150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17 - 23 JULY 1873)
This week's many stories include the severe sentence imposed on an Oldfield Street burglar, the mixed-sex fight in St Helens, the Whiston coalmine that became an inferno, the coat-tails stockings theft from a market stall, a review of the extraordinary panorama exhibition in the Volunteer Hall and the rain tub row in Rainford that led to a serious assault on a woman.
The newspapers this week were full of stories of the huge fire down Halsnead Colliery at Whiston. When such blazes took hold they were very difficult to put out. That was through a combination of the coal and wood underground feeding the fire and the difficulty in getting the water needed to extinguish the blaze down deep shafts.
Engines from St Helens and Prescot had the task of fighting the inferno. That involved passing hose 220 yards down a shaft and then a further distance laterally to the seat of the blaze. The St Helens brigade had brought 540 yards of hose. But that proved not to be enough and a large additional length needed to be obtained. There were no reports of injuries but the fire would result in many men being thrown out of employment for some time to come.
Mixed-sex fights were not uncommon in St Helens. Maria White appeared to live in Duke Street and she was in court this week charged with assaulting James Twist. That was by striking the man in the face with a knife after the couple had quarrelled. Several witnesses gave evidence of seeing the woman carrying a knife in her hand and Dr Lyon said he'd dressed a wound on the man's lower jaw.
However, another witness called Mrs Burke said Twist had challenged Maria White to a fight. She claimed the woman had hit him with a brush and he'd then tried to hit her with a large flag. Mrs Burke also insisted that no knife had been involved in the fracas. Two other witnesses supported Mrs Burke's claim and faced with such contradictory evidence, the magistrates dismissed the case.
Shared facilities between neighbours were a recipe for trouble – and often led to court cases. William Worthington and Sarah Lyon had rain tubs at the rear of their neighbouring houses in Rainford. Mrs Lyon told the Petty Sessions that Worthington had been transferring water from her tub into his and she had asked him to stop. She said he took no notice and so she berated him about it. In response Worthington picked up a can of water and used it to strike Mrs Lyon such a violent blow on her head that it had knocked her out for half-an-hour.
Under cross-examination Mrs Lyon admitted that at the time of the assault she had a brush in her hand. But she insisted that she had only intended to use the brush to knock the can out of Worthington's hands – but had never got the chance to use it. Several witnesses supported Mrs Lyon's account with Frederick Barnes, a lodger in the house of Mrs Lyon, accusing the defendant of committing an "unmanly and cowardly act".
However, another witness said that after being struck by Worthington, Mrs Lyon had hit her head on a post while falling down. And a Mrs Baldwin said Mrs Lyon had raised the brush as if she planned to hit Worthington with it and as a result he'd struck her with the can as a pre-emptive strike. Worthington had hired battling solicitor Thomas Swift and he did his best to demolish the evidence, saying:
"The man had done nothing but given the woman a push in self-defence, and whatever injury she sustained was in falling against the post. When a woman took up a brush to a man, the man had a right to strike her with the can, and if she was killed he would still be guiltless in the eye of the law. My client was obliged to use something for his self-defence, or instead of being here to answer a miserable charge of assault, he might be rotting in his grave."
However, the Bench was unconvinced that a woman armed with a brush was such a terrible danger to life. The chairman called it a most disgraceful assault and Worthington was fined £3 or if in default of payment had to serve two months in prison.
Female thieves often used their shawls, bonnets or baskets to hide goods that they'd stolen from shops. Males had their own secret places to secrete stolen items. Most men then wore a simple suit and it appears that coal tails were good hiding places. In St Helens Petty Sessions this week Thomas Hands was charged with stealing a pair of stockings from the market stall of Andrew O’Neill.
His daughter Maria Miller told the court that while she was attending to her father's stall, Hands had approached her to price up some stockings. Mrs Miller was from Park Road in Parr and while she was busy with another customer said she saw the man slip the pair of stockings under his coat tails.
