IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th DECEMBER 1921)
This week's many stories include the boy that found a baby's body in a Croppers Hill dustbin, St Helens Ladies reflect on an FA ban on women's football, the boy thieves caught after examining their ill-gotten gains in Hardshaw Street and the Russian Pole that moved to St Helens to avoid paying income tax.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the full name of the Corporation Street venue and the Carl Rosa Opera Company were regular visitors. They were founded in 1873 and still exist and this week performed seven different operas at the Theatre Royal. Further down Corporation Street, the Hippodrome was featuring the usual mix of comics, singers and novelty acts in its music hall entertainment:
Winston's Water Lions and Diving Nymphs ("The aquatic marvels of the 20th century – a wonderful exhibition of animal training"); Hobart and Hobbs ("Comedians with a screamingly inexhaustible fund of good jokes and stories"); Alec Main ("A very fine baritone singer"); Sandy Brown ("Comedian"); Brideon ("The bandmaster ventriloquist") and Evelyn Bergen ("Vocalist and dancer").
This week St Helens Ladies (pictured above) were reflecting on the Football Association's ban on the playing of women's football on their members' grounds. That was on the basis that the sport was "quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged" – with the ban set to last fifty years. The St Helens team had raised over £20,000 for charity – that is almost £1 million in today's money – in front of large crowds. Last Boxing Day a record 53,000 spectators had been packed inside Goodison Park with ten to fifteen thousand unable to get in, as St Helens Ladies played the famous Dick Kerr's Ladies team from Preston.
Hang your head in shame Liverpool Echo! They were hugely supportive of the ban, writing this on the 6th: "A deal of unnecessary fuss is being made over the fact that the Football Association has requested clubs under its control not to allow the use of their grounds for matches between women footballers. Women can still play football if they choose, but the opportunities of exploiting the spectacular side of their effort and drawing gates are greatly curtailed. Hence the howl of protest. The opinion is general amongst the medical profession that football is not a suitable game for women, nor has it any attractions for them as players, for there are only a very few in the country.
"The Football Association is undoubtedly right in its attitude that football amongst women ought not to be encouraged, especially in view of recent developments. It is stated on authority that the financial arrangements of these matches were not satisfactory, and some little time ago the Football Association placed the onus on any club that lent its ground of seeing that the receipts from the match were properly appropriated. Those who have been running women footballers must blame themselves for the fact that the governing body has taken up this attitude.
"After all, women footballers have attracted gates simply because they were an amusing novelty, and in the natural course they would soon have dropped into their right place. The majority of teams are hopeless. Even the crack team [Dick Kerrs] which has carried all before it would fall easy victims to a team of schoolboys under fourteen drawn from the elementary schools. Whether football is a suitable game for women or not, it has been clearly demonstrated that women will never become expert at the game." The claims of misappropriation of funds raised in charity games that were mentioned by the Echo, were never substantiated and their criticism of the quality of women’s football does not tally with the reviews of matches that I’ve read.
With infant mortality being so high in St Helens, it was vital that a doctor or nurse delivered the children of pregnant women if their baby was to have a chance of life. However, many frightened and often ignorant young single women – who had chosen to keep their pregnancy secret – felt forced to give birth on their own, often in their bedroom. And so it is not really surprising that a very large number of babies of such unfortunate girls were either stillborn or died soon after birth.
Then there was the problem of what to do with the child's body. Virtually every week there were reports in the newspapers of babies' remains being found in the oddest of places somewhere in England. Six weeks ago I described the finding of a deceased baby boy inside a tin box in Dentons Green Lane. The young mother's parents were very strict and she had been too scared to tell them of her condition.
This week there was another shocking discovery. While rummaging through a dustbin in Croppers Hill, a small boy found a parcel containing the dead body of a new-born child. The remains had been wrapped in pieces of sack and bedding and placed in a pillowcase and covered with brown paper. The boy took the tiny corpse to the police station and after examination by the police surgeon, it was stated to be that of a "full developed and particularly fine male child".
Now, a post-mortem would have to be held to try and ascertain whether the baby had had a "legal separate existence" – been born alive, in other words, as that would have a bearing on any possible future criminal charges. However, with extreme secrecy having likely enveloped the pregnancy, the birth and disposal of the child's remains, any prosecutions were very unlikely.
