150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 7 - 13 APRIL 1875
This week's many stories include the fire at the St Helens Post Office, the blind Minstrels performing in the Volunteer Hall, a call for the disreputable St Helens Fair to end, two miners lose their lives in a shocking accident at Havannah Colliery in Parr and the troupe of uncharcoaled minstrels suspected of theft in the Bulls Head.
The Windle Dole came from various sources and was given to elderly women and a few old men at Easter and Christmas. The Windle township in the 19th century was geographically large and included the town centre – so Church Street was considered to be part of Windle. On the 7th over 100 aged persons were handed sums of money varying from 2 shillings to 6 shillings each, according to their age. The ceremony took place in an undamaged part of the old Town Hall and 40 yards of linen was also divided amongst the older women that were present.
The first Government Post Office had been established in St Helens in 1852. Twenty years later it was revealed that the average number of letters received per person in the town was a little over three a year. In 1872 150,000 letters and 25,000 telegrams had passed through the St Helens Post Office for delivery to a population of 46,000 over 6,500 acres. And so with only 400 letters a day on average to deal with, they were not particularly busy.
But the volume of post was increasing and so plans were in hand to build a new general post office on the site of the Kings Head Inn, which had stood in Church Street for around 250 years. Currently, postal operations took place in Market Street in St Helens in a property that had previously been a small shop with living accommodation. Only the shop portion was serving as the actual post office, with letter sorting taking place in the living room.
At 4:30 am on the morning of the 7th PC Doig discovered a fire at the rear of the Post Office premises. He immediately raised the alarm, the fire bell was rung and the men were quickly on the scene with their hose and reel. One of the employees of the Post Office lived in an upstairs room and was supposed to act as a watchman and caretaker.
But he slept right through the fire and knew nothing of it until the police roused him! It was thought that the blaze had originated from a gas jet having been left burning near some window blinds, which became ignited. As the fire had been quickly seen and with the firemen not having too far to travel, the damage done was not considered significant.
With many carters working until late on the dark country roads within the St Helens district, collisions between their vehicles were inevitable. On the 7th James Grace brought an action in St Helens County Court against John Pemberton for £3 15 shillings damages. Both men were farmers and in the 1871 census Grace's farm is listed as being off Chapel Lane in Rainhill and covering 65 acres.
The judge was told that Grace had been returning from Liverpool in his horse and trap and when only 300 yards from his home he had seen two of Pemberton's carts loaded with potatoes approaching him. Mr Grace said he had shouted to both drivers and one cart safely passed by. But the other collided with the steps of his trap. That caused his horse to shy and his vehicle to be overturned.
Grace was thrown to the ground and his collarbone was broken and his shoulder dislocated and his claim to the court was for medical expenses and repairs to his trap. John Pemberton insisted that there had been sufficient space on the road for Grace to pass the second vehicle if he had driven more carefully, however, the judge awarded the Rainhill farmer the full amount of his claim.
To say that the St Helens Newspaper was not a fan of the St Helens Fair would be a huge understatement. The pleasure fair visited the town in the Spring and Autumn of each year, with its venue being the land known as the fairground off Salisbury Street. There were regular rants about the goings on at the fair in the Newspaper and this is what they said on the 10th of this week:
"This semi-annual gathering of mountebanks [charlatans], acrobats, jugglers, Japhets in search of Fathers, fat pigs, monster of the deep of an antideluvian type, lame, halt, and blind mendicants [beggars], musicians, minstrels, and other money making mongers, commenced on Saturday last, but was somewhat nipped in the bud by a drizzling rain which descended from the fleecy and erratic clouds overhead.
"Only a few persons had assembled themselves together in the fair ground at three o’clock in the afternoon, and so late as nine o’clock in the evening the showmen looked blank and glum enough as they sounded their gongs, and a rapid and characteristic form of speech, announced the programme of attraction; bidding alike defiance to the weather, and the hesitating and dubious section of pleasure hunters who listened to their harangues. The shooting galleries, pea saloons, and steam horses, were largely patronised."
