IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th FEBRUARY 1923)
This week's many stories include the violent water polo player at Boundary Road baths, the wholesale shopbreaker from Eccleston appear for sentencing at the assizes, the truth about the violent Cooper Street mirror woman, the husband that deserted his family pays a heavy price and the curious disappearance of the tobacconist's traveller from Sutton.
We begin on the 20th when a Government minister was asked in the Commons how many towns compelled unemployed youths aged between 16 and 18 and in receipt of unemployment pay to attend technical schools for set periods. The answer was that eleven Juvenile Employment Centres had already been established with one situated in St Helens.
Also on the 20th Joseph Townsend from Howards Lane in Eccleston appeared at Manchester Assizes. When the 21-year-old had appeared in St Helens Police Court three weeks earlier, the Liverpool Echo said the man had been involved in "wholesale shopbreaking". Among his many victims had been the Westfield Street tobacconist's owned by the Mayor of St Helens, Alderman Peter Phythian. Townsend had also broken into Higher Grade School in North Road and a number of offices.
The young miner faced four robbery charges but also admitted 15 others and was sentenced to six months in prison in the second division. This was a class of prisoner who were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners. The judge said he hoped Townsend would do something to retrieve his character, adding: "For heaven's sake, don't come here again".
The inquest on Alfred Lawton was held on the 21st. The 64-year-old from Derbyshire Hill Road had died after suffering a coughing fit at Havannah Colliery in Parr where he had worked for over 40 years. Dr Patrick O’Keefe gave evidence that the man had a weak heart and suffered from rheumatism and he felt heart failure was the likely cause of his death. The coroner returned a verdict of death from natural causes but the state of Alfred's lungs – after breathing in pit dust for four decades – does not appear to have been investigated.
Water polo used to be a much more popular sport than today with large attendances of spectators at home matches played at the Boundary Road baths in St Helens. The game could also be more violent than you might think – even in friendly games. On the 21st Alfred Freeman of the Wigan water polo team sued John Pennington of the St Helens team for assault in the East Street County Court (pictured above). The blacksmith's striker in trying to get at the ball had pushed Pennington under the water and swum over him.
The referee awarded a foul but Pennington from Havelock Street in St Helens was not satisfied with that. Once Freeman had risen to the surface, Pennington struck him a blow knocking out his teeth and badly injuring his mouth. Freeman needed hospital treatment for some time and had been off work for so long that he had lost his job. This is how the Liverpool Echo reported on the case:
"Pennington admitted that the Northern Counties Swimming Association had suspended him for life and that decision had not been appealed against yet. He had been previously suspended. Judge Dowdall said he had come to the conclusion that what Freeman did was not a deliberate blow, it was a very vigorous movement in the bath. He was glad there were vigorous men still surviving in this country. They were playing the game, and no doubt each side wanted to win. He, Pennington, must admit that his blow was struck deliberately after he had risen to his feet and he must, therefore, hold for the plaintiff, and he awarded the damages at £20."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 23rd and described a case in the Police Court in which William Walker was charged with leaving his wife and children chargeable to the Prescot Union. The man had walked out on his family over two years earlier to live with another woman and she had subsequently had his child. This is how the Reporter quoted Joseph Cooper who was in charge of dispensing relief to those in distress in Parr: "This man made up his mind to leave his wife and children as a legacy to the ratepayers for the rest of their lives. It is the worst case I have ever had since I have been the Relieving Officer."
Walker had already served one prison term for refusing to maintain his family, which he said he thought meant he was absolved from any further obligation to them. In total he owed more than £200 but didn't think he'd done much wrong, telling the magistrates: "I have been put down as one of the greatest criminals alive, yet I have only been here [to court] twice in my life. My name is known all over St. Helens." The Reporter wrote: "The Chairman said the Bench had considered the case, and they thought it was a very bad one. He apparently did not intend to pay, and he would be committed to gaol for two months in each case."
