150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 3 - 9 NOVEMBER 1875
This week's many stories include the start of St Helens Hospital's penny-a-week scheme, the painful death of a child in Parr, a Greenbank corner man appears in court, the harsh prison sentences imposed for stealing, the elderly man killed by a cart in Haydock and the wife who bashed a constable in Bridge Street with one of her husband's clogs.
We begin on the 6th when the St Helens Newspaper reported that a meeting had been held at the Ragged School in Arthur Street (which used to be near Westfield Street) to discuss a new fundraising initiative for what was then called St Helens Cottage Hospital. Founded in 1873 in Peasley Cross (some of its nurses are pictured above), the small infirmary was dependent for its income on donations and the small daily charge that each patient was asked to pay.
However, only a very small number of persons involved in accidents or suffering serious illness went into the hospital. But it wasn't just the daily charge of one shilling that deterred people. It was the longstanding convention that sick persons should be treated at home and the reality that all the hospital could provide was full-time nursing in a clean and quiet environment. However, that was something that often could not be found at home.
But the bob a day charge was certainly some deterrent to admissions and so the meeting discussed a proposal in which male workers would be exempt from the daily payment if they paid a form of medical insurance at their workplace. That would be one penny a week, with boys paying a halfpenny. Consultation had already taken place on the new scheme in many works and all were highly favourable of the idea. As a result the system was now being introduced in all of the works and mines in St Helens.
The meeting recommended that pay clerks should automatically stop the pennies and halfpennies from their workers' wages, rather than the amounts having to be collected from every man. The innovative penny-a-week payment would become an integral financing scheme for the hospital allowing it to significantly expand its operations prior to the creation of the NHS.
There was another bad case of burning from an open fire this week, which led to the death of Joshua Earlam. The 4-year-old from South John Street in Parr had been left playing in the kitchen next to the fire and somehow his shirt got ignited. The screams of the little boy's older sisters brought their mother downstairs and she quickly extinguished the flames. However, Joshua was severely burned about his breast and other parts of the body.
Such burnings were very common and there was next to nothing that doctors could do for such children who would usually die a day or two later. A particularly distressing aspect was that the lack of any pain relief meant there was often great suffering prior to death. The Newspaper described Joshua's demise 36 hours after getting burnt like this: "From the first all chance of recovery was hopeless, and the little fellow lingered in great pain until seven o’clock the next evening, when death put a period to his sufferings."
Many pedestrians died through coming into contact with horse-drawn vehicles that were often driven recklessly by young males. And elderly persons – not perhaps hearing or seeing the oncoming vehicle – were often the victims. This week Thomas Dagnall was driving a light spring-cart in Haydock when Philip Waring attempted to cross the road.
However, a wheel of the cart knocked down the 75-year-old. Young Thomas immediately jumped from his cart and assisted in carrying the injured man into a nearby cottage. He then drove to St Helens for medical aid but once Dr McNichol arrived on the scene the man was found to be dead.
When Robert Plunketh appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week, the police described him as one of a lot of "Greenbank corner men who loitered about street corners". The young man had been summoned to court for obstructing the footpath at the corner of Liverpool Street and using profane and abusive language to PC Smith.
The latter had told Plunketh – and about five or six other men – to move on but the defendant had refused, choosing instead to threaten the constable. Having been 14 times previously "in trouble", as it was stated in court, for various offences, Plunketh seemed to have a grudge against the police and was fined 25 shillings and costs.
William Roberts was another difficult customer who was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Ormskirk Street and assaulting two police constables. In describing Roberts' treatment of PC Archer, PC McGuiness said the man had "kicked him like a football up and down the streets and then tapped him with his head."
It took five constables to get the head-butting Roberts to the station and he was fined 5 shillings for the drunkenness. For the assault on the police, which was considered to have been severe, Roberts received 2 months in prison.
Sometimes wives got involved in their husbands' bouts with the police. PC Daniel Callister had found Patrick Fitzpatrick drunk in Bridge Street at 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon. The officer said he had asked the man to go away but instead Fitzpatrick had struck him and then dashed up the passage of a public house.
