IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 1 - 7 JULY 1924
This week's many stories include the multi-vehicle accident in Peasley Cross that also involved a horse, the young man unlucky in love charged with attempting to drown himself, how the national building workers' strike was affecting St Helens, the man considered respectable who broke his pregnant wife's jaw and why those charged with gambling offences were quite nonchalant about committing the crime.
We begin with the St Helens Chamber of Trade's annual excursion in which nearly 1,000 staff from various businesses went to Blackpool on two special trains. The St Helens Reporter described how staid businessmen had "unbended" on the journey with the "furrows of care" disappearing from many of their brows. The amount of traffic on St Helens' narrow roads was constantly growing and with the East Lancs Road still in its planning stages much traffic destined for other places had to pass through the town.
As business folk were the main owners of motor vehicles, much of the traffic comprised large lorries and vans and with many horses and carts also still in use, the result was a dangerous mix of road users. In St Helens Police Court this week a case was heard in which a Providence Hospital ambulance, a St Helens Corporation gasworks vehicle, a Greenall Whitley lorry and a horse and cart were all involved.
Joseph Fairhurst was the driver of the latter and at 11:30 on a Saturday morning he was leading his horse along Peasley Cross Lane (pictured above) in the direction of Sherdley Road. The driver of the brewery motor passed the horse and cart on the other side of the street and as he did so he drew his vehicle out into the middle of the road. At the same time the ambulance attempted to cut in and pass both the Greenall's and the Corporation's vehicles.
Realising his mistake the ambulance driver slammed on his brakes and swerved towards the cart to avoid hitting the brewery lorry but came into contact with the horse. One of the animal's shoes was pulled off and on the ambulance's mudguard were some hairs from the horse's leg. The ambulance driver was Richard Livsey from Sherdley Road and he had been charged with driving his vehicle to the danger of the public.
In in his defence Mr Livsey explained how he had been taking a patient to the hospital and had sounded his horn to indicate that he wanted to overtake. He said he was about to pass when the lorry in front unexpectedly turned into the tramlines causing him to come into contact with the horse and cart. His solicitor submitted that what had occurred was purely a minor accident that had been inevitable and the Bench decided to dismiss the case.
But its Chairman, Ald. Peter Phythian – who was also the mayor – said he wanted to point out that cases of that kind would be dealt with more seriously in future. Pedestrians, he said, must be protected and signals must not be given unless it was safe to come out. He said it was better to wait a minute and save life than to risk it trying to cut in. The Reporter in its account of the hearing headlined their article "The Eternal Road Problem".
Ernest Edwards was charged in St Helens Police Court on the 2nd with attempting to drown himself after breaking up with his girlfriend. The 18-year-old Pilkington worker from Talbot Street had left a suicide note that read: "Take care of this Bible. It was my grandma's. Don't be surprised if I do away with myself. I am really broken-hearted through losing Martha. I thought a lot about her. If I do, just show this to mother and Jane. From your broken-hearted friend. S.O.S. Be kind to Maud."
A search was made and Ernest was found near the canal with his clothes all wet after a man had pulled him out of the water. He promised not to repeat the act and was discharged into the custody of his mother who said she would look after her son. However, the Chairman of the Bench told Ernest that it had been a dreadful thing for a youth to think of "destroying" himself.
Ald. Peter Phythian was the town's first Labour mayor and on the 5th he and his wife attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Phythian kept a tobacconist's shop in Westfield Street and his brother John was also an alderman on the council – but represented the Conservative party.
On the 7th Griffins Pictures in Ormskirk Street ran a silent film called "Unseeing Eyes" starring Lionel Barrymore – "an exciting play mid the heavy snows of North West Canada". It was the picture house's last week as Griffins as next week it would be calling itself The Scala and the first purpose built cinema in St Helens would continue entertaining the people of the town until 1957.
Also on the 7th a national building workers' strike began with the men calling for an extra halfpenny per hour. The unions also wanted a "guaranteed week". Building workers were only paid for the work they did and when it was too wet to undertake any construction jobs they lost a lot of pay. And so they were asking for 50% of the full rate for all time lost owing to bad weather.
