150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 20 - 26 APRIL 1876
This week's many stories include the reopening of the St Helens Public Baths, the death at Rainhill Railway Station after a passenger chose to cross the line, the literacy levels at the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions, the man who stole tame rabbits, the historic Roman Catholic Chapel at Portico and the sacking of the little girl nurses working at St Helens Cottage Hospital.
We begin on the 22nd with this advert in the St Helens Newspaper: "NOTICE. The St. Helens Public Baths. – The above Baths, having been thoroughly cleaned, coloured, and repainted, will be re-opened for the season, on Monday, May 8th, 1876."
This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away. The baths that existed in 1876 had been built by Andrew Kurtz fifteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works. Not many people used them and in 1865 the St Helens Standard newspaper wrote:
"The public do not appreciate the baths…[Bathing] has always been the luxury of rich and educated men and will be. Working men …seldom bathe and women scarcely ever." And in 1868 the Newspaper reported that fewer than 500 people per week were using the baths, even in the heat of summer. In 1873 the paper said they had paid a visit to the public baths and were unimpressed, writing:
"The water was of a very dirty kind evidently nothing but dam water, such as was supplied by the Surveyor about the time of the smallpox epidemic, some twelve months ago. If the same kind of water which we saw at the baths on Monday is being supplied to the poor people in Pocket Nook, and other low-lying parts of the town, we need not be surprised that smallpox is breaking out again."
The Newspaper described this week how the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions (aka assizes) had taken place at the courthouse (pictured above). As the name suggests, such hearings for more serious crimes took place in Liverpool four times each year and before the trials began each prisoner was asked if they could read and write.
This provides an insight into the literacy levels of prisoners at that time. Out of the 41 prisoners at the latest hearings whose education status was known, 11 were completely illiterate, 8 said they could read but not write and the remaining 22 prisoners could only read and write imperfectly.
Recently a man had died at St Helens Station after choosing to walk across the railway line to the other platform, rather than use the footbridge that had been provided. His inquest at the Royal Alfred heard that going across the rails was a very common practice by persons too lazy to use the bridge.
But at Rainhill Railway Station they appeared not to have such a footbridge – at least not in a convenient location – which this week was blamed for causing the death of Nicholas Smith. He was a Liverpool provisions dealer who had caught the 10:35am train from Lime Street and after arriving at Rainhill immediately proceeded to cross the line.
Smith was struck down by an express train from Manchester and killed on the spot and, as the Newspaper put it, "nearly cut to pieces". His remains were removed to the Victoria Hotel to await an inquest in which the jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death. However, they also made a complaint about the absence of a convenient bridge over the line, saying several similar accidents had previously occurred there.
The Newspaper also described how a tea party and concert had been held in the Assembly Room in Hall Street in aid of the Portico Mission. The Roman Catholic Chapel at Portico had existed for over 100 years with mass having before then been celebrated in a neighbouring farmhouse and the current congregation stated as about 260 persons.
George Mellon appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week accused of stealing three rabbits. But he had no need to set traps for them as he had tried to carry off three tame ones. The bunnies had been taken from James Whittaker's field in Sutton in which the man kept both wild and tame rabbits.
George Mellon had climbed over a fence and walked to the section of the field where the tame rabbits were kept, helping himself to three of them. But he was spotted and a pursuit took place and Mellon was caught after getting 500 yards away after having thrown away the rabbits. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sent to prison for a month.
William Johnson was charged in court with absenting himself from his employment at Daglish's Iron Foundry in St Helens (pictured above), after deciding to take a week off work. Such employers always reckoned that absences like Johnson's cost them money, although the man would not have received any pay.
Daglish's claimed £3 10 shillings compensation from William Johnson but, unusually, the magistrates felt that was a bit high and ordered him to only pay £2, including costs. I don't think that the employers cared all that much about the money. What was more important to them was sending a message to their employees that absences from their work would not be tolerated.
On the 24th the annual meeting of St Helens Cottage Hospital was held. The small infirmary had opened in Peasley Cross in 1873 with Martha Walker as matron. Later that year when the first annual meeting took place, the matron was highly praised with the St Helens Newspaper writing: "She has rendered it a home of happiness and comfort to the patients; winning also the high approval of the medical men whose cases she has nursed."
