What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?

William Blake

In the case of the now little known Rose Lane of Oldbury, “invisible worms” came by lorry under the guise of some “transport” haulage company or “waste disposal” operation and left the land saturated with chemical sickness.

Rose Lane ran in an elbowed parallel with John’s Lane, starting in Dudley Road East and terminating underneath the tunnel of the Birmingham Canal and railway line. This in fact today is all that remains of it.

A stub of Rose lane off Dudley Road East now amounts to a narrow passageway.

It crossed an area belonging to the former Rattlechain brickworks, and the parcels of land adjoining it became increasingly sold off by the conman Sydney Sheldon for housing concerns. At the same time, Sheldon appeared to entertain very dubious characters whom it appeared tipped waste in this general area. What type of “arrangement” went on here is left to history, but even Albright and Wilson lamented the fact that they had observed a lorry tipping liquid waste which had run into rattlechain from this area!

One aspect of this site is that it formed part of one of the first successful prosecutions under The Deposit of Poisonous Wastes Act 1972. This Act came into force after numerous public stories of hazardous waste tipping, especially barrels of cyanide that were being found lying around in public areas. Even Rattlechain and The Gower tip had dumped cyanide turn up. The West Midlands was the central focus of this aggressive criminal fly tipping , not only as a result of the dirty industries in the area that produced the waste and wanted to get rid of it cheaply, but also from industry outside the area, who did not want it in tips in their “posh” areas. It was both a failure of legislature as well as the companies who wanted to offload their dangerous crap with few questions asked.

In a report in the August 6th 1976 edition of The Birmingham Evening Mail, it is revealed by whistle blower Keith Boyd as to how “deadly bribes” could be offered by waste companies of dubious character to get rid of waste at tips who were not meant to receive such wastes under after the DPWA, and by now, The Control of Pollution Act. 

One can only take his claims at face value, and the firm that he worked for is not named. I have little doubt however in believing everything that he said to be true.

The article mentions that four men from firms from the Bilston area were to be charged the following month in connection with 38 charges of illegal dumping and forging documents. This incident refers directly to matters relating to Rose Lane and chemical dumping which took place there, as we shall see later on in this post.

Boyd describes how easy it was for a rogue company to give a bribe to tip the waste, in this case more alleged cyanide. It is also alleged that harmful wastes were disposed of, into a nearby stream. Though the company remains unnamed in this article, and “the former managing director” of the company named by the ex employee denied the allegations, the subsequent prosecutions of those responsible for the Rose Lane issues, and the circumstances, lead me to believe that they were one and the same , or else a very similar rogue trader operation.

The article then appeared under a new headline the following evening.

Details of the charges were given in The Birmingham Daily Post of 29th October 1976.

On Halloween,  the Evening mail  revealed the details of the outcome of the successful prosecution at Wolverhampton Crown Court of the four men and two of the companies involved in the dumping of toxic waste at both Moxley- (Moxley Tip), and at Tividale- Rose Lane.

The two named Bilston companies were Aqua Descaling Company Limited, and Metro Waste Disposal Limited. At Moxley 65 drums of cyanide were attempted to be dumped with a cash bribe to the tip operators.

The four men on trial were HORACE MILBURN, RONALD McCRUM, PETER LOTE AND GERALD PEAKE. Peake it is revealed, had died in a road accident before the case had come to court. McCrum, “former director” of Metro, and Milburn, both pleaded guilty to two charges of depositing poisonous waste. Lote had his charges lay on file. McCrum had a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years and was fined £400 and Milburn 6 months suspended for 2 years and a £200 pound fine.

Another piece from the Daily Post of the following day stated that a lorry had been left full of toxic waste from these shysters in a Wolverhampton Street for two years, putting the public at serious risk.

Note the address of Burbage of McCrum, as will be revealed further on in this post….

More detail ,particularly about the acidic wastes dumped and their location, is revealed in the subsequent minutes of the West Midlands County Council Waste Disposal and Pollution Control subcommittee dated 22nd December 1977 by county waste disposal officer Ken Harvey. A third company “Commercial and Domestic Services Limited” is also named and it is also revealed that earlier successful prosecutions had already taken place after 1974 when irregularities were first being investigated.

