150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (31st JAN. - 6th FEB. 1872)
This week's stories include the Atlas Street man sent to prison for neglecting his family, the unbreakable qualities of a St Helens-made watch, a comic squabble over smashed glass, the brainless trick played on the landlord of the Lamb Hotel and the shocking case of near-starvation of two young Sutton children.
We begin on the 31st with the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball in the Volunteer Hall, which the St Helens Newspaper described as "the great event of the winter season in our borough". The proceeds from the dance went to fund the Catholic schools in the district and the Newspaper added: "We are glad to know that charity never slumbers in St. Helens when directly appealed to."
Thomas Nield from Atlas Street in Parr appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st charged with neglecting his family. Last November the man had walked out on his wife Alice and young daughters Anne and Sophia. The circumstances were not explained but it appeared that he had long since returned home. But for a period of time his family had to rely on financial support from "the parish".
That is a reference to the Prescot Union Guardians who ran Whiston Workhouse and also doled out small amounts of cash (usually in the form of food coupons) to destitute folk in the community. Having to pay for the keep of a man's family appeared to annoy the authorities more than the act of him leaving them penniless. And so prison was the inevitable destination for such offenders and Thomas Nield was sentenced to a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
On February 2nd there was an explosion at Peasley Cross Colliery in which one man was badly injured. William Heaton from Merton Bank was reported as being burned in a "dreadful manner".
The death of hugely popular railway guard James Ramsdale a fortnight earlier was still being discussed in the newspapers. The 36-year-old lived in Shaw Street and was described as having been "literally cut to pieces" after superintending the shunting of carriages near to St Helens station. In the St Helens Newspaper on the 3rd, railway guard George Butcher had a letter published in which he said Ramsdale's watch had survived the accident with only its glass having been damaged.
However his keys, knife, tobacco box, coins etc. were all "broken and smashed in all shapes". That's the robust quality of a St Helens watch for you, as it was made by a Mr Butler of Church Street. Although Prescot is rightly credited as the centre of the country's watch movement making industry, there were actually more individuals making timepieces scattered round the St Helens district. The vast majority made only the watch movements, which then were sent south to be completed. However, some finished watches were made in the area.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 3rd, three girls aged between 12 and 15 were charged with stealing coal from the waste heap of Ravenhead Colliery. Two of them had not been in trouble before and so were fined five shillings each. However, Ann Buckley was given a month in prison. The girl's cause was not helped by the comments of Superintendent James Ludlam. The man in charge of the town's police force told the magistrates before the sentencing: "The whole of the Buckley family are thieves."
At the Petty Sessions on the 5th, a glassmaker called John Smith and his wife Jane from Moss Nook in Sutton were charged with neglecting and starving their two children aged 4 and 6. This is how the Wigan Observer reported the shocking case:
"Evidence was given by a police-constable, showing that he went to the house on Saturday, and in a room upstairs he found two young children in apparently the last stages of famine. The stench was so overpowering that he remained in the room with great difficulty, and the little things were naked and covered with vermin. He called in Dr. Ricketts, who ordered their removal to the workhouse, and pronounced them to be in a dangerous condition from starvation. The prisoners were remanded. It was stated that Smith was in receipt of 30s. a week." That amount was a little more than the average weekly wage at that time. There'll be more on this terrible case next week.
At the same hearing Nathan Ellison brought an action against Richard Nield for leaving his employment without giving proper notice. The man had answered Ellison's newspaper advert for a general servant to be employed on his Lea Green farm. It was agreed that Nield would work on a month's trial for 18 shillings a week – but he quit on the second day. Nield had found some other employment at Bold and he told the court that he'd left Mr Ellison's farm as he'd been told to undertake dangerous work.
Although there was clearly no written contract between the pair – and Nield denied that there had been a trial arrangement – the court still ordered the farm worker to pay 20 shillings compensation and 7s 6d costs. The St Helens Newspaper's headline to their report was "A Warning To Workmen".
