150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 12 - 18 FEBRUARY 1874
This week's many stories include a performance by the Prince of Wales Minstrels, the Worcester Sauce made in Rainford, an account of the St Helens Catholic Charity Ball, a report on the noxious vapours from St Helens works' chimneys, the Peasley Cross bottlemaker who thought he could sleep at his work, the abused beerhouse servant whose father was paid to drop a prosecution and the young man while paying his addresses to a woman at Rainford had placed her house under siege.
We begin in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street in St Helens where for three evenings from the 12th the Prince of Wales Minstrels performed. This was presumably a troupe of white men wearing blackface make up and their advert promised: "The finest choir of vocalists, the greatest combination of talent, the world's entertainment, a new and luxurious programme, full of novelties, mirth and music, singing and dancing, budget of fun."
On the 14th the St Helens Newspaper described the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball that had been held in the Volunteer Hall earlier in the week. Tickets had cost 5 shillings, which was quite expensive, with the proceeds from the event going to fund the Catholic schools in the district. A lot of effort always went into decorating the hall and the Newspaper wrote how its walls had been covered with pink and white material and hung on them:
"Bannerets, bearing mottoes appropriate to the occasion, reminding the visitors of the claims of the schools, appeared at intervals, their bright gold fringes and inscriptions flashing in the blaze of the sunlights above. Each side wall was graced with a monster mirror. The orchestra was the great feature. It was lofty and picturesque, backed by the vast banner which gave welcome, and fronted with mirrors that reflected the entire room."
A. R. Lee was advertising his Worcester Sauce in the Newspaper, which he said he was manufacturing at Rainford Junction for "home use and exportation", adding "No kitchen, from the mansion to the cottage, should be without it." Lee's sauce was sold for either 6d or 1 shilling a bottle and he was using this poetry in his ads: "Should misfortunes o’er assail you, And you find your appetite lost, A bottle that ne’er will fail you, Is one of Lee's Worcestershire Sauce."
Also advertising was John Henry Francis, who styled himself as "Tailor, Draper, and Fashionable Trousers Maker", whose premises were in Ormskirk Street. Mourning suits were made to order and naval and military uniforms were also supplied. Did new recruits not get a free uniform then, I wonder?
Mr Moss was advertising his "dancing, deportment, calisthenics" classes for juveniles in Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street. And James Tomlinson, the organist at Lowe House Church, was offering tuition on "Pianoforte, organ, harmonium, singing, and thorough bass" at his home in Argyle Street in St Helens.
The Newspaper also described an accident at Holt Lane Quarry in Whiston in which James Ford was killed and Timothy Regan badly injured. A crane that had been hoisting a stone of about 5-6 tons in weight came crashing down on the pair after an iron stay had given way.
Last month John Yates had been sent to prison for a fortnight for attempting to rob a collection box from the Globe Hotel in St Helens. The container had been in aid of Father Nugent's Refuge for boys in St Anne Street in Liverpool. In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th Ralph Sephton was given six weeks hard labour for stealing a similar box – this time from the Swan Inn in Hall Street – that had over 16 shillings inside.
Elijah is one of those names that has virtually disappeared, although in the 19th century it was highly popular. The 1871 census lists over 9,000 men in England, Scotland and Wales that bore that name – although only 17 Elijahs were resident within the St Helens / Prescot district. One of them was Elijah Prescot and in Prescot Petty Sessions on the 17th, Henry Burns was fined £5 and costs for setting his bulldog on him, which had led to Elijah being severely bitten.
The St Helens Newspaper had long been campaigning for something to be done about the so-called "noxious vapours" from works' chimneys that polluted the town's atmosphere, as well as their waste products that drained into the brooks. St Helens had appointed Dr Robert McNicoll as its first Medical Officer of Health and the Newspaper was impatient for action.
