150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 22 - 28 JUNE 1876
This week's many stories include the Church's counter-attractions to Newton's Race Friday, the call for a choral society to be created in St Helens, the house robberies in Parr, the brutal kicking near the Raven, the two men that both claimed the other had attacked them in Grove Street and the row in a Parr pub caused by a wife wanting her boozing husband to come home.
Horse racing had taken place on Newton Common (pictured above) since at least 1678 and in 1835 the Rev. Thomas Pigot, the Vicar of St Helens, wrote about the "sad excesses" of the meeting. The vicar claimed that: "Very many poor sinners have confessed to me on their death beds that they commenced their wicked career at Newton races".
The final day of the summer meeting was known as Race Friday and in St Helens it was treated as a holiday, with many works and shops closing. The Church was so concerned about the drift of people to Newton where they might be exposed to wickedness that they organised counter-attractions for the benefit of schoolchildren and their parents.
These were mainly processions and field days and appear to have been the origin of the 20th century walking days that used to be very common and which are still held in some places. Race Friday took place in 1876 on June 23rd and the St Helens Newspaper in its review of the day wrote:
"For many years the Friday in the Newton Race week has been observed in St Helens as a general holiday, originally, no doubt, to the honour of the races themselves; but latterly an anti-race movement has sprung up on the part of the clergy and managers of the various schools in the town, to detract both the scholars and their parents from the pernicious surroundings of the race course to more innocent and rational amusements nearer at home. Race Friday has consequently gradually resolved itself into the local title of ‘Walking Day’, thereby meaning the day on which all the scholars of the town have their annual outing."
One large procession involved 1,000 children that attended the schools run by the Parish Church and those schools that were situated in Duke Street. They were joined on their walk by a further 850 pupils attending the Windle schools, "the whole of them presenting a very neat and happy appearance", wrote the Newspaper. Their drum and fife band headed the Parish Church contingent and both children and adults carried "flags and banners innumerable".
They proceeded in procession along Church Street, Ormskirk Street and Duke Street towards Dentons Green, where the Parish Church party entered Mrs Littler's field and the Windle contingent continued to Windlehurst. That was where Col David Gamble resided and he had allowed them the use of his field for the day.
On the 24th this anonymous letter was published in the St Helens Newspaper: "Men of music! Women of music! Rouse ye! Shake off your lethargy. Put on a determination to do something for the cause you love. Lay aside all petty jealousies, and let us all unite in one great effort to establish in St. Helens a choral society, and thus, at least, raise ourselves to a level with other towns of less importance, and possessing less musical ability than we do."
Arguably, the worst thing that a female victim could do was to fight back in some way. Their actions were then used against them in court, which undermined their case. That is what occurred when Mary Tunstall brought a prosecution against Thomas Hull, accusing the miner of uttering defamatory, false and malicious language.
Mrs Tunstall lived in Coal Pit Lane (now Merton Bank Road) and told the court how she had gone into a public house to seek her husband who had been drinking for three or four days. She found him playing dominoes with several other men. Thomas Hull was inside the pub and boasted that if she were his wife that came into a pub after him he would know what to do with her.
Mary said she told him to mind his own business upon which, as the Newspaper put it, he "made indecent proposals to her, and made use of language implying that she was worse than a street walker." But Mary had clearly not just been a passive victim, as it was shown in court that she had retaliated with foul language of her own. At one point it was said the landlady of the pub had threatened to put her out and so the case was dismissed.
Complainants only telling one side of a story in court were routine. Thomas McGhee told the magistrates that at 2 pm on the previous Monday, he had been walking along Grove Street when Patrick Fallon started following him. As they approached the Navigation Bridge he said the man had kicked him on his leg causing him to fall to the ground.
While he was down, he said Fallon had struck him twice on his body and then stabbed him in his thigh with a small penknife while threatening that he would "do for him". Thomas McGhee claimed that the assault had occurred without the slightest provocation. But Patrick Fallon insisted that McGhee had first struck him and both men had at different times gone to the same policeman to make a complaint against the other! The magistrates thought there was some doubt in the case and decided to give the defendant the benefit of it and acquitted him.
John Gerrard received more satisfaction in the case he brought against James Blessington. Gerrard was a coach builder who told the court that he and a companion had been passing the Raven Hotel when they saw a crowd standing around Blessington. He was using his clogs to brutally kick an old man who was down on the ground.
