150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 20 - 26 JULY 1876
This week's many stories include the fire at Rainhill that destroyed an oil and tar works, the violent customer in a Marshalls Cross beerhouse, the Whiston Workhouse Band is in demand, the slag attack in Pocket Nook, the St Helens baker who attacked his wife and the two young men who were separately drowned in a single afternoon.
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians was held on the 20th and heard that the Rev Henry Vallancey had made an application. The Vicar of Sutton wanted the workhouse band to accompany his schoolchildren on their picnic in Sherdley Park on this coming Saturday.
The workhouse boys had impressed Rev Vallancey during the opening of the new Town Hall, as they had been among a number of ensembles that had played in the huge procession. They had made such a good impression with both their music and their general behaviour that the vicar had given them each a shilling.
One of the guardians at the meeting wondered why all the applications for the use of their band were coming from St Helens and not from any of the other places that they covered, such as Widnes or Huyton. However, the chairman of the meeting jokingly remarked that perhaps it was because they had people in the town with good ears for music.
And to much laughter, he said they needed a lot of music to drive away the chemicals from the St Helens atmosphere. The application was granted, although the workhouse would have to allow some other boys to go with the band to Sherdley Park as a reward for their good behaviour.
At about 10:30am on the 21st, a huge fire broke out in McMillan's oil, tar and grease works in Rainhill. The blaze completely destroyed the premises, as well as the stock it contained. There were two acts of great stupidity connected to the blaze, with the first being its cause. It was attributed to a workman lighting his pipe at a furnace and carelessly throwing away the lighted paper. That was carried by the wind into a pan of boiling tar, almost instantaneously creating an inferno.
It wasn't just the man's negligence that could be criticised but the fact that workers were permitted to smoke with such highly combustible material nearby. A fire engine was stationed at Rainhill Asylum and was soon on the scene – but was found to be of little use against the blaze.
That was because throwing water upon burning tar increased, rather than extinguished, the flames. And so it was decided that smothering the fire would be the best means of tackling it and that was achieved by piling earth onto the flames with many willing hands helping out. It took four hours before the blaze could be put out and then the extensive damage to the tune of £1,000 could be assessed.
I mentioned earlier that there were two acts of great stupidity connected with the fire and the second was that the owner had failed to insure his premises. To make matters worse Mr McMillan was later that day due to have completed the sale of his works to another party.
He had only erected them a year earlier and business had been brisk, although his health had suffered. And so his doctor had advised him to sell his works and move to the south coast. When the fire broke out, McMillan was in his own house and when he arrived on the scene of destruction he was said to have fainted.
As I've often remarked, stealing was taken very seriously in the 1870s. This week Mary McCall was sent to prison for a month for stealing a cloak worth just 3 shillings from John Churchill's shop in Liverpool Road.
Violence against the police rarely merited prison, unless the defendant was unable to pay the fine that they usually received in court. Joseph Cruise was only fined when he appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week charged with being drunk and disorderly on licensed premises and with assaulting PC John Smith.
The latter told the court that he had called into a beerhouse in Marshalls Cross where he found Cruise very drunk and noisy. Both he and the landlady advised the man to go home but Cruise refused to do so and attempted to throw a bottle at the bobby. The constable was then knocked down and very severely kicked by Cruise, along with some of his companions.
Upon eventually being arrested and placed in handcuffs, he continued to kick the constable during the journey to the police station. But for his violence and drunkenness, the magistrates only fined Joseph Cruise 20 shillings plus costs.
But in cases where the Bench felt the violence used had passed their threshold for severity, then a custodial sentence would be imposed and there were two such examples this week. In the first Thomas Madden was charged with assaulting John Brophy with a piece of slag. The pair, along with another man, had gone into a pub in Pocket Nook and a dispute had arisen with Madden claiming Brophy had not paid for a round of drinks.
The landlord of the pub got so fed up with Madden making a racket that he turned him out. However, later Madden went to the window of the house where Brophy was sitting and threw in the slag, which cut the man severely behind an ear. The magistrates decided the offence was so bad that they gave Madden two months hard labour.
And John Lomax received a prison sentence for violently assaulting his wife, Ann. He was a baker and after getting drunk he had assaulted his wife in their house and put her out into the street. When Ann attempted to get back in by the bakehouse window, Lomax thrust a baker's peel that was used to get bread out of ovens into her face. She was severely injured about her mouth and her husband received a prison sentence of a month with hard labour.
