Monday 19th January 1835

Ground covered with snow – five years to day since I lost my poor brother at 3 oclock in the afternoon – In the hotel he fir went to on arriving at Naples he could only have a back room, he then tried to get a house, but not succeeding he removed to another hotel which had a good view of the bay & was close to the public gardens. (I suppose this hotel to have been in the Chiaja [Chiaia] which comprehends a public garden called the Villa Reale & considerably more than half a mile in length – Mrs. Starke in her account of Naples says “The houses on the Chiaja are less dangerous than those in the quarter of S. Lucia [Santa Lucia], because further removed from the tufo mountain: but their situation is too bleak for persons afflicted with tender lungs. Piazzo-Falcone [Pizzo-Falcone] is wholesome & not noisy; a peculiar advantage at Naples. Persons who wish for a situation for congenial to weak lungs, should reside in the Fouria [Foria].

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale WYC:1525/7/1/5/1/36

[up at] 9 10/..
[to bed at] 11 3/4 

no kiss ready in an hour – fine morning a good deal of snow fell during the night, that we are, as it were, in Lapland again – Fahrenheit 33 3/4° in my study now at 10 10/.. a.m. at which hour breakfast in an hour – then looking at the pedigree and setting Adney to copy the arms till 11 5/.. – then had Miss Jenkinson’s James (James Crompton) about the Stump Cross Inn for about an hour till 12 1/4 – told him I should not send the answer to Mr. Parker till Thursday night – but that his (James Crompton’s) ticket was not among the number I was considering about – his bid was not high enough – he put £10 to it making £111 per annum – said if he made his bid £120 per annum I would take it into consideration but could not say more – he hoped I would not think merely of the highest bidder – no! said I, if I take the highest I shall not take £120 – there is something considerable bid more than that – asked what side of politics he took – blue, he and all his family and if he had had 100 votes would have given all to Wortley – said I did not wish to influence anyone unfairly, but was anxious to have all the my people conscientiously of my own way of thinking in politics – could only say, he had better think the thing over and give his answer to Mr. Parker in time – then at 12 1/4 had Hinscliffe – he came to say he could make nothing of the Keighley’s – they said they were secured by their papers for looses and everything – well! said Hinscliffe then you must come upon those you purchased the coal of to make all good – you must come upon them for damages – Keighley’s said they would sell me the coal – Hinscliffe told them he thought I had enough of my own – but if they heard from me that I was willing to treat for it, he would meet them tomorrow – if they heard nothing from me by tomorrow they were to conclude, I did not want to purchase – and he would see them on Saturday – He is for my stopping the loose – they say, if I do, I shall stop myself (Walker pit) too – Hinscliffe thinks not – Walker pit will be on the upper level – the water will not reach it, and I shall be able to get the 1 1/2  to 2 acres of coal if I do stop the Spiggs Loose – Impossible to drive the level so dead but that there will be 10 yards gained between Slip-in pit and Walker pit – but if the worst comes, I can carry down my vent from the drift the Manns are now driving in pipes to the bottom of Walker pit – will have to carry down about 60 yards – asked if I could do it for 5/. per yard – yes! and less – perhaps for 3/. per yard and the boards (inch boards would do) would be worth something afterwards – Besides, said he, you may keep the water up for 6 months, and then lower it a little afterwards if you like – and if Rawson’s have made a trespass, it is sure to find them – this body of water, he said, lying up against my coal, would be a protection to it – and if Rawsons had made a trespass, or had even got the coal in the waste, and thus taken away the barrier, the water would reach them, and they would have it all to pump – they would find it out by and by – it would incommode them very much – I then said, they would have incommoded me if they could, and I did not see why I might not incommode them – now that he (Hinscliffe) had put this idea into my head of protecting my own coal by the barrier of water, I was glad the Keighleys would not agree – begged him not to say anything more to tempt them to agree – well he thought I had given them every fair opportunity, and he would therefore tell them on Saturday that whatever happened they had not me or him (Hinscliffe) to blame – they asked for the paper (vide page 269) I gave him, and he left it with them – He said Samuel Holdsworth would do nothing (that is would agree to pay nothing to me) – while speaking of Mr. Rawson’s  having all this Shibden water against him, said I heard he was going to get Mr. Samuel Hall’s coal immediately – and asked if this water would not be against him – yes! very much – said I knew nothing but from common report – but I sometimes went to the top of the hill, for the farm where Joseph Hall lived, was mine – what was that farm mine? Hinscliffe did not know that – he then asked if Mrs. Machin had not some land there – and somehow (not at all bunglingly) contrived to ask me if I was about buying the coal – thought I – this is good – surely this is well done for Rawson – said (apparently very off hand) I think I have coal enough – but one of Mrs. Machin’s daughters came to me about it, to ask if I would buy it, and I told her – very well! I would think about it – I would bid for the farm itself if it was for sale – but I would let them know – I had therefore sent Washington, to bid what I thought the coal worth but they thought it so much too little, I had not troubled my head about it since – I wonder what Holt had done about it – What Hinscliffe said about throwing all the Shibden water onto Rawsons, seemed against them – this inquiry about Mrs. Machin’s coal makes me think of the several other very little things which have led me to fancy he was fishing for information for the Rawsons – 

