Sheffield Flood
The Calamity at Sheffield
«ReturnSHEFFIELD, Monday Night.
It is only now, when the first agony of alarm is over, that people begin to realize the full extent of the disaster which has inflicted such destruction on this neighbourhood. Even yet, however, the actual loss and damage done to property can be but roughly ascertained, for even the loss of life occasioned by it is but imperfectly revealed. Scarcely an hour passes which does not bring intelligence of other bodies found, or, what is almost the same, of persons missing of whom no tidings can be gained.
The greater number of the bodies have been removed to the wards of the Sheffield Union, and up to Sunday night 92 had been identified. Very many were lying there, however, of whom nothing is known, and there is scarcely a public house which has been spared in the neighbourhood of where the greatest damage has been done which does not contain one or more bodies awaiting identification or removal. Six it is known have been recovered as far down the river as Doncaster and this town.
From various sources it can be gathered that apparently not less than 200 bodies have been found, and time alone can tell how many more will be added to this fearful list. Certain it is that many more are missing, and to be missing after such a fearful calamity augers the worst that can be feared. Those identified in the wards of the workhouse include males and females of every age, from children of 14 days old to men of nearly 80. Almost one-half are persons between the ages of 20 and 40-adults in their prime of life, whom we may fairly presume possessed physical attributes of strength and courage sufficient to have saved themselves if any merely human means were of avail against the tremendous catastrophe which came upon them. Nothing, however, but those providential accidents, if we may so term them, seems to have averted the common fate from the occupants of all the houses which the flood reached. A few who by terror or instinct climbed to the roofs of the submerged houses were thus saved; many who no doubt succeeded in gaining such temporary asylums were afterwards drowned as the increasing might of the waves swept walls and all before it. There are instances of almost miraculous preservation from the flood, but none of escape from those who were caught in its tremendous rush. For those once in the flood there was no hope. They were whirled away in what for the time was the cataract which whelmed old and young in one fearful death, and tall and powerful men and unweaned children are now lying side by side in the wards devoted to the reception the dead at the Sheffield Union. We subjoin the names of those who have been identified, and from this it will be seen at a glance that many more have yet to be recovered. Only four of the Armitages have been found, though 10 are said to be missing, while only two of the Tricketts have been recovered, though it is thought certain that at least 10 were in the farmhouse on the night when farm and homesteads were swept away to the very foundations:
Ellen Chapman; William Halbert; Henry Gannon; Peter Gannon; George Snape; Mary Crump, aged 74; Samuel Crump, 38; Martha Needham, 2; Thomas Petty, 34; Margaret Petty, 34; Mary Petty, 11; Catherine Petty, 7; Thomas Petty, 3; Peter Webster, his wife, and three children; Greaves Armitage, 28; Turton; Isaac Turner,infant; Alfred Coggan, 13; Eliza Coggan, 8; William Coggan, 6; John Glover, 25; Sarah Ann Glover, 25; Emma Sparks; Alfred Sparks; Emma Sparks; Jane Peters; Julia Peters; Christopher Peters; Phoebe Meadwood, 38; Christopher B. Arculus, 3; John Hudson, 40; George Hudson, 5; Christopher Calton, 46; Mary Calton, 30; Richard Hazelhurst, 70; Eliza Crownshaw; Thomas Spooner, jun., 11; Charles Armitage; Robert Greavenor Marshall; Samuel Chapman, infant; Thomas Bullard; James Atkinson, 40; Mrs Jepson; Benjamin Spooner, 75; Hannah Spooner, 64; Sarah Ann Spooner, 7; John Vaughan, 64; Elizabeth Vaughan, 53; William Wolstenholme, 74; Thomas Ellstone, 34; Elizabeth Ellstone, 33; Thomas Ellstone, 14 days; Elizabeth Pickering, 23; Eliza Bright, 9; Alfred Bright, 4; George Mills, 62; Caroline Oakley Watson, 9; Sidney Varney, 21; George Tingle, 21; Susannah Gillyett, 53; Joseph Dyson, 40; Mary Dyson, 25; Dennis M'Lochlan, 68; Thomas Frarist, 47; James Trickett, 40; Jemima Trickett, 17; Mrs Armitage, 60; Mrs Price, 28, and her son; Thomas Atkinson, 14; Joseph Crapper, 14; Mrs Snape, Eliza Mappin, Thomas Spooner, Mrs Pickering, 23; Alothea Hogue, 14; John Frith, 34; Thomas Winter, 70; Sarah Bisby, 43; Arthur Dyson, 11; Ann Armitage, 42; Ann Miles, 50; Isabella Fould, 3; John Fould, 5; Richard Snape, 20; Selina Spooner, 38; Betsy Spooner, 9.
