I am delighted to report that the Binns Family w e b s i t e a t www.thebinnsfamily.org.uk continues to attract a good deal of attention. Since the last Binns Connections was distrib-uted we have made all previous Binns News Letters available for download from the site. Thanks to the painstak-ing efforts of Mike Binns,

much valuable data on the Binns families of Guis-ley, Yorkshire has been added to our data base. With regard to funds, I am happy to say that we continue to be able to print and distribute hard copies of News Letters. Feedback on the contents of Binns Connections can only be describes as dis-appointing. Please do let

us know if you find any item to be particularly interesting or have any comment to make about any of the content. You can be sure to get a reply if you write to either me or your co-editor and you don’t need to include a stamped addressed en-velope. Best wishes to you all. David Binns, Editor

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Number 10

What’s New

T. David Binns,

103 Haswell Gardens,

North Shields,

Tyne & Wear,

NE30 2DR.

Alan P. Binns,

518 Colne Road,

Reedley,

Burnley,

BB10 2DL.

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After dinner we took the cars to go out to visit the Presidio, Fort Winfield Scott and the Golden Gate. The Presidio is the first place on the bay that was settled by the Spaniards. It is about three miles from the centre of the city, and is about a mile east of the Golden Gate. It is at the present time a Military Reservation of the U.S. There are large barracks for different branches of the services. The grounds near the officers quarters are laid out with nice flower beds and grass plots, but the quarters of the men look somewhat forlorn. I did not see many soldiers about, I suppose they were all at work. After looking about for a while we started for-ward to Fort Winfield Scott. It was one of the longest miles I ever walked across the salt meadows. We passed the Lifeboat Station and went in and saw the boats and rocket apparatus. Everything was as clean as paint and elbow grease could make it. Some time last year, during a fog, a steamer called the City of Chester was run down and sunk, right opposite the boat house. Some of the people on her had taken breakfast in Frisco and were back there for their dinner. Others went down in their cabins and were taken out afterwards by divers. The day we were there, it was difficult to imag-ine that such a calamity could have occurred and leave no trace. We passed yards where there were scores of cannons and gun carriages. They were old muzzle

loaders, some of them monsters, but sadly out of date. Fort Winfield Scott is situated on the point of land that forms the southern wall of the Golden Gate. The entrance to the Bay is about ½ mile wide, so the guns at this place command the passage. The Fort is built of Granite and iron. It has three gun platforms and places for light guns on the roof. On the inside the floors are arched and supported by big granite pillars. There are entrances to the magazines on each floor. I think there are about 100 guns in the place about 8 inches bore muzzle loaders per-haps 20 feet long. A modern Iron clad with her 80 ton guns would bring the whole place down in ten minutes. It was a famous place when it was built 30 years ago, but it is only useful for a show place at the present day. On the headland above it they are making earth-works and putting big breech load-ers in them, so that they will not need to get in a panic for fear of a Chinese iron clad coming to bom-bard San Francisco. At the time of the Chinese exclusion act passing 1888, the people of Frisco were terrified lest a Chinese fleet should come over to argue the point. They could scarcely sleep. I guess they feel better now. The Union Ironworks Co. of San Francisco are now at work building Men-of-War for Uncle Sam, so they ought to be able to fix up something to take care of themselves. After gaz-ing our fill at the Golden Gate, and watching several ships go by, we started back for town. I think the mile from the Fort to the Presidio was about equal to three ordinary miles. My poor feet suffered terri-bly, but we got over it somehow. I was glad when we got back to the place for street cars. We had a fine view of the bay as we were going back. It looks splendid with its ships and islands with the dis-tant mountains for a background. I think I could have looked at it a whole day and not been tired. I am not surprised at Californians think-ing so much of their state. I was

