150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10th - 16th June 1869)
This week's stories include a miner's savage assault upon his father in Parr, the Liverpool Road woman with twelve lodgers in her house, a protest meeting in Salisbury Street, more on the Eccleston environmental disaster and the notorious Dennis Fay returns to court charged with riotous conduct in Bridge Street.
We begin on the 12th with yet another railway accident, when an engine proceeding out of the St Helens station collided with another. The line was blocked for several hours and there was considerable damage to both engines but neither driver sustained serious injury.
Recently the St Helens Newspaper had reported on the dreadful damage done to trees and vegetation in Eccleston by "noxious and destructive vapour" from chemical works in St Helens. On the 12th the Prescot Reporter published their own account of the devastation in which they stated that smoke from the town's copper works had also been to blame:
"The prevalence of easterly winds has caused great destruction to vegetation between St. Ann's, Eccleston, and St. Helens, by bringing the smoke from the copper, alkali, and other works over that part of the country. The trees have become stripped of their leaves, and the same may be said of the hedgerows, except on the west side, where they have not been so much exposed to the vapour.
"Several fields of barley have been destroyed, and altogether the destruction to vegetation has been very great. The damage extends to the skirts of Knowsley Park. We understand that Lord Stanley and Mr. Hale were a few days ago inspecting the locality. Hitherto the country to the west of St. Helens has not suffered very much from the chemical vapour, but this year the damage is very great. The farmers who have suffered will no doubt make an attempt to recover damages from the manufacturers, and to some extent they will probably be successful."
A number of people appeared in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 14th charged with keeping an unregistered lodging house. One was Elizabeth Mantley from Liverpool Road who had twelve lodgers stashed away in three rooms of her small house. The woman complained that the local authority in St Helens was far too stringent, telling the Bench that in Blackpool "an honest woman could keep twenty lodgers without having to trouble herself about inquisitive inspectors." She and all the other offenders were fined one shilling and costs.
Collier William Eden from Parr appeared in court charged with committing a savage assault upon his father at Broad Oak. Sergeant Myers asked for a remand for a week, saying the old man was totally incapable of appearing in court having been kicked "in a most inhuman manner" without the slightest provocation.
After doing the deed Eden left his father's house but came back a while later, telling people in the street that he intended to finish off his Dad. One was a neighbour called Frodsham who decided to intervene, as the Liverpool Mercury described:
"Eden still persisting, and the man finding persuasion had no effect upon him, he was compelled to resort to physical force, and administered to the would-be parricide a sound thrashing with the most satisfactory result, and the effects of which he bore upon his face as well as other parts of his body."
The St Helens Newspaper described Eden's injuries in greater detail: "When the prisoner appeared in court his face was severely cut, one of his eyes was closed, and he altogether presented the appearance of a man who was suffering from considerable bodily injury." The week's remand was granted by the magistrates and there will be more on this story next week.
Charles Wood was summoned to court for eleven weeks arrears on a bastardy order, amounting to £1 7s 6d. After some discussion a settlement was agreed between him and the mother of his child.
Every week in court there were several persons charged with breaches of the peace or being "drunk and riotous" with a number of regular offenders. One was Luke Mullen and the Irishman made his 33rd appearance in front of the magistrates this week and was ordered to find sureties for his good behaviour.
Just who in their right mind would put up cash on behalf of Mullen with his track record, I cannot say – or even give him work. Perhaps that is why in the 1871 census the Eccleston labourer is listed as an inmate of Whiston Workhouse.
However 33 appearances was nothing on Dennis Fay, who was in court for the 45th time charged with drunkenness and riotous conduct in Bridge Street. A constable said he had seen the man surrounded by a crowd and "making a great disturbance by shouting and swearing." However Dennis offered an alternative version of reality, telling the Bench he had been walking quietly to his lodgings – "may be in drink, and may be not" – when the police seized him.
The man claimed he was always being picked on because of his record, not just by the police but also by others. Fay said no one in St Helens would let him rent a house and recently a landlord had told him to go back to Ireland and find a house there.
When last in court in February, Dennis was told to find two sureties of £5 to guarantee his good behaviour. Realising the impossibility of finding people possessing sufficient cash and faith in him, Fay chose the alternative sentence of 28 days in prison. This time the magistrates appeared a bit more sympathetic and gave him just a five shillings fine.
