IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 21 - 27 OCTOBER 1924
This week's many stories include why Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell both figured in a court case, the pioneering Sutton housing estate in which residents bought their homes, why the boy of the 1920s was not a swine, the brainless Parr rent theft and how stolen Liverpool Echos had been converted into pork pies and cakes.
We begin on the 21st when the St Helens Health Committee approved plans to build 96 houses on an estate at Sutton between Gerards Lane and New Street. Building would start in November with the houses described as being of the parlour type and having a modern layout. Each home would have its own garden and three bedrooms, as well as electric lighting and a bathroom with hot running water. But the modernity did not end there.
The "rent" was going to be 12s 6d per week, plus rates, but after twenty years the householder would own their home. And so in reality it was a mortgage scheme, although that term was not being used. It would not be the first occasion that working people within the St Helens district could buy their homes. But it appears to have been the first involving a large new estate.
The houses would also have the benefit of £100 Government subsidy and Corporation grant and so mirror to some extent the modern day help to buy schemes, particularly as the subsidy would act as a deposit and so the prospective home owner would only have to find a small sum for their legal expenses. As a charitable organisation known as the Dawson Trust was promoting the initiative, the estate became known as Dawson Avenue.
After deaths in coalmines caused by the collapse of underground roofs, more miners probably died from issues with the haulage system than from anything else. This conveyed full and empty coal tubs around the mine and to and from the surface, via the pit cage. But all sorts of accidents connected to the haulage system occurred, with runaway tubs that came off the ropes probably the most deadly.
On the 22nd the inquest into the death of Thomas Walsh was held at St Helens Town Hall. The coroner was told that the 30-year-old from Burtonwood had worked at Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr (pictured above) and had made a desperate bid to get out of the way of a runaway tub. But he had instead got caught in a haulage rope and met with injuries to a leg from which he later died.
In a case of theft heard in St Helens Police Court this week both Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured. In the dock was a hawker from Crook Street called John Bannister who was accused of stealing a cap. The magistrates were told that a man called Christopher Leonard had been in the Robin Hood Inn in Tontine Street singing a song to a piano accompaniment.
Bannister – who was unconnected with the performance – picked up Leonard's cap and went round the various rooms in the pub collecting coppers for the singer. The cap with the money in it was placed on a table near to Leonard but soon afterwards both cap and cash disappeared – along with Bannister.
On the next day Christopher Leonard saw Bannister in the market and the hawker said he could not produce the cap but he did offer to pay the singer half-a-crown. Leonard refused the offer and told the man that if his cap was not forthcoming, he would inform the police. An angry Bannister replied: "You Oliver Cromwell. You'll not live long in St. Helens if you do that. I shall be in the Robin Hood tonight to see about it."
When Christopher Leonard reported the matter to the police and they interviewed Bannister, he blamed drunkenness for what had occurred. He said he thought he had thrown the cap away and in court pleaded guilty and was fined 5 shillings and costs.
On the 23rd a 12-year-old boy appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court charged with stealing eight newspapers to the value of 8d. I can't tell you his name as the Reporter, a year or two earlier, had decided not to print the names of child defendants in court. The newspaper was also not identified but as the Liverpool Echo was popular in St Helens and only cost a penny, it was almost certainly that.
The Echo had its own paperboys – or newsboys – who'd walk the streets selling their papers and shouting out its name as they went. However, the St Helens lads were said to convert the two-syllable "Echo" into the four-syllable "Ay-ek-ee-aw". The 12-year-old lad had nicked the eight papers off a seller in Shaw Street about 5:30pm and then ran off with them towards Peasley Cross.
But PC Wilcock tracked him down and he told him he had sold the papers to men coming off work, with the proceeds spent on five pork pies and three cakes at a shop in Appleton Street. The boy was placed on probation for 2 years.
It's not just recent times when newspapers could sensationalise a story. There was a furious letter from James Gordon printed in the Reporter on the 24th, although his anger was with their rival paper, the St Helens Newspaper. He was the secretary of the YMCA and had recently given a talk to the St Helens Rotary Club on the subject of "Is the boy of today making good".
