IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th DEC. 1921 - 2nd JAN. 1922)
This week's stories include the reign of terror by a gang of child bandits, the serious flooding in St Helens, the poor children's New Year breakfasts, how government austerity was threatening a St Helens new mothers milk scheme and a fundraiser for the St Aggie's fallen women.
We begin on the 27th with the appearance in St Helens Juvenile Court of two Sutton boys aged eleven and twelve. The unnamed lads admitted breaking into cabins at the St Helens Junction goods yard and opening lockers. Papers were strewn about, some damage was done and soap and fog signals were stolen. The boys were already on probation and they were each fined ten shillings and warned that if they came to court again they would be sent to a reformatory.
As mentioned in last week's Christmas special, the weather over the festive season in St Helens had been very wet. The flooding in Clock Face Road was so bad that by the 28th the road had to be closed to most traffic after the rushing water damaged Dam House bridge. It was feared that it could take 3 to 4 weeks to carry out repairs and in the meantime the Clock Face and Sutton Manor motorbus service was being diverted. Moss Nook and Watery Lane in Sutton were again under water, with the Reporter writing:
"Many houses are isolated, and access can only be obtained to them by wading through the water. The ground floors of some are under water, and the families have to live in the upper rooms. One stable has had fifteen inches of water in it during the week, and the horses had to be brought out through the flood and stabled elsewhere." The private Sherdley Park (owned by Col. Michael Hughes) was badly affected by the floods – leading to the public right of way known as "the Score" having to be closed.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, five boys and a girl admitted involvement in a string of thefts from shops, offices, the YMCA – and even a church. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the hearing in a somewhat over-the-top manner:
"During the month of December, St. Helens has passed, all unobservant, through a reign of terror by a gang of bandits. Offices have been entered, shopkeepers deceived by tricks and the sleuths of the police kept busy on enquiries. Now the reign of the bandit king (aged 11) and his companions in evil, whose ages ranged from 9 to 14 years, has been broken by the arrest and conviction at the St Helens Police Court, on Wednesday, of the bold, bad boys, behind whose schemes, it was said, was a girl of 16 years, who, in a modified form, assumed the role of “the woman in the case”."
The Lancashire Evening Post in their account described the girl as a female Fagin: "The girl played the part of Fagin, accepting the stolen goods, pledging them, and taking the lion's share of the plunder herself, the boys enjoying themselves at a town fair out of the remainder. The girl was employed by a firm of confectioners delivering cakes, but gave the goods away, and paid for them by the proceeds of the burglaries. A revolver produced in court formed part of the boys’ outfit, but no suggestion was made that the weapon had been used." The unnamed girl was sent to a home, her younger brother and three other lads were ordered to be birched and a fifth boy was despatched to a reformatory.
In 1917 allotments were set up in a number of St Helens' parks (such as Victoria Park above) – and in other places, such as schools and recreation grounds – to help alleviate food shortages caused by the war. After the armistice the allotments in the parks were allowed to continue, although holders were warned that there would come a time when they'd be discontinued. At a meeting of the council's Parks Committee on the 28th, a discussion took place over whether twelve months notice should now be given to allotment holders.
The chairman of the committee said that the recreation grounds were fully needed to keep children off the streets and many of the allotments were not being worked. For example, at Gaskell Park in Parr there were 33 available allotments. But, of these, only 18 had been taken and only about half of those were presently being cultivated, with some grown food, such as potatoes, not having been collected. However, the committee decided to investigate whether land for allotments could be found in alternative places before giving the holders of plots in the parks notice to quit. They would then be able to transfer their holdings, as opposed to discontinuing them.
St Helens Corporation had done much to improve levels of child mortality and stunted growth over the past twenty years – as well as the health of expectant and new mothers. In part this had been through its pioneering milk scheme. The borough had been the first in England to possess a municipal supply of sterilised milk. Maternity centres had been established at the Town Hall, Albion Street, Elizabeth Street and in Marshalls Cross where free milk was distributed to children under five (although mainly to infants under two). Milk was also given free to new mothers and some also received food parcels.
When the council's Health Committee met on the 28th, its members were told that Government austerity measures might endanger their work. The Health Ministry had written to the council stipulating that its supply of free milk to expectant and nursing mothers had to be curtailed for the financial year 1922-23. Also ending was the issuing of food parcels to new mothers. This would be replaced by a meal costing no more than sixpence, which would be dished out at feeding centres (mainly schools).
However, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health told the meeting that pregnant and new mothers would not go to schools for meals and that the Ministry were also insisting that free milk could only be given to infants for a maximum of twelve months. The meeting decided that the chairman of the committee and their medical officer would visit the Ministry of Health in London to discuss the matter.
In 1915 Francis Dixon-Nuttall – the founder of Nuttall's bottle works – died at his home at Nutgrove Hall. Few people wanted large properties during the war and so the building was converted into the St Agnes Maternity Home & Crèche – otherwise known as a home for "fallen women", or just "St Aggie's". One committee of volunteers ran the maternity side of the home and a different one ran and fundraised for the crèche side.
The latter committee had come up with a novel means of raising cash, which was called "The Mile". At 10am on the 31st at the Town Hall, the Mayoress of St Helens laid the first 100 pennies of what would hopefully stretch to the equivalent of a mile in length. A yard of pennies was 2s 6d and so, according to my calculations, if the mile was reached, £220 would be raised for the crèche.
At an inquest held on the 31st at the Town Hall, it was revealed that the identity of a man discovered dead in a field at Eccleston almost two months ago was now known. Some bodies – especially those that had lain in the canal for weeks – were never identified. But a Mrs Whittaker from Westfield Street was able to confirm that the dead man was her brother William Halsall who had gone missing in early November. She told the hearing that she had read the Reporter's article on a man being found with his throat cut. However, as William had never threatened to take his life and had what was described as a "roving disposition", she did not make the connection.
On New Year's Day popular St Helens elocutionist Wilson Nicholson recited Dickens' 'Christmas Carol' at the Hippodrome theatre on behalf of Lowe House Church. Nicholson was well known for his recitals and dramatic readings during the ‘20s and ‘30s, which he gave in many towns in the north of England to large audiences.
With the New Year being a Sunday, the newsboys and poor children's breakfasts took place on the following day. This annual event had been held on the first day of the year since 1877, when it was founded by the late Joseph Bethell Leach of the estate agency / auctioneers. As well as tucking in to a substantial meal, entertainment was provided for the kids at numerous centres within the borough.
This year 3,000 children were accommodated at eleven centres (mainly schools) with J. B.'s son Wilfred and daughter Emily Leach in charge of the arrangements. A large number of volunteers also assisted at each centre. The Reporter wrote: "Happy gatherings were witnessed at all the centres, and the children had a thoroughly good time." The Mayor, Richard Ellison, and the St Helens MP, James Sexton, were among those that visited each centre and addressed the children.
And finally, a century ago this week, the Daily Mirror invited its readers to write in with their hopes and wishes for the New Year. This is a selection along with the paper's own headlines:
A HOLIDAY FOR CRANKS – "With the utmost sincerity I wish that all “reformers” would take a year's holiday from New Year's Day. If only the busybodies and cranks would be content with the harm they have already wrought and leave us alone for a year we might regain our self-respect and love of freedom." – MODERN SLAVE, Banbury.
PLENTY OF NEW FROCKS! – "I'm afraid my New Year's wish is a very feminine one, but I don't care. I'm going to tell it. I want lots and lots of new frocks! One's wardrobe does look so sad and sorry after Christmas festivities! One hears a lot of talk about clothes being cheaper in the New Year." – FEMININE.
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! – "A real peace is the crying need of the New Year. Until the leaders of the nations can agree to co-operate politically and economically there can be no prosperity among the peoples. Let us turn over a new leaf in international history! The world sickens of hates and rivalries. It is for mankind to heal the war wounds by sympathy and reconciliation." – ADRIAN BURY.
LESS INCOME-TAX! – "My most earnest wish on New Year's Eve is that the coming year will see a reduction of income-tax – with half a chance of paying what I already owe!" – P. [We have received many other letters containing this evidently common New Year wish. — Ed. D.M.]
THREE WISHES. – "When I was a child fairy godmothers always allowed three wishes, and I claim the right to exercise the ancient privilege on New Year's Eve. All I wish for is: (1) A Tube railway system in London that actually takes you where it claims to, without leaving half the journey to be completed on foot in the bowels of the earth. (2) The recognition of the financial responsibilities of fathers by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. (3) The total suppression of fashion writers who inspire in our wives ambitions incompatible with our incomes." – RADLAV.