The Newspaper felt the fair should be ended, writing: "It serves no good end, and is generally voted by the tradespeople a considerable “humbug” which ought to be put an end to." In a separate article the Newspaper described some of the attractions at the fair, which had included a very fat pig and a "Canadian lady, said to be the tallest and heaviest of her sex in the world".
It was common for such undignifying human specimens to be on show and what was described as the "greatest wonder ever exhibited" featured a man that had been a British soldier who, the Newspaper wrote: "…whilst serving with his regiment was captured by a savage tribe of Indians, and kept in captivity for seven months during which he was most cruelly tortured and tattooed in several parts of the body."
The fair despite the rain was far from being a quiet place. The paper said: "Notwithstanding the tempestuous character of the elements, there was a constant din and noise kept up during the whole of the afternoon and night, for what with the screaming of steam whistles, and the discordant noises of steam organs, brass bands, gongs, &c., it seemed as though Pandemonium itself had been let loose."
The paper also reviewed a concert in the Volunteer Hall performed by individuals who they described as blind Minstrels. Many blind persons were put away in institutions and the musicians who performed were from the Liverpool School for the Blind. They also had a soprano who was in the Manchester Blind Asylum singing for them.
Their comments on the performance were a bit patronising, saying: "The affliction under which the whole of the artistes labour, requires that we should lay aside the ordinary rules of criticism. Nevertheless some of the pieces were well rendered."
The St Helens Newspaper described how musicians William Yates, Benjamin Grayson, Ellen Grayson and also Emma Williams had appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions accused of stealing a sovereign off John Burrows. The Liverpool quartet was described as a "troupe of uncharcoaled minstrels" – in other words they did not wear blackface makeup, which was almost standard then for a group of musicians.
The instruments they played were a violin, a banjo and bones. The latter would in those days have been real animal bones used to create a rhythmic percussion sound. The duties of the fourth member of the team, Emma Williams, had been to nurse Mrs Grayson's baby and to make collections from their audiences.
John Burrows told the court that he had been in the Bulls Head pub and had consumed a pint of beer and then had ordered half a gallon more. While waiting for it to be brought, he had placed a sovereign down on his table. But when the beer arrived the sovereign had disappeared.
Although Emma Williams had not been seen to take the money and had been sat some distance away, she had soon afterwards been seen trying to get a sovereign changed at a local shop. She denied having taken the money and although the magistrates thought there was strong suspicion against the young woman, they felt there was no definite proof of her guilt and dismissed the case against Emma and her three musical colleagues.
And finally, a shocking accident occurred this week at the Havannah Colliery in Parr (pictured above). An engine winder overwound a pit cage that was taking three men up to the surface. As the cage started moving towards the top of the pithead gearing, the men panicked and jumped out and John Francis fell 360 yards headlong down the shaft to his death. The other two men had their thighs fractured and one subsequently died of his injuries.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include an attempt to saw a man's head off in Peasley Cross, the cheeky Liverpool Road theft, the meeting of a temperance society in the Volunteer Hall and the supper at the Fleece to celebrate the Town Hall's roof being installed.
The Windle Dole came from various sources and was given to elderly women and a few old men at Easter and Christmas. The Windle township in the 19th century was geographically large and included the town centre – so Church Street was considered to be part of Windle. On the 7th over 100 aged persons were handed sums of money varying from 2 shillings to 6 shillings each, according to their age. The ceremony took place in an undamaged part of the old Town Hall and 40 yards of linen was also divided amongst the older women that were present.
The first Government Post Office had been established in St Helens in 1852. Twenty years later it was revealed that the average number of letters received per person in the town was a little over three a year. In 1872 150,000 letters and 25,000 telegrams had passed through the St Helens Post Office for delivery to a population of 46,000 over 6,500 acres. And so with only 400 letters a day on average to deal with, they were not particularly busy.
