On Court Yard in 1911 with Mrs Morris and memories of Eltham in the 19th century

I am looking at number 25 Court Yard, and there in the picture are Mrs Annie Morris and her sons David and Harold.

I don’t know the date but I reckon it will have been sometime around 1911 because in that year David would have been 33 and Harold 24 which pretty much fits with their appearance in the picture.

And there is much more that this image can help us about the history of Eltham.

Number 25 was a five roomed house just past the Crown on Court Yard and it was one of twelve houses running from the pub to a slightly grander set of houses.

The first five or so properties commanded rents of 4 shillings a week and it was here that Mr and Mrs Morris moved sometime in 1900.

This was number 17 Court Yard, but with two years they had moved to number 25 and paid 2 shillings and sixpence in rent.

Either way this was an improvement on Ram Alley where they had lived and which had been condemned as unfit for habitation in 1895, a decision which meant little given that they were still standing in 1930.

These twelve were a mix of four, five and six roomed houses which were home to a mix of occupations including a caretaker, baker, porter, a butcher and two gardeners along with house painters, a general labourer, domestic servant and retired carpenter.

On the surface just your average range of jobs, but of course they reflect the changes that were beginning to push Eltham out of its rural past into something closer to what we know today.

And so while Annie’s husband had been a carpenter one of her sons worked at the Woolwich Arsenal.

She  was a cook and may have worked for Captain North at Avery Hill and through her life we have a snap shot of what Eltham had been and what it was becoming.

Her grandfather had set up a farrier’s business in Eltham in 1803 on what is now the Library, and “attended the old Parish Church in his leather apron.”*

She had been born in 1848 at 4 Pound Place and recalled that when she was young “Eltham was but a village and children and young people then were forbidden by their parents to be out after dark. When Mrs Morris was two years old a Mrs Miller kept the school in Back Lane. 

The old inns and taverns of Eltham are still of the same identity except for structural changes.”*

Now there is much more of Mrs Morris’s memories and in due course I will come back to them.

Pictures; from the collection of Jean Gammons

*Eltham District Times, June 1931

Looking for the lost ...... one street over time in Ancoats ..... no 2 Homer Street and the Ward family

Now I would like to think that one of these young people could be Ethel Ward.

Students at St Andrews School, 1920

She was living with her parents at number 9 Homer Street and it is just possible she attended St Andrew’s School which was at the end of the road.

Homer Street and in particular number 9 has over the last few days drawn me in and I want to know more.

It was just a few minutes away from Fairfield Street and on a quiet night the Ward family would have heard the distinctive clunk of railway waggons being shunted in the nearby sidings, caught the smell from the river and the dye works and worried that young Ethel might do something daft beside the canal.

Homer Street, 1894

That said I remember my old friend Norman who had been born close by telling me how he had learnt to swim by being thrown in that same canal.

I last visited number 9 in 1851 when it was home to two families.

At that time I knew little about the property but now know that it consisted of four rooms which given that there were seven of them must have made it a squeeze.

Just exactly what the condition of number 9 was like is unknown, but by 1911 it was at least 74 years old having been built as part of the swift development of the area in the early and mid 19th century.*

The class of 1920, St Andrew's School, 1920

The earliest entry in the rate books is 1837 when the block was owned by a Mr Price who is still the owner in 1851.**.

I suspect Mr and Mrs Ward counted themselves relatively lucky because many of the surrounding properties consisted of just two and three rooms and were home to large families.

He was an electrician for Manchester Corporation and as such was a skilled worker.

They had been married for eleven years and Ethel as their only child.

For Ethel there would have been little that could be said to have offered up exciting places to play.

Just a short walk down Phobe Street was a tree lined Recreational Ground which backed on to the river but it was dominated by a cotton mill off to the east and the Ancoats Goods Yard to the north delivering a fair share of noise, smells and if the wind were in the wrong direction no doubt the old cloud of smoke.

Of course there is a danger in letting your imagination over play the industrial scene and I have also to concede that by the time our school picture was taken Ethel would have been fourteen and already working, perhaps in that very textile factory that overlooked the Rec.

