150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (14th - 20th FEBRUARY 1872)
This week's stories include the Warrington Road beerhouse scandal, the pipe-smoking boys of College Street, the celebration of Valentine's Day in St Helens, the meeting of the new St Helens Hare and Hounds Club in Eccleston and the stubborn cow in Prescot that refused to budge out of a pub.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper. The St Helens Newspaper was advertising Valentine cards in their Tuesday and Saturday papers. These were available to purchase from their premises in Hardshaw Street known as the Public Hall. The paper wrote:
"Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the public of St. Helens and surrounding districts that his stock of Valentines for the present season surpasses in chasteness of design, richness of execution, and cheapness, that of any previous season. Mr. Dromgoole's large and extensive stock of Valentines comprises:
• Comical Valentines • Sentimental Valentines • Elegant Valentines • Prettiest Valentines • Cheapest Valentines • Paris Valentines • London Valentines • Perfumed Valentines • Children's Valentines - In great variety • Choicest Valentines - All of the newest designs."
In a separate article the paper said: "Severe moralists have condemned the custom of sending valentines, because it leads to the transmission of malevolent rubbish for the gratification of jealousy or hatred. It must be borne in mind, however, that the great mass of the missives are of an amatory nature, and therefore perfectly harmless or at least unobjectionable." The paper also wrote that the St Helens Post Office had been very busy this year on Valentine's Day, with the number of letters delivered having risen by nearly 25% over 1871. The average delivery by the post office on Wednesdays was stated as 3,075 items – but on Wednesday February 14th 1872, 7,709 missives were delivered in the town.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 17th that a new club had held its inaugural meeting. It was called the St Helens Hare and Hounds Club and it had met at the Griffin Inn in Eccleston (pictured above). Only a dozen members had turned up but – said the newspaper – "The sport being excellent they were amply rewarded for the small field."
The "sport" seemingly involved releasing a number of hares outside Eccleston parish church and after giving them a few minutes start, the dogs were set on their trail. The hares then fled along Springfield Lane for a quarter of a mile towards Rainford pursued by the hounds. The hares then changed their course and went towards Windleshaw Abbey, in what we know as the cemetery and crematorium. The Newspaper wrote: " …after an exciting race, the animals were caught." The distance run was 5 miles in 46 minutes. Then after a few minutes' rest, more hares were released and after an 8-minute gap, the hounds followed. They ran at a "splendid pace" towards the Bottle and Glass at Rainford and the hares were eventually caught at Crank after a 45-minute-long chase.
The Newspaper wrote: "The members, after refreshing themselves at the Red Cat, returned home, having enjoyed an exciting hunt. The meet next Saturday will be at the Bird i’ th’ Hand. The master will be happy to see any gentlemen present. The hares will be turned out at half-past two o’clock promptly. Gentleman wishing to become members will please communicate with the master."
Another report later in the year implied that it was a scent that was laid down and not live hares – but there's no doubt that hare coursing used to be a popular sport in St Helens. There have been at least four pubs in the district with hare and / or hounds in their name – as well as the Dog and Rabbit in Ashcroft Street.
Poor Mary Davies had her reputation trashed once again this week when a licensing hearing took place at St Helens Police Court. Last September her husband William had surrendered his beerhouse licence in Warrington Road because he said his wife was having an affair with a lodger called William Allcock. That was denied but Allcock applied to the court for the licence to be transferred to him – with Mrs Davies to remain in the beerhouse as his housekeeper.
That proposed arrangement went down very badly with the police and the magistrates that licensed such applications. The latter ruled that until Allcock "sent" the married woman from him, he could not get the licence transferred. In the end the licence was passed on to a woman called Agnes Atkinson – but now William Davies wanted it back. The Newspaper wrote:
"Davies now came forward to ask [for] the licence to be restored to him, and he approached the court, through his advocate, with a retraction of the charges he had made against the fidelity of his wife. Supt. Ludlam opposed the transfer, and stated that when Allcock was an applicant, Davies appeared as a witness, and spoke to acts of grave indiscretion which he had seen his wife commit in connection with her lodger. He also urged the fact that Davies would necessarily be absent a good deal in discharging his duties at the colliery where he was employed, and his wife would have principal direction of affairs at home."