taken with it myself. After dinner that evening I met Frank Rennie for the last time be-fore starting east. We sort of made it up to meet in Chicago in 1892 all being well. He told me that he would introduce me to a new dish that would keep our friendship warm. We went to a restaurant and he ordered some tamales. He explained that they were a Mexi-can dish, and were much es-teemed by some of the people of Frisco. They came to the table all hot. They looked like a bunch of long leaves tied at both ends, and a string round the middle. The leaves are the husks of Indian corn. We took our forks and went to work to dissect them. First came two or three layers of leaves, then inside was a little pudding about the size and shape of a sausage. Inside, the pudding was filled with hot spices and a piece of chicken, it tasted first rate, but it nearly burnt the skin off your mouth. I would not doubt that they would do famously for a bad cold. After this we walked round the streets until midnight, then shook hands and went our respective ways, to meet again in 92 at the Exposition if possible. I went back to the Hotel and packed up my traps ready for the return trip. We were to leave San Francisco at 7 a.m. in the morning, to catch the train at Oak-land for the east. I tumbled into bed and took three or four hours sleep, to brace me up for my jour-ney. We were up early next morn-ing and ate our breakfast with a relish, our appetites were not spoilt by being journey proud. The last I saw of San Francisco was as she was swallowed up in the mist that was hanging round. We arrived in Oakland in due time and took our seats in the train. The journey to Sacramento was accomplished by 11 a.m. Here wemet ne of the

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Here is the third and final instalment of a

letter written by Arthur William Binns (1858-

1931) in 1890 from Springfield, Ohio to his

parents Wilkinson and Martha Binns, of

Oakworth, near Keighley, Yorkshire. In the

letter he describes a visit he made to

California under the auspices of The

Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and

Engineers. The original letter is now sadly

lost but this early transcription was made by

Joyce Kidd, to whom the editor is most

grateful.

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delegates that had started out the evening before, Wm. Merkle of St. Louis, Mo. We joined forces and went to dinner. That was always our first point of in-terest, a place to eat. A country looks much better when gazed at over a full stomach. The Cali-fornia State Fair was in pro-gress, so we started to take it in. We rode out on the street cars to the fair grounds. We looked round for the exhibit of machin-ery and produce but could not find them, so we stared at the Bulls, cows, goats, pigs, poultry, etc. till we were tired. We then went to the place where the races were going on. It did not take us long to get tired of that. We started back into town, and what we had to say of the State Fair was not very complimen-tary. We next went to the South-ern Pacific Shops, where the Railway Co. does all their repair-ing of Engines, cars etc. They are very large shops and filled with machinery of the most im-proved pattern. There are saw-mills, foundries, blacksmiths, boiler and machine shops. They must employ a large number of hands. It took us two hours to go through. Near the shop is a piece of stagnant water 5 or 6 acres. The natives call it Lake Como, and grin. It used to pro-duce lots of malaria, and at times half the men in the shops would be sick. The Railway Co. procured a lot of Australian Gum Trees and planted them around the shops. The malaria has dis-appeared. They are also dump-ing all their ashes and rubbish into Lake Como so in course of time it will be a thing of the past. Our next meal was dinner 6 p.m. We met a lot of Brotherhood men, they asked us if we had been to the Pavilion, we asked what that was, they told us and we concluded to take that in. We came across an Indian camp on our way there. There were probably 300 of them, big and little. They had come to town to visit the State Fair. When we got to the Pavilion, we found it to be

a big building of the Crystal Pal-ace style. It was one division of the State Fair containing the Arts, Manufactures etc. This turned out to be what we had been seeking in the afternoon. There were fine exhibits of the products of the state. In the machinery dept. there were steam pumps, windmills, traction engines, threshing ma-chines, reapers and mowers and all other kind of agricultural ma-chinery. The machine that struck me most was the “Reaper King” for cutting wheat. The machine requires 30 horses to pull it, it cuts a swathe 20 feet wide, gathers up the straw, thrashes it and sepa-rates the grain from the chaff, and runs the grain into bags ready for market. This machine is made at the Benica Agricultural works on Benica Bay. There are some smaller ones made but the “King” is the one used on the big ranches. A machine of that kind would be no use in Ohio where the farms are smaller. There were a few exhibits of Springfield firms, but not so many as I expected to see. The Art Galleries were large and well lighted. There was a show of pictures and statuary that you would scarcely expect to see in a pioneer country. One would think there would be no time for such things. But anyone coming to California and expecting to find a place barely civilized would be agreeably disappointed. There was a fine band discoursing sweet music, as the newspapers say, and lots of other attractions. The firm that Frank Rennie is with, had an exhibit there. It was put up in the shape of a portable house. All the decorations and trimmings were made of tools, guns, and all kinds of ironmongery, standing a little piece off it looks as though it were painted in fancy patterns, but get up close and you see different. I have never been to an exhibition at London, so I do not know what they do there, but judging from what I have seen, the people here show a lot more taste in getting up an attractive show. They will make their exhibit look nice, if it is noth-ing but shovels and horseshoes.

