'Stories from the Stones'
Please visit the Contents Page for this section where you will find other 'Stories from the Stones' by Steve Lavender.
These same stories are also published on Penistone Archive Group's Facebook page, their Journal and in 'The Bridge' magazine issued by St John's church, Penistone. Many thanks to their tireless author, Mr Steve Lavender, for his worthy contributions to local history and this website. - JB.
Story 16 - The Shaws in the 19th Century
From St John’s Church Burial Ground Project
Giles Shaw, 85 - died 6th February 1858
Benjamin Shaw, 80 - died 2nd February 1876
Elizabeth Shaw, 74 - died 28th January 1877
As has been the case with a number of our stories by looking into the family history of a particular gravestone we are led to a most interesting discovery. There are 27 Shaws in St John’s Burial Ground and this Stone proved as interesting as many of those before. First of all we looked at the relationships of these three Shaws in that our first search could find no relationship of Giles Shaw to Benjamin. So it was quite a surprise to find that the wife of Benjamin Shaw was already a Shaw before their marriage and Giles was Elizabeth's father (not Benjamin's)!
The family was living in Penistone, as they had been for previous generations. Benjamin was a cordwainer or bootmaker by trade. They had six children: five boys and one girl - John, James, Ann, George, William and Herbert. In this story we will take a look at the eldest son John who was born on 23rd January 1830. John was baptised by the Reverend Samuel Sunderland at St John’s Church on 21st February 1830. In due course, although baptised as simply John Shaw, he would become more well-known as John Charles Shaw. We can cover only a small part of his remarkable life here and if you would like to know more then please refer to my main sources of research which are listed at the end of this story.
John Charles was educated at Penistone Grammar School under the then Headmaster, the same Reverend Samuel Sunderland. By 1853, at the age of 21, John Charles Shaw was living in Sheffield and following a career as an Attorney’s Clerk in the practice of John Dransfield (who is also buried at St John’s burial ground) and would in due course meet up with Dransfield’s son, the well-known Penistonian, John Ness Dransfield. These young men had experienced football whilst in Penistone and would now become acquainted with many others who were playing the game in Sheffield.
Sheffield Football Club
Together with Nathaniel Cresswick, William Prest, Tom Vickers and others, these men were to become amongst the founding members of Sheffield Football Club. It is an established position that Sheffield FC is the world’s oldest existing football club established in 1857.
John Charles Shaw was an outstanding athlete, not only a good footballer but also winning walking and running races and contributed to introducing cross country to the area. Whilst playing games for Sheffield FC with teams created solely from within the membership (for example surnames beginning with the letters of the first half of the alphabet versus those beginning with the second half of the alphabet), it was clear that another club would soon emerge. John Charles, together with other Sheffield Club members including Tom Vickers, founded a second club, Hallam FC in 1860 at the Sandygate sports ground Sheffield (where the Hallam Cricket Club played). This ground at Crosspool, Sheffield would be recognised as the world’s oldest football ground still in use.
Hallam Steeplechase
Hallam Cricket Club continued alongside the new Sheffield Football Club and by 1862 the Club would organise its own athletics day which would incorporate a Steeplechase. It is recorded that John Charles Shaw planned, competed in and finished second after spraining his ankle during the run.
By 1863 the Great Hallam Chase was created. Today it is now a 3¼ mile run which is traditionally held on the Tuesday evening following the second May Bank Holiday. The route goes from Hallam FC down Den Bank into the Rivelin valley, up to Stannington church and back by the same route to finish at the club at the top of Coldwell Lane. As a youngster living in Den Bank, I would watch this run every year from my vantage point at the top of the crags by Hagg Lane and cheer on the weary competitors.
The Hallam Chase has been run almost continuously ever since. The Complete List of Winners from 1863 to 1961 shows J.C.Shaw as the first-ever winner, with many more in the following years. '(Year) 1863 (Name) J.C.Shaw (Club) Hallam.'
As well as his life in football and athletics, John Charles Shaw was involved in politics and law but there is no space here to cover all of his activities. John Charles Shaw died in 1918 at the age of 88 in Birmingham, where he is buried at Brandwood End cemetery.
We will remember John Charles Shaw and his family. S. J. Lavender, Chair Friends of St John’s Church Penistone.
For Further Reading
Please see the following to whom I am grateful for their contribution to this story:
William Wordsworth - "A Briton, even in love, should be a subject not a slave."