150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (5th - 11th SEPTEMBER 1872)
This week's stories include the banning of unlicensed steam whistles and trumpets at St Helens' works, the Bridge Street labourer hit on the head by two dropped bricks, the trespassing at Haydock Park, the very rough Parr characters who planned to knock a landlord's head off and the pauper kids at Whiston Workhouse written off by those charged with their care.
We begin with another summer thunderstorm in the town. The St Helens Newspaper wrote: "On Wednesday night this district was suddenly visited by a violent thunderstorm, which broke forth at eleven o’clock. For a few hours previous lightning, unaccompanied by thunder, had been playing in fantastic flashes, without causing any perceptible change in the atmosphere, but when the thunder began to roll, first distantly, but very soon in close proximity, the rain came down in a torrent. The storm was of very brief duration, expending its strength in half an hour. The previous condition of the atmosphere did not forbode a lengthened visitation."
A meeting of the Prescot Board of Guardians was held on the 5th in the boardroom at Whiston Workhouse (pictured above). It was mentioned that there had recently been a complaint made of mouldy bread served to the pauper children. In the guardians' discussion on the matter it was revealed that the workhouse baker was an imbecile. That was not an insult, simply how he was then classed.
But it was claimed that the man would bake far too much and thus produce an excessive amount of bread. The surplus was used up through being fed to the workhouse pigs or by going into broth. Or was allowed to go mouldy and fed to the kids! There was a call for the imbecile baker to be relieved of his job or supervised better and the guardians' House Committee were asked to consider the matter.
The guardians discussed whether their workhouse schoolteacher required help and it was suggested that a pupil teacher from among the pauper girls could be appointed. Pupil teachers learned the profession on the job as they taught younger children. That was at the same time as completing their own education – usually before and after normal school hours. However, this is what the Newspaper reported that a guardian called John Birchall had told the meeting, which underlines the fact that the pauper kids had no chance in life – even from those appointed to care for them:
"He thought it would be an unwise course for the guardians to pursue, to select children out of the school for pupil teaching. In the first place, the very fact of their having been in the [work]house would prove to some extent that they had not been born under the most favourable circumstances. He had frequently taken pains to look at the children at school and at work, and any guardian who had done so must have observed a great want of mental activity, as compared with other children.
"There seemed to be amongst them a lack of that which a great many children out of doors had got. Of course, it was easily accounted for. Children in that house were under very unfavourable circumstances, and it would be unwise to adopt any system which aimed at the selection of some of them as schoolmistresses."
Although helmets to protect wearers in battle had apparently been invented around 2500 BC, nobody bothered to wear helmets on building sites until the 1880s, when hard hats were first mass-produced. And as they were somewhat uncomfortable to wear, especially on hot days, few workers bothered to put them on. However, I expect if labourer Thomas Lloyd had worn a hard hat in Bridge Street, his life would not have been in the balance for two days this week.
New premises were in the course of erection in the street and bricklayers were busily working on its third storey when, somehow, two bricks got dropped. Thomas Lloyd had been operating a derrick – a type of crane – directly underneath the brickies and both of the dropped bricks struck him on his head. With no hospital in St Helens, Mr Lloyd was conveyed to his home in a critical condition and was considered to be in danger for some time before starting to recover.
By the 1870s, many works in St Helens had replaced the bells that they rang to summon their workers to their jobs and announce breaks with steam whistles. These were much louder than bells and were proving a nuisance, especially as they were often sounded in the very early hours. However, help was at hand as a new Act of Parliament was allowing local authorities to regulate their use.
The Newspaper wrote: "From this day forth, the health of the robust workman will not be endangered by the “Whistling Thief” calling boys and girls to their work; neither will the nervous be electrified by the “horrid din” so early in the morning." In the same edition of the paper the St Helens Town Clerk, Harold Pilkington, published this notice:
"STEAM WHISTLES ACT, 1872. Notice is hereby given that on and after this date no person or persons shall be at liberty to use or employ, in any manufactory or any other place, any Steam Whistle or Steam Trumpet for the purpose of summoning or dismissing workmen or persons employed, without the sanction of the sanitary authority. And any person or persons so offending shall be liable to the penalties provided by the Act. Applications for the liberty to use any Steam Whistle or Trumpet for the purposes aforesaid may be sent to me, the undersigned. Dated this 6th day of September, 1872. HAROLD PILKINGTON, Town Clerk, 17, Hardshaw street, St. Helens”.
