IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 5 - 11 JANUARY 1926
This week's many stories include the battered wife who was sent to prison for attempting suicide, the hush money pawnbroker case in Sutton, the Duke Street temperance bar that sold women's pills, the fire engine that got stuck in a Haydock trench and the remarkable escape from death in Lea Green Colliery.
We begin on the 5th when what were described as six natives of Nigeria attended an unusual meeting at the Salvation Army Citadel (pictured above). That was the building that in my '150 Years Ago' articles served as the Theatre Royal and in more recent times became the Citadel Arts Centre.
The St Helens Reporter said the six men gave "vivid accounts of strange superstitions and weird religions in the dark continent". And the paper added: "As recently as five years ago each of the natives was heathen, but General Booth started operations in Nigeria in 1920 and they were converted, with hundreds of other natives, to Christianity."
One of the past's greatest unfairness has to be how battered wives were treated. If such a woman went to court seeking a separation order with maintenance payments from her husband and described a litany of violence that her spouse had committed, you can guarantee nothing would happen to the man. That is other than, perhaps, be ordered by the Bench to fork out some weekly maintenance cash.
And if the distraught woman attempted to commit suicide because of her husband's cruelty and failed, she was the one who would be prosecuted and, possibly, sent to prison. The latter is what happened to Gertrude Lackey of Silver Street, which used to be off Westfield Street, who appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with attempting suicide.
On New Year's Day Gertrude's husband was alleged to have come home drunk, thrown a poker at his wife and said "I'll kill you". Supt Dunn told the court that in retaliation "the prisoner" – meaning Gertrude – threw a plate at her husband and what he described as a fight between the couple followed. Eventually, the husband left the house and sometime later a neighbour heard Gertrude shouting "come downstairs".
She did so and found Gertude lying on the hearthrug and noticed a strong smell of gas. The distraught woman was taken to hospital and three letters were found addressed to different people in which she threatened suicide. Her act seemed more of a cry for help than anything – help that she did not receive.
Instead Gertrude was remanded to prison for a week, supposedly so she would receive medical assistance. That was far from uncommon but the inequality of sending a woman such as Gertrude to Walton Prison to mix with criminals while her husband remained at home did not seem to bother anyone.
"Hush Money At Sutton" was the St Helens Reporter's headline on the 8th to their article describing two connected court cases. Walter Hunter was a well-known pawnbroker in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton (pictured above) and he had got himself in trouble for allowing a 12-year-old boy to pawn two ladies jumpers for 3s 2d. Not only had the clothes been stolen from a car in Fisher Street but fourteen was the minimum age for a person to pawn items.
The father of the boy had learnt what had happened and paid for the jumpers to be redeemed from pawn in order that he could restore them to their owner. That person was also given 6 shillings "for expenses" to hush up the theft and keep it out of the hands of the police – a ploy that obviously failed. The father needed to find ten shillings in total – which he obtained, ironically, by pawning his best suit!
Because children were involved, their identities were not revealed in the Reporter's account of the Juvenile Court case in which three boys were charged with stealing the jumpers. But in the separate Police Court case – in which the pawnbroker Walter Hunter was charged with taking a pledge from a child under 14 – the boy that had stolen and pledged the jumpers appeared as a witness and so could be named.
12-year-old James Burrows from Taylor Street told how he and his two pals had used the 3s 2d that they had received from Mr Hunter to visit the pictures, buy some toffee and a flash lamp. The three boys were bound over for two years and the pawnbroker was fined 20 shillings.
In my '150 Years Ago' articles I regularly refer to criticism of the St Helens Fire Brigade. Some of it was probably unfair as they only possessed a horse-drawn engine and, with poor roads and no telephone for people to report fires, it could take a long while for the brigade to get to a blaze. You might think that these problems no longer existed by 1926 but the Reporter described how a Haydock farm fire had proved a great test for the firemen.
The outbreak had affected two large haystacks on the farm in Old Lane and was spotted just after 9pm. They had no telephone and for some reason the farmer sent a messenger on a bicycle to Ashton to report the fire, instead of going to the much nearer Haydock village. It was not until 9:40pm that St Helens Fire Station received a telephone report of the fire and they quickly got on their way in their motorised engine.
