IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17th - 23rd APRIL 1923)
This week's many stories include the burning down of the East Sutton Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Club, the child cruelty by a bereaved husband, the work of the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society, the reduction in tram fares in the town and an update on the fiendishly brutal stepmother from Elephant Lane.
We begin on the 17th when the St Helens Tramways Committee approved a new scale of charges. Fares were being reduced and it would now cost 4d for a tram ride to Prescot, 6d to Ashton and 2½d to St Helens Junction. The Windle City section had been run at a loss since the Corporation took over the tramways and so a one-man tramcar had been obtained to try and make it profitable.
Disabled kids one hundred years ago did not have much of a future. The 200 or so "crippled children" in St Helens were largely kept out of sight and when they were on show for some event, sorrow and pity were routinely expressed by the newspapers. When the Prince of Wales visited St Helens in 1921 the Reporter said they were a "pathetic sight" and the St Helens Newspaper described the children as "poor little mites".
However, the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society did what it could to improve their lives and they held their 12th annual meeting on the 18th. Its chairman provided the attendees with details of the numbers of bath chairs, surgical appliances etc. that the Society had provided for disabled youngsters locally and described those that had been receiving treatment at the London Hospital for Crippled Children.
On the 18th the council's Highways Committee heard that work on improving Blackbrook Road had been stymied through a shortage of paviours. These were skilled persons that laid paving stones and Cllr. Boscow wanted to know why the Corporation was not training young men to undertake that job. After a discussion it was decided that the Borough Engineer would attempt to set up apprenticeship schemes for paviours.
When a married woman with young children died the husband had a problem. Who was to care for his kids and see to his house? A marriage of convenience was the answer for many widowers who quickly remarried. Alternatively, a domestic servant might be engaged if the father could afford one or, more commonly, a family member would step in and help out. Men could be so helpless in domestic matters that if none of the above was possible his house could quickly go to pot.
William Rigby had been a widower for twelve months and initially an elder sister had moved in to his Bentinck Street home to see to his twin daughters, who were nine months old when their mother died. But once she had left the house Rigby seemed unable to care for his children and look after his home. A health visitor was so alarmed by the state of the place and the neglect of the children that she reported the man to the NSPCC and the twin girls were, for a time, placed in hospital.
The sleeping accommodation at home was said to be particularly bad and on the 20th William Rigby appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with cruelty to his children. In his defence the man pleaded that he had done the best that he could. Rigby said he had a 21-year-old daughter who had been living at the house but she had left too and he could not find anyone else to look after his home.
There were two sons living at the house and all three males were in work, although only earning £4 a week between them. The magistrates said but for what they described as the pathetic side of the case they would have sent Rigby to prison for at least three months. However, in the light of the man’s difficulties, he would only serve 21 days hard labour.
The Reporter was published on the 20th and provided an update on a marriage of convenience that had gone badly wrong. In January I described how Sabina Deacle from Elephant Lane in Thatto Heath had been sent to prison for three months with hard labour for abusing her stepchild. Thirteen-year-old Margaret had been repeatedly beaten with a poker and kicked, leaving her with many scars and cuts.
An NSPCC inspector had described Mrs Deacle as "fiendishly brutal" and her husband was considered weak and under her thumb. It was not suggested that James Deacle had participated in the abuse but he had also not intervened – and so received a month's hard labour. In the light of the two imprisonments magistrates had issued an order committing Margaret to the care of her aunt, Annie McCann, who also lived in Elephant Lane. The Reporter said another application had now been made to court requesting the cancellation of that order as the "undue influence" exerted by her father had led to the girl going back home.
Inspector Francis Lycett of the NSPCC told magistrates that it was imperative that Margaret should be removed from the custody of the parents due to the stepmother's violence. James Deacle said in his defence that his little boy had cried so much for his sister that he had allowed the girl to look after him. However, the miner had an aunt in Liverpool prepared to look after Margaret and the court adjourned the hearing so that arrangements could be made for the 13-year-old to live with her.
