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.
Prince of Wales 1870s summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29 MAY - 4 JUNE 1873)

This week's many stories include the explosion in a coal miner's own fireplace, St Helens Corporation's deficiency in its night soil department, the delinquent magistrates that weren't sitting on the St Helens Bench, the fast writing course held in Hardshaw Street, the death of a little Parr girl in the St Helens Canal, more criticism of fast young shop assistants and the Whit Monday Grand Gala that was held in Thatto Heath.
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Rainhill asylum summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22 - 28 MAY 1873)

This week's stories include the two passenger trains that crashed near Sutton Oak railway station, the Bridge Street pickpocket, criticism of the new Thatto Heath post office, a prolific wife deserter gets his comeuppance, the violent act at Rainhill Lunatic Asylum, the stoker that had both his feet cut off while working on the railway and the story of the defunct duck at Pilkingtons that was plucked by a thief.
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Rigby Whittaker summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15 - 21 MAY 1873)

This week's many stories include the eleven-year-old boy sent to prison for a theft worth just three-halfpence, the dead baby that was found in the St Helens Canal, the Prescot watch movement maker who was illegally working boys at night, an attack on the honesty of shop assistants by the St Helens Newspaper, the obscene street singer in Shaw Street and the two ticket-of-leave men that wanted to return to prison.
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Fleece hotel summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8 - 14 MAY 1873)

This week's stories include the man that beat his wife black and blue for associating with neighbours that he didn't like, the drunken man at the chemical works whose negligence nearly caused an explosion, the few patients that were being treated at the new St Helens Hospital, Greenall's rent dinner at the Fleece Hotel in St Helens and the hypocritical Greenbank wife-beater who flaunted his girlfriend in front of his wife.
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Kurtz alkali works summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th MAY 1873)

This week's many stories include the annual May Day horse and cart parade in St Helens town centre, the Bridge Street shopkeeper's generosity to a thieving shop assistant, the start of the St Helens bricklayers' strike, the builder's trouble in building the new Town Hall, the St Helens stinky brook of the 1870s and the window-smashing woman whose act undermined her cruelty charges against her husband.
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Ashtons Green summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (24th - 30th APRIL 1873)

This week's many stories include the shocking state of the paupers hospital attached to Whiston workhouse, the death of a mine worker who was sinking a new shaft at Ashtons Green Colliery, the daily attacks on passers-by near Greenbank in St Helens, the boy imprisoned for stealing just five pence from a pub in Raven Street and the woman who claimed infancy as she was under 21 to get out of paying a debt.
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Whiston infirmary summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17th - 23rd APRIL 1873)

This week's many stories include the respectable Thatto Heath vagrant who was discovered sleeping in a cowshed, the corrupt practices at an election for the Prescot Guardians, the post office fraud by mistake that led to two months imprisonment, the severe beating of a wife for simply having a drink, the brainless Rainford pigeon thefts and the opening of the picturesque Victoria Pleasure Gardens in Thatto Heath.
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Alexandra Colliery summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10th - 16th APRIL 1873)

This week's many stories include an update on the new St Helens Cottage Hospital, the deranged sexton employed at St Helens Cemetery, the rigged school examinations scandal, the Alexandra Colliery miners that left their work to go on a bender, the boys' bullseye lamp thieving from a Duke Street shop, the Haydock hair pulling squabble and the St Helens Newspaper writes about the contemptible henpecked husbands.
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Citadel summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3rd - 9th APRIL 1873)

This week's many stories include the Claughton Street man who set his dog on troublesome youths, St Helens coal miners give notice to their masters that they want more pay, the dispute over rabbit racing in Merton Bank, the coincidence that uncovered a blind man's scam and the St Helens Newspaper emphasises the importance of the appointment of the right candidate for St Helens' first medical officer of health.
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Rosbothams School St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th MARCH - 2nd APRIL 1873)

This week's stories include the young boys that were illegally employed at a Liverpool Street bottle works, the poor safety practices at a St Helens copper works that led to a worker's death, the elderly family that were said to like their grog, the man fatally injured at St Helens Goods Station, the annual inspection of St Helens police force and the manure salesman's cheeky frauds on several Rainford and Eccleston farmers.
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Kurtz Alkali St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th MARCH 1873)

This week's stories include the bricklayers and tailors of St Helens' demands for more pay, the entertainer that was known as the Great Vance performs at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens, the apprentice at the St Helens Newspaper that walked out because of excessive working hours, the Cuban slaves that were up for sale in Havana and St Thomas National School gets a glowing report from the 1870s version of Ofsted.
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