A Description of Whitehaven - from Mannix & Whellan 1847
part 1
Anyone wanting a description of the town of Whitehaven, to give them some idea as to where their forebears were in residence 150 years ago, could easily turn to the one provided in the Mannix & Whellan Directory of 1847. Such a description could well leave them with a warm glow from thinking that they must have had it ‘not to bad’ at the very least.
I quote:
“In 1847 it was a large and opulent Sea Port and Market Town, in the parish of St.Bees, three miles north of the lofty promontory of St.Bees Head, is seated on the Irish sea, or rather at the mouth of that portion of it denominated the Solway Frith, in a small creek, which forms the harbour, overlooked on the other sides by green hills, which rise abruptly from the outskirts of the town.
It was so inconsiderable a place in the 16th century as not to be noticed by Camden but by the exertions of the family of the Earl of Lonsdale, who have been lords of the manor for about two centuries, Whitehaven has risen from a few huts to a wealthy and flourishing sea port town. The ancestors of this noble family having discovered coal in the sides of the hills were not slow to avail themselves of the natural advantages for shipment of the produce of the mines, afforded by the projecting rocks on the south, which had previously attracted the notice of the few fishermen to the creek.
In course of time the working of these being prosecuted with spirit, great employment ensued, and better accommodation being required, pier after pier was added, the coal trade prospered, greatly to the emolument of the House of Lowther, and a town grew up, which has long held a distinguished rank amongst the commercial ports of Great Britain. It is laid out with much taste and elegance; most of the streets are broad and straight, intersecting each other at right angles; the houses are chiefly built of stone, and roofed with blue slate, and some of the public buildings are handsome and spacious structures.”
But did it tell the full story?
In 1750 Whitehaven was a trading port dealing mainly with the Americas and populated with merchant families along with their employees working in all the necessary associated trades. 100 years later it had changed into an industrialised town, mainly centred on both the mining and export of coal, the majority of which went to Ireland.
So what had been the impact of this change upon the town ? Perhaps a more reliable description of Whitehaven could be found in one of the “official” sources.
In the Parliamentary Gazette of 1845-46, Whitehaven is described as follows:-
“To an ordinary and careless observer, Whitehaven may appear a clean town, when in reality, it is quiet different. The town itself is one of the most handsome in all the northern counties: the streets being regular and spacious and crossing each other at right angles, many of the buildings are very neat, and the shops exhibit a degree of elegance seldom, till recently, seen in the north.”
This may apply to the main streets, such as Lowther street, Duke street, King street, Scotch street and some others which are wide and open, with convenient foot-walks flagged, and the road way either paved or macadamized.
These streets are tolerably clean, and may be considered “convenient for purposes of business”; but even the houses here and the streets themselves, have no useful sewers or drains; they are generally confined at the back; and crowded with a poorer class of property; few have privies or ash-pits, and the inhabitants are compelled either to keep their refuse on the premises until removed by the scavenger’s cart, or it is thrown out into the street.
But a casual examination of this portion of the town alone; will give no indication of its true state and condition; the back streets must be noticed, the courts and passages in confined places examined, the room and cellar tenements visited, the public lodging-houses inspected, and then such an amount of human wretchedness and misery will be revealed, as few persons in better circumstances would believe existed. Words written or spoken can not convey to the mind the
whole state of things, there must be sight and smell to aid and inform the imagination. The pen of novelist never yet depicted such a depth of utter wretchedness. There is a grim facetiousness about the names of the town and places in Whitehaven - Mount Pleasant, Solomon’s Temple, Harmless hill and Rosemary lane.”
The Reality
It is obvious that the once beautiful Georgian town had fallen on very hard times by 1847. The reason is not hard to find. Many have claimed that it was brought about by the rapid expansion of the population coming from the large increase coal mining in the town, along with the restriction of available building land only available from Lord Lonsdale, who did nor want the homes of the labouring classes encroaching upon his opulent accommodation situated on the outskirts of the town. He evidently said “so far and no further.” Therefore the only option was to in-fill the existing area with ever more buildings to house the expanding population.
By 1850 the government of England was undergoing change with the introduction of the Reform Acts centring on both Health & Education.
A major problem in Whitehaven was the fact that there was no Town Council; this function was provided by the Harbour Commissioners. They apparently saw their duty as running a successful harbour and not concerning themselves about the living conditions of the workers of the town who apparently lived upon land that belonged to them. They also decided that the Parliamentary Public Health Act of 1848 need not apply to their town. Eventually matters became so serious that one Committee of the House of Lords instigated an investigation into the high mortality & infection rates within the town. They appointed a Commissioner ( Robert Rawlinson ) to investigate on their behalf.
His investigations resulted in 42 page report - plus appendices, which was prepared for the members of the House of Lords.
It should be noted that the requirements of this Act were optional so it is hardly surprising that its recommendations met resistance.
Responsibility
It is obvious that the people in control of the town of Whitehaven did not take kindly to the criticism, implied or actual, made in this HM Government report. Comparisons with Birmingham and even a comparison with the efforts made by the people of Liverpool to improve their town, along with such revolutionary concepts as Cost / Benefit analysis, passed by the Local Authority without impact.
This can be seen from the Whitehaven Board of Health report for 1863 which showed - that little improvement had been made in the meantime to the lives of the towns people, and went onto conclude “in every other respect the town of Whitehaven remains precisely as it was”.
Perhaps it is little wonder that the people left to seek a better life in the New World !
Part two of this essay is based upon the findings reported to the House of Lords committee
Nev.Ramsden, April 2009