Reminiscences of old Sheffield, its streets and ... people

Preface

. This book does not claim to be anything so dignified as history. It is only a gathering together of the various threads out of which history is woven — threads which, if not seized and put into tan gible shape, quickly escape altogether. Our local annals afford many illustrations of the loss that has been sustained through want of persons who would take the trouble carefully to chronicle small details, and no one can be fully conscious of that misfortune until he rises from tbe compilation of such a work as this. If each past generation for (say) a hundred and fifty years, had pos sessed its Cap'n Cuttle, who would not only have made a note of what he found, but have left that note where others could find it, my labours would have been greatly lightened. I used the word " compilation " advisedly just now, for this book is nothing more ambitious.

It had its origin in a very widely expressed wish that a number" of articles and letters which appeared in The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent in 1872 and 1873, should, as contributions to our local folk-lore, be reproduced in a form more readily accessible, than scattered through the files of a newspaper. My duty has thus been the modest one of collating, arrang ing, and (wherever that was possible) of verifying what more competent hands had written. To them, in the first instance, belongs any merit the book may possess. If I have thrown too flimsy a veil over the individuality of any member of this amicable confraternity, I must trust that the exigencies of editorship will form a sufficient excuse. But Hallamshire men will feel that an additional value has been given to this gossip by the fact that most of the proof sheets have had the advantage of careful revision by the late Mr. William Swift, the one man best fitted to enrich by the suggestions, and to test by the resources, of his accurate mind.

To his memory I venture to dedicate a volume, in whose progress he took a very lively interest. I am quite conscious that not unfrequently events are men tioned in these pages which can hardly be considered properly to belong to " Old " Sheffield. Some of them have occurred within the memory of those amongst us who have not yet reached middle age. I have thought it better to err on this side rather than on the other ; not to draw a line too hard and fast between the Sheffield of our own day and the Sheffield of our ancestors, con scious that each succeeding year will further remove any reproach that cjin be urged on this score. E. E. LEADEE. ERRATA. p. 27. — Isaac Barne9 lived in the house at the corner of Campo lane and Hawley Croft, not of Lee Croft.* p. 31.— 16 lines from bottom : dele the comma after " builder," and read "Joseph Oakes, the builder of Washington Works." p. 31. — 10 lines from bottom : for " assize," read "assay." p. 44. — 3 lines from bottom : for Sutcliffe, read Sutliffe. p. 46. — line 22 : for Silvester, read Sylvester.

P- "1* — 14 lines from bottom : for Younge and Rimington's, read Rimingtons and Younges'. p. 87.*— line 31 : for George Smith, read George GLinville Smith. p. 98. — line 7 : for Peach, read Peech. P- 103. — line 26 : for Laing, read Lang. p. 110.— line 12 : for Rawmarsh, read Bramley. p. 111. — line 6 : the name of Mr. Huntsman, as a steel converter, is omitted. P- 192. — line 7 : for comparing, read confusing. p. 202.— bottom line but one : for Riley, Carr & Co., read Eiley Carr & Co. REMINISCENCES OF OLD SHEFFIELD.

Chapter I

Paradise Square, Cajipo Lane, Hartshead, and Watson's Walk. Dramatis Personæ — Mr. William Wragg, i , . _.-,■_. ■at r, t Ancient Citizens of Mr. George Leighton, \ „, ,. , , nr o -c Sheffield. Bir. Samuel Everard, I •" Mr. F. Twiss, The Antiquary. fa Modern Citizen of Air. Richard Leonard, 1 Sheffield Period— A.D. 1872-3. Scene — A room in Leonard's house. LEIGHTON : So the old steps in Paradise square Lave gone at last. Have you secured the top stone for your collection, Mr. Twiss '? Twiss : No, it would have been rather too large ; but I wish it could be preserved somewhere ; otherwise, like so many other things that disappear, it will be consigned to oblivion. Everard : What eloquence has rung from that stone ! Leonard : And what nonsense ! Everard : Brougham, Morpeth, Bethel, Milton, Elliott, Dunn, Roebuck, and Mundella have thence charmed thou sands of eager listeners.

