150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (23rd - 29th AUGUST 1871)
This week's stories include the burglary of a tailor's shop in Kirkland Street, a swimming tragedy in Sutton Glassworks' reservoir, the man accused of exposing himself to a married woman, the fighting men of Haydock, Earlestown and Newton, the agitation for more pay in the coal mines of St Helens and Haydock and why long-winded lovers' letters could now be mailed more cheaply.
Security was poor in shops in the 1870s and if thieves wanted to affect an entry into retail premises, they could usually find some easy means of doing so. Sometime between 1am and 3am on the 26th, Lawless's tailor's shop in Kirkland Street in St Helens (pictured above in later years) was broken into and clothing carried off to the value of £20.
The burglars had used a jemmy to raise the window of the cutting room sufficiently to be able to climb through. A glass worker going to work at three o’clock in the morning raised the alarm after noticing the window was open. The police rarely caught professional burglars, although they were still taking a big risk, as lengthy prison sentences were imposed on clothes' thieves.
The late 20th century use of the terms "agitation" and "agitators" tends to be associated with militant, left-wing extremists stirring up trouble in the workplace. These individuals were, perhaps, outsiders infiltrating strikes. However in the 19th century, agitation simply meant a formal request from employees / union members to their employers or "masters" for a pay increase. It was an attempt at a process of negotiation. I say attempt because often the employers would stubbornly refuse to consider a pay rise or even discuss the matter with their men. That was the Pilkington policy in the lengthy 1870 strike – which ultimately the glass firm won.
On the 26th the headline in the Preston Chronicle to their short piece was "Agitation In The Colliery Trade For More Wages", writing: "The miners in the St. Helens and Haydock district have given notice to the colliery proprietors for an advance of 10 per cent. in their wages, to commence on the 1st of September." They had been talking about a pay rise for a long time and the miners' families must have been hoping that the dispute would not turn into a strike or lock-out – as they led to much suffering in the 19th century.
Men (and women) involved in punch-ups in the street were always treated leniently in court in the 1870s. In Newton Petty Sessions on the 26th several lots of men were summoned for breaching the peace by fighting. W. Gerrard and J. Crouchley were accused of causing a disturbance by thumping each other in the Market Place in Earlestown – but their case was dismissed. Thomas Stockton and Michael Maloney were bound over to keep the peace for six months for enjoying a punch up at Haydock.
The worst thing that could be done was to ignore the summons altogether – in some cases motivated by losing a day's pay if having to go to court. James Beech, Michael Gibbons, W. Russell and Fred Wetherall had been having a right old barney at Earlestown but all failed to show. Authority did not like to have its snook cocked and so warrants for their arrest were issued. The 26th was a Saturday and so the men could expect to spend the rest of the weekend in a police cell and be dealt with more sternly in court.
A violent assault was treated a bit more harshly than a two-way fight – but not much. Joseph Deardin of Haydock summoned Thomas Fairclough for assaulting him on the 22nd of August. This is how the Warrington Examiner reported the case:
"The complainant, who appeared in court with evident marks of rough usage, said that on the evening of the day in question he was standing in company with several other young men in front of the Hare and Hounds public-house, Haydock, when the defendant, who was drunk, came out, and without any provocation whatever dealt him several blows on the face. The complainant's evidence was corroborated by several witnesses, and the Bench fined the defendant 7s. 6d. and costs."
The following day was a Sunday and during the afternoon a number of boys were swimming in the reservoir of the Sutton Glassworks in Lancots Lane. An eleven-year-old from Fisher Street named William Malam was accidentally drowned – in spite of the efforts of PC Peter Worden. The 28-year-old from Junction Lane quickly plunged into the water and swam to the spot where the boy had gone down. The constable repeatedly dived to the bottom of the reservoir but could not find William. Eventually his body was recovered after the section of the water was dragged.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th, Thomas Hickleton was fined 20 shillings and costs – about a week's pay – for "indecently exposing himself in the presence of a married woman named Ellen Hall". The exact circumstances were not reported but I don’t think the man was what we would call a flasher. I expect the railway foreman had simply been swimming or bathing in one of the many places of open water in St Helens and had been seen by the woman.