As he nonchalantly walked away from the stall, she slowly walked up to him and gently lifted up the tails to reveal the stolen stockings. Mrs Miller added that as soon as Hands realised his theft had been uncovered, he threw down the stockings and "began to curse and swear very furiously". A policeman then came up and as the Newspaper put it "cut his profound speech in the middle". Hands denied responsibility for the theft but was sent to prison for seven days.
The 'Royal Panorama – The Thanksgiving Day' had recently been exhibited at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens (pictured above in later days). It showed a moving painting of the special day that had been held in London in 1872 to mark the recovery from typhoid of the Prince of Wales. Scenes from the Franco-Prussian War were also depicted. In its review on the 19th the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The public patronage bestowed on this exhibition since it visited St. Helens is a testimony to its excellence. It is seldom that our townspeople have an opportunity afforded them of witnessing so many interesting scenes on canvas. The pictures relating to the late war in France are still almost as full of interest as when that terrible event was proceeding; and the mechanical effects resorted to for the reproduction, in idea, of the last efforts of the Commune, give a vivid realisation of the horrors they are intended to depict.
"The representation of Thanksgiving Day in London is one of the great features of the entertainment. The magnificent procession to St. Paul's is made to pass with slow and stately motion, as seen on Ludgate-hill, and the enthusiasm of the audience becomes greatest when the royal carriage passes, and the Prince of Wales rises and acknowledges the cheers which his appearance elicits. The illumination of St. Paul's is worthy of especial notice."
Also on the 19th the fourth annual St Helens Athletic Sports took place on the cricket field at Dentons Green. Three hundred entries were submitted with the band of the 48th LRV in attendance. Admission was from 6d but if you wanted a really good view of the events you could pay 2s 6d for a seat in the grandstand and enclosure.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote in its review of the event that the attendance was the largest that had "ever honoured" any entertainment in St Helens, adding: "The crush at the admission gates for upwards of two hours was something novel, and the policemen and ticket issuers looked like men distracted, in their efforts to deal with the crowd that surged upon them clamouring for entry."
In July 1869 Harold Pilkington had been controversially elected as St Helens Town Clerk. This was an important position and the 25-year-old was highly inexperienced, as he had only become a solicitor two years before. Harold was also a member of the glassmaking family and it was suggested they had used their influence to get him elected so he could serve their interests. On the 19th of this week the St Helens Newspaper reported that Mr Pilkington had resigned through ill health and he would die in 1880 at the age of only 35.
The word "paramour" – meaning lover or partner – is one that crops up in 19th century newspaper reports from time to time. It was usually applied to females as the Wigan Observer did in their account of a St Helens Petty Sessions hearing on the 21st. They wrote:
"John Smith and Jane Bermingham, his paramour, were charged with burglary and robbery at the house of George Bray, Oldfield-street. The prisoners lodged with the prosecutor as man and wife. Last Monday morning they arose before the rest of the inmates, packed up a large quantity of wearing apparel, spoons, and some other things, and then forced open the door and left. Both prisoners were committed for trial."
The female paramour would later be sentenced to two months in prison – but John Smith got ten years! Although stealing so-called wearing apparel was treated very seriously and usually resulted in prison, Smith's severe punishment was on the basis that he had been previously convicted of a felony.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the fear of cholera coming to St Helens, the dangers of appointing a dishonest Town Clerk, the violent storm that struck St Helens and the rotten pears that were sold in the market.
The newspapers this week were full of stories of the huge fire down Halsnead Colliery at Whiston. When such blazes took hold they were very difficult to put out. That was through a combination of the coal and wood underground feeding the fire and the difficulty in getting the water needed to extinguish the blaze down deep shafts.
Engines from St Helens and Prescot had the task of fighting the inferno. That involved passing hose 220 yards down a shaft and then a further distance laterally to the seat of the blaze. The St Helens brigade had brought 540 yards of hose. But that proved not to be enough and a large additional length needed to be obtained. There were no reports of injuries but the fire would result in many men being thrown out of employment for some time to come.
