Christmastime in Sutton of 1899
24 December 2008 Categories: Sutton's History | Sutton Churches
With another festive season upon us, it might be interesting to reflect upon what Christmas was like in Sutton as the nineteenth century came to a close. Times were very different then, of course, apart from the weather!
It's been a very cold December so far this year in St.Helens and it was particularly cold 109 years ago with the reservoir off Gerards Lane frozen and so Sutton kids had fun skating and sliding on the ice. Just whether snow fell on Christmas Day in 1899, is not recorded but it was certainly a time of charity, tragedy and heroism.
It was a far less commercial time than today, with the church playing a much greater role in Sutton community life. The St.Helens Reporter's Boxing Day edition reported that a large congregation attended St.Nicholas Church in New Street on Christmas morning which was:
...most beautifully and artistically decorated for the Christmas festival by Mrs. Hughes, assisted by the Misses Parr and Mr. Thomas Burns, gardener at Sherdley Hall....the Rev. M. F. Binney, vicar, reading the lessons and taking the Communion Service. 
The above-mentioned Mrs. Hughes was Edith Mary Hughes, wife of chief Sutton landowner Captain Michael Hughes of Sherdley Hall, who was a keen social worker and hugely popular with Sutton folk. Upon her death 'the old folks of Sutton' erected a tribute to her in St.Nicholas churchyard.
Every year Edith distributed the Sherdley Hall Christmas 'dole', which on Saturday 23rd December, 1899 was gratefully received by 80 senior citizens of Sutton. The Reporter revealed the contents of the dole in a second article:
The old people each got a bowl of soup, and bread and cheese, and ale or coffee. Each of them also received about 8 lbs of beef, a loaf, and 1s [shilling]. In the evening the following bands and choirs visited Sherdley Hall by arrangement: Nutgrove prize band, Sutton-road prize band, Sutton Parish Church choir, Thatto Heath Free Gospel Chapel choir, Sutton Free Gospel Chapel choir. They were entertained with refreshments, and went away considerably rejoiced by Captain Hughes' liberality. 
There was no mention of Captain Hughes actually being present during the day but he still received the credit from the Reporter for the largesse! However, the Hughes's were renowned for their generosity and they even employed a nurse, Nurse Jones, to see to the needs of local people on their Sherdley estates.
The Rev. M. F. Binney, who was mentioned in the first article, had the grand full name of Maximilian Frederick Breffit Binney and in 1898 had married Emily, a daughter of William Blinkhorn. On 23rd September, 1900, almost nine months to the day of his Christmas service, Emily gave birth to their son, Frederick George in Great Bookham, Surrey. He grew up to become a renowned explorer and writer who lived extensively in the Canadian Arctic and wrote The Eskimo Book of Knowledge and was knighted as Sir George Binney in 1941.
At all Christmas times, of course, some families do suffer terrible tragedies and that was certainly the case in the Highcock household at 28 Church Street, 'Pudding Bag'. Two-year-old Gertrude Highcock was burnt to death on Christmas eve when her nightdress caught fire whilst her father was taking a cup of tea to her mother. Hearing his daughter's screams, he ran down the stairs and quickly extinguished the flames, but the little girl had been severely burnt and died. As I said, it was a cold December and Gertrude probably strayed too close to the open hearth. An astonishing number of small children perished in this way in Victorian times in St.Helens. Incidentally, if you hadn't heard of a Church Street in Sutton, it was renamed Woodcock Street some five years later but sadly no longer exists.
A miserable Christmas was also endured at 11 New Street and 24 Waterdale Crescent, the family homes of 14 year-old William Roberts and 10 year-old George Thomas. On Thursday 21st December, 1899 they both perished in the frozen reservoir off Gerards Lane, then owned by the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company. Their joint inquest was held in the Red Lion pub just 24 hours later and the Coroner praised young William as "a brave lad". He was in no actual danger himself, but attempted to rescue George when he witnessed him plunging through the ice. You can read more about this act of heroism that cost William his life here.
