IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (12 - 18 JUNE 1923)
This week's many stories include the Sutton miner charged with violently chastising his daughter, the lodger-out at the Sefton Arms who cadged his train fare from the Bench, the trial of Ernest Thorley for the attempted murder of his niece and a complaint that the museum in Victoria Park had become a children's playground.
We begin on the 12th when in St Helens Police Court an application was granted for a full music licence for what was described as the "Carr Mill pleasure ground". However, permission was on condition that the music stopped at sunset and did not take place on Sundays.
The trial of Ernest Thorley took place on the 12th at Liverpool Assizes on a charge of attempted murder. The 20-year-old had walked into St Helens Police Station and bluntly declared: "I have cut a child's throat at 36, Eldon Street. It will save a lot of trouble." Five-year-old Marion Rowe was the man's niece who he had been looking after while her parents went to the cinema. The little girl was found to have a wound three inches long under her chin and a scarf had been tightly tied round her neck in an apparent attempt at suffocation.
At previous hearings in front of St Helens magistrates Thorley had refused to explain his actions. But at the assizes his counsel claimed that Thorley had told his niece to run an errand – but she had refused and instead had run upstairs. He said his client had followed Marion and on losing his temper had struck her. In his hand Thorley happened to be carrying a razor, which he'd intended to use to repair his boots.
The counsel claimed that the defendant only meant to hit the little girl and had forgotten he had the razor in his hand. When Thorley saw what he had done he tied the scarf round Marion‘s neck to stop the bleeding and immediately went to the police station. But the man was convicted and sentenced to 15 months hard labour.
In the 1921 census 25% of women at work in St Helens were in some form of personal service. Out of a total of 2,200 in such employment, 1,400 worked in domestic service. Many of these would have been local women and girls, with others coming into the town to work in people's homes. And some St Helens females relocated to other towns, with Southport appearing to have been a popular destination. A few got into trouble, such as Annie Power from Waterdale Crescent in Sutton.
On the 13th the 19-year-old pleaded guilty in Southport Police Court to stealing a silk jumper. Annie had stolen the garment from Elsie Barker on the same day that she had taken a room at her mother's house on West Street. It was stated in court that Annie had been in various Southport situations during the previous six months but had been "keeping company with girls of doubtful character". Not many years ago Annie could have expected to be sentenced to a couple of months in prison for her theft.
But by the 1920s the magistrates tended to show more understanding and they offered to discharge Annie from the court as long as she returned to her parents in Sutton. No doubt over the past six months she has got used to her independence and so initially Annie refused to go home. But with the alternatives likely to have been a girls' home, and, perhaps, prison, she eventually agreed to come back to St Helens.
The council's Parks Committee met on the 13th and heard reports on the state of the museum in Victoria Park. The committee's chairman, Colonel Thomas, said he had been at the museum on the previous Sunday and it had been like a children's playground. Another committee member complained of a lack of supervision with park attendants only popping in now and then. And recently one of the showcases had been broken into.
The committee considered closing the museum on Sundays, although one member said that would deprive those that were only free on that day of the opportunity of visiting. Eventually the decision was taken to shut the museum on Sundays – but only until the end of August to see if anyone complained.
Parents were allowed – at times, even encouraged – to violently chastise their child when they had done wrong. But there was a limit on how far their punishment should go and overstepping the mark could lead to a court appearance. On the 15th miner John Williams from Joseph Street in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with ill-treating his daughter Margaret. A week earlier the 11-year-old had admitted to a schoolteacher that she had taken money out of her brother's moneybox. Her parents were informed and, according to the prosecution, the man "assaulted the child most brutally, punishing her in an altogether excessive way."
In his defence John Williams said he had only used his bare hands on Margaret and he had been missing money for some time, which had caused unpleasantness with his wife. In fining him 20 shillings the Chairman of the Bench said it had been right for the defendant to stop the child from stealing. But he had evidently lost his temper entirely and had been very violent and excessively severe.
Also on the 15th the inquest on William Harrison was held. The 72-year-old from Parr died in a mine at Haydock when struck by a runaway empty coal wagon.
I recently wrote how the magistrates in the St Helens Police Court were getting quite lenient in dealing with the crime of "lodging out", or sleeping rough. Not many years before offenders were routinely sent to prison but they were now more likely to have their cases dismissed and sent on their way. However, some might say the magistrates were becoming too much of a soft touch for lodgers out.
