IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 9 - 15 JUNE 1925
This week's many stories include the death of a famous Rainford racing cyclist, the reduced tram ride rate for kids, concern over the high death toll on the roads, the mischievous Pilks' boys that were given another chance and the Pitt Street wife whose husband gave her just 7s 6d a week to keep their family on.
We begin on the 9th when Bertie Glover appeared in the Borough Police Court charged with stealing from Alf Critchley. The latter was a very well-known fishmonger in St Helens who used the strapline "If It Swims, Alf's Got It." Alf operated out of offices behind the Nelson Hotel where he kept a stall and also stored fish.
Glover from Charles Street had been seen to go round a kipper stall where he removed the protective tarpaulin, wrapped something in paper and then walked off into Naylor Street. The police were informed and it was found that two boxes of kippers had been tampered with. In court Glover said he'd had a drop to drink and did not recollect going near the kipper stall but was fined 20 shillings or 14 days in prison. The St Helens Reporter later in the week referred to the fish as "five pairs of sad-eyed kippers".
The Reporter also quoted the Chairman of the Licensing Bench at the St Helens Police Court as having stated that complaints of bad language in the streets and at public meetings had been received. As a result, "Any such cases coming before the Bench in future would receive serious consideration", said their report.
In 1921 at an inquest inquiring into a death in Eccleston Park, coroner Samuel Brighouse had said: "I have felt for a long time that there was a great deal of reckless driving by motor-drivers throughout the country." These motorists had also not passed any driving test – and it would not be until the 1930s that such tests and the Highway Code would be introduced.
The underlying problems were that the narrow roads of St Helens were not designed for the mix of motor and horse-drawn vehicles that were competing for space with pedestrians and cyclists. And motorists and pedestrians (especially children) were not being educated at a local level (including schools) in matters of safety. There was, however, a Safety First Association that had been founded in London and which went national in 1923 that eventually would become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 12th the association stated that the number of accidents on the roads was on the increase in the provinces, unlike in London where there had been a decline in the ratio of accidents to the volume of motor traffic. That they put down to their campaign promoting road safety, which had started in the capital five years before.
But in the St Helens area they said there had been a "blot", with 25 fatal road accidents in the four years from 1921 to 1924 and 287 non-fatal. As if to underscore the danger on the roads a separate article described the death of Robert Dutton.
To those like myself who lived in Rainford in the 1950s and 1960s, Bob Dutton was the owner of a well-known garage in Ormskirk Road. But it had been Bob's father of the same name that had first established the business – although he did not run it for long. In the 1921 census Robert Dutton is listed as an out of work miner living in Ormskirk Road, along with his family which included 18-year-old Robert Jnr, who was then driving for Rainford Potteries.
At some point over the next four years Robert Snr began operating as a motorcycle agent and garage owner. He had once been what the Reporter called a "famous Lancashire track cyclist" who over a period of 21 years racing bikes had won many prizes and co-founded Rainford Cycle Club. But by 1922 he was 50 and those days were well behind him and in that year Robert had been the driving force behind the creation of the Rainford Motor Club.
Dutton's death had occurred on the previous Sunday lunchtime when he and several others had decided to test the speed of a new motorbike that one of the party had recently bought off the agent. They went to what was described as the Old Coach Road on Rainford Moss between Mossborough Hill and the railway. After two of them had tried the machine, Bob Dutton got on and started riding it in the direction of Bickerstaffe.
At the inquest hearing heard this week in Rainford Village Hall, William Carfoot of Mill Lane told the coroner: "I saw a motor cyclist riding towards me at thirty miles an hour. I saw a cloud of dust and the cycle and rider disappeared. I rushed to the spot and saw Mr. Dutton lying on his back, dead." Exactly what caused the crash was unclear, other than Bob Dutton had lost control of his machine and crashed into a tree, breaking his back and dying almost straight away.
It does not appear that St Helens children in the 1920s normally travelled on the trams at a reduced rate – although some would be doing so from now on. The Reporter revealed that kids wanting to visit the town's parks (such as Taylor Park above) during the summer holidays would be able to travel on the tramways at a discount rate, although seemingly only from the "termini within the borough", as the Reporter put it.
For many that would essentially mean from the Cotham Street terminus near the Sefton. This year the children would break up on or about July 10th, although they were not given long summer holidays and would be returning to school in early August.
