IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 1 - 7 SEPTEMBER 1925
This week's many stories include the Croppers Hill collision between a pop wagon and a car, the confusing female fight in Bold Street, the silk works that was coming to Sutton, the curious Parr prosecution for sitting on a doorstep, the prisoner taken to the police lock-up in a handcart and the furious Church Street fight in which 30 spectators had formed a ring.
Strange prosecutions were regular occurrences a century ago. But the charge this week against an unnamed Parr youth was particularly odd. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the case:
"The sports and pastimes of the British people are manifold. At the Police Court on Friday an able-bodied Parr youth declared his favourite hobby was to sit for hours each night on his grandmother's doorstep in Park-road to watch things go by. “His grandfather says he is a nuisance,” explained the constable. The lad, however, clung zealously to his coveted privilege of sitting on the doorstep. “My grandmother would never say a thing like that. I can get her written permission to sit on her doorstep,” he urged. The charge of obstructing the footpath was dismissed on payment of costs."
A furious fight outside the White Hart Hotel in Church Street was also described when a miner called Michael Meltside from Sutton Road appeared in court. The Reporter wrote that he had "two inflamed eyes, which gave evidence more effectively than the constable." PC Poole said the incident had occurred on the previous Friday evening at 10:30pm. About 30 people in Church Street had formed a circle around the defendant who was fighting furiously with an unknown man. Someone shouted, "Mind the bobby" and the other fighter got away but Michael Meltside was caught. He was bound over for six months.
Another miner called Charles Dalton from Church Street appeared in the dock with a bloodstained face and hair. Whether he had been fighting or had just injured himself through being helplessly drunk was not known. PC Wilcock told the court that he had seen the man clinging to railings in Parr Street totally inebriated. He said the only way he could get him to the police station at the Town Hall was to carry his prisoner to a passing tram and hitch a lift part of the way. As it was his first offence Dalton was only fined 5 shillings.
When Richard Gallyer from Rolling Mill Lane in Sutton was fined 2s 6d for riding a bicycle without a light just after 10pm he had a question for the magistrates. The young labourer wanted to know whether his conviction meant he would in future not be able to join the police force. However, he was assured it would not prevent him from becoming a bobby and booking other bike riders without lights!
Daniel Delaney from Brown Street in Parr was also in court charged with unlawful wounding with intent. The man was accused of coming home drunk on the previous Saturday night and starting a row in the kitchen with a fellow lodger. The latter was aged 61 and as a result of the scuffle he'd fallen to the ground and the much younger Delaney was accused of then kicking him with such force that he broke his leg.
However, the accused claimed that the man had suffered the leg break through the fall and not through any kick. The victim was now in Providence Hospital and the case was remanded for a week and although granted bail, Delaney, who was unemployed, needed to find two sureties totalling £15, which was very unlikely for a man out of work.
Stanley Grayson from Robins Lane appeared in court charged with driving a car in a dangerous manner and not giving audible warning of his approach. That was after the driver had driven into a horse-driven wagon belonging to Kerrs Minerals on Croppers Hill scattering pop bottles and boxes off the vehicle. Grayson said the wagon had completely blocked the street and he had been unable to stop in time as the road was wet but he was still fined £2.
Female fights in St Helens were less common in the 1920s than in the 19th century. But they still occurred and this week a couple of women from Bold Street in Greenbank appeared in court charged with breaching the peace. However, the nicely named Indiana Lockhart and Annie Pickering both denied the claims of the constable calling them lies – but, confusingly, at the same time admitted them.
PC Gatley told the Bench that just after 10:30 pm on the evening in question he had been told a great disturbance was taking place in Bold Street and upon arriving at the place found Mrs Pickering and her sister Mary Ryan engaged in a quarrel with Mrs Lockhart. At that point in the proceedings Annie Pickering interjected, saying: "That's a lie. I was not quarrelling with anybody."
