150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 3 - 9 AUGUST 1876
This week's many stories include the clown cricketers that played in St Helens, the Parr assault that began with a dispute over a clothes-line, the dentist seeking to set up a surgery in a Church Street shop, the boys illegally bathing in Sutton Glass Works reservoir and the landlady of the Prince of Wales pub summons a customer to court.
Clown cricket was a curious phenomenon of the period. To help promote their appearances in towns, clown troupes would take on local cricket teams during the day. And clowns they might be at night on stage but when they played cricket in St Helens they always seemed to know how to play the game, easily outscoring their opponents.
This week Casey and Robson's Clowns were performing in the Volunteer Hall and on the 4th and 5th took on St Helens Cricket Club at their Dentons Green ground. The weather was fine and there was a good attendance of spectators on both days.
Teams in the 1870s were often not 11 a side and there were 14 clowns against 16 on the St Helens side. Such fixtures did appear to be only semi-serious and the St Helens Newspaper in its report commented on the comical side:
"The interest in the game both days were of course very much enhanced by the comicalities and eccentricities of the clowns, who never lost an opportunity of displaying some of their grotesque though graceful performances. Herr Bedenum's band, from Liverpool, was in attendance both days, and played several selections of operatic and other music."
There were the usual classified adverts in the St Helens Newspaper on the 5th. One was from a dentist who was seeking the hire of a room in or near Church Street for one afternoon a week. Qualified dentists in the 19th century don't seem to have attracted much business in St Helens.
Many people instead got their teeth pulled very cheaply by so-called lightning tooth extractors in the marketplace. Even a blacksmith or a barber might do the job. And so genuine practitioners charging much higher rates would often only visit towns for a few hours each week.
The dental advertiser in the Newspaper said he would prefer to hire a room in a chemist. That makes sense as his patients could easily obtain medicine. However, previously dentists had set up shop in Church Street inside Helen Scrymgeour's confectioners and James Brockbank's bootmakers, where it is hard to see any synergy with dentistry.
There was also an advert for a clerk of works at what appeared to be a new build. The successful candidate would be paid 28 shillings per week, despite the importance of the job.
And John Christian, who ran the St Helens Carriage Works, was seeking two respectable boys as apprentices, one for what was described as his smith's shop and the other for his paint shop. According to the 1871 census, Christian was then employing five men and seven boys at his works at 25 Ormskirk Street.
He had made his own bicycle for a while – but seemingly did not have sufficient buyers of the "curious vehicles" – as the St Helens Newspaper had called the new-fangled, expensive cycling machines.
"A good general servant, who understands her work", was also wanted. However, she had to be a Protestant. Although such discrimination would not be allowed in an advert today, the successful applicant would probably have been expected to accompany the family to church on Sundays to look after the children. And so from the employer's point of view, it made sense for their servant to be of the same religion.
Summonses that people took out against others accusing them of making threats to assault them often failed. Such offences were harder to prove than an actual assault and magistrates tended to feel that the language used was simply part of a row. And so when the landlady of the Prince of Wales Inn in Peckers Hill in Sutton brought such a charge against William Eden, she was up against it.
Ellen Kenyon said the defendant had entered her pub in the company of what she described as a "rough character from Bold". Shortly afterwards, William Eden's wife came into the inn and Mrs Kenyon told the man to go home with her.
At that point she claimed Eden became very abusive, chased her around the bar and but for the actions of other customers, she said he would have struck her as he was using very threatening language. But Eden's solicitor said the landlady had used offensive remarks about his wife and claimed that he had been peaceful while in the pub. And so the case was dismissed.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 7th, three Sutton boys called James Heyes, William Harrison and Joseph Bradbury pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal bathing in the reservoir belonging to the Sutton Glass Works. The latter's solicitor said as the defendants had pleaded guilty, he had been instructed not to press for a severe penalty.
He explained that the object of the prosecution was to protect his client from the annoyance caused by persons bathing in their reservoir. The three boys were ordered to pay the cost of the hearing and given a reprimand by the magistrates. Neighbour disputes were often played out in court and I do wonder how the parties got on with each other back home after their courtroom antics.
Elizabeth Whittle brought a summons against Christine Hoey accusing her neighbour in Parr of assaulting her. Elizabeth told the court that a dispute had broken out between the pair after her child had been accused of interfering with Christine's clothes that had been hanging on the line in the yard.
That was probably a communal yard shared by all the neighbours as a place for obtaining water from a tap and hanging out their clothes to dry. Such yards caused much friction between the women that used them. The interference of her washing upset Christine so much that she bashed Elizabeth with a bucket and while aiming another blow at her, she missed her target and instead broke her window.
