IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th JULY 1920)
This week's stories include the boy from Mount Street who stole his father's boots, the Ormskirk Street busker who was busted by the police, the "loss to the town's child life" of Carr Mill Dam, the first female magistrates in St Helens are sworn in and the woman who claimed she suffered from fits and was not a drunkard collapses in court.
We begin on the 7th at a Health Committee meeting at the Town Hall, which considered the layouts of many desperately needed new houses that the council planned to build. These included 97 on a site at Sutton Manor, 130 in Blackbrook and smaller numbers in Gaskell Street in Parr, Ramford Street and Allanson Street. The Borough Engineer was instructed to submit the plans to the Government's Housing Commissioner for approval.
At a full Town Council meeting on the 7th the controversial question of Sunday music in the parks was considered again. It was decided to permit some performances but collections from the audience would not be allowed. Several councillors called for a reduction in the speed limit for motor vehicles in St Helens town centre, with Councillor Rudd arguing for an 8mph limit.
It was revealed that a number of places in St Helens had been allocated as locations where charabancs would be allowed to stand while waiting for passengers. These were Victoria Square (opposite the Library); near the Lingholme Hotel in Boundary Road; the Robin Hood Hotel in Tontine Street; Bates Crescent, Thatto Heath; near the Bulls Head Hotel in Parr and opposite the Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton.
The Council's Parliamentary Committee had appointed a sub-committee to consider purchasing land on the Carr Mill Dam estate (pictured above) in order to turn the area into a pleasure resort. However it was revealed at the Town Council meeting that a private buyer had bought the dam on the previous day. Councillor Thackray was unimpressed, saying: "It is perhaps the only beauty spot in the town, and it has been handed over to a private person to be exploited to the loss and detriment of the child life of the town."
Fifty years later the Reporter would be lamenting the state of Carr Mill Dam and writing that no one knew who owned the land. Sir David Gamble had previously been the owner but he had now left St Helens. At the auction held at the Fleece Hotel it had in fact been a Mr Middlehurst who had bought the Carr Mill estate.
On the same day a schoolboy called Francis Brannon from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a pair of boots valued at 30 shillings from his father. The lad had tried to sell his Dad's boots in the Market but not getting any takers had dumped them down an entry. Francis denied at first stealing them but eventually confessed to the police. We'd come across the boy a few weeks ago after he and another lad had conned a fruiterer from Boundary Road out of some cash.
Francis was then placed under the probation officer for three years but was regularly taking money from his home, playing truant and sleeping out. It was said in court that he was beyond the control of his father, which as far as the magistrates were concerned, meant only one thing. They must send him to an industrial school until the age of sixteen. Industrial schools were created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a serious crime. For those children that had, they were despatched to reformatories, which later became known as approved schools.
On the 9th three young men employed at a Parr colliery (probably Southport Colliery) were fined 20s each for opening the cage door as it ascended the shaft of the mine. This was so they could get out quicker but the prosecutor described it as an exceedingly dangerous practice. He said when the cages were opened within the shaft, an oscillation might throw the men out and they would "meet with a terrible death".
Also in court was Elizabeth White from Fenton Street. This no longer exists but it used to be near Kirkland Street. "Elderly Woman's Court Plea", was the St Helens Reporter's headline to their piece – although census records show the woman was only 49. Elizabeth was charged with being drunk and incapable having been found by PC Hughes lying across the pavement in Kirkland Street at 10:10pm on the previous Friday night. The officer said that when he picked Elizabeth up, he noticed that she smelt strongly of spirits.
When he took her home, her husband told him that he could "do no good with her", adding that his wife always got like that when she had some money. However in court the woman protested that she'd had a fit and during that evening no one would serve her with drink. While the magistrates were considering the case the woman dramatically collapsed and had to be carried out of court. The Bench decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the charge.