The Reporter also described how a scheme was underway to extend and improve the Ragged School in Arthur Street, which used to be near Westfield Street. The school had opened in 1861 to educate the destitute children of St Helens, although it was now known as the Arthur Street Mission. The attendance at the Sunday school was steadily increasing and was too great for the present building and so more classrooms were needed. An appeal had been launched to raise £2,700, although building work had already begun.
There were few social clubs in St Helens before the war but quite a number sprang up afterwards. The East Sutton Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Club was situated in Fisher Street – but did not last long. On the 23rd under its new name of the British Legion, the club caught fire. The roof fell in and the building was burnt to the ground, with damage estimated at £250. The adjacent house was for a time also under threat, as the Reporter described:
"The occurrence attracted much excitement at Sutton, the conflagration being very fierce while it lasted, and there was the added human interest, the life of the widow woman who occupies the house which at one time was gravely endangered." The club had no insurance and so was unable to rise phoenix-like from its ashes.
The theatres and cinemas in St Helens were not permitted to open on Sundays – unless it was for a performance with some acceptable religious dimension. Just to make the theme clear to the police and members of the St Helens Watch Committee – which regulated the town's entertainment shows – the word "sacred" was normally inserted into the title of the event.
So on Sunday the 22nd in the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street, a 'Grand Sacred Orchestral Concert' was presented by Haydock Colliery Prize Band with a couple of guest singers. Permission to stage Sunday shows was also more likely if the event was for charity and proceeds from the concert went to Providence Hospital. These were the acts that appeared at the Hippodrome for six nights from the 23rd:
Guy The Mad Conductor and his Famous Band ("The famous Conductor has performed before most of the crowned heads of Europe"); Jaffa ("The funniest speciality in vaudeville"); Lorna Ray ("The popular London comedienne"); The Big-Timers ("Some comedy – some songs – some dances"); Phelps ("England's star singing ventriloquist"); W. P. Bentley ("The White Highlander – Scotch comedian") and Foy & Fey ("In a great comedy act ‘The Labour candidates’").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Phythian Street wife beater, the conundrum of the unlicensed street trader, why St Helens Hospital had to charge patients for operations and the bobby that chased a bookie in Fingerpost.
Disabled kids one hundred years ago did not have much of a future. The 200 or so "crippled children" in St Helens were largely kept out of sight and when they were on show for some event, sorrow and pity were routinely expressed by the newspapers. When the Prince of Wales visited St Helens in 1921 the Reporter said they were a "pathetic sight" and the St Helens Newspaper described the children as "poor little mites".
However, the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society did what it could to improve their lives and they held their 12th annual meeting on the 18th. Its chairman provided the attendees with details of the numbers of bath chairs, surgical appliances etc. that the Society had provided for disabled youngsters locally and described those that had been receiving treatment at the London Hospital for Crippled Children.
On the 18th the council's Highways Committee heard that work on improving Blackbrook Road had been stymied through a shortage of paviours. These were skilled persons that laid paving stones and Cllr. Boscow wanted to know why the Corporation was not training young men to undertake that job. After a discussion it was decided that the Borough Engineer would attempt to set up apprenticeship schemes for paviours.
When a married woman with young children died the husband had a problem. Who was to care for his kids and see to his house? A marriage of convenience was the answer for many widowers who quickly remarried. Alternatively, a domestic servant might be engaged if the father could afford one or, more commonly, a family member would step in and help out. Men could be so helpless in domestic matters that if none of the above was possible his house could quickly go to pot.
William Rigby had been a widower for twelve months and initially an elder sister had moved in to his Bentinck Street home to see to his twin daughters, who were nine months old when their mother died. But once she had left the house Rigby seemed unable to care for his children and look after his home. A health visitor was so alarmed by the state of the place and the neglect of the children that she reported the man to the NSPCC and the twin girls were, for a time, placed in hospital.
