IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 1 - 7 JUNE 1926
This week's many stories include the closed shop that was imposed on council workers, the Boundary Road motorbike crash, the strange tale of two identical overcoats, the state of Lancashire's roads, the financial cost of the general and miners' strikes and the row over the government having to take over the town's electricity works.
We begin on June 1st when the Liverpool Daily Post described how Winifred Hurst and Richard Jackson had both been fatally injured while playing on the railway line. They were both only two years old and lived in Station Road in Haydock and had been knocked down by railway wagons. A man called William Leach had bravely attempted to save them but his efforts had been in vain.
The Labour Party now had control of St Helens Council and the recent General Strike had exacerbated divisions between its Labour and Tory members. At the Town Council meeting that was held on the 2nd, Alderman Henry Bates objected to a minute passed by their Highways Committee. That resolved that in future the committee would not engage any man to undertake labouring or other work unless he was a member of a trade union – or who agreed to join a union within seven days of starting work.
The veteran Conservative member called for their decision to be overturned and Cllr Austin Pilkington agreed, saying the principle of freedom was at stake. He added that during the General Strike many trade unionists had been forced to participate in the dispute against their will and said the council should not be forcing their own workmen to join a union.
Labour member Alderman Richard Waring responded by saying that trade unionism was a vital factor in the lives of the working class and all workers ought to be members of unions. But with Labour in the driving seat on the council, Alderman Bates' amendment to overturn the closed shop was defeated by 15 votes to 12. It was also revealed during the meeting that the trams not running during the General Strike had meant a loss of income for the Corporation's Transport Department of £2,419.
A discussion was also held over how during the strike the government had used the Emergency Act to take over control of the borough's electricity works (pictured above). Alderman Waring said he would like those that had advised the government to apply to St Helens electricity department "that extraordinary Act of Parliament to stand on their feet and show themselves".
He added that the Emergency Act was a "tyrannical Act" but Conservative councillor Guy Pilkington accused Ald Waring of being a party to the attempt to stop the operations of their electricity department, at least as far as its managerial staff was concerned and he said he ought to be ashamed of the part that he took. The Mayor who chaired the meeting attempted to close the discussion but Cllr Austin Pilkington then said:
"It is no good trying to stifle the matter. My family have been engaged in the industry of the town for 100 years and I think our feeling is the feeling of most decent people, that it has been a terrible disgrace that this was the one town in all the country where such an attempt was made and where the government had to step in to preserve the electric supply. We felt very great relief indeed when the government did take that action."
Alderman Bates admitted that he had been the one who had informed the government of the threat to the borough's electricity supply and made this accusation to Ald Waring concerning the unions' Council of Action that had coordinated the strike in St Helens:
"Your town was in the hands practically of a Soviet, an imitation of the Russian terror. I told you at the committee I should report it, and I did report it, and I hope the occasion will never arise in your town again when you are going to attempt to penalise loyal servants and prevent them doing their duty."
I suppose it is a human weakness in us all to some extent to jump to conclusions. But, of course, it is always best to ask questions first before taking any action. The St Helens Reporter on the 4th described how William McCarthy of Duke Street had failed to enquire from Edward Worms of Princess Avenue how he had come by his grey overcoat.
McCarthy had seen the young Worms with a coat hanging over his arm in Tontine Street chatting to friends and decided it was his own that had been seemingly stolen from his works earlier that week. Both youths worked for Pilks and McCarthy snatched the coat off Edward and walked off with it into Bridge Street where he entered the Savoy Picturedrome. Worms followed McCarthy and summoned a policeman who entered the cinema and nabbed the thief.
The youth insisted he had only taken back his own property but at the subsequent court hearing a woman who lived with McCarthy produced the missing coat. She said it had been hanging up in the lobby of their Duke Street house all the time! The two coats were produced in court and were described as having a remarkable similarity. The magistrates decided to bind the youth over, telling William McCarthy: "You did a foolish thing in taking the coat so hastily, but we will give you another chance."
The Reporter also described how St Helens police were to have "wireless apparatus" installed in their police station. For what purpose I don't know but I expect it was more likely to listen to the news rather than to dance music! Or, perhaps, any officer trained in Morse code could communicate with it.
