Reports

JOHN LITTLE - “Sal Madge” 4th February

We have been lucky enough to have had a packed house for John Little to give a talk on the local heroine Sarah (Sal) Madge. Many of the audience had been to the Sal Madge musical at Rosehill theatre and were keen to know more.
John began by mentioning other names from Whitehaven’s past such as ‘Leather Lugs’ and ‘Duckfoot Hobbler’ and posed the question why Sal Madge had become a legend when they hadn’t. She was quite a character and did not let being a woman stop her from doing anything, an example being when she was assaulted by 4 sailors and laid them all out cold …along with her pet dog Flirt.
She was born in Penrith but came to live in Whitehaven when she was 5. She worked at the pit from age 7 as a Waggoner and in 60 years did not have one day’s sick leave. She was very good with horses and reacted violently if she saw anyone being cruel to animals. Alongside her job she was a volunteer driver for the rocket brigade (who used to shoot rope from canons to any ship in distress) and the cannons now preserved in the harbour are dedicated to her - showing how well thought of she was.
She lived on Rosemary Lane and in 1877 fire was seen pouring out of the windows of a cottage. No one tried to help and when Sal saw Mrs Roseanne Connelly lying inside she wrapped a scarf round her face, went straight in, rescued Roseanne and then took her to hospital.
At the inquest Roseanne’s husband Edward Parker tried to take all the credit and make out that he was a hero. The Coroner did a full investigation and came to the conclusion that Roseann’s husband was lying and that Sal was a true hero.
When Sal died in 1899 of pneumonia there was no money for the funeral but over 4000 people came to pay their respects and show that Whitehaven knew the value of the truth.
The tale of Sal Madge was really well received and John finished by answering lots of questions and showing some of his other books, we are looking forward to his next visit.