Leonard : And others have thence uttered rant enough to cause the very stones to cry out. Leighton : There were few finer sights in Sheffield than a great meeting in " t' Pot square," when the people were really in earnest and the speaker a man of power. Leonard : The finest sight of all was when Mr. Henry Hoole, flourishing his arms in a burst of exuberant elo quence, brought down his fist on Mr. Leader's hat and B ■1 PARADISE square. knocked it over his eyes. That was a notable time, too, when Roebuck, sitting in his carriage at the bottom of the steps, listened to Campbell Foster's fulminations against him. TheVe has seldom been so much use made of a white waistcoat and a loud voice. But this is not "Old Sheffield.'" Wragg : The eloquence from the steps has often been exceeded by the wit from the crowd, which always displayed a keen sense of tbe humorous and a quick perception of humbug.

Leonard : Does anyone know when meetings were first held in the Square ? Twiss : Tbe first on record that I have found was in 1779, July 15, when Wesley preached "to the largest con gregation he ever saw on a week-day." Then, in 1798, Rowland Hill came down and preached there one Sunday evening, after an afternoon service in Queen Street Chapel. He had an immense congregation, and confusion was caused towards the end by some fellow drawing his sword upon the people. Before that, out-door meetings were held on the Castle hill, or at the Church gates before the old Town Hall; sometimes on Crookes moor, or pieces of waste land^ anywhere handy. Leonard : Pray spare us the old story about somebody who knew somebody else who remembered the Square as a corn-field. Wragg : Why should we '? There are people still living, or were not long ago, who remembered it a field of oats, entered from the top by Hicks' stile.

An elderly lady, who died not many years ago, had gone with the maid to milk her father's cows, which were pastured there. There seems always to have been a footpath across, which was, indeed, the only thoroughfare from that side of the town. Pedestrians going up Silver street head (busier then, I believe, than High street) had to cross to Wheat's passage by Mr. Ryalls' office, if they were going to the Market ; or if to the old Town Hall, they went over Hicks' stile, up St. James's row (or West row, or Virgin's row, for it has borne all three names) — there were steps at the bottom the whole width of the row — and then across the Churchyard. Everard : The lamp in the centre of the Square has taken the place of the old cross shaft, removed there from Snig hill head ; but the steps up to it are, I should think, unchanged.

The stocks were removed there from the Church gates. THE STOCKS — THOMAS BROADBENT. Wragg : And drunken men were placed in them on Sundays for punishment. The practice had to be dropped because of the disturbances it caused. The last instance of a drunken man being placed in the stocks was forty three or forty-four years ago. Leighton : What became of the stocks in the Square '? Wragg : When they got out of order, the two pieces of wood that confined the delinquents' feet became loose, and the late Mr. W. H. Clayton, the broker under the steps in the Square, removed them into his back yard for safety. There they remained for years, and no one ever inquired for them. Everard : There were stocks also at Bridgehouses, opposite the end of the iron bridge ; at Attercliffe ; near Ecclesall Chapel ; and near the old Sugar House, Sheffield moor.

Wragg : Paradise square was the residence of notable men. I believe it was the first suburban place to which tradesmen retired away from their works. Leonard : Do you think so ? There were surely sub urban residences before that, and further out than that. I have been told by a gentleman still living, whose father resided there when he was a boy, that the Square has scarcely changed at all in appearance since very early iu the century. It was then built all round as it is now*, and with the same buildings, except a few which have been modernised on the east side. Wragg : Well, at any rate, many of the first families in the town lived there. Leonard : Dr. Gatty, in a note at p. 177 of his Edition of Hunter, says that " Thomas Broadbent took a lease of the field in 1776, and built the houses on the east side."

