IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (16 - 22 OCTOBER 1923)
This week's many stories include Rainford's deadly delph pool that had taken the lives of several children, the drunken miner in Robins Lane who told a policeman to drop dead, a review of the recent Health Week in St Helens, the Doulton Street dole cheat who received a harsh sentence, the cheap train tickets to watch Man Utd and City play football and the man locked up and fined for singing at the top of his voice in Peasley Cross.
"Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!" screamed the headline to an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th. The event featuring a syncopated orchestra was taking place that same evening at the Oddfellows Hall in Rainhill with "admission by invitation". In order to receive an invitation prospective dancers needed to go to the hall during the evening, apply for an invite and pay 1s 6d admission.
The Reporter commented on the success of the recent Health Week in St Helens: "The good that has been done through the special week of effort at the clinics, at the schools, through religious bodies, and otherwise it would be impossible to estimate. The people have been reached – the woman of the house has been inspired with a new zest and understanding of the meaning of health and how to maintain it."
In a separate article the Reporter suggested that there already appeared to be a reasonable level of good health in Rainford, as three of the four deaths in the village during September were of people in their seventies. "Rainford residents continue to live to a good age", they commented, adding that no new cases of infectious disease had been reported in the district.
In September John Shacklady had drowned in a pit of water in a field off News Lane in Rainford while gathering blackberries. The 13-year-old had not been the first child to lose his life in what locals knew as the Delph. The Reporter's Rainford correspondent wrote this piece about his campaign to have the dangerous stretch of open water removed:
"THE DELPH POOL – I am afraid my plain comments on the above subject the other week hurt the dignity of some members on the Rainford Urban District Council. Where life is at stake, dignity and hurt feelings must take a back seat. My feelings are strong on this matter – so strong, indeed, that I would willingly offend every member of the Rainford Council, if, by so doing, one child’s life could be saved. The Delph has already claimed three or four victims, and unless something is done in the matter young lives will continue to pay forfeit."
The article was signed J. H. Porter who, according to the 1921 census was John Henry Porter. He lived in Ormskirk Road and Porter's main job was as a labourer at Rainford Potteries and at the time of the census he had five little children aged eight and under.
Those who cheated the dole office usually went to prison. And this week in St Helens Police Court, James Whittaker of Doulton Street in St Helens was sentenced to 28 days in Walton Gaol. Whittaker had been claiming a few shillings a week for his wife – but she was no longer living with him. Only a few pounds in total were wrongly paid to the man but that was largely irrelevant. It was the principle of the misrepresentation to the authorities and the deterrent effect on others that lay behind the strict sentencing.
The motor charabancs were taking a lot of trade away from the railway. They didn't just provide excursions to transport club members to the seaside or countryside but charabancs also took parties to events, particularly sporting ones. In this week's Reporter the LNER railway was fighting back against the chara by targeting supporters of Manchester United and City. They were offering cheap return tickets to Manchester Central or London Road stations with a third class ticket costing just 2s 7d. These days we'd say T’s & C’s apply and the LNER's limited the hours that the tickets could be used.
Wireless sets could be assembled from kit form if you were technically minded and doing so saved you a few bob. In the Reporter there was an advert for a bicycle that also came in bits. For £3 19s 6d buyers received frames, wheels, tyres, saddle, brakes, handle bars, mudguards, pedals etc. and the screws and bolts to put them all together.
Joseph Ratcliffe of Lord Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court this week, along with James Rigby of Friar Street, for breaching the peace by fighting. Ratcliffe told the court that as he had been walking past the L & C Rubber Co's premises in Church Street he had simply said to Rigby "You aren't drunk". To that, he claimed, Rigby had swung round and hit him. "I saw stars, I can tell you", Ratcliffe explained to the Bench. He also saw the police who said they found him and Rigby on the ground fighting together. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for six months.
