Person:William Bonser (1)

William Bonser was born on 23rd December 1801 and baptised two days later at East Stoke in Nottinghamshire, son of Elizabeth Bonser, formerly Fernihough, and her husband William Bonser, a shoemaker.

William was married on 8th June 1828 at Gainsborough, nearly 30 miles north of East Stoke, to Maria Manuell. They returned to East Stoke after their marriage, having their only son, Manuel, baptised there in 1829. William was working as a shoe maker at the time.

William and Maria later left East Stoke and moved to the town of East Retford, where they lived at the Butchers' Arms Inn. Maria died there on 29th September 1834, aged 31.

William later moved to Sheffield. On 30th September 1840 he married again. His second wife was Sarah Sharpe, formerly Barrowcliff, whose first husband had died three years earlier. She ran a shop at the corner of Allen Street and Doncaster Street in Sheffield. They do not appear to have had any more children together.

William and Sarah stayed at the shop in Allen Street throughout their marriage. Around 1851 they also took in William's nephew George as an apprentice, when they also had two visitors called Barrowcliff from Gringley on the Hill staying with them, who were presumably relatives of Sarah's.

Back in East Stoke, William's father died in 1853 and his mother died in 1856.

From their shop, Sarah sold poultry, butter and eggs, which she regularly travelled to the market at Gainsborough to buy. William would then collect it from the railway station and take it to Sarah's customers in the officers' mess at the barracks in Sheffield. William also continued working as a boot and shoe maker on a small scale, as well as working as a night-watchman for a factory in the Philadelphia area of Sheffield.

On the night of 11th-12th March 1864, in the hills to the west of Sheffield, the newly-built Dale Dyke Dam burst. Vast quantities of water rapidly swept down the valley into Sheffield, with many low-lying parts of the town being very suddenly flooded. At least 240 people were killed in what became known as the Great Sheffield Flood. William was one of the flood's victims, being drowned at the factory where he had been at work that night. He was 62 when he died.

The Sheffield Waterworks Company, which had built the dam, was held to be responsible for causing the disaster. An "Inundation Commission" was set up, and Sarah claimed compensation from it for the loss of her husband. The case came to court in February 1865. Sarah reported that following William's death she had left the shop on Allen Street. She claimed for £1000 compensation. At the hearing it was established that William had earned about fifteen shillings a week from his work at the factory and a little more from his shoe making and helping Sarah with the shop. The company called witnesses to show that William had often been drunk and was not of the most steady habits, and suggested that given these facts and his age Sarah would probably not have expected him to support her for many more years anyway. They offered her £50 compensation. There was criticism from Sarah's representatives of the company's approach, which they said was an effort to "blacken the man's character after his death in order to reduce the damages to his widow". The Court fixed the compensation due to Sarah at £75 - nowhere near what she had sought, but more than she had been originally offered.

Sarah survived William by about 27 years.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Nottinghamshire Family History Society. Nottinghamshire Baptisms Database.

   ch. 25 Dec 1801, St Oswald, East Stoke: Willm. son of Willm. & Elizabeth BONSOR, born 23 Dec 1801

2. ↑ England. 1841 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1335; Book 15; Folio 19; Page 3, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Doncaster Street, Sheffield, Yorkshire
   William Bonsor, male, 35 [1801-6], Grocer, not born in county
   Sarah Bonsor, female, 30 [1806-11], not born in county
   Manual Bonsor, male, 12 [1828/9], not born in county
   Clarissa Crump, female, 15 [1821-6], F[emale] Servant, not born in county

3. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 2339; Folio 212; Page 24, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: 48 Allen Street, Sheffield, Yorkshire
   William Bonser, head, married, male, 35 [1815/6], Boot & shoe maker, b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
   Sarah Bonser, wife, married, female, 39 [1811/2], b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
   Manuell Bonser, son, unmarried, male, 22 [1828/9], Brass caster, b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
   George Bonser, apprentice, male, 17 [1843/4], Boot maker, b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
   Margarette Boots, visitor, female, 9 [1841/2], b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
   Joseph Barrowcliff, visitor, male, 43 [1807/8], Waterman, b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
   Geor[ge] Barrowcliff, male, 22 [1828/9], Waterman, b. Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

4. ↑ England. 1861 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG9; Piece 3486; Folio 99; Page 32, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: No. 2 Doncaster Street, Sheffield, Yorkshire
   William Bonser, head, married, male, 55 [1805/6], Shop Keeper, b. East Stoke, Nottinghamshire
   Sarah Bonser, wife, married, female, 49 [1811/12], b. Gringley on the Hill, Nottinghamshire
   Ann Pye, boarder, widow, female, 73 [1787/8], b. Brampton, Yorkshire
   Charles B. Clipper, boarder, unmarried, male, 18 [1842/3], Cabinet Case Maker, b. Gringley on the Hill, Nottinghamshire

5. ↑ Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. William BONSER, June Quarter 1864, Sheffield Registration District, Volume 9c, page 272, aged 62 [1801/2]

6. ↑ Yorkshire Burials (findmypast.co.uk).

   bur. 17 Mar 1864, Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield, Yorkshire: William Bonser, 62 [1801/2]

