IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 5 - 11 MAY 1925
This week's many stories include Holy Cross Church's May Queen ceremony, the illegal football playing near Knowsley Road, the furniture polish fraudster, Pimple the second most popular film comic after Chaplin performs at the Hippodrome and the pitch and toss player who swore he had never tossed a coin in St Helens despite two previous convictions.
We begin on the 5th when Sutton Oak Traffic Band played in Sutton Park. The evening performance was part of the council's summer programme of Music in the Parks.
I recently mentioned how the 1931 census revealed how St Helens had the largest families of any town in Lancashire. That fact was often highlighted at funerals and on the 7th the twelve sons of Thomas Wilson of Morley Street attended their father's send-off at St Helens Cemetery. Six of the men had served in the war but none had suffered any injuries.
Nevin's grocers had been founded in St Helens 1920 by Michael Nevin, which his son Jack later took over. Further stores were opened in Bolton and Leigh and on the 7th the latter branch was fined the huge sum of £40 for selling hams as Danish when they were actually American. The Danish government itself had issued the summons against the firm.
It really is quite amazing the trouble that St Helens police used to go to in order to solve crimes involving just coppers. When Florence Bryne tried out some furniture polish that she had bought from a hawker for 9d she discovered that it was in fact coloured water. So she reported the matter to the police and they instituted a search for the man. Once he had been identified as Peter O’Neill an arrest warrant was issued charging him with having gained ninepence from Mrs Bryne by means of false pretences.
Eventually Bury Police arrested O’Neill and he was brought back to St Helens. In court the magistrates were told that when the prisoner had been charged he had said, "Yes, I did. I had a bottle given to me by a man I didn't know in a public house." The police requested a remand for a week to make further enquiries, which was granted.
The excuses made in St Helens Police Court can be quite amusing. When charged with gaming with coins on wasteland off Baker Street in Parr, Joseph Hill strongly denied the offence, insisting that he had simply picked up some coins that had been thrown on the ground by others. The chain maker from Back Dudley Street then made this comment:
"I have not a coin in the world to call my own. I don't think I have tossed a penny while I have been in St. Helens, and I have been here seventeen years." That led to the Chairman of the Bench asking the man to explain if that was true how come he had two convictions for gaming with coins. To that the Reporter said he had mumbled some excuse and was fined ten shillings.
And Thomas Bracken faced a charge of throwing a glass bottle into the middle of College Street. The miner from Back Albert Street insisted that he had simply dropped the bottle accidentally. But the constable who had witnessed the incident said that was impossible, as the bottle had been hurled down with such force that glass pieces had reached the other side of the street. The Bench said the offence was a serious one and ordered the bottle smasher to pay a fine of 10 shillings.
Playing ball games in the street was against the law – but the police needed to catch the offenders first as they would take to their heels at the sight of the boys in blue. When Herbert Brown was collared near Knowsley Road playing football he told the constable: "If I'd had two good legs you would never have caught me". When the Magistrates Clerk asked Brown if he had anything to say, the youth replied:
"Of course, I have. We have played for years on the waste land near St. Luke's, and the bobbies have gone up to the Saints' football ground in fours and fives and never touched us. We didn't think we were doing anything wrong." However, the policeman that nabbed Herbert said he had seen the ball being kicked several times from the wasteland into adjoining streets, and that was why the summons had been issued. The young man from Devon Street was fined five shillings.
And playing what was described as wall tennis was also against the law. A policeman in plain clothes had spent 10 minutes watching a group of youths in Central Street banging a ball against a wall before approaching three of them and telling them they would be reported.
However, the Chairman said the Bench were prepared to be lenient and if the youths would promise not to play that game again, except in a proper place, the case would be dismissed upon each of them paying four shillings costs.
Letting your chimney get on fire was an offence that led to many householders being summoned to the police court. Mrs Lawrenson of Raglan Street appeared in court on behalf of her husband Edward and was curtly told by the Bench to "Pay four shillings and go home". The Reporter commented: "The injunction was faithfully carried out so far as the first part was concerned, at all events."
