IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8th - 14th NOVEMBER 1921)
This week's 16 stories include the general apathy in St Helens over Remembrance Day, a horse-drawn lorry and motor van battle it out in Parr Stocks Road, the woman who claimed to have been assaulted by filthy talk in Sutton, the inaugural Poppy Day takes place and the man prosecuted after being given the wrong change in The Little Pig.
We begin on the 8th in Southport Colliery in Parr when Patrick Beannon from Park Street in Haydock was killed by an underground roof collapse – one of the most common causes of mineworkers' deaths. The 46-year-old had been timbering the roof with support props when the heavy fall occurred.
At 10:40am on that day, William Barton was going along Parr Stocks Road with his horse-drawn lorry when a motor van appeared in the opposite direction driven by William Shawcross. The van driver from Clyde Street (which used to be near Peter Street) was said to be travelling at a good speed and he hit his brake as soon as he saw the lorry. That caused his motor vehicle to skid against the kerb and then strike the front horse that was hauling the lorry – which led to its driver being knocked under the second horse.
The motor van then careered across the road and ran into the garden wall of a cottage, causing so much damage to his vehicle that it would cost £57 to repair (around £3,000 in today's money). It was another example of the roads not being fit for purpose for the modern-day mix of transport and although William Shawcross was prosecuted for dangerous driving, the court cleared him. The magistrates said there was insufficient evidence to prove the case against the man.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall this week included Rungamah ("A thought reading act – a dusky unveiling of secrets and the most remarkable woman on earth"); The Paris Trio ("Comedy trapeze act"); Clifton and Daisy ("The world’s greatest one-wheel wonders performing skilful feats"); Billy and Doris Harley ("A clever dancing act") and Nell Calvert ("A chorus comedienne with comic and sentimental numbers").
In writing about Rungamah in November 1921, the Nottingham Evening Post said: "There are several turns of outstanding merit in an excellent Hippodrome programme, notably the performance of Rungamah, the lady who gives a remarkable exhibition of thought reading, answering questions, written, and retained by members of the audience, without the aid of any code."
On the 9th at a Town Council meeting, the Conservative Councillor Richard Ellison was unanimously re-elected as the Mayor of St Helens. His proposer was Alderman Forster, who spoke of the "great zeal" that Mr Ellison had shown in his work for the town.
At the St Helens County Court in East Street on the 9th, a divorced woman called Elinor Sutcliffe sued her ex-husband for £200. It was a curious, complicated case but essentially it was for the return of money that the woman had invested in a milk business in Rainhill that her ex-husband had now sold. A man called Gornall did jolly well out of the couple. He had sold his milk firm to them for £400 but then after a short space of time bought it back for just £70!
The 22nd annual St Helens Police Ball was held on the 10th at the Police Recreation Club. There were 400 guests and the Reporter described the event as "an evening of jollity".
It was Remembrance Day on the 11th and this year was the first commemoration in which poppies were worn. They were sold in Britain to raise money for the Earl Haig Fund in support of ex-servicemen and the families of those that had died in the war. As hostilities had only ended three years earlier, the day – with its two-minute silence – had arguably more relevance then than today. Last year the St Helens Reporter had written:
"This silence, impressive in its intensity, and arousing a depth of emotion in every patriotic house, was general throughout the town, from eleven o’clock to two minutes past. It was witnessed in the streets, in the works, the schools, and wherever man or woman might be, in memory of the brave fallen, who sacrificed their all for their brethren and their beloved country. At a few seconds before eleven o’clock, works' hooters sent out the warning to be ready, and on the stroke of eleven, dead silence fell upon the town. Not a movement in the street, not a footfall on the pathways, as men, bareheaded, stood out the solemn two minutes of devotion."
However, the novelty of the occasion in 1921 was starting to wear thin, as the Reporter described this week: "Apart from the very impressive though brief service held in Victoria-square, there was little to distinguish Remembrance Day from any other day in St. Helens. In a sentence, the occasion was very indifferently marked. As for the two minutes' silence, it was hardly worth the name – speaking generally. Somehow or another, the solemnity of the occasion appeared to be lost on thousands of people. Here and there a cart stopped, some business places closed their doors, where this could conveniently be done, and tramcars pulled up. But these were the exceptions.
