11:06am Monday 18th January 2010
By Michael Grundy
250 YEARS AGO:
ON Tuesday last, William Wardell, pursuant to his sentence at our last Worcester Assizes, stood on the pillory for an assault with an intent to commit a rape on the body of the daughter of Mr Gwyn of Cofton Hackett, near Bromsgrove, when many of the populace pelted him with the compliments usual on such occasions.
200 YEARS AGO:
ON Thursday, the brilliant chandelier which has been recently hung in the centre of the ballroom at Worcester Guildhall, fell to the ground and completely destroyed.
The accident was occasioned by the breaking of the chain to which the chandelier was suspended. The card and dancing assembly was held the same evening and it is certainly a very fortunate circumstance that the accident did not happen at that time, as the consequences would then, in all probability, have been very serious.
● John Lewis, having succeeded Francis Hooper in the house and premises at the Guildhall, begs to inform his friends in particular and the public in general that the business in the wine, spirit, porter and cider trade will be continued as heretofore, wholesale and retail. In addition, he has opened it as a coffee house in the fullest extent and flatters himself he shall conduct it so as to deserve general approbation. He begs to solicit the countenance and support of the citizens, gentlemen in the neighbourhood, and visitors of the place. The house being commodious and spacious, parties may also be entertained in private style.
150 YEARS AGO:
A BURGLARY under daring circumstances was perpetrated on the premises of Messrs James and Rice, tailors, of Broad Street, Worcester, some time during the night of Wednesday last. The premises are situated nearly opposite the Crown Hotel and there is a gas lamp in close proximity. The shop was closed and the occupants had retired to bed in the uppermost room.
It became evident afterwards that the burglars had effected their entrance into the cellar under the shop by forcing up a grating in the street and breaking the chain securing it. They stole a considerable quantity of cloth and other goods to the value of £40, a pin with an American dollar head attached, £9 in gold and a mourning ring. The thieves then walked out into the street by the front door, totally unobserved.
The police are actively engaged in trying to trace the villains. The other daring robbery was on Sunday evening at the premises of Mr Hyett, grocer and provisions dealer in Friar Street where thieves stole a considerable amount of property including £35 in gold, £25 in silver, two £5 notes and a cheque for £9.
The money was kept in a box which was broken open.
The thieves gained entrance by ascending a low roof and breaking into Mr Hyett’s bedroom. He was away from home at the time.
100 YEARS AGO:
SPEAKING at a Worcester meeting of the Forward Movement of the Church of England’s Temperance Society, the Dean of Worcester, Dr W Moore Ede said that on the previous Sunday, sermons on the temperance question had been preached in the Cathedral and in all the parish churches in the city.
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