1892

  A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE 

 1892

PS SPARROW - A FRACTURED SKULL

  In the middle of the night in November 1991 John Smith of Liverpool and John Bosely alias Brown of Sheffield attempted a break in at Tanshelf Station booking office. They were spotted by PC Drewitt and they set off down the lines towards Featherstone. A telephone message was sent to the Featherstone signal box and the signalman, who had just seen Sergeant Sparrow, shouted for the sergeant to come back.

  Sergeant Sparrow rounded up four of his policemen and they set off in different directions to find the two men, the sergeant going up the lines towards Pontefract where he came across them both. They set about the sergeant but he managed to blow his whistle. PC Whittaker dashed up and seized and handcuffed Smith. Sergeant Sparrow and Bosely were still struggling and PC Whittaker managed to drag them both off the lines just before a train would have run them down. John Bosely managed to escape and run off, but he was collared by PC Watson.

  Both were put up before the magistrates who were told Bosely had kicked Sparrow as he was locked in a struggle with Smith, and Sergeant Sparrow was now confined to bed with his skull fractured in two places. They were committed to trial at Leeds Assizes and were put in the cells.

  Bosely took his cell to pieces and found an old rusty chisel which had been overlooked by workmen doing repairs. He chiselled enough out of the door to enable him to get his head and arm through and pick the lock and make good his escape. He was recaptured in time for the court case.

  By the middle of February 1892 Sergeant Sparrow was out and about and improving. For his part in the arrest of the two men he was appointed to the Class of Merit. This entitled him to wear "Merit" on his uniform sleeve and he would receive an extra two pence a day. PC Whittaker was awarded an extra penny a day.

  Both prisoners were put up at Leeds Assizes in April. PC Sparrow was still not fully recovered and gave his evidence sitting down. It was said in evidence his head was banged on the railway line several times and three of his teeth had been knocked loose by a stone thrown by Smith. He had been kicked in the head by Bosely.

  Dr Buncle said the right side of PS Sparrow's head was a mass of pulp and one wound extended through the skull. At one time his condition was dangerous and he had been off duty for three months. The judge awarded Sergeant Sparrow £20 out of the court funds as a reward for his courage.

  The jury found both men guilty and recommended PC Whittaker for promotion. The judge then awarded PC Whittaker £2 and sentenced both men to seven years in jail. Three months later the directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company awarded one guinea each to Charles Mead, the signalman at Tanshelf, and George Carter, the signalman at Featherstone, in recognition of the prompt action they took in connection with the attempted burglary.
  The certificate below given to Joseph Sparrow is from the original in the West Yorkshire Police Archives.

             

  The Photo below of PC Whittaker is from the Tony Lumb Collection.

SCHOOL OVERCROWDING

  In April Miss Bird told the School Board the attendance in the Infants' School was now 276 causing overcrowding. She was told she would have to make the best of it and not admit any child under age.

  After the schools inspection the Education Department wrote to the School Board saying the Girls' School was now over full, the closet accommodation was not sufficient, and suggesting a new school for infants be built at the north side of the station and a bridge provided at the station. The Regent Street Infants' School could then be used by the girls.

  The School Board did not agree that a new school should be built elsewhere and said there was enough room on the present site. They decided to press the railway company to get on with the subway which had been promised for years and they sent a copy of the relevant paragraph from the Education Department to strengthen their case. Miss Cockerham's salary was raised to £80.

  The railway company bought the land for the station improvements in May but still did nothing, but after the Education Department took an interest they gave a contract to Messrs Leake and Sons of Normanton to build a subway, a new booking office, waiting rooms and extend the platforms. It had taken the Local Board more than ten years of pressing for the changes but they got there in the end.
  The photo of the station with the subway installed is from the Tony Lumb Collection. 

    In September Mr Ingam, the organising visitor of schools in the Archdeaconry of York, visited Purston National School (a church school) and said some improvements were necessary. A meeting of parents was called and a committee formed to raise funds for a new store, extra skylights, and repairs to the walls, cloak lobbies and lavatory.

  The School Board won their dispute with the Education Department and were given permission to build additional premises in Regent Street to cut out the overcrowding. On Christmas Eve the Board decided to build a new school for girls, and Mr J H Greaves of Pontefract was instructed to prepare plans and costs for a building to accommodate 300 pupils or alternatively one for 400 pupils.   

