IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 22 - 28 JUNE 1926
This week's many stories include the opening of the new maternity unit at St Helens Hospital, there's more house building problems for the council, the two miners who spent their strike pay on booze, the blind former Lea Green Colliery miner who was denied compensation and Providence Hospital hold their annual meeting.
Last week I reported on the miners' huge march to the Whiston Institution / Workhouse in which they were appealing for more generous relief payments during the current lockout / strike. Cases like that of Joseph Edwards and Henry Hartley, who appeared before the St Helens Bench on the 22nd charged with theft, did not help their cause as the two miners had been spending their handouts on beer.
The pair had gone to Clock Face to each draw 2s 6d union strike pay and immediately spent it all on ale, initially in a pub before going onto a club. Upon leaving the latter they saw some bowls belonging to George Craig, which they stole and took to Warrington and pawned.
The money they received was spent on more beer but on the following morning they decided they had better retrieve the bowls and they returned them to their owner. But the matter had already been reported to the police and the magistrates fined them £1 each.
To say that colliery owners begrudged paying compensation to injured miners would be an understatement! This week the Sutton Heath & Lea Green Colliery Company appealed in the House of Lords in London against a judgement made in St Helens County Court. The case concerned Peter Lomax of Heath Street in Thatto Heath who in 1915 had lost the sight of his right eye while working at Lea Green Colliery.
Peter received a weekly payment as compensation but that stopped when he was deemed fit to return to work. The man had since lost the sight of his left eye through disease that was unconnected with the accident and he was now practically blind. Judge Dowdall – who was not renowned for the generosity of his awards – had at St Helens County Court earlier in 1926 awarded Lomax weekly compensation payments.
But a barrister on behalf of the colliery company submitted to the judges in the House of Lords that the decision that the man had been partly incapacitated through the accident in 1915 was wrong and he should not have been entitled to a further award. And the judges agreed and allowed the appeal. In a separate case the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Haydock mining firm Richard Evans & Co after the St Helens County Court had ordered them to continue making compensation payments to a miner whose foot had been broken.
I don't think two persons in their seventies getting hitched today would attract much attention. However, when 75-year-old widow Dorothy Case married a widower named Rimmer of a similar age in 1925, their wedding at Holy Cross Church had received much newspaper coverage. But their marriage did not last long, as it was reported this week that Dorothy had died and been buried in St Helens Cemetery.
On the 22nd the St Helens Housing Committee met and continued their seemingly never-ending discussion on how and where to build new council houses to help alleviate the homes crisis in the town. The council had only gone into the house building business after the war and had discovered that it was a very complicated affair!
Instead of more large council estates – such as their first at Windlehurst in which over 1,000 homes had been constructed – St Helens Corporation was now focussing on building smaller blocks of houses in different places. And although there was plenty of land available, the government was refusing to provide a subsidy in certain locations if there was a danger of mining subsidence.
This week it was confirmed that the Corporation's proposed sites for house-building in Leach Lane and Bold Road had been rejected on that basis. The Corporation had also written to Colonel Michael Hughes wanting to buy some of his land in Elton Head Road and on the west side of Clock Face Road.
However, the owner of Sherdley Park had written back to say that a plot that they had selected was in the middle of a farm holding and although he said he was willing to sell the Clock Face land, it would only be on condition that the land at its rear was acquired as well.
On 23rd the annual meeting of the Providence Free Hospital (pictured above) took place. It was revealed that 1,674 patients had been admitted during the year and a new wing was being erected. This would serve as a surgical ward for women and allow further accommodation for private wards, a need that had been increasing. On the ground floor of the wing a new department for the treatment of eye, ear and throat complaints was going to be created.
A major fundraiser for Providence was their annual Flower Day and this year £668 had been raised. And the weekly subscriptions from mines and works had brought in a total of £5,812 and a woman who was said to be in "humble circumstances" had forwarded £100 in recognition of services rendered by hospital staff to a relative some 15 years before.
