IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (14th - 20th SEPTEMBER 1920)
This week's stories include the Irish mob in Bridge Street, the stifling Boundary Road baths, the violent drunk "swinging along" North Road, a war memorial is unveiled at St Nicholas Church, some good news about infant mortality and the hornless gramophones in Church Street.
We begin on the 14th in St Helens Police Court when a young man called Samuel Leyland from Cowley Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting the police. PC Jolley told the court that at 11pm on the previous evening he had seen Leyland "swinging along" North Road in a drunken condition playing a concertina. The constable told the man to go home but Leyland replied: "What harm am I doing? I am as good a man as you, and I will do as I like."
After being cautioned by PC Jolley, Leyland struck the officer and knocked off his helmet. Only with assistance from a resident called Andrew Cowley was the constable's prisoner locked up. The defendant told the Bench that the officer had bullied him and if he had been left alone, there would have been no trouble. The magistrates fined Samuel Leyland a total of 30 shillings and thanked Andrew Cowley for his public spiritedness.
On the 15th the St Helens Health Committee met and Dr Joseph Cates had some good news. The town's Medical Officer of Health revealed that the infant death rate of 58 per thousand births during the past 9 weeks had been the lowest on record. Dr Cates attributed this chiefly to the recent spell of cold weather, which had reduced the number of flies in St Helens. The common housefly was blamed for spreading diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, as well as causing diarrhoea. Other factors had been the introduction of Corporation bye-laws ordering the weekly emptying of house middens, as well as the council's proactive maternity and child welfare work.
The committee also decided to approve a recommendation that the Corporation refuse destructor should be relocated to a site in Parr. The rubbish remover was presently situated by the electricity works in Croppers Hill. However that needed additional space in order to expand, as an increasing number of homes in St Helens were going electric.
The council's Water Committee also met on that day and heard that the ventilation at Boundary Road baths (pictured above) was very poor. That was because the fans had been removed for repair. Water polo was regularly played at the baths and Alderman Bates said recent matches had been very uncomfortable for the spectators.
It was also stifling for those in the baths and St Helens Swimming Club had sent in a letter of complaint. Alderman Bates added: "If it was a cinema or anything else we should make them keep the ventilation in proper order, and we must do the same with our property." It was decided that the Borough Engineer be instructed to attend to the matter at once.
"Only 14 Weeks To Christmas", said the Universal Bazaar in their advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th. The shop with premises next to the Parish Church and a stall in the Covered Market was promoting its Christmas Club.
The Reporter also wrote: "The postponed gala of the Sutton Church of England Sunday School took place in glorious weather, and was a pronounced success. The scene at Sherdley Park was of a very attractive character and parents and friends flocked to the field in large numbers. Indeed, the takings amounted to about £130, and the house-to-house collection of the Men's Bible Class for the children's tea produced £55."
Men's bible classes attached to the various churches were then extremely popular. The St Helens Parish Church's class met every Sunday afternoon with the average attendance being 500. Just how many attended at Sutton I cannot say but it was clearly a high number. That was indicated by another article in the Reporter about a memorial to their members who had been killed or injured in the war:
"The memorial of the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class was unveiled with due ceremonial at St. Nicholas Parish Church on Sunday afternoon. It is in the form of a handsome brass tablet, placed near the pulpit, bearing the names of the twenty-seven members who lost their lives, and indicating that 137 served and one was blinded and 33 wounded. The members of the two Bible classes marched from the Blinkhorn Room to the church, which was crowded, and a good number were unable to gain admittance on this account. The service was of an impressive character conducted by the vicar (Rev. W. E. Colegrove), and the unveiling was performed by Archdeacon Hewson, who delivered an effective address."
Since the Armistice had been signed almost two years ago there had been many memorials unveiled in St Helens. The Reporter also described how a handsome oak tablet had been unveiled last week in Moss Bank C of E School.
Crane & Sons sold pianos from their shop at 2 Church Street and claimed to have been in business for over 70 years. Now it seems they were branching out into the gramophone business and had this large advert in the Reporter: "You simply pay a small Deposit and we immediately deliver, Carriage Paid to your door, this high grade Hornless Gramophone, with Solid Oak Cabinet, Double Spring, Swiss made, frictionless Motor, with a sound producing power of great grandeur."