Mr Gerrard's friend made a comment about the man's cruelty and Blessington grabbed him by the neck. Gerrard intervened and ended up being attacked himself in which he was kicked several times about his body and in his left eye. A surgeon said the eye injury was a severe one and he could not say whether or not the complainant would lose his eyesight.
Although violent assaults usually only resulted in a small fine, the use of clogs to give someone a good kicking – often called purring – was becoming increasingly popular. And so the magistrates said they wanted to pass a sentence that would act as a deterrent to committing the "brutal practice" of kicking and so James Blessington was sent to prison for two months.
Similar sentences were imposed in a separate case on brothers Joseph and James Critchley. They had given a severe kicking and beating to William and John Hughes in Sutton for no apparent reason, with the magistrates stating that they were determined to put down such brutal assaults, of which they said there were far too many in this part of the county.
James Gornall was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with stealing a suit of clothes valued at £1 belonging to James Webster of Coal Pit Lane. He was also accused of stealing a pair of boots and a pair of shoes valued at 15 shillings, the property of Thomas Marriott of Primrose Hill in Parr. In the latter case the thief had left his old clogs behind.
Gornall would keep watch on the houses of his victims and after they had left early in the morning leaving their door on the latch, he would nip inside and help himself to any property that was lying about. When arrested Gornall was wearing the stolen suit of clothes and the boots, having sold the shoes to a man in Haydock.
The 41-year-old was committed to take his trial at the next Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, reinforcing my oft-repeated claim that stealing in the 1870s was considered to be worse than a violent kicking.
Not turning up to work or quitting without serving proper notice could lead to a court appearance and a fine. Patrick Brannigan was charged in the Petty Sessions with absenting himself from the service of Henry Flint and £1 16 shillings damages were claimed. Flint was a baker and provision dealer in Liverpool Road and he had employed Brannigan as a baker for the previous year but his employee had given his boss about 10 days notice that he would be leaving.
But he did not serve out his full term, having apparently got another job. Flint claimed Brannigan's absence had cost him £1 16 shillings and the magistrates ordered the defendant to pay that amount, plus costs. That would likely have been at least a week's wages that Brannigan had to find.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent highway hat robbery in Bold, the Liverpool Road barmaid that served a drunken man, the larking in Waterloo Street that led to a knife attack and the 1,000 working class folk that went to Rhyl.
The final day of the summer meeting was known as Race Friday and in St Helens it was treated as a holiday, with many works and shops closing. The Church was so concerned about the drift of people to Newton where they might be exposed to wickedness that they organised counter-attractions for the benefit of schoolchildren and their parents.
These were mainly processions and field days and appear to have been the origin of the 20th century walking days that used to be very common and which are still held in some places. Race Friday took place in 1876 on June 23rd and the St Helens Newspaper in its review of the day wrote:
"For many years the Friday in the Newton Race week has been observed in St Helens as a general holiday, originally, no doubt, to the honour of the races themselves; but latterly an anti-race movement has sprung up on the part of the clergy and managers of the various schools in the town, to detract both the scholars and their parents from the pernicious surroundings of the race course to more innocent and rational amusements nearer at home. Race Friday has consequently gradually resolved itself into the local title of ‘Walking Day’, thereby meaning the day on which all the scholars of the town have their annual outing."
One large procession involved 1,000 children that attended the schools run by the Parish Church and those schools that were situated in Duke Street. They were joined on their walk by a further 850 pupils attending the Windle schools, "the whole of them presenting a very neat and happy appearance", wrote the Newspaper. Their drum and fife band headed the Parish Church contingent and both children and adults carried "flags and banners innumerable".
They proceeded in procession along Church Street, Ormskirk Street and Duke Street towards Dentons Green, where the Parish Church party entered Mrs Littler's field and the Windle contingent continued to Windlehurst. That was where Col David Gamble resided and he had allowed them the use of his field for the day.
On the 24th this anonymous letter was published in the St Helens Newspaper: "Men of music! Women of music! Rouse ye! Shake off your lethargy. Put on a determination to do something for the cause you love. Lay aside all petty jealousies, and let us all unite in one great effort to establish in St. Helens a choral society, and thus, at least, raise ourselves to a level with other towns of less importance, and possessing less musical ability than we do."
