IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th MARCH 1923)
This week's many stories include the marauding cats and dogs in Windlehurst, the army huts occupied by Sutton Manor miners, the St Helens Town Clerk is sacked for refusing to take a pay cut, the means-tested old age pension and the Thatto Heath man accused of being a "drunken, lazy fellow".
We begin with the St Helens Glee Club that gave their annual spring concert this week. A surgeon called Dr Stanley Siddall from Prescot Road was in charge of the male voice choir.
The Tuesday edition of the St Helens Reporter was published on the 6th and offered a glimmer of good news on the housing front: "The outlook is becoming a little brighter in St. Helens as regards the great shortage of houses, particularly those of the working class type, a shortage which for years has been imposing serious hardship on a considerable number of those who are suffering as a consequence of it."
However, the new supply of homes, although welcome, would only scratch the surface of the problem. The new buildings would involve forty houses at Sutton Manor for the families of miners at Sutton Manor Colliery (pictured above) and twenty additional houses on the Windlehurst council estate. It would take several thousand more dwellings to be built to make any real difference to the great housing shortage and the overcrowding of existing homes.
Commenting on the problems at Sutton Manor, the Reporter said many miners had to commute in from St Helens, although some were living in huts: "There are row upon row of converted Army huts at Sutton Manor which have already been in occupation for some time as dwellings, like a miniature Knotty Ash, but this has only slightly relieved the housing pressure." The Knotty Ash huts were built to accommodate American troops during the war and later acquired by Liverpool Corporation to house homeless families.
It has often been said that those who are thrifty with money are penalised by the benefits system. These days, of course, the state pension is not means-tested – but it used to be a hundred years ago and was only available to the over seventies. On the 7th the Liverpool Echo reported that the St Helens MP, James Sexton, planned to raise with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the case of Agnes Tomlinson of Hardshaw Street.
The paper wrote that Mrs Tomlinson was almost 70 and "…owing to the fact that her husband has succeeded, during a working life of 40 years' hard work and thrift, in saving £100 and who is also in receipt of a pension of 30s per week from his employer, this fact will disqualify her from receiving the old-age pension." The 1921 census states that James Tomlinson had been a foreman at a copper works.
In November 1922 the Labour members of St Helens Council had got a resolution passed that Town Hall officials earning over a certain level had to agree to take a pay cut – or be fired. Cllr. Thomas Boscow had moved the resolution on the ground that nearly everybody else in St Helens had suffered a reduction in their wages of late and argued that the well-paid bosses at the Town Hall should also be paid less.
Last month it was announced that all senior officials had agreed to accept a reduction in their pay – with one exception. That was the Town Clerk who refused to permit any cut at all. William Andrew's salary was £1,500 per year and he was asked to accept a reduction to £1,368 – but stood his ground. And so on the 7th of this week, the council voted to give him three months' notice.
The new council house estate at Windlehurst had a problem with what were described as "marauding" cats and dogs that were accused of causing damage. So the council had told their tenants that they could install fences at their own expense, as long as the Borough Engineer gave his approval. In the St Helens Reporter on the 9th this letter signed by seven householders was published:
"As tenants at Windlehurst we would like to say that all the damage complained of is done by the dogs of tenants whose rent books state that no animals should be kept there until permission is obtained from the authorities. May we inform you that no fewer than eleven dogs are being kept in the square between Windlehurst-avenue, Rivington-avenue, Gamble-avenue, and Bishop-road, and they are the cause of the nuisance?
"It would not be a bad idea if, in the middle of the square was put a large dog kennel, or, better still, a lethal chamber, for all the mongrels which roam about and invite their many friends. Day and night we are pestered with hungry dogs and prowling cats. If this nuisance was tackled at once, there would be no need for tenants to line up at the Borough Engineer's office with a sample of lattice-work for approval with which to enclose the land. Drop the rents, remove the marauding cats and dogs, and peace will reign and the wilderness will blossom with roses at Windlehurst."
