IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th JANUARY 1920)
This week's stories include fears over Japanese shaving brushes in St Helens that were infected with anthrax, a burial mix up at St Helens Cemetery, the tragedy of a tram in Robins Lane, a claim of persistent cruelty in the Police Court, the public scandal of flooding in Watery Lane, the Haydock hired trap dispute and why the council planned to present a sliver cradle to the Mayoress.
We begin on the 6th when a St Helens' lamplighter called Albert Jennings was charged in Prescot Police Court with being drunk and incapable. Sergeant Greenhalgh told the court that he’d come across Jennings in Ackers Street just after eleven o’clock on the previous evening. The man was so drunk that he had to procure a handcart to convey him to the police station. He was fined 10 shillings.
On the 7th two-year-old William Alfred Ashton died after running in front of a tramcar in Robins Lane at its junction with Baxters Lane. The St Helens Reporter said the little boy – who was known as "Little Freddie" – missed the lifeguard by inches, and was drawn under the car and "terribly mangled". The lifeguard was a wooden slatted gate at the front of the tram. It acted as a safety device as it collected obstacles in the vehicle's way, including little boys.
On the 7th the council's Health Committee discussed the heavy rain during Christmas week, which had led to severe flooding in parts of St Helens. Watery Lane was, as usual, badly affected and Councillor Abbott called the situation there a "public scandal", saying the council had been simply tinkering at the problem for years. The Borough Engineer pointed out that the Highways Committee were planning to raise the road in Watery Lane. However Alderman Bates said would simply create more flooding in the houses.
Dr Joseph Cates told the meeting that a consignment of shaving brushes infected with anthrax germs had been sent to St Helens. The town's Medical Officer of Health said his office had confiscated 41 of the brushes but it was feared that a further 25 had already been sold. The danger – Dr Cates said – was considerable. The brushes had been imported from Japan and two deaths from anthrax had recently occurred in other parts of the country that were probably linked to them. Warning notices were published in the St Helens newspapers with a large illustration of the type of infected brush.
Congratulations were extended to the Mayor of St Helens, Joseph Turner, at the Town Council meeting on the 7th. His wife had given birth to a girl during the previous evening and the members of the council planned to present a sliver cradle to Mrs Turner. The tradition of giving such a cradle to the town's Mayoress after giving birth was established in 1869 when the wife of David Gamble bore a son. The St Helens Reporter's article used the old expression 'A Little Stranger' in its headline to announce the arrival of the Mayor's daughter.
The meeting also discussed the many complaints about the trams that councillors were now receiving. Last October St Helens Corporation had taken over the running of the tramways from a private operator. Since then a number of changes had been made to stops and schedules and the price of fares had risen. A number of examples of unfairness were cited at the meeting.
Councillor Woods complained that the residents of Windle City were unhappy that no trams now ran in the afternoon between two and four o’clock. Alderman Bates didn't see why passengers that boarded a tram at Toll Bar for Liverpool had to pay a penny more than those who got on at the Grange Park Hotel. The residents of Marshalls Cross and Peasley Cross were also complaining of difficulties in boarding the crowded trams into town.
The conversation then turned to free travel with Councillor Bell suggesting that ex-servicemen who had lost legs in the war should not pay to use the trams. Cllr. Davies then suggested that district nurses should also be transported for nothing. To that Cllr. Collier caused laughter by mischievously saying: "Couldn't we allow the whole of the public to travel free?"
In the County Court on the same day Joseph Nicholls of Haydock brought an action against a miner called Samuel Shaw. Nicholls told the judge that Shaw had paid him ten shillings to hire a trap, claiming that he wanted to take his wife to Lowton. However he'd instead travelled to Southport with ten persons inside, the weight of which Nicholls claimed caused 30 shillings worth of damage to the trap. The complainant said that if he'd known that the destination was Southport, the hire charge would have been £2.
The defendant Samuel Shaw said there had only been six adults and three babies in the trap and caused laughter by adding that the pony knew the journey to Southport well as it stopped at every public house. The judge awarded Nicholls £3, comprising 30 shillings for the hire of the trap and 30 shillings for the damage.
A severe gale struck the town during the night of the 7th. However damage was limited to a Bridge Street grocer's shop window and the blowing down of some house slates.
L & J. J. Case of College Street and Croppers Hill was advertising in the Reporter on the 9th that Char-a-Banc bookings for 1920 were now being taken. "Quick is the word! First come, first served."
On the 11th many people braved another storm to fill the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street (pictured above). This was for a fundraiser in aid of the St Helens branch of the Society for the Welfare of the Blind. The audience had braved the weather to see the highly popular elocutionist Wilson Nicholson recite Dickens' 'Christmas Carol'. Before the performance the Rev. Horace Short of the society told the audience that until recently blind persons in St Helens had been neglected. However attitudes had changed since the war and there were now hopes of establishing a workshop in the town that would pay blind workers a living wage.
