150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 5 - 11 MAY 1875
This week's many stories include the Greenbank riot after the police stopped a prize fight, the boys that were prosecuted for running a foot race in Rainford, the curious procession by a society for the protection of women, the assault on an imbecile in Whiston Workhouse and the young man who got his girlfriend pregnant but denied responsibility in court.
The St Helens Newspaper recently reported how Liverpool police had broken up a cockfight on Aintree racecourse, with a number of arrests having been made. On the 8th the paper wrote that another cockfight had successfully taken place in Ulverston. Two hundred persons with a love for animal cruelty had watched the event in which cockerels fitted with silver spurs had battled against each other for over two hours.
On that occasion the police had not been able to stop the men's fun – but back in St Helens they had with considerable difficulty put a stop to a bare-knuckle prizefight. Under the headline "A Greenbank Riot", this is how the Newspaper described what happened:
"James Donoghue was charged on remand with being drunk and disorderly, and also with assaulting and resisting P.C. McCormick in the execution of his duty. It appeared that on Tuesday afternoon the police received information that a prize fight was taking place on the Sand-beds, at the top of Phythian-street; and upon P.C. McCormick and Macdonald proceeding thither they found a large crowd congregated round two men who were fighting.
"As soon as the combatants – of whom the prisoner was one – saw the police, they attempted to “do a shunt,” but Donoghue was secured, his fellow pugilist succeeding in effecting his escape. Donoghue now became very violent, strongly resisted being apprehended, and as giving one more illustration of the “noble art of self defence,” he threw himself down on his back and commenced kicking in all directions, some of the kicks taking effect on McCormick's shins.
"The constables, however, succeeded in getting the handcuffs on him, and notwithstanding the prisoner's violence, they got him to the police station, followed by some hundreds of people who yelled and hooted all the way. It was shown that he was a most violent and dangerous character, having been thirteen times previously convicted and had only come out of gaol on the 13th of March last. He was fined 10s and costs for the drunkenness, and 20s and costs for the assault on the police."
The Newspaper also published this curious article under the headline "A Novel Society For The Protection of Women": "At the Leigh Police Court, on Monday, five men were summoned for offending against the public peace, at Lowton on the 22nd April. Police-constable Longworth deposed that the defendants, who were members of the Lowton Women's Protection Society, on the day in question marched through the village playing tin whistles besides beating a drum, followed by about 300 persons, and from their demeanour, he was apprehensive of a disturbance.
"In cross-examination by Mr. Ashton, solicitor, Wigan, who defended, the witness admitted that no breach of the peace took place, although he had had numerous complaints concerning the defendants' conduct. The demonstration was against a man named Thorp, who had been beating his wife. Thorp was called by the police, and said the band passed and re-passed his house several times, but he did not feel annoyed, as it was the Lowton custom when men had had occasion to beat their wives. (Laughter.) He rather liked the tin whistle band.
"Mr. Ashton said this was one of the most ridiculous cases ever brought into a court of justice, contending that although the custom of serenading wife beaters at Lowton was a barbarous one, there had been nothing approaching a breach of peace by the defendants. A number of witnesses for the defence were then called, from whom it was elicited that the ladies were greatly indebted to the society for the good it had already done, and that the police had been thus saved a good deal of trouble during the three years of its existence. The Bench dismissed the case on the defendants promising to pay costs."
Miners were in the habit of running races in the nude. Just whether the three boys that appeared in court this week accused of running a foot race in Rainford had been naked, I can't be sure. They were described as having been stripped, but may have been wearing some form of shorts.
But even partial nudity was seen as shocking in the 19th century and to make matters worse John Rydyard, James Wiswell and James Hayes had been running past a boarding school. The parents of the boys were warned by the magistrates against their children repeating their conduct in future and ordered to pay the court costs, which were reduced to one shilling in each case.
It was quite common for young men who had got their girlfriend pregnant but did not intend to get married to deny paternity. It would save them a few bob in maintenance payments if they could convince a court that they were not the father. And, of course, without blood and DNA testing it was more difficult for the young mother to prove who the father was.
