150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (7th - 13th October 1869)
This week's stories include the 10-year-old imprisoned for stealing a bag of nails, two destructive fires at Nutgrove Farm, a warning that the council chamber could become a bear garden, temperance in Sutton and the recidivist Catherine Yates is back on the streets charged with indecency in Canal Street.
We begin on the 7th when two miners called John Sherratt and John Marsh appeared in court charged with the killing of game and a violent assault on Police Constable Wilson. The offences had taken place three months earlier but the two men had disappeared after being summoned to court. Constable Wilson had seen the two men behaving suspiciously in Peasley Cross and thinking they'd been poaching attempted to search them, as described by the St Helens Newspaper:
"Marsh declined allowing such an interference, and ran a few yards off; but Sherratt yielded, and while the officer was fumbling under his coat, where a fine fat hare was lying quietly hidden, Marsh returned, and after using some very violent language, struck Wilson. The latter had by this time got the hare, and the determination to hold it prevented him from using more than one hand to defend himself. He endeavoured to secure one of the men, but he was unable to do so from the brutal usage he received, and they got off."
John Marsh was fined 40 shillings and costs and if in default would have to go to prison for two months, although he was able to find the cash. However John Sherratt was fined 60 shillings and costs with the alternative of two months and 3 weeks in prison. He did not have the money (around 3 weeks wages for many) and so was despatched to Kirkdale prison in Liverpool.
The Prescot Board of Guardians met on the 7th in the boardroom at Whiston Workhouse. They again discussed the need to lease the former workhouse at Windle and sell off the old workhouse at Sutton. The latter had been situated on the present-day playing fields of Sherdley Primary School in New Street. However the two workhouses had closed in 1843 with their inmates (along with those from houses at Prescot and Bold) transferred to the newly built workhouse at Whiston.
Between 1850 and 1864 the Sutton building had been used to accommodate the first National School before it relocated to Ellamsbridge Road. By 1869 it was deteriorating fast and one of the Guardians told the meeting that not only were the contents of the house being taken away but the slates on the roof were going too. The meeting decided to contact the overseers of both buildings to discuss the situation and expedite the proposed lease and sale.
On the 9th what was described as a "destructive" fire struck Nutgrove Farm, which was situated near to Rainhill Lunatic Asylum (shown above). That was handy as the asylum kept its own fire engine and it was quickly on the scene. The efforts of the asylum staff managed to prevent the blaze from spreading from the seat of the fire, which was a barn and shippon. Fortunately the wind carried the flames away from the farmhouse but it still caused £500 worth of damage.
However on the following day another fire was discovered in the hayloft over the stables, which threatened a number of horses. It took ninety minutes for the blaze to be extinguished and the two fires confirmed that "incendiarism" was their cause. Those blamed for the arson attacks will be in court next week.
The St Helens Petty Sessions took place on the 8th and Catherine Yates was back in the dock charged with indecency in Canal Street (illustrated above in the mid-19th century). This is the sixth occasion that the woman has featured in these articles and it was her 28th time before the Bench. It was a typical revolving door case of a woman getting drunk and behaving badly and then being sent to Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool. Upon her release she gets drunk again and is sent back to prison.
Indecency had all sorts of meanings then but Catherine had previously been in trouble after getting drunk and propositioning men on the street. The Bench gave her a further three weeks in Kirkdale and after that she would no doubt return to St Helens and a police cell.
Ten-year-old Thomas Fearney was charged with stealing 9lb. of nails that were valued at 2s 7d from Andrew Kurtz's chemical works at Sutton. The boy's father was dead and his mother was living at Newcastle and so Thomas was in the care of his grandfather, who was employed at the Kurtz works. One might have thought that the magistrates would show the lad some understanding and give him a warning. But the times were hard and the little lad was sent to prison for a month and then onto a reformatory for five years. All for nicking a bag of nails.
Thomas Griffiths was described as a wheelwright "on tramp" – which presumably means he was walking the streets looking for work. He appeared in the Sessions accused of stealing a saw from John Hayes's workshop in Peasley Cross. Griffiths admitted the offence but said he had been without food for two days and had stolen the saw with the intention of selling it so he could buy something to eat. He was sent to prison for a month.
Rag and bone man Patrick Hey of Liverpool Road was fined a total of 22 shillings including costs for having several weights on his scales lighter than what they should be.
