150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 6 - 12 JULY 1876
This week's many stories include the St Helens woman who robbed children in Liverpool, the ban on ratepayers attending council meetings, the thief's attack on a crippled man, royalty stays at the Raven and the controversial banquet for the night soil men.
We begin on the 6th in Liverpool Police Court when Elizabeth Killon from St Helens was charged with having robbed three children of various sums of money. The prosecution stated that for some time the woman had been in the habit of travelling to Liverpool on Saturdays and when she returned to St Helens she always had plenty of money on her.
Three young children were called and each identified Elizabeth Killon as the person that had taken money off them in the street. It was unlikely that the kids would have had pocket money of their own but their mothers had probably sent them on errands to the shops. Detective Carlisle told the court there had been a great number of complaints to Liverpool police about such robberies. Elizabeth admitted the charges and was sent to prison for six months.
On the 7th Thomas McDermott joined the long list of fatalities on the railway in St Helens. Six days before, the 19-year-old from Peasley Cross had attempted to cross the railway line by going over the buffers of a wagon when the train was suddenly set in motion. Thomas was run over and conveyed to the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool where he subsequently died.
Also on the 7th, Thomas McGhee appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with assaulting John Taffe. The latter was described as a cripple that walked with a crutch and while in Liverpool Street he had seen McGhee put a hand into the pocket of a drunken young man and steal sixpence.
Mr Taffe remonstrated with the thief and for his intervention the disabled man was knocked down and bitten. Thomas McGhee had a number of convictions and the Newspaper said the magistrates decided to mark their "sense of his cowardly conduct" by sending him to prison for a month.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 8th was back in lecturing mode in its editorial columns. The paper described how on the previous Wednesday, the St Helens Mayor, councillors and officials had marched from their old council chamber to take possession of their new one in the newly opened Town Hall and hold their first council meeting. What was described as "a few respectable ratepayers" had followed them and entered the chamber to listen to the meeting. The paper wrote:
"Our reader will more easily imagine, than we can describe, the astonishment of these gentlemen when they were, even without the most common-place courtesy, ordered by a resolution of the council to withdraw. There was not the slightest reason in, not cause for, this action on the part of the council, and it was, therefore, the more unwarrantable and ungracious."
The Newspaper said they understood that later in the proceedings the council had realised that they might have made a mistake in refusing to allow people to attend and had said the question of public attendance would be discussed at a later date.
"It is to be hoped the blunder will be repaired," wrote the Newspaper. "Otherwise, it will become the stern duty of the ratepayers to note the men who vote for their exclusion from the council chamber, and determine to return the compliment on the first November opportunity." That was when the annual council elections were held.
Night soil was a euphemism for human faeces and was so-called because a collector removed it at night from the privies, pits and pail closets that people used as toilets. The Newspaper was also critical of a banquet that had been held for St Helens Corporation's night soil men that had also been attended by street lamplighters and members of the fire brigade. It was presided over by Alderman Harrison and the paper wrote:
"Even Common Councillors were present, who did not object to partake of the gratuitous hospitality provided for the night soil men." The Newspaper said they understood that the event was going to become an annual one and was at the expense of the ratepayers and said Alderman Harrison had not explained why such a banquet should be held.
One of the guests had died after being loaned a horse to go to Liverpool on the following day to continue the celebration and "…returning to St. Helens on the Monday at 4 o’clock in a fuddled and mopsied state, unable to take care of himself, or the corporation horse with which he was entrusted, at last reeling under his cart."
But the big news of the week was that on the 10th, royalty visited the Raven Inn in Church Street (pictured above). Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, had ridden into St Helens at the head of a 60-strong cavalry detachment. The seventh child of Queen Victoria was a major in the 7th Hussars and had been on an 18-day journey from Liverpool to Edinburgh in command of two troops of men.
St Helens was their first stopping point and in spite of short notice, flags and bunting were flying from shops and houses and thousands of townsfolk were out lining the streets. The St Helens Newspaper described how "eager faces were to be seen from almost every window". And as the horse-driven Prescot bus stopped by the Red Lion at the top of Bridge Street, sightseers scrambled onto its roof to gain a better view.
Everyone was cheering and the Newspaper wrote: "All the way along the route the same manifestations of joy and loyalty were displayed and seemed if anything to take our Royal visitor by surprise." The Raven served as the their headquarters during the time that the Duke and his men were in St Helens.