It wasn't until about 1900 that horse racing switched from Newton Common to Haydock Park. Until then, the land was private and the public were banned from entering upon pains of prosecution. The St Helens Newspaper described on the 7th how three men called John Cotton, Hesekiah Cotton and Joseph Gerrard had recently appeared in the Newton Sessions. The threesome was charged with unlawfully committing damage to grass to the amount of one penny. In other words they had been trespassing on land belonging to William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, whose family owned much of the property and land in the district.
Legh's solicitor told the hearing that it was important the public should know that they could not trespass with impunity in Haydock Park. Mr Legh, he said, had been put to great expense in installing a wall at a cost of £200 and had constantly to incur further expense through people pulling the wall down. Noticeboards had also been put up warning people against trespassing, but they too were pulled down and destroyed. The three men were each fined 2s 6d and costs.
A lot of older people in the 19th century didn't appear to know their exact age – and some varied their age to suit the occasion. On the 9th Peter McGrath was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with attempting to commit suicide by hanging at his residence in Parr. According to the 1871 census, McGrath's domicile was in Park Street, where the 75-year-old was living with his 45-year-old wife Ann and several lodgers. However, in court Peter claimed to be 85 and still working at the Parr Copper Works. Seemingly his age had risen to elicit sympathy.
The old man claimed his wife's "fancy man" had thrown buckets of water over him, and he was so aggravated that he got a rope, put it round his neck, and hung himself from the back door. However, his wife said that every time Peter got drunk he became jealous of her, and this had been the third time he had attempted "self-destruction", as the St Helens Newspaper put it. Ann McGrath said she had to "put away lodgers" [ask them to leave] on account of her husband's jealousy and she'd been forced to go out to work herself. The court decided to discharge the man.
Also in court were Thomas Cruise and Robert Johnson who were accused of assaulting James Millwood. Under the new licensing act the pubs now had to close at 11pm, which displeased some customers who did not take kindly to being asked to leave so early. James Millwood was in temporary charge of the Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road.
Cruise demanded to be served at 11pm but the landlord refused and blew a whistle that he kept. That antagonised Cruise and he attacked Millwood, who managed to push his assailant outside. However, Cruise burst the door back open and resumed his violence, aided by Robert Johnson. Eventually the landlord got both of them outside and locked the door. However, Millwood did not live on the premises and the pair waited outside the pub for two hours for him to leave. PC Gill told the court that he had heard the two defendants saying that as soon as Millwood came out they would "knock his head off".
The men fled as the constable arrived at the Star but the landlord still required a police escort for part of his journey home. The head of St Helens Police, Supt. James Ludlam, described both men as "very rough characters" with Robert Johnson making his sixth appearance in court and Thomas Cruise his eleventh. Both were fined £4 and 8 shillings costs and in default of payment would be sent to gaol for two months. Those would have been huge sums for them and so almost certainly they ended up in Kirkdale Prison.
Next week's stories will include the destructive fire at the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, a visit to St Helens by the mayor of Tokyo, an analysis of the immense number of drinking houses and criticism of the Fire Brigade for soaking shop fronts.
We begin with another summer thunderstorm in the town. The St Helens Newspaper wrote: "On Wednesday night this district was suddenly visited by a violent thunderstorm, which broke forth at eleven o’clock. For a few hours previous lightning, unaccompanied by thunder, had been playing in fantastic flashes, without causing any perceptible change in the atmosphere, but when the thunder began to roll, first distantly, but very soon in close proximity, the rain came down in a torrent. The storm was of very brief duration, expending its strength in half an hour. The previous condition of the atmosphere did not forbode a lengthened visitation."
But it was claimed that the man would bake far too much and thus produce an excessive amount of bread. The surplus was used up through being fed to the workhouse pigs or by going into broth. Or was allowed to go mouldy and fed to the kids! There was a call for the imbecile baker to be relieved of his job or supervised better and the guardians' House Committee were asked to consider the matter.
