively recreates a dramatic moment of madness when
unmarried mother Rachel Bradley hurled her infant into the canal at Ashton-under-Lyne.
She claimed that the wind had blown them both into the canal, but was found guilty of
wilful murder and was hanged at Lancaster on March 26, 1827.
February 2, 1874: “A terrible accident occurred at Bury whereby nine lives were lost and over thirty people were injured when the floor of a building gave way.” The upper floor of a warehouse in Paradise street , being used for a Liberal Party meeting, had been weakened by the removal of support pillars to make more work space (so much for health and safety!), and it collapsed under the weight of bodies. “Screams echoed and cries rang out as broken bodies fell among shattered timbers, soot and dust.”
March 2, 1867: Nine children perished in a terrible fire at Accrington. They were in a first-floor schoolroom above a heald knitting workshop built under the town’s towering railway viaduct. When fire broke out downstairs, many children managed to escape down the stairs but some were trapped upstairs. Some children ran to the windows and were rescued down ladders, but it was too late for nine of the tots, aged between three and six, and the town was plunged into mourning.
March 18, 1612: The incident that sparked the Pendle Witch trial occurred near Colne, when a beggar girl, Alizon Device, cursed pedlar John Law for refusing to give her some pins. Moments later, he collapsed with paralysis, and Alizon foolishly admitted she had bewitched him. Her confession led to the trial and execution by hanging of ten so-called witches, and the likes of Old Demdike and Chattox became a notorious part of Lancashire history.
April 4, 1893: Burnley fishmonger Eli Eastwood, a habitual drunk, was found dead in the canal and when police went to his home in Cog Lane they found the body of his partner Elizabeth Longstaffe. Her head was almost severed and under the bed was a poker which had been used to smash her skull. The Coroner’s jury returned verdicts of murder and suicide.
May 21, 1844: An agent for the Excise went to Thomas Waddacre’s farm at Over Darwen and found apparatus for making illegal alcohol and bottles buried in holes in his field. Waddacre was later fined £200 – a hefty sum in those days.
May 24, 1868: William and Harriet Thompson appeared at Blackburn Police Court accused of ill-treating Harriet’s son, William Henry Duxbury, who was found shut in a chest just 25 inches by 18 by 14. Each parent had three children by other partners, and all the children often went without food for days on end. The parents were jailed for six months and the children placed in the workhouse.
June 16, 1936: Screams were heard at 12 Clitheroe Street, Padiham, and Arthur Roberts was found with a self-inflicted gash across his throat. His wife, Edith Alice Roberts, was dead with her throat cut. He claimed: “She was bothering with other men,” but this was proved untrue. Roberts was found guilty of the slaying but judged to be insane.
July 23, 1868: ‘Shocking murder and suicide’ at Higher Walton after childhood sweethearts Elizabeth Brindle and James Hamer argued over his habits of smoking and chewing tobacco. Hamer sent her a note asking to meet her, but she was later found dying with her throat slashed. Hamer’s body was later found hanging from a tree.
August 21, 1852: Victorian newspapers left little to the imagination when reporting gory episodes. When John Kearsley was killed by a revolving shaft at Leyland Mill Foundry, Wigan, the Manchester Guardian reported: “His arm was twisted round until it was torn off from the shoulder, when he fell amongst the machinery below, where his throat was cut and his head severed from his body.”
September 18, 1786: Penalties for crime were harsh in those days. Hungry teenager James Holland stole some bleached cloth that was hanging in a tenter field to dry, and was publicly hanged on Bolton Moor and his body left suspended on Deane Moor , as an example to other would-be-thieves.
October 12, 1895: Eccentric Richard Wilson, who lived like Robinson Crusoe inside an enclosure of palings and sacking on the shores of Morecambe Bay, was brought before the court and ordered to move on.
November 7, 1883: East Lancashire’s worst mining disaster occurred at Moorfield Colliery, Altham, when an explosion tore through the workings, killing 68 men and boys, some as young as 11. Some survivors were badly burned. One survivor, James Macintosh, described as a hero of the rescue efforts, never went down the pit again and killed himself on the tenth anniversary of the disaster. A memorial to the dead stands on the site, off the road from Clayton-le-Moors to Padiham.
November 15, 1890: Missing schoolteacher Elizabeth Holt was found dead at Belmont village, Bolton, badly beaten and with her throat cut. Police traced Thomas MacDonald, who had a previous record of rape, and within a few weeks he was hanged at Kirkdale Prison.
December 15, 1868: A mystery assailant murdered 12-year-old Annie Roper at her family’s farm at Ackton Hall, near Wigan, by smashing her on the head with a hammer. He also attacked her sister Catherine, aged nine, and flung her over a hedge, but she survived. A man named Thomas Jones was arrested in Yorkshire but was discharged.
December 21, 1910: The worst disaster in English coal mining occurred at Pretoria Pit, on the border of Atherton and Westhoughton. An explosion killed 344 men and boys, and the following days saw a near-endless series of funerals. The rector at Sacred Heart noted: “To see people in tears, to hear the sobbing and singing of the wives and children, brothers and sisters, was something beyond human endurance.”
December 28, 1875: John Longley, aged just seven, died and was found ‘horribly mutilated’ when a boiler exploded at Fulwood Workhouse, and two other children were scalded by steam. John’s daily task had been to light the boiler to heat the rooms, and the workhouse was severely criticised at the inquest for giving a young boy such an important task.
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If you would like the opportunity of purchasing A Grim Almanac of Lancashire, by Jack Nadin for just £12.50 free p&p UK only call 01235 465577 or www.thehistorypress.co.uk using the code HPGRIM. Offer ends - 8th July 2011.
Article from Northern Life issue 38 June July 2011. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.