IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th SEPTEMBER 1921)
This week's stories include the controversial blackface dancer at the Hippodrome, a warning that the dire unemployment situation in St Helens was leading to starvation, the biker accused of riding like a madman through Eccleston Street, the town's pub opening hours are revised and the painful case of the St Helens girl at Blackpool.
We begin on the 6th with the first in a new weekly series of boxing contests in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street. The Liverpool Echo described the show – at the venue calling itself "The Ring" – as having been an exhibition of "capital boxing", although some pair-ups seemed a bit unequal. A 10-round contest between Corporal Billy Walsham of St Helens and Jimmy Riley of Wigan ended in a knockout in the eighth round in favour of the latter, who was reported as having been a much bigger man. Similarly Joey Robinson, the schoolboy champion of St Helens, had a victory over Harry Parry, described as a much smaller boy.
There was a circus performing in town this week at the YMCA Gymnasium in Duke Street. 'Astley's Grand Continental Circus' featured horses, mules, gymnasts, acrobats, cyclists and "a host of merry clowns". For four days this week what was described as an "extraordinary attraction" was screened at the Bridge Street Picturedrome. It was 'Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde' starring John Barrymore – "the greatest piece of character acting ever filmed." So claimed the ad in the St Helens Reporter. And with talking pictures yet to be introduced, exaggerated mannerisms were very much the order of the day for actors.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street, the many acts included conjurer Oswald Bemand and his "beautiful pet wonder pigeons". Many of us remember Pathe News and Gaumont but there were other cinema newsreels too. The Hippodrome was featuring Brown's Royal Bioscope, which was "showing news in animation". However, the headline act was G. H. Elliott, who unfortunately styled himself "The original chocolate coloured c**n".
Last year, the Rochdale-born dancer and singer's gravestone, which featured that strapline, was controversially covered up by the church. During his day the blackfaced Elliott was a big star, appearing in three Royal Variety Shows and in 1957 was the subject of 'This Is Your Life' when Eamonn Andrews surprised him live on stage.
St Helens Ladies football team (pictured above) travelled to Burnley on the 7th to play a recently formed side called Barnes Girls at Turf Moor. There were 2,000 spectators and £124 was raised for the local YMCA as St Helens easily won 1 - 4. In just three months time the Football Association would ban such games at member grounds like Turf Moor because they considered the sport unsuitable for females.
Last week there had been a stormy meeting between the Mayor of St Helens and representatives of unemployed men. On the 8th the Guardian newspaper described how St Helens Council had received a deputation from those made jobless because of the economic crisis in the country. A letter was handed over that stated that the distress in the town was "reaching a point of sheer starvation", and unless something was done it would be "hard to restrain the passions of the men, who were being driven to despair". The council was asked to do more for the "starving men, women, and children of St Helens".
Dole money for those who were insured was only fifteen shillings a week and did not last long. Once that cash ran out what was called outdoor relief could be obtained from the Prescot Guardians, who administered the Poor Law. But that was designed for the elderly who were not able to work or, say, a family whose breadwinner had walked out on them or become disabled. There was no set amount for unemployment, which was dealt with on a case-by-case basis and did not favour those men capable of working – indeed single men received nothing.
James Charnock was secretary of the local Unemployed Organisation and in addressing the council, said there were nearly four thousand people unemployed in the town. He asked the council members to use their influence with the Guardians to get the scale of relief increased and lambasted the lack of cash for single men. Mr Charnock said that in 1914 when soldiers were being recruited to fight the Great War, the cry had been "single men first". Today, he said, the cry was "single men must starve". He added that single men had a right to live like others and reminded the council what single men might do:
"If the people of this country were not going to be fed, the people who were well fed and nourished would eventually become victims. They were going to fight for their lives. That was what it meant." The councillors had little interest in simply doling out cash to the jobless. But they were setting up a big new programme of "relief work" to undertake improvements to Clock Face Road and widen a very long stretch of Prescot Road. Just how many unemployed men would be taken on was not stated. But in the meantime crime, disorder and suicide rates could be expected to rise.
However the economic woes were not affecting everyone and some young men were earning good money and buying motorbikes on hire purchase. This was causing some alarm, as shown in the prosecution of Ralph Poyser of Dentons Green Lane. The 18-year-old shop assistant was summoned to St Helens Police Court on the 12th charged with driving a motorcycle to the danger of the public along Eccleston Street. PC Jackson said the street was at the time full of children and the defendant and his brother passed through at 25 miles an hour. They failed to give any warning of their approach and, he said, neglected to stop when he ordered them to.
