150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th NOVEMER 1871)
This week's stories include the old woman from Gerards Bridge who set herself on fire with a candle, how swift action in Bridge Street prevented a major blaze, the St Helens miners' demand for more pay, a Chicago relief fund is opened and what might well have been the last corrupt council election takes place in St Helens.
We begin on November 1st with a brief report in the Liverpool Mercury that stated that post offices for the "transaction of telegraph business" had opened at Rainford and Golborne. Although I don't expect there was much business to begin with, a telegraph office would mean that St Helens Fire Brigade could be sent a telegram requesting assistance when needed, expediting the process of putting out fires. Then, with Rainford and Golborne being situated outside of the St Helens borough, the brigade would send in a bill for their services and the arguing would begin!
At the start of 1869 a miners' trade union barely existed in St Helens. However in March of that year a meeting had taken place at the White Lion Hotel in Church Street (on the corner of Hall Street) where the union was revived. The recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Ashton, Norley and Hindley were concentrating minds and only in September a gas explosion at Ince had taken the lives of 70 more men and boys.
During 1871, a total of 1,075 men and boys were killed in mining accidents in Great Britain. This figure comprised 269 deaths from colliery explosions; 435 from pit roof falls; 123 down shafts; 176 in miscellaneous other accidents underground and a further 72 fatalities took place at the surface.
As well as improved safety, the men undertaking such dangerous work understandably wanted more pay and in September they thought they'd achieved a big victory. The colliery "masters" had conceded to their demand for a 10% wage rise that would be funded by an equivalent increase in the price of coal. But although the cost of coal had risen by 10%, the men's wages had only increased by 7%.
So on the 1st a large meeting of miners from St Helens and Haydock was held "for the purpose of agitating for the ten per cent advance promised by the masters". Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to seek the amount withheld and a petition was adopted that would be presented to the House of Commons. Newspapers stated that the petition would "pray for a better inspection of mines, the right demand payment by weight, and other points of the miners' programme."
Also on the 1st, the last open council elections in St Helens – barring by-elections – were held. At the next round of elections in November 1872, there would be no public record of which candidate the town's citizens had voted for – as the secret ballot was being introduced. In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "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." After this week's election had taken place, the Wigan Observer wrote: "Much interest was excited in the various wards, particularly in four, in which the seats were contested, and the streets near the booths had a lively aspect up to the close of the poll. All went off peaceably."
However, the St Helens Newspaper recorded general disinterest overall in the town, when compared to General Elections, writing: "It is a well-established fact that municipal changes arouse but small interest in St. Helens. Despite the manifest power of the local government body to make or mar the prosperity of the town, a vast amount of indifference is shown year after year."
William Morton – the man accused in the 1870 election of corruptly buying drinks at the Star Inn in Liverpool Road (which had served as polling station) – this year increased his majority, possibly by increasing his slush fund. During the 1872 council elections in St Helens, after the introduction of the secret ballot, the voter turnout decreased even further. That suggests that the new secrecy laws reduced the alcoholic (and, perhaps, financial) incentives on offer to voters and consequently diminished interest.
On the 2nd the London & North Western Railway was advertising in newspapers for tenders to construct a new bridge over the railway at Lea Green. Contractors wishing to win the commission to install the brickwork and masonry needed to be quick off the mark. They had to travel to Manchester to inspect the plans and specifications at Victoria Station and then send their tenders to Euston Station by November 15th.
As well as deterring and reacting to crime, police officers on their beat could also serve as firewatchers – and firefighters. At 4am on the 4th, a bobby in Bridge Street was walking near Barlow's cabinet-makers when he spotted flames inside. He forced his way into the workshop and extinguished the fire before any significant damage could be done. The building appeared to have been a lock-up and so would probably have burnt to the ground without his swift intervention.
Candles were routinely used in the 1870s with the obvious dangers – particularly when coming into contact with flammable clothing. Also on the 4th, what was described as an "old woman" from Gerard’s Bridge (which meant she was over 50!) accidentally set fire to her clothes with a candle. Upon noticing the flames, Mary Davies crept under a dresser to try and extinguish them – but without success. When her husband returned home, he found Mary's dead body in what was described as a "shocking condition".
