What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?

A story from The Wakefield and West Riding Herald from 27th July 1907 reveals how it got a little steamy beneath the sheets for a husband and wife who had retired to bed.  😛

It probably wasn’t the kind of action that either had expected however as it is revealed that the lady in question had applied some white phosphorus to a sore toe, hoping bizarrely that it would cure her corn.

Of course, when exposed to air, the phosphorus would have started to set fire and also glow in the dark, so the husband on seeing this believed that some strange insect had entered beneath the covers.

The situation comedy of him hitting his wife’s phossy toe in error is priceless.  🙂

I have set out previously many explosions associated with the Trinity Street site and its chemical firm fiends Albright and Wilson.   Take this example from 1899 which killed a man and seriously burnt others. 

Not only do these reveal a major longstanding danger to the community from the site and its activities, but also the risks to their hapless employees serving the two immoral “Quaker” scumbag families who lived outside of the blast zone in far more leafier climbs.

This is another one I have found recently from the newspaper archive from The Nuneaton Observer dated 3rd January 1902, just three years after the death of Eli Guest.

This appears to have been a gas explosion caused by a lamp being dropped. The injured men, William Whitehouse, Fred Harris, George Gunn (any relation to the future councillors I wonder?), and Timothy Williams had to be dragged out of the underground workings.

Mond gas, named after the German chemist Ludwig Mond was a cheap energy source produced from coal. A large production plant would open in Dudley Port under the South Staffordshire Mond gas company.  Bizarrely, Mond was well acquainted with Ernest Solvay, whose firm would of course replace the name of Albright and Wilson at Trinity Street many decades later.

The pompous fake legacy of this Quaker chemical manufacturer became well established and cemented in the area where his company really wrought havoc, pollution and death. Civic society and libraries have disgraced themselves in promoting the philanthropic fable for many years, though people like Carnegie were of the same exact ilk.

I have already exposed the Albright and Wilson families as ones who lived in privilege and position within the framework of the ghastly society of friends- foxhunting scum.

Albright like the Cadbury’s and others of this liberal none religion pushed their capitalist monopolies like drug pushers, combining this with fake philanthropy and interference with the poor for their “betterment”. So many of “the society of friends”, of generational privilege, were eugenicists or sympathetic to its ideals of white supremacy, though they just would not admit openly to this.

Albright appears to have travelled extensively , making racist observations under the guise of a white saviour complex, indeed the ludicrous “100 years of phosphorus making” tomb to this company sets aside a whole chapter telling us how wonderful the Oxford born phossy bore was:

“One cause which especially appealed to him was the betterment of  enslaved negroes.” 

Apparently he was involved with an organisation called “The National Freedmen’s Aid Union” raising money by tapping up other wealthy whites during The American Civil war- of course nothing to do with him at all as a British citizen, and an independent country. .

It is incredible that this organisation supplied them with the very tools of their enslavement oppression, albeit without chains. The strings attached however cannot have escaped the Quaker emancipators. The so called “freedmen” were only “free” in name, and would have continued to work for their elitist white “masters” on a pittance, perhaps feeling obligation and gratitude. For “Stockholm syndrome” read “freedmen’s syndrome”.

Was this the Quaker motivation for sourcing cheap industrial labour and a devoted loyal workforce, for their industrialist expansion? I believe it to be the motive of people like Arthur Albright.

The “friends” magazine bulletin of the time below show how “generous” Mr Albright was.

spades and hoes, FFS!

Would Arthur have corrected his “freed””friends” and told them to call him “Arthur” if they had called him “Mr Albright” or “boss”? I very much doubt it, because people like him of such privilege never really understand equal in the eyes of God.

“Negroes in Central and East Africa had cause to be grateful to him some twenty-five years later, when he employed with equal success his N.F.A.U methods to secure proper enforcement of the laws made for their protection”

The quixotic narration by Threlfall in this book, and others like him, is well past its sell by date, but unfortunately the interference of the liberal class still persists in a constant aid machine guilt trip. If people in foreign countries could only be “educated” , or “civilised”- even if they don’t want to behave like those in the West, they may become Quaker pygmalions.

…and 400 pages of bullshit

This is the problem I have with these characters from history, held up as white messiahs and industrial philanthropists. With recent events, we have seen commentary on de-platforming those involved in slavery , but do we really need plaudits for characters like Albright and co whose patronising antics were always about “betterment” and establishing “education” or re-education into a Western philosophy in a “society of friends” setting- i.e of white privilege?

