IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 2 - 8 SEPTEMBER 1924
This week's many stories include the verdict in the child murder case, the cool flannel dance that was held at the Co-operative Hall, the bagatelle prosecution of the Market Hotel, the new Moss Bank Village Hall and the two miners trapped for three hours under a roof fall at Lea Green Colliery.
At the beginning of August Southport police had come to St Helens to arrest Margaret Heyes at her Oxley Street home in Sutton and on September 2nd she again appeared in Southport Police Court. Mrs Heyes faced a charge of wilfully murdering her 6-month-old child and the lengthy hearing before magistrates was to decide whether there was sufficient evidence to commit her to the assizes to face a trial by jury.
In 1919 Margaret had been working as a domestic servant in Southport but had subsequently moved to Sutton to keep house for a widower whom she later married. It was while at Southport that Margaret had given birth to an illegitimate child called William. It had been the finding of his remains in the cellar of the house in Hoghton Street in Southport where she used to live that had triggered the police investigation.
While in police custody Margaret had made a statement explaining how her son would not stop crying and so she had placed his head under water and later deposited him in the cellar. But her statement was ambiguous as to whether she had deliberately drowned her baby or his death had been accidental. And after five years in the cellar there was no medical evidence that could resolve the conundrum.
This week in Southport Police Court Margaret was bluntly asked this question: "Is it true that you put this child to death?" – "I did not," was her reply. "I am not guilty and never did think of such a thing. It never came into my head." After retiring for half-an-hour the magistrates cleared Margaret of the charge and the St Helens Reporter wrote: "Her husband rushed up to her and kissed her."
Formal attire was expected to be worn at dances which must, at times, have been stiflingly hot for men in their suits and ties. However, the St Helens Reporter on the 5th described how a "flannel dance" organised by a local tennis club had been held in the Co-op Hall in Baldwin Street during which the male dancers had a rare opportunity to keep cool:
"The coloured decorations arranged by the hall-keeper and a few of the club members being in vivid contrast to the dancers who flitted about the hall in cream or white flannels. For once in a way, the gentlemen vied with the ladies in ‘how to keep cool at a dance’. They doffed their coats, turned up their tennis shirt sleeves and looked quite cool all the evening, and the ladies excelled themselves in their exquisite light dresses."
As they say, boys will be boys and during the previous few weeks groups of lads had liberated nearly one cwt of apples from the trees at Windlehurst in St Helens. That, presumably, referred to the gardens by the Windlehurst mansion (pictured above) that Sir David Gamble had sold to the Corporation a few years ago along with much of his land.
The latter had been converted into a council house estate but it had yet to be decided what to do with the mansion. The council were currently considering whether to allow Cowley School to use it as an overflow venue for teaching pupils until their new school could be built.
Catching the boys stealing apples was always tricky, as they'd run off with their ill-gotten fruit as fast as their little legs could carry them. But this week in the St Helens Juvenile Court it was described how the police had caught one lad up one of the Windlehurst apple trees. Others had run away, scattering their filched fruit behind them but were eventually collared. Two of the boys were placed on probation for 12 months and another was fined 5 shillings.
Other activities that led to offenders appearing in the Juvenile Court this week that might come under the "boys will be boys" category were the playing of street football and trespassing on the railway. The lads involved in the former were fined 5 shillings each and the latter received a stern telling off and were ordered to pay court costs.
Woolworths had opened in St Helens in the early 1920s and they were advertising in the Reporter an anniversary sale "when a large assortment of goods will be sold below cost". It was not stated what the anniversary was, but, perhaps, had been when they had first opened their Church Street store. That was then only a fraction of the size of the Woolies that we remember, with its first expansion due to take place at the end of the 1920s.
The Reporter also wrote: "Within a week or two, Moss Bank will be enriched by a village hall. It is a badly needed institution, which will help materially in the social amenities of the charming hamlet on the hill." Like many buildings of the time the hall was being built out of wood. That meant it could be quickly erected and was cheap – but, of course, created potential issues of fire in the future. The Moss Bank Prize Band had been prime movers in creating the hall but it was going to be for the whole community to use and for some time local residents had been contributing weekly sums to fund its creation.
An inquest hearing at St Helens Town Hall this week was told that two miners at Lea Green Colliery (pictured above) had been buried under falls of roof for three hours before being rescued. Thomas Platt of Leslie Road in Thatto Heath had died as a result of the underground collapse and John Stott of Greenfield Road was injured but had made a written statement from his hospital bed.
