History of Sutton in St.Helens, Lancashire
Sutton Beauty's History & Heritage Pages
Part 18) Sutton's Notorious Crime and Tragedy
Curious crimes and tragic accidents affecting 'Suttonites', past or presentWritten and researched by S.R.Wainwright © MMVIIIa) Tragic Drowning in Monastery Dam | b) Murder and Suicide on a Train
c) Irish Terrorism in Sutton | d) Midnight Coup in Lancashire
e) 'Dad's Army' Tragedy | f) Indecent Behaviour in a Churchyard Heritage Home Page Main Site Home Page
a) Tragic Drowning of Two Boys in St.Anne's Reservoir
It was a particularly cold December and the reservoir, owned by the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company, was frozen and so a number of children took the opportunity to have some fun, sliding and skating on the ice as kids do.
Amongst them was 10-year-old George Thomas who lived at 24 Waterdale Crescent in Sutton and 14-year-old William Roberts (pictured right) who lived close by at 11, New Street. George was sliding near a culvert when the ice, which was thin in places, suddenly fractured throwing him into the water.
William was skating at the other end of the reservoir but witnessed what had happened to young George and so immediately sped to his aid. However as he attempted a heroic rescue, more ice collapsed and he too fell into the freezing reservoir water.
The St.Helens Newspaper and Advertiser of December 23rd, 1899 referred to William as "a little hero". Sutton inquests, in those days, were often held in the Red Lion pub and took place quickly after death. William and George's inquest took place just over 24 hours after the tragedy and the Coroner praised William Roberts as "a brave lad". He was also the great-grandson of Sutton's first vicar, Rev. Henry Vallancey with his grandfather Frederick Thomas Roberts one of Vallancey two secret illegitimate children (see here).
Sutton's popular G.P. Dr. Bates became the Mayor of St.Helens during the Great War years and his second wife, Alice Ann Rigby, was related to the Roberts family. And finally if the name Whalley sounds familiar, their family lent their name to the old dam and orchard by St.Anne's reservoir.
The reservoir where the two boys lost their lives - note the old convent
b) Murder and Suicide On a Train
'Murder and Suicide' as the headline in The Times edition of September 23rd, 1871, which was followed up on the 25th and 30th with lengthy reports of witness statements that were made at the hastily held coroner's inquest. Their reports revealed how 33-year-old unemployed surveyor, Robert Wanless of Sutton, had shot his wife Ann in the temple and then placed his revolver into his mouth before pulling the trigger.
Porter Patrick Tracy told the coroner's inquest that when the train stopped at Kirkby station he opened the carriage door because he was going to put his "missus" on the train. His attention was also directed to powder smoke which he could see through the window and upon entering the compartment discovered the couple lying motionless on the floor. He thought Wanless was asleep so he gave him a "blow on his back, and I told him to rouse up". After realising that they were both dead, Liverpool was telegraphed and the police and a doctor met the train at Exchange Station in Tithebarn Street (closed 1977) .
The corner's jury decided that Robert Wanless had shot his wife and himself while in a state of "unsound mind, caused by jealousy, family difficulties, and blighted propects". The jury also called for a "means of communication" in every train after Thomas Young reported that he wasn't able to contact the guard after hearing the shots. Witnesses had testified that Wanless was a drunken brute, obsessed with the notion that his wife was seeing another man. Three children were orphaned by his actions.
c) Irish Terrorism in Sutton
On November 16th, 1868 William Gladstone (1809 – 1898) was just days away from beginning the first of his four spells as British prime minister and ended his parliamentary election campaign at the Volunteer Hall in St.Helens. Prophetically he warned a crowd of about 2,000 people that "dangerous discontent" existed in Ireland. Fifteen years later, during Gladstone's second period as prime minister, Sutton became embroiled in a nationwide terrorism scare which The Times newspaper reported as a "very grave" Fenian plot. It seems that the police in Liverpool had received intelligence that explosives were being sent over from Ireland. So on March 20th, 1883 they arrested Denis Deasy, an Irish man who had disembarked from a steamer from Cork with a "package of nitro-glycerine in his possession, and with the constituent parts of one or more infernal machines".
On March 31 and then April 7th, Flannigan and Deasy were brought before the Liverpool magistrate Mr. Raffles, to face charges of being in possession of "certain dangerous explosive substances."