On making a scriptural illustration of a point that he was making, Mr Gordon had made reference to a sow. But the Newspaper's headline of "Boys Like Swine" had, he said, lent a false interpretation to his comment about lads following their animal instincts.
Also in the Reporter, Booth's sports store in Hardshaw Street was promoting its range of footballs. They were all hand-sown with their most expensive made of "best cowhide" and costing 22s 6d. "White football knickers" cost from 1/11.
Despite new firearms legislation having been brought in after the war through fears of weapons getting into the hands of people intent on revolution, the penalties for illegal gun possession were still not severe. That was because it was accepted that the vast majority of those charged with possessing an unlicensed gun had no criminal intent and saw their weapon as war memorabilia.
In court this week Thomas Tilston from Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton, Alfred Downs from Nelson Street and Thomas Kenny from Parr Hall were all charged with having had possession of a large service revolver without a certificate. PC Whelan gave evidence that Alfred Downs had made a statement to him admitting buying a Smith and Wesson revolver off Thomas Tilston.
The young man had paid just £1 for the gun a couple of months before and had kept it in his Nelson Street home before selling it on to Thomas Kenny. After being interviewed by the police, the latter admitted buying the revolver off Downs for ten shillings but insisted he had no idea that he had been doing anything wrong.
Next the police went to the first link in the chain, Thomas Tilston of Earlestown, who stated that he had paid 15 shillings for the gun about four years ago and had sold it to Alfred Downs. Again he insisted that he had no notion that he needed a certificate for the weapon.
The Bench pointed out to the three defendants that they were each liable to a fine of £50 and six months in prison. But as they were clearly unaware of the seriousness of their offence, they would only be fined £1 and the revolver forfeited.
What I have often described as brainless thefts were still occurring in lodgings in St Helens. These happened when a lodger suddenly disappeared, along with a number of possessions that belonged to others in the house. Their sudden absence was the next best thing to a signed confession and as the thief rarely went far, the police were soon able to round them up.
What was different in the case of Fred Faithful was that he stole rent money instead of the usual clothes or watches. The 26-year-old miner had been living in the home of Phoebe Mulvanny in Baker Street (off Ashcroft Street) in Parr. She also had Kate Woodyer as a lodger and one morning Mrs Woodyer left 8 shillings rent money on a table in Mrs Mulvanny's back kitchen.
Her landlady was in her yard and so Mrs Woodyer had shouted to her "Here is your rent." But when Mrs Mulvanny re-entered her home the money was missing, along with the unfaithful Fred. When the police arrested him he admitted taking the cash which he claimed was to pay for his train fare to Liverpool. There he said he had intended to enlist in the forces, insisting that he would've paid the stolen money back in a month's time.
Superintendent Dunn told the magistrates that the man was only faithful by name as he was living apart from his wife. He had been working at Southport Colliery in Parr but had given up his job because he did not like being on the nightshift. The Chairman of the Bench told Faithful that he had committed a "very mean and petty theft" and fined him 10 shillings and ordered him to return the stolen money.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election in St Helens, a boy's harsh sentence for petty theft, the lively scene in Silkstone Street, the council's call to ban pillion riding and the lorry that smashed into a Cambridge Road shop window.
We begin on the 21st when the St Helens Health Committee approved plans to build 96 houses on an estate at Sutton between Gerards Lane and New Street. Building would start in November with the houses described as being of the parlour type and having a modern layout. Each home would have its own garden and three bedrooms, as well as electric lighting and a bathroom with hot running water. But the modernity did not end there.
The "rent" was going to be 12s 6d per week, plus rates, but after twenty years the householder would own their home. And so in reality it was a mortgage scheme, although that term was not being used. It would not be the first occasion that working people within the St Helens district could buy their homes. But it appears to have been the first involving a large new estate.
