IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20 - 26 NOVEMBER 1923)
This week's many stories include the heartless character who travelled the world leaving his family destitute, the illegal gambling in Sutton Library, the Russian Pole and the pawned watch, the exhausted horse in Park Road, the illegal playing of a tin whistle and Father Xmas comes to St Helens to marry Old Mother Hubbard!
We begin on the 22nd when John Bridgewater was sent to prison for three months with hard labour. The man had deserted his wife and two young children three years before and it had cost the Prescot Guardians £136 in making relief payments to them. Bridgewater had travelled to America and all over the world, leaving his family destitute and posting insulting postcards back home to his mother-in-law.
The Chairman of the Bench, Ald. Rudd, told Bridgewater: "The bench think you are a heartless sort of creature. You left your wife and the children and were prepared to let them starve, or live on other people. "You were prepared to let these people live on the country and you go away and send nasty, heartless, insulting postcards of this character to your mother-in-law. The bench think you deserve all the law can give you. Go to gaol for three months."
On the 23rd it was announced that the Rev. Cyril Bardsley had been confirmed as Bishop of Peterborough. Rev. Bardsley had served as the Vicar of St Helens for six years from 1904.
In the Reporter on the 23rd the store known as the Universal Bazaar announced that an important wedding would be taking place on the following day. Their ad said: "Father Xmas Weds Old Mother Hubbard – The above marriage takes place on Saturday November 24th and the happy couple will spend their honeymoon at the Universal Bazaar, Old Market Place. They will arrive at 3 p.m. Boys & girls wanted with loads of confetti to give them a welcome. Shower Them In." The Universal Bazaar would advertise "Santa Claus Headquarters Now Open" as early as August each year as they promoted their Christmas Club.
The cat was put amongst the pigeons when two Reporter readers recently complained about St Helens tailors touting for business via window displays and not doing a good job of tailoring. This week two tailors rather pompously hit back, furious at being confused with common or garden clothiers. This was one of their letters:
"Sir, – May I be allowed to reply to the letters by “Annoyed” and “Disgusted?” I take exception to the heading, “Touting by Tailors,” and would like to point out that tailors do not tout for orders from anyone interested in their window display. We leave that objectionable way of securing orders to “clothiers.” Your correspondents have evidently mixed up the two trades; hence the wrong heading. Any bespoke tailor would be pleased to explain to them the very great difference between a “tailor” and a “clothier.” BESPOKE TAILOR, St. Helens"
Street betting was illegal and suspects usually went quietly when nabbed by the police – after all the bookie that employed them would likely pay their fine. Occasionally, however, they chose to take to their heels and an exciting chase would take place. In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd George Tatlock of Exeter Street in St Helens was accused of taking bets in the Covered Market. When challenged by the police, Tatlock had run off and was chased up three flights of stairs leading to an office.
On a landing Tatlock had thrown a chair in front of the officer and was then said to have handed his betting slips to another man, whom the policeman said he did not know. While they were struggling together, the door flew open and they both fell into the office. George Tatlock denied absolutely that he had been taking bets and without any evidence to prove otherwise, the Bench decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the case.
And then on the following day, John Prescott of Joseph Street faced a charge of frequenting Sutton Library in Carnegie Street for the purposes of betting. The prosecution stated that Prescott would collect bets, put them in an envelope, go into the library and place them into the pocket of John Power.
The latter claimed to be an electrician and a music hall artiste and was accused of being the middleman that passed the bets onto a bookmaker. Prescott pleaded guilty but John Power denied having committed the offence. The former was fined £5 and the latter £1.
There were a large number of people from Russia living in St Helens in the 1920s and ‘30s – with many employed in the town's coalmines. I don't have any figures for 1923 but in 1934 the Chief Constable of St Helens said there were 23 Russian males and 7 females that were resident in the town. There were also about 22 so-called Russian Poles and 12 Lithuanians. That was out of a total of 69 "aliens", of which only 5 were Americans and 1 French.
This week a watchmaker called Ignatius Vickers from Lower Parr Street was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a watch valued at 30 shillings that belonged to Joseph White. Superintendent Dunn said the defendant was a Russian Pole and the watch had been given to him by Mr White to repair. But in September the man had quit his lodgings without letting anyone know where he'd gone and had pledged the watch in a Liverpool pawnshop.
