IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15th - 21st JUNE 1920)
This week's stories include the laying of the foundation stone for the new Parish Church, the Pilkington Garden Village bombshell, the boy from Fingerpost who stole from his father, a row over troublesome children leads to an assault in Parr and the married couple who came to blows in Exchange Street.
In December 1916 the St Helens Parish Church had burnt down as a result of an electrical fault (shown above in May 1917) and since then services had been held in the Town Hall. There had long been talk of building a replacement in Church Street and on the 17th its foundation stone was laid. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the event:
"A memorable day in the chequered, honourable history of the Parish Church of St. Helens was reached yesterday, when the foundation stone of the new edifice, which will rise more imposing and majestic on the site of the old, was ceremoniously laid by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool. It was a momentous occasion in the annals of the town itself, anticipated with no less pleasure by Churchpeople of the district than will be the final episode when, on a future day that no one can foretell, the new Parish Church will be formally opened for public worship."
In St Helens Police Court on the 18th John Humphreys was summoned by his wife for desertion. The Reporter called the court case "an extraordinary story of a married man's infatuation for another woman". The man had left his wife for a widow with three children and relocated to the Rochdale area.
However Humphreys appeared to want to have his cake and eat it. He had recently written to his wife in Queen Street to say he would be returning to St Helens and telling her to get her mother to put him up. Letters were signed with kisses, suggested he was playing with her affections. Mrs Humphrey's solicitor was the no-nonsense Jeremiah Haslam Fox who told the Bench:
"If he could afford to run away with another woman and take away everything that should belong to his wife, it was time that the tables were turned on him and that he should be made to suffer something of what he had made her suffer." In reality this was a case about maintenance payments and the magistrates ordered Humphreys to pay his wife £2 a week, which was quite high and probably reflected their disgust at his actions.
Also in court was Albert Crosby from Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who was charged with sleeping in a coal mine. The man had light duties down the Parr no. 3 pit – the pumping pit of Havannah Colliery – after experiencing a minor accident in the mine some time ago. In court it was claimed that before the accident Crosby had a reputation as a "thorough slacker". Crosby claimed that he had already finished work when he chose to lie down but that really was irrelevant, as it was against the law for anyone to sleep down a mine. He was fined £2 10 shillings.
A row over troublesome children led to Agnes Hughes bringing a summons against Joseph O’Neill of Parr Street alleging assault. It was stated in court that Mrs Hughes' husband had been crippled in a mining accident but had obtained a job as a caretaker at the Oddfellows Club in Parr. It appears that some of Joseph O’Neill's children had been among a group causing trouble at the club and Mr Hughes had chastised them. This infuriated their father who had visited the Hughes's home "in a threatening attitude" and tried to punch the caretaker.
However Mr Hughes managed to dodge out of the way of the blow and O’Neill struck the wall instead, nearly breaking his hand! This made the man even madder and as Agnes Hughes attempted to protect her husband, she was given two black eyes. O’Neill was accused of being a "quarrelsome kind of man" and in his defence said he had given Hughes "fair warning" to leave his children alone. He accused the caretaker of striking his kids and said Mrs Hughes had thrown buckets of water over them. O’Neill was fined ten shillings and costs and advised not to take the law into his own hands again.
Annie Goulding from Milk Street was also in court charged with committing a breach of the peace. PC Clark gave evidence of seeing Mrs Goulding in Exchange Street with an unknown man, "both acting in a suggestive manner". Then the woman's husband came on the scene and spoke to his wife and the pair "came to blows, fighting until the police intervened". Mrs Goulding claimed that the man had been trying to persuade a friend of hers to go with him and she'd advised the woman to walk away.
PC Manser gave evidence of Mrs Goulding telling him that she was simply letting the man know what she thought of him when her husband and the police arrived. The woman claimed in court that her husband had struck her three times but she had not retaliated. Clearly the police and her husband did not believe her story and neither did the magistrates who bound her over for six months. However it is curious that the woman alone was prosecuted and not her husband – despite the police evidence of the officers seeing the man strike his wife.
