150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th March 1869)
This week's stories include a complaint by Whiston Workhouse's head nurse alleging tyranny from the master, a huge menagerie of elephants, lions, polar bears and camels comes to St Helens, a 12-year-old is treated harshly for stealing coal from Ravenhead, a shop worker appeals for early closing and the women in Hall Street who called each other filthy names.
Coal mining was bad during the 20th century but during the 19th century it was horrendously bad. Men and boys had to crawl on their knees and use picks to dig out coal. Surprisingly in 1869 the miners' trade union barely existed in St Helens but the recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock and Hindley had concentrated minds. So during the evening of the 11th a meeting of miners was held to decide whether to revive the union.
It took place in the clubroom of the White Lion in Church Street where one speaker claimed that over 12,000 miners had died over the past ten years, with three-quarters of them being preventable. Those in attendance passed a resolution agreeing to re-establish a trade union and a further meeting would take place in a week's time.
Also on the 11th the fortnightly meeting of the Prescot Union Board of Guardians took place. They were the elected committee that oversaw Whiston Workhouse (pictured above) and provided relief to the destitute poor within the St Helens and Prescot districts.
The master of the workhouse, Thomas Holmes, reported that during the past week 338 persons (including 141 children) had been inmates of the house. During that period £63 11s 6d had been spent assisting 1,107 people in their homes within the district of St Helens. A decision was made at the meeting that a wall be erected in the workhouse's cellar where ale and porter were kept. The Newspaper wrote:
"Mr Davenport [a Guardian] remarked that these refreshing beverages, when brought in, disappeared with a rapidity not consistent with natural or official absorption, and it was necessary to build this wall to form a room, that the governor might keep the barrels from access by thirsty paupers." The official absorption reference concerned the small quantities of drink that were given to some inmates, as alcohol was considered to have medicinal and nutritional value.
In 1866 a new hospital had been built at the rear of the workhouse for the sick paupers and its head nurse was Elisabeth Evans. At the Guardians meeting a letter that Miss Evans had sent to their Chairman was read out, in which she complained about the behaviour of the institution's governor (aka master):
"Sir. I hope you will excuse me for troubling you with a complaint about the governor's conduct. I am constrained, however, to do so by the great tyranny he exercises over me in the discharge of my duties, and I trust to receive that protection from you as will enable me in future to perform them in comfort. Whenever he gives me an order about my duties, he does it in such an insulting manner that I feel grieved for hours after. He comes into the hospital in an excited state, and on two occasions he was intoxicated."
The letter was read out in front of reporters but the Guardians decided to go into a private committee to discuss the complaint further, which meant that journalists were excluded. There will, however, be much more about the behaviour of the master in the coming weeks.
An advertisement appeared in the St Helens Newspaper on the 13th promoting 'Manders' Grand National Star Menagerie', which was set to enter the town on the 15th "in triumphal procession". It would be headed by an African man called Maccomo "in his great golden band chariot" that would be hauled by elephants and camels. Also in the procession would be "fifteen immense caravans drawn by fifty powerful draught horses". More elephants and camels would haul other carriages and wagons, along with bulls, mules and grey horses.
It promised to be quite a spectacle and an enclosure 170 feet by 64 feet would house these and many another animals for townsfolk to inspect. In the zoo would be male and female zebras, a family of "monster" polar bears ("just added, at an enormous expense"), a mandrill or blue-faced gorilla, a "full-grown ourang outang", Royal Scotch lions and a "magnificent group of variegated lemurs and Tasmanian devils".
Also promised was a "Gnu or horned horse! A most magnificent specimen. Positively the only animal of its genus exhibited in a travelling menagerie for the past thirty years. Mr. Manders is prepared to forfeit the sum of one thousand pounds if the proprietor of any travelling menagerie can produce an animal of this description."
A baby elephant called Tinky just 30 inches tall would contrast with a giant elephant 9 feet high and supposedly 9,000 pounds in weight – "never seen in any collection before". I say supposedly, as I wonder how you weigh a giant elephant – very carefully is probably the answer!