On the 24th the new maternity unit and suite of private rooms at St Helens Hospital (pictured above) was opened by the wife of Austin Pilkington, the president of the hospital. The ward contained 15 beds and cots and 4 private rooms. At the same time the new hospital radio service was switched on allowing patients in 94 beds to be able to listen to BBC wireless broadcasts.
The Rotary Club of St Helens had provided the equipment and its president, Charles Critchley, said in his speech that he trusted the wireless system would "afford comfort to patients, brighten them up and speed them on to restored health and strength".
In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, PC O'Hare said: "The people in the Sutton Manor district should have enough coal to last them till the strike is finished". The constable was giving evidence against two men called Harry Green and Richard Yates, both of Scott Avenue, who were charged with stealing coal from a colliery siding.
The colliery companies were allowing local people to scavenge for bits of coal from their waste heaps. "But Green and Yates were not satisfied", added PC O'Hare, explaining how the pair had been caught stealing better quality coal. The magistrates fined the men 5 shillings each.
It's quite unusual for the naming of a new road to get any publicity. But the St Helens Reporter on the 25th did report that at a meeting of the council's Housing Committee this week, two new roads on the Windleshaw council estate had been named. One was going to be called Hillside Avenue and the other Hamblett Avenue in honour of the current mayor, Ald Thomas Hamblett.
Some people illegally taking bets on the street would "leg it" at the sight of a policeman, while others were quite casual about the prospect of being arrested. That was mainly because they knew that the bookmaker they worked for would likely pay any fine. When Christopher O’Connor of Back City Road appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 28th it was stated that he had been the runner type.
In fact PC Reid and PC Reynolds had chased after the man for two miles around Windlehurst. That was after they had seen him taking bets from three Pilkington workers in City Road, although it took a civilian to eventually collar him in Gamble Avenue. PC Reid had borrowed a bicycle off a youth to aid in the chase but came to regret his decision.
That was because the brakes did not work and the saddle fell off – along with the constable! During the chase O’Connor had torn up and scattered betting slips, but in court denied the offence of loitering for the purpose of betting. The magistrates felt there was insufficient evidence to convict him and dismissed the case.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the holding of the largest meeting ever in St Helens, the mother's canal rescue, the College Street grocer's that was on fire and the Dunriding Lane bike storage facility for rugby league fans.
Last week I reported on the miners' huge march to the Whiston Institution / Workhouse in which they were appealing for more generous relief payments during the current lockout / strike. Cases like that of Joseph Edwards and Henry Hartley, who appeared before the St Helens Bench on the 22nd charged with theft, did not help their cause as the two miners had been spending their handouts on beer.
The pair had gone to Clock Face to each draw 2s 6d union strike pay and immediately spent it all on ale, initially in a pub before going onto a club. Upon leaving the latter they saw some bowls belonging to George Craig, which they stole and took to Warrington and pawned.
The money they received was spent on more beer but on the following morning they decided they had better retrieve the bowls and they returned them to their owner. But the matter had already been reported to the police and the magistrates fined them £1 each.
To say that colliery owners begrudged paying compensation to injured miners would be an understatement! This week the Sutton Heath & Lea Green Colliery Company appealed in the House of Lords in London against a judgement made in St Helens County Court. The case concerned Peter Lomax of Heath Street in Thatto Heath who in 1915 had lost the sight of his right eye while working at Lea Green Colliery.
Peter received a weekly payment as compensation but that stopped when he was deemed fit to return to work. The man had since lost the sight of his left eye through disease that was unconnected with the accident and he was now practically blind. Judge Dowdall – who was not renowned for the generosity of his awards – had at St Helens County Court earlier in 1926 awarded Lomax weekly compensation payments.
But a barrister on behalf of the colliery company submitted to the judges in the House of Lords that the decision that the man had been partly incapacitated through the accident in 1915 was wrong and he should not have been entitled to a further award. And the judges agreed and allowed the appeal. In a separate case the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Haydock mining firm Richard Evans & Co after the St Helens County Court had ordered them to continue making compensation payments to a miner whose foot had been broken.
