It is a simple enough question but one for which I have no answer.
And it is all the more frustrating given that his early life up to the point when he moved to Chorlton is well documented.
Now I have to confess William Mellor was unknown to me until a few days ago when my friend Barry Clark told me about him.
He was born in 1886 and moved to Clarence Road in Chorlton around 1911.* At the age of 30 in 1915 he had volunteered for the army, served in France and was twice gassed before being demobbed in 1919.
And that is pretty much it. Despite a heap of digging neither of us has been able to track him after the Great War, which is a puzzle given that he was a well respected book binder and calligrapher having won prizes for both.
He exhibited with the Clarion Guild of Handicraft was Secretary of the Northern Art Workers Guild before it folded in 1911 and his work appeared in various national art journals of the time.
Now there are plenty of clues still to follow up.
His father, William Mellor was also a book binder and was editor of the Book Binders Trades Journal and may have held a position in his union given that he gives his occupation as “secretary” on the 1911 census.
It is just possible that something of the young William will be revealed in a further search through his father’s life and from his links with the Northern Art Workers Guild.
Added to which there might just be some records from his time as a student at the Manchester School of Art.
All of which leads me at present to pursue the Clarion Guild of Handicraft which is a fascinating area of study and may still throw some light on William Mellor.
Picture; poster advertising an exhibition of the Clarion Guild of Handicraft, at the Athenaeum in 1904, from the collection of Barry Clark.
Additional research by Barry Clark
*William Mellor and his wife Eliza lived at 1 Clarence Road in 1911 and his father and mother at 3 Clarence Road, now renamed Claridge Road, both have now been demolished.
And it is all the more frustrating given that his early life up to the point when he moved to Chorlton is well documented.
He was born in 1886 and moved to Clarence Road in Chorlton around 1911.* At the age of 30 in 1915 he had volunteered for the army, served in France and was twice gassed before being demobbed in 1919.
And that is pretty much it. Despite a heap of digging neither of us has been able to track him after the Great War, which is a puzzle given that he was a well respected book binder and calligrapher having won prizes for both.
He exhibited with the Clarion Guild of Handicraft was Secretary of the Northern Art Workers Guild before it folded in 1911 and his work appeared in various national art journals of the time.
Now there are plenty of clues still to follow up.
His father, William Mellor was also a book binder and was editor of the Book Binders Trades Journal and may have held a position in his union given that he gives his occupation as “secretary” on the 1911 census.
It is just possible that something of the young William will be revealed in a further search through his father’s life and from his links with the Northern Art Workers Guild.
Added to which there might just be some records from his time as a student at the Manchester School of Art.
All of which leads me at present to pursue the Clarion Guild of Handicraft which is a fascinating area of study and may still throw some light on William Mellor.
Picture; poster advertising an exhibition of the Clarion Guild of Handicraft, at the Athenaeum in 1904, from the collection of Barry Clark.
Additional research by Barry Clark
*William Mellor and his wife Eliza lived at 1 Clarence Road in 1911 and his father and mother at 3 Clarence Road, now renamed Claridge Road, both have now been demolished.
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