St Andrew's Square, 1966

Her home and the rest of the houses on Homer Street had gone by 1938 although the street and some of the surrounding ones continued to appear on maps, but by the end of the century even their imprint had vanished under a site which had various industrial uses and now is a warehouse for Armato Food Products  and it was the current owners who suggested I might be interested in the site.***

Which is almost the end, but I have to add that in wandering the neighbouring streets I did come across a Mr Simpson living with his wife and two boarders in three rooms at number 17 St Andrew’s Street.  He was no relation but I like the way a random search throws up a Simpson.****

Pictures; St Andrew’s School, Homer Street, 1920, m48646, and St Andrew’s Square from St Andrews Street, facing west, 1966, T Brooks, m10604, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Homer Street in 1894, from the OS for South Lancashire, 1894 courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Homer Street, Enu 12 272, Central, Manchester, 1911

**Manchester Rate Books, 1837- 1851

***Amato Food Products, http://www.amatoproducts.co.uk/

****St Andrews Street, Enu 12 188, Central, Manchester, 1911

The Lost Chorlton pictures ......... no 15. .........

 Now I am pretty confident that this one will bring up a rich collection of memories.

It continued trading into the 1980s and was a wonderful place where the chesses were piled high and there was pretty much any cheese you wanted.

And l have been corrected by John Paul Moran who tells me it continued trading well in to the 1990s. Thanks John.

Location; Wilbraham Road










Picture; the bacon and cheese shop, 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Didsbury’s own brass band …… a story waiting to be told

Now, I may be wrong, but I don’t think there is a history of Didsbury’s own brass band.

The Didsbury Brass Band, 1985-1986

Of course, like all such bold statements I wait the angry letter pointing out a title and a publication date for a long-forgotten book.

I know they existed and have trawled and have found references in the local press along with a list of some of the competitions they performed in.

But so far, I have come across only one  picture of them performing to the public.  which was at the Didsbury Show in either 1985 or 1986.

Tantalizigly there is another photograph of a band from the Coronation Procession of 1911 which snaked its way through the township as part of the festivities.  But alas it is of the Alexandra Brass Band Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co.

That said I bet our band was there.

I am not surprised at its existence, after all many of our twinships supported brass bands.

In Chorlton there had been a band from the 1820s which only folded in 1945, and along with others the Stalybridge Brass Band had marched to Peterloo in 1819.

The Alexandra Brass Band, 1911

I suspect the Didsbury band started pretty much like Chorlton’s with a small group of likeminded men coming together and playing at religious and secular events.  

In the case of Chorlton that band was reliant on local financial help and donations from rich benefactors, although this didn’t stop James Axon making a drum for his brother John which proved too big to get out of the house.

The development of the railway network during the second half of the 19th century made it possible for bands to travel out of their villages and participate in regional and nation al competitions which were eagerly reported by the media.

So far the earliest reference I have to the Didsbury band comes in 1874 when the Didsbury and Barlow Brass Band took part in a procession with St Chad’s, of York Street which was part of the annual Procession of Roman Catholic Schools.

Parading in 1911

The band was also on hand eight years later when Daniel Adamson the “chairman of the Provisional Committee to promote the construction of Manchester Ship Canal obtained a hearty welcome from the inhabitants of Didsbury on his return from London. Triumphal arches had been erected in his honour, and others erected on the way to his residence as well as one in the carriage drive leading to his house.  

He was met at Didsbury railway station by the Didsbury brass band, which immediately struck up with ‘See the conquering hero comes”.**

And this was followed up by a repeat when Mr. Adamson returned to Didsbury in the summer of the following year after the Ship Canal Bill had been passed.

But just what they made of the failed local gathering to welcome William Gladstone to Didsbury has not been recorded.  

He was due to arrive at the railways station after a meeting in town and then proceed to Ford Bank where he was staying the night.  The newspaper reported "that the inhabitants of Didsbury gathered at Didsbury station.  The members of the local Liberal Club had made extensive preparations to escort Mr. Gladstone to Ford Bank.  A brass band was in readiness, and upwards of 100 members of the club were waiting with torches, [but] unknown to everyone Mr. Gladstone had driven by road and that he had unobserved, passed through the village about the time his special train arrived” at the station with him not aboard.***

With the Band, 1985-1986

Not that this disappointment was a setback for the band who performed at the annual celebrations of Lifeboat Saturday in 1903 and 1904, and later entertained visitors to the Didsbury Flower Show of 1908 and the Didsbury Agricultural Show in 1931.

And in between and after they are listed at 20 competitions from September 1875 to December 1986.***

At which point the references cease and the database listing their appearances concludes with “This band no longer exists”.

Didsbury music in Didsbury, 1985-1986

But I am confident that there will be more.  