The illustration of the record player showed an ugly-looking contraption but would, of course, have been hi-tech in its day. I think I would have bought my gramophone from Mary Peters of Hall Street who gave away six free records with her machines!
On the 19th the United Irish Societies of St Helens held a meeting on waste ground in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built), which was preceded by a march led by a piper's band. Around 3,000 Sinn Fein supporters listened to what the Reporter called "extremist speeches".
The war in Ireland was having many repercussions in St Helens. In the Police Court on the 20th it was revealed that 300 rowdy young Irishmen had assembled in the town on the previous Saturday night. The men had congregated by the Nelson Hotel in Bridge Street and had been shouting "Up, Sinn Fein" and "Up, Ireland". A number of Englishmen came out of the billiard hall in Bridge Street and were immediately challenged to a fight.
One constable said it had been a "regular free fight" and "no one could tell who was who". Several officers ended up being assaulted and truncheons had to be drawn to defend the police against the mob. In the dock facing charges over the affair were Patrick Weaver from Glover Street, Joseph Doggin from Park Road and John Grady of Church Street. They were each sentenced to a month in prison as a warning to others.
Another act of bravery in the waterways of St Helens was recognised in the courtroom. That was when James Burns was awarded the medal and certificate of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society. The labourer from Stanhope Street had saved the life of Matthew Ingham, after plucking the eight-year-old out of the Rainford Brook at Gerards Bridge and applying artificial respiration.
On the same day an inquest was held on Thomas Francis of Anne Street, whose body had been dragged from the St Helens Canal on the previous day. The 40-year-old had left some clothes on the canal bank near Redgate Bridge and pinned to them was a note that read:
"This is my last word to my fellow workmen. I have been on the streets on 6s 3d per week since January 23, 1919, because I have stuck up for my rights, and now I have drowned my life for the same, and Joe Tinker, miners' agent, is the cause of my death. Signed, Thomas Francis. My body is in here. May the Lord have mercy on Thomas Francis."
The man had suffered an accident at Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr about seven years earlier and had held a grudge over his treatment ever since. The 6s 3d was the weekly compensation that Thomas had been receiving but he had not been on the streets at all, having only left his lodgings on the day he died. Thomas also left a will in which he claimed to have £300 and from which he left legacies to numerous people, including the Catholic churches in St Helens. From these he wanted twelve priests to celebrate High Mass at each church for him. However the money was a fiction, as seemingly were the deluded man's grudges.
And finally during the evening of the 20th, the monthly meeting of Rainford Urban District Council took place. It was revealed that the Earl of Derby had been approached to see if he was willing to give up some of his land for use as a recreation ground. There already was an athletics ground in the village behind All Saints Church and the new "rec" would eventually be created between it and the church. Lord Derby was Rainford's benefactor to a certain extent. Thirteen years earlier the earl had given the land and paid for much of the building of the Village Hall. The largesse of the Knowsley Hall dynasty is remembered by Derby Drive and Stanley Avenue (their family name).
Next week's stories will include the angry travellers that sued a Crab Street charabanc firm, the violent Boundary Road woman who pulled down part of her own home and the 10-year-old Thatto Heath thief who was sent to an industrial school for 6 years.
We begin on the 14th in St Helens Police Court when a young man called Samuel Leyland from Cowley Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting the police. PC Jolley told the court that at 11pm on the previous evening he had seen Leyland "swinging along" North Road in a drunken condition playing a concertina. The constable told the man to go home but Leyland replied: "What harm am I doing? I am as good a man as you, and I will do as I like."
After being cautioned by PC Jolley, Leyland struck the officer and knocked off his helmet. Only with assistance from a resident called Andrew Cowley was the constable's prisoner locked up. The defendant told the Bench that the officer had bullied him and if he had been left alone, there would have been no trouble. The magistrates fined Samuel Leyland a total of 30 shillings and thanked Andrew Cowley for his public spiritedness.