On the following day Elizabeth asked Christine if she would pay for the window that she had smashed but instead she thumped her in the face with her fist! Christine Hoey was fined 5 shillings and costs. Whether that included the replacement cost of the broken window, was not reported.
Bickford, Smith & Company used to own what was known as a fuse or powder works at St Helens Junction in between Hills Moss Road and Normans Lane. They were the biggest British manufacturer of safety fuses that were used to ignite gunpowder and the invention saved many lives in St Helens' coalmines.
The company was based in Cornwall but in 1873 they bought the Sutton factory of Charles Davey & Co. – who made safety lamps for mines – and switched production to the making of safety fuses. The women who worked there were said to be called "powder monkeys". Bickfords' powder works at the Junction supplied the needs of collieries throughout the north of England and Scotland for about fifty years before closing shortly after WW1.
This week the company appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions to apply for a licence to operate. An Act had recently been passed requiring all firms dealing with explosives to register with the Home Office. Bickford, Smith & Co had already done so and the Home Secretary had issued a draft licence but it needed the local magistrates to approve it, which they duly did.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the constable who was seized by his moustache in Church Street, the iron spittoon that was used as a weapon in a Bridge Street beerhouse and a reluctant husband finally ties the knot.
Clown cricket was a curious phenomenon of the period. To help promote their appearances in towns, clown troupes would take on local cricket teams during the day. And clowns they might be at night on stage but when they played cricket in St Helens they always seemed to know how to play the game, easily outscoring their opponents.
This week Casey and Robson's Clowns were performing in the Volunteer Hall and on the 4th and 5th took on St Helens Cricket Club at their Dentons Green ground. The weather was fine and there was a good attendance of spectators on both days.
Teams in the 1870s were often not 11 a side and there were 14 clowns against 16 on the St Helens side. Such fixtures did appear to be only semi-serious and the St Helens Newspaper in its report commented on the comical side:
"The interest in the game both days were of course very much enhanced by the comicalities and eccentricities of the clowns, who never lost an opportunity of displaying some of their grotesque though graceful performances. Herr Bedenum's band, from Liverpool, was in attendance both days, and played several selections of operatic and other music."
There were the usual classified adverts in the St Helens Newspaper on the 5th. One was from a dentist who was seeking the hire of a room in or near Church Street for one afternoon a week. Qualified dentists in the 19th century don't seem to have attracted much business in St Helens.
The dental advertiser in the Newspaper said he would prefer to hire a room in a chemist. That makes sense as his patients could easily obtain medicine. However, previously dentists had set up shop in Church Street inside Helen Scrymgeour's confectioners and James Brockbank's bootmakers, where it is hard to see any synergy with dentistry.
There was also an advert for a clerk of works at what appeared to be a new build. The successful candidate would be paid 28 shillings per week, despite the importance of the job.
And John Christian, who ran the St Helens Carriage Works, was seeking two respectable boys as apprentices, one for what was described as his smith's shop and the other for his paint shop. According to the 1871 census, Christian was then employing five men and seven boys at his works at 25 Ormskirk Street.
He had made his own bicycle for a while – but seemingly did not have sufficient buyers of the "curious vehicles" – as the St Helens Newspaper had called the new-fangled, expensive cycling machines.
"A good general servant, who understands her work", was also wanted. However, she had to be a Protestant. Although such discrimination would not be allowed in an advert today, the successful applicant would probably have been expected to accompany the family to church on Sundays to look after the children. And so from the employer's point of view, it made sense for their servant to be of the same religion.
Summonses that people took out against others accusing them of making threats to assault them often failed. Such offences were harder to prove than an actual assault and magistrates tended to feel that the language used was simply part of a row. And so when the landlady of the Prince of Wales Inn in Peckers Hill in Sutton brought such a charge against William Eden, she was up against it.
Ellen Kenyon said the defendant had entered her pub in the company of what she described as a "rough character from Bold". Shortly afterwards, William Eden's wife came into the inn and Mrs Kenyon told the man to go home with her.
At that point she claimed Eden became very abusive, chased her around the bar and but for the actions of other customers, she said he would have struck her as he was using very threatening language. But Eden's solicitor said the landlady had used offensive remarks about his wife and claimed that he had been peaceful while in the pub. And so the case was dismissed.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 7th, three Sutton boys called James Heyes, William Harrison and Joseph Bradbury pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal bathing in the reservoir belonging to the Sutton Glass Works. The latter's solicitor said as the defendants had pleaded guilty, he had been instructed not to press for a severe penalty.
