Meetings 2022

Hoole History& Heritage Society Meetings - 2022

Wednesday, 19th January

“Robert Lewis Jones: Chester General Station Manager” Robert Lewis Jones started out as the owner of the Chemical Works at Chemistry Lock. He moved to Flookersbrook and became the Station Manager at Chester, where he was in charge when a major rail accident occurred. As a result of this experience, he went on to make a noted contribution to synchronising clocks using electricity. Peter Elliott

A related article can be found on Peter's website here

Thursday, 17th February

“James Hampson Spencer: Chester’s, almost forgotten, 19th Century Stereoscopic Photographer” In 2013, during a research visit into ‘Life in Victorian Hoole’, Linda Webb and Monty Mercer made a chance discovery of prints of James Hampson Spencer’s photographs at the National Archives in Kew. Extensive research has been taking place into the life and work of this previously little-known photographer since then. His stereoscopic photographs provide a ‘window on the world’ of Victorian society during the last quarter of the 19th Century. Linda Webb, Monty Mercer

Wednesday, 23rd March

“The Neston Collieries 1759-1855” Our first external speaker for two years, Anthony, a local historian with a diverse range of interests focused on maritime and industrial history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, brought the competitive story of these local collieries to our attention.  He told the story of the use of remarkable construction and engineering ideas in successfully mining coal in this period. Individuals, as different as the engineer George Stephenson and Emma, Lady Hamilton (later, Nelson’s mistress), played a part in the story as did the dangerous, appalling conditions of work along with the living conditions and health of the individual miners and their families of Neston. Anthony Annakin-Smith ‎