Old Southport news articles detailing tragedies, murders and suffering plus some lighter news in days gone by. Taken from a number of different newspapers, source quoted after each article.
Between one and two o’clock yesterday morning a fire broke out at the Zoo Park, Southport, about two miles from the centre of the town. The outbreak occurred at what is known as the great stable, which contained manu wild animals. It was first noticed by a boy, who ran and infirmed Mr Ridings, the manager of the Richmond Hotel, which is partly situated in the park grounds. There flames were not subdued until the whole of the great stable had been destroyed.
When the fire had been put out the remains of the animals presented a sickening sight, and were charred out of recognition. They included two elephants, a camel, a dromedary, a bison, many kinds of deer, goats, antelopes, a rare zebra, a cassowary, a Brazilian tapir, and other valuable stock. Several small pony carriages, in which children were accustomed to ride, were also destroyed.
Source: Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer
While repairing the wall of a house in Irving street, Southport, today a builders labourer, Geoffrey Ball (25), Poulton Road, met with an unusual accident.
He was taking the old bricks from the all and stacking them behind him when the pile suddenly collapsed. His right leg was trapped by the bricks, and after they had been moved he was taken to Southport Infirmary where he was detained with leg injuries.
Source: Lancashire Evening Post
Mr Brighouse, coroner for the Southport district, concluded the inquests on Saturday at that town on the bodies of 26 out of the 27 men lost by the capsizing of the St. Annes and Southport lifeboats. The jury returned a verdict of death from misadventure. General Sir H, Ponsonby has intimated that Her Majesty will give £100 to the fund for the relief of the sufferers by the calamities.
A committee, consisting of Lords Derby, Sefton, Lathom, Stanley of Preston, the Mayor of Southport, and a number of county gentlemen, has been formed to administer the Southport Lifeboat Disaster fund. The fund already exceeds £20,00. The commissioners of the board of trade who held the inquiry into the lifeboat disaster off Southport have reported their opinion that in the one case the boat could not right herself because the anchor had been thrown out, and he men were holding on underneath. The institution has resolved to send to Southport and St. Annes two new boats with all the latest improvements, in addition to a large sailing lifeboat, to be kept moored at the end of Southport Pier.
Source: Worcestershire Chronicle
Funeral of Victims – Royal Sympathy.
Many sorrowful scenes were witnessed during Saturday and yesterday in Formby when the remains of six victims of the Southport railway disaster were interred in the village churchyard. A brother and sister, Arthur and Richard and Sarah Jane Curphey, were buried in the same grave and on Sunday Jane Wright and her six-year-old sister Annie were also laid to rest in the same grave. The other interments were those of Mr Benjamin Sykes and the youth Thomas Howard. All the funeral were attended by large numbers of sorrowing relatives and friends.
Sir George Armytage, chairman of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, has received from the King and Queen a telegram expressing deep sympathy with the sufferers by the railway accident, near Liverpool, and inquiring after the injured. In reply, Sir George has telegraphed that the condition of all patients is favourable, except two, whose condition is critical.
Source: Dundee Courier
Distressing case of a young married woman.
A Southport jury today returned a verdict of “Suicide whilst of unsound mind” in the case of Marjory Baker, aged twenty-three, the wife of a private in the Kings Liverpool Regiment.
Elsie Bedford, a cousin of Mrs Baker said Mrs Baker and her sister Mabel Adshead used to reside with their mother at 36 Cemetery Road, Southport, but a month ago, owing to Mrs Baker’s condition, they took lodgings in Bispham Road to avoid publicity.
The coroner – To put it plainly so that there will be no mistake – her condition was owing to some man other than her husband?
Witness – Yes.
Continuing she said that on Wednesday last, Mrs Baker and her sister went to her mothers house, where Mrs Baker had arranged to meet her father-in-law. She was worried and unsettled and threatened to throw herself into the lake. She was persuaded to sleep at the house, and when witness returned home from work about seven o’clock she noticed a strong smell of gas in the house. The gas in the bedroom was escaping from a pipe, the packing having been removed from its place, whilst the bracket had been torn off. Two letters in Mrs Baker’s handwriting were found underneath her body.
The coroner handed these letters to the jury, together with another, which had been received from her by her father-in-law. They were not read publicly.
The coroner said such letters were only for the jury and himself, to enable them to arrive at a verdict, and there was no necessity to wound the feelings of the relations by having them published.
Source: Liverpool Echo
May Have Lost Memory
Mr Joseph Shenton (76) of Glendale, Southport road, Kew, Southport, who has been missing from his home since September 20th, is believed to have been seen on Monday and Tuesday this week walking in the Rufford and Burscough bridge areas.
He is thought to be suffering from loss of memory.
When he left home, he had his dog with him, but the dog returned on its own shortly afterwards.
Source: Lancashire Evening Post
A coroners inquest was held yesterday morning on the body of a woman, Clara Thompson, who was attacked at Southport on the 1st inst, by her husband and fatally wounded. A verdict of willful murder was returned against the husband.
Source: Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer
A shocking tragedy occurred at Burscough, near Southport, on Saturday night.
Joseph Maitland, a retired hay and straw dealer, of Lathom, was standing by the bar window of the Royal Hotel Burscough, when a young man named Herbert Gregory Loens deliberately fired a revolver at him, the bullet entering his left side. Maitland staggered out of the hotel into the roadway, where he collapsed. He was conveyed into the surgery of Dr. Gardner, close by, and was found to be in a precarious condition. The injured mans depositions were taken on Sunday morning, and he died in the afternoon.
Source: Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser
Elderly lady found hanging in her room.
The dead body of Miss Catherine Freeman (53) was found today in an outhouse at the rear of her residence, 74a, Kensington road, Southport, hanging from a beam.