There used to more Russians and so-called Russian Poles living in St Helens than any other foreign nationality. I don't have any figures for 1921 but the St Helens Chief Constable's annual report for 1933 revealed 51 such individuals out of 103 "aliens" resident in the town. A further 17 were Lithuanian. The fact that the police could state such precise numbers suggests that the wartime registration of foreigners was still active in the 1930s.
Last August I described Antonius Danilivitch's appearance at Widnes Petty Sessions for not reporting his change of address to the registration officer after moving to St Helens. This week on the 9th, Danilivitch and two other Russian Poles were summoned to St Helens Police Court charged with again breaking the registration rules.
Chief Inspector Roe said Danilivitch – who failed to appear – was the cause of all the trouble. He objected to paying income tax (which was then organised locally) and had quit Widnes for St Helens to avoid payment. Danilivitch had been staying with one Russian Pole in Park Street but was now boarding with another in Ashcroft Street. Both of those were only fined 5 shillings each – but the absent, troublesome Danilivitch was fined £1.
On the 10th the inaugural United Glass Bottle Manufacturers annual fur and feather show was held in the dining room of the Sherdley glass works. There was a right old menagerie – featuring rabbits, dogs, pigeons, cage birds, hens and other fowl all competing for silver medals. It definitely sounded like cotton wool in the ears was a prerequisite for visitors!
The inquest on John Lewis of Randon Street in St Helens (which used to be near Lowe Street) was held on the 12th where a tragic tale was told. Although aged 73, Mr Lewis had still been working, although unemployed since the coal strike earlier in the year. The single man's total income was now only 20 shillings per week and his situation had led to him becoming depressed.
Three days earlier after drawing his pension at the post office and sending the money to his lodgings, John called at a house in Corporation Street. There he asked a friend to write his name on a card. Half an hour later his cap was found on the banks of the St Helens Canal with the card securely pinned to it. Although John's body was soon removed from the water, he was already dead. The Coroner said there was no direct evidence that the man had committed suicide and so returned an open verdict.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, six small boys were charged with a number of thefts. Two days earlier Sergeant Ballantyne had been on duty in Hardshaw Street (pictured above) where he spotted two lads carefully examining some ill-gotten gains. These were pocketknives and a moneybox and, under the usual tough police questioning, the boys admitted stealing them and named four other lads in their gang. The court bound five of them over. However, one boy named Allen – who had been in trouble before – was remanded with a view to sending him to an industrial school. They'd been created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a really serious crime.
And finally, there were two articles in the Liverpool Echo that caught my eye this week. The first concerned a one-eyed man with an ear trumpet that the police were searching for after allegedly committing a £10,000 war bonds fraud. Surely there can't have been that many one-eyed men with ear trumpets knocking about?
However, the big news in the paper was the Anglo-Irish Treaty having been agreed at Downing Street. This created the Irish Free State and ended the three-year Irish War of Independence. The Echo was full of praise for the negotiators involved in the creation of the new state comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland. What, of course, they could never have predicted that allowing the remaining six counties, comprising Northern Ireland, to opt out of the new state would not end the trouble. The Echo wrote:
"The announcement of an Irish settlement has given rise to a feeling of profound gratitude and thankfulness throughout the Empire – gratitude to the statesmen of all parties who have been blessed with the wisdom to arrive at such a sensible settlement, and thankfulness that a running wound in our body politic will at long last be healed. The settlement secures the safety of the Empire, ensures justice for all sections, and gives promise of an era of prosperity and peace. A great load has been lifted off this country, for a contented Ireland will be England's best friend and staunchest supporter.
"There will be an end to wasteful and disastrous expedients which were bleeding both this country and Ireland white. England, in fact, stands to gain as much as Ireland from the settlement, and the beneficial results will soon be reflected in our domestic affairs. The solution is so simple that the only matter for surprise is that it has been so long delayed. The analogy between the Canadian problem and the Irish problem has often been put forward, and a settlement advocated on these lines.
