150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 8 - 14 JULY 1874
This week's many stories include the new church planned for Earlestown, the society wedding of the year takes place in St Helens, the horse stealing in Rainford that led to a heavy prison sentence, the joiners striking over the number of apprentices, the suicide of a Rainford doctor, the diorama in the Volunteer Hall and the brutal wife beater returns to court to face his victim who wore what was described as a most death-like appearance.
We begin on the 8th when 150 people held a meeting in Earlestown Infant School to discuss building a new church. Rev. John Whitley, the Rector of Wargrave, told the meeting that the population of Earlestown had grown considerably over the past few years and now had "between 5,000 and 6,000 souls" but there was no church to serve their needs.
Most of the money for church buildings came from donations from better-off folk and £2,721 had already been pledged for Earlestown's new church. A list of individual donations already promised was read out at the meeting. These ranged from £2 10 shillings to £1,500, with William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, topping the list. He had also offered to donate the land for the new building.
This week a new baptistery was installed in Holy Cross Church in St Helens (pictured above). The Newspaper described it as "very neat" with a "massive, yet elegant" font in Gothic style that was a "very elaborate work of art".
The joiners of St Helens were out on strike this week over their conditions of service. Their employers had formed the Master Builders Association, which had recently drawn up a code of regulations that each member's employees must comply with. But the joiners wanted a clause inserting that stipulated that no more than four apprentices should work in each establishment, which their "masters" had refused to accept. Using poorly paid apprentices might save the bosses money but mean less employment for qualified joiners whose standard of work should in theory be much better.
A second bone of contention was the travel expenses for those men working on jobs some distance from their home. The masters said they would only pay railway fares for a maximum of ten miles from St Helens, no matter how far their workers had to travel – but the men wanted that extending to fifteen.
On the 9th the big society wedding of the year took place in St Helens. The town's industrialists liked to inter-marry and the union of David Gamble's daughter Ann and Charles Bishop was a coming together of the chemicals and glass industries. The St Helens Newspaper said the event:
"…gave rise to the liveliest curiosity and pleasure throughout the town, from the popularity of Col. Gamble, and the amiability of the young lady he was about to bestow in marriage. Flags were hung out in various streets, and from the flagstaff of the Volunteer Hall, in honour of the occasion."
The wedding party arrived at the Parish Church in nineteen carriages each decorated with flowers and the building was "thronged by one of the largest gatherings ever assembled within it." The Newspaper was also quite taken by the "magnificence" of the ladies' costumes.
After the ceremony was concluded the party made its way to the Gamble's stately home at Windlehurst where a "sumptuous wedding breakfast" was consumed. The happy couple then proceeded to Scotland for their honeymoon, probably accompanied by several servants, with the 1871 census listing eight domestics in residence at Windlehurst.
Throughout this week Hamilton's Diorama was on show in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street. The diorama was quite a theatrical experience and is said to have astounded audiences. Light was manipulated in a way that made paintings appear to change their appearance.
The St Helens Newspaper said Hamilton's exhibition was one of the finest ever painted and comprised a collection of the great sights of the world, with "few places of historic and picturesque notoriety" not reproduced. These were not silent shows as vocalists and instrumentalists provided a soundtrack.
This week the people of Rainford were coming to terms with the death of Dr William Bagaley Fletcher of Holly Bank. In the 1871 census the then 40-year-old with two young sons described himself as a general practitioner and apothecary and so would have possessed a good stock of medication and poisons. Last weekend Dr Fletcher drank nitric acid out of a wine glass and died in agony within several minutes. His inquest took place this week in the Derby Arms in Rainford where it was revealed that the doctor had been in financial difficulty and was drinking heavily.
Last week I described a brutal assault on a wife in Rifle Row, near the Volunteer Hall, in St Helens. Michael Redmond was accused of attacking his wife Anne and the St Helens Newspaper had written: "He beat her with great violence on the head and face, and when he had rendered her insensible, and destroyed all semblance of humanity in her features, he flung her downstairs."
