IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17th - 23rd JANUARY 1922)
This week's many stories include the simple-minded suicidal Sutton girl who was placed in a home, the St Helens boy who staged a burglary, the Corporation gravediggers whose stench was considered objectionable, the runaway car in Westfield Street and the Colonel and the Colonials come together in City Road.
A story of a son's staged break-in at his family's home was told in St Helens Police Court on the 17th when Eric Bradbury was charged with theft. The parents of the 18-year-old from Alfred Street (off Standish Street) had discovered marks outside of a window and £5 missing from their bedroom. They reported the apparent burglary to the police who realised it had been an inside job and arrested the couple's son. The father said that if he had known his boy had been the thief, he would never have informed the police and added that his mother was broken-hearted over the affair. As a result, the boy was bound over by the magistrates.
Attempting suicide was illegal and offenders could be sent to prison. However, in most cases the magistrates simply wanted an assurance that there would be no repetition of their behaviour. On the 17th Margaret Owen from Watery Lane in Sutton made her second appearance in court charged with attempting to commit suicide. The girl was only 16 and it was decided that she should be sent to a home where, as it was put, she would be well cared for and looked after.
Margaret's mother agreed to this step, saying that owing to an infirmity, she could not follow her daughter when she ran off and "consequently she had got completely out of control". It was stated in court that Margaret was simple-minded and when she went out of the house was often "enticed" away by men. When she and a man of twenty-two had recently been chased by a policeman, the girl attempted to throw herself into a deep pool – hence the attempted suicide charge.
A home for girls may have been a much better option for Margaret than Rainhill Asylum. Many youngsters deemed "feeble-minded" or "moral defective" were placed there and into similar institutions under the cruel Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 – some for the rest of their lives.
There was good news for gravediggers at the Corporation's Parks and Cemetery Committee meeting on the 18th when it was decided to issue them with overalls. Cllr. Ledwith had made the suggestion, telling the meeting that the men digging the graves in the town cemetery sometimes came home in a very dirty condition.
"The stench from their clothes", he added, "was objectionable". It was pointed out that capes had previously been provided for council staff employed on the roads – but they had refused to wear them. However, the committee members decided to still provide overalls for the gravediggers and see whether they wore them.
The council's Highways Committee also met on the 18th and discussed flooding at Warrington Old Road after a complaint had been received. The letter stated that the sewer in the street was inadequate and consequently the road would flood after a couple of days of rain. The matter was left to the Town Clerk and the chairman of the committee to decide what action to take.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the official name of the Corporation Street venue and opera companies did often appear. This week it was the D’oyly Carte Opera Company who performed six different Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas during the week. There were seven different types of seats available, with prices starting from a shilling in the gallery and rising up to ten bob for box seats.
Meanwhile, the Hippodrome was screening Carpentier vs. Cook "on the Bioscope". Georges Carpentier (pictured above) was an action-man of the ‘20s – a famous boxer and actor and formerly a World War I pilot. The young Frenchman had defeated George Cook in a fight at the Royal Albert Hall on January 12th and a short, silent film of the event was a novelty attraction. Also on the bill were:
The Romano Brothers ("The world’s greatest exponents of physical culture and Grecian art"); Charles Kildare ("Premier whistling entertainer"); Holloway & Austin ("Perform smart tricks on the wire and are clever dancers"); Margaret Dennis ("A comedienne with a new style") and Jack Rea and Betty Noble ("In a novel and refined act “The Newly Married Couple's First Quarrel”").
The Romanos imitated statues on stage and in January 1921, received this review from The Stage newspaper: "A fine physical culture display is introduced by the Romano Brothers, fine specimens of manhood, who, with bodies covered with a plaster-like substance, pose with good effect."
The Reporter on the 20th described a recurrence of flu in St Helens – but they said the strain was milder than the severe outbreak of a few years earlier. However, the town's Medical Officer of Health advised the population to take preventive measures to ward off flu. The tips included avoiding chills, attending to general health and refraining from visiting over-crowded places.
A story of a runaway car was told in St Helens Police Court on the 23rd. Henry Fletcher had parked his vehicle at the top of Liverpool Road in order to go inside a shop. While he was away from his car, it began running backwards into Westfield Street. Fortunately, George Wilson from Carlton Street was passing and he had some experience of motor vehicles. He immediately leapt inside and applied the hand brake – but discovered it to be defective.
Mr Wilson told the court that the car began to gain speed and came close to smashing into the Red, White and Blue pub in Westfield Street (pictured above). However, he managed to steer it away to the other side of the road and brought the car to a halt after running it against the kerb. Later that day the car owner told a police officer that he thought the frost had affected his hand brake and even suggested that children could have jumped on the car and jogged off the brake.