Last month I wrote that as a rule of thumb drivers charged in St Helens courts with speeding would insist they'd only been travelling at half the speed claimed by the prosecution. And that was the case here with Ralph Poyser insisting his bike had only been going at 13 or 14 mph and he hadn't seen the policeman at all. The Chairman of the Bench was one of many concerned about the speeds that motorists and motorbike riders were travelling at and declared:
"These young fellows go like madmen along the street. They must think that everything belongs to them, and that the public are of no account whatever. Eccleston-street is a very dangerous street and, unfortunately, children made it a sort of playground, but still they must be protected." Ralph Poyser was fined £1 15s including costs and I notice that in the wartime census known as the 1939 Register, his occupation was stated as lorry driver.
The new pub Licensing Act was now coming into effect creating a framework for opening hours that would last for the rest of the 20th century. The weekday opening of pubs in England would be permissible from 11:30am to 3pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm – although local licensing authorities did have the power to slightly modify these times. On the 12th the St Helens Licensed Victuallers' Association applied to the licensing magistrates in the town for a 30-minute evening extension.
Their solicitor Thomas Garner pointed out that under the new law liquor could be sold for an extra half-an-hour if local justices believed such hours suited their district's needs. He said the main reason why an extension until 10:30pm was sought was that many manual workers were employed on the 2pm to 10pm shift. So the Licensed Victuallers thought it only right that these workers should have an opportunity of obtaining refreshment. The same applied to the "large body of people at places of amusement" (cinemas, theatres etc.) who wanted a pint after 10pm.
However the licensing justices (and there were 18 of them!) were never keen on longer opening hours and last December only grudgingly allowed an extra half-hour's drinking on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, saying: "The Bench do not look favourably upon these applications, and the present concessions must not be looked upon as a precedent." So the magistrates unanimously decided to reject the application and adopt in St Helens, pub and beerhouse opening hours of 11am to 2:30pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm. These would come into force in a week's time.
There was a very sad case in court at Blackpool on the 12th when a girl from St Helens was charged with stealing clothing and 6 shillings in cash. The Chief Constable told the court that a Mrs Cohen from Springfield Road in Blackpool had for some weeks engaged Winifred Brown as a domestic servant. The girl aged about 15 or 16 had been due to leave her situation on Saturday.
As she was about to depart for home, Mrs Cohen accused her of stealing a ring, some money and other things and then sent for the police. Upon the arrival of PC Atwood, Winifred burst into tears and placed the ring – which was tied up in a handkerchief – on the table. When searched by the matron at the police station, articles of clothing were found fastened round Winifred's waist underneath her own skirt.
It was unusual for a top policeman acting as prosecutor in court to be sympathetic to a thief. But Chief Constable Derham seems to have been a nice man who during 1921 organised appeals for the poor and unemployed in Blackpool. Herbert Derham explained to the Bench that Winifred's was a "painful case". The prisoner, he said, was a daughter of poor parents and from the age of 14 had to earn her own livelihood.
"Her father and mother are separated and there are some little children to maintain. This poor creature is in a certain condition and I feel inclined to help her. I am prepared to help her to get back to her people at St. Helens. It is her first offence, and it will perhaps be a lesson to her."
In the 1911 census Winifred Brown was living in Brook Street with her parents and what were then six siblings, two younger than her. Mrs Cohen also spoke up for the girl in court, although she appears to have discharged Winifred because of her pregnancy. The girl who was reported as being quite emotional in court was bound over for 12 months.
And, as usual, my final item features the article in the Echo that had nothing to do with St Helens but made me smile or shake my head in disbelief the most. It was very much the latter this week, with this piece headlined "Ku Klux Klan Revived":
"The Ku Klux Klan, the dreaded secret anti-negro organisation of the Civil War, has revived to-day and expanded to a membership of 650,000, with “domains, realms, and klans” in every State of the Union. It is exposed and denounced by the “New York World” as a law-defying menace to the nation, an organisation which preaches racial and religious hatred of Jew, Roman Catholic, negro, and alien, and whose members bind themselves by terrible oaths to give unquestionable obedience to an “emperor.”
"It is alleged that the Klan, instead of being a legitimate rebirth of an old organisation, with the motto “White supremacy,” has now put the negro question on one side, and is to-day primarily an anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, anti-alien organisation, spreading rapidly through the north and west by appeals to local or sectional prejudices and hatreds, and by promising every member that his pet aversion shall be the object of a Klan visitation of masked men equipped with whips and tar and feathers.
"The knights of the Ku Klux Klan Incorporated have become a great modern enterprise, conducted upon up-to-date business lines, which sells its membership for £2, of which 50 per cent goes into the treasury of the “Invisible Empire.” A former “high official,” who renounced the sacred oaths on the ground that the Klan was revealed to him as “an unpatriotic, lawless menace to the peace and security of the United States,” declares that the Klan to-day is now nothing more than a throw-back to the centuries when terror, instead of law and justice, ruled the lives of men."