The dispute only affected building firms that were members of the National Allied Building Trade Employers Association. It was estimated that three-quarters of the bricklayers, masons, painters, joiners, plumbers, plasters and labourers in St Helens were working for firms outside of the Association that had already agreed to pay the extra halfpenny – and so these were not on strike. So far the dispute had only led to a dozen claims being made at the St Helens Employment Exchange but it was early days in the strike. However, virtually all building work in Prescot had been brought to a standstill.
In St Helens Police Court on the 7th the solicitor of defendant James Freeman told the Bench that his client was a "respectable young man, all his people living in St. Helens, and he had worked at Pilkington's since a boy." Well, the hard-working respectable Freeman was in court for breaking his pregnant wife's jaw. The couple lived in Barton Street in St Helens but due to his wife Sarah's "confinement", she was staying with her mother at her home in Arthur Street.
The couple had had a row over money and Freeman claimed that his wife had thrown a teapot at him and in retaliation he had struck her on the jaw. Mrs Freeman was currently in hospital and unable to tell her side of the assault for a week or so and the magistrates granted the police's application for a remand. It was at that point that Freeman's solicitor declared his client to be respectable and asked for bail. His request was granted but Freeman would have to pay a surety of £10 and find two persons prepared to provide further sureties of £5 each.
Gambling cases made the courts in St Helens virtually every week. For those at the sharp end of betting operations, being nabbed by the police was a hazard of the job and the fine they received would usually be repaid by the bookie that employed them. And so such folk could be quite nonchalant about the whole thing.
When Arthur Smith from Robins Lane in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 7th charged with loitering for betting purposes he did not argue the point but pleaded guilty. And the arresting constable stated that when he had approached Smith, the man had simply said: "I am caught; I have nothing to say." He was fined £10 which was a large amount, but, as stated, Smith could expect to get his money back from his bookie boss.
It was considered a far more serious crime to use your own home for betting and Albert Cook of Higher Parr Street appeared in the same hearing charged with committing such an offence and he was fined £25. When the police had raided his house, Albert Cook had muttered: "I'm saying nowt". The police had been observing his home over three days and counted 69 persons entering and leaving and they had also seen the son of a well-known bookmaker attending his house on one evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many include will include the dawn of the Scala Cinema, the open day at Sutton National Girls School, the mothers' resistance to open-air schools, a new cinema for Rainhill and a St Helens woman saves a child from drowning at the seaside.
We begin with the St Helens Chamber of Trade's annual excursion in which nearly 1,000 staff from various businesses went to Blackpool on two special trains. The St Helens Reporter described how staid businessmen had "unbended" on the journey with the "furrows of care" disappearing from many of their brows. The amount of traffic on St Helens' narrow roads was constantly growing and with the East Lancs Road still in its planning stages much traffic destined for other places had to pass through the town.
As business folk were the main owners of motor vehicles, much of the traffic comprised large lorries and vans and with many horses and carts also still in use, the result was a dangerous mix of road users. In St Helens Police Court this week a case was heard in which a Providence Hospital ambulance, a St Helens Corporation gasworks vehicle, a Greenall Whitley lorry and a horse and cart were all involved.
Realising his mistake the ambulance driver slammed on his brakes and swerved towards the cart to avoid hitting the brewery lorry but came into contact with the horse. One of the animal's shoes was pulled off and on the ambulance's mudguard were some hairs from the horse's leg. The ambulance driver was Richard Livsey from Sherdley Road and he had been charged with driving his vehicle to the danger of the public.
In in his defence Mr Livsey explained how he had been taking a patient to the hospital and had sounded his horn to indicate that he wanted to overtake. He said he was about to pass when the lorry in front unexpectedly turned into the tramlines causing him to come into contact with the horse and cart. His solicitor submitted that what had occurred was purely a minor accident that had been inevitable and the Bench decided to dismiss the case.
But its Chairman, Ald. Peter Phythian – who was also the mayor – said he wanted to point out that cases of that kind would be dealt with more seriously in future. Pedestrians, he said, must be protected and signals must not be given unless it was safe to come out. He said it was better to wait a minute and save life than to risk it trying to cut in. The Reporter in its account of the hearing headlined their article "The Eternal Road Problem".