At 2:30pm the soldiers were put on parade and then the Duke and his officers partook of a late lunch inside the inn. During the rest of the afternoon the prince visited Knowsley Hall, using a carriage and horses lent for the occasion by Colonel David Gamble.
During the evening, Col Gamble entertained the great-great-great-uncle of our own King with a banquet at the Town Hall. What was described as an immense crowd greeted the Duke of Connaught as he arrived with his fellow officers.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote: "Our townsmen will rejoice that, upon this, the first occasion that the town has been honoured by a prince of the Royal blood taking up his residence amongst us, though for so short a period as a single day, a good man was found in the person of Col. Gamble who…entertained the prince in a manner becoming his rank and exalted position."
On the following morning at 9am, a bugle blew as the detachment of the 7th Hussars assembled outside the Raven Hotel in front of an excited crowd. Then His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, appeared on his charger.
After receiving a general salute the prince rode down the ranks of his men to conduct an inspection. Then the order "march" was given and the party departed to what was described as "hearty cheers". As a result of the visit, the Raven Hotel / Inn would subsequently change its name to the Royal Raven.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Rainford Cow Club's annual nosh up, St Helens Police's annual inspection, the St Helens Athletic Sports, the encroachment on Thatto Heath land and the notorious Feigh family return to court.
We begin on the 6th in Liverpool Police Court when Elizabeth Killon from St Helens was charged with having robbed three children of various sums of money. The prosecution stated that for some time the woman had been in the habit of travelling to Liverpool on Saturdays and when she returned to St Helens she always had plenty of money on her.
Three young children were called and each identified Elizabeth Killon as the person that had taken money off them in the street. It was unlikely that the kids would have had pocket money of their own but their mothers had probably sent them on errands to the shops. Detective Carlisle told the court there had been a great number of complaints to Liverpool police about such robberies. Elizabeth admitted the charges and was sent to prison for six months.
On the 7th Thomas McDermott joined the long list of fatalities on the railway in St Helens. Six days before, the 19-year-old from Peasley Cross had attempted to cross the railway line by going over the buffers of a wagon when the train was suddenly set in motion. Thomas was run over and conveyed to the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool where he subsequently died.
Also on the 7th, Thomas McGhee appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with assaulting John Taffe. The latter was described as a cripple that walked with a crutch and while in Liverpool Street he had seen McGhee put a hand into the pocket of a drunken young man and steal sixpence.
Mr Taffe remonstrated with the thief and for his intervention the disabled man was knocked down and bitten. Thomas McGhee had a number of convictions and the Newspaper said the magistrates decided to mark their "sense of his cowardly conduct" by sending him to prison for a month.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 8th was back in lecturing mode in its editorial columns. The paper described how on the previous Wednesday, the St Helens Mayor, councillors and officials had marched from their old council chamber to take possession of their new one in the newly opened Town Hall and hold their first council meeting. What was described as "a few respectable ratepayers" had followed them and entered the chamber to listen to the meeting. The paper wrote:
"Our reader will more easily imagine, than we can describe, the astonishment of these gentlemen when they were, even without the most common-place courtesy, ordered by a resolution of the council to withdraw. There was not the slightest reason in, not cause for, this action on the part of the council, and it was, therefore, the more unwarrantable and ungracious."
The Newspaper said they understood that later in the proceedings the council had realised that they might have made a mistake in refusing to allow people to attend and had said the question of public attendance would be discussed at a later date.
"It is to be hoped the blunder will be repaired," wrote the Newspaper. "Otherwise, it will become the stern duty of the ratepayers to note the men who vote for their exclusion from the council chamber, and determine to return the compliment on the first November opportunity." That was when the annual council elections were held.
Night soil was a euphemism for human faeces and was so-called because a collector removed it at night from the privies, pits and pail closets that people used as toilets. The Newspaper was also critical of a banquet that had been held for St Helens Corporation's night soil men that had also been attended by street lamplighters and members of the fire brigade. It was presided over by Alderman Harrison and the paper wrote:
"Even Common Councillors were present, who did not object to partake of the gratuitous hospitality provided for the night soil men." The Newspaper said they understood that the event was going to become an annual one and was at the expense of the ratepayers and said Alderman Harrison had not explained why such a banquet should be held.