The annual Sutton school fete was held on the 10th. This involved the usual procession to a field in Sherdley Park that Colonel Michael Hughes had lent for the occasion. There the children from Sutton National, Marshalls Cross and the local Sunday schools participated in races and other events and there was also Maypole and Morris dancing. During the same afternoon the Clock Face Colliery School in Lindsay Street (which became St Aidan's) held their Field Day in a field owned by Bert Garton.
There must have been a lot of squawking down Bridge Street on the 10th. The third annual show of the St Helens & District Cage Birds Society took place in the café, where their meetings were held.
In the Police Court on the 12th, eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were sworn in, with three of the newcomers being women. Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Mrs Dodd was unable to attend. The Mayor, Cllr. Joseph Turner, said: "The appointment of lady magistrates would for years to come be a kind of landmark in the history of the town."
The St Helens Chief Constable (pictured above with his funeral cortege) congratulated the lady magistrates in his address and hinted at women police in the future in St Helens – although that would have been a U-turn for Arthur Ellerington. At a conference in London in 1918 he had declared women police patrols to be an "expensive luxury". There were then some female police in the capital and Mr Ellerington said from what he had seen they did "nothing but gossip and obstruct the footpath" and had to be escorted by male officers. It wasn't until Ellerington's sudden death in 1939 that women police were appointed in St Helens.
Also in the Police Court – but not to be congratulated – was a man described by the Newspaper as "trim, well-clothed, plum and hearty-looking". Sidney Lawney was charged with placing himself in the street to receive alms – begging in other words, although we would call him a busker. He was making his way back home to Manchester after attempting unsuccessfully to get a music hall job in Blackpool.
A constable told the court that he had found Lawney playing his violin in Ormskirk Street and ordered him to leave. However the man refused to depart until he had finished playing his piece. The officer said he had told him to go away at least three times but as he refused, he had no choice but to take him into custody. A hostile crowd soon assembled as Lawney was being taken away and he had shouted to them that he'd been in the army.
Giving evidence Sidney Lawney said he had been playing a popular piece called 'Heart of a Rose', and added: "I asked the policeman quietly to let me finish it. I had been to Blackpool to get a job, and, not succeeding, I was working my way back. I am a music hall artist, and I have played outside in the street near the G.P.O. at Manchester for twelve months without being interfered with." The police had found that he had thirty shillings in his possession and ten shillings of that would now have to be spent on a fine.
Next week's stories will include the biggest fight in Rainford for many years, the woman injured through stacking heavy shells in Sutton, the charabanc boss who would not quit his Boundary Road home and the Jewish marine store owner in Parr.
We begin on the 7th at a Health Committee meeting at the Town Hall, which considered the layouts of many desperately needed new houses that the council planned to build. These included 97 on a site at Sutton Manor, 130 in Blackbrook and smaller numbers in Gaskell Street in Parr, Ramford Street and Allanson Street. The Borough Engineer was instructed to submit the plans to the Government's Housing Commissioner for approval.
At a full Town Council meeting on the 7th the controversial question of Sunday music in the parks was considered again. It was decided to permit some performances but collections from the audience would not be allowed. Several councillors called for a reduction in the speed limit for motor vehicles in St Helens town centre, with Councillor Rudd arguing for an 8mph limit.
It was revealed that a number of places in St Helens had been allocated as locations where charabancs would be allowed to stand while waiting for passengers. These were Victoria Square (opposite the Library); near the Lingholme Hotel in Boundary Road; the Robin Hood Hotel in Tontine Street; Bates Crescent, Thatto Heath; near the Bulls Head Hotel in Parr and opposite the Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton.
Fifty years later the Reporter would be lamenting the state of Carr Mill Dam and writing that no one knew who owned the land. Sir David Gamble had previously been the owner but he had now left St Helens. At the auction held at the Fleece Hotel it had in fact been a Mr Middlehurst who had bought the Carr Mill estate.
On the same day a schoolboy called Francis Brannon from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a pair of boots valued at 30 shillings from his father. The lad had tried to sell his Dad's boots in the Market but not getting any takers had dumped them down an entry. Francis denied at first stealing them but eventually confessed to the police. We'd come across the boy a few weeks ago after he and another lad had conned a fruiterer from Boundary Road out of some cash.
