The Unknown Man in Sheffield's First Mortuary - April 1884
In
2017 I posted an article to the site titled "THE BODY OF JAMES BRADY AND THE BUILDING OF SHEFFIELD'S PUBLIC MORTUARY - NOVEMBER 1880"
After
the deplorable scenes that surrounded the inquest on James Brady's body, it was
proposed that a public mortuary be erected. Sheffield had to wait another three and a half years. There is no doubt that the proposal would have been passed on to the Town Council but the Council were noted for being parsimonious when it came to public expenditure. A pattern developed in the nineteenth century whereby the council did not interfere in public matters especially those that may entail the spending of money. They tended to wait until matters became intolerable and then and only then did they take any form of action. An article I published many years ago - Revolting Proceedings in a Sheffield Burial Ground April 1865 - is a case in point.
It was only in May 1883 that they identified an area of land they could use - Plum Lane off Corporation Street - and
authorized the release of funds. But as the following report shows the mortuary owed its existence more to the initiative of a Mr. George Franklin than the Town Council.
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent dated 12th April 1884
The same addition that announced the opening of the mortuary also reported on the first inquest to be held in the newly appointed inquest room.
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent dated 12th April 1884
Given that the body had been found on 3rd April, the addition of Boyles's patented extraction ventilation must have made the proceedings much more equitable for all concerned.
I can find no photograph or graphic of the Plum Lane Mortuary - Plum Lane is now a non-descript cul-de-sac. But there is another mystery I have to find out is where the unknown man was interred. He would have been a charge to the local authorizes and so he would have been interred in a public grave. My own guess and it is that, is Sheffield's General Cemetery. Inmates of the Ecclesall Union were buried there in public graves and I feel that this is where he would be laid to rest.
Sources
Sheffield
and Rotherham Independent dated 12th April 1884
Ancestry - UK Census
This page was last updated on 18/11/24 14:57