Besides his white saviour complex, Albright like his Quaker peers had a “rich saviour complex”, and like all the modern day phoney philanthropists and their insidious involvement in health and vaccinating , (particularly in the third world),  foisted such schemes on those of a lower class or earning. But his life was undoubtedly one of wealth and affluence in that he employed servants living within his own household. The census listings for the last 40 years of his life, (he died in 1900) show some interesting observations.

By 1861 he was living in George Street in Birmingham with his wife Rachael and five listed children, including the sadistic animal murderer George. Listed are a cook, a nurse, a nursemaid, and a governess.

By 1881, now aged 70, and still living with the lampit five in the new hive of a pretentious place called “Mariemont”  in the posh part of Edgbaston, he had five servants, but just look at the age of William Partridge, just 13 years old!

By 1891 he still had five servants, but a replacement new boy Roger Birch- also 13 years old. 

Perhaps this was just the times, but it appears to me that this was no great libertarian, but a child slave labour merchant; it just surprises me that he hadn’t smuggled in a few child Africans into his suitcase to “save” them in working for him, where they would no doubt have had the pleasure of contracting phossy jaw by manufacturing the substance of death for which he is so well known and made so much money.

Other young boys did work at the Albright and Wilson factory in Oldbury at the same period, with the picture of Billy James -“boy gate keeper” from 1896 featured in the company history book.

Standing on a heap of coal slag with poorly fitting clothes and a workhouse ill favoured look.

Who knows what became of young Billy, who can be no older than 11 or 12 in this picture.

If he could get them young, and groom them into his factory methods, perhaps they would make fine young men, and their sons in turn would also be welcomed into the factory fold to preserve the legacy of their “master”. There’s a great deal of money to be made in exploiting the poor, and “the society of friends” knew exactly how to achieve it.

Not sure if this was supposed to be Prometheus (Greek mythology legend who stole fire from the Gods), but why depicted as a young naked boy cherub in the Albright and Wilson company logo? Perhaps only Arthur could tell us?

I have previously outlined how workers at Samuel Barnett‘s dangerous Rattlechain brickworks site had died but had received little in the way of public attention. Another had seriously broken his leg leaving him unable to work. 

The main architect of the creation of Rattlechain lagoon, a 100 yards deep claypit which had flooded due to dubious practices of placing hot ashes near to the canal bank, had already lost his left arm in earlier life at the nearby Stour Valley Brickworks, but received the ultimate karma when falling from his horse and cart.

I have found another article from The Dudley Chronicle of 11th May 1918 which gives a far more graphic account of his injuries, and also throws further light on one of his sons William. Both were local councillors in a time when money bought you a great deal, and when connections with the bench could certainly bring you dodgy legal victories against your opponents.

The 64 year old brickmaker, born in 1854, had died in a collision with a lamp post after his cart had been startled by a tram.

There is something rather farcical in the detail of what happened, the traction engine driven by “Shadrach Strickland”- what a name, who was employed by Pat Collins of the Walsall funfair fame.

Barnett’s last ride  😆 had seen him and his son Bert thrown out. Barnett senior had fractured his skull, broken his pelvis, and had obviously suffered great shock after the “Greatest showman’s” owned vehicular manoeuvre. Collins himself would become a politician in this very year, and future mayor of Walsall. Funny how people in business get on isn’t it?

All aboard the Karma carousel

On  1st June 1918 , from the same paper, and following the funeral, we get the political eulogy at the Rowley Regis Urban council meeting. Barnett Snr apparently represented The Tividale ward (or more aptly his own business interest in this area), and had been a councillor for many years.

I’m afraid these sycophantic political affairs leave me absolutely cold, and do not change my mind at all that this man was a wrong un, who could buy whatever he wanted.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAMUEL BARNETT

From census records it is possible to trace the life of Tividale’s brick making “righty” supremo. The first record dates from the 1861 census, where he was 6, though for some reason there appears to be speculation as to whether the year of birth was a year later. Born to brickmaker John, and “Letha”, the address of Portway Road Oldbury is given, and by this time, he had already got 4 siblings. It is also interesting to note that a servant lived with the family. I’m not sure at what factory his father worked or owned, but it is clear that this was already a wealthy family for the area.

By 1871, The family had swelled to 9 children- how they loved putting them in the kilns in those days.  😆 By now, Barnett would have had his accident and obviously was looking to follow in his father’s footsteps.

