150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 13 - 19 MAY 1874
This week's many stories include the filthy tumble-down cottages of Prescot, the laying of the foundation stone of Rainford's Catholic school, the shocking health report for 1873, the repulsive looking woman who stole boots from a house in Claughton Street, the fines given to the badly paid night soil men and why the body of a chemical worker had to be exhumed from a cemetery.
We begin on the 14th in Preston Sheriff's Court when Joseph Greenough was ordered to pay Margaret Critchley £150 damages for breach of promise of marriage. Margaret was the daughter of the landlord of the Mechanics Arms in Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton and Greenough was employed at the huge Sutton Glass Works nearby and had been a regular customer.
Prescot's poor housing stock had long been criticised by the Prescot Reporter. In November 1869 they had written: "Scarcely any town in the country of similar size contains so many ricketty, tumble-down cottages. Some are highly suggestive of the leaning tower at Pisa; others have the walls bulging out to such an extent that long since they would have fallen into ruin but for being held together by iron rods running from outer wall to outer wall.
"There are cottages which may be counted by the score, which have become so weak in beams and joists, in laths, plaster, bricks, and mortar, as almost to defy the very ingenious jobbing bricklayers and joiners whose time is spent in patching and repairing the ancient domiciles. The wonder is that many of them have not fallen, and buried the inmates in the ruins."
On the 16th of this week the Prescot Reporter dealt further into the problem and offered a solution. They said the dwellings might well have been constructed for the express purpose of ruining the health of their inhabitants and wanted the landlords to be forced to put their houses in a good habitable condition. That, the Reporter argued would make their tenants "more cleanly", adding: "It is vain to expect that householders will attend to the removal of filth when they see that the labour must be futile."
On the 16th in the St Helens Newspaper, Nathan Ellison of Lea Green Farm in Sutton was advertising the services of his 8-year-old horse called Blue Peter, which he called a "sure foal getter". Gentlemen were invited to send their mares to visit Blue Peter, which was described as "free from blemish and sound".
The Newspaper could be extremely disparaging when describing the appearance of prisoners in the dock. Ellen Yates was referred to as a "repulsive looking woman" when she was charged with stealing a pair of boots from a house in Claughton Street. Mary Evans was the tenant of the property and said Yates had visited her home on the previous Friday and a pair of her boots had subsequently disappeared.
In such cases it was not hard to find where the stolen goods had ended up. The police simply visited the nearest pawnshops and PC Robinson discovered Mrs Evans' boots at Burchall's pawnbroker's in the St Helens market place. Stealing so-called wearing apparel was a serious crime and the repulsive Ellen Yates was sent to prison for three months.
On the 17th what was described as "an immense concourse of people" assembled in Rainford to witness the laying of the foundation stone of a Catholic school. Rev. Father Powell of Birchley had bought the land and he was also building the school, which it was hoped would be opened on August 1st. About 2,000 people attended the stone laying. Commenting on the event the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"Sunday last was a red letter day in the lives of the Catholic residents of Rainford inasmuch as upon that day was laid the foundation stone of a Catholic school, the first the township has possessed for more than a century. The school, which is already in process of erection, will stand in a field purchased for the site, within a couple of hundred yards of the railway station leading into the village."
In 1974 when Corpus Christi was celebrating its centenary, it was revealed that in order to obtain the land to build the school, a Congregational minister had helped Father Powell rig an auction. There was such anti-Catholic prejudice in Rainford during the 1870s that the priest did not think that he would be allowed to buy the land. And so a friendly Congregational minister had agreed to bid alongside Fr Powell. The latter dropped out of the bidding early allowing the minister to win it – although it was the Catholic priest who stepped forward to pay for the land, much to everyone's surprise.
