The Great Wind brought destruction and death to the Mersey Estuary.
Between Sunday, January 6th and Thursday, January 10th, 1839, a hurricane known as ‘the great wind’ swept across the British Isles leaving a trail of death and destruction.
Small boats and ocean-going sailing vessels were blown onto sandbanks in the Mersey Estuary. Many were broken up by high waves before steam tugs could reach them. Passengers and crews were forced to take to the lifeboats. Most were rescued, but over 100 men, women and children were drowned.
As it swept across Cheshire, the hurricane destroyed farmhouses and uprooted trees. Particles of salt were blown along village streets. Buildings, hedgerows and fields were covered with a layer of white salt, giving the impression that there had been a heavy frost.
When the hurricane hit North Staffordshire, gale-force winds caused extensive damage.
A 130-foot-high chimney at Apedale was blown down. Streets in Newcastle-under-Lyme were blocked by falling masonry, and windmills in the Potteries lost their sails.
The galleries in Christ Church, Tunstall, were destroyed when pinnacles on the church tower were blown down and fell through the roof. At Chell, the wind blew the roof off the new workhouse that was being built for the Wolstanton and Burslem Union.
Note: The Great Wind is one of a series of articles written by Betty Martin before her death. Other articles from the series will be posted from time to time.
A Halifax Bomber like the one that crashed on Grindon Moor.
The winter of 1946-47 was long and hard. There were heavy snowfalls and gale-force winds. Temperatures fell to below freezing, and icicles hung from the roofs of houses.
Mainline railway lines were kept open, but frozen points on branch lines prevented coal trains from leaving collieries. Instead of thawing the points, the National Coal Board stockpiled coal at the pit head creating a fuel shortage that forced British industry to introduce short-time working.
Between Sunday, February 2nd and Tuesday, February 4th, 1947 a blizzard lasting forty-eight hours swept across Staffordshire and Cheshire. More than ten inches of snow fell. Roads became impassable and motorists abandoned their vehicles.
Villages in the Staffordshire Moorlands were isolated by snowdrifts five or six feet deep. Over a hundred snowploughs and bulldozers fought to keep Staffordshire’s main roads open. German prisoners of war helped to clear the snow from roads leading into Burton-on-Trent. A working party from Stafford prison cleared snow blocking the road from Stafford to Stone.
In the Potteries, roads blocked by snowdrifts were reopened by Polish troops stationed at Keele. A bus fitted with a snowplough opened the road to Leek, but surrounding villages remained cut off.
Power stations producing electricity were running out of coal and output fell. Supplies of electricity were disrupted. Householders were asked not to use electricity between 9.00am and noon and between 2.00pm and 4.00pm. These savings were not enough to keep hospitals supplied with electricity and on February 7th the government ordered companies to stop using electricity.
Industry throughout the country was hard hit. Factories were forced to close. At Stafford, English Electric dismissed its 5,000 employees. In the Potteries 44,000 men and women were made redundant.
At a meeting in Stoke, the National Political Union condemned the Labour government for creating a fuel crisis and causing widespread unemployment.
A few shopkeepers in Stafford continued to use electric spotlights to highlight displays in their shop windows. Lights and heating were turned off at the Guildhall where the Magistrates’ Court sat. It was so cold in the courtroom that Justices of the Peace wore their overcoats.
Many shops were lit by candlelight. Old gas mantles were used to light offices throughout the region. The Midland Bank at Crewe was lit by oil lamps and hurricane lamps were used to light Stoke town hall.
Blizzards prevented rescue teams from reaching Longnor, Butterton, Grindon and Ilam, isolated villages where 3,000 people were trapped.
The Royal Air Force was asked to help. At RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, Halifax Bombers were loaded with food supplies for the villagers.
On February 12th, despite adverse weather conditions and low clouds, a bomber dropped thirteen canisters containing food near Longnor. Volunteers helped Police Sergeant Davenport carry the canisters to the village hall. They contained margarine, lard, sugar, cheese, bread and jam for the villagers and people living in neighbouring hamlets.