their exhibit look nice, if it is noth-ing but shovels and horseshoes. There was one stall showed noth-ing but nails, but they were worked up into fancy patterns. You stopped to look at the designs and you could not help but notice their nails, if they had just been set out in boxes, no one would have looked at them. The building was lit up by numerous electric lights, so everything showed off to good advantage. We stayed at the Pavil-ion until ten o’clock, as our train did not leave till midnight. To turn back a little. I will say that Sacramento is a curious looking town. All the houses have big verandas that come to the edge of the sidewalk, so when you are walking along in the business part of town you are under shelter. In the residence part, the houses have lots of shade, in the shape of verandas, and the gardens are filled with flowers. Palm trees grow out in the open air, from 10 to 30 feet high, so that speaks well for the mildness of the winters. They have a very fine courthouse and I think the State Capitol is here. With all its pleasant places I do not think I should like to live at Sacra-mento, it is too flat and there are marshes for miles to the west and south of it. Marshes may be good for ducks and geese, but they are not very healthy for men and women, still the death rate is said to be very low and I suppose that is what they judge the healthiness of a place by. We bought our tin of oysters and some biscuits to get ready for starvation etc. and then took our way to the depot. We left Sacramento at 12.25 and promptly fell asleep, to be continued in our next. I am going to send Leslie’s off in a few days, also pamphlet of Mon-terey. The Xmas cards came O.K. we were pleased to be remem-bered. I intend getting the long talked of camera, next month. With best love to all, we remain, yours affectionately, Arthur and Emma

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Sonnet to Williams and Binns Williams and Binns, the youthful patriots, Have sternly dared the tyrant’s iron frown, With manly fortitude- such as shall crown Them with a people’s heartfelt thanks, mid notes Of unexampled gratitude- from throats Whence emanate a nation’s voice, and show The people’s strength, that lays in justice low, And set up truth, the bane of all despots, Like opening flowers in some unsheltered spot, They bend beneath the bitter pelting storm; Still Springs rude blast will shortly be forgot. Its rage is past- it ceases to deform. Soon you will struggle through life’s mingled doom, Knowing that after death ‘tis yours to bloom. by James Vernon

James Jepson Binns and the or-gans for which he was renowned featured in Binns Connections Number 8. In the summer of 2005, one of his organs was offered for sale on the internet auction site ebay. The following details that have been extracted from the in-formation offered by the seller give some idea of the size and quality of what is said to be an incredibly impressive organ.

“Currently dismantled and in stor-age, when assembled the dimen-sions of this organ are; total width 12' 6", depth 10ft., height 18ft. central tower, 13ft. outer towers. Swell box: Height 7'9".Width 9ft. Depth 4'6" “Built in 1912 for a church in Brid-gend, Glamorgan and situated in a gallery at rear of the pulpit. The Console stop type is knobs with Ivory Labels”.

The organ has pedal, great and swell departments with a total of 19 stops.

If you want to hear what a Binns organ sounds like you could pur-chase the CD called ‘The Sym-phonic Organ’ from Priory Records Cat. No: PRCD 479 on which Adrian Partington plays the re-stored Binns organ of the Albert Hall, Nottingham.

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Published in the Northern Star, February 13th 1844.

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Pavillion in Bradford in 1921 and a year later at the Shay Gardens in Halifax as a pierrot.” Another very well-known Northern comedian, Albert Modley, was highly regarded by Ernest, who pre-sented him to the Morecambe holi-day makers during the 1930 sea-son.