The paper also covered in detail the curious disappearance of William Williams from New Street in Sutton, which had some similarities to the recent case of Nicola Bulley. The 26-year-old was employed as a travelling salesman for Dewar's wholesale tobacconists of Corporation Street in St Helens. A week earlier William had left the town in his Ford van accompanied by a driver. After visiting some of his customers, he had called in at the Ferry Hotel at Penketh on the Mersey.
There he took an order from the landlord and after briefly returning to the van to deposit a bag, William told the driver to wait a moment while he went back to the hotel. A few minutes later a woman told the driver that someone had fallen into the river. A search took place and a smouldering cigarette-end was found on the riverbank along with William's hat. The soil on the bank also showed traces of being recently disturbed and although grappling operations were quickly begun, William's body had still not yet been recovered from the water.
The Reporter rather unusually described the young man's career, at times in quite critical tones. The paper wrote that when the war broke out he did not join up, although it was said that he "received many pointed hints that his services would be appreciated". At one point William declared himself to be a divinity student but became a clerk at the Sutton Bond munitions plant where he obtained a good salary.
"This substantial lift in his social and financial position is said to have had a remarkable effect upon him," wrote the paper. "Originally of a quiet, unassuming manner, he became possessed of an exalted idea of his own importance. As a Sutton resident who knew him said to a “Reporter” man yesterday, “He seemed a bit above the rest of the people”." Then the newspaper mysteriously told its readers to prepare for "sensational developments" at the inquest if William's body was recovered – but I don't believe it was ever found.
Last week Bridget Gregson had appeared in court charged with unlawfully wounding her husband John. Superintendent Dunn had told the Bench that the couple had quarrelled one night while in bed at their Cooper Street home. The 47-year-old woman had then leapt out of the bed and smashed a large mirror "to atoms" over her husband's head, cutting him so severely that he'd had to spend a week in hospital.
However, at the adjourned hearing on the 26th, notions of a violent woman attacking a placid husband were dispelled. In fact John Gregson had literally brought the trouble onto his own head. It was shown that the man had come home drunk, grabbed his wife by the throat and then knocked her against a wardrobe. That act had caused a mirror that had been placed on top of the wardrobe to come crashing down on top of him. The magistrates after hearing the actual facts of the case dismissed it.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include an RSPCA appeal for St Helens butchers to slaughter their animals humanely, the Hippodrome Theatre makes a move towards becoming a cinema and the pioneering vocational training centre in St Helens.
We begin on the 20th when a Government minister was asked in the Commons how many towns compelled unemployed youths aged between 16 and 18 and in receipt of unemployment pay to attend technical schools for set periods. The answer was that eleven Juvenile Employment Centres had already been established with one situated in St Helens.
Also on the 20th Joseph Townsend from Howards Lane in Eccleston appeared at Manchester Assizes. When the 21-year-old had appeared in St Helens Police Court three weeks earlier, the Liverpool Echo said the man had been involved in "wholesale shopbreaking". Among his many victims had been the Westfield Street tobacconist's owned by the Mayor of St Helens, Alderman Peter Phythian. Townsend had also broken into Higher Grade School in North Road and a number of offices.
The young miner faced four robbery charges but also admitted 15 others and was sentenced to six months in prison in the second division. This was a class of prisoner who were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners. The judge said he hoped Townsend would do something to retrieve his character, adding: "For heaven's sake, don't come here again".
The inquest on Alfred Lawton was held on the 21st. The 64-year-old from Derbyshire Hill Road had died after suffering a coughing fit at Havannah Colliery in Parr where he had worked for over 40 years. Dr Patrick O’Keefe gave evidence that the man had a weak heart and suffered from rheumatism and he felt heart failure was the likely cause of his death. The coroner returned a verdict of death from natural causes but the state of Alfred's lungs – after breathing in pit dust for four decades – does not appear to have been investigated.
