150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th JANUARY 1870)
This week's stories include the gang of scoundrels in Croppers Hill, an indecent assault in Parr, the St Helens' bank that went out of business, the Laffak Colliery pitmen prosecuted for quitting their jobs and the many St Helens men who deserted their families and left them penniless.
We begin on the 7th with the Liverpool Mercury's account of a speech in the Volunteer Hall by Charles Turner and Richard Cross. They were the two Conservative MPs for south-west Lancashire – which included St Helens – as the town had yet to become a parliamentary borough in its own right. The Mercury described the apathy and "listless indifference" by the people of St Helens towards the pair:
"Very little fuss had been made about the meeting; indeed, it seems to be regarded as almost a waste of time and money to give prominence to any announcement that Messrs. Turner and Cross have arranged to address their constituents. Except to the persons actually addressed, the speeches of the Tory representatives of this division of the county have no interest."
On the 8th Joseph Greenough gave his annual dinner to the aged poor of Parr at the Bulls Head in Parr Stocks. Aged meant over 60 and the meal consisted of roast beef, plum pudding and beer. Greenough was the man who had offered £1,000 towards building an infirmary for St Helens but fell from grace in 1877 after trying to evict tenants on Parr Moss by destroying their house! He was sent to prison but died within weeks.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 8th and contained a notice stating that the Trustees of the St Helens Savings Bank had decided to discontinue the business. No explanation for the closure was stated. It was simply announced that no further deposits would be received at the bank that had been founded 51 years earlier.
In order to get their money back depositors would have to go to the Council Chamber in New Market Place on one of four Mondays from noon. Opening hours of banks were extremely limited 150 years ago but this instruction also suggests that they did not have their own premises.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 10th in which nine mineworkers were charged with leaving Laffak and Garswood Colliery without notice. The case hinged on a 10% increase in pay that the "masters" of the St Helens' mines had agreed to grant their workers from January 1st. It transpired that the rise was only being given to the so-called coal-getters or hewers that dug the coal from the face with their axes and picks. Other workers known as daywagemen, who transported the coal to the surface, would receive nothing.
However twelve months earlier when the masters had cut wages by 10%, the reduction had applied equally to them and the coal-getters. This infuriated the daywagemen at the Laffak pit and nine of them walked out of their jobs, despite being required to give 14 days notice of leaving. Their solicitor argued that the contract that contained this requirement was an unfair one and purely for the benefit of the master. However the Bench disagreed and all eight were ordered to pay a fine of £1.
"A gang of scoundrels" was how the St Helens Newspaper described the men involved in the next case in which William Burgess was charged with stealing a shawl. Harriet Partridge lived in Croppers Hill and described to the court how at midnight a group of men had attacked her husband at his own door, knocked him down and kicked him. She went to her husband's assistance but was knocked down by Burgess who stole her shawl. The men then smashed many windows before departing. Harriet went in search of a policeman and on the return journey they came across Burgess, who had the stolen shawl wrapped round his shoulders.
The man fled and discarded the shawl. On the following day a miner found it dumped on a cart behind the Feathers Inn. Burgess admitted possessing the shawl but denied stealing it and he was committed for trial at the next Quarter Sessions in Liverpool where he could expect a prison sentence. It was another example of the tolerance of violence and the seriousness taken of the stealing of so-called "wearing apparel". Despite the beating up of Mrs Partridge's husband and herself being knocked down, no charges were proffered against Burgess for his violent acts.
Also in the court was Samuel Hart who was charged with cruelty to a horse after being seen by PC Armstrong kicking his animal in Tontine Street (pictured above). The man denied the offence but was fined 7s 6d.
Alexander Harvey was charged with deserting his wife and four children. That in itself was not an offence but it was if the man did not make provision for his family. When that happened the relieving officer of the Prescot Union – the people who administered the Poor Law and ran Whiston Workhouse – had to step in and make payments, although these were very small. Harvey told the Bench that he had no defence for not paying his wife any maintenance but said he would pay the money straight away.
That did not satisfy the St Helens Relieving Officer, a Mr Fowler, who complained about the "plentiful number of husbands shirking their responsibilities". During the last six months Fowler said he'd had to support 82 wives and 272 children and called for the court to do something stringent to deter others. However Alexander Harvey was discharged upon making his promises.
