IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th JULY 1920)
This week's stories include the woman who said she'd cut a man's face in the Nelson because he'd tried to molest her, the comical ice cream court case, the unveiling of a war memorial at Clock Face Colliery, the Thatto Heath man who conned money out of landlords, an expensive debate at the Town Hall and the judge who became the fourth St Helens man to be awarded a knighthood.
We begin in St Helens Police Court on the 20th when Edward Hughes of Elephant Lane was charged with obtaining a total of £1 10 shillings by false pretences. The man had conned Bertram McConnell – the American landlord of the Imperial Hotel in Sutton Road – out of the pound and Alfred Holland – licensee of the Druids Arms in Ashcroft Street – out of the ten bob. Both had been told by Hughes that he was collecting donations to send a man called William Povey to Eastbourne for treatment on his eyes. There may have been some truth in his intentions but the magistrates were in a severe mood and sentenced Hughes to six months in prison.
The three main Italian ice cream families of the 20th century in St Helens were the Fredericks, the Randolphs and the Vincents. All three families anglicised their surnames (and Christian names), having come to the town originally with the names of Frederici, Randolfi and Vernazza. However when in court they usually used their real Italian surnames. By 1920 their empires were on a small scale and as those in charge of the businesses were still first generation, their understanding of English was limited.
One of the Vernazzas appeared in the Police Court on the 23rd, charged with trading after eight o’clock at night. I can't tell you exactly who she was, as her Christian name in the St Helens Reporter was indistinct. However she was probably married to Roberto Vernazza (or Robert Vincent) who kept a shop in Boundary Road and another in Junction Lane.
The wartime regulations on trading hours were still in place and a constable had seen Mrs Vernazza selling ice cream to children from a barrow in Elm Road, Thatto Heath at 8:25pm. However the proceedings in court got off to a comical start. A young woman accompanied Mrs Vernazza in the dock and told the Bench she had come to interpret for her. Asked by the Clerk to the Magistrates whether she could speak Italian, the woman said she could not.
"Then how are you going to tell her?", replied the puzzled Clerk. "I don't know that there is much to tell", came the reply to some laughter in the courtroom. "Why have you come here?", enquired the confused Clerk. "I've come to see what the fine was and what they [the Bench] had to say." The woman added that her husband spoke Italian and Mrs Vernazza had told him what had happened.
Her husband had subsequently translated the conversation to her, so she could explain the details to the court. Then when she returned home she would tell her husband what the fine had been and he would tell Mrs Vernazza in Italian. So the woman was sort of interpreting in a roundabout way – however English justice cannot work like that. The case was adjourned for three days in order that a proper interpreter could be in court. The magistrates then heard that Mrs Vernazza had not realised what the time was on the evening in question and she was fined ten shillings.
The much larger Frederick ice cream family were regularly in court charged with committing minor offences. Louis Frederick (real name Luigi Frederici) from Duke Street was also fined this week for hawking without a market permit. The sale of ice cream was banned on a Sunday and Sgt. Gleave had caught Louis selling on the Sabbath. His excuse – which the family had previously used before in court – was that he thought he was outside the borough boundary. Louis's sister, incidentally, was Amabila Vernazza, linking together the two ice cream families. I don't know what her anglicised name would have been – perhaps Amy or Annabelle?
There might not have been social media a century ago but there were still people denying medical and scientific orthodoxy. What was unusual about James McGhee was that he was prepared to put his money where his mouth was. He had agreed to participate in a debate at St Helens Town Hall against the Chairman of the Town Planning Committee from London. If McGhee was judged the loser, he promised to donate the considerable sum of £100 to charity. The debate took place on the 23rd and the subject for discussion was: "That health is not in the slightest degree effected by the home or its surroundings."
McGhee was reported as having put up an excellent show in trying to sustain his arguments that infant mortality was unaffected by the level of sanitation and how smoke pollution did not cause TB. The man provided plenty of examples to prove his argument, such as stating how Warrington "where there were practically no water closets" had a lower level of infant mortality than St Helens.
Mr McGhee described the medical officer of St Helens as having moved "heaven and earth to have the water carriage system made universal in the town" but infant mortality was still high. However the judge of the debate was Alderman Henry Bates. The ex-Mayor was a medical doctor and Chairman of the Town's Health Committee and so unlikely to rule in favour of McGhee. So the man lost the debate and his £100, which would now benefit the Blinded Soldiers Fund.
