150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (19th - 25th JULY 1871)
This week's stories include the insanitary state of Rainford, the high price of getting a divorce, the incorrigible Catherine Dunn, the new Grace's Square in Sutton and the heavy fines for the Rainford miners who quit their jobs.
The 18th annual Prescot Flower Show was held on the 20th in a field at Parkside. The good weather and record £100 in prizes brought in excellent crowds.
I was recently watching some workmen unloading some building materials off a lorry. The task was completed by pushbutton using hydraulics and I reflected on how times had changed. One hundred and fifty years ago unpredictable horses had to be used; unloading could be backbreaking, dangerous work and accidents causing injuries that are easily treatable today could see you off.
On the 20th the Ormskirk Advertiser described how a serious accident had occurred at Pike Fold Farm in Moss Bank. James Ashall had been unloading his cart when his foot slipped and he fell to the ground, dislocating and breaking a shoulder bone. The man was at once taken to Dr Edward Twyford at his surgery in Ormskirk Street in St Helens who successfully set the limb. However the Advertiser wrote: "The unfortunate man is now in a precarious state." Deaths from similar injuries were then quite common.
The newspaper also described how the Poor Law Board had sent a report to the Prescot Guardians about the poor sanitary state of Rainford – which was leading to outbreaks of typhoid. The village then had a population of 2,000 and coal mining was its chief industry. As a consequence, the northern part of Rainford bore "numerous cracks in walls and houses, and large fissures or depressions in the fields and high road."
Large tracts of moss then surrounded the village with the residents' water supply coming from either the Randle Brook or from wells – with both sources interconnected and heavily polluted. The brook water was mainly surface drainage from fields and mosses and at the time of the inspection in April, there had been an overflow of sewage into the brook from a manure heap at Hydes Brow and another place. The wells were shallow and contaminated by organic matter from peat soil – and in many cases from sewage.
In 1870 there had been up to 30 cases of typhoid in the village and in a block of houses by the Bridge Inn, fifteen out of the thirty-five residents had been struck down. Each of those houses had a backyard reaching down to the brook and often there were "very offensive smells" reported. The well-used wells were infested by sewage from midden dumps and from dung heaps close to the brook. The solution was seen as the sinking of at least two public wells in the part of the village that lay over red sandstone in order to provide a healthy water supply for the residents. Then all the other insanitary wells could be closed.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 22nd and reported on a recent Petty Sessions hearing concerning a disturbance in Parr: "Police Constable 161 said that when he saw the defendants they were all bleeding, and they were then cursing and swearing, and shouting in the most boisterous and disorderly manner." I had assumed that both persons were men – but women were bred tough in Parr in those days! It had been Mary Jennings and Cicely Connolly who had been the ones in the dock and were both bound over by the magistrates. Cicely's husband had also been involved in the fisticuffs but failed to appear in court.
Henry Cheetham from Johnson Street was charged with obstructing the footpath at Parr. PC Wood told the Bench that he had seen him and others sat outside the Nag's Head in Smithy Brow: "These people were in the habit of insulting every one who went into the house, and also any women who might pass by, and complaints were constantly made of such conduct as an intolerable nuisance." Henry was fined 1 shilling and cautioned.
The Newspaper also reported on a recent meeting of the council's Paving, Highway and Sewering Committee. It was revealed that James Grace had for the last two months been illegally building cottages on the site of the old Sutton Workhouse, opposite St Nicholas Church. The Marshalls Cross pottery manufacturer and landowner had bought the workhouse for £270 and promptly had it demolished. The committee heard that "building was going on rapidly", although no plans had been approved. The new street would adopt the name Grace's Square and last for around 100 years. Sherdley Primary School now occupies the site.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 22nd and this is how the Liverpool Daily Post reported one case: "At these sessions on Saturday, a respectable-looking working man applied to the sitting magistrate, Mr. Hall, for advice as to what steps he should take to get a divorce from his wife, who had eloped from him, and was cohabiting with a Liverpool shopkeeper. Mr. Hall told him if he had £50, to go to the Divorce Court, otherwise to let the matter remain as it was. The applicant went away dissatisfied."