"But bitterness, prejudice, and wilful blindness stood in the way. It is a great tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of the Premier, Lord Birkenhead, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain – to mention only three of the principal negotiators – that these barriers have been broken down, and a new mentality has been brought to bear on the solution of England's most difficult problem."
Next week's stories will include the Higher Parr Street residents' complaints about passing lorries shaking pictures on their walls, a Christmas treat for the poorest children in St Helens and the Parr girls being prepared for domesticity in the home.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the full name of the Corporation Street venue and the Carl Rosa Opera Company were regular visitors. They were founded in 1873 and still exist and this week performed seven different operas at the Theatre Royal. Further down Corporation Street, the Hippodrome was featuring the usual mix of comics, singers and novelty acts in its music hall entertainment:
Winston's Water Lions and Diving Nymphs ("The aquatic marvels of the 20th century – a wonderful exhibition of animal training"); Hobart and Hobbs ("Comedians with a screamingly inexhaustible fund of good jokes and stories"); Alec Main ("A very fine baritone singer"); Sandy Brown ("Comedian"); Brideon ("The bandmaster ventriloquist") and Evelyn Bergen ("Vocalist and dancer").
Hang your head in shame Liverpool Echo! They were hugely supportive of the ban, writing this on the 6th: "A deal of unnecessary fuss is being made over the fact that the Football Association has requested clubs under its control not to allow the use of their grounds for matches between women footballers. Women can still play football if they choose, but the opportunities of exploiting the spectacular side of their effort and drawing gates are greatly curtailed. Hence the howl of protest. The opinion is general amongst the medical profession that football is not a suitable game for women, nor has it any attractions for them as players, for there are only a very few in the country.
"The Football Association is undoubtedly right in its attitude that football amongst women ought not to be encouraged, especially in view of recent developments. It is stated on authority that the financial arrangements of these matches were not satisfactory, and some little time ago the Football Association placed the onus on any club that lent its ground of seeing that the receipts from the match were properly appropriated. Those who have been running women footballers must blame themselves for the fact that the governing body has taken up this attitude.
"After all, women footballers have attracted gates simply because they were an amusing novelty, and in the natural course they would soon have dropped into their right place. The majority of teams are hopeless. Even the crack team [Dick Kerrs] which has carried all before it would fall easy victims to a team of schoolboys under fourteen drawn from the elementary schools. Whether football is a suitable game for women or not, it has been clearly demonstrated that women will never become expert at the game." The claims of misappropriation of funds raised in charity games that were mentioned by the Echo, were never substantiated and their criticism of the quality of women’s football does not tally with the reviews of matches that I’ve read.
With infant mortality being so high in St Helens, it was vital that a doctor or nurse delivered the children of pregnant women if their baby was to have a chance of life. However, many frightened and often ignorant young single women – who had chosen to keep their pregnancy secret – felt forced to give birth on their own, often in their bedroom. And so it is not really surprising that a very large number of babies of such unfortunate girls were either stillborn or died soon after birth.
Then there was the problem of what to do with the child's body. Virtually every week there were reports in the newspapers of babies' remains being found in the oddest of places somewhere in England. Six weeks ago I described the finding of a deceased baby boy inside a tin box in Dentons Green Lane. The young mother's parents were very strict and she had been too scared to tell them of her condition.
This week there was another shocking discovery. While rummaging through a dustbin in Croppers Hill, a small boy found a parcel containing the dead body of a new-born child. The remains had been wrapped in pieces of sack and bedding and placed in a pillowcase and covered with brown paper. The boy took the tiny corpse to the police station and after examination by the police surgeon, it was stated to be that of a "full developed and particularly fine male child".
Now, a post-mortem would have to be held to try and ascertain whether the baby had had a "legal separate existence" – been born alive, in other words, as that would have a bearing on any possible future criminal charges. However, with extreme secrecy having likely enveloped the pregnancy, the birth and disposal of the child's remains, any prosecutions were very unlikely.
There used to more Russians and so-called Russian Poles living in St Helens than any other foreign nationality. I don't have any figures for 1921 but the St Helens Chief Constable's annual report for 1933 revealed 51 such individuals out of 103 "aliens" resident in the town. A further 17 were Lithuanian. The fact that the police could state such precise numbers suggests that the wartime registration of foreigners was still active in the 1930s.