Last week I described how Thomas Murray had died in St Helens Cottage Hospital (pictured above) from the scalds he had received while working at the Hardshaw Brook Alkali Works. The law then required all inquest juries to inspect the body of the deceased person and the Wigan Observer on the 22nd described how this requirement had caused Thomas Murray's remains to be exhumed from his grave:
"The inquest was fixed for Wednesday, and as the body lay at the Cottage Hospital the jury went there to view it; but, as the matron had got the coffin screwed up and ready for removal, they contented themselves with reading the inscription on the breastplate. Before the coroner discovered what had happened the interment had taken place, and he therefore adjourned the inquest and ordered the body to be exhumed, that the jury might see the dead man. The inquest resulted in a verdict of accidental death, and the body was then reinterred."
Guinea (aka "skinny" or "kinny") cat was a popular street game played by boys. A piece of wood, such as an old axe handle, was used to club a projectile as near as possible to the designated "cat". Not only was it dangerous to the boy acting as the target but also to others who might inadvertently get in the way – and to windows!
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 19th Thomas Hornby, Horatio Houghton and James Longworth were charges with maliciously breaking a window of a house in Houghton Street in Prescot occupied by a toolmaker named Chesworth. The latter said one of the boys had struck a "kinny cat" through one of the windows of his house.
Whether the damage had been accidental or on purpose was not stated in the report, although the lads had laughed at the man. As they had broken his windows on previous occasions that had been the final straw for Mr Chesworth who took out summonses against them. The boys were each given small fines.
Also on the 19th the monthly meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which their Medical Officer of Health released his report for 1873 – and the results were shocking. During the year 555 children under the age of five had died within the town, which amounted to almost half of the total deaths. Chest illnesses were responsible for over a quarter of the total number of fatalities with Dr McNicoll explaining:
"This excess of deaths from chest diseases I attribute to our having, in addition to ordinary causes, an atmosphere highly charged with noxious gases which constantly irritate the breathing apparatus of delicate people." Scarlet fever had accounted for 92 deaths; diarrhoea 94; diphtheria 15; typhoid 20; smallpox 4; measles 19 and whooping cough had caused 9 fatalities. The medical officer commented that scarlet fever had been unusually fatal in this part of the country with local causes blamed for "contributing to its ravages". And during the last month there had been sixteen more deaths from the disease.
I recently mentioned the fines that workers often had to pay for turning up to their jobs a few minutes late – or for breaking some rule. That also apparently applied to the Corporation's night soil men. They were the nocturnal gatherers of human faeces from what passed as toilets in those days.
At the Health Committee meeting the Borough Surveyor asked the members what he should do with over £4 collected in fines from the night soil men. One of its longstanding servants was presently ill and in need of aid and he thought that some of the money could be given to him. Unless insurance had been taken out the man would have been receiving no income while off sick. It was decided that he should receive £1 with the rest of the money given to the Treasurer.
All the night soil men would, no doubt, have been badly paid and John Rimmer, the manager of the Windle night soil depot, applied to the committee for an increase in his wages. Although they decided to approve his request, Mr Rimmer only got an extra shilling, meaning he received just 20 shillings a week. And if a manager only received a pound in wages, one wonders how much the night soil collectors themselves were paid for doing their nasty job – minus their fines, of course?
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the filthy lodging houses of Prescot, how a wet Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the ticket-of-leave man that attacked a policeman in Salisbury Street and the abusive beggar in Sutton.
We begin on the 14th in Preston Sheriff's Court when Joseph Greenough was ordered to pay Margaret Critchley £150 damages for breach of promise of marriage. Margaret was the daughter of the landlord of the Mechanics Arms in Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton and Greenough was employed at the huge Sutton Glass Works nearby and had been a regular customer.
Prescot's poor housing stock had long been criticised by the Prescot Reporter. In November 1869 they had written: "Scarcely any town in the country of similar size contains so many ricketty, tumble-down cottages. Some are highly suggestive of the leaning tower at Pisa; others have the walls bulging out to such an extent that long since they would have fallen into ruin but for being held together by iron rods running from outer wall to outer wall.