Motorbikes became hugely popular in St Helens during the 1920s but there was no driving test and riders did not wear helmets. And so there were plenty of accidents and serious injuries. On the 4th the Liverpool Echo reported that John Tatlock of Eccleston Street in St Helens was in a critical condition after having a leg amputated. That was after the young man's motorbike had been in collision with a car at the top of Boundary Road at its junction with Prescot Road.
It was reported this week that the St Helens Relieving Officers – who provided Poor Law subsistence relief to the very poor – had been inundated with requests for assistance during the ongoing miners' strike. For the week ending May 22nd, almost £4,200 of relief had been distributed, more than four times the amount from a year ago. And during the week immediately after the general strike had ended, the guardians had needed to relieve 13,675 more people than usual at a cost of £2,571.
Special offices needed to be opened to deal with the flood of applications but if 13,000 people only received £2,500 between them in one week, it doesn't need a genius in maths to work out that they each received very little. A lot would depend on the number of children in the family and if any other form of income was coming into the household.
Many roads in Lancashire were in a poor state. Very little work in road maintenance had taken place during the war and afterwards with huge amounts of heavy traffic on them causing damage, the local authorities with limited resources were constantly playing catch up.
In the Lancashire Evening Post on the 4th, a guide for drivers produced by the AA on the state of the county's roads was published. Many were simply designated "fair", with few of them said to be in a good state. The road from Ormskirk to St Helens was described as: "Bad between third and fourth milestones from Ormskirk; care advised through St. Helens."
On the 5th the annual St Helens Horse Show and May Queen parade took place in Bishop Road with Dorothy Cook, the daughter of the St Helens stationmaster, crowned May Queen by the Mayoress. About 60 members of the St Helens Children's Loyalty League gave dancing displays. Saxon's troupe of gymnasts and the Cremona concert party also performed, with the Ravenhead Prize Band playing.
On the same day the 27th annual sports of St Helens Recs was held at what was described as Dentons Farm. Attendance was down on previous years, due to the miners' strike and the counter-attraction of the horse show.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the young thief who claimed he was motivated by hunger, the North Road dog that went after young children, the profitable Rainford pigeon racing and the Royal Italian Circus performs at the Theatre Royal.
We begin on June 1st when the Liverpool Daily Post described how Winifred Hurst and Richard Jackson had both been fatally injured while playing on the railway line. They were both only two years old and lived in Station Road in Haydock and had been knocked down by railway wagons. A man called William Leach had bravely attempted to save them but his efforts had been in vain.
The Labour Party now had control of St Helens Council and the recent General Strike had exacerbated divisions between its Labour and Tory members. At the Town Council meeting that was held on the 2nd, Alderman Henry Bates objected to a minute passed by their Highways Committee. That resolved that in future the committee would not engage any man to undertake labouring or other work unless he was a member of a trade union – or who agreed to join a union within seven days of starting work.
The veteran Conservative member called for their decision to be overturned and Cllr Austin Pilkington agreed, saying the principle of freedom was at stake. He added that during the General Strike many trade unionists had been forced to participate in the dispute against their will and said the council should not be forcing their own workmen to join a union.
Labour member Alderman Richard Waring responded by saying that trade unionism was a vital factor in the lives of the working class and all workers ought to be members of unions. But with Labour in the driving seat on the council, Alderman Bates' amendment to overturn the closed shop was defeated by 15 votes to 12. It was also revealed during the meeting that the trams not running during the General Strike had meant a loss of income for the Corporation's Transport Department of £2,419.
He added that the Emergency Act was a "tyrannical Act" but Conservative councillor Guy Pilkington accused Ald Waring of being a party to the attempt to stop the operations of their electricity department, at least as far as its managerial staff was concerned and he said he ought to be ashamed of the part that he took. The Mayor who chaired the meeting attempted to close the discussion but Cllr Austin Pilkington then said:
"It is no good trying to stifle the matter. My family have been engaged in the industry of the town for 100 years and I think our feeling is the feeling of most decent people, that it has been a terrible disgrace that this was the one town in all the country where such an attempt was made and where the government had to step in to preserve the electric supply. We felt very great relief indeed when the government did take that action."