Ignoring the interruption the constable went on to say that the two defendants began to fight and strike each other, with Mrs Pickering's hair being down and her clothing disarranged. Mrs Lockhart told him that Mrs Pickering and her sister had struck her and that she was only defending herself. Then shortly after 11 o’clock on that evening while her sister was being arrested, PC Gatley said Annie Pickering came out of her house using bad language and incited her sister to resist arrest and do the policeman some injury.
But when Indiana Lockhart gave evidence she also said that what the police had claimed about the pair fighting each other was all lies – but then admitted having been struck by Mrs Pickering and then hitting her back! And Annie Pickering agreed, saying: "I do not know Mrs. Lockhart and have never fallen out with her in my life." It was a confusing case with the women admitting thumping each other but not quarrelling or falling out! The magistrates did what they almost always did with such cases in the mid-1920s and bound both parties over for 6 months.
Earlier I described how a policeman had got his drunken prisoner to the police station through a combination of carrying the man and hitching a lift from a tram. In another case PC George told the Bench that Michael Gilhooley had been so inebriated in Church Street that he had to take him to the police lock-up in a handcart. "I saw the prisoner supporting himself on a lamp-post in a drunken condition. I went up to him and found him unable to stand up and he had to be wheeled to the Police Office on a hand-cart."
The constable added that as he was being taken, Gilhooley from Arthur Street began to "throw out" with his fists and feet and behaved in a violent manner. He was fined 10 shillings or seven days in prison.
And finally, on the 5th the Liverpool Echo wrote: "The good news that the old Sutton Glass Weeks at St. Helens are likely to be turned into a large artificial silk factory as announced in the “Daily Post” to-day has been received with the greatest delight throughout the St. Helens district. For many years efforts have been made to provide work for the surplus women population of the district by cotton mills or similar industries.
"During the war, when several thousands of women were employed in shell-filling at the Sutton Works, the great need of an outlet for women labour was fully demonstrated." The Nuera Art Silk Company moved into Lancots Lane in 1926 occupying the old Sutton Glass Works but closed in 1930 blaming the depression and a slump in the market for silk.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man accused of breaking an old man's leg, the fiery use of fists and tongues in Crispin Street, more on the plans for an artificial silk factory and the farmer killed by his own horse in Junction Lane.
Strange prosecutions were regular occurrences a century ago. But the charge this week against an unnamed Parr youth was particularly odd. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the case:
"The sports and pastimes of the British people are manifold. At the Police Court on Friday an able-bodied Parr youth declared his favourite hobby was to sit for hours each night on his grandmother's doorstep in Park-road to watch things go by. “His grandfather says he is a nuisance,” explained the constable. The lad, however, clung zealously to his coveted privilege of sitting on the doorstep. “My grandmother would never say a thing like that. I can get her written permission to sit on her doorstep,” he urged. The charge of obstructing the footpath was dismissed on payment of costs."
Another miner called Charles Dalton from Church Street appeared in the dock with a bloodstained face and hair. Whether he had been fighting or had just injured himself through being helplessly drunk was not known. PC Wilcock told the court that he had seen the man clinging to railings in Parr Street totally inebriated. He said the only way he could get him to the police station at the Town Hall was to carry his prisoner to a passing tram and hitch a lift part of the way. As it was his first offence Dalton was only fined 5 shillings.
When Richard Gallyer from Rolling Mill Lane in Sutton was fined 2s 6d for riding a bicycle without a light just after 10pm he had a question for the magistrates. The young labourer wanted to know whether his conviction meant he would in future not be able to join the police force. However, he was assured it would not prevent him from becoming a bobby and booking other bike riders without lights!
Daniel Delaney from Brown Street in Parr was also in court charged with unlawful wounding with intent. The man was accused of coming home drunk on the previous Saturday night and starting a row in the kitchen with a fellow lodger. The latter was aged 61 and as a result of the scuffle he'd fallen to the ground and the much younger Delaney was accused of then kicking him with such force that he broke his leg.
