150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 29 JAN - 4 FEB 1824
This week's many stories include the fight in the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Sutton, the Rainford soiree and ball, the failed appointment of a new teacher at Whiston Workhouse, the Valentine's cards on sale in St Helens and there's more criticism of the poisonous St Helens atmosphere.
We begin on the 29th with what was described as the "third annual soiree and ball" in Rainford which was held in the National School (pictured above in later years). The event was considered the highlight of the winter season in the village and the school had been "neatly and tastefully decorated". Despite it being almost February, the St Helens Newspaper described how the hall in the school "wore a thoroughly Christmas aspect". Some of the leading residents of Rainford were reported to be in attendance and they "participated freely in all the pleasures of the ball".
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians also took place on the 29th in which the appointment of a new teacher for the boys in Whiston Workhouse was on the agenda. Unsurprisingly, they had not had received many applications from single men who were prepared to live in the workhouse, teach up to 150 pauper boys and earn just £40 per year. Even the prospect of free "apartments, washing, and rations" and an extra £5 per year if they were prepared to play the harmonium at "Divine Service" had not been sufficient to lure good quality candidates.
Only two of the applicants were shortlisted and only one of these had turned up for his interview – which did not go well. Afterwards one of the guardians said it would be "folly to elect an incompetent man" and suggested re-advertising for a master with a higher salary. The high turnover of teachers was blamed for the workhouse school receiving unsatisfactory reports from the 19th century version of Ofsted. And so the stipend was raised to £60 a year in the hope that better quality men would apply.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper. By the 1870s the number posted in St Helens had grown to nearly 5,000 cards every year which was remarkable for a town that was much smaller than today. Many of them were purchased from Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, which also served as the offices for the St Helens Newspaper that Bernard Dromgoole owned and edited.
In this week's edition he was advertising his stock of Valentine cards which Dromgoole said was the "cheapest and prettiest" in the town, adding: "Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the young ladies and gentlemen of St. Helens and the district, who have favoured him with their patronage in former years, that in order to afford them ample accommodation for the selection of their love missives he has set apart, as a Valentine Showroom, a large part of his shop in Hardshaw street, and trusts that his endeavours to meet their wishes may give satisfaction to all."
The atmosphere in St Helens poisoned by discharges from its chemical factories and glassworks had been the subject of much recent discussion in the town. At a recent meeting of the council's Health Committee, Alderman John Marsh, the owner of Parr Alkali Works, had played down the danger claiming that sea breezes found their way into St Helens to dissipate much of the smoke. That led to this letter being published in the Newspaper:
"While reading the proceedings of our Health Committee, as reported in your issue of Saturday last, I could not help thinking of an old friend who once assured me that the true reason for the un-healthfulness of St. Helens, lay in the fact that the atmosphere of the locality killed all the weakly and delicate children in their early years, leaving the strong and vigorous to grow up to maturity – a striking illustration of Mr. Darwin's theory of the “survival of the fittest.”
"Then again about those “beautiful sea breezes” to which Alderman Marsh so touchingly alluded. How do they get to us? Do they come to us down the gentle slope of Combshop brow [Croppers Hill], laden with the balmy odours of Thatto Heath and Ravenhead; or do they reach us from the verdant depths of Rainford valley, via Gerards Bridge and College Lane, with just a snatch of chemic to give them piquancy and flavour? But the sulphurous acid in the air is after all no joke, as many a St. Helens resident knows to his cost, and the worthy Alderman's theory on the subject will not hold water."
The Newspaper described a court case involving a row between two families in which James and Elizabeth Harrison, a brother and sister, were charged with assaulting Thomas Clark. The latter claimed that he had been walking towards the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Ditch Hillock in Sutton when Elizabeth had approached him, struck him in the face and said she wanted to fight him. Thomas said he had refused to fight a woman and had walked away but in the beerhouse her brother James had rushed at him and hit him more than once. At that point his sister Elizabeth had entered the pub and been very abusive.