Upon being arrested Mr Vickers admitted pawning the watch but said his intention had been to get it out of pawn once he'd found work. A week's remand in custody was asked for and granted. At the adjourned hearing two more charges of stealing were added, as well as being an alien and failing to notify his change of address to the registration officer. Mr Vickers was fined a total of £4.
I've mentioned a few times how singing was illegal in the St Helens streets, as it was seen as begging, even if the performer did not actually ask for any money. In 1918 when commenting on the "gullibility of St. Helens people, the ease with which they part with their coin and the fact that so many members of the begging fraternity find St. Helens a happy hunting ground", the St Helens Newspaper quoted Chief Constable Ellerington in remarking: "You have only to go into a street, sing ‘Jesu, lover of my soul,’ or something of that sort, and you come away with ten bob."
And that, of course, also applied to the playing of a musical instrument, such as a tin whistle. Also in court this week was a man called Hay, who was charged with "placing himself in Corporation Street for the purpose of receiving alms". That was by playing his whistle and as usual the man told a constable that he had no idea that he was not permitted to perform in the street in St Helens. Upon being taken to the police station, Mr Hay bolted but was soon recaptured. In court he promised to leave the town immediately and was discharged.
It was a hard life for some of the old nags that they were made to climb the steep parts of St Helens bearing heavy loads. Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA was in Park Road when he saw a four-wheeled caravan being pushed up the street by three or four men. Inside the vehicle was a woman and three children and in the shafts of the caravan was a horse that the inspector described as almost falling to the ground with exhaustion.
The horse was covered with a rug and sweating badly and upon removing the rug he discovered a sore on the animal's back as big as the inspector's hand. The owner of the horse was James Lee who said he was from Hindley and was travelling to Wallasey. In court Lee was charged with driving a horse in an unfit state and was fined 20 shillings plus costs and an order was made for the poor horse to be destroyed.
The 26th was the "Grand Reopening of the Variety Season" at the Hippodrome. The Corporation Street theatre was now spending most of the year screening films and would, before long, become a dedicated cinema. These were the acts that were billed:
Billy Bennett ("A comedian who will be as popular with St. Helens theatre-goers as he is with audiences in the leading London and provincial theatres"); Rupert Ingalese and his Flunkeys ("A juggler of the first rank; his feats have to be seen to be believed and his Flunkeys, besides being excellent jugglers, are really good comedians"); T. G. De Gray ("One would really imagine his Arab horse and English setters were cut out of white marble, so splendidly are they trained") and The Flying Potters ("Aerial gymnasts of the first order in a daring and thrilling performance").
Also performing were Holson and Bert ("Comedians who make a speciality of their dancing"); Lola Milton ("A comedienne who is engaged to play in one of the principal pantomimes in the country"); Hal Joy ("Who makes a feature of whistling, introducing solos from grand opera to ragtime") and The Ketos ("Acrobatic comedians who introduce new and original tricks”).
And finally, for a working class town it was, perhaps, surprising how popular opera was with some of the top companies regularly coming to St Helens. From the 26th the Theatre Royal began a week of performances by the O’Mara Grand Company with different operatic shows performed on each evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Merton Bank widow's life insurance theft, the Eccleston poaching case, the plans to rebuild the Sefton Arms and the unlucky hawker who picked the house of a policeman to flog lino without a licence.
We begin on the 22nd when John Bridgewater was sent to prison for three months with hard labour. The man had deserted his wife and two young children three years before and it had cost the Prescot Guardians £136 in making relief payments to them. Bridgewater had travelled to America and all over the world, leaving his family destitute and posting insulting postcards back home to his mother-in-law.
The Chairman of the Bench, Ald. Rudd, told Bridgewater: "The bench think you are a heartless sort of creature. You left your wife and the children and were prepared to let them starve, or live on other people. "You were prepared to let these people live on the country and you go away and send nasty, heartless, insulting postcards of this character to your mother-in-law. The bench think you deserve all the law can give you. Go to gaol for three months."
On the 23rd it was announced that the Rev. Cyril Bardsley had been confirmed as Bishop of Peterborough. Rev. Bardsley had served as the Vicar of St Helens for six years from 1904.
