150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 29 JULY - 4 AUG 1874
This week's many stories include the boy labelled a street Arab who swam like a frog and dashed up his house chimney, the devastating Liverpool docks fire, the Sutton mother who begged magistrates to punish her wayward boy, the family that attacked a policeman in Greenbank, the miner facing prison for taking time off work to be a witness at court and the lads arrested for committing indecent exposure while bathing in the canal.
Fires in the 1870s were not all that common but with poor means of communication and the time it took for the horse-driven fire brigade to reach the scene of an outbreak, blazes could have devastating consequences. And candles were often the cause of such fires. On August 1st the St Helens Newspaper described the recent inferno that had taken place at Liverpool docks: "The catastrophe which has befallen Liverpool, in the destruction by fire of the landing stages, is the greatest ever experienced by that port and one of the most disastrous of modern times.
"A structure which for beauty, comfort, and usefulness, had no counterpart in the harbours of the empire, has been swept away on the very eve of its completion, by an accident of the simplest character. A gas-fitter who was working with a candle beneath the frame of the Prince's stage allowed the flame to come in contact with a gas pipe from which the plug had fallen out – so the man states – and a stream of fire arose and burned while there was an inch of combustible material upon which it could prey."
Also in the Newspaper John Evans of Hamer Street was advertising his improved washing machine for which he was the sole agent for St Helens, writing: "The domestic washer is superior to any other machine of the kind, and for simplicity, usefulness, and efficiency, is unequalled." No price was stated in the advert but without electricity, the machine would, no doubt, have needed much effort on the part of the women that operated it.
Boys who spent their days wandering about the streets usually in bare feet were given little sympathy and instead were often disparagingly referred to as "street arabs". The Newspaper described how three "juveniles of the street arab stamp" had appeared in court charged with stealing four packing boxes from Pilkington's glassworks to play with in the canal.
A man named Marshall saw what they were doing and managed to seize two of the boxes but one of the boys called McCormick "with all the agility of a frog", pushed the two remaining boxes into the middle of the water and refused to surrender them. The Newspaper wrote:
"He was threatened, coaxed, and argued; but he had the advantage, and would not yield it. While a crowd gathered, and a policeman made his appearance, the amphibious youngster revelled in the fun of defying them. He swam up and down, keeping the boxes within reach, and laughing at the helplessness of those he was avoiding. There was nothing for it but to let him tire, but when he had been about twenty minutes tantalising his enemies he seemed as fresh as ever. Another boy was induced to attempt the capture, and he succeeded in securing the boxes, but the little delinquent escaped for the time."
However, the police knew who the lad was and managed with some difficulty to arrest him at his home. That was because his mother pushed her son and his brother – who had also been involved in the box escapade – up their chimney, "and they were so agile, even in that confined space that he [the policeman] could only effect the capture of one."
But the authorities had their revenge in the end for what had been little more than a boyish prank in "the filth of the water", as the Newspaper put it. The magistrates ordered the three boys to be imprisoned in Kirkdale Gaol for seven days and receive twelve strokes of the birch.
Taking a bath at home was a cumbersome task and so bathing in tubs was mainly reserved for blackened coal miners who had to be scrubbed down at home on a daily basis after their labours. During the better summer weather youths and young men often used the many places of open water in St Helens to bathe in. In overcrowded working-class family settings males could become desensitised to nakedness and so think nothing of standing about in the nude in the waters of the canal.
But if the police saw them they would be arrested for indecent exposure and this week John and Bernard McKeegan faced the music in St Helens Petty Sessions. The lads had been bathing in the canal near Pocket Nook in the public view of persons walking past. The magistrates rarely inflicted heavy penalties for such offences, and in the case of the McKeegans they were both fined just a shilling and told to pay the court costs.
If the mothers of boys that were being prosecuted made an appeal to the magistrates, it was usually for them to treat their sons leniently. But not the mother of George Chester. The 11-year-old had been summoned for damaging ash trees belonging to Sutton Monastery. George and a boy called Thomas Johnson had cut down saplings to use as fishing rods in the nearby monastery dam. Thomas was only fined 6d, along with 10 shillings damages and costs. But his partner in arboreal crime was sent to prison.
