The Isle of Wight 150 years ago.Extracts from the Hampshire Telegraph.November 1862 |
1 November 1862
A public meeting of the burgesses was held at the Grapes
Tavern on the Tuesday evening, for the purpose of nominating three candidates as
Town Councillors for the South Ward, in the room of Messrs. Samuel Pring, Dr.
Wavell, and H. Loosemore, whose term of office has expired. Mr. Town Councillor
R. Pinnock filled that the chair on this occasion, but the attendance was far
from numerous. The chairman having stated the object of the meeting Mr. M.
Morgan proposed the re-election of Mr. Pring, who had now been in the Council
for 27 years, having entered it on the passing of the Municipal Act, and have
always done his duty to his constituents. Mr Edward Upward seconded the
proposition. Mr. John May then proposed that Robert Miller Wavell, Esq., be
re-elected, which was seconded by Mr. J. D. Wright. Mr. W. Williams next
proposed the re-election of Mr. H. Loosemore, which was seconded by Mr. H.
Sheppard, and there being no other person proposed, the chairman signified to
the three candidates that the necessary steps will be taken to ensure their
election this day (Saturday). The three nominees having returned thanks the
meeting dissolved. The three retiring members for the North Ward are Mr. R.
Pittis, Mr. R. Stratton, and Mr. E. L. Hackett, again through as yet, we have
heard of no opposition.
COUNTY PETTY SESSIONS. -
William Hendy, labourer, was charged by William MacKay, the master of the barque
Ellen Horsfall, which was driven on
shore near Grange on 19 October, with stealing from the wreck a long line and
reel, belonging to the ship, and which was found concealed over the oven in the
prisoner’s cottage, in Compton-fields, Atherfield. Prisoner, in his defence,
said he picked up the article a mile from the wreck on the seashore, and he took
it home, thinking it would be useful to him as a garden line. Prisoner’s master,
Mr. Heal, having given him an excellent character for honesty, the court let him
off the payment of 18s. 6d. damages, fine, and costs.
BOROUGH COURT. - James Sackman, an apprentice to Mr.
James Dyer, a millwright at Nodehill, was charged with continually absenting
himself from work. It was stated by complainant that during the three years in
which the prisoner had been apprenticed to him he has been absent for 38 weeks,
he said that if prisoner with promised to keep his time for the future he didn't
want him to be punished. Prisoner gave the required promise and was discharged
with a strong admonition as to his future conduct and on the payment of costs.
Henry King, 11, charged with stealing a cricket ball, the
property of James Wensley, of the High-street, stationer, pleaded guilty, and
was committed for 14 days.
William Elliott, charged with throwing a stone of 1lb.
weight at a poor cripple, named Theresa Austin, and injuring her leg, was fined
10s.
RYDE. – THE YACHTING SEASON. - The season of 1862, as
regards yachting, has been brought to a close, not one yacht being now upon the
station. The last season may be considered an exceptional one, and we confessed
to a profound feeling of respect for every yacht owner who, in deference to the
sorrow of the surviving patron of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, were willing to
defer until next season the more active demonstrations of yachting life. We
trust next year will open upon us with renewed life and vigour as respects the
undertakings of the Royal Victoria Yacht club. We have to congratulate our
neighbours upon an arrangement which has been made with the Board of Trade for
hoisting Admiral Fitzroy's storm signals at the Royal Victoria Yacht Clubhouse
at Ryde. The first was raised on Sunday last, containing the following words –
“A gale, probably from the South.”
8 November 1862
A PUBLIC MEETING of the inhabitants of the borough was
held at the Town Hall on Monday evening, the mayor, Francis Pittis, Esq., in the
chair, for the purpose of determining whether any and what measures should be
taken for celebrating the birthday of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. There was a
very numerous and respectable assemblage, and after some hours of interesting
discussion, it was resolved if the subscription should prove sufficient, to
brilliantly illuminates the outside of the town Hall with gas devices, &c., and
be regale the poor women with plenty of coffee and some cake in the market
place, on Monday next, to issue a distribution of coal, meat, &c., to the poor,
and to celebrate the auspicious event by holding the usual Corporation dinner in
the town hall, instead of at the Bugle Inn, in order to allow as many of the
inhabitants as choose to join in the festivities to be present. A strong
committee was appointed to collect subscriptions, and carry out the
arrangements, and after a cordial vote of thanks have been awarded to the mayor
for his kindness in calling the meeting, and for the ability he displayed in
conducting it, the assembly disbursed, with very strong hopes of being fully
able to carry out in full everything which have been suggested. We understand
that since the meeting was held the committee have abandoned the idea of having
a double dinner on Wednesday, at the Town Hall, on account of the inconvenience
it will occasion to the county and borough magistrates, and of the damage and
expense it will cause by pulling down the fittings, so the dinner will be held
at the Bugle Inn instead.