There are other Brass Band sites which I have used in the past and as 1986 is not that long ago, there will be people who remember the band and those who played in that band.

We shall see.

Picture; The Alexandra Brass Band Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Cofrom the Souvenir of the Coronation Festivities Held at Didsbury, June 22nd 1911, Fletcher Moss and at the Didsbury Show, courtesy of Nobby Dicks

*Procession of the Roman Catholic Schools, Manchester Guardian, May 30th, 1874

**The Manchester Ship Canal Bill, Manchester Guardian, May 26th, 1884

***Mr. Gladstone, December 4th, 1889

****Didsbury Band Competions,  https://www.brassbandresults.co.uk/bands/didsbury 

All you ever wanted to know about Chorlton Arts Festival .... tonight

Historian and author Andrew Simpson and local artist and author Peter Topping will take you on a journey through the history of The Arts Festival showing how it has grown into a successful community event in Chorlton.*

It began when a teacher, a city councillor, and a vicar sat down with a bottle of wine and explored the possibilities of an annual festival of the arts here in Chorlton. **

They were ….. Ed Wyllie, Val Stevens and Hilary Barber and that was in 2002

And now in 2026, the aim remains to bring “the Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, and Crafts at all levels to the Chorlton Community”.

Leaving me just to say come along and find out about all the bits from 2002 till 2026.

The presentation will is part of Chorlton Arts Festival and will be in the Community Rooms of Chorlton Library, Manchester Road starting at 8pm and conclding at 9pm.

*Chorlton Arts Festival https://chorltonartsfestival.org/

**Chorlton Arts Festival stories, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Arts%20Festival

Racing horses at Middle Park with Mr William Blenkiron in 1861

Now here’s a story that I can’t claim any credit for but which I suspect will be new to many people.

Middle Park, 1873

It started with the chance discovery of horse racing at Middle Park and by degree took me to William Blenkiron.*

To be honest I rather let Mr Blenkiron go by the wayside and it wasn’t till my friend Tricia did the research that I realized that here was indeed and fascinating story.

He had been born in Yorkshire in 1807 and having begun as a farmer moved to London in 1834 “and commenced business as a general agent [and] in 1845 added to his establishment a manufactory of stocks and collars, and three years later retired in favour of his son."**

Leaving him at the still relatively young age of forty to begin a new career as the owner of a racehorse and by degree “wanting more room, removed from Dalston to Middle Park, Kent.  

He brought with him seven or eight brood mares and Neasham the head of the list of Eltham sire.  The establishment now rapidly increased until it was augmented to upwards of two hundred of the highest class and best mares that money and experience could produce.”**

And for those that want to follow his racehorse successes there is an excellent account in thamesfacingeast.***

Poll Book, 1868

Instead I am more fascinated by what Tricia uncovered from the census returns.

In 1851 he was still in Dalston giving his occupation as “Silk Merchant,” but a decade later having settled at Middle Park he described himself as a “Farmer of 500 acres employing 18 workers” and in the April of 1871 was content to be known as a “Breeder of Horses.”

Now we can track him across the electoral registers from the 1835 and even know that in 1868 he voted for the two Conservative candidates for the Kent West Constituency.****

He died in the September of 1871 and is buried in the parish church.

Location; Eltham, London

Research; Tricia Leslie

Pictures; Middle Park, detail from 1858-73 OS map of Kent and extract from the Poll Book Kent West, 1868 courtesy of ancestry.co.uk

*When horses raced on Middle Park Meadows, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/when-horses-raced-on-middle-park-meadows.html

**National Biography page 674

*** The Middle Park Stakes: The Eltham Connection, September 11, 2013  thamesfacingeast, https://thamesfacingeast.wordpress.com/tag/william-blenkiron/ 

****Enu 24, 16 Hackney, Hackney, Middlesex, 1851, Enu 1, 1, Eltham, Kent 1861, Enu 1,2, Eltham, Kent, 1871

The Lost Chorlton pictures ......... no 8. ......... giving the graveyard a make over

This was when the parish church yard got its last makeover.

But it will have been in the early 1980s and involved clearing away many of the old gravestones, and landscaping the area including picking out the footprint of the old church, which had stood on the site since 1800 and replaced an earlier chapel which dated back to around 1512.

I can’t exactly remember the old cluttered grave yard or when the makeover happened but the picture will date from the early 1980s soon after it had been completed, when the trees and bushes had yet to grow.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the churchyard, 1981 from the collection of Andrew Simpson