Stott said that they were repairing an airway in the Ravenhead mine when the accident occurred and their legs had been pinned down: "We could not get clear, and could hear that another fall was coming. We arranged a plank to protect our heads, and when the second fall occurred Platt was practically smothered, but I was saved by the plank."
Stott thought that in shovelling the dirt Platt might have inadvertently loosened a prop, which caused stones and debris within the roof of the mine to collapse. MPs then routinely had time-consuming second jobs and as well as being the Member of Parliament for Leigh, Joe Tinker was the agent who represented miners in the St Helens district. He told the coroner that the authorities were satisfied that it was a "pure accident" and a verdict of "death from misadventure" was recorded.
And finally, on the 8th the St Helens Police Court was so crowded with people in the public gallery that many could not be admitted. Many were licensees who wanted to observe a prosecution involving one of their number. She was Mary Howarth, the licensee of the Market Hotel in Bridge Street, who was accused of allowing gambling to be conducted on her premises.
The court was told that last winter a bagatelle-playing craze had taken hold in St Helens and virtually every pub had started running a bagatelle league. People paid a penny to enter the competition with the prospect of winning prizes, such as ham or pickles. Mary Howarth's barrister argued that was it quite legal for licensees to award a prize and that it only became illegal when entrance money was used to pay for it. But the magistrates rejected the argument and fined Mrs Howarth £1 for allowing gaming on her licensed premises.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the diddling of a Liverpool Road ice-cream man, the Woodbine pinching in Shaw Street, an update on the typhus outbreak and the husband who was dubbed a selfish, worthless, drunken fellow.
At the beginning of August Southport police had come to St Helens to arrest Margaret Heyes at her Oxley Street home in Sutton and on September 2nd she again appeared in Southport Police Court. Mrs Heyes faced a charge of wilfully murdering her 6-month-old child and the lengthy hearing before magistrates was to decide whether there was sufficient evidence to commit her to the assizes to face a trial by jury.
In 1919 Margaret had been working as a domestic servant in Southport but had subsequently moved to Sutton to keep house for a widower whom she later married. It was while at Southport that Margaret had given birth to an illegitimate child called William. It had been the finding of his remains in the cellar of the house in Hoghton Street in Southport where she used to live that had triggered the police investigation.
While in police custody Margaret had made a statement explaining how her son would not stop crying and so she had placed his head under water and later deposited him in the cellar. But her statement was ambiguous as to whether she had deliberately drowned her baby or his death had been accidental. And after five years in the cellar there was no medical evidence that could resolve the conundrum.
This week in Southport Police Court Margaret was bluntly asked this question: "Is it true that you put this child to death?" – "I did not," was her reply. "I am not guilty and never did think of such a thing. It never came into my head." After retiring for half-an-hour the magistrates cleared Margaret of the charge and the St Helens Reporter wrote: "Her husband rushed up to her and kissed her."
Formal attire was expected to be worn at dances which must, at times, have been stiflingly hot for men in their suits and ties. However, the St Helens Reporter on the 5th described how a "flannel dance" organised by a local tennis club had been held in the Co-op Hall in Baldwin Street during which the male dancers had a rare opportunity to keep cool:
"The coloured decorations arranged by the hall-keeper and a few of the club members being in vivid contrast to the dancers who flitted about the hall in cream or white flannels. For once in a way, the gentlemen vied with the ladies in ‘how to keep cool at a dance’. They doffed their coats, turned up their tennis shirt sleeves and looked quite cool all the evening, and the ladies excelled themselves in their exquisite light dresses."
The latter had been converted into a council house estate but it had yet to be decided what to do with the mansion. The council were currently considering whether to allow Cowley School to use it as an overflow venue for teaching pupils until their new school could be built.
Catching the boys stealing apples was always tricky, as they'd run off with their ill-gotten fruit as fast as their little legs could carry them. But this week in the St Helens Juvenile Court it was described how the police had caught one lad up one of the Windlehurst apple trees. Others had run away, scattering their filched fruit behind them but were eventually collared. Two of the boys were placed on probation for 12 months and another was fined 5 shillings.
Other activities that led to offenders appearing in the Juvenile Court this week that might come under the "boys will be boys" category were the playing of street football and trespassing on the railway. The lads involved in the former were fined 5 shillings each and the latter received a stern telling off and were ordered to pay court costs.
Woolworths had opened in St Helens in the early 1920s and they were advertising in the Reporter an anniversary sale "when a large assortment of goods will be sold below cost". It was not stated what the anniversary was, but, perhaps, had been when they had first opened their Church Street store. That was then only a fraction of the size of the Woolies that we remember, with its first expansion due to take place at the end of the 1920s.