Catherine Dunn was one of those incorrigible characters that liked her drink too much and was in and out of Kirkdale gaol as if it had a revolving door. Last year I quoted the St Helens Newspaper's account of one court hearing involving the woman: "Catherine Dunn, a woman about forty years of age, was charged with being a person of loose character, and behaving indecently on the Liverpool-road, at two o’clock that morning. Major Pilkington – What character does this woman bear? Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – She has been convicted a dozen times for drunkenness.
"Major Pilkington (reading from the conviction book) – Why, I see she was only let out of prison yesterday. Mr Ludlam said that she had never previously been charged with the offence then preferred against her. Major Pilkington – Sending her to prison does not seem to do her much good. However, I will give her fourteen days in gaol, and see what it will do."
It didn't take long for Catherine to be back in trouble and on the 22nd she was again in front of the magistrates this time for disturbing the peace. It was pointless for such individuals to be fined or told to put up sureties, as they had no money – and nobody in their right mind would stump up the cash for them! So as Catherine was unable to provide a monetary guarantee for her good behaviour, she was returned to prison for another month.
The organ of Holy Cross Church (pictured above) was re-opened (as it was called) on the 23rd after undergoing repairs. The St Helens Newspaper described the organ as a "magnificent instrument" and wrote that they were pleased that the church's congregation was once again able to hear its "grand tones in their pristine sweetness and power".
It was a crime to walk out of your job if notice was needed. So when Thomas Winders, William Tabern (of Ormskirk Road) and Thomas Hayes didn't turn up for work at Victoria Colliery (situated in Old Lane, Rainford), the management took court action. The men appeared in the Petty Sessions charged with leaving the service of the colliery without giving due notice and were ordered to pay their former bosses compensation of between £3 10s and £4 10s each. They also had to pay the court costs and in total would have had to find the equivalent of three to four weeks' wages.
And this week's more general final item is a mixed selection of classified ads that were published in the Liverpool Mercury this week. (Note the slave troupe at St James Hall in Lime Street were freed slaves performing a minstrel show – with the US civil war having only ended six years earlier.)
• WILLIE, Dear, come home. I am heartbroken. All will be forgiven. NANCE
• FOUND, in Rock Ferry, on Saturday last, four sheep. If not claimed in three days will be sold to defray expenses. – Apply to J. Jeffs, King-street, Rock Ferry.
• FOUND – Near the Baths, Everton, on Wednesday morning, a Brown Mare; white legs. If not claimed by Wednesday next, will be sold to defray expenses. Apply at No. 9, Reservoir-street.
• INFORMATION Wanted of Ann and Mary York, natives of the city of Dublin, who were left by their parents in Liverpool about 15 years ago. Address James York, care of Messrs. Keen and Coates, tannery, North Front-street, Philadelphia, United States.
• SLAVE TROUPE in Liverpool. Notwithstanding this unprecedented “run,” so great has the popularity of this Company become that on Saturday evening last hundreds were turned from the doors, unable to obtain admission, which fact speaks more in its praise than would a column of meaningless puff.
• LOST, on Sunday evening last, between St. Saviour's Church and Montpellier-terrace, Upper Parliament-street, a Double Gold Eye-glass. The finder will be rewarded on returning same to 211, Upper Parliament-street.
• YACHTING – A gentleman who is advised to take a Yachting Cruise to recruit his health is desirous of having some one to join him in engaging a vessel for a month or two. A medical gentleman preferred. – Address C57, Mercury-office.
• I, JONATHAN BATES – of No. 8, Abbotsford-street, Seacombe, Cheshire, do hereby give notice that I will NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for any Debt or Debts contracted by my wife, Martha Ann Bates, after this date – July 24, 1871. Witness, William Griffith.
• THE TURKISH BATHS – This very ancient Bath is a natural detergent, consequently is the preventive to disease. Our books contain the names of thousands of persons who have realised the fact that CLEANLINESS leads to health, and health is the basis of wealth. P.S – Private Medicated Baths when prescribed. Time, Eight to Eight, Sundays excepted. T. Gardiner, Mulberry-street, Liverpool.
And if you want to have the bumps on your head measured so some quack can predict the sort of person you are, you could have it done for a bob a time:
• NOTICE – Frederick Bridges is now giving his special midsummer phrenological examinations for one shilling each person – 21, Mount-pleasant, Liverpool.
