150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (26th APRIL - 2nd MAY 1871)
This week's stories include the May Day celebrations in St Helens, a dreadful dray accident takes place near Prescot, St Helens landlords campaign against a new licensing law, the Red Bank mill sale and memories of the Ashton anti-surplice riots are revived.
On the 26th the publicans of St Helens, Prescot and district held a meeting in the Fleece Hotel to protest against a proposed new licensing law that was set to bring in sweeping changes. These would include allowing local authorities to determine licensing hours and regulate the content of beer. It would also be an offence to be drunk in a public place while in charge of a horse, cow or a steam engine. Those clauses are still in force today – so next time you drive a cow down Church Street, don't get tiddly will you!
There were up to 150 angry persons with vested interests present at the meeting, which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery. The chairman denied that drunkenness was as prevalent as the teetotal advocates claimed, arguing that St Helens last year with a population of 55,000 only had a 2% conviction rate for drunkenness. Then George Candelet, secretary of the Licensed Victuallers' Association, delivered a lengthy and furious address attacking the legislation.
He characterised the entire measure as a "piece of robbery and wrong, on a par with the spoliation of the Irish Church, and unworthy of a Government which called itself Liberal." A resolution was passed which said the meeting was "painfully convinced" that if the Bill before the Commons became law it would "inflict an irreparable amount of injury upon the licensed victualling trade, and at the same time give very great inconvenience to the public."
The legislation that came in during 1872 seems quite reasonable by our standards with drinkers in towns still in most cases able to consume alcohol until midnight. But many were horrified by the loss of personal liberty – and not just the ones scared of losing money. Apart from a Sunday morning drinking ban there was then almost an "anything goes" culture in the drinking houses with the police largely powerless to act. For instance they could do nothing about the common practice of landlords adding salt to their beer to induce customers to drink more.
On the 29th in the St Helens Petty Sessions, Francis Killamey pleaded guilty to stealing a concertina from the Bulls Head Inn in Worsley Brow in Sutton. The man's guilty plea probably saved him from a month or two in prison – but he still was sentenced to spend a fortnight in Kirkdale Gaol. It sounds like the magistrates were in a generous mood. At the same hearing a child called Mary Roberts was found guilty of stealing 16 pounds of coal from Peasley House Colliery in Peasley Cross. But instead of the customary 7 to 14 days in prison, the girl was let off with a caution.
Red Bank at Newton-le-Willows is remembered mainly for its former children's home and juvenile detention centre that housed some notorious young prisoners. However it was also where a civil war battle took place and where an old corn mill had been in operation. Mill Lane – sandwiched between Willow Park and Winwick Road / Newton Road – is a present-day reminder of the area's past industrial heritage.
On the 29th the Wigan Observer published an advertisement for a sale of mill paraphernalia and household effects that had belonged to Martha Peters. The 37-year-old unmarried woman was leaving the district and often the better off when relocating would flog off most of their goods at auction. That, I expect, was partly because it was too much hassle to cart everything to their new residence and if downsizing, they probably wouldn't have the space.
The mill material included everything from corn crushers, weighing machines, sieves, ropes, chains, stepladders, pig trough, flour bins and lots of other stuff. The huge amount of household furniture and effects included cases of stuffed birds, a slop stone, clothes maiden, dolly and other tubs, mahogany sofa "in hair seating", flock mattresses, feather beds, eight-day clocks, one strong barren cow, milking stool and licking tub and "choice assortment of ducks, hens &c".
Memories of the extraordinary anti-surplice riots in Ashton-in-Makerfield were revived on the 30th with the death of the Rev. Page Oldham from a heart complaint. Last year the 28-year-old old vicar of St Thomas's had simply decided to preach in a surplice instead of a black gown – a decision that caused mayhem! Many traditionalists did not approve and large protests began.
