150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th MARCH - 2nd APRIL 1873)
This week's many stories include the boys illegally employed at a Liverpool Street bottle works, the elderly family that liked their grog, the death at a St Helens copper works, the annual inspection of St Helens police and the manure salesman's cheeky frauds on Rainford and Eccleston farmers.
We begin on the 29th with two musical adverts published in the St Helens Newspaper. Miss Nelly Stuart was offering lessons "on the pianoforte, harmonium, or in singing" at the Anchor Hotel in Ormskirk Street. And James Gabriel was reopening as a "teacher of the organ, pianoforte and singing" at his home opposite Penketh's timber yard in Tontine Street.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st, William Dixon was charged with obtaining £16 10s by false pretences. The cash belonged to John Knight, a chemical manure manufacturer at Farnworth, and he had employed Dixon as a salesman on commission. Although told to have nothing to do with the cash side of the business, Dixon ignored the instruction and began collecting money from farmers.
Robert Birchall from Rainford and a couple of Eccleston farmers were among a number that accepted the offer of a 5% discount from their bills, if they paid the salesman directly. Once he had accumulated sufficient cash, Dixon absconded with the money and it was not known where he had gone until a letter addressed to John Knight was received from Dublin. It read:
"I have the audacity to send you this statement with the view of making things that are very bad indeed as right as I can. I shall be on the road to America to night, en route to New Zealand, where she [New Zealand] is doing well, and if she will not enable me to recoup the amount of my defalcations with interest, I will strain every nerve to do so without her, for I feel that my conscience will continually upbraid me until that much to be desired end be obtained."
It was, of course, one thing to get on a boat to Ireland and spend a few days in Dublin but another to sail to New Zealand. Dixon was soon back in the St Helens district, presumably believing his ploy of saying he was going to the other side of the world had worked. But the 50-year-old was seen and arrested. In court the St Helens magistrates committed Dixon for trial at the next quarter sessions at Kirkdale where he received 12 months hard labour.
In the St Helens Petty Sessions this week Nicholas Mooney was prosecuted for breaching the Factory Act by employing two boys under thirteen years of age at an illegal hour. Mooney ran a small glass bottle works in Liverpool Street, although he had recently become disabled and so his wife Catherine was now in charge. Employers were allowed to have boys as young as eight or nine working for them.
But the law stated that these youngsters could only undertake what was known as "half-time" working, that is no more than 6½ hours a day – as the average working week for adults was 70 hours. Those under 13 were also not permitted to work before 6am and after 6pm. Additionally the employer had to ensure that the child possessed a certificate stating they were attending school and that he or she had been passed fit by a doctor. Just when the kids were supposed to be finding the time to attend school I can't say – although Sunday school might well have counted.
A factory inspector had visited the Mooney's factory and found that some of these rules had been broken as the firm was employing Joseph Pennington and John Grundy without a doctor's certificate. Young Joseph Pennington also had no school certificate and John Douglas had been working full-time (i.e. 70 hours or so per week) and he was only ten! Catherine Mooney was fined 40 shillings and costs for breaching the Factory Act.
Both of the boys' fathers were also prosecuted for permitting the offences. Joseph Pennington's dad claimed ignorance of the law and John Douglas's father, rather bizarrely, said he did not know his 10-year-old son was employed at the bottle works. "Being from home all day I cannot look after such things", was his lame excuse. They were both fined 10 shillings and costs each.
On the 28th the Wigan Observer reported on two inquests that had recently taken place in St Helens. James Palin had been killed in McKechnie's copper smelting works in Smithy Brow (i.e. Parr Street). It was another example of poor safety procedures, which had allowed the 35-year-old to be oiling the steps of a grinding mill without any protection. Palin lost his balance and fell into the machinery and although the mill was immediately stopped, he was so crushed that death ensued in twenty minutes. The inquest jury at the Royal Hotel in Parr returned the usual verdict of accidental death.
At least Palin's misery was soon ended. That was not the case with John Greening who had been badly injured at St Helens Goods Station in January. The 57-year-old labourer had been engaged untying the covering of a wagon to which a horse was attached. While crouching down between the wagon and the platform, the horse moved and Greening was so crushed that he never recovered. His inquest was held at the Sefton Arms and the jury returned the same verdict of accidental death.