   

AN INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL

In  May the Local Board announced it was in discussion with Normanton Local Board about a joint hospital scheme and was also to have discussions with Pontefract Rural Sanitary Authority. In August the Local Government Board told Featherstone Local Board to get a move on with a hospital for infectious cases. The Local Board then announced they would go it alone and some land had been offered. Plans were in hand for a corrugated iron building containing two wards each with four beds, plus accommodation for a nurse and a caretaker.

  In September Dr Buncle reported an outbreak of smallpox in Fox's buildings. He had done his best to isolate the victims in the absence of an isolation hospital. The Local Board agreed to purchase forthwith an iron hospital at a cost of £216. It would take ten days to make it and ten days to erect it, but the owner of the land decided he wanted £8 a year rent for ten years which the Board considered excessive.

  In October the Express commented we are exceedingly pleased to announce the danger of the extension of smallpox in the district of the Featherstone Local Board appears to have been surmounted. Of the two persons struck down two weeks ago, one is completely cured and is able to follow his business, while the other is convalescent and will shortly be able to resume his usual occupation. The public are deeply indebted to the medical officer of health Dr Buncle, and also to his assistant Dr Steven for the admirable tact, skill and care shown in the effort to restrict the disease by isolating the patients to the utmost extent possible under the circumstances. These gentlemen, as also the surveyor of the Board (James Fearnley), have been most assiduous in their efforts to prevent the disease from spreading, and it is a matter for profound thankfulness that their exertions have been attended with such complete success. The experience thus gained by the local sanitary authority ought to stimulate that body to prompt action in the vital matter of providing hospital accommodation.

  There was another outbreak of smallpox in November at the house of John Cook in Crossley Street. The hospital was still not ready so the patients could not be removed. The bedding was burned on the order of the Local Board on the spare land near the Girls' School. John Cook's infant son died soon after at 11am in the morning. The sexton at the cemetery was informed and the burial took place at 4pm the same day.

  After this further outbreak the Local Board agreed to borrow £626 and get on with the hospital as soon as possible.

NORTH FEATHERSTONE DRAINAGE AND LIGHTING

  In January Major-General Henry Derby Crozier came to the Board's room in Station Lane to hold an inquiry on behalf of the Local Government Board into the application for £800 to drain North Featherstone.

  For the Local Board it was said there was still £3,789 outstanding on the loan of £6,324 for draining South Featherstone and Purston, and £6,193 on the loan of £6,600 for the water supply. The delay in this drainage scheme was because of the difficulty in obtaining land. This had now been agreed as a 30 years lease from Lord Masham at £2 per acre plus 10s a year for easement for pipes. The only problem was Mr Carter's house where the kitchen was nine feet below the level of the road.

  Dr Buncle said he was anxious to see the scheme completed and he had said so in his annual report for ten years. There were no objections to the scheme, and in June the Local Board received a letter from the Local Government Board saying a loan of £800 would be recommended to the Public Works Loan Commission at 3% for 30 years.

  In March the National Telephone Company asked the Local Board for permission to erect 25 poles from Old Featherstone to Ackton Hall Colliery and another five along Pontefract Road. The Board decided to ask if they could be used for electric lights.

  An agreement for the lighting of North Featherstone by electricity was still not ready in April. Of the draft agreement sent back to the Local Board by Mr Holiday the clerk said there are red alterations and they are altered to black. It is quite a picture.

  In September it was discovered the lamps intended for North Featherstone were prohibited in this country. A further 25 were being tried at Ackton Hall Colliery but they would not be ready for the winter. It was agreed to repair the oil lamps as a temporary measure.

REVD STEBBING AND FUNERALS

Revd Stebbing always seemed to be at variance with the Burial Board and the public over funerals. He complained about funerals arriving at the cemetery on a Sunday later than the appointed time and said in future the corpse would have to be taken home until Monday.

  He asked the Burial Board to raise his burial fee from 1s 6d to 2s 6d. The Board wrote to the Home Secretary for advice but he replied it was nothing to do with the Burial Board and should be settled by a vestry meeting with the sanction of the bishop.

  In June Revd Stebbing refused to conduct the funeral of Thomas Scoltock on a Sunday afternoon. The mourners had to wait until a Methodist Free Church preacher was contacted and he took the service.

  There was much local criticism of the plight of Thomas Scoltock's mourners and in his defence Revd Stebbing wrote to the Express saying he had already held one Sunday funeral at 2pm and he had requested Thomas Scoltock's funeral should be at the same time instead of 4.30pm. He took the first funeral and the other did not show and he refused to do another at 4.30pm because of other Sunday commitments. 

