Dark deeds in Nunhead and Blackheath ............... another story from Barny

My dear old dad used to mention, on more than one occasion, a notorious villain that resided in the idyllic hamlet of Nunhead, name of Charley Peace.

Newspaper account, 1879

It was only just a few years ago that I decided to "Google" that name. This is an abridged piece about Mr. Peace.

Charles (Charlie) Peace

Charles Frederick Peace (14 May 1832 – 25 February 1879) was an English burglar and murderer, who embarked on a life of crime after being maimed in an industrial accident when a boy.

After killing a policeman in Manchester, he fled to his home-town of Sheffield, where he became obsessed with his neighbour's wife and shot the husband dead.

In early 1877, he moved to London, where he felt safer from arrest, and sent for his wife and son Willie to join them in a respectable villa at 5, East Terrace, Evelina Road, Peckham),

Charles Peace was a notorious cat burglar and murderer who evaded arrest for over twenty years. Peace was a master of disguise due to his almost rubber like features, and often carried his housebreaking tools inside an old violin case, an instrument on which he was very proficient.

In 1877, while living at Banner Cross Terrace, Sheffield, he began an affair with a neighbour, Mrs Katherine Dyson. Although she was a willing instigator of the relationship, she soon decided that she wanted no further part of it and tried fruitlessly to be rid of him.
Eventually Peace took the hint and left the area. Around this time, Peace shot dead a policeman, PC Nicholas Cock, in Manchester but the crime was attributed to a young Irishman, William Habron, who was convicted and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment on account of his young age.

The execution of Mr Pearec, 1879

During the summer, Peace returned to Sheffield where he again chased after Mrs Dyson. One night her husband caught him as he pestered her and Peace shot him dead. He fled to London and set up with a new name but was soon in trouble again, and while robbing a house in Blackheath he attempted to shoot a police officer.

Peace was arrested and gave his name as John Ward. He was tried for the attempted murder of a police officer and sentenced to life imprisonment but no sooner had he begun his sentence, than he was recognised as being wanted for the murder of Katherine Dyson's husband at Banner Cross, and he was returned to the north to face trial. On the journey, he attempted to escape from the train by throwing himself through a window but was thwarted in his bid.

WINTERINGHAM - and the convict Peace.

Police-constable Robinson, who so successfully arrested Peace at Blackheath, is a native of Winteringham, and was for a considerable number of years employed as labourer at Sand House Farm, near Appleby. That no-one needed telling any more of the story suggests that in the late 1870s, everyone had heard about Peace! Indeed, his life was featured in films (in 1905 and 1949), and even in comics of the 1960s such as Buster. Until Jack the Ripper, he was the most infamous of Victorian criminals.

At 2 am on 10th October 1878, former Winteringham man, PC Edward Robinson, was patrolling the streets of Blackheath when he suddenly saw a light appear at the back of a house in St John's Park, Blackheath, home of Mr Burness.

Quickly realising that there was something untoward, he called for back-up from two of his colleagues and hid in the back garden.

PC Robinson, 1878

One of his colleagues went to the front door and rang the bell. Charles Peace quickly made his way out of a back window and down the path pursued by Edward. "Keep back!" he said, "or by God I'll shoot you!" 

But the courageous Edward did not keep back and when Peace fired once, twice, three times, he still advanced on the double murderer!

A fourth shot was fired and missed PC Robinson, who was now close enough to strike Peace in the face. Peace threatened to "settle" with one last shot, and this time he did hit his target - but in the upper arm.
Despite this wound, Edward managed to fling Peace to the ground, held him, and grab Peace's pistol and hit him on the head with it! The other two PCs ran to help their colleague, and Peace's burgling days were over.

Peace was convicted at Leeds Assizes and sentenced to death, he was hanged by William Marwood after confessing to the murder of PC Cock at Manchester, which resulted in the release from prison and also compensation for William Habron. The sentence of death was carried out in Leeds on the 25 February 1879, Peace was forty six at the time.

Despite his execution for the murder of a Mr Dyson, Charles Peace was ‘primarily celebrated for hid larcenous rather than his murderous achievements’.

Conducting a number of burglaries in Hull, London, Sheffield and the surrounding areas, and on many occasions outfoxing the police, Peace became something of a celebrated and comedic character.


Pictures; supplied by Barny

References

http://www.winteringham.info/Local_History/Police/PC_Edward_Robinson

https://johnjohnson.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/charles-peace-and-kate-webster/

FULL STORY - http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/peace-charles.htm

Reflections from a tram window ....... in St Peter’s Square in May 2014

Now here is one of those indulgent moments when I feature a picture I like and wonder if it will set off a series of pictures in the same vein.

And it would be fun to have a story to go with it.

So here I was on in St Peter’s Square watching countless trams going off in every direction except the one I wanted.

