150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (23rd - 29th MARCH 1870)
This week's stories include the Waterloo Street cannon explosion, the Park Road woman who claimed a policeman made her return to her abusive husband, the Fingerpost baby that died after catching a cold, a Rainhill love letter and the noxious fumes from the Sutton Copper Works that caused damage to the Bold Hall estate.
We begin during the evening of the 23rd when the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the "geography of the world" – a big subject to cram into a couple of hours!
The inquest on the child of Joseph Piers of Fingerpost was held on the 25th. The unnamed infant was five-months-old and had died after catching a cold. Although the inquest jury brought in a verdict of death from natural causes, they censured the parents for taking their child to a chemist rather than to a doctor. That might have been because they couldn't afford the doctor's fee or because they didn't expect the common cold to cause the death of their baby.
On the 26th the Prescot Reporter published this love letter that had been handed into them after the note had been found near the Rainhill National School. The names were redacted but otherwise it is as originally written:
"My dearest ________ Excuse me taking the liberty of addressing you, but I don't know how to make your acquaintance. I will be at Church on Sunday morning, I will wear a Black cloth coat, And will have my handkerchief a little out of my pocket, so that you will know me, If you wish to speak to me, I shall be happy for you to do so as I am coming out of Church. As you cannot think how I long to make your acquaintance, I cannot express my feelings, and the love I have for you. If you do not speak to me I don't know how I shall pass the day as I am deeply in love with you Ever since the first time I saw you.
"You cannot think how my Heart warms when I see your sweet face, O how I long for Sunday morning, so that we can have a chat. I would very much like to have a walk with you under the beautyfull canapey of Heaven were no one can over hear our conversation with two hearts bound with a chain of love. O my darling ________ be shure and do not dissippoint me in being at Church on Sunday morning. Or I am shure I shall go mad as the love I have is so great I am shure it will turn my brains. But it is very well I am near the Asylum if in case anything happens to me that you don't speak.
"Would you oblidge me with putting your handkerchief a little out of your pocket so that I shall know whether my letter answer is the purpose or not. Please to come out of this gate nearest to the station, then I will accopupany you if it will be accepted which I hope it will. So no more at present, hopeing this will find you well so I must conclude with my kindest love. – Yours real admirer. __________Rainhill."
I wonder if the woman spoke to him after church? Although the fact the love letter was found dumped on the street does not sound promising. And I don't think the man's dodgy spelling helped his case! But he had the consolation of living near Rainhill Asylum if the woman's rejection drove him mad!
Being caught begging in the street by the police usually led to a free trip in a horse-driven police wagon to Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool. However there were occasional exceptions to the harsh rule. In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th John Bowen was let off with a caution after being caught begging in Bridgewater Street. The man was found to have 1s 9d in his pocket and told the sole magistrate on the Bench that he only had one arm and had a wife and children to support.
The magistrate must have been in a very good mood as he also let off James Hulme and James Whittle who had been charged with committing a breach of the peace. They had been quarrelling in Burrows Lane in Eccleston and – as the St Helens Newspaper put it – "making a great din with their oaths and threats". The pair was discharged from the court on the basis that they had not assaulted each other – which wasn't what they had been charged with.
John Copple was prosecuted for allowing a cart to stand longer than necessary in Peasley Cross. The man had left his horse outside a shop and the animal had started off and smashed a gas lamp. A policeman had warned him not to leave his horse anymore but then later found it unattended in Ellbess Lane. John Copple was ordered to pay a 1-shilling fine.
Until recently Ellbess Lane had been known as Hell Bess Lane after beerhouse keeper Elisabeth Seddon of the Ell Bess Arms (pictured above). She was given the nickname of "Hell Bess" because of her prowess in dealing with rowdy drunks! In 1902 Ellbess Lane was renamed Sherdley Road.
Annie Woods from Park Road in Parr was charged with committing a breach of the peace outside her home at one o’clock in the morning. The 50-year-old claimed that her husband Samuel had abused her and put her out of the house. Annie said a police officer soon arrived on the scene but instead of giving her protection, he ordered her to go back indoors. She complied and was immediately "ill-used" by her husband and had to open a window and call out for help. However the policeman claimed that the woman was drunk and her husband sober. Annie Woods was ordered to find sureties for her good behaviour for 7 days.