Mrs Walker's team of trainee nurses were also making a good impression, with the three girls aged just eight and nine having come from Whiston Workhouse. The Newspaper wrote: "The three little orphan girls are of much assistance; they are useful in various acts of domestic service – cleaning, arranging, waiting upon patients, and acting as messengers for the hospital."
But at this week's annual meeting it was revealed that Martha Walker had resigned as matron. Little explanation was offered apart from the fact that she had not agreed with some of the efficiencies that were being made. Her successor was a Miss Harvey who was making a good impression.
However, she did not want to take charge of the children that Mrs Walker was training to be nurses "and these had therefore been removed", as the Newspaper put it. The girls would now be 11 or 12 and had probably been taken back to the workhouse, their dreams of becoming proper nurses shattered.
The annual report revealed that 103 patients had been admitted to the hospital during 1875, an increase of 33 over the previous year. That was due to the increased accommodation available and greater acceptance of the hospital's advantages. These were essentially nursing in a clean environment, with no doctor based in the institution. Instead the patient's own medic would call in from time to time.
At the annual meeting a man called Lackland called for a doctor to be based at the hospital, particularly to deal with accidents as they occurred. However, it would be forty more years before a resident doctor was employed.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the St Helens May Day horse parade, the attempted rape of a 3-year-old in Gerards Bridge, the half-day closing movement, the resignation of the mayor and the trap tragedy that was caused by a bolting horse.
We begin on the 22nd with this advert in the St Helens Newspaper: "NOTICE. The St. Helens Public Baths. – The above Baths, having been thoroughly cleaned, coloured, and repainted, will be re-opened for the season, on Monday, May 8th, 1876."
This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away. The baths that existed in 1876 had been built by Andrew Kurtz fifteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works. Not many people used them and in 1865 the St Helens Standard newspaper wrote:
"The public do not appreciate the baths…[Bathing] has always been the luxury of rich and educated men and will be. Working men …seldom bathe and women scarcely ever." And in 1868 the Newspaper reported that fewer than 500 people per week were using the baths, even in the heat of summer. In 1873 the paper said they had paid a visit to the public baths and were unimpressed, writing:
"The water was of a very dirty kind evidently nothing but dam water, such as was supplied by the Surveyor about the time of the smallpox epidemic, some twelve months ago. If the same kind of water which we saw at the baths on Monday is being supplied to the poor people in Pocket Nook, and other low-lying parts of the town, we need not be surprised that smallpox is breaking out again."
This provides an insight into the literacy levels of prisoners at that time. Out of the 41 prisoners at the latest hearings whose education status was known, 11 were completely illiterate, 8 said they could read but not write and the remaining 22 prisoners could only read and write imperfectly.
Recently a man had died at St Helens Station after choosing to walk across the railway line to the other platform, rather than use the footbridge that had been provided. His inquest at the Royal Alfred heard that going across the rails was a very common practice by persons too lazy to use the bridge.
But at Rainhill Railway Station they appeared not to have such a footbridge – at least not in a convenient location – which this week was blamed for causing the death of Nicholas Smith. He was a Liverpool provisions dealer who had caught the 10:35am train from Lime Street and after arriving at Rainhill immediately proceeded to cross the line.
Smith was struck down by an express train from Manchester and killed on the spot and, as the Newspaper put it, "nearly cut to pieces". His remains were removed to the Victoria Hotel to await an inquest in which the jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death. However, they also made a complaint about the absence of a convenient bridge over the line, saying several similar accidents had previously occurred there.
The Newspaper also described how a tea party and concert had been held in the Assembly Room in Hall Street in aid of the Portico Mission. The Roman Catholic Chapel at Portico had existed for over 100 years with mass having before then been celebrated in a neighbouring farmhouse and the current congregation stated as about 260 persons.
George Mellon appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week accused of stealing three rabbits. But he had no need to set traps for them as he had tried to carry off three tame ones. The bunnies had been taken from James Whittaker's field in Sutton in which the man kept both wild and tame rabbits.
George Mellon had climbed over a fence and walked to the section of the field where the tame rabbits were kept, helping himself to three of them. But he was spotted and a pursuit took place and Mellon was caught after getting 500 yards away after having thrown away the rabbits. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sent to prison for a month.
