IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 14 - 20 OCTOBER 1924
This week's many stories include the difficulties that the forthcoming General Election was causing in St Helens, the Parr poker bashing for spying, the announcement that telephone kiosks are to be installed in St Helens, the landlady in Stanhope Street who was conned, a plan to re-lay North Road is thwarted, the horse that was being cruelly worked in Corporation Street and the chemical works in Parr that was set to be demolished.
Currently people could make public telephone calls from inside some St Helens' post offices but, of course, these were not open during the evenings or on Sundays. And so on the 15th the council's Highways Committee considered an application from the Post Office to install the first two telephone kiosks in St Helens. One would be situated to the right of the entrance to the Town Hall and the other in front of the Black Bull Hotel in Church Street. After receiving an assurance that the kiosks would prove useful and would not get in the way of the pedestrian public, the committee granted the application.
I recently commented that complaints had been made about the state of North Road. The Highways Committee subsequently revealed that the road had been included in a list of planned improvements that would involve it being re-laid with granite. As trams passed along North Road that meant that fresh tramlines would also need to be put down – which was the responsibility of another council committee.
But the Tramways Committee had reckoned that the existing tramlines could last another five years and they were not prepared to pay to have them re-laid at the present time. And so at this week's meeting, the Highways Committee said they were reluctant to remake North Road without the tramlines being rebuilt and so decided to delay their plan for what could be five years. But they said they would make some temporary improvements to patch up the street.
Three-day parish bazaars were a popular means for St Helens' churches to raise funds. Usually such events had a specific purpose, such as St Peter's Bazaar that opened on the 16th. The parish had got itself into debt through repair work carried out on both its church and vicarage. Sales of work made by parishioners were an important part of such bazaars, which were a combination of a food and craft fair and a jumble sale.
George and Clara Lamb were both in court this week after conning a St Helens landlady. The couple had called on Mrs Jones at her Stanhope Street home asking if she could put them and their two children up for a while. George Lamb claimed to be expecting to start work at Pilkington's Colliery and so Mrs Jones readily agreed. However, on the following day the landlady went on a charabanc trip to Southport leaving the Lambs the run of her house.
That was a decision she came to regret, as when Mrs Jones returned home she found the family had decamped and so had some of her clothing and a watch. Much of it was pawned in St Helens and the watch was taken to a pawnbroker's in New Brighton, where the man was arrested and his wife was taken into custody in Manchester.
In St Helens Police Court both expressed their remorse, with Clara Lamb claiming that they had taken the things to buy food for their children. But Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that George Lamb was lazy and drunken and he was sent to prison for three months with hard labour, although his wife was only bound over.
A general election had been called for October 29th, as a result of a vote of no confidence in the Labour minority government of Ramsay MacDonald being passed in the Commons. That was creating difficulties in St Helens, as it was a tradition to hold local elections in the first week of November each year. And so a decision had to be made whether to combine the two votes or ask the electorate to visit the polls twice within a matter of days.
A notice in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th also said: "Owing to the general election, the Church Bazaar at the Sutton National School has been postponed till Saturday, December 6th, 1924. W. E. Colegrove, Vicar." Just why was not explained, with my initial thought that the school premises must have been needed to cast votes not being the case. That was because the election would take place on a Wednesday and the bazaar had been scheduled for a Saturday.
Another notice stated that a copy of the register of electors for St Helens was now open for inspection. It could be pored over at the Town Clerk's office in the Town Hall and in the Church Street post office.
The Reporter described how when the police had found George Cox from Prospect Road in Parr fighting with Richard Allen he gave this explanation for his actions: "I hit him with a poker for spying in at my window." In court Allen from Park Road said he had gone to Cox's house to collect some money that the man's wife owed him. Cox failed to turn up in court and so was unable to defend Allen's claim that he had struck him with a poker for no reason. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for three months.
Fred Brown was able to claim two firsts. Not only was the North Road builder the proud owner of the first registered motor vehicle in St Helens in DJ1. But being profoundly deaf he also had the first electrical hearing aid in the town. In this week's Reporter it was stated that Fred's firm had been awarded a contract to demolish Bramwell's chemical works in Parr.
