Buying a book at Wilcox's on Well Hall Road and a thank you

Well Hall Odeon, circa 1960s

It is pretty much one of those things that when you live somewhere you take it for granted.

Growing up in Eltham in the 1960s I don’t think I ever took a photograph of the place and most of the changes that occurred just passed me by.

That said I am not sure that there were many dramatic developments to Eltham during that decade.

The cinemas were all still there when I left as was the old station, and the shops on Well Hall Road just down from the Odeon were the same when I returned in the early 70s.

They included the radio shop where mum bought our first stereogram, the barber's shop next to the cinema where you always came out with a short back and sides no matter what you had asked for and Wells the Chemist and the cafe.

Some places have faded from my memory and others while still vivid have challenged me to remember their name.

Wilcox, Well Hall Road circa 1960s

So here I am with that shop at the top of Well Hall Road hard by Burton’s.

It sold everything from papers and sweets to books and on a Saturday morning it was one of the first ports of call before heading up the High Street to meet friends, or visit the library.

And only yesterday our Saul started reading the copy of Canterbury Tales which I bought from Wilcox’s sometime in the summer of 1967.

The book is much battered and is in danger of falling apart but it is a nice reminder of the continuity which binds me to the place where I grew up and still feel a pull for.

So I was pleased that I have come across a fresh collection of photographs from the community website This is Eltham and particularly pleased that they have given me permission to raid the archive.*

Some are very much part of my childhood while others look back to an earlier period of Eltham’s history.

But it is the one of Wilcox’s that has triggered off a rich cascade of memories and underlines for me the power of an image to reawaken the past.

And as these things go just as I finished the story, Lesley of This is Eltham, told me that Wilcox's  
"was my father's shop Andrew,  he had 5 shops in Eltham, 32 High Street, and there's a photo of my mother in that shop in 1938/9, then a haberdashery's in Well Hall Parade opposite the Pleasaunce, one with a Post Office in Westhrone Avenue and and a tiny, tiny one at the High Street end of Archery Road but that was probably gone by the time you came to Eltham."

Now that I think is just a perfect ending.

Pictures; Well Hall Odeon and Wilcox’s circa 1960 courtesy of This is Eltham


*This is Eltham, http://www.thisiseltham.co.uk/index.php

Looking for Miss Wright of Chorlton in 1928 ............. and hoping for more stories about the Girls’ Friendly Society on St Clements Road

From the 1928 church Bazaar book

I wonder if I will ever find out anything about Miss Wright, President of the Girls’ Friendly Society.

In the November of 1928 she was on the G.F.S. stall along with fourteen other women at the  Church Bazaar.*

And the reason Miss Wright has attracted my attention is that she may be a clue to finding out more about the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Church Institute on St Clements Road.

I fell across the place yesterday and couldn’t resist writing about its history.**

I knew there would be further leads which would help take the story further but sadly so far Miss Wright has proved a blank and I rather think so will most of the names on the list.

A church garden party, date unknown

But I shall continue to search for each of the fifteen and one or two may turn.

The first port of call will be the church magazines for the period and then there is always the chance that the names strike a chord with someone who knew them.

Such are the ways that little bits of our history come back out of the shadows.

And there may just be an outside chance that there will be a reference to their work in the records of the Girls Friendly Society which still exists today.***

It was “was a pioneer youth organisation, founded in England in 1875 and run by women, which still operates in 23 countries. Originally established to protect young working girls, the Society continues to support girls and young women, adapting to the new challenges presented by a changing world.
GFS was officially established on 1st January 1875 by Mary Elizabeth Townsend, an Irish clergyman's daughter married to the wealthy Frederick Townsend.

At the same garden party

She was concerned with the fate of many working-class country girls who left home to take up urban employment. 

Cut off from the support of friends and family, Mrs Townsend's idea was for 'lady' Associates to befriend and guide these girls, who would form the Society's Members. Girls could join GFS from the age of 12, but from 1882 those from the age of 8 could become Candidates, preparing for membership.

By 1925, the Society had 66 Homes and Hostels in England and Wales, workers gathered for Conferences, Retreats and Training Weeks and the first Correspondence Training Course was introduced. Camps were organised for younger Members, the Readers' Union introduced a Certificate of English, and the Migration Department assisted hundreds of members with their travels abroad.”

Much of its work was done through the local parishes relying on local facilities as places of the woman to meet

So I rather think it may well prove a useful starting point for clues to our Institute and of course also offers up a fascinating story in itself.

Only hours after I posted yesterday’s story Nina told me how she had attended the Macclesfield GFS “every Monday and cost 1 penny.”

All of which means we may not discover much more about Miss Wright or the activities of the Institute in that house in St Clements but I rather think it has opened up new stories.

And that can’t be bad.

