IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (21st - 27th DECEMBER 1920)
We begin this week’s Christmas Special article on the 21st in College Street with Higher Grade Girls' School's Christmas exhibition of handiwork. Their items made during the past term included calendars, raffia baskets, toys, outdoor sketches and life studies, many of which would end up as Christmas gifts. While the guests examined the articles on display, classes sang Christmas carols and performed folk dancing.
The postal service a century ago was not, of course, anything like today with many more collections and deliveries. This week the special arrangements for Christmas began with the St Helens public having for some time been told to post early. Not that last minute posting seemed to make any noticeable difference for local deliveries. You could still get your cards and letters put through your letterbox in St Helens on Christmas morning as long as they were posted in the town no later than 6pm on Christmas Eve.
The St Helens Postmaster had announced that in the three-day run up to Christmas there would be "only" two daily deliveries in the town, with the first commencing at 7am and the afternoon round starting at 3:30pm. However collections from letter boxes and sub-post offices would be made five times each day between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
Lots of parcels would, of course, be mailed to family and friends at this time of the year. In order to reduce pressure on the main post office in Church Street, all parcels had to be posted at the Parish Church School next door. This arrangement had been trialled in 1919 once the kids were on holiday and it had helped to reduce congestion in the main office. However the public were warned that no letterboxes would be emptied on Christmas Day – apart from the one at the main office. I don't think any warnings are necessary today!
With Christmas Day falling on a Saturday in 1920, Boxing Day was being held over to the following Monday as sport was not allowed on Sundays. The St Helens shops would thus be closed for three days but there was no half-day closing on the Thursday before Christmas to allow for extra sales. The Reporter had previously written that business in the shops was brisk with tradesmen "sparing no effort to meet with all demands". So shop staff would have had a welcome break but most would not have been paid for the time off. That was the case with most works too, although the far-sighted Pilkingtons had introduced the concept of holidays with pay to St Helens in 1918 – although that had yet to include Bank Holidays.
Other business continued before the big day and on the 22nd the council's Health Committee gave permission for the Parish Church authorities to demolish three cottages at the rear of the old church. This was on condition that the tenants were found suitable alternative accommodation. As a result of the disastrous fire of 1916 the new, replacement church building was being further set back from Church Street. That would allow the Corporation to widen the street at that point, as despite being a leading thoroughfare, Church Street was then much narrower than it is today.
The Prescot Board of Guardians met on the 23rd and heard that enquiries were being made into the cost of erecting a cinema within the wood shed. This would be for the benefit of the inmates of the "Institution" – as the workhouse and hospital at Whiston was now known. A bowling green was also to be constructed at the rear of the male mental hospital by "house labour" – in other words, the inmates for nothing. Well it was a workhouse!
The Guardian's Farm Sub-Committee had also instructed the Institution's Medical Officer to buy a couple of ferrets. Just what the doctor was expected to do with the creatures was not stated but the mind boggles! The Clerk to the Guardians said he had advertised in the medical journals for a non-residential medical officer for the institution. However he had only received one reply "and that from a coloured doctor" who had previously applied when the present medical officer was appointed. It was decided to re-advertise.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 24th, although it had been in the newsagents a day or two before then. The paper described a recent court case in which a 39-year-old woman had brought an action for persistent cruelty against her 85-year-old husband. James Ashton from Ormskirk Street was accused of various types of spousal abuse during the couple's six years of marriage. These ranged from refusing to give his wife, Rose, any housekeeping money to attempting to strangle her. However Mr Ashton blamed his wife for being unreasonable and said it was not safe for him to live with her.
There was laughter in court when the elderly man described the night his wife sprinkled water over him in bed. He said he asked her what she was doing and Rose replied: "Driving the Devil away". On the following night she did the same trick but this time James was prepared. He said he had his own jug of water ready at his bedside and threw its contents over her! In reality such cases were about maintenance orders and the wife wanted £2 per week from her husband. However the Bench were not impressed with such a difference in their ages and dismissed the case.
It wouldn't have been much of a Christmas for the family of Joseph Smith from Newton Road. The 19-year-old was crushed to death under a huge stone down Southport Colliery in Parr on Christmas Eve. Just a few days earlier James Cummings from Ashton had been blinded in one eye at Wood Pit in Haydock.
As always the Reporter had a long editorial on the meaning of Christmas in which this year its readers were asked to think of the jobless. The post-war boom had been short-lived as many export markets had been lost. The Reporter wrote:
"Christmas is ever the season for forgetting one's self and thinking of others. That is the main reason why we find it a happy season. Never was there greater need for him that hath to give to him that has not, than there is to-day. Unemployment was never so prevalent and general as it is this winter, though, fortunately, St. Helens has so far been unaffected by the trade slump." That said the jobless rate in the town was still high and the Reporter called for "this curse of unemployment" to be purged from the country before another Christmas season arrived.
The Whiston Institution (workhouse / hospital) published a rather belated appeal in the Reporter for gifts of gramophone records for the benefit of inmates and patients over Christmas.
The Bridge Street Picturedrome normally opened on Christmas Day but the cinema announced that they had decided to "study the welfare of staff" during the festive season and keep its doors closed. However the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street would have been open with the Reporter writing: "Christmas time is a period with which good things are associated, and in conformity with the spirit of the season, the Hippodrome management have arranged a bill which has goodness stamped all over it."
"Strangeness" is the word that I would have used to describe some of the acts! Most peculiar of the lot was the Nathal Trio (pictured above) in which one member dressed as a monkey and climbed into the audience causing mayhem – "most entertaining", said the Reporter. There was also the Tom Davies Trio from Manchester whose dangerous motorbike routine on a special track was called "Motoring in Mid-air". The Reporter in their preview dubbed them a "thrilling act" and they lasted thirty years with some newspapers advertising the trio as the "sensation of the century".
Brandow and Smith were American comedians who called themselves "The Ink Spot and the Chocolate Drop". I've not been to confirm that they were black comics but it sounds like they were. And young Molly Maguire was performing too. She was described as "a genuine Lancashire factory lass, a pure lyric soprano, who, from her first note, commands attention from every part of the house."
Meanwhile the Theatre Royal had performances of 'Aladdin', which the Reporter said in their preview offered "the usual host of tuneful ballads, catchy ditties, and of course, some wonderfully elastic rhyming."
The St Helens Reporter stated that the citizens of the town had cast all their worries aside during the festive season: "It has been a sporting Christmas and a jolly Christmas all round. The spectre of the war has vanished. What of inflated prices, of strikes and rumours of strikes, of trade stagnation and the unemployment? It was Christmas and everyone was out to enjoy it, and we fancy everyone did enjoy it. Most of all the tramways' employees. A good spirit gave them the day to themselves. There were no trams on Christmas Day. Did anyone miss them? No one, we'll wager.