"There are cottages which may be counted by the score, which have become so weak in beams and joists, in laths, plaster, bricks, and mortar, as almost to defy the very ingenious jobbing bricklayers and joiners whose time is spent in patching and repairing the ancient domiciles. The wonder is that many of them have not fallen, and buried the inmates in the ruins."
On the 16th of this week the Prescot Reporter dealt further into the problem and offered a solution. They said the dwellings might well have been constructed for the express purpose of ruining the health of their inhabitants and wanted the landlords to be forced to put their houses in a good habitable condition. That, the Reporter argued would make their tenants "more cleanly", adding: "It is vain to expect that householders will attend to the removal of filth when they see that the labour must be futile."
On the 16th in the St Helens Newspaper, Nathan Ellison of Lea Green Farm in Sutton was advertising the services of his 8-year-old horse called Blue Peter, which he called a "sure foal getter". Gentlemen were invited to send their mares to visit Blue Peter, which was described as "free from blemish and sound".
The Newspaper could be extremely disparaging when describing the appearance of prisoners in the dock. Ellen Yates was referred to as a "repulsive looking woman" when she was charged with stealing a pair of boots from a house in Claughton Street. Mary Evans was the tenant of the property and said Yates had visited her home on the previous Friday and a pair of her boots had subsequently disappeared.
In such cases it was not hard to find where the stolen goods had ended up. The police simply visited the nearest pawnshops and PC Robinson discovered Mrs Evans' boots at Burchall's pawnbroker's in the St Helens market place. Stealing so-called wearing apparel was a serious crime and the repulsive Ellen Yates was sent to prison for three months.
On the 17th what was described as "an immense concourse of people" assembled in Rainford to witness the laying of the foundation stone of a Catholic school. Rev. Father Powell of Birchley had bought the land and he was also building the school, which it was hoped would be opened on August 1st. About 2,000 people attended the stone laying. Commenting on the event the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"Sunday last was a red letter day in the lives of the Catholic residents of Rainford inasmuch as upon that day was laid the foundation stone of a Catholic school, the first the township has possessed for more than a century. The school, which is already in process of erection, will stand in a field purchased for the site, within a couple of hundred yards of the railway station leading into the village."
In 1974 when Corpus Christi was celebrating its centenary, it was revealed that in order to obtain the land to build the school, a Congregational minister had helped Father Powell rig an auction. There was such anti-Catholic prejudice in Rainford during the 1870s that the priest did not think that he would be allowed to buy the land. And so a friendly Congregational minister had agreed to bid alongside Fr Powell. The latter dropped out of the bidding early allowing the minister to win it – although it was the Catholic priest who stepped forward to pay for the land, much to everyone's surprise.
"The inquest was fixed for Wednesday, and as the body lay at the Cottage Hospital the jury went there to view it; but, as the matron had got the coffin screwed up and ready for removal, they contented themselves with reading the inscription on the breastplate. Before the coroner discovered what had happened the interment had taken place, and he therefore adjourned the inquest and ordered the body to be exhumed, that the jury might see the dead man. The inquest resulted in a verdict of accidental death, and the body was then reinterred."
Guinea (aka "skinny" or "kinny") cat was a popular street game played by boys. A piece of wood, such as an old axe handle, was used to club a projectile as near as possible to the designated "cat". Not only was it dangerous to the boy acting as the target but also to others who might inadvertently get in the way – and to windows!
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 19th Thomas Hornby, Horatio Houghton and James Longworth were charges with maliciously breaking a window of a house in Houghton Street in Prescot occupied by a toolmaker named Chesworth. The latter said one of the boys had struck a "kinny cat" through one of the windows of his house.
Whether the damage had been accidental or on purpose was not stated in the report, although the lads had laughed at the man. As they had broken his windows on previous occasions that had been the final straw for Mr Chesworth who took out summonses against them. The boys were each given small fines.
