Looking for the story behind another another pawnshop ticket led me to the following newscutting:
At the Clay Cross Carnival in August 1932 Mr Charles William ‘Bill’ Quemby rode on a cart seated above a giant lump of coal, dressed as ‘Old King Cole’, attended by six miners. His throne was decorated with pit props and safety lamps, and his dray was drawn by three horses supplied by the Clay Cross Company’s farm.
As the parade was processing along Bridge Street one of the rear wheels on this dray collapsed, and his attendants had to jack it up and make repairs before it could continue.
When Old King Cole arrived at the Welfare Grounds, the enormous lump of coal was put on display as a ‘guess the weight’ competition. It was said to be the largest sized block possible to be got out of no.2 pit.
The parade included vehicles themed ‘Lady Godiva’ , ‘Just Married’, and ‘The Circus Comes to Town’, but first prize was won by the New Tupton Hospital Committee with “Hospital Side Ward’. The Derbyshire Times reported that the carnival was a financial success, raising money for the Clay Cross and District Hospital Fund.
The CXCo.’s dray was, of course, given the ‘premier award’.
Background
The Quemby family lived near Loughborough in the 19th century. Mr Quemby married Miss Sarah Harris in 1888, and the family moved around, coming to Derbyshire circa 1906, when one of their three sons was enrolled at Shirebrook Junior Boys School.
Mr Quemby later found employment with the Hepthorne Lane contractor T. Beighton, and then with the Clay Cross Company, becoming a foreman, and working on the construction of the Ashover Light Railway. The family lived on Holmgate Road for more than thirty years. When Mr Quemby died on 30 January 1940, he was much respected, and described as ‘one of the best known employees of the Clay Cross Company’.
Mrs Quemby must have visited the pawnbroker not long after moving to Clay Cross. We can’t know now whether she was raising money on behalf of a neighbour, or whether it was for her own family. Times were hard, but worse was to come. The Quembys lost two sons during WWI. Their eldest son, Leonard, was lost at sea on The Arcadian in 1917, and their second son, Charles William, died in a German POW camp in 1918.
Finally, I also found another cutting featuring Mr Quemby:
Sources
- Derbyshire Times Saturday 12 May 1917 (Leonard Quemby’s obit.)
- Derby Daily Telegraph Wednesday 17 August 1932
- Sheffield Daily Telegraph Wednesday 17 August 1932
- Derbyshire Times Saturday 20 August 1932
- Derbyshire Times Friday 13 September 1935
- Derbyshire Times Friday 2 February 1940 (Mr Quemby’s obit.)
- Derbyshire Times Friday 18 June 1943 (Mrs Quemby’s obit.)
North Wingfield 
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