A regular headline in the paper was "A Women's Squabble" and this week's row had taken place in Green Street in St Helens. That used to be near Water Street in the town centre and the argument concerned Mary Picton and Ellen Traverse. The former was accused of threatening to assault the latter and breaking her window. Mrs Traverse's defence was that her antagonist had accidentally smashed her own glass from inside the house through trying to give her a bashing!
Both sides had lots of witnesses to swear blind what had happened – and there was a considerable amount of swearing. The Newspaper wrote: "Exceedingly bad language was the rule and it was freely repeated in court". In the end the magistrates dismissed the assault charge but decided to fine Mary Picton five shillings and ordered her to pay for the glass. The Newspaper explained: "Their worships came to their decision, in the face of the contradictory swearing and the remarkable demeanour of the defendant's husband in the [witness] box."
"Connubial Squabbles" was the Newspaper’s headline to the next court case concerning Samuel Hanfield and his wife Anne from Parr Street in St Helens (pictured above). Domestic abuse, I think we would call it, at the very least. Anne said her husband had not slept at their home for a year and was constantly "ill using her". Three weeks ago he put her out of the house and she had been forced to live elsewhere – presumably along with her young daughters Mary and Kate. On the previous Monday she went to the yard of the Greenbank Chemical Company, where her husband was employed as a blacksmith to find out what wages he had received for his week's work.
Anne claimed that act led to Samuel knocking her down and kicking her on the premises. But in cross-examination she admitted breaking windows inside her home, removing bedclothes from the house and drawing money out of the bank. Women fighting back against spousal abuse – even in the mildest of ways – placed themselves in a very negative light with the authorities. And so the magistrates decided it was just a typical marital tiff – 19th century style – and dismissed the case.
There was another example in court of what I would call a brainless crime. Thomas Anthony had just taken over the licence of the Lamb Hotel in College Street and he hired Charles Salts who he knew well to undertake some work for 2s 6d. Not only did the man get payment from the landlord but he also told Thomas Anthony's daughter, Martha, that her father was away and he needed the half-crown urgently for lodgings.
So she also gave him the cash and, of course, when Martha asked her father to reimburse her, the Anthonys discovered the double payment. In the 1871 census, Charles Salts was one of a dozen prisoners "living" at the police station at St Helens Town Hall. The 44-year-old clearly had "form", which is no doubt why he was given a month's hard labour for obtaining money "by a trick" – as the charge was described. Not a very clever trick though.
As I've often said, those convicted of stealing any form of clothing in the 1870s were guaranteed gaol time. Patrick Smith should have known that when he brought a prosecution against his stepson. James Donoghue had stolen his stepfather's coat and trousers and taken the latter to a pawnshop in Liverpool Road. Smith told the magistrates that he didn't want to press the charge, hoping the hearing would be sufficient to induce 18-year-old James to "look for his own livelihood". However, the proceedings had gone too far for a ticking off and James was sent to prison for a month.
On the 6th the annual ploughing match was held in Rainford on land near St Helens Junction. The event was reported as highly successful because the recent good weather had meant the ground was in good order. Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of the St Helens district during the 19th century – especially in Bold and Sutton – and still take place in other parts of the country. Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could win as much as £5 prize money – which was more than three weeks' wages.
Next week's stories will include an update on the shocking case of near-starvation in Sutton, the shindy in a St Helens chemical works, the mayor's lack of robes for official events and the grotesque black entertainers performing at the Theatre Royal.
We begin on the 31st with the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball in the Volunteer Hall, which the St Helens Newspaper described as "the great event of the winter season in our borough". The proceeds from the dance went to fund the Catholic schools in the district and the Newspaper added: "We are glad to know that charity never slumbers in St. Helens when directly appealed to."
Thomas Nield from Atlas Street in Parr appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st charged with neglecting his family. Last November the man had walked out on his wife Alice and young daughters Anne and Sophia. The circumstances were not explained but it appeared that he had long since returned home. But for a period of time his family had to rely on financial support from "the parish".