On one Sunday thirty constables were needed to provide protection for Rev. Oldham as he walked between the vicarage and his church. The Liverpool Courier wrote that the mob "cheering and yelling vociferously, tried hard to reach the clergyman, but were prevented by the policemen." As the vicar was hurried into his house, the large crowd broke through the police lines causing chaos: "The officers were then formed four deep, and marched up and down the road. Many stones were thrown, and several of the bystanders were severely hurt."
It was May Day on – well, May 1st, just for a change! The day was always celebrated in St Helens by a big parade of horses and carts, as described by the St Helens Newspaper in 1869: "We do not see the morris-dancers in picturesque procession, enlivening our streets, but we have processions of horses which seem to excite just as much interest, and draw as many people from their houses."
This year the Liverpool Mercury prefaced its reports on the celebrations in the district with this reflection on the changing times:
"Like many of the old national customs which have gradually been declining, the celebration of May Day has, for some time been dissociated from the distinctive character that once belonged to it. The Maypole and its accompanying festivities have become matters of history, and the recollections they awaken are identified with a period when the enjoyments of the people had not been trenched upon by the necessities of town life and the consequent limitation of opportunities of out-door amusement. It has now become essentially the day for that noble animal the horse, in honour of which processions of almost every variety, and exhibiting the utmost ingenuity in attempts at decoration, are originated and carried out with a vigour that is not to be found amongst the knights of the whip at any other period of the year."
The turnout in St Helens was described as having been larger than in any previous year. The weather was fine all day leading to thousands of persons assembling in the streets to watch the procession of carts. The Mercury wrote: "The spectacle began about eleven o'clock, and terminated about three in the afternoon. The trappings were generally of the most showy and striking character, and evidenced a good deal of taste. The horses were in most instances in splendid condition, and excited the admiration of all beholders."
During the evening of the 1st a dreadful accident occurred near Prescot involving a brewery dray cart belonging to Isaac Grace. I've mentioned Grace a few times in these articles. He owned a brewery in Liverpool and beerhouses in St Helens, including ones in Robins Lane and Bridge Street. On one occasion he hired a group of miners to physically evict a landlord and his family from their pub. In the ensuing court case, one witness claimed to be an old Waterloo hero but upon being questioned by the judge admitted he was referring to Waterloo near Crosby and not Waterloo in Belgium!
The dray accident caused the death of Henry Standish and his inquest was held at the Eagle and Child Inn, near Huyton. The coroner was informed that two other men had been injured and they were lying in a precarious condition at the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool. The 27-year-old Standish had been in St Helens on his horse-driven dray to deliver barrels of beer and had also probably taken part in the May Day parade. Brewery foreman Robert Sanderson and his son William had accompanied the carter, along with engine driver George Parker and a boy named John Wycherley.
Having delivered the beer, the deceased Standish collected his wife and the group began the return journey in the dray – which was loaded up with empty barrels. The horses had no reins and at about 10pm the party began singing a song with the chorus of "Crack, crack, goes the whip". At the time the boy John Wycherley was leading the horses down a hill at Knowsley and William Sanderson – no doubt spurred on by the song – cracked his whip and the spirited horses took off at a gallop. The boy could no longer hold them and so Henry Standish tried to get off the dray by its shaft in order to bring the team to a halt. However his smock got caught on the top of the dray and he fell beneath its wheels. These then passed over his thighs and fractured them both.
George Parker next attempted to get off the dray but he also fell and several barrels rolled on top of him. Robert Sanderson attempted to prevent his son William from following the two others but failed and he also fell to the ground and was seriously hurt. The horses were stopped shortly afterwards and the three men were found lying upon the road and taken into the Engle and Child where Henry Standish died on the following morning.
Though the men admitted having drunk some beer during the day, it was claimed that they were not intoxicated at the time of the accident. The jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death. From what I can tell from the records, 23-year-old William Sanderson died later in the year but George Parker appears to have survived. Driving carriages or carts without reins was actually illegal but still appears to have been a common practice.