One of the guests had died after being loaned a horse to go to Liverpool on the following day to continue the celebration and "…returning to St. Helens on the Monday at 4 o’clock in a fuddled and mopsied state, unable to take care of himself, or the corporation horse with which he was entrusted, at last reeling under his cart."
St Helens was their first stopping point and in spite of short notice, flags and bunting were flying from shops and houses and thousands of townsfolk were out lining the streets. The St Helens Newspaper described how "eager faces were to be seen from almost every window". And as the horse-driven Prescot bus stopped by the Red Lion at the top of Bridge Street, sightseers scrambled onto its roof to gain a better view.
Everyone was cheering and the Newspaper wrote: "All the way along the route the same manifestations of joy and loyalty were displayed and seemed if anything to take our Royal visitor by surprise." The Raven served as the their headquarters during the time that the Duke and his men were in St Helens.
At 2:30pm the soldiers were put on parade and then the Duke and his officers partook of a late lunch inside the inn. During the rest of the afternoon the prince visited Knowsley Hall, using a carriage and horses lent for the occasion by Colonel David Gamble.
During the evening, Col Gamble entertained the great-great-great-uncle of our own King with a banquet at the Town Hall. What was described as an immense crowd greeted the Duke of Connaught as he arrived with his fellow officers.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote: "Our townsmen will rejoice that, upon this, the first occasion that the town has been honoured by a prince of the Royal blood taking up his residence amongst us, though for so short a period as a single day, a good man was found in the person of Col. Gamble who…entertained the prince in a manner becoming his rank and exalted position."
On the following morning at 9am, a bugle blew as the detachment of the 7th Hussars assembled outside the Raven Hotel in front of an excited crowd. Then His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, appeared on his charger.
After receiving a general salute the prince rode down the ranks of his men to conduct an inspection. Then the order "march" was given and the party departed to what was described as "hearty cheers". As a result of the visit, the Raven Hotel / Inn would subsequently change its name to the Royal Raven.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Rainford Cow Club's annual nosh up, St Helens Police's annual inspection, the St Helens Athletic Sports, the encroachment on Thatto Heath land and the notorious Feigh family return to court.
This week's many stories include the St Helens woman who robbed children in Liverpool, the ban on ratepayers attending council meetings, the thief's attack on a crippled man, royalty stays at the Raven and the controversial banquet for the night soil men.
We begin on the 6th in Liverpool Police Court when Elizabeth Killon from St Helens was charged with having robbed three children of various sums of money.
The prosecution stated that for some time the woman had been in the habit of travelling to Liverpool on Saturdays and when she returned to St Helens she always had plenty of money on her.
Three young children were called and each identified Elizabeth Killon as the person that had taken money off them in the street.
It was unlikely that the kids would have had pocket money of their own but their mothers had probably sent them on errands to the shops.
Detective Carlisle told the court there had been a great number of complaints to Liverpool police about such robberies.
Elizabeth admitted the charges and was sent to prison for six months.
On the 7th Thomas McDermott joined the long list of fatalities on the railway in St Helens.
Six days before, the 19-year-old from Peasley Cross had attempted to cross the railway line by going over the buffers of a wagon when the train was suddenly set in motion.
Thomas was run over and conveyed to the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool where he subsequently died.
Also on the 7th, Thomas McGhee appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with assaulting John Taffe.
The latter was described as a cripple that walked with a crutch and while in Liverpool Street he had seen McGhee put a hand into the pocket of a drunken young man and steal sixpence.
Mr Taffe remonstrated with the thief and for his intervention the disabled man was knocked down and bitten.
Thomas McGhee had a number of convictions and the Newspaper said the magistrates decided to mark their "sense of his cowardly conduct" by sending him to prison for a month.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 8th was back in lecturing mode in its editorial columns.
The paper described how on the previous Wednesday, the St Helens Mayor, councillors and officials had marched from their old council chamber to take possession of their new one in the newly opened Town Hall and hold their first council meeting.
What was described as "a few respectable ratepayers" had followed them and entered the chamber to listen to the meeting. The paper wrote:
"Our reader will more easily imagine, than we can describe, the astonishment of these gentlemen when they were, even without the most common-place courtesy, ordered by a resolution of the council to withdraw.
"There was not the slightest reason in, not cause for, this action on the part of the council, and it was, therefore, the more unwarrantable and ungracious."
The Newspaper said they understood that later in the proceedings the council had realised that they might have made a mistake in refusing to allow people to attend and had said the question of public attendance would be discussed at a later date.
