IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th NOVEMBER 1919)
This week's stories include the man who fell 250 yards down a pit shaft, the first sod is cut on the Pilkington Garden Village, a football competition is in the Reporter, the prevalence of thieving from the Town Hall and the St Helens' theatres and the policeman who chased down a cyclist in New Street.
We begin with a claim by the Saints' chairman that the Knowsley Road club had been harder hit by the war than any other club in the Northern Union. He said they had lost the whole of their pre-war membership of 1,003 and over a year since the Armistice signing, the number of members still only stood at 277. It was decided to appeal to the public for funds to improve the accommodation on the ground. The team itself was not doing too badly lying in a mid-table position having played eight matches so far this season and won four and lost four.
Another team that no doubt would have received even less support than Saints was the Borough Police billiards team. The bobbys were never that popular in St Helens and during the evening of the 4th their eight-man side took on St Helens Congs at their Brook Street Institute but lost by 75 points.
During a court case on the 5th the Chief Constable described a prevalence of thieving from the Town Hall, the Theatre Royal and the Hippodrome. Arthur Ellerington told the Bench that: "One could scarcely put down his umbrella in the Town Hall, or his stick or gloves, but they were gone."
The case concerned William Crown of Bronte Street and Peter Anders of Bold Street who were accused of stealing an overcoat and hat belonging to Dr Reid from the Theatre Royal's cloakroom. Both men said they were drunk at the time and did not know what they were doing – an excuse the magistrates had heard countless times and they were fined 40 shillings each.
Littlewoods are credited as issuing the first football pools in 1923, although illegal pools operations had taken place for decades before. It was also possible for newspapers to skirt the law by describing pools as competitions and not requiring readers to send in money with the coupon. Multiple entries were permitted, which encouraged readers to purchase more than one copy of the paper and thus boost sales.
For the first time this week a football competition appeared in the Reporter, with a top prize of £10 and a consolation prize of £2. Readers were invited to decide the results of fourteen matches – six of them Northern Union (i.e. rugby league) and eight Association Football. Competitors did this by crossing out the name of the losing team. So if you thought Saints would beat Hull Kingston Rovers, you crossed out the latter. If you considered Bradford vs. Liverpool would be a draw, neither team's name were to be crossed out.
On the 7th a young woman called Mary Heyes appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing two rings and a purse containing about 13 shillings. These she had taken from her aunt's house in Windleshaw Road (shown above). Mary's parents had turned their daughter out of their home because of her thieving and her aunt had kindly taken her in. But within two weeks her purse and rings had gone missing.
When Sergeant Ballantyne began to question Mary she threatened him with court proceedings but soon admitted her guilt. She still had the rings but had spent all the cash. The Chairman of the Bench said this was a serious case but as she was a first offender, Mary would be bound over.
There was a dreadful accident on the 7th when John Ashton fell 250 yards down the shaft of the old Ravenhead mine belonging to the St Helens Colliery Company. The 24-year-old pit sinker from Cowley Hill Lane had been engaged with other men in what was known as re-ribbing a shaft. They worked on a platform that covered the pit opening but when positions had to be changed, the platform had to be raised or lowered in sections. On the day of the tragedy one part of the platform had been sent up the pit and John Ashton accidentally stepped into the gap and fell to his death.
On the same day Edward Henry died in hospital in St Helens after being severely scalded hours earlier at the British Insulated Cable Works at Prescot. The 40-year-old from Sutherland Road in Prescot had fallen into a tank of boiling water.
The St Helens Reporter on the 7th quoted the Vicar of Haydock from his parish magazine bemoaning the fact that the church collections were not matching their extra costs through wartime inflation: "Our church expenses have doubled in the past few years – heating, lighting, electric power for the organ – and the increase in our Sunday collections falls far short of a proportionate advance."
For five years the motor car industry had not made any vehicles and instead converted their factories to the manufacture of munitions. Those people that had cars had trouble getting petrol and towards the end of the war all private motoring was banned. But those dark days were now over and in the Reporter there was an advertising feature promoting the first Olympia Motor Exhibition since 1913.
Visitors would be able to examine at close quarters the "intricacies of machinery, the accessibility of engines, the variety of self-starters or electric-lighting devices." County Carriers of Queen's Garage in Boundary Road "Automobile Engineers and Coachbuilders" and Ford dealer C. & A. McLean of 51 Duke Street had ads on a separate page.
The Liverpool Echo published the latest tables for the St Helens Sunday School football league on the 8th. There were 15 church teams in Division 1 with Holy Trinity of Traverse Street in Parr riding high at the top and St Thomas of Peter Street at the bottom having yet to win a game. The top side of the sixteen teams in Division 2 was the Ragged School of Arthur Street with Haydock St Mark's at the bottom. One thing the Sunday School footballers could not do was, of course, play football on a Sunday!
