PEOPLE FROM OUR PAST
No town is without its own unique characters , many of which , possibly because of their distinctive habits or attire, have become part of local folklore. Whitehaven is no exception to that custom and tales of the legendary " Buttonsticks " are still told when people gather and begin to reminisce. Whether he was a real ,or mythical , character I have yet to determine but the jokes associated with him are still recounted.Others , of whom I have no personal knowledge but have read about include " Leather Lugs" who apparently was a Stephen McAleavy who toured the town selling reddening with which the front door steps were made more attractive.Perhaps because of his appearance he was often on the receiving end of childish taunts and was known for his temper which is not really surprising.Yet another character was Sonny Blaney known as the "Sawdust King " because he made his living by selling bags of sawdust , acquired from the local timber yards, to butchers and publicans . Billy Bad Matches was a street vender who sold his wares from the corner of Lowther Street and apparently earned his nickname because his boxes were half filled with spoiled matches. Touchy Corner was a harmless but pathetic figure who seemingly could not resist touching the corners of buildings as he walked the streets of the town.
More recently there have been characters who I can clearly recall from my earlier years. Bonnie Arthur was an unforgettable sight and lived in a tiny gatekeepers house on Coach Road near the railway crossing which he supervised. Johny Simpson was yet another to be seen wandering the streets , a sad testimony to the effects of war on the human form. In contrast a diminutive Jimmy Pinky was a delightfully cheerful person often to be seen playing his mouth organ in the streets. Tipperary Tim was the local maestro on the spoons and I will never forget the first time I ever saw him performing in the pub which preceded the Sal Madge on the corner of Church and Duke Streets.
The Whitehaven Workhouse ...Meadow View.
Sadly the workhouse was a feature of life in Whitehaven for many years and did not finally disappear until well into this century. In its time it gave shelter to all sorts of unfortunates some of whose eccentricities have been recorded.One Johny Rule is said to have been known for his attendance at almost every local funeral where , when the corpse arrived , he exhibited "all due solemnity ". It was then the practice to give a " funeral glass " to the mourners and Johny's contemporaries claimed, perhaps enviously, that it was the glass that made Johny " exhibit so constant a respect for a departed townsman." Two others to whom the confines of the dreaded workhouse were familiar were George Mitchell and Jimmy Dyer.
Geordie asleep on the Sugar Tongue
and in similar pose in the Green Market. .
George, or Geordie, as he was known , was born round about the middle of the 19th century( judging from the many news reports covering his misdemeanours neither he nor the press knew exactly how old he was ) and after a taste of military life which he disliked , was dismissed from the service and returned to Whitehaven. Described at different times as a vagrant, a labourer and a pedlar he was apparently a tall and powerful man and surviving pictures of him confirm this description. He had a weakness for drink which was matched only by his dislike for work and when found sleeping off the effects of his habit it must have taken several people to move him on.This task invariably fell to the local police but , despite his size ,I have yet to read of him abusing it by becoming violent. A tale is told of a young inexperienced officer of the law trying to arrest him in the Green Market only to be met with resistance which culminated in the summoning of a further six officers to complete the task but , as yet I have not seen confirmation of this in the press. The Geordie press reports are numerous, and at times humorous , and to date I have encountered no less than 25 of these between 1899 and 1912 and every one of them gives Mitchell a headline....
"George Mitchell's Little Joke.".August 24..1899... "What can George Mitchell do?"..July 7..1904
"George Mitchell's 102nd appearance, charged with sleeping at the Gas Works....1908.
"George Mitchell looking for tobacco." Feb. 19.1912.
Sleeping rough , even when he had a bed in the workhouse was a regular event for Geordie and the Gas Works boiler room , Duke Pit boiler house , the Green Market , Gale Lane and the Sugar Tongue appear to have been his favourite nightspots.This street wise and seemingly likeable rogue was not averse to trying it on both inside and outside the courtroom , his two most popular stages.When arrested in June of 1912 he complained of a " dizziness in the head " and the fact that this invariably occurred outside a local pub is neither here nor there. The Royal Standard on the harbour, then run by Hamilton Dixon and the Shipwrights Arms in Tangier Street run by Mary Shippen,appear to have been his favoured accident spots and perhaps that had something to do with the fact that these two publicans were generally sympathetic to his weakness although they must have known of his tricks. In the courtroom he once informed Mr McGowan, the magistrate, "as I have told you before , I have a lightness in my head sometimes. I stagger when I go about , " However ,he got no sympathy on this occasion for he was sent to Carlisle gaol for yet another month,a place with which he as very familiar for it is reported that almost half of his long life (various periods have been quoted in the press) was spent inside these walls.Is this, I wonder, a comment on life inside Whitehaven's workhouse or life inside Carlisle gaol?
