150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th July 1869)
This week's stories include the prevalence of pocket-picking in St Helens, an allegation of an illegal Eccleston road toll, the Sutton boy taught the "doom of liars", a "pretty team" of cricket cowards from Cowley Hill, a "very noisy scene" at Whiston Workhouse and an assault with a dolly stick.
We begin on July 1st in the White Lion in Church Street (at the corner of Hall Street) when gardeners employed by St Helens' landowners held their second meeting to plan a flower show for the town. Few people had their own gardens and there were no public parks. And so it was the wealthy folk – with their estates away from the smoky town – who provided flowers for such occasions.
On the same day a meeting of the Prescot Board of Guardians took place in Whiston Workhouse at which the recently sacked master was blamed for a cock-up with a clothes order.
Thomas Holmes had been dismissed for making an inmate pregnant and a long list of other complaints had been made against him. It was now revealed that 121 suits ordered for the men in the workhouse were far too small and would only fit boys. However the master had signed a receipt for the garments and the supplier had been paid.
The law at that time contained no requirement for ordered goods to be fit for purpose and so the Guardians were stuck with the suits. Of course these would have been very simple clothes and the men would have been prosecuted if they took the jacket and trousers with them upon leaving the workhouse.
At the same meeting Henry and Mary Pepper were appointed as the new master and mistress at a joint salary of £100 per year. The couple had a young daughter and it was decided that they be charged £5 per year for the child's keep. However Mr and Mrs Pepper must have wondered if they had made the right decision in accepting the offer to take over at the workhouse.
A Guardian called John Laverock began giving Henry Pepper guidance on his behaviour, saying he hoped he would not "split upon the rock" that had wrecked his predecessor. The retired farmer told the new master to read the first chapter of Genesis at which the Chairman Edmund Ward called him to order. Laverock disregarded the instruction and continued his lecture and so several other Guardians also called him to order.
To this the member for Halewood said: "How dare any member call me to order" and continued laying down the law to Mr Pepper. He gave him a list of chapters from the Bible that he should read to which the Chairman repeatedly struck his desk with his wooden mallet and called "order" and other members stamped their feet on the floor and some called for silence.
The St Helens Newspaper reported a "very noisy scene" which worsened as Laverock took no notice of his colleagues and continued talking ever louder until he "raised his voice to its highest pitch, and screamed out his directions to Mr. Pepper." John Laverock was aged 73 and had a 30-year-old wife. In fact the retired farmer's mother-in-law lived with the couple and she was seven years younger than him!
During the evening of the 2nd Joseph Crooks, a miner in his early 50s, was crushed to death at Peasley Cross Colliery by a stone that fell on him from the roof of the mine. The man's inquest was held three days later in the Parr Vaults where a verdict of accidental death was returned.
A letter published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 3rd criticised the existence of a tollbar in Eccleston on the road to Liverpool. Using the pseudonym "Ecclestonian" the author claimed the road tax was increasing the cost of coal and was being imposed with the "connivance" of the councillors, adding:
"Is there another town council in the kingdom which would show so much indifference to the interests of a town committed to their care as the members of the St Helens Town Council exhibit in this matter." Ecclestonian claimed that the toll was illegal with the cash going into the pockets of men who were giving nothing back in return.
Under the headline "Prevalence of Pocket-Picking in St Helens", the Newspaper wrote: "At the present time St. Helens harbours not a few pickpockets, who are industriously pursuing their profession in the town. During the past week a great many persons, principally women, have mysteriously lost their purses while out marketing, and have gone home sadder and wiser than when they came out."
They also expressed critical comments of the behaviour of St Helens Cowley Hill Albion Cricket Club in their recent match against St Helens Union: "The spirit of the Union C.C. seemed during the earlier part of the game, to have taken to itself wings, but during the second innings of their opponents it revived, as will be seen from the score. Their opponents, finding how they stood at the end of their second innings, left the field, afraid to play the match out, showing themselves to be a pretty team of cowards."
The St Helens Newspaper also reported that the Sutton Local Board had recently been due to hold the monthly meeting of its elected members. An Act of Parliament would soon incorporate Sutton and Parr into the new St Helens borough but for the time being Local Boards in those townships were managing their affairs.
Joseph Greenough turned up on time and waited for the other members of the Sutton Board to appear….and then waited and waited and waited. Finally after almost an hour he gave up and went home. The Newspaper wrote that the prospect of incorporation and loss of their positions was leading to indifference from the board members. As a consequence Sutton ratepayers were complaining of the laxity of their representatives and contractors were enduring delays in getting paid.
During the evening of the 3rd a crowd assembled in Tontine Street at the point where it joined Bridge Street to hear the words of a street preacher. Suddenly the horse-driven mail cart appeared, driven, it was reported, at a "furious speed" and it plunged straight into the crowd knocking several persons to the ground. Hannah Johnson from Chorley Street, off Duke Street, was seriously injured and was removed to her home in an unconscious state.