Spread over 6 acres, it was described as the sixth landmark in the town that Fred had recently demolished. "Once the scene of humming activity", the Reporter described the demolition of Bramwell's and the other landmarks as affording some indication of the manner in which old industries were now vacating St Helens.
The long-planned war memorial for Victoria Square was now in place but protective hoardings covered it until the names of the fallen could be added. The town's residents had recently been asked to check a lengthy list of deceased soldiers and sailors that had been published in the newspapers and inform the authorities of any omissions. As a result many additions and corrections had been made and it was realised that the original design would now have to be extended in order to accommodate the over 2,000 names that needed inscribing.
It would be 18 months before the official opening ceremony would take place but this week it was decided that what was then known as the St Helens Cenotaph would be informally opened for Armistice Day. The War Memorial Committee also expressed concern that the Cenotaph could become a children's playground or a "resting place for loiterers". And so it was decided that a bronze chain would hang down from each of the memorial's four pillars to try and prevent that from occurring.
There were many prosecutions for cruelty to a horse. When the animal was not working, the carter was not earning and so was easily tempted to put his horse on the streets when unfit. When Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA had seen Frank Santangeli from Liverpool driving a pony attached to an empty wagon in St Helens, he asked him if it was all right. That was because the animal had suddenly stopped near Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street.
The driver replied that his pony was all right now but when the inspector asked for the sack covering on its back to be removed, he saw a sore three inches by two inches that was discharging pus. The animal was in such a poor and painful condition that the inspector could not put his hand on its back. In court this week Santangeli claimed that the rain had got on the sore and softened it and he was fined 20 shillings.
And finally, a small-time conman called James Banks from Newmarket Place in St Helens appeared in the Police Court on the 18th charged with obtaining money by false pretences. The 33-year-old had met Thomas Swift in Corporation Street and told him that his wife was suffering from appendicitis and he needed two guineas to pay for her operation. Swift was persuaded to hand over eight shillings and Banks received similar amounts from three other victims of his con. In fact the man was single and after being remanded was sentenced to three months hard labour.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include why Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured in a court case, the pioneering Sutton housing estate in which residents bought their homes, the brainless Parr rent theft and why the boy of the 1920s was not a swine.
Currently people could make public telephone calls from inside some St Helens' post offices but, of course, these were not open during the evenings or on Sundays. And so on the 15th the council's Highways Committee considered an application from the Post Office to install the first two telephone kiosks in St Helens. One would be situated to the right of the entrance to the Town Hall and the other in front of the Black Bull Hotel in Church Street. After receiving an assurance that the kiosks would prove useful and would not get in the way of the pedestrian public, the committee granted the application.
I recently commented that complaints had been made about the state of North Road. The Highways Committee subsequently revealed that the road had been included in a list of planned improvements that would involve it being re-laid with granite. As trams passed along North Road that meant that fresh tramlines would also need to be put down – which was the responsibility of another council committee.
But the Tramways Committee had reckoned that the existing tramlines could last another five years and they were not prepared to pay to have them re-laid at the present time. And so at this week's meeting, the Highways Committee said they were reluctant to remake North Road without the tramlines being rebuilt and so decided to delay their plan for what could be five years. But they said they would make some temporary improvements to patch up the street.
Three-day parish bazaars were a popular means for St Helens' churches to raise funds. Usually such events had a specific purpose, such as St Peter's Bazaar that opened on the 16th. The parish had got itself into debt through repair work carried out on both its church and vicarage. Sales of work made by parishioners were an important part of such bazaars, which were a combination of a food and craft fair and a jumble sale.
George and Clara Lamb were both in court this week after conning a St Helens landlady. The couple had called on Mrs Jones at her Stanhope Street home asking if she could put them and their two children up for a while. George Lamb claimed to be expecting to start work at Pilkington's Colliery and so Mrs Jones readily agreed. However, on the following day the landlady went on a charabanc trip to Southport leaving the Lambs the run of her house.