The next day, another Halifax, piloted by Squadron Leader McIntyre, took off from Fairford with food for Butterton. Weather conditions had deteriorated overnight. Visibility was poor. People on the ground waiting for the food canisters to be dropped heard the aircraft’s engines but they could not see it.
Squadron Leader McIntyre flew low hoping to find the dropping zone. The plane’s engines cut out. There was an explosion, and the Halifax crashed near Sheldon Farm on Grindon Moor. Eight men were on board. Only one survived the impact. He was unconscious when rescuers pulled him out of the cockpit and died shortly afterwards.
Among the dead was twenty-four-year-old Sergeant William Sherry from Clews Street, Burslem. Educated at Middleport School, he had been an army glider pilot before transferring to the Royal Air Force. While serving with the 1st Airbourne Division, William had fought at Arnhem, where he was wounded and captured by the Germans.
Note: A Hard Winter (1946-1947) is one of a series of articles written by Betty Martin before her death. Other articles from the series will be posted from time to time.
Betty Being Put in the Pillory when Tunstall Market Celebrated its 200th Anniversary in 2017
Betty was put in the pillory when Tunstall Market celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2017. David managed to avoid being put in it. He was taking the photographs. We think Lee spent a few hours there.
John Lloyd, whom Sir Morien Morgan, the Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, said was “one of the 20th century’s leading aeronautical engineers”, is Stoke-on-Trent’s forgotten aircraft designer.
His most important contribution to aviation history was research into laminar flow and the creation of experimental Flying Wings that helped to create the V Bomber force and Concord.
Born near Swansea in 1888 into a Welsh-speaking family, four-year-old John could not speak English when they moved to the Potteries. An intelligent child, he quickly mastered the English language and won a scholarship to Hanley High School. Leaving school at sixteen, he became an apprentice at Shelton Bar, an iron and steel works at Etruria and studied engineering at Stoke Technical School.
Fascinated by the Wright brother’s attempts to build a petrol-engine-powered glider, he designed and built model flying machines in his spare time.
Before the First World War (1914-1918) aeroplanes had wooden frames covered with canvas. Having studied aerodynamics, John believed that an all-metal aircraft could be built. When war broke out, he was employed by the Royal Aircraft Factory to design composite wood, metal and canvas fighter planes.
Coventry-based aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth made him its chief designer in the 1920s, and he designed the Siskin fighter bomber.
The Siskin
In 1923, a specially built two-seater Siskin 11 won the King’s Cup Air Race, reaching a speed of 149 miles per hour. Shortly afterwards, he modified the aircraft’s design and constructed the Siskin 111, the Royal Air Force’s first all-metal framed biplane.
Armed with two Vicker’s machine guns, the aircraft could carry four small bombs. It had an open cockpit and was powered by an Armstrong Siddely Jaguar radial piston engine.
This post is taken from a series of articles about John Lloyd written by Betty Martin when she was researching Aviation History. Copyright: North Staffordshire Heritage 2024.
Civil Aviation developed rapidly after the First World War.
In March 1924, the government set up Imperial Airways to carry passengers mail throughout the British Empire.
New routes were established linking England with South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Short-range planes made the journey in stages, flying to airports spaced out along the route.
Aircraft manufacturers were asked to build bigger more powerful planes. In 1925, John designed the Argosy a three-engined biplane big enough to carry 20 passengers. Imperial Airways ordered seven Argosys which flew from Croydon to Basle Brussels and Cologne.
An airmail service opened between England and India in 1929 and Imperial Airways asked Armstrong Whitworth to build a four-engined monoplane capable of carrying passengers and mail.
The Atalanta
John designed the Atalanta, a commercial transport plane with a range of 540 miles that could carry 17 passengers. The Alalanta made its first flight on 6 June 1932 and appeared at the Hendon Air Display three weeks later. Imperial Airways bought eight aircraft, and the first went into service on 26 September.