Also likely was that Mrs Hall’s husband had been accompanying her and perhaps had been more offended than his wife at the nudity – leading to the boy's prosecution. Of course some women would more likely be offended than others. In 1869 a letter was published in the Liverpool Daily Post complained about skinny-dipping from the dock walls of shipbuilding yards along the Mersey. The woman wrote:
"It is to be regretted in the interests of morality that the proprietors of these yards do not get their men to wear bathing drawers. As for New Brighton, I blush for my countrywomen, the majority of whom seem to go there to stare at the nude figures in the water, and look on as complacently as if they were gazing upon marble statues. These disgraceful bathing scenes, only to be witnessed in this country, must tend to degrade us in the eyes of foreigners, and are a great blot upon our boasted civilization and the modesty of our Englishwomen."
And finally this article was published in the Liverpool Mercury this week in which the author considered female letter-writers to be longwinded – he also did not think much of women's handwriting!
"THE REDUCTION OF POSTAGE RATES. – There was good news in the last issue of the London Gazette for boarding-school misses, separated lovers – by distance we mean, not in affection – and all others who delight in long letters. We refer to the royal warrant announcing the new rates of postage to come into operation on the 5th of October. The rates were given in our Saturday's issue, but we may illustrate the privileges to be derived from the new arrangements by that class to which we have referred.
"For the general run of people, we dare say, half an ounce of paper – the weight at present carried for a penny – has been quite sufficient upon which to write all they had to communicate; but for the “gushers” in correspondence it must have been sadly insufficient, especially with the fashionable feminine calligraphy which, like the crinolines of a past date, covers a good deal of ground without much substance.
"There was, indeed, the option of sending heavier weighted letters; but it is a curious illustration of the complete revolution in the ideas with regard to postal rates, that, while our grandfathers would have thought twopence a marvel of cheapness, the present generation has come to look upon a twopenny letter as something like extravagance. Hence, the abominable albeit feminine practice of crossing and recrossing the paper with writing has come into vogue, until the reading of some ladies' letters is pretty nearly as difficult a task as was that of deciphering the Rosetta stone.
"After the 5th of October there will be no excuse for the writers of crossed letters, who should be excommunicated without benefit of clergy. When an ounce instead of half-an-ounce is carried for a penny, there will be double latitude for correspondence, and eight or ten pages of note paper, it may be supposed, will be sufficient for the average of either lovers' or ladies' epistles.
"If not, they can indulge their propensities for “gush” to the greatest possible degree at the cheapest possible rate. The chief thing for most of us to remember is that we shall be able to send by post for a penny letters twice the weight of those which we now send, while any one to scribbling inclined, may despatch a quarter of a pound of correspondence for 2d. We must pray some of our correspondents not to take full advantage of these cheap rates, or editors will have occasion for regret rather than rejoicing at the change."
Next week's stories will include a child's miraculous escape after being run over by a Doulton pottery cart, the long history of bowling in St Helens, the playing of pitch and toss and the St Helens Licensing Sessions reveals there's a pub for every 120 adults.
The burglars had used a jemmy to raise the window of the cutting room sufficiently to be able to climb through. A glass worker going to work at three o’clock in the morning raised the alarm after noticing the window was open. The police rarely caught professional burglars, although they were still taking a big risk, as lengthy prison sentences were imposed on clothes' thieves.
The late 20th century use of the terms "agitation" and "agitators" tends to be associated with militant, left-wing extremists stirring up trouble in the workplace. These individuals were, perhaps, outsiders infiltrating strikes. However in the 19th century, agitation simply meant a formal request from employees / union members to their employers or "masters" for a pay increase. It was an attempt at a process of negotiation. I say attempt because often the employers would stubbornly refuse to consider a pay rise or even discuss the matter with their men. That was the Pilkington policy in the lengthy 1870 strike – which ultimately the glass firm won.
