150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (12th - 18th SEPTEMBER 1872)
This week's stories include the destructive fire at the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, the mayor of Tokyo visits St Helens, an analysis of the immense number of drinking houses, the Bold Street woman who said she could live hundreds of thousands of years besides any decent neighbour and criticism of the Corporation's Fire Brigade who practised by soaking shop fronts.
The death of William Pilkington Snr occurred on the 12th. The Newspaper's obituary on one of the founders of the glass firm that bore his name (pictured above) and also county magistrate said: "Identified with St. Helens from what might be called its first start into manufacturing life, and one of the leading figures of the group of business men through whose energy the town has progressed so wonderfully, with qualities which eminently fitted him for all the duties of citizenship, the deceased gentleman enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen of every class."
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 14th this advert for a slaughterhouse in Parr was published: "Peter Spencer begs to inform the public of St. Helens and the surrounding neighbourhood that he has opened a knacker's yard at Coalpit Lane, Parr Mill Dam, close to Mr. Joseph Pilkington's brick works. The premises are extensive and highly suitable for the business."
This was Spencer's second attempt at running a knacker's yard. His first had opened in April in what we know as Merton Bank Road – but within a few weeks it had burnt down. But although Spencer was reported as having suffered a large loss in the blaze, he was still able to perform a bizarre publicity stunt in the annual St Helens May Day horse parade. While other carters proudly decorated their spruced-up animals with ribbons and flowers, "making their trappings look gay and bright in the sunshine", as the Newspaper paper put it, the "knacker" Spencer carted about the streets a dead horse. Presumably that was to indicate that there was life left in his business – if not in the horse!
This week St Helens was honoured by a visit from the Mayor of Jeddo, the anglicised name by which Tokyo was then known. Without telephone or other means of communication that we have today, people would often just turn up at places without notice and hope for the best. This could lead to difficulties, as the Newspaper explained:
"His worship, who does not speak English, was attended by his private secretary, who speaks English tolerably well. The object of the visit was to inspect the various large manufactories for which St. Helens is famed. We fear our distinguished visitors will not carry with them a very high opinion of the hospitality of our town. Their arrival was certainly unexpected, which will account for any apparent neglect.
"On their arrival it was found that our Mayor (J. Marsh Esq) was absent, and the Deputy-Mayor (Leut.-Colonel Gamble) was out of town. Mr. Bradley, of the Town Clerk's office, however, kindly escorted the foreign visitors; and during the day they visited Messrs. Pilkington Brothers’ and several other of our works and manufactories. The various processes appeared to excite their wonder and admiration."
The council's Water and Lighting committee met this week and discussed correspondence received from the superintendent of the Corporation's Fire Brigade. The letter was in response to an instruction from the committee that all practice by the brigade had in future to be confined to the Market Square, near where the brigade was based. That was because they were seen as causing a nuisance while practising through soaking the fronts of many shops with water.
Shopkeepers claimed that publicans gave the firemen an "allowance" not to flood the outsides of their pubs – presumably a reference to free beer. One might have thought that they would've welcomed a free wash, but apparently not. Anyway, John Leigh, the boss of the brigade, objected to the instruction because he felt it necessary for his men to practice in different parts of the town, so they were fully familiar with the locations and knew the position of fire plugs.
"As far as washing fronts is concerned," he added, "we simply throw the water where best we can, and go nowhere for the purpose of washing fronts." The Mayor suggested that the firemen should hose the water up in the air. "Throwing it over fronts creates jealousy and misunderstanding," he explained.
The Newspaper also commented on the "immense number" of drinking establishments in the district as revealed in the annual report of the superintendent of St Helens police. A population of 52,306 – from Rainford in the north to Bold in the south – had a total of 349 beerhouses or inns to sup in. The newspaper reckoned that the temperance societies in the district had about 3,000 members and there were probably a further 2,000 other abstainers.