Next week's stories will include plans for road widening and improvement schemes in St Helens, the Sutton flooding that was described as disgraceful, the brute of a husband from Bank Street and the illegal Sutton Manor raffle for a doll's house.
We begin on the 27th with the appearance in St Helens Juvenile Court of two Sutton boys aged eleven and twelve. The unnamed lads admitted breaking into cabins at the St Helens Junction goods yard and opening lockers. Papers were strewn about, some damage was done and soap and fog signals were stolen. The boys were already on probation and they were each fined ten shillings and warned that if they came to court again they would be sent to a reformatory.
As mentioned in last week's Christmas special, the weather over the festive season in St Helens had been very wet. The flooding in Clock Face Road was so bad that by the 28th the road had to be closed to most traffic after the rushing water damaged Dam House bridge. It was feared that it could take 3 to 4 weeks to carry out repairs and in the meantime the Clock Face and Sutton Manor motorbus service was being diverted. Moss Nook and Watery Lane in Sutton were again under water, with the Reporter writing:
"Many houses are isolated, and access can only be obtained to them by wading through the water. The ground floors of some are under water, and the families have to live in the upper rooms. One stable has had fifteen inches of water in it during the week, and the horses had to be brought out through the flood and stabled elsewhere." The private Sherdley Park (owned by Col. Michael Hughes) was badly affected by the floods – leading to the public right of way known as "the Score" having to be closed.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, five boys and a girl admitted involvement in a string of thefts from shops, offices, the YMCA – and even a church. This is how the St Helens Reporter described the hearing in a somewhat over-the-top manner:
"During the month of December, St. Helens has passed, all unobservant, through a reign of terror by a gang of bandits. Offices have been entered, shopkeepers deceived by tricks and the sleuths of the police kept busy on enquiries. Now the reign of the bandit king (aged 11) and his companions in evil, whose ages ranged from 9 to 14 years, has been broken by the arrest and conviction at the St Helens Police Court, on Wednesday, of the bold, bad boys, behind whose schemes, it was said, was a girl of 16 years, who, in a modified form, assumed the role of “the woman in the case”."
The Lancashire Evening Post in their account described the girl as a female Fagin: "The girl played the part of Fagin, accepting the stolen goods, pledging them, and taking the lion's share of the plunder herself, the boys enjoying themselves at a town fair out of the remainder. The girl was employed by a firm of confectioners delivering cakes, but gave the goods away, and paid for them by the proceeds of the burglaries. A revolver produced in court formed part of the boys’ outfit, but no suggestion was made that the weapon had been used." The unnamed girl was sent to a home, her younger brother and three other lads were ordered to be birched and a fifth boy was despatched to a reformatory.
The chairman of the committee said that the recreation grounds were fully needed to keep children off the streets and many of the allotments were not being worked. For example, at Gaskell Park in Parr there were 33 available allotments. But, of these, only 18 had been taken and only about half of those were presently being cultivated, with some grown food, such as potatoes, not having been collected. However, the committee decided to investigate whether land for allotments could be found in alternative places before giving the holders of plots in the parks notice to quit. They would then be able to transfer their holdings, as opposed to discontinuing them.
St Helens Corporation had done much to improve levels of child mortality and stunted growth over the past twenty years – as well as the health of expectant and new mothers. In part this had been through its pioneering milk scheme. The borough had been the first in England to possess a municipal supply of sterilised milk. Maternity centres had been established at the Town Hall, Albion Street, Elizabeth Street and in Marshalls Cross where free milk was distributed to children under five (although mainly to infants under two). Milk was also given free to new mothers and some also received food parcels.
When the council's Health Committee met on the 28th, its members were told that Government austerity measures might endanger their work. The Health Ministry had written to the council stipulating that its supply of free milk to expectant and nursing mothers had to be curtailed for the financial year 1922-23. Also ending was the issuing of food parcels to new mothers. This would be replaced by a meal costing no more than sixpence, which would be dished out at feeding centres (mainly schools).
However, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health told the meeting that pregnant and new mothers would not go to schools for meals and that the Ministry were also insisting that free milk could only be given to infants for a maximum of twelve months. The meeting decided that the chairman of the committee and their medical officer would visit the Ministry of Health in London to discuss the matter.