On the 18th the Reporter announced a "housing bombshell" with its revelation that the Pilkington Garden Village had been put on hold. The glass firm had previously announced grand plans to mitigate the housing shortage in St Helens by constructing as many as 4,000 homes on a 600-acre site between Eccleston Hall and the Mere. However building operations had now been suspended until the cost of house building dropped.
Their unexpected move – the Reporter declared – had created "something of a sensation" in St Helens. As a result of wartime inflation, houses were now costing £1,000 to construct, which is around £50,000 in today's money. Previously good quality homes could be built for a few hundred pounds and their present high price was discouraging councils and the private sector from building new homes – despite the severe housing shortage. A week later the Reporter said Pilkingtons had decided to complete the building of 16 houses and 22 bungalows, as they were "in a fair state of advancement".
An exasperated father from Waine Street in Fingerpost brought a prosecution against his own son on the 19th. On three occasions since returning home from the war, William Berry had discovered that his son Thomas had run off with his money. On the last occasion on June 6th, the 15-year-old had taken £5 in notes and silver and spent it in Liverpool and New Brighton.
That was all the cash that the 38-year-old had in the house and William had to borrow money to feed his family. Thomas's father was concerned that his son was turning into a thief and so reported him to the police for his own good. After being away for twelve days, the boy was arrested in Liverpool and told the police, "I should have had more sense". He certainly should as he was sent to a reformatory for three years.
When I lived in Rainford the annual June procession and the ensuing tea and sports was known as the village Walking Day. A century ago it was called the National Schools Field Day and the event on the 19th was reported as having taken place in "ideal weather". A short church service preceded the walk and in the evening a dance was held in the Village Hall. In my day it was Silcock's fair on the Rec! On the following day what was described as an "exceptionally large congregation" was in the church to hear the Bishop of Liverpool preach.
Last week a Sinn Fein rally had taken place in St Helens Town Hall and during the afternoon of the 20th another meeting of their supporters took place on wasteland in East Sutton. Bizarrely the Reporter wrote that nobody had been killed! "There was none of the shootings or outrages that characterise the Sinn Fein movement in the unhappy island across the Channel", they wrote. "The meeting passed off in quite orderly fashion, with, of course, the customary inflammatory speeches."
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 21st included: Leo Cud's 6 Musical Navvies ("A riot of instrumental fun"); The Famous Fuji Family ("Unrivalled versatile Japanese entertainers"); Ruby Le Drury ("The clever and versatile Australian girl in songs and monologues"); Cliff Barrett ("The great dame study – has played dame in many pantomimes"); Jack Holden ("Comedian"); Bristow Brothers ("Simply comedians and dancers") and Carl Howard ("A unique combination of comedy and magic with his little box of tricks").
Crimes of a sexual nature were often given scant coverage in the newspapers a century ago, as they did not want to upset the sensibilities of delicate readers. Reports usually only contained a few lines, as in the Reporter's account of one man's appearance in the Police Court on the 21st: "A soldier named Bert Glover, of 27, Randon-street, who was also charged with being an absentee, was the subject of a charge of indecent assault in which a boy of eleven years of age was concerned, at the St. Helens Police Court on Monday. The magistrates committed him to prison for two months, with hard labour."
Next week's stories will include the shawl theft from the Town Hall, the Bridge Street fresh fish pioneers, a brave rescue of two children at Haydock, the speeding charabanc drivers in Rainford and the Sinn Fein supporter who got into a frenzy in Corporation Street.
"A memorable day in the chequered, honourable history of the Parish Church of St. Helens was reached yesterday, when the foundation stone of the new edifice, which will rise more imposing and majestic on the site of the old, was ceremoniously laid by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool. It was a momentous occasion in the annals of the town itself, anticipated with no less pleasure by Churchpeople of the district than will be the final episode when, on a future day that no one can foretell, the new Parish Church will be formally opened for public worship."
In St Helens Police Court on the 18th John Humphreys was summoned by his wife for desertion. The Reporter called the court case "an extraordinary story of a married man's infatuation for another woman". The man had left his wife for a widow with three children and relocated to the Rochdale area.