So, in reality, there were 135 persons to each drinking house and probably something in the order of 5s 6d from each household was spent on drink. There were, of course, variations in each district with Bold the most favourable – and Parr the least. The Newspaper wrote: "It is notorious that Parr is the most disorderly township in the group, and if this is not directly attributable to its excessive proportion of drinking establishments, there must be some special characteristic of the people to account for it."
The Newspaper estimated that in an era when the average working man's wage was 20 to 25 shillings a week, as much as £150,000 a year was spent on drink: "…an enormous sum for the people of St. Helens to squander in an article of consumption which is seldom a necessity. The evil becomes greater when we remember that the principal contribution to this great whole are the working classes, skilled and unskilled."
The better-off families, would, according to the Newspaper, stock their cellars with drink bought directly from wholesalers and brewers and so in actual fact the expense on alcohol was much greater than £150,000. The paper concluded: "So long as the drink trade is so extensive, and men can be found foolish enough to squander their hard earnings, as some do, with criminal prodigality, so long will creditors be cheated, proceedings instituted for rates and rents, and poverty, wretchedness, and crime abound."
There was no mention of the fact that working in St Helens factories and coal mines was considerably harder than working in a newspaper office. And so it was, perhaps, understandable that the working class districts of the town had developed a hard drinking culture.
There were the usual squabbles played out in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th. Elizabeth Yearsley brought a prosecution against Mary Gavin, charging her neighbour from Bold Street in Greenbank with threatening to assault her. Mrs Yearsley said she had been preparing dough for a baker when Mrs Gavin picked up a tub of water that stood outside her house and, as the Newspaper wrote:
"…projected it with such force against the door that it had the effect of a battering ram. As soon as the door ceased to intervene, the infuriated woman outside threatened to tear the defendant limb from limb, and her daughter bit by bit. This evidence was corroborated. It was a task that taxed the bench, the lawyer, and the police, to keep the defendant's tongue quiet. She would speak, and spout, and tell the bench how she could live “hundreds of thousands of years” beside any decent neighbour, and enjoy harmony all that protracted period. Seeing what a temper she had, the Chairman was candid with her, and then ordered her to be bound over."
Also on the 16th, the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class Association went on a day trip to New Brighton, after first spending time in Liverpool visiting St George's Hall and Brown's Museum. The latter is now known as the Central Library and World Museum and William Brown – a man with connections to the slave trade – had donated it to the people of Liverpool.
The Newspaper report stated that at New Brighton a group photograph was taken "in memory of the outing". Although it is possible that such things did occur from time to time, I don't believe I have read a newspaper reference to an excursion being photographed as early as the 1870s before.
The St Helens Floral and Horticultural Show took place in the Victoria Pleasure Grounds in Thatto Heath on the 18th and 19th. The venue close to present day Whittle Street was advertised as less than three minutes walk from the new railway station.
Although the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was the main hospital for accommodating those deemed to be mentally ill, there was a smaller, private facility on the main road between Ashton and Newton-le-Willows. It was known as the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum and on the 18th the large house that provided accommodation for 250 patients was almost completely destroyed by fire. The class system even affected the mentally ill as the front portion of the house was not only occupied by the family of its proprietor, Dr Edward Lister, but the "first class patients" also lived there.
This was the main block and it was being painted and redecorated while alterations were being made in the arrangement of gas pipes. On the previous evening a workman from the Liverpool Gaslight Company had been using a candle in a particular spot on a staircase where the fire began. The blaze started some hours after the man had gone home and so it was assumed that something had been left smouldering.
It was not until 5am that the fire was noticed and the patients were quickly evacuated to the rear of the building. Messengers were despatched to Newton and Wigan (probably on horseback) to summon their fire brigades. However, the blaze spread rapidly through the wooden rafters and the roof was entirely destroyed before assistance could arrive on the scene. The three brigades focussed on saving the premises at the rear and gave up on the main building, with the St Helens Newspaper commenting: "…in a few hours there was nothing left but the bare walls and a heap of smoking debris".