So the man in charge of St Helens police was, in essence, telling a court that a woman of loose morals was going to be in charge of a beerhouse. Once again, Mary Davies was not able to put her case and in the end the application was deferred to the next full licensing hearing.
Animals being driven through the streets would have been a very common sight 150 years ago. But sometimes the beast simply refused to make the journey – or went where it was not supposed to go. The Newspaper also described how an attempt to drive a cow into St Helens from the public house of a Mrs Owen of Derby Street in Prescot had failed miserably. After being brought from the pub's stable out into the street, the Newspaper described how the beast refused to obey orders:
"The cow was determined to go any way but the right one, and its performances brought many house-holders to their doors." Eventually it entered the hostelry and after a failed attempt to go into the pub cellar, the cow went into the lobby of the pub – where it simply refused to budge. The Newspaper wrote: "Here it came to a dead stand, and neither driving nor pushing at its head could induce it to go back into the street."
Eventually the beast decided to lie down and then, continued the Newspaper, "appeared the novel prospect of having to slaughter a cow in a public-house." However, a neighbouring farmer and milkman "by some wonderful influence" came to the rescue and managed to get the cow onto its feet and into the street. From there the beast was conveyed in a cart to its destination in St Helens – which was an abattoir! I wonder if animals can possess a sixth sense about such things?
I glean a rather curious fact from the Newspaper's report on a St Helens court hearing this week. It is when glassworkers at Pilkingtons were told to finish their shift for the day, a foreman would shout "Cobbler!". Why, I have no idea but they also didn't seemingly call extra hours overtime either. Instead it was known as "overwork". The case concerned a youth called Daniel Stanley who was accused of maliciously spoiling seven scraps of glass that were to be flattened. That was after the 17-year-old apprentice from Kirkland Street had been told to do some paid overwork and had damaged the glass, seemingly out of spite. He was fined £1 4s 6d.
Another odd case in St Helens Petty Sessions concerned pipe-smoking boys. Thomas Kilshaw was the landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn on the corner of College Street and Oldfield Street and he was charged with assaulting Ann Platt. She told the court that Kilshaw had kicked and "ill-used" her boy and when she went to see him about it, he had kicked her as she was leaving his pub. The 39-year-old landlord said boys from his neighbourhood had a habit of coming to his pub requesting pipes, claiming they were for their fathers or uncles. Upon learning that the boys were in fact smoking the pipes themselves, he said he had decided to "put an end to it and give a warm reception to the next applicant".
That was the son of Ann Platt from Crab Street and when the woman complained to him about the thrashing he'd given her boy, he gave her a piece of his mind. Kilshaw said he'd told her she was as bad as her lad for encouraging him in such a bad practice and she had then abused him using "violent and disgusting language". So he had put her out of his house and then Mrs Platt was seen looking on the ground for stones to throw at him – which she admitted doing. The magistrates were unimpressed with what they had heard and dismissed the case. According to the 1871 census, Ann Platt's eldest son, John, would only have been six.
Another lad in trouble this week was Michael Callaghan who was charged with stealing a pay tally from Pilkingtons and spent much of his time crying in the court. Despite Supt. Ludlam of St Helens police telling the court that the 11-year-old's sister was a prostitute; his mother was serving six months for theft and his brother was in a reformatory, the lad was harshly treated. Michael's unhappy family circumstances were seen as confirming that he was a bad lad in need of punishment and he was ordered to go to prison for a month and then onto a reformatory for five years.
And finally on the 18th, there was a serious fire on a farm in Sutton Heath and an explosion in a St Helens chemical works. One Sheffield paper summed up the latter calamity in their headline "Frightful Catastrophe At St. Helens. Explosion Of Five Boilers And Loss Of Life." These events will be covered in detail in next week's article.