Now, I happen to know that the lease to Thomas Broad bent — so far at least as concerns the land at the top of that side of the Square — is dated 1736. He had five daughters, and he built the five houses at the top— afterwards Bram ley and Gainsford's offices and the adjoining ones — for them. On his death, they came into their possession. The date 1776 must be a clerical or a printer's error. Everard : But that date suits better the corn-field recol lections of the 'old inhabitants who have now passed away; unless, indeed, the Square remained a field after the houses on the east side were built. And this is very possible. Wragg : I have been told by a man who was in the service of her father, whose business was in Hollis croft, PARADISE SQU.ARE. that Miss Harrison was born in one of the houses at the top side of the Square.

Then Chantrey set up here, in what was then No. 14, as au artist, and advertised that he took por traits in crayons. That was in 1802. Two years later he made a step nearer his proper vocation, for he had com menced taking models from life. Everard : It would be interesting to know if many of his crayon portraits are extant. "Leonard : Yes, numbers. You will find a long list of them in Mr. John Holland's Memorials of Chantrey. The whereabouts of most of them was known when that was published, in 1850. Everard : You may see in the Old Church his first piece of sculpture, the monument to Justice Wilkinson, which the Iris, shrewd enough to predict the future celebrity of "the young artist," praised as a "faithful and affecting resem blance." The bust of Dr. Browne, in the board-room of the Infirmary, is also by Chantrey, executed in 1810— four years after the Wilkinson monument.

Leighton : Another worthy who lived in the Square up to the time of his death, in 1817, was the Rev. George Smith, curate of Ecclesall, and assistant-minister at the Parish Church — the father of Mr. Albert Smith. He lived near the bottom on the east side. Leon.ird : I see a window has been inserted in place of the old door at the top of the steps, but the pillasters remain to show where the door entered Mr. Hebblethwaite' s school. Wragg : That room was originally built as a Freemasons' lodge. It was afterwards put to various uses — a dancing school and a preaching-room. I remember hearing the noto rious Robert Owen lecture there. At one time a considerable congregation of Independents assembled there, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Parish. They contemplated building a chapel, but they let the opportunity slip, and much they regretted it afterwards.

The last three survivors of that congregation were Mr. Spear, of the firm of Spear and Jackson ; Mr. Peter Spurr, tobacconist, father of Mr. Spurr, chemist and druggist ; and the late Mr. Joseph Brit tlebank, scale-cutter. The leases have now fallen in, or are falling in, so that possibly it may not remain long in its old state. Twiss : Yes ; the lease of part fell in two years ago (not of the other part, for it is built on two leases), and that shows that it is just over a century old, as the lease would THE BLIND FIDDLERS. no doubt be a ninety-nine years' one. The room was built by Mr. Nowill, who had a shop in High street, opposite George street. Everard : The pot market that was held in the Square on market days has quite disappeared, or is only represented by the crockery shops on the north side.

Twiss : There was a sort of pot market formerly by the Church gates. Wragg : The Square has been the scene of degrading transactions, as well as of honourable ones. Some brute once, for a wager, ate a live cat on tbe steps. I knew a person who bought his wife in tbe Square, whither she had beeu led in a halter. Leighton : "Q in the Corner" was an old public-house much frequented by fiddlers, since it was kept by Sam Good lad, first fiddler on all important occasions. Wragg : The blind fiddlers were quite an institution. At one time there were six of them, several of whom were excellent performers on the violin. Their names were .James Knight, Samuel Hawke, Thomas Booth, Alexander Clayton (brother of the late W. H. Clayton, broker), William Brumby, and Joseph Ward. They had their circuits, chiefly on the outskirts of the town, to which they went in pairs, playing firsts and seconds, and they kept to their own districts.

At Christmas they went round "' a Christmas-boxing," drop ping into public-houses, and being liberally rewarded for tbe tunes they played. Leon.ard : There is a good story of a blind fiddler in John Wilson's edition of Mather's Songs, p. 55. This was " Blind Stephen," who was, I imagine, of earlier date than those you have mentioned. Everard : The house at the top corner of Paradise square and Campo lane, now a dram-shop, Was, sixty years ago, a respectable grocer's shop, kept by Mr. Newton (who was succeeded by Mr. Benjamin Ellis), and at that time was much celebrated amongst the grinders, both in town and country, for the quality of the articles of emery, crocus, and glue. Wragg : Yes, that shop had almost the monopoly of the trade. Twiss : More recently the shop was occupied by Mr. Crossland, noted for his regular and punctual attendance to it the whole day long.

