150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (21st - 27th DECEMBER 1870)
This week's stories include the Christmas produce on display in St Helens, the greatest brute in all Prescot is brought to court, a public examination is held of Methodist School pupils and the Christmas skaters on Carr Mill Dam and Eccleston Mere.
The treatment that abused women received from the courts varied considerably. It seemed to depend on the severity of the violence that they had received from their husbands and the attitude of the magistrates that happened to be on the Bench. Dr Edward Twyford was the sole magistrate in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 22nd. One might have thought that a medical doctor (who was also a town councillor) might show some compassion and understanding but there was little on show in this case that the St Helens Newspaper described:
"A decent looking woman residing in Eccleston applied to the bench for a warrant against her husband. He had beaten her and turned her and her infant out of her house, leaving them out all night. Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – When did he commence to ill-treat you? Applicant – About three weeks ago. Mr. Ludlam – Well, why did you not make an application before now? Applicant – I thought he might mend.
"Dr. Twyford [on the Bench] – When did he last ill-treat you? Applicant – He took away my clothes last night; I had two young men lodgers, and he got jealous of one of them. He took, on one occasion, a knife in his hand to stab me, because he thought I was making too much freedom with one of the young men. Dr. Twyford – We cannot entertain your application now. You ought have made it earlier." And that was that. I don't expect the unnamed woman's mention of her friendliness with a lodger helped her case, however.
A solar eclipse occurred on the 22nd as described by the Warrington Examiner: "The great eclipse of the sun was on Thursday visible in Cheshire and Lancashire. Thanks to “Jack Frost,” the day was bright and cloudless; and scores of people – especially the rising generation – were to be seen with the proverbial burnt glass, witnessing a phenomenon which will not occur again till they are men and women."
There was not all that much about Christmas in the St Helens Newspaper of the 24th but there was an editorial headlined "A Merry Christmas To Our Readers" which referenced the Franco-Prussian war: "In giving to our readers and supporters the time-honoured greeting of “a merry Christmas and a happy New Year,” we can congratulate them on the exceptional peacefulness and prosperity of our country as compared with the state of other lands.
"The closing months of the year just dying out will be considered the most remarkable in history. A devastating war is being waged on the soil of a neighbouring and friendly nation, the most deadly owing to the improved weapons which science has produced, that has ever taken place. To narrow the circle of our reflections, we can truly congratulate the friends of the borough of St. Helens upon the advancement which has taken place in it. Employers and employees now work harmoniously. Trade is in a satisfactory if not a very flourishing state…we have every reason to be thankful, and to offer to all “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”."
No I don't think 1870 will be considered the most remarkable in history – but how could the editor know of the far deadlier weapons that the 20th century would bring? Every year at Christmas the Newspaper described the windows of local shops and the appearance of market stalls – one of the few outward signs in St Helens of the festive season. These were mainly food shops that were always groaning with produce, as the paper described this week: "Any persons walking through our principal streets during the past week will have pleasantly forced on them the truth of the adage that Christmas, the festival of festivals, ever brings with it “good cheer”.
"Each face one meets presents the annual Christmas cheeriness of aspect. Each shop window is made to look its best and brightest. Grocers vie with one another as to which of them can pile up the greatest quantity of tea, coffee and sugar in their windows. Bakers manufacture plethoric looking loaves, which seem fitted for the consumption of giants. Confectioners exert all their artistic powers to tempt the epicurean. But the palm in the way of temptation to the proverbial Christmas enjoyment must be given to the butchers.
"If an anchorite [hermit who ate frugal meals] paid a visit to our shambles [butcher's shops] we feel assured that all his anti-carnivorous vows would be terribly shaken at the sight of the rich, succulent looking joints that are displayed. A chief rabbi would be tempted to foreswear his belief in the iniquity of pork eating. The butchers, in fact, appear to have done their utmost to enable every one who has the means to partake of the best beef and mutton this coming Christmas Day."
These days many restaurants and pubs promote their use of locally sourced ingredients in their food. There is, of course, nothing new in that. The Newspaper also commented how the slabs of meat in the "shambles" had cards attached to them identifying the local farmer where the animal had been reared.
