46 A HISTORY OF LONGRIDGE. [Chap. 1. 



committed to the assizes on the charge of wilful murder. Carr died 

 suddenly on the morning of the trial ; so that only McPhail and 

 Woods were tried before Mr. Baron Martin, on 80th March, 1863, and 

 were both condemned to death. Unavailing eti'orts were made to 

 obtain a commutation of the sentence, and McPhail and Woods were 

 hanged at Kirkdale on April 25th, 1863. 



Longridge was the scene of disorder during the memorable lock-out 

 of 1878. On May 16th, a rude effigy of Mr. Henry Waring, Chair- 

 man of the Longridge Manufacturing Co., was burnt at the rear of 

 King Street, amid the yells and cries of a large but good humoured 

 mob. About nine o'clock the same evening, an attempt was made to 

 hustle Mr. Eobert Smith, of Victoria Mill, but the police prevented it. 

 My father, however, employed a large number of private watchers to 

 guard his house (it was the week after Colonel E. E. Jackson's house, 

 about 6 miles off, had been burnt down), and I shall not forget the 

 anxiety I felt as I lay awake at night, listening to the steady tramp of 

 the "special constables." We were in fear, not so much of the 

 Longridge people as of the Blackbui-n rioters, and so real was the fear 

 that a troop of dragoons was in readiness to march on Longridge from 

 Preston. 



A good deal of distress was experienced by the operatives, and 

 relief was given by the Vicar and some of the emploj'ers of labour. 

 Eventually, after a struggle lasting two months, the operatives sub- 

 mitted to the reduction of 10 per cent. No trade disputes of any 

 magnitude have taken place in Longridge since 1878. 



The Jubilee of Her Gracious Majesty the Queen was celebrated in 

 much the same fashion at Longridge as elsewhere. Eating and 

 drinking and walking in procession are apparently the orthodox 

 modes in which an Englishman takes his pleasure. A dinner to the 

 people over 50 years of age was given to about 500 people, by Mr. 

 Eobert Smith, J.P., at his residence, and Messrs. Waring Brothers 

 gave their workmen and their wives a supper. Tea parties innumerable 

 were held, and jubilee medals blazed on the breasts of the loyal 

 people of Longridge. Not a very happy or very sensible way of 

 commemorating an almost unique National Event, will be the verdict 



