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.
Tontine Street summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 1 - 7 APRIL 1874

This week's many stories include the breach of promise of marriage case in which a manager of a coal mine tries to con a court, a policeman suffers a severe kicking in Parr Street, the dog that saved a Bridge Street family from fire, the terrible combat in Parr over a stolen spoon, a man is given a kicking in the Griffin Inn in Bold and the vested interests of St Helens' councillors concerning the town’s atmospheric pollution.
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Ship Inn summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 25 - 31 MARCH 1874

This week's many stories include the verdict in the St Helens Newspaper's libel case, a worker is killed at a chemical works after falling into a well of muriatic acid, the Haydock murder charge against a husband, the creative illuminated beggar in Bridge Street, two violent assaults take place in Rainford and the extraordinary dispute between the newly appointed St Helens Town Crier and the manager of the Theatre Royal.
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Rainhill Asylum summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 18 - 24 MARCH 1874

This week's many stories include the plans to enlarge St Helens Market by demolishing many old buildings, the bricklayers' strike at the new St Helens Town Hall is settled, the boys illegally employed at the Eccleston Flint Glassworks, the strange case of the dead duck and the pub singer, the mother who claimed her baby had died from a smallpox vaccination and St Helens' doctors complain about the town's atmosphere.
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Pilkingtons plate glass summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 11 - 17 MARCH 1874

This week's many stories include the Pilkington boys strike, Parr miners call for arbitration in their pay dispute with their masters, the dog stealing in the market, St Helens police's annual government inspection, the heavy fines for two absconding apprentices and the St Helens Newspaper wonders why there were restrictions on the shipping of sulphuric acid but none when it was pumped into the town's atmosphere.
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Nurses St Helens Hospital summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 4 - 10 MARCH 1874

This week's stories include the first annual meeting of St Helens Hospital, there's praise for the work of the three little orphan nurses, there's anger over the high cost of the foundation stone laying for the new Town Hall, the workhouse portress receives a pay rise, St Helens miners are set to have their wages cut due to a drop in the price of coal and a debate concludes that smoking is not harmful for your health.
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Engineer Hall summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 26 FEB - 3 MARCH 1874

This week's stories include Andrew Kurtz's generosity to St Helens Hospital, the riotous man in Church Street who was nettled at being arrested, the Sutton horse in a fearful condition that claimed to have been worked for its own good, the Prescot Reporter's unusual argument why women should not have the vote and the new Saints play one of their first matches but had to lend their opposition two of their players.
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Lowe House summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 19 - 25 FEBRUARY 1874

This week's many stories include the violence of the riotous colliers after receiving their fortnightly pay, the dog fighting that took place in Sutton, the dangerous railways of the 1870s and the mysterious leap off a train near Rainford, the brute that beat his wife for serving him cheese for his meal and one coal mining dispute is resolved but another one begins as the engine-winders serve notice of strike action.
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Old Lane, Rainford summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 12 - 18 FEBRUARY 1874

This week's many stories include an account of the annual St Helens Catholic Charity Ball, a report on the noxious vapours from St Helens works' chimneys, the Peasley Cross bottlemaker who learned that you cannot sleep at your work, the little girl servant in a beerhouse whose father was paid to drop a prosecution and the young man while paying his addresses to a woman at Rainford placed her house under siege.
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Holy Cross church summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 5 - 11 FEBRUARY 1874

This week's many stories include why the residents of Hardshaw Street were fuming with Greenall's brewery, the disorder at a tea party and ball, the violent Rainhill row between two women, the youth who caused trouble in St Thomas's church, the Noggs protection order, the brainless theft from Liverpool Street lodgings and the stolen jacket in the Hesketh Arms in Church Street that dropped on to a woman's head.
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Rainford school summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 29 JAN - 4 FEB 1824

This week's many stories include the fight in the Crystal Palace beerhouse in Sutton, the soiree and ball that took place in Rainford National School, the failed appointment of a new schoolteacher at Whiston Workhouse, the Valentine's Day cards that were on sale in St Helens and there's more criticism of the poisonous St Helens atmosphere after an alderman claimed that sea breezes dissipated much of the smoke.
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Rainford Church, St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 22 - 28 JANUARY 1874

This week's many stories include the cow's head hanging outside a butcher's shop that had caused an obstruction, Whiston Workhouse's Christmas tree celebration, the lengthy waits at Crank's level crossing for someone to unlock the gates, more on the new temperance movement in St Helens, the healthy population of Rainford and why St Helens Council planned to write to Queen Victoria and the Duke of Edinburgh.
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