Next week's stories will include the remarkable funeral procession of William Pilkington, a wantonly cruel brute appears in court, an inspection of local reformatory schools and the Eccleston man who said he intended cutting somebody's ears off.
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 14th this advert for a slaughterhouse in Parr was published: "Peter Spencer begs to inform the public of St. Helens and the surrounding neighbourhood that he has opened a knacker's yard at Coalpit Lane, Parr Mill Dam, close to Mr. Joseph Pilkington's brick works. The premises are extensive and highly suitable for the business."
This was Spencer's second attempt at running a knacker's yard. His first had opened in April in what we know as Merton Bank Road – but within a few weeks it had burnt down. But although Spencer was reported as having suffered a large loss in the blaze, he was still able to perform a bizarre publicity stunt in the annual St Helens May Day horse parade. While other carters proudly decorated their spruced-up animals with ribbons and flowers, "making their trappings look gay and bright in the sunshine", as the Newspaper paper put it, the "knacker" Spencer carted about the streets a dead horse. Presumably that was to indicate that there was life left in his business – if not in the horse!
This week St Helens was honoured by a visit from the Mayor of Jeddo, the anglicised name by which Tokyo was then known. Without telephone or other means of communication that we have today, people would often just turn up at places without notice and hope for the best. This could lead to difficulties, as the Newspaper explained:
"His worship, who does not speak English, was attended by his private secretary, who speaks English tolerably well. The object of the visit was to inspect the various large manufactories for which St. Helens is famed. We fear our distinguished visitors will not carry with them a very high opinion of the hospitality of our town. Their arrival was certainly unexpected, which will account for any apparent neglect.
"On their arrival it was found that our Mayor (J. Marsh Esq) was absent, and the Deputy-Mayor (Leut.-Colonel Gamble) was out of town. Mr. Bradley, of the Town Clerk's office, however, kindly escorted the foreign visitors; and during the day they visited Messrs. Pilkington Brothers’ and several other of our works and manufactories. The various processes appeared to excite their wonder and admiration."
The council's Water and Lighting committee met this week and discussed correspondence received from the superintendent of the Corporation's Fire Brigade. The letter was in response to an instruction from the committee that all practice by the brigade had in future to be confined to the Market Square, near where the brigade was based. That was because they were seen as causing a nuisance while practising through soaking the fronts of many shops with water.
Shopkeepers claimed that publicans gave the firemen an "allowance" not to flood the outsides of their pubs – presumably a reference to free beer. One might have thought that they would've welcomed a free wash, but apparently not. Anyway, John Leigh, the boss of the brigade, objected to the instruction because he felt it necessary for his men to practice in different parts of the town, so they were fully familiar with the locations and knew the position of fire plugs.
"As far as washing fronts is concerned," he added, "we simply throw the water where best we can, and go nowhere for the purpose of washing fronts." The Mayor suggested that the firemen should hose the water up in the air. "Throwing it over fronts creates jealousy and misunderstanding," he explained.
The Newspaper also commented on the "immense number" of drinking establishments in the district as revealed in the annual report of the superintendent of St Helens police. A population of 52,306 – from Rainford in the north to Bold in the south – had a total of 349 beerhouses or inns to sup in. The newspaper reckoned that the temperance societies in the district had about 3,000 members and there were probably a further 2,000 other abstainers.
So, in reality, there were 135 persons to each drinking house and probably something in the order of 5s 6d from each household was spent on drink. There were, of course, variations in each district with Bold the most favourable – and Parr the least. The Newspaper wrote: "It is notorious that Parr is the most disorderly township in the group, and if this is not directly attributable to its excessive proportion of drinking establishments, there must be some special characteristic of the people to account for it."