Pictures; GFS and Guides’ Stall from the 1928 St Clements’s Bazaar Hand Book courtesy of Ida Bradshaw,  and pictures of a garden party organised by the church, date unknown

*Girls Friendly Society, http://www.gfsplatform.org.uk/

**Searching for the Girls’ Friendly Society in that big house on St Clements Road in 1911, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/searching-for-girls-friendly-society-in.html

**Girls Friendly Society, Our History, http://www.gfsplatform.org.uk/our-history.php

Snapshots …………. 1841 the class divide measured by horses

Now, I am never surprised at how easy it is to get sidetracked during a piece of research.

And so today, while crawling over back copies of the Manchester Guardian, for the 1850s, I fell across “Horses, Carriages, Hackney Coaches and Omnibuses in Manchester”. *

Not perhaps the most riveting of titles as a subject to over excite the breakfast conversation, but it revealed some fascinating detail of how we lived.

In particular, this table, which “exhibits the number of horses in private use for riding, & the number of draught horses, within each township of the borough”.

At first glance it might appear trivial but as the article points out, “How distinctly the suburbs preferred for the dwellings of the wealthier classes are marked out in this table, by the preponderance in the number of private riding and carriage horses over those for draught.

The townships thus distinguished are, Broughton, Burnage, Cheetham, Chorlton-Upon -Medlock, Crumpsall, and Rusholme.  In the other seven townships, the draught horses or those used for business, predominate over those used for personal locomotion.” 

Of course, it may not be a startling observation, for those well versed in the growth of the twin cities, but it fascinated me.

Location; Manchester and Salford

Picture; from the Manchester Guardian, 1850

* Horses, Carriages, Hackney Coaches and Omnibuses in Manchester, Manchester Guardian, February 23rd, 1850

Sunday in a Manchester Park

Now I have always liked this painting, and it perfectly conjures up a Sunday on a warm summer’s day in a Manchester park.

Writing in 1937, J P Priestly observed that, “The Corporation has made great efforts to provide young Manchester with healthy outdoor recreation, and there are now twenty-five parks and forty-eight recreation grounds in the city.

Nearly three quarters of the land in these parks is set aside for games including bowls tennis, cricket, golf, swimming, fishing, model yachting, football and hockey”.*

Of course, the cynical will observe that a few of the recreation grounds were little more than pockets of land, surrounded by factories while some of our parks were fighting a constant battle against pollution which blighted plants and left a smear of soot on the branches of trees.

But in the absence of open fields and clear crystal streams, this was it.

Location; Manchester

Picture; from Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North

 *Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 1937

Chorlton-cum-Hardy does its bit

Now, there is always a story behind a picture, and so it is with this one of a tent carrying the name Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

The tent, 1920s

We are in Birkdale in Southport, and during the late 19th century is the holiday camp for the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges, which had been founded in 1870 to help destitute children.

At first the charity’s work was confined to offering bed for the night and breakfast to a handful of homeless young people.

Within a decade it had expanded to include girls as well as boys, had built permanent homes, established industrial training schools and was engaged in prosecuting neglectful and abusive parents as well as campaigning for legislation to protect young people who made a living from hawking products on the streets.

And amongst all these activities it organised summer holidays.

"The first summer outings were just that and consisted of a day out by the sea but very quickly stretched to a week with the young people living in tents. The holiday season lasted just 3 weeks and in the first year in 1883, 48 boys were taken away to Morecambe. These numbers steadily increased over the years with the camp also visiting Blackpool and Llandudno before a more permanent site in Andsell, near Lytham, was chosen. Lent by John Talbot Clifton, Esquire of Lytham Hall, this site included Byrom Hall, allowing for shelter beyond the tents.  By the end of the 19th century, the camp had moved again, this time to Birkdale, Southport, which was able to accommodate 300 boys. 

The appeal, 1906

The increase of numbers showed just how popular the holidays were. At its height of popularity, children could be seen queuing outside the Children's Shelter on Chatham Street, Manchester for a place at the Summer Camp. 

Poor boys were often recommended by City Missionaries, Ragged School Teachers and other workers amongst the poor. 

The only qualification for attendance was “the need of the rest and change”.

The season now ran from May, through the summer for 20 weeks. Eventually the tents were replaced by corrugated huts which were lined with pitch pine and according to one commentator were “quite impervious to wind and weather” which was all to the good given that many of the annual reports described the summer weather as challenging.

Much of the finance came from voluntary contributions which brings us back to that tent.
The trust made much of what a contribution would pay for, explaining that “six shillings, covers railway fare and maintenance and £60 per week would cover all expenses while £2000 would meet the season’s needs.”*

And in the case of some organizations, like Sunday Schools and the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood this extended to tents.

At present I can’t track the source of the funding for our tent, but it dates from the 1920s.

The picture comes from the archives of the charity which today is called the Together Trust and is based in Cheadle.

And is in the new book on the history of the trust which was been written by me and Liz Sykes to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the charity.