Mixed-sex fights were not uncommon in St Helens. Maria White appeared to live in Duke Street and she was in court this week charged with assaulting James Twist. That was by striking the man in the face with a knife after the couple had quarrelled. Several witnesses gave evidence of seeing the woman carrying a knife in her hand and Dr Lyon said he'd dressed a wound on the man's lower jaw.
However, another witness called Mrs Burke said Twist had challenged Maria White to a fight. She claimed the woman had hit him with a brush and he'd then tried to hit her with a large flag. Mrs Burke also insisted that no knife had been involved in the fracas. Two other witnesses supported Mrs Burke's claim and faced with such contradictory evidence, the magistrates dismissed the case.
Shared facilities between neighbours were a recipe for trouble – and often led to court cases. William Worthington and Sarah Lyon had rain tubs at the rear of their neighbouring houses in Rainford. Mrs Lyon told the Petty Sessions that Worthington had been transferring water from her tub into his and she had asked him to stop. She said he took no notice and so she berated him about it. In response Worthington picked up a can of water and used it to strike Mrs Lyon such a violent blow on her head that it had knocked her out for half-an-hour.
Under cross-examination Mrs Lyon admitted that at the time of the assault she had a brush in her hand. But she insisted that she had only intended to use the brush to knock the can out of Worthington's hands – but had never got the chance to use it. Several witnesses supported Mrs Lyon's account with Frederick Barnes, a lodger in the house of Mrs Lyon, accusing the defendant of committing an "unmanly and cowardly act".
However, another witness said that after being struck by Worthington, Mrs Lyon had hit her head on a post while falling down. And a Mrs Baldwin said Mrs Lyon had raised the brush as if she planned to hit Worthington with it and as a result he'd struck her with the can as a pre-emptive strike. Worthington had hired battling solicitor Thomas Swift and he did his best to demolish the evidence, saying:
"The man had done nothing but given the woman a push in self-defence, and whatever injury she sustained was in falling against the post. When a woman took up a brush to a man, the man had a right to strike her with the can, and if she was killed he would still be guiltless in the eye of the law. My client was obliged to use something for his self-defence, or instead of being here to answer a miserable charge of assault, he might be rotting in his grave."
However, the Bench was unconvinced that a woman armed with a brush was such a terrible danger to life. The chairman called it a most disgraceful assault and Worthington was fined £3 or if in default of payment had to serve two months in prison.
Female thieves often used their shawls, bonnets or baskets to hide goods that they'd stolen from shops. Males had their own secret places to secrete stolen items. Most men then wore a simple suit and it appears that coal tails were good hiding places. In St Helens Petty Sessions this week Thomas Hands was charged with stealing a pair of stockings from the market stall of Andrew O’Neill.
His daughter Maria Miller told the court that while she was attending to her father's stall, Hands had approached her to price up some stockings. Mrs Miller was from Park Road in Parr and while she was busy with another customer said she saw the man slip the pair of stockings under his coat tails.
As he nonchalantly walked away from the stall, she slowly walked up to him and gently lifted up the tails to reveal the stolen stockings. Mrs Miller added that as soon as Hands realised his theft had been uncovered, he threw down the stockings and "began to curse and swear very furiously". A policeman then came up and as the Newspaper put it "cut his profound speech in the middle". Hands denied responsibility for the theft but was sent to prison for seven days.
"The public patronage bestowed on this exhibition since it visited St. Helens is a testimony to its excellence. It is seldom that our townspeople have an opportunity afforded them of witnessing so many interesting scenes on canvas. The pictures relating to the late war in France are still almost as full of interest as when that terrible event was proceeding; and the mechanical effects resorted to for the reproduction, in idea, of the last efforts of the Commune, give a vivid realisation of the horrors they are intended to depict.
"The representation of Thanksgiving Day in London is one of the great features of the entertainment. The magnificent procession to St. Paul's is made to pass with slow and stately motion, as seen on Ludgate-hill, and the enthusiasm of the audience becomes greatest when the royal carriage passes, and the Prince of Wales rises and acknowledges the cheers which his appearance elicits. The illumination of St. Paul's is worthy of especial notice."
