IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (14th - 20th October 1919)
This week's stories include the drunken sailor who fired a revolver in Park Road, a curious Clock Face Colliery pay mix up, proposed action to remedy the flooding in Sutton, the "loafer of no fixed abode" returns to court, the boom in pastimes in St Helens and the Parr boy burglar who stole coppers for sweets.
We begin on the 15th when the owners of Clock Face Colliery (pictured above) sued a former employee in the St Helens County Court. The Wigan Coal & Iron Company claimed that Thomas Francis had been overpaid £2 14s 7d after undertaking five days temporary work at Clock Face. The mistake occurred as a result of the colliery having two separate pay offices for their underground and overground workers.
After completing his week's labour on the surface of the mine, Thomas Francis had gone to the office for underground staff and presented his pay tally. This bore the number 130 and he was handed wages amounting to £5 4s 8d. Later the underground worker with the same tally number went for his pay and was told it had already been claimed.
Once the mistake was realised William Sword, the manager of the mine, sent for Thomas Francis but he refused to go and see him. The judge in the court gave judgement for the amount claimed but said the way the colliery paid their wages in the mine was an "exceedingly risky one".
Longstanding readers of these articles may recall Isaac Myers – the "loafer of no fixed abode" – as the police had dubbed him. In 1918 he was in trouble for altering his army discharge papers, so his conduct – which originally had been described as "indifferent" – read as "magnificent". Isaac had been before the Police Court on over twenty occasions and he appeared again on the 15th charged with "wandering abroad and lodging in a brick kiln at the works of the Ravenhead Sanitary Pipe and Brick Company."
A large bucket full of waste paper that had been taken from his pockets was produced in court. "Most of it being quite filthy", wrote the St Helens Reporter. A constable told the Bench that he had found Myers asleep in the kiln at 11:15pm during the previous evening. The man said he had nowhere to go and had been knocking about for three weeks. In court Myers claimed he couldn't find work but the Chief Constable said he had only ever worked when in prison and the magistrates gave him another 28 days employment.
At the St Helens Highways Committee meeting on the 15th the question of flooding at Sutton was again brought up. This had been an issue for years and especially impacted on residents in the appropriately named Watery Lane (pictured above in flood) and Berry's Lane. It was councillor and grocer Sam Royle who asked what steps were being taken to remedy the "shocking state of affairs". After a discussion the committee agreed that instructions should be given for the roads in the submerged areas in Sutton to be raised, as subsidence had lowered them and made them more prone to flooding.
The St Helens Reporter wrote that this would "relieve the existing difficulties and annoyances of traversing the public roads in the affected neighbourhood." However I don't think resolving the longstanding issue was that simple. Much of the flooding was connected to the overflowing of the Sutton Brook during wet weather and the insufficient drainage. This would be exemplified during a thunderstorm on May 29th 1920 when the water levels in the houses in Moss Nook were reported to have reached the ceilings of the residents' kitchens.
The council's Parks Committee also met on the 15th and heard that there had been a pastimes boom in St Helens. The receipts from the parks' bowling greens, tennis courts and boating during the summer season had considerably increased over the previous year. However the numbers of demobilised soldiers that had returned to the town would partly account for the rise. In those days a team of keepers and assistants managed the parks and supervised such activities.
On the 16th Leonard Thompson appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing £2 worth of tobacco products from Fothergill's of Church Street. Christopher Fothergill had founded the tobacco factory, wholesalers and retailers around 1880 and the 15-year-old boy from Cowley Hill Lane had been working for them for the past month. The lad told the police that he had been taking some things to an upstairs room inside Fothergill's when he helped himself to some items that he took a fancy to. He was ordered to pay costs and bound over under the probation officer.
There were far more motor vehicles on the roads since the ending of the war, meaning more accidents were being caused. On the morning of the 17th a boy aged about 13 who was cycling to his work became entangled with the tramlines at the corner of Shaw Street and Corporation Street. The lad was thrown off his bike and fell under the wheels of a lorry and was run over and killed on the spot.
What the St Helens Chief Constable called a "particularly mean theft" was described in the Police Court on the 17th when Norman Rose was charged with stealing a gentleman's silver watch. The lad of about 17 was employed by a firm of Bolton cotton spinners and for three years when passing through St Helens en route to Liverpool had often called at a house in Westfield Street where he was supplied with hot water.
However Norman repaid the family's kind gesture by stealing the watch that was on top of their piano. Upon being arrested in Victoria Square during the evening, the lad claimed it had been a mistake. He told the police that while he was waiting for the hot water, he had picked up the watch to check the time and mistakenly put it in his waistcoat pocket. Norman said he intended returning the timepiece but had not mentioned what had happened to the work colleague that he'd spent the day with. The boy came from a good family and had never been in trouble before and was fined 30 shillings for his theft.