That was a decision she came to regret, as when Mrs Jones returned home she found the family had decamped and so had some of her clothing and a watch. Much of it was pawned in St Helens and the watch was taken to a pawnbroker's in New Brighton, where the man was arrested and his wife was taken into custody in Manchester.
In St Helens Police Court both expressed their remorse, with Clara Lamb claiming that they had taken the things to buy food for their children. But Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that George Lamb was lazy and drunken and he was sent to prison for three months with hard labour, although his wife was only bound over.
A general election had been called for October 29th, as a result of a vote of no confidence in the Labour minority government of Ramsay MacDonald being passed in the Commons. That was creating difficulties in St Helens, as it was a tradition to hold local elections in the first week of November each year. And so a decision had to be made whether to combine the two votes or ask the electorate to visit the polls twice within a matter of days.
A notice in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th also said: "Owing to the general election, the Church Bazaar at the Sutton National School has been postponed till Saturday, December 6th, 1924. W. E. Colegrove, Vicar." Just why was not explained, with my initial thought that the school premises must have been needed to cast votes not being the case. That was because the election would take place on a Wednesday and the bazaar had been scheduled for a Saturday.
Another notice stated that a copy of the register of electors for St Helens was now open for inspection. It could be pored over at the Town Clerk's office in the Town Hall and in the Church Street post office.
The Reporter described how when the police had found George Cox from Prospect Road in Parr fighting with Richard Allen he gave this explanation for his actions: "I hit him with a poker for spying in at my window." In court Allen from Park Road said he had gone to Cox's house to collect some money that the man's wife owed him. Cox failed to turn up in court and so was unable to defend Allen's claim that he had struck him with a poker for no reason. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for three months.
Fred Brown was able to claim two firsts. Not only was the North Road builder the proud owner of the first registered motor vehicle in St Helens in DJ1. But being profoundly deaf he also had the first electrical hearing aid in the town. In this week's Reporter it was stated that Fred's firm had been awarded a contract to demolish Bramwell's chemical works in Parr.
Spread over 6 acres, it was described as the sixth landmark in the town that Fred had recently demolished. "Once the scene of humming activity", the Reporter described the demolition of Bramwell's and the other landmarks as affording some indication of the manner in which old industries were now vacating St Helens.
It would be 18 months before the official opening ceremony would take place but this week it was decided that what was then known as the St Helens Cenotaph would be informally opened for Armistice Day. The War Memorial Committee also expressed concern that the Cenotaph could become a children's playground or a "resting place for loiterers". And so it was decided that a bronze chain would hang down from each of the memorial's four pillars to try and prevent that from occurring.
There were many prosecutions for cruelty to a horse. When the animal was not working, the carter was not earning and so was easily tempted to put his horse on the streets when unfit. When Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA had seen Frank Santangeli from Liverpool driving a pony attached to an empty wagon in St Helens, he asked him if it was all right. That was because the animal had suddenly stopped near Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street.
The driver replied that his pony was all right now but when the inspector asked for the sack covering on its back to be removed, he saw a sore three inches by two inches that was discharging pus. The animal was in such a poor and painful condition that the inspector could not put his hand on its back. In court this week Santangeli claimed that the rain had got on the sore and softened it and he was fined 20 shillings.
And finally, a small-time conman called James Banks from Newmarket Place in St Helens appeared in the Police Court on the 18th charged with obtaining money by false pretences. The 33-year-old had met Thomas Swift in Corporation Street and told him that his wife was suffering from appendicitis and he needed two guineas to pay for her operation. Swift was persuaded to hand over eight shillings and Banks received similar amounts from three other victims of his con. In fact the man was single and after being remanded was sentenced to three months hard labour.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include why Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured in a court case, the pioneering Sutton housing estate in which residents bought their homes, the brainless Parr rent theft and why the boy of the 1920s was not a swine.
This week's many stories include the difficulties that the forthcoming General Election was causing in St Helens, the Parr poker bashing for spying, the announcement that telephone kiosks are to be installed in St Helens, the landlady in Stanhope Street who was conned, a plan to re-lay North Road is thwarted, the horse that was being cruelly worked in Corporation Street and the chemical works in Parr that was set to be demolished.
