Molley. Friends, where shall we meet to-morrow?
Isaac. Oh, at my house, at ten.
All. We will be there in time. Till then, adieu.
“A LOOKER ON IN DUDLEY.”
July 22nd, 1847.
Such was the literary talent evoked, which helped to keep alive a little electioneering excitement, under an almost foregone conclusion, for Mr. Badger had declined to be put in nomination—although it was almost certain he would have been elected—so Mr. Benbow had only one opponent to face on the hustings, his Chartist antagonist, Mr. Joseph Linney. The nomination day came, surrounded with all the tactics celebrated in the house of Himley; the two candidates had their say, the mob and electors had their fun and bonnetting. Mr. Joseph Linney was elected by the show of hands, by a large majority; the usual poll was demanded, and the day and time fixed upon, but, alas! for human greatness, poor Mr. Linney could not find the necessary guarantee (funds) for his election expenses, and his friends and admirers were in the same plight, so before the polling commenced, it oozed out that Mr. Linney had retired from the contest, leaving the old member master of the field. Thus, Mr. Benbow was again returned the member for the Castle interest in another Parliament.
Much dissatisfaction was felt at this election, by both Tories and Reformers, at the apparent intention to stamp out that small spark of political freedom, whenever it was wafted by a little political breeze, and, as might became right, there was no redemption then from a thraldom which was afterwards so signally revenged by both political parties on the house of Himley in 1857.
The Irish famine and distress, in the winter of 1846-47, in the southern and western counties of Ireland, had awakened profound sympathy and benevolence throughout the nation; and Old Dudley was not backward in her material pecuniary assistance on this memorable occasion. A public meeting was convened by the mayor (James Fisher, Esq.), and a numerous committee was at once formed to canvass the town for liberal subscriptions to the “Irish Relief Fund.” At the close of the canvass, March, 1847, it was announced that the handsome sum of £655 2s. had been collected for this very deserving object.
Died, September 10th, 1847, at 11 a.m., having dropped down dead in the street, old Mr. Stevenson, tailor, of Queen Street. Aged 77 years.