The law said anyone selling bread from a vehicle needed to carry scales so that customers could ask for loaves to be weighed to ensure they weren’t being cheated. Just how many people did, I can't say, but I imagine it would have been very few. This week Nevins from Bridge Street was summoned to court after Sergeant Griffin had found one of their vans delivering bread without carrying any scales. The driver's excuse that he was only delivering orders cut no mustard and the firm was fined 10 shillings.
John Pennington was most upset about his day in court. The miner from Peckers Hill Road in Sutton was charged with being drunk and disorderly on the previous Saturday night leading to him spending the rest of the weekend in custody. PC Whelan told the hearing that he had seen Pennington with his brother in Robins Lane (pictured above) at 9:50pm and heard them shout at a young woman that had walked past. The officer said that he had told the pair to behave themselves but John Pennington used filthy language to him and refused to go home. At that point the defendant said: "I wish you had dropped dead. He has locked the wrong fellow up this time."
Inspector Dunn told the court that when Pennington was brought to the police station, he was very drunk and abusive and threatened the constable, saying what he would do to him if he met him outside. In his defence John Pennington said that all he did was wish the young woman in Robins Lane goodnight as she was passing. He totally denied much of the evidence given by the police and made certain allegations against the constable that weren't reported.
Pennington also complained to the Bench that he was never told why he was locked up. At that point Supt. Dunn asked him what he'd thought he was being put in a cell for and John Pennington replied: "For just giving the policeman a bit of cheek for picking at me." He was fined 10s 6d.
Guy Fawkes night was still a few weeks away. But like today the advance guard was busy with its whizzes and bangs in mid-October frightening the life out of folk! Thomas Dillon had been caught by a policeman in Glover Street setting fireworks off in the street and throwing them over rooftops. The boy from Liverpool Street appeared in court and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, when Timothy Kelly was discovered in the early hours of the morning in Peasley Cross Lane singing at the top of his voice a constable asked him what he was doing. "I am enjoying myself, I have nowhere to go", came the reply from the labourer of no fixed address. The police stopped his enjoyment by finding him a cell for the night and in court Kelly was fined 10 shillings for being drunk and incapable.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man charged with uttering a counterfeit bank note, the rebuilding of the Sefton Arms, the tragedy of a Stanhope Street possession case and the repeat offender practically born in Whiston Workhouse.
"Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!" screamed the headline to an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th. The event featuring a syncopated orchestra was taking place that same evening at the Oddfellows Hall in Rainhill with "admission by invitation". In order to receive an invitation prospective dancers needed to go to the hall during the evening, apply for an invite and pay 1s 6d admission.
The Reporter commented on the success of the recent Health Week in St Helens: "The good that has been done through the special week of effort at the clinics, at the schools, through religious bodies, and otherwise it would be impossible to estimate. The people have been reached – the woman of the house has been inspired with a new zest and understanding of the meaning of health and how to maintain it."
In a separate article the Reporter suggested that there already appeared to be a reasonable level of good health in Rainford, as three of the four deaths in the village during September were of people in their seventies. "Rainford residents continue to live to a good age", they commented, adding that no new cases of infectious disease had been reported in the district.
In September John Shacklady had drowned in a pit of water in a field off News Lane in Rainford while gathering blackberries. The 13-year-old had not been the first child to lose his life in what locals knew as the Delph. The Reporter's Rainford correspondent wrote this piece about his campaign to have the dangerous stretch of open water removed:
"THE DELPH POOL – I am afraid my plain comments on the above subject the other week hurt the dignity of some members on the Rainford Urban District Council. Where life is at stake, dignity and hurt feelings must take a back seat. My feelings are strong on this matter – so strong, indeed, that I would willingly offend every member of the Rainford Council, if, by so doing, one child’s life could be saved. The Delph has already claimed three or four victims, and unless something is done in the matter young lives will continue to pay forfeit."