The Reporter also wrote: "Within a week or two, Moss Bank will be enriched by a village hall. It is a badly needed institution, which will help materially in the social amenities of the charming hamlet on the hill." Like many buildings of the time the hall was being built out of wood. That meant it could be quickly erected and was cheap – but, of course, created potential issues of fire in the future. The Moss Bank Prize Band had been prime movers in creating the hall but it was going to be for the whole community to use and for some time local residents had been contributing weekly sums to fund its creation.
Stott said that they were repairing an airway in the Ravenhead mine when the accident occurred and their legs had been pinned down: "We could not get clear, and could hear that another fall was coming. We arranged a plank to protect our heads, and when the second fall occurred Platt was practically smothered, but I was saved by the plank."
Stott thought that in shovelling the dirt Platt might have inadvertently loosened a prop, which caused stones and debris within the roof of the mine to collapse. MPs then routinely had time-consuming second jobs and as well as being the Member of Parliament for Leigh, Joe Tinker was the agent who represented miners in the St Helens district. He told the coroner that the authorities were satisfied that it was a "pure accident" and a verdict of "death from misadventure" was recorded.
And finally, on the 8th the St Helens Police Court was so crowded with people in the public gallery that many could not be admitted. Many were licensees who wanted to observe a prosecution involving one of their number. She was Mary Howarth, the licensee of the Market Hotel in Bridge Street, who was accused of allowing gambling to be conducted on her premises.
The court was told that last winter a bagatelle-playing craze had taken hold in St Helens and virtually every pub had started running a bagatelle league. People paid a penny to enter the competition with the prospect of winning prizes, such as ham or pickles. Mary Howarth's barrister argued that was it quite legal for licensees to award a prize and that it only became illegal when entrance money was used to pay for it. But the magistrates rejected the argument and fined Mrs Howarth £1 for allowing gaming on her licensed premises.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the diddling of a Liverpool Road ice-cream man, the Woodbine pinching in Shaw Street, an update on the typhus outbreak and the husband who was dubbed a selfish, worthless, drunken fellow.
This week's many stories include the verdict in the child murder case, the cool flannel dance that was held at the Co-operative Hall, the bagatelle prosecution of the Market Hotel, the new Moss Bank Village Hall and the two miners trapped for three hours under a roof fall at Lea Green Colliery.
At the beginning of August Southport police had come to St Helens to arrest Margaret Heyes at her Oxley Street home in Sutton and on September 2nd she again appeared in Southport Police Court.
Mrs Heyes faced a charge of wilfully murdering her 6-month-old child and the lengthy hearing before magistrates was to decide whether there was sufficient evidence to commit her to the assizes to face a trial by jury.
In 1919 Margaret had been working as a domestic servant in Southport but had subsequently moved to Sutton to keep house for a widower whom she later married.
It was while at Southport that Margaret had given birth to an illegitimate child called William.
It had been the finding of his remains in the cellar of the house in Hoghton Street in Southport where she used to live that had triggered the police investigation.
While in police custody Margaret had made a statement explaining how her son would not stop crying and so she had placed his head under water and later deposited him in the cellar.
But her statement was ambiguous as to whether she had deliberately drowned her baby or his death had been accidental. And after five years in the cellar there was no medical evidence that could resolve the conundrum.
This week in Southport Police Court Margaret was bluntly asked this question: "Is it true that you put this child to death?" – "I did not," was her reply. "I am not guilty and never did think of such a thing. It never came into my head."
After retiring for half-an-hour the magistrates cleared Margaret of the charge and the St Helens Reporter wrote: "Her husband rushed up to her and kissed her."
Formal attire was expected to be worn at dances which must, at times, have been stiflingly hot for men in their suits and ties.
However, the St Helens Reporter on the 5th described how a "flannel dance" organised by a local tennis club had been held in the Co-op Hall in Baldwin Street during which the male dancers had a rare opportunity to keep cool:
"The coloured decorations arranged by the hall-keeper and a few of the club members being in vivid contrast to the dancers who flitted about the hall in cream or white flannels.
"For once in a way, the gentlemen vied with the ladies in ‘how to keep cool at a dance’. They doffed their coats, turned up their tennis shirt sleeves and looked quite cool all the evening, and the ladies excelled themselves in their exquisite light dresses."
As they say, boys will be boys and during the previous few weeks groups of lads had liberated nearly one cwt of apples from the trees at Windlehurst in St Helens.
That, presumably, referred to the gardens by the Windlehurst mansion (pictured above) that Sir David Gamble had sold to the Corporation a few years ago along with much of his land.