On the 26th the headline in the Preston Chronicle to their short piece was "Agitation In The Colliery Trade For More Wages", writing: "The miners in the St. Helens and Haydock district have given notice to the colliery proprietors for an advance of 10 per cent. in their wages, to commence on the 1st of September." They had been talking about a pay rise for a long time and the miners' families must have been hoping that the dispute would not turn into a strike or lock-out – as they led to much suffering in the 19th century.
Men (and women) involved in punch-ups in the street were always treated leniently in court in the 1870s. In Newton Petty Sessions on the 26th several lots of men were summoned for breaching the peace by fighting. W. Gerrard and J. Crouchley were accused of causing a disturbance by thumping each other in the Market Place in Earlestown – but their case was dismissed. Thomas Stockton and Michael Maloney were bound over to keep the peace for six months for enjoying a punch up at Haydock.
The worst thing that could be done was to ignore the summons altogether – in some cases motivated by losing a day's pay if having to go to court. James Beech, Michael Gibbons, W. Russell and Fred Wetherall had been having a right old barney at Earlestown but all failed to show. Authority did not like to have its snook cocked and so warrants for their arrest were issued. The 26th was a Saturday and so the men could expect to spend the rest of the weekend in a police cell and be dealt with more sternly in court.
A violent assault was treated a bit more harshly than a two-way fight – but not much. Joseph Deardin of Haydock summoned Thomas Fairclough for assaulting him on the 22nd of August. This is how the Warrington Examiner reported the case:
"The complainant, who appeared in court with evident marks of rough usage, said that on the evening of the day in question he was standing in company with several other young men in front of the Hare and Hounds public-house, Haydock, when the defendant, who was drunk, came out, and without any provocation whatever dealt him several blows on the face. The complainant's evidence was corroborated by several witnesses, and the Bench fined the defendant 7s. 6d. and costs."
The following day was a Sunday and during the afternoon a number of boys were swimming in the reservoir of the Sutton Glassworks in Lancots Lane. An eleven-year-old from Fisher Street named William Malam was accidentally drowned – in spite of the efforts of PC Peter Worden. The 28-year-old from Junction Lane quickly plunged into the water and swam to the spot where the boy had gone down. The constable repeatedly dived to the bottom of the reservoir but could not find William. Eventually his body was recovered after the section of the water was dragged.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th, Thomas Hickleton was fined 20 shillings and costs – about a week's pay – for "indecently exposing himself in the presence of a married woman named Ellen Hall". The exact circumstances were not reported but I don’t think the man was what we would call a flasher. I expect the railway foreman had simply been swimming or bathing in one of the many places of open water in St Helens and had been seen by the woman.
Also likely was that Mrs Hall’s husband had been accompanying her and perhaps had been more offended than his wife at the nudity – leading to the boy's prosecution. Of course some women would more likely be offended than others. In 1869 a letter was published in the Liverpool Daily Post complained about skinny-dipping from the dock walls of shipbuilding yards along the Mersey. The woman wrote:
"It is to be regretted in the interests of morality that the proprietors of these yards do not get their men to wear bathing drawers. As for New Brighton, I blush for my countrywomen, the majority of whom seem to go there to stare at the nude figures in the water, and look on as complacently as if they were gazing upon marble statues. These disgraceful bathing scenes, only to be witnessed in this country, must tend to degrade us in the eyes of foreigners, and are a great blot upon our boasted civilization and the modesty of our Englishwomen."
And finally this article was published in the Liverpool Mercury this week in which the author considered female letter-writers to be longwinded – he also did not think much of women's handwriting!
"THE REDUCTION OF POSTAGE RATES. – There was good news in the last issue of the London Gazette for boarding-school misses, separated lovers – by distance we mean, not in affection – and all others who delight in long letters. We refer to the royal warrant announcing the new rates of postage to come into operation on the 5th of October. The rates were given in our Saturday's issue, but we may illustrate the privileges to be derived from the new arrangements by that class to which we have referred.