"Did anyone miss the usual newspapers? He is a sorry character who would “grouse” at the two-days' liberty of the newspaper producers. Most of the cinemas closed down for all performances, thereby releasing their staffs during the happiest times of the day. Can't it be made an institution, this granting of holidays on Christmas Day? The glorious spring weather made it an out-of-door Christmas. Snow is picturesque, and it gives fleeting moments of pleasure, but isn't the most comfortable place for it on a Christmas card, gaily bedecked with holly, and mistletoe, where it has no terrors for the old folk and no pitfalls for the younger generation?
"The traditional Christmas has gone, and the new style Christmas reigns in the stead. One institution that still flourishes is the Christmas caroller. He is an institution, if he is only a small boy who sings for pennies at some welcome-looking door. There were bands, too, who told in harmony the glorious tale of the Nativity nearly 2,000 years ago. The churches conducted the usual Christmas services, and crowded congregations indicated that in the joy of the holiday, devotional exercise had not been lost sight of. It has been the happiest Christmas St Helens has spent since 1913. May it be the forerunner of many happy Christmases to come!"
In a separate article the Reporter described how Eccleston Hall Sanatorium (pictured above) had worn a "very bright and festive look on Christmas Day. All the wards and cubicles were most carefully decorated with Christmas emblems, and a large Christmas tree laden with Christmas presents and toys for the youngsters, added to the Yuletide touch." Dinner was a "real Christmas affair in every aspect"; the presents were distributed to the children "amidst great excitement" and in the evening a concert party entertained. One chap performed whistling solos and "mimicked all the animals in the Zoo. He was given three cheers for his excellent turn."
However there always appears to be some folk who have to bear tragedy over the festive season – something that clearly is not new. The Reporter wrote on the 31st: "Christmas week has come and gone. There have been both sunshine and sorrow to mingle with the festivities. For ages past there appears to have been a chapter of accidents at this period." One occurred during Christmas night when Herbert Griffiths, the landlord of the Railway Hotel in Shaw Street, went to an all-night party. When he returned at 6:30am on the following morning, he discovered his father dead in the beer cellar. It was a mystery what had happened as Allan Griffiths was a butcher and he had no business in the cellar, although he did have a drink problem.
Two St Helens police officers called James Dawson and Merrick Silcock failed to turn up for duty on Christmas Day. So Chief Constable Ellerington – a very strict disciplinarian – had the pair hauled before the next sitting of the magistrates and both were fined 40 shillings and sacked from the force.
As the 26th was on a Sunday when no sport was allowed, the Boxing Day public holiday was transferred to the following day when Saints played Wigan in the traditional match at Knowsley Road. Before the game Lord Derby officially opened the new pavilion – which included dedicated changing rooms – that had been paid for by Pilkingtons. Although called a pavilion it did not appear to have accommodation for spectators. However the players would have warmly welcomed the dressing rooms.
They had previously changed in a shed at the rear of the Talbot Hotel in Duke Street and then been driven to Knowsley Road. However I think there was also another shed on the ground – that was then little more than a fenced playing field – in which players could choose to change into their playing togs. Whichever venue was used, the new building would have been a massive improvement, as described by the St Helens Newspaper:
"In its isolated position the building looks rather small from the outside, but a tour inside reveals it as a splendidly built and most commodious establishment. There is an excellent gymnasium for the players, a beautiful bath – four feet deep and lined with white glazed tiles – 13ft. long and 10ft. wide, the most capacious bath in the Northern Union. There is a Committee Room, Secretary's Room, shower bath and offices. In short, it is a perfectly fitted and well-equipped football club headquarters, and will be the envy of every visiting club from Lancashire and Yorkshire."
The hoisting of a new flag signalled Lord Derby's arrival at the ground. The flag and flagstaff had both been paid for by Evelyn Pilkington of Rainford Hall, who just weeks earlier had been elected the first female councillor in St Helens. Lord Derby was handed a golden key to ceremoniously open the new pavilion and he said he hoped that it would often shelter the winning team of St Helens. However that was not the case on this occasion, as Saints were thrashed 4 - 22 by Wigan in front of a crowd of 25,000, which was boosted by the day being a Bank Holiday.
Richard Ellison, the Mayor of St Helens, was due to attend the event in all his finery but couldn't go because he cut himself shaving. However it was arm that was slashed not his chin! It wasn't that Cllr. Ellison's aim was bad but it was common practice for men after shaving to dry their razor by moving it up and down an arm. Ellison must have done the act a bit too vigorously as he inflicted a severe wound on himself. The mayor lost so much blood that a doctor had to be called who told him to rest at home for several days.
The attendance at Knowsley Road was very good but was outshone by the 53,000 that turned out at Goodison Park to see St Helens Ladies lose 0 - 4 to Dick, Kerr's of Preston. The Reporter wrote: "The game gave evidence of woman's capacity for taking hard knocks and woman's adaptability to shine in a man's sport."
Recently there had been elephants performing at the Hippodrome and, as mentioned earlier, a few days ago a man in a monkey suit had run around the theatre leaping into women's laps as part of the Nathal Trio. However from Boxing Day (27th) they had the real thing on stage with a pair of apes called 'Hiawatha and His Squaw Minnehaha'. Described in the Reporter as the "most astounding educated chimpanzees", a review from a performance in London in January had said:
"Hiawatha, the educated ape, is a truly marvellous creature. He smokes, eats, drinks as well as most men, and better than many, and motors his quaint little partner, Minnehaha around in the most astounding manner."
Just whether all that smoking and drinking twice a night on stage was good for Hiawatha, I can't say. But along with bossing his girlfriend Minnehaha around, he was certainly behaving like many a man then did! The other turns on the bill were: Foster Kershaw ("The entertainer without a piano"); The Empire Operatic Quartette ("In gems from popular operas"); Togan and Geneva ("Wonderful jazz dancing on the wire"); Allan Shaw ("Conjuror and coin manipulator") and Hetty Ruby ("Comedienne and speciality dancer").
Also on Boxing Day the Sutton Commercial Association Football Club enjoyed a whist drive and dance at the Robins Lane Council School – as it was then known. During the same evening the employees of Rainford Potteries of Mill Lane held their second annual Christmas dinner, social and dance at the Village Hall. Recently a cinema had opened in the Village Hall and so the workers took advantage of the projection facilities and watched a film.
The Reporter described how the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill was "transformed into fairyland" on Boxing Day evening when a Christmas party was given to nearly 500 children belonging to the part-time volunteer soldiers. The paper wrote:
"A big tree, bedecked with fairy lanterns and coloured electric lights stretched from floor to ceiling in the centre of the hall, and round the walls were seasonable decorations in dazzling array. After tea, games were played, and Mr. Brough's orchestra rendered selections of music, whilst Sergeant Fuller, as a clown, caused great amusement. The Engineer Hall presented an animated appearance and all went very merrily until half-past seven, when the revelries closed and the children were formed up to receive their presents at the hands of Father Christmas himself.
"It was a memorable scene when, amid a hurricane of cheers, Col. Fox, faultlessly arrayed as Father Christmas, suddenly made his appearance and walked with stately impressiveness up and down the lines of children, then took up his position behind the great heap of tempting presents, which he handed out to the children one by one as they filed past him and departed happily homeward."