The cat was put amongst the pigeons when two Reporter readers recently complained about St Helens tailors touting for business via window displays and not doing a good job of tailoring. This week two tailors rather pompously hit back, furious at being confused with common or garden clothiers. This was one of their letters:
"Sir, – May I be allowed to reply to the letters by “Annoyed” and “Disgusted?” I take exception to the heading, “Touting by Tailors,” and would like to point out that tailors do not tout for orders from anyone interested in their window display. We leave that objectionable way of securing orders to “clothiers.” Your correspondents have evidently mixed up the two trades; hence the wrong heading. Any bespoke tailor would be pleased to explain to them the very great difference between a “tailor” and a “clothier.” BESPOKE TAILOR, St. Helens"
Street betting was illegal and suspects usually went quietly when nabbed by the police – after all the bookie that employed them would likely pay their fine. Occasionally, however, they chose to take to their heels and an exciting chase would take place. In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd George Tatlock of Exeter Street in St Helens was accused of taking bets in the Covered Market. When challenged by the police, Tatlock had run off and was chased up three flights of stairs leading to an office.
On a landing Tatlock had thrown a chair in front of the officer and was then said to have handed his betting slips to another man, whom the policeman said he did not know. While they were struggling together, the door flew open and they both fell into the office. George Tatlock denied absolutely that he had been taking bets and without any evidence to prove otherwise, the Bench decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the case.
And then on the following day, John Prescott of Joseph Street faced a charge of frequenting Sutton Library in Carnegie Street for the purposes of betting. The prosecution stated that Prescott would collect bets, put them in an envelope, go into the library and place them into the pocket of John Power.
The latter claimed to be an electrician and a music hall artiste and was accused of being the middleman that passed the bets onto a bookmaker. Prescott pleaded guilty but John Power denied having committed the offence. The former was fined £5 and the latter £1.
There were a large number of people from Russia living in St Helens in the 1920s and ‘30s – with many employed in the town's coalmines. I don't have any figures for 1923 but in 1934 the Chief Constable of St Helens said there were 23 Russian males and 7 females that were resident in the town. There were also about 22 so-called Russian Poles and 12 Lithuanians. That was out of a total of 69 "aliens", of which only 5 were Americans and 1 French.
This week a watchmaker called Ignatius Vickers from Lower Parr Street was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a watch valued at 30 shillings that belonged to Joseph White. Superintendent Dunn said the defendant was a Russian Pole and the watch had been given to him by Mr White to repair. But in September the man had quit his lodgings without letting anyone know where he'd gone and had pledged the watch in a Liverpool pawnshop.
Upon being arrested Mr Vickers admitted pawning the watch but said his intention had been to get it out of pawn once he'd found work. A week's remand in custody was asked for and granted. At the adjourned hearing two more charges of stealing were added, as well as being an alien and failing to notify his change of address to the registration officer. Mr Vickers was fined a total of £4.
I've mentioned a few times how singing was illegal in the St Helens streets, as it was seen as begging, even if the performer did not actually ask for any money. In 1918 when commenting on the "gullibility of St. Helens people, the ease with which they part with their coin and the fact that so many members of the begging fraternity find St. Helens a happy hunting ground", the St Helens Newspaper quoted Chief Constable Ellerington in remarking: "You have only to go into a street, sing ‘Jesu, lover of my soul,’ or something of that sort, and you come away with ten bob."
And that, of course, also applied to the playing of a musical instrument, such as a tin whistle. Also in court this week was a man called Hay, who was charged with "placing himself in Corporation Street for the purpose of receiving alms". That was by playing his whistle and as usual the man told a constable that he had no idea that he was not permitted to perform in the street in St Helens. Upon being taken to the police station, Mr Hay bolted but was soon recaptured. In court he promised to leave the town immediately and was discharged.
It was a hard life for some of the old nags that they were made to climb the steep parts of St Helens bearing heavy loads. Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA was in Park Road when he saw a four-wheeled caravan being pushed up the street by three or four men. Inside the vehicle was a woman and three children and in the shafts of the caravan was a horse that the inspector described as almost falling to the ground with exhaustion.
