Tommy Burns (diver)

Thomas "Tommy" Burns

Tommy Burns on an 'Ogdens Cigarettes' card, circa 1901
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Burns
Born	(1868-01-21)January 21, 1868 Liverpool, England
Died	July 6, 1897(1897-07-06) (aged 29) Rhyl, Wales (Accidental drowning)
Resting place	West Derby, Liverpool
Years active	1880s–1897
Height	5.5 ft (1.7 m)
Spouse(s)	Marie Burns
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Diving

Thomas "Tommy" Burns (21 January 1868 – 6 July 1897) was a British diver born in Liverpool, England. Throughout the late 19th century, he gained notoriety for diving off structures, usually bridges such as London Bridge and Clifton Suspension Bridge in England and the Tay Bridge in Scotland. Often, his diving attempts would be thwarted by police or he would face arrest upon returning to dry land. Burns was also known to be a life saver and during his lifetime, is believed to have saved in excess of 40 lives.

In July 1897, Burns dived off Rhyl Pier in front of an audience of 3000 people. Some observed that he looked to have been drinking alcohol prior to the dive, which ended with him landing heavily on his back and struggling to swim to shore. Swimmers helped him onto the pier, where he was unconscious and declared dead after 20 minutes of attempted resuscitation. At this time, he was destitute and his coffin was provided by Rhyl Pier, while another professional diver helped to raise funds for his widow by diving off the Rhyl Pier as Burns himself had done.

Although Burns had been drinking alcohol excessively before the dive, the jury of the inquest returned a verdict of accidental drowning.

Early life[]

Thomas Burns was born in Liverpool on 21 January 1868,^[1] though some sources say 1866 or 1867.^[2] His family were Irish and his father was a baker. Spending most of his life in Widnes, the family lived in Midwood Street and as a child, he attended St Bedes School in Appleton.^[3] Reports from 1884 suggested that by this time, Tommy was a baker and living in Exmouth Street, while being captain of the Sefton Swimming Club.^[4]

Career[]

England[]

Runcorn Railway Bridge in February 2004, with the Silver Jubilee Bridge in the background

Burns advertised himself as a "champion all round athlete of the world at diving, swimming, walking, running, boxing, pole jumping, horizontal bar, etc".^[5] In 1889, he succeeded in a bet that challenged him to dive off Runcorn Railway Bridge, swim to Liverpool, walk from there to London to dive off London Bridge and then walk back to Liverpool to dive off the same bridge in Runcorn, within nine days.^[5] On 15 June 1890, a challenge between him and American athlete Carlisle D. Graham^[3] involved them to each to dive off Runcorn Bridge, swim 300 yards (270 m) then run 10 miles (16 km), which Burns won by over 500 yards (460 m).^[6]

Among the many dives undertaken by Burns included jumping off the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Forth Bridge. Doubts were cast by railway officials as to whether Burns did actually jump off the Forth Bridge,^[7] while on 2 January 1897, the Edinburgh Evening News reported the names of several individuals who signed to say that witnessed the dive.^[8] On separate occasions, as well as diving he was also known to jump from moving trains, once into Liverpool docks and another time from a train as it crossed the Thames.^[9] He used this tactic on some occasions in order to get onto a bridge to undertake a dive. Very few of his jumps had approval from the authorities and he would often be arrested, either before or after his diving attempt. Burns went to great lengths to avoid arrest, at one time dressing himself as a woman when at Trafford Bridge in Manchester.^[5]

Scotland[]

Forth Bridge as it appeared in 1891

In November 1890, he jumped off a bridge in Glasgow in front of a crowd of 22,000. Upon landing, he was chased by police but escaped.^[10] Burns would frequently get into altercations with the police and in 1892, was taken into custody after diving off bridges in Ayr, Scotland.^[11] He was released after the 10 shilling bail was reported to have been paid by a stranger.^[12] Tommy's diving in Ayr was reported by the Dundee Courier to have "created a sensation".^[13]

On a visit to Dundee, Scotland in 1895, Burns was appearing at the Grand Carnival in West Craigie Park when he attempted to dive off the Tay Bridge. Despite thinking just a few of his friends were the only ones to know of his intentions, he arrived at the bridge to find it policed with railway officials and ultimately aborted his planned dive, telling a reporter that he would "do it some other day". His second attempt was on 29 January 1897, when on a train with friends from Tay Bridge railway station, dived into the icy waters just as the train was about to begin crossing the bridge. The boat that was meant to collect him was too distant, although several workmen on the bridge threw railway sleepers down for him as a float, until he could be retrieved by a steamboat.^[14] Despite being handed over to police, he was released after two hours, while his dive had caused excitement in Dundee, with many having admiration for his diving activities.^[15]