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As related in Binns Connections No. 9, Jack Robinson Binns gained fame for being the first to use wireless telegraphy for sum-moning help to rescue passengers from a sinking transatlantic liner in 1905. Sadly, his claim to the Binns sur-name rest only on the maiden name of his mother Mary Anna Binns, who was born at Brigg in Lincolnshire on the 17th February 1864. Her parents were John Binns, who was born at Ashby, Lincolnshire, in about 1816, and Ann, probably also a Binns, who was born about 1825 in Whel-drake, Yorkshire. Interestingly, John was the son of William Binns who originated in Escrick, near York and only about 4 miles from Wheldrake, which provides strong evidence that this Binns family that emigrated to Lincolnshire from the York area maintained contact with their home ground over a period of at least ten years. John Robinson Binns, always known as Jack, was born in the Brigg Union Workhouse at

Virginia Utermohlen, grand-daughter of Jack and Alice, re-members that during and after WW 2 her family packed and sent food parcels to family in England and in 1949 she and her family visited aunts, uncles, and cousins in England. In return the English aunts knitted sweaters which were sent to Virginia and her sis-ter Grace. The last visit Jack and his family made to England was in 1954 or 1955 Jack died in New York in 1957.

Wrawby, Lincolnshire on the 16th September 1884, but by the time his mother Mary Anna married Fred Gamble at Holbeck near Leeds in December, 1891, she had two daughters, Laura and Annie. In the census of 1891 Mary Anna Binns was recorded as an unmar-ried housekeeper living in the home Fred Gamble in Grimsby. Also present were her daughters, Laura Gamble, age two, and four month old Annie Gamble. In the same census, Jack Robin-son Binns was recorded living with his Uncle William Binns, his mother’s brother, in Peterborough. The identity of Jack’s father is therefore open to speculation but it seems most likely to have been a Mr.Robinson, who for some un-known reason “disappeared” shortly after Jack was born. After Jack settled in New York he married a New Yorker, Alice Ann MacNiff and they had two daugh-ters, Grace A, and Alice Virginia.

No more sightings of the Bradford based inpressario,Ernest Binns, have been reported since his mention in Binns Connections No. 9. However C. J. Mellor, in his book “The Northern Music Hall”, attributes the ‘discovery’ of Max Miller to Ernest who “gave him a break at the old Lidget Green

We are indebted to Nicola Pike for providing much of the above information.

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Your editor makes no claims to sporting fame but was pleased to hear of the progress of Simon Binns on the Rugby field. His grandmother Lilian Vere talked proudly of him when I visited her in York during the summer. Since then I’ve learned a little about some other Binns’ and their sporting exploits. For instance…………….

I’m happy to report that V. Binns was the joint winner, with S. Gomer of the Howe Trophy, a silver plated cup presented to the winners of the Exeter under 16 Open Junior Girls Doubles Tournament. A previous winner was J. Jury and I believe that S. Gomer too was once a British hopeful. Alas, in spite of this early promise shown by V. Binns in 1979, there is no record of her winning the Ladies Singles at Wimbledon.

As you might expect the Binns family are represented on the cricket field. Alfred Philip Binns appeared in 5 Test Matches for the West Indies. He was wicket keeper and right-hand bat, born in Kingston Jamaica 24 July 1929. He played in five tests comprising eight innings, scored 66 runs and was not out once. He made his test debut against India at Port of Spain 21st Jan 1953 and his last test match appearance was against New Zealand on 9th Mar 1956 in Auckland.

The Sport of Kings has also had some attention from our family. In the early dec-ades of the 20th Century, horsesby the names of “Hunt Supper”, “Kings Letter”, and “Frequent” raced at various courses, including Lincoln, Newcastle, Liverpool, and York, in the colours of Mr. E. Binns .

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At about the same time H. W. Binns and M. A. Binns were distinguishing them-selves in the swimming pool, as representatives of the “Otters”, a London based club, in both individual and team events.

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Meanwhile, at Harrow, L.F. Binns was playing football and cricket for the School.

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We have our very own former World Champion in the form of Arnold Binns (b. 1884) who came from Hebden Bridge. In June 1930, he skated non-stop for 40 hours 13 minutes at Burnley – a world endurance record and in July the same year, he skated 912½ miles from John O' Groats to Land's End. Some months later, he skated for 61 hours 18 minutes at Preston – living on tripe, eggs, milk and Horlicks. In 1933, he skated for 177 hours 13 minutes only to break this record by 2 hours in a session at Batley. Arnold looks dressed more ap-propriately for golf rather than skating. Perhaps he was hop-ing, in his spare time, to compete for The Binns Cup, a trophy presented to the winner of the Denbigh County Golf Champi-onship.