Last August I described Antonius Danilivitch's appearance at Widnes Petty Sessions for not reporting his change of address to the registration officer after moving to St Helens. This week on the 9th, Danilivitch and two other Russian Poles were summoned to St Helens Police Court charged with again breaking the registration rules.
Chief Inspector Roe said Danilivitch – who failed to appear – was the cause of all the trouble. He objected to paying income tax (which was then organised locally) and had quit Widnes for St Helens to avoid payment. Danilivitch had been staying with one Russian Pole in Park Street but was now boarding with another in Ashcroft Street. Both of those were only fined 5 shillings each – but the absent, troublesome Danilivitch was fined £1.
On the 10th the inaugural United Glass Bottle Manufacturers annual fur and feather show was held in the dining room of the Sherdley glass works. There was a right old menagerie – featuring rabbits, dogs, pigeons, cage birds, hens and other fowl all competing for silver medals. It definitely sounded like cotton wool in the ears was a prerequisite for visitors!
The inquest on John Lewis of Randon Street in St Helens (which used to be near Lowe Street) was held on the 12th where a tragic tale was told. Although aged 73, Mr Lewis had still been working, although unemployed since the coal strike earlier in the year. The single man's total income was now only 20 shillings per week and his situation had led to him becoming depressed.
Three days earlier after drawing his pension at the post office and sending the money to his lodgings, John called at a house in Corporation Street. There he asked a friend to write his name on a card. Half an hour later his cap was found on the banks of the St Helens Canal with the card securely pinned to it. Although John's body was soon removed from the water, he was already dead. The Coroner said there was no direct evidence that the man had committed suicide and so returned an open verdict.
And finally, there were two articles in the Liverpool Echo that caught my eye this week. The first concerned a one-eyed man with an ear trumpet that the police were searching for after allegedly committing a £10,000 war bonds fraud. Surely there can't have been that many one-eyed men with ear trumpets knocking about?
However, the big news in the paper was the Anglo-Irish Treaty having been agreed at Downing Street. This created the Irish Free State and ended the three-year Irish War of Independence. The Echo was full of praise for the negotiators involved in the creation of the new state comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland. What, of course, they could never have predicted that allowing the remaining six counties, comprising Northern Ireland, to opt out of the new state would not end the trouble. The Echo wrote:
"The announcement of an Irish settlement has given rise to a feeling of profound gratitude and thankfulness throughout the Empire – gratitude to the statesmen of all parties who have been blessed with the wisdom to arrive at such a sensible settlement, and thankfulness that a running wound in our body politic will at long last be healed. The settlement secures the safety of the Empire, ensures justice for all sections, and gives promise of an era of prosperity and peace. A great load has been lifted off this country, for a contented Ireland will be England's best friend and staunchest supporter.
"There will be an end to wasteful and disastrous expedients which were bleeding both this country and Ireland white. England, in fact, stands to gain as much as Ireland from the settlement, and the beneficial results will soon be reflected in our domestic affairs. The solution is so simple that the only matter for surprise is that it has been so long delayed. The analogy between the Canadian problem and the Irish problem has often been put forward, and a settlement advocated on these lines.
"But bitterness, prejudice, and wilful blindness stood in the way. It is a great tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of the Premier, Lord Birkenhead, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain – to mention only three of the principal negotiators – that these barriers have been broken down, and a new mentality has been brought to bear on the solution of England's most difficult problem."
Next week's stories will include the Higher Parr Street residents' complaints about passing lorries shaking pictures on their walls, a Christmas treat for the poorest children in St Helens and the Parr girls being prepared for domesticity in the home.
This week's many stories include the boy that found a baby's body in a Croppers Hill dustbin, St Helens Ladies reflect on an FA ban on women's football, the boy thieves caught after examining their ill-gotten gains in Hardshaw Street and the Russian Pole that moved to St Helens to avoid paying income tax.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the full name of the Corporation Street venue and the Carl Rosa Opera Company were regular visitors.
They were founded in 1873 and still exist and this week performed seven different operas at the Theatre Royal.