It is stated that “some 250,000 gallons of toxic waste had been illegally deposited on land at Tividale scheduled for redevelopment as housing.”

The housing development referred to was known as “The Spiral housing development” and located off Rose Lane on what is now The Temple Way estate. The principle liquid involved was reported to be sulphuric acid. 

Absolutely pathetic fine!

But further charges were to be revealed against McCrum, with another of his fraudulent waste disposal operations in BRASWAY DISPOSAL LIMITED. 

The charges of tipping cyanide and dumping waste at sea were outlined in the 22nd February Birmingham Daily Post.

“Honour” – MY ARSE!

Incredibly, the director of the parent company, a Mr Reg Swaby, claimed that the company were “blameless”.  😆

Minutes of the 19th April 1979 West Midlands County Council waste disposal and Pollution Control Committee reveal McCrum’s name appearing again along with Ronald Low, Daniel Hobbs, and  Alfred Paddock!

It is clear that this “disposal” operation was a criminal enterprise, not only dumping chemical waste in the region, but nationally and defrauding other companies of money in the process.

Minutes of the 20th March 1980 West Midlands County Council Waste Disposal and pollution Control Committee reveal the following about the resulting trial.

“Brasway waste disposal Ltd, Leabrook , Wednesbury , a subsidiary of Brasway Ltd was formed in February 1973. The company moved large quantities of toxic waste, using their yard at Wednesbury for bulk storage and/or treatment before disposal at various locations throughout the country.

In the summer of 1974, a comparison of quantities of wastes taken into Brasway’s yard against quantities subsequently removed revealed major discrepancies. Discussion with the company failed to resolve these discrepancies.

More than 300 tonnes of Waste Cyanide Hardening salts were known to be stored at Wednesbury pending ‘treatment’. Officers had expressed doubt over the mechanics of this treatment operation. The company repeatedly ignored comments and advice given by the monitoring authorities as to the suitability of disposal routes.

A change of management in early 1975 failed to bring about any real improvement in the situation so the Pollution Control Division initiated an investigation. Disturbing facts quickly became apparent and the matter was referred to West Midlands Police.

The subsequent joint investigations resulted in allegations that  approximately half of all liquid toxic wastes handled by Brasway ended up in the adjacent Leabrook (between April 1974 and June 1975 a surplus of over 3 million gallons of toxic liquid waste and 1000 tonnes of solid waste- mostly cyanide had gone into Brasway yard and not emerged. This was far in excess of the storage capacity. Pollution Control officers initiated a surveillance programme.

On 7th June 1976 , Brasway Waste Disposal Ltd, pleaded guilty at West Bromwich magistrates court to nine charges under The Deposit of Poisonous wastes Act.”

Obviously not “blameless” when they pleaded GUILTY!

The reaction from the waste disposal officer, in an article reported in The Ends Report,  Thelma Hillman, is to be expected, when such characters could just operate a scam company in this way.

“The charges related to the illegal dumping of cyanide wastes at sites in Derbyshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands, and at sea off Birkenhead. However, because of the offences took place before Section 16 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 was implemented, the local authorities in whose jurisdiction the dumping occurred are unable to recover the costs of removing and disposing of the dumped wastes.

Mrs T Hillman, Divisional Engineer in West Midland County Council’s Waste Disposal Department, indicated that she was “very disappointed” with the sentences. Although she believes that “illegal tipping is not as rife as it was before waste disposal site licensing was introduced under the Control of Pollution Act”, Mrs Hillman also highlighted a problem increasingly shared by many local authorities – that the combined effects of local government manpower cutbacks and the diversion of resources to waste disposal surveys and site licensing required under the Control of Pollution Act are having a detrimental effect on the surveillance and prosecution of illegal waste disposal. Under the circumstances, she believes, “the general level of fines is not as severe as it should be”.

It is interesting to note, that this is not the end of the sulphuric acid tipping tosspot McCrum’s story, as it appears he had regular form , and had been at this dodgy business for years. A piece from The Coventry Evening Telegraph of 11th January 1972, at the height of the cyanide dumping scare which initiated the Deposit of Poisonous Waste Act, reveals a whistle blower driver, at a “Death tip” in Wolston. It reveals that waste was being poured into an open pit with no questions being asked. One of the companies named who dumped at the pit were PURLE WASTE DISPOSAL LIMITED. But just look who was the ex manager of this company’s Shilton, Leicester depot for two years, why none other than the Briar Close , Burbage barrel dumper Ron McCrum! The comment attached by him in this story is quite extraordinary.

