100 years ago - the 1924 General Election in St Helens

Those were the remarks of James Sexton after the declaration of the results of the General Election of 1924 which took place 100 years ago this week.

The newly re-elected Labour MP for St Helens was referring in his late night victory speech to the way the campaign against his Conservative rival Evelyn Pilkington had been fought.

James Sexton was the St Helens MP between 1918 and 1931 (Image: Stephen Wainwright)

"It has not only been a great fight, but a square fight," Sexton continued. "I have never participated in a fairer or squarer fight in my life…I have but one regret and that is I am very sorry to lose the company of Miss Pilkington. Though we have been political enemies, we have been the best possible friends in the world."

James Sexton was renowned for his politeness to his political opponents. When he campaigned against Tory candidate Rigby Swift at the 1918 election, he had only positive things to say about his rival and the pair embarrassed their supporters by taking dinner together.

That was far from normal, as dirty tricks at election time were routine. Indeed political historians attribute the Conservative Party's landslide victory nationally in the 1924 election partly to a forged letter published in the Daily Mail.

That was linked to Labour and concerned the prospect of a Bolshevik-style revolution in Britain. But St Helens bucked the trend both in terms of fair play and the increase in the Labour incumbent's majority.

The defeated Conservative candidate Evelyn Pilkington (Image: Stephen Wainwright)

As well as being the first woman to stand in a general election in St Helens, Evelyn Pilkington had been the first female councillor in St Helens and she was also one of the first women magistrates.

Women were now playing a much greater role in general elections after making their debut in December 1918 when females needed guidance over how to vote.

Then one male election campaigner was repeatedly heard telling women voters as they entered the polling station: "Don't make a mistake, missus. Put a big cross like you did with your love letters."

Although it would not be until 1928 that the vote would be extended to all women over 21 years of age. In 1924 female voters needed to be over 30 and meet certain property qualifications.

But out of a total electorate in St Helens of 45,980, as many as 17,256 were women and with a turnout of over 80%, only 7,762 persons in total failed to cast their vote.

There were not many humorous moments in the election campaign, although at one political meeting a speaker had said: "What does St. Helens want?" And a wag in the audience had shouted back, "A good full back!"

It was a tradition in St Helens for the Mayor to announce the election results from the Town Hall steps. However, for the 1924 count a stage had been erected with barriers in front for the crowd to gather behind.

Two years before it had been decided that the Mayor's declaration as returning officer would embrace the latest technology.

St Helens, October 31 1924 – the headline refers to beaten Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald (Image: Stephen Wainwright)

As well as his verbal announcement, the numbers of votes cast were projected onto a screen. But no one could read them through thick fog and so the crowd had to rely solely on the announcement.

In 1924 it was the other way round. What was described as a fairly lively but orderly crowd saw the results but could not hear them, as the St Helens Reporter explained: "When the Mayor came out to the stage to announce the result, there was a great uproar of cheering, but before he could get his megaphone at work the result had been flashed on the screen in the window and the crowd knew who had got in. It was impossible in the hubbub to make the voice carry even through the megaphone."

Stephen Wainwright's latest book The Hidden History Of St Helens Vol 4 is available from the St Helens Book Stop in Bridge Street and online from eBay and Amazon with free delivery. Price £12. Vols 1 to 3 are also still available.