The latter had been converted into a council house estate but it had yet to be decided what to do with the mansion.
The council were currently considering whether to allow Cowley School to use it as an overflow venue for teaching pupils until their new school could be built.
Catching the boys stealing apples was always tricky, as they'd run off with their ill-gotten fruit as fast as their little legs could carry them.
But this week in the St Helens Juvenile Court it was described how the police had caught one lad up one of the Windlehurst apple trees. Others had run away, scattering their filched fruit behind them but were eventually collared.
Two of the boys were placed on probation for 12 months and another was fined 5 shillings.
Other activities that led to offenders appearing in the Juvenile Court this week that might come under the "boys will be boys" category were the playing of street football and trespassing on the railway.
The lads involved in the former were fined 5 shillings each and the latter received a stern telling off and were ordered to pay court costs.
Woolworths had opened in St Helens in the early 1920s and they were advertising in the Reporter an anniversary sale "when a large assortment of goods will be sold below cost".
It was not stated what the anniversary was, but, perhaps, had been when they had first opened their Church Street store.
That was then only a fraction of the size of the Woolies that we remember, with its first expansion due to take place at the end of the 1920s.
The Reporter also wrote: "Within a week or two, Moss Bank will be enriched by a village hall. It is a badly needed institution, which will help materially in the social amenities of the charming hamlet on the hill."
Like many buildings of the time the hall was being built out of wood. That meant it could be quickly erected and was cheap – but, of course, created potential issues of fire in the future.
The Moss Bank Prize Band had been prime movers in creating the hall but it was going to be for the whole community to use and for some time local residents had been contributing weekly sums to fund its creation.
An inquest hearing at St Helens Town Hall this week was told that two miners at Lea Green Colliery (pictured above) had been buried under falls of roof for three hours before being rescued.
Thomas Platt of Leslie Road in Thatto Heath had died as a result of the underground collapse and John Stott of Greenfield Road was injured but had made a written statement from his hospital bed.
Stott said that they were repairing an airway in the Ravenhead mine when the accident occurred and their legs had been pinned down:
"We could not get clear, and could hear that another fall was coming. We arranged a plank to protect our heads, and when the second fall occurred Platt was practically smothered, but I was saved by the plank."
Stott thought that in shovelling the dirt Platt might have inadvertently loosened a prop, which caused stones and debris within the roof of the mine to collapse.
MPs then routinely had time-consuming second jobs and as well as being the Member of Parliament for Leigh, Joe Tinker was the agent who represented miners in the St Helens district.
He told the coroner that the authorities were satisfied that it was a "pure accident" and a verdict of "death from misadventure" was recorded.
And finally, on the 8th the St Helens Police Court was so crowded with people in the public gallery that many could not be admitted.
Many were licensees who wanted to observe a prosecution involving one of their number.
She was Mary Howarth, the licensee of the Market Hotel in Bridge Street, who was accused of allowing gambling to be conducted on her premises.
The court was told that last winter a bagatelle-playing craze had taken hold in St Helens and virtually every pub had started running a bagatelle league.
People paid a penny to enter the competition with the prospect of winning prizes, such as ham or pickles.
Mary Howarth's barrister argued that was it quite legal for licensees to award a prize and that it only became illegal when entrance money was used to pay for it.
But the magistrates rejected the argument and fined Mrs Howarth £1 for allowing gaming on her licensed premises.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the diddling of a Liverpool Road ice-cream man, the Woodbine pinching in Shaw Street, an update on the typhus outbreak and the husband who was dubbed a selfish, worthless, drunken fellow.
At the beginning of August Southport police had come to St Helens to arrest Margaret Heyes at her Oxley Street home in Sutton and on September 2nd she again appeared in Southport Police Court.
Mrs Heyes faced a charge of wilfully murdering her 6-month-old child and the lengthy hearing before magistrates was to decide whether there was sufficient evidence to commit her to the assizes to face a trial by jury.
In 1919 Margaret had been working as a domestic servant in Southport but had subsequently moved to Sutton to keep house for a widower whom she later married.
It was while at Southport that Margaret had given birth to an illegitimate child called William.
It had been the finding of his remains in the cellar of the house in Hoghton Street in Southport where she used to live that had triggered the police investigation.
While in police custody Margaret had made a statement explaining how her son would not stop crying and so she had placed his head under water and later deposited him in the cellar.
But her statement was ambiguous as to whether she had deliberately drowned her baby or his death had been accidental. And after five years in the cellar there was no medical evidence that could resolve the conundrum.