On the 10th the first sod was ceremoniously cut on the Pilkington Garden Village – the huge housing estate that the glass firm was planning to build in Eccleston. About 4,000 homes would be created on the 600-acre site between Eccleston Hall and the Mere – mainly for the workers of Pilkingtons. This, along with the council estate at Windlehurst that was currently being built, would do much to ease the severe housing shortage in St Helens.
Although Arthur Pilkington formally inaugurated the Eccleston scheme at the sod-cutting event, work had already begun on the erection of the first block of fifty houses. These homes would be completed early in the New Year with a total of 500 built within twelve months. All would have bathrooms and "up-to-date domestic arrangements" as well as what was described as a simple garden. This was very unusual in St Helens where people had backyards.
The St Helens Reporter added: "The natural features and beauties of the estate will be preserved as far as possible. The existing woods will be retained, as well as the Mere, and other sheets of water. The valley running from the foot of Eccleston Hall to the end of the Mere will be laid out, planted and kept open. There will be playing grounds, and the general recreation of the inhabitants of the village will be provided for."
The music hall acts at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 10th were: Napoli ("The ragtime violinist"); The Four Sisters Martelloni ("Italians, the famous gymnastic act"); Bros. Alders ("Ragtime harpists"); H. O. Wills ("The water rat"); Sisters Reeve ("The popular pair"); Ivor Vinter ("The little surprise"); and Mutt & Jeff ("American comedians").
At the Wagon and Horses Hotel in Haydock on the 10th an inquest was held on Charles Pennington of Druid Street in Ashton-in-Makerfield. The 42-year-old was working in the Newton Pit in Haydock with Peter Tully from Earlestown. The latter told the hearing that they were clearing an underground roadway in order to put down a line of rails, when suddenly a stone weighing about two tons fell from the pit roof. Part of the stone struck Pennington, who died a few hours later in Haydock Cottage Hospital.
An unedifying picture of a policeman blowing his whistle and frantically chasing a cyclist down New Street in Sutton (pictured above) was painted in St Helens Police Court on the 10th. This was when Edward Caulfield from Peckers Hill Road was charged with riding his bicycle without a red rear light. PC Cain gave evidence that at quarter to six on the night of the 4th he had seen Caulfield on his bike without its rear light being lit.
The young clerk was travelling in the direction of Waterdale Crescent but failed to heed the policeman's whistles and shouts to stop. So the bobby took to his heels and gave chase down the street and eventually caught the cyclist up. Caulfield gave PC Cain a wrong name and address and then became very excited. The constable warned him that if he gave him any more nonsense he would be locked up. Edward Caulfield's defence was that he hadn't heard the policeman's whistles and was rushing to get to night school. The Bench fined him 7s 6d.
Next week's stories will include the commemoration of the first Armistice Day in St Helens, a rare divorce is granted to a New Street couple, a bizarre Baldwin Street ejectment case, the St Helens Profiteering Committee investigate their first complaint and a Bold Colliery dispute over how a miner went to work.
We begin with a claim by the Saints' chairman that the Knowsley Road club had been harder hit by the war than any other club in the Northern Union. He said they had lost the whole of their pre-war membership of 1,003 and over a year since the Armistice signing, the number of members still only stood at 277. It was decided to appeal to the public for funds to improve the accommodation on the ground. The team itself was not doing too badly lying in a mid-table position having played eight matches so far this season and won four and lost four.
Another team that no doubt would have received even less support than Saints was the Borough Police billiards team. The bobbys were never that popular in St Helens and during the evening of the 4th their eight-man side took on St Helens Congs at their Brook Street Institute but lost by 75 points.
During a court case on the 5th the Chief Constable described a prevalence of thieving from the Town Hall, the Theatre Royal and the Hippodrome. Arthur Ellerington told the Bench that: "One could scarcely put down his umbrella in the Town Hall, or his stick or gloves, but they were gone."
The case concerned William Crown of Bronte Street and Peter Anders of Bold Street who were accused of stealing an overcoat and hat belonging to Dr Reid from the Theatre Royal's cloakroom. Both men said they were drunk at the time and did not know what they were doing – an excuse the magistrates had heard countless times and they were fined 40 shillings each.
Littlewoods are credited as issuing the first football pools in 1923, although illegal pools operations had taken place for decades before. It was also possible for newspapers to skirt the law by describing pools as competitions and not requiring readers to send in money with the coupon. Multiple entries were permitted, which encouraged readers to purchase more than one copy of the paper and thus boost sales.
For the first time this week a football competition appeared in the Reporter, with a top prize of £10 and a consolation prize of £2. Readers were invited to decide the results of fourteen matches – six of them Northern Union (i.e. rugby league) and eight Association Football. Competitors did this by crossing out the name of the losing team. So if you thought Saints would beat Hull Kingston Rovers, you crossed out the latter. If you considered Bradford vs. Liverpool would be a draw, neither team's name were to be crossed out.