Next week's stories will also include the black artists and serio-comics at the Theatre Royal, the 10-year-old Prescot girl who was sent to prison for stealing and the Pilkington apprentice that took his foreman to court for boxing his ears.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper. The St Helens Newspaper was advertising Valentine cards in their Tuesday and Saturday papers. These were available to purchase from their premises in Hardshaw Street known as the Public Hall. The paper wrote:
"Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the public of St. Helens and surrounding districts that his stock of Valentines for the present season surpasses in chasteness of design, richness of execution, and cheapness, that of any previous season. Mr. Dromgoole's large and extensive stock of Valentines comprises:
• Comical Valentines • Sentimental Valentines • Elegant Valentines • Prettiest Valentines • Cheapest Valentines • Paris Valentines • London Valentines • Perfumed Valentines • Children's Valentines - In great variety • Choicest Valentines - All of the newest designs."
In a separate article the paper said: "Severe moralists have condemned the custom of sending valentines, because it leads to the transmission of malevolent rubbish for the gratification of jealousy or hatred. It must be borne in mind, however, that the great mass of the missives are of an amatory nature, and therefore perfectly harmless or at least unobjectionable." The paper also wrote that the St Helens Post Office had been very busy this year on Valentine's Day, with the number of letters delivered having risen by nearly 25% over 1871. The average delivery by the post office on Wednesdays was stated as 3,075 items – but on Wednesday February 14th 1872, 7,709 missives were delivered in the town.
The "sport" seemingly involved releasing a number of hares outside Eccleston parish church and after giving them a few minutes start, the dogs were set on their trail. The hares then fled along Springfield Lane for a quarter of a mile towards Rainford pursued by the hounds. The hares then changed their course and went towards Windleshaw Abbey, in what we know as the cemetery and crematorium. The Newspaper wrote: " …after an exciting race, the animals were caught." The distance run was 5 miles in 46 minutes. Then after a few minutes' rest, more hares were released and after an 8-minute gap, the hounds followed. They ran at a "splendid pace" towards the Bottle and Glass at Rainford and the hares were eventually caught at Crank after a 45-minute-long chase.
The Newspaper wrote: "The members, after refreshing themselves at the Red Cat, returned home, having enjoyed an exciting hunt. The meet next Saturday will be at the Bird i’ th’ Hand. The master will be happy to see any gentlemen present. The hares will be turned out at half-past two o’clock promptly. Gentleman wishing to become members will please communicate with the master."
Another report later in the year implied that it was a scent that was laid down and not live hares – but there's no doubt that hare coursing used to be a popular sport in St Helens. There have been at least four pubs in the district with hare and / or hounds in their name – as well as the Dog and Rabbit in Ashcroft Street.
Poor Mary Davies had her reputation trashed once again this week when a licensing hearing took place at St Helens Police Court. Last September her husband William had surrendered his beerhouse licence in Warrington Road because he said his wife was having an affair with a lodger called William Allcock. That was denied but Allcock applied to the court for the licence to be transferred to him – with Mrs Davies to remain in the beerhouse as his housekeeper.
That proposed arrangement went down very badly with the police and the magistrates that licensed such applications. The latter ruled that until Allcock "sent" the married woman from him, he could not get the licence transferred. In the end the licence was passed on to a woman called Agnes Atkinson – but now William Davies wanted it back. The Newspaper wrote:
"Davies now came forward to ask [for] the licence to be restored to him, and he approached the court, through his advocate, with a retraction of the charges he had made against the fidelity of his wife. Supt. Ludlam opposed the transfer, and stated that when Allcock was an applicant, Davies appeared as a witness, and spoke to acts of grave indiscretion which he had seen his wife commit in connection with her lodger. He also urged the fact that Davies would necessarily be absent a good deal in discharging his duties at the colliery where he was employed, and his wife would have principal direction of affairs at home."
So the man in charge of St Helens police was, in essence, telling a court that a woman of loose morals was going to be in charge of a beerhouse. Once again, Mary Davies was not able to put her case and in the end the application was deferred to the next full licensing hearing.