The houses would also have the benefit of £100 Government subsidy and Corporation grant and so mirror to some extent the modern day help to buy schemes, particularly as the subsidy would act as a deposit and so the prospective home owner would only have to find a small sum for their legal expenses. As a charitable organisation known as the Dawson Trust was promoting the initiative, the estate became known as Dawson Avenue.
After deaths in coalmines caused by the collapse of underground roofs, more miners probably died from issues with the haulage system than from anything else. This conveyed full and empty coal tubs around the mine and to and from the surface, via the pit cage. But all sorts of accidents connected to the haulage system occurred, with runaway tubs that came off the ropes probably the most deadly.
In a case of theft heard in St Helens Police Court this week both Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured. In the dock was a hawker from Crook Street called John Bannister who was accused of stealing a cap. The magistrates were told that a man called Christopher Leonard had been in the Robin Hood Inn in Tontine Street singing a song to a piano accompaniment.
Bannister – who was unconnected with the performance – picked up Leonard's cap and went round the various rooms in the pub collecting coppers for the singer. The cap with the money in it was placed on a table near to Leonard but soon afterwards both cap and cash disappeared – along with Bannister.
On the next day Christopher Leonard saw Bannister in the market and the hawker said he could not produce the cap but he did offer to pay the singer half-a-crown. Leonard refused the offer and told the man that if his cap was not forthcoming, he would inform the police. An angry Bannister replied: "You Oliver Cromwell. You'll not live long in St. Helens if you do that. I shall be in the Robin Hood tonight to see about it."
When Christopher Leonard reported the matter to the police and they interviewed Bannister, he blamed drunkenness for what had occurred. He said he thought he had thrown the cap away and in court pleaded guilty and was fined 5 shillings and costs.
On the 23rd a 12-year-old boy appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court charged with stealing eight newspapers to the value of 8d. I can't tell you his name as the Reporter, a year or two earlier, had decided not to print the names of child defendants in court. The newspaper was also not identified but as the Liverpool Echo was popular in St Helens and only cost a penny, it was almost certainly that.
The Echo had its own paperboys – or newsboys – who'd walk the streets selling their papers and shouting out its name as they went. However, the St Helens lads were said to convert the two-syllable "Echo" into the four-syllable "Ay-ek-ee-aw". The 12-year-old lad had nicked the eight papers off a seller in Shaw Street about 5:30pm and then ran off with them towards Peasley Cross.
But PC Wilcock tracked him down and he told him he had sold the papers to men coming off work, with the proceeds spent on five pork pies and three cakes at a shop in Appleton Street. The boy was placed on probation for 2 years.
On making a scriptural illustration of a point that he was making, Mr Gordon had made reference to a sow. But the Newspaper's headline of "Boys Like Swine" had, he said, lent a false interpretation to his comment about lads following their animal instincts.
Also in the Reporter, Booth's sports store in Hardshaw Street was promoting its range of footballs. They were all hand-sown with their most expensive made of "best cowhide" and costing 22s 6d. "White football knickers" cost from 1/11.
Despite new firearms legislation having been brought in after the war through fears of weapons getting into the hands of people intent on revolution, the penalties for illegal gun possession were still not severe. That was because it was accepted that the vast majority of those charged with possessing an unlicensed gun had no criminal intent and saw their weapon as war memorabilia.
In court this week Thomas Tilston from Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton, Alfred Downs from Nelson Street and Thomas Kenny from Parr Hall were all charged with having had possession of a large service revolver without a certificate. PC Whelan gave evidence that Alfred Downs had made a statement to him admitting buying a Smith and Wesson revolver off Thomas Tilston.
The young man had paid just £1 for the gun a couple of months before and had kept it in his Nelson Street home before selling it on to Thomas Kenny. After being interviewed by the police, the latter admitted buying the revolver off Downs for ten shillings but insisted he had no idea that he had been doing anything wrong.
Next the police went to the first link in the chain, Thomas Tilston of Earlestown, who stated that he had paid 15 shillings for the gun about four years ago and had sold it to Alfred Downs. Again he insisted that he had no notion that he needed a certificate for the weapon.
