Christmas Festivities in the Workhouse

Dore and Totley belonged to the Ecclesall Bierlow Union. The Union was created in 1837 and also included Norton, Beauchief and Upper and Nether Hallam. The workhouse at Nether Edge was in use from 1843.

The food provided varied from workhouse to workhouse. A basic diet consisted of gruel, bread and cheese, with soup or meat and potatoes once a week. Water was the only drink with tea being a privilege for the elderly.

The Ecclesall Bierlow Board of Guardians had a weekly meeting and at one such meeting, reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 3rd of December 1896, the food to be served to the inmates on Christmas day was discussed and approved.

The Chairman, Major W Greaves Blake, proposed that the inmates be allowed the usual extra 'dietary' on Christmas Day. This was seconded by Mr. Milner, and it was passed unanimously by the board. Come 1901 things were not destined to go so smoothly.

1896: Plans for Christmas Day

• Dinner - roast beef and potatoes followed by plum pudding
• Beer - each adult male was allowed one pint of beer, and each adult female one half-pint with their dinner
• Tea - plum loaf
• The sick poor and the children - fruit and sweets
• Aged inmates - tobacco, tea and sugar

Donations of Beer

The Guardians accepted the kind offer of Mr. S. H. Ward, of Messrs, S. H. Ward and Co. (Limited) to provide a 36 gallon cask of beer for the use of the inmates at Christmas. They also thanked Mr. Herbert Unwin, of Messrs, Thos. Rawson and Co., for forwarding a barrel of beer for the same purpose.

Entertainment

The offers of the "Casuals" Dramatic Society, and of Mr. Naismith, the secretary of the Band of Hope Union, to give entertainments at the workhouse during the Christmas holidays, were unanimously accepted.

Temperance

Samuel Naismith was a leading Sheffield temperance worker. The Temperance Society had been established in Sheffield as early as 1831 and over the years many will have signed the 'pledge'.

In 1914 the Dore and Totley branch of the Women’s Total Abstinence Union held a successful meeting in the Primitive Methodist School in Dore. Miss Collins spoke on "Social Life and Temperance” and Mr. Squire on “The Nation’s Peril Strong Drink”. Mrs. Edgar Muxlow and Miss Muxlow rendered musical items. Through the kindness of Mrs. Adamson (president), afternoon tea was served.

1901: A Dry Christmas Planned

The Issue of the Beer

The Sheffield Evening Telegraph reported, on the 27th of November 1901, that at the meeting of the Ecclesall Board of Guardians, Mr. James Dixon and Ald. Brittain, on the presentation of the minutes of the previous meeting, protested against the action of the Board in stopping the usual allowance of a pint of beer to the inmates on Christmas Day. Since the members of the Board could not face another temperance lecture from Mr Blossom the decision was made to stop the beer. It was decided to provide "High Tea" on New Year's Day.

1901: Christmas Day

Sheffield Independent - 26th of December 1901

A reporter spent Christmas Day in the Nether Edge workhouse and decided that if Charles Dickens came he would have to re-write Oliver Twist! The dining hall and all the various blocks had been tastefully decorated. The day started with a Church of England service after which the dinner of roast beef, vegetables and plum pudding was served to nearly 500. There was a vote of thanks for the Board members even though they were responsible for the lack of beer. In the afternoon, in the men's day room, dominoes, whist and draughts were played. The day was rounded off with entertainment in the evening.

More than 100 children were catered for in 'homes' separate from the workhouse. The girls' home had two 'mothers' and the boys' home had a 'father' and a 'mother'. The children had their Christmas dinner in the dining hall of the girls' home. They were visited by the wives of the Guardians who also visited the inmates in the women's hospital and the women's day room. Here, the women complained their tea wasn't sweet enough!

1902: "An Increase in Pauperism"

By December 1902 there were 905 persons in the workhouse, an increase of 109 over the previous year.

The Beer Argument Rumbles On

As in 1901, at the meeting of the Board reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on the 11th of December 1902, the question of beer for the inmates arose. Messrs. Berry and Co., Moorhead Brewery, had offered a cask of beer for distribution amongst the inmates on Christmas Day. There was much disagreement over whether to accept the offer.