All went well until they turned off the main road at Haydock and entered the old Ashton Road, which the Reporter said was "little better than a mere cart track". But the brigade persevered in the dark and got within 1,000 yards of the farm when their engine suddenly plunged into a trench and came to a dead stop. The firemen leapt out of their vehicle and found it buried up to the axle of its front wheels.
It transpired that work had recently taken place to install a water main along the narrow road and trenches had been dug and then filled with loose earth, which could not withstand the weight of the fire engine. Consequently, a second vehicle had to be summoned from the fire station in St Helens in order to put out the blaze, which, presumably, took a different route to the farm. The Reporter's headline to its article was "St. Helens Fire Engine In The Ditch – Memorable Dark Night Dash".
The paper also told the remarkable story of how Fred Hoyt of Derby Cottages in Rainhill had survived an accident at Lea Green Colliery (shown above). The 23-year-old was a runner-in charged with running empty and full coal tubs in and out of the pit cage. As Fred entered the cage to remove a tub, it suddenly started moving up the pit shaft. Not having been prepared for the journey, the cage swayed violently and knocked against the sides of the shaft, creating sparks and flames.
About halfway up the shaft, the cage was struck by another cage that was descending and Fred was hurled out. But he had the presence of mind to grip first a bell wire and then one of the guide rods that ran down the entire length of the shaft. Fred was suspended for a short while 150 yards from the bottom of the shaft. But as the rod was covered in grease, he slowly slid down it with his hands and legs wrapped around until he reached the bottom of the shaft. Eventually Fred was picked up unconscious and taken to St Helens Hospital to be checked out.
A century ago when a pregnant woman lost the child that she was carrying, the sad event tended to be referred to as an abortion and not a miscarriage like today. That did not mean that what had happened had not been a natural occurrence – but it could create suspicion, particularly if the woman subsequently died. This week the inquest on Jane Binder of Rivington Avenue took place after the 37-year-old had suffered what was described as an abortion.
Although a post-mortem on Jane's body did not suggest anything untoward – and, indeed illegal – had taken place, it was revealed that she had been taking "female pills". These had been bought from a temperance bar at 117 Duke Street that was run by John Case. The coroner expressed surprise that such pills should be available from a refreshment house but accepted the medical evidence that could not make a link between Jane taking them and the baby's loss.
From the 11th what was described as a "new and up-to-date version of the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat" was performed at the St Helens Theatre Royal. And the Hippodrome Theatre had 'Robinson Crusoe' starring Dolly Ross, who was described as "everybody's favourite principal boy".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the impending closure of a Haydock maternity hospital, the revolting cruelty to children in Union Street and the woman who claimed an Eccleston builder had kissed her against her will.
The St Helens Reporter said the six men gave "vivid accounts of strange superstitions and weird religions in the dark continent". And the paper added: "As recently as five years ago each of the natives was heathen, but General Booth started operations in Nigeria in 1920 and they were converted, with hundreds of other natives, to Christianity."
One of the past's greatest unfairness has to be how battered wives were treated. If such a woman went to court seeking a separation order with maintenance payments from her husband and described a litany of violence that her spouse had committed, you can guarantee nothing would happen to the man. That is other than, perhaps, be ordered by the Bench to fork out some weekly maintenance cash.
And if the distraught woman attempted to commit suicide because of her husband's cruelty and failed, she was the one who would be prosecuted and, possibly, sent to prison. The latter is what happened to Gertrude Lackey of Silver Street, which used to be off Westfield Street, who appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with attempting suicide.
On New Year's Day Gertrude's husband was alleged to have come home drunk, thrown a poker at his wife and said "I'll kill you". Supt Dunn told the court that in retaliation "the prisoner" – meaning Gertrude – threw a plate at her husband and what he described as a fight between the couple followed. Eventually, the husband left the house and sometime later a neighbour heard Gertrude shouting "come downstairs".
She did so and found Gertude lying on the hearthrug and noticed a strong smell of gas. The distraught woman was taken to hospital and three letters were found addressed to different people in which she threatened suicide. Her act seemed more of a cry for help than anything – help that she did not receive.
Instead Gertrude was remanded to prison for a week, supposedly so she would receive medical assistance. That was far from uncommon but the inequality of sending a woman such as Gertrude to Walton Prison to mix with criminals while her husband remained at home did not seem to bother anyone.
