IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (5th - 11th August 1919)
This week's stories include the woman from Parr who burned four ten pound notes, a Kiln Lane pawnbroker calls a policeman a liar, the black flag that was flown in Eccleston Street on Peace Day, a Thatto Heath thumping over an axe, the callous father from Nutgrove and why St Helens' children were taken to Oldham to see a man with a crooked nose.
We begin on the 5th with a meeting of St Helens police officers in which the bobbies unanimously decided to resign en bloc from the National Union of Police and Prison Officers – known as the Police Union. In August 1918 and in June 1919 the police in certain parts of the country had gone on strike. As a result the Government was introducing a new law banning police strikes and creating a Federation to represent their grievances.
St Helens Police had decided not to strike during June when other forces downed their batons and helmets. At a meeting of the Town Council on the 6th the officers were thanked for their loyalty, although a recent increase in their wages would have helped. Local authorities then set police pay and the council's Watch Committee had increased the wages of constables on joining the St Helens' force to 70 shillings per week, rising by annual increment to 90s. I imagine the police don't receive a boot allowance today, as they don't tramp the streets very much. But they did a century ago and the payment amounted to 1s 6d per week.
St Helens used to have a successful water polo team based at Boundary Road baths and in 1903 they were the runners up in the English National Championships. On the 5th St Helens beat Tyldesley at home in front of a large crowd to progress into the third round of the Lancashire Cup.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 8th how children from the town had joined others from Wallasey, Birkenhead, Widnes and Southport in being taken to Oldham to identify a man with a crooked nose. The police had been combing the streets looking for men with crooked noses who were prepared to take part in a line up.
The children were asked to pick out the man who had taken money off them while they'd been on errands for their mothers – which they were able to do. The thief had been caught after a child victim had rushed into an Oldham police station and exclaimed: "I've been done in. Be quick!"
It's a rare week when squabbling neighbours aren't bringing summonses against each other and telling exaggerated one-sided tales in court. This week's dispute was between Hannah Greenall of Eccleston Street and Elizabeth Bolton from nearby Lyon Street. The latter accused Mrs Greenall of coming out of her house at 11:30pm one night, as she was passing and battering her, after first grabbing hold of her by the hair.
However Mrs Greenall claimed it had been Mrs Bolton that had been the assailant, claiming the woman had grabbed hold of her hair and then seized her by the throat. It was also stated in court that as the huge procession went down Eccleston Street during the recent Peace Day celebration, Hannah Greenall had put up a black flag and drawn her blinds.
She had lost two sons in the war and was said to be embittered against those who sons had safely returned home. It was a lengthy hearing but in the end the magistrates decided to do what they normally did. Bound both of them over to keep the peace and obtain sureties for their good behaviour.
Also on the 8th three men and a youth were each fined between 7s 6d and 10 shillings for gaming with cards. They were in a group of twenty who were playing "banker" at the rear of Douglas Street (off Knowsley Road). The police had done what they normally did on such occasions. They kept observation for a while and then rushed the group and as the players scattered they grabbed hold of those they could. "It's a fair catch", the men were supposed to have exclaimed as they were caught. Shame they couldn't have said: "It's a fair cop"!
Also in court were sisters Maria Molyneux from Hill Street and Annie Rotherham from Lord Street who both pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching the peace. A constable stated that at 10:45pm last Saturday night he was in the Gerards Bridge district and saw men, women and children "squabbling about the place". Mrs Molyneux was "shouting and screaming and using awful language" and her sister was also using "filthy language" and gave the officer a wrong address. They were both bound over to keep the peace for six months.
There was an extraordinary case in the Police Court on the 9th when Catherine Harrison was charged with stealing a wallet by finding. It contained the large sum of £104 and belonged to Liverpool provision dealer Horace Hughes who had lost his wallet while making a delivery to a shop in Charnwood Street in Parr. When he arrived at another shop in Chancery Lane he realised his wallet was missing and so returned to Charnwood Street to ask the shopkeeper if he had left it there.
Mr Foster told him that he had seen Catherine Harrison pick it up off the floor but she denied it. The police were called but the woman still insisted that she had not seen the wallet. Sergeant Bate was not satisfied and searched her yard in Bramwell Street and found £64 10s hidden under a stone. Mrs Harrison now admitted taking the wallet and told the sergeant that some more notes were secreted under a toilet seat.
However she also claimed to have burned the wallet along with a driving licence, business cards and four £10 notes, claiming she did not know what the latter had been. The Bench found that hard to believe but the Chief Constable felt the woman had probably destroyed the £10 notes as they would have proved difficult to dispose off. Each was the equivalent of 3 - 4 weeks' wages and so very few working class people would possess them.
Catherine Harrison claimed she had stolen the wallet through poverty but she had eleven convictions against her name for various offences and her husband was in jail serving a three-year sentence. The magistrates decided that she should also go to prison and she was sentenced to three months hard labour.
On the 11th there was a curious performance in the Police Court from a young man charged with the minor offence of driving a motorcycle with its rear identification plate obscured. PC Cain gave evidence that he had seen Harold Hunter riding his motorbike along Peasley Cross Lane. The officer said his brother Walter was sat behind him with his coat obscuring the number plate.