Of course, there were then no MOTs or even driving tests – but there were garages. So one would have thought that a mechanic would have been required to test the safety of the brake and make a report. But the detailed newspaper account made no mention of any such test – which was probably because it would have cost money and there would be the question of who should foot the bill.
Instead Henry Fletcher, the owner of the car, asked George Wilson, the hero of the hour, why he hadn't clashed the gears to bring his car to a halt, instead of jamming the wheels against the kerb. "There was no time to think of such things in a case like that", was the reply. Drivers' casual attitude to matters of road safety was also exemplified by the car owner not taking his driving licence to the police station after being ordered to do.
Not that having a licence proved competence to drive – just that you had paid the required fee at the Town Hall. The magistrates fined Wilson 25 shillings for not having his brakes in working order; 25 shillings for not having taken precautions to prevent his car from being started and ten shillings for not producing his licence. Interestingly, the magistrates' conviction was on a rare majority basis – suggesting one of them thought that he had not been responsible for what had occurred.
It was reported this week that the St Helens branch of the NSPCC, based at Croppers Hill, had investigated 22 cases of child neglect in the town in December involving a total of 74 children.
Sailing times from Australia to England were getting faster but the trip still took around six weeks – and so sporting teams did not come here that often. But when they did make the long journey they made the most of their stay and for many players it would be a once in a lifetime experience. On the 21st, the 35th and final match in the Australian (or Australasian to be precise) rugby league team's tour of this country took place at the City Road ground in St Helens.
The Aussie team was then nicknamed "the Colonials", although I don't think they'd appreciate being called that today! Having previously beaten Saints at Knowsley Road earlier on their tour, the Colonials did the same to St Helens Recs, winning 5 - 16. It was then the custom for some local celebrity to kick off certain football and rugby matches, which must have interrupted the flow of the game.
Col. Norman Pilkington of Rainford Hall in Crank did the honours on this occasion. The glass boss had already presented each Australian player with a souvenir of their visit in the form of a paperweight. This was inscribed: "St. Helen Recreation v. Australasia, January 21, 1922". However, it doesn't appear that the St Helens' lads received a similar match memento.
And finally, St Helens has known quite a few outspoken vicars over the years – but I don't think any were as wise as the Vicar of Liscard. This week the Echo published an article about comments that the minister had made in a sermon about the unemployment crisis that was then facing the country:
"“Woodbine Willie”, the popular padre (in civil life the Rev. G. A. Stoddart Kennedy), delivered some unusual pulpit utterances at St. Mary's Church, Liscard. A few specimens of which are appended:- To say, as had been declared, that there were 2,000,000 work-shy men in this country was an abominable lie. There were some rotten men among them, of course, just as there were some rotten parsons, doctors, and lawyers, and just as there had been a good few rotten kings.
"The Dean of St. Paul's (“the gloomy dean”) had said the unemployed could all find work tomorrow if they looked for it. In regard to knowledge gained from books the dean was a giant. In regard to knowledge of his fellow-men he was as ignorant as he was as to the embryology of a cat. There was not the slightest scintilla of truth in the idiotic statement he had made. Churchpeople were wrong in attending services and praising God like blacksmiths, apparently unconscious of the misery outside. They declared their conviction that they and everybody else in the world were dependent upon God for their daily bread, but some people seemed to get not only their daily bread but Rolls-Royces also without God.
"Because of the failure of the harvest in Russia 3,000,000 children were doomed, and this though there was grain enough to spare in Argentina and in Canada; there was the food, the money, and the ships, but the one thing lacking was good will. We were so panic-stricken about Bolshevism and so wretchedly craven that our resources were not being used for the relief of our fellow creatures. There was no necessity for any child anywhere in the world to go hungry.
"It had been assumed by people in authority that because the man was successful in his own business he was a good man to advise on the policy of a nation; but a man might be a good seller of bacon and yet as stupid as a pig in regard to other matters. None of them had any right to do nothing to help the world. A man might profess any religion, but if he were asked at the end of all things if he had fed the hungry, and his answer was in the negative, he was damned. If they dedicated their engines and their factories to God there would be enough for all and to spare."
As if to underline the comments of the wise vicar, in an adjacent column the Echo had a very brief report of a double suicide in Sunderland under the headlines: "The Poison By Gas Epidemic – Death of Mother and Daughter Adds to Grim Roll":
"Madge Blythe and Muriel Blenkinsopp, mother and daughter, aged 50 and 16 respectively, were found dead with their heads in a gas stove at Sunderland to-day. The gas was turned on, and in a message which the daughter left to a friend is stated, “We have gone where no unhappiness or misery can reach us.”"
