St Helens History This Week

Bringing History to Life from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago!

Bringing History to Life from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago!

ST HELENS 150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
This page is a series of weekly articles that describe llfe in the Lancashire town in the 1870s and which are updated every Sunday morning.
150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
This page is a series of weekly articles that describe llfe in St Helens in Lancashire in the 1870s and which are updated every Sunday morning.
Dromgooles summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17th - 23rd JANUARY 1872)

This week's stories include the scandalous Parr defamation case, the roughs that smashed the windows of the Public Hall in Hardshaw Street, the attempted rape of a sixteen-year-old girl at Eccleston Lane Ends, the extraordinary funeral of a St Helens railway guard, the turns that were performing at the Theatre Royal's New Concert Hall and the ten-year-old nuisance girl from Broad Oak who had water thrown over her.
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Bird in the hand summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10th - 16th JANUARY 1872)

This week's stories include the 10-year-old and 12-year-old children who had never been to school, the smallpox epidemic worsens in St Helens, the strange Rainford pheasant theft, a Prescot wife-beater gets his come-uppance, the artists performing at the Theatre Royal, the violent storm that struck the St Helens district and the St Ann's property owners' campaign against a proposed chemical works in Boundary Road.
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School Brow summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3rd - 9th JANUARY 1872)

This week's stories include the Rainford scandal caused by a young lodger taking off with his married landlady, the smallpox and measles epidemics that were raging in St Helens, a miner's curious drunken death in Cross Street, Lord Derby's memorial chapel at Knowsley Church, the punch up at a working men's ball in Prescot and the police sergeant found drunk in Liverpool Road who blamed his condition on diarrhoea.
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Prince of Wales summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th DEC. 1871 - 2nd JAN. 1872)

This week's stories include the late-night scramble for cash in St Helens Market, the Sutton glassworker dreadfully gashed after walking into a sheet of plate glass, the Newton man who threatened to stab his own wife and child, the opening of the St Helens to Huyton railway line, the Greenall's carter who was run over by his own cart and the celebrations caused by the recovery from typhoid of the Prince of Wales.
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St Helens market 1880s summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th DECEMBER 1871)

This week's stories include the seasonal snogging in a St Helens beerhouse that led to an assault, the Christmas raffle in Golborne that almost caused a riot, the St Helens rifle volunteers' Christmas shoot, the expensive tea urn trip at Rainford Junction station, the Bridge Street butcher's fat pigs, Christmas boxes for postmen, the lack of sewers in St Helens and the Parr boy falsely accused of purse stealing.
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Junction Hotel summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13th - 19th DECEMBER 1871)

This week's stories include more criticism of the drinking and fighting culture in Rainford, concern over a smallpox epidemic at Haydock, the terrible trauma endured by elephants while being transported at sea, another severe sentence is imposed for stealing wearing apparel and why the stealing of beer glasses and a cup from a Higher Parr Street beerhouse was considered more serious than an attempted rape in Bold.
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Sinkers summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th DECEMBER 1871)

This week's stories include the contagious diseases raging in St Helens, the Pocket Nook rail crash that killed a Sutton stoker, the 3-hour curling match that took place on the ice at Rainhill, the cosy pay rises for a Newton-le-Willows workforce, more on the Whiston water well problem and the curious controversy over school boards designed to educate the 2 million children in England with no access to education.
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Junction Hotel Rainford summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th NOV. - 5th DEC. 1871)

This week's many stories include a complaint about disgusting betting and drinking exhibitions in Rainford, the high death-rate from measles and smallpox in St Helens, Young Juba the negro comic appears at the Theatre Royal, another serious fire takes place at Newton, the fight at the Junction Hotel in Rainford that the landlord allegedly allowed and the gipsy fortune tellers who were not able to locate their own horses.
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Beechams magic cure summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22nd - 28th NOVEMER 1871)

This week's stories include a rabies death in Newton-le-Willows, the testimonial that paid tribute to Beecham's magic cure, the husband who attacked his wife for serving him breakfast in a pub, a drunken Haydock miner's canal death, the artists performing at the Theatre Royal, the man who went to great lengths to fall down a hole, the strange Birmingham imposter scam and there is another wearing apparel theft.
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Liverpool Mercury summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15th - 21st NOVEMER 1871)

This week's stories include the burglars who infested St Helens when families went to church strike in Robins Lane, a new Chamber of Commerce is created for St Helens, the sending back to prison of a ticket-of-leave man, the artists performing at the Theatre Royal, the movement to limit the working day to 9 hours gains ground and the drunken passenger at Newton who nearly lost his life on the railway.
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Volunteer Hall summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8th - 14th NOVEMER 1871)

This week's stories include the annual Lowe House Tea Party and Ball in the Volunteer Hall, the horrendous death at a St Helens chemical works, the successful campaign for a nine-hour working day in Newton-le-Willows, the Billinge miners' clog fight that ended in death, the St Helens Amateur Dramatic Society's charity show, a new mayor is chosen for St Helens and the local election impersonators appear in court.
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