Another lad in trouble was William Hargreaves from Orrell Street in Parr who pleaded guilty to shopbreaking and stealing money from John Aspinall. He was a grocer in nearby Ashcroft Street who had employed the 12-year-old as an errand boy. On two occasions the police had found the back door to the premises open at night after the bars on a window had been displaced. This left a gap large enough for a child to climb through.
As a result of the first forced entry 2s 2d in copper had been stolen from a box and 1s 2d was taken during the second break-in. William was suspected and at first denied any knowledge. However when told he was being taken to the police station, he began to cry and admitted the thefts, saying he had spent his ill-gotten gains on sweets. The magistrates bound the boy over for two years and ordered his parents to pay £1 towards the costs.
The war had not been over for a full year but army reunions were already being planned. On the 18th a reunion of the 5th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment took place with tea and entertainment provided for the men.
Acting as a bookmaker could prove highly lucrative, with the occasional fine seen simply as a business expense. On the 20th William Appleton appeared in the Police Court facing two counts of loitering for the purpose of receiving bets. The police had seen the miner on two occasions taking bets in and around Gaskell Street in Parr.
In court Appleton did not deny that he was a bookie but pleaded not guilty to the first charge. That was when he was supposedly taking bets on a Friday afternoon at around quarter past two. Appleton told the Bench: "I never take anything after the first race on Friday, and the first race starts at one o’clock." However he did plead guilty to the second charge. This concerned a 70-minute undercover observation that had taken place on the following day by PCs Ridding and Reynolds. During that period thirty-nine men handed Appleton money and coupons.
At the Police Station Appleton was found to have a paying out sheet for the previous day in which he had taken £26 9 shillings and paid out £14 9s 6d. That left him with a profit of £11 19s 6d for just a single day. He told the police he was not presently working as a miner. That was hardly surprising as his wage at a colliery would likely have only been around £4 - £5 for a whole week. Bookies could be fined up to £100 but as it was his first time in court Appleton was only fined £10 – which he would no doubt quickly make up on the streets of Parr.
Also in court was a sailor on leave who was identified only as W. Green from Higher Parr Street. He was charged with being drunk in possession of a loaded firearm and discharging a revolver for which he had no licence. PC Turner told the court that he had been on duty in Ashcroft Street shortly after midnight when he heard the sound of a gun being fired and met Green and a civilian coming down Park Road.
The drunken sailor eventually admitted firing a revolver in an opening off Park Road, about fifty yards off the highway. Gun offences if not involved in a serious crime tended to be leniently treated and Green was only fined a total of £2 5 shillings. It wasn't until the passing of the Firearms Act of 1920 that guns began to be properly regulated in Britain.
Next week's stories will include the runaway horse in Bridge Street, a knife attack in Glover Street, the Clog and Stocking Fund for barefoot children, the filthy state of the privies and ashpits in Bold, the excitable woman in Higher Parr Street and how complacency in Clock Face Colliery had taken a man's life.
After completing his week's labour on the surface of the mine, Thomas Francis had gone to the office for underground staff and presented his pay tally. This bore the number 130 and he was handed wages amounting to £5 4s 8d. Later the underground worker with the same tally number went for his pay and was told it had already been claimed.
Once the mistake was realised William Sword, the manager of the mine, sent for Thomas Francis but he refused to go and see him. The judge in the court gave judgement for the amount claimed but said the way the colliery paid their wages in the mine was an "exceedingly risky one".
Longstanding readers of these articles may recall Isaac Myers – the "loafer of no fixed abode" – as the police had dubbed him. In 1918 he was in trouble for altering his army discharge papers, so his conduct – which originally had been described as "indifferent" – read as "magnificent". Isaac had been before the Police Court on over twenty occasions and he appeared again on the 15th charged with "wandering abroad and lodging in a brick kiln at the works of the Ravenhead Sanitary Pipe and Brick Company."
A large bucket full of waste paper that had been taken from his pockets was produced in court. "Most of it being quite filthy", wrote the St Helens Reporter. A constable told the Bench that he had found Myers asleep in the kiln at 11:15pm during the previous evening. The man said he had nowhere to go and had been knocking about for three weeks. In court Myers claimed he couldn't find work but the Chief Constable said he had only ever worked when in prison and the magistrates gave him another 28 days employment.
The St Helens Reporter wrote that this would "relieve the existing difficulties and annoyances of traversing the public roads in the affected neighbourhood." However I don't think resolving the longstanding issue was that simple. Much of the flooding was connected to the overflowing of the Sutton Brook during wet weather and the insufficient drainage. This would be exemplified during a thunderstorm on May 29th 1920 when the water levels in the houses in Moss Nook were reported to have reached the ceilings of the residents' kitchens.