There was a similar case to the Mooney bottle works prosecution on April 1st when at Prescot Petty Sessions, William Allen and Joseph Case were charged with allowing their children to work in the watchmaking business without a medical certificate. Many employers and parents ignored that legal requirement that was supposed to prove the youngsters were medically fit to work, as the doctor would have to be paid for the examination. The two fathers were both fined 20 shillings and costs.
The tailors of St Helens were due to begin a strike on the 2nd after some of the leading employers – or masters as they were always called – refused to concede to their demands. And they were not outrageous. The men wanted just a penny more per hour to take their pay rate to 5d and a uniform system of working hours throughout the trade. From Monday to Friday they wanted to work no more than ten hours a day and on Saturdays eight hours – so 58 hours in total per week. In the end a new list of prices for making different articles of clothing was drawn up and agreed by both sides and a strike was averted.
The annual inspection of St Helens police took place on the 2nd. The force was slowly increasing in numbers but still only totalled 43 officers, including Supt. James Ludlam who was in charge. The Government inspector of constabulary commented on the insufficient numbers of police to patrol such a large, well-populated district. In the 1871 census, St Helens, including Bold and Rainford, had a population of 53,000 and the inspector called for at least half-a-dozen more men to be added to the force.
The Newspaper wrote that as part of the inspection of police officers: "They were drawn up in open order, and their accoutrements examined minutely, after which they were transferred to the field and exercised in company evolutions by Supt. Ludlam. Considering the few opportunities for drill they possess, they acquitted themselves well."
Rosbotham's school (pictured above) was located in Higher Lane in Rainford and was so named because in 1847 shoemaker Daniel Rosbotham had given the Congregational Church the land to build their Sunday school. The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there, including an annual tea party and concert. This year's event took place on the 2nd and the Newspaper said "vocal selections" of a "miscellaneous character" were given.
And finally, there is clearly nothing remarkable today for three adults in one household to each be aged in their mid-70s. But the Liverpool Mercury on the 2nd considered such a feat newsworthy when they published this piece:
"A HAPPY FAMILY. – The sole occupants of a house in St. Helens are three persons, viz, a widower, and two widows, whose united ages are 226. They were born and have always lived in the town or immediate vicinity, the male having worked 57 years at the glass works. This would seem to suggest that St. Helens is a healthy town; and the fact that the persons referred to neither smoke nor take snuff, but take and enjoy a glass of grog at any time, may afford a little subject for study amongst our teetotal friends."
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Claughton Street man who set his dog on troublesome youths, the St Helens coal miners' pay demand, the rabbit racing court case in Merton Bank and a coincidence uncovers a blind man's scam.
We begin on the 29th with two musical adverts published in the St Helens Newspaper. Miss Nelly Stuart was offering lessons "on the pianoforte, harmonium, or in singing" at the Anchor Hotel in Ormskirk Street. And James Gabriel was reopening as a "teacher of the organ, pianoforte and singing" at his home opposite Penketh's timber yard in Tontine Street.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st, William Dixon was charged with obtaining £16 10s by false pretences. The cash belonged to John Knight, a chemical manure manufacturer at Farnworth, and he had employed Dixon as a salesman on commission. Although told to have nothing to do with the cash side of the business, Dixon ignored the instruction and began collecting money from farmers.
Robert Birchall from Rainford and a couple of Eccleston farmers were among a number that accepted the offer of a 5% discount from their bills, if they paid the salesman directly. Once he had accumulated sufficient cash, Dixon absconded with the money and it was not known where he had gone until a letter addressed to John Knight was received from Dublin. It read:
"I have the audacity to send you this statement with the view of making things that are very bad indeed as right as I can. I shall be on the road to America to night, en route to New Zealand, where she [New Zealand] is doing well, and if she will not enable me to recoup the amount of my defalcations with interest, I will strain every nerve to do so without her, for I feel that my conscience will continually upbraid me until that much to be desired end be obtained."
It was, of course, one thing to get on a boat to Ireland and spend a few days in Dublin but another to sail to New Zealand. Dixon was soon back in the St Helens district, presumably believing his ploy of saying he was going to the other side of the world had worked. But the 50-year-old was seen and arrested. In court the St Helens magistrates committed Dixon for trial at the next quarter sessions at Kirkdale where he received 12 months hard labour.
In the St Helens Petty Sessions this week Nicholas Mooney was prosecuted for breaching the Factory Act by employing two boys under thirteen years of age at an illegal hour. Mooney ran a small glass bottle works in Liverpool Street, although he had recently become disabled and so his wife Catherine was now in charge. Employers were allowed to have boys as young as eight or nine working for them.