Alderman Bates admitted that he had been the one who had informed the government of the threat to the borough's electricity supply and made this accusation to Ald Waring concerning the unions' Council of Action that had coordinated the strike in St Helens:
"Your town was in the hands practically of a Soviet, an imitation of the Russian terror. I told you at the committee I should report it, and I did report it, and I hope the occasion will never arise in your town again when you are going to attempt to penalise loyal servants and prevent them doing their duty."
I suppose it is a human weakness in us all to some extent to jump to conclusions. But, of course, it is always best to ask questions first before taking any action. The St Helens Reporter on the 4th described how William McCarthy of Duke Street had failed to enquire from Edward Worms of Princess Avenue how he had come by his grey overcoat.
McCarthy had seen the young Worms with a coat hanging over his arm in Tontine Street chatting to friends and decided it was his own that had been seemingly stolen from his works earlier that week. Both youths worked for Pilks and McCarthy snatched the coat off Edward and walked off with it into Bridge Street where he entered the Savoy Picturedrome. Worms followed McCarthy and summoned a policeman who entered the cinema and nabbed the thief.
The youth insisted he had only taken back his own property but at the subsequent court hearing a woman who lived with McCarthy produced the missing coat. She said it had been hanging up in the lobby of their Duke Street house all the time! The two coats were produced in court and were described as having a remarkable similarity. The magistrates decided to bind the youth over, telling William McCarthy: "You did a foolish thing in taking the coat so hastily, but we will give you another chance."
The Reporter also described how St Helens police were to have "wireless apparatus" installed in their police station. For what purpose I don't know but I expect it was more likely to listen to the news rather than to dance music! Or, perhaps, any officer trained in Morse code could communicate with it.
Motorbikes became hugely popular in St Helens during the 1920s but there was no driving test and riders did not wear helmets. And so there were plenty of accidents and serious injuries. On the 4th the Liverpool Echo reported that John Tatlock of Eccleston Street in St Helens was in a critical condition after having a leg amputated. That was after the young man's motorbike had been in collision with a car at the top of Boundary Road at its junction with Prescot Road.
It was reported this week that the St Helens Relieving Officers – who provided Poor Law subsistence relief to the very poor – had been inundated with requests for assistance during the ongoing miners' strike. For the week ending May 22nd, almost £4,200 of relief had been distributed, more than four times the amount from a year ago. And during the week immediately after the general strike had ended, the guardians had needed to relieve 13,675 more people than usual at a cost of £2,571.
Special offices needed to be opened to deal with the flood of applications but if 13,000 people only received £2,500 between them in one week, it doesn't need a genius in maths to work out that they each received very little. A lot would depend on the number of children in the family and if any other form of income was coming into the household.
Many roads in Lancashire were in a poor state. Very little work in road maintenance had taken place during the war and afterwards with huge amounts of heavy traffic on them causing damage, the local authorities with limited resources were constantly playing catch up.
In the Lancashire Evening Post on the 4th, a guide for drivers produced by the AA on the state of the county's roads was published. Many were simply designated "fair", with few of them said to be in a good state. The road from Ormskirk to St Helens was described as: "Bad between third and fourth milestones from Ormskirk; care advised through St. Helens."
On the 5th the annual St Helens Horse Show and May Queen parade took place in Bishop Road with Dorothy Cook, the daughter of the St Helens stationmaster, crowned May Queen by the Mayoress. About 60 members of the St Helens Children's Loyalty League gave dancing displays. Saxon's troupe of gymnasts and the Cremona concert party also performed, with the Ravenhead Prize Band playing.
On the same day the 27th annual sports of St Helens Recs was held at what was described as Dentons Farm. Attendance was down on previous years, due to the miners' strike and the counter-attraction of the horse show.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the young thief who claimed he was motivated by hunger, the North Road dog that went after young children, the profitable Rainford pigeon racing and the Royal Italian Circus performs at the Theatre Royal.