There was another example this week of the boys working at Pilkingtons being given a second chance after misbehaving. There were around 150 lads working at the glass factories having come to St Helens from all over the country. Some were orphans who had arrived from reformatories or industrial schools and lived at Pilks' hostel in Ravenhead, which was renowned for its superb facilities.
The trouble had occurred on a Sunday when it was very common for youngsters to get up to mischief, as it was a day when there was nothing for them to do. The four lads were spotted by a furnace foreman at the UGB works in Peasley Cross standing on the buffers of a coal waggon that they had freed.
Once they saw him they jumped off and ran away and the waggon sped off towards Grace's Row in Burtonhead Road, crashing into a gate and smashing four windows. Altogether £16 worth of damage was done but the hostel superintendent told their court hearing that they were not bad boys and Pilks was prepared to take them back. In the light of these comments, the charge against the foursome was dismissed upon payment of court costs and the lads also paying £1 each towards the damage their prank had caused.
It was very difficult for a new bride if her husband treated her badly. The courts were unlikely to sanction a separation with maintenance payments and the court appointed social worker / probation officer John Holmes tended to side with the husband. That was especially so if the man had not been accused of using any violence against his wife.
The Reporter described how a "pretty brown-eyed girl, apparently scarcely out of her teens", had told St Helens Police Court this week that her husband had deserted her. She gave her name as Mrs Williams of Pitt Street in Pocket Nook and told the Bench: "My baby was only three weeks old when he left me, because I spoke to him about his gambling ways."
Upon the magistrates asking John Holmes if the young couple could be brought together again, the social worker replied: "Yes, if they will both be reasonable but the trouble is that both accuse each other of attending dances too often." Not that Mrs Williams had mentioned dances in her testimony but she did say that her husband was unemployed and drew from the dole 17s 6d every week. However, he only gave his wife 7s 6d to keep his family, retaining 10 shillings for himself.
Most husbands would in those days give all their wages or dole money to their wives and they would give them back some pocket money. The Bench then ruled that the case would be adjourned for a week to try and find a solution but in the meantime the husband had to pay his wife 10 shillings a week. Mrs Williams was then reported to have pointed out in what was described as aggrieved tones that the case had been adjourned several times before.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the dangerous Taylor Park paddling pool, the man that fired a gun outside a police station, the spectacles stolen from Woolies and the charabanc passengers chucking bottles out onto Rainford's roads.
We begin on the 9th when Bertie Glover appeared in the Borough Police Court charged with stealing from Alf Critchley. The latter was a very well-known fishmonger in St Helens who used the strapline "If It Swims, Alf's Got It." Alf operated out of offices behind the Nelson Hotel where he kept a stall and also stored fish.
Glover from Charles Street had been seen to go round a kipper stall where he removed the protective tarpaulin, wrapped something in paper and then walked off into Naylor Street. The police were informed and it was found that two boxes of kippers had been tampered with. In court Glover said he'd had a drop to drink and did not recollect going near the kipper stall but was fined 20 shillings or 14 days in prison. The St Helens Reporter later in the week referred to the fish as "five pairs of sad-eyed kippers".
The Reporter also quoted the Chairman of the Licensing Bench at the St Helens Police Court as having stated that complaints of bad language in the streets and at public meetings had been received. As a result, "Any such cases coming before the Bench in future would receive serious consideration", said their report.
In 1921 at an inquest inquiring into a death in Eccleston Park, coroner Samuel Brighouse had said: "I have felt for a long time that there was a great deal of reckless driving by motor-drivers throughout the country." These motorists had also not passed any driving test – and it would not be until the 1930s that such tests and the Highway Code would be introduced.
The underlying problems were that the narrow roads of St Helens were not designed for the mix of motor and horse-drawn vehicles that were competing for space with pedestrians and cyclists. And motorists and pedestrians (especially children) were not being educated at a local level (including schools) in matters of safety. There was, however, a Safety First Association that had been founded in London and which went national in 1923 that eventually would become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 12th the association stated that the number of accidents on the roads was on the increase in the provinces, unlike in London where there had been a decline in the ratio of accidents to the volume of motor traffic. That they put down to their campaign promoting road safety, which had started in the capital five years before.