It was another case where the complainant presented themselves as whiter than white in which they had done nothing whatsoever to provoke the assault. But Thomas Traverse, the beerhouse keeper, was called as a defence witness and gave evidence that Thomas Clark had given Harrison a "vigorous push", which, according to the Newspaper's account, "induced Harrison to perform an acrobatic feat over a chair". The landlord subsequently removed Clark from his house and after hearing that evidence the magistrates dismissed the charge.
In another case Elizabeth Kay was charged with defaming Jane Whitfield. The latter had intervened in a quarrel between Elizabeth and some children and in retaliation had been accused of having committed "very immoral conduct", as it was reported. But Mrs Whitfield had to admit that she had not been silent during the confrontation but had "chirped" back at her antagonist as well as she could. The Newspaper said the chirping consisted of abusive epithets and that was her downfall as the Bench dismissed the case.
The magistrates also decided that a man knocking the mother of his children down in the road with his fist and then kicking her several times only deserved a 20 shilling fine. John Taylor was accused of brutally attacking Mary Johnson without any provocation as they passed on the street. She told the court that she could not account for the assault, although it was not the first time he had struck her. If Taylor had stolen something of Mary's he would almost certainly have been sent to prison. But he had only given the woman a public kicking and so the magistrates felt a small fine would suffice. The Newspaper's headline to their brief report was "A Cowardly Fellow".
As if to prove my point the next case concerned a shoplifter who was sent to jail. Catherine Flynn had stolen a coat from Richard Wall who kept a clothier's shop in Raven Street in St Helens and had then pawned it at premises in the same street for 11 shillings. And Catherine had then nicked another coat from a market stall and taken it to the same pawnshop where the suspicious owner had the woman arrested. She was sent to prison for three months.
It is impossible to know whether stupidity or sheer desperation drove such crimes but William Syers was next in court having also committed a rather brainless act. He and his wife had been lodging in Brook Street in St Helens with a widow called Ann Morris. She gave evidence of placing some jewellery in a box in the presence of Syers. Some days later she opened the box and found a watch, ring, chain and necklace had disappeared.
Mrs Morris then discovered that her lodger had taken the items to William Burchall's pawnshop but Syers and his wife had continued to live in her house. After being committed for trial at Kirkdale, Syers was sentenced to four months in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent Rainhill row between two women, why the residents of Hardshaw Street were fuming with Greenall's, the Noggs protection order and the youth who caused trouble in St Thomas' church.
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians also took place on the 29th in which the appointment of a new teacher for the boys in Whiston Workhouse was on the agenda. Unsurprisingly, they had not had received many applications from single men who were prepared to live in the workhouse, teach up to 150 pauper boys and earn just £40 per year. Even the prospect of free "apartments, washing, and rations" and an extra £5 per year if they were prepared to play the harmonium at "Divine Service" had not been sufficient to lure good quality candidates.
Only two of the applicants were shortlisted and only one of these had turned up for his interview – which did not go well. Afterwards one of the guardians said it would be "folly to elect an incompetent man" and suggested re-advertising for a master with a higher salary. The high turnover of teachers was blamed for the workhouse school receiving unsatisfactory reports from the 19th century version of Ofsted. And so the stipend was raised to £60 a year in the hope that better quality men would apply.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper. By the 1870s the number posted in St Helens had grown to nearly 5,000 cards every year which was remarkable for a town that was much smaller than today. Many of them were purchased from Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, which also served as the offices for the St Helens Newspaper that Bernard Dromgoole owned and edited.
In this week's edition he was advertising his stock of Valentine cards which Dromgoole said was the "cheapest and prettiest" in the town, adding: "Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the young ladies and gentlemen of St. Helens and the district, who have favoured him with their patronage in former years, that in order to afford them ample accommodation for the selection of their love missives he has set apart, as a Valentine Showroom, a large part of his shop in Hardshaw street, and trusts that his endeavours to meet their wishes may give satisfaction to all."
The atmosphere in St Helens poisoned by discharges from its chemical factories and glassworks had been the subject of much recent discussion in the town. At a recent meeting of the council's Health Committee, Alderman John Marsh, the owner of Parr Alkali Works, had played down the danger claiming that sea breezes found their way into St Helens to dissipate much of the smoke. That led to this letter being published in the Newspaper:
"While reading the proceedings of our Health Committee, as reported in your issue of Saturday last, I could not help thinking of an old friend who once assured me that the true reason for the un-healthfulness of St. Helens, lay in the fact that the atmosphere of the locality killed all the weakly and delicate children in their early years, leaving the strong and vigorous to grow up to maturity – a striking illustration of Mr. Darwin's theory of the “survival of the fittest.”
