150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (2nd - 8th DECEMBER 1869)
This week's stories include the St Helens market traders that were unlawfully crying out rabbit, the end of the Eccleston road toll, the pulling of a boy's ear lands a shopkeeper in court, the black man begging in Bridge Street pubs and the three Prescot boys imprisoned for playing pitch and toss.
There were quite a few iron foundries in St Helens in the 19th century, including the Caledonian Foundry in Crosfield Street. On the 4th a woman living near to the foundry spotted a fire inside. A door was quickly forced and the blaze extinguished before any real damage could be done.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on that day that the Town Council had changed its mind and decided to immediately abolish the road toll from Eccleston to Thatto Heath. The Government had intimated that it would be abolishing all road tolls in 1870 and the council had previously decided not to take any action until that happened. However Councillor Johnson put down a motion calling for the toll to be ended at once, saying it was not "just or fair that any section of the inhabitants of St. Helens should have a tax laid upon them, while others go free".
He was referring to the exemptions from paying the toll that some people enjoyed. When put to a vote at a council meeting Councillor Johnson's motion was carried by nine votes to seven. St Helens Corporation would now negotiate with the Trustees of the Turnpike Trust to take over the maintenance of the road and end the much-hated tolls.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 6th and William Jackson was charged with begging in pubs in Bridge Street. William was an American from New Jersey and would then have been a rare black face in the town – although not the only one. He said he had been in the US Navy for 15 years but no explanation was given as to how he had ended up in St Helens. William insisted that he would not have violated the law if he had known that begging was illegal but was sent to prison for 7 days.
John Beatty and Luke Crook were charged with "unlawfully crying for sale" in the St Helens Market. A by-law banned market traders from calling out their goods to customers and market inspector John Leigh gave evidence that he had heard the pair calling out rabbits. He said the pair had persisted in "crying out" their goods despite being warned.
Although when pressed by the men's solicitor, the inspector admitted such crying was common practice amongst traders. However the case was dismissed on a technicality, as the summons had been made out under a new by-law that had yet to be formally enacted and not under the existing one.
A shop owner called Peter McKinlay from Bridge Street pleaded guilty in the Sessions to a charge of assaulting a nine-year-old boy. Henry Parsons gave evidence that he had been stood outside the door of the man's shop with two other lads. Suddenly Mr McKinlay came out and pulled his ear. The boy's mother claimed that when her son arrived home she found his ear covered in blood and it had since bled from the inside.
However the shopkeeper explained that the lads had been causing bother and he had heard Henry urge another boy to put a stick through his window. Peter McKinlay added that he had been watching the threesome for ten minutes before going outside and pulling Henry's ear. The magistrates had to convict the shopkeeper as he had pleaded guilty but said it was a trifling case and only fined McKinlay 6d.
The practice of buying and selling of pews in Prescot Church (pictured above) had become quite controversial over the last few years. This was not the ownership of the actual seats but the exclusive right to sit on them during services. The Prescot Reporter had last year described the custom as "illegal and immoral" and on the 6th at the Parish Church's Vestry Meeting the vicar announced some changes.
In future all pews on the ground floor would be made available to all parishioners to sit on during the Sunday evening service. In addition benches would replace the pews in the body of the church. The intention was to persuade the poor and working class of Prescot to come to church during the evening, as the congregation was largely middle-class. All the pew-holders had been contacted about the new arrangements and almost all had given their approval.
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 7th James Greenwood was advertising his services as a carriage spring maker and general smith. "J. G." had just commenced business in works adjoining the Wheatsheaf Inn, which was then situated by St Helens Junction station and he was keen to obtain work from "the gentry, farmers, and the inhabitants generally of St. Helens".
At the Prescot Petty Sessions on the 7th James Dwyer, Thomas Moran, William White, Michael Horan and John White were all summoned to appear, although Dywer failed to show. They were described as five small boys and they were charged with playing pitch and toss on Mill Brow. Superintendent Fowler was in charge of Prescot Police and he told the Bench that as a result of complaints that he'd received, handbills had been issued "warning the youth against the penalties to which an indulgence in the sport would make them liable."
Dwyer and Moran had not been in trouble before but the superintendent said Horan and the White boys were never out of mischief. Constable Barnes produced some of the coppers used in the game and John White was considered the ringleader and sent to prison for 20 days. William White and Michael Horan were given three-day sentences and Thomas Moran was discharged, with the absent James Dwyer to be dealt with at another hearing.