The council's Parks Committee also met on the 15th and heard that there had been a pastimes boom in St Helens. The receipts from the parks' bowling greens, tennis courts and boating during the summer season had considerably increased over the previous year. However the numbers of demobilised soldiers that had returned to the town would partly account for the rise. In those days a team of keepers and assistants managed the parks and supervised such activities.
On the 16th Leonard Thompson appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing £2 worth of tobacco products from Fothergill's of Church Street. Christopher Fothergill had founded the tobacco factory, wholesalers and retailers around 1880 and the 15-year-old boy from Cowley Hill Lane had been working for them for the past month. The lad told the police that he had been taking some things to an upstairs room inside Fothergill's when he helped himself to some items that he took a fancy to. He was ordered to pay costs and bound over under the probation officer.
There were far more motor vehicles on the roads since the ending of the war, meaning more accidents were being caused. On the morning of the 17th a boy aged about 13 who was cycling to his work became entangled with the tramlines at the corner of Shaw Street and Corporation Street. The lad was thrown off his bike and fell under the wheels of a lorry and was run over and killed on the spot.
What the St Helens Chief Constable called a "particularly mean theft" was described in the Police Court on the 17th when Norman Rose was charged with stealing a gentleman's silver watch. The lad of about 17 was employed by a firm of Bolton cotton spinners and for three years when passing through St Helens en route to Liverpool had often called at a house in Westfield Street where he was supplied with hot water.
However Norman repaid the family's kind gesture by stealing the watch that was on top of their piano. Upon being arrested in Victoria Square during the evening, the lad claimed it had been a mistake. He told the police that while he was waiting for the hot water, he had picked up the watch to check the time and mistakenly put it in his waistcoat pocket. Norman said he intended returning the timepiece but had not mentioned what had happened to the work colleague that he'd spent the day with. The boy came from a good family and had never been in trouble before and was fined 30 shillings for his theft.
Another lad in trouble was William Hargreaves from Orrell Street in Parr who pleaded guilty to shopbreaking and stealing money from John Aspinall. He was a grocer in nearby Ashcroft Street who had employed the 12-year-old as an errand boy. On two occasions the police had found the back door to the premises open at night after the bars on a window had been displaced. This left a gap large enough for a child to climb through.
As a result of the first forced entry 2s 2d in copper had been stolen from a box and 1s 2d was taken during the second break-in. William was suspected and at first denied any knowledge. However when told he was being taken to the police station, he began to cry and admitted the thefts, saying he had spent his ill-gotten gains on sweets. The magistrates bound the boy over for two years and ordered his parents to pay £1 towards the costs.
The war had not been over for a full year but army reunions were already being planned. On the 18th a reunion of the 5th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment took place with tea and entertainment provided for the men.
Acting as a bookmaker could prove highly lucrative, with the occasional fine seen simply as a business expense. On the 20th William Appleton appeared in the Police Court facing two counts of loitering for the purpose of receiving bets. The police had seen the miner on two occasions taking bets in and around Gaskell Street in Parr.
In court Appleton did not deny that he was a bookie but pleaded not guilty to the first charge. That was when he was supposedly taking bets on a Friday afternoon at around quarter past two. Appleton told the Bench: "I never take anything after the first race on Friday, and the first race starts at one o’clock." However he did plead guilty to the second charge. This concerned a 70-minute undercover observation that had taken place on the following day by PCs Ridding and Reynolds. During that period thirty-nine men handed Appleton money and coupons.
At the Police Station Appleton was found to have a paying out sheet for the previous day in which he had taken £26 9 shillings and paid out £14 9s 6d. That left him with a profit of £11 19s 6d for just a single day. He told the police he was not presently working as a miner. That was hardly surprising as his wage at a colliery would likely have only been around £4 - £5 for a whole week. Bookies could be fined up to £100 but as it was his first time in court Appleton was only fined £10 – which he would no doubt quickly make up on the streets of Parr.
Also in court was a sailor on leave who was identified only as W. Green from Higher Parr Street. He was charged with being drunk in possession of a loaded firearm and discharging a revolver for which he had no licence. PC Turner told the court that he had been on duty in Ashcroft Street shortly after midnight when he heard the sound of a gun being fired and met Green and a civilian coming down Park Road.
The drunken sailor eventually admitted firing a revolver in an opening off Park Road, about fifty yards off the highway. Gun offences if not involved in a serious crime tended to be leniently treated and Green was only fined a total of £2 5 shillings. It wasn't until the passing of the Firearms Act of 1920 that guns began to be properly regulated in Britain.
Next week's stories will include the runaway horse in Bridge Street, a knife attack in Glover Street, the Clog and Stocking Fund for barefoot children, the filthy state of the privies and ashpits in Bold, the excitable woman in Higher Parr Street and how complacency in Clock Face Colliery had taken a man's life.