On the 9th the outspoken St Helens Newspaper published an editorial on the forthcoming council elections warning those ratepayers who could vote to exercise prudence in their selections. They clearly did not like the way some councillors were behaving:
"The council-chamber itself will need some care lest it become a disgraceful bear garden in which bipeds will contend for the mere purpose of displaying their talons in spiteful vindictiveness against other inmates of the chamber instead of using their talents for the good of the town. Already there are signs of this evil spirit of striving for the mastery for private ends instead of encouraging a feeling of emulation as to who shall hold the place of honour as the most useful member of the council."
On the 10th the inaugural meeting of a new temperance movement was held in St Anne's new schoolroom in Sutton. Pressure from temperance organisations would in the later years of the 19th century do much to reduce the number of pubs and beerhouses in St Helens. However in 1869 they – as the St Helens Newspaper described – were not having "any great degree of success".
The Very Rev. Fr. Alphonsus O’Neil, the Rector of St Anne's, chaired the "densely crowded" meeting and attacked the "reckless indulgence in strong drinks". It was agreed to form a new society that would be run by the church with over 200 persons that were present pledging total abstinence.
As the roads and paths in St Helens were often in a poor state, many people would instead walk on the railway lines. This, of course, had its dangers – especially at night – as was shown at the inquest on James Woodward. The hearing was held at the Green Dragon in Warrington Road in Whiston on the 11th.
The 61-year-old was a platelayer who had worked on the railway for many years. Three days earlier at eight o’clock in the evening he had walked up the line to take some cabbage plants to a friend at Rainhill. Not returning home by 11pm his wife and daughter went to look for him and found Woodward's body near a wooden bridge that crossed Stoney Lane. Although the man's injuries suggested that a train had struck him, no report of an accident had been made.
At the Prescot Police Court on the 11th Catherine Fitzpatrick made her 38th appearance charged with committing a breach of the peace in Eccleston Street. Mrs Fitzpatrick was bound over to keep the peace but sureties could not be found and so she was sent to prison for twelve months. Her husband Thomas was arrested with his wife and charged with being drunk but was only fined 5 shillings. A tramp called Walter Barton also appeared in the court charged with begging at Rainhill and was sent to prison for 20 days.
The St Helens Newspaper's Tuesday edition on the 12th said Lord Derby was in an "exceedingly critical" condition at his home in Knowsley Hall with only faint hopes of a recovery. Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley was the 14th Earl and had served as prime minister on three occasions and is still to this day the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party.
Next week's stories will include an auction of pews in St Helens Parish Church, a Duke Street joy ride, the former workhouse master is charged with assault, there is an opportunity to buy your own coal mine, the disgraced Parr vicar is taken to court and the cows and pigs at the Talbot Hotel.
We begin on the 7th when two miners called John Sherratt and John Marsh appeared in court charged with the killing of game and a violent assault on Police Constable Wilson. The offences had taken place three months earlier but the two men had disappeared after being summoned to court. Constable Wilson had seen the two men behaving suspiciously in Peasley Cross and thinking they'd been poaching attempted to search them, as described by the St Helens Newspaper:
"Marsh declined allowing such an interference, and ran a few yards off; but Sherratt yielded, and while the officer was fumbling under his coat, where a fine fat hare was lying quietly hidden, Marsh returned, and after using some very violent language, struck Wilson. The latter had by this time got the hare, and the determination to hold it prevented him from using more than one hand to defend himself. He endeavoured to secure one of the men, but he was unable to do so from the brutal usage he received, and they got off."
John Marsh was fined 40 shillings and costs and if in default would have to go to prison for two months, although he was able to find the cash. However John Sherratt was fined 60 shillings and costs with the alternative of two months and 3 weeks in prison. He did not have the money (around 3 weeks wages for many) and so was despatched to Kirkdale prison in Liverpool.
The Prescot Board of Guardians met on the 7th in the boardroom at Whiston Workhouse. They again discussed the need to lease the former workhouse at Windle and sell off the old workhouse at Sutton. The latter had been situated on the present-day playing fields of Sherdley Primary School in New Street. However the two workhouses had closed in 1843 with their inmates (along with those from houses at Prescot and Bold) transferred to the newly built workhouse at Whiston.