The sleeping accommodation at home was said to be particularly bad and on the 20th William Rigby appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with cruelty to his children. In his defence the man pleaded that he had done the best that he could. Rigby said he had a 21-year-old daughter who had been living at the house but she had left too and he could not find anyone else to look after his home.
There were two sons living at the house and all three males were in work, although only earning £4 a week between them. The magistrates said but for what they described as the pathetic side of the case they would have sent Rigby to prison for at least three months. However, in the light of the man’s difficulties, he would only serve 21 days hard labour.
The Reporter was published on the 20th and provided an update on a marriage of convenience that had gone badly wrong. In January I described how Sabina Deacle from Elephant Lane in Thatto Heath had been sent to prison for three months with hard labour for abusing her stepchild. Thirteen-year-old Margaret had been repeatedly beaten with a poker and kicked, leaving her with many scars and cuts.
An NSPCC inspector had described Mrs Deacle as "fiendishly brutal" and her husband was considered weak and under her thumb. It was not suggested that James Deacle had participated in the abuse but he had also not intervened – and so received a month's hard labour. In the light of the two imprisonments magistrates had issued an order committing Margaret to the care of her aunt, Annie McCann, who also lived in Elephant Lane. The Reporter said another application had now been made to court requesting the cancellation of that order as the "undue influence" exerted by her father had led to the girl going back home.
Inspector Francis Lycett of the NSPCC told magistrates that it was imperative that Margaret should be removed from the custody of the parents due to the stepmother's violence. James Deacle said in his defence that his little boy had cried so much for his sister that he had allowed the girl to look after him. However, the miner had an aunt in Liverpool prepared to look after Margaret and the court adjourned the hearing so that arrangements could be made for the 13-year-old to live with her.
The Reporter also described how a scheme was underway to extend and improve the Ragged School in Arthur Street, which used to be near Westfield Street. The school had opened in 1861 to educate the destitute children of St Helens, although it was now known as the Arthur Street Mission. The attendance at the Sunday school was steadily increasing and was too great for the present building and so more classrooms were needed. An appeal had been launched to raise £2,700, although building work had already begun.
There were few social clubs in St Helens before the war but quite a number sprang up afterwards. The East Sutton Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Club was situated in Fisher Street – but did not last long. On the 23rd under its new name of the British Legion, the club caught fire. The roof fell in and the building was burnt to the ground, with damage estimated at £250. The adjacent house was for a time also under threat, as the Reporter described:
"The occurrence attracted much excitement at Sutton, the conflagration being very fierce while it lasted, and there was the added human interest, the life of the widow woman who occupies the house which at one time was gravely endangered." The club had no insurance and so was unable to rise phoenix-like from its ashes.
The theatres and cinemas in St Helens were not permitted to open on Sundays – unless it was for a performance with some acceptable religious dimension. Just to make the theme clear to the police and members of the St Helens Watch Committee – which regulated the town's entertainment shows – the word "sacred" was normally inserted into the title of the event.
So on Sunday the 22nd in the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street, a 'Grand Sacred Orchestral Concert' was presented by Haydock Colliery Prize Band with a couple of guest singers. Permission to stage Sunday shows was also more likely if the event was for charity and proceeds from the concert went to Providence Hospital. These were the acts that appeared at the Hippodrome for six nights from the 23rd:
Guy The Mad Conductor and his Famous Band ("The famous Conductor has performed before most of the crowned heads of Europe"); Jaffa ("The funniest speciality in vaudeville"); Lorna Ray ("The popular London comedienne"); The Big-Timers ("Some comedy – some songs – some dances"); Phelps ("England's star singing ventriloquist"); W. P. Bentley ("The White Highlander – Scotch comedian") and Foy & Fey ("In a great comedy act ‘The Labour candidates’").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Phythian Street wife beater, the conundrum of the unlicensed street trader, why St Helens Hospital had to charge patients for operations and the bobby that chased a bookie in Fingerpost.
This week's many stories include the burning down of the East Sutton Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Club, the child cruelty by a bereaved husband, the work of the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society, the reduction in tram fares in the town and an update on the fiendishly brutal stepmother from Elephant Lane.