The constable chased after Fitzpatrick and brought him out into the street again but, in the struggle, the policeman was thrown to the ground. However, PC Callister managed to grab hold of his assailant's leg and brought him down. But at that point Ellen Fitzpatrick appeared and pulled off one of her husband's clogs and struck the constable on his head with it while he lay on the ground.
Eventually, PC Callister got the pair to the police station and in St Helens Petty Sessions, Ellen was fined 10 shillings and costs and ordered to find sureties for three months. And her husband Patrick Fitzpatrick was fined 25 shillings and costs, with the alternative of 1 month and 1 week in prison.
When John Burns appeared in court this week, William Wilding – who was the inspector at the St Helens railway station – stated that during the past week no fewer than 5 train carriage windows had been broken. Burns has only been responsible for one breakage after getting into a quarrel and sticking an elbow through a window and he was ordered to pay 7s 6d plus costs.
In explaining to the magistrates how he came to be assaulted, Thomas Farrell said his mother had sent him to the Prince of Wales public house in Ormskirk Street for a "little drop of something". Upon returning home, Thomas said he had been met by John Monaghan and four others and was knocked down and kicked on the right side of his head, causing it to bleed very much. For that Monaghan was fined 20 shillings and costs.
But in the 1870s stealing items was considered far worse than giving someone a brutal kicking in the head on a public street. St Helens persons charged with committing the most serious offences were committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions, which were held every 3 months at the combined Kirkdale Court / prison in Liverpool.
This week at Kirkdale, a 17-year-old labourer called James Welsh was found guilty of stealing a watch and other articles belonging to Joseph Lawrenson of Haydock and was given six months hard labour. The same penalty was imposed on George Simm for stealing 18 shillings from Ralph Hughes while in a public house at Blackbrook. And for breaking into the workshops of the Ravenhead Colliery Company and stealing some joiners' tools, 44-year-old Joseph Risley was also sentenced to six months in prison but without the backbreaking hard labour.
Incidentally, a total of 73 prisoners were dealt with at the Quarter Sessions. It was stated that of the 55 whose literacy status was known, 25 could neither read nor write and 23 were described as only being able to read and write imperfectly. Only one of the 55 prisoners was stated as being able to read and write well.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the curious tract-selling character who said he had a weak mind, Greenall's rent dinner takes place, the woman's clog attack in Liverpool Street and the men brought to book after deserting their wives.
However, only a very small number of persons involved in accidents or suffering serious illness went into the hospital. But it wasn't just the daily charge of one shilling that deterred people. It was the longstanding convention that sick persons should be treated at home and the reality that all the hospital could provide was full-time nursing in a clean and quiet environment. However, that was something that often could not be found at home.
But the bob a day charge was certainly some deterrent to admissions and so the meeting discussed a proposal in which male workers would be exempt from the daily payment if they paid a form of medical insurance at their workplace. That would be one penny a week, with boys paying a halfpenny. Consultation had already taken place on the new scheme in many works and all were highly favourable of the idea. As a result the system was now being introduced in all of the works and mines in St Helens.
The meeting recommended that pay clerks should automatically stop the pennies and halfpennies from their workers' wages, rather than the amounts having to be collected from every man. The innovative penny-a-week payment would become an integral financing scheme for the hospital allowing it to significantly expand its operations prior to the creation of the NHS.
There was another bad case of burning from an open fire this week, which led to the death of Joshua Earlam. The 4-year-old from South John Street in Parr had been left playing in the kitchen next to the fire and somehow his shirt got ignited. The screams of the little boy's older sisters brought their mother downstairs and she quickly extinguished the flames. However, Joshua was severely burned about his breast and other parts of the body.
Such burnings were very common and there was next to nothing that doctors could do for such children who would usually die a day or two later. A particularly distressing aspect was that the lack of any pain relief meant there was often great suffering prior to death. The Newspaper described Joshua's demise 36 hours after getting burnt like this: "From the first all chance of recovery was hopeless, and the little fellow lingered in great pain until seven o’clock the next evening, when death put a period to his sufferings."
