150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (12th - 18th APRIL 1871)
This week's many stories include another court outburst from the outspoken solicitor Thomas Swift, the thieving postman returns to court, the suicide of a Sutton butcher and the man of weak mind who dropped down a coal mine.
We begin on the 12th with an application for a gunpowder licence in the Warrington County Sessions. Until well into the 20th century miners were expected to provide their own tools and pay for materials used in their work. In 1934 a St Helens miner's wife gave BBC radio a long list of deductions that the unnamed colliery took from her husband's wages. These included putting his bicycle in the mine's bike shed, getting his picks and saw sharpened, using the pithead baths and the daily cost of lamp oil. Thomas Higham of Haydock wanted the gunpowder licence to erect what was known as a magazine – a building designed to safely store gunpowder in wooden barrels. Mr Higham promised that no more than two tons of gunpowder would be stored and called a number of colliers as witnesses who said granting the licence would be a great convenience to over 200 workmen.
Presently an insufficient quantity of gunpowder needed for blasting operations in the mine could be obtained. The licence was granted subject to the buildings being erected to the satisfaction of the police. Higham did not appear to have any connection with mining. The 47-year-old was a grocer in Blackbrook who seems to have simply spotted an opportunity to sell gunpowder to the miners at Haydock.
On the 13th a butcher named Thomas Johnson from Sutton committed suicide by hanging. He kept a butcher's shop near to Sutton Oak railway station and was in the habit of going to St Helens every Thursday morning to get his usual supply of meat. After telling his daughter that he was leaving to go to town, Johnson left the house about seven o'clock.
Some time afterwards the daughter went into an outhouse and was horrified to find her father suspended from a beam and quite lifeless. The Liverpool Mercury wrote: "The unfortunate suicide was about 70 years of age, and as he had lately been drinking heavily, it is supposed that he was temporarily insane when he committed the rash act."
As I've often said in these articles, Thomas Swift must have been the rudest solicitor St Helens has ever had – although possibly the cleverest too. In the 1881 census his family are shown living in Hardshaw Hall, which three years later would become Providence Hospital. All four of Thomas's sons followed him into the legal profession – with Rigby Swift serving as the MP for St Helens between 1910 and 1918 and then a judge. And throughout the 20th century, Swift, Garner and Son dominated legal life in the town from their offices in Corporation Street, opposite Victoria Square.
Thomas Swift's outbursts in court were legendary – barking "shut your noise" at policemen whose testimony he did not like has to be one of my favourites! Last year when defending an alleged pickpocket, Swift blamed the victim, saying it was: "Simply a case where a designing and wicked old Welsh woman had lost her money, and then tried to get it out of the first person she met." Then later in the year he criticised the justices, saying: "I do not like to have a case brought here before magistrates who are not cognisant of the law."
In the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th, Swift represented a beerseller who had been summoned for a second time for the same offence. It was explained that this arose through a technical objection having been made to the first summons. However that statement infuriated Swift who loudly declared that the proceeding was "the most grievous wrong" that he had ever known. He said he would have nothing more to do with the case and promptly stormed out of court. Just how that outburst helped his client, I don't know. However later in 1871 Swift would be taken down a peg or two by one of the magistrates when he was sued for slander. And about time too!
The cricket season started in mid-April and for many local teams began with a match and a meal. So Newton-le-Willows Cricket Club was due to play its opening game on the 15th at 2pm with a slap-up dinner at the Oak Tree Inn at seven. The match was rained off but the meal still took place. The Runcorn Examiner wrote: "A number of excellent songs were sung between the various toasts, which tended greatly to the pleasure of the evening. A little after ten o'clock, the worthy chairman proposed “To our next merry meeting,” which brought the proceedings to a close."
The Examiner also reported that the third annual Warrington sailing match had taken place in beautifully fine weather under a favourable breeze. In front of 5,000 spectators twelve craft had competed on the Mersey from Atherton's Quay to Litton's Mill at Bank Quay for a first prize of £2 15 shillings. It must have been a wonderful sight.
The Examiner also described how an inquest jury had censured a foreman for allowing Thomas Kerr to sit on the buffers of a railway carriage. The train was being shunted near a level crossing at Earlestown and the 17-year-old local lad fell off and was run over.
On the 17th Thomas Critchley was back in court. Last week I described how the 30-year-old postman from Stanhope Street in St Helens had been accused of stealing from letters given to him to deliver. The thefts were not huge sums, involving 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings. The court was told that the latter order had been posted from Liverpool and should have been delivered to a man named Woods at Sutton.
