Suicide of Henry Tomlinson owner of the Hope & Anchor brewery Cherry Street.

[tozzin]

Written on the 11/5/2014

 

Before I start this excursion into past history, I must thank Mr Chris Hobbs for giving me the nod to glean information from his website about Mr Henry Tomlinson, this account can also be read in his book which was co written by Mathew bell, “Sheffield’s Shocking Past”, I must also thank Edmund on the Sheffield History Forum for enlightening me on the sale of 443 Shoreham Street.
The Plaque shown in the clue picture did throw me for a while until Edmund made things much clearer, it does seem to read Ern Lea Place but it seems as thought the elements have eroded the “F”  and part of the “”R” to make it look like a “ P” from what is “ Fern Lea Place”, a sale of the houses that was  published in the local paper read as follows, MESSRS- WILLIAM BUSH AND SONS. Five houses, called Fern Lea Place. Nos. 441 to 449 Shoreham St.. were sold Messrs. Wm. Bush and Sons this afternoon for £1.150. The property produces £33 annually - 3rd December 1901 - Sheffield Evening Telegraph. And for some reason the Victorians had a penchant for naming villas and blocks of terraces, and one of their favourites was Fern Lea, why I cant say, there were many in Sheffield, as elsewhere. The first mention in the papers was one at Burngreave (Alfred Sharman who lived there had a son in 1878), other examples were at 52 Wostenholm Road, Bocking Lane and Cowlishaw Road.  In 1905 Samuel Cramer-Suckley, Professor of Music and Bandmaster of the Yorkshire Hussars lived at the latter. 
Further along Shoreham Street a very disturbing and sad event occurred on Friday June 19th 1891 at No 327 Shoreham Street, the home of Mr Arthur Podgson, the following is an brief account of what happened that terrible day. It involved Mr Henry Tomlinson who was the owner of the Anchor Brewery that was situated on Cherry Street, his Brewery was one of the largest and most successful of over 52 Breweries that operated in Sheffield in the 1800s, the events leading up to Henrys suicide, were noticed by his family and friends as they noticed a change in his once calm demeanour which changed into a consuming mania, it was feared weeks prior to his final act that he would attempt to take his own life, in hind sight he should have been placed in to some kind of mental care, Henry resided at Woodlands, Dore New Road along with his Wife Martha aged 44 and  four children, during the Thursday night Henry had been in a very agitated and restless state, his eldest daughter was present in the early hours of Friday the 19th of June, she was very worried about her Fathers state of mind  and sent for Henrys Solicitor, Mr D.H. Porrett who lived a short distance away, Mr Porrett sat with Henry for around three hours trying to convince him to get some sleep but to no avail and at six o’clock that morning Henry left his home and walked to Sheffield, on reaching his Brewery he insisted that the gates were locked as in his state of paranoia he was convinced that several persons were trying to get hold of him, at around nine o’clock that morning he went to Mr Arthur Podgson`s (his Cashier) home, No 327 Shoreham Street, he asked for a cup of tea and laid down on the sofa and when Mr Podgson had left the room Henry jumped up and tried to force it down his throat, this spoon was taken away from him, he then walked into kitchen where he picked up a knife and tried to cut his own throat but this was wrestled away from him but in the melee Mr Podgsons hand was severely cut, with the result he collapsed through loss of blood, he was then taken to a nearby Chemist to have his wounds bandaged, this gave Henry the opportunity to rush into the kitchen once more, closed the door behind him a couple of moments later Mrs Podgsons wife pushed the door open only to see a large pool of blood on the floor, she also heard Henry making a gurgling sound, she ran to the Anchor Brewery for assistance, two workers returned with her to find Henry had cut his jugular Vein and his Windpipe, a certain Doctor Hunt was sent for and he pronounced life was extinct and his death was very quick by nature of the wounds. Below is the newspaper reports of the time on Henrys suicide:
THE SUICIDE OF A SHEFFIELD BREWER -  
Henry Tomlinson 19th June 1891
The papers Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin, Ireland), Saturday, June 20, 1891; and The Belfast News-Letter (Belfast, Ireland), Saturday, June 20, 1891 both carried a report on the death of Mr Henry Tomlinson, proprietor of the Anchor Brewery Sheffield which at the time was one of the largest in the region 
SUICIDE OF A BREWER
London Friday
Mr. Henry Tomlinson of Sheffield one of the largest brewers in Yorkshire committed suicide today by cutting his throat and a coachman who tried to wrest the knife from him was terribly cut about the hands
The Glasgow Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), Saturday, June 20, 1891; Issue 147 gave a more detailed account under the title 
SHOCKING SUICIDE AT SHEFFIELD
Yesterday morning, Mr. Henry Tomlinson one of the largest brewers in Yorkshire and proprietor of the Anchor Brewery Sheffield committed suicide by cutting his throat. Mr. Tomlinson had not been well for some time, and recently had been watched. His manner for the last day or two had been strange and yesterday morning on arriving at the brewery, his actions led everyone to believe that he was not in his right mind. He was taken to the house of his cashier and whilst the latter went to see Mr Tomlinson's brother, the deceased got a knife out of the kitchen A fierce struggle took place between the suicide and his coachman but by a terrible effort the deceased pulled the knife out of the coachman's hand so badly that he fainted through loss of blood. On getting free Tomlinson rushed into the scullery and forcing the knife into his throat made a terrible gash, the jugular vein and the windpipe both been cut. Death occurred in a few moments. Deceased leaves a widow and four children    