Animals being driven through the streets would have been a very common sight 150 years ago. But sometimes the beast simply refused to make the journey – or went where it was not supposed to go. The Newspaper also described how an attempt to drive a cow into St Helens from the public house of a Mrs Owen of Derby Street in Prescot had failed miserably. After being brought from the pub's stable out into the street, the Newspaper described how the beast refused to obey orders:
"The cow was determined to go any way but the right one, and its performances brought many house-holders to their doors." Eventually it entered the hostelry and after a failed attempt to go into the pub cellar, the cow went into the lobby of the pub – where it simply refused to budge. The Newspaper wrote: "Here it came to a dead stand, and neither driving nor pushing at its head could induce it to go back into the street."
Eventually the beast decided to lie down and then, continued the Newspaper, "appeared the novel prospect of having to slaughter a cow in a public-house." However, a neighbouring farmer and milkman "by some wonderful influence" came to the rescue and managed to get the cow onto its feet and into the street. From there the beast was conveyed in a cart to its destination in St Helens – which was an abattoir! I wonder if animals can possess a sixth sense about such things?
I glean a rather curious fact from the Newspaper's report on a St Helens court hearing this week. It is when glassworkers at Pilkingtons were told to finish their shift for the day, a foreman would shout "Cobbler!". Why, I have no idea but they also didn't seemingly call extra hours overtime either. Instead it was known as "overwork". The case concerned a youth called Daniel Stanley who was accused of maliciously spoiling seven scraps of glass that were to be flattened. That was after the 17-year-old apprentice from Kirkland Street had been told to do some paid overwork and had damaged the glass, seemingly out of spite. He was fined £1 4s 6d.
Another odd case in St Helens Petty Sessions concerned pipe-smoking boys. Thomas Kilshaw was the landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn on the corner of College Street and Oldfield Street and he was charged with assaulting Ann Platt. She told the court that Kilshaw had kicked and "ill-used" her boy and when she went to see him about it, he had kicked her as she was leaving his pub. The 39-year-old landlord said boys from his neighbourhood had a habit of coming to his pub requesting pipes, claiming they were for their fathers or uncles. Upon learning that the boys were in fact smoking the pipes themselves, he said he had decided to "put an end to it and give a warm reception to the next applicant".
That was the son of Ann Platt from Crab Street and when the woman complained to him about the thrashing he'd given her boy, he gave her a piece of his mind. Kilshaw said he'd told her she was as bad as her lad for encouraging him in such a bad practice and she had then abused him using "violent and disgusting language". So he had put her out of his house and then Mrs Platt was seen looking on the ground for stones to throw at him – which she admitted doing. The magistrates were unimpressed with what they had heard and dismissed the case. According to the 1871 census, Ann Platt's eldest son, John, would only have been six.
Another lad in trouble this week was Michael Callaghan who was charged with stealing a pay tally from Pilkingtons and spent much of his time crying in the court. Despite Supt. Ludlam of St Helens police telling the court that the 11-year-old's sister was a prostitute; his mother was serving six months for theft and his brother was in a reformatory, the lad was harshly treated. Michael's unhappy family circumstances were seen as confirming that he was a bad lad in need of punishment and he was ordered to go to prison for a month and then onto a reformatory for five years.
And finally on the 18th, there was a serious fire on a farm in Sutton Heath and an explosion in a St Helens chemical works. One Sheffield paper summed up the latter calamity in their headline "Frightful Catastrophe At St. Helens. Explosion Of Five Boilers And Loss Of Life." These events will be covered in detail in next week's article.
Next week's stories will also include the black artists and serio-comics at the Theatre Royal, the 10-year-old Prescot girl who was sent to prison for stealing and the Pilkington apprentice that took his foreman to court for boxing his ears.
This week's stories include the Warrington Road beerhouse scandal, the pipe-smoking boys of College Street, the celebration of Valentine's Day in St Helens, the meeting of the new St Helens Hare and Hounds Club in Eccleston and the stubborn cow in Prescot that refused to budge out of a pub.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper.
