IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (31 JULY - 6 AUGUST 1923)
This week's many stories include the dead baby that was discovered in Thatto Heath Park, the proposed conversion of a Parr tip into a thing of beauty, the Grand Gala and Sports at Rainhill, the improvements planned for St Helens parks and the St Helens MP's gruesome solution to the unemployment problem.
We begin on the evening of the 31st with a dance organised by the Ravenhead St John's Tennis Club which the St Helens Reporter said had been of a "charming character". The paper wrote how the event had taken place on the club's new tennis courts in Crossley Road: "From seven o’clock until eleven it continued, those participating wearing tennis shoes and attire, and the piquant animated scene was enhanced by the presence of fairy lights." At the same time Parr St Peter's Prize Band were entertaining a crowd on the Parr Recreation Ground as part of the council's 'Music In The Parks' summer events programme.
A dead baby being discovered after being dumped like discarded rubbish was rarely a major story in the Reporter. Not only was the event a fairly common one but there wasn't a lot that could be said, as it was extremely rare that the mother was ever traced. But the paper's 12-line account of the recovering of a child's remains from Thatto Heath Park (pictured above) did feel that the tragic event was being trivialised. The Reporter simply said that the newly-born male baby had been dead for five or six days and had been found wrapped in a parcel.
The police stated that they would like to receive any information from the public – but knew they were very unlikely to receive any. If the mother came forward, or was otherwise identified, she would probably have been sent to prison. And so her pregnancy, birth and disposal of what was probably a still-born baby would likely have been undertaken with the utmost secrecy – both from the authorities and probably her own family.
On August 1st the inquest was held on John Glover of Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who had died at Sherdley Colliery. The 18-year-old had worked down the pit for four years and had died in a haulage accident. Also on the 1st John Fildes of York Street in St Helens was fatally injured in Pilkingtons glassworks. The 24-year-old had been taken to the Pilkington Special Hospital in Borough Road but died within a few days of his admission.
The question of the Parr refuse tip occupied the attention of members of St Helens Council on the 1st. This was a Corporation-owned dump that was currently uncovered. That was in breach of the Ministry of Health's conditions for sanctioning a loan to the council that had allowed them to buy more land to extend the tip. The council's Health Committee said they planned to cover the tip with a combination of boiler ashes and soil. But Cllr. Simm was against the spreading of ashes, saying:
"The tip at present is a nuisance and a danger to the community, and it is a dreary and desolate waste in the centre of a congested area, where the lives of the people are unrelieved by parks and open spaces. With a few hundred of tons of soil and some grass seeds, instead of a desolate waste it could be made a thing of beauty. We have one of the largest schools in the town there, and the children would benefit if the tip were improved and grass grown."
Cllr. Glease stated that the council had been short-sighted in the past in putting a school next to a "dumping place" and Cllr. Hewitt thought there was no reason why Parr should be made a dumping ground for all the town's refuse. The rubbish, he argued, should instead be burned. Cllr. Woodward said if the tip had been at the west end of the town (i.e. Eccleston way), it would never have been tolerated for so long.
And Cllr. Ellison thought that if the place was carefully levelled, grass was sown and all the hollows filled up, it would make a "splendid site" for a municipal golf course. The council decided that the tip should be covered with soil and ashes and trees and shrubs planted.
On the 2nd the Daily Herald published this piece about St Helens's MP after James Sexton had warned of uprisings:
"“For four solid years in this House,” exclaimed Mr. Sexton (Lab., St. Helens), “I have sat and listened to discussions on unemployment, and for over 20 years before, I have been interested in the unemployment problem. The only thing that temporarily solved unemployment was the great war.” (Hear, hear.) “The gruesome irony of it! The only thing to solve unemployment was to send men out to kill somebody else!
"“And it is only when we return to private enterprise that we have 1½ million men unemployed! If winter comes – and it is coming – and this problem is not solved, it may be solved in a more drastic manner than we anticipate in this House. We have men rebelling against their own organisation – and I happen to be one of those who profess to guide that organisation. We have done our best!”"
