William Stoker was the supervisor on the reconstruction of part of the spire of St John’s Cathedral in Limerick Ireland during the summer of 1883. The top twenty feet of the spire (the tallest church spire in Ireland) had collapsed shortly after its construction in September 1882 and funds were raised to complete the work in the summer of 1883.
The contract was awarded to a Newcastle on Tyne company called, T. Massingham. While they would have employed some local labour in the work they would also have brought in their own staff also. The work commenced in May 1883 and progressed well throughout the summer. The deadline of the 15th August had been given for the completion of the work.
On the evening of Saturday 14th July 1883, William Stoker, who was foreman of the works climbed the scaffold to inspect the setting of the concrete on the stones. he had a conversation with a local colleague before missing his footing and falling about 200 feet to his death. His body was removed to Barringtons Hospital and an inquest was held shortly afterwards.
It is here that the mystery begins. There is no record of him in Limerick’s graveyards (either Protestant or Catholic). There is no account of a funeral or repatriation of remains to England. The newspaper reports of the time record that he was a man in his late 30’s from Consett Durham who had been in Limerick since early spring that year but there is no record of him in census data or anywhere on Ancestry.com.
As the historian of the Cathedral I would dearly love to remember William, the only man who lost his life in the building of our beautiful and iconic Cathedral.
