Dr Helen Cooke explores the history of apothecaries with the records of a 17th-century Nantwich man, Raphe Walley. Would his medicines cure you or kill you?

2-3pm, Wednesday 18 November 2026 (by Zoom)


The origins and roles of apothecaries are introduced, followed by a study of a 17th-century Nantwich apothecary, Raphe Walley. Walley’s interesting family history is discussed briefly. Many insights into the medicines and ingredients in his shop in Town Square were uncovered following the discovery of the probate inventory of its contents. The talk explores some of the remedies he would have supplied, and how efficacious, or otherwise, they would have been.

Dr Helen Cooke: After graduating in chemistry at the University of Manchester, Helen worked briefly in scientific publishing and then as a librarian and lecturer at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), where she also completed her PhD on the history of chemistry. After 20 years at UMIST, Helen moved to the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, working for 10 years in the USA and UK. Now retired and living in Nantwich, Cheshire, she volunteers for the Royal Society of Chemistry and Nantwich Museum, which has provided opportunities to feature chemistry through talks, publications and exhibitions.

Please email membership@hslc.org.uk for the Zoom link to this free online talk.

Back

Another chance to see our February lecture: Thomas Newcomen's invention of an engine for draining mines and its first use in a coal mine in 1712, heralded the 'Industrial Revolution' in Britain. Their installation in Prescot and Whiston was at the forefront of the development of the South West Lancashire Coalfield in the eighteenth century and there is evidence that the first Newcomen-type engine in Lancashire was installed in Whiston in 1719.

Another chance to see this lecture, recorded and shared by Zoom on Wednesday 18 February 2026

 

Speakers: Ben Croxford is the Historic Environment Record Officer for Merseyside working for the Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service. He has previously worked as an archaeologist across the UK and on excavations in Italy and Tunisia. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and the Merseyside Archaeological Society. Maurice Handley is a former Chartered Mechanical Engineer.  After retiring, he followed a number of part time courses at the University of Liverpool and was awarded a Diploma in Landscape Interpretation. He has a  long-standing interest in archaeology, geology and industrial history.

Ben and Maurice made use of maps and plans, coupled with documentary evidence and recently published information about the supply of components, to reassess the location, dates of installation and ownership of Newcomen-type engines in Prescot and Whiston. 

Back

Another chance to see our November talk where Dr Steven Shuttleworth asks who were 'the gentry' and talks about the huge variations in their wealth, land ownership, and their role in society; the debate about the 'rise and fall' ir the gentry in general; what we know (or think we know) about the Lancashire gentry; and then consider how these issues are reflected in the story of his ancestors, the Shuttleworths of Asterley, near Whalley.

Another chance to see this lecture, recorded and shared by Zoom on Wednesday 19 November 2025,

LECTURER: Dr Steven Shuttleworth

Steven is a native of Oldham. An environmental scientist/town planner by profession, his final post was as Director of Environment/Head of Planning for a local authority.  Since retiring, Steven has spent some of his time researching his family history, which has rekindled his long standing interest in the socioeconomic history of Lancashire. His talk asks who were ‘the gentry’. He talks about the huge variations in their wealth, land ownership, and their role in society; the debate about the ‘rise and fall’ ir the gentry in general; what we know (or think we know) about the Lancashire gentry; and then considers how these issues are reflected in the story of his ancestors, the Shuttleworths of Asterley, near Whalley.

 

[Image: Easterley Farm, formerly known as Asterley, in the 1950s]

Back

Another chance to see our October 2025 lecture where Professor Katrina Navickas examines the rise of the footpath and commons preservation movement, and some of the early contests between walkers and landowners, culminating in the famous Winter Hill dispute in 1896, and lesser well known conflicts in Darwen and other parts of the southern Pennines.

Another chance to see our October 2025 lecture. Drawing from her new book, Contested Commons: a history of protest and public space in England, Professor Katrina Navickas (University of Hertfordshire) examines the rise of the footpath and commons preservation movement, and some of the early contests between walkers and landowners, culminating in the famous Winter Hill dispute in 1896, and lesser well known conflicts in Darwen and other parts of the southern Pennines. It argues that the mass trespasses in the 1890s were as, if not more, important than the Kinder Scout mass trespass of the 1930s.[Image: Darwen Moor and Winter Hill (c) David Dixon, CC BY-SAY 2]

Back

Another chance to see our June 2025 lecture. Against a backdrop of ever-increasing social malaise and ongoing private sector inertia, Liverpool Corporation embarked upon an energetic programme of slum clearance and concomitant working-class housing construction. Such was its success that by 1914 it was, with the sole exception of the London County Council, the largest single provider of municipal social housing in country. This talk will provide an overview of both the changing nature of policy and the individual developments constructed by Liverpool Corporation in the pre-WWI period.

This lecture took place via Zoom on Wednesday 18 June 2025

Speaker: Dr Bertie Dockerill, editor of the Society’s journal, Transactions, and lecturer in Planning History.

The global-first of municipally-constructed social housing occurred within Liverpool with the opening of St Martin’s Cottages in 1869. Though specifically built as a singular experiment for the private sector to emulate there was, in the years that followed, a total failure of the same to construct equivalent housing for the city’s working-classes. Against a backdrop of ever-increasing social malaise and ongoing private sector inertia, the Corporation subsequently embarked upon an energetic programme of slum clearance and concomitant working-class housing construction. Such was its success that by 1914 it was, with the sole exception of the London County Council, the largest single provider of municipal social housing in country. This talk will provide an overview of both the changing nature of policy and the individual developments constructed by Liverpool Corporation in the pre-WWI period.

Back

Another chance to see our February 2025 lecture where Professor Paul Salveson covers the historical significance of the Liverpool and Manchester railway and the events that preceded it ahead of its bicentenary in 2030 and offers a glimpse of plans for 2029 and 2030.

 Another chance to see our February 2025 lecture where Professor Paul Salveson covers the historical significance of the Liverpool and Manchester railway and the events that preceded it ahead of its bicentenary in 2030 and offers a glimpse of plans for 2029 and 2030.

Professor Salveson is chair of the Rocket 2030 Partnership which is planning the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 2030.

 

This lecture took place, via Zoom, on Wednesday 19 February 2025.

 

 

Back