Daglish's claimed £3 10 shillings compensation from William Johnson but, unusually, the magistrates felt that was a bit high and ordered him to only pay £2, including costs. I don't think that the employers cared all that much about the money. What was more important to them was sending a message to their employees that absences from their work would not be tolerated.
On the 24th the annual meeting of St Helens Cottage Hospital was held. The small infirmary had opened in Peasley Cross in 1873 with Martha Walker as matron. Later that year when the first annual meeting took place, the matron was highly praised with the St Helens Newspaper writing: "She has rendered it a home of happiness and comfort to the patients; winning also the high approval of the medical men whose cases she has nursed."
Mrs Walker's team of trainee nurses were also making a good impression, with the three girls aged just eight and nine having come from Whiston Workhouse. The Newspaper wrote: "The three little orphan girls are of much assistance; they are useful in various acts of domestic service – cleaning, arranging, waiting upon patients, and acting as messengers for the hospital."
But at this week's annual meeting it was revealed that Martha Walker had resigned as matron. Little explanation was offered apart from the fact that she had not agreed with some of the efficiencies that were being made. Her successor was a Miss Harvey who was making a good impression.
However, she did not want to take charge of the children that Mrs Walker was training to be nurses "and these had therefore been removed", as the Newspaper put it. The girls would now be 11 or 12 and had probably been taken back to the workhouse, their dreams of becoming proper nurses shattered.
The annual report revealed that 103 patients had been admitted to the hospital during 1875, an increase of 33 over the previous year. That was due to the increased accommodation available and greater acceptance of the hospital's advantages. These were essentially nursing in a clean environment, with no doctor based in the institution. Instead the patient's own medic would call in from time to time.
At the annual meeting a man called Lackland called for a doctor to be based at the hospital, particularly to deal with accidents as they occurred. However, it would be forty more years before a resident doctor was employed.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the St Helens May Day horse parade, the attempted rape of a 3-year-old in Gerards Bridge, the half-day closing movement, the resignation of the mayor and the trap tragedy that was caused by a bolting horse.
This week's many stories include the reopening of the St Helens Public Baths, the death at Rainhill Railway Station after a passenger chose to cross the line, the literacy levels at the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions, the man who stole tame rabbits, the historic Roman Catholic Chapel at Portico and the sacking of the little girl nurses working at St Helens Cottage Hospital.
We begin on the 22nd with this advert in the St Helens Newspaper:
"NOTICE. The St. Helens Public Baths. – The above Baths, having been thoroughly cleaned, coloured, and repainted, will be re-opened for the season, on Monday, May 8th, 1876."
This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away.
The baths that existed in 1876 had been built by Andrew Kurtz fifteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works.
Not many people used them and in 1865 the St Helens Standard newspaper wrote:
"The public do not appreciate the baths…[Bathing] has always been the luxury of rich and educated men and will be. Working men …seldom bathe and women scarcely ever."
And in 1868 the Newspaper reported that fewer than 500 people per week were using the baths, even in the heat of summer.
In 1873 the paper said they had paid a visit to the public baths and were unimpressed, writing:
"The water was of a very dirty kind evidently nothing but dam water, such as was supplied by the Surveyor about the time of the smallpox epidemic, some twelve months ago. If the same kind of water which we saw at the baths on Monday is being supplied to the poor people in Pocket Nook, and other low-lying parts of the town, we need not be surprised that smallpox is breaking out again."
The Newspaper described this week how the Kirkdale Quarter Sessions (aka assizes) had taken place at the courthouse (pictured above).
As the name suggests, such hearings for more serious crimes took place in Liverpool four times each year and before the trials began each prisoner was asked if they could read and write.
This provides an insight into the literacy levels of prisoners at that time.
Out of the 41 prisoners at the latest hearings whose education status was known, 11 were completely illiterate, 8 said they could read but not write and the remaining 22 prisoners could only read and write imperfectly.
Recently a man had died at St Helens Station after choosing to walk across the railway line to the other platform, rather than use the footbridge that had been provided.
His inquest at the Royal Alfred heard that going across the rails was a very common practice by persons too lazy to use the bridge.
But at Rainhill Railway Station they appeared not to have such a footbridge – at least not in a convenient location – which this week was blamed for causing the death of Nicholas Smith.
He was a Liverpool provisions dealer who had caught the 10:35am train from Lime Street and after arriving at Rainhill immediately proceeded to cross the line.