The St Helens Newspaper was advertising Valentine cards in their Tuesday and Saturday papers.
These were available to purchase from their premises in Hardshaw Street known as the Public Hall. The paper wrote:
"Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the public of St. Helens and surrounding districts that his stock of Valentines for the present season surpasses in chasteness of design, richness of execution, and cheapness, that of any previous season. Mr. Dromgoole's large and extensive stock of Valentines comprises:
• Comical Valentines • Sentimental Valentines • Elegant Valentines • Prettiest Valentines • Cheapest Valentines • Paris Valentines • London Valentines • Perfumed Valentines • Children's Valentines - In great variety • Choicest Valentines - All of the newest designs."
In a separate article the paper said: "Severe moralists have condemned the custom of sending valentines, because it leads to the transmission of malevolent rubbish for the gratification of jealousy or hatred. It must be borne in mind, however, that the great mass of the missives are of an amatory nature, and therefore perfectly harmless or at least unobjectionable."
The paper also wrote that the St Helens Post Office had been very busy this year on Valentine's Day, with the number of letters delivered having risen by nearly 25% over 1871.
The average delivery by the post office on Wednesdays was stated as 3,075 items – but on Wednesday February 14th 1872, 7,709 missives were delivered in the town.
The St Helens Newspaper reported on the 17th that a new club had held its inaugural meeting.
It was called the St Helens Hare and Hounds Club and it had met at the Griffin Inn in Eccleston (pictured above).
Only a dozen members had turned up but – said the newspaper – "The sport being excellent they were amply rewarded for the small field."
The "sport" seemingly involved releasing a number of hares outside Eccleston parish church and after giving them a few minutes start, the dogs were set on their trail.
The hares then fled along Springfield Lane for a quarter of a mile towards Rainford pursued by the hounds.
The hares then changed their course and went towards Windleshaw Abbey, in what we know as the cemetery and crematorium.
The Newspaper wrote: " …after an exciting race, the animals were caught."
The distance run was 5 miles in 46 minutes. Then after a few minutes' rest, more hares were released and after an 8-minute gap, the hounds followed.
They ran at a "splendid pace" towards the Bottle and Glass at Rainford and the hares were eventually caught at Crank after a 45-minute-long chase. The Newspaper wrote:
"The members, after refreshing themselves at the Red Cat, returned home, having enjoyed an exciting hunt.
"The meet next Saturday will be at the Bird i’ th’ Hand. The master will be happy to see any gentlemen present.
"The hares will be turned out at half-past two o’clock promptly. Gentleman wishing to become members will please communicate with the master."
Another report later in the year implied that it was a scent that was laid down and not live hares – but there's no doubt that hare coursing used to be a popular sport in St Helens.
There have been at least four pubs in the district with hare and / or hounds in their name – as well as the Dog and Rabbit in Ashcroft Street.
Poor Mary Davies had her reputation trashed once again this week when a licensing hearing took place at St Helens Police Court.
Last September her husband William had surrendered his beerhouse licence in Warrington Road because he said his wife was having an affair with a lodger called William Allcock.
That was denied but Allcock applied to the court for the licence to be transferred to him – with Mrs Davies to remain in the beerhouse as his housekeeper.
That proposed arrangement went down very badly with the police and the magistrates that licensed such applications.
The latter ruled that until Allcock "sent" the married woman from him, he could not get the licence transferred.
In the end the licence was passed on to a woman called Agnes Atkinson – but now William Davies wanted it back. The Newspaper wrote:
"Davies now came forward to ask [for] the licence to be restored to him, and he approached the court, through his advocate, with a retraction of the charges he had made against the fidelity of his wife.
"Supt. Ludlam opposed the transfer, and stated that when Allcock was an applicant, Davies appeared as a witness, and spoke to acts of grave indiscretion which he had seen his wife commit in connection with her lodger.
"He also urged the fact that Davies would necessarily be absent a good deal in discharging his duties at the colliery where he was employed, and his wife would have principal direction of affairs at home."