Francis was then placed under the probation officer for three years but was regularly taking money from his home, playing truant and sleeping out. It was said in court that he was beyond the control of his father, which as far as the magistrates were concerned, meant only one thing. They must send him to an industrial school until the age of sixteen. Industrial schools were created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a serious crime. For those children that had, they were despatched to reformatories, which later became known as approved schools.
On the 9th three young men employed at a Parr colliery (probably Southport Colliery) were fined 20s each for opening the cage door as it ascended the shaft of the mine. This was so they could get out quicker but the prosecutor described it as an exceedingly dangerous practice. He said when the cages were opened within the shaft, an oscillation might throw the men out and they would "meet with a terrible death".
Also in court was Elizabeth White from Fenton Street. This no longer exists but it used to be near Kirkland Street. "Elderly Woman's Court Plea", was the St Helens Reporter's headline to their piece – although census records show the woman was only 49. Elizabeth was charged with being drunk and incapable having been found by PC Hughes lying across the pavement in Kirkland Street at 10:10pm on the previous Friday night. The officer said that when he picked Elizabeth up, he noticed that she smelt strongly of spirits.
When he took her home, her husband told him that he could "do no good with her", adding that his wife always got like that when she had some money. However in court the woman protested that she'd had a fit and during that evening no one would serve her with drink. While the magistrates were considering the case the woman dramatically collapsed and had to be carried out of court. The Bench decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the charge.
The annual Sutton school fete was held on the 10th. This involved the usual procession to a field in Sherdley Park that Colonel Michael Hughes had lent for the occasion. There the children from Sutton National, Marshalls Cross and the local Sunday schools participated in races and other events and there was also Maypole and Morris dancing. During the same afternoon the Clock Face Colliery School in Lindsay Street (which became St Aidan's) held their Field Day in a field owned by Bert Garton.
There must have been a lot of squawking down Bridge Street on the 10th. The third annual show of the St Helens & District Cage Birds Society took place in the café, where their meetings were held.
In the Police Court on the 12th, eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were sworn in, with three of the newcomers being women. Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Mrs Dodd was unable to attend. The Mayor, Cllr. Joseph Turner, said: "The appointment of lady magistrates would for years to come be a kind of landmark in the history of the town."
Also in the Police Court – but not to be congratulated – was a man described by the Newspaper as "trim, well-clothed, plum and hearty-looking". Sidney Lawney was charged with placing himself in the street to receive alms – begging in other words, although we would call him a busker. He was making his way back home to Manchester after attempting unsuccessfully to get a music hall job in Blackpool.
A constable told the court that he had found Lawney playing his violin in Ormskirk Street and ordered him to leave. However the man refused to depart until he had finished playing his piece. The officer said he had told him to go away at least three times but as he refused, he had no choice but to take him into custody. A hostile crowd soon assembled as Lawney was being taken away and he had shouted to them that he'd been in the army.
Giving evidence Sidney Lawney said he had been playing a popular piece called 'Heart of a Rose', and added: "I asked the policeman quietly to let me finish it. I had been to Blackpool to get a job, and, not succeeding, I was working my way back. I am a music hall artist, and I have played outside in the street near the G.P.O. at Manchester for twelve months without being interfered with." The police had found that he had thirty shillings in his possession and ten shillings of that would now have to be spent on a fine.
Next week's stories will include the biggest fight in Rainford for many years, the woman injured through stacking heavy shells in Sutton, the charabanc boss who would not quit his Boundary Road home and the Jewish marine store owner in Parr.
This week's stories include the boy from Mount Street who stole his father's boots, the Ormskirk Street busker who was busted by the police, the "loss to the town's child life" of Carr Mill Dam, the first female magistrates in St Helens are sworn in and the woman who claimed she suffered from fits and was not a drunkard collapses in court.
We begin on the 7th at a Health Committee meeting at the Town Hall, which considered the layouts of many desperately needed new houses that the council planned to build.