Further down Corporation Street, the Hippodrome was featuring the usual mix of comics, singers and novelty acts in its music hall entertainment:
Winston's Water Lions and Diving Nymphs ("The aquatic marvels of the 20th century – a wonderful exhibition of animal training"); Hobart and Hobbs ("Comedians with a screamingly inexhaustible fund of good jokes and stories"); Alec Main ("A very fine baritone singer"); Sandy Brown ("Comedian"); Brideon ("The bandmaster ventriloquist") and Evelyn Bergen ("Vocalist and dancer").
This week St Helens Ladies (pictured above) were reflecting on the Football Association's ban on the playing of women's football on their members' grounds.
That was on the basis that the sport was "quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged" – with the ban set to last fifty years.
The St Helens team had raised over £20,000 for charity – that is almost £1 million in today's money – in front of large crowds.
Last Boxing Day a record 53,000 spectators had been packed inside Goodison Park with ten to fifteen thousand unable to get in, as St Helens Ladies played the famous Dick Kerr's Ladies team from Preston.
Hang your head in shame Liverpool Echo! They were hugely supportive of the ban, writing this on the 6th:
"A deal of unnecessary fuss is being made over the fact that the Football Association has requested clubs under its control not to allow the use of their grounds for matches between women footballers.
"Women can still play football if they choose, but the opportunities of exploiting the spectacular side of their effort and drawing gates are greatly curtailed. Hence the howl of protest.
"The opinion is general amongst the medical profession that football is not a suitable game for women, nor has it any attractions for them as players, for there are only a very few in the country.
"The Football Association is undoubtedly right in its attitude that football amongst women ought not to be encouraged, especially in view of recent developments.
"It is stated on authority that the financial arrangements of these matches were not satisfactory, and some little time ago the Football Association placed the onus on any club that lent its ground of seeing that the receipts from the match were properly appropriated.
"Those who have been running women footballers must blame themselves for the fact that the governing body has taken up this attitude.
"After all, women footballers have attracted gates simply because they were an amusing novelty, and in the natural course they would soon have dropped into their right place.
"The majority of teams are hopeless. Even the crack team [Dick Kerrs] which has carried all before it would fall easy victims to a team of schoolboys under fourteen drawn from the elementary schools.
"Whether football is a suitable game for women or not, it has been clearly demonstrated that women will never become expert at the game."
The claims of misappropriation of funds raised in charity games that were mentioned by the Echo, were never substantiated and their criticism of the quality of women’s football does not tally with the reviews of matches that I’ve read.
With infant mortality being so high in St Helens, it was vital that a doctor or nurse delivered the children of pregnant women if their baby was to have a chance of life.
However, many frightened and often ignorant young single women – who had chosen to keep their pregnancy secret – felt forced to give birth on their own, often in their bedroom.
And so it is not really surprising that a very large number of babies of such unfortunate girls were either stillborn or died soon after birth.
Then there was the problem of what to do with the child's body.
Virtually every week there were reports in the newspapers of babies' remains being found in the oddest of places somewhere in England.
Six weeks ago I described the finding of a deceased baby boy inside a tin box in Dentons Green Lane.
The young mother's parents were very strict and she had been too scared to tell them of her condition.
This week there was another shocking discovery. While rummaging through a dustbin in Croppers Hill, a small boy found a parcel containing the dead body of a new-born child.
The remains had been wrapped in pieces of sack and bedding and placed in a pillowcase and covered with brown paper.
The boy took the tiny corpse to the police station and after examination by the police surgeon, it was stated to be that of a "full developed and particularly fine male child".
Now, a post-mortem would have to be held to try and ascertain whether the baby had had a "legal separate existence" – been born alive, in other words, as that would have a bearing on any possible future criminal charges.
However, with extreme secrecy having likely enveloped the pregnancy, the birth and disposal of the child's remains, any prosecutions were very unlikely.
There used to more Russians and so-called Russian Poles living in St Helens than any other foreign nationality.
I don't have any figures for 1921 but the St Helens Chief Constable's annual report for 1933 revealed 51 such individuals out of 103 "aliens" resident in the town. A further 17 were Lithuanian.
The fact that the police could state such precise numbers suggests that the wartime registration of foreigners was still active in the 1930s.