When Sergeant Ballantyne began to question Mary she threatened him with court proceedings but soon admitted her guilt. She still had the rings but had spent all the cash. The Chairman of the Bench said this was a serious case but as she was a first offender, Mary would be bound over.
There was a dreadful accident on the 7th when John Ashton fell 250 yards down the shaft of the old Ravenhead mine belonging to the St Helens Colliery Company. The 24-year-old pit sinker from Cowley Hill Lane had been engaged with other men in what was known as re-ribbing a shaft. They worked on a platform that covered the pit opening but when positions had to be changed, the platform had to be raised or lowered in sections. On the day of the tragedy one part of the platform had been sent up the pit and John Ashton accidentally stepped into the gap and fell to his death.
On the same day Edward Henry died in hospital in St Helens after being severely scalded hours earlier at the British Insulated Cable Works at Prescot. The 40-year-old from Sutherland Road in Prescot had fallen into a tank of boiling water.
The St Helens Reporter on the 7th quoted the Vicar of Haydock from his parish magazine bemoaning the fact that the church collections were not matching their extra costs through wartime inflation: "Our church expenses have doubled in the past few years – heating, lighting, electric power for the organ – and the increase in our Sunday collections falls far short of a proportionate advance."
For five years the motor car industry had not made any vehicles and instead converted their factories to the manufacture of munitions. Those people that had cars had trouble getting petrol and towards the end of the war all private motoring was banned. But those dark days were now over and in the Reporter there was an advertising feature promoting the first Olympia Motor Exhibition since 1913.
Visitors would be able to examine at close quarters the "intricacies of machinery, the accessibility of engines, the variety of self-starters or electric-lighting devices." County Carriers of Queen's Garage in Boundary Road "Automobile Engineers and Coachbuilders" and Ford dealer C. & A. McLean of 51 Duke Street had ads on a separate page.
The Liverpool Echo published the latest tables for the St Helens Sunday School football league on the 8th. There were 15 church teams in Division 1 with Holy Trinity of Traverse Street in Parr riding high at the top and St Thomas of Peter Street at the bottom having yet to win a game. The top side of the sixteen teams in Division 2 was the Ragged School of Arthur Street with Haydock St Mark's at the bottom. One thing the Sunday School footballers could not do was, of course, play football on a Sunday!
On the 10th the first sod was ceremoniously cut on the Pilkington Garden Village – the huge housing estate that the glass firm was planning to build in Eccleston. About 4,000 homes would be created on the 600-acre site between Eccleston Hall and the Mere – mainly for the workers of Pilkingtons. This, along with the council estate at Windlehurst that was currently being built, would do much to ease the severe housing shortage in St Helens.
Although Arthur Pilkington formally inaugurated the Eccleston scheme at the sod-cutting event, work had already begun on the erection of the first block of fifty houses. These homes would be completed early in the New Year with a total of 500 built within twelve months. All would have bathrooms and "up-to-date domestic arrangements" as well as what was described as a simple garden. This was very unusual in St Helens where people had backyards.
The St Helens Reporter added: "The natural features and beauties of the estate will be preserved as far as possible. The existing woods will be retained, as well as the Mere, and other sheets of water. The valley running from the foot of Eccleston Hall to the end of the Mere will be laid out, planted and kept open. There will be playing grounds, and the general recreation of the inhabitants of the village will be provided for."
The music hall acts at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 10th were: Napoli ("The ragtime violinist"); The Four Sisters Martelloni ("Italians, the famous gymnastic act"); Bros. Alders ("Ragtime harpists"); H. O. Wills ("The water rat"); Sisters Reeve ("The popular pair"); Ivor Vinter ("The little surprise"); and Mutt & Jeff ("American comedians").
At the Wagon and Horses Hotel in Haydock on the 10th an inquest was held on Charles Pennington of Druid Street in Ashton-in-Makerfield. The 42-year-old was working in the Newton Pit in Haydock with Peter Tully from Earlestown. The latter told the hearing that they were clearing an underground roadway in order to put down a line of rails, when suddenly a stone weighing about two tons fell from the pit roof. Part of the stone struck Pennington, who died a few hours later in Haydock Cottage Hospital.
The young clerk was travelling in the direction of Waterdale Crescent but failed to heed the policeman's whistles and shouts to stop. So the bobby took to his heels and gave chase down the street and eventually caught the cyclist up. Caulfield gave PC Cain a wrong name and address and then became very excited. The constable warned him that if he gave him any more nonsense he would be locked up. Edward Caulfield's defence was that he hadn't heard the policeman's whistles and was rushing to get to night school. The Bench fined him 7s 6d.
Next week's stories will include the commemoration of the first Armistice Day in St Helens, a rare divorce is granted to a New Street couple, a bizarre Baldwin Street ejectment case, the St Helens Profiteering Committee investigate their first complaint and a Bold Colliery dispute over how a miner went to work.