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Bill noticed two photographs in the Historical Museum. What par-ticularly interested Bill was that the pictures were of Christopher John Binns and his son Richard. Enquiries revealed that Christo-pher and a man named Huxley had settled on a farm in Kangaroo Valley some time before 1860, after which Christopher sold his land and became a builder. In 1869 he secured the contract to build the first school in Kangaroo Valley at a cost of £212. In May, the same year, he informed the council that he would not be able to finish on schedule due to prob-lems with materials and then in October he had a severe fall which laid him up for a month. The school finally opened in 1871, ini-tially with eight pupils but after only three weeks numbers had swollen to twenty-seven.

In 1872 the first School Board was elected and included among the five members was Richard Binns, the eldest son of Christopher who farmed close by at Beaumont where he raised a large family. All his children were baptized at the Church of The Good Shepherd, which was Church of England. Included in the subscribers toward the building of the church had been Mr. Binns, R. H. Binns, and W. Binns.

The Descendants Book for the church contains the signatures of Kennith Binns, a great great grandson of Christopher Binns and of Ian Binns, a great grandson of Christopher Snowden Binns. Bill was touched to learn that the lady who looks after the Historical Society in Kangaroo Valley was born on the farm that Christopher Binns bought in the mid-nineteenth century. The appearance of the name Snowden in this story may indicate a Cowling origin for some of these people.

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Bill Mirfield has very kindly passed on this information that he dis-covered while visiting Kangaroo Valley, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.

Fred’s account of travel from New South Wales to his home in the north of Queensland will appear in the next Number of Binns Connections.

When John Binns (b.1814) of Cowling married Phoebe Smith at Skipton Registry Office in Septem-ber 1850 his son James by a for-mer wife was already in his mid-teens. James married Caroline Thompson at Bolton Abbey Chapel in 1858 and they settled in Burnsall where they raised a fam-ily of five sons and two daughters between 1859 and 1881. Their youngest son, Arthur (b. 1870) married Rosetta Barrett in 1896 and Fred Binns was the first prod-uct of their union. Fred turned out to be a colourful character and it is his story that is outlined below. Fred Binns managed to enlist in the West Yorks Regiment around 1916 at the start of World War I but had the misfortune to be cap-tured by the Germans and ended up in a prisoner of war camp (details not known). After his re-lease he married Maude Barnsley in 1921 and in 1926 they immi-grated to Australia with their son Donald (b.1922). He travelled around a lot and wrote home to his youngest brother Jack (b. 1916) in 1930. Part of this letter has been found by Jacks daughter and recounts his travels from Syd-ney up through Queensland to settle in the far north. A transcript of one of his letters mentions sev-eral place names and provides a vivid account of the wild life and scenery. He eventually worked in the Mount Isa copper mining region in Queensland, but his letters make no mention of his wife Maude. Whatever became of Maude we may never know, but Fred met up with a lady called Florence Harte with whom he had two children, Gerald (b. 1932) in Mount Isa and Anne Rosetta (b. 1936) in Bris-bane. Fred’s complex family life remained a mystery until January 2004 when Anne Rosetta (now Coverdale) finally sought out her

father, via the internet and the Cowling web site. I was then in a position to tell her of her family’s roots in Cowling and we exchanged photos and information about her father. I was even able to tell her of a brother Donald she never knew. Remarka-bly her “new” brother Donald was living not far from her brother Ge-rald. I put her in touch with Donald’s son Gary who was also living in the Brisbane area. Fred had kept in touch over the years with his eldest sister Lily and youngest brother George and when my mother, Mary, George’s twin sister, gave birth to a son, me, George passed the news on to Fred. It was 1940 and the last time we ever heard from Fred. When he wrote his congratulations to my mother and father he added, "I suppose you got a shock to learn that I had again joined the army. Well it would appear that the old spirit of adventure is still alive with me and as you will see by the photo I am sending you under separate cover. I am looking in fine condition and believe me, I feel as well as I look, and if fate decrees I must once more have a smack at "Jerry", well I think I can give as good an account as I did last time, the difference being I think there is really something to fight for this time"Fred enlisted initially in the Home Defence but later was shipped overseas to Sin-gapore. His son Donald, who was now eighteen years old, was a ground engineer in the Australian Air-force during the war. Anne obtained all Fred’s army re-cords and although they require some deciphering they recount a horrendous catalogue of hospital visits in various location in the Malayan peninsular and Java where he was a prisoner of war from 1942 until he was "recovered