On the 15th the St Helens Health Committee met and Dr Joseph Cates had some good news. The town's Medical Officer of Health revealed that the infant death rate of 58 per thousand births during the past 9 weeks had been the lowest on record. Dr Cates attributed this chiefly to the recent spell of cold weather, which had reduced the number of flies in St Helens. The common housefly was blamed for spreading diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, as well as causing diarrhoea. Other factors had been the introduction of Corporation bye-laws ordering the weekly emptying of house middens, as well as the council's proactive maternity and child welfare work.
The committee also decided to approve a recommendation that the Corporation refuse destructor should be relocated to a site in Parr. The rubbish remover was presently situated by the electricity works in Croppers Hill. However that needed additional space in order to expand, as an increasing number of homes in St Helens were going electric.
It was also stifling for those in the baths and St Helens Swimming Club had sent in a letter of complaint. Alderman Bates added: "If it was a cinema or anything else we should make them keep the ventilation in proper order, and we must do the same with our property." It was decided that the Borough Engineer be instructed to attend to the matter at once.
"Only 14 Weeks To Christmas", said the Universal Bazaar in their advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th. The shop with premises next to the Parish Church and a stall in the Covered Market was promoting its Christmas Club.
The Reporter also wrote: "The postponed gala of the Sutton Church of England Sunday School took place in glorious weather, and was a pronounced success. The scene at Sherdley Park was of a very attractive character and parents and friends flocked to the field in large numbers. Indeed, the takings amounted to about £130, and the house-to-house collection of the Men's Bible Class for the children's tea produced £55."
St Nicholas Church in Sutton, St Helens and the Young Men's Bible Class war memorial that was unveiled in 1920
St Nicholas Church and the Young Men's Bible Class war memorial
St Nicholas Church war memorial
"The memorial of the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class was unveiled with due ceremonial at St. Nicholas Parish Church on Sunday afternoon. It is in the form of a handsome brass tablet, placed near the pulpit, bearing the names of the twenty-seven members who lost their lives, and indicating that 137 served and one was blinded and 33 wounded. The members of the two Bible classes marched from the Blinkhorn Room to the church, which was crowded, and a good number were unable to gain admittance on this account. The service was of an impressive character conducted by the vicar (Rev. W. E. Colegrove), and the unveiling was performed by Archdeacon Hewson, who delivered an effective address."
Since the Armistice had been signed almost two years ago there had been many memorials unveiled in St Helens. The Reporter also described how a handsome oak tablet had been unveiled last week in Moss Bank C of E School.
Crane & Sons sold pianos from their shop at 2 Church Street and claimed to have been in business for over 70 years. Now it seems they were branching out into the gramophone business and had this large advert in the Reporter: "You simply pay a small Deposit and we immediately deliver, Carriage Paid to your door, this high grade Hornless Gramophone, with Solid Oak Cabinet, Double Spring, Swiss made, frictionless Motor, with a sound producing power of great grandeur."
The illustration of the record player showed an ugly-looking contraption but would, of course, have been hi-tech in its day. I think I would have bought my gramophone from Mary Peters of Hall Street who gave away six free records with her machines!
On the 19th the United Irish Societies of St Helens held a meeting on waste ground in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built), which was preceded by a march led by a piper's band. Around 3,000 Sinn Fein supporters listened to what the Reporter called "extremist speeches".
The war in Ireland was having many repercussions in St Helens. In the Police Court on the 20th it was revealed that 300 rowdy young Irishmen had assembled in the town on the previous Saturday night. The men had congregated by the Nelson Hotel in Bridge Street and had been shouting "Up, Sinn Fein" and "Up, Ireland". A number of Englishmen came out of the billiard hall in Bridge Street and were immediately challenged to a fight.
One constable said it had been a "regular free fight" and "no one could tell who was who". Several officers ended up being assaulted and truncheons had to be drawn to defend the police against the mob. In the dock facing charges over the affair were Patrick Weaver from Glover Street, Joseph Doggin from Park Road and John Grady of Church Street. They were each sentenced to a month in prison as a warning to others.
Another act of bravery in the waterways of St Helens was recognised in the courtroom. That was when James Burns was awarded the medal and certificate of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society. The labourer from Stanhope Street had saved the life of Matthew Ingham, after plucking the eight-year-old out of the Rainford Brook at Gerards Bridge and applying artificial respiration.