Last August I described Antonius Danilivitch's appearance at Widnes Petty Sessions for not reporting his change of address to the registration officer after moving to St Helens.
This week on the 9th, Danilivitch and two other Russian Poles were summoned to St Helens Police Court charged with again breaking the registration rules.
Chief Inspector Roe said Danilivitch – who failed to appear – was the cause of all the trouble.
He objected to paying income tax (which was then organised locally) and had quit Widnes for St Helens to avoid payment.
Danilivitch had been staying with one Russian Pole in Park Street but was now boarding with another in Ashcroft Street.
Both of those were only fined 5 shillings each – but the absent, troublesome Danilivitch was fined £1.
On the 10th the inaugural United Glass Bottle Manufacturers annual fur and feather show was held in the dining room of the Sherdley glass works.
There was a right old menagerie – featuring rabbits, dogs, pigeons, cage birds, hens and other fowl all competing for silver medals.
It definitely sounded like cotton wool in the ears was a prerequisite for visitors!
The inquest on John Lewis of Randon Street in St Helens (which used to be near Lowe Street) was held on the 12th where a tragic tale was told.
Although aged 73, Mr Lewis had still been working, although unemployed since the coal strike earlier in the year.
The single man's total income was now only 20 shillings per week and his situation had led to him becoming depressed.
Three days earlier after drawing his pension at the post office and sending the money to his lodgings, John called at a house in Corporation Street. There he asked a friend to write his name on a card.
Half an hour later his cap was found on the banks of the St Helens Canal with the card securely pinned to it.
Although John's body was soon removed from the water, he was already dead.
The Coroner said there was no direct evidence that the man had committed suicide and so returned an open verdict.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, six small boys were charged with a number of thefts.
Two days earlier Sergeant Ballantyne had been on duty in Hardshaw Street (pictured above) where he spotted two lads carefully examining some ill-gotten gains.
These were pocketknives and a moneybox and, under the usual tough police questioning, the boys admitted stealing them and named four other lads in their gang.
The court bound five of them over. However, one boy named Allen – who had been in trouble before – was remanded with a view to sending him to an industrial school.
They'd been created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a really serious crime.
And finally, there were two articles in the Liverpool Echo that caught my eye this week.
The first concerned a one-eyed man with an ear trumpet that the police were searching for after allegedly committing a £10,000 war bonds fraud.
Surely there can't have been that many one-eyed men with ear trumpets knocking about?
However, the big news in the paper was the Anglo-Irish Treaty having been agreed at Downing Street.
This created the Irish Free State and ended the three-year Irish War of Independence.
The Echo was full of praise for the negotiators involved in the creation of the new state comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland.
What, of course, they could never have predicted that allowing the remaining six counties, comprising Northern Ireland, to opt out of the new state would not end the trouble. The Echo wrote:
"The announcement of an Irish settlement has given rise to a feeling of profound gratitude and thankfulness throughout the Empire – gratitude to the statesmen of all parties who have been blessed with the wisdom to arrive at such a sensible settlement, and thankfulness that a running wound in our body politic will at long last be healed.
"The settlement secures the safety of the Empire, ensures justice for all sections, and gives promise of an era of prosperity and peace.
"A great load has been lifted off this country, for a contented Ireland will be England's best friend and staunchest supporter.
"There will be an end to wasteful and disastrous expedients which were bleeding both this country and Ireland white.
"England, in fact, stands to gain as much as Ireland from the settlement, and the beneficial results will soon be reflected in our domestic affairs.
"The solution is so simple that the only matter for surprise is that it has been so long delayed.
"The analogy between the Canadian problem and the Irish problem has often been put forward, and a settlement advocated on these lines. But bitterness, prejudice, and wilful blindness stood in the way.
"It is a great tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of the Premier, Lord Birkenhead, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain – to mention only three of the principal negotiators – that these barriers have been broken down, and a new mentality has been brought to bear on the solution of England's most difficult problem."
Next week's stories will include the Higher Parr Street residents' complaints about passing lorries shaking pictures on their walls, a Christmas treat for the poorest children in St Helens and the Parr girls being prepared for domesticity in the home.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the full name of the Corporation Street venue and the Carl Rosa Opera Company were regular visitors.