I don't think two persons in their seventies getting hitched today would attract much attention. However, when 75-year-old widow Dorothy Case married a widower named Rimmer of a similar age in 1925, their wedding at Holy Cross Church had received much newspaper coverage. But their marriage did not last long, as it was reported this week that Dorothy had died and been buried in St Helens Cemetery.
On the 22nd the St Helens Housing Committee met and continued their seemingly never-ending discussion on how and where to build new council houses to help alleviate the homes crisis in the town. The council had only gone into the house building business after the war and had discovered that it was a very complicated affair!
Instead of more large council estates – such as their first at Windlehurst in which over 1,000 homes had been constructed – St Helens Corporation was now focussing on building smaller blocks of houses in different places. And although there was plenty of land available, the government was refusing to provide a subsidy in certain locations if there was a danger of mining subsidence.
This week it was confirmed that the Corporation's proposed sites for house-building in Leach Lane and Bold Road had been rejected on that basis. The Corporation had also written to Colonel Michael Hughes wanting to buy some of his land in Elton Head Road and on the west side of Clock Face Road.
However, the owner of Sherdley Park had written back to say that a plot that they had selected was in the middle of a farm holding and although he said he was willing to sell the Clock Face land, it would only be on condition that the land at its rear was acquired as well.
A major fundraiser for Providence was their annual Flower Day and this year £668 had been raised. And the weekly subscriptions from mines and works had brought in a total of £5,812 and a woman who was said to be in "humble circumstances" had forwarded £100 in recognition of services rendered by hospital staff to a relative some 15 years before.
The Rotary Club of St Helens had provided the equipment and its president, Charles Critchley, said in his speech that he trusted the wireless system would "afford comfort to patients, brighten them up and speed them on to restored health and strength".
In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, PC O'Hare said: "The people in the Sutton Manor district should have enough coal to last them till the strike is finished". The constable was giving evidence against two men called Harry Green and Richard Yates, both of Scott Avenue, who were charged with stealing coal from a colliery siding.
The colliery companies were allowing local people to scavenge for bits of coal from their waste heaps. "But Green and Yates were not satisfied", added PC O'Hare, explaining how the pair had been caught stealing better quality coal. The magistrates fined the men 5 shillings each.
It's quite unusual for the naming of a new road to get any publicity. But the St Helens Reporter on the 25th did report that at a meeting of the council's Housing Committee this week, two new roads on the Windleshaw council estate had been named. One was going to be called Hillside Avenue and the other Hamblett Avenue in honour of the current mayor, Ald Thomas Hamblett.
Some people illegally taking bets on the street would "leg it" at the sight of a policeman, while others were quite casual about the prospect of being arrested. That was mainly because they knew that the bookmaker they worked for would likely pay any fine. When Christopher O’Connor of Back City Road appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 28th it was stated that he had been the runner type.
In fact PC Reid and PC Reynolds had chased after the man for two miles around Windlehurst. That was after they had seen him taking bets from three Pilkington workers in City Road, although it took a civilian to eventually collar him in Gamble Avenue. PC Reid had borrowed a bicycle off a youth to aid in the chase but came to regret his decision.
That was because the brakes did not work and the saddle fell off – along with the constable! During the chase O’Connor had torn up and scattered betting slips, but in court denied the offence of loitering for the purpose of betting. The magistrates felt there was insufficient evidence to convict him and dismissed the case.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the holding of the largest meeting ever in St Helens, the mother's canal rescue, the College Street grocer's that was on fire and the Dunriding Lane bike storage facility for rugby league fans.
This week's many stories include the opening of the new maternity unit at St Helens Hospital, there's more house building problems for the council, the two miners who spent their strike pay on booze, the blind former Lea Green Colliery miner who was denied compensation and Providence Hospital hold their annual meeting.