That was after George's mother had begged the magistrates to really punish her son or else, she said, he would get into worse trouble. Despite only being 11 years of age her boy had been sent to prison three times and been birched, but the punishments had not changed his behaviour. And Mrs Chester said George had become so well known in the various works at Sutton for causing mischief that no one would employ him. The boy was given a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
More traditional family behaviour was described in the case of John Hayes when he appeared in court this week. PC Sheriff had seen Hayes fighting near his home in Liverpool Road and when he tried to stop the fight, the man turned on him and struck and kicked the officer. Using the 1881 census as a guide, Robert Sheriff would in 1874 have been 21 and had not been long in Lancashire after coming over from Ireland.
So it might have been felt that deploying him in the mainly Irish and highly troubled Greenbank area would have been a good idea as he might relate better to the inhabitants than English constables. But that certainly was not the case with John Hayes and his family! The man's resistance to his arrest continued for some time and was aided by his mother and one of his sisters who threw stones at PC Sheriff as he escorted his prisoner to the station. Hayes was fined 25 shillings and costs.
So called "master and servant" cases were regular occurrences in the Petty Sessions after workers had absented themselves from their jobs – and their treatment could be very harsh. James Wilson was ordered to pay £4 and costs for taking some days off at Sutton Heath Colliery (pictured above) without giving notice. Mr Wilson explained that he had been a witness at a court hearing in Kirkdale but admitted he had gone to Liverpool without permission from his firm. If he was unable to find what could have been the equivalent of three weeks wages, Wilson had to serve two months in prison. I wonder if the defendant in the court case that Wilson had been a witness in received a sentence as long as that!
What the Newspaper described as a "novel bastardy case" was also heard in the Petty Sessions when Ralph Buchan was sued for the support of the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Collins. It was a sad tale of a widow who had been in and out of Whiston Workhouse and while living outside had given birth to five children by Buchan. Only two were still living and the man was paying maintenance for one of his kids and was ordered to find an additional 3 shillings each week for his other child who had only recently been born.
From the 7th Bullock's Royal Marionettes appeared at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens. Also on the same bill were the Christy Minstrels, who as well as singing comic songs and ballads in blackface make-up performed "the grand comic pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, in 12 scenes of gorgeous splendour."
This was another show that advertised a couple of "morning performances", as well as their main ones in the evening. However, these so-called morning shows took place at 2:30pm! We would obviously call them matinees, which, as we know, is French for morning performance, despite them generally being performed in the afternoon. This, presumably, is the reason such afternoon shows were later given the name matinees. But why in the 19th century they were known as morning shows is a mystery to me.
And finally, the two-day Rainford Races began on the 4th. The event was for horses and Henry Ball, the landlord of the Eagle and Child Inn, was the Clerk to the Course.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the runaway horse in Tontine Street, the brutal attack on an old man in Parr, the knife attack in a Sutton pub and the miserable looking old man who stole bread from a Church Street shop.
Fires in the 1870s were not all that common but with poor means of communication and the time it took for the horse-driven fire brigade to reach the scene of an outbreak, blazes could have devastating consequences. And candles were often the cause of such fires. On August 1st the St Helens Newspaper described the recent inferno that had taken place at Liverpool docks: "The catastrophe which has befallen Liverpool, in the destruction by fire of the landing stages, is the greatest ever experienced by that port and one of the most disastrous of modern times.
"A structure which for beauty, comfort, and usefulness, had no counterpart in the harbours of the empire, has been swept away on the very eve of its completion, by an accident of the simplest character. A gas-fitter who was working with a candle beneath the frame of the Prince's stage allowed the flame to come in contact with a gas pipe from which the plug had fallen out – so the man states – and a stream of fire arose and burned while there was an inch of combustible material upon which it could prey."
Also in the Newspaper John Evans of Hamer Street was advertising his improved washing machine for which he was the sole agent for St Helens, writing: "The domestic washer is superior to any other machine of the kind, and for simplicity, usefulness, and efficiency, is unequalled." No price was stated in the advert but without electricity, the machine would, no doubt, have needed much effort on the part of the women that operated it.
Boys who spent their days wandering about the streets usually in bare feet were given little sympathy and instead were often disparagingly referred to as "street arabs". The Newspaper described how three "juveniles of the street arab stamp" had appeared in court charged with stealing four packing boxes from Pilkington's glassworks to play with in the canal.
A man named Marshall saw what they were doing and managed to seize two of the boxes but one of the boys called McCormick "with all the agility of a frog", pushed the two remaining boxes into the middle of the water and refused to surrender them. The Newspaper wrote:
"He was threatened, coaxed, and argued; but he had the advantage, and would not yield it. While a crowd gathered, and a policeman made his appearance, the amphibious youngster revelled in the fun of defying them. He swam up and down, keeping the boxes within reach, and laughing at the helplessness of those he was avoiding. There was nothing for it but to let him tire, but when he had been about twenty minutes tantalising his enemies he seemed as fresh as ever. Another boy was induced to attempt the capture, and he succeeded in securing the boxes, but the little delinquent escaped for the time."