His only recreation was a walk up Glossop road after his shop was closed at night. Everard : Then came, as now, the barber's shop, at that CAMPO LANE. time occupied by the father and predecessor of the Mr. Cop ley who was recently burnt to death in a shocking manner by an explosion of gunpowder. The "Ball" Inn, next door, then the " Golden Ball," was kept in my youthful clays by Antipas Stevens, a very intelligent and respectable man, who kept his house in proper order. I believe he took to it at the time Mr. Crich removed to the " Black Swan," Snighill. Mr. Stevens was by trade a silversmith ; and I have an im pression that he had been apprenticed to Ashforth, Ellis, and Co., or, at least, had worked for them. The Braziers' Sick Club met at his house, and the inn was, moreover, at that time, much frequented by country people on the market days, and more especially by the grinders from the neighbourhoods of Wadsley, Loxley, and Rivelin.

After refreshing themselves there with the good " home-brewed," they would call at the adjoining shop of Mr. Ellis for their weekly supply of emery, and crocus, and groceries. In the watchmaker's shop a little further on, long occupied by Mr. David Johnson, and now by his son, was Mr. Zaccheus Dyson, whose active figure, dressed in a brown coat, drab small clothes, and broad-brimmed hat — for he belonged to the Society of Friends— still lives in the re spectful remembrance of many of our townsmen. Mr. Dyson, it is related, once received a letter from a Quaker correspondent addressed "For Zaccheus Dyson, clock and watchmaker, Sheffield, near to a great heap of stones called a church." Twiss : Mr. Dyson retired to Handsworth Woodhouse, and died there 4th June, 1861. Wragg : Narrow as Campo lane is, it was once still nar rower, a slice having been taken from the Churchyard to widen it.

Leonard : On the site of the offices of Burbeary and Smith, at the corner of North Church street, a worthy lady named Ward kept a school. She was much respected by her pupils and her friends, and she now enjoys a quiet old age in the Shrewsbury Hospital. [Mrs. Ward died after this conversation took place, on the 31st December, 1872, aged 86. It is recorded that she enjoyed almost uninterrupted good health up to the hour of her death.] Everard : The first shop past that was long occupied by the late Mr. John Innocent, bookseller. Before that it had been the lawyer's office of Mr. Brookfield, uncle of the late Mr. Charles Brookfield ; and ill 1839 Mr. Innocent there found the legal documents which were issued for the first prosecuiMONTGOMERY's PROSECUTIONS — THE SCANTLEBURYS. 7 fcion of Montgomery in 1795.

Mr. Innocent placed in Mont gomery's hands the papers he found, and from them he first learnt, and possessed certain proof, that he had been the victim of a state prosecution. These documents stated, amongst other things, that "briefs were to be given to Counsel with the Attorney-General's compliments;" and ' ' that this prosecution is carried on chiefly with a view to put a stop to the associated clubs in Sheffield ; and it is to be hoped, if we are fortunate enough to succeed in convict ing the prisoner, it will go a great way towards curbing the insolence they have uniformly manifested." The papers, which were shown at an exhibition at the Music Hall, in 1848, were given to Mr. Innocent by Mrs. Brookfield, and he gave them to Montgomery, refusing all payment, although the poet offered any money for them.

Leonard : I have heard that a third and still more bitter prosecution of Mr. Montgomery was threatened. J. CT .' -"-- Everard : This was in 1806. Montgomery actually received the legal notices for a prosecution, based on his strictures on the campaign in Germany, when General Mack and 39,000 Austrians laid clown their arms. He himself said, " I never knew how the blow missed me, for it was aimed with a cordiality that meant no repetition of the stroke. The death of Nelson probably saved me, for in the next Iris I spoke of that event in a strain of such patriotism that my former dis loyalty was perhaps overlooked." Twiss : A fortunate escape. Everard : A few doors further on the lane were the Scantleburys, worthy Quakers, who desalt in looking-glasses. There was old Thomas Scantlebury, of The Hills ; and he had three sons, Jolm Barlow Scantlebury, Joseph Scantlebury, and Samuel Scantlebury.