Thomas Rimmer was yet another individual who walked out of his lodgings taking somebody else's clothes with him. The man had left John Hughes' house in Peasley Cross with two shirts and a pair of stockings and was sent to prison for a month.
Setting off cannons was a common if dangerous means of celebrating events in St Helens. In 1863 the wedding of the Prince of Wales was celebrated by some youths at Sutton Engine Sheds. They let off a number of cannons until a 56-pounder suddenly burst, severely wounding three of the lads. One had his left eye almost cut out.
On the 28th some of the workmen at James Varley's Waterloo Foundry in Waterloo Street decided to celebrate the 21st birthday of their boss's son. They fired off several rounds from what the Prescot Reporter called a "rough sort of cannon". Appreciating the danger James Varley ordered them to cease. This they did until their employer went to dinner and the workmen decided to fire off another shot.
It didn't go off and a boy called Joseph Howe stooped over the fuse when it suddenly exploded, severely scorching his hands and face. Three men also received burns. The extent of the boy's injuries was not yet known but it was thought likely that he had been blinded. During the evening a more peaceful celebration of James Varley Jnr's 21st birthday took place at the Fleece Hotel when 100 workmen were treated to a supper and entertainment.
A public meeting was held in the Town Hall on the 28th in favour of the Free Breakfast Table. This was a movement that campaigned for the abolition of taxes on basic foodstuffs and the Mayor, Lt. Col. David Gamble, chaired the meeting. In essence the meeting felt that government taxation was too high, that their expenditure was wasteful and these factors had contributed to the current depression in trade and high level of unemployment.
During the Victorian years many newspapers throughout Britain queued up to rubbish St Helens, describing the town as "grimy", "repugnant" and "dreary". The Coventry Evening Telegraph described St Helens as that “far from salubrious town where they manufacture chemicals and provide odours innumerable. It is a busy place, St. Helens, but distance lends attraction to the view – and the scents." In an article describing the opening of St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere".
In 1870 it was claimed there were 345 large furnace chimneys in St Helens and their noxious fumes did enormous damage to trees, crops and vegetation. At the Liverpool Assizes on the 29th William Tipping brought an action against the Sutton Copper Works. The eccentric Wigan cotton merchant who owned the extensive Bold Hall estate was demanding compensation for smoke damage to his estate from 1867 to 1869. The cost to Tipping in those three years was estimated by him as £84, £31 and £57, respectively – £172 in total.
The defence of the copper firm was that there was more than forty works near Bold Hall that emitted vapours of a more noxious character than they did. Tipping's lawyers claimed that the smoke that shrivelled up the vegetation at Bold had been traced to the copper works but knew they couldn't prove it. In the end the jury decided that the copper works was only partly responsible for the damage to Tipping's crops and vegetation and awarded him compensation of just £22 10s.
Next week's stories will include the Bridge Street butcher's wife who said her husband threatened to cut her heart out, the "shocking immorality and depraved habits" that were revealed in court, the man prosecuted for wasting water and why the copper workers in Sutton bought a bible for their boss.
We begin during the evening of the 23rd when the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the "geography of the world" – a big subject to cram into a couple of hours!
The inquest on the child of Joseph Piers of Fingerpost was held on the 25th. The unnamed infant was five-months-old and had died after catching a cold. Although the inquest jury brought in a verdict of death from natural causes, they censured the parents for taking their child to a chemist rather than to a doctor. That might have been because they couldn't afford the doctor's fee or because they didn't expect the common cold to cause the death of their baby.
On the 26th the Prescot Reporter published this love letter that had been handed into them after the note had been found near the Rainhill National School. The names were redacted but otherwise it is as originally written:
"My dearest ________ Excuse me taking the liberty of addressing you, but I don't know how to make your acquaintance. I will be at Church on Sunday morning, I will wear a Black cloth coat, And will have my handkerchief a little out of my pocket, so that you will know me, If you wish to speak to me, I shall be happy for you to do so as I am coming out of Church. As you cannot think how I long to make your acquaintance, I cannot express my feelings, and the love I have for you. If you do not speak to me I don't know how I shall pass the day as I am deeply in love with you Ever since the first time I saw you.