Public debates were quite often held in the Town Hall and in 1906 Bates had himself challenged James Seddon, the MP for Newton-le-Willows, to publicly debate the Sarah Cowley Foundation. The St Helens Reporter said there had been a "pitch of excitement" during the "historic debate". James McGhee was undaunted by the loss of his £100 – a year's income for some. He was now challenging other health bosses to debate him and prepared to stump up a further £100.
A total of 520 miners at Clock Face Colliery went to war and 22 failed to come home. Eight were honoured for their bravery during WW1 by being awarded either the Distinguished Conduct Medal or the Military Medal. A plaque was created to honour the fallen and those miners who had achieved military distinctions. The bronze tablet was unveiled in the pay office at the colliery at a special ceremony on the 24th presided over by the mine's manager, George Tristram. The plaque is now in the Clock Face Miners Recreation Club in Crawford Street.
On the 24th it was announced that Rigby Swift was to become the fourth St Helens man to have a knighthood conferred on him. Born in St Helens in 1874, Swift was brought up at Hardshaw Hall (which became Providence Hospital) and served as MP for the town between 1910 and 1918. Two years later he became a judge. In their 1937 obituary, the Lancashire Evening Post described Sir Rigby Swift as "undoubtedly the most outspoken judge of his day", who had called the divorce laws "wicked and cruel" and as counsel or judge had taken part in "some of the most sensational criminal cases of this generation".
His father Thomas regularly features in my 150 years ago articles as an outspoken – and at times very rude – solicitor. Some of Swift Jnr's most famous sayings in the matrimonial courts were: "No one who was ever engaged to be married has ever come up to expectation". And: "Wives cannot be treated as if they were pianos, and the husband say how much per leg he paid." The other three St Helens' knights had been David Gamble, Joseph Beecham and Joseph Bithell Leach (the estate agent).
On the 26th Ellen Ryan appeared in St Helens Police Court with a child in her arms charged with wounding Patrick Towey from Emily Street in Thatto Heath. The young married woman from Back Bath Street (off Liverpool Road) had seemingly rowed with the man in the Nelson Hotel in Bridge Street (pictured above) and then thrown two glasses in his face. Towey was said to be in a serious condition having had nine stitches inserted and was not fit to attend court. Det. Con. Latus said Mrs Ryan had told him that she had thrown the glass at Towey because he had attempted to behave indecently towards her.
Later when formally charged, she said she had not intended to do the man any harm but he'd attempted to molest her and had asked her where they were going that night. So she struck him in the face in self-defence. The formidable Jeremiah Haslam Fox was the woman's solicitor and he remarked that she was more to be pitied than blamed. The case was adjourned until August 3rd and Ellen Ryan was allowed bail upon payment of two sureties.
Also in court was Luke Gaffey from Park Street in Bryn who on the previous evening had marched into St Helens Police Station at the Town Hall. He had demanded to see his brother Tom from Liverpool Road, who had been arrested for fighting. Luke Gaffey told Sgt Lomas: "If you are going to put him inside, I'm going as well." Gaffey refused to leave the station and so the sergeant decided to oblige the man and stuck him in a cell with his brother. Luke Gaffey was charged with being drunk and disorderly and the Bench fined him ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Eccleston man who blamed malaria for assaulting a 16-year-old-girl, the Lowe House August Bank Holiday Gala, Sutton's eternal flooding nuisance, the Irish trouble on the train from Wigan and how military service in St Helens was being rejected by many men.
We begin in St Helens Police Court on the 20th when Edward Hughes of Elephant Lane was charged with obtaining a total of £1 10 shillings by false pretences. The man had conned Bertram McConnell – the American landlord of the Imperial Hotel in Sutton Road – out of the pound and Alfred Holland – licensee of the Druids Arms in Ashcroft Street – out of the ten bob. Both had been told by Hughes that he was collecting donations to send a man called William Povey to Eastbourne for treatment on his eyes. There may have been some truth in his intentions but the magistrates were in a severe mood and sentenced Hughes to six months in prison.