7.   Sheffield Daily Telegraph, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 2, Monday 14 Mar 1864.

   THE DREADFUL INUNDATION IN SHEFFIELD.
   FEARFUL DESTRUCTION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY.
   SATURDAY MORNING, 2 A.M.
   We have to announce this morning one of the most terrific calamities that has ever visited this part of the country. A floor which we fear has been far more fatal than the "Holmfirth catastrophe" has occurred, and from a similar cause, the bursting of a dam. Houses have been washed down, streets have been turned into rivers, great stacks of timber, mingled with pigs, furniture, beds, carts, and trees, have been swept on to the banks of the Don. People have been swept down in the streets and drowned, and some have died in rooms that were for the moment converted into miniature reservoirs, full from ceiling to floor, of water, and the amount of wreck laid along the course of the torrent gives the beholder a fearful idea of the destruction that has been caused. Owing to the suddenness of the catastrophe and the hurry and excitement of the crowd of people now thronging the scene we have to take much on credit, but the general belief is that the greator reservoir at Bradfield had burst and thrown its immense volume of water into the country.
   The first alarm was given at about an hour and a half ago in the town. The sharp hiss as of escaping steam, and the sound as of a mighty rush of water, made people run towards the river, when it was found that the Don was in an extraordinary flood, and that some calamity of a dreadful character had occurred.
   At two o'clock the height and force of the current had greatly abated. Yet there was still a great volume of water, and the roar with which it rushed along was like that of an express train in a cutting. On Lady's bridge a great number of people were standing looking over the parapets on the fearful heaps of timber mixed with straw and other debris which the flood had piled up against the mason work of the bridge. The immense quantity of rafters, flooring; joists, planks, and miscellaneous articles heaped to within a few feet of the top of the bridge told a portentous story of buildings destroyed, and melancholy were the fore-bodings of those who looked upon the ruin. There seemed wood enough to build a village. But bad as were the fears of those who looked upon the evidence of disaster, none knew how dreadful was the reality, and the majority had not the most distant idea of the loss of life that had occurred.

8. ↑ Sheffield Independent, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 3, 16 Mar 1864.

   [Within extensive reports of the floods caused by the failure of the Dale Dyke Dam:]
   THE GREAT FLOOD...
   THE LOSS OF LIFE.
   Five additional bodies were discovered yesterday at Neepsend and in other parts, and were taken to the Workhouse. Two of them were identified, one being William Bonser, the night watchman of Messrs. Butcher...

9.   Sheffield Independent, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 6, 21 Feb 1865.

   THE INUNDATION COMMISSION.
   YESTERDAY.
   CLAIMS FOR LOSS OF LIFE AND BODILY INJURY.
   LOSS OF A HUSBAND.-Mrs. Sarah Bonsor, of Allen street, claimed £1000 for the loss of her husband. Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Barker were for the claimant. It appeared that the widow had put her own estimate on the value of her husband, and had fixed it at the amount of the claim. She had told her attorney that she "would not put her husband against a thousand pounds," but Mr. Blackburn, in his opening, remarked that the estimate formed by the Court would probably be different. From the evidence of Mr. S. Bonsor, her son, and other witnesses, it appeared that the deceased was employed as night timekeeper at the works of Messrs. Butcher, Philadelphia, and that he was drowned in the works. In addition to his employment there, for which he received 15s. a week, he assisted his wife in managing a small business as a poultry and egg dealer. Mrs. Bonsor regularly attended the market at Gainsborough, and purchased poultry, eggs, butter, &c., for the officers' "mess" at the barracks, and the deceased carried the articles up the barracks from the station. He also employed his leisure time in cutting out patterns of boots and shoes, and added a few shillings weekly to his income in that manner. Since his death, his widow had given up the business of purveyor, partly in consequence of her inability to carry the articles to the Barracks, as the deceased had done, and partly because some of her customers had left the garrison. The shop which she kept in Allen street, and which was in her possession when she married the deceased, had been given up, but it did not appear that this was a consequence of his death. Questions were asked by Mr. Holker (who was with Mr. Pickering) as to the deceased's habits, with the view of showing that he was not a sober man, and that the probabilities of his having lived for many years were very small. It was admitted that the man was a hard drinker for some years, but his son - who gave evidence with great candour - said there had been a great change in him during the last two years of his life. To shoe the man's habits, Mr. Holker called Mr. Radley, formerly his landlord, who proved having repeatedly seen him drunk; and Mrs. Haywood, who had succeeded the Bonsor's in the shop in Allen street, testified to facts of the same nature... Mr. Pickering put this as one of the extreme cases where large damages were demanded from the company. The deceased was 62 years of age at his death; his habits were not of the steadiest; and the probabilities of his being able to support his wife for many years were very small... Mr. Blackburn expressed some surprise at the defence that had been set up after what had passed in the House of Lords. One of the directors said there, "The directors are anxious to relieve any cases of real distress arising from the loss of relatives, whether the company shall be proved to be liable or not."...The Chief Commission: If that is so, and they are anxious to pay whether they are liable or not, our functions are at an end. (A laugh.)...Mr. Blackburn: Everybody will agree with me when I say that it ought to have been so. The company are not following that course here, for they are endeavouring to blacken the man's character after his death in order to reduce the damages to his widow... The Court gave judgment for £75, which was £25 in excess of the offer.