We begin on the 17th when the St Helens Tramways Committee approved a new scale of charges.
Fares were being reduced and it would now cost 4d for a tram ride to Prescot, 6d to Ashton and 2½d to St Helens Junction.
The Windle City section had been run at a loss since the Corporation took over the tramways and so a one-man tramcar had been obtained to try and make it profitable.
Disabled kids one hundred years ago did not have much of a future. The 200 or so "crippled children" in St Helens were largely kept out of sight and when they were on show for some event, sorrow and pity were routinely expressed by the newspapers.
When the Prince of Wales visited St Helens in 1921 the Reporter said they were a "pathetic sight" and the St Helens Newspaper described the children as "poor little mites".
However, the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society did what it could to improve their lives and they held their 12th annual meeting on the 18th.
Its chairman provided the attendees with details of the numbers of bath chairs, surgical appliances etc. that the Society had provided for disabled youngsters locally and described those that had been receiving treatment at the London Hospital for Crippled Children.
On the 18th the council's Highways Committee heard that work on improving Blackbrook Road had been stymied through a shortage of paviours.
These were skilled persons that laid paving stones and Cllr. Boscow wanted to know why the Corporation was not training young men to undertake that job.
After a discussion it was decided that the Borough Engineer would attempt to set up apprenticeship schemes for paviours.
When a married woman with young children died the husband had a problem. Who was to care for his kids and see to his house?
A marriage of convenience was the answer for many widowers who quickly remarried. Alternatively, a domestic servant might be engaged if the father could afford one or, more commonly, a family member would step in and help out.
Men could be so helpless in domestic matters that if none of the above was possible his house could quickly go to pot.
William Rigby had been a widower for twelve months and initially an elder sister had moved in to his Bentinck Street home to see to his twin daughters, who were nine months old when their mother died.
But once she had left the house Rigby seemed unable to care for his children and look after his home.
A health visitor was so alarmed by the state of the place and the neglect of the children that she reported the man to the NSPCC and the twin girls were, for a time, placed in hospital.
The sleeping accommodation at home was said to be particularly bad and on the 20th William Rigby appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with cruelty to his children.
In his defence the man pleaded that he had done the best that he could. Rigby said he had a 21-year-old daughter who had been living at the house but she had left too and he could not find anyone else to look after his home.
There were two sons living at the house and all three males were in work, although only earning £4 a week between them.
The magistrates said but for what they described as the pathetic side of the case they would have sent Rigby to prison for at least three months.
However, in the light of the man’s difficulties, he would only serve 21 days hard labour.
The Reporter was published on the 20th and provided an update on a marriage of convenience that had gone badly wrong.
In January I described how Sabina Deacle from Elephant Lane in Thatto Heath had been sent to prison for three months with hard labour for abusing her stepchild.
Thirteen-year-old Margaret had been repeatedly beaten with a poker and kicked, leaving her with many scars and cuts.
An NSPCC inspector had described Mrs Deacle as "fiendishly brutal" and her husband was considered weak and under her thumb.
It was not suggested that James Deacle had participated in the abuse but he had also not intervened – and so received a month's hard labour.
In the light of the two imprisonments magistrates had issued an order committing Margaret to the care of her aunt, Annie McCann, who also lived in Elephant Lane.
The Reporter said another application had now been made to court requesting the cancellation of that order as the "undue influence" exerted by her father had led to the girl going back home.
Inspector Francis Lycett of the NSPCC told magistrates that it was imperative that Margaret should be removed from the custody of the parents due to the stepmother's violence.
James Deacle said in his defence that his little boy had cried so much for his sister that he had allowed the girl to look after him.
However, the miner had an aunt in Liverpool prepared to look after Margaret and the court adjourned the hearing so that arrangements could be made for the 13-year-old to live with her.
The Reporter also described how a scheme was underway to extend and improve the Ragged School in Arthur Street, which used to be near Westfield Street.