Last week I reported on the miners' huge march to the Whiston Institution / Workhouse in which they were appealing for more generous relief payments during the current lockout / strike.
Cases like that of Joseph Edwards and Henry Hartley, who appeared before the St Helens Bench on the 22nd charged with theft, did not help their cause as the two miners had been spending their handouts on beer.
The pair had gone to Clock Face to each draw 2s 6d union strike pay and immediately spent it all on ale, initially in a pub before going onto a club.
Upon leaving the latter they saw some bowls belonging to George Craig, which they stole and took to Warrington and pawned.
The money they received was spent on more beer but on the following morning they decided they had better retrieve the bowls and they returned them to their owner.
But the matter had already been reported to the police and the magistrates fined them £1 each.
To say that colliery owners begrudged paying compensation to injured miners would be an understatement!
This week the Sutton Heath & Lea Green Colliery Company appealed in the House of Lords in London against a judgement made in St Helens County Court.
The case concerned Peter Lomax of Heath Street in Thatto Heath who in 1915 had lost the sight of his right eye while working at Lea Green Colliery.
Peter received a weekly payment as compensation but that stopped when he was deemed fit to return to work.
The man had since lost the sight of his left eye through disease that was unconnected with the accident and he was now practically blind.
Judge Dowdall – who was not renowned for the generosity of his awards – had at St Helens County Court earlier in 1926 awarded Lomax weekly compensation payments.
But a barrister on behalf of the colliery company submitted to the judges in the House of Lords that the decision that the man had been partly incapacitated through the accident in 1915 was wrong and he should not have been entitled to a further award.
And the judges agreed and allowed the appeal.
In a separate case the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Haydock mining firm Richard Evans & Co after the St Helens County Court had ordered them to continue making compensation payments to a miner whose foot had been broken.
I don't think two persons in their seventies getting hitched today would attract much attention.
However, when 75-year-old widow Dorothy Case married a widower named Rimmer of a similar age in 1925, their wedding at Holy Cross Church had received much newspaper coverage.
But their marriage did not last long, as it was reported this week that Dorothy had died and been buried in St Helens Cemetery.
On the 22nd the St Helens Housing Committee met and continued their seemingly never-ending discussion on how and where to build new council houses to help alleviate the homes crisis in the town.
The council had only gone into the house building business after the war and had discovered that it was a very complicated affair!
Instead of more large council estates – such as their first at Windlehurst in which over 1,000 homes had been constructed – St Helens Corporation was now focussing on building smaller blocks of houses in different places.
And although there was plenty of land available, the government was refusing to provide a subsidy in certain locations if there was a danger of mining subsidence.
This week it was confirmed that the Corporation's proposed sites for house-building in Leach Lane and Bold Road had been rejected on that basis.
The Corporation had also written to Colonel Michael Hughes wanting to buy some of his land in Elton Head Road and on the west side of Clock Face Road.
However, the owner of Sherdley Park had written back to say that a plot that they had selected was in the middle of a farm holding and although he said he was willing to sell the Clock Face land, it would only be on condition that the land at its rear was acquired as well.
On 23rd the annual meeting of the Providence Free Hospital (pictured above) took place.
It was revealed that 1,674 patients had been admitted during the year and a new wing was being erected.
This would serve as a surgical ward for women and allow further accommodation for private wards, a need that had been increasing.
On the ground floor of the wing a new department for the treatment of eye, ear and throat complaints was going to be created.
A major fundraiser for Providence was their annual Flower Day and this year £668 had been raised.
And the weekly subscriptions from mines and works had brought in a total of £5,812 and a woman who was said to be in "humble circumstances" had forwarded £100 in recognition of services rendered by hospital staff to a relative some 15 years before.
On the 24th the new maternity unit and suite of private rooms at St Helens Hospital (pictured above) was opened by the wife of Austin Pilkington, the president of the hospital.
The ward contained 15 beds and cots and 4 private rooms.