The horse was covered with a rug and sweating badly and upon removing the rug he discovered a sore on the animal's back as big as the inspector's hand. The owner of the horse was James Lee who said he was from Hindley and was travelling to Wallasey. In court Lee was charged with driving a horse in an unfit state and was fined 20 shillings plus costs and an order was made for the poor horse to be destroyed.
The 26th was the "Grand Reopening of the Variety Season" at the Hippodrome. The Corporation Street theatre was now spending most of the year screening films and would, before long, become a dedicated cinema. These were the acts that were billed:
Billy Bennett ("A comedian who will be as popular with St. Helens theatre-goers as he is with audiences in the leading London and provincial theatres"); Rupert Ingalese and his Flunkeys ("A juggler of the first rank; his feats have to be seen to be believed and his Flunkeys, besides being excellent jugglers, are really good comedians"); T. G. De Gray ("One would really imagine his Arab horse and English setters were cut out of white marble, so splendidly are they trained") and The Flying Potters ("Aerial gymnasts of the first order in a daring and thrilling performance").
Also performing were Holson and Bert ("Comedians who make a speciality of their dancing"); Lola Milton ("A comedienne who is engaged to play in one of the principal pantomimes in the country"); Hal Joy ("Who makes a feature of whistling, introducing solos from grand opera to ragtime") and The Ketos ("Acrobatic comedians who introduce new and original tricks”).
And finally, for a working class town it was, perhaps, surprising how popular opera was with some of the top companies regularly coming to St Helens. From the 26th the Theatre Royal began a week of performances by the O’Mara Grand Company with different operatic shows performed on each evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Merton Bank widow's life insurance theft, the Eccleston poaching case, the plans to rebuild the Sefton Arms and the unlucky hawker who picked the house of a policeman to flog lino without a licence.
This week's many stories include the heartless character who travelled the world leaving his family destitute, the illegal gambling in Sutton Library, the Russian Pole and the pawned watch, the exhausted horse in Park Road, the illegal playing of a tin whistle and Father Xmas comes to St Helens to marry Old Mother Hubbard!
We begin on the 22nd when John Bridgewater was sent to prison for three months with hard labour.
The man had deserted his wife and two young children three years before and it had cost the Prescot Guardians £136 in making relief payments to them.
Bridgewater had travelled to America and all over the world, leaving his family destitute and posting insulting postcards back home to his mother-in-law.
The Chairman of the Bench, Ald. Rudd, told Bridgewater: "The bench think you are a heartless sort of creature. You left your wife and the children and were prepared to let them starve, or live on other people.
"You were prepared to let these people live on the country and you go away and send nasty, heartless, insulting postcards of this character to your mother-in-law. The bench think you deserve all the law can give you. Go to gaol for three months."
On the 23rd it was announced that the Rev. Cyril Bardsley had been confirmed as Bishop of Peterborough. Rev. Bardsley had served as the Vicar of St Helens for six years from 1904.
In the Reporter on the 23rd the store known as the Universal Bazaar announced that an important wedding would be taking place on the following day. Their ad said:
"Father Xmas Weds Old Mother Hubbard – The above marriage takes place on Saturday November 24th and the happy couple will spend their honeymoon at the Universal Bazaar, Old Market Place.
"They will arrive at 3 p.m. Boys & girls wanted with loads of confetti to give them a welcome. Shower Them In."
The Universal Bazaar would advertise "Santa Claus Headquarters Now Open" as early as August each year as they promoted their Christmas Club.
The cat was put amongst the pigeons when two Reporter readers recently complained about St Helens tailors touting for business via window displays and not doing a good job of tailoring.
This week two tailors rather pompously hit back, furious at being confused with common or garden clothiers. This was one of their letters:
"Sir, – May I be allowed to reply to the letters by “Annoyed” and “Disgusted?” I take exception to the heading, “Touting by Tailors,” and would like to point out that tailors do not tout for orders from anyone interested in their window display. We leave that objectionable way of securing orders to “clothiers.”
"Your correspondents have evidently mixed up the two trades; hence the wrong heading. Any bespoke tailor would be pleased to explain to them the very great difference between a “tailor” and a “clothier.” BESPOKE TAILOR, St. Helens"
Street betting was illegal and suspects usually went quietly when nabbed by the police – after all the bookie that employed them would likely pay their fine. Occasionally, however, they chose to take to their heels and an exciting chase would take place.
