Down in the park

Roberts Park looked really beautiful in the snow. There were a few little children sledging on the gentle slope behind the bandstand, though there was barely enough snow to facilitate it. The newly repainted bandstand made a wonderful splash of red, set off beautifully by the snowy ground.

Sir Titus himself was shivering a little. Oddly enough, at the moment I took this photo, it was almost exactly 141 years since the great man breathed his last. He is recorded to have died at 12.40 on the afternoon of 29 December 1876, aged 73. He had been in poor health for some time and a trip to the sea air in Scarborough, in the hope of aiding his recovery, saw no improvement. He returned to his home in Halifax. By 17 December he was declining rapidly; telegraphs were sent to his children advising them to come at once but he lingered over Christmas. His death was widely mourned and at his funeral an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets to pay their respects as the procession passed.  His body is interred in the family mausoleum attached to Saltaire's church.