Preston, | Wednesday Dec. 3rd, 1842.
My dear Father,
Expecting every day to hear from you, I was induced to defer writing myself until now. I have made enquiries respecting Col Austin1 of Fishwick Hall2 and Mr Marshall3 of Penwortham Hall.4 I find that they are both acquainted with Captain Tucker and am inclined to think that a word from either would serve me much. It would at all events induce the Captain to give me a good testimonial in the event of my leaving him.5 He, poor man, is greatly afflicted at present. He had a brother, a Captain in the Navy,6 who was shipwrecked and lost on the coast of France about a month ago7 I don’t know whether the body has been found or not.8 Having thus disposed of the more important portion of my ideas, I’ll relate a rich incident which took place here last week. I saw it in Saturday’s Chronicle.9 A poacher happened to go into a tavern which he was in the habit of frequenting, he had a basket on his arm and in it a hare covered up. Having called for a glass of ale he proceeded very quietly to sip it. The landlord came into the kitchen where the chap was seated, and – knowing that he had the hare along with him – thought he, ‘It would be a great job if I could pin it.’ He chanced to have a dead cat in the house and, unnoticed by the poacher, he slipped the hare out of the basket and put the cat in its place. When the fellow had taken the ale he took up the basket and proceeded home. ‘Eh!’ said he to his wife ‘I’ve brought thee a hare – a fine puss’ – she uncovered the basket and exclaimed ‘a cat’! ‘Yea and a vonny one too’ said he, little suspecting the trick that had been played on him. The wife at length lugged it out by the tail. ‘I’m done’ said he, and again basketted the cat and proceeded once more to Preston. He went straight to the public house. The landlord seeing him coming kept out of the way. Well, the fellow entered the kitchen as before, and called for another glass of ale; while the waiter was away getting the beverage, the fellow went over to the kitchen fire and looking into a boiling pan he saw a smoking leg of mutton. To haul it out was the work of a minute, and in he popped the cat to supply its place. Shortly after the maid brought the master and mistress a bowl of broth each. The fellow remained until he heard the former complaining of the broth and the loving spouse recommending ketchup to improve the flavour, when he thought it high time to cut his stick. That day himself and his family fared sumptuously on the leg of mutton.
Love to mother and Emma | Your affectionate son | John.
RI MS JT 1/10/3283
LT Transcript Only
Col Austin: The Preston Chronicle reported that ‘Colonel Austin’ was one of the ‘justices of the peace for this county [i.e. Lancashire]’ (‘Extensive Moutre Case’, 20 April 1839, p. [2]), and later listed him as a member of the Board of Guardians administering the Poor Law in the city (‘Board of Guardians’, 15 August 1846, p. 6).
Fishwick Hall: Fishwick is a town on the River Ribble, a mile south-west of Preston. Fishwick Hall was originally the seat of T. R. Shaw, but was presumably now owned by Colonel Austin (S. R. Clarke, The New Lancashire Gazetteer (London: Henry Teesdale, 1830), p. 52).
Mr Marshall: William Marshall (1796/7–1863), director of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company.
Penwortham Hall: Penwortham is a town on the River Ribble, 2 miles south-west of Preston. Penwortham Hall, originally called Penwortham Lodge, was built in a neo-classical style in 1801 by John Horrocks, owner of the largest cotton firm in Preston, whose son Peter sold it to William Marshall in 1829.
in the event of my leaving him: to go to a job on the Tithe Survey in London; see letter 0173.
a brother, a Captain in the Navy: Captain William Tucker RN (1795–1842), who joined the Navy in 1810 and, by the time of his death, had risen to commander of HMS Iris and senior officer of Her Majesty’s ships and vessels on the western coast of Africa (‘Memoir of the Late Captain Wm. Tucker, R.N.’, in The Naval and Military Sketch Book (London: Hugh Cunningham, 1845), pp. 404–7).
shipwrecked and lost on the coast of France about a month ago: On 12 November 1842 the Reliance, an East Indiaman carrying a cargo of tea bound for Gravesend, ran aground off the coast of Boulogne with the loss of more than a hundred lives. Captain Tucker had joined the Reliance at St Helena as a passenger to return to Britain because of illness (‘Loss of the Reliance’, The Times, 17 November 1842, p. 5).
I don’t know whether the body has been found or not: On 23 November 1842 The Times reported that ‘only 12 bodies of the 109 persons lost’ had ‘been picked up’, and noted: ‘Numbers of the crew sank immediately, and were entirely lost sight of amidst the breakers; Captain Tucker was among this number’ (‘Loss of the Reliance’, p. 3).
Saturday’s Chronicle: ‘A Cat-astrophe’, Preston Chronicle, 3 December 1842, p. [2].
Please cite as “Tyndall0178,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 20 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0178