150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th March 1869)
This week's stories include a dramatic leap from a train near St Helens Junction, window smashing in Liverpool Road, Eccleston Penny Readings, the inmate of Whiston Workhouse who died from "overgorging" on pork, a Town Hall meeting to raise funds for families of dead miners and a bizarre gas experiment is conducted in Prescot.
We begin in the Prescot Reporter on the 6th with Lord Derby commenting on his stock of red deer within Knowsley Park. The 14th earl said he kept 300 deer at Knowsley with the heaviest stag he had ever killed weighing 30 stone 4 lb.
There was also an extraordinary letter published in the Prescot paper from someone calling himself "Blue Peter". He was responding to a letter in the Reporter from someone called "Blue Billy" who had complained that the Prescot gas supply was dangerous:
" Sirs, I read the remarks of your correspondent “Blue Billy”, with considerable interest, but some doubt. The doubt I determined to satisfy, and it occurred to me that I could do so very easily. Instead of lighting my chandelier at the usual time, I simply turned the gas on, and sat down determined to judge for myself whether the gas really was poisonous.
"I had not been sat down more than two or three minutes when I found the air in the room had become most polluted. I continued the experiment, however, determined that the trial should be a fair one, until I could only breathe with the greatest difficulty. Already the sensations I experienced were most painful. My head felt like “splitting”, and it was only with very great difficulty that I managed to walk to the door to open it.
"As soon as I could manage to get to the chandelier, I discontinued the experiment, fully satisfied that all Blue Billy says about the poisonous character of the gas is quite correct. I quite agree with him that the gas is poisonous, and if any one doubts the fact after hearing of my experiment, let him try it for himself as I did, and he will require no further argument. – Yours, etc., BLUE PETER, Prescot."
He would require no further argument, as he would probably be dead. Perhaps the brainless Blue Peter's next experiment was to set himself alight to see whether fire is dangerous?
On the 6th the Preston Herald wrote: "Thomas Swords, an old inmate of Prescot [Whiston] Workhouse, died from apoplexy the other day, through overgorging his stomach with pork. He “bolted” his food instead of chewing it." Apoplexy is essentially a stroke. Can you have a stroke by eating your food too quickly?
During the evening of the 6th another session of Eccleston Penny Readings took place in the Reading Room at Eccleston Lane Ends. These were regularly held in the township, as well as at Prescot and Peasley Cross. Penny Readings began in London in the 1850s and became hugely popular nationwide during the ‘60s, before declining in popularity.
It was a form of entertainment designed for the working class that featured readings from popular authors, songs and talks for the price of a penny. The Prescot Reporter said the programme of the Eccleston event had been "interspersed with moral and humorous readings, recitations, and songs, all of which were much enjoyed." One of the recitations had the title "Go tak thi ragged childer an flit".
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 8th Bernard Reilly was charged with breaking a window and assaulting Police Constable William Robinson. The man had been walking down Liverpool Road with his pal William Dean and upon passing William Hockenhall's butcher's shop, Reilly decided to smash a sheet of glass.
The pair was too drunk to notice that Constable Robinson was keeping an eagle eye on them and as the officer attempted an arrest, Reilly resisted and gave him a kick. The St Helens Newspaper wrote that the man "behaved in such a disorderly manner, that it took four constables to convey him to the station". The paper added in their report that Dean had attempted to prevent the arrest but "was walked off [to the station] for his brotherly kindness".
Also in court was Samuel Aspinall who was charged with "exposing his person" in Exchange Street and fined eight shillings. I don't think the man had been flashing; I expect the charge was a variation of "committing a nuisance", the usual euphemism for urinating in public.
"Indecent", could also be a police charge for a public pee, with some people unwisely doing it against the door of Superintendent Ludlam. The man in charge of St Helens police told the court that what the St Helens Newspaper called an "intolerable nuisance" often took place in Victoria Passage, off Bridge Street (pictured above).
This was especially so on Saturday nights and during the last weekend, James Ludlam's wife had seen James Waters and a man called Kennedy taking a leak against their door. The superintendent being off duty ordered the pair to leave but they refused and so he arrested them, with Kennedy choosing to assault the policeman. They were both fined for being drunk and indecent and for the assault.
Mathew Spencer was a cheesemonger with a stall not far from Exchange Street and he was accused of having a scale just a quarter of an ounce against the purchaser. His defence was that he was unaware of any "unjustness" and was wholly innocent of improper intent.
Spencer said he had seen the inspector going round the stalls and if he'd known his scales were wrong he could have easily fixed them. This didn't impress the Chairman of the Bench who fined him £3, saying the maximum penalty for this offence should be raised to £50.
A meeting was held in the Town Hall on the 8th in order to organise a fund to support the families of the large numbers of men killed in the recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Hindley and Norley. The Mayor, David Gamble, had published a notice in the St Helens Newspaper advertising the event in which he said he had received "a Memorial numerously and respectably signed" calling for the meeting.