However Humphreys appeared to want to have his cake and eat it. He had recently written to his wife in Queen Street to say he would be returning to St Helens and telling her to get her mother to put him up. Letters were signed with kisses, suggested he was playing with her affections. Mrs Humphrey's solicitor was the no-nonsense Jeremiah Haslam Fox who told the Bench:
"If he could afford to run away with another woman and take away everything that should belong to his wife, it was time that the tables were turned on him and that he should be made to suffer something of what he had made her suffer." In reality this was a case about maintenance payments and the magistrates ordered Humphreys to pay his wife £2 a week, which was quite high and probably reflected their disgust at his actions.
Also in court was Albert Crosby from Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who was charged with sleeping in a coal mine. The man had light duties down the Parr no. 3 pit – the pumping pit of Havannah Colliery – after experiencing a minor accident in the mine some time ago. In court it was claimed that before the accident Crosby had a reputation as a "thorough slacker". Crosby claimed that he had already finished work when he chose to lie down but that really was irrelevant, as it was against the law for anyone to sleep down a mine. He was fined £2 10 shillings.
A row over troublesome children led to Agnes Hughes bringing a summons against Joseph O’Neill of Parr Street alleging assault. It was stated in court that Mrs Hughes' husband had been crippled in a mining accident but had obtained a job as a caretaker at the Oddfellows Club in Parr. It appears that some of Joseph O’Neill's children had been among a group causing trouble at the club and Mr Hughes had chastised them. This infuriated their father who had visited the Hughes's home "in a threatening attitude" and tried to punch the caretaker.
However Mr Hughes managed to dodge out of the way of the blow and O’Neill struck the wall instead, nearly breaking his hand! This made the man even madder and as Agnes Hughes attempted to protect her husband, she was given two black eyes. O’Neill was accused of being a "quarrelsome kind of man" and in his defence said he had given Hughes "fair warning" to leave his children alone. He accused the caretaker of striking his kids and said Mrs Hughes had thrown buckets of water over them. O’Neill was fined ten shillings and costs and advised not to take the law into his own hands again.
Annie Goulding from Milk Street was also in court charged with committing a breach of the peace. PC Clark gave evidence of seeing Mrs Goulding in Exchange Street with an unknown man, "both acting in a suggestive manner". Then the woman's husband came on the scene and spoke to his wife and the pair "came to blows, fighting until the police intervened". Mrs Goulding claimed that the man had been trying to persuade a friend of hers to go with him and she'd advised the woman to walk away.
PC Manser gave evidence of Mrs Goulding telling him that she was simply letting the man know what she thought of him when her husband and the police arrived. The woman claimed in court that her husband had struck her three times but she had not retaliated. Clearly the police and her husband did not believe her story and neither did the magistrates who bound her over for six months. However it is curious that the woman alone was prosecuted and not her husband – despite the police evidence of the officers seeing the man strike his wife.
On the 18th the Reporter announced a "housing bombshell" with its revelation that the Pilkington Garden Village had been put on hold. The glass firm had previously announced grand plans to mitigate the housing shortage in St Helens by constructing as many as 4,000 homes on a 600-acre site between Eccleston Hall and the Mere. However building operations had now been suspended until the cost of house building dropped.
Their unexpected move – the Reporter declared – had created "something of a sensation" in St Helens. As a result of wartime inflation, houses were now costing £1,000 to construct, which is around £50,000 in today's money. Previously good quality homes could be built for a few hundred pounds and their present high price was discouraging councils and the private sector from building new homes – despite the severe housing shortage. A week later the Reporter said Pilkingtons had decided to complete the building of 16 houses and 22 bungalows, as they were "in a fair state of advancement".
An exasperated father from Waine Street in Fingerpost brought a prosecution against his own son on the 19th. On three occasions since returning home from the war, William Berry had discovered that his son Thomas had run off with his money. On the last occasion on June 6th, the 15-year-old had taken £5 in notes and silver and spent it in Liverpool and New Brighton.
That was all the cash that the 38-year-old had in the house and William had to borrow money to feed his family. Thomas's father was concerned that his son was turning into a thief and so reported him to the police for his own good. After being away for twelve days, the boy was arrested in Liverpool and told the police, "I should have had more sense". He certainly should as he was sent to a reformatory for three years.