This week the Reporter described how a labourer called John Shaw had faced the charge of lodging out after being found loitering about the Sefton Arms. He told the court that he'd been on his way to Liverpool from Bolton but had run out of money after having a couple of beers in St Helens.
The Chairman of the Bench offered to let the man go to which Shaw said: "Thanks. May I ask you a question? Is there any chance of getting my train fare to Liverpool?" The reply came back: "Yes, I will pay your fare." He didn't mean that he would personally cough up the cash. The magistrate instructed the police to put Shaw on a train to Liverpool and pay the money for the fare out of public funds.
This advert for Providence Hospital (pictured above) was in the Reporter on the 15th: "Providence Free Hospital – Special Women's Effort – An Appeal to the Women of St. Helens! For funds for the erection of a women's surgical ward and the provision of increased private wards accommodation. Ex-patients are invited to call at the hospital and state the amount of the donation they propose to contribute."
It sounds a bit odd that the Hippodrome Music Hall should have been putting on an old-time show 100 years ago. But everything is relative to its time, of course, and the artistes that took to the stage for six nights from the 18th had apparently been in their prime many years before. The Hippodrome's ad in the Reporter said:
"Old-time star artistes who have made good by their own efforts a generation ago. A tonic for the old, an education for the young. Including several old St. Helens favourites." None of the names mean anything to me but they included Florrie Gallimore, Tom E. Royal, Tom Carolan, and Arthur Carthy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath card playing that led to two families being at war, the Peter Street gambling house, two suicides take place in St Helens Canal and the double tragedy on the Windlehurst estate.
We begin on the 12th when in St Helens Police Court an application was granted for a full music licence for what was described as the "Carr Mill pleasure ground". However, permission was on condition that the music stopped at sunset and did not take place on Sundays.
The trial of Ernest Thorley took place on the 12th at Liverpool Assizes on a charge of attempted murder. The 20-year-old had walked into St Helens Police Station and bluntly declared: "I have cut a child's throat at 36, Eldon Street. It will save a lot of trouble." Five-year-old Marion Rowe was the man's niece who he had been looking after while her parents went to the cinema. The little girl was found to have a wound three inches long under her chin and a scarf had been tightly tied round her neck in an apparent attempt at suffocation.
At previous hearings in front of St Helens magistrates Thorley had refused to explain his actions. But at the assizes his counsel claimed that Thorley had told his niece to run an errand – but she had refused and instead had run upstairs. He said his client had followed Marion and on losing his temper had struck her. In his hand Thorley happened to be carrying a razor, which he'd intended to use to repair his boots.
The counsel claimed that the defendant only meant to hit the little girl and had forgotten he had the razor in his hand. When Thorley saw what he had done he tied the scarf round Marion‘s neck to stop the bleeding and immediately went to the police station. But the man was convicted and sentenced to 15 months hard labour.
In the 1921 census 25% of women at work in St Helens were in some form of personal service. Out of a total of 2,200 in such employment, 1,400 worked in domestic service. Many of these would have been local women and girls, with others coming into the town to work in people's homes. And some St Helens females relocated to other towns, with Southport appearing to have been a popular destination. A few got into trouble, such as Annie Power from Waterdale Crescent in Sutton.
On the 13th the 19-year-old pleaded guilty in Southport Police Court to stealing a silk jumper. Annie had stolen the garment from Elsie Barker on the same day that she had taken a room at her mother's house on West Street. It was stated in court that Annie had been in various Southport situations during the previous six months but had been "keeping company with girls of doubtful character". Not many years ago Annie could have expected to be sentenced to a couple of months in prison for her theft.
But by the 1920s the magistrates tended to show more understanding and they offered to discharge Annie from the court as long as she returned to her parents in Sutton. No doubt over the past six months she has got used to her independence and so initially Annie refused to go home. But with the alternatives likely to have been a girls' home, and, perhaps, prison, she eventually agreed to come back to St Helens.
The committee considered closing the museum on Sundays, although one member said that would deprive those that were only free on that day of the opportunity of visiting. Eventually the decision was taken to shut the museum on Sundays – but only until the end of August to see if anyone complained.
Parents were allowed – at times, even encouraged – to violently chastise their child when they had done wrong. But there was a limit on how far their punishment should go and overstepping the mark could lead to a court appearance. On the 15th miner John Williams from Joseph Street in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with ill-treating his daughter Margaret. A week earlier the 11-year-old had admitted to a schoolteacher that she had taken money out of her brother's moneybox. Her parents were informed and, according to the prosecution, the man "assaulted the child most brutally, punishing her in an altogether excessive way."
