Now I always look forward to stories from my friend Sally.
At 8am on the morning of 21st February 1902, shots rang out at Bradley Gate, Royle Green Road, Northenden.
The occupant of Bradley Gate , Mr John Dyson, a 33 year old solicitor had been shot dead in his bed by his former butler, Augustus Frederick Cotterill .
Cotterill ran down the stairs and out through the garden at Bradley Gate brandishing two pistols.
Two of Mr Dysons male servants followed him as he made his way down Longley Lane towards Northenden station.
The police also gave chase and shot at Cotterill, wounding him in the stomach and leg.
Cotterill slumped against an oak tree on Longley Lane and then shot himself in the head.
He was found to be carrying two pistols and 68 cartridges.
Cotterill had been dismissed by Mr Dyson 18 months previously.
The 1901 census shows Cotterill down on his luck and living in the Stockport Union Workhouse, he apparently had made a very meagre living since being dismissed by working as a part time waiter.
The newspaper reports of the crime say he was aged 70.
The workhouse records show his age as 78.
Cotterill had been dismissed by Mr Dyson because his "vindictive temper had been a by-word in the district."
Cotterill had gained the nickname of "old Kruger" because of his pro- Boer sympathies and just before his dismissal he had been reprimanded for ruining Mafeking Day Celebrations by hoisting his wife's black shawl from a window at Bradley Gate!
After the police shoot out and Cotterill's death his body was taken to a stable near Ford Lane.
So strong was local feeling against him that his body was dragged from the stable by a group of inebriated locals with the intention of throwing it in the River Mersey.
The task proved too much for them, so they left his body sat up on the village green where it scared a courting couple half to death before being hurriedly buried by the post box in the wall at St Wilfred’s church by local police officers.
Pictures; a newspaper report from the Manchester Chronicle, 1902, the house just before it's demolition in 1959, St Wilfred's Church, 2014
The occupant of Bradley Gate , Mr John Dyson, a 33 year old solicitor had been shot dead in his bed by his former butler, Augustus Frederick Cotterill .
Cotterill ran down the stairs and out through the garden at Bradley Gate brandishing two pistols.
Two of Mr Dysons male servants followed him as he made his way down Longley Lane towards Northenden station.
The police also gave chase and shot at Cotterill, wounding him in the stomach and leg.
Cotterill slumped against an oak tree on Longley Lane and then shot himself in the head.
He was found to be carrying two pistols and 68 cartridges.
The 1901 census shows Cotterill down on his luck and living in the Stockport Union Workhouse, he apparently had made a very meagre living since being dismissed by working as a part time waiter.
The newspaper reports of the crime say he was aged 70.
The workhouse records show his age as 78.
Cotterill had been dismissed by Mr Dyson because his "vindictive temper had been a by-word in the district."
After the police shoot out and Cotterill's death his body was taken to a stable near Ford Lane.
So strong was local feeling against him that his body was dragged from the stable by a group of inebriated locals with the intention of throwing it in the River Mersey.
The task proved too much for them, so they left his body sat up on the village green where it scared a courting couple half to death before being hurriedly buried by the post box in the wall at St Wilfred’s church by local police officers.
Pictures; a newspaper report from the Manchester Chronicle, 1902, the house just before it's demolition in 1959, St Wilfred's Church, 2014
What a great story!
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