Manchester Mapping the City* ……… Christmas presents ….. no. 1

Now, Manchester Mapping the City, must be a book for anyone interested in the cartography of the city and its transformation from a small attractive Georgian town into “the shock city of the Industrial Revolution” ** and its present status as an exciting place to live at the heart of large urban conurbation.

I got my copy for Christmas, and I have rationed myself to four maps a day which is hard given that the maps are fascinating, and the accompanying notes illuminate the story of the city.

The book opens in 1728 with panoramic views across the Irwell and take in many of my favorite maps with plenty more I have never seen, including one drawn for the inquiry into Peterloo, the Soviet map and the 1960 plan to introduce parking meters.

Along the way there is the famous 1945 regeneration plan of the city, Goad’s Fire Insurance maps and the delightful Adshead map of 1851.

I was first alerted to the book by Neil Spurr of Digital Archives Association who reproduces excellent old maps in a digital format, and while I was intrigued, I was a tad skeptical, wrongly thinking that there would just not be enough maps to advance my knowledge.

Wood Street, from Goad, 1889

There are in fact 54 sections, each with a map and commentary, staring with those panoramic views in 1728 and finishing with a map from 2016 and a discussion on the wider city region.

Each section offers up an insight into how the city has changed, and the way Mancunians have worked, played, and coped with everything from dire housing conditions, to finding a parking place, and contemplating an underground rail network and a proposed heliport on Victoria Railway Station.

Of the three authors, I have been familiar with Terry Wyke, who has written the notes for some of the maps from Digital Archives Association, has also collaborated on books on the city’s history as well as being a Senior Lecturer in Social & Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University.

33 & 35, Wood Street, 1909

At which point I am pondering on nominating my favorite map, but that would be premature as I still have twelve sections to go and anyway many have long helped me with research and have found their way into my own books and the blog.

And I suppose, it is the usefulness of each map which makes them all so compelling, leaving me just to reflect on Goad’s Insurance maps from the late 1880s, which detail, not only many of the streets and the buildings but also contain fascinating reference to the materials used in the construction of each property.

Sadly the two houses at numbers 33 and 35 on Wood Street, never made it into the Goad collection, but then they never would given that they were humble properties, but using a photograph of the two along with census material it has been possible to learn something about them along.

They have long ago vanished, but they were opposite the Wood Street Mission which Mr. Goad did include.

Wood Street Mission, 2007

Today the site is a small car park for the Rylands Library and just down from that space is a passageway which may have been the entrance to another court called Bradley’s Yard.

So that is it ……. Christmas present number one with more to follow. 









Pictures; Wood Street, 2007, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, numbers 33 & 35, m05389, A Bradburn courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass  and Wood Street, circa 1900, from Goad's Fire Insurance Maps, Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Manchester Mapping the City, Terry Wyke, Brian Robson, and Martin Dodge, 2018

** Victorian Cities, Asa Briggs, 1963

*** Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

**** Walking the streets of Manchester in 1870 ................ part 4 ... calling on Mr. and Mrs. Hall at no.35 Wood Street, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/walking-streets-of-manchester-in-1870_9.html

The return of Chorlton's History Trail ............ all you wanted to know about Manchester Road ..... and more

Now there are many things that make Chorlton different from other places, but for me it’s the celebration of the township’s history which comes with the ever-popular History Trail.

The first History Trail, 2012

The first few date back to 2012 and they remain a unique part of the landscape.

Each tells the story of a particular part of Chorlton, with a special nod to the building in which they are exhibited.

The first appeared in the Horse and Jockey with others in shops, restaurants and cafes, out along Beech Road, Barlow Moor Road, and beyond, culminating with the 80-meter-long installation which fronted the construction of a block of flats.

In the new year another of these installations will appear on High Lane where Armistead Properties are renovating numbers 57 and 59.

The six panels will tell the story of the two houses and the development of this bit of Chorlton.

Work on these six history panels is well under way, and they should be unveiled in the March of 2019, leaving me just to add that we are also just completing the story of 105 Manchester Road which will feature the shop of Mr. James H. Heys, stationer, and tobacconist.

