150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 16 - 22 FEBRUARY 1876
This week's many stories include the acidic sewers of St Helens, the man called Garbage that gave the police a kicking, Rainhill ratepayers battle against a new sewage farm, the cruel farm labourer that hit a horse with a spade and the harsh penalty for stealing stockings from a pub.
We begin on the 17th when a meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which it was revealed that a number of the town's sewers had been found to be acidic. In the previous year proceedings had been taken against the St Helens Chemical Works for discharging waste into the Atlas Street sewer. However, the level of acid that was presently in the water was said to be just the same as it had been then. And a sample of the liquid taken from the Liverpool Street sewer showed a high level of acidity through discharges made by the Greenbank Alkali Company.
Recently the master at Whiston Workhouse had complained that fever was "spread broadcast" by the conditions in the horse-drawn ambulance. That vehicle had been introduced in 1875 to convey infected persons from St Helens and elsewhere to their isolation fever hospital. The master described how a patient had arrived at the workhouse in a soaked ambulance without a blanket or any other covering.
Cllr Fidler asked about this case at the Health Committee meeting and was told that the man in charge of the ambulance had now been provided with a cloth to properly wipe it down when wet. One member wondered why it had not been provided before, considering that the ambulance had been in use for 12 months.
Mr Fidler thought blankets or rugs should be provided to wrap patients in but was told that it would cost 10 shillings to disinfect them after every use and it would be better to buy suitable clothes and then burn them afterwards. Overall, the rate of fever (measles, scarlet fever, typhoid etc.) within St Helens was presently quite low and over the past four weeks there had only been 104 deaths from all causes. However, of those fatalities, 47 had been children aged under 5 years.
It must have been snowing in St Helens as in the Petty Sessions on the 18th, John Trainer was fined 2s 6d plus costs for throwing snowballs in Liverpool Road.
A man who the St Helens Newspaper credited with the unfortunate name of Thomas Garbage also appeared in court this week charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting PC Hargreaves. The constable described how he had been on duty in Ormskirk Street at 10:40 pm on the previous Sunday night when he found the defendant very drunk and disorderly.
He told the man to go home but he refused to do so and PC Hargreaves proceeded to take him into custody. That, as so often happened, was the cue for his prisoner to turn very violent and in the struggle that ensued, they both fell to the ground and whilst the constable was down, Garbage kicked him several times.
PC Heslip came to the assistance of PC Hargreaves but the man's violence continued all the way to the police station and the constable was kicked several more times on the road. A good kicking of a copper did not in the 1870s pass the threshold for an automatic custodial sentence and Thomas Garbage would only go to gaol if he failed to pay his fines. Those were 5 shillings and costs for the drunkenness and 20 shillings and costs for the assault – with seven days and one month being the alternative prison sentences.
Generally when people were prosecuted for ill-treating a horse, it was because they were working the animal when it was unfit through having sores or some other similar condition. What cruel William Walton was caught doing was thankfully rare. He worked on James Stead's farm off St Helens Road in Eccleston and about 6 pm on one evening, a man passing the farm saw Walton repeatedly strike a horse with a spade, edgeways.
The animal was so severely cut about its legs and ribs that it was unfit to be worked for more than three weeks. The passer-by entered the field to remonstrate with Walton but the drunken, spade-wielding farm labourer chased him away. However, the man reported what he had seen to PC Sewell and in court this week William Walton was fined 20 shillings and costs.
James O’Rourke appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with stealing a pair of stockings belonging to John Rose, the landlord of the Finger Post Inn in Parr. The 61-year-old hawker had entered the house at 10:30pm and been served with two pennyworth of rum. O’Rourke was allowed to sit in the kitchen to drink his rum but immediately after his departure the pair of stockings were missed.