On the same day an inquest was held on Thomas Francis of Anne Street, whose body had been dragged from the St Helens Canal on the previous day. The 40-year-old had left some clothes on the canal bank near Redgate Bridge and pinned to them was a note that read:
"This is my last word to my fellow workmen. I have been on the streets on 6s 3d per week since January 23, 1919, because I have stuck up for my rights, and now I have drowned my life for the same, and Joe Tinker, miners' agent, is the cause of my death. Signed, Thomas Francis. My body is in here. May the Lord have mercy on Thomas Francis."
The man had suffered an accident at Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr about seven years earlier and had held a grudge over his treatment ever since. The 6s 3d was the weekly compensation that Thomas had been receiving but he had not been on the streets at all, having only left his lodgings on the day he died. Thomas also left a will in which he claimed to have £300 and from which he left legacies to numerous people, including the Catholic churches in St Helens. From these he wanted twelve priests to celebrate High Mass at each church for him. However the money was a fiction, as seemingly were the deluded man's grudges.
And finally during the evening of the 20th, the monthly meeting of Rainford Urban District Council took place. It was revealed that the Earl of Derby had been approached to see if he was willing to give up some of his land for use as a recreation ground. There already was an athletics ground in the village behind All Saints Church and the new "rec" would eventually be created between it and the church. Lord Derby was Rainford's benefactor to a certain extent. Thirteen years earlier the earl had given the land and paid for much of the building of the Village Hall. The largesse of the Knowsley Hall dynasty is remembered by Derby Drive and Stanley Avenue (their family name).
Next week's stories will include the angry travellers that sued a Crab Street charabanc firm, the violent Boundary Road woman who pulled down part of her own home and the 10-year-old Thatto Heath thief who was sent to an industrial school for 6 years.
This week's stories include the Irish mob in Bridge Street, the stifling Boundary Road baths, the violent drunk "swinging along" North Road, a war memorial is unveiled at St Nicholas Church, some good news about infant mortality and the hornless gramophones in Church Street.
We begin on the 14th in St Helens Police Court when a young man called Samuel Leyland from Cowley Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting the police.
PC Jolley told the court that at 11pm on the previous evening he had seen Leyland "swinging along" North Road in a drunken condition playing a concertina.
The constable told the man to go home but Leyland replied: "What harm am I doing? I am as good a man as you, and I will do as I like."
After being cautioned by PC Jolley, Leyland struck the officer and knocked off his helmet.
Only with assistance from a resident called Andrew Cowley was the constable's prisoner locked up.
The defendant told the Bench that the officer had bullied him and if he had been left alone, there would have been no trouble.
The magistrates fined Samuel Leyland a total of 30 shillings and thanked Andrew Cowley for his public spiritedness.
On the 15th the St Helens Health Committee met and Dr Joseph Cates had some good news.
The town's Medical Officer of Health revealed that the infant death rate of 58 per thousand births during the past 9 weeks had been the lowest on record.
Dr Cates attributed this chiefly to the recent spell of cold weather, which had reduced the number of flies in St Helens.
The common housefly was blamed for spreading diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, as well as causing diarrhoea.
Other factors had been the introduction of Corporation bye-laws ordering the weekly emptying of house middens, as well as the council's proactive maternity and child welfare work.
The committee also decided to approve a recommendation that the Corporation refuse destructor should be relocated to a site in Parr.
The rubbish remover was presently situated by the electricity works in Croppers Hill.
However that needed additional space in order to expand, as an increasing number of homes in St Helens were going electric.
The council's Water Committee also met on that day and heard that the ventilation at Boundary Road baths (pictured above) was very poor.
That was because the fans had been removed for repair. Water polo was regularly played at the baths and Alderman Bates said recent matches had been very uncomfortable for the spectators.
It was also stifling for those in the baths and St Helens Swimming Club had sent in a letter of complaint.
Alderman Bates added: "If it was a cinema or anything else we should make them keep the ventilation in proper order, and we must do the same with our property."
It was decided that the Borough Engineer be instructed to attend to the matter at once.
