December 4th – Died at Hollinwood, Mrs. Worthington, relict of the late Mr. George Worthington, of Werneth.
Betty, wife of John Collins, of Hollinwood, interred December 20th. Disorder, a fever. Wife of James Greaves, tailor of Chadderton, died December 25th. Disorder, a fever. James Hulme discharged for want of evidence, he having been charged with stealing 20 warps from Mr. Rowbottom, December 26th. This year concluded with a severe frost and deep snow, but about the last day it turned to thawing. 1792 The New Year commenced this year on Sunday, which was a fine thawing day. Owing to the flourishing of all sorts of trades, there were plenty of Christmas fare. Necessaries of every sort excessive dear, particularly sugar and coals.
Mary, relict of the late James Hardman, died suddenly at Oldham, Jan. 2nd.
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Jan. 6th – This day Mr. Jacob Radcliffe, hatter, Oldham, made a grand feast, and the guests were selected from the most intelegent widows and widowers and old men and their wives, when they sat down to a very good supper and plenty of ale, which afforded them a great relief at this inclement time of the year, which reflects the greatest honour on their noble donour. E. Butterworth says: Mr. Jacob Radcliffe was grandfather of Messrs. Radcliffe, of Bank. He was a native of Blakeley, and was once a manager for Messrs. Henshaw, hatters. He was much esteemed for his liberality to the poor. He began a hat manufactory at Bank previous to 1792. This is surely a pleasant record among our local annals. Nor does it appear to have been the only time that Mr. Radcliffe “gave to the poor”. During those trying times he often acted the part of the good Samaritan, as will be seen hereafter in these chronicles. The Strangers Friends’ Society at Manchester instituted this Christmas for relieving persons they found of all religions and nations in distressed circumstances in Manchester. Baines says the Strangers’ Friend Society was an institution formed in 1791 at the instance and with the assistance of the late Rev. Dr. Adam Clarke. Objects are sought out by the committee and their wants administered to after due investigation. This is a sectarian society in the good sense of the tern. Its patrons and supporters are chiefly Methodists, but Methodists alone are excluded from its benefits, and persons of every other denomination or of no denomination whatever are relieved by no other standard than the measure of their distress and the capability of the funds. |
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ANNALS OF OLDHAM No. VIII Jan. 11 – Thomas Whittaker and William Jackson, constables, of Oldham, took into custody 36 strollers before Mr. Pickford, of Royton, when most of them were passed to their settlements. As to the local government of Oldham before the Act of 1826, whereby Oldham was put under a Board of Commissioners, we are but imperfectly informed by our local historians. It seems to have been under the authority of the vestry. The accounts of the churchwardens and overseers at that time contain all the items of local expenditure, including what is paid to the poor, the constables, the militia, and the lunatics. The churchwardens and overseers seem to have been the administrators of all the funds. In levying a poors’ rate it seems first to have been settled by the vestry, and then the churchwardens and overseers applied to the county authorities, as personified by the county justices, and they, in turn, gave power to the overseers to collect the poor rate, or distrain on those who did not pay. The constables were evidently appointed by the county bench, to whose orders they were subject, but they were paid by the churchwardens and overseers. It would appear that anyone rated at a yearly rental of £4 was eligible to have his name pricked as a constable. Blackstone somewhere doubts the wisdom of constables knowing the extent of their powers, considering the class of people they were generally drawn from, and judging from what has already been said in these annals of the Oldham constables, perhaps he was right. Great powers were sometimes in the hands of constables, and they occasionally “clapt” a man in the stocks or in the dungeon on what might no be deemed a flimsy pretext. The country was in a perilous state at this time, as may be judged by the number of “strollers”, evidently many of them in search of work. As a rule, however, Dogberry’s advice was followed by the country constables:- “You shall comprehend all vagrom men. You are to bid any man stand in the Prince’s name. If you meet a thief you may suspect him by virtue of your office to be no true man. The most peaceable way, if you do take a thief, is to let him show himself what he is, and steal out of your company”. I heard a good tale the other day of what took place at a local wakes. I need not say whether a Hollinwood or Shaw. Old Jone o’Lowton had come down from the Saddleworth hills, and looking at the clock, he exclaimed, “Heaw’s this, lads? Four o’clock, and nowt done yet!” (There had not been a battle). He did not remain long ungratified, however, for presently there was such a rough-and-tumble fight all over that place that Boniface found it necessary to send for the constable.
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The constable could not be found, though repeatedly sent for. At length a bright idea struck the constable’s wife, who, taking the constable’s truncheon, hastened to the scene of ballet, and, placing herself in the midst of the fighters, exclaimed with as much dignity as she could muster, though with what effect deponent sayeth not – “Peeus lads, pee-us (peace lads, peace) I’th name of our John, and he’s a constable.” During the year 1791 there were in Manchester 1,300 marriages, and from the 1st to the 5th January, 1792, there were 58 marriages and 56 baptisms. During the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th of January it froze so uncommonly hard as hardly to be equalled in the annals of freezing; it is worthy of remark, it was exceeding calm. James Ashton, of Cowhill, who died in an advanced age, was interred at Oldham Jan. 25th. Jan 26 – This day Sir Watts Horton, Bart., Lady Horton, and Miss Horton, with a large retinue, left Chadderton Hall for London. Sir Watts Horton was a man of worship, I warrant you. Chadderton had been in the Horton family rather over a century at that time. Sir Watts had taken to wife Henrietta, daughter of the late James Lord Strange. He would therefore, be related to Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby. His father, Sir William Horton, was knighted in the year 1764, and was High Sheriff of Lancashire the same year. Sir William’s father was Thomas Horton, Esq., who was once Governor of the Isle of Man and J. P. for the county of Lancashire. Thomas inherited Chadderton Hall estate from Joshua Horton, of Sowerby, Yorkshire, who previous to 1685, had purchased it from the Asshetons. Sir Watts was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1775, when he was only about twenty-two years of age. The issue of his marriage with Lady Henrietta was a daughter, Henrietta Susannah Anne, born January 4, 1790. During Sir Watts’s life, Chadderton Hall, we are told, “was in its zenith – the house was well stored with pictures, the park and pleasure grounds, with their bold and varied scenery, appeared to the greatest advantage,” and as will be seen from these annals, the pastimes of the period were regularly indulged in. Sir Watts was a keen sportsman, had a lingering love for a cock fight, and was passionately fond of the chase, while Lady Horton yearly invited a large assembly to witness or take part in the ennobling game of archery in Chadderton Park. |
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