However Critchley had persuaded the signalman at St Helens Junction station to sign Woods' name on the money order and then asked a porter at St Helens railway station to cash it – all for six bob. The offences were considered very serious and the magistrates sent Critchley for trial to the Kirkdale Assizes on August 9th and refused his application for bail. To be continued…
Falling down a coal shaft was a particularly nasty way to die. The pit sinkers that built or extended shafts were the ones most likely to miss a step and drop like a stone hundreds of feet to the bottom. Occasionally those carrying out maintenance on the pit cage would fall – but it was unusual for a mineworker to end his days that way. James Speakman did just that on the 17th at the Riding Lane Colliery in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
At his inquest at the Red Lion in Park Lane, it was stated that the 45-year-old had been "always of weak mind" and had apparently taken an empty coal truck to the shaft in order to place it in the lift. However the lift cage was not there, having already been lowered. So James Speakman stepped into an empty shaft and plummeted straight down and was instantly killed. Of course to our way of thinking, a man who was "always of weak mind" should not have been anywhere near a dangerous coal mine – but that doesn't appear to have bothered anybody then.
Whereas these days a garage for a car is a good selling point for a house, in the past shops and houses were seen as more attractive to prospective buyers and renters if they possessed stables and a cart house. This was particularly so for businessmen and women – many of whom would live over or at the side of the property. On the 17th this advert appeared in the Liverpool Mercury:
"To be Let, that large and well-accustomed SHOP, lately in the occupation of Mr. Joseph Bold, grocer, together with the excellent Dwelling House attached thereto, and the Stables, Cart Shed, Cellars, &c., and situate at the top of Bridge-street, one of the best thoroughfares in St. Helen's. For particulars apply to Messrs. Butler and Burchall, auctioneers, adjoining the premises."
The Kirkdale Quarter Sessions that dealt with more serious offences opened on the 18th at the combined court and prison building in Liverpool (pictured above) – and some harsh punishments were handed out. Ellen Lyon from Eccleston Park was described as a charwoman and she'd stolen a shawl from the house of George Forbes – although claimed she had only taken it for a lark. The 28-year-old had two prior convictions for stealing whisky and a counterpane, for which she had received a month in prison for each offence. Not having learned her lesson, she was given a further six months.
Ellen Walters, aged 25, and Emma Burgess, aged 43, were each sentenced to six months imprisonment for stealing five knives, three forks, and other articles, at Ashton-in-Makerfield. Neither woman had prior convictions unlike Henry Critchley. The 41-year-old from St Helens was handed a sterner sentence of 18 months for stealing a cloak and a sheet, as he'd served previous prison terms for stealing pigeons and cash.
Last month I described the ghost that turned out to be a "poor lunatic woman, who had made her escape from her keepers" – as the (naked) woman was described. And finally this week I end with another supposed supernatural event being explained, with this Liverpool Mercury article that was published under the headline "Catching A Ghost":
"For some time past the miners working in the pits at Abersychan and Cwmnantdder, near Pontypool, have been so terrified by subterranean noises and the stories of extraordinary “sights” told by some, these phenomena being attributed to super- natural agency, that the matter assumed a very serious aspect, and the Ebbw Vale Company have lost hundreds of pounds in consequence of the men positively refusing to work in these pits, and seeking employment elsewhere.
"Reasoning with the miners on these matters was altogether useless. It was considered that some of the noises were of perfectly natural origin, and arose from the settling down of strata and so forth; and as to others a suspicion arose that they were wilfully caused by some waggish or malicious persons employed in the pits. Mr. Joseph Green, the mineral agent, and Mr. Evan Jones, the contractor, set a close watch, and the result is that they caught the ghost and took him alive to Pontypool police court on Saturday. The “ghost” turned out to be a tall, intelligent-looking young man named John Harvey, a haulier, in the employ of Mr. Evan Jones.
"The singular nature of the matter caused the court to be crowded. The defendant was charged with wilfully misconducting himself in his employ, on the 17th February. Mr. Greenway appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Gibbs, of Newport, for the defence. On the case being called on, Mr. Gibbs rose, and, on behalf of his client, admitted that on one occasion he did slam a door, and tendered a humble apology to the Ebbw Vale Company and to Mr. Evan Jones, hoping that the case would not be pressed farther.
"Mr. Greenway, on behalf of the company and Mr. Jones, accepted the apology, and asked the permission of the bench to withdraw the case; but at the same time he stated that, if one of the doors had been left open, gas might have accumulated, and the lives of all in the pit sacrificed. The bench allowed the case to be withdrawn, but lectured the defendant on his conduct, and ordered him to pay costs."