Landlord John Rose chased after O’Rourke and overtook him in Park Road, about 200 yards from his house, and found the stockings stuffed inside the man's coat pocket. The magistrates committed O’Rourke for trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. That's a year for stealing stockings worth 1 shilling! The reason for the harsh punishment was that O’Rourke had previous convictions.
These were mainly for petty crimes, although one had been for wounding and he had previously served a sentence of 6 months and another of 8 months. The judges at the Quarter Sessions tended to increase prison terms each time an offender appeared before them, even if the actual crime that they were currently being charged with was not that serious.
The Newspaper had recently written that the excitement over the proposed 15-acre sewage farm in Rainhill had subsided. By excitement they meant controversy, as the scheme would cost £6,000. But in this week's paper it was clear that there was still plenty of excitement about, as Major Tulloch of the Local Government Board had held a public inquiry into the matter. That had been necessary as Rainhill wanted to borrow the money to pay for the sewage scheme and the Board needed to ensure it was a viable, well-costed proposition.
During the 19th century, the resistance of land and property owners held back the development of St Helens. They had large rates bills to pay and they did not want them increasing further as a result of funding improvements, even though they were badly needed. And that was how it was with the Rainhill sewage inquiry, in which a large attendance of ratepayers was present opposed to the present scheme.
Their solicitor insisted that his clients were not against the sewage farm on principle. But he claimed that its real cost would be £10,300 and not £6,000. After taking evidence from all parties, the inquiry's chairman, Major Tulloch, said he felt that a less extensive scheme was the answer.
He said he felt it best to start in a small way and gradually extend as circumstances required and suggested that a committee of ratepayers should be appointed. They could meet with those in charge of the project to devise a more suitable and cheaper alternative. And so a compromise was in the offing to keep the better off satisfied.
And finally, the first annual ploughing match of the newly formed Windle and Eccleston Ploughing Society took place on land in Dentons Green. Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of St Helens during the 19th century. Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could also win up to £5 as prizes, which was more than three weeks wages. Despite poor weather, a large number of people turned out to watch the 23 ploughmen that took part, with a total of nearly £30 in prize money up for grabs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the mad dog at large in the town centre, the playing of guinea cat at Pilks, the rejection of a chemical company's appeal, the Tea Party and Concert in Rainford and the curious case of the stolen spade.
We begin on the 17th when a meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which it was revealed that a number of the town's sewers had been found to be acidic. In the previous year proceedings had been taken against the St Helens Chemical Works for discharging waste into the Atlas Street sewer. However, the level of acid that was presently in the water was said to be just the same as it had been then. And a sample of the liquid taken from the Liverpool Street sewer showed a high level of acidity through discharges made by the Greenbank Alkali Company.
Recently the master at Whiston Workhouse had complained that fever was "spread broadcast" by the conditions in the horse-drawn ambulance. That vehicle had been introduced in 1875 to convey infected persons from St Helens and elsewhere to their isolation fever hospital. The master described how a patient had arrived at the workhouse in a soaked ambulance without a blanket or any other covering.
Cllr Fidler asked about this case at the Health Committee meeting and was told that the man in charge of the ambulance had now been provided with a cloth to properly wipe it down when wet. One member wondered why it had not been provided before, considering that the ambulance had been in use for 12 months.
Mr Fidler thought blankets or rugs should be provided to wrap patients in but was told that it would cost 10 shillings to disinfect them after every use and it would be better to buy suitable clothes and then burn them afterwards. Overall, the rate of fever (measles, scarlet fever, typhoid etc.) within St Helens was presently quite low and over the past four weeks there had only been 104 deaths from all causes. However, of those fatalities, 47 had been children aged under 5 years.
It must have been snowing in St Helens as in the Petty Sessions on the 18th, John Trainer was fined 2s 6d plus costs for throwing snowballs in Liverpool Road.
He told the man to go home but he refused to do so and PC Hargreaves proceeded to take him into custody. That, as so often happened, was the cue for his prisoner to turn very violent and in the struggle that ensued, they both fell to the ground and whilst the constable was down, Garbage kicked him several times.
