150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (25th APRIL - 1st MAY 1872)
This week's stories include the stormy public meeting in Rainford, the Sutton couple who starved their children are sentenced, the St Helens bigamist who was open about his past, the pragmatic solution to a Sutton marital dispute and the appointment of the first deaconess in St Helens.
We begin on the 25th when a labourer called Richard Molyneux appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with deserting his wife and five children. It wasn't the act of walking out on his family that upset the authorities – but for them to have been forced to step in and support his wife and children under the Poor Law.
Molyneux had first appeared in court a month earlier and been given four weeks to pay off the amount the Prescot Union had expended on his family. He had not been able to find the money and so was now sent to Kirkdale prison for a month. Being in gaol meant, of course, he could neither pay off the debt nor support his family – but it sent a strong message to other married men and Victorian justice had deterrence at its core.
On the 25th a stormy public meeting was held in the Eagle and Child in Rainford to discuss proposals to adopt the Local Government Act. That would allow the small township to take control of its own affairs. One might have thought that such a move would have been uncontroversial, with all residents in favour.
But there was the usual concern over a possible rates' rise if adoption went ahead. Vested interests had held back the development of St Helens for many years, worried that they might have to pay more in taxation. And so the same appeared to be happening in Rainford, although most of the leading citizens were in favour of the move. Posters had been circulated in the village warning the inhabitants against adopting the Act, claiming it would lead to vastly increased taxation and privileges for the "big folks" of the township.
Around 200 people attended the meeting at the Eagle and Child (pictured above), which was chaired by Richard Pennington of Muncaster Hall. He dubbed the author of the anonymous poster an "empty-headed fellow, who knew very little about the matter". Pennington added that if Rainford did not take charge of its own affairs, a new law would mean that the Prescot Guardians would take over – at least in matters of sanitation. In the end a motion to adopt the Local Government Act was agreed by all apart from half a dozen of those present. A further vote was taken that the new board that would be set up to govern the affairs of Rainford should consist of 16 members.
On the 26th John and Jane Smith appeared at the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions in Liverpool to face charges of neglecting and failing to provide for their two infant children. When the couple from Moss Nook in Sutton had been in front of the St Helens magistrates in February, the Wigan Observer wrote that the children presented a "pitiable aspect of emaciation, the boy being no more than a living skeleton". The St Helens Newspaper added that the condition of the children when discovered, both as regards starvation and filth, was "shocking in the extreme".
John Smith claimed he knew nothing of the neglect and his wife Jane – his children's stepmother – accepted sole responsibility. However, the court at Kirkdale would not believe that the father could be blind to the condition of his children, as the Liverpool Weekly Courier described in their report:
"John and Jane Smith, husband and wife, were charged with having at Sutton, on the 3rd July, unlawfully neglected and refused to provide for the maintenance and support of their two infant children. Mr. Leresche was the counsel for the prosecution, and Mr. H. Thurlow, at the request of the court, defended the prisoners. The man is a labourer, and, previous to his apprehension, was in the receipt of 30s. a week. He lived with the female prisoner, who is his second wife, in a small cottage at Moss Nook, Sutton, which is part of the borough of St. Helens.
"On the day mentioned in the indictment, a policeman proceeded to the house of the prisoners with a search warrant, when he found two children of the first marriage, a boy aged five years, and a girl between six and seven years of age (who had not been seen out of doors for many months), crouched round a fire in the front room, both in a very filthy state, and almost destitute of clothing. The boy was in an extremely emaciated condition and covered with vermin. There was scarcely any furniture in the room, and the house was altogether very dirty and neglected.
"The children were subsequently removed to the Whiston Workhouse and attended by the medical officer, who stated that the boy was reduced to skin and bone and only weighed 19lbs., when a healthy boy of the same age generally was from 40 to 50lbs. in weight. Under careful treatment and good nourishing food he increased in stoutness more than a pound a week. He attributed their wretched condition to unwholesome food, exposure, and general neglect. The girl was suffering from slight skin disease, but she was not very thin.
"It was stated that the male prisoner usually gave his wife £1 a week, and his counsel urged that he was not responsible for the neglect. The woman said she was alone to blame, and begged the court to acquit her husband. The jury found the prisoners guilty, and the learned Sergeant [judge], in passing a sentence of a year's imprisonment upon each, said it was as dreadful a case as he had ever heard in a criminal court.
"Both husband and wife stood in a position which ought to fill them with shame, if not with remorse. What their object was in imprisoning the children in a filthy room for upwards of six months, except they were anxious that death should result, he was at a loss to know."
Also appearing at the Quarter Sessions was Richard Smethurst. The 20-year-old labourer was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing a horse from Richard Savage of St Helens last December. And James Smith got 18 months for stealing a watch off Richard Rogerson at Haydock.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 27th that a "respectable looking" mechanic named John Benyon had been charged in the Petty Sessions with "intermarrying with one Sarah Eden" while his first wife was still alive. In the 1871 census Benyon was living as a lodger in Milk Street and recorded as a 34-year-old labourer in a glassworks. Unusually, the man appears to have been quite open with his new partner about his existing marriage, with divorce being too expensive and difficult for working class folk to contemplate.
A witness at his second marriage ceremony in Rainford called Mary Pennington told the court that she'd known at the time that Benyon was already married. However, she said she did not think it did any harm to marry again when he and his first wife could not live comfortably together. That, of course, was not the official view. The authorities took bigamy seriously and the St Helens magistrates committed Benyon for trial at the next Liverpool assizes. That took place on August 15th and Benyon was sent to prison for two months.
An unusual marital hearing was held in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 29th when Ellen Catterall summoned her husband Thomas for threatening to assault and abuse her. The 1871 census has the couple living together in Greenough Street in Sutton – but clearly not happily. The threat was an indirect one and related to comments made by the 35-year-old husband to a neighbour about what he would like to do to his wife. Mrs Catterall told the court that she had not personally heard the remarks but they were in keeping with his past behaviour.
She described her labourer husband as a very jealous man who was obsessed with the notion that she was being unfaithful to him. Thomas had previously threatened to cut her throat and that of their children if he could obtain proof of her infidelity. However, a pragmatic way to resolve the couple's difficulties was agreed in court. The case was dismissed upon the husband promising to stay away from his wife and pay her ten shillings a week in maintenance.
That was more than a court order would provide but the latter came with penalties – ultimately prison – if the payments were not made. An informal separation arrangement was a sensible idea that would cut out the public mud throwing and nastiness that was commonplace in formal separation hearings. Hopefully, Thomas was good to his word and kept up the payments to his wife.
On the 29th the Royal Marionettes began six nights of performances in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill. The Newspaper called the collection of wax puppets a "rare treat" adding that the troupe of "ni**ers" were lifelike, while the spectacle of Red Riding Hood was "something grand".
And finally, a special service was held in St Thomas’s Church in Westfield Street on May 1st to publicly mark the appointment of the first deaconess to work in the parish – and, indeed, in St Helens. Mrs Topham was the lady breaking barriers and after the Bishop of Chester had read a special form of consecration service, he preached a sermon explaining the long history of women in the Christian church – no doubt expecting some male purists to not appreciate the prospect of women taking ministerial roles.
Next week's stories will include the May Day horse and cart parade in St Helens, the joiners of St Helens go out on strike, the brainless theft by a clerk at St Helens railway station, a Greenall's dinner and the warring women of Cowley Hill.
We begin on the 25th when a labourer called Richard Molyneux appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with deserting his wife and five children. It wasn't the act of walking out on his family that upset the authorities – but for them to have been forced to step in and support his wife and children under the Poor Law.
Molyneux had first appeared in court a month earlier and been given four weeks to pay off the amount the Prescot Union had expended on his family. He had not been able to find the money and so was now sent to Kirkdale prison for a month. Being in gaol meant, of course, he could neither pay off the debt nor support his family – but it sent a strong message to other married men and Victorian justice had deterrence at its core.
On the 25th a stormy public meeting was held in the Eagle and Child in Rainford to discuss proposals to adopt the Local Government Act. That would allow the small township to take control of its own affairs. One might have thought that such a move would have been uncontroversial, with all residents in favour.
But there was the usual concern over a possible rates' rise if adoption went ahead. Vested interests had held back the development of St Helens for many years, worried that they might have to pay more in taxation. And so the same appeared to be happening in Rainford, although most of the leading citizens were in favour of the move. Posters had been circulated in the village warning the inhabitants against adopting the Act, claiming it would lead to vastly increased taxation and privileges for the "big folks" of the township.
On the 26th John and Jane Smith appeared at the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions in Liverpool to face charges of neglecting and failing to provide for their two infant children. When the couple from Moss Nook in Sutton had been in front of the St Helens magistrates in February, the Wigan Observer wrote that the children presented a "pitiable aspect of emaciation, the boy being no more than a living skeleton". The St Helens Newspaper added that the condition of the children when discovered, both as regards starvation and filth, was "shocking in the extreme".
John Smith claimed he knew nothing of the neglect and his wife Jane – his children's stepmother – accepted sole responsibility. However, the court at Kirkdale would not believe that the father could be blind to the condition of his children, as the Liverpool Weekly Courier described in their report:
"John and Jane Smith, husband and wife, were charged with having at Sutton, on the 3rd July, unlawfully neglected and refused to provide for the maintenance and support of their two infant children. Mr. Leresche was the counsel for the prosecution, and Mr. H. Thurlow, at the request of the court, defended the prisoners. The man is a labourer, and, previous to his apprehension, was in the receipt of 30s. a week. He lived with the female prisoner, who is his second wife, in a small cottage at Moss Nook, Sutton, which is part of the borough of St. Helens.
"On the day mentioned in the indictment, a policeman proceeded to the house of the prisoners with a search warrant, when he found two children of the first marriage, a boy aged five years, and a girl between six and seven years of age (who had not been seen out of doors for many months), crouched round a fire in the front room, both in a very filthy state, and almost destitute of clothing. The boy was in an extremely emaciated condition and covered with vermin. There was scarcely any furniture in the room, and the house was altogether very dirty and neglected.
"The children were subsequently removed to the Whiston Workhouse and attended by the medical officer, who stated that the boy was reduced to skin and bone and only weighed 19lbs., when a healthy boy of the same age generally was from 40 to 50lbs. in weight. Under careful treatment and good nourishing food he increased in stoutness more than a pound a week. He attributed their wretched condition to unwholesome food, exposure, and general neglect. The girl was suffering from slight skin disease, but she was not very thin.
"It was stated that the male prisoner usually gave his wife £1 a week, and his counsel urged that he was not responsible for the neglect. The woman said she was alone to blame, and begged the court to acquit her husband. The jury found the prisoners guilty, and the learned Sergeant [judge], in passing a sentence of a year's imprisonment upon each, said it was as dreadful a case as he had ever heard in a criminal court.
"Both husband and wife stood in a position which ought to fill them with shame, if not with remorse. What their object was in imprisoning the children in a filthy room for upwards of six months, except they were anxious that death should result, he was at a loss to know."
Also appearing at the Quarter Sessions was Richard Smethurst. The 20-year-old labourer was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing a horse from Richard Savage of St Helens last December. And James Smith got 18 months for stealing a watch off Richard Rogerson at Haydock.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 27th that a "respectable looking" mechanic named John Benyon had been charged in the Petty Sessions with "intermarrying with one Sarah Eden" while his first wife was still alive. In the 1871 census Benyon was living as a lodger in Milk Street and recorded as a 34-year-old labourer in a glassworks. Unusually, the man appears to have been quite open with his new partner about his existing marriage, with divorce being too expensive and difficult for working class folk to contemplate.
A witness at his second marriage ceremony in Rainford called Mary Pennington told the court that she'd known at the time that Benyon was already married. However, she said she did not think it did any harm to marry again when he and his first wife could not live comfortably together. That, of course, was not the official view. The authorities took bigamy seriously and the St Helens magistrates committed Benyon for trial at the next Liverpool assizes. That took place on August 15th and Benyon was sent to prison for two months.
An unusual marital hearing was held in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 29th when Ellen Catterall summoned her husband Thomas for threatening to assault and abuse her. The 1871 census has the couple living together in Greenough Street in Sutton – but clearly not happily. The threat was an indirect one and related to comments made by the 35-year-old husband to a neighbour about what he would like to do to his wife. Mrs Catterall told the court that she had not personally heard the remarks but they were in keeping with his past behaviour.
She described her labourer husband as a very jealous man who was obsessed with the notion that she was being unfaithful to him. Thomas had previously threatened to cut her throat and that of their children if he could obtain proof of her infidelity. However, a pragmatic way to resolve the couple's difficulties was agreed in court. The case was dismissed upon the husband promising to stay away from his wife and pay her ten shillings a week in maintenance.
That was more than a court order would provide but the latter came with penalties – ultimately prison – if the payments were not made. An informal separation arrangement was a sensible idea that would cut out the public mud throwing and nastiness that was commonplace in formal separation hearings. Hopefully, Thomas was good to his word and kept up the payments to his wife.
On the 29th the Royal Marionettes began six nights of performances in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill. The Newspaper called the collection of wax puppets a "rare treat" adding that the troupe of "ni**ers" were lifelike, while the spectacle of Red Riding Hood was "something grand".
And finally, a special service was held in St Thomas’s Church in Westfield Street on May 1st to publicly mark the appointment of the first deaconess to work in the parish – and, indeed, in St Helens. Mrs Topham was the lady breaking barriers and after the Bishop of Chester had read a special form of consecration service, he preached a sermon explaining the long history of women in the Christian church – no doubt expecting some male purists to not appreciate the prospect of women taking ministerial roles.
Next week's stories will include the May Day horse and cart parade in St Helens, the joiners of St Helens go out on strike, the brainless theft by a clerk at St Helens railway station, a Greenall's dinner and the warring women of Cowley Hill.
This week's stories include the stormy public meeting in Rainford, the Sutton couple who starved their children are sentenced, the St Helens bigamist who was open about his past, the pragmatic solution to a Sutton marital dispute and the appointment of the first deaconess in St Helens.
We begin on the 25th when a labourer called Richard Molyneux appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with deserting his wife and five children.
It wasn't the act of walking out on his family that upset the authorities – but for them to have been forced to step in and support his wife and children under the Poor Law.
Molyneux had first appeared in court a month earlier and been given four weeks to pay off the amount the Prescot Union had expended on his family.
He had not been able to find the money and so was now sent to Kirkdale prison for a month.
Being in gaol meant, of course, he could neither pay off the debt nor support his family – but it sent a strong message to other married men and Victorian justice had deterrence at its core.
On the 25th a stormy public meeting was held in the Eagle and Child in Rainford to discuss proposals to adopt the Local Government Act. That would allow the small township to take control of its own affairs.
One might have thought that such a move would have been uncontroversial, with all residents in favour.
But there was the usual concern over a possible rates' rise if adoption went ahead.
Vested interests had held back the development of St Helens for many years, worried that they might have to pay more in taxation.
And so the same appeared to be happening in Rainford, although most of the leading citizens were in favour of the move.
Posters had been circulated in the village warning the inhabitants against adopting the Act, claiming it would lead to vastly increased taxation and privileges for the "big folks" of the township.
Around 200 people attended the meeting at the Eagle and Child (pictured above), which was chaired by Richard Pennington of Muncaster Hall.
He dubbed the author of the anonymous poster an "empty-headed fellow, who knew very little about the matter".
Pennington added that if Rainford did not take charge of its own affairs, a new law would mean that the Prescot Guardians would take over – at least in matters of sanitation.
In the end a motion to adopt the Local Government Act was agreed by all apart from half a dozen of those present.
A further vote was taken that the new board that would be set up to govern the affairs of Rainford should consist of 16 members.
On the 26th John and Jane Smith appeared at the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions in Liverpool to face charges of neglecting and failing to provide for their two infant children.
When the couple from Moss Nook in Sutton had been in front of the St Helens magistrates in February, the Wigan Observer wrote that the children presented a "pitiable aspect of emaciation, the boy being no more than a living skeleton".
The St Helens Newspaper added that the condition of the children when discovered, both as regards starvation and filth, was "shocking in the extreme".
John Smith claimed he knew nothing of the neglect and his wife Jane – his children's stepmother – accepted sole responsibility.
However, the court at Kirkdale would not believe that the father could be blind to the condition of his children, as the Liverpool Weekly Courier described in their report:
"John and Jane Smith, husband and wife, were charged with having at Sutton, on the 3rd July, unlawfully neglected and refused to provide for the maintenance and support of their two infant children. Mr. Leresche was the counsel for the prosecution, and Mr. H. Thurlow, at the request of the court, defended the prisoners.
"The man is a labourer, and, previous to his apprehension, was in the receipt of 30s. a week. He lived with the female prisoner, who is his second wife, in a small cottage at Moss Nook, Sutton, which is part of the borough of St. Helens.
"On the day mentioned in the indictment, a policeman proceeded to the house of the prisoners with a search warrant, when he found two children of the first marriage, a boy aged five years, and a girl between six and seven years of age (who had not been seen out of doors for many months), crouched round a fire in the front room, both in a very filthy state, and almost destitute of clothing.
"The boy was in an extremely emaciated condition and covered with vermin. There was scarcely any furniture in the room, and the house was altogether very dirty and neglected.
"The children were subsequently removed to the Whiston Workhouse and attended by the medical officer, who stated that the boy was reduced to skin and bone and only weighed 19lbs., when a healthy boy of the same age generally was from 40 to 50lbs. in weight.
"Under careful treatment and good nourishing food he increased in stoutness more than a pound a week. He attributed their wretched condition to unwholesome food, exposure, and general neglect.
"The girl was suffering from slight skin disease, but she was not very thin. It was stated that the male prisoner usually gave his wife £1 a week, and his counsel urged that he was not responsible for the neglect.
"The woman said she was alone to blame, and begged the court to acquit her husband.
"The jury found the prisoners guilty, and the learned Sergeant [judge], in passing a sentence of a year's imprisonment upon each, said it was as dreadful a case as he had ever heard in a criminal court.
"Both husband and wife stood in a position which ought to fill them with shame, if not with remorse.
"What their object was in imprisoning the children in a filthy room for upwards of six months, except they were anxious that death should result, he was at a loss to know."
Also appearing at the Quarter Sessions was Richard Smethurst. The 20-year-old labourer was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing a horse from Richard Savage of St Helens last December.
And James Smith got 18 months for stealing a watch off Richard Rogerson at Haydock.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 27th that a "respectable looking" mechanic named John Benyon had been charged in the Petty Sessions with "intermarrying with one Sarah Eden" while his first wife was still alive.
In the 1871 census Benyon was living as a lodger in Milk Street and recorded as a 34-year-old labourer in a glassworks.
Unusually, the man appears to have been quite open with his new partner about his existing marriage, with divorce being too expensive and difficult for working class folk to contemplate.
A witness at his second marriage ceremony in Rainford called Mary Pennington told the court that she'd known at the time that Benyon was already married.
However, she said she did not think it did any harm to marry again when he and his first wife could not live comfortably together.
That, of course, was not the official view. The authorities took bigamy seriously and the St Helens magistrates committed Benyon for trial at the next Liverpool assizes.
That took place on August 15th and Benyon was sent to prison for two months.
An unusual marital hearing was held in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 29th when Ellen Catterall summoned her husband Thomas for threatening to assault and abuse her.
The 1871 census has the couple living together in Greenough Street in Sutton – but clearly not happily.
The threat was an indirect one and related to comments made by the 35-year-old husband to a neighbour about what he would like to do to his wife.
Mrs Catterall told the court that she had not personally heard the remarks but they were in keeping with his past behaviour.
She described her labourer husband as a very jealous man who was obsessed with the notion that she was being unfaithful to him.
Thomas had previously threatened to cut her throat and that of their children if he could obtain proof of her infidelity.
However, a pragmatic way to resolve the couple's difficulties was agreed in court. The case was dismissed upon the husband promising to stay away from his wife and pay her ten shillings a week in maintenance.
That was more than a court order would provide but the latter came with penalties – ultimately prison – if the payments were not made.
An informal separation arrangement was a sensible idea that would cut out the public mud throwing and nastiness that was commonplace in formal separation hearings.
Hopefully, Thomas was good to his word and kept up the payments to his wife.
On the 29th the Royal Marionettes began six nights of performances in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill.
The Newspaper called the collection of wax puppets a "rare treat" adding that the troupe of "ni**ers" were lifelike, while the spectacle of Red Riding Hood was "something grand".
And finally, a special service was held in St Thomas’s Church in Westfield Street on May 1st to publicly mark the appointment of the first deaconess to work in the parish – and, indeed, in St Helens.
Mrs Topham was the lady breaking barriers and after the Bishop of Chester had read a special form of consecration service, he preached a sermon explaining the long history of women in the Christian church – no doubt expecting some male purists to not appreciate the prospect of women taking ministerial roles.
Next week's stories will include the May Day horse and cart parade in St Helens, the joiners of St Helens go out on strike, the brainless theft by a clerk at St Helens railway station, a Greenall's dinner and the warring women of Cowley Hill.
We begin on the 25th when a labourer called Richard Molyneux appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with deserting his wife and five children.
It wasn't the act of walking out on his family that upset the authorities – but for them to have been forced to step in and support his wife and children under the Poor Law.
Molyneux had first appeared in court a month earlier and been given four weeks to pay off the amount the Prescot Union had expended on his family.
He had not been able to find the money and so was now sent to Kirkdale prison for a month.
Being in gaol meant, of course, he could neither pay off the debt nor support his family – but it sent a strong message to other married men and Victorian justice had deterrence at its core.
On the 25th a stormy public meeting was held in the Eagle and Child in Rainford to discuss proposals to adopt the Local Government Act. That would allow the small township to take control of its own affairs.
One might have thought that such a move would have been uncontroversial, with all residents in favour.
But there was the usual concern over a possible rates' rise if adoption went ahead.
Vested interests had held back the development of St Helens for many years, worried that they might have to pay more in taxation.
And so the same appeared to be happening in Rainford, although most of the leading citizens were in favour of the move.
Posters had been circulated in the village warning the inhabitants against adopting the Act, claiming it would lead to vastly increased taxation and privileges for the "big folks" of the township.
He dubbed the author of the anonymous poster an "empty-headed fellow, who knew very little about the matter".
Pennington added that if Rainford did not take charge of its own affairs, a new law would mean that the Prescot Guardians would take over – at least in matters of sanitation.
In the end a motion to adopt the Local Government Act was agreed by all apart from half a dozen of those present.
A further vote was taken that the new board that would be set up to govern the affairs of Rainford should consist of 16 members.
On the 26th John and Jane Smith appeared at the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions in Liverpool to face charges of neglecting and failing to provide for their two infant children.
When the couple from Moss Nook in Sutton had been in front of the St Helens magistrates in February, the Wigan Observer wrote that the children presented a "pitiable aspect of emaciation, the boy being no more than a living skeleton".
The St Helens Newspaper added that the condition of the children when discovered, both as regards starvation and filth, was "shocking in the extreme".
John Smith claimed he knew nothing of the neglect and his wife Jane – his children's stepmother – accepted sole responsibility.
However, the court at Kirkdale would not believe that the father could be blind to the condition of his children, as the Liverpool Weekly Courier described in their report:
"John and Jane Smith, husband and wife, were charged with having at Sutton, on the 3rd July, unlawfully neglected and refused to provide for the maintenance and support of their two infant children. Mr. Leresche was the counsel for the prosecution, and Mr. H. Thurlow, at the request of the court, defended the prisoners.
"The man is a labourer, and, previous to his apprehension, was in the receipt of 30s. a week. He lived with the female prisoner, who is his second wife, in a small cottage at Moss Nook, Sutton, which is part of the borough of St. Helens.
"On the day mentioned in the indictment, a policeman proceeded to the house of the prisoners with a search warrant, when he found two children of the first marriage, a boy aged five years, and a girl between six and seven years of age (who had not been seen out of doors for many months), crouched round a fire in the front room, both in a very filthy state, and almost destitute of clothing.