In his defence John Williams said he had only used his bare hands on Margaret and he had been missing money for some time, which had caused unpleasantness with his wife. In fining him 20 shillings the Chairman of the Bench said it had been right for the defendant to stop the child from stealing. But he had evidently lost his temper entirely and had been very violent and excessively severe.
Also on the 15th the inquest on William Harrison was held. The 72-year-old from Parr died in a mine at Haydock when struck by a runaway empty coal wagon.
I recently wrote how the magistrates in the St Helens Police Court were getting quite lenient in dealing with the crime of "lodging out", or sleeping rough. Not many years before offenders were routinely sent to prison but they were now more likely to have their cases dismissed and sent on their way. However, some might say the magistrates were becoming too much of a soft touch for lodgers out.
This week the Reporter described how a labourer called John Shaw had faced the charge of lodging out after being found loitering about the Sefton Arms. He told the court that he'd been on his way to Liverpool from Bolton but had run out of money after having a couple of beers in St Helens.
The Chairman of the Bench offered to let the man go to which Shaw said: "Thanks. May I ask you a question? Is there any chance of getting my train fare to Liverpool?" The reply came back: "Yes, I will pay your fare." He didn't mean that he would personally cough up the cash. The magistrate instructed the police to put Shaw on a train to Liverpool and pay the money for the fare out of public funds.
It sounds a bit odd that the Hippodrome Music Hall should have been putting on an old-time show 100 years ago. But everything is relative to its time, of course, and the artistes that took to the stage for six nights from the 18th had apparently been in their prime many years before. The Hippodrome's ad in the Reporter said:
"Old-time star artistes who have made good by their own efforts a generation ago. A tonic for the old, an education for the young. Including several old St. Helens favourites." None of the names mean anything to me but they included Florrie Gallimore, Tom E. Royal, Tom Carolan, and Arthur Carthy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath card playing that led to two families being at war, the Peter Street gambling house, two suicides take place in St Helens Canal and the double tragedy on the Windlehurst estate.
This week's many stories include the Sutton miner charged with violently chastising his daughter, the lodger-out at the Sefton Arms who cadged his train fare from the Bench, the trial of Ernest Thorley for the attempted murder of his niece and a complaint that the museum in Victoria Park had become a children's playground.
We begin on the 12th when in St Helens Police Court an application was granted for a full music licence for what was described as the "Carr Mill pleasure ground".
However, permission was on condition that the music stopped at sunset and did not take place on Sundays.
The trial of Ernest Thorley took place on the 12th at Liverpool Assizes on a charge of attempted murder.
The 20-year-old had walked into St Helens Police Station and bluntly declared: "I have cut a child's throat at 36, Eldon Street. It will save a lot of trouble."
Five-year-old Marion Rowe was the man's niece who he had been looking after while her parents went to the cinema.
The little girl was found to have a wound three inches long under her chin and a scarf had been tightly tied round her neck in an apparent attempt at suffocation.
At previous hearings in front of St Helens magistrates Thorley had refused to explain his actions.
But at the assizes his counsel claimed that Thorley had told his niece to run an errand – but she had refused and instead had run upstairs.
He said his client had followed Marion and on losing his temper had struck her. In his hand Thorley happened to be carrying a razor, which he'd intended to use to repair his boots.
The counsel claimed that the defendant only meant to hit the little girl and had forgotten he had the razor in his hand.
When Thorley saw what he had done he tied the scarf round Marion‘s neck to stop the bleeding and immediately went to the police station. But the man was convicted and sentenced to 15 months hard labour.
In the 1921 census 25% of women at work in St Helens were in some form of personal service. Out of a total of 2,200 in such employment, 1,400 worked in domestic service.
Many of these would have been local women and girls, with others coming into the town to work in people's homes.
And some St Helens females relocated to other towns, with Southport appearing to have been a popular destination.
A few got into trouble, such as Annie Power from Waterdale Crescent in Sutton. On the 13th the 19-year-old pleaded guilty in Southport Police Court to stealing a silk jumper.
Annie had stolen the garment from Elsie Barker on the same day that she had taken a room at her mother's house on West Street.
It was stated in court that Annie had been in various Southport situations during the previous six months but had been "keeping company with girls of doubtful character".
Not many years ago Annie could have expected to be sentenced to a couple of months in prison for her theft.
But by the 1920s the magistrates tended to show more understanding and they offered to discharge Annie from the court as long as she returned to her parents in Sutton.
No doubt over the past six months she has got used to her independence and so initially Annie refused to go home.
