150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 29 APRIL - 5 MAY 1874
This week's many stories include the finest display ever seen in the annual May Day horse parade, the tramps that stayed overnight in Whiston Workhouse, the battered wife who was blamed for provoking her husband, Rainhill Lunatic Asylum increases its rates of admission, the workhouse boy who became a thief and the Peasley Cross girl who was killed while taking dinner to her father at work.
We begin on the 30th at a meeting of the Prescot Guardians in which 336 persons were reported as having been inside Whiston Workhouse during the past week. Of these 116 of them had been children, although some of the inmates had only been temporary. The guardians were required by law to make provision for any poor person seeking overnight accommodation.
Such individuals were mainly those regarded as tramps but there was no stipulation as to the quality of the lodgings on offer. After paying a visit in 1866 the Prescot Reporter described the two rooms as: "…miserably uncomfortable places, and if they are fit for tramps they are certainly fit for no other human beings." The transients were expected to sleep on three wooden frames no higher than 18 inches off the ground using wooden pillows and without any bed covering.
Matters had since improved with a move to larger rooms, although they were still harsh places. But despite their short stays in the workhouse the tramps were still expected to do a few hours work. It was reported at the meeting that one such individual had recently been sent to prison for a month for refusing to undertake the work allocated to him.
The guardians were also told that Rainhill Lunatic Asylum had sent them a letter. Being an inmate in the asylum was not free with the patients or their families expected to contribute to the cost of the accommodation. But in many cases that was not possible and so the Prescot Guardians were forced to step in. The meeting heard that the asylum was raising its charge from 10s 6d to 11s 1d per person per week. Around £2,500 a year was currently paid to Rainhill and other similar institutions for looking after lunatics from the St Helens and Prescot districts.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts. On the 2nd the Liverpool Mercury described this year's event: "Yesterday was marked by the finest display ever witnessed in St. Helens. Prizes were offered for various kinds of turnouts, and this fact, together with the fineness of the weather, brought forth an immense number of horses and vehicles. The procession through the streets was witnessed by many thousands, and the vast length to which it extended excited general surprise."
It was very common for young children to be tasked with taking meals to their father at work. Often that meant entering dangerous industrial premises and crossing railway lines and it is hardly surprising that accidents occurred. On the 2nd a young girl named Jackson from Peasley Cross was taking some dinner to her father and she had to cross the railway line near the Sutton Alkali Works. A goods train struck her down and all of its twenty waggons passed over the child as she lay helpless in between the rails.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 2nd and contained this brief notice: "St. Helens Public Baths. – These baths will be re-opened for the season on Saturday, May 2nd, 1874." This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away from opening. The baths that existed in 1874 had been built by Andrew Kurtz thirteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works.
This week the final report on the 1871 census was published which revealed that St Helens had a population of 45,134 residents living in 7,920 houses spread over 6,586 acres. In 1801 the St Helens population was 6,974.
In reading the many articles of court reports that feature the outrageous behaviour of solicitor Thomas Swift, the worst ones to me occurred when he was defending wife beaters. Swift's comments in St Helens Petty Sessions about the victims of domestic violence could be quite shocking and on the 4th of this week it was Alice Owen that was in his firing line. She had brought a charge of assault against her husband, George, claiming that he had beaten her because she could not give him any money for drink.
Alice showed her badly swollen lips to the magistrates, which she said had been caused by blows from her violent husband's fist. She told the court that she only wanted peace and wanted to be able to live separately with an allowance from her husband. To those comments Thomas Swift said: "That is what the bad women sought" and he accused Alice of striking his client first and provoking him.
Of course, we can't know the exact circumstances of the couple's life together but Alice was clearly terrified of her spouse. The case was subsequently dismissed upon Thomas promising not to beat his wife again. However, Alice remained in the court for some time declaring that she dare not go home. She said as soon as her husband got her alone he would give her another thrashing. The Chairman of the Bench told Alice that if that happened she should take out another summons against Thomas.
People routinely leaving their front doors open had one obvious disadvantage – anyone could walk in whether they be friend or foe. Peter Rigby told the Petty Sessions that he had been enjoying a "quiet cup of tea with me missus", along with a male friend, when John Burrowes had rushed into his house. He claimed the man had threatened to take his life and then violently struck him several times. Burrowes was fined 10 shillings and costs or a month in prison.