Next week's stories will include the disastrous town hall fire, two Parr men are accused of rape, the Bold race between a bicycle and a pedestrian and the inquiry into the abuses in the Prescot watchmaking industry releases its report.
There were up to 150 angry persons with vested interests present at the meeting, which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery. The chairman denied that drunkenness was as prevalent as the teetotal advocates claimed, arguing that St Helens last year with a population of 55,000 only had a 2% conviction rate for drunkenness. Then George Candelet, secretary of the Licensed Victuallers' Association, delivered a lengthy and furious address attacking the legislation.
He characterised the entire measure as a "piece of robbery and wrong, on a par with the spoliation of the Irish Church, and unworthy of a Government which called itself Liberal." A resolution was passed which said the meeting was "painfully convinced" that if the Bill before the Commons became law it would "inflict an irreparable amount of injury upon the licensed victualling trade, and at the same time give very great inconvenience to the public."
The legislation that came in during 1872 seems quite reasonable by our standards with drinkers in towns still in most cases able to consume alcohol until midnight. But many were horrified by the loss of personal liberty – and not just the ones scared of losing money. Apart from a Sunday morning drinking ban there was then almost an "anything goes" culture in the drinking houses with the police largely powerless to act. For instance they could do nothing about the common practice of landlords adding salt to their beer to induce customers to drink more.
On the 29th in the St Helens Petty Sessions, Francis Killamey pleaded guilty to stealing a concertina from the Bulls Head Inn in Worsley Brow in Sutton. The man's guilty plea probably saved him from a month or two in prison – but he still was sentenced to spend a fortnight in Kirkdale Gaol. It sounds like the magistrates were in a generous mood. At the same hearing a child called Mary Roberts was found guilty of stealing 16 pounds of coal from Peasley House Colliery in Peasley Cross. But instead of the customary 7 to 14 days in prison, the girl was let off with a caution.
Red Bank at Newton-le-Willows is remembered mainly for its former children's home and juvenile detention centre that housed some notorious young prisoners. However it was also where a civil war battle took place and where an old corn mill had been in operation. Mill Lane – sandwiched between Willow Park and Winwick Road / Newton Road – is a present-day reminder of the area's past industrial heritage.
On the 29th the Wigan Observer published an advertisement for a sale of mill paraphernalia and household effects that had belonged to Martha Peters. The 37-year-old unmarried woman was leaving the district and often the better off when relocating would flog off most of their goods at auction. That, I expect, was partly because it was too much hassle to cart everything to their new residence and if downsizing, they probably wouldn't have the space.
The mill material included everything from corn crushers, weighing machines, sieves, ropes, chains, stepladders, pig trough, flour bins and lots of other stuff. The huge amount of household furniture and effects included cases of stuffed birds, a slop stone, clothes maiden, dolly and other tubs, mahogany sofa "in hair seating", flock mattresses, feather beds, eight-day clocks, one strong barren cow, milking stool and licking tub and "choice assortment of ducks, hens &c".
Memories of the extraordinary anti-surplice riots in Ashton-in-Makerfield were revived on the 30th with the death of the Rev. Page Oldham from a heart complaint. Last year the 28-year-old old vicar of St Thomas's had simply decided to preach in a surplice instead of a black gown – a decision that caused mayhem! Many traditionalists did not approve and large protests began.
On one Sunday thirty constables were needed to provide protection for Rev. Oldham as he walked between the vicarage and his church. The Liverpool Courier wrote that the mob "cheering and yelling vociferously, tried hard to reach the clergyman, but were prevented by the policemen." As the vicar was hurried into his house, the large crowd broke through the police lines causing chaos: "The officers were then formed four deep, and marched up and down the road. Many stones were thrown, and several of the bystanders were severely hurt."
