IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 25 - 31 MAY 1926
This week's many stories include the man discharged from court because the sun was shining, the Peasley Cross wooden hut on four wheels, the light sentence for carrying a gun on the streets of St Helens, the thousands scavenging for free coal at St Helens coal mines, the meat safe thief in Toll Bar and the miner that saved a 7-year-old from the canal receives a bravery award.
The crime of "sleeping out" (aka "lodging out") used to mean an automatic short prison sentence for those down on their luck and forced to bed down wherever they could. But when Joseph Pickavance appeared in St Helens Police Court this week accused of sleeping on Corporation premises at Gerards Bridge, Joseph Else, the Chairman of the Bench, said: "Ah, well, it is Whit Monday and the sun is shining, so off you go."
Joseph had explained that he had gone to the office of the relieving officer in St Helens on the previous Saturday night and found such a crowd waiting there that after an hour he walked to Wigan. When he returned to St Helens he said the crowd was still there and so he walked to Gerards Bridge to find somewhere to spend the night.
Joseph added that he was willing to go into the workhouse at Whiston until the miners' strike was over. Alderman Waring was also on the Bench and he said to Joseph: "Here is something to help you on your way." But the man replied, "No, thanks, I can walk," but a coin was still passed down from the Bench which Joseph was thought to have accepted.
At a meeting of St Helens Town Council on the 25th, a building that had been erected on land off Peasley Cross Lane was the subject of discussion. The wooden structure on wheels had been put up without planning permission, with Cllr Boscow claiming at the meeting that its erection had been an attempt to evade the law.
The married couple that occupied the hut had written to the council to say they had previously lived in a caravan on the same site but on account of the rent they had to pay and its limited accommodation they had built the present dwelling. Although it was a wooden hut on four small wheels, the Town Clerk said it could not be pulled away. There was also no drainage or toilet accommodation and it was uncertain whether the couple would have to pay rates.
Councillor Pilkington remarked that if they permitted this structure they would get another colony of similar buildings put up as existed in Wallasey. There, bungalows had been created out of converted railway carriages, sheds and buses, which was causing many issues, notably flooding. And so the council decided that the Peasley Cross occupants of an immobile, mobile home must give it up within a week.
Possession of a gun was still not seen as a very serious offence, despite the tightening of the law after WWI. That was through many soldiers bringing weapons back from France and the authorities' concerns over a possible armed uprising, as in Russia. In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, two men from Windle City were only fined for possessing a gun near the Hope and Anchor public house.
Stephen Allen and Thomas Lyon had asked a man at midnight for a cigarette and upon being asked what they were doing there, Allen had replied "We are after plunder". Lyon then produced a revolver and said, "If anyone tackles us, this is for them." The man reported what he had seen and several police officers were sent in search of the men and the revolver was eventually found inside the lavatory cistern of their home.
Allen said the revolver was his and had come from France. He insisted that the gun was broken but it was found to be in a working order and unlicensed. Stephen Allen was fined 20 shillings or 14 days and Thomas Lyon was fined £2 or 28 days in prison.
On the 26th a mass meeting of St Helens miners took place in which Joe Tinker MP appealed to the locked out men to stand solidly together until the dispute was settled. He told how there had been talk of running the mines with volunteers, such as students, something that he said he would welcome. That was on condition that the volunteers worked down the pits for long enough to learn what the life of a miner was really like so they could tell the government.
At a meeting of the Prescot Guardians on the 27th it was decided to change the visiting times at Whiston Institution. That was the new name for the workhouse / hospital. Visitors would now be allowed to see their relatives and friends once a week on Sundays between 2pm and 3pm. Applications to make a visit outside of those times had to be made in writing to the Medical Superintendent for his consideration.
Another brave rescue of a drowning child was recognised in St Helens Police Court on the 28th. That was when the magistrates presented James Anders with a certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, as well as £1. The young miner from Parr Street had on April 7th been cycling near the St Helens Canal when he heard a woman shouting for help after seeing Wilfred Taylor fall into the water.