When I lived in Rainford the annual June procession and the ensuing tea and sports was known as the village Walking Day. A century ago it was called the National Schools Field Day and the event on the 19th was reported as having taken place in "ideal weather". A short church service preceded the walk and in the evening a dance was held in the Village Hall. In my day it was Silcock's fair on the Rec! On the following day what was described as an "exceptionally large congregation" was in the church to hear the Bishop of Liverpool preach.
Last week a Sinn Fein rally had taken place in St Helens Town Hall and during the afternoon of the 20th another meeting of their supporters took place on wasteland in East Sutton. Bizarrely the Reporter wrote that nobody had been killed! "There was none of the shootings or outrages that characterise the Sinn Fein movement in the unhappy island across the Channel", they wrote. "The meeting passed off in quite orderly fashion, with, of course, the customary inflammatory speeches."
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 21st included: Leo Cud's 6 Musical Navvies ("A riot of instrumental fun"); The Famous Fuji Family ("Unrivalled versatile Japanese entertainers"); Ruby Le Drury ("The clever and versatile Australian girl in songs and monologues"); Cliff Barrett ("The great dame study – has played dame in many pantomimes"); Jack Holden ("Comedian"); Bristow Brothers ("Simply comedians and dancers") and Carl Howard ("A unique combination of comedy and magic with his little box of tricks").
Crimes of a sexual nature were often given scant coverage in the newspapers a century ago, as they did not want to upset the sensibilities of delicate readers. Reports usually only contained a few lines, as in the Reporter's account of one man's appearance in the Police Court on the 21st: "A soldier named Bert Glover, of 27, Randon-street, who was also charged with being an absentee, was the subject of a charge of indecent assault in which a boy of eleven years of age was concerned, at the St. Helens Police Court on Monday. The magistrates committed him to prison for two months, with hard labour."
Next week's stories will include the shawl theft from the Town Hall, the Bridge Street fresh fish pioneers, a brave rescue of two children at Haydock, the speeding charabanc drivers in Rainford and the Sinn Fein supporter who got into a frenzy in Corporation Street.
This week's stories include the laying of the foundation stone for the new Parish Church, the Pilkington Garden Village bombshell, the boy from Fingerpost who stole from his father, a row over troublesome children leads to an assault in Parr and the married couple who came to blows in Exchange Street.
In December 1916 the St Helens Parish Church had burnt down as a result of an electrical fault (shown above in May 1917) and since then services had been held in the Town Hall.
There had long been talk of building a replacement in Church Street and on the 17th its foundation stone was laid. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the event:
"A memorable day in the chequered, honourable history of the Parish Church of St. Helens was reached yesterday, when the foundation stone of the new edifice, which will rise more imposing and majestic on the site of the old, was ceremoniously laid by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool.
"It was a momentous occasion in the annals of the town itself, anticipated with no less pleasure by Churchpeople of the district than will be the final episode when, on a future day that no one can foretell, the new Parish Church will be formally opened for public worship."
In St Helens Police Court on the 18th John Humphreys was summoned by his wife for desertion.
The Reporter called the court case "an extraordinary story of a married man's infatuation for another woman".
The man had left his wife for a widow with three children and relocated to the Rochdale area.
However Humphreys appeared to want to have his cake and eat it.
He had recently written to his wife in Queen Street to say he would be returning to St Helens and telling her to get her mother to put him up.
Letters were signed with kisses, suggested he was playing with her affections. Mrs Humphrey's solicitor was the no-nonsense Jeremiah Haslam Fox who told the Bench:
"If he could afford to run away with another woman and take away everything that should belong to his wife, it was time that the tables were turned on him and that he should be made to suffer something of what he had made her suffer."
In reality this was a case about maintenance payments and the magistrates ordered Humphreys to pay his wife £2 a week, which was quite high and probably reflected their disgust at his actions.
Also in court was Albert Crosby from Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who was charged with sleeping in a coal mine.
The man had light duties down the Parr no. 3 pit – the pumping pit of Havannah Colliery – after experiencing a minor accident in the mine some time ago.
In court it was claimed that before the accident Crosby had a reputation as a "thorough slacker".
Crosby claimed that he had already finished work when he chose to lie down but that really was irrelevant, as it was against the law for anyone to sleep down a mine. He was fined £2 10 shillings.