But the law stated that these youngsters could only undertake what was known as "half-time" working, that is no more than 6½ hours a day – as the average working week for adults was 70 hours. Those under 13 were also not permitted to work before 6am and after 6pm. Additionally the employer had to ensure that the child possessed a certificate stating they were attending school and that he or she had been passed fit by a doctor. Just when the kids were supposed to be finding the time to attend school I can't say – although Sunday school might well have counted.
A factory inspector had visited the Mooney's factory and found that some of these rules had been broken as the firm was employing Joseph Pennington and John Grundy without a doctor's certificate. Young Joseph Pennington also had no school certificate and John Douglas had been working full-time (i.e. 70 hours or so per week) and he was only ten! Catherine Mooney was fined 40 shillings and costs for breaching the Factory Act.
Both of the boys' fathers were also prosecuted for permitting the offences. Joseph Pennington's dad claimed ignorance of the law and John Douglas's father, rather bizarrely, said he did not know his 10-year-old son was employed at the bottle works. "Being from home all day I cannot look after such things", was his lame excuse. They were both fined 10 shillings and costs each.
On the 28th the Wigan Observer reported on two inquests that had recently taken place in St Helens. James Palin had been killed in McKechnie's copper smelting works in Smithy Brow (i.e. Parr Street). It was another example of poor safety procedures, which had allowed the 35-year-old to be oiling the steps of a grinding mill without any protection. Palin lost his balance and fell into the machinery and although the mill was immediately stopped, he was so crushed that death ensued in twenty minutes. The inquest jury at the Royal Hotel in Parr returned the usual verdict of accidental death.
At least Palin's misery was soon ended. That was not the case with John Greening who had been badly injured at St Helens Goods Station in January. The 57-year-old labourer had been engaged untying the covering of a wagon to which a horse was attached. While crouching down between the wagon and the platform, the horse moved and Greening was so crushed that he never recovered. His inquest was held at the Sefton Arms and the jury returned the same verdict of accidental death.
There was a similar case to the Mooney bottle works prosecution on April 1st when at Prescot Petty Sessions, William Allen and Joseph Case were charged with allowing their children to work in the watchmaking business without a medical certificate. Many employers and parents ignored that legal requirement that was supposed to prove the youngsters were medically fit to work, as the doctor would have to be paid for the examination. The two fathers were both fined 20 shillings and costs.
The tailors of St Helens were due to begin a strike on the 2nd after some of the leading employers – or masters as they were always called – refused to concede to their demands. And they were not outrageous. The men wanted just a penny more per hour to take their pay rate to 5d and a uniform system of working hours throughout the trade. From Monday to Friday they wanted to work no more than ten hours a day and on Saturdays eight hours – so 58 hours in total per week. In the end a new list of prices for making different articles of clothing was drawn up and agreed by both sides and a strike was averted.
The annual inspection of St Helens police took place on the 2nd. The force was slowly increasing in numbers but still only totalled 43 officers, including Supt. James Ludlam who was in charge. The Government inspector of constabulary commented on the insufficient numbers of police to patrol such a large, well-populated district. In the 1871 census, St Helens, including Bold and Rainford, had a population of 53,000 and the inspector called for at least half-a-dozen more men to be added to the force.
The Newspaper wrote that as part of the inspection of police officers: "They were drawn up in open order, and their accoutrements examined minutely, after which they were transferred to the field and exercised in company evolutions by Supt. Ludlam. Considering the few opportunities for drill they possess, they acquitted themselves well."
And finally, there is clearly nothing remarkable today for three adults in one household to each be aged in their mid-70s. But the Liverpool Mercury on the 2nd considered such a feat newsworthy when they published this piece:
"A HAPPY FAMILY. – The sole occupants of a house in St. Helens are three persons, viz, a widower, and two widows, whose united ages are 226. They were born and have always lived in the town or immediate vicinity, the male having worked 57 years at the glass works. This would seem to suggest that St. Helens is a healthy town; and the fact that the persons referred to neither smoke nor take snuff, but take and enjoy a glass of grog at any time, may afford a little subject for study amongst our teetotal friends."
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Claughton Street man who set his dog on troublesome youths, the St Helens coal miners' pay demand, the rabbit racing court case in Merton Bank and a coincidence uncovers a blind man's scam.
This week's many stories include the boys illegally employed at a Liverpool Street bottle works, the elderly family that liked their grog, the death at a St Helens copper works, the annual inspection of St Helens police and the manure salesman's cheeky frauds on Rainford and Eccleston farmers.