But in the St Helens area they said there had been a "blot", with 25 fatal road accidents in the four years from 1921 to 1924 and 287 non-fatal. As if to underscore the danger on the roads a separate article described the death of Robert Dutton.
To those like myself who lived in Rainford in the 1950s and 1960s, Bob Dutton was the owner of a well-known garage in Ormskirk Road. But it had been Bob's father of the same name that had first established the business – although he did not run it for long. In the 1921 census Robert Dutton is listed as an out of work miner living in Ormskirk Road, along with his family which included 18-year-old Robert Jnr, who was then driving for Rainford Potteries.
At some point over the next four years Robert Snr began operating as a motorcycle agent and garage owner. He had once been what the Reporter called a "famous Lancashire track cyclist" who over a period of 21 years racing bikes had won many prizes and co-founded Rainford Cycle Club. But by 1922 he was 50 and those days were well behind him and in that year Robert had been the driving force behind the creation of the Rainford Motor Club.
Dutton's death had occurred on the previous Sunday lunchtime when he and several others had decided to test the speed of a new motorbike that one of the party had recently bought off the agent. They went to what was described as the Old Coach Road on Rainford Moss between Mossborough Hill and the railway. After two of them had tried the machine, Bob Dutton got on and started riding it in the direction of Bickerstaffe.
At the inquest hearing heard this week in Rainford Village Hall, William Carfoot of Mill Lane told the coroner: "I saw a motor cyclist riding towards me at thirty miles an hour. I saw a cloud of dust and the cycle and rider disappeared. I rushed to the spot and saw Mr. Dutton lying on his back, dead." Exactly what caused the crash was unclear, other than Bob Dutton had lost control of his machine and crashed into a tree, breaking his back and dying almost straight away.
For many that would essentially mean from the Cotham Street terminus near the Sefton. This year the children would break up on or about July 10th, although they were not given long summer holidays and would be returning to school in early August.
There was another example this week of the boys working at Pilkingtons being given a second chance after misbehaving. There were around 150 lads working at the glass factories having come to St Helens from all over the country. Some were orphans who had arrived from reformatories or industrial schools and lived at Pilks' hostel in Ravenhead, which was renowned for its superb facilities.
The trouble had occurred on a Sunday when it was very common for youngsters to get up to mischief, as it was a day when there was nothing for them to do. The four lads were spotted by a furnace foreman at the UGB works in Peasley Cross standing on the buffers of a coal waggon that they had freed.
Once they saw him they jumped off and ran away and the waggon sped off towards Grace's Row in Burtonhead Road, crashing into a gate and smashing four windows. Altogether £16 worth of damage was done but the hostel superintendent told their court hearing that they were not bad boys and Pilks was prepared to take them back. In the light of these comments, the charge against the foursome was dismissed upon payment of court costs and the lads also paying £1 each towards the damage their prank had caused.
It was very difficult for a new bride if her husband treated her badly. The courts were unlikely to sanction a separation with maintenance payments and the court appointed social worker / probation officer John Holmes tended to side with the husband. That was especially so if the man had not been accused of using any violence against his wife.
The Reporter described how a "pretty brown-eyed girl, apparently scarcely out of her teens", had told St Helens Police Court this week that her husband had deserted her. She gave her name as Mrs Williams of Pitt Street in Pocket Nook and told the Bench: "My baby was only three weeks old when he left me, because I spoke to him about his gambling ways."
Upon the magistrates asking John Holmes if the young couple could be brought together again, the social worker replied: "Yes, if they will both be reasonable but the trouble is that both accuse each other of attending dances too often." Not that Mrs Williams had mentioned dances in her testimony but she did say that her husband was unemployed and drew from the dole 17s 6d every week. However, he only gave his wife 7s 6d to keep his family, retaining 10 shillings for himself.
Most husbands would in those days give all their wages or dole money to their wives and they would give them back some pocket money. The Bench then ruled that the case would be adjourned for a week to try and find a solution but in the meantime the husband had to pay his wife 10 shillings a week. Mrs Williams was then reported to have pointed out in what was described as aggrieved tones that the case had been adjourned several times before.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the dangerous Taylor Park paddling pool, the man that fired a gun outside a police station, the spectacles stolen from Woolies and the charabanc passengers chucking bottles out onto Rainford's roads.
