150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22nd - 28th AUGUST 1872)
This week's stories include the wroth of St Helens tipplers observing the new Licensing Act, the Rainford farm fire, the St Helens chemical workers' train crash while on a treat to Windermere and the furious woman prosecuted for giving another woman black eyes who did not understand the meaning of sureties.
A year ago I described a meeting of St Helens publicans that was held in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street and which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery. The gathering had been called to protest over a new Licensing Bill that would end the almost "open all hours" culture of pubs. The secretary of the local Licensed Victuallers' Association furiously attacked the proposed legislation calling it a "piece of robbery". Also unhappy were church and temperance groups in St Helens who submitted fourteen petitions to the House of Commons demanding that the new law completely banned Sunday drinking, rather than continuing the existing practice of curtailing it.
The Licensing Act was now law and for the first time set a framework for opening hours to try and reduce the amount of drunkenness and also attempted to address the widespread adulteration of beer and spirits. On weekdays in St Helens, pubs and beerhouses now had to close at 11pm and could not open earlier than 6am. Drinking at that time might seem odd to us but was popular with some on night shift as workers dropped in for a pint while on their way home.
On Sundays licensed houses could not open until 12:30pm and had to close at 2:30pm. During the evening on Sundays, pubs could not open earlier than six o’clock and had to close at 10pm. Local licensing magistrates had some limited flexibility in adjusting the opening hours – but for the time being had decided not to make any changes in St Helens and Prescot. On the 24th the St Helens Newspaper described how the first few days of the Act's operation had gone in the town after being "vigorously put in execution by the police".
Last Saturday had been the first day of the new arrangements and things had generally gone well, with the only difficulty being in some hostelries in Liverpool Road that had been packed with customers at closing time. The paper wrote: "It was a hard effort to comply with the law in such cases. The tipplers were wroth at being disturbed, and got out as lingeringly as they could; and without wishing to be uncharitable to the landlords, we may say that they could not have been very much pleased at the ejectment of so many ready-money customers. Sunday's arrangements disappointed a vast number of imbibers, but must have been felt to be a boon by the publicans and their assistants."
The drunks arrested every Saturday night in St Helens were stuck in a police cell until the next hearing of the Petty Sessions on Monday morning. However, the Newspaper reported that those enjoying police hospitality last weekend had been far less than usual, seemingly because of the much curtailed drinking hours.
The Newspaper was full of praise for Andrew Kurtz, the owner of Sutton Alkali Works, who for the second year running had taken a party of workmen and their wives to Windermere on a day trip: "Annual excursions exist in St. Helens in connection with many of the large works, but that instituted by Mr. Kurtz, for the pleasure of his own hands, has many features which are not to be found elsewhere. Mr. Kurtz furnishes 400 workmen with a couple of tickets each and makes the most profuse provision for their comfort during their outing.
"No expense is spared so that the object is accomplished of providing a picnic of the most pleasant and agreeable character, such a festival as this excursion must be a decided boon to the men who enjoy it. Their labour is heavy and exhausting, and they have to toil all the year in an atmosphere which is not beneficial to health. They are engaged in a branch of industry which has done much to raise St. Helens to its present position, and by their work they have built up large wealth for their employer, and the traders around.
"Mr. Kurtz makes a generous recognition of the claims of his toilers upon him, and earned by this act their increased respect and confidence. We should not omit to state that each excursionist workman received a day's wages in addition to the gratuitous pleasure trip. Such rare liberality deserves especial recognition."
In total 800 persons had left St Helens Station in 29 carriages, the largest trainload of the year. By today's standards, a free day out with pay for those engaged in the horrible chemical industry (but no other paid holidays during the rest of the year) was not much of a treat. But as the Newspaper makes clear, being paid for a day's work but instead being treated to an outing in the Lakes was an amazing bit of benevolence then.
However, it clearly wasn't just at St Helens where safety on the trains was lax. Despite leaving St Helens at 6am to maximise time spent at Windermere, the party did not arrive in the Lakes until 11. That was because the loco and its 29 carriages crashed into another engine at Kendal!
"The utmost consternation was created on all sides”, reported the Newspaper, adding that women standing on the platform screamed "affrightedly". One young Kurtz lad had been leaning out of a carriage window when the impact occurred and was "precipitated headlong" out of the train onto an embankment. However, there were no serious injuries and the St Helens train driver was exonerated from blame.
