Posted by Peter H on November 14, 2002 at 19:44:40 from 213.122.189.251 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Dr (Mr) Ransome & Wm Huskisson posted by Andrew Penton on November 14, 2002 at 05:49:44:
In view of the interest in Huskisson, here are some more details:
The original plan was to take Huskisson to Manchester. He was placed on an open wagon, coupled to the locomotive ‘Northumbrian’. There were three doctors on board, including Dr Southey, a physician to George IV. The loco set off at great speed, driven by George Stephenson himself, and reached 35 mph, a record for that time (which made it the fastest train in the world, although no one was too bothered about that). Because of the vibration and the draught, one of the doctors suggested that they stop at the first house they came to. ‘The name of Reverend Thomas Blackburne arose, and it was resolved that they should stop at his vicarage at Eccles, some four miles before Manchester.’ Huskisson managed to say ‘I’m sure my friend Blackburne will be kind to me’. In fact, Blackburne was still at Liverpool.
They dismounted by Eccles Bridge in a hailstorm. The doctors carried Huskisson ‘over a deep cutting, frequently losing their footing. The vicarage was a few hundred yards from the bridge, and the group was greeted by Mrs Blackburne, who ushered them into the front room. Huskisson was transferred to a sofa, and given brandy and laudanum as his wife grasped his hand’. An hour or so later, the four surgeons arrived from Manchester, including J A Ransome.
The above information and quotes are from Simon Garfield, ‘The Last Journey of William Huskisson’. At this point there is a divergence between the AR Autobiography and Simon Garfield’s account. Garfield states that the surgeons arrived by coach. AR states that his great-grandfather ‘was the surgeon brought from Manchester on the footplate of an engine too late to save Huskisson’.
R H G Thomas, in his history of the Liverpool & Manchester Rly, states that George Stephenson drove on to Manchester and ‘collected four surgeons and returned with them riding on the tender to Eccles’.
I think it is accepted that, contrary to AR’s version, his great-grandfather did not attend Huskisson alone. And I would sooner believe Garfield about them arriving by coach. An journey on the open tender of a steam locomotive of the time would be fraught with danger, and it seems unlikely that they would risk four surgeons in this way. Anyway, they couldn’t save Huskisson, and J A Ransome is not mentioned again.
Huskisson’s widow Emily left Mrs Blackburne a gift in her will. By the way, Huskisson is commemorated at Chichester because he was its MP from 1812 to 1823, and he lived at Eartham, a few miles away.