Ernest Edwards was charged in St Helens Police Court on the 2nd with attempting to drown himself after breaking up with his girlfriend. The 18-year-old Pilkington worker from Talbot Street had left a suicide note that read: "Take care of this Bible. It was my grandma's. Don't be surprised if I do away with myself. I am really broken-hearted through losing Martha. I thought a lot about her. If I do, just show this to mother and Jane. From your broken-hearted friend. S.O.S. Be kind to Maud."
A search was made and Ernest was found near the canal with his clothes all wet after a man had pulled him out of the water. He promised not to repeat the act and was discharged into the custody of his mother who said she would look after her son. However, the Chairman of the Bench told Ernest that it had been a dreadful thing for a youth to think of "destroying" himself.
Ald. Peter Phythian was the town's first Labour mayor and on the 5th he and his wife attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Phythian kept a tobacconist's shop in Westfield Street and his brother John was also an alderman on the council – but represented the Conservative party.
On the 7th Griffins Pictures in Ormskirk Street ran a silent film called "Unseeing Eyes" starring Lionel Barrymore – "an exciting play mid the heavy snows of North West Canada". It was the picture house's last week as Griffins as next week it would be calling itself The Scala and the first purpose built cinema in St Helens would continue entertaining the people of the town until 1957.
Also on the 7th a national building workers' strike began with the men calling for an extra halfpenny per hour. The unions also wanted a "guaranteed week". Building workers were only paid for the work they did and when it was too wet to undertake any construction jobs they lost a lot of pay. And so they were asking for 50% of the full rate for all time lost owing to bad weather.
The dispute only affected building firms that were members of the National Allied Building Trade Employers Association. It was estimated that three-quarters of the bricklayers, masons, painters, joiners, plumbers, plasters and labourers in St Helens were working for firms outside of the Association that had already agreed to pay the extra halfpenny – and so these were not on strike. So far the dispute had only led to a dozen claims being made at the St Helens Employment Exchange but it was early days in the strike. However, virtually all building work in Prescot had been brought to a standstill.
In St Helens Police Court on the 7th the solicitor of defendant James Freeman told the Bench that his client was a "respectable young man, all his people living in St. Helens, and he had worked at Pilkington's since a boy." Well, the hard-working respectable Freeman was in court for breaking his pregnant wife's jaw. The couple lived in Barton Street in St Helens but due to his wife Sarah's "confinement", she was staying with her mother at her home in Arthur Street.
The couple had had a row over money and Freeman claimed that his wife had thrown a teapot at him and in retaliation he had struck her on the jaw. Mrs Freeman was currently in hospital and unable to tell her side of the assault for a week or so and the magistrates granted the police's application for a remand. It was at that point that Freeman's solicitor declared his client to be respectable and asked for bail. His request was granted but Freeman would have to pay a surety of £10 and find two persons prepared to provide further sureties of £5 each.
Gambling cases made the courts in St Helens virtually every week. For those at the sharp end of betting operations, being nabbed by the police was a hazard of the job and the fine they received would usually be repaid by the bookie that employed them. And so such folk could be quite nonchalant about the whole thing.
When Arthur Smith from Robins Lane in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 7th charged with loitering for betting purposes he did not argue the point but pleaded guilty. And the arresting constable stated that when he had approached Smith, the man had simply said: "I am caught; I have nothing to say." He was fined £10 which was a large amount, but, as stated, Smith could expect to get his money back from his bookie boss.
It was considered a far more serious crime to use your own home for betting and Albert Cook of Higher Parr Street appeared in the same hearing charged with committing such an offence and he was fined £25. When the police had raided his house, Albert Cook had muttered: "I'm saying nowt". The police had been observing his home over three days and counted 69 persons entering and leaving and they had also seen the son of a well-known bookmaker attending his house on one evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many include will include the dawn of the Scala Cinema, the open day at Sutton National Girls School, the mothers' resistance to open-air schools, a new cinema for Rainhill and a St Helens woman saves a child from drowning at the seaside.
This week's many stories include the multi-vehicle accident in Peasley Cross that also involved a horse, the young man unlucky in love charged with attempting to drown himself, how the national building workers' strike was affecting St Helens, the man considered respectable who broke his pregnant wife's jaw and why those charged with gambling offences were quite nonchalant about committing the crime.