The three main Italian ice cream families of the 20th century in St Helens were the Fredericks, the Randolphs and the Vincents. All three families anglicised their surnames (and Christian names), having come to the town originally with the names of Frederici, Randolfi and Vernazza. However when in court they usually used their real Italian surnames. By 1920 their empires were on a small scale and as those in charge of the businesses were still first generation, their understanding of English was limited.
One of the Vernazzas appeared in the Police Court on the 23rd, charged with trading after eight o’clock at night. I can't tell you exactly who she was, as her Christian name in the St Helens Reporter was indistinct. However she was probably married to Roberto Vernazza (or Robert Vincent) who kept a shop in Boundary Road and another in Junction Lane.
The wartime regulations on trading hours were still in place and a constable had seen Mrs Vernazza selling ice cream to children from a barrow in Elm Road, Thatto Heath at 8:25pm. However the proceedings in court got off to a comical start. A young woman accompanied Mrs Vernazza in the dock and told the Bench she had come to interpret for her. Asked by the Clerk to the Magistrates whether she could speak Italian, the woman said she could not.
"Then how are you going to tell her?", replied the puzzled Clerk. "I don't know that there is much to tell", came the reply to some laughter in the courtroom. "Why have you come here?", enquired the confused Clerk. "I've come to see what the fine was and what they [the Bench] had to say." The woman added that her husband spoke Italian and Mrs Vernazza had told him what had happened.
Her husband had subsequently translated the conversation to her, so she could explain the details to the court. Then when she returned home she would tell her husband what the fine had been and he would tell Mrs Vernazza in Italian. So the woman was sort of interpreting in a roundabout way – however English justice cannot work like that. The case was adjourned for three days in order that a proper interpreter could be in court. The magistrates then heard that Mrs Vernazza had not realised what the time was on the evening in question and she was fined ten shillings.
The much larger Frederick ice cream family were regularly in court charged with committing minor offences. Louis Frederick (real name Luigi Frederici) from Duke Street was also fined this week for hawking without a market permit. The sale of ice cream was banned on a Sunday and Sgt. Gleave had caught Louis selling on the Sabbath. His excuse – which the family had previously used before in court – was that he thought he was outside the borough boundary. Louis's sister, incidentally, was Amabila Vernazza, linking together the two ice cream families. I don't know what her anglicised name would have been – perhaps Amy or Annabelle?
There might not have been social media a century ago but there were still people denying medical and scientific orthodoxy. What was unusual about James McGhee was that he was prepared to put his money where his mouth was. He had agreed to participate in a debate at St Helens Town Hall against the Chairman of the Town Planning Committee from London. If McGhee was judged the loser, he promised to donate the considerable sum of £100 to charity. The debate took place on the 23rd and the subject for discussion was: "That health is not in the slightest degree effected by the home or its surroundings."
McGhee was reported as having put up an excellent show in trying to sustain his arguments that infant mortality was unaffected by the level of sanitation and how smoke pollution did not cause TB. The man provided plenty of examples to prove his argument, such as stating how Warrington "where there were practically no water closets" had a lower level of infant mortality than St Helens.
Mr McGhee described the medical officer of St Helens as having moved "heaven and earth to have the water carriage system made universal in the town" but infant mortality was still high. However the judge of the debate was Alderman Henry Bates. The ex-Mayor was a medical doctor and Chairman of the Town's Health Committee and so unlikely to rule in favour of McGhee. So the man lost the debate and his £100, which would now benefit the Blinded Soldiers Fund.
Public debates were quite often held in the Town Hall and in 1906 Bates had himself challenged James Seddon, the MP for Newton-le-Willows, to publicly debate the Sarah Cowley Foundation. The St Helens Reporter said there had been a "pitch of excitement" during the "historic debate". James McGhee was undaunted by the loss of his £100 – a year's income for some. He was now challenging other health bosses to debate him and prepared to stump up a further £100.
A total of 520 miners at Clock Face Colliery went to war and 22 failed to come home. Eight were honoured for their bravery during WW1 by being awarded either the Distinguished Conduct Medal or the Military Medal. A plaque was created to honour the fallen and those miners who had achieved military distinctions. The bronze tablet was unveiled in the pay office at the colliery at a special ceremony on the 24th presided over by the mine's manager, George Tristram. The plaque is now in the Clock Face Miners Recreation Club in Crawford Street.