The guardians discussed whether their workhouse schoolteacher required help and it was suggested that a pupil teacher from among the pauper girls could be appointed. Pupil teachers learned the profession on the job as they taught younger children. That was at the same time as completing their own education – usually before and after normal school hours. However, this is what the Newspaper reported that a guardian called John Birchall had told the meeting, which underlines the fact that the pauper kids had no chance in life – even from those appointed to care for them:
"He thought it would be an unwise course for the guardians to pursue, to select children out of the school for pupil teaching. In the first place, the very fact of their having been in the [work]house would prove to some extent that they had not been born under the most favourable circumstances. He had frequently taken pains to look at the children at school and at work, and any guardian who had done so must have observed a great want of mental activity, as compared with other children.
"There seemed to be amongst them a lack of that which a great many children out of doors had got. Of course, it was easily accounted for. Children in that house were under very unfavourable circumstances, and it would be unwise to adopt any system which aimed at the selection of some of them as schoolmistresses."
Although helmets to protect wearers in battle had apparently been invented around 2500 BC, nobody bothered to wear helmets on building sites until the 1880s, when hard hats were first mass-produced. And as they were somewhat uncomfortable to wear, especially on hot days, few workers bothered to put them on. However, I expect if labourer Thomas Lloyd had worn a hard hat in Bridge Street, his life would not have been in the balance for two days this week.
New premises were in the course of erection in the street and bricklayers were busily working on its third storey when, somehow, two bricks got dropped. Thomas Lloyd had been operating a derrick – a type of crane – directly underneath the brickies and both of the dropped bricks struck him on his head. With no hospital in St Helens, Mr Lloyd was conveyed to his home in a critical condition and was considered to be in danger for some time before starting to recover.
By the 1870s, many works in St Helens had replaced the bells that they rang to summon their workers to their jobs and announce breaks with steam whistles. These were much louder than bells and were proving a nuisance, especially as they were often sounded in the very early hours. However, help was at hand as a new Act of Parliament was allowing local authorities to regulate their use.
The Newspaper wrote: "From this day forth, the health of the robust workman will not be endangered by the “Whistling Thief” calling boys and girls to their work; neither will the nervous be electrified by the “horrid din” so early in the morning." In the same edition of the paper the St Helens Town Clerk, Harold Pilkington, published this notice:
"STEAM WHISTLES ACT, 1872. Notice is hereby given that on and after this date no person or persons shall be at liberty to use or employ, in any manufactory or any other place, any Steam Whistle or Steam Trumpet for the purpose of summoning or dismissing workmen or persons employed, without the sanction of the sanitary authority. And any person or persons so offending shall be liable to the penalties provided by the Act. Applications for the liberty to use any Steam Whistle or Trumpet for the purposes aforesaid may be sent to me, the undersigned. Dated this 6th day of September, 1872. HAROLD PILKINGTON, Town Clerk, 17, Hardshaw street, St. Helens”.
It wasn't until about 1900 that horse racing switched from Newton Common to Haydock Park. Until then, the land was private and the public were banned from entering upon pains of prosecution. The St Helens Newspaper described on the 7th how three men called John Cotton, Hesekiah Cotton and Joseph Gerrard had recently appeared in the Newton Sessions. The threesome was charged with unlawfully committing damage to grass to the amount of one penny. In other words they had been trespassing on land belonging to William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, whose family owned much of the property and land in the district.
Legh's solicitor told the hearing that it was important the public should know that they could not trespass with impunity in Haydock Park. Mr Legh, he said, had been put to great expense in installing a wall at a cost of £200 and had constantly to incur further expense through people pulling the wall down. Noticeboards had also been put up warning people against trespassing, but they too were pulled down and destroyed. The three men were each fined 2s 6d and costs.
A lot of older people in the 19th century didn't appear to know their exact age – and some varied their age to suit the occasion. On the 9th Peter McGrath was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with attempting to commit suicide by hanging at his residence in Parr. According to the 1871 census, McGrath's domicile was in Park Street, where the 75-year-old was living with his 45-year-old wife Ann and several lodgers. However, in court Peter claimed to be 85 and still working at the Parr Copper Works. Seemingly his age had risen to elicit sympathy.