On the 6th St Helens Petty Sessions were held and 26-year-old Olive Berry from Florida Road in Haydock and Sarah Greenall were convicted of stealing from St Helens Market and sent to prison for a month.
Also on the 6th, a meeting was held to discuss how St Helens could aid the sufferers of the disastrous fire at Chicago that three weeks earlier had destroyed much of the windy city. In fact it had been the breeze that had driven the fire to all quarters – aided by the large number of wooden buildings in Chicago. Even the pavements – or should I say sidewalks – were made of wood. A committee was formed and a subscription list for a relief fund was opened.
The outgoing Mayor of St Helens, Llewellyn Evans – a partner in the Pocket Nook chemical works Evans & McBryde – started the ball rolling by pledging £50. The large sum of £160 was immediately raised with church leaders asked to appeal to their congregations for further donations. One of the men present, Alderman James Harrison, urged the prior claim of the Wigan explosion fund saying that charity should begin at home – but found no supporters.
That brings me neatly to this week's final item, which is a quite extraordinary letter published in the Wigan Observer from a man living in Chicago called L. Morton. The Wigan expat had sent the missive to his brother in Ince and in it described the inferno in detail: "You will have seen by the cable despatches of the awful conflagration we had in this city a week ago last night. Some say that it was the most destructive fire that ever occurred in any city in the world. It has destroyed 1,800 acres of business and private residence property. It has destroyed from 80 to 100 blocks of business property, built of solid masonry.
"By a block, I mean a square of buildings say from Wellington-street [in Wigan], up Scholes, to Vauxhall-road, up Vauxhall-road to what is that street – Johnson-street is it? I forget – and then down to the “Wigan Arms.” There are about ten streets, half a mile long, with as large and massive buildings on both sides of the street as Lord, Castle, Bold, and Dale streets, Liverpool. Such a sight I never saw, nor never wish to see again. The reflection of the fire could be seen between sixty and seventy miles off.
"One side of the fire near where it began was only three blocks from my little home. It began on a little street called De Kooen-street, where was a little Irish shanty, behind which was a little barn, or shippon, as you call them. About nine o’clock on Sunday night the old woman of the house got a keroseen [sic] lamp, and went in the barn to milk the cow, and as she was milking, the cow kicked the lamp over, and set fire to the hay; the hay set fire to the barn, and a gale of wind from S.S.W. blowing at the time, the barn set fire to cottages around it, and burned them all excepting the cottage to which the barn was attached, and that remains as a monument from whence the fire of Chicago originated.
"It will never be known the number of persons who have been burned to death; they have now taken between 200 and 300 dead bodies out of the ruins, and the probability is that there will be more than twice that number. They say there were about 200 babies born whose mothers had been scared into premature confinement, and many mothers and babes died in consequence. Some 80,000 persons fled to the Praries [sic] to escape being burned to death, thirty of whom died from exposure and starvation the first night, and a great many have died since, although shelter has now been provided, and provisions, clothing, bedding, and everything necessary for their comfort is coming in by hundreds of car loads from Canada and every state in the Union.
"There is no scarcity of provisions; there is an abundance for every one in need. Free men who before the fire were worth their 100,000 dollars, are to-day not worth a cent. I have been fortunate in not getting burned out, but I have been unfortunate in losing my situation. Stanton and Co. had three magnificent stores laid in ruins, and how long I shall be without a situation I don't know. I was doing very well up to the fire. I was getting 70 dollars a month, and had got a nice comfortable home.
"The fire at last got to the waterworks which supplies the city with water; burned the engines and stopped their working; then the fire engines could not play, and the fire was left to pursue its own mad career, until it went out for want of material to burn. Patrol men have been organised all over the city at night. I was on three nights, and we had instructions to shoot or hang upon the nearest lamppost any man we caught setting fire to anything combustible.
"As soon as the fire was known thieves, burglars, and pickpockets started from New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, and here we have them all over the city. There have been seventy-one churches burned, and nine public schools, four stories high. Marshal law is proclaimed over the burning portion of the city, and anyone caught taking anything valuable therefrom would be shot. There are 2,000 soldiers under General Sheridan in the city. President Grant was here on Friday last."