The Clock Face Colliery war memorial that is now in the Miners Recreation Club and portrait of Sir Rigby Swift
Clock Face Colliery war memorial and portrait of Sir Rigby Swift
Clock Face Colliery war memorial
His father Thomas regularly features in my 150 years ago articles as an outspoken – and at times very rude – solicitor. Some of Swift Jnr's most famous sayings in the matrimonial courts were: "No one who was ever engaged to be married has ever come up to expectation". And: "Wives cannot be treated as if they were pianos, and the husband say how much per leg he paid." The other three St Helens' knights had been David Gamble, Joseph Beecham and Joseph Bithell Leach (the estate agent).
Later when formally charged, she said she had not intended to do the man any harm but he'd attempted to molest her and had asked her where they were going that night. So she struck him in the face in self-defence. The formidable Jeremiah Haslam Fox was the woman's solicitor and he remarked that she was more to be pitied than blamed. The case was adjourned until August 3rd and Ellen Ryan was allowed bail upon payment of two sureties.
Also in court was Luke Gaffey from Park Street in Bryn who on the previous evening had marched into St Helens Police Station at the Town Hall. He had demanded to see his brother Tom from Liverpool Road, who had been arrested for fighting. Luke Gaffey told Sgt Lomas: "If you are going to put him inside, I'm going as well." Gaffey refused to leave the station and so the sergeant decided to oblige the man and stuck him in a cell with his brother. Luke Gaffey was charged with being drunk and disorderly and the Bench fined him ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Eccleston man who blamed malaria for assaulting a 16-year-old-girl, the Lowe House August Bank Holiday Gala, Sutton's eternal flooding nuisance, the Irish trouble on the train from Wigan and how military service in St Helens was being rejected by many men.
This week's stories include the woman who said she'd cut a man's face in the Nelson because he'd tried to molest her, the comical ice cream court case, the unveiling of a war memorial at Clock Face Colliery, the Thatto Heath man who conned money out of landlords, an expensive debate at the Town Hall and the judge who became the fourth St Helens man to be awarded a knighthood.
We begin in St Helens Police Court on the 20th when Edward Hughes of Elephant Lane was charged with obtaining a total of £1 10 shillings by false pretences.
The man had conned Bertram McConnell – the American landlord of the Imperial Hotel in Sutton Road – out of the pound and Alfred Holland – licensee of the Druids Arms in Ashcroft Street – out of the ten bob.
Both had been told by Hughes that he was collecting donations to send a man called William Povey to Eastbourne for treatment on his eyes.
There may have been some truth in his intentions but the magistrates were in a severe mood and sentenced Hughes to six months in prison.
The three main Italian ice cream families of the 20th century in St Helens were the Fredericks, the Randolphs and the Vincents.
All three families anglicised their surnames (and Christian names), having come to the town originally with the names of Frederici, Randolfi and Vernazza.
However when in court they usually used their real Italian surnames.
By 1920 their empires were on a small scale and as those in charge of the businesses were still first generation, their understanding of English was limited.
One of the Vernazzas appeared in the Police Court on the 23rd, charged with trading after eight o’clock at night.
I can't tell you exactly who she was, as her Christian name in the St Helens Reporter was indistinct.
However she was probably married to Roberto Vernazza (or Robert Vincent) who kept a shop in Boundary Road and another in Junction Lane.
The wartime regulations on trading hours were still in place and a constable had seen Mrs Vernazza selling ice cream to children from a barrow in Elm Road, Thatto Heath at 8:25pm.
However the proceedings in court got off to a comical start.
A young woman accompanied Mrs Vernazza in the dock and told the Bench she had come to interpret for her.
Asked by the Clerk to the Magistrates whether she could speak Italian, the woman said she could not.
"Then how are you going to tell her?", replied the puzzled Clerk. "I don't know that there is much to tell", came the reply to some laughter in the courtroom.
"Why have you come here?", enquired the confused Clerk. "I've come to see what the fine was and what they [the Bench] had to say."
The woman added that her husband spoke Italian and Mrs Vernazza had told him what had happened.
Her husband had subsequently translated the conversation to her, so she could explain the details to the court.
Then when she returned home she would tell her husband what the fine had been and he would tell Mrs Vernazza in Italian.