Arguably, the worst thing that a female victim could do was to fight back in some way. Their actions were then used against them in court, which undermined their case. That is what occurred when Mary Tunstall brought a prosecution against Thomas Hull, accusing the miner of uttering defamatory, false and malicious language.
Mrs Tunstall lived in Coal Pit Lane (now Merton Bank Road) and told the court how she had gone into a public house to seek her husband who had been drinking for three or four days. She found him playing dominoes with several other men. Thomas Hull was inside the pub and boasted that if she were his wife that came into a pub after him he would know what to do with her.
Mary said she told him to mind his own business upon which, as the Newspaper put it, he "made indecent proposals to her, and made use of language implying that she was worse than a street walker." But Mary had clearly not just been a passive victim, as it was shown in court that she had retaliated with foul language of her own. At one point it was said the landlady of the pub had threatened to put her out and so the case was dismissed.
Complainants only telling one side of a story in court were routine. Thomas McGhee told the magistrates that at 2 pm on the previous Monday, he had been walking along Grove Street when Patrick Fallon started following him. As they approached the Navigation Bridge he said the man had kicked him on his leg causing him to fall to the ground.
While he was down, he said Fallon had struck him twice on his body and then stabbed him in his thigh with a small penknife while threatening that he would "do for him". Thomas McGhee claimed that the assault had occurred without the slightest provocation. But Patrick Fallon insisted that McGhee had first struck him and both men had at different times gone to the same policeman to make a complaint against the other! The magistrates thought there was some doubt in the case and decided to give the defendant the benefit of it and acquitted him.
John Gerrard received more satisfaction in the case he brought against James Blessington. Gerrard was a coach builder who told the court that he and a companion had been passing the Raven Hotel when they saw a crowd standing around Blessington. He was using his clogs to brutally kick an old man who was down on the ground.
Mr Gerrard's friend made a comment about the man's cruelty and Blessington grabbed him by the neck. Gerrard intervened and ended up being attacked himself in which he was kicked several times about his body and in his left eye. A surgeon said the eye injury was a severe one and he could not say whether or not the complainant would lose his eyesight.
Although violent assaults usually only resulted in a small fine, the use of clogs to give someone a good kicking – often called purring – was becoming increasingly popular. And so the magistrates said they wanted to pass a sentence that would act as a deterrent to committing the "brutal practice" of kicking and so James Blessington was sent to prison for two months.
Similar sentences were imposed in a separate case on brothers Joseph and James Critchley. They had given a severe kicking and beating to William and John Hughes in Sutton for no apparent reason, with the magistrates stating that they were determined to put down such brutal assaults, of which they said there were far too many in this part of the county.
James Gornall was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with stealing a suit of clothes valued at £1 belonging to James Webster of Coal Pit Lane. He was also accused of stealing a pair of boots and a pair of shoes valued at 15 shillings, the property of Thomas Marriott of Primrose Hill in Parr. In the latter case the thief had left his old clogs behind.
Gornall would keep watch on the houses of his victims and after they had left early in the morning leaving their door on the latch, he would nip inside and help himself to any property that was lying about. When arrested Gornall was wearing the stolen suit of clothes and the boots, having sold the shoes to a man in Haydock.
The 41-year-old was committed to take his trial at the next Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, reinforcing my oft-repeated claim that stealing in the 1870s was considered to be worse than a violent kicking.
Not turning up to work or quitting without serving proper notice could lead to a court appearance and a fine. Patrick Brannigan was charged in the Petty Sessions with absenting himself from the service of Henry Flint and £1 16 shillings damages were claimed. Flint was a baker and provision dealer in Liverpool Road and he had employed Brannigan as a baker for the previous year but his employee had given his boss about 10 days notice that he would be leaving.
But he did not serve out his full term, having apparently got another job. Flint claimed Brannigan's absence had cost him £1 16 shillings and the magistrates ordered the defendant to pay that amount, plus costs. That would likely have been at least a week's wages that Brannigan had to find.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent highway hat robbery in Bold, the Liverpool Road barmaid that served a drunken man, the larking in Waterloo Street that led to a knife attack and the 1,000 working class folk that went to Rhyl.