Thomas Scantlebury and his eldest son, John Barlow, were very prominent opponents of Church rates. Meetings used to be held in the Churchyard adjoining, and the speakers stood on the tombstones. Some of the family emigrated to America. Leonard : Yes ; the two younger sons, Joseph aud Samuel. The latter is still living in Chicago, and retains his connec tion with the Society of Friends ; as I see from a letter to the Independent respecting the opposition to the church rates. " Thomas Scantlebury," he says, "was the adviser, chiefly ; while his son, John Barlow Scantlebury, took the more pro minent part. I well remember that, on one occasion, the opponents of the church rates would have fatally committed CAMPO L.\NE. themselves but for my father. The momentous question had been put and seconded in his absence, but the people refused to vote on it until they had heard his views.

When he came in, he very briefly stated his opposition to the motion, show ing that it would form a very dangerous precedent. The motion was then withdrawn. The people said that the Vicar and his set could get on the blind side of everybody but old Thomas Scantlebury. I remember old Thomas Rawson was at that meeting, as active as ever. I believe I never saw him afterwards." Twiss: Mr. Thomas Scantlebury died at "The Hills," on the Grimesthorpe road, August 14, 1821 ; his son, John Barlow Scantlebury, died April 28, 1837. Old Mrs. Scantle bury was the daughter of John Barlow, the last of the family that had carried on the old business of manufacturers of pen and pocket cutlery on the premises in Campo lane, just be yond Mr. Scantlebury's, the east front of which looks down the Hartshead. They had been there as owners and occu piers of the property ever since the year 1679, "and I can not tell how long previous," says Mr. Samuel Scantlebury in the letter Mr. Leonard has just quoted.

It was Oba diah Barlow, the great-great-grandfather of Samuel Scantle bury, who had the premises in 1679. Whether the Barlow of Neepsend, who died in 1740, was of the same family or not is doubtful. John Barlow died in 1798, and one of the best businesses in Sheffield died with him. The trade mark was the simple name thus — How Leonard : I have spoken of old Mrs. Ward. Before her time there was another lady of the same name, some six or eight doors from the Barlow property. She had been house keeper to the Jolm Barlow who has been mentioned, and he set her up in the grocery business. Her shop looked more like a greenhouse than a grocer's shop. She always had her window and every bit of spare room filled with some beautiful flower or plant. Mr. Samuel Scantlebury writes, " If I remember right she had a geranium that used nearly to fill her front windows.

It was there I first saw the hydrangea. There cannot be many who remember her ; she must have been dead more than 6*5 years. The dear old woman remem bered me in her will. She left me a guinea for pocket-money !" Wragg : Well, this brings us in our journey along the lane to the Hartshead, and to the Broadbents' house frontino- York street, a few years ago occupied by Messrs. Pye-Smith and Wightman, and now by Messrs. J. and G. Webster. THE BROADBENTS. 9 Everard : Before you tell us the history of that house, let me just say that in the workshops at the back of Mr. Scantlebury' s premises yet another member of the Society of Friends, Mr. William Chapman, carried on for many years the business of an engraver. Twiss : I well remember his burial (one of the last inter ments in the graveyard of the Friends' Meeting-house), and the solitary sentence uttered by Friend E. Baines — " After death the judgment."

Everard : He was a very amiable and intelligent man, highly esteemed in his denomination, and at one time he was actively engaged in promoting the welfare of its members by visiting the country districts. His grave and Christian deportment, combined with his kindly disposition and cour teous manners, secured the confidence and respect of those who had any intercourse with him. Twiss : We shall still keep among the Friends, for Joseph Broadbent, who died in 1684, was one of the first generation of the Society in the town. I believe it was his son Nicholas who built the house in the Hartshead. He died in 1736, and was father of Joseph Broadbent, merchant, said to have been the first banker in Sheffield, who died in 1761. Leonard : Is it worth while to go into matters that may be found by any of us in Gatty's " Hunter ?"