The stop will soon be moved as part of the new Second City Crossing and this spot will slide into transport history along with Central Station, the old Corporation trams and the horse drawn bus.

So in the meantime I bet there will be plenty of pictures using glass, reflective images and people.

Picture; in St Peter’s Square May 2014 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

As others remember .............. Barny and the coach trips to Ewell

The second of an occasional series contributed by readers who also grew up in south east London.

Here Barny remembers the school trips from Samuel Pepys to Ewell playing fields in the early 1960s

Who remembers you say??

How could I forget?

The memories come flooding back from purgatory...

(1) - The outgoing journey, New Cross to Ewell.

The smell of the dust from the old coach seats. Fighting for a back seat (essential for pulling faces and executing various hand gestures to anyone driving behind).

Ten minutes into the journey, that distinctive pong of vomit from those pupils who didn't travel well.

Outbreaks of skirmishes and bickering throughout the remainder of the trip.

(2) - Let the games begin.

Always Cross Country Running in the winter, so you had to suffer inhaling air at Absolute Zero. The pain!!

Hiding in a small wooded area, until joining the run on the last time around. Fag break!

Football, more like a medicine ball, kicked really hard against my soft skin. The agony!!

The abject boredom of being unpicked for a team and left goalkeeping.

Rugby, no fun at all if you're 8 stone (112 lbs or 50kg).

(3) - Cold Showers.

Oh! the joy. Towel flicking from horrible pupils, aimed at the soft parts of my body.

Five minutes to run the gauntlet through the ice cold showers. (time includes getting dried and dressed),

Getting dressed, almost impossible with wet skin and numb from the cold fingers, still covered in mud.

School duffle bag full of junk, deposited by some oiks whilst you were showering.

Pants or one sock missing. grrrr!

(4) - The home journey, Ewell to New Cross.

Fighting for a back seat again. Further skirmishes and bickering. The stink of Smiths Cheese & Onion crisps.
That vomit smell again.

Pupils comparing body parts and functionality, apparently!

Miscellaneous instances of irritating noise and diesel fumes.

It's no wonder that various rouses and schemes were devised in order to give Games a miss. My favourite and one that always worked well, was to leave a penny in one of your socks throughout the previous day.

Then, just before Games, you show the horrible looking bruise on you foot to a teacher, and viola! - excused!! Who remembers you say??

© Barny

Pictures; Banfield Coach, Leyland Tiger Cub, 1959

A pub by another name .............. the English Lounge on High Street

Now my old friend Walter was forever complaining about the way that some pubs seemed to change their name with regularity which both confused and annoyed him.

The English Lounge, 2015

It wasn’t so much that the new name bore no relation to the original but more that it marked the passing of a bit of his youth and on occasion left him wondering where his old haunt had been.

And I was reminded of this when Peter sent me his painting of the English Lounge on High Street.

Like Walter I had to think twice before I could place the pub and while I have yet to fall over the doorstep I remember it as the Hogshead, while there will be many more who knew it as the Wheat sheaf.

In time I will go looking for how far back I can track the Wheatsheaf.  There was a pub by that name on High Street by 1844 although I rather think Peter’s building will date from later in the century.

And that will offer up a lot of nerdy fun crawling over the rate books, census material and old pictures to get an exact date for the building that now stands at 64-66 High Street.

The Wheatsheaf, 1885

That said I can confidently assert it was offering up pints, food and good company by 1885 when this advert for the “Wheatsheaf Commercial and Family Hotel, replete with every modern convenience” appeared in the directories.

In time we may also be able to discover who owned the hotel because back in 1911 Mrs Sarah Harris is listed as the manageress supervising a team of eight staff including a barmaid, two waitresses, a cook, chambermaid, general servant and two who were listed as “Boots.”

Sadly the census return for that April day in 1911 does not include the name of any residents who may have been staying in the eight roomed hotel.

Nor have I unearthed any pictures of what they would have seen from their bedroom windows of the buildings opposite.

The Hogshead, 1996

Today of course the view is taken up by the tiled exterior of the Arndale but back in the early 20th century there would have a row of Victorian buildings housing a range of businesses from Fred Isherwood’s boot and shoe company to Misses Francis and Alice Dickens, dealers in fent and a clutch of tailors and blouse makers.

I never asked Walter if the Wheatsheaf was one of his favoured haunts and I doubt that he would have visited the building next door which is now Tea 42, was Oska Menswear but which I remember as one of those fabulous old fashioned fabric emporiums which the Northern Quarter was famous for.

The Wheatsheaf, 1959

It closed sometime around 2008-09 but was a magic place full of bales of different materials laid out on the long cutting tables in the centre of the shop and stacked high on makeshift shelves which disappeared towards the ceiling.

If I am honest I always groaned when I was told that was one of our Saturday destinations but quickly became mesmerized by all that was on offer and came away with lingering smell of cotton which pervaded the place.