Next week's stories will include a horrendous death at a St Helens chemical works, the Billinge clog killing, the Newton 9-hour employment rule, a new mayor is elected for St Helens and the local election impersonators.
We begin on November 1st with a brief report in the Liverpool Mercury that stated that post offices for the "transaction of telegraph business" had opened at Rainford and Golborne. Although I don't expect there was much business to begin with, a telegraph office would mean that St Helens Fire Brigade could be sent a telegram requesting assistance when needed, expediting the process of putting out fires. Then, with Rainford and Golborne being situated outside of the St Helens borough, the brigade would send in a bill for their services and the arguing would begin!
At the start of 1869 a miners' trade union barely existed in St Helens. However in March of that year a meeting had taken place at the White Lion Hotel in Church Street (on the corner of Hall Street) where the union was revived. The recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Ashton, Norley and Hindley were concentrating minds and only in September a gas explosion at Ince had taken the lives of 70 more men and boys.
During 1871, a total of 1,075 men and boys were killed in mining accidents in Great Britain. This figure comprised 269 deaths from colliery explosions; 435 from pit roof falls; 123 down shafts; 176 in miscellaneous other accidents underground and a further 72 fatalities took place at the surface.
As well as improved safety, the men undertaking such dangerous work understandably wanted more pay and in September they thought they'd achieved a big victory. The colliery "masters" had conceded to their demand for a 10% wage rise that would be funded by an equivalent increase in the price of coal. But although the cost of coal had risen by 10%, the men's wages had only increased by 7%.
So on the 1st a large meeting of miners from St Helens and Haydock was held "for the purpose of agitating for the ten per cent advance promised by the masters". Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to seek the amount withheld and a petition was adopted that would be presented to the House of Commons. Newspapers stated that the petition would "pray for a better inspection of mines, the right demand payment by weight, and other points of the miners' programme."
Also on the 1st, the last open council elections in St Helens – barring by-elections – were held. At the next round of elections in November 1872, there would be no public record of which candidate the town's citizens had voted for – as the secret ballot was being introduced. In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "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." After this week's election had taken place, the Wigan Observer wrote: "Much interest was excited in the various wards, particularly in four, in which the seats were contested, and the streets near the booths had a lively aspect up to the close of the poll. All went off peaceably."
However, the St Helens Newspaper recorded general disinterest overall in the town, when compared to General Elections, writing: "It is a well-established fact that municipal changes arouse but small interest in St. Helens. Despite the manifest power of the local government body to make or mar the prosperity of the town, a vast amount of indifference is shown year after year."
On the 2nd the London & North Western Railway was advertising in newspapers for tenders to construct a new bridge over the railway at Lea Green. Contractors wishing to win the commission to install the brickwork and masonry needed to be quick off the mark. They had to travel to Manchester to inspect the plans and specifications at Victoria Station and then send their tenders to Euston Station by November 15th.
As well as deterring and reacting to crime, police officers on their beat could also serve as firewatchers – and firefighters. At 4am on the 4th, a bobby in Bridge Street was walking near Barlow's cabinet-makers when he spotted flames inside. He forced his way into the workshop and extinguished the fire before any significant damage could be done. The building appeared to have been a lock-up and so would probably have burnt to the ground without his swift intervention.
Candles were routinely used in the 1870s with the obvious dangers – particularly when coming into contact with flammable clothing. Also on the 4th, what was described as an "old woman" from Gerard’s Bridge (which meant she was over 50!) accidentally set fire to her clothes with a candle. Upon noticing the flames, Mary Davies crept under a dresser to try and extinguish them – but without success. When her husband returned home, he found Mary's dead body in what was described as a "shocking condition".
On the 6th St Helens Petty Sessions were held and 26-year-old Olive Berry from Florida Road in Haydock and Sarah Greenall were convicted of stealing from St Helens Market and sent to prison for a month.
Also on the 6th, a meeting was held to discuss how St Helens could aid the sufferers of the disastrous fire at Chicago that three weeks earlier had destroyed much of the windy city. In fact it had been the breeze that had driven the fire to all quarters – aided by the large number of wooden buildings in Chicago. Even the pavements – or should I say sidewalks – were made of wood. A committee was formed and a subscription list for a relief fund was opened.