"In every street there were numerous examples of “business as usual.” Church-street was disgraceful. Cyclists peddled along, people of both sexes were on the go, and the raucous row of motor horns added to the clatter during what should have been a solemn two minutes' silence devoted to the most uplifting thoughts that ever came to inspire mortal man. Life seemed too short for hundreds of St. Helens people to spare two minutes in remembrance of those who fought and died for them." A total of £149 15s 2d was raised through the sale of poppies in St Helens on Remembrance Day.
Also on the 11th, St Mary's Mission Church in Keswick Road became the latest in a long list of churches and clubs to dedicate their new war memorial. The Reporter described it as a "beautifully carved, figured oak tablet". The new bronze war memorial at the Co-operative Society's building in Baldwin Street (pictured above) – dedicated to their employees who had died in the war – was also unveiled this week.
And in the Co-op's store itself, they were offering overcoats and suits made to measure for 59/6. These were advertised on the front page of the Reporter on the 11th under the headline "Startling Reductions!" The ad continued: "Do not miss this splendid offer – cut, style and fit guaranteed".
The paper also quoted what a young man called John Evans from Sutton had told the magistrates in the Police Court: "This young woman who has just come from Ireland came and cracked me on the top of the head. She said, “I will show you what they do in Ireland.” I said, “I will show you what they do in Baxter's-lane.” The policeman said, “Come along,” and I went”!
Evans had been charged with a breach of the peace and the Irish woman called Eliza Lea, also summoned him for assault. However, when asked how she had been assaulted, Eliza replied: "With filthy talk". The magistrates told her that did not count as an assault but bound Evans over for breaching the peace. It sounds like he missed a trick for not bringing his own prosecution against the woman for cracking him on his head, as he put it!
In court on the 12th, Horace Leigh of Bold Road in Sutton was prosecuted after being given the wrong change in a pub. The young man had ordered a glass of beer at the Victoria Hotel in Ellamsbridge Road – which is also known as The Little Pig. By mistake he was given change for a ten-shilling note, despite only tendering one shilling. Horace quickly drank up and left but the barmaid's mistake was soon realised and the landlady's daughter had him arrested. For some time Horace denied all knowledge of the extra money but it was found on his person and in court he was fined 20 shillings and ordered to repay 9 shillings to the licensee.
On the 12th Higher Grade school played the Parish Church in the Schoolboy Association football competition. Johnny Woodward – described by the Reporter as a "wonderful schoolboy athlete" – scored eight goals as Higher Grade won 9 – 0.
The limited entitlement to dole and the small amounts that were being paid led to some unemployed people not being completely honest when making a claim. It might, for example, be that a small army pension was not being declared or the claimant did not mention that someone else in their household was in work. So an increasing number of what we might call benefit cheats were coming before the courts and on the 14th it was George Pickering's turn. The miner from Bold Street was fined £5 or 28 days in prison for drawing unemployment money by fraud. The magistrates declared that if cases of that sort continued, they would have no option but to send those that committed them to gaol without the option of a fine.
And to conclude this is how the Echo described Remembrance Day in Liverpool: "A great assembly of people had come together at the foot of Water-street, and the effect of the sudden silence here was very striking. A second before the sounding of the first signal, innumerable cotton wagons and lorries loaded with merchandise were rumbling over the stone setts, and the air was filled with the noise of movement and conversation. With the first signal it was as though a padded door had been closed upon it all.
"For the full two minutes there was not a movement, and the silence was only once broken by the whinney of a horse. Most of the men in the crowd stood at rigid attention, and the fixity of their gaze implied that they had much to recall during the tense two minutes. One young man, with a line of medals showing, stood with his cap gripped tightly and his eyes closed. Again came the sound of the maroons, every hat was replaced, and there was a universal stir as though of relief. Cartwheels resumed their rattle on the stones, and life returned to the whole scene. The drums rolled and the procession moved forward, the band playing “Hallelujah”."
However, in Church Street there was a noisy demonstration during the 2-minute silence and later the Liverpool Unemployed Committee explained why they had taken such drastic action: "The committee decided, in deference to the wishes of the rank and file, to have a demonstration, and we did it as a protest against the hypocrisy of paying tributes to the dead and wilfully ignoring the living. We have made appeals for the opening of funds until we are sick of it. Nobody will raise a finger to help, and it was more than the out-of-work ex-service men could stand to see this display of hypocrisy."