A row over troublesome children led to Agnes Hughes bringing a summons against Joseph O’Neill of Parr Street alleging assault.
It was stated in court that Mrs Hughes' husband had been crippled in a mining accident but had obtained a job as a caretaker at the Oddfellows Club in Parr.
It appears that some of Joseph O’Neill's children had been among a group causing trouble at the club and Mr Hughes had chastised them.
This infuriated their father who had visited the Hughes's home "in a threatening attitude" and tried to punch the caretaker.
However Mr Hughes managed to dodge out of the way of the blow and O’Neill struck the wall instead, nearly breaking his hand!
This made the man even madder and as Agnes Hughes attempted to protect her husband, she was given two black eyes.
O’Neill was accused of being a "quarrelsome kind of man" and in his defence said he had given Hughes "fair warning" to leave his children alone.
He accused the caretaker of striking his kids and said Mrs Hughes had thrown buckets of water over them.
O’Neill was fined ten shillings and costs and advised not to take the law into his own hands again.
Annie Goulding from Milk Street was also in court charged with committing a breach of the peace.
PC Clark gave evidence of seeing Mrs Goulding in Exchange Street with an unknown man, "both acting in a suggestive manner".
Then the woman's husband came on the scene and spoke to his wife and the pair "came to blows, fighting until the police intervened".
Mrs Goulding claimed that the man had been trying to persuade a friend of hers to go with him and she'd advised the woman to walk away.
PC Manser gave evidence of Mrs Goulding telling him that she was simply letting the man know what she thought of him when her husband and the police arrived.
The woman claimed in court that her husband had struck her three times but she had not retaliated.
Clearly the police and her husband did not believe her story and neither did the magistrates who bound her over for six months.
However it is curious that the woman alone was prosecuted and not her husband – despite the police evidence of the officers seeing the man strike his wife.
On the 18th the Reporter announced a "housing bombshell" with its revelation that the Pilkington Garden Village had been put on hold.
The glass firm had previously announced grand plans to mitigate the housing shortage in St Helens by constructing as many as 4,000 homes on a 600-acre site between Eccleston Hall and the Mere.
However building operations had now been suspended until the cost of house building dropped.
Their unexpected move – the Reporter declared – had created "something of a sensation" in St Helens.
As a result of wartime inflation, houses were now costing £1,000 to construct, which is around £50,000 in today's money.
Previously good quality homes could be built for a few hundred pounds and their present high price was discouraging councils and the private sector from building new homes – despite the severe housing shortage.
A week later the Reporter said Pilkingtons had decided to complete the building of 16 houses and 22 bungalows, as they were "in a fair state of advancement".
An exasperated father from Waine Street in Fingerpost brought a prosecution against his own son on the 19th.
On three occasions since returning home from the war, William Berry had discovered that his son Thomas had run off with his money.
On the last occasion on June 6th, the 15-year-old had taken £5 in notes and silver and spent it in Liverpool and New Brighton.
That was all the cash that the 38-year-old had in the house and William had to borrow money to feed his family.
Thomas's father was concerned that his son was turning into a thief and so reported him to the police for his own good.
After being away for twelve days, the boy was arrested in Liverpool and told the police, "I should have had more sense". He certainly should as he was sent to a reformatory for three years.
When I lived in Rainford the annual June procession and the ensuing tea and sports was known as the village Walking Day.
A century ago it was called the National Schools Field Day and the event on the 19th was reported as having taken place in "ideal weather".
A short church service preceded the walk and in the evening a dance was held in the Village Hall. In my day it was Silcock's fair on the Rec!
On the following day what was described as an "exceptionally large congregation" was in the church to hear the Bishop of Liverpool preach.
Last week a Sinn Fein rally had taken place in St Helens Town Hall and during the afternoon of the 20th another meeting of their supporters took place on wasteland in East Sutton.
Bizarrely the Reporter wrote that nobody had been killed!
"There was none of the shootings or outrages that characterise the Sinn Fein movement in the unhappy island across the Channel", they wrote. "The meeting passed off in quite orderly fashion, with, of course, the customary inflammatory speeches."