The outgoing Mayor of St Helens, Llewellyn Evans – a partner in the Pocket Nook chemical works Evans & McBryde – started the ball rolling by pledging £50. The large sum of £160 was immediately raised with church leaders asked to appeal to their congregations for further donations. One of the men present, Alderman James Harrison, urged the prior claim of the Wigan explosion fund saying that charity should begin at home – but found no supporters.
That brings me neatly to this week's final item, which is a quite extraordinary letter published in the Wigan Observer from a man living in Chicago called L. Morton. The Wigan expat had sent the missive to his brother in Ince and in it described the inferno in detail: "You will have seen by the cable despatches of the awful conflagration we had in this city a week ago last night. Some say that it was the most destructive fire that ever occurred in any city in the world. It has destroyed 1,800 acres of business and private residence property. It has destroyed from 80 to 100 blocks of business property, built of solid masonry.
"By a block, I mean a square of buildings say from Wellington-street [in Wigan], up Scholes, to Vauxhall-road, up Vauxhall-road to what is that street – Johnson-street is it? I forget – and then down to the “Wigan Arms.” There are about ten streets, half a mile long, with as large and massive buildings on both sides of the street as Lord, Castle, Bold, and Dale streets, Liverpool. Such a sight I never saw, nor never wish to see again. The reflection of the fire could be seen between sixty and seventy miles off.
"One side of the fire near where it began was only three blocks from my little home. It began on a little street called De Kooen-street, where was a little Irish shanty, behind which was a little barn, or shippon, as you call them. About nine o’clock on Sunday night the old woman of the house got a keroseen [sic] lamp, and went in the barn to milk the cow, and as she was milking, the cow kicked the lamp over, and set fire to the hay; the hay set fire to the barn, and a gale of wind from S.S.W. blowing at the time, the barn set fire to cottages around it, and burned them all excepting the cottage to which the barn was attached, and that remains as a monument from whence the fire of Chicago originated.
"It will never be known the number of persons who have been burned to death; they have now taken between 200 and 300 dead bodies out of the ruins, and the probability is that there will be more than twice that number. They say there were about 200 babies born whose mothers had been scared into premature confinement, and many mothers and babes died in consequence. Some 80,000 persons fled to the Praries [sic] to escape being burned to death, thirty of whom died from exposure and starvation the first night, and a great many have died since, although shelter has now been provided, and provisions, clothing, bedding, and everything necessary for their comfort is coming in by hundreds of car loads from Canada and every state in the Union.
"There is no scarcity of provisions; there is an abundance for every one in need. Free men who before the fire were worth their 100,000 dollars, are to-day not worth a cent. I have been fortunate in not getting burned out, but I have been unfortunate in losing my situation. Stanton and Co. had three magnificent stores laid in ruins, and how long I shall be without a situation I don't know. I was doing very well up to the fire. I was getting 70 dollars a month, and had got a nice comfortable home.
"The fire at last got to the waterworks which supplies the city with water; burned the engines and stopped their working; then the fire engines could not play, and the fire was left to pursue its own mad career, until it went out for want of material to burn. Patrol men have been organised all over the city at night. I was on three nights, and we had instructions to shoot or hang upon the nearest lamppost any man we caught setting fire to anything combustible.
"As soon as the fire was known thieves, burglars, and pickpockets started from New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, and here we have them all over the city. There have been seventy-one churches burned, and nine public schools, four stories high. Marshal law is proclaimed over the burning portion of the city, and anyone caught taking anything valuable therefrom would be shot. There are 2,000 soldiers under General Sheridan in the city. President Grant was here on Friday last."
Next week's stories will include a horrendous death at a St Helens chemical works, the Billinge clog killing, the Newton 9-hour employment rule, a new mayor is elected for St Helens and the local election impersonators.
This week's stories include the old woman from Gerards Bridge who set herself on fire with a candle, how swift action in Bridge Street prevented a major blaze, the St Helens miners' demand for more pay, a Chicago relief fund is opened and what might well have been the last corrupt council election takes place in St Helens.
