History
Old St. Neots:- A Town of Grit, Endeavour & Upright Dealings
Old photographs (as in the 1905 edition of Homeland Handbooks Number 40) often give only a black and white view of the past. Once in a while a splash of colour is provided by an individual such as Fanny Gregory in a newspaper article of 1930 (in a St. Neots History Society newsletter of 2004), who recall the people behind the image. “In those days went a procession of good citizens which all old folks remember. There were the Goodgames, Mr and Mrs Emery - he so tall and thin and she so round and short - and the Plums and many others. I mustn’t forget Mr David Tomson, who was generally to the fore in any movement for the good of the town. Indeed, a splendid set of people made the town what it was then. There was grit, steady endeavour, upright dealing and good sterling qualities in the people building up the trades and businesses in a remarkable degree. Religion was the backbone, and the best fruit of it was seen in the wide-spreading charity that knitted all classes together. Who can ever gauge the kindnesses worked by such people as dear Mr and Mrs Plum? Of the tradespeople of those very early days, first and foremost was Mr Sprigge, the chemist, photographer and dentist. He lived in the tallest
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house in the Market Square. What a business it was having negatives taken in those days! The long exposure was so trying, and having one’s head held tight in a contrivance that was brought up behind one at the last moment was calculated to bring a strained or silly expression to one’s countenance. Mr Sprigge opened and shut an umbrella all the time to keep you from going to sleep. And what a business it was pulling teeth out then! It was all very well for compassionate parents to give us half-a-crown afterwards to help us back to our usual equilibrium, but it was a terrifying and agonising experience. We children used to watch teeth being wrenched out in carts at the fair and noticed that immediately the operation began, a man beat a drum to smother the victim’s yells.” Next time you visit St. Neots Museum and enjoy looking at the faces of past townsfolk remember what it took to get through life in the ‘Good Old Days’. Remember also how the charity of the more fortunate as well as ordinary folk of ‘moral fibre’ helped ease the downsides of life for locals as well as bequeathing a community conscious town to future generations to build on.
By Peter Ibbett
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