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   ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)  Salford: Before the Bench 1877
by Tony Flynn
You could not have helped but notice the reports of civil disobedience in Salford over the last few months. Well I'm afraid this isn't something new to Salford. I have been kindly lent a Magistrates Book: Prisoners Offences from Salford courts for the year 1877 and believe me very little has changed. Let's have a look who was making the headlines that year and why. Annie Smith aged 19 was arrested by PC Pritchett in Bury Old Road, on the 6th March 1877, charged with being drunk and disorderly, breaking a lamp, a pane of glass, tearing a table cloth and assaulting Betty Haigh by striking her on the arm with a poker. For this she received six weeks imprisonment which I assume she served in Strangeways prison: it opened in 1868 and held both male and female prisoners. Charles Clark aged 16, was arrested by PC Diggle and charged with stealing 5lb of bacon the property of George Jennings, Tontine Steet, off Cross Lane. He was remanded in custody for one week. Charles Holden aged 13 and James McCarthy aged 12 were arrested by Sgt Eyre and charged with stealing a glass of marmalade; the property of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Both received 12 strokes of the birch and sent to an Industrial School. Some of you may not have heard of industrial schools, but they sound rather harsh, especially for the very young. The schools took charges from the age of 7 to 14 and children were forced to rise at 6.00am and went to bed at 7.00pm. During the day there were set times for schooling, learning trades, housework, religion in the form of family worship, meal times and there was also a short time for play three times a day. The boys learned trades such as gardening, tailoring and shoemaking; the girls learned knitting, sewing, housework and washing. The act stated the child had to be 'apparently' under the age of fourteen. This was because children often lied about their age if it was advantageous for them to do so. Some children genuinely did not know how old they were. It was not until 1875 that it became compulsory to register births. Mary Davies aged 16, Jane Beaty aged 15, Jane Boardman aged 14, Ellen Worthington aged 14 were arrested by PC Lyons on Oldfield Road, and charged with riotous, disorderly conduct and using obscene language. Each was fined 2/6d. Frank Rothwell aged 66 was arrested by Sgt Harrison and charged with assaulting his wife by striking her in the mouth with his hand causing her to to swallow a pin in the cabin of his boat on the Bury/Bolton canal near Oldfield Road. He was remanded in custody for a week. James Allan aged 26 was arrested by PC Williams and charged with stealing a pair of Spanish cow horns worth 7/6d from the house of Charles Smith, Brindle Heath Road. He was sentenced to one months imprisonment in Strangeways prison. This is just a small example of what was going on in Salford in 1878, and I find these court cases fascinating, does anybody know what Spanish cow horns were? Also giving those two young lads 12 strokes of the birch and then sending them to an Industrial school for stealing a jar of marmalade, sounds barbaric to me. If you wish to read more of these cases please let me know at SalfordOnline and I will see what I can do for you.
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