This week's many stories include the closed shop that was imposed on council workers, the Boundary Road motorbike crash, the strange tale of two identical overcoats, the state of Lancashire's roads, the financial cost of the general and miners' strikes and the row over the government having to take over the town's electricity works.
We begin on June 1st when the Liverpool Daily Post described how Winifred Hurst and Richard Jackson had both been fatally injured while playing on the railway line.
They were both only two years old and lived in Station Road in Haydock and had been knocked down by railway wagons. A man called William Leach had bravely attempted to save them but his efforts had been in vain.
The Labour Party now had control of St Helens Council and the recent General Strike had exacerbated divisions between its Labour and Tory members.
At the Town Council meeting that was held on the 2nd, Alderman Henry Bates objected to a minute passed by their Highways Committee.
That resolved that in future the committee would not engage any man to undertake labouring or other work unless he was a member of a trade union – or who agreed to join a union within seven days of starting work.
The veteran Conservative member called for their decision to be overturned and Cllr Austin Pilkington agreed, saying the principle of freedom was at stake.
He added that during the General Strike many trade unionists had been forced to participate in the dispute against their will and said the council should not be forcing their own workmen to join a union.
Labour member Alderman Richard Waring responded by saying that trade unionism was a vital factor in the lives of the working class and all workers ought to be members of unions.
But with Labour in the driving seat on the council, Alderman Bates' amendment to overturn the closed shop was defeated by 15 votes to 12.
It was also revealed during the meeting that the trams not running during the General Strike had meant a loss of income for the Corporation's Transport Department of £2,419.
A discussion was also held over how during the strike the government had used the Emergency Act to take over control of the borough's electricity works (pictured above).
Alderman Waring said he would like those that had advised the government to apply to St Helens electricity department "that extraordinary Act of Parliament to stand on their feet and show themselves".
He added that the Emergency Act was a "tyrannical Act" but Conservative councillor Guy Pilkington accused Ald Waring of being a party to the attempt to stop the operations of their electricity department, at least as far as its managerial staff was concerned and he said he ought to be ashamed of the part that he took.
The Mayor who chaired the meeting attempted to close the discussion but Cllr Austin Pilkington then said:
"It is no good trying to stifle the matter. My family have been engaged in the industry of the town for 100 years and I think our feeling is the feeling of most decent people, that it has been a terrible disgrace that this was the one town in all the country where such an attempt was made and where the government had to step in to preserve the electric supply. We felt very great relief indeed when the government did take that action."
Alderman Bates admitted that he had been the one who had informed the government of the threat to the borough's electricity supply and made this accusation to Ald Waring concerning the unions' Council of Action that had coordinated the strike in St Helens:
"Your town was in the hands practically of a Soviet, an imitation of the Russian terror. I told you at the committee I should report it, and I did report it, and I hope the occasion will never arise in your town again when you are going to attempt to penalise loyal servants and prevent them doing their duty."
I suppose it is a human weakness in us all to some extent to jump to conclusions.
But, of course, it is always best to ask questions first before taking any action.
The St Helens Reporter on the 4th described how William McCarthy of Duke Street had failed to enquire from Edward Worms of Princess Avenue how he had come by his grey overcoat.
McCarthy had seen the young Worms with a coat hanging over his arm in Tontine Street chatting to friends and decided it was his own that had been seemingly stolen from his works earlier that week.
Both youths worked for Pilks and McCarthy snatched the coat off Edward and walked off with it into Bridge Street where he entered the Savoy Picturedrome.
Worms followed McCarthy and summoned a policeman who entered the cinema and nabbed the thief.
The youth insisted he had only taken back his own property but at the subsequent court hearing a woman who lived with McCarthy produced the missing coat.
She said it had been hanging up in the lobby of their Duke Street house all the time!
The two coats were produced in court and were described as having a remarkable similarity.
The magistrates decided to bind the youth over, telling William McCarthy: "You did a foolish thing in taking the coat so hastily, but we will give you another chance."
The Reporter also described how St Helens police were to have "wireless apparatus" installed in their police station.
For what purpose I don't know but I expect it was more likely to listen to the news rather than to dance music!
Or, perhaps, any officer trained in Morse code could communicate with it.