Visitors were promised the sight of a giant elephant playing the piano and trombone and a "Lilliputian elephant dancing a hornpipe". If that wasn't enough there were "five hundred living specimens of natural history". The precise location for the exhibition was not specified, although there was a fairground in Salisbury Street where such events were usually held. The price of admission was one shilling, with children under ten charged a tanner.
Also in the Newspaper was an advert from Mr E. S. Moss, Professor of Dancing and Deportment, who "begs to inform his friends and the public generally that he intends opening a School for the purpose of teaching the most approved and fashionable style of dancing." The dancing lessons would take place at the Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, which was the building where the St Helens Newspaper had their offices.
A letter was published in the paper appealing for the early closing of shops during the summer. Although the work of shop assistants wasn't as strenuous as those employed in coalmines and industry, they were expected to labour for long hours and receive low pay. Many had to attend to the needs of customers for six days a week from around 7 – 8am until 8pm – even later on Saturdays, when most people got paid.
The letter writer using the initials J. B. said that during the winter the shops had been closing at 7pm "through the sympathy of the public and the kindness of our masters. But alas! We look forward to summer, with its expectant beauty and enchantments, with fear; for the precious hour which we have had allotted to us is to be recklessly and thoughtlessly taken from us, during which time we are confined within the narrow limits of brick and mortar, gazing with envy at the passers to an fro in the streets, whilst all nature besides seems blithe and gay…Happiness or misery? – that is the question."
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th John Lavin and John Lavery pleaded guilty to sleeping in an outhouse at David Gamble's chemical works at Gerards Bridge. They were both sent to prison for a week. And who were the magistrates? Only David Gamble himself and his fellow magistrate Robert Daglish.
The latter was also an industrialist, owning the engine and boiler works of the St Helens Foundry, who probably didn't like the idea of tramps sleeping on his property either! Incidentally when telephones came to St Helens, Daglish's works phone number was 23. I wonder if anyone got no. 1?
Also in the Sessions Elisabeth Williams and Mary Ratchford were charged with committing a breach of the peace in Hall Street earlier that day. An unnamed constable gave evidence that he had heard the women "arguing in a very loud tone about their chaps" and then he said they began calling each other filthy names. The pair was bound over.
Also in the Petty Sessions 12-year-old Ann Callaghan was sent to prison for a month for stealing coal from Ravenhead Colliery. This was in Burtonhead Road and was also known as Groves Colliery.
Upon her release from Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool, the girl would be sent to a reformatory for five years. This was the second time that Ann had been caught stealing coal and her mother Mary had recently served two weeks in prison for the same offence. It was clearly Ann's mother who was behind the coal stealing but it was her daughter who was being harshly punished.
William Litherland was accused of cruelly ill-treating a dog in Parr. Constable Sewell said he saw the man on Sunday afternoon pulling the dog along with a string and when the animal resisted he "kicked it savagely". When asked for his name and address, Litherland claimed to be someone from Duke Street called Crosby. However the bobby didn't believe him and took the man into custody and the magistrates fined him 8s 6d.
Thomas Fay had been before the magistrates in St Helens and Prescot 31 times for various offences. This time it was for stealing some boots from Charles Whittle who ran the Engine Inn and the adjacent Victoria Gardens in Thatto Heath. Fay had been doing some gardening work for Whittle and after the man had left, the innkeeper noticed his boots had gone walkies too.
It's surprising how many brainless people would leave lodgings and employment with other people's property, not seemingly realising that they would be the number one suspect. Thomas Fay was arrested while wearing the boots and sent to prison for two months. Their value, by the way, was 2/6. In the 1871 census Fay is listed as an inmate of the Whiston Workhouse, probably because no one would employ him.
At the Prescot Petty Sessions on the 16th Superintendent Fowler told the four magistrates that he was bringing prosecutions against a batch of young men "in order to preserve the peace of the town". The officer added that they were "in the habit of conducting themselves in the most scandalous manner after dark". In the first such case Isaac Jones described how he was "attacked, thrown down, and so abused, as to be rendered insensible" while walking home.
However the four men responsible had only been charged with breach of the peace and were bound over, as were all those involved in the other cases involving fights and assaults. Despite the superintendent's words, violence in the 1860s was tolerated much more than, say, the stealing of coal.