We begin on the 29th with two musical adverts published in the St Helens Newspaper. Miss Nelly Stuart was offering lessons "on the pianoforte, harmonium, or in singing" at the Anchor Hotel in Ormskirk Street.
And James Gabriel was reopening as a "teacher of the organ, pianoforte and singing" at his home opposite Penketh's timber yard in Tontine Street.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st, William Dixon was charged with obtaining £16 10s by false pretences.
The cash belonged to John Knight, a chemical manure manufacturer at Farnworth, and he had employed Dixon as a salesman on commission.
Although told to have nothing to do with the cash side of the business, Dixon ignored the instruction and began collecting money from farmers.
Robert Birchall from Rainford and a couple of Eccleston farmers were among a number that accepted the offer of a 5% discount from their bills, if they paid the salesman directly.
Once he had accumulated sufficient cash, Dixon absconded with the money and it was not known where he had gone until a letter addressed to John Knight was received from Dublin. It read:
"I have the audacity to send you this statement with the view of making things that are very bad indeed as right as I can. I shall be on the road to America to night, en route to New Zealand, where she [New Zealand] is doing well, and if she will not enable me to recoup the amount of my defalcations with interest, I will strain every nerve to do so without her, for I feel that my conscience will continually upbraid me until that much to be desired end be obtained."
It was, of course, one thing to get on a boat to Ireland and spend a few days in Dublin but another to sail to New Zealand.
Dixon was soon back in the St Helens district, presumably believing his ploy of saying he was going to the other side of the world had worked.
But the 50-year-old was seen and arrested. In court the St Helens magistrates committed Dixon for trial at the next quarter sessions at Kirkdale where he received 12 months hard labour.
In the St Helens Petty Sessions this week Nicholas Mooney was prosecuted for breaching the Factory Act by employing two boys under thirteen years of age at an illegal hour.
Mooney ran a small glass bottle works in Liverpool Street, although he had recently become disabled and so his wife Catherine was now in charge.
Employers were allowed to have boys as young as eight or nine working for them.
But the law stated that these youngsters could only undertake what was known as "half-time" working, that is no more than 6½ hours a day – as the average working week for adults was 70 hours.
Those under 13 were also not permitted to work before 6am and after 6pm.
Additionally the employer had to ensure that the child possessed a certificate stating they were attending school and that he or she had been passed fit by a doctor.
Just when the kids were supposed to be finding the time to attend school I can't say – although Sunday school might well have counted.
A factory inspector had visited the Mooney's factory and found that some of these rules had been broken as the firm was employing Joseph Pennington and John Grundy without a doctor's certificate.
Young Joseph Pennington also had no school certificate and John Douglas had been working full-time (i.e. 70 hours or so per week) and he was only ten!
Catherine Mooney was fined 40 shillings and costs for breaching the Factory Act. Both of the boys' fathers were also prosecuted for permitting the offences.
Joseph Pennington's dad claimed ignorance of the law and John Douglas's father, rather bizarrely, said he did not know his 10-year-old son was employed at the bottle works.
"Being from home all day I cannot look after such things", was his lame excuse. They were both fined 10 shillings and costs each.
On the 28th the Wigan Observer reported on two inquests that had recently taken place in St Helens.
James Palin had been killed in McKechnie's copper smelting works in Smithy Brow (i.e. Parr Street).
It was another example of poor safety procedures, which had allowed the 35-year-old to be oiling the steps of a grinding mill without any protection.
Palin lost his balance and fell into the machinery and although the mill was immediately stopped, he was so crushed that death ensued in twenty minutes.
The inquest jury at the Royal Hotel in Parr returned the usual verdict of accidental death.
At least Palin's misery was soon ended. That was not the case with John Greening who had been badly injured at St Helens Goods Station in January.
The 57-year-old labourer had been engaged untying the covering of a wagon to which a horse was attached.
While crouching down between the wagon and the platform, the horse moved and Greening was so crushed that he never recovered.
His inquest was held at the Sefton Arms and the jury returned the same verdict of accidental death.
There was a similar case to the Mooney bottle works prosecution on April 1st when at Prescot Petty Sessions, William Allen and Joseph Case were charged with allowing their children to work in the watchmaking business without a medical certificate.
Many employers and parents ignored that legal requirement that was supposed to prove the youngsters were medically fit to work, as the doctor would have to be paid for the examination. The two fathers were both fined 20 shillings and costs.