The Newspaper estimated that in an era when the average working man's wage was 20 to 25 shillings a week, as much as £150,000 a year was spent on drink: "…an enormous sum for the people of St. Helens to squander in an article of consumption which is seldom a necessity. The evil becomes greater when we remember that the principal contribution to this great whole are the working classes, skilled and unskilled."
The better-off families, would, according to the Newspaper, stock their cellars with drink bought directly from wholesalers and brewers and so in actual fact the expense on alcohol was much greater than £150,000. The paper concluded: "So long as the drink trade is so extensive, and men can be found foolish enough to squander their hard earnings, as some do, with criminal prodigality, so long will creditors be cheated, proceedings instituted for rates and rents, and poverty, wretchedness, and crime abound."
There was no mention of the fact that working in St Helens factories and coal mines was considerably harder than working in a newspaper office. And so it was, perhaps, understandable that the working class districts of the town had developed a hard drinking culture.
There were the usual squabbles played out in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th. Elizabeth Yearsley brought a prosecution against Mary Gavin, charging her neighbour from Bold Street in Greenbank with threatening to assault her. Mrs Yearsley said she had been preparing dough for a baker when Mrs Gavin picked up a tub of water that stood outside her house and, as the Newspaper wrote:
"…projected it with such force against the door that it had the effect of a battering ram. As soon as the door ceased to intervene, the infuriated woman outside threatened to tear the defendant limb from limb, and her daughter bit by bit. This evidence was corroborated. It was a task that taxed the bench, the lawyer, and the police, to keep the defendant's tongue quiet. She would speak, and spout, and tell the bench how she could live “hundreds of thousands of years” beside any decent neighbour, and enjoy harmony all that protracted period. Seeing what a temper she had, the Chairman was candid with her, and then ordered her to be bound over."
Also on the 16th, the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class Association went on a day trip to New Brighton, after first spending time in Liverpool visiting St George's Hall and Brown's Museum. The latter is now known as the Central Library and World Museum and William Brown – a man with connections to the slave trade – had donated it to the people of Liverpool.
The Newspaper report stated that at New Brighton a group photograph was taken "in memory of the outing". Although it is possible that such things did occur from time to time, I don't believe I have read a newspaper reference to an excursion being photographed as early as the 1870s before.
The St Helens Floral and Horticultural Show took place in the Victoria Pleasure Grounds in Thatto Heath on the 18th and 19th. The venue close to present day Whittle Street was advertised as less than three minutes walk from the new railway station.
Although the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was the main hospital for accommodating those deemed to be mentally ill, there was a smaller, private facility on the main road between Ashton and Newton-le-Willows. It was known as the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum and on the 18th the large house that provided accommodation for 250 patients was almost completely destroyed by fire. The class system even affected the mentally ill as the front portion of the house was not only occupied by the family of its proprietor, Dr Edward Lister, but the "first class patients" also lived there.
This was the main block and it was being painted and redecorated while alterations were being made in the arrangement of gas pipes. On the previous evening a workman from the Liverpool Gaslight Company had been using a candle in a particular spot on a staircase where the fire began. The blaze started some hours after the man had gone home and so it was assumed that something had been left smouldering.
It was not until 5am that the fire was noticed and the patients were quickly evacuated to the rear of the building. Messengers were despatched to Newton and Wigan (probably on horseback) to summon their fire brigades. However, the blaze spread rapidly through the wooden rafters and the roof was entirely destroyed before assistance could arrive on the scene. The three brigades focussed on saving the premises at the rear and gave up on the main building, with the St Helens Newspaper commenting: "…in a few hours there was nothing left but the bare walls and a heap of smoking debris".
Next week's stories will include the remarkable funeral procession of William Pilkington, a wantonly cruel brute appears in court, an inspection of local reformatory schools and the Eccleston man who said he intended cutting somebody's ears off.
This week's stories include the destructive fire at the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, the mayor of Tokyo visits St Helens, an analysis of the immense number of drinking houses, the Bold Street woman who said she could live hundreds of thousands of years besides any decent neighbour and criticism of the Corporation's Fire Brigade who practised by soaking shop fronts.
