Mrs Nellie Davison’s War .......... stories behind the book nu 25

An occasional series on the stories behind the new book on Manchester and the Great War*

Duncan and Mrs Davison, circa 1915/1916

Nellie Davison nee Latchford was born in Hulme in 1889.  She was one of seven children.

Her father was a dyer but briefly had chanced his luck as a coal merchant but either because he was not suited to do the occupation or for other reasons he had reverted back to his old job.

Her older brothers and sisters had been engaged in a variety of occupations.  Two worked in the fabric trade, another was an iron turner and fitter and the eldest had a fish and chip business.

And by 1911 the family were living in a three roomed house on Percy Street which had been one of a succession of houses all in Hulme all bounded by City Road to the north and Stretford Road to the south.

Postcard to Hulme, 1915

During 1907 she had been walking out with Mr George Davison.

He was three years older and had been born in Harpurhey and  belonged to those “middling people.”

His father was a solicitor’s clerk and George while working as a clerk attended night school studying English, Latin, French and Euclid which was hard work but as he wrote to Nellie “your future happiness as well as my own depends largely on the results of my studies during the next few years.”

Those were successful and their marriage in 1908 was followed by the birth of their son and in the autumn of 1914 he along with thousands of others volunteered for the army.
In the course of the next four years he was stationed in Woolwich, Ireland and in the March of 1918 shipped out to the Western Front.

Now I still do not know that much about Nellie, but by picking through the letters George sent home it is possible to piece together something of her life during the war.

146 Bedford Street, 1894

Fairly early on she moved out of her home in Romiley where she had lived since 1908 and back to Hulme.

This was 146 Bedford Street in Hulme and here she stayed with her son Duncan till the end of the war.  It is unclear if this was where her parents lived or a place she rented.

But it made sense to move back to Hulme given that this was where some of her family were still living.

The cottage in Romiley was rented out to sub tenants and she only moved back sometime in late 1918 or early 1919.

George Davison, circa 1915/1916

What I did find interesting was that during the war Nellie and Duncan upped sticks and spent time in both London and Ireland in rented accommodation either close to the barracks where George was staying or
perhaps sharing the accommodation with him.

Now there will be someone much more qualified than me who will be able to explain how common this practice was but I find it fascinating especially given that rail travel became more expensive and difficult as the demands of the war impacted on the railway network reducing the number of trains.

George didn’t survive the war.  He was killed in the June of 1918 and the extensive correspondence with the various Government agencies throws light in the years that followed.

I know that she never remarried and was still in Romiley in 1955 and there is a hint that Duncan only died in the 1990s.

That as they say is for another post and of course appears as a story in the forth coming book.**

Eltham  Church and Well Hall Road in 1915

But there is one last bit of Nellie's story and it is a bit I overlooked when I first read the letters.  Geotge refers to a Mrs Drinkal who Nellie stayed with or met when she was visiting him in Woolwich in 1915 and there is also a W H Drinkall who witnesed his will three years later before he left woolwich.

The spelling is different but there may will be a link given that a W H Drinkal was living at 7a Elmbrook Street which is listed in the electoral roll for Eltham and three years later when George was briefly back in Woolwich he had to collect a parcel from "Well Hall Post office."

And that would put him close to where I grew up.  Now that makes a connection spanning fifty years.

Location; Hulme

Pictures; of Mr and Mrs Davison and Duncan, 1915/1916 and postcard 1915, from the collection of David Harrop, Eltham in 1915 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Bedford Street, 1844 from the OS for South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

*A new book on Manchester and the Great War http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

**Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/manchester-and-great-war

***Coming Soon ......... an exhibition in Southern Cemetery ........... remembering the Battle of the Somme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/coming-soon-exhibition-in-southern.html

So when is tall too tall? ....... down on Owen Street

Now there is no getting away from that rising development on Owen Street.  

From lots of different location it rises from the ground like a giant Beanstalk left to grow by a young Jack.

I didn’t really comprehend the size of the thing when they started breaking the ground, and even when Andy Robertson’s became interested in its progress it still didn’t really push out the other buildings I was interested in.

But now there is no doubting just how it will dominate the sky line.