Next week's stories will include the sisterly row in Rainford, the Thatto Heath miner who refused to look after his family, the Borough Road tenant's foolish refusal to pay all her rent, street betting in Hall Street and a brutal police assault on the Walker Art Gallery.
We begin on the 6th with the first in a new weekly series of boxing contests in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street. The Liverpool Echo described the show – at the venue calling itself "The Ring" – as having been an exhibition of "capital boxing", although some pair-ups seemed a bit unequal. A 10-round contest between Corporal Billy Walsham of St Helens and Jimmy Riley of Wigan ended in a knockout in the eighth round in favour of the latter, who was reported as having been a much bigger man. Similarly Joey Robinson, the schoolboy champion of St Helens, had a victory over Harry Parry, described as a much smaller boy.
There was a circus performing in town this week at the YMCA Gymnasium in Duke Street. 'Astley's Grand Continental Circus' featured horses, mules, gymnasts, acrobats, cyclists and "a host of merry clowns". For four days this week what was described as an "extraordinary attraction" was screened at the Bridge Street Picturedrome. It was 'Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde' starring John Barrymore – "the greatest piece of character acting ever filmed." So claimed the ad in the St Helens Reporter. And with talking pictures yet to be introduced, exaggerated mannerisms were very much the order of the day for actors.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street, the many acts included conjurer Oswald Bemand and his "beautiful pet wonder pigeons". Many of us remember Pathe News and Gaumont but there were other cinema newsreels too. The Hippodrome was featuring Brown's Royal Bioscope, which was "showing news in animation". However, the headline act was G. H. Elliott, who unfortunately styled himself "The original chocolate coloured c**n".
Last year, the Rochdale-born dancer and singer's gravestone, which featured that strapline, was controversially covered up by the church. During his day the blackfaced Elliott was a big star, appearing in three Royal Variety Shows and in 1957 was the subject of 'This Is Your Life' when Eamonn Andrews surprised him live on stage.
Last week there had been a stormy meeting between the Mayor of St Helens and representatives of unemployed men. On the 8th the Guardian newspaper described how St Helens Council had received a deputation from those made jobless because of the economic crisis in the country. A letter was handed over that stated that the distress in the town was "reaching a point of sheer starvation", and unless something was done it would be "hard to restrain the passions of the men, who were being driven to despair". The council was asked to do more for the "starving men, women, and children of St Helens".
Dole money for those who were insured was only fifteen shillings a week and did not last long. Once that cash ran out what was called outdoor relief could be obtained from the Prescot Guardians, who administered the Poor Law. But that was designed for the elderly who were not able to work or, say, a family whose breadwinner had walked out on them or become disabled. There was no set amount for unemployment, which was dealt with on a case-by-case basis and did not favour those men capable of working – indeed single men received nothing.
James Charnock was secretary of the local Unemployed Organisation and in addressing the council, said there were nearly four thousand people unemployed in the town. He asked the council members to use their influence with the Guardians to get the scale of relief increased and lambasted the lack of cash for single men. Mr Charnock said that in 1914 when soldiers were being recruited to fight the Great War, the cry had been "single men first". Today, he said, the cry was "single men must starve". He added that single men had a right to live like others and reminded the council what single men might do:
"If the people of this country were not going to be fed, the people who were well fed and nourished would eventually become victims. They were going to fight for their lives. That was what it meant." The councillors had little interest in simply doling out cash to the jobless. But they were setting up a big new programme of "relief work" to undertake improvements to Clock Face Road and widen a very long stretch of Prescot Road. Just how many unemployed men would be taken on was not stated. But in the meantime crime, disorder and suicide rates could be expected to rise.
However the economic woes were not affecting everyone and some young men were earning good money and buying motorbikes on hire purchase. This was causing some alarm, as shown in the prosecution of Ralph Poyser of Dentons Green Lane. The 18-year-old shop assistant was summoned to St Helens Police Court on the 12th charged with driving a motorcycle to the danger of the public along Eccleston Street. PC Jackson said the street was at the time full of children and the defendant and his brother passed through at 25 miles an hour. They failed to give any warning of their approach and, he said, neglected to stop when he ordered them to.
Last month I wrote that as a rule of thumb drivers charged in St Helens courts with speeding would insist they'd only been travelling at half the speed claimed by the prosecution. And that was the case here with Ralph Poyser insisting his bike had only been going at 13 or 14 mph and he hadn't seen the policeman at all. The Chairman of the Bench was one of many concerned about the speeds that motorists and motorbike riders were travelling at and declared:
"These young fellows go like madmen along the street. They must think that everything belongs to them, and that the public are of no account whatever. Eccleston-street is a very dangerous street and, unfortunately, children made it a sort of playground, but still they must be protected." Ralph Poyser was fined £1 15s including costs and I notice that in the wartime census known as the 1939 Register, his occupation was stated as lorry driver.