On the 4th a carpenter called John Burke was remanded in St Helens Police Court on a charge of shop breaking. Supt. Dunn told the court that last November Corrins' pawnbrokers in Duke Street was broken into and many watches stolen. A man called Townsend was arrested and had been dealt with by the courts but his accomplice John Burke had absconded. Nothing was heard of him until he was recently arrested at Southampton as a stowaway. Whilst being brought back to St Helens, Supt. Dunn said Burke had admitted stealing some of the goods and a week's remand in custody was granted.
The Reporter announced on the 3rd that a raft of improvements to the town's parks was being planned. Sutton Park (pictured above) was going to have a concrete bandstand installed and hard and grass tennis courts would also be laid out on the parkland near Marshalls Cross Road. The bowls clubhouse in Sutton Park was to have more lockers installed which would be rented out to players for 6p per locker per season.
Also the old greenhouses in Victoria Park were to be re-erected and enlarged and seats repaired and repainted. In Gaskell Park tennis courts were to be installed and the existing shelter painted. Additionally, the Queens Recreation Ground (aka Queens Park) was to have new flowerbeds and a railing placed outside its bandstand.
The St Helens Police Court heard this week how at the weekend many men congregated in parks and on wasteland for purposes of gambling. It was claimed that so much of their wages was spent gaming that they were left with no money to "keep house", as it was put, for the rest of the week. The offences had taken place in various places, including Sutton Park, with the average fine being 7s 6d to 10 shillings.
These days, of course, the August Bank Holiday is on the last Monday of the month but up until 1964 it was held on the first Monday. In 1923 the holiday took place on the 6th and it was reported to have been a gloriously fine day. Several thousand people from St Helens flocked to Southport, which was estimated to have been packed with over 70,000 visitors.
What was described as a "Grand Gala and Sports" took place in the Hall Grounds, Rainhill. That was also known as Rainhill Hall and Loyola Hall. "Spend a day in the country, amid delightful surroundings – continuous round of fun and frolic", promised their ad. The event was to raise funds for a proposed new Roman Catholic church in Sutton Manor and there were over 400 entries for the athletics contests.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Westfield Street separation case that resulted in an attempted suicide, the crippled children's outing to Southport, the case of manslaughter in a chip shop and a church minister's controversial comments on Sunday sport.
We begin on the evening of the 31st with a dance organised by the Ravenhead St John's Tennis Club which the St Helens Reporter said had been of a "charming character". The paper wrote how the event had taken place on the club's new tennis courts in Crossley Road: "From seven o’clock until eleven it continued, those participating wearing tennis shoes and attire, and the piquant animated scene was enhanced by the presence of fairy lights." At the same time Parr St Peter's Prize Band were entertaining a crowd on the Parr Recreation Ground as part of the council's 'Music In The Parks' summer events programme.
The police stated that they would like to receive any information from the public – but knew they were very unlikely to receive any. If the mother came forward, or was otherwise identified, she would probably have been sent to prison. And so her pregnancy, birth and disposal of what was probably a still-born baby would likely have been undertaken with the utmost secrecy – both from the authorities and probably her own family.
On August 1st the inquest was held on John Glover of Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who had died at Sherdley Colliery. The 18-year-old had worked down the pit for four years and had died in a haulage accident. Also on the 1st John Fildes of York Street in St Helens was fatally injured in Pilkingtons glassworks. The 24-year-old had been taken to the Pilkington Special Hospital in Borough Road but died within a few days of his admission.
The question of the Parr refuse tip occupied the attention of members of St Helens Council on the 1st. This was a Corporation-owned dump that was currently uncovered. That was in breach of the Ministry of Health's conditions for sanctioning a loan to the council that had allowed them to buy more land to extend the tip. The council's Health Committee said they planned to cover the tip with a combination of boiler ashes and soil. But Cllr. Simm was against the spreading of ashes, saying:
"The tip at present is a nuisance and a danger to the community, and it is a dreary and desolate waste in the centre of a congested area, where the lives of the people are unrelieved by parks and open spaces. With a few hundred of tons of soil and some grass seeds, instead of a desolate waste it could be made a thing of beauty. We have one of the largest schools in the town there, and the children would benefit if the tip were improved and grass grown."
