Accident At The Brewery

A Memory of Belchamp Otten.

I have been researching the Howard and Binks families from Halstead and area. My grandmother was Matilda Howard, born in Belchamp Otten. The Binks family came from Halstead and Little Maplestead. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from a stranger asking if I knew what had happened to my great grandfather Robert Howard. If I did not know, I was directed to the newspaper archives of the Foxearth and District Historical Society, and a specific date. There I discovered that my ggrandfather had died tragically in a brewery accident in Belchamp Otten. The lid of a vat of boiling mash had collapsed and he had fallen in, was scalded and died the next day of his injuries. My ggrandmother and grandmother existed on income as strawplaiters and later as weavers at Courtaulds in Halstead. There is still a small remnant of the brewery in Belchamp Otten.

The newspaper archives contain a wealth of information and I appreciate the great effort the members have put into the transcriptions. Well done!

(The Rev.) Mal Binks, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.

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