The father of the boy had learnt what had happened and paid for the jumpers to be redeemed from pawn in order that he could restore them to their owner. That person was also given 6 shillings "for expenses" to hush up the theft and keep it out of the hands of the police – a ploy that obviously failed. The father needed to find ten shillings in total – which he obtained, ironically, by pawning his best suit!
Because children were involved, their identities were not revealed in the Reporter's account of the Juvenile Court case in which three boys were charged with stealing the jumpers. But in the separate Police Court case – in which the pawnbroker Walter Hunter was charged with taking a pledge from a child under 14 – the boy that had stolen and pledged the jumpers appeared as a witness and so could be named.
12-year-old James Burrows from Taylor Street told how he and his two pals had used the 3s 2d that they had received from Mr Hunter to visit the pictures, buy some toffee and a flash lamp. The three boys were bound over for two years and the pawnbroker was fined 20 shillings.
In my '150 Years Ago' articles I regularly refer to criticism of the St Helens Fire Brigade. Some of it was probably unfair as they only possessed a horse-drawn engine and, with poor roads and no telephone for people to report fires, it could take a long while for the brigade to get to a blaze. You might think that these problems no longer existed by 1926 but the Reporter described how a Haydock farm fire had proved a great test for the firemen.
The outbreak had affected two large haystacks on the farm in Old Lane and was spotted just after 9pm. They had no telephone and for some reason the farmer sent a messenger on a bicycle to Ashton to report the fire, instead of going to the much nearer Haydock village. It was not until 9:40pm that St Helens Fire Station received a telephone report of the fire and they quickly got on their way in their motorised engine.
All went well until they turned off the main road at Haydock and entered the old Ashton Road, which the Reporter said was "little better than a mere cart track". But the brigade persevered in the dark and got within 1,000 yards of the farm when their engine suddenly plunged into a trench and came to a dead stop. The firemen leapt out of their vehicle and found it buried up to the axle of its front wheels.
It transpired that work had recently taken place to install a water main along the narrow road and trenches had been dug and then filled with loose earth, which could not withstand the weight of the fire engine. Consequently, a second vehicle had to be summoned from the fire station in St Helens in order to put out the blaze, which, presumably, took a different route to the farm. The Reporter's headline to its article was "St. Helens Fire Engine In The Ditch – Memorable Dark Night Dash".
About halfway up the shaft, the cage was struck by another cage that was descending and Fred was hurled out. But he had the presence of mind to grip first a bell wire and then one of the guide rods that ran down the entire length of the shaft. Fred was suspended for a short while 150 yards from the bottom of the shaft. But as the rod was covered in grease, he slowly slid down it with his hands and legs wrapped around until he reached the bottom of the shaft. Eventually Fred was picked up unconscious and taken to St Helens Hospital to be checked out.
A century ago when a pregnant woman lost the child that she was carrying, the sad event tended to be referred to as an abortion and not a miscarriage like today. That did not mean that what had happened had not been a natural occurrence – but it could create suspicion, particularly if the woman subsequently died. This week the inquest on Jane Binder of Rivington Avenue took place after the 37-year-old had suffered what was described as an abortion.
Although a post-mortem on Jane's body did not suggest anything untoward – and, indeed illegal – had taken place, it was revealed that she had been taking "female pills". These had been bought from a temperance bar at 117 Duke Street that was run by John Case. The coroner expressed surprise that such pills should be available from a refreshment house but accepted the medical evidence that could not make a link between Jane taking them and the baby's loss.
From the 11th what was described as a "new and up-to-date version of the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat" was performed at the St Helens Theatre Royal. And the Hippodrome Theatre had 'Robinson Crusoe' starring Dolly Ross, who was described as "everybody's favourite principal boy".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the impending closure of a Haydock maternity hospital, the revolting cruelty to children in Union Street and the woman who claimed an Eccleston builder had kissed her against her will.
This week's many stories include the battered wife who was sent to prison for attempting suicide, the hush money pawnbroker case in Sutton, the Duke Street temperance bar that sold women's pills, the fire engine that got stuck in a Haydock trench and the remarkable escape from death in Lea Green Colliery.
We begin on the 5th when what were described as six natives of Nigeria attended an unusual meeting at the Salvation Army Citadel (pictured above).