Next week's stories will include how a strict family upbringing had led to the Dentons Green birth concealment, the Spanish alien and his organ, a Peasley Cross bookie is brought to book and how mistaking poison for peppermint cost a man his life.
We begin on the 8th in Southport Colliery in Parr when Patrick Beannon from Park Street in Haydock was killed by an underground roof collapse – one of the most common causes of mineworkers' deaths. The 46-year-old had been timbering the roof with support props when the heavy fall occurred.
At 10:40am on that day, William Barton was going along Parr Stocks Road with his horse-drawn lorry when a motor van appeared in the opposite direction driven by William Shawcross. The van driver from Clyde Street (which used to be near Peter Street) was said to be travelling at a good speed and he hit his brake as soon as he saw the lorry. That caused his motor vehicle to skid against the kerb and then strike the front horse that was hauling the lorry – which led to its driver being knocked under the second horse.
The motor van then careered across the road and ran into the garden wall of a cottage, causing so much damage to his vehicle that it would cost £57 to repair (around £3,000 in today's money). It was another example of the roads not being fit for purpose for the modern-day mix of transport and although William Shawcross was prosecuted for dangerous driving, the court cleared him. The magistrates said there was insufficient evidence to prove the case against the man.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall this week included Rungamah ("A thought reading act – a dusky unveiling of secrets and the most remarkable woman on earth"); The Paris Trio ("Comedy trapeze act"); Clifton and Daisy ("The world’s greatest one-wheel wonders performing skilful feats"); Billy and Doris Harley ("A clever dancing act") and Nell Calvert ("A chorus comedienne with comic and sentimental numbers").
In writing about Rungamah in November 1921, the Nottingham Evening Post said: "There are several turns of outstanding merit in an excellent Hippodrome programme, notably the performance of Rungamah, the lady who gives a remarkable exhibition of thought reading, answering questions, written, and retained by members of the audience, without the aid of any code."
On the 9th at a Town Council meeting, the Conservative Councillor Richard Ellison was unanimously re-elected as the Mayor of St Helens. His proposer was Alderman Forster, who spoke of the "great zeal" that Mr Ellison had shown in his work for the town.
At the St Helens County Court in East Street on the 9th, a divorced woman called Elinor Sutcliffe sued her ex-husband for £200. It was a curious, complicated case but essentially it was for the return of money that the woman had invested in a milk business in Rainhill that her ex-husband had now sold. A man called Gornall did jolly well out of the couple. He had sold his milk firm to them for £400 but then after a short space of time bought it back for just £70!
The 22nd annual St Helens Police Ball was held on the 10th at the Police Recreation Club. There were 400 guests and the Reporter described the event as "an evening of jollity".
It was Remembrance Day on the 11th and this year was the first commemoration in which poppies were worn. They were sold in Britain to raise money for the Earl Haig Fund in support of ex-servicemen and the families of those that had died in the war. As hostilities had only ended three years earlier, the day – with its two-minute silence – had arguably more relevance then than today. Last year the St Helens Reporter had written:
"This silence, impressive in its intensity, and arousing a depth of emotion in every patriotic house, was general throughout the town, from eleven o’clock to two minutes past. It was witnessed in the streets, in the works, the schools, and wherever man or woman might be, in memory of the brave fallen, who sacrificed their all for their brethren and their beloved country. At a few seconds before eleven o’clock, works' hooters sent out the warning to be ready, and on the stroke of eleven, dead silence fell upon the town. Not a movement in the street, not a footfall on the pathways, as men, bareheaded, stood out the solemn two minutes of devotion."
However, the novelty of the occasion in 1921 was starting to wear thin, as the Reporter described this week: "Apart from the very impressive though brief service held in Victoria-square, there was little to distinguish Remembrance Day from any other day in St. Helens. In a sentence, the occasion was very indifferently marked. As for the two minutes' silence, it was hardly worth the name – speaking generally. Somehow or another, the solemnity of the occasion appeared to be lost on thousands of people. Here and there a cart stopped, some business places closed their doors, where this could conveniently be done, and tramcars pulled up. But these were the exceptions.