On the 22nd the sixth annual procession – or demonstration as the event was known – of the St Helens Band of Hope Union took place. Three thousand persons supporting the temperance cause marched from the new Town Hall to Queen's Park. However, that was not the park off Boundary Road that exists today.
It was then a private park, which was the residence of iron merchant William Foster and to access it the processionists had to go up Croppers Hill. The walkers were led by the Band of the Indefatigable, which was a training ship for boys who wanted to go to sea and which was moored off Rock Ferry.
It was mid-summer, a time when the number of drownings in St Helens increased as people bathed and swam in dangerous places. In just one afternoon this week, two young men lost their lives while bathing. John Morris had decided to swim in what was described as an old stone delph near Sherdley Park. As it was some 12 yards deep, his companions had warned him not to enter the water but he took no notice and was immediately drowned.
And John Howard lost his life after deciding to bathe in a clay pit behind Kurtz’s chemical works (pictured above). The 24-year-old was considered to be a good swimmer and for some reason undertook to carry a boy across the pit on his back. But while doing so he began to sink. The boy's cries led to another man rescuing him but John Howard disappeared from view. His body was not recovered for three hours when it was conveyed to his home in Peasley Cross.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the grand swimming gala in St Helens, the two serious accidents that took place on the St Helens railway, the drowning at Carr Mill Dam and the Parr miner who was charged with killing his wife.
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians was held on the 20th and heard that the Rev Henry Vallancey had made an application. The Vicar of Sutton wanted the workhouse band to accompany his schoolchildren on their picnic in Sherdley Park on this coming Saturday.
The workhouse boys had impressed Rev Vallancey during the opening of the new Town Hall, as they had been among a number of ensembles that had played in the huge procession. They had made such a good impression with both their music and their general behaviour that the vicar had given them each a shilling.
One of the guardians at the meeting wondered why all the applications for the use of their band were coming from St Helens and not from any of the other places that they covered, such as Widnes or Huyton. However, the chairman of the meeting jokingly remarked that perhaps it was because they had people in the town with good ears for music.
And to much laughter, he said they needed a lot of music to drive away the chemicals from the St Helens atmosphere. The application was granted, although the workhouse would have to allow some other boys to go with the band to Sherdley Park as a reward for their good behaviour.
At about 10:30am on the 21st, a huge fire broke out in McMillan's oil, tar and grease works in Rainhill. The blaze completely destroyed the premises, as well as the stock it contained. There were two acts of great stupidity connected to the blaze, with the first being its cause. It was attributed to a workman lighting his pipe at a furnace and carelessly throwing away the lighted paper. That was carried by the wind into a pan of boiling tar, almost instantaneously creating an inferno.
It wasn't just the man's negligence that could be criticised but the fact that workers were permitted to smoke with such highly combustible material nearby. A fire engine was stationed at Rainhill Asylum and was soon on the scene – but was found to be of little use against the blaze.
That was because throwing water upon burning tar increased, rather than extinguished, the flames. And so it was decided that smothering the fire would be the best means of tackling it and that was achieved by piling earth onto the flames with many willing hands helping out. It took four hours before the blaze could be put out and then the extensive damage to the tune of £1,000 could be assessed.
I mentioned earlier that there were two acts of great stupidity connected with the fire and the second was that the owner had failed to insure his premises. To make matters worse Mr McMillan was later that day due to have completed the sale of his works to another party.
He had only erected them a year earlier and business had been brisk, although his health had suffered. And so his doctor had advised him to sell his works and move to the south coast. When the fire broke out, McMillan was in his own house and when he arrived on the scene of destruction he was said to have fainted.
As I've often remarked, stealing was taken very seriously in the 1870s. This week Mary McCall was sent to prison for a month for stealing a cloak worth just 3 shillings from John Churchill's shop in Liverpool Road.
Violence against the police rarely merited prison, unless the defendant was unable to pay the fine that they usually received in court. Joseph Cruise was only fined when he appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week charged with being drunk and disorderly on licensed premises and with assaulting PC John Smith.
The latter told the court that he had called into a beerhouse in Marshalls Cross where he found Cruise very drunk and noisy. Both he and the landlady advised the man to go home but Cruise refused to do so and attempted to throw a bottle at the bobby. The constable was then knocked down and very severely kicked by Cruise, along with some of his companions.
Upon eventually being arrested and placed in handcuffs, he continued to kick the constable during the journey to the police station. But for his violence and drunkenness, the magistrates only fined Joseph Cruise 20 shillings plus costs.
