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.
St Helens Newspaper summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10th - 16th AUGUST 1870)

This week's stories include the difficulties for firemen in tackling a blaze on a Bold farm, boys cause a gas explosion at a Church Street tailor's shop, a farm dispute at Rainhill leads to a court case, the taxman who died after having ate a hearty breakfast, there are signs that the Pilkington glass strike could be coming to an end and the man who ran a house of ill repute in Westfield Street returns to court.
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Eagle and Child summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3rd - 9th AUGUST 1870)

This week's stories include the drunken soldier who was armed with a bayonet and rifle in Church Street, a fracas takes place at the Eagle and Child in Rainford, criticism of the disgraceful state of St Thomas' churchyard, the drought afflicting St Helens during the summer, the man who assaulted his stepmother at the Knoggs pub in Eccleston and the curious case of the policeman and the injured cucumbers.
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Newton Races summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th JULY - 2nd AUGUST 1870)

This week's many stories include the naked road races in Eccleston, the child beggar of Croppers Hill, Peasley Cross Colliery Cricket Club's low scoring batsmen, the privy nuisances in Pocket Nook and Parr Street, the Irish woman who said she would rather be in poverty in St Helens than in Ireland, the parents who were ordered by a Prescot court to flog their child and the recidivist offender Thomas Fay returns to court.
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Knowsley Hall summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th JULY 1870)

This week's many stories include the Church Street dentist's that also served as a confectioners, Lord and Lady Derby's fawning reception at Knowsley, the Pilkington glassmakers explain why their 3-month-long strike has to continue, the almost unbearable hot weather in St Helens, the Parr woman accused of "moistening her clay" and the Commissioners of Lunacy report on their inspection of Rainhill County Asylum.
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Roughdales summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13th - 19th JULY 1870)

This week's stories include the mysterious flight of the Prescot businessman charged with an unnatural offence, a police raid on bare-knuckle prize-fighting takes place in Clock Face, the women pugilists of Greenbank, there's trouble between the ladies of Moss Nook, a heroic rescue of two boys from a deep clay pit in Marshalls Cross and why they were holding celebrations at Lea Green over a little railway line.
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Gerard Arms summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th JULY 1870)

This week's stories include an abominable sentence for an abominable crime at Eccleston, concern over a lack of water in Parr, why women were considered the best attraction at the Prescot Horticultural Society's annual exhibition, there's road rage in Eccleston, a theft by an ungrateful man in the Gerard Arms and a woman is seriously injured at Rainhill Railway station while attempting to get out of a moving train.
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Union Plate Glassworks summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th JUNE - 5th JULY 1870)

This week's stories include the amateur pedestrian accused of exposing his person in North Road, a miner is fatally injured at St Helens Station, the potato engine nuisance in Bridge Street and Hall Street, the fence damage at the Dog and Rabbit raceground in Parr, the penny grass damage in Ravenhead and the employees of the Union Plate Glass Works in Pocket Nook take their annual pleasure excursion to Windermere.
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Rainford old church summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22nd - 28th JUNE 1870)

This week's stories include the cricket match played at Dentons Green in aid of striking glassmakers, the Ashton surplice riots are brought to an end, the Hardshaw Street doctor that failed to licence his horse and carriage, the spoof steam and lightning machine that was supposedly at Rainford Church and criticism of the directors of the St Helens Gas Company for enjoying themselves in London at public expense.
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Clarence burning summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15th - 21st JUNE 1870)

This week's stories include the bizarre anti-surplice riots in Ashton-in-Makerfield, the St Helens man who refused to pay his son's keep on a reformatory ship, the pigeon shop in Tontine Street which bought a stolen bird, a midnight stabbing takes place on Bold Street, the wretched-looking woman who faced a charge of stealing half sovereigns in Pocket Nook and the man that took indecent liberties in Bold Street.
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Carr Mill Dam summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8th - 14th JUNE 1870)

This week's stories include the Sutton miner who committed bigamy because his wife made him unhappy, how the recent Whit Monday holiday had been marked by St Helens' folk, a miniature yacht race takes place on Carr Mill Dam, the Pilkington strikers denounce suggestions of coercion, how Charles Dickens' death was reported in the St Helens Newspaper and the two 13-year-old girls who stole for their mothers.
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Belle Vue summary

150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th JUNE 1870)

This week's many stories include the Liverpool Road miner who got his sweethearts in the family way, the man accused in the "Prescot scandal" comes to court, an "abominable" crime with a donkey is suspected at Eccleston, a charge of indecent skinny dipping in a Sutton lake, an update on the Pilkington glass strike and a "what's on" guide to the Whit Monday amusements for those being given a rare day off from work.
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