The Great Storm of 1839 a talk by Eddie Little at the Chorlton History Group

“In the early hours of Monday 7th January 1839 the British Isles was struck by a destructive and severe hurricane. In the North-West of England it inflicted widespread damage on a scale that would not be seen until the German air raids of the 1940’s. Yet it remains a sadly neglected episode in the history of the North-West.”*

Eddie’s talk went a long way to bring that storm out of the shadows and what I particularly liked was the way he used documentary evidence from the 1953 floods to highlight the enormity of the natural disaster. Here were ordinary people recounting a night of fear and in some cases great heroism with Eddie making the point that much the same happened 173 years ago.
This as they say was a once in a generation event and one that had a profound effect on anyone caught in its path.

Now I am not going to repeat the story just point you toward his book which at £3.50 is a snip.

Instead I am going to reflect on how the group has grown over the last few years. We began very much as a small band of people sharing our local historical interests and attempting to make links with each other’s work. Along the way we also began to exchange the skills we had in researching local history.

And nothing succeeds like success so as we became more confident in talking about what we knew we began to attract more people, and this has led to a broadening of the scope of the group. So
the future programme will include the well known and respected historian Bill Williams speaking on “Black History in Manchester,” and Brian Hallworth on the life and times of George Formby. There will also be a walk aimed to recreate Beech Road as it was in 1840 and an examination of the history of Longford Hall.

Now Longford Hall was rebuilt in 1857 but the previous hall had been the home of the radical Thomas Walker who campaigned against the slave trade supported the French Revolution, lived at Barlow Hall and was buried in our own parish graveyard by the green. I guess with this as a backdrop it is fitting that we should also have Gurbir Singh talking on when “Yuri Gagarin come to Chorlton.” Of course it wasn’t just Chorlton which he passed through on his way to Trafford Park to visit fellow engineering workers which has been his trade before the military and his famous trip into space.

And it says much for that visit that at least three people in the room instantly admitted to having seen him. This is one of the strengths of the group that people bring not only their knowledge and interests but also their experiences. When Philip gave his talk on Chorltonville he drew on his own memories of the prototype which had been built at West End to give a vivid description of both.

Nor is it just that we have widened the subject matter there is also a growing confidence amongst members to come along and talk about things that are close to them.

So all in all and under Bernard’s gentle but efficient hand the group goes from strength to strength with our next meeting in a new venue Chorlton Good Neighbours, St Ninians Church, Egerton Road South on Tuesday May 1st 1.30 with Bill Williams.

Pictures; from the collection of Bernard Leach.

*The Great Storm of 1839, Eddie Little, Reword Publishers, 2002