Many pedestrians died through coming into contact with horse-drawn vehicles that were often driven recklessly by young males. And elderly persons – not perhaps hearing or seeing the oncoming vehicle – were often the victims. This week Thomas Dagnall was driving a light spring-cart in Haydock when Philip Waring attempted to cross the road.
However, a wheel of the cart knocked down the 75-year-old. Young Thomas immediately jumped from his cart and assisted in carrying the injured man into a nearby cottage. He then drove to St Helens for medical aid but once Dr McNichol arrived on the scene the man was found to be dead.
When Robert Plunketh appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week, the police described him as one of a lot of "Greenbank corner men who loitered about street corners". The young man had been summoned to court for obstructing the footpath at the corner of Liverpool Street and using profane and abusive language to PC Smith.
The latter had told Plunketh – and about five or six other men – to move on but the defendant had refused, choosing instead to threaten the constable. Having been 14 times previously "in trouble", as it was stated in court, for various offences, Plunketh seemed to have a grudge against the police and was fined 25 shillings and costs.
William Roberts was another difficult customer who was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Ormskirk Street and assaulting two police constables. In describing Roberts' treatment of PC Archer, PC McGuiness said the man had "kicked him like a football up and down the streets and then tapped him with his head."
It took five constables to get the head-butting Roberts to the station and he was fined 5 shillings for the drunkenness. For the assault on the police, which was considered to have been severe, Roberts received 2 months in prison.
Sometimes wives got involved in their husbands' bouts with the police. PC Daniel Callister had found Patrick Fitzpatrick drunk in Bridge Street at 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon. The officer said he had asked the man to go away but instead Fitzpatrick had struck him and then dashed up the passage of a public house.
The constable chased after Fitzpatrick and brought him out into the street again but, in the struggle, the policeman was thrown to the ground. However, PC Callister managed to grab hold of his assailant's leg and brought him down. But at that point Ellen Fitzpatrick appeared and pulled off one of her husband's clogs and struck the constable on his head with it while he lay on the ground.
Eventually, PC Callister got the pair to the police station and in St Helens Petty Sessions, Ellen was fined 10 shillings and costs and ordered to find sureties for three months. And her husband Patrick Fitzpatrick was fined 25 shillings and costs, with the alternative of 1 month and 1 week in prison.
When John Burns appeared in court this week, William Wilding – who was the inspector at the St Helens railway station – stated that during the past week no fewer than 5 train carriage windows had been broken. Burns has only been responsible for one breakage after getting into a quarrel and sticking an elbow through a window and he was ordered to pay 7s 6d plus costs.
In explaining to the magistrates how he came to be assaulted, Thomas Farrell said his mother had sent him to the Prince of Wales public house in Ormskirk Street for a "little drop of something". Upon returning home, Thomas said he had been met by John Monaghan and four others and was knocked down and kicked on the right side of his head, causing it to bleed very much. For that Monaghan was fined 20 shillings and costs.
But in the 1870s stealing items was considered far worse than giving someone a brutal kicking in the head on a public street. St Helens persons charged with committing the most serious offences were committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions, which were held every 3 months at the combined Kirkdale Court / prison in Liverpool.
This week at Kirkdale, a 17-year-old labourer called James Welsh was found guilty of stealing a watch and other articles belonging to Joseph Lawrenson of Haydock and was given six months hard labour. The same penalty was imposed on George Simm for stealing 18 shillings from Ralph Hughes while in a public house at Blackbrook. And for breaking into the workshops of the Ravenhead Colliery Company and stealing some joiners' tools, 44-year-old Joseph Risley was also sentenced to six months in prison but without the backbreaking hard labour.
Incidentally, a total of 73 prisoners were dealt with at the Quarter Sessions. It was stated that of the 55 whose literacy status was known, 25 could neither read nor write and 23 were described as only being able to read and write imperfectly. Only one of the 55 prisoners was stated as being able to read and write well.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the curious tract-selling character who said he had a weak mind, Greenall's rent dinner takes place, the woman's clog attack in Liverpool Street and the men brought to book after deserting their wives.