And there are others close by which will rival its height.

At which point while I am not averse to modern buildings or to tall ones, there is a sense that these giants are out step with what I am comfortable .

Location; Manchester


















Pictures; Manchester, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Lost and forgotten in Chorlton ........ number 1 ..... the telephone exchange

Now I have to say that I never really noticed our old telephone exchange on Keppel Road.

And looking at Andy Robertson’s picture from 2015 you can see why.

It was a no nonsense functional building which didn’t pretend to be anything special and certainly didn’t want much attention.

It was what it was, a brick box for facilitating telephone conversations.

It’s design will have been replicated across the country with variations, and there is a similar but smaller version which was a Post Office on Oxford Road and another on Lapwing Lane which is now a restaurant and lacks the arched windows.

But even given its utilitarian use, the architect still felt it’s appearance could be lifted a little and so included those arched windows at ground floor level.

When Andy took his pictures it had been closed for a while and was in the process of being “developed”.

But all good stories need an odd correction so from Andrew Cooper came "It wasn't the telephone exchange, it was used by British Telecom but the actual exchange is next to Unicorn".
And from Andrew Holland "It was the one of the HQs where all GPO / BT workmen went to be given their jobs for the day etc. 

There was always bright yellow vans with blue writing in & out of there. In fact my good friend Sammy O'Rouke operated from there. He also was the best barman the Feathers ever had".

And that is that.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the GPO Exchange, Chorlton, 2015 from the collectuion of Andy Robertson.

Scenes from a railway station part 2 Manchester Piccadilly

I could have lapsed into some profound commentary on the juxtaposition of this single figure on the concourse during a busy day at Piccadilly.  

But he seemed to know what he was doing and only needed the destination board to sort out the time and platform.  It took him just a few minutes and then he was gone.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

West Point on the edge of Chorlton

West point in the 1950s

Well I am back at West Point at the junction of Manchester and Upper Chorlton Roads where they meet Seymour Grove.

Once and it was a long time ago this was commonly known as the Flash and I have to say there wasn’t much there.

In fact before the late 1830s had you wandered north out through Martledge* past Red Gate Farm and Dark Lane up to the Flash there was no Upper Chorlton Road and our route would have taken us up  what is now Seymour Grove but was then called Trafford Lane.

The Flash, 1841-53

Back then Trafford Lane was according to the historian Elwood, “nothing more than an old lane or rough cart road, with deep ditches at each side, overshadowed by trees, and used chiefly by the farmers and foot-passengers of the village.”**

But sometime and it may have been around the time that Samuel Brooks began developing Jackson’s Moss turning it in that desirable southern suburb of Whalley Range, the Flash became West Point.

It might have been helped by the road he cut from Whalley Range into Chorlton at the Flash.  This was Upper Chorlton Road and while it was a toll road may have been a more attractive route into the city than Trafford Lane.

And as such by the late 1850s and early 1860s began to attract those wanting a pleasant place to live.

West Point 1888-93

One of these was Samuel Gratrix who was living on the corner of Upper Chorlton Road where it ran into Manchester Road.

 He was there by 1861.  Opposite was the home of his son which was known as West Point by 1881 and a  name which was adopted as the address for some of the other fine properties nearby.

This raises that tantalizing question of whether the house gave its name to the area or whether West Point had come into common use to describe the point where the three roads converged.

There are plenty of such examples here in Chorlton.  So Chorlton Cross may be the official designation for the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads but people call it the Four Banks, and half a century earlier it was Kemps’ Corner after Harry Chemist’s chemist which stood where the HSBC is today.

Likewise Lane End was historically the name for the junction of Barlow Moor Road, Sandy Lane and High Lane.  And it too had once been known as Brundretts Corner after the grocery shop that dominated the spot back in the mid 19th century.

West Point, in the 1950s

At least two modern historians have written that The Flash became known as West Point at the same time that Samuel Brooks bought Jackson Moss and began developing it as Whalley Range which was 1836.***

Now I can’t verify that, but the name West Point is there in the 1881 census and on the OS map of South Lancashire for 1888-93 and our historian Elwood writing in 1886 more than once makes the point that what once had been known as the Flash was now West Point.

And just twenty years later as the first trams rumbled south from the city their destination boards announced West Point as the end of the route.

West Point circa 1903

By 1908 that famialr row of shops had been built and the small development of houses behind had been laid out which were to become the blue print for Chorltonville.

Commercial photographers never tired of using the junction and snapping the older members of the community sitting on the circualt bench watching as West Point ent about its business.

But like so many popular place names it has fallen a little out of common usage.

That said there are people who still refer to it as West Point and now my new pal David who lives in Firswood has set the ball rolling to get the name re-established with a sign post.  He has already approached a councillor in the Longford ward of Trafford.

Now that I like, and I shall be returning to the story.

*Martledge the northern most community of the township and now the area north of the Four Banks up to the Library which was the site of Red Gates Farm
** Elwood, Thomas, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chapter 6, South Manchester Gazette, December 12 1885
*** John Lloyd, and Cliff Hayes
***8 Enu 16a page 30, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Lancashire 1881

Pictures; from the Lloyd collection and details from the OS map of Lancashire, 1841-53, and South Lancashire, 1888-93 courtesy of Digital Archives http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

West Point the place largely forgotten

Now I don’t often feature West Point which is a shame really but there is quite a lot here, ranging from the murder of a policeman, a grand old pub, and a small housing estate which was a prototype for Chorltonville.

So here is the first of an occasional series on West Point which is where Manchester Road, Seymour Grove and Upper Chorlton Road meet.

Until recently the eastern corner was dominated by the Seymour Hotel which had once been a private residence.

It was a barn of a place and past its best by the time I sometimes went in there.  Like so many of these big pubs it no longer attracted enough people and was demolished for a block of flats.

Location; West Point circa 1950s

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

Sapper J Houghton ...... who fought in South Africa and the Great War and was awarded medals by the old Queen and two Kings

Now I don’t know much about Sapper J Houghton, other than he served in the Royal Engineers and participated in both the South African War and the Great War.

I came across him yesterday when my old friend, David Harrop sent me this picture of Sapper Houghton’s medals, which include the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, Victory Medal and two from the earlier conflict.

David tells me they will be in his special exhibition to be held next year in Central Ref to amrk the end of the Great War.

And for those with an interest in that earlier war, Sapper Houghton’s Queen’s South Africa Medal carries three clasps, for the Transvaal, Orange Free State and the Cape Colony.

I know that during that conflict he was with the Telegraph Battalion of the Royal Engineers and reached the rank of sergeant during the Great War.

There is a hint that he might have been from Bury but so far that is it.

In time there will be more.

Location; South Africa and the Western Front

Picture; the medals of Sapper J Houghton from the collection of David Harrop

When we sent children across the Atlantic to escape the bombs*

I am of that generation which was born directly after the end of the last world war and so I missed the mass evacuation of children from our cities by less than a decade.

Don't Do it Mother, 1940

But growing up in London in the 1950s was to be constantly reminded of the Blitz.

We played on bomb sites, took for granted the gaps in rows of houses caused by direct hits and thought nothing of the painted signs on the sides of buildings announcing nearby “Shelters” and “Emergency Water Supplies.”

A few of those EWS signs can still be found much faded but vital back in 1940 for the Fire Brigade in the event of bomb damaged water mains.

And a few old Anderson shelters have survived in back gardens.

But that vital few years separate my experiences from those children who lived through the nightly bombing.

For them, there were endless nights in shelters listening to the bombs fall and walking home the following morning through streets littered with shrapnel and broken glass.

Of course not every built up area received an air raid nor did they last the entire war but there were enough to make parents ponder on that simple dilemma of what to do about the children.

Since Guernica in the Spanish Civil War there was that powerful idea that the “bomber would always get through” and so even before the outbreak of war preparations were made for the mass removal of children and expectant mothers out of the danger areas.

Barrage Balloon, Chorlton, 1941

The evacuations began in early September, experienced a lull during the Phoney War when some children returned home and picked up again after the Fall of France and the beginning of the Blitz.

But there were enormous regional variations with cities like Manchester and Liverpool evacuating large numbers of children while other urban areas sent fewer to neighbouring towns and villages.