These included 97 on a site at Sutton Manor, 130 in Blackbrook and smaller numbers in Gaskell Street in Parr, Ramford Street and Allanson Street.
The Borough Engineer was instructed to submit the plans to the Government's Housing Commissioner for approval.
At a full Town Council meeting on the 7th the controversial question of Sunday music in the parks was considered again.
It was decided to permit some performances but collections from the audience would not be allowed.
Several councillors called for a reduction in the speed limit for motor vehicles in St Helens town centre, with Councillor Rudd arguing for an 8mph limit.
It was revealed that a number of places in St Helens had been allocated as locations where charabancs would be allowed to stand while waiting for passengers.
These were Victoria Square (opposite the Library); near the Lingholme Hotel in Boundary Road; the Robin Hood Hotel in Tontine Street; Bates Crescent, Thatto Heath; near the Bulls Head Hotel in Parr and opposite the Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton.
The Council's Parliamentary Committee had appointed a sub-committee to consider purchasing land on the Carr Mill Dam estate (pictured above) in order to turn the area into a pleasure resort.
However it was revealed at the Town Council meeting that a private buyer had bought the dam on the previous day. Councillor Thackray was unimpressed, saying:
"It is perhaps the only beauty spot in the town, and it has been handed over to a private person to be exploited to the loss and detriment of the child life of the town."
Fifty years later the Reporter would be lamenting the state of Carr Mill Dam and writing that no one knew who owned the land.
Sir David Gamble had previously been the owner but he had now left St Helens.
At the auction held at the Fleece Hotel it had in fact been a Mr Middlehurst who had bought the Carr Mill estate.
On the same day a schoolboy called Francis Brannon from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a pair of boots valued at 30 shillings from his father.
The lad had tried to sell his Dad's boots in the Market but not getting any takers had dumped them down an entry.
Francis denied at first stealing them but eventually confessed to the police.
We'd come across the boy a few weeks ago after he and another lad had conned a fruiterer from Boundary Road out of some cash.
Francis was then placed under the probation officer for three years but was regularly taking money from his home, playing truant and sleeping out.
It was said in court that he was beyond the control of his father, which as far as the magistrates were concerned, meant only one thing.
They must send him to an industrial school until the age of sixteen.
Industrial schools were created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a serious crime.
For those children that had, they were despatched to reformatories, which later became known as approved schools.
On the 9th three young men employed at a Parr colliery (probably Southport Colliery) were fined 20s each for opening the cage door as it ascended the shaft of the mine.
This was so they could get out quicker but the prosecutor described it as an exceedingly dangerous practice.
He said when the cages were opened within the shaft, an oscillation might throw the men out and they would "meet with a terrible death".
Also in court was Elizabeth White from Fenton Street. This no longer exists but it used to be near Kirkland Street.
"Elderly Woman's Court Plea", was the St Helens Reporter's headline to their piece – although census records show the woman was only 49.
Elizabeth was charged with being drunk and incapable having been found by PC Hughes lying across the pavement in Kirkland Street at 10:10pm on the previous Friday night.
The officer said that when he picked Elizabeth up, he noticed that she smelt strongly of spirits.
When he took her home, her husband told him that he could "do no good with her", adding that his wife always got like that when she had some money.
However in court the woman protested that she'd had a fit and during that evening no one would serve her with drink.
While the magistrates were considering the case the woman dramatically collapsed and had to be carried out of court.
The Bench decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the charge.
The annual Sutton school fete was held on the 10th. This involved the usual procession to a field in Sherdley Park that Colonel Michael Hughes had lent for the occasion.
There the children from Sutton National, Marshalls Cross and the local Sunday schools participated in races and other events and there was also Maypole and Morris dancing.
During the same afternoon the Clock Face Colliery School in Lindsay Street (which became St Aidan's) held their Field Day in a field owned by Bert Garton.
There must have been a lot of squawking down Bridge Street on the 10th.