One hundred and fifty years ago a number of schools in St Helens held public examinations of their pupils. They must have been nerve-wracking events for the kids in which their parents and members of the public watched as the boys and girls were tested in various subjects. The Newspaper described the recent public examination of the scholars at the Wesleyan Methodist School in Waterloo Street:
"The examination of the infants' school commenced at half-past two in the afternoon. The children, some of them tiny little things of five or six years of age, answered the questions put to them with remarkable quickness. Their replies to questions in addition, their spelling and pronunciation, and their demeanour throughout the examination, reflected credit on the ladies who conduct the schools. Some of the children gave recitations, and one could not avoid wondering at their memory, which enabled them to recite without halt or hesitancy some long poetic selections."
Then during the evening the school's junior children were examined. I do wonder how much of the examination was a genuine test of the pupils' abilities or whether their teachers had simply prepared them for it?
Under the heading "Wife Beating – An Incorrigible Blackguard" the Newspaper described a recent hearing in the Prescot Petty Sessions. The case was treated more seriously than the one heard in the St Helens court by the unsympathetic Dr Twyford, as the woman's husband had a long record. What was similar was that it was another example of married women's dependence upon their husbands and consequent reluctance to prosecute:
"A man named James Yates was charged with beating his wife. Mrs. Yates, a dejected looking woman, who gave her evidence with obvious reluctance, stated that the prisoner came home drunk at half-past twelve o’clock on Wednesday night. She prepared him a supper. He did not like it, and struck her in the face.
"Chairman [of the Bench] – Has he abused you before? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Often? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Have you summoned him before? Complainant – No, sir.
"The prisoner said he was sorry for what had happened. Mr Fowler [police superintendent] said that the present made the prisoner's thirtieth appearance in the dock. He was about the greatest brute in all Prescot. The complainant said that Mr. Burrows had promised her husband work, and she did not mind giving him another chance. Chairman – The case is out of your hands now, my good woman. Mr. Fowler said that the complainant was an industrious woman, and the prisoner was an idle and dissipated fellow.
"Chairman – What was he here before for? Mr. Fowler – For drunkenness, assaults, and every conceivable offence imaginable. Chairman – It appears that he is an incorrigible blackguard, who drinks and dissipates, and comes home to wreak his vengeance on his wife. It is bad enough to get drunk, but it is brutal to come home and beat one's wife. The prisoner was ordered to be imprisoned for four months at hard labour, at the expiration of which time he was to find bail to keep the peace for three calendar months."
Although Mrs Yates was now safe for a few months – how was she going to live? And how was the bail money for when her husband came out of prison going to be raised? Matters would depend a lot on her age and whether she had a family to support her (neither of which were mentioned in newspaper reports) – otherwise it might well have been the workhouse for Mrs Yates.
So what did the people of St Helens do on Christmas Day and Boxing Day? Well there was not that much that could be done other than visit family and friends and eat and drink well – if they could afford to, of course, and many couldn't. It was very much the era of "make your own entertainment" and ice skating was a popular pastime over the Christmas period. This article was published in the Newspaper:
"Skating – The lovers of this invigorating amusement – and they are pretty considerable in St. Helens – have had during the Christmas holidays the choicest weather for indulging in their taste. Constant frost has covered the reservoirs with a thick coating of ice. Eccleston Mere was resorted to by a large number of the skating population of the town and neighbourhood on Monday and Tuesday.
"Carr Mill Dam [pictured above], which is now of immense size owing to the enlargement of the lower pond and its junction with the upper pond, afforded ample space for the display of skill, and abundance of room for the thousands of people who attended on Sunday and Monday.
"There is no dull care on the ice. All is pleasure, joyousness, and excitement. Even if the smart young gentleman, who is displaying all his graceful figures before the fair spectators, should come to grief and come down with a thud upon “his head's antipodes,” he quickly recovers from the discomfiture and participates in the laughter which the disaster created.
"One accident occurred on the ice on Monday evening which marred the enjoyments. A number of young men were playing hockey on the ice when one of them a Mr. C. Wilson, Church-street, received a blow in the eye which severely injured it. We have heard of no other, serious mishap occurring, and we hope that the season will pass by without any taking place."
