Heroic act of Shropshire teacher Alice comes to light

Heard of Shropshire heroine Alice White? It's unlikely that you have, because this teenage teacher from Shrewsbury is one of the county's forgotten heroines writes Toby Neal.

But her courage, which has special significance with the seasonal warnings to children to stay away from frozen pools, has come to light again thanks to an auction at Cosford.

Elaine Adams, a journalist and PR consultant from Shropshire, said: "She was one of 518 heroines mentioned in a roll of honour in the Victorian era and her story is told, with a picture, in the Strand Magazine of 1897.

"The magazine is in a leather-bound book I bought at the Cosford auction."

Elaine said: "I flicked through this particular one and saw this woman was from Shrewsbury. Her name is Miss Alice White, a pupil teacher, aged only 16 herself."

The magazine tells of a drama on January 9, 1895, when girls from St Mary's Board School in Shrewsbury were sliding on the canal near the factory bridge.

"It goes into great detail about the heroic rescue in the icy canal," said Elaine.

One girl, 12-year-old Hannah Merrifield, shot into the middle of the canal, where the ice was thin.

"Suddenly the ice 'starred' in all directions, and with a loud cry for help, poor little Hannah disappeared into 14ft of water," the magazine reports.

Miss White was walking along the towpath and immediately went to her aid.

"The drowning girl had by this time reappeared on the surface. When Miss White felt that she could get no nearer, she lay prostrate on the rotten ice, so as to distribute her own weight.

"Then, with one hand, she seized the struggling child. Next moment the ice gave way in all directions, and Miss White herself was plunged into the cold, foul water."

Alice clung on to Hannah as, bit by bit, she broke off sheets of ice to clear a way to the bank which she reached bleeding and exhausted.

Curiously, neither the Shrewsbury Chronicle nor the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News seem to have got to hear of it.