Next week's stories will include the largest mirror in Lancashire, a Sutton Glassworks outing ends in tragedy, the Cowley Hill boys charged with pigeon stealing, the overlaying of babies and the dead cousins left down a Haydock coal mine.
The 18th annual Prescot Flower Show was held on the 20th in a field at Parkside. The good weather and record £100 in prizes brought in excellent crowds.
I was recently watching some workmen unloading some building materials off a lorry. The task was completed by pushbutton using hydraulics and I reflected on how times had changed. One hundred and fifty years ago unpredictable horses had to be used; unloading could be backbreaking, dangerous work and accidents causing injuries that are easily treatable today could see you off.
On the 20th the Ormskirk Advertiser described how a serious accident had occurred at Pike Fold Farm in Moss Bank. James Ashall had been unloading his cart when his foot slipped and he fell to the ground, dislocating and breaking a shoulder bone. The man was at once taken to Dr Edward Twyford at his surgery in Ormskirk Street in St Helens who successfully set the limb. However the Advertiser wrote: "The unfortunate man is now in a precarious state." Deaths from similar injuries were then quite common.
The newspaper also described how the Poor Law Board had sent a report to the Prescot Guardians about the poor sanitary state of Rainford – which was leading to outbreaks of typhoid. The village then had a population of 2,000 and coal mining was its chief industry. As a consequence, the northern part of Rainford bore "numerous cracks in walls and houses, and large fissures or depressions in the fields and high road."
Large tracts of moss then surrounded the village with the residents' water supply coming from either the Randle Brook or from wells – with both sources interconnected and heavily polluted. The brook water was mainly surface drainage from fields and mosses and at the time of the inspection in April, there had been an overflow of sewage into the brook from a manure heap at Hydes Brow and another place. The wells were shallow and contaminated by organic matter from peat soil – and in many cases from sewage.
In 1870 there had been up to 30 cases of typhoid in the village and in a block of houses by the Bridge Inn, fifteen out of the thirty-five residents had been struck down. Each of those houses had a backyard reaching down to the brook and often there were "very offensive smells" reported. The well-used wells were infested by sewage from midden dumps and from dung heaps close to the brook. The solution was seen as the sinking of at least two public wells in the part of the village that lay over red sandstone in order to provide a healthy water supply for the residents. Then all the other insanitary wells could be closed.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 22nd and reported on a recent Petty Sessions hearing concerning a disturbance in Parr: "Police Constable 161 said that when he saw the defendants they were all bleeding, and they were then cursing and swearing, and shouting in the most boisterous and disorderly manner." I had assumed that both persons were men – but women were bred tough in Parr in those days! It had been Mary Jennings and Cicely Connolly who had been the ones in the dock and were both bound over by the magistrates. Cicely's husband had also been involved in the fisticuffs but failed to appear in court.
Henry Cheetham from Johnson Street was charged with obstructing the footpath at Parr. PC Wood told the Bench that he had seen him and others sat outside the Nag's Head in Smithy Brow: "These people were in the habit of insulting every one who went into the house, and also any women who might pass by, and complaints were constantly made of such conduct as an intolerable nuisance." Henry was fined 1 shilling and cautioned.
The Newspaper also reported on a recent meeting of the council's Paving, Highway and Sewering Committee. It was revealed that James Grace had for the last two months been illegally building cottages on the site of the old Sutton Workhouse, opposite St Nicholas Church. The Marshalls Cross pottery manufacturer and landowner had bought the workhouse for £270 and promptly had it demolished. The committee heard that "building was going on rapidly", although no plans had been approved. The new street would adopt the name Grace's Square and last for around 100 years. Sherdley Primary School now occupies the site.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 22nd and this is how the Liverpool Daily Post reported one case: "At these sessions on Saturday, a respectable-looking working man applied to the sitting magistrate, Mr. Hall, for advice as to what steps he should take to get a divorce from his wife, who had eloped from him, and was cohabiting with a Liverpool shopkeeper. Mr. Hall told him if he had £50, to go to the Divorce Court, otherwise to let the matter remain as it was. The applicant went away dissatisfied."
Catherine Dunn was one of those incorrigible characters that liked her drink too much and was in and out of Kirkdale gaol as if it had a revolving door. Last year I quoted the St Helens Newspaper's account of one court hearing involving the woman: "Catherine Dunn, a woman about forty years of age, was charged with being a person of loose character, and behaving indecently on the Liverpool-road, at two o’clock that morning. Major Pilkington – What character does this woman bear? Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – She has been convicted a dozen times for drunkenness.
