Industrial Age

(c.1800 to 1945)

Industrialisation brought hosiery and boot and shoe factories, quarrying and coalmining, along with canals, railways, the motor car and public utilities. Significant social change accompanied it; a large expansion of the urban population, struggles for worker rights and emancipation, and the introduction of universal basic education. Two World Wars closed the period.

Thursday 8 October 2026

George Newell: Founder of the First Hosiery Co-operative

Steve Marquis discovers the life and work of George Newell, Secretary of the Framework Knitters Union and Founder of the First Hosiery Co-operative.

Saturday 26 September 2026

The Leicester Method and the Mowsley Sanatorium

John Lacey looks into the isolation hospital and sanatorium in the Leicestershire parish of Mowsley, and the development of the 'Leicester Method'

Wednesday 9 September 2026

Failed to Return

Joe Hall explores the aftermath of Hubert Everard Preston’s final flight, when his Hampden bomber was lost over Cologne in April 1941.

Friday 20 March 2026

Old Inns of Wigston Magna

Steve Marquis takes us on a tour of the many inns of Wigston Magna, from the middle-ages to the 19th century.

Tuesday 24 February 2026

M. P. Dare, Leicester’s early 20th century ghost hunter

The University of Leicester's Simon Dixon explores the life and interests of M.P Dare, historian and ghost hunter.

Saturday 22 November 2025

Inns and outs in Loughborough in the 18th century

LAHS member Dave Fogg Postles on what a document now in America can tell us about 18th century Loughborough

Wednesday 29 October 2025

The exceptional Miss Annie Clephan

LAHS Committee member Caroline Wessel explores the life of Annie Clephan, the pioneering scion of a well-known Leicester family.

Wednesday 15 October 2025

George Stephenson and Leicestershire - a new look at the story of a ‘Great Man’

LAHS Vice President Robert Hartley explores the local connections of the ‘Father of Railways’ George Stephenson.

Sunday 1 June 2025

‘Righting a Wrong’ Carmen Callil’s Leicestershire Forebears

LAHS Member Steve Marquis recounts the story of Carmen Callil’s Great Great Grandmother, Sarah Allen, illegitimate framework knitter from Thurmaston.

Sunday 25 May 2025

The English Sparrow – friend or foe?

LAHS Newsletter Editor Cynthia Brown explores attitudes to the house sparrow as an agricultural ‘pest’ in the later 19th century.

Sunday 1 December 2024

The March Phillipps de Lisle Family and Leicestershire over 340 years

LAHS Vice-President, Squire Gerard de Lisle, reflects on his family’s long association with the county.

Sunday 24 November 2024

A Walk Through Leicester. Susanna Watts (1768 – 1842)

Guest blogger, John Parker, retraces the footsteps of Susanna Watts. Abolitionist, author, translator, and artist.

Sunday 10 November 2024

Animal Magnetism - A Mesmerising Debate

LAHS Newsletter & Reviews Editor, Cynthia Brown, explores the unsettling practice of mesmerism in early Victorian Leicester.

Sunday 29 September 2024

A Wife’s Dilemma: Debt and The Married Women’s Property Act

LAHS Member Dave Fogg Postles presents a case study from Victorian Loughborough exploring an aspect of the impact of this Act.

Sunday 16 June 2024

‘Almost an Englishman’ – a French refugee and his family in Leicester

LAHS Newsletter Editor, Cynthia Brown presents the life of Charles Camille Caillard, a French nobleman who made his home in 19th Century Leicester

Sunday 12 May 2024

At the Going Down of the Sun

LAHS Member Denis Kenyon shares his experiences as co-founder of the Leicester City, County & Rutland At Risk War Memorials Project.

Sunday 14 April 2024

The persistence of patronage and the composition of the Anglican Clergy in the Archdeaconry of Leicester, c.1850-1903

LAHS Member Dave Fogg Postles considers the continuing influence of patronage, reviewing both who owned the rights to put forward clergy for appointment to vicarages and providing examples demonstrating what this meant in practice as to who might then be appointed.

Sunday 7 April 2024