"In every street there were numerous examples of “business as usual.” Church-street was disgraceful. Cyclists peddled along, people of both sexes were on the go, and the raucous row of motor horns added to the clatter during what should have been a solemn two minutes' silence devoted to the most uplifting thoughts that ever came to inspire mortal man. Life seemed too short for hundreds of St. Helens people to spare two minutes in remembrance of those who fought and died for them." A total of £149 15s 2d was raised through the sale of poppies in St Helens on Remembrance Day.
And in the Co-op's store itself, they were offering overcoats and suits made to measure for 59/6. These were advertised on the front page of the Reporter on the 11th under the headline "Startling Reductions!" The ad continued: "Do not miss this splendid offer – cut, style and fit guaranteed".
The paper also quoted what a young man called John Evans from Sutton had told the magistrates in the Police Court: "This young woman who has just come from Ireland came and cracked me on the top of the head. She said, “I will show you what they do in Ireland.” I said, “I will show you what they do in Baxter's-lane.” The policeman said, “Come along,” and I went”!
Evans had been charged with a breach of the peace and the Irish woman called Eliza Lea, also summoned him for assault. However, when asked how she had been assaulted, Eliza replied: "With filthy talk". The magistrates told her that did not count as an assault but bound Evans over for breaching the peace. It sounds like he missed a trick for not bringing his own prosecution against the woman for cracking him on his head, as he put it!
In court on the 12th, Horace Leigh of Bold Road in Sutton was prosecuted after being given the wrong change in a pub. The young man had ordered a glass of beer at the Victoria Hotel in Ellamsbridge Road – which is also known as The Little Pig. By mistake he was given change for a ten-shilling note, despite only tendering one shilling. Horace quickly drank up and left but the barmaid's mistake was soon realised and the landlady's daughter had him arrested. For some time Horace denied all knowledge of the extra money but it was found on his person and in court he was fined 20 shillings and ordered to repay 9 shillings to the licensee.
On the 12th Higher Grade school played the Parish Church in the Schoolboy Association football competition. Johnny Woodward – described by the Reporter as a "wonderful schoolboy athlete" – scored eight goals as Higher Grade won 9 – 0.
The limited entitlement to dole and the small amounts that were being paid led to some unemployed people not being completely honest when making a claim. It might, for example, be that a small army pension was not being declared or the claimant did not mention that someone else in their household was in work. So an increasing number of what we might call benefit cheats were coming before the courts and on the 14th it was George Pickering's turn. The miner from Bold Street was fined £5 or 28 days in prison for drawing unemployment money by fraud. The magistrates declared that if cases of that sort continued, they would have no option but to send those that committed them to gaol without the option of a fine.
And to conclude this is how the Echo described Remembrance Day in Liverpool: "A great assembly of people had come together at the foot of Water-street, and the effect of the sudden silence here was very striking. A second before the sounding of the first signal, innumerable cotton wagons and lorries loaded with merchandise were rumbling over the stone setts, and the air was filled with the noise of movement and conversation. With the first signal it was as though a padded door had been closed upon it all.
"For the full two minutes there was not a movement, and the silence was only once broken by the whinney of a horse. Most of the men in the crowd stood at rigid attention, and the fixity of their gaze implied that they had much to recall during the tense two minutes. One young man, with a line of medals showing, stood with his cap gripped tightly and his eyes closed. Again came the sound of the maroons, every hat was replaced, and there was a universal stir as though of relief. Cartwheels resumed their rattle on the stones, and life returned to the whole scene. The drums rolled and the procession moved forward, the band playing “Hallelujah”."
However, in Church Street there was a noisy demonstration during the 2-minute silence and later the Liverpool Unemployed Committee explained why they had taken such drastic action: "The committee decided, in deference to the wishes of the rank and file, to have a demonstration, and we did it as a protest against the hypocrisy of paying tributes to the dead and wilfully ignoring the living. We have made appeals for the opening of funds until we are sick of it. Nobody will raise a finger to help, and it was more than the out-of-work ex-service men could stand to see this display of hypocrisy."
Next week's stories will include how a strict family upbringing had led to the Dentons Green birth concealment, the Spanish alien and his organ, a Peasley Cross bookie is brought to book and how mistaking poison for peppermint cost a man his life.
This week's 16 stories include the general apathy in St Helens over Remembrance Day, a horse-drawn lorry and motor van battle it out in Parr Stocks Road, the woman who claimed to have been assaulted by filthy talk in Sutton, the inaugural Poppy Day takes place and the man prosecuted after being given the wrong change in The Little Pig.
