Victims and Survivors

Markham's Burial Register Entry, Stillingfleet, 1833, is rather stark. On Dec 24th, he had buried 82 year old George Simpson.

Entry 299 following, reads:

William Bristow, Stillingfleet, Dec 29th, 55

Thomas Webster, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 44

Clarissa Sturdy, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 15

John Turner, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 55

Jane Turner, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 16

Christopher Spencer, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 36

Henry Spencer, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 44

Elizabeth Spencer, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 14

Elizabeth Buckle, Stillingfleet, December 29th, 15

Sarah Spencer, Stillingfleet, Accidentally drowned and not yet found, 16

Sarah Eccles, Stillingfleet, Accidentally drowned and not yet found, 16

There is one more entry after the accident victims, and then:

George Guy, Kelfield, February 16th, 1 week (Service recorded by Bree, the curate).

Little George was in fact, survivor John Fisher's nephew, the son of John's sister, Jane Guy. Jane – a farm labouring 'pauper's' daughter – did spectacularly well for herself, marrying the prosperous Robert Guy, and elderly batchelor born at Bubwith – who bought Kelfield's Auburn Hall in the 1790's.

The newspaper reports listing the dead and missing were predictably inaccurate. The York Courant article of December 1833 listed them viz:

“The following is a list of the persons who have been found, and upon whom inquests were held; with their ages, as collected carefully from the statements of their relatives:

Clarissa Sturdy, aged 16; Henry Spence [sic], aged 44; Christopher Spence [sic], aged 46; John Turner, aged 55; Jane Turner, aged 16; Thomas Webster, aged 44; Wm Bristow, aged 55; and Elizabeth Buckle, aged 15.”

From The York Herald of the same week:

“...The names of the sufferers were Henry Spence [sic], labourer, who has left a wife and eight children, four of whom are very young. They were entirely dependent upon his industry for their support. The widow has only a short time ago been discharged from the York County Hospital, where she had been for some time an in patient. Sarah Spence and Elizabeth Spence [sic], two of his daughters, met a watery grave, along with their father, and also Christopher Spence [sic], his brother, who has left a widow, and four or five children. John Turner, a fisherman, and Jane, his daughter, - William Bristow, the parish clerk, - Thomas Webster, labourer, - Elizabeth Buckle, daughter of Mr B. of the White Swan Inn, Stillingfleet, Sarah Eccles, daughter of George Eccles who was saved, - and Clarissa Sturdy, daughter of Mr. Sturdy, school-master of Stillingfleet, formerly at this city, linen-draper. The body of the last-named female was first taken out. - The painful intelligence was communicated to her mother on Thursday night, in this city, immediately after she had attended the funeral of a nephew....”

The three survivors of the disaster were: Richard Toes, born in Osbaldwick, York , October 28, 1804; George Eccles born in Riccall October 4th, 1792,   and John Fisher , born in Cawood, October 16th, 1793. Richard Toes lived into his late 70s, George Eccles and John Fisher lived into their 80s.