This week the brute returned to St Helens Petty Sessions charged with "having wantonly and cruelly" assaulted his wife, with the Prescot Reporter writing: "Anne Redmond, the woman who had been so cruelly beaten, appeared in court at her own anxious desire to give her evidence, although she was not in a fit state to do so.
"She was supported in the arms of two or three women, had her head and face bandaged all over, and presented a most death-like appearance. The unfortunate woman appeared to be labouring under great pain and was almost speechless, so that it was with difficulty that her evidence could be given."
Anne struggled to explain how her husband had returned home somewhat worse for drink and after going upstairs had called her to him from their bedroom. As she entered the room Redmond swore at her, grabbed her hair and then using his fist proceeded to strike Anne repeatedly about the head. He then knocked her down and after further pulling her hair and hitting her, the brute threw his wife down the stairs.
After hearing his wife's account, Michael Redmond blurted out: "I do not know what I hit her for – I was wild with drink. I know I did not hurt her no way." The arresting policeman said the husband had told him that he had only been chastising his wife but upon examining the room the officer described finding a bed sheet covered with blood. He said hair and blood were also smeared over a wall and on the floor of the room.
A doctor gave evidence of Mrs Redmond having been brought into his surgery and fainting while being examined and on the following day he found both her eyes had completely closed and her face, neck, and head were swollen and black. He said he had never before seen a woman so badly beaten. Michael Redmond then remarked: "You are aware your honours that a woman's face is very tender. I had some whiskey and I am a bad one when I get that. It is all through whiskey."
After hearing the evidence the Chairman of the Bench addressed the prisoner: "Michael Redmond we convict you of the worst assault we ever had brought before us and we hope never to hear again of anything so abominable and aggravating as the assault you have committed on your wife.
"Words would be lost on such as you and the sentence of this court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for six calendar months, at the expiration of which time you must find two sureties in £15 each and yourself in £30 to keep the peace or go to gaol for six months longer." As they still are today, the magistrates' courts were limited to six months imprisonment for a single offence but they were cleverly boosting that to a year, knowing there was no possibility of Redmond being able to raise the required sureties.
What was described as the "first athletic sports of any importance that ever came off in St. Helens" had taken place in 1870 at the Cricket Club in Dentons Green. It went so well that it was now an annual event and this year's sports were held on the 11th. There were 270 entries for the thirty events with total prize money on offer of £180 and there'll be a review of the proceedings next week.
And finally, in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 13th Josiah Gleave was charged with stealing a horse belonging to Ann Boardman of Dairy Farm in Rainford. The village police station was then located in Ormskirk Road, not far from the Wheatsheaf Inn and PC Eckford said he had looked out of a window and seen Gleave leading a bay horse down the road.
Later Sgt Bee and PC Clarke found the horse in the defendant's yard and they had to force entry into the house to get Gleave under arrest, which took some doing as he violently resisted them. There was also another horse in the possession of the 29-year-old that had been stolen from a Bickerstaffe man. The horses were valued at £110 in total and Gleave insisted he had bought them both. But he was committed to take his trial at Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to five years in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the freak of a lunatic at Bold, the man who was prosecuted for taking two days off work, the overcrowded and smelly lodging houses and the sleeping man in Dentons Green Lane that had his watch pinched.
We begin on the 8th when 150 people held a meeting in Earlestown Infant School to discuss building a new church. Rev. John Whitley, the Rector of Wargrave, told the meeting that the population of Earlestown had grown considerably over the past few years and now had "between 5,000 and 6,000 souls" but there was no church to serve their needs.
Most of the money for church buildings came from donations from better-off folk and £2,721 had already been pledged for Earlestown's new church. A list of individual donations already promised was read out at the meeting. These ranged from £2 10 shillings to £1,500, with William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, topping the list. He had also offered to donate the land for the new building.
