150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 4 - 10 MAY 1876
This week's many stories include the arrangements for the opening of the new Town Hall, the spelling bee in Ormskirk Street, the death down St Helens Colliery, the man who attempted to saw another man's head off returns to court and two men deny allegations made against them following the deadly horse and trap accident.
We begin with another spelling bee, which had all of a sudden become highly popular within the St Helens district. The United Methodist Free Church of Ormskirk Street was the host and there were two classes, one for juveniles and the other for adults. Sixty youngsters competed for seven prizes, which included a framed portrait of Dr Livingstone, a framed oleograph, a book and vases.
Apparently, an oleograph is a print made to resemble an oil painting and they were popular during the latter years of the 19th century. Whether children would want to win an oleograph, I can't say – or a vase, come to that – although how to spell oleograph might have been a good question for their spelling bee! And thirteen adults competed for three prizes, which were a writing desk, a satchel and a book.
Although coal mining was a dangerous activity during the 20th century, it seems to have been pretty horrendous during the 19th. On the 4th James Bradbury was instantly killed down Pilkington's St Helens Colliery when seven cwt of coal fell upon his head.
Both his father and brother were working in the same mine and they took the 26-year-old James' body to his home in College Street for his wife and two children to grieve over. The two men had only resumed their duties that morning after having themselves been off work for several weeks through suffering accidents in the same pit.
In April 1875 a man called Henry Lee had attacked Samuel Wright at Peasley Cross Railway station. The St Helens Newspaper had used the headline "Attempt To Saw A Man's Head Off", to describe the shocking, unprovoked attack. When Lee appeared in court accused of committing the offence, he was only fined £5 for what the magistrates said had been a "grievous assault".
That was still a lot of money but if Lee had stolen the saw he would have been sentenced to a month or two in prison. As I wrote when covering the case last year, the 1870s were certainly strange times. Like Samuel Wright, Henry Lee worked at Sutton Glass Works and what he had done at Peasley Cross railway station had clearly not affected his job.
That was because Lee was back in court this week charged with striking Thomas Ashcroft over the head with a saw and inflicting a severe wound. They both worked as joiners at the glass works and Lee was only fined £2 and costs for his latest saw assault.
There were some very pedantic prosecutions that took place. Provisions dealer Peter Wright of Liverpool Road was summoned to the Petty Sessions this week for having a large box on the footway outside of his shop. However, PC Carter had to admit to the court that the box only projected 3 inches over the edge of the kerbstone and Wright's solicitor contended that it could not be proved who had placed the box there. He also insisted that it had not been causing any obstruction. Consequently the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
And a builder called E. A. Pemberton was prosecuted for allowing two loads of timber to be on the road in Westfield Street between 4 pm and 5:30 pm. But Mr Pemberton said the timber had been laid down for the purpose of getting it into his premises, as it had been too large to convey in carts. The charge was again dismissed.
Last week I described how Richard and Sarah Morris from Upholland had been involved in a serious trap accident while in St Helens. The couple had intended to visit Sarah's sister but as they were approaching Church Street, their horse had bolted at a furious rate. The trap's near wheels came into contact with a lamp post by the canal bridge. As a result, Mrs Morris received a severe blow to her head and within minutes the 26-year-old was dead.
Since the accident there had been much tongue-wagging as folk attempted to allocate blame. A letter published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 6th said that the cause of the accident had been the glaring white colour of the outside wall of a shoeing forge in Baldwin Street and claimed that a number of other horses had taken fright at that same place.
And accusations had been made that the landlord of the Ship Inn (pictured above) – near where Mrs Morris had come to grief – had refused to allow her to be brought into his pub to receive treatment. He was Thomas Reid, who in 1874 after taking over at the Ship had advertised himself as the "original old boots".
In this week's Newspaper, Reid had a letter published strongly refuting the claim. He said when Mrs Morris had been brought to his door he could see that she was already dead and had suggested that it would be better if her body lay in the sitting room of the adjacent house. He wrote:
"God forbid I should be one to prevent life being restored, or that I should be one to prevent any one from being brought into my house under such a sad affair. I think the public of St. Helens know me [to be a] better man than that I should be so inhuman." However, Mr Reid insisted that he had given much support to the bereaved Richard Morris.
And a Mr Littler had a letter published in which he denied that the horse had panicked as a result of seeing his whitewashed shoeing forge in Baldwin Street, claiming the animal had taken fright before reaching his premises. However, Littler offered to change the colour of his wall if there was any real objection to it, but he insisted that it had been white for years.