 SCAVENGING

  One big problem with the drainage system was from the bottom of Station Lane to the sewage works there was very little fall in the pipe line, so when Lord Masham planned to install "patent tips" in his new housing estate off Wakefield Road in order to get the sewage into the drainage system, the Local Board feared the drains would be blocked and persuaded him to install privies instead.

  In August Dr Buncle said at Fox's Buildings (three houses in Purston) the privies were only emptied once a year and the refuse taken through the house. The board issued an order for the nuisance to be abated.

  In October Dr Buncle and David Denton said the state of many of the ashpits and closets was disgusting and a disgrace to the board. Members of the board expressed the opinion that at an early date the board would have to take over responsibility for scavenging.

WATER PROBLEMS

  In June a letter was received by the Local Board from Wakefield Corporation saying they wanted to treat the water with carbonate of soda to avoid lead poisoning and did the Local Board have any objections. Dr Buncle advised the board that Wakefield Corporation should be made to stick to the contract, by legal means if necessary. Wakefield should change their lead pipes rather than harden the water.

  It was agreed to pay Mr Paterson the £50 outstanding on his contract of £300 for overseeing the mains water installation. The board also decided the best reply to Mr Firth of Scarborough over the dispute about the reservoir was that he owed them £300 under the contract (because the roof had fallen in and it leaked). It was agreed to write again saying if he did not pay a writ would be issued. 

 
THE COUNCIL OFFICES

  In May the Local Board decided to buy a water cart even though there was nowhere to keep it. Board member Mr Bennett said the present system of meeting in a single upstairs room and the board's vehicles being stored at different places could go on no longer. He proposed the board build offices, a surveyor's house and outbuildings for horses and carts. He said land had been bought in 1882 for £147 and more in 1885 for £166 but nothing further had been done, and in the meantime the board were paying £25 a year rent for their present room. The other members of the board agreed and the proposal was passed.

  At the next meeting the surveyor produced plans for these buildings at an estimated cost of £1,600, so the board applied to the Local Government Board for permission to borrow £2,000.

  At the November meeting the board received notice to quit their present room by next April. The clerk said the original rental agreement was for a yearly tenancy, therefore the board could not be turned out until next October.

  The Local Government Board agreed to the loan and the board went out to tender. Six firms sent tenders from £1,895 to £2,050. it was decided to accept the lowest from Messrs Brown of Gomersal.

1892 NEWS ITEMS

JANUARY  Mr W Longbottom aged 26 of Green Lane worked on the surface at Featherstone Main Colliery. He was hit on the head by a lump of coal and killed. The inquest jury gave their fees to the dependent mother.

  Dr Buncle had been entertaining visitors, and the afternoon before they left he sent their portmanteaus and a Gladstone bag to the station. When the visitors arrived for an evening train the Gladstone bag had been stolen. "This should be a warning to travellers from Featherstone Station" commented the Express.

  Featherstone Hall was undergoing a thorough and much needed renovation prior to being occupied by Alfred Holiday. It was in a very dilapidated condition and had been previously been lived in by Revd Stebbing and Mr North, a cattle dealer. New windows and doors were being put in, central heating installed, and electricity was being supplied from Ackton Hall Colliery. The roof was being re-slated and it was claimed it would be one of the finest houses in the neighbourhood when the restoration was completed.

 Featherstone Hall. A photo from Ian Clayton.

  The Local Board agreed to take over Green Lane as a public highway to give direct access to Normanton. Lord Masham, John Shaw and John Rhodes were to be asked to give the stone to make the highway. The Board also agreed to repair Gas House Lane as a footpath and to lay ashes prior to it being flagged. A proposal to erect three lamps was turned down.

  Hannah Ellison, a small shopkeeper in Station Lane, was summonsed for selling margarine as butter. Supt Whincup said he bought one pound of "butter" from her shop and on analysis it was found to be mostly margarine. Hannah produced invoices to show she had bought it as real butter and the case was dismissed.

FEBRUARY Two extra policemen were sent to patrol Station Lane and the immediate neighbourhood. The Express commented the well ordered inhabitants of the places referred to will be glad of this attention.

  Dances were being held in the Boys' School but the chairman of the School Board said he was not in favour. It was agreed all futures applications would have to be checked by the board. 

