South Yorkshire Times, October 27th, 1933
Obituary
Journeys End
Old “Newsboy” Completes His Round
Mr. John Mattocks
“Old John” Mattocks, of Wombwell, died on Friday. In the ordinary course he would have been taking out to his customers their copies of the “South Yorkshire Times,” but he went to sleep after a long period of suffering, and in his sleep accepted the Higher Call. His light step and cheerful smile will be missed on many doorsteps. He was 77 and claimed to be “England’s oldest newsboy.” Less than a year ago we published his record, and he was so proud of it that. he showed the cutting with his photo to all his customers. He carried a news bag almost as big as himself, and his figure was familiar to everybody in the district. In a humble way he was as popular as Father Christmas, and to have suggested to anyone that John was getting too old for his job would have been to provoke ridicule. No “newsboy” was ever more reliable. punctual or conscientious. We shall miss him in Wombwell.
An Early Start
He was born at Brierley Hill, South Staffordshire, and at the age of six had commenced to earn his bread. His first job was in the workshop of a chainmaker. He was set to blow a small forge, the handle of which he was just big enough to reach. At eleven he went to work in a Staffordshire mine, drawing out the small coal as it accumulated under the face where the colliers were “holing.” He was known as a “dragger,” and to get under the face he was equipped with a belt and chain which passed between his, legs and connected with a little iron pan into which he had to scrape the coal. The height of the seam was less than two feet. The coal trade in Staffordshire became exceptionally bad, and John moved north, following his brother to Wombwell to start work at Lundhill. He worked off and on at most of the mines in the Wombwell district, but the last twenty years of his pit life were spent at Mitchell Main. The war gave John the chance of a “job on the top,” and he readily took it. His brother had the news agency still run by the family in High Street, Wombwell, and when one of his sons was called up John took his place. He took the round and worked it until he fell ill some months ago
Ten Miles A Day
Twice a day, in good weather and bad, he covered a district embracing High Street, Cemetery Road, Summer Lane, and most of the streets on the “top side” of Wombwell, delivering papers. He travelled not less than ten miles a day, except on Sundays, when he would not work under any circumstances. He was of mild disposition but had two strong prejudices. One was against newspaper canvassers, who “got their names from the gravestones,” and the other in favour of the “South Yorkshire Times,” which he always contended was “the best family journal in Yorkshire.” Once he said that during the war the sale of all papers more than doubled, but later they all lost the ground gained except the “South Yorkshire Times.” He used to rise promptly when Wombwell Main colliery “buzzer” called him at 6 and would be on the street picking up his papers at 7 a.m. Six or seven years ago Mr. and Mrs. Mattocks celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. The widow is left, with seven children, many grandchildren, and one or two great-grand-children. The interment was at Wombwell on Monday, the Rev. A. B. Brockway, Methodist minister, officiating, and there was a large following.