The referee awarded a foul but Pennington from Havelock Street in St Helens was not satisfied with that. Once Freeman had risen to the surface, Pennington struck him a blow knocking out his teeth and badly injuring his mouth. Freeman needed hospital treatment for some time and had been off work for so long that he had lost his job. This is how the Liverpool Echo reported on the case:
"Pennington admitted that the Northern Counties Swimming Association had suspended him for life and that decision had not been appealed against yet. He had been previously suspended. Judge Dowdall said he had come to the conclusion that what Freeman did was not a deliberate blow, it was a very vigorous movement in the bath. He was glad there were vigorous men still surviving in this country. They were playing the game, and no doubt each side wanted to win. He, Pennington, must admit that his blow was struck deliberately after he had risen to his feet and he must, therefore, hold for the plaintiff, and he awarded the damages at £20."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 23rd and described a case in the Police Court in which William Walker was charged with leaving his wife and children chargeable to the Prescot Union. The man had walked out on his family over two years earlier to live with another woman and she had subsequently had his child. This is how the Reporter quoted Joseph Cooper who was in charge of dispensing relief to those in distress in Parr: "This man made up his mind to leave his wife and children as a legacy to the ratepayers for the rest of their lives. It is the worst case I have ever had since I have been the Relieving Officer."
Walker had already served one prison term for refusing to maintain his family, which he said he thought meant he was absolved from any further obligation to them. In total he owed more than £200 but didn't think he'd done much wrong, telling the magistrates: "I have been put down as one of the greatest criminals alive, yet I have only been here [to court] twice in my life. My name is known all over St. Helens." The Reporter wrote: "The Chairman said the Bench had considered the case, and they thought it was a very bad one. He apparently did not intend to pay, and he would be committed to gaol for two months in each case."
The paper also covered in detail the curious disappearance of William Williams from New Street in Sutton, which had some similarities to the recent case of Nicola Bulley. The 26-year-old was employed as a travelling salesman for Dewar's wholesale tobacconists of Corporation Street in St Helens. A week earlier William had left the town in his Ford van accompanied by a driver. After visiting some of his customers, he had called in at the Ferry Hotel at Penketh on the Mersey.
There he took an order from the landlord and after briefly returning to the van to deposit a bag, William told the driver to wait a moment while he went back to the hotel. A few minutes later a woman told the driver that someone had fallen into the river. A search took place and a smouldering cigarette-end was found on the riverbank along with William's hat. The soil on the bank also showed traces of being recently disturbed and although grappling operations were quickly begun, William's body had still not yet been recovered from the water.
The Reporter rather unusually described the young man's career, at times in quite critical tones. The paper wrote that when the war broke out he did not join up, although it was said that he "received many pointed hints that his services would be appreciated". At one point William declared himself to be a divinity student but became a clerk at the Sutton Bond munitions plant where he obtained a good salary.
"This substantial lift in his social and financial position is said to have had a remarkable effect upon him," wrote the paper. "Originally of a quiet, unassuming manner, he became possessed of an exalted idea of his own importance. As a Sutton resident who knew him said to a “Reporter” man yesterday, “He seemed a bit above the rest of the people”." Then the newspaper mysteriously told its readers to prepare for "sensational developments" at the inquest if William's body was recovered – but I don't believe it was ever found.
Last week Bridget Gregson had appeared in court charged with unlawfully wounding her husband John. Superintendent Dunn had told the Bench that the couple had quarrelled one night while in bed at their Cooper Street home. The 47-year-old woman had then leapt out of the bed and smashed a large mirror "to atoms" over her husband's head, cutting him so severely that he'd had to spend a week in hospital.
However, at the adjourned hearing on the 26th, notions of a violent woman attacking a placid husband were dispelled. In fact John Gregson had literally brought the trouble onto his own head. It was shown that the man had come home drunk, grabbed his wife by the throat and then knocked her against a wardrobe. That act had caused a mirror that had been placed on top of the wardrobe to come crashing down on top of him. The magistrates after hearing the actual facts of the case dismissed it.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include an RSPCA appeal for St Helens butchers to slaughter their animals humanely, the Hippodrome Theatre makes a move towards becoming a cinema and the pioneering vocational training centre in St Helens.
This week's many stories include the violent water polo player at Boundary Road baths, the wholesale shopbreaker from Eccleston appear for sentencing at the assizes, the truth about the violent Cooper Street mirror woman, the husband that deserted his family pays a heavy price and the curious disappearance of the tobacconist's traveller from Sutton.