The old man claimed his wife's "fancy man" had thrown buckets of water over him, and he was so aggravated that he got a rope, put it round his neck, and hung himself from the back door. However, his wife said that every time Peter got drunk he became jealous of her, and this had been the third time he had attempted "self-destruction", as the St Helens Newspaper put it. Ann McGrath said she had to "put away lodgers" [ask them to leave] on account of her husband's jealousy and she'd been forced to go out to work herself. The court decided to discharge the man.
Also in court were Thomas Cruise and Robert Johnson who were accused of assaulting James Millwood. Under the new licensing act the pubs now had to close at 11pm, which displeased some customers who did not take kindly to being asked to leave so early. James Millwood was in temporary charge of the Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road.
Cruise demanded to be served at 11pm but the landlord refused and blew a whistle that he kept. That antagonised Cruise and he attacked Millwood, who managed to push his assailant outside. However, Cruise burst the door back open and resumed his violence, aided by Robert Johnson. Eventually the landlord got both of them outside and locked the door. However, Millwood did not live on the premises and the pair waited outside the pub for two hours for him to leave. PC Gill told the court that he had heard the two defendants saying that as soon as Millwood came out they would "knock his head off".
The men fled as the constable arrived at the Star but the landlord still required a police escort for part of his journey home. The head of St Helens Police, Supt. James Ludlam, described both men as "very rough characters" with Robert Johnson making his sixth appearance in court and Thomas Cruise his eleventh. Both were fined £4 and 8 shillings costs and in default of payment would be sent to gaol for two months. Those would have been huge sums for them and so almost certainly they ended up in Kirkdale Prison.
Next week's stories will include the destructive fire at the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, a visit to St Helens by the mayor of Tokyo, an analysis of the immense number of drinking houses and criticism of the Fire Brigade for soaking shop fronts.
This week's stories include the banning of unlicensed steam whistles and trumpets at St Helens' works, the Bridge Street labourer hit on the head by two dropped bricks, the trespassing at Haydock Park, the very rough Parr characters who planned to knock a landlord's head off and the pauper kids at Whiston Workhouse written off by those charged with their care.
We begin with another summer thunderstorm in the town. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"On Wednesday night this district was suddenly visited by a violent thunderstorm, which broke forth at eleven o’clock.
"For a few hours previous lightning, unaccompanied by thunder, had been playing in fantastic flashes, without causing any perceptible change in the atmosphere, but when the thunder began to roll, first distantly, but very soon in close proximity, the rain came down in a torrent.
"The storm was of very brief duration, expending its strength in half an hour. The previous condition of the atmosphere did not forbode a lengthened visitation."
A meeting of the Prescot Board of Guardians was held on the 5th in the boardroom at Whiston Workhouse (pictured above).
It was mentioned that there had recently been a complaint made of mouldy bread served to the pauper children.
In the guardians' discussion on the matter it was revealed that the workhouse baker was an imbecile. That was not an insult, simply how he was then classed.
But it was claimed that the man would bake far too much and thus produce an excessive amount of bread.
The surplus was used up through being fed to the workhouse pigs or by going into broth. Or was allowed to go mouldy and fed to the kids!
There was a call for the imbecile baker to be relieved of his job or supervised better and the guardians' House Committee were asked to consider the matter.
The guardians discussed whether their workhouse schoolteacher required help and it was suggested that a pupil teacher from among the pauper girls could be appointed.
Pupil teachers learned the profession on the job as they taught younger children. That was at the same time as completing their own education – usually before and after normal school hours.
However, this is what the Newspaper reported that a guardian called John Birchall had told the meeting, which underlines the fact that the pauper kids had no chance in life – even from those appointed to care for them:
"He thought it would be an unwise course for the guardians to pursue, to select children out of the school for pupil teaching.
"In the first place, the very fact of their having been in the [work]house would prove to some extent that they had not been born under the most favourable circumstances.
"He had frequently taken pains to look at the children at school and at work, and any guardian who had done so must have observed a great want of mental activity, as compared with other children.