John Moss told St Helens Petty Sessions this week that he would be 19 on the following day, although the Newspaper said he looked considerably younger. Seventeen-year-old Ellen Welsby had brought the case and she claimed that John had initially accepted responsibility and agreed to get married.
However, the lad now denied being the father but Ellen had two witnesses who had heard him admit that he was responsible. That was fortunate for Ellen and after hearing their testimony the magistrates ordered young John to pay Ellen 2/6 a week.
Peter Atherton was described as an old man and he was in court accused of taking a piece of bacon and what was described as a piece of a fowl from the meat safe of the Raven Hotel. It did not seem as if he had taken much but Atherton was still sent to prison for 14 days.
In the Prescot Petty Sessions this week Celena Carmin was charged with assaulting a female called Bridget Dempsey inside Whiston Workhouse. Bridget was categorised as being an imbecile and her attacker was described as having worn her workhouse dress in court. Celena was accused of having knocked Bridget down with her fist as the women were leaving the dinner table and then punching her several times.
If Celena had been living outside the workhouse she would likely have been fined or bound over upon payment of sureties. But paupers had no money and the authorities liked to teach such persons a lesson when they misbehaved and so she was sent to prison for fourteen days with hard labour.
A public meeting was held at the Golden Lion in Rainford this week to consider extending the provision of schools in the village. That was after the government’s Education Department had written to the Rainford Local Board requesting that they take action. After a discussion it was decided to set up a new school based on a model of voluntary subscriptions rather than setting up what was called a School Board funded by the rates.
One option was to convert an old engine house at the Park Hill end of Rainford into a school. And the Rainford Coal Company had offered to undertake the conversion work and pay £100 a year towards the school's maintenance. A second option was to extend what was called Rosbotham's school in Higher Lane (pictured above).
That was so named because in 1847 shoemaker Daniel Rosbotham had given the Congregational Church the land to build their Sunday school. The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there. The meeting decided to consider both options and they created a fund that residents could make donations to and £53 was immediately promised from those in attendance.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the Grand Gala at Prescot, the boy sneak thief returns to court and how firemen caused much water damage in dealing with a small fire in a Church Street draper's.
The St Helens Newspaper recently reported how Liverpool police had broken up a cockfight on Aintree racecourse, with a number of arrests having been made. On the 8th the paper wrote that another cockfight had successfully taken place in Ulverston. Two hundred persons with a love for animal cruelty had watched the event in which cockerels fitted with silver spurs had battled against each other for over two hours.
On that occasion the police had not been able to stop the men's fun – but back in St Helens they had with considerable difficulty put a stop to a bare-knuckle prizefight. Under the headline "A Greenbank Riot", this is how the Newspaper described what happened:
"James Donoghue was charged on remand with being drunk and disorderly, and also with assaulting and resisting P.C. McCormick in the execution of his duty. It appeared that on Tuesday afternoon the police received information that a prize fight was taking place on the Sand-beds, at the top of Phythian-street; and upon P.C. McCormick and Macdonald proceeding thither they found a large crowd congregated round two men who were fighting.
"As soon as the combatants – of whom the prisoner was one – saw the police, they attempted to “do a shunt,” but Donoghue was secured, his fellow pugilist succeeding in effecting his escape. Donoghue now became very violent, strongly resisted being apprehended, and as giving one more illustration of the “noble art of self defence,” he threw himself down on his back and commenced kicking in all directions, some of the kicks taking effect on McCormick's shins.
"The constables, however, succeeded in getting the handcuffs on him, and notwithstanding the prisoner's violence, they got him to the police station, followed by some hundreds of people who yelled and hooted all the way. It was shown that he was a most violent and dangerous character, having been thirteen times previously convicted and had only come out of gaol on the 13th of March last. He was fined 10s and costs for the drunkenness, and 20s and costs for the assault on the police."
