Manchester Gangs

“Life in parts of Manchester is as unsafe and uncertain as amongst a race of savages” Mr Justice Wills comments upon jailing Owen Callaghan for manslaughter of Joe Brady

FIGHT CLUB 

The gangs would actually chalk an invitation to fight on a wall or the pavement. This would specify the day and the time for battle to commence. It might even detail the numbers expected and the weapons to be used. Though street gangs usually targeted their immediate neighbours, they sometimes banded together against another area’s combined gangs.

So, all the gangs in Ancoats would join to take on those of Salford. These group gangs would walk three to four miles to engage in mass bloody brawls. These close combat confrontations could involve a couple of dozen to hundreds of young people. The so called ‘Rochdale Road War’ of 1870-1, led to the conviction of around 500 scuttlers. Their battlegrounds ranged from streets, to graveyards and pubs.

With no restriction on teenagers drinking, much fighting could be alcohol fuelled. The results of these clashes were captured in the next day’s headlines:“Knocking a Man’s Eye Out” “Murder in Manchester” ‘Stabbing in Pendleton’ “Breaking a Woman’s Jaw”

During one particularly bloody period, the doctors at Ancoats Hospital were said to be overwhelmed by having to stitch and sew up so many victims. But despite the frequent ferocious fighting, deaths were surprisingly rare. This is all the more astounding because the battles always involved weapons.

ORNAMENTAL AND OFFENSIVE

The Glasgow Razor gangs were known to sew razors into their clothing but the scuttlers took this approach one step further. They made their wardrobe into weapons.

The coloured, patterned neckerchiefs could be loaded with stones, tied and turned into a swinging cosh. Their heavy brass belt buckles, sometimes shaped like serpents, were sharpened so that they could whip and slash with them. And if the blade bit didn’t slice you, the heaviness of the buckle was sufficient to fracture the skull. And when their opponent was beaten to the floor, their brass toe capped clogs would help finish the job.

But like most street fighters, the scuttlers would use anything to hand, including broken bottles and paving stones.

The Bradford Street scuttler, William Willan had been in plenty of fights but he had no criminal record. He was, after all, only sixteen. But when one Saturday in 1892, he fatally stabbed Peter Kennedy in the side, he not only broke the law, he broke the scuttle code. The point of the fights was to maim, not murder. As Kennedy lay bleeding, Willan fled the scene.

Many in his gang feared the retribution that would follow. They decided to inform on him. This was lucky for the police for they had been largely ineffective in combating the scuttlers. The police were there to deal with professional criminals or market disturbances and pub brawls. Citywide organised gang violence and murder just wasn’t in their remit. As Duncan Broady of the Greater Manchester Police Museum noted; “The police weren’t set up to deal with this scale of outbreak”.

And if a uniformed bobby did turn up to a mass scuttle, they may themselves become the target. They also found that if they quietened one district, fighting would just break out in another.

Fearing the gallows, Willan ran to his friend, Jimmy Hands. Willan gave him his wage packet on condition that Hands stashed the murder weapon for him. He gave him only one instruction “If you get copped, don’t tell on me”.

But the following day, at 3pm, Jimmy Hands walked into Canal Street Police Station in Ancoats and handed in the clasp knife. He told the desk sergeant that the weapon had been used by William Willan to stab Peter Kennedy.

Willan was arrested on the Monday morning. At this stage, the charge was not murder. Peter Kennedy was still in hospital. But his condition deteriorated. He died two weeks later.

William Willan and two of his friends were now charged with murder.

The initial court response to the scuttlers had been to fine them. But this neither worked nor deterred them. Most families were too poor to pay the fines. So the judges started sentencing them to jail. The city jail at Belle Vue was soon swamped. But the ranks of the scuttlers seemed undiminished, despite prison then being a brutal place. Scuttlers could expect the hard labour of breaking rocks, time on the Prison treadmill (a giant wheel powered by prisoners), or solitary confinement.

The local council became worried by the sheer number of 12 and 13 year old boys languishing in prison. In the 1890s, there were more young people in Strangeways for scuttling than for any other offence. Many scuttlers served repeated sentences, and even long termers, returned to the gangs. Despite this, lengthier and more severe sentences were considered the answer. But even sentences of 15-20 years didn’t seem to frighten the scuttlers into changing their ways.