Next week's stories will include the fury over plans for Tontine Street market stalls, the Rainford man who couldn't get out of bed, a veteran Thatto Heath poacher calls it a day and the dispute over when ventilation in a tram becomes a draught.
A story of a son's staged break-in at his family's home was told in St Helens Police Court on the 17th when Eric Bradbury was charged with theft. The parents of the 18-year-old from Alfred Street (off Standish Street) had discovered marks outside of a window and £5 missing from their bedroom. They reported the apparent burglary to the police who realised it had been an inside job and arrested the couple's son. The father said that if he had known his boy had been the thief, he would never have informed the police and added that his mother was broken-hearted over the affair. As a result, the boy was bound over by the magistrates.
Attempting suicide was illegal and offenders could be sent to prison. However, in most cases the magistrates simply wanted an assurance that there would be no repetition of their behaviour. On the 17th Margaret Owen from Watery Lane in Sutton made her second appearance in court charged with attempting to commit suicide. The girl was only 16 and it was decided that she should be sent to a home where, as it was put, she would be well cared for and looked after.
Margaret's mother agreed to this step, saying that owing to an infirmity, she could not follow her daughter when she ran off and "consequently she had got completely out of control". It was stated in court that Margaret was simple-minded and when she went out of the house was often "enticed" away by men. When she and a man of twenty-two had recently been chased by a policeman, the girl attempted to throw herself into a deep pool – hence the attempted suicide charge.
A home for girls may have been a much better option for Margaret than Rainhill Asylum. Many youngsters deemed "feeble-minded" or "moral defective" were placed there and into similar institutions under the cruel Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 – some for the rest of their lives.
There was good news for gravediggers at the Corporation's Parks and Cemetery Committee meeting on the 18th when it was decided to issue them with overalls. Cllr. Ledwith had made the suggestion, telling the meeting that the men digging the graves in the town cemetery sometimes came home in a very dirty condition.
"The stench from their clothes", he added, "was objectionable". It was pointed out that capes had previously been provided for council staff employed on the roads – but they had refused to wear them. However, the committee members decided to still provide overalls for the gravediggers and see whether they wore them.
The council's Highways Committee also met on the 18th and discussed flooding at Warrington Old Road after a complaint had been received. The letter stated that the sewer in the street was inadequate and consequently the road would flood after a couple of days of rain. The matter was left to the Town Clerk and the chairman of the committee to decide what action to take.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the official name of the Corporation Street venue and opera companies did often appear. This week it was the D’oyly Carte Opera Company who performed six different Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas during the week. There were seven different types of seats available, with prices starting from a shilling in the gallery and rising up to ten bob for box seats.
The Romano Brothers ("The world’s greatest exponents of physical culture and Grecian art"); Charles Kildare ("Premier whistling entertainer"); Holloway & Austin ("Perform smart tricks on the wire and are clever dancers"); Margaret Dennis ("A comedienne with a new style") and Jack Rea and Betty Noble ("In a novel and refined act “The Newly Married Couple's First Quarrel”").
The Romanos imitated statues on stage and in January 1921, received this review from The Stage newspaper: "A fine physical culture display is introduced by the Romano Brothers, fine specimens of manhood, who, with bodies covered with a plaster-like substance, pose with good effect."
The Reporter on the 20th described a recurrence of flu in St Helens – but they said the strain was milder than the severe outbreak of a few years earlier. However, the town's Medical Officer of Health advised the population to take preventive measures to ward off flu. The tips included avoiding chills, attending to general health and refraining from visiting over-crowded places.
A story of a runaway car was told in St Helens Police Court on the 23rd. Henry Fletcher had parked his vehicle at the top of Liverpool Road in order to go inside a shop. While he was away from his car, it began running backwards into Westfield Street. Fortunately, George Wilson from Carlton Street was passing and he had some experience of motor vehicles. He immediately leapt inside and applied the hand brake – but discovered it to be defective.
Of course, there were then no MOTs or even driving tests – but there were garages. So one would have thought that a mechanic would have been required to test the safety of the brake and make a report. But the detailed newspaper account made no mention of any such test – which was probably because it would have cost money and there would be the question of who should foot the bill.
Instead Henry Fletcher, the owner of the car, asked George Wilson, the hero of the hour, why he hadn't clashed the gears to bring his car to a halt, instead of jamming the wheels against the kerb. "There was no time to think of such things in a case like that", was the reply. Drivers' casual attitude to matters of road safety was also exemplified by the car owner not taking his driving licence to the police station after being ordered to do.