It was May Day on – well, May 1st, just for a change! The day was always celebrated in St Helens by a big parade of horses and carts, as described by the St Helens Newspaper in 1869: "We do not see the morris-dancers in picturesque procession, enlivening our streets, but we have processions of horses which seem to excite just as much interest, and draw as many people from their houses."
This year the Liverpool Mercury prefaced its reports on the celebrations in the district with this reflection on the changing times:
"Like many of the old national customs which have gradually been declining, the celebration of May Day has, for some time been dissociated from the distinctive character that once belonged to it. The Maypole and its accompanying festivities have become matters of history, and the recollections they awaken are identified with a period when the enjoyments of the people had not been trenched upon by the necessities of town life and the consequent limitation of opportunities of out-door amusement. It has now become essentially the day for that noble animal the horse, in honour of which processions of almost every variety, and exhibiting the utmost ingenuity in attempts at decoration, are originated and carried out with a vigour that is not to be found amongst the knights of the whip at any other period of the year."
The turnout in St Helens was described as having been larger than in any previous year. The weather was fine all day leading to thousands of persons assembling in the streets to watch the procession of carts. The Mercury wrote: "The spectacle began about eleven o'clock, and terminated about three in the afternoon. The trappings were generally of the most showy and striking character, and evidenced a good deal of taste. The horses were in most instances in splendid condition, and excited the admiration of all beholders."
During the evening of the 1st a dreadful accident occurred near Prescot involving a brewery dray cart belonging to Isaac Grace. I've mentioned Grace a few times in these articles. He owned a brewery in Liverpool and beerhouses in St Helens, including ones in Robins Lane and Bridge Street. On one occasion he hired a group of miners to physically evict a landlord and his family from their pub. In the ensuing court case, one witness claimed to be an old Waterloo hero but upon being questioned by the judge admitted he was referring to Waterloo near Crosby and not Waterloo in Belgium!
The dray accident caused the death of Henry Standish and his inquest was held at the Eagle and Child Inn, near Huyton. The coroner was informed that two other men had been injured and they were lying in a precarious condition at the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool. The 27-year-old Standish had been in St Helens on his horse-driven dray to deliver barrels of beer and had also probably taken part in the May Day parade. Brewery foreman Robert Sanderson and his son William had accompanied the carter, along with engine driver George Parker and a boy named John Wycherley.
Having delivered the beer, the deceased Standish collected his wife and the group began the return journey in the dray – which was loaded up with empty barrels. The horses had no reins and at about 10pm the party began singing a song with the chorus of "Crack, crack, goes the whip". At the time the boy John Wycherley was leading the horses down a hill at Knowsley and William Sanderson – no doubt spurred on by the song – cracked his whip and the spirited horses took off at a gallop. The boy could no longer hold them and so Henry Standish tried to get off the dray by its shaft in order to bring the team to a halt. However his smock got caught on the top of the dray and he fell beneath its wheels. These then passed over his thighs and fractured them both.
George Parker next attempted to get off the dray but he also fell and several barrels rolled on top of him. Robert Sanderson attempted to prevent his son William from following the two others but failed and he also fell to the ground and was seriously hurt. The horses were stopped shortly afterwards and the three men were found lying upon the road and taken into the Engle and Child where Henry Standish died on the following morning.
Though the men admitted having drunk some beer during the day, it was claimed that they were not intoxicated at the time of the accident. The jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death. From what I can tell from the records, 23-year-old William Sanderson died later in the year but George Parker appears to have survived. Driving carriages or carts without reins was actually illegal but still appears to have been a common practice.
Next week's stories will include the disastrous town hall fire, two Parr men are accused of rape, the Bold race between a bicycle and a pedestrian and the inquiry into the abuses in the Prescot watchmaking industry releases its report.
This week's stories include the May Day celebrations in St Helens, a dreadful dray accident takes place near Prescot, St Helens landlords campaign against a new licensing law, the Red Bank mill sale and memories of the Ashton anti-surplice riots are revived.