"For the general run of people, we dare say, half an ounce of paper – the weight at present carried for a penny – has been quite sufficient upon which to write all they had to communicate; but for the “gushers” in correspondence it must have been sadly insufficient, especially with the fashionable feminine calligraphy which, like the crinolines of a past date, covers a good deal of ground without much substance.
"There was, indeed, the option of sending heavier weighted letters; but it is a curious illustration of the complete revolution in the ideas with regard to postal rates, that, while our grandfathers would have thought twopence a marvel of cheapness, the present generation has come to look upon a twopenny letter as something like extravagance. Hence, the abominable albeit feminine practice of crossing and recrossing the paper with writing has come into vogue, until the reading of some ladies' letters is pretty nearly as difficult a task as was that of deciphering the Rosetta stone.
"After the 5th of October there will be no excuse for the writers of crossed letters, who should be excommunicated without benefit of clergy. When an ounce instead of half-an-ounce is carried for a penny, there will be double latitude for correspondence, and eight or ten pages of note paper, it may be supposed, will be sufficient for the average of either lovers' or ladies' epistles.
"If not, they can indulge their propensities for “gush” to the greatest possible degree at the cheapest possible rate. The chief thing for most of us to remember is that we shall be able to send by post for a penny letters twice the weight of those which we now send, while any one to scribbling inclined, may despatch a quarter of a pound of correspondence for 2d. We must pray some of our correspondents not to take full advantage of these cheap rates, or editors will have occasion for regret rather than rejoicing at the change."
Next week's stories will include a child's miraculous escape after being run over by a Doulton pottery cart, the long history of bowling in St Helens, the playing of pitch and toss and the St Helens Licensing Sessions reveals there's a pub for every 120 adults.
This week's stories include the burglary of a tailor's shop in Kirkland Street, a swimming tragedy in Sutton Glassworks' reservoir, the man accused of exposing himself to a married woman, the fighting men of Haydock, Earlestown and Newton, the agitation for more pay in the coal mines of St Helens and Haydock and why long-winded lovers' letters could now be mailed more cheaply.
Security was poor in shops in the 1870s and if thieves wanted to affect an entry into retail premises, they could usually find some easy means of doing so.
Sometime between 1am and 3am on the 26th, Lawless's tailor's shop in Kirkland Street in St Helens (pictured above in later years) was broken into and clothing carried off to the value of £20.
The burglars had used a jemmy to raise the window of the cutting room sufficiently to be able to climb through.
A glass worker going to work at three o’clock in the morning raised the alarm after noticing the window was open.
The police rarely caught professional burglars, although they were still taking a big risk, as lengthy prison sentences were imposed on clothes' thieves.
The late 20th century use of the terms "agitation" and "agitators" tends to be associated with militant, left-wing extremists stirring up trouble in the workplace.
These individuals were, perhaps, outsiders infiltrating strikes.
However in the 19th century, agitation simply meant a formal request from employees / union members to their employers or "masters" for a pay increase.
It was an attempt at a process of negotiation. I say attempt because often the employers would stubbornly refuse to consider a pay rise or even discuss the matter with their men.
That was the Pilkington policy in the lengthy 1870 strike – which ultimately the glass firm won.
On the 26th the headline in the Preston Chronicle to their short piece was "Agitation In The Colliery Trade For More Wages", writing:
"The miners in the St. Helens and Haydock district have given notice to the colliery proprietors for an advance of 10 per cent. in their wages, to commence on the 1st of September."
They had been talking about a pay rise for a long time and the miners' families must have been hoping that the dispute would not turn into a strike or lock-out – as they led to much suffering in the 19th century.
Men (and women) involved in punch-ups in the street were always treated leniently in court in the 1870s.
In Newton Petty Sessions on the 26th several lots of men were summoned for breaching the peace by fighting.