But with the alternatives likely to have been a girls' home, and, perhaps, prison, she eventually agreed to come back to St Helens.
The council's Parks Committee met on the 13th and heard reports on the state of the museum in Victoria Park.
The committee's chairman, Colonel Thomas, said he had been at the museum on the previous Sunday and it had been like a children's playground.
Another committee member complained of a lack of supervision with park attendants only popping in now and then. And recently one of the showcases had been broken into.
The committee considered closing the museum on Sundays, although one member said that would deprive those that were only free on that day of the opportunity of visiting.
Eventually the decision was taken to shut the museum on Sundays – but only until the end of August to see if anyone complained.
Parents were allowed – at times, even encouraged – to violently chastise their child when they had done wrong.
But there was a limit on how far their punishment should go and overstepping the mark could lead to a court appearance.
On the 15th miner John Williams from Joseph Street in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with ill-treating his daughter Margaret.
A week earlier the 11-year-old had admitted to a schoolteacher that she had taken money out of her brother's moneybox.
Her parents were informed and, according to the prosecution, the man "assaulted the child most brutally, punishing her in an altogether excessive way."
In his defence John Williams said he had only used his bare hands on Margaret and he had been missing money for some time, which had caused unpleasantness with his wife.
In fining him 20 shillings the Chairman of the Bench said it had been right for the defendant to stop the child from stealing.
But he had evidently lost his temper entirely and had been very violent and excessively severe.
Also on the 15th the inquest on William Harrison was held. The 72-year-old from Parr died in a mine at Haydock when struck by a runaway empty coal wagon.
I recently wrote how the magistrates in the St Helens Police Court were getting quite lenient in dealing with the crime of "lodging out", or sleeping rough.
Not many years before offenders were routinely sent to prison but they were now more likely to have their cases dismissed and sent on their way.
However, some might say the magistrates were becoming too much of a soft touch for lodgers out.
This week the Reporter described how a labourer called John Shaw had faced the charge of lodging out after being found loitering about the Sefton Arms.
He told the court that he'd been on his way to Liverpool from Bolton but had run out of money after having a couple of beers in St Helens.
The Chairman of the Bench offered to let the man go to which Shaw said: "Thanks. May I ask you a question? Is there any chance of getting my train fare to Liverpool?"
The reply came back: "Yes, I will pay your fare." He didn't mean that he would personally cough up the cash.
The magistrate instructed the police to put Shaw on a train to Liverpool and pay the money for the fare out of public funds.
This advert concerning Providence Hospital (pictured above) was in the Reporter on the 15th: "Providence Free Hospital – Special Women's Effort – An Appeal to the Women of St. Helens!
"For funds for the erection of a women's surgical ward and the provision of increased private wards accommodation.
"Ex-patients are invited to call at the hospital and state the amount of the donation they propose to contribute."
It sounds a bit odd that the Hippodrome Music Hall should have been putting on an old-time show 100 years ago.
But everything is relative to its time, of course, and the artistes that took to the stage for six nights from the 18th had apparently been in their prime many years before. The Hippodrome's ad in the Reporter said:
"Old-time star artistes who have made good by their own efforts a generation ago. A tonic for the old, an education for the young. Including several old St. Helens favourites."
None of the names mean anything to me but they included Florrie Gallimore, Tom E. Royal, Tom Carolan, and Arthur Carthy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath card playing that led to two families being at war, the Peter Street gambling house, two suicides take place in St Helens Canal and the double tragedy on the Windlehurst estate.
We begin on the 12th when in St Helens Police Court an application was granted for a full music licence for what was described as the "Carr Mill pleasure ground".
However, permission was on condition that the music stopped at sunset and did not take place on Sundays.
The trial of Ernest Thorley took place on the 12th at Liverpool Assizes on a charge of attempted murder.
The 20-year-old had walked into St Helens Police Station and bluntly declared: "I have cut a child's throat at 36, Eldon Street. It will save a lot of trouble."
Five-year-old Marion Rowe was the man's niece who he had been looking after while her parents went to the cinema.
The little girl was found to have a wound three inches long under her chin and a scarf had been tightly tied round her neck in an apparent attempt at suffocation.
At previous hearings in front of St Helens magistrates Thorley had refused to explain his actions.
But at the assizes his counsel claimed that Thorley had told his niece to run an errand – but she had refused and instead had run upstairs.
He said his client had followed Marion and on losing his temper had struck her. In his hand Thorley happened to be carrying a razor, which he'd intended to use to repair his boots.