From what I can tell Peter Abbot was in his late fifties and lived in Glover Street in St Helens – but was described as an "old creature" in this Prescot Reporter account of another Petty Sessions court case: "Peter Abbot, watchman at the Greengate colliery, charged a lad named William Naylor, with having stolen a quantity of coal. Complainant deposed to seeing the lad take the coals, and run away with them. He had cautioned the lad previously.
"Mrs. Naylor said that the coal was taken from the waste heap and was not stolen. Abbot had told her that another lad had taken coals, and she replied that “there were wheels within wheels” and for a bit of spite he had summoned her son because “the old creature” thought that she meant that he was too thick with the other boy's mother. The defendant was fined 10s and costs."
Although men were legally responsible for the debts of their wives, there were means of wriggling out of paying. In St Helens County Court in East Street on the 5th the case of Copeland vs. Jones was heard. The former was a draper's who had sold a Mrs Jones some goods that her husband had refused to pay for. The case had been adjourned from a previous hearing for a no-doubt embarrassed Mrs Jones to give evidence.
She told the judge that she had concealed her transactions from her husband and claimed that she had told the drapery firm that her spouse had forbidden her from dealing with them. It sounded like she may have been instructed what to say by her husband but her testimony was good enough for the judge who non-suited or dismissed the claim.
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 5th, James Hurst was the latest lad to be charged with throwing stones in the street with the police claiming that the practice had become an "intolerable nuisance". He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
Boys in Whiston Workhouse were often sent to live and work with local tradesmen to learn a craft. Patrick Maher had been sent to Rainhill to learn the trade of file making from 26-year-old James Parr but according to Superintendent James Fowler – who was in charge of Prescot Police – he had "turned out to be a bad boy and had stolen some money from his master". The lad was described as about twelve years of age and he appeared in the Prescot Sessions charged with stealing two half-crowns.
The Master of Whiston Workhouse was in court to give Patrick an excellent reference. But despite the boy's personal circumstances – with him likely to have been an orphan – Patrick was not given a second chance. Instead the magistrates ordered that he be sent to prison for three days and receive twelve strokes from a birch rod. Patrick, almost certainly, would have also lost his situation in Rainhill and after his beating been returned to the workhouse.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the beaten Nuttalls' bottle boys, the lunatic who was inspecting coal mines, the scalding fatality at Hardshaw Brook Alkali Works and the furious driving in Taylors Row in Sutton.
We begin on the 30th at a meeting of the Prescot Guardians in which 336 persons were reported as having been inside Whiston Workhouse during the past week. Of these 116 of them had been children, although some of the inmates had only been temporary. The guardians were required by law to make provision for any poor person seeking overnight accommodation.
Such individuals were mainly those regarded as tramps but there was no stipulation as to the quality of the lodgings on offer. After paying a visit in 1866 the Prescot Reporter described the two rooms as: "…miserably uncomfortable places, and if they are fit for tramps they are certainly fit for no other human beings." The transients were expected to sleep on three wooden frames no higher than 18 inches off the ground using wooden pillows and without any bed covering.
Matters had since improved with a move to larger rooms, although they were still harsh places. But despite their short stays in the workhouse the tramps were still expected to do a few hours work. It was reported at the meeting that one such individual had recently been sent to prison for a month for refusing to undertake the work allocated to him.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts. On the 2nd the Liverpool Mercury described this year's event: "Yesterday was marked by the finest display ever witnessed in St. Helens. Prizes were offered for various kinds of turnouts, and this fact, together with the fineness of the weather, brought forth an immense number of horses and vehicles. The procession through the streets was witnessed by many thousands, and the vast length to which it extended excited general surprise."
It was very common for young children to be tasked with taking meals to their father at work. Often that meant entering dangerous industrial premises and crossing railway lines and it is hardly surprising that accidents occurred. On the 2nd a young girl named Jackson from Peasley Cross was taking some dinner to her father and she had to cross the railway line near the Sutton Alkali Works. A goods train struck her down and all of its twenty waggons passed over the child as she lay helpless in between the rails.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 2nd and contained this brief notice: "St. Helens Public Baths. – These baths will be re-opened for the season on Saturday, May 2nd, 1874." This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away from opening. The baths that existed in 1874 had been built by Andrew Kurtz thirteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works.
