Flood hero tracked to other side of world
Published: May 17, 2006
ONE of the enduring mysteries about a hero of the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 has been solved – after a vital clue was found on the other side of the world.
Stephenson Fountain was the first person to warn Sheffielders of the impending disaster when millions of gallons of water swept down from Dale Dike reservoir at Bradfield into the city, smashing houses, mills, bridges, and factories and killing about 240 people.
His actions almost certainly saved many lives that night – but little was known of what happened to him.
Now an email from Australia about a Sheffield bus named after Stephenson has proved the missing piece in the jigsaw.
Stephenson’s great-great-niece Jen Willmott, from Perth, Western Australia, contacted South Yorkshire Transport Executive after reading about the bus on the internet.
The bus, which travels around rural villages in north Sheffield, is one of a number of Rural Links buses named after local people.
Speaking from Australia about her great-great-uncle, Jen said: “I was researching my family tree on the internet when I came across the Transport Executive’s website.
“I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a bus had been named after him in South Yorkshire. As a family we were so delighted and we felt we should get in touch with the Transport Executive to tell them what happened to Stephenson Fountain after the flood.”
Jen said Stephenson was the younger brother of her great-grandmother Martha Fountain.
Now Stephenson Fountain’s great-great-grandson Antony Fountain, who lives in the UK, has paid a special visit to see the bus.
Antony was taken on a journey on the Stephenson Fountain bus throughout Bradfield to see where the heroic actions of his distant relative took place.
Robert Shepherdson, from the Transport Executive, said: “We decided to name all the Rural Links buses after local pieces of history and we are very pleased with the positive comments it has generated.”
Stephenson’s father Stephen worked on the railways and in 1865 he was contracted to build one in Queensland, Australia.
Stephenson and his family travelled out there and settled in Queensland, taking on other construction contracts after the railway was completed and finally buying land and investing in the sugar industry.
He married Marian Barr in 1879 and had five children. He died in 1912 aged 65.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: