IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (28 AUGUST - 3 SEPT 1923)
This week's many stories include the theft of a live turkey from the Griffin Inn in Bold, the King Street poker row, the Thatto Heath scandal that led to a woman leaving home, a call for more regulation of irresponsible motorists, the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society's flower day and the handsome new Edinburgh Cafe in Church Street that served meals daintily.
We begin on the 28th when the inquest on Thomas Ashall of Rivington Avenue on the council's new Windlehurst estate was held. The 18-month-old child had died after being severely scalded upon pulling a pan of hot water down on to himself. A police officer told the inquest that the Corporation had fitted low boilers in the kitchens of their new council homes at a height that a small child would just be able to reach.
Some soldiers and sailors in WW1 were said to have deliberately shot themselves in the leg in order to get sent home. In St Helens Police Court on the 31st Thomas Lacey of Recreation Street in St Helens was bound over for twelve months after assaulting Isaac Ramsdale with an iron file. That was as a result of Ramsdale accusing Lacey of losing his leg in the war through a self-inflicted wound while serving in the navy.
The Griffin Inn in Bold Heath seems to have done a lot of trade as a stopping off point for parties returning from outings. However, the travellers sometimes left the pub with more possessions than when they arrived! In 1919 Edward Appleton was fined for stealing a black Pomeranian dog belonging to the landlord of the Griffin. And this week the Reporter described how a live turkey had been nicked from the Warrington Road inn.
Five men from Haydock had ended up in St Helens County Police Court after hiring a taxi to take them to watch a bowling match at the Green Dragon in Whiston. On the return journey they had called in at the Griffin in what was described as a jolly condition, stole a turkey and wrung its neck in the taxi. But the landlord Jonathan Shepley and a policeman were soon on the turkey thieves' trail. The pair pursued the men on bicycles and the party were arrested at the Butchers Arms in Great Sankey and the turkey was found dead inside the taxi. All five were fined £2 and ten shillings costs or must serve a month in prison.
With coal fires in virtually all homes, pokers served as too handy a weapon when passions rose. When Joseph Friar and his niece Martha Atherton – who lived together in King Street in St Helens – had rowed, the use of a poker brought their quarrel to a sudden end. The Reporter described how Friar had complained of not having had any tea and so his niece gave him a cup – in his face!
That irked the uncle and he grabbed hold of Martha by the neck and pushed her to one side. She in response grabbed hold of a poker and walloped her Uncle Joe, inflicting two one-inch long scalp wounds on his head. In court Martha said her uncle had behaved like a madman and he expressed the opinion that his niece had not really intended to hurt him. The Bench bound her over to keep the peace for three months.
"The Result of Scandal – Wife Leaves Husband After 33 Years – Remarkable St. Helens Case", was the headline to another article in the Reporter. It involved Fred Holmes of Dorothy Street in Thatto Heath who had summoned his neighbour Annie Gibson for using false, offensive and defamatory language against him. That entailed spreading gossip about Fred and a widow called Mary Roberts.
The man's solicitor told the Bench that his client and his wife had lived happily together for over 33 years. But suddenly his wife had left him and although the husband had searched "high and low", he could not find her. That was until three weeks later when he discovered his spouse living in Rochdale.
When Fred Holmes gave evidence he said they'd had seven children, four of whom were still living. Shortly after the couple had been on a holiday to Wales, his wife had disappeared. When he'd located her in Rochdale, he'd asked for an explanation for her sudden departure and she told him to go and see Mrs Roberts. He claimed that he did not know who the woman was and insisted he had not misconducted himself with her or anyone else.
Mr Holmes told the court his wife had said she would not return home until he'd cleared his name and so he'd come to court to stop the scandal. Mary Roberts gave evidence that the rumours of an affair with Mr Holmes were an "absolute fabrication, and an untruth". Although Mrs Gibson pleaded guilty to the charge, she still insisted to the court that she'd seen the pair regularly talking to each other late at night. But the Chairman told the woman that she was guilty of a "very serious offence with very disastrous results", and she was bound over for six months on payment of sureties.
It would not be until the 1930s that driving tests and the Highway Code would be introduced. As long as you were 17 and paid the required licence fee at St Helens Town Hall, you could legally drive. But the increasing number of accidents on the narrow, congested roads of St Helens – where there was still much horse-driven traffic – was leading to concerns being expressed that something needed to be done. In this week's Reporter this article was published:
"At this late day, when anti-motor prejudice is deader than Julius Caesar, it seems absurd to talk about a renewal of penal legislation against drivers of motor-cars. Yet the recent trend of events in the world of motoring would point to such an eventuality as certain unless a radical change takes place very soon, and such a change can only be effected by motorists themselves, unless, of course severe penalties are put in force against wrong-doers, for which the innocent must also suffer.
"Nothing but sheer recklessness can explain away the gross incivility on the part of motorists, who never seem to have heard of the motto of Lord Montagu, that a motorist's duty first and foremost was courtesy to all other users of the road." John Scott Montagu had as an MP been one of the first promoters of motoring and is credited with the introduction of vehicle registration plates.
Flower days in St Helens were common means of funding for charitable causes, such as Providence Hospital. This week the Reporter prepared its readers for the flower day on September 1st in aid of the St Helens Crippled and Invalid Children's Aid Society, writing:
"Once in a year comes round the crippled children's flower day, when the heather of the Highlands makes its appeal on behalf of the little ones who have never had the opportunity of seeing it growing in its purple glory on the rugged mountain-sides. It is wonderful to realise that it is now possible to banish the deformities of such children, to restore their health, and make them as other boys and girls."
Last year it had been decided that fresh heather would be sold instead of flowers and £200 was raised, the equivalent in today's money of over £10,000. The society used the money to help over 100 disabled children in the town, providing what was described as surgical apparatus and spinal carriages and paying for the children to be sent to a convalescent home in Southport. Treatment at different hospitals was also available but, of course, only a minority of such children would then have benefitted.
It could be difficult at times to distinguish between news articles and adverts in the Reporter. But it does appear that the lengthy piece about the opening of a new café at 7 Church Street, at the top of Bridge Street, had been paid for. It began:
"“Shall we pop into the Edinburgh while we talk it over?” says Mr. Jones to Mr. Brown on the corner of Bridge-street one day. “I don't mind if I do,” says Brown, and off they go. And many other business transactions, heart-to-heart talks, little “conflabs,” and refreshing chats will be enacted in the handsome new Edinburgh Cafe, which was opened in Church-street, opposite Bridge-street, by Mr. J. Morton of North-road, this (Friday) morning.
"What a wealth of comfort lies in a cup of tea, and what joy there is in a meal served daintily in delightful surroundings." The Edinburgh Café's separate advert in the Reporter stated that they had a "ladies' boudoir" and a "gentlemen's toilet".
It was still August (just) but time to start thinking about Christmas and Oxleys of Barrow Street were advertising their Xmas Club in the Reporter. "Cases of toys arriving daily. Over 100 toy prams already in stock," stated the ad, which also said: "Child's Fleecy Knickers, from 1/-."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man in Salisbury Street that claimed to be a detective in order to molest a woman, a dispute between an aunt and her niece over the pawning of rings and a defence of the Thatto Heath ghost.
We begin on the 28th when the inquest on Thomas Ashall of Rivington Avenue on the council's new Windlehurst estate was held. The 18-month-old child had died after being severely scalded upon pulling a pan of hot water down on to himself. A police officer told the inquest that the Corporation had fitted low boilers in the kitchens of their new council homes at a height that a small child would just be able to reach.
Some soldiers and sailors in WW1 were said to have deliberately shot themselves in the leg in order to get sent home. In St Helens Police Court on the 31st Thomas Lacey of Recreation Street in St Helens was bound over for twelve months after assaulting Isaac Ramsdale with an iron file. That was as a result of Ramsdale accusing Lacey of losing his leg in the war through a self-inflicted wound while serving in the navy.
The Griffin Inn in Bold Heath seems to have done a lot of trade as a stopping off point for parties returning from outings. However, the travellers sometimes left the pub with more possessions than when they arrived! In 1919 Edward Appleton was fined for stealing a black Pomeranian dog belonging to the landlord of the Griffin. And this week the Reporter described how a live turkey had been nicked from the Warrington Road inn.
Five men from Haydock had ended up in St Helens County Police Court after hiring a taxi to take them to watch a bowling match at the Green Dragon in Whiston. On the return journey they had called in at the Griffin in what was described as a jolly condition, stole a turkey and wrung its neck in the taxi. But the landlord Jonathan Shepley and a policeman were soon on the turkey thieves' trail. The pair pursued the men on bicycles and the party were arrested at the Butchers Arms in Great Sankey and the turkey was found dead inside the taxi. All five were fined £2 and ten shillings costs or must serve a month in prison.
With coal fires in virtually all homes, pokers served as too handy a weapon when passions rose. When Joseph Friar and his niece Martha Atherton – who lived together in King Street in St Helens – had rowed, the use of a poker brought their quarrel to a sudden end. The Reporter described how Friar had complained of not having had any tea and so his niece gave him a cup – in his face!
That irked the uncle and he grabbed hold of Martha by the neck and pushed her to one side. She in response grabbed hold of a poker and walloped her Uncle Joe, inflicting two one-inch long scalp wounds on his head. In court Martha said her uncle had behaved like a madman and he expressed the opinion that his niece had not really intended to hurt him. The Bench bound her over to keep the peace for three months.
"The Result of Scandal – Wife Leaves Husband After 33 Years – Remarkable St. Helens Case", was the headline to another article in the Reporter. It involved Fred Holmes of Dorothy Street in Thatto Heath who had summoned his neighbour Annie Gibson for using false, offensive and defamatory language against him. That entailed spreading gossip about Fred and a widow called Mary Roberts.
The man's solicitor told the Bench that his client and his wife had lived happily together for over 33 years. But suddenly his wife had left him and although the husband had searched "high and low", he could not find her. That was until three weeks later when he discovered his spouse living in Rochdale.
When Fred Holmes gave evidence he said they'd had seven children, four of whom were still living. Shortly after the couple had been on a holiday to Wales, his wife had disappeared. When he'd located her in Rochdale, he'd asked for an explanation for her sudden departure and she told him to go and see Mrs Roberts. He claimed that he did not know who the woman was and insisted he had not misconducted himself with her or anyone else.
Mr Holmes told the court his wife had said she would not return home until he'd cleared his name and so he'd come to court to stop the scandal. Mary Roberts gave evidence that the rumours of an affair with Mr Holmes were an "absolute fabrication, and an untruth". Although Mrs Gibson pleaded guilty to the charge, she still insisted to the court that she'd seen the pair regularly talking to each other late at night. But the Chairman told the woman that she was guilty of a "very serious offence with very disastrous results", and she was bound over for six months on payment of sureties.
It would not be until the 1930s that driving tests and the Highway Code would be introduced. As long as you were 17 and paid the required licence fee at St Helens Town Hall, you could legally drive. But the increasing number of accidents on the narrow, congested roads of St Helens – where there was still much horse-driven traffic – was leading to concerns being expressed that something needed to be done. In this week's Reporter this article was published:
"At this late day, when anti-motor prejudice is deader than Julius Caesar, it seems absurd to talk about a renewal of penal legislation against drivers of motor-cars. Yet the recent trend of events in the world of motoring would point to such an eventuality as certain unless a radical change takes place very soon, and such a change can only be effected by motorists themselves, unless, of course severe penalties are put in force against wrong-doers, for which the innocent must also suffer.
"Nothing but sheer recklessness can explain away the gross incivility on the part of motorists, who never seem to have heard of the motto of Lord Montagu, that a motorist's duty first and foremost was courtesy to all other users of the road." John Scott Montagu had as an MP been one of the first promoters of motoring and is credited with the introduction of vehicle registration plates.
Flower days in St Helens were common means of funding for charitable causes, such as Providence Hospital. This week the Reporter prepared its readers for the flower day on September 1st in aid of the St Helens Crippled and Invalid Children's Aid Society, writing:
"Once in a year comes round the crippled children's flower day, when the heather of the Highlands makes its appeal on behalf of the little ones who have never had the opportunity of seeing it growing in its purple glory on the rugged mountain-sides. It is wonderful to realise that it is now possible to banish the deformities of such children, to restore their health, and make them as other boys and girls."
Last year it had been decided that fresh heather would be sold instead of flowers and £200 was raised, the equivalent in today's money of over £10,000. The society used the money to help over 100 disabled children in the town, providing what was described as surgical apparatus and spinal carriages and paying for the children to be sent to a convalescent home in Southport. Treatment at different hospitals was also available but, of course, only a minority of such children would then have benefitted.
"“Shall we pop into the Edinburgh while we talk it over?” says Mr. Jones to Mr. Brown on the corner of Bridge-street one day. “I don't mind if I do,” says Brown, and off they go. And many other business transactions, heart-to-heart talks, little “conflabs,” and refreshing chats will be enacted in the handsome new Edinburgh Cafe, which was opened in Church-street, opposite Bridge-street, by Mr. J. Morton of North-road, this (Friday) morning.
"What a wealth of comfort lies in a cup of tea, and what joy there is in a meal served daintily in delightful surroundings." The Edinburgh Café's separate advert in the Reporter stated that they had a "ladies' boudoir" and a "gentlemen's toilet".
It was still August (just) but time to start thinking about Christmas and Oxleys of Barrow Street were advertising their Xmas Club in the Reporter. "Cases of toys arriving daily. Over 100 toy prams already in stock," stated the ad, which also said: "Child's Fleecy Knickers, from 1/-."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man in Salisbury Street that claimed to be a detective in order to molest a woman, a dispute between an aunt and her niece over the pawning of rings and a defence of the Thatto Heath ghost.
This week's many stories include the theft of a live turkey from the Griffin Inn in Bold, the King Street poker row, the Thatto Heath scandal that led to a woman leaving home, a call for more regulation of irresponsible motorists, the St Helens Crippled Children's Aid Society's flower day and the handsome new Edinburgh Cafe in Church Street that served meals daintily.
We begin on the 28th when the inquest on Thomas Ashall of Rivington Avenue on the council's new Windlehurst estate was held.
The 18-month-old child had died after being severely scalded upon pulling a pan of hot water down on to himself.
A police officer told the inquest that the Corporation had fitted low boilers in the kitchens of their new council homes at a height that a small child would just be able to reach.
Some soldiers and sailors in WW1 were said to have deliberately shot themselves in the leg in order to get sent home.
In St Helens Police Court on the 31st Thomas Lacey of Recreation Street in St Helens was bound over for twelve months after assaulting Isaac Ramsdale with an iron file.
That was as a result of Ramsdale accusing Lacey of losing his leg in the war through a self-inflicted wound while serving in the navy.
The Griffin Inn in Bold Heath seems to have done a lot of trade as a stopping off point for parties returning from outings.
However, the travellers sometimes left the pub with more possessions than when they arrived!
In 1919 Edward Appleton was fined for stealing a black Pomeranian dog belonging to the landlord of the Griffin.
And this week the Reporter described how a live turkey had been nicked from the Warrington Road inn.
Five men from Haydock had ended up in St Helens County Police Court after hiring a taxi to take them to watch a bowling match at the Green Dragon in Whiston.
On the return journey they had called in at the Griffin in what was described as a jolly condition, stole a turkey and wrung its neck in the taxi.
But the landlord Jonathan Shepley and a policeman were soon on the turkey thieves' trail.
The pair pursued the men on bicycles and the party were arrested at the Butchers Arms in Great Sankey and the turkey was found dead inside the taxi.
All five were fined £2 and ten shillings costs or must serve a month in prison.
With coal fires in virtually all homes, pokers served as too handy a weapon when passions rose.
When Joseph Friar and his niece Martha Atherton – who lived together in King Street in St Helens – had rowed, the use of a poker brought their quarrel to a sudden end.
The Reporter described how Friar had complained of not having had any tea and so his niece gave him a cup – in his face!
That irked the uncle and he grabbed hold of Martha by the neck and pushed her to one side.
She in response grabbed hold of a poker and walloped her Uncle Joe, inflicting two one-inch long scalp wounds on his head.
In court Martha said her uncle had behaved like a madman and he expressed the opinion that his niece had not really intended to hurt him. The Bench bound her over to keep the peace for three months.
"The Result of Scandal – Wife Leaves Husband After 33 Years – Remarkable St. Helens Case", was the headline to another article in the Reporter.
It involved Fred Holmes of Dorothy Street in Thatto Heath who had summoned his neighbour Annie Gibson for using false, offensive and defamatory language against him. That entailed spreading gossip about Fred and a widow called Mary Roberts.
The man's solicitor told the Bench that his client and his wife had lived happily together for over 33 years.
But suddenly his wife had left him and although the husband had searched "high and low", he could not find her. That was until three weeks later when he discovered his spouse living in Rochdale.
When Fred Holmes gave evidence he said they'd had seven children, four of whom were still living.
Shortly after the couple had been on a holiday to Wales, his wife had disappeared.
When he'd located her in Rochdale, he'd asked for an explanation for her sudden departure and she told him to go and see Mrs Roberts.
He claimed that he did not know who the woman was and insisted he had not misconducted himself with her or anyone else.
Mr Holmes told the court his wife had said she would not return home until he'd cleared his name and so he'd come to court to stop the scandal.
Mary Roberts gave evidence that the rumours of an affair with Mr Holmes were an "absolute fabrication, and an untruth".
Although Mrs Gibson pleaded guilty to the charge, she still insisted to the court that she'd seen the pair regularly talking to each other late at night.
But the Chairman told the woman that she was guilty of a "very serious offence with very disastrous results", and she was bound over for six months on payment of sureties.
It would not be until the 1930s that driving tests and the Highway Code would be introduced.
As long as you were 17 and paid the required licence fee at St Helens Town Hall, you could legally drive.
But the increasing number of accidents on the narrow, congested roads of St Helens – where there was still much horse-driven traffic – was leading to concerns being expressed that something needed to be done.
In this week's Reporter this article was published:
"At this late day, when anti-motor prejudice is deader than Julius Caesar, it seems absurd to talk about a renewal of penal legislation against drivers of motor-cars.
"Yet the recent trend of events in the world of motoring would point to such an eventuality as certain unless a radical change takes place very soon, and such a change can only be effected by motorists themselves, unless, of course severe penalties are put in force against wrong-doers, for which the innocent must also suffer.
"Nothing but sheer recklessness can explain away the gross incivility on the part of motorists, who never seem to have heard of the motto of Lord Montagu, that a motorist's duty first and foremost was courtesy to all other users of the road."
John Scott Montagu had as an MP been one of the first promoters of motoring and is credited with the introduction of vehicle registration plates.
Flower days in St Helens were common means of funding for charitable causes, such as Providence Hospital.
This week the Reporter prepared its readers for the flower day on September 1st in aid of the St Helens Crippled and Invalid Children's Aid Society, writing:
"Once in a year comes round the crippled children's flower day, when the heather of the Highlands makes its appeal on behalf of the little ones who have never had the opportunity of seeing it growing in its purple glory on the rugged mountain-sides.
"It is wonderful to realise that it is now possible to banish the deformities of such children, to restore their health, and make them as other boys and girls."
Last year it had been decided that fresh heather would be sold instead of flowers and £200 was raised, the equivalent in today's money of over £10,000.
The society used the money to help over 100 disabled children in the town, providing what was described as surgical apparatus and spinal carriages and paying for the children to be sent to a convalescent home in Southport.
Treatment at different hospitals was also available but, of course, only a minority of such children would then have benefitted.
It could be difficult at times to distinguish between news articles and adverts in the Reporter.
But it does appear that the lengthy piece about the opening of a new café at 7 Church Street, at the top of Bridge Street, had been paid for. It began:
"“Shall we pop into the Edinburgh while we talk it over?” says Mr. Jones to Mr. Brown on the corner of Bridge-street one day. “I don't mind if I do,” says Brown, and off they go.
"And many other business transactions, heart-to-heart talks, little “conflabs,” and refreshing chats will be enacted in the handsome new Edinburgh Cafe, which was opened in Church-street, opposite Bridge-street, by Mr. J. Morton of North-road, this (Friday) morning.
"What a wealth of comfort lies in a cup of tea, and what joy there is in a meal served daintily in delightful surroundings."
The Edinburgh Café's separate advert in the Reporter stated that they had a "ladies' boudoir" and a "gentlemen's toilet".
It was still August (just) but time to start thinking about Christmas and Oxleys of Barrow Street were advertising their Xmas Club in the Reporter.
"Cases of toys arriving daily. Over 100 toy prams already in stock," stated the ad, which also said: "Child's Fleecy Knickers, from 1/-."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man in Salisbury Street that claimed to be a detective in order to molest a woman, a dispute between an aunt and her niece over the pawning of rings and a defence of the Thatto Heath ghost.
We begin on the 28th when the inquest on Thomas Ashall of Rivington Avenue on the council's new Windlehurst estate was held.
The 18-month-old child had died after being severely scalded upon pulling a pan of hot water down on to himself.
A police officer told the inquest that the Corporation had fitted low boilers in the kitchens of their new council homes at a height that a small child would just be able to reach.
Some soldiers and sailors in WW1 were said to have deliberately shot themselves in the leg in order to get sent home.
In St Helens Police Court on the 31st Thomas Lacey of Recreation Street in St Helens was bound over for twelve months after assaulting Isaac Ramsdale with an iron file.
That was as a result of Ramsdale accusing Lacey of losing his leg in the war through a self-inflicted wound while serving in the navy.
The Griffin Inn in Bold Heath seems to have done a lot of trade as a stopping off point for parties returning from outings.
However, the travellers sometimes left the pub with more possessions than when they arrived!
In 1919 Edward Appleton was fined for stealing a black Pomeranian dog belonging to the landlord of the Griffin.
And this week the Reporter described how a live turkey had been nicked from the Warrington Road inn.
Five men from Haydock had ended up in St Helens County Police Court after hiring a taxi to take them to watch a bowling match at the Green Dragon in Whiston.
On the return journey they had called in at the Griffin in what was described as a jolly condition, stole a turkey and wrung its neck in the taxi.
But the landlord Jonathan Shepley and a policeman were soon on the turkey thieves' trail.
The pair pursued the men on bicycles and the party were arrested at the Butchers Arms in Great Sankey and the turkey was found dead inside the taxi.
All five were fined £2 and ten shillings costs or must serve a month in prison.
With coal fires in virtually all homes, pokers served as too handy a weapon when passions rose.
When Joseph Friar and his niece Martha Atherton – who lived together in King Street in St Helens – had rowed, the use of a poker brought their quarrel to a sudden end.
The Reporter described how Friar had complained of not having had any tea and so his niece gave him a cup – in his face!
That irked the uncle and he grabbed hold of Martha by the neck and pushed her to one side.
She in response grabbed hold of a poker and walloped her Uncle Joe, inflicting two one-inch long scalp wounds on his head.
In court Martha said her uncle had behaved like a madman and he expressed the opinion that his niece had not really intended to hurt him. The Bench bound her over to keep the peace for three months.
"The Result of Scandal – Wife Leaves Husband After 33 Years – Remarkable St. Helens Case", was the headline to another article in the Reporter.
It involved Fred Holmes of Dorothy Street in Thatto Heath who had summoned his neighbour Annie Gibson for using false, offensive and defamatory language against him. That entailed spreading gossip about Fred and a widow called Mary Roberts.
The man's solicitor told the Bench that his client and his wife had lived happily together for over 33 years.
But suddenly his wife had left him and although the husband had searched "high and low", he could not find her. That was until three weeks later when he discovered his spouse living in Rochdale.
When Fred Holmes gave evidence he said they'd had seven children, four of whom were still living.
Shortly after the couple had been on a holiday to Wales, his wife had disappeared.
When he'd located her in Rochdale, he'd asked for an explanation for her sudden departure and she told him to go and see Mrs Roberts.
He claimed that he did not know who the woman was and insisted he had not misconducted himself with her or anyone else.
Mr Holmes told the court his wife had said she would not return home until he'd cleared his name and so he'd come to court to stop the scandal.
Mary Roberts gave evidence that the rumours of an affair with Mr Holmes were an "absolute fabrication, and an untruth".
Although Mrs Gibson pleaded guilty to the charge, she still insisted to the court that she'd seen the pair regularly talking to each other late at night.
But the Chairman told the woman that she was guilty of a "very serious offence with very disastrous results", and she was bound over for six months on payment of sureties.
It would not be until the 1930s that driving tests and the Highway Code would be introduced.
As long as you were 17 and paid the required licence fee at St Helens Town Hall, you could legally drive.
But the increasing number of accidents on the narrow, congested roads of St Helens – where there was still much horse-driven traffic – was leading to concerns being expressed that something needed to be done.
In this week's Reporter this article was published:
"At this late day, when anti-motor prejudice is deader than Julius Caesar, it seems absurd to talk about a renewal of penal legislation against drivers of motor-cars.
"Yet the recent trend of events in the world of motoring would point to such an eventuality as certain unless a radical change takes place very soon, and such a change can only be effected by motorists themselves, unless, of course severe penalties are put in force against wrong-doers, for which the innocent must also suffer.
"Nothing but sheer recklessness can explain away the gross incivility on the part of motorists, who never seem to have heard of the motto of Lord Montagu, that a motorist's duty first and foremost was courtesy to all other users of the road."
John Scott Montagu had as an MP been one of the first promoters of motoring and is credited with the introduction of vehicle registration plates.
Flower days in St Helens were common means of funding for charitable causes, such as Providence Hospital.
This week the Reporter prepared its readers for the flower day on September 1st in aid of the St Helens Crippled and Invalid Children's Aid Society, writing:
"Once in a year comes round the crippled children's flower day, when the heather of the Highlands makes its appeal on behalf of the little ones who have never had the opportunity of seeing it growing in its purple glory on the rugged mountain-sides.
"It is wonderful to realise that it is now possible to banish the deformities of such children, to restore their health, and make them as other boys and girls."
Last year it had been decided that fresh heather would be sold instead of flowers and £200 was raised, the equivalent in today's money of over £10,000.
The society used the money to help over 100 disabled children in the town, providing what was described as surgical apparatus and spinal carriages and paying for the children to be sent to a convalescent home in Southport.
Treatment at different hospitals was also available but, of course, only a minority of such children would then have benefitted.
But it does appear that the lengthy piece about the opening of a new café at 7 Church Street, at the top of Bridge Street, had been paid for. It began:
"“Shall we pop into the Edinburgh while we talk it over?” says Mr. Jones to Mr. Brown on the corner of Bridge-street one day. “I don't mind if I do,” says Brown, and off they go.
"And many other business transactions, heart-to-heart talks, little “conflabs,” and refreshing chats will be enacted in the handsome new Edinburgh Cafe, which was opened in Church-street, opposite Bridge-street, by Mr. J. Morton of North-road, this (Friday) morning.
"What a wealth of comfort lies in a cup of tea, and what joy there is in a meal served daintily in delightful surroundings."
The Edinburgh Café's separate advert in the Reporter stated that they had a "ladies' boudoir" and a "gentlemen's toilet".
It was still August (just) but time to start thinking about Christmas and Oxleys of Barrow Street were advertising their Xmas Club in the Reporter.
"Cases of toys arriving daily. Over 100 toy prams already in stock," stated the ad, which also said: "Child's Fleecy Knickers, from 1/-."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the man in Salisbury Street that claimed to be a detective in order to molest a woman, a dispute between an aunt and her niece over the pawning of rings and a defence of the Thatto Heath ghost.