Motorbikes became hugely popular in St Helens during the 1920s but there was no driving test and riders did not wear helmets. And so there were plenty of accidents and serious injuries.
On the 4th the Liverpool Echo reported that John Tatlock of Eccleston Street in St Helens was in a critical condition after having a leg amputated.
That was after the young man's motorbike had been in collision with a car at the top of Boundary Road at its junction with Prescot Road.
It was reported this week that the St Helens Relieving Officers – who provided Poor Law subsistence relief to the very poor – had been inundated with requests for assistance during the ongoing miners' strike.
For the week ending May 22nd, almost £4,200 of relief had been distributed, more than four times the amount from a year ago.
And during the week immediately after the general strike had ended, the guardians had needed to relieve 13,675 more people than usual at a cost of £2,571.
Special offices needed to be opened to deal with the flood of applications but if 13,000 people only received £2,500 between them in one week, it doesn't need a genius in maths to work out that they each received very little.
A lot would depend on the number of children in the family and if any other form of income was coming into the household.
Many roads in Lancashire were in a poor state. Very little work in road maintenance had taken place during the war and afterwards with huge amounts of heavy traffic on them causing damage, the local authorities with limited resources were constantly playing catch up.
In the Lancashire Evening Post on the 4th, a guide for drivers produced by the AA on the state of the county's roads was published.
Many were simply designated "fair", with few of them said to be in a good state.
The road from Ormskirk to St Helens was described as: "Bad between third and fourth milestones from Ormskirk; care advised through St. Helens."
On the 5th the annual St Helens Horse Show and May Queen parade took place in Bishop Road with Dorothy Cook, the daughter of the St Helens stationmaster, crowned May Queen by the Mayoress.
About 60 members of the St Helens Children's Loyalty League gave dancing displays.
Saxon's troupe of gymnasts and the Cremona concert party also performed, with the Ravenhead Prize Band playing.
On the same day the 27th annual sports of St Helens Recs was held at what was described as Dentons Farm.
Attendance was down on previous years, due to the miners' strike and the counter-attraction of the horse show.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the young thief who claimed he was motivated by hunger, the North Road dog that went after young children, the profitable Rainford pigeon racing and the Royal Italian Circus performs at the Theatre Royal.
We begin on June 1st when the Liverpool Daily Post described how Winifred Hurst and Richard Jackson had both been fatally injured while playing on the railway line.
They were both only two years old and lived in Station Road in Haydock and had been knocked down by railway wagons. A man called William Leach had bravely attempted to save them but his efforts had been in vain.
The Labour Party now had control of St Helens Council and the recent General Strike had exacerbated divisions between its Labour and Tory members.
At the Town Council meeting that was held on the 2nd, Alderman Henry Bates objected to a minute passed by their Highways Committee.
That resolved that in future the committee would not engage any man to undertake labouring or other work unless he was a member of a trade union – or who agreed to join a union within seven days of starting work.
The veteran Conservative member called for their decision to be overturned and Cllr Austin Pilkington agreed, saying the principle of freedom was at stake.
He added that during the General Strike many trade unionists had been forced to participate in the dispute against their will and said the council should not be forcing their own workmen to join a union.
Labour member Alderman Richard Waring responded by saying that trade unionism was a vital factor in the lives of the working class and all workers ought to be members of unions.
But with Labour in the driving seat on the council, Alderman Bates' amendment to overturn the closed shop was defeated by 15 votes to 12.
It was also revealed during the meeting that the trams not running during the General Strike had meant a loss of income for the Corporation's Transport Department of £2,419.
Alderman Waring said he would like those that had advised the government to apply to St Helens electricity department "that extraordinary Act of Parliament to stand on their feet and show themselves".
He added that the Emergency Act was a "tyrannical Act" but Conservative councillor Guy Pilkington accused Ald Waring of being a party to the attempt to stop the operations of their electricity department, at least as far as its managerial staff was concerned and he said he ought to be ashamed of the part that he took.
The Mayor who chaired the meeting attempted to close the discussion but Cllr Austin Pilkington then said:
"It is no good trying to stifle the matter. My family have been engaged in the industry of the town for 100 years and I think our feeling is the feeling of most decent people, that it has been a terrible disgrace that this was the one town in all the country where such an attempt was made and where the government had to step in to preserve the electric supply. We felt very great relief indeed when the government did take that action."
