Memory Corner December 19th 2019

Friday December 19th, 1794

LAST WEEK an inquisition was taken before Mr Anderson on the body of J Clark, a private in the 83rd Regiment of Food, now quartered at Bath, who was sentenced by a court martial to receive 800 lashes for desertion, 175 of which were inflicted; in consequence of which he died the following Sunday.  Witnesses stated that the punishment which the deceased received was far from severe; no man in the same regiment had ever been treated so lightly…

 

Friday December 17th, 1819

SUCCESS AT SHREWSBURY!! Mr Newling, bookseller, Shrewsbury, has just received a letter from Hazard and Co of London, with the news of his having sold ticket no 6656, the first drawn prize of £20,000 in the lottery [this would be worth over £1 million today].

 

Friday December 17th, 1869

CHRISTMAS TREES – at this Christmas season for the past several years many valuable fir trees, holly trees and other evergreen shrubs in private grounds in the suburbs of the town have been mutilated, cut and stolen for the purpose of Christmas trees, decorations etc.  The punishment is a fine for the first offence, and imprisonment and whipping for a second offence.

 

Friday December 19th, 1919

St Michaels School today

A NEGLECTED CHILD – at the Borough Police Court, James Francis, labourer, was charged with failing to send his daughter Louisa (9) to school.  Mr F Rowland, School Attendance Office, explained that in April last the girl was found to be in such a verminous state that she was excluded from St Michael’s School for the protection of the other scholars.  The child’s condition was not only a danger to other children, but the neglect of the parents amounted to cruelty.  The parents were instructed by the school nurse how to treat the child, but there had been no permanent improvement… Fine 15s.

 

Friday December 21st, 1979

SHROPSHIRE’S only floating restaurant – at Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury – reopened this week.  The restaurant, which has been closed for twelve months, has been given a complete facelift – and a new name.  It has now been named the Bristol Frigate.  The new name marks Shrewsbury’s historical connection with the port of Bristol, and the new owners hope to start a collection of old prints and “riveralia”.

 

Thursday December 22nd, 1994

A SHREWSBURY health visitor prevented tragedy striking a young family when she paid a routine visit to their home.  Mrs Esther Nye thought she could smell gas in the house at Gloucester Road, Harlescott.  And later a gas company investigation revealed a split pipe under the living room floor.  “If someone had come in and struck a match, goodness only knows what the consequences might have been,” said Mrs Jane Tipton.  She and her husband Andrew have an 18-month-old daughter Kelly, who Esther had come to assess.  “I thought I could smell gas, but one always feels reticent about saying something in another person’s home,” said Esther.

 

Thursday December 24th, 2009

Shropshire County Show Logo 2019

BOSSES of the West Mid Show have revealed that a new money-making event in Shrewsbury was part of a rescue plan to replace the traditional agricultural show.  A ‘substantially changed’ show, which would still have an agricultural element, was proposed at an emergency meeting of the Shropshire and West Midlands Agricultural Society last Tuesday.  The society narrowly escaped being put into liquidation earlier this month, despite owing nearly 80 creditors around £260,000.