"You cannot think how my Heart warms when I see your sweet face, O how I long for Sunday morning, so that we can have a chat. I would very much like to have a walk with you under the beautyfull canapey of Heaven were no one can over hear our conversation with two hearts bound with a chain of love. O my darling ________ be shure and do not dissippoint me in being at Church on Sunday morning. Or I am shure I shall go mad as the love I have is so great I am shure it will turn my brains. But it is very well I am near the Asylum if in case anything happens to me that you don't speak.
"Would you oblidge me with putting your handkerchief a little out of your pocket so that I shall know whether my letter answer is the purpose or not. Please to come out of this gate nearest to the station, then I will accopupany you if it will be accepted which I hope it will. So no more at present, hopeing this will find you well so I must conclude with my kindest love. – Yours real admirer. __________Rainhill."
I wonder if the woman spoke to him after church? Although the fact the love letter was found dumped on the street does not sound promising. And I don't think the man's dodgy spelling helped his case! But he had the consolation of living near Rainhill Asylum if the woman's rejection drove him mad!
Being caught begging in the street by the police usually led to a free trip in a horse-driven police wagon to Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool. However there were occasional exceptions to the harsh rule. In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th John Bowen was let off with a caution after being caught begging in Bridgewater Street. The man was found to have 1s 9d in his pocket and told the sole magistrate on the Bench that he only had one arm and had a wife and children to support.
The magistrate must have been in a very good mood as he also let off James Hulme and James Whittle who had been charged with committing a breach of the peace. They had been quarrelling in Burrows Lane in Eccleston and – as the St Helens Newspaper put it – "making a great din with their oaths and threats". The pair was discharged from the court on the basis that they had not assaulted each other – which wasn't what they had been charged with.
John Copple was prosecuted for allowing a cart to stand longer than necessary in Peasley Cross. The man had left his horse outside a shop and the animal had started off and smashed a gas lamp. A policeman had warned him not to leave his horse anymore but then later found it unattended in Ellbess Lane. John Copple was ordered to pay a 1-shilling fine.
Annie Woods from Park Road in Parr was charged with committing a breach of the peace outside her home at one o’clock in the morning. The 50-year-old claimed that her husband Samuel had abused her and put her out of the house. Annie said a police officer soon arrived on the scene but instead of giving her protection, he ordered her to go back indoors. She complied and was immediately "ill-used" by her husband and had to open a window and call out for help. However the policeman claimed that the woman was drunk and her husband sober. Annie Woods was ordered to find sureties for her good behaviour for 7 days.
Thomas Rimmer was yet another individual who walked out of his lodgings taking somebody else's clothes with him. The man had left John Hughes' house in Peasley Cross with two shirts and a pair of stockings and was sent to prison for a month.
Setting off cannons was a common if dangerous means of celebrating events in St Helens. In 1863 the wedding of the Prince of Wales was celebrated by some youths at Sutton Engine Sheds. They let off a number of cannons until a 56-pounder suddenly burst, severely wounding three of the lads. One had his left eye almost cut out.
On the 28th some of the workmen at James Varley's Waterloo Foundry in Waterloo Street decided to celebrate the 21st birthday of their boss's son. They fired off several rounds from what the Prescot Reporter called a "rough sort of cannon". Appreciating the danger James Varley ordered them to cease. This they did until their employer went to dinner and the workmen decided to fire off another shot.
It didn't go off and a boy called Joseph Howe stooped over the fuse when it suddenly exploded, severely scorching his hands and face. Three men also received burns. The extent of the boy's injuries was not yet known but it was thought likely that he had been blinded. During the evening a more peaceful celebration of James Varley Jnr's 21st birthday took place at the Fleece Hotel when 100 workmen were treated to a supper and entertainment.
