Wallace Henry Crawshaw

On Wednesday 27th October 1880, Britain was being lashed by a severe storm that had begun the previous day. Torrential rain, snow, floods, high winds and intense cold were battering the country, and there were reports of ships getting into difficulties. Several inches of snow fell at Hollow Meadows, and river levels rose dramatically.

That evening, the Hon. F. S. Wortley and Mr. C. S. Wortley, M.P. were driving from Wortley Hall to Sheffield to attend the Junior Conservative demonstration at Sheffield when they came across a man lying in the road near Booth Wood Lodge (which is situated on what today is the Sheffield Road, the A629, between Wortley and Grenoside). The man was lying, totally exhausted, in two foot of snow.

That man was Wallace Henry Crawshaw of Langley Brook Farm near Midhope (a distant relation of mine – my 2nd cousin 5x removed!), who was 21 years of age. He had been on his way home from Grenoside, where he had taken part in a ploughing competition, that day. Google tells me the distance from the Old Red Lion at Grenoside to Langley Brook Farm is around 7-8 miles depending on the route taken, and would take about three hours to walk. I think it would take me considerably longer!

The Wortleys were on their way to hear the Earl of Wharncliffe speak at the meeting in Sheffield, so they left Wallace in the care of the lodge-keeper who, with some assistance, took him to the Wortley Arms. Crawshaw was soaked to the skin and had laid for quite some time in the snow and was “quite insensible” [unconscious]. Two doctors were fetched, one coming from Huthwaite, Thurgoland, but by Friday evening he still had not spoken. There was no sign of foul play.

On Saturday 6th November the Sheffield Independent reported on Crawshaw’s condition. They used the headline, “The Recent Case of Starvation at Wortley,” a term I haven’t heard for a long time, “starvation” here meaning to suffer (and sometimes die) from extreme cold. I remember both sets of my grandparents referring to being frozen as being “starved.” The newspaper said that Crawshaw had recovered enough to be moved from the Wortley Arms to his home at Langley Brook, adding that, “the young fellow has received great kindness from the members of the Wortley family during his illness.”

Wallace Henry had attended the Grenoside Farmers’ Sons’ Ploughing Association contest. The ploughing took place on Wednesday 28th in two locations; fields at Green Lane Farm (in the occupation of Mrs. E. Heward) and at Woodseats (in the occupation Mr. S. Sanderson). The judges met at the Old Red Lion, Grenoside on the following Saturday and, together with some members of the committee, went to inspect the fields. Wallace Henry, “the unfortunate youth found in a state of unconsciousness near Wortley,” was deemed to have won First Prize in the “Swing Class,” a swing being a type of plough.

A few weeks later the Sheffield Daily Telegraph printed a letter from Wallace Henry’s parents John and Ann Crawshaw, thanking people for their kindness:

“We the undersigned, the parents of Wallace Henry Crawshaw, desire, through the medium of your widely circulated paper, to tender our very hearty and sincere thanks to the Earl and Countess of Wharncliffe, and Mr. [George] Fielding, the landlord of the Wortley Arms Inn, and the residents in Wortley village for the very great kindness shown to us and our son, on the occasion of his narrow escape from death in the heavy snowstorm on the 27th October last. Our son is now restored to health after a long illness, consequent upon his exposure on that evening when returning from a ploughing match at Grenoside, and we recognise our great obligation to the Wortley family and our kind friends in the village. John Crawshaw, Ann Crawshaw, Langley Brook, Bolsterstone, Dec 16, 1880”

It was probably his youth and his strength that saved him, as well as the lucky intervention of the Wortleys. A 67-year old man from Somerset did not fare so well. On the day that Wallace was attending the ploughing match, an inquest was being held at the Crown Inn, Wortley Road, on the body of Thomas Hill, who had been found dead in Hall Wood near Grenoside. He had recently spent a night in the Wortley Union Workhouse. The cause of death was congestion of the heart and lungs by exposure to cold, whilst in a very weak and emaciated condition. The surgeon’s opinion was that deceased was “starved to death.”


Wallace Henry Crawshaw: 1869-1923
Wallace Henry was born at Langley Brook Farm, Midhope in 1869. His parents were John Crawshaw and Ann Jagger. John had been born at Woodseats Farm, Low Bradfield, and after the death of his uncle Thomas Crawshaw (my great x 5 grandfather) in 1857, he took over the lease of Langley Brook.

Wallace Henry was apparently known by the nick-name “Old Brass.” In his book “Pennine People and Places,” local historian Jack Branston mentions that Wallace Henry won the ploughing competitions organised by the Bolsterstone & Wigtwizzle Association four times. They had begun organising the matches in 1880, ploughing alternately one year in the Bolsterstone area and one year in the Wigtwizzle area. Jack also mentions a man I remember fondly, Dick Dawson, who was a very good ploughman. I lived next door to Dick, on Stanley Road, and his front room was full of all the trophies he had won over the years for his skill at ploughing. I believe he came from Castle Farm at Bolsterstone originally.

Here is just one report of a competition from the local newspaper, this one published in the Sheffield Independent 18 October 1888: “Yesterday the annual ploughing matches in connection with the Ecclesfield Farmers’ Club took place on land in the occupation of Mr. John Mattam, Creswick Greave. In the champion class were six contestants. The 1st prize was awarded to W. H. Crawshaw, Langley Brook.”

The swing plough was a wooden plough with iron fittings which did not have a depth wheel, relying entirely on the operator’s skill to control the depth and balance of the furrow. It was lighter and more efficient than older wooden ploughs, designed for easier movement. It was so light that it did not need to be supported by a wheel and could also be pulled by just two horses and manoeuvred by a single man.
The invention of the swing plough made heavy ploughing work cheaper, easier and faster. Since the swing plough did not require as many draft animals as the wheel plough, it also meant that horsepower could be freed up for other tasks.
The Rotherham swing plough, widely considered the first commercially successful iron swing plough, was patented by Joseph Foljambe in 1730.

Note:
I believe the two men who picked up Wallace were Charles Beilby Stuart Wortley (1851-1926), a British Conservative politician, and The Hon. Francis Dudley Montagu Stuart Wortley (1829-1893), the brother of the Earl of Wharncliffe. The Earl was speaking at the meeting in Sheffield. Now, I could be wrong – to be honest, trying to sort out who was who among the Wortleys, who loved a very long string of names, sometimes adding to them as well, made my head spin!
I am not a farmer – apologies if I have not understood the exact workings of a swing plough