"Then again about those “beautiful sea breezes” to which Alderman Marsh so touchingly alluded. How do they get to us? Do they come to us down the gentle slope of Combshop brow [Croppers Hill], laden with the balmy odours of Thatto Heath and Ravenhead; or do they reach us from the verdant depths of Rainford valley, via Gerards Bridge and College Lane, with just a snatch of chemic to give them piquancy and flavour? But the sulphurous acid in the air is after all no joke, as many a St. Helens resident knows to his cost, and the worthy Alderman's theory on the subject will not hold water."
The Newspaper described a court case involving a row between two families in which James and Elizabeth Harrison, a brother and sister, were charged with assaulting Thomas Clark. The latter claimed that he had been walking towards the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Ditch Hillock in Sutton when Elizabeth had approached him, struck him in the face and said she wanted to fight him. Thomas said he had refused to fight a woman and had walked away but in the beerhouse her brother James had rushed at him and hit him more than once. At that point his sister Elizabeth had entered the pub and been very abusive.
It was another case where the complainant presented themselves as whiter than white in which they had done nothing whatsoever to provoke the assault. But Thomas Traverse, the beerhouse keeper, was called as a defence witness and gave evidence that Thomas Clark had given Harrison a "vigorous push", which, according to the Newspaper's account, "induced Harrison to perform an acrobatic feat over a chair". The landlord subsequently removed Clark from his house and after hearing that evidence the magistrates dismissed the charge.
In another case Elizabeth Kay was charged with defaming Jane Whitfield. The latter had intervened in a quarrel between Elizabeth and some children and in retaliation had been accused of having committed "very immoral conduct", as it was reported. But Mrs Whitfield had to admit that she had not been silent during the confrontation but had "chirped" back at her antagonist as well as she could. The Newspaper said the chirping consisted of abusive epithets and that was her downfall as the Bench dismissed the case.
The magistrates also decided that a man knocking the mother of his children down in the road with his fist and then kicking her several times only deserved a 20 shilling fine. John Taylor was accused of brutally attacking Mary Johnson without any provocation as they passed on the street. She told the court that she could not account for the assault, although it was not the first time he had struck her. If Taylor had stolen something of Mary's he would almost certainly have been sent to prison. But he had only given the woman a public kicking and so the magistrates felt a small fine would suffice. The Newspaper's headline to their brief report was "A Cowardly Fellow".
As if to prove my point the next case concerned a shoplifter who was sent to jail. Catherine Flynn had stolen a coat from Richard Wall who kept a clothier's shop in Raven Street in St Helens and had then pawned it at premises in the same street for 11 shillings. And Catherine had then nicked another coat from a market stall and taken it to the same pawnshop where the suspicious owner had the woman arrested. She was sent to prison for three months.
It is impossible to know whether stupidity or sheer desperation drove such crimes but William Syers was next in court having also committed a rather brainless act. He and his wife had been lodging in Brook Street in St Helens with a widow called Ann Morris. She gave evidence of placing some jewellery in a box in the presence of Syers. Some days later she opened the box and found a watch, ring, chain and necklace had disappeared.
Mrs Morris then discovered that her lodger had taken the items to William Burchall's pawnshop but Syers and his wife had continued to live in her house. After being committed for trial at Kirkdale, Syers was sentenced to four months in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent Rainhill row between two women, why the residents of Hardshaw Street were fuming with Greenall's, the Noggs protection order and the youth who caused trouble in St Thomas' church.
This week's many stories include the fight in the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Sutton, the Rainford soiree and ball, the failed appointment of a new teacher at Whiston Workhouse, the Valentine's cards on sale in St Helens and there's more criticism of the poisonous St Helens atmosphere.
We begin on the 29th with what was described as the "third annual soiree and ball" in Rainford which was held in the National School (pictured above in later years).
