A NEWSPAPER report into the tragic suicide of a 14-year-old Worcester nursemaid 132 years ago has proved not all bad news for local author Bob Blandford.
The city had been shocked by the tale of Amy Mason, live-in nursemaid to a Pump Street leather shop owner, when she took her own life by wading into the Severn in 1885, leaving her two wailing charges unharmed on the riverbank at Pitchcroft.
The daughter of coal merchant Hannah Mason who later went on to run The Anchor in Diglis, her heart-rending story is one of thousands included in Bob’s latest book ‘Bob Backenforth’s Worcester Pubs Then and Now vol iii’ launched just nine days before a request for more information about the incident was posted to FB group Worcestershire Memories.
It sparked a flurry of photo exchanges between Bob and Cornwall-based artist Sally Ronchetti, née Mason, the girl’s great-great-great niece.
Included in the exchanges were Worcester Chronicle cuttings of the tragic case, photographs of the Mason family, carefully preserved in Sally’s collection of family-related archives and images of The Anchor, then and now.
“These are the kind of pictures that you’d kill for in the preparation of a book, but they appeared quite out of the blue, just a couple of weeks too late,” said ex-journalist Bob who 97 years after the event, went on to edit one of the newspapers which carried the sad tale.
The book’s launch has sparked a spate of requests for Bob to present talks and slide shows of several pubs’ histories – the first of which just happens to be The Anchor on Monday.
“There were gaps in the presentation, several of which have now been plugged with Sally’s incredible archive stuff,” he said.
“The timing could have been better, but the amazing coincidence that it happened at all will give the show an added bonus.”
The chain of events also echoes a similar exchange exactly a year ago at the launch of Bob’s third book ‘The Spike’, the history of Worcester City Police.
“We’re talking a clear case of déjà-vu here as David Phillips, whose great-great-great grandfather John had been chief of the City force between 1840 and 1849 just turned up with an original water colour portrait of the man himself.
“Talk about a run of amazing coincidences!”
Bob’s presentation on the history of The Anchor, Diglis, is at the same location on Monday, December 4 from 7pm and admission is free.
