IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th July - 4th August 1919)
This week's stories include the bookies runners in Church Street, Beecham's womanly charm, the Grafton Street jangling court case, the boys who were gambling at the back of the Parrvilion and the incorrigible Annie Murphy is back on the street armed with an umbrella!
We begin on the 30th at The Woodlands in Eccleston Park, the beautiful home of Alderman James Crooks. This was where the crippled children's annual treat was held and 150 boys and girls were conveyed in trams and motor lorries to the timber merchant's house. The weather was glorious and a ventriloquist and a Punch and Judy man entertained the kids.
On the 31st John Horan appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with loitering in Church Street for the purposes of making and receiving bets. John Smith from Clarence Street in Peasley Cross was also in the dock charged with aiding and abetting. PC Ridding gave evidence that he had been on the street in plain clothes and seen Smith on a bicycle in Salisbury Street being handed slips of paper and cash by several young men.
Smith then went with Horan into the Post Office (pictured above), which until the early 1970s was situated near the Parish Church in Church Street. After a period of five minutes they both came out and other men then handed more money and slips of paper to them. Then the pair went into the Post Office for a second time, with the implication being that they were sending the bets by telegram. Upon being arrested Horan and Smith vehemently denied that they were involved in betting in spite of the strong evidence against them.
Horan had in his possession a sporting paper, three racing handicap books, a betting slip, a cutting relating to a Liverpool race meeting and three telegraph passes containing the name of a well-known Liverpool bookmaker. Fines for gambling could be severe and were often paid by the bookmaker that the men were employed by. However the Chairman of the Bench told Horan and Smith that they would be lenient as it was their first time in court and they were only fined ten shillings each.
At times Beecham's advertising could be rather dubious, to say the least. On the 31st the St Helens pill firm was advertising in the Manchester Evening News under the headline "Womanly Charm" and attempting to create a link between popping their pills and being good looking and charming. They wrote:
"Beecham's Pills should be taken at intervals by all women who prize their health and personal appearance. They are convenient, gentle in action and positive in their excellent results. They can be taken with the greatest advantage by ladies of all ages. For good health, good looks and the preservation of womanly charm take Beecham's Pills."
The police certainly took the catching of street gamblers very seriously. The St Helens Reporter described the details of a police raid on "card parties" – that were revealed in a court hearing on August 1st – as suggestive of "going over the top in France". Arthur Williams (16) from Pitt Street (off Pocket Nook Street), Thomas Cheetham (15) from Jackson Street, William Wilson (14) and Percy Crook (16), both from Higher Parr Street, were summoned for gaming with cards.
PC O’Hare gave evidence that at 4:30pm on the previous Sunday afternoon he had been keeping watch on wasteland at the rear of the Parrvilion picture house in Jackson Street. He and three other officers saw the four defendants and a number of other youths playing cards and exchanging money. They "rushed" the group and seized cards off the ground and threepence in cash. All the boys admitted their guilt and were fined 15 shillings each.
Waste land tended to be a favoured place for gambling in spite of the open ground making it easier for the police to see what was happening. John Grimes, William Simms and Albert Slater – three miners from Silkstone Street – were prosecuted for playing brag on waste ground at the rear of their homes. After keeping watch for a while PC Tinsley and PC Shepherd leapt over a fence and caught two of the men, arresting William Simms a little later. All three were fined 30 shillings each.
"Jangling" meaning talking or nattering is one of those terms that has pretty much died out but perhaps should be revived. It was used in another of those petty disputes between neighbours that was also heard in court on the 1st. This was after Mary Moore summoned John Davies for using abusive language and making threats. They were next-door neighbours in Grafton Street and Mary had a habit of standing at her front door and talking to her friends, much to the annoyance of Davies.
On the previous Sunday the 27-year-old had been chatting to four of her girlfriends when her 47-year-old glassworker neighbour came out of his home and using an expletive (deleted by the Reporter) said: "I am not going to have a lot of _________ women jangling round my door." Mary then said he adopted a "fighting attitude" and said if she did not go inside her house he would "knock her in".