On the 17th at a meeting of the council's Health Committee, a lengthy report from Dr McNicoll was read out. The medical officer identified sulphurous and sulphuric acid gasses from copper smelting, coal burning and glass making as a major problem – although Dr McNicoll felt nothing could be done about the first two.
But he said the glassmakers had started using salt cake or sulphate of soda of which nearly 59% was expelled into the air as hydrous sulphurous acid. The chemical firms (aka alkali manufacturers) also caused much pollution as a result of the damp atmosphere converting the chlorine they pumped into the air into hydrochloric acid.
Those who endured most, Dr McNicoll reported, were the workmen inside the alkali plants as, in time, the poisonous gases would kill them – or, as the medical officer put it, cause "complete disintegration of the lung tissues, terminating fatally". Those who lived or worked near to the chemical works also suffered – but to a lesser extent. Another source of pollution was the waste heaps that gave off sulphuretted hydrogen.
The Warrington Examiner in their account of Dr McNicoll's report summed up the problem: "Infant life suffered with especial severity from these causes, convalescence was exceedingly tedious, and epidemics assumed a malignant or typhoid type. Many of the evils were capable of easy amelioration, and he recommended that the Legislature [Government] be memorialised [petitioned] to impose more stringent regulations."
Lyon Brothers were bottlemakers and they operated the Peasley Glass Works, which was taken over by Cannington Shaw in 1890. Philip Flood worked at the establishment but learned this week that his employment did not come with sleeping rights. In court Flood was charged with being on premises for an unlawful purpose after the night watchman had caught him snoozing away. He had not been working there at the time and his defence was that as an employee he thought he had a right to bed down at the works. But the magistrates disagreed and sent Flood to prison for a month.
In describing another case the Newspaper commented how Henry Parr had been "desirous of paying his addresses" to the 22-year-old daughter of William Shuttleworth at Rainford – but her father did not want him in his home. And so Henry had entered the house in Old Lane (pictured above) late at night after Shuttleworth had gone to bed, seemingly with his daughter Mary's agreement. But the father learned what was going on and ordered the young man to leave his home.
However, Henry stubbornly refused to go and was only put out after a long struggle. The Newspaper wrote: "When he was outside, and the door fastened, he sent his fist through the window, and gave such a kick to the door as to break a couple of the fastenings. Throughout the whole night he remained outside the house, cursing, swearing, and threatening to kill complainant. One of his amusements was to go to an outhouse for potatoes to throw them through the window at intervals, so as to keep alive the blockade of the house."
The defence case was that some excuse should be found for the young man because of the "uncouth method" that had been used to remove Henry from the house. It was claimed that Mr Shuttleworth had threatened to "cleave him down with the poker" and had dragged him out and assaulted him severely. For the damage Henry Parr was fined 10 shillings and costs and for the threats was ordered to find sureties.
Michael Moran was also prosecuted in the Petty Sessions this week. He had been in charge of street improvement work at Worsley Brow in Sutton but had left an uncovered sewer without any lights. Sgt Bee gave evidence that he had previously warned the man of the risk that he was creating for those using the road at night, particularly those in horse-drawn vehicles. Moran said there had been a full moon and he had not thought it necessary to take any precautions on so bright a night. He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
And William Critchley was charged with wantonly firing off a gun on the public highway in Sutton. Although the defendant pleaded guilty, Critchley said his licence said nothing about not firing his gun on the road and he did not know that in discharging it prior to taking his weapon home, that he had been committing an offence. Critchley was fined just sixpence and costs.
James Frodsham ran a beerhouse in Bridgewater Street, which used to be near Bridge Street. He appeared in court charged with having assaulted a little girl who had worked in his house as a servant. The exact circumstances were not revealed in the newspaper report but Frodsham appears to have hit the girl after she had committed some misdemeanour.
However, the prosecution accepted that the man had not done the child any lasting harm and the girl's father wanted the case dismissed. Frodsham had offered to make a payment to the father and the Bench agreed for the charge to be withdrawn. Having a criminal conviction could have jeopardised the man's beer licence and that, probably, was the reason for the private settlement. Whether the beaten child saw any of the money, I very much doubt!