She was formerly employed by the Southport Corporation at the Science and Art Schools. She had left everything in the house in the perfect order, and on the table was found a bill for her Corporation rates, together with the cash for the amount due.
Source: Liverpool Echo
Man hanging under stage.
Harry Peet (67), of Welbeck terrace, Birkdale, was found hanging under the stage of the Southport Cambridge Hall today.
Peet had been working there for some time as an assistant caretaker, and the discovery was made this morning by the caretaker when he went beneath the stage. The body has apparently been in that position for several hours. It was late removed to the mortuary.
Source: Lancashire Evening Post
Preserving the history of Southport Station
The records of Southport lifeboat station, which closed down three years ago, were handed to the mayor yesterday and hung in the free library.
The records include a diploma and medal of honour given by the French Government, and they also recall the wreck of the German barque Mexico off Southport in December, 1886, when fourteen out of sixteen of the lifeboat crew were drowned.
Mr George Cockshoot, a former secretary and now chairman of the local Committee, said the Southport Lifeboat Station was closed down owing to physical changes to the coastline.
The Mayor regretted that Southport had lost its standing as a lifeboat station. “We cannot, of course, alter the forces of nature,” he said. “Possibly the same forces may in future necessitate a lifeboat again being stationed in Southport”.
Hanging above the records is a lifebelt from the ill-fated Mexico. The last recorded wreck is the Chrysopolis of Genoa, in 1918, when forty-two lives were saved.
Source: Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer
Timely Action Averts Danger to Petrol Depot
Southport Fire Brigade last night were called to a blaze just outside the largest petrol depot in the town where thousands of gallons are stored.
The fire was in a railway cutting near Blowick Station, and a heap of rubbish just outside the compound of the depot had been set alight.
The outbreak was noticed by Mr. W. Moor of Southbank Road, who telephoned for the brigade.
The fire was extinguished in about 10 minutes with first-aid appliances.
Source: Lancashire Evening Post
Brilliant weather prevailed on Saturday when the annual ceremony of crowning the Rose Queen took place at Crossens, Southport. The regal dignity was for the first time conferred upon Miss Sephton, the daughter of a local farmer, and the ceremony was performed by the Mayoress of Southport, Mrs Limont. The village was en fete for the occasion, and about a thousand gaily attired children formed a procession which, accompanied by Morris dancers and a band, paraded the principal thoroughfares.
Source: Liverpool Echo
An exciting incident at Southport
An exciting fire was witnessed on Southport fairground by many thousands of holiday makers on Saturday night.
The fairground was alive with holiday-makers at 10.40, when flames were observed shooting from the “see-saw slip” adjoining the cake’walk and the figure eight railway.
The amusement houses were emptying when the brigade dashed to the scene, and a large number of people contributed to the already big contingent on the fairground. The flames has got a firm hold by the time the brigade arrived, but fortunately for the fate of the other wooden structures in the vicinity, there was very little wind. The “see-saw” was practically wrecked. The cause of the fire is not stated.
The machine was closed down for the weekend at 10pm, and the mployees had left it in order to fix the shutters to the cake-walk. It was on returning to the “see-saw” for their coats that they discovered the outbreak.
The outbreak had a curious sequel in two other directions. The electricity, which worked the “see-saw” was obtained from the same circuit as that which supplies the Southport and Birkdale Companys tramcars. The circuit was interfered with to such an extent that the cars on this route were held up, and the people returning from the various amusements suffered much inconvenience.
The electric lights in a number of the main thoroughfares were extinguished.
Source: Nottingham Evening Post
The new Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital at the Woodlands, Lord Street, Southport, was formally opened yesterday by the Mayor, Alderman Willett, who hoisted over the building the flag of St. John Ambulance Association. The hospital will accommodate about 300 wounded soldiers, and is opened entirely free of cost. The high sheriff of Lancashire, Mr. E. Graham Wood, presided at the opening ceremony.
Source: Liverpool Echo
Southport’s war memorials will take three forms, namely, a great monument in London Square, a large extension of the local infirmary, and the provision of scholarships and maintenance grants to the children and dependents of fallen soldiers. The monument in London Square, which opens onto Lord Street, will consist of two architectural features, the one a foil to the other, a central obelisk being flanked by colonnades terminating in four cenotaphs. The colonnades will define the boundary line between square and gardens, and yet will not obstruct the view in either direction. On the frieze of the colonnades is to be carved in letters about 12in. high “ Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends”; two short verses will be carved on the friezes facing the gardens. The four cenotaphs provide wall space under cover, away from traffic, on which the names of the fallen will be grouped under their battalions or regiment.
The extension to the infirmary will take the form of an outpatients department and dispensary fully equipped.
Source: Lancashire Evening Post
Statistics compiled by the Southport medical officer of health (Dr Barnes) show that while, with a population of 42,000 in 1892, the number of births in the year was 927, in 1915, which a population increased by 30,000, the number of births had only increased by 50, and lasy tear by 80. Little or no improvement took place during the first six months of this year. In june, deaths exceeded births by over 30 per cent. The reduction in the number of deaths of babies under 12 months old has, however been very marked.
In 1897, the total was 101 deaths to every 1000 births in a population of 45,000, the highest on record. In 1907 the number had decreased to 5. For the next four years the average was 106, and in 1912, when the population of Birkdale was included and increased the total of residents to about 70,000, the deaths declined to 77 for every 1000 births. In 1914 they increased to 104, and last year the figure was 83. So far, the returns for the present year again show an upward tendency.
Source: Liverpool Daily Post
Lightfoot, formerly at Tottenham Hotspur, who has played practically every match this season for Southport Central, has joined the Royal Field Artillery.
Source: Liverpool Echo