In 1915 Francis Dixon-Nuttall – the founder of Nuttall's bottle works – died at his home at Nutgrove Hall. Few people wanted large properties during the war and so the building was converted into the St Agnes Maternity Home & Crèche – otherwise known as a home for "fallen women", or just "St Aggie's". One committee of volunteers ran the maternity side of the home and a different one ran and fundraised for the crèche side.
The latter committee had come up with a novel means of raising cash, which was called "The Mile". At 10am on the 31st at the Town Hall, the Mayoress of St Helens laid the first 100 pennies of what would hopefully stretch to the equivalent of a mile in length. A yard of pennies was 2s 6d and so, according to my calculations, if the mile was reached, £220 would be raised for the crèche.
At an inquest held on the 31st at the Town Hall, it was revealed that the identity of a man discovered dead in a field at Eccleston almost two months ago was now known. Some bodies – especially those that had lain in the canal for weeks – were never identified. But a Mrs Whittaker from Westfield Street was able to confirm that the dead man was her brother William Halsall who had gone missing in early November. She told the hearing that she had read the Reporter's article on a man being found with his throat cut. However, as William had never threatened to take his life and had what was described as a "roving disposition", she did not make the connection.
On New Year's Day popular St Helens elocutionist Wilson Nicholson recited Dickens' 'Christmas Carol' at the Hippodrome theatre on behalf of Lowe House Church. Nicholson was well known for his recitals and dramatic readings during the ‘20s and ‘30s, which he gave in many towns in the north of England to large audiences.
With the New Year being a Sunday, the newsboys and poor children's breakfasts took place on the following day. This annual event had been held on the first day of the year since 1877, when it was founded by the late Joseph Bethell Leach of the estate agency / auctioneers. As well as tucking in to a substantial meal, entertainment was provided for the kids at numerous centres within the borough.
This year 3,000 children were accommodated at eleven centres (mainly schools) with J. B.'s son Wilfred and daughter Emily Leach in charge of the arrangements. A large number of volunteers also assisted at each centre. The Reporter wrote: "Happy gatherings were witnessed at all the centres, and the children had a thoroughly good time." The Mayor, Richard Ellison, and the St Helens MP, James Sexton, were among those that visited each centre and addressed the children.
And finally, a century ago this week, the Daily Mirror invited its readers to write in with their hopes and wishes for the New Year. This is a selection along with the paper's own headlines:
A HOLIDAY FOR CRANKS – "With the utmost sincerity I wish that all “reformers” would take a year's holiday from New Year's Day. If only the busybodies and cranks would be content with the harm they have already wrought and leave us alone for a year we might regain our self-respect and love of freedom." – MODERN SLAVE, Banbury.
PLENTY OF NEW FROCKS! – "I'm afraid my New Year's wish is a very feminine one, but I don't care. I'm going to tell it. I want lots and lots of new frocks! One's wardrobe does look so sad and sorry after Christmas festivities! One hears a lot of talk about clothes being cheaper in the New Year." – FEMININE.
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! – "A real peace is the crying need of the New Year. Until the leaders of the nations can agree to co-operate politically and economically there can be no prosperity among the peoples. Let us turn over a new leaf in international history! The world sickens of hates and rivalries. It is for mankind to heal the war wounds by sympathy and reconciliation." – ADRIAN BURY.
LESS INCOME-TAX! – "My most earnest wish on New Year's Eve is that the coming year will see a reduction of income-tax – with half a chance of paying what I already owe!" – P. [We have received many other letters containing this evidently common New Year wish. — Ed. D.M.]
THREE WISHES. – "When I was a child fairy godmothers always allowed three wishes, and I claim the right to exercise the ancient privilege on New Year's Eve. All I wish for is: (1) A Tube railway system in London that actually takes you where it claims to, without leaving half the journey to be completed on foot in the bowels of the earth. (2) The recognition of the financial responsibilities of fathers by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. (3) The total suppression of fashion writers who inspire in our wives ambitions incompatible with our incomes." – RADLAV.
Next week's stories will include plans for road widening and improvement schemes in St Helens, the Sutton flooding that was described as disgraceful, the brute of a husband from Bank Street and the illegal Sutton Manor raffle for a doll's house.
This week's stories include the reign of terror by a gang of child bandits, the serious flooding in St Helens, the poor children's New Year breakfasts, how government austerity was threatening a St Helens new mothers milk scheme and a fundraiser for the St Aggie's fallen women.