In 1881, the address given is now The Three Crowns Inn, Portway Road, where John is listed as publican and brickmaker. Samuel at 26 still lives at home and is listed as an “agent.”

By 1891, the intervening ten years sees “Brickmaster” Samuel married to “Levina”, and now residing at an address in Brades Road, Oldbury. They have churned out 7 moulds, including sons William, Joseph, Arthur and Bert. A “Mary Hailey” who is supposedly his sister also lives at the address.

year of birth now 1853? Make your mind up Sam.

Into the new millennium, and two years after the infamous canal breach, in 1901 Barnett Snr, now 47, and the year of birth changed to 1854, is listed as “brick manufacturer”. The Stour valley and rattlechain works were now on the go, and his sons were obviously being drawn into the trade- William– brick yard manager, Joseph and Thomas– brick yard clerks, and interestingly- Arthur– an auctioneers clerk. The family were now living in Tividale Road. His wife, obviously the same one appears on the transcript of the census, to change her name every ten years 😮 His sister Mary also appears to have a changing surname. He also employs a live in servant- obviously money making bricks could get you quite a bit.

In 1911, the last census for Sam of course, would see him still living in Tividale Road at an address known as “The Orchards”. Both he and his wife are listed as brick manufacturers, and his two sons Joseph and Bert assistants. Several children have now flown the nest, but Sam now employs two servants. The curious Mary is now listed in a third name as his niece! There is no “Julius Barnett” in existence, as stated in the 1912 Brick and Clay Record American article, in the last post I did.

There is a known story concerning his son Arthur. Obviously turning his back on the family business and indeed country, he made a new but short lived life in Australia, where he was killed in action in 1916 in The First World War. This must have had a devastating effect on his father, who commissioned a life size model dressed in knight armour which was placed in the former St Michaels Church in Tividale. The story goes that this was eventually thrown out for scrap, though pictures exist of what it looked like.

In terms of what he left behind financially, Samuel Barnett left a great deal of wealth from his brick works at the time of his death in 1918.

I’ve put this total into The National archives money convertor from 2017, and it is clear that he would have died a millionaire in todays terms. This would have been even more in the 1915 calculation and obviously declining due to the impact of the war.

But how many bricks?

His sons obviously carried on with this legacy, but the political brick building dynasty suffered a further blow with the death of Councillor William some 11 years later at the age of 51. The Dudley Chronicle of 14 March 1929 records what “greatness” he brought to Tividale, without actually mentioning a single evidential bloody thing.

It is interesting to note his connections with the sewerage board, given that his pecuniary interest  in a brickworks lay right next to the sewage works in John’s Lane.

Trotter’s independent trader

There is much more of this sanctimonious horse shit , which I have cut, but the names of some of the mourners are of note in relation to those in the employment at The Rattlechain brickworks. Frank Dawes crops up in 1899 with the canal breach fiasco, and must have been the go to consigliere for the family Barnett, and is mentioned in his will too.

Bricker Bill left a more modest sum than his father, to his Fanny, a brickworks manager Called George Harrold, and the ever appreciative Frank.

Trotter Bill could have left 70 horses with his loot

The Titford brickworks mentioned in the chronicle article were located on the Griffin Industrial Estate, next to where the M5 passes today near Causeway Green.

I’m not sure what happened with the works at Rattlechain after this date, as it starts to get very clouded at this point, though some time near the 2nd world war, it came under control of the conman Sydney Sheldon, who did much to continue the self interest of the Barnett’s in making Tividale their very own stomping ground , and in his case an absolute shit tip.

From records from 1938, it is possible to see that it was an industrial smoke nuisance on the radar of the local board of health in Rowley Regis, (as well as the Brades works), in a report- what a great legacy the Barnett family gave to the area, where of course when councillors, they could have written off such complaints.

Personally I have no time for the Barnett family and those like them. No one would begrudge them making a living, in fact the brickmaking industry provided necessary materials, but their thirst for power through monopolisation and position made them greedy and arrogant, and their civic involvement made them think that they were untouchable.

It’s a character flaw seen in all others who followed in connection to this wretched brickworks and what was left behind from it. The Barnett’s ultimately made the vessel of Rattlechain lagoon and the dross that went into it, just like all the other clay hole diggers who left great voids in the land. They were the architects of a vile fetid waste industry and should never be feted.

Well, I thought I had found all there was available to find with the former Rattlechain brickworks, which forms the bowl of the hazardous waste lagoon of today, but how wrong I was!

Barnett’s appear to have used their own branded canal boats.