Earlier in the year a gasometer in Glasgow had been blown up and there'd also been an explosion outside an office of the Times in London, so there was considerable tension. The Times published an article on April 7th under the heading 'The Discoveries of Explosives' which intemperately blamed the "dynamite plot" on the "scum of the London Irish at the bidding of American emissaries". The article explained that "the conspirators have taken lodgings in quiet places". Sutton in 1883 was at its industrial peak and not exactly "quiet", but still not bad cover for a sleeper member of a terrorist cell!
The Times report of the first day of the trial from 8/8/1883
Patrick Flanagan, Denis Deasy, Timothy Fetherstone, Henry Dalton and Daniel O'Herlihy were charged with levying "war against Her Majesty" and on August 10th 1883 after a three day trial were found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life.
d) 'Midnight Coup in Lancashire'
They also raided Pilkington's stores at Ravenhead in St.Helens and attempted without success to break into the explosive stores of the Greengate Brick & Tile Company in Thatto Heath. Lea Green railway guard Gus Jenkinson was on his way home from work when he disturbed the raiders and was held at gunpoint for an hour until they fled empty handed after failing to penetrate the store's iron doors.
Just what the purpose of the raids was, we shall probably never know, as the British Army were in the process of evacuating from Ireland as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. By June 1922 armed confrontations were taking place between those in favour and those against the terms of the agreement with the British, namely the exclusion of Northern Ireland from the newly-created Irish Free State. Soon Ireland would be plunged into civil war, so perhaps the explosives went across the Irish Sea to be used in the deadly internecine conflict that led to the loss of so many lives.
e) 'Dad's Army' Tragedy
During WWII, locals who were too old to join the forces or in reserved occupations joined the Home Guard to defend St.Helens against the threat of invasion. Like their fictional equivalents in television's Dad's Army (right) they regularly went out on manouevres and Lord Derby offered them the use of his land in nearby Knowsley.
However, the Times of May 18th, 1943 reported that two Sutton lads, Joseph Evans and James Lee, had drowned in a dam the previous Sunday whilst on a training exercise. They were part of a Home Guard company who were swimming across the dam to assault an enemy position. Another soldier who was in great difficulties had to be rescued by his own Dad who was a spectator at the exercise and presumably a stronger swimmer.
f) Indecent Behaviour in a Churchyard
The Times in their two reports (19/8/1896 & 19/1/1897) did add that Wright was "not quite sober". This was on June 13th, 1896 after a dispute over the tending a grave with no headstone. Vallancey appealed against his conviction but it was upheld. The Ecclesiastical Intelligencer of 29th April, 1897 reported that he was subsequently brought before a consistory court after his conviction.
In 1888 he and niece Agnes Vallancey and fellow nephew Capt. T. E. Vallancey were chief mourners at Henry's funeral which was also attended by Sutton dignitaries Eleanor Hughes of Sherdley Hall and William Blinkhorn JP. The St.Helens Reporter of 28th September, 1888 described the service as being of "quiet and apprehensive character". This description probably did not apply to HEFV himself who had a reputation as an indomitable figure in Sutton.
Sutton Crime & Tragedy in Brief
- Stoker John Fairclough of Baxters Lane was critically injured by an explosion on a submarine in October 1933 in Campbeltown Loch which killed two sailors.
- 68-year-old Fr. Chrysostom Rothwell, the former rector of St. Anne's Church & Monastery was knocked down and killed by a bus in London in 1922 while attempting to board a tram.
- Kevin Gilligan of Gilligan Brothers Newsagents in Waterdale Crescent, Sutton was one of the 167 Piper Alpha gas explosion victims in the North Sea on July 6th 1988.
Research Sources, References & Bibliography for Heritage Pages
Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages:
01) Township of Sutton & St.Helens; | 02) Sutton's Lords & Masters;
03) Michael Hughes of Sherdley; | 04) Dr. Baker Bates;
05) Religion and Education; | 06) Rev. Henry Vallancey
07) Mineworking in Sutton; | 08) Industry in Sutton Township;
09) Sutton Transport; | 10) Sutton Transport Timeline;
11) Health & Sanitary Conditions; | 12) Sport in Sutton;
13) The Story of Sutton Harriers; | 14) Old Sutton Pubs;
15) Leisure & Entertainment; | 16) Origins of Sutton Streetnames;
17) Pudding Bag; | 18) Crime & Tragedy in Sutton;
19) 'Picturesque' Sutton - How it's Changed; | 20) Sutton True Facts!
21) Research Sources and Bibliography;
Plus 5 Photo-Albums: Sutton's Lords & Masters; Religion & Education
Transport in Sutton; Sport, Leisure & Entertainment; Sutton Streets
Also See Our Pages on: Sutton Manor Colliery; Clock Face Colliery;