The Bench pointed out to the three defendants that they were each liable to a fine of £50 and six months in prison. But as they were clearly unaware of the seriousness of their offence, they would only be fined £1 and the revolver forfeited.
What I have often described as brainless thefts were still occurring in lodgings in St Helens. These happened when a lodger suddenly disappeared, along with a number of possessions that belonged to others in the house. Their sudden absence was the next best thing to a signed confession and as the thief rarely went far, the police were soon able to round them up.
What was different in the case of Fred Faithful was that he stole rent money instead of the usual clothes or watches. The 26-year-old miner had been living in the home of Phoebe Mulvanny in Baker Street (off Ashcroft Street) in Parr. She also had Kate Woodyer as a lodger and one morning Mrs Woodyer left 8 shillings rent money on a table in Mrs Mulvanny's back kitchen.
Her landlady was in her yard and so Mrs Woodyer had shouted to her "Here is your rent." But when Mrs Mulvanny re-entered her home the money was missing, along with the unfaithful Fred. When the police arrested him he admitted taking the cash which he claimed was to pay for his train fare to Liverpool. There he said he had intended to enlist in the forces, insisting that he would've paid the stolen money back in a month's time.
Superintendent Dunn told the magistrates that the man was only faithful by name as he was living apart from his wife. He had been working at Southport Colliery in Parr but had given up his job because he did not like being on the nightshift. The Chairman of the Bench told Faithful that he had committed a "very mean and petty theft" and fined him 10 shillings and ordered him to return the stolen money.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election in St Helens, a boy's harsh sentence for petty theft, the lively scene in Silkstone Street, the council's call to ban pillion riding and the lorry that smashed into a Cambridge Road shop window.
This week's many stories include why Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell both figured in a court case, the pioneering Sutton housing estate in which residents bought their homes, why the boy of the 1920s was not a swine, the brainless Parr rent theft and how stolen Liverpool Echos had been converted into pork pies and cakes.
We begin on the 21st when the St Helens Health Committee approved plans to build 96 houses on an estate at Sutton between Gerards Lane and New Street.
Building would start in November with the houses described as being of the parlour type and having a modern layout.
Each home would have its own garden and three bedrooms, as well as electric lighting and a bathroom with hot running water. But the modernity did not end there.
The "rent" was going to be 12s 6d per week, plus rates, but after twenty years the householder would own their home. And so in reality it was a mortgage scheme, although that term was not being used.
It would not be the first occasion that working people within the St Helens district could buy their homes. But it appears to have been the first involving a large new estate.
The houses would also have the benefit of £100 Government subsidy and Corporation grant and so mirror to some extent the modern day help to buy schemes, particularly as the subsidy would act as a deposit and so the prospective home owner would only have to find a small sum for their legal expenses.
As a charitable organisation known as the Dawson Trust was promoting the initiative, the estate became known as Dawson Avenue.
After deaths in coalmines caused by the collapse of underground roofs, more miners probably died from issues with the haulage system than from anything else.
This conveyed full and empty coal tubs around the mine and to and from the surface, via the pit cage.
But all sorts of accidents connected to the haulage system occurred, with runaway tubs that came off the ropes probably the most deadly.
On the 22nd the inquest into the death of Thomas Walsh was held at St Helens Town Hall.
The coroner was told that the 30-year-old from Burtonwood had worked at Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr (pictured above) and had made a desperate bid to get out of the way of a runaway tub.
But he had instead got caught in a haulage rope and met with injuries to a leg from which he later died.
In a case of theft heard in St Helens Police Court this week both Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured.
In the dock was a hawker from Crook Street called John Bannister who was accused of stealing a cap.
The magistrates were told that a man called Christopher Leonard had been in the Robin Hood Inn in Tontine Street singing a song to a piano accompaniment.
Bannister – who was unconnected with the performance – picked up Leonard's cap and went round the various rooms in the pub collecting coppers for the singer.
