All the headlines from 30, 60, 70, 90, 100, 110 and 120 years ago, including a dog that apparently changed sex.
30 years ago (1993)
PARKHURST PRISONER TOO HOT TO HANDLE Bosses at Parkhurst Prison refused to allow a coroner to question the country’s most dangerous prisoner because they believed no local court was safe enough to hold him. Robert John Mawdsley – also known as ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’ and ‘the Brain Eater’ – had been imprisoned for multiple murders. The coroner wanted to question Mawdsley over the death of a fellow prisoner who had been found hanged in his cell. However, the Parkhurst prison governor claimed he was far too dangerous to be allowed outside the prison.
60 years ago (1963)
FRESHWATER DOG CHANGES SEX The Newcastle Journal reported that Bruce – a 9-year-old crossbred sheepdog owned by Kathleen Cotton of Freshwater Bay – had changed its sex. The dog was operated on to return its condition to normal, but the result was not known at the time of going to press. POLICE CAPTURE 2 FUGITIVES 2 escaped Parkhurst prisoners – 24-year-old Alan Raymond Green and 23-year-old Richard Bond – were recaptured on the Isle of Wight after breaking through a police cordon. The pair were caught 4 miles from the prison by Police Constable John Birnage, who held each prisoner under an arm as he signalled a car to give assistance. When he explained what he needed to the female driver, the woman screamed. At this point, Bond twisted free and got away. However, he only got a further mile away before being encircled by prison officers and police with tracker dogs. Green and Bond had escaped from an outside working party by tying up a prison officer. They then broke into a warder’s house to steal money and clothing, following which they made off with a police car. Bond was serving 5 years for larceny and shop breaking and Green 4 1/2 years for burglary and other offences.
70 years ago (1953)
APPEAL FOR ACTION ON FLY PLAGUE An Isle of Wight representative attended an emergency meeting in Worthing to discuss the mystery fly plague which had blackened the beaches of local resorts for 3 months. The offending insects were identified as the coelopa species, which feasted on decaying seaweed. The conference agreed that the cost of exterminating the plague would be too much for the local authorities concerned. It was then decided to appeal to the Government to crush the insect threat to the tourist trade. Seaweed experts claimed the flies could not be destroyed by insecticides and would not die off in the cold weather. They could not be poisoned due to the danger to inshore fishing. Burning the rotting seaweed in which the pests bred would damage the trade of numerous hotels.
90 years ago (1933)
ISLE OF WIGHT VILLAGE MAIDENS REPORTED TO BE ‘WING-STRUCK’ A national newspaper reported that village girls on the Island had abandoned their ambitions to go on the stage or into the films and now wished to become certified air pilots. The desire for Island girls to take up an aviation career was attributed to the big role flying played in daily life. The Royal Navy’s seaplanes often flew overhead; daily air services flew between Southampton and the Channel Isles; wealthy residents had their personal Baby Moths for flitting to and from the mainland.
100 years ago (1923)
SMOKING BAN FOR EAST COWES TOWN HALL REJECTED A meeting of East Cowes Council heard a proposal that smoking should not be permitted in the Town Hall. The proposer stated that smoking was troublesome to many people who did not like to make themselves conspicuous by making complaints and was a habit that should not be encouraged. Where people congregated in a public building, smoking undoubtedly added to the impurity of the air. The meeting also heard that the habit was dangerous, as many buildings had been destroyed by fire as a result of dropped matches and cigarette ends. It was a cause of dirtiness and untidiness. Most important of all, it caused fatalities, chiefly owing to the dresses of ladies and children catching fire. In reply, a Council member said it was difficult to make any revenue and if smoking was prohibited, this would make matters worse. The proposal that smoking be rigidly prohibited in the Town Hall was unanimously rejected.
110 years ago (1913)
HIGH TIDES FLOOD ISLE OF WIGHT Reports of rising sea levels are nothing new. A combination of fierce storms and very high tides caused extensive flooding around the Island 110 years ago. The road between Yarmouth and Freshwater was completely flooded; the River Medina rose so high that residents of riverside cottages were forced to evacuate to their first floors; business was suspended in Cowes as the Esplanade and High Street were underwater.
120 years ago (1903)
RYDE POSTMAN DIVORCES ‘IMMORAL’ WIFE Ryde postman Alfred Charles Joliffe was granted a decree nisi against his wife Julia Jolliffe – stated to be living in Portsmouth – on the grounds of her adultery with Sergeant Samuel Chilvers of the 5th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. The suit was undefended. Counsel for the petitioner Mr Barnard explained that the Joliffes had married in 1892 in Newport. The parties had lived happily together for 5 years before the wife took to drink and pawned the furniture and clothes. In 1900, the couple separated, and Mrs Joliffe went to live in Portsmouth, where she was said to have carried on an immoral life. Sergeant Samuel Chilvers gave evidence that he had met with Mrs Joliffe on his return from South Africa in 1902 and accompanied her to her house in Portsmouth where misconduct was committed.