We begin on the 8th in Southport Colliery in Parr when Patrick Beannon from Park Street in Haydock was killed by an underground roof collapse – one of the most common causes of mineworkers' deaths.
The 46-year-old had been timbering the roof with support props when the heavy fall occurred.
At 10:40am on that day, William Barton was going along Parr Stocks Road with his horse-drawn lorry when a motor van appeared in the opposite direction driven by William Shawcross.
The van driver from Clyde Street (which used to be near Peter Street) was said to be travelling at a good speed and he hit his brake as soon as he saw the lorry.
That caused his motor vehicle to skid against the kerb and then strike the front horse that was hauling the lorry – which led to its driver being knocked under the second horse.
The motor van then careered across the road and ran into the garden wall of a cottage, causing so much damage to his vehicle that it would cost £57 to repair (around £3,000 in today's money).
It was another example of the roads not being fit for purpose for the modern-day mix of transport and although William Shawcross was prosecuted for dangerous driving, the court cleared him.
The magistrates said there was insufficient evidence to prove the case against the man.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall this week included Rungamah ("A thought reading act – a dusky unveiling of secrets and the most remarkable woman on earth"); The Paris Trio ("Comedy trapeze act"); Clifton and Daisy ("The world’s greatest one-wheel wonders performing skilful feats"); Billy and Doris Harley ("A clever dancing act") and Nell Calvert ("A chorus comedienne with comic and sentimental numbers").
In writing about Rungamah in November 1921, the Nottingham Evening Post said:
"There are several turns of outstanding merit in an excellent Hippodrome programme, notably the performance of Rungamah, the lady who gives a remarkable exhibition of thought reading, answering questions, written, and retained by members of the audience, without the aid of any code."
On the 9th at a Town Council meeting, the Conservative Councillor Richard Ellison was unanimously re-elected as the Mayor of St Helens.
His proposer was Alderman Forster, who spoke of the "great zeal" that Mr Ellison had shown in his work for the town.
At the St Helens County Court in East Street on the 9th, a divorced woman called Elinor Sutcliffe sued her ex-husband for £200.
It was a curious, complicated case but essentially it was for the return of money that the woman had invested in a milk business in Rainhill that her ex-husband had now sold.
A man called Gornall did jolly well out of the couple. He had sold his milk firm to them for £400 but then after a short space of time bought it back for just £70!
The 22nd annual St Helens Police Ball was held on the 10th at the Police Recreation Club. There were 400 guests and the Reporter described the event as "an evening of jollity".
It was Remembrance Day on the 11th and this year was the first commemoration in which poppies were worn.
They were sold in Britain to raise money for the Earl Haig Fund in support of ex-servicemen and the families of those that had died in the war.
As hostilities had only ended three years earlier, the day – with its two-minute silence – had arguably more relevance then than today. Last year the St Helens Reporter had written:
"This silence, impressive in its intensity, and arousing a depth of emotion in every patriotic house, was general throughout the town, from eleven o’clock to two minutes past. It was witnessed in the streets, in the works, the schools, and wherever man or woman might be, in memory of the brave fallen, who sacrificed their all for their brethren and their beloved country.
"At a few seconds before eleven o’clock, works' hooters sent out the warning to be ready, and on the stroke of eleven, dead silence fell upon the town. Not a movement in the street, not a footfall on the pathways, as men, bareheaded, stood out the solemn two minutes of devotion."
However, the novelty of the occasion in 1921 was starting to wear thin, as the Reporter described this week:
"Apart from the very impressive though brief service held in Victoria-square, there was little to distinguish Remembrance Day from any other day in St. Helens.
"In a sentence, the occasion was very indifferently marked. As for the two minutes' silence, it was hardly worth the name – speaking generally.
"Somehow or another, the solemnity of the occasion appeared to be lost on thousands of people.
"Here and there a cart stopped, some business places closed their doors, where this could conveniently be done, and tramcars pulled up.
"But these were the exceptions. In every street there were numerous examples of “business as usual.”
"Church-street was disgraceful. Cyclists peddled along, people of both sexes were on the go, and the raucous row of motor horns added to the clatter during what should have been a solemn two minutes' silence devoted to the most uplifting thoughts that ever came to inspire mortal man.