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violence of the riotous colliers, the dog fighting taking place in Sutton, the dangerous railways of the 1870s and the brute that beat his wife for serving him cheese.
We begin in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street in St Helens where for three evenings from the 12th the Prince of Wales Minstrels performed. This was presumably a troupe of white men wearing blackface make up and their advert promised: "The finest choir of vocalists, the greatest combination of talent, the world's entertainment, a new and luxurious programme, full of novelties, mirth and music, singing and dancing, budget of fun."
On the 14th the St Helens Newspaper described the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball that had been held in the Volunteer Hall earlier in the week. Tickets had cost 5 shillings, which was quite expensive, with the proceeds from the event going to fund the Catholic schools in the district. A lot of effort always went into decorating the hall and the Newspaper wrote how its walls had been covered with pink and white material and hung on them:
"Bannerets, bearing mottoes appropriate to the occasion, reminding the visitors of the claims of the schools, appeared at intervals, their bright gold fringes and inscriptions flashing in the blaze of the sunlights above. Each side wall was graced with a monster mirror. The orchestra was the great feature. It was lofty and picturesque, backed by the vast banner which gave welcome, and fronted with mirrors that reflected the entire room."
A. R. Lee was advertising his Worcester Sauce in the Newspaper, which he said he was manufacturing at Rainford Junction for "home use and exportation", adding "No kitchen, from the mansion to the cottage, should be without it." Lee's sauce was sold for either 6d or 1 shilling a bottle and he was using this poetry in his ads: "Should misfortunes o’er assail you, And you find your appetite lost, A bottle that ne’er will fail you, Is one of Lee's Worcestershire Sauce."
Also advertising was John Henry Francis, who styled himself as "Tailor, Draper, and Fashionable Trousers Maker", whose premises were in Ormskirk Street. Mourning suits were made to order and naval and military uniforms were also supplied. Did new recruits not get a free uniform then, I wonder?
Mr Moss was advertising his "dancing, deportment, calisthenics" classes for juveniles in Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street. And James Tomlinson, the organist at Lowe House Church, was offering tuition on "Pianoforte, organ, harmonium, singing, and thorough bass" at his home in Argyle Street in St Helens.
The Newspaper also described an accident at Holt Lane Quarry in Whiston in which James Ford was killed and Timothy Regan badly injured. A crane that had been hoisting a stone of about 5-6 tons in weight came crashing down on the pair after an iron stay had given way.
Last month John Yates had been sent to prison for a fortnight for attempting to rob a collection box from the Globe Hotel in St Helens. The container had been in aid of Father Nugent's Refuge for boys in St Anne Street in Liverpool. In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th Ralph Sephton was given six weeks hard labour for stealing a similar box – this time from the Swan Inn in Hall Street – that had over 16 shillings inside.
Elijah is one of those names that has virtually disappeared, although in the 19th century it was highly popular. The 1871 census lists over 9,000 men in England, Scotland and Wales that bore that name – although only 17 Elijahs were resident within the St Helens / Prescot district. One of them was Elijah Prescot and in Prescot Petty Sessions on the 17th, Henry Burns was fined £5 and costs for setting his bulldog on him, which had led to Elijah being severely bitten.
The St Helens Newspaper had long been campaigning for something to be done about the so-called "noxious vapours" from works' chimneys that polluted the town's atmosphere, as well as their waste products that drained into the brooks. St Helens had appointed Dr Robert McNicoll as its first Medical Officer of Health and the Newspaper was impatient for action.
On the 17th at a meeting of the council's Health Committee, a lengthy report from Dr McNicoll was read out. The medical officer identified sulphurous and sulphuric acid gasses from copper smelting, coal burning and glass making as a major problem – although Dr McNicoll felt nothing could be done about the first two.
