150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th April 1869)
This week's stories include a shocking mining accident in Ashton, the professional singer who became riotous in Bridge Street, a prediction on the use of the "curious" new bicycles in St Helens, more harsh prison sentences, a leather tannery in Billinge and St Ann's new church in Warrington Road in Rainhill is re-consecrated.
We begin on April 1st with yet another shocking gas explosion down a coal mine, this time at Ashton-in-Makerfield. In recent times mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Hindley and Norley had taken many lives.
Initially the explosion at the High Brooks Pit of Park Lane Colliery had killed twenty-eight men and boys. However few injured people survived trauma 150 years ago and the death toll would rise to thirty-six. Three years earlier thirty miners had lost their lives in another explosion at the same pit.
On the 3rd an advert in the St Helens Newspaper signalled that the soap industry in St Helens was not going to rival that of Liverpool or Widnes. Auctioneer Thomas Lyon of Baldwin Street announced that Whitham and Gibbons of Gerards Bridge had shut down their soap works and their plant would be auctioned on the 5th. The only soap works of any significance in St Helens was Fountain Soap owned by F. W. Tinker which was established in 1852 and was still going sixty years later.
Pedal bicycles had only been developed in the early 1860s and the French Velocipede or "boneshaker" briefly became fashionable with some well-off persons during the later years of the decade. The St Helens Newspaper published a short article informing its readers that a bicycle was going to be made in the town on a "new principle" that would allow the machine to run at thirty miles an hour.
The paper said the owner would be willing to back their bike in a speed trial against any other in England for a wager of £30. The Newspaper wrote: "We may soon expect to see these curious vehicles running through our own streets as freely as they do in Liverpool."
The interest in these rickety bikes was shown by the large crowd that had assembled on the 3rd at Rock Ferry to watch the closing stages of a race. This had started at Chester with twelve machines competing and when they arrived at Rock Ferry, there were between four to five thousands persons waiting to greet them.
The winner of the 14-mile race took more than 4 hours to reach his destination but the St Helens Newspaper said the timings would have been faster if it hadn't been for the crowd obstructing the riders.
A notice in the Prescot Reporter had announced that the reopening of St Ann's church in Rainhill would take place on the 3rd at "quarter-past eleven in the forenoon", with the caveat "God willing" added. Well God was willing and the re-consecration of the Warrington Road church – that had been entirely rebuilt (apart from a small portion of the walls and tower) – went ahead.
There was now accommodation for about 900 persons, almost doubling the seating of the old church. However Rev. Walter Clay, the Vicar of Rainhill, had £1,700 of debt to clear (about £200,000 in today's money).
On the 5th the St Helens Petty Sessions was held in the Town Hall in New Market Place. John Campbell had been caught begging in a public house in Church Street and was sent to prison for 7 days.
The Newspaper wrote about another case: "Robert Marshall was charged with being drunk and riotous in Bridge-street, on Saturday evening. When seen he was brandishing a stick of enormous thickness, and threatening to annihilate some foes. The stick, when produced in court, created quite a sensation.
"The prisoner belongs to the musical profession, and had been engaged to sing in a beerhouse in the town. On Saturday he heard that his mother was lying dangerously ill in the paternal mansion in Dublin, and the intelligence so affected him that he took more drink than was good for him. He was fined 5s."
'Intelligence' was, of course, the old name for news, with the first St Helens' newspaper having had the less than snappy title of 'What's Wanted: Containing St Helens Intelligence' – four pages of adverts and news that was first published in 1853.
Two boys called John Langley and John Simpson were charged in the Petty Sessions with stealing £2 16s from John Reilly, a carter who worked for Edward Johnson. He was a grocer with premises in Church Street, who in the 1871 census said he employed twelve men.
John Reilly told the court that the money went missing from a mustard can on his cart when he was out delivering eggs. John Langley's younger brother William claimed he saw John Simpson take the money and the lad had promised him and his brother "a good spree" on the proceeds. The court ordered John Langley to be sent to prison for a month and John Simpson for a fortnight – although the latter was to be whipped as well as incarcerated.
Prosecutions of the licensees of pubs and beerhouses that had opened their premises up before 12:30pm on a Sunday were a regular event. However the magistrates appeared to have some sympathy with Thomas Grundy, who kept the Cowley Hill Tavern. The police had found four men in a stable and three inside the house supping beer at 10am on a Sunday morning.
Grundy blamed his sister for serving them while he was in bed. The Chairman of the Bench said they would only impose a fine of ten shillings, as he was young and comparatively inexperienced in the business.
Also appearing at the Petty Sessions were John Charleston and William Simpson who had been caught playing pitch and toss in Shaw Street. A century ago it was pretty much a weekly occurrence for players of pitch and toss to be fined in court. However in 1869 the law did not permit a fine for those convicted of playing the gambling game and so both men were imprisoned for three days.
