Flatulent horses and the explosion of steam in Tunstall

The brothers, James and John Pollard Skinner were noted for breeding, keeping and managing horses. These were good and useful skills on a reasonably large farm when they were both working the land on opposite sides of the River Bure.
   The picture of the carriage outing, above, comes from a first cousin once removed, with whom I spent many happy hours delving into my fathers side of family history.  This side all originate from the north west of England. This picture shows parents James and Ellen with two of their children, Mary and Seth. From the researches of my cousin Molly and I, that branch of the family also left the land and moved into the towns to work in retail, commerce and industry.
   Back in Norfolk when James Pollard Skinner made his (apparently) contentious will in December 1869, of which, thanks to my co-researchers, I now have a copy, we agree, he was unwell and depressed.
  His depression is indicated in the letter he received from his medical student son James Charles. The cirrhosis was causing pain. It made the evening Methodist meetings at Wickhampton he felt obliged to attend "on weekday nights," unpleasant for him. I guess he rode rather than drove a horse to attend them.
   When he died only one of his sons, Harry, had survived to carry out his wishes. Harry was  21. Except for his older sister Louisa, all his other brothers and sisters were under the age of majority. The closest one to him in age was Emma Jane.
   "I hope Harry has recovered from his duties positively." Writes Mary Ann Howlett to her cousin Jane Betsy on 14th November 1870. Harry, because his father is ailing has taken on extra responsibilities for running the farm.
    After his father's death three months later, Harry's duties increase. Breeding and running the horses and live stock on the Tunstall Farm are down to him. It would be expedient to turn to the expertise of his uncle John Pollard Skinner and cousin James Thomas for help and assistance with them.
   In May 1876, Harry takes out an advertisement in his favourite newspaper, the Norfolk News, to ask any creditors of his father's estate to put in a claim before he invests the proceeds of the sale for the benefit of the beneficiaries, his surviving sisters, all of them, except Emma Jane, still minors.
  Later in the year, there is an advertisement in the Yarmouth Independent newspaper on Saturday 16th November. It is taken out to sell farming stock, including horses on behalf of John Skinner at Thrigby. The auctioneers, Messrs Spelman, claim "the name of Skinner has long been celebrated as breeders of Norfolk stock." I will attach the advertisement below.
   More than that, the Bury Free Press (of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk), repeats an advertisement throughout the 1870s, for Floyds colic remedy for horses. which includes a testimonial from James Skinner of Tunstall. The Bury Free Press use it as their stock ad filler letterpress block, when they have a space. Is it James Charles, James Pollard or James Thomas of Tunstall who has written this testimonial? As he says "facts are stubborn things," although in this case, the facts are elusive.
   The old joke about the Queen travelling in an open carriage with a Commonwealth visiting dignitary behind a flatulent horse comes to mind. When she apologises for the noise and accompanying bad odour from the horse, she receives the reply: "That's alright Ma'am, I thought it was the horse."
   These advertisements indicate brothers James and John Pollard Skinner and their sons are specialists in breeding and using horse power for transport and farming. How much of the livestock, horse and cattle was shared between the brothers and cousins, is a matter for speculation, but would explain a lot. Harry may have turned to his uncle's expertise with horses when his father died.  If some of  the estate of James Pollard Skinner was being sold at Thrigby, there could be death duty implications from the proceeds, especially since James Thomas, John Pollard's oldest son,  had just died in Yarmouth.
   A lot of this is about the economics of running a farm and replacing horse power, with that of steam engines. As Alderman Kell of Ross on Wye writes for the Farmer's Magazine in 1849, "horses are kept at vast expense in comparison with a steam engine that only eats when it works."
   It's horse power on the farms versus mechanisation from early on. Engineering works in Norfolk and Suffolk are building steam engines to work on the farms. These are Burrells in Thetford, Norfolk and Garretts in Leiston Suffolk.
   The Gilletts in Tunstall are using a steam engine in 1860. There is no record of a "Tunstall tragedy" in the East Anglian newspapers of Norfolk and Suffolk, as far as my researches into the splendid British Newspaper Archive has so far revealed.
    It is from a newspaper based in the London Home Counties. In the Colchester-based Essex Standard, (The Essex County Standard, today) I found a report from 27th April 1860 of a "frightful steam explosion" in Tunstall, Norfolk. It is on Mr Gilletts farm. Three men are killed. I'll put the clip below. with the other clips mentioned in this article. All are copyright of the British Library Board, Newspaper Archive.

       

Comments

Barbara Critchley said…
The horse, livestock, furniture and equipment auctions at Tunstall and Thrigby in 1876 should have resulted in enough to be invested for James Pollard Skinner's surviving daughters when they married or gained their majority according to his will. In fact his brother's eldest son James Thomas took on the lease at Tunstall for seven years with his sisters Alice and Eleanor. James Pollard's son Harry ran a shop, post-office, coal merchant and carrier service in Freethorpe until he took on the lease of the farm at Burlingham St Edmund in 1880. The Skinner family held further sales of horses, furniture and livestock at Tunstall, in 1883, Reedham, in 1887 and Burlingham St Edmund in 1887. After the death of John Pollard Skinner in 1888, his widow, Jane Betsy's sister, sold the horses, livestock and furniture at Thrigby and also some properties in St George's Road, Great Yarmouth in 1890. As her sister had invested in a farm for her only surviving son Harry, Eliza Charlotte invested in Corporation Farm at Thrigby for her sons Stephen and Arthur, helped by their sisters Harriet and Annie.
December 9, 2020 at 8:45 AM
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