diff --git a/browser/base/content/test/general/browser.ini b/browser/base/content/test/general/browser.ini
index b87c17c81bb..4b19883871c 100644
--- a/browser/base/content/test/general/browser.ini
+++ b/browser/base/content/test/general/browser.ini
@@ -353,7 +353,6 @@ skip-if = buildapp == 'mulet' || e10s # Bug 1101973 - breaks the next test in e1
 skip-if = buildapp == 'mulet'
 [browser_private_no_prompt.js]
 skip-if = buildapp == 'mulet'
-[browser_purgehistory_clears_sh.js]
 [browser_PageMetaData_pushstate.js]
 [browser_relatedTabs.js]
 [browser_remoteTroubleshoot.js]
diff --git a/browser/base/content/test/general/browser_purgehistory_clears_sh.js b/browser/base/content/test/general/browser_purgehistory_clears_sh.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 80b3ec491b5..00000000000
--- a/browser/base/content/test/general/browser_purgehistory_clears_sh.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
-/* Any copyright is dedicated to the Public Domain.
- * http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ */
-
-const url = "http://example.org/browser/browser/base/content/test/general/dummy_page.html";
-
-add_task(function* purgeHistoryTest() {
-  let tab = yield BrowserTestUtils.withNewTab({
-    gBrowser,
-    url,
-  }, function* purgeHistoryTestInner(browser) {
-    let backButton = browser.ownerDocument.getElementById("Browser:Back");
-    let forwardButton = browser.ownerDocument.getElementById("Browser:Forward");
-
-    ok(!browser.webNavigation.canGoBack,
-       "Initial value for webNavigation.canGoBack");
-    ok(!browser.webNavigation.canGoForward,
-       "Initial value for webNavigation.canGoBack");
-    ok(backButton.hasAttribute("disabled"), "Back button is disabled");
-    ok(forwardButton.hasAttribute("disabled"), "Forward button is disabled");
-
-    let pushState = ContentTask.spawn(browser, null, function*() {
-      let startHistory = content.history.length;
-      content.history.pushState({}, "");
-      content.history.pushState({}, "");
-      content.history.back();
-      let newHistory = content.history.length;
-      return [startHistory, newHistory];
-    });
-
-    let [startHistory, newHistory] = yield pushState;
-
-    is(startHistory, 1, "Initial SHistory size");
-    is(newHistory, 3, "New SHistory size");
-
-    ok(browser.webNavigation.canGoBack, true,
-       "New value for webNavigation.canGoBack");
-    ok(browser.webNavigation.canGoForward, true,
-       "New value for webNavigation.canGoForward");
-    ok(!backButton.hasAttribute("disabled"), "Back button was enabled");
-    ok(!forwardButton.hasAttribute("disabled"), "Forward button was enabled");
-
-
-    let tmp = {};
-    Cc["@mozilla.org/moz/jssubscript-loader;1"]
-      .getService(Ci.mozIJSSubScriptLoader)
-      .loadSubScript("chrome://browser/content/sanitize.js", tmp);
-
-    let {Sanitizer} = tmp;
-    let sanitizer = new Sanitizer();
-
-    yield sanitizer.sanitize(["history"]);
-
-    let historyAfterPurge = yield ContentTask.spawn(browser, null, function*() {
-      return content.history.length;
-    });
-
-    is(historyAfterPurge, 1, "SHistory correctly cleared");
-
-    ok(!browser.webNavigation.canGoBack,
-       "webNavigation.canGoBack correctly cleared");
-    ok(!browser.webNavigation.canGoForward,
-       "webNavigation.canGoForward correctly cleared");
-    ok(backButton.hasAttribute("disabled"), "Back button was disabled");
-    ok(forwardButton.hasAttribute("disabled"), "Forward button was disabled");
-  });
-});
diff --git a/toolkit/content/browser-content.js b/toolkit/content/browser-content.js
index 306ef3ad1f2..90420a25df9 100644
--- a/toolkit/content/browser-content.js
+++ b/toolkit/content/browser-content.js
@@ -724,27 +724,3 @@ let AudioPlaybackListener = {
   },
 };
 AudioPlaybackListener.init();
-
-addMessageListener("Browser:PurgeSessionHistory", function BrowserPurgeHistory() {
-  let sessionHistory = docShell.QueryInterface(Ci.nsIWebNavigation).sessionHistory;
-  if (!sessionHistory) {
-    return;
-  }
-
-  // place the entry at current index at the end of the history list, so it won't get removed
-  if (sessionHistory.index < sessionHistory.count - 1) {
-    let indexEntry = sessionHistory.getEntryAtIndex(sessionHistory.index, false);
-    sessionHistory.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsISHistoryInternal);
-    indexEntry.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsISHEntry);
-    sessionHistory.addEntry(indexEntry, true);
-  }
-
-  let purge = sessionHistory.count;
-  if (global.content.location.href != "about:blank") {
-    --purge; // Don't remove the page the user's staring at from shistory
-  }
-
-  if (purge > 0) {
-    sessionHistory.PurgeHistory(purge);
-  }
-});
diff --git a/toolkit/content/widgets/browser.xml b/toolkit/content/widgets/browser.xml
index ef2edf834ee..61d94747734 100644
--- a/toolkit/content/widgets/browser.xml
+++ b/toolkit/content/widgets/browser.xml
@@ -821,7 +821,7 @@
             // |webNavigation.sessionHistory| will have been set by the frame
             // loader when creating the docShell as long as this xul:browser
             // doesn't have the 'disablehistory' attribute set.
-            if (!this.hasAttribute("disablehistory")) {
+            if (this.docShell && this.webNavigation.sessionHistory) {
               var os = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/observer-service;1"]
                                  .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIObserverService);
               os.addObserver(this, "browser:purge-session-history", false);
@@ -879,7 +879,7 @@
             return;
           this.mDestroyed = true;
 