But in cases where the Bench felt the violence used had passed their threshold for severity, then a custodial sentence would be imposed and there were two such examples this week. In the first Thomas Madden was charged with assaulting John Brophy with a piece of slag. The pair, along with another man, had gone into a pub in Pocket Nook and a dispute had arisen with Madden claiming Brophy had not paid for a round of drinks.
The landlord of the pub got so fed up with Madden making a racket that he turned him out. However, later Madden went to the window of the house where Brophy was sitting and threw in the slag, which cut the man severely behind an ear. The magistrates decided the offence was so bad that they gave Madden two months hard labour.
And John Lomax received a prison sentence for violently assaulting his wife, Ann. He was a baker and after getting drunk he had assaulted his wife in their house and put her out into the street. When Ann attempted to get back in by the bakehouse window, Lomax thrust a baker's peel that was used to get bread out of ovens into her face. She was severely injured about her mouth and her husband received a prison sentence of a month with hard labour.
On the 22nd the sixth annual procession – or demonstration as the event was known – of the St Helens Band of Hope Union took place. Three thousand persons supporting the temperance cause marched from the new Town Hall to Queen's Park. However, that was not the park off Boundary Road that exists today.
It was then a private park, which was the residence of iron merchant William Foster and to access it the processionists had to go up Croppers Hill. The walkers were led by the Band of the Indefatigable, which was a training ship for boys who wanted to go to sea and which was moored off Rock Ferry.
It was mid-summer, a time when the number of drownings in St Helens increased as people bathed and swam in dangerous places. In just one afternoon this week, two young men lost their lives while bathing. John Morris had decided to swim in what was described as an old stone delph near Sherdley Park. As it was some 12 yards deep, his companions had warned him not to enter the water but he took no notice and was immediately drowned.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the grand swimming gala in St Helens, the two serious accidents that took place on the St Helens railway, the drowning at Carr Mill Dam and the Parr miner who was charged with killing his wife.
This week's many stories include the fire at Rainhill that destroyed an oil and tar works, the violent customer in a Marshalls Cross beerhouse, the Whiston Workhouse Band is in demand, the slag attack in Pocket Nook, the St Helens baker who attacked his wife and the two young men who were separately drowned in a single afternoon.
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians was held on the 20th and heard that the Rev Henry Vallancey had made an application.
The Vicar of Sutton wanted the workhouse band to accompany his schoolchildren on their picnic in Sherdley Park on this coming Saturday.
The workhouse boys had impressed Rev Vallancey during the opening of the new Town Hall, as they had been among a number of ensembles that had played in the huge procession.
They had made such a good impression with both their music and their general behaviour that the vicar had given them each a shilling.
One of the guardians at the meeting wondered why all the applications for the use of their band were coming from St Helens and not from any of the other places that they covered, such as Widnes or Huyton.
However, the chairman of the meeting jokingly remarked that perhaps it was because they had people in the town with good ears for music.
And to much laughter, he said they needed a lot of music to drive away the chemicals from the St Helens atmosphere.
The application was granted, although the workhouse would have to allow some other boys to go with the band to Sherdley Park as a reward for their good behaviour.
At about 10:30am on the 21st, a huge fire broke out in McMillan's oil, tar and grease works in Rainhill. The blaze completely destroyed the premises, as well as the stock it contained.
There were two acts of great stupidity connected to the blaze, with the first being its cause.
It was attributed to a workman lighting his pipe at a furnace and carelessly throwing away the lighted paper.
That was carried by the wind into a pan of boiling tar, almost instantaneously creating an inferno.
It wasn't just the man's negligence that could be criticised but the fact that workers were permitted to smoke with such highly combustible material nearby.
A fire engine was stationed at Rainhill Asylum and was soon on the scene – but was found to be of little use against the blaze.
That was because throwing water upon burning tar increased, rather than extinguished, the flames.
And so it was decided that smothering the fire would be the best means of tackling it and that was achieved by piling earth onto the flames with many willing hands helping out.
It took four hours before the blaze could be put out and then the extensive damage to the tune of £1,000 could be assessed.
I mentioned earlier that there were two acts of great stupidity connected with the fire and the second was that the owner had failed to insure his premises.
To make matters worse Mr McMillan was later that day due to have completed the sale of his works to another party.
He had only erected them a year earlier and business had been brisk, although his health had suffered.