Next week's stories will include the pig drover in a Parr beerhouse who had his pocket pinched, the brutal assault on a wife, the poor performing pupil teachers of St Helens and the twenty shilling bounty on men who had deserted their wives.
We begin on the 12th with an application for a gunpowder licence in the Warrington County Sessions. Until well into the 20th century miners were expected to provide their own tools and pay for materials used in their work. In 1934 a St Helens miner's wife gave BBC radio a long list of deductions that the unnamed colliery took from her husband's wages. These included putting his bicycle in the mine's bike shed, getting his picks and saw sharpened, using the pithead baths and the daily cost of lamp oil. Thomas Higham of Haydock wanted the gunpowder licence to erect what was known as a magazine – a building designed to safely store gunpowder in wooden barrels. Mr Higham promised that no more than two tons of gunpowder would be stored and called a number of colliers as witnesses who said granting the licence would be a great convenience to over 200 workmen.
Presently an insufficient quantity of gunpowder needed for blasting operations in the mine could be obtained. The licence was granted subject to the buildings being erected to the satisfaction of the police. Higham did not appear to have any connection with mining. The 47-year-old was a grocer in Blackbrook who seems to have simply spotted an opportunity to sell gunpowder to the miners at Haydock.
On the 13th a butcher named Thomas Johnson from Sutton committed suicide by hanging. He kept a butcher's shop near to Sutton Oak railway station and was in the habit of going to St Helens every Thursday morning to get his usual supply of meat. After telling his daughter that he was leaving to go to town, Johnson left the house about seven o'clock.
Some time afterwards the daughter went into an outhouse and was horrified to find her father suspended from a beam and quite lifeless. The Liverpool Mercury wrote: "The unfortunate suicide was about 70 years of age, and as he had lately been drinking heavily, it is supposed that he was temporarily insane when he committed the rash act."
As I've often said in these articles, Thomas Swift must have been the rudest solicitor St Helens has ever had – although possibly the cleverest too. In the 1881 census his family are shown living in Hardshaw Hall, which three years later would become Providence Hospital. All four of Thomas's sons followed him into the legal profession – with Rigby Swift serving as the MP for St Helens between 1910 and 1918 and then a judge. And throughout the 20th century, Swift, Garner and Son dominated legal life in the town from their offices in Corporation Street, opposite Victoria Square.
Thomas Swift's outbursts in court were legendary – barking "shut your noise" at policemen whose testimony he did not like has to be one of my favourites! Last year when defending an alleged pickpocket, Swift blamed the victim, saying it was: "Simply a case where a designing and wicked old Welsh woman had lost her money, and then tried to get it out of the first person she met." Then later in the year he criticised the justices, saying: "I do not like to have a case brought here before magistrates who are not cognisant of the law."
In the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th, Swift represented a beerseller who had been summoned for a second time for the same offence. It was explained that this arose through a technical objection having been made to the first summons. However that statement infuriated Swift who loudly declared that the proceeding was "the most grievous wrong" that he had ever known. He said he would have nothing more to do with the case and promptly stormed out of court. Just how that outburst helped his client, I don't know. However later in 1871 Swift would be taken down a peg or two by one of the magistrates when he was sued for slander. And about time too!
The cricket season started in mid-April and for many local teams began with a match and a meal. So Newton-le-Willows Cricket Club was due to play its opening game on the 15th at 2pm with a slap-up dinner at the Oak Tree Inn at seven. The match was rained off but the meal still took place. The Runcorn Examiner wrote: "A number of excellent songs were sung between the various toasts, which tended greatly to the pleasure of the evening. A little after ten o'clock, the worthy chairman proposed “To our next merry meeting,” which brought the proceedings to a close."
The Examiner also reported that the third annual Warrington sailing match had taken place in beautifully fine weather under a favourable breeze. In front of 5,000 spectators twelve craft had competed on the Mersey from Atherton's Quay to Litton's Mill at Bank Quay for a first prize of £2 15 shillings. It must have been a wonderful sight.
The Examiner also described how an inquest jury had censured a foreman for allowing Thomas Kerr to sit on the buffers of a railway carriage. The train was being shunted near a level crossing at Earlestown and the 17-year-old local lad fell off and was run over.
On the 17th Thomas Critchley was back in court. Last week I described how the 30-year-old postman from Stanhope Street in St Helens had been accused of stealing from letters given to him to deliver. The thefts were not huge sums, involving 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings. The court was told that the latter order had been posted from Liverpool and should have been delivered to a man named Woods at Sutton.