The cap with the money in it was placed on a table near to Leonard but soon afterwards both cap and cash disappeared – along with Bannister.
On the next day Christopher Leonard saw Bannister in the market and the hawker said he could not produce the cap but he did offer to pay the singer half-a-crown.
Leonard refused the offer and told the man that if his cap was not forthcoming, he would inform the police.
An angry Bannister replied: "You Oliver Cromwell. You'll not live long in St. Helens if you do that. I shall be in the Robin Hood tonight to see about it."
When Christopher Leonard reported the matter to the police and they interviewed Bannister, he blamed drunkenness for what had occurred.
He said he thought he had thrown the cap away and in court pleaded guilty and was fined 5 shillings and costs.
On the 23rd a 12-year-old boy appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court charged with stealing eight newspapers to the value of 8d.
I can't tell you his name as the Reporter, a year or two earlier, had decided not to print the names of child defendants in court.
The newspaper was also not identified but as the Liverpool Echo was popular in St Helens and only cost a penny, it was almost certainly that.
The Echo had its own paperboys – or newsboys – who'd walk the streets selling their papers and shouting out its name as they went.
However, the St Helens lads were said to convert the two-syllable "Echo" into the four-syllable "Ay-ek-ee-aw".
The 12-year-old lad had nicked the eight papers off a seller in Shaw Street about 5:30pm and then ran off with them towards Peasley Cross.
But PC Wilcock tracked him down and he told him he had sold the papers to men coming off work, with the proceeds spent on five pork pies and three cakes at a shop in Appleton Street.
The boy was placed on probation for 2 years.
It's not just recent times when newspapers could sensationalise a story. There was a furious letter from James Gordon printed in the Reporter on the 24th, although his anger was with their rival paper, the St Helens Newspaper.
He was the secretary of the YMCA and had recently given a talk to the St Helens Rotary Club on the subject of "Is the boy of today making good".
On making a scriptural illustration of a point that he was making, Mr Gordon had made reference to a sow.
But the Newspaper's headline of "Boys Like Swine" had, he said, lent a false interpretation to his comment about lads following their animal instincts.
Also in the Reporter, Booth's sports store in Hardshaw Street was promoting its range of footballs.
They were all hand-sown with their most expensive made of "best cowhide" and costing 22s 6d. "White football knickers" cost from 1/11.
Despite new firearms legislation having been brought in after the war through fears of weapons getting into the hands of people intent on revolution, the penalties for illegal gun possession were still not severe.
That was because it was accepted that the vast majority of those charged with possessing an unlicensed gun had no criminal intent and saw their weapon as war memorabilia.
In court this week Thomas Tilston from Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton, Alfred Downs from Nelson Street and Thomas Kenny from Parr Hall were all charged with having had possession of a large service revolver without a certificate.
PC Whelan gave evidence that Alfred Downs had made a statement to him admitting buying a Smith and Wesson revolver off Thomas Tilston.
The young man had paid just £1 for the gun a couple of months before and had kept it in his Nelson Street home before selling it on to Thomas Kenny.
After being interviewed by the police, the latter admitted buying the revolver off Downs for ten shillings but insisted he had no idea that he had been doing anything wrong.
Next the police went to the first link in the chain, Thomas Tilston of Earlestown, who stated that he had paid 15 shillings for the gun about four years ago and had sold it to Alfred Downs.
Again he insisted that he had no notion that he needed a certificate for the weapon.
The Bench pointed out to the three defendants that they were each liable to a fine of £50 and six months in prison.
But as they were clearly unaware of the seriousness of their offence, they would only be fined £1 and the revolver forfeited.
What I have often described as brainless thefts were still occurring in lodgings in St Helens.
These happened when a lodger suddenly disappeared, along with a number of possessions that belonged to others in the house.
Their sudden absence was the next best thing to a signed confession and as the thief rarely went far, the police were soon able to round them up.
What was different in the case of Fred Faithful was that he stole rent money instead of the usual clothes or watches.