"Major Pilkington (reading from the conviction book) – Why, I see she was only let out of prison yesterday. Mr Ludlam said that she had never previously been charged with the offence then preferred against her. Major Pilkington – Sending her to prison does not seem to do her much good. However, I will give her fourteen days in gaol, and see what it will do."
It didn't take long for Catherine to be back in trouble and on the 22nd she was again in front of the magistrates this time for disturbing the peace. It was pointless for such individuals to be fined or told to put up sureties, as they had no money – and nobody in their right mind would stump up the cash for them! So as Catherine was unable to provide a monetary guarantee for her good behaviour, she was returned to prison for another month.
It was a crime to walk out of your job if notice was needed. So when Thomas Winders, William Tabern (of Ormskirk Road) and Thomas Hayes didn't turn up for work at Victoria Colliery (situated in Old Lane, Rainford), the management took court action. The men appeared in the Petty Sessions charged with leaving the service of the colliery without giving due notice and were ordered to pay their former bosses compensation of between £3 10s and £4 10s each. They also had to pay the court costs and in total would have had to find the equivalent of three to four weeks' wages.
And this week's more general final item is a mixed selection of classified ads that were published in the Liverpool Mercury this week. (Note the slave troupe at St James Hall in Lime Street were freed slaves performing a minstrel show – with the US civil war having only ended six years earlier.)
• WILLIE, Dear, come home. I am heartbroken. All will be forgiven. NANCE
• FOUND, in Rock Ferry, on Saturday last, four sheep. If not claimed in three days will be sold to defray expenses. – Apply to J. Jeffs, King-street, Rock Ferry.
• FOUND – Near the Baths, Everton, on Wednesday morning, a Brown Mare; white legs. If not claimed by Wednesday next, will be sold to defray expenses. Apply at No. 9, Reservoir-street.
• INFORMATION Wanted of Ann and Mary York, natives of the city of Dublin, who were left by their parents in Liverpool about 15 years ago. Address James York, care of Messrs. Keen and Coates, tannery, North Front-street, Philadelphia, United States.
• SLAVE TROUPE in Liverpool. Notwithstanding this unprecedented “run,” so great has the popularity of this Company become that on Saturday evening last hundreds were turned from the doors, unable to obtain admission, which fact speaks more in its praise than would a column of meaningless puff.
• LOST, on Sunday evening last, between St. Saviour's Church and Montpellier-terrace, Upper Parliament-street, a Double Gold Eye-glass. The finder will be rewarded on returning same to 211, Upper Parliament-street.
• YACHTING – A gentleman who is advised to take a Yachting Cruise to recruit his health is desirous of having some one to join him in engaging a vessel for a month or two. A medical gentleman preferred. – Address C57, Mercury-office.
• I, JONATHAN BATES – of No. 8, Abbotsford-street, Seacombe, Cheshire, do hereby give notice that I will NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for any Debt or Debts contracted by my wife, Martha Ann Bates, after this date – July 24, 1871. Witness, William Griffith.
• THE TURKISH BATHS – This very ancient Bath is a natural detergent, consequently is the preventive to disease. Our books contain the names of thousands of persons who have realised the fact that CLEANLINESS leads to health, and health is the basis of wealth. P.S – Private Medicated Baths when prescribed. Time, Eight to Eight, Sundays excepted. T. Gardiner, Mulberry-street, Liverpool.
And if you want to have the bumps on your head measured so some quack can predict the sort of person you are, you could have it done for a bob a time:
• NOTICE – Frederick Bridges is now giving his special midsummer phrenological examinations for one shilling each person – 21, Mount-pleasant, Liverpool.
Next week's stories will include the largest mirror in Lancashire, a Sutton Glassworks outing ends in tragedy, the Cowley Hill boys charged with pigeon stealing, the overlaying of babies and the dead cousins left down a Haydock coal mine.
This week's stories include the insanitary state of Rainford, the high price of getting a divorce, the incorrigible Catherine Dunn, the new Grace's Square in Sutton and the heavy fines for the Rainford miners who quit their jobs.