As regards the condition of the embankment or dam which restrained the waters of the great reservoir at Bradfield the most contradictory statements are in circulation. To speak of it as an ordinary reservoir would convey but a slight idea of the mass of waters which was pent up between the hills of Stannington and Loxley. It was, in fact, a small lake formed by building a dam or embankment across a narrow valley, which collected the watershed of the hills around. The area of water thus enclosed was nearly a mile and a quarter in length, and about a quarter of a mile broad, with a depth varying from 60 to 70 feet in its centre, and probably averaging about 40 feet throughout.
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, which gives a most clear and graphic narrative of the disaster throughout, says, with reference to the dam, that to all appearance the towering embankment intended to confine the water within the prescribed limits was powerful enough to bear whatever pressure might be brought against it; but the result proves that, strong as it was, the water was far mightier. The reservoir had been filling for some time past, and on Friday it was full. The body of water was immense, and before the strong wind which prevailed on that day it rolled on to the embankment with terrific force. These symptoms created fear in many. The embankment was looked upon with some distrust, and its power began to be silently questioned. The fear spread, and Mr. Gunson, the resident engineer, and Mr. Craven, the contractor, were sent for.
A warning was conveyed to Damflask and Low Bradfield, and the people waited in terror for the coming signal. The navvies laboured on; all hands worked with a will to avert the impending calamity. On investigation large deep cracks were seen at the top of the embankment, and this was considered of sufficient importance to warrant speedy and determined efforts to let off the water, and so reduce the pressure. The water was turned into the by-wash and down the pipes; but soon after half-past 11, when the reservoir was still only 5ft. or 6ft. from being full, the evidence of danger became more alarming. With a sudden rush, which caused a sound similar to that made by the letting off of large quantities of steam, the water threw down the top part of the embankment, and rolled through the opening with frightful force. As it rushed down the other side to the valley beyond it seemed to lick up the materials of which the embankment was formed, causing it to grow weaker and weaker, till at length it gave way to its entire depth, and the mass of water burst forth with a volume and power utterly overwhelming. The workmen ran away in dismay, and the stream dashed along the valley with fatal force. Huge rocks, strong trees, bridges, mills which with their heavy machinery seemed completely immovable, and houses were washed away as though they were mere toys, and the catastrophe, occurring in the dead of night, brought with it a loss of life in comparison with which the loss of property, great as it is, sinks into insignificance. The gap made in the embankment measures at the top from 80 to 100 yards, and at the bottom about 20 yards. Through this opening the overwhelming body of water dashed with terrible impetuosity, and as it rolled along the sullen roar was accompanied by a rapid cracking sound which seemed like a continuous discharge of musketry. It was produced by the snapping of the trees, which were carried away and hurled with terrific force against any object that might obstruct their progress.
Fortunately a great majority of the cottagers and others nearly beneath them had been warned of what was likely to occur, and had made their escape in time. Only few lives comparatively were lost here; but every vestige of mill, forge, or house was swept away. But at Hillsborough, Malin Bridge, and along the Owlerton Road the greatest mischief to life and property was done. Hundreds of people who slept in confidence on Friday night have, with their houses, gone down the stream, and now sleep the long sleep of death. The great farmhouse of Mr. James Trickett, with its 11 occupants, and two or three cottages which were close by, are gone. Malin-bridge is gone, Mr. Wilson's blacksmith's shop, scythe wheel-house, and a very large number of dwelling-houses in Holme Lane have been swept away with their occupants. In the centre of the village was a large new public house, called the Stag Inn, and of that public house there is only left the arched crown of its cellar, under which some barrels may be seen. Near the fragment of an outbuilding that formerly belonged to the farm some dead horses are laying, and a number of large trees, stripped of all their covering, lie, with their branches torn off and their roots washed clean, about the adjoining fields.
The torrent came in contact with a row or terrace of good looking three storey houses, and at the back a piece is cut off as if chopped off with a hatchet, and so large is the portion taken away that the houses on the left stand like hens balanced on one leg. About 30 houses have been thrown down, and some of them completely washed away in Holme Lane. In some of these houses there were as many as eleven, and in others eight persons drowned. At the Hillsborough bridges, both of which are down, James Atkinson and two sons, one 17 and the other 12 years of age, were drowned; and at the Masons' Arms, which is almost completely destroyed, the landlord (Mr. Pickering) and three other members of the family have come to an untimely end.
Near Hillsborough many dead bodies have been found, which were removed to the neighbouring inns, but have since been conveyed to the Sheffield Workhouse. The water mark shows that some of the houses here have been submerged nearly to the roof, others have been filled up to the level of the second storey, and in others which stand a little higher the water mark is about shoulder height. The streets are quagmires, and the lower rooms of the houses are nearly ankle deep in wet loam. » Continued