Now that's a great expression that could do with reviving, "head's antipodes" – much politer than backside and one to use if you have too much to drink over Christmas and fall over!!!
Next week's stories will include the "greatest novelties in negro minstrelsy", the lack of an illuminated public clock in St Helens, the mayor's annual Christmas dinner for the aged poor and a major inquiry is held into the Prescot watch industry.
The treatment that abused women received from the courts varied considerably. It seemed to depend on the severity of the violence that they had received from their husbands and the attitude of the magistrates that happened to be on the Bench. Dr Edward Twyford was the sole magistrate in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 22nd. One might have thought that a medical doctor (who was also a town councillor) might show some compassion and understanding but there was little on show in this case that the St Helens Newspaper described:
"A decent looking woman residing in Eccleston applied to the bench for a warrant against her husband. He had beaten her and turned her and her infant out of her house, leaving them out all night. Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – When did he commence to ill-treat you? Applicant – About three weeks ago. Mr. Ludlam – Well, why did you not make an application before now? Applicant – I thought he might mend.
"Dr. Twyford [on the Bench] – When did he last ill-treat you? Applicant – He took away my clothes last night; I had two young men lodgers, and he got jealous of one of them. He took, on one occasion, a knife in his hand to stab me, because he thought I was making too much freedom with one of the young men. Dr. Twyford – We cannot entertain your application now. You ought have made it earlier." And that was that. I don't expect the unnamed woman's mention of her friendliness with a lodger helped her case, however.
There was not all that much about Christmas in the St Helens Newspaper of the 24th but there was an editorial headlined "A Merry Christmas To Our Readers" which referenced the Franco-Prussian war: "In giving to our readers and supporters the time-honoured greeting of “a merry Christmas and a happy New Year,” we can congratulate them on the exceptional peacefulness and prosperity of our country as compared with the state of other lands.
"The closing months of the year just dying out will be considered the most remarkable in history. A devastating war is being waged on the soil of a neighbouring and friendly nation, the most deadly owing to the improved weapons which science has produced, that has ever taken place. To narrow the circle of our reflections, we can truly congratulate the friends of the borough of St. Helens upon the advancement which has taken place in it. Employers and employees now work harmoniously. Trade is in a satisfactory if not a very flourishing state…we have every reason to be thankful, and to offer to all “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”."
No I don't think 1870 will be considered the most remarkable in history – but how could the editor know of the far deadlier weapons that the 20th century would bring? Every year at Christmas the Newspaper described the windows of local shops and the appearance of market stalls – one of the few outward signs in St Helens of the festive season. These were mainly food shops that were always groaning with produce, as the paper described this week: "Any persons walking through our principal streets during the past week will have pleasantly forced on them the truth of the adage that Christmas, the festival of festivals, ever brings with it “good cheer”.
"Each face one meets presents the annual Christmas cheeriness of aspect. Each shop window is made to look its best and brightest. Grocers vie with one another as to which of them can pile up the greatest quantity of tea, coffee and sugar in their windows. Bakers manufacture plethoric looking loaves, which seem fitted for the consumption of giants. Confectioners exert all their artistic powers to tempt the epicurean. But the palm in the way of temptation to the proverbial Christmas enjoyment must be given to the butchers.
"If an anchorite [hermit who ate frugal meals] paid a visit to our shambles [butcher's shops] we feel assured that all his anti-carnivorous vows would be terribly shaken at the sight of the rich, succulent looking joints that are displayed. A chief rabbi would be tempted to foreswear his belief in the iniquity of pork eating. The butchers, in fact, appear to have done their utmost to enable every one who has the means to partake of the best beef and mutton this coming Christmas Day."
These days many restaurants and pubs promote their use of locally sourced ingredients in their food. There is, of course, nothing new in that. The Newspaper also commented how the slabs of meat in the "shambles" had cards attached to them identifying the local farmer where the animal had been reared.
One hundred and fifty years ago a number of schools in St Helens held public examinations of their pupils. They must have been nerve-wracking events for the kids in which their parents and members of the public watched as the boys and girls were tested in various subjects. The Newspaper described the recent public examination of the scholars at the Wesleyan Methodist School in Waterloo Street:
"The examination of the infants' school commenced at half-past two in the afternoon. The children, some of them tiny little things of five or six years of age, answered the questions put to them with remarkable quickness. Their replies to questions in addition, their spelling and pronunciation, and their demeanour throughout the examination, reflected credit on the ladies who conduct the schools. Some of the children gave recitations, and one could not avoid wondering at their memory, which enabled them to recite without halt or hesitancy some long poetic selections."