The Newspaper also carried a report on the latest meeting of the Town Hall Opening Committee. A ball, a banquet and a procession were the three main elements of the celebrations that were planned for the opening of the grand new civic centre in Corporation Street.
There was a lot of organising to do, although it probably did not require 27 men to be on the committee to do it! There might have even been more members, as that was the number that had turned up for the meeting. And despite the volume of members, it had to be admitted that they all had overlooked one important detail.
If the Town Hall was going to be ceremonially opened, they needed somebody to do it and they had forgotten to select anyone to ask. But that was easily fixed and they ultimately decided that the Mayor, Alderman James Radley, should be the one that turned a silver key in the lock of the Town Hall's front door.
It was also decided that the date of the opening be switched to Whit Monday, rather than be on the following day. Mrs Taylor of the Fleece Inn was commissioned to provide the meals for the banquet to be held after the opening, at a price of 15 shillings for each female guest and 25 shillings for every man. I don't know if the men were going to be served more expensive food or, perhaps, it was assumed they had bigger appetites than the ladies? Gardners String Band had also agreed to provide the music at the banquet for £9.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a report on the health dangers of the chemical waste heaps in St Helens, the water supply that had sand mixed in it, the workhouse children that received no exercise and there's criticism of dogs being taken out on chains.
We begin with another spelling bee, which had all of a sudden become highly popular within the St Helens district. The United Methodist Free Church of Ormskirk Street was the host and there were two classes, one for juveniles and the other for adults. Sixty youngsters competed for seven prizes, which included a framed portrait of Dr Livingstone, a framed oleograph, a book and vases.
Apparently, an oleograph is a print made to resemble an oil painting and they were popular during the latter years of the 19th century. Whether children would want to win an oleograph, I can't say – or a vase, come to that – although how to spell oleograph might have been a good question for their spelling bee! And thirteen adults competed for three prizes, which were a writing desk, a satchel and a book.
Although coal mining was a dangerous activity during the 20th century, it seems to have been pretty horrendous during the 19th. On the 4th James Bradbury was instantly killed down Pilkington's St Helens Colliery when seven cwt of coal fell upon his head.
Both his father and brother were working in the same mine and they took the 26-year-old James' body to his home in College Street for his wife and two children to grieve over. The two men had only resumed their duties that morning after having themselves been off work for several weeks through suffering accidents in the same pit.
In April 1875 a man called Henry Lee had attacked Samuel Wright at Peasley Cross Railway station. The St Helens Newspaper had used the headline "Attempt To Saw A Man's Head Off", to describe the shocking, unprovoked attack. When Lee appeared in court accused of committing the offence, he was only fined £5 for what the magistrates said had been a "grievous assault".
That was still a lot of money but if Lee had stolen the saw he would have been sentenced to a month or two in prison. As I wrote when covering the case last year, the 1870s were certainly strange times. Like Samuel Wright, Henry Lee worked at Sutton Glass Works and what he had done at Peasley Cross railway station had clearly not affected his job.
That was because Lee was back in court this week charged with striking Thomas Ashcroft over the head with a saw and inflicting a severe wound. They both worked as joiners at the glass works and Lee was only fined £2 and costs for his latest saw assault.
There were some very pedantic prosecutions that took place. Provisions dealer Peter Wright of Liverpool Road was summoned to the Petty Sessions this week for having a large box on the footway outside of his shop. However, PC Carter had to admit to the court that the box only projected 3 inches over the edge of the kerbstone and Wright's solicitor contended that it could not be proved who had placed the box there. He also insisted that it had not been causing any obstruction. Consequently the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
And a builder called E. A. Pemberton was prosecuted for allowing two loads of timber to be on the road in Westfield Street between 4 pm and 5:30 pm. But Mr Pemberton said the timber had been laid down for the purpose of getting it into his premises, as it had been too large to convey in carts. The charge was again dismissed.
Last week I described how Richard and Sarah Morris from Upholland had been involved in a serious trap accident while in St Helens. The couple had intended to visit Sarah's sister but as they were approaching Church Street, their horse had bolted at a furious rate. The trap's near wheels came into contact with a lamp post by the canal bridge. As a result, Mrs Morris received a severe blow to her head and within minutes the 26-year-old was dead.
Since the accident there had been much tongue-wagging as folk attempted to allocate blame. A letter published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 6th said that the cause of the accident had been the glaring white colour of the outside wall of a shoeing forge in Baldwin Street and claimed that a number of other horses had taken fright at that same place.