Also in court was Thomas Beattie who was charged with indecently assaulting Ann Wilkinson in Parr – to which he pleaded not guilty. The woman lived in Upper Parr Street and told the Bench that she'd spent the evening at a dance in a nearby hotel and left for home at 2:30am. It was raining and so to keep dry Mrs Wilkinson threw her long dress over her head. As she got to within a couple of yards of her door, a man indecently assaulted her from behind. He threw her to the ground but she screamed and he ran off. The scream attracted Constable Sewell who happened to be nearby and he arrested Thomas Beattie.
The defence solicitor grilled Mrs Wilkinson very closely as to the conduct of the persons in the ballroom and she admitted that she had seen a "good deal" of kissing. Ann Wilkinson added that the accused man had been present in the parlour where she was sat, along with several other persons. She said her husband had also been at the dance but had gone home before her. A couple of witnesses gave evidence that they had seen the assault but Beattie claimed mistaken identity.
Mrs Wilkinson insisted that she had only drunk half a glass of brandy and a glass of wine all night. However Beattie's solicitor claimed that the woman had drunk so much that she was not capable of giving a "proper recital" of what had occurred. Despite this claim the Chairman said the Bench were of the opinion that they had the right man before them. However they felt there were extenuating circumstances in the case and would only fine Beattie 10 shillings and costs. Just what the extenuating circumstances were was not explained. Could they be that Mrs Wilkinson had been out on the streets in the early hours of the morning with her dress over her head and so inviting temptation?
Yew Tree School was a Roman Catholic school for girls in Prescot and on the 10th their annual school presentation was given. This included songs, recitations and a play on Mary, Queen of Scots in front of a good audience of parents and friends.
It could be quite dangerous on the railway during the dark, even for highly experienced railway men. At five o’clock on the morning of the 12th a pointsman called Joseph Critchley was killed by a train at Parkside, near Newton-le-Willows. The man had operated the points since the line had been built some forty years earlier and had been engaged in its construction.
And finally the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met during the evening of the 12th in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the atmosphere. The St Helens Newspaper said the room was well filled and the lecturer illustrated his talk with "numerous pretty and cleverly-worked experiments".
Next week's stories will include the pocket picking on a St Helens train, the evicted Parr man who was accused of making off with a door, the Water Street beerhouse with no licence and the damsel tramp who stole overcoats in Prescot.
We begin on the 7th with the Liverpool Mercury's account of a speech in the Volunteer Hall by Charles Turner and Richard Cross. They were the two Conservative MPs for south-west Lancashire – which included St Helens – as the town had yet to become a parliamentary borough in its own right. The Mercury described the apathy and "listless indifference" by the people of St Helens towards the pair:
"Very little fuss had been made about the meeting; indeed, it seems to be regarded as almost a waste of time and money to give prominence to any announcement that Messrs. Turner and Cross have arranged to address their constituents. Except to the persons actually addressed, the speeches of the Tory representatives of this division of the county have no interest."
On the 8th Joseph Greenough gave his annual dinner to the aged poor of Parr at the Bulls Head in Parr Stocks. Aged meant over 60 and the meal consisted of roast beef, plum pudding and beer. Greenough was the man who had offered £1,000 towards building an infirmary for St Helens but fell from grace in 1877 after trying to evict tenants on Parr Moss by destroying their house! He was sent to prison but died within weeks.
In order to get their money back depositors would have to go to the Council Chamber in New Market Place on one of four Mondays from noon. Opening hours of banks were extremely limited 150 years ago but this instruction also suggests that they did not have their own premises.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 10th in which nine mineworkers were charged with leaving Laffak and Garswood Colliery without notice. The case hinged on a 10% increase in pay that the "masters" of the St Helens' mines had agreed to grant their workers from January 1st. It transpired that the rise was only being given to the so-called coal-getters or hewers that dug the coal from the face with their axes and picks. Other workers known as daywagemen, who transported the coal to the surface, would receive nothing.