A public meeting was held in the Town Hall on the 28th in favour of the Free Breakfast Table. This was a movement that campaigned for the abolition of taxes on basic foodstuffs and the Mayor, Lt. Col. David Gamble, chaired the meeting. In essence the meeting felt that government taxation was too high, that their expenditure was wasteful and these factors had contributed to the current depression in trade and high level of unemployment.
During the Victorian years many newspapers throughout Britain queued up to rubbish St Helens, describing the town as "grimy", "repugnant" and "dreary". The Coventry Evening Telegraph described St Helens as that “far from salubrious town where they manufacture chemicals and provide odours innumerable. It is a busy place, St. Helens, but distance lends attraction to the view – and the scents." In an article describing the opening of St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere".
In 1870 it was claimed there were 345 large furnace chimneys in St Helens and their noxious fumes did enormous damage to trees, crops and vegetation. At the Liverpool Assizes on the 29th William Tipping brought an action against the Sutton Copper Works. The eccentric Wigan cotton merchant who owned the extensive Bold Hall estate was demanding compensation for smoke damage to his estate from 1867 to 1869. The cost to Tipping in those three years was estimated by him as £84, £31 and £57, respectively – £172 in total.
The defence of the copper firm was that there was more than forty works near Bold Hall that emitted vapours of a more noxious character than they did. Tipping's lawyers claimed that the smoke that shrivelled up the vegetation at Bold had been traced to the copper works but knew they couldn't prove it. In the end the jury decided that the copper works was only partly responsible for the damage to Tipping's crops and vegetation and awarded him compensation of just £22 10s.
Next week's stories will include the Bridge Street butcher's wife who said her husband threatened to cut her heart out, the "shocking immorality and depraved habits" that were revealed in court, the man prosecuted for wasting water and why the copper workers in Sutton bought a bible for their boss.
This week's stories include the Waterloo Street cannon explosion, the Park Road woman who claimed a policeman made her return to her abusive husband, the Fingerpost baby that died after catching a cold, a Rainhill love letter and the noxious fumes from the Sutton Copper Works that caused damage to the Bold Hall estate.
We begin during the evening of the 23rd when the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the "geography of the world" – a big subject to cram into a couple of hours!
The inquest on the child of Joseph Piers of Fingerpost was held on the 25th. The unnamed infant was five-months-old and had died after catching a cold.
Although the inquest jury brought in a verdict of death from natural causes, they censured the parents for taking their child to a chemist rather than to a doctor.
That might have been because they couldn't afford the doctor's fee or because they didn't expect the common cold to cause the death of their baby.
On the 26th the Prescot Reporter published this love letter that had been handed into them after the note had been found near the Rainhill National School.
The names were redacted but otherwise it is as originally written:
"My dearest ________ Excuse me taking the liberty of addressing you, but I don't know how to make your acquaintance. I will be at Church on Sunday morning, I will wear a Black cloth coat, And will have my handkerchief a little out of my pocket, so that you will know me, If you wish to speak to me, I shall be happy for you to do so as I am coming out of Church.
"As you cannot think how I long to make your acquaintance, I cannot express my feelings, and the love I have for you. If you do not speak to me I don't know how I shall pass the day as I am deeply in love with you Ever since the first time I saw you.
"You cannot think how my Heart warms when I see your sweet face, O how I long for Sunday morning, so that we can have a chat. I would very much like to have a walk with you under the beautyfull canapey of Heaven were no one can over hear our conversation with two hearts bound with a chain of love.
"O my darling ________ be shure and do not dissippoint me in being at Church on Sunday morning. Or I am shure I shall go mad as the love I have is so great I am shure it will turn my brains. But it is very well I am near the Asylum if in case anything happens to me that you don't speak.
"Would you oblidge me with putting your handkerchief a little out of your pocket so that I shall know whether my letter answer is the purpose or not. Please to come out of this gate nearest to the station, then I will accopupany you if it will be accepted which I hope it will.
"So no more at present, hopeing this will find you well so I must conclude with my kindest love. – Yours real admirer. __________Rainhill."