We begin with the St Helens Chamber of Trade's annual excursion in which nearly 1,000 staff from various businesses went to Blackpool on two special trains.
The St Helens Reporter described how staid businessmen had "unbended" on the journey with the "furrows of care" disappearing from many of their brows.
The amount of traffic on St Helens' narrow roads was constantly growing and with the East Lancs Road still in its planning stages much traffic destined for other places had to pass through the town.
As business folk were the main owners of motor vehicles, much of the traffic comprised large lorries and vans and with many horses and carts also still in use, the result was a dangerous mix of road users.
In St Helens Police Court this week a case was heard in which a Providence Hospital ambulance, a St Helens Corporation gasworks vehicle, a Greenall Whitley lorry and a horse and cart were all involved.
Joseph Fairhurst was the driver of the latter and at 11:30 on a Saturday morning he was leading his horse along Peasley Cross Lane (pictured above) in the direction of Sherdley Road.
The driver of the brewery motor passed the horse and cart on the other side of the street and as he did so he drew his vehicle out into the middle of the road.
At the same time the ambulance attempted to cut in and pass both the Greenall's and the Corporation's vehicles.
Realising his mistake the ambulance driver slammed on his brakes and swerved towards the cart to avoid hitting the brewery lorry but came into contact with the horse.
One of the animal's shoes was pulled off and on the ambulance's mudguard were some hairs from the horse's leg.
The ambulance driver was Richard Livsey from Sherdley Road and he had been charged with driving his vehicle to the danger of the public.
In in his defence Mr Livsey explained how he had been taking a patient to the hospital and had sounded his horn to indicate that he wanted to overtake.
He said he was about to pass when the lorry in front unexpectedly turned into the tramlines causing him to come into contact with the horse and cart.
His solicitor submitted that what had occurred was purely a minor accident that had been inevitable and the Bench decided to dismiss the case.
But its Chairman, Ald. Peter Phythian – who was also the mayor – said he wanted to point out that cases of that kind would be dealt with more seriously in future.
Pedestrians, he said, must be protected and signals must not be given unless it was safe to come out. He said it was better to wait a minute and save life than to risk it trying to cut in.
The Reporter in its account of the hearing headlined their article "The Eternal Road Problem".
Ernest Edwards was charged in St Helens Police Court on the 2nd with attempting to drown himself after breaking up with his girlfriend.
The 18-year-old Pilkington worker from Talbot Street had left a suicide note that read:
"Take care of this Bible. It was my grandma's. Don't be surprised if I do away with myself. I am really broken-hearted through losing Martha. I thought a lot about her.
"If I do, just show this to mother and Jane. From your broken-hearted friend. S.O.S. Be kind to Maud."
A search was made and Ernest was found near the canal with his clothes all wet after a man had pulled him out of the water.
He promised not to repeat the act and was discharged into the custody of his mother who said she would look after her son.
However, the Chairman of the Bench told Ernest that it had been a dreadful thing for a youth to think of "destroying" himself.
Ald. Peter Phythian was the town's first Labour mayor and on the 5th he and his wife attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
Phythian kept a tobacconist's shop in Westfield Street and his brother John was also an alderman on the council – but represented the Conservative party.
On the 7th Griffins Pictures in Ormskirk Street ran a silent film called "Unseeing Eyes" starring Lionel Barrymore – "an exciting play mid the heavy snows of North West Canada".
It was the picture house's last week as Griffins as next week it would be calling itself The Scala and the first purpose built cinema in St Helens would continue entertaining the people of the town until 1957.
Also on the 7th a national building workers' strike began with the men calling for an extra halfpenny per hour.
The unions also wanted a "guaranteed week". Building workers were only paid for the work they did and when it was too wet to undertake any construction jobs they lost a lot of pay.
And so they were asking for 50% of the full rate for all time lost owing to bad weather.
The dispute only affected building firms that were members of the National Allied Building Trade Employers Association.
It was estimated that three-quarters of the bricklayers, masons, painters, joiners, plumbers, plasters and labourers in St Helens were working for firms outside of the Association that had already agreed to pay the extra halfpenny – and so these were not on strike.