In other words he had been sent a petition signed by people deemed respectable, with the implication that he would have taken no notice if common folk had signed it! A committee was created to raise funds and the Mayor – the owner of the Gerards Bridge Chemical Company – donated £20. Of course miners died almost daily in Lancashire and no special funds were created for their families.
At the Prescot Police Court on the 8th William Stirrup was charged with being drunk in Prescot and fined five shillings and court costs. Then a few hours later the wheelwright was arrested again for being drunk in Prescot and on the following morning was back in court and given exactly the same fine! However he also received a reprimand from the magistrate, which so far appears to have done the trick with no further court appearances listed.
Michael Dooley appeared in the court charged with begging in Prescot market place. The shopkeepers there had clearly taken pity on the man but he received no sympathy from the police and magistrates. Upon being searched Dooley was found to be in possession of 4½d, some bread, coffee, tea and sugar and for the crime of being hungry and thirsty was sent to prison for 7 days.
A 'Grand Miscellaneous Concert' took place in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street on the 8th in aid of the St Helens Order of Oddfellows' Widows and Orphans Fund. Top of the bill was soprano Elsie Clifford from Liverpool, who no doubt possessed a very strong, powerful voice. You needed one to fill a large hall in the days before amps and speakers.
A total of 1,500 people attended the event with the St Helens Newspaper writing: "Every seat in the hall was occupied, body and gallery presenting one mass of people." An attraction was a chap called 'Yeb Clogger', who gave a humorous performance in the Lancashire dialect. A transcript was made available on the following day for the price of a penny, with proceeds going towards the fund.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 9th described how a suspected con man had made a dramatic leap from a train near St Helens Junction. A corn merchant called Frederick Eyre had complained to a guard on a late night service to Liverpool that another passenger had swindled him out of a sovereign.
The guard called Henry Walker immediately had the train stopped and transferred the alleged swindler called George Langham into another carriage and locked him in. The train then proceeded for two miles when suddenly the guard saw the carriage door being opened from the inside.
The man had used a key of his own to open the door and immediately after exiting the compartment jumped off the train while it was travelling at full speed. Leaping off a moving train seems a doddle in Westerns with desperados rolling down embankments but apparently it is not so easy in real life. The Newspaper wrote:
"He must have been dashed to the ground with fearful violence, for he was found to be bleeding profusely from a number of wounds in the head." Langham was taken to Lime Street Station and then conveyed to the Royal Infirmary where a doctor diagnosed several skull fractures and he was reported as being unlikely to survive.
Next week's stories will include Whiston Workhouse's head nurse alleging tyranny from the master, a huge menagerie of elephants, lions, polar bears and camels comes to St Helens, a 12-year-old is treated harshly for stealing coal from Ravenhead, a shop worker appeals for early closing and the women in Hall Street who called each other filthy names.
We begin in the Prescot Reporter on the 6th with Lord Derby commenting on his stock of red deer within Knowsley Park. The 14th earl said he kept 300 deer at Knowsley with the heaviest stag he had ever killed weighing 30 stone 4 lb.
There was also an extraordinary letter published in the Prescot paper from someone calling himself "Blue Peter". He was responding to a letter in the Reporter from someone called "Blue Billy" who had complained that the Prescot gas supply was dangerous:
" Sirs, I read the remarks of your correspondent “Blue Billy”, with considerable interest, but some doubt. The doubt I determined to satisfy, and it occurred to me that I could do so very easily. Instead of lighting my chandelier at the usual time, I simply turned the gas on, and sat down determined to judge for myself whether the gas really was poisonous.
"I had not been sat down more than two or three minutes when I found the air in the room had become most polluted. I continued the experiment, however, determined that the trial should be a fair one, until I could only breathe with the greatest difficulty. Already the sensations I experienced were most painful. My head felt like “splitting”, and it was only with very great difficulty that I managed to walk to the door to open it.
"As soon as I could manage to get to the chandelier, I discontinued the experiment, fully satisfied that all Blue Billy says about the poisonous character of the gas is quite correct. I quite agree with him that the gas is poisonous, and if any one doubts the fact after hearing of my experiment, let him try it for himself as I did, and he will require no further argument. – Yours, etc., BLUE PETER, Prescot."
He would require no further argument, as he would probably be dead. Perhaps the brainless Blue Peter's next experiment was to set himself alight to see whether fire is dangerous?
On the 6th the Preston Herald wrote: "Thomas Swords, an old inmate of Prescot [Whiston] Workhouse, died from apoplexy the other day, through overgorging his stomach with pork. He “bolted” his food instead of chewing it." Apoplexy is essentially a stroke. Can you have a stroke by eating your food too quickly?
During the evening of the 6th another session of Eccleston Penny Readings took place in the Reading Room at Eccleston Lane Ends. These were regularly held in the township, as well as at Prescot and Peasley Cross. Penny Readings began in London in the 1850s and became hugely popular nationwide during the ‘60s, before declining in popularity.