He explained that the object of the prosecution was to protect his client from the annoyance caused by persons bathing in their reservoir. The three boys were ordered to pay the cost of the hearing and given a reprimand by the magistrates. Neighbour disputes were often played out in court and I do wonder how the parties got on with each other back home after their courtroom antics.
Elizabeth Whittle brought a summons against Christine Hoey accusing her neighbour in Parr of assaulting her. Elizabeth told the court that a dispute had broken out between the pair after her child had been accused of interfering with Christine's clothes that had been hanging on the line in the yard.
That was probably a communal yard shared by all the neighbours as a place for obtaining water from a tap and hanging out their clothes to dry. Such yards caused much friction between the women that used them. The interference of her washing upset Christine so much that she bashed Elizabeth with a bucket and while aiming another blow at her, she missed her target and instead broke her window.
On the following day Elizabeth asked Christine if she would pay for the window that she had smashed but instead she thumped her in the face with her fist! Christine Hoey was fined 5 shillings and costs. Whether that included the replacement cost of the broken window, was not reported.
Bickford, Smith & Company used to own what was known as a fuse or powder works at St Helens Junction in between Hills Moss Road and Normans Lane. They were the biggest British manufacturer of safety fuses that were used to ignite gunpowder and the invention saved many lives in St Helens' coalmines.
The company was based in Cornwall but in 1873 they bought the Sutton factory of Charles Davey & Co. – who made safety lamps for mines – and switched production to the making of safety fuses. The women who worked there were said to be called "powder monkeys". Bickfords' powder works at the Junction supplied the needs of collieries throughout the north of England and Scotland for about fifty years before closing shortly after WW1.
This week the company appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions to apply for a licence to operate. An Act had recently been passed requiring all firms dealing with explosives to register with the Home Office. Bickford, Smith & Co had already done so and the Home Secretary had issued a draft licence but it needed the local magistrates to approve it, which they duly did.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the constable who was seized by his moustache in Church Street, the iron spittoon that was used as a weapon in a Bridge Street beerhouse and a reluctant husband finally ties the knot.
This week's many stories include the clown cricketers that played in St Helens, the Parr assault that began with a dispute over a clothes-line, the dentist seeking to set up a surgery in a Church Street shop, the boys illegally bathing in Sutton Glass Works reservoir and the landlady of the Prince of Wales pub summons a customer to court.
Clown cricket was a curious phenomenon of the period. To help promote their appearances in towns, clown troupes would take on local cricket teams during the day.
And clowns they might be at night on stage but when they played cricket in St Helens they always seemed to know how to play the game, easily outscoring their opponents.
This week Casey and Robson's Clowns were performing in the Volunteer Hall and on the 4th and 5th took on St Helens Cricket Club at their Dentons Green ground.
The weather was fine and there was a good attendance of spectators on both days.
Teams in the 1870s were often not 11 a side and there were 14 clowns against 16 on the St Helens side.
Such fixtures did appear to be only semi-serious and the St Helens Newspaper in its report commented on the comical side:
"The interest in the game both days were of course very much enhanced by the comicalities and eccentricities of the clowns, who never lost an opportunity of displaying some of their grotesque though graceful performances.
"Herr Bedenum's band, from Liverpool, was in attendance both days, and played several selections of operatic and other music."
There were the usual classified adverts in the St Helens Newspaper on the 5th.
One was from a dentist who was seeking the hire of a room in or near Church Street for one afternoon a week.
Qualified dentists in the 19th century don't seem to have attracted much business in St Helens.
Many people instead got their teeth pulled very cheaply by so-called lightning tooth extractors in the marketplace. Even a blacksmith or a barber might do the job.
And so genuine practitioners charging much higher rates would often only visit towns for a few hours each week.
The dental advertiser in the Newspaper said he would prefer to hire a room in a chemist. That makes sense as his patients could easily obtain medicine.
However, previously dentists had set up shop in Church Street inside Helen Scrymgeour's confectioners and James Brockbank's bootmakers, where it is hard to see any synergy with dentistry.
There was also an advert for a clerk of works at what appeared to be a new build.
The successful candidate would be paid 28 shillings per week, despite the importance of the job.
And John Christian, who ran the St Helens Carriage Works, was seeking two respectable boys as apprentices, one for what was described as his smith's shop and the other for his paint shop.
According to the 1871 census, Christian was then employing five men and seven boys at his works at 25 Ormskirk Street.