We begin on November 1st with a brief report in the Liverpool Mercury that stated that post offices for the "transaction of telegraph business" had opened at Rainford and Golborne.
Although I don't expect there was much business to begin with, a telegraph office would mean that St Helens Fire Brigade could be sent a telegram requesting assistance when needed, expediting the process of putting out fires.
Then, with Rainford and Golborne being situated outside of the St Helens borough, the brigade would send in a bill for their services and the arguing would begin!
At the start of 1869 a miners' trade union barely existed in St Helens. However in March of that year a meeting had taken place at the White Lion Hotel in Church Street (on the corner of Hall Street) where the union was revived.
The recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Ashton, Norley and Hindley were concentrating minds and only in September a gas explosion at Ince had taken the lives of 70 more men and boys.
During 1871, a total of 1,075 men and boys were killed in mining accidents in Great Britain.
This figure comprised 269 deaths from colliery explosions; 435 from pit roof falls; 123 down shafts; 176 in miscellaneous other accidents underground and a further 72 fatalities took place at the surface.
As well as improved safety, the men undertaking such dangerous work understandably wanted more pay and in September they thought they'd achieved a big victory.
The colliery "masters" had conceded to their demand for a 10% wage rise that would be funded by an equivalent increase in the price of coal.
But although the cost of coal had risen by 10%, the men's wages had only increased by 7%.
So on the 1st a large meeting of miners from St Helens and Haydock was held "for the purpose of agitating for the ten per cent advance promised by the masters".
Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to seek the amount withheld and a petition was adopted that would be presented to the House of Commons.
Newspapers stated that the petition would "pray for a better inspection of mines, the right demand payment by weight, and other points of the miners' programme."
Also on the 1st, the last open council elections in St Helens – barring by-elections – were held.
At the next round of elections in November 1872, there would be no public record of which candidate the town's citizens had voted for – as the secret ballot was being introduced.
In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "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."
After this week's election had taken place, the Wigan Observer wrote: "Much interest was excited in the various wards, particularly in four, in which the seats were contested, and the streets near the booths had a lively aspect up to the close of the poll. All went off peaceably."
However, the St Helens Newspaper recorded general disinterest overall in the town, when compared to General Elections, writing:
"It is a well-established fact that municipal changes arouse but small interest in St. Helens. Despite the manifest power of the local government body to make or mar the prosperity of the town, a vast amount of indifference is shown year after year."
William Morton – the man accused in the 1870 election of corruptly buying drinks at the Star Inn in Liverpool Road (which had served as polling station) – this year increased his majority, possibly by increasing his slush fund.
During the 1872 council elections in St Helens, after the introduction of the secret ballot, the voter turnout decreased even further.
That suggests that the new secrecy laws reduced the alcoholic (and, perhaps, financial) incentives on offer to voters and consequently diminished interest.
On the 2nd the London & North Western Railway was advertising in newspapers for tenders to construct a new bridge over the railway at Lea Green.
Contractors wishing to win the commission to install the brickwork and masonry needed to be quick off the mark.
They had to travel to Manchester to inspect the plans and specifications at Victoria Station and then send their tenders to Euston Station by November 15th.
Candles were routinely used in the 1870s with the obvious dangers – particularly when coming into contact with flammable clothing.
As well as deterring and reacting to crime, police officers on their beat could also serve as firewatchers – and firefighters.
At 4am on the 4th, a bobby in Bridge Street was walking near Barlow's cabinet-makers when he spotted flames inside.
He forced his way into the workshop and extinguished the fire before any significant damage could be done.
The building appeared to have been a lock-up and so would probably have burnt to the ground without his swift intervention.
Also on the 4th, what was described as an "old woman" from Gerard’s Bridge (which meant she was over 50!) accidentally set fire to her clothes with a candle.
Upon noticing the flames, Mary Davies crept under a dresser to try and extinguish them – but without success.
When her husband returned home, he found Mary's dead body in what was described as a "shocking condition".
On the 6th St Helens Petty Sessions were held and 26-year-old Olive Berry from Florida Road in Haydock and Sarah Greenall were convicted of stealing from St Helens Market and sent to prison for a month.