Currently people could make public telephone calls from inside some St Helens' post offices but, of course, these were not open during the evenings or on Sundays.
And so on the 15th the council's Highways Committee considered an application from the Post Office to install the first two telephone kiosks in St Helens.
One would be situated to the right of the entrance to the Town Hall and the other in front of the Black Bull Hotel in Church Street.
After receiving an assurance that the kiosks would prove useful and would not get in the way of the pedestrian public, the committee granted the application.
I recently commented that complaints had been made about the state of North Road.
The Highways Committee subsequently revealed that the road had been included in a list of planned improvements that would involve it being re-laid with granite.
As trams passed along North Road that meant that fresh tramlines would also need to be put down – which was the responsibility of another council committee.
But the Tramways Committee had reckoned that the existing tramlines could last another five years and they were not prepared to pay to have them re-laid at the present time.
And so at this week's meeting, the Highways Committee said they were reluctant to remake North Road without the tramlines being rebuilt and so decided to delay their plan for what could be five years.
But they said they would make some temporary improvements to patch up the street.
Three-day parish bazaars were a popular means for St Helens' churches to raise funds.
Usually such events had a specific purpose, such as St Peter's Bazaar that opened on the 16th.
The parish had got itself into debt through repair work carried out on both its church and vicarage.
Sales of work made by parishioners were an important part of such bazaars, which were a combination of a food and craft fair and a jumble sale.
George and Clara Lamb were both in court this week after conning a St Helens landlady.
The couple had called on Mrs Jones at her Stanhope Street home asking if she could put them and their two children up for a while.
George Lamb claimed to be expecting to start work at Pilkington's Colliery and so Mrs Jones readily agreed.
However, on the following day the landlady went on a charabanc trip to Southport leaving the Lambs the run of her house.
That was a decision she came to regret, as when Mrs Jones returned home she found the family had decamped and so had some of her clothing and a watch.
Much of it was pawned in St Helens and the watch was taken to a pawnbroker's in New Brighton, where the man was arrested and his wife was taken into custody in Manchester.
In St Helens Police Court both expressed their remorse, with Clara Lamb claiming that they had taken the things to buy food for their children.
But Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that George Lamb was lazy and drunken and he was sent to prison for three months with hard labour, although his wife was only bound over.
A general election had been called for October 29th, as a result of a vote of no confidence in the Labour minority government of Ramsay MacDonald being passed in the Commons.
That was creating difficulties in St Helens, as it was a tradition to hold local elections in the first week of November each year.
And so a decision had to be made whether to combine the two votes or ask the electorate to visit the polls twice within a matter of days.
A notice in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th also said:
"Owing to the general election, the Church Bazaar at the Sutton National School has been postponed till Saturday, December 6th, 1924. W. E. Colegrove, Vicar."
Just why was not explained, with my initial thought that the school premises must have been needed to cast votes not being the case.
That was because the election would take place on a Wednesday and the bazaar had been scheduled for a Saturday.
Another notice stated that a copy of the register of electors for St Helens was now open for inspection.
It could be pored over at the Town Clerk's office in the Town Hall and in the Church Street post office.
The Reporter described how when the police had found George Cox from Prospect Road in Parr fighting with Richard Allen he gave this explanation for his actions:
"I hit him with a poker for spying in at my window."
In court Allen from Park Road said he had gone to Cox's house to collect some money that the man's wife owed him.
Cox failed to turn up in court and so was unable to defend Allen's claim that he had struck him with a poker for no reason. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for three months.
Fred Brown was able to claim two firsts. Not only was the North Road builder the proud owner of the first registered motor vehicle in St Helens in DJ1. But being profoundly deaf he also had the first electrical hearing aid in the town.
In this week's Reporter it was stated that Fred's firm had been awarded a contract to demolish Bramwell's chemical works in Parr.
Spread over 6 acres, it was described as the sixth landmark in the town that Fred had recently demolished.