On the 26th the publicans of St Helens, Prescot and district held a meeting in the Fleece Hotel to protest against a proposed new licensing law that was set to bring in sweeping changes.
These would include allowing local authorities to determine licensing hours and regulate the content of beer. It would also be an offence to be drunk in a public place while in charge of a horse, cow or a steam engine.
Those clauses are still in force today – so next time you drive a cow down Church Street, don't get tiddly will you!
There were up to 150 angry persons with vested interests present at the meeting, which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery.
The chairman denied that drunkenness was as prevalent as the teetotal advocates claimed, arguing that St Helens last year with a population of 55,000 only had a 2% conviction rate for drunkenness.
Then George Candelet, secretary of the Licensed Victuallers' Association, delivered a lengthy and furious address attacking the legislation.
He characterised the entire measure as a "piece of robbery and wrong, on a par with the spoliation of the Irish Church, and unworthy of a Government which called itself Liberal."
A resolution was passed which said the meeting was "painfully convinced" that if the Bill before the Commons became law it would "inflict an irreparable amount of injury upon the licensed victualling trade, and at the same time give very great inconvenience to the public."
The legislation that came in during 1872 seems quite reasonable by our standards with drinkers in towns still in most cases able to consume alcohol until midnight.
But many were horrified by the loss of personal liberty – and not just the ones scared of losing money.
Apart from a Sunday morning drinking ban there was then almost an "anything goes" culture in the drinking houses with the police largely powerless to act.
For instance they could do nothing about the common practice of landlords adding salt to their beer to induce customers to drink more.
On the 29th in the St Helens Petty Sessions, Francis Killamey pleaded guilty to stealing a concertina from the Bulls Head Inn in Worsley Brow in Sutton.
The man's guilty plea probably saved him from a month or two in prison – but he still was sentenced to spend a fortnight in Kirkdale Gaol.
It sounds like the magistrates were in a generous mood. At the same hearing a child called Mary Roberts was found guilty of stealing 16 pounds of coal from Peasley House Colliery in Peasley Cross.
But instead of the customary 7 to 14 days in prison, the girl was let off with a caution.
Red Bank at Newton-le-Willows is remembered mainly for its former children's home and juvenile detention centre that housed some notorious young prisoners.
However it was also where a civil war battle took place and where an old corn mill had been in operation.
Mill Lane – sandwiched between Willow Park and Winwick Road / Newton Road – is a present-day reminder of the area's past industrial heritage.
On the 29th the Wigan Observer published an advertisement for a sale of mill paraphernalia and household effects that had belonged to Martha Peters.
The 37-year-old unmarried woman was leaving the district and often the better off when relocating would flog off most of their goods at auction.
That, I expect, was partly because it was too much hassle to cart everything to their new residence and if downsizing, they probably wouldn't have the space.
The mill material included everything from corn crushers, weighing machines, sieves, ropes, chains, stepladders, pig trough, flour bins and lots of other stuff.
The huge amount of household furniture and effects included cases of stuffed birds, a slop stone, clothes maiden, dolly and other tubs, mahogany sofa "in hair seating", flock mattresses, feather beds, eight-day clocks, one strong barren cow, milking stool and licking tub and "choice assortment of ducks, hens &c".
Memories of the extraordinary anti-surplice riots in Ashton-in-Makerfield were revived on the 30th with the death of the Rev. Page Oldham from a heart complaint.
Last year the 28-year-old old vicar of St Thomas's had simply decided to preach in a surplice instead of a black gown – a decision that caused mayhem!
Many traditionalists did not approve and large protests began.
On one Sunday thirty constables were needed to provide protection for Rev. Oldham as he walked between the vicarage and his church.
The Liverpool Courier wrote that the mob "cheering and yelling vociferously, tried hard to reach the clergyman, but were prevented by the policemen."
As the vicar was hurried into his house, the large crowd broke through the police lines causing chaos:
"The officers were then formed four deep, and marched up and down the road. Many stones were thrown, and several of the bystanders were severely hurt."