This week's many stories include the Church's counter-attractions to Newton's Race Friday, the call for a choral society to be created in St Helens, the house robberies in Parr, the brutal kicking near the Raven, the two men that both claimed the other had attacked them in Grove Street and the row in a Parr pub caused by a wife wanting her boozing husband to come home.
Horse racing had taken place on Newton Common (pictured above) since at least 1678 and in 1835 the Rev. Thomas Pigot, the Vicar of St Helens, wrote about the "sad excesses" of the meeting.
The vicar claimed that: "Very many poor sinners have confessed to me on their death beds that they commenced their wicked career at Newton races".
The final day of the summer meeting was known as Race Friday and in St Helens it was treated as a holiday, with many works and shops closing.
The Church was so concerned about the drift of people to Newton where they might be exposed to wickedness that they organised counter-attractions for the benefit of schoolchildren and their parents.
These were mainly processions and field days and appear to have been the origin of the 20th century walking days that used to be very common and which are still held in some places.
Race Friday took place in 1876 on June 23rd and the St Helens Newspaper in its review of the day wrote:
"For many years the Friday in the Newton Race week has been observed in St Helens as a general holiday, originally, no doubt, to the honour of the races themselves; but latterly an anti-race movement has sprung up on the part of the clergy and managers of the various schools in the town, to detract both the scholars and their parents from the pernicious surroundings of the race course to more innocent and rational amusements nearer at home.
"Race Friday has consequently gradually resolved itself into the local title of ‘Walking Day’, thereby meaning the day on which all the scholars of the town have their annual outing."
One large procession involved 1,000 children that attended the schools run by the Parish Church and those schools that were situated in Duke Street.
They were joined on their walk by a further 850 pupils attending the Windle schools, "the whole of them presenting a very neat and happy appearance", wrote the Newspaper.
Their drum and fife band headed the Parish Church contingent and both children and adults carried "flags and banners innumerable".
They proceeded in procession along Church Street, Ormskirk Street and Duke Street towards Dentons Green, where the Parish Church party entered Mrs Littler's field and the Windle contingent continued to Windlehurst.
That was where Col David Gamble resided and he had allowed them the use of his field for the day.
On the 24th this anonymous letter was published in the St Helens Newspaper:
"Men of music! Women of music! Rouse ye! Shake off your lethargy. Put on a determination to do something for the cause you love.
"Lay aside all petty jealousies, and let us all unite in one great effort to establish in St. Helens a choral society, and thus, at least, raise ourselves to a level with other towns of less importance, and possessing less musical ability than we do."
Arguably, the worst thing that a female victim could do was to fight back in some way. Their actions were then used against them in court, which undermined their case.
That is what occurred when Mary Tunstall brought a prosecution against Thomas Hull, accusing the miner of uttering defamatory, false and malicious language.
Mrs Tunstall lived in Coal Pit Lane (now Merton Bank Road) and told the court how she had gone into a public house to seek her husband who had been drinking for three or four days.
She found him playing dominoes with several other men.
Thomas Hull was inside the pub and boasted that if she were his wife that came into a pub after him he would know what to do with her.
Mary said she told him to mind his own business upon which, as the Newspaper put it, he "made indecent proposals to her, and made use of language implying that she was worse than a street walker."
But Mary had clearly not just been a passive victim, as it was shown in court that she had retaliated with foul language of her own.
At one point it was said the landlady of the pub had threatened to put her out and so the case was dismissed.
Complainants only telling one side of a story in court were routine. Thomas McGhee told the magistrates that at 2 pm on the previous Monday, he had been walking along Grove Street when Patrick Fallon started following him.
As they approached the Navigation Bridge he said the man had kicked him on his leg causing him to fall to the ground.
While he was down, he said Fallon had struck him twice on his body and then stabbed him in his thigh with a small penknife while threatening that he would "do for him".
Thomas McGhee claimed that the assault had occurred without the slightest provocation.
But Patrick Fallon insisted that McGhee had first struck him and both men had at different times gone to the same policeman to make a complaint against the other!
The magistrates thought there was some doubt in the case and decided to give the defendant the benefit of it and acquitted him.
John Gerrard received more satisfaction in the case he brought against James Blessington.
Gerrard was a coach builder who told the court that he and a companion had been passing the Raven Hotel when they saw a crowd standing around Blessington.
He was using his clogs to brutally kick an old man who was down on the ground.