The joiners of St Helens were out on strike this week over their conditions of service. Their employers had formed the Master Builders Association, which had recently drawn up a code of regulations that each member's employees must comply with. But the joiners wanted a clause inserting that stipulated that no more than four apprentices should work in each establishment, which their "masters" had refused to accept. Using poorly paid apprentices might save the bosses money but mean less employment for qualified joiners whose standard of work should in theory be much better.
A second bone of contention was the travel expenses for those men working on jobs some distance from their home. The masters said they would only pay railway fares for a maximum of ten miles from St Helens, no matter how far their workers had to travel – but the men wanted that extending to fifteen.
On the 9th the big society wedding of the year took place in St Helens. The town's industrialists liked to inter-marry and the union of David Gamble's daughter Ann and Charles Bishop was a coming together of the chemicals and glass industries. The St Helens Newspaper said the event:
"…gave rise to the liveliest curiosity and pleasure throughout the town, from the popularity of Col. Gamble, and the amiability of the young lady he was about to bestow in marriage. Flags were hung out in various streets, and from the flagstaff of the Volunteer Hall, in honour of the occasion."
The wedding party arrived at the Parish Church in nineteen carriages each decorated with flowers and the building was "thronged by one of the largest gatherings ever assembled within it." The Newspaper was also quite taken by the "magnificence" of the ladies' costumes.
After the ceremony was concluded the party made its way to the Gamble's stately home at Windlehurst where a "sumptuous wedding breakfast" was consumed. The happy couple then proceeded to Scotland for their honeymoon, probably accompanied by several servants, with the 1871 census listing eight domestics in residence at Windlehurst.
Throughout this week Hamilton's Diorama was on show in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street. The diorama was quite a theatrical experience and is said to have astounded audiences. Light was manipulated in a way that made paintings appear to change their appearance.
The St Helens Newspaper said Hamilton's exhibition was one of the finest ever painted and comprised a collection of the great sights of the world, with "few places of historic and picturesque notoriety" not reproduced. These were not silent shows as vocalists and instrumentalists provided a soundtrack.
This week the people of Rainford were coming to terms with the death of Dr William Bagaley Fletcher of Holly Bank. In the 1871 census the then 40-year-old with two young sons described himself as a general practitioner and apothecary and so would have possessed a good stock of medication and poisons. Last weekend Dr Fletcher drank nitric acid out of a wine glass and died in agony within several minutes. His inquest took place this week in the Derby Arms in Rainford where it was revealed that the doctor had been in financial difficulty and was drinking heavily.
Last week I described a brutal assault on a wife in Rifle Row, near the Volunteer Hall, in St Helens. Michael Redmond was accused of attacking his wife Anne and the St Helens Newspaper had written: "He beat her with great violence on the head and face, and when he had rendered her insensible, and destroyed all semblance of humanity in her features, he flung her downstairs."
This week the brute returned to St Helens Petty Sessions charged with "having wantonly and cruelly" assaulted his wife, with the Prescot Reporter writing: "Anne Redmond, the woman who had been so cruelly beaten, appeared in court at her own anxious desire to give her evidence, although she was not in a fit state to do so.
"She was supported in the arms of two or three women, had her head and face bandaged all over, and presented a most death-like appearance. The unfortunate woman appeared to be labouring under great pain and was almost speechless, so that it was with difficulty that her evidence could be given."
Anne struggled to explain how her husband had returned home somewhat worse for drink and after going upstairs had called her to him from their bedroom. As she entered the room Redmond swore at her, grabbed her hair and then using his fist proceeded to strike Anne repeatedly about the head. He then knocked her down and after further pulling her hair and hitting her, the brute threw his wife down the stairs.
After hearing his wife's account, Michael Redmond blurted out: "I do not know what I hit her for – I was wild with drink. I know I did not hurt her no way." The arresting policeman said the husband had told him that he had only been chastising his wife but upon examining the room the officer described finding a bed sheet covered with blood. He said hair and blood were also smeared over a wall and on the floor of the room.
A doctor gave evidence of Mrs Redmond having been brought into his surgery and fainting while being examined and on the following day he found both her eyes had completely closed and her face, neck, and head were swollen and black. He said he had never before seen a woman so badly beaten. Michael Redmond then remarked: "You are aware your honours that a woman's face is very tender. I had some whiskey and I am a bad one when I get that. It is all through whiskey."
