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.
Pilkingtons St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (24 - 30 JULY 1873)

This week's many stories include the fear of cholera coming to St Helens, the St Helens Newspaper warns of the dangers of appointing a dishonest Town Clerk, the violent storm that struck St Helens and flooded Duke Street and Bridge Street, the rotten pears that were sold in the market and the boy who was sent to prison for committing a penny's worth of damage to a sand-washing machine at Pilkington's glassworks.
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Volunteer Hall, St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17 - 23 JULY 1873)

This week's many stories include the severe sentence that was imposed on an Oldfield Street burglar, the mixed-sex fight that took place in St Helens, the Whiston coalmine that was turned into an inferno, the coat-tails stockings theft from a market stall, a review of the extraordinary panorama exhibition in the Volunteer Hall and the rain tub row in Rainford that led to a serious assault being committed on a woman.
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Volunteer Hall, St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10 - 16 JULY 1873)

This week's many stories include the boy dress thieves in St Helens Market, the Royal panorama that was exhibited in the Volunteer Hall, the contract to build the new Town Hall is awarded again, the thieving tramp in Eccleston that called a coachbuilder a liar, the young boys that stole a one-pound weight from a grocer's shop and the St Helens Newspaper accuses town councillors of being incompetent and reckless.
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Duke Street, St Helens summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3 - 9 JULY 1873)

This week's stories include the death of the boy taking breakfast to his father at the Hardshaw Brook Chemical Works, the annual gathering of miners of St Helens and Haydock, another fire strikes St Helens Town Hall, the eccentric night soil dumper of Rainford, there's two similar court cases of wife beating, the two sons that beat up their father in Westfield Street and the stone and egg throwing that took place in Parr.
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St Helens Newspaper summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (26 JUNE - 2 JULY 1873)

This week's stories include an accusation of attempted rape in a cart, a satirical take by the St Helens Newspaper on the charming state of the town, the brute of a Parr husband that attacked his wife with a poker, the Sutton girl sent to prison for stealing a watch, the man that head-butted a pane of glass and the Sutton man who was accused of attacking a woman that the magistrates said did not have a spark of manhood.
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Newton Races summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (19 - 25 JUNE 1873)

This week's stories include the Thatto Heath man accused of disgusting savagery through biting his cousin's ear off, Billinge goes en fete to celebrate the opening of new schools, the need for an infectious diseases hospital after smallpox breaks out in Parr, the two brothers that drowned in Groves Dam in Sutton and the gigantic mirrors that were made and silvered in St Helens for display at a London exhibition.
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David Gamble summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (12 - 18 JUNE 1873)

This week's many stories include the festivities that were held to celebrate the wedding of a boss's son, a knife attack on a woman in Greenbank, the opening of St Helens public baths for the summer season, the case of the Tontine Street ironmonger accused of fighting with a frying pan thief and an attack on the noble selves of Wigan after numerous artworks from St Helens are purloined wholesale for a Royal exhibition.
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Roughdales summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (5 - 11 JUNE 1873)

This week's stories include the imbeciles and lunatics living in Whiston Workhouse, the grisly discovery that was made at Pocket Nook, the tablecloth theft from an Ormskirk Street shop, the rise in the cost of living increases the price of bricks for the new Whiston hospital, the low book borrowing at the St Helens public library and the Thatto Heath carter that committed suicide on the day of his wife's funeral.
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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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