The article was signed J. H. Porter who, according to the 1921 census was John Henry Porter. He lived in Ormskirk Road and Porter's main job was as a labourer at Rainford Potteries and at the time of the census he had five little children aged eight and under.
Those who cheated the dole office usually went to prison. And this week in St Helens Police Court, James Whittaker of Doulton Street in St Helens was sentenced to 28 days in Walton Gaol. Whittaker had been claiming a few shillings a week for his wife – but she was no longer living with him. Only a few pounds in total were wrongly paid to the man but that was largely irrelevant. It was the principle of the misrepresentation to the authorities and the deterrent effect on others that lay behind the strict sentencing.
The motor charabancs were taking a lot of trade away from the railway. They didn't just provide excursions to transport club members to the seaside or countryside but charabancs also took parties to events, particularly sporting ones. In this week's Reporter the LNER railway was fighting back against the chara by targeting supporters of Manchester United and City. They were offering cheap return tickets to Manchester Central or London Road stations with a third class ticket costing just 2s 7d. These days we'd say T’s & C’s apply and the LNER's limited the hours that the tickets could be used.
Wireless sets could be assembled from kit form if you were technically minded and doing so saved you a few bob. In the Reporter there was an advert for a bicycle that also came in bits. For £3 19s 6d buyers received frames, wheels, tyres, saddle, brakes, handle bars, mudguards, pedals etc. and the screws and bolts to put them all together.
Joseph Ratcliffe of Lord Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court this week, along with James Rigby of Friar Street, for breaching the peace by fighting. Ratcliffe told the court that as he had been walking past the L & C Rubber Co's premises in Church Street he had simply said to Rigby "You aren't drunk". To that, he claimed, Rigby had swung round and hit him. "I saw stars, I can tell you", Ratcliffe explained to the Bench. He also saw the police who said they found him and Rigby on the ground fighting together. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for six months.
The law said anyone selling bread from a vehicle needed to carry scales so that customers could ask for loaves to be weighed to ensure they weren’t being cheated. Just how many people did, I can't say, but I imagine it would have been very few. This week Nevins from Bridge Street was summoned to court after Sergeant Griffin had found one of their vans delivering bread without carrying any scales. The driver's excuse that he was only delivering orders cut no mustard and the firm was fined 10 shillings.
Inspector Dunn told the court that when Pennington was brought to the police station, he was very drunk and abusive and threatened the constable, saying what he would do to him if he met him outside. In his defence John Pennington said that all he did was wish the young woman in Robins Lane goodnight as she was passing. He totally denied much of the evidence given by the police and made certain allegations against the constable that weren't reported.
Pennington also complained to the Bench that he was never told why he was locked up. At that point Supt. Dunn asked him what he'd thought he was being put in a cell for and John Pennington replied: "For just giving the policeman a bit of cheek for picking at me." He was fined 10s 6d.
Guy Fawkes night was still a few weeks away. But like today the advance guard was busy with its whizzes and bangs in mid-October frightening the life out of folk! Thomas Dillon had been caught by a policeman in Glover Street setting fireworks off in the street and throwing them over rooftops. The boy from Liverpool Street appeared in court and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, when Timothy Kelly was discovered in the early hours of the morning in Peasley Cross Lane singing at the top of his voice a constable asked him what he was doing. "I am enjoying myself, I have nowhere to go", came the reply from the labourer of no fixed address. The police stopped his enjoyment by finding him a cell for the night and in court Kelly was fined 10 shillings for being drunk and incapable.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man charged with uttering a counterfeit bank note, the rebuilding of the Sefton Arms, the tragedy of a Stanhope Street possession case and the repeat offender practically born in Whiston Workhouse.
This week's many stories include Rainford's deadly delph pool that had taken the lives of several children, the drunken miner in Robins Lane who told a policeman to drop dead, a review of the recent Health Week in St Helens, the Doulton Street dole cheat who received a harsh sentence, the cheap train tickets to watch Man Utd and City play football and the man locked up and fined for singing at the top of his voice in Peasley Cross.
"Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!" screamed the headline to an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th.
The event featuring a syncopated orchestra was taking place that same evening at the Oddfellows Hall in Rainhill with "admission by invitation".
In order to receive an invitation prospective dancers needed to go to the hall during the evening, apply for an invite and pay 1s 6d admission.
The Reporter commented on the success of the recent Health Week in St Helens:
"The good that has been done through the special week of effort at the clinics, at the schools, through religious bodies, and otherwise it would be impossible to estimate.
"The people have been reached – the woman of the house has been inspired with a new zest and understanding of the meaning of health and how to maintain it."
In a separate article the Reporter suggested that there already appeared to be a reasonable level of good health in Rainford, as three of the four deaths in the village during September were of people in their seventies.
"Rainford residents continue to live to a good age", they commented, adding that no new cases of infectious disease had been reported in the district.
In September John Shacklady had drowned in a pit of water in a field off News Lane in Rainford while gathering blackberries.
The 13-year-old had not been the first child to lose his life in what locals knew as the Delph.
The Reporter's Rainford correspondent wrote this piece about his campaign to have the dangerous stretch of open water removed:
"THE DELPH POOL – I am afraid my plain comments on the above subject the other week hurt the dignity of some members on the Rainford Urban District Council.
"Where life is at stake, dignity and hurt feelings must take a back seat. My feelings are strong on this matter – so strong, indeed, that I would willingly offend every member of the Rainford Council, if, by so doing, one child’s life could be saved.
“The Delph has already claimed three or four victims, and unless something is done in the matter young lives will continue to pay forfeit."
The article was signed J. H. Porter who, according to the 1921 census was John Henry Porter.
He lived in Ormskirk Road and Porter's main job was as a labourer at Rainford Potteries and at the time of the census he had five little children aged eight and under.
Those who cheated the dole office usually went to prison. And this week in St Helens Police Court, James Whittaker of Doulton Street in St Helens was sentenced to 28 days in Walton Gaol.
Whittaker had been claiming a few shillings a week for his wife – but she was no longer living with him.
Only a few pounds in total were wrongly paid to the man but that was largely irrelevant.
It was the principle of the misrepresentation to the authorities and the deterrent effect on others that lay behind the strict sentencing.
The motor charabancs were taking a lot of trade away from the railway. They didn't just provide excursions to transport club members to the seaside or countryside but charabancs also took parties to events, particularly sporting ones.
In this week's Reporter the LNER railway was fighting back against the chara by targeting supporters of Manchester United and City.
They were offering cheap return tickets to Manchester Central or London Road stations with a third class ticket costing just 2s 7d.
These days we'd say T’s & C’s apply and the LNER's limited the hours that the tickets could be used.
Wireless sets could be assembled from kit form if you were technically minded and doing so saved you a few bob. In the Reporter there was an advert for a bicycle that also came in bits.
For £3 19s 6d buyers received frames, wheels, tyres, saddle, brakes, handle bars, mudguards, pedals etc. and the screws and bolts to put them all together.
Joseph Ratcliffe of Lord Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court this week, along with James Rigby of Friar Street, for breaching the peace by fighting.
Ratcliffe told the court that as he had been walking past the L & C Rubber Co's premises in Church Street he had simply said to Rigby "You aren't drunk". To that, he claimed, Rigby had swung round and hit him.
"I saw stars, I can tell you", Ratcliffe explained to the Bench. He also saw the police who said they found him and Rigby on the ground fighting together. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for six months.
The law said anyone selling bread from a vehicle needed to carry scales so that customers could ask for loaves to be weighed to ensure they weren’t being cheated.
Just how many people did, I can't say, but I imagine it would have been very few.
This week Nevins from Bridge Street was summoned to court after Sergeant Griffin had found one of their vans delivering bread without carrying any scales.