The event was considered the highlight of the winter season in the village and the school had been "neatly and tastefully decorated".
Despite it being almost February, the St Helens Newspaper described how the hall in the school "wore a thoroughly Christmas aspect".
Some of the leading residents of Rainford were reported to be in attendance and they "participated freely in all the pleasures of the ball".
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians also took place on the 29th in which the appointment of a new teacher for the boys in Whiston Workhouse was on the agenda.
Unsurprisingly, they had not had received many applications from single men who were prepared to live in the workhouse, teach up to 150 pauper boys and earn just £40 per year.
Even the prospect of free "apartments, washing, and rations" and an extra £5 per year if they were prepared to play the harmonium at "Divine Service" had not been sufficient to lure good quality candidates.
Only two of the applicants were shortlisted and only one of these had turned up for his interview – which did not go well.
Afterwards one of the guardians said it would be "folly to elect an incompetent man" and suggested re-advertising for a master with a higher salary.
The high turnover of teachers was blamed for the workhouse school receiving unsatisfactory reports from the 19th century version of Ofsted.
And so the stipend was raised to £60 a year in the hope that better quality men would apply.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper.
By the 1870s the number posted in St Helens had grown to nearly 5,000 cards every year which was remarkable for a town that was much smaller than today.
Many of them were purchased from Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, which also served as the offices for the St Helens Newspaper that Bernard Dromgoole owned and edited.
In this week's edition he was advertising his stock of Valentine cards which Dromgoole said was the "cheapest and prettiest" in the town, adding:
"Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the young ladies and gentlemen of St. Helens and the district, who have favoured him with their patronage in former years, that in order to afford them ample accommodation for the selection of their love missives he has set apart, as a Valentine Showroom, a large part of his shop in Hardshaw street, and trusts that his endeavours to meet their wishes may give satisfaction to all."
The atmosphere in St Helens poisoned by discharges from its chemical factories and glassworks had been the subject of much recent discussion in the town.
At a recent meeting of the council's Health Committee, Alderman John Marsh, the owner of Parr Alkali Works, had played down the danger claiming that sea breezes found their way into St Helens to dissipate much of the smoke. That led to this letter being published in the Newspaper:
"While reading the proceedings of our Health Committee, as reported in your issue of Saturday last, I could not help thinking of an old friend who once assured me that the true reason for the un-healthfulness of St. Helens, lay in the fact that the atmosphere of the locality killed all the weakly and delicate children in their early years, leaving the strong and vigorous to grow up to maturity – a striking illustration of Mr. Darwin's theory of the “survival of the fittest.”
"Then again about those “beautiful sea breezes” to which Alderman Marsh so touchingly alluded. How do they get to us?
"Do they come to us down the gentle slope of Combshop brow [Croppers Hill], laden with the balmy odours of Thatto Heath and Ravenhead; or do they reach us from the verdant depths of Rainford valley, via Gerards Bridge and College Lane, with just a snatch of chemic to give them piquancy and flavour?
"But the sulphurous acid in the air is after all no joke, as many a St. Helens resident knows to his cost, and the worthy Alderman's theory on the subject will not hold water."
The Newspaper described a court case involving a row between two families in which James and Elizabeth Harrison, a brother and sister, were charged with assaulting Thomas Clark.
The latter claimed that he had been walking towards the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Ditch Hillock in Sutton when Elizabeth had approached him, struck him in the face and said she wanted to fight him.
Thomas said he had refused to fight a woman and had walked away but in the beerhouse her brother James had rushed at him and hit him more than once.
At that point his sister Elizabeth had entered the pub and been very abusive.
It was another case where the complainant presented themselves as whiter than white in which they had done nothing whatsoever to provoke the assault.
But Thomas Traverse, the beerhouse keeper, was called as a defence witness and gave evidence that Thomas Clark had given Harrison a "vigorous push", which, according to the Newspaper's account, "induced Harrison to perform an acrobatic feat over a chair."
The landlord subsequently removed Clark from his house and after hearing that evidence the magistrates dismissed the charge.