Not that having a licence proved competence to drive – just that you had paid the required fee at the Town Hall. The magistrates fined Wilson 25 shillings for not having his brakes in working order; 25 shillings for not having taken precautions to prevent his car from being started and ten shillings for not producing his licence. Interestingly, the magistrates' conviction was on a rare majority basis – suggesting one of them thought that he had not been responsible for what had occurred.
It was reported this week that the St Helens branch of the NSPCC, based at Croppers Hill, had investigated 22 cases of child neglect in the town in December involving a total of 74 children.
Sailing times from Australia to England were getting faster but the trip still took around six weeks – and so sporting teams did not come here that often. But when they did make the long journey they made the most of their stay and for many players it would be a once in a lifetime experience. On the 21st, the 35th and final match in the Australian (or Australasian to be precise) rugby league team's tour of this country took place at the City Road ground in St Helens.
The Aussie team was then nicknamed "the Colonials", although I don't think they'd appreciate being called that today! Having previously beaten Saints at Knowsley Road earlier on their tour, the Colonials did the same to St Helens Recs, winning 5 - 16. It was then the custom for some local celebrity to kick off certain football and rugby matches, which must have interrupted the flow of the game.
Col. Norman Pilkington of Rainford Hall in Crank did the honours on this occasion. The glass boss had already presented each Australian player with a souvenir of their visit in the form of a paperweight. This was inscribed: "St. Helen Recreation v. Australasia, January 21, 1922". However, it doesn't appear that the St Helens' lads received a similar match memento.
And finally, St Helens has known quite a few outspoken vicars over the years – but I don't think any were as wise as the Vicar of Liscard. This week the Echo published an article about comments that the minister had made in a sermon about the unemployment crisis that was then facing the country:
"“Woodbine Willie”, the popular padre (in civil life the Rev. G. A. Stoddart Kennedy), delivered some unusual pulpit utterances at St. Mary's Church, Liscard. A few specimens of which are appended:- To say, as had been declared, that there were 2,000,000 work-shy men in this country was an abominable lie. There were some rotten men among them, of course, just as there were some rotten parsons, doctors, and lawyers, and just as there had been a good few rotten kings.
"The Dean of St. Paul's (“the gloomy dean”) had said the unemployed could all find work tomorrow if they looked for it. In regard to knowledge gained from books the dean was a giant. In regard to knowledge of his fellow-men he was as ignorant as he was as to the embryology of a cat. There was not the slightest scintilla of truth in the idiotic statement he had made. Churchpeople were wrong in attending services and praising God like blacksmiths, apparently unconscious of the misery outside. They declared their conviction that they and everybody else in the world were dependent upon God for their daily bread, but some people seemed to get not only their daily bread but Rolls-Royces also without God.
"Because of the failure of the harvest in Russia 3,000,000 children were doomed, and this though there was grain enough to spare in Argentina and in Canada; there was the food, the money, and the ships, but the one thing lacking was good will. We were so panic-stricken about Bolshevism and so wretchedly craven that our resources were not being used for the relief of our fellow creatures. There was no necessity for any child anywhere in the world to go hungry.
"It had been assumed by people in authority that because the man was successful in his own business he was a good man to advise on the policy of a nation; but a man might be a good seller of bacon and yet as stupid as a pig in regard to other matters. None of them had any right to do nothing to help the world. A man might profess any religion, but if he were asked at the end of all things if he had fed the hungry, and his answer was in the negative, he was damned. If they dedicated their engines and their factories to God there would be enough for all and to spare."
As if to underline the comments of the wise vicar, in an adjacent column the Echo had a very brief report of a double suicide in Sunderland under the headlines: "The Poison By Gas Epidemic – Death of Mother and Daughter Adds to Grim Roll":
"Madge Blythe and Muriel Blenkinsopp, mother and daughter, aged 50 and 16 respectively, were found dead with their heads in a gas stove at Sunderland to-day. The gas was turned on, and in a message which the daughter left to a friend is stated, “We have gone where no unhappiness or misery can reach us.”"
Next week's stories will include the fury over plans for Tontine Street market stalls, the Rainford man who couldn't get out of bed, a veteran Thatto Heath poacher calls it a day and the dispute over when ventilation in a tram becomes a draught.
This week's many stories include the simple-minded suicidal Sutton girl who was placed in a home, the St Helens boy who staged a burglary, the Corporation gravediggers whose stench was considered objectionable, the runaway car in Westfield Street and the Colonel and the Colonials come together in City Road.
A story of a son's staged break-in at his family's home was told in St Helens Police Court on the 17th when Eric Bradbury was charged with theft.