BOROUGH
COURT. - Elizabeth Lewis, a common prostitute,
charged by P.C. Jolliffe with being drunk in the streets was fined 10s. and in
default of payment, committed for one month.
COUNTY PETTY SESSIONS. - Elizabeth Riley, aged 13, a
domestic servant, in the employ of Frederic Woodford, landlord of the Wheat
Sheaf Tavern, at Ryde, was charged with stealing a prayer book and other
articles, the property of Isaac Salter, of Ryde, a dealer in fancy goods. There
were several other small ornaments, &c. found on searching the prisoner's box,
for which no owner could be discovered. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and was
committed to 6 weeks to hard labour.
Mary Ann Riley, the mother of the above offender,
employed as a charwoman at the Wheat Sheaf Tavern, was charged by Mr. F.
Woodford with stealing three glasses and a vegetable dish, his property. It
appeared by the evidence that the prisoner had left prosecutor’s residence to go
home to Newport on the Wednesday preceding, but being too late for the coach,
she returned and solicited a bed for the night, which was granted her.
Suspecting her honesty and having detected the thieving propensities of her
daughter, the prosecutor searched the prisoner’s basket, and having discovered
three of his own glasses, wrapped up in his wife's handkerchief; on searching
her house in Cosham-street, Newport, he found the vegetable dish then produced.
The prisoner pleaded guilty, and was committed to hard labour for three months.
RYDE. – ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ROYAL ISLE OF WIGHT
INFIRMARY. - On Wednesday last, at noon, the above meeting took place in the
board room of the institution, A. F. Leeds, Esq., in the chair. The report was
not very satisfactory as regards annual subscribers, which were less than they
had been for 12 years. The active exertions of the committee have brought up the
total receipts rather above those of last year. The out-going governors, Captain
Condamine, Rev. C.U. Barry, and W. H. Gillson, Esq., were re-elected, and to
extraordinary vacancies were filled by the appointment of - Peters, Esq., and
Dr. Learmouth. There were six candidates for the appointment of house surgeon;
Mr. Cook of Greenock, was appointed. Mr. G. H. Case, the retiring medical
officer leaves with the respect and esteem of everyone with whom he has come in
contact, on account of the attentive, and gentlemanly manner in which he has
carried out the duties of his office.
15 November 1862
COWES. - The coming of age of the Prince of Wales was a
celebrated at Cowes on Monday last in a very consistent manner. A committee
having been appointed and subscriptions collected, it was resolved that the
children of the different schools in the town should be treated with tea, cake,
&c., and that the aged poor should be regaled at the Town-hall with beef and
ham, cake and tea, which was accordingly done, to the gratification of all,
whether recipients or donors. Great credit is due to the committee for the way
in which a laborious and often and irksome duty was carried out. To the Misses
Ward, of West Hill, the best thanks of all are due for their kind aid enabling
the work to be effectively carried out, and Mr. Hamilton, of Harriet Lodge,
manifested his liberality by distributing, through his agent, a goodly sum of
money to the poor and aged widows.
ISLE OF WIGHT PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. -This society has
placed itself in connection with the Society of Arts, and we hope that the young
men of the island will avail themselves of the opportunity of competing for
certificates, the possession of which has been found, in many cases, the means
of placing the holders of them in lucrative and honourable situations. The
candidates are allowed to choose the subjects upon which they offer themselves
for examination. A meeting took place at the institution, Melville-street, last
evening, when the subject was fully discussed. On Monday next the third lecture
for the session will be delivered in the town-hall by Sir John Simeon, Bart., on
“The Philosophy of Language.” The worthy baronet made such a favourable
impression when he last lectured in Ryde that there is every reason to
anticipate a full room on Monday next.