That is a reference to the Prescot Union Guardians who ran Whiston Workhouse and also doled out small amounts of cash (usually in the form of food coupons) to destitute folk in the community. Having to pay for the keep of a man's family appeared to annoy the authorities more than the act of him leaving them penniless. And so prison was the inevitable destination for such offenders and Thomas Nield was sentenced to a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
On February 2nd there was an explosion at Peasley Cross Colliery in which one man was badly injured. William Heaton from Merton Bank was reported as being burned in a "dreadful manner".
The death of hugely popular railway guard James Ramsdale a fortnight earlier was still being discussed in the newspapers. The 36-year-old lived in Shaw Street and was described as having been "literally cut to pieces" after superintending the shunting of carriages near to St Helens station. In the St Helens Newspaper on the 3rd, railway guard George Butcher had a letter published in which he said Ramsdale's watch had survived the accident with only its glass having been damaged.
However his keys, knife, tobacco box, coins etc. were all "broken and smashed in all shapes". That's the robust quality of a St Helens watch for you, as it was made by a Mr Butler of Church Street. Although Prescot is rightly credited as the centre of the country's watch movement making industry, there were actually more individuals making timepieces scattered round the St Helens district. The vast majority made only the watch movements, which then were sent south to be completed. However, some finished watches were made in the area.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 3rd, three girls aged between 12 and 15 were charged with stealing coal from the waste heap of Ravenhead Colliery. Two of them had not been in trouble before and so were fined five shillings each. However, Ann Buckley was given a month in prison. The girl's cause was not helped by the comments of Superintendent James Ludlam. The man in charge of the town's police force told the magistrates before the sentencing: "The whole of the Buckley family are thieves."
At the Petty Sessions on the 5th, a glassmaker called John Smith and his wife Jane from Moss Nook in Sutton were charged with neglecting and starving their two children aged 4 and 6. This is how the Wigan Observer reported the shocking case:
"Evidence was given by a police-constable, showing that he went to the house on Saturday, and in a room upstairs he found two young children in apparently the last stages of famine. The stench was so overpowering that he remained in the room with great difficulty, and the little things were naked and covered with vermin. He called in Dr. Ricketts, who ordered their removal to the workhouse, and pronounced them to be in a dangerous condition from starvation. The prisoners were remanded. It was stated that Smith was in receipt of 30s. a week." That amount was a little more than the average weekly wage at that time. There'll be more on this terrible case next week.
At the same hearing Nathan Ellison brought an action against Richard Nield for leaving his employment without giving proper notice. The man had answered Ellison's newspaper advert for a general servant to be employed on his Lea Green farm. It was agreed that Nield would work on a month's trial for 18 shillings a week – but he quit on the second day. Nield had found some other employment at Bold and he told the court that he'd left Mr Ellison's farm as he'd been told to undertake dangerous work.
Although there was clearly no written contract between the pair – and Nield denied that there had been a trial arrangement – the court still ordered the farm worker to pay 20 shillings compensation and 7s 6d costs. The St Helens Newspaper's headline to their report was "A Warning To Workmen".
A regular headline in the paper was "A Women's Squabble" and this week's row had taken place in Green Street in St Helens. That used to be near Water Street in the town centre and the argument concerned Mary Picton and Ellen Traverse. The former was accused of threatening to assault the latter and breaking her window. Mrs Traverse's defence was that her antagonist had accidentally smashed her own glass from inside the house through trying to give her a bashing!
Both sides had lots of witnesses to swear blind what had happened – and there was a considerable amount of swearing. The Newspaper wrote: "Exceedingly bad language was the rule and it was freely repeated in court". In the end the magistrates dismissed the assault charge but decided to fine Mary Picton five shillings and ordered her to pay for the glass. The Newspaper explained: "Their worships came to their decision, in the face of the contradictory swearing and the remarkable demeanour of the defendant's husband in the [witness] box."
Anne claimed that act led to Samuel knocking her down and kicking her on the premises. But in cross-examination she admitted breaking windows inside her home, removing bedclothes from the house and drawing money out of the bank. Women fighting back against spousal abuse – even in the mildest of ways – placed themselves in a very negative light with the authorities. And so the magistrates decided it was just a typical marital tiff – 19th century style – and dismissed the case.