The property remained a purveyor of all things tobacco and note paper into the late 1960s and beyond, when after a checkered history, it opened a few months ago as CBD Coffee Lounge, the exterior of which Peter painted recently.

Presenting the CBD painting, 2018

That painting, and our latest “History Trail” panel will soon be up on the wall of the Café.

At which point I could go into detail about what will be included, but that would be to give the story away.

Suffice to say, that once and not that long ago Manchester Road ran out of Chorlton bordered by fields and farms.

For those leaving the township, once they had passed Redgate Farm, they had clear views of the railway line, to the east and open land to the west.

Manchester Road, 1894

Location; Chorlton





Painting; Painting, CBD Coffee Lounge © 2018 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.








Map; Manchester Road in 1894, from the OS of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Looking out from Salford ..... under grey skies

Now the thing about a panting rather than a photograph is that the artist can have more control over the dominant emotion that the work is meant to convey.

Which isn’t to say that a photograph can’t come close either by the use of light, or how the image is cropped, but with a painting the artist can decide what he/she wants to see rather than what is actually out there.

And that is what I think we have got here with Peter’s painting of the Imperial War Museum North.

Anyone who knows his work will be familiar with the “Topper sky” which is always bright and very blue.

But not here, not with this painting of the museum.  Of course anyone who has stood at any one of the Metro stops around the Quays or up on the Cornbrook platform will recognise that grey grim sky which often brings with it  a biting wind and a fair amount of very wet driving rain.

But leaving that aside I rather think his choice of sky fits well with the metal roof of the building and the much of the subject matter contained in the IWMN.

Peter and I rarely discuss his paintings in advance of them being sent over, so as I sit here I then interpret what I see and write the story in much the same way as he fixes his painting from the landscape.

So it will be interesting to see what he says.

Location; Salford,

Painting; Imperial War Museum North, Painting © 2016 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

In celebration of that new Salford …………

Now it is very easy to mourn that old Salford of terraced streets, busy, noisy work places, and grimy streets, which at the same time were full of close knit communities.

Much of it has gone, and while some rail against its passing, there is much merit in what has come to replace it.

And before anyone leaps to shout that the shiny glass and steel buildings of today could be pretty much anywhere, I suspect there will have been those who said the same of the rows of terraced houses, mills and big stone office blocks which took the place of the older 18th century properties.

So that said, here is another in that short series, celebrating the new Salford.

Location; Salford

Picture; New places and old water, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

In celebration of that new Salford …………

Now it is very easy to mourn that old Salford of terraced streets, busy, noisy work places, and grimy streets, which at the same time were full of close knit communities.

Much of it has gone, and while some rail against its passing, there is much merit in what has come to replace it.

And before anyone leaps to shout that the shiny glass and steel buildings of today could be pretty much anywhere, I suspect there will have been those who said the same of the rows of terraced houses, mills and big stone office blocks which took the place of the older 18th century properties.

So that said, here is another in that short series, celebrating the new Salford.

Location; Salford

Picture; Imposing Salford, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Snaps of Chorlton No 9, the family car 1928

An occasional series featuring private and personal photographs of Chorlton.

The year is 1928 and this is the family car of the Holmes family.

Mrs Holmes is sitting in the passenger seat and I rather think that just peeking out over the steering wheel is a very young Marjorie.

The picture was taken in Mr Holmes work yard which was part of the farm yard of what was known until recently as Greenwood’s farm and stood on the east side of the green where Finney Drive is today.

Now I have no knowledge of cars so would welcome some advice on what the car was.

Picture; from the collection of Marjorie Holmes

The Rivoli, before it became the Essoldo, the Classic and the Shalimar and finished as our last cinema

All our cinemas have gone. Two were demolished one is a supermarket and the last is an undertaker’s. It is hard to decide which has met the worst fate.

The last to go was the Rivoli which I suppose was fitting given that it was the last of the four to be built. It had opened in 1937 and closed sometime in the 1980s.

I remember seeing Gone with the Wind there in 1979, and it was the perfect film to see in such an old fashioned cinema house. The frontage was pretty much all glass, with tall windows reaching from the first floor to almost the top of the building.