The 7-year-old from Holly Bank Street had been fishing at a place where the canal was 10 to 12 feet deep and 24 feet wide and the water at that spot was very dirty. Upon hearing the woman's cries, James dashed into the water and brought out the boy who had to be given artificial respiration for 10 minutes before he could be revived. Superintendent Dunn told magistrates that there was no doubt that "the prompt and gallant act of Anders" had saved the child's life.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, Thomas Glynn declared: "The blow would not have knocked a canary off his perch". The coal dealer – along with his son James – had been charged with causing injury to an ice-cream vendor after knocking his barrow over with their coal lorry.
Dennis Connolly of Wilson Street was the ice-cream man who told the court that the two Glynns – who lived in Campbell Street – had been driving their horse-drawn lorry round the corner of Kirkland Street (pictured above) where Connolly had his ice-cream barrow. He said the lorry came too close to the pavement and caused his barrow to go over, injuring his foot. Thomas Glynn was fined £1 plus costs but said he would appeal against his conviction, although the charge against his son was withdrawn.
By the mid-1920s I imagine most of the butchers in St Helens would have had electrical refrigeration installed and cold rooms so their meat would be fresher for longer. But a small confectioner's shop, such as Jane Hayes's at Toll Bar, which only sold a bit of bacon and some other meat, would likely be content to still use the old-fashioned meat safe.
Mrs Hayes would leave the meshed meat safe in her yard overnight, which kept the produce cool but was an easy target for thieves. In court on the 28th, a fine of £2 and 5s costs was imposed on Percival Dean from Thatto Heath who had been seen going into the yard and stealing bacon and pork worth £5 from the meat safe.
Commenting on the recent Whit Bank Holiday, the St Helens Reporter wrote on the 28th: "A better antidote to the anxiety and industrial upheavals of the past few weeks could hardly be imagined than the sunny Whitsuntide holiday which we have just enjoyed. No matter how upset the world may seem, a fine bank holiday week-end makes one and all forget – for the time being – and everyone adopts that spirit of abandon and cheerfulness which associates itself with a sun-graced festival.
"Whitsuntide 1926, will go down as one of the most welcome, and incidentally the most appreciated bank holidays for years. It relieved the pent-up feelings which had their birth in the black, ominous clouds which overhung the country during the general strike. Everyone was on pleasure bent. There were record attendances at field days and all centres of open air amusement."
During the ongoing miners' strike there were two main means of how free coal could be obtained. One was to scavenge bits of coal out of colliery waste heaps. And the other was to dig out coal from where old mines outcropped at the surface. The latter usually required a bit of expertise but anybody could swarm over a waste tip and pick out coal, although both methods had their risks.
On the 28th the Liverpool Evening Express wrote that thousands of miners, their wives and children were busy rescuing coal from the heaps at Lea Green. That was in spite of appeals made by miners' leaders not to work out-crop coal or pick coal of any description. Coal picking from waste heaps was not usually allowed but the colliery company was permitting the practice between 9 am and 4 pm.
The Evening Express wrote: "Industrious crowds cart away their plunder in little wooden trucks, baskets, and even tin baths. In at least two cases the wheel from the family mangle has been removed and joined with a neighbour's to make wheels for an improvised coal cart." There were said to be similar scenes at other collieries in the district with policemen keeping order among the pickers.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool Echo on the 28th said that the miners in the St Helens district were currently receiving strike pay of 7s 6d per week, with a small additional allowance for those with children. However, the strike committee's funds were almost exhausted. The piece also said that the Co-op and other St Helens traders still had large bills owed to them by the miners after their last strike and they were now insisting on cash sales only.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Boundary Road motorbike crash, the tale of two overcoats, the state of Lancashire's roads, the financial cost of the strikes and the closed shop that was being imposed on council workers.
The crime of "sleeping out" (aka "lodging out") used to mean an automatic short prison sentence for those down on their luck and forced to bed down wherever they could. But when Joseph Pickavance appeared in St Helens Police Court this week accused of sleeping on Corporation premises at Gerards Bridge, Joseph Else, the Chairman of the Bench, said: "Ah, well, it is Whit Monday and the sun is shining, so off you go."
Joseph had explained that he had gone to the office of the relieving officer in St Helens on the previous Saturday night and found such a crowd waiting there that after an hour he walked to Wigan. When he returned to St Helens he said the crowd was still there and so he walked to Gerards Bridge to find somewhere to spend the night.