In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd George Tatlock of Exeter Street in St Helens was accused of taking bets in the Covered Market.
When challenged by the police, Tatlock had run off and was chased up three flights of stairs leading to an office.
On a landing Tatlock had thrown a chair in front of the officer and was then said to have handed his betting slips to another man, whom the policeman said he did not know.
While they were struggling together, the door flew open and they both fell into the office.
George Tatlock denied absolutely that he had been taking bets and without any evidence to prove otherwise, the Bench decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the case.
And then on the following day, John Prescott of Joseph Street faced a charge of frequenting Sutton Library in Carnegie Street for the purposes of betting.
The prosecution stated that Prescott would collect bets, put them in an envelope, go into the library and place them into the pocket of John Power.
The latter claimed to be an electrician and a music hall artiste and was accused of being the middleman that passed the bets onto a bookmaker.
Prescott pleaded guilty but John Power denied having committed the offence. The former was fined £5 and the latter £1.
There were a large number of people from Russia living in St Helens in the 1920s and ‘30s – with many employed in the town's coalmines.
I don't have any figures for 1923 but in 1934 the Chief Constable of St Helens said there were 23 Russian males and 7 females that were resident in the town.
There were also about 22 so-called Russian Poles and 12 Lithuanians. That was out of a total of 69 "aliens", of which only 5 were Americans and 1 French.
This week a watchmaker called Ignatius Vickers from Lower Parr Street was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a watch valued at 30 shillings that belonged to Joseph White.
Superintendent Dunn said the defendant was a Russian Pole and the watch had been given to him by Mr White to repair.
But in September the man had quit his lodgings without letting anyone know where he'd gone and had pledged the watch in a Liverpool pawnshop.
Upon being arrested Mr Vickers admitted pawning the watch but said his intention had been to get it out of pawn once he'd found work. A week's remand in custody was asked for and granted.
At the adjourned hearing two more charges of stealing were added, as well as being an alien and failing to notify his change of address to the registration officer. Mr Vickers was fined a total of £4.
I've mentioned a few times how singing was illegal in the St Helens streets, as it was seen as begging, even if the performer did not actually ask for any money.
In 1918 when commenting on the "gullibility of St. Helens people, the ease with which they part with their coin and the fact that so many members of the begging fraternity find St. Helens a happy hunting ground", the St Helens Newspaper quoted Chief Constable Ellerington in remarking:
"You have only to go into a street, sing ‘Jesu, lover of my soul,’ or something of that sort, and you come away with ten bob."
And that, of course, also applied to the playing of a musical instrument, such as a tin whistle.
Also in court this week was a man called Hay, who was charged with "placing himself in Corporation Street for the purpose of receiving alms".
That was by playing his whistle and as usual the man told a constable that he had no idea that he was not permitted to perform in the street in St Helens.
Upon being taken to the police station, Mr Hay bolted but was soon recaptured. In court he promised to leave the town immediately and was discharged.
It was a hard life for some of the old nags that they were made to climb the steep parts of St Helens bearing heavy loads.
Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA was in Park Road when he saw a four-wheeled caravan being pushed up the street by three or four men.
Inside the vehicle was a woman and three children and in the shafts of the caravan was a horse that the inspector described as almost falling to the ground with exhaustion.
The horse was covered with a rug and sweating badly and upon removing the rug he discovered a sore on the animal's back as big as the inspector's hand.
The owner of the horse was James Lee who said he was from Hindley and was travelling to Wallasey.
In court Lee was charged with driving a horse in an unfit state and was fined 20 shillings plus costs and an order was made for the poor horse to be destroyed.
The 26th was the "Grand Reopening of the Variety Season" at the Hippodrome. The Corporation Street theatre was now spending most of the year screening films and would, before long, become a dedicated cinema. These were the acts that were billed:
Billy Bennett ("A comedian who will be as popular with St. Helens theatre-goers as he is with audiences in the leading London and provincial theatres"); Rupert Ingalese and his Flunkeys ("A juggler of the first rank; his feats have to be seen to be believed and his Flunkeys, besides being excellent jugglers, are really good comedians"); T. G. De Gray ("One would really imagine his Arab horse and English setters were cut out of white marble, so splendidly are they trained") and The Flying Potters ("Aerial gymnasts of the first order in a daring and thrilling performance").