It was May Day on – well, May 1st, just for a change! The day was always celebrated in St Helens by a big parade of horses and carts, as described by the St Helens Newspaper in 1869:
"We do not see the morris-dancers in picturesque procession, enlivening our streets, but we have processions of horses which seem to excite just as much interest, and draw as many people from their houses."
This year the Liverpool Mercury prefaced its reports on the celebrations in the district with this reflection on the changing times:
"Like many of the old national customs which have gradually been declining, the celebration of May Day has, for some time been dissociated from the distinctive character that once belonged to it.
"The Maypole and its accompanying festivities have become matters of history, and the recollections they awaken are identified with a period when the enjoyments of the people had not been trenched upon by the necessities of town life and the consequent limitation of opportunities of out-door amusement.
"It has now become essentially the day for that noble animal the horse, in honour of which processions of almost every variety, and exhibiting the utmost ingenuity in attempts at decoration, are originated and carried out with a vigour that is not to be found amongst the knights of the whip at any other period of the year."
The turnout in St Helens was described as having been larger than in any previous year.
The weather was fine all day leading to thousands of persons assembling in the streets to watch the procession of carts.
The Mercury wrote: "The spectacle began about eleven o'clock, and terminated about three in the afternoon.
"The trappings were generally of the most showy and striking character, and evidenced a good deal of taste. The horses were in most instances in splendid condition, and excited the admiration of all beholders."
During the evening of the 1st a dreadful accident occurred near Prescot involving a brewery dray cart belonging to Isaac Grace.
I've mentioned Grace a few times in these articles. He owned a brewery in Liverpool and beerhouses in St Helens, including ones in Robins Lane and Bridge Street.
On one occasion he hired a group of miners to physically evict a landlord and his family from their pub.
In the ensuing court case, one witness claimed to be an old Waterloo hero but upon being questioned by the judge admitted he was referring to Waterloo near Crosby and not Waterloo in Belgium!
The dray accident caused the death of Henry Standish and his inquest was held at the Eagle and Child Inn, near Huyton.
The coroner was informed that two other men had been injured and they were lying in a precarious condition at the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool.
The 27-year-old Standish had been in St Helens on his horse-driven dray to deliver barrels of beer and had also probably taken part in the May Day parade.
Brewery foreman Robert Sanderson and his son William had accompanied the carter, along with engine driver George Parker and a boy named John Wycherley.
Having delivered the beer, the deceased Standish collected his wife and the group began the return journey in the dray – which was loaded up with empty barrels.
The horses had no reins and at about 10pm the party began singing a song with the chorus of "Crack, crack, goes the whip".
At the time the boy John Wycherley was leading the horses down a hill at Knowsley and William Sanderson – no doubt spurred on by the song – cracked his whip and the spirited horses took off at a gallop.
The boy could no longer hold them and so Henry Standish tried to get off the dray by its shaft in order to bring the team to a halt.
However his smock got caught on the top of the dray and he fell beneath its wheels. These then passed over his thighs and fractured them both.
George Parker next attempted to get off the dray but he also fell and several barrels rolled on top of him.
Robert Sanderson attempted to prevent his son William from following the two others but failed and he also fell to the ground and was seriously hurt.
The horses were stopped shortly afterwards and the three men were found lying upon the road and taken into the Engle and Child where Henry Standish died on the following morning.
Though the men admitted having drunk some beer during the day, it was claimed that they were not intoxicated at the time of the accident.
The jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death. From what I can tell from the records, 23-year-old William Sanderson died later in the year but George Parker appears to have survived.
Driving carriages or carts without reins was actually illegal but still appears to have been a common practice.
Next week's stories will include the disastrous town hall fire, two Parr men are accused of rape, the Bold race between a bicycle and a pedestrian and the inquiry into the abuses in the Prescot watchmaking industry releases its report.