Twiss : No ; but the point I want to get at is, were the Broadbents the first bankers in the town '? I hiive been told that the first person who practised this profession in Shef field was one ofthe fraternity of pawnbrokers. In the "Hal lamshire," it is said, "In 1778, Messrs. J. and T. Broadbent opened a bank iu Hartshead, on the failure of Mr. Roebuck's bank, which was the first known in Sheffield, aud only lasted eight years ; and in 1780 the Broadbents failed." Leonard : If Joseph Broadbent died in 1761, how could he be a banker in 1778 '? Your information and Hunter's do not seem to agree. Twiss: They were the sons of Joseph — Joseph and Thomas, who were the bankers of 1778 ; but had their father been a banker before them '? I saw the other day an early Sheffield bank note, of which I took a copy : No. R t O 0 Sheffield Old Bank, January 24, 1783.

We promise to pag the hearer on demand Five Guineas. At Shef field, value received. Han. Haslehokst and Son. £o. 5s. RtOli Haslehurst and Son, it seems, became unfortunate ; for the note was endorsed with an exhibit under a commission in bankruptcy, 23rd June, 1785. But in the fact that it is called the Sheffield Old Bank, I am led to inquire : Did the bank, afterwards carried on by Messrs. Parker, Shore and Co., arise from the ashes of this one, for it bore the same name ? Wragg : Whether Mr. Joseph Broadbent was the first banker or not, he was, at any rate, the first merchant who traded with America. There is a good story told of one of the Broadbents, at the time of the suspension of the bank. That suspension took place on a Monday morning. On the preceding Sunday, some Derbyshire man came knocking at the bank door.

A voice from within asked what he wanted. The countryman replied, " I have come to the bank." "We do not transact business on Sundays," was the answer. Then the countryman said, "I have not come for money, but I have brought some." The other replied, " That is quite a different thing." So the door was opened, and the Derby shire man left his money. Leonard : That would be called by a hard name now-a days. Wragg : The Messrs. Binney were afterwards in the Hartshead premises. Twiss : Yes, but the first successor of the Broadbents was Mr. John Turner, a merchant, who died in 1796. He was uncle to Henry Longden and to Mrs. Binney ; and thus we see how the premises came into the occupation of the Binneys. Wragg : I have been told that the Binneys had at one time the best country trade in the town as merchants, and the largest steel furnaces (they have just been pulled down, and the bricks are in heaps in the yard).

I believe they were the first steel manufacturers who had a tilt. One of their best travellers was the father of Mr. Joseph Haywood. I hadthe impression that the father of the late Mr. G. W. Hinchliffe, of Eyre street, was also a traveller for the Bin neys, but that, I find, was a mistake. Leonard : So long ago as 1825, the building had been turned into lawyers' offices. In that year it was occupied by Mr. Copeland, solicitor. Wragg : While we are among the Friends, and so near their Meeting-house, permit me to say, one of them told me that, in his recollection, he can count more than a score who have left Sheffield and gone to America and become minis- THE DOVE AND RAINBOW. 11 ters, who, had they remained in the town, would never have been able to open their mouths. Leonard : I thought there were no ministers among the Quakers.

Leighton : You must forgive the abrupt transition when I say — Now, hail to thee, old "Dove and Rainbow!" Sixty years ago, the drum and fife were scarcely ever absent from thy door, when Sergeant Kenyon and Sergeant Barber were on the look-out for recruits. Well do I remember see ing one of them come forth with his corporal, two or three rank and file, with drum and fife, and march boldly to Water lane, and there draw up his detachment in line. Then did the sergeant, with streamers flying in the air, sheathe his sword, and he and his men marched boldly into the public house, and, like a gallant warrior as he was, called for his " tankard " of foaming ale. The sergeant had ready for each recruit a spade-ace guinea, with his Majesty's portrait im pressed upon it, pigtail and all. The warlike song was — Roll up, so merrily, march away ; Soldier's glory lives in story : His laurels are green when his locks are grey, And it's heigh for the life of a soldier.