In his defence Davies said he was trying to get some sleep but couldn't because of the women talking outside his home, something that often happened. The magistrates bound the defendant over to keep the peace for six months with the Chairman saying it would be far better if neighbours kept themselves to themselves.
During the evening of the 1st a Victory Dance was held at the Engineers Hall in Croppers Hill and about 400 members of the St Helens Engineers and their friends attended. On the following day a national bread strike began with the object of persuading the Government to permit an increase in the price of bread as the bakers' costs had risen. However the strike was reported as not having had a great effect so far in St Helens. This was because many people were reverting to the old practice of home baking and the employers – known as master bakers – were baking some bread themselves.
In the three years that these '100 Years Ago' articles have been posted, Annie Murphy has been like an old friend regularly making an appearance in the newspapers, only disappearing for a while as she returned to prison to serve yet another stretch. The old woman was repeatedly jailed for committing the crime of "lodging out" or "wandering abroad without visible means of subsistence". In other words sleeping rough and making the streets look untidy.
The police described Annie as incorrigible and she was back before the court on August 4th. However this time her offence was a tad more serious as she had been lashing out at strangers walking past her in the street. Ellen Jackman from Ramford Street gave evidence that she had been going by the Town Hall at 9:30pm on the previous Sunday night when she saw Annie Murphy strike two young women with an umbrella. The old lady then attempted to hit her and she raised her hand to shield her face and was struck on the thumb.
PC Cain gave evidence that when he went to arrest Annie she struck out at him with the umbrella and called him "very bad names". The old woman had been in court 73 times and on certain nights recently had been allowed to sleep at the Police Station at the Town Hall. Why Annie was hitting people was not explained but it was likely that she had been turned away from the station and feeling frustrated was lashing out at strangers. Or perhaps it was a deliberate act as a means of getting another night's free lodging at the station?
Annie was certainly temperamental and the St Helens Reporter wrote that while she had been in the dock the old lady had been "very garrulous and showed temper". The magistrates decided to send her back to prison, this time for a period of two months with hard labour. After being sentenced she shouted at the Bench: "I'll come out again". So expect more about Annie in a couple of months' time!
Next week's stories will include the woman from Parr who burned four ten pound notes, a Kiln Lane pawnbroker calls a policeman a liar, the black flag that was flown in Eccleston Street on Peace Day, a Thatto Heath thumping over an axe, the callous father from Nutgrove and why St Helens children were taken to Oldham to see a man with a crooked nose.
We begin on the 30th at The Woodlands in Eccleston Park, the beautiful home of Alderman James Crooks. This was where the crippled children's annual treat was held and 150 boys and girls were conveyed in trams and motor lorries to the timber merchant's house. The weather was glorious and a ventriloquist and a Punch and Judy man entertained the kids.
On the 31st John Horan appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with loitering in Church Street for the purposes of making and receiving bets. John Smith from Clarence Street in Peasley Cross was also in the dock charged with aiding and abetting. PC Ridding gave evidence that he had been on the street in plain clothes and seen Smith on a bicycle in Salisbury Street being handed slips of paper and cash by several young men.
Horan had in his possession a sporting paper, three racing handicap books, a betting slip, a cutting relating to a Liverpool race meeting and three telegraph passes containing the name of a well-known Liverpool bookmaker. Fines for gambling could be severe and were often paid by the bookmaker that the men were employed by. However the Chairman of the Bench told Horan and Smith that they would be lenient as it was their first time in court and they were only fined ten shillings each.
"Beecham's Pills should be taken at intervals by all women who prize their health and personal appearance. They are convenient, gentle in action and positive in their excellent results. They can be taken with the greatest advantage by ladies of all ages. For good health, good looks and the preservation of womanly charm take Beecham's Pills."
The police certainly took the catching of street gamblers very seriously. The St Helens Reporter described the details of a police raid on "card parties" – that were revealed in a court hearing on August 1st – as suggestive of "going over the top in France". Arthur Williams (16) from Pitt Street (off Pocket Nook Street), Thomas Cheetham (15) from Jackson Street, William Wilson (14) and Percy Crook (16), both from Higher Parr Street, were summoned for gaming with cards.
PC O’Hare gave evidence that at 4:30pm on the previous Sunday afternoon he had been keeping watch on wasteland at the rear of the Parrvilion picture house in Jackson Street. He and three other officers saw the four defendants and a number of other youths playing cards and exchanging money. They "rushed" the group and seized cards off the ground and threepence in cash. All the boys admitted their guilt and were fined 15 shillings each.
Waste land tended to be a favoured place for gambling in spite of the open ground making it easier for the police to see what was happening. John Grimes, William Simms and Albert Slater – three miners from Silkstone Street – were prosecuted for playing brag on waste ground at the rear of their homes. After keeping watch for a while PC Tinsley and PC Shepherd leapt over a fence and caught two of the men, arresting William Simms a little later. All three were fined 30 shillings each.
"Jangling" meaning talking or nattering is one of those terms that has pretty much died out but perhaps should be revived. It was used in another of those petty disputes between neighbours that was also heard in court on the 1st. This was after Mary Moore summoned John Davies for using abusive language and making threats. They were next-door neighbours in Grafton Street and Mary had a habit of standing at her front door and talking to her friends, much to the annoyance of Davies.
On the previous Sunday the 27-year-old had been chatting to four of her girlfriends when her 47-year-old glassworker neighbour came out of his home and using an expletive (deleted by the Reporter) said: "I am not going to have a lot of _________ women jangling round my door." Mary then said he adopted a "fighting attitude" and said if she did not go inside her house he would "knock her in".
In his defence Davies said he was trying to get some sleep but couldn't because of the women talking outside his home, something that often happened. The magistrates bound the defendant over to keep the peace for six months with the Chairman saying it would be far better if neighbours kept themselves to themselves.
During the evening of the 1st a Victory Dance was held at the Engineers Hall in Croppers Hill and about 400 members of the St Helens Engineers and their friends attended. On the following day a national bread strike began with the object of persuading the Government to permit an increase in the price of bread as the bakers' costs had risen. However the strike was reported as not having had a great effect so far in St Helens. This was because many people were reverting to the old practice of home baking and the employers – known as master bakers – were baking some bread themselves.
In the three years that these '100 Years Ago' articles have been posted, Annie Murphy has been like an old friend regularly making an appearance in the newspapers, only disappearing for a while as she returned to prison to serve yet another stretch. The old woman was repeatedly jailed for committing the crime of "lodging out" or "wandering abroad without visible means of subsistence". In other words sleeping rough and making the streets look untidy.
The police described Annie as incorrigible and she was back before the court on August 4th. However this time her offence was a tad more serious as she had been lashing out at strangers walking past her in the street. Ellen Jackman from Ramford Street gave evidence that she had been going by the Town Hall at 9:30pm on the previous Sunday night when she saw Annie Murphy strike two young women with an umbrella. The old lady then attempted to hit her and she raised her hand to shield her face and was struck on the thumb.
PC Cain gave evidence that when he went to arrest Annie she struck out at him with the umbrella and called him "very bad names". The old woman had been in court 73 times and on certain nights recently had been allowed to sleep at the Police Station at the Town Hall. Why Annie was hitting people was not explained but it was likely that she had been turned away from the station and feeling frustrated was lashing out at strangers. Or perhaps it was a deliberate act as a means of getting another night's free lodging at the station?
Annie was certainly temperamental and the St Helens Reporter wrote that while she had been in the dock the old lady had been "very garrulous and showed temper". The magistrates decided to send her back to prison, this time for a period of two months with hard labour. After being sentenced she shouted at the Bench: "I'll come out again". So expect more about Annie in a couple of months' time!
Next week's stories will include the woman from Parr who burned four ten pound notes, a Kiln Lane pawnbroker calls a policeman a liar, the black flag that was flown in Eccleston Street on Peace Day, a Thatto Heath thumping over an axe, the callous father from Nutgrove and why St Helens children were taken to Oldham to see a man with a crooked nose.