Also on the 19th the monthly meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which their Medical Officer of Health released his report for 1873 – and the results were shocking. During the year 555 children under the age of five had died within the town, which amounted to almost half of the total deaths. Chest illnesses were responsible for over a quarter of the total number of fatalities with Dr McNicoll explaining:
"This excess of deaths from chest diseases I attribute to our having, in addition to ordinary causes, an atmosphere highly charged with noxious gases which constantly irritate the breathing apparatus of delicate people." Scarlet fever had accounted for 92 deaths; diarrhoea 94; diphtheria 15; typhoid 20; smallpox 4; measles 19 and whooping cough had caused 9 fatalities. The medical officer commented that scarlet fever had been unusually fatal in this part of the country with local causes blamed for "contributing to its ravages". And during the last month there had been sixteen more deaths from the disease.
I recently mentioned the fines that workers often had to pay for turning up to their jobs a few minutes late – or for breaking some rule. That also apparently applied to the Corporation's night soil men. They were the nocturnal gatherers of human faeces from what passed as toilets in those days.
At the Health Committee meeting the Borough Surveyor asked the members what he should do with over £4 collected in fines from the night soil men. One of its longstanding servants was presently ill and in need of aid and he thought that some of the money could be given to him. Unless insurance had been taken out the man would have been receiving no income while off sick. It was decided that he should receive £1 with the rest of the money given to the Treasurer.
All the night soil men would, no doubt, have been badly paid and John Rimmer, the manager of the Windle night soil depot, applied to the committee for an increase in his wages. Although they decided to approve his request, Mr Rimmer only got an extra shilling, meaning he received just 20 shillings a week. And if a manager only received a pound in wages, one wonders how much the night soil collectors themselves were paid for doing their nasty job – minus their fines, of course?
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the filthy lodging houses of Prescot, how a wet Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the ticket-of-leave man that attacked a policeman in Salisbury Street and the abusive beggar in Sutton.
This week's many stories include the filthy tumble-down cottages of Prescot, the laying of the foundation stone of Rainford's Catholic school, the shocking health report for 1873, the repulsive looking woman who stole boots from a house in Claughton Street, the fines given to the badly paid night soil men and why the body of a chemical worker had to be exhumed from a cemetery.
We begin on the 14th in Preston Sheriff's Court when Joseph Greenough was ordered to pay Margaret Critchley £150 damages for breach of promise of marriage.
Margaret was the daughter of the landlord of the Mechanics Arms in Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton and Greenough was employed at the huge Sutton Glass Works nearby and had been a regular customer.
Prescot's poor housing stock had long been criticised by the Prescot Reporter. In November 1869 they had written:
"Scarcely any town in the country of similar size contains so many ricketty, tumble-down cottages.
"Some are highly suggestive of the leaning tower at Pisa; others have the walls bulging out to such an extent that long since they would have fallen into ruin but for being held together by iron rods running from outer wall to outer wall.
"There are cottages which may be counted by the score, which have become so weak in beams and joists, in laths, plaster, bricks, and mortar, as almost to defy the very ingenious jobbing bricklayers and joiners whose time is spent in patching and repairing the ancient domiciles.
"The wonder is that many of them have not fallen, and buried the inmates in the ruins."
On the 16th of this week the Prescot Reporter dealt further into the problem and offered a solution.
They said the dwellings might well have been constructed for the express purpose of ruining the health of their inhabitants and wanted the landlords to be forced to put their houses in a good habitable condition.
That, the Reporter argued would make their tenants "more cleanly", adding: "It is vain to expect that householders will attend to the removal of filth when they see that the labour must be futile."
On the 16th in the St Helens Newspaper, Nathan Ellison of Lea Green Farm in Sutton was advertising the services of his 8-year-old horse called Blue Peter, which he called a "sure foal getter".
Gentlemen were invited to send their mares to visit Blue Peter, which was described as "free from blemish and sound".
The Newspaper could be extremely disparaging when describing the appearance of prisoners in the dock.
Ellen Yates was referred to as a "repulsive looking woman" when she was charged with stealing a pair of boots from a house in Claughton Street.