The paper also described how Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street had held a May Queen ceremony: "Perched dimly on their pedestals amid the lofty Gothic Arches of Holy Cross Church on Sunday evening, the Twelve Apostles gazed down in silent wonder at the bewitchingly attractive spectacle that confronted their gaze.
"For years they have witnessed with unruffled calm the pictorial scene of the crowning of Mary; they have watched May Queens come and go, but it is very doubtful whether they have ever witnessed a scene so colourful, so impressive in its dignity, as the one on Sunday evening. The time-honoured ceremony was beautiful in the extreme."
On the 9th a benefit match featuring some top footballers took place in St Helens. The game was in aid of Stephen Murray, who had played for St Helens Town before signing for Everton and Reading. However, Stephen would not be playing soccer again as he had been very seriously injured in a coal mine and had lost a leg and 3,000 spectators turned out to support him.
Also on the 9th the annual Clock Face brass band contest took place in the recreation ground of the colliery institute with Nutgrove Band winning the two main awards. Clock Face Colliery Band itself is pictured above.
George Rushton of Fox Street (near Victoria Park) in St Helens drowned on the 9th. The 8-year-old had been playing by the side of the canal when he fell in. Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Callaghan from College Street raised the alarm and her father rushed to the spot and dived in the water, which was about 10 feet deep. But the boy was found to be dead when the police eventually brought out his body using grappling hooks. George's father was an unemployed and disabled ex-soldier and at the inquest hearing the coroner gave him £3 out of his poor box.
Complaints against the police were often made by defendants in court and received short shrift, with the assumption being that they were trying to muddy the water with their claims. But it had been the son of Edward Platt who the police had accused of wrongdoing by gambling and on the 11th the father brought a summons for assault against PC Eric Drysdale. Platt senior from Fleet Lane alleged that PC Drysdale had attacked him and driven his fist into his back.
That was after the constable had come looking for his son and a few words were exchanged. After Platt had threatened to summons Drysdale for the assault, the constable was alleged to have told PC Shepherd: "I am going to arrest him for something. Look at the position I shall be in if Platt summons me." Shepherd then supposedly said: "The man has done nothing wrong but take him if you like."
The defence case was that Platt had been drunk and the officer had only stopped him from falling. As two other constables corroborated PC Drysdale's account, the magistrates dismissed the case and told the complainant Edward Platt that he would have to pay 30 shillings witness fees. That was an unusual move and suggested that the Bench thought his summons was a put-up job.
From the 11th a show called Lucky 13 was presented at the Hippodrome. It starred Pimple, which the advert in the Reporter called "Britain’s greatest film comedian". Charlie Chaplin might have had something to say about that, although Pimple is considered to have been the second most popular film comic after Chaplin.
His real name was Fred Evans and he made hundreds of short films, often quite zany in nature. But Pimple's cinematic career was now over and he was back performing in the music halls with a "wonderful cast of London artistes" and the Saveloy Banana Band.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how the Scala Cinema manager's generous deed backfired, a sad suicide takes place in St Helens Canal, the Liverpool Road stabbing case and a court victory for a Thatto Heath mineworker.
We begin on the 5th when Sutton Oak Traffic Band played in Sutton Park. The evening performance was part of the council's summer programme of Music in the Parks.
I recently mentioned how the 1931 census revealed how St Helens had the largest families of any town in Lancashire. That fact was often highlighted at funerals and on the 7th the twelve sons of Thomas Wilson of Morley Street attended their father's send-off at St Helens Cemetery. Six of the men had served in the war but none had suffered any injuries.
Nevin's grocers had been founded in St Helens 1920 by Michael Nevin, which his son Jack later took over. Further stores were opened in Bolton and Leigh and on the 7th the latter branch was fined the huge sum of £40 for selling hams as Danish when they were actually American. The Danish government itself had issued the summons against the firm.