I have found an extraordinary article from an obscure American publication called “The Brick and Clay Record” , which dates from 1st January 1912. It appears that the author of the piece had travelled to The brickworks in Dudley Port at the invitation of the Barnett family, at this point, Samuel Barnett still being alive and in control of the site, now run also with his “sons”. Indeed, one of these referred to as  “Julius” is also pictured.

Not only does the piece describe in very exact detail the specifications and methods used to produce the fabled Staffordshire blue bricks, from which the marl in the pit was extracted, but it also shows a picture of the long forgotten Stour Valley Brickworks, also owned by Barnett, and situated on the canal further down in the direction of Tipton.

1904 map.

1904 map showing Barnett’s Stour Valley and Rattlechain brickworks and associated marl pits in close proximity off the Birmingham Mainline Canal at Dudley Port.

I didn’t believe that any pictures of this site existed, which commenced construction from around 1894, except for a very obscure view offered on one of the postcards of the infamous canal collapse of 1899 below, and another view published in The Engineer magazine.

The Stour Valley works highlighted

But just look at this!

Wow, what a picture!

The article states that this larger operation produced 70,000 bricks per day, with rattlechain at 40,000.

Of course the name “rattlechain” takes its name from the type of chain used at the site.

The BP book of Industrial archaeology by Neil Cossons 1975 describes the manner in which it was used.

The visit of the American abroad appears to have seen the site in its heyday when it was still being run for brickmaking instead of being run down by characters like the dodgy Sydney Sheldon, who sold off most of the surrounding lands, and then the site itself for tips and housing. The author writes

“This is one of the largest clay making concerns in The British Isles , and the representative of Brick and Clay Record was received most cordially by members of the firm, both Mr S. Barnett and Mr Julius  Barnett, his son, as well as their representative, Mr A. Tongue, treating me in the most hospitable manner and affording me all possible assistance in securing information regarding their plant and methods. “

Indeed, “Julius” Barnett, and A. Tongue– who I have never heard of before, are pictured in front of the  recently patented continuous kiln, which produced blue bricks. I am not sure of who “Julius” actually was, as there is no record of anyone by this given name in existence in official census listings of the time. Perhaps this was Barnett’s son William, Joseph or Thomas, or another who used this alias or middle name?

The blue bricks are described in detail, “The brick is not only blue on the surface, but is also of the same dark colour throughout the stratum.” 

These type of bricks were burnt to a higher temperature than other red bricks, and for longer at 6 full days.

The article observes that women were being employed at Rattlechain which is interesting-(were they cheaper? ), and that the site had been in operation for around 100 years, as according to his source- The Barnetts. (N.B An article from The British Clayworker of 1908 states that Barnett had took on the lease of the rattlechain works in 1882.)

Compare this with the evidence offered by the man himself at the trial where he claimed damages from The canal board for the breach in 1899.

The “continuous kilns” referred to it is claimed were patents of The Barnett family, and the other type of kiln for producing the blue bricks, also a patent of Barnett and Hadlington– and is described in quotes by the author in great detail from the piece that had already been written in The British Clayworker periodical previously.

I’m fairly sure from the shape of this basin, that this is Rattlechain

The name Hadlington, although a common name in Dudley, is also mentioned as their employer and  “contractor”in the death of workmen who lost their lives building the Barnett stack in 1906. I would imagine that the two are likely connected or the same person.

The pit

On the fourth page of the article we get a picture of the rattlechain  brickworks pit itself, though there is little to gauge from the perspective as to where it was taken.

Dubious depth

The statement is made that; “The pit from which the clay is taken, is 105 feet in depth from the surface, all the materials being taken out by hand, no steam shovels or mechanical tools of any kind being used.” 

I instantly take issue with the claimed depth in feet because of contradictory evidence supplied by another reliable source, The Engineer magazine from 1899 at the event of the canal breach.

“The marl-hole, although, 100 yards deep, and having a surface boundary of about  three acres, was quickly filled to the brim, whilst nearly two  acres of surrounding meadows were also submerged.”

This article was not written by someone who had been informed by the Barnetts , and I also think that this may have also been deliberate misinformation given to the American author by them. The article implies that the brickmaking family had been after a monopolisation of local brickmaking, and had been “wrecking” other sites in order to make themselves the sole supplier, and limit over production through their own works. In this way of course they could control the price and make it very profitable as a result by lowering production. They would eventually take up expansion of sites in Titford and also in Walsall of course.