I cannot begin to think how I might have reacted to waving my three off to an unknown destination for an indefinite length of time.

All of which was difficult enough but pails when I consider the momentous decisions faced by some to send their children half way around the world.

From the outset there were private arrangements being made and the Government was responsible for evacuating 2,664 most of who went to Canada, and smaller numbers to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and some to the USA.

There had been some official displeasure at the idea of sending children out of the country but in the wake of those private schemes in 1940 after Dunkirk and the real possibility of an invasion the Government approved the policy.

The cost was to be met by the Government with parental contributions based on a sliding scale determined by a means test.

It has I suppose echoes of the much bigger migration of children during the late 19th century to Canada and into the mid 20th century to Australia.

Bomb damage Nell Lane Manchester, 1940

And as someone whose own great uncle made that Atlantic crossing as a BHC I have mixed feelings about the programme and wonder what decision I might have taken

As it was the sinking of two ships carrying children and the loss of 77 young people in September 1940 led to the abandonment of the policy although private evacuations continued.

It is a story that only occasionally surfaces and has been eclipsed by the better known accounts of those children who remained in this country.

All of which brings me to that odd term Guest Children which like British Home Children hides so much.

Guests they certainly were compared to those who were migrated by charities and the Guardians of the Poor Law and the nature of their stay and their experiences will have been different as were the circumstances of their migration.

But here in Britain their story has fared no better than that of British Home Children.

I doubt that there will be many detailed accounts of who they were, what happened to them and what they thought of the experience.

Over here I have come cross one account and that is Canadian** all of which leaves some descriptions in a handful of books, reports in Hansard and references in the National Archive.

But then that doesn’t surprise me given that little is really known about the history of British Home
Children and what coverage exists has been mainly about the more recent migrations to Australia.

So perhaps it is time for more to be done on this side of the Atlantic.

Picture; Don’t do it Mother, Ministry of Health, 1940, and was scanned and released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non Commercial Licence and barrage balloon on the Rec from the collection of Alan Brown, detail from bomb damage at Nell Lane, 1940, m09736 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*first appeared in British Home Children, Advocacy & Research Association, April 2015 Newsletter
http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=cf59015c214b8003aef25b130&id=4892649a2a

**Guests” not “Refugees:” Child Evacuees, to Canada during World War II http://www.cst.ed.ac.uk/Events/Conferences/documents/SmerdonCPaper.pdf

A ghost of things past in Rochdale

Now a little bit of Rochdale came my way today.

It is another ghost sign sent to me by my friend Ron Stubley, who over the years has come across some fascinating ones, along with pictures of missing pubs and a huge collection of comic postcards.

This one is on the corner of Yorkshire Street and Union Street and someone will be able to help us out on what G. L. Adamson traded in.

Well I hope so.

Location; Rochdale

Picture; ghost sign, Yorkshire Street and Union Street, 2017, from the collection of Ron Stubley

The lost picture of Woolwich that never was and ...... a forgotten picture of the Manchester Arndale

Now I thought this was Woolwich but with the help of Gary and Brian I now know that it is Manchester.

It was posted today across Well Hall and Eltham in the series on the lost pictures of Eltham and Woolwich.

But within minutes Garry Luttman and Brian McDonnell pointed out my mistake.  Gary wrote, “sorry to be pedantic Andrew, but this image could not have been in Powis Street as the police officers are not Met Police. 

The helmet design gives it away and Met sergeants did not carry that type of stick. Looks more like the rig worn by officers in Liverpool”.

And Brian commented, "interestingly enough neither of those 'police officers' are wearing Met helmets. The helmets are of the wrong design”.  Adding, “the helmet is the Cap Comb design. 

The Met use the Rose design. Also the Met have never had a red enamel insert in the helmet plate (badge on the front). GMP helmet plates did. May give you some further pointers as to where it is...”

And of course on closer inspection it is Manchester and the Arndale Centre, which given the alterations to the shopping centre makes this a lost picture of Manchester.

So all  is well, leaving me to ponder on the lesson that you should always catalogue your pictures.

To be fair this one has sat in our cellar for four decades along with ones of Eltham and and others of Manchester.