So the man in charge of St Helens police was, in essence, telling a court that a woman of loose morals was going to be in charge of a beerhouse.
Once again, Mary Davies was not able to put her case and in the end the application was deferred to the next full licensing hearing.
Animals being driven through the streets would have been a very common sight 150 years ago.
But sometimes the beast simply refused to make the journey – or went where it was not supposed to go.
The Newspaper also described how an attempt to drive a cow into St Helens from the public house of a Mrs Owen of Derby Street in Prescot had failed miserably.
After being brought from the pub's stable out into the street, the Newspaper described how the beast refused to obey orders:
"The cow was determined to go any way but the right one, and its performances brought many house-holders to their doors."
Eventually it entered the hostelry and after a failed attempt to go into the pub cellar, the cow went into the lobby of the pub – where it simply refused to budge.
The Newspaper wrote: "Here it came to a dead stand, and neither driving nor pushing at its head could induce it to go back into the street."
Eventually the beast decided to lie down and then, continued the Newspaper, "appeared the novel prospect of having to slaughter a cow in a public-house."
However, a neighbouring farmer and milkman "by some wonderful influence" came to the rescue and managed to get the cow onto its feet and into the street.
From there the beast was conveyed in a cart to its destination in St Helens – which was an abattoir! I wonder if animals can possess a sixth sense about such things?
I glean a rather curious fact from the Newspaper's report on a St Helens court hearing this week.
It is when glassworkers at Pilkingtons were told to finish their shift for the day, a foreman would shout "Cobbler!".
Why, I have no idea but they also didn't seemingly call extra hours overtime either. Instead it was known as "overwork".
The case concerned a youth called Daniel Stanley who was accused of maliciously spoiling seven scraps of glass that were to be flattened.
That was after the 17-year-old apprentice from Kirkland Street had been told to do some paid overwork and had damaged the glass, seemingly out of spite. He was fined £1 4s 6d.
Another odd case in St Helens Petty Sessions concerned pipe-smoking boys.
Thomas Kilshaw was the landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn on the corner of College Street and Oldfield Street and he was charged with assaulting Ann Platt.
She told the court that Kilshaw had kicked and "ill-used" her boy and when she went to see him about it, he had kicked her as she was leaving his pub.
The 39-year-old landlord said boys from his neighbourhood had a habit of coming to his pub requesting pipes, claiming they were for their fathers or uncles.
Upon learning that the boys were in fact smoking the pipes themselves, he said he had decided to "put an end to it and give a warm reception to the next applicant".
That was the son of Ann Platt from Crab Street and when the woman complained to him about the thrashing he'd given her boy, he gave her a piece of his mind.
Kilshaw said he'd told her she was as bad as her lad for encouraging him in such a bad practice and she had then abused him using "violent and disgusting language".
So he had put her out of his house and then Mrs Platt was seen looking on the ground for stones to throw at him – which she admitted doing.
The magistrates were unimpressed with what they had heard and dismissed the case.
According to the 1871 census, Ann Platt's eldest son, John, would only have been six.
Another lad in trouble this week was Michael Callaghan who was charged with stealing a pay tally from Pilkingtons and spent much of his time crying in the court.
Despite Supt. Ludlam of St Helens police telling the court that the 11-year-old's sister was a prostitute; his mother was serving six months for theft and his brother was in a reformatory, the lad was harshly treated.
Michael's unhappy family circumstances were seen as confirming that he was a bad lad in need of punishment and he was ordered to go to prison for a month and then onto a reformatory for five years.
And finally on the 18th, there was a serious fire on a farm in Sutton Heath and an explosion in a St Helens chemical works.
One Sheffield paper summed up the latter calamity in their headline "Frightful Catastrophe At St. Helens. Explosion Of Five Boilers And Loss Of Life."
These events will be covered in detail in next week's article.
Next week's stories will also include the black artists and serio-comics at the Theatre Royal, the 10-year-old Prescot girl who was sent to prison for stealing and the Pilkington apprentice that took his foreman to court for boxing his ears.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper.