The article below also shows that in 1914, he purchased The Gower brick works, at this time in greater capacity than those at Rattlechain. This site would become the site of the infamous Albright and Wilson Gower tip. Was he buying these sites up just to “wreck” them and then flog off the empty voids for tipping purposes?

24th December Birmingham Daily Post.

By claiming that the Rattlechain  pit was well below capacity, and that only 100ft had been dug gave a psychological edge in that they would have had decades worth of marl to dig, perhaps forcing competitors to sell up who knew that their own capacity was probably nearing its end.

That the works had supposedly been in operation for 100 years, and that over 7 miles of canal at a depth of 6 feet had been emptied, also tells me that this pit would have been much deeper at the time of the breach than 100 feet, and more like the 100 yards claimed in The Engineer.

There are perhaps reasons to do with the structural failure of the canal bank and pit which Barnett would not have publicly wanted to admit to- such as digging too deep into the marl and potentially facing liability for another incident when he was dumping ashes from the brickworks operation liberally. We do not know how the breach was repaired, as there appear to be no records of how this was achieved.  

It is also worth stating that this article was written 12 years after the breach, and so would have been deeper than at the time of the incident, and going further forward to the 1940’s when it is claimed that work on this pit stopped, (and the conman Sheldon sort permission to dig from another hole), it would have been deeper still. 40,000 bricks per day seems an awful lot of marl required to me, and I genuinely believe The Engineer article over this one as an accurate historical source.

It is also stated that the eventual hand made bricks were shipped via canal barge, their own, as has been seen from the picture of the boats in The Rattlechain basin.

Appears to say “S. Barnett and sons Dudley Port”

“…an average barge containing 8,000 brick or a weight of about 35 tonnes.”

It is also stated that some of the rattlechain bricks were also shipped via rail, but with a lower capacity than American train cars.

It is claimed that the Barnett operation was a military supplier, and that they shipped bricks around the UK as well as abroad. This is where the article again relies on information from a biased source itself, and also starts to read as more of prospectus for the family firm.

Barnett’s position as councillor would have been able to have facilitated many favourable outcomes, and it appears that the newly built Birmingham council house was being made from the inside of Barnett bricks. Perhaps in the years that followed, from those employed and serving there, it has been as rotten from the inside ever since.  😯

As a primary source, this Brick and Clay Record account is interesting but also a little questionable, as it is very favourable towards The Barnett enterprise, and perhaps almost serves as an advertisement to an American market.

There are massive elephants in the room that are omitted from the piece, and which Sam and “Jules” left out of their fairy tale castle construction – especially the 1899 canal breach and the effect that this had on production and the area itself- not least as a direct result of Samuel Barnett’s dodgy activities. There is also the convenient omission of the deaths of men who built the stack from which the bricks were created- just 5 years earlier, as though it had never happened. No mention is also made of Samuel Barnett’s disability of loosing an arm in earlier life at the age of 16 at The Stour Valley works. No mention of health and safety is even made in the article, just the boast of brickwork manufacture rate. Of course the American observer was reliant in the information being given to him, and would not have been able to scrutinise whether the information being fed through the rollers was accurate, but the brickmakers themselves would of course be a little reticent in telling him anything harmful to their reputation whilst romancing the tale.

The blue bricks referred to in the article were used extensively in canal and railway architecture, especially in the local area. An example below shows a railway viaduct in Park Lane East, Tipton, but were they Barnett bricks made at Rattlechain or Stour Valley?

The Stour Valley Brickworks, stated to be not in use in this article would not remain for long. Although still present on the 1919 ordnance survey map now renamed “The Stour valley NEW brickworks” , they are gone by the next in 1938, with the merging of the Pit and also the Groveland Colliery pit forming the Vono Lagoon that would be used for indiscriminate dumping, before that too was infilled to form an extension to the London Works rolling Mill, and more latterly, the Autobase Industrial Estate.

Overlay of Stour Valley works site from 1904 map with current bing map imagery.

The position of The Stour Valley works, in relation to The Rattlechain lagoon of today.

Nothing of either these brickworks now remain, except the canal basins which once served them. The Stour Valley basin still contains water, though the rattechain basin, only during periods of heavy rainfall.

The Stour Valley works would have sat on top of this hill

Remnants of The Stour Valley basin, which is lined with blue bricks

A view of the remaining empty rattlechain basin.

A view of the basin looking towards where the brickworks was situated.

