Notes |
- Born before parents married. Birth record 1838, mother's maiden name Hartley, on Lancs BMD.
A report in the Cheshire Observer, 18.7.1857 (a Saturday) reads:-
"FATAL FIGHT. On Saturday afternoon, Henry Ashton, a youth 19 years of age, employed as a boatman on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, was killed by Henry Webster, another boatman, at Shevington, near Chorley. For some time past a grievance had existed between the men, who were cousins, and on Saturday afternoon they met at Shevington and agreed to settle the difference by a stand-up fight. In the third round, Webster struck Ashton a blow in the region of the heart. Ashton fell from the effect of the blow, but rose again, and died immediately. Webster has given himself up to the police authorities."
The fight is assumed to have been on the preceding Saturday, July 11.
|