150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15th - 21st July 1869)
This week's stories include a shocking mining disaster in Haydock, the runaway apprentice rat catcher, the creeping Parr shop theft, the miserable tramp wards at Whiston Workhouse, the Saturday night punch ups in St Helens, John Christian's bicycles and the low scoring Lowe House batsmen.
We begin on the 15th when the Prescot Board of Guardians met to consider matters pertaining to Whiston Workhouse. Their elected members were told that last week there'd been 323 inmates of whom 138 had been children.
The paupers were often required to carry out maintenance of the workhouse and its adjacent hospital. After all it was a place of work and it cost nothing to use their own inmates, with some being plasterers and decorators. So the meeting decided that the hospital vestibule – that had only been rough plastered – would be completed by their own in-house labour.
The Guardians also decided to purchase twenty-four rugs for the male and female casual wards within the workhouse. They were required by law to make provision for any poor person seeking overnight accommodation. These individuals were mainly tramps but there was no stipulation as to the quality of the lodgings on offer.
After paying a visit in 1866 the Prescot Reporter described the two rooms as: "…miserably uncomfortable places, and if they are fit for tramps they are certainly fit for no other human beings." The men's ward then had sleeping accommodation for 18 persons but they found 41 men and boys crammed inside.
They were expected to sleep on three wooden frames no higher than 18 inches off the ground using wooden pillows and with no bed covering. Matters had since improved with a move to larger rooms but they were still harsh places, although there would now be rugs on the floors. The committee also decided to buy some couches for the old women's day room in the workhouse. This was after the Guardians had found "ancient females reclining at full length" upon tables.
Cricket scores 150 years ago tended to be low – so low that four innings could be played in one afternoon. That was probably through a combination of poor pitches and batting skills. However matches could still be exciting, as when Lowe House played away against Crossfield Amateurs on the 17th.
The visitors were skittled for just ten with seven players not getting off the mark. As Crossfield scored 52 in reply, the St Helens' team must have been expecting a big defeat. However Lowe House rose to the occasion and totalled 57 in their second innings, although that left the home side needing just 16 to win. That would have been a doddle today, of course, but Lowe House had the Crossfield batsmen teetering at 15 for 9 before their last pair scored the winning runs.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote on the 17th that Joseph Swift, a native of the town, had died at his London residence aged 44. He was, they claimed, "one of the finest tenors this country has produced."
On the 20th John Christian of the St Helens Carriage Works was advertising his bicycles and tricycles in the St Helens Newspaper. His company made bikes to order to "suit any height of rider" but they were not cheap, costing at least £8 10 shillings. Five or six decades later cycles would be extensively used by the working class as a means of commuting to their employment, with many works having storage areas accommodating hundreds of machines.
However in 1869 most workers earned just 20 - 30 shillings a week and so bicycles – which the St Helens Newspaper had recently called "curious vehicles" – were the playthings of the middle and upper classes. An advantage of buying from John Christian was that purchasers would receive free instruction in riding the bikes. This would have been essential as it might reduce the number of bruises that riders received by falling off the rickety machines!
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 19th there was the usual list of people accused of breaching the peace of the town. It was a Monday and the first opportunity for those who had enjoyed a weekend punch up to be brought to book.
John Thompson was charged with fighting in Ormskirk Street at eleven o’clock, after being warned by the police earlier in the evening about his pugilistic behaviour. He was bound over. So was Robert Heaton who had been going round the town shouting that he was determined to break someone's bloody nose before he went home. Apparently any nose would do!
Constable Marsden had arrested John Grimes in Liverpool Road after he had seen him strike a man. On their way to the station Grimes began to violently resist the officer and the pair ended up falling to the ground. PC Marsden managed to handcuff his prisoner but Grimes remained uncooperative for the rest of the journey. For the breach of the peace the man was bound over and for resisting the constable he was fined ten shillings.
Also at the Petty Sessions James Douglas was charged with breaching the peace in Ormskirk Street on Sunday night by making a great noise outside the Methodist chapel. However he denied being disorderly telling the magistrates that he went there to hear a sermon. Like all the others he was bound over to keep the peace.
James Prescot pleaded guilty to sleeping in a brick kiln and having no visible means of subsidence. Superintendent Ludlam told the Bench that he was a dangerous character and he was jailed for 21 days.
A 14-year-old boy called George Holland and 16-year-old James Glover were in court charged with stealing four shillings from the till of Jane Hibbert. She kept a druggist's shop in what was then called Upper Parr Street and while sat in her sitting room, Jane saw a hand stretched over the counter towards the till. Upon going to investigate she found the till drawer pulled out and four shillings missing.
It had been another shop theft where one boy kept watch while a second lad crept in through the open front door while the shopkeeper was out back. The boys admitted the offence but claimed the amount stolen had only been 2 shillings. It didn't really matter as they were still sent to prison for 14 days.