The Newspaper also published this curious article under the headline "A Novel Society For The Protection of Women": "At the Leigh Police Court, on Monday, five men were summoned for offending against the public peace, at Lowton on the 22nd April. Police-constable Longworth deposed that the defendants, who were members of the Lowton Women's Protection Society, on the day in question marched through the village playing tin whistles besides beating a drum, followed by about 300 persons, and from their demeanour, he was apprehensive of a disturbance.
"In cross-examination by Mr. Ashton, solicitor, Wigan, who defended, the witness admitted that no breach of the peace took place, although he had had numerous complaints concerning the defendants' conduct. The demonstration was against a man named Thorp, who had been beating his wife. Thorp was called by the police, and said the band passed and re-passed his house several times, but he did not feel annoyed, as it was the Lowton custom when men had had occasion to beat their wives. (Laughter.) He rather liked the tin whistle band.
"Mr. Ashton said this was one of the most ridiculous cases ever brought into a court of justice, contending that although the custom of serenading wife beaters at Lowton was a barbarous one, there had been nothing approaching a breach of peace by the defendants. A number of witnesses for the defence were then called, from whom it was elicited that the ladies were greatly indebted to the society for the good it had already done, and that the police had been thus saved a good deal of trouble during the three years of its existence. The Bench dismissed the case on the defendants promising to pay costs."
Miners were in the habit of running races in the nude. Just whether the three boys that appeared in court this week accused of running a foot race in Rainford had been naked, I can't be sure. They were described as having been stripped, but may have been wearing some form of shorts.
But even partial nudity was seen as shocking in the 19th century and to make matters worse John Rydyard, James Wiswell and James Hayes had been running past a boarding school. The parents of the boys were warned by the magistrates against their children repeating their conduct in future and ordered to pay the court costs, which were reduced to one shilling in each case.
It was quite common for young men who had got their girlfriend pregnant but did not intend to get married to deny paternity. It would save them a few bob in maintenance payments if they could convince a court that they were not the father. And, of course, without blood and DNA testing it was more difficult for the young mother to prove who the father was.
John Moss told St Helens Petty Sessions this week that he would be 19 on the following day, although the Newspaper said he looked considerably younger. Seventeen-year-old Ellen Welsby had brought the case and she claimed that John had initially accepted responsibility and agreed to get married.
However, the lad now denied being the father but Ellen had two witnesses who had heard him admit that he was responsible. That was fortunate for Ellen and after hearing their testimony the magistrates ordered young John to pay Ellen 2/6 a week.
Peter Atherton was described as an old man and he was in court accused of taking a piece of bacon and what was described as a piece of a fowl from the meat safe of the Raven Hotel. It did not seem as if he had taken much but Atherton was still sent to prison for 14 days.
In the Prescot Petty Sessions this week Celena Carmin was charged with assaulting a female called Bridget Dempsey inside Whiston Workhouse. Bridget was categorised as being an imbecile and her attacker was described as having worn her workhouse dress in court. Celena was accused of having knocked Bridget down with her fist as the women were leaving the dinner table and then punching her several times.
If Celena had been living outside the workhouse she would likely have been fined or bound over upon payment of sureties. But paupers had no money and the authorities liked to teach such persons a lesson when they misbehaved and so she was sent to prison for fourteen days with hard labour.
A public meeting was held at the Golden Lion in Rainford this week to consider extending the provision of schools in the village. That was after the government’s Education Department had written to the Rainford Local Board requesting that they take action. After a discussion it was decided to set up a new school based on a model of voluntary subscriptions rather than setting up what was called a School Board funded by the rates.
That was so named because in 1847 shoemaker Daniel Rosbotham had given the Congregational Church the land to build their Sunday school. The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there. The meeting decided to consider both options and they created a fund that residents could make donations to and £53 was immediately promised from those in attendance.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the Grand Gala at Prescot, the boy sneak thief returns to court and how firemen caused much water damage in dealing with a small fire in a Church Street draper's.
This week's many stories include the Greenbank riot after the police stopped a prize fight, the boys that were prosecuted for running a foot race in Rainford, the curious procession by a society for the protection of women, the assault on an imbecile in Whiston Workhouse and the young man who got his girlfriend pregnant but denied responsibility in court.
