Author: secretary

An opium using con woman was jailed after defrauding many shops and businesses with stories of an expected legacy. The article gives a warning of her appearance to alert future potential victims.

“A woman, calling herself by the different names of Dickenson, Dickson, Sharp and Smith, was committed to Lincoln city gaol last week as a vagrant, after practising for several weeks upon the good-natured confidence of some of the inhabitants. By a well-managed story of a large sum of money daily expected from some place near Boston, she induced the landlord of the Brown Cow to trust her for more than three weeks’ lodging, leaving him at last unawares, and unpaid. – Messrs. Baldwin (cook-shop), Kidney, of Corporation-row, and Maplestone, of St.Peter’s at Gowts, also suffered in the same way, for longer or shorter periods. A poor washerwoman was persuaded to lend her 10s., in expectation of a ‘handsome present’ when the long-looked-for remittance should arrive; and a druggist gave her credit for a considerable quantity of opium, from an unwillingness to suspect one certainly among the most plausible of her sex. Various were the names and characters under which she defrauded these different parties: at one time she was on the point of receiving a large legacy, and in much anxiety as to the rate of duty chargeable, &c. &c. As, upon being discharged, she will be very likely to return to what she has found a profitable occupation, it may not be amiss to add to the above, that she appears to be from 30 to 40 years of age, rather low and broad-set in stature, with features which perhaps might not be disagreeable, but from the disgusting disfigurement caused by opium* of which she will consume about half an ounce a day; manners of course insinuating; an abundance of ready lies and inventions, and ‘the very d—-l to talk,’ as one of the aggrieved parties expresses it; –has, moreover, a little boy with her, which she suckles, although he is three or four years old. – One person who has seen her, thinks that she comes from Pinchbeck, that her real name is Vandyke, and that her husband was transported.”

The Stamford Mercury, 2nd February, 1827.

*generally early signs of ageing, skin blemishes and sores.

The language of the 1920s may be rather flowery for our liking, but this verse written by a father to his son, conjures up the Viking spirit in eastern England. Many places in Lincolnshire have names or suffixes which hark back to the Vikings.

"TO MY SON.

Spray of the Viking from over the sea,
Sprig of Old England entrusted to me:
Spray on the sprig ever hardens the tree,
Spray-toughened sprig, you are born to be free.

You are sprung from Eastern Counties, where the winds your strength renew
With their red loam's glowing riches and their skies flecked grey and blue,
Where the fathers of your fathers with patient, tireless skill
Have sewn and reaped and garnered o'er each beauteous vale and hill.

Where the glorious wolds sweep rolling, richly garlanded with trees,
With the keen winds ever blowing stiff with brine from off the seas.
Those seas whereof the rovers were forerunners of your race,
And gave to you your stature, and your vigour and your grace.

Let your courage ever harden, let your sinew never slack,
Fight on  grimly just as they did, and whatever else you lack,
You will have the exaltation of a struggle bravely fought - 
This the prize! whate'er the gleanings - so your Viking fathers taught.

C.N.G."

The Stamford Mercury, December, 1927.

In a rather insensitive juxtaposition, a tragedy about a new building falling in Manchester is followed by a light-hearted tale of one in Chester suffering a similar fate.

“On Tuesday the 21st, about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, the inhabitants of Hanover-street, Manchester, were alarmed by the falling of a newly-erected building, used principally as a cotton factory. – Unhappily there were, at the time of the accident, twenty-two people at work in it, all of whom were hurled in the ruins, for the misfortune was so sudden, as to leave no possibility of escape. One woman was taken from the ruins – dead – fourteen others, some of the dreadfully mangled, were carried to the infirmary, and it is with great concern that we observe the melancholy consequences thereof, as the appear on the face of this week’s report from that charitable institution. One of the unhappy sufferers, we understand, died almost immediately after he was carried to the hospital; his back bone being broken. The skull of another was dreadfully fractured; and in two others, some of the ribs were broke, and beat in upon the lungs.

The above building was used for different purposes. It had an arched cellar for liquor, and the ground floor was a stable, in which, at the time of its falling, were fifteen horses – four of which were killed, one of them of considerable value. – The cause of this calamity was from the springing of one of the arched cellars, and this appears to be confirmed by the building falling so instantaneously – for the whole of it came down with one dreadful crash! and the confusion and terror that followed was great indeed. – The proprietor of the works in ia (sic) narrowly escaped with his life.

A new building in Skinner’s lane, Chester, fell a sacrifice to the wind on Wednesday night. This accident happened a few hours after the workman had retired from a good supper, in celebrating the rearing!”

The Stamford Mercury, 31st December, 1790.

This article, about the last woad mill in Lincolnshire, was followed up a month later with a photograph showing the immense crushing machinery. The mill closed in 1932.

“Lincolnshire’s Latest Lost Industry.

That the Early Britons bedaubed themselves with blue paint was one of the fanciful touches which enlivened our history lessons. Their dye was obtained from woad, and until recently the crushing of the root-leaves of the plant could still be labelled an industry. The Lincolnshire Directory for 1909 recorded two woad-growers as still in business, a figure reduced to one in 1922. In the earlier year a woad mill could still be seen at Parson’s Drove, near Wisbech. Now, we learn, there is but one woad-grower left in England, and it is the Lincolnshire cultivator who has refrained from planting.