-          if (!this.hasAttribute("disablehistory")) {
+          if (this.docShell && this.webNavigation.sessionHistory) {
             var os = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/observer-service;1"]
                                .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIObserverService);
             try {
@@ -969,18 +969,23 @@
         <parameter name="aState"/>
         <body>
           <![CDATA[
-            if (aTopic != "browser:purge-session-history")
+            if (aTopic != "browser:purge-session-history" || !this.sessionHistory)
               return;
 
-            this.purgeSessionHistory();
-          ]]>
-        </body>
-      </method>
+            // place the entry at current index at the end of the history list, so it won't get removed
+            if (this.sessionHistory.index < this.sessionHistory.count - 1) {
+              var indexEntry = this.sessionHistory.getEntryAtIndex(this.sessionHistory.index, false);
+              this.sessionHistory.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsISHistoryInternal);
+              indexEntry.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsISHEntry);
+              this.sessionHistory.addEntry(indexEntry, true);
+            }
 
-      <method name="purgeSessionHistory">
-        <body>
-          <![CDATA[
-            this.messageManager.sendAsyncMessage("Browser:PurgeSessionHistory");
+            var purge = this.sessionHistory.count;
+            if (this.currentURI != "about:blank")
+              --purge; // Don't remove the page the user's staring at from shistory
+
+            if (purge > 0)
+              this.sessionHistory.PurgeHistory(purge);
           ]]>
         </body>
       </method>
diff --git a/toolkit/content/widgets/remote-browser.xml b/toolkit/content/widgets/remote-browser.xml
index bea8e9fd0fc..2d26842e390 100644
--- a/toolkit/content/widgets/remote-browser.xml
+++ b/toolkit/content/widgets/remote-browser.xml
@@ -389,15 +389,6 @@
         </body>
       </method>
 
-      <method name="purgeSessionHistory">
-        <body>
-          <![CDATA[
-            this.messageManager.sendAsyncMessage("Browser:PurgeSessionHistory");
-            this.webNavigation.canGoBack = false;
-            this.webNavigation.canGoForward = false;
-          ]]>
-        </body>
-      </method>
     </implementation>
 
   </binding>