We begin on the 20th when a Government minister was asked in the Commons how many towns compelled unemployed youths aged between 16 and 18 and in receipt of unemployment pay to attend technical schools for set periods.
The answer was that eleven Juvenile Employment Centres had already been established with one situated in St Helens.
Also on the 20th Joseph Townsend from Howards Lane in Eccleston appeared at Manchester Assizes.
When the 21-year-old had appeared in St Helens Police Court three weeks earlier, the Liverpool Echo said the man had been involved in "wholesale shopbreaking".
Among his many victims had been the Westfield Street tobacconist's owned by the Mayor of St Helens, Alderman Peter Phythian. Townsend had also broken into Higher Grade School in North Road and a number of offices.
The young miner faced four robbery charges but also admitted 15 others and was sentenced to six months in prison in the second division.
This was a class of prisoner who were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners.
The judge said he hoped Townsend would do something to retrieve his character, adding: "For heaven's sake, don't come here again".
The inquest on Alfred Lawton was held on the 21st. The 64-year-old from Derbyshire Hill Road had died after suffering a coughing fit at Havannah Colliery in Parr where he had worked for over 40 years.
Dr Patrick O’Keefe gave evidence that the man had a weak heart and suffered from rheumatism and he felt heart failure was the likely cause of his death.
The coroner returned a verdict of death from natural causes but the state of Alfred's lungs – after breathing in pit dust for four decades – does not appear to have been investigated.
Water polo used to be a much more popular sport than today with large attendances of spectators at home matches played at the Boundary Road baths in St Helens.
The game could also be more violent than you might think – even in friendly games. On the 21st Alfred Freeman of the Wigan water polo team sued John Pennington of the St Helens team for assault in the East Street County Court (pictured above).
The blacksmith's striker in trying to get at the ball had pushed Pennington under the water and swum over him.
The referee awarded a foul but Pennington from Havelock Street in St Helens was not satisfied with that.
Once Freeman had risen to the surface, Pennington struck him a blow knocking out his teeth and badly injuring his mouth.
Freeman needed hospital treatment for some time and had been off work for so long that he had lost his job. This is how the Liverpool Echo reported on the case:
"Pennington admitted that the Northern Counties Swimming Association had suspended him for life and that decision had not been appealed against yet. He had been previously suspended.
"Judge Dowdall said he had come to the conclusion that what Freeman did was not a deliberate blow, it was a very vigorous movement in the bath.
"He was glad there were vigorous men still surviving in this country. They were playing the game, and no doubt each side wanted to win.
"He, Pennington, must admit that his blow was struck deliberately after he had risen to his feet and he must, therefore, hold for the plaintiff, and he awarded the damages at £20."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 23rd and described a case in the Police Court in which William Walker was charged with leaving his wife and children chargeable to the Prescot Union.
The man had walked out on his family over two years earlier to live with another woman and she had subsequently had his child.
This is how the Reporter quoted Joseph Cooper who was in charge of dispensing relief to those in distress in Parr:
"This man made up his mind to leave his wife and children as a legacy to the ratepayers for the rest of their lives. It is the worst case I have ever had since I have been the Relieving Officer."
Walker had already served one prison term for refusing to maintain his family, which he said he thought meant he was absolved from any further obligation to them.
In total he owed more than £200 but didn't think he'd done much wrong, telling the magistrates:
"I have been put down as one of the greatest criminals alive, yet I have only been here [to court] twice in my life. My name is known all over St. Helens."
The Reporter wrote: "The Chairman said the Bench had considered the case, and they thought it was a very bad one. He apparently did not intend to pay, and he would be committed to gaol for two months in each case."
The paper also covered in detail the curious disappearance of William Williams from New Street in Sutton, which had some similarities to the recent case of Nicola Bulley.
The 26-year-old was employed as a travelling salesman for Dewar's wholesale tobacconists of Corporation Street in St Helens.