PC Heslip came to the assistance of PC Hargreaves but the man's violence continued all the way to the police station and the constable was kicked several more times on the road. A good kicking of a copper did not in the 1870s pass the threshold for an automatic custodial sentence and Thomas Garbage would only go to gaol if he failed to pay his fines. Those were 5 shillings and costs for the drunkenness and 20 shillings and costs for the assault – with seven days and one month being the alternative prison sentences.
Generally when people were prosecuted for ill-treating a horse, it was because they were working the animal when it was unfit through having sores or some other similar condition. What cruel William Walton was caught doing was thankfully rare. He worked on James Stead's farm off St Helens Road in Eccleston and about 6 pm on one evening, a man passing the farm saw Walton repeatedly strike a horse with a spade, edgeways.
The animal was so severely cut about its legs and ribs that it was unfit to be worked for more than three weeks. The passer-by entered the field to remonstrate with Walton but the drunken, spade-wielding farm labourer chased him away. However, the man reported what he had seen to PC Sewell and in court this week William Walton was fined 20 shillings and costs.
James O’Rourke appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with stealing a pair of stockings belonging to John Rose, the landlord of the Finger Post Inn in Parr. The 61-year-old hawker had entered the house at 10:30pm and been served with two pennyworth of rum. O’Rourke was allowed to sit in the kitchen to drink his rum but immediately after his departure the pair of stockings were missed.
Landlord John Rose chased after O’Rourke and overtook him in Park Road, about 200 yards from his house, and found the stockings stuffed inside the man's coat pocket. The magistrates committed O’Rourke for trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. That's a year for stealing stockings worth 1 shilling! The reason for the harsh punishment was that O’Rourke had previous convictions.
These were mainly for petty crimes, although one had been for wounding and he had previously served a sentence of 6 months and another of 8 months. The judges at the Quarter Sessions tended to increase prison terms each time an offender appeared before them, even if the actual crime that they were currently being charged with was not that serious.
The Newspaper had recently written that the excitement over the proposed 15-acre sewage farm in Rainhill had subsided. By excitement they meant controversy, as the scheme would cost £6,000. But in this week's paper it was clear that there was still plenty of excitement about, as Major Tulloch of the Local Government Board had held a public inquiry into the matter. That had been necessary as Rainhill wanted to borrow the money to pay for the sewage scheme and the Board needed to ensure it was a viable, well-costed proposition.
During the 19th century, the resistance of land and property owners held back the development of St Helens. They had large rates bills to pay and they did not want them increasing further as a result of funding improvements, even though they were badly needed. And that was how it was with the Rainhill sewage inquiry, in which a large attendance of ratepayers was present opposed to the present scheme.
Their solicitor insisted that his clients were not against the sewage farm on principle. But he claimed that its real cost would be £10,300 and not £6,000. After taking evidence from all parties, the inquiry's chairman, Major Tulloch, said he felt that a less extensive scheme was the answer.
He said he felt it best to start in a small way and gradually extend as circumstances required and suggested that a committee of ratepayers should be appointed. They could meet with those in charge of the project to devise a more suitable and cheaper alternative. And so a compromise was in the offing to keep the better off satisfied.
And finally, the first annual ploughing match of the newly formed Windle and Eccleston Ploughing Society took place on land in Dentons Green. Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of St Helens during the 19th century. Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could also win up to £5 as prizes, which was more than three weeks wages. Despite poor weather, a large number of people turned out to watch the 23 ploughmen that took part, with a total of nearly £30 in prize money up for grabs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the mad dog at large in the town centre, the playing of guinea cat at Pilks, the rejection of a chemical company's appeal, the Tea Party and Concert in Rainford and the curious case of the stolen spade.