Cllr. Glease stated that the council had been short-sighted in the past in putting a school next to a "dumping place" and Cllr. Hewitt thought there was no reason why Parr should be made a dumping ground for all the town's refuse. The rubbish, he argued, should instead be burned. Cllr. Woodward said if the tip had been at the west end of the town (i.e. Eccleston way), it would never have been tolerated for so long.
And Cllr. Ellison thought that if the place was carefully levelled, grass was sown and all the hollows filled up, it would make a "splendid site" for a municipal golf course. The council decided that the tip should be covered with soil and ashes and trees and shrubs planted.
On the 2nd the Daily Herald published this piece about St Helens's MP after James Sexton had warned of uprisings:
"“For four solid years in this House,” exclaimed Mr. Sexton (Lab., St. Helens), “I have sat and listened to discussions on unemployment, and for over 20 years before, I have been interested in the unemployment problem. The only thing that temporarily solved unemployment was the great war.” (Hear, hear.) “The gruesome irony of it! The only thing to solve unemployment was to send men out to kill somebody else!
"“And it is only when we return to private enterprise that we have 1½ million men unemployed! If winter comes – and it is coming – and this problem is not solved, it may be solved in a more drastic manner than we anticipate in this House. We have men rebelling against their own organisation – and I happen to be one of those who profess to guide that organisation. We have done our best!”"
On the 4th a carpenter called John Burke was remanded in St Helens Police Court on a charge of shop breaking. Supt. Dunn told the court that last November Corrins' pawnbrokers in Duke Street was broken into and many watches stolen. A man called Townsend was arrested and had been dealt with by the courts but his accomplice John Burke had absconded. Nothing was heard of him until he was recently arrested at Southampton as a stowaway. Whilst being brought back to St Helens, Supt. Dunn said Burke had admitted stealing some of the goods and a week's remand in custody was granted.
Also the old greenhouses in Victoria Park were to be re-erected and enlarged and seats repaired and repainted. In Gaskell Park tennis courts were to be installed and the existing shelter painted. Additionally, the Queens Recreation Ground (aka Queens Park) was to have new flowerbeds and a railing placed outside its bandstand.
The St Helens Police Court heard this week how at the weekend many men congregated in parks and on wasteland for purposes of gambling. It was claimed that so much of their wages was spent gaming that they were left with no money to "keep house", as it was put, for the rest of the week. The offences had taken place in various places, including Sutton Park, with the average fine being 7s 6d to 10 shillings.
These days, of course, the August Bank Holiday is on the last Monday of the month but up until 1964 it was held on the first Monday. In 1923 the holiday took place on the 6th and it was reported to have been a gloriously fine day. Several thousand people from St Helens flocked to Southport, which was estimated to have been packed with over 70,000 visitors.
What was described as a "Grand Gala and Sports" took place in the Hall Grounds, Rainhill. That was also known as Rainhill Hall and Loyola Hall. "Spend a day in the country, amid delightful surroundings – continuous round of fun and frolic", promised their ad. The event was to raise funds for a proposed new Roman Catholic church in Sutton Manor and there were over 400 entries for the athletics contests.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Westfield Street separation case that resulted in an attempted suicide, the crippled children's outing to Southport, the case of manslaughter in a chip shop and a church minister's controversial comments on Sunday sport.
This week's many stories include the dead baby that was discovered in Thatto Heath Park, the proposed conversion of a Parr tip into a thing of beauty, the Grand Gala and Sports at Rainhill, the improvements planned for St Helens parks and the St Helens MP's gruesome solution to the unemployment problem.
