Some Longtown Businessmen

Some Longtown Businessmen

Obituaries

April 24th 1840CPAt Hackney near London on the 9th inst, much and deservedly respected, John Graham Esq. an extensive shipowner and a native of Rockliff.January 10th 1845CPAt Shadwell Crook in the parish of Kirkandrews on Esk on the 31st ult, Mr David Little, linen and woollen draper, of Blackburn, aged 24 years ? he came into his native county a few weeks since for the benefit of his health.May 5th 1849CPAt Netherby School on the 29th ult, Mr William Beattie aged 75. The deceased was many years a merchant in Longtown.March 15th 1851CPOn Wednesday afternoon, Mr Linton, well known as the ?Bishop of Gretna? died at his residence Gretna Hall after a few days illness. His decease will be lamented by all his friends and neighbours, and doubtless by many a loving couple who have been looking to him for the exercise of that potent spell which should bind them for life.August 16th 1851CPAt Longtown on the 2nd inst, Mr Robert Lattimer, aged 75 years, a man who maintained through life a most exemplary character. He was formerly a member of the Society of Friends, and was subsequently many years in the firm of Tweddle and Foster of the Longtown Brewery. It is needless to say that the death of so worthy a member of society is deeply lamented in the locality which he had adorned for many years.May 22nd 1868 Carlisle JournalAt the residence of his sister, 26 Etterby Street, Stanwix, on the 14th inst, Joseph Latimer of Manchester, son of the late Mr Robert Latimer, brewer, Longtown, aged 53 years.June 20th 1873 CPAmongst the deaths announced this week . . . Mr Adam Murray, a Longtown man, who went to London many years ago and from a very humble position in the firm of I and R Morley, rose to be a partner and died in the possession of great wealth.. . At Denton Hall, Cumberland, on Sunday 15th inst, suddenly, Adam Murray, Lamorby Park, Bexley, Kent, aged 64 years.August 23 1878 Carlisle PatriotDeath of Mr John IrvingHe would be something more than a cynic who yesterday heard unmoved that Mr John Irving had passed away. In the heyday of his influence, lasting over many years, he filled a foremost place in the little circle of Carlisle affairs; and his power, so far as power could be wielded through the medium of municipal agencies, was unsurpassed, and almost unchallenged. He was connected with most, and the originator of many, of the public movements of the last thirty years; he was twice Mayor of the city; his energy, his ability, his resources, were unbounded, and were displayed in a hundred directions. It would be strange indeed, therefore, if the intelligence of his death were received indifferently by those with whom he acted, and by those with whom he struggled in other days.Mr Irving had been for some time in failing health. Latterly he lived at Soulby, a pretty village which overlooks part of Lake Ullswater. On Wednesday afternoon he was able to sit outside in the garden, where his daughter read to him the chief items of the day?s news. On returning indoors, he was observed to be weaker, but no immediate alarm was felt. He lay in the sitting room, and medical aid was sought, but unavailingly. He died shortly after ten o?clock at night, without the least apparent pain, and without the slightest obscuration of his intelligence. He was in his 66th year.Mr Irving was a native of Longtown, and he served his apprenticeship with Mr Robert Allison, grocer, English Street, Carlisle. In 1835 he began business on his own account, in the shop at the end of Ferguson?s Lane, which he occupied for nearly forty years. In 1838, we believe, he was elected a member of the Town Council by the citizens of St Cuthbert?s Ward, whom he continued to represent throughout his public life, except for a short period, when he was ostracised on account of his Corn Exchange scheme. To follow his course forward would be to recount the whole of the municipal and not a little of the political history of Carlisle in that time. From the first, the unfailing confidence which was a part of his nature, the practical talent, and the charm of a happy and strong character, secured his ascendancy among the local party to which he belonged, and through which he worked out his objects, often with the spirit of an autocrat. His success in dealing with pliable materials led him on several occasions into blunders, as when he tried in 1857 to oust Sir James Graham from the constituency, and when, on the occasion already referred to, he hoped to carry through his plan of a Corn Exchange. But in general his sway was complete; nor was it to be wondered at, for he always furnished his party with a plausible reason for their proceedings, which they were not apt at furnishing for themselves.Lord Beaconsfield has said that a leader, in order to attract and retain the loyalty of his followers, must provide them plenty of game. Mr Irving?s fertile ingenuity always supplied the Blues with game. In the Council his tact and cleverness were never at a loss; he was not a fluent or