“small engineering firms might be tempted to dispose of cyanide by disguising it as non-toxic chemicals for the sake of cheapness he said”

Obviously his next move was in the rogue Bilston companies, doing just this!

…and just as a footnote, I wonder if this was the same Ron Fred McCrum who had had his collar felt a few years earlier in 1958 as a 23 year old in Rugby?

There is no doubt that the scumbag McCrum and his colleagues in crime as crooked rogue trader enterprises should have served time behind bars for fly tipping dangerous chemicals and putting peoples’ lives and that of the wildlife in the environment at severe risk. This is just what they were caught out doing, by a law which did not go far enough, and I have no doubt their entirely dubious operations had extended beyond what the authorities were aware of and could prove when considering the quantities that went into the Wednesbury den of vice. 

But their “industry” was the tip of the iceberg, where any old Steptoe tatter with a tipper could set themselves up in “reclamation” or “waste disposal” with very few questions asked. And some of them got away with it, unlike him. The toxic legacy left behind at Rose lane however would continue to cause the authorities some headaches, and I will look at this in the second part of this story…….

Swearword box at the ready. This Conservative Government is increasingly becoming worse in its policy decisions.

The recent outlined changes to the planning system, which have been progressively watered down over the years to the benefit of Tory party political donor land owners and property developers are the final nail in the coffin for those who live in crowded, overpopulated areas like Sandwell.

It is the death knell for the limited pockets of green space that we have left, and the demise of distinct town boundaries of Oldbury, Tipton and West Bromwich. On the side lines like an excitable puppy we have the cheering unwanted Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street aka “Tonka the Great” or The Wealdstone Raider, who appears set on “saving” land in private ownership for the benefit of those who live in the hypothetical and typically agricultural concept of “greenbelt”. This is assisted land banking at its worst.

All of this swift policy has been achieved under the guise of what I consider to be the biggest health hoax  and utter scandal in human history, and an excuse and a cover for resetting Government and “the big society”- for a “society of friends” who live off the cream at the top of the pile.

The ghastly cult that was the Society of Friends of the likes of The Cadbury’s et al, were eugenicists who wanted “Garden cities” where the vermin were kept well away from the centre of affairs at the centre, occupied only by the great and the good. This cabal of Quakers and Unitarians drove the creation of The Town and Country Planning Act, which was an abomination in vision of its division of land classes and by virtue, people of different wealth and socio economic status, and increasingly divisions of race. The green belters still want to keep their areas white, and gate off everything else, there is no doubt about that , so let’s just drop the pretence about “saving wildlife” and the pretty views.

Greenbelt champion Street never misses an opportunity to crow about another “brownfield” site in the black country secured for development, but is less clear on how these lucky new private renters, (because none of these homes are ever built to buy affordably), will fit in to the picture of where their kids are going to go to school, where they will go to shop when the high streets are closing down because retail is dead, and in current times, how “social distancing” fits into this tapestry when there is no fucking room left to swing a cat.

Private “greenbelt” land protected on the posh outskirts of areas which are not in “the black country” in Sedgley and Wolverhampton, but tax payers cash offered for “brownfield” development taking away any hope of public open space in real Black Country areas like Tipton and Oldbury

The Conservatives, via Street, even paid for adds and posted adds on local facebook groups asking people who owned vacant “brownfield” land in Oldbury and Smethwick to consider putting it forward for the call for sites submission. 😕

Hey Smethwick and Oldbury, you live in a shit area. How about we build some more houses on your bits of green space that I call “brownfield”.                    Please show me where the greenbelt sites in Oldbury and Smethwick are?

“We… have the money”- by this he means giving landbankers OUR money!