The parents of the 18-year-old from Alfred Street (off Standish Street) had discovered marks outside of a window and £5 missing from their bedroom.
They reported the apparent burglary to the police who realised it had been an inside job and arrested the couple's son.
The father said that if he had known his boy had been the thief, he would never have informed the police and added that his mother was broken-hearted over the affair. As a result, the boy was bound over by the magistrates.
Attempting suicide was illegal and offenders could be sent to prison.
However, in most cases the magistrates simply wanted an assurance that there would be no repetition of their behaviour.
On the 17th Margaret Owen from Watery Lane in Sutton made her second appearance in court charged with attempting to commit suicide.
The girl was only 16 and it was decided that she should be sent to a home where, as it was put, she would be well cared for and looked after.
Margaret's mother agreed to this step, saying that owing to an infirmity, she could not follow her daughter when she ran off and "consequently she had got completely out of control".
It was stated in court that Margaret was simple-minded and when she went out of the house was often "enticed" away by men.
When she and a man of twenty-two had recently been chased by a policeman, the girl attempted to throw herself into a deep pool – hence the attempted suicide charge.
A home for girls may have been a much better option for Margaret than Rainhill Asylum.
Many youngsters deemed "feeble-minded" or "moral defective" were placed there and into similar institutions under the cruel Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 – some for the rest of their lives.
There was good news for gravediggers at the Corporation's Parks and Cemetery Committee meeting on the 18th when it was decided to issue them with overalls.
Cllr. Ledwith had made the suggestion, telling the meeting that the men digging the graves in the town cemetery sometimes came home in a very dirty condition.
"The stench from their clothes", he added, "was objectionable".
It was pointed out that capes had previously been provided for council staff employed on the roads – but they had refused to wear them.
However, the committee members decided to still provide overalls for the gravediggers and see whether they wore them.
The council's Highways Committee also met on the 18th and discussed flooding at Warrington Old Road after a complaint had been received.
The letter stated that the sewer in the street was inadequate and consequently the road would flood after a couple of days of rain.
The matter was left to the Town Clerk and the chairman of the committee to decide what action to take.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the official name of the Corporation Street venue and opera companies did often appear.
This week it was the D’oyly Carte Opera Company who performed six different Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas during the week.
There were seven different types of seats available, with prices starting from a shilling in the gallery and rising up to ten bob for box seats.
Meanwhile, the Hippodrome was screening Carpentier vs. Cook "on the Bioscope". Georges Carpentier (pictured above) was an action-man of the ‘20s – a famous boxer and actor and formerly a World War I pilot.
The young Frenchman had defeated George Cook in a fight at the Royal Albert Hall on January 12th and a short, silent film of the event was a novelty attraction. Also on the bill were:
The Romano Brothers ("The world’s greatest exponents of physical culture and Grecian art"); Charles Kildare ("Premier whistling entertainer"); Holloway & Austin ("Perform smart tricks on the wire and are clever dancers"); Margaret Dennis ("A comedienne with a new style") and Jack Rea and Betty Noble ("In a novel and refined act “The Newly Married Couple's First Quarrel”").
The Romanos imitated statues on stage and in January 1921, received this review from The Stage newspaper:
"A fine physical culture display is introduced by the Romano Brothers, fine specimens of manhood, who, with bodies covered with a plaster-like substance, pose with good effect."
The Reporter on the 20th described a recurrence of flu in St Helens – but they said the strain was milder than the severe outbreak of a few years earlier.
However, the town's Medical Officer of Health advised the population to take preventive measures to ward off flu.
The tips included avoiding chills, attending to general health and refraining from visiting over-crowded places.
A story of a runaway car was told in St Helens Police Court on the 23rd.
Henry Fletcher had parked his vehicle at the top of Liverpool Road in order to go inside a shop.
While he was away from his car, it began running backwards into Westfield Street.
Fortunately, George Wilson from Carlton Street was passing and he had some experience of motor vehicles.
He immediately leapt inside and applied the hand brake – but discovered it to be defective.
Mr Wilson told the court that the car began to gain speed and came close to smashing into the Red, White and Blue pub in Westfield Street (pictured above).
However, he managed to steer it away to the other side of the road and brought the car to a halt after running it against the kerb.
Later that day the car owner told a police officer that he thought the frost had affected his hand brake and even suggested that children could have jumped on the car and jogged off the brake.
Of course, there were then no MOTs or even driving tests – but there were garages.
So one would have thought that a mechanic would have been required to test the safety of the brake and make a report.
But the detailed newspaper account made no mention of any such test – which was probably because it would have cost money and there would be the question of who should foot the bill.