This week's many stories include the acidic sewers of St Helens, the man called Garbage that gave the police a kicking, Rainhill ratepayers battle against a new sewage farm, the cruel farm labourer that hit a horse with a spade and the harsh penalty for stealing stockings from a pub.
We begin on the 17th when a meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which it was revealed that a number of the town's sewers had been found to be acidic.
In the previous year proceedings had been taken against the St Helens Chemical Works for discharging waste into the Atlas Street sewer.
However, the level of acid that was presently in the water was said to be just the same as it had been then.
And a sample of the liquid taken from the Liverpool Street sewer showed a high level of acidity through discharges made by the Greenbank Alkali Company.
Recently the master at Whiston Workhouse had complained that fever was "spread broadcast" by the conditions in the horse-drawn ambulance.
That vehicle had been introduced in 1875 to convey infected persons from St Helens and elsewhere to their isolation fever hospital.
The master described how a patient had arrived at the workhouse in a soaked ambulance without a blanket or any other covering.
Cllr Fidler asked about this case at the Health Committee meeting and was told that the man in charge of the ambulance had now been provided with a cloth to properly wipe it down when wet.
One member wondered why it had not been provided before, considering that the ambulance had been in use for 12 months.
Mr Fidler thought blankets or rugs should be provided to wrap patients in but was told that it would cost 10 shillings to disinfect them after every use and it would be better to buy suitable clothes and then burn them afterwards.
Overall, the rate of fever (measles, scarlet fever, typhoid etc.) within St Helens was presently quite low and over the past four weeks there had only been 104 deaths from all causes. However, of those fatalities, 47 had been children aged under 5 years.
It must have been snowing in St Helens as in the Petty Sessions on the 18th, John Trainer was fined 2s 6d plus costs for throwing snowballs in Liverpool Road.
A man who the St Helens Newspaper credited with the unfortunate name of Thomas Garbage also appeared in court this week charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting PC Hargreaves.
The constable described how he had been on duty in Ormskirk Street at 10:40 pm on the previous Sunday night when he found the defendant very drunk and disorderly.
He told the man to go home but he refused to do so and PC Hargreaves proceeded to take him into custody.
That, as so often happened, was the cue for his prisoner to turn very violent and in the struggle that ensued, they both fell to the ground and whilst the constable was down, Garbage kicked him several times.
PC Heslip came to the assistance of PC Hargreaves but the man's violence continued all the way to the police station and the constable was kicked several more times on the road.
A good kicking of a copper did not in the 1870s pass the threshold for an automatic custodial sentence and Thomas Garbage would only go to gaol if he failed to pay his fines.
Those were 5 shillings and costs for the drunkenness and 20 shillings and costs for the assault – with seven days and one month being the alternative prison sentences.
Generally when people were prosecuted for ill-treating a horse, it was because they were working the animal when it was unfit through having sores or some other similar condition.
What cruel William Walton was caught doing was thankfully rare.
He worked on James Stead's farm off St Helens Road in Eccleston and about 6 pm on one evening, a man passing the farm saw Walton repeatedly strike a horse with a spade, edgeways.
The animal was so severely cut about its legs and ribs that it was unfit to be worked for more than three weeks.
The passer-by entered the field to remonstrate with Walton but the drunken, spade-wielding farm labourer chased him away.
However, the man reported what he had seen to PC Sewell and in court this week William Walton was fined 20 shillings and costs.
James O’Rourke appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with stealing a pair of stockings belonging to John Rose, the landlord of the Finger Post Inn in Parr.
The 61-year-old hawker had entered the house at 10:30pm and been served with two pennyworth of rum.
O’Rourke was allowed to sit in the kitchen to drink his rum but immediately after his departure the pair of stockings were missed.
Landlord John Rose chased after O’Rourke and overtook him in Park Road, about 200 yards from his house, and found the stockings stuffed inside the man's coat pocket.
The magistrates committed O’Rourke for trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
That's a year for stealing stockings worth 1 shilling! The reason for the harsh punishment was that O’Rourke had previous convictions.
