Did You Know?

By 1700 there were about 6,000 people in Leicester

1730 - The population rose to about 8,000 by 1730

1771 - Leicester Royal Infirmary opened 

 1774 - The town walls were removed in 1774 as improvements in artillery had made them obsolete.

1760 - 1800 Population Growth then stabilized till 1760 when it again began to grow rapidly, reaching 17,000 people by 1800.

 in 1785, the town council created a public walk, the New Walk.

1794 - The Soar Canal was completed in 1794

1801 – Leicester Population: 17,005

1804 – The common lands around the ancient city, including South Fields, North Fields, and High Fields, were controversially enclosed.

1817 – Leicester Savings Bank established.

1821 – Leicester Gas Company was established

1838 - Union Workhouse built

1838 - Leicester Chartist slogan. Labour is the source of wealth. The profits of the earth are for all

1851 - Leicester Secular Society first established, the first Freethought Secular Society in the world

1853 - Leicester gained its first piped water supply

1861 – Leicester Population: 68,056

1866 - Leicester's first working men's club opened

1871 - Population of Leicester 95,084

1874 - Leicester Mercury newspaper began publication

1905 - Leicester unemployed re-use Leicester Chartist slogan from 1838 -Labour is the source of wealth. The profits of the earth are for all

1915 - Only 2.6 % had volunteered for the Armed Forces in Leicester (Nottingham 18%) which became a public scandal.

1917 - May 6th - A May Day Demonstration was held in the Market Place followed by a Parade starting in Humberstone Gate to celebrate the Russian Revolution.

1917 - National bread ration in 1917 was reduced to 4lb per week

1919 - Leicester granted City Status

1923 – In the General Election, Winston Churchill was the Liberal candidate in Leicester West and lost.

1926 – The Diocese of Leicester was established and the city's churches were allocated to it instead of the Diocese of Peterborough

1926 - The General Strike

1927 — St Martin's Church became Leicester Cathedral, the first church in the city with Cathedral status since the 8th or 9th century

1932 -  Between 1932 and 1975 Slum clearance changed the face of the City of Leicester

1933 - Leicester City Police Headquarters, designed by G. Noel Hill and A.T. Gooseman, opened in Charles Street.

1935 - Humberstone, Knighton, New Parks and Beaumont Leys were absorbed into the city of Leicester

1935 - Oswald Mosley and the Blackshirts (British Union of Fascists) held several demonstrations in the Market Place and Victoria Park and were heckled by members of the city's labour movement.

1936 - The Jarrow Marchers arrived in Leicester on Thursday 23 October from Loughborough and continued on the next day to Market Harborough

1939 3rd September - Britain declares War on Germany and it's Allies

1940 – Leicester suffered its worst air raid of World War II on the night of 19th November.