"Life seemed too short for hundreds of St. Helens people to spare two minutes in remembrance of those who fought and died for them."
A total of £149 15s 2d was raised through the sale of poppies in St Helens on Remembrance Day.
Also on the 11th, St Mary's Mission Church in Keswick Road became the latest in a long list of churches and clubs to dedicate their new war memorial.
The Reporter described it as a "beautifully carved, figured oak tablet".
The new bronze war memorial at the Co-operative Society's building in Baldwin Street (pictured above) – dedicated to their employees who had died in the war – was also unveiled this week.
And in the Co-op's store itself, they were offering overcoats and suits made to measure for 59/6.
These were advertised on the front page of the Reporter on the 11th under the headline "Startling Reductions!" The ad continued: "Do not miss this splendid offer – cut, style and fit guaranteed".
The paper also quoted what a young man called John Evans from Sutton had told the magistrates in the Police Court:
"This young woman who has just come from Ireland came and cracked me on the top of the head. She said, “I will show you what they do in Ireland.” I said, “I will show you what they do in Baxter's-lane.” The policeman said, “Come along,” and I went”!
Evans had been charged with a breach of the peace and the Irish woman called Eliza Lea, also summoned him for assault.
However, when asked how she had been assaulted, Eliza replied: "With filthy talk".
The magistrates told her that did not count as an assault but bound Evans over for breaching the peace.
It sounds like he missed a trick for not bringing his own prosecution against the woman for cracking him on his head, as he put it!
In court on the 12th, Horace Leigh of Bold Road in Sutton was prosecuted after being given the wrong change in a pub.
The young man had ordered a glass of beer at the Victoria Hotel in Ellamsbridge Road – which is also known as The Little Pig.
By mistake he was given change for a ten-shilling note, despite only tendering one shilling.
Horace quickly drank up and left but the barmaid's mistake was soon realised and the landlady's daughter had him arrested.
For some time Horace denied all knowledge of the extra money but it was found on his person and in court he was fined 20 shillings and ordered to repay 9 shillings to the licensee.
On the 12th Higher Grade school played the Parish Church in the Schoolboy Association football competition.
Johnny Woodward – described by the Reporter as a "wonderful schoolboy athlete" – scored eight goals as Higher Grade won 9 – 0.
The limited entitlement to dole and the small amounts that were being paid led to some unemployed people not being completely honest when making a claim.
It might, for example, be that a small army pension was not being declared or the claimant did not mention that someone else in their household was in work.
So an increasing number of what we might call benefit cheats were coming before the courts and on the 14th it was George Pickering's turn.
The miner from Bold Street was fined £5 or 28 days in prison for drawing unemployment money by fraud.
The magistrates declared that if cases of that sort continued, they would have no option but to send those that committed them to gaol without the option of a fine.
And to conclude this is how the Echo described Remembrance Day in Liverpool:
"A great assembly of people had come together at the foot of Water-street, and the effect of the sudden silence here was very striking.
"A second before the sounding of the first signal, innumerable cotton wagons and lorries loaded with merchandise were rumbling over the stone setts, and the air was filled with the noise of movement and conversation.
"With the first signal it was as though a padded door had been closed upon it all.
"For the full two minutes there was not a movement, and the silence was only once broken by the whinney of a horse.
"Most of the men in the crowd stood at rigid attention, and the fixity of their gaze implied that they had much to recall during the tense two minutes.
"One young man, with a line of medals showing, stood with his cap gripped tightly and his eyes closed.
"Again came the sound of the maroons, every hat was replaced, and there was a universal stir as though of relief.
"Cartwheels resumed their rattle on the stones, and life returned to the whole scene. The drums rolled and the procession moved forward, the band playing “Hallelujah”."
However, in Church Street there was a noisy demonstration during the 2-minute silence and later the Liverpool Unemployed Committee explained why they had taken such drastic action:
"The committee decided, in deference to the wishes of the rank and file, to have a demonstration, and we did it as a protest against the hypocrisy of paying tributes to the dead and wilfully ignoring the living.
"We have made appeals for the opening of funds until we are sick of it. Nobody will raise a finger to help, and it was more than the out-of-work ex-service men could stand to see this display of hypocrisy."
