Longford Hall in the summer of 1914

Now this is another of those usual views of Longford Hall which was built in 1857 and demolished in 1995.

The Hall was built by John and Enriqueta Rylands as a fitting home to a textile manufacturer who in 1888 employed 15,000 people in 17 mills and factories.**

It replaced an earlier property which was known as Longford House and had been the home of the Walker family, of which perhaps the most interesting was Thomas Walker, one time pillar of Manchester society but also a radical politician who campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade, supported the French Revolution and was indicted for treason in 1794.

But I have written about both the Hall and Thomas Walker before, so instead I want to concentrate on the message written on the reverse of this picture postcard which was sent in the July of1914.

It written by John and posted to a Miss Katie Bolebrook of 21 Floatergate, Grimsby.
John was staying in Stretford and the language he uses could come straight out of any parody of the period.

“Dear Katie, I am having an awfully ripping time here and the girls (naughty boy), they are lovely.  Well goodbye, Your friend John.”

I went looking for the delightfully sounding Floatergate.  It was one of those centuries old streets in the very heart of Grimsby and like so many other places in towns and cities across the country it was swept away to be replaced by a 1960s development.  This was the Riverhead Centre and along with Floatergate went the historic Bull Ring.

At least Longford Hall survived it by another thirty years by which time I suspect John and Katie had also passed away.











Picture; Longford Hall, 1914 from the series Longford Park, issued by Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/

*Longford Hall and our own Chorlton radical, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/longford-hall-and-our-own-chorlton.html