"There seemed to be amongst them a lack of that which a great many children out of doors had got. Of course, it was easily accounted for.
"Children in that house were under very unfavourable circumstances, and it would be unwise to adopt any system which aimed at the selection of some of them as schoolmistresses."
Although helmets to protect wearers in battle had apparently been invented around 2500 BC, nobody bothered to wear helmets on building sites until the 1880s, when hard hats were first mass-produced.
And as they were somewhat uncomfortable to wear, especially on hot days, few workers bothered to put them on.
However, I expect if labourer Thomas Lloyd had worn a hard hat in Bridge Street, his life would not have been in the balance for two days this week.
New premises were in the course of erection in the street and bricklayers were busily working on its third storey when, somehow, two bricks got dropped.
Thomas Lloyd had been operating a derrick – a type of crane – directly underneath the brickies and both of the dropped bricks struck him on his head.
With no hospital in St Helens, Mr Lloyd was conveyed to his home in a critical condition and was considered to be in danger for some time before starting to recover.
By the 1870s, many works in St Helens had replaced the bells that they rang to summon their workers to their jobs and announce breaks with steam whistles.
These were much louder than bells and were proving a nuisance, especially as they were often sounded in the very early hours.
However, help was at hand as a new Act of Parliament was allowing local authorities to regulate their use.
The Newspaper wrote: "From this day forth, the health of the robust workman will not be endangered by the “Whistling Thief” calling boys and girls to their work; neither will the nervous be electrified by the “horrid din” so early in the morning."
In the same edition of the paper the St Helens Town Clerk, Harold Pilkington, published this notice:
"STEAM WHISTLES ACT, 1872. Notice is hereby given that on and after this date no person or persons shall be at liberty to use or employ, in any manufactory or any other place, any Steam Whistle or Steam Trumpet for the purpose of summoning or dismissing workmen or persons employed, without the sanction of the sanitary authority.
"And any person or persons so offending shall be liable to the penalties provided by the Act. Applications for the liberty to use any Steam Whistle or Trumpet for the purposes aforesaid may be sent to me, the undersigned. Dated this 6th day of September, 1872. HAROLD PILKINGTON, Town Clerk, 17, Hardshaw street, St. Helens”.
It wasn't until about 1900 that horse racing switched from Newton Common to Haydock Park.
Until then, the land was private and the public were banned from entering upon pains of prosecution.
The St Helens Newspaper described on the 7th how three men called John Cotton, Hesekiah Cotton and Joseph Gerrard had recently appeared in the Newton Sessions.
The threesome was charged with unlawfully committing damage to grass to the amount of one penny.
In other words they had been trespassing on land belonging to William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, whose family owned much of the property and land in the district.
Legh's solicitor told the hearing that it was important the public should know that they could not trespass with impunity in Haydock Park.
Mr Legh, he said, had been put to great expense in installing a wall at a cost of £200 and had constantly to incur further expense through people pulling the wall down.
Noticeboards had also been put up warning people against trespassing, but they too were pulled down and destroyed. The three men were each fined 2s 6d and costs.
A lot of older people in the 19th century didn't appear to know their exact age – and some varied their age to suit the occasion.
On the 9th Peter McGrath was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with attempting to commit suicide by hanging at his residence in Parr.
According to the 1871 census, McGrath's domicile was in Park Street, where the 75-year-old was living with his 45-year-old wife Ann and several lodgers.
However, in court Peter claimed to be 85 and still working at the Parr Copper Works. Seemingly his age had risen to elicit sympathy.
The old man claimed his wife's "fancy man" had thrown buckets of water over him, and he was so aggravated that he got a rope, put it round his neck, and hung himself from the back door.
However, his wife said that every time Peter got drunk he became jealous of her, and this had been the third time he had attempted "self-destruction", as the St Helens Newspaper put it.
Ann McGrath said she had to "put away lodgers" [ask them to leave] on account of her husband's jealousy and she'd been forced to go out to work herself. The court decided to discharge the man.
Also in court were Thomas Cruise and Robert Johnson who were accused of assaulting James Millwood.
Under the new licensing act the pubs now had to close at 11pm, which displeased some customers who did not take kindly to being asked to leave so early.