This week's many stories include the death of a famous Rainford racing cyclist, the reduced tram ride rate for kids, concern over the high death toll on the roads, the mischievous Pilks' boys that were given another chance and the Pitt Street wife whose husband gave her just 7s 6d a week to keep their family on.
We begin on the 9th when Bertie Glover appeared in the Borough Police Court charged with stealing from Alf Critchley.
The latter was a very well-known fishmonger in St Helens who used the strapline "If It Swims, Alf's Got It."
Alf operated out of offices behind the Nelson Hotel where he kept a stall and also stored fish.
Glover from Charles Street had been seen to go round a kipper stall where he removed the protective tarpaulin, wrapped something in paper and then walked off into Naylor Street.
The police were informed and it was found that two boxes of kippers had been tampered with.
In court Glover said he'd had a drop to drink and did not recollect going near the kipper stall but was fined 20 shillings or 14 days in prison.
The St Helens Reporter later in the week referred to the fish as "five pairs of sad-eyed kippers".
The Reporter also quoted the Chairman of the Licensing Bench at the St Helens Police Court as having stated that complaints of bad language in the streets and at public meetings had been received.
As a result, "Any such cases coming before the Bench in future would receive serious consideration", said their report.
In 1921 at an inquest inquiring into a death in Eccleston Park, coroner Samuel Brighouse had said: "I have felt for a long time that there was a great deal of reckless driving by motor-drivers throughout the country."
These motorists had also not passed any driving test – and it would not be until the 1930s that such tests and the Highway Code would be introduced.
The underlying problems were that the narrow roads of St Helens were not designed for the mix of motor and horse-drawn vehicles that were competing for space with pedestrians and cyclists.
And motorists and pedestrians (especially children) were not being educated at a local level (including schools) in matters of safety.
There was, however, a Safety First Association that had been founded in London and which went national in 1923 that eventually would become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 12th the association stated that the number of accidents on the roads was on the increase in the provinces, unlike in London where there had been a decline in the ratio of accidents to the volume of motor traffic.
That they put down to their campaign promoting road safety, which had started in the capital five years before.
But in the St Helens area they said there had been a "blot", with 25 fatal road accidents in the four years from 1921 to 1924 and 287 non-fatal.
As if to underscore the danger on the roads a separate article described the death of Robert Dutton.
To those like myself who lived in Rainford in the 1950s and 1960s, Bob Dutton was the owner of a well-known garage in Ormskirk Road.
But it had been Bob's father of the same name that had first established the business – although he did not run it for long.
In the 1921 census Robert Dutton is listed as an out of work miner living in Ormskirk Road, along with his family which included 18-year-old Robert Jnr, who was then driving for Rainford Potteries.
At some point over the next four years Robert Snr began operating as a motorcycle agent and garage owner.
He had once been what the Reporter called a "famous Lancashire track cyclist" who over a period of 21 years racing bikes had won many prizes and co-founded Rainford Cycle Club.
But by 1922 he was 50 and those days were well behind him and in that year Robert had been the driving force behind the creation of the Rainford Motor Club.
Dutton's death had occurred on the previous Sunday lunchtime when he and several others had decided to test the speed of a new motorbike that one of the party had recently bought off the agent.
They went to what was described as the Old Coach Road on Rainford Moss between Mossborough Hill and the railway.
After two of them had tried the machine, Bob Dutton got on and started riding it in the direction of Bickerstaffe.
At the inquest hearing heard this week in Rainford Village Hall, William Carfoot of Mill Lane told the coroner:
"I saw a motor cyclist riding towards me at thirty miles an hour. I saw a cloud of dust and the cycle and rider disappeared. I rushed to the spot and saw Mr. Dutton lying on his back, dead."
Exactly what caused the crash was unclear, other than Bob Dutton had lost control of his machine and crashed into a tree, breaking his back and dying almost straight away.
It does not appear that St Helens children in the 1920s normally travelled on the trams at a reduced rate – although some would be doing so from now on.
The Reporter revealed that kids wanting to visit the town's parks (such as Taylor Park above) during the summer holidays would be able to travel on the tramways at a discount rate, although seemingly only from the "termini within the borough", as the Reporter put it.
For many that would essentially mean from the Cotham Street terminus near the Sefton.
This year the children would break up on or about July 10th, although they were not given long summer holidays and would be returning to school in early August.
There was another example this week of the boys working at Pilkingtons being given a second chance after misbehaving.