But he said the glassmakers had started using salt cake or sulphate of soda of which nearly 59% was expelled into the air as hydrous sulphurous acid. The chemical firms (aka alkali manufacturers) also caused much pollution as a result of the damp atmosphere converting the chlorine they pumped into the air into hydrochloric acid.
Those who endured most, Dr McNicoll reported, were the workmen inside the alkali plants as, in time, the poisonous gases would kill them – or, as the medical officer put it, cause "complete disintegration of the lung tissues, terminating fatally". Those who lived or worked near to the chemical works also suffered – but to a lesser extent. Another source of pollution was the waste heaps that gave off sulphuretted hydrogen.
The Warrington Examiner in their account of Dr McNicoll's report summed up the problem: "Infant life suffered with especial severity from these causes, convalescence was exceedingly tedious, and epidemics assumed a malignant or typhoid type. Many of the evils were capable of easy amelioration, and he recommended that the Legislature [Government] be memorialised [petitioned] to impose more stringent regulations."
Lyon Brothers were bottlemakers and they operated the Peasley Glass Works, which was taken over by Cannington Shaw in 1890. Philip Flood worked at the establishment but learned this week that his employment did not come with sleeping rights. In court Flood was charged with being on premises for an unlawful purpose after the night watchman had caught him snoozing away. He had not been working there at the time and his defence was that as an employee he thought he had a right to bed down at the works. But the magistrates disagreed and sent Flood to prison for a month.
However, Henry stubbornly refused to go and was only put out after a long struggle. The Newspaper wrote: "When he was outside, and the door fastened, he sent his fist through the window, and gave such a kick to the door as to break a couple of the fastenings. Throughout the whole night he remained outside the house, cursing, swearing, and threatening to kill complainant. One of his amusements was to go to an outhouse for potatoes to throw them through the window at intervals, so as to keep alive the blockade of the house."
The defence case was that some excuse should be found for the young man because of the "uncouth method" that had been used to remove Henry from the house. It was claimed that Mr Shuttleworth had threatened to "cleave him down with the poker" and had dragged him out and assaulted him severely. For the damage Henry Parr was fined 10 shillings and costs and for the threats was ordered to find sureties.
Michael Moran was also prosecuted in the Petty Sessions this week. He had been in charge of street improvement work at Worsley Brow in Sutton but had left an uncovered sewer without any lights. Sgt Bee gave evidence that he had previously warned the man of the risk that he was creating for those using the road at night, particularly those in horse-drawn vehicles. Moran said there had been a full moon and he had not thought it necessary to take any precautions on so bright a night. He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
And William Critchley was charged with wantonly firing off a gun on the public highway in Sutton. Although the defendant pleaded guilty, Critchley said his licence said nothing about not firing his gun on the road and he did not know that in discharging it prior to taking his weapon home, that he had been committing an offence. Critchley was fined just sixpence and costs.
James Frodsham ran a beerhouse in Bridgewater Street, which used to be near Bridge Street. He appeared in court charged with having assaulted a little girl who had worked in his house as a servant. The exact circumstances were not revealed in the newspaper report but Frodsham appears to have hit the girl after she had committed some misdemeanour.
However, the prosecution accepted that the man had not done the child any lasting harm and the girl's father wanted the case dismissed. Frodsham had offered to make a payment to the father and the Bench agreed for the charge to be withdrawn. Having a criminal conviction could have jeopardised the man's beer licence and that, probably, was the reason for the private settlement. Whether the beaten child saw any of the money, I very much doubt!
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violence of the riotous colliers, the dog fighting taking place in Sutton, the dangerous railways of the 1870s and the brute that beat his wife for serving him cheese.