He had made his own bicycle for a while – but seemingly did not have sufficient buyers of the "curious vehicles" – as the St Helens Newspaper had called the new-fangled, expensive cycling machines.
"A good general servant, who understands her work", was also wanted. However, she had to be a Protestant.
Although such discrimination would not be allowed in an advert today, the successful applicant would probably have been expected to accompany the family to church on Sundays to look after the children.
And so from the employer's point of view, it made sense for their servant to be of the same religion.
Summonses that people took out against others accusing them of making threats to assault them often failed.
Such offences were harder to prove than an actual assault and magistrates tended to feel that the language used was simply part of a row.
And so when the landlady of the Prince of Wales Inn in Peckers Hill in Sutton brought such a charge against William Eden, she was up against it.
Ellen Kenyon said the defendant had entered her pub in the company of what she described as a "rough character from Bold".
Shortly afterwards, William Eden's wife came into the inn and Mrs Kenyon told the man to go home with her.
At that point she claimed Eden became very abusive, chased her around the bar and but for the actions of other customers, she said he would have struck her as he was using very threatening language.
But Eden's solicitor said the landlady had used offensive remarks about his wife and claimed that he had been peaceful while in the pub. And so the case was dismissed.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 7th, three Sutton boys called James Heyes, William Harrison and Joseph Bradbury pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal bathing in the reservoir belonging to the Sutton Glass Works.
The latter's solicitor said as the defendants had pleaded guilty, he had been instructed not to press for a severe penalty.
He explained that the object of the prosecution was to protect his client from the annoyance caused by persons bathing in their reservoir.
The three boys were ordered to pay the cost of the hearing and given a reprimand by the magistrates.
Neighbour disputes were often played out in court and I do wonder how the parties got on with each other back home after their courtroom antics.
Elizabeth Whittle brought a summons against Christine Hoey accusing her neighbour in Parr of assaulting her.
Elizabeth told the court that a dispute had broken out between the pair after her child had been accused of interfering with Christine's clothes that had been hanging on the line in the yard.
That was probably a communal yard shared by all the neighbours as a place for obtaining water from a tap and hanging out their clothes to dry.
Such yards caused much friction between the women that used them.
The interference of her washing upset Christine so much that she bashed Elizabeth with a bucket and while aiming another blow at her, she missed her target and instead broke her window.
On the following day Elizabeth asked Christine if she would pay for the window that she had smashed but instead she thumped her in the face with her fist!
Christine Hoey was fined 5 shillings and costs. Whether that included the replacement cost of the broken window, was not reported.
Bickford, Smith & Company used to own what was known as a fuse or powder works at St Helens Junction in between Hills Moss Road and Normans Lane.
They were the biggest British manufacturer of safety fuses that were used to ignite gunpowder and the invention saved many lives in St Helens' coalmines.
The company was based in Cornwall but in 1873 they bought the Sutton factory of Charles Davey & Co. – who made safety lamps for mines – and switched production to the making of safety fuses.
The women who worked there were said to be called "powder monkeys".
Bickfords' powder works at the Junction supplied the needs of collieries throughout the north of England and Scotland for about fifty years before closing shortly after WW1.
This week the company appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions to apply for a licence to operate.
An Act had recently been passed requiring all firms dealing with explosives to register with the Home Office.
Bickford, Smith & Co had already done so and the Home Secretary had issued a draft licence but it needed the local magistrates to approve it, which they duly did.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the constable who was seized by his moustache in Church Street, the iron spittoon that was used as a weapon in a Bridge Street beerhouse and a reluctant husband finally ties the knot.
Clown cricket was a curious phenomenon of the period. To help promote their appearances in towns, clown troupes would take on local cricket teams during the day.
And clowns they might be at night on stage but when they played cricket in St Helens they always seemed to know how to play the game, easily outscoring their opponents.
This week Casey and Robson's Clowns were performing in the Volunteer Hall and on the 4th and 5th took on St Helens Cricket Club at their Dentons Green ground.
The weather was fine and there was a good attendance of spectators on both days.
Teams in the 1870s were often not 11 a side and there were 14 clowns against 16 on the St Helens side.
Such fixtures did appear to be only semi-serious and the St Helens Newspaper in its report commented on the comical side:
"The interest in the game both days were of course very much enhanced by the comicalities and eccentricities of the clowns, who never lost an opportunity of displaying some of their grotesque though graceful performances.
"Herr Bedenum's band, from Liverpool, was in attendance both days, and played several selections of operatic and other music."
There were the usual classified adverts in the St Helens Newspaper on the 5th.