  The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company agreed to put on a train from Pontefract for miners to get to Featherstone collieries in time for a 6am start. The Express commented this will be a great boon to a large number of workmen in the district and the experiment should turn out a success.

  Featherstone Trinity were beaten 16-0 in the Charlsworth Challenge Cup final at Castleford. The competition was held to raise funds for Clayton Hospital. At the presentation it was said with practice the Featherstone team will become one of the leading junior clubs in the district.

MARCH  The railway company reported the average on the early morning train was 91 passengers and 65 on the returning 2.30pm special.  This was not enough to guarantee it continuing.

  Eleven miners were fined for gambling with coins in Church Fields.

  The Local Board agreed to purchase a steam roller at a cost of £500 including the shed to put it in. The West Riding County Council would allow 30s for each day it was at work on their roads, and it would also be available for hire.

  The School Board agreed to let the Featherstone girls employed at Wilkinson's Liquorice Works at Pontefract have the Boys' School for a social evening.

APRIL  The result of the Local Board elections was J T Bennett 899 votes, James Booth 850, John Waller 550, S Coward 469 and George Senior 367. The first three were elected and Booth replaced Coward. John Waller was unanimously elected chairman and the new board fixed a rate of 1s 2d for the half year.

  Dr Buncle did not apply for the position of medical officer of health to Pontefract Corporation thus ending an association begun in 1884 which had caused a great deal of controversy at times because some of the elected representatives at Pontefract wanted a local man for the job.

  W Jaques and A Cooper raced three miles for a ten guinea prize. Jaques gave 40 yards start and won by five yards.

MAY  The annual meeting of Featherstone Trinity Football Club elected Dr Steven as president. The accounts showed £18 7s 6d had been paid for a new grandstand. It was agreed to call on tradesmen and others for a subscription to clear the deficit of £16.

JUNE  The railway company decided to withdraw the miners' early morning train from Pontefract and the afternoon return because of lack of support.

  The Featherstone Main Accident Society agreed to increase the weekly payments to members on the club (injured or ill) from 8s a week to 10s a week and 5s for young miners. It was also agreed those not going on the trip to Southport would receive 2s. Two special trains were booked for the outing and 990 trippers left at 5.30am and did not get back until after midnight.

  The gas company gave three months notice to discontinue supplying gas to the Board's street lights in order to negotiate a new contract.

  George Bateman aged 41 of Purston had been suffering from melancholia for up to eight months when he hanged himself with a cord from the ceiling while his wife was at Pontefract market. The inquest jury's verdict was he committed suicide by hanging himself while in a state of unsound mind.

  It was reported to the Local Board a man, wife and three children were living in a wooden hut in George Street. They had been offered the shed because they had nowhere to sleep. The medical officer and surveyor were instructed to see they were put out.

JULY  John Austin, the Liberal candidate for the forthcoming general election, was pulled along Station Lane in his carriage (minus horses) by admirers who followed Featherstone Brass Band and miners from Snydale Colliery with their new banner. He was to have addressed a meeting in the Boys' School, but so many turned up it was held in the Girls' School playground.

  The next day the Conservative candidate, Mr C B Dobson, held a similar procession. His meeting was held in the Boys' School yard but many of the crowd made it known their sympathy lay with Mr Austin.

  The voting for the Osgoldcross constituency was Austin 5,160, Dobson 3,284.

  The members of the Reading Room agreed to send a deputation to the Local Board asking for the new offices to include a public meeting room and the board should adopt the Free Libraries Act. Both were turned down.

AUGUST  Plans were passed for the erection of 115 houses for Lord Masham in a field on Wakefield Road.

  The Express reported there were hundreds of additional workers at Ackton Hall Colliery doing enlarging work, the main scheme being the sinking of a new shaft to the Silkstone Seam. It was intended to make it one of the largest concerns in Yorkshire. Hundreds of cottages (terraced houses) had been built plus a Wakefield co-operative store, a hotel and many shops. It was suggested the Local Board should build a market hall.

  The Burial Board asked the Local Board to lay a water main from the Bradley Arms to the cemetery but they were turned down. The cemetery paths and entrance had been asphalted by George Spurr of Pontefract. The Burial Board examined the work and declared themselves highly satisfied at the excellent manner in which the work was carried out.

  Maria Northern was severely burned when her nightdress caught fire as she was reaching for the shelf. She died the same day.