The new pub Licensing Act was now coming into effect creating a framework for opening hours that would last for the rest of the 20th century. The weekday opening of pubs in England would be permissible from 11:30am to 3pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm – although local licensing authorities did have the power to slightly modify these times. On the 12th the St Helens Licensed Victuallers' Association applied to the licensing magistrates in the town for a 30-minute evening extension.
Their solicitor Thomas Garner pointed out that under the new law liquor could be sold for an extra half-an-hour if local justices believed such hours suited their district's needs. He said the main reason why an extension until 10:30pm was sought was that many manual workers were employed on the 2pm to 10pm shift. So the Licensed Victuallers thought it only right that these workers should have an opportunity of obtaining refreshment. The same applied to the "large body of people at places of amusement" (cinemas, theatres etc.) who wanted a pint after 10pm.
However the licensing justices (and there were 18 of them!) were never keen on longer opening hours and last December only grudgingly allowed an extra half-hour's drinking on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, saying: "The Bench do not look favourably upon these applications, and the present concessions must not be looked upon as a precedent." So the magistrates unanimously decided to reject the application and adopt in St Helens, pub and beerhouse opening hours of 11am to 2:30pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm. These would come into force in a week's time.
There was a very sad case in court at Blackpool on the 12th when a girl from St Helens was charged with stealing clothing and 6 shillings in cash. The Chief Constable told the court that a Mrs Cohen from Springfield Road in Blackpool had for some weeks engaged Winifred Brown as a domestic servant. The girl aged about 15 or 16 had been due to leave her situation on Saturday.
As she was about to depart for home, Mrs Cohen accused her of stealing a ring, some money and other things and then sent for the police. Upon the arrival of PC Atwood, Winifred burst into tears and placed the ring – which was tied up in a handkerchief – on the table. When searched by the matron at the police station, articles of clothing were found fastened round Winifred's waist underneath her own skirt.
It was unusual for a top policeman acting as prosecutor in court to be sympathetic to a thief. But Chief Constable Derham seems to have been a nice man who during 1921 organised appeals for the poor and unemployed in Blackpool. Herbert Derham explained to the Bench that Winifred's was a "painful case". The prisoner, he said, was a daughter of poor parents and from the age of 14 had to earn her own livelihood.
"Her father and mother are separated and there are some little children to maintain. This poor creature is in a certain condition and I feel inclined to help her. I am prepared to help her to get back to her people at St. Helens. It is her first offence, and it will perhaps be a lesson to her."
In the 1911 census Winifred Brown was living in Brook Street with her parents and what were then six siblings, two younger than her. Mrs Cohen also spoke up for the girl in court, although she appears to have discharged Winifred because of her pregnancy. The girl who was reported as being quite emotional in court was bound over for 12 months.
And, as usual, my final item features the article in the Echo that had nothing to do with St Helens but made me smile or shake my head in disbelief the most. It was very much the latter this week, with this piece headlined "Ku Klux Klan Revived":
"The Ku Klux Klan, the dreaded secret anti-negro organisation of the Civil War, has revived to-day and expanded to a membership of 650,000, with “domains, realms, and klans” in every State of the Union. It is exposed and denounced by the “New York World” as a law-defying menace to the nation, an organisation which preaches racial and religious hatred of Jew, Roman Catholic, negro, and alien, and whose members bind themselves by terrible oaths to give unquestionable obedience to an “emperor.”
"It is alleged that the Klan, instead of being a legitimate rebirth of an old organisation, with the motto “White supremacy,” has now put the negro question on one side, and is to-day primarily an anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, anti-alien organisation, spreading rapidly through the north and west by appeals to local or sectional prejudices and hatreds, and by promising every member that his pet aversion shall be the object of a Klan visitation of masked men equipped with whips and tar and feathers.
"The knights of the Ku Klux Klan Incorporated have become a great modern enterprise, conducted upon up-to-date business lines, which sells its membership for £2, of which 50 per cent goes into the treasury of the “Invisible Empire.” A former “high official,” who renounced the sacred oaths on the ground that the Klan was revealed to him as “an unpatriotic, lawless menace to the peace and security of the United States,” declares that the Klan to-day is now nothing more than a throw-back to the centuries when terror, instead of law and justice, ruled the lives of men."
Next week's stories will include the sisterly row in Rainford, the Thatto Heath miner who refused to look after his family, the Borough Road tenant's foolish refusal to pay all her rent, street betting in Hall Street and a brutal police assault on the Walker Art Gallery.
This week's stories include the controversial blackface dancer at the Hippodrome, a warning that the dire unemployment situation in St Helens was leading to starvation, the biker accused of riding like a madman through Eccleston Street, the town's pub opening hours are revised and the painful case of the St Helens girl at Blackpool.