This week's many stories include the start of St Helens Hospital's penny-a-week scheme, the painful death of a child in Parr, a Greenbank corner man appears in court, the harsh prison sentences imposed for stealing, the elderly man killed by a cart in Haydock and the wife who bashed a constable in Bridge Street with one of her husband's clogs.
We begin on the 6th when the St Helens Newspaper reported that a meeting had been held at the Ragged School in Arthur Street (which used to be near Westfield Street) to discuss a new fundraising initiative for what was then called St Helens Cottage Hospital.
Founded in 1873 in Peasley Cross, the small infirmary (some of its nurses are pictured above) was dependent for its income on donations and the small daily charge that each patient was asked to pay.
However, only a very small number of persons involved in accidents or suffering serious illness went into the hospital.
But it wasn't just the daily charge of one shilling that deterred people.
It was the longstanding convention that sick persons should be treated at home and the reality that all the hospital could provide was full-time nursing in a clean and quiet environment.
However, that was something that often could not be found at home.
But the bob a day charge was certainly some deterrent to admissions and so the meeting discussed a proposal in which male workers would be exempt from the daily payment if they paid a form of medical insurance at their workplace.
That would be one penny a week, with boys paying a halfpenny.
Consultation had already taken place on the new scheme in many works and all were highly favourable of the idea.
As a result the system was now being introduced in all of the works and mines in St Helens.
The meeting recommended that pay clerks should automatically stop the pennies and halfpennies from their workers' wages, rather than the amounts having to be collected from every man.
The innovative penny-a-week payment would become an integral financing scheme for the hospital allowing it to significantly expand its operations prior to the creation of the NHS.
There was another bad case of burning from an open fire this week, which led to the death of Joshua Earlam.
The 4-year-old from South John Street in Parr had been left playing in the kitchen next to the fire and somehow his shirt got ignited.
The screams of the little boy's older sisters brought their mother downstairs and she quickly extinguished the flames.
However, Joshua was severely burned about his breast and other parts of the body.
Such burnings were very common and there was next to nothing that doctors could do for such children who would usually die a day or two later.
A particularly distressing aspect was that the lack of any pain relief meant there was often great suffering prior to death.
The Newspaper described Joshua's demise 36 hours after getting burnt like this:
"From the first all chance of recovery was hopeless, and the little fellow lingered in great pain until seven o’clock the next evening, when death put a period to his sufferings."
Many pedestrians died through coming into contact with horse-drawn vehicles that were often driven recklessly by young males.
And elderly persons – not perhaps hearing or seeing the oncoming vehicle – were often the victims.
This week Thomas Dagnall was driving a light spring-cart in Haydock when Philip Waring attempted to cross the road.
However, a wheel of the cart knocked down the 75-year-old. Young Thomas immediately jumped from his cart and assisted in carrying the injured man into a nearby cottage.
He then drove to St Helens for medical aid but once Dr McNichol arrived on the scene the man was found to be dead.
When Robert Plunketh appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week, the police described him as one of a lot of "Greenbank corner men who loitered about street corners".
The young man had been summoned to court for obstructing the footpath at the corner of Liverpool Street and using profane and abusive language to PC Smith.
The latter had told Plunketh – and about five or six other men – to move on but the defendant had refused, choosing instead to threaten the constable.
Having been 14 times previously "in trouble", as it was stated in court, for various offences, Plunketh seemed to have a grudge against the police and was fined 25 shillings and costs.
William Roberts was another difficult customer who was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Ormskirk Street and assaulting two police constables.
In describing Roberts' treatment of PC Archer, PC McGuiness said the man had "kicked him like a football up and down the streets and then tapped him with his head."
It took five constables to get the head-butting Roberts to the station and he was fined 5 shillings for the drunkenness.
For the assault on the police, which was considered to have been severe, Roberts received 2 months in prison.
Sometimes wives got involved in their husbands' bouts with the police. PC Daniel Callister had found Patrick Fitzpatrick drunk in Bridge Street at 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon.
The officer said he had asked the man to go away but instead Fitzpatrick had struck him and then dashed up the passage of a public house.
The constable chased after Fitzpatrick and brought him out into the street again but, in the struggle, the policeman was thrown to the ground.
However, PC Callister managed to grab hold of his assailant's leg and brought him down.