The music hall acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 21st included:
Leo Cud's 6 Musical Navvies ("A riot of instrumental fun"); The Famous Fuji Family ("Unrivalled versatile Japanese entertainers"); Ruby Le Drury ("The clever and versatile Australian girl in songs and monologues"); Cliff Barrett ("The great dame study – has played dame in many pantomimes"); Jack Holden ("Comedian"); Bristow Brothers ("Simply comedians and dancers") and Carl Howard ("A unique combination of comedy and magic with his little box of tricks").
Crimes of a sexual nature were often given scant coverage in the newspapers a century ago, as they did not want to upset the sensibilities of delicate readers.
Reports usually only contained a few lines, as in the Reporter's account of one man's appearance in the Police Court on the 21st:
"A soldier named Bert Glover, of 27, Randon-street, who was also charged with being an absentee, was the subject of a charge of indecent assault in which a boy of eleven years of age was concerned, at the St. Helens Police Court on Monday. The magistrates committed him to prison for two months, with hard labour."
Next week's stories will include the shawl theft from the Town Hall, the Bridge Street fresh fish pioneers, a brave rescue of two children at Haydock, the speeding charabanc drivers in Rainford and the Sinn Fein supporter who got into a frenzy in Corporation Street.
There had long been talk of building a replacement in Church Street and on the 17th its foundation stone was laid. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the event:
"A memorable day in the chequered, honourable history of the Parish Church of St. Helens was reached yesterday, when the foundation stone of the new edifice, which will rise more imposing and majestic on the site of the old, was ceremoniously laid by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool.
"It was a momentous occasion in the annals of the town itself, anticipated with no less pleasure by Churchpeople of the district than will be the final episode when, on a future day that no one can foretell, the new Parish Church will be formally opened for public worship."
In St Helens Police Court on the 18th John Humphreys was summoned by his wife for desertion.
The Reporter called the court case "an extraordinary story of a married man's infatuation for another woman".
The man had left his wife for a widow with three children and relocated to the Rochdale area.
However Humphreys appeared to want to have his cake and eat it.
He had recently written to his wife in Queen Street to say he would be returning to St Helens and telling her to get her mother to put him up.
Letters were signed with kisses, suggested he was playing with her affections. Mrs Humphrey's solicitor was the no-nonsense Jeremiah Haslam Fox who told the Bench:
"If he could afford to run away with another woman and take away everything that should belong to his wife, it was time that the tables were turned on him and that he should be made to suffer something of what he had made her suffer."
In reality this was a case about maintenance payments and the magistrates ordered Humphreys to pay his wife £2 a week, which was quite high and probably reflected their disgust at his actions.
Also in court was Albert Crosby from Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who was charged with sleeping in a coal mine.
The man had light duties down the Parr no. 3 pit – the pumping pit of Havannah Colliery – after experiencing a minor accident in the mine some time ago.
In court it was claimed that before the accident Crosby had a reputation as a "thorough slacker".
Crosby claimed that he had already finished work when he chose to lie down but that really was irrelevant, as it was against the law for anyone to sleep down a mine. He was fined £2 10 shillings.
A row over troublesome children led to Agnes Hughes bringing a summons against Joseph O’Neill of Parr Street alleging assault.
It was stated in court that Mrs Hughes' husband had been crippled in a mining accident but had obtained a job as a caretaker at the Oddfellows Club in Parr.
It appears that some of Joseph O’Neill's children had been among a group causing trouble at the club and Mr Hughes had chastised them.
This infuriated their father who had visited the Hughes's home "in a threatening attitude" and tried to punch the caretaker.
However Mr Hughes managed to dodge out of the way of the blow and O’Neill struck the wall instead, nearly breaking his hand!
This made the man even madder and as Agnes Hughes attempted to protect her husband, she was given two black eyes.
O’Neill was accused of being a "quarrelsome kind of man" and in his defence said he had given Hughes "fair warning" to leave his children alone.
He accused the caretaker of striking his kids and said Mrs Hughes had thrown buckets of water over them.
O’Neill was fined ten shillings and costs and advised not to take the law into his own hands again.
Annie Goulding from Milk Street was also in court charged with committing a breach of the peace.
PC Clark gave evidence of seeing Mrs Goulding in Exchange Street with an unknown man, "both acting in a suggestive manner".