This week in Southport Police Court Margaret was bluntly asked this question: "Is it true that you put this child to death?" – "I did not," was her reply. "I am not guilty and never did think of such a thing. It never came into my head."
After retiring for half-an-hour the magistrates cleared Margaret of the charge and the St Helens Reporter wrote: "Her husband rushed up to her and kissed her."
Formal attire was expected to be worn at dances which must, at times, have been stiflingly hot for men in their suits and ties.
However, the St Helens Reporter on the 5th described how a "flannel dance" organised by a local tennis club had been held in the Co-op Hall in Baldwin Street during which the male dancers had a rare opportunity to keep cool:
"The coloured decorations arranged by the hall-keeper and a few of the club members being in vivid contrast to the dancers who flitted about the hall in cream or white flannels.
"For once in a way, the gentlemen vied with the ladies in ‘how to keep cool at a dance’. They doffed their coats, turned up their tennis shirt sleeves and looked quite cool all the evening, and the ladies excelled themselves in their exquisite light dresses."
As they say, boys will be boys and during the previous few weeks groups of lads had liberated nearly one cwt of apples from the trees at Windlehurst in St Helens.
The latter had been converted into a council house estate but it had yet to be decided what to do with the mansion.
The council were currently considering whether to allow Cowley School to use it as an overflow venue for teaching pupils until their new school could be built.
Catching the boys stealing apples was always tricky, as they'd run off with their ill-gotten fruit as fast as their little legs could carry them.
But this week in the St Helens Juvenile Court it was described how the police had caught one lad up one of the Windlehurst apple trees. Others had run away, scattering their filched fruit behind them but were eventually collared.
Two of the boys were placed on probation for 12 months and another was fined 5 shillings.
Other activities that led to offenders appearing in the Juvenile Court this week that might come under the "boys will be boys" category were the playing of street football and trespassing on the railway.
The lads involved in the former were fined 5 shillings each and the latter received a stern telling off and were ordered to pay court costs.
Woolworths had opened in St Helens in the early 1920s and they were advertising in the Reporter an anniversary sale "when a large assortment of goods will be sold below cost".
It was not stated what the anniversary was, but, perhaps, had been when they had first opened their Church Street store.
That was then only a fraction of the size of the Woolies that we remember, with its first expansion due to take place at the end of the 1920s.
The Reporter also wrote: "Within a week or two, Moss Bank will be enriched by a village hall. It is a badly needed institution, which will help materially in the social amenities of the charming hamlet on the hill."
Like many buildings of the time the hall was being built out of wood. That meant it could be quickly erected and was cheap – but, of course, created potential issues of fire in the future.
The Moss Bank Prize Band had been prime movers in creating the hall but it was going to be for the whole community to use and for some time local residents had been contributing weekly sums to fund its creation.
Thomas Platt of Leslie Road in Thatto Heath had died as a result of the underground collapse and John Stott of Greenfield Road was injured but had made a written statement from his hospital bed.
Stott said that they were repairing an airway in the Ravenhead mine when the accident occurred and their legs had been pinned down:
"We could not get clear, and could hear that another fall was coming. We arranged a plank to protect our heads, and when the second fall occurred Platt was practically smothered, but I was saved by the plank."
Stott thought that in shovelling the dirt Platt might have inadvertently loosened a prop, which caused stones and debris within the roof of the mine to collapse.
MPs then routinely had time-consuming second jobs and as well as being the Member of Parliament for Leigh, Joe Tinker was the agent who represented miners in the St Helens district.
He told the coroner that the authorities were satisfied that it was a "pure accident" and a verdict of "death from misadventure" was recorded.
And finally, on the 8th the St Helens Police Court was so crowded with people in the public gallery that many could not be admitted.
Many were licensees who wanted to observe a prosecution involving one of their number.
She was Mary Howarth, the licensee of the Market Hotel in Bridge Street, who was accused of allowing gambling to be conducted on her premises.
The court was told that last winter a bagatelle-playing craze had taken hold in St Helens and virtually every pub had started running a bagatelle league.
People paid a penny to enter the competition with the prospect of winning prizes, such as ham or pickles.
Mary Howarth's barrister argued that was it quite legal for licensees to award a prize and that it only became illegal when entrance money was used to pay for it.
But the magistrates rejected the argument and fined Mrs Howarth £1 for allowing gaming on her licensed premises.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the diddling of a Liverpool Road ice-cream man, the Woodbine pinching in Shaw Street, an update on the typhus outbreak and the husband who was dubbed a selfish, worthless, drunken fellow.