The St Helens Newspaper was advertising Valentine cards in their Tuesday and Saturday papers.
These were available to purchase from their premises in Hardshaw Street known as the Public Hall. The paper wrote:
"Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the public of St. Helens and surrounding districts that his stock of Valentines for the present season surpasses in chasteness of design, richness of execution, and cheapness, that of any previous season. Mr. Dromgoole's large and extensive stock of Valentines comprises:
• Comical Valentines • Sentimental Valentines • Elegant Valentines • Prettiest Valentines • Cheapest Valentines • Paris Valentines • London Valentines • Perfumed Valentines • Children's Valentines - In great variety • Choicest Valentines - All of the newest designs."
In a separate article the paper said: "Severe moralists have condemned the custom of sending valentines, because it leads to the transmission of malevolent rubbish for the gratification of jealousy or hatred. It must be borne in mind, however, that the great mass of the missives are of an amatory nature, and therefore perfectly harmless or at least unobjectionable."
The paper also wrote that the St Helens Post Office had been very busy this year on Valentine's Day, with the number of letters delivered having risen by nearly 25% over 1871.
The average delivery by the post office on Wednesdays was stated as 3,075 items – but on Wednesday February 14th 1872, 7,709 missives were delivered in the town.
It was called the St Helens Hare and Hounds Club and it had met at the Griffin Inn in Eccleston (pictured above).
Only a dozen members had turned up but – said the newspaper – "The sport being excellent they were amply rewarded for the small field."
The "sport" seemingly involved releasing a number of hares outside Eccleston parish church and after giving them a few minutes start, the dogs were set on their trail.
The hares then fled along Springfield Lane for a quarter of a mile towards Rainford pursued by the hounds.
The hares then changed their course and went towards Windleshaw Abbey, in what we know as the cemetery and crematorium.
The Newspaper wrote: " …after an exciting race, the animals were caught."
The distance run was 5 miles in 46 minutes. Then after a few minutes' rest, more hares were released and after an 8-minute gap, the hounds followed.
They ran at a "splendid pace" towards the Bottle and Glass at Rainford and the hares were eventually caught at Crank after a 45-minute-long chase. The Newspaper wrote:
"The members, after refreshing themselves at the Red Cat, returned home, having enjoyed an exciting hunt.
"The meet next Saturday will be at the Bird i’ th’ Hand. The master will be happy to see any gentlemen present.
"The hares will be turned out at half-past two o’clock promptly. Gentleman wishing to become members will please communicate with the master."
Another report later in the year implied that it was a scent that was laid down and not live hares – but there's no doubt that hare coursing used to be a popular sport in St Helens.
There have been at least four pubs in the district with hare and / or hounds in their name – as well as the Dog and Rabbit in Ashcroft Street.
Poor Mary Davies had her reputation trashed once again this week when a licensing hearing took place at St Helens Police Court.
Last September her husband William had surrendered his beerhouse licence in Warrington Road because he said his wife was having an affair with a lodger called William Allcock.
That was denied but Allcock applied to the court for the licence to be transferred to him – with Mrs Davies to remain in the beerhouse as his housekeeper.
That proposed arrangement went down very badly with the police and the magistrates that licensed such applications.
The latter ruled that until Allcock "sent" the married woman from him, he could not get the licence transferred.
In the end the licence was passed on to a woman called Agnes Atkinson – but now William Davies wanted it back. The Newspaper wrote:
"Davies now came forward to ask [for] the licence to be restored to him, and he approached the court, through his advocate, with a retraction of the charges he had made against the fidelity of his wife.
"Supt. Ludlam opposed the transfer, and stated that when Allcock was an applicant, Davies appeared as a witness, and spoke to acts of grave indiscretion which he had seen his wife commit in connection with her lodger.
"He also urged the fact that Davies would necessarily be absent a good deal in discharging his duties at the colliery where he was employed, and his wife would have principal direction of affairs at home."