However Critchley had persuaded the signalman at St Helens Junction station to sign Woods' name on the money order and then asked a porter at St Helens railway station to cash it – all for six bob. The offences were considered very serious and the magistrates sent Critchley for trial to the Kirkdale Assizes on August 9th and refused his application for bail. To be continued…
Falling down a coal shaft was a particularly nasty way to die. The pit sinkers that built or extended shafts were the ones most likely to miss a step and drop like a stone hundreds of feet to the bottom. Occasionally those carrying out maintenance on the pit cage would fall – but it was unusual for a mineworker to end his days that way. James Speakman did just that on the 17th at the Riding Lane Colliery in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
At his inquest at the Red Lion in Park Lane, it was stated that the 45-year-old had been "always of weak mind" and had apparently taken an empty coal truck to the shaft in order to place it in the lift. However the lift cage was not there, having already been lowered. So James Speakman stepped into an empty shaft and plummeted straight down and was instantly killed. Of course to our way of thinking, a man who was "always of weak mind" should not have been anywhere near a dangerous coal mine – but that doesn't appear to have bothered anybody then.
Whereas these days a garage for a car is a good selling point for a house, in the past shops and houses were seen as more attractive to prospective buyers and renters if they possessed stables and a cart house. This was particularly so for businessmen and women – many of whom would live over or at the side of the property. On the 17th this advert appeared in the Liverpool Mercury:
"To be Let, that large and well-accustomed SHOP, lately in the occupation of Mr. Joseph Bold, grocer, together with the excellent Dwelling House attached thereto, and the Stables, Cart Shed, Cellars, &c., and situate at the top of Bridge-street, one of the best thoroughfares in St. Helen's. For particulars apply to Messrs. Butler and Burchall, auctioneers, adjoining the premises."
Ellen Walters, aged 25, and Emma Burgess, aged 43, were each sentenced to six months imprisonment for stealing five knives, three forks, and other articles, at Ashton-in-Makerfield. Neither woman had prior convictions unlike Henry Critchley. The 41-year-old from St Helens was handed a sterner sentence of 18 months for stealing a cloak and a sheet, as he'd served previous prison terms for stealing pigeons and cash.
Last month I described the ghost that turned out to be a "poor lunatic woman, who had made her escape from her keepers" – as the (naked) woman was described. And finally this week I end with another supposed supernatural event being explained, with this Liverpool Mercury article that was published under the headline "Catching A Ghost":
"For some time past the miners working in the pits at Abersychan and Cwmnantdder, near Pontypool, have been so terrified by subterranean noises and the stories of extraordinary “sights” told by some, these phenomena being attributed to super- natural agency, that the matter assumed a very serious aspect, and the Ebbw Vale Company have lost hundreds of pounds in consequence of the men positively refusing to work in these pits, and seeking employment elsewhere.
"Reasoning with the miners on these matters was altogether useless. It was considered that some of the noises were of perfectly natural origin, and arose from the settling down of strata and so forth; and as to others a suspicion arose that they were wilfully caused by some waggish or malicious persons employed in the pits. Mr. Joseph Green, the mineral agent, and Mr. Evan Jones, the contractor, set a close watch, and the result is that they caught the ghost and took him alive to Pontypool police court on Saturday. The “ghost” turned out to be a tall, intelligent-looking young man named John Harvey, a haulier, in the employ of Mr. Evan Jones.
"The singular nature of the matter caused the court to be crowded. The defendant was charged with wilfully misconducting himself in his employ, on the 17th February. Mr. Greenway appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Gibbs, of Newport, for the defence. On the case being called on, Mr. Gibbs rose, and, on behalf of his client, admitted that on one occasion he did slam a door, and tendered a humble apology to the Ebbw Vale Company and to Mr. Evan Jones, hoping that the case would not be pressed farther.
"Mr. Greenway, on behalf of the company and Mr. Jones, accepted the apology, and asked the permission of the bench to withdraw the case; but at the same time he stated that, if one of the doors had been left open, gas might have accumulated, and the lives of all in the pit sacrificed. The bench allowed the case to be withdrawn, but lectured the defendant on his conduct, and ordered him to pay costs."
Next week's stories will include the pig drover in a Parr beerhouse who had his pocket pinched, the brutal assault on a wife, the poor performing pupil teachers of St Helens and the twenty shilling bounty on men who had deserted their wives.
This week's many stories include another court outburst from the outspoken solicitor Thomas Swift, the thieving postman returns to court, the suicide of a Sutton butcher and the man of weak mind who dropped down a coal mine.
We begin on the 12th with an application for a gunpowder licence in the Warrington County Sessions.