So far the dispute had only led to a dozen claims being made at the St Helens Employment Exchange but it was early days in the strike. However, virtually all building work in Prescot had been brought to a standstill.
In St Helens Police Court on the 7th the solicitor of defendant James Freeman told the Bench that his client was a "respectable young man, all his people living in St. Helens, and he had worked at Pilkington's since a boy."
Well, the hard-working respectable Freeman was in court for breaking his pregnant wife's jaw.
The couple lived in Barton Street in St Helens but due to his wife Sarah's "confinement", she was staying with her mother at her home in Arthur Street.
The couple had had a row over money and Freeman claimed that his wife had thrown a teapot at him and in retaliation he had struck her on the jaw.
Mrs Freeman was currently in hospital and unable to tell her side of the assault for a week or so and the magistrates granted the police's application for a remand.
It was at that point that Freeman's solicitor declared his client to be respectable and asked for bail.
His request was granted but Freeman would have to pay a surety of £10 and find two persons prepared to provide further sureties of £5 each.
Gambling cases made the courts in St Helens virtually every week. For those at the sharp end of betting operations, being nabbed by the police was a hazard of the job and the fine they received would usually be repaid by the bookie that employed them.
And so such folk could be quite nonchalant about the whole thing.
When Arthur Smith from Robins Lane in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 7th charged with loitering for betting purposes he did not argue the point but pleaded guilty.
And the arresting constable stated that when he had approached Smith, the man had simply said: "I am caught; I have nothing to say."
He was fined £10 which was a large amount, but, as stated, Smith could expect to get his money back from his bookie boss.
It was considered a far more serious crime to use your own home for betting and Albert Cook of Higher Parr Street appeared in the same hearing charged with committing such an offence and he was fined £25.
When the police had raided his house, Albert Cook had muttered: "I'm saying nowt".
The police had been observing his home over three days and counted 69 persons entering and leaving and they had also seen the son of a well-known bookmaker attending his house on one evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many include will include the dawn of the Scala Cinema, the open day at Sutton National Girls School, the mothers' resistance to open-air schools, a new cinema for Rainhill and a St Helens woman saves a child from drowning at the seaside.
We begin with the St Helens Chamber of Trade's annual excursion in which nearly 1,000 staff from various businesses went to Blackpool on two special trains.
The St Helens Reporter described how staid businessmen had "unbended" on the journey with the "furrows of care" disappearing from many of their brows.
The amount of traffic on St Helens' narrow roads was constantly growing and with the East Lancs Road still in its planning stages much traffic destined for other places had to pass through the town.
As business folk were the main owners of motor vehicles, much of the traffic comprised large lorries and vans and with many horses and carts also still in use, the result was a dangerous mix of road users.
In St Helens Police Court this week a case was heard in which a Providence Hospital ambulance, a St Helens Corporation gasworks vehicle, a Greenall Whitley lorry and a horse and cart were all involved.
The driver of the brewery motor passed the horse and cart on the other side of the street and as he did so he drew his vehicle out into the middle of the road.
At the same time the ambulance attempted to cut in and pass both the Greenall's and the Corporation's vehicles.
Realising his mistake the ambulance driver slammed on his brakes and swerved towards the cart to avoid hitting the brewery lorry but came into contact with the horse.
One of the animal's shoes was pulled off and on the ambulance's mudguard were some hairs from the horse's leg.
The ambulance driver was Richard Livsey from Sherdley Road and he had been charged with driving his vehicle to the danger of the public.
In in his defence Mr Livsey explained how he had been taking a patient to the hospital and had sounded his horn to indicate that he wanted to overtake.
He said he was about to pass when the lorry in front unexpectedly turned into the tramlines causing him to come into contact with the horse and cart.
His solicitor submitted that what had occurred was purely a minor accident that had been inevitable and the Bench decided to dismiss the case.
But its Chairman, Ald. Peter Phythian – who was also the mayor – said he wanted to point out that cases of that kind would be dealt with more seriously in future.
Pedestrians, he said, must be protected and signals must not be given unless it was safe to come out. He said it was better to wait a minute and save life than to risk it trying to cut in.