Instead Henry Fletcher, the owner of the car, asked George Wilson, the hero of the hour, why he hadn't clashed the gears to bring his car to a halt, instead of jamming the wheels against the kerb.
"There was no time to think of such things in a case like that", was the reply.
Drivers' casual attitude to matters of road safety was also exemplified by the car owner not taking his driving licence to the police station after being ordered to do.
Not that having a licence proved competence to drive – just that you had paid the required fee at the Town Hall.
The magistrates fined Wilson 25 shillings for not having his brakes in working order; 25 shillings for not having taken precautions to prevent his car from being started and ten shillings for not producing his licence.
Interestingly, the magistrates' conviction was on a rare majority basis – suggesting one of them thought that he had not been responsible for what had occurred.
It was reported this week that the St Helens branch of the NSPCC, based at Croppers Hill, had investigated 22 cases of child neglect in the town in December involving a total of 74 children.
Sailing times from Australia to England were getting faster but the trip still took around six weeks – and so sporting teams did not come here that often.
But when they did make the long journey they made the most of their stay and for many players it would be a once in a lifetime experience.
On the 21st, the 35th and final match in the Australian (or Australasian to be precise) rugby league team's tour of this country took place at the City Road ground in St Helens.
The Aussie team was then nicknamed "the Colonials", although I don't think they'd appreciate being called that today!
Having previously beaten Saints at Knowsley Road earlier on their tour, the Colonials did the same to St Helens Recs, winning 5 - 16.
It was then the custom for some local celebrity to kick off certain football and rugby matches, which must have interrupted the flow of the game.
Col. Norman Pilkington of Rainford Hall in Crank did the honours on this occasion.
The glass boss had already presented each Australian player with a souvenir of their visit in the form of a paperweight.
This was inscribed: "St. Helen Recreation v. Australasia, January 21, 1922".
However, it doesn't appear that the St Helens' lads received a similar match memento.
And finally, St Helens has known quite a few outspoken vicars over the years – but I don't think any were as wise as the Vicar of Liscard.
This week the Echo published an article about comments that the minister had made in a sermon about the unemployment crisis that was then facing the country:
"“Woodbine Willie”, the popular padre (in civil life the Rev. G. A. Stoddart Kennedy), delivered some unusual pulpit utterances at St. Mary's Church, Liscard. A few specimens of which are appended:-
"To say, as had been declared, that there were 2,000,000 work-shy men in this country was an abominable lie.
"There were some rotten men among them, of course, just as there were some rotten parsons, doctors, and lawyers, and just as there had been a good few rotten kings.
"The Dean of St. Paul's (“the gloomy dean”) had said the unemployed could all find work tomorrow if they looked for it. In regard to knowledge gained from books the dean was a giant.
"In regard to knowledge of his fellow-men he was as ignorant as he was as to the embryology of a cat. There was not the slightest scintilla of truth in the idiotic statement he had made.
"Churchpeople were wrong in attending services and praising God like blacksmiths, apparently unconscious of the misery outside.
"They declared their conviction that they and everybody else in the world were dependent upon God for their daily bread, but some people seemed to get not only their daily bread but Rolls-Royces also without God.
"Because of the failure of the harvest in Russia 3,000,000 children were doomed, and this though there was grain enough to spare in Argentina and in Canada; there was the food, the money, and the ships, but the one thing lacking was good will.
"We were so panic-stricken about Bolshevism and so wretchedly craven that our resources were not being used for the relief of our fellow creatures.
"There was no necessity for any child anywhere in the world to go hungry.
"It had been assumed by people in authority that because the man was successful in his own business he was a good man to advise on the policy of a nation; but a man might be a good seller of bacon and yet as stupid as a pig in regard to other matters.
"None of them had any right to do nothing to help the world. A man might profess any religion, but if he were asked at the end of all things if he had fed the hungry, and his answer was in the negative, he was damned.
"If they dedicated their engines and their factories to God there would be enough for all and to spare."
As if to underline the comments of the wise vicar, in an adjacent column the Echo had a very brief report of a double suicide in Sunderland under the headlines:
"The Poison By Gas Epidemic – Death of Mother and Daughter Adds to Grim Roll":
"Madge Blythe and Muriel Blenkinsopp, mother and daughter, aged 50 and 16 respectively, were found dead with their heads in a gas stove at Sunderland to-day.
"The gas was turned on, and in a message which the daughter left to a friend is stated, “We have gone where no unhappiness or misery can reach us.”"