Also on the 19th the fourth annual St Helens Athletic Sports took place on the cricket field at Dentons Green. Three hundred entries were submitted with the band of the 48th LRV in attendance. Admission was from 6d but if you wanted a really good view of the events you could pay 2s 6d for a seat in the grandstand and enclosure.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote in its review of the event that the attendance was the largest that had "ever honoured" any entertainment in St Helens, adding: "The crush at the admission gates for upwards of two hours was something novel, and the policemen and ticket issuers looked like men distracted, in their efforts to deal with the crowd that surged upon them clamouring for entry."
In July 1869 Harold Pilkington had been controversially elected as St Helens Town Clerk. This was an important position and the 25-year-old was highly inexperienced, as he had only become a solicitor two years before. Harold was also a member of the glassmaking family and it was suggested they had used their influence to get him elected so he could serve their interests. On the 19th of this week the St Helens Newspaper reported that Mr Pilkington had resigned through ill health and he would die in 1880 at the age of only 35.
The word "paramour" – meaning lover or partner – is one that crops up in 19th century newspaper reports from time to time. It was usually applied to females as the Wigan Observer did in their account of a St Helens Petty Sessions hearing on the 21st. They wrote:
"John Smith and Jane Bermingham, his paramour, were charged with burglary and robbery at the house of George Bray, Oldfield-street. The prisoners lodged with the prosecutor as man and wife. Last Monday morning they arose before the rest of the inmates, packed up a large quantity of wearing apparel, spoons, and some other things, and then forced open the door and left. Both prisoners were committed for trial."
The female paramour would later be sentenced to two months in prison – but John Smith got ten years! Although stealing so-called wearing apparel was treated very seriously and usually resulted in prison, Smith's severe punishment was on the basis that he had been previously convicted of a felony.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the fear of cholera coming to St Helens, the dangers of appointing a dishonest Town Clerk, the violent storm that struck St Helens and the rotten pears that were sold in the market.
This week's many stories include the severe sentence imposed on an Oldfield Street burglar, the mixed-sex fight in St Helens, the Whiston coalmine that became an inferno, the coat-tails stockings theft from a market stall, a review of the extraordinary panorama exhibition in the Volunteer Hall and the rain tub row in Rainford that led to a serious assault on a woman.
The newspapers this week were full of stories of the huge fire down Halsnead Colliery at Whiston.
When such blazes took hold they were very difficult to put out. That was through a combination of the coal and wood underground feeding the fire and the difficulty in getting the water needed to extinguish the blaze down deep shafts.
Engines from St Helens and Prescot had the task of fighting the inferno. That involved passing hose 220 yards down a shaft and then a further distance laterally to the seat of the blaze.
The St Helens brigade had brought 540 yards of hose. But that proved not to be enough and a large additional length needed to be obtained.
There were no reports of injuries but the fire would result in many men being thrown out of employment for some time to come.
Mixed-sex fights were not uncommon in St Helens. Maria White appeared to live in Duke Street and she was in court this week charged with assaulting James Twist.
That was by striking the man in the face with a knife after the couple had quarrelled.
Several witnesses gave evidence of seeing the woman carrying a knife in her hand and Dr Lyon said he'd dressed a wound on the man's lower jaw.
However, another witness called Mrs Burke said Twist had challenged Maria White to a fight.
She claimed the woman had hit him with a brush and he'd then tried to hit her with a large flag. Mrs Burke also insisted that no knife had been involved in the fracas.
Two other witnesses supported Mrs Burke's claim and faced with such contradictory evidence, the magistrates dismissed the case.
Shared facilities between neighbours were a recipe for trouble – and often led to court cases.
William Worthington and Sarah Lyon had rain tubs at the rear of their neighbouring houses in Rainford.
Mrs Lyon told the Petty Sessions that Worthington had been transferring water from her tub into his and she had asked him to stop. She said he took no notice and so she berated him about it.
In response Worthington picked up a can of water and used it to strike Mrs Lyon such a violent blow on her head that it had knocked her out for half-an-hour.
Under cross-examination Mrs Lyon admitted that at the time of the assault she had a brush in her hand.
