July 21st - Brilliant victory obtained over the French army, commanded by King Joseph and Marshal Jourdon under him, at Vitorio, in Spain, by the allied army of English, Spanish and Portuguese, commanded by the Marquis of Wellington. The result of this victory where 151 pieces of brass cannon, 415 caissons, one standard, Marshal Jourdon’s baton, the military chest, &c., taken by the allies. In this battle the English loss was:- Killed, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 6 captains, 10 lieutenants, 4 ensigns, 1 staff officer, 15 sergeants, 4 drummers, 460 rank and file; wounded, I general staff, 7 lieutenant-colonels, 5 majors, 40 captains, 87 lieutenants, 22 ensigns, 5 staff, 123 sergeants, 13 drummers, 2,504 rank and file, and 68 horses. It did not apear what strength the armies were nor what loss the enemies sustained in men. The date here is evidently wrong, it should be June, not July. Accounts of this battle all agree about it being a trying one for the French. Green says: “In May, 1813, Wellington again left Portugal with an army which had now risen to 90,000 men, and overtaking the French forces in retreat at Vittoria, inflicted on them a defeat (June 21) which drove them in utter rout across the Pyrenees.” Another account says the rout was so complete that of the 70,000 men under the French standard, not one remained on Spanish soil, June 27th. Another account says that Joseph himself had a narrow escape from being captured, and never did victory gain a richer booty in money and pictures, jewellery and plate. This battle put an end to Joseph’s dreams of establishing himself on the throne of Spain. James Gray, of Oldham, was at this battle. In order that we may trace his steps, I quote from Mr. Pallinger’s short sketch of his life. He says: “In January, 1813, Gray embarked at Weymouth for Portugal, and landed at Belum Steps for Lisbon. He then marches up by the Tagus to Villa Velha, from whence he proceeded to Coria, where he joined his regiment, which was there lying in winter quarters. His experiences were both new and various, and many quaint stories had he to tell of a soldier’s life. He attributed his freedom from sickness during his camp life to the wise precaution he took in always having a dry shirt to put on in the morning when camping out in the wet, which often flooded the ground on which he lay rolled up in his blankets, but as he had only one shirt, it was not clear how he kept it dry when his blanket was sopping. He explained, “Ah, mon, I alus pood it off at the neet, and rolled it up in my knapsack before getting’ into my blanket.” In the passage of the Pyrenees, he remembered the time when a quid of tobacco (the last in the company) was sold from one to another and finally fetched 5s. An officer reduced to the same condition as my son John, “with one shoe off and one shoe on,” showed his wisdom by wearing it first on one foot and then on the other. At Villa Velha his favourite retreat was a “breekoon,” which he found made a cosy bed at night in consequence of its having been in use during the day. His memory as of to dates was of late very infirm, but of the various incidents of his march he had a lively recollection. He did not know in what month his regiment left Coria to join the main army under Wellington, but he remembered as they were marching into Salamanca he “geet a brid neest,” and that it was a ‘spink’s.” This fixes the time as early spring. From Salamanca he continued his march, and joined the main army just in time for the battle of Vittoria, which was fought in June 1813. Here, as was frequently his lot, he was not in the front of the battle, but in reserve, and his company had charge of the captured treasure waggons. He bore ample testimony to the aptitude for loot exhibited by the Spanish and Portuguese troops, who felt it a sort of virtue to thus spoil the Egyptians.
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July 9 - Was married at Bath, Charles Rees, of Killymaenllyd, in Carmarthenshire, Esq., to Henrietta Susanna Anne Horton, daughter of the late Sir Watts Horton, barronet, of Chaderton Hall. A memorial tablet of this lady is to be found in Oldham Church. The family of Rees or Rhys seems to have been of some importance in Wales at one time. July 22nd - Died Ann, daughter of James Bloomley, of Burnley-lane; her age 19 years. A few days since James Wrigley of Treacle-street, near Waterhead Mill, received the Prince Regent’s pardon. He last October sessions received sentence two years’ imprisonment. His crime was stealing some cotton from William Warring at Waterhead Mill. Trade of nearly all sorts was never worse, especially cotton trade. At factories it is very scarse, and the wages much reduced. Weaving is very low, the best not more than 20d. a pond for up to 26 hanks in the pond. Tabby'’ are 18s. to 20s. a cut. The country in a most wretched state, few families being able by industry to get a sufficiency of bread. The dreadful state of the country at this time is a striking contrast to what we call hard times now. The distress at this time affected nearly all the trading classes of the people, as trade seems to have been at a standstill. All the usual authorities agree on this point. Ellison says: “During this period there was considerable distress in the manufacturing districts, the suffering occasioned by the scarcity of employment being aggravated by a general rise in the price of provisions.” July 21st - Manchester Sessions commenced, when George Wood got three months’ imprisonment, and John Marsden was sent to the sea. July 22nd - A day of tremendous thunder, hail and rain, and a grand mowing match at Chadderton, betwixt Robert Booth and James Greaves, the Booth claim winning, and the wager is yet in dispute. July 26th - Most tremendous thunderstorms, attended with vivid flashes of lightning. A house was damaged and the furniture materially damaged at the back of Oldham Edge, and a woman knocked down in Oldham by the lightning. The wager regarding the mowing was adjudged to Robert Booth. He mowed one Lancashire acre in 6 hours and 56 minutes, and in a workmanlike manner. I know not how these times compare with modern mowing feats, nor is it important to know seeing that hand labour even in the field is being superseded by machinery. Old Death in the guise or a mower with his scythe has been the world’s ideal of mortality for untold generations. I wonder if futurity will understand the meaning of it except indeed from books. Will not the “old mower” of time to come be represented as a huge grasshopper with a man on its back, reining his steed like Jove and his chariot of the sun – for this is more like the appearance of a modern mowing machine. |