The 1871 census reveals that 5,000 females bore the name Elizabeth within the Prescot registration district – which incorporated St Helens. Four of them featured in two cases that were heard in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 26th. In the first, Elizabeth Hegerty was charged with assaulting Elizabeth Potts by giving the woman a pair of black eyes. It was the usual type of violent squabble but what made it different from the many such rows heard in court was Elizabeth Hegarty's misunderstanding of sureties.
Defendants were often bound over to keep the peace upon payment of bonds or sureties. These were refunded at the expiry of a set period of time as long as the person had behaved themself. However, Elizabeth Hegerty thought the money went to Elizabeth Potts and after being told to find sureties, she angrily declared that she would go to prison before her foe got one shilling of her cash. The Newspaper wrote: "She was so noisy in her assertion of this intention that she had to be removed from the court."
Liverpool Road in St Helens was the venue for many a violent row. Most squabbles began by somebody telling someone else what they thought of them. That person was not very receptive to the abuse and before long a fight ensued. In the second case of squabbling Elizabeths, Elizabeth Burchall had gone to Liverpool Road to "upbraid" Elizabeth Hewitt about her being in "close company" with her husband. The young woman did not think much of being upbraided and a fight soon began.
The Newspaper wrote that a "delighted crowd" had quickly assembled to watch the fun, adding: "Very scandalous language was uttered during the row, and as both women contended for the man who belonged legally to one, and (it seemed) virtually to the other, the fight was very bitter."
Immediately after giving her evidence in court, Elizabeth Burchall, the complainant, collapsed and had to be carried out of the room by the police. In mitigation of Elizabeth Hewitt's behaviour, her solicitor told the Bench that her father had thrashed her for fighting in the street. It's curious how such violent chastisement by a parent could be seen as a positive thing then! She was fined 30 shillings.
Also on that day Richard Cross, the MP for South West Lancashire, laid the foundation stone for a new church school in Billinge. The C of E school was intended to accommodate 116 boys, 94 girls and 140 infants and would replace the existing building.
There was another example of the St Helens Fire Brigade taking a long time to reach a fire on the 28th when a farm building in Berringtons Lane in Rainford was mysteriously engulfed in flames. It took thirty minutes for a messenger to arrive in St Helens to report that John Burchall's combined barn, shippon [cow shed] and stable was on fire. It then took a further 20 minutes for the horse-driven brigade to get to Rainford – but by then the building was in ruins after collapsing and their services were not required.
Next week's stories will include the exploding elephant balloon in Mill Street, the swan stealing in Newton, the little boy that sued another boy and the completely mad man that kicked a constable in the head in Liverpool Road.
A year ago I described a meeting of St Helens publicans that was held in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street and which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery. The gathering had been called to protest over a new Licensing Bill that would end the almost "open all hours" culture of pubs. The secretary of the local Licensed Victuallers' Association furiously attacked the proposed legislation calling it a "piece of robbery". Also unhappy were church and temperance groups in St Helens who submitted fourteen petitions to the House of Commons demanding that the new law completely banned Sunday drinking, rather than continuing the existing practice of curtailing it.
The Licensing Act was now law and for the first time set a framework for opening hours to try and reduce the amount of drunkenness and also attempted to address the widespread adulteration of beer and spirits. On weekdays in St Helens, pubs and beerhouses now had to close at 11pm and could not open earlier than 6am. Drinking at that time might seem odd to us but was popular with some on night shift as workers dropped in for a pint while on their way home.
On Sundays licensed houses could not open until 12:30pm and had to close at 2:30pm. During the evening on Sundays, pubs could not open earlier than six o’clock and had to close at 10pm. Local licensing magistrates had some limited flexibility in adjusting the opening hours – but for the time being had decided not to make any changes in St Helens and Prescot. On the 24th the St Helens Newspaper described how the first few days of the Act's operation had gone in the town after being "vigorously put in execution by the police".
Last Saturday had been the first day of the new arrangements and things had generally gone well, with the only difficulty being in some hostelries in Liverpool Road that had been packed with customers at closing time. The paper wrote: "It was a hard effort to comply with the law in such cases. The tipplers were wroth at being disturbed, and got out as lingeringly as they could; and without wishing to be uncharitable to the landlords, we may say that they could not have been very much pleased at the ejectment of so many ready-money customers. Sunday's arrangements disappointed a vast number of imbibers, but must have been felt to be a boon by the publicans and their assistants."
The drunks arrested every Saturday night in St Helens were stuck in a police cell until the next hearing of the Petty Sessions on Monday morning. However, the Newspaper reported that those enjoying police hospitality last weekend had been far less than usual, seemingly because of the much curtailed drinking hours.