Next week's stories will include an extraordinary eviction at the Bowling Green in Sutton, the Parr dog beater who said puppies should be horsewhipped, the 12-year-old severely injured at work in Whiston, furious driving by sailors in Church Street, the "great pest" returns to court and why Victoria Passage near Bridge Street was often in the news.
Coal mining was bad during the 20th century but during the 19th century it was horrendously bad. Men and boys had to crawl on their knees and use picks to dig out coal. Surprisingly in 1869 the miners' trade union barely existed in St Helens but the recent mining disasters at Rainford, Haydock and Hindley had concentrated minds. So during the evening of the 11th a meeting of miners was held to decide whether to revive the union.
It took place in the clubroom of the White Lion in Church Street where one speaker claimed that over 12,000 miners had died over the past ten years, with three-quarters of them being preventable. Those in attendance passed a resolution agreeing to re-establish a trade union and a further meeting would take place in a week's time.
The master of the workhouse, Thomas Holmes, reported that during the past week 338 persons (including 141 children) had been inmates of the house. During that period £63 11s 6d had been spent assisting 1,107 people in their homes within the district of St Helens. A decision was made at the meeting that a wall be erected in the workhouse's cellar where ale and porter were kept. The Newspaper wrote:
"Mr Davenport [a Guardian] remarked that these refreshing beverages, when brought in, disappeared with a rapidity not consistent with natural or official absorption, and it was necessary to build this wall to form a room, that the governor might keep the barrels from access by thirsty paupers." The official absorption reference concerned the small quantities of drink that were given to some inmates, as alcohol was considered to have medicinal and nutritional value.
In 1866 a new hospital had been built at the rear of the workhouse for the sick paupers and its head nurse was Elisabeth Evans. At the Guardians meeting a letter that Miss Evans had sent to their Chairman was read out, in which she complained about the behaviour of the institution's governor (aka master):
"Sir. I hope you will excuse me for troubling you with a complaint about the governor's conduct. I am constrained, however, to do so by the great tyranny he exercises over me in the discharge of my duties, and I trust to receive that protection from you as will enable me in future to perform them in comfort. Whenever he gives me an order about my duties, he does it in such an insulting manner that I feel grieved for hours after. He comes into the hospital in an excited state, and on two occasions he was intoxicated."
The letter was read out in front of reporters but the Guardians decided to go into a private committee to discuss the complaint further, which meant that journalists were excluded. There will, however, be much more about the behaviour of the master in the coming weeks.
An advertisement appeared in the St Helens Newspaper on the 13th promoting 'Manders' Grand National Star Menagerie', which was set to enter the town on the 15th "in triumphal procession". It would be headed by an African man called Maccomo "in his great golden band chariot" that would be hauled by elephants and camels. Also in the procession would be "fifteen immense caravans drawn by fifty powerful draught horses". More elephants and camels would haul other carriages and wagons, along with bulls, mules and grey horses.
It promised to be quite a spectacle and an enclosure 170 feet by 64 feet would house these and many another animals for townsfolk to inspect. In the zoo would be male and female zebras, a family of "monster" polar bears ("just added, at an enormous expense"), a mandrill or blue-faced gorilla, a "full-grown ourang outang", Royal Scotch lions and a "magnificent group of variegated lemurs and Tasmanian devils".
Also promised was a "Gnu or horned horse! A most magnificent specimen. Positively the only animal of its genus exhibited in a travelling menagerie for the past thirty years. Mr. Manders is prepared to forfeit the sum of one thousand pounds if the proprietor of any travelling menagerie can produce an animal of this description."
A baby elephant called Tinky just 30 inches tall would contrast with a giant elephant 9 feet high and supposedly 9,000 pounds in weight – "never seen in any collection before". I say supposedly, as I wonder how you weigh a giant elephant – very carefully is probably the answer!
Visitors were promised the sight of a giant elephant playing the piano and trombone and a "Lilliputian elephant dancing a hornpipe". If that wasn't enough there were "five hundred living specimens of natural history". The precise location for the exhibition was not specified, although there was a fairground in Salisbury Street where such events were usually held. The price of admission was one shilling, with children under ten charged a tanner.