But the volume of post was increasing and so plans were in hand to build a new general post office on the site of the Kings Head Inn, which had stood in Church Street for around 250 years. Currently, postal operations took place in Market Street in St Helens in a property that had previously been a small shop with living accommodation. Only the shop portion was serving as the actual post office, with letter sorting taking place in the living room.
At 4:30 am on the morning of the 7th PC Doig discovered a fire at the rear of the Post Office premises. He immediately raised the alarm, the fire bell was rung and the men were quickly on the scene with their hose and reel. One of the employees of the Post Office lived in an upstairs room and was supposed to act as a watchman and caretaker.
But he slept right through the fire and knew nothing of it until the police roused him! It was thought that the blaze had originated from a gas jet having been left burning near some window blinds, which became ignited. As the fire had been quickly seen and with the firemen not having too far to travel, the damage done was not considered significant.
With many carters working until late on the dark country roads within the St Helens district, collisions between their vehicles were inevitable. On the 7th James Grace brought an action in St Helens County Court against John Pemberton for £3 15 shillings damages. Both men were farmers and in the 1871 census Grace's farm is listed as being off Chapel Lane in Rainhill and covering 65 acres.
The judge was told that Grace had been returning from Liverpool in his horse and trap and when only 300 yards from his home he had seen two of Pemberton's carts loaded with potatoes approaching him. Mr Grace said he had shouted to both drivers and one cart safely passed by. But the other collided with the steps of his trap. That caused his horse to shy and his vehicle to be overturned.
Grace was thrown to the ground and his collarbone was broken and his shoulder dislocated and his claim to the court was for medical expenses and repairs to his trap. John Pemberton insisted that there had been sufficient space on the road for Grace to pass the second vehicle if he had driven more carefully, however, the judge awarded the Rainhill farmer the full amount of his claim.
To say that the St Helens Newspaper was not a fan of the St Helens Fair would be a huge understatement. The pleasure fair visited the town in the Spring and Autumn of each year, with its venue being the land known as the fairground off Salisbury Street. There were regular rants about the goings on at the fair in the Newspaper and this is what they said on the 10th of this week:
"This semi-annual gathering of mountebanks [charlatans], acrobats, jugglers, Japhets in search of Fathers, fat pigs, monster of the deep of an antideluvian type, lame, halt, and blind mendicants [beggars], musicians, minstrels, and other money making mongers, commenced on Saturday last, but was somewhat nipped in the bud by a drizzling rain which descended from the fleecy and erratic clouds overhead.
"Only a few persons had assembled themselves together in the fair ground at three o’clock in the afternoon, and so late as nine o’clock in the evening the showmen looked blank and glum enough as they sounded their gongs, and a rapid and characteristic form of speech, announced the programme of attraction; bidding alike defiance to the weather, and the hesitating and dubious section of pleasure hunters who listened to their harangues. The shooting galleries, pea saloons, and steam horses, were largely patronised."
The Newspaper felt the fair should be ended, writing: "It serves no good end, and is generally voted by the tradespeople a considerable “humbug” which ought to be put an end to." In a separate article the Newspaper described some of the attractions at the fair, which had included a very fat pig and a "Canadian lady, said to be the tallest and heaviest of her sex in the world".
It was common for such undignifying human specimens to be on show and what was described as the "greatest wonder ever exhibited" featured a man that had been a British soldier who, the Newspaper wrote: "…whilst serving with his regiment was captured by a savage tribe of Indians, and kept in captivity for seven months during which he was most cruelly tortured and tattooed in several parts of the body."
The fair despite the rain was far from being a quiet place. The paper said: "Notwithstanding the tempestuous character of the elements, there was a constant din and noise kept up during the whole of the afternoon and night, for what with the screaming of steam whistles, and the discordant noises of steam organs, brass bands, gongs, &c., it seemed as though Pandemonium itself had been let loose."
