I was intrigued by a brief mention of the Reverend James
Fell in Richard Whittington-Egan’s book Liverpool Collonade [1955].
Writing about the history of the Mersey Mission to Seamen he notes that “On
one wall….gleams the brass memorial tablet to Fell of ‘Frisco, the Reverend
James Fell, sometime chaplain of the Mersey Mission, the padre who carried six-shooter in his hip pocket and whop, alone
and unaided, cleared the crimps from the San Francisco waterfront”. (‘Crimps’
being those who sought to part sailors from their money).
It seems that having worked in and studied the operation of
the Mersey Mission Fell was specially chosen to establish a similar institution
on the San Francisco waterfront. He began his work in 1892 and by the summer of
1893 had progressed to the extent that the local journal, the San Francisco
Call [22 July 1893] carried an article with glowing praise of the ‘Seamen’s
Institute’ at 33 Steuart Street and “the young man specifically gifted for
the work”. It seems that Fell was hugely enthusiastic about providing a “place
where (mariners) may pass their time in rational amusement, where the moral
atmosphere is wholesome” in the hope that this would keep them away from those
who would lure them into sinful pursuit and take their money. The astonishing
part of the tale is that alongside his efforts to offer wholesome alternatives
he was quite prepared to clear out the undesirable elements in the port with
physical force. A number of contemporary reports refer to him “beating up”
the crimps. When the time came for him to leave San Francisco (and presumably
hang up his six-shooter) he was presented with a framed memorial document signed
by the sailors. His impact on the city must have been considerable as they
named a lengthy thoroughfare, Fell Street, after him which exists to this day.
He wrote a book about his experiences entitled British Merchant Seamen in San Francisco:
1892-1898 [Edward Arnold 1899].
James Fell had been born in Ulverston in 1861, the son of John
Fell, a barrister and when his gun-toting days were over he returned to the
area to pursue the somewhat calmer calling of a country parson. He was the
vicar at Ulverston and the 1911 census found him administering to the spiritual
needs of the coastal village of Arnside.
During his first spell in Liverpool he resided at 136 Duke Street
L1 (now demolished). He resided in the city for a period after his return from SanFrancisco at 8 Falkner Street L8