Mr Horner "looked upon drink as the greatest bane of modern times". Mr Blossom said that twelve months ago he spent the greater part of Christmas Day and New Year's Day at the Workhouse. Far from the inmates being unhappy without the beer, they spent a most pleasant time, and many of them said it was the happiest Christmastide they ever had. Mr. Brumby supported the "no beer" party. The evidence they had of the happy time spent by the inmates a year ago convinced him that they could do very well without the beer.

Alderman Brittain said "all the arguments of his friends on the opposite side of the table were founded on the evils of excessive drinking. He was as much against excessive drinking as they were, but such arguments could not be made to apply to the granting of a glass of beer to these poor people at a time of festivity".

Those voting to accept the offer of beer were outnumbered and the cask of beer was declined. Further discussion resulted in the decision to ban the beer to stand until 1904 after Mr Isaac Milner attempted to "pledge" the members of the next Board.

1904: Beer or Hop Bitters?

Hop Bitters

Hop bitters were produced in Sheffield by Duncan Gilmour and Co. Ltd and by Wheatley and Bates Ltd.

Mr. Hollingsworth offered the Board a cask of Wheatley's hop bitter "in order to counter balance the offer of Messrs. Berry and Company to supply a cask of beer for the inmates at Christmas time and, to show that he had the welfare the inmates at heart, he wished to place them in the position of true Britons by giving them option of partaking of beer or non-intoxicants." So, with the new Board, a compromise was finally reached.

Afterthoughts on Beer

At the Board meeting reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on December 29th 1904, a jolly affair with much laughter, it was said that there were no ill results in the drinking of beer and the behaviour of the inmates was entirely satisfactory. They had, however, run out of beer and those given hop bitters instead couldn't tell the difference!

Christmas Doles at Dore

Meanwhile, in Dore, the Christmas doles were distributed at Christ Church by the vicar. Benefactors in past years had left money to support the poor of the parish - namely Banks, Revill, Wolstenholme, Shepherd, Green, and Gisborne. The bequests were used to give blankets, flannel, bread, and money to about 50 widows and poor people in the villages of Dore and Totley in December 1904.

Stories from Dore Graveyard - Heroic Sheep Rescuer

The rescue of 'Fiona' the sheep from the Cromarty Firth has been much in the news this month. Research into the life of George Stone, who is buried in Dore, shows it's nothing new. He rescued sheep not once but three times!

The First Rescue

The Sheffield Independent, on the 14th of October 1929, printed a photo of George, a rope tied around him, with a headline that read:

Lives Risked for Sheep

Plucky Rescue at Grindleford

Cliff Thrill

George Stone of Piper House, who was keeper to Sir Charles Clifford, and Benjamin Buxton, a motor mechanic of Fox House Garage, 'risked their lives in a thrilling rescue of a year old Scotch sheep from a ledge half way down a 100 foot cliff on the Burbage moor.'

George had noticed its bleating just before dark but it was too hazardous to attempt a rescue. The ledge was only 18 inches wide and was 50 feet from the top of the cliff. The next morning George and Benjamin set out with Edward Rowarth of Fox House, the two sons of the owner of the sheep - Howard and John Priestly of Burbage House Farm, PC Knapp of the Sheffield police and, rather worringly it seems, Sgt Major Lapper of the St John's Ambulance.

George and Benjamin were slowly lowered down the cliff face, one either side of the sheep. When they had tied a rope around the exhausted sheep it was lowered down and finally George and Benjamin were also lowered the fifty feet to the ground. It took two hours in all.

The Second Rescue

The second rescue was reported in the Derbyshire Times on the 16th October 1936. The RSPCA were in attendance and this rescue sounds even more hazardous than the first.

'Courageous Rescue From Quarry at Nether Padley.'

Mr S Osborn, of Nether Padley, phoned RSPCA Inspector Fitzgerald of Chesterfield to say there were four sheep at the back of his house on the quarry face. The owner of the sheep, Mr T. Rowarth of Yarncliffe Lodge, Grindleford, was unaware of their plight. The face of the quarry was about 120 feet high and the ledge was about 35 or 40 feet from the top. How they got there was a mystery.