The Reporter in its account of the hearing headlined their article "The Eternal Road Problem".
Ernest Edwards was charged in St Helens Police Court on the 2nd with attempting to drown himself after breaking up with his girlfriend.
The 18-year-old Pilkington worker from Talbot Street had left a suicide note that read:
"Take care of this Bible. It was my grandma's. Don't be surprised if I do away with myself. I am really broken-hearted through losing Martha. I thought a lot about her.
"If I do, just show this to mother and Jane. From your broken-hearted friend. S.O.S. Be kind to Maud."
A search was made and Ernest was found near the canal with his clothes all wet after a man had pulled him out of the water.
He promised not to repeat the act and was discharged into the custody of his mother who said she would look after her son.
However, the Chairman of the Bench told Ernest that it had been a dreadful thing for a youth to think of "destroying" himself.
Ald. Peter Phythian was the town's first Labour mayor and on the 5th he and his wife attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
Phythian kept a tobacconist's shop in Westfield Street and his brother John was also an alderman on the council – but represented the Conservative party.
On the 7th Griffins Pictures in Ormskirk Street ran a silent film called "Unseeing Eyes" starring Lionel Barrymore – "an exciting play mid the heavy snows of North West Canada".
It was the picture house's last week as Griffins as next week it would be calling itself The Scala and the first purpose built cinema in St Helens would continue entertaining the people of the town until 1957.
Also on the 7th a national building workers' strike began with the men calling for an extra halfpenny per hour.
The unions also wanted a "guaranteed week". Building workers were only paid for the work they did and when it was too wet to undertake any construction jobs they lost a lot of pay.
And so they were asking for 50% of the full rate for all time lost owing to bad weather.
The dispute only affected building firms that were members of the National Allied Building Trade Employers Association.
It was estimated that three-quarters of the bricklayers, masons, painters, joiners, plumbers, plasters and labourers in St Helens were working for firms outside of the Association that had already agreed to pay the extra halfpenny – and so these were not on strike.
So far the dispute had only led to a dozen claims being made at the St Helens Employment Exchange but it was early days in the strike. However, virtually all building work in Prescot had been brought to a standstill.
In St Helens Police Court on the 7th the solicitor of defendant James Freeman told the Bench that his client was a "respectable young man, all his people living in St. Helens, and he had worked at Pilkington's since a boy."
Well, the hard-working respectable Freeman was in court for breaking his pregnant wife's jaw.
The couple lived in Barton Street in St Helens but due to his wife Sarah's "confinement", she was staying with her mother at her home in Arthur Street.
The couple had had a row over money and Freeman claimed that his wife had thrown a teapot at him and in retaliation he had struck her on the jaw.
Mrs Freeman was currently in hospital and unable to tell her side of the assault for a week or so and the magistrates granted the police's application for a remand.
It was at that point that Freeman's solicitor declared his client to be respectable and asked for bail.
His request was granted but Freeman would have to pay a surety of £10 and find two persons prepared to provide further sureties of £5 each.
Gambling cases made the courts in St Helens virtually every week. For those at the sharp end of betting operations, being nabbed by the police was a hazard of the job and the fine they received would usually be repaid by the bookie that employed them.
And so such folk could be quite nonchalant about the whole thing.
When Arthur Smith from Robins Lane in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 7th charged with loitering for betting purposes he did not argue the point but pleaded guilty.
And the arresting constable stated that when he had approached Smith, the man had simply said: "I am caught; I have nothing to say."
He was fined £10 which was a large amount, but, as stated, Smith could expect to get his money back from his bookie boss.
It was considered a far more serious crime to use your own home for betting and Albert Cook of Higher Parr Street appeared in the same hearing charged with committing such an offence and he was fined £25.
When the police had raided his house, Albert Cook had muttered: "I'm saying nowt".
The police had been observing his home over three days and counted 69 persons entering and leaving and they had also seen the son of a well-known bookmaker attending his house on one evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many include will include the dawn of the Scala Cinema, the open day at Sutton National Girls School, the mothers' resistance to open-air schools, a new cinema for Rainhill and a St Helens woman saves a child from drowning at the seaside.