150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 26 MAY - 1 JUNE 1875
This week's many stories include the Atlas Street house with 26 people living inside, Queen Victoria gives her blessing to a discrimination-free Cowley Middle School, the bonnet stealing in Talbot Street, the man that was only fined after stabbing a bobby in Hamer Street and the brutal market boss who magistrates said had suffered considerable aggravation from his abused wife.
We begin on the 27th with a meeting of the Prescot Union Board of Guardians. The elected members that oversaw Whiston Workhouse were told that 380 paupers had been in the house during the past week of which 137 were children. Also during the last week 1,208 very poor people living within the St Helens district had been "relieved" by the Guardians – that is being given very small sums to live on.
A married couple called Mr and Mrs Gatwood had been appointed to be the new nurses in the hospital that was attached to the workhouse. I can't find the pair listed in the 1881 census, which doesn't surprise me. The huge workload and low pay meant that the live-in nurses and schoolteachers did not last very long. Stephen Hale in 1866 did not even last 24 hours once his extensive duties as the boys' schoolmaster were explained to him.
In fact at this week's meeting of the Board a letter from the head nurse, Miss Potter, was read out announcing her resignation, adding to her note the words "hoping you will liberate me as soon as possible". And the boys' teacher, a Mr Rowley, also sought liberation as he had submitted a letter giving notice of his departure.
Knowing the stiff penalty for theft one might have thought the prospect of imprisonment would have proved a deterrent for thieves. But that certainly was not the case for some, who seemed completely oblivious to the risks that they were taking. Mary Kilshaw already had 17 summary convictions – that is for minor offences such as drunkenness and breach of the peace – which had been dealt with in local courts. But the 39-year-old also had one felony conviction for stealing a bonnet, for which at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions she had been sentenced to three months in prison.
However, that did not stop Mary from walking into Jane Hewitt's home in Talbot Street while she was absent for a few minutes and taking her bonnet. And Mary Kilshaw was still in the house when Mrs Hewitt returned but she made some excuse and left. And so when Jane Hewitt came to miss her bonnet she knew who was responsible. In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th Mary Kilshaw was committed to the Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where in June she would be sentenced to a further six months in prison.
Twelve months ago the St Helens Newspaper had written that a movement was on foot to create a new Cowley Middle School or People's College. The intention was that the facility would focus more on higher education than the existing school. Cowley school was then in North Road and known to locals as "Lacey's" (pictured above), after the longstanding headmaster Newton Lacey.
In this week's paper published on the 29th, it was revealed that Queen Victoria had given her royal assent to a constitution for the new school. As well as enabling the building of another school, the religious discrimination of the past was being swept away and Cowley would now be open to all faiths. St Helens Town Council was due to appoint six governors to sit on a new school board that would replace the present trustees and Newton Lacey – for so long part of the fabric of the old Cowley – had decided (or been forced) to retire. Although the location for the new place of learning had yet to be set, it would be in Cowley Hill Lane and the term "middle school" would be dropped.
The St Helens Corporation official in charge of St Helens markets was Thomas Gleave who lived not far from the marketplace in East Street in St Helens town centre. This week his wife Jane summoned her husband to court accusing him of assaulting her on Whit Monday. The couple had been married for eight years and had four children.
Mrs Gleave said that on the day in question she had prepared her husband's dinner and just as he was coming into the house, she had gone out to watch one of the Whit processions that was taking place. When she returned shortly afterwards and re-entered her home, she said she found her husband had locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
Mrs Gleave said Thomas then commenced calling her foul names, accused her of familiarity with another man and then he had beaten her "most unmercifully", as it was reported. Thomas was also said to have burned his wife on her forehead with a hot knife that had been lying in the fire and had even threatened to kill Jane. He had also burned her bonnet and torn her shawl and dress. Mrs Gleave insisted that it had not been an isolated case, claiming her husband had started beating her three months after they had been wed.