First a rope ladder was tried but it was too short. So it was George again who ended up getting lowered down on a rope. He managed to tie a rope around two of the sheep and they were hauled up. He was unable to catch the other two so Inspector Fitzgerald was lowered down too and they managed to haul up one more.

The fourth caused trouble and there was a a continual danger of falling stones. Eventually it was lowered to a lower ledge where Joseph Outram of Fern Cottage, Grindleford reached it by ladder and it was lowered safely down. It laid on the ground as though dead but had evidently only 'fainted' and thankfully revived.

1946: Even More Sheep Rescued!

George Stone was awarded a bronze medal by the RSPCA for ‘courage and humanity’ in rescuing sheep trapped in a deep gulley on Burbage Moor on the 27th of October 1946.

Stories From Dore Graveyard - Langley

The Langley Grave

In memory of:
Flight Lieutenant J.C.D Langley killed in action July 22nd 1942.
Ida Langley January 10th 1928. ‘Mummie Darling’.
J.K.B. Langley died October 10th 1949.
Also in Memory of Lieutenant R.D. Berry killed in action May 12th 1917.

Who were they all?

Flight Lieutenant John Charles Douglas LANGLEY, born 1919 in Dore.
Ida LANGLEY née BERRY, born 1892, mother of Flight Lieutenant Langley.
John Kidger Batty LANGLEY, born 1892, Ida’s husband.
Lieutenant Reginald Douglas BERRY, born 1894, Ida’s youngest brother.

Both John Charles Douglas Langley and Reginald Douglas Berry died tragically young.

Lieutenant R.D. Berry

Reginald Berry was in the 12th Yorks and Lancs Regiment (the Sheffield Pals–27162). He died during one of the constantly fought over offensives of the First World War, at Gavrelle Windmill, which was described as a charnel house for both sides. A quotation from War records shows that he was caught up in particularly gruesome action based round Arras.

‘Gavrelle proved to be one of the most unpleasant and unhealthy places in the entire British line. Between 9th and 13th May diary entries from fighting soldiers were monosyllabic – Hell. Both sides kept up constant fire and the artillery joined in. There was also the continual danger of gas attacks. The situation at night was even worse, with darkness hiding a multitude of unseen dangers.’

Casualties mounted. The heaviest losses were on the 11th and 12th May. On the 12th May Lieutenant Berry and three men were killed and Second Lieutenant Jarvis and 23 OR’s were wounded. Relief came only on the 14th May.

Reginald BERRY is buried in Albuera Cemetery, Bailleul-Sire-Berthoult. (South C.6.) He was just 22 years old.

Albuera Cemetery, Bailleul-Sire-Berthoult (courtesy of CWGC)

Flight Lieutenant J. C. D. Langley

John Charles Douglas Langley had attended Repton Public School. In 1939 he passed his Intermediate Part 1 of the professional examinations of the Chartered Surveyors Institute - a future cut short by the outbreak of war.

In World War Two John was a pilot with Bomber Command, 12 Squadron, number 45429. All the Bomber Command Aircrew were volunteers. More than 44% were killed whilst serving and their average age of death was only 23.

On the night of the 21st July 1942 he took off from R.A.F. Binbrook on night operations to Duisburg flying in a Vickers Wellington II, serial number Z8420. His aircraft was shot down by night fighter ace Oblt Ludwig Becker, one of his 46 victories, crashing at Spierdijk near Hoorn in northern Holland on 22 July 1942.

John Charles Douglas Langley is buried in Bergen General Cemetery, Bergen Municipality, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. Plot 1¸Row B, Coll. Grave 12-16. He too was just 22 years old.

Bergen General Cemetery (courtesy of CWGC)

Ida Langley née Berry

Ida and her husband John Kidger Batty Langley had two children - John Charles Douglas Langley and Gillian who was born in 1925.

Ida has, beneath her name on the grave, the words ‘Mummie darling’. This may well reflect that her own mother, Elizabeth was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland where ‘Mummie’ is a common form of endearment. Her father, William H. Berry is recorded in the 1901 Census as a Common Brewer and a Company Director, and they were living at this time in Brincliffe House on Osborne Road, Sheffield. Ida was the oldest of five children with Reginald being her youngest brother.

