Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

A Yorkshire Almanac Comprising 366 Historical Extracts, Red-letter Days and Customs, and Astronomical and Meteorological Data

28 November 1730: The troubles of a suicided chicken-thief at Rothwell do not end with death

John Hobson. 1877. The Journal of Mr. John Hobson, Late of Dodworth Green. Yorkshire Diaries and Autobiographies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Ed. Charles Jackson. Durham: Surtees Society. A (morbid) compendium of everyday England. It is sometimes unclear whether the date given is that of an occurrence or that on which news reached his capacious ears. Get it:

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Excerpt

At Leeds. A boatman buried in the midst of Rothwell Haigh, and a stake drove through him. He was going to be apprehended for stealing some hens, so he leapt into the river and drowned himself.

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.

Abbreviations:

  • ER: East Riding
  • GM: Greater Manchester
  • NR: North Riding
  • NY: North Yorkshire
  • SY: South Yorkshire
  • WR: West Riding
  • WY: West Yorkshire

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Original

At Leeds. A boatman buried in the midst of Rothwell Haigh, and a stake drove through him. He was going to be apprehended for stealing some hens, so he leapt into the river and drowned himself.

38 words.

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