  Mr Spafford, a joiner, presented Featherstone Brass Band with a pitch pine bandstand capable of holding 30 players. It was used for the first time in the cricket field to raise funds for new instruments.

  A collision occurred in thick fog in Purston between a horse drawn cab and a greengrocer's cart. Both drivers claimed damages in Pontefract County Court but the judge decided they were equally to blame and they would have to pay for the damage to the other vehicle.

  23,000 cabbage plants had been planted at the sewage works and it was claimed at a Local Board meeting Lord St Oswald's rabbits had eaten the lot at a cost to the Board of £40.

  The Local Board had offered 4s per 1,000 cubic feet to the gas company for the street lighting but they demanded 4s 6d. The Board then offered 4s 3d as a compromise but that was refused. Inquiries to other local authorities showed Pontefract paid 2s 10d and Knottingley 3s 11d.

  Because of the rapidly increasing population a full licence was granted to the New Inn beerhouse and also to Carter's Knottingley Brewery for the proposed Featherstone Hotel.

OCTOBER  James Fearnley sent in his resignation as the Local Board's nuisance inspector. He said the increasing building work and drains and sewers meant he had to spend all his time as Board surveyor. The Board agreed to advertise the part-time job at £40 a year plus £10 for work required by the Dairies and Cowsheds Act. There were eleven applicants and Alfred Freeman, a Featherstone mason, was appointed. A rate of 1s 2d was fixed for the half-year.

  Heavy rain caused the Went Beck to flood and the fires in the gas retorts in Gas House Lane had to be put out. As a result all the street lights were out all weekend.

  Joseph Corder aged 62 had been a fish dealer in Featherstone but had returned to Staffordshire. He came back to Featherstone to see a young man who had lived with him. After he left he was found on the Halfpenny Lane railway crossing cut to pieces.

  There was a stack fire at Monkroyd Farm owned by Mr J H Wilkinson. Pontefract fire brigade was sent for but they could do nothing to stop it spreading to adjoining property. Arson was suspected and the damage was estimated at £250.

NOVEMBER  Featherstone and Keighley played in the semi-final of the Dunhill Charity Cup and it was a 4-4 draw. In the replay at Keighley the home team won 6-4 but Featherstone objected because the Keighley side included Jake Bestow who had already played in the competition for Bingley. The objection was upheld and a replay was arranged for Castleford. This meant the final had to be postponed for a week.

  Featherstone won 9-0 and qualified to meet Castleford in the final at Pontefract. The Featherstone Brass Band led 1.000 spectators to the ground in Skinner Lane but Featherstone lost 5-0.

DECEMBER  700 people were invited to tea in the Boys' School to celebrate the coming of age of Byron Austin the elder son of the local Liberal MP.

  Reuben Peace aged 34, the head banksman at Ackton Hall Colliery, was oiling the winding rope by putting planks across the shaft and standing on them to put oil on the rope as it was pulled up by the winding engine. He didn't notice the cage coming up and it upset the planks and he fell down the shaft. George Horbury was with him but he survived by grabbing the rope but he suffered a smashed leg in the headgear.

  At the inquest on Peace, who left a wife and seven children, William Smales, the enginewright, was criticised by the coroner for allowing such a system to be used. The jury decided it was accidental death and Smales should be given a reprimand. The coroner called him in and told him the jury considered a certain amount of blame was attached to him and he ought to have prevented such an accident. The jury gave their fees to the widow.

  William Hartley had built 12 houses in Common Lane and he had put in cellars not shown on the plans submitted to the Local Board. Also the offices (privies and ash middens) were too close to the houses. Mr Hartley was ordered to move the offices further away and fill in the cellars.

  The surveyor told the board they had no power to compel the cellars to be filled in, so the board decided to summons Mr Hartley instead for not obeying the bye-laws.

  Pontefract Corporation asked the Local Board if they would join in a project to make Halfpenny Lane into a road, but the board refused saying it was not necessary. The Express criticised the board for not consulting the ratepayers first.

  Mary Ann Griffiths sued George Evans, a waggonette proprietor, for £50 after his horse bolted and knocked her down. It also knocked down Fred Mason, a child, whose father sued for £5. George Evans said the horse bolted because a little boy named Jonah Davis struck it with a whip.

  His Honour told the jury George Evans was liable for negligence but he was sure they would reduce the claim because of Jonah Davis. The jury awarded £15 to Mary Griffiths and two guineas to Fred Mason.