Until well into the 20th century miners were expected to provide their own tools and pay for materials used in their work.
In 1934 a St Helens miner's wife gave BBC radio a long list of deductions that the unnamed colliery took from her husband's wages.
These included putting his bicycle in the mine's bike shed, getting his picks and saw sharpened, using the pithead baths and the daily cost of lamp oil.
Thomas Higham of Haydock wanted the gunpowder licence to erect what was known as a magazine – a building designed to safely store gunpowder in wooden barrels.
Mr Higham promised that no more than two tons of gunpowder would be stored and called a number of colliers as witnesses who said granting the licence would be a great convenience to over 200 workmen.
Presently an insufficient quantity of gunpowder needed for blasting operations in the mine could be obtained.
The licence was granted subject to the buildings being erected to the satisfaction of the police.
Higham did not appear to have any connection with mining. The 47-year-old was a grocer in Blackbrook who seems to have simply spotted an opportunity to sell gunpowder to the miners at Haydock.
On the 13th a butcher named Thomas Johnson from Sutton committed suicide by hanging.
He kept a butcher's shop near to Sutton Oak railway station and was in the habit of going to St Helens every Thursday morning to get his usual supply of meat.
After telling his daughter that he was leaving to go to town, Johnson left the house about seven o'clock.
Some time afterwards the daughter went into an outhouse and was horrified to find her father suspended from a beam and quite lifeless.
The Liverpool Mercury wrote: "The unfortunate suicide was about 70 years of age, and as he had lately been drinking heavily, it is supposed that he was temporarily insane when he committed the rash act."
As I've often said in these articles, Thomas Swift must have been the rudest solicitor St Helens has ever had – although possibly the cleverest too.
In the 1881 census his family are shown living in Hardshaw Hall, which three years later would become Providence Hospital.
All four of Thomas's sons followed him into the legal profession – with Rigby Swift serving as the MP for St Helens between 1910 and 1918 and then a judge.
And throughout the 20th century, Swift, Garner and Son dominated legal life in the town from their offices in Corporation Street, opposite Victoria Square.
Thomas Swift's outbursts in court were legendary – barking "shut your noise" at policemen whose testimony he did not like has to be one of my favourites!
Last year when defending an alleged pickpocket, Swift blamed the victim, saying it was: "Simply a case where a designing and wicked old Welsh woman had lost her money, and then tried to get it out of the first person she met."
Then later in the year he criticised the justices, saying: "I do not like to have a case brought here before magistrates who are not cognisant of the law."
In the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th, Swift represented a beerseller who had been summoned for a second time for the same offence.
It was explained that this arose through a technical objection having been made to the first summons.
However that statement infuriated Swift who loudly declared that the proceeding was "the most grievous wrong" that he had ever known.
He said he would have nothing more to do with the case and promptly stormed out of court.
Just how that outburst helped his client, I don't know. However later in 1871 Swift would be taken down a peg or two by one of the magistrates when he was sued for slander. And about time too!
The cricket season started in mid-April and for many local teams began with a match and a meal.
So Newton-le-Willows Cricket Club was due to play its opening game on the 15th at 2pm with a slap-up dinner at the Oak Tree Inn at seven.
The match was rained off but the meal still took place. The Runcorn Examiner wrote:
"A number of excellent songs were sung between the various toasts, which tended greatly to the pleasure of the evening. A little after ten o'clock, the worthy chairman proposed “To our next merry meeting,” which brought the proceedings to a close."
The Examiner also reported that the third annual Warrington sailing match had taken place in beautifully fine weather under a favourable breeze.
In front of 5,000 spectators twelve craft had competed on the Mersey from Atherton's Quay to Litton's Mill at Bank Quay for a first prize of £2 15 shillings. It must have been a wonderful sight.
The Examiner also described how an inquest jury had censured a foreman for allowing Thomas Kerr to sit on the buffers of a railway carriage.
The train was being shunted near a level crossing at Earlestown and the 17-year-old local lad fell off and was run over.
On the 17th Thomas Critchley was back in court. Last week I described how the 30-year-old postman from Stanhope Street in St Helens had been accused of stealing from letters given to him to deliver.
The thefts were not huge sums, involving 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings.
The court was told that the latter order had been posted from Liverpool and should have been delivered to a man named Woods at Sutton.
However Critchley had persuaded the signalman at St Helens Junction station to sign Woods' name on the money order and then asked a porter at St Helens railway station to cash it – all for six bob.