I wonder if the woman spoke to him after church?
Although the fact the love letter was found dumped on the street does not sound promising.
And I don't think the man's dodgy spelling helped his case!
But he had the consolation of living near Rainhill Asylum if the woman's rejection drove him mad!
Being caught begging in the street by the police usually led to a free trip in a horse-driven police wagon to Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool.
However there were occasional exceptions to the harsh rule.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th John Bowen was let off with a caution after being caught begging in Bridgewater Street.
The man was found to have 1s 9d in his pocket and told the sole magistrate on the Bench that he only had one arm and had a wife and children to support.
The magistrate must have been in a very good mood as he also let off James Hulme and James Whittle who had been charged with committing a breach of the peace.
They had been quarrelling in Burrows Lane in Eccleston and – as the St Helens Newspaper put it – "making a great din with their oaths and threats".
The pair was discharged from the court on the basis that they had not assaulted each other – which wasn't what they had been charged with.
John Copple was prosecuted for allowing a cart to stand longer than necessary in Peasley Cross.
The man had left his horse outside a shop and the animal had started off and smashed a gas lamp.
A policeman had warned him not to leave his horse anymore but then later found it unattended in Ellbess Lane. John Copple was ordered to pay a 1-shilling fine.
Until recently Ellbess Lane had been known as Hell Bess Lane after beerhouse keeper Elisabeth Seddon of the Ell Bess Arms (pictured above).
She was given the nickname of "Hell Bess" because of her prowess in dealing with rowdy drunks! In 1902 Ellbess Lane was renamed Sherdley Road.
Annie Woods from Park Road in Parr was charged with committing a breach of the peace outside her home at one o’clock in the morning.
The 50-year-old claimed that her husband Samuel had abused her and put her out of the house.
Annie said a police officer soon arrived on the scene but instead of giving her protection, he ordered her to go back indoors.
She complied and was immediately "ill-used" by her husband and had to open a window and call out for help.
However the policeman claimed that the woman was drunk and her husband sober. Annie Woods was ordered to find sureties for her good behaviour for 7 days.
Thomas Rimmer was yet another individual who walked out of his lodgings taking somebody else's clothes with him.
The man had left John Hughes' house in Peasley Cross with two shirts and a pair of stockings and was sent to prison for a month.
Setting off cannons was a common if dangerous means of celebrating events in St Helens.
In 1863 the wedding of the Prince of Wales was celebrated by some youths at Sutton Engine Sheds.
They let off a number of cannons until a 56-pounder suddenly burst, severely wounding three of the lads. One had his left eye almost cut out.
On the 28th some of the workmen at James Varley's Waterloo Foundry in Waterloo Street decided to celebrate the 21st birthday of their boss's son.
They fired off several rounds from what the Prescot Reporter called a "rough sort of cannon".
Appreciating the danger James Varley ordered them to cease.
This they did until their employer went to dinner and the workmen decided to fire off another shot.
It didn't go off and a boy called Joseph Howe stooped over the fuse when it suddenly exploded, severely scorching his hands and face.
Three men also received burns. The extent of the boy's injuries was not yet known but it was thought likely that he had been blinded.
During the evening a more peaceful celebration of James Varley Jnr's 21st birthday took place at the Fleece Hotel when 100 workmen were treated to a supper and entertainment.
A public meeting was held in the Town Hall on the 28th in favour of the Free Breakfast Table.
This was a movement that campaigned for the abolition of taxes on basic foodstuffs and the Mayor, Lt. Col. David Gamble, chaired the meeting.
In essence the meeting felt that government taxation was too high, that their expenditure was wasteful and these factors had contributed to the current depression in trade and high level of unemployment.
During the Victorian years many newspapers throughout Britain queued up to rubbish St Helens, describing the town as "grimy", "repugnant" and "dreary".
The Coventry Evening Telegraph described St Helens as that “far from salubrious town where they manufacture chemicals and provide odours innumerable. It is a busy place, St. Helens, but distance lends attraction to the view – and the scents."
In an article describing the opening of St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere".