After hearing the evidence the Chairman of the Bench addressed the prisoner: "Michael Redmond we convict you of the worst assault we ever had brought before us and we hope never to hear again of anything so abominable and aggravating as the assault you have committed on your wife.
"Words would be lost on such as you and the sentence of this court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for six calendar months, at the expiration of which time you must find two sureties in £15 each and yourself in £30 to keep the peace or go to gaol for six months longer." As they still are today, the magistrates' courts were limited to six months imprisonment for a single offence but they were cleverly boosting that to a year, knowing there was no possibility of Redmond being able to raise the required sureties.
What was described as the "first athletic sports of any importance that ever came off in St. Helens" had taken place in 1870 at the Cricket Club in Dentons Green. It went so well that it was now an annual event and this year's sports were held on the 11th. There were 270 entries for the thirty events with total prize money on offer of £180 and there'll be a review of the proceedings next week.
And finally, in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 13th Josiah Gleave was charged with stealing a horse belonging to Ann Boardman of Dairy Farm in Rainford. The village police station was then located in Ormskirk Road, not far from the Wheatsheaf Inn and PC Eckford said he had looked out of a window and seen Gleave leading a bay horse down the road.
Later Sgt Bee and PC Clarke found the horse in the defendant's yard and they had to force entry into the house to get Gleave under arrest, which took some doing as he violently resisted them. There was also another horse in the possession of the 29-year-old that had been stolen from a Bickerstaffe man. The horses were valued at £110 in total and Gleave insisted he had bought them both. But he was committed to take his trial at Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to five years in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the freak of a lunatic at Bold, the man who was prosecuted for taking two days off work, the overcrowded and smelly lodging houses and the sleeping man in Dentons Green Lane that had his watch pinched.
This week's many stories include the new church planned for Earlestown, the society wedding of the year takes place in St Helens, the horse stealing in Rainford that led to a heavy prison sentence, the joiners striking over the number of apprentices, the suicide of a Rainford doctor, the diorama in the Volunteer Hall and the brutal wife beater returns to court to face his victim who wore what was described as a most death-like appearance.
We begin on the 8th when 150 people held a meeting in Earlestown Infant School to discuss building a new church.
Rev. John Whitley, the Rector of Wargrave, told the meeting that the population of Earlestown had grown considerably over the past few years and now had "between 5,000 and 6,000 souls" but there was no church to serve their needs.
Most of the money for church buildings came from donations from better-off folk and £2,721 had already been pledged for Earlestown's new church.
A list of individual donations already promised was read out at the meeting. These ranged from £2 10 shillings to £1,500, with William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, topping the list. He had also offered to donate the land for the new building.
This week a new baptistery was installed in Holy Cross Church in St Helens. The Newspaper described it as "very neat" with a "massive, yet elegant" font in Gothic style that was a "very elaborate work of art".
The joiners of St Helens were out on strike this week over their conditions of service.
Their employers had formed the Master Builders Association, which had recently drawn up a code of regulations that each member's employees must comply with.
But the joiners wanted a clause inserting that stipulated that no more than four apprentices should work in each establishment, which their "masters" had refused to accept.
Using poorly paid apprentices might save the bosses money but mean less employment for qualified joiners whose standard of work should in theory be much better.
A second bone of contention was the travel expenses for those men working on jobs some distance from their home.
The masters said they would only pay railway fares for a maximum of ten miles from St Helens, no matter how far their workers had to travel – but the men wanted that extending to fifteen.
On the 9th the big society wedding of the year took place in St Helens.
The town's industrialists liked to inter-marry and the union of David Gamble's daughter Ann and Charles Bishop was a coming together of the chemicals and glass industries. The St Helens Newspaper said the event:
"…gave rise to the liveliest curiosity and pleasure throughout the town, from the popularity of Col. Gamble, and the amiability of the young lady he was about to bestow in marriage.