Anthony Fillingham does not sound like the ideal brother-in-law. John Harris told the same hearing that after returning to Parr from an excursion, Fillingham had attacked him and tore his best clothes to pieces. Harris said his brother-in-law was a very quarrelsome person and Fillingham was bound over to keep the peace by the magistrates.
Posters stuck on walls were the main means of advertising events in St Helens as newspapers were mainly for the better educated middle class. For about a week there had been a large number of bills (as they were usually called) stuck around the town promoting a protest meeting against proposals to disestablish the Irish church.
Anything to do with religion evoked great passion and on the 14th on the Salisbury Street fairground, the Vicar of St Helens claimed that 250,000 people had been marching in Manchester recently against the new law. Newspapers stated a more modest head count of 25,000 but whatever the total it was still a substantial demonstration. The gathering in Salisbury Street was also quite large and in opening the meeting the vicar, Rev. Dr. Carr, said theirs was a "glorious cause".
He added: "The British lion had been asleep for a long time past, but within the last few days he had aroused and shaken himself, and on Saturday last he uttered a roar in Manchester which should reverberate through the four corners of the kingdom." Trouble was never far away from such meetings and the Wigan Observer stated that a number of "rough boys or young men" had been present and their behaviour was "not very creditable".
In the Liverpool Daily Post on the 14th there was an advert for the letting of an unfurnished house in Huyton Quarry called 'The Lathams'. There might not be any furniture within the house but the tenant's family and their servants would have their own pews to sit on at Prescot Church. The practice of buying and selling of pews at Prescot was now a controversial subject, with many people unhappy with wealthy individuals having the exclusive right to sit on them during services.
On the 15th the Prescot Petty Sessions were held and Catherine Dagnall summoned Mary Thompson for assault. This is how the St Helens Newspaper described the case: "This was one of the usual quarrels, in which hard words, pokers, stones, and various household articles were brought into use to wound. The families on both sides engaged in the contest, and for some time the district was considerably enlivened by the proceedings." The defendant was bound over to keep the peace.
Next week's stories will include a fowl theft at Dentons Green, the brutal beater of his own father at Broad Oak returns to court, a fire at a foundry in Eccleston, the old Sutton Workhouse is discussed, the illegal swim in a glassworks reservoir and the Rainford parish clerk who officiated at 10,000 births, marriages and deaths.
We begin on the 12th with yet another railway accident, when an engine proceeding out of the St Helens station collided with another. The line was blocked for several hours and there was considerable damage to both engines but neither driver sustained serious injury.
Recently the St Helens Newspaper had reported on the dreadful damage done to trees and vegetation in Eccleston by "noxious and destructive vapour" from chemical works in St Helens. On the 12th the Prescot Reporter published their own account of the devastation in which they stated that smoke from the town's copper works had also been to blame:
"The prevalence of easterly winds has caused great destruction to vegetation between St. Ann's, Eccleston, and St. Helens, by bringing the smoke from the copper, alkali, and other works over that part of the country. The trees have become stripped of their leaves, and the same may be said of the hedgerows, except on the west side, where they have not been so much exposed to the vapour.
"Several fields of barley have been destroyed, and altogether the destruction to vegetation has been very great. The damage extends to the skirts of Knowsley Park. We understand that Lord Stanley and Mr. Hale were a few days ago inspecting the locality. Hitherto the country to the west of St. Helens has not suffered very much from the chemical vapour, but this year the damage is very great. The farmers who have suffered will no doubt make an attempt to recover damages from the manufacturers, and to some extent they will probably be successful."
A number of people appeared in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 14th charged with keeping an unregistered lodging house. One was Elizabeth Mantley from Liverpool Road who had twelve lodgers stashed away in three rooms of her small house. The woman complained that the local authority in St Helens was far too stringent, telling the Bench that in Blackpool "an honest woman could keep twenty lodgers without having to trouble herself about inquisitive inspectors." She and all the other offenders were fined one shilling and costs.
Collier William Eden from Parr appeared in court charged with committing a savage assault upon his father at Broad Oak. Sergeant Myers asked for a remand for a week, saying the old man was totally incapable of appearing in court having been kicked "in a most inhuman manner" without the slightest provocation.
