True Briton

[RichardB]

http://www.omnesamici.co.uk/MemoriestRELeaderChapter05.html

For, two years afterwards the North Midland Railway advertised trains between London and Sheffield, and coaching died. As Dr. Gatty says: " Twelve pairs of horses were wanted one day; on the morrow the road was forsaken. Thus one of the fine old English inns, in the courtyard of which a carriage and pair could be easily driven round, came o grief. In those days the morning train left Sheflield at 5.30 a.m., and reached London at 3.30 p.m.

A train leaving Sheffield at 12 noon reached London at 9.30 the same evening‹a truly marvellous feat compared With the fastest coaches. The journey to Derby occupied from two hours and a quarter to two hours and a half, and the journey to Birmingham four hours and a half. There has been preserved a description of the manner in which our forefathers awaited the tardy arrival of news of the ratification of the short-lived Peace of Amiens, I80I:‹

"- Oct. 3, 180I.‹This day, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Kershaw, a merchant of Halifax, brought the welcome ]ntelligence to Sheffield that the preliminaries of peace had heen signed late on the evening of the Ist instant. Instantly was Joy lighted up in every face, in a few minutes the news was dispersed in every quarter of the town, the Bells rung, bonfires were kindled in every street, cannon were heard on every side, and in the evening fireworks were exhibited in the old chuchyard. The return of the ratification from Paris was now anxiously expected. When day after day passed without news and many sinister reports circulated, the faces of people suggested that we were destined to bear the morti- fication of a disappointment.

The public mind was happily relieved from this state between twelve and one o'clock on Monday, the lIth of October, by the arrival of the True Briton coach, which, though it brought no papers, brought the intelligence that the ratification had arrived in London. The bells were again rung, and the bonfires, which during the reign of doubt and anxiety had been almost suffered to go out, were rekindled. Everything was joy again. and when the mail was expected in the evening, thousands of people went to meet it.

All Sheffield Moor to Heeley was crowded with people, so as with difficulty the coach advanced, and when the entire confimation was published their joy uas great, Monday was celebrated as a glorious day, bonfires and cannon on every side. and in the evening a general illumination with the most brilliant fireworks."

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