The box office was in the centre of the auditorium and behind it there was the sweep of stairs which took you up the circle.

Coming down from the stairs you could look out through the great windows with their faded drapes to the Feathers opposite. Not that we ever went there. A night at the “flicks" would still always end in the Trevor.

Now I guess it had been built to cater for the new Corporation estates which had been going up from the late 1920s. These were south of the Brook stretching out on either side of Barlow Moor Road and out beyond Mauldeth Road West and the Rivoli was situated perfectly to catch this audience.

It was damaged during the war and did not reopen until 1953. For those interested in these things it is still possible to trace the stick of bombs that fell that night, because along with the cinema they destroyed houses on Claude and Reynard which were also rebuilt after the war.

But the Rivoli suffered from the general decline of cinema goers and despite changes of name to the Essoldo, then the Classic and later still the Shalimar it was on the slide.

 When R. E. Stanley took his picture of the cinema it was showing an Italian movie called the Barbarian and the Goliath or as it was alternatively known the Goliath and the Barbarian. Starring Steve Reeves it was a sequel to the very successful Hercules made in 1958 and Hercules Unchained finished the following year. 

Unlike the earlier films this was set in the Dark Ages in Northern Italy when barbarian armies have overrun the country but are meeting with resistance from a local hero, and despite some plot twists and a romantic diversion is really a tale of tyranny versus good and could as one review has suggested been set at anytime in any place.

So just an action film with dubbed voices and as such good enough to fill the mid week slot and the Sunday matinee but not a crowd puller for a big Saturday night. In the same year there had been Ben Hur, North by North West, Some Like it Hot, Pillow Talk and Anatomy of a Murder, as well as On the Beach, Rio Bravo and Suddenly Last Summer.

Come to think of it, I can’t remember seeing a new release there either.

But then if we are honest suburban cinemas were not by the late ‘50s about the brand new film they were comfortable little places to fill the odd evening out between the big movies in town and the telly.

Picture; Essoldo Cinema m09200 March 1959 R E Stanley, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

In celebration of that new Salford …………

Now it is very easy to mourn that old Salford of terraced streets, busy, noisy work places, and grimy streets, which at the same time were full of close knit communities.

Much of it has gone, and while some rail against its passing, there is much merit in what has come to replace it.

And before anyone leaps to shout that the shiny glass and steel buildings of today could be pretty much anywhere, I suspect there will have been those who said the same of the rows of terraced houses, mills and big stone office blocks which took the place of the older 18th century properties.

So that said, here is another in that short series, celebrating the new Salford.

Location; Salford

Picture; Busy Salford, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Riverside House ....... a ghost sign and a walk along Irwell Street

Now back in August of last year on a very indifferent grey day I decided to take myself off to Irwell Street.

On Irwell Street, 2016

It is easy enough to get to, you just wander down New Quay Street until you cross the river or alternatively turn off Trinity Way.

Now I on the other hand had wandered down Water Street on the Manchester side planning to use Princess Bridge and get some pictures of the river and by degree walk into Salford.

But the major new railway build put paid to that leaving me a few indifferent pictures of a building site and the decision to make the crossing at New Quay Street.

It is an area of the two cities which has and is undergoing great change, but the old Royal Veteran public house on Stanley Street is still there, although when I passed in 2011 it was all shut up and is now shrouded in scaffolding.

Looking down towards Irwell Street, 1968

There will of course be people who will be able to tell me about the pub’s history, but for now it is the ghost sign on the gable end which intrigues me.

It is faded but you can still read that it refers to Riverside House and that is the starter for ten for the competition to tell us what Riverside House was and what it did.

Does it refer to the pub building?  If so that may mean that the Royal Veteran shut up shop much earlier than I thought.

All of which means that unless someone knows it will have to a trawl of the directories to confirm what the building was when Mr T Brooks recorded it away in the distance in 1966.

Location; Salford

Pictures; the Royal Veteran, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and looking down New Quay Street, 1968, T Brooks, m02350, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Looking at Salford a bit before today ....... nu 2 a bank and a pub

Now I am fascinated by pictures taken of places during the last half century.