22 November 1862
We regret to state that our once flourishing Mechanics’
Institute ceased to exist on Monday last, having perished for want of support in
its thirty-eight year. The neglect and apathy of the working classes for whose
benefit it was originally established, caused it to decay rapidly during the last
few years, and having become insolvent, its valuable library of 1300 volumes of
books, &c., are to be sold by auction on Thursday evening, for the benefit of
creditors.
A CORONER’ INQUEST was held before Mr. F. Blake at the
Castle Inn, Carisbrooke, on Monday evening, on the body of a newly-born female
infant, which had been discovered by Dr. Wilkins, concealed under the roof of a
house in that village, occupied by the Rev. Mr. Butt, the curate of Carisbrooke
Church. It appeared that by the evidence of Mrs. Butt that she had engaged a
servant girl from Ryde, named Renton, about a month since as cook and general
servant, but had not noticed anything very suspicious in her appearance, until
the morning of Saturday last, when having been unwell during the night, and
complaining of a cold in the back, she was induced to examine her bedroom, and
from some strange appearances she sent for Dr. Wilkins, who taxed the girl with
having been confined, she hesitated at first, but at last stated that she
had miscarried, and pointed to a small door under the roof, as the place where
the child was deposited, and from whence she afterwards bought out a full-grown
infant, which was dead and cold. The evidence of the Dr. went to prove that the
child had breathed, but that it came to his death from suffacation. The jury
took a lenient view of the case, and found a verdict that the child had been
“Accidentally suffocated.” The offender, when sufficiently recovered, will be
taken before the county magistrates, and no doubt committed for trial for
concealing the birth.
BOROUGH COURT. - The Overseers of the parish of
Carisbrooke, again applied for a warrant to enforce the payment of a four years’
rating from Mr. Samuel Dyer, grocer, of Newport, under the powers of the Small
Tenements Act, for certain premises to which he was rated as owner. On the last
occasion it was urged by Mr. J. H. Hearn, for the defendant, that the chairman
of the Vestry not having attached his name to the minute book of the proceedings
of the meeting when the act was adopted, the omission was fatal and the adoption
illegal, when the court adjourned the hearing for the purpose of allowing the
Overseers to produce further evidence, and on this occasion they produced the
poll book, which had been regularly signed, and the courts therefore held it to
be a part and parcel of the proceedings, and a proof that the act had been
legally adopted. Mr. Hearn now brought forward a variety of other objections,
and was ably met by Mr. Thomas Urry, the attorney for the applicants (his maiden
brief), but having neglected to prove by evidence that the defendant was the
owner of the property in question, the application was again dismissed, after a
discussion which lasted for hours. Another three hours was taken up in hearing
the evidence upon a claim brought by the Town Council of Newport against the
late Overseers of Carisbrooke, for the arrears of a lighting rate amounting to
£83, Mr. Jas. Eldridge appearing for the corporation, and Mr. Field, of Gosport,
and Mr. Tizard, of Weymouth, for the defendants, but the discussion turning upon
dry points of law, of no interest to the public at large, we need only to add
that the case appeared so complicated that the court adjourned the further
hearing for a fortnight.
RYDE. – SHIPWRECKED MARINERS SOCIETY. - On Sunday last
two sermons were preached in St. James's Church in aid of the above society,
that any morning by the incumbent, the Rev. H. Ewbank, and that any evening by
the Rev. F. Sullivan. The collections amounted to £18 17s, 6d.
A MAN DROWNED IN THE FERRY COMPANY’S BASIN. - On Tuesday
evening last, about seven o'clock, a man named Whittington, in the employ of
Messrs. Oakley and Co., went to the quay of the above company, along with another
man, to leave some trucks until the following morning. The companion of the
deceased went away with the horse that had drawn the trucks, leaving Whittington
to follow. Nothing more was heard of the deceased that night. This excited no
unease, his wife being accustomed to his occasional absence at Ventnor, where his
employment sometimes took him, and where at times he slept. The next
morning, as he did not go to his work, enquiries were made about him, and
suspicions arose that possibly he might have fallen into the dock basin, as
the night was very dark, and there was no gaslight on the quay. The basin was
dragged, and the body discovered. It was conveyed to the Coast Guard station.