The paper also reviewed a concert in the Volunteer Hall performed by individuals who they described as blind Minstrels. Many blind persons were put away in institutions and the musicians who performed were from the Liverpool School for the Blind. They also had a soprano who was in the Manchester Blind Asylum singing for them.
Their comments on the performance were a bit patronising, saying: "The affliction under which the whole of the artistes labour, requires that we should lay aside the ordinary rules of criticism. Nevertheless some of the pieces were well rendered."
The St Helens Newspaper described how musicians William Yates, Benjamin Grayson, Ellen Grayson and also Emma Williams had appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions accused of stealing a sovereign off John Burrows. The Liverpool quartet was described as a "troupe of uncharcoaled minstrels" – in other words they did not wear blackface makeup, which was almost standard then for a group of musicians.
The instruments they played were a violin, a banjo and bones. The latter would in those days have been real animal bones used to create a rhythmic percussion sound. The duties of the fourth member of the team, Emma Williams, had been to nurse Mrs Grayson's baby and to make collections from their audiences.
John Burrows told the court that he had been in the Bulls Head pub and had consumed a pint of beer and then had ordered half a gallon more. While waiting for it to be brought, he had placed a sovereign down on his table. But when the beer arrived the sovereign had disappeared.
Although Emma Williams had not been seen to take the money and had been sat some distance away, she had soon afterwards been seen trying to get a sovereign changed at a local shop. She denied having taken the money and although the magistrates thought there was strong suspicion against the young woman, they felt there was no definite proof of her guilt and dismissed the case against Emma and her three musical colleagues.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include an attempt to saw a man's head off in Peasley Cross, the cheeky Liverpool Road theft, the meeting of a temperance society in the Volunteer Hall and the supper at the Fleece to celebrate the Town Hall's roof being installed.
This week's many stories include the fire at the St Helens Post Office, the blind Minstrels performing in the Volunteer Hall, a call for the disreputable St Helens Fair to end, two miners lose their lives in a shocking accident at Havannah Colliery in Parr and the troupe of uncharcoaled minstrels suspected of theft in the Bulls Head.
The Windle Dole came from various sources and was given to elderly women and a few old men at Easter and Christmas.
The Windle township in the 19th century was geographically large and included the town centre – so Church Street was considered to be part of Windle.
On the 7th over 100 aged persons were handed sums of money varying from 2 shillings to 6 shillings each, according to their age.
The ceremony took place in an undamaged part of the old Town Hall and 40 yards of linen was also divided amongst the older women that were present.
The first Government Post Office had been established in St Helens in 1852. Twenty years later it was revealed that the average number of letters received per person in the town was a little over three a year.
In 1872 150,000 letters and 25,000 telegrams had passed through the St Helens Post Office for delivery to a population of 46,000 over 6,500 acres.
And so with only 400 letters a day on average to deal with, they were not particularly busy.
But the volume of post was increasing and so plans were in hand to build a new general post office on the site of the Kings Head Inn, which had stood in Church Street for around 250 years.
Currently, postal operations took place in Market Street in St Helens in a property that had previously been a small shop with living accommodation.
Only the shop portion was serving as the actual post office, with letter sorting taking place in the living room.
At 4:30 am on the morning of the 7th PC Doig discovered a fire at the rear of the Post Office premises.
He immediately raised the alarm, the fire bell was rung and the men were quickly on the scene with their hose and reel.
One of the employees of the Post Office lived in an upstairs room and was supposed to act as a watchman and caretaker.
But he slept right through the fire and knew nothing of it until the police roused him!
It was thought that the blaze had originated from a gas jet having been left burning near some window blinds, which became ignited.
As the fire had been quickly seen and with the firemen not having too far to travel, the damage done was not considered significant.
With many carters working until late on the dark country roads within the St Helens district, collisions between their vehicles were inevitable.
On the 7th James Grace brought an action in St Helens County Court against John Pemberton for £3 15 shillings damages.
