1831 Coronation Celebrations

1831 Coronation - Celebrations in Flookersbrook

_{Painting of a bonfire lit for the 1831 coronation}

A painting in the British Museum showing a bonfire lit for the celebration of the coronation of King William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831 was featured in the Society's Annual Report of 2015. A newspaper account of the event has now been found in the Chester Courant of 13th September 1831 which in spite of its flowery language gives an interesting picture of what happened on the day.

Newspaper report from the Chester Courant 13 September 1831

Transcription of the newspaper report from the Chester Courant 13 September 1831

Notes

The diaries of the painting's artist, Edward William Cooke R.A. show that he could not have been in the area at the time.

The Blue Jacket King refers to the colour of the Admiral's uniform King William wore at the ceremony.

It would appear that the men had a roast sheep dinner at 3 o'clock, and the women and children had tea at 5.00.

Tithe map of Newton - sites of buildings in red; today's places in black

It has never been clear where The Green in Flookersbrook was located. The schedules accompanying the Tithe Map drawn up only a few years later do not list it and the location of the Flookersbrook Pits and the then 30 or so properties rule out likely possibilities, although the water over which the two cannons were fired seems obvious.

No mention is made of The Ermine, its landlord nor well-known families from the area. No information has been found about Mr Shand of Liverpool or Mr W Beck.

However Dr Moor was the son of Maria Moor who inherited the land on the South side of Hoole Road on which the terraces of Moor Park were built in the 1850s (see 'The Shell Garage site – Moor House and Moor Park' article on Hoole Road page). His full name was Henry Trowbridge Moor, and his father was a naval officer who served under Sir Thomas Trowbridge and was lost at sea in the Indian Ocean when the "Blenheim" sank in 1807. Henry had been born in 1803, went to Rugby School and St John's College, Cambridge where he studied medicine. He was appointed Physician at the Chester Infirmary in 1831, having made a very public application and acceptance.

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  Dr Moor's application for position as Physician at Chester Royal Infirmary 31 December 1830

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  Transcription of Dr Moor's application for position as Physician at Chester Royal Infirmary 31 December 1830

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  Dr Moor's acceptance of the position as Physician at Chester Royal Infirmary 27 January 1831

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  Transcription of Dr Moor's acceptance of the position as Physician at Chester Royal Infirmary 27 January 1831

Memorial to Dr Moor in Chester Cathedral

Dr Moor became President of the Mechanics Institute in Chester, cataloguing and expanding its library. He sought to open a museum at the Water Tower, the Gentleman's Magazine reporting that he paid 13 guineas for a case of stuffed birds to go there. He contracted scarlet fever and died in 1837 aged 34.

A memorial to him in Chester Cathedral is inscribed with the words "cut off at the opening of his professional career by fever caught in attendance of the poor". Records of St John's Church show that he was interred there in the altar tomb of his grandfather Thomas Tolver and his aunt Frances Bagnall; his mother Maria Moor, although recorded on the tomb at St John's was buried at Plemstall Church.