Also on the 6th, a meeting was held to discuss how St Helens could aid the sufferers of the extraordinary fire at Chicago that three weeks earlier had destroyed much of the windy city.
In fact it had been the breeze that had driven the fire to all quarters – aided by the large number of wooden buildings in Chicago. Even the pavements – or should I say sidewalks – were made of wood.
A committee was formed and a subscription list for a relief fund was opened.
The outgoing Mayor of St Helens, Llewellyn Evans – a partner in the Pocket Nook chemical works Evans & McBryde – started the ball rolling by pledging £50.
The large sum of £160 was immediately raised with church leaders asked to appeal to their congregations for further donations.
One of the men present, Alderman James Harrison, urged the prior claim of the Wigan explosion fund saying that charity should begin at home – but found no supporters.
That brings me neatly to this week's final item, which is a quite extraordinary letter published in the Wigan Observer from a man living in Chicago called L. Morton.
The Wigan expat had sent the missive to his brother in Ince and in it described the inferno in detail:
"You will have seen by the cable despatches of the awful conflagration we had in this city a week ago last night. Some say that it was the most destructive fire that ever occurred in any city in the world.
"It has destroyed 1,800 acres of business and private residence property. It has destroyed from 80 to 100 blocks of business property, built of solid masonry.
"By a block, I mean a square of buildings say from Wellington-street [in Wigan], up Scholes, to Vauxhall-road, up Vauxhall-road to what is that street – Johnson-street is it? I forget – and then down to the “Wigan Arms.”
"There are about ten streets, half a mile long, with as large and massive buildings on both sides of the street as Lord, Castle, Bold, and Dale streets, Liverpool.
"Such a sight I never saw, nor never wish to see again. The reflection of the fire could be seen between sixty and seventy miles off.
"One side of the fire near where it began was only three blocks from my little home. It began on a little street called De Kooen-street, where was a little Irish shanty, behind which was a little barn, or shippon, as you call them.
"About nine o’clock on Sunday night the old woman of the house got a keroseen [sic] lamp, and went in the barn to milk the cow, and as she was milking, the cow kicked the lamp over, and set fire to the hay; the hay set fire to the barn, and a gale of wind from S.S.W. blowing at the time, the barn set fire to cottages around it, and burned them all excepting the cottage to which the barn was attached, and that remains as a monument from whence the fire of Chicago originated.
"It will never be known the number of persons who have been burned to death; they have now taken between 200 and 300 dead bodies out of the ruins, and the probability is that there will be more than twice that number.
"They say there were about 200 babies born whose mothers had been scared into premature confinement, and many mothers and babes died in consequence.
"Some 80,000 persons fled to the Praries [sic] to escape being burned to death, thirty of whom died from exposure and starvation the first night, and a great many have died since, although shelter has now been provided, and provisions, clothing, bedding, and everything necessary for their comfort is coming in by hundreds of car loads from Canada and every state in the Union.
"There is no scarcity of provisions; there is an abundance for every one in need. Free men who before the fire were worth their 100,000 dollars, are to-day not worth a cent.
"I have been fortunate in not getting burned out, but I have been unfortunate in losing my situation.
"Stanton and Co. had three magnificent stores laid in ruins, and how long I shall be without a situation I don't know. I was doing very well up to the fire. I was getting 70 dollars a month, and had got a nice comfortable home.
"The fire at last got to the waterworks which supplies the city with water; burned the engines and stopped their working; then the fire engines could not play, and the fire was left to pursue its own mad career, until it went out for want of material to burn.
"Patrol men have been organised all over the city at night. I was on three nights, and we had instructions to shoot or hang upon the nearest lamppost any man we caught setting fire to anything combustible.
"As soon as the fire was known thieves, burglars, and pickpockets started from New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, and here we have them all over the city.
"There have been seventy-one churches burned, and nine public schools, four stories high.
"Marshal law is proclaimed over the burning portion of the city, and anyone caught taking anything valuable therefrom would be shot.
"There are 2,000 soldiers under General Sheridan in the city. President Grant was here on Friday last."
