Now I am always fascinated by how a chance discovery leads to a story.
This is the envelope sent to Mr Matthew Dean in 1867.
Contained inside is a doctor’s bill for the sum of £6 10 shillings and falling back on that old chestnut, I can’t read the doctors handwriting.
But I am sure Ron who lent me the bill can put me straight on what the charge was for.
That said I may well just stay with the envelope, after all even given that almost a century and half separate me from Mr Dean I rather think he is due his privacy.
And that of course raises that big question of just how much should you reveal about a long dead person’s life, and at what point a bit of legitimate research becomes voyeurism?
This I know from my own family history when one Saturday morning a death certificate I had ordered up for one of the brother of my great grandmother fell through the letter box revealing a very dark secret which stopped me in my tracks.
Now happily I don’t think there is such a tragedy here, but £6 10 shillings does seem a lot of money, particularly for Mr Dean who variously described himself as a warehouse manager, and cotton salesman. But given the bill was for 'professional services' we may be dealing with more than one visit.
He lived on Wilmlsow Road, was married to Julia and they had seven children all who were born In Fallowfield.
I can’t find a date for their marriage but their eldest was born in 1853 and so I am guessing it will be sometime around that date.
Of course the term manager is a loose one and Mr Dean may well have been at the top end of that occupation. Certainly by 1881 the family were well enough off to have added a cook as well as a housemaid to their staff.
I may even be lucky and find their home which in 1881 was listed as Portland Villas somewhere along Wilmslow Road which may help determine their wealth.
Sadly it is more likely that it has gone which at present leaves us with just this envelope and bill and the odd fact that on different census returns he is listed with different birth years.
Not unusual I know but a fact.
Location Fallowfield
Picture; envelope, 1867 from the collection of Ron Stubley
Contained inside is a doctor’s bill for the sum of £6 10 shillings and falling back on that old chestnut, I can’t read the doctors handwriting.
But I am sure Ron who lent me the bill can put me straight on what the charge was for.
That said I may well just stay with the envelope, after all even given that almost a century and half separate me from Mr Dean I rather think he is due his privacy.
And that of course raises that big question of just how much should you reveal about a long dead person’s life, and at what point a bit of legitimate research becomes voyeurism?
This I know from my own family history when one Saturday morning a death certificate I had ordered up for one of the brother of my great grandmother fell through the letter box revealing a very dark secret which stopped me in my tracks.
Now happily I don’t think there is such a tragedy here, but £6 10 shillings does seem a lot of money, particularly for Mr Dean who variously described himself as a warehouse manager, and cotton salesman. But given the bill was for 'professional services' we may be dealing with more than one visit.
I can’t find a date for their marriage but their eldest was born in 1853 and so I am guessing it will be sometime around that date.
Of course the term manager is a loose one and Mr Dean may well have been at the top end of that occupation. Certainly by 1881 the family were well enough off to have added a cook as well as a housemaid to their staff.
I may even be lucky and find their home which in 1881 was listed as Portland Villas somewhere along Wilmslow Road which may help determine their wealth.
Sadly it is more likely that it has gone which at present leaves us with just this envelope and bill and the odd fact that on different census returns he is listed with different birth years.
Not unusual I know but a fact.
Location Fallowfield
Picture; envelope, 1867 from the collection of Ron Stubley
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