connected speaker; but his adroit manner of dealing with figures especially would extort admiration even from those who were indignant at what they believed to be the one-sidedness of his demonstration. He was the author of the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock project, which was first launched in 1853, but for which Parliamentary sanction was not obtained until 1855, Mr Irving being a principal witness in its support. Three or four years later he took a leading part in agitating for an extension of the North British system from Hawick to Carlisle. Later still he was prominently associated with the extension of the line from Settle to Carlisle, and subsequently, when the Midland Company sought to drop their Bill, Mr Irving organised the local forces to thwart them. Amongst other things that may be mentioned, he was the real projector of the Viaduct which was finished last year.As we have said, in order to detail the events of his public career, we must go over the municipal history of Carlisle during a quarter of a century, and that we have no mind to do. Nor do we care to revive personal controversies which must still be fresh in the memory of most people. Prudence rarely held him back from conflict, and in the course of many conflicts his public conduct provoked comment which was often severe. In much that he advised he was beguiled by his sanguine temperament, in following the behests of which he was as ready to stake his personal means as he was in calling upon his friends and the public; hence, though he made some notable strokes, as in the acquisition of the Newtown estate and of the great factory in Shaddongate, he was never a wealthy man. Indeed, his over-sanguineness in large things, ignoring doubts and difficulties, neutralised all the keenness which operated so remarkably upon business details. In private life Mr Irving?s unaffected and unvarying geniality was most winning; no gloom could withstand its ray; wherever he was, he diffused the influence of his own gaiety and good-humour. Sensitive as he was, proud-spirited as he was, the most painful of all human experience was reserved to the last. At a time when the genuine metal of friendship is tested in the furnace, he felt the slights of men who had once been proud to obey his beck, and discovered with bitterness how many there are?whom you make friends, and give your heart to,when they once perceive the least rub in your fortunesfall away like water from you, never found againbut when they mean to sink you.?The remains of Mr Irving will be interred on Monday in the churchyard of Dacre.September 29th 1876 Carlisle PatriotThe charities of this district have lost a munificent supporter in Mr Richard Carruthers, who died at his residence near Crosby on Eden last night week at the age of 84. In early life the state of his health induced him to settle in South America, where during many years he was highly prosperous in commerce. Mr Carruthers possessed great skill as an artist which he assiduously cultivated both in the active and in the later period of his life. He was also a keen angler, and his interest in that pleasant pursuit led him to take a useful part in the preservation of the Eden fisheries, especially in the district of his own charming demesne. We have mentioned his generous support of local works of charity. One in particular claims prominent record. When the Chancellor first projected that valuable institution, the Silloth Sanitarium, Mr Carruthers contributed £500 towards its erection and furnishing, and though the character of the undertaking and the public confidence in those who had it in hand assured its success, this substantial help, at the very outset, must have lightened their difficulties. He contributed further sums to the fund and he endowed it with some local railway stock which brings in a nice little annuity. The remains of Mr Carruthers were interred on Wednesday in the churchyard of Kirklinton.February 1st 1878The Late Mr Carruthers? WillBy his will which was proved last week in the Court of Probate, Westminster, Mr Richard Carruthers bequeathed £200 to the Vicar and churchwardens of Crosby-on-Eden, for the education of poor children in that parish; also £200 to the Vicar and churchwardens of Kirklinton for the like purpose; £500 to the Convalescent Institution, Silloth; £500 to the Cumberland Infirmary; and £200 to the Carlisle Female Visiting Society. Further the testator directs that, should his son die before the age of 21, then, on the expiry of the widow?s life interest in it, the large residuary personal estate is to be realized and distributed among ?such charitable institutions as the trustees shall think proper.?September 23rd 1887 Carlisle PatriotA few days ago there died at his residence Huskisson Street Liverpool Mr Robert Little, who was for many years a successful wine merchant in that city. Mr Little was born at Longtown in 1818 so that at his death he was in his 70th year. He died unmarried and the bulk of his fortune is bequeathed to nephews and nieces.