Now! Then! Sir William Payne-Gallwey (73), ex-MP for Thirsk, is bested by a turnip while out shooting

Excerpt

Yesterday morning, after a short illness, Sir William Gallwey breathed his last at his residence, Thirkleby Park, near Thirsk. Sir William, so late as Thursday, was out shooting in the parish of Bagby, and in crossing a turnip field fell with his body onto a turnip, sustaining severe internal injuries. All that medical aid could do was done, but with Sir William’s failing health he gradually sank, and died, as stated above, about ten o’clock yesterday morning.

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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.

Abbreviations

Comment

Via Kathryn Rix at Victorian Commons, who quotes another passage from the Northern Echo suggesting that the paper was not a fan of Gallwey:

although he has heard the burning words of Mr Gladstone, the polished satire of Mr Disraeli, the sustained eloquence of John Bright, and the incisive epigrams of Mr Lowe, he has never acquired the art of public speaking (Rix 2019/12/19).

Is the NE mischievously suggesting that the turnip took him up his posterior end? Other outlets say simply that he fell in a turnip field.

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Original

Yesterday morning, after a short illness, Sir William Gallwey breathed his last at his residence, Thirkleby Park, near Thirsk. Sir William, who was a Conservative in politics, represented the borough of Thirsk in Parliament for twenty-eight years, and only resigned his seat when failing health compelled him to take the step at the last General Election, when the borough returned another Conservative in Colonel the Hon. L.P. Dawnay. Sir William during the last few years of his life conferred a lasting boon on the poor of Thirsk and Sowerby by the erection of some scores of cottage-houses, which were let at low rents. The deceased Baronet, who is seventy-three years of age, was born in 1808. The baronetage was created in 1812, and Sir William succeeded to it in 1831, and in 1847 he married Emily Anne, third daughter of Sir Robert Frankland Russell, of Chequers Court, Tring, and Thirkleby Park, Thirsk. He was a deputy-lieutenant for the North Riding of Yorkshire, and a major in the army, and leaves behind him a family, his heir being his son, Ralph William, born in 1848, who was educated at Eton. Lady Gallwey survives Sir William. Sir William, so late as Thursday, was out shooting in the parish of Bagby, and in crossing a turnip field fell with his body on to a turnip, sustaining severe internal injuries. All that medical aid could do was done, but with Sir William’s failing health he gradually sank, and died, as stated above, about ten o’clock yesterday morning.

253 words.