Also performing were Holson and Bert ("Comedians who make a speciality of their dancing"); Lola Milton ("A comedienne who is engaged to play in one of the principal pantomimes in the country"); Hal Joy ("Who makes a feature of whistling, introducing solos from grand opera to ragtime") and The Ketos ("Acrobatic comedians who introduce new and original tricks”).
And finally, for a working class town it was, perhaps, surprising how popular opera was with some of the top companies regularly coming to St Helens.
From the 26th the Theatre Royal began a week of performances by the O’Mara Grand Company with different operatic shows performed on each evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Merton Bank widow's life insurance theft, the Eccleston poaching case, the plans to rebuild the Sefton Arms and the unlucky hawker who picked the house of a policeman to flog lino without a licence.
We begin on the 22nd when John Bridgewater was sent to prison for three months with hard labour.
The man had deserted his wife and two young children three years before and it had cost the Prescot Guardians £136 in making relief payments to them.
Bridgewater had travelled to America and all over the world, leaving his family destitute and posting insulting postcards back home to his mother-in-law.
The Chairman of the Bench, Ald. Rudd, told Bridgewater: "The bench think you are a heartless sort of creature. You left your wife and the children and were prepared to let them starve, or live on other people.
"You were prepared to let these people live on the country and you go away and send nasty, heartless, insulting postcards of this character to your mother-in-law. The bench think you deserve all the law can give you. Go to gaol for three months."
On the 23rd it was announced that the Rev. Cyril Bardsley had been confirmed as Bishop of Peterborough. Rev. Bardsley had served as the Vicar of St Helens for six years from 1904.
"Father Xmas Weds Old Mother Hubbard – The above marriage takes place on Saturday November 24th and the happy couple will spend their honeymoon at the Universal Bazaar, Old Market Place.
"They will arrive at 3 p.m. Boys & girls wanted with loads of confetti to give them a welcome. Shower Them In."
The Universal Bazaar would advertise "Santa Claus Headquarters Now Open" as early as August each year as they promoted their Christmas Club.
The cat was put amongst the pigeons when two Reporter readers recently complained about St Helens tailors touting for business via window displays and not doing a good job of tailoring.
This week two tailors rather pompously hit back, furious at being confused with common or garden clothiers. This was one of their letters:
"Sir, – May I be allowed to reply to the letters by “Annoyed” and “Disgusted?” I take exception to the heading, “Touting by Tailors,” and would like to point out that tailors do not tout for orders from anyone interested in their window display. We leave that objectionable way of securing orders to “clothiers.”
"Your correspondents have evidently mixed up the two trades; hence the wrong heading. Any bespoke tailor would be pleased to explain to them the very great difference between a “tailor” and a “clothier.” BESPOKE TAILOR, St. Helens"
Street betting was illegal and suspects usually went quietly when nabbed by the police – after all the bookie that employed them would likely pay their fine. Occasionally, however, they chose to take to their heels and an exciting chase would take place.
In St Helens Police Court on the 23rd George Tatlock of Exeter Street in St Helens was accused of taking bets in the Covered Market.
When challenged by the police, Tatlock had run off and was chased up three flights of stairs leading to an office.
On a landing Tatlock had thrown a chair in front of the officer and was then said to have handed his betting slips to another man, whom the policeman said he did not know.
While they were struggling together, the door flew open and they both fell into the office.
George Tatlock denied absolutely that he had been taking bets and without any evidence to prove otherwise, the Bench decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the case.
And then on the following day, John Prescott of Joseph Street faced a charge of frequenting Sutton Library in Carnegie Street for the purposes of betting.
The prosecution stated that Prescott would collect bets, put them in an envelope, go into the library and place them into the pocket of John Power.
The latter claimed to be an electrician and a music hall artiste and was accused of being the middleman that passed the bets onto a bookmaker.
Prescott pleaded guilty but John Power denied having committed the offence. The former was fined £5 and the latter £1.
