The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-25 00:00:00

(7(-,-

-e )

'. c, 6 _

,e__- -a

.~_ ~_~

SP-4
ren,er'e,A. Amin .
47: • , .
lA, nil•
1,1 ,
• .
1, .4
*9. I
du
• •ur L'` 41k1-11,4544
_ _
qr 4-- /
• .
42,„, • ,
X 2,- ".„.144\'' _ •
4 1 .44
•
• tg,
id 7
''Vv4?-lift4.4 0:41
• 4.
,11 4
rxe • ,

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD•

in Cupid's-alley, off Deansgate, Manchester. He
had been accustomed to tak his pot of beer and
smoke his short pipe under Betsy's roof, and had
at least taken a decided fancy to Betsy herself.
He was a good-looking young man was Harry
Stokes, for although btill undersized, and innocent
of whiskers, a face as smooth as a woman's he was
stoutly built, had a capacious depth of chest,
and a pair of hips which gave an unusual profit to
his tailor. Betsy then looked with- favour on
Harry's suit, for he had the reputation of being a
good, steady workman, and was doing pretty well
as a bricksetter. It was resolved that the twain
should become one flesh, and so to church they hied.
Harry discharged the duties of bridegroom at
church to perfection ; but when the widow got him
home there was a terrible row. The night was
spent in downright quarrel and fight, and the result
was a summons taken out by Betsy against her hus-
band for assault, for which he was condemned to
the New Bailey for one or two months. During
the hearing of the case, Betsy with great vehemence
declared that her husband was not a man, and that
she therefore would not live with him. The case
created great amusement and gossip at the time,
and formed the; subject of popular ballads, which
were sung and hawked about the streets of Man-
chester. " Harry" Stokes, on issuing from the New
Bailey, was considerably persecuted by those little
gamins who know so well how to torment street
celebrities, while he was also the object of much
curious speculation among his brethren of the
trowel. He, however, maintained a discreet silence
as to his sex, threw out hints that the woman he
had married was mad, and as the most effective
proof that she was a malevolent libeller, he soon
afterwards married another widow rejoicing in the
name of Frances Collins, who was some 15 or 20
years his senior, and who had a grown up son and
daughter living with her. His connexion with this
woman, with whom he lived until he committed
suicide, is the most mysterious phase of this myste-
rious history. She declares, with solemn earnest.
ness, that she did not know until informed the other
day that the person with whom she had been living
for 25 years, sleeping together night after night in
the same bed, was a woman, and her own children
looked upon Stokes as theirstep-father. She asserts
that she took Stokes into her house in the first in-
stance out of pity, to shield him from the persecu-
tion
to which he was subjected. It may be that,
though out of a sense of shame, the old woman
thus attempts to conceal her knowledge of
Stokes's sex, she did in reality know from the first
that the person was a woman, and that she was in
all probability, induced by Stokes to consent to the
union, in order that the appearance of married life
might dispel the rumours afloat, and enable him to
live "in peace and quietness." Whether or not that
was the inteation; the acquaintance brought about
that result; for although there were surmises that
" Harry" Stokes was a woman, and he was con-
stantly the object of curious glances, he escaped the
open molestation to which he had been previously
subjected. Harry and Fanny took a beer-house in
Corporation-street, Salford, where they lived for
two years, when they " flitted" to Quay-street, near
Deansgate, turning a private house into a beer-
house. At this house they stayed eleven years,
during part of which time they held a second beer-
house in Camp-street, off Deansgate, which they
called " The Pilgrim's Rost," and which was super-
intended by Mrs. Stokes's son. To this house they
themselves filially removed, and kept it on for six
years, when they carried their furniture to No. 11,
Richmond-street, between St. Stephen-street and
Broughton-road, Salford, where they still lived
together as man and wife, though the neighbours
had their little whisperings together—the staple of
their conversation being the peculiar figure of
Harry Stokes, and speculations thereabout. They
were living in Richmond-street up to the time of I
the tragedy which has revived the whole history of
this singular person. Harry Stokes appeared
latterly to be falling into decayed circumstances;
and the fear of poverty is believed to have induced
him to commit suicide. On Friday evening the
deceased went to the Swan public-house, Pendle-
bury, and after drinking four glasses of ale he left
for the purpose of proceeding, as he stated, to
Throstle 4.. est. In the morning a hat was seen on
the top of the water in the sluice of the river Irwell,
at Mode Wheel, and on examination the body of a
man was found standing upright in the water.
At the inquest before Mr. Coroner Rutter, on
Saturday, the body was identified as that of
" Harry' Stokes, the well-known piaster bricksetter
of Salford ; and it would probably have been buried
in its clothes as it was, and the secret of the poor,
courageous, hard-working llarriet Stokes would
thus have been buried with her, had not one of the
jury been acquainted with a portion of her past his-
tory. He mentioned his suspicion that the deceased
was a woman and not a man, and two women who
were sent by the coroner to solve the mystery re-
turned tittering into the court with the information
that., true enough, the body in the man's clothes
was that of a perfect woman, and no man. She was
very full breasted, but the shape of her womanly
make was distorted by a broad strap which was
buckled round her body under the arms. There is
something of grandeur, after all, in the character of
that strange woman. She has left mementos of
her industry and skill all over Manchester, and in
many places in Salford. She was very clever in the
erection of tall chimneys, and some of the highest
in Manchester have been partially or wholly con-
struoted under her superintendence; she has built
churches, chapels, and extensive blocks of dwelling-
houses, among which are mentioned the large houses
at the back of St. Philip's Church, Salford ; she was
most expert in fitting stoves and fire grates, and her
aid in this branch of her trade has been obtained in
some of the best hote,es in Manchester : and in the
days of the Chartist riots she was sworn in as a spe-
oial constable, and was made captain of her com-
pany. Her industry and skill at one time placed
her in very comfortable circumstances, and there
are persons who are now esteemed among the fore-
most men of Manchester who have been entertained
at the roaring suppers given by " Harry" Stokes.