We begin on the 6th with the first in a new weekly series of boxing contests in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street.
The Liverpool Echo described the show – at the venue calling itself "The Ring" – as having been an exhibition of "capital boxing", although some pair-ups seemed a bit unequal.
A 10-round contest between Corporal Billy Walsham of St Helens and Jimmy Riley of Wigan ended in a knockout in the eighth round in favour of the latter, who was reported as having been a much bigger man.
Similarly Joey Robinson, the schoolboy champion of St Helens, had a victory over Harry Parry, described as a much smaller boy.
There was a circus performing in town this week at the YMCA Gymnasium in Duke Street.
'Astley's Grand Continental Circus' featured horses, mules, gymnasts, acrobats, cyclists and "a host of merry clowns".
For four days this week what was described as an "extraordinary attraction" was screened at the Bridge Street Picturedrome.
It was 'Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde' starring John Barrymore – "the greatest piece of character acting ever filmed."
So claimed the ad in the St Helens Reporter. And with talking pictures yet to be introduced, exaggerated mannerisms were very much the order of the day for actors.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street, the many acts included conjurer Oswald Bemand and his "beautiful pet wonder pigeons".
Many of us remember Pathe News and Gaumont but there were other cinema newsreels too. The Hippodrome was featuring Brown's Royal Bioscope, which was "showing news in animation".
However, the headline act was G. H. Elliott, who unfortunately styled himself "The original chocolate coloured c**n".
Last year, the Rochdale-born dancer and singer's gravestone, which featured that strapline, was controversially covered up by the church.
During his day the blackfaced Elliott was a big star, appearing in three Royal Variety Shows and in 1957 was the subject of 'This Is Your Life' when Eamonn Andrews surprised him live on stage.
St Helens Ladies football team (pictured above) travelled to Burnley on the 7th to play a recently formed side called Barnes Girls at Turf Moor.
There were 2,000 spectators and £124 was raised for the local YMCA as St Helens easily won 1 - 4.
In just three months time the Football Association would ban such games at member grounds like Turf Moor because they considered the sport unsuitable for females.
Last week there had been a stormy meeting between the Mayor of St Helens and representatives of unemployed men.
On the 8th the Guardian newspaper described how St Helens Council had received a deputation from those made jobless because of the economic crisis in the country.
A letter was handed over that stated that the distress in the town was "reaching a point of sheer starvation", and unless something was done it would be "hard to restrain the passions of the men, who were being driven to despair".
The council was asked to do more for the "starving men, women, and children of St Helens".
Dole money for those who were insured was only fifteen shillings a week and did not last long.
Once that cash ran out what was called outdoor relief could be obtained from the Prescot Guardians, who administered the Poor Law.
But that was designed for the elderly who were not able to work or, say, a family whose breadwinner had walked out on them or become disabled.
There was no set amount for unemployment, which was dealt with on a case-by-case basis and did not favour those men capable of working – indeed single men received nothing.
James Charnock was secretary of the local Unemployed Organisation and in addressing the council, said there were nearly four thousand people unemployed in the town.
He asked the council members to use their influence with the Guardians to get the scale of relief increased and lambasted the lack of cash for single men.
Mr Charnock said that in 1914 when soldiers were being recruited to fight the Great War, the cry had been "single men first". Today, he said, the cry was "single men must starve".
He added that single men had a right to live like others and reminded the council what single men might do:
"If the people of this country were not going to be fed, the people who were well fed and nourished would eventually become victims. They were going to fight for their lives. That was what it meant."
The councillors had little interest in simply doling out cash to the jobless.
But they were setting up a big new programme of "relief work" to undertake improvements to Clock Face Road and widen a very long stretch of Prescot Road.
Just how many unemployed men would be taken on was not stated. But in the meantime crime, disorder and suicide rates could be expected to rise.
However the economic woes were not affecting everyone and some young men were earning good money and buying motorbikes on hire purchase.
This was causing some alarm, as shown in the prosecution of Ralph Poyser of Dentons Green Lane.
The 18-year-old shop assistant was summoned to St Helens Police Court on the 12th charged with driving a motorcycle to the danger of the public along Eccleston Street.
PC Jackson said the street was at the time full of children and the defendant and his brother passed through at 25 miles an hour.
They failed to give any warning of their approach and, he said, neglected to stop when he ordered them to.
Last month I wrote that as a rule of thumb drivers charged in St Helens courts with speeding would insist they'd only been travelling at half the speed claimed by the prosecution.
And that was the case here with Ralph Poyser insisting his bike had only been going at 13 or 14 mph and he hadn't seen the policeman at all.
The Chairman of the Bench was one of many concerned about the speeds that motorists and motorbike riders were travelling at and declared:
"These young fellows go like madmen along the street. They must think that everything belongs to them, and that the public are of no account whatever.