The St Helens Newspaper recently reported how Liverpool police had broken up a cockfight on Aintree racecourse, with a number of arrests having been made.
On the 8th the paper wrote that another cockfight had successfully taken place in Ulverston.
Two hundred persons with a love for animal cruelty had watched the event in which cockerels fitted with silver spurs had battled against each other for over two hours.
On that occasion the police had not been able to stop the men's fun – but back in St Helens they had with considerable difficulty put a stop to a bare-knuckle prizefight.
Under the headline "A Greenbank Riot", this is how the Newspaper described what happened:
"James Donoghue was charged on remand with being drunk and disorderly, and also with assaulting and resisting P.C. McCormick in the execution of his duty.
"It appeared that on Tuesday afternoon the police received information that a prize fight was taking place on the Sand-beds, at the top of Phythian-street; and upon P.C. McCormick and Macdonald proceeding thither they found a large crowd congregated round two men who were fighting.
"As soon as the combatants – of whom the prisoner was one – saw the police, they attempted to “do a shunt,” but Donoghue was secured, his fellow pugilist succeeding in effecting his escape.
"Donoghue now became very violent, strongly resisted being apprehended, and as giving one more illustration of the “noble art of self defence,” he threw himself down on his back and commenced kicking in all directions, some of the kicks taking effect on McCormick's shins.
"The constables, however, succeeded in getting the handcuffs on him, and notwithstanding the prisoner's violence, they got him to the police station, followed by some hundreds of people who yelled and hooted all the way.
"It was shown that he was a most violent and dangerous character, having been thirteen times previously convicted and had only come out of gaol on the 13th of March last. He was fined 10s and costs for the drunkenness, and 20s and costs for the assault on the police."
The Newspaper also published this curious article under the headline "A Novel Society For The Protection of Women":
"At the Leigh Police Court, on Monday, five men were summoned for offending against the public peace, at Lowton on the 22nd April.
"Police-constable Longworth deposed that the defendants, who were members of the Lowton Women's Protection Society, on the day in question marched through the village playing tin whistles besides beating a drum, followed by about 300 persons, and from their demeanour, he was apprehensive of a disturbance.
"In cross-examination by Mr. Ashton, solicitor, Wigan, who defended, the witness admitted that no breach of the peace took place, although he had had numerous complaints concerning the defendants' conduct.
"The demonstration was against a man named Thorp, who had been beating his wife. Thorp was called by the police, and said the band passed and re-passed his house several times, but he did not feel annoyed, as it was the Lowton custom when men had had occasion to beat their wives. (Laughter.) He rather liked the tin whistle band.
"Mr. Ashton said this was one of the most ridiculous cases ever brought into a court of justice, contending that although the custom of serenading wife beaters at Lowton was a barbarous one, there had been nothing approaching a breach of peace by the defendants.
"A number of witnesses for the defence were then called, from whom it was elicited that the ladies were greatly indebted to the society for the good it had already done, and that the police had been thus saved a good deal of trouble during the three years of its existence. The Bench dismissed the case on the defendants promising to pay costs."
Miners were in the habit of running races in the nude. Just whether the three boys that appeared in court this week accused of running a foot race in Rainford had been naked, I can't be sure.
They were described as having been stripped, but may have been wearing some form of shorts.
But even partial nudity was seen as shocking in the 19th century and to make matters worse John Rydyard, James Wiswell and James Hayes had been running past a boarding school.
The parents of the boys were warned by the magistrates against their children repeating their conduct in future and ordered to pay the court costs, which were reduced to one shilling in each case.
It was quite common for young men who had got their girlfriend pregnant but did not intend to get married to deny paternity.
It would save them a few bob in maintenance payments if they could convince a court that they were not the child's father.
And, of course, without blood and DNA testing it was more difficult for the young mother to prove who the father was.
John Moss told St Helens Petty Sessions this week that he would be 19 on the following day, although the Newspaper said he looked considerably younger.