Both men were farmers and in the 1871 census Grace's farm is listed as being off Chapel Lane in Rainhill and covering 65 acres.
The judge was told that Grace had been returning from Liverpool in his horse and trap and when only 300 yards from his home he had seen two of Pemberton's carts loaded with potatoes approaching him.
Mr Grace said he had shouted to both drivers and one cart safely passed by. But the other collided with the steps of his trap. That caused his horse to shy and his vehicle to be overturned.
Grace was thrown to the ground and his collarbone was broken and his shoulder dislocated and his claim to the court was for medical expenses and repairs to his trap.
John Pemberton insisted that there had been sufficient space on the road for Grace to pass the second vehicle if he had driven more carefully, however, the judge awarded the Rainhill farmer the full amount of his claim.
To say that the St Helens Newspaper was not a fan of the St Helens Fair would be a huge understatement.
The pleasure fair visited the town in the Spring and Autumn of each year, with its venue being the land known as the fairground off Salisbury Street.
There were regular rants about the goings on at the fair in the Newspaper and this is what they said on the 10th of this week:
"This semi-annual gathering of mountebanks [charlatans], acrobats, jugglers, Japhets in search of Fathers, fat pigs, monster of the deep of an antideluvian type, lame, halt, and blind mendicants [beggars], musicians, minstrels, and other money making mongers, commenced on Saturday last, but was somewhat nipped in the bud by a drizzling rain which descended from the fleecy and erratic clouds overhead.
"Only a few persons had assembled themselves together in the fair ground at three o’clock in the afternoon, and so late as nine o’clock in the evening the showmen looked blank and glum enough as they sounded their gongs, and a rapid and characteristic form of speech, announced the programme of attraction; bidding alike defiance to the weather, and the hesitating and dubious section of pleasure hunters who listened to their harangues. The shooting galleries, pea saloons, and steam horses, were largely patronised."
The Newspaper felt the fair should be ended, writing: "It serves no good end, and is generally voted by the tradespeople a considerable “humbug” which ought to be put an end to."
In a separate article the Newspaper described some of the attractions at the fair, which had included a very fat pig and a "Canadian lady, said to be the tallest and heaviest of her sex in the world".
It was common for such undignifying human specimens to be on show and what was described as the "greatest wonder ever exhibited" featured a man that had been a British soldier who, the Newspaper wrote:
"…whilst serving with his regiment was captured by a savage tribe of Indians, and kept in captivity for seven months during which he was most cruelly tortured and tattooed in several parts of the body."
The fair despite the rain was far from being a quiet place. The paper said:
"Notwithstanding the tempestuous character of the elements, there was a constant din and noise kept up during the whole of the afternoon and night, for what with the screaming of steam whistles, and the discordant noises of steam organs, brass bands, gongs, &c., it seemed as though Pandemonium itself had been let loose."
The paper also reviewed a concert in the Volunteer Hall performed by individuals who they described as blind Minstrels.
Many blind persons were put away in institutions and the musicians who performed were from the Liverpool School for the Blind. They also had a soprano who was in the Manchester Blind Asylum singing for them.
Their comments on the performance were a bit patronising, saying: "The affliction under which the whole of the artistes labour, requires that we should lay aside the ordinary rules of criticism. Nevertheless some of the pieces were well rendered."
The St Helens Newspaper described how musicians William Yates, Benjamin Grayson, Ellen Grayson and also Emma Williams had appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions accused of stealing a sovereign off John Burrows.
The Liverpool quartet was described as a "troupe of uncharcoaled minstrels" – in other words they did not wear blackface makeup, which was almost standard then for a group of musicians.
The instruments they played were a violin, a banjo and bones. The latter would in those days have been real animal bones used to create a rhythmic percussion sound.
The duties of the fourth member of the team, Emma Williams, had been to nurse Mrs Grayson's baby and to make collections from their audiences.