Santa was solicitor Jeremiah Haslam Fox who was also a part-time colonel in the Royal Engineer Volunteers – that were based in the Engineer Hall. In court – and probably with his soldiers – he was a tough old bird who spoke his mind. But clearly he had a soft spot too!
Next week's stories will include the New Year's Day events in St Helens and London, a war memorial is unveiled at Sutton National School and the extraordinary horse at the Hippodrome that mimicked Charlie Chaplin.
The postal service a century ago was not, of course, anything like today with many more collections and deliveries. This week the special arrangements for Christmas began with the St Helens public having for some time been told to post early. Not that last minute posting seemed to make any noticeable difference for local deliveries. You could still get your cards and letters put through your letterbox in St Helens on Christmas morning as long as they were posted in the town no later than 6pm on Christmas Eve.
The St Helens Postmaster had announced that in the three-day run up to Christmas there would be "only" two daily deliveries in the town, with the first commencing at 7am and the afternoon round starting at 3:30pm. However collections from letter boxes and sub-post offices would be made five times each day between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
Lots of parcels would, of course, be mailed to family and friends at this time of the year. In order to reduce pressure on the main post office in Church Street, all parcels had to be posted at the Parish Church School next door. This arrangement had been trialled in 1919 once the kids were on holiday and it had helped to reduce congestion in the main office. However the public were warned that no letterboxes would be emptied on Christmas Day – apart from the one at the main office. I don't think any warnings are necessary today!
These Daily Mirror pictures show how Christmas in 1920 was celebrated in London hospitals
The Daily Mirror shows how Christmas was celebrated in London hospitals
How Christmas was celebrated in hospital
Other business continued before the big day and on the 22nd the council's Health Committee gave permission for the Parish Church authorities to demolish three cottages at the rear of the old church. This was on condition that the tenants were found suitable alternative accommodation. As a result of the disastrous fire of 1916 the new, replacement church building was being further set back from Church Street. That would allow the Corporation to widen the street at that point, as despite being a leading thoroughfare, Church Street was then much narrower than it is today.
The Prescot Board of Guardians met on the 23rd and heard that enquiries were being made into the cost of erecting a cinema within the wood shed. This would be for the benefit of the inmates of the "Institution" – as the workhouse and hospital at Whiston was now known. A bowling green was also to be constructed at the rear of the male mental hospital by "house labour" – in other words, the inmates for nothing. Well it was a workhouse!
The Guardian's Farm Sub-Committee had also instructed the Institution's Medical Officer to buy a couple of ferrets. Just what the doctor was expected to do with the creatures was not stated but the mind boggles! The Clerk to the Guardians said he had advertised in the medical journals for a non-residential medical officer for the institution. However he had only received one reply "and that from a coloured doctor" who had previously applied when the present medical officer was appointed. It was decided to re-advertise.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 24th, although it had been in the newsagents a day or two before then. The paper described a recent court case in which a 39-year-old woman had brought an action for persistent cruelty against her 85-year-old husband. James Ashton from Ormskirk Street was accused of various types of spousal abuse during the couple's six years of marriage. These ranged from refusing to give his wife, Rose, any housekeeping money to attempting to strangle her. However Mr Ashton blamed his wife for being unreasonable and said it was not safe for him to live with her.
There was laughter in court when the elderly man described the night his wife sprinkled water over him in bed. He said he asked her what she was doing and Rose replied: "Driving the Devil away". On the following night she did the same trick but this time James was prepared. He said he had his own jug of water ready at his bedside and threw its contents over her! In reality such cases were about maintenance orders and the wife wanted £2 per week from her husband. However the Bench were not impressed with such a difference in their ages and dismissed the case.
It wouldn't have been much of a Christmas for the family of Joseph Smith from Newton Road. The 19-year-old was crushed to death under a huge stone down Southport Colliery in Parr on Christmas Eve. Just a few days earlier James Cummings from Ashton had been blinded in one eye at Wood Pit in Haydock.
As always the Reporter had a long editorial on the meaning of Christmas in which this year its readers were asked to think of the jobless. The post-war boom had been short-lived as many export markets had been lost. The Reporter wrote:
"Christmas is ever the season for forgetting one's self and thinking of others. That is the main reason why we find it a happy season. Never was there greater need for him that hath to give to him that has not, than there is to-day. Unemployment was never so prevalent and general as it is this winter, though, fortunately, St. Helens has so far been unaffected by the trade slump." That said the jobless rate in the town was still high and the Reporter called for "this curse of unemployment" to be purged from the country before another Christmas season arrived.
The Whiston Institution (workhouse / hospital) published a rather belated appeal in the Reporter for gifts of gramophone records for the benefit of inmates and patients over Christmas.
The Bridge Street Picturedrome normally opened on Christmas Day but the cinema announced that they had decided to "study the welfare of staff" during the festive season and keep its doors closed. However the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street would have been open with the Reporter writing: "Christmas time is a period with which good things are associated, and in conformity with the spirit of the season, the Hippodrome management have arranged a bill which has goodness stamped all over it."
Brandow and Smith were American comedians who called themselves "The Ink Spot and the Chocolate Drop". I've not been to confirm that they were black comics but it sounds like they were. And young Molly Maguire was performing too. She was described as "a genuine Lancashire factory lass, a pure lyric soprano, who, from her first note, commands attention from every part of the house."
Meanwhile the Theatre Royal had performances of 'Aladdin', which the Reporter said in their preview offered "the usual host of tuneful ballads, catchy ditties, and of course, some wonderfully elastic rhyming."
The St Helens Reporter stated that the citizens of the town had cast all their worries aside during the festive season: "It has been a sporting Christmas and a jolly Christmas all round. The spectre of the war has vanished. What of inflated prices, of strikes and rumours of strikes, of trade stagnation and the unemployment? It was Christmas and everyone was out to enjoy it, and we fancy everyone did enjoy it. Most of all the tramways' employees. A good spirit gave them the day to themselves. There were no trams on Christmas Day. Did anyone miss them? No one, we'll wager.
"Did anyone miss the usual newspapers? He is a sorry character who would “grouse” at the two-days' liberty of the newspaper producers. Most of the cinemas closed down for all performances, thereby releasing their staffs during the happiest times of the day. Can't it be made an institution, this granting of holidays on Christmas Day? The glorious spring weather made it an out-of-door Christmas. Snow is picturesque, and it gives fleeting moments of pleasure, but isn't the most comfortable place for it on a Christmas card, gaily bedecked with holly, and mistletoe, where it has no terrors for the old folk and no pitfalls for the younger generation?
"The traditional Christmas has gone, and the new style Christmas reigns in the stead. One institution that still flourishes is the Christmas caroller. He is an institution, if he is only a small boy who sings for pennies at some welcome-looking door. There were bands, too, who told in harmony the glorious tale of the Nativity nearly 2,000 years ago. The churches conducted the usual Christmas services, and crowded congregations indicated that in the joy of the holiday, devotional exercise had not been lost sight of. It has been the happiest Christmas St Helens has spent since 1913. May it be the forerunner of many happy Christmases to come!"