A common crime was the stealing of wearing apparel – as clothes were invariably called – from the house where the thief had been staying. It seems a brainless thing to have done, as the disappearance of the items would immediately be linked to the vanished lodger, who would soon be picked up by the police.
Martin Murray was charged in the Sessions with stealing wearing apparel and 33s 6d from the house of John Rogerson in Canal Street. Murray had been lodging with Rogerson and pawned his vest at Broadbent's pawnbrokers in Liverpool Road. He blamed drink for what he'd done and was sent to prison for a month.
John Clarke was in court for doing a similar thing, stealing a pair of trousers and a vest from fellow lodger John Bloomfield of Liverpool Street. He then sold the articles to Mrs Bate, who kept a second-hand clothes shop in Bridge Street.
However Clarke claimed that he and Bloomfield had been drinking together and when their money ran out his friend had told him to get the clothes and sell them. He said the proceeds were then spent between them on more ale.
Bloomfield denied this but the landlady of the Bee Hive gave evidence that the men had been drinking together at her house. She said Bloomfield had drunk so much that he fell down and went to sleep and as a result the case was dismissed.
These days Houghwood is a golf course in Billinge but it used to be the name of a tannery owned by Charles Wilcock. On the 6th Houghwood Tannery had an advert published in the Tuesday edition of the St Helens Newspaper which read:
"Charles Wilcock begs to inform dealers and others that he has constantly on hand a stock of genuine oak bark tanned leather of very superior quality, and at reasonable prices. His engine-hides are remarkably strong, well grown, and cannot be surpassed for strength and durability." The address for any enquiries about the leather was simply 'Charles Wilcock, St Helens'.
Holy Cross Church (pictured above) in what became Corporation Street held a tea party and ball in the Volunteer Hall on the 6th. The church was said to have been built in 1861-2 from stone quarried underground at Crank Caverns.
The Prescot Petty Sessions were also held on that day in which Mary Kiwood was charged with breaking glass in the house of Anne Kavanagh and being "drunk and riotous" in Prescot.
Constable Harrison said he had seen the prisoner hurl the stones and Superintendent Fowler told the court that there was "not a more disorderly old woman in the parish". Mary had been sent to prison several times and she was given a further seven days at Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool.
Next week's stories will include the serious charges made against the Master of Whiston Workhouse, alleged police brutality in Ormskirk Street, the foundation stone is laid for a new Sutton school, an 11-year-old boy steals a magic lantern from his boss and there is a curious water prosecution of a little girl.
We begin on April 1st with yet another shocking gas explosion down a coal mine, this time at Ashton-in-Makerfield. In recent times mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Hindley and Norley had taken many lives.
Initially the explosion at the High Brooks Pit of Park Lane Colliery had killed twenty-eight men and boys. However few injured people survived trauma 150 years ago and the death toll would rise to thirty-six. Three years earlier thirty miners had lost their lives in another explosion at the same pit.
On the 3rd an advert in the St Helens Newspaper signalled that the soap industry in St Helens was not going to rival that of Liverpool or Widnes. Auctioneer Thomas Lyon of Baldwin Street announced that Whitham and Gibbons of Gerards Bridge had shut down their soap works and their plant would be auctioned on the 5th. The only soap works of any significance in St Helens was Fountain Soap owned by F. W. Tinker which was established in 1852 and was still going sixty years later.
Pedal bicycles had only been developed in the early 1860s and the French Velocipede or "boneshaker" briefly became fashionable with some well-off persons during the later years of the decade. The St Helens Newspaper published a short article informing its readers that a bicycle was going to be made in the town on a "new principle" that would allow the machine to run at thirty miles an hour.
The paper said the owner would be willing to back their bike in a speed trial against any other in England for a wager of £30. The Newspaper wrote: "We may soon expect to see these curious vehicles running through our own streets as freely as they do in Liverpool."
The interest in these rickety bikes was shown by the large crowd that had assembled on the 3rd at Rock Ferry to watch the closing stages of a race. This had started at Chester with twelve machines competing and when they arrived at Rock Ferry, there were between four to five thousands persons waiting to greet them.
The winner of the 14-mile race took more than 4 hours to reach his destination but the St Helens Newspaper said the timings would have been faster if it hadn't been for the crowd obstructing the riders.
A notice in the Prescot Reporter had announced that the reopening of St Ann's church in Rainhill would take place on the 3rd at "quarter-past eleven in the forenoon", with the caveat "God willing" added. Well God was willing and the re-consecration of the Warrington Road church – that had been entirely rebuilt (apart from a small portion of the walls and tower) – went ahead.