But she insisted that she had only intended to use the brush to knock the can out of Worthington's hands – but had never got the chance to use it.
Several witnesses supported Mrs Lyon's account with Frederick Barnes, a lodger in the house of Mrs Lyon, accusing the defendant of committing an "unmanly and cowardly act".
However, another witness said that after being struck by Worthington, Mrs Lyon had hit her head on a post while falling down.
And a Mrs Baldwin said Mrs Lyon had raised the brush as if she planned to hit Worthington with it and as a result he'd struck her with the can as a pre-emptive strike.
Worthington had hired battling solicitor Thomas Swift and he did his best to demolish the evidence, saying:
"The man had done nothing but given the woman a push in self-defence, and whatever injury she sustained was in falling against the post.
"When a woman took up a brush to a man, the man had a right to strike her with the can, and if she was killed he would still be guiltless in the eye of the law.
"My client was obliged to use something for his self-defence, or instead of being here to answer a miserable charge of assault, he might be rotting in his grave."
However, the Bench was unconvinced that a woman armed with a brush was such a terrible danger to life.
The chairman called it a most disgraceful assault and Worthington was fined £3 or must serve two months in prison.
Female thieves often used their shawls, bonnets or baskets to hide goods that they'd stolen from shops.
Males had their own secret places to secrete stolen items. Most men then wore a simple suit and it appears that coal tails were good hiding places.
In St Helens Petty Sessions this week Thomas Hands was charged with stealing a pair of stockings from the market stall of Andrew O’Neill.
His daughter Maria Miller told the court that while she was attending to her father's stall, Hands had approached her to price up some stockings.
Mrs Miller was from Park Road in Parr and while she was busy with another customer said she saw the man slip the pair of stockings under his coat tails.
As he nonchalantly walked away from the stall, she slowly walked up to him and gently lifted up the tails to reveal the stolen stockings.
Mrs Miller added that as soon as Hands realised his theft had been uncovered, he threw down the stockings and "began to curse and swear very furiously".
A policeman then came up and as the Newspaper put it "cut his profound speech in the middle". Hands denied responsibility for the theft but was sent to prison for seven days.
The 'Royal Panorama – The Thanksgiving Day' had recently been exhibited at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens (pictured above in later days).
It showed a moving painting of the special day that had been held in London in 1872 to mark the recovery from typhoid of the Prince of Wales. Scenes from the Franco-Prussian War were also depicted.
In its review on the 19th the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The public patronage bestowed on this exhibition since it visited St. Helens is a testimony to its excellence. It is seldom that our townspeople have an opportunity afforded them of witnessing so many interesting scenes on canvas.
"The pictures relating to the late war in France are still almost as full of interest as when that terrible event was proceeding; and the mechanical effects resorted to for the reproduction, in idea, of the last efforts of the Commune, give a vivid realisation of the horrors they are intended to depict.
"The representation of Thanksgiving Day in London is one of the great features of the entertainment.
"The magnificent procession to St. Paul's is made to pass with slow and stately motion, as seen on Ludgate-hill, and the enthusiasm of the audience becomes greatest when the royal carriage passes, and the Prince of Wales rises and acknowledges the cheers which his appearance elicits. The illumination of St. Paul's is worthy of especial notice."
Also on the 19th the fourth annual St Helens Athletic Sports took place on the cricket field at Dentons Green. Three hundred entries were submitted with the band of the 48th LRV in attendance.
Admission was from 6d but if you wanted a really good view of the events you could pay 2s 6d for a seat in the grandstand and enclosure.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote in its review of the event that the attendance was the largest that had "ever honoured" any entertainment in St Helens, adding:
"The crush at the admission gates for upwards of two hours was something novel, and the policemen and ticket issuers looked like men distracted, in their efforts to deal with the crowd that surged upon them clamouring for entry."
In July 1869 Harold Pilkington had been controversially elected as St Helens Town Clerk.
This was an important position and the 25-year-old was highly inexperienced, as he had only become a solicitor two years before.