However twelve months earlier when the masters had cut wages by 10%, the reduction had applied equally to them and the coal-getters. This infuriated the daywagemen at the Laffak pit and nine of them walked out of their jobs, despite being required to give 14 days notice of leaving. Their solicitor argued that the contract that contained this requirement was an unfair one and purely for the benefit of the master. However the Bench disagreed and all eight were ordered to pay a fine of £1.
"A gang of scoundrels" was how the St Helens Newspaper described the men involved in the next case in which William Burgess was charged with stealing a shawl. Harriet Partridge lived in Croppers Hill and described to the court how at midnight a group of men had attacked her husband at his own door, knocked him down and kicked him. She went to her husband's assistance but was knocked down by Burgess who stole her shawl. The men then smashed many windows before departing. Harriet went in search of a policeman and on the return journey they came across Burgess, who had the stolen shawl wrapped round his shoulders.
The man fled and discarded the shawl. On the following day a miner found it dumped on a cart behind the Feathers Inn. Burgess admitted possessing the shawl but denied stealing it and he was committed for trial at the next Quarter Sessions in Liverpool where he could expect a prison sentence. It was another example of the tolerance of violence and the seriousness taken of the stealing of so-called "wearing apparel". Despite the beating up of Mrs Partridge's husband and herself being knocked down, no charges were proffered against Burgess for his violent acts.
Alexander Harvey was charged with deserting his wife and four children. That in itself was not an offence but it was if the man did not make provision for his family. When that happened the relieving officer of the Prescot Union – the people who administered the Poor Law and ran Whiston Workhouse – had to step in and make payments, although these were very small. Harvey told the Bench that he had no defence for not paying his wife any maintenance but said he would pay the money straight away.
That did not satisfy the St Helens Relieving Officer, a Mr Fowler, who complained about the "plentiful number of husbands shirking their responsibilities". During the last six months Fowler said he'd had to support 82 wives and 272 children and called for the court to do something stringent to deter others. However Alexander Harvey was discharged upon making his promises.
Also in court was Thomas Beattie who was charged with indecently assaulting Ann Wilkinson in Parr – to which he pleaded not guilty. The woman lived in Upper Parr Street and told the Bench that she'd spent the evening at a dance in a nearby hotel and left for home at 2:30am. It was raining and so to keep dry Mrs Wilkinson threw her long dress over her head. As she got to within a couple of yards of her door, a man indecently assaulted her from behind. He threw her to the ground but she screamed and he ran off. The scream attracted Constable Sewell who happened to be nearby and he arrested Thomas Beattie.
The defence solicitor grilled Mrs Wilkinson very closely as to the conduct of the persons in the ballroom and she admitted that she had seen a "good deal" of kissing. Ann Wilkinson added that the accused man had been present in the parlour where she was sat, along with several other persons. She said her husband had also been at the dance but had gone home before her. A couple of witnesses gave evidence that they had seen the assault but Beattie claimed mistaken identity.
Mrs Wilkinson insisted that she had only drunk half a glass of brandy and a glass of wine all night. However Beattie's solicitor claimed that the woman had drunk so much that she was not capable of giving a "proper recital" of what had occurred. Despite this claim the Chairman said the Bench were of the opinion that they had the right man before them. However they felt there were extenuating circumstances in the case and would only fine Beattie 10 shillings and costs. Just what the extenuating circumstances were was not explained. Could they be that Mrs Wilkinson had been out on the streets in the early hours of the morning with her dress over her head and so inviting temptation?
Yew Tree School was a Roman Catholic school for girls in Prescot and on the 10th their annual school presentation was given. This included songs, recitations and a play on Mary, Queen of Scots in front of a good audience of parents and friends.
It could be quite dangerous on the railway during the dark, even for highly experienced railway men. At five o’clock on the morning of the 12th a pointsman called Joseph Critchley was killed by a train at Parkside, near Newton-le-Willows. The man had operated the points since the line had been built some forty years earlier and had been engaged in its construction.
And finally the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met during the evening of the 12th in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the atmosphere. The St Helens Newspaper said the room was well filled and the lecturer illustrated his talk with "numerous pretty and cleverly-worked experiments".
Next week's stories will include the pocket picking on a St Helens train, the evicted Parr man who was accused of making off with a door, the Water Street beerhouse with no licence and the damsel tramp who stole overcoats in Prescot.