W. Gerrard and J. Crouchley were accused of causing a disturbance by thumping each other in the Market Place in Earlestown – but their case was dismissed.
Thomas Stockton and Michael Maloney were bound over to keep the peace for six months for enjoying a punch up at Haydock.
The worst thing that could be done was to ignore the summons altogether – in some cases motivated by losing a day's pay if having to go to court.
James Beech, Michael Gibbons, W. Russell and Fred Wetherall had been having a right old barney at Earlestown but all failed to show.
Authority did not like to have its snook cocked and so warrants for their arrest were issued.
The 26th was a Saturday and so the men could expect to spend the rest of the weekend in a police cell and be dealt with more sternly in court.
A violent assault was treated a bit more harshly than a two-way fight – but not much.
Joseph Deardin of Haydock summoned Thomas Fairclough for assaulting him on the 22nd of August. This is how the Warrington Examiner reported the case:
"The complainant, who appeared in court with evident marks of rough usage, said that on the evening of the day in question he was standing in company with several other young men in front of the Hare and Hounds public-house, Haydock, when the defendant, who was drunk, came out, and without any provocation whatever dealt him several blows on the face.
"The complainant's evidence was corroborated by several witnesses, and the Bench fined the defendant 7s. 6d. and costs."
The following day was a Sunday and during the afternoon a number of boys were swimming in the reservoir of the Sutton Glassworks in Lancots Lane.
An eleven-year-old from Fisher Street named William Malam was accidentally drowned – in spite of the efforts of PC Peter Worden.
The 28-year-old from Junction Lane quickly plunged into the water and swam to the spot where the boy had gone down.
The constable repeatedly dived to the bottom of the reservoir but could not find William.
Eventually his body was recovered after the section of the water was dragged.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th, Thomas Hickleton was fined 20 shillings and costs – about a week's pay – for "indecently exposing himself in the presence of a married woman named Ellen Hall".
The exact circumstances were not reported but I don’t think the man was what we would call a flasher.
I expect the railway foreman had simply been swimming or bathing in one of the many places of open water in St Helens and had been seen by the woman.
Also likely was that Mrs Hall’s husband had been accompanying her and perhaps had been more offended than his wife at the nudity – leading to the boy's prosecution.
Of course some women would more likely be offended than others.
In 1869 a letter was published in the Liverpool Daily Post complained about skinny-dipping from the dock walls of shipbuilding yards along the Mersey. The woman wrote:
"It is to be regretted in the interests of morality that the proprietors of these yards do not get their men to wear bathing drawers.
"As for New Brighton, I blush for my countrywomen, the majority of whom seem to go there to stare at the nude figures in the water, and look on as complacently as if they were gazing upon marble statues.
"These disgraceful bathing scenes, only to be witnessed in this country, must tend to degrade us in the eyes of foreigners, and are a great blot upon our boasted civilization and the modesty of our Englishwomen."
And finally this article was published in the Liverpool Mercury this week in which the author considered female letter-writers to be longwinded – he also did not think much of women's handwriting!
"THE REDUCTION OF POSTAGE RATES. – There was good news in the last issue of the London Gazette for boarding-school misses, separated lovers – by distance we mean, not in affection – and all others who delight in long letters.
"We refer to the royal warrant announcing the new rates of postage to come into operation on the 5th of October.
"The rates were given in our Saturday's issue, but we may illustrate the privileges to be derived from the new arrangements by that class to which we have referred.
"For the general run of people, we dare say, half an ounce of paper – the weight at present carried for a penny – has been quite sufficient upon which to write all they had to communicate; but for the “gushers” in correspondence it must have been sadly insufficient, especially with the fashionable feminine calligraphy which, like the crinolines of a past date, covers a good deal of ground without much substance.
"There was, indeed, the option of sending heavier weighted letters; but it is a curious illustration of the complete revolution in the ideas with regard to postal rates, that, while our grandfathers would have thought twopence a marvel of cheapness, the present generation has come to look upon a twopenny letter as something like extravagance.
