It has to be said that a navvy’s life was long, hard and dangerous. The men who worked on these canals and railways were called navvies after the term of ‘canal navigators.’ The working condition were basic, as there was no sick pay and if the weather was bad then the men simply just didn’t work. Frequently, when they could not work they drank for the whole of the day. In Rotherham, some of them lived in the many lodging houses of the town, whilst others lived in hastily built cabins or huts erected near to their work. Sometimes these cabins only had two rooms shared sometimes by six to eight men.

They had no basic amenities such as toilets or washing facilities. Yet often the navvies would be accompanied by their wives and families, also sharing such terrible conditions. Needless to say, these navvies quickly gained a reputation, which was promoted through the newspapers of the period, as being drunken and unruly men. Three such navigators were brought before the Rotherham magistrates on Tuesday 3 October 1837. They were brothers William and James Pennington aged 19 and 28 respectively, and another man called John Harrison. The men were charged with committing ‘a desperate and violent attack on the police’.

The report from the Sheffield Independent dated 7 October 1827 simply described them as ‘three rough looking men employed by the railways.’ They were escorted into the court by the Superintendent of Rotherham Police, Mr John Bland. The first witness was William Bagnall who kept a grocers shop and beer house at Masbrough. He told the court that the previous night about 11 pm, he had closed up the shop and had been making preparations for bed. Suddenly, and without warning, the three prisoners broke open the shop door and accompanied by several other men, poured into the premises.

They then proceeded to threaten to kill the witness if he did not serve them all with a gallon of ale. Bagnall quite rightly refused, so without any further provocation the men attacked him, knocking him to the floor and kicking him viciously when he was down. The witness stated that thankfully his wife and his family were in the back room, so upon hearing the attack, they fled out of the door to the safety of a neighbouring house. Eventually Bagnall described how he also managed to escape and leaving his shop, the stock and the men inside, he also fled through the back door. Bagnall said that he ran to find the nearest police constable in the area and on Masbrough Street he found Police Constable Henry Womack on duty.

The two men returned back to the shop, which they found smashed up and the contents scattered all over the floor. When Bagnall was asked if he had identified any of the men involved, he mentioned the two Pennington’s and Harrison, who had been in the shop several times before. PC Womack was the next witness and he told the bench that after he had reported the robbery to his Superintendent, he and three other officers were sent to arrest the two Pennington’s at Masbrough later that same night. As they entered the lodging house where the brothers lived they found a number of other navvies also in the kitchen. The officer stated that they managed to arrest the two brothers, but at that time could see no sign of Harrison.

However as the police tried to take the three prisoners back to the cells at the station, a shout went up from some of the other lodgers to rescue them. Going outside, the four officers readied themselves as they were immediately surrounded by 20 or 30 other navvies who also lived in the same area of Masbrough. A general melee then ensued, which resulted in all the police officers being knocked down and kicked. The two brothers and Harrison were jubilantly rescued and taken off by some of the mob. Constable Womack told the magistrates that the attack was so vicious that he and his assistants were obliged to flee from the rest of the assembled navvies to save their own lives.

On his return back to the station, the witness said that he immediate reported the offence to Mr Bland. The Superintendent was the next witness and he told the court that after hearing the statement made by his officers, he and four other officers went back to Masbrough to the same lodging house as the Pennington brothers. There the two brothers were pointed out to him by PC Womack and so the superintendent told them that he was here to arrest them. Once again a general fight took place and the witness told the court that he was struck on the head with a heavy bludgeon, wielded by William Pennington.

Only after a most determined assault, did the officers manage to finally arrest the two men and bring them kicking and punching back to the station. The following day, even more officers were sent to Masbrough where John Harrison was finally captured and arrested. One of the magistrates on the bench, Henry Walker Esq., hearing this statement, vowed that the magistrates were determined to cut out such behaviour in Rotherham. He said that at that time such men employed as navvies on the railway were becoming ‘a complete menace.’ Speaking for the other members of the bench, he told the court that:

‘The disturbances by these men were now becoming so serious that people would soon scarcely feel safe in their own houses. We are determined to visit all such persons as the prisoners with the full penalty of the law. In particular where the constables’ lives were actually attacked, as in this case’.

The prisoners were quickly found guilty and were ordered to take their trial at the next West Riding Sessions which were due to be held at Sheffield later that month. When the subject of bail came up, none of the men were able to provide sureties and so bail was denied. On Saturday 28 October 1837 the two Pennington’s and John Harrison were brought before Lord Wharnecliffe at the Sheffield Sessions. James Pennington pleaded guilty to assaulting two of the constables, Thomas Darnally and George Marshall in the execution of their duty. His brother also pleaded guilty to assaulting John Bland and other constables, also in the execution of their duty.

The court sentenced them both to imprisonment for fourteen days and to enter into sureties of £10 each to keep the peace for 12 months. When it came to the third prisoner however, the Grand Jury found that John Harrison’s identification during the assault had not been fully established. Therefore they had to ignore the charge against him of aiding and abetting the last two prisoners, and he was discharged.

Now, modern historians are much more sympathetic towards these navvies and recognise the excellent work these men carried out under the most terrible conditions. It is a matter of fact that hundreds of these men were killed or injured undertaking the dangerous work of building canals and railways. Thankfully because of them, the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal had been opened in Rotherham in 1780. It brought trade and prosperity to Rotherham, as did the Rotherham Westgate Railway Station which opened on 31 October 1838.