This week's many stories include a performance by the Prince of Wales Minstrels, the Worcester Sauce made in Rainford, an account of the St Helens Catholic Charity Ball, a report on the noxious vapours from St Helens works' chimneys, the Peasley Cross bottlemaker who thought he could sleep at his work, the abused beerhouse servant whose father was paid to drop a prosecution and the young man while paying his addresses to a woman in Rainford had placed her house under siege.
We begin in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street in St Helens where for three evenings from the 12th the Prince of Wales Minstrels performed.
This was presumably a troupe of white men wearing blackface make up and their advert promised:
"The finest choir of vocalists, the greatest combination of talent, the world's entertainment, a new and luxurious programme, full of novelties, mirth and music, singing and dancing, budget of fun."
On the 14th the St Helens Newspaper described the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball that had been held in the Volunteer Hall earlier in the week.
Tickets had cost 5 shillings, which was quite expensive, with the proceeds from the event going to fund the Catholic schools in the district.
A lot of effort always went into decorating the hall and the Newspaper wrote how its walls had been covered with pink and white material and hung on them:
"Bannerets, bearing mottoes appropriate to the occasion, reminding the visitors of the claims of the schools, appeared at intervals, their bright gold fringes and inscriptions flashing in the blaze of the sunlights above.
"Each side wall was graced with a monster mirror. The orchestra was the great feature. It was lofty and picturesque, backed by the vast banner which gave welcome, and fronted with mirrors that reflected the entire room."
A. R. Lee was advertising his Worcester Sauce in the Newspaper, which he said he was manufacturing at Rainford Junction for "home use and exportation", adding "No kitchen, from the mansion to the cottage, should be without it."
Lee's sauce was sold for either 6d or 1 shilling a bottle and he was using this poetry in his ads:
"Should misfortunes o’er assail you, And you find your appetite lost, A bottle that ne’er will fail you, Is one of Lee's Worcestershire Sauce."
Also advertising was John Henry Francis, who styled himself as "Tailor, Draper, and Fashionable Trousers Maker", whose premises were in Ormskirk Street.
Mourning suits were made to order and naval and military uniforms were also supplied. Did new recruits not get a free uniform then, I wonder?
Mr Moss was advertising his "dancing, deportment, calisthenics" classes for juveniles in Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street.
And James Tomlinson, the organist at Lowe House Church, was offering tuition on "Pianoforte, organ, harmonium, singing, and thorough bass" at his home in Argyle Street in St Helens.
The Newspaper also described an accident at Holt Lane Quarry in Whiston in which James Ford was killed and Timothy Regan badly injured.
A crane that had been hoisting a stone of about 5-6 tons in weight came crashing down on the pair after an iron stay had given way.
Last month John Yates had been sent to prison for a fortnight for attempting to rob a collection box from the Globe Hotel in St Helens.
The container had been in aid of Father Nugent's Refuge for boys in St Anne Street in Liverpool.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th Ralph Sephton was given six weeks hard labour for stealing a similar box – this time from the Swan Inn in Hall Street – that had over 16 shillings inside.
Elijah is one of those names that has virtually disappeared, although in the 19th century it was highly popular.
The 1871 census lists over 9,000 men in England, Scotland and Wales that bore that name – although only 17 Elijahs were resident within the St Helens / Prescot district.
One of them was Elijah Prescot and in Prescot Petty Sessions on the 17th, Henry Burns was fined £5 and costs for setting his bulldog on him, which had led to Elijah being severely bitten.
The St Helens Newspaper had long been campaigning for something to be done about the so-called "noxious vapours" from works' chimneys that polluted the town's atmosphere, as well as their waste products that drained into the brooks.
St Helens had appointed Dr Robert McNicoll as its first Medical Officer of Health and the Newspaper was impatient for action.
On the 17th at a meeting of the council's Health Committee, a lengthy report from Dr McNicoll was read out.
The medical officer identified sulphurous and sulphuric acid gasses from copper smelting, coal burning and glass making as a major problem – although Dr McNicoll felt nothing could be done about the first two.