The death of William Pilkington Snr occurred on the 12th. The Newspaper's obituary on one of the founders of the glass firm that bore his name (pictured above) and also county magistrate said:
"Identified with St. Helens from what might be called its first start into manufacturing life, and one of the leading figures of the group of business men through whose energy the town has progressed so wonderfully, with qualities which eminently fitted him for all the duties of citizenship, the deceased gentleman enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen of every class."
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 14th this advert for a slaughterhouse in Parr was published:
"Peter Spencer begs to inform the public of St. Helens and the surrounding neighbourhood that he has opened a knacker's yard at Coalpit Lane, Parr Mill Dam, close to Mr. Joseph Pilkington's brick works. The premises are extensive and highly suitable for the business."
This was Spencer's second attempt at running a knacker's yard. His first had opened in April in what we know as Merton Bank Road – but within a few weeks it had burnt down.
But although Spencer was reported as having suffered a large loss in the blaze, he was still able to perform a bizarre publicity stunt in the annual St Helens May Day horse parade.
While other carters proudly decorated their spruced-up animals with ribbons and flowers, "making their trappings look gay and bright in the sunshine", as the Newspaper paper put it, the "knacker" Spencer carted about the streets a dead horse.
Presumably that was to indicate that there was life left in his business – if not in the horse!
This week St Helens was honoured by a visit from the Mayor of Jeddo, the anglicised name by which Tokyo was then known.
Without telephone or other means of communication that we have today, people would often just turn up at places without notice and hope for the best. This could lead to difficulties, as the Newspaper explained:
"His worship, who does not speak English, was attended by his private secretary, who speaks English tolerably well.
"The object of the visit was to inspect the various large manufactories for which St. Helens is famed.
"We fear our distinguished visitors will not carry with them a very high opinion of the hospitality of our town. Their arrival was certainly unexpected, which will account for any apparent neglect.
"On their arrival it was found that our Mayor (J. Marsh Esq) was absent, and the Deputy-Mayor (Leut.-Colonel Gamble) was out of town.
"Mr. Bradley, of the Town Clerk's office, however, kindly escorted the foreign visitors; and during the day they visited Messrs. Pilkington Brothers’ and several other of our works and manufactories. The various processes appeared to excite their wonder and admiration."
The council's Water and Lighting committee met this week and discussed correspondence received from the superintendent of the Corporation's Fire Brigade.
The letter was in response to an instruction from the committee that all practice by the brigade had in future to be confined to the Market Square, near where the brigade was based.
That was because they were seen as causing a nuisance while practising through soaking the fronts of many shops with water.
Shopkeepers claimed that publicans gave the firemen an "allowance" not to flood the outsides of their pubs – presumably a reference to free beer.
One might have thought that they would've welcomed a free wash, but apparently not.
Anyway, John Leigh, the boss of the brigade, objected to the instruction because he felt it necessary for his men to practice in different parts of the town, so they were fully familiar with the locations and knew the position of fire plugs.
"As far as washing fronts is concerned," he added, "we simply throw the water where best we can, and go nowhere for the purpose of washing fronts."
The Mayor suggested that the firemen should hose the water up in the air. "Throwing it over fronts creates jealousy and misunderstanding," he explained.
The Newspaper also commented on the "immense number" of drinking establishments in the district as revealed in the annual report of the superintendent of St Helens police.
A population of 52,306 – from Rainford in the north to Bold in the south – had a total of 349 beerhouses or inns to sup in.
The newspaper reckoned that the temperance societies in the district had about 3,000 members and there were probably a further 2,000 other abstainers.
So, in reality, there were 135 persons to each drinking house and probably something in the order of 5s 6d from each household was spent on drink.
