This site takes you on a walk around Victorian Ilkeston, with Adeline Wells as guide, and myself, Dave Johnson, as provider of supplementary history.

In the 1930’s Adeline wrote a series of letters to the Ilkeston Advertiser, describing her life in the town as a child and these help us navigate our route around the area and introduce us to its main characters.

——————————————————————————————————————–The fine photo below features William Henshaw (1883-1943 .. right, front row), once of Charlotte Street, and was kindly sent in by his grandson Rick Henshaw. Rick has also composed an intriguing account of the family, centred around George William Henshaw … which you can find here.

The Market Place area in 1800 … a new map

What story lies inside this book below? (Courtesy of Andrew Knighton)

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The postcard picture below, sent in by Pam Bates shows where our journey begins … at the bottom of Bath Street, with the Mundy Arms on the left and the Rutland Hotel on the right. The scene is dated about 1909 (?)

The postcard is dated on the reverse … April 14th 1925. You can find out more about it here. 

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Any contributions and comments are all very welcome.
If you have any questions about your own Ilkeston research please put them forward.
You can contact me either using the Contact Form on the sidebar or by email