These would include allowing local authorities to determine licensing hours and regulate the content of beer. It would also be an offence to be drunk in a public place while in charge of a horse, cow or a steam engine.
Those clauses are still in force today – so next time you drive a cow down Church Street, don't get tiddly will you!
There were up to 150 angry persons with vested interests present at the meeting, which was chaired by Peter Whitley of Greenalls brewery.
The chairman denied that drunkenness was as prevalent as the teetotal advocates claimed, arguing that St Helens last year with a population of 55,000 only had a 2% conviction rate for drunkenness.
Then George Candelet, secretary of the Licensed Victuallers' Association, delivered a lengthy and furious address attacking the legislation.
He characterised the entire measure as a "piece of robbery and wrong, on a par with the spoliation of the Irish Church, and unworthy of a Government which called itself Liberal."
A resolution was passed which said the meeting was "painfully convinced" that if the Bill before the Commons became law it would "inflict an irreparable amount of injury upon the licensed victualling trade, and at the same time give very great inconvenience to the public."
The legislation that came in during 1872 seems quite reasonable by our standards with drinkers in towns still in most cases able to consume alcohol until midnight.
But many were horrified by the loss of personal liberty – and not just the ones scared of losing money.
Apart from a Sunday morning drinking ban there was then almost an "anything goes" culture in the drinking houses with the police largely powerless to act.
For instance they could do nothing about the common practice of landlords adding salt to their beer to induce customers to drink more.
On the 29th in the St Helens Petty Sessions, Francis Killamey pleaded guilty to stealing a concertina from the Bulls Head Inn in Worsley Brow in Sutton.
The man's guilty plea probably saved him from a month or two in prison – but he still was sentenced to spend a fortnight in Kirkdale Gaol.
It sounds like the magistrates were in a generous mood. At the same hearing a child called Mary Roberts was found guilty of stealing 16 pounds of coal from Peasley House Colliery in Peasley Cross.
But instead of the customary 7 to 14 days in prison, the girl was let off with a caution.
Red Bank at Newton-le-Willows is remembered mainly for its former children's home and juvenile detention centre that housed some notorious young prisoners.
However it was also where a civil war battle took place and where an old corn mill had been in operation.
Mill Lane – sandwiched between Willow Park and Winwick Road / Newton Road – is a present-day reminder of the area's past industrial heritage.
On the 29th the Wigan Observer published an advertisement for a sale of mill paraphernalia and household effects that had belonged to Martha Peters.
The 37-year-old unmarried woman was leaving the district and often the better off when relocating would flog off most of their goods at auction.
That, I expect, was partly because it was too much hassle to cart everything to their new residence and if downsizing, they probably wouldn't have the space.
The mill material included everything from corn crushers, weighing machines, sieves, ropes, chains, stepladders, pig trough, flour bins and lots of other stuff.
The huge amount of household furniture and effects included cases of stuffed birds, a slop stone, clothes maiden, dolly and other tubs, mahogany sofa "in hair seating", flock mattresses, feather beds, eight-day clocks, one strong barren cow, milking stool and licking tub and "choice assortment of ducks, hens &c".
Memories of the extraordinary anti-surplice riots in Ashton-in-Makerfield were revived on the 30th with the death of the Rev. Page Oldham from a heart complaint.
Last year the 28-year-old old vicar of St Thomas's had simply decided to preach in a surplice instead of a black gown – a decision that caused mayhem!
Many traditionalists did not approve and large protests began.
On one Sunday thirty constables were needed to provide protection for Rev. Oldham as he walked between the vicarage and his church.
The Liverpool Courier wrote that the mob "cheering and yelling vociferously, tried hard to reach the clergyman, but were prevented by the policemen."
As the vicar was hurried into his house, the large crowd broke through the police lines causing chaos:
"The officers were then formed four deep, and marched up and down the road. Many stones were thrown, and several of the bystanders were severely hurt."