James Millwood was in temporary charge of the Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road.
Cruise demanded to be served at 11pm but the landlord refused and blew a whistle that he kept.
That antagonised Cruise and he attacked Millwood, who managed to push his assailant outside.
However, Cruise burst the door back open and resumed his violence, aided by Robert Johnson.
Eventually the landlord got both of them outside and locked the door.
However, Millwood did not live on the premises and the pair waited outside the pub for two hours for him to leave.
PC Gill told the court that he had heard the two defendants saying that as soon as Millwood came out they would "knock his head off".
The men fled as the constable arrived at the Star but the landlord still required a police escort for part of his journey home.
The head of St Helens Police, Supt. James Ludlam, described both men as "very rough characters" with Robert Johnson making his sixth appearance in court and Thomas Cruise his eleventh.
Both were fined £4 and 8 shillings costs and in default of payment would be sent to gaol for two months.
Those would have been huge sums for them and so almost certainly they ended up in Kirkdale Prison.
Next week's stories will include the destructive fire at the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, a visit to St Helens by the mayor of Tokyo, an analysis of the immense number of drinking houses and criticism of the Fire Brigade for soaking shop fronts.
We begin with another summer thunderstorm in the town. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"On Wednesday night this district was suddenly visited by a violent thunderstorm, which broke forth at eleven o’clock.
"For a few hours previous lightning, unaccompanied by thunder, had been playing in fantastic flashes, without causing any perceptible change in the atmosphere, but when the thunder began to roll, first distantly, but very soon in close proximity, the rain came down in a torrent.
"The storm was of very brief duration, expending its strength in half an hour. The previous condition of the atmosphere did not forbode a lengthened visitation."
It was mentioned that there had recently been a complaint made of mouldy bread served to the pauper children.
In the guardians' discussion on the matter it was revealed that the workhouse baker was an imbecile. That was not an insult, simply how he was then classed.
But it was claimed that the man would bake far too much and thus produce an excessive amount of bread.
The surplus was used up through being fed to the workhouse pigs or by going into broth. Or was allowed to go mouldy and fed to the kids!
There was a call for the imbecile baker to be relieved of his job or supervised better and the guardians' House Committee were asked to consider the matter.
The guardians discussed whether their workhouse schoolteacher required help and it was suggested that a pupil teacher from among the pauper girls could be appointed.
Pupil teachers learned the profession on the job as they taught younger children. That was at the same time as completing their own education – usually before and after normal school hours.
However, this is what the Newspaper reported that a guardian called John Birchall had told the meeting, which underlines the fact that the pauper kids had no chance in life – even from those appointed to care for them:
"He thought it would be an unwise course for the guardians to pursue, to select children out of the school for pupil teaching.
"In the first place, the very fact of their having been in the [work]house would prove to some extent that they had not been born under the most favourable circumstances.
"He had frequently taken pains to look at the children at school and at work, and any guardian who had done so must have observed a great want of mental activity, as compared with other children.
"There seemed to be amongst them a lack of that which a great many children out of doors had got. Of course, it was easily accounted for.
"Children in that house were under very unfavourable circumstances, and it would be unwise to adopt any system which aimed at the selection of some of them as schoolmistresses."
Although helmets to protect wearers in battle had apparently been invented around 2500 BC, nobody bothered to wear helmets on building sites until the 1880s, when hard hats were first mass-produced.
And as they were somewhat uncomfortable to wear, especially on hot days, few workers bothered to put them on.
However, I expect if labourer Thomas Lloyd had worn a hard hat in Bridge Street, his life would not have been in the balance for two days this week.
New premises were in the course of erection in the street and bricklayers were busily working on its third storey when, somehow, two bricks got dropped.
Thomas Lloyd had been operating a derrick – a type of crane – directly underneath the brickies and both of the dropped bricks struck him on his head.
With no hospital in St Helens, Mr Lloyd was conveyed to his home in a critical condition and was considered to be in danger for some time before starting to recover.
By the 1870s, many works in St Helens had replaced the bells that they rang to summon their workers to their jobs and announce breaks with steam whistles.
These were much louder than bells and were proving a nuisance, especially as they were often sounded in the very early hours.