We begin on the 27th with the appearance in St Helens Juvenile Court of two Sutton boys aged eleven and twelve.
The unnamed lads admitted breaking into cabins at the St Helens Junction goods yard and opening lockers.
Papers were strewn about, some damage was done and soap and fog signals were stolen.
The boys were already on probation and they were each fined ten shillings and warned that if they came to court again they would be sent to a reformatory.
As mentioned in last week's Christmas special, the weather over the festive season in St Helens had been very wet.
The flooding in Clock Face Road was so bad that by the 28th the road had to be closed to most traffic after the rushing water damaged Dam House bridge.
It was feared that it could take 3 to 4 weeks to carry out repairs and in the meantime the Clock Face and Sutton Manor motorbus service was being diverted.
Moss Nook and Watery Lane in Sutton were again under water, with the Reporter writing:
"Many houses are isolated, and access can only be obtained to them by wading through the water. The ground floors of some are under water, and the families have to live in the upper rooms. One stable has had fifteen inches of water in it during the week, and the horses had to be brought out through the flood and stabled elsewhere."
The private Sherdley Park (owned by Col. Michael Hughes) was badly affected by the floods – leading to the public right of way known as "the Score" having to be closed.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, five boys and a girl admitted involvement in a string of thefts from shops, offices, the YMCA – and even a church.
This is how the St Helens Reporter described the hearing in a somewhat over-the-top manner:
"During the month of December, St. Helens has passed, all unobservant, through a reign of terror by a gang of bandits. Offices have been entered, shopkeepers deceived by tricks and the sleuths of the police kept busy on enquiries.
"Now the reign of the bandit king (aged 11) and his companions in evil, whose ages ranged from 9 to 14 years, has been broken by the arrest and conviction at the St Helens Police Court, on Wednesday, of the bold, bad boys, behind whose schemes, it was said, was a girl of 16 years, who, in a modified form, assumed the role of “the woman in the case”."
The Lancashire Evening Post in their account described the girl as a female Fagin:
"The girl played the part of Fagin, accepting the stolen goods, pledging them, and taking the lion's share of the plunder herself, the boys enjoying themselves at a town fair out of the remainder.
"The girl was employed by a firm of confectioners delivering cakes, but gave the goods away, and paid for them by the proceeds of the burglaries. A revolver produced in court formed part of the boys’ outfit, but no suggestion was made that the weapon had been used."
The unnamed girl was sent to a home, her younger brother and three other lads were ordered to be birched and a fifth boy was despatched to a reformatory.
In 1917 allotments were set up in a number of St Helens' parks (such as Victoria Park above) – and in other places, such as schools and recreation grounds – to help alleviate food shortages caused by the war.
After the armistice the allotments in the parks were allowed to continue, although holders were warned that there would come a time when they'd be discontinued.
At a meeting of the council's Parks Committee on the 28th, a discussion took place over whether twelve months notice should now be given to allotment holders.
The chairman of the committee said that the recreation grounds were fully needed to keep children off the streets and many of the allotments were not being worked.
For example, at Gaskell Park in Parr there were 33 available allotments. But, of these, only 18 had been taken and only about half of those were presently being cultivated, with some grown food, such as potatoes, not having been collected.
However, the committee decided to investigate whether land for allotments could be found in alternative places before giving the holders of plots in the parks notice to quit.
They would then be able to transfer their holdings, as opposed to discontinuing them.
St Helens Corporation had done much to improve levels of child mortality and stunted growth over the past twenty years – as well as the health of expectant and new mothers. In part this had been through its pioneering milk scheme.
The borough had been the first in England to possess a municipal supply of sterilised milk.
Maternity centres had been established at the Town Hall, Albion Street, Elizabeth Street and in Marshalls Cross where free milk was distributed to children under five (although mainly to infants under two).
Milk was also given free to new mothers and some also received food parcels.
When the council's Health Committee met on the 28th, its members were told that Government austerity measures might endanger their work.
The Health Ministry had written to the council stipulating that its supply of free milk to expectant and nursing mothers had to be curtailed for the financial year 1922-23.
Also ending was the issuing of food parcels to new mothers. This would be replaced by a meal costing no more than sixpence, which would be dished out at feeding centres (mainly schools).
However, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health told the meeting that pregnant and new mothers would not go to schools for meals and that the Ministry were also insisting that free milk could only be given to infants for a maximum of twelve months.