Joseph added that he was willing to go into the workhouse at Whiston until the miners' strike was over. Alderman Waring was also on the Bench and he said to Joseph: "Here is something to help you on your way." But the man replied, "No, thanks, I can walk," but a coin was still passed down from the Bench which Joseph was thought to have accepted.
At a meeting of St Helens Town Council on the 25th, a building that had been erected on land off Peasley Cross Lane was the subject of discussion. The wooden structure on wheels had been put up without planning permission, with Cllr Boscow claiming at the meeting that its erection had been an attempt to evade the law.
The married couple that occupied the hut had written to the council to say they had previously lived in a caravan on the same site but on account of the rent they had to pay and its limited accommodation they had built the present dwelling. Although it was a wooden hut on four small wheels, the Town Clerk said it could not be pulled away. There was also no drainage or toilet accommodation and it was uncertain whether the couple would have to pay rates.
Councillor Pilkington remarked that if they permitted this structure they would get another colony of similar buildings put up as existed in Wallasey. There, bungalows had been created out of converted railway carriages, sheds and buses, which was causing many issues, notably flooding. And so the council decided that the Peasley Cross occupants of an immobile, mobile home must give it up within a week.
Possession of a gun was still not seen as a very serious offence, despite the tightening of the law after WWI. That was through many soldiers bringing weapons back from France and the authorities' concerns over a possible armed uprising, as in Russia. In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, two men from Windle City were only fined for possessing a gun near the Hope and Anchor public house.
Stephen Allen and Thomas Lyon had asked a man at midnight for a cigarette and upon being asked what they were doing there, Allen had replied "We are after plunder". Lyon then produced a revolver and said, "If anyone tackles us, this is for them." The man reported what he had seen and several police officers were sent in search of the men and the revolver was eventually found inside the lavatory cistern of their home.
Allen said the revolver was his and had come from France. He insisted that the gun was broken but it was found to be in a working order and unlicensed. Stephen Allen was fined 20 shillings or 14 days and Thomas Lyon was fined £2 or 28 days in prison.
On the 26th a mass meeting of St Helens miners took place in which Joe Tinker MP appealed to the locked out men to stand solidly together until the dispute was settled. He told how there had been talk of running the mines with volunteers, such as students, something that he said he would welcome. That was on condition that the volunteers worked down the pits for long enough to learn what the life of a miner was really like so they could tell the government.
At a meeting of the Prescot Guardians on the 27th it was decided to change the visiting times at Whiston Institution. That was the new name for the workhouse / hospital. Visitors would now be allowed to see their relatives and friends once a week on Sundays between 2pm and 3pm. Applications to make a visit outside of those times had to be made in writing to the Medical Superintendent for his consideration.
Another brave rescue of a drowning child was recognised in St Helens Police Court on the 28th. That was when the magistrates presented James Anders with a certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, as well as £1. The young miner from Parr Street had on April 7th been cycling near the St Helens Canal when he heard a woman shouting for help after seeing Wilfred Taylor fall into the water.
The 7-year-old from Holly Bank Street had been fishing at a place where the canal was 10 to 12 feet deep and 24 feet wide and the water at that spot was very dirty. Upon hearing the woman's cries, James dashed into the water and brought out the boy who had to be given artificial respiration for 10 minutes before he could be revived. Superintendent Dunn told magistrates that there was no doubt that "the prompt and gallant act of Anders" had saved the child's life.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, Thomas Glynn declared: "The blow would not have knocked a canary off his perch". The coal dealer – along with his son James – had been charged with causing injury to an ice-cream vendor after knocking his barrow over with their coal lorry.
By the mid-1920s I imagine most of the butchers in St Helens would have had electrical refrigeration installed and cold rooms so their meat would be fresher for longer. But a small confectioner's shop, such as Jane Hayes's at Toll Bar, which only sold a bit of bacon and some other meat, would likely be content to still use the old-fashioned meat safe.
Mrs Hayes would leave the meshed meat safe in her yard overnight, which kept the produce cool but was an easy target for thieves. In court on the 28th, a fine of £2 and 5s costs was imposed on Percival Dean from Thatto Heath who had been seen going into the yard and stealing bacon and pork worth £5 from the meat safe.