It really is quite amazing the trouble that St Helens police used to go to in order to solve crimes involving just coppers. When Florence Bryne tried out some furniture polish that she had bought from a hawker for 9d she discovered that it was in fact coloured water. So she reported the matter to the police and they instituted a search for the man. Once he had been identified as Peter O’Neill an arrest warrant was issued charging him with having gained ninepence from Mrs Bryne by means of false pretences.
Eventually Bury Police arrested O’Neill and he was brought back to St Helens. In court the magistrates were told that when the prisoner had been charged he had said, "Yes, I did. I had a bottle given to me by a man I didn't know in a public house." The police requested a remand for a week to make further enquiries, which was granted.
The excuses made in St Helens Police Court can be quite amusing. When charged with gaming with coins on wasteland off Baker Street in Parr, Joseph Hill strongly denied the offence, insisting that he had simply picked up some coins that had been thrown on the ground by others. The chain maker from Back Dudley Street then made this comment:
"I have not a coin in the world to call my own. I don't think I have tossed a penny while I have been in St. Helens, and I have been here seventeen years." That led to the Chairman of the Bench asking the man to explain if that was true how come he had two convictions for gaming with coins. To that the Reporter said he had mumbled some excuse and was fined ten shillings.
And Thomas Bracken faced a charge of throwing a glass bottle into the middle of College Street. The miner from Back Albert Street insisted that he had simply dropped the bottle accidentally. But the constable who had witnessed the incident said that was impossible, as the bottle had been hurled down with such force that glass pieces had reached the other side of the street. The Bench said the offence was a serious one and ordered the bottle smasher to pay a fine of 10 shillings.
Playing ball games in the street was against the law – but the police needed to catch the offenders first as they would take to their heels at the sight of the boys in blue. When Herbert Brown was collared near Knowsley Road playing football he told the constable: "If I'd had two good legs you would never have caught me". When the Magistrates Clerk asked Brown if he had anything to say, the youth replied:
"Of course, I have. We have played for years on the waste land near St. Luke's, and the bobbies have gone up to the Saints' football ground in fours and fives and never touched us. We didn't think we were doing anything wrong." However, the policeman that nabbed Herbert said he had seen the ball being kicked several times from the wasteland into adjoining streets, and that was why the summons had been issued. The young man from Devon Street was fined five shillings.
And playing what was described as wall tennis was also against the law. A policeman in plain clothes had spent 10 minutes watching a group of youths in Central Street banging a ball against a wall before approaching three of them and telling them they would be reported.
However, the Chairman said the Bench were prepared to be lenient and if the youths would promise not to play that game again, except in a proper place, the case would be dismissed upon each of them paying four shillings costs.
Letting your chimney get on fire was an offence that led to many householders being summoned to the police court. Mrs Lawrenson of Raglan Street appeared in court on behalf of her husband Edward and was curtly told by the Bench to "Pay four shillings and go home". The Reporter commented: "The injunction was faithfully carried out so far as the first part was concerned, at all events."
The paper also described how Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street had held a May Queen ceremony: "Perched dimly on their pedestals amid the lofty Gothic Arches of Holy Cross Church on Sunday evening, the Twelve Apostles gazed down in silent wonder at the bewitchingly attractive spectacle that confronted their gaze.
"For years they have witnessed with unruffled calm the pictorial scene of the crowning of Mary; they have watched May Queens come and go, but it is very doubtful whether they have ever witnessed a scene so colourful, so impressive in its dignity, as the one on Sunday evening. The time-honoured ceremony was beautiful in the extreme."
On the 9th a benefit match featuring some top footballers took place in St Helens. The game was in aid of Stephen Murray, who had played for St Helens Town before signing for Everton and Reading. However, Stephen would not be playing soccer again as he had been very seriously injured in a coal mine and had lost a leg and 3,000 spectators turned out to support him.