"Flags were hung out in various streets, and from the flagstaff of the Volunteer Hall, in honour of the occasion."
The wedding party arrived at the Parish Church in nineteen carriages each decorated with flowers and the building was "thronged by one of the largest gatherings ever assembled within it."
The Newspaper was also quite taken by the "magnificence" of the ladies' costumes.
After the ceremony was concluded the party made its way to the Gamble's stately home at Windlehurst where a "sumptuous wedding breakfast" was consumed.
The happy couple then proceeded to Scotland for their honeymoon, probably accompanied by several servants, with the 1871 census listing eight domestics in residence at Windlehurst.
Throughout this week Hamilton's Diorama was on show in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street.
The diorama was quite a theatrical experience and is said to have astounded audiences.
Light was manipulated in a way that made paintings appear to change their appearance.
The St Helens Newspaper said Hamilton's exhibition was one of the finest ever painted and comprised a collection of the great sights of the world, with "few places of historic and picturesque notoriety" not reproduced.
These were not silent shows as vocalists and instrumentalists provided a soundtrack.
This week the people of Rainford were coming to terms with the death of Dr William Bagaley Fletcher of Holly Bank.
In the 1871 census the then 40-year-old with two young sons described himself as a general practitioner and apothecary and so would have possessed a good stock of medication and poisons.
Last weekend Dr Fletcher drank nitric acid out of a wine glass and died in agony within several minutes.
His inquest took place this week in the Derby Arms in Rainford where it was revealed that the doctor had been in financial difficulty and was drinking heavily.
Last week I described a brutal assault on a wife in Rifle Row, near the Volunteer Hall, in St Helens.
Michael Redmond was accused of attacking his wife Anne and the St Helens Newspaper had written:
"He beat her with great violence on the head and face, and when he had rendered her insensible, and destroyed all semblance of humanity in her features, he flung her downstairs."
This week the brute returned to St Helens Petty Sessions charged with "having wantonly and cruelly" assaulted his wife, with the Prescot Reporter writing:
"Anne Redmond, the woman who had been so cruelly beaten, appeared in court at her own anxious desire to give her evidence, although she was not in a fit state to do so.
"She was supported in the arms of two or three women, had her head and face bandaged all over, and presented a most death-like appearance.
"The unfortunate woman appeared to be labouring under great pain and was almost speechless, so that it was with difficulty that her evidence could be given."
Anne struggled to explain how her husband had returned home somewhat worse for drink and after going upstairs had called her to him from their bedroom.
As she entered the room Redmond swore at her, grabbed her hair and then using his fist proceeded to strike Anne repeatedly about the head.
He then knocked her down and after further pulling her hair and hitting her, the brute threw his wife down the stairs.
After hearing his wife's account, Michael Redmond blurted out: "I do not know what I hit her for – I was wild with drink. I know I did not hurt her no way."
The arresting policeman said the husband had told him that he had only been chastising his wife but upon examining the room the officer described finding a bed sheet covered with blood.
He said hair and blood were also smeared over a wall and on the floor of the room.
A doctor gave evidence of Mrs Redmond having been brought into his surgery and fainting while being examined and on the following day he found both her eyes had completely closed and her face, neck, and head were swollen and black.
He said he had never before seen a woman so badly beaten.
Michael Redmond then remarked: "You are aware your honours that a woman's face is very tender. I had some whiskey and I am a bad one when I get that. It is all through whiskey."
After hearing the evidence the Chairman of the Bench addressed the prisoner:
"Michael Redmond we convict you of the worst assault we ever had brought before us and we hope never to hear again of anything so abominable and aggravating as the assault you have committed on your wife.
"Words would be lost on such as you and the sentence of this court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for six calendar months, at the expiration of which time you must find two sureties in £15 each and yourself in £30 to keep the peace or go to gaol for six months longer."
As they still are today, the magistrates' courts were limited to six months imprisonment for a single offence but they were cleverly boosting that to a year, knowing there was no possibility of Redmond being able to raise the required sureties.