The 18th annual Prescot Flower Show was held on the 20th in a field at Parkside. The good weather and record £100 in prizes brought in excellent crowds.
I was recently watching some workmen unloading some building materials off a lorry.
The task was completed by pushbutton using hydraulics and I reflected on how times had changed.
One hundred and fifty years ago unpredictable horses had to be used; unloading could be backbreaking, dangerous work and accidents causing injuries that are easily treatable today could see you off.
On the 20th the Ormskirk Advertiser described how a serious accident had occurred at Pike Fold Farm in Moss Bank.
James Ashall had been unloading his cart when his foot slipped and he fell to the ground, dislocating and breaking a shoulder bone.
The man was at once taken to Dr Edward Twyford at his surgery in Ormskirk Street in St Helens who successfully set the limb.
However the Advertiser wrote: "The unfortunate man is now in a precarious state." Deaths from similar injuries were then quite common.
The newspaper also described how the Poor Law Board had sent a report to the Prescot Guardians about the poor sanitary state of Rainford – which was leading to outbreaks of typhoid.
The village then had a population of 2,000 and coal mining was its chief industry.
As a consequence, the northern part of Rainford bore "numerous cracks in walls and houses, and large fissures or depressions in the fields and high road."
Large tracts of moss then surrounded the village with the residents' water supply coming from either the Randle Brook or from wells – with both sources interconnected and heavily polluted.
The brook water was mainly surface drainage from fields and mosses and at the time of the inspection in April, there had been an overflow of sewage into the brook from a manure heap at Hydes Brow and another place.
The wells were shallow and contaminated by organic matter from peat soil – and in many cases from sewage.
In 1870 there had been up to 30 cases of typhoid in the village and in a block of houses by the Bridge Inn, fifteen out of the thirty-five residents had been struck down.
Each of those houses had a backyard reaching down to the brook and often there were "very offensive smells" reported.
The well-used wells were infested by sewage from midden dumps and from dung heaps close to the brook.
The solution was seen as the sinking of at least two public wells in the part of the village that lay over red sandstone in order to provide a healthy water supply for the residents. Then all the other insanitary wells in the village could be closed.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 22nd and reported on a recent Petty Sessions hearing concerning a disturbance in Parr:
"Police Constable 161 said that when he saw the defendants they were all bleeding, and they were then cursing and swearing, and shouting in the most boisterous and disorderly manner."
I had assumed that both persons were men – but women were bred tough in Parr in those days!
It had been Mary Jennings and Cicely Connolly who had been the ones in the dock and were both bound over by the magistrates.
Cicely's husband had also been involved in the fisticuffs but failed to appear in court.
Henry Cheetham from Johnson Street was charged with obstructing the footpath at Parr.
PC Wood told the Bench that he had seen him and others sat outside the Nag's Head in Smithy Brow:
"These people were in the habit of insulting every one who went into the house, and also any women who might pass by, and complaints were constantly made of such conduct as an intolerable nuisance." Henry was fined 1 shilling and cautioned.
The Newspaper also reported on a recent meeting of the council's Paving, Highway and Sewering Committee.
It was revealed that James Grace had for the last two months been illegally building cottages on the site of the old Sutton Workhouse, opposite St Nicholas Church.
The Marshalls Cross pottery manufacturer and landowner had bought the workhouse for £270 and promptly had it demolished.
The committee heard that "building was going on rapidly”, although no plans had been approved.
The new street would adopt the name Grace's Square and last for around 100 years. Sherdley Primary School now occupies the site.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 22nd and this is how the Liverpool Daily Post reported one case:
"At these sessions on Saturday, a respectable-looking working man applied to the sitting magistrate, Mr. Hall, for advice as to what steps he should take to get a divorce from his wife, who had eloped from him, and was cohabiting with a Liverpool shopkeeper.
"Mr. Hall told him if he had £50, to go to the Divorce Court, otherwise to let the matter remain as it was. The applicant went away dissatisfied."
Catherine Dunn was one of those incorrigible characters that liked her drink too much and was in and out of Kirkdale gaol as if it had a revolving door.
Last year I quoted the St Helens Newspaper's account of one court hearing involving the woman:
"Catherine Dunn, a woman about forty years of age, was charged with being a person of loose character, and behaving indecently on the Liverpool-road, at two o’clock that morning.