So the woman was sort of interpreting in a roundabout way – however English justice cannot work like that.
The case was adjourned for three days in order that a proper interpreter could be in court.
The magistrates then heard that Mrs Vernazza had not realised what the time was on the evening in question and she was fined ten shillings.
The much larger Frederick ice cream family were regularly in court charged with committing minor offences.
Louis Frederick (real name Luigi Frederici) from Duke Street was also fined this week for hawking without a market permit.
The sale of ice cream was banned on a Sunday and Sgt. Gleave had caught Louis selling on the Sabbath.
His excuse – which the family had previously used before in court – was that he thought he was outside the borough boundary.
Louis's sister, incidentally, was Amabila Vernazza, linking together the two ice cream families.
I don't know what her anglicised name would have been – perhaps Amy or Annabelle?
There might not have been social media a century ago but there were still people denying medical and scientific orthodoxy.
What was unusual about James McGhee was that he was prepared to put his money where his mouth was.
He had agreed to participate in a debate at St Helens Town Hall against the Chairman of the Town Planning Committee from London.
If McGhee was judged the loser, he promised to donate the considerable sum of £100 to charity.
The debate took place on the 23rd and the subject for discussion was: "That health is not in the slightest degree effected by the home or its surroundings."
McGhee was reported as having put up an excellent show in trying to sustain his arguments that infant mortality was unaffected by the level of sanitation and how smoke pollution did not cause TB.
The man provided plenty of examples to prove his argument, such as stating how Warrington "where there were practically no water closets" had a lower level of infant mortality than St Helens.
Mr McGhee described the medical officer of St Helens as having moved "heaven and earth to have the water carriage system made universal in the town" but infant mortality was still high.
However the judge of the debate was Alderman Henry Bates. The ex-Mayor was a medical doctor and Chairman of the Town's Health Committee and so unlikely to rule in favour of McGhee.
So the man lost the debate and his £100, which would now benefit the Blinded Soldiers Fund.
Public debates were quite often held in the Town Hall and in 1906 Bates had himself challenged James Seddon, the MP for Newton-le-Willows, to publicly debate the Sarah Cowley Foundation.
The St Helens Reporter said there had been a "pitch of excitement" during the "historic debate".
However James McGhee was undaunted by the loss of his £100 – a year's income for some.
He was now challenging other health bosses to debate him and prepared to stump up a further £100.
A total of 520 miners at Clock Face Colliery went to war and 22 failed to come home.
Eight were honoured for their bravery during WW1 by being awarded either the Distinguished Conduct Medal or the Military Medal.
A plaque was created to honour the fallen and those miners who had achieved military distinctions.
The bronze tablet was unveiled in the pay office at the colliery at a special ceremony on the 24th presided over by the mine's manager, George Tristram.
The plaque is now in the Clock Face Miners Recreation Club in Crawford Street.
On the 24th it was announced that Rigby Swift (pictured above) was to become the fourth St Helens man to have a knighthood conferred on him.
Born in St Helens in 1874, Swift was brought up at Hardshaw Hall (which became Providence Hospital) and served as MP for the town between 1910 and 1918. Two years later he became a judge.
In their 1937 obituary, the Lancashire Evening Post described Sir Rigby Swift as "undoubtedly the most outspoken judge of his day", who had called the divorce laws "wicked and cruel" and as counsel or judge had taken part in "some of the most sensational criminal cases of this generation".
His father Thomas regularly features in my 150 years ago articles as an outspoken – and at times very rude – solicitor.
Some of Swift Jnr's most famous sayings in the matrimonial courts were:
"No one who was ever engaged to be married has ever come up to expectation". And:
"Wives cannot be treated as if they were pianos, and the husband say how much per leg he paid."
The other three St Helens' knights had been David Gamble, Joseph Beecham and Joseph Bithell Leach (the estate agent).
On the 26th Ellen Ryan appeared in St Helens Police Court with a child in her arms charged with wounding Patrick Towey from Emily Street in Thatto Heath.
The young married woman from Back Bath Street (off Liverpool Road) had seemingly rowed with the man in the Nelson Hotel in Bridge Street (pictured above) and then thrown two glasses in his face.
Towey was said to be in a serious condition having had nine stitches inserted and was not fit to attend court.