What was described as the "first athletic sports of any importance that ever came off in St. Helens" had taken place in 1870 at the Cricket Club in Dentons Green.
It went so well that it was now an annual event and this year's sports were held on the 11th.
There were 270 entries for the thirty events with total prize money on offer of £180 and there'll be a review of the proceedings next week.
And finally, in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 13th Josiah Gleave was charged with stealing a horse belonging to Ann Boardman of Dairy Farm in Rainford.
The village police station was then located in Ormskirk Road, not far from the Wheatsheaf Inn and PC Eckford said he had looked out of a window and seen Gleave leading a bay horse down the road.
Later Sgt Bee and PC Clarke found the horse in the defendant's yard and they had to force entry into the house to get Gleave under arrest, which took some doing as he violently resisted them.
There was also another horse in the possession of the 29-year-old that had been stolen from a Bickerstaffe man.
The horses were valued at £110 in total and Gleave insisted he had bought them both. But he was committed to take his trial at Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to five years in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the freak of a lunatic at Bold, the man who was prosecuted for taking two days off work, the overcrowded and smelly lodging houses and the sleeping man in Dentons Green Lane that had his watch pinched.
We begin on the 8th when 150 people held a meeting in Earlestown Infant School to discuss building a new church.
Rev. John Whitley, the Rector of Wargrave, told the meeting that the population of Earlestown had grown considerably over the past few years and now had "between 5,000 and 6,000 souls" but there was no church to serve their needs.
Most of the money for church buildings came from donations from better-off folk and £2,721 had already been pledged for Earlestown's new church.
A list of individual donations already promised was read out at the meeting. These ranged from £2 10 shillings to £1,500, with William Legh, the MP for Cheshire East and future Lord Newton, topping the list. He had also offered to donate the land for the new building.
The joiners of St Helens were out on strike this week over their conditions of service.
Their employers had formed the Master Builders Association, which had recently drawn up a code of regulations that each member's employees must comply with.
But the joiners wanted a clause inserting that stipulated that no more than four apprentices should work in each establishment, which their "masters" had refused to accept.
Using poorly paid apprentices might save the bosses money but mean less employment for qualified joiners whose standard of work should in theory be much better.
A second bone of contention was the travel expenses for those men working on jobs some distance from their home.
The masters said they would only pay railway fares for a maximum of ten miles from St Helens, no matter how far their workers had to travel – but the men wanted that extending to fifteen.
On the 9th the big society wedding of the year took place in St Helens.
The town's industrialists liked to inter-marry and the union of David Gamble's daughter Ann and Charles Bishop was a coming together of the chemicals and glass industries. The St Helens Newspaper said the event:
"…gave rise to the liveliest curiosity and pleasure throughout the town, from the popularity of Col. Gamble, and the amiability of the young lady he was about to bestow in marriage.
"Flags were hung out in various streets, and from the flagstaff of the Volunteer Hall, in honour of the occasion."
The wedding party arrived at the Parish Church in nineteen carriages each decorated with flowers and the building was "thronged by one of the largest gatherings ever assembled within it."
The Newspaper was also quite taken by the "magnificence" of the ladies' costumes.
After the ceremony was concluded the party made its way to the Gamble's stately home at Windlehurst where a "sumptuous wedding breakfast" was consumed.
The happy couple then proceeded to Scotland for their honeymoon, probably accompanied by several servants, with the 1871 census listing eight domestics in residence at Windlehurst.
Throughout this week Hamilton's Diorama was on show in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street.
The diorama was quite a theatrical experience and is said to have astounded audiences.
Light was manipulated in a way that made paintings appear to change their appearance.
The St Helens Newspaper said Hamilton's exhibition was one of the finest ever painted and comprised a collection of the great sights of the world, with "few places of historic and picturesque notoriety" not reproduced.
These were not silent shows as vocalists and instrumentalists provided a soundtrack.
This week the people of Rainford were coming to terms with the death of Dr William Bagaley Fletcher of Holly Bank.