It was common for such wife beaters to accuse their spouse of drinking heavily, which, of course, if true was not surprising given the hard life such women had to endure. But that counted against them when taking court action against their husband. The magistrates in making their ruling on the case decided that Thomas Gleave had endured "considerable aggravation" from his wife but felt there was no justification for what he had done and bound the defendant over to keep the peace for a month.
During the St Helens Petty Sessions hearings on the 31st there was another example of the chaos that often affected their sittings through a lack of magistrates. These were busy businessmen who liked the prestige of having JP after their name but were not fully committed to adjudicating in court. Halfway through the morning session court business had to stop for 45 minutes while the police searched for another magistrate.
Some cases only needed a solitary JP to sit on the Bench and so the less serious ones could be heard and dispensed with. But as a second magistrate had failed to show up to deal with the other cases, the police revived the game of hunt the JP! They eventually persuaded wealthy coal and salt mine owner William Evans to sit on the Bench while everyone in court waited and twiddled their thumbs.
One would have thought that a charge of stabbing a policeman with a large carving knife would have merited more than a fine. But, as I so often remark, the 1870s were strange times when property mattered more than people. That said Daniel Tipping's knife that he plunged into PC Carter’s left breast only penetrated his thick coat and vest and not his body.
But that seems more good fortune than design with Tipping having made several threats to stab the officer. The incident had taken place at Tipping's father's house in Hamer Street at midnight and the defendant, described as a chemist's assistant, was fined £5 which was immediately paid.
Lodging houses in St Helens needed to be registered so that checks could periodically be made on them to prevent overcrowding and filthy conditions. This week a number of persons who had been operating unregistered lodging houses appeared in court. When the inspector had visited the house of Peter Cullen in Atlas Street he found 26 persons inside six small rooms, of which 21 were lodgers. He was fined 20 shillings and costs.
And Catherine Narey of Gerard Street had received a midnight visit from the lodging house inspector. Mr Turner had found a man, a woman and four children sleeping in a downstairs room with Mrs Narey herself bunked down in her pantry. There were also two rooms upstairs with four men sleeping in each. She was fined 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the angry woman that smashed the windows of her own home, the child knocked down by a horse and cart in Smithy Brow and the Church Street draper given permission to work women 14 hours a day.
We begin on the 27th with a meeting of the Prescot Union Board of Guardians. The elected members that oversaw Whiston Workhouse were told that 380 paupers had been in the house during the past week of which 137 were children. Also during the last week 1,208 very poor people living within the St Helens district had been "relieved" by the Guardians – that is being given very small sums to live on.
A married couple called Mr and Mrs Gatwood had been appointed to be the new nurses in the hospital that was attached to the workhouse. I can't find the pair listed in the 1881 census, which doesn't surprise me. The huge workload and low pay meant that the live-in nurses and schoolteachers did not last very long. Stephen Hale in 1866 did not even last 24 hours once his extensive duties as the boys' schoolmaster were explained to him.
In fact at this week's meeting of the Board a letter from the head nurse, Miss Potter, was read out announcing her resignation, adding to her note the words "hoping you will liberate me as soon as possible". And the boys' teacher, a Mr Rowley, also sought liberation as he had submitted a letter giving notice of his departure.
Knowing the stiff penalty for theft one might have thought the prospect of imprisonment would have proved a deterrent for thieves. But that certainly was not the case for some, who seemed completely oblivious to the risks that they were taking. Mary Kilshaw already had 17 summary convictions – that is for minor offences such as drunkenness and breach of the peace – which had been dealt with in local courts. But the 39-year-old also had one felony conviction for stealing a bonnet, for which at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions she had been sentenced to three months in prison.
However, that did not stop Mary from walking into Jane Hewitt's home in Talbot Street while she was absent for a few minutes and taking her bonnet. And Mary Kilshaw was still in the house when Mrs Hewitt returned but she made some excuse and left. And so when Jane Hewitt came to miss her bonnet she knew who was responsible. In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th Mary Kilshaw was committed to the Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where in June she would be sentenced to a further six months in prison.