These were mainly for petty crimes, although one had been for wounding and he had previously served a sentence of 6 months and another of 8 months.
The judges at the Quarter Sessions tended to increase prison terms each time an offender appeared before them, even if the actual crime that they were currently being charged with was not that serious.
The Newspaper had recently written that the excitement over the proposed 15-acre sewage farm in Rainhill had subsided.
By excitement they meant controversy, as the scheme would cost £6,000.
But in this week's paper it was clear that there was still plenty of excitement about, as Major Tulloch of the Local Government Board had held a public inquiry into the matter.
That had been necessary as Rainhill wanted to borrow the money to pay for the sewage scheme and the Board needed to ensure it was a viable, well-costed proposition.
During the 19th century, the resistance of land and property owners held back the development of St Helens.
They had large rates bills to pay and they did not want them increasing further as a result of funding improvements, even though they were badly needed.
And that was how it was with the Rainhill sewage inquiry, in which a large attendance of ratepayers was present opposed to the present scheme.
Their solicitor insisted that his clients were not against the sewage farm on principle.
But he claimed that its real cost would be £10,300 and not £6,000.
After taking evidence from all parties, the inquiry's chairman, Major Tulloch, said he felt that a less extensive scheme was the answer.
He said he felt it best to start in a small way and gradually extend as circumstances required and suggested that a committee of ratepayers should be appointed.
They could meet with those in charge of the project to devise a more suitable and cheaper alternative.
And so a compromise was in the offing to keep the better off satisfied.
And finally, the first annual ploughing match of the newly formed Windle and Eccleston Ploughing Society took place on land in Dentons Green.
Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of St Helens during the 19th century.
Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could also win up to £5 as prizes, which was more than three weeks wages.
Despite poor weather, a large number of people turned out to watch the 23 ploughmen that took part, with a total of nearly £30 in prize money up for grabs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the mad dog at large in the town centre, the playing of guinea cat at Pilks, the rejection of a chemical company's appeal, the Tea Party and Concert in Rainford and the curious case of the stolen spade.
We begin on the 17th when a meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which it was revealed that a number of the town's sewers had been found to be acidic.
In the previous year proceedings had been taken against the St Helens Chemical Works for discharging waste into the Atlas Street sewer.
However, the level of acid that was presently in the water was said to be just the same as it had been then.
And a sample of the liquid taken from the Liverpool Street sewer showed a high level of acidity through discharges made by the Greenbank Alkali Company.
Recently the master at Whiston Workhouse had complained that fever was "spread broadcast" by the conditions in the horse-drawn ambulance.
That vehicle had been introduced in 1875 to convey infected persons from St Helens and elsewhere to their isolation fever hospital.
The master described how a patient had arrived at the workhouse in a soaked ambulance without a blanket or any other covering.
Cllr Fidler asked about this case at the Health Committee meeting and was told that the man in charge of the ambulance had now been provided with a cloth to properly wipe it down when wet.
One member wondered why it had not been provided before, considering that the ambulance had been in use for 12 months.
Mr Fidler thought blankets or rugs should be provided to wrap patients in but was told that it would cost 10 shillings to disinfect them after every use and it would be better to buy suitable clothes and then burn them afterwards.
Overall, the rate of fever (measles, scarlet fever, typhoid etc.) within St Helens was presently quite low and over the past four weeks there had only been 104 deaths from all causes. However, of those fatalities, 47 had been children aged under 5 years.
It must have been snowing in St Helens as in the Petty Sessions on the 18th, John Trainer was fined 2s 6d plus costs for throwing snowballs in Liverpool Road.
The constable described how he had been on duty in Ormskirk Street at 10:40 pm on the previous Sunday night when he found the defendant very drunk and disorderly.
He told the man to go home but he refused to do so and PC Hargreaves proceeded to take him into custody.
