Essex's past memories of Christmas - including boar mauling

Poor John Hawkins Fitch. He came all the way to Leigh to spend Christmas with his daughter only to choke to death on his plate of pork and pickled cabbage.

The 61-year-old had arrived at her home in Lymington Avenue in fine spirits, but somewhat peckish after his journey, so he immediately sat down to supper. It turns out the hearty meal aggravated the Londoner’s bad heart, leading to a choking fit. Not such a merry Christmas was enjoyed in Lymington Avenue that year.

That same year - 1906- snow fell in Southend on Boxing Day. It was so heavy in places it grounded the trams in Southend.

Town newsagent and confectioner Henry Windley also had a miserable Christmas that year, as he attempted to warm up.

He was lighting the furnace in his shop in London Road, when the flame caught the decorations, leading to a fire breaking out.

The Southend fire brigade were alerted and firemen helped stop the blaze spreading, but Mr Windley’s shop was done for.

Tragic accidents and deaths like these were commonplace during the Christmas-tides of yesteryear.

A freak accident involving festive decorations would spell the end for an unfortunate waiter back in December 1939. The 57-year-old was putting up decorations at a hotel in Southend when he slipped and fell on a grand piano. He died from internal injuries.

That same year a fire claimed the life of a woman in Grange Gardens, Southend.

Dorothy Coveney, 59, was asleep in her back bedroom when a lump of coal fell from the grate and set fire to some wooden furniture. Her husband battled to rescue her but was pushed back by the flames.

Elderly Southend inhabitant John Houghton had a sad death over the 1890 festive period. Suffering from dementia he disappeared from his home in Hamlet Court Road only to be found frozen to death on an osier bed in south Fambridge.

The 82-year-old had somehow wandered into a thick hawthorn bush, fallen into ditch then succumbed to the cold. The widower’s face and hands were covered in thorn scratches.

Still, perhaps the most bizarre Yuletide misfortune of all occurred on Christmas Day 1920, when a man named James Willsher, who was employed on a farm in north Essex, was feeding a boar when the animal suddenly attacked and mauled him.

He wrestled with the boar and eventually his shouts for help were heard. With blood gushing everywhere, James was rescued and taken into his cottage.

A doctor from Kelvedon was sent for, and treated him for wounds which included his thigh being completely ripped open.

He was bundled into a motor car and taken to Colchester Hospital for treatment.

Records show winters were much colder in the Victorian era, and ice skating on frozen lakes on Christmas Day was not unusual. But tragic accidents often occurred as a result. In 1890 two men skating near the footbridge at St Martin’s in Chelmsford almost died when they fell through the ice while skating and on the same day a young boy broke his collarbone skating on the same ice.

With it being the season to be jolly, there were cases of drunk driving – but back then before the era of the motorcar it was a case of being drunk while in charge of a horse. This is exactly what happened to builder William Flegg, who was summoned to court in Christmas 1891. He had been seen driving along Southend’s Whitegate Avenue “at a furious rate” and almost knocked a child down after having one too many drinks.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. The ‘Victorian Christmas’ has become a wholesome image which leaves us hankering for an idealised past. These were the eras that gave us Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, and our long-lasting obsession with Christmas trees.

With their gas lamp street lighting and wide thoroughfares, Victorian High Streets were filled with small independent retailers – butchers, poulterer, confectioners, bakers, grocers and drapers. And Southend was no different.

By looking through historic newspapers we can identify when Christmas in Southend really took off. If we go back to the 1870s, Christmas was clearly celebrated in style – but it still wasn’t as commercial as it would be just a decade later. In 1875, for example, the Southend Standard’s December editions carried only a handful of festive adverts. Among them was for ‘Novelties for Christmas’ available at WH Allen’s establishment in Southend High Street, which sold presents and Christmas tree ornaments. Another was for ‘John Sykes, fruiterer and confectioner’ based in Milton Terrace near the train station, where sweets and pastries were a speciality.

But by the late 1880s the picture was different. Every Christmastide would see Southenders literally going to town for the season. For Christmas trees, Mr Young’s in the High Street was the place to go. He was always said to have ‘a capital show of Christmas trees’. which was decorated in silver, the other half in gold. Southend had several butchers at this time including Mr Ray of Nelson’s Terrace and Mr Giggins of Alexandra Street, both who had a shop full of turkeys, geese, ducks and chickens as well as luscious fruits and vegetables.