George Rushton of Fox Street (near Victoria Park) in St Helens drowned on the 9th. The 8-year-old had been playing by the side of the canal when he fell in. Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Callaghan from College Street raised the alarm and her father rushed to the spot and dived in the water, which was about 10 feet deep. But the boy was found to be dead when the police eventually brought out his body using grappling hooks. George's father was an unemployed and disabled ex-soldier and at the inquest hearing the coroner gave him £3 out of his poor box.
Complaints against the police were often made by defendants in court and received short shrift, with the assumption being that they were trying to muddy the water with their claims. But it had been the son of Edward Platt who the police had accused of wrongdoing by gambling and on the 11th the father brought a summons for assault against PC Eric Drysdale. Platt senior from Fleet Lane alleged that PC Drysdale had attacked him and driven his fist into his back.
That was after the constable had come looking for his son and a few words were exchanged. After Platt had threatened to summons Drysdale for the assault, the constable was alleged to have told PC Shepherd: "I am going to arrest him for something. Look at the position I shall be in if Platt summons me." Shepherd then supposedly said: "The man has done nothing wrong but take him if you like."
The defence case was that Platt had been drunk and the officer had only stopped him from falling. As two other constables corroborated PC Drysdale's account, the magistrates dismissed the case and told the complainant Edward Platt that he would have to pay 30 shillings witness fees. That was an unusual move and suggested that the Bench thought his summons was a put-up job.
From the 11th a show called Lucky 13 was presented at the Hippodrome. It starred Pimple, which the advert in the Reporter called "Britain’s greatest film comedian". Charlie Chaplin might have had something to say about that, although Pimple is considered to have been the second most popular film comic after Chaplin.
His real name was Fred Evans and he made hundreds of short films, often quite zany in nature. But Pimple's cinematic career was now over and he was back performing in the music halls with a "wonderful cast of London artistes" and the Saveloy Banana Band.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how the Scala Cinema manager's generous deed backfired, a sad suicide takes place in St Helens Canal, the Liverpool Road stabbing case and a court victory for a Thatto Heath mineworker.
This week's many stories include Holy Cross Church's May Queen ceremony, the illegal football playing near Knowsley Road, the furniture polish fraudster, Pimple the second most popular film comic after Chaplin performs at the Hippodrome and the pitch and toss player who swore he had never tossed a coin in St Helens despite two previous convictions.
We begin on the 5th when Sutton Oak Traffic Band played in Sutton Park. The evening performance was part of the council's summer programme of Music in the Parks.
I recently mentioned how the 1931 census revealed how St Helens had the largest families of any town in Lancashire.
That fact was often highlighted at funerals and on the 7th the twelve sons of Thomas Wilson of Morley Street attended their father's send-off at St Helens Cemetery. Six of the men had served in the war but none had suffered any injuries.
Nevin's grocers had been founded in St Helens 1920 by Michael Nevin, which his son Jack later took over.
Further stores were opened in Bolton and Leigh and on the 7th the latter branch was fined the huge sum of £40 for selling hams as Danish when they were actually American.
The Danish government itself had issued the summons against the firm.
It really is quite amazing the trouble that St Helens police used to go to in order to solve crimes involving just coppers.
When Florence Bryne tried out some furniture polish that she had bought from a hawker for 9d she discovered that it was in fact coloured water.
So she reported the matter to the police and they instituted a search for the man.
Once he had been identified as Peter O’Neill an arrest warrant was issued charging him with having gained ninepence from Mrs Bryne by means of false pretences.
Eventually Bury Police arrested O’Neill and he was brought back to St Helens.
In court the magistrates were told that when the prisoner had been charged he had said, "Yes, I did. I had a bottle given to me by a man I didn't know in a public house."
The police requested a remand for a week to make further enquiries, which was granted.
The excuses made in St Helens Police Court can be quite amusing.
When charged with gaming with coins on wasteland off Baker Street in Parr, Joseph Hill strongly denied the offence, insisting that he had simply picked up some coins that had been thrown on the ground by others.
The chain maker from Back Dudley Street then made this comment: "I have not a coin in the world to call my own. I don't think I have tossed a penny while I have been in St. Helens, and I have been here seventeen years."