Two policemen were reported to have stood and watched, doing nothing to procure medical help or arrange for the woman to be taken home. A month earlier a similar accident had occurred in the same street in which an old woman was run over by the mail cart and very seriously injured.
On the 5th in the St Helens Petty Sessions Mary Leonard was charged with assaulting Eliza McLoughlin with a dolly stick. The pair had an argument and the woman snatched the stick from her dolly tub and struck 15-year-old Eliza with it. However Mary Leonard pleaded provocation and had a witness who stated that the girl had used the most filthy and disgusting language. Consequently she was only fined 1 shilling and court costs.
Stealing clothing was considered a serious offence that usually ended in prison, as Mary Green discovered. She was seen walking through the kitchen of Samuel Ridsal's house in Westfield Street about the same time as a pair of boots went missing. PC Michael Darmody was summoned and he found the boots in Mary Green's bedroom and she was sent to prison at Kirkdale for a month.
Peter Daly received the same sentence for stealing a shirt from the house of Thomas Houghton, a publican in Sutton. However the main witness against the man was a 9-year-old boy called William Cook who before being allowed to give evidence was asked to demonstrate that he had been taught the "doom of liars".
This would have been a reference to his Sunday school teachings when children were taught that God would exercise His wrath against those that didn't tell the truth. The lad stated that he had witnessed Daly enter the back kitchen of the public house and take the shirt. William then told PC Nolan what he had seen and the man was arrested.
Also in court was a boy called Patrick Grimes – who was known as Patsy – and aged about eight. He was accused of having assaulted an even younger child called Alice Murray from Bold Street. The little girl's mother told the magistrates that she had seen Patsy throw several stones at Alice, one of which struck her in the face. The reason for the assault was that the two children's mothers had quarrelled and the boy was copying his parent's example. He was fined 1 shilling for the stone throwing.
On the 7th the master cloggers of St Helens held their annual excursion and picnic, which this year took place in New Brighton. The cobblers and their wives met in the early morning outside the White Lion in Church Street and drove in a horse-driven omnibus to Liverpool, crossing the Mersey by ferry steamer. Back in St Helens the party returned to the White Lion and, according to the Newspaper, the evening was "agreeably spent in song and toast".
The quarterly general meeting of St Helens Town Council was held on the 7th in which Harold Pilkington was controversially elected as Town Clerk. This was an important position and the 25-year-old was highly inexperienced having only become a solicitor two years earlier. Harold was also a member of the glassmaking family and it was suggested they had used their influence to get him elected so he could serve their interests.
Next week's stories will include the Thatto Heath women who every day walked half a mile with a water can on their heads, the fierce Parr Street fight, the woman who denied being struck by her husband in Liverpool Road, how the 12th of July was marked in St Helens and the Sunday morning "jerry wagging".
We begin on July 1st in the White Lion in Church Street (at the corner of Hall Street) when gardeners employed by St Helens' landowners held their second meeting to plan a flower show for the town. Few people had their own gardens and there were no public parks. And so it was the wealthy folk – with their estates away from the smoky town – who provided flowers for such occasions.
On the same day a meeting of the Prescot Board of Guardians took place in Whiston Workhouse at which the recently sacked master was blamed for a cock-up with a clothes order.
Thomas Holmes had been dismissed for making an inmate pregnant and a long list of other complaints had been made against him. It was now revealed that 121 suits ordered for the men in the workhouse were far too small and would only fit boys. However the master had signed a receipt for the garments and the supplier had been paid.
The law at that time contained no requirement for ordered goods to be fit for purpose and so the Guardians were stuck with the suits. Of course these would have been very simple clothes and the men would have been prosecuted if they took the jacket and trousers with them upon leaving the workhouse.
At the same meeting Henry and Mary Pepper were appointed as the new master and mistress at a joint salary of £100 per year. The couple had a young daughter and it was decided that they be charged £5 per year for the child's keep. However Mr and Mrs Pepper must have wondered if they had made the right decision in accepting the offer to take over at the workhouse.
A Guardian called John Laverock began giving Henry Pepper guidance on his behaviour, saying he hoped he would not "split upon the rock" that had wrecked his predecessor. The retired farmer told the new master to read the first chapter of Genesis at which the Chairman Edmund Ward called him to order. Laverock disregarded the instruction and continued his lecture and so several other Guardians also called him to order.
To this the member for Halewood said: "How dare any member call me to order" and continued laying down the law to Mr Pepper. He gave him a list of chapters from the Bible that he should read to which the Chairman repeatedly struck his desk with his wooden mallet and called "order" and other members stamped their feet on the floor and some called for silence.
The St Helens Newspaper reported a "very noisy scene" which worsened as Laverock took no notice of his colleagues and continued talking ever louder until he "raised his voice to its highest pitch, and screamed out his directions to Mr. Pepper." John Laverock was aged 73 and had a 30-year-old wife. In fact the retired farmer's mother-in-law lived with the couple and she was seven years younger than him!