Mr Gerrard's friend made a comment about the man's cruelty and Blessington grabbed him by the neck.
Gerrard intervened and ended up being attacked himself in which he was kicked several times about his body and in his left eye.
A surgeon said the eye injury was a severe one and he could not say whether or not the complainant would lose his eyesight.
Although violent assaults usually only resulted in a small fine, the use of clogs to give someone a good kicking – often called purring – was becoming increasingly popular.
And so the magistrates said they wanted to pass a sentence that would act as a deterrent to committing the "brutal practice" of kicking and so James Blessington was sent to prison for two months.
Similar sentences were imposed in a separate case on brothers Joseph and James Critchley.
They had given a severe kicking and beating to William and John Hughes in Sutton for no apparent reason, with the magistrates stating that they were determined to put down such brutal assaults, of which they said there were far too many in this part of the county.
James Gornall was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with stealing a suit of clothes valued at £1 belonging to James Webster of Coal Pit Lane.
He was also accused of stealing a pair of boots and a pair of shoes valued at 15 shillings, the property of Thomas Marriott of Primrose Hill in Parr. In the latter case the thief had left his old clogs behind.
Gornall would keep watch on the houses of his victims and after they had left early in the morning leaving their door on the latch, he would nip inside and help himself to any property that was lying about.
When arrested Gornall was wearing the stolen suit of clothes and the boots, having sold the shoes to a man in Haydock.
The 41-year-old was committed to take his trial at the next Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, reinforcing my oft-repeated claim that stealing in the 1870s was considered to be worse than a violent kicking.
Not turning up to work or quitting without serving proper notice could lead to a court appearance and a fine.
Patrick Brannigan was charged in the Petty Sessions with absenting himself from the service of Henry Flint and £1 16 shillings damages were claimed.
Flint was a baker and provision dealer in Liverpool Road and he had employed Brannigan as a baker for the previous year but his employee had given his boss about 10 days notice that he would be leaving.
But he did not serve out his full term, having apparently got another job.
Flint claimed Brannigan's absence had cost him £1 16 shillings and the magistrates ordered the defendant to pay that amount, plus costs.
That would likely have been at least a week's wages that Brannigan had to find.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent highway hat robbery in Bold, the Liverpool Road barmaid that served a drunken man, the larking in Waterloo Street that led to a knife attack and the 1,000 working class folk that went to Rhyl.
The vicar claimed that: "Very many poor sinners have confessed to me on their death beds that they commenced their wicked career at Newton races".
The final day of the summer meeting was known as Race Friday and in St Helens it was treated as a holiday, with many works and shops closing.
The Church was so concerned about the drift of people to Newton where they might be exposed to wickedness that they organised counter-attractions for the benefit of schoolchildren and their parents.
These were mainly processions and field days and appear to have been the origin of the 20th century walking days that used to be very common and which are still held in some places.
Race Friday took place in 1876 on June 23rd and the St Helens Newspaper in its review of the day wrote:
"For many years the Friday in the Newton Race week has been observed in St Helens as a general holiday, originally, no doubt, to the honour of the races themselves; but latterly an anti-race movement has sprung up on the part of the clergy and managers of the various schools in the town, to detract both the scholars and their parents from the pernicious surroundings of the race course to more innocent and rational amusements nearer at home.
"Race Friday has consequently gradually resolved itself into the local title of ‘Walking Day’, thereby meaning the day on which all the scholars of the town have their annual outing."
One large procession involved 1,000 children that attended the schools run by the Parish Church and those schools that were situated in Duke Street.
They were joined on their walk by a further 850 pupils attending the Windle schools, "the whole of them presenting a very neat and happy appearance", wrote the Newspaper.
Their drum and fife band headed the Parish Church contingent and both children and adults carried "flags and banners innumerable".
They proceeded in procession along Church Street, Ormskirk Street and Duke Street towards Dentons Green, where the Parish Church party entered Mrs Littler's field and the Windle contingent continued to Windlehurst.
That was where Col David Gamble resided and he had allowed them the use of his field for the day.
On the 24th this anonymous letter was published in the St Helens Newspaper:
"Men of music! Women of music! Rouse ye! Shake off your lethargy. Put on a determination to do something for the cause you love.
"Lay aside all petty jealousies, and let us all unite in one great effort to establish in St. Helens a choral society, and thus, at least, raise ourselves to a level with other towns of less importance, and possessing less musical ability than we do."