In this week's paper published on the 29th, it was revealed that Queen Victoria had given her royal assent to a constitution for the new school. As well as enabling the building of another school, the religious discrimination of the past was being swept away and Cowley would now be open to all faiths. St Helens Town Council was due to appoint six governors to sit on a new school board that would replace the present trustees and Newton Lacey – for so long part of the fabric of the old Cowley – had decided (or been forced) to retire. Although the location for the new place of learning had yet to be set, it would be in Cowley Hill Lane and the term "middle school" would be dropped.
The St Helens Corporation official in charge of St Helens markets was Thomas Gleave who lived not far from the marketplace in East Street in St Helens town centre. This week his wife Jane summoned her husband to court accusing him of assaulting her on Whit Monday. The couple had been married for eight years and had four children.
Mrs Gleave said that on the day in question she had prepared her husband's dinner and just as he was coming into the house, she had gone out to watch one of the Whit processions that was taking place. When she returned shortly afterwards and re-entered her home, she said she found her husband had locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
Mrs Gleave said Thomas then commenced calling her foul names, accused her of familiarity with another man and then he had beaten her "most unmercifully", as it was reported. Thomas was also said to have burned his wife on her forehead with a hot knife that had been lying in the fire and had even threatened to kill Jane. He had also burned her bonnet and torn her shawl and dress. Mrs Gleave insisted that it had not been an isolated case, claiming her husband had started beating her three months after they had been wed.
It was common for such wife beaters to accuse their spouse of drinking heavily, which, of course, if true was not surprising given the hard life such women had to endure. But that counted against them when taking court action against their husband. The magistrates in making their ruling on the case decided that Thomas Gleave had endured "considerable aggravation" from his wife but felt there was no justification for what he had done and bound the defendant over to keep the peace for a month.
During the St Helens Petty Sessions hearings on the 31st there was another example of the chaos that often affected their sittings through a lack of magistrates. These were busy businessmen who liked the prestige of having JP after their name but were not fully committed to adjudicating in court. Halfway through the morning session court business had to stop for 45 minutes while the police searched for another magistrate.
Some cases only needed a solitary JP to sit on the Bench and so the less serious ones could be heard and dispensed with. But as a second magistrate had failed to show up to deal with the other cases, the police revived the game of hunt the JP! They eventually persuaded wealthy coal and salt mine owner William Evans to sit on the Bench while everyone in court waited and twiddled their thumbs.
One would have thought that a charge of stabbing a policeman with a large carving knife would have merited more than a fine. But, as I so often remark, the 1870s were strange times when property mattered more than people. That said Daniel Tipping's knife that he plunged into PC Carter’s left breast only penetrated his thick coat and vest and not his body.
But that seems more good fortune than design with Tipping having made several threats to stab the officer. The incident had taken place at Tipping's father's house in Hamer Street at midnight and the defendant, described as a chemist's assistant, was fined £5 which was immediately paid.
Lodging houses in St Helens needed to be registered so that checks could periodically be made on them to prevent overcrowding and filthy conditions. This week a number of persons who had been operating unregistered lodging houses appeared in court. When the inspector had visited the house of Peter Cullen in Atlas Street he found 26 persons inside six small rooms, of which 21 were lodgers. He was fined 20 shillings and costs.
And Catherine Narey of Gerard Street had received a midnight visit from the lodging house inspector. Mr Turner had found a man, a woman and four children sleeping in a downstairs room with Mrs Narey herself bunked down in her pantry. There were also two rooms upstairs with four men sleeping in each. She was fined 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the angry woman that smashed the windows of her own home, the child knocked down by a horse and cart in Smithy Brow and the Church Street draper given permission to work women 14 hours a day.