There was another example in court of what I would call a brainless crime. Thomas Anthony had just taken over the licence of the Lamb Hotel in College Street and he hired Charles Salts who he knew well to undertake some work for 2s 6d. Not only did the man get payment from the landlord but he also told Thomas Anthony's daughter, Martha, that her father was away and he needed the half-crown urgently for lodgings.
So she also gave him the cash and, of course, when Martha asked her father to reimburse her, the Anthonys discovered the double payment. In the 1871 census, Charles Salts was one of a dozen prisoners "living" at the police station at St Helens Town Hall. The 44-year-old clearly had "form", which is no doubt why he was given a month's hard labour for obtaining money "by a trick" – as the charge was described. Not a very clever trick though.
As I've often said, those convicted of stealing any form of clothing in the 1870s were guaranteed gaol time. Patrick Smith should have known that when he brought a prosecution against his stepson. James Donoghue had stolen his stepfather's coat and trousers and taken the latter to a pawnshop in Liverpool Road. Smith told the magistrates that he didn't want to press the charge, hoping the hearing would be sufficient to induce 18-year-old James to "look for his own livelihood". However, the proceedings had gone too far for a ticking off and James was sent to prison for a month.
On the 6th the annual ploughing match was held in Rainford on land near St Helens Junction. The event was reported as highly successful because the recent good weather had meant the ground was in good order. Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of the St Helens district during the 19th century – especially in Bold and Sutton – and still take place in other parts of the country. Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could win as much as £5 prize money – which was more than three weeks' wages.
Next week's stories will include an update on the shocking case of near-starvation in Sutton, the shindy in a St Helens chemical works, the mayor's lack of robes for official events and the grotesque black entertainers performing at the Theatre Royal.
This week's stories include the Atlas Street man sent to prison for neglecting his family, the unbreakable qualities of a St Helens-made watch, a comic squabble over smashed glass, the brainless trick played on the landlord of the Lamb Hotel and the shocking case of near-starvation of two young Sutton children.
We begin on the 31st with the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball in the Volunteer Hall, which the St Helens Newspaper described as "the great event of the winter season in our borough".
The proceeds from the dance went to fund the Catholic schools in the district and the Newspaper added:
"We are glad to know that charity never slumbers in St. Helens when directly appealed to."
Thomas Nield from Atlas Street in Parr appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st charged with neglecting his family.
Last November the man had walked out on his wife Alice and young daughters Anne and Sophia.
The circumstances were not explained but it appeared that he had long since returned home.
But for a period of time his family had to rely on financial support from "the parish".
That is a reference to the Prescot Union Guardians who ran Whiston Workhouse and also doled out small amounts of cash (usually in the form of food coupons) to destitute folk in the community.
Having to pay for the keep of a man's family appeared to annoy the authorities more than the act of him leaving them penniless.
And so prison was the inevitable destination for such offenders and Thomas Nield was sentenced to a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
On February 2nd there was an explosion at Peasley Cross Colliery in which one man was badly injured.
William Heaton from Merton Bank was reported as being burned in a "dreadful manner".
The death of hugely popular railway guard James Ramsdale a fortnight earlier was still being discussed in the newspapers.
The 36-year-old lived in Shaw Street and was described as having been "literally cut to pieces" after superintending the shunting of carriages near to St Helens station.
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 3rd, railway guard George Butcher had a letter published in which he said Ramsdale's watch had survived the accident with only its glass having been damaged.
However his keys, knife, tobacco box, coins etc. were all "broken and smashed in all shapes".
That's the robust quality of a St Helens watch for you, as it was made by a Mr Butler of Church Street.
Although Prescot is rightly credited as the centre of the country's watch movement making industry, there were actually more individuals making timepieces scattered round the St Helens district.
The vast majority made only the watch movements, which then were sent south to be completed. However, some finished watches were made in the area.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 3rd, three girls aged between 12 and 15 were charged with stealing coal from the waste heap of Ravenhead Colliery.
Two of them had not been in trouble before and so were fined five shillings each. However, Ann Buckley was given a month in prison.