They both worked for their father, who was a well-known pawnbroker in Kiln Lane and the bobby decided to see the pair in the shop on the following day. PC Cain told the court that Harold Hunter asked him to overlook the offence and when he refused he threatened to report him for having previously spent hours in the shop when he was on duty.
The constable said his claim wasn't true but 21-year-old Harold did not just deny making the threat. He looked straight at the constable in court and said: "I tell you, you are a liar". PC Shepherd also gave evidence that he had been on point duty at the Sefton Arms and had seen the Hunter brothers on the motorbike with its rear number plate obscured.
However Harold Hunter strongly denied that he had had a passenger on his bike and that the plate had been covered in any way. The usual fine for this minor offence was a few shillings. However the Hunter brothers' performance in court appears to have been why they were fined the much higher amount of £1 each.
Also in court was William Atherton from Booth Street in Nutgrove who had been summoned to show why he should not contribute to the support of his children. The three youngsters had been taken into Whiston Workhouse in April 1917 upon the death of the man's wife. Atherton was then serving in the army and it was assumed that when he was demobilised he would either remove his children from the workhouse or pay for their keep.
In March Atherton had taken one child out but "absolutely refused" to do anything for his other two children, saying he had "done his bit" and the Prescot Guardians (who oversaw the workhouse) should now do their bit for him.
Atherton was a miner and earning good money with his wages over the last four weeks averaging almost £4 per week. The two remaining children in the workhouse were costing the ratepayers 7 shillings a week and the magistrates made a maintenance order of £1 per week, which took into account the cost of care over the last two years.
These were the acts performing at the Hippodrome Music Hall for six evenings from the 11th: Ally Benson ("The Diminutive Dame with Whistling Wiles"); Brothers Morris ("Novel comedians"); The 3 Dancing Durhams ("In a comedy speciality act") and James Hunter ("Society entertainer"). Sometimes short dramatic sketches were performed in the Corporation Street theatre and there were two this week, with one called "A Wet Night" and a comedy sketch called "Come Over".
There had been a considerable influx of Welsh workers into St Helens during the 19th century with many finding employment in the copper industries. Some could not speak English so when Harry Thomas appeared in the St Helens Police Court on the 11th to face a charge of assault he needed a translator.
Superintendent Dunn could speak Welsh and so he provided the translation service in which he explained to the magistrates that Harry Thomas lodged with Thomas Jones in Emily Street in Thatto Heath. There was a dispute over a missing axe and after the alleged theft was reported to the police, Harry Thomas had thumped his landlord for which he received a ten shillings fine.
Next week's stories will include the youths that slept down Clock Face Colliery, the novelty of flying over St Helens, the Liverpool Road woman who tried to hit her husband with a flat iron, the Gorsey Lane apple thieves, the Clock Face bookie and a Rainford couple's dirty washing is washed in public.
We begin on the 5th with a meeting of St Helens police officers in which the bobbies unanimously decided to resign en bloc from the National Union of Police and Prison Officers – known as the Police Union. In August 1918 and in June 1919 the police in certain parts of the country had gone on strike. As a result the Government was introducing a new law banning police strikes and creating a Federation to represent their grievances.
St Helens used to have a successful water polo team based at Boundary Road baths and in 1903 they were the runners up in the English National Championships. On the 5th St Helens beat Tyldesley at home in front of a large crowd to progress into the third round of the Lancashire Cup.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 8th how children from the town had joined others from Wallasey, Birkenhead, Widnes and Southport in being taken to Oldham to identify a man with a crooked nose. The police had been combing the streets looking for men with crooked noses who were prepared to take part in a line up.
The children were asked to pick out the man who had taken money off them while they'd been on errands for their mothers – which they were able to do. The thief had been caught after a child victim had rushed into an Oldham police station and exclaimed: "I've been done in. Be quick!"
It's a rare week when squabbling neighbours aren't bringing summonses against each other and telling exaggerated one-sided tales in court. This week's dispute was between Hannah Greenall of Eccleston Street and Elizabeth Bolton from nearby Lyon Street. The latter accused Mrs Greenall of coming out of her house at 11:30pm one night, as she was passing and battering her, after first grabbing hold of her by the hair.
However Mrs Greenall claimed it had been Mrs Bolton that had been the assailant, claiming the woman had grabbed hold of her hair and then seized her by the throat. It was also stated in court that as the huge procession went down Eccleston Street during the recent Peace Day celebration, Hannah Greenall had put up a black flag and drawn her blinds.
She had lost two sons in the war and was said to be embittered against those who sons had safely returned home. It was a lengthy hearing but in the end the magistrates decided to do what they normally did. Bound both of them over to keep the peace and obtain sureties for their good behaviour.
Also on the 8th three men and a youth were each fined between 7s 6d and 10 shillings for gaming with cards. They were in a group of twenty who were playing "banker" at the rear of Douglas Street (off Knowsley Road). The police had done what they normally did on such occasions. They kept observation for a while and then rushed the group and as the players scattered they grabbed hold of those they could. "It's a fair catch", the men were supposed to have exclaimed as they were caught. Shame they couldn't have said: "It's a fair cop"!