Windlehurst had been the council's first estate that it had built and it was learning that being a landlord was not plain sailing – as their tenants were more inclined to complain to them than to a private landlord. The same applied to the tramways that the council had taken over in 1919. At this week's meeting of the Town Council, Cllr. Davies said many people in Rainhill and Prescot were complaining about the tram service with many errors contained within the timetable. At present, he said: "Nobody seemed to know when the trams were coming or going."
Cllr. Davies also wondered who could ride free on the trams and particularly wanted to know if the councillors on the Tramways Committee had that privilege. Cllr. Rudd, the committee's chairman, explained that only tram staff was allowed to travel free while going to or from work, "but not when they were joy-riding". Everyone else had to pay, including councillors.
On the 9th Samuel Seddon of Springfield Road in Thatto Heath was charged in St Helens Police Court with neglecting his children. Inspector Lycett of the NSPCC said the man's house was very dirty, badly furnished and there was little food. The four children, he added, were very untidy, dirty and poorly clad and shod and the kids also had no change of clothing. All six members of the family occupied a single bed and the inspector accused Seddon of being a "drunken, lazy fellow, who kept very late hours".
Of course, Seddon put the blame on his wife, telling her at one point in the hearing: "You never would get out of bed to send the children to school". But Mrs Seddon had been unwell and at one point had been in hospital and stated she had been too ill to work. The magistrates certainly felt the husband was to blame, telling him that the case would be adjourned to see if he could reform: "If you want to redeem your character you have two months to do it in. It was up to you to be a man, and we hope to see in you a different person when the case comes up again."
Between midnight on the 10th and the afternoon of the 11th, a total of 110 Irish men and women were controversially arrested after a series of nationwide police raids. Peter Henegan of Manning Street, off Borough Road, was the sole St Helens arrest and on the 12th he and all the others were deported to Ireland where they would be interned. The Irish Free State later explained that the accused were engaged in a conspiracy to supply so-called "irregulars" with "warlike materials" – in other words they were accused of gunrunning to rebels that had refused to accept the Anglo-Irish peace treaty of 1921.
Also on the 12th the headmaster of Cowley Boys School, Gerald Dowse, gave a lecture in the Congregational Schoolroom on the well-meaning but ineffective League of Nations which had been founded in 1920.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the French actor's indecent act on a St Helens train, the man gassed at the smelting works, Silcocks are accused of breaking gaming laws in Napier Street and a foundation stone for the new Lowe House church is laid.
We begin with the St Helens Glee Club that gave their annual spring concert this week. A surgeon called Dr Stanley Siddall from Prescot Road was in charge of the male voice choir.
The Tuesday edition of the St Helens Reporter was published on the 6th and offered a glimmer of good news on the housing front: "The outlook is becoming a little brighter in St. Helens as regards the great shortage of houses, particularly those of the working class type, a shortage which for years has been imposing serious hardship on a considerable number of those who are suffering as a consequence of it."
Commenting on the problems at Sutton Manor, the Reporter said many miners had to commute in from St Helens, although some were living in huts: "There are row upon row of converted Army huts at Sutton Manor which have already been in occupation for some time as dwellings, like a miniature Knotty Ash, but this has only slightly relieved the housing pressure." The Knotty Ash huts were built to accommodate American troops during the war and later acquired by Liverpool Corporation to house homeless families.
It has often been said that those who are thrifty with money are penalised by the benefits system. These days, of course, the state pension is not means-tested – but it used to be a hundred years ago and was only available to the over seventies. On the 7th the Liverpool Echo reported that the St Helens MP, James Sexton, planned to raise with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the case of Agnes Tomlinson of Hardshaw Street.
The paper wrote that Mrs Tomlinson was almost 70 and "…owing to the fact that her husband has succeeded, during a working life of 40 years' hard work and thrift, in saving £100 and who is also in receipt of a pension of 30s per week from his employer, this fact will disqualify her from receiving the old-age pension." The 1921 census states that James Tomlinson had been a foreman at a copper works.