The Origin of ‘Wad’?

Regarding the treatment of woad, one of the most exhausting crops known, an authority says: – ‘The blue dye is obtained from the root-leaves, which are crushed in a mill by rude conical crushers dragged round by horses, and the pulp thus make is worked up into balls and laid out for some weeks to dry. These are then thrown in a heap in the dark, mixed with water, and fermented, being left for a considerable time before being packed into casks for sale. This dye is now always used with indigo.’ One of the leading national daily papers, commenting upon the industry, remarks: – ‘If the balls, or lumps, were ever known as ‘wads,’ the etymology of ‘wad,’ which the dictionary says is obscure, becomes perhaps intelligible.'”

The Stamford Mercury, 22nd December, 1927.

“Reference was recently made in our columns to the fact that only a solitary plant for the conduct of the ancient industry of woad milling survived in Lincolnshire. Depicted above is the cumbrous and archaic process followed in the mill at Parson Drove. The huge metalled wheels are used for crushing the plant, the motive power being provided by two horses.”

The Stamford Mercury, 30th December, 1927.

This building at 14, All Saints’ Street (now Duncan and Toplis Chartered Accountants) was altered at some point, because the right-hand bay has been flattened. It is not known, however, whether this was what Mr. Traylen objected to (it certainly altered the symmetry) or, indeed if it was done just after his appeal or much later.

“THE PARTICULAR INTEREST vested in the accompanying illustration is explained by the appended letter to the Mercury from Mr. H. F. Traylen, F.S.A., the well-known local architect and antiquary.

Sir, – All lovers of our beautiful old town will rejoice to hear the news of the rescue of a bit of old Stamford. I enclose a photograph of a 17th century house in St. Peter’s-street which it was proposed to alter, thus destroying its symmetry and character. I am pleased to inform you that after a talk the owner has realised the value of the building and has agreed that no alteration to the exterior shall be made.

I support there is no other town in England which possesses such a complete series of 17th and 18th century houses typifying the gradual development of this style as Stamford and in which this particular building forms such a vaulable line.

All those who love our ole town will feel a deep debt of gratitude to the owner of the property (Miss S. Wade) for her action, thus giving a lead to other owners and custodians of such interesting examples.

This is not only a local matter, but one of national importance in these days, when even foreigners are glad to chip such examples overseas.

A few enquiries before contemplated alterations of similar buildings would add to the number of Stamford’s admirers, and probably prevent the spoliation* of out links with past ages which can never be replaced.”

The Stamford Mercury, 25th November, 1927.

*The ruining or spoiling of something.

We have just seen some remarkable efforts in Tokyo, but the race described below and the feats accomplished in the story at the bottom are fantastic.

“A foot race of a novel description took place at Carlton, near Grantham, on Tuesday the 6th inst. Mr. Cleaver, a commercial gentleman, happening to be at the Coach and Horses Inn, offered to run any man in the place, or within ten miles, from Carlton to Barkston and back, a distance of seven miles, for any sum of money. A man named James Pick, totally blind, was backed against him for one sov*. The competitors started fair, but after two miles and a half had been accomplished, the gentleman who had eyesight gave up. His opponent executed the task easily, within three quarters of an hour. – Mr. Pulford, a friend of the loser in the race, not feeling satisfied with the result, offered to run the winner to his own home, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, for half a sovereign, which bet was instantly accepted. The blind man was again the victor, accomplishing his task in four minutes, and beating his opponent by several hundred yards. Pick in his first race was allowed to carry a stick; but after he had started in his second, his opponent objected to it, whereupon he threw it away, declaring he wished to take no advantage. It is said that he has offered to run any man within 20 miles, for 10l to 20l.”

*i.e. a Sovereign, face value £1.

The Stamford Mercury, 16th October, 1840.

“On Tuesday last, in Vauxhall gardens, Boston, a man named Cootes undertook to run a mile, walk a mile, wheel a barrow a mile, walk backwards a mile, hop one hundred yards, leap over fifty hurdles ten yards apart, and pick up fifty stones a yard apart and deposit them singly in a basket, within one hour; which task he accomplished three quarters of a minutes within the given time.”

The Stamford Mercury, 23rd October, 1840.

A girl goes missing, but her stepmother’s fearful dream points to the whereabouts of her murdered body. The case became notorious and was the subject of songs and plays and, in 1936, a film.