from the Japanese" on the 20th August 1945.He remained in hos-pital, sometimes aboard hospital ships, until discharged in July 1946. Anne’s story is also rather tragic as she was in an orphanage from 4 months old till she was 18 when she had a child who was taken from her, and lived not far from her, near her other daughters but she did not find this out till 43 years had passed. Gerald too was in an orphanage but went to live with his father briefly at some time maybe after the war. Anne who has six children, ten grandchildren, and up to now three great-grandchildren of her own has now discovered another brother and ten cousins thanks to her determination to unravel her family history. I met Fred’s son Donald 10 years ago and was told that Fred had died in 1976. After the war Fred had become a Jehova’s Witness and all contact with the family was severed. When I asked about his father’s experi-ences he told me that awful things had happened to him and he would not talk about them. It was good to meet my cousin for the first time and hopefully I may meet my "new" cousins someday.

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– We wish to thank Arthur Evans for writing this interesting account of his Uncle Fred and the discovery of new cousins in Australia.

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Kirk Rawnsley Binns was the son of Frankland Kirk Binns and his wife Margaret. In the census of 1881, seventeen-year-old Frank-land Kirk Binns is recorded as liv-ing in Lower Town St., Bramley, with his parents John and Sarah Binns, and was working as a rail-way booking clerk. John, the head of the household, was a shoe-maker, born in about 1825 in Thorpe Arch. When Kirk was old enough, he married Eleanor and the couple set up home at Middleholme, Jackson’s Court, Pontefract until, upon the outbreak of war, he joined the Royal Navy. His time as an Able Seaman was tragically ended when he was blown to

pieces aboard the H.M.S. Princess Irene on 27th May 1915. The Prin-cess Irene was launched on 20th October, 1914. She had been built as a liner for the Canadian Pacific Railway, but was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for mine laying duties and was based at Sheer-ness in Kent. Aboard the ship, sta-tioned in the River Medway on the fateful day, were the crew of 222 officers and men as well as 80 petty officers from Chatham and 76 dockyard workers. They were preparing mines to be laid two days later when, at 11.15 a.m; she blew up in a massive explosion. Of those on board there was only one survivor, sadly not Able Seaman Binns.

The few bodies that were found were buried in Woodlands Ceme-tery, Gillingham, and the rest are commemorated on a memorial that stands opposite Sheerness Railway station. It seems that inadequately trained personnel had been hurriedly priming the 500 mines on board and although there were rumours circulating of sabotage by German spies the inquiry concluded that a faulty priming pistol had been the cause. A commemorative plaque and medals presented to Able Seaman Binns’s family have re-cently been offered for sale on the internet auction house ebay.

Lincoln Beacon, April 1885

Last Tuesday morning at 5 o’clock, W.F. Binns, proprietor of the Binns’ House, in this place, built a fire in his kitchen stove and while he was at work in another part of the house, the ceiling of the kitchen and the upper floor caught fire from a defective flue. Hearing a suspicious noise and smelling smoke, Mr. Binns returned to the kitchen only to find the upper part in flames. He immediately devoted all his energies to rousing the in-mates, 22 in number. A few were awake when the fire started but a heavy south wind was behind the fire, which started in the south side of the two-story frame building, and wild stampede for the outside was the result as soon as the in-mates realized the state of affairs. Three guests who slept in one room threw their trunks out of a window and among them lost only a watch. Four men who slept di-rectly over the kitchen stove left their room as the floor and beds

went through. The silly remarks in the Banner about M.A. McIlvaine are lying and unjust. He left his room with his companions and had he hesitated for a second to hunt in the blinding smoke for his clothes, would never have left the building alive. He was the last one to awake and for that reason alone saved none of his effects. Every person in the building had a close call and all lost something, and none got out fully dressed. In addi-tion to the clothes each lost, Mead Hughes lost $10 cash, E. Biggs $49.50 cash, and F.J. Stanesbeck of Odell, Neb., $320 cash, two gold watches and a revolver. An Emporia man lost $50 in cash. Miss Emma Kraut was seriously burned about the head, face and hands and fainted away in a hall-way with fire falling upon her. John West, of Minneapolis, rescued her and was painfully burned while doing so. T.S. Kerns, a printer in our employ, was burned about his

face and his hands badly blistered, and as he is unable to work the Beacon is short of help this week. Hard work alone saved Cool-baugh’s store, Robinsons’s Red Livery and all the adjacent busi-ness part of town. Large quantities of fire were blown down 4th street and whirled up the alleys and sev-eral fires lighted by these embers were extinguished on the north side a quarter of a mile away. It was the subject of general con-gratulations that the erection of the new Beacon office has been de-layed, as had it been up, Cool-baugh’s corner and the Red Livery could not have been saved. Imme-diately after the fire a subscription paper for the immediate relief of Mr. Binns and family (who are highly esteemed) was largely signed. Not over $10 worth of property was saved of the house-hold effects.