However, the police knew who the lad was and managed with some difficulty to arrest him at his home. That was because his mother pushed her son and his brother – who had also been involved in the box escapade – up their chimney, "and they were so agile, even in that confined space that he [the policeman] could only effect the capture of one."
But the authorities had their revenge in the end for what had been little more than a boyish prank in "the filth of the water", as the Newspaper put it. The magistrates ordered the three boys to be imprisoned in Kirkdale Gaol for seven days and receive twelve strokes of the birch.
Taking a bath at home was a cumbersome task and so bathing in tubs was mainly reserved for blackened coal miners who had to be scrubbed down at home on a daily basis after their labours. During the better summer weather youths and young men often used the many places of open water in St Helens to bathe in. In overcrowded working-class family settings males could become desensitised to nakedness and so think nothing of standing about in the nude in the waters of the canal.
But if the police saw them they would be arrested for indecent exposure and this week John and Bernard McKeegan faced the music in St Helens Petty Sessions. The lads had been bathing in the canal near Pocket Nook in the public view of persons walking past. The magistrates rarely inflicted heavy penalties for such offences, and in the case of the McKeegans they were both fined just a shilling and told to pay the court costs.
If the mothers of boys that were being prosecuted made an appeal to the magistrates, it was usually for them to treat their sons leniently. But not the mother of George Chester. The 11-year-old had been summoned for damaging ash trees belonging to Sutton Monastery. George and a boy called Thomas Johnson had cut down saplings to use as fishing rods in the nearby monastery dam. Thomas was only fined 6d, along with 10 shillings damages and costs. But his partner in arboreal crime was sent to prison.
That was after George's mother had begged the magistrates to really punish her son or else, she said, he would get into worse trouble. Despite only being 11 years of age her boy had been sent to prison three times and been birched, but the punishments had not changed his behaviour. And Mrs Chester said George had become so well known in the various works at Sutton for causing mischief that no one would employ him. The boy was given a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
More traditional family behaviour was described in the case of John Hayes when he appeared in court this week. PC Sheriff had seen Hayes fighting near his home in Liverpool Road and when he tried to stop the fight, the man turned on him and struck and kicked the officer. Using the 1881 census as a guide, Robert Sheriff would in 1874 have been 21 and had not been long in Lancashire after coming over from Ireland.
So it might have been felt that deploying him in the mainly Irish and highly troubled Greenbank area would have been a good idea as he might relate better to the inhabitants than English constables. But that certainly was not the case with John Hayes and his family! The man's resistance to his arrest continued for some time and was aided by his mother and one of his sisters who threw stones at PC Sheriff as he escorted his prisoner to the station. Hayes was fined 25 shillings and costs.
What the Newspaper described as a "novel bastardy case" was also heard in the Petty Sessions when Ralph Buchan was sued for the support of the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Collins. It was a sad tale of a widow who had been in and out of Whiston Workhouse and while living outside had given birth to five children by Buchan. Only two were still living and the man was paying maintenance for one of his kids and was ordered to find an additional 3 shillings each week for his other child who had only recently been born.
From the 7th Bullock's Royal Marionettes appeared at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens. Also on the same bill were the Christy Minstrels, who as well as singing comic songs and ballads in blackface make-up performed "the grand comic pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, in 12 scenes of gorgeous splendour."
This was another show that advertised a couple of "morning performances", as well as their main ones in the evening. However, these so-called morning shows took place at 2:30pm! We would obviously call them matinees, which, as we know, is French for morning performance, despite them generally being performed in the afternoon. This, presumably, is the reason such afternoon shows were later given the name matinees. But why in the 19th century they were known as morning shows is a mystery to me.
And finally, the two-day Rainford Races began on the 4th. The event was for horses and Henry Ball, the landlord of the Eagle and Child Inn, was the Clerk to the Course.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the runaway horse in Tontine Street, the brutal attack on an old man in Parr, the knife attack in a Sutton pub and the miserable looking old man who stole bread from a Church Street shop.
This week's many stories include the boy labelled a street Arab who swam like a frog and dashed up his house chimney, the devastating Liverpool docks fire, the Sutton mother who begged magistrates to punish her wayward boy, the family that attacked a policeman in Greenbank, the miner facing prison for taking time off work to be a witness at court and the lads arrested for committing indecent exposure while bathing in the canal.