Next week's stories will include how a strict family upbringing had led to the Dentons Green birth concealment, the Spanish alien and his organ, a Peasley Cross bookie is brought to book and how mistaking poison for peppermint cost a man his life.
We begin on the 8th in Southport Colliery in Parr when Patrick Beannon from Park Street in Haydock was killed by an underground roof collapse – one of the most common causes of mineworkers' deaths.
The 46-year-old had been timbering the roof with support props when the heavy fall occurred.
At 10:40am on that day, William Barton was going along Parr Stocks Road with his horse-drawn lorry when a motor van appeared in the opposite direction driven by William Shawcross.
The van driver from Clyde Street (which used to be near Peter Street) was said to be travelling at a good speed and he hit his brake as soon as he saw the lorry.
That caused his motor vehicle to skid against the kerb and then strike the front horse that was hauling the lorry – which led to its driver being knocked under the second horse.
The motor van then careered across the road and ran into the garden wall of a cottage, causing so much damage to his vehicle that it would cost £57 to repair (around £3,000 in today's money).
It was another example of the roads not being fit for purpose for the modern-day mix of transport and although William Shawcross was prosecuted for dangerous driving, the court cleared him.
The magistrates said there was insufficient evidence to prove the case against the man.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall this week included Rungamah ("A thought reading act – a dusky unveiling of secrets and the most remarkable woman on earth"); The Paris Trio ("Comedy trapeze act"); Clifton and Daisy ("The world’s greatest one-wheel wonders performing skilful feats"); Billy and Doris Harley ("A clever dancing act") and Nell Calvert ("A chorus comedienne with comic and sentimental numbers").
In writing about Rungamah in November 1921, the Nottingham Evening Post said:
"There are several turns of outstanding merit in an excellent Hippodrome programme, notably the performance of Rungamah, the lady who gives a remarkable exhibition of thought reading, answering questions, written, and retained by members of the audience, without the aid of any code."
On the 9th at a Town Council meeting, the Conservative Councillor Richard Ellison was unanimously re-elected as the Mayor of St Helens.
His proposer was Alderman Forster, who spoke of the "great zeal" that Mr Ellison had shown in his work for the town.
At the St Helens County Court in East Street on the 9th, a divorced woman called Elinor Sutcliffe sued her ex-husband for £200.
It was a curious, complicated case but essentially it was for the return of money that the woman had invested in a milk business in Rainhill that her ex-husband had now sold.
A man called Gornall did jolly well out of the couple. He had sold his milk firm to them for £400 but then after a short space of time bought it back for just £70!
The 22nd annual St Helens Police Ball was held on the 10th at the Police Recreation Club. There were 400 guests and the Reporter described the event as "an evening of jollity".
It was Remembrance Day on the 11th and this year was the first commemoration in which poppies were worn.
They were sold in Britain to raise money for the Earl Haig Fund in support of ex-servicemen and the families of those that had died in the war.
As hostilities had only ended three years earlier, the day – with its two-minute silence – had arguably more relevance then than today. Last year the St Helens Reporter had written:
"This silence, impressive in its intensity, and arousing a depth of emotion in every patriotic house, was general throughout the town, from eleven o’clock to two minutes past. It was witnessed in the streets, in the works, the schools, and wherever man or woman might be, in memory of the brave fallen, who sacrificed their all for their brethren and their beloved country.
"At a few seconds before eleven o’clock, works' hooters sent out the warning to be ready, and on the stroke of eleven, dead silence fell upon the town. Not a movement in the street, not a footfall on the pathways, as men, bareheaded, stood out the solemn two minutes of devotion."
However, the novelty of the occasion in 1921 was starting to wear thin, as the Reporter described this week:
"Apart from the very impressive though brief service held in Victoria-square, there was little to distinguish Remembrance Day from any other day in St. Helens.
"In a sentence, the occasion was very indifferently marked. As for the two minutes' silence, it was hardly worth the name – speaking generally.
"Somehow or another, the solemnity of the occasion appeared to be lost on thousands of people.
"Here and there a cart stopped, some business places closed their doors, where this could conveniently be done, and tramcars pulled up.
"But these were the exceptions. In every street there were numerous examples of “business as usual.”
"Church-street was disgraceful. Cyclists peddled along, people of both sexes were on the go, and the raucous row of motor horns added to the clatter during what should have been a solemn two minutes' silence devoted to the most uplifting thoughts that ever came to inspire mortal man.