Next week's stories will include a horrendous death at a St Helens chemical works, the Billinge clog killing, the Newton 9-hour employment rule, a new mayor is elected for St Helens and the local election impersonators.
We begin on November 1st with a brief report in the Liverpool Mercury that stated that post offices for the "transaction of telegraph business" had opened at Rainford and Golborne.
Although I don't expect there was much business to begin with, a telegraph office would mean that St Helens Fire Brigade could be sent a telegram requesting assistance when needed, expediting the process of putting out fires.
Then, with Rainford and Golborne being situated outside of the St Helens borough, the brigade would send in a bill for their services and the arguing would begin!
At the start of 1869 a miners' trade union barely existed in St Helens. However in March of that year a meeting had taken place at the White Lion Hotel in Church Street (on the corner of Hall Street) where the union was revived.
The recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Ashton, Norley and Hindley were concentrating minds and only in September a gas explosion at Ince had taken the lives of 70 more men and boys.
During 1871, a total of 1,075 men and boys were killed in mining accidents in Great Britain.
This figure comprised 269 deaths from colliery explosions; 435 from pit roof falls; 123 down shafts; 176 in miscellaneous other accidents underground and a further 72 fatalities took place at the surface.
As well as improved safety, the men undertaking such dangerous work understandably wanted more pay and in September they thought they'd achieved a big victory.
The colliery "masters" had conceded to their demand for a 10% wage rise that would be funded by an equivalent increase in the price of coal.
But although the cost of coal had risen by 10%, the men's wages had only increased by 7%.
So on the 1st a large meeting of miners from St Helens and Haydock was held "for the purpose of agitating for the ten per cent advance promised by the masters".
Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to seek the amount withheld and a petition was adopted that would be presented to the House of Commons.
Newspapers stated that the petition would "pray for a better inspection of mines, the right demand payment by weight, and other points of the miners' programme."
Also on the 1st, the last open council elections in St Helens – barring by-elections – were held.
At the next round of elections in November 1872, there would be no public record of which candidate the town's citizens had voted for – as the secret ballot was being introduced.
In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "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."
After this week's election had taken place, the Wigan Observer wrote: "Much interest was excited in the various wards, particularly in four, in which the seats were contested, and the streets near the booths had a lively aspect up to the close of the poll. All went off peaceably."
However, the St Helens Newspaper recorded general disinterest overall in the town, when compared to General Elections, writing:
"It is a well-established fact that municipal changes arouse but small interest in St. Helens. Despite the manifest power of the local government body to make or mar the prosperity of the town, a vast amount of indifference is shown year after year."
During the 1872 council elections in St Helens, after the introduction of the secret ballot, the voter turnout decreased even further.
That suggests that the new secrecy laws reduced the alcoholic (and, perhaps, financial) incentives on offer to voters and consequently diminished interest.
On the 2nd the London & North Western Railway was advertising in newspapers for tenders to construct a new bridge over the railway at Lea Green.
Contractors wishing to win the commission to install the brickwork and masonry needed to be quick off the mark.
They had to travel to Manchester to inspect the plans and specifications at Victoria Station and then send their tenders to Euston Station by November 15th.
Candles were routinely used in the 1870s with the obvious dangers – particularly when coming into contact with flammable clothing.
As well as deterring and reacting to crime, police officers on their beat could also serve as firewatchers – and firefighters.
At 4am on the 4th, a bobby in Bridge Street was walking near Barlow's cabinet-makers when he spotted flames inside.
He forced his way into the workshop and extinguished the fire before any significant damage could be done.
The building appeared to have been a lock-up and so would probably have burnt to the ground without his swift intervention.
Also on the 4th, what was described as an "old woman" from Gerard’s Bridge (which meant she was over 50!) accidentally set fire to her clothes with a candle.
Upon noticing the flames, Mary Davies crept under a dresser to try and extinguish them – but without success.
When her husband returned home, he found Mary's dead body in what was described as a "shocking condition".
On the 6th St Helens Petty Sessions were held and 26-year-old Olive Berry from Florida Road in Haydock and Sarah Greenall were convicted of stealing from St Helens Market and sent to prison for a month.