Fires in the 1870s were not all that common but with poor means of communication and the time it took for the horse-driven fire brigade to reach the scene of an outbreak, blazes could have devastating consequences. And candles were often the cause of such fires.
On August 1st the St Helens Newspaper described the recent inferno that had taken place at Liverpool docks:
"The catastrophe which has befallen Liverpool, in the destruction by fire of the landing stages, is the greatest ever experienced by that port and one of the most disastrous of modern times.
"A structure which for beauty, comfort, and usefulness, had no counterpart in the harbours of the empire, has been swept away on the very eve of its completion, by an accident of the simplest character.
"A gas-fitter who was working with a candle beneath the frame of the Prince's stage allowed the flame to come in contact with a gas pipe from which the plug had fallen out – so the man states – and a stream of fire arose and burned while there was an inch of combustible material upon which it could prey."
Also in the Newspaper John Evans of Hamer Street was advertising his improved washing machine for which he was the sole agent for St Helens, writing:
"The domestic washer is superior to any other machine of the kind, and for simplicity, usefulness, and efficiency, is unequalled."
No price was stated in the advert but without electricity, the machine would, no doubt, have needed much effort on the part of the women that operated it.
Boys who spent their days wandering about the streets usually in bare feet were given little sympathy and instead were often disparagingly referred to as "street arabs".
The Newspaper described how three "juveniles of the street arab stamp" had appeared in court charged with stealing four packing boxes from Pilkington's glassworks to play with in the canal.
A man named Marshall saw what they were doing and managed to seize two of the boxes but one of the boys called McCormick "with all the agility of a frog", pushed the two remaining boxes into the middle of the water and refused to surrender them. The Newspaper wrote:
"He was threatened, coaxed, and argued; but he had the advantage, and would not yield it. While a crowd gathered, and a policeman made his appearance, the amphibious youngster revelled in the fun of defying them.
"He swam up and down, keeping the boxes within reach, and laughing at the helplessness of those he was avoiding. There was nothing for it but to let him tire, but when he had been about twenty minutes tantalising his enemies he seemed as fresh as ever.
"Another boy was induced to attempt the capture, and he succeeded in securing the boxes, but the little delinquent escaped for the time."
However, the police knew who the lad was and managed with some difficulty to arrest him at his home.
That was because his mother pushed her son and his brother – who had also been involved in the box escapade – up their chimney, "and they were so agile, even in that confined space that he [the policeman] could only effect the capture of one."
But the authorities had their revenge in the end for what had been little more than a boyish prank in "the filth of the water", as the Newspaper put it.
The magistrates ordered the three boys to be imprisoned for seven days and receive twelve strokes of the birch.
Taking a bath at home was a cumbersome task and so bathing in tubs was mainly reserved for blackened coal miners who had to be scrubbed down at home on a daily basis after their labours.
During the better summer weather youths and young men often used the many places of open water in St Helens to bathe in.
In overcrowded working-class family settings males could become desensitised to nakedness and so think nothing of standing about in the nude in the waters of the canal.
But if the police saw them they would be arrested for indecent exposure and this week John and Bernard McKeegan faced the music in St Helens Petty Sessions.
The lads had been bathing in the canal near Pocket Nook in the public view of persons walking past.
The magistrates rarely inflicted heavy penalties for such offences, and in the case of the McKeegans they were both fined just a shilling and told to pay the court costs.
If the mothers of boys that were being prosecuted made an appeal to the magistrates, it was usually for them to treat their sons leniently.
But not the mother of George Chester. The 11-year-old had been summoned for damaging ash trees belonging to Sutton Monastery.
George and a boy called Thomas Johnson had cut down saplings to use as fishing rods in the nearby monastery dam.
Thomas was only fined 6d, along with 10 shillings damages and costs. But his partner in arboreal crime was sent to prison.
That was after George's mother had begged the magistrates to really punish her son or else, she said, he would get into worse trouble.
Despite only being 11 years of age her boy had been sent to prison three times and been birched, but the punishments had not changed his behaviour.
And Mrs Chester said George had become so well known in the various works at Sutton for causing mischief that no one would employ him. The boy was given a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
More traditional family behaviour was described in the case of John Hayes when he appeared in court this week.
PC Sheriff had seen Hayes fighting near his home in Liverpool Road and when he tried to stop the fight, the man turned on him and struck and kicked the officer.
Using the 1881 census as a guide, Robert Sheriff would in 1874 have been 21 and had not been long in Lancashire after coming over from Ireland.