The third annual show of the St Helens & District Cage Birds Society took place in the café, where their meetings were held.
In the Police Court on the 12th, eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were sworn in, with three of the newcomers being women.
Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Mrs Dodd was unable to attend.
The Mayor, Cllr. Joseph Turner, said: "The appointment of lady magistrates would for years to come be a kind of landmark in the history of the town."
The St Helens Chief Constable (pictured above with his funeral cortege) congratulated the lady magistrates in his address and hinted at women police in the future in St Helens – although that would have been a U-turn for Arthur Ellerington.
At a conference in London in 1918 he had declared women police patrols to be an "expensive luxury".
There were then some female police in the capital and Mr Ellerington said from what he had seen they did "nothing but gossip and obstruct the footpath" and had to be escorted by male officers.
It wasn't until Ellerington's sudden death in 1939 that women police were appointed in St Helens.
Also in the Police Court – but not to be congratulated – was a man described by the Newspaper as "trim, well-clothed, plum and hearty-looking".
Sidney Lawney was charged with placing himself in the street to receive alms – begging in other words, although we would call him a busker.
He was making his way back home to Manchester after attempting unsuccessfully to get a music hall job in Blackpool.
A constable told the court that he had found Lawney playing his violin in Ormskirk Street and ordered him to leave.
However the man refused to depart until he had finished playing his piece.
The officer said he had told him to go away at least three times but as he refused, he had no choice but to take him into custody.
A hostile crowd soon assembled as Lawney was being taken away and he had shouted to them that he'd been in the army.
Giving evidence Sidney Lawney said he had been playing a popular piece called 'Heart of a Rose', and added:
"I asked the policeman quietly to let me finish it. I had been to Blackpool to get a job, and, not succeeding, I was working my way back.
"I am a music hall artist, and I have played outside in the street near the G.P.O. at Manchester for twelve months without being interfered with."
The police had found that he had thirty shillings in his possession and ten shillings of that would now have to be spent on a fine.
Next week's stories will include the biggest fight in Rainford for many years, the woman injured through stacking heavy shells in Sutton, the charabanc boss who would not quit his Boundary Road home and the Jewish marine store owner in Parr.
We begin on the 7th at a Health Committee meeting at the Town Hall, which considered the layouts of many desperately needed new houses that the council planned to build.
These included 97 on a site at Sutton Manor, 130 in Blackbrook and smaller numbers in Gaskell Street in Parr, Ramford Street and Allanson Street.
The Borough Engineer was instructed to submit the plans to the Government's Housing Commissioner for approval.
At a full Town Council meeting on the 7th the controversial question of Sunday music in the parks was considered again.
It was decided to permit some performances but collections from the audience would not be allowed.
Several councillors called for a reduction in the speed limit for motor vehicles in St Helens town centre, with Councillor Rudd arguing for an 8mph limit.
It was revealed that a number of places in St Helens had been allocated as locations where charabancs would be allowed to stand while waiting for passengers.
These were Victoria Square (opposite the Library); near the Lingholme Hotel in Boundary Road; the Robin Hood Hotel in Tontine Street; Bates Crescent, Thatto Heath; near the Bulls Head Hotel in Parr and opposite the Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton.
However it was revealed at the Town Council meeting that a private buyer had bought the dam on the previous day. Councillor Thackray was unimpressed, saying:
"It is perhaps the only beauty spot in the town, and it has been handed over to a private person to be exploited to the loss and detriment of the child life of the town."
Fifty years later the Reporter would be lamenting the state of Carr Mill Dam and writing that no one knew who owned the land.
Sir David Gamble had previously been the owner but he had now left St Helens.
At the auction held at the Fleece Hotel it had in fact been a Mr Middlehurst who had bought the Carr Mill estate.
On the same day a schoolboy called Francis Brannon from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a pair of boots valued at 30 shillings from his father.
The lad had tried to sell his Dad's boots in the Market but not getting any takers had dumped them down an entry.
Francis denied at first stealing them but eventually confessed to the police.