Samuel Barnett died in 1918 after a fall from a horse and cart, not far from his home. I will be looking in greater detail into this and also the fate of the Barnett family in the next post, but until then, enjoy this piece of fascinating local history.

Rattlechain Brick and Clay Record 1912

It defies belief that white phosphorus appears to have been present in school science lessons well into the 1980’s at least. The amateur chemist teachers obviously believed it would be a good trick to make their class sit up and take interest in demonstrating the more spectacular chemical reactions- in this case allowing the P4 to be exposed to oxygen where it would spontaneously combust.

P 4 (s) + 5 O 2 (g) → P 4 O 10 (s)

But as this post shows, there appear to have been many laboratory disasters arising from these failed experiments, leaving question marks as to why this banned rat poison and toxic hazard was ever allowed anywhere near such reckless idiots (and by that I mean the teachers!).  😳

Rooooooowwwwlaaaand! Sign him up for Albright and Wilson

The Torbay Express and South Devon Echo reported that a school teacher had been hurt on 17th December 1959 in a “mishap”.

The master required hospital treatment after being burnt when cutting a piece of white phosphorus. The waxy solid nature of the material had also caused splinters which became infused with the surface , also spontaneously combusting. I think this shows poor handling technique on the part of this teacher, as it was quite preventable.

The following year, The Birmingham Daily Post of ironically 5th November, gave another account of a clumsy Wednesfield Grammar school teacher who had been burnt by P4. 

Incredibly after he had been burnt by a piece of phosphorus, he had also been unaware that some carbon disulphide was in the same fume cupboard that he dropped the phosphorus into. This chemical dissolves white phosphorus , and then when exposed to air flames in a violent exothermic reaction. Having dropped the bottle of CS2 a fire started leading a a rapid evacuation of the classroom.

The 28th June Haywood Advertiser of 1963 told how a lab class assistant had been gassed by phosphorus petoxide. It required firemen with breathing apparatus to extinguish the fire. No explanation is given as to why someone with supposed chemical knowledge would attempt to put out a phosphorus fire with a water extinguisher!

Another careless educator was burned as reported again by The Torbay Express and South Devon Echo of 10th February 1972. Once again the p4 had been exposed to air, igniting before she could put it back in water. Professional attendance was again required to deal with the incident.

On  Thursday 27 January 1977, The Newcastle Journal confirmed how 1000 school pupils had had to be evacuated after another phosphorus lesson gone wrong. A piece of phosphorus had been dropped on the floor, which resulted in a rapid evolving of toxic phosphorus pentoxide.

It is all very well congratulating teachers on an evacuation, but the statement about “treatment” by washing the skin with water after exposure to phosphorus pentoxide is absolutely laughable, and it is not attributed to any particular person. This is of course, the last thing that you would want to do, given that it would form phosphoric acid, causing more serious burns of the skin, as well as damage to the eyes!

Another 70’s caper took place at a school in the Kent and Sussex Courier area, as reported in the 3rd November edition of 1978. 

A teacher and pupil were burnt when a jar of P4 had spilt onto a bench. The fact that the bench had to be removed to get rid of the piece of phosphorus shows how this chemical continues to burn through material when any oxygen is present. This is how it burns to the bone when people come into contact with it, and why phosphorus burns are some of the worst you can possibly get. 

A local story from 19th October 1988 Sandwell Evening Mail tells how another teacher from Smethwick’s West park college  was burnt by phosphorus, but by the misadventure of his pupils blowing it onto him when they used a fire extinguisher of C02. Perhaps a case of “To Sir, with glove”  😆 

Fire station attendance was again needed, and perhaps a little advice for those who had taken part in this demonstration gone wrong!

These incidents remind me of the many mishaps associated with the AW bombs that Albright and Wilson manufactured for the hapless Home Guard. It seems odd to me that those leading these classroom lessons did not appear to have any damp cloth or bucket of sand at hand to deal with the incidents before they got out of hand and led to the fires and burns.

I think with all these repeated experiments that ended the wrong way, the pupils should have taken the lead and told their masters to refrain from showing off with phosphorus. Just take it as read that it catches fire when exposed to air, and is bloody dangerous!

Murder and white phosphorus were a common occurrence when the deadly poison was still easily available with few questions asked. As the following story shows from The Belfast Telegraph dated 15th November 1956, it was used particularly in food to disguise the taste and smell.

An Irish girl had sent four people a p4 poison laced cake. Unfortunately for her, she had not done a very good job of disguising the chemical, which meant that those on the receiving end had been able to discern the food was a bit off.