However there always appears to be some folk who have to bear tragedy over the festive season – something that clearly is not new. The Reporter wrote on the 31st: "Christmas week has come and gone. There have been both sunshine and sorrow to mingle with the festivities. For ages past there appears to have been a chapter of accidents at this period." One occurred during Christmas night when Herbert Griffiths, the landlord of the Railway Hotel in Shaw Street, went to an all-night party. When he returned at 6:30am on the following morning, he discovered his father dead in the beer cellar. It was a mystery what had happened as Allan Griffiths was a butcher and he had no business in the cellar, although he did have a drink problem.
Two St Helens police officers called James Dawson and Merrick Silcock failed to turn up for duty on Christmas Day. So Chief Constable Ellerington – a very strict disciplinarian – had the pair hauled before the next sitting of the magistrates and both were fined 40 shillings and sacked from the force.
As the 26th was on a Sunday when no sport was allowed, the Boxing Day public holiday was transferred to the following day when Saints played Wigan in the traditional match at Knowsley Road. Before the game Lord Derby officially opened the new pavilion – which included dedicated changing rooms – that had been paid for by Pilkingtons. Although called a pavilion it did not appear to have accommodation for spectators. However the players would have warmly welcomed the dressing rooms.
They had previously changed in a shed at the rear of the Talbot Hotel in Duke Street and then been driven to Knowsley Road. However I think there was also another shed on the ground – that was then little more than a fenced playing field – in which players could choose to change into their playing togs. Whichever venue was used, the new building would have been a massive improvement, as described by the St Helens Newspaper:
"In its isolated position the building looks rather small from the outside, but a tour inside reveals it as a splendidly built and most commodious establishment. There is an excellent gymnasium for the players, a beautiful bath – four feet deep and lined with white glazed tiles – 13ft. long and 10ft. wide, the most capacious bath in the Northern Union. There is a Committee Room, Secretary's Room, shower bath and offices. In short, it is a perfectly fitted and well-equipped football club headquarters, and will be the envy of every visiting club from Lancashire and Yorkshire."
The hoisting of a new flag signalled Lord Derby's arrival at the ground. The flag and flagstaff had both been paid for by Evelyn Pilkington of Rainford Hall, who just weeks earlier had been elected the first female councillor in St Helens. Lord Derby was handed a golden key to ceremoniously open the new pavilion and he said he hoped that it would often shelter the winning team of St Helens. However that was not the case on this occasion, as Saints were thrashed 4 - 22 by Wigan in front of a crowd of 25,000, which was boosted by the day being a Bank Holiday.
Richard Ellison, the Mayor of St Helens, was due to attend the event in all his finery but couldn't go because he cut himself shaving. However it was arm that was slashed not his chin! It wasn't that Cllr. Ellison's aim was bad but it was common practice for men after shaving to dry their razor by moving it up and down an arm. Ellison must have done the act a bit too vigorously as he inflicted a severe wound on himself. The mayor lost so much blood that a doctor had to be called who told him to rest at home for several days.
The attendance at Knowsley Road was very good but was outshone by the 53,000 that turned out at Goodison Park to see St Helens Ladies lose 0 - 4 to Dick, Kerr's of Preston. The Reporter wrote: "The game gave evidence of woman's capacity for taking hard knocks and woman's adaptability to shine in a man's sport."
Recently there had been elephants performing at the Hippodrome and, as mentioned earlier, a few days ago a man in a monkey suit had run around the theatre leaping into women's laps as part of the Nathal Trio. However from Boxing Day (27th) they had the real thing on stage with a pair of apes called 'Hiawatha and His Squaw Minnehaha'. Described in the Reporter as the "most astounding educated chimpanzees", a review from a performance in London in January had said:
"Hiawatha, the educated ape, is a truly marvellous creature. He smokes, eats, drinks as well as most men, and better than many, and motors his quaint little partner, Minnehaha around in the most astounding manner."
Just whether all that smoking and drinking twice a night on stage was good for Hiawatha, I can't say. But along with bossing his girlfriend Minnehaha around, he was certainly behaving like many a man then did! The other turns on the bill were: Foster Kershaw ("The entertainer without a piano"); The Empire Operatic Quartette ("In gems from popular operas"); Togan and Geneva ("Wonderful jazz dancing on the wire"); Allan Shaw ("Conjuror and coin manipulator") and Hetty Ruby ("Comedienne and speciality dancer").
Also on Boxing Day the Sutton Commercial Association Football Club enjoyed a whist drive and dance at the Robins Lane Council School – as it was then known. During the same evening the employees of Rainford Potteries of Mill Lane held their second annual Christmas dinner, social and dance at the Village Hall. Recently a cinema had opened in the Village Hall and so the workers took advantage of the projection facilities and watched a film.
The Reporter described how the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill was "transformed into fairyland" on Boxing Day evening when a Christmas party was given to nearly 500 children belonging to the part-time volunteer soldiers. The paper wrote:
"A big tree, bedecked with fairy lanterns and coloured electric lights stretched from floor to ceiling in the centre of the hall, and round the walls were seasonable decorations in dazzling array. After tea, games were played, and Mr. Brough's orchestra rendered selections of music, whilst Sergeant Fuller, as a clown, caused great amusement. The Engineer Hall presented an animated appearance and all went very merrily until half-past seven, when the revelries closed and the children were formed up to receive their presents at the hands of Father Christmas himself.
"It was a memorable scene when, amid a hurricane of cheers, Col. Fox, faultlessly arrayed as Father Christmas, suddenly made his appearance and walked with stately impressiveness up and down the lines of children, then took up his position behind the great heap of tempting presents, which he handed out to the children one by one as they filed past him and departed happily homeward."
Santa was solicitor Jeremiah Haslam Fox who was also a part-time colonel in the Royal Engineer Volunteers – that were based in the Engineer Hall. In court – and probably with his soldiers – he was a tough old bird who spoke his mind. But clearly he had a soft spot too!
Next week's stories will include the New Year's Day events in St Helens and London, a war memorial is unveiled at Sutton National School and the extraordinary horse at the Hippodrome that mimicked Charlie Chaplin.
We begin this week’s Christmas Special article on the 21st in College Street with Higher Grade Girls' School's Christmas exhibition of handiwork.
Their items made during the past term included calendars, raffia baskets, toys, outdoor sketches and life studies, many of which would end up as Christmas gifts.
While the guests examined the articles on display, classes sang Christmas carols and performed folk dancing.
The postal service a century ago was not, of course, anything like today with many more collections and deliveries.
This week the special arrangements for Christmas began with the St Helens public having for some time been told to post early.
Not that last minute posting seemed to make any noticeable difference for local deliveries.
You could still get your cards and letters put through your letterbox in St Helens on Christmas morning as long as they were posted in the town no later than 6pm on Christmas Eve.