There were, of course, variations in each district with Bold the most favourable – and Parr the least. The Newspaper wrote:
"It is notorious that Parr is the most disorderly township in the group, and if this is not directly attributable to its excessive proportion of drinking establishments, there must be some special characteristic of the people to account for it."
The Newspaper estimated that in an era when the average working man's wage was 20 to 25 shillings a week, as much as £150,000 a year was spent on drink:
"…an enormous sum for the people of St. Helens to squander in an article of consumption which is seldom a necessity. The evil becomes greater when we remember that the principal contribution to this great whole are the working classes, skilled and unskilled."
The better-off families, would, according to the Newspaper, stock their cellars with drink bought directly from wholesalers and brewers and so in actual fact the expense on alcohol was much greater than £150,000. The paper concluded:
"So long as the drink trade is so extensive, and men can be found foolish enough to squander their hard earnings, as some do, with criminal prodigality, so long will creditors be cheated, proceedings instituted for rates and rents, and poverty, wretchedness, and crime abound."
There was no mention of the fact that working in St Helens factories and coal mines was considerably harder than working in a newspaper office.
And so it was, perhaps, understandable that the working class districts of the town had developed a hard drinking culture.
There were the usual squabbles played out in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th.
Elizabeth Yearsley brought a prosecution against Mary Gavin, charging her neighbour from Bold Street in Greenbank with threatening to assault her.
Mrs Yearsley said she had been preparing dough for a baker when Mrs Gavin picked up a tub of water that stood outside her house and, as the Newspaper wrote:
"…projected it with such force against the door that it had the effect of a battering ram. As soon as the door ceased to intervene, the infuriated woman outside threatened to tear the defendant limb from limb, and her daughter bit by bit. This evidence was corroborated.
"It was a task that taxed the bench, the lawyer, and the police, to keep the defendant's tongue quiet. She would speak, and spout, and tell the bench how she could live “hundreds of thousands of years” beside any decent neighbour, and enjoy harmony all that protracted period.
"Seeing what a temper she had, the Chairman was candid with her, and then ordered her to be bound over."
Also on the 16th, the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class Association went on a day trip to New Brighton, after first spending time in Liverpool visiting St George's Hall and Brown's Museum.
The latter is now known as the Central Library and World Museum and William Brown – a man with connections to the slave trade – had donated it to the people of Liverpool.
The Newspaper report stated that at New Brighton a group photograph was taken "in memory of the outing".
Although it is possible that such things did occur from time to time, I don't believe I have read a newspaper reference to an excursion being photographed as early as the 1870s before.
The St Helens Floral and Horticultural Show took place in the Victoria Pleasure Grounds in Thatto Heath on the 18th and 19th.
The venue close to present day Whittle Street was advertised as less than three minutes walk from the new railway station.
Although the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was the main hospital for accommodating those deemed to be mentally ill, there was a smaller, private facility on the main road between Ashton and Newton-le-Willows.
It was known as the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum and on the 18th the large house that provided accommodation for 250 patients was almost completely destroyed by fire.
The class system even affected the mentally ill as the front portion of the house was not only occupied by the family of its proprietor, Dr Edward Lister, but the "first class patients" also lived there.
This was the main block and it was being painted and redecorated while alterations were being made in the arrangement of gas pipes.
On the previous evening a workman from the Liverpool Gaslight Company had been using a candle in a particular spot on a staircase where the fire began.
The blaze started some hours after the man had gone home and so it was assumed that something had been left smouldering.
It was not until 5am that the fire was noticed and the patients were quickly evacuated to the rear of the building.
Messengers were despatched to Newton and Wigan (probably on horseback) to summon their fire brigades.
However, the blaze spread rapidly through the wooden rafters and the roof was entirely destroyed before assistance could arrive on the scene.
The three brigades focussed on saving the premises at the rear and gave up on the main building, with the St Helens Newspaper commenting: "…in a few hours there was nothing left but the bare walls and a heap of smoking debris".