So the man in charge of St Helens police was, in essence, telling a court that a woman of loose morals was going to be in charge of a beerhouse.
Once again, Mary Davies was not able to put her case and in the end the application was deferred to the next full licensing hearing.
Animals being driven through the streets would have been a very common sight 150 years ago.
But sometimes the beast simply refused to make the journey – or went where it was not supposed to go.
The Newspaper also described how an attempt to drive a cow into St Helens from the public house of a Mrs Owen of Derby Street in Prescot had failed miserably.
After being brought from the pub's stable out into the street, the Newspaper described how the beast refused to obey orders:
"The cow was determined to go any way but the right one, and its performances brought many house-holders to their doors."
Eventually it entered the hostelry and after a failed attempt to go into the pub cellar, the cow went into the lobby of the pub – where it simply refused to budge.
The Newspaper wrote: "Here it came to a dead stand, and neither driving nor pushing at its head could induce it to go back into the street."
Eventually the beast decided to lie down and then, continued the Newspaper, "appeared the novel prospect of having to slaughter a cow in a public-house."
However, a neighbouring farmer and milkman "by some wonderful influence" came to the rescue and managed to get the cow onto its feet and into the street.
From there the beast was conveyed in a cart to its destination in St Helens – which was an abattoir! I wonder if animals can possess a sixth sense about such things?
I glean a rather curious fact from the Newspaper's report on a St Helens court hearing this week.
It is when glassworkers at Pilkingtons were told to finish their shift for the day, a foreman would shout "Cobbler!".
Why, I have no idea but they also didn't seemingly call extra hours overtime either. Instead it was known as "overwork".
The case concerned a youth called Daniel Stanley who was accused of maliciously spoiling seven scraps of glass that were to be flattened.
That was after the 17-year-old apprentice from Kirkland Street had been told to do some paid overwork and had damaged the glass, seemingly out of spite. He was fined £1 4s 6d.
Another odd case in St Helens Petty Sessions concerned pipe-smoking boys.
Thomas Kilshaw was the landlord of the Lord Nelson Inn on the corner of College Street and Oldfield Street and he was charged with assaulting Ann Platt.
She told the court that Kilshaw had kicked and "ill-used" her boy and when she went to see him about it, he had kicked her as she was leaving his pub.
The 39-year-old landlord said boys from his neighbourhood had a habit of coming to his pub requesting pipes, claiming they were for their fathers or uncles.
Upon learning that the boys were in fact smoking the pipes themselves, he said he had decided to "put an end to it and give a warm reception to the next applicant".
That was the son of Ann Platt from Crab Street and when the woman complained to him about the thrashing he'd given her boy, he gave her a piece of his mind.
Kilshaw said he'd told her she was as bad as her lad for encouraging him in such a bad practice and she had then abused him using "violent and disgusting language".
So he had put her out of his house and then Mrs Platt was seen looking on the ground for stones to throw at him – which she admitted doing.
The magistrates were unimpressed with what they had heard and dismissed the case.
According to the 1871 census, Ann Platt's eldest son, John, would only have been six.
Another lad in trouble this week was Michael Callaghan who was charged with stealing a pay tally from Pilkingtons and spent much of his time crying in the court.
Despite Supt. Ludlam of St Helens police telling the court that the 11-year-old's sister was a prostitute; his mother was serving six months for theft and his brother was in a reformatory, the lad was harshly treated.
Michael's unhappy family circumstances were seen as confirming that he was a bad lad in need of punishment and he was ordered to go to prison for a month and then onto a reformatory for five years.
And finally on the 18th, there was a serious fire on a farm in Sutton Heath and an explosion in a St Helens chemical works.
One Sheffield paper summed up the latter calamity in their headline "Frightful Catastrophe At St. Helens. Explosion Of Five Boilers And Loss Of Life."
These events will be covered in detail in next week's article.
Next week's stories will also include the black artists and serio-comics at the Theatre Royal, the 10-year-old Prescot girl who was sent to prison for stealing and the Pilkington apprentice that took his foreman to court for boxing his ears.