"Hence, the abominable albeit feminine practice of crossing and recrossing the paper with writing has come into vogue, until the reading of some ladies' letters is pretty nearly as difficult a task as was that of deciphering the Rosetta stone.
"After the 5th of October there will be no excuse for the writers of crossed letters, who should be excommunicated without benefit of clergy.
"When an ounce instead of half-an-ounce is carried for a penny, there will be double latitude for correspondence, and eight or ten pages of note paper, it may be supposed, will be sufficient for the average of either lovers' or ladies' epistles.
"If not, they can indulge their propensities for “gush” to the greatest possible degree at the cheapest possible rate.
"The chief thing for most of us to remember is that we shall be able to send by post for a penny letters twice the weight of those which we now send, while any one to scribbling inclined, may despatch a quarter of a pound of correspondence for 2d.
"We must pray some of our correspondents not to take full advantage of these cheap rates, or editors will have occasion for regret rather than rejoicing at the change."
Next week's stories will include a child's miraculous escape after being run over by a Doulton pottery cart, the long history of bowling in St Helens, the playing of pitch and toss and the St Helens Licensing Sessions reveals there's a pub for every 120 adults.
Security was poor in shops in the 1870s and if thieves wanted to affect an entry into retail premises, they could usually find some easy means of doing so.
The burglars had used a jemmy to raise the window of the cutting room sufficiently to be able to climb through.
A glass worker going to work at three o’clock in the morning raised the alarm after noticing the window was open.
The police rarely caught professional burglars, although they were still taking a big risk, as lengthy prison sentences were imposed on clothes' thieves.
The late 20th century use of the terms "agitation" and "agitators" tends to be associated with militant, left-wing extremists stirring up trouble in the workplace.
These individuals were, perhaps, outsiders infiltrating strikes.
However in the 19th century, agitation simply meant a formal request from employees / union members to their employers or "masters" for a pay increase.
It was an attempt at a process of negotiation. I say attempt because often the employers would stubbornly refuse to consider a pay rise or even discuss the matter with their men.
That was the Pilkington policy in the lengthy 1870 strike – which ultimately the glass firm won.
On the 26th the headline in the Preston Chronicle to their short piece was "Agitation In The Colliery Trade For More Wages", writing:
"The miners in the St. Helens and Haydock district have given notice to the colliery proprietors for an advance of 10 per cent. in their wages, to commence on the 1st of September."
They had been talking about a pay rise for a long time and the miners' families must have been hoping that the dispute would not turn into a strike or lock-out – as they led to much suffering in the 19th century.
Men (and women) involved in punch-ups in the street were always treated leniently in court in the 1870s.
In Newton Petty Sessions on the 26th several lots of men were summoned for breaching the peace by fighting.
W. Gerrard and J. Crouchley were accused of causing a disturbance by thumping each other in the Market Place in Earlestown – but their case was dismissed.
Thomas Stockton and Michael Maloney were bound over to keep the peace for six months for enjoying a punch up at Haydock.
The worst thing that could be done was to ignore the summons altogether – in some cases motivated by losing a day's pay if having to go to court.
James Beech, Michael Gibbons, W. Russell and Fred Wetherall had been having a right old barney at Earlestown but all failed to show.
Authority did not like to have its snook cocked and so warrants for their arrest were issued.
The 26th was a Saturday and so the men could expect to spend the rest of the weekend in a police cell and be dealt with more sternly in court.
A violent assault was treated a bit more harshly than a two-way fight – but not much.
Joseph Deardin of Haydock summoned Thomas Fairclough for assaulting him on the 22nd of August. This is how the Warrington Examiner reported the case:
"The complainant, who appeared in court with evident marks of rough usage, said that on the evening of the day in question he was standing in company with several other young men in front of the Hare and Hounds public-house, Haydock, when the defendant, who was drunk, came out, and without any provocation whatever dealt him several blows on the face.