It was a form of entertainment designed for the working class that featured readings from popular authors, songs and talks for the price of a penny. The Prescot Reporter said the programme of the Eccleston event had been "interspersed with moral and humorous readings, recitations, and songs, all of which were much enjoyed." One of the recitations had the title "Go tak thi ragged childer an flit".
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 8th Bernard Reilly was charged with breaking a window and assaulting Police Constable William Robinson. The man had been walking down Liverpool Road with his pal William Dean and upon passing William Hockenhall's butcher's shop, Reilly decided to smash a sheet of glass.
The pair was too drunk to notice that Constable Robinson was keeping an eagle eye on them and as the officer attempted an arrest, Reilly resisted and gave him a kick. The St Helens Newspaper wrote that the man "behaved in such a disorderly manner, that it took four constables to convey him to the station". The paper added in their report that Dean had attempted to prevent the arrest but "was walked off [to the station] for his brotherly kindness".
Also in court was Samuel Aspinall who was charged with "exposing his person" in Exchange Street and fined eight shillings. I don't think the man had been flashing; I expect the charge was a variation of "committing a nuisance", the usual euphemism for urinating in public.
This was especially so on Saturday nights and during the last weekend, James Ludlam's wife had seen James Waters and a man called Kennedy taking a leak against their door. The superintendent being off duty ordered the pair to leave but they refused and so he arrested them, with Kennedy choosing to assault the policeman. They were both fined for being drunk and indecent and for the assault.
Mathew Spencer was a cheesemonger with a stall not far from Exchange Street and he was accused of having a scale just a quarter of an ounce against the purchaser. His defence was that he was unaware of any "unjustness" and was wholly innocent of improper intent.
Spencer said he had seen the inspector going round the stalls and if he'd known his scales were wrong he could have easily fixed them. This didn't impress the Chairman of the Bench who fined him £3, saying the maximum penalty for this offence should be raised to £50.
A meeting was held in the Town Hall on the 8th in order to organise a fund to support the families of the large numbers of men killed in the recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock, Hindley and Norley. The Mayor, David Gamble, had published a notice in the St Helens Newspaper advertising the event in which he said he had received "a Memorial numerously and respectably signed" calling for the meeting.
In other words he had been sent a petition signed by people deemed respectable, with the implication that he would have taken no notice if common folk had signed it! A committee was created to raise funds and the Mayor – the owner of the Gerards Bridge Chemical Company – donated £20. Of course miners died almost daily in Lancashire and no special funds were created for their families.
At the Prescot Police Court on the 8th William Stirrup was charged with being drunk in Prescot and fined five shillings and court costs. Then a few hours later the wheelwright was arrested again for being drunk in Prescot and on the following morning was back in court and given exactly the same fine! However he also received a reprimand from the magistrate, which so far appears to have done the trick with no further court appearances listed.
Michael Dooley appeared in the court charged with begging in Prescot market place. The shopkeepers there had clearly taken pity on the man but he received no sympathy from the police and magistrates. Upon being searched Dooley was found to be in possession of 4½d, some bread, coffee, tea and sugar and for the crime of being hungry and thirsty was sent to prison for 7 days.
A 'Grand Miscellaneous Concert' took place in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street on the 8th in aid of the St Helens Order of Oddfellows' Widows and Orphans Fund. Top of the bill was soprano Elsie Clifford from Liverpool, who no doubt possessed a very strong, powerful voice. You needed one to fill a large hall in the days before amps and speakers.
A total of 1,500 people attended the event with the St Helens Newspaper writing: "Every seat in the hall was occupied, body and gallery presenting one mass of people." An attraction was a chap called 'Yeb Clogger', who gave a humorous performance in the Lancashire dialect. A transcript was made available on the following day for the price of a penny, with proceeds going towards the fund.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 9th described how a suspected con man had made a dramatic leap from a train near St Helens Junction. A corn merchant called Frederick Eyre had complained to a guard on a late night service to Liverpool that another passenger had swindled him out of a sovereign.
The guard called Henry Walker immediately had the train stopped and transferred the alleged swindler called George Langham into another carriage and locked him in. The train then proceeded for two miles when suddenly the guard saw the carriage door being opened from the inside.
The man had used a key of his own to open the door and immediately after exiting the compartment jumped off the train while it was travelling at full speed. Leaping off a moving train seems a doddle in Westerns with desperados rolling down embankments but apparently it is not so easy in real life. The Newspaper wrote:
"He must have been dashed to the ground with fearful violence, for he was found to be bleeding profusely from a number of wounds in the head." Langham was taken to Lime Street Station and then conveyed to the Royal Infirmary where a doctor diagnosed several skull fractures and he was reported as being unlikely to survive.
Next week's stories will include Whiston Workhouse's head nurse alleging tyranny from the master, a huge menagerie of elephants, lions, polar bears and camels comes to St Helens, a 12-year-old is treated harshly for stealing coal from Ravenhead, a shop worker appeals for early closing and the women in Hall Street who called each other filthy names.