This week the final report on the 1871 census was published which revealed that St Helens had a population of 45,134 residents living in 7,920 houses spread over 6,586 acres. In 1801 the St Helens population was 6,974.
In reading the many articles of court reports that feature the outrageous behaviour of solicitor Thomas Swift, the worst ones to me occurred when he was defending wife beaters. Swift's comments in St Helens Petty Sessions about the victims of domestic violence could be quite shocking and on the 4th of this week it was Alice Owen that was in his firing line. She had brought a charge of assault against her husband, George, claiming that he had beaten her because she could not give him any money for drink.
Alice showed her badly swollen lips to the magistrates, which she said had been caused by blows from her violent husband's fist. She told the court that she only wanted peace and wanted to be able to live separately with an allowance from her husband. To those comments Thomas Swift said: "That is what the bad women sought" and he accused Alice of striking his client first and provoking him.
Of course, we can't know the exact circumstances of the couple's life together but Alice was clearly terrified of her spouse. The case was subsequently dismissed upon Thomas promising not to beat his wife again. However, Alice remained in the court for some time declaring that she dare not go home. She said as soon as her husband got her alone he would give her another thrashing. The Chairman of the Bench told Alice that if that happened she should take out another summons against Thomas.
People routinely leaving their front doors open had one obvious disadvantage – anyone could walk in whether they be friend or foe. Peter Rigby told the Petty Sessions that he had been enjoying a "quiet cup of tea with me missus", along with a male friend, when John Burrowes had rushed into his house. He claimed the man had threatened to take his life and then violently struck him several times. Burrowes was fined 10 shillings and costs or a month in prison.
From what I can tell Peter Abbot was in his late fifties and lived in Glover Street in St Helens – but was described as an "old creature" in this Prescot Reporter account of another Petty Sessions court case: "Peter Abbot, watchman at the Greengate colliery, charged a lad named William Naylor, with having stolen a quantity of coal. Complainant deposed to seeing the lad take the coals, and run away with them. He had cautioned the lad previously.
"Mrs. Naylor said that the coal was taken from the waste heap and was not stolen. Abbot had told her that another lad had taken coals, and she replied that “there were wheels within wheels” and for a bit of spite he had summoned her son because “the old creature” thought that she meant that he was too thick with the other boy's mother. The defendant was fined 10s and costs."
Although men were legally responsible for the debts of their wives, there were means of wriggling out of paying. In St Helens County Court in East Street on the 5th the case of Copeland vs. Jones was heard. The former was a draper's who had sold a Mrs Jones some goods that her husband had refused to pay for. The case had been adjourned from a previous hearing for a no-doubt embarrassed Mrs Jones to give evidence.
She told the judge that she had concealed her transactions from her husband and claimed that she had told the drapery firm that her spouse had forbidden her from dealing with them. It sounded like she may have been instructed what to say by her husband but her testimony was good enough for the judge who non-suited or dismissed the claim.
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 5th, James Hurst was the latest lad to be charged with throwing stones in the street with the police claiming that the practice had become an "intolerable nuisance". He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
Boys in Whiston Workhouse were often sent to live and work with local tradesmen to learn a craft. Patrick Maher had been sent to Rainhill to learn the trade of file making from 26-year-old James Parr but according to Superintendent James Fowler – who was in charge of Prescot Police – he had "turned out to be a bad boy and had stolen some money from his master". The lad was described as about twelve years of age and he appeared in the Prescot Sessions charged with stealing two half-crowns.
The Master of Whiston Workhouse was in court to give Patrick an excellent reference. But despite the boy's personal circumstances – with him likely to have been an orphan – Patrick was not given a second chance. Instead the magistrates ordered that he be sent to prison for three days and receive twelve strokes from a birch rod. Patrick, almost certainly, would have also lost his situation in Rainhill and after his beating been returned to the workhouse.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the beaten Nuttalls' bottle boys, the lunatic who was inspecting coal mines, the scalding fatality at Hardshaw Brook Alkali Works and the furious driving in Taylors Row in Sutton.
This week's many stories include the finest display ever seen in the annual May Day horse parade, the tramps that stayed overnight in Whiston Workhouse, the battered wife who was blamed for provoking her husband, Rainhill Lunatic Asylum increases its rates of admission, the workhouse boy who became a thief and the Peasley Cross girl who was killed while taking dinner to her father at work.