“On Monday evening a constable from Suffolk, of the name of Ayres, made an application at Lambeth-street police-office, stating that a strong suspicion was entertained that a most diabolical murder had been committed in Suffolk, by a person named William Corder. An inquest had been held that day on the body of the unhappy victim, which stands adjourned to Friday. In consequence of this communication, James Lee, an officer of this establishment, in company with Ayres, apprehended Corder; and a few minutes before the office closed on Tuesday evening, he was brought in custody before Matthew Wyatt, Esq. the sitting magistrate. From the statement, on oath, of the constable Ayres, it appeared that the murdered woman, whose name was Maria Martin*, aged 26, was decoyed, in male attire, on the 18th of last May, from the house of her parents at Polstead, in Suffolk, by the prisoner, who desired her to meet him at his red barn, when he promised her that they should go to Ipswich, and be married by licence. The unsuspecting girl (who was pregnant by the prisoner) accordingly attended at the time and place appointed. From that day to this, the girl has not been heard of. Since that time, however, many letters have been received by the parents of the unfortunate girl from the prisoner, in which he uniformly stated that he and their child were living most happily together in married state; and in the last letter he wrote, he stated that he should soon return and resume the occupation of his farm. He feigned many excuses for the silence of the deceased, from time to time. The mother of the girl, however, became alarmed, and the subject preyed so much on her mind, that she dreamed that her daughter was murdered, and her body buried under the floor of the barn by the prisoner, where he had appointed to meet her on the 18th of May. The corn which was in the barn having been recently thrashed, the mother requested that the floor might be taken up, which was accordingly done, when to her horror, she discovered the remains of a sack, in which was the mangled body of Maria Martin! The body was, of course, in a state of decomposition, but it was identified by one of the teeth in the jaw being out, which was her case. She was also dressed in the same male attire she wore on the fatal night. The prisoner was apprehended at Ealing, in Middlesex, and is reported to be married. At his house were found a passport for France, dated the 17th of December last, and a brace of pistols, which were bought at Ipswich. He said nothing, and was sent in the custody of the constable to Suffolk.”

The Stamford Mercury, 25th April, 1828.

*Her surname was really Marten.

Named after the ‘mythical’ outlaw of Sherwood Forest, this inn at Aslackby has now added Little John to its title presumably, because of the charming rhyme. It is still going strong and has excellent ratings.

"Gentlemen, if you think good,
Step in and drink with Robin Hood;
If Robin Hood abroad has gone.
Then take a drink with Little John.

Such is the invitation extended to those who visit the old-world village of Aslackby. ‘The Robin Hood’ which, incidentally, has just changed hands, is an ancient inn by the side of the main road as one enters from the north. If it has any connection with the famous outlaw it would be interesting to know in what way, though to what extent, if at all, ‘Robin Hood’ was an actual historical character has been much debated. Only two other inns in Lincolnshire – one at Boston, the other at Spalding – are known by the name of the jovial freebooter.”

The Stamford Mercury, June 24th, 1927.

A particularly gruesome murder is reported here, but there is no speculation as to the motive behind it. The murderer (a trooper in the blues) was clearly determined to carry out his task without worrying about the consequences.

“Considerable sensation was caused at Windsor on Sunday night in consequence of a very deliberate murder which was committed about nine o’clock in the Arthur-road, a thoroughfare leading from the vicinity of the Great Western station to Clewer village. The victim was Mrs. Laura Ellen Woolridge, aged 23, said to be a native of Bath, and who for about two years has been employed as an assistant to the postmistress in the post-office at High-street, Eton. There she was known under her maiden name of Glendell. She was, it is stated, married to a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards named Woolridge, but had lived very little with him. This man came to Windsor in the course of the evening, and went to 21, Alma-terrace, where Mrs. Woolridge was residing, and, under the pretence of signing a paper, was allowed to enter the house. Mrs. Woolridge thereupon asked Alice Cox, a young woman who was sitting with her in the front parlour, to fetch her hat and jacket, and while the latter was proceeding to the back room the man and woman went out of the the street door towards the iron wicket-gate separating the forecourt from the street. There he appears to have attempted to cut the throat of the unfortunate woman, who shrieked ‘Murder!’ and ran into the middle of the road, where he threw her down and accomplished his dreadful crime. The murderer is now in the hands of the Windsor Police.”

The Stamford Mercury, 3rd April, 1896.

Once again the issue of a north-south bypass raised its head. Some people welcomed it, but traders were worried that traffic would no longer come through the town centre and they would lose custom. After much debate and discussion in the 1920s, 30s and 50s, the bypass was finally opened in October, 1960.

“The question of the proposed bye-pass road though Stamford affords reason for serious consideration of other matters directly concerned with the welfare and progress of the borough.

In the old coaching days Stamford, by reason of its situation on the main trunk road between London and York, was an important and thriving centre, but with the advent of railways its progress, if not altogether stopped, was seriously impeded in favour of Peterborough, which since, ‘the great iron road’ was laid through that city, has reaped the benefit of enhanced commerce and all that follows in its wake.

To-day the roads are coming into their own once more, and now is the time for Stamford authorities to make every endeavour to regain what the town lost by reason of its isolation by the then modern means of transport.

It is freely mentioned that if the municipality does not carry out a scheme whereby better facilities are provided for the ever-increasing road traffic, the Ministry concerned will build a main road, which in all probability will run some miles west of the town, with the consequent result that Stamford will be once more left ‘high-and-dry’ – with every likelihood of never again having an opportunity of regaining its position.”

The Stamford Mercury, 17th June, 1927.