"Once the scene of humming activity", the Reporter described the demolition of Bramwell's and the other landmarks as affording some indication of the manner in which old industries were now vacating St Helens.
The long-planned war memorial for Victoria Square was now in place but protective hoardings covered it until the names of the fallen could be added.
The town's residents had recently been asked to check a lengthy list of deceased soldiers and sailors that had been published in the newspapers and inform the authorities of any omissions.
As a result many additions and corrections had been made and it was realised that the original design would now have to be extended in order to accommodate the over 2,000 names that needed inscribing.
It would be 18 months before the official opening ceremony would take place but this week it was decided that what was then known as the St Helens Cenotaph would be informally opened for Armistice Day.
The War Memorial Committee also expressed concern that the Cenotaph could become a children's playground or a "resting place for loiterers".
And so it was decided that a bronze chain would hang down from each of the memorial's four pillars to try and prevent that from occurring.
There were many prosecutions for cruelty to a horse. When the animal was not working, the carter was not earning and so was easily tempted to put his horse on the streets when unfit.
When Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA had seen Frank Santangeli from Liverpool driving a pony attached to an empty wagon in St Helens, he asked him if it was all right.
That was because the animal had suddenly stopped near Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street.
The driver replied that his pony was all right now but when the inspector asked for the sack covering on its back to be removed, he saw a sore three inches by two inches that was discharging pus.
The animal was in such a poor and painful condition that the inspector could not put his hand on its back.
In court this week Santangeli claimed that the rain had got on the sore and softened it and he was fined 20 shillings.
And finally, a small-time conman called James Banks from Newmarket Place in St Helens appeared in the Police Court on the 18th charged with obtaining money by false pretences.
The 33-year-old had met Thomas Swift in Corporation Street and told him that his wife was suffering from appendicitis and he needed two guineas to pay for her operation.
Swift was persuaded to hand over eight shillings and Banks received similar amounts from three other victims of his con.
In fact the man was single and after being remanded was sentenced to three months hard labour.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include why Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured in a court case, the pioneering Sutton housing estate in which residents bought their homes, the brainless Parr rent theft and why the boy of the 1920s was not a swine.
Currently people could make public telephone calls from inside some St Helens' post offices but, of course, these were not open during the evenings or on Sundays.
And so on the 15th the council's Highways Committee considered an application from the Post Office to install the first two telephone kiosks in St Helens.
One would be situated to the right of the entrance to the Town Hall and the other in front of the Black Bull Hotel in Church Street.
After receiving an assurance that the kiosks would prove useful and would not get in the way of the pedestrian public, the committee granted the application.
I recently commented that complaints had been made about the state of North Road.
The Highways Committee subsequently revealed that the road had been included in a list of planned improvements that would involve it being re-laid with granite.
As trams passed along North Road that meant that fresh tramlines would also need to be put down – which was the responsibility of another council committee.
But the Tramways Committee had reckoned that the existing tramlines could last another five years and they were not prepared to pay to have them re-laid at the present time.
And so at this week's meeting, the Highways Committee said they were reluctant to remake North Road without the tramlines being rebuilt and so decided to delay their plan for what could be five years.
But they said they would make some temporary improvements to patch up the street.
Three-day parish bazaars were a popular means for St Helens' churches to raise funds.
Usually such events had a specific purpose, such as St Peter's Bazaar that opened on the 16th.
The parish had got itself into debt through repair work carried out on both its church and vicarage.
Sales of work made by parishioners were an important part of such bazaars, which were a combination of a food and craft fair and a jumble sale.
George and Clara Lamb were both in court this week after conning a St Helens landlady.
The couple had called on Mrs Jones at her Stanhope Street home asking if she could put them and their two children up for a while.
George Lamb claimed to be expecting to start work at Pilkington's Colliery and so Mrs Jones readily agreed.
However, on the following day the landlady went on a charabanc trip to Southport leaving the Lambs the run of her house.
That was a decision she came to regret, as when Mrs Jones returned home she found the family had decamped and so had some of her clothing and a watch.