That led to the Chairman of the Bench asking the man to explain if that was true how come he had two convictions for gaming with coins.
To that the Reporter said he had mumbled some excuse and was fined ten shillings.
And Thomas Bracken faced a charge of throwing a glass bottle into the middle of College Street.
The miner from Back Albert Street insisted that he had simply dropped the bottle accidentally.
But the constable who had witnessed the incident said that was impossible, as the bottle had been hurled down with such force that glass pieces had reached the other side of the street.
The Bench said the offence was a serious one and ordered the bottle smasher to pay a fine of 10 shillings.
Playing ball games in the street was against the law – but the police needed to catch the offenders first as they would take to their heels at the sight of the boys in blue.
When Herbert Brown was collared near Knowsley Road playing football he told the constable: "If I'd had two good legs you would never have caught me".
When the Magistrates Clerk asked Brown if he had anything to say, the youth replied:
"Of course, I have. We have played for years on the waste land near St. Luke's, and the bobbies have gone up to the Saints' football ground in fours and fives and never touched us. We didn't think we were doing anything wrong."
However, the policeman that nabbed Herbert said he had seen the ball being kicked several times from the wasteland into adjoining streets, and that was why the summons had been issued.
The young man from Devon Street was fined five shillings. And playing what was described as wall tennis was also against the law.
A policeman in plain clothes had spent 10 minutes watching a group of youths in Central Street banging a ball against a wall before approaching three of them and telling them they would be reported.
However, the Chairman said the Bench were prepared to be lenient and if the youths would promise not to play that game again, except in a proper place, the case would be dismissed upon each of them paying four shillings costs.
Letting your chimney get on fire was an offence that led to many householders being summoned to the police court.
Mrs Lawrenson of Raglan Street appeared in court on behalf of her husband Edward and was curtly told by the Bench to "Pay four shillings and go home".
The Reporter commented: "The injunction was faithfully carried out so far as the first part was concerned, at all events."
The paper also described how Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street had held a May Queen ceremony:
"Perched dimly on their pedestals amid the lofty Gothic Arches of Holy Cross Church on Sunday evening, the Twelve Apostles gazed down in silent wonder at the bewitchingly attractive spectacle that confronted their gaze.
"For years they have witnessed with unruffled calm the pictorial scene of the crowning of Mary; they have watched May Queens come and go, but it is very doubtful whether they have ever witnessed a scene so colourful, so impressive in its dignity, as the one on Sunday evening. The time-honoured ceremony was beautiful in the extreme."
On the 9th a benefit match featuring some top footballers took place in St Helens. The game was in aid of Stephen Murray, who had played for St Helens Town before signing for Everton and Reading.
However, Stephen would not be playing soccer again as he had been very seriously injured in a coal mine and had lost a leg and 3,000 spectators turned out to support him.
Also on the 9th the annual Clock Face brass band contest took place in the recreation ground of the colliery institute with Nutgrove Band winning the two main awards. Clock Face Colliery Band itself is pictured above.
George Rushton of Fox Street (near Victoria Park) in St Helens drowned on the 9th. The 8-year-old had been playing by the side of the canal when he fell in.
Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Callaghan from College Street raised the alarm and her father rushed to the spot and dived in the water, which was about 10 feet deep.
But the boy was found to be dead when the police eventually brought out his body using grappling hooks.
George's father was an unemployed and disabled ex-soldier and at the inquest hearing the coroner gave him £3 out of his poor box.
Complaints against the police were often made by defendants in court and received short shrift, with the assumption being that they were trying to muddy the water with their claims.
But it had been the son of Edward Platt who the police had accused of wrongdoing by gambling and on the 11th the father brought a summons for assault against PC Eric Drysdale.
Platt senior from Fleet Lane alleged that PC Drysdale had attacked him and driven his fist into his back.
That was after the constable had come looking for his son and a few words were exchanged.