“Their conduct in the dock of the police court is most flippant and callous. On one side stood the witnesses, bearing marks of severe stab wounds, and in the dock, the youths laughed and turned round to wink at friends in the gallery. Even down in the cells they whistled and sang and said ‘Oh, oh it’ll only be 12 months for me.’" Contemporary account of scuttler trials

But William Willan wasn’t in court for scuttling. He was on trial for murder.

IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF WILLIAM WILLAN

With three morning papers, two evening and several weeklies, the Manchester press jumped on the murder story. The term 'scuttler' had been created by the gangs themselves but it became known to magistrates at their early trials of gang members. So this 1892 trial had the sensational mix of a new unknown youth group and their dangerous pastime that had now ended in murder.

The trial was also unusual because members of Willan’s own gang had actually testified against him. Normally, scuttler’s wouldn’t even give evidence against a rival.

The case against Willan and two others hinged on the testimony of their own gang. Along with two others, he was accused of murder. Before then, William Willan had never been in court. Now, aged sixteen, he faced the death penalty. The boy broke down and cried. Throughout the trial, he was said to literally tremble.

The jury returned a guilty verdict. When the judge donned the black cap to pass the death sentence, Willan had to be held down by two police officers. He was lead barefoot from the court screaming.

A week later, Willan’s girlfriend was in court herself for scuttling. It was part of a suspected revenge attack for William’s arrest. As the police gave an account of her arrest, a police inspector demanded that she pull up a sleeve of her blouse to show the court. She did. It revealed a tattoo saying: ‘In loving remembrance of William Willan’.

As Willan waited for the gallows in prison, his mother mobilised a huge campaign to gain him a reprieve. Thousands signed a petition. The police actually testified to his previous good character. Finally, the Home Secretary commuted his sentence to penal servitude for life. And finally, his sentence was reduced to just eight years imprisonment.

“Wait till I come out”This courtroom threat was made by scuttler Alexander Pearson just days after William Willan had been sentenced to death. It seemed nothing could stop the scuttlers. The judge recommended the police flood areas known to be gang dominated. The police knew this ineffective. The Home Secretary demanded an end to scuttling. He suggested making membership of a gang a sackable offence. The mayors of Manchester and Salford suggested, predictably, for laws to allow flogging for scuttling. Neither of these was done. But policing and sentencing did increase. And parallel to this, there was the rise of the working lads’ club movement.

TO BRIGHTEN YOUNG LIVES AND MAKE GOOD CITIZENS

Founded by the middle class, social reformers, and the liberal elite, the Lads clubs offered working class teenagers alternative activities such as football. They targeted school leavers, 12 and 13 year olds, in the worst areas. Ancoats had four Lads’ Clubs set up in just five years. The clubs began to divert recruits away from the gangs. On the opening night of the Salford Lads’ Club, 700 boys tried to join. One of these schemes resulted in the formation of St Mark’s Football Club. It is now known as Manchester City FC. Sports rivalry had replaced the fighting rivalry.

By the time William Willan was released in 1900, scuttling was already starting to fade. Scuttlers were no longer kings of the street. Their 30 year reign was over.

SCUTTLERS TO SOLDIERS

And many scuttlers would go on to become fine soldiers. It was in fact the Boer War that revealed only 10% of recruits were completely fit. It emphasised again the need for The Lads Clubs. The health of urban youth had become a national concern. And with the demolition of the worst slums, the environment that had helped breed the scuttlers was largely destroyed.

In 1908, The Children Act created juvenile focused courts and regulated the sale of alcohol to minors. It also prevented them from being sent to prison, the fate of many a scuttler…...Gangs would not terrorise the streets of Manchester to such an extent for many decades.

But then a combination of high unemployment and a rapid rise in hard drugs made small gangs into big firms. And for them, killing to protect drug territory was just part of the job description.

“Manchester is not the Wild West, but many of you treated the streets as if it were’’ Mr Justice Brian Langstaff sentencing the Gooch gang in 1989.