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The Binns Family News Letter No. 2 published in October 1997 con-tained an interesting account of “Post Mortem Photography” in which some of the details of poor Maud’s short life are recounted. Tragedy however was no stranger to Maud’s father John William Binns who was a son of Sutcliffe Binns and according to the 1881 census was born in Haworth in about 1857. Also, in 1881, at home with Sutcliffe and his wife Martha at Clarendon Road, Ha-worth were his unmarried brothers Sedgwick and Walter. John Wil-liam had already left home and married Mary Ann Heaton from nearby Keighley and was living at Cross Roads, about halfway be-tween Keighley and Haworth, where he was occupied as a gro-cer. Two younger siblings of John William, sister Sabina and brother Benson, had respectively died in March and April 1871 at his par-ents former home in Albion Place, Haworth. They were buried in

grave D 250 in Haworth church-yard. The loss of a brother and sister, both under six years old, must have been an unpleasant experience for the fourteen-year-old John William. That the death of his little sister affected John William is suggested by the fact that his first child, born to him and his wife Mary Ann, in about July 1880, was named Sa-bina. However it was not to be long before events took another tragic turn. Mary Ann, his wife of very few years, died on 28th March 1882. She was buried in the churchyard at Haworth in grave D 547, to be followed in due course by her father, the coachman Robert Heaton in 1889 and her mother Elizabeth in 1908. Happily and presumably out of the necessity of having a carer for his four year old daughter Sabina, John William married Christiana Park of Ilkley, on the 9th January 1884, at the Wesleyan Chapel,

Ilkley. Christiana was about three years younger than John William and although she was born in Keighley, she was living with her father, Ridsdale Park, who in the 1881 census was recorded as a farmer in Ilkley. On August 1st., 1886, at 15 Haworth Road, Lees, the first child of John William and Christiana was born. She was called Maud Mary Binns and her death on 21 September 1888 lead to the decision to have the photo-graph taken that was the subject of the article referred to above. From the inscription on the reverse of the photograph it seems that John William Binns had a son Vernon, but what became of him, Sabina, and their parents is not yet known. Hopefully they all lived happily ever after but as the above story demonstrates life was very precarious in the late 19th century.

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1) 1866 Shields Daily News April 6; at United Prebyterian Church, Hexham on 5th Alfred Hume, son of the late James Hume of Newcastle, to Cornelia Spencer, daughter of James Spencer of Hexham. Ceremony conducted by Rev. Joseph Binns, Ashton under Lyne, uncle of the bridegroom 2) Thomas Binns birth found in Army Returns 1796-1880. Born Gibraltar 1836-7, p. 179. is at 1 Larchfield Road, Hunslet in 1881 with his wife Matilda born in Leeds. He is a labourer in iron works. 3) Illustrations on the covers of The Dalesman in 1948 were by Dan Binns. It is reported on the Binns List that Dan was the father of David Binns, the well-known wildlife artist 5) The History of Huddersfield Town Football Club was written in 1984 by George S. Binns. 6 ) Percy N. Binns was a solicitor in Howden, East Yorks. 1868-1897. In the 1881 Census he was a 14 year-old pupil at a boys Boading School at 28 Fairfield Sq., Droylsden, Lancashire. The head of the household, was a Mr. Rea, who was a Moravian Minister. 7) The Western Flying Post and Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury for 19 Jan 1778 carried an advertisement for Jonas Binns’s boarding school at Looe, Cornwall.