In November 1922 the Labour members of St Helens Council had got a resolution passed that Town Hall officials earning over a certain level had to agree to take a pay cut – or be fired. Cllr. Thomas Boscow had moved the resolution on the ground that nearly everybody else in St Helens had suffered a reduction in their wages of late and argued that the well-paid bosses at the Town Hall should also be paid less.
Last month it was announced that all senior officials had agreed to accept a reduction in their pay – with one exception. That was the Town Clerk who refused to permit any cut at all. William Andrew's salary was £1,500 per year and he was asked to accept a reduction to £1,368 – but stood his ground. And so on the 7th of this week, the council voted to give him three months' notice.
The new council house estate at Windlehurst had a problem with what were described as "marauding" cats and dogs that were accused of causing damage. So the council had told their tenants that they could install fences at their own expense, as long as the Borough Engineer gave his approval. In the St Helens Reporter on the 9th this letter signed by seven householders was published:
"As tenants at Windlehurst we would like to say that all the damage complained of is done by the dogs of tenants whose rent books state that no animals should be kept there until permission is obtained from the authorities. May we inform you that no fewer than eleven dogs are being kept in the square between Windlehurst-avenue, Rivington-avenue, Gamble-avenue, and Bishop-road, and they are the cause of the nuisance?
"It would not be a bad idea if, in the middle of the square was put a large dog kennel, or, better still, a lethal chamber, for all the mongrels which roam about and invite their many friends. Day and night we are pestered with hungry dogs and prowling cats. If this nuisance was tackled at once, there would be no need for tenants to line up at the Borough Engineer's office with a sample of lattice-work for approval with which to enclose the land. Drop the rents, remove the marauding cats and dogs, and peace will reign and the wilderness will blossom with roses at Windlehurst."
Windlehurst had been the council's first estate that it had built and it was learning that being a landlord was not plain sailing – as their tenants were more inclined to complain to them than to a private landlord. The same applied to the tramways that the council had taken over in 1919. At this week's meeting of the Town Council, Cllr. Davies said many people in Rainhill and Prescot were complaining about the tram service with many errors contained within the timetable. At present, he said: "Nobody seemed to know when the trams were coming or going."
On the 9th Samuel Seddon of Springfield Road in Thatto Heath was charged in St Helens Police Court with neglecting his children. Inspector Lycett of the NSPCC said the man's house was very dirty, badly furnished and there was little food. The four children, he added, were very untidy, dirty and poorly clad and shod and the kids also had no change of clothing. All six members of the family occupied a single bed and the inspector accused Seddon of being a "drunken, lazy fellow, who kept very late hours".
Of course, Seddon put the blame on his wife, telling her at one point in the hearing: "You never would get out of bed to send the children to school". But Mrs Seddon had been unwell and at one point had been in hospital and stated she had been too ill to work. The magistrates certainly felt the husband was to blame, telling him that the case would be adjourned to see if he could reform: "If you want to redeem your character you have two months to do it in. It was up to you to be a man, and we hope to see in you a different person when the case comes up again."
Between midnight on the 10th and the afternoon of the 11th, a total of 110 Irish men and women were controversially arrested after a series of nationwide police raids. Peter Henegan of Manning Street, off Borough Road, was the sole St Helens arrest and on the 12th he and all the others were deported to Ireland where they would be interned. The Irish Free State later explained that the accused were engaged in a conspiracy to supply so-called "irregulars" with "warlike materials" – in other words they were accused of gunrunning to rebels that had refused to accept the Anglo-Irish peace treaty of 1921.
Also on the 12th the headmaster of Cowley Boys School, Gerald Dowse, gave a lecture in the Congregational Schoolroom on the well-meaning but ineffective League of Nations which had been founded in 1920.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the French actor's indecent act on a St Helens train, the man gassed at the smelting works, Silcocks are accused of breaking gaming laws in Napier Street and a foundation stone for the new Lowe House church is laid.
This week's many stories include the marauding cats and dogs in Windlehurst, the army huts occupied by Sutton Manor miners, the St Helens Town Clerk is sacked for refusing to take a pay cut, the means-tested old age pension and the Thatto Heath man accused of being a "drunken, lazy fellow".