There were around 150 lads working at the glass factories having come to St Helens from all over the country.
Some were orphans who had arrived from reformatories or industrial schools and lived at Pilks' hostel in Ravenhead, which was renowned for its superb facilities.
The trouble had occurred on a Sunday when it was very common for youngsters to get up to mischief, as it was a day when there was nothing for them to do.
The four lads were spotted by a furnace foreman at the UGB works in Peasley Cross standing on the buffers of a coal waggon that they had freed.
Once they saw him they jumped off and ran away and the waggon sped off towards Grace's Row in Burtonhead Road, crashing into a gate and smashing four windows.
Altogether £16 worth of damage was done but the hostel superintendent told their court hearing that they were not bad boys and Pilks was prepared to take them back.
In the light of these comments, the charge against the foursome was dismissed upon payment of court costs and the lads also paying £1 each towards the damage their prank had caused.
It was very difficult for a new bride if her husband treated her badly.
The courts were unlikely to sanction a separation with maintenance payments and the court appointed social worker / probation officer John Holmes tended to side with the husband.
That was especially so if the man had not been accused of using any violence against his wife.
The Reporter described how a "pretty brown-eyed girl, apparently scarcely out of her teens", had told St Helens Police Court this week that her husband had deserted her.
She gave her name as Mrs Williams of Pitt Street in Pocket Nook and told the Bench:
"My baby was only three weeks old when he left me, because I spoke to him about his gambling ways."
Upon the magistrates asking John Holmes if the young couple could be brought together again, the social worker replied:
"Yes, if they will both be reasonable but the trouble is that both accuse each other of attending dances too often."
Not that Mrs Williams had mentioned dances in her testimony but she did say that her husband was unemployed and drew from the dole 17s 6d every week.
However, he only gave his wife 7s 6d to keep his family, retaining 10 shillings for himself.
Most husbands would in those days give all their wages or dole money to their wives and they would give them back some pocket money.
The Bench then ruled that the case would be adjourned for a week to try and find a solution but in the meantime the husband had to pay his wife 10 shillings a week.
Mrs Williams was then reported to have pointed out in what was described as aggrieved tones that the case had been adjourned several times before.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the dangerous Taylor Park paddling pool, the man that fired a gun outside a police station, the spectacles stolen from Woolies and the charabanc passengers chucking bottles out onto Rainford's roads.
We begin on the 9th when Bertie Glover appeared in the Borough Police Court charged with stealing from Alf Critchley.
The latter was a very well-known fishmonger in St Helens who used the strapline "If It Swims, Alf's Got It."
Alf operated out of offices behind the Nelson Hotel where he kept a stall and also stored fish.
Glover from Charles Street had been seen to go round a kipper stall where he removed the protective tarpaulin, wrapped something in paper and then walked off into Naylor Street.
The police were informed and it was found that two boxes of kippers had been tampered with.
In court Glover said he'd had a drop to drink and did not recollect going near the kipper stall but was fined 20 shillings or 14 days in prison.
The St Helens Reporter later in the week referred to the fish as "five pairs of sad-eyed kippers".
The Reporter also quoted the Chairman of the Licensing Bench at the St Helens Police Court as having stated that complaints of bad language in the streets and at public meetings had been received.
As a result, "Any such cases coming before the Bench in future would receive serious consideration", said their report.
In 1921 at an inquest inquiring into a death in Eccleston Park, coroner Samuel Brighouse had said: "I have felt for a long time that there was a great deal of reckless driving by motor-drivers throughout the country."
These motorists had also not passed any driving test – and it would not be until the 1930s that such tests and the Highway Code would be introduced.
The underlying problems were that the narrow roads of St Helens were not designed for the mix of motor and horse-drawn vehicles that were competing for space with pedestrians and cyclists.
And motorists and pedestrians (especially children) were not being educated at a local level (including schools) in matters of safety.
There was, however, a Safety First Association that had been founded in London and which went national in 1923 that eventually would become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 12th the association stated that the number of accidents on the roads was on the increase in the provinces, unlike in London where there had been a decline in the ratio of accidents to the volume of motor traffic.
That they put down to their campaign promoting road safety, which had started in the capital five years before.
But in the St Helens area they said there had been a "blot", with 25 fatal road accidents in the four years from 1921 to 1924 and 287 non-fatal.