Harold was also a member of the glassmaking family and it was suggested they had used their influence to get him elected so he could serve their interests.
On the 19th of this week the St Helens Newspaper reported that Mr Pilkington had resigned through ill health and he would die in 1880 at the age of only 35.
The word "paramour" – meaning lover or partner – is one that crops up in 19th century newspaper reports from time to time.
It was usually applied to females as the Wigan Observer did in their account of a St Helens Petty Sessions hearing on the 21st. They wrote:
"John Smith and Jane Bermingham, his paramour, were charged with burglary and robbery at the house of George Bray, Oldfield-street. The prisoners lodged with the prosecutor as man and wife.
"Last Monday morning they arose before the rest of the inmates, packed up a large quantity of wearing apparel, spoons, and some other things, and then forced open the door and left. Both prisoners were committed for trial."
The female paramour would later be sentenced to two months in prison – but John Smith got ten years!
Although stealing so-called wearing apparel was treated very seriously and usually resulted in prison, Smith's severe punishment was on the basis that he had been previously convicted of a felony.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the fear of cholera coming to St Helens, the dangers of appointing a dishonest Town Clerk, the violent storm that struck St Helens and the rotten pears that were sold in the market.
The newspapers this week were full of stories of the huge fire down Halsnead Colliery at Whiston.
When such blazes took hold they were very difficult to put out. That was through a combination of the coal and wood underground feeding the fire and the difficulty in getting the water needed to extinguish the blaze down deep shafts.
Engines from St Helens and Prescot had the task of fighting the inferno. That involved passing hose 220 yards down a shaft and then a further distance laterally to the seat of the blaze.
The St Helens brigade had brought 540 yards of hose. But that proved not to be enough and a large additional length needed to be obtained.
There were no reports of injuries but the fire would result in many men being thrown out of employment for some time to come.
Mixed-sex fights were not uncommon in St Helens. Maria White appeared to live in Duke Street and she was in court this week charged with assaulting James Twist.
That was by striking the man in the face with a knife after the couple had quarrelled.
Several witnesses gave evidence of seeing the woman carrying a knife in her hand and Dr Lyon said he'd dressed a wound on the man's lower jaw.
However, another witness called Mrs Burke said Twist had challenged Maria White to a fight.
She claimed the woman had hit him with a brush and he'd then tried to hit her with a large flag. Mrs Burke also insisted that no knife had been involved in the fracas.
Two other witnesses supported Mrs Burke's claim and faced with such contradictory evidence, the magistrates dismissed the case.
Shared facilities between neighbours were a recipe for trouble – and often led to court cases.
William Worthington and Sarah Lyon had rain tubs at the rear of their neighbouring houses in Rainford.
Mrs Lyon told the Petty Sessions that Worthington had been transferring water from her tub into his and she had asked him to stop. She said he took no notice and so she berated him about it.
In response Worthington picked up a can of water and used it to strike Mrs Lyon such a violent blow on her head that it had knocked her out for half-an-hour.
Under cross-examination Mrs Lyon admitted that at the time of the assault she had a brush in her hand.
But she insisted that she had only intended to use the brush to knock the can out of Worthington's hands – but had never got the chance to use it.
Several witnesses supported Mrs Lyon's account with Frederick Barnes, a lodger in the house of Mrs Lyon, accusing the defendant of committing an "unmanly and cowardly act".
However, another witness said that after being struck by Worthington, Mrs Lyon had hit her head on a post while falling down.
And a Mrs Baldwin said Mrs Lyon had raised the brush as if she planned to hit Worthington with it and as a result he'd struck her with the can as a pre-emptive strike.
Worthington had hired battling solicitor Thomas Swift and he did his best to demolish the evidence, saying:
"The man had done nothing but given the woman a push in self-defence, and whatever injury she sustained was in falling against the post.
"When a woman took up a brush to a man, the man had a right to strike her with the can, and if she was killed he would still be guiltless in the eye of the law.
"My client was obliged to use something for his self-defence, or instead of being here to answer a miserable charge of assault, he might be rotting in his grave."
However, the Bench was unconvinced that a woman armed with a brush was such a terrible danger to life.