"Eccleston-street is a very dangerous street and, unfortunately, children made it a sort of playground, but still they must be protected."
Ralph Poyser was fined £1 15s including costs and I notice that in the wartime census known as the 1939 Register, his occupation was stated as lorry driver.
The new pub Licensing Act was now coming into effect creating a framework for opening hours that would last for the rest of the 20th century.
The weekday opening of pubs in England would be permissible from 11:30am to 3pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm – although local licensing authorities did have the power to slightly modify these times.
On the 12th the St Helens Licensed Victuallers' Association applied to the licensing magistrates in the town for a 30-minute evening extension.
Their solicitor Thomas Garner pointed out that under the new law liquor could be sold for an extra half-an-hour if local justices believed such hours suited their district's needs.
He said the main reason why an extension until 10:30pm was sought was that many manual workers were employed on the 2pm to 10pm shift.
So the Licensed Victuallers thought it only right that these workers should have an opportunity of obtaining refreshment.
The same applied to the "large body of people at places of amusement" (cinemas, theatres etc.) who wanted a pint after 10pm.
However the licensing justices (and there were 18 of them!) were never keen on longer opening hours and last December only grudgingly allowed an extra half-hour's drinking on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, saying:
"The Bench do not look favourably upon these applications, and the present concessions must not be looked upon as a precedent."
So the magistrates unanimously decided to reject the application and adopt in St Helens, pub and beerhouse opening hours of 11am to 2:30pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm. These would come into force in a week's time.
There was a very sad case in court at Blackpool on the 12th when a girl from St Helens was charged with stealing clothing and 6 shillings in cash.
The Chief Constable told the court that a Mrs Cohen from Springfield Road in Blackpool had for some weeks engaged Winifred Brown as a domestic servant.
The girl aged about 15 or 16 had been due to leave her situation on Saturday.
As she was about to depart for home, Mrs Cohen accused her of stealing a ring, some money and other things and then sent for the police.
Upon the arrival of PC Atwood, Winifred burst into tears and placed the ring – which was tied up in a handkerchief – on the table.
When searched by the matron at the police station, articles of clothing were found fastened round Winifred's waist underneath her own skirt.
It was unusual for a top policeman acting as prosecutor in court to be sympathetic to a thief.
But Chief Constable Derham seems to have been a nice man who during 1921 organised appeals for the poor and unemployed in Blackpool. Herbert Derham explained to the Bench that Winifred's was a "painful case".
The prisoner, he said, was a daughter of poor parents and from the age of 14 had to earn her own livelihood.
"Her father and mother are separated and there are some little children to maintain. This poor creature is in a certain condition and I feel inclined to help her. I am prepared to help her to get back to her people at St. Helens. It is her first offence, and it will perhaps be a lesson to her."
In the 1911 census Winifred Brown was living in Brook Street with her parents and what were then six siblings, two younger than her.
Mrs Cohen also spoke up for the girl in court, although she appears to have discharged Winifred because of her pregnancy.
The girl who was reported as being quite emotional in court was bound over for 12 months.
And, as usual, my final item features the article in the Echo that had nothing to do with St Helens but made me smile or shake my head in disbelief the most.
It was very much the latter this week, with this piece headlined "Ku Klux Klan Revived":
"The Ku Klux Klan, the dreaded secret anti-negro organisation of the Civil War, has revived to-day and expanded to a membership of 650,000, with “domains, realms, and klans” in every State of the Union.
"It is exposed and denounced by the “New York World” as a law-defying menace to the nation, an organisation which preaches racial and religious hatred of Jew, Roman Catholic, negro, and alien, and whose members bind themselves by terrible oaths to give unquestionable obedience to an “emperor.”
"It is alleged that the Klan, instead of being a legitimate rebirth of an old organisation, with the motto “White supremacy,” has now put the negro question on one side, and is to-day primarily an anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, anti-alien organisation, spreading rapidly through the north and west by appeals to local or sectional prejudices and hatreds, and by promising every member that his pet aversion shall be the object of a Klan visitation of masked men equipped with whips and tar and feathers.
"The knights of the Ku Klux Klan Incorporated have become a great modern enterprise, conducted upon up-to-date business lines, which sells its membership for £2, of which 50 per cent goes into the treasury of the “Invisible Empire.”
"A former “high official,” who renounced the sacred oaths on the ground that the Klan was revealed to him as “an unpatriotic, lawless menace to the peace and security of the United States,” declares that the Klan to-day is now nothing more than a throw-back to the centuries when terror, instead of law and justice, ruled the lives of men."
Next week's stories will include the sisterly row in Rainford, the Thatto Heath miner who refused to look after his family, the Borough Road tenant's foolish refusal to pay all her rent, street betting in Hall Street and a brutal police assault on the Walker Art Gallery.