Arguably, the worst thing that a female victim could do was to fight back in some way. Their actions were then used against them in court, which undermined their case.
That is what occurred when Mary Tunstall brought a prosecution against Thomas Hull, accusing the miner of uttering defamatory, false and malicious language.
Mrs Tunstall lived in Coal Pit Lane (now Merton Bank Road) and told the court how she had gone into a public house to seek her husband who had been drinking for three or four days.
She found him playing dominoes with several other men.
Thomas Hull was inside the pub and boasted that if she were his wife that came into a pub after him he would know what to do with her.
Mary said she told him to mind his own business upon which, as the Newspaper put it, he "made indecent proposals to her, and made use of language implying that she was worse than a street walker."
But Mary had clearly not just been a passive victim, as it was shown in court that she had retaliated with foul language of her own.
At one point it was said the landlady of the pub had threatened to put her out and so the case was dismissed.
Complainants only telling one side of a story in court were routine. Thomas McGhee told the magistrates that at 2 pm on the previous Monday, he had been walking along Grove Street when Patrick Fallon started following him.
As they approached the Navigation Bridge he said the man had kicked him on his leg causing him to fall to the ground.
While he was down, he said Fallon had struck him twice on his body and then stabbed him in his thigh with a small penknife while threatening that he would "do for him".
Thomas McGhee claimed that the assault had occurred without the slightest provocation.
But Patrick Fallon insisted that McGhee had first struck him and both men had at different times gone to the same policeman to make a complaint against the other!
The magistrates thought there was some doubt in the case and decided to give the defendant the benefit of it and acquitted him.
John Gerrard received more satisfaction in the case he brought against James Blessington.
Gerrard was a coach builder who told the court that he and a companion had been passing the Raven Hotel when they saw a crowd standing around Blessington.
He was using his clogs to brutally kick an old man who was down on the ground.
Mr Gerrard's friend made a comment about the man's cruelty and Blessington grabbed him by the neck.
Gerrard intervened and ended up being attacked himself in which he was kicked several times about his body and in his left eye.
A surgeon said the eye injury was a severe one and he could not say whether or not the complainant would lose his eyesight.
Although violent assaults usually only resulted in a small fine, the use of clogs to give someone a good kicking – often called purring – was becoming increasingly popular.
And so the magistrates said they wanted to pass a sentence that would act as a deterrent to committing the "brutal practice" of kicking and so James Blessington was sent to prison for two months.
Similar sentences were imposed in a separate case on brothers Joseph and James Critchley.
They had given a severe kicking and beating to William and John Hughes in Sutton for no apparent reason, with the magistrates stating that they were determined to put down such brutal assaults, of which they said there were far too many in this part of the county.
James Gornall was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with stealing a suit of clothes valued at £1 belonging to James Webster of Coal Pit Lane.
He was also accused of stealing a pair of boots and a pair of shoes valued at 15 shillings, the property of Thomas Marriott of Primrose Hill in Parr. In the latter case the thief had left his old clogs behind.
Gornall would keep watch on the houses of his victims and after they had left early in the morning leaving their door on the latch, he would nip inside and help himself to any property that was lying about.
When arrested Gornall was wearing the stolen suit of clothes and the boots, having sold the shoes to a man in Haydock.
The 41-year-old was committed to take his trial at the next Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, reinforcing my oft-repeated claim that stealing in the 1870s was considered to be worse than a violent kicking.
Not turning up to work or quitting without serving proper notice could lead to a court appearance and a fine.
Patrick Brannigan was charged in the Petty Sessions with absenting himself from the service of Henry Flint and £1 16 shillings damages were claimed.
Flint was a baker and provision dealer in Liverpool Road and he had employed Brannigan as a baker for the previous year but his employee had given his boss about 10 days notice that he would be leaving.
But he did not serve out his full term, having apparently got another job.
Flint claimed Brannigan's absence had cost him £1 16 shillings and the magistrates ordered the defendant to pay that amount, plus costs.
That would likely have been at least a week's wages that Brannigan had to find.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent highway hat robbery in Bold, the Liverpool Road barmaid that served a drunken man, the larking in Waterloo Street that led to a knife attack and the 1,000 working class folk that went to Rhyl.