In the 1871 census the then 40-year-old with two young sons described himself as a general practitioner and apothecary and so would have possessed a good stock of medication and poisons.
Last weekend Dr Fletcher drank nitric acid out of a wine glass and died in agony within several minutes.
His inquest took place this week in the Derby Arms in Rainford where it was revealed that the doctor had been in financial difficulty and was drinking heavily.
Last week I described a brutal assault on a wife in Rifle Row, near the Volunteer Hall, in St Helens.
Michael Redmond was accused of attacking his wife Anne and the St Helens Newspaper had written:
"He beat her with great violence on the head and face, and when he had rendered her insensible, and destroyed all semblance of humanity in her features, he flung her downstairs."
This week the brute returned to St Helens Petty Sessions charged with "having wantonly and cruelly" assaulted his wife, with the Prescot Reporter writing:
"Anne Redmond, the woman who had been so cruelly beaten, appeared in court at her own anxious desire to give her evidence, although she was not in a fit state to do so.
"She was supported in the arms of two or three women, had her head and face bandaged all over, and presented a most death-like appearance.
"The unfortunate woman appeared to be labouring under great pain and was almost speechless, so that it was with difficulty that her evidence could be given."
Anne struggled to explain how her husband had returned home somewhat worse for drink and after going upstairs had called her to him from their bedroom.
As she entered the room Redmond swore at her, grabbed her hair and then using his fist proceeded to strike Anne repeatedly about the head.
He then knocked her down and after further pulling her hair and hitting her, the brute threw his wife down the stairs.
After hearing his wife's account, Michael Redmond blurted out: "I do not know what I hit her for – I was wild with drink. I know I did not hurt her no way."
The arresting policeman said the husband had told him that he had only been chastising his wife but upon examining the room the officer described finding a bed sheet covered with blood.
He said hair and blood were also smeared over a wall and on the floor of the room.
A doctor gave evidence of Mrs Redmond having been brought into his surgery and fainting while being examined and on the following day he found both her eyes had completely closed and her face, neck, and head were swollen and black.
He said he had never before seen a woman so badly beaten.
Michael Redmond then remarked: "You are aware your honours that a woman's face is very tender. I had some whiskey and I am a bad one when I get that. It is all through whiskey."
After hearing the evidence the Chairman of the Bench addressed the prisoner:
"Michael Redmond we convict you of the worst assault we ever had brought before us and we hope never to hear again of anything so abominable and aggravating as the assault you have committed on your wife.
"Words would be lost on such as you and the sentence of this court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for six calendar months, at the expiration of which time you must find two sureties in £15 each and yourself in £30 to keep the peace or go to gaol for six months longer."
As they still are today, the magistrates' courts were limited to six months imprisonment for a single offence but they were cleverly boosting that to a year, knowing there was no possibility of Redmond being able to raise the required sureties.
What was described as the "first athletic sports of any importance that ever came off in St. Helens" had taken place in 1870 at the Cricket Club in Dentons Green.
It went so well that it was now an annual event and this year's sports were held on the 11th.
There were 270 entries for the thirty events with total prize money on offer of £180 and there'll be a review of the proceedings next week.
And finally, in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 13th Josiah Gleave was charged with stealing a horse belonging to Ann Boardman of Dairy Farm in Rainford.
The village police station was then located in Ormskirk Road, not far from the Wheatsheaf Inn and PC Eckford said he had looked out of a window and seen Gleave leading a bay horse down the road.
Later Sgt Bee and PC Clarke found the horse in the defendant's yard and they had to force entry into the house to get Gleave under arrest, which took some doing as he violently resisted them.
There was also another horse in the possession of the 29-year-old that had been stolen from a Bickerstaffe man.
The horses were valued at £110 in total and Gleave insisted he had bought them both. But he was committed to take his trial at Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he was sentenced to five years in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the freak of a lunatic at Bold, the man who was prosecuted for taking two days off work, the overcrowded and smelly lodging houses and the sleeping man in Dentons Green Lane that had his watch pinched.