For groceries Schofield and Martin always had a “bold show” with a window full of “the most delicious things” including figs, crackers, plums, currents and preserved fruits arranged into an eye-catching pyramid display.

Opposite Schofield and Martin’s was Mr Partridge’s grocers store which was famous for its “preserved fruits in fancy boxes”.

Southend’s well known Garons’ bakeries were always the place to go for seasonal cakes, pies and breads. By 1913 the bakery was experiencing ‘record numbers’ of orders for Christmas puddings.

For toys, Fred Cumine of Milton Terrace was the place to go, although this was still a time when toys, even for well-off families, were limited in choice. At Yarrows store in the High Street, dolls were the most popular choice of toy.

For liquors, ‘Messrs Luker, Woosnam and Sweetings’ of Queen’s Road, had everything needed for a festive tipple. For jewellery and watches customers would head to RA Jones in the High Street.

Southend’s confectioners always came into their own at Christmas when they were able to show off their creative skills with lavish window displays. In 1889 Mr F Howar, a confectioner of High Street, built a replica of Moscow Cathedral out of 10,000 pieces of lump sugar.

In 1899 George Isaacs, a confectioner with premises in High Street and Clifftown Road crafted a window tableaux out of pure sugar and food colouring depicting Boer and British soldiers. The display was to be sold off to raise money for the Mayor of Southend’s war fund. This was just three months after the start of the second Boer War and many shops were pledging to support the war effort through financial donations.

Just like today, efforts to help the poor and destitute cranked up a notch at Christmas.

A public soup kitchen was operating in Southend as far back as the 1880s and the facility always served up extra portions at Christmas.

Located in Royal Mews, it was run by female volunteers who did the cooking with help from the church.

In 1883 the winter was particularly harsh and the soup kitchen was still open in March of this year. In one week alone 600 quarts of soup were given out.

There was also a soup kitchen in Leigh at Mr P Brewer’s in the late 1800s which greatly helped poor families by supplying them with very low cost soup and bread..

In the winter of1929 the Southend soup kitchen had to be re-opened. The Mayor’s Soup Kitchen, as it was known, was located in the Esplanade restaurant on Western Esplanade.

The mayor of Southend, Herbert Arthur Dowsett helped raise the funds for the food. The owner of the Esplanade restaurant, Mr Calcutt, had given the soup kitchen volunteers free use of his venue, the use of his gas, oil and utensils worth around £100 to run the kitchen over the festive period – not including the food.

At this time Southend, like many towns, was struggling with unemployment, with 950 men of working age unemployed.

No matter how bad things got, however, Southenders always looked out for others at Christmas.

One of the photos in our gallery shows a Christmas turkey being delivered by boat from Southend to men working on the Nore and Mouse lightships in the Thames Estuary, over the festive period.

The spirit of goodwill wasn’t abundant everywhere, however. At Christmastime in 1899 a couple from Hawkwell were in the dock on charges of “feloniously and wilfully” slaying their daughter.

William and Mary Barnes denied killing 14-year-old Lois through severe neglect.

The girl had been in service at a home in Rayleigh. One day her boss Robert Norris noticed she was limping and in ill health. He tried to call a doctor for her but Lois refused to see him.

Still concerned, he wrote to her mother, Mary Barnes, pleading with her to get a doctor for Lois. The mother wrote back, refusing the request and saying how “the girl knew too well what the Lord had done for her in the past”.

The mum took Lois away and Mr Morris never saw her again. Her illness worsened but still her parents refused to call in a doctor. They were both members of the Peculiar People church and believed in the power of prayer over medical intervention. They called in an elder from the Peculiar Church who told the court how he found Lois in bed with rheumatic fever. He admitted that he ‘anointed’ Lois with oil and then left.

He returned days later when she was even worse and ‘laid his hands on her in the name of the Lord’.

Medical experts testified at the trial that Lois could have survived if she’d been allowed to see a doctor. The judge gave the couple a dressing down and fined them each £5 - stressing if they didn’t pay they would both go to prison for one month with hard labour. Their friends paid the fines immediately.