Then the woman's husband came on the scene and spoke to his wife and the pair "came to blows, fighting until the police intervened".
Mrs Goulding claimed that the man had been trying to persuade a friend of hers to go with him and she'd advised the woman to walk away.
PC Manser gave evidence of Mrs Goulding telling him that she was simply letting the man know what she thought of him when her husband and the police arrived.
The woman claimed in court that her husband had struck her three times but she had not retaliated.
Clearly the police and her husband did not believe her story and neither did the magistrates who bound her over for six months.
However it is curious that the woman alone was prosecuted and not her husband – despite the police evidence of the officers seeing the man strike his wife.
On the 18th the Reporter announced a "housing bombshell" with its revelation that the Pilkington Garden Village had been put on hold.
The glass firm had previously announced grand plans to mitigate the housing shortage in St Helens by constructing as many as 4,000 homes on a 600-acre site between Eccleston Hall and the Mere.
However building operations had now been suspended until the cost of house building dropped.
Their unexpected move – the Reporter declared – had created "something of a sensation" in St Helens.
As a result of wartime inflation, houses were now costing £1,000 to construct, which is around £50,000 in today's money.
Previously good quality homes could be built for a few hundred pounds and their present high price was discouraging councils and the private sector from building new homes – despite the severe housing shortage.
A week later the Reporter said Pilkingtons had decided to complete the building of 16 houses and 22 bungalows, as they were "in a fair state of advancement".
An exasperated father from Waine Street in Fingerpost brought a prosecution against his own son on the 19th.
On three occasions since returning home from the war, William Berry had discovered that his son Thomas had run off with his money.
On the last occasion on June 6th, the 15-year-old had taken £5 in notes and silver and spent it in Liverpool and New Brighton.
That was all the cash that the 38-year-old had in the house and William had to borrow money to feed his family.
Thomas's father was concerned that his son was turning into a thief and so reported him to the police for his own good.
After being away for twelve days, the boy was arrested in Liverpool and told the police, "I should have had more sense". He certainly should as he was sent to a reformatory for three years.
When I lived in Rainford the annual June procession and the ensuing tea and sports was known as the village Walking Day.
A century ago it was called the National Schools Field Day and the event on the 19th was reported as having taken place in "ideal weather".
A short church service preceded the walk and in the evening a dance was held in the Village Hall. In my day it was Silcock's fair on the Rec!
On the following day what was described as an "exceptionally large congregation" was in the church to hear the Bishop of Liverpool preach.
Last week a Sinn Fein rally had taken place in St Helens Town Hall and during the afternoon of the 20th another meeting of their supporters took place on wasteland in East Sutton.
Bizarrely the Reporter wrote that nobody had been killed!
"There was none of the shootings or outrages that characterise the Sinn Fein movement in the unhappy island across the Channel", they wrote. "The meeting passed off in quite orderly fashion, with, of course, the customary inflammatory speeches."
The music hall acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 21st included:
Leo Cud's 6 Musical Navvies ("A riot of instrumental fun"); The Famous Fuji Family ("Unrivalled versatile Japanese entertainers"); Ruby Le Drury ("The clever and versatile Australian girl in songs and monologues"); Cliff Barrett ("The great dame study – has played dame in many pantomimes"); Jack Holden ("Comedian"); Bristow Brothers ("Simply comedians and dancers") and Carl Howard ("A unique combination of comedy and magic with his little box of tricks").
Crimes of a sexual nature were often given scant coverage in the newspapers a century ago, as they did not want to upset the sensibilities of delicate readers.
Reports usually only contained a few lines, as in the Reporter's account of one man's appearance in the Police Court on the 21st:
"A soldier named Bert Glover, of 27, Randon-street, who was also charged with being an absentee, was the subject of a charge of indecent assault in which a boy of eleven years of age was concerned, at the St. Helens Police Court on Monday. The magistrates committed him to prison for two months, with hard labour."
Next week's stories will include the shawl theft from the Town Hall, the Bridge Street fresh fish pioneers, a brave rescue of two children at Haydock, the speeding charabanc drivers in Rainford and the Sinn Fein supporter who got into a frenzy in Corporation Street.