This week's many stories include the Atlas Street house with 26 people living inside, Queen Victoria gives her blessing to a discrimination-free Cowley Middle School, the bonnet stealing in Talbot Street, the man that was only fined after stabbing a bobby in Hamer Street and the brutal market boss who magistrates said had suffered considerable aggravation from his abused wife.
We begin on the 27th with a meeting of the Prescot Union Board of Guardians. The elected members that oversaw Whiston Workhouse were told that 380 paupers had been in the house during the past week of which 137 were children.
Also during the last week 1,208 very poor people living within the St Helens district had been "relieved" by the Guardians – that is being given very small sums to live on.
A married couple called Mr and Mrs Gatwood had been appointed to be the new nurses in the hospital that was attached to the workhouse.
I can't find the pair listed in the 1881 census, which doesn't surprise me. The huge workload and low pay meant that the live-in nurses and schoolteachers did not last very long.
Stephen Hale in 1866 did not even last 24 hours once his extensive duties as the boys' schoolmaster were explained to him.
In fact at this week's meeting of the Board a letter from the head nurse, Miss Potter, was read out announcing her resignation, adding to her note the words "hoping you will liberate me as soon as possible".
And the boys' teacher, a Mr Rowley, also sought liberation as he had submitted a letter giving notice of his departure.
Knowing the stiff penalty for theft one might have thought the prospect of imprisonment would have proved a deterrent for thieves.
But that certainly was not the case for some, who seemed completely oblivious to the risks that they were taking.
Mary Kilshaw already had 17 summary convictions – that is for minor offences such as drunkenness and breach of the peace – which had been dealt with in local courts.
But the 39-year-old also had one felony conviction for stealing a bonnet, for which at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions she had been sentenced to three months in prison.
However, that did not stop Mary from walking into Jane Hewitt's home in Talbot Street while she was absent for a few minutes and taking her bonnet.
And Mary Kilshaw was still in the house when Mrs Hewitt returned but she made some excuse and left.
And so when Jane Hewitt came to miss her bonnet she knew who was responsible.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th Mary Kilshaw was committed to the Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where in June she would be sentenced to a further six months in prison.
Twelve months ago the St Helens Newspaper had written that a movement was on foot to create a new Cowley Middle School or People's College.
The intention was that the facility would focus more on higher education than the existing school.
Cowley school was then in North Road and known to locals as "Lacey's" (pictured above), after the longstanding headmaster Newton Lacey.
In this week's paper published on the 29th, it was revealed that Queen Victoria had given her royal assent to a constitution for the new school.
As well as enabling the building of another school, the religious discrimination of the past was being swept away and Cowley would now be open to all faiths.
St Helens Town Council was due to appoint six governors to sit on a new school board that would replace the present trustees and Newton Lacey – for so long part of the fabric of the old Cowley – had decided (or been forced) to retire.
Although the location for the new place of learning had yet to be set, it would be in Cowley Hill Lane and the term "middle school" would be dropped.
The St Helens Corporation official in charge of St Helens markets was Thomas Gleave who lived not far from the marketplace in East Street in St Helens town centre.
This week his wife Jane summoned her husband to court accusing him of assaulting her on Whit Monday. The couple had been married for eight years and had four children.
Mrs Gleave said that on the day in question she had prepared her husband's dinner and just as he was coming into the house, she had gone out to watch one of the Whit processions that was taking place.
When she returned shortly afterwards and re-entered her home, she said she found her husband had locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
Mrs Gleave said Thomas then commenced calling her foul names, accused her of familiarity with another man and then he had beaten her "most unmercifully", as it was reported.
Thomas was also said to have burned his wife on her forehead with a hot knife that had been lying in the fire and had even threatened to kill Jane. He had also burned her bonnet and torn her shawl and dress.
Mrs Gleave insisted that it had not been an isolated case, claiming her husband had started beating her three months after they had been wed.
It was common for such wife beaters to accuse their spouse of drinking heavily, which, of course, if true was not surprising given the hard life such women had to endure.
But that counted against them when taking court action against their husband.