John Burrows told the court that he had been in the Bulls Head pub and had consumed a pint of beer and then had ordered half a gallon more. While waiting for it to be brought, he had placed a sovereign down on his table.
But when the beer arrived the sovereign had disappeared.
Although Emma Williams had not been seen to take the money and had been sat some distance away, she had soon afterwards been seen trying to get a sovereign changed at a local shop.
She denied having taken the money and although the magistrates thought there was strong suspicion against the young woman, they felt there was no definite proof of her guilt and dismissed the case against Emma and her three musical colleagues.
And finally, a shocking accident occurred this week at the Havannah Colliery in Parr (pictured above). An engine winder overwound a pit cage that was taking three men up to the surface.
As the cage started moving towards the top of the pithead gearing, the men panicked and jumped out and John Francis fell 360 yards headlong down the shaft to his death.
The other two men had their thighs fractured and one subsequently died of his injuries.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include an attempt to saw a man's head off in Peasley Cross, the cheeky Liverpool Road theft, the meeting of a temperance society in the Volunteer Hall and the supper at the Fleece to celebrate the Town Hall's roof being installed.
The Windle Dole came from various sources and was given to elderly women and a few old men at Easter and Christmas.
The Windle township in the 19th century was geographically large and included the town centre – so Church Street was considered to be part of Windle.
On the 7th over 100 aged persons were handed sums of money varying from 2 shillings to 6 shillings each, according to their age.
The ceremony took place in an undamaged part of the old Town Hall and 40 yards of linen was also divided amongst the older women that were present.
The first Government Post Office had been established in St Helens in 1852. Twenty years later it was revealed that the average number of letters received per person in the town was a little over three a year.
In 1872 150,000 letters and 25,000 telegrams had passed through the St Helens Post Office for delivery to a population of 46,000 over 6,500 acres.
And so with only 400 letters a day on average to deal with, they were not particularly busy.
But the volume of post was increasing and so plans were in hand to build a new general post office on the site of the Kings Head Inn, which had stood in Church Street for around 250 years.
Currently, postal operations took place in Market Street in St Helens in a property that had previously been a small shop with living accommodation.
Only the shop portion was serving as the actual post office, with letter sorting taking place in the living room.
At 4:30 am on the morning of the 7th PC Doig discovered a fire at the rear of the Post Office premises.
He immediately raised the alarm, the fire bell was rung and the men were quickly on the scene with their hose and reel.
One of the employees of the Post Office lived in an upstairs room and was supposed to act as a watchman and caretaker.
But he slept right through the fire and knew nothing of it until the police roused him!
It was thought that the blaze had originated from a gas jet having been left burning near some window blinds, which became ignited.
As the fire had been quickly seen and with the firemen not having too far to travel, the damage done was not considered significant.
With many carters working until late on the dark country roads within the St Helens district, collisions between their vehicles were inevitable.
On the 7th James Grace brought an action in St Helens County Court against John Pemberton for £3 15 shillings damages.
Both men were farmers and in the 1871 census Grace's farm is listed as being off Chapel Lane in Rainhill and covering 65 acres.
The judge was told that Grace had been returning from Liverpool in his horse and trap and when only 300 yards from his home he had seen two of Pemberton's carts loaded with potatoes approaching him.
Mr Grace said he had shouted to both drivers and one cart safely passed by. But the other collided with the steps of his trap. That caused his horse to shy and his vehicle to be overturned.
Grace was thrown to the ground and his collarbone was broken and his shoulder dislocated and his claim to the court was for medical expenses and repairs to his trap.
John Pemberton insisted that there had been sufficient space on the road for Grace to pass the second vehicle if he had driven more carefully, however, the judge awarded the Rainhill farmer the full amount of his claim.
To say that the St Helens Newspaper was not a fan of the St Helens Fair would be a huge understatement.
The pleasure fair visited the town in the Spring and Autumn of each year, with its venue being the land known as the fairground off Salisbury Street.