The St Helens Postmaster had announced that in the three-day run up to Christmas there would be "only" two daily deliveries in the town, with the first commencing at 7am and the afternoon round starting at 3:30pm.
However collections from letter boxes and sub-post offices would be made five times each day between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
Lots of parcels would, of course, be mailed to family and friends at this time of the year.
In order to reduce pressure on the main post office in Church Street, all parcels had to be posted at the Parish Church School next door.
This arrangement had been trialled in 1919 once the kids were on holiday and it had helped to reduce congestion in the main office.
However the public were warned that no letterboxes would be emptied on Christmas Day – apart from the one at the main office. I don't think any warnings are necessary today!
With Christmas Day falling on a Saturday in 1920, Boxing Day was being held over to the following Monday as sport was not allowed on Sundays.
The St Helens shops would thus be closed for three days but there was no half-day closing on the Thursday before Christmas to allow for extra sales.
The Reporter had previously written that business in the shops was brisk with tradesmen "sparing no effort to meet with all demands".
So shop staff would have had a welcome break but most would not have been paid for the time off.
That was the case with most works too, although the far-sighted Pilkingtons had introduced the concept of holidays with pay to St Helens in 1918 – although that had yet to include Bank Holidays.
Other business continued before the big day and on the 22nd the council's Health Committee gave permission for the Parish Church authorities to demolish three cottages at the rear of the old church.
This was on condition that the tenants were found suitable alternative accommodation.
As a result of the disastrous fire of 1916 the new, replacement church building was being further set back from Church Street.
That would allow the Corporation to widen the street at that point, as despite being a leading thoroughfare, Church Street was then much narrower than it is today.
The Prescot Board of Guardians met on the 23rd and heard that enquiries were being made into the cost of erecting a cinema within the wood shed.
This would be for the benefit of the inmates of the "Institution" – as the workhouse and hospital at Whiston was now known.
A bowling green was also to be constructed at the rear of the male mental hospital by "house labour" – in other words, the inmates for nothing. Well it was a workhouse!
The Guardian's Farm Sub-Committee had also instructed the Institution's Medical Officer to buy a couple of ferrets.
Just what the doctor was expected to do with the creatures was not stated but the mind boggles!
The Clerk to the Guardians said he had advertised in the medical journals for a non-residential medical officer for the institution.
However he had only received one reply "and that from a coloured doctor" who had previously applied when the present medical officer was appointed. It was decided to re-advertise.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 24th, although it had been in the newsagents a day or two before then.
The paper described a recent court case in which a 39-year-old woman had brought an action for persistent cruelty against her 85-year-old husband.
James Ashton from Ormskirk Street was accused of various types of spousal abuse during the couple's six years of marriage.
These ranged from refusing to give his wife, Rose, any housekeeping money to attempting to strangle her.
However Mr Ashton blamed his wife for being unreasonable and said it was not safe for him to live with her.
There was laughter in court when the elderly man described the night his wife sprinkled water over him in bed.
He said he asked her what she was doing and Rose replied: "Driving the Devil away".
On the following night she did the same trick but this time James was prepared.
He said he had his own jug of water ready at his bedside and threw its contents over her!
In reality such cases were about maintenance orders and the wife wanted £2 per week from her husband.
However the Bench were not impressed with such a difference in their ages and dismissed the case.
It wouldn't have been much of a Christmas for the family of Joseph Smith from Newton Road.
The 19-year-old was crushed to death under a huge stone down Southport Colliery in Parr on Christmas Eve.
Just a few days earlier James Cummings from Ashton had been blinded in one eye at Wood Pit in Haydock.
As always the Reporter had a long editorial on the meaning of Christmas in which this year its readers were asked to think of the jobless.
The post-war boom had been short-lived as many export markets had been lost. The Reporter wrote:
"Christmas is ever the season for forgetting one's self and thinking of others. That is the main reason why we find it a happy season. Never was there greater need for him that hath to give to him that has not, than there is to-day.
"Unemployment was never so prevalent and general as it is this winter, though, fortunately, St. Helens has so far been unaffected by the trade slump."
That said the jobless rate in the town was still high and the Reporter called for "this curse of unemployment" to be purged from the country before another Christmas season arrived.
The Whiston Institution (workhouse / hospital) published a rather belated appeal in the Reporter for gifts of gramophone records for the benefit of inmates and patients over Christmas.
The Bridge Street Picturedrome normally opened on Christmas Day but the cinema announced that they had decided to "study the welfare of staff" during the festive season and keep its doors closed.
However the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street would have been open with the Reporter writing:
"Christmas time is a period with which good things are associated, and in conformity with the spirit of the season, the Hippodrome management have arranged a bill which has goodness stamped all over it."
"Strangeness" is the word that I would have used to describe some of the acts!
Most peculiar of the lot was the Nathal Trio (pictured above) in which one member dressed as a monkey and climbed into the audience causing mayhem – "most entertaining", said the Reporter.
There was also the Tom Davies Trio from Manchester whose dangerous motorbike routine on a special track was called "Motoring in Mid-air".
The Reporter in their preview dubbed them a "thrilling act" and they lasted thirty years with some newspapers advertising the trio as the "sensation of the century".
Brandow and Smith were American comedians who called themselves "The Ink Spot and the Chocolate Drop".
I've not been to confirm that they were black comics but it sounds like they were. And young Molly Maguire was performing too.
She was described as "a genuine Lancashire factory lass, a pure lyric soprano, who, from her first note, commands attention from every part of the house."
Meanwhile the Theatre Royal had performances of 'Aladdin', which the Reporter said in their preview offered "the usual host of tuneful ballads, catchy ditties, and of course, some wonderfully elastic rhyming."
The St Helens Reporter stated that the citizens of the town had cast all their worries aside during the festive season:
"It has been a sporting Christmas and a jolly Christmas all round. The spectre of the war has vanished. What of inflated prices, of strikes and rumours of strikes, of trade stagnation and the unemployment? It was Christmas and everyone was out to enjoy it, and we fancy everyone did enjoy it.
"Most of all the tramways' employees. A good spirit gave them the day to themselves. There were no trams on Christmas Day. Did anyone miss them? No one, we'll wager.
"Did anyone miss the usual newspapers? He is a sorry character who would “grouse” at the two-days' liberty of the newspaper producers. Most of the cinemas closed down for all performances, thereby releasing their staffs during the happiest times of the day. Can't it be made an institution, this granting of holidays on Christmas Day?
"The glorious spring weather made it an out-of-door Christmas. Snow is picturesque, and it gives fleeting moments of pleasure, but isn't the most comfortable place for it on a Christmas card, gaily bedecked with holly, and mistletoe, where it has no terrors for the old folk and no pitfalls for the younger generation?
"The traditional Christmas has gone, and the new style Christmas reigns in the stead. One institution that still flourishes is the Christmas caroller. He is an institution, if he is only a small boy who sings for pennies at some welcome-looking door.