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ANNALS OF OLDHAM No. LXXIII 1813 August 3rd - Last night Benjamin Cowper, fustian manufacturer, was atacked and robbed near his house, near Sholver. On the 9th three men were taken up on supposition. They where taken before the Rev. Mr. Horden, and by him comited to the New Bayley for further examination. August 9th - Died, James Travis, of Top o’th North Moor, mathamatician; disorder, consumption. Although Mr. James Travis is not mentioned by Mr. Morgan Brierley in his list of Lancashire mathematicians, there is every evidence that he is worthy of a place among them. We learn from memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society that James Travis was one of those who formed a mathematical society in Oldham in 1794, “whose members soon distanced those of the parent (Manchester) society in geometrical pursuits.” The establishment of this society supplied the requisite impulse for the full development of this local geometrical taste, and no reasonable doubt can exist that the Manchester and Oldham Mathematical Societies were really the great promoters of the revival of the study of ancient geometry in Lancashire. This annal gives this man a local habitation and a name, and perhaps there are those still living who remember James Travis of Top of North Moor. He was associated with William Travis, William Hilton Abraham Jackson, and John Bardsley in forming this society. Here let us consider, judging of cause and effect, whether the existence of this mathematical society nearly a century ago, is not evidence of the natural adaptability of the Oldham mind to the study of mathematics. If this society was the cause of the revival of geometrical study in Lancashire, what must have been its effect in Oldham? Here now we get what some people call an old woman’s view of the question. Did not our grandmother tell us in Oldham fashion that “What’s bred 'ith flesh is never eawt o’th booan?”
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Turf men carefully trace the genealogy of a race horse or sprint dog. Some people can tell you the descent of a household necessary cat, or even of a canary. Not to mention how an old gardener will tell you the pedigree of a flower or a swede turnip, and yet when you apply the same rule to mankind, some people tell you it is as trifling and unprofitable business. I think I read something of this sort from the tongue of one John Addison, Q.C., M.P., some time ago. Well, such people may be right, and it is not worth while to squabble with them. But old women will have their way and their say, and you are sometimes disposed to think they are right too. Anyhow, in the year of grace 1880, as showing the development of inbred mathematical skill in the success of an institution, which must have absorbed most of the youth of the town who had any mathematical genius – I mean the Oldham School of Science and Art – we read from the speech of Mr. S. R. Platt, that “now (1880) they witnessed Oldham holding the supremacy in science – holding that supremacy as they had hitherto done against all comers.” Again “its present proud position was in the van of the whole of the cities and towns in the kingdom.” Mr. Thomas Emmott spoke in confirmatory terms, to the effect that the past success equalled, if not exceeded that of any similar institution in this country. Lord Derby says, “I find that out of 3,400 who have attended during the past fifteen years, 1,400 odd are connected with the engineering trades, 560 odd with the building trades, 420 odd with the cotton trade, and 990 with other occupations.” From the report I find that out of 442 students in 1880 – 403 obtained successes, out of which were 18 honours – three gaining National medals for honour, and three Whitworth scholarships and other prizes. I am not prepared to say that all this is the direct result of the mathematical society, but looking round the district, I find at the beginning of the present century that mathematics were the favourite study of a considerable number of the poorer class of people; nor were the students confined to any one part of the town, but were widespread and general. Thus we had Wolfenden and his friends at Hollinwood, Hilton and his friends at Quickedge and Lees, Butterworth, Kay and Heap, and their friends at Royton, Travis and his friends at Shaw, besides many others in a minor way of study. I know of one case at Hey where at least four generations have made mathematics into a private hobby, and the fourth generation is now represented by a mathematical scholarship at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge. All these are sufficient evidence of a prominent type or cast of mind which is natural and inborn, and which is as much evidence of mathematical talent as the talent of a poet, who, we are told, is “born and not made.” If we would know the nature of a rock we break off a piece and examine it under the microscope. Why should we not thus judge the nature of a people by presenting specimens of its mental constitution? Nor need we wonder that Oldham is the greatest industrial town in the world both as regards its textile trades, and its mechanical industries. |
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