Commenting on the recent Whit Bank Holiday, the St Helens Reporter wrote on the 28th: "A better antidote to the anxiety and industrial upheavals of the past few weeks could hardly be imagined than the sunny Whitsuntide holiday which we have just enjoyed. No matter how upset the world may seem, a fine bank holiday week-end makes one and all forget – for the time being – and everyone adopts that spirit of abandon and cheerfulness which associates itself with a sun-graced festival.
"Whitsuntide 1926, will go down as one of the most welcome, and incidentally the most appreciated bank holidays for years. It relieved the pent-up feelings which had their birth in the black, ominous clouds which overhung the country during the general strike. Everyone was on pleasure bent. There were record attendances at field days and all centres of open air amusement."
During the ongoing miners' strike there were two main means of how free coal could be obtained. One was to scavenge bits of coal out of colliery waste heaps. And the other was to dig out coal from where old mines outcropped at the surface. The latter usually required a bit of expertise but anybody could swarm over a waste tip and pick out coal, although both methods had their risks.
On the 28th the Liverpool Evening Express wrote that thousands of miners, their wives and children were busy rescuing coal from the heaps at Lea Green. That was in spite of appeals made by miners' leaders not to work out-crop coal or pick coal of any description. Coal picking from waste heaps was not usually allowed but the colliery company was permitting the practice between 9 am and 4 pm.
The Evening Express wrote: "Industrious crowds cart away their plunder in little wooden trucks, baskets, and even tin baths. In at least two cases the wheel from the family mangle has been removed and joined with a neighbour's to make wheels for an improvised coal cart." There were said to be similar scenes at other collieries in the district with policemen keeping order among the pickers.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool Echo on the 28th said that the miners in the St Helens district were currently receiving strike pay of 7s 6d per week, with a small additional allowance for those with children. However, the strike committee's funds were almost exhausted. The piece also said that the Co-op and other St Helens traders still had large bills owed to them by the miners after their last strike and they were now insisting on cash sales only.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Boundary Road motorbike crash, the tale of two overcoats, the state of Lancashire's roads, the financial cost of the strikes and the closed shop that was being imposed on council workers.
This week's many stories include the man discharged from court because the sun was shining, the Peasley Cross wooden hut on four wheels, the light sentence for carrying a gun on the streets of St Helens, the thousands scavenging for free coal at St Helens coal mines, the meat safe thief in Toll Bar and the miner that saved a 7-year-old from the canal receives a bravery award.
The crime of "sleeping out" (aka "lodging out") used to mean an automatic short prison sentence for those down on their luck and forced to bed down wherever they could.
But when Joseph Pickavance appeared in St Helens Police Court this week accused of sleeping on Corporation premises at Gerards Bridge, Joseph Else, the Chairman of the Bench, said:
"Ah, well, it is Whit Monday and the sun is shining, so off you go."
Joseph had explained that he had gone to the office of the relieving officer in St Helens on the previous Saturday night and found such a crowd waiting there that after an hour he walked to Wigan.
When he returned to St Helens he said the crowd was still there and so he walked to Gerards Bridge to find somewhere to spend the night.
Joseph added that he was willing to go into the workhouse at Whiston until the miners' strike was over.
Alderman Waring was also on the Bench and he said to Joseph: "Here is something to help you on your way."
But the man replied, "No, thanks, I can walk," but a coin was still passed down from the Bench which Joseph was thought to have accepted.
At a meeting of St Helens Town Council on the 25th, a building that had been erected on land off Peasley Cross Lane was the subject of discussion.
The wooden structure on wheels had been put up without planning permission, with Cllr Boscow claiming at the meeting that its erection had been an attempt to evade the law.
The married couple that occupied the hut had written to the council to say they had previously lived in a caravan on the same site but on account of the rent they had to pay and its limited accommodation they had built the present dwelling.
Although it was a wooden hut on four small wheels, the Town Clerk said it could not be pulled away. There was also no drainage or toilet accommodation and it was uncertain whether the couple would have to pay rates.
Councillor Pilkington remarked that if they permitted this structure they would get another colony of similar buildings put up as existed in Wallasey.
There, bungalows had been created out of converted railway carriages, sheds and buses, which was causing many issues, notably flooding.
And so the council decided that the Peasley Cross occupants of an immobile, mobile home must give it up within a week.
Possession of a gun was still not seen as a very serious offence, despite the tightening of the law after WWI.