Seventeen-year-old Ellen Welsby had brought the case and she claimed that John had initially accepted responsibility and agreed to get married.
However, the lad now denied being the father but Ellen had two witnesses who had heard him admit that he was responsible.
That was fortunate for Ellen and after hearing their testimony the magistrates ordered young John to pay Ellen 2/6 a week.
Peter Atherton was described as an old man and he was in court accused of taking a piece of bacon and what was described as a piece of a fowl from the meat safe of the Raven Hotel.
It did not seem as if he had taken much but Atherton was still sent to prison for 14 days.
In the Prescot Petty Sessions this week Celena Carmin was charged with assaulting a female called Bridget Dempsey inside Whiston Workhouse.
Bridget was categorised as being an imbecile and her attacker was described as having worn her workhouse dress in court.
Celena was accused of having knocked Bridget down with her fist as the women were leaving the dinner table and then punching her several times.
If Celena had been living outside the workhouse she would likely have been fined or bound over upon payment of sureties.
But paupers had no money and the authorities liked to teach such persons a lesson when they misbehaved and so she was sent to prison for fourteen days with hard labour.
A public meeting was held at the Golden Lion in Rainford this week to consider extending the provision of schools in the village.
That was after the government’s Education Department had written to the Rainford Local Board requesting that they take action.
After a discussion it was decided to set up a new school based on a model of voluntary subscriptions rather than setting up what was called a School Board funded by the rates.
One option was to convert an old engine house at the Park Hill end of Rainford into a school.
And the Rainford Coal Company had offered to undertake the conversion work and pay £100 a year towards the school's maintenance.
A second option was to extend what was called Rosbotham's school in Higher Lane (pictured above).
That was so named because in 1847 shoemaker Daniel Rosbotham had given the Congregational Church the land to build their Sunday school.
The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there.
The meeting decided to consider both options and they created a fund that residents could make donations to and £53 was immediately promised from those in attendance.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the Grand Gala at Prescot, the boy sneak thief returns to court and how firemen caused much water damage in dealing with a small fire in a Church Street draper's.
The St Helens Newspaper recently reported how Liverpool police had broken up a cockfight on Aintree racecourse, with a number of arrests having been made.
On the 8th the paper wrote that another cockfight had successfully taken place in Ulverston.
Two hundred persons with a love for animal cruelty had watched the event in which cockerels fitted with silver spurs had battled against each other for over two hours.
On that occasion the police had not been able to stop the men's fun – but back in St Helens they had with considerable difficulty put a stop to a bare-knuckle prizefight.
Under the headline "A Greenbank Riot", this is how the Newspaper described what happened:
"James Donoghue was charged on remand with being drunk and disorderly, and also with assaulting and resisting P.C. McCormick in the execution of his duty.
"It appeared that on Tuesday afternoon the police received information that a prize fight was taking place on the Sand-beds, at the top of Phythian-street; and upon P.C. McCormick and Macdonald proceeding thither they found a large crowd congregated round two men who were fighting.
"As soon as the combatants – of whom the prisoner was one – saw the police, they attempted to “do a shunt,” but Donoghue was secured, his fellow pugilist succeeding in effecting his escape.
"Donoghue now became very violent, strongly resisted being apprehended, and as giving one more illustration of the “noble art of self defence,” he threw himself down on his back and commenced kicking in all directions, some of the kicks taking effect on McCormick's shins.
"The constables, however, succeeded in getting the handcuffs on him, and notwithstanding the prisoner's violence, they got him to the police station, followed by some hundreds of people who yelled and hooted all the way.
"It was shown that he was a most violent and dangerous character, having been thirteen times previously convicted and had only come out of gaol on the 13th of March last. He was fined 10s and costs for the drunkenness, and 20s and costs for the assault on the police."
The Newspaper also published this curious article under the headline "A Novel Society For The Protection of Women":
"At the Leigh Police Court, on Monday, five men were summoned for offending against the public peace, at Lowton on the 22nd April.