However, the accused claimed that the man had suffered the leg break through the fall and not through any kick. The victim was now in Providence Hospital and the case was remanded for a week and although granted bail, Delaney, who was unemployed, needed to find two sureties totalling £15, which was very unlikely for a man out of work.
Stanley Grayson from Robins Lane appeared in court charged with driving a car in a dangerous manner and not giving audible warning of his approach. That was after the driver had driven into a horse-driven wagon belonging to Kerrs Minerals on Croppers Hill scattering pop bottles and boxes off the vehicle. Grayson said the wagon had completely blocked the street and he had been unable to stop in time as the road was wet but he was still fined £2.
Female fights in St Helens were less common in the 1920s than in the 19th century. But they still occurred and this week a couple of women from Bold Street in Greenbank appeared in court charged with breaching the peace. However, the nicely named Indiana Lockhart and Annie Pickering both denied the claims of the constable calling them lies – but, confusingly, at the same time admitted them.
PC Gatley told the Bench that just after 10:30 pm on the evening in question he had been told a great disturbance was taking place in Bold Street and upon arriving at the place found Mrs Pickering and her sister Mary Ryan engaged in a quarrel with Mrs Lockhart. At that point in the proceedings Annie Pickering interjected, saying: "That's a lie. I was not quarrelling with anybody."
Ignoring the interruption the constable went on to say that the two defendants began to fight and strike each other, with Mrs Pickering's hair being down and her clothing disarranged. Mrs Lockhart told him that Mrs Pickering and her sister had struck her and that she was only defending herself. Then shortly after 11 o’clock on that evening while her sister was being arrested, PC Gatley said Annie Pickering came out of her house using bad language and incited her sister to resist arrest and do the policeman some injury.
But when Indiana Lockhart gave evidence she also said that what the police had claimed about the pair fighting each other was all lies – but then admitted having been struck by Mrs Pickering and then hitting her back! And Annie Pickering agreed, saying: "I do not know Mrs. Lockhart and have never fallen out with her in my life." It was a confusing case with the women admitting thumping each other but not quarrelling or falling out! The magistrates did what they almost always did with such cases in the mid-1920s and bound both parties over for 6 months.
Earlier I described how a policeman had got his drunken prisoner to the police station through a combination of carrying the man and hitching a lift from a tram. In another case PC George told the Bench that Michael Gilhooley had been so inebriated in Church Street that he had to take him to the police lock-up in a handcart. "I saw the prisoner supporting himself on a lamp-post in a drunken condition. I went up to him and found him unable to stand up and he had to be wheeled to the Police Office on a hand-cart."
The constable added that as he was being taken, Gilhooley from Arthur Street began to "throw out" with his fists and feet and behaved in a violent manner. He was fined 10 shillings or seven days in prison.
And finally, on the 5th the Liverpool Echo wrote: "The good news that the old Sutton Glass Weeks at St. Helens are likely to be turned into a large artificial silk factory as announced in the “Daily Post” to-day has been received with the greatest delight throughout the St. Helens district. For many years efforts have been made to provide work for the surplus women population of the district by cotton mills or similar industries.
"During the war, when several thousands of women were employed in shell-filling at the Sutton Works, the great need of an outlet for women labour was fully demonstrated." The Nuera Art Silk Company moved into Lancots Lane in 1926 occupying the old Sutton Glass Works but closed in 1930 blaming the depression and a slump in the market for silk.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man accused of breaking an old man's leg, the fiery use of fists and tongues in Crispin Street, more on the plans for an artificial silk factory and the farmer killed by his own horse in Junction Lane.
This week's many stories include the Croppers Hill collision between a pop wagon and a car, the confusing female fight in Bold Street, the silk works that was coming to Sutton, the curious Parr prosecution for sitting on a doorstep, the prisoner taken to the police lock-up in a handcart and the furious Church Street fight in which 30 spectators had formed a ring.