They were founded in 1873 and still exist and this week performed seven different operas at the Theatre Royal.
Further down Corporation Street, the Hippodrome was featuring the usual mix of comics, singers and novelty acts in its music hall entertainment:
Winston's Water Lions and Diving Nymphs ("The aquatic marvels of the 20th century – a wonderful exhibition of animal training"); Hobart and Hobbs ("Comedians with a screamingly inexhaustible fund of good jokes and stories"); Alec Main ("A very fine baritone singer"); Sandy Brown ("Comedian"); Brideon ("The bandmaster ventriloquist") and Evelyn Bergen ("Vocalist and dancer").
That was on the basis that the sport was "quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged" – with the ban set to last fifty years.
The St Helens team had raised over £20,000 for charity – that is almost £1 million in today's money – in front of large crowds.
Last Boxing Day a record 53,000 spectators had been packed inside Goodison Park with ten to fifteen thousand unable to get in, as St Helens Ladies played the famous Dick Kerr's Ladies team from Preston.
Hang your head in shame Liverpool Echo! They were hugely supportive of the ban, writing this on the 6th:
"A deal of unnecessary fuss is being made over the fact that the Football Association has requested clubs under its control not to allow the use of their grounds for matches between women footballers.
"Women can still play football if they choose, but the opportunities of exploiting the spectacular side of their effort and drawing gates are greatly curtailed. Hence the howl of protest.
"The opinion is general amongst the medical profession that football is not a suitable game for women, nor has it any attractions for them as players, for there are only a very few in the country.
"The Football Association is undoubtedly right in its attitude that football amongst women ought not to be encouraged, especially in view of recent developments.
"It is stated on authority that the financial arrangements of these matches were not satisfactory, and some little time ago the Football Association placed the onus on any club that lent its ground of seeing that the receipts from the match were properly appropriated.
"Those who have been running women footballers must blame themselves for the fact that the governing body has taken up this attitude.
"After all, women footballers have attracted gates simply because they were an amusing novelty, and in the natural course they would soon have dropped into their right place.
"The majority of teams are hopeless. Even the crack team [Dick Kerrs] which has carried all before it would fall easy victims to a team of schoolboys under fourteen drawn from the elementary schools.
"Whether football is a suitable game for women or not, it has been clearly demonstrated that women will never become expert at the game."
The claims of misappropriation of funds raised in charity games that were mentioned by the Echo, were never substantiated and their criticism of the quality of women’s football does not tally with the reviews of matches that I’ve read.
With infant mortality being so high in St Helens, it was vital that a doctor or nurse delivered the children of pregnant women if their baby was to have a chance of life.
However, many frightened and often ignorant young single women – who had chosen to keep their pregnancy secret – felt forced to give birth on their own, often in their bedroom.
And so it is not really surprising that a very large number of babies of such unfortunate girls were either stillborn or died soon after birth.
Then there was the problem of what to do with the child's body.
Virtually every week there were reports in the newspapers of babies' remains being found in the oddest of places somewhere in England.
Six weeks ago I described the finding of a deceased baby boy inside a tin box in Dentons Green Lane.
The young mother's parents were very strict and she had been too scared to tell them of her condition.
This week there was another shocking discovery. While rummaging through a dustbin in Croppers Hill, a small boy found a parcel containing the dead body of a new-born child.
The remains had been wrapped in pieces of sack and bedding and placed in a pillowcase and covered with brown paper.
The boy took the tiny corpse to the police station and after examination by the police surgeon, it was stated to be that of a "full developed and particularly fine male child".
Now, a post-mortem would have to be held to try and ascertain whether the baby had had a "legal separate existence" – been born alive, in other words, as that would have a bearing on any possible future criminal charges.
However, with extreme secrecy having likely enveloped the pregnancy, the birth and disposal of the child's remains, any prosecutions were very unlikely.
There used to more Russians and so-called Russian Poles living in St Helens than any other foreign nationality.
I don't have any figures for 1921 but the St Helens Chief Constable's annual report for 1933 revealed 51 such individuals out of 103 "aliens" resident in the town. A further 17 were Lithuanian.