Det. Con. Latus said Mrs Ryan had told him that she had thrown the glass at Towey because he had attempted to behave indecently towards her.
Later when formally charged, she said she had not intended to do the man any harm but he'd attempted to molest her and had asked her where they were going that night.
So she struck him in the face in self-defence. The formidable Jeremiah Haslam Fox was the woman's solicitor and he remarked that she was more to be pitied than blamed.
The case was adjourned until August 3rd and Ellen Ryan was allowed bail upon payment of two sureties.
Also in court was Luke Gaffey from Park Street in Bryn who on the previous evening had marched into St Helens Police Station at the Town Hall.
He had demanded to see his brother Tom from Liverpool Road, who had been arrested for fighting.
Luke Gaffey told Sgt Lomas: "If you are going to put him inside, I'm going as well."
Gaffey refused to leave the station and so the sergeant decided to oblige the man and stuck him in a cell with his brother.
Luke Gaffey was charged with being drunk and disorderly and the Bench fined him ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Eccleston man who blamed malaria for assaulting a 16-year-old-girl, the Lowe House August Bank Holiday Gala, Sutton's eternal flooding nuisance, the Irish trouble on the train from Wigan and how military service in St Helens was being rejected by many men.
We begin in St Helens Police Court on the 20th when Edward Hughes of Elephant Lane was charged with obtaining a total of £1 10 shillings by false pretences.
The man had conned Bertram McConnell – the American landlord of the Imperial Hotel in Sutton Road – out of the pound and Alfred Holland – licensee of the Druids Arms in Ashcroft Street – out of the ten bob.
Both had been told by Hughes that he was collecting donations to send a man called William Povey to Eastbourne for treatment on his eyes.
There may have been some truth in his intentions but the magistrates were in a severe mood and sentenced Hughes to six months in prison.
The three main Italian ice cream families of the 20th century in St Helens were the Fredericks, the Randolphs and the Vincents.
All three families anglicised their surnames (and Christian names), having come to the town originally with the names of Frederici, Randolfi and Vernazza.
However when in court they usually used their real Italian surnames.
By 1920 their empires were on a small scale and as those in charge of the businesses were still first generation, their understanding of English was limited.
One of the Vernazzas appeared in the Police Court on the 23rd, charged with trading after eight o’clock at night.
I can't tell you exactly who she was, as her Christian name in the St Helens Reporter was indistinct.
However she was probably married to Roberto Vernazza (or Robert Vincent) who kept a shop in Boundary Road and another in Junction Lane.
The wartime regulations on trading hours were still in place and a constable had seen Mrs Vernazza selling ice cream to children from a barrow in Elm Road, Thatto Heath at 8:25pm.
However the proceedings in court got off to a comical start.
A young woman accompanied Mrs Vernazza in the dock and told the Bench she had come to interpret for her.
Asked by the Clerk to the Magistrates whether she could speak Italian, the woman said she could not.
"Then how are you going to tell her?", replied the puzzled Clerk. "I don't know that there is much to tell", came the reply to some laughter in the courtroom.
"Why have you come here?", enquired the confused Clerk. "I've come to see what the fine was and what they [the Bench] had to say."
The woman added that her husband spoke Italian and Mrs Vernazza had told him what had happened.
Her husband had subsequently translated the conversation to her, so she could explain the details to the court.
Then when she returned home she would tell her husband what the fine had been and he would tell Mrs Vernazza in Italian.
So the woman was sort of interpreting in a roundabout way – however English justice cannot work like that.
The case was adjourned for three days in order that a proper interpreter could be in court.
The magistrates then heard that Mrs Vernazza had not realised what the time was on the evening in question and she was fined ten shillings.
The much larger Frederick ice cream family were regularly in court charged with committing minor offences.
Louis Frederick (real name Luigi Frederici) from Duke Street was also fined this week for hawking without a market permit.
The sale of ice cream was banned on a Sunday and Sgt. Gleave had caught Louis selling on the Sabbath.
His excuse – which the family had previously used before in court – was that he thought he was outside the borough boundary.
Louis's sister, incidentally, was Amabila Vernazza, linking together the two ice cream families.
I don't know what her anglicised name would have been – perhaps Amy or Annabelle?
There might not have been social media a century ago but there were still people denying medical and scientific orthodoxy.