We begin with the St Helens Glee Club that gave their annual spring concert this week. A surgeon called Dr Stanley Siddall from Prescot Road was in charge of the male voice choir.
The Tuesday edition of the St Helens Reporter was published on the 6th and offered a glimmer of good news on the housing front:
"The outlook is becoming a little brighter in St. Helens as regards the great shortage of houses, particularly those of the working class type, a shortage which for years has been imposing serious hardship on a considerable number of those who are suffering as a consequence of it."
However, the new supply of homes, although welcome, would only scratch the surface of the problem.
The new buildings would involve forty houses at Sutton Manor for the families of the miners at Sutton Manor Colliery (pictured above) and twenty additional houses on the Windlehurst council estate.
It would take several thousand more dwellings to be built to make any real difference to the great housing shortage and the overcrowding of existing homes.
Commenting on the problems at Sutton Manor, the Reporter said many miners had to commute in from St Helens, although some were living in huts:
"There are row upon row of converted Army huts at Sutton Manor which have already been in occupation for some time as dwellings, like a miniature Knotty Ash, but this has only slightly relieved the housing pressure."
The Knotty Ash huts were built to accommodate American troops during the war and later acquired by Liverpool Corporation to house homeless families.
It has often been said that those who are thrifty with money are penalised by the benefits system.
These days, of course, the state pension is not means-tested – but it used to be a hundred years ago and was only available to the over seventies.
On the 7th the Liverpool Echo reported that the St Helens MP, James Sexton, planned to raise with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the case of Agnes Tomlinson of Hardshaw Street.
The paper wrote that Mrs Tomlinson was almost 70 and "…owing to the fact that her husband has succeeded, during a working life of 40 years' hard work and thrift, in saving £100 and who is also in receipt of a pension of 30s per week from his employer, this fact will disqualify her from receiving the old-age pension."
The 1921 census states that James Tomlinson had been a foreman at a copper works.
In November 1922 the Labour members of St Helens Council had got a resolution passed that Town Hall officials earning over a certain level had to agree to take a pay cut – or be fired.
Cllr. Thomas Boscow had moved the resolution on the ground that nearly everybody else in St Helens had suffered a reduction in their wages of late and argued that the well-paid bosses at the Town Hall should also be paid less.
Last month it was announced that all senior officials had agreed to accept a reduction in their pay – with one exception. That was the Town Clerk who refused to permit any cut at all.
William Andrew's salary was £1,500 per year and he was asked to accept a reduction to £1,368 – but stood his ground. And so on the 7th of this week, the council voted to give him three months' notice.
The new council house estate at Windlehurst had a problem with what were described as "marauding" cats and dogs that were accused of causing damage.
So the council had told their tenants that they could install fences at their own expense, as long as the Borough Engineer gave his approval.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 9th this letter signed by seven householders was published:
"As tenants at Windlehurst we would like to say that all the damage complained of is done by the dogs of tenants whose rent books state that no animals should be kept there until permission is obtained from the authorities.
"May we inform you that no fewer than eleven dogs are being kept in the square between Windlehurst-avenue, Rivington-avenue, Gamble-avenue, and Bishop-road, and they are the cause of the nuisance?
"It would not be a bad idea if, in the middle of the square was put a large dog kennel, or, better still, a lethal chamber, for all the mongrels which roam about and invite their many friends. Day and night we are pestered with hungry dogs and prowling cats.
"If this nuisance was tackled at once, there would be no need for tenants to line up at the Borough Engineer's office with a sample of lattice-work for approval with which to enclose the land. Drop the rents, remove the marauding cats and dogs, and peace will reign and the wilderness will blossom with roses at Windlehurst."
Windlehurst had been the council's first estate that it had built and it was learning that being a landlord was not plain sailing – as their tenants were more inclined to complain to them than to a private landlord.
The same applied to the tramways that the council had taken over in 1919.
At this week's meeting of the Town Council, Cllr. Davies said many people in Rainhill and Prescot were complaining about the tram service with many errors contained within the timetable.