Then during the evening the school's junior children were examined. I do wonder how much of the examination was a genuine test of the pupils' abilities or whether their teachers had simply prepared them for it?
Under the heading "Wife Beating – An Incorrigible Blackguard" the Newspaper described a recent hearing in the Prescot Petty Sessions. The case was treated more seriously than the one heard in the St Helens court by the unsympathetic Dr Twyford, as the woman's husband had a long record. What was similar was that it was another example of married women's dependence upon their husbands and consequent reluctance to prosecute:
"A man named James Yates was charged with beating his wife. Mrs. Yates, a dejected looking woman, who gave her evidence with obvious reluctance, stated that the prisoner came home drunk at half-past twelve o’clock on Wednesday night. She prepared him a supper. He did not like it, and struck her in the face.
"Chairman [of the Bench] – Has he abused you before? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Often? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Have you summoned him before? Complainant – No, sir.
"The prisoner said he was sorry for what had happened. Mr Fowler [police superintendent] said that the present made the prisoner's thirtieth appearance in the dock. He was about the greatest brute in all Prescot. The complainant said that Mr. Burrows had promised her husband work, and she did not mind giving him another chance. Chairman – The case is out of your hands now, my good woman. Mr. Fowler said that the complainant was an industrious woman, and the prisoner was an idle and dissipated fellow.
"Chairman – What was he here before for? Mr. Fowler – For drunkenness, assaults, and every conceivable offence imaginable. Chairman – It appears that he is an incorrigible blackguard, who drinks and dissipates, and comes home to wreak his vengeance on his wife. It is bad enough to get drunk, but it is brutal to come home and beat one's wife. The prisoner was ordered to be imprisoned for four months at hard labour, at the expiration of which time he was to find bail to keep the peace for three calendar months."
Although Mrs Yates was now safe for a few months – how was she going to live? And how was the bail money for when her husband came out of prison going to be raised? Matters would depend a lot on her age and whether she had a family to support her (neither of which were mentioned in newspaper reports) – otherwise it might well have been the workhouse for Mrs Yates.
So what did the people of St Helens do on Christmas Day and Boxing Day? Well there was not that much that could be done other than visit family and friends and eat and drink well – if they could afford to, of course, and many couldn't. It was very much the era of "make your own entertainment" and ice skating was a popular pastime over the Christmas period. This article was published in the Newspaper:
"Skating – The lovers of this invigorating amusement – and they are pretty considerable in St. Helens – have had during the Christmas holidays the choicest weather for indulging in their taste. Constant frost has covered the reservoirs with a thick coating of ice. Eccleston Mere was resorted to by a large number of the skating population of the town and neighbourhood on Monday and Tuesday.
"There is no dull care on the ice. All is pleasure, joyousness, and excitement. Even if the smart young gentleman, who is displaying all his graceful figures before the fair spectators, should come to grief and come down with a thud upon “his head's antipodes,” he quickly recovers from the discomfiture and participates in the laughter which the disaster created.
"One accident occurred on the ice on Monday evening which marred the enjoyments. A number of young men were playing hockey on the ice when one of them a Mr. C. Wilson, Church-street, received a blow in the eye which severely injured it. We have heard of no other, serious mishap occurring, and we hope that the season will pass by without any taking place."
Now that's a great expression that could do with reviving, "head's antipodes" – much politer than backside and one to use if you have too much to drink over Christmas and fall over!!!
Next week's stories will include the "greatest novelties in negro minstrelsy", the lack of an illuminated public clock in St Helens, the mayor's annual Christmas dinner for the aged poor and a major inquiry is held into the Prescot watch industry.
This week's stories include the Christmas produce on display in St Helens, the greatest brute in all Prescot is brought to court, a public examination is held of Methodist School pupils and the Christmas skaters on Carr Mill Dam and Eccleston Mere.
The treatment that abused women received from the courts varied considerably.