Joseph Mann came in to say they should want rails – theirs would be done tonight – Hinscliffe said he would lend us a few, and have 2 tons of new ones ready – said Farrer has about as many ready cast but asks £9 per ton – Stocks pays him this price – rather heavier rails, than some, and will not reach out quite so   but told him I thought £16 ready money would tempt Farrer,  if not to give him a few shillings more – Hinscliffe stayed till 1 50/.. tho’ he was to dine at 2 at Adney’s Shibden mill rent day – then a little while with Adney – poorlyish – and siding letters back into letter drawer when Mr. Sutcliffe and his daughter and little granddaughter came about Northgate house – had kept him waiting 10 minutes to speak to William Oates of Crossfield, Albion street, who wants the privilege to lay soil and stones on my Northgate land adjoining for 2 months, while he builds 6 cottages, to back up against my land – would pay any reasonable damages and give me the soil for letting him lay it on my ground – will want about 60 or 70 square yards to lay his stuff on – wanted an answer tomorrow – said I would give it as soon as I could, but could not so soon as tomorrow – said he should have let me know sooner – if the land to let would take it – talked of £4 per daywork – I said that was no price – but would I sell any – no! he could get me 6/. a yard for it, tho’ his was bought of Mr. Kershaw at 5/. per yard for Hird and company’s (Low moor company) coal staith – very civil to Mr. Sutcliffe and his daughter – he said he did not want the land – I said that would suit me very well – said the house and buildings were valued at £85 per annum but I had mentioned to Mr. Parker that I would take £80 – and set the land at £6 per daywork – If I let the place on lease for some years would not take less than £120 per annum – but not anxious about letting – my plans about the house uncertain – then said if a good Inn was wanted I would rather make the house into one than dispose of it in any other way – Mr. Sutcliffe to talk with and make his proposals to Mr. Parker – Told Mr. Sutcliffe I was glad he had given Mr. Wortley a plumper – Mr. Sutcliffe left me at 4 20/.. after having had wine and biscuits and gingerbread – then a little while with Adney – then finished arranging letter drawer – dinner at 6 10/60 – coffee – 1/4 hour with my father and Marian and we came upstairs at 7 25/.. – then till 8 3/4 wrote the all but the first 2 1/2 lines of today –Cordingley who had been ill this fortnight went to her sisters this afternoon for change of air – Matthew drove her in my father’s phaeton – 1/2 hour with my aunt till 9 50/.. fine winter’s till about between 12 and 1 afterwards small snow flying about a few light snow showers, and wildish wintry cold day – Fahrenheit 35° now at 9 50/.. p.m. –

[In margin:] 

James Crompton about Stump Cross Inn
Hinscliffe cannot come to any agreement about Spiggs colliery – advises to stop the Loose.

price of carrying vent down in pipes

Observation on Hinscliffe’s inquiry about Mrs. Machin’s coal.

To throw all the Shibden water against Rawson’s colliery – 

told Hinscliffe that even if I did stop myself I had only to sink another pit nearer this way about 1/2 way between Walker pit and the Allen Car and leave a sufficient barrier of coal, and then I could loose myself without trouble – 

William Oates wants privilege to throw stuff on Northgate land.

Mr. Sutcliffe called about taking Northgate house

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale SH:7/ML/E/17/0148 & SH:7/ML/E/17/0149