In another case Elizabeth Kay was charged with defaming Jane Whitfield. The latter had intervened in a quarrel between Elizabeth and some children and in retaliation had been accused of having committed "very immoral conduct", as it was reported.
But Mrs Whitfield had to admit that she had not been silent during the confrontation but had "chirped" back at her antagonist as well as she could.
The Newspaper said the chirping consisted of abusive epithets and that was her downfall as the Bench dismissed the case.
The magistrates also decided that a man knocking the mother of his children down in the road with his fist and then kicking her several times only deserved a 20 shilling fine.
John Taylor was accused of brutally attacking Mary Johnson without any provocation as they passed on the street.
She told the court that she could not account for the assault, although it was not the first time he had struck her.
If Taylor had stolen something of Mary's he would almost certainly have been sent to prison.
But he had only given the woman a public kicking and so the magistrates felt a small fine would suffice. The Newspaper's headline to their brief report was "A Cowardly Fellow".
As if to prove my point the next case concerned a shoplifter who was sent to jail.
Catherine Flynn had stolen a coat from Richard Wall who kept a clothier's shop in Raven Street in St Helens and had then pawned it at premises in the same street for 11 shillings.
And Catherine had then nicked another coat from a market stall and taken it to the same pawnshop where the suspicious owner had the woman arrested. She was sent to prison for three months.
It is impossible to know whether stupidity or sheer desperation drove such crimes but William Syers was next in court having also committed a rather brainless act.
He and his wife had been lodging in Brook Street in St Helens with a widow called Ann Morris. She gave evidence of placing some jewellery in a box in the presence of Syers.
Some days later she opened the box and found a watch, ring, chain and necklace had disappeared.
Mrs Morris then discovered that her lodger had taken the items to William Burchall's pawnshop but Syers and his wife had continued to live in her house.
After being committed for trial at Kirkdale, Syers was sentenced to four months in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent Rainhill row between two women, why the residents of Hardshaw Street were fuming with Greenall's, the Noggs protection order and the youth who caused trouble in St Thomas' church.
The event was considered the highlight of the winter season in the village and the school had been "neatly and tastefully decorated".
Despite it being almost February, the St Helens Newspaper described how the hall in the school "wore a thoroughly Christmas aspect".
Some of the leading residents of Rainford were reported to be in attendance and they "participated freely in all the pleasures of the ball".
A meeting of the Prescot Guardians also took place on the 29th in which the appointment of a new teacher for the boys in Whiston Workhouse was on the agenda.
Unsurprisingly, they had not had received many applications from single men who were prepared to live in the workhouse, teach up to 150 pauper boys and earn just £40 per year.
Even the prospect of free "apartments, washing, and rations" and an extra £5 per year if they were prepared to play the harmonium at "Divine Service" had not been sufficient to lure good quality candidates.
Only two of the applicants were shortlisted and only one of these had turned up for his interview – which did not go well.
Afterwards one of the guardians said it would be "folly to elect an incompetent man" and suggested re-advertising for a master with a higher salary.
The high turnover of teachers was blamed for the workhouse school receiving unsatisfactory reports from the 19th century version of Ofsted.
And so the stipend was raised to £60 a year in the hope that better quality men would apply.
The marking of Valentine's Day goes back hundreds of years with the sending of cards growing in popularity after 1840 when postal rates became cheaper.
By the 1870s the number posted in St Helens had grown to nearly 5,000 cards every year which was remarkable for a town that was much smaller than today.
Many of them were purchased from Dromgoole's Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, which also served as the offices for the St Helens Newspaper that Bernard Dromgoole owned and edited.
In this week's edition he was advertising his stock of Valentine cards which Dromgoole said was the "cheapest and prettiest" in the town, adding:
"Mr. Dromgoole begs to inform the young ladies and gentlemen of St. Helens and the district, who have favoured him with their patronage in former years, that in order to afford them ample accommodation for the selection of their love missives he has set apart, as a Valentine Showroom, a large part of his shop in Hardshaw street, and trusts that his endeavours to meet their wishes may give satisfaction to all."
The atmosphere in St Helens poisoned by discharges from its chemical factories and glassworks had been the subject of much recent discussion in the town.