A week earlier William had left the town in his Ford van accompanied by a driver. After visiting some of his customers, he had called in at the Ferry Hotel at Penketh on the Mersey.
There he took an order from the landlord and after briefly returning to the van to deposit a bag, William told the driver to wait a moment while he went back to the hotel.
A few minutes later a woman told the driver that someone had fallen into the river. A search took place and a smouldering cigarette-end was found on the riverbank along with William's hat.
The soil on the bank also showed traces of being recently disturbed and although grappling operations were quickly begun, William's body had still not yet been recovered from the water.
The Reporter rather unusually described the young man's career, at times in quite critical tones.
The paper wrote that when the war broke out he did not join up, although it was said that he "received many pointed hints that his services would be appreciated".
At one point William declared himself to be a divinity student but became a clerk at the Sutton Bond munitions plant where he obtained a good salary.
"This substantial lift in his social and financial position is said to have had a remarkable effect upon him," wrote the paper.
"Originally of a quiet, unassuming manner, he became possessed of an exalted idea of his own importance. As a Sutton resident who knew him said to a “Reporter” man yesterday, “He seemed a bit above the rest of the people”."
Then the newspaper mysteriously told its readers to prepare for "sensational developments" at the inquest if William's body was recovered – but I don't believe it was ever found.
Last week Bridget Gregson had appeared in court charged with unlawfully wounding her husband John.
Superintendent Dunn had told the Bench that the couple had quarrelled one night while in bed at their Cooper Street home.
The 47-year-old woman had then leapt out of the bed and smashed a large mirror "to atoms" over her husband's head, cutting him so severely that he'd had to spend a week in hospital.
However, at the adjourned hearing on the 26th, notions of a violent woman attacking a placid husband were dispelled. In fact John Gregson had literally brought the trouble onto his own head.
It was shown that the man had come home drunk, grabbed his wife by the throat and then knocked her against a wardrobe.
That act had caused a mirror that had been placed on top of the wardrobe to come crashing down on top of him. The magistrates after hearing the actual facts of the case dismissed it.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include an RSPCA appeal for St Helens butchers to slaughter their animals humanely, the Hippodrome Theatre makes a move towards becoming a cinema and the pioneering vocational training centre in St Helens.
We begin on the 20th when a Government minister was asked in the Commons how many towns compelled unemployed youths aged between 16 and 18 and in receipt of unemployment pay to attend technical schools for set periods.
The answer was that eleven Juvenile Employment Centres had already been established with one situated in St Helens.
Also on the 20th Joseph Townsend from Howards Lane in Eccleston appeared at Manchester Assizes.
When the 21-year-old had appeared in St Helens Police Court three weeks earlier, the Liverpool Echo said the man had been involved in "wholesale shopbreaking".
Among his many victims had been the Westfield Street tobacconist's owned by the Mayor of St Helens, Alderman Peter Phythian. Townsend had also broken into Higher Grade School in North Road and a number of offices.
The young miner faced four robbery charges but also admitted 15 others and was sentenced to six months in prison in the second division.
This was a class of prisoner who were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners.
The judge said he hoped Townsend would do something to retrieve his character, adding: "For heaven's sake, don't come here again".
The inquest on Alfred Lawton was held on the 21st. The 64-year-old from Derbyshire Hill Road had died after suffering a coughing fit at Havannah Colliery in Parr where he had worked for over 40 years.
Dr Patrick O’Keefe gave evidence that the man had a weak heart and suffered from rheumatism and he felt heart failure was the likely cause of his death.
The coroner returned a verdict of death from natural causes but the state of Alfred's lungs – after breathing in pit dust for four decades – does not appear to have been investigated.
Water polo used to be a much more popular sport than today with large attendances of spectators at home matches played at the Boundary Road baths in St Helens.
The blacksmith's striker in trying to get at the ball had pushed Pennington under the water and swum over him.
The referee awarded a foul but Pennington from Havelock Street in St Helens was not satisfied with that.
Once Freeman had risen to the surface, Pennington struck him a blow knocking out his teeth and badly injuring his mouth.