And so his doctor had advised him to sell his works and move to the south coast.
When the fire broke out, McMillan was in his own house and when he arrived on the scene of destruction he was said to have fainted.
As I've often remarked, stealing was taken very seriously in the 1870s.
This week Mary McCall was sent to prison for a month for stealing a cloak worth just 3 shillings from John Churchill's shop in Liverpool Road.
Violence against the police rarely merited prison, unless the defendant was unable to pay the fine that they usually received in court.
Joseph Cruise was only fined when he appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week charged with being drunk and disorderly on licensed premises and with assaulting PC John Smith.
The latter told the court that he had called into a beerhouse in Marshalls Cross where he found Cruise very drunk and noisy.
Both he and the landlady advised the man to go home but Cruise refused to do so and attempted to throw a bottle at the bobby.
The constable was then knocked down and very severely kicked by Cruise, along with some of his companions.
Upon eventually being arrested and placed in handcuffs, he continued to kick the constable during the journey to the police station.
But for his violence and drunkenness, the magistrates only fined Joseph Cruise 20 shillings plus costs.
However, in cases where the Bench felt the violence used had passed their threshold for severity, then a custodial sentence would be imposed and there were two such examples this week.
In the first Thomas Madden was charged with assaulting John Brophy with a piece of slag.
The pair, along with another man, had gone into a pub in Pocket Nook and a dispute had arisen with Madden claiming Brophy had not paid for a round of drinks.
The landlord of the pub got so fed up with Madden making a racket that he turned him out.
However, later Madden went to the window of the house where Brophy was sitting and threw in the slag, which cut the man severely behind an ear.
The magistrates decided the offence was so bad that they gave Madden two months hard labour.
And John Lomax received a prison sentence for violently assaulting his wife, Ann.
He was a baker and after getting drunk he had assaulted his wife in their house and put her out into the street.
When Ann attempted to get back in by the bakehouse window, Lomax thrust a baker's peel that was used to get bread out of ovens into her face.
She was severely injured about her mouth and her husband received a prison sentence of a month with hard labour.
On the 22nd the sixth annual procession – or demonstration as the event was known – of the St Helens Band of Hope Union took place.
Three thousand persons supporting the temperance cause marched from the new Town Hall to Queen's Park. However, that was not the park off Boundary Road that exists today.
It was then a private park, which was the residence of iron merchant William Foster and to access it the processionists had to go up Croppers Hill.
The walkers were led by the Band of the Indefatigable, which was a training ship for boys who wanted to go to sea and which was moored off Rock Ferry.
It was mid-summer, a time when the number of drownings in St Helens increased as people bathed and swam in dangerous places.
In just one afternoon this week, two young men lost their lives while bathing.
John Morris had decided to swim in what was described as an old stone delph near Sherdley Park.
As it was some 12 yards deep, his companions had warned him not to enter the water but he took no notice and was immediately drowned.
And John Howard lost his life after deciding to bathe in a clay pit behind Kurtz’s chemical works (pictured above).
The 24-year-old was considered to be a good swimmer and for some reason undertook to carry a boy across the pit on his back. But while doing so he began to sink.
The boy's cries led to another man rescuing him but John Howard disappeared from view.
His body was not recovered for three hours when it was conveyed to his home in Peasley Cross.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the grand swimming gala in St Helens, the two serious accidents that took place on the St Helens railway, the drowning at Carr Mill Dam and the Parr miner who was charged with killing his wife.
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians was held on the 20th and heard that the Rev Henry Vallancey had made an application.
The Vicar of Sutton wanted the workhouse band to accompany his schoolchildren on their picnic in Sherdley Park on this coming Saturday.
The workhouse boys had impressed Rev Vallancey during the opening of the new Town Hall, as they had been among a number of ensembles that had played in the huge procession.
They had made such a good impression with both their music and their general behaviour that the vicar had given them each a shilling.
One of the guardians at the meeting wondered why all the applications for the use of their band were coming from St Helens and not from any of the other places that they covered, such as Widnes or Huyton.
However, the chairman of the meeting jokingly remarked that perhaps it was because they had people in the town with good ears for music.
And to much laughter, he said they needed a lot of music to drive away the chemicals from the St Helens atmosphere.
The application was granted, although the workhouse would have to allow some other boys to go with the band to Sherdley Park as a reward for their good behaviour.
At about 10:30am on the 21st, a huge fire broke out in McMillan's oil, tar and grease works in Rainhill. The blaze completely destroyed the premises, as well as the stock it contained.
