We had several eccentric characters both local and from districts. One came from over Cribden, selling six-inch long brinestone [sic] matches. […] The pedlar mentioned had been a prisoner in Russia and continually hearing a set of bells near the place of his confinement, learned a ditty, which he kept on singing along our streets. His name was John McKenzie, a Scotchman by birth, had been a soldier, had fought in Spain, and finished in the Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo, he died at his lodgings, 15 Grant St., Haslingden on the 29th October 1872, aged 101, and his grave is near the east end of Haslingden Church.