That, as so often happened, was the cue for his prisoner to turn very violent and in the struggle that ensued, they both fell to the ground and whilst the constable was down, Garbage kicked him several times.
PC Heslip came to the assistance of PC Hargreaves but the man's violence continued all the way to the police station and the constable was kicked several more times on the road.
A good kicking of a copper did not in the 1870s pass the threshold for an automatic custodial sentence and Thomas Garbage would only go to gaol if he failed to pay his fines.
Those were 5 shillings and costs for the drunkenness and 20 shillings and costs for the assault – with seven days and one month being the alternative prison sentences.
Generally when people were prosecuted for ill-treating a horse, it was because they were working the animal when it was unfit through having sores or some other similar condition.
What cruel William Walton was caught doing was thankfully rare.
He worked on James Stead's farm off St Helens Road in Eccleston and about 6 pm on one evening, a man passing the farm saw Walton repeatedly strike a horse with a spade, edgeways.
The animal was so severely cut about its legs and ribs that it was unfit to be worked for more than three weeks.
The passer-by entered the field to remonstrate with Walton but the drunken, spade-wielding farm labourer chased him away.
However, the man reported what he had seen to PC Sewell and in court this week William Walton was fined 20 shillings and costs.
James O’Rourke appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with stealing a pair of stockings belonging to John Rose, the landlord of the Finger Post Inn in Parr.
The 61-year-old hawker had entered the house at 10:30pm and been served with two pennyworth of rum.
O’Rourke was allowed to sit in the kitchen to drink his rum but immediately after his departure the pair of stockings were missed.
Landlord John Rose chased after O’Rourke and overtook him in Park Road, about 200 yards from his house, and found the stockings stuffed inside the man's coat pocket.
The magistrates committed O’Rourke for trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
That's a year for stealing stockings worth 1 shilling! The reason for the harsh punishment was that O’Rourke had previous convictions.
These were mainly for petty crimes, although one had been for wounding and he had previously served a sentence of 6 months and another of 8 months.
The judges at the Quarter Sessions tended to increase prison terms each time an offender appeared before them, even if the actual crime that they were currently being charged with was not that serious.
The Newspaper had recently written that the excitement over the proposed 15-acre sewage farm in Rainhill had subsided.
By excitement they meant controversy, as the scheme would cost £6,000.
But in this week's paper it was clear that there was still plenty of excitement about, as Major Tulloch of the Local Government Board had held a public inquiry into the matter.
That had been necessary as Rainhill wanted to borrow the money to pay for the sewage scheme and the Board needed to ensure it was a viable, well-costed proposition.
During the 19th century, the resistance of land and property owners held back the development of St Helens.
They had large rates bills to pay and they did not want them increasing further as a result of funding improvements, even though they were badly needed.
And that was how it was with the Rainhill sewage inquiry, in which a large attendance of ratepayers was present opposed to the present scheme.
Their solicitor insisted that his clients were not against the sewage farm on principle.
But he claimed that its real cost would be £10,300 and not £6,000.
After taking evidence from all parties, the inquiry's chairman, Major Tulloch, said he felt that a less extensive scheme was the answer.
He said he felt it best to start in a small way and gradually extend as circumstances required and suggested that a committee of ratepayers should be appointed.
They could meet with those in charge of the project to devise a more suitable and cheaper alternative.
And so a compromise was in the offing to keep the better off satisfied.
And finally, the first annual ploughing match of the newly formed Windle and Eccleston Ploughing Society took place on land in Dentons Green.
Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of St Helens during the 19th century.
Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could also win up to £5 as prizes, which was more than three weeks wages.
Despite poor weather, a large number of people turned out to watch the 23 ploughmen that took part, with a total of nearly £30 in prize money up for grabs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the mad dog at large in the town centre, the playing of guinea cat at Pilks, the rejection of a chemical company's appeal, the Tea Party and Concert in Rainford and the curious case of the stolen spade.