The 26-year-old miner had been living in the home of Phoebe Mulvanny in Baker Street (off Ashcroft Street) in Parr.
She also had Kate Woodyer as a lodger and one morning Mrs Woodyer left 8 shillings rent money on a table in Mrs Mulvanny's back kitchen.
Her landlady was in her yard and so Mrs Woodyer had shouted to her "Here is your rent."
But when Mrs Mulvanny re-entered her home the money was missing, along with the unfaithful Fred.
When the police arrested him he admitted taking the cash which he claimed was to pay for his train fare to Liverpool.
There he said he had intended to enlist in the forces, insisting that he would've paid the stolen money back in a month's time.
Superintendent Dunn told the magistrates that the man was only faithful by name as he was living apart from his wife.
He had been working at Southport Colliery in Parr but had given up his job because he did not like being on the nightshift.
The Chairman of the Bench told Faithful that he had committed a "very mean and petty theft" and fined him 10 shillings and ordered him to return the stolen money.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election in St Helens, a boy's harsh sentence for petty theft, the lively scene in Silkstone Street, the council's call to ban pillion riding and the lorry that smashed into a Cambridge Road shop window.
We begin on the 21st when the St Helens Health Committee approved plans to build 96 houses on an estate at Sutton between Gerards Lane and New Street.
Building would start in November with the houses described as being of the parlour type and having a modern layout.
Each home would have its own garden and three bedrooms, as well as electric lighting and a bathroom with hot running water. But the modernity did not end there.
The "rent" was going to be 12s 6d per week, plus rates, but after twenty years the householder would own their home. And so in reality it was a mortgage scheme, although that term was not being used.
It would not be the first occasion that working people within the St Helens district could buy their homes. But it appears to have been the first involving a large new estate.
The houses would also have the benefit of £100 Government subsidy and Corporation grant and so mirror to some extent the modern day help to buy schemes, particularly as the subsidy would act as a deposit and so the prospective home owner would only have to find a small sum for their legal expenses.
As a charitable organisation known as the Dawson Trust was promoting the initiative, the estate became known as Dawson Avenue.
After deaths in coalmines caused by the collapse of underground roofs, more miners probably died from issues with the haulage system than from anything else.
This conveyed full and empty coal tubs around the mine and to and from the surface, via the pit cage.
But all sorts of accidents connected to the haulage system occurred, with runaway tubs that came off the ropes probably the most deadly.
On the 22nd the inquest into the death of Thomas Walsh was held at St Helens Town Hall.
But he had instead got caught in a haulage rope and met with injuries to a leg from which he later died.
In a case of theft heard in St Helens Police Court this week both Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell figured.
In the dock was a hawker from Crook Street called John Bannister who was accused of stealing a cap.
The magistrates were told that a man called Christopher Leonard had been in the Robin Hood Inn in Tontine Street singing a song to a piano accompaniment.
Bannister – who was unconnected with the performance – picked up Leonard's cap and went round the various rooms in the pub collecting coppers for the singer.
The cap with the money in it was placed on a table near to Leonard but soon afterwards both cap and cash disappeared – along with Bannister.
On the next day Christopher Leonard saw Bannister in the market and the hawker said he could not produce the cap but he did offer to pay the singer half-a-crown.
Leonard refused the offer and told the man that if his cap was not forthcoming, he would inform the police.
An angry Bannister replied: "You Oliver Cromwell. You'll not live long in St. Helens if you do that. I shall be in the Robin Hood tonight to see about it."
When Christopher Leonard reported the matter to the police and they interviewed Bannister, he blamed drunkenness for what had occurred.
He said he thought he had thrown the cap away and in court pleaded guilty and was fined 5 shillings and costs.
On the 23rd a 12-year-old boy appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court charged with stealing eight newspapers to the value of 8d.
I can't tell you his name as the Reporter, a year or two earlier, had decided not to print the names of child defendants in court.
The newspaper was also not identified but as the Liverpool Echo was popular in St Helens and only cost a penny, it was almost certainly that.