A lad called George Norris was charged with stealing two pieces of coal from railway wagons at the back of Bishop's Glass Works. Constable Sewell had seized him while walking in the direction of Pocket Nook. However the boy was saved from a prison sentence by supposedly being of weak intellect. The Chairman of the Bench told George's mother that she should keep her son under better control. Upon receiving her promise to keep her son at home, the lad was discharged.
At Prescot Petty Sessions on the 20th apprentice rat catcher Jacob Mills was charged with absconding from his master. The boy was a bound apprentice who was contractually tied to his boss until he turned 21 and granted his indenture. It was a harsh agreement for very low pay and Jacob told the court that he had not slept in a bed for many months and claimed his employer had "broken a gun" upon his back.
However the magistrates were unsympathetic, telling the lad that either he returned to his master or went to prison. Jacob had been a pauper in the workhouse when made a bound apprentice. So he was told that if he was treated badly in future he should complain to either the Board of Guardians or a magistrate. Neither, of course, a poorly educated lad was likely to do or know how to do. But faced with being imprisoned, Jacob chose to return to his rat catching work.
Pilkington's employed 350 boys and on the 21st the firm gave them their annual treat, although it doesn't appear to have cost the firm very much. The event began at 3pm on a cricket ground when the lads began competing for book prizes by playing what was described as "various old English games".
Three hours later, headed by their drum and fife band, the boys marched in procession to the schoolroom attached to Pilkington's Eccleston works where they sat down to tea. They had clearly built up good appetites as the St Helens Newspaper said they devoured the tea "with an energy that soon released the tables of the weight of good things".
On the 21st another shocking mining disaster occurred at the Queen Pit in Haydock. Only last December a gas explosion had killed 26 men and boys and this time the death toll would be 60. The Liverpool Mercury wrote that the exact cause would never be known as the witnesses had all been "swept into eternity". The newspaper added that the victims had not only been burned but crushed until "they had not a whole bone in their bodies".
The St Helens Newspaper commenting on how there had been two similar tragedies in just six months wrote: "This wholesale slaughter is truly appalling, and the desolation that is hurled as by a thunderbolt into the homes of scores of families demands more than a passing remark, and, however obnoxious to colliery managers or inspectors, a better system of ventilation, and a more thorough and rigid inspection of mines, must be adopted."
In a stinging editorial the Newspaper attacked the inspection of mines, which they said was "little more than a criminal farce", with inspectors and managers on "far too free and easy terms". The paper also called for a fund to support the twenty widows and forty-seven children who had been made fatherless. Why only twenty widows out of sixty men killed? That was because many of the dead were under twenty with the youngest victims just eleven.
Next week's stories will include the man who threatened to shoot his neighbour, more on the devastating Haydock pit explosion, the "owdacious" rag dealer from Liverpool Road, the almost daily fighting at St Helens railway station, two fires occur in a single day and the Sunday morning Sutton beer serving.
We begin on the 15th when the Prescot Board of Guardians met to consider matters pertaining to Whiston Workhouse. Their elected members were told that last week there'd been 323 inmates of whom 138 had been children.
The paupers were often required to carry out maintenance of the workhouse and its adjacent hospital. After all it was a place of work and it cost nothing to use their own inmates, with some being plasterers and decorators. So the meeting decided that the hospital vestibule – that had only been rough plastered – would be completed by their own in-house labour.
The Guardians also decided to purchase twenty-four rugs for the male and female casual wards within the workhouse. They were required by law to make provision for any poor person seeking overnight accommodation. These individuals were mainly tramps but there was no stipulation as to the quality of the lodgings on offer.
After paying a visit in 1866 the Prescot Reporter described the two rooms as: "…miserably uncomfortable places, and if they are fit for tramps they are certainly fit for no other human beings." The men's ward then had sleeping accommodation for 18 persons but they found 41 men and boys crammed inside.
They were expected to sleep on three wooden frames no higher than 18 inches off the ground using wooden pillows and with no bed covering. Matters had since improved with a move to larger rooms but they were still harsh places, although there would now be rugs on the floors. The committee also decided to buy some couches for the old women's day room in the workhouse. This was after the Guardians had found "ancient females reclining at full length" upon tables.
Cricket scores 150 years ago tended to be low – so low that four innings could be played in one afternoon. That was probably through a combination of poor pitches and batting skills. However matches could still be exciting, as when Lowe House played away against Crossfield Amateurs on the 17th.
The visitors were skittled for just ten with seven players not getting off the mark. As Crossfield scored 52 in reply, the St Helens' team must have been expecting a big defeat. However Lowe House rose to the occasion and totalled 57 in their second innings, although that left the home side needing just 16 to win. That would have been a doddle today, of course, but Lowe House had the Crossfield batsmen teetering at 15 for 9 before their last pair scored the winning runs.
The St Helens Newspaper wrote on the 17th that Joseph Swift, a native of the town, had died at his London residence aged 44. He was, they claimed, "one of the finest tenors this country has produced."
