Hard Times; Unexpected Deaths

Trigger warning; This blog post references multiple child deaths. Please take care when reading.

Sometimes genealogy research leads me to corners of other people's families. And sometimes those stories are so compelling; it's hard to ignore the urge to share them. This week's story doesn't come from my family, but from the wife of my 2x great granduncle Edward Munro Vinall. Edward Munro Vinall was born in Brighton, Sussex. he was the older brother of my 2x great grandmother. Edward worked as a coachman, as did his older brother Frederick. This work caused them both to roam further afield than the rest of the Vinall family, and they both met, married, and settled down with girls from Sunderland, Durham. Edward Munro Vinall married widow Isabella Robinson Slightham in July 1890. Isabella had six children from her previous marriage; George Slightham (born 1848), William Henry Slightham (born 1877), Isabella Slightham (born 1879), Stephen Slightham (born 1881), George Slightham (born 1883), and Arthur Slightham (born 1886).

Isabella Robinson Smith (as she was before either marriage) married master mariner George Slightham in Sunderland, Durham, in January 1873. One summer's day, on June 16th, 1883 their eldest two sons were taken to the Victoria Hall theatre to see The Fays, an enterprising children's entertainment duo. It is not clear if the younger children, Isabella and Stephen Slightham, were also at the performance, or were kept at home due to their age. Isabella (the daughter) would have been 4 years old, and her brother Stephen Slightham would have been a toddler of 2 years. 

Victoria Hall was built in 1872.

Victoria Hall was a beautiful building, designed to resemble the Crystal Palace, and Albert Hall in terms of size and grandeur. It seated 3000 people and was built in 1872, its building being funded by a local philanthropist Edward Backhouse. The Fays were a husband and wife act, who had been booked to put on a magical show of talking waxworks, marionnettes that moved without their strings being pulled, and other amazing conjuring tricks. The added draw for the show was the promise of "PRIZES!", each child being promised "presents. rocks, toys, etc". Without a doubt, the theatre was packed to the gunnels with excited children, all looking forward to a mystical performance followed by a special gift, a momento of the spectacle.

At the end of the performance Mr Fay kept to his promise, and started to hand out the gifts to the audience in the stalls. Children seated in the gallery above, concerned that they would miss out on the promised gift, started to rush down the stairs from the gallery, to get to the stalls below, where they could get their prize. Possibly anticipating this rush a door leading to the auditorium had been partially closed, it is assumed, in an effort to ensure the children entered in an orderly fashion. The result was that the children formed a giant crush around the door. Some of the children fell in the chaos, and were trampled by other children rushing down the stairs. The heaving weight of the crowd caused a large number of children to be caught in the crush, and their tiny bodies began to pile up as they tried to escape. There were no adults to help organise the children into an orderly queue, and further children were surging down the stairs, without any idea of the chaos ahead. The caretaker, Mr Frederick Graham, realised what was happening, and managed to divert a further 600 children from entering the stairwell full of children. Adults inside the auditorium soon realised what was happening and started to pull the children through, one by one. It took half an hour to remove all the children from the stairwell. A total of 183 children lost their lives that afternoon. Two of those children were the eldest sons of George and Isabella Robinson Slightham. George Slightham was 8 years old, and William Henry Slightham was 6 years old. All of the children that died that day died from asphyxiation.

The news of the tragedy even reached international levels. This image was included in a French newspaper, Le Journal.

Isabella was heavily pregnant at that time, with her 5th child. That child was born just 10 weeks after the Victoria Hall disaster, and was named George. It is impossible to imagine the sense of loss George and Isabella suffered with the tragic deaths of their two eldest sons. To then, so soon after experiencing that loss, go through labour, and birth a new child, must have been incredibly bitter and sweet. 

The Victoria Hall disaster hit all the national newspapers, and the country was moved by the tragedy. Queen Victoria sent her message of condolence to all the families, which was read out at the funerals of the children. She also contributed to the fund set up to pay for the children's funerals, and additional donations flooded in from people across the nation. Once the funeral costs were covered, the remaining funds were used to commission a memorial to the children who were lost in the tragedy. A statue of a grieving mother holding her dead child was erected in Mowbray Park later that year, and more recently the statue was moved to Bishopwearmouth Cemetery where it still stands today.

After some vandalism to the memorial the city encased the statue in a glass case.

Mr and Mrs Fay, the entertainers at that fatal show, disappeared into virtual obscurity following the disaster and subsequent inquests. It seems that some people assigned blame to them, for the closing of the door, and it must have been hard for them to find bookings. ADD MORE INFO FROM WHAT DAD SHARES

Two inquests were called to investigate the tragedy, but neither was able to establish who it was that bolted the door, ultimately causing the deaths of the 183 children. Eventually Parliament reviewed the safety of exits in theatres and other types of entertainment venues. Laws were passed to ensure that every entertainment venue had a sufficient number of doors, that each door opened outwards, and were easy to open. The next time I leave a theatre or cinema via a 'push bar' exit I shall think of Isabella, her two young boys George and William, and all the other children who died in that awful tragedy. There but for the grace of God go I.

