The Postcard
A Valentine's Series postcard that was posted in Warrington using a ½d. stamp on Saturday the 25th. March 1905. The card was sent to:
Miss L. Wells,
Cherry Tree Cottage,
Knockholt,
Nr. Sevenoaks,
Kent.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear L,
Just a line to say I am
all right,
I am afraid I am not
filling your album up
much but I won't forget
you.
This is the entrance to
the park here.
With love,
Your loving brother,
Bert."
Warrington Town Hall
Warrington Town Hall was originally called Bank Hall. It is flanked by two detached service wings at right angles to the house. The house and the service wings are Grade I listed buildings.
The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner declared it to be "the finest house of its date in south Lancashire".
History of Warrington Town Hall
Bank Hall was built in 1750 for Thomas Patten. The architect was James Gibbs, and it was the last important building of his design to be completed in his lifetime.
When Bank Hall was built, it stood in open countryside to the north of the town of Warrington.
The Patten family were important merchants in the town. Thomas' father had made the lower River Mersey navigable from Runcorn to Bank Quay, Warrington, and had established a copper smelting factory at Bank Quay.
In 1870 John Wilson-Patten, 1st. Baron Winmarleigh, sold the hall to Warrington Borough Council for £9,000 (equivalent to £920,000 in 2021), along with 13 acres (5.3 ha) of surrounding land for a further £15,000 (equivalent to £1,530,000 in 2021).
Almost all of the land was opened as Warrington's first public park in 1873. A road bearing the name Wilson Patten Street, runs parallel to the road on which the town hall stands.
When the house was built, it was surrounded by a high wall. In 1895 this was replaced by iron railings and a fine set of gates.
Architecture of the Town Hall
The hall is built in Palladian style and has three storeys and a hipped slate roof. The front (south) façade has nine bays. The ground floor is in rusticated ashlar, as are the central three bays, while the outer three bays on each side are in brick.
The window frames, which appear to be made of wood, are made from a combination of copper and iron, painted white.
The central area consists of a portico with four large ¾-attached Composite columns with a pediment bearing the arms of the Patten family.
An open two-arm staircase, with a wrought iron balustrade, leads to the main entrance on the first floor. The north side of the hall is entirely of brick and is simpler.
The whole house is built on a foundation made of blocks of copper slag from the Pattens' smelting works. The detached service wings each have 13 bays and are similar to each other.
Interior of the Town Hall
The entrance hall is spacious and contains coats of arms of the Patten family, a stone chimney piece and a mosaic floor. The floor replaced a wooden one in 1902, and was laid by Italian workmen.
The floor includes the initials J. W. P. for John Wilson Patten, L. W. for Lionel Whittle, who was the town clerk at the time, T. L. for Thomas Longdin, the borough engineer, and Q. V. for Queen Victoria.
The former great hall and music room have been combined to form the council chamber. The former ladies retiring room and the dining room are now committee rooms, and the reading room is used as the mayor's parlour.
Park gates
The Park Gates
The gates were made in cast iron by the Coalbrookdale Company at Ironbridge and were shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. It is believed that they were originally commissioned as a gift to Queen Victoria, but she declined them.
They were seen at Ironbridge in 1893 by Frederick Monks, a member of the council, and he offered them as a gift to Warrington Borough Council.
The gates were formally opened on the 28th. June 1895. On each side of the gates is an ornate screen which contains four columns. On top of each column is a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory.
In the centre of the archway over the gate are the arms of Warrington Borough Council. The gates, piers and associated lamps are listed at Grade II*.
The park was initially surrounded by iron railings, but these were removed in 1942 to provide iron for use in the war effort.
A Proposed Merger
So what else happened on the day that Bert sent the card to his sister?
Well, on the 25th. March 1905, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology both announced a proposal for unification of the two universities.
However the Harvard-MIT merger never took place.
Maurice Barrymore
The day also marked the death at the age of 55 of Maurice Barrymore.
Maurice Barrymore was the stage name for Indian-born Herbert Blythe.
Maurice was a British stage actor and patriarch of the Barrymore acting family. He died of complications from syphilis.
Barrymore was performing at the Lion Palace Theatre in New York when he suddenly departed from his monologue and shocked the audience with what was described as "a blasphemous attack on the Jews" and a rant of "such an emotional pitch that tears rolled down his face."
After further erratic behavior, Barrymore was committed to Bellevue Hospital by a court order obtained by his son John.
In reporting his death on the 25th. March 1905, The New York Times recalled that:
"He was playing a vaudeville engagement
[in 1901 at a Harlem theatre when he suddenly
dropped his lines and began to rave."
The following day he became violent, and was taken to Bellevue insane ward by his son John, who lured him under the pretense of starring in a new play.
At Bellevue and later Amityville he was diagnosed with the lingering effects of syphilis, an incurable disease at the time. During his stay at Bellevue he almost strangled his daughter Ethel during a visit.
Ethel, through her early success on the stage, paid for her father's stay in the institutions. A trained boxer, Barrymore retained his strength; in a scuffle with one of the Bellevue attendants, he picked the man up over his head and threw him into a corner.
In 1905, Barrymore's son Lionel visited him at Amityville and the subject of San Francisco came up. Maurice called Lionel a "goddamned liar" and stated that San Francisco had been destroyed by fire and earthquake.
Lionel writes in his autobiography that his father had foreseen the great 1906 earthquake a full year before it took place.
Barrymore died at Amityville in his sleep, and Ethel, after seeking permission from her uncle John Drew, had him buried in the family plot at Glenwood Cemetery in Philadelphia.
When the cemetery later was closed, his remains were moved to Mount Vernon Cemetery, also in Philadelphia, where his first wife and her family are buried.
Barrymore was fondly remembered, and his death was widely reported in the country's newspapers. He had lived long enough to see all three of his children enter the family business of acting.