Strange prosecutions were regular occurrences a century ago. But the charge this week against an unnamed Parr youth was particularly odd. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the case:
"The sports and pastimes of the British people are manifold. At the Police Court on Friday an able-bodied Parr youth declared his favourite hobby was to sit for hours each night on his grandmother's doorstep in Park-road to watch things go by.
"“His grandfather says he is a nuisance,” explained the constable. The lad, however, clung zealously to his coveted privilege of sitting on the doorstep.
"“My grandmother would never say a thing like that. I can get her written permission to sit on her doorstep,” he urged.
"The charge of obstructing the footpath was dismissed on payment of costs."
A furious fight outside the White Hart Hotel in Church Street was also described when a miner called Michael Meltside from Sutton Road appeared in court.
The Reporter wrote that he had "two inflamed eyes, which gave evidence more effectively than the constable."
PC Poole said the incident had occurred on the previous Friday evening at 10:30pm. About 30 people in Church Street had formed a circle around the defendant who was fighting furiously with an unknown man.
Someone shouted, "Mind the bobby" and the other fighter got away but Michael Meltside was caught. He was bound over for six months.
Another miner called Charles Dalton from Church Street appeared in the dock with a bloodstained face and hair.
Whether he had been fighting or had just injured himself through being helplessly drunk was not known.
PC Wilcock told the court that he had seen the man clinging to railings in Parr Street totally inebriated.
He said the only way he could get him to the police station at the Town Hall was to carry his prisoner to a passing tram and hitch a lift part of the way.
As it was his first offence Dalton was only fined 5 shillings.
When Richard Gallyer from Rolling Mill Lane in Sutton was fined 2s 6d for riding a bicycle without a light just after 10pm he had a question for the magistrates.
The young labourer wanted to know whether his conviction meant he would in future not be able to join the police force. However, he was assured it would not prevent him from becoming a bobby and booking other bike riders without lights!
Daniel Delaney from Brown Street in Parr was also in court charged with unlawful wounding with intent.
The man was accused of coming home drunk on the previous Saturday night and starting a row in the kitchen with a fellow lodger.
The latter was aged 61 and as a result of the scuffle he'd fallen to the ground and the much younger Delaney was accused of then kicking him with such force that he broke his leg.
However, the accused claimed that the man had suffered the leg break through the fall and not through any kick.
The victim was now in Providence Hospital and the case was remanded for a week and although granted bail, Delaney, who was unemployed, needed to find two sureties totalling £15, which was very unlikely for a man out of work.
Stanley Grayson from Robins Lane appeared in court charged with driving a car in a dangerous manner and not giving audible warning of his approach.
That was after the driver had driven into a horse-driven wagon belonging to Kerrs Minerals on Croppers Hill scattering pop bottles and boxes off the vehicle.
Grayson said the wagon had completely blocked the street and he had been unable to stop in time as the road was wet but he was still fined £2.
Female fights in St Helens were less common in the 1920s than in the 19th century.
But they still occurred and this week a couple of women from Bold Street in Greenbank appeared in court charged with breaching the peace.
However, the nicely named Indiana Lockhart and Annie Pickering both denied the claims of the constable calling them lies – but, confusingly, at the same time admitted them.
PC Gatley told the Bench that just after 10:30 pm on the evening in question he had been told a great disturbance was taking place in Bold Street and upon arriving at the place found Mrs Pickering and her sister Mary Ryan engaged in a quarrel with Mrs Lockhart.
At that point in the proceedings Annie Pickering interjected, saying: "That's a lie. I was not quarrelling with anybody."
Ignoring the interruption the constable went on to say that the two defendants began to fight and strike each other, with Mrs Pickering's hair being down and her clothing disarranged.
Mrs Lockhart told him that Mrs Pickering and her sister had struck her and that she was only defending herself.