Perhaps the mayor would have achieved his desired audience if he had targeted the tax avoidance/tax evasion bolt hole of Jersey instead, as I am pretty sure that none of them live in either of these two West Midland towns by choice.  😆

As for the technology, I remember well a development site in West Bromwich where some of this fraudulent “ultra heat treatment” technology was deployed to allegedly clear contaminated oily sludges on the land. This shite travelled down a brook and into a pool where it caused catastrophic damage to the wildfowl as a result of this bituminous material getting there as a result of this development and nothing else. The Environment agency were their typical incompetent self in being unable to identify this, yet were able to send me information detailing the exact same thing happening into the exact same site, via the exact same pathway sixteen years earlier in an FOI request. At some point I will get around to detailing this absolute environmental crime caused by housing developers in a post, but suffice to say, the boasts of industry about “clean up” are a fraud.

Also in recent times, another West Bromwich example of the failure of brownfield land remediation is shown by the Hall Green Road site, which again has been delayed due to unspecified issues relating to the chemicals that were dumped there many years ago by T&S Element. The developers treat local residents with contempt in not being able to give any date on when this exercise will be finished. It has now been going on years, and yet they seek further time from a council that unfortunately says “yes” every time. If it is more difficult to remediate this site than they anticipated, this means that their initial assessments carried out by environmental consultants were obviously flawed, so why should we believe that they are achievable now with safeguards?

This is part of one of the Doomwatch sites, SL57, issued on 3rd March 1978, licenced by the absolutely incompetent West Midlands County council, and I have no faith in any of these being able to be developed safely for residential end use with it’s “awful lot of problems”. And why, should it be asked, should this be done potentially with public money?

Let me be clear, I don’t hold any personal issues against Mayor Street, I met him at an Ask Andy session, and he was very accommodating, polite and personable, but just plain wrong in his vision for my area. I asked him specific questions about The former Duport’s Tip site fronting rattlechain lagoon, and that it was “owned” by a dubious “off shore” company registered in Jersey, whose affairs appear to be managed by a firm of solicitors in Manchester.

Of course, the company is a total front for who really owns it. The former Black Country Development Corporation 30 years earlier, of which his combined authority is a poor man’s reinvention, had thrown a great deal of public money at this site, culminating in the ludicrous redevelopment of the former sewage works site right adjacent to the still active hazardous waste lagoon . The former Duport’s Tip was a vessel for over tipped foundry sand, for the great profit to the directors of that company, which sits there under a carpet of green to this day.

Sandwell council had refused the former sewage works application, but this was overturned by a Bristol based idiot on appeal. Much information was left out about the dangers of the rattlechain lagoon hazardous waste site, and SMBC presented a very poor case whilst calling no expert witnesses in phosphorus chemistry, or challenging the inaccurate assessments made by those on behalf of the appellant. Worst of all, they failed to challenge the integrity of the Cremer and Warner report, which was compiled in 1990/1 on behalf of BCDC in an attempt to see if the waste tipped at the former Duport’s tip was compatible with infilling a hole of toxic waste at the lagoon. The conclusion was that it was not. This report is so shit and void of detail (having been informed by the corporate liars of Albright and Wilson), it is shocking, but typical of “environmental consultants” at large, and I will at a time of my choosing outline this, as well as all the rest of the Duport’s tip/sewage works development history by the then site operators. 

Oh, and I’m also watching closely, the existence of two companies purported to be operating out of an address in Hampton In Arden.  😉 I just wonder what they actually know as fact about their locations of interest, and the detailed history?  😆 

Mr Street, a previous vocal critic of off shore companies operating freely in Britain, replied “..and so any application would have to be measured against all of those criteria to find suitable value for money, and actually to know that the developer is of reputable quality.”

Unfortunately environmental consultants are a travesty to the protection of the environment and the protection of wildlife habitat. They are paid liars and local authorities do not challenge anything that they say, so long as a report ticks the boxes of the planning regime. Lumping whole areas as the Conservatives propose to do in their white paper into so called “growth” areas are a means of dumping vast unregulated developments onto areas of The Black country by force. No local voice will be listened to, and no opposition will be tolerated. It appears that some grass roots Tories are not happy with these ideas, and perhaps the new MP’s for this area should think very carefully as to what their  electorate want and not follow the way of the Londoncentric ministers. Unfortunately, the only potential opposition in Labour, (a dictatorship of two parts in Sandwell),  also stick their tongues out like antennas pointing towards Westminster at the prospect of Government (tax payer) handouts for more brownfield building.  They are happy to flog off bits of land next to rubbish sites for residential like Hall Green Road, and more recently land at Bescot adjoining that of major land floggers, Severn Trent Water. It is just a monopoly board to them all.

