150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8th - 14th July 1869)
This week's stories include the Thatto Heath women who every day walked half a mile with a water can on their heads, the fierce Parr Street fight, a colliery tragedy at Ravenhead, the woman who denied being struck by her husband in Liverpool Road, how the 12th of July was marked in St Helens and the Sunday morning "jerry wagging".
We begin on the 8th with the 16th annual exhibition of the Prescot Floral and Horticultural Society in a field at Parkside in Prescot. There was a good attendance and a local volunteer band entertained the crowds.
On the 10th the St Helens Newspaper wrote how every evening hundreds of women in Thatto Heath would walk almost half a mile with large cans of water on their heads. There was such a shortage in the district that water had to be obtained from elsewhere and then conveyed home for families to use on the following day. The paper said:
"On a fine evening there may not be much hardship in even a female carrying a large can of water on her head for a considerable distance, but everybody must feel that in wet and wintry weather such an occupation is one quite unsuited for females."
Thatto Heath was then part of Sutton, which, along with Parr, would soon be incorporated into the St Helens borough. The Newspaper hoped that as soon as that occurred, the authorities would prioritise the supply of water to Thatto Heath, writing: "We believe there is not a cottager in the heath who would object to pay his twopence per week to save his wife or daughter from the indignity and slavery of water carrying."
Under the headline "Attempted Suicide of a Lunatic" the Newspaper described how Thomas Cave had for over 20 years been lodge keeper and night watchman at the St Helens Brewery. However for three weeks he had given indications of insanity and his derangement caused such concern that two men were ordered to keep watch on him.
While out walking down Boundary Road with his two guards, Cave suddenly broke away and jumped into the brook, which was considerably deeper than today. The two men managed to save the man and a magistrate signed an order committing him to Rainhill Asylum.
The Wigan Observer said Cave's brain had been affected by "inordinate reading of the vicious and enervating light periodical literature of the present day".
Being struck by their husband was something many women were forced to endure, as they were so heavily reliant upon their spouse. Reporting their behaviour would likely make matters worse and any penalty that the court might inflict – such as a fine – would affect them as much as their husband.
So in the St Helens Police Court on the 10th the wife of Thomas Murray swore blind that her husband had not struck her while the couple were out walking in Liverpool Road. This was despite the evidence of a policeman who had witnessed the assault. However the magistrate knew the score and preferred to believe the officer and ordered the man to pay bail to keep the peace for 14 days.
On the 12th two men were killed down the recently opened Alexandra Colliery in Ravenhead owned by Pilkingtons (pictured above). Robert Rylance from Liverpool Road and 32-year-old Peter Ashall from Park Road were part of a five-man team delegated to prop up part of the underground roof. A portion of enormous weight became displaced and crashed down upon the two unfortunate men who were crushed to death and buried within the debris.
The mine had been named after Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, who visited the nearby Ravenhead glass works in 1865 when the mine was being sunk. The St Helens Newspaper wrote: "The dead men each leave wife and family to mourn their untimely fate."
In 1869 the 12th of July was the date for Orangemen to commemorate The Battle of Aughrim, not the Battle of the Boyne. Whichever old battle was celebrated in St Helens, passions often ran high with violence regularly flaring between Protestants and members of the Irish Catholic community.
However this year the police kept close watch on trouble spots – such as in Liverpool Road and Greenbank where many Irish lived – and no flare-ups were reported. Some people sported Orange lilies on the streets and twenty to thirty people went by train to Liverpool to join a parade but mostly the commemoration was ignored.
Calling someone you "orange so and so", does not sound very threatening today, even if the so and so is replaced by an expletive. However when Catholics and Protestants rowed – even when the cause was not religious – orange (or more accurately Orange) routinely was the adjective of choice.
This is illustrated in the St Helens Newspaper's account of a case in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 12th when Barbara Skelly pleaded not guilty to a charge of smashing windows in John Hogan's beerhouse: "The case was that the defendant went to the beerhouse of the plaintiff, to look for her husband, believing he was there, but the plaintiff denied him.
