The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-09-14 00:00:00

FESTIVITIES AT WYNNSTIY

WYNNSTAY, FRIDAY.
Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., entertained the Duke
and Duchess of N.orthumberl
Northumberland, Miss Percy, Earl and
Countess of Powiss and Ladies Lucy and Charlotte Herbert,
Lord and Lady Dalamere, Hon. H. Cholmondeley. M.P.,
Hon. Miss Cholmondeley, Viscount Cantilupe, Sir Stephen
Glynne, Bart. Right Hon. Charles W. Wynn and the Misses
Wynn, Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bart., M.P.,
and Lady Egerton, Hon. Captain Macdonald, Lord Hill,
Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., Hon. R. H. and Lady Harriet
Clive and Miss Clive, Dowager Lady Rendlesham and Hon.
Misses Thelluson, and a select circle, to dinner, on Wed-
nesday evening.

In the afternoon of the same day, the children educated at
the schools at Ruabon were liberally entertained at the ex-
pense of the worthy baronet, and they danced and amused
themselves on the lawn in front of the mansion until evening
set in.

At night Viscountess Dungannon gave a splendid fete
dansance at Brynkynalt Hall. It was a brilliant reunion,
and nearly 400 personages of rank honoured her ladyship
with their company. The whole range of saloons were
thrown open on the occasion, and a sumptuous supper was
provided. The elite of the visitors comprised Sir Watkin W.
Wynn, Bart., and Miss Wynn, Duke and Duchess of Nor-
thumberland, Lord Hill, Earl and Countess of Powis
and Ladies Herbert. Marquis and Marchioness of Lon-
donderry, Lady Frances Vane, Honourable Captain Mac-
donald, Duke of Marlborough, Lady Louisa Churchill,
Lady Caroline Stewart, Countess of Jersey and Lady Cle-
mentine Villiers, Hon. Cec;l Forester, Lord William Paulett,
Dowager Lady Rendlesham and the Hon. Misses Thelluson,
Sir Richard and Lady Puleston and Miss Puleston, Hon. R.
H. and Lady Harriet Clive and Miss Clive, Lord and Lady
Delarnere and Hon. Miss Cholmondeley, Lord Kenyon, Sir
R. Hill. Bart., Mr. Gascoigne, Hon. E. and Mrs. Kenyon,
Right Hon. C. W. Wynn and Misses Wynn, Hon. Sir E.
and Lady Cust and Miss Cust, Colonel and Mrs. Myddleton
Biddulph, Mr. Jenkinson, Hon. William Bagot, Sir Richard
Brooke and Miss Brooke, Viscount and Vicountess-Brabazon,
Lady Helena Cooke, Mr. and Mrs. Bootle Wilbraham, Mr.
and Mrs. Ormsby Gore, Lord James Beresford, Hon: Mr.
Curzon, Mr. and Mrs. Corbett, Mr. Brice, Captain Hamil-
ton. Hon. Mrs. Stanley, Count Kondriaoffsky, Major and
Mrs. Campbell, Sir Stephen Glynne, Colonel and Mrs.
Bowles, Sir John and Lady Hamer, Lord Paget, Mr.
Baring Mr. and. Mrs. M. Gaskell, &c.
It will be seen from the above list the distinguished circle
at Wynnstay graced the festive scene by their presence, and
the party visiting Colonel and Mrs. Myddleton Biddulph, at
Chirk Castle, came to the ball.

Yesterday the grand banquet in the pavilion at Wynnstay,
when Sir Watkin W. Wynn, Bart., presided, supported by
the Duke of Northumberland and the Earl of Powis, took
place.
_Covers were laid for 500.

- The Marquis of Londonderry arrived .at Brynkynalt, the
seat of Viscount Dungannon, on Wednesday. •

SUICIDE AND DREADFUL LOSS OF LIFE

On Saturday morning, between the hours of one and two
o'clock, a most awful catastrophe occurred on the river
Thames, in the vicinity of Southwark-bridge. The Orion
steam-vessel, which plies between Ipswich and London,
having been moored in the middle of the river, one of the
sailors, named John Clementson, who had been at the Surrey
Theatre, hailed the vessel, in the expectation that some of his
shipmates would bring the small boat to him and takehim on
board. Receiving no answer, after calling for some time as
loud as he was able, he went into the George Inn, which is
close to Southwark-bridge, on the bank or Surrey side of
the river; where after having some gin, he prevailed on a
party of sailors, seven in number, belonging to the Pearl,
Gravesend steamer, and who had been drinking together,
to undertake to row him to his vessel, beside which their
own vessel was moored. The boat 'being small, it was
deemed unsafe for more than four persons to go in her at
once ; and it was agreed that when Clementson was put on
board his vessel, one of the men belonging to the Pearl should
return to the water-side and take the remaining four sailors
to her. The boat had not gone above 10 or 12 yards from
Bankside, when Joseph Thornton, of Greenwich, one of the
men belonging to the Gravesend steamer, leaped overboard
with the view of drowning himself. The other three men
in the boat rushed at once to the part of the boat whence he
had thrown himself in the water, and their weight, with the
suddenness of the movement, causing the boat to lurch,
they were all precipitated into the water, and the whole four
perished. As well as those on the bank of the river could
guess from the darkness of the night and the confusion arising
on the apalling catastrophe, the three men who rushed to the
aide of the boat, with a view of rescuing Thornton from a
suicide's grave, went down together, all clinging to one an-
other with a firm tenacity of grasp. Two or three of the
boats were put in immediate requisition, and one of the
bodies, that of John Clementson, was found before it could
have been 20 minutes in the water, but, notwithstanding the
fact, every effort to restore animation was unsuccessful. Two
of the other bodies, those of John Oxley and Robert Clark-
son, both of whom belonged to Gravesend, have since been
recovered, and the three bodies are now lying in the George
public-house, to await the coroner's inquest. The body of
Thornton, the suicide, has not yet been found. He had
been very depressed in spirits the whole of the day before the
catastrophe occurred, and stated to some of the crew of the
Pearl his intention to destroy himself, but they did not pay
much attention to what he said on the subject. Among other
things, he requested them to tell a female to whom he was
supposed to be attached, when they returned to Gravesend in
the morning, that she would never see Joseph any more. The
impression of the captain of the Pearl was that the cause of
his resolution on self-destruction was, that he had been ac-
cused the previous day of having stolen £l5, which had been
missing, and a threat had been made that means would be
taken to ascertain whether or not he was the guilty party. It
is a singular fact that the boat did not capsize. She was af-
terwards found a considerable distance down the river, in her
usual position, with the jacket of one of the men lying where
it had been put when he began to row. One of them was a
widower with three children ; none of the others had ever
been married, but the mother and brother of Clementson are
said to have been dependent upon him. The frightful occur-
rence has excited a very great sensation in the neighbourhood.