Obituary of Thomas Wrathall (1884

Obituary – Thomas WRATHALL

From the Lancaster Guardian Friday 9^th December 1949

DEATHS

WRATHALL – On December 1^st (suddenly) at “Tweedsmuir”, Halton, Thomas, beloved husband of Henrietta, was interred St. Wilfrid’s Church, Dec. 5^th, 1949.

OBITUARY (with photograph)

A Friendly Man
Mr. Thomas Wrathall, Halton

A man whose cheerful personality and readiness to lend a helping hand won him many friends, Mr. Thomas Wrathall, passed away very suddenly on Thursday, having just fulfilled what proved to be his last public duty.
Mr. Wrathall, who resided at Tweedsmuir, Halton, was Chairman of Halton Parish Council and he was on his way home from a meeting in the School when he collapsed and died. He had led a very busy life and had given much voluntary service in addition to following his calling as a coach builder, joiner and undertaker. For many years Mr. Wrathall was in business on his own account in Lancaster but of late years he had been estate foreman at Ashton Hall for Messrs. Pye.

Fire Brigade Epics

An old boy of the Lancaster National School Mr. Wrathall played a prominent part in the life of John O’Gaunt Rowing Club for many years , representing his club at numerous regattas, and taking official duty in association with the administrative side, doing his tour as captain. For over a quarter of a century Mr. Wrathall was a member of the Lancaster Fire Brigade in the days when it was manned by police and artisan members. At the time of the White Lund explosion in 1917 Mr. Wrathall with three others flooded the powder magazine thereby preventing a more serious disaster. For his outstanding rescue efforts on the occasion of the flooding of the Lunesdale Isolation Hospital in 1927 Mr. Wrathall was the recipient of a silver tea service and an address inscribed on vellum, presented by the Mayor and Corporation, a tribute Mr. Wrathall treasured all his days.
Over a long period Mr. Wrathall was prominently identified with the affairs of St. John’s Church. He served both as Vicar’s and People’s warden and during the interval between the death of the Rev. C.J. Milner and the appointment of the late Rev. Hy. Robinson as his successor Mr. Wrathall was sequestrator. During the past thirteen years Mr. Wrathall had been resident in Halton but he had retained his association with St. John’s as a member of the Nile Street Trust, of which the late Mr. Walter Massingham was also a member, and whose funeral he attended.
Mr. Wrathall had served as a member of Halton Parish Council, being this year’s Chairman. He had taken quite a lively interest in affairs in the township. As a tribute to his memory the flags at the John O’Gaunt Rowing Club and on the Castle Hill at Halton were at half mast over the weekend.
Sympathy has been extended by a wide circle of friends to the widow, Mrs. Wrathall, her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers of Blackburn, and her son, Mr. J.J. Wrathall, who is a member of Bulawayo City Council, Southern Rhodesia.

Funeral Tributes

Chief mourners were Mrs. Wrathall, widow ; Mr. And Mrs. Rogers, son-in-law and daughter ; Mr. J. Wrathall, brother ; Mesdames Willacy and Armer, sisters ; Mr. Armer, brother-in-law ; Mesdames Purcell, Marriott, sisters-in-law ; Col. And Mrs. Harrison, cousins ; Mr. And Mrs. J. Armer, nephew and niece ; Mr. And Mrs. W. Thompson, Mr. And Mrs. A. Kent, and Miss A. Shaw, Halton.
Mr. E. Fox, Vicar’s warden, Mr. P. Chas. Walker and others represented St. John’s Church ; Messrs J. Cunningham, J. R. Ellershaw, and L.R. Walker, Nile Street Trustees ; Messrs. H. Pedder, H. Chapman, W. T. Armstrong, J.H. Preston, J. T. Jordan, and E. Bell, John O’Gaunt Rowing Club ; Messrs. E. Green, E.G. Burrow, G. Woolley, R. Peake, J. Sandham and E.A. Rogerson, clerk, Halton-with-Aughton Parish Council. Mr. Rogerson also represented Mr. J.M. Arrowsmith, Clerk of Lunesdale Rural District Council, and Mrs. Lindley represented Mr. A. Lindley. Officers and brethren attended from the Duke of Lancaster Lodge of Freemasons of which Mr. Wrathall was a member, and from the staff of Ashton Hall workshop, farm , gardens and other departments together with Messrs. Jas. Roberts and Thos. K. Pye.
Also in the congregation were Ald. And Mrs. E.C. Parr, Mr. P. Chas. Walker, representing the local branch of the Funeral Directors Association, Messra. W.G. Black, J. Edmondson, J. Stockdale, H. Kellett, Mr. And Mrs. H.H. Mackereth, Mrs. Butterfield, Mrs. Addison, Messrs. W. Shaw, H. Hosfield, H. Laidman, Mr. and Mrs. Escolme and many others.
In addition to the family tributes wreaths were sent by Messrs. W. and J. Pye, staff Ashton workshop, farm and gardens ; staff Thurnham Mill and Aspley’s Farm ; present and past members of Lancaster Fire Brigade ; Captain and members of John O’Gaunt Rowing Club ; Nile Street Trust ; W.M. and brethren Duke of Lancaster Lodge ; Halton Cricket Club ; and Halton Parish Council.
Mr. J. Mason, funeral director, Moor Lane, had the arrangements in hand.

The Flood in Lancaster on Friday 28^th October 1927

From the Lancaster Guardian of Saturday 5 Nov 1927 Page 7 under the headings “October Gale, Three Patients Drowned in Lunesdale Hospital”
“The Inquest”
And sub-heading “Another Brave Man”

Thomas Wrathall, wheelwright, a member of the fire brigade, told how he got a boat and rowed from the Sanatorium gates to the “T.B” block. Insp. Harrison, P.S. Bird and P.C. Bell were there. They took hot drinks for the patients. Then he went to the hut and found the bodies of Gregg and Bell, and got them into his boat. He tried the other hut with grappling irons, but there was no body. At 3.30pm on Saturday he found Mrs. Knowles body, half dressed, 150 yards west of the block, a field away. It had floated over a barbed wire fence. It was difficult to row and the light was bad. He had a lot of punting to do. The water-mark by the side of the hut was 2ft 10ins and 1ft 6ins above the bed.
Questioned by the Town Clerk as to whether he thought those in the stone building had done all they possibly could do by moving the patients upstairs rather than endeavouring to go outside to rescue the people in the huts, Mr. Wrathall had no hesitation in saying that if they had made an effort to go out he believed they would have been drowned.