It was May Day on – well, May 1st, just for a change! The day was always celebrated in St Helens by a big parade of horses and carts, as described by the St Helens Newspaper in 1869:
"We do not see the morris-dancers in picturesque procession, enlivening our streets, but we have processions of horses which seem to excite just as much interest, and draw as many people from their houses."
This year the Liverpool Mercury prefaced its reports on the celebrations in the district with this reflection on the changing times:
"Like many of the old national customs which have gradually been declining, the celebration of May Day has, for some time been dissociated from the distinctive character that once belonged to it.
"The Maypole and its accompanying festivities have become matters of history, and the recollections they awaken are identified with a period when the enjoyments of the people had not been trenched upon by the necessities of town life and the consequent limitation of opportunities of out-door amusement.
"It has now become essentially the day for that noble animal the horse, in honour of which processions of almost every variety, and exhibiting the utmost ingenuity in attempts at decoration, are originated and carried out with a vigour that is not to be found amongst the knights of the whip at any other period of the year."
The turnout in St Helens was described as having been larger than in any previous year.
The weather was fine all day leading to thousands of persons assembling in the streets to watch the procession of carts.
The Mercury wrote: "The spectacle began about eleven o'clock, and terminated about three in the afternoon.
"The trappings were generally of the most showy and striking character, and evidenced a good deal of taste. The horses were in most instances in splendid condition, and excited the admiration of all beholders."
During the evening of the 1st a dreadful accident occurred near Prescot involving a brewery dray cart belonging to Isaac Grace.
I've mentioned Grace a few times in these articles. He owned a brewery in Liverpool and beerhouses in St Helens, including ones in Robins Lane and Bridge Street.
On one occasion he hired a group of miners to physically evict a landlord and his family from their pub.
In the ensuing court case, one witness claimed to be an old Waterloo hero but upon being questioned by the judge admitted he was referring to Waterloo near Crosby and not Waterloo in Belgium!
The dray accident caused the death of Henry Standish and his inquest was held at the Eagle and Child Inn, near Huyton.
The coroner was informed that two other men had been injured and they were lying in a precarious condition at the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool.
The 27-year-old Standish had been in St Helens on his horse-driven dray to deliver barrels of beer and had also probably taken part in the May Day parade.
Brewery foreman Robert Sanderson and his son William had accompanied the carter, along with engine driver George Parker and a boy named John Wycherley.
Having delivered the beer, the deceased Standish collected his wife and the group began the return journey in the dray – which was loaded up with empty barrels.
The horses had no reins and at about 10pm the party began singing a song with the chorus of "Crack, crack, goes the whip".
At the time the boy John Wycherley was leading the horses down a hill at Knowsley and William Sanderson – no doubt spurred on by the song – cracked his whip and the spirited horses took off at a gallop.
The boy could no longer hold them and so Henry Standish tried to get off the dray by its shaft in order to bring the team to a halt.
However his smock got caught on the top of the dray and he fell beneath its wheels. These then passed over his thighs and fractured them both.
George Parker next attempted to get off the dray but he also fell and several barrels rolled on top of him.
Robert Sanderson attempted to prevent his son William from following the two others but failed and he also fell to the ground and was seriously hurt.
The horses were stopped shortly afterwards and the three men were found lying upon the road and taken into the Engle and Child where Henry Standish died on the following morning.
Though the men admitted having drunk some beer during the day, it was claimed that they were not intoxicated at the time of the accident.
The jury returned the usual verdict of accidental death. From what I can tell from the records, 23-year-old William Sanderson died later in the year but George Parker appears to have survived.
Driving carriages or carts without reins was actually illegal but still appears to have been a common practice.
Next week's stories will include the disastrous town hall fire, two Parr men are accused of rape, the Bold race between a bicycle and a pedestrian and the inquiry into the abuses in the Prescot watchmaking industry releases its report.