The Echo had its own paperboys – or newsboys – who'd walk the streets selling their papers and shouting out its name as they went.
However, the St Helens lads were said to convert the two-syllable "Echo" into the four-syllable "Ay-ek-ee-aw".
The 12-year-old lad had nicked the eight papers off a seller in Shaw Street about 5:30pm and then ran off with them towards Peasley Cross.
But PC Wilcock tracked him down and he told him he had sold the papers to men coming off work, with the proceeds spent on five pork pies and three cakes at a shop in Appleton Street.
The boy was placed on probation for 2 years.
It's not just recent times when newspapers could sensationalise a story. There was a furious letter from James Gordon printed in the Reporter on the 24th, although his anger was with their rival paper, the St Helens Newspaper.
On making a scriptural illustration of a point that he was making, Mr Gordon had made reference to a sow.
But the Newspaper's headline of "Boys Like Swine" had, he said, lent a false interpretation to his comment about lads following their animal instincts.
Also in the Reporter, Booth's sports store in Hardshaw Street was promoting its range of footballs.
They were all hand-sown with their most expensive made of "best cowhide" and costing 22s 6d. "White football knickers" cost from 1/11.
Despite new firearms legislation having been brought in after the war through fears of weapons getting into the hands of people intent on revolution, the penalties for illegal gun possession were still not severe.
That was because it was accepted that the vast majority of those charged with possessing an unlicensed gun had no criminal intent and saw their weapon as war memorabilia.
In court this week Thomas Tilston from Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton, Alfred Downs from Nelson Street and Thomas Kenny from Parr Hall were all charged with having had possession of a large service revolver without a certificate.
PC Whelan gave evidence that Alfred Downs had made a statement to him admitting buying a Smith and Wesson revolver off Thomas Tilston.
The young man had paid just £1 for the gun a couple of months before and had kept it in his Nelson Street home before selling it on to Thomas Kenny.
After being interviewed by the police, the latter admitted buying the revolver off Downs for ten shillings but insisted he had no idea that he had been doing anything wrong.
Next the police went to the first link in the chain, Thomas Tilston of Earlestown, who stated that he had paid 15 shillings for the gun about four years ago and had sold it to Alfred Downs.
Again he insisted that he had no notion that he needed a certificate for the weapon.
The Bench pointed out to the three defendants that they were each liable to a fine of £50 and six months in prison.
But as they were clearly unaware of the seriousness of their offence, they would only be fined £1 and the revolver forfeited.
What I have often described as brainless thefts were still occurring in lodgings in St Helens.
These happened when a lodger suddenly disappeared, along with a number of possessions that belonged to others in the house.
Their sudden absence was the next best thing to a signed confession and as the thief rarely went far, the police were soon able to round them up.
What was different in the case of Fred Faithful was that he stole rent money instead of the usual clothes or watches.
The 26-year-old miner had been living in the home of Phoebe Mulvanny in Baker Street (off Ashcroft Street) in Parr.
She also had Kate Woodyer as a lodger and one morning Mrs Woodyer left 8 shillings rent money on a table in Mrs Mulvanny's back kitchen.
Her landlady was in her yard and so Mrs Woodyer had shouted to her "Here is your rent."
But when Mrs Mulvanny re-entered her home the money was missing, along with the unfaithful Fred.
When the police arrested him he admitted taking the cash which he claimed was to pay for his train fare to Liverpool.
There he said he had intended to enlist in the forces, insisting that he would've paid the stolen money back in a month's time.
Superintendent Dunn told the magistrates that the man was only faithful by name as he was living apart from his wife.
He had been working at Southport Colliery in Parr but had given up his job because he did not like being on the nightshift.
The Chairman of the Bench told Faithful that he had committed a "very mean and petty theft" and fined him 10 shillings and ordered him to return the stolen money.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election in St Helens, a boy's harsh sentence for petty theft, the lively scene in Silkstone Street, the council's call to ban pillion riding and the lorry that smashed into a Cambridge Road shop window.