That was the building that in my '150 Years Ago' articles served as the Theatre Royal and in more recent times became the Citadel Arts Centre.
The St Helens Reporter said the six men gave "vivid accounts of strange superstitions and weird religions in the dark continent".
And the paper added: "As recently as five years ago each of the natives was heathen, but General Booth started operations in Nigeria in 1920 and they were converted, with hundreds of other natives, to Christianity."
One of the past's greatest unfairness has to be how battered wives were treated.
If such a woman went to court seeking a separation order with maintenance payments from her husband and described a litany of violence that her spouse had committed, you can guarantee nothing would happen to the man.
That is other than, perhaps, be ordered by the Bench to fork out some weekly maintenance cash.
And if the distraught woman attempted to commit suicide because of her husband's cruelty and failed, she was the one who would be prosecuted and, possibly, sent to prison.
The latter is what happened to Gertrude Lackey of Silver Street, which used to be off Westfield Street, who appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with attempting suicide.
On New Year's Day Gertrude's husband was alleged to have come home drunk, thrown a poker at his wife and said "I'll kill you".
Supt Dunn told the court that in retaliation "the prisoner" – meaning Gertrude – threw a plate at her husband and what he described as a fight between the couple followed.
Eventually, the husband left the house and sometime later a neighbour heard Gertrude shouting "come downstairs".
She did so and found Gertude lying on the hearthrug and noticed a strong smell of gas.
The distraught woman was taken to hospital and three letters were found addressed to different people in which she threatened suicide.
Her act seemed more of a cry for help than anything – help that she did not receive.
Instead Gertrude was remanded to prison for a week, supposedly so she would receive medical assistance.
That was far from uncommon but the inequality of sending a woman such as Gertrude to Walton Prison to mix with criminals while her husband remained at home did not seem to bother anyone.
"Hush Money At Sutton" was the St Helens Reporter's headline on the 8th to their article describing two connected court cases.
Walter Hunter was a well-known pawnbroker in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton (pictured above) and he had got himself in trouble for allowing a 12-year-old boy to pawn two ladies jumpers for 3s 2d.
Not only had the clothes been stolen from a car in Fisher Street but fourteen was the minimum age for a person to pawn items.
The father of the boy had learnt what had happened and paid for the jumpers to be redeemed from pawn in order that he could restore them to their owner.
That person was also given 6 shillings "for expenses" to hush up the theft and keep it out of the hands of the police – a ploy that obviously failed.
The father needed to find ten shillings in total – which he obtained, ironically, by pawning his best suit!
Because children were involved, their identities were not revealed in the Reporter's account of the Juvenile Court case in which three boys were charged with stealing the jumpers.
But in the separate Police Court case – in which the pawnbroker Walter Hunter was charged with taking a pledge from a child under 14 – the boy that had stolen and pledged the jumpers appeared as a witness and so could be named.
12-year-old James Burrows from Taylor Street told how he and his two pals had used the 3s 2d that they had received from Mr Hunter to visit the pictures, buy some toffee and a flash lamp.
The three boys were bound over for two years and the pawnbroker was fined 20 shillings.
In my '150 Years Ago' articles I regularly refer to criticism of the St Helens Fire Brigade.
Some of it was probably unfair as they only possessed a horse-drawn engine and, with poor roads and no telephone for people to report fires, it could take a long while for the brigade to get to a blaze.
You might think that these problems no longer existed by 1926 but the Reporter described how a Haydock farm fire had proved a great test for the firemen.
The outbreak had affected two large haystacks on the farm in Old Lane and was spotted just after 9pm.
They had no telephone and for some reason the farmer sent a messenger on a bicycle to Ashton to report the fire, instead of going to the much nearer Haydock village.
It was not until 9:40pm that St Helens Fire Station received a telephone report of the fire and they quickly got on their way in their motorised engine.
All went well until they turned off the main road at Haydock and entered the old Ashton Road, which the Reporter said was "little better than a mere cart track".
But the brigade persevered in the dark and got within 1,000 yards of the farm when their engine suddenly plunged into a trench and came to a dead stop.
The firemen leapt out of their vehicle and found it buried up to the axle of its front wheels.
It transpired that work had recently taken place to install a water main along the narrow road and trenches had been dug and then filled with loose earth, which could not withstand the weight of the fire engine.
