Rescue at Egremont Pier

A couple of months ago, I came across a handwritten statement from among my dad’s things, written by our grandfather, Richard Jones.

LIVERPOOL CITY POLICE


Station: Central Fire Station
From: Con. 331. H. Jones

To: Brigade Sergeant “A” Watch
C.F.S.

O,52589,600000,6/21&72531)1362.

Subject { Rescue at Egremont Pier

I beg to report that whilst on rest day on August 7th and spending the day at Egremont., about 5:10 p.m. while standing on the sands I heard the cry of a man drowning. I immediately took off my coat and vest and went into the water and swam towards the drowning person. On arrival I found two and could easy see the one underneath was the worst and in danger of drowning. I got underneath him and brought him to the Pier by the first method of life saving and passed him to the people standing underneath the Pier, I then found he was a boy of about 8 or 9 years of age. As soon as I handed the boy over I heard a woman crying out ( save him ). On looking around I saw a man being carried away by the tide, I then swam towards him and when about 3 yards off him I saw him disappear. I then went underneath to try and find him. Failing to do so I came to the surface again and found he was alongside of me. I then got hold of him by the first method of life saving as he appeared to be unconscious, I also noticed a rowing boat close to, he was then pulled into the boat. On seeing him safe I swam back to the pier. I then saw a woman standing up to her waist in water, shouting and very hysterical, so I carried her underneath the Pier to the sands. On seeing the boat come in I laid her down on the sand and went to assist a constable to apply artificial respiration to the drowning man until the arrival of the ambulance. The constable then told me to accompany him to the hospital. On arrival I took off my clothes, emptied my pockets onto a table, waited for my clothes to be dried, in the meantime having a hot bath and the constable took my particulars. When my clothes were dried about 9:20 I was eager to meet my wife who was waiting and hurrying off I forgot my keys and whistle, which was attached. I did not discover my loss till I arrived home.

Richard Jones. Con 331. H.


I contacted the Fire Brigade Archivist and part of his reply was:
He received 6 medals 3 for service in WW1 & 1 from WW2 plus the City of Liverpool Police bronze and silver Good Service medals for 20 and 25 years service respectively.
His river rescues took place in 1923 and were reported in the local press.
All the back copies of the local papers are held on microfiche in the reference library on William Brown St.

I am still in touch with the Archivist and have had had some interesting information on my grandfather who sadly passed away before I was born and I'm 46 ! so I'll have to get the press info from the Library and fill in another piece of my family history jigsaw.
What made me smile was the fact ( it looks like ) he had to write this statement due to the fact he lost his keys and whistle, not because he'd help save two people from drowning in the Mersey !

Just thought you may be interested in a river rescue that happened 75 years ago. Martin

You must be very proud of your grandfather. A lovely story.

Thanks for the reply.
We all are, very much so, he was on the HMS Cumberland and his family bought him out, just before the outbreak of the First World War.....
He was then called up ! ! but survived.
It is amazing how other people, totally unrelated to your family, know more about our grandfather than we did e.g. The Archivists
but we do have photos and his medals, we also have his badge numbers and his whistle, not the one he lost ! !

Martin

Hmtmaj,
That police report,written in unemotional english ,encapsulates a spirit that seems to have died in recent years. The bravery that is unspoken in those offical lines shines bright in this age of paper tigers. Your granddad was a true hero and you have every right to be proud. It made me reflect on the actions of those two community police officers who stood at the edge of that park lake and watched while a young lad drowned . Would that the spirit with which your grandfather was blessed was present in the breasts of young people today,
Thank you for sharing your story,
BrianD

Hi Brian,
I tried to email you last night but your message box was full.
I came across your stories from last year, growing up in and around lodge lane and wanted to tell you that I found them fascinating, how life was back then and how Liverpool was. Another thing I wanted to ask was, Did you carry the stories on, as back at the end of November you stopped.
You were going on a ship and thought this was not the right forum for the rest of your tales ! Have you written more as I, like others were very interested. I hope you don't mind but I printed them off as a 58 page story and passed them to my friend, who was from that area ( but a few years after you ), he went to Tiber St school and thought your stories were fantastic, his dads reading them now.
So have you written more ?
Are you writing a book ?
empty your message box ! ! !
I'm happy I've managed to catch you online... I applaud you. :handclap:

Martin

hmtmaj, what an interesting story for you to discover. It's great to unearth family history and find out about past things.


I agree with you about Brian Daley's writings. I printed off some pages of his story for my step father to read as he was born and raised on Lodge lane.
We've all told Brain to write a book - it would be sold out in no time. :)

Martin,
We need to gang up on him. He has lots of fans waiting.:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Hello Martin

Wonderful to read this. You must be very proud of your grandfather. Actually I would say that he would have had to write the report anyway not only due to the fact that he lost his whistle and keys. I had to smile at the beginning of the statement. All those old police statements began "I Beg to Report." In fact, the section for news that we have in Ripperologist magazine is called "I Beg to Report" because of that.

All the best

Chris

Martin,Shy ,Lindy Lou ,
I have grown to love this site ,for the diversity of it's contributors ,as well as for the wealth of knowledge of this lovely old pile called Liverpool .
I did'nt start out to write my life story when I made those first few posting ,it just happened;and ,no I have'nt written any more than you have read . I write it straight to the site ,I have arough idea of what I am going to write ,but the emotions of memory take over as I sit at the keyboard and I have to go with the flow.
I do want to continue ,and I would like to continue on this site ,but I fear that I will not be true to my memory if I have to censor my past ,it would'nt be me you would read of . I never meant to get in this situation ,but the past cries out and wants to be heard........................but where do I tell my tale ? I am very grateful for all of your kind words ,I will pick up the story ,but I don't know if it will be here that I do it .
Thanks again
BrianD

Hey Martin, is that you Jonesy from St. John's House, Great story about your Grandpa. Chris is not having a word of it that you helped us paint that cediling you know :)

er, tell him, I was a young kid then but I haven't lost my memory yet ! !
They had a scaffolding up and it was a right pain painting it.
I know i did some, but I'll still claim the credit to my mates. :PDT10

I also had to climb out onto the scaffolding at the top from a window and was petrified ( for want of a better word / sentence ), then after a couple of days, I too was spinning on the guard rail, climbimg down internal courtyard like a monkey etc.

I do remember one lad getting hit by a brick on his head, from the top floor, no safety helmet, we were throwing down rubbish into the internal courtyardand he leaned out to shout something up - ouch :002:! !

Then shifting that sand - on my own ! !

also burning the wooden floor blocks with a red hot poker ( must have been 80's fashion ) and putting them on the wall ! !

I do have another tale which hapened about 12 months after we finished there, but that's another tale, maybe I'll email you, Mart

Hello again Mart.

Do you remember passing the time by playing A-Z of pop groups, it's very big on here now too.

I recall it was 1979/80 we were there, did you work right up until the end, when we were all shocked to find we'd been finished cos the government pulled the plug on it, do you know the full story? I'd like to hear your tale?

Other lads that were there were Franky Ryan, Frank Tasker, Alan Constantine, (who's 18th it was one day so we all p*ssed off to the pie shop pub (Byrom) and the bosses had to come and get us back (but not before they joined us in a pint) Chris Baccino, Ian, Gordon, Bernie, Dezzie, Steve, Sing, Dale, Stan, Nicky, Bob, Eric and Terry and A.J. (R.I.P. AJ)

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0...name_page.html


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