Smith was struck down by an express train from Manchester and killed on the spot and, as the Newspaper put it, "nearly cut to pieces".
His remains were removed to the Victoria Hotel to await an inquest in which the jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death.
However, they also made a complaint about the absence of a convenient bridge over the line, saying several similar accidents had previously occurred there.
The Newspaper also described how a tea party and concert had been held in the Assembly Room in Hall Street in aid of the Portico Mission.
The Roman Catholic Chapel at Portico had existed for over 100 years with mass having before then been celebrated in a neighbouring farmhouse and the current congregation stated as about 260 persons.
George Mellon appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week accused of stealing three rabbits.
But he had no need to set traps for them as he had tried to carry off three tame ones.
The bunnies had been taken from James Whittaker's field in Sutton in which the man kept both wild and tame rabbits.
George Mellon had climbed over a fence and walked to the section of the field where the tame rabbits were kept, helping himself to three of them.
But he was spotted and a pursuit took place and Mellon was caught after getting 500 yards away after having thrown away the rabbits.
He pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sent to prison for a month.
William Johnson was charged in court with absenting himself from his employment at Daglish's Iron Foundry in St Helens (pictured above), after deciding to take a week off work.
Such employers always reckoned that absences like Johnson's cost them money, although the man would not have received any pay.
Daglish's claimed £3 10 shillings compensation from William Johnson but, unusually, the magistrates felt that was a bit high and ordered him to only pay £2, including costs.
I don't think that the employers cared all that much about the money. What was more important to them was sending a message to their employees that absences from their work would not be tolerated.
On the 24th the annual meeting of St Helens Cottage Hospital was held.
The small infirmary had opened in Peasley Cross in 1873 with Martha Walker as matron.
Later that year when the first annual meeting took place, the matron was highly praised with the St Helens Newspaper writing:
"She has rendered it a home of happiness and comfort to the patients; winning also the high approval of the medical men whose cases she has nursed."
Mrs Walker's team of trainee nurses were also making a good impression, with the three girls aged just eight and nine having come from Whiston Workhouse. The Newspaper wrote:
"The three little orphan girls are of much assistance; they are useful in various acts of domestic service – cleaning, arranging, waiting upon patients, and acting as messengers for the hospital."
But at this week's annual meeting it was revealed that Martha Walker had resigned as matron.
Little explanation was offered apart from the fact that she had not agreed with some of the efficiencies that were being made. Her successor was a Miss Harvey who was making a good impression.
However, she did not want to take charge of the children that Mrs Walker was training to be nurses "and these had therefore been removed", as the Newspaper put it.
The girls would now be 11 or 12 and had probably been taken back to the workhouse, their dreams of becoming proper nurses shattered.
The annual report revealed that 103 patients had been admitted to the hospital during 1875, an increase of 33 over the previous year.
That was due to the increased accommodation available and greater acceptance of the hospital's advantages.
These were essentially nursing in a clean environment, with no doctor based in the institution. Instead the patient's own medic would call in from time to time.
At the annual meeting a man called Lackland called for a doctor to be based at the hospital, particularly to deal with accidents as they occurred.
However, it would be forty more years before a resident doctor was employed.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the St Helens May Day horse parade, the attempted rape of a 3-year-old in Gerards Bridge, the half-day closing movement, the resignation of the mayor and the trap tragedy that was caused by a bolting horse.
We begin on the 22nd with this advert in the St Helens Newspaper:
"NOTICE. The St. Helens Public Baths. – The above Baths, having been thoroughly cleaned, coloured, and repainted, will be re-opened for the season, on Monday, May 8th, 1876."
This was not a reference to Boundary Road baths, which were twenty years away.
The baths that existed in 1876 had been built by Andrew Kurtz fifteen years before and were sited next to his chemical works.
Not many people used them and in 1865 the St Helens Standard newspaper wrote:
"The public do not appreciate the baths…[Bathing] has always been the luxury of rich and educated men and will be. Working men …seldom bathe and women scarcely ever."
And in 1868 the Newspaper reported that fewer than 500 people per week were using the baths, even in the heat of summer.