Also on that day Bessie Pimblett passed away in the St Helens Sanatorium in Peasley Cross. The little girl from Broad Oak Road died of diphtheria and her body was removed to the hospital's mortuary. Two days later her parents decided to pay their final visit to Bessie prior to the child's funeral and found her body had disappeared. Earlier that day the funeral of Herbert Hudson of Lyon Street had taken place at St Helens Cemetery and Bessie had been buried instead of Herbert.
The families considered the mistake inexplicable as the children looked quite different, were of the opposite sex and had their names pinned on their bodies. However it was far from a simple matter to exhume Bessie's body and bury her again in a cemetery in Parr as had been originally planned. Dr Cates, the town's Medical Officer of Health, had to despatch an assistant to London to obtain permission from the Home Office. Also the Lord Bishop of Liverpool had to be visited and a permit obtained from him. However these formalities were quickly undertaken and Bessie's funeral took place two days later than planned.
Divorces were starting to become a bit more common in St Helens and on the 12th sadler Samuel Dilliway from North Road was granted a decree nisi. This was on the ground of his wife Edith's misconduct with a man called Thomas Greenwood. The couple had married in Birkdale and came to live in Stanhope Street in St Helens where they had two children.
Samuel said they were always squabbling and in July 1914 Greenwood became a lodger at their house. However he didn't stay long as on the same day that he moved in, the man ran off with Edith, with the pair setting up home in Huskisson Street in Liverpool. Edith had recently wanted to get back with her husband but Samuel wasn't interested and preferred a divorce.
The Hippodrome was in panto season from the 12th with performances of 'Little Bo Peep'. It bore the alternative title of "The wicked wolf and the fairies true, the dame, the baron and Bonnie Boy Blue". In a preview of the show the St Helens Reporter said there would be trained sheep and dogs in the performance. Robert Lacey featured as the "truly villainous baron, with a powerful baritone voice that shows to great advantage in several songs."
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th a boy called Harry Franks from Derbyshire Hill Road was prosecuted for doing wilful damage to a field of clover. All the lad had done was play football in a field with his mates but a farm bailiff claimed that two shillings worth of damage had been done. Harry was fined ten shillings and ordered to pay two shillings' damages.
Also in the Police Court was Jane Bridgewater of Vincent Street who brought a case of persistent cruelty against her husband John. The latter was then staying with his parents in New Street in Sutton (pictured above) and while living with his wife was alleged to have been regularly drunk. Although no accusations of violence were made, Jane did claim that on one occasion her husband had threatened to murder her. She also stated that while pregnant, John had made her take drugs, which had left her very weak.
Of course the man denied everything and put the blame on his wife. The Bench did what they usually did in such cases and adjourned the hearing for a month to see if an amicable agreement could be arrived at. The Chairman said: "It was a great pity that such a young couple could not live together." He was clearly hoping for a rapprochement between John and Jane. They had been wed for over five years and their marriage had clearly broken down irretrievably, something the authorities always found difficult to accept.
Next week's stories will include the Bolshevik barbarians in St Helens, the football nuisance in Nutgrove Road, the office cleaner who was crushed to death in a Parr colliery and the Thatto Heath woman who said she would not send her son to school to pick manure.
We begin on the 6th when a St Helens' lamplighter called Albert Jennings was charged in Prescot Police Court with being drunk and incapable. Sergeant Greenhalgh told the court that he’d come across Jennings in Ackers Street just after eleven o’clock on the previous evening. The man was so drunk that he had to procure a handcart to convey him to the police station. He was fined 10 shillings.
On the 7th two-year-old William Alfred Ashton died after running in front of a tramcar in Robins Lane at its junction with Baxters Lane. The St Helens Reporter said the little boy – who was known as "Little Freddie" – missed the lifeguard by inches, and was drawn under the car and "terribly mangled". The lifeguard was a wooden slatted gate at the front of the tram. It acted as a safety device as it collected obstacles in the vehicle's way, including little boys.
On the 7th the council's Health Committee discussed the heavy rain during Christmas week, which had led to severe flooding in parts of St Helens. Watery Lane was, as usual, badly affected and Councillor Abbott called the situation there a "public scandal", saying the council had been simply tinkering at the problem for years. The Borough Engineer pointed out that the Highways Committee were planning to raise the road in Watery Lane. However Alderman Bates said would simply create more flooding in the houses.
Dr Joseph Cates told the meeting that a consignment of shaving brushes infected with anthrax germs had been sent to St Helens. The town's Medical Officer of Health said his office had confiscated 41 of the brushes but it was feared that a further 25 had already been sold. The danger – Dr Cates said – was considerable. The brushes had been imported from Japan and two deaths from anthrax had recently occurred in other parts of the country that were probably linked to them. Warning notices were published in the St Helens newspapers with a large illustration of the type of infected brush.
Congratulations were extended to the Mayor of St Helens, Joseph Turner, at the Town Council meeting on the 7th. His wife had given birth to a girl during the previous evening and the members of the council planned to present a sliver cradle to Mrs Turner. The tradition of giving such a cradle to the town's Mayoress after giving birth was established in 1869 when the wife of David Gamble bore a son. The St Helens Reporter's article used the old expression 'A Little Stranger' in its headline to announce the arrival of the Mayor's daughter.