"It is to be hoped the blunder will be repaired," wrote the Newspaper. "Otherwise, it will become the stern duty of the ratepayers to note the men who vote for their exclusion from the council chamber, and determine to return the compliment on the first November opportunity."
That was when the annual council elections were held.
Night soil was a euphemism for human faeces and was so-called because a collector removed it at night from the privies, pits and pail closets that people used as toilets.
The Newspaper was also critical of a banquet that had been held for St Helens Corporation's night soil men that had also been attended by street lamplighters and members of the fire brigade. It was presided over by Alderman Harrison and the paper wrote:
"Even Common Councillors were present, who did not object to partake of the gratuitous hospitality provided for the night soil men."
The Newspaper said they understood that the event was going to become an annual one and was at the expense of the ratepayers and said Alderman Harrison had not explained why such a banquet should be held.
One of the guests had died after being loaned a horse to go to Liverpool on the following day to continue the celebration and "…returning to St. Helens on the Monday at 4 o’clock in a fuddled and mopsied state, unable to take care of himself, or the corporation horse with which he was entrusted, at last reeling under his cart."
But the big news of the week was that on the 10th, royalty visited the Raven Inn in Church Street.
Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, had ridden into St Helens at the head of a 60-strong cavalry detachment.
The seventh child of Queen Victoria was a major in the 7th Hussars and had been on an 18-day journey from Liverpool to Edinburgh in command of two troops of men.
St Helens was their first stopping point and in spite of short notice, flags and bunting were flying from shops and houses and thousands of townsfolk were out lining the streets.
The St Helens Newspaper described how "eager faces were to be seen from almost every window".
And as the horse-driven Prescot bus stopped by the Red Lion at the top of Bridge Street, sightseers scrambled onto its roof to gain a better view.
Everyone was cheering and the Newspaper wrote:
"All the way along the route the same manifestations of joy and loyalty were displayed and seemed if anything to take our Royal visitor by surprise."
The Raven served as the their headquarters during the time that the Duke and his men were in St Helens.
At 2:30pm the soldiers were put on parade and then the Duke and his officers partook of a late lunch inside the inn.
During the rest of the afternoon the prince visited Knowsley Hall, using a carriage and horses lent for the occasion by Colonel David Gamble.
During the evening, Col Gamble entertained the great-great-great-uncle of our own King with a banquet at the Town Hall.
What was described as an immense crowd greeted the Duke of Connaught as he arrived with his fellow officers. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"Our townsmen will rejoice that, upon this, the first occasion that the town has been honoured by a prince of the Royal blood taking up his residence amongst us, though for so short a period as a single day, a good man was found in the person of Col. Gamble who…entertained the prince in a manner becoming his rank and exalted position."
On the following morning at 9am, a bugle blew as the detachment of the 7th Hussars assembled outside the Raven Hotel in front of an excited crowd. Then His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, appeared on his charger.
After receiving a general salute the prince rode down the ranks of his men to conduct an inspection.
Then the order "march" was given and the party departed to what was described as "hearty cheers".
As a result of the visit, the Raven Hotel / Inn would subsequently change its name to the Royal Raven.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Rainford Cow Club's annual nosh up, St Helens Police's annual inspection, the St Helens Athletic Sports, the encroachment on Thatto Heath land and the notorious Feigh family return to court.
We begin on the 6th in Liverpool Police Court when Elizabeth Killon from St Helens was charged with having robbed three children of various sums of money.
The prosecution stated that for some time the woman had been in the habit of travelling to Liverpool on Saturdays and when she returned to St Helens she always had plenty of money on her.
Three young children were called and each identified Elizabeth Killon as the person that had taken money off them in the street.
It was unlikely that the kids would have had pocket money of their own but their mothers had probably sent them on errands to the shops.
Detective Carlisle told the court there had been a great number of complaints to Liverpool police about such robberies.
Elizabeth admitted the charges and was sent to prison for six months.
On the 7th Thomas McDermott joined the long list of fatalities on the railway in St Helens.
Six days before, the 19-year-old from Peasley Cross had attempted to cross the railway line by going over the buffers of a wagon when the train was suddenly set in motion.
Thomas was run over and conveyed to the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool where he subsequently died.
Also on the 7th, Thomas McGhee appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions charged with assaulting John Taffe.