Also in the Newspaper was an advert from Mr E. S. Moss, Professor of Dancing and Deportment, who "begs to inform his friends and the public generally that he intends opening a School for the purpose of teaching the most approved and fashionable style of dancing." The dancing lessons would take place at the Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, which was the building where the St Helens Newspaper had their offices.
A letter was published in the paper appealing for the early closing of shops during the summer. Although the work of shop assistants wasn't as strenuous as those employed in coalmines and industry, they were expected to labour for long hours and receive low pay. Many had to attend to the needs of customers for six days a week from around 7 – 8am until 8pm – even later on Saturdays, when most people got paid.
The letter writer using the initials J. B. said that during the winter the shops had been closing at 7pm "through the sympathy of the public and the kindness of our masters. But alas! We look forward to summer, with its expectant beauty and enchantments, with fear; for the precious hour which we have had allotted to us is to be recklessly and thoughtlessly taken from us, during which time we are confined within the narrow limits of brick and mortar, gazing with envy at the passers to an fro in the streets, whilst all nature besides seems blithe and gay…Happiness or misery? – that is the question."
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th John Lavin and John Lavery pleaded guilty to sleeping in an outhouse at David Gamble's chemical works at Gerards Bridge. They were both sent to prison for a week. And who were the magistrates? Only David Gamble himself and his fellow magistrate Robert Daglish.
The latter was also an industrialist, owning the engine and boiler works of the St Helens Foundry, who probably didn't like the idea of tramps sleeping on his property either! Incidentally when telephones came to St Helens, Daglish's works phone number was 23. I wonder if anyone got no. 1?
Also in the Sessions Elisabeth Williams and Mary Ratchford were charged with committing a breach of the peace in Hall Street earlier that day. An unnamed constable gave evidence that he had heard the women "arguing in a very loud tone about their chaps" and then he said they began calling each other filthy names. The pair was bound over.
Also in the Petty Sessions 12-year-old Ann Callaghan was sent to prison for a month for stealing coal from Ravenhead Colliery. This was in Burtonhead Road and was also known as Groves Colliery.
Upon her release from Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool, the girl would be sent to a reformatory for five years. This was the second time that Ann had been caught stealing coal and her mother Mary had recently served two weeks in prison for the same offence. It was clearly Ann's mother who was behind the coal stealing but it was her daughter who was being harshly punished.
William Litherland was accused of cruelly ill-treating a dog in Parr. Constable Sewell said he saw the man on Sunday afternoon pulling the dog along with a string and when the animal resisted he "kicked it savagely". When asked for his name and address, Litherland claimed to be someone from Duke Street called Crosby. However the bobby didn't believe him and took the man into custody and the magistrates fined him 8s 6d.
Thomas Fay had been before the magistrates in St Helens and Prescot 31 times for various offences. This time it was for stealing some boots from Charles Whittle who ran the Engine Inn and the adjacent Victoria Gardens in Thatto Heath. Fay had been doing some gardening work for Whittle and after the man had left, the innkeeper noticed his boots had gone walkies too.
It's surprising how many brainless people would leave lodgings and employment with other people's property, not seemingly realising that they would be the number one suspect. Thomas Fay was arrested while wearing the boots and sent to prison for two months. Their value, by the way, was 2/6. In the 1871 census Fay is listed as an inmate of the Whiston Workhouse, probably because no one would employ him.
At the Prescot Petty Sessions on the 16th Superintendent Fowler told the four magistrates that he was bringing prosecutions against a batch of young men "in order to preserve the peace of the town". The officer added that they were "in the habit of conducting themselves in the most scandalous manner after dark". In the first such case Isaac Jones described how he was "attacked, thrown down, and so abused, as to be rendered insensible" while walking home.
However the four men responsible had only been charged with breach of the peace and were bound over, as were all those involved in the other cases involving fights and assaults. Despite the superintendent's words, violence in the 1860s was tolerated much more than, say, the stealing of coal.
Next week's stories will include an extraordinary eviction at the Bowling Green in Sutton, the Parr dog beater who said puppies should be horsewhipped, the 12-year-old severely injured at work in Whiston, furious driving by sailors in Church Street, the "great pest" returns to court and why Victoria Passage near Bridge Street was often in the news.