An unhappy Christmas, 1856

jane · Senior Member

RE: An unhappy Christmas, 1856

Shane Bywaters · Guru

Hi Jane,

Yes, poor old Celeb - I guess the only positive spin you can put on a sorry story like this is that perhaps he was so drunk that he fell asleep quickly and possibly knew very little about it all.

Here's the article:

Caleb was actually my own Greatx4 Grandfathers brother, he would have been 66 when died.

Christmas time more generally though, Christmas Day quite often, does historically appear to be a time for more happier occasions.

I've seem several marriages on the 25th December, in fact, Caleb's parents, John and Sarah were married on Christmas Day 1779.

I've read a few different theories on why this date was used so often, some people have suggested there was a tax reduction if you were married on Christmas day, others say it was a time in the year when most people within families were able to get together, another theory is that for many people it was the only day in the year they had off of work!

Don't know if any of these have any foundation or if there are any formally recognised reasons?

Thanks,
Shane

jane · Senior Member

Here's a cautionary tale from Jackson's Oxford Journal of Saturday 3 January, 1857:

"STONESFIELD"
"An inquest was held at the Marlborough Arms public house, on Monday last, on the body of Caleb Oliver, a slate maker, who was found frozen to death early in the morning on the previous Saturday. From the evidence it appeared that deceased was upwards of 70 years of age, and was a man of intemperate habits, and had only the day before left the Woodstock Union, where he had been an inmate for the last two months; it seemed that during the day he had visited two or three public houses, where he partook of beer, and was last seen alive about eleven o'clock on Friday night at the Marlborough Arms, where he had a pint of ale, and left with another man, who parted with him outside the door. There seemed no doubt that deceased, after leaving the house alluded to, fell down after walking a few yards, and, being unable to rise or call for assistance, fell a prey to the inclement weather. After hearing the above facts, the Jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased was frozen to death, being at the time under the influence of liquor."

The moral is . . . if you venture out this Christmas, don't drink too much and watch where you're walking!

I hope you all have a safe, warm and happy Christmas, unlike poor Caleb.

Jane