Next week's stories will include the remarkable funeral procession of William Pilkington, a wantonly cruel brute appears in court, an inspection of local reformatory schools and the Eccleston man who said he intended cutting somebody's ears off.
"Identified with St. Helens from what might be called its first start into manufacturing life, and one of the leading figures of the group of business men through whose energy the town has progressed so wonderfully, with qualities which eminently fitted him for all the duties of citizenship, the deceased gentleman enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen of every class."
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 14th this advert for a slaughterhouse in Parr was published:
"Peter Spencer begs to inform the public of St. Helens and the surrounding neighbourhood that he has opened a knacker's yard at Coalpit Lane, Parr Mill Dam, close to Mr. Joseph Pilkington's brick works. The premises are extensive and highly suitable for the business."
This was Spencer's second attempt at running a knacker's yard. His first had opened in April in what we know as Merton Bank Road – but within a few weeks it had burnt down.
But although Spencer was reported as having suffered a large loss in the blaze, he was still able to perform a bizarre publicity stunt in the annual St Helens May Day horse parade.
While other carters proudly decorated their spruced-up animals with ribbons and flowers, "making their trappings look gay and bright in the sunshine", as the Newspaper paper put it, the "knacker" Spencer carted about the streets a dead horse.
Presumably that was to indicate that there was life left in his business – if not in the horse!
This week St Helens was honoured by a visit from the Mayor of Jeddo, the anglicised name by which Tokyo was then known.
Without telephone or other means of communication that we have today, people would often just turn up at places without notice and hope for the best. This could lead to difficulties, as the Newspaper explained:
"His worship, who does not speak English, was attended by his private secretary, who speaks English tolerably well.
"The object of the visit was to inspect the various large manufactories for which St. Helens is famed.
"We fear our distinguished visitors will not carry with them a very high opinion of the hospitality of our town. Their arrival was certainly unexpected, which will account for any apparent neglect.
"On their arrival it was found that our Mayor (J. Marsh Esq) was absent, and the Deputy-Mayor (Leut.-Colonel Gamble) was out of town.
"Mr. Bradley, of the Town Clerk's office, however, kindly escorted the foreign visitors; and during the day they visited Messrs. Pilkington Brothers’ and several other of our works and manufactories. The various processes appeared to excite their wonder and admiration."
The council's Water and Lighting committee met this week and discussed correspondence received from the superintendent of the Corporation's Fire Brigade.
The letter was in response to an instruction from the committee that all practice by the brigade had in future to be confined to the Market Square, near where the brigade was based.
That was because they were seen as causing a nuisance while practising through soaking the fronts of many shops with water.
Shopkeepers claimed that publicans gave the firemen an "allowance" not to flood the outsides of their pubs – presumably a reference to free beer.
One might have thought that they would've welcomed a free wash, but apparently not.
Anyway, John Leigh, the boss of the brigade, objected to the instruction because he felt it necessary for his men to practice in different parts of the town, so they were fully familiar with the locations and knew the position of fire plugs.
"As far as washing fronts is concerned," he added, "we simply throw the water where best we can, and go nowhere for the purpose of washing fronts."
The Mayor suggested that the firemen should hose the water up in the air. "Throwing it over fronts creates jealousy and misunderstanding," he explained.
The Newspaper also commented on the "immense number" of drinking establishments in the district as revealed in the annual report of the superintendent of St Helens police.
A population of 52,306 – from Rainford in the north to Bold in the south – had a total of 349 beerhouses or inns to sup in.
The newspaper reckoned that the temperance societies in the district had about 3,000 members and there were probably a further 2,000 other abstainers.
So, in reality, there were 135 persons to each drinking house and probably something in the order of 5s 6d from each household was spent on drink.
There were, of course, variations in each district with Bold the most favourable – and Parr the least. The Newspaper wrote:
"It is notorious that Parr is the most disorderly township in the group, and if this is not directly attributable to its excessive proportion of drinking establishments, there must be some special characteristic of the people to account for it."