The chairman called it a most disgraceful assault and Worthington was fined £3 or must serve two months in prison.
Female thieves often used their shawls, bonnets or baskets to hide goods that they'd stolen from shops.
Males had their own secret places to secrete stolen items. Most men then wore a simple suit and it appears that coal tails were good hiding places.
In St Helens Petty Sessions this week Thomas Hands was charged with stealing a pair of stockings from the market stall of Andrew O’Neill.
His daughter Maria Miller told the court that while she was attending to her father's stall, Hands had approached her to price up some stockings.
Mrs Miller was from Park Road in Parr and while she was busy with another customer said she saw the man slip the pair of stockings under his coat tails.
As he nonchalantly walked away from the stall, she slowly walked up to him and gently lifted up the tails to reveal the stolen stockings.
Mrs Miller added that as soon as Hands realised his theft had been uncovered, he threw down the stockings and "began to curse and swear very furiously".
A policeman then came up and as the Newspaper put it "cut his profound speech in the middle". Hands denied responsibility for the theft but was sent to prison for seven days.
It showed a moving painting of the special day that had been held in London in 1872 to mark the recovery from typhoid of the Prince of Wales. Scenes from the Franco-Prussian War were also depicted.
In its review on the 19th the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The public patronage bestowed on this exhibition since it visited St. Helens is a testimony to its excellence. It is seldom that our townspeople have an opportunity afforded them of witnessing so many interesting scenes on canvas.
"The pictures relating to the late war in France are still almost as full of interest as when that terrible event was proceeding; and the mechanical effects resorted to for the reproduction, in idea, of the last efforts of the Commune, give a vivid realisation of the horrors they are intended to depict.
"The representation of Thanksgiving Day in London is one of the great features of the entertainment.
"The magnificent procession to St. Paul's is made to pass with slow and stately motion, as seen on Ludgate-hill, and the enthusiasm of the audience becomes greatest when the royal carriage passes, and the Prince of Wales rises and acknowledges the cheers which his appearance elicits. The illumination of St. Paul's is worthy of especial notice."
Also on the 19th the fourth annual St Helens Athletic Sports took place on the cricket field at Dentons Green. Three hundred entries were submitted with the band of the 48th LRV in attendance.
Admission was from 6d but if you wanted a really good view of the events you could pay 2s 6d for a seat in the grandstand and enclosure.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote in its review of the event that the attendance was the largest that had "ever honoured" any entertainment in St Helens, adding:
"The crush at the admission gates for upwards of two hours was something novel, and the policemen and ticket issuers looked like men distracted, in their efforts to deal with the crowd that surged upon them clamouring for entry."
In July 1869 Harold Pilkington had been controversially elected as St Helens Town Clerk.
This was an important position and the 25-year-old was highly inexperienced, as he had only become a solicitor two years before.
Harold was also a member of the glassmaking family and it was suggested they had used their influence to get him elected so he could serve their interests.
On the 19th of this week the St Helens Newspaper reported that Mr Pilkington had resigned through ill health and he would die in 1880 at the age of only 35.
The word "paramour" – meaning lover or partner – is one that crops up in 19th century newspaper reports from time to time.
It was usually applied to females as the Wigan Observer did in their account of a St Helens Petty Sessions hearing on the 21st. They wrote:
"John Smith and Jane Bermingham, his paramour, were charged with burglary and robbery at the house of George Bray, Oldfield-street. The prisoners lodged with the prosecutor as man and wife.
"Last Monday morning they arose before the rest of the inmates, packed up a large quantity of wearing apparel, spoons, and some other things, and then forced open the door and left. Both prisoners were committed for trial."
The female paramour would later be sentenced to two months in prison – but John Smith got ten years!
Although stealing so-called wearing apparel was treated very seriously and usually resulted in prison, Smith's severe punishment was on the basis that he had been previously convicted of a felony.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the fear of cholera coming to St Helens, the dangers of appointing a dishonest Town Clerk, the violent storm that struck St Helens and the rotten pears that were sold in the market.