Next week's stories will include the fury over plans for Tontine Street market stalls, the Rainford man who couldn't get out of bed, a veteran Thatto Heath poacher calls it a day and the dispute over when ventilation in a tram becomes a draught.
A story of a son's staged break-in at his family's home was told in St Helens Police Court on the 17th when Eric Bradbury was charged with theft.
The parents of the 18-year-old from Alfred Street (off Standish Street) had discovered marks outside of a window and £5 missing from their bedroom.
They reported the apparent burglary to the police who realised it had been an inside job and arrested the couple's son.
The father said that if he had known his boy had been the thief, he would never have informed the police and added that his mother was broken-hearted over the affair. As a result, the boy was bound over by the magistrates.
Attempting suicide was illegal and offenders could be sent to prison.
However, in most cases the magistrates simply wanted an assurance that there would be no repetition of their behaviour.
On the 17th Margaret Owen from Watery Lane in Sutton made her second appearance in court charged with attempting to commit suicide.
The girl was only 16 and it was decided that she should be sent to a home where, as it was put, she would be well cared for and looked after.
Margaret's mother agreed to this step, saying that owing to an infirmity, she could not follow her daughter when she ran off and "consequently she had got completely out of control".
It was stated in court that Margaret was simple-minded and when she went out of the house was often "enticed" away by men.
When she and a man of twenty-two had recently been chased by a policeman, the girl attempted to throw herself into a deep pool – hence the attempted suicide charge.
A home for girls may have been a much better option for Margaret than Rainhill Asylum.
Many youngsters deemed "feeble-minded" or "moral defective" were placed there and into similar institutions under the cruel Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 – some for the rest of their lives.
There was good news for gravediggers at the Corporation's Parks and Cemetery Committee meeting on the 18th when it was decided to issue them with overalls.
Cllr. Ledwith had made the suggestion, telling the meeting that the men digging the graves in the town cemetery sometimes came home in a very dirty condition.
"The stench from their clothes", he added, "was objectionable".
It was pointed out that capes had previously been provided for council staff employed on the roads – but they had refused to wear them.
However, the committee members decided to still provide overalls for the gravediggers and see whether they wore them.
The council's Highways Committee also met on the 18th and discussed flooding at Warrington Old Road after a complaint had been received.
The letter stated that the sewer in the street was inadequate and consequently the road would flood after a couple of days of rain.
The matter was left to the Town Clerk and the chairman of the committee to decide what action to take.
The Theatre Royal & Opera House was the official name of the Corporation Street venue and opera companies did often appear.
This week it was the D’oyly Carte Opera Company who performed six different Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas during the week.
There were seven different types of seats available, with prices starting from a shilling in the gallery and rising up to ten bob for box seats.
The young Frenchman had defeated George Cook in a fight at the Royal Albert Hall on January 12th and a short, silent film of the event was a novelty attraction. Also on the bill were:
The Romano Brothers ("The world’s greatest exponents of physical culture and Grecian art"); Charles Kildare ("Premier whistling entertainer"); Holloway & Austin ("Perform smart tricks on the wire and are clever dancers"); Margaret Dennis ("A comedienne with a new style") and Jack Rea and Betty Noble ("In a novel and refined act “The Newly Married Couple's First Quarrel”").
The Romanos imitated statues on stage and in January 1921, received this review from The Stage newspaper:
"A fine physical culture display is introduced by the Romano Brothers, fine specimens of manhood, who, with bodies covered with a plaster-like substance, pose with good effect."
The Reporter on the 20th described a recurrence of flu in St Helens – but they said the strain was milder than the severe outbreak of a few years earlier.
However, the town's Medical Officer of Health advised the population to take preventive measures to ward off flu.
The tips included avoiding chills, attending to general health and refraining from visiting over-crowded places.
A story of a runaway car was told in St Helens Police Court on the 23rd.
Henry Fletcher had parked his vehicle at the top of Liverpool Road in order to go inside a shop.
While he was away from his car, it began running backwards into Westfield Street.
Fortunately, George Wilson from Carlton Street was passing and he had some experience of motor vehicles.
He immediately leapt inside and applied the hand brake – but discovered it to be defective.
However, he managed to steer it away to the other side of the road and brought the car to a halt after running it against the kerb.
Later that day the car owner told a police officer that he thought the frost had affected his hand brake and even suggested that children could have jumped on the car and jogged off the brake.
Of course, there were then no MOTs or even driving tests – but there were garages.
So one would have thought that a mechanic would have been required to test the safety of the brake and make a report.
But the detailed newspaper account made no mention of any such test – which was probably because it would have cost money and there would be the question of who should foot the bill.