"Major Pilkington – What character does this woman bear? Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – She has been convicted a dozen times for drunkenness.
"Major Pilkington (reading from the conviction book) – Why, I see she was only let out of prison yesterday.
"Mr Ludlam said that she had never previously been charged with the offence then preferred against her.
"Major Pilkington – Sending her to prison does not seem to do her much good. However, I will give her fourteen days in gaol, and see what it will do."
It didn't take long for Catherine to be back in trouble and on the 22nd she was again in front of the magistrates this time for disturbing the peace.
It was pointless for such individuals to be fined or told to put up sureties, as they had no money – and nobody in their right mind would stump up the cash for them!
So as Catherine was unable to provide a monetary guarantee for her good behaviour, she was returned to prison for another month.
The organ of Holy Cross Church (pictured above) was re-opened (as it was called) on the 23rd after undergoing repairs.
The St Helens Newspaper described the organ as a "magnificent instrument" and wrote that they were pleased that the church's congregation was once again able to hear its "grand tones in their pristine sweetness and power".
It was a crime to walk out of your job if notice was needed. So when Thomas Winders, William Tabern (of Ormskirk Road) and Thomas Hayes didn't turn up for work at Victoria Colliery (situated in Old Lane, Rainford), the management took court action.
The men appeared in the Petty Sessions charged with leaving the service of the colliery without giving due notice and were ordered to pay their former bosses compensation of between £3 10s and £4 10s each.
They also had to pay the court costs and in total would have had to find the equivalent of three to four weeks' wages.
And this week's more general final item is a mixed selection of classified ads that were published in the Liverpool Mercury this week.
(Note the slave troupe at St James Hall in Lime Street were freed slaves performing a minstrel show – with the US civil war having only ended six years earlier.)
• WILLIE, Dear, come home. I am heartbroken. All will be forgiven. NANCE
• FOUND, in Rock Ferry, on Saturday last, four sheep. If not claimed in three days will be sold to defray expenses. – Apply to J. Jeffs, King-street, Rock Ferry.
• FOUND – Near the Baths, Everton, on Wednesday morning, a Brown Mare; white legs. If not claimed by Wednesday next, will be sold to defray expenses. Apply at No. 9, Reservoir-street.
• INFORMATION Wanted of Ann and Mary York, natives of the city of Dublin, who were left by their parents in Liverpool about 15 years ago. Address James York, care of Messrs. Keen and Coates, tannery, North Front-street, Philadelphia, United States.
• SLAVE TROUPE in Liverpool. Notwithstanding this unprecedented “run,” so great has the popularity of this Company become that on Saturday evening last hundreds were turned from the doors, unable to obtain admission, which fact speaks more in its praise than would a column of meaningless puff.
• LOST, on Sunday evening last, between St. Saviour's Church and Montpellier-terrace, Upper Parliament-street, a Double Gold Eye-glass. The finder will be rewarded on returning same to 211, Upper Parliament-street.
• YACHTING – A gentleman who is advised to take a Yachting Cruise to recruit his health is desirous of having some one to join him in engaging a vessel for a month or two. A medical gentleman preferred. – Address C57, Mercury-office.
• I, JONATHAN BATES – of No. 8, Abbotsford-street, Seacombe, Cheshire, do hereby give notice that I will NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for any Debt or Debts contracted by my wife, Martha Ann Bates, after this date – July 24, 1871. Witness, William Griffith.
• THE TURKISH BATHS – This very ancient Bath is a natural detergent, consequently is the preventive to disease. Our books contain the names of thousands of persons who have realised the fact that CLEANLINESS leads to health, and health is the basis of wealth. P.S – Private Medicated Baths when prescribed. Time, Eight to Eight, Sundays excepted. T. Gardiner, Mulberry-street, Liverpool.
And if you want to have the bumps on your head measured so some quack can predict the sort of person you are, you could have it done for a bob a time:
• NOTICE – Frederick Bridges is now giving his special midsummer phrenological examinations for one shilling each person – 21, Mount-pleasant, Liverpool.
Next week's stories will include the largest mirror in Lancashire, a Sutton Glassworks outing ends in tragedy, the Cowley Hill boys charged with pigeon stealing, the overlaying of babies and the dead cousins left down a Haydock coal mine.