On the 20th John Christian of the St Helens Carriage Works was advertising his bicycles and tricycles in the St Helens Newspaper. His company made bikes to order to "suit any height of rider" but they were not cheap, costing at least £8 10 shillings. Five or six decades later cycles would be extensively used by the working class as a means of commuting to their employment, with many works having storage areas accommodating hundreds of machines.
However in 1869 most workers earned just 20 - 30 shillings a week and so bicycles – which the St Helens Newspaper had recently called "curious vehicles" – were the playthings of the middle and upper classes. An advantage of buying from John Christian was that purchasers would receive free instruction in riding the bikes. This would have been essential as it might reduce the number of bruises that riders received by falling off the rickety machines!
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 19th there was the usual list of people accused of breaching the peace of the town. It was a Monday and the first opportunity for those who had enjoyed a weekend punch up to be brought to book.
John Thompson was charged with fighting in Ormskirk Street at eleven o’clock, after being warned by the police earlier in the evening about his pugilistic behaviour. He was bound over. So was Robert Heaton who had been going round the town shouting that he was determined to break someone's bloody nose before he went home. Apparently any nose would do!
Constable Marsden had arrested John Grimes in Liverpool Road after he had seen him strike a man. On their way to the station Grimes began to violently resist the officer and the pair ended up falling to the ground. PC Marsden managed to handcuff his prisoner but Grimes remained uncooperative for the rest of the journey. For the breach of the peace the man was bound over and for resisting the constable he was fined ten shillings.
Also at the Petty Sessions James Douglas was charged with breaching the peace in Ormskirk Street on Sunday night by making a great noise outside the Methodist chapel. However he denied being disorderly telling the magistrates that he went there to hear a sermon. Like all the others he was bound over to keep the peace.
James Prescot pleaded guilty to sleeping in a brick kiln and having no visible means of subsidence. Superintendent Ludlam told the Bench that he was a dangerous character and he was jailed for 21 days.
A 14-year-old boy called George Holland and 16-year-old James Glover were in court charged with stealing four shillings from the till of Jane Hibbert. She kept a druggist's shop in what was then called Upper Parr Street and while sat in her sitting room, Jane saw a hand stretched over the counter towards the till. Upon going to investigate she found the till drawer pulled out and four shillings missing.
It had been another shop theft where one boy kept watch while a second lad crept in through the open front door while the shopkeeper was out back. The boys admitted the offence but claimed the amount stolen had only been 2 shillings. It didn't really matter as they were still sent to prison for 14 days.
A lad called George Norris was charged with stealing two pieces of coal from railway wagons at the back of Bishop's Glass Works. Constable Sewell had seized him while walking in the direction of Pocket Nook. However the boy was saved from a prison sentence by supposedly being of weak intellect. The Chairman of the Bench told George's mother that she should keep her son under better control. Upon receiving her promise to keep her son at home, the lad was discharged.
At Prescot Petty Sessions on the 20th apprentice rat catcher Jacob Mills was charged with absconding from his master. The boy was a bound apprentice who was contractually tied to his boss until he turned 21 and granted his indenture. It was a harsh agreement for very low pay and Jacob told the court that he had not slept in a bed for many months and claimed his employer had "broken a gun" upon his back.
However the magistrates were unsympathetic, telling the lad that either he returned to his master or went to prison. Jacob had been a pauper in the workhouse when made a bound apprentice. So he was told that if he was treated badly in future he should complain to either the Board of Guardians or a magistrate. Neither, of course, a poorly educated lad was likely to do or know how to do. But faced with being imprisoned, Jacob chose to return to his rat catching work.
Pilkington's employed 350 boys and on the 21st the firm gave them their annual treat, although it doesn't appear to have cost the firm very much. The event began at 3pm on a cricket ground when the lads began competing for book prizes by playing what was described as "various old English games".
Three hours later, headed by their drum and fife band, the boys marched in procession to the schoolroom attached to Pilkington's Eccleston works where they sat down to tea. They had clearly built up good appetites as the St Helens Newspaper said they devoured the tea "with an energy that soon released the tables of the weight of good things".
The St Helens Newspaper commenting on how there had been two similar tragedies in just six months wrote: "This wholesale slaughter is truly appalling, and the desolation that is hurled as by a thunderbolt into the homes of scores of families demands more than a passing remark, and, however obnoxious to colliery managers or inspectors, a better system of ventilation, and a more thorough and rigid inspection of mines, must be adopted."
In a stinging editorial the Newspaper attacked the inspection of mines, which they said was "little more than a criminal farce", with inspectors and managers on "far too free and easy terms". The paper also called for a fund to support the twenty widows and forty-seven children who had been made fatherless. Why only twenty widows out of sixty men killed? That was because many of the dead were under twenty with the youngest victims just eleven.
Next week's stories will include the man who threatened to shoot his neighbour, more on the devastating Haydock pit explosion, the "owdacious" rag dealer from Liverpool Road, the almost daily fighting at St Helens railway station, two fires occur in a single day and the Sunday morning Sutton beer serving.