"She was angry at this, and she spat upon some cabbage which the complainant was enjoying very comfortably, and the latter, who was furious at the act, jumped up, seized the wholesome vegetables, and dashed them into his antagonist's face. Then ensued some language of the description usually brought into court, in the course of which the defendant was called various names before which “Orange” was invariably used as an adjective.
"The secret of the row between the two women lay in the fact that on one occasion the defendant wrote a private letter to Superintendent Ludlam, informing him that complainant was breaking the Spirit Act on Sunday mornings. One Margaret Littler, a servant woman to the complainant, was called to give evidence, and on being asked the usual question, "What are you?" replied, “A Protestant, sir,” to the great amusement of the idlers in the court.
"Being enlightened as to what was really meant by the question [her job], she went on to give her evidence. – The bench fined the defendant 10s. Upon hearing this decision she [Barbara Skelly] became frantic, brandished a child she carried, and abused her antagonist roundly. She screamed out that she would put a stop to the “jerry wagging” on Sunday mornings, gloried in being a “b________ informer,” and otherwise conducted herself in such a disorderly manner that she had to be removed from the court. Her last words (within hearing) were that she would not pay one farthing of the fine, if she were to rot in gaol."
In another case Patrick Ryan was charged with threatening to assault Rose O’Reilly after going to her house in Liverpool Street and attempting to gain entry. He wanted to speak to the 16-year-old's father after claiming "ill-usage" and bad language by the man towards his wife. John O’Reilly told the court that Ryan had called him an "Orange scoundrel, and various other epithets of similar import" – as described by the St Helens Newspaper. Ryan was bound over to keep the peace.
Lucy Fox and Margaret McKay pleaded guilty to fighting in Liverpool Road on the previous Saturday night. The constable who arrested the pair said they were lying on the ground, tearing each other's hair "in the most cat-like manner". They were both bound over to keep the peace.
I wrote in March that Catherine Yates had made her 25th appearance before the Bench charged with disorderly and unseemly conduct in the streets. The woman was given another term in Kirkdale Gaol and, I added, "no doubt would be back in court before long, as the cycle of repeat offending with no support continued".
And so Catherine appeared in front of the magistrates on the 12th charged with committing a breach of the peace in Westfield Street by shouting and disorderly conduct. However the magistrates decided that the "stout, young woman" should this time be bound over to keep the peace and not returned to prison.
The St Helens Newspaper also reported on a fight between Henry and Margaret Johnson against Elizabeth and Mary Cartwright that led to them summonsing each other and bringing all sorts of souvenirs into court: "The quarrel arose amongst the children, and extended to the litigants. It would appear the Johnsons came off second best, for one had a black eye, and the other a well-scratched face. As is usual in these cases, some pieces of pavement, a few pokers, and a great quantity of human hair, were produced, to create effect, and the most blood-stained stories told of each.
"The witnesses, of whom there were not a few, vied with each other in exaggerating the terrors of that famous fight, which was, by all accounts, one of the most fierce that has disturbed the quiet of the back slums of St. Helens for many a day, which is saying a good deal for its ferocity. Being more noisy and vindictive than the ordinary scrimmages, the whole lot came into court bursting with complaints against each other."
In the end the Bench decided to fine Mary Cartwright the sum of ten shillings and all the other summonses that had been made were dismissed. Although not stated in the report, the location of the fight was Parr Street.
If tenants owed rent their landlord could obtain from a court a so-called "distraint" order allowing them to confiscate their goods in lieu of the arrears. As people had few belongings this usually meant their furniture. Mary Wright's mother had rented out a house in Bold Street to Michael Kelly who had amassed £1 worth of back rent.
He tried to evade the order by removing his furniture from the house, which was an illegal practice. Last year the landlady of the Clarence beerhouse in Duke Street had been sent to prison for six months for doing the same thing. However the magistrates only ordered Kelly to pay £2 and costs but if he failed to pay he could then be jailed.