Jimmy Dyer,the Cumberland
Bard , was a contemporary of Geordie Mitchell and in some ways the two were like
souls.Both were possessed of a rather unkempt appearance and shared the same unsettled
nature. While the former was a soldier the latter was a sailor though neither of
them took to the regimented military life and did their best to escape from it
as soon as they could . Eventually Jimmy " worked his ticket"
while Geordie simply got dismissed from the service.Neither of the two men
had a liking for hard work but rather shared a reluctance to earn their living
by the sweat of their brows which probably accounts for their prolonged relationship with
local magistrates and the workhouse. Dyer was a Carlisle man described on his death in
1903 as "the last of the troubadours ". He visited Whitehaven regularly where he
was to be seen at events like the Harras Moor races and local
sporting events in the Cricket Field. On other occasions he simply entertained the crowds
gathered in the Market Place on market days for as he says in his autobiography , these
"would not have been complete of late years without my presence". He
believed he had a talent as both a singer and a violin player and it was with these
that he entertained any gathering in the county.He composed and sold his own
verses from an old Gladstone bag which was his constant companion
. Jimmy's wanderings came to an end at the turn
of the century and his situation in 1903 was such that destitution caused him to
vacate his home in Carlisle and move to Fusehill Workhouse where he died shortly
afterwards.
La'al Bobby McKee
Another local , wandering entertainer of sorts was one known as " Piano Bobby" described as " four feet and very little more and as thin as a lathe" who scarcely grew until he was 19 years of age and was reputed to be " the smallest,perfectly proportioned man in Britain". . This was Bobby McKee much loved by children in particular because of his diminutive size and regarded as something of a local mascot. A native of Whitehaven, Bobby played his piano all over the county accompanying songsters in hotels and inns where his tiny figure , sprightly step and perky remarks made him very popular. At one time he went missing and after a two year absence was traced in London where he had been involved in an accident. On another occasion whilst in Liverpool his tiny proportions gave the manager of the Reynolds Exhibition an idea for using him to attract the crowds. He was engaged to sit in a glass cylinder placed in a prominent part of the building and when word got about crowds came to see " the little man squeezed into a jam jar ".
Barney
Billy Bell was a contemporary of la'al Bobby though his name is not as often remembered or mentioned. However, Billy did possess something which earned him a place in the pages of local history and his ownership of this certain item is repeatedly mentioned. I refer of course to Barney the Whitehaven Goose.Billy rented premises on the corner of the harbour end of Duke Street , where the Harbour Commissioners offices now stand . Here he ran a stable and on the premises he had both goats and Barney both of which thankfully, have figured in many postcard publicatuions. Barney is reported to have arrived in town from Ireland as part of that trade in livestock with which the port was once associated and, supposedly because of his thin stature and broken wing he was saved from the pot. Eventually he was bought by William Bell round about 1900.Elderly Whitehaven residents talking on local radio described the goose as " big, grey underneath with a tendencey to be very noisy , particularly when irritated". this state of affairs was one which the owner was only too pleased to to encourage for the goose made an excellent "guard dog" frightening away unwanted visitors from the stables.
Billy Bell poses proudly with his goose and goat.
The goose became a common and popular sight as he waddled about the area of the docks and Duke Street so popular that he even had his own ports of call where he was wined and dined. Photos exist to show his likeness for a sup of ale and he is reported to have indulged this habit inside the Wheatsheaf pub which once stood on the corner of Strand and Duke Street in the area of the present Paul Jones tavern . Not far away and across the street ,roughly where Strandz 9 stands there was ., in Barney's time, a confectionery shop run by the Hartley sisters.Barney is said to have been a regular visiror to the shop where he enjoyed the delights of the cakes purchased for him by his admirers.
Billy and Barney working for the Maypole.
Sadly Barney met with an unfortunate end in 1916 when a dog caught and killed him.He was greatly missed as is evidenced by the writings of a certain anonymous "Cumberland Jack " who wrote a five verse lament on his demise.
As regards the female of the species there is no doubt that they played their part in Whitehaven's story too. However, although I have come across "Hannah Page the big woman" "Lizzy Tyrell and Sally Kelly " who had their own stalls in the Green Market and one Bella Shilton ,horse driver ,their images do not appear to have been recorded. Bella was;
"a most masculine personage .... she was of powerful build and most dexterous in her profession amongst horses; she was not one to be played with among men and thus it was God help the poor knight who dared to pass any unseemly remarks or offer any insult to Bella. She was a boxer of no mean order.. On the other hand one woman described by a writer as "Probably the most remarkable character Whitehaven has ever produced " has been recorded on film and became , like Barney , the subject of many postcards.It was , of course,
Sal Madge.
Born in Penrith workhouse in 1831 Sarah Magin , to give her her proper name , came to Whitehaven at the age of 8 and found employment at the local pits. She was about five feet eight inches tall, powerfully built and had strongly marked features characteristics which won her the respect of the miners among whom she worked.She had a powerful voice, chewed tobacco, played cards, supped ale, and on sports days wrestled with her male companions. She wore her hair short with a man like parting,sported a cap with a peak , a shirt , waistcoat and jacket and had she not worn a skirt could have been taken for a man , a mistake which the Earl of Lonsdale made in one brief encounter with her.
Sal worked as a horse driver at several of the local pits ,became very attached to the animals over which she is said to have had splendid control and never allowed anyone to harm them however troublesome .Eventually,increasing years and infirmities brought on by the demands of her labours forced her into lighter work in the pit yard.She spent her latter years with
friends in Mark Lane where she died on April 7,1899. Buried in an unmarked,pauper's grave Sal lay unnoticed until June of 1993 when,courtesy of the Friends of the Museum her grave was marked with a fine headstone.
If you have any further info re these,or other local characters,
please make contact .