The counsel claimed that the defendant only meant to hit the little girl and had forgotten he had the razor in his hand.
When Thorley saw what he had done he tied the scarf round Marion‘s neck to stop the bleeding and immediately went to the police station. But the man was convicted and sentenced to 15 months hard labour.
In the 1921 census 25% of women at work in St Helens were in some form of personal service. Out of a total of 2,200 in such employment, 1,400 worked in domestic service.
Many of these would have been local women and girls, with others coming into the town to work in people's homes.
And some St Helens females relocated to other towns, with Southport appearing to have been a popular destination.
A few got into trouble, such as Annie Power from Waterdale Crescent in Sutton. On the 13th the 19-year-old pleaded guilty in Southport Police Court to stealing a silk jumper.
Annie had stolen the garment from Elsie Barker on the same day that she had taken a room at her mother's house on West Street.
It was stated in court that Annie had been in various Southport situations during the previous six months but had been "keeping company with girls of doubtful character".
Not many years ago Annie could have expected to be sentenced to a couple of months in prison for her theft.
But by the 1920s the magistrates tended to show more understanding and they offered to discharge Annie from the court as long as she returned to her parents in Sutton.
No doubt over the past six months she has got used to her independence and so initially Annie refused to go home.
But with the alternatives likely to have been a girls' home, and, perhaps, prison, she eventually agreed to come back to St Helens.
The committee's chairman, Colonel Thomas, said he had been at the museum on the previous Sunday and it had been like a children's playground.
Another committee member complained of a lack of supervision with park attendants only popping in now and then. And recently one of the showcases had been broken into.
The committee considered closing the museum on Sundays, although one member said that would deprive those that were only free on that day of the opportunity of visiting.
Eventually the decision was taken to shut the museum on Sundays – but only until the end of August to see if anyone complained.
Parents were allowed – at times, even encouraged – to violently chastise their child when they had done wrong.
But there was a limit on how far their punishment should go and overstepping the mark could lead to a court appearance.
On the 15th miner John Williams from Joseph Street in Sutton appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with ill-treating his daughter Margaret.
A week earlier the 11-year-old had admitted to a schoolteacher that she had taken money out of her brother's moneybox.
Her parents were informed and, according to the prosecution, the man "assaulted the child most brutally, punishing her in an altogether excessive way."
In his defence John Williams said he had only used his bare hands on Margaret and he had been missing money for some time, which had caused unpleasantness with his wife.
In fining him 20 shillings the Chairman of the Bench said it had been right for the defendant to stop the child from stealing.
But he had evidently lost his temper entirely and had been very violent and excessively severe.
Also on the 15th the inquest on William Harrison was held. The 72-year-old from Parr died in a mine at Haydock when struck by a runaway empty coal wagon.
I recently wrote how the magistrates in the St Helens Police Court were getting quite lenient in dealing with the crime of "lodging out", or sleeping rough.
Not many years before offenders were routinely sent to prison but they were now more likely to have their cases dismissed and sent on their way.
However, some might say the magistrates were becoming too much of a soft touch for lodgers out.
This week the Reporter described how a labourer called John Shaw had faced the charge of lodging out after being found loitering about the Sefton Arms.
He told the court that he'd been on his way to Liverpool from Bolton but had run out of money after having a couple of beers in St Helens.
The Chairman of the Bench offered to let the man go to which Shaw said: "Thanks. May I ask you a question? Is there any chance of getting my train fare to Liverpool?"
The reply came back: "Yes, I will pay your fare." He didn't mean that he would personally cough up the cash.
The magistrate instructed the police to put Shaw on a train to Liverpool and pay the money for the fare out of public funds.
"For funds for the erection of a women's surgical ward and the provision of increased private wards accommodation.
"Ex-patients are invited to call at the hospital and state the amount of the donation they propose to contribute."
It sounds a bit odd that the Hippodrome Music Hall should have been putting on an old-time show 100 years ago.
But everything is relative to its time, of course, and the artistes that took to the stage for six nights from the 18th had apparently been in their prime many years before. The Hippodrome's ad in the Reporter said:
"Old-time star artistes who have made good by their own efforts a generation ago. A tonic for the old, an education for the young. Including several old St. Helens favourites."
None of the names mean anything to me but they included Florrie Gallimore, Tom E. Royal, Tom Carolan, and Arthur Carthy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath card playing that led to two families being at war, the Peter Street gambling house, two suicides take place in St Helens Canal and the double tragedy on the Windlehurst estate.