The psychopath was sent to the nut house

Aside from Louisa Merryfield, one of the most famous murder cases involving white phosphorus poisoning occurred around the same time. By now it was becoming obvious to the authorities that a common rat poison was being put to nefarious extra uses. “The merry widow of Windy Nook” was a quite bizarre case, particularly because of the age of the killer and her carefree manner,  and the 11th February 1958 Daily Herald outlined the charge against Mary Wilson.

She collected husbands , who died very quickly

Money appears to have been the prime motive of the 66 year olds intent. To lose one husband within a fortnight may have been unfortunate, but two within the same time frame was a test for the imagination.

The 25th March Birmingham Daily Post continued coverage of the trial, where the prosecution outlined how the “deadly” beetle poison that Wilson had used had been found in the two unfortunate husbands, whose deaths had originally been deemed due to “natural causes”. This also shows the complete failure of the doctors and the medical proffession in general to undertake proper and robust investigation. 

The Daily Mirror of 25th March 1958 also reported on “the wicked woman’s” dealings. 

And so the inevitable guilty verdict as reported by Birmingham Daily Press of 31st March 1958. Wilson’s defence that the phosphorus found had been found in her husbands’ medication was a ludicrous nonsense and she was sentenced to death. She was however spared execution, and died just five years later in Holloway prison- the year in which The Animal Cruel Poisons Regulations banned the use of white phosphorus in “vermin” control. 

The most obvious known fact about this substance in its vile unnatural elemental form is that it is a deadly poison. For this reason it was used extensively in the world of “vermin” control, as I have looked at before. It was also used in matches, before this too was eventually banned because of the phossy jaw effects that it had on those making them.

These are a few early articles from the 19th Century I have found from the newspaper archive which demonstrate the lethal potential of element 15, and why even a small amount of this chemical ended the lives of those who had the misfortune to come into contact with it by varying means. Albright and Wilson had of course by now set up their dirty producing factory at Oldbury.

From 24th August 1864 Oxfordshire Telegraph, we get the story of the death of a four year old boy, Thomas Hill who had eaten some rat poison purchased from a chemist by his father.

Bizarrely he had laced some bread and butter and placed it in his children’s bedroom! The children had taken this from a shelf and scoffed the lot  😡

His mouth set on fire and he took 5 days to die. This act of “gross carelessness” by the parents demonstrates how this substance, available cheaply and easily was being manufactured. Albright and Wilson were by now in business and producing phosphorus for this very purpose, and perhaps all those involved in the manufacture of this rat bait were as culpable as the idiot father. Incredibly it would be another 100 years before The Animal Cruel Poisons Regulations came into effect , banning this “poison of most deadly character.”

Two years later, The Western Daily Press article of 21st December tells of another bizarre phosphorus fatality of Robert Ellis. Ellis, around 20 years old,  had reportedly picked up what he thought was a sweet, but was in fact a stick of white phosphorus lying on the ground. This he had put in his pocket. This had then caught fire producing considerable burns. After being admitted to hospital , he then died a short time later. The inquest heard the circumstances to how the white phosphorus stick had likely got there.

The inquest was inaccurately told that phosphorus burns were not more harmful than others- of course this is not true at all as they are much more serious in that if the substance is not completely removed it will go on burning to the bone, especially attracted to fatty tissue, also resulting in serious organ failure through systemic poisoning.

It is interesting to note that the dead man had used wet clay to put the fire in his pocket out. One could draw some conclusions about how white phosphorus contaminated material at rattlechain my be contained in the clay pit there, but does not reduce the risk within the pit itself.

It is revealed that a quantity of phosphorus had been sold by a local chemist for quack health effects, when fools believed that white phosphorus was good for the nerves.

The story concocted by the man who had purchased the P4, a reporter called Henry Jennings stinks of bullshit, let alone garlic. He claimed that a bottle in which the phosphorus had been left in water had been taken from his garden, which was very near to where the piece of phosphorus had been picked up. .

The story of how the alleged stolen bottle of phosphorus, which was not found , but a piece left in the road was picked up by Robert Ellis drew no evidence, except that he had died as a result of phosphorus burns. I would seriously question if Jennings’ story was even true, and he had not dropped it himself and then disposed of the bottle to avoid blame.

Following the famous Match girls strike of 1888 concerning the plight of those young girls and women involved in the match making trade, The Newcastle Evening Chronicle of 2nd October records the death of 14 year old Ann Wood. It isn’t clear if this was an accident or deliberate suicide, but the fact that it took 6 days for her to die again highlights the prolonged agony of those who drank such a deadly potion. 