"There were bands, too, who told in harmony the glorious tale of the Nativity nearly 2,000 years ago. The churches conducted the usual Christmas services, and crowded congregations indicated that in the joy of the holiday, devotional exercise had not been lost sight of.
"It has been the happiest Christmas St Helens has spent since 1913. May it be the forerunner of many happy Christmases to come!"
In a separate article the Reporter described how Eccleston Hall Sanatorium (pictured above) had worn a "very bright and festive look on Christmas Day. All the wards and cubicles were most carefully decorated with Christmas emblems, and a large Christmas tree laden with Christmas presents and toys for the youngsters, added to the Yuletide touch."
Dinner was a "real Christmas affair in every aspect"; the presents were distributed to the children "amidst great excitement" and in the evening a concert party entertained.
One chap performed whistling solos and "mimicked all the animals in the Zoo. He was given three cheers for his excellent turn."
However there always appears to be some folk who have to bear tragedy over the festive season – something that clearly is not new.
The Reporter wrote on the 31st: "Christmas week has come and gone. There have been both sunshine and sorrow to mingle with the festivities. For ages past there appears to have been a chapter of accidents at this period."
One occurred during Christmas night when Herbert Griffiths, the landlord of the Railway Hotel in Shaw Street, went to an all-night party.
When he returned at 6:30am on the following morning, he discovered his father dead in the beer cellar.
It was a mystery what had happened as Allan Griffiths was a butcher and he had no business in the cellar, although he did have a drink problem.
Two St Helens police officers called James Dawson and Merrick Silcock failed to turn up for duty on Christmas Day.
So Chief Constable Ellerington – a very strict disciplinarian – had the pair hauled before the next sitting of the magistrates and both were fined 40 shillings and sacked from the force.
As the 26th was on a Sunday when no sport was allowed, the Boxing Day public holiday was transferred to the following day when Saints played Wigan in the traditional match at Knowsley Road.
Before the game Lord Derby officially opened the new pavilion – which included dedicated changing rooms – that had been paid for by Pilkingtons.
Although called a pavilion it did not appear to have accommodation for spectators. However the players would have warmly welcomed the dressing rooms.
They had previously changed in a shed at the rear of the Talbot Hotel in Duke Street and then been driven to Knowsley Road.
However I think there was also another shed on the ground – that was then little more than a fenced playing field – in which players could choose to change into their playing togs.
Whichever venue was used, the new building would have been a massive improvement, as described by the St Helens Newspaper:
"In its isolated position the building looks rather small from the outside, but a tour inside reveals it as a splendidly built and most commodious establishment.
"There is an excellent gymnasium for the players, a beautiful bath – four feet deep and lined with white glazed tiles – 13ft. long and 10ft. wide, the most capacious bath in the Northern Union.
"There is a Committee Room, Secretary's Room, shower bath and offices. In short, it is a perfectly fitted and well-equipped football club headquarters, and will be the envy of every visiting club from Lancashire and Yorkshire."
The hoisting of a new flag signalled Lord Derby's arrival at the ground.
The flag and flagstaff had both been paid for by Evelyn Pilkington of Rainford Hall, who just weeks earlier had been elected the first female councillor in St Helens.
Lord Derby was handed a golden key to ceremoniously open the new pavilion and he said he hoped that it would often shelter the winning team of St Helens.
However that was not the case on this occasion, as Saints were thrashed 4 - 22 by Wigan in front of a crowd of 25,000, which was boosted by the day being a Bank Holiday.
Richard Ellison, the Mayor of St Helens, was due to attend the event in all his finery but couldn't go because he cut himself shaving. However it was arm that was slashed not his chin!
It wasn't that Cllr. Ellison's aim was bad but it was common practice for men after shaving to dry their razor by moving it up and down an arm.
Ellison must have done the act a bit too vigorously as he inflicted a severe wound on himself.
The mayor lost so much blood that a doctor had to be called who told him to rest at home for several days.
The attendance at Knowsley Road was very good but was outshone by the 53,000 that turned out at Goodison Park to see St Helens Ladies lose 0 - 4 to Dick, Kerr's of Preston. The Reporter wrote:
"The game gave evidence of woman's capacity for taking hard knocks and woman's adaptability to shine in a man's sport."
Recently there had been elephants performing at the Hippodrome and, as mentioned earlier, a few days ago a man in a monkey suit had run around the theatre leaping into women's laps as part of the Nathal Trio.
However from Boxing Day (27th) they had the real thing on stage with a pair of apes called 'Hiawatha and His Squaw Minnehaha'.
Described in the Reporter as the "most astounding educated chimpanzees", a review from a performance in London in January had said:
"Hiawatha, the educated ape, is a truly marvellous creature. He smokes, eats, drinks as well as most men, and better than many, and motors his quaint little partner, Minnehaha around in the most astounding manner."
Just whether all that smoking and drinking twice a night on stage was good for Hiawatha, I can't say.
But along with bossing his girlfriend Minnehaha around, he was certainly behaving like many a man then did!
The other turns on the bill were: Foster Kershaw ("The entertainer without a piano"); The Empire Operatic Quartette ("In gems from popular operas"); Togan and Geneva ("Wonderful jazz dancing on the wire"); Allan Shaw ("Conjuror and coin manipulator") and Hetty Ruby ("Comedienne and speciality dancer").
Also on Boxing Day the Sutton Commercial Association Football Club enjoyed a whist drive and dance at the Robins Lane Council School – as it was then known.
During the same evening the employees of Rainford Potteries of Mill Lane held their second annual Christmas dinner, social and dance at the Village Hall.
Recently a cinema had opened in the Village Hall and so the workers took advantage of the projection facilities and watched a film.
The Reporter described how the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill was "transformed into fairyland" on Boxing Day evening when a Christmas party was given to nearly 500 children belonging to the part-time volunteer soldiers. The paper wrote:
"A big tree, bedecked with fairy lanterns and coloured electric lights stretched from floor to ceiling in the centre of the hall, and round the walls were seasonable decorations in dazzling array. After tea, games were played, and Mr. Brough's orchestra rendered selections of music, whilst Sergeant Fuller, as a clown, caused great amusement.
"The Engineer Hall presented an animated appearance and all went very merrily until half-past seven, when the revelries closed and the children were formed up to receive their presents at the hands of Father Christmas himself.
"It was a memorable scene when, amid a hurricane of cheers, Col. Fox, faultlessly arrayed as Father Christmas, suddenly made his appearance and walked with stately impressiveness up and down the lines of children, then took up his position behind the great heap of tempting presents, which he handed out to the children one by one as they filed past him and departed happily homeward."
Santa was solicitor Jeremiah Haslam Fox who was also a part-time colonel in the Royal Engineer Volunteers – that were based in the Engineer Hall.
In court – and probably with his soldiers – he was a tough old bird who spoke his mind. But clearly he had a soft spot too!
Next week's stories will include the New Year's Day events in St Helens and London, a war memorial is unveiled at Sutton National School and the extraordinary horse at the Hippodrome that mimicked Charlie Chaplin.