Alderman Bates admitted that he had been the one who had informed the government of the threat to the borough's electricity supply and made this accusation to Ald Waring concerning the unions' Council of Action that had coordinated the strike in St Helens:
"Your town was in the hands practically of a Soviet, an imitation of the Russian terror. I told you at the committee I should report it, and I did report it, and I hope the occasion will never arise in your town again when you are going to attempt to penalise loyal servants and prevent them doing their duty."
I suppose it is a human weakness in us all to some extent to jump to conclusions.
But, of course, it is always best to ask questions first before taking any action.
The St Helens Reporter on the 4th described how William McCarthy of Duke Street had failed to enquire from Edward Worms of Princess Avenue how he had come by his grey overcoat.
McCarthy had seen the young Worms with a coat hanging over his arm in Tontine Street chatting to friends and decided it was his own that had been seemingly stolen from his works earlier that week.
Both youths worked for Pilks and McCarthy snatched the coat off Edward and walked off with it into Bridge Street where he entered the Savoy Picturedrome.
Worms followed McCarthy and summoned a policeman who entered the cinema and nabbed the thief.
The youth insisted he had only taken back his own property but at the subsequent court hearing a woman who lived with McCarthy produced the missing coat.
She said it had been hanging up in the lobby of their Duke Street house all the time!
The two coats were produced in court and were described as having a remarkable similarity.
The magistrates decided to bind the youth over, telling William McCarthy: "You did a foolish thing in taking the coat so hastily, but we will give you another chance."
The Reporter also described how St Helens police were to have "wireless apparatus" installed in their police station.
For what purpose I don't know but I expect it was more likely to listen to the news rather than to dance music!
Or, perhaps, any officer trained in Morse code could communicate with it.
Motorbikes became hugely popular in St Helens during the 1920s but there was no driving test and riders did not wear helmets. And so there were plenty of accidents and serious injuries.
On the 4th the Liverpool Echo reported that John Tatlock of Eccleston Street in St Helens was in a critical condition after having a leg amputated.
That was after the young man's motorbike had been in collision with a car at the top of Boundary Road at its junction with Prescot Road.
It was reported this week that the St Helens Relieving Officers – who provided Poor Law subsistence relief to the very poor – had been inundated with requests for assistance during the ongoing miners' strike.
For the week ending May 22nd, almost £4,200 of relief had been distributed, more than four times the amount from a year ago.
And during the week immediately after the general strike had ended, the guardians had needed to relieve 13,675 more people than usual at a cost of £2,571.
Special offices needed to be opened to deal with the flood of applications but if 13,000 people only received £2,500 between them in one week, it doesn't need a genius in maths to work out that they each received very little.
A lot would depend on the number of children in the family and if any other form of income was coming into the household.
Many roads in Lancashire were in a poor state. Very little work in road maintenance had taken place during the war and afterwards with huge amounts of heavy traffic on them causing damage, the local authorities with limited resources were constantly playing catch up.
In the Lancashire Evening Post on the 4th, a guide for drivers produced by the AA on the state of the county's roads was published.
Many were simply designated "fair", with few of them said to be in a good state.
The road from Ormskirk to St Helens was described as: "Bad between third and fourth milestones from Ormskirk; care advised through St. Helens."
On the 5th the annual St Helens Horse Show and May Queen parade took place in Bishop Road with Dorothy Cook, the daughter of the St Helens stationmaster, crowned May Queen by the Mayoress.
About 60 members of the St Helens Children's Loyalty League gave dancing displays.
Saxon's troupe of gymnasts and the Cremona concert party also performed, with the Ravenhead Prize Band playing.
On the same day the 27th annual sports of St Helens Recs was held at what was described as Dentons Farm.
Attendance was down on previous years, due to the miners' strike and the counter-attraction of the horse show.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the young thief who claimed he was motivated by hunger, the North Road dog that went after young children, the profitable Rainford pigeon racing and the Royal Italian Circus performs at the Theatre Royal.