John Kidger Batty Langley

John K B Langley, Ida's husband, was born in Sheffield to John Batty Langley and Mary Eleanor Kidger. John K B's father, who was born in 1865 in Sheffield, was a Timber Merchant and Importer. The family business, of some repute, was based in three sites in Sheffield. In 1901 John K B, aged nine, was living with his family at 13 Sale Hill in Broomhill. By 1911 they had moved to Hooton Roberts near Rotherham.

It was as Major John Kidger Batty Langley that he married Ida Berry in 1917 at St John's Church in Ranmoor. He served in the Royal Engineers and fought in Egypt. By 1921 John and Ida and their son John Charles Douglas were living at The Elders, Drury Lane in Dore. John K B was Managing Director of Western Traders Limited of Norfolk Street – a Coal and Timber merchants.

In 1932, after the death of Ida, he married Kathleen Margaret DEWHURST. The 1939 register shows that Kathleen and John were living in Bubnell Cottage in Baslow. John and Kathleen did not have any children.

Kathleen had been born in 1908 at Crimicar Lane in Fulwood. Her father was an engineer. By 1910 the Dewhurst family were living at Ashfurlong, Dore. She had two brothers neither of whom continued to live in Dore, and she herself died in Suffolk in 1988.

John Batty Langley

John Batty Langley was born in 1834 in Uffingham in Rutland. He was apprenticed to his Uncle John who was a cabinetmaker and auctioneer. John Batty Langley moved to Sheffield in the 1850s and rose to own the Sheaf Saw Mills. He was a prominent Non-Conformist.

He had an illustrious career culminating as a Liberal Party MP for Attercliffe from 1894 to 1909. He was made an Alderman in 1890 and became Lord Mayor of Sheffield in 1892 – the year Sheffield became a city. He died in 1914 in Bournemouth, after a long period of ill-health, and was buried in Sheffield’s General Cemetery.

Gillian M. Slater

The memorials on the grave surround now include Gillian SLATER. She was John Kidger Batty Langley and Ida’s daughter born in 1925. Gillian was sister to John Charles Douglas Langley. She married Warren F. Slater in Bakewell in 1950. She died in 2012 and was interred in Dore graveyard.

James Swift’s Charity 1610

Bequests to the Parish of Dronfield

We have been researching the people that made bequests in the past for the poor people of the parish. Their names appear on three large wooden display boards that hang in Dore Old School. We were intrigued by the occupation of James Swift - a 'collar maker'- and imagined he must have been making ruffs which were still fashionable in 1611.

"1611. JAMES SWIFT. of the Parish of Saint George the Martyr, in Southwark in the County of Surrey, Collar Maker, left 3 Pounds Per Annum to be distributed among the Poor of this Parish on the Feast of Saint Philip and S^tJames for ever."

Imagine our surprise when we found out he made collars for horses!

The Worshipful Company of Saddlers

James was one of the founders of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers’ charities. According to the Company:

"The charity of James Swift was founded by an indenture of 18 May 1610, between James Swift of the first part and John Bingham (one of Her Majesty's Groome Saddlers in 1590) and seventeen other Citizens and Saddlers of London of the second part."

James Swift was not a member of the Saddlers’ Company - this might have been because he was based outside of the City of London in Southwark.

Under the terms of the indenture James Swift granted and confirmed to the Saddlers a property in the parish of St George the Martyr, Southwark upon trust that after his death the Saddlers would pay on the feast day of St Philip and James £3 to the churchwarden and overseers of the poor of the parish of Dronfield in Derbyshire (his native parish), for the use, succour and relief of the poor people living within that parish.

The 1827 report of the Charity Commissioners confirmed that the sum of £3 was sent to the churchwarden of Dronfield annually in May. A list of names of the poor who had received money in the previous year was first sent to the Company. The money for the charity was raised from the rents and profits from a house with garden and shops in St. George's parish. The church warden of Dore had the task of selecting the poorest parishioners and distributing to them their quarter of the bequest.