Their items made during the past term included calendars, raffia baskets, toys, outdoor sketches and life studies, many of which would end up as Christmas gifts.
While the guests examined the articles on display, classes sang Christmas carols and performed folk dancing.
The postal service a century ago was not, of course, anything like today with many more collections and deliveries.
This week the special arrangements for Christmas began with the St Helens public having for some time been told to post early.
Not that last minute posting seemed to make any noticeable difference for local deliveries.
You could still get your cards and letters put through your letterbox in St Helens on Christmas morning as long as they were posted in the town no later than 6pm on Christmas Eve.
The St Helens Postmaster had announced that in the three-day run up to Christmas there would be "only" two daily deliveries in the town, with the first commencing at 7am and the afternoon round starting at 3:30pm.
However collections from letter boxes and sub-post offices would be made five times each day between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
Lots of parcels would, of course, be mailed to family and friends at this time of the year.
In order to reduce pressure on the main post office in Church Street, all parcels had to be posted at the Parish Church School next door.
This arrangement had been trialled in 1919 once the kids were on holiday and it had helped to reduce congestion in the main office.
However the public were warned that no letterboxes would be emptied on Christmas Day – apart from the one at the main office. I don't think any warnings are necessary today!
Christmas celebrated in London hospitals
The St Helens shops would thus be closed for three days but there was no half-day closing on the Thursday before Christmas to allow for extra sales.
The Reporter had previously written that business in the shops was brisk with tradesmen "sparing no effort to meet with all demands".
So shop staff would have had a welcome break but most would not have been paid for the time off.
That was the case with most works too, although the far-sighted Pilkingtons had introduced the concept of holidays with pay to St Helens in 1918 – although that had yet to include Bank Holidays.
Other business continued before the big day and on the 22nd the council's Health Committee gave permission for the Parish Church authorities to demolish three cottages at the rear of the old church.
This was on condition that the tenants were found suitable alternative accommodation.
As a result of the disastrous fire of 1916 the new, replacement church building was being further set back from Church Street.
That would allow the Corporation to widen the street at that point, as despite being a leading thoroughfare, Church Street was then much narrower than it is today.
The Prescot Board of Guardians met on the 23rd and heard that enquiries were being made into the cost of erecting a cinema within the wood shed.
This would be for the benefit of the inmates of the "Institution" – as the workhouse and hospital at Whiston was now known.
A bowling green was also to be constructed at the rear of the male mental hospital by "house labour" – in other words, the inmates for nothing. Well it was a workhouse!
The Guardian's Farm Sub-Committee had also instructed the Institution's Medical Officer to buy a couple of ferrets.
Just what the doctor was expected to do with the creatures was not stated but the mind boggles!
The Clerk to the Guardians said he had advertised in the medical journals for a non-residential medical officer for the institution.
However he had only received one reply "and that from a coloured doctor" who had previously applied when the present medical officer was appointed. It was decided to re-advertise.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 24th, although it had been in the newsagents a day or two before then.
The paper described a recent court case in which a 39-year-old woman had brought an action for persistent cruelty against her 85-year-old husband.
James Ashton from Ormskirk Street was accused of various types of spousal abuse during the couple's six years of marriage.
These ranged from refusing to give his wife, Rose, any housekeeping money to attempting to strangle her.
However Mr Ashton blamed his wife for being unreasonable and said it was not safe for him to live with her.
There was laughter in court when the elderly man described the night his wife sprinkled water over him in bed.
He said he asked her what she was doing and Rose replied: "Driving the Devil away".
On the following night she did the same trick but this time James was prepared.
He said he had his own jug of water ready at his bedside and threw its contents over her!
In reality such cases were about maintenance orders and the wife wanted £2 per week from her husband.
However the Bench were not impressed with such a difference in their ages and dismissed the case.
It wouldn't have been much of a Christmas for the family of Joseph Smith from Newton Road.
The 19-year-old was crushed to death under a huge stone down Southport Colliery in Parr on Christmas Eve.
Just a few days earlier James Cummings from Ashton had been blinded in one eye at Wood Pit in Haydock.
As always the Reporter had a long editorial on the meaning of Christmas in which this year its readers were asked to think of the jobless.
The post-war boom had been short-lived as many export markets had been lost. The Reporter wrote:
"Christmas is ever the season for forgetting one's self and thinking of others. That is the main reason why we find it a happy season. Never was there greater need for him that hath to give to him that has not, than there is to-day.
"Unemployment was never so prevalent and general as it is this winter, though, fortunately, St. Helens has so far been unaffected by the trade slump."
That said the jobless rate in the town was still high and the Reporter called for "this curse of unemployment" to be purged from the country before another Christmas season arrived.
The Whiston Institution (workhouse / hospital) published a rather belated appeal in the Reporter for gifts of gramophone records for the benefit of inmates and patients over Christmas.
The Bridge Street Picturedrome normally opened on Christmas Day but the cinema announced that they had decided to "study the welfare of staff" during the festive season and keep its doors closed.
However the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street would have been open with the Reporter writing:
"Christmas time is a period with which good things are associated, and in conformity with the spirit of the season, the Hippodrome management have arranged a bill which has goodness stamped all over it."
"Strangeness" is the word that I would have used to describe some of the acts!
There was also the Tom Davies Trio from Manchester whose dangerous motorbike routine on a special track was called "Motoring in Mid-air".
The Reporter in their preview dubbed them a "thrilling act" and they lasted thirty years with some newspapers advertising the trio as the "sensation of the century".
Brandow and Smith were American comedians who called themselves "The Ink Spot and the Chocolate Drop".
I've not been to confirm that they were black comics but it sounds like they were. And young Molly Maguire was performing too.
She was described as "a genuine Lancashire factory lass, a pure lyric soprano, who, from her first note, commands attention from every part of the house."
Meanwhile the Theatre Royal had performances of 'Aladdin', which the Reporter said in their preview offered "the usual host of tuneful ballads, catchy ditties, and of course, some wonderfully elastic rhyming."
The St Helens Reporter stated that the citizens of the town had cast all their worries aside during the festive season:
"It has been a sporting Christmas and a jolly Christmas all round. The spectre of the war has vanished. What of inflated prices, of strikes and rumours of strikes, of trade stagnation and the unemployment? It was Christmas and everyone was out to enjoy it, and we fancy everyone did enjoy it.
"Most of all the tramways' employees. A good spirit gave them the day to themselves. There were no trams on Christmas Day. Did anyone miss them? No one, we'll wager.
"Did anyone miss the usual newspapers? He is a sorry character who would “grouse” at the two-days' liberty of the newspaper producers. Most of the cinemas closed down for all performances, thereby releasing their staffs during the happiest times of the day. Can't it be made an institution, this granting of holidays on Christmas Day?
"The glorious spring weather made it an out-of-door Christmas. Snow is picturesque, and it gives fleeting moments of pleasure, but isn't the most comfortable place for it on a Christmas card, gaily bedecked with holly, and mistletoe, where it has no terrors for the old folk and no pitfalls for the younger generation?