The girl's cause was not helped by the comments of Superintendent James Ludlam. The man in charge of the town's police force told the magistrates before the sentencing:
"The whole of the Buckley family are thieves."
At the Petty Sessions on the 5th, a glassmaker called John Smith and his wife Jane from Moss Nook in Sutton were charged with neglecting and starving their two children aged 4 and 6. This is how the Wigan Observer reported the shocking case:
"Evidence was given by a police-constable, showing that he went to the house on Saturday, and in a room upstairs he found two young children in apparently the last stages of famine.
"The stench was so overpowering that he remained in the room with great difficulty, and the little things were naked and covered with vermin.
"He called in Dr. Ricketts, who ordered their removal to the workhouse, and pronounced them to be in a dangerous condition from starvation. The prisoners were remanded. It was stated that Smith was in receipt of 30s. a week."
That amount was a little more than the average weekly wage at that time. There'll be more on this terrible case next week.
At the same hearing Nathan Ellison brought an action against Richard Nield for leaving his employment without giving proper notice.
The man had answered Ellison's newspaper advert for a general servant to be employed on his Lea Green farm.
It was agreed that Nield would work on a month's trial for 18 shillings a week – but he quit on the second day.
Nield had found some other employment at Bold and he told the court that he'd left Mr Ellison's farm as he'd been told to undertake dangerous work.
Although there was clearly no written contract between the pair – and Nield denied that there had been a trial arrangement – the court still ordered the farm worker to pay 20 shillings compensation and 7s 6d costs.
The St Helens Newspaper's headline to their report was "A Warning To Workmen".
A regular headline in the paper was "A Women's Squabble" and this week's row had taken place in Green Street in St Helens.
That used to be near Water Street in the town centre and the argument concerned Mary Picton and Ellen Traverse.
The former was accused of threatening to assault the latter and breaking her window.
Mrs Traverse's defence was that her antagonist had accidentally smashed her own glass from inside the house through trying to give her a bashing!
Both sides had lots of witnesses to swear blind what had happened – and there was a considerable amount of swearing. The Newspaper wrote:
"Exceedingly bad language was the rule and it was freely repeated in court".
In the end the magistrates dismissed the assault charge but decided to fine Mary Picton five shillings and ordered her to pay for the glass. The Newspaper explained:
"Their worships came to their decision, in the face of the contradictory swearing and the remarkable demeanour of the defendant's husband in the [witness] box."
"Connubial Squabbles" was the Newspaper’s headline to the next court case concerning Samuel Hanfield and his wife Anne from Parr Street in St Helens (pictured above).
Domestic abuse, I think we would call it, at the very least.
Anne said her husband had not slept at their home for a year and was constantly "ill using her".
Three weeks ago he put her out of the house and she had been forced to live elsewhere – presumably along with her young daughters Mary and Kate.
On the previous Monday she went to the yard of the Greenbank Chemical Company, where her husband was employed as a blacksmith to find out what wages he had received for his week's work.
Anne claimed that act led to Samuel knocking her down and kicking her on the premises.
But in cross-examination she admitted breaking windows inside her home, removing bedclothes from the house and drawing money out of the bank.
Women fighting back against spousal abuse – even in the mildest of ways – placed themselves in a very negative light with the authorities.
And so the magistrates decided it was just a typical marital tiff – 19th century style – and dismissed the case.
There was another example in court of what I would call a brainless crime.
Thomas Anthony had just taken over the licence of the Lamb Hotel in College Street and he hired Charles Salts who he knew well to undertake some work for 2s 6d.
Not only did the man get payment from the landlord but he also told Thomas Anthony's daughter, Martha, that her father was away and he needed the half-crown urgently for lodgings.
So she also gave him the cash and, of course, when Martha asked her father to reimburse her, the Anthonys discovered the double payment.
In the 1871 census, Charles Salts was one of a dozen prisoners "living" at the police station at St Helens Town Hall.
The 44-year-old clearly had "form", which is no doubt why he was given a month's hard labour for obtaining money "by a trick" – as the charge was described. Not a very clever trick though.
As I've often said, those convicted of stealing any form of clothing in the 1870s were guaranteed gaol time.