What was unusual about James McGhee was that he was prepared to put his money where his mouth was.
He had agreed to participate in a debate at St Helens Town Hall against the Chairman of the Town Planning Committee from London.
If McGhee was judged the loser, he promised to donate the considerable sum of £100 to charity.
The debate took place on the 23rd and the subject for discussion was: "That health is not in the slightest degree effected by the home or its surroundings."
McGhee was reported as having put up an excellent show in trying to sustain his arguments that infant mortality was unaffected by the level of sanitation and how smoke pollution did not cause TB.
The man provided plenty of examples to prove his argument, such as stating how Warrington "where there were practically no water closets" had a lower level of infant mortality than St Helens.
Mr McGhee described the medical officer of St Helens as having moved "heaven and earth to have the water carriage system made universal in the town" but infant mortality was still high.
However the judge of the debate was Alderman Henry Bates. The ex-Mayor was a medical doctor and Chairman of the Town's Health Committee and so unlikely to rule in favour of McGhee.
So the man lost the debate and his £100, which would now benefit the Blinded Soldiers Fund.
Public debates were quite often held in the Town Hall and in 1906 Bates had himself challenged James Seddon, the MP for Newton-le-Willows, to publicly debate the Sarah Cowley Foundation.
The St Helens Reporter said there had been a "pitch of excitement" during the "historic debate".
However James McGhee was undaunted by the loss of his £100 – a year's income for some.
He was now challenging other health bosses to debate him and prepared to stump up a further £100.
Eight were honoured for their bravery during WW1 by being awarded either the Distinguished Conduct Medal or the Military Medal.
A plaque was created to honour the fallen and those miners who had achieved military distinctions.
The bronze tablet was unveiled in the pay office at the colliery at a special ceremony on the 24th presided over by the mine's manager, George Tristram.
The plaque is now in the Clock Face Miners Recreation Club in Crawford Street.
Born in St Helens in 1874, Swift was brought up at Hardshaw Hall (which became Providence Hospital) and served as MP for the town between 1910 and 1918. Two years later he became a judge.
In their 1937 obituary, the Lancashire Evening Post described Sir Rigby Swift as "undoubtedly the most outspoken judge of his day", who had called the divorce laws "wicked and cruel" and as counsel or judge had taken part in "some of the most sensational criminal cases of this generation".
His father Thomas regularly features in my 150 years ago articles as an outspoken – and at times very rude – solicitor.
Some of Swift Jnr's most famous sayings in the matrimonial courts were:
"No one who was ever engaged to be married has ever come up to expectation". And:
"Wives cannot be treated as if they were pianos, and the husband say how much per leg he paid."
The other three St Helens' knights had been David Gamble, Joseph Beecham and Joseph Bithell Leach (the estate agent).
On the 26th Ellen Ryan appeared in St Helens Police Court with a child in her arms charged with wounding Patrick Towey from Emily Street in Thatto Heath.
Towey was said to be in a serious condition having had nine stitches inserted and was not fit to attend court.
Det. Con. Latus said Mrs Ryan had told him that she had thrown the glass at Towey because he had attempted to behave indecently towards her.
Later when formally charged, she said she had not intended to do the man any harm but he'd attempted to molest her and had asked her where they were going that night.
So she struck him in the face in self-defence. The formidable Jeremiah Haslam Fox was the woman's solicitor and he remarked that she was more to be pitied than blamed.
The case was adjourned until August 3rd and Ellen Ryan was allowed bail upon payment of two sureties.
Also in court was Luke Gaffey from Park Street in Bryn who on the previous evening had marched into St Helens Police Station at the Town Hall.
He had demanded to see his brother Tom from Liverpool Road, who had been arrested for fighting.
Luke Gaffey told Sgt Lomas: "If you are going to put him inside, I'm going as well."
Gaffey refused to leave the station and so the sergeant decided to oblige the man and stuck him in a cell with his brother.
Luke Gaffey was charged with being drunk and disorderly and the Bench fined him ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Eccleston man who blamed malaria for assaulting a 16-year-old-girl, the Lowe House August Bank Holiday Gala, Sutton's eternal flooding nuisance, the Irish trouble on the train from Wigan and how military service in St Helens was being rejected by many men.