So it might have been felt that deploying him in the mainly Irish and highly troubled Greenbank area would have been a good idea as he might relate better to the inhabitants than English constables.
But that certainly was not the case with John Hayes and his family!
The man's resistance to his arrest continued for some time and was aided by his mother and one of his sisters who threw stones at PC Sheriff as he escorted his prisoner to the station. Hayes was fined 25 shillings and costs.
So called "master and servant" cases were regular occurrences in the Petty Sessions after workers had absented themselves from their jobs – and their treatment could be very harsh.
James Wilson was ordered to pay £4 and costs for taking some days off at Sutton Heath Colliery (pictured above) without giving notice.
Mr Wilson explained that he had been a witness at a court hearing in Kirkdale but admitted he had gone to Liverpool without permission from his firm.
If he was unable to find what could have been the equivalent of three weeks wages, Wilson had to serve two months in prison.
I wonder if the defendant in the court case that Wilson had been a witness in received a sentence as long as that!
What the Newspaper described as a "novel bastardy case" was also heard in the Petty Sessions when Ralph Buchan was sued for the support of the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Collins.
It was a sad tale of a widow who had been in and out of Whiston Workhouse and while living outside had given birth to five children by Buchan.
Only two were still living and the man was paying maintenance for one of his kids and was ordered to find an additional 3 shillings each week for his other child who had only recently been born.
From the 7th Bullock's Royal Marionettes appeared at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens.
Also on the same bill were the Christy Minstrels, who as well as singing comic songs and ballads in blackface make-up performed "the grand comic pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, in 12 scenes of gorgeous splendour."
This was another show that advertised a couple of "morning performances", as well as their main ones in the evening. However, these so-called morning shows took place at 2:30pm!
We would obviously call them matinees, which, as we know, is French for morning performance, despite them generally being performed in the afternoon.
This, presumably, is the reason such afternoon shows were later given the name matinees.
But why in the 19th century they were known as morning shows is a mystery to me.
And finally, the two-day Rainford Races began on the 4th. The event was for horses and Henry Ball, the landlord of the Eagle and Child Inn, was the Clerk to the Course.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the runaway horse in Tontine Street, the brutal attack on an old man in Parr, the knife attack in a Sutton pub and the miserable looking old man who stole bread from a Church Street shop.
Fires in the 1870s were not all that common but with poor means of communication and the time it took for the horse-driven fire brigade to reach the scene of an outbreak, blazes could have devastating consequences. And candles were often the cause of such fires.
On August 1st the St Helens Newspaper described the recent inferno that had taken place at Liverpool docks:
"The catastrophe which has befallen Liverpool, in the destruction by fire of the landing stages, is the greatest ever experienced by that port and one of the most disastrous of modern times.
"A structure which for beauty, comfort, and usefulness, had no counterpart in the harbours of the empire, has been swept away on the very eve of its completion, by an accident of the simplest character.
"A gas-fitter who was working with a candle beneath the frame of the Prince's stage allowed the flame to come in contact with a gas pipe from which the plug had fallen out – so the man states – and a stream of fire arose and burned while there was an inch of combustible material upon which it could prey."
Also in the Newspaper John Evans of Hamer Street was advertising his improved washing machine for which he was the sole agent for St Helens, writing:
"The domestic washer is superior to any other machine of the kind, and for simplicity, usefulness, and efficiency, is unequalled."
No price was stated in the advert but without electricity, the machine would, no doubt, have needed much effort on the part of the women that operated it.
Boys who spent their days wandering about the streets usually in bare feet were given little sympathy and instead were often disparagingly referred to as "street arabs".
The Newspaper described how three "juveniles of the street arab stamp" had appeared in court charged with stealing four packing boxes from Pilkington's glassworks to play with in the canal.
A man named Marshall saw what they were doing and managed to seize two of the boxes but one of the boys called McCormick "with all the agility of a frog", pushed the two remaining boxes into the middle of the water and refused to surrender them. The Newspaper wrote:
"He was threatened, coaxed, and argued; but he had the advantage, and would not yield it. While a crowd gathered, and a policeman made his appearance, the amphibious youngster revelled in the fun of defying them.
"He swam up and down, keeping the boxes within reach, and laughing at the helplessness of those he was avoiding. There was nothing for it but to let him tire, but when he had been about twenty minutes tantalising his enemies he seemed as fresh as ever.
"Another boy was induced to attempt the capture, and he succeeded in securing the boxes, but the little delinquent escaped for the time."