The driver's excuse that he was only delivering orders cut no mustard and the firm was fined 10 shillings.
John Pennington was most upset about his day in court. The miner from Peckers Hill Road in Sutton was charged with being drunk and disorderly on the previous Saturday night leading to him spending the rest of the weekend in custody.
PC Whelan told the hearing that he had seen Pennington with his brother in Robins Lane (pictured above) at 9:50pm and heard them shout at a young woman that had walked past.
The officer said that he had told the pair to behave themselves but John Pennington used filthy language to him and refused to go home.
At that point the defendant said: "I wish you had dropped dead. He has locked the wrong fellow up this time."
Inspector Dunn told the court that when Pennington was brought to the police station, he was very drunk and abusive and threatened the constable, saying what he would do to him if he met him outside.
In his defence John Pennington said that all he did was wish the young woman in Robins Lane goodnight as she was passing.
He totally denied much of the evidence given by the police and made certain allegations against the constable that weren't reported.
Pennington also complained to the Bench that he was never told why he was locked up.
At that point Supt. Dunn asked him what he'd thought he was being put in a cell for and John Pennington replied: "For just giving the policeman a bit of cheek for picking at me." He was fined 10s 6d.
Guy Fawkes night was still a few weeks away. But like today the advance guard was busy with its whizzes and bangs in mid-October frightening the life out of folk!
Thomas Dillon had been caught by a policeman in Glover Street setting fireworks off in the street and throwing them over rooftops. The boy from Liverpool Street appeared in court and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, when Timothy Kelly was discovered in the early hours of the morning in Peasley Cross Lane singing at the top of his voice a constable asked him what he was doing.
"I am enjoying myself, I have nowhere to go", came the reply from the labourer of no fixed address.
The police stopped his enjoyment by finding him a cell for the night and in court Kelly was fined 10 shillings for being drunk and incapable.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man charged with uttering a counterfeit bank note, the rebuilding of the Sefton Arms, the tragedy of a Stanhope Street possession case and the repeat offender practically born in Whiston Workhouse.
"Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!" screamed the headline to an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th.
The event featuring a syncopated orchestra was taking place that same evening at the Oddfellows Hall in Rainhill with "admission by invitation".
In order to receive an invitation prospective dancers needed to go to the hall during the evening, apply for an invite and pay 1s 6d admission.
The Reporter commented on the success of the recent Health Week in St Helens:
"The good that has been done through the special week of effort at the clinics, at the schools, through religious bodies, and otherwise it would be impossible to estimate.
"The people have been reached – the woman of the house has been inspired with a new zest and understanding of the meaning of health and how to maintain it."
In a separate article the Reporter suggested that there already appeared to be a reasonable level of good health in Rainford, as three of the four deaths in the village during September were of people in their seventies.
"Rainford residents continue to live to a good age", they commented, adding that no new cases of infectious disease had been reported in the district.
In September John Shacklady had drowned in a pit of water in a field off News Lane in Rainford while gathering blackberries.
The 13-year-old had not been the first child to lose his life in what locals knew as the Delph.
The Reporter's Rainford correspondent wrote this piece about his campaign to have the dangerous stretch of open water removed:
"THE DELPH POOL – I am afraid my plain comments on the above subject the other week hurt the dignity of some members on the Rainford Urban District Council.
"Where life is at stake, dignity and hurt feelings must take a back seat. My feelings are strong on this matter – so strong, indeed, that I would willingly offend every member of the Rainford Council, if, by so doing, one child’s life could be saved.
“The Delph has already claimed three or four victims, and unless something is done in the matter young lives will continue to pay forfeit."
The article was signed J. H. Porter who, according to the 1921 census was John Henry Porter.
He lived in Ormskirk Road and Porter's main job was as a labourer at Rainford Potteries and at the time of the census he had five little children aged eight and under.