They were colour slides taken in the 1970s which have been transferred electronically and I guess a few got from the Manchester boxes into the Eltham and Woolwich ones.

The quality of the original lighting and the sharpness is sometimes iffy, but they are a record of a lost Eltham and Woolwich.  Well not in this case.  But it is a favourite of mine just because it is so ordinary.

The couple are moving with some speed, and perhaps with an eye on the "clear out."

And while they make their determined way towards the "End of Season CLEAROUT" the two police officers are deep in conversation.

So thank you Gary and Brian for restoring a lost Manchester picture ..... long may they continue to comment.

And just before I deleted the old story my friend Tricia wrote, "See this is what happens when you have lived your life in several different places" and Don commented it "Looks like Maggie Thatcher is out canvassing where ever it is, unperturbed by the sergeant looking on with the snooker cue.". 

Location; Manchester


Picture; Manchester, circa 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Of double pillar boxes, gas detecting paint and that new book

Now the double aperture red pillar box is a rare thing.

Chorlton

There are some in London, one in St Ann’s Square and my old friend David Harrop has collected a gold one in Huddersfield and an impressive one near Windsor Castle, while Peter has painted our own double aperture here in Chorlton.

All of which brings me to the dilemma which once upon a time would haunt me, which was to do with posting in the wrong slot on that big pillar box by the Post Office.

Back then, and it wasn’t that long ago, one slot was marked “UK Only” while the other was for the “Rest of the World”.

And I often wondered what happened if you got it wrong?  Would the Milan Central Post Office return my letter to me or send it on to Aunt Edna in Derby and would they add extra postage to cover its return trip?

Not that I ever bothered to ask in the Post Office what would happen if I posted wrongly or for that matter why the policy seems to have changed.

Huddersfield

I can’t say I have come across many of these double pillar boxes.  There was one in St Ann’s Square and I would occasionally come across them in London.

They are according to my friend David Harrop who is an expert on all things posty, “C type pillar boxes.

The first were introduced in London in the 1880s and the double apertures have been used over the years for different destinations.

The ones in London tended to have one slot for London and the other slot for the rest of the country, while more recently one aperture was designated first class and the other second class.

There was a variation which was classified the D type which had a stamp machine on one side and during the last world war some were repainted with a special yellow paint which could detect gas”.

Windsor Castle

David has a vast collection of memorabilia from both world wars and the history of the Post Office, and some of that collection is on permanent exhibition at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery.

All of which have been included in our new book on the Quirks of Chorlton which will be out for Christmas and in my opinion will be a wonderful present for a stocking filler.

Location; Chorlton, St Ann’s Square, London, Huddersfield, and Windsor Castle



Painting; Double aperture pillar box, Chorlton, © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Pictures; C type pillar boxes in Huddersfield and Windsor Castle, 2014, from the collection of David Harrop

REMEMBERING THE EMPLOYEES OF MANCHESTER CORPORATION TRAMWAYS, another story from Martin Logan

The names of the Fallen

One hundred years ago on the 31st July 1917 the 3rd Battle of Ypres commenced.

By the time we reached October 1917 it was slowly drawing to a close. Today we know that Battle by the name of Passchendaele.

The images that are in ingrained in our minds is of a battle scarred landscape and the soldiers floundering and sometimes dying in mud up to their waists.

The Battle lasted for 103 days with close to a quarter of a million allied soldier casualties (dead, wounded or missing). Amongst those many casualties were 10 employees of Manchester Corporation Tramways who died during the month of October. PLEASE REMEMBER THEM

Gravestone of J Fogarty MM

FOGARTY J MM
John Fogarty – Guard - 19384 Corporal Acting /Sergeant –
21st Battalion Manchester (6th City PALS) D Company Platoon XVII
Died 4/10/1917 Tyne Cot Cemetery Grave ref: XXXIII.A.24 Country Belgium
Locality: West-Vlaanderen


WHITWORTH G A -
George A Whitworth - Aged 34 - Box Cleaner - 25954 Lance/Corporal 22nd Battalion Manchester  died 4/10/1917 New Irish Farm Cemetery Grave Reference: XXXll.D.11 Country: Belgium Locality: West-Vlaanderen