Mary Evans was the tenant of the property and said Yates had visited her home on the previous Friday and a pair of her boots had subsequently disappeared.
In such cases it was not hard to find where the stolen goods had ended up. The police simply visited the nearest pawnshops and PC Robinson discovered Mrs Evans' boots at Burchall's pawnbroker's in the St Helens market place.
Stealing so-called wearing apparel was a serious crime and the repulsive Ellen Yates was sent to prison for three months.
On the 17th what was described as "an immense concourse of people" assembled in Rainford to witness the laying of the foundation stone of a Catholic school.
Rev. Father Powell of Birchley had bought the land and he was also building the school, which it was hoped would be opened on August 1st. About 2,000 people attended the stone laying.
Commenting on the event the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"Sunday last was a red letter day in the lives of the Catholic residents of Rainford inasmuch as upon that day was laid the foundation stone of a Catholic school, the first the township has possessed for more than a century.
"The school, which is already in process of erection, will stand in a field purchased for the site, within a couple of hundred yards of the railway station leading into the village."
In 1974 when Corpus Christi was celebrating its centenary, it was revealed that in order to obtain the land to build the school, a Congregational minister had helped Father Powell rig an auction.
There was such anti-Catholic prejudice in Rainford during the 1870s that the priest did not think that he would be allowed to buy the land.
And so a friendly Congregational minister had agreed to bid alongside Fr Powell. The latter dropped out of the bidding early allowing the minister to win it – although it was the Catholic priest who stepped forward to pay for the land, much to everyone's surprise.
Last week I described how Thomas Murray had died in St Helens Cottage Hospital (pictured above) from the scalds he had received while working at the Hardshaw Brook Alkali Works.
The law then required all inquest juries to inspect the body of the deceased person and the Wigan Observer on the 22nd described how this requirement had caused Thomas Murray's remains to be exhumed from his grave:
"The inquest was fixed for Wednesday, and as the body lay at the Cottage Hospital the jury went there to view it; but, as the matron had got the coffin screwed up and ready for removal, they contented themselves with reading the inscription on the breastplate.
"Before the coroner discovered what had happened the interment had taken place, and he therefore adjourned the inquest and ordered the body to be exhumed, that the jury might see the dead man.
"The inquest resulted in a verdict of accidental death, and the body was then reinterred."
Guinea (aka "skinny" or "kinny") cat was a popular street game played by boys. A piece of wood, such as an old axe handle, was used to club a projectile as near as possible to the designated "cat".
Not only was it dangerous to the boy acting as the target but also to others who might inadvertently get in the way – and to windows!
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 19th Thomas Hornby, Horatio Houghton and James Longworth were charges with maliciously breaking a window of a house in Houghton Street in Prescot occupied by a toolmaker named Chesworth.
The latter said one of the boys had struck a "kinny cat" through one of the windows of his house.
Whether the damage had been accidental or on purpose was not stated in the report, although the lads had laughed at the man.
As they had broken his windows on previous occasions that had been the final straw for Mr Chesworth who took out summonses against them. The boys were each given small fines.
Also on the 19th the monthly meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which their Medical Officer of Health released his report for 1873 – and the results were shocking.
During the year 555 children under the age of five had died within the town, which amounted to almost half of the total deaths.
Chest illnesses were responsible for over a quarter of the total number of fatalities with Dr McNicoll explaining:
"This excess of deaths from chest diseases I attribute to our having, in addition to ordinary causes, an atmosphere highly charged with noxious gases which constantly irritate the breathing apparatus of delicate people."
Scarlet fever had accounted for 92 deaths; diarrhoea 94; diphtheria 15; typhoid 20; smallpox 4; measles 19 and whooping cough had caused 9 fatalities.
The medical officer commented that scarlet fever had been unusually fatal in this part of the country with local causes blamed for "contributing to its ravages".
And during the last month there had been sixteen more deaths from the disease.
