The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-09-14 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

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 Wednesday evening.  In the afternoon of the same day, the children educated at the schools at Ruabon were liberally entertained at the expense 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 Northumberland, Lord Hill, Earl and Countess of Powis and Ladies Herbert. Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry, Lady Frances Vane, Honourable Captain Macdonald, Duke of Marlborough, Lady Louisa Churchill, Lady Caroline Stewart, Countess of Jersey and Lady Clementine 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 Hamilton. 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 another 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 Clarkson, 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 accused 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 afterwards 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 occurrence has excited a very great sensation in the neighbourhood.