The school had opened in 1861 to educate the destitute children of St Helens, although it was now known as the Arthur Street Mission.
The attendance at the Sunday school was steadily increasing and was too great for the present building and so more classrooms were needed.
An appeal had been launched to raise £2,700, although building work had already begun.
There were few social clubs in St Helens before the war but quite a number sprang up afterwards.
The East Sutton Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Club was situated in Fisher Street – but did not last long.
On the 23rd under its new name of the British Legion, the club caught fire. The roof fell in and the building was burnt to the ground, with damage estimated at £250. The adjacent house was for a time also under threat, as the Reporter described:
"The occurrence attracted much excitement at Sutton, the conflagration being very fierce while it lasted, and there was the added human interest, the life of the widow woman who occupies the house which at one time was gravely endangered."
The club had no insurance and so was unable to rise phoenix-like from its ashes.
The theatres and cinemas in St Helens were not permitted to open on Sundays – unless it was for a performance with some acceptable religious dimension.
Just to make the theme clear to the police and members of the St Helens Watch Committee – which regulated the town's entertainment shows – the word "sacred" was normally inserted into the title of the event.
So on Sunday the 22nd in the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street, a 'Grand Sacred Orchestral Concert' was presented by Haydock Colliery Prize Band with a couple of guest singers.
Permission to stage Sunday shows was also more likely if the event was for charity and proceeds from the concert went to Providence Hospital.
These were the acts that appeared at the Hippodrome for six nights from the 23rd:
Guy The Mad Conductor and his Famous Band ("The famous Conductor has performed before most of the crowned heads of Europe"); Jaffa ("The funniest speciality in vaudeville"); Lorna Ray ("The popular London comedienne"); The Big-Timers ("Some comedy – some songs – some dances"); Phelps ("England's star singing ventriloquist"); W. P. Bentley ("The White Highlander – Scotch comedian") and Foy & Fey ("In a great comedy act ‘The Labour candidates’").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Phythian Street wife beater, the conundrum of the unlicensed street trader, why St Helens Hospital had to charge patients for operations and the bobby that chased a bookie in Fingerpost.
Fares were being reduced and it would now cost 4d for a tram ride to Prescot, 6d to Ashton and 2½d to St Helens Junction.
The Windle City section had been run at a loss since the Corporation took over the tramways and so a one-man tramcar had been obtained to try and make it profitable.
Disabled kids one hundred years ago did not have much of a future. The 200 or so "crippled children" in St Helens were largely kept out of sight and when they were on show for some event, sorrow and pity were routinely expressed by the newspapers.
When the Prince of Wales visited St Helens in 1921 the Reporter said they were a "pathetic sight" and the St Helens Newspaper described the children as "poor little mites".
However, the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society did what it could to improve their lives and they held their 12th annual meeting on the 18th.
Its chairman provided the attendees with details of the numbers of bath chairs, surgical appliances etc. that the Society had provided for disabled youngsters locally and described those that had been receiving treatment at the London Hospital for Crippled Children.
On the 18th the council's Highways Committee heard that work on improving Blackbrook Road had been stymied through a shortage of paviours.
These were skilled persons that laid paving stones and Cllr. Boscow wanted to know why the Corporation was not training young men to undertake that job.
After a discussion it was decided that the Borough Engineer would attempt to set up apprenticeship schemes for paviours.
When a married woman with young children died the husband had a problem. Who was to care for his kids and see to his house?
A marriage of convenience was the answer for many widowers who quickly remarried. Alternatively, a domestic servant might be engaged if the father could afford one or, more commonly, a family member would step in and help out.
Men could be so helpless in domestic matters that if none of the above was possible his house could quickly go to pot.
William Rigby had been a widower for twelve months and initially an elder sister had moved in to his Bentinck Street home to see to his twin daughters, who were nine months old when their mother died.
But once she had left the house Rigby seemed unable to care for his children and look after his home.
A health visitor was so alarmed by the state of the place and the neglect of the children that she reported the man to the NSPCC and the twin girls were, for a time, placed in hospital.