But he said the glassmakers had started using salt cake or sulphate of soda of which nearly 59% was expelled into the air as hydrous sulphurous acid.
The chemical firms (aka alkali manufacturers) also caused much pollution as a result of the damp atmosphere converting the chlorine they pumped into the air into hydrochloric acid.
Those who endured most, Dr McNicoll reported, were the workmen inside the alkali plants as, in time, the poisonous gases would kill them – or, as the medical officer put it, cause "complete disintegration of the lung tissues, terminating fatally".
Those who lived or worked near to the chemical works also suffered – but to a lesser extent. Another source of pollution was the waste heaps that gave off sulphuretted hydrogen.
The Warrington Examiner in their account of Dr McNicoll's report summed up the problem:
"Infant life suffered with especial severity from these causes, convalescence was exceedingly tedious, and epidemics assumed a malignant or typhoid type.
"Many of the evils were capable of easy amelioration, and he recommended that the Legislature [Government] be memorialised [petitioned] to impose more stringent regulations."
Lyon Brothers were bottlemakers and they operated the Peasley Glass Works, which was taken over by Cannington Shaw in 1890.
Philip Flood worked at the establishment but learned this week that his employment did not come with sleeping rights.
In court Flood was charged with being on premises for an unlawful purpose after the night watchman had caught him snoozing away.
He had not been working there at the time and his defence was that as an employee he thought he had a right to bed down at the works. But the magistrates disagreed and sent Flood to prison for a month.
In describing another case the Newspaper commented how Henry Parr had been "desirous of paying his addresses" to the 22-year-old daughter of William Shuttleworth at Rainford – but her father did not want him in his home.
And so Henry had entered the house in Old Lane (pictured above) late at night after Shuttleworth had gone to bed, seemingly with his daughter Mary's agreement.
But the father learned what was going on and ordered the young man to leave his home. However, Henry stubbornly refused to go and was only put out after a long struggle. The Newspaper wrote:
"When he was outside, and the door fastened, he sent his fist through the window, and gave such a kick to the door as to break a couple of the fastenings.
"Throughout the whole night he remained outside the house, cursing, swearing, and threatening to kill complainant.
"One of his amusements was to go to an outhouse for potatoes to throw them through the window at intervals, so as to keep alive the blockade of the house."
The defence case was that some excuse should be found for the young man because of the "uncouth method" that had been used to remove Henry from the house.
It was claimed that Mr Shuttleworth had threatened to "cleave him down with the poker" and had dragged him out and assaulted him severely.
For the damage Henry Parr was fined 10 shillings and costs and for the threats was ordered to find sureties.
Michael Moran was also prosecuted in the Petty Sessions this week. He had been in charge of street improvement work at Worsley Brow in Sutton but had left an uncovered sewer without any lights.
Sgt Bee gave evidence that he had previously warned the man of the risk that he was creating for those using the road at night, particularly those in horse-drawn vehicles.
Moran said there had been a full moon and he had not thought it necessary to take any precautions on so bright a night. He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
And William Critchley was charged with wantonly firing off a gun on the public highway in Sutton.
Although the defendant pleaded guilty, Critchley said his licence said nothing about not firing his gun on the road and he did not know that in discharging it prior to taking his weapon home, that he had been committing an offence. Critchley was fined just sixpence and costs.
James Frodsham ran a beerhouse in Bridgewater Street, which used to be near Bridge Street.
He appeared in court charged with having assaulted a little girl who had worked in his house as a servant.
The exact circumstances were not revealed in the newspaper report but Frodsham appears to have hit the girl after she had committed some misdemeanour.
However, the prosecution accepted that the man had not done the child any lasting harm and the girl's father wanted the case dismissed.
Frodsham had offered to make a payment to the father and the Bench agreed for the charge to be withdrawn.
Having a criminal conviction could have jeopardised the man's beer licence and that, probably, was the reason for the private settlement. Whether the beaten child saw any of the money, I very much doubt!