In 1870 it was claimed there were 345 large furnace chimneys in St Helens and their noxious fumes did enormous damage to trees, crops and vegetation.
At the Liverpool Assizes on the 29th William Tipping brought an action against the Sutton Copper Works.
The eccentric Wigan cotton merchant who owned the extensive Bold Hall estate was demanding compensation for smoke damage to his estate from 1867 to 1869.
The cost to Tipping in those three years was estimated by him as £84, £31 and £57, respectively – £172 in total.
The defence of the copper firm was that there was more than forty works near Bold Hall that emitted vapours of a more noxious character than they did.
Tipping's lawyers claimed that the smoke that shrivelled up the vegetation at Bold had been traced to the copper works but knew they couldn't prove it.
In the end the jury decided that the copper works was only partly responsible for the damage to Tipping's crops and vegetation and awarded him compensation of just £22 10s.
Next week's stories will include the Bridge Street butcher's wife who said her husband threatened to cut her heart out, the "shocking immorality and depraved habits" that were revealed in court, the man prosecuted for wasting water and why the copper workers in Sutton bought a bible for their boss.
We begin during the evening of the 23rd when the Pilkington's Workmen's Recreation Society met in their Recreation Room and listened to a lecture on the "geography of the world" – a big subject to cram into a couple of hours!
The inquest on the child of Joseph Piers of Fingerpost was held on the 25th. The unnamed infant was five-months-old and had died after catching a cold.
Although the inquest jury brought in a verdict of death from natural causes, they censured the parents for taking their child to a chemist rather than to a doctor.
That might have been because they couldn't afford the doctor's fee or because they didn't expect the common cold to cause the death of their baby.
On the 26th the Prescot Reporter published this love letter that had been handed into them after the note had been found near the Rainhill National School.
The names were redacted but otherwise it is as originally written:
"My dearest ________ Excuse me taking the liberty of addressing you, but I don't know how to make your acquaintance. I will be at Church on Sunday morning, I will wear a Black cloth coat, And will have my handkerchief a little out of my pocket, so that you will know me, If you wish to speak to me, I shall be happy for you to do so as I am coming out of Church.
"As you cannot think how I long to make your acquaintance, I cannot express my feelings, and the love I have for you. If you do not speak to me I don't know how I shall pass the day as I am deeply in love with you Ever since the first time I saw you.
"You cannot think how my Heart warms when I see your sweet face, O how I long for Sunday morning, so that we can have a chat. I would very much like to have a walk with you under the beautyfull canapey of Heaven were no one can over hear our conversation with two hearts bound with a chain of love.
"O my darling ________ be shure and do not dissippoint me in being at Church on Sunday morning. Or I am shure I shall go mad as the love I have is so great I am shure it will turn my brains. But it is very well I am near the Asylum if in case anything happens to me that you don't speak.
"Would you oblidge me with putting your handkerchief a little out of your pocket so that I shall know whether my letter answer is the purpose or not. Please to come out of this gate nearest to the station, then I will accopupany you if it will be accepted which I hope it will.
"So no more at present, hopeing this will find you well so I must conclude with my kindest love. – Yours real admirer. __________Rainhill."
I wonder if the woman spoke to him after church?
Although the fact the love letter was found dumped on the street does not sound promising.
And I don't think the man's dodgy spelling helped his case!
But he had the consolation of living near Rainhill Asylum if the woman's rejection drove him mad!
Being caught begging in the street by the police usually led to a free trip in a horse-driven police wagon to Kirkdale Gaol in Liverpool.
However there were occasional exceptions to the harsh rule.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th John Bowen was let off with a caution after being caught begging in Bridgewater Street.
The man was found to have 1s 9d in his pocket and told the sole magistrate on the Bench that he only had one arm and had a wife and children to support.
The magistrate must have been in a very good mood as he also let off James Hulme and James Whittle who had been charged with committing a breach of the peace.
They had been quarrelling in Burrows Lane in Eccleston and – as the St Helens Newspaper put it – "making a great din with their oaths and threats".
The pair was discharged from the court on the basis that they had not assaulted each other – which wasn't what they had been charged with.