Next week's stories will include a shocking mining disaster in Haydock, the runaway apprentice rat catcher, the creeping Parr shop theft, the miserable tramp wards at Whiston Workhouse, the Saturday night punch ups in St Helens, John Christian's bicycles and the low scoring Lowe House batsmen.
We begin on the 8th with the 16th annual exhibition of the Prescot Floral and Horticultural Society in a field at Parkside in Prescot. There was a good attendance and a local volunteer band entertained the crowds.
On the 10th the St Helens Newspaper wrote how every evening hundreds of women in Thatto Heath would walk almost half a mile with large cans of water on their heads. There was such a shortage in the district that water had to be obtained from elsewhere and then conveyed home for families to use on the following day. The paper said:
"On a fine evening there may not be much hardship in even a female carrying a large can of water on her head for a considerable distance, but everybody must feel that in wet and wintry weather such an occupation is one quite unsuited for females."
Thatto Heath was then part of Sutton, which, along with Parr, would soon be incorporated into the St Helens borough. The Newspaper hoped that as soon as that occurred, the authorities would prioritise the supply of water to Thatto Heath, writing: "We believe there is not a cottager in the heath who would object to pay his twopence per week to save his wife or daughter from the indignity and slavery of water carrying."
Under the headline "Attempted Suicide of a Lunatic" the Newspaper described how Thomas Cave had for over 20 years been lodge keeper and night watchman at the St Helens Brewery. However for three weeks he had given indications of insanity and his derangement caused such concern that two men were ordered to keep watch on him.
While out walking down Boundary Road with his two guards, Cave suddenly broke away and jumped into the brook, which was considerably deeper than today. The two men managed to save the man and a magistrate signed an order committing him to Rainhill Asylum.
The Wigan Observer said Cave's brain had been affected by "inordinate reading of the vicious and enervating light periodical literature of the present day".
Being struck by their husband was something many women were forced to endure, as they were so heavily reliant upon their spouse. Reporting their behaviour would likely make matters worse and any penalty that the court might inflict – such as a fine – would affect them as much as their husband.
So in the St Helens Police Court on the 10th the wife of Thomas Murray swore blind that her husband had not struck her while the couple were out walking in Liverpool Road. This was despite the evidence of a policeman who had witnessed the assault. However the magistrate knew the score and preferred to believe the officer and ordered the man to pay bail to keep the peace for 14 days.
The mine had been named after Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, who visited the nearby Ravenhead glass works in 1865 when the mine was being sunk. The St Helens Newspaper wrote: "The dead men each leave wife and family to mourn their untimely fate."
In 1869 the 12th of July was the date for Orangemen to commemorate The Battle of Aughrim, not the Battle of the Boyne. Whichever old battle was celebrated in St Helens, passions often ran high with violence regularly flaring between Protestants and members of the Irish Catholic community.
However this year the police kept close watch on trouble spots – such as in Liverpool Road and Greenbank where many Irish lived – and no flare-ups were reported. Some people sported Orange lilies on the streets and twenty to thirty people went by train to Liverpool to join a parade but mostly the commemoration was ignored.
Calling someone you "orange so and so", does not sound very threatening today, even if the so and so is replaced by an expletive. However when Catholics and Protestants rowed – even when the cause was not religious – orange (or more accurately Orange) routinely was the adjective of choice.
This is illustrated in the St Helens Newspaper's account of a case in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 12th when Barbara Skelly pleaded not guilty to a charge of smashing windows in John Hogan's beerhouse: "The case was that the defendant went to the beerhouse of the plaintiff, to look for her husband, believing he was there, but the plaintiff denied him.
"She was angry at this, and she spat upon some cabbage which the complainant was enjoying very comfortably, and the latter, who was furious at the act, jumped up, seized the wholesome vegetables, and dashed them into his antagonist's face. Then ensued some language of the description usually brought into court, in the course of which the defendant was called various names before which “Orange” was invariably used as an adjective.