The tailors of St Helens were due to begin a strike on the 2nd after some of the leading employers – or masters as they were always called – refused to concede to their demands.
And they were not outrageous. The men wanted just a penny more per hour to take their pay rate to 5d and a uniform system of working hours throughout the trade.
From Monday to Friday they wanted to work no more than ten hours a day and on Saturdays eight hours – so 58 hours in total per week.
In the end a new list of prices for making different articles of clothing was drawn up and agreed by both sides and a strike was averted.
The annual inspection of St Helens police took place on the 2nd. The force was slowly increasing in numbers but still only totalled 43 officers, including Supt. James Ludlam who was in charge.
The Government inspector of constabulary commented on the insufficient numbers of police to patrol such a large, well-populated district.
In the 1871 census, St Helens, including Bold and Rainford, had a population of 53,000 and the inspector called for at least half-a-dozen more men to be added to the force.
The Newspaper wrote that as part of the inspection of police officers:
"They were drawn up in open order, and their accoutrements examined minutely, after which they were transferred to the field and exercised in company evolutions by Supt. Ludlam. Considering the few opportunities for drill they possess, they acquitted themselves well."
Rosbotham's school (pictured above) was located in Higher Lane in Rainford and was so named because in 1847 shoemaker Daniel Rosbotham had given the Congregational Church the land to build their Sunday school.
The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there, including an annual tea party and concert.
This year's event took place on the 2nd and the Newspaper said "vocal selections" of a "miscellaneous character" were given.
And finally, there is clearly nothing remarkable today for three adults in one household to each be aged in their mid-70s.
But the Liverpool Mercury on the 2nd considered such a feat newsworthy when they published this piece:
"A HAPPY FAMILY. – The sole occupants of a house in St. Helens are three persons, viz, a widower, and two widows, whose united ages are 226. They were born and have always lived in the town or immediate vicinity, the male having worked 57 years at the glass works.
"This would seem to suggest that St. Helens is a healthy town; and the fact that the persons referred to neither smoke nor take snuff, but take and enjoy a glass of grog at any time, may afford a little subject for study amongst our teetotal friends."
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Claughton Street man who set his dog on troublesome youths, the St Helens coal miners' pay demand, the rabbit racing court case in Merton Bank and a coincidence uncovers a blind man's scam.
We begin on the 29th with two musical adverts published in the St Helens Newspaper. Miss Nelly Stuart was offering lessons "on the pianoforte, harmonium, or in singing" at the Anchor Hotel in Ormskirk Street.
And James Gabriel was reopening as a "teacher of the organ, pianoforte and singing" at his home opposite Penketh's timber yard in Tontine Street.
In St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st, William Dixon was charged with obtaining £16 10s by false pretences.
The cash belonged to John Knight, a chemical manure manufacturer at Farnworth, and he had employed Dixon as a salesman on commission.
Although told to have nothing to do with the cash side of the business, Dixon ignored the instruction and began collecting money from farmers.
Robert Birchall from Rainford and a couple of Eccleston farmers were among a number that accepted the offer of a 5% discount from their bills, if they paid the salesman directly.
Once he had accumulated sufficient cash, Dixon absconded with the money and it was not known where he had gone until a letter addressed to John Knight was received from Dublin. It read:
"I have the audacity to send you this statement with the view of making things that are very bad indeed as right as I can. I shall be on the road to America to night, en route to New Zealand, where she [New Zealand] is doing well, and if she will not enable me to recoup the amount of my defalcations with interest, I will strain every nerve to do so without her, for I feel that my conscience will continually upbraid me until that much to be desired end be obtained."
It was, of course, one thing to get on a boat to Ireland and spend a few days in Dublin but another to sail to New Zealand.
Dixon was soon back in the St Helens district, presumably believing his ploy of saying he was going to the other side of the world had worked.
But the 50-year-old was seen and arrested. In court the St Helens magistrates committed Dixon for trial at the next quarter sessions at Kirkdale where he received 12 months hard labour.
In the St Helens Petty Sessions this week Nicholas Mooney was prosecuted for breaching the Factory Act by employing two boys under thirteen years of age at an illegal hour.
Mooney ran a small glass bottle works in Liverpool Street, although he had recently become disabled and so his wife Catherine was now in charge.
Employers were allowed to have boys as young as eight or nine working for them.