During the evening of the 2nd Joseph Crooks, a miner in his early 50s, was crushed to death at Peasley Cross Colliery by a stone that fell on him from the roof of the mine. The man's inquest was held three days later in the Parr Vaults where a verdict of accidental death was returned.
"Is there another town council in the kingdom which would show so much indifference to the interests of a town committed to their care as the members of the St Helens Town Council exhibit in this matter." Ecclestonian claimed that the toll was illegal with the cash going into the pockets of men who were giving nothing back in return.
Under the headline "Prevalence of Pocket-Picking in St Helens", the Newspaper wrote: "At the present time St. Helens harbours not a few pickpockets, who are industriously pursuing their profession in the town. During the past week a great many persons, principally women, have mysteriously lost their purses while out marketing, and have gone home sadder and wiser than when they came out."
They also expressed critical comments of the behaviour of St Helens Cowley Hill Albion Cricket Club in their recent match against St Helens Union: "The spirit of the Union C.C. seemed during the earlier part of the game, to have taken to itself wings, but during the second innings of their opponents it revived, as will be seen from the score. Their opponents, finding how they stood at the end of their second innings, left the field, afraid to play the match out, showing themselves to be a pretty team of cowards."
The St Helens Newspaper also reported that the Sutton Local Board had recently been due to hold the monthly meeting of its elected members. An Act of Parliament would soon incorporate Sutton and Parr into the new St Helens borough but for the time being Local Boards in those townships were managing their affairs.
Joseph Greenough turned up on time and waited for the other members of the Sutton Board to appear….and then waited and waited and waited. Finally after almost an hour he gave up and went home. The Newspaper wrote that the prospect of incorporation and loss of their positions was leading to indifference from the board members. As a consequence Sutton ratepayers were complaining of the laxity of their representatives and contractors were enduring delays in getting paid.
During the evening of the 3rd a crowd assembled in Tontine Street at the point where it joined Bridge Street to hear the words of a street preacher. Suddenly the horse-driven mail cart appeared, driven, it was reported, at a "furious speed" and it plunged straight into the crowd knocking several persons to the ground. Hannah Johnson from Chorley Street, off Duke Street, was seriously injured and was removed to her home in an unconscious state.
Two policemen were reported to have stood and watched, doing nothing to procure medical help or arrange for the woman to be taken home. A month earlier a similar accident had occurred in the same street in which an old woman was run over by the mail cart and very seriously injured.
On the 5th in the St Helens Petty Sessions Mary Leonard was charged with assaulting Eliza McLoughlin with a dolly stick. The pair had an argument and the woman snatched the stick from her dolly tub and struck 15-year-old Eliza with it. However Mary Leonard pleaded provocation and had a witness who stated that the girl had used the most filthy and disgusting language. Consequently she was only fined 1 shilling and court costs.
Stealing clothing was considered a serious offence that usually ended in prison, as Mary Green discovered. She was seen walking through the kitchen of Samuel Ridsal's house in Westfield Street about the same time as a pair of boots went missing. PC Michael Darmody was summoned and he found the boots in Mary Green's bedroom and she was sent to prison at Kirkdale for a month.
Peter Daly received the same sentence for stealing a shirt from the house of Thomas Houghton, a publican in Sutton. However the main witness against the man was a 9-year-old boy called William Cook who before being allowed to give evidence was asked to demonstrate that he had been taught the "doom of liars".
This would have been a reference to his Sunday school teachings when children were taught that God would exercise His wrath against those that didn't tell the truth. The lad stated that he had witnessed Daly enter the back kitchen of the public house and take the shirt. William then told PC Nolan what he had seen and the man was arrested.
Also in court was a boy called Patrick Grimes – who was known as Patsy – and aged about eight. He was accused of having assaulted an even younger child called Alice Murray from Bold Street. The little girl's mother told the magistrates that she had seen Patsy throw several stones at Alice, one of which struck her in the face. The reason for the assault was that the two children's mothers had quarrelled and the boy was copying his parent's example. He was fined 1 shilling for the stone throwing.
On the 7th the master cloggers of St Helens held their annual excursion and picnic, which this year took place in New Brighton. The cobblers and their wives met in the early morning outside the White Lion in Church Street and drove in a horse-driven omnibus to Liverpool, crossing the Mersey by ferry steamer. Back in St Helens the party returned to the White Lion and, according to the Newspaper, the evening was "agreeably spent in song and toast".
The quarterly general meeting of St Helens Town Council was held on the 7th in which Harold Pilkington was controversially elected as Town Clerk. This was an important position and the 25-year-old was highly inexperienced having only become a solicitor two years earlier. Harold was also a member of the glassmaking family and it was suggested they had used their influence to get him elected so he could serve their interests.
Next week's stories will include the Thatto Heath women who every day walked half a mile with a water can on their heads, the fierce Parr Street fight, the woman who denied being struck by her husband in Liverpool Road, how the 12th of July was marked in St Helens and the Sunday morning "jerry wagging".