In this week's Newspaper, Reid had a letter published strongly refuting the claim. He said when Mrs Morris had been brought to his door he could see that she was already dead and had suggested that it would be better if her body lay in the sitting room of the adjacent house. He wrote:
"God forbid I should be one to prevent life being restored, or that I should be one to prevent any one from being brought into my house under such a sad affair. I think the public of St. Helens know me [to be a] better man than that I should be so inhuman." However, Mr Reid insisted that he had given much support to the bereaved Richard Morris.
And a Mr Littler had a letter published in which he denied that the horse had panicked as a result of seeing his whitewashed shoeing forge in Baldwin Street, claiming the animal had taken fright before reaching his premises. However, Littler offered to change the colour of his wall if there was any real objection to it, but he insisted that it had been white for years.
The Newspaper also carried a report on the latest meeting of the Town Hall Opening Committee. A ball, a banquet and a procession were the three main elements of the celebrations that were planned for the opening of the grand new civic centre in Corporation Street.
There was a lot of organising to do, although it probably did not require 27 men to be on the committee to do it! There might have even been more members, as that was the number that had turned up for the meeting. And despite the volume of members, it had to be admitted that they all had overlooked one important detail.
If the Town Hall was going to be ceremonially opened, they needed somebody to do it and they had forgotten to select anyone to ask. But that was easily fixed and they ultimately decided that the Mayor, Alderman James Radley, should be the one that turned a silver key in the lock of the Town Hall's front door.
It was also decided that the date of the opening be switched to Whit Monday, rather than be on the following day. Mrs Taylor of the Fleece Inn was commissioned to provide the meals for the banquet to be held after the opening, at a price of 15 shillings for each female guest and 25 shillings for every man. I don't know if the men were going to be served more expensive food or, perhaps, it was assumed they had bigger appetites than the ladies? Gardners String Band had also agreed to provide the music at the banquet for £9.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a report on the health dangers of the chemical waste heaps in St Helens, the water supply that had sand mixed in it, the workhouse children that received no exercise and there's criticism of dogs being taken out on chains.
This week's many stories include the arrangements for the opening of the new Town Hall, the spelling bee in Ormskirk Street, the death down St Helens Colliery, the man who attempted to saw another man's head off returns to court and two men deny allegations made against them following the deadly horse and trap accident.
We begin with another spelling bee, which had all of a sudden become highly popular within the St Helens district.
The United Methodist Free Church of Ormskirk Street was the host and there were two classes, one for juveniles and the other for adults.
Sixty youngsters competed for seven prizes, which included a framed portrait of Dr Livingstone, a framed oleograph, a book and vases.
Apparently, an oleograph is a print made to resemble an oil painting and they were popular during the latter years of the 19th century.
Whether children would want to win an oleograph, I can't say – or a vase, come to that – although how to spell oleograph might have been a good question for their spelling bee!
And thirteen adults competed for three prizes, which were a writing desk, a satchel and a book.
Although coal mining was a dangerous activity during the 20th century, it seems to have been pretty horrendous during the 19th.
On the 4th James Bradbury was instantly killed down Pilkington's St Helens Colliery when seven cwt of coal fell upon his head.
Both his father and brother were working in the same mine and they took the 26-year-old James' body to his home in College Street for his wife and two children to grieve over.
The two men had only resumed their duties that morning after having themselves been off work for several weeks through suffering accidents in the same pit.
In April 1875 a man called Henry Lee had attacked Samuel Wright at Peasley Cross Railway station.
The St Helens Newspaper had used the headline "Attempt To Saw A Man's Head Off", to describe the shocking, unprovoked attack.
When Lee appeared in court accused of committing the offence, he was only fined £5 for what the magistrates said had been a "grievous assault".
That was still a lot of money but if Lee had stolen the saw he would have been sentenced to a month or two in prison. As I wrote when covering the case last year, the 1870s were certainly strange times.
Like Samuel Wright, Henry Lee worked at Sutton Glass Works and what he had done at Peasley Cross railway station had clearly not affected his job.
That was because Lee was back in court this week charged with striking Thomas Ashcroft over the head with a saw and inflicting a severe wound.
They both worked as joiners at the glass works and Lee was only fined £2 and costs for his latest saw assault.
There were some very pedantic prosecutions that took place. Provisions dealer Peter Wright of Liverpool Road was summoned to the Petty Sessions this week for having a large box on the footway outside of his shop.