At the same time the new hospital radio service was switched on allowing patients in 94 beds to be able to listen to BBC wireless broadcasts.
The Rotary Club of St Helens had provided the equipment and its president, Charles Critchley, said in his speech that he trusted the wireless system would "afford comfort to patients, brighten them up and speed them on to restored health and strength".
In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, PC O'Hare said: "The people in the Sutton Manor district should have enough coal to last them till the strike is finished".
The constable was giving evidence against two men called Harry Green and Richard Yates, both of Scott Avenue, who were charged with stealing coal from a colliery siding.
The colliery companies were allowing local people to scavenge for bits of coal from their waste heaps.
"But Green and Yates were not satisfied", added PC O'Hare, explaining how the pair had been caught stealing better quality coal. The magistrates fined the men 5 shillings each.
It's quite unusual for the naming of a new road to get any publicity.
But the St Helens Reporter on the 25th did report that at a meeting of the council's Housing Committee this week, two new roads on the Windleshaw council estate had been named.
One was going to be called Hillside Avenue and the other Hamblett Avenue in honour of the current mayor, Ald Thomas Hamblett.
Some people illegally taking bets on the street would "leg it" at the sight of a policeman, while others were quite casual about the prospect of being arrested.
That was mainly because they knew that the bookmaker they worked for would likely pay any fine.
When Christopher O’Connor of Back City Road appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 28th it was stated that he had been the runner type.
In fact PC Reid and PC Reynolds had chased after the man for two miles around Windlehurst.
That was after they had seen him taking bets from three Pilkington workers in City Road, although it took a civilian to eventually collar him in Gamble Avenue.
PC Reid had borrowed a bicycle off a youth to aid in the chase but came to regret his decision.
That was because the brakes did not work and the saddle fell off – along with the constable!
During the chase O’Connor had torn up and scattered betting slips, but in court denied the offence of loitering for the purpose of betting.
The magistrates felt there was insufficient evidence to convict him and dismissed the case.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the holding of the largest meeting ever in St Helens, the mother's canal rescue, the College Street grocer's that was on fire and the Dunriding Lane bike storage facility for rugby league fans.
Last week I reported on the miners' huge march to the Whiston Institution / Workhouse in which they were appealing for more generous relief payments during the current lockout / strike.
Cases like that of Joseph Edwards and Henry Hartley, who appeared before the St Helens Bench on the 22nd charged with theft, did not help their cause as the two miners had been spending their handouts on beer.
The pair had gone to Clock Face to each draw 2s 6d union strike pay and immediately spent it all on ale, initially in a pub before going onto a club.
Upon leaving the latter they saw some bowls belonging to George Craig, which they stole and took to Warrington and pawned.
The money they received was spent on more beer but on the following morning they decided they had better retrieve the bowls and they returned them to their owner.
But the matter had already been reported to the police and the magistrates fined them £1 each.
To say that colliery owners begrudged paying compensation to injured miners would be an understatement!
This week the Sutton Heath & Lea Green Colliery Company appealed in the House of Lords in London against a judgement made in St Helens County Court.
The case concerned Peter Lomax of Heath Street in Thatto Heath who in 1915 had lost the sight of his right eye while working at Lea Green Colliery.
Peter received a weekly payment as compensation but that stopped when he was deemed fit to return to work.
The man had since lost the sight of his left eye through disease that was unconnected with the accident and he was now practically blind.
Judge Dowdall – who was not renowned for the generosity of his awards – had at St Helens County Court earlier in 1926 awarded Lomax weekly compensation payments.
But a barrister on behalf of the colliery company submitted to the judges in the House of Lords that the decision that the man had been partly incapacitated through the accident in 1915 was wrong and he should not have been entitled to a further award.
And the judges agreed and allowed the appeal.
In a separate case the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Haydock mining firm Richard Evans & Co after the St Helens County Court had ordered them to continue making compensation payments to a miner whose foot had been broken.
I don't think two persons in their seventies getting hitched today would attract much attention.