The Newspaper estimated that in an era when the average working man's wage was 20 to 25 shillings a week, as much as £150,000 a year was spent on drink:
"…an enormous sum for the people of St. Helens to squander in an article of consumption which is seldom a necessity. The evil becomes greater when we remember that the principal contribution to this great whole are the working classes, skilled and unskilled."
The better-off families, would, according to the Newspaper, stock their cellars with drink bought directly from wholesalers and brewers and so in actual fact the expense on alcohol was much greater than £150,000. The paper concluded:
"So long as the drink trade is so extensive, and men can be found foolish enough to squander their hard earnings, as some do, with criminal prodigality, so long will creditors be cheated, proceedings instituted for rates and rents, and poverty, wretchedness, and crime abound."
There was no mention of the fact that working in St Helens factories and coal mines was considerably harder than working in a newspaper office.
And so it was, perhaps, understandable that the working class districts of the town had developed a hard drinking culture.
There were the usual squabbles played out in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 16th.
Elizabeth Yearsley brought a prosecution against Mary Gavin, charging her neighbour from Bold Street in Greenbank with threatening to assault her.
Mrs Yearsley said she had been preparing dough for a baker when Mrs Gavin picked up a tub of water that stood outside her house and, as the Newspaper wrote:
"…projected it with such force against the door that it had the effect of a battering ram. As soon as the door ceased to intervene, the infuriated woman outside threatened to tear the defendant limb from limb, and her daughter bit by bit. This evidence was corroborated.
"It was a task that taxed the bench, the lawyer, and the police, to keep the defendant's tongue quiet. She would speak, and spout, and tell the bench how she could live “hundreds of thousands of years” beside any decent neighbour, and enjoy harmony all that protracted period.
"Seeing what a temper she had, the Chairman was candid with her, and then ordered her to be bound over."
Also on the 16th, the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class Association went on a day trip to New Brighton, after first spending time in Liverpool visiting St George's Hall and Brown's Museum.
The latter is now known as the Central Library and World Museum and William Brown – a man with connections to the slave trade – had donated it to the people of Liverpool.
The Newspaper report stated that at New Brighton a group photograph was taken "in memory of the outing".
Although it is possible that such things did occur from time to time, I don't believe I have read a newspaper reference to an excursion being photographed as early as the 1870s before.
The St Helens Floral and Horticultural Show took place in the Victoria Pleasure Grounds in Thatto Heath on the 18th and 19th.
The venue close to present day Whittle Street was advertised as less than three minutes walk from the new railway station.
Although the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was the main hospital for accommodating those deemed to be mentally ill, there was a smaller, private facility on the main road between Ashton and Newton-le-Willows.
It was known as the Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum and on the 18th the large house that provided accommodation for 250 patients was almost completely destroyed by fire.
The class system even affected the mentally ill as the front portion of the house was not only occupied by the family of its proprietor, Dr Edward Lister, but the "first class patients" also lived there.
This was the main block and it was being painted and redecorated while alterations were being made in the arrangement of gas pipes.
On the previous evening a workman from the Liverpool Gaslight Company had been using a candle in a particular spot on a staircase where the fire began.
The blaze started some hours after the man had gone home and so it was assumed that something had been left smouldering.
It was not until 5am that the fire was noticed and the patients were quickly evacuated to the rear of the building.
Messengers were despatched to Newton and Wigan (probably on horseback) to summon their fire brigades.
However, the blaze spread rapidly through the wooden rafters and the roof was entirely destroyed before assistance could arrive on the scene.
The three brigades focussed on saving the premises at the rear and gave up on the main building, with the St Helens Newspaper commenting: "…in a few hours there was nothing left but the bare walls and a heap of smoking debris".
Next week's stories will include the remarkable funeral procession of William Pilkington, a wantonly cruel brute appears in court, an inspection of local reformatory schools and the Eccleston man who said he intended cutting somebody's ears off.