Memory Corner February 21st 2019

Friday February 21st, 1794

ON SATURDAY DIED, at eight o’clock, Mrs Mary Rose, aged 84 years in Hoxton Workhouse, where she had lived for the last fifteen years.  Although Mr Rose left her and her daughter £50,000, Miss Elizabeth Rose married a young Hibernian [Irishman] who got possession of the money, spent it, broke the daughter’s heart, and obliged the worthy mother to seek refuge in a workhouse.

THE COMING of the whole of the Shrewsbury Canal is contracted for at £30,091 2s 3d and is already in such forwardness as to bid fair to be completed by Michaelmas 1795.

 

Friday February 19th, 1819

VAGRANTS – we understand that the mayor of this town yesterday issued warrants for the searching of every lodging-house in this town during the night, for the purpose of committing and punishing all idle and suspicious persons.  The inhabitants [of the town] will, we are sure, rejoice at this decisive measure, but unless they second it by refusing to relieve common beggars, and by giving notice to the officers, the vigilance of the magistrate will be of little avail, and they will entail upon themselves very considerable expenses.

 

Friday February 19th, 1869

REPRESENTATIVES of the Poor Law Unions in Salop, Cheshire, Stafford and Warwick met at Stafford on Friday, under the presidency of Lord Lichfield, for the purpose of promoting a uniform system in the relief of vagrants.  A series of resolutions – recommending the “ticket-of-way” system, the regular visitation of common lodging houses by the police and denouncing indiscriminate alms by the public – were agreed to.

MR W LOW, CE, now of Wrexham, has submitted a plan for constructing a tunnel and railway between Dover and Calais, which has been approved by other eminent engineers.

 

Friday February 21st, 1919

THE ALINGTON HALL, SHREWSBURY – Monday next at 5.45 and 8 o’clock – two popular lectures by the world-famous Captain Bairnsfather, “OLD BILL AND ME”.  Illustrated with pictures and sketches on the platform.  Prices, including tax, 5s 9d, 3s 6d, 2s 4d, and 1s 3d.

WILLIAM JOHN MONSON (26), who was demobilised at Park Hall, near Oswestry, on February 6th, threw himself in front of a train on the GWR branch line at Twmpath Bridge on Monday, and was killed.  His home is at Monkstown, White Abbey, Co Antrim, and the coroner fixed the inquest for Thursday evening in order that friends might have had an opportunity of being present.

 

Friday February 23rd, 1979

Frankwell footbridge

SHREWSBURY’S £276,000 River Severn footbridge in Frankwell should be in operation in the next two or three months.  And to make sure everything goes to plan one of Shrewsbury’s major traffic routes will be closed on certain days next month while the precision prefabricated bridge structure is put in place.

SALOP COUNTY COUNCIL’S proposed expenditure for the coming year is nearly £79 million, of which more than £47 million will be spent on education and associated services.

SHREWSBURY TOWN FANS just can’t wait for Monday to know who their FA Cup sixth round opponents will be. They should, however, take heed from manager Graham Turner who stressed that the replay of their fifth-round tie against Aldershot would be far from a ‘walk over’.

 

Thursday February 24th, 1994

THE LAST CENSUS – carried out in 1991 – shows the population of the whole of Shropshire was 403,478, made up of 156,883 households.  In Shrewsbury and Atcham there were 91,318 people.  The highest number of people in one parish was Bayston Hill, with 5,338.  Hughley Parish is the lowest, and had not changed its population in the 10 years since the last census, staying at 58.

A CHEESE TOASTIE made with eggs was the most likely cause of the outbreak of food poisoning at Shrewsbury School, it has been revealed.  The vast majority of sick boys had eaten the dish, said Andy Goldsmith, senior environmental health officer with the Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. His comments follow an investigation into why 70 boys at the £3,650-a-term top public school suffered severe diarrhoea and vomiting at the end of January.

 

Thursday February 26th, 2009

IT’S BEEN many years in the pipeline, but on Sunday people were finally able to visit Shrewsbury’s new £28 million theatre as audience members.  Hundreds packed into the venue as it opened its doors for the first time, with bosses vowing it will provide an ‘economic catalyst’ for the town. Council chiefs have been working on a scheme for a new theatre since the mid-1990s, and on Sunday the new theatre hosted its first event with a sell-out audience of nearly 640 people enjoying a lecture about Shrewsbury-born Charles Darwin given by Professor Lord May of Oxford. Adam Burgan, programme and marketing manager, said the first event had run ‘smoothly’ and been a big success, with people staying behind afterwards to use the terraces to see the town and wander round the new facilities.