Instead Henry Fletcher, the owner of the car, asked George Wilson, the hero of the hour, why he hadn't clashed the gears to bring his car to a halt, instead of jamming the wheels against the kerb.
"There was no time to think of such things in a case like that", was the reply.
Drivers' casual attitude to matters of road safety was also exemplified by the car owner not taking his driving licence to the police station after being ordered to do.
Not that having a licence proved competence to drive – just that you had paid the required fee at the Town Hall.
The magistrates fined Wilson 25 shillings for not having his brakes in working order; 25 shillings for not having taken precautions to prevent his car from being started and ten shillings for not producing his licence.
Interestingly, the magistrates' conviction was on a rare majority basis – suggesting one of them thought that he had not been responsible for what had occurred.
It was reported this week that the St Helens branch of the NSPCC, based at Croppers Hill, had investigated 22 cases of child neglect in the town in December involving a total of 74 children.
Sailing times from Australia to England were getting faster but the trip still took around six weeks – and so sporting teams did not come here that often.
But when they did make the long journey they made the most of their stay and for many players it would be a once in a lifetime experience.
On the 21st, the 35th and final match in the Australian (or Australasian to be precise) rugby league team's tour of this country took place at the City Road ground in St Helens.
The Aussie team was then nicknamed "the Colonials", although I don't think they'd appreciate being called that today!
Having previously beaten Saints at Knowsley Road earlier on their tour, the Colonials did the same to St Helens Recs, winning 5 - 16.
It was then the custom for some local celebrity to kick off certain football and rugby matches, which must have interrupted the flow of the game.
Col. Norman Pilkington of Rainford Hall in Crank did the honours on this occasion.
The glass boss had already presented each Australian player with a souvenir of their visit in the form of a paperweight.
This was inscribed: "St. Helen Recreation v. Australasia, January 21, 1922".
However, it doesn't appear that the St Helens' lads received a similar match memento.
And finally, St Helens has known quite a few outspoken vicars over the years – but I don't think any were as wise as the Vicar of Liscard.
This week the Echo published an article about comments that the minister had made in a sermon about the unemployment crisis that was then facing the country:
"“Woodbine Willie”, the popular padre (in civil life the Rev. G. A. Stoddart Kennedy), delivered some unusual pulpit utterances at St. Mary's Church, Liscard. A few specimens of which are appended:-
"To say, as had been declared, that there were 2,000,000 work-shy men in this country was an abominable lie.
"There were some rotten men among them, of course, just as there were some rotten parsons, doctors, and lawyers, and just as there had been a good few rotten kings.
"The Dean of St. Paul's (“the gloomy dean”) had said the unemployed could all find work tomorrow if they looked for it. In regard to knowledge gained from books the dean was a giant.
"In regard to knowledge of his fellow-men he was as ignorant as he was as to the embryology of a cat. There was not the slightest scintilla of truth in the idiotic statement he had made.
"Churchpeople were wrong in attending services and praising God like blacksmiths, apparently unconscious of the misery outside.
"They declared their conviction that they and everybody else in the world were dependent upon God for their daily bread, but some people seemed to get not only their daily bread but Rolls-Royces also without God.
"Because of the failure of the harvest in Russia 3,000,000 children were doomed, and this though there was grain enough to spare in Argentina and in Canada; there was the food, the money, and the ships, but the one thing lacking was good will.
"We were so panic-stricken about Bolshevism and so wretchedly craven that our resources were not being used for the relief of our fellow creatures.
"There was no necessity for any child anywhere in the world to go hungry.
"It had been assumed by people in authority that because the man was successful in his own business he was a good man to advise on the policy of a nation; but a man might be a good seller of bacon and yet as stupid as a pig in regard to other matters.
"None of them had any right to do nothing to help the world. A man might profess any religion, but if he were asked at the end of all things if he had fed the hungry, and his answer was in the negative, he was damned.
"If they dedicated their engines and their factories to God there would be enough for all and to spare."
As if to underline the comments of the wise vicar, in an adjacent column the Echo had a very brief report of a double suicide in Sunderland under the headlines:
"The Poison By Gas Epidemic – Death of Mother and Daughter Adds to Grim Roll":
"Madge Blythe and Muriel Blenkinsopp, mother and daughter, aged 50 and 16 respectively, were found dead with their heads in a gas stove at Sunderland to-day.
"The gas was turned on, and in a message which the daughter left to a friend is stated, “We have gone where no unhappiness or misery can reach us.”"
Next week's stories will include the fury over plans for Tontine Street market stalls, the Rainford man who couldn't get out of bed, a veteran Thatto Heath poacher calls it a day and the dispute over when ventilation in a tram becomes a draught.