The Newspaper was full of praise for Andrew Kurtz, the owner of Sutton Alkali Works, who for the second year running had taken a party of workmen and their wives to Windermere on a day trip: "Annual excursions exist in St. Helens in connection with many of the large works, but that instituted by Mr. Kurtz, for the pleasure of his own hands, has many features which are not to be found elsewhere. Mr. Kurtz furnishes 400 workmen with a couple of tickets each and makes the most profuse provision for their comfort during their outing.
"No expense is spared so that the object is accomplished of providing a picnic of the most pleasant and agreeable character, such a festival as this excursion must be a decided boon to the men who enjoy it. Their labour is heavy and exhausting, and they have to toil all the year in an atmosphere which is not beneficial to health. They are engaged in a branch of industry which has done much to raise St. Helens to its present position, and by their work they have built up large wealth for their employer, and the traders around.
"Mr. Kurtz makes a generous recognition of the claims of his toilers upon him, and earned by this act their increased respect and confidence. We should not omit to state that each excursionist workman received a day's wages in addition to the gratuitous pleasure trip. Such rare liberality deserves especial recognition."
In total 800 persons had left St Helens Station in 29 carriages, the largest trainload of the year. By today's standards, a free day out with pay for those engaged in the horrible chemical industry (but no other paid holidays during the rest of the year) was not much of a treat. But as the Newspaper makes clear, being paid for a day's work but instead being treated to an outing in the Lakes was an amazing bit of benevolence then.
However, it clearly wasn't just at St Helens where safety on the trains was lax. Despite leaving St Helens at 6am to maximise time spent at Windermere, the party did not arrive in the Lakes until 11. That was because the loco and its 29 carriages crashed into another engine at Kendal!
"The utmost consternation was created on all sides”, reported the Newspaper, adding that women standing on the platform screamed "affrightedly". One young Kurtz lad had been leaning out of a carriage window when the impact occurred and was "precipitated headlong" out of the train onto an embankment. However, there were no serious injuries and the St Helens train driver was exonerated from blame.
The 1871 census reveals that 5,000 females bore the name Elizabeth within the Prescot registration district – which incorporated St Helens. Four of them featured in two cases that were heard in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 26th. In the first, Elizabeth Hegerty was charged with assaulting Elizabeth Potts by giving the woman a pair of black eyes. It was the usual type of violent squabble but what made it different from the many such rows heard in court was Elizabeth Hegarty's misunderstanding of sureties.
Defendants were often bound over to keep the peace upon payment of bonds or sureties. These were refunded at the expiry of a set period of time as long as the person had behaved themself. However, Elizabeth Hegerty thought the money went to Elizabeth Potts and after being told to find sureties, she angrily declared that she would go to prison before her foe got one shilling of her cash. The Newspaper wrote: "She was so noisy in her assertion of this intention that she had to be removed from the court."
Liverpool Road in St Helens was the venue for many a violent row. Most squabbles began by somebody telling someone else what they thought of them. That person was not very receptive to the abuse and before long a fight ensued. In the second case of squabbling Elizabeths, Elizabeth Burchall had gone to Liverpool Road to "upbraid" Elizabeth Hewitt about her being in "close company" with her husband. The young woman did not think much of being upbraided and a fight soon began.
The Newspaper wrote that a "delighted crowd" had quickly assembled to watch the fun, adding: "Very scandalous language was uttered during the row, and as both women contended for the man who belonged legally to one, and (it seemed) virtually to the other, the fight was very bitter."
Immediately after giving her evidence in court, Elizabeth Burchall, the complainant, collapsed and had to be carried out of the room by the police. In mitigation of Elizabeth Hewitt's behaviour, her solicitor told the Bench that her father had thrashed her for fighting in the street. It's curious how such violent chastisement by a parent could be seen as a positive thing then! She was fined 30 shillings.
Also on that day Richard Cross, the MP for South West Lancashire, laid the foundation stone for a new church school in Billinge. The C of E school was intended to accommodate 116 boys, 94 girls and 140 infants and would replace the existing building.
Next week's stories will include the exploding elephant balloon in Mill Street, the swan stealing in Newton, the little boy that sued another boy and the completely mad man that kicked a constable in the head in Liverpool Road.
This week's stories include the wroth of St Helens tipplers observing the new Licensing Act, the Rainford farm fire, the St Helens chemical workers' train crash while on a treat to Windermere and the furious woman prosecuted for giving another woman black eyes who did not understand the meaning of sureties.