The 18th annual Prescot Flower Show was held on the 20th in a field at Parkside. The good weather and record £100 in prizes brought in excellent crowds.
I was recently watching some workmen unloading some building materials off a lorry.
The task was completed by pushbutton using hydraulics and I reflected on how times had changed.
One hundred and fifty years ago unpredictable horses had to be used; unloading could be backbreaking, dangerous work and accidents causing injuries that are easily treatable today could see you off.
On the 20th the Ormskirk Advertiser described how a serious accident had occurred at Pike Fold Farm in Moss Bank.
James Ashall had been unloading his cart when his foot slipped and he fell to the ground, dislocating and breaking a shoulder bone.
The man was at once taken to Dr Edward Twyford at his surgery in Ormskirk Street in St Helens who successfully set the limb.
However the Advertiser wrote: "The unfortunate man is now in a precarious state." Deaths from similar injuries were then quite common.
The newspaper also described how the Poor Law Board had sent a report to the Prescot Guardians about the poor sanitary state of Rainford – which was leading to outbreaks of typhoid.
The village then had a population of 2,000 and coal mining was its chief industry.
As a consequence, the northern part of Rainford bore "numerous cracks in walls and houses, and large fissures or depressions in the fields and high road."
Large tracts of moss then surrounded the village with the residents' water supply coming from either the Randle Brook or from wells – with both sources interconnected and heavily polluted.
The brook water was mainly surface drainage from fields and mosses and at the time of the inspection in April, there had been an overflow of sewage into the brook from a manure heap at Hydes Brow and another place.
The wells were shallow and contaminated by organic matter from peat soil – and in many cases from sewage.
In 1870 there had been up to 30 cases of typhoid in the village and in a block of houses by the Bridge Inn, fifteen out of the thirty-five residents had been struck down.
Each of those houses had a backyard reaching down to the brook and often there were "very offensive smells" reported.
The well-used wells were infested by sewage from midden dumps and from dung heaps close to the brook.
The solution was seen as the sinking of at least two public wells in the part of the village that lay over red sandstone in order to provide a healthy water supply for the residents. Then all the other insanitary wells in the village could be closed.
The St Helens Newspaper was published on the 22nd and reported on a recent Petty Sessions hearing concerning a disturbance in Parr:
"Police Constable 161 said that when he saw the defendants they were all bleeding, and they were then cursing and swearing, and shouting in the most boisterous and disorderly manner."
I had assumed that both persons were men – but women were bred tough in Parr in those days!
It had been Mary Jennings and Cicely Connolly who had been the ones in the dock and were both bound over by the magistrates.
Cicely's husband had also been involved in the fisticuffs but failed to appear in court.
Henry Cheetham from Johnson Street was charged with obstructing the footpath at Parr.
PC Wood told the Bench that he had seen him and others sat outside the Nag's Head in Smithy Brow:
"These people were in the habit of insulting every one who went into the house, and also any women who might pass by, and complaints were constantly made of such conduct as an intolerable nuisance." Henry was fined 1 shilling and cautioned.
The Newspaper also reported on a recent meeting of the council's Paving, Highway and Sewering Committee.
It was revealed that James Grace had for the last two months been illegally building cottages on the site of the old Sutton Workhouse, opposite St Nicholas Church.
The Marshalls Cross pottery manufacturer and landowner had bought the workhouse for £270 and promptly had it demolished.
The committee heard that "building was going on rapidly”, although no plans had been approved.
The new street would adopt the name Grace's Square and last for around 100 years. Sherdley Primary School now occupies the site.
The St Helens Petty Sessions were held on the 22nd and this is how the Liverpool Daily Post reported one case:
"At these sessions on Saturday, a respectable-looking working man applied to the sitting magistrate, Mr. Hall, for advice as to what steps he should take to get a divorce from his wife, who had eloped from him, and was cohabiting with a Liverpool shopkeeper.
"Mr. Hall told him if he had £50, to go to the Divorce Court, otherwise to let the matter remain as it was. The applicant went away dissatisfied."
Catherine Dunn was one of those incorrigible characters that liked her drink too much and was in and out of Kirkdale gaol as if it had a revolving door.
Last year I quoted the St Helens Newspaper's account of one court hearing involving the woman:
"Catherine Dunn, a woman about forty years of age, was charged with being a person of loose character, and behaving indecently on the Liverpool-road, at two o’clock that morning.