There were two acts of great stupidity connected to the blaze, with the first being its cause.
It was attributed to a workman lighting his pipe at a furnace and carelessly throwing away the lighted paper.
That was carried by the wind into a pan of boiling tar, almost instantaneously creating an inferno.
It wasn't just the man's negligence that could be criticised but the fact that workers were permitted to smoke with such highly combustible material nearby.
A fire engine was stationed at Rainhill Asylum and was soon on the scene – but was found to be of little use against the blaze.
That was because throwing water upon burning tar increased, rather than extinguished, the flames.
And so it was decided that smothering the fire would be the best means of tackling it and that was achieved by piling earth onto the flames with many willing hands helping out.
It took four hours before the blaze could be put out and then the extensive damage to the tune of £1,000 could be assessed.
I mentioned earlier that there were two acts of great stupidity connected with the fire and the second was that the owner had failed to insure his premises.
To make matters worse Mr McMillan was later that day due to have completed the sale of his works to another party.
He had only erected them a year earlier and business had been brisk, although his health had suffered.
And so his doctor had advised him to sell his works and move to the south coast.
When the fire broke out, McMillan was in his own house and when he arrived on the scene of destruction he was said to have fainted.
As I've often remarked, stealing was taken very seriously in the 1870s.
This week Mary McCall was sent to prison for a month for stealing a cloak worth just 3 shillings from John Churchill's shop in Liverpool Road.
Violence against the police rarely merited prison, unless the defendant was unable to pay the fine that they usually received in court.
Joseph Cruise was only fined when he appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week charged with being drunk and disorderly on licensed premises and with assaulting PC John Smith.
The latter told the court that he had called into a beerhouse in Marshalls Cross where he found Cruise very drunk and noisy.
Both he and the landlady advised the man to go home but Cruise refused to do so and attempted to throw a bottle at the bobby.
The constable was then knocked down and very severely kicked by Cruise, along with some of his companions.
Upon eventually being arrested and placed in handcuffs, he continued to kick the constable during the journey to the police station.
But for his violence and drunkenness, the magistrates only fined Joseph Cruise 20 shillings plus costs.
However, in cases where the Bench felt the violence used had passed their threshold for severity, then a custodial sentence would be imposed and there were two such examples this week.
In the first Thomas Madden was charged with assaulting John Brophy with a piece of slag.
The pair, along with another man, had gone into a pub in Pocket Nook and a dispute had arisen with Madden claiming Brophy had not paid for a round of drinks.
The landlord of the pub got so fed up with Madden making a racket that he turned him out.
However, later Madden went to the window of the house where Brophy was sitting and threw in the slag, which cut the man severely behind an ear.
The magistrates decided the offence was so bad that they gave Madden two months hard labour.
And John Lomax received a prison sentence for violently assaulting his wife, Ann.
He was a baker and after getting drunk he had assaulted his wife in their house and put her out into the street.
When Ann attempted to get back in by the bakehouse window, Lomax thrust a baker's peel that was used to get bread out of ovens into her face.
She was severely injured about her mouth and her husband received a prison sentence of a month with hard labour.
On the 22nd the sixth annual procession – or demonstration as the event was known – of the St Helens Band of Hope Union took place.
Three thousand persons supporting the temperance cause marched from the new Town Hall to Queen's Park. However, that was not the park off Boundary Road that exists today.
It was then a private park, which was the residence of iron merchant William Foster and to access it the processionists had to go up Croppers Hill.
The walkers were led by the Band of the Indefatigable, which was a training ship for boys who wanted to go to sea and which was moored off Rock Ferry.
It was mid-summer, a time when the number of drownings in St Helens increased as people bathed and swam in dangerous places.
In just one afternoon this week, two young men lost their lives while bathing.
John Morris had decided to swim in what was described as an old stone delph near Sherdley Park.
As it was some 12 yards deep, his companions had warned him not to enter the water but he took no notice and was immediately drowned.
The 24-year-old was considered to be a good swimmer and for some reason undertook to carry a boy across the pit on his back. But while doing so he began to sink.
The boy's cries led to another man rescuing him but John Howard disappeared from view.
His body was not recovered for three hours when it was conveyed to his home in Peasley Cross.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the grand swimming gala in St Helens, the two serious accidents that took place on the St Helens railway, the drowning at Carr Mill Dam and the Parr miner who was charged with killing his wife.