The Anchor Brewery was located on Cherry Street a site that was occupied by Arnold Lavers wood yard The brewery was severely damaged during the Sheffield blitz At the other side of the Sheffield United ground was Britannia Brewery (John Richdale), they were taken over by Hammond's of Bradford in 1956. A Flats and Office complex now occupy the site of the Brewery, the Brewery’s Anchor logo was removed not to long ago and the only hint the Brewery is in  the name of the building “Anchor Point”. A fuller account of this story can be found in “Sheffield’s Shocking past” by Chris Hobbs & Mathew Bell.

[Heartshome]

Hi tozzin. Just to answer your questioning of the FERN names.

The Victorians were absolutely fanatical about Ferns. I did a study on them. They grew them, drew them,

had paintings of them, painted them on walls, made plaster embellishments of them, etched them on windows,

had them on iron railings, on glasses & china, even had specialist growing houses for them. So it is of no

surprise that FERN was used in names many times. The fad very quickly died down after the death of Queen Victoria.

Regard Heartshome.

[tozzin]

14 minutes ago, Heartshome said:

Hi tozzin. Just to answer your questioning of the FERN names.

The Victorians were absolutely fanatical about Ferns. I did a study on them. They grew them, drew them,

had paintings of them, painted them on walls, made plaster embellishments of them, etched them on windows,

had them on iron railings, on glasses & china, even had specialist growing houses for them. So it is of no

surprise that FERN was used in names many times. The fad very quickly died down after the death of Queen Victoria.

Regard Heartshome.

Did you know the Victorian fascination with ferns led them to be impressed on the Custard Cream biscuits around the edges and are still there today.

[Heartshome]

1 hour ago, tozzin said:

Did you know the Victorian fascination with ferns led them to be impressed on the Custard Cream biscuits around the edges and are still there today.

I didn't! but again it doesn't surprise me! Folks would go out around woodland countryside, and collect masses of Ferns,

then bundle them up to sell on the street. Good job they are a hardy plant! It was dubbed 'FERN MANIA'.

[tozzin]

4 minutes ago, Heartshome said:

I didn't! but again it doesn't surprise me! Folks would go out around woodland countryside, and collect masses of Ferns,

then bundle them up to sell on the street. Good job they are a hardy plant! It was dubbed 'FERN MANIA'.

When I wrote articles for the Star, the Broomhall area was a fantastic area to see just how the Victorians enjoyed horticulture, one drive way I encountered had a fantastic collection of Ferns and trees and most of the streets were not allowed to have trees growing on it or near the pavements, the magnificent specimen trees were restricted to gardens.