Between 1850 and 1864 the Sutton building had been used to accommodate the first National School before it relocated to Ellamsbridge Road. By 1869 it was deteriorating fast and one of the Guardians told the meeting that not only were the contents of the house being taken away but the slates on the roof were going too. The meeting decided to contact the overseers of both buildings to discuss the situation and expedite the proposed lease and sale.
However on the following day another fire was discovered in the hayloft over the stables, which threatened a number of horses. It took ninety minutes for the blaze to be extinguished and the two fires confirmed that "incendiarism" was their cause. Those blamed for the arson attacks will be in court next week.
Indecency had all sorts of meanings then but Catherine had previously been in trouble after getting drunk and propositioning men on the street. The Bench gave her a further three weeks in Kirkdale and after that she would no doubt return to St Helens and a police cell.
Ten-year-old Thomas Fearney was charged with stealing 9lb. of nails that were valued at 2s 7d from Andrew Kurtz's chemical works at Sutton. The boy's father was dead and his mother was living at Newcastle and so Thomas was in the care of his grandfather, who was employed at the Kurtz works. One might have thought that the magistrates would show the lad some understanding and give him a warning. But the times were hard and the little lad was sent to prison for a month and then onto a reformatory for five years. All for nicking a bag of nails.
Thomas Griffiths was described as a wheelwright "on tramp" – which presumably means he was walking the streets looking for work. He appeared in the Sessions accused of stealing a saw from John Hayes's workshop in Peasley Cross. Griffiths admitted the offence but said he had been without food for two days and had stolen the saw with the intention of selling it so he could buy something to eat. He was sent to prison for a month.
Rag and bone man Patrick Hey of Liverpool Road was fined a total of 22 shillings including costs for having several weights on his scales lighter than what they should be.
"The council-chamber itself will need some care lest it become a disgraceful bear garden in which bipeds will contend for the mere purpose of displaying their talons in spiteful vindictiveness against other inmates of the chamber instead of using their talents for the good of the town. Already there are signs of this evil spirit of striving for the mastery for private ends instead of encouraging a feeling of emulation as to who shall hold the place of honour as the most useful member of the council."
On the 10th the inaugural meeting of a new temperance movement was held in St Anne's new schoolroom in Sutton. Pressure from temperance organisations would in the later years of the 19th century do much to reduce the number of pubs and beerhouses in St Helens. However in 1869 they – as the St Helens Newspaper described – were not having "any great degree of success".
The Very Rev. Fr. Alphonsus O’Neil, the Rector of St Anne's, chaired the "densely crowded" meeting and attacked the "reckless indulgence in strong drinks". It was agreed to form a new society that would be run by the church with over 200 persons that were present pledging total abstinence.
As the roads and paths in St Helens were often in a poor state, many people would instead walk on the railway lines. This, of course, had its dangers – especially at night – as was shown at the inquest on James Woodward. The hearing was held at the Green Dragon in Warrington Road in Whiston on the 11th.
The 61-year-old was a platelayer who had worked on the railway for many years. Three days earlier at eight o’clock in the evening he had walked up the line to take some cabbage plants to a friend at Rainhill. Not returning home by 11pm his wife and daughter went to look for him and found Woodward's body near a wooden bridge that crossed Stoney Lane. Although the man's injuries suggested that a train had struck him, no report of an accident had been made.
At the Prescot Police Court on the 11th Catherine Fitzpatrick made her 38th appearance charged with committing a breach of the peace in Eccleston Street. Mrs Fitzpatrick was bound over to keep the peace but sureties could not be found and so she was sent to prison for twelve months. Her husband Thomas was arrested with his wife and charged with being drunk but was only fined 5 shillings. A tramp called Walter Barton also appeared in the court charged with begging at Rainhill and was sent to prison for 20 days.
The St Helens Newspaper's Tuesday edition on the 12th said Lord Derby was in an "exceedingly critical" condition at his home in Knowsley Hall with only faint hopes of a recovery. Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley was the 14th Earl and had served as prime minister on three occasions and is still to this day the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party.
Next week's stories will include an auction of pews in St Helens Parish Church, a Duke Street joy ride, the former workhouse master is charged with assault, there is an opportunity to buy your own coal mine, the disgraced Parr vicar is taken to court and the cows and pigs at the Talbot Hotel.