Page 6 - Gen Mag Online November 2020

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William Huskisson (1770 1830) M.P. For
Liverpool. Killed in the first railway accident.

After his mother died, their father William eventually
remarried and had further children by his second wife.

On the day of the accident, it seems that Huskisson was
riding down on the same train as the Duke of Wellington.
When the train reached the midpoint of the line - Parkside
Station, near Lowton, Wigan, William got off. He was
advised not to, but the MP ignored them. He apparently
went to speak with the Duke of Wellington but was
distracted. Forgetting about the approaching locomotive he
fell onto the tracks in front of the engine. Huskisson didn’t
die immediately, but he knew his time was up.
Consequently, he hurriedly made his will. He was 60.

Despite this unfortunate incident, the Railway Trials at Rainhill were a success and the development
of the railway network in Britain and across the world was assured. Interestingly, in modern times,
railway travel seems to have had something of a renaissance. That’s not difficult to understand. With
so many cars on the road causing congestion, not to mention pollution, people are looking for
alternatives. The railway fills that need.

BITS & PIECES

In 1351, the Statute of Did you know…the main cheese eaten by Londoners during the 17 & 18 th
th
Labourers was enacted centuries was Cheshire cheese. Samuel Pepys is recorded as having visited
in an attempt to hold
down wages at levels a shop or eatery called the Cheshire Cheese in 1678. Historians believe this
prior to the devastating was probably the one in Crutched Friars which was near Pepys house, which
Black Death. However itself stood next to the Tower of London.
despite severe penalties
for infringement, The parish of Santon in the Isle of
demand outweighed Man is named after St. Santain. Giving nicknames to coins and
supply of labourers, so The land upon which the present money is nothing new it seems.
the law failed. church sits has been a sacred During the reign of king Edward
Christian site for 1500 years. Prior IV, a coin was minted called the
to the relatively modern church Angel.
being erected, primitive churches
The first Duchy created This was a gold coin bearing the
in England after the called Keeills were built for the image of St. Michael. Its
Norman Conquest was local population. The current monetary value varied from 6
the Duchy of Cornwall, building was built around 1724, shillings & eight pence to 10
created in 1335. The following the previous church’s shillings.
Duchy mainly, Cornwall, destruction, probably by fire.
Devon & Somerset.
Because of a misreading of the The Angel was legal tender till
Despite being annexed saint’s name, the new building was the time of Charles I, although a
by the English, the dedicated to St. Anne which is why small number of copies were
Cornish language is still some records on the island refer minted by later Stuarts for
spoken today. Surnames to St. Anne’s parish. ceremonial purposes.
from Cornwall are
generally derived from
locations with a Cornish Was your ancestor a Brownist? Brownists were early religious
language basis to them. separatists who later were known as Puritans. They were led by Robert
For instance Penhaligon. Browne (abt 1550 - abt 1633) who eventually fled to Holland.