Martin Berry – who was described as a navvy – was charged in the Prescot Sessions with stealing a shawl off Alice Finney. She had been stood in the street talking to another woman when Berry walked past and pulled the shawl off her head. He said he had taken it as a joke but it had been an expensive one as he had already spent 17 days in prison on remand. The Chairman of the Bench said it was an imprudent act but he would be given the benefit of the doubt and discharged.
A new railway line was presently being built from Huyton to St Helens via Prescot and a man called Hugh Kilbride was one of the workers. The St Helens Newspaper described him as a "powerful looking navvy" and he was charged in the Sessions with violently assaulting Michael Higgins at Scotchbarn Lane. Higgins appeared in court with half of his head in plaster and alleged that Kilbride had struck him a "terrible blow" on the head with a spade. This caused him to "bleed like an ox" and then he claimed Kilbride had kicked him severely.
However Kilbride's solicitor said his client and Higgins had fought each other with spades as a result of some clay accidentally falling on the latter. Higgins was less powerful than his opponent and had simply been "worsted" in the fight. A witness supported this account and said Higgins had started the whole affair. However the Bench said whatever the provocation, Kilbride had not been justified in dealing such a terrible blow with the spade. He was fined 10 shillings and ordered to pay 30 shillings compensation to his injured workmate.
The police had recently been checking out the lodging houses of Prescot, which resulted in a number of landlords and landladies appearing in court. Police Constable Ormerod said he had found a "most pestilential smell" in Robert Andrews' house. It came from about eight score of rotten potatoes that had been stored under the beds of lodgers. The rooms were also extremely filthy and Andrews was fined ten shillings.
James Coyle was fined the same amount for having his bedroom walls in a dirty condition, and his floor "as black as soot." The Prescot Reporter said: "the term filthy being too modest an expression to explain what the officers found there." Francis Flynn was also fined 10 shillings for having "innumerable cobwebs" in close proximity to the beds of lodgers. The Reporter added that his rooms appeared not to have been cleaned for a generation.
And finally the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met during the evening of the 8th in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the chemistry of water. The St Helens Newspaper said the room was "tolerably well filled" and the lecture had been illustrated by some "useful and very pretty experiments". The Recreation Room also hosted a small library and reading room where newspapers could be read – although many of the company's workers would not be very literate.
Next week's stories will include the drunken Dragoon in Prescot, the prosecution of a gipsy for telling fortunes in Park Road, the coin trick used in the Griffin Inn in Bold, the woman who broke her relative's windows in Parr and the man who attacked his wife after drinking 29 glasses of beer.
There were quite a few iron foundries in St Helens in the 19th century, including the Caledonian Foundry in Crosfield Street. On the 4th a woman living near to the foundry spotted a fire inside. A door was quickly forced and the blaze extinguished before any real damage could be done.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on that day that the Town Council had changed its mind and decided to immediately abolish the road toll from Eccleston to Thatto Heath. The Government had intimated that it would be abolishing all road tolls in 1870 and the council had previously decided not to take any action until that happened. However Councillor Johnson put down a motion calling for the toll to be ended at once, saying it was not "just or fair that any section of the inhabitants of St. Helens should have a tax laid upon them, while others go free".
He was referring to the exemptions from paying the toll that some people enjoyed. When put to a vote at a council meeting Councillor Johnson's motion was carried by nine votes to seven. St Helens Corporation would now negotiate with the Trustees of the Turnpike Trust to take over the maintenance of the road and end the much-hated tolls.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 6th and William Jackson was charged with begging in pubs in Bridge Street. William was an American from New Jersey and would then have been a rare black face in the town – although not the only one. He said he had been in the US Navy for 15 years but no explanation was given as to how he had ended up in St Helens. William insisted that he would not have violated the law if he had known that begging was illegal but was sent to prison for 7 days.
John Beatty and Luke Crook were charged with "unlawfully crying for sale" in the St Helens Market. A by-law banned market traders from calling out their goods to customers and market inspector John Leigh gave evidence that he had heard the pair calling out rabbits. He said the pair had persisted in "crying out" their goods despite being warned.
Although when pressed by the men's solicitor, the inspector admitted such crying was common practice amongst traders. However the case was dismissed on a technicality, as the summons had been made out under a new by-law that had yet to be formally enacted and not under the existing one.