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violence of the riotous colliers, the dog fighting taking place in Sutton, the dangerous railways of the 1870s and the brute that beat his wife for serving him cheese.
We begin in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street in St Helens where for three evenings from the 12th the Prince of Wales Minstrels performed.
This was presumably a troupe of white men wearing blackface make up and their advert promised:
"The finest choir of vocalists, the greatest combination of talent, the world's entertainment, a new and luxurious programme, full of novelties, mirth and music, singing and dancing, budget of fun."
On the 14th the St Helens Newspaper described the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball that had been held in the Volunteer Hall earlier in the week.
Tickets had cost 5 shillings, which was quite expensive, with the proceeds from the event going to fund the Catholic schools in the district.
A lot of effort always went into decorating the hall and the Newspaper wrote how its walls had been covered with pink and white material and hung on them:
"Bannerets, bearing mottoes appropriate to the occasion, reminding the visitors of the claims of the schools, appeared at intervals, their bright gold fringes and inscriptions flashing in the blaze of the sunlights above.
"Each side wall was graced with a monster mirror. The orchestra was the great feature. It was lofty and picturesque, backed by the vast banner which gave welcome, and fronted with mirrors that reflected the entire room."
A. R. Lee was advertising his Worcester Sauce in the Newspaper, which he said he was manufacturing at Rainford Junction for "home use and exportation", adding "No kitchen, from the mansion to the cottage, should be without it."
Lee's sauce was sold for either 6d or 1 shilling a bottle and he was using this poetry in his ads:
"Should misfortunes o’er assail you, And you find your appetite lost, A bottle that ne’er will fail you, Is one of Lee's Worcestershire Sauce."
Also advertising was John Henry Francis, who styled himself as "Tailor, Draper, and Fashionable Trousers Maker", whose premises were in Ormskirk Street.
Mourning suits were made to order and naval and military uniforms were also supplied. Did new recruits not get a free uniform then, I wonder?
Mr Moss was advertising his "dancing, deportment, calisthenics" classes for juveniles in Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street.
And James Tomlinson, the organist at Lowe House Church, was offering tuition on "Pianoforte, organ, harmonium, singing, and thorough bass" at his home in Argyle Street in St Helens.
The Newspaper also described an accident at Holt Lane Quarry in Whiston in which James Ford was killed and Timothy Regan badly injured.
A crane that had been hoisting a stone of about 5-6 tons in weight came crashing down on the pair after an iron stay had given way.
Last month John Yates had been sent to prison for a fortnight for attempting to rob a collection box from the Globe Hotel in St Helens.
The container had been in aid of Father Nugent's Refuge for boys in St Anne Street in Liverpool.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th Ralph Sephton was given six weeks hard labour for stealing a similar box – this time from the Swan Inn in Hall Street – that had over 16 shillings inside.
Elijah is one of those names that has virtually disappeared, although in the 19th century it was highly popular.
The 1871 census lists over 9,000 men in England, Scotland and Wales that bore that name – although only 17 Elijahs were resident within the St Helens / Prescot district.
One of them was Elijah Prescot and in Prescot Petty Sessions on the 17th, Henry Burns was fined £5 and costs for setting his bulldog on him, which had led to Elijah being severely bitten.
The St Helens Newspaper had long been campaigning for something to be done about the so-called "noxious vapours" from works' chimneys that polluted the town's atmosphere, as well as their waste products that drained into the brooks.
St Helens had appointed Dr Robert McNicoll as its first Medical Officer of Health and the Newspaper was impatient for action.
On the 17th at a meeting of the council's Health Committee, a lengthy report from Dr McNicoll was read out.
The medical officer identified sulphurous and sulphuric acid gasses from copper smelting, coal burning and glass making as a major problem – although Dr McNicoll felt nothing could be done about the first two.
But he said the glassmakers had started using salt cake or sulphate of soda of which nearly 59% was expelled into the air as hydrous sulphurous acid.