We begin on the 30th at a meeting of the Prescot Guardians in which 336 persons were reported as having been inside Whiston Workhouse during the past week.
Of these 116 of them had been children, although some of the inmates had only been temporary.
The guardians were required by law to make provision for any poor person seeking overnight accommodation.
Such individuals were mainly those regarded as tramps but there was no stipulation as to the quality of the lodgings on offer.
After paying a visit in 1866 the Prescot Reporter described the two rooms as: "…miserably uncomfortable places, and if they are fit for tramps they are certainly fit for no other human beings."
The transients were expected to sleep on three wooden frames no higher than 18 inches off the ground using wooden pillows and without any bed covering.
Matters had since improved with a move to larger rooms, although they were still harsh places.
But despite their short stays in the workhouse the tramps were still expected to do a few hours work.
It was reported at the meeting that one such individual had recently been sent to prison for a month for refusing to undertake the work allocated to him.
The guardians were also told that Rainhill Lunatic Asylum had sent them a letter. Being an inmate in the asylum was not free with the patients or their families expected to contribute to the cost of the accommodation.
But in many cases that was not possible and so the Prescot Guardians were forced to step in.
The meeting heard that the asylum was raising its charge from 10s 6d to 11s 1d per person per week.
Around £2,500 a year was currently paid to Rainhill and other similar institutions for looking after lunatics from the St Helens and Prescot districts.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts. On the 2nd the Liverpool Mercury described this year's event:
"Yesterday was marked by the finest display ever witnessed in St. Helens. Prizes were offered for various kinds of turnouts, and this fact, together with the fineness of the weather, brought forth an immense number of horses and vehicles.
"The procession through the streets was witnessed by many thousands, and the vast length to which it extended excited general surprise."
It was very common for young children to be tasked with taking meals to their father at work.
Often that meant entering dangerous industrial premises and crossing railway lines and it is hardly surprising that accidents occurred.
On the 2nd a young girl named Jackson from Peasley Cross was taking some dinner to her father and she had to cross the railway line near the Sutton Alkali Works.
A goods train struck her down and all of its twenty waggons passed over the child as she lay helpless in between the rails.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 2nd and contained this brief notice: "St. Helens Public Baths. – These baths will be re-opened for the season on Saturday, May 2nd, 1874."
This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away from opening. The baths that existed in 1874 had been built by Andrew Kurtz thirteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works.
This week the final report on the 1871 census was published which revealed that St Helens had a population of 45,134 residents living in 7,920 houses spread over 6,586 acres. In 1801 the St Helens population was 6,974.
In reading the many articles of court reports that feature the outrageous behaviour of solicitor Thomas Swift, the worst ones to me occurred when he was defending wife beaters.
Swift's comments in St Helens Petty Sessions about the victims of domestic violence could be quite shocking and on the 4th of this week it was Alice Owen that was in his firing line.
She had brought a charge of assault against her husband, George, claiming that he had beaten her because she could not give him any money for drink.
Alice showed her badly swollen lips to the magistrates, which she said had been caused by blows from her violent husband's fist.
She told the court that she only wanted peace and wanted to be able to live separately with an allowance from her husband.
To those comments Thomas Swift said: "That is what the bad women sought" and he accused Alice of striking his client first and provoking him.
Of course, we can't know the exact circumstances of the couple's life together but Alice was clearly terrified of her spouse.
The case was subsequently dismissed upon Thomas promising not to beat his wife again. However, Alice remained in the court for some time declaring that she dare not go home.
She said as soon as her husband got her alone he would give her another thrashing.
The Chairman of the Bench told Alice that if that happened she should take out another summons against Thomas.
People routinely leaving their front doors open had one obvious disadvantage – anyone could walk in whether they be friend or foe.
Peter Rigby told the Petty Sessions that he had been enjoying a "quiet cup of tea with me missus", along with a male friend, when John Burrowes had rushed into his house.
He claimed the man had threatened to take his life and then violently struck him several times. Burrowes was fined 10 shillings and costs or a month in prison.