That was through many soldiers bringing weapons back from France and the authorities' concerns over a possible armed uprising, as in Russia.
In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, two men from Windle City were only fined for possessing a gun near the Hope and Anchor public house.
Stephen Allen and Thomas Lyon had asked a man at midnight for a cigarette and upon being asked what they were doing there, Allen had replied "We are after plunder".
Lyon then produced a revolver and said, "If anyone tackles us, this is for them."
The man reported what he had seen and several police officers were sent in search of the men and the revolver was eventually found inside the lavatory cistern of their home.
Allen said the revolver was his and had come from France. He insisted that the gun was broken but it was found to be in a working order and unlicensed.
Stephen Allen was fined 20 shillings or 14 days and Thomas Lyon was fined £2 or 28 days in prison.
On the 26th a mass meeting of St Helens miners took place in which Joe Tinker MP appealed to the locked out men to stand solidly together until the dispute was settled.
He told how there had been talk of running the mines with volunteers, such as students, something that he said he would welcome.
That was on condition that the volunteers worked down the pits for long enough to learn what the life of a miner was really like so they could tell the government.
At a meeting of the Prescot Guardians on the 27th it was decided to change the visiting times at Whiston Institution. That was the new name for the workhouse / hospital.
Visitors would now be allowed to see their relatives and friends once a week on Sundays between 2pm and 3pm.
Applications to make a visit outside of those times had to be made in writing to the Medical Superintendent for his consideration.
Another brave rescue of a drowning child was recognised in St Helens Police Court on the 28th.
That was when the magistrates presented James Anders with a certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, as well as £1.
The young miner from Parr Street had on April 7th been cycling near the St Helens Canal when he heard a woman shouting for help after seeing Wilfred Taylor fall into the water.
The 7-year-old from Holly Bank Street had been fishing at a place where the canal was 10 to 12 feet deep and 24 feet wide and the water at that spot was very dirty.
Upon hearing the woman's cries, James dashed into the water and brought out the boy who had to be given artificial respiration for 10 minutes before he could be revived.
Superintendent Dunn told magistrates that there was no doubt that "the prompt and gallant act of Anders" had saved the child's life.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, Thomas Glynn declared: "The blow would not have knocked a canary off his perch".
The coal dealer – along with his son James – had been charged with causing injury to an ice-cream vendor after knocking his barrow over with their coal lorry.
Dennis Connolly of Wilson Street was the ice-cream man who told the court that the two Glynns – who lived in Campbell Street – had been driving their horse-drawn lorry round the corner of Kirkland Street (pictured above) where Connolly had his ice-cream barrow.
He said the lorry came too close to the pavement and caused his barrow to go over, injuring his foot.
Thomas Glynn was fined £1 plus costs but said he would appeal against his conviction, although the charge against his son was withdrawn.
By the mid-1920s I imagine most of the butchers in St Helens would have had electrical refrigeration installed and cold rooms so their meat would be fresher for longer.
But a small confectioner's shop, such as Jane Hayes's at Toll Bar, which only sold a bit of bacon and some other meat, would likely be content to still use the old-fashioned meat safe.
Mrs Hayes would leave the meshed meat safe in her yard overnight, which kept the produce cool but was an easy target for thieves.
In court on the 28th, a fine of £2 and 5s costs was imposed on Percival Dean from Thatto Heath who had been seen going into the yard and stealing bacon and pork worth £5 from the meat safe.
Commenting on the recent Whit Bank Holiday, the St Helens Reporter wrote on the 28th:
"A better antidote to the anxiety and industrial upheavals of the past few weeks could hardly be imagined than the sunny Whitsuntide holiday which we have just enjoyed.
"No matter how upset the world may seem, a fine bank holiday week-end makes one and all forget – for the time being – and everyone adopts that spirit of abandon and cheerfulness which associates itself with a sun-graced festival.
"Whitsuntide 1926, will go down as one of the most welcome, and incidentally the most appreciated bank holidays for years.
"It relieved the pent-up feelings which had their birth in the black, ominous clouds which overhung the country during the general strike.
"Everyone was on pleasure bent. There were record attendances at field days and all centres of open air amusement."
During the ongoing miners' strike there were two main means of how free coal could be obtained.
One was to scavenge bits of coal out of colliery waste heaps. And the other was to dig out coal from where old mines outcropped at the surface.