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Death 16th July 1872 registered in Horton, Bradford, Yorks. At Denhome, Thornton, Rebecca Binns, age 50 years, wife of William Binns, a powerloom weaver, of phthisis. Marriage 6th February 1842 registered at Calverley in the Parish of Calverley, Yorks., Joseph Asquith, age 22, bachelor, stone mason of Pudsey son of John Asquith, clothier, to Esther Binns, 21, spinster of Pudsey, daughter of William Binns, cordwainer, at the Parish Church by banns. Both bride and groom marked. Witness Richard Pearson signed, witness John Binns marked.

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1) Who is the Charles Binns who co-authored with R. E. Marsden “Principles of Educational Woodwork” Pub-lished 1904? 2) Who were the Binns whose catalogue for “Boilers and Accessories for Central Heating” was published in 1931. The Company was called Binns and Speight Ltd. 3) Who were Joseph Moore Binns and his wife Flo Ann Noble Binns. Flo Ann is buried in cemetery in Carndongh, in the far North of Ireland. She was born 1822,died 1894

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Advert in Sunderland Echo 21 Jan 1848 Selling off at reduced prices (owing to the advanced state of the season) H. Binns. Remaining stock of furs etc. To purchasers of sables the present offers a favourite opportunity, as some fine specimens still remain unsold, which will be offered at extremely low prices. H. B. has recently purchased a lot of Union Damasks, which he is able to offer from 7d. per yard, also a decided lot of All Worsted at 13d. – a great bargain. High Street, Sunderland.

Donated by Maggie Hartley

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We are grateful to Ian A. Binns and Peach Digital Ltd . for their

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never was so widely known as her husband afterwards became in pub-lic life.” The paper went on to de-scribe how he made a success of sugar farming and was able to amal-gamate his business with that of Mr. Robert Acutt and Mr. Scotch Wilson. In about 1868 he returned briefly to England to float the combined enter-prise as the Umhlanga Valley Com-pany. The Times of Natal, Weekly Edition, for 10 June 1899 mentions that he was nominated to the legislative council in 1879 and was elected representative for Victoria County in 1883. In December 1893 he had travelled to India to try and secure an agreement for the compulsory repatriation of Indians whose inden-tures had expired. He was reported to have been a keen observer and admirer of the activities of the Soci-ety of Friends. The paper also states that Percy Binns was his only son, another son having died in in-fancy.

I recently had the good fortune to be able to visit the British Li-brary Newspaper Collection at Colindale London and among other things I was able to find information about Henry Binns (1837-1899) that was new to me.

The Natal Mercury, 7 June 1899 pointed out that Sir Henry Binns had been born only seven days after the accession of Queen Victo-ria and that had he lived three weeks longer he would have cele-brated the 62nd year of his age. He had left England in June 1858 shortly before his 22nd birthday with his relations, the late Mr. John Acutt and his four daughters. They left London bound for Natal on the 1st June, aboard the ‘Early Morn’, a ship of only 226 tons, under the care of Captain Lowry. After a voy-age of 105 days they reached Port Natal on the 14th September. Three years later he married his eldest cousin, Miss Clara Acutt, sister of Mr. Noble Acutt. Their son Mr. Percy Binns (who also married a cousin, Miss Ethel Laura Acutt) is now a member of the firm of Shep-stone, Wylie, and Binns, solicitors of Durban. “Mrs. Binns from the birth of her child, however, has been an invalid, and therefore

The Natal Mercury, 9 June 1899 records that the Natal Indian Congress placed “on record its sense of deep sorrow for the loss of Sir Henry Binns, Prime Minis-ter and tenders its humble sym-pathy to Lady Binns in her sad bereavement”. A reply was for-warded to Mr. Abdul Kadir. The newspaper reports of the funeral at Fort Napier Military Cemetery mention the following as the chief mourners; Mr. Percy Binns, Mr. Leonard Acutt, Mr. E. l. Acutt, and Mr. G. W. Swales, and Mr. And Mrs. William Acutt sent a wreath. Unfortunately, with the exception of Percy, no relationship with the deceased is given.

In all the accounts I read there was not one mention of a daughters. David Binns

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I would like to thank all those who have made significant contributions to the content of this News Letter, especially Arthur Evans and Bill Mir-field.

My thanks also to my wife Elaine for her enthusiasm and energy in laying out the copy and to my sis-ter Marion for volunteering to proof read.

Thank you too to Alan P. Binns for continuing to perform the task of distributing hard copies. Of course I take full responsibility for all errors and omissions