At a recent meeting of the council's Health Committee, Alderman John Marsh, the owner of Parr Alkali Works, had played down the danger claiming that sea breezes found their way into St Helens to dissipate much of the smoke. That led to this letter being published in the Newspaper:
"While reading the proceedings of our Health Committee, as reported in your issue of Saturday last, I could not help thinking of an old friend who once assured me that the true reason for the un-healthfulness of St. Helens, lay in the fact that the atmosphere of the locality killed all the weakly and delicate children in their early years, leaving the strong and vigorous to grow up to maturity – a striking illustration of Mr. Darwin's theory of the “survival of the fittest.”
"Then again about those “beautiful sea breezes” to which Alderman Marsh so touchingly alluded. How do they get to us?
"Do they come to us down the gentle slope of Combshop brow [Croppers Hill], laden with the balmy odours of Thatto Heath and Ravenhead; or do they reach us from the verdant depths of Rainford valley, via Gerards Bridge and College Lane, with just a snatch of chemic to give them piquancy and flavour?
"But the sulphurous acid in the air is after all no joke, as many a St. Helens resident knows to his cost, and the worthy Alderman's theory on the subject will not hold water."
The Newspaper described a court case involving a row between two families in which James and Elizabeth Harrison, a brother and sister, were charged with assaulting Thomas Clark.
The latter claimed that he had been walking towards the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Ditch Hillock in Sutton when Elizabeth had approached him, struck him in the face and said she wanted to fight him.
Thomas said he had refused to fight a woman and had walked away but in the beerhouse her brother James had rushed at him and hit him more than once.
At that point his sister Elizabeth had entered the pub and been very abusive.
It was another case where the complainant presented themselves as whiter than white in which they had done nothing whatsoever to provoke the assault.
But Thomas Traverse, the beerhouse keeper, was called as a defence witness and gave evidence that Thomas Clark had given Harrison a "vigorous push", which, according to the Newspaper's account, "induced Harrison to perform an acrobatic feat over a chair."
The landlord subsequently removed Clark from his house and after hearing that evidence the magistrates dismissed the charge.
In another case Elizabeth Kay was charged with defaming Jane Whitfield. The latter had intervened in a quarrel between Elizabeth and some children and in retaliation had been accused of having committed "very immoral conduct", as it was reported.
But Mrs Whitfield had to admit that she had not been silent during the confrontation but had "chirped" back at her antagonist as well as she could.
The Newspaper said the chirping consisted of abusive epithets and that was her downfall as the Bench dismissed the case.
The magistrates also decided that a man knocking the mother of his children down in the road with his fist and then kicking her several times only deserved a 20 shilling fine.
John Taylor was accused of brutally attacking Mary Johnson without any provocation as they passed on the street.
She told the court that she could not account for the assault, although it was not the first time he had struck her.
If Taylor had stolen something of Mary's he would almost certainly have been sent to prison.
But he had only given the woman a public kicking and so the magistrates felt a small fine would suffice. The Newspaper's headline to their brief report was "A Cowardly Fellow".
As if to prove my point the next case concerned a shoplifter who was sent to jail.
Catherine Flynn had stolen a coat from Richard Wall who kept a clothier's shop in Raven Street in St Helens and had then pawned it at premises in the same street for 11 shillings.
And Catherine had then nicked another coat from a market stall and taken it to the same pawnshop where the suspicious owner had the woman arrested. She was sent to prison for three months.
It is impossible to know whether stupidity or sheer desperation drove such crimes but William Syers was next in court having also committed a rather brainless act.
He and his wife had been lodging in Brook Street in St Helens with a widow called Ann Morris. She gave evidence of placing some jewellery in a box in the presence of Syers.
Some days later she opened the box and found a watch, ring, chain and necklace had disappeared.
Mrs Morris then discovered that her lodger had taken the items to William Burchall's pawnshop but Syers and his wife had continued to live in her house.
After being committed for trial at Kirkdale, Syers was sentenced to four months in prison.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the violent Rainhill row between two women, why the residents of Hardshaw Street were fuming with Greenall's, the Noggs protection order and the youth who caused trouble in St Thomas' church.