The meeting decided that the chairman of the committee and their medical officer would visit the Ministry of Health in London to discuss the matter.
In 1915 Francis Dixon-Nuttall – the founder of Nuttall's bottle works – died at his home at Nutgrove Hall.
Few people wanted large properties during the war and so the building was converted into the St Agnes Maternity Home & Crèche – otherwise known as a home for "fallen women", or just "St Aggie's".
One committee of volunteers ran the maternity side of the home and a different one ran and fundraised for the crèche side.
The latter committee had come up with a novel means of raising cash, which was called "The Mile".
At 10am on the 31st at the Town Hall, the Mayoress of St Helens laid the first 100 pennies of what would hopefully stretch to the equivalent of a mile in length.
A yard of pennies was 2s 6d and so, according to my calculations, if the mile was reached, £220 would be raised for the crèche.
At an inquest held on the 31st at the Town Hall, it was revealed that the identity of a man discovered dead in a field at Eccleston almost two months ago was now known.
Some bodies – especially those that had lain in the canal for weeks – were never identified.
But a Mrs Whittaker from Westfield Street was able to confirm that the dead man was her brother William Halsall who had gone missing in early November.
She told the hearing that she had read the Reporter's article on a man being found with his throat cut.
However, as William had never threatened to take his life and had what was described as a "roving disposition", she did not make the connection.
On New Year's Day popular St Helens elocutionist Wilson Nicholson recited Dickens' 'Christmas Carol' at the Hippodrome theatre on behalf of Lowe House Church.
Nicholson was well known for his recitals and dramatic readings during the ‘20s and ‘30s, which he gave in many towns in the north of England to large audiences.
With the New Year being a Sunday, the newsboys and poor children's breakfasts took place on the following day.
This annual event had been held on the first day of the year since 1877, when it was founded by the late Joseph Bethell Leach of the estate agency / auctioneers.
As well as tucking in to a substantial meal, entertainment was provided for the kids at numerous centres within the borough.
This year 3,000 children were accommodated at eleven centres (mainly schools) with J. B.'s son Wilfred and daughter Emily Leach in charge of the arrangements.
A large number of volunteers also assisted at each centre. The Reporter wrote:
"Happy gatherings were witnessed at all the centres, and the children had a thoroughly good time."
The Mayor, Richard Ellison, and the St Helens MP, James Sexton, were among those that visited each centre and addressed the children.
And finally, a century ago this week, the Daily Mirror invited its readers to write in with their hopes and wishes for the New Year. This is a selection along with the paper's own headlines:
A HOLIDAY FOR CRANKS – "With the utmost sincerity I wish that all “reformers” would take a year's holiday from New Year's Day. If only the busybodies and cranks would be content with the harm they have already wrought and leave us alone for a year we might regain our self-respect and love of freedom." – MODERN SLAVE, Banbury.
PLENTY OF NEW FROCKS! – "I'm afraid my New Year's wish is a very feminine one, but I don't care. I'm going to tell it. I want lots and lots of new frocks! One's wardrobe does look so sad and sorry after Christmas festivities! One hears a lot of talk about clothes being cheaper in the New Year." – FEMININE.
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! – "A real peace is the crying need of the New Year. Until the leaders of the nations can agree to co-operate politically and economically there can be no prosperity among the peoples.
"Let us turn over a new leaf in international history! The world sickens of hates and rivalries. It is for mankind to heal the war wounds by sympathy and reconciliation." – ADRIAN BURY.
LESS INCOME-TAX! – "My most earnest wish on New Year's Eve is that the coming year will see a reduction of income-tax – with half a chance of paying what I already owe!" – P.
[We have received many other letters containing this evidently common New Year wish. — Ed. D.M.]
THREE WISHES. – "When I was a child fairy godmothers always allowed three wishes, and I claim the right to exercise the ancient privilege on New Year's Eve. All I wish for is:
(1) A Tube railway system in London that actually takes you where it claims to, without leaving half the journey to be completed on foot in the bowels of the earth.
(2) The recognition of the financial responsibilities of fathers by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
(3) The total suppression of fashion writers who inspire in our wives ambitions incompatible with our incomes." – RADLAV.
Next week's stories will include plans for road widening and improvement schemes in St Helens, the Sutton flooding that was described as disgraceful, the brute of a husband from Bank Street and the illegal Sutton Manor raffle for a doll's house.