Freeman needed hospital treatment for some time and had been off work for so long that he had lost his job. This is how the Liverpool Echo reported on the case:
"Pennington admitted that the Northern Counties Swimming Association had suspended him for life and that decision had not been appealed against yet. He had been previously suspended.
"Judge Dowdall said he had come to the conclusion that what Freeman did was not a deliberate blow, it was a very vigorous movement in the bath.
"He was glad there were vigorous men still surviving in this country. They were playing the game, and no doubt each side wanted to win.
"He, Pennington, must admit that his blow was struck deliberately after he had risen to his feet and he must, therefore, hold for the plaintiff, and he awarded the damages at £20."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 23rd and described a case in the Police Court in which William Walker was charged with leaving his wife and children chargeable to the Prescot Union.
The man had walked out on his family over two years earlier to live with another woman and she had subsequently had his child.
This is how the Reporter quoted Joseph Cooper who was in charge of dispensing relief to those in distress in Parr:
"This man made up his mind to leave his wife and children as a legacy to the ratepayers for the rest of their lives. It is the worst case I have ever had since I have been the Relieving Officer."
Walker had already served one prison term for refusing to maintain his family, which he said he thought meant he was absolved from any further obligation to them.
In total he owed more than £200 but didn't think he'd done much wrong, telling the magistrates:
"I have been put down as one of the greatest criminals alive, yet I have only been here [to court] twice in my life. My name is known all over St. Helens."
The Reporter wrote: "The Chairman said the Bench had considered the case, and they thought it was a very bad one. He apparently did not intend to pay, and he would be committed to gaol for two months in each case."
The paper also covered in detail the curious disappearance of William Williams from New Street in Sutton, which had some similarities to the recent case of Nicola Bulley.
The 26-year-old was employed as a travelling salesman for Dewar's wholesale tobacconists of Corporation Street in St Helens.
A week earlier William had left the town in his Ford van accompanied by a driver. After visiting some of his customers, he had called in at the Ferry Hotel at Penketh on the Mersey.
There he took an order from the landlord and after briefly returning to the van to deposit a bag, William told the driver to wait a moment while he went back to the hotel.
A few minutes later a woman told the driver that someone had fallen into the river. A search took place and a smouldering cigarette-end was found on the riverbank along with William's hat.
The soil on the bank also showed traces of being recently disturbed and although grappling operations were quickly begun, William's body had still not yet been recovered from the water.
The Reporter rather unusually described the young man's career, at times in quite critical tones.
The paper wrote that when the war broke out he did not join up, although it was said that he "received many pointed hints that his services would be appreciated".
At one point William declared himself to be a divinity student but became a clerk at the Sutton Bond munitions plant where he obtained a good salary.
"This substantial lift in his social and financial position is said to have had a remarkable effect upon him," wrote the paper.
"Originally of a quiet, unassuming manner, he became possessed of an exalted idea of his own importance. As a Sutton resident who knew him said to a “Reporter” man yesterday, “He seemed a bit above the rest of the people”."
Then the newspaper mysteriously told its readers to prepare for "sensational developments" at the inquest if William's body was recovered – but I don't believe it was ever found.
Last week Bridget Gregson had appeared in court charged with unlawfully wounding her husband John.
Superintendent Dunn had told the Bench that the couple had quarrelled one night while in bed at their Cooper Street home.
The 47-year-old woman had then leapt out of the bed and smashed a large mirror "to atoms" over her husband's head, cutting him so severely that he'd had to spend a week in hospital.
However, at the adjourned hearing on the 26th, notions of a violent woman attacking a placid husband were dispelled. In fact John Gregson had literally brought the trouble onto his own head.
It was shown that the man had come home drunk, grabbed his wife by the throat and then knocked her against a wardrobe.
That act had caused a mirror that had been placed on top of the wardrobe to come crashing down on top of him. The magistrates after hearing the actual facts of the case dismissed it.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include an RSPCA appeal for St Helens butchers to slaughter their animals humanely, the Hippodrome Theatre makes a move towards becoming a cinema and the pioneering vocational training centre in St Helens.