As if to underscore the danger on the roads a separate article described the death of Robert Dutton.
To those like myself who lived in Rainford in the 1950s and 1960s, Bob Dutton was the owner of a well-known garage in Ormskirk Road.
But it had been Bob's father of the same name that had first established the business – although he did not run it for long.
In the 1921 census Robert Dutton is listed as an out of work miner living in Ormskirk Road, along with his family which included 18-year-old Robert Jnr, who was then driving for Rainford Potteries.
At some point over the next four years Robert Snr began operating as a motorcycle agent and garage owner.
He had once been what the Reporter called a "famous Lancashire track cyclist" who over a period of 21 years racing bikes had won many prizes and co-founded Rainford Cycle Club.
But by 1922 he was 50 and those days were well behind him and in that year Robert had been the driving force behind the creation of the Rainford Motor Club.
Dutton's death had occurred on the previous Sunday lunchtime when he and several others had decided to test the speed of a new motorbike that one of the party had recently bought off the agent.
They went to what was described as the Old Coach Road on Rainford Moss between Mossborough Hill and the railway.
After two of them had tried the machine, Bob Dutton got on and started riding it in the direction of Bickerstaffe.
At the inquest hearing heard this week in Rainford Village Hall, William Carfoot of Mill Lane told the coroner:
"I saw a motor cyclist riding towards me at thirty miles an hour. I saw a cloud of dust and the cycle and rider disappeared. I rushed to the spot and saw Mr. Dutton lying on his back, dead."
Exactly what caused the crash was unclear, other than Bob Dutton had lost control of his machine and crashed into a tree, breaking his back and dying almost straight away.
It does not appear that St Helens children in the 1920s normally travelled on the trams at a reduced rate – although some would be doing so from now on.
For many that would essentially mean from the Cotham Street terminus near the Sefton.
This year the children would break up on or about July 10th, although they were not given long summer holidays and would be returning to school in early August.
There was another example this week of the boys working at Pilkingtons being given a second chance after misbehaving.
There were around 150 lads working at the glass factories having come to St Helens from all over the country.
Some were orphans who had arrived from reformatories or industrial schools and lived at Pilks' hostel in Ravenhead, which was renowned for its superb facilities.
The trouble had occurred on a Sunday when it was very common for youngsters to get up to mischief, as it was a day when there was nothing for them to do.
The four lads were spotted by a furnace foreman at the UGB works in Peasley Cross standing on the buffers of a coal waggon that they had freed.
Once they saw him they jumped off and ran away and the waggon sped off towards Grace's Row in Burtonhead Road, crashing into a gate and smashing four windows.
Altogether £16 worth of damage was done but the hostel superintendent told their court hearing that they were not bad boys and Pilks was prepared to take them back.
In the light of these comments, the charge against the foursome was dismissed upon payment of court costs and the lads also paying £1 each towards the damage their prank had caused.
It was very difficult for a new bride if her husband treated her badly.
The courts were unlikely to sanction a separation with maintenance payments and the court appointed social worker / probation officer John Holmes tended to side with the husband.
That was especially so if the man had not been accused of using any violence against his wife.
The Reporter described how a "pretty brown-eyed girl, apparently scarcely out of her teens", had told St Helens Police Court this week that her husband had deserted her.
She gave her name as Mrs Williams of Pitt Street in Pocket Nook and told the Bench:
"My baby was only three weeks old when he left me, because I spoke to him about his gambling ways."
Upon the magistrates asking John Holmes if the young couple could be brought together again, the social worker replied:
"Yes, if they will both be reasonable but the trouble is that both accuse each other of attending dances too often."
Not that Mrs Williams had mentioned dances in her testimony but she did say that her husband was unemployed and drew from the dole 17s 6d every week.
However, he only gave his wife 7s 6d to keep his family, retaining 10 shillings for himself.
Most husbands would in those days give all their wages or dole money to their wives and they would give them back some pocket money.
The Bench then ruled that the case would be adjourned for a week to try and find a solution but in the meantime the husband had to pay his wife 10 shillings a week.
Mrs Williams was then reported to have pointed out in what was described as aggrieved tones that the case had been adjourned several times before.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the dangerous Taylor Park paddling pool, the man that fired a gun outside a police station, the spectacles stolen from Woolies and the charabanc passengers chucking bottles out onto Rainford's roads.