"Police-constable Longworth deposed that the defendants, who were members of the Lowton Women's Protection Society, on the day in question marched through the village playing tin whistles besides beating a drum, followed by about 300 persons, and from their demeanour, he was apprehensive of a disturbance.
"In cross-examination by Mr. Ashton, solicitor, Wigan, who defended, the witness admitted that no breach of the peace took place, although he had had numerous complaints concerning the defendants' conduct.
"The demonstration was against a man named Thorp, who had been beating his wife. Thorp was called by the police, and said the band passed and re-passed his house several times, but he did not feel annoyed, as it was the Lowton custom when men had had occasion to beat their wives. (Laughter.) He rather liked the tin whistle band.
"Mr. Ashton said this was one of the most ridiculous cases ever brought into a court of justice, contending that although the custom of serenading wife beaters at Lowton was a barbarous one, there had been nothing approaching a breach of peace by the defendants.
"A number of witnesses for the defence were then called, from whom it was elicited that the ladies were greatly indebted to the society for the good it had already done, and that the police had been thus saved a good deal of trouble during the three years of its existence. The Bench dismissed the case on the defendants promising to pay costs."
Miners were in the habit of running races in the nude. Just whether the three boys that appeared in court this week accused of running a foot race in Rainford had been naked, I can't be sure.
They were described as having been stripped, but may have been wearing some form of shorts.
But even partial nudity was seen as shocking in the 19th century and to make matters worse John Rydyard, James Wiswell and James Hayes had been running past a boarding school.
The parents of the boys were warned by the magistrates against their children repeating their conduct in future and ordered to pay the court costs, which were reduced to one shilling in each case.
It was quite common for young men who had got their girlfriend pregnant but did not intend to get married to deny paternity.
It would save them a few bob in maintenance payments if they could convince a court that they were not the child's father.
And, of course, without blood and DNA testing it was more difficult for the young mother to prove who the father was.
John Moss told St Helens Petty Sessions this week that he would be 19 on the following day, although the Newspaper said he looked considerably younger.
Seventeen-year-old Ellen Welsby had brought the case and she claimed that John had initially accepted responsibility and agreed to get married.
However, the lad now denied being the father but Ellen had two witnesses who had heard him admit that he was responsible.
That was fortunate for Ellen and after hearing their testimony the magistrates ordered young John to pay Ellen 2/6 a week.
Peter Atherton was described as an old man and he was in court accused of taking a piece of bacon and what was described as a piece of a fowl from the meat safe of the Raven Hotel.
It did not seem as if he had taken much but Atherton was still sent to prison for 14 days.
In the Prescot Petty Sessions this week Celena Carmin was charged with assaulting a female called Bridget Dempsey inside Whiston Workhouse.
Bridget was categorised as being an imbecile and her attacker was described as having worn her workhouse dress in court.
Celena was accused of having knocked Bridget down with her fist as the women were leaving the dinner table and then punching her several times.
If Celena had been living outside the workhouse she would likely have been fined or bound over upon payment of sureties.
But paupers had no money and the authorities liked to teach such persons a lesson when they misbehaved and so she was sent to prison for fourteen days with hard labour.
A public meeting was held at the Golden Lion in Rainford this week to consider extending the provision of schools in the village.
That was after the government’s Education Department had written to the Rainford Local Board requesting that they take action.
After a discussion it was decided to set up a new school based on a model of voluntary subscriptions rather than setting up what was called a School Board funded by the rates.
One option was to convert an old engine house at the Park Hill end of Rainford into a school.
And the Rainford Coal Company had offered to undertake the conversion work and pay £100 a year towards the school's maintenance.
That was so named because in 1847 shoemaker Daniel Rosbotham had given the Congregational Church the land to build their Sunday school.
The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there.
The meeting decided to consider both options and they created a fund that residents could make donations to and £53 was immediately promised from those in attendance.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the Grand Gala at Prescot, the boy sneak thief returns to court and how firemen caused much water damage in dealing with a small fire in a Church Street draper's.