Consequently, a second vehicle had to be summoned from the fire station in St Helens in order to put out the blaze, which, presumably, took a different route to the farm.
The Reporter's headline to its article was "St. Helens Fire Engine In The Ditch – Memorable Dark Night Dash".
The paper also told the remarkable story of how Fred Hoyt of Derby Cottages in Rainhill had survived an accident at Lea Green Colliery (shown above).
The 23-year-old was a runner-in charged with running empty and full coal tubs in and out of the pit cage.
As Fred entered the cage to remove a tub, it suddenly started moving up the pit shaft.
Not having been prepared for the journey, the cage swayed violently and knocked against the sides of the shaft, creating sparks and flames.
About halfway up the shaft, the cage was struck by another cage that was descending and Fred was hurled out.
But he had the presence of mind to grip first a bell wire and then one of the guide rods that ran down the entire length of the shaft.
Fred was suspended for a short while 150 yards from the bottom of the shaft.
But as the rod was covered in grease, he slowly slid down it with his hands and legs wrapped around until he reached the bottom of the shaft.
Eventually Fred was picked up unconscious and taken to St Helens Hospital to be checked out.
A century ago when a pregnant woman lost the child that she was carrying, the sad event tended to be referred to as an abortion and not a miscarriage like today.
That did not mean that what had happened had not been a natural occurrence – but it could create suspicion, particularly if the woman subsequently died.
This week the inquest on Jane Binder of Rivington Avenue took place after the 37-year-old had suffered what was described as an abortion.
Although a post-mortem on Jane's body did not suggest anything untoward – and, indeed illegal – had taken place, it was revealed that she had been taking "female pills".
These had been bought from a temperance bar at 117 Duke Street that was run by John Case.
The coroner expressed surprise that such pills should be available from a refreshment house but accepted the medical evidence that could not make a link between Jane taking them and the baby's loss.
From the 11th what was described as a "new and up-to-date version of the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat" was performed at the St Helens Theatre Royal.
And the Hippodrome Theatre had 'Robinson Crusoe' starring Dolly Ross, who was described as "everybody's favourite principal boy".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the impending closure of a Haydock maternity hospital, the revolting cruelty to children in Union Street and the woman who claimed an Eccleston builder had kissed her against her will.
That was the building that in my '150 Years Ago' articles served as the Theatre Royal and in more recent times became the Citadel Arts Centre.
The St Helens Reporter said the six men gave "vivid accounts of strange superstitions and weird religions in the dark continent".
And the paper added: "As recently as five years ago each of the natives was heathen, but General Booth started operations in Nigeria in 1920 and they were converted, with hundreds of other natives, to Christianity."
One of the past's greatest unfairness has to be how battered wives were treated.
If such a woman went to court seeking a separation order with maintenance payments from her husband and described a litany of violence that her spouse had committed, you can guarantee nothing would happen to the man.
That is other than, perhaps, be ordered by the Bench to fork out some weekly maintenance cash.
And if the distraught woman attempted to commit suicide because of her husband's cruelty and failed, she was the one who would be prosecuted and, possibly, sent to prison.
The latter is what happened to Gertrude Lackey of Silver Street, which used to be off Westfield Street, who appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with attempting suicide.
On New Year's Day Gertrude's husband was alleged to have come home drunk, thrown a poker at his wife and said "I'll kill you".
Supt Dunn told the court that in retaliation "the prisoner" – meaning Gertrude – threw a plate at her husband and what he described as a fight between the couple followed.
Eventually, the husband left the house and sometime later a neighbour heard Gertrude shouting "come downstairs".
She did so and found Gertude lying on the hearthrug and noticed a strong smell of gas.
The distraught woman was taken to hospital and three letters were found addressed to different people in which she threatened suicide.
Her act seemed more of a cry for help than anything – help that she did not receive.
Instead Gertrude was remanded to prison for a week, supposedly so she would receive medical assistance.
That was far from uncommon but the inequality of sending a woman such as Gertrude to Walton Prison to mix with criminals while her husband remained at home did not seem to bother anyone.
"Hush Money At Sutton" was the St Helens Reporter's headline on the 8th to their article describing two connected court cases.