It seemed to depend on the severity of the violence that they had received from their husbands and the attitude of the magistrates that happened to be on the Bench.
Dr Edward Twyford was the sole magistrate in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 22nd.
One might have thought that a medical doctor (who was also a town councillor) might show some compassion and understanding but there was little on show in this case that the St Helens Newspaper described:
"A decent looking woman residing in Eccleston applied to the bench for a warrant against her husband. He had beaten her and turned her and her infant out of her house, leaving them out all night.
"Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – When did he commence to ill-treat you? Applicant – About three weeks ago.
"Mr. Ludlam – Well, why did you not make an application before now? Applicant – I thought he might mend.
"Dr. Twyford [on the Bench] – When did he last ill-treat you? Applicant – He took away my clothes last night; I had two young men lodgers, and he got jealous of one of them.
"He took, on one occasion, a knife in his hand to stab me, because he thought I was making too much freedom with one of the young men.
"Dr. Twyford – We cannot entertain your application now. You ought have made it earlier."
And that was that. I don't expect the unnamed woman's mention of her friendliness with a lodger helped her case, however.
A solar eclipse occurred on the 22nd as described by the Warrington Examiner:
"The great eclipse of the sun was on Thursday visible in Cheshire and Lancashire. Thanks to “Jack Frost,” the day was bright and cloudless; and scores of people – especially the rising generation – were to be seen with the proverbial burnt glass, witnessing a phenomenon which will not occur again till they are men and women."
There was not all that much about Christmas in the St Helens Newspaper of the 24th but there was an editorial headlined "A Merry Christmas To Our Readers" which referenced the Franco-Prussian war:
"In giving to our readers and supporters the time-honoured greeting of “a merry Christmas and a happy New Year,” we can congratulate them on the exceptional peacefulness and prosperity of our country as compared with the state of other lands.
"The closing months of the year just dying out will be considered the most remarkable in history. A devastating war is being waged on the soil of a neighbouring and friendly nation, the most deadly owing to the improved weapons which science has produced, that has ever taken place.
"To narrow the circle of our reflections, we can truly congratulate the friends of the borough of St. Helens upon the advancement which has taken place in it. Employers and employees now work harmoniously. Trade is in a satisfactory if not a very flourishing state…we have every reason to be thankful, and to offer to all “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”."
No I don't think 1870 will be considered the most remarkable year in history – but how could the editor of the paper know of the wars and far deadlier weapons that the 20th century would bring?
Every year at Christmas the Newspaper described the windows of local shops and the appearance of market stalls – one of the few outward signs in St Helens of the festive season.
"These were mainly food shops that were always groaning with produce, as the paper described this week:
"Any persons walking through our principal streets during the past week will have pleasantly forced on them the truth of the adage that Christmas, the festival of festivals, ever brings with it “good cheer”.
"Each face one meets presents the annual Christmas cheeriness of aspect. Each shop window is made to look its best and brightest. Grocers vie with one another as to which of them can pile up the greatest quantity of tea, coffee and sugar in their windows.
"Bakers manufacture plethoric looking loaves, which seem fitted for the consumption of giants. Confectioners exert all their artistic powers to tempt the epicurean. But the palm in the way of temptation to the proverbial Christmas enjoyment must be given to the butchers.
"If an anchorite [hermit who ate frugal meals] paid a visit to our shambles [butcher's shops] we feel assured that all his anti-carnivorous vows would be terribly shaken at the sight of the rich, succulent looking joints that are displayed.
"A chief rabbi would be tempted to foreswear his belief in the iniquity of pork eating. The butchers, in fact, appear to have done their utmost to enable every one who has the means to partake of the best beef and mutton this coming Christmas Day."
These days many restaurants and pubs promote their use of locally sourced ingredients in their food. There is, of course, nothing new in that.
The Newspaper also commented how the slabs of meat in the "shambles" had cards attached to them identifying the local farmer where the animal had been reared.
One hundred and fifty years ago a number of schools in St Helens held public examinations of their pupils.
They must have been nerve-wracking events for the kids in which their parents and members of the public watched as the boys and girls were tested in various subjects.