We begin on the 27th with the appearance in St Helens Juvenile Court of two Sutton boys aged eleven and twelve.
The unnamed lads admitted breaking into cabins at the St Helens Junction goods yard and opening lockers.
Papers were strewn about, some damage was done and soap and fog signals were stolen.
The boys were already on probation and they were each fined ten shillings and warned that if they came to court again they would be sent to a reformatory.
As mentioned in last week's Christmas special, the weather over the festive season in St Helens had been very wet.
The flooding in Clock Face Road was so bad that by the 28th the road had to be closed to most traffic after the rushing water damaged Dam House bridge.
It was feared that it could take 3 to 4 weeks to carry out repairs and in the meantime the Clock Face and Sutton Manor motorbus service was being diverted.
Moss Nook and Watery Lane in Sutton were again under water, with the Reporter writing:
"Many houses are isolated, and access can only be obtained to them by wading through the water. The ground floors of some are under water, and the families have to live in the upper rooms. One stable has had fifteen inches of water in it during the week, and the horses had to be brought out through the flood and stabled elsewhere."
The private Sherdley Park (owned by Col. Michael Hughes) was badly affected by the floods – leading to the public right of way known as "the Score" having to be closed.
In St Helens Police Court on the 28th, five boys and a girl admitted involvement in a string of thefts from shops, offices, the YMCA – and even a church.
This is how the St Helens Reporter described the hearing in a somewhat over-the-top manner:
"During the month of December, St. Helens has passed, all unobservant, through a reign of terror by a gang of bandits. Offices have been entered, shopkeepers deceived by tricks and the sleuths of the police kept busy on enquiries.
"Now the reign of the bandit king (aged 11) and his companions in evil, whose ages ranged from 9 to 14 years, has been broken by the arrest and conviction at the St Helens Police Court, on Wednesday, of the bold, bad boys, behind whose schemes, it was said, was a girl of 16 years, who, in a modified form, assumed the role of “the woman in the case”."
The Lancashire Evening Post in their account described the girl as a female Fagin:
"The girl played the part of Fagin, accepting the stolen goods, pledging them, and taking the lion's share of the plunder herself, the boys enjoying themselves at a town fair out of the remainder.
"The girl was employed by a firm of confectioners delivering cakes, but gave the goods away, and paid for them by the proceeds of the burglaries. A revolver produced in court formed part of the boys’ outfit, but no suggestion was made that the weapon had been used."
The unnamed girl was sent to a home, her younger brother and three other lads were ordered to be birched and a fifth boy was despatched to a reformatory.
After the armistice the allotments in the parks were allowed to continue, although holders were warned that there would come a time when they'd be discontinued.
At a meeting of the council's Parks Committee on the 28th, a discussion took place over whether twelve months notice should now be given to allotment holders.
The chairman of the committee said that the recreation grounds were fully needed to keep children off the streets and many of the allotments were not being worked.
For example, at Gaskell Park in Parr there were 33 available allotments. But, of these, only 18 had been taken and only about half of those were presently being cultivated, with some grown food, such as potatoes, not having been collected.
However, the committee decided to investigate whether land for allotments could be found in alternative places before giving the holders of plots in the parks notice to quit.
They would then be able to transfer their holdings, as opposed to discontinuing them.
St Helens Corporation had done much to improve levels of child mortality and stunted growth over the past twenty years – as well as the health of expectant and new mothers. In part this had been through its pioneering milk scheme.
The borough had been the first in England to possess a municipal supply of sterilised milk.
Maternity centres had been established at the Town Hall, Albion Street, Elizabeth Street and in Marshalls Cross where free milk was distributed to children under five (although mainly to infants under two).
Milk was also given free to new mothers and some also received food parcels.
When the council's Health Committee met on the 28th, its members were told that Government austerity measures might endanger their work.
The Health Ministry had written to the council stipulating that its supply of free milk to expectant and nursing mothers had to be curtailed for the financial year 1922-23.
Also ending was the issuing of food parcels to new mothers. This would be replaced by a meal costing no more than sixpence, which would be dished out at feeding centres (mainly schools).
However, the St Helens Medical Officer of Health told the meeting that pregnant and new mothers would not go to schools for meals and that the Ministry were also insisting that free milk could only be given to infants for a maximum of twelve months.
