Broacher Family, Severn Watermen, British Newspaper Archives (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, May 08, 2012, 04:17 (4578 days ago) @ Jefff

Further evidence that the Broachers are a long line of Watermen can be seen by searching the huge BNA database. As yet I haven't subscribed to obtain full articles #, but the site permits free searching in advance which can give tantalising snippets, such as these found for "Broacher" within "Gloucester Citizen (1850-1949)" records:

Sat 24 Jun 1882 THE POLICE COURTS [1647 Words article]
"... Thomas Broacher, a waterman, of Framilode, were summoned at the instance of Henry Awre, for illegal fishing in the Severn on the 8th June. —Walter Cadogan was also ...

Wed 18 May 1887 GLOUCESTER COUNTY COURT [578 Words]
"John Broacher v. Rufus Hailing.—Mr. Barber for plaintiff and Mr. Morton York for defendant. —Plaintiff claimed £2 for breach of contract. It was stated that ..."

Tue 21 Jul 1903 SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION CENTENARY [1924 Words]
"Thomas Broacher, a mariner, said the body was that of his father, Thomas Broacher, aged 59, mate of the trow Venus, of which witness's ..."

Sat 10 Nov 1900 LITTLEDEAN PETTY SESSIONS [420 Words article]
"Frank Broacher and Charles Rudge, of Framilode, watermen, were summoned by Frederick Henry Bnbb, of Court Farm, Westbury, for trespassing upon lands via his..."

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?frontpage=false&newspaperti...

# Please see my post elsewhere re the BNA website.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=entry&id=36876

I had hoped to find a reference to William James's drowning on the Mersey, however despite using various searches I haven't found a specific report. Best plan appears to be to refine & filter by date and region, bearing in mind the Liverpool & Manchester newspapers are full fo international shipping news as in those days they were hugely busy ports of world importance. The nearest hits I could find were:

"Western Mail Wed 21 Feb 1877 South Glamorgan, Wales

TERRIFIC GALE [2036 Words]
" e a 8 Mersey was most disastrous, and numbers of I V vessels went ashore, others collided, and many i lost masts and spars; but the most serious casualty was the ... ?"
(as you can see the site clearly relies on automated word recognition, and sometimes it makes errors !.. but you can get the gist of it)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Belfast News Wed 21 Feb 1877 Antrim, Northern IrelandT

THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH AND IRISH INDUSTRY [2986 Words]
“ were drowned. The remainder, consisting of eight men, were saved by the lifeboat. Several collisions have taken place in the Mersey, ..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preston Chronicle Sat 24 Feb 1877 Lancashire, England

TERRIFIC GALE [465 Words]
“ f the Mersey, and five of her crew and two unlucky stowaways were drowned. In the Menai Straits, yesterday's gale, although of brief ..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clearly that whole area of the Irish Sea had suffered serious gales and it would perhaps be days before the full losses were known ans reported ?.

I had hoped to perhaps find details in this excellent website for all things Merseyside, but sadly no, although there are numerous old newspaper reports of serious gales and shipping looses within the area thro january & February 1877.
http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/shipping1860to1879.html