International recognition[]

In August 1893, Burns was recognised in America by newspaper the Baltimore Express, who reported on his diving feats into the Royal Aquarium and from various British railway bridges. The paper compared him to American diver Steve Brodie, suggesting that Burns' dives put Brodie's and other bridge jumpers' efforts "in the shade".^[2] On 25 June 1895, he was recognised by The Daily Argus newspaper as "a noted swimmer and diver", reporting on his 100 feet (30 m) dive from a moving train into the River Mersey.^[16] In October 1896, the Kendalleville Standard reported on his dive from London Bridge, in a wager that he was to dive from the bridge then run 128 miles (206 km) to Yarmouth. Despite being arrested after the dive, he won the wager by completing the challenge at a time of 23 hours and 40 minutes.^[17] In January 1897, Burns was described by American newspaper the Evening Tribune as being "greater than Steve Brodie of bridge jumping". Having jumped of various railway bridges in England and Scotland, Burns challenged any other bridge jumper in the world to equal his feats, expressing his intention to dive off trains in America if he could not find a suitable challenger in Britain.^[18]

Personal life[]

Burns was reported by the Baltimore Express in 1893 to be 5.5 feet (1.7 m) in height and "the very picture of an athlete", with long experience in swimming and water gymnastics and by this time, had already won over 400 prizes.^[2] He was married to 24-year-old Marie Burns at the time of his death, who was widowed after nine months of marriage.^[19] His father was Patrick Burns and he had a sister, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Burns.^[20]

As well as diving, Burns was also known to be a life saver. In May 1884, he dived to help a ferry passenger who had lost his balance and fell into the river while trying to retrieve his hat. Tommy put the man onto his back while keeping himself above water until a yacht rescued them.^[21][4] By 1893, Burns had saved 32 lives^[2] and by October 1896, was believed to be responsible for saving the lives of 43 people,^[17] including steeplechase jockey Mr W Gale. In March 1895,^[3] he was the only man to dive off the roof of the Royal Aquarium into a tank that was just 6 feet (1.8 m) deep.^[1] Throughout much of the 1890s, Burns travelled the country to dive, mostly off bridges and many of his attempts were reported by the media.^[22]

According to the 1891 census and various news reports from the time, by the early 1890s, Burns was living at 113 Farnworth Street in Liverpool.^[23]

Death[]

Snapshot of Tommy's fatal dive, taken by Robert Morris Evans

In July 1897, Burns dived 100 feet (30 m) into the sea off Rhyl Pier and was observed by around 3,000 spectators.^[24] Some of the spectators thought he did not look well enough to be diving, with rumours that he may have been intoxicated with alcohol. Having kept the crowd waiting for around 45 minutes, when he did dive, he twisted awkwardly with a heavy landing on his back.^[25] He was seen struggling to swim the 800 feet (240 m) back to the shore and when aided by swimmers and brought back onto the pier,^[24] was found to be unconscious. Despite trying for 20 minutes to resuscitate, the coastguard were unable to save him and he was declared dead.^[1] At the time of his death, he was described as "the undefeated champion of high diver of the world".^[3]

During the inquest, it was reported that Burns appeared to the piermaster as "in drink, but not drunk", when they met at Rhyl railway station. Other reports suggested he was not quite sober on arrival and advised to rest, which he did for 2 hours before his dive. During his dive, which was hindered by a strong north-west wind, he turned and "fell flat on his back with a thud".^[26] Dr W T Girdlestone suggested that in his opinion, Burns may have sustained concussion by the awkward descent and that in a dazed state, had drowned. The coroner, during summing up, expressed that he thought Burns should not have been allowed to dive given his intoxicated state, although did not believe there was any criminal negligence attributable to anyone.^[27] Despite his alcohol consumption, it was understood that witnesses did not believe his death was due to his excessive drinking and the jury's verdict was one of accidental drowning.^[26]

Burns was buried in West Derby Cemetery, Liverpool on 10 July,^[28] his body being carried by members of Tom Woods' minstrel troupe from the Pier Head. Rhyl Pier provided the coffin^[1] as Burns' wife was penniless.^[29] Tommy was buried in the Catholic part of the cemetery and his coffin bore the inscription: "Thomas Burns, died July 6th, aged thirty years, R.I.P."^[20] A fund-raiser was held for his widow by another professional diver, Ted Heaton, who dived from the same platform on Rhyl Pier where Burns had done on his last dive.^[25] A verdict of accidental death was reached at the inquest.^[1]

References[]

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