A petition of over 400 local people was submitted to SMBC after the publication of Sandwell council’s  dodgy “Dudley Port Supplementary planning document”, opposing any further development around rattlechain lagoon and Sheepwash nature reserve, and this petition still stands to reject the so called laughable “garden city”. In reality, this prospectus for building on contaminated land has now been even further diluted by the new proposals with the tag line of every Street having to be “tree lined”.

“Brownfield” land CAN be used for something, turning it green for the benefit of people and nature, and not just more housing. 

Why would local people want to surrender an area of greened over space in exchange for more overcrowding, which I have looked at HERE? Worst still, why would they want an area ripped up and turned black again in the process which would take years to complete at risk to their personal health and wellbeing from the chemicals and waste and dusts buried there?

The trees in such areas  would be set in phytotoxic soils. “Urban forests” it seems, the buzz phrase of the BCDC back in the early 1990’s are starting to be deforested for housing at a rapid rate.

Here below are extracts from one of their PR brochures at the time “The Black Country Urban Forest: A strategy for its development.” There doesn’t seem to be much of a strategy now does there?  😥

We need to green brownfield land and make this area green and not black.

We need green shoots not metal foundations.

We need plants and insects, not bricks and mortar.

We need carpets of fallen leaves and not tarmac roads. 

We need a planning system designed by local people with consultation and not Westminster diktats. 

One has to wonder, what does this Government have to offer the people of the Black Country, except squalor, overcrowding and loss of public space, pretentiously dressed up as tree lined boulevards of “growth”  to rival those that  tax evading land owners and the political class are used to in their own foreign retreat second homes?

Fuck em! That’s five pounds I owe, but better than loosing a fiver than creating a Street with 50 pieces of  silver lining.

#STOPTHEGARDENCITY

by any means necessary. 

There are very few documented cases of the environmental release of white phosphorus on a large scale, (apart from its misuse in war….oh sorry “smokescreening”), but one such instance occurred in Ohio in the US in 1986, and yes you guessed it, it involved Albright and Wilson. This shipment was en route from their Varennes plant in Quebec Canada (under the ERCO brand), to one of their factories in the state.

I have found a couple of brief press clips of this from firstly The Reading Evening Post of  9th July 1986.

I’m glad the paper correctly identifies one of the uses of this “poisonous” chemical, rather than that which the Boss Hogg spinners at Albright and Wilson would claim as to how this building block would produce “everyday chemicals” . P4 will never be an “everyday chemical” because its manufacture is unnatural and it cannot exist naturally in the elemental form. The injuries described are obvious classic symptoms of the release of phosphorus pentoxide and phosphoric acid- the breakdown products of P4, but in this case the train also contained sulphur and other chemicals!

The Dundee Courier dated 10th July 1986 adds a few more to the injured list, and sheds a little light on how the resulting release of phosphorus pentoxide and vapour was tackled by the emergency services. 

This must have been a literal nightmare for residents as well as the first responders, and shows the dangers of carrying this chemical by these means and how injuries were sustained, when reportedly the tank exploded. Thankfully no one was killed.

It is clear that events not on this scale, but still notable, occurred at Trinity Street by the use of the private rail line into the works there to transport white phosphorus, and I will be detailing these events soon in other posts.  No doubt residents in the vicinity had a very lucky escape, and events would have been covered up by a company whose managers had their bonuses linked to fewer reports of environmental emissions and accidents- as the 1997 EA audit of the factory revealed.