The sleeping accommodation at home was said to be particularly bad and on the 20th William Rigby appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with cruelty to his children.
In his defence the man pleaded that he had done the best that he could. Rigby said he had a 21-year-old daughter who had been living at the house but she had left too and he could not find anyone else to look after his home.
There were two sons living at the house and all three males were in work, although only earning £4 a week between them.
The magistrates said but for what they described as the pathetic side of the case they would have sent Rigby to prison for at least three months.
However, in the light of the man’s difficulties, he would only serve 21 days hard labour.
The Reporter was published on the 20th and provided an update on a marriage of convenience that had gone badly wrong.
In January I described how Sabina Deacle from Elephant Lane in Thatto Heath had been sent to prison for three months with hard labour for abusing her stepchild.
Thirteen-year-old Margaret had been repeatedly beaten with a poker and kicked, leaving her with many scars and cuts.
An NSPCC inspector had described Mrs Deacle as "fiendishly brutal" and her husband was considered weak and under her thumb.
It was not suggested that James Deacle had participated in the abuse but he had also not intervened – and so received a month's hard labour.
In the light of the two imprisonments magistrates had issued an order committing Margaret to the care of her aunt, Annie McCann, who also lived in Elephant Lane.
The Reporter said another application had now been made to court requesting the cancellation of that order as the "undue influence" exerted by her father had led to the girl going back home.
Inspector Francis Lycett of the NSPCC told magistrates that it was imperative that Margaret should be removed from the custody of the parents due to the stepmother's violence.
James Deacle said in his defence that his little boy had cried so much for his sister that he had allowed the girl to look after him.
However, the miner had an aunt in Liverpool prepared to look after Margaret and the court adjourned the hearing so that arrangements could be made for the 13-year-old to live with her.
The Reporter also described how a scheme was underway to extend and improve the Ragged School in Arthur Street, which used to be near Westfield Street.
The school had opened in 1861 to educate the destitute children of St Helens, although it was now known as the Arthur Street Mission.
The attendance at the Sunday school was steadily increasing and was too great for the present building and so more classrooms were needed.
An appeal had been launched to raise £2,700, although building work had already begun.
There were few social clubs in St Helens before the war but quite a number sprang up afterwards.
The East Sutton Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Club was situated in Fisher Street – but did not last long.
On the 23rd under its new name of the British Legion, the club caught fire. The roof fell in and the building was burnt to the ground, with damage estimated at £250. The adjacent house was for a time also under threat, as the Reporter described:
"The occurrence attracted much excitement at Sutton, the conflagration being very fierce while it lasted, and there was the added human interest, the life of the widow woman who occupies the house which at one time was gravely endangered."
The club had no insurance and so was unable to rise phoenix-like from its ashes.
The theatres and cinemas in St Helens were not permitted to open on Sundays – unless it was for a performance with some acceptable religious dimension.
Just to make the theme clear to the police and members of the St Helens Watch Committee – which regulated the town's entertainment shows – the word "sacred" was normally inserted into the title of the event.
So on Sunday the 22nd in the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street, a 'Grand Sacred Orchestral Concert' was presented by Haydock Colliery Prize Band with a couple of guest singers.
Permission to stage Sunday shows was also more likely if the event was for charity and proceeds from the concert went to Providence Hospital.
These were the acts that appeared at the Hippodrome for six nights from the 23rd:
Guy The Mad Conductor and his Famous Band ("The famous Conductor has performed before most of the crowned heads of Europe"); Jaffa ("The funniest speciality in vaudeville"); Lorna Ray ("The popular London comedienne"); The Big-Timers ("Some comedy – some songs – some dances"); Phelps ("England's star singing ventriloquist"); W. P. Bentley ("The White Highlander – Scotch comedian") and Foy & Fey ("In a great comedy act ‘The Labour candidates’").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Phythian Street wife beater, the conundrum of the unlicensed street trader, why St Helens Hospital had to charge patients for operations and the bobby that chased a bookie in Fingerpost.