We begin on the evening of the 31st with a dance organised by the Ravenhead St John's Tennis Club which the St Helens Reporter said had been of a "charming character".
The paper wrote how the event had taken place on the club's new tennis courts in Crossley Road:
"From seven o’clock until eleven it continued, those participating wearing tennis shoes and attire, and the piquant animated scene was enhanced by the presence of fairy lights."
At the same time Parr St Peter's Prize Band were entertaining a crowd on the Parr Recreation Ground as part of the council's 'Music In The Parks' summer events programme.
A dead baby being discovered after being dumped like discarded rubbish was rarely a major story in the Reporter.
Not only was the event a fairly common one but there wasn't a lot that could be said, as it was extremely rare that the mother was ever traced.
But the paper's 12-line account of the recovering of a child's remains from Thatto Heath Park (pictured above) did feel that the tragic event was being trivialised.
The Reporter simply said that the newly-born male baby had been dead for five or six days and had been found wrapped in a parcel.
The police stated that they would like to receive any information from the public – but knew they were very unlikely to receive any.
If the mother came forward, or was otherwise identified, she would probably have been sent to prison.
And so her pregnancy, birth and disposal of what was probably a still-born baby would likely have been undertaken with the utmost secrecy – both from the authorities and probably her own family.
On August 1st the inquest was held on John Glover of Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who had died at Sherdley Colliery.
The 18-year-old had worked down the pit for four years and had died in a haulage accident.
Also on the 1st John Fildes of York Street in St Helens was fatally injured in Pilkingtons glassworks.
The 24-year-old had been taken to the Pilkington Special Hospital in Borough Road but died within a few days of his admission.
The question of the Parr refuse tip occupied the attention of members of St Helens Council on the 1st. This was a Corporation-owned dump that was currently uncovered.
That was in breach of the Ministry of Health's conditions for sanctioning a loan to the council that had allowed them to buy more land to extend the tip.
The council's Health Committee said they planned to cover the tip with a combination of boiler ashes and soil. But Cllr. Simm was against the spreading of ashes, saying:
"The tip at present is a nuisance and a danger to the community, and it is a dreary and desolate waste in the centre of a congested area, where the lives of the people are unrelieved by parks and open spaces.
"With a few hundred of tons of soil and some grass seeds, instead of a desolate waste it could be made a thing of beauty. We have one of the largest schools in the town there, and the children would benefit if the tip were improved and grass grown."
Cllr. Glease stated that the council had been short-sighted in the past in putting a school next to a "dumping place" and Cllr. Hewitt thought there was no reason why Parr should be made a dumping ground for all the town's refuse. The rubbish, he argued, should instead be burned.
Cllr. Woodward said if the tip had been at the west end of the town (i.e. Eccleston way), it would never have been tolerated for so long and Cllr. Ellison thought that if the place was carefully levelled, grass was sown and all the hollows filled up, it would make a "splendid site" for a municipal golf course.
The council decided that the tip should be covered with soil and ashes and trees and shrubs planted.
On the 2nd the Daily Herald published this piece about St Helens's MP after James Sexton had warned of uprisings:
"“For four solid years in this House,” exclaimed Mr. Sexton (Lab., St. Helens), “I have sat and listened to discussions on unemployment, and for over 20 years before, I have been interested in the unemployment problem. The only thing that temporarily solved unemployment was the great war. (Hear, hear.)
"“The gruesome irony of it! The only thing to solve unemployment was to send men out to kill somebody else! And it is only when we return to private enterprise that we have 1½ million men unemployed!
"“If winter comes – and it is coming – and this problem is not solved, it may be solved in a more drastic manner than we anticipate in this House.
"“We have men rebelling against their own organisation – and I happen to be one of those who profess to guide that organisation. We have done our best!”"
On the 4th a carpenter called John Burke was remanded in St Helens Police Court on a charge of shop breaking.
Supt. Dunn told the court that last November Corrins' pawnbrokers in Duke Street was broken into and many watches stolen.