Also on the 6th, a meeting was held to discuss how St Helens could aid the sufferers of the extraordinary fire at Chicago that three weeks earlier had destroyed much of the windy city.
In fact it had been the breeze that had driven the fire to all quarters – aided by the large number of wooden buildings in Chicago. Even the pavements – or should I say sidewalks – were made of wood.
A committee was formed and a subscription list for a relief fund was opened.
The outgoing Mayor of St Helens, Llewellyn Evans – a partner in the Pocket Nook chemical works Evans & McBryde – started the ball rolling by pledging £50.
The large sum of £160 was immediately raised with church leaders asked to appeal to their congregations for further donations.
One of the men present, Alderman James Harrison, urged the prior claim of the Wigan explosion fund saying that charity should begin at home – but found no supporters.
That brings me neatly to this week's final item, which is a quite extraordinary letter published in the Wigan Observer from a man living in Chicago called L. Morton.
The Wigan expat had sent the missive to his brother in Ince and in it described the inferno in detail:
"You will have seen by the cable despatches of the awful conflagration we had in this city a week ago last night. Some say that it was the most destructive fire that ever occurred in any city in the world.
"It has destroyed 1,800 acres of business and private residence property. It has destroyed from 80 to 100 blocks of business property, built of solid masonry.
"By a block, I mean a square of buildings say from Wellington-street [in Wigan], up Scholes, to Vauxhall-road, up Vauxhall-road to what is that street – Johnson-street is it? I forget – and then down to the “Wigan Arms.”
"There are about ten streets, half a mile long, with as large and massive buildings on both sides of the street as Lord, Castle, Bold, and Dale streets, Liverpool.
"Such a sight I never saw, nor never wish to see again. The reflection of the fire could be seen between sixty and seventy miles off.
"One side of the fire near where it began was only three blocks from my little home. It began on a little street called De Kooen-street, where was a little Irish shanty, behind which was a little barn, or shippon, as you call them.
"About nine o’clock on Sunday night the old woman of the house got a keroseen [sic] lamp, and went in the barn to milk the cow, and as she was milking, the cow kicked the lamp over, and set fire to the hay; the hay set fire to the barn, and a gale of wind from S.S.W. blowing at the time, the barn set fire to cottages around it, and burned them all excepting the cottage to which the barn was attached, and that remains as a monument from whence the fire of Chicago originated.
"It will never be known the number of persons who have been burned to death; they have now taken between 200 and 300 dead bodies out of the ruins, and the probability is that there will be more than twice that number.
"They say there were about 200 babies born whose mothers had been scared into premature confinement, and many mothers and babes died in consequence.
"Some 80,000 persons fled to the Praries [sic] to escape being burned to death, thirty of whom died from exposure and starvation the first night, and a great many have died since, although shelter has now been provided, and provisions, clothing, bedding, and everything necessary for their comfort is coming in by hundreds of car loads from Canada and every state in the Union.
"There is no scarcity of provisions; there is an abundance for every one in need. Free men who before the fire were worth their 100,000 dollars, are to-day not worth a cent.
"I have been fortunate in not getting burned out, but I have been unfortunate in losing my situation.
"Stanton and Co. had three magnificent stores laid in ruins, and how long I shall be without a situation I don't know. I was doing very well up to the fire. I was getting 70 dollars a month, and had got a nice comfortable home.
"The fire at last got to the waterworks which supplies the city with water; burned the engines and stopped their working; then the fire engines could not play, and the fire was left to pursue its own mad career, until it went out for want of material to burn.
"Patrol men have been organised all over the city at night. I was on three nights, and we had instructions to shoot or hang upon the nearest lamppost any man we caught setting fire to anything combustible.
"As soon as the fire was known thieves, burglars, and pickpockets started from New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, and here we have them all over the city.
"There have been seventy-one churches burned, and nine public schools, four stories high.
"Marshal law is proclaimed over the burning portion of the city, and anyone caught taking anything valuable therefrom would be shot.
"There are 2,000 soldiers under General Sheridan in the city. President Grant was here on Friday last."
Next week's stories will include a horrendous death at a St Helens chemical works, the Billinge clog killing, the Newton 9-hour employment rule, a new mayor is elected for St Helens and the local election impersonators.