"Major Pilkington – What character does this woman bear? Mr. Ludlam [Police superintendent] – She has been convicted a dozen times for drunkenness.
"Major Pilkington (reading from the conviction book) – Why, I see she was only let out of prison yesterday.
"Mr Ludlam said that she had never previously been charged with the offence then preferred against her.
"Major Pilkington – Sending her to prison does not seem to do her much good. However, I will give her fourteen days in gaol, and see what it will do."
It didn't take long for Catherine to be back in trouble and on the 22nd she was again in front of the magistrates this time for disturbing the peace.
It was pointless for such individuals to be fined or told to put up sureties, as they had no money – and nobody in their right mind would stump up the cash for them!
So as Catherine was unable to provide a monetary guarantee for her good behaviour, she was returned to prison for another month.
The St Helens Newspaper described the organ as a "magnificent instrument" and wrote that they were pleased that the church's congregation was once again able to hear its "grand tones in their pristine sweetness and power".
It was a crime to walk out of your job if notice was needed. So when Thomas Winders, William Tabern (of Ormskirk Road) and Thomas Hayes didn't turn up for work at Victoria Colliery (situated in Old Lane, Rainford), the management took court action.
The men appeared in the Petty Sessions charged with leaving the service of the colliery without giving due notice and were ordered to pay their former bosses compensation of between £3 10s and £4 10s each.
They also had to pay the court costs and in total would have had to find the equivalent of three to four weeks' wages.
And this week's more general final item is a mixed selection of classified ads that were published in the Liverpool Mercury this week.
(Note the slave troupe at St James Hall in Lime Street were freed slaves performing a minstrel show – with the US civil war having only ended six years earlier.)
• WILLIE, Dear, come home. I am heartbroken. All will be forgiven. NANCE
• FOUND, in Rock Ferry, on Saturday last, four sheep. If not claimed in three days will be sold to defray expenses. – Apply to J. Jeffs, King-street, Rock Ferry.
• FOUND – Near the Baths, Everton, on Wednesday morning, a Brown Mare; white legs. If not claimed by Wednesday next, will be sold to defray expenses. Apply at No. 9, Reservoir-street.
• INFORMATION Wanted of Ann and Mary York, natives of the city of Dublin, who were left by their parents in Liverpool about 15 years ago. Address James York, care of Messrs. Keen and Coates, tannery, North Front-street, Philadelphia, United States.
• SLAVE TROUPE in Liverpool. Notwithstanding this unprecedented “run,” so great has the popularity of this Company become that on Saturday evening last hundreds were turned from the doors, unable to obtain admission, which fact speaks more in its praise than would a column of meaningless puff.
• LOST, on Sunday evening last, between St. Saviour's Church and Montpellier-terrace, Upper Parliament-street, a Double Gold Eye-glass. The finder will be rewarded on returning same to 211, Upper Parliament-street.
• YACHTING – A gentleman who is advised to take a Yachting Cruise to recruit his health is desirous of having some one to join him in engaging a vessel for a month or two. A medical gentleman preferred. – Address C57, Mercury-office.
• I, JONATHAN BATES – of No. 8, Abbotsford-street, Seacombe, Cheshire, do hereby give notice that I will NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for any Debt or Debts contracted by my wife, Martha Ann Bates, after this date – July 24, 1871. Witness, William Griffith.
• THE TURKISH BATHS – This very ancient Bath is a natural detergent, consequently is the preventive to disease. Our books contain the names of thousands of persons who have realised the fact that CLEANLINESS leads to health, and health is the basis of wealth. P.S – Private Medicated Baths when prescribed. Time, Eight to Eight, Sundays excepted. T. Gardiner, Mulberry-street, Liverpool.
And if you want to have the bumps on your head measured so some quack can predict the sort of person you are, you could have it done for a bob a time:
• NOTICE – Frederick Bridges is now giving his special midsummer phrenological examinations for one shilling each person – 21, Mount-pleasant, Liverpool.
Next week's stories will include the largest mirror in Lancashire, a Sutton Glassworks outing ends in tragedy, the Cowley Hill boys charged with pigeon stealing, the overlaying of babies and the dead cousins left down a Haydock coal mine.