The Sheffield Independent dated Saturday 16 August 1851 reflected the prejudiced views of many of the people of the town towards its Irish immigrants. It was entitles ‘An Irish Row’ when reporting a drunken riot which had taken place a week before in Millgate, Rotherham. The piece stated:
‘It happened about midnight on Saturday from some cause or other, when there was a regular riot in the neighbourhood. The Irish turned out armed with pokers, tongs and other weapons, and attacked indiscriminately every person that came their way.’
This riot was also notable because it involved the son-in-law of the notorious ‘Lady Barton’ of Rotherham, a woman who kept one of the most unruly of the lodging houses on Millgate. [For more info on Lady Barton see Margaret Drinkall’s Lockdown Book of Rotherham Criminals: Book One]
On 9 August 1851 James Heppenstall lived in Barton’s lodging house, and he later claimed that he had not been involved in the affray, but instead had been watching from the safety of the doorstep. It seems that an argument had started around 11.30 pm which ended up with in cursing and swearing. When he opened the door, he saw groups of men punching and kicking at each other with a variety of weapons.
Suddenly a man called Patrick Masterman who lived opposite Heppenstall in another lodging house in Millgate, ran over and stabbed him on the forehead. He then knocked him to the ground and kick out at him as he lay there. Other rioters joined in, but thankfully Heppenstall was rescued by his brother, Joseph and a fellow lodger called John Green. The badly bleeding man was taken back into the house, before the police arrived to finally break up the fighting. Heppenstall was questioned by the police and he described the events of the night as he was attacked by his neighbour. He said that when Masterman stabbed him on the forehead without any warning he asked the man ‘what has thou done this for’ Masterton told him ‘damn thee, I have given thee nowt yet, but I will do’ before knocking him to the floor.
He then told officers that he was forced to let go of Masterman who soon disappeared into another house on Millgate. The Chief Constable of Rotherham, John Bland then arrived and made arrangements for Heppenstall to be seen by surgeon Mr Wilkinson, who dealt with the wound. Meanwhile two constables called Shillitoe and Timms were sent to the house where Masterman had been seen entering. It was occupied by another Irish man called Barney Fury. The two officers hammered on the door, but when Fury opened it, just wide enough so that they could see that he was armed with a gun. They told him that they were going to search the house for Masterman who was wanted for the stabbing of James Heppenstall.
However brandishing the weapon, Fury told Shillitoe and Timms that he would shoot at anyone who came through the door. He warned them that he would ‘blow the brains out of the first man who tried to enter’ as he closed the door against them. Through the window the two officers could see him taking up a firing position, ready to shoot. It was later established that as Fury and the two constables were occupied, Masterman managed to escape through a back kitchen window. Finally the Chief Constable went to the house. Mr Bland spoke to Fury and persuaded him to lay down the weapon and let the two constables do their duty. After a short delay PC Shillitoe and Timms were admitted to the house.
There they reported to the Chief Constable that Masterman had gone. Mr Bland knew that the fugitive could not have gone far, as the area had been surrounded by his men. Almost immediately he ordered a search to be made, and Masterman was found hiding in the coal cellar of a house in the next yard. He was arrested and charged with the stabbing of James Heppenstall. Two days later on Monday 11 August 1851, Patrick Masterman was removed from his cell and brought up before magistrates Rev. A Fullerton and Mr H W Pickards Esq. The Chief Constable reported the events of the Saturday night riot and produced a knife which he said had been used in the attack on Heppenstall. He said that it had been found inside the coal cellar in which the prisoner had taken refuge.
The first witness to give evidence was James Heppenstall himself. He repeated that he had not been involved in the fighting when he was attacked by the prisoner. The lodger John Green was the next to give his testimony, and he too claimed to be an observer from the lodging house on Millgate. He had heard the noise of the riot around midnight and saw the mob in Millgate attacking each other, as if settling old scores. The witness told the bench that he saw Heppenstall who was about three yards from where he stood, and confirmed that he had taken no part in the affray. Green said that he had seen the prisoner attacking several other men in a most cowardly way. Masterman would lash out at anyone with a poker and other implements before rushing back to the safety of his own doorstep.
At one point the witness claimed that he saw him emerge out of his house with a weapon and that was when he rushed up to Heptonstall and hit him on the forehead. Green claimed that he was about to attack him a second time, when the implement was struck out of his hand. The witness concluded his statement by saying that was when Masterman took refuge in the house occupied by Barney Fury. The surgeon Mr Wilkinson was the next witness and he stated that he had attended to Heppenstall’s wound, which was deep and about two inches in length. The surgeon was shown the knife and he agreed that the wound might well have been inflicted with such a weapon.
In answer to the charge, the prisoners defence solicitor, Mr Badger minimised the involvement of his client and maintained that if there was any charge to be brought against him, it could only be one of common assault. But the Rotherham Magistrates were having none of it. They informed Patrick Masterman that he was found guilty and was to be sent to take his trial at the next Assizes. The case against Barney Fury was then heard and after hearing all the witnesses, he was fined 40s and costs.
Patrick Masterman appeared before judge Mr Baron Platt at York Assizes on Wednesday 17 December 1851. He was charged with cutting and wounding James Heppenstall at Rotherham on 9 August 1851 ‘with intent to maim and disfigure him.’ On behalf of the prosecution Mr Pickering outlined the case for the jury, before calling Heppenstall as the first witness. He told the court that he had known the prisoner for five years and up to the night of the riot, had never had a cross word with him. He stated that heard a row developing outside, but had initially taken little notice as it was such a common occurrence. He was followed onto the stand by the surgeon Mr Wilkinson, whose medical evidence now confused the case considerably.
He started by describing how he had examined the injured man, and found the wound in his head had been so deep that it had cut down to the man’s skull. He also described the bruises on the injured man’s body and arms from the kicking he had received. However there was some discrepancy on the type of weapon that had been used in the attack. At the Magistrates Court in Rotherham he had identified the knife shown to him, but now it seems that was in some doubt. When the surgeon was asked what kind of weapon would cause such a wound, Mr Wilkinson did not hesitate as he told the magistrate that it might have been inflicted by a poker.
The Chief Constable however, now thought that it was caused by a coal rake, as one had been found near to where the injured man lay. Mr Wilkinson was shown the coal rake and he agreed that such an implement might have caused the same wound. This confusion was not made clear and it concluded the case for the prosecution. Needless to say the prisoners defence, Mr Overend made much of this confusion. He referred to the imprecise nature of the evidence against the prisoner, in particular the weapon which had been used. The defence maintained that when Patrick Masterman was captured, he had no knife on his person and that was still ‘a declaration he persisted in maintaining’. Mr Overend claimed that Heppenstall was also mistaken in his identification of the prisoner.
He claimed that the night was dark and tempers were high, so it is not surprising that there was some confusion over the actual events and the weapon used. The defence concluded that such discrepancies therefore caused the whole case against his client to be invalid. However he asked the Grand Jury to give his client the benefit of the doubt, and to acquit him of the charge, which he said was, at the very least questionable. Sadly this very able defence made no impact on the jury’s decision. They returned a verdict which found Patrick Masterman guilty of the assault ‘with intent to do grievous bodily harm’. The judge Mr Baron Platt said that he had taken the amount of violence used into account, before sentenced Patrick Masterman to be transported for ten years.