The magistrates in making their ruling on the case decided that Thomas Gleave had endured "considerable aggravation" from his wife but felt there was no justification for what he had done and bound the defendant over to keep the peace for a month.
During the St Helens Petty Sessions hearings on the 31st there was another example of the chaos that often affected their sittings through a lack of magistrates.
These were busy businessmen who liked the prestige of having JP after their name but were not fully committed to adjudicating in court.
Halfway through the morning session court business had to stop for 45 minutes while the police searched for another magistrate.
Some cases only needed a solitary JP to sit on the Bench and so the less serious ones could be heard and dispensed with.
But as a second magistrate had failed to show up to deal with the other cases, the police revived the game of hunt the JP!
They eventually persuaded wealthy coal and salt mine owner William Evans to sit on the Bench while everyone in court waited and twiddled their thumbs.
One would have thought that a charge of stabbing a policeman with a large carving knife would have merited more than a fine.
But, as I so often remark, the 1870s were strange times when property mattered more than people.
That said Daniel Tipping's knife that he plunged into PC Carter’s left breast only penetrated his thick coat and vest and not his body.
But that seems more good fortune than design with Tipping having made several threats to stab the officer.
The incident had taken place at Tipping's father's house in Hamer Street at midnight and the defendant, described as a chemist's assistant, was fined £5 which was immediately paid.
Lodging houses in St Helens needed to be registered so that checks could periodically be made on them to prevent overcrowding and filthy conditions.
This week a number of persons who had been operating unregistered lodging houses appeared in court.
When the inspector had visited the house of Peter Cullen in Atlas Street he found 26 persons inside six small rooms, of which 21 were lodgers. He was fined 20 shillings and costs.
And Catherine Narey of Gerard Street had received a midnight visit from the lodging house inspector.
Mr Turner had found a man, a woman and four children sleeping in a downstairs room with Mrs Narey herself bunked down in her pantry.
There were also two rooms upstairs with four men sleeping in each. She was fined 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the angry woman that smashed the windows of her own home, the child knocked down by a horse and cart in Smithy Brow and the Church Street draper given permission to work women 14 hours a day.
We begin on the 27th with a meeting of the Prescot Union Board of Guardians. The elected members that oversaw Whiston Workhouse were told that 380 paupers had been in the house during the past week of which 137 were children.
Also during the last week 1,208 very poor people living within the St Helens district had been "relieved" by the Guardians – that is being given very small sums to live on.
A married couple called Mr and Mrs Gatwood had been appointed to be the new nurses in the hospital that was attached to the workhouse.
I can't find the pair listed in the 1881 census, which doesn't surprise me. The huge workload and low pay meant that the live-in nurses and schoolteachers did not last very long.
Stephen Hale in 1866 did not even last 24 hours once his extensive duties as the boys' schoolmaster were explained to him.
In fact at this week's meeting of the Board a letter from the head nurse, Miss Potter, was read out announcing her resignation, adding to her note the words "hoping you will liberate me as soon as possible".
And the boys' teacher, a Mr Rowley, also sought liberation as he had submitted a letter giving notice of his departure.
Knowing the stiff penalty for theft one might have thought the prospect of imprisonment would have proved a deterrent for thieves.
But that certainly was not the case for some, who seemed completely oblivious to the risks that they were taking.
Mary Kilshaw already had 17 summary convictions – that is for minor offences such as drunkenness and breach of the peace – which had been dealt with in local courts.
But the 39-year-old also had one felony conviction for stealing a bonnet, for which at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions she had been sentenced to three months in prison.
However, that did not stop Mary from walking into Jane Hewitt's home in Talbot Street while she was absent for a few minutes and taking her bonnet.
And Mary Kilshaw was still in the house when Mrs Hewitt returned but she made some excuse and left.
And so when Jane Hewitt came to miss her bonnet she knew who was responsible.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 28th Mary Kilshaw was committed to the Quarter Sessions at Kirkdale where in June she would be sentenced to a further six months in prison.