A year ago I described a meeting of St Helens publicans that was held in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street and which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery.
The gathering had been called to protest over a new Licensing Bill that would end the almost "open all hours" culture of pubs.
The secretary of the local Licensed Victuallers' Association furiously attacked the proposed legislation calling it a "piece of robbery".
Also unhappy were church and temperance groups in St Helens who submitted fourteen petitions to the House of Commons demanding that the new law completely banned Sunday drinking, rather than continuing the existing practice of curtailing it.
The Licensing Act was now law and for the first time set a framework for opening hours to try and reduce the amount of drunkenness and also attempted to address the widespread adulteration of beer and spirits.
On weekdays in St Helens, pubs and beerhouses now had to close at 11pm and could not open earlier than 6am.
Drinking at that time might seem odd to us but was popular with some on night shift as workers dropped in for a pint while on their way home.
On Sundays licensed houses could not open until 12:30pm and had to close at 2:30pm.
During the evening on Sundays, pubs could not open earlier than six o’clock and had to close at 10pm.
Local licensing magistrates had some limited flexibility in adjusting the opening hours – but for the time being had decided not to make any changes in St Helens and Prescot.
On the 24th the St Helens Newspaper described how the first few days of the Act's operation had gone in the town after being "vigorously put in execution by the police".
Last Saturday had been the first day of the new arrangements and things had generally gone well, with the only difficulty being in some hostelries in Liverpool Road that had been packed with customers at closing time. The paper wrote:
"It was a hard effort to comply with the law in such cases. The tipplers were wroth at being disturbed, and got out as lingeringly as they could; and without wishing to be uncharitable to the landlords, we may say that they could not have been very much pleased at the ejectment of so many ready-money customers.
"Sunday's arrangements disappointed a vast number of imbibers, but must have been felt to be a boon by the publicans and their assistants."
The drunks arrested every Saturday night in St Helens were stuck in a police cell until the next hearing of the Petty Sessions on Monday morning.
However, the Newspaper reported that those enjoying police hospitality last weekend had been far less than usual, seemingly because of the much curtailed drinking hours.
The Newspaper was full of praise for Andrew Kurtz, the owner of Sutton Alkali Works, who for the second year running had taken a party of workmen and their wives to Windermere on a day trip:
"Annual excursions exist in St. Helens in connection with many of the large works, but that instituted by Mr. Kurtz, for the pleasure of his own hands, has many features which are not to be found elsewhere. Mr. Kurtz furnishes 400 workmen with a couple of tickets each and makes the most profuse provision for their comfort during their outing.
"No expense is spared so that the object is accomplished of providing a picnic of the most pleasant and agreeable character, such a festival as this excursion must be a decided boon to the men who enjoy it. Their labour is heavy and exhausting, and they have to toil all the year in an atmosphere which is not beneficial to health.
"They are engaged in a branch of industry which has done much to raise St. Helens to its present position, and by their work they have built up large wealth for their employer, and the traders around. Mr. Kurtz makes a generous recognition of the claims of his toilers upon him, and earned by this act their increased respect and confidence.
"We should not omit to state that each excursionist workman received a day's wages in addition to the gratuitous pleasure trip. Such rare liberality deserves especial recognition."
In total 800 persons had left St Helens Station in 29 carriages, the largest trainload of the year.
By today's standards, a free day out with pay for those engaged in the horrible chemical industry (but no other paid holidays during the rest of the year) was not much of a treat.
But as the Newspaper makes clear, being paid for a day's work but instead being treated to an outing in the Lakes was an amazing bit of benevolence then.
However, it clearly wasn't just at St Helens where safety on the trains was lax. Despite leaving St Helens at 6am to maximise time spent at Windermere, the party did not arrive in the Lakes until 11.
That was because the loco and its 29 carriages crashed into another engine at Kendal!
"The utmost consternation was created on all sides”, reported the Newspaper, adding that women standing on the platform screamed "affrightedly".
One young Kurtz lad had been leaning out of a carriage window when the impact occurred and was "precipitated headlong" out of the train onto an embankment.
However, there were no serious injuries and the St Helens train driver was exonerated from blame.
The 1871 census reveals that 5,000 females bore the name Elizabeth within the Prescot registration district – which incorporated St Helens.
Four of them featured in two cases that were heard in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 26th.
In the first, Elizabeth Hegerty was charged with assaulting Elizabeth Potts by giving the woman a pair of black eyes.