After Platt had threatened to summons Drysdale for the assault, the constable was alleged to have told PC Shepherd:
"I am going to arrest him for something. Look at the position I shall be in if Platt summons me." Shepherd then supposedly said: "The man has done nothing wrong but take him if you like."
The defence case was that Platt had been drunk and the officer had only stopped him from falling.
As two other constables corroborated PC Drysdale's account, the magistrates dismissed the case and told the complainant Edward Platt that he would have to pay 30 shillings witness fees.
That was an unusual move and suggested that the Bench thought his summons was a put-up job.
From the 11th a show called Lucky 13 was presented at the Hippodrome.
It starred Pimple, which the advert in the Reporter called "Britain’s greatest film comedian".
Charlie Chaplin might have had something to say about that, although Pimple is considered to have been the second most popular film comic after Chaplin.
His real name was Fred Evans and he made hundreds of short films, often quite zany in nature.
But Pimple's cinematic career was now over and he was back performing in the music halls with a "wonderful cast of London artistes" and the Saveloy Banana Band.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how the Scala Cinema manager's generous deed backfired, a sad suicide takes place in St Helens Canal, the Liverpool Road stabbing case and a court victory for a Thatto Heath mineworker.
We begin on the 5th when Sutton Oak Traffic Band played in Sutton Park. The evening performance was part of the council's summer programme of Music in the Parks.
I recently mentioned how the 1931 census revealed how St Helens had the largest families of any town in Lancashire.
That fact was often highlighted at funerals and on the 7th the twelve sons of Thomas Wilson of Morley Street attended their father's send-off at St Helens Cemetery. Six of the men had served in the war but none had suffered any injuries.
Nevin's grocers had been founded in St Helens 1920 by Michael Nevin, which his son Jack later took over.
Further stores were opened in Bolton and Leigh and on the 7th the latter branch was fined the huge sum of £40 for selling hams as Danish when they were actually American.
The Danish government itself had issued the summons against the firm.
It really is quite amazing the trouble that St Helens police used to go to in order to solve crimes involving just coppers.
When Florence Bryne tried out some furniture polish that she had bought from a hawker for 9d she discovered that it was in fact coloured water.
So she reported the matter to the police and they instituted a search for the man.
Once he had been identified as Peter O’Neill an arrest warrant was issued charging him with having gained ninepence from Mrs Bryne by means of false pretences.
Eventually Bury Police arrested O’Neill and he was brought back to St Helens.
In court the magistrates were told that when the prisoner had been charged he had said, "Yes, I did. I had a bottle given to me by a man I didn't know in a public house."
The police requested a remand for a week to make further enquiries, which was granted.
The excuses made in St Helens Police Court can be quite amusing.
When charged with gaming with coins on wasteland off Baker Street in Parr, Joseph Hill strongly denied the offence, insisting that he had simply picked up some coins that had been thrown on the ground by others.
The chain maker from Back Dudley Street then made this comment: "I have not a coin in the world to call my own. I don't think I have tossed a penny while I have been in St. Helens, and I have been here seventeen years."
That led to the Chairman of the Bench asking the man to explain if that was true how come he had two convictions for gaming with coins.
To that the Reporter said he had mumbled some excuse and was fined ten shillings.
And Thomas Bracken faced a charge of throwing a glass bottle into the middle of College Street.
The miner from Back Albert Street insisted that he had simply dropped the bottle accidentally.
But the constable who had witnessed the incident said that was impossible, as the bottle had been hurled down with such force that glass pieces had reached the other side of the street.
The Bench said the offence was a serious one and ordered the bottle smasher to pay a fine of 10 shillings.
Playing ball games in the street was against the law – but the police needed to catch the offenders first as they would take to their heels at the sight of the boys in blue.
When Herbert Brown was collared near Knowsley Road playing football he told the constable: "If I'd had two good legs you would never have caught me".