We'd come across the boy a few weeks ago after he and another lad had conned a fruiterer from Boundary Road out of some cash.
Francis was then placed under the probation officer for three years but was regularly taking money from his home, playing truant and sleeping out.
It was said in court that he was beyond the control of his father, which as far as the magistrates were concerned, meant only one thing.
They must send him to an industrial school until the age of sixteen.
Industrial schools were created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a serious crime.
For those children that had, they were despatched to reformatories, which later became known as approved schools.
On the 9th three young men employed at a Parr colliery (probably Southport Colliery) were fined 20s each for opening the cage door as it ascended the shaft of the mine.
This was so they could get out quicker but the prosecutor described it as an exceedingly dangerous practice.
He said when the cages were opened within the shaft, an oscillation might throw the men out and they would "meet with a terrible death".
Also in court was Elizabeth White from Fenton Street. This no longer exists but it used to be near Kirkland Street.
"Elderly Woman's Court Plea", was the St Helens Reporter's headline to their piece – although census records show the woman was only 49.
Elizabeth was charged with being drunk and incapable having been found by PC Hughes lying across the pavement in Kirkland Street at 10:10pm on the previous Friday night.
The officer said that when he picked Elizabeth up, he noticed that she smelt strongly of spirits.
When he took her home, her husband told him that he could "do no good with her", adding that his wife always got like that when she had some money.
However in court the woman protested that she'd had a fit and during that evening no one would serve her with drink.
While the magistrates were considering the case the woman dramatically collapsed and had to be carried out of court.
The Bench decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the charge.
The annual Sutton school fete was held on the 10th. This involved the usual procession to a field in Sherdley Park that Colonel Michael Hughes had lent for the occasion.
There the children from Sutton National, Marshalls Cross and the local Sunday schools participated in races and other events and there was also Maypole and Morris dancing.
During the same afternoon the Clock Face Colliery School in Lindsay Street (which became St Aidan's) held their Field Day in a field owned by Bert Garton.
There must have been a lot of squawking down Bridge Street on the 10th.
The third annual show of the St Helens & District Cage Birds Society took place in the café, where their meetings were held.
In the Police Court on the 12th, eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were sworn in, with three of the newcomers being women.
Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Mrs Dodd was unable to attend.
The Mayor, Cllr. Joseph Turner, said: "The appointment of lady magistrates would for years to come be a kind of landmark in the history of the town."
At a conference in London in 1918 he had declared women police patrols to be an "expensive luxury".
There were then some female police in the capital and Mr Ellerington said from what he had seen they did "nothing but gossip and obstruct the footpath" and had to be escorted by male officers.
It wasn't until Ellerington's sudden death in 1939 that women police were appointed in St Helens.
Also in the Police Court – but not to be congratulated – was a man described by the Newspaper as "trim, well-clothed, plum and hearty-looking".
Sidney Lawney was charged with placing himself in the street to receive alms – begging in other words, although we would call him a busker.
He was making his way back home to Manchester after attempting unsuccessfully to get a music hall job in Blackpool.
A constable told the court that he had found Lawney playing his violin in Ormskirk Street and ordered him to leave.
However the man refused to depart until he had finished playing his piece.
The officer said he had told him to go away at least three times but as he refused, he had no choice but to take him into custody.
A hostile crowd soon assembled as Lawney was being taken away and he had shouted to them that he'd been in the army.
Giving evidence Sidney Lawney said he had been playing a popular piece called 'Heart of a Rose', and added:
"I asked the policeman quietly to let me finish it. I had been to Blackpool to get a job, and, not succeeding, I was working my way back.
"I am a music hall artist, and I have played outside in the street near the G.P.O. at Manchester for twelve months without being interfered with."
The police had found that he had thirty shillings in his possession and ten shillings of that would now have to be spent on a fine.
Next week's stories will include the biggest fight in Rainford for many years, the woman injured through stacking heavy shells in Sutton, the charabanc boss who would not quit his Boundary Road home and the Jewish marine store owner in Parr.