There were a large number of people from Russia living in St Helens in the 1920s and ‘30s – with many employed in the town's coalmines.
I don't have any figures for 1923 but in 1934 the Chief Constable of St Helens said there were 23 Russian males and 7 females that were resident in the town.
There were also about 22 so-called Russian Poles and 12 Lithuanians. That was out of a total of 69 "aliens", of which only 5 were Americans and 1 French.
This week a watchmaker called Ignatius Vickers from Lower Parr Street was charged in St Helens Police Court with stealing a watch valued at 30 shillings that belonged to Joseph White.
Superintendent Dunn said the defendant was a Russian Pole and the watch had been given to him by Mr White to repair.
But in September the man had quit his lodgings without letting anyone know where he'd gone and had pledged the watch in a Liverpool pawnshop.
Upon being arrested Mr Vickers admitted pawning the watch but said his intention had been to get it out of pawn once he'd found work. A week's remand in custody was asked for and granted.
At the adjourned hearing two more charges of stealing were added, as well as being an alien and failing to notify his change of address to the registration officer. Mr Vickers was fined a total of £4.
I've mentioned a few times how singing was illegal in the St Helens streets, as it was seen as begging, even if the performer did not actually ask for any money.
In 1918 when commenting on the "gullibility of St. Helens people, the ease with which they part with their coin and the fact that so many members of the begging fraternity find St. Helens a happy hunting ground", the St Helens Newspaper quoted Chief Constable Ellerington in remarking:
"You have only to go into a street, sing ‘Jesu, lover of my soul,’ or something of that sort, and you come away with ten bob."
And that, of course, also applied to the playing of a musical instrument, such as a tin whistle.
Also in court this week was a man called Hay, who was charged with "placing himself in Corporation Street for the purpose of receiving alms".
That was by playing his whistle and as usual the man told a constable that he had no idea that he was not permitted to perform in the street in St Helens.
Upon being taken to the police station, Mr Hay bolted but was soon recaptured. In court he promised to leave the town immediately and was discharged.
It was a hard life for some of the old nags that they were made to climb the steep parts of St Helens bearing heavy loads.
Inspector Hallam of the RSPCA was in Park Road when he saw a four-wheeled caravan being pushed up the street by three or four men.
Inside the vehicle was a woman and three children and in the shafts of the caravan was a horse that the inspector described as almost falling to the ground with exhaustion.
The horse was covered with a rug and sweating badly and upon removing the rug he discovered a sore on the animal's back as big as the inspector's hand.
The owner of the horse was James Lee who said he was from Hindley and was travelling to Wallasey.
In court Lee was charged with driving a horse in an unfit state and was fined 20 shillings plus costs and an order was made for the poor horse to be destroyed.
The 26th was the "Grand Reopening of the Variety Season" at the Hippodrome. The Corporation Street theatre was now spending most of the year screening films and would, before long, become a dedicated cinema. These were the acts that were billed:
Billy Bennett ("A comedian who will be as popular with St. Helens theatre-goers as he is with audiences in the leading London and provincial theatres"); Rupert Ingalese and his Flunkeys ("A juggler of the first rank; his feats have to be seen to be believed and his Flunkeys, besides being excellent jugglers, are really good comedians"); T. G. De Gray ("One would really imagine his Arab horse and English setters were cut out of white marble, so splendidly are they trained") and The Flying Potters ("Aerial gymnasts of the first order in a daring and thrilling performance").
Also performing were Holson and Bert ("Comedians who make a speciality of their dancing"); Lola Milton ("A comedienne who is engaged to play in one of the principal pantomimes in the country"); Hal Joy ("Who makes a feature of whistling, introducing solos from grand opera to ragtime") and The Ketos ("Acrobatic comedians who introduce new and original tricks”).
And finally, for a working class town it was, perhaps, surprising how popular opera was with some of the top companies regularly coming to St Helens.
From the 26th the Theatre Royal began a week of performances by the O’Mara Grand Company with different operatic shows performed on each evening.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Merton Bank widow's life insurance theft, the Eccleston poaching case, the plans to rebuild the Sefton Arms and the unlucky hawker who picked the house of a policeman to flog lino without a licence.