Twelve months ago the St Helens Newspaper had written that a movement was on foot to create a new Cowley Middle School or People's College.
The intention was that the facility would focus more on higher education than the existing school.
In this week's paper published on the 29th, it was revealed that Queen Victoria had given her royal assent to a constitution for the new school.
As well as enabling the building of another school, the religious discrimination of the past was being swept away and Cowley would now be open to all faiths.
St Helens Town Council was due to appoint six governors to sit on a new school board that would replace the present trustees and Newton Lacey – for so long part of the fabric of the old Cowley – had decided (or been forced) to retire.
Although the location for the new place of learning had yet to be set, it would be in Cowley Hill Lane and the term "middle school" would be dropped.
The St Helens Corporation official in charge of St Helens markets was Thomas Gleave who lived not far from the marketplace in East Street in St Helens town centre.
This week his wife Jane summoned her husband to court accusing him of assaulting her on Whit Monday. The couple had been married for eight years and had four children.
Mrs Gleave said that on the day in question she had prepared her husband's dinner and just as he was coming into the house, she had gone out to watch one of the Whit processions that was taking place.
When she returned shortly afterwards and re-entered her home, she said she found her husband had locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
Mrs Gleave said Thomas then commenced calling her foul names, accused her of familiarity with another man and then he had beaten her "most unmercifully", as it was reported.
Thomas was also said to have burned his wife on her forehead with a hot knife that had been lying in the fire and had even threatened to kill Jane. He had also burned her bonnet and torn her shawl and dress.
Mrs Gleave insisted that it had not been an isolated case, claiming her husband had started beating her three months after they had been wed.
It was common for such wife beaters to accuse their spouse of drinking heavily, which, of course, if true was not surprising given the hard life such women had to endure.
But that counted against them when taking court action against their husband.
The magistrates in making their ruling on the case decided that Thomas Gleave had endured "considerable aggravation" from his wife but felt there was no justification for what he had done and bound the defendant over to keep the peace for a month.
During the St Helens Petty Sessions hearings on the 31st there was another example of the chaos that often affected their sittings through a lack of magistrates.
These were busy businessmen who liked the prestige of having JP after their name but were not fully committed to adjudicating in court.
Halfway through the morning session court business had to stop for 45 minutes while the police searched for another magistrate.
Some cases only needed a solitary JP to sit on the Bench and so the less serious ones could be heard and dispensed with.
But as a second magistrate had failed to show up to deal with the other cases, the police revived the game of hunt the JP!
They eventually persuaded wealthy coal and salt mine owner William Evans to sit on the Bench while everyone in court waited and twiddled their thumbs.
One would have thought that a charge of stabbing a policeman with a large carving knife would have merited more than a fine.
But, as I so often remark, the 1870s were strange times when property mattered more than people.
That said Daniel Tipping's knife that he plunged into PC Carter’s left breast only penetrated his thick coat and vest and not his body.
But that seems more good fortune than design with Tipping having made several threats to stab the officer.
The incident had taken place at Tipping's father's house in Hamer Street at midnight and the defendant, described as a chemist's assistant, was fined £5 which was immediately paid.
Lodging houses in St Helens needed to be registered so that checks could periodically be made on them to prevent overcrowding and filthy conditions.
This week a number of persons who had been operating unregistered lodging houses appeared in court.
When the inspector had visited the house of Peter Cullen in Atlas Street he found 26 persons inside six small rooms, of which 21 were lodgers. He was fined 20 shillings and costs.
And Catherine Narey of Gerard Street had received a midnight visit from the lodging house inspector.
Mr Turner had found a man, a woman and four children sleeping in a downstairs room with Mrs Narey herself bunked down in her pantry.
There were also two rooms upstairs with four men sleeping in each. She was fined 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the angry woman that smashed the windows of her own home, the child knocked down by a horse and cart in Smithy Brow and the Church Street draper given permission to work women 14 hours a day.