SCOTT H
Harry Scott - Husband of Mary Beatrice Scott of 104 Church Street Newton Heath Manchester. Born in Manchester
Aged 32 Guard 21018 Private 11th Battalion Manchester
Died 7/10/1917 Dozinghem Military Cemetery Grave ref: VII.G.18 Country: Belgium Locality: West-Vlaanderen

Names of the Fallen

McELROY W H
William Henry McElroy -  Guard 3/4951 Corporal 6th Batt York and Lancaster – died 09/10/1917 Tyne Cot Memorial Panel Reference: panel 125 to 128 Country: Belgium  Locality: West-Vlaanderen

SILLITOE W
William Sillitoe - Son of Moses & Mary Sillitoe of 48 Kirkmanshulme Lane Longsight Manchester - Parcel Messenger 22292 Private 23rd Battalion Manchester Died 16/10/1917 Tyne Cot Memorial Panel 120-124 & 162, 162A & 163A Country: Belgium  Locality: West-Vlaanderen


LEE W
William Lee - Son of Charles & Ann Lee - Husband of Helen of 23 Clifton Street Hulme Hall Lane Miles Platting Manchester. Aged 34 Guard 16114 Private 12th Battalion Manchester 19/10/1917 Duhallow A. D. S. Cemetery Grave Reference: VIII.G.18 Country: Belgium Locality: West-Vlaanderen


MAYO F W
Husband of Lillian Mayo 70 Bonsall Street Hulme Manchester Aged 34
Driver 245531 Private 12th Battalion Manchester - Victory and British War Medals Died 20/10/1917 Dozinghem Military Cemetery Grave Reference: XI.G.4 Country: Belgium Locality: West- Vlaanderen

Joseph Stahler and others

STAHLER J A
Joseph Stahler – Lived at 24 Hereford St Ordsall Lane Salford - Labourer - 276321 Private 7th Battalion Manchester T.F 1st/7th Battalion Manchester 22/10/1917 Coxyde Military Cemetery Grave ref: 1V.H.11 Country: Belgium Locality: West-Vlaanderen


BASNETT W F
William Fredrick - Cleaner 18798 Private 21st S Battalion Manchester
Died 24/10/1917 Tyne Cot Memorial Panel Reference: Panel 120 to 124 & 162 to 162A and 163A Country: Belgium, Locality: West-Vlaanderen


O'NEIL J H
James Henry - Driver 53363 Gunner 47th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Died 29/10/1917 Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery Grave Reference: III.G.7 Country: Belgium Locality: West-Vlaanderen


If you have info on any of these employees or anyone else on the MCT Memorial Plaque please contact me at martin.logan@btinternet.com or by mobile 07985490124

LEST WE FORGET

© Martin Logan, 2017

Pictures; from the collection of Martin Logan, photo of Joseph Stahler from  "Manchesters in the Great War"

Searching the Manchester and Salford archive ....... an exciting new resource

Now I am very excited at the news from the Together Trust that they have a brand new search engine on their website which will “help people see if their ancestors were ever in one of our Manchester homes. *

The charity started in 1870 and within a decade was involved in a range of activities, designed to help the young people of Manchester and Salford who were living on the streets, were disabled, or just in need of some tender care and attention.

All of which means that lots of youngsters will have been helped.

Currently the project is "in its early stages, around 4000 names have been inputted into the system for individuals that were in our Manchester Homes between 1870 and 1915. This can be searched by full name or surname. 

Applications can then be made to the Together Trust to access full records if family details match up.”

And the rest as they say is for you to read by following the link to their blog.*

Now as someone who had his grandfather, great aunt and two great uncles in care in Derby during the early part of the last century I know just how important the Trust’s search engine could be to those who suspect they had a family member who was cared for the charity.

And that is all I am going to say.

Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust

*Were your ancestors in one of our homes? http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/were-your-ancestors-in-one-of-our-homes_13.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+TogetherTrustArchive-GettingDownAndDusty+(Together+Trust+Archive+-+getting+down+and+dusty!)

In Ripley ...... with the memorial to the 68 who went to war

Ripley is a delightful village just 15 minutes from the Cathedral at Rippon and 23 miles from York.