At present, he said: "Nobody seemed to know when the trams were coming or going."
Cllr. Davies also wondered who could ride free on the trams and particularly wanted to know if the councillors on the Tramways Committee had that privilege.
Cllr. Rudd, the committee's chairman, explained that only tram staff was allowed to travel free while going to or from work, "but not when they were joy-riding". Everyone else had to pay, including councillors.
On the 9th Samuel Seddon of Springfield Road in Thatto Heath was charged in St Helens Police Court with neglecting his children.
Inspector Lycett of the NSPCC said the man's house was very dirty, badly furnished and there was little food.
The four children, he added, were very untidy, dirty and poorly clad and shod and the kids also had no change of clothing.
All six members of the family occupied a single bed and the inspector accused Seddon of being a "drunken, lazy fellow, who kept very late hours".
Of course, Seddon put the blame on his wife, telling her at one point in the hearing: "You never would get out of bed to send the children to school".
But Mrs Seddon had been unwell and at one point had been in hospital and stated she had been too ill to work.
The magistrates certainly felt the husband was to blame, telling him that the case would be adjourned to see if he could reform:
"If you want to redeem your character you have two months to do it in. It was up to you to be a man, and we hope to see in you a different person when the case comes up again."
Between midnight on the 10th and the afternoon of the 11th, a total of 110 Irish men and women were controversially arrested after a series of nationwide police raids.
Peter Henegan of Manning Street, off Borough Road, was the sole St Helens arrest and on the 12th he and all the others were deported to Ireland where they would be interned.
The Irish Free State later explained that the accused were engaged in a conspiracy to supply so-called "irregulars" with "warlike materials" – in other words they were accused of gunrunning to rebels that had refused to accept the Anglo-Irish peace treaty of 1921.
Also on the 12th the headmaster of Cowley Boys School, Gerald Dowse, gave a lecture in the Congregational Schoolroom on the well-meaning but ineffective League of Nations which had been founded in 1920.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the French actor's indecent act on a St Helens train, the man gassed at the smelting works, Silcocks are accused of breaking gaming laws in Napier Street and a foundation stone for the new Lowe House church is laid.
We begin with the St Helens Glee Club that gave their annual spring concert this week. A surgeon called Dr Stanley Siddall from Prescot Road was in charge of the male voice choir.
The Tuesday edition of the St Helens Reporter was published on the 6th and offered a glimmer of good news on the housing front:
"The outlook is becoming a little brighter in St. Helens as regards the great shortage of houses, particularly those of the working class type, a shortage which for years has been imposing serious hardship on a considerable number of those who are suffering as a consequence of it."
However, the new supply of homes, although welcome, would only scratch the surface of the problem.
It would take several thousand more dwellings to be built to make any real difference to the great housing shortage and the overcrowding of existing homes.
Commenting on the problems at Sutton Manor, the Reporter said many miners had to commute in from St Helens, although some were living in huts:
"There are row upon row of converted Army huts at Sutton Manor which have already been in occupation for some time as dwellings, like a miniature Knotty Ash, but this has only slightly relieved the housing pressure."
The Knotty Ash huts were built to accommodate American troops during the war and later acquired by Liverpool Corporation to house homeless families.
It has often been said that those who are thrifty with money are penalised by the benefits system.
These days, of course, the state pension is not means-tested – but it used to be a hundred years ago and was only available to the over seventies.
On the 7th the Liverpool Echo reported that the St Helens MP, James Sexton, planned to raise with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the case of Agnes Tomlinson of Hardshaw Street.
The paper wrote that Mrs Tomlinson was almost 70 and "…owing to the fact that her husband has succeeded, during a working life of 40 years' hard work and thrift, in saving £100 and who is also in receipt of a pension of 30s per week from his employer, this fact will disqualify her from receiving the old-age pension."
The 1921 census states that James Tomlinson had been a foreman at a copper works.
In November 1922 the Labour members of St Helens Council had got a resolution passed that Town Hall officials earning over a certain level had to agree to take a pay cut – or be fired.