The offences were considered very serious and the magistrates sent Critchley for trial to the Kirkdale Assizes on August 9th and refused his application for bail. To be continued…
Falling down a coal shaft was a particularly nasty way to die. The pit sinkers that built or extended shafts were the ones most likely to miss a step and drop like a stone hundreds of feet to the bottom.
Occasionally those carrying out maintenance on the pit cage would fall – but it was unusual for a mineworker to end his days that way.
James Speakman did just that on the 17th at the Riding Lane Colliery in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
At his inquest at the Red Lion in Park Lane, it was stated that the 45-year-old had been "always of weak mind" and had apparently taken an empty coal truck to the shaft in order to place it in the lift.
However the lift cage was not there, having already been lowered. So James Speakman stepped into an empty shaft and plummeted straight down and was instantly killed.
Of course to our way of thinking, a man who was "always of weak mind" should not have been anywhere near a dangerous coal mine – but that doesn't appear to have bothered anybody then.
Whereas these days a garage for a car is a good selling point for a house, in the past shops and houses were seen as more attractive to prospective buyers and renters if they possessed stables and a cart house.
This was particularly so for businessmen and women – many of whom would live over or at the side of the property. On the 17th this advert appeared in the Liverpool Mercury:
"To be Let, that large and well-accustomed SHOP, lately in the occupation of Mr. Joseph Bold, grocer, together with the excellent Dwelling House attached thereto, and the Stables, Cart Shed, Cellars, &c., and situate at the top of Bridge-street, one of the best thoroughfares in St. Helen's. For particulars apply to Messrs. Butler and Burchall, auctioneers, adjoining the premises."
The Kirkdale Quarter Sessions that dealt with more serious offences opened on the 18th at the combined court and prison building in Liverpool (pictured above) – and some harsh punishments were handed out.
Ellen Lyon from Eccleston Park was described as a charwoman and she'd stolen a shawl from the house of George Forbes – although claimed she had only taken it for a lark.
The 28-year-old had two prior convictions for stealing whisky and a counterpane, for which she had received a month in prison for each offence.
Not having learned her lesson, she was given a further six months.
Ellen Walters, aged 25, and Emma Burgess, aged 43, were each sentenced to six months imprisonment for stealing five knives, three forks, and other articles, at Ashton-in-Makerfield.
Neither woman had prior convictions unlike Henry Critchley. The 41-year-old from St Helens was handed a sterner sentence of 18 months for stealing a cloak and a sheet, as he'd served previous prison terms for stealing pigeons and cash.
Last month I described the ghost that turned out to be a "poor lunatic woman, who had made her escape from her keepers" – as the (naked) woman was described.
And finally this week I end with another supposed supernatural event being explained, with this Liverpool Mercury article that was published under the headline "Catching A Ghost":
"For some time past the miners working in the pits at Abersychan and Cwmnantdder, near Pontypool, have been so terrified by subterranean noises and the stories of extraordinary “sights” told by some, these phenomena being attributed to super- natural agency, that the matter assumed a very serious aspect, and the Ebbw Vale Company have lost hundreds of pounds in consequence of the men positively refusing to work in these pits, and seeking employment elsewhere.
"Reasoning with the miners on these matters was altogether useless. It was considered that some of the noises were of perfectly natural origin, and arose from the settling down of strata and so forth; and as to others a suspicion arose that they were wilfully caused by some waggish or malicious persons employed in the pits.
"Mr. Joseph Green, the mineral agent, and Mr. Evan Jones, the contractor, set a close watch, and the result is that they caught the ghost and took him alive to Pontypool police court on Saturday.
"The “ghost” turned out to be a tall, intelligent-looking young man named John Harvey, a haulier, in the employ of Mr. Evan Jones.
"The singular nature of the matter caused the court to be crowded. The defendant was charged with wilfully misconducting himself in his employ, on the 17th February.
"Mr. Greenway appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Gibbs, of Newport, for the defence.
"On the case being called on, Mr. Gibbs rose, and, on behalf of his client, admitted that on one occasion he did slam a door, and tendered a humble apology to the Ebbw Vale Company and to Mr. Evan Jones, hoping that the case would not be pressed farther.
"Mr. Greenway, on behalf of the company and Mr. Jones, accepted the apology, and asked the permission of the bench to withdraw the case; but at the same time he stated that, if one of the doors had been left open, gas might have accumulated, and the lives of all in the pit sacrificed.
"The bench allowed the case to be withdrawn, but lectured the defendant on his conduct, and ordered him to pay costs."
Next week's stories will include the pig drover in a Parr beerhouse who had his pocket pinched, the brutal assault on a wife, the poor performing pupil teachers of St Helens and the twenty shilling bounty on men who had deserted their wives.