The Newspaper described the recent public examination of the scholars at the Wesleyan Methodist School in Waterloo Street:
"The examination of the infants' school commenced at half-past two in the afternoon. The children, some of them tiny little things of five or six years of age, answered the questions put to them with remarkable quickness.
"Their replies to questions in addition, their spelling and pronunciation, and their demeanour throughout the examination, reflected credit on the ladies who conduct the schools.
"Some of the children gave recitations, and one could not avoid wondering at their memory, which enabled them to recite without halt or hesitancy some long poetic selections."
Then during the evening the school's junior children were examined.
I do wonder how much of the examination was a genuine test of the pupils' abilities or whether their teachers had simply prepared them for it?
Under the heading "Wife Beating – An Incorrigible Blackguard" the Newspaper described a recent hearing in the Prescot Petty Sessions.
The case was treated more seriously than the one heard in the St Helens court by the unsympathetic Dr Twyford, as the woman's husband had a long record.
What was similar was that it was another example of married women's dependence upon their husbands and consequent reluctance to prosecute:
"A man named James Yates was charged with beating his wife. Mrs. Yates, a dejected looking woman, who gave her evidence with obvious reluctance, stated that the prisoner came home drunk at half-past twelve o’clock on Wednesday night. She prepared him a supper. He did not like it, and struck her in the face.
"Chairman [of the Bench] – Has he abused you before? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Often? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Have you summoned him before? Complainant – No, sir.
"The prisoner said he was sorry for what had happened. Mr Fowler [police superintendent] said that the present made the prisoner's thirtieth appearance in the dock. He was about the greatest brute in all Prescot. The complainant said that Mr. Burrows had promised her husband work, and she did not mind giving him another chance.
"Chairman – The case is out of your hands now, my good woman. Mr. Fowler said that the complainant was an industrious woman, and the prisoner was an idle and dissipated fellow.
"Chairman – What was he here before for? Mr. Fowler – For drunkenness, assaults, and every conceivable offence imaginable. Chairman – It appears that he is an incorrigible blackguard, who drinks and dissipates, and comes home to wreak his vengeance on his wife.
"It is bad enough to get drunk, but it is brutal to come home and beat one's wife. The prisoner was ordered to be imprisoned for four months at hard labour, at the expiration of which time he was to find bail to keep the peace for three calendar months."
Although Mrs Yates was now safe for a few months – how was she going to live?
And how was the bail money for when her husband came out of prison going to be raised?
Matters would depend a lot on her age and whether she had a family to support her (neither of which were mentioned in newspaper reports) – otherwise it might well have been the workhouse for Mrs Yates.
So what did the people of St Helens do on Christmas Day and Boxing Day?
Well there was not that much that could be done other than visit family and friends and eat and drink well – if they could afford to, of course, and many couldn't.
It was very much the era of "make your own entertainment" and ice skating was a popular pastime over the Christmas period. This article was published in the Newspaper:
"Skating – The lovers of this invigorating amusement – and they are pretty considerable in St. Helens – have had during the Christmas holidays the choicest weather for indulging in their taste.
"Constant frost has covered the reservoirs with a thick coating of ice. Eccleston Mere was resorted to by a large number of the skating population of the town and neighbourhood on Monday and Tuesday.
"Carr Mill Dam [pictured above], which is now of immense size owing to the enlargement of the lower pond and its junction with the upper pond, afforded ample space for the display of skill, and abundance of room for the thousands of people who attended on Sunday and Monday.
"There is no dull care on the ice. All is pleasure, joyousness, and excitement. Even if the smart young gentleman, who is displaying all his graceful figures before the fair spectators, should come to grief and come down with a thud upon “his head's antipodes,” he quickly recovers from the discomfiture and participates in the laughter which the disaster created.
"One accident occurred on the ice on Monday evening which marred the enjoyments. A number of young men were playing hockey on the ice when one of them a Mr. C. Wilson, Church-street, received a blow in the eye which severely injured it.
"We have heard of no other, serious mishap occurring, and we hope that the season will pass by without any taking place."
Now that's a great expression that could do with reviving, "head's antipodes" – much politer than backside and one to use if you have too much to drink over Christmas and fall over!!!
Next week's stories will include the "greatest novelties in negro minstrelsy", the lack of an illuminated public clock in St Helens, the mayor's annual Christmas dinner for the aged poor and a major inquiry is held into the Prescot watch industry.