St.Helens newspapers around this time were full of stories of the Transvaal War that was taking place in South Africa with many reports of local fundraising, although these days we refer to that conflict as the Boer War. However, perusing the newspapers of December 1899 I could find no eager anticipation of the forthcoming twentieth century. There were no references for the simple reason that it was celebrated a year later on January 1st, 1901. The year 1900 was considered to be the final nineteenth century year and 1901 the first of the twentieth century. And quite right too!
So that was a brief snapshot of Christmas life in Sutton from over a century ago where there was charity and heroism to gladden the heart but tragedy to remind us of the fragility of human life.
Have a Merry Christmas! 
SRW
It's been a very cold December so far this year in St.Helens and it was particularly cold 109 years ago with the reservoir off Gerards Lane frozen and so Sutton kids had fun skating and sliding on the ice. Just whether snow fell on Christmas Day in 1899, is not recorded but it was certainly a time of charity, tragedy and heroism.
It was a far less commercial time than today, with the church playing a much greater role in Sutton community life. The St.Helens Reporter's Boxing Day edition reported that a large congregation attended St.Nicholas Church in New Street on Christmas morning which was:
...most beautifully and artistically decorated for the Christmas festival by Mrs. Hughes, assisted by the Misses Parr and Mr. Thomas Burns, gardener at Sherdley Hall....the Rev. M. F. Binney, vicar, reading the lessons and taking the Communion Service. 
Every year Edith distributed the Sherdley Hall Christmas 'dole', which on Saturday 23rd December, 1899 was gratefully received by 80 senior citizens of Sutton. The Reporter revealed the contents of the dole in a second article:
The old people each got a bowl of soup, and bread and cheese, and ale or coffee. Each of them also received about 8 lbs of beef, a loaf, and 1s [shilling]. In the evening the following bands and choirs visited Sherdley Hall by arrangement: Nutgrove prize band, Sutton-road prize band, Sutton Parish Church choir, Thatto Heath Free Gospel Chapel choir, Sutton Free Gospel Chapel choir. They were entertained with refreshments, and went away considerably rejoiced by Captain Hughes' liberality. 
The Rev. M. F. Binney, who was mentioned in the first article, had the grand full name of Maximilian Frederick Breffit Binney and in 1898 had married Emily, a daughter of William Blinkhorn. On 23rd September, 1900, almost nine months to the day of his Christmas service, Emily gave birth to their son, Frederick George in Great Bookham, Surrey. He grew up to become a renowned explorer and writer who lived extensively in the Canadian Arctic and wrote The Eskimo Book of Knowledge and was knighted as Sir George Binney in 1941.
At all Christmas times, of course, some families do suffer terrible tragedies and that was certainly the case in the Highcock household at 28 Church Street, 'Pudding Bag'. Two-year-old Gertrude Highcock was burnt to death on Christmas eve when her nightdress caught fire whilst her father was taking a cup of tea to her mother. Hearing his daughter's screams, he ran down the stairs and quickly extinguished the flames, but the little girl had been severely burnt and died. As I said, it was a cold December and Gertrude probably strayed too close to the open hearth. An astonishing number of small children perished in this way in Victorian times in St.Helens. Incidentally, if you hadn't heard of a Church Street in Sutton, it was renamed Woodcock Street some five years later but sadly no longer exists.
St.Helens newspapers around this time were full of stories of the Transvaal War that was taking place in South Africa with many reports of local fundraising, although these days we refer to that conflict as the Boer War. However, perusing the newspapers of December 1899 I could find no eager anticipation of the forthcoming twentieth century. There were no references for the simple reason that it was celebrated a year later on January 1st, 1901. The year 1900 was considered to be the final nineteenth century year and 1901 the first of the twentieth century. And quite right too!
So that was a brief snapshot of Christmas life in Sutton from over a century ago where there was charity and heroism to gladden the heart but tragedy to remind us of the fragility of human life.
