On Friday 11th June 1897 the Carlisle Patriot published the following article:
Narrow Escape from Drowning.
The three-year-old son of Mr. T. Mingings, Corrie’s Court, Milbourne Street, Carlisle, narrowly escaped drowning on Friday in the mill dam at the back of that street. The child had fallen in while playing and was carried under the New Brewery archway before being rescued by a young man named Henry Skinner. The child was unconscious, but Dr. Fairlie succeeded in reviving him.
My Great Uncle was called Henry Skinner. He was born on 6th December 1879 in Carlisle. In the 1891 census he is living with his family at 11 Byron Street, Carlisle and was still resident there in the 1901 census.
I am trying to understand if my Henry is the person mentioned in the article. He would have been 17 years of age at the time so fits the description of 'young man' in the article. It seems from modern maps that Byron Street and Milbourne Street are reasonably close to each other so I am growing increasingly confident. However, I cannot place the specific locations of number 11 Byron Street and of Corrie's Court in relation to Milbourne street to be exact about the proximity to each other.
I wonder if any local historians can comment on the precise location of Corrie's Court, The Mill Dam and The New Brewery from that period. Reference to a map showing them would be superb.
If anyone has any other ideas about how I can possibly determine, with the highest degree of confidence, if it was indeed my Henry who is the subject of this article I would be interested.
Grateful for any help, advice, suggestions or theories as always.
oh, and Henry is shown on my profile photograph of a 1912 wedding. He is the Charlie Chaplin lookalike who is directly behind the grooms mother.
ThisBoy.