There were regular rants about the goings on at the fair in the Newspaper and this is what they said on the 10th of this week:
"This semi-annual gathering of mountebanks [charlatans], acrobats, jugglers, Japhets in search of Fathers, fat pigs, monster of the deep of an antideluvian type, lame, halt, and blind mendicants [beggars], musicians, minstrels, and other money making mongers, commenced on Saturday last, but was somewhat nipped in the bud by a drizzling rain which descended from the fleecy and erratic clouds overhead.
"Only a few persons had assembled themselves together in the fair ground at three o’clock in the afternoon, and so late as nine o’clock in the evening the showmen looked blank and glum enough as they sounded their gongs, and a rapid and characteristic form of speech, announced the programme of attraction; bidding alike defiance to the weather, and the hesitating and dubious section of pleasure hunters who listened to their harangues. The shooting galleries, pea saloons, and steam horses, were largely patronised."
The Newspaper felt the fair should be ended, writing: "It serves no good end, and is generally voted by the tradespeople a considerable “humbug” which ought to be put an end to."
In a separate article the Newspaper described some of the attractions at the fair, which had included a very fat pig and a "Canadian lady, said to be the tallest and heaviest of her sex in the world".
It was common for such undignifying human specimens to be on show and what was described as the "greatest wonder ever exhibited" featured a man that had been a British soldier who, the Newspaper wrote:
"…whilst serving with his regiment was captured by a savage tribe of Indians, and kept in captivity for seven months during which he was most cruelly tortured and tattooed in several parts of the body."
The fair despite the rain was far from being a quiet place. The paper said:
"Notwithstanding the tempestuous character of the elements, there was a constant din and noise kept up during the whole of the afternoon and night, for what with the screaming of steam whistles, and the discordant noises of steam organs, brass bands, gongs, &c., it seemed as though Pandemonium itself had been let loose."
The paper also reviewed a concert in the Volunteer Hall performed by individuals who they described as blind Minstrels.
Many blind persons were put away in institutions and the musicians who performed were from the Liverpool School for the Blind. They also had a soprano who was in the Manchester Blind Asylum singing for them.
Their comments on the performance were a bit patronising, saying: "The affliction under which the whole of the artistes labour, requires that we should lay aside the ordinary rules of criticism. Nevertheless some of the pieces were well rendered."
The St Helens Newspaper described how musicians William Yates, Benjamin Grayson, Ellen Grayson and also Emma Williams had appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions accused of stealing a sovereign off John Burrows.
The Liverpool quartet was described as a "troupe of uncharcoaled minstrels" – in other words they did not wear blackface makeup, which was almost standard then for a group of musicians.
The instruments they played were a violin, a banjo and bones. The latter would in those days have been real animal bones used to create a rhythmic percussion sound.
The duties of the fourth member of the team, Emma Williams, had been to nurse Mrs Grayson's baby and to make collections from their audiences.
John Burrows told the court that he had been in the Bulls Head pub and had consumed a pint of beer and then had ordered half a gallon more. While waiting for it to be brought, he had placed a sovereign down on his table.
But when the beer arrived the sovereign had disappeared.
Although Emma Williams had not been seen to take the money and had been sat some distance away, she had soon afterwards been seen trying to get a sovereign changed at a local shop.
She denied having taken the money and although the magistrates thought there was strong suspicion against the young woman, they felt there was no definite proof of her guilt and dismissed the case against Emma and her three musical colleagues.
As the cage started moving towards the top of the pithead gearing, the men panicked and jumped out and John Francis fell 360 yards headlong down the shaft to his death.
The other two men had their thighs fractured and one subsequently died of his injuries.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include an attempt to saw a man's head off in Peasley Cross, the cheeky Liverpool Road theft, the meeting of a temperance society in the Volunteer Hall and the supper at the Fleece to celebrate the Town Hall's roof being installed.