However, when 75-year-old widow Dorothy Case married a widower named Rimmer of a similar age in 1925, their wedding at Holy Cross Church had received much newspaper coverage.
But their marriage did not last long, as it was reported this week that Dorothy had died and been buried in St Helens Cemetery.
On the 22nd the St Helens Housing Committee met and continued their seemingly never-ending discussion on how and where to build new council houses to help alleviate the homes crisis in the town.
The council had only gone into the house building business after the war and had discovered that it was a very complicated affair!
Instead of more large council estates – such as their first at Windlehurst in which over 1,000 homes had been constructed – St Helens Corporation was now focussing on building smaller blocks of houses in different places.
And although there was plenty of land available, the government was refusing to provide a subsidy in certain locations if there was a danger of mining subsidence.
This week it was confirmed that the Corporation's proposed sites for house-building in Leach Lane and Bold Road had been rejected on that basis.
The Corporation had also written to Colonel Michael Hughes wanting to buy some of his land in Elton Head Road and on the west side of Clock Face Road.
However, the owner of Sherdley Park had written back to say that a plot that they had selected was in the middle of a farm holding and although he said he was willing to sell the Clock Face land, it would only be on condition that the land at its rear was acquired as well.
It was revealed that 1,674 patients had been admitted during the year and a new wing was being erected.
This would serve as a surgical ward for women and allow further accommodation for private wards, a need that had been increasing.
On the ground floor of the wing a new department for the treatment of eye, ear and throat complaints was going to be created.
A major fundraiser for Providence was their annual Flower Day and this year £668 had been raised.
And the weekly subscriptions from mines and works had brought in a total of £5,812 and a woman who was said to be in "humble circumstances" had forwarded £100 in recognition of services rendered by hospital staff to a relative some 15 years before.
The ward contained 15 beds and cots and 4 private rooms.
At the same time the new hospital radio service was switched on allowing patients in 94 beds to be able to listen to BBC wireless broadcasts.
The Rotary Club of St Helens had provided the equipment and its president, Charles Critchley, said in his speech that he trusted the wireless system would "afford comfort to patients, brighten them up and speed them on to restored health and strength".
In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, PC O'Hare said: "The people in the Sutton Manor district should have enough coal to last them till the strike is finished".
The constable was giving evidence against two men called Harry Green and Richard Yates, both of Scott Avenue, who were charged with stealing coal from a colliery siding.
The colliery companies were allowing local people to scavenge for bits of coal from their waste heaps.
"But Green and Yates were not satisfied", added PC O'Hare, explaining how the pair had been caught stealing better quality coal. The magistrates fined the men 5 shillings each.
It's quite unusual for the naming of a new road to get any publicity.
But the St Helens Reporter on the 25th did report that at a meeting of the council's Housing Committee this week, two new roads on the Windleshaw council estate had been named.
One was going to be called Hillside Avenue and the other Hamblett Avenue in honour of the current mayor, Ald Thomas Hamblett.
Some people illegally taking bets on the street would "leg it" at the sight of a policeman, while others were quite casual about the prospect of being arrested.
That was mainly because they knew that the bookmaker they worked for would likely pay any fine.
When Christopher O’Connor of Back City Road appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 28th it was stated that he had been the runner type.
In fact PC Reid and PC Reynolds had chased after the man for two miles around Windlehurst.
That was after they had seen him taking bets from three Pilkington workers in City Road, although it took a civilian to eventually collar him in Gamble Avenue.
PC Reid had borrowed a bicycle off a youth to aid in the chase but came to regret his decision.
That was because the brakes did not work and the saddle fell off – along with the constable!
During the chase O’Connor had torn up and scattered betting slips, but in court denied the offence of loitering for the purpose of betting.
The magistrates felt there was insufficient evidence to convict him and dismissed the case.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the holding of the largest meeting ever in St Helens, the mother's canal rescue, the College Street grocer's that was on fire and the Dunriding Lane bike storage facility for rugby league fans.