I recently mentioned the fines that workers often had to pay for turning up to their jobs a few minutes late – or for breaking some rule. That also apparently applied to the Corporation's night soil men.
They were the nocturnal gatherers of human faeces from what passed as toilets in those days.
At the Health Committee meeting the Borough Surveyor asked the members what he should do with over £4 collected in fines from the night soil men.
One of its longstanding servants was presently ill and in need of aid and he thought that some of the money could be given to him.
Unless insurance had been taken out the man would have been receiving no income while off sick.
It was decided that he should receive £1 with the rest of the money given to the Treasurer.
All the night soil men would, no doubt, have been badly paid and John Rimmer, the manager of the Windle night soil depot, applied to the committee for an increase in his wages.
Although they decided to approve his request, Mr Rimmer only got an extra shilling, meaning he received just 20 shillings a week.
And if a manager only received a pound in wages, one wonders how much the night soil collectors themselves were paid for doing their nasty job – minus their fines, of course?
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the filthy lodging houses of Prescot, how a wet Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the ticket-of-leave man that attacked a policeman in Salisbury Street and the abusive beggar in Sutton.
We begin on the 14th in Preston Sheriff's Court when Joseph Greenough was ordered to pay Margaret Critchley £150 damages for breach of promise of marriage.
Margaret was the daughter of the landlord of the Mechanics Arms in Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton and Greenough was employed at the huge Sutton Glass Works nearby and had been a regular customer.
Prescot's poor housing stock had long been criticised by the Prescot Reporter. In November 1869 they had written:
"Scarcely any town in the country of similar size contains so many ricketty, tumble-down cottages.
"Some are highly suggestive of the leaning tower at Pisa; others have the walls bulging out to such an extent that long since they would have fallen into ruin but for being held together by iron rods running from outer wall to outer wall.
"There are cottages which may be counted by the score, which have become so weak in beams and joists, in laths, plaster, bricks, and mortar, as almost to defy the very ingenious jobbing bricklayers and joiners whose time is spent in patching and repairing the ancient domiciles.
"The wonder is that many of them have not fallen, and buried the inmates in the ruins."
On the 16th of this week the Prescot Reporter dealt further into the problem and offered a solution.
They said the dwellings might well have been constructed for the express purpose of ruining the health of their inhabitants and wanted the landlords to be forced to put their houses in a good habitable condition.
That, the Reporter argued would make their tenants "more cleanly", adding: "It is vain to expect that householders will attend to the removal of filth when they see that the labour must be futile."
On the 16th in the St Helens Newspaper, Nathan Ellison of Lea Green Farm in Sutton was advertising the services of his 8-year-old horse called Blue Peter, which he called a "sure foal getter".
Gentlemen were invited to send their mares to visit Blue Peter, which was described as "free from blemish and sound".
The Newspaper could be extremely disparaging when describing the appearance of prisoners in the dock.
Ellen Yates was referred to as a "repulsive looking woman" when she was charged with stealing a pair of boots from a house in Claughton Street.
Mary Evans was the tenant of the property and said Yates had visited her home on the previous Friday and a pair of her boots had subsequently disappeared.
In such cases it was not hard to find where the stolen goods had ended up. The police simply visited the nearest pawnshops and PC Robinson discovered Mrs Evans' boots at Burchall's pawnbroker's in the St Helens market place.
Stealing so-called wearing apparel was a serious crime and the repulsive Ellen Yates was sent to prison for three months.
On the 17th what was described as "an immense concourse of people" assembled in Rainford to witness the laying of the foundation stone of a Catholic school.
Rev. Father Powell of Birchley had bought the land and he was also building the school, which it was hoped would be opened on August 1st. About 2,000 people attended the stone laying.
Commenting on the event the St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"Sunday last was a red letter day in the lives of the Catholic residents of Rainford inasmuch as upon that day was laid the foundation stone of a Catholic school, the first the township has possessed for more than a century.
"The school, which is already in process of erection, will stand in a field purchased for the site, within a couple of hundred yards of the railway station leading into the village."