I have managed to obtain the official US Government investigation into this 1986 accident, and at 100 pages long it is quite a read, but there are some interesting observations regards what happened and the carrying of this poison by rail. The number of people that had to be evacuated is even more than that stated in the British newspaper titles after complications of the incident revealed themselves after another 48 hours after the derailment.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RELEASE FOLLOWING THE DERAILMENT OF BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY TRAIN

“Qn July 8, 1986, 15 cars of a southbound Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company freight train derailed while traveling at 45 mph near Miamisburg, Ohio. Three of the 15 derailed cars were tank cars containing yellow phosphorus, molten sulfur, and tallow. While derailing on a bridge, these tank cars were extensively damaged, lost product, and were involved in the resulting fire. Approximately 7,000 residents from a section of Miamisburg were initially evacuated as a safety precaution. On the following day as a wreckage-clearing crew was preparing to remove the smoldering phosphorus tank car, a concrete structure supporting the tank car collapsed, and several hundred gallons of molten phosphorus inside the tank car escaped and ignited, resulting in an extensive cloud of phosphorus combustion effluents.

During the following 48 hours, a 3-square-mile area of Montgomery County, Ohio, was evacuated, forcing an estimated 30,000 people to leave their homes and businesses; 569 persons were treated for various complaints during the incident. Total property damage was $3,540,000 including the cost of hazardous materials. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the uncontrollable release of phosphorus was the failure of the unprotected bottom brake support attachment during the derailment resulting in the tearing of the tank shell. Contributing to the rupture of the tank was the Federal Railroad Administration’s failure to require retroactively that reinforcement pads be installed between tank shells and welded attachments.”

“To minimize environmental pollution, the area of Bear Creek between the bridge and the Great Miami River was isolated by a barrier dam from July 9 through July 11 and diverted to the north around an area adjacent to the derailment. Approximately 200,000 gallons of water per day were treated for several weeks with hydrogen peroxide to neutralize the phosphorus. The water was then filtered through a sandbed before being discharged to the municipal sewage treatment facility. In addition to water treatment, the contaminated soils from the creekbed and railbed were excavated to a depth of 12 to 13 feet. The contaminated soils were placed on an asphalt pad to aerate and mix with hydrogen peroxide. After the soils were treated, they were disposed of at a landfill. Approximately 5,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed over 2 months.”

Two of the conclusions in the episode were

“4. Toxic combustion effluents which threatened public safety generated by the burning phosphorus and sulfur were not recognized by all available emergency response guides.
5. While the molten liquid form of the products involved in this derailment served to facilitate their loading and unloading, its liquid form contributed to the spill size and amount of product released.”

The evidence of how this environmental disaster was dealt with in the US is quite interesting, and shows how the US policy of control and contain is way superior to the useless dilute and disperse of the UK Environment Agency- which always leads to greater environmental damage over larger areas . A further source

REMEDIAL INVESTIGATION REPORT WHITE PHOSPHORUS CONTAMINATION OF SALT MARSH SEDIMENTS AT EAGLE RIVER FLATS ALASKA 1992

states of the clean up;

“Three lagoons (700 x 100 m total area) were constructed to isolate the contaminated stream. While most of the contaminated sediment was removed and treated by exposing the sediment on an open-air pad, the sediments that could not be removed were oxidized with two treatments of 15,000 L of 8-10% hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide was injected into subsurface sediments with a high-pressure spray system. The initial WP concentration was as high as 4500 μg/g. Ten days after the first treatment, the concentration was reduced to 300 μg/g. Fifteen days following the second treatment, concentrations were less than 100 μg/g, and one year later, the concentrations were less than 4.4 μg/g, or a 99.9% reduction from the original concentrations. No further monitoring was reported.”

Clearly hydrogen peroxide is a very dangerous and explosive chemical to use, and must have been justified as a risk to mitigate for the even greater one that the release of this highly toxic poison along with sulphur would have caused if left unoxidized, both to people and the wider environment.

The study also considered the effects of “clean up” concerning the Albright and Wilson disaster at Placentia Bay via the Long Harbour factory.

“These case studies show that WP in aqueous media is not reduced to undetectable concentrations by simple techniques such as aeration.” 

What a pity that so many in this company and the idiots controlling the regulation of a certain site in Tividale could not recognise this. 

It is amazing that Albright and Wilson and the authorities could work so quickly in dealing with white phosphorus contamination in the environment , yet allow their waste disposal ponds in others to sit there in a festering shit “aeration” poison pile for decades, until such time as they could be bothered to “clean ” it up- but only then with the fraud of covering it up with a geotextile membrane and sand. 

And still its lies and sits there aerating under the surface

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.