It has a fine medieval church, a castle dating from the 15th century, a very nice hotel and a war memorial.

The memorial stands as it should in the centre of the village and records the 42 men who marched off to the Great War, including the five who never returned, and the twenty six who served in the Second World War of which one died.

Today the population stands at 232, and back in 1840 it was 270.

I don’t have the figures for the population of either the village or the surrounding countryside for 1918 or 1945 but those 68 men and women recorded on the memorial will compose a significant number of the people who lived here and served.

Location; Ripley













Picture; Ripley, 2017 from the collection of Andrew S

Cab shelters I have known ............. that bit of street furniture in Ripon

Now I bet most people pass the cab shelter without a second thought.

I know I did, and just remembered to take an indifferent picture of the thing on a summer’s day a few years ago.

We were in Ripon that small Yorkshire town which has a big cathedral, a busy market square, and assorted museums, including a police one, the court house and the work house.

All of which I took pictures of along with a couple of the square including the cabmen’s shelter.

A clever spark in the know will offer up some extra information about the building adding a short explanation for why it is on wheels.

So I will wait for the first contribution.

Location; Ripon

Picture; cab shelter, Ripon, 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The cranes of Salford ........ number 4 .... Midlewood Street

Now down at Middlewood Locks I reckon it won’t be long before the cranes have gone.

So Andy Robertson was there to record the onward march of this development

Location; Salford




Pictures; Middlewood Street from Nagreave Street that was, 2017, from the collection of Andyy Robertson

Dame Ingilby’s gift to Ripley

The water fountain is less a piece of street furniture and more a feature of the village.

It was “a gift to Ripley from the Honourable Alicia Margaret Dame Ingilby in 1907" and once had two drinking cups.

They have long gone, and I didn’t try getting a drink from it.

That said the right hand trough was full of water and the tap looked fairly new so perhaps I could have done.

But with the Boar’s Head opposite which sells fine cask beer and excellent wines, I know I was never going to bother.

Of course, once upon a time such fountains were an important part of a village, or town and like the horse trough were an important feature.

All of which takes me back to the Boar’s Head which has only been selling pints since 1990, although the building was once one of three pubs in the village.

But when Sir William Ingilby who owned the village took against beer being sold on the Sabbath, in 1919 all three pub landlords left and the village was dry for 71 years.

Only the Boar’s Head does the business today having once been the Star Inn and was the breakfast stop for the Leeds to Edinburgh coach.

And that is it.

Location; Ripley

Pictures; Ripley 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Stories from Dunkirk .........

Now for my generation, who were born just after the last world war “the miracle that was Dunkirk” was not a history topic we were taught in school.

What we knew about the event, was what we absorbed from films, and comics and everyday conversations with our parents.

For most of us it was a great victory given the number of British, and allied troops who were plucked from the beaches and only years later would I come to realize that this had in fact been a military defeat.

And it would be later still before I became aware of the degree to which the story had been manipulated in the interests of war propaganda and public moral.

Now I make no value judgement at what the Government did to the story back in 1940 and nor did Tom Grimshaw who offered an excellent, thought provoking talk on the stories of Dunkirk.

Starting with the popular interpretation of the event he ranged over both the actual history of those nine days, offered up information on how the French and German media dealt with what happened and finished up with the degree to which what we now regard as the story was guided by the demands of the war effort.

The talk was held at St Ninians on and hosted by Chorlton Good Neighbours.

There were bags of sweets on hand for those who answered Tom’s questions correctly in the introduction and the audience came away with a renewed interest in the subject.

Leaving me only to announce that Tom is most happy to offer the talk to interested groups.

Location; Chorlton Good Neighbours

Pictures; Stories from Dunkirk, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* Chorlton Good Neighbours, https://chorltongoodneighbours.org/
Egerton Road South, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester, M21 0XJ Tel: 0161 881 2925

What are they planning on Todd Lane? .......... a new series from Andy Robertson

Now, pretty much as long as I can remember when you came out of Victoria Station you were faced with those two dreary buildings directly opposite.

One of the two had been a Post Office and I bet someone will quick as a flash be able to tell me what the other traded in.