We begin on the 6th with the first in a new weekly series of boxing contests in the Volunteer Hall in Mill Street.
The Liverpool Echo described the show – at the venue calling itself "The Ring" – as having been an exhibition of "capital boxing", although some pair-ups seemed a bit unequal.
A 10-round contest between Corporal Billy Walsham of St Helens and Jimmy Riley of Wigan ended in a knockout in the eighth round in favour of the latter, who was reported as having been a much bigger man.
Similarly Joey Robinson, the schoolboy champion of St Helens, had a victory over Harry Parry, described as a much smaller boy.
There was a circus performing in town this week at the YMCA Gymnasium in Duke Street.
'Astley's Grand Continental Circus' featured horses, mules, gymnasts, acrobats, cyclists and "a host of merry clowns".
For four days this week what was described as an "extraordinary attraction" was screened at the Bridge Street Picturedrome.
It was 'Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde' starring John Barrymore – "the greatest piece of character acting ever filmed."
So claimed the ad in the St Helens Reporter. And with talking pictures yet to be introduced, exaggerated mannerisms were very much the order of the day for actors.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street, the many acts included conjurer Oswald Bemand and his "beautiful pet wonder pigeons".
Many of us remember Pathe News and Gaumont but there were other cinema newsreels too. The Hippodrome was featuring Brown's Royal Bioscope, which was "showing news in animation".
However, the headline act was G. H. Elliott, who unfortunately styled himself "The original chocolate coloured c**n".
Last year, the Rochdale-born dancer and singer's gravestone, which featured that strapline, was controversially covered up by the church.
During his day the blackfaced Elliott was a big star, appearing in three Royal Variety Shows and in 1957 was the subject of 'This Is Your Life' when Eamonn Andrews surprised him live on stage.
There were 2,000 spectators and £124 was raised for the local YMCA as St Helens easily won 1 - 4.
In just three months time the Football Association would ban such games at member grounds like Turf Moor because they considered the sport unsuitable for females.
Last week there had been a stormy meeting between the Mayor of St Helens and representatives of unemployed men.
On the 8th the Guardian newspaper described how St Helens Council had received a deputation from those made jobless because of the economic crisis in the country.
A letter was handed over that stated that the distress in the town was "reaching a point of sheer starvation", and unless something was done it would be "hard to restrain the passions of the men, who were being driven to despair".
The council was asked to do more for the "starving men, women, and children of St Helens".
Dole money for those who were insured was only fifteen shillings a week and did not last long.
Once that cash ran out what was called outdoor relief could be obtained from the Prescot Guardians, who administered the Poor Law.
But that was designed for the elderly who were not able to work or, say, a family whose breadwinner had walked out on them or become disabled.
There was no set amount for unemployment, which was dealt with on a case-by-case basis and did not favour those men capable of working – indeed single men received nothing.
James Charnock was secretary of the local Unemployed Organisation and in addressing the council, said there were nearly four thousand people unemployed in the town.
He asked the council members to use their influence with the Guardians to get the scale of relief increased and lambasted the lack of cash for single men.
Mr Charnock said that in 1914 when soldiers were being recruited to fight the Great War, the cry had been "single men first". Today, he said, the cry was "single men must starve".
He added that single men had a right to live like others and reminded the council what single men might do:
"If the people of this country were not going to be fed, the people who were well fed and nourished would eventually become victims. They were going to fight for their lives. That was what it meant."
The councillors had little interest in simply doling out cash to the jobless.
But they were setting up a big new programme of "relief work" to undertake improvements to Clock Face Road and widen a very long stretch of Prescot Road.
Just how many unemployed men would be taken on was not stated. But in the meantime crime, disorder and suicide rates could be expected to rise.
However the economic woes were not affecting everyone and some young men were earning good money and buying motorbikes on hire purchase.
This was causing some alarm, as shown in the prosecution of Ralph Poyser of Dentons Green Lane.
The 18-year-old shop assistant was summoned to St Helens Police Court on the 12th charged with driving a motorcycle to the danger of the public along Eccleston Street.
PC Jackson said the street was at the time full of children and the defendant and his brother passed through at 25 miles an hour.
They failed to give any warning of their approach and, he said, neglected to stop when he ordered them to.
Last month I wrote that as a rule of thumb drivers charged in St Helens courts with speeding would insist they'd only been travelling at half the speed claimed by the prosecution.
And that was the case here with Ralph Poyser insisting his bike had only been going at 13 or 14 mph and he hadn't seen the policeman at all.
The Chairman of the Bench was one of many concerned about the speeds that motorists and motorbike riders were travelling at and declared:
"These young fellows go like madmen along the street. They must think that everything belongs to them, and that the public are of no account whatever.