From what I can tell Peter Abbott was in his late fifties and lived in Glover Street in St Helens – but was described as an "old creature" in this Prescot Reporter account of another Petty Sessions court case:
"Peter Abbot, watchman at the Greengate colliery, charged a lad named William Naylor, with having stolen a quantity of coal. Complainant deposed to seeing the lad take the coals, and run away with them. He had cautioned the lad previously.
"Mrs. Naylor said that the coal was taken from the waste heap and was not stolen.
"Abbot had told her that another lad had taken coals, and she replied that “there were wheels within wheels” and for a bit of spite he had summoned her son because “the old creature” thought that she meant that he was too thick with the other boy's mother. The defendant was fined 10s and costs."
Although men were legally responsible for the debts of their wives, there were means of wriggling out of paying.
In St Helens County Court in East Street on the 5th the case of Copeland vs. Jones was heard.
The former was a draper's who had sold a Mrs Jones some goods that her husband had refused to pay for.
The case had been adjourned from a previous hearing for a no-doubt embarrassed Mrs Jones to give evidence.
She told the judge that she had concealed her transactions from her husband and claimed that she had told the drapery firm that her spouse had forbidden her from dealing with them.
It sounded like she may have been instructed what to say by her husband but her testimony was good enough for the judge who non-suited or dismissed the claim.
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 5th, James Hurst was the latest lad to be charged with throwing stones in the street with the police claiming that the practice had become an "intolerable nuisance". He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
Boys in Whiston Workhouse were often sent to live and work with local tradesmen to learn a craft.
Patrick Maher had been sent to Rainhill to learn the trade of file making from 26-year-old James Parr but according to Superintendent James Fowler – who was in charge of Prescot Police – he had "turned out to be a bad boy and had stolen some money from his master".
The lad was described as about twelve years of age and he appeared in the Prescot Sessions charged with stealing two half-crowns.
The Master of Whiston Workhouse was in court to give Patrick an excellent reference. But despite the boy's personal circumstances – with him likely to have been an orphan – Patrick was not given a second chance.
Instead the magistrates ordered that he be sent to prison for three days and receive twelve strokes from a birch rod.
Patrick, almost certainly, would have also lost his situation in Rainhill and after his beating been returned to the workhouse.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the beaten Nuttalls' bottle boys, the lunatic who was inspecting coal mines, the scalding fatality at Hardshaw Brook Alkali Works and the furious driving in Taylors Row in Sutton.
We begin on the 30th at a meeting of the Prescot Guardians in which 336 persons were reported as having been inside Whiston Workhouse during the past week.
Of these 116 of them had been children, although some of the inmates had only been temporary.
The guardians were required by law to make provision for any poor person seeking overnight accommodation.
Such individuals were mainly those regarded as tramps but there was no stipulation as to the quality of the lodgings on offer.
After paying a visit in 1866 the Prescot Reporter described the two rooms as: "…miserably uncomfortable places, and if they are fit for tramps they are certainly fit for no other human beings."
The transients were expected to sleep on three wooden frames no higher than 18 inches off the ground using wooden pillows and without any bed covering.
Matters had since improved with a move to larger rooms, although they were still harsh places.
But despite their short stays in the workhouse the tramps were still expected to do a few hours work.
It was reported at the meeting that one such individual had recently been sent to prison for a month for refusing to undertake the work allocated to him.
But in many cases that was not possible and so the Prescot Guardians were forced to step in.
The meeting heard that the asylum was raising its charge from 10s 6d to 11s 1d per person per week.
Around £2,500 a year was currently paid to Rainhill and other similar institutions for looking after lunatics from the St Helens and Prescot districts.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts. On the 2nd the Liverpool Mercury described this year's event:
"Yesterday was marked by the finest display ever witnessed in St. Helens. Prizes were offered for various kinds of turnouts, and this fact, together with the fineness of the weather, brought forth an immense number of horses and vehicles.
"The procession through the streets was witnessed by many thousands, and the vast length to which it extended excited general surprise."
It was very common for young children to be tasked with taking meals to their father at work.
Often that meant entering dangerous industrial premises and crossing railway lines and it is hardly surprising that accidents occurred.
On the 2nd a young girl named Jackson from Peasley Cross was taking some dinner to her father and she had to cross the railway line near the Sutton Alkali Works.
A goods train struck her down and all of its twenty waggons passed over the child as she lay helpless in between the rails.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 2nd and contained this brief notice: "St. Helens Public Baths. – These baths will be re-opened for the season on Saturday, May 2nd, 1874."