In 1873 the paper said they had paid a visit to the public baths and were unimpressed, writing:
"The water was of a very dirty kind evidently nothing but dam water, such as was supplied by the Surveyor about the time of the smallpox epidemic, some twelve months ago. If the same kind of water which we saw at the baths on Monday is being supplied to the poor people in Pocket Nook, and other low-lying parts of the town, we need not be surprised that smallpox is breaking out again."
As the name suggests, such hearings for more serious crimes took place in Liverpool four times each year and before the trials began each prisoner was asked if they could read and write.
This provides an insight into the literacy levels of prisoners at that time.
Out of the 41 prisoners at the latest hearings whose education status was known, 11 were completely illiterate, 8 said they could read but not write and the remaining 22 prisoners could only read and write imperfectly.
Recently a man had died at St Helens Station after choosing to walk across the railway line to the other platform, rather than use the footbridge that had been provided.
His inquest at the Royal Alfred heard that going across the rails was a very common practice by persons too lazy to use the bridge.
But at Rainhill Railway Station they appeared not to have such a footbridge – at least not in a convenient location – which this week was blamed for causing the death of Nicholas Smith.
He was a Liverpool provisions dealer who had caught the 10:35am train from Lime Street and after arriving at Rainhill immediately proceeded to cross the line.
Smith was struck down by an express train from Manchester and killed on the spot and, as the Newspaper put it, "nearly cut to pieces".
His remains were removed to the Victoria Hotel to await an inquest in which the jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death.
However, they also made a complaint about the absence of a convenient bridge over the line, saying several similar accidents had previously occurred there.
The Newspaper also described how a tea party and concert had been held in the Assembly Room in Hall Street in aid of the Portico Mission.
The Roman Catholic Chapel at Portico had existed for over 100 years with mass having before then been celebrated in a neighbouring farmhouse and the current congregation stated as about 260 persons.
George Mellon appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week accused of stealing three rabbits.
But he had no need to set traps for them as he had tried to carry off three tame ones.
The bunnies had been taken from James Whittaker's field in Sutton in which the man kept both wild and tame rabbits.
George Mellon had climbed over a fence and walked to the section of the field where the tame rabbits were kept, helping himself to three of them.
But he was spotted and a pursuit took place and Mellon was caught after getting 500 yards away after having thrown away the rabbits.
He pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sent to prison for a month.
Such employers always reckoned that absences like Johnson's cost them money, although the man would not have received any pay.
Daglish's claimed £3 10 shillings compensation from William Johnson but, unusually, the magistrates felt that was a bit high and ordered him to only pay £2, including costs.
I don't think that the employers cared all that much about the money. What was more important to them was sending a message to their employees that absences from their work would not be tolerated.
On the 24th the annual meeting of St Helens Cottage Hospital was held.
The small infirmary had opened in Peasley Cross in 1873 with Martha Walker as matron.
Later that year when the first annual meeting took place, the matron was highly praised with the St Helens Newspaper writing:
"She has rendered it a home of happiness and comfort to the patients; winning also the high approval of the medical men whose cases she has nursed."
Mrs Walker's team of trainee nurses were also making a good impression, with the three girls aged just eight and nine having come from Whiston Workhouse. The Newspaper wrote:
"The three little orphan girls are of much assistance; they are useful in various acts of domestic service – cleaning, arranging, waiting upon patients, and acting as messengers for the hospital."
But at this week's annual meeting it was revealed that Martha Walker had resigned as matron.
Little explanation was offered apart from the fact that she had not agreed with some of the efficiencies that were being made. Her successor was a Miss Harvey who was making a good impression.
However, she did not want to take charge of the children that Mrs Walker was training to be nurses "and these had therefore been removed", as the Newspaper put it.
The girls would now be 11 or 12 and had probably been taken back to the workhouse, their dreams of becoming proper nurses shattered.
The annual report revealed that 103 patients had been admitted to the hospital during 1875, an increase of 33 over the previous year.
That was due to the increased accommodation available and greater acceptance of the hospital's advantages.
These were essentially nursing in a clean environment, with no doctor based in the institution. Instead the patient's own medic would call in from time to time.
At the annual meeting a man called Lackland called for a doctor to be based at the hospital, particularly to deal with accidents as they occurred.
However, it would be forty more years before a resident doctor was employed.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the St Helens May Day horse parade, the attempted rape of a 3-year-old in Gerards Bridge, the half-day closing movement, the resignation of the mayor and the trap tragedy that was caused by a bolting horse.