Patrick Smith should have known that when he brought a prosecution against his stepson.
James Donoghue had stolen his stepfather's coat and trousers and taken the latter to a pawnshop in Liverpool Road.
Smith told the magistrates that he didn't want to press the charge, hoping the hearing would be sufficient to induce 18-year-old James to "look for his own livelihood".
However, the proceedings had gone too far for a ticking off and James was sent to prison for a month.
On the 6th the annual ploughing match was held in Rainford on land near St Helens Junction.
The event was reported as highly successful because the recent good weather had meant the ground was in good order.
Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of the St Helens district during the 19th century – especially in Bold and Sutton – and still take place in other parts of the country.
Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could win as much as £5 prize money – which was more than three weeks' wages.
Next week's stories will include an update on the shocking case of near-starvation in Sutton, the shindy in a St Helens chemical works, the mayor's lack of robes for official events and the grotesque black entertainers performing at the Theatre Royal.
We begin on the 31st with the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball in the Volunteer Hall, which the St Helens Newspaper described as "the great event of the winter season in our borough".
The proceeds from the dance went to fund the Catholic schools in the district and the Newspaper added:
"We are glad to know that charity never slumbers in St. Helens when directly appealed to."
Thomas Nield from Atlas Street in Parr appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions on the 31st charged with neglecting his family.
Last November the man had walked out on his wife Alice and young daughters Anne and Sophia.
The circumstances were not explained but it appeared that he had long since returned home.
But for a period of time his family had to rely on financial support from "the parish".
That is a reference to the Prescot Union Guardians who ran Whiston Workhouse and also doled out small amounts of cash (usually in the form of food coupons) to destitute folk in the community.
Having to pay for the keep of a man's family appeared to annoy the authorities more than the act of him leaving them penniless.
And so prison was the inevitable destination for such offenders and Thomas Nield was sentenced to a month in Kirkdale Gaol.
On February 2nd there was an explosion at Peasley Cross Colliery in which one man was badly injured.
William Heaton from Merton Bank was reported as being burned in a "dreadful manner".
The death of hugely popular railway guard James Ramsdale a fortnight earlier was still being discussed in the newspapers.
The 36-year-old lived in Shaw Street and was described as having been "literally cut to pieces" after superintending the shunting of carriages near to St Helens station.
In the St Helens Newspaper on the 3rd, railway guard George Butcher had a letter published in which he said Ramsdale's watch had survived the accident with only its glass having been damaged.
However his keys, knife, tobacco box, coins etc. were all "broken and smashed in all shapes".
That's the robust quality of a St Helens watch for you, as it was made by a Mr Butler of Church Street.
Although Prescot is rightly credited as the centre of the country's watch movement making industry, there were actually more individuals making timepieces scattered round the St Helens district.
The vast majority made only the watch movements, which then were sent south to be completed. However, some finished watches were made in the area.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 3rd, three girls aged between 12 and 15 were charged with stealing coal from the waste heap of Ravenhead Colliery.
Two of them had not been in trouble before and so were fined five shillings each. However, Ann Buckley was given a month in prison.
The girl's cause was not helped by the comments of Superintendent James Ludlam. The man in charge of the town's police force told the magistrates before the sentencing:
"The whole of the Buckley family are thieves."
At the Petty Sessions on the 5th, a glassmaker called John Smith and his wife Jane from Moss Nook in Sutton were charged with neglecting and starving their two children aged 4 and 6. This is how the Wigan Observer reported the shocking case:
"Evidence was given by a police-constable, showing that he went to the house on Saturday, and in a room upstairs he found two young children in apparently the last stages of famine.
"The stench was so overpowering that he remained in the room with great difficulty, and the little things were naked and covered with vermin.
"He called in Dr. Ricketts, who ordered their removal to the workhouse, and pronounced them to be in a dangerous condition from starvation. The prisoners were remanded. It was stated that Smith was in receipt of 30s. a week."
That amount was a little more than the average weekly wage at that time. There'll be more on this terrible case next week.