This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away from opening. The baths that existed in 1874 had been built by Andrew Kurtz thirteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works.
This week the final report on the 1871 census was published which revealed that St Helens had a population of 45,134 residents living in 7,920 houses spread over 6,586 acres. In 1801 the St Helens population was 6,974.
In reading the many articles of court reports that feature the outrageous behaviour of solicitor Thomas Swift, the worst ones to me occurred when he was defending wife beaters.
Swift's comments in St Helens Petty Sessions about the victims of domestic violence could be quite shocking and on the 4th of this week it was Alice Owen that was in his firing line.
She had brought a charge of assault against her husband, George, claiming that he had beaten her because she could not give him any money for drink.
Alice showed her badly swollen lips to the magistrates, which she said had been caused by blows from her violent husband's fist.
She told the court that she only wanted peace and wanted to be able to live separately with an allowance from her husband.
To those comments Thomas Swift said: "That is what the bad women sought" and he accused Alice of striking his client first and provoking him.
Of course, we can't know the exact circumstances of the couple's life together but Alice was clearly terrified of her spouse.
The case was subsequently dismissed upon Thomas promising not to beat his wife again. However, Alice remained in the court for some time declaring that she dare not go home.
She said as soon as her husband got her alone he would give her another thrashing.
The Chairman of the Bench told Alice that if that happened she should take out another summons against Thomas.
People routinely leaving their front doors open had one obvious disadvantage – anyone could walk in whether they be friend or foe.
Peter Rigby told the Petty Sessions that he had been enjoying a "quiet cup of tea with me missus", along with a male friend, when John Burrowes had rushed into his house.
He claimed the man had threatened to take his life and then violently struck him several times. Burrowes was fined 10 shillings and costs or a month in prison.
From what I can tell Peter Abbott was in his late fifties and lived in Glover Street in St Helens – but was described as an "old creature" in this Prescot Reporter account of another Petty Sessions court case:
"Peter Abbot, watchman at the Greengate colliery, charged a lad named William Naylor, with having stolen a quantity of coal. Complainant deposed to seeing the lad take the coals, and run away with them. He had cautioned the lad previously.
"Mrs. Naylor said that the coal was taken from the waste heap and was not stolen.
"Abbot had told her that another lad had taken coals, and she replied that “there were wheels within wheels” and for a bit of spite he had summoned her son because “the old creature” thought that she meant that he was too thick with the other boy's mother. The defendant was fined 10s and costs."
Although men were legally responsible for the debts of their wives, there were means of wriggling out of paying.
In St Helens County Court in East Street on the 5th the case of Copeland vs. Jones was heard.
The former was a draper's who had sold a Mrs Jones some goods that her husband had refused to pay for.
The case had been adjourned from a previous hearing for a no-doubt embarrassed Mrs Jones to give evidence.
She told the judge that she had concealed her transactions from her husband and claimed that she had told the drapery firm that her spouse had forbidden her from dealing with them.
It sounded like she may have been instructed what to say by her husband but her testimony was good enough for the judge who non-suited or dismissed the claim.
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 5th, James Hurst was the latest lad to be charged with throwing stones in the street with the police claiming that the practice had become an "intolerable nuisance". He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
Boys in Whiston Workhouse were often sent to live and work with local tradesmen to learn a craft.
Patrick Maher had been sent to Rainhill to learn the trade of file making from 26-year-old James Parr but according to Superintendent James Fowler – who was in charge of Prescot Police – he had "turned out to be a bad boy and had stolen some money from his master".
The lad was described as about twelve years of age and he appeared in the Prescot Sessions charged with stealing two half-crowns.
The Master of Whiston Workhouse was in court to give Patrick an excellent reference. But despite the boy's personal circumstances – with him likely to have been an orphan – Patrick was not given a second chance.
Instead the magistrates ordered that he be sent to prison for three days and receive twelve strokes from a birch rod.
Patrick, almost certainly, would have also lost his situation in Rainhill and after his beating been returned to the workhouse.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the beaten Nuttalls' bottle boys, the lunatic who was inspecting coal mines, the scalding fatality at Hardshaw Brook Alkali Works and the furious driving in Taylors Row in Sutton.