The latter was described as a cripple that walked with a crutch and while in Liverpool Street he had seen McGhee put a hand into the pocket of a drunken young man and steal sixpence.
Mr Taffe remonstrated with the thief and for his intervention the disabled man was knocked down and bitten.
Thomas McGhee had a number of convictions and the Newspaper said the magistrates decided to mark their "sense of his cowardly conduct" by sending him to prison for a month.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 8th was back in lecturing mode in its editorial columns.
The paper described how on the previous Wednesday, the St Helens Mayor, councillors and officials had marched from their old council chamber to take possession of their new one in the newly opened Town Hall and hold their first council meeting.
What was described as "a few respectable ratepayers" had followed them and entered the chamber to listen to the meeting. The paper wrote:
"Our reader will more easily imagine, than we can describe, the astonishment of these gentlemen when they were, even without the most common-place courtesy, ordered by a resolution of the council to withdraw.
"There was not the slightest reason in, not cause for, this action on the part of the council, and it was, therefore, the more unwarrantable and ungracious."
The Newspaper said they understood that later in the proceedings the council had realised that they might have made a mistake in refusing to allow people to attend and had said the question of public attendance would be discussed at a later date.
"It is to be hoped the blunder will be repaired," wrote the Newspaper. "Otherwise, it will become the stern duty of the ratepayers to note the men who vote for their exclusion from the council chamber, and determine to return the compliment on the first November opportunity."
That was when the annual council elections were held.
Night soil was a euphemism for human faeces and was so-called because a collector removed it at night from the privies, pits and pail closets that people used as toilets.
The Newspaper was also critical of a banquet that had been held for St Helens Corporation's night soil men that had also been attended by street lamplighters and members of the fire brigade. It was presided over by Alderman Harrison and the paper wrote:
"Even Common Councillors were present, who did not object to partake of the gratuitous hospitality provided for the night soil men."
The Newspaper said they understood that the event was going to become an annual one and was at the expense of the ratepayers and said Alderman Harrison had not explained why such a banquet should be held.
One of the guests had died after being loaned a horse to go to Liverpool on the following day to continue the celebration and "…returning to St. Helens on the Monday at 4 o’clock in a fuddled and mopsied state, unable to take care of himself, or the corporation horse with which he was entrusted, at last reeling under his cart."
Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, had ridden into St Helens at the head of a 60-strong cavalry detachment.
The seventh child of Queen Victoria was a major in the 7th Hussars and had been on an 18-day journey from Liverpool to Edinburgh in command of two troops of men.
St Helens was their first stopping point and in spite of short notice, flags and bunting were flying from shops and houses and thousands of townsfolk were out lining the streets.
The St Helens Newspaper described how "eager faces were to be seen from almost every window".
And as the horse-driven Prescot bus stopped by the Red Lion at the top of Bridge Street, sightseers scrambled onto its roof to gain a better view.
Everyone was cheering and the Newspaper wrote:
"All the way along the route the same manifestations of joy and loyalty were displayed and seemed if anything to take our Royal visitor by surprise."
The Raven served as the their headquarters during the time that the Duke and his men were in St Helens.
At 2:30pm the soldiers were put on parade and then the Duke and his officers partook of a late lunch inside the inn.
During the rest of the afternoon the prince visited Knowsley Hall, using a carriage and horses lent for the occasion by Colonel David Gamble.
During the evening, Col Gamble entertained the great-great-great-uncle of our own King with a banquet at the Town Hall.
What was described as an immense crowd greeted the Duke of Connaught as he arrived with his fellow officers. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"Our townsmen will rejoice that, upon this, the first occasion that the town has been honoured by a prince of the Royal blood taking up his residence amongst us, though for so short a period as a single day, a good man was found in the person of Col. Gamble who…entertained the prince in a manner becoming his rank and exalted position."
On the following morning at 9am, a bugle blew as the detachment of the 7th Hussars assembled outside the Raven Hotel in front of an excited crowd. Then His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, appeared on his charger.
After receiving a general salute the prince rode down the ranks of his men to conduct an inspection.
Then the order "march" was given and the party departed to what was described as "hearty cheers".
As a result of the visit, the Raven Hotel / Inn would subsequently change its name to the Royal Raven.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Rainford Cow Club's annual nosh up, St Helens Police's annual inspection, the St Helens Athletic Sports, the encroachment on Thatto Heath land and the notorious Feigh family return to court.