Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

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Old Will Lindly says he has heard that the original family of the Edmunds was, when this present Mr. Edmunds’ great grandfather was a boy, he was going along with his mother, and crying; they happened to meet with the old Strafford (who was beheaded); he asked what ailed the boy to cry; she said she was going to put him out an apprentice; he asked to what trade; she said to a tailor; he begged her of [i.e. for] him; she consented; he preferred him; so he married a fortune, and left a considerable estate.

He says he knew old Mr. Spencer, grandfather to this present Mr. Spencer, of Cannon Hall. He came out of the borders of Wales, and, at first of all, made hay rakes; then he got in to be clerk for Barnby Furnace for Major Spencer, a Welsh gentleman. He married one of the Naylors, of Clifton, and lived at Barnby Furnace, in the same house where Dan Rowley now lives. When he lived there, he was riding out, and spies a young child newly fallen into the dam; he would not light to pull it out, but rides to a house adjoining, and tells them to go and help one of their water spaniels out of the dam, imagining it was one of the persons who lived there, whose name was Kay. But, when it was pulled out, it happened to be one of Mr. Spencer’s own children.

This Mr. William Spencer afterwards married Margaret, the widow of Mr. Robert Hartley, of Cannon Hall (which place he purchased of her daughter Margaret, wife of Mr. Joseph Watkinson, of Wakefield), where he resided until he died, which was about the year 1680, When he lived at Cannon Hall, in a lane by High Hoyland church he met with a poor man, whose name was Dyson, who had been fishing; they quarrelled; Mr. Spencer struck him, and knocked some of his fish on to the ground, and rid his way. Dyson thought Mr. Spencer had been gone; stoops to gather his fish; Mr. Spencer returns; in his cane, which was hollow, he had a sharp instrument like a rapier, which by the means of a spring he could let drop out of the point of his cane, and fasten there; with this he runs Dyson through, as he was stooping, in at the back, and out of the belly. Dyson dies in two or three days’ time; Mr. Spencer goes up to London, and gets his pardon of King Charles the Second. This Mr. Lindly has seen the cane several times.

He further says that Mr. Senior has some land called Carter Closes. He has heard that they formerly belonged to one Carter, who lived and died in the parlour of James Garner, adjoining to the town street, by eating of some bacon which was laid to poison rats. He says Mr. Hobson, of Lees Hall, was born there, as he has heard, and that David Hobson had a brother who was minister of Wortley. He says he knew Mr. Platts, who lived at the Field head, as also his nephew Somerskill, who robbed upon the highway.

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Original

Old Will Lindly says he has heard that the original family of the Edmunds was, when this present Mr. Edmunds’ great grandfather was a boy, he was going along with his mother, and crying; they happened to meet with the old Strafford (who was beheaded); he asked what ailed the boy to cry; she said she was going to put him out an apprentice; he asked to what trade; she said to a tailor; he begged her of [i.e. for] him; she consented; he preferred him; so he married a fortune, and left a considerable estate.

He says he knew old Mr. Spencer, grandfather to this present Mr. Spencer, of Cannon Hall. He came out of the borders of Wales, and, at first of all, made hay rakes; then he got in to be clerk for Barnby Furnace for Major Spencer, a Welsh gentleman. He married one of the Naylors, of Clifton, and lived at Barnby Furnace, in the same house where Dan Rowley now lives. When he lived there, he was riding out, and spies a young child newly fallen into the dam; he would not light to pull it out, but rides to a house adjoining, and tells them to go and help one of their water spaniels out of the dam, imagining it was one of the persons who lived there, whose name was Kay. But, when it was pulled out, it happened to be one of Mr. Spencer’s own children.

This Mr. William Spencer afterwards married Margaret, the widow of Mr. Robert Hartley, of Cannon Hall (which place he purchased of her daughter Margaret, wife of Mr. Joseph Watkinson, of Wakefield), where he resided until he died, which was about the year 1680, When he lived at Cannon Hall, in a lane by High Hoyland church he met with a poor man, whose name was Dyson, who had been fishing; they quarrelled; Mr. Spencer struck him, and knocked some of his fish on to the ground, and rid his way. Dyson thought Mr. Spencer had been gone; stoops to gather his fish; Mr. Spencer returns; in his cane, which was hollow, he had a sharp instrument like a rapier, which by the means of a spring he could let drop out of the point of his cane, and fasten there; with this he runs Dyson through, as he was stooping, in at the back, and out of the belly. Dyson dies in two or three days’ time; Mr. Spencer goes up to London, and gets his pardon of King Charles the Second. This Mr. Lindly has seen the cane several times.

He further says that Mr. Senior has some land called Carter Closes. He has heard that they formerly belonged to one Carter, who lived and died in the parlour of James Garner, adjoining to the town street, by eating of some bacon which was laid to poison rats. He says Mr. Hobson, of Lees Hall, was born there, as he has heard, and that David Hobson had a brother who was minister of Wortley. He says he knew Mr. Platts, who lived at the Field head, as also his nephew Somerskill, who robbed upon the highway.

540 words.

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• 📌Barnby Furnace (2) ·
• 📌Barnsley (23) ·
• Cannon Hall (3) ·
• Charles II (1630-85) (25), King of Scotland 1649-51, King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration until his death ·
• 📌Dodworth (17) ·
• Drowning (22) ·
• Fishing (7) ·
• Hay (9) ·
• High Hoyland (1) ·
• Highwayman (4) ·
• Hobson, John (32), enthusiastically morbid diarist of Dodworth Green (Barnsley), the date of whose own death is unknown ·
• Inheritance (3) ·
• Murder (38) ·
• Poisoning (3) ·
• Rake (tool) (2) ·
• Rat (2) ·
• Swordstick (1) ·
• 📌Wakefield (36), cathedral city on the River Calder in the West Riding/West Yorkshire ·
• Wales (8) ·
• Welsh Marches (1) ·
• Wentworth, Thomas (1593-1641) (2), 1st Earl of Strafford, in the period leading up to the Civil War a major supporter of Charles I, who reluctantly signed the warrant when Parliament condemned him to death ·
• Wortley, South Yorkshire (6) ·

All tags.

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