But the law stated that these youngsters could only undertake what was known as "half-time" working, that is no more than 6½ hours a day – as the average working week for adults was 70 hours.
Those under 13 were also not permitted to work before 6am and after 6pm.
Additionally the employer had to ensure that the child possessed a certificate stating they were attending school and that he or she had been passed fit by a doctor.
Just when the kids were supposed to be finding the time to attend school I can't say – although Sunday school might well have counted.
A factory inspector had visited the Mooney's factory and found that some of these rules had been broken as the firm was employing Joseph Pennington and John Grundy without a doctor's certificate.
Young Joseph Pennington also had no school certificate and John Douglas had been working full-time (i.e. 70 hours or so per week) and he was only ten!
Catherine Mooney was fined 40 shillings and costs for breaching the Factory Act. Both of the boys' fathers were also prosecuted for permitting the offences.
Joseph Pennington's dad claimed ignorance of the law and John Douglas's father, rather bizarrely, said he did not know his 10-year-old son was employed at the bottle works.
"Being from home all day I cannot look after such things", was his lame excuse. They were both fined 10 shillings and costs each.
On the 28th the Wigan Observer reported on two inquests that had recently taken place in St Helens.
James Palin had been killed in McKechnie's copper smelting works in Smithy Brow (i.e. Parr Street).
It was another example of poor safety procedures, which had allowed the 35-year-old to be oiling the steps of a grinding mill without any protection.
Palin lost his balance and fell into the machinery and although the mill was immediately stopped, he was so crushed that death ensued in twenty minutes.
The inquest jury at the Royal Hotel in Parr returned the usual verdict of accidental death.
At least Palin's misery was soon ended. That was not the case with John Greening who had been badly injured at St Helens Goods Station in January.
The 57-year-old labourer had been engaged untying the covering of a wagon to which a horse was attached.
While crouching down between the wagon and the platform, the horse moved and Greening was so crushed that he never recovered.
His inquest was held at the Sefton Arms and the jury returned the same verdict of accidental death.
There was a similar case to the Mooney bottle works prosecution on April 1st when at Prescot Petty Sessions, William Allen and Joseph Case were charged with allowing their children to work in the watchmaking business without a medical certificate.
Many employers and parents ignored that legal requirement that was supposed to prove the youngsters were medically fit to work, as the doctor would have to be paid for the examination. The two fathers were both fined 20 shillings and costs.
The tailors of St Helens were due to begin a strike on the 2nd after some of the leading employers – or masters as they were always called – refused to concede to their demands.
And they were not outrageous. The men wanted just a penny more per hour to take their pay rate to 5d and a uniform system of working hours throughout the trade.
From Monday to Friday they wanted to work no more than ten hours a day and on Saturdays eight hours – so 58 hours in total per week.
In the end a new list of prices for making different articles of clothing was drawn up and agreed by both sides and a strike was averted.
The annual inspection of St Helens police took place on the 2nd. The force was slowly increasing in numbers but still only totalled 43 officers, including Supt. James Ludlam who was in charge.
The Government inspector of constabulary commented on the insufficient numbers of police to patrol such a large, well-populated district.
In the 1871 census, St Helens, including Bold and Rainford, had a population of 53,000 and the inspector called for at least half-a-dozen more men to be added to the force.
The Newspaper wrote that as part of the inspection of police officers:
"They were drawn up in open order, and their accoutrements examined minutely, after which they were transferred to the field and exercised in company evolutions by Supt. Ludlam. Considering the few opportunities for drill they possess, they acquitted themselves well."
The building was not very large but many Rainford events were held there, including an annual tea party and concert.
This year's event took place on the 2nd and the Newspaper said "vocal selections" of a "miscellaneous character" were given.
And finally, there is clearly nothing remarkable today for three adults in one household to each be aged in their mid-70s.
But the Liverpool Mercury on the 2nd considered such a feat newsworthy when they published this piece:
"A HAPPY FAMILY. – The sole occupants of a house in St. Helens are three persons, viz, a widower, and two widows, whose united ages are 226. They were born and have always lived in the town or immediate vicinity, the male having worked 57 years at the glass works.
"This would seem to suggest that St. Helens is a healthy town; and the fact that the persons referred to neither smoke nor take snuff, but take and enjoy a glass of grog at any time, may afford a little subject for study amongst our teetotal friends."
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Claughton Street man who set his dog on troublesome youths, the St Helens coal miners' pay demand, the rabbit racing court case in Merton Bank and a coincidence uncovers a blind man's scam.