The latter usually required a bit of expertise but anybody could swarm over a waste tip and pick out coal, although both methods had their risks.
On the 28th the Liverpool Evening Express wrote that thousands of miners, their wives and children were busy rescuing coal from the heaps at Lea Green.
That was in spite of appeals made by miners' leaders not to work out-crop coal or pick coal of any description.
Coal picking from waste heaps was not usually allowed but the colliery company was permitting the practice between 9 am and 4 pm.
The Evening Express wrote: "Industrious crowds cart away their plunder in little wooden trucks, baskets, and even tin baths. In at least two cases the wheel from the family mangle has been removed and joined with a neighbour's to make wheels for an improvised coal cart."
There were said to be similar scenes at other collieries in the district with policemen keeping order among the pickers.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool Echo on the 28th said that the miners in the St Helens district were currently receiving strike pay of 7s 6d per week, with a small additional allowance for those with children. However, the strike committee's funds were almost exhausted.
The piece also said that the Co-op and other St Helens traders still had large bills owed to them by the miners after their last strike and they were now insisting on cash sales only.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Boundary Road motorbike crash, the tale of two overcoats, the state of Lancashire's roads, the financial cost of the strikes and the closed shop that was being imposed on council workers.
The crime of "sleeping out" (aka "lodging out") used to mean an automatic short prison sentence for those down on their luck and forced to bed down wherever they could.
But when Joseph Pickavance appeared in St Helens Police Court this week accused of sleeping on Corporation premises at Gerards Bridge, Joseph Else, the Chairman of the Bench, said:
"Ah, well, it is Whit Monday and the sun is shining, so off you go."
Joseph had explained that he had gone to the office of the relieving officer in St Helens on the previous Saturday night and found such a crowd waiting there that after an hour he walked to Wigan.
When he returned to St Helens he said the crowd was still there and so he walked to Gerards Bridge to find somewhere to spend the night.
Joseph added that he was willing to go into the workhouse at Whiston until the miners' strike was over.
Alderman Waring was also on the Bench and he said to Joseph: "Here is something to help you on your way."
But the man replied, "No, thanks, I can walk," but a coin was still passed down from the Bench which Joseph was thought to have accepted.
At a meeting of St Helens Town Council on the 25th, a building that had been erected on land off Peasley Cross Lane was the subject of discussion.
The wooden structure on wheels had been put up without planning permission, with Cllr Boscow claiming at the meeting that its erection had been an attempt to evade the law.
The married couple that occupied the hut had written to the council to say they had previously lived in a caravan on the same site but on account of the rent they had to pay and its limited accommodation they had built the present dwelling.
Although it was a wooden hut on four small wheels, the Town Clerk said it could not be pulled away. There was also no drainage or toilet accommodation and it was uncertain whether the couple would have to pay rates.
Councillor Pilkington remarked that if they permitted this structure they would get another colony of similar buildings put up as existed in Wallasey.
There, bungalows had been created out of converted railway carriages, sheds and buses, which was causing many issues, notably flooding.
And so the council decided that the Peasley Cross occupants of an immobile, mobile home must give it up within a week.
Possession of a gun was still not seen as a very serious offence, despite the tightening of the law after WWI.
That was through many soldiers bringing weapons back from France and the authorities' concerns over a possible armed uprising, as in Russia.
In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, two men from Windle City were only fined for possessing a gun near the Hope and Anchor public house.
Stephen Allen and Thomas Lyon had asked a man at midnight for a cigarette and upon being asked what they were doing there, Allen had replied "We are after plunder".
Lyon then produced a revolver and said, "If anyone tackles us, this is for them."
The man reported what he had seen and several police officers were sent in search of the men and the revolver was eventually found inside the lavatory cistern of their home.
Allen said the revolver was his and had come from France. He insisted that the gun was broken but it was found to be in a working order and unlicensed.
Stephen Allen was fined 20 shillings or 14 days and Thomas Lyon was fined £2 or 28 days in prison.
On the 26th a mass meeting of St Helens miners took place in which Joe Tinker MP appealed to the locked out men to stand solidly together until the dispute was settled.
He told how there had been talk of running the mines with volunteers, such as students, something that he said he would welcome.
That was on condition that the volunteers worked down the pits for long enough to learn what the life of a miner was really like so they could tell the government.
