May 1875 News – Climbing Boys and a Curious Incident on a Train
Introduction
The newspapers in May 1875 included news articles and commentary on a range of events including the Courts, a curious incident on a train and the fate of ‘Climbing Boys’
The Courts
A Catalogue of Offences – Belfast Morning News 11th May 1875
The accused, Alexander Tosh, was brought to court under a number of charges. His accuser, a man named Morrison, stated that Tosh, who was drunk and naked, entered the court where he lived and kicked him on the knee without provocation. Tosh then picked up stones and shattered Morrisons windows before assaulting Morrisons mother and calling her a variety of names.
Given the unprovoked nature of the attack and subsequent actions, Tosh was fined 20s and costs or one month in jail.
Lack of Notice – Northern Whig May 15th 1875
A shirtmaker in the employment of Mr. Rice of King Street was summoned under the Master and Servant Act for breach of engagement by not giving a fortnight’s notice.
The accused girl did not deny that she left without giving notice but argued that the rule to give a fortnight’s notice was not binding as there was no contract to that effect.
Mr. Rice stated that he would never end the employment of an employee without giving them two weeks notice and that the arrangement should be mutual. He added that he had taught the girl to make shirts but she had left to go to a rival shirt-making establishment in York Street to the detriment of his business.
Defence and prosecution clashed over the legality of leaving without notice and “after an almost interminable number of speeches by the attorneys engaged, the BENCH advised the woman to go back to her work, and adjourned the case for a week“.
Marble Fight – Enniskillen Advertiser 20th May 1875
In the Enniskillen Petty Sessions, Dan Flanigan summoned Chris McGovern for assaulting him on 29th April in a dispute arising from a game of marbles in Henry Street. It was reported that the street was known for the “great number of gentlemen shooting marbles” and generally causing a racket.
Flanigan testified that he had been playing marbles with some others when McGovern, who was looking on, suggested that Flanigan had shoved his marble and suggested that he was cheating. After an exchange of angry words, Flanigan used some expressions which annoyed McGovern to such an extent that he struck Flanigan in the face giving him a black eye.
However Flanigan’s statement was somewhat contradicted by a man named McGlone who was also a competitor in the game. McGlone stated that, although he could not comment on the alleged punch as he did not witness it because it was his shot and his eyes were on the marbles, he could see no sign of a black eye afterwards.
Suggesting that the police should take notice of the obvious ‘marbles’ nuisance, the Bench inflicted a penalty of 5s and costs on Chris McGovern in respect of the assault.
The Spelling Mania in Boston – Enniskillen Advertiser 20th May 1875
An unnamed correspondent reported on a “terrible mania” that seems to have afflicted every citizen of Boston.
Apparently, the report suggests, everyone is caught up in a spelling craze, frequently stopping strangers in the street with spelling challenges.
Life at home offers no respite…
Your wife wakes you up in the middle of the night to spell “sarcophagus,” your children hasten to the breakfast table to spell “corrycomb” and devote all their spare time to the dictionary.
Your eldest boy comes home late at night in a weeping mood, and explains it thus: “I went to see Mary (his sweetheart) this evening; she met me at the door with “Spell erysipelas, Tom.” I spelt it with two ‘i’s’ and no ‘y’ and she said, ‘Sir, our engagement is at an end, I cannot love more a bad speller’.
Her father, on being appealed to, says, ‘Give Tom one more trial’. “Spell consanguineous, sir”. I spelled it with four ‘n’s’ and two ‘i’s,’ and never hope to be his son-in-law.
No end to this mania is in sight.
Railway Tunnel Incident – Northern Whig 20th May 1875
A Northern Whig Correspondent recounts the tale of a surprising incident in a railway tunnel.
Sitting in a well-occupied railway carriage (journey and destination not disclosed) the correspondent bemoans the number of passengers wedged together in the hot carriage until a lady “of dazzling beauty sat right in front of me.” An accompanying gentleman (presumably her husband) sat opposite the beauty beside the correspondent.
During the journey the smitten correspondent found that he could not resist glancing at “the lady whose beauty was so bewitching“… that “vision of delight” before him.
After a short time “the charming creature” bent her head towards her companion and whispered ‘I wish we were through the horrid tunnel‘ in an accent that thrilled the correspondent “like melody“. The gentleman reassured her that they would be through the tunnel soon. Both sat back in their seats.
At the next halt, a boy sitting to other side of the gentleman left the carriage offering an opportunity for the gentleman to move a little further away from the correspondent.