However, help was at hand as a new Act of Parliament was allowing local authorities to regulate their use.
The Newspaper wrote: "From this day forth, the health of the robust workman will not be endangered by the “Whistling Thief” calling boys and girls to their work; neither will the nervous be electrified by the “horrid din” so early in the morning."
In the same edition of the paper the St Helens Town Clerk, Harold Pilkington, published this notice:
"STEAM WHISTLES ACT, 1872. Notice is hereby given that on and after this date no person or persons shall be at liberty to use or employ, in any manufactory or any other place, any Steam Whistle or Steam Trumpet for the purpose of summoning or dismissing workmen or persons employed, without the sanction of the sanitary authority.
"And any person or persons so offending shall be liable to the penalties provided by the Act. Applications for the liberty to use any Steam Whistle or Trumpet for the purposes aforesaid may be sent to me, the undersigned. Dated this 6th day of September, 1872. HAROLD PILKINGTON, Town Clerk, 17, Hardshaw street, St. Helens”.
It wasn't until about 1900 that horse racing switched from Newton Common to Haydock Park.
Until then, the land was private and the public were banned from entering upon pains of prosecution.
The St Helens Newspaper described on the 7th how three men called John Cotton, Hesekiah Cotton and Joseph Gerrard had recently appeared in the Newton Sessions.
The threesome was charged with unlawfully committing damage to grass to the amount of one penny.
In other words they had been trespassing on land belonging to William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, whose family owned much of the property and land in the district.
Legh's solicitor told the hearing that it was important the public should know that they could not trespass with impunity in Haydock Park.
Mr Legh, he said, had been put to great expense in installing a wall at a cost of £200 and had constantly to incur further expense through people pulling the wall down.
Noticeboards had also been put up warning people against trespassing, but they too were pulled down and destroyed. The three men were each fined 2s 6d and costs.
A lot of older people in the 19th century didn't appear to know their exact age – and some varied their age to suit the occasion.
On the 9th Peter McGrath was charged in St Helens Petty Sessions with attempting to commit suicide by hanging at his residence in Parr.
According to the 1871 census, McGrath's domicile was in Park Street, where the 75-year-old was living with his 45-year-old wife Ann and several lodgers.
However, in court Peter claimed to be 85 and still working at the Parr Copper Works. Seemingly his age had risen to elicit sympathy.
The old man claimed his wife's "fancy man" had thrown buckets of water over him, and he was so aggravated that he got a rope, put it round his neck, and hung himself from the back door.
However, his wife said that every time Peter got drunk he became jealous of her, and this had been the third time he had attempted "self-destruction", as the St Helens Newspaper put it.
Ann McGrath said she had to "put away lodgers" [ask them to leave] on account of her husband's jealousy and she'd been forced to go out to work herself. The court decided to discharge the man.
Also in court were Thomas Cruise and Robert Johnson who were accused of assaulting James Millwood.
Under the new licensing act the pubs now had to close at 11pm, which displeased some customers who did not take kindly to being asked to leave so early.
James Millwood was in temporary charge of the Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road.
Cruise demanded to be served at 11pm but the landlord refused and blew a whistle that he kept.
That antagonised Cruise and he attacked Millwood, who managed to push his assailant outside.
However, Cruise burst the door back open and resumed his violence, aided by Robert Johnson.
Eventually the landlord got both of them outside and locked the door.
However, Millwood did not live on the premises and the pair waited outside the pub for two hours for him to leave.
PC Gill told the court that he had heard the two defendants saying that as soon as Millwood came out they would "knock his head off".
The men fled as the constable arrived at the Star but the landlord still required a police escort for part of his journey home.
The head of St Helens Police, Supt. James Ludlam, described both men as "very rough characters" with Robert Johnson making his sixth appearance in court and Thomas Cruise his eleventh.
Both were fined £4 and 8 shillings costs and in default of payment would be sent to gaol for two months.
Those would have been huge sums for them and so almost certainly they ended up in Kirkdale Prison.
Next week's stories will include the destructive fire at the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, a visit to St Helens by the mayor of Tokyo, an analysis of the immense number of drinking houses and criticism of the Fire Brigade for soaking shop fronts.