When the Magistrates Clerk asked Brown if he had anything to say, the youth replied:
"Of course, I have. We have played for years on the waste land near St. Luke's, and the bobbies have gone up to the Saints' football ground in fours and fives and never touched us. We didn't think we were doing anything wrong."
However, the policeman that nabbed Herbert said he had seen the ball being kicked several times from the wasteland into adjoining streets, and that was why the summons had been issued.
The young man from Devon Street was fined five shillings. And playing what was described as wall tennis was also against the law.
A policeman in plain clothes had spent 10 minutes watching a group of youths in Central Street banging a ball against a wall before approaching three of them and telling them they would be reported.
However, the Chairman said the Bench were prepared to be lenient and if the youths would promise not to play that game again, except in a proper place, the case would be dismissed upon each of them paying four shillings costs.
Letting your chimney get on fire was an offence that led to many householders being summoned to the police court.
Mrs Lawrenson of Raglan Street appeared in court on behalf of her husband Edward and was curtly told by the Bench to "Pay four shillings and go home".
The Reporter commented: "The injunction was faithfully carried out so far as the first part was concerned, at all events."
The paper also described how Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street had held a May Queen ceremony:
"Perched dimly on their pedestals amid the lofty Gothic Arches of Holy Cross Church on Sunday evening, the Twelve Apostles gazed down in silent wonder at the bewitchingly attractive spectacle that confronted their gaze.
"For years they have witnessed with unruffled calm the pictorial scene of the crowning of Mary; they have watched May Queens come and go, but it is very doubtful whether they have ever witnessed a scene so colourful, so impressive in its dignity, as the one on Sunday evening. The time-honoured ceremony was beautiful in the extreme."
On the 9th a benefit match featuring some top footballers took place in St Helens. The game was in aid of Stephen Murray, who had played for St Helens Town before signing for Everton and Reading.
However, Stephen would not be playing soccer again as he had been very seriously injured in a coal mine and had lost a leg and 3,000 spectators turned out to support him.
George Rushton of Fox Street (near Victoria Park) in St Helens drowned on the 9th. The 8-year-old had been playing by the side of the canal when he fell in.
Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Callaghan from College Street raised the alarm and her father rushed to the spot and dived in the water, which was about 10 feet deep.
But the boy was found to be dead when the police eventually brought out his body using grappling hooks.
George's father was an unemployed and disabled ex-soldier and at the inquest hearing the coroner gave him £3 out of his poor box.
Complaints against the police were often made by defendants in court and received short shrift, with the assumption being that they were trying to muddy the water with their claims.
But it had been the son of Edward Platt who the police had accused of wrongdoing by gambling and on the 11th the father brought a summons for assault against PC Eric Drysdale.
Platt senior from Fleet Lane alleged that PC Drysdale had attacked him and driven his fist into his back.
That was after the constable had come looking for his son and a few words were exchanged.
After Platt had threatened to summons Drysdale for the assault, the constable was alleged to have told PC Shepherd:
"I am going to arrest him for something. Look at the position I shall be in if Platt summons me." Shepherd then supposedly said: "The man has done nothing wrong but take him if you like."
The defence case was that Platt had been drunk and the officer had only stopped him from falling.
As two other constables corroborated PC Drysdale's account, the magistrates dismissed the case and told the complainant Edward Platt that he would have to pay 30 shillings witness fees.
That was an unusual move and suggested that the Bench thought his summons was a put-up job.
From the 11th a show called Lucky 13 was presented at the Hippodrome.
It starred Pimple, which the advert in the Reporter called "Britain’s greatest film comedian".
Charlie Chaplin might have had something to say about that, although Pimple is considered to have been the second most popular film comic after Chaplin.
His real name was Fred Evans and he made hundreds of short films, often quite zany in nature.
But Pimple's cinematic career was now over and he was back performing in the music halls with a "wonderful cast of London artistes" and the Saveloy Banana Band.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include how the Scala Cinema manager's generous deed backfired, a sad suicide takes place in St Helens Canal, the Liverpool Road stabbing case and a court victory for a Thatto Heath mineworker.