Location; Chorlton and Southport



Picture; The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Tent, circa 1920s, courtesy of the Together Trust**

*A new book on the Together Trust, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20Together%20Trust

** Together Trust, https://www.togethertrust.org.uk/

A wopping big bit of Eltham’s past ........... and the historian who wrote it

Now every place deserves a historian and a good history book and Eltham had R.R.C.Gregory who wrote the Story of Royal Eltham in 1909 which remains a fine account of the area’s history.*

Mr Gregory was a teacher and later the headmaster at Eltham National School from 1901-1920 and the book began as a series of lessons for his students.

He had found the Admission Register for the school for 1814 which formed the inspiration of his teaching of local history, which drew praise from the Inspectors.

"The Headmaster directs the work with sympathy and he has striven to maintain the more helpful characteristics of a village school, more especially in regard to the old customs and associations."

It is available on the internet.

Now this all this I knew, but yesterday my friend Tricia alerted me to a smashing little account of Mr Gregory by Margaret E Taylor which appears in Eltham Records.**

The book was published by the Eltham Society which I would recommend.***

I joined nearly 50 years after it was founded.   In my defence I was 16 when it was established and by 19 was living in Manchester all of which rather negated a membership.  But happily I am now fully paid up and fined their publications very useful.

That said the book doesn’t appear in the present publication list so I shall have to go off and ask if they have a battered old copy.****

Sadly unlike many I have yet to buy Mr Gregory’s book which is now a collector’s item, but who  knows Christmas is coming up.

In the meantime a thank you to Tricia Leslie for sharing Ms Taylor's book with me.

Location; Eltham, London

Picture; of R.R.C Gregory, from The story of Royal Eltham, R.R.C. Gregory, 1909 

*The story of Royal Eltham, R.R.C. Gregory, 1909

**The story of Mr Gregory by Margaret E Taylor from Eltham Records, 1977, Eltham Society

***The Eltham Society, http://theelthamsociety.org.uk/

****Eltham Society Publications, http://theelthamsociety.org.uk/publications.html

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 95 Royton Street ...

 You won’t find Royton Street.

Spinningfields, 2020

It vanished long ago under the Spinneyfields development but for a century and more it lay between Hardman Street and Cumberland Street.

Not that you would have found it that easily, because it was one of those closed streets shut off by two narrow passages which gave off to more closed courts.  The curious or those in the know could access it by one of two streets which ran between Hardman and Cumberland Streets of which only one had been given a name.

Royton Street, 1849

To add to its obscurity, it failed to get into any of the street directories during the 19th century, but it did boast the St Mary’s Roman Catholic Chapel School.

But in 1851 it was home to 399 people who lived in 39 houses, nine of which were one roomed back-to-back properties, and the remainder, consisted of four rooms with weekly rents ranging from 1 shilling [5p] to 5s [25p].

Their occupations included textile workers, laboures, retired soldiers, a sailor, a French polisher and an architect’s assistant.  Added to these there were a number of skilled artisans including a group of “shoe makers” a tailor, a “Gold Beater” and “Cabinet maker”.

The east side of Royton Street, circa 1880-1900

During the course of the 19th century some of houses were replaced by industrial units, including two steam printers and a paper warehouse, so that by 1951, the western side of the street had been swallowed up by another printing press and all the houses along the entire length of the street had gone.

I can’t be sure when Royton Street was cut, but the first reference to it in the Rate Books is 1828, although there is a suggestion that it might have already been there by 1819.

It has yet to pass out of living memory and I am sure I will have known it, but with the passage of over 53 years these narrow streets off the beaten track were places you found by accident and didn’t always return to.

Today the closest I think the inquisitive will get to walking its length will be along the Avenue which runs down from Deansgate, past Spinningfields Square finishing in front of Manchester Crown Court.

The Avenue, 2020

On a pleasant day the shops, bars and restaurants which flank the Avenue on both sides attract plenty of passersby but perhaps not as many as the developers expected.  

Still the swish retail outlets and the swanky eating places are a long way from the Royton Street of the 1850s.

But I am drawn to that earlier place, partly because of the wealth of information about its inhabitants which shed light on how we lived 170 years ago in this part of the city, but also because there is a personal link.  

It is not me, but a Facebook friend whose family were on Royton Street from at least 1851 for two decades, and continued to live in the area up into the middle of the last century.

Royton Street, 1951

Alan Jennings who introduced me to his ancestors has written a vivid account of their lives, and in particular those who served during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars through to the Great War, and Alan’s own service with the Colours.

Now that is the story of personal history I like.

Location; Manchester

Pictures;  Hardman Street, and the Avenue, 2020, from  the collection of Andrew Simpson and Royton Street in 1849, from the OS map of Manchester and Salford, 1844-49, and Royton Street circa 1880-1900 from Goad's Fire Insurance maps, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/and Royton Street 1951, from the OS map of Manchester and Salford