The deceased was 44 years of age, and leaves a widow and one child. An inquest
was held on Thursday afternoon, at four o'clock, at the Duke of Wellington,
Pier-street, before F. Blake, Esq., the coroner for the island. The jury
returned a verdict of “Accidentally drowned.”
SERIOUS ACCIDENT FROM FURIOUS DRIVING. - On Tuesday
afternoon, about three o'clock, as William Chessell, an aged man, was at work on
the road at St. John’s, breaking stones, one of Pescott’s vans was driven out a
furious rate down the hill, and knocked the old man down, who was exceedingly deaf,
which accounts for his not getting out of the way. The unfortunate man was at
once conveyed to the Infirmary, where he received every necessary attention.
Upon examination it appeared that Chessell had received one severe scalp wound,
and two others less serious. Sergeant Mitchell proceed at once to Messrs.
Pescott’s yard, where he apprehended James Skates, the driver of the van,
and conveyed him to the station-house. On Wednesday, as the wounded man could
not be removed without danger, T.T. Fowke, Esq., and T. M. Leacock, Esq.,
magistrates, went to the Infirmary, to take the evidence of Chessell, after
which James Skates was brought before them. The evidence of the parties who
witnessed the occurrence was quite conclusive, and was to the effect that the
prisoner was driving into the most reckless manner, at the rate of twelve
miles an hour. The prisoner was committed for trial to the next assizes, but if he could obtain bail, to the quarter sessions.
29 November 1862
COUNTY PETTY SESSIONS. - Ann Elisabeth Renton, of Ryde,
was brought before the magistrates on a charge of having concealed the birth of
a female infant child whilst in the service at the Rev. H. Bull’s, the curate of
Carisbrooke, but not having recovered from her consequent illness, the court
remanded to till this day (Saturday).
William Pressy, a labourer at Niton Farm, was charged
with flinging a beer can at the head of a boy named William Hayles, also working
on the farm, which inflicted a frightful wound on the scalp. Defendant said he
flung the can in a passion because the boy wanted all the beer, and that he
didn't intended to injure him. Fined 17s. 6d.
William Woodford, an itinerant
collector of “unconsidered trifles,”
remanded from the previous sitting on a charge of having in his possession
several pounds weight of metal sheeting, having produced the person he purchased
it of, was discharged but the metal from the vessel was detained, being
shipwrecked material.
Barnabas Brading, a labour employed at the gas works at
Fareham was charged with leaving his wife and family chargeable to the guardians
of the poor; the Relieving Officer, Mr. R. S. Hearn, proving that he had
advanced upwards of £5 towards relieving the prisoner's wife and children since
he absconded in June last. On the understanding that his employer would refund a
portion of this sum the court ordered the prisoner to be discharged.
VENTNOR. – CAUTION TO LODGING-HOUSE KEEPERS AND
TRADESMEN. - A few days ago a person calling herself Miss West went to Dr.
Martine to consult him, and she also asked his opinion respecting apartments,
and the lady engaged respectable room for herself and maid, stating at the same
time that her doctor at Ryde drove her over to Ventnor in his own carriage to
prevent her taking cold. In the course of Saturday she visited some of the
drapers, purchasing some good, and giving orders for a mantle to be trimmed with
velvet. She also ordered a church service at a bookseller’s, wine, ale, spirits,
&c. and engaged sittings at Holy Trinity Church. Her maid not having arrived
with the luggage, she borrowed some underclothing of her landlady on Sunday, and
hired a carriage to take her to church in the evening. The next morning Dr.
Martin called on her by appointment and was much surprised to find her out. In
the course of the day she gave orders for groceries to be sent to her lodgings,
and about six o'clock she went to another tradesmen, purchased a few articles
and borrowed 5s. In the course of the Monday afternoon she also engaged other
apartments for six months, and had tea, bed, and breakfast, and then took her
departure. One of the tradesmen who were victimized gives the following
description of her:- About 30 or 35 years of age, middle height, grey bonnet,
dark brown shawl, small checked dress, no crinoline, and keeps a black fall over
her face.
The Isle of Wight 150 years ago