"The traditional Christmas has gone, and the new style Christmas reigns in the stead. One institution that still flourishes is the Christmas caroller. He is an institution, if he is only a small boy who sings for pennies at some welcome-looking door.
"There were bands, too, who told in harmony the glorious tale of the Nativity nearly 2,000 years ago. The churches conducted the usual Christmas services, and crowded congregations indicated that in the joy of the holiday, devotional exercise had not been lost sight of.
"It has been the happiest Christmas St Helens has spent since 1913. May it be the forerunner of many happy Christmases to come!"
Dinner was a "real Christmas affair in every aspect"; the presents were distributed to the children "amidst great excitement" and in the evening a concert party entertained.
One chap performed whistling solos and "mimicked all the animals in the Zoo. He was given three cheers for his excellent turn."
However there always appears to be some folk who have to bear tragedy over the festive season – something that clearly is not new.
The Reporter wrote on the 31st: "Christmas week has come and gone. There have been both sunshine and sorrow to mingle with the festivities. For ages past there appears to have been a chapter of accidents at this period."
One occurred during Christmas night when Herbert Griffiths, the landlord of the Railway Hotel in Shaw Street, went to an all-night party.
When he returned at 6:30am on the following morning, he discovered his father dead in the beer cellar.
It was a mystery what had happened as Allan Griffiths was a butcher and he had no business in the cellar, although he did have a drink problem.
Two St Helens police officers called James Dawson and Merrick Silcock failed to turn up for duty on Christmas Day.
So Chief Constable Ellerington – a very strict disciplinarian – had the pair hauled before the next sitting of the magistrates and both were fined 40 shillings and sacked from the force.
As the 26th was on a Sunday when no sport was allowed, the Boxing Day public holiday was transferred to the following day when Saints played Wigan in the traditional match at Knowsley Road.
Before the game Lord Derby officially opened the new pavilion – which included dedicated changing rooms – that had been paid for by Pilkingtons.
Although called a pavilion it did not appear to have accommodation for spectators. However the players would have warmly welcomed the dressing rooms.
They had previously changed in a shed at the rear of the Talbot Hotel in Duke Street and then been driven to Knowsley Road.
However I think there was also another shed on the ground – that was then little more than a fenced playing field – in which players could choose to change into their playing togs.
Whichever venue was used, the new building would have been a massive improvement, as described by the St Helens Newspaper:
"In its isolated position the building looks rather small from the outside, but a tour inside reveals it as a splendidly built and most commodious establishment.
"There is an excellent gymnasium for the players, a beautiful bath – four feet deep and lined with white glazed tiles – 13ft. long and 10ft. wide, the most capacious bath in the Northern Union.
"There is a Committee Room, Secretary's Room, shower bath and offices. In short, it is a perfectly fitted and well-equipped football club headquarters, and will be the envy of every visiting club from Lancashire and Yorkshire."
The hoisting of a new flag signalled Lord Derby's arrival at the ground.
The flag and flagstaff had both been paid for by Evelyn Pilkington of Rainford Hall, who just weeks earlier had been elected the first female councillor in St Helens.
Lord Derby was handed a golden key to ceremoniously open the new pavilion and he said he hoped that it would often shelter the winning team of St Helens.
However that was not the case on this occasion, as Saints were thrashed 4 - 22 by Wigan in front of a crowd of 25,000, which was boosted by the day being a Bank Holiday.
Richard Ellison, the Mayor of St Helens, was due to attend the event in all his finery but couldn't go because he cut himself shaving. However it was arm that was slashed not his chin!
It wasn't that Cllr. Ellison's aim was bad but it was common practice for men after shaving to dry their razor by moving it up and down an arm.
Ellison must have done the act a bit too vigorously as he inflicted a severe wound on himself.
The mayor lost so much blood that a doctor had to be called who told him to rest at home for several days.
The attendance at Knowsley Road was very good but was outshone by the 53,000 that turned out at Goodison Park to see St Helens Ladies lose 0 - 4 to Dick, Kerr's of Preston. The Reporter wrote:
"The game gave evidence of woman's capacity for taking hard knocks and woman's adaptability to shine in a man's sport."
Recently there had been elephants performing at the Hippodrome and, as mentioned earlier, a few days ago a man in a monkey suit had run around the theatre leaping into women's laps as part of the Nathal Trio.
However from Boxing Day (27th) they had the real thing on stage with a pair of apes called 'Hiawatha and His Squaw Minnehaha'.
Described in the Reporter as the "most astounding educated chimpanzees", a review from a performance in London in January had said:
"Hiawatha, the educated ape, is a truly marvellous creature. He smokes, eats, drinks as well as most men, and better than many, and motors his quaint little partner, Minnehaha around in the most astounding manner."
Just whether all that smoking and drinking twice a night on stage was good for Hiawatha, I can't say.
But along with bossing his girlfriend Minnehaha around, he was certainly behaving like many a man then did!
The other turns on the bill were: Foster Kershaw ("The entertainer without a piano"); The Empire Operatic Quartette ("In gems from popular operas"); Togan and Geneva ("Wonderful jazz dancing on the wire"); Allan Shaw ("Conjuror and coin manipulator") and Hetty Ruby ("Comedienne and speciality dancer").
Also on Boxing Day the Sutton Commercial Association Football Club enjoyed a whist drive and dance at the Robins Lane Council School – as it was then known.
During the same evening the employees of Rainford Potteries of Mill Lane held their second annual Christmas dinner, social and dance at the Village Hall.
Recently a cinema had opened in the Village Hall and so the workers took advantage of the projection facilities and watched a film.
The Reporter described how the Engineer Hall in Croppers Hill was "transformed into fairyland" on Boxing Day evening when a Christmas party was given to nearly 500 children belonging to the part-time volunteer soldiers. The paper wrote:
"A big tree, bedecked with fairy lanterns and coloured electric lights stretched from floor to ceiling in the centre of the hall, and round the walls were seasonable decorations in dazzling array. After tea, games were played, and Mr. Brough's orchestra rendered selections of music, whilst Sergeant Fuller, as a clown, caused great amusement.
"The Engineer Hall presented an animated appearance and all went very merrily until half-past seven, when the revelries closed and the children were formed up to receive their presents at the hands of Father Christmas himself.
"It was a memorable scene when, amid a hurricane of cheers, Col. Fox, faultlessly arrayed as Father Christmas, suddenly made his appearance and walked with stately impressiveness up and down the lines of children, then took up his position behind the great heap of tempting presents, which he handed out to the children one by one as they filed past him and departed happily homeward."
Santa was solicitor Jeremiah Haslam Fox who was also a part-time colonel in the Royal Engineer Volunteers – that were based in the Engineer Hall.
In court – and probably with his soldiers – he was a tough old bird who spoke his mind. But clearly he had a soft spot too!
Next week's stories will include the New Year's Day events in St Helens and London, a war memorial is unveiled at Sutton National School and the extraordinary horse at the Hippodrome that mimicked Charlie Chaplin.