Those who cheated the dole office usually went to prison. And this week in St Helens Police Court, James Whittaker of Doulton Street in St Helens was sentenced to 28 days in Walton Gaol.
Whittaker had been claiming a few shillings a week for his wife – but she was no longer living with him.
Only a few pounds in total were wrongly paid to the man but that was largely irrelevant.
It was the principle of the misrepresentation to the authorities and the deterrent effect on others that lay behind the strict sentencing.
The motor charabancs were taking a lot of trade away from the railway. They didn't just provide excursions to transport club members to the seaside or countryside but charabancs also took parties to events, particularly sporting ones.
In this week's Reporter the LNER railway was fighting back against the chara by targeting supporters of Manchester United and City.
They were offering cheap return tickets to Manchester Central or London Road stations with a third class ticket costing just 2s 7d.
These days we'd say T’s & C’s apply and the LNER's limited the hours that the tickets could be used.
Wireless sets could be assembled from kit form if you were technically minded and doing so saved you a few bob. In the Reporter there was an advert for a bicycle that also came in bits.
For £3 19s 6d buyers received frames, wheels, tyres, saddle, brakes, handle bars, mudguards, pedals etc. and the screws and bolts to put them all together.
Joseph Ratcliffe of Lord Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court this week, along with James Rigby of Friar Street, for breaching the peace by fighting.
Ratcliffe told the court that as he had been walking past the L & C Rubber Co's premises in Church Street he had simply said to Rigby "You aren't drunk". To that, he claimed, Rigby had swung round and hit him.
"I saw stars, I can tell you", Ratcliffe explained to the Bench. He also saw the police who said they found him and Rigby on the ground fighting together. Both men were bound over to keep the peace for six months.
The law said anyone selling bread from a vehicle needed to carry scales so that customers could ask for loaves to be weighed to ensure they weren’t being cheated.
Just how many people did, I can't say, but I imagine it would have been very few.
This week Nevins from Bridge Street was summoned to court after Sergeant Griffin had found one of their vans delivering bread without carrying any scales.
The driver's excuse that he was only delivering orders cut no mustard and the firm was fined 10 shillings.
John Pennington was most upset about his day in court. The miner from Peckers Hill Road in Sutton was charged with being drunk and disorderly on the previous Saturday night leading to him spending the rest of the weekend in custody.
The officer said that he had told the pair to behave themselves but John Pennington used filthy language to him and refused to go home.
At that point the defendant said: "I wish you had dropped dead. He has locked the wrong fellow up this time."
Inspector Dunn told the court that when Pennington was brought to the police station, he was very drunk and abusive and threatened the constable, saying what he would do to him if he met him outside.
In his defence John Pennington said that all he did was wish the young woman in Robins Lane goodnight as she was passing.
He totally denied much of the evidence given by the police and made certain allegations against the constable that weren't reported.
Pennington also complained to the Bench that he was never told why he was locked up.
At that point Supt. Dunn asked him what he'd thought he was being put in a cell for and John Pennington replied: "For just giving the policeman a bit of cheek for picking at me." He was fined 10s 6d.
Guy Fawkes night was still a few weeks away. But like today the advance guard was busy with its whizzes and bangs in mid-October frightening the life out of folk!
Thomas Dillon had been caught by a policeman in Glover Street setting fireworks off in the street and throwing them over rooftops. The boy from Liverpool Street appeared in court and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, when Timothy Kelly was discovered in the early hours of the morning in Peasley Cross Lane singing at the top of his voice a constable asked him what he was doing.
"I am enjoying myself, I have nowhere to go", came the reply from the labourer of no fixed address.
The police stopped his enjoyment by finding him a cell for the night and in court Kelly was fined 10 shillings for being drunk and incapable.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man charged with uttering a counterfeit bank note, the rebuilding of the Sefton Arms, the tragedy of a Stanhope Street possession case and the repeat offender practically born in Whiston Workhouse.