"The secret of the row between the two women lay in the fact that on one occasion the defendant wrote a private letter to Superintendent Ludlam, informing him that complainant was breaking the Spirit Act on Sunday mornings. One Margaret Littler, a servant woman to the complainant, was called to give evidence, and on being asked the usual question, "What are you?" replied, “A Protestant, sir,” to the great amusement of the idlers in the court.
"Being enlightened as to what was really meant by the question [her job], she went on to give her evidence. – The bench fined the defendant 10s. Upon hearing this decision she [Barbara Skelly] became frantic, brandished a child she carried, and abused her antagonist roundly. She screamed out that she would put a stop to the “jerry wagging” on Sunday mornings, gloried in being a “b________ informer,” and otherwise conducted herself in such a disorderly manner that she had to be removed from the court. Her last words (within hearing) were that she would not pay one farthing of the fine, if she were to rot in gaol."
In another case Patrick Ryan was charged with threatening to assault Rose O’Reilly after going to her house in Liverpool Street and attempting to gain entry. He wanted to speak to the 16-year-old's father after claiming "ill-usage" and bad language by the man towards his wife. John O’Reilly told the court that Ryan had called him an "Orange scoundrel, and various other epithets of similar import" – as described by the St Helens Newspaper. Ryan was bound over to keep the peace.
Lucy Fox and Margaret McKay pleaded guilty to fighting in Liverpool Road on the previous Saturday night. The constable who arrested the pair said they were lying on the ground, tearing each other's hair "in the most cat-like manner". They were both bound over to keep the peace.
I wrote in March that Catherine Yates had made her 25th appearance before the Bench charged with disorderly and unseemly conduct in the streets. The woman was given another term in Kirkdale Gaol and, I added, "no doubt would be back in court before long, as the cycle of repeat offending with no support continued".
And so Catherine appeared in front of the magistrates on the 12th charged with committing a breach of the peace in Westfield Street by shouting and disorderly conduct. However the magistrates decided that the "stout, young woman" should this time be bound over to keep the peace and not returned to prison.
The St Helens Newspaper also reported on a fight between Henry and Margaret Johnson against Elizabeth and Mary Cartwright that led to them summonsing each other and bringing all sorts of souvenirs into court: "The quarrel arose amongst the children, and extended to the litigants. It would appear the Johnsons came off second best, for one had a black eye, and the other a well-scratched face. As is usual in these cases, some pieces of pavement, a few pokers, and a great quantity of human hair, were produced, to create effect, and the most blood-stained stories told of each.
"The witnesses, of whom there were not a few, vied with each other in exaggerating the terrors of that famous fight, which was, by all accounts, one of the most fierce that has disturbed the quiet of the back slums of St. Helens for many a day, which is saying a good deal for its ferocity. Being more noisy and vindictive than the ordinary scrimmages, the whole lot came into court bursting with complaints against each other."
In the end the Bench decided to fine Mary Cartwright the sum of ten shillings and all the other summonses that had been made were dismissed. Although not stated in the report, the location of the fight was Parr Street.
If tenants owed rent their landlord could obtain from a court a so-called "distraint" order allowing them to confiscate their goods in lieu of the arrears. As people had few belongings this usually meant their furniture. Mary Wright's mother had rented out a house in Bold Street to Michael Kelly who had amassed £1 worth of back rent.
He tried to evade the order by removing his furniture from the house, which was an illegal practice. Last year the landlady of the Clarence beerhouse in Duke Street had been sent to prison for six months for doing the same thing. However the magistrates only ordered Kelly to pay £2 and costs but if he failed to pay he could then be jailed.
Next week's stories will include a shocking mining disaster in Haydock, the runaway apprentice rat catcher, the creeping Parr shop theft, the miserable tramp wards at Whiston Workhouse, the Saturday night punch ups in St Helens, John Christian's bicycles and the low scoring Lowe House batsmen.