The Crew Chronicle of 8th July 1899, demonstrates how phosphorus was also used for murderous purposes. Mary Ansell had sent a cake laced with P4 to her sister who had died, the motive being that of insurance fraud. She was herself sentenced to death for the crime. 

The 20th Century would see many more cases such as this , most notably that of  Louisa Merryfield , and The Black Widow Mary Wilson, (who I will look at in the next post),  before common sense, largely though not completely, removed public access to this deathly element from out of their reach.

Today is International Workers Memorial Day– an event to commemorate those who have died in their place of work or as a result of it- largely by misadventure and perhaps deliberate negligence from their employers.

I have looked into the terrible price that many Albright and Wilson workers paid working for these Quaker capitalists, who like the disgusting Cadbury’s had an agenda of promoting themselves and their financial interests using alleged philanthropy.

Workers were burnt, mutilated , gassed and killed – all at Trinity Street whilst the Edgbaston mafia trotted with the fox hounds in rural bloodsport pursuits, or went for a spot of grouse shooting in Scotland.

The manner in which Albright and Wilson continued their denials about white phosphorus being harmful , and instead blamed tooth decay on “faulty teeth” is about as perverse a logic as you can get- but that is liberal socialism for you, and they then claim that they provide “dental care” for their workforce- by forced compliance to monitor and record personal information that would remove you from the production line if found to be “faulty”.

The two disgusting individuals below probably caused the early graves of many men and women.

Worse still was the AW legacy of industrial asbestos related disease, and when I came across a certain article in an Albright World magazine, I forwarded it to the law firm Irwin Mitchell- where I hope that maximum damage was done to those who had allowed such appalling practices to occur, and another nail in the coffin for the toxic legacy of these Langley bastards.

Blame it all on smoking, but not our asbestos dust itself. FFS

The individual cited in the article, the same J.P.W Hughes  as above, the supposed “group principal medical adviser”) had good form for talking out of his backside concerning employee health and safety. When he tried to claim that phossy jaw was in someway related to people who had bad teeth rather than by breathing in p4 vapour in the first place, it should be pointed out that as a director of this deceitful company between 1969-1974, that did not care about its workforce, he would have been financially liable if the workers had cottoned on to what they were being exposed to. This was ten years before the Health and Safety at Work Act. It is clear to see from this article’s ignorance just why the handling of asbestos is now claiming so many lives.

We are at the “crisis level peak” of these asbestos related illnesses currently, according to a Guardian article from last year, yet these workers now face being betrayed again with a hoax recorded on their death certificates that they died from “Covid-19”. “Underlying health conditions” appear to have been erased so that a fake cause of death can be recorded. Will ex workers or their dependents still be getting compensation from a UK Government whose “scientific advisers” failed to act to prevent exposure – no doubt after being bunged by the asbestos, shipping and construction industries to keep quiet?

But there are some cardboard cut out politicians in this area, Wolfie Smith wannabes , with clear financial links to this company who will no doubt be rolling out the purple ribbons with dewy eyes and saying “up the workers” today as well as clapping for the NHS. Equally sick are those who want to doctor history by promoting what was “made in Oldbury” , but not what was left behind as the  damaged result to  environmental and public health.

What a pile of stinking fucking hypocrites. 

There can be little doubt that many 19th Century “scientists” were an insane posse of cranks and wierdos who devised ever crazier ideas of attempting to preserve and even create life. One can see that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, was perhaps not as far fetched as some of the white coated nutters’ efforts.

This piece from the Barmouth & County Advertiser –  21 January 1891 describes a method that had been tried to preserve the dead using Galvanoplasty. It’s just the sort of thing that should have been tried on Blue Peter, or perhaps Blue willy Peter.  😆

Though Albright and Wilson would claim many uses for white phosphorus, I do not think that this was one they have ever previously taken credit for.

Coming Mother

Frenchmen Dr Variot had tried this by firstly coating the corpse with silver nitrate. This was then reduced by using a dissolved white phosphorus in carbon disulphide. The vapours given off by this are shown in the video below.

Then it’s copper bath time for the old girl using an electric bath. Variot had calculated that leaving around half a millimetre of copper coating and then further incineration of the corpse leaving some holes would allow for the escape of gases!

A metallic moulded C3P0 statue capturing old Martha would be left behind. I don’t know why the idea never appears to have caught on.