"Eccleston-street is a very dangerous street and, unfortunately, children made it a sort of playground, but still they must be protected."
Ralph Poyser was fined £1 15s including costs and I notice that in the wartime census known as the 1939 Register, his occupation was stated as lorry driver.
The new pub Licensing Act was now coming into effect creating a framework for opening hours that would last for the rest of the 20th century.
The weekday opening of pubs in England would be permissible from 11:30am to 3pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm – although local licensing authorities did have the power to slightly modify these times.
On the 12th the St Helens Licensed Victuallers' Association applied to the licensing magistrates in the town for a 30-minute evening extension.
Their solicitor Thomas Garner pointed out that under the new law liquor could be sold for an extra half-an-hour if local justices believed such hours suited their district's needs.
He said the main reason why an extension until 10:30pm was sought was that many manual workers were employed on the 2pm to 10pm shift.
So the Licensed Victuallers thought it only right that these workers should have an opportunity of obtaining refreshment.
The same applied to the "large body of people at places of amusement" (cinemas, theatres etc.) who wanted a pint after 10pm.
However the licensing justices (and there were 18 of them!) were never keen on longer opening hours and last December only grudgingly allowed an extra half-hour's drinking on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, saying:
"The Bench do not look favourably upon these applications, and the present concessions must not be looked upon as a precedent."
So the magistrates unanimously decided to reject the application and adopt in St Helens, pub and beerhouse opening hours of 11am to 2:30pm and from 5:30pm to 10pm. These would come into force in a week's time.
There was a very sad case in court at Blackpool on the 12th when a girl from St Helens was charged with stealing clothing and 6 shillings in cash.
The Chief Constable told the court that a Mrs Cohen from Springfield Road in Blackpool had for some weeks engaged Winifred Brown as a domestic servant.
The girl aged about 15 or 16 had been due to leave her situation on Saturday.
As she was about to depart for home, Mrs Cohen accused her of stealing a ring, some money and other things and then sent for the police.
Upon the arrival of PC Atwood, Winifred burst into tears and placed the ring – which was tied up in a handkerchief – on the table.
When searched by the matron at the police station, articles of clothing were found fastened round Winifred's waist underneath her own skirt.
It was unusual for a top policeman acting as prosecutor in court to be sympathetic to a thief.
But Chief Constable Derham seems to have been a nice man who during 1921 organised appeals for the poor and unemployed in Blackpool. Herbert Derham explained to the Bench that Winifred's was a "painful case".
The prisoner, he said, was a daughter of poor parents and from the age of 14 had to earn her own livelihood.
"Her father and mother are separated and there are some little children to maintain. This poor creature is in a certain condition and I feel inclined to help her. I am prepared to help her to get back to her people at St. Helens. It is her first offence, and it will perhaps be a lesson to her."
In the 1911 census Winifred Brown was living in Brook Street with her parents and what were then six siblings, two younger than her.
Mrs Cohen also spoke up for the girl in court, although she appears to have discharged Winifred because of her pregnancy.
The girl who was reported as being quite emotional in court was bound over for 12 months.
And, as usual, my final item features the article in the Echo that had nothing to do with St Helens but made me smile or shake my head in disbelief the most.
It was very much the latter this week, with this piece headlined "Ku Klux Klan Revived":
"The Ku Klux Klan, the dreaded secret anti-negro organisation of the Civil War, has revived to-day and expanded to a membership of 650,000, with “domains, realms, and klans” in every State of the Union.
"It is exposed and denounced by the “New York World” as a law-defying menace to the nation, an organisation which preaches racial and religious hatred of Jew, Roman Catholic, negro, and alien, and whose members bind themselves by terrible oaths to give unquestionable obedience to an “emperor.”
"It is alleged that the Klan, instead of being a legitimate rebirth of an old organisation, with the motto “White supremacy,” has now put the negro question on one side, and is to-day primarily an anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, anti-alien organisation, spreading rapidly through the north and west by appeals to local or sectional prejudices and hatreds, and by promising every member that his pet aversion shall be the object of a Klan visitation of masked men equipped with whips and tar and feathers.
"The knights of the Ku Klux Klan Incorporated have become a great modern enterprise, conducted upon up-to-date business lines, which sells its membership for £2, of which 50 per cent goes into the treasury of the “Invisible Empire.”
"A former “high official,” who renounced the sacred oaths on the ground that the Klan was revealed to him as “an unpatriotic, lawless menace to the peace and security of the United States,” declares that the Klan to-day is now nothing more than a throw-back to the centuries when terror, instead of law and justice, ruled the lives of men."
Next week's stories will include the sisterly row in Rainford, the Thatto Heath miner who refused to look after his family, the Borough Road tenant's foolish refusal to pay all her rent, street betting in Hall Street and a brutal police assault on the Walker Art Gallery.