"Life seemed too short for hundreds of St. Helens people to spare two minutes in remembrance of those who fought and died for them."
A total of £149 15s 2d was raised through the sale of poppies in St Helens on Remembrance Day.
Also on the 11th, St Mary's Mission Church in Keswick Road became the latest in a long list of churches and clubs to dedicate their new war memorial.
The Reporter described it as a "beautifully carved, figured oak tablet".
And in the Co-op's store itself, they were offering overcoats and suits made to measure for 59/6.
These were advertised on the front page of the Reporter on the 11th under the headline "Startling Reductions!" The ad continued: "Do not miss this splendid offer – cut, style and fit guaranteed".
The paper also quoted what a young man called John Evans from Sutton had told the magistrates in the Police Court:
"This young woman who has just come from Ireland came and cracked me on the top of the head. She said, “I will show you what they do in Ireland.” I said, “I will show you what they do in Baxter's-lane.” The policeman said, “Come along,” and I went”!
Evans had been charged with a breach of the peace and the Irish woman called Eliza Lea, also summoned him for assault.
However, when asked how she had been assaulted, Eliza replied: "With filthy talk".
The magistrates told her that did not count as an assault but bound Evans over for breaching the peace.
It sounds like he missed a trick for not bringing his own prosecution against the woman for cracking him on his head, as he put it!
In court on the 12th, Horace Leigh of Bold Road in Sutton was prosecuted after being given the wrong change in a pub.
The young man had ordered a glass of beer at the Victoria Hotel in Ellamsbridge Road – which is also known as The Little Pig.
By mistake he was given change for a ten-shilling note, despite only tendering one shilling.
Horace quickly drank up and left but the barmaid's mistake was soon realised and the landlady's daughter had him arrested.
For some time Horace denied all knowledge of the extra money but it was found on his person and in court he was fined 20 shillings and ordered to repay 9 shillings to the licensee.
On the 12th Higher Grade school played the Parish Church in the Schoolboy Association football competition.
Johnny Woodward – described by the Reporter as a "wonderful schoolboy athlete" – scored eight goals as Higher Grade won 9 – 0.
The limited entitlement to dole and the small amounts that were being paid led to some unemployed people not being completely honest when making a claim.
It might, for example, be that a small army pension was not being declared or the claimant did not mention that someone else in their household was in work.
So an increasing number of what we might call benefit cheats were coming before the courts and on the 14th it was George Pickering's turn.
The miner from Bold Street was fined £5 or 28 days in prison for drawing unemployment money by fraud.
The magistrates declared that if cases of that sort continued, they would have no option but to send those that committed them to gaol without the option of a fine.
And to conclude this is how the Echo described Remembrance Day in Liverpool:
"A great assembly of people had come together at the foot of Water-street, and the effect of the sudden silence here was very striking.
"A second before the sounding of the first signal, innumerable cotton wagons and lorries loaded with merchandise were rumbling over the stone setts, and the air was filled with the noise of movement and conversation.
"With the first signal it was as though a padded door had been closed upon it all.
"For the full two minutes there was not a movement, and the silence was only once broken by the whinney of a horse.
"Most of the men in the crowd stood at rigid attention, and the fixity of their gaze implied that they had much to recall during the tense two minutes.
"One young man, with a line of medals showing, stood with his cap gripped tightly and his eyes closed.
"Again came the sound of the maroons, every hat was replaced, and there was a universal stir as though of relief.
"Cartwheels resumed their rattle on the stones, and life returned to the whole scene. The drums rolled and the procession moved forward, the band playing “Hallelujah”."
However, in Church Street there was a noisy demonstration during the 2-minute silence and later the Liverpool Unemployed Committee explained why they had taken such drastic action:
"The committee decided, in deference to the wishes of the rank and file, to have a demonstration, and we did it as a protest against the hypocrisy of paying tributes to the dead and wilfully ignoring the living.
"We have made appeals for the opening of funds until we are sick of it. Nobody will raise a finger to help, and it was more than the out-of-work ex-service men could stand to see this display of hypocrisy."
Next week's stories will include how a strict family upbringing had led to the Dentons Green birth concealment, the Spanish alien and his organ, a Peasley Cross bookie is brought to book and how mistaking poison for peppermint cost a man his life.