The treatment that abused women received from the courts varied considerably.
It seemed to depend on the severity of the violence that they had received from their husbands and the attitude of the magistrates that happened to be on the Bench.
Dr Edward Twyford was the sole magistrate in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 22nd.
One might have thought that a medical doctor (who was also a town councillor) might show some compassion and understanding but there was little on show in this case that the St Helens Newspaper described:
"A decent looking woman residing in Eccleston applied to the bench for a warrant against her husband. He had beaten her and turned her and her infant out of her house, leaving them out all night.
"Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – When did he commence to ill-treat you? Applicant – About three weeks ago.
"Mr. Ludlam – Well, why did you not make an application before now? Applicant – I thought he might mend.
"Dr. Twyford [on the Bench] – When did he last ill-treat you? Applicant – He took away my clothes last night; I had two young men lodgers, and he got jealous of one of them.
"He took, on one occasion, a knife in his hand to stab me, because he thought I was making too much freedom with one of the young men.
"Dr. Twyford – We cannot entertain your application now. You ought have made it earlier."
And that was that. I don't expect the unnamed woman's mention of her friendliness with a lodger helped her case, however.
"The great eclipse of the sun was on Thursday visible in Cheshire and Lancashire. Thanks to “Jack Frost,” the day was bright and cloudless; and scores of people – especially the rising generation – were to be seen with the proverbial burnt glass, witnessing a phenomenon which will not occur again till they are men and women."
There was not all that much about Christmas in the St Helens Newspaper of the 24th but there was an editorial headlined "A Merry Christmas To Our Readers" which referenced the Franco-Prussian war:
"In giving to our readers and supporters the time-honoured greeting of “a merry Christmas and a happy New Year,” we can congratulate them on the exceptional peacefulness and prosperity of our country as compared with the state of other lands.
"The closing months of the year just dying out will be considered the most remarkable in history. A devastating war is being waged on the soil of a neighbouring and friendly nation, the most deadly owing to the improved weapons which science has produced, that has ever taken place.
"To narrow the circle of our reflections, we can truly congratulate the friends of the borough of St. Helens upon the advancement which has taken place in it. Employers and employees now work harmoniously. Trade is in a satisfactory if not a very flourishing state…we have every reason to be thankful, and to offer to all “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”."
No I don't think 1870 will be considered the most remarkable year in history – but how could the editor of the paper know of the wars and far deadlier weapons that the 20th century would bring?
Every year at Christmas the Newspaper described the windows of local shops and the appearance of market stalls – one of the few outward signs in St Helens of the festive season.
"These were mainly food shops that were always groaning with produce, as the paper described this week:
"Any persons walking through our principal streets during the past week will have pleasantly forced on them the truth of the adage that Christmas, the festival of festivals, ever brings with it “good cheer”.
"Each face one meets presents the annual Christmas cheeriness of aspect. Each shop window is made to look its best and brightest. Grocers vie with one another as to which of them can pile up the greatest quantity of tea, coffee and sugar in their windows.
"Bakers manufacture plethoric looking loaves, which seem fitted for the consumption of giants. Confectioners exert all their artistic powers to tempt the epicurean. But the palm in the way of temptation to the proverbial Christmas enjoyment must be given to the butchers.
"If an anchorite [hermit who ate frugal meals] paid a visit to our shambles [butcher's shops] we feel assured that all his anti-carnivorous vows would be terribly shaken at the sight of the rich, succulent looking joints that are displayed.
"A chief rabbi would be tempted to foreswear his belief in the iniquity of pork eating. The butchers, in fact, appear to have done their utmost to enable every one who has the means to partake of the best beef and mutton this coming Christmas Day."
These days many restaurants and pubs promote their use of locally sourced ingredients in their food. There is, of course, nothing new in that.
The Newspaper also commented how the slabs of meat in the "shambles" had cards attached to them identifying the local farmer where the animal had been reared.
One hundred and fifty years ago a number of schools in St Helens held public examinations of their pupils.
They must have been nerve-wracking events for the kids in which their parents and members of the public watched as the boys and girls were tested in various subjects.
