Joseph Clegg Eyewitness Account

• Place: Oldham
• Role: Spectator
• Occupation: Cotton Spinner

Colleague of John Lees who saw Lees drinking at two pubs in Middleton at the wakes on Sunday 22nd August after sustaining injuries at Peterloo. Clegg recalls that Lees was quiet but not obviously suffering, stayed late, and walked several miles there and back from Oldham.

Account

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Name: Joseph Clegg

Occupation: Cotton−spinner

Home: Oldham

Date: 4 October 1819

Source: Lees Inquest 263 − 266

Summary: Saw John Lees drinking at two pubs in Middleton at the wakes on Sunday 22 August. He was quiet but not obviously suffering, stayed late, and walked several miles there and back from Oldham.
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JOSEPH CLEGG called in by the CONSTABLE, sworn, and examined by the CORONER.
Q. What are you?
A. I am a cotton-spinner.
Q. Where do you live?
A. In Oldham.
Q. Did you know John Lees?
A. Yes.
Q. Were you intimately acquainted with him, or how?
A. I knew him some little.
Q. What do you know relative to his death?
A. I was only in company with him after the 16th of August.
Q. Were you in company with him on the 16th of August?
A. No; I did not see him on the 16th of August.
Q. When was it then, that you were in company with him?
A. On the 22d of August.
Q. And where was it?
A. At Middleton.
Q. Did you go with him to Middleton?
A. No; I only saw him there.
Q. You only saw him there?
A. That is all. I saw him at different times. I think it might be for two hours.
Q. What were you doing at Middleton? Was it any parti¬cular time?
A. I saw him there at first, a while past six o'clock.
Q. When was-the last time you saw him there that evening?
A. It might be eight o'clock, or nearly dark.
Q. Were you in his company at a public-house?
A. Yes.
Q. What public-house was it that you saw him at?
A. I first saw him at the Mason's Arms, and there he invited me to drink.
Q. Did you see him at any other place?
A. Yes, at the Dusty Miller.
Q. What did you drink?
A. I did not belong to the same party with him. I just drank with him, and did not take particular notice of him.
Q. Were you at any more places together?
A. No; only these two public-houses.
Q. And the last time you saw him, then, was eight o'clock?
A. Yes.
Q. The first house you saw him at was the Dusty Miller?
A. No; the first time I saw him was at the Mason's Arms; and the last time was at the Dusty Miller.
Q. Did he appear to ail any thing at that time?
A. Oh! I could see very little difference in his person.
Q. What did you see different?
A. Nothing particular; nothing to take notice of.
Q. Did he seem healthy and in spirits?
A. He did seem something a little solid.
Q. Did you hear him making any complaints during the time that you were with him?
A. I never heard him make any complaints.
Q. Was he in company like other people, and did he act like other people?
A. Yes.
Q. Was he in the public room where the other people were?
A. Yes, I believe he was.
Q. What was to do at Middleton that day?
A. Why, folks walked together; that was all.
Mr. Ashworth—That is, what they call wakes?
A. Yes; that is what it was.
The examination of the WITNESS resumed by the CORONER.
Q. Did you see him again while he was alive?
A. No. I did not, to the best of my knowledge.

The WITNESS examined by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. They make merry at wakes, I think?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there the same kind of merriment there that there is usually at wakes?
A. Yes.
Q. Was he having beer, like you and the other people in the room?
A. Yes, I saw him drink.
Q. Did you see any thing about him that would make you no¬tice him from any one else?
A. No; I can't say that I did.
Q. He joined in the songs?
A. I heard no singing.
Q. You heard no singing on the 22d?
A. No.
Q. It was the Sunday?
A. Yes.
Q. And there was no singing?
A. No.
Q. Now, when you saw him at the Mason's Arms, how was he? Was he drunk or sober? He appeared to be sober.
Q. Did he appear to be sober the last time you saw him that night?
A. Yes; the last time I saw him he appeared to be sober.
Q. Did you see any thing about him but what was common with him?
A. No.
Q. How many people might there be in the room, either at the Mason's Arms, or at the Dusty Miller?
A. I believe there might be a dozen in our party.
Q. But how many were there in the room?
A. Perhaps twenty.
Q. Did you go away and leave him at the Mason's Arms?
A. Yes.
Q. How many miles is this from the house where John Lees lived? How far is the Freemasons' public-house from where John Lees lived?
A. You mean the Mason's Arms.
Q. Well, the Mason's Arms; how far is it from the Mason's Arms to where John Lees lived?
A. Perhaps it may be three miles.
Q. You left him, you say; was he in a party?
A. I saw nobody in his company, only a girl or two sitting along with him.
Q. Had they any liquor before them when you left him?
A. Yes; I think they had.
Q. And this is the only time you saw him, from the 16th of Au¬gust to the time of his death, is it?
A. Yes.
The WITNESS cross-examined by Mr. HARMER.
Q. You say these -wakes are times of merry-making?
A. Yes.
Q. And still you say that John Lees was solid?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, as to what he was drinking, was he drinking spirits?
A. No; malt liquor.
Mr. Ashworth(to the Coroner)—Will you be good enough to ask him, Sir, how far is Lodwick's house from Lees'?
The Coroner repeated the question to the witness.
A. One mile.
Mr. Ashworth (to the Coroner)—Will you also ask him, Sir, whether that is across the fields?
The Coroner repeated the question to the witness.
A. It is, by the nearest road.

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