Then shortly after 11 o’clock on that evening while her sister was being arrested, PC Gatley said Annie Pickering came out of her house using bad language and incited her sister to resist arrest and do the policeman some injury.
But when Indiana Lockhart gave evidence she also said that what the police had claimed about the pair fighting each other was all lies – but then admitted having been struck by Mrs Pickering and then hitting her back!
And Annie Pickering agreed, saying: "I do not know Mrs. Lockhart and have never fallen out with her in my life."
It was a confusing case with the women admitting thumping each other but not quarrelling or falling out!
The magistrates did what they almost always did with such cases in the mid-1920s and bound both parties over for 6 months.
Earlier I described how a policeman had got his drunken prisoner to the police station through a combination of carrying the man and hitching a lift from a tram.
In another case PC George told the Bench that Michael Gilhooley had been so inebriated in Church Street that he had to take him to the police lock-up in a handcart.
"I saw the prisoner supporting himself on a lamp-post in a drunken condition. I went up to him and found him unable to stand up and he had to be wheeled to the Police Office on a hand-cart."
The constable added that as he was being taken, Gilhooley from Arthur Street began to "throw out" with his fists and feet and behaved in a violent manner. He was fined 10 shillings or seven days in prison.
And finally, on the 5th the Liverpool Echo wrote: "The good news that the old Sutton Glass Weeks at St. Helens are likely to be turned into a large artificial silk factory as announced in the “Daily Post” to-day has been received with the greatest delight throughout the St. Helens district.
"For many years efforts have been made to provide work for the surplus women population of the district by cotton mills or similar industries.
"During the war, when several thousands of women were employed in shell-filling at the Sutton Works, the great need of an outlet for women labour was fully demonstrated."
The Nuera Art Silk Company moved into Lancots Lane in 1926 occupying the old Sutton Glass Works but closed in 1930 blaming the depression and a slump in the market for silk.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man accused of breaking an old man's leg, the fiery use of fists and tongues in Crispin Street, more on the plans for an artificial silk factory and the farmer killed by his own horse in Junction Lane.
Strange prosecutions were regular occurrences a century ago. But the charge this week against an unnamed Parr youth was particularly odd. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the case:
"The sports and pastimes of the British people are manifold. At the Police Court on Friday an able-bodied Parr youth declared his favourite hobby was to sit for hours each night on his grandmother's doorstep in Park-road to watch things go by.
"“His grandfather says he is a nuisance,” explained the constable. The lad, however, clung zealously to his coveted privilege of sitting on the doorstep.
"“My grandmother would never say a thing like that. I can get her written permission to sit on her doorstep,” he urged.
"The charge of obstructing the footpath was dismissed on payment of costs."
The Reporter wrote that he had "two inflamed eyes, which gave evidence more effectively than the constable."
PC Poole said the incident had occurred on the previous Friday evening at 10:30pm. About 30 people in Church Street had formed a circle around the defendant who was fighting furiously with an unknown man.
Someone shouted, "Mind the bobby" and the other fighter got away but Michael Meltside was caught. He was bound over for six months.
Another miner called Charles Dalton from Church Street appeared in the dock with a bloodstained face and hair.
Whether he had been fighting or had just injured himself through being helplessly drunk was not known.
PC Wilcock told the court that he had seen the man clinging to railings in Parr Street totally inebriated.
He said the only way he could get him to the police station at the Town Hall was to carry his prisoner to a passing tram and hitch a lift part of the way.
As it was his first offence Dalton was only fined 5 shillings.
When Richard Gallyer from Rolling Mill Lane in Sutton was fined 2s 6d for riding a bicycle without a light just after 10pm he had a question for the magistrates.
The young labourer wanted to know whether his conviction meant he would in future not be able to join the police force. However, he was assured it would not prevent him from becoming a bobby and booking other bike riders without lights!
Daniel Delaney from Brown Street in Parr was also in court charged with unlawful wounding with intent.