But at that point Ellen Fitzpatrick appeared and pulled off one of her husband's clogs and struck the constable on his head with it while he lay on the ground.
Eventually, PC Callister got the pair to the police station and in St Helens Petty Sessions, Ellen was fined 10 shillings and costs and ordered to find sureties for three months.
And her husband Patrick Fitzpatrick was fined 25 shillings and costs, with the alternative of 1 month and 1 week in prison.
When John Burns appeared in court this week, William Wilding – who was the inspector at the St Helens railway station – stated that during the past week no fewer than 5 train carriage windows had been broken.
Burns has only been responsible for one breakage after getting into a quarrel and sticking an elbow through a window and he was ordered to pay 7s 6d plus costs.
In explaining to the magistrates how he came to be assaulted, Thomas Farrell said his mother had sent him to the Prince of Wales public house in Ormskirk Street for a "little drop of something".
Upon returning home, Thomas said he had been met by John Monaghan and four others and was knocked down and kicked on the right side of his head, causing it to bleed very much. For that Monaghan was fined 20 shillings and costs.
But in the 1870s stealing items was considered far worse than giving someone a brutal kicking in the head on a public street.
St Helens persons charged with committing the most serious offences were committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions, which were held every 3 months at the combined Kirkdale Court / prison in Liverpool.
This week at Kirkdale, a 17-year-old labourer called James Welsh was found guilty of stealing a watch and other articles belonging to Joseph Lawrenson of Haydock and was given six months hard labour.
The same penalty was imposed on George Simm for stealing 18 shillings from Ralph Hughes while in a public house at Blackbrook.
And for breaking into the workshops of the Ravenhead Colliery Company and stealing some joiners' tools, 44-year-old Joseph Risley was also sentenced to six months in prison but without the backbreaking hard labour.
Incidentally, a total of 73 prisoners were dealt with at the Quarter Sessions. It was stated that of the 55 whose literacy status was known, 25 could neither read nor write and 23 were described as only being able to read and write imperfectly.
Only one of the 55 prisoners was stated as being able to read and write well.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the curious tract-selling character who said he had a weak mind, Greenall's rent dinner takes place, the woman's clog attack in Liverpool Street and the men brought to book after deserting their wives.
Founded in 1873 in Peasley Cross, the small infirmary (some of its nurses are pictured above) was dependent for its income on donations and the small daily charge that each patient was asked to pay.
However, only a very small number of persons involved in accidents or suffering serious illness went into the hospital.
But it wasn't just the daily charge of one shilling that deterred people.
It was the longstanding convention that sick persons should be treated at home and the reality that all the hospital could provide was full-time nursing in a clean and quiet environment.
However, that was something that often could not be found at home.
But the bob a day charge was certainly some deterrent to admissions and so the meeting discussed a proposal in which male workers would be exempt from the daily payment if they paid a form of medical insurance at their workplace.
That would be one penny a week, with boys paying a halfpenny.
Consultation had already taken place on the new scheme in many works and all were highly favourable of the idea.
As a result the system was now being introduced in all of the works and mines in St Helens.
The meeting recommended that pay clerks should automatically stop the pennies and halfpennies from their workers' wages, rather than the amounts having to be collected from every man.
The innovative penny-a-week payment would become an integral financing scheme for the hospital allowing it to significantly expand its operations prior to the creation of the NHS.
There was another bad case of burning from an open fire this week, which led to the death of Joshua Earlam.
The 4-year-old from South John Street in Parr had been left playing in the kitchen next to the fire and somehow his shirt got ignited.
The screams of the little boy's older sisters brought their mother downstairs and she quickly extinguished the flames.
However, Joshua was severely burned about his breast and other parts of the body.
Such burnings were very common and there was next to nothing that doctors could do for such children who would usually die a day or two later.
A particularly distressing aspect was that the lack of any pain relief meant there was often great suffering prior to death.
The Newspaper described Joshua's demise 36 hours after getting burnt like this:
"From the first all chance of recovery was hopeless, and the little fellow lingered in great pain until seven o’clock the next evening, when death put a period to his sufferings."
