Old News, Nottingham 1862

From the Nottinghamshire Guardian, Friday Nov. 7th, 1862.

GUY FAWKES DAY IN LONDON. - Wednesday being Guy Fawkes Day, collisions were expected between the Garibaldians and the Irish, but the weather being very wet, coupled with a dense fog, no disturbance took place.

ELOPEMENT. - The greatest consternation has been caused in a very small village about three miles east of Market Harborough by the elopement of a young lady with a rustic butcher. An acquaintance had by some means or other sprung up between them, and on Saturday night last the lady, as usual, attended prayers in the family circle, and was with the family between 11 and 12 o'clock. While she was performing her usual household duties the gay Lothario went by train to Rugby, where they arrived in time for the mail train and proceeded to London. By 8 o'clock the "fast knot" was tied. A brother went after them in the evening and found them comfortably housed for the night.

THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE.- The distress in Lancashire has still further extended during the past week. According to the report of the Central Executive Committee, dated Monday, there are now in the twenty-four Unions of the Cotton Districts, 182,401 persons entirely out of employment, and only 58,638 in full work, the remaining 119,712 factory operatives being on short time. The loss in wages to the work-people suffering from the famine is estimated at £136,094 per week. [...] Englishmen in Egypt, Buenos Ayres, and Bengalore have also testified their sympathy with their distressed fellow-countrymen at home by sending handsome subscriptions; and other new sources of aid at home and abroad are also daily springing up. One of the most welcome and seasonable donations is a gift of 2,000 tons of coal, by three firms of colliery proprietors at Pendleton. The Ashton and Oldham colliery proprietors have also promised to contribute 3,500 tons of coal.


A man named George Brown died at Ramsgate a few days ago at the advanced age of 101. For a considerable time past he had been in the habit of taking daily excercise.


J. H. MORGAN THE CONFEDERATE GUERILLA [sic] CAPTAIN.- Morgan as a citizen in times of peace, maintained the reputation of a generous, genial, jolly, horse-loving, and horse-racing Kentuckian. He went into the Rebellion con amore, and pursues it with high enjoyment. He is about thirty-five years of age, six feet in height, well made for strength and agility, and is perfectly master of himself; he has a light complexion, sandy hair, and generally wears a moustache, and a little beard on his chin. His eyes are keen, bluish grey in colour, and when at rest, have a sleepy look, but he sees every one and every thing around him, although apparently unobservant. He is an admirable horseman, and a good shot. As a leader of a battalion of cavalry, he had no superior in the Rebel ranks. His command of his men is supreme. While they admire his generosity and manliness, sharing with them all the hardships of the field, they fear his more than Napoleonic severity for any departure from enjoined duty. [...] Thirteen months in the Rebel Army. By an Impressed New Yorker.

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NOTES:
Guy Fawkes Day - I like the term 'collisions' instead of 'clashes'. The burning of effigies on the 5th November seems to have been a focus for religious tribalism and violence for a lot longer than I imagined. At least most of the injuries these days are accidental, unlike what happened to this little girl in 1869.
Elopement - Although it's a century too late to be a 'fleet marriage', I can't pass up this opportunity to link to John Southerden Burn's 1833 book The Fleet Registers, which is well worth a quick browse. It's a shame we don't know the age of the young lady in question; I wonder at which point newspapers started obsessively providing the age of everyone they report on..?

The Distress - There's a short BBC article here on the riots in Stalybridge, one of the areas worst hit by the Cotton Famine caused by the American Civil War. 

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OBLIGATORY HORSE PICTURE: