150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (28th Oct. - 3rd Nov. 1869)
This week's many stories include the corrupt St Helens' councillors who bought their way into office, the Westfield Street brothel keeper who picked up trouble in Bolton, a prosecution for perjury by a Cotham Street doctor against a Market Street bootmaker and the racist railway row between an Irishman and a Welshman.
We begin during the afternoon of the 28th when the miners of the district continued their campaign for a countrywide trade union with a meeting in the Waggon and Horses in Haydock. "The gathering was tolerably large", reported the St Helens Newspaper, "and much enthusiasm was manifested by the men in the cause", who all agreed to be incorporated with the St Helens district.
A further meeting of miners took place during the evening in the White Lion in Church Street in which a speaker called for a wage increase and a reduction in working hours. William Pickard added that: "It was pitiful to see that in the year 1869 there was no compulsory education clause nor hours of labour clause applied to their children. The child might be made to work from four in the morning until four the next morning with interference. If he abused his horse, dog, or cat, he would be summoned and punished, but he might work his child to death without coming within reach of the law."
At the same time the Mayor of St Helens, David Gamble (pictured above), gave a "grand banquet" at the Raven Hotel to mark the end of his year in office. The guests were mainly fellow councillors and it was now expected that future mayors would pay for a similar, expensive dinner as their term concluded.
A lecture on temperance was delivered in the Town Hall on the 29th to a large audience of abstainers – although probably not those who'd attended the Mayor's do where the booze flowed freely.
Banking hours were very short in 1869. In the Prescot Reporter on the 30th, the Prescot Savings Bank announced that they were open on Mondays between noon and 1pm. The bank formed in 1824 would also be able to receive deposits from 1 shilling to £30 on the first Monday of each month from 6 to 7 o’clock in the evening.
The rotation system that leads to a third of councillors having to stand for re-election every year was established when St Helens Corporation was created in 1868 and continues to this day. On November 1st the so-called burgesses of St Helens – those with voting rights in local elections – were able to cast their vote for their chosen candidate.
Six years earlier the St Helens Newspaper had claimed that the elections to various public bodies in the town were highly corrupt, writing: "Not only is bribery by drink carried on to a great extent, but personation and false representation are practised to a degree unknown in any other town and a great disgrace to this."
There clearly was still an issue, as in the Newspaper's editorial two days prior to the election they had written: "Let every working man show the candidates and their canvassers that they, as a class, do not wished to be bribed by a pint of beer." The paper claimed that they had heard allegations that candidates were spending £10 on drinks in their wards in order to get elected.
Voting would not be made secret until 1872 and so it was easy for candidates or their representatives to bribe people and then check that they had voted as directed. There was a general level of discontent with the council and in all of the contested wards only one of the members that were standing for re-election was voted back in.
The Petty Sessions were held on the 1st and former Westfield Street beerhouse keeper John Woodcock was back in court. In May he had been described as the proprietor of a "house of ill repute" when he appeared before the Bench charged with assault. Then in the licensing sessions in August he was alleged to be running a brothel and his licence was not renewed.
However on this occasion Woodcock was a victim as a man called John Rigby had come to his door wanting drink but had been refused, as Woodcock was no longer licensed. Rigby became very angry and kicked the door in and he was ordered to pay 13s 3d damages and costs.
In the 1871 census Woodcock was back in business in Westfield Street describing himself as a hotelkeeper but in the interim had got himself into trouble in Bolton. In January 1870 the married man with six children picked up Bridget Kilroy in the street and he took her to several pubs.
On leaving the last place a man knocked Woodcock down and the woman stole £4 18 shillings from his pocket. However Woodcock may have regretted bringing a prosecution against Bridget Kilroy in the Bolton Quarter Sessions as the Recorder was told he had formerly kept a disreputable beerhouse in St Helens.
The Recorder was scathing about Woodcock, saying no one could feel sorry for a man who had earned his living in that way. He added that if there had not been any corroborative evidence, Woodcock's word would not be believed. Bridget, by the way, got three months in prison.
Let's return to the St Helens Petty Sessions where engine driver John Goold was charged with assaulting railway porter William Hughes. There were no more than a handful of black people in St Helens during the 19th century, such as West Indies-born George Daniels and his daughters of Moss Nook. They appear to have endured enormous prejudice but racism in the town mainly involved individuals from the various nations within the United Kingdom peppering insults at each other.
The two railwaymen, Goold and Hughes, had a row over the state of the points, which led to Goold calling Hughes a "Welsh cur". To that the porter replied by saying Goold was "only an Irishman". For that he received a punch in the face and the magistrates ordered the defendant to be bound over and find a surety of £5.
Two people were also sent to prison for a fortnight for separate incidents of begging in Church Street. Caroline Mather was seen asking men for the price of her lodgings and PC Gill spotted Owen Forde soliciting money from passers by.
Coal stealing was a common crime in the Sessions and a girl called Sarah Ann Simpson was sent to prison for a month for stealing some from Ravenhead Colliery. Seven or fourteen days were the usual sentences for such a crime but Sarah – who appeared to be about 17 – had previously been convicted.
In the days when doctors charged for their services there was sometimes a dispute as to who should pay their bill. This tended to happen when the patient was an employee who had suffered an accident at work and a doctor had been urgently summoned. James Ricketts was a young doctor in Cotham Street and he had attended a servant girl named Miss Hamblett who worked for Robert Wallace, a boot and shoemaker living in Market Street.
The girl had been seriously injured after falling from a window that she had been cleaning. Dr Ricketts insisted that Mr and Mrs Wallace had retained his services but they denied it and refused to pay up. A County Court hearing had recently taken place in which Dr Ricketts brought an action against the Wallaces for the amount of his fee but had lost his case.
On the 1st Dr Ricketts brought an action for perjury in the Petty Sessions, alleging the couple had lied in the County Court. The prosecution told the Bench that a Dr Dorman had first attended the servant girl after her fall from a window but he was a Catholic and so the Protestant Mr Wallace asked Dr Ricketts to take over. They also stated that Wallace had promised both the girl and her parents that he would pay all the medical expenses.
Dr Ricketts claimed that Mrs Wallace had at first told him that his bill was too high and then she and her husband denied ever retaining him and so refused to pay. After a lengthy hearing the case against Robert Wallace was dismissed and that against Mrs Wallace was withdrawn. Whether Miss Hamblett (or her father) was forced to pay the bill, I cannot say, although I expect Dr Ricketts would have written it off. I also expect the servant girl would have been sacked from her job as her father gave evidence in court against the Wallaces. She only appeared to have been thirteen, by the way.
The Prescot Petty Sessions were held on the 2nd in which Mary Holland was charged with assaulting Mary Lawrenson at Mill Brow, Prescot. The latter said Mary Holland had come to her home carrying a poker while the whole family was in bed. She gave several heavy blows to the shutters to wake them up and then used the "most vile" language against them.
Mrs Lawrenson then opened the window and threw out a pail of slops. Mrs Holland returned fire with a stone that she hurled at the window, while all the while making "frightful imprecations" – which apparently mean spoken curses. The defendant said the cause of the row was some slander by Mrs Lawrenson towards her brothers. Mrs Holland had been in court five times before and she was bound over to keep the peace.
A "Grand Miscellaneous Concert" was held on the 3rd in the Volunteer Hall. Several vocalists from Liverpool and Manchester performed with a 30-strong choir of local singers.
And finally another pony trotting match took place on the 3rd at Bold Heath for a wager of £100 per side. That was a huge sum then when many earned little more than £1 a week. The race was over a mile and ended after three minutes when in front of a large crowd of spectators, a Liverpool mare called 'Mischief' beat a Manchester pony by fifteen yards.
Next week's stories will include the cow that went for a wander inside a Prescot hotel, fury over the re-emergence of the Eccleston toll-bar, the slag thrown at a Parr door that missed its mark, the severe sentences for stealing wearing apparel and the man who in a fit of rage committed suicide in the St Helens Canal.
We begin during the afternoon of the 28th when the miners of the district continued their campaign for a countrywide trade union with a meeting in the Waggon and Horses in Haydock. "The gathering was tolerably large", reported the St Helens Newspaper, "and much enthusiasm was manifested by the men in the cause", who all agreed to be incorporated with the St Helens district.
A further meeting of miners took place during the evening in the White Lion in Church Street in which a speaker called for a wage increase and a reduction in working hours. William Pickard added that: "It was pitiful to see that in the year 1869 there was no compulsory education clause nor hours of labour clause applied to their children. The child might be made to work from four in the morning until four the next morning with interference. If he abused his horse, dog, or cat, he would be summoned and punished, but he might work his child to death without coming within reach of the law."
A lecture on temperance was delivered in the Town Hall on the 29th to a large audience of abstainers – although probably not those who'd attended the Mayor's do where the booze flowed freely.
Banking hours were very short in 1869. In the Prescot Reporter on the 30th, the Prescot Savings Bank announced that they were open on Mondays between noon and 1pm. The bank formed in 1824 would also be able to receive deposits from 1 shilling to £30 on the first Monday of each month from 6 to 7 o’clock in the evening.
The rotation system that leads to a third of councillors having to stand for re-election every year was established when St Helens Corporation was created in 1868 and continues to this day. On November 1st the so-called burgesses of St Helens – those with voting rights in local elections – were able to cast their vote for their chosen candidate.
There clearly was still an issue, as in the Newspaper's editorial two days prior to the election they had written: "Let every working man show the candidates and their canvassers that they, as a class, do not wished to be bribed by a pint of beer." The paper claimed that they had heard allegations that candidates were spending £10 on drinks in their wards in order to get elected.
Voting would not be made secret until 1872 and so it was easy for candidates or their representatives to bribe people and then check that they had voted as directed. There was a general level of discontent with the council and in all of the contested wards only one of the members that were standing for re-election was voted back in.
The Petty Sessions were held on the 1st and former Westfield Street beerhouse keeper John Woodcock was back in court. In May he had been described as the proprietor of a "house of ill repute" when he appeared before the Bench charged with assault. Then in the licensing sessions in August he was alleged to be running a brothel and his licence was not renewed.
However on this occasion Woodcock was a victim as a man called John Rigby had come to his door wanting drink but had been refused, as Woodcock was no longer licensed. Rigby became very angry and kicked the door in and he was ordered to pay 13s 3d damages and costs.
In the 1871 census Woodcock was back in business in Westfield Street describing himself as a hotelkeeper but in the interim had got himself into trouble in Bolton. In January 1870 the married man with six children picked up Bridget Kilroy in the street and he took her to several pubs.
On leaving the last place a man knocked Woodcock down and the woman stole £4 18 shillings from his pocket. However Woodcock may have regretted bringing a prosecution against Bridget Kilroy in the Bolton Quarter Sessions as the Recorder was told he had formerly kept a disreputable beerhouse in St Helens.
The Recorder was scathing about Woodcock, saying no one could feel sorry for a man who had earned his living in that way. He added that if there had not been any corroborative evidence, Woodcock's word would not be believed. Bridget, by the way, got three months in prison.
Let's return to the St Helens Petty Sessions where engine driver John Goold was charged with assaulting railway porter William Hughes. There were no more than a handful of black people in St Helens during the 19th century, such as West Indies-born George Daniels and his daughters of Moss Nook. They appear to have endured enormous prejudice but racism in the town mainly involved individuals from the various nations within the United Kingdom peppering insults at each other.
The two railwaymen, Goold and Hughes, had a row over the state of the points, which led to Goold calling Hughes a "Welsh cur". To that the porter replied by saying Goold was "only an Irishman". For that he received a punch in the face and the magistrates ordered the defendant to be bound over and find a surety of £5.
Two people were also sent to prison for a fortnight for separate incidents of begging in Church Street. Caroline Mather was seen asking men for the price of her lodgings and PC Gill spotted Owen Forde soliciting money from passers by.
Coal stealing was a common crime in the Sessions and a girl called Sarah Ann Simpson was sent to prison for a month for stealing some from Ravenhead Colliery. Seven or fourteen days were the usual sentences for such a crime but Sarah – who appeared to be about 17 – had previously been convicted.
In the days when doctors charged for their services there was sometimes a dispute as to who should pay their bill. This tended to happen when the patient was an employee who had suffered an accident at work and a doctor had been urgently summoned. James Ricketts was a young doctor in Cotham Street and he had attended a servant girl named Miss Hamblett who worked for Robert Wallace, a boot and shoemaker living in Market Street.
The girl had been seriously injured after falling from a window that she had been cleaning. Dr Ricketts insisted that Mr and Mrs Wallace had retained his services but they denied it and refused to pay up. A County Court hearing had recently taken place in which Dr Ricketts brought an action against the Wallaces for the amount of his fee but had lost his case.
On the 1st Dr Ricketts brought an action for perjury in the Petty Sessions, alleging the couple had lied in the County Court. The prosecution told the Bench that a Dr Dorman had first attended the servant girl after her fall from a window but he was a Catholic and so the Protestant Mr Wallace asked Dr Ricketts to take over. They also stated that Wallace had promised both the girl and her parents that he would pay all the medical expenses.
Dr Ricketts claimed that Mrs Wallace had at first told him that his bill was too high and then she and her husband denied ever retaining him and so refused to pay. After a lengthy hearing the case against Robert Wallace was dismissed and that against Mrs Wallace was withdrawn. Whether Miss Hamblett (or her father) was forced to pay the bill, I cannot say, although I expect Dr Ricketts would have written it off. I also expect the servant girl would have been sacked from her job as her father gave evidence in court against the Wallaces. She only appeared to have been thirteen, by the way.
The Prescot Petty Sessions were held on the 2nd in which Mary Holland was charged with assaulting Mary Lawrenson at Mill Brow, Prescot. The latter said Mary Holland had come to her home carrying a poker while the whole family was in bed. She gave several heavy blows to the shutters to wake them up and then used the "most vile" language against them.
Mrs Lawrenson then opened the window and threw out a pail of slops. Mrs Holland returned fire with a stone that she hurled at the window, while all the while making "frightful imprecations" – which apparently mean spoken curses. The defendant said the cause of the row was some slander by Mrs Lawrenson towards her brothers. Mrs Holland had been in court five times before and she was bound over to keep the peace.
A "Grand Miscellaneous Concert" was held on the 3rd in the Volunteer Hall. Several vocalists from Liverpool and Manchester performed with a 30-strong choir of local singers.
And finally another pony trotting match took place on the 3rd at Bold Heath for a wager of £100 per side. That was a huge sum then when many earned little more than £1 a week. The race was over a mile and ended after three minutes when in front of a large crowd of spectators, a Liverpool mare called 'Mischief' beat a Manchester pony by fifteen yards.
Next week's stories will include the cow that went for a wander inside a Prescot hotel, fury over the re-emergence of the Eccleston toll-bar, the slag thrown at a Parr door that missed its mark, the severe sentences for stealing wearing apparel and the man who in a fit of rage committed suicide in the St Helens Canal.