That said I can remember the building next to them on Todd Lane which at one time sold flowers and I think was also a Chinese restaurant and night club.

The stubborn side of me refuses to go and look up the historical records, the Local Photographic Collection or  the stories I wrote a few years ago on the said buildings.

Suffice to say that Andy’s first picture shows our property in 1996, and as ever the one to start a new series charting the progress of another city centre development, he was back yesterday with camera in hand.

At which point I should also consult the planning portal to see what Derek the Developer and Beatrice the Builder have in mind for the site.

But as I have already said I am being lazy and while I won’t slide into idle speculation based on the shape of the round rising tower I am intrigued.

I have every confidence that Andy will be back and by then the shape of things to come will be clearer.

Of course someone might beat both of us and having looked up the plans or read the MEN will blast a way through my ramblings and tell us all.

And quick as a flash Stephen sent me a link to an MEN story which confirms the new build as a hotel.

The developers intend renovating the City Buildings nearby "for hotel use."*

So there you have it I knew someone would help.  Thank you Stephen.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; what have they got planned for Todd Lane? 2017, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Bowmer & Kirkland wins £23 m Hotel Indigo contract in Manchester, December 2, 2016, Charles Schouten, https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/projects/contracts/bk-wins-23m-manchester-hotel-job/10015402.article

Walking in Southern Cemetery and remembering the Manchester Blitz

Yesterday I walked in Southern Cemetery.

The day was warm, the light perfect and once again I remembered why I liked the place so much.

It is that mix of history, the abundance of nature and that sense of tranquilly.

All of which makes it somewhere that draws you in.

For most of course it is to visit the graves of family members but there are regular talks and walks focusing on the monuments of the good and great and more than a few given over to spotting the varied wildlife.

And many of those guided tours will end at the memorial to those civilians who died during the Second World War.

It is on the eastern side of and the simple and modest monument records the names of those who died and are buried in the cemetery.

It is a humbling experience to sit in front of the mass grave and read off the names, more so because as you would expect there are whole families interred here like the Hopkins family of Fernleaf Street Moss Side.

They were killed on December 23 1940.*

Mr Hopkin was 31 his wife 29 and their two children were just five and two.

And close by on the following night Marjorie and June Hall died in Heron Street in Hulme.

Marjorie was 19 and June was five months old.

Now 75 years separate us from the events of those December nights, long enough for many of the survivors to have also died and with them the vivid memories of the blitz and the subsequent bombing that went on into the middle of the war.

All of which makes it important I think to pause and visit memorials like this one along with the Tree of Remembrance in Piccadilly.**

And even in this year of anniversaries which began in the August of 2014 with the start of the Great War  continued with the great battles of the Western Front, concluding in December with the Manchester Blitz it is still easy to become blasé about the loss of life and the small individual tragedies as well as the big events.

So I will take time off again to visit the memorial in the cemetery and combine it with a visit to the permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge by the gates.

I was there yesterday with David Harrop who maintains the exhibition from his collection of memorabilia spanning both world wars along with material from the history of the Post Office.

And much of it has a direct connection to Southern Cemetery ranging from medals of men who are buried here to letters, postcards and stories of the blitz.

Most are the everyday things that would have come through the letter box and were happily discarded when the war ended including a leaflet on what to do after the bombing and letters and postcards.  There are even a few souvenirs bought as part of a war drives to raise funds for charities.

And this porcelain piece which may postdate the war.

Pictures; from the collections of David Harrop and Andrew Simpson

*Greater Manchester Blitz Victims, http://www.greatermanchesterblitzvictims.co.uk/index.php

**In Piccadilly Gardens at the Tree of Remembrance, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/in-piccadilly-gardens-at-tree-of.html

Early morning in Greenwich ...... before even the birds were awake

Now I like my sister’s picture of Greenwich taken last week before the milkman started his round or even the birds were awake.

It captures that stillness that you get at that time in the morning when little stirs but there is already the promise of another busy day.

And that sky is something else.

Now I would say this I know, but our Gillian, Elizabeth and Theresa are a talented bunch and I look forward to more of their pictures.

Location; Greenwich

Picture; early morning, 2017, one of six, from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith