Harrison Barber—Horse Slaughterers

[Gary Barnett]

Thats cool, I would like to see that piece of news

I think it’s on here somewhere, but I’m too lazy to look for it. :-)

[Gary Barnett]

The most interesting thing about the Currells is that one of their daughters, aged 17 from memory, was recorded as a horse slaughterer.

I’ve seen a few women so described, but usually they are the owners of the businesses, often the widows of owners horse slaughtering businesses.

I think the 17-year-old was Henry Currell’s niece and her father was also a horse slaughterer, so she can’t have been a non-active owner.

[Jose Oranto]

The most interesting thing about the Currells is that one of their daughters, aged 17 from memory, was recorded as a horse slaughterer.

I’ve seen a few women so-described, but usually they are the owners of the businesses, often the widows of horse slaughtering businesses.

I think the 17-year-old was Henry Currell’s niece and her father was also a horse slaughterer, so she can’t have been a non-active owner.

The knacker 'Mrs. Lovett' baking the horse flesh into pies.

[Gary Barnett]

The knacker 'Mrs. Lovett' baking the horse flesh into pies.

Perfect! :-)

A little known but rather sinister character was a young Essex knacker, Edward Bentley, the so-called ‘horse Burker’ (as in Burke and Hare). He used to suffocate or strangle horses at night and then call back at the farms the next day to see if they had any dead stock they wanted to dispose of. He was discovered in the act of suffocating a horse by stuffing its nose with straw. He was convicted for that offence and transported, but it was believed he may have killed many more horses in the neighbourhood.

This is the list of seemingly perfectly healthy horses that suddenly died and were purchased by him in an 8-month period:

[Jose Oranto]

Perfect! :-)

A little known but rather sinister character was a young Essex knacker, Edward Bentley, the so-called ‘horse Burker’ (as in Burke and Hare). He used to suffocate or strangle horses at night and then call back at the farms the next day to see if they had any dead stock they wanted to dispose of. He was discovered in the act of suffocating a horse by stuffing its nose with straw. He was convicted for that offence and transported, but it was believed he may have killed many more horses in the neighbourhood.

This is the list of seemingly perfectly healthy horses that suddenly died and were purchased by him in an 8-month period:

He should have run into the mares of Diomedes 😄

[Gary Barnett]

He should have run into the mares of Diomedes 😄

Ooh, I say!

[Gary Barnett]

Possibly a map charting the progress of the construction of the GNR might solve the mystery.

I’m still on the hunt for Alfred Street. Although I’m pretty sure I know approximately where it was, I’d like to find a map which identifies it by name.

The first map below is from 1861, and I suspect Alfred Street was in the area circled in blue.

The subsequent maps are from later in the 60s and I think the shading on them indicates that the area in question was affected by railway development.

I’m planning a trip to the Islington Local History Centre next week to see if they any maps or plans that will provide the answer.

[Gary Barnett]

sistersofthepoleaxe

Anyone have a copy of the April, 1931 Farmer and Stockbreeder knocking about?

I managed to find the article. It was reprinted in the Rugby Advertiser in May, 1931.

It turns out that both Charlotte Payne and her mother, Mary Ann, were practicing horse slaughterers.

Apparently Earl Spencer (Princess Diana’s great grandfather) insisted on having his horses killed by Charlotte Payne. And according to Charlotte they (she and her mother?) were involved in the designing of Greener’s Humane Cattle/Horse Killer, which is the ‘gun’ referred to in the extract.

[Gary Barnett]

William Tomkins(my husband's grandfather, Llansamlet knacker's yard ) had a brother and a sister. His brother, John Tomkins was a knacker in Northampton. John's son William Tomkins was also a knacker in Northampton. The sister married Beresford who worked in the Llansamlet knacker's yard. Beresford went on to set up a knacker's yard in Bridgend and Cardiff.
John's son, William Tomkins operated from a yard in Northampton itself but it's quite possible that John during his working life had premises elsewhere in the Northamptonshire area.

In 1926, John Tomkins had a dispute with a female knacker named Charlotte Kerrell. Kerrell was her married name, her maiden name was Payne (see previous post).

In 1935, one of Charlotte Kerrell’s employees, a lad using the name John Currell (actually Alfred George), was convicted of buying a stolen horse from some gypsies.

Both of these incidents occurred in Northamptonshire, but Alfred George Currell had been born in Belle Isle, Islington. He was a member of Currell horse-slaughtering dynasty of Hertfordshire and Belle Isle.

[Gary Barnett]

sistersofthepoleaxe


By 1930, Charlotte Kerrell, trading under her maiden name of Payne, had knacker’s yards in:

Long Buckby, Northamptonshire

Northampton, Northamptonshire

Daventry, Northamptonshire

Deddington, Oxfordshire

Banbury, Oxfordshire

Rugby, Warwickshire

Coventry, Warwickshire

Her base seems to have been Benbow Farm, Long Buckby, which was just a few miles from Althorp, the seat of the Spencer family. Charlotte lived until 1973, so it’s possible that she encountered Lady Di.

[Jose Oranto]

I managed to find the article. It was reprinted in the Rugby Advertiser in May, 1931.

It turns out that both Charlotte Payne and her mother, Mary Ann, were practicing horse slaughterers.

Apparently Earl Spencer (Princess Diana’s great grandfather) insisted on having his horses killed by Charlotte Payne. And according to Charlotte they (she and her mother?) were involved in the designing of Greener’s Humane Cattle/Horse Killer, which is the ‘gun’ referred to in the extract.

I remember seeing your post about that artifact. It is very interesting that at that time two women took sides in the development of the trade of horse slaughter.

[Gary Barnett]

I remember seeing your post about that artifact. It is very interesting that at that time two women took sides in the development of the trade of horse slaughter.

Apparently one of Caroline’s sisters was also a horse slaughterer, as was one of Alfred George Currell’s aunts.

[Gary Barnett]

This appeared in the Bedworth [Warwickshire] Echo in 1992:

The name ‘Wandon’ is unusual.

[Gary Barnett]

In fact, Wandon is a typo - it should have been Wand and.

[Gary Barnett]

And here’s where it gets interesting:

The owners of the business were Charles Wand and William Frederick Smith. They had both worked for Harrison, Barber in Stratford and Charles Wand was Alfred Barber’s stepson. By 1921 he was running HB’s Wandsworth yard. As a child he had lived in Winthrop Street.