Added to which there was something to admire in the old ironwork which fronted the shop

The Wheatsheaf, 1970

All of which may seem a long way from Peter’s painting of the English Lounge, but I think not, because it is part of a series which aims to record how the city is changing, and that just leaves me wondering if he will paint Tea 42 resplendent in its new livery of grey, with its restored delicate iron frontage offering tea in the place of calico.

We shall see.










Painting; The English Lounge, High Street, © 2015 Peter Topping,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Pictures, The Wheatsheaf, 1885, m50781, The Hoggshead, 1996, m81278 and the Wheatsheaf in 1959, H W Beaumont, m50783 and in 1970, A Dawson, m50784 , courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Tomorrow ............... in Furness Vale

Drawing on his extensive collection of photographs, Chris Simpson takes us on a pictorial journey through the Goyt Valley.

* Furness Vale Local History Society, http://furnesshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/dont-miss-our-january-meeting.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+FurnessValeLocalHistorySociety+(FURNESS+VALE+LOCAL+HISTORY+SOCIETY)

Saving a Century........... a major new photographic exhibition from the Victorian Society

The Watts Warehouse, Manchester, 1851-6

Now here is an exhibition not to be missed combining the story of the Victorian Society’s ongoing work to save our historic buildings with a fine collection of photographs from their collection.

It's free free and at the John Rylands Library on Deansgate between January 8- March 24

According to Steve Roman, “the Victorian Society’s photographic exhibition Saving a Century, curated by noted architectural historian Gavin Stamp, which will be on show free of charge at The John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH, from  January 8 – March 24, daily during Library hours.

The Albert Memorial, London, 1872

Using archive photographs and material from over fifty years of the Victorian Society’s fight to save historic buildings, the exhibition charts the successes and defeats of the organisation that has done so much to change public attitudes towards the nineteenth century’s best architecture. 

After more than 60 venues around Britain this is the final showing of the exhibition, which includes local images from Manchester, Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Middleton, Preston and Nelson.”

And where better to see the exhibition than in the John Rylands Library on Deansgate, which just leaves me to high light the work of the Victorian Society and quote from their site,

"The Victorian Society is the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment. 

Coldhurst Mill, Oldham, 1876, demolished in 1977

It fights to preserve important Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes so that they can be enjoyed by this and future generations. 

It provides expert advice to churches and local planning authorities on how Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes can be adapted to the way we live now, while keeping what is special about them. 

It also advises members of the public about how they can help shape the future of their local Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes. 

It provides information to owners of Victorian and Edwardian houses about how they can better look after their precious buildings. 

It helps people understand, appreciate and enjoy the architectural heritage of the Victorian and Edwardian period through its publications and educational programmes.""***

St Mar's Street, Nelson, 2014

Pictures, The Britannia Hotel, Portland Street , Manchester formerly the Watts Warehouse by Travis and Magnall, 1851-6, Coldhurst Mill, Oldham , 1876, demolished in 1977 a week after the photo was taken, St Mary’s Street, Nelson, saved and now upgraded thanks to local residents supported by the Victorian Society, The Albert Memorial, London,1872 by George Gilbert Scott, from the Society's collection

*Victorian Society, Manchester Regional Web site,  http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/manchester/

** Steve Roman,Victorian Society Membership Trustee, 0161 434 2908

***The Victorian Society, 1 Priory Gardens , LONDON W4 1TT Telephone 020 8994 1019 www.victoriansociety.org.uk

The Victorian Society is a Registered Charity No. 1081435 and a Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 3940996.

So goodbye finally to the Orange Grove on Wilmslow Road

Now back in the middle of 2014 Andy Robertson revisited the Sherwood in Fallowfield which had been one of his old haunts back in the 1970s and returned after “someone alerted me that this may be pulled down. 

As far as I know the Sherwood was rebuilt 1976 and the original dated back into the 19th century.

My wife's Dad and his parents lived on Sherwood Street and may have supped a few pints in the original Sherwood.

My wife's mother's parents also had a corner shop nearby which is probably how my wife's parents met."

But the passage of time has not been kind to the Sherwood which at some more became the Orange Grove and later closed.

That said its demolition took a little bit longer but as Andy’s recent pictures show the onward march of the developers has now started on the course which will see the Orange Grove torn down in favour of 35 apartments with commercial units.*

The new development will have an L shaped footprint with four retail units and the upper floors would comprise 35 flats in a mix of ten x one bedroom, 21 x two bedroom and four x three bedroom.

Looking at the proposed buildings it is fair to say they will blend with much of the other new build and that is all I shall see.

Pictures; the Orange Grove May 2014 and December 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Former Orange Grove Public House 304 Wilmslow Road Fallowfield Manchester M14 6NL, 106846/FO/2014/S1,  Manchester City Council Planning Applications