This week's stories include a serious blaze on a Bold farm, a gas explosion takes place at a Church Street tailor's, a farm dispute at Rainhill and the man who ran a house of ill repute in Westfield Street returns to court.

We begin on the 10th with another reminder of the short lifespans that many people had when William Cooke was interred in St Helens Cemetery. The 43-year-old had been in charge of the Inland Revenue in the town for the past 14 years and the taxman had been renowned for his "cheerful and obliging disposition". Having indulged in a "hearty breakfast", the St Helens Newspaper said he was seized with apoplexy and died seven hours later. That usually meant he'd had a stroke, something that would likely be treatable today. William Cooke left no family as his wife and only child had also recently died.

There was a serious fire on a farm at Bold on the 11th. The St Helens Newspaper praised the fact that the horse-drawn fire brigade had reached Mr Brown's farm within 35 minutes of being informed of the blaze. However without telephone communication, it may have taken half an hour from the onset of the fire for a messenger to reach St Helens Town Hall. Upon arrival they then had to source a water supply, so it's no surprise that many fires had done their worst by the time the firemen got into action. That's why many works kept their own small engines to deal with outbreaks themselves.

The Newspaper wrote: "The men got to work at once, having found a good supply of water about 400 yards' distance from the burning stack. On arriving at the farm, it was found that the fire had obtained a strong hold of one large stack of hay, and four more stacks in the same yards, close to that on fire, were for a considerable time in danger of igniting. The brigade, however, by great exertions, succeeded in confining the fire to the first-mentioned stack, nearly the half of which was eventually saved.

"The damage is estimated at £150. The fire is supposed to have originated through some of the labourers smoking in the stack yard. The members of the brigade worked the engine eight hours, and, considering the heat of the weather, much praise is due to them for their exertions."

£150 is the equivalent of about £20,000 in today's money. To put it another way, it would have been the best part of three years' wages of the farmworkers who were believed to have accidentally begun the blaze. It was not known whether Mr Brown was insured – which might explain why I can find no reference to his farm in the 1871 census.

Decades before the Co-operative Society in St Helens became abbreviated as the "Co-op", those four letters were synonymous with tailoring. John Coop had founded his business at 32 Church Street around the late 1830s and the tailor's and draper's shop was still trading at the same address some 75 years later. On the 13th there was a gas explosion in his warehouse located at the rear of the shop. Two boys had opened the premises at 8:30am and after smelling gas they did one sensible thing and one silly thing.

The former was to open all the doors and windows and the latter was to apply a lighted piece of paper to a gas pendant lamp, so they could see where the leak was coming from. The result was, of course, "boom"! Well they were only boys and for their trouble were badly burned about their hands and faces. The loud explosion woke up the neighbourhood and about £100 worth of damage to stock occurred.

At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th, Richard Lester was charged with begging in Bridgewater Street, which was just south of Bridge Street. However the man was described as a cripple and as it was his first offence, the case was discharged.

Not so lucky was William Montgomery who had been found lying in a drunken state in Westfield Street at 10pm. PC 181 (as he was described in court) gave evidence that he had told the man to get up and go home but he had refused. The officer then told Montgomery he'd have to take him to the station and he replied: "No ________ bobby could do that." [expletive deleted by the St Helens Newspaper]

PC 181 attempted to handcuff Montgomery but was kicked very severely. In court the defendant said he was so drunk that he could not remember anything. Montgomery was fined a total of 26s 6d, which was probably the equivalent of a week's wages – at least.

The courts did not order the fathers of illegitimate children to pay much cash to their mothers. Charles Middlehurst had made Margaret Webster pregnant on three occasions but was told by the Bench in the Sessions to pay her just 1s 6d per week maintenance for each child.

John Woodcock was another regular character in these articles, having previously been the proprietor of a "house of ill repute" in Westfield Street. In August 1869 the licensing magistrates had designated his beerhouse a common brothel and refused to renew his licence. Five months later the married man with six children had picked up a woman in Bolton and taken her to several pubs before being attacked and robbed. Although Woodcock was the victim of the crime, the Recorder in court was scathing, saying no one could feel sorry for a man who'd earned his living like he had.

The 46-year-old was back in court in the Petty Sessions on the 15th accused of assaulting Peter Rylance in the Peel Arms in Westfield Street. It was another case of conflicting evidence with Rylance claiming he'd tendered half a crown for sixpence of rum but not been given any change. It seems that Woodcock's wife Ester had been the barmaid, Rylance had called her a thief and a rumpus had occurred. John Woodcock's defence was that it was his wife who had clobbered Rylance not him, and the Bench decided that the case was not proved and so dismissed it.

Also in court was a boy aged about 11 called John Pennington who was charged with committing an act of indecency. The lad had been seen running about naked after bathing in some open water. The magistrates gave John a reprimand and then discharged him. The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 16th that some of the Pilkington glassworkers who had been on strike for 16 weeks were returning to work. Cheaper foreign competition had led to the company slashing wages by over 20% and the men – who were mainly glassblowers – had decided to give the new reduced rate a "fair trial". Glassblowing was a skilled job, which tended to be well paid, and it was claimed that under the new rates blowers could still earn between 38 shillings and £2 5 shillings per week. That was good money and even higher rates were supposedly being paid for blowing heavier sheets.

At Prescot Petty Sessions on the 16th a labourer called Martin Murray summoned farmer James Grace for assault. In the 1871 census Grace's farm is stated as being off Chapel Lane in Rainhill and covering 65 acres. It was the usual case of disputed versions of the same event. Martin Murray said his "master" had complained of the way he was doing his work, gave him four kicks and then knocked him down. An employee named George Scott gave evidence that Grace merely gave Murray a shove with his foot because he would not leave the farm and his boss hadn't been very violent.

The farmer told the Bench that he had warned Murray that if he could not perform his work any better, he had to get off his farm. To that the man replied the farmer could "go to ____ ". The deleted word in the newspaper account was no doubt "Hell", which was at that time considered an expletive unfit to print – although I expect many a vicar used the word in their sermons!

Rear Admiral Geoffrey Hornby was in charge of the Bench at Prescot and was a no-nonsense sort. He said the case seemed a trivial affair and dismissed the summons but told the farmer it would have been better if he had paid the man the money that he owed him and sent him on his way.

In a separate case Admiral Hornby ordered that five youths be "well whipped" for stealing apples from a wealthy man's garden. I expect the discipline was pretty strict in the days when Hornby had been a Royal Navy captain.

Next week's stories will include the Boundary Lane mob that turned on a Pilkington strike-breaker, a shocking explosion at a coalmine in Bryn, the Eccleston Church School Treat and the man who turned up drunk to court.