The train recommenced its journey and in no time reached the feared tunnel. To the correspondents surprise
I had a blessed experience indeed. A light little hand was laid on my shoulder, I felt a sweet warm breath fan my face, and heaven and earth in a moment of time, a pair of delicious, moist small lips were rubbing at mine, adjusting themselves to that ecstatic pressure – that intensification of sweetness which lips can feel but tongue can never express.
This done, the little hand slid down my arm, thrilling every nerve in my body, and, finally, deposited two or three lozenges in my hand.
The correspondent concludes with a fervent wish “May the gentleman on my left ever remain in blissful ignorance of the mistake his better half made in the darkness of that tunnel”.
Climbing Boys – Londonderry Journal 17th May 1875
From the late 18th century children formed a rising proportion of the population and it was common for them to work to supplement family incomes. Orphans and abandoned children came under the care of the Poor Law, but were usually put into the care of employers who provided for them in return for their work.
Children and Chimneys, Friends of the Centre for English local History, 6th August 2024
Many of the unfortunate children were recruited by chimney sweeps and made to climb up the inside of chimneys to clean them from the inside.
In May 1875, Lord Shaftesbury introduced a bill for the protection of juvenile chimney sweeps, making a long and moving speech on behalf of the unhappy victims.
He noted that their sufferings were first brought to public attention in 1773 by Jonas Hanway with a subsequent Bill passed in 1788 for “the protection of climbing boys”.
Hanway’s modest Bill sought to prevent to employment of climbing boys under the age of 8 years old, to require parents consent and oblige the master sweep to take reasonable steps to clothe and ensure the health of the children. A clause requiring Master Sweeps to be licensed was removed in the House of Lords with several other safety provisions amended. Although passed, the Act was largely ignored thereafter.
Lord Shaftesbury highlighted that other measures attempting to end this system of horrid cruelty were enacted up to 1864. However, he added, “all have been more or less inoperative” with the benevolent efforts of legislation systematically thwarted by the magistracy. Accordingly, “the frightful atrocities perpetrated on those unhappy children in preparing them for their work, and their sufferings while engaged in it have never ceased”. He described the way in which the climbing boys were prepared for their work by rubbing their knees with brine in front of a hot fire to harden the skin and facilitate climbing the interior of chimneys. Other cruelties inflicted on the children were outlined.
Given the previous protection laws passed he asked “How, then, do these cruelties continue?” The answer is simple. Shaftesbury highlighted that the law is routinely ignored by magistrates and judges despite indignant protests by constables, coroners, and other subordinate officials. The magistrates, it seems, are unwilling to convict, knowing that boys are employed in their own houses.
In one case in the vicinity of Nottingham, where the climbing boy was apparently not more than nine years old, the Bench insisted that the informant must produce strict proof of age to confirm that the boy was under twenty-one years old. The prosecution, unable to produce written documentation, failed. (Lord Shaftesbury added that the presiding magistrate had the flues of his own house swept by climbing boys regularly).
There were two deaths of climbing boys in 1879, and their masters were tried and convicted for manslaughter. In both cases the utter inadequate sentence of six months’ imprisonment with hard labour was passed. No wonder the masses are so easily induced to entertain the notion that the fountain of justice is polluted at its source.
Lord Shaftesbury’s speech, Londonderry Journal 17th May 1875
He concluded that it must not be forgotten that climbing boys are quite unnecessary in 1875 as the work can in almost every case be done adequately machinery.
(Discussions were to continue in the Commons and the Lords. Ultimately the 1875 Chimney Sweepers Act proposed by Lord Shaftesbury was passed and effectively ended the use of chimney climbing boys).
What is in the Bedroom? – Londonderry Journal 5th May 1875
An extract from ‘Household‘ is provided to encourage a less comfortable nights sleep.
If two persons are to occupy a bedroom during the night, let them step on a weighing scale as they retire and then again in the morning and they will find their actual weight is at least a pound less in the morning.
Frequently, there will be a loss of two or more pounds, and the average loss throughout the year will be more than a pound of matter which has gone off from their bodies partly from the lungs and partly through the pores of the skin. The escaped material is carbonic acid, and decayed animal matter, or poisonous exhalation. This is diffused through the air in part and part absorbed by the bed clothes.
Need more be said to show the importance of having bedrooms well ventilated, and of thoroughly airing the sheets, coverlids, and mattresses in the morning, before packing them up in the form of a neatly made bed?
Situations Vacant
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