The fact that the police could state such precise numbers suggests that the wartime registration of foreigners was still active in the 1930s.
Last August I described Antonius Danilivitch's appearance at Widnes Petty Sessions for not reporting his change of address to the registration officer after moving to St Helens.
This week on the 9th, Danilivitch and two other Russian Poles were summoned to St Helens Police Court charged with again breaking the registration rules.
Chief Inspector Roe said Danilivitch – who failed to appear – was the cause of all the trouble.
He objected to paying income tax (which was then organised locally) and had quit Widnes for St Helens to avoid payment.
Danilivitch had been staying with one Russian Pole in Park Street but was now boarding with another in Ashcroft Street.
Both of those were only fined 5 shillings each – but the absent, troublesome Danilivitch was fined £1.
On the 10th the inaugural United Glass Bottle Manufacturers annual fur and feather show was held in the dining room of the Sherdley glass works.
There was a right old menagerie – featuring rabbits, dogs, pigeons, cage birds, hens and other fowl all competing for silver medals.
It definitely sounded like cotton wool in the ears was a prerequisite for visitors!
The inquest on John Lewis of Randon Street in St Helens (which used to be near Lowe Street) was held on the 12th where a tragic tale was told.
Although aged 73, Mr Lewis had still been working, although unemployed since the coal strike earlier in the year.
The single man's total income was now only 20 shillings per week and his situation had led to him becoming depressed.
Three days earlier after drawing his pension at the post office and sending the money to his lodgings, John called at a house in Corporation Street. There he asked a friend to write his name on a card.
Half an hour later his cap was found on the banks of the St Helens Canal with the card securely pinned to it.
Although John's body was soon removed from the water, he was already dead.
The Coroner said there was no direct evidence that the man had committed suicide and so returned an open verdict.
In St Helens Police Court on the 12th, six small boys were charged with a number of thefts.
These were pocketknives and a moneybox and, under the usual tough police questioning, the boys admitted stealing them and named four other lads in their gang.
The court bound five of them over. However, one boy named Allen – who had been in trouble before – was remanded with a view to sending him to an industrial school.
They'd been created to deal with juvenile delinquency and to teach youngsters a trade and were for those yet to commit a really serious crime.
And finally, there were two articles in the Liverpool Echo that caught my eye this week.
The first concerned a one-eyed man with an ear trumpet that the police were searching for after allegedly committing a £10,000 war bonds fraud.
Surely there can't have been that many one-eyed men with ear trumpets knocking about?
However, the big news in the paper was the Anglo-Irish Treaty having been agreed at Downing Street.
This created the Irish Free State and ended the three-year Irish War of Independence.
The Echo was full of praise for the negotiators involved in the creation of the new state comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland.
What, of course, they could never have predicted that allowing the remaining six counties, comprising Northern Ireland, to opt out of the new state would not end the trouble. The Echo wrote:
"The announcement of an Irish settlement has given rise to a feeling of profound gratitude and thankfulness throughout the Empire – gratitude to the statesmen of all parties who have been blessed with the wisdom to arrive at such a sensible settlement, and thankfulness that a running wound in our body politic will at long last be healed.
"The settlement secures the safety of the Empire, ensures justice for all sections, and gives promise of an era of prosperity and peace.
"A great load has been lifted off this country, for a contented Ireland will be England's best friend and staunchest supporter.
"There will be an end to wasteful and disastrous expedients which were bleeding both this country and Ireland white.
"England, in fact, stands to gain as much as Ireland from the settlement, and the beneficial results will soon be reflected in our domestic affairs.
"The solution is so simple that the only matter for surprise is that it has been so long delayed.
"The analogy between the Canadian problem and the Irish problem has often been put forward, and a settlement advocated on these lines. But bitterness, prejudice, and wilful blindness stood in the way.
"It is a great tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of the Premier, Lord Birkenhead, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain – to mention only three of the principal negotiators – that these barriers have been broken down, and a new mentality has been brought to bear on the solution of England's most difficult problem."
Next week's stories will include the Higher Parr Street residents' complaints about passing lorries shaking pictures on their walls, a Christmas treat for the poorest children in St Helens and the Parr girls being prepared for domesticity in the home.