We begin on the 12th with an application for a gunpowder licence in the Warrington County Sessions.
Until well into the 20th century miners were expected to provide their own tools and pay for materials used in their work.
In 1934 a St Helens miner's wife gave BBC radio a long list of deductions that the unnamed colliery took from her husband's wages.
These included putting his bicycle in the mine's bike shed, getting his picks and saw sharpened, using the pithead baths and the daily cost of lamp oil.
Thomas Higham of Haydock wanted the gunpowder licence to erect what was known as a magazine – a building designed to safely store gunpowder in wooden barrels.
Mr Higham promised that no more than two tons of gunpowder would be stored and called a number of colliers as witnesses who said granting the licence would be a great convenience to over 200 workmen.
Presently an insufficient quantity of gunpowder needed for blasting operations in the mine could be obtained.
The licence was granted subject to the buildings being erected to the satisfaction of the police.
Higham did not appear to have any connection with mining. The 47-year-old was a grocer in Blackbrook who seems to have simply spotted an opportunity to sell gunpowder to the miners at Haydock.
On the 13th a butcher named Thomas Johnson from Sutton committed suicide by hanging.
He kept a butcher's shop near to Sutton Oak railway station and was in the habit of going to St Helens every Thursday morning to get his usual supply of meat.
After telling his daughter that he was leaving to go to town, Johnson left the house about seven o'clock.
Some time afterwards the daughter went into an outhouse and was horrified to find her father suspended from a beam and quite lifeless.
The Liverpool Mercury wrote: "The unfortunate suicide was about 70 years of age, and as he had lately been drinking heavily, it is supposed that he was temporarily insane when he committed the rash act."
As I've often said in these articles, Thomas Swift must have been the rudest solicitor St Helens has ever had – although possibly the cleverest too.
In the 1881 census his family are shown living in Hardshaw Hall, which three years later would become Providence Hospital.
All four of Thomas's sons followed him into the legal profession – with Rigby Swift serving as the MP for St Helens between 1910 and 1918 and then a judge.
And throughout the 20th century, Swift, Garner and Son dominated legal life in the town from their offices in Corporation Street, opposite Victoria Square.
Thomas Swift's outbursts in court were legendary – barking "shut your noise" at policemen whose testimony he did not like has to be one of my favourites!
Last year when defending an alleged pickpocket, Swift blamed the victim, saying it was: "Simply a case where a designing and wicked old Welsh woman had lost her money, and then tried to get it out of the first person she met."
Then later in the year he criticised the justices, saying: "I do not like to have a case brought here before magistrates who are not cognisant of the law."
In the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 15th, Swift represented a beerseller who had been summoned for a second time for the same offence.
It was explained that this arose through a technical objection having been made to the first summons.
However that statement infuriated Swift who loudly declared that the proceeding was "the most grievous wrong" that he had ever known.
He said he would have nothing more to do with the case and promptly stormed out of court.
Just how that outburst helped his client, I don't know. However later in 1871 Swift would be taken down a peg or two by one of the magistrates when he was sued for slander. And about time too!
The cricket season started in mid-April and for many local teams began with a match and a meal.
So Newton-le-Willows Cricket Club was due to play its opening game on the 15th at 2pm with a slap-up dinner at the Oak Tree Inn at seven.
The match was rained off but the meal still took place. The Runcorn Examiner wrote:
"A number of excellent songs were sung between the various toasts, which tended greatly to the pleasure of the evening. A little after ten o'clock, the worthy chairman proposed “To our next merry meeting,” which brought the proceedings to a close."
The Examiner also reported that the third annual Warrington sailing match had taken place in beautifully fine weather under a favourable breeze.
In front of 5,000 spectators twelve craft had competed on the Mersey from Atherton's Quay to Litton's Mill at Bank Quay for a first prize of £2 15 shillings. It must have been a wonderful sight.
The Examiner also described how an inquest jury had censured a foreman for allowing Thomas Kerr to sit on the buffers of a railway carriage.
The train was being shunted near a level crossing at Earlestown and the 17-year-old local lad fell off and was run over.
On the 17th Thomas Critchley was back in court. Last week I described how the 30-year-old postman from Stanhope Street in St Helens had been accused of stealing from letters given to him to deliver.
The thefts were not huge sums, involving 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings.
The court was told that the latter order had been posted from Liverpool and should have been delivered to a man named Woods at Sutton.
However Critchley had persuaded the signalman at St Helens Junction station to sign Woods' name on the money order and then asked a porter at St Helens railway station to cash it – all for six bob.