The meeting also discussed the many complaints about the trams that councillors were now receiving. Last October St Helens Corporation had taken over the running of the tramways from a private operator. Since then a number of changes had been made to stops and schedules and the price of fares had risen. A number of examples of unfairness were cited at the meeting.
Councillor Woods complained that the residents of Windle City were unhappy that no trams now ran in the afternoon between two and four o’clock. Alderman Bates didn't see why passengers that boarded a tram at Toll Bar for Liverpool had to pay a penny more than those who got on at the Grange Park Hotel. The residents of Marshalls Cross and Peasley Cross were also complaining of difficulties in boarding the crowded trams into town.
The conversation then turned to free travel with Councillor Bell suggesting that ex-servicemen who had lost legs in the war should not pay to use the trams. Cllr. Davies then suggested that district nurses should also be transported for nothing. To that Cllr. Collier caused laughter by mischievously saying: "Couldn't we allow the whole of the public to travel free?"
In the County Court on the same day Joseph Nicholls of Haydock brought an action against a miner called Samuel Shaw. Nicholls told the judge that Shaw had paid him ten shillings to hire a trap, claiming that he wanted to take his wife to Lowton. However he'd instead travelled to Southport with ten persons inside, the weight of which Nicholls claimed caused 30 shillings worth of damage to the trap. The complainant said that if he'd known that the destination was Southport, the hire charge would have been £2.
The defendant Samuel Shaw said there had only been six adults and three babies in the trap and caused laughter by adding that the pony knew the journey to Southport well as it stopped at every public house. The judge awarded Nicholls £3, comprising 30 shillings for the hire of the trap and 30 shillings for the damage.
A severe gale struck the town during the night of the 7th. However damage was limited to a Bridge Street grocer's shop window and the blowing down of some house slates.
L & J. J. Case of College Street and Croppers Hill was advertising in the Reporter on the 9th that Char-a-Banc bookings for 1920 were now being taken. "Quick is the word! First come, first served."
Also on that day Bessie Pimblett passed away in the St Helens Sanatorium in Peasley Cross. The little girl from Broad Oak Road died of diphtheria and her body was removed to the hospital's mortuary. Two days later her parents decided to pay their final visit to Bessie prior to the child's funeral and found her body had disappeared. Earlier that day the funeral of Herbert Hudson of Lyon Street had taken place at St Helens Cemetery and Bessie had been buried instead of Herbert.
The families considered the mistake inexplicable as the children looked quite different, were of the opposite sex and had their names pinned on their bodies. However it was far from a simple matter to exhume Bessie's body and bury her again in a cemetery in Parr as had been originally planned. Dr Cates, the town's Medical Officer of Health, had to despatch an assistant to London to obtain permission from the Home Office. Also the Lord Bishop of Liverpool had to be visited and a permit obtained from him. However these formalities were quickly undertaken and Bessie's funeral took place two days later than planned.
Divorces were starting to become a bit more common in St Helens and on the 12th sadler Samuel Dilliway from North Road was granted a decree nisi. This was on the ground of his wife Edith's misconduct with a man called Thomas Greenwood. The couple had married in Birkdale and came to live in Stanhope Street in St Helens where they had two children.
Samuel said they were always squabbling and in July 1914 Greenwood became a lodger at their house. However he didn't stay long as on the same day that he moved in, the man ran off with Edith, with the pair setting up home in Huskisson Street in Liverpool. Edith had recently wanted to get back with her husband but Samuel wasn't interested and preferred a divorce.
The Hippodrome was in panto season from the 12th with performances of 'Little Bo Peep'. It bore the alternative title of "The wicked wolf and the fairies true, the dame, the baron and Bonnie Boy Blue". In a preview of the show the St Helens Reporter said there would be trained sheep and dogs in the performance. Robert Lacey featured as the "truly villainous baron, with a powerful baritone voice that shows to great advantage in several songs."
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th a boy called Harry Franks from Derbyshire Hill Road was prosecuted for doing wilful damage to a field of clover. All the lad had done was play football in a field with his mates but a farm bailiff claimed that two shillings worth of damage had been done. Harry was fined ten shillings and ordered to pay two shillings' damages.
Of course the man denied everything and put the blame on his wife. The Bench did what they usually did in such cases and adjourned the hearing for a month to see if an amicable agreement could be arrived at. The Chairman said: "It was a great pity that such a young couple could not live together." He was clearly hoping for a rapprochement between John and Jane. They had been wed for over five years and their marriage had clearly broken down irretrievably, something the authorities always found difficult to accept.
Next week's stories will include the Bolshevik barbarians in St Helens, the football nuisance in Nutgrove Road, the office cleaner who was crushed to death in a Parr colliery and the Thatto Heath woman who said she would not send her son to school to pick manure.