Sadly, the hard times did not end there for Isabella. Isabella and George Slightham had another child together in 1886; Arthur Slightham. Arthur was born in April 1886, and just 5 months later, on the 15th September 1886 George Slightham, his father, died. As already mentioned, George Slightham, Isabella's first husband, was a master mariner. George had joined the British Merchant Navy at the age of 17, in 1866. He worked hard, and achieved his master mariner certificate a decade later, in 1876. In 1879 George Slightham was on a schooner named Broomshields, heading for Malaga from Shields, when it was struck by a barque named G.B.S., which was heading for Java in the East Indies. Broomshields sank on the Outer Dowsing Sandbank, in the North Sea, and several of the crew were reported missing. Luckily for George, he survived, but he lost his Master Mariner certificate, which went down with the ship. His application for a copy of the certificate allowed me to find out more about his life on the waves. The ship George had sailed on prior to Broomshields was the sailing ship Dorothy, which was owned by John Tully of Sunderland, and was engaged in foreign trade. In 1885 George Slightham had been the captain of this ship, in a journey to Bahai. He was the only crew member in the record relating to this voyage who was not given wages on return, suggesting that he was paid on a salary basis. Considering this, and his status as a ship's captain we can imagine that the family had relative wealth and were comfortably well off.

Buenos Aires Port, circa 1910

In September of 1886 George was once again sailing on the merchant ship named 'Dorothy', and was in Buenos Aires. On the 15th of that same month George had a heart attack and died. Within the space of 3 short years Isabella Robinson Slightham had lost two sons, and a husband, and had birthed two sons. She was a mother of four living children within the ages of 5 months to 7 years. She was 33 years old, and was now a widow. 

Life as the wife of a master mariner, working in international shipping would have allowed Isabella to enjoy certain benefits. The family would have enjoyed a decent income (something between ₤62,000- ₤90,000 per year in today's money). Whilst she would have been without her husband being home for weeks at a time, she probably wouldn't have had to work outside of the home, as well as tend to her children and keep house. With no form of social security available to her, and likely no inheritance to receive from him, Isabella's income would have reduced to zero.  Undoubtedly, life would have been very different without George's income. Isabella may have had to take up work, like taking in laundry, or may have had to sell some of her possessions to make ends meet. Other women, in the same position sometimes put their children in an orphanage, to reduce the drain on the family purse. I could find no evidence of her taking such measures, thankfully.

'In Memoriam', by Margaret Isabel Dicksee shows a widow holding her young child up to see a portrait of their lost father.

The hard times were not to last for too long. In 1890 Isabella Robinson Slightham, nee Smith, married Edward Munro Vinall, a coachman from the other end of the country; Brighton, Sussex. Edward had followed his older brother Frederick up to the north east of England. Frederick had worked as a coachman and a shoeing smith, and had settled in Sunderland in 1867, after marrying Margaret Ord, the daughter of a local publican. Edward was 10 years younger than his brother Frederick, but also an equine specialist, who had lived with his brother in Sunderland, in 1881, when they were both working as coachmen. In 1891 Edward Munro Vinall, and Isabella Robinson Slightham (now Vinall) were living together at 3 Hendon Valley Road; the same address that she had lived at when her sons had been killed 8 years previously. At least Isabella's hard times hadn't lost her the family home.

A Coachman, circa 1902

Isabella and Edward did not have any children together, and Isabella saw her youngest 4 children grow to adulthood. Her eldest remaining child, daughter Isabella, never married, but lived a long and apparently comfortable life. In 1939 she owned and was running a boarding house in which two gentlemen resided. She died in 1956, at the age of 77. Stephen, Isabella's eldest remaining son, joined the merchant navy, like his father George. He married a Sunderland lass, named Jane Higgs, but did not apparently have children. Stephen died in 1946, at the age of 65. The youngest two sons of George and Isabella Slightham both emigrated to Canada. George (junior) married Ruth Flyn, and they had two children; George and Marguerite Slightham. George was a builder, and clearly made a decent enough living as the family were able to afford at least 4 (3rd class) trips back to Blighty. George died in Toronto, Canada in 1971, at the age of 87. Arthur, the youngest of all Isabella's children, married Lily Miller. They had a son named Gordon, and also settled in Toronto, Canada. Arthur was also a builder, and like his brother George was able to afford at least 3 (3rd class) trips back across the pond. I've been unable to find a death record for Arthur Slightham, but records show that he was living in Toronto, Canada in 1945, at the age of 59.

Binns Tram, Sunderland, by Robert Wild 1920

Edward Munro Vinall died in July 1910, in Sunderland, Durham, at the age of 61. Isabella Robinson Slightham (nee Smith) died on the 2nd February, 1920, at her home on Hendon Valley Road, Sunderland, after a four year battle with breast cancer, that had spread to her lymphatic system. She was 67 years old at her death.

Isabella Robinson Slightham was a strong woman, who survived some of the most awfully hard times, and using that strength, was able to create some good times, with her second husband, my 2x great granduncle Edward Munro Vinall.

#Edgill

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Hall_disaster

https://sunderland.yolasite.com/vichallstory.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_December_1879

https://dawlishchronicles.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-value-of-money-pay-in-royal-navy-in.html

https://mha.mun.ca/mha/1881/onview.php?Record_ID=52754&%20CrewListPage=5&page=1there