It was the usual type of violent squabble but what made it different from the many such rows heard in court was Elizabeth Hegarty's misunderstanding of sureties.
Defendants were often bound over to keep the peace upon payment of bonds or sureties.
These were refunded at the expiry of a set period of time as long as the person had behaved themself.
However, Elizabeth Hegerty thought the money went to Elizabeth Potts and after being told to find sureties, she angrily declared that she would go to prison before her foe got one shilling of her cash.
The Newspaper wrote: "She was so noisy in her assertion of this intention that she had to be removed from the court."
Liverpool Road in St Helens was the venue for many a violent row. Most squabbles began by somebody telling someone else what they thought of them. That person was not very receptive to the abuse and before long a fight ensued.
In the second case of squabbling Elizabeths, Elizabeth Burchall had gone to Liverpool Road to "upbraid" Elizabeth Hewitt about her being in "close company" with her husband.
The young woman did not think much of being upbraided and a fight soon began.
The Newspaper wrote that a "delighted crowd" had quickly assembled to watch the fun, adding:
"Very scandalous language was uttered during the row, and as both women contended for the man who belonged legally to one, and (it seemed) virtually to the other, the fight was very bitter."
Immediately after giving her evidence in court, Elizabeth Burchall, the complainant, collapsed and had to be carried out of the room by the police.
In mitigation of Elizabeth Hewitt's behaviour, her solicitor told the Bench that her father had thrashed her for fighting in the street.
It's curious how such violent chastisement by a parent could be seen as a positive thing then! She was fined 30 shillings.
Also on that day Richard Cross, the MP for South West Lancashire, laid the foundation stone for a new church school in Billinge.
The C of E school was intended to accommodate 116 boys, 94 girls and 140 infants and would replace the existing building.
There was another example of the St Helens Fire Brigade taking a long time to reach a fire on the 28th when a farm building in Berringtons Lane in Rainford was mysteriously engulfed in flames.
It took thirty minutes for a messenger to arrive in St Helens to report that John Burchall's combined barn, shippon [cow shed] and stable was on fire.
It then took a further 20 minutes for the horse-driven brigade to get to Rainford – but by then the building was in ruins after collapsing and their services were not required.
Next week's stories will include the exploding elephant balloon in Mill Street, the swan stealing in Newton, the little boy that sued another boy and the completely mad man that kicked a constable in the head in Liverpool Road.
A year ago I described a meeting of St Helens publicans that was held in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street and which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery.
The gathering had been called to protest over a new Licensing Bill that would end the almost "open all hours" culture of pubs.
The secretary of the local Licensed Victuallers' Association furiously attacked the proposed legislation calling it a "piece of robbery".
Also unhappy were church and temperance groups in St Helens who submitted fourteen petitions to the House of Commons demanding that the new law completely banned Sunday drinking, rather than continuing the existing practice of curtailing it.
The Licensing Act was now law and for the first time set a framework for opening hours to try and reduce the amount of drunkenness and also attempted to address the widespread adulteration of beer and spirits.
On weekdays in St Helens, pubs and beerhouses now had to close at 11pm and could not open earlier than 6am.
Drinking at that time might seem odd to us but was popular with some on night shift as workers dropped in for a pint while on their way home.
On Sundays licensed houses could not open until 12:30pm and had to close at 2:30pm.
During the evening on Sundays, pubs could not open earlier than six o’clock and had to close at 10pm.
Local licensing magistrates had some limited flexibility in adjusting the opening hours – but for the time being had decided not to make any changes in St Helens and Prescot.
On the 24th the St Helens Newspaper described how the first few days of the Act's operation had gone in the town after being "vigorously put in execution by the police".
Last Saturday had been the first day of the new arrangements and things had generally gone well, with the only difficulty being in some hostelries in Liverpool Road that had been packed with customers at closing time. The paper wrote:
"It was a hard effort to comply with the law in such cases. The tipplers were wroth at being disturbed, and got out as lingeringly as they could; and without wishing to be uncharitable to the landlords, we may say that they could not have been very much pleased at the ejectment of so many ready-money customers.
"Sunday's arrangements disappointed a vast number of imbibers, but must have been felt to be a boon by the publicans and their assistants."
The drunks arrested every Saturday night in St Helens were stuck in a police cell until the next hearing of the Petty Sessions on Monday morning.
However, the Newspaper reported that those enjoying police hospitality last weekend had been far less than usual, seemingly because of the much curtailed drinking hours.