Not only had the clothes been stolen from a car in Fisher Street but fourteen was the minimum age for a person to pawn items.
The father of the boy had learnt what had happened and paid for the jumpers to be redeemed from pawn in order that he could restore them to their owner.
That person was also given 6 shillings "for expenses" to hush up the theft and keep it out of the hands of the police – a ploy that obviously failed.
The father needed to find ten shillings in total – which he obtained, ironically, by pawning his best suit!
Because children were involved, their identities were not revealed in the Reporter's account of the Juvenile Court case in which three boys were charged with stealing the jumpers.
But in the separate Police Court case – in which the pawnbroker Walter Hunter was charged with taking a pledge from a child under 14 – the boy that had stolen and pledged the jumpers appeared as a witness and so could be named.
12-year-old James Burrows from Taylor Street told how he and his two pals had used the 3s 2d that they had received from Mr Hunter to visit the pictures, buy some toffee and a flash lamp.
The three boys were bound over for two years and the pawnbroker was fined 20 shillings.
In my '150 Years Ago' articles I regularly refer to criticism of the St Helens Fire Brigade.
Some of it was probably unfair as they only possessed a horse-drawn engine and, with poor roads and no telephone for people to report fires, it could take a long while for the brigade to get to a blaze.
You might think that these problems no longer existed by 1926 but the Reporter described how a Haydock farm fire had proved a great test for the firemen.
The outbreak had affected two large haystacks on the farm in Old Lane and was spotted just after 9pm.
They had no telephone and for some reason the farmer sent a messenger on a bicycle to Ashton to report the fire, instead of going to the much nearer Haydock village.
It was not until 9:40pm that St Helens Fire Station received a telephone report of the fire and they quickly got on their way in their motorised engine.
All went well until they turned off the main road at Haydock and entered the old Ashton Road, which the Reporter said was "little better than a mere cart track".
But the brigade persevered in the dark and got within 1,000 yards of the farm when their engine suddenly plunged into a trench and came to a dead stop.
The firemen leapt out of their vehicle and found it buried up to the axle of its front wheels.
It transpired that work had recently taken place to install a water main along the narrow road and trenches had been dug and then filled with loose earth, which could not withstand the weight of the fire engine.
Consequently, a second vehicle had to be summoned from the fire station in St Helens in order to put out the blaze, which, presumably, took a different route to the farm.
The Reporter's headline to its article was "St. Helens Fire Engine In The Ditch – Memorable Dark Night Dash".
The 23-year-old was a runner-in charged with running empty and full coal tubs in and out of the pit cage.
As Fred entered the cage to remove a tub, it suddenly started moving up the pit shaft.
Not having been prepared for the journey, the cage swayed violently and knocked against the sides of the shaft, creating sparks and flames.
About halfway up the shaft, the cage was struck by another cage that was descending and Fred was hurled out.
But he had the presence of mind to grip first a bell wire and then one of the guide rods that ran down the entire length of the shaft.
Fred was suspended for a short while 150 yards from the bottom of the shaft.
But as the rod was covered in grease, he slowly slid down it with his hands and legs wrapped around until he reached the bottom of the shaft.
Eventually Fred was picked up unconscious and taken to St Helens Hospital to be checked out.
A century ago when a pregnant woman lost the child that she was carrying, the sad event tended to be referred to as an abortion and not a miscarriage like today.
That did not mean that what had happened had not been a natural occurrence – but it could create suspicion, particularly if the woman subsequently died.
This week the inquest on Jane Binder of Rivington Avenue took place after the 37-year-old had suffered what was described as an abortion.
Although a post-mortem on Jane's body did not suggest anything untoward – and, indeed illegal – had taken place, it was revealed that she had been taking "female pills".
These had been bought from a temperance bar at 117 Duke Street that was run by John Case.
The coroner expressed surprise that such pills should be available from a refreshment house but accepted the medical evidence that could not make a link between Jane taking them and the baby's loss.
From the 11th what was described as a "new and up-to-date version of the pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat" was performed at the St Helens Theatre Royal.
And the Hippodrome Theatre had 'Robinson Crusoe' starring Dolly Ross, who was described as "everybody's favourite principal boy".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the impending closure of a Haydock maternity hospital, the revolting cruelty to children in Union Street and the woman who claimed an Eccleston builder had kissed her against her will.