The man was accused of coming home drunk on the previous Saturday night and starting a row in the kitchen with a fellow lodger.
The latter was aged 61 and as a result of the scuffle he'd fallen to the ground and the much younger Delaney was accused of then kicking him with such force that he broke his leg.
However, the accused claimed that the man had suffered the leg break through the fall and not through any kick.
The victim was now in Providence Hospital and the case was remanded for a week and although granted bail, Delaney, who was unemployed, needed to find two sureties totalling £15, which was very unlikely for a man out of work.
Stanley Grayson from Robins Lane appeared in court charged with driving a car in a dangerous manner and not giving audible warning of his approach.
That was after the driver had driven into a horse-driven wagon belonging to Kerrs Minerals on Croppers Hill scattering pop bottles and boxes off the vehicle.
Grayson said the wagon had completely blocked the street and he had been unable to stop in time as the road was wet but he was still fined £2.
Female fights in St Helens were less common in the 1920s than in the 19th century.
But they still occurred and this week a couple of women from Bold Street in Greenbank appeared in court charged with breaching the peace.
However, the nicely named Indiana Lockhart and Annie Pickering both denied the claims of the constable calling them lies – but, confusingly, at the same time admitted them.
PC Gatley told the Bench that just after 10:30 pm on the evening in question he had been told a great disturbance was taking place in Bold Street and upon arriving at the place found Mrs Pickering and her sister Mary Ryan engaged in a quarrel with Mrs Lockhart.
At that point in the proceedings Annie Pickering interjected, saying: "That's a lie. I was not quarrelling with anybody."
Ignoring the interruption the constable went on to say that the two defendants began to fight and strike each other, with Mrs Pickering's hair being down and her clothing disarranged.
Mrs Lockhart told him that Mrs Pickering and her sister had struck her and that she was only defending herself.
Then shortly after 11 o’clock on that evening while her sister was being arrested, PC Gatley said Annie Pickering came out of her house using bad language and incited her sister to resist arrest and do the policeman some injury.
But when Indiana Lockhart gave evidence she also said that what the police had claimed about the pair fighting each other was all lies – but then admitted having been struck by Mrs Pickering and then hitting her back!
And Annie Pickering agreed, saying: "I do not know Mrs. Lockhart and have never fallen out with her in my life."
It was a confusing case with the women admitting thumping each other but not quarrelling or falling out!
The magistrates did what they almost always did with such cases in the mid-1920s and bound both parties over for 6 months.
Earlier I described how a policeman had got his drunken prisoner to the police station through a combination of carrying the man and hitching a lift from a tram.
In another case PC George told the Bench that Michael Gilhooley had been so inebriated in Church Street that he had to take him to the police lock-up in a handcart.
"I saw the prisoner supporting himself on a lamp-post in a drunken condition. I went up to him and found him unable to stand up and he had to be wheeled to the Police Office on a hand-cart."
The constable added that as he was being taken, Gilhooley from Arthur Street began to "throw out" with his fists and feet and behaved in a violent manner. He was fined 10 shillings or seven days in prison.
And finally, on the 5th the Liverpool Echo wrote: "The good news that the old Sutton Glass Weeks at St. Helens are likely to be turned into a large artificial silk factory as announced in the “Daily Post” to-day has been received with the greatest delight throughout the St. Helens district.
"For many years efforts have been made to provide work for the surplus women population of the district by cotton mills or similar industries.
"During the war, when several thousands of women were employed in shell-filling at the Sutton Works, the great need of an outlet for women labour was fully demonstrated."
The Nuera Art Silk Company moved into Lancots Lane in 1926 occupying the old Sutton Glass Works but closed in 1930 blaming the depression and a slump in the market for silk.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man accused of breaking an old man's leg, the fiery use of fists and tongues in Crispin Street, more on the plans for an artificial silk factory and the farmer killed by his own horse in Junction Lane.