One was from a dentist who was seeking the hire of a room in or near Church Street for one afternoon a week.
Qualified dentists in the 19th century don't seem to have attracted much business in St Helens.
And so genuine practitioners charging much higher rates would often only visit towns for a few hours each week.
The dental advertiser in the Newspaper said he would prefer to hire a room in a chemist. That makes sense as his patients could easily obtain medicine.
However, previously dentists had set up shop in Church Street inside Helen Scrymgeour's confectioners and James Brockbank's bootmakers, where it is hard to see any synergy with dentistry.
There was also an advert for a clerk of works at what appeared to be a new build.
The successful candidate would be paid 28 shillings per week, despite the importance of the job.
And John Christian, who ran the St Helens Carriage Works, was seeking two respectable boys as apprentices, one for what was described as his smith's shop and the other for his paint shop.
According to the 1871 census, Christian was then employing five men and seven boys at his works at 25 Ormskirk Street.
He had made his own bicycle for a while – but seemingly did not have sufficient buyers of the "curious vehicles" – as the St Helens Newspaper had called the new-fangled, expensive cycling machines.
"A good general servant, who understands her work", was also wanted. However, she had to be a Protestant.
Although such discrimination would not be allowed in an advert today, the successful applicant would probably have been expected to accompany the family to church on Sundays to look after the children.
And so from the employer's point of view, it made sense for their servant to be of the same religion.
Summonses that people took out against others accusing them of making threats to assault them often failed.
Such offences were harder to prove than an actual assault and magistrates tended to feel that the language used was simply part of a row.
And so when the landlady of the Prince of Wales Inn in Peckers Hill in Sutton brought such a charge against William Eden, she was up against it.
Ellen Kenyon said the defendant had entered her pub in the company of what she described as a "rough character from Bold".
Shortly afterwards, William Eden's wife came into the inn and Mrs Kenyon told the man to go home with her.
At that point she claimed Eden became very abusive, chased her around the bar and but for the actions of other customers, she said he would have struck her as he was using very threatening language.
But Eden's solicitor said the landlady had used offensive remarks about his wife and claimed that he had been peaceful while in the pub. And so the case was dismissed.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 7th, three Sutton boys called James Heyes, William Harrison and Joseph Bradbury pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal bathing in the reservoir belonging to the Sutton Glass Works.
The latter's solicitor said as the defendants had pleaded guilty, he had been instructed not to press for a severe penalty.
He explained that the object of the prosecution was to protect his client from the annoyance caused by persons bathing in their reservoir.
The three boys were ordered to pay the cost of the hearing and given a reprimand by the magistrates.
Neighbour disputes were often played out in court and I do wonder how the parties got on with each other back home after their courtroom antics.
Elizabeth Whittle brought a summons against Christine Hoey accusing her neighbour in Parr of assaulting her.
Elizabeth told the court that a dispute had broken out between the pair after her child had been accused of interfering with Christine's clothes that had been hanging on the line in the yard.
That was probably a communal yard shared by all the neighbours as a place for obtaining water from a tap and hanging out their clothes to dry.
Such yards caused much friction between the women that used them.
The interference of her washing upset Christine so much that she bashed Elizabeth with a bucket and while aiming another blow at her, she missed her target and instead broke her window.
On the following day Elizabeth asked Christine if she would pay for the window that she had smashed but instead she thumped her in the face with her fist!
Christine Hoey was fined 5 shillings and costs. Whether that included the replacement cost of the broken window, was not reported.
Bickford, Smith & Company used to own what was known as a fuse or powder works at St Helens Junction in between Hills Moss Road and Normans Lane.
They were the biggest British manufacturer of safety fuses that were used to ignite gunpowder and the invention saved many lives in St Helens' coalmines.
The company was based in Cornwall but in 1873 they bought the Sutton factory of Charles Davey & Co. – who made safety lamps for mines – and switched production to the making of safety fuses.
The women who worked there were said to be called "powder monkeys".
Bickfords' powder works at the Junction supplied the needs of collieries throughout the north of England and Scotland for about fifty years before closing shortly after WW1.
This week the company appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions to apply for a licence to operate.
An Act had recently been passed requiring all firms dealing with explosives to register with the Home Office.
Bickford, Smith & Co had already done so and the Home Secretary had issued a draft licence but it needed the local magistrates to approve it, which they duly did.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the constable who was seized by his moustache in Church Street, the iron spittoon that was used as a weapon in a Bridge Street beerhouse and a reluctant husband finally ties the knot.