However, PC Carter had to admit to the court that the box only projected 3 inches over the edge of the kerbstone and Wright's solicitor contended that it could not be proved who had placed the box there.
He also insisted that it had not been causing any obstruction. Consequently the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
And a builder called E. A. Pemberton was prosecuted for allowing two loads of timber to be on the road in Westfield Street between 4 pm and 5:30 pm.
But Mr Pemberton said the timber had been laid down for the purpose of getting it into his premises, as it had been too large to convey in carts. The charge was again dismissed.
Last week I described how Richard and Sarah Morris from Upholland had been involved in a serious trap accident while in St Helens.
The couple had intended to visit Sarah's sister but as they were approaching Church Street, their horse had bolted at a furious rate.
The trap's near wheels came into contact with a lamp post by the canal bridge. As a result, Mrs Morris received a severe blow to her head and within minutes the 26-year-old was dead.
Since the accident there had been much tongue-wagging as folk attempted to allocate blame.
A letter published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 6th said that the cause of the accident had been the glaring white colour of the outside wall of a shoeing forge in Baldwin Street and claimed that a number of other horses had taken fright at that same place.
And accusations had been made that the landlord of the Ship Inn (pictured above) – near where Mrs Morris had come to grief – had refused to allow her to be brought into his pub to receive treatment.
He was Thomas Reid, who in 1874 after taking over at the Ship had advertised himself as the "original old boots".
In this week's Newspaper, Reid had a letter published strongly refuting the claim.
He said when Mrs Morris had been brought to his door he could see that she was already dead and had suggested that it would be better if her body lay in the sitting room of the adjacent house. He wrote:
"God forbid I should be one to prevent life being restored, or that I should be one to prevent any one from being brought into my house under such a sad affair. I think the public of St. Helens know me [to be a] better man than that I should be so inhuman."
However, Mr Reid insisted that he had given much support to the bereaved Richard Morris.
And a Mr Littler had a letter published in which he denied that the horse had panicked as a result of seeing his whitewashed shoeing forge in Baldwin Street, claiming the animal had taken fright before reaching his premises.
However, Littler offered to change the colour of his wall if there was any real objection to it, but he insisted that it had been white for years.
The Newspaper also carried a report on the latest meeting of the Town Hall Opening Committee.
A ball, a banquet and a procession were the three main elements of the celebrations that were planned for the opening of the grand new civic centre in Corporation Street.
There was a lot of organising to do, although it probably did not require 27 men to be on the committee to do it! There might have even been more members, as that was the number that had turned up for the meeting.
And despite the volume of members, it had to be admitted that they all had overlooked one important detail.
If the Town Hall was going to be ceremonially opened, they needed somebody to do it and they had forgotten to select anyone to ask.
But that was easily fixed and they ultimately decided that the Mayor, Alderman James Radley, should be the one that turned a silver key in the lock of the Town Hall's front door.
It was also decided that the date of the opening be switched to Whit Monday, rather than be on the following day.
Mrs Taylor of the Fleece Inn was commissioned to provide the meals for the banquet to be held after the opening, at a price of 15 shillings for each female guest and 25 shillings for every man.
I don't know if the men were going to be served more expensive food or, perhaps, it was assumed they had bigger appetites than the ladies?
Gardners String Band had also agreed to provide the music at the banquet for £9.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a report on the health dangers of the chemical waste heaps in St Helens, the water supply that had sand mixed in it, the workhouse children that received no exercise and there's criticism of dogs being taken out on chains.
We begin with another spelling bee, which had all of a sudden become highly popular within the St Helens district.
The United Methodist Free Church of Ormskirk Street was the host and there were two classes, one for juveniles and the other for adults.
Sixty youngsters competed for seven prizes, which included a framed portrait of Dr Livingstone, a framed oleograph, a book and vases.
Apparently, an oleograph is a print made to resemble an oil painting and they were popular during the latter years of the 19th century.
Whether children would want to win an oleograph, I can't say – or a vase, come to that – although how to spell oleograph might have been a good question for their spelling bee!
And thirteen adults competed for three prizes, which were a writing desk, a satchel and a book.
Although coal mining was a dangerous activity during the 20th century, it seems to have been pretty horrendous during the 19th.
On the 4th James Bradbury was instantly killed down Pilkington's St Helens Colliery when seven cwt of coal fell upon his head.
Both his father and brother were working in the same mine and they took the 26-year-old James' body to his home in College Street for his wife and two children to grieve over.
