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.
Parr Street summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8th - 14th AUGUST 1872)

This week's stories include the Good Friday fight in Parr Street in St Helens in which a man bled to death, the boys who could still work up to 54 hours a week down a coalmine, a shocking story of wife beating is told in St Helens Petty Sessions, the latest news of the exploits of Dr Livingstone in Africa, another sad drowning of a child in St Helens, the thieving Nutgrove domestic servant and the Baldwin Street butcher theft.
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Holy Hand summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th AUGUST 1872)

This week's stories include the shocking condition of a Prescot ex-soldier who had fought in the Crimea, the boy who cut a hole in a circus tent on the fairground, the death of a child in an old clay pit in Marshalls Cross, the wonderful cures credited to the holy hand at Garswood, the foundry chimney in St Mary's Street that was demolished by lightning and the mystery of the woman who drowned in the canal at 3am.
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Liverpool Daily Post summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (25th - 31st JULY 1872)

This week's many stories include the lightning flashes that were blinding in their brilliancy, the shocking Crank miserable little wreck child emaciation case, the porters within the goods department at St Helens Railway Station go on strike, the two boys charged with indecent exposure, the police assault in Rainford as a man attempts to liberate two of their prisoners and love is blind for the Laffak swains and damsels.
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Pilkingtons summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (18th - 24th JULY 1872)

This week's stories include the fire at Bold Old Hall farm that led to three brigades being summoned, a savage attack on a man charged with stopping people from bathing in the Ravenhead reservoir, the bad beating up of a policeman by a couple of men, the Pilkington's apprentice who walked out of the glassworks after being fined, St Helens Cricket Club's athletics festival and the sad death of a child in a quarry.
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Poor Law Gazette summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th JULY 1872)

This week's stories include the severe storm that caused immense flooding within the St Helens district and struck a train in Rainford, a Prescot curate is declared insane after claiming to be the Prince of Wales, the Sutton Heath explosions that were caused by careless miners, the rewards on offer for apprehending absent husbands and the Parr Flat girl called utterly reckless by her father is sent to prison.
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Elephant Lane summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th JULY 1872)

This week's stories include a claim of police brutality in Sutton in which an officer was accused of using his stick on a man as if thrashing wheat, the Raven Hotel traveller conundrum is considered in court, the fight that turned into a fearful brick bashing, the claim of an indecent assault in Park Road in St Helens and the Parr woman whose gossip about a married woman entering a barn with another man landed her in court.
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Volunteer Hall summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th JUNE - 3rd JULY 1872)

This week's stories include the sheep that tried to jump through a Prescot shop window, the drunks that turned up in St Helens County Court to argue over a featherbed, the cruel mother who wanted her daughter to stay out all night, the most extraordinary weather occurs in St Helens, the man who drove his horse and cart furiously through Bridge Street and the Continental diorama amazing folk at the Volunteer Hall.
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Liverpool Road summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th JUNE 1872)

This week's stories include the bucket of water solution to a chemical works fire, a Westfield Street brothel is raided by the police, the thunderstorm of exceptional severity that struck St Helens, the longstanding feud between two Liverpool Road rag dealers, the maniacal butcher that had to be placed in a straightjacket and the man credited with first importing the term OK into the UK appears in St Helens.
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St Helens work and rest

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13th - 19th JUNE 1872)

This week's stories include the Pocket Nook stabbing case, the Sutton calf that was described as a freak of nature, the day Moses tried to part Abel's head in Bridge Street, a detailed critique of the smoke nuisance in St Helens, Clark's World-Famed Blood Mixture that John Cotton's chemist's shop was selling in Market Street, two curious train fare dodger cases and Pilkington's annual treat for their boy glass workers.
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St Helens County Court summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th JUNE 1872)

This week's stories include the impudent highway robbery in Pocket Nook, the child star who was performing in the Volunteer Hall in St Helens, the violent assaults made on police officers in Parr and Thatto Heath, the feckless Feigh family who appeared in court as often as the magistrates and the judge that claimed that the St Helens working class were the most well off in the country but wouldn't pay their debts.
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Newton Races summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (30th MAY - 5th JUNE 1872)

This week's stories include the blacksmith that was wrongly charged with indecently assaulting a child in Parr, the woman falsely accused of stealing money from a Greenbank lodging house, the man who worked a 150-hour week, the Westfield Street doctor who sued a patient for not paying his bill, the Rainford sister-in-law defamation case, the start of Newton Races and how the courtroom biter ended up being bitten.
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