In 1974 when Corpus Christi was celebrating its centenary, it was revealed that in order to obtain the land to build the school, a Congregational minister had helped Father Powell rig an auction.
There was such anti-Catholic prejudice in Rainford during the 1870s that the priest did not think that he would be allowed to buy the land.
And so a friendly Congregational minister had agreed to bid alongside Fr Powell. The latter dropped out of the bidding early allowing the minister to win it – although it was the Catholic priest who stepped forward to pay for the land, much to everyone's surprise.
The law then required all inquest juries to inspect the body of the deceased person and the Wigan Observer on the 22nd described how this requirement had caused Thomas Murray's remains to be exhumed from his grave:
"The inquest was fixed for Wednesday, and as the body lay at the Cottage Hospital the jury went there to view it; but, as the matron had got the coffin screwed up and ready for removal, they contented themselves with reading the inscription on the breastplate.
"Before the coroner discovered what had happened the interment had taken place, and he therefore adjourned the inquest and ordered the body to be exhumed, that the jury might see the dead man.
"The inquest resulted in a verdict of accidental death, and the body was then reinterred."
Guinea (aka "skinny" or "kinny") cat was a popular street game played by boys. A piece of wood, such as an old axe handle, was used to club a projectile as near as possible to the designated "cat".
Not only was it dangerous to the boy acting as the target but also to others who might inadvertently get in the way – and to windows!
In Prescot Petty Sessions on the 19th Thomas Hornby, Horatio Houghton and James Longworth were charges with maliciously breaking a window of a house in Houghton Street in Prescot occupied by a toolmaker named Chesworth.
The latter said one of the boys had struck a "kinny cat" through one of the windows of his house.
Whether the damage had been accidental or on purpose was not stated in the report, although the lads had laughed at the man.
As they had broken his windows on previous occasions that had been the final straw for Mr Chesworth who took out summonses against them. The boys were each given small fines.
Also on the 19th the monthly meeting of the St Helens Health Committee took place in which their Medical Officer of Health released his report for 1873 – and the results were shocking.
During the year 555 children under the age of five had died within the town, which amounted to almost half of the total deaths.
Chest illnesses were responsible for over a quarter of the total number of fatalities with Dr McNicoll explaining:
"This excess of deaths from chest diseases I attribute to our having, in addition to ordinary causes, an atmosphere highly charged with noxious gases which constantly irritate the breathing apparatus of delicate people."
Scarlet fever had accounted for 92 deaths; diarrhoea 94; diphtheria 15; typhoid 20; smallpox 4; measles 19 and whooping cough had caused 9 fatalities.
The medical officer commented that scarlet fever had been unusually fatal in this part of the country with local causes blamed for "contributing to its ravages".
And during the last month there had been sixteen more deaths from the disease.
I recently mentioned the fines that workers often had to pay for turning up to their jobs a few minutes late – or for breaking some rule. That also apparently applied to the Corporation's night soil men.
They were the nocturnal gatherers of human faeces from what passed as toilets in those days.
At the Health Committee meeting the Borough Surveyor asked the members what he should do with over £4 collected in fines from the night soil men.
One of its longstanding servants was presently ill and in need of aid and he thought that some of the money could be given to him.
Unless insurance had been taken out the man would have been receiving no income while off sick.
It was decided that he should receive £1 with the rest of the money given to the Treasurer.
All the night soil men would, no doubt, have been badly paid and John Rimmer, the manager of the Windle night soil depot, applied to the committee for an increase in his wages.
Although they decided to approve his request, Mr Rimmer only got an extra shilling, meaning he received just 20 shillings a week.
And if a manager only received a pound in wages, one wonders how much the night soil collectors themselves were paid for doing their nasty job – minus their fines, of course?
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the filthy lodging houses of Prescot, how a wet Whit Monday was celebrated in St Helens, the ticket-of-leave man that attacked a policeman in Salisbury Street and the abusive beggar in Sutton.