The Newspaper was full of praise for Andrew Kurtz, the owner of Sutton Alkali Works, who for the second year running had taken a party of workmen and their wives to Windermere on a day trip:
"Annual excursions exist in St. Helens in connection with many of the large works, but that instituted by Mr. Kurtz, for the pleasure of his own hands, has many features which are not to be found elsewhere. Mr. Kurtz furnishes 400 workmen with a couple of tickets each and makes the most profuse provision for their comfort during their outing.
"No expense is spared so that the object is accomplished of providing a picnic of the most pleasant and agreeable character, such a festival as this excursion must be a decided boon to the men who enjoy it. Their labour is heavy and exhausting, and they have to toil all the year in an atmosphere which is not beneficial to health.
"They are engaged in a branch of industry which has done much to raise St. Helens to its present position, and by their work they have built up large wealth for their employer, and the traders around. Mr. Kurtz makes a generous recognition of the claims of his toilers upon him, and earned by this act their increased respect and confidence.
"We should not omit to state that each excursionist workman received a day's wages in addition to the gratuitous pleasure trip. Such rare liberality deserves especial recognition."
In total 800 persons had left St Helens Station in 29 carriages, the largest trainload of the year.
By today's standards, a free day out with pay for those engaged in the horrible chemical industry (but no other paid holidays during the rest of the year) was not much of a treat.
But as the Newspaper makes clear, being paid for a day's work but instead being treated to an outing in the Lakes was an amazing bit of benevolence then.
However, it clearly wasn't just at St Helens where safety on the trains was lax. Despite leaving St Helens at 6am to maximise time spent at Windermere, the party did not arrive in the Lakes until 11.
That was because the loco and its 29 carriages crashed into another engine at Kendal!
"The utmost consternation was created on all sides”, reported the Newspaper, adding that women standing on the platform screamed "affrightedly".
One young Kurtz lad had been leaning out of a carriage window when the impact occurred and was "precipitated headlong" out of the train onto an embankment.
However, there were no serious injuries and the St Helens train driver was exonerated from blame.
The 1871 census reveals that 5,000 females bore the name Elizabeth within the Prescot registration district – which incorporated St Helens.
Four of them featured in two cases that were heard in the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 26th.
In the first, Elizabeth Hegerty was charged with assaulting Elizabeth Potts by giving the woman a pair of black eyes.
It was the usual type of violent squabble but what made it different from the many such rows heard in court was Elizabeth Hegarty's misunderstanding of sureties.
Defendants were often bound over to keep the peace upon payment of bonds or sureties.
These were refunded at the expiry of a set period of time as long as the person had behaved themself.
However, Elizabeth Hegerty thought the money went to Elizabeth Potts and after being told to find sureties, she angrily declared that she would go to prison before her foe got one shilling of her cash.
The Newspaper wrote: "She was so noisy in her assertion of this intention that she had to be removed from the court."
Liverpool Road in St Helens was the venue for many a violent row. Most squabbles began by somebody telling someone else what they thought of them. That person was not very receptive to the abuse and before long a fight ensued.
In the second case of squabbling Elizabeths, Elizabeth Burchall had gone to Liverpool Road to "upbraid" Elizabeth Hewitt about her being in "close company" with her husband.
The young woman did not think much of being upbraided and a fight soon began.
The Newspaper wrote that a "delighted crowd" had quickly assembled to watch the fun, adding:
"Very scandalous language was uttered during the row, and as both women contended for the man who belonged legally to one, and (it seemed) virtually to the other, the fight was very bitter."
Immediately after giving her evidence in court, Elizabeth Burchall, the complainant, collapsed and had to be carried out of the room by the police.
In mitigation of Elizabeth Hewitt's behaviour, her solicitor told the Bench that her father had thrashed her for fighting in the street.
It's curious how such violent chastisement by a parent could be seen as a positive thing then! She was fined 30 shillings.
Also on that day Richard Cross, the MP for South West Lancashire, laid the foundation stone for a new church school in Billinge.
The C of E school was intended to accommodate 116 boys, 94 girls and 140 infants and would replace the existing building.
It took thirty minutes for a messenger to arrive in St Helens to report that John Burchall's combined barn, shippon [cow shed] and stable was on fire.
It then took a further 20 minutes for the horse-driven brigade to get to Rainford – but by then the building was in ruins after collapsing and their services were not required.
Next week's stories will include the exploding elephant balloon in Mill Street, the swan stealing in Newton, the little boy that sued another boy and the completely mad man that kicked a constable in the head in Liverpool Road.