The Conditions in James Swift's Will

This map from 1769 shows part of Southwark where James and his family lived. Red Cross Street is marked as is the infamous Marshalsea Prison which was founded in 1373.

In his will, James gave the lease of his house, called the Red Cross, in Southwark to his wife Margery. His daughter Joan (Johane), who had been baptised at St Saviour's Church, Southwark on January 4th 1596 was made his executrix. He left everthing to be divided equally between mother and daughter. He named his cousins John and Henry Wolstenholme responsible for Joan's education and to see that she was virtuously brought up and if they thought it necessary that she should be removed from her mother.

James was buried at St George's Church, Southwark on September 4th 1610. On October 9th 1610 his widow Margery married Isaac EILES by licence and on December 4th 1610 his daughter Joan married Thomas EILES by licence. As stated in the will this meant Joan received all her inheritance and did not have to wait until she was twenty one.

James also made bequests to his brothers Robert and Godfrey, his sister Jane, her sons Edward and Anthony and several friends. His sister Jane had married Edward Maden in Dronfield Parish Church on July 18th 1585. Ten pounds was also left to the poor of the parish of St. George.

Thanks to the Saddlers' Company for all their help.

Richard Stevenson's Charity 1577

Bequests to the Parish of Dronfield

The names of some of those who, in the past, left money to the poor of Dronfield parish can be seen on a large, wooden display board at present in the Old School in Dore. The parish was divided into four and Dore was one of the quarters. The church warden of Dore had the task of selecting the poorest parishioners and distributing to them the quarter share of the gifts in accordance with the stipulations in a will or indenture.

"1577. RICHARD STEVENSON, of Unstone, Gentⁿ left a Hundred of Herrings and as much Bread as can be made of one Strike of good Wheat, to be distributed to the Poor of the Parish upon every Friday in Lent for ever, and 30 Pence to be given to 30 of the most needy Poor in the said Parish on every Good Friday for ever."

In Richard's will he actually left 'half a hundred' of good herrings.  The wheat used to make the bread was measured in a circular wooden drum with the capacity of a bushel. A stick (a strike) was used to level off the top of the wheat ensuring it was the correct quantity. On the seven Fridays in Lent the poor of each quarter received the herrings and bread in rotation– 1st and 5th Unstone and Coal Aston, 2nd and 6th Dronfield, 3rd Dore and Totley and 4th Holmesfield and on the 7th the hamlet of Barlow - who only had five or six poor families.

Richard also left 30 pence to 30 poor people in each of the parishes of Dronfield, Chesterfield, Eckington and Sheffield.

Conditions

Richard's will made it clear that, although his sons Edmund and Christopher would inherit his tanyard, leather and farms, they would not inherit a house and land at Brampton unless his wishes to provide for the poor were carried out.

This wasn't the only condition placed on Christopher and Edmund in the will. They were also to provide their uncle John Stevenson, who was a clergyman, with meat and drink for as long, and as often, as he came to stay in Richard's mansion house:

"....I will devise and bequeathe that my said brother shall at all and ev[er]y tyme and tymes when and as often as he shall come and repayre to my Mansion House wherein I now dwell have sufficient and convenient meate Drincke and Lodginge mete and convenient for his estate and degree by and duringe all the tyme of his abode and tarryinge there and that to be from tyme to tyme borne......."

Edmund's Bequest

The 1827 Charity Commissioners' report for Dronfield states that Edmund, who died in 1593, left 33 shillings and 4 pence in his will to be given annually to the poor at Easter and Christmas. The total sum, willed by Richard and Edmund, was still the same in 1827. Dronfield parish received 2s.6d. on Good Friday and 16s.8d. at Christmas and at Easter.

The Mill Farm Tenant

By 1827 the three fields of Mill Farm which provided the income for the bequests - Harvest Bank, Bentleys and Hooper Bank were in the ownership of A Brooks, Esquire and R N Shaw, Esquire. Out of the income from the three fields the tenant, John Walker, provided the herrings and bread to the vestry as laid down in Richard's will and delivered the money to the vestry. He also had to pay for the bread-making. The vicar and church wardens distributed herrings and bread to the poorest. The money was distributed to the poor who attended church on Good Friday and at Easter and Christmas.