"The complainant's evidence was corroborated by several witnesses, and the Bench fined the defendant 7s. 6d. and costs."
The following day was a Sunday and during the afternoon a number of boys were swimming in the reservoir of the Sutton Glassworks in Lancots Lane.
An eleven-year-old from Fisher Street named William Malam was accidentally drowned – in spite of the efforts of PC Peter Worden.
The 28-year-old from Junction Lane quickly plunged into the water and swam to the spot where the boy had gone down.
The constable repeatedly dived to the bottom of the reservoir but could not find William.
Eventually his body was recovered after the section of the water was dragged.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th, Thomas Hickleton was fined 20 shillings and costs – about a week's pay – for "indecently exposing himself in the presence of a married woman named Ellen Hall".
The exact circumstances were not reported but I don’t think the man was what we would call a flasher.
I expect the railway foreman had simply been swimming or bathing in one of the many places of open water in St Helens and had been seen by the woman.
Also likely was that Mrs Hall’s husband had been accompanying her and perhaps had been more offended than his wife at the nudity – leading to the boy's prosecution.
Of course some women would more likely be offended than others.
In 1869 a letter was published in the Liverpool Daily Post complained about skinny-dipping from the dock walls of shipbuilding yards along the Mersey. The woman wrote:
"It is to be regretted in the interests of morality that the proprietors of these yards do not get their men to wear bathing drawers.
"As for New Brighton, I blush for my countrywomen, the majority of whom seem to go there to stare at the nude figures in the water, and look on as complacently as if they were gazing upon marble statues.
"These disgraceful bathing scenes, only to be witnessed in this country, must tend to degrade us in the eyes of foreigners, and are a great blot upon our boasted civilization and the modesty of our Englishwomen."
And finally this article was published in the Liverpool Mercury this week in which the author considered female letter-writers to be longwinded – he also did not think much of women's handwriting!
"THE REDUCTION OF POSTAGE RATES. – There was good news in the last issue of the London Gazette for boarding-school misses, separated lovers – by distance we mean, not in affection – and all others who delight in long letters.
"We refer to the royal warrant announcing the new rates of postage to come into operation on the 5th of October.
"The rates were given in our Saturday's issue, but we may illustrate the privileges to be derived from the new arrangements by that class to which we have referred.
"For the general run of people, we dare say, half an ounce of paper – the weight at present carried for a penny – has been quite sufficient upon which to write all they had to communicate; but for the “gushers” in correspondence it must have been sadly insufficient, especially with the fashionable feminine calligraphy which, like the crinolines of a past date, covers a good deal of ground without much substance.
"There was, indeed, the option of sending heavier weighted letters; but it is a curious illustration of the complete revolution in the ideas with regard to postal rates, that, while our grandfathers would have thought twopence a marvel of cheapness, the present generation has come to look upon a twopenny letter as something like extravagance.
"Hence, the abominable albeit feminine practice of crossing and recrossing the paper with writing has come into vogue, until the reading of some ladies' letters is pretty nearly as difficult a task as was that of deciphering the Rosetta stone.
"After the 5th of October there will be no excuse for the writers of crossed letters, who should be excommunicated without benefit of clergy.
"When an ounce instead of half-an-ounce is carried for a penny, there will be double latitude for correspondence, and eight or ten pages of note paper, it may be supposed, will be sufficient for the average of either lovers' or ladies' epistles.
"If not, they can indulge their propensities for “gush” to the greatest possible degree at the cheapest possible rate.
"The chief thing for most of us to remember is that we shall be able to send by post for a penny letters twice the weight of those which we now send, while any one to scribbling inclined, may despatch a quarter of a pound of correspondence for 2d.
"We must pray some of our correspondents not to take full advantage of these cheap rates, or editors will have occasion for regret rather than rejoicing at the change."
Next week's stories will include a child's miraculous escape after being run over by a Doulton pottery cart, the long history of bowling in St Helens, the playing of pitch and toss and the St Helens Licensing Sessions reveals there's a pub for every 120 adults.