The offences were considered very serious and the magistrates sent Critchley for trial to the Kirkdale Assizes on August 9th and refused his application for bail. To be continued…
Falling down a coal shaft was a particularly nasty way to die. The pit sinkers that built or extended shafts were the ones most likely to miss a step and drop like a stone hundreds of feet to the bottom.
Occasionally those carrying out maintenance on the pit cage would fall – but it was unusual for a mineworker to end his days that way.
James Speakman did just that on the 17th at the Riding Lane Colliery in Ashton-in-Makerfield.
At his inquest at the Red Lion in Park Lane, it was stated that the 45-year-old had been "always of weak mind" and had apparently taken an empty coal truck to the shaft in order to place it in the lift.
However the lift cage was not there, having already been lowered. So James Speakman stepped into an empty shaft and plummeted straight down and was instantly killed.
Of course to our way of thinking, a man who was "always of weak mind" should not have been anywhere near a dangerous coal mine – but that doesn't appear to have bothered anybody then.
Whereas these days a garage for a car is a good selling point for a house, in the past shops and houses were seen as more attractive to prospective buyers and renters if they possessed stables and a cart house.
This was particularly so for businessmen and women – many of whom would live over or at the side of the property. On the 17th this advert appeared in the Liverpool Mercury:
"To be Let, that large and well-accustomed SHOP, lately in the occupation of Mr. Joseph Bold, grocer, together with the excellent Dwelling House attached thereto, and the Stables, Cart Shed, Cellars, &c., and situate at the top of Bridge-street, one of the best thoroughfares in St. Helen's. For particulars apply to Messrs. Butler and Burchall, auctioneers, adjoining the premises."
Ellen Lyon from Eccleston Park was described as a charwoman and she'd stolen a shawl from the house of George Forbes – although claimed she had only taken it for a lark.
The 28-year-old had two prior convictions for stealing whisky and a counterpane, for which she had received a month in prison for each offence.
Not having learned her lesson, she was given a further six months.
Ellen Walters, aged 25, and Emma Burgess, aged 43, were each sentenced to six months imprisonment for stealing five knives, three forks, and other articles, at Ashton-in-Makerfield.
Neither woman had prior convictions unlike Henry Critchley. The 41-year-old from St Helens was handed a sterner sentence of 18 months for stealing a cloak and a sheet, as he'd served previous prison terms for stealing pigeons and cash.
Last month I described the ghost that turned out to be a "poor lunatic woman, who had made her escape from her keepers" – as the (naked) woman was described.
And finally this week I end with another supposed supernatural event being explained, with this Liverpool Mercury article that was published under the headline "Catching A Ghost":
"For some time past the miners working in the pits at Abersychan and Cwmnantdder, near Pontypool, have been so terrified by subterranean noises and the stories of extraordinary “sights” told by some, these phenomena being attributed to super- natural agency, that the matter assumed a very serious aspect, and the Ebbw Vale Company have lost hundreds of pounds in consequence of the men positively refusing to work in these pits, and seeking employment elsewhere.
"Reasoning with the miners on these matters was altogether useless. It was considered that some of the noises were of perfectly natural origin, and arose from the settling down of strata and so forth; and as to others a suspicion arose that they were wilfully caused by some waggish or malicious persons employed in the pits.
"Mr. Joseph Green, the mineral agent, and Mr. Evan Jones, the contractor, set a close watch, and the result is that they caught the ghost and took him alive to Pontypool police court on Saturday.
"The “ghost” turned out to be a tall, intelligent-looking young man named John Harvey, a haulier, in the employ of Mr. Evan Jones.
"The singular nature of the matter caused the court to be crowded. The defendant was charged with wilfully misconducting himself in his employ, on the 17th February.
"Mr. Greenway appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Gibbs, of Newport, for the defence.
"On the case being called on, Mr. Gibbs rose, and, on behalf of his client, admitted that on one occasion he did slam a door, and tendered a humble apology to the Ebbw Vale Company and to Mr. Evan Jones, hoping that the case would not be pressed farther.
"Mr. Greenway, on behalf of the company and Mr. Jones, accepted the apology, and asked the permission of the bench to withdraw the case; but at the same time he stated that, if one of the doors had been left open, gas might have accumulated, and the lives of all in the pit sacrificed.
"The bench allowed the case to be withdrawn, but lectured the defendant on his conduct, and ordered him to pay costs."
Next week's stories will include the pig drover in a Parr beerhouse who had his pocket pinched, the brutal assault on a wife, the poor performing pupil teachers of St Helens and the twenty shilling bounty on men who had deserted their wives.