A shop owner called Peter McKinlay from Bridge Street pleaded guilty in the Sessions to a charge of assaulting a nine-year-old boy. Henry Parsons gave evidence that he had been stood outside the door of the man's shop with two other lads. Suddenly Mr McKinlay came out and pulled his ear. The boy's mother claimed that when her son arrived home she found his ear covered in blood and it had since bled from the inside.
However the shopkeeper explained that the lads had been causing bother and he had heard Henry urge another boy to put a stick through his window. Peter McKinlay added that he had been watching the threesome for ten minutes before going outside and pulling Henry's ear. The magistrates had to convict the shopkeeper as he had pleaded guilty but said it was a trifling case and only fined McKinlay 6d.
In future all pews on the ground floor would be made available to all parishioners to sit on during the Sunday evening service. In addition benches would replace the pews in the body of the church. The intention was to persuade the poor and working class of Prescot to come to church during the evening, as the congregation was largely middle-class. All the pew-holders had been contacted about the new arrangements and almost all had given their approval.
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 7th James Greenwood was advertising his services as a carriage spring maker and general smith. "J. G." had just commenced business in works adjoining the Wheatsheaf Inn, which was then situated by St Helens Junction station and he was keen to obtain work from "the gentry, farmers, and the inhabitants generally of St. Helens".
At the Prescot Petty Sessions on the 7th James Dwyer, Thomas Moran, William White, Michael Horan and John White were all summoned to appear, although Dywer failed to show. They were described as five small boys and they were charged with playing pitch and toss on Mill Brow. Superintendent Fowler was in charge of Prescot Police and he told the Bench that as a result of complaints that he'd received, handbills had been issued "warning the youth against the penalties to which an indulgence in the sport would make them liable."
Dwyer and Moran had not been in trouble before but the superintendent said Horan and the White boys were never out of mischief. Constable Barnes produced some of the coppers used in the game and John White was considered the ringleader and sent to prison for 20 days. William White and Michael Horan were given three-day sentences and Thomas Moran was discharged, with the absent James Dwyer to be dealt with at another hearing.
Martin Berry – who was described as a navvy – was charged in the Prescot Sessions with stealing a shawl off Alice Finney. She had been stood in the street talking to another woman when Berry walked past and pulled the shawl off her head. He said he had taken it as a joke but it had been an expensive one as he had already spent 17 days in prison on remand. The Chairman of the Bench said it was an imprudent act but he would be given the benefit of the doubt and discharged.
A new railway line was presently being built from Huyton to St Helens via Prescot and a man called Hugh Kilbride was one of the workers. The St Helens Newspaper described him as a "powerful looking navvy" and he was charged in the Sessions with violently assaulting Michael Higgins at Scotchbarn Lane. Higgins appeared in court with half of his head in plaster and alleged that Kilbride had struck him a "terrible blow" on the head with a spade. This caused him to "bleed like an ox" and then he claimed Kilbride had kicked him severely.
However Kilbride's solicitor said his client and Higgins had fought each other with spades as a result of some clay accidentally falling on the latter. Higgins was less powerful than his opponent and had simply been "worsted" in the fight. A witness supported this account and said Higgins had started the whole affair. However the Bench said whatever the provocation, Kilbride had not been justified in dealing such a terrible blow with the spade. He was fined 10 shillings and ordered to pay 30 shillings compensation to his injured workmate.
The police had recently been checking out the lodging houses of Prescot, which resulted in a number of landlords and landladies appearing in court. Police Constable Ormerod said he had found a "most pestilential smell" in Robert Andrews' house. It came from about eight score of rotten potatoes that had been stored under the beds of lodgers. The rooms were also extremely filthy and Andrews was fined ten shillings.
James Coyle was fined the same amount for having his bedroom walls in a dirty condition, and his floor "as black as soot." The Prescot Reporter said: "the term filthy being too modest an expression to explain what the officers found there." Francis Flynn was also fined 10 shillings for having "innumerable cobwebs" in close proximity to the beds of lodgers. The Reporter added that his rooms appeared not to have been cleaned for a generation.
And finally the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met during the evening of the 8th in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the chemistry of water. The St Helens Newspaper said the room was "tolerably well filled" and the lecture had been illustrated by some "useful and very pretty experiments". The Recreation Room also hosted a small library and reading room where newspapers could be read – although many of the company's workers would not be very literate.
Next week's stories will include the drunken Dragoon in Prescot, the prosecution of a gipsy for telling fortunes in Park Road, the coin trick used in the Griffin Inn in Bold, the woman who broke her relative's windows in Parr and the man who attacked his wife after drinking 29 glasses of beer.