Harriet Swanson and William Blades.

Two 19th-century market traders

Keith Hansell 2024

When writing my book ‘Stamford Fairs & Markets’ I tried to add flesh to the bones of those who once sold their wares within the town, whether on a daily basis, or at one of the town’s weekly markets. It was inevitable that some would slip through the net, only to be discovered once the book had been published. William Blades, a fishmonger of Stamford, and Harriet Swanson. a butter seller from Belmesthorpe, were two such people.

Harriet Swanson

‘Suspected Child Murder at Stamford’. That was the headline from a report in the Stamford Mercury on Friday the 6th of October 1845.

Harriet Swanson, a single woman of about 24 years of age, had gone to the Shepherd and Shepherdess public house around 1pm, as per usual, before leaving to sell butter in the Friday market. When returning around 6pm, she asked the landlady, Mrs. Sanderson, if it was possible to stay the night. Whilst being shown her room she announced that she was about to be confined and begged that she might not be turned away. About an hour later, at Swanson’s request, Mr. Edward Barber, surgeon, was called and was quickly in attendance. On entering the room he found the prospective mother in bed, with a man sitting by the bed-side smoking a cigar. After the man had departed, she told Mr. Barber that her name was Elisa Deacon, and that she resided with her brother and sister at Oakham and had come to Stamford thinking she might be better managed, having neither father nor mother. At eleven that evening she gave birth to a ‘perfect and healthy’ female.

When returning the following morning, Mr. Barber again found the child in good health and laying beside her mother. When asked if she had put the child to breast, she replied she had not, as she intended to “put the child out”, and that the nurse, who was in attendance, had the care of feeding her.

On the Saturday afternoon, Swanson said that her daughter had made some gurgling noises in her throat. About six that evening, when the nurse took the child from its mothers arms, the child’s face and hands were black but it came to again after only a few minutes. After returning the child to its mother, the nurse left the room for a few minutes, but quickly returned when the mother called out that her child was dead. Mr. Barber was immediately sent for and on his arrival undressed the child but found no marks of violence, except a slight indentation on the upper lip, like the mark of a single finger-nail.

The following day a post mortem examination took place but found nothing to indicate the cause of death. The inquest that followed lasted for four hours, and in the course of the investigation, Mrs. Sanderson admitted that Swanson, and the man seen on Mr. Barber’s first visit, often met at her house, sometimes going into the bedroom but generally into the front parlour. Swanson also stated that William Templeman, of Carlby, was the child's father and that he gave her a sovereign on Friday night to meet her immediate expenses.

William Blades

Or ‘Pugnacious Blades’, as the Stamford Mercury headline called on Friday July the 18th 1862. Below is the transcript of that report.

“A Fight, which though short was anything but sweet for one of the combatants, occurred between two fishmongers of Stamford named William Holland and William Blades, in the fish-market at the Portico on Monday morning. There seems to have formerly been a kind of partnership between the two present rivals. They had both been indulging too freely in beer, and the dispute arose in consequence of Blades attempting to carry off a box of herrings, which he fancied belonged to him. To this course, however, Holland strongly objected, having an impression that he was being robbed and high words ensued, which ended in a scuffle: the boxes were smashed, and the herrings strewn over the pavement. The disturbance being upon the very threshold of the police-station, acting-sergeant Leech interposed threatening them with “durance vile” if they did not desist. In defiance of this caution, however, they resumed the fight with increased animosity and violence, but were at last separated and locked up until their passion had cooled. They were ordered to answer for their drunken and disorderly conduct at the police-station on the following morning, but Blades was so severely punished and his vision so obscured, both eyes being deeply mortgaged, that he could not find his way to the station: the case was therefore adjourned till Wednesday, when they appeared before the Mayor (R. Bromhead, Esq.). and Edward. Cayley, Esq., and were discharged. Blades face showed such strange inequality of surface and variety of that, as would have been tested to their utmost the enamelling abilities of the notorious Madame Rachel”.

Notes.

The Shepherd and Shepherdess public house was located in Castle Street, Stamford, and was first recorded in 1831, later changing its name to The Castle and finally closing in 1959. From the sale particulars of 1893 it consisted of a parlour and smoke room located at the front of the building, with the bar and tap room behind. It also had five bedrooms, store-room, cellar and wash-house.

The Portico, erected c.1807, stood in Stamford’s High Street, on a site formerly occupied by the White Lion public house. The fish market was situated behind the Portico, comprising two rows of covered stalls with a centrally placed pump. Market days were Monday’s and Friday’s. Blades vision must have been severely impaired as he only lived yards away from the police station in Rubbins Court on Stamford High Street. The report makes reference to a Madam Rachel, real name Sarah Russell, who operated a fraudulent cosmetic parlour in the 1860s, at 47a New Bond Street in London. She promised her female clients that she would make them beautiful forever but in truth she was no more than a con-artist, applying dangerous substances to her clients’ skin, with the inevitable results.

A print version can be downloaded HERE