Collected clippings from ‘This week in the news – Somerset news stories from the past 250 years’
28th- 31st June 1873
On Wednesday morning about half past seven when almost a gale of wind was blowing, a vessel in the channel outside “the gore” towards Berrow Bay was observed to suddenly disappear. This proved to be the trow Florence belonging to Messrs. Ring and Co of Bristol which was bound from Cardiff to Highbridge with coal. The steam tug Victor was at once put out from Burnham but the praiseworthy promptitude displayed proved to be of no avail as no opportunity of rendering aid presented itself. It is therefore beyond doubt that the crew, all from Bristol and consisting of Captain Joseph Freebury, his two sons and another sailor must have perished. The Florence was an open trow with canvas bulwarks – a most dangerous class of vessel if the sea is anything but calm. In this case, a heavy wave seems to have struck the trow, whose frail bulwark could not resist the water and thus four human beings were sacrificed. That the lifeboat is kept in the worst possible place was again strikingly exemplified.
This week in the news – Somerset news stories from the past 250 years – Issue 123
14th -21st July 1873
The Axbridge Board of Guardians sent down to South Brent their disinfecting apparatus on Wednesday. It was tried at a cottage belonging to Mr W Huckman of Lympsham and it effectively proved itself to be a successful machine, inasmuch as it burnt down the cottage mentioned and the one adjoining it! This really is disinfecting with a vengeance. – This week in the news – Somerset news stories from the past 250 years – Issue 126
21st-28th February 1923
A shocking discovery was made at half past seven on Saturday morning by Mr J A Dare on the parade at Burnham On Sea. A man was seen hanging by a rope from the iron railings near Catherine Terrace towards the sands. Mr Dare at once cut the man down and Dr T Last and PC Pinnick were sent for. The man, who was dead, proved to be Samuel Stone Mogg of 20 Algeria Street, Beeston Hill, Leeds a retired engine driver aged 72. He had been unwell and staying with relatives at Upper Cross Street, Burnham. He was over six feet tall, powerfully built and was well-known in Burnham. The inquest was held on Monday. Arthur Poarch deposed that he recognised the body as that of Mr Mogg who he had known for thirty years. Sarah Mogg, daughter of the deceased, said her father had been greatly depressed as the result of a seizure in October last year because he feared he would have another stroke. He had complained regularly of pain in his head. The coroner Dr S Craddock, who sat without a jury immediately returned a verdict that death was due to “ suicide by hanging, during a fit of temporary insanity”.
Although this article states that Samuel Stone Mogg came from Leeds he was actually a local man as he was born in 1851 in Woolavington and was the son of the village baker named William Mogg. He headed off to Yorkshire as a young man, where he became a railway engine cleaner and later a driver. There seems to have been a large family of Moggs in the village. One wonders whether he was related to railwayman Tom Mogg for whom an inn near Burtle was once named.
The annual outing of Argyle Sunday School took place on Thursday when Burnham was visited. The children attending the East Twerton School participated and including them, the number of young people was about 200. They were accompanied by teachers and friends. The party left by the Midland Railway at 8.15 and when Burnham was reached the tide was in, and so delighted were the children with the water that in their frolics some did not realise the desirability of divesting themselves of their clothes before entering the sea. This created a situation of certain difficulty as the girls could not be allowed to remain in wet garments and so they had to “lie low” while the hot sunshine did the needful for their clothing. One of the boys had an involuntary “dip” and so he was placed in the seclusion of a bathing machine until his clothes had dried. The weather was glorious for the outing and residents of Burnham regarded it as the first true summer day this year. Tea was served at the Marchent’s Tea Gardens and in the evening a cricket match was arranged between scholars of Argyle and East Twerton Schools, the Argyle boys winning decisively. – This week in the news – Somerset news stories from the past 250 years – Issue 124