The chemical firms (aka alkali manufacturers) also caused much pollution as a result of the damp atmosphere converting the chlorine they pumped into the air into hydrochloric acid.
Those who endured most, Dr McNicoll reported, were the workmen inside the alkali plants as, in time, the poisonous gases would kill them – or, as the medical officer put it, cause "complete disintegration of the lung tissues, terminating fatally".
Those who lived or worked near to the chemical works also suffered – but to a lesser extent. Another source of pollution was the waste heaps that gave off sulphuretted hydrogen.
The Warrington Examiner in their account of Dr McNicoll's report summed up the problem:
"Infant life suffered with especial severity from these causes, convalescence was exceedingly tedious, and epidemics assumed a malignant or typhoid type.
"Many of the evils were capable of easy amelioration, and he recommended that the Legislature [Government] be memorialised [petitioned] to impose more stringent regulations."
Lyon Brothers were bottlemakers and they operated the Peasley Glass Works, which was taken over by Cannington Shaw in 1890.
Philip Flood worked at the establishment but learned this week that his employment did not come with sleeping rights.
In court Flood was charged with being on premises for an unlawful purpose after the night watchman had caught him snoozing away.
He had not been working there at the time and his defence was that as an employee he thought he had a right to bed down at the works. But the magistrates disagreed and sent Flood to prison for a month.
In describing another case the Newspaper commented how Henry Parr had been "desirous of paying his addresses" to the 22-year-old daughter of William Shuttleworth at Rainford – but her father did not want him in his home.
But the father learned what was going on and ordered the young man to leave his home. However, Henry stubbornly refused to go and was only put out after a long struggle. The Newspaper wrote:
"When he was outside, and the door fastened, he sent his fist through the window, and gave such a kick to the door as to break a couple of the fastenings.
"Throughout the whole night he remained outside the house, cursing, swearing, and threatening to kill complainant.
"One of his amusements was to go to an outhouse for potatoes to throw them through the window at intervals, so as to keep alive the blockade of the house."
The defence case was that some excuse should be found for the young man because of the "uncouth method" that had been used to remove Henry from the house.
It was claimed that Mr Shuttleworth had threatened to "cleave him down with the poker" and had dragged him out and assaulted him severely.
For the damage Henry Parr was fined 10 shillings and costs and for the threats was ordered to find sureties.
Michael Moran was also prosecuted in the Petty Sessions this week. He had been in charge of street improvement work at Worsley Brow in Sutton but had left an uncovered sewer without any lights.
Sgt Bee gave evidence that he had previously warned the man of the risk that he was creating for those using the road at night, particularly those in horse-drawn vehicles.
Moran said there had been a full moon and he had not thought it necessary to take any precautions on so bright a night. He was fined 1 shilling and costs.
And William Critchley was charged with wantonly firing off a gun on the public highway in Sutton.
Although the defendant pleaded guilty, Critchley said his licence said nothing about not firing his gun on the road and he did not know that in discharging it prior to taking his weapon home, that he had been committing an offence. Critchley was fined just sixpence and costs.
James Frodsham ran a beerhouse in Bridgewater Street, which used to be near Bridge Street.
He appeared in court charged with having assaulted a little girl who had worked in his house as a servant.
The exact circumstances were not revealed in the newspaper report but Frodsham appears to have hit the girl after she had committed some misdemeanour.
However, the prosecution accepted that the man had not done the child any lasting harm and the girl's father wanted the case dismissed.
Frodsham had offered to make a payment to the father and the Bench agreed for the charge to be withdrawn.
Having a criminal conviction could have jeopardised the man's beer licence and that, probably, was the reason for the private settlement. Whether the beaten child saw any of the money, I very much doubt!
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violence of the riotous colliers, the dog fighting taking place in Sutton, the dangerous railways of the 1870s and the brute that beat his wife for serving him cheese.