Yorkshire Almanac Heavy snow leaves Oliver Heywood unsure whether to cross the Pennines into Lancashire

12 February 1677: Heavy snow leaves Oliver Heywood unsure whether to cross the Pennines into Lancashire

Oliver Heywood. 1883. The Rev. Oliver Heywood, B.A., 1630-1702, Vol. 3. Ed. J. Horsfall Turner. Bingley: T. Harrison. Get it:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

The like suspense I was in upon February 12, 1677, about going into Lancashire: for I promised to go, designing gathering some rents as my main business, yet intending to preach at Ratchdal on Monday night, but upon Saturday it fell a considerable snow, and my wife was unwilling I should venture over Blackstone Edge. My maid on Saturday told John Stott that it was doubtful whether I came, and my friends advised me not to go. I promised my wife that morning that if it snowed I would stay at home. About 9 o’clock it snowed again, upon which I settled myself in a resolution to stay at home, studied till noon, then the sun shone, it was fair, one came and dined with us, told us it was good travelling, upon which I got myself ready, set forward after one o’clock, yet had some discouragements: 1) my wife was troubled at my going, 2) I was much straitened at parting in prayer, 3) at the end of my croft my horse stumbled to his knees, which my wife observed, called me again, I went on still, and 4) found bad way in the Hough – there I debated with myself, turned back, to my inner satisfaction, visited Mr. Clay, sick, was helped to pray with him, god wonderfully enlarged my heart in family-duty. The week following I went, and it proved much better for 1) Mistress Lambert, and others came out of Craven, next Saturday, spent the Sabbath with me, designing a journey into Lancashire, and I went with them, very opportunely, 2) it was seasonable weather, I had a comfortable journey, 3) I found my own father sick, begun that week, came as if I had been called – where god melted my heart, 4) I was not expected at Ratchdal, performed my preaching work before the week following – got home safely – blessed be my god.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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18 June 1664: Jane Thompson of Craven, “a swinish drunkard,” dies of a barely-treated compound fracture

10 March 1665: Blizzards and Dutch attacks prolong Restoration-induced shortages of fodder and coal at Northowram (Halifax)

27 July 1612: Jennet Preston, the only Yorkshirewoman among the Pendle witches, is found guilty at York of the murder of Thomas Lister of Westby Hall, Gisburn (Ribble Valley)

12 December 1641: John Sugden causes panic in Bradford and Pudsey with news of the imminent advent of genocidal Irish Catholics

2 January 1673: Despite Charles II’s Declaration of Indulgence, Presbyterians Oliver Heywood and Christopher Richardson are detained while preaching at Lascelles Hall (Kirkburton)

5 February 1691: Approaching 60, Oliver Heywood contemplates his place in the cosmos

11 February 1674: A successful national fast

29 November 1673: A verse warns Charles II against his brother James, six days after the latter’s marriage to an Italian Catholic

20 March 1848: Showman Pablo Fanque tells an inquest how he overfilled a poorly propped Leeds circus, which collapsed, killing his wife

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William Wallett describes the incident in his memoirs, adding:

My wife and Mrs. Pablo were seated together in the pay office beneath the falling mass. Mrs. Wallett happened to be sitting upright, and was knocked down by the timbers. She received some injury, but was not dangerously hurt. But poor Mrs. Pablo, who was looking over the front of the money-taking place, was struck by a falling beam, and killed on the spot. In the confusion that followed, some vile thief stole her watch from her side, and her box containing upwards of £50, the takings of the evening (Wallett 1870).

Wallett, a friend and partner of Fanque, left to join Ryan’s circus, which immediately went bust, and then Astley’s (Frost 1875).

Whence “Fanque”? Did its pronunciation evoke Widow Twankey – by then a well-established character? My impression is that Darby/Fanque’s skin pigment is never mentioned in the 1840s (see e.g. the article accompanying the lead illustration), only in passing by the 1870s, and obsessively nowadays.

Re “Mrs Pablo” in various accounts, here’s George Melly writing about his childhood in 1930s Liverpool:

The door was eventually opened by Davis, curiously described as ‘the head waitress’, who had been at Chatham Street since 1914. Dressed in a severe black uniform with white cap and apron she nevertheless gave an impression of White-Queen-like dishevelment and calm panic. Like Gangie’s Marjorie, she identified members of the family by trusting the surname as taken for granted. She addressed my parents as Mr and Mrs Tom, Gangie and Gampa were Mr and Mrs Heywood, her employers Mr Willy and Miss Eva. Davis had a rapid, very slight Liverpool accent. I never knew her Christian name or, at the time, imagined that she even had one (Melly ).

Unfortunately, Pablo Fanque’s show for the benefit of another employee, Mr Kite, took place in Rochdale (Lancashire):