Many pedestrians died through coming into contact with horse-drawn vehicles that were often driven recklessly by young males.
And elderly persons – not perhaps hearing or seeing the oncoming vehicle – were often the victims.
This week Thomas Dagnall was driving a light spring-cart in Haydock when Philip Waring attempted to cross the road.
However, a wheel of the cart knocked down the 75-year-old. Young Thomas immediately jumped from his cart and assisted in carrying the injured man into a nearby cottage.
He then drove to St Helens for medical aid but once Dr McNichol arrived on the scene the man was found to be dead.
When Robert Plunketh appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week, the police described him as one of a lot of "Greenbank corner men who loitered about street corners".
The young man had been summoned to court for obstructing the footpath at the corner of Liverpool Street and using profane and abusive language to PC Smith.
The latter had told Plunketh – and about five or six other men – to move on but the defendant had refused, choosing instead to threaten the constable.
Having been 14 times previously "in trouble", as it was stated in court, for various offences, Plunketh seemed to have a grudge against the police and was fined 25 shillings and costs.
William Roberts was another difficult customer who was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Ormskirk Street and assaulting two police constables.
In describing Roberts' treatment of PC Archer, PC McGuiness said the man had "kicked him like a football up and down the streets and then tapped him with his head."
It took five constables to get the head-butting Roberts to the station and he was fined 5 shillings for the drunkenness.
For the assault on the police, which was considered to have been severe, Roberts received 2 months in prison.
Sometimes wives got involved in their husbands' bouts with the police. PC Daniel Callister had found Patrick Fitzpatrick drunk in Bridge Street at 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon.
The officer said he had asked the man to go away but instead Fitzpatrick had struck him and then dashed up the passage of a public house.
The constable chased after Fitzpatrick and brought him out into the street again but, in the struggle, the policeman was thrown to the ground.
However, PC Callister managed to grab hold of his assailant's leg and brought him down.
But at that point Ellen Fitzpatrick appeared and pulled off one of her husband's clogs and struck the constable on his head with it while he lay on the ground.
Eventually, PC Callister got the pair to the police station and in St Helens Petty Sessions, Ellen was fined 10 shillings and costs and ordered to find sureties for three months.
And her husband Patrick Fitzpatrick was fined 25 shillings and costs, with the alternative of 1 month and 1 week in prison.
When John Burns appeared in court this week, William Wilding – who was the inspector at the St Helens railway station – stated that during the past week no fewer than 5 train carriage windows had been broken.
Burns has only been responsible for one breakage after getting into a quarrel and sticking an elbow through a window and he was ordered to pay 7s 6d plus costs.
In explaining to the magistrates how he came to be assaulted, Thomas Farrell said his mother had sent him to the Prince of Wales public house in Ormskirk Street for a "little drop of something".
Upon returning home, Thomas said he had been met by John Monaghan and four others and was knocked down and kicked on the right side of his head, causing it to bleed very much. For that Monaghan was fined 20 shillings and costs.
But in the 1870s stealing items was considered far worse than giving someone a brutal kicking in the head on a public street.
St Helens persons charged with committing the most serious offences were committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions, which were held every 3 months at the combined Kirkdale Court / prison in Liverpool.
This week at Kirkdale, a 17-year-old labourer called James Welsh was found guilty of stealing a watch and other articles belonging to Joseph Lawrenson of Haydock and was given six months hard labour.
The same penalty was imposed on George Simm for stealing 18 shillings from Ralph Hughes while in a public house at Blackbrook.
And for breaking into the workshops of the Ravenhead Colliery Company and stealing some joiners' tools, 44-year-old Joseph Risley was also sentenced to six months in prison but without the backbreaking hard labour.
Incidentally, a total of 73 prisoners were dealt with at the Quarter Sessions. It was stated that of the 55 whose literacy status was known, 25 could neither read nor write and 23 were described as only being able to read and write imperfectly.
Only one of the 55 prisoners was stated as being able to read and write well.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the curious tract-selling character who said he had a weak mind, Greenall's rent dinner takes place, the woman's clog attack in Liverpool Street and the men brought to book after deserting their wives.