"Only 14 Weeks To Christmas", said the Universal Bazaar in their advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th.
The shop with premises next to the Parish Church and a stall in the Covered Market was promoting its Christmas Club. The Reporter also wrote:
"The postponed gala of the Sutton Church of England Sunday School took place in glorious weather, and was a pronounced success. The scene at Sherdley Park was of a very attractive character and parents and friends flocked to the field in large numbers. Indeed, the takings amounted to about £130, and the house-to-house collection of the Men's Bible Class for the children's tea produced £55."
Men's bible classes attached to the various churches were then extremely popular.
The St Helens Parish Church's class met every Sunday afternoon with the average attendance being 500.
Just how many attended at Sutton I cannot say but it was clearly a high number.
That was indicated by another article in the Reporter about a memorial to their members (pictured above) who had been killed or injured in the war:
"The memorial of the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class was unveiled with due ceremonial at St. Nicholas Parish Church on Sunday afternoon. It is in the form of a handsome brass tablet, placed near the pulpit, bearing the names of the twenty-seven members who lost their lives, and indicating that 137 served and one was blinded and 33 wounded.
"The members of the two Bible classes marched from the Blinkhorn Room to the church, which was crowded, and a good number were unable to gain admittance on this account. The service was of an impressive character conducted by the vicar (Rev. W. E. Colegrove), and the unveiling was performed by Archdeacon Hewson, who delivered an effective address."
Since the Armistice had been signed almost two years ago there had been many memorials unveiled in St Helens.
The Reporter also described how a handsome oak tablet had been unveiled last week in Moss Bank C of E School.
Crane & Sons sold pianos from their shop at 2 Church Street and claimed to have been in business for over 70 years.
Now it seems they were branching out into the gramophone business and had this large advert in the Reporter:
"You simply pay a small Deposit and we immediately deliver, Carriage Paid to your door, this high grade Hornless Gramophone, with Solid Oak Cabinet, Double Spring, Swiss made, frictionless Motor, with a sound producing power of great grandeur."
The illustration of the record player showed an ugly-looking contraption but would, of course, have been hi-tech in its day.
I think I would have bought my gramophone from Mary Peters of Hall Street who gave away six free records with her machines!
On the 19th the United Irish Societies of St Helens held a meeting on waste ground in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built), which was preceded by a march led by a piper's band.
Around 3,000 Sinn Fein supporters listened to what the Reporter called "extremist speeches".
The war in Ireland was having many repercussions in St Helens.
In the Police Court on the 20th it was revealed that 300 rowdy young Irishmen had assembled in the town on the previous Saturday night.
The men had congregated by the Nelson Hotel in Bridge Street and had been shouting "Up, Sinn Fein" and "Up, Ireland".
A number of Englishmen came out of the billiard hall in Bridge Street and were immediately challenged to a fight.
One constable said it had been a "regular free fight" and "no one could tell who was who".
Several officers ended up being assaulted and truncheons had to be drawn to defend the police against the mob.
In the dock facing charges over the affair were Patrick Weaver from Glover Street, Joseph Doggin from Park Road and John Grady of Church Street.
They were each sentenced to a month in prison as a warning to others.
Another act of bravery in the waterways of St Helens was recognised in the courtroom.
That was when James Burns was awarded the medal and certificate of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society.
The labourer from Stanhope Street had saved the life of Matthew Ingham, after plucking the eight-year-old out of the Rainford Brook at Gerards Bridge and applying artificial respiration.
On the same day an inquest was held on Thomas Francis of Anne Street, whose body had been dragged from the St Helens Canal on the previous day.
The 40-year-old had left some clothes on the canal bank near Redgate Bridge and pinned to them was a note that read:
"This is my last word to my fellow workmen. I have been on the streets on 6s 3d per week since January 23, 1919, because I have stuck up for my rights, and now I have drowned my life for the same, and Joe Tinker, miners' agent, is the cause of my death. Signed, Thomas Francis. My body is in here. May the Lord have mercy on Thomas Francis."
The man had suffered an accident at Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr about seven years earlier and had held a grudge over his treatment ever since.