However, the police knew who the lad was and managed with some difficulty to arrest him at his home.
That was because his mother pushed her son and his brother – who had also been involved in the box escapade – up their chimney, "and they were so agile, even in that confined space that he [the policeman] could only effect the capture of one."
But the authorities had their revenge in the end for what had been little more than a boyish prank in "the filth of the water", as the Newspaper put it.
The magistrates ordered the three boys to be imprisoned for seven days and receive twelve strokes of the birch.
Taking a bath at home was a cumbersome task and so bathing in tubs was mainly reserved for blackened coal miners who had to be scrubbed down at home on a daily basis after their labours.
During the better summer weather youths and young men often used the many places of open water in St Helens to bathe in.
In overcrowded working-class family settings males could become desensitised to nakedness and so think nothing of standing about in the nude in the waters of the canal.
But if the police saw them they would be arrested for indecent exposure and this week John and Bernard McKeegan faced the music in St Helens Petty Sessions.
The lads had been bathing in the canal near Pocket Nook in the public view of persons walking past.
The magistrates rarely inflicted heavy penalties for such offences, and in the case of the McKeegans they were both fined just a shilling and told to pay the court costs.
If the mothers of boys that were being prosecuted made an appeal to the magistrates, it was usually for them to treat their sons leniently.
But not the mother of George Chester. The 11-year-old had been summoned for damaging ash trees belonging to Sutton Monastery.
George and a boy called Thomas Johnson had cut down saplings to use as fishing rods in the nearby monastery dam.
Thomas was only fined 6d, along with 10 shillings damages and costs. But his partner in arboreal crime was sent to prison.
That was after George's mother had begged the magistrates to really punish her son or else, she said, he would get into worse trouble.
Despite only being 11 years of age her boy had been sent to prison three times and been birched, but the punishments had not changed his behaviour.
And Mrs Chester said George had become so well known in the various works at Sutton for causing mischief that no one would employ him. The boy was given a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
More traditional family behaviour was described in the case of John Hayes when he appeared in court this week.
PC Sheriff had seen Hayes fighting near his home in Liverpool Road and when he tried to stop the fight, the man turned on him and struck and kicked the officer.
Using the 1881 census as a guide, Robert Sheriff would in 1874 have been 21 and had not been long in Lancashire after coming over from Ireland.
So it might have been felt that deploying him in the mainly Irish and highly troubled Greenbank area would have been a good idea as he might relate better to the inhabitants than English constables.
But that certainly was not the case with John Hayes and his family!
The man's resistance to his arrest continued for some time and was aided by his mother and one of his sisters who threw stones at PC Sheriff as he escorted his prisoner to the station. Hayes was fined 25 shillings and costs.
So called "master and servant" cases were regular occurrences in the Petty Sessions after workers had absented themselves from their jobs – and their treatment could be very harsh.
Mr Wilson explained that he had been a witness at a court hearing in Kirkdale but admitted he had gone to Liverpool without permission from his firm.
If he was unable to find what could have been the equivalent of three weeks wages, Wilson had to serve two months in prison.
I wonder if the defendant in the court case that Wilson had been a witness in received a sentence as long as that!
What the Newspaper described as a "novel bastardy case" was also heard in the Petty Sessions when Ralph Buchan was sued for the support of the illegitimate child of Elizabeth Collins.
It was a sad tale of a widow who had been in and out of Whiston Workhouse and while living outside had given birth to five children by Buchan.
Only two were still living and the man was paying maintenance for one of his kids and was ordered to find an additional 3 shillings each week for his other child who had only recently been born.
From the 7th Bullock's Royal Marionettes appeared at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens.
Also on the same bill were the Christy Minstrels, who as well as singing comic songs and ballads in blackface make-up performed "the grand comic pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, in 12 scenes of gorgeous splendour."
This was another show that advertised a couple of "morning performances", as well as their main ones in the evening. However, these so-called morning shows took place at 2:30pm!
We would obviously call them matinees, which, as we know, is French for morning performance, despite them generally being performed in the afternoon.
This, presumably, is the reason such afternoon shows were later given the name matinees.
But why in the 19th century they were known as morning shows is a mystery to me.
And finally, the two-day Rainford Races began on the 4th. The event was for horses and Henry Ball, the landlord of the Eagle and Child Inn, was the Clerk to the Course.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the runaway horse in Tontine Street, the brutal attack on an old man in Parr, the knife attack in a Sutton pub and the miserable looking old man who stole bread from a Church Street shop.