Also in court were sisters Maria Molyneux from Hill Street and Annie Rotherham from Lord Street who both pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching the peace. A constable stated that at 10:45pm last Saturday night he was in the Gerards Bridge district and saw men, women and children "squabbling about the place". Mrs Molyneux was "shouting and screaming and using awful language" and her sister was also using "filthy language" and gave the officer a wrong address. They were both bound over to keep the peace for six months.
There was an extraordinary case in the Police Court on the 9th when Catherine Harrison was charged with stealing a wallet by finding. It contained the large sum of £104 and belonged to Liverpool provision dealer Horace Hughes who had lost his wallet while making a delivery to a shop in Charnwood Street in Parr. When he arrived at another shop in Chancery Lane he realised his wallet was missing and so returned to Charnwood Street to ask the shopkeeper if he had left it there.
Mr Foster told him that he had seen Catherine Harrison pick it up off the floor but she denied it. The police were called but the woman still insisted that she had not seen the wallet. Sergeant Bate was not satisfied and searched her yard in Bramwell Street and found £64 10s hidden under a stone. Mrs Harrison now admitted taking the wallet and told the sergeant that some more notes were secreted under a toilet seat.
However she also claimed to have burned the wallet along with a driving licence, business cards and four £10 notes, claiming she did not know what the latter had been. The Bench found that hard to believe but the Chief Constable felt the woman had probably destroyed the £10 notes as they would have proved difficult to dispose off. Each was the equivalent of 3 - 4 weeks' wages and so very few working class people would possess them.
Catherine Harrison claimed she had stolen the wallet through poverty but she had eleven convictions against her name for various offences and her husband was in jail serving a three-year sentence. The magistrates decided that she should also go to prison and she was sentenced to three months hard labour.
On the 11th there was a curious performance in the Police Court from a young man charged with the minor offence of driving a motorcycle with its rear identification plate obscured. PC Cain gave evidence that he had seen Harold Hunter riding his motorbike along Peasley Cross Lane. The officer said his brother Walter was sat behind him with his coat obscuring the number plate.
They both worked for their father, who was a well-known pawnbroker in Kiln Lane and the bobby decided to see the pair in the shop on the following day. PC Cain told the court that Harold Hunter asked him to overlook the offence and when he refused he threatened to report him for having previously spent hours in the shop when he was on duty.
The constable said his claim wasn't true but 21-year-old Harold did not just deny making the threat. He looked straight at the constable in court and said: "I tell you, you are a liar". PC Shepherd also gave evidence that he had been on point duty at the Sefton Arms and had seen the Hunter brothers on the motorbike with its rear number plate obscured.
However Harold Hunter strongly denied that he had had a passenger on his bike and that the plate had been covered in any way. The usual fine for this minor offence was a few shillings. However the Hunter brothers' performance in court appears to have been why they were fined the much higher amount of £1 each.
Also in court was William Atherton from Booth Street in Nutgrove who had been summoned to show why he should not contribute to the support of his children. The three youngsters had been taken into Whiston Workhouse in April 1917 upon the death of the man's wife. Atherton was then serving in the army and it was assumed that when he was demobilised he would either remove his children from the workhouse or pay for their keep.
In March Atherton had taken one child out but "absolutely refused" to do anything for his other two children, saying he had "done his bit" and the Prescot Guardians (who oversaw the workhouse) should now do their bit for him.
Atherton was a miner and earning good money with his wages over the last four weeks averaging almost £4 per week. The two remaining children in the workhouse were costing the ratepayers 7 shillings a week and the magistrates made a maintenance order of £1 per week, which took into account the cost of care over the last two years.
These were the acts performing at the Hippodrome Music Hall for six evenings from the 11th: Ally Benson ("The Diminutive Dame with Whistling Wiles"); Brothers Morris ("Novel comedians"); The 3 Dancing Durhams ("In a comedy speciality act") and James Hunter ("Society entertainer"). Sometimes short dramatic sketches were performed in the Corporation Street theatre and there were two this week, with one called "A Wet Night" and a comedy sketch called "Come Over".
There had been a considerable influx of Welsh workers into St Helens during the 19th century with many finding employment in the copper industries. Some could not speak English so when Harry Thomas appeared in the St Helens Police Court on the 11th to face a charge of assault he needed a translator.
Superintendent Dunn could speak Welsh and so he provided the translation service in which he explained to the magistrates that Harry Thomas lodged with Thomas Jones in Emily Street in Thatto Heath. There was a dispute over a missing axe and after the alleged theft was reported to the police, Harry Thomas had thumped his landlord for which he received a ten shillings fine.
Next week's stories will include the youths that slept down Clock Face Colliery, the novelty of flying over St Helens, the Liverpool Road woman who tried to hit her husband with a flat iron, the Gorsey Lane apple thieves, the Clock Face bookie and a Rainford couple's dirty washing is washed in public.