The company assigned four Atalantas to its base in South Africa. The other four were sent to India, flying from Karachi to Calcutta, Rangoon and Singapore.
During the 1930s, three Atalantas crashed, and in 1939, the remaining aircraft were transferred to British Overseas Airways. They were requisitioned by the Royal Air Force in 1941 and given to the Indian Air Force, which used them for coastal reconnaissance.
End of Part Two
This post is taken from a series of articles about John Lloyd written by Betty Martin when she was researching Aviation History. Copyright: North Staffordshire Heritage 2024.
Photograph of the Argosy from Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-00921A / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Imperial Airways’ Advertisement is in the Public Domain.
A Whitley Bomber before it was fitted with Rolls Royce Merlin Engines
Realising that Germany was preparing for war, the government decided to modernise the Royal Air Force. It asked the aviation industry to build fast heavily armed monoplane fighter aircraft and long-range bombers to replace the air force’s old-fashioned biplanes.
John designed the Whitley (pictured above), a long-range two-engined heavy bomber. It was originally powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IX radial engines that were later replaced by Rolls Royce Merlin Engines.
The Whitley’s maximum speed was 230 miles per hour. It had a range of 2,400 miles and could carry bombs weighing up to 7,000 lbs.
A front-line aircraft from 1939 to 1942, the Whitley played a major role in the Royal Air Force’s bombing offensive against Germany and Italy. During the Battle of Britain, it bombed Belin and Italian aircraft factories, munitions works and railway marshalling yards.
The Whitley’s last operational flight was on 30 May 1942 when it took part in the first 1,000 bomber raid on Germany. The target was Cologne, and for almost 90 minutes over 3,000 tons of bombs rained down on the city.
After designing the Whitley, John built the Albemarle, a twin-engined transport plane flown by both the Royal Air Force and the Soviet Air Force.
The Albemarle
Flying from bases in North Africa, the Albemarle took part in the invasion of Sicily. On D-Day, it dropped paratroopers into Normandy and, during Operation Market Garden, towed gliders carrying airborne forces to Arnhem.
Between 1942 and 1949, John worked on the Flying Wing, an experimental tailless jet aircraft. Hoping he would be able to design a tailless airliner, John built a two-seater tailless glider that flew successfully.
Impressed by the glider’s performance, the government allowed him to build two jet-powered Flying Wings. One crashed. The other was sent to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough where it was used in tests that helped develop the V Bomber force and Concorde.
In the 1950s, John created the Seaslug Missile for the Royal Navy which was undoubtedly the best ship-to-air guided missile in the world.
Retiring in 1959, John went to live with his daughter in London. A modest man who never boasted about his achievements, John died aged 90 at Kingston-on-Thames on 16 November 1978.
These posts about the life of John Lloyd are from a series of articles about Aviation History written by Betty Martin. Copyright: North Staffordshire Heritage 2024. More articles by Betty will be posted from time to time.
Before she died in 2023, North Staffordshire Heritage’s historical geographer, Betty Martin, planned to publish her extensive original research into Stoke-on-Trent’s history and architectural heritage.
Because she went to Brownhills High School in Tunstall, the town always had a special place in her heart. A not-for-profit foundation is being set up to publish a series of books based on her research. The first books are about Tunstall. They are being written by Betty’s husband, David, and Lee Wanger.
David and Lee are working on the first book, The History of Tunstall Town Hall and Market. Other books in the series include The History of the Jubilee Buildings and The Life of Sir Smith Child.
Senior citizens remember the town hall and market as they were before they closed for regeneration in the 1990s. They can recall social activities they went to in the town hall and going shopping in the market. Amateur photographers and students at Stoke on-Trent College of Art or Staffordshire University photographed the market and the town hall, where dances, formal dinners and Christmas parties were held.
David and Lee need help to trace these photographs and from people willing to share their memories of events they attended in the town hall and shopping in the market.
If you have photographs or memories you would like to share with David and Lee please telephone Lee at 07971303729.
North Staffordshire Heritage 