The 6s 3d was the weekly compensation that Thomas had been receiving but he had not been on the streets at all, having only left his lodgings on the day he died.
Thomas also left a will in which he claimed to have £300 and from which he left legacies to numerous people, including the Catholic churches in St Helens.
From these he wanted twelve priests to celebrate High Mass at each church for him. However the money was a fiction, as seemingly were the deluded man's grudges.
And finally during the evening of the 20th, the monthly meeting of Rainford Urban District Council took place.
It was revealed that the Earl of Derby had been approached to see if he was willing to give up some of his land for use as a recreation ground.
There already was an athletics ground in the village behind All Saints Church and the new "rec" would eventually be created between it and the church.
Lord Derby was Rainford's benefactor to a certain extent. Thirteen years earlier the earl had given the land and paid for much of the building of the Village Hall.
The largesse of the Knowsley Hall dynasty is remembered by Derby Drive and Stanley Avenue (their family name).
Next week's stories will include the angry travellers that sued a Crab Street charabanc firm, the violent Boundary Road woman who pulled down part of her own home and the 10-year-old Thatto Heath thief who was sent to an industrial school for 6 years.
We begin on the 14th in St Helens Police Court when a young man called Samuel Leyland from Cowley Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly and assaulting the police.
PC Jolley told the court that at 11pm on the previous evening he had seen Leyland "swinging along" North Road in a drunken condition playing a concertina.
The constable told the man to go home but Leyland replied: "What harm am I doing? I am as good a man as you, and I will do as I like."
After being cautioned by PC Jolley, Leyland struck the officer and knocked off his helmet.
Only with assistance from a resident called Andrew Cowley was the constable's prisoner locked up.
The defendant told the Bench that the officer had bullied him and if he had been left alone, there would have been no trouble.
The magistrates fined Samuel Leyland a total of 30 shillings and thanked Andrew Cowley for his public spiritedness.
On the 15th the St Helens Health Committee met and Dr Joseph Cates had some good news.
The town's Medical Officer of Health revealed that the infant death rate of 58 per thousand births during the past 9 weeks had been the lowest on record.
Dr Cates attributed this chiefly to the recent spell of cold weather, which had reduced the number of flies in St Helens.
The common housefly was blamed for spreading diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, as well as causing diarrhoea.
Other factors had been the introduction of Corporation bye-laws ordering the weekly emptying of house middens, as well as the council's proactive maternity and child welfare work.
The committee also decided to approve a recommendation that the Corporation refuse destructor should be relocated to a site in Parr.
The rubbish remover was presently situated by the electricity works in Croppers Hill.
However that needed additional space in order to expand, as an increasing number of homes in St Helens were going electric.
That was because the fans had been removed for repair. Water polo was regularly played at the baths and Alderman Bates said recent matches had been very uncomfortable for the spectators.
It was also stifling for those in the baths and St Helens Swimming Club had sent in a letter of complaint.
Alderman Bates added: "If it was a cinema or anything else we should make them keep the ventilation in proper order, and we must do the same with our property."
It was decided that the Borough Engineer be instructed to attend to the matter at once.
"Only 14 Weeks To Christmas", said the Universal Bazaar in their advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th.
The shop with premises next to the Parish Church and a stall in the Covered Market was promoting its Christmas Club. The Reporter also wrote:
"The postponed gala of the Sutton Church of England Sunday School took place in glorious weather, and was a pronounced success. The scene at Sherdley Park was of a very attractive character and parents and friends flocked to the field in large numbers. Indeed, the takings amounted to about £130, and the house-to-house collection of the Men's Bible Class for the children's tea produced £55."
Men's bible classes attached to the various churches were then extremely popular.
The St Helens Parish Church's class met every Sunday afternoon with the average attendance being 500.
Just how many attended at Sutton I cannot say but it was clearly a high number.
"The memorial of the Sutton Young Men's Bible Class was unveiled with due ceremonial at St. Nicholas Parish Church on Sunday afternoon. It is in the form of a handsome brass tablet, placed near the pulpit, bearing the names of the twenty-seven members who lost their lives, and indicating that 137 served and one was blinded and 33 wounded.