A man called Townsend was arrested and had been dealt with by the courts but his accomplice John Burke had absconded. Nothing was heard of him until he was recently arrested at Southampton as a stowaway.
Whilst being brought back to St Helens, Supt. Dunn said Burke had admitted stealing some of the goods and a week's remand in custody was granted.
The Reporter announced on the 3rd that a raft of improvements to the town's parks was being planned.
Sutton Park (pictured above) was going to have a concrete bandstand installed and hard and grass tennis courts would also be laid out on the parkland near Marshalls Cross Road.
The bowls clubhouse in Sutton Park was to have more lockers installed which would be rented out to players for 6p per locker per season.
Also the old greenhouses in Victoria Park were to be re-erected and enlarged and seats repaired and repainted.
In Gaskell Park tennis courts were to be installed and the existing shelter painted. Additionally, the Queens Recreation Ground (aka Queens Park) was to have new flowerbeds and a railing placed outside its bandstand.
The St Helens Police Court heard this week how at the weekend many men congregated in parks and on wasteland for purposes of gambling.
It was claimed that so much of their wages was spent gaming that they were left with no money to "keep house", as it was put, for the rest of the week.
The offences had taken place in various places, including Sutton Park, with the average fine being 7s 6d to 10 shillings.
These days, of course, the August Bank Holiday is on the last Monday of the month but up until 1964 it was held on the first Monday.
In 1923 the holiday took place on the 6th and it was reported to have been a gloriously fine day.
Several thousand people from St Helens flocked to Southport, which was estimated to have been packed with over 70,000 visitors.
What was described as a "Grand Gala and Sports" took place in the Hall Grounds, Rainhill. That was also known as Rainhill Hall and Loyola Hall.
"Spend a day in the country, amid delightful surroundings – continuous round of fun and frolic", promised their ad.
The event was to raise funds for a proposed new Roman Catholic church in Sutton Manor and there were over 400 entries for the athletics contests.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Westfield Street separation case that resulted in an attempted suicide, the crippled children's outing to Southport, the case of manslaughter in a chip shop and a church minister's controversial comments on Sunday sport.
We begin on the evening of the 31st with a dance organised by the Ravenhead St John's Tennis Club which the St Helens Reporter said had been of a "charming character".
The paper wrote how the event had taken place on the club's new tennis courts in Crossley Road:
"From seven o’clock until eleven it continued, those participating wearing tennis shoes and attire, and the piquant animated scene was enhanced by the presence of fairy lights."
At the same time Parr St Peter's Prize Band were entertaining a crowd on the Parr Recreation Ground as part of the council's 'Music In The Parks' summer events programme.
A dead baby being discovered after being dumped like discarded rubbish was rarely a major story in the Reporter.
Not only was the event a fairly common one but there wasn't a lot that could be said, as it was extremely rare that the mother was ever traced.
The Reporter simply said that the newly-born male baby had been dead for five or six days and had been found wrapped in a parcel.
The police stated that they would like to receive any information from the public – but knew they were very unlikely to receive any.
If the mother came forward, or was otherwise identified, she would probably have been sent to prison.
And so her pregnancy, birth and disposal of what was probably a still-born baby would likely have been undertaken with the utmost secrecy – both from the authorities and probably her own family.
On August 1st the inquest was held on John Glover of Massey Street (off Baxters Lane) who had died at Sherdley Colliery.
The 18-year-old had worked down the pit for four years and had died in a haulage accident.
Also on the 1st John Fildes of York Street in St Helens was fatally injured in Pilkingtons glassworks.
The 24-year-old had been taken to the Pilkington Special Hospital in Borough Road but died within a few days of his admission.
The question of the Parr refuse tip occupied the attention of members of St Helens Council on the 1st. This was a Corporation-owned dump that was currently uncovered.
That was in breach of the Ministry of Health's conditions for sanctioning a loan to the council that had allowed them to buy more land to extend the tip.