John Copple was prosecuted for allowing a cart to stand longer than necessary in Peasley Cross.
The man had left his horse outside a shop and the animal had started off and smashed a gas lamp.
A policeman had warned him not to leave his horse anymore but then later found it unattended in Ellbess Lane. John Copple was ordered to pay a 1-shilling fine.
She was given the nickname of "Hell Bess" because of her prowess in dealing with rowdy drunks! In 1902 Ellbess Lane was renamed Sherdley Road.
Annie Woods from Park Road in Parr was charged with committing a breach of the peace outside her home at one o’clock in the morning.
The 50-year-old claimed that her husband Samuel had abused her and put her out of the house.
Annie said a police officer soon arrived on the scene but instead of giving her protection, he ordered her to go back indoors.
She complied and was immediately "ill-used" by her husband and had to open a window and call out for help.
However the policeman claimed that the woman was drunk and her husband sober. Annie Woods was ordered to find sureties for her good behaviour for 7 days.
Thomas Rimmer was yet another individual who walked out of his lodgings taking somebody else's clothes with him.
The man had left John Hughes' house in Peasley Cross with two shirts and a pair of stockings and was sent to prison for a month.
Setting off cannons was a common if dangerous means of celebrating events in St Helens.
In 1863 the wedding of the Prince of Wales was celebrated by some youths at Sutton Engine Sheds.
They let off a number of cannons until a 56-pounder suddenly burst, severely wounding three of the lads. One had his left eye almost cut out.
On the 28th some of the workmen at James Varley's Waterloo Foundry in Waterloo Street decided to celebrate the 21st birthday of their boss's son.
They fired off several rounds from what the Prescot Reporter called a "rough sort of cannon".
Appreciating the danger James Varley ordered them to cease.
This they did until their employer went to dinner and the workmen decided to fire off another shot.
It didn't go off and a boy called Joseph Howe stooped over the fuse when it suddenly exploded, severely scorching his hands and face.
Three men also received burns. The extent of the boy's injuries was not yet known but it was thought likely that he had been blinded.
During the evening a more peaceful celebration of James Varley Jnr's 21st birthday took place at the Fleece Hotel when 100 workmen were treated to a supper and entertainment.
A public meeting was held in the Town Hall on the 28th in favour of the Free Breakfast Table.
This was a movement that campaigned for the abolition of taxes on basic foodstuffs and the Mayor, Lt. Col. David Gamble, chaired the meeting.
In essence the meeting felt that government taxation was too high, that their expenditure was wasteful and these factors had contributed to the current depression in trade and high level of unemployment.
During the Victorian years many newspapers throughout Britain queued up to rubbish St Helens, describing the town as "grimy", "repugnant" and "dreary".
The Coventry Evening Telegraph described St Helens as that “far from salubrious town where they manufacture chemicals and provide odours innumerable. It is a busy place, St. Helens, but distance lends attraction to the view – and the scents."
In an article describing the opening of St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere".
In 1870 it was claimed there were 345 large furnace chimneys in St Helens and their noxious fumes did enormous damage to trees, crops and vegetation.
At the Liverpool Assizes on the 29th William Tipping brought an action against the Sutton Copper Works.
The eccentric Wigan cotton merchant who owned the extensive Bold Hall estate was demanding compensation for smoke damage to his estate from 1867 to 1869.
The cost to Tipping in those three years was estimated by him as £84, £31 and £57, respectively – £172 in total.
The defence of the copper firm was that there was more than forty works near Bold Hall that emitted vapours of a more noxious character than they did.
Tipping's lawyers claimed that the smoke that shrivelled up the vegetation at Bold had been traced to the copper works but knew they couldn't prove it.
In the end the jury decided that the copper works was only partly responsible for the damage to Tipping's crops and vegetation and awarded him compensation of just £22 10s.
Next week's stories will include the Bridge Street butcher's wife who said her husband threatened to cut her heart out, the "shocking immorality and depraved habits" that were revealed in court, the man prosecuted for wasting water and why the copper workers in Sutton bought a bible for their boss.