I came across a mention of the Belgium Chateau on the fringe of Victoria Park, I can only assume it was Arudy House which we have touched on before but can't find it. Criminality at its best knocking it down.
Woodside Grid Substation is alive and well in Shore Road, it is behind the pump house. It supplies the smaller British Rail Shore Road substation and others.
The newspapers billed it as Considerable excitement in Birkenhead over a murdered baby. The more I looked into it the more it shows a bias and the injustice of the legal system at that time and also putting profit before health.
The story has to begin with the marriage of James Drinkwater, widower and Cabinet Maker in Market St Birkenhead and Jane Scott, spinster, who married in Liverpool, 1846. Their first born was Mary, 1847, Birkenhead. Around April, 1847, James Drinkwater had to hire a Wet Nurse. A Wet Nurse is a woman who had recently given birth and was capable of breast feeding another child not of her own. It's likely Jane had difficulties feeding Mary for a time.
James Drinkwater hired the services of Grace Deays, a young Scottish girl who had an illegitimate baby, Margaret, born, 31st March, 1847. For whatever reason Graces employment in the Drinkwater household was coming to an end. Grace Deays applied to the workhouse for admittance and was refused, she then applied to the parish for relief and money was raised to send her back to Scotland. The night before she was due to travel across to Liverpool and on to Scotland, James Drinkwater allowed her to stay the night in his kitchen at his address at Mortimer Terrace.
During Grace's last day in Birkenhead baby Margaret was in some distress and crying uncontrollably and Grace was worried this would upset the Drinkwater household and was in fear of being thrown out of the household and having no where to stay that evening. Grace had heard that some women gave their babies Laudanum which helped quieten them. She went to the local Druggist and Chemist Thomas Symes Warry of Hamilton St and bought 120 drops of Laudanum.
In the early hours of the following morning Mr Drinkwater found baby Margaret in a very distressed condition, clenched fisted, limp and rolling eyes. He immediately sent for Mr Edger, surgeon, who suspected the baby had been given some sort of narcotic, the baby died and Police Inspector McNeill was sent for. Inspector McNeill found an empty bottle with Poison written on it in the fire. Questioning Grace Deays, Grace owned up to giving baby Margaret the laudanum but only to quieten her down not to harm her in anyway. She was arrested by Inspector McNeill.
At the inquest a statement by Druggist and Chemist, Thomas Symes Warry stated he sold the Laudanum to Grace Deays and told her of the dangers and had given her full instructions how to use it. The inquest jury found Grace Deays guilty of the Wilful Murder of Margaret Deays.
A later trial at Chester, the prosecution was represented by Mr Townsend and Mr Yardley, Grace Deays was UNDEFENDED. In an opening statement by Mr Townsend to the jury was if the jury didn't find the defendant guilty of murder then they must find her guilty of Manslaughter on the grounds of neglect. The Judge intervened and would have none of it, he instructed the jury only to consider whether the laudanum was given to harm baby Margaret and end her life, if not and it was given and no harm was meant, they must find her not guilty. Grace Deays was Acquitted
If the site and forums were more active I’d happily get a subscription but I have a sad feeling the glory days of the site are long gone. Have seen little to no action on most of the forums in the last week which is really sad because it could be a great little community like it once was!
I’m guessing FB killed the site?
Most history topics have topped out, there is very little history that hasn't been covered before.
Thousands of UK forums have died out for various reasons and the upcoming legislation* will be a major threat to the remaining ones. Social media has taken over but its all here-and-now, I can't get back to some replies I made yesterday on FB. You can't beat a forum for archiving community led information and it is very sad they are being lost. Even search engines are dumping more and more old information so if its on the internet you have no way of finding it if its years old.
Military personnel from more than 15 nations in the NATO alliance are getting set to conduct a series of complex training missions that mirror realistic, contemporary combat scenarios and confront emerging adversarial threats, according to two senior officials overseeing the massive, upcoming Ramstein Flag 2025 exercise.
When it unfolds between March 31 and April 11, the event will span 12 allied operational air bases and incorporate more than 90 fighter jets and support aircraft from across NATO’s arsenal.
Looks like the Queens Royal has been saved from demolition and is in advanced stages of refurbishment. From what I can tell, it appears to have been taken over by an established restaurant/hotel chain.
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Good to see this again, long gone as did Belle Vue, apparently there are still about ten tracks around the country, not sure I'd be interested any longer like I was back in the day.