There was now accommodation for about 900 persons, almost doubling the seating of the old church. However Rev. Walter Clay, the Vicar of Rainhill, had £1,700 of debt to clear (about £200,000 in today's money).
On the 5th the St Helens Petty Sessions was held in the Town Hall in New Market Place. John Campbell had been caught begging in a public house in Church Street and was sent to prison for 7 days.
The Newspaper wrote about another case: "Robert Marshall was charged with being drunk and riotous in Bridge-street, on Saturday evening. When seen he was brandishing a stick of enormous thickness, and threatening to annihilate some foes. The stick, when produced in court, created quite a sensation.
"The prisoner belongs to the musical profession, and had been engaged to sing in a beerhouse in the town. On Saturday he heard that his mother was lying dangerously ill in the paternal mansion in Dublin, and the intelligence so affected him that he took more drink than was good for him. He was fined 5s."
'Intelligence' was, of course, the old name for news, with the first St Helens' newspaper having had the less than snappy title of 'What's Wanted: Containing St Helens Intelligence' – four pages of adverts and news that was first published in 1853.
Two boys called John Langley and John Simpson were charged in the Petty Sessions with stealing £2 16s from John Reilly, a carter who worked for Edward Johnson. He was a grocer with premises in Church Street, who in the 1871 census said he employed twelve men.
John Reilly told the court that the money went missing from a mustard can on his cart when he was out delivering eggs. John Langley's younger brother William claimed he saw John Simpson take the money and the lad had promised him and his brother "a good spree" on the proceeds. The court ordered John Langley to be sent to prison for a month and John Simpson for a fortnight – although the latter was to be whipped as well as incarcerated.
Prosecutions of the licensees of pubs and beerhouses that had opened their premises up before 12:30pm on a Sunday were a regular event. However the magistrates appeared to have some sympathy with Thomas Grundy, who kept the Cowley Hill Tavern. The police had found four men in a stable and three inside the house supping beer at 10am on a Sunday morning.
Grundy blamed his sister for serving them while he was in bed. The Chairman of the Bench said they would only impose a fine of ten shillings, as he was young and comparatively inexperienced in the business.
Also appearing at the Petty Sessions were John Charleston and William Simpson who had been caught playing pitch and toss in Shaw Street. A century ago it was pretty much a weekly occurrence for players of pitch and toss to be fined in court. However in 1869 the law did not permit a fine for those convicted of playing the gambling game and so both men were imprisoned for three days.
A common crime was the stealing of wearing apparel – as clothes were invariably called – from the house where the thief had been staying. It seems a brainless thing to have done, as the disappearance of the items would immediately be linked to the vanished lodger, who would soon be picked up by the police.
Martin Murray was charged in the Sessions with stealing wearing apparel and 33s 6d from the house of John Rogerson in Canal Street. Murray had been lodging with Rogerson and pawned his vest at Broadbent's pawnbrokers in Liverpool Road. He blamed drink for what he'd done and was sent to prison for a month.
John Clarke was in court for doing a similar thing, stealing a pair of trousers and a vest from fellow lodger John Bloomfield of Liverpool Street. He then sold the articles to Mrs Bate, who kept a second-hand clothes shop in Bridge Street.
However Clarke claimed that he and Bloomfield had been drinking together and when their money ran out his friend had told him to get the clothes and sell them. He said the proceeds were then spent between them on more ale.
Bloomfield denied this but the landlady of the Bee Hive gave evidence that the men had been drinking together at her house. She said Bloomfield had drunk so much that he fell down and went to sleep and as a result the case was dismissed.
These days Houghwood is a golf course in Billinge but it used to be the name of a tannery owned by Charles Wilcock. On the 6th Houghwood Tannery had an advert published in the Tuesday edition of the St Helens Newspaper which read:
"Charles Wilcock begs to inform dealers and others that he has constantly on hand a stock of genuine oak bark tanned leather of very superior quality, and at reasonable prices. His engine-hides are remarkably strong, well grown, and cannot be surpassed for strength and durability." The address for any enquiries about the leather was simply 'Charles Wilcock, St Helens'.
The Prescot Petty Sessions were also held on that day in which Mary Kiwood was charged with breaking glass in the house of Anne Kavanagh and being "drunk and riotous" in Prescot.
Constable Harrison said he had seen the prisoner hurl the stones and Superintendent Fowler told the court that there was "not a more disorderly old woman in the parish". Mary had been sent to prison several times and she was given a further seven days at Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool.
Next week's stories will include the serious charges made against the Master of Whiston Workhouse, alleged police brutality in Ormskirk Street, the foundation stone is laid for a new Sutton school, an 11-year-old boy steals a magic lantern from his boss and there is a curious water prosecution of a little girl.