"The members of the two Bible classes marched from the Blinkhorn Room to the church, which was crowded, and a good number were unable to gain admittance on this account. The service was of an impressive character conducted by the vicar (Rev. W. E. Colegrove), and the unveiling was performed by Archdeacon Hewson, who delivered an effective address."
Since the Armistice had been signed almost two years ago there had been many memorials unveiled in St Helens.
The Reporter also described how a handsome oak tablet had been unveiled last week in Moss Bank C of E School.
Crane & Sons sold pianos from their shop at 2 Church Street and claimed to have been in business for over 70 years.
Now it seems they were branching out into the gramophone business and had this large advert in the Reporter:
"You simply pay a small Deposit and we immediately deliver, Carriage Paid to your door, this high grade Hornless Gramophone, with Solid Oak Cabinet, Double Spring, Swiss made, frictionless Motor, with a sound producing power of great grandeur."
The illustration of the record player showed an ugly-looking contraption but would, of course, have been hi-tech in its day.
I think I would have bought my gramophone from Mary Peters of Hall Street who gave away six free records with her machines!
On the 19th the United Irish Societies of St Helens held a meeting on waste ground in Bridge Street (where the Savoy would be built), which was preceded by a march led by a piper's band.
Around 3,000 Sinn Fein supporters listened to what the Reporter called "extremist speeches".
The war in Ireland was having many repercussions in St Helens.
In the Police Court on the 20th it was revealed that 300 rowdy young Irishmen had assembled in the town on the previous Saturday night.
The men had congregated by the Nelson Hotel in Bridge Street and had been shouting "Up, Sinn Fein" and "Up, Ireland".
A number of Englishmen came out of the billiard hall in Bridge Street and were immediately challenged to a fight.
One constable said it had been a "regular free fight" and "no one could tell who was who".
Several officers ended up being assaulted and truncheons had to be drawn to defend the police against the mob.
In the dock facing charges over the affair were Patrick Weaver from Glover Street, Joseph Doggin from Park Road and John Grady of Church Street.
They were each sentenced to a month in prison as a warning to others.
Another act of bravery in the waterways of St Helens was recognised in the courtroom.
That was when James Burns was awarded the medal and certificate of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society.
The labourer from Stanhope Street had saved the life of Matthew Ingham, after plucking the eight-year-old out of the Rainford Brook at Gerards Bridge and applying artificial respiration.
On the same day an inquest was held on Thomas Francis of Anne Street, whose body had been dragged from the St Helens Canal on the previous day.
The 40-year-old had left some clothes on the canal bank near Redgate Bridge and pinned to them was a note that read:
"This is my last word to my fellow workmen. I have been on the streets on 6s 3d per week since January 23, 1919, because I have stuck up for my rights, and now I have drowned my life for the same, and Joe Tinker, miners' agent, is the cause of my death. Signed, Thomas Francis. My body is in here. May the Lord have mercy on Thomas Francis."
The man had suffered an accident at Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr about seven years earlier and had held a grudge over his treatment ever since.
The 6s 3d was the weekly compensation that Thomas had been receiving but he had not been on the streets at all, having only left his lodgings on the day he died.
Thomas also left a will in which he claimed to have £300 and from which he left legacies to numerous people, including the Catholic churches in St Helens.
From these he wanted twelve priests to celebrate High Mass at each church for him. However the money was a fiction, as seemingly were the deluded man's grudges.
And finally during the evening of the 20th, the monthly meeting of Rainford Urban District Council took place.
It was revealed that the Earl of Derby had been approached to see if he was willing to give up some of his land for use as a recreation ground.
There already was an athletics ground in the village behind All Saints Church and the new "rec" would eventually be created between it and the church.
Lord Derby was Rainford's benefactor to a certain extent. Thirteen years earlier the earl had given the land and paid for much of the building of the Village Hall.
The largesse of the Knowsley Hall dynasty is remembered by Derby Drive and Stanley Avenue (their family name).
Next week's stories will include the angry travellers that sued a Crab Street charabanc firm, the violent Boundary Road woman who pulled down part of her own home and the 10-year-old Thatto Heath thief who was sent to an industrial school for 6 years.