"The boy was in an extremely emaciated condition and covered with vermin. There was scarcely any furniture in the room, and the house was altogether very dirty and neglected.
"The children were subsequently removed to the Whiston Workhouse and attended by the medical officer, who stated that the boy was reduced to skin and bone and only weighed 19lbs., when a healthy boy of the same age generally was from 40 to 50lbs. in weight.
"Under careful treatment and good nourishing food he increased in stoutness more than a pound a week. He attributed their wretched condition to unwholesome food, exposure, and general neglect.
"The girl was suffering from slight skin disease, but she was not very thin. It was stated that the male prisoner usually gave his wife £1 a week, and his counsel urged that he was not responsible for the neglect.
"The woman said she was alone to blame, and begged the court to acquit her husband.
"The jury found the prisoners guilty, and the learned Sergeant [judge], in passing a sentence of a year's imprisonment upon each, said it was as dreadful a case as he had ever heard in a criminal court.
"Both husband and wife stood in a position which ought to fill them with shame, if not with remorse.
"What their object was in imprisoning the children in a filthy room for upwards of six months, except they were anxious that death should result, he was at a loss to know."
Also appearing at the Quarter Sessions was Richard Smethurst. The 20-year-old labourer was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing a horse from Richard Savage of St Helens last December.
And James Smith got 18 months for stealing a watch off Richard Rogerson at Haydock.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 27th that a "respectable looking" mechanic named John Benyon had been charged in the Petty Sessions with "intermarrying with one Sarah Eden" while his first wife was still alive.
In the 1871 census Benyon was living as a lodger in Milk Street and recorded as a 34-year-old labourer in a glassworks.
Unusually, the man appears to have been quite open with his new partner about his existing marriage, with divorce being too expensive and difficult for working class folk to contemplate.
A witness at his second marriage ceremony in Rainford called Mary Pennington told the court that she'd known at the time that Benyon was already married.
However, she said she did not think it did any harm to marry again when he and his first wife could not live comfortably together.
That, of course, was not the official view. The authorities took bigamy seriously and the St Helens magistrates committed Benyon for trial at the next Liverpool assizes.
That took place on August 15th and Benyon was sent to prison for two months.
An unusual marital hearing was held in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 29th when Ellen Catterall summoned her husband Thomas for threatening to assault and abuse her.
The 1871 census has the couple living together in Greenough Street in Sutton – but clearly not happily.
The threat was an indirect one and related to comments made by the 35-year-old husband to a neighbour about what he would like to do to his wife.
Mrs Catterall told the court that she had not personally heard the remarks but they were in keeping with his past behaviour.
She described her labourer husband as a very jealous man who was obsessed with the notion that she was being unfaithful to him.
Thomas had previously threatened to cut her throat and that of their children if he could obtain proof of her infidelity.
However, a pragmatic way to resolve the couple's difficulties was agreed in court. The case was dismissed upon the husband promising to stay away from his wife and pay her ten shillings a week in maintenance.
That was more than a court order would provide but the latter came with penalties – ultimately prison – if the payments were not made.
An informal separation arrangement was a sensible idea that would cut out the public mud throwing and nastiness that was commonplace in formal separation hearings.
Hopefully, Thomas was good to his word and kept up the payments to his wife.
On the 29th the Royal Marionettes began six nights of performances in the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill.
The Newspaper called the collection of wax puppets a "rare treat" adding that the troupe of "ni**ers" were lifelike, while the spectacle of Red Riding Hood was "something grand".
And finally, a special service was held in St Thomas’s Church in Westfield Street on May 1st to publicly mark the appointment of the first deaconess to work in the parish – and, indeed, in St Helens.
Mrs Topham was the lady breaking barriers and after the Bishop of Chester had read a special form of consecration service, he preached a sermon explaining the long history of women in the Christian church – no doubt expecting some male purists to not appreciate the prospect of women taking ministerial roles.
Next week's stories will include the May Day horse and cart parade in St Helens, the joiners of St Helens go out on strike, the brainless theft by a clerk at St Helens railway station, a Greenall's dinner and the warring women of Cowley Hill.