The two men had only resumed their duties that morning after having themselves been off work for several weeks through suffering accidents in the same pit.
In April 1875 a man called Henry Lee had attacked Samuel Wright at Peasley Cross Railway station.
The St Helens Newspaper had used the headline "Attempt To Saw A Man's Head Off", to describe the shocking, unprovoked attack.
When Lee appeared in court accused of committing the offence, he was only fined £5 for what the magistrates said had been a "grievous assault".
That was still a lot of money but if Lee had stolen the saw he would have been sentenced to a month or two in prison. As I wrote when covering the case last year, the 1870s were certainly strange times.
Like Samuel Wright, Henry Lee worked at Sutton Glass Works and what he had done at Peasley Cross railway station had clearly not affected his job.
That was because Lee was back in court this week charged with striking Thomas Ashcroft over the head with a saw and inflicting a severe wound.
They both worked as joiners at the glass works and Lee was only fined £2 and costs for his latest saw assault.
There were some very pedantic prosecutions that took place. Provisions dealer Peter Wright of Liverpool Road was summoned to the Petty Sessions this week for having a large box on the footway outside of his shop.
However, PC Carter had to admit to the court that the box only projected 3 inches over the edge of the kerbstone and Wright's solicitor contended that it could not be proved who had placed the box there.
He also insisted that it had not been causing any obstruction. Consequently the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
And a builder called E. A. Pemberton was prosecuted for allowing two loads of timber to be on the road in Westfield Street between 4 pm and 5:30 pm.
But Mr Pemberton said the timber had been laid down for the purpose of getting it into his premises, as it had been too large to convey in carts. The charge was again dismissed.
Last week I described how Richard and Sarah Morris from Upholland had been involved in a serious trap accident while in St Helens.
The couple had intended to visit Sarah's sister but as they were approaching Church Street, their horse had bolted at a furious rate.
The trap's near wheels came into contact with a lamp post by the canal bridge. As a result, Mrs Morris received a severe blow to her head and within minutes the 26-year-old was dead.
Since the accident there had been much tongue-wagging as folk attempted to allocate blame.
A letter published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 6th said that the cause of the accident had been the glaring white colour of the outside wall of a shoeing forge in Baldwin Street and claimed that a number of other horses had taken fright at that same place.
He was Thomas Reid, who in 1874 after taking over at the Ship had advertised himself as the "original old boots".
In this week's Newspaper, Reid had a letter published strongly refuting the claim.
He said when Mrs Morris had been brought to his door he could see that she was already dead and had suggested that it would be better if her body lay in the sitting room of the adjacent house. He wrote:
"God forbid I should be one to prevent life being restored, or that I should be one to prevent any one from being brought into my house under such a sad affair. I think the public of St. Helens know me [to be a] better man than that I should be so inhuman."
However, Mr Reid insisted that he had given much support to the bereaved Richard Morris.
And a Mr Littler had a letter published in which he denied that the horse had panicked as a result of seeing his whitewashed shoeing forge in Baldwin Street, claiming the animal had taken fright before reaching his premises.
However, Littler offered to change the colour of his wall if there was any real objection to it, but he insisted that it had been white for years.
The Newspaper also carried a report on the latest meeting of the Town Hall Opening Committee.
A ball, a banquet and a procession were the three main elements of the celebrations that were planned for the opening of the grand new civic centre in Corporation Street.
There was a lot of organising to do, although it probably did not require 27 men to be on the committee to do it! There might have even been more members, as that was the number that had turned up for the meeting.
And despite the volume of members, it had to be admitted that they all had overlooked one important detail.
If the Town Hall was going to be ceremonially opened, they needed somebody to do it and they had forgotten to select anyone to ask.
But that was easily fixed and they ultimately decided that the Mayor, Alderman James Radley, should be the one that turned a silver key in the lock of the Town Hall's front door.
It was also decided that the date of the opening be switched to Whit Monday, rather than be on the following day.
Mrs Taylor of the Fleece Inn was commissioned to provide the meals for the banquet to be held after the opening, at a price of 15 shillings for each female guest and 25 shillings for every man.
I don't know if the men were going to be served more expensive food or, perhaps, it was assumed they had bigger appetites than the ladies?
Gardners String Band had also agreed to provide the music at the banquet for £9.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a report on the health dangers of the chemical waste heaps in St Helens, the water supply that had sand mixed in it, the workhouse children that received no exercise and there's criticism of dogs being taken out on chains.