The council's Health Committee said they planned to cover the tip with a combination of boiler ashes and soil. But Cllr. Simm was against the spreading of ashes, saying:
"The tip at present is a nuisance and a danger to the community, and it is a dreary and desolate waste in the centre of a congested area, where the lives of the people are unrelieved by parks and open spaces.
"With a few hundred of tons of soil and some grass seeds, instead of a desolate waste it could be made a thing of beauty. We have one of the largest schools in the town there, and the children would benefit if the tip were improved and grass grown."
Cllr. Glease stated that the council had been short-sighted in the past in putting a school next to a "dumping place" and Cllr. Hewitt thought there was no reason why Parr should be made a dumping ground for all the town's refuse. The rubbish, he argued, should instead be burned.
Cllr. Woodward said if the tip had been at the west end of the town (i.e. Eccleston way), it would never have been tolerated for so long and Cllr. Ellison thought that if the place was carefully levelled, grass was sown and all the hollows filled up, it would make a "splendid site" for a municipal golf course.
The council decided that the tip should be covered with soil and ashes and trees and shrubs planted.
On the 2nd the Daily Herald published this piece about St Helens's MP after James Sexton had warned of uprisings:
"“For four solid years in this House,” exclaimed Mr. Sexton (Lab., St. Helens), “I have sat and listened to discussions on unemployment, and for over 20 years before, I have been interested in the unemployment problem. The only thing that temporarily solved unemployment was the great war. (Hear, hear.)
"“The gruesome irony of it! The only thing to solve unemployment was to send men out to kill somebody else! And it is only when we return to private enterprise that we have 1½ million men unemployed!
"“If winter comes – and it is coming – and this problem is not solved, it may be solved in a more drastic manner than we anticipate in this House.
"“We have men rebelling against their own organisation – and I happen to be one of those who profess to guide that organisation. We have done our best!”"
On the 4th a carpenter called John Burke was remanded in St Helens Police Court on a charge of shop breaking.
Supt. Dunn told the court that last November Corrins' pawnbrokers in Duke Street was broken into and many watches stolen.
A man called Townsend was arrested and had been dealt with by the courts but his accomplice John Burke had absconded. Nothing was heard of him until he was recently arrested at Southampton as a stowaway.
Whilst being brought back to St Helens, Supt. Dunn said Burke had admitted stealing some of the goods and a week's remand in custody was granted.
The Reporter announced on the 3rd that a raft of improvements to the town's parks was being planned.
The bowls clubhouse in Sutton Park was to have more lockers installed which would be rented out to players for 6p per locker per season.
Also the old greenhouses in Victoria Park were to be re-erected and enlarged and seats repaired and repainted.
In Gaskell Park tennis courts were to be installed and the existing shelter painted. Additionally, the Queens Recreation Ground (aka Queens Park) was to have new flowerbeds and a railing placed outside its bandstand.
The St Helens Police Court heard this week how at the weekend many men congregated in parks and on wasteland for purposes of gambling.
It was claimed that so much of their wages was spent gaming that they were left with no money to "keep house", as it was put, for the rest of the week.
The offences had taken place in various places, including Sutton Park, with the average fine being 7s 6d to 10 shillings.
These days, of course, the August Bank Holiday is on the last Monday of the month but up until 1964 it was held on the first Monday.
In 1923 the holiday took place on the 6th and it was reported to have been a gloriously fine day.
Several thousand people from St Helens flocked to Southport, which was estimated to have been packed with over 70,000 visitors.
What was described as a "Grand Gala and Sports" took place in the Hall Grounds, Rainhill. That was also known as Rainhill Hall and Loyola Hall.
"Spend a day in the country, amid delightful surroundings – continuous round of fun and frolic", promised their ad.
The event was to raise funds for a proposed new Roman Catholic church in Sutton Manor and there were over 400 entries for the athletics contests.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Westfield Street separation case that resulted in an attempted suicide, the crippled children's outing to Southport, the case of manslaughter in a chip shop and a church minister's controversial comments on Sunday sport.