At the same hearing Nathan Ellison brought an action against Richard Nield for leaving his employment without giving proper notice.
The man had answered Ellison's newspaper advert for a general servant to be employed on his Lea Green farm.
It was agreed that Nield would work on a month's trial for 18 shillings a week – but he quit on the second day.
Nield had found some other employment at Bold and he told the court that he'd left Mr Ellison's farm as he'd been told to undertake dangerous work.
Although there was clearly no written contract between the pair – and Nield denied that there had been a trial arrangement – the court still ordered the farm worker to pay 20 shillings compensation and 7s 6d costs.
The St Helens Newspaper's headline to their report was "A Warning To Workmen".
A regular headline in the paper was "A Women's Squabble" and this week's row had taken place in Green Street in St Helens.
That used to be near Water Street in the town centre and the argument concerned Mary Picton and Ellen Traverse.
The former was accused of threatening to assault the latter and breaking her window.
Mrs Traverse's defence was that her antagonist had accidentally smashed her own glass from inside the house through trying to give her a bashing!
Both sides had lots of witnesses to swear blind what had happened – and there was a considerable amount of swearing. The Newspaper wrote:
"Exceedingly bad language was the rule and it was freely repeated in court".
In the end the magistrates dismissed the assault charge but decided to fine Mary Picton five shillings and ordered her to pay for the glass. The Newspaper explained:
"Their worships came to their decision, in the face of the contradictory swearing and the remarkable demeanour of the defendant's husband in the [witness] box."
Domestic abuse, I think we would call it, at the very least.
Anne said her husband had not slept at their home for a year and was constantly "ill using her".
Three weeks ago he put her out of the house and she had been forced to live elsewhere – presumably along with her young daughters Mary and Kate.
On the previous Monday she went to the yard of the Greenbank Chemical Company, where her husband was employed as a blacksmith to find out what wages he had received for his week's work.
Anne claimed that act led to Samuel knocking her down and kicking her on the premises.
But in cross-examination she admitted breaking windows inside her home, removing bedclothes from the house and drawing money out of the bank.
Women fighting back against spousal abuse – even in the mildest of ways – placed themselves in a very negative light with the authorities.
And so the magistrates decided it was just a typical marital tiff – 19th century style – and dismissed the case.
There was another example in court of what I would call a brainless crime.
Thomas Anthony had just taken over the licence of the Lamb Hotel in College Street and he hired Charles Salts who he knew well to undertake some work for 2s 6d.
Not only did the man get payment from the landlord but he also told Thomas Anthony's daughter, Martha, that her father was away and he needed the half-crown urgently for lodgings.
So she also gave him the cash and, of course, when Martha asked her father to reimburse her, the Anthonys discovered the double payment.
In the 1871 census, Charles Salts was one of a dozen prisoners "living" at the police station at St Helens Town Hall.
The 44-year-old clearly had "form", which is no doubt why he was given a month's hard labour for obtaining money "by a trick" – as the charge was described. Not a very clever trick though.
As I've often said, those convicted of stealing any form of clothing in the 1870s were guaranteed gaol time.
Patrick Smith should have known that when he brought a prosecution against his stepson.
James Donoghue had stolen his stepfather's coat and trousers and taken the latter to a pawnshop in Liverpool Road.
Smith told the magistrates that he didn't want to press the charge, hoping the hearing would be sufficient to induce 18-year-old James to "look for his own livelihood".
However, the proceedings had gone too far for a ticking off and James was sent to prison for a month.
On the 6th the annual ploughing match was held in Rainford on land near St Helens Junction.
The event was reported as highly successful because the recent good weather had meant the ground was in good order.
Such competitions were regularly held over the rural parts of the St Helens district during the 19th century – especially in Bold and Sutton – and still take place in other parts of the country.
Not only did they encourage good practice (being a measure of quality rather than speed) but the ploughmen could win as much as £5 prize money – which was more than three weeks' wages.
Next week's stories will include an update on the shocking case of near-starvation in Sutton, the shindy in a St Helens chemical works, the mayor's lack of robes for official events and the grotesque black entertainers performing at the Theatre Royal.