The Newspaper described the recent public examination of the scholars at the Wesleyan Methodist School in Waterloo Street:
"The examination of the infants' school commenced at half-past two in the afternoon. The children, some of them tiny little things of five or six years of age, answered the questions put to them with remarkable quickness.
"Their replies to questions in addition, their spelling and pronunciation, and their demeanour throughout the examination, reflected credit on the ladies who conduct the schools.
"Some of the children gave recitations, and one could not avoid wondering at their memory, which enabled them to recite without halt or hesitancy some long poetic selections."
Then during the evening the school's junior children were examined.
I do wonder how much of the examination was a genuine test of the pupils' abilities or whether their teachers had simply prepared them for it?
Under the heading "Wife Beating – An Incorrigible Blackguard" the Newspaper described a recent hearing in the Prescot Petty Sessions.
The case was treated more seriously than the one heard in the St Helens court by the unsympathetic Dr Twyford, as the woman's husband had a long record.
What was similar was that it was another example of married women's dependence upon their husbands and consequent reluctance to prosecute:
"A man named James Yates was charged with beating his wife. Mrs. Yates, a dejected looking woman, who gave her evidence with obvious reluctance, stated that the prisoner came home drunk at half-past twelve o’clock on Wednesday night. She prepared him a supper. He did not like it, and struck her in the face.
"Chairman [of the Bench] – Has he abused you before? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Often? Complainant – Yes, sir. Chairman – Have you summoned him before? Complainant – No, sir.
"The prisoner said he was sorry for what had happened. Mr Fowler [police superintendent] said that the present made the prisoner's thirtieth appearance in the dock. He was about the greatest brute in all Prescot. The complainant said that Mr. Burrows had promised her husband work, and she did not mind giving him another chance.
"Chairman – The case is out of your hands now, my good woman. Mr. Fowler said that the complainant was an industrious woman, and the prisoner was an idle and dissipated fellow.
"Chairman – What was he here before for? Mr. Fowler – For drunkenness, assaults, and every conceivable offence imaginable. Chairman – It appears that he is an incorrigible blackguard, who drinks and dissipates, and comes home to wreak his vengeance on his wife.
"It is bad enough to get drunk, but it is brutal to come home and beat one's wife. The prisoner was ordered to be imprisoned for four months at hard labour, at the expiration of which time he was to find bail to keep the peace for three calendar months."
Although Mrs Yates was now safe for a few months – how was she going to live?
And how was the bail money for when her husband came out of prison going to be raised?
Matters would depend a lot on her age and whether she had a family to support her (neither of which were mentioned in newspaper reports) – otherwise it might well have been the workhouse for Mrs Yates.
So what did the people of St Helens do on Christmas Day and Boxing Day?
Well there was not that much that could be done other than visit family and friends and eat and drink well – if they could afford to, of course, and many couldn't.
It was very much the era of "make your own entertainment" and ice skating was a popular pastime over the Christmas period. This article was published in the Newspaper:
"Skating – The lovers of this invigorating amusement – and they are pretty considerable in St. Helens – have had during the Christmas holidays the choicest weather for indulging in their taste.
"Constant frost has covered the reservoirs with a thick coating of ice. Eccleston Mere was resorted to by a large number of the skating population of the town and neighbourhood on Monday and Tuesday.
"There is no dull care on the ice. All is pleasure, joyousness, and excitement. Even if the smart young gentleman, who is displaying all his graceful figures before the fair spectators, should come to grief and come down with a thud upon “his head's antipodes,” he quickly recovers from the discomfiture and participates in the laughter which the disaster created.
"One accident occurred on the ice on Monday evening which marred the enjoyments. A number of young men were playing hockey on the ice when one of them a Mr. C. Wilson, Church-street, received a blow in the eye which severely injured it.
"We have heard of no other, serious mishap occurring, and we hope that the season will pass by without any taking place."
Now that's a great expression that could do with reviving, "head's antipodes" – much politer than backside and one to use if you have too much to drink over Christmas and fall over!!!
Next week's stories will include the "greatest novelties in negro minstrelsy", the lack of an illuminated public clock in St Helens, the mayor's annual Christmas dinner for the aged poor and a major inquiry is held into the Prescot watch industry.