Much of it was pawned in St Helens and the watch was taken to a pawnbroker's in New Brighton, where the man was arrested and his wife was taken into custody in Manchester.
In St Helens Police Court both expressed their remorse, with Clara Lamb claiming that they had taken the things to buy food for their children.
But Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that George Lamb was lazy and drunken and he was sent to prison for three months with hard labour, although his wife was only bound over.
A general election had been called for October 29th, as a result of a vote of no confidence in the Labour minority government of Ramsay MacDonald being passed in the Commons.
That was creating difficulties in St Helens, as it was a tradition to hold local elections in the first week of November each year.
And so a decision had to be made whether to combine the two votes or ask the electorate to visit the polls twice within a matter of days.
A notice in the St Helens Reporter on the 17th also said:
"Owing to the general election, the Church Bazaar at the Sutton National School has been postponed till Saturday, December 6th, 1924. W. E. Colegrove, Vicar."
Just why was not explained, with my initial thought that the school premises must have been needed to cast votes not being the case.
That was because the election would take place on a Wednesday and the bazaar had been scheduled for a Saturday.
Another notice stated that a copy of the register of electors for St Helens was now open for inspection.
It could be pored over at the Town Clerk's office in the Town Hall and in the Church Street post office.
The Reporter described how when the police had found George Cox from Prospect Road in Parr fighting with Richard Allen he gave this explanation for his actions:
"I hit him with a poker for spying in at my window."
In court Allen from Park Road said he had gone to Cox's house to collect some money that the man's wife owed him.
Cox failed to turn up in court and so was unable to defend Allen's claim that he had struck him with a poker for no reason. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for three months.
Fred Brown was able to claim two firsts. Not only was the North Road builder the proud owner of the first registered motor vehicle in St Helens in DJ1. But being profoundly deaf he also had the first electrical hearing aid in the town.
In this week's Reporter it was stated that Fred's firm had been awarded a contract to demolish Bramwell's chemical works in Parr.
Spread over 6 acres, it was described as the sixth landmark in the town that Fred had recently demolished.
"Once the scene of humming activity", the Reporter described the demolition of Bramwell's and the other landmarks as affording some indication of the manner in which old industries were now vacating St Helens.
The town's residents had recently been asked to check a lengthy list of deceased soldiers and sailors that had been published in the newspapers and inform the authorities of any omissions.
As a result many additions and corrections had been made and it was realised that the original design would now have to be extended in order to accommodate the over 2,000 names that needed inscribing.
It would be 18 months before the official opening ceremony would take place but this week it was decided that what was then known as the St Helens Cenotaph would be informally opened for Armistice Day.
The War Memorial Committee also expressed concern that the Cenotaph could become a children's playground or a "resting place for loiterers".
And so it was decided that a bronze chain would hang down from each of the memorial's four pillars to try and prevent that from occurring.
There were many prosecutions for cruelty to a horse. When the animal was not working, the carter was not earning and so was easily tempted to put his horse on the streets when unfit.
When Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA had seen Frank Santangeli from Liverpool driving a pony attached to an empty wagon in St Helens, he asked him if it was all right.
That was because the animal had suddenly stopped near Holy Cross Church in Corporation Street.
The driver replied that his pony was all right now but when the inspector asked for the sack covering on its back to be removed, he saw a sore three inches by two inches that was discharging pus.
The animal was in such a poor and painful condition that the inspector could not put his hand on its back.
In court this week Santangeli claimed that the rain had got on the sore and softened it and he was fined 20 shillings.
And finally, a small-time conman called James Banks from Newmarket Place in St Helens appeared in the Police Court on the 18th charged with obtaining money by false pretences.
The 33-year-old had met Thomas Swift in Corporation Street and told him that his wife was suffering from appendicitis and he needed two guineas to pay for her operation.
Swift was persuaded to hand over eight shillings and Banks received similar amounts from three other victims of his con.
In fact the man was single and after being remanded was sentenced to three months hard labour.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include why Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured in a court case, the pioneering Sutton housing estate in which residents bought their homes, the brainless Parr rent theft and why the boy of the 1920s was not a swine.