At a meeting of the Prescot Guardians on the 27th it was decided to change the visiting times at Whiston Institution. That was the new name for the workhouse / hospital.
Visitors would now be allowed to see their relatives and friends once a week on Sundays between 2pm and 3pm.
Applications to make a visit outside of those times had to be made in writing to the Medical Superintendent for his consideration.
Another brave rescue of a drowning child was recognised in St Helens Police Court on the 28th.
That was when the magistrates presented James Anders with a certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, as well as £1.
The young miner from Parr Street had on April 7th been cycling near the St Helens Canal when he heard a woman shouting for help after seeing Wilfred Taylor fall into the water.
The 7-year-old from Holly Bank Street had been fishing at a place where the canal was 10 to 12 feet deep and 24 feet wide and the water at that spot was very dirty.
Upon hearing the woman's cries, James dashed into the water and brought out the boy who had to be given artificial respiration for 10 minutes before he could be revived.
Superintendent Dunn told magistrates that there was no doubt that "the prompt and gallant act of Anders" had saved the child's life.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, Thomas Glynn declared: "The blow would not have knocked a canary off his perch".
The coal dealer – along with his son James – had been charged with causing injury to an ice-cream vendor after knocking his barrow over with their coal lorry.
He said the lorry came too close to the pavement and caused his barrow to go over, injuring his foot.
Thomas Glynn was fined £1 plus costs but said he would appeal against his conviction, although the charge against his son was withdrawn.
By the mid-1920s I imagine most of the butchers in St Helens would have had electrical refrigeration installed and cold rooms so their meat would be fresher for longer.
But a small confectioner's shop, such as Jane Hayes's at Toll Bar, which only sold a bit of bacon and some other meat, would likely be content to still use the old-fashioned meat safe.
Mrs Hayes would leave the meshed meat safe in her yard overnight, which kept the produce cool but was an easy target for thieves.
In court on the 28th, a fine of £2 and 5s costs was imposed on Percival Dean from Thatto Heath who had been seen going into the yard and stealing bacon and pork worth £5 from the meat safe.
Commenting on the recent Whit Bank Holiday, the St Helens Reporter wrote on the 28th:
"A better antidote to the anxiety and industrial upheavals of the past few weeks could hardly be imagined than the sunny Whitsuntide holiday which we have just enjoyed.
"No matter how upset the world may seem, a fine bank holiday week-end makes one and all forget – for the time being – and everyone adopts that spirit of abandon and cheerfulness which associates itself with a sun-graced festival.
"Whitsuntide 1926, will go down as one of the most welcome, and incidentally the most appreciated bank holidays for years.
"It relieved the pent-up feelings which had their birth in the black, ominous clouds which overhung the country during the general strike.
"Everyone was on pleasure bent. There were record attendances at field days and all centres of open air amusement."
During the ongoing miners' strike there were two main means of how free coal could be obtained.
One was to scavenge bits of coal out of colliery waste heaps. And the other was to dig out coal from where old mines outcropped at the surface.
The latter usually required a bit of expertise but anybody could swarm over a waste tip and pick out coal, although both methods had their risks.
On the 28th the Liverpool Evening Express wrote that thousands of miners, their wives and children were busy rescuing coal from the heaps at Lea Green.
That was in spite of appeals made by miners' leaders not to work out-crop coal or pick coal of any description.
Coal picking from waste heaps was not usually allowed but the colliery company was permitting the practice between 9 am and 4 pm.
The Evening Express wrote: "Industrious crowds cart away their plunder in little wooden trucks, baskets, and even tin baths. In at least two cases the wheel from the family mangle has been removed and joined with a neighbour's to make wheels for an improvised coal cart."
There were said to be similar scenes at other collieries in the district with policemen keeping order among the pickers.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool Echo on the 28th said that the miners in the St Helens district were currently receiving strike pay of 7s 6d per week, with a small additional allowance for those with children. However, the strike committee's funds were almost exhausted.
The piece also said that the Co-op and other St Helens traders still had large bills owed to them by the miners after their last strike and they were now insisting on cash sales only.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Boundary Road motorbike crash, the tale of two overcoats, the state of Lancashire's roads, the financial cost of the strikes and the closed shop that was being imposed on council workers.