After doing the deed Eden left his father's house but came back a while later, telling people in the street that he intended to finish off his Dad. One was a neighbour called Frodsham who decided to intervene, as the Liverpool Mercury described:
"Eden still persisting, and the man finding persuasion had no effect upon him, he was compelled to resort to physical force, and administered to the would-be parricide a sound thrashing with the most satisfactory result, and the effects of which he bore upon his face as well as other parts of his body."
Charles Wood was summoned to court for eleven weeks arrears on a bastardy order, amounting to £1 7s 6d. After some discussion a settlement was agreed between him and the mother of his child.
Every week in court there were several persons charged with breaches of the peace or being "drunk and riotous" with a number of regular offenders. One was Luke Mullen and the Irishman made his 33rd appearance in front of the magistrates this week and was ordered to find sureties for his good behaviour.
Just who in their right mind would put up cash on behalf of Mullen with his track record, I cannot say – or even give him work. Perhaps that is why in the 1871 census the Eccleston labourer is listed as an inmate of Whiston Workhouse.
However 33 appearances was nothing on Dennis Fay, who was in court for the 45th time charged with drunkenness and riotous conduct in Bridge Street. A constable said he had seen the man surrounded by a crowd and "making a great disturbance by shouting and swearing." However Dennis offered an alternative version of reality, telling the Bench he had been walking quietly to his lodgings – "may be in drink, and may be not" – when the police seized him.
The man claimed he was always being picked on because of his record, not just by the police but also by others. Fay said no one in St Helens would let him rent a house and recently a landlord had told him to go back to Ireland and find a house there.
When last in court in February, Dennis was told to find two sureties of £5 to guarantee his good behaviour. Realising the impossibility of finding people possessing sufficient cash and faith in him, Fay chose the alternative sentence of 28 days in prison. This time the magistrates appeared a bit more sympathetic and gave him just a five shillings fine.
Anthony Fillingham does not sound like the ideal brother-in-law. John Harris told the same hearing that after returning to Parr from an excursion, Fillingham had attacked him and tore his best clothes to pieces. Harris said his brother-in-law was a very quarrelsome person and Fillingham was bound over to keep the peace by the magistrates.
Posters stuck on walls were the main means of advertising events in St Helens as newspapers were mainly for the better educated middle class. For about a week there had been a large number of bills (as they were usually called) stuck around the town promoting a protest meeting against proposals to disestablish the Irish church.
Anything to do with religion evoked great passion and on the 14th on the Salisbury Street fairground, the Vicar of St Helens claimed that 250,000 people had been marching in Manchester recently against the new law. Newspapers stated a more modest head count of 25,000 but whatever the total it was still a substantial demonstration. The gathering in Salisbury Street was also quite large and in opening the meeting the vicar, Rev. Dr. Carr, said theirs was a "glorious cause".
He added: "The British lion had been asleep for a long time past, but within the last few days he had aroused and shaken himself, and on Saturday last he uttered a roar in Manchester which should reverberate through the four corners of the kingdom." Trouble was never far away from such meetings and the Wigan Observer stated that a number of "rough boys or young men" had been present and their behaviour was "not very creditable".
In the Liverpool Daily Post on the 14th there was an advert for the letting of an unfurnished house in Huyton Quarry called 'The Lathams'. There might not be any furniture within the house but the tenant's family and their servants would have their own pews to sit on at Prescot Church. The practice of buying and selling of pews at Prescot was now a controversial subject, with many people unhappy with wealthy individuals having the exclusive right to sit on them during services.
On the 15th the Prescot Petty Sessions were held and Catherine Dagnall summoned Mary Thompson for assault. This is how the St Helens Newspaper described the case: "This was one of the usual quarrels, in which hard words, pokers, stones, and various household articles were brought into use to wound. The families on both sides engaged in the contest, and for some time the district was considerably enlivened by the proceedings." The defendant was bound over to keep the peace.
Next week's stories will include a fowl theft at Dentons Green, the brutal beater of his own father at Broad Oak returns to court, a fire at a foundry in Eccleston, the old Sutton Workhouse is discussed, the illegal swim in a glassworks reservoir and the Rainford parish clerk who officiated at 10,000 births, marriages and deaths.