Cllr. Thomas Boscow had moved the resolution on the ground that nearly everybody else in St Helens had suffered a reduction in their wages of late and argued that the well-paid bosses at the Town Hall should also be paid less.
Last month it was announced that all senior officials had agreed to accept a reduction in their pay – with one exception. That was the Town Clerk who refused to permit any cut at all.
William Andrew's salary was £1,500 per year and he was asked to accept a reduction to £1,368 – but stood his ground. And so on the 7th of this week, the council voted to give him three months' notice.
The new council house estate at Windlehurst had a problem with what were described as "marauding" cats and dogs that were accused of causing damage.
So the council had told their tenants that they could install fences at their own expense, as long as the Borough Engineer gave his approval.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 9th this letter signed by seven householders was published:
"As tenants at Windlehurst we would like to say that all the damage complained of is done by the dogs of tenants whose rent books state that no animals should be kept there until permission is obtained from the authorities.
"May we inform you that no fewer than eleven dogs are being kept in the square between Windlehurst-avenue, Rivington-avenue, Gamble-avenue, and Bishop-road, and they are the cause of the nuisance?
"It would not be a bad idea if, in the middle of the square was put a large dog kennel, or, better still, a lethal chamber, for all the mongrels which roam about and invite their many friends. Day and night we are pestered with hungry dogs and prowling cats.
"If this nuisance was tackled at once, there would be no need for tenants to line up at the Borough Engineer's office with a sample of lattice-work for approval with which to enclose the land. Drop the rents, remove the marauding cats and dogs, and peace will reign and the wilderness will blossom with roses at Windlehurst."
Windlehurst had been the council's first estate that it had built and it was learning that being a landlord was not plain sailing – as their tenants were more inclined to complain to them than to a private landlord.
The same applied to the tramways that the council had taken over in 1919.
At this week's meeting of the Town Council, Cllr. Davies said many people in Rainhill and Prescot were complaining about the tram service with many errors contained within the timetable.
At present, he said: "Nobody seemed to know when the trams were coming or going."
Cllr. Rudd, the committee's chairman, explained that only tram staff was allowed to travel free while going to or from work, "but not when they were joy-riding". Everyone else had to pay, including councillors.
On the 9th Samuel Seddon of Springfield Road in Thatto Heath was charged in St Helens Police Court with neglecting his children.
Inspector Lycett of the NSPCC said the man's house was very dirty, badly furnished and there was little food.
The four children, he added, were very untidy, dirty and poorly clad and shod and the kids also had no change of clothing.
All six members of the family occupied a single bed and the inspector accused Seddon of being a "drunken, lazy fellow, who kept very late hours".
Of course, Seddon put the blame on his wife, telling her at one point in the hearing: "You never would get out of bed to send the children to school".
But Mrs Seddon had been unwell and at one point had been in hospital and stated she had been too ill to work.
The magistrates certainly felt the husband was to blame, telling him that the case would be adjourned to see if he could reform:
"If you want to redeem your character you have two months to do it in. It was up to you to be a man, and we hope to see in you a different person when the case comes up again."
Between midnight on the 10th and the afternoon of the 11th, a total of 110 Irish men and women were controversially arrested after a series of nationwide police raids.
Peter Henegan of Manning Street, off Borough Road, was the sole St Helens arrest and on the 12th he and all the others were deported to Ireland where they would be interned.
The Irish Free State later explained that the accused were engaged in a conspiracy to supply so-called "irregulars" with "warlike materials" – in other words they were accused of gunrunning to rebels that had refused to accept the Anglo-Irish peace treaty of 1921.
Also on the 12th the headmaster of Cowley Boys School, Gerald Dowse, gave a lecture in the Congregational Schoolroom on the well-meaning but ineffective League of Nations which had been founded in 1920.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the French actor's indecent act on a St Helens train, the man gassed at the smelting works, Silcocks are accused of breaking gaming laws in Napier Street and a foundation stone for the new Lowe House church is laid.