The meeting decided that the chairman of the committee and their medical officer would visit the Ministry of Health in London to discuss the matter.
In 1915 Francis Dixon-Nuttall – the founder of Nuttall's bottle works – died at his home at Nutgrove Hall.
Few people wanted large properties during the war and so the building was converted into the St Agnes Maternity Home & Crèche – otherwise known as a home for "fallen women", or just "St Aggie's".
One committee of volunteers ran the maternity side of the home and a different one ran and fundraised for the crèche side.
The latter committee had come up with a novel means of raising cash, which was called "The Mile".
At 10am on the 31st at the Town Hall, the Mayoress of St Helens laid the first 100 pennies of what would hopefully stretch to the equivalent of a mile in length.
A yard of pennies was 2s 6d and so, according to my calculations, if the mile was reached, £220 would be raised for the crèche.
At an inquest held on the 31st at the Town Hall, it was revealed that the identity of a man discovered dead in a field at Eccleston almost two months ago was now known.
Some bodies – especially those that had lain in the canal for weeks – were never identified.
But a Mrs Whittaker from Westfield Street was able to confirm that the dead man was her brother William Halsall who had gone missing in early November.
She told the hearing that she had read the Reporter's article on a man being found with his throat cut.
However, as William had never threatened to take his life and had what was described as a "roving disposition", she did not make the connection.
On New Year's Day popular St Helens elocutionist Wilson Nicholson recited Dickens' 'Christmas Carol' at the Hippodrome theatre on behalf of Lowe House Church.
Nicholson was well known for his recitals and dramatic readings during the ‘20s and ‘30s, which he gave in many towns in the north of England to large audiences.
With the New Year being a Sunday, the newsboys and poor children's breakfasts took place on the following day.
This annual event had been held on the first day of the year since 1877, when it was founded by the late Joseph Bethell Leach of the estate agency / auctioneers.
As well as tucking in to a substantial meal, entertainment was provided for the kids at numerous centres within the borough.
This year 3,000 children were accommodated at eleven centres (mainly schools) with J. B.'s son Wilfred and daughter Emily Leach in charge of the arrangements.
A large number of volunteers also assisted at each centre. The Reporter wrote:
"Happy gatherings were witnessed at all the centres, and the children had a thoroughly good time."
The Mayor, Richard Ellison, and the St Helens MP, James Sexton, were among those that visited each centre and addressed the children.
And finally, a century ago this week, the Daily Mirror invited its readers to write in with their hopes and wishes for the New Year. This is a selection along with the paper's own headlines:
A HOLIDAY FOR CRANKS – "With the utmost sincerity I wish that all “reformers” would take a year's holiday from New Year's Day. If only the busybodies and cranks would be content with the harm they have already wrought and leave us alone for a year we might regain our self-respect and love of freedom." – MODERN SLAVE, Banbury.
PLENTY OF NEW FROCKS! – "I'm afraid my New Year's wish is a very feminine one, but I don't care. I'm going to tell it. I want lots and lots of new frocks! One's wardrobe does look so sad and sorry after Christmas festivities! One hears a lot of talk about clothes being cheaper in the New Year." – FEMININE.
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! – "A real peace is the crying need of the New Year. Until the leaders of the nations can agree to co-operate politically and economically there can be no prosperity among the peoples.
"Let us turn over a new leaf in international history! The world sickens of hates and rivalries. It is for mankind to heal the war wounds by sympathy and reconciliation." – ADRIAN BURY.
LESS INCOME-TAX! – "My most earnest wish on New Year's Eve is that the coming year will see a reduction of income-tax – with half a chance of paying what I already owe!" – P.
[We have received many other letters containing this evidently common New Year wish. — Ed. D.M.]
THREE WISHES. – "When I was a child fairy godmothers always allowed three wishes, and I claim the right to exercise the ancient privilege on New Year's Eve. All I wish for is:
(1) A Tube railway system in London that actually takes you where it claims to, without leaving half the journey to be completed on foot in the bowels of the earth.
(2) The recognition of the financial responsibilities of fathers by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
(3) The total suppression of fashion writers who inspire in our wives ambitions incompatible with our incomes." – RADLAV.
Next week's stories will include plans for road widening and improvement schemes in St Helens, the Sutton flooding that was described as disgraceful, the brute of a husband from Bank Street and the illegal Sutton Manor raffle for a doll's house.