In their way they can be as interesting as all those old period images of men in tall hats, women in shawls and roads full of wagons pulled by horses.

Often they are like looking through a dirty window, because while some of what you can see is familiar there is much that is not.

Added to which the clothes people wear, the cars parked in the street and the shop fronts all look very dated but at the same time offer up views which are almost like now but not quite

So here is a short series all taken on Chapel Street sometime in the recent past.

None of them are dated but I am guessing they will be from the 1960s into the 70s with possibly a throw back into the 1950s.

And the rest as they is for you to ponder on.

But not quite, because as soon as the story went live, Andy Roberston sent over an update picture taken in 2014.

Location; Salford

Picture; on Chapel Street, 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson and at a date unknown, m77254, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 108 ......... what you find under the stairs

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

Now I have every confidence that Joe and Mary Ann would be surprised at why I would want to keep this old bit of electrical equipment.

When he built his own house on Beech Road he included electricity from the outset and this is the main supply box complete with the initials of the Manchester Corporation Electricity Works.

From memory it remained in use until the 1980s.

Those in Chorlton whose houses predated electricity could take part in "the Assisted-Wiring and Prepayment-Wiring schemes, whereby consumers may have their houses wired at a small or without any initial payment.”  

Added to this there were “hiring schemes for motors, cookers, wash-boilers, and water-heaters. Hire-purchase schemes for nearly all appliances (except lighting fittings) costing £2 and over.”*

When our bit of electrical history was taken out I decided to keep it as a permanent reminder of the house’s story.

In much the same way, two other people this week I have been curious about bits of electrical and gas appliances which long ago should have been pensioned off.

Steve whose home dates back to the late 1920s wondered about his piece of past, as was Shelly who sent me this picture of a gas meter.

It dates from 1951, will have been part of the rolling programme to replace old gas meters with new ones after the nationalization of the country’s gas suppliers in 1948.

There will be plenty who just think they are junk but to me they are not only a fascinating insight into have we lived, but many are quite beautiful.

And in the age of the smart meter I like these old relics.

Joe and Mary Ann, I suspect would have been less willing to keep them.  They embraced change, and our house built in 1915 included electricity which nine years after its completion had a telephone followed sometime in the 1950s by a TV.

All of which just leaves me to reflect that all our homes will have some fascinating clues about their past.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Manchester Corporation Electricity Works Supply box, circa 1915, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Norweb gas meter, 19151, courtesy of Shelly Young


Location; Chorlton


Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The story of a house,   https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house

**Manchester Corporation 1935

Walking with the Manchester Whit Walks in 1969

There will be many in Manchester with fond memories of past Whit Walks when the congregations of the local churches chapels and Sunday Schools walked in procession through the streets of the city as a witness to their faith.

These were really big events with hundreds turning out to walk the few miles and thousands more lining the streets.

Here in Chorlton a few pictures have survived of processions in the 1930s passing the green and prominent in that procession was our own Brass Band which dated back to the 1820s.

Now there are many photographs of these events and just today Adele posted some wonderful pictures from the 1969 procession.*

They were taken by her father and vividly capture the day.

But what makes them all the more fascinating is that they show scenes of that old Manchester which was about to vanish. The grand clearance plans and commercial projects were during the 1960s and early 70s cutting swathes through central Manchester and areas of Hulme, Moss Side, Ancoats and Bradford and Beswick.

All of which makes these pictures so important for they are not the posed carefully composed images of professional commercial photographers, but photographs by people who lived where the procession was passing and had links to both the Walks and the people in them.

And something of the fun and pride of the participants comes through from Adele’s pictures.

Here then on that Whit week in 1969 are a few of Adele’s pictures.

Pictures; courtesy of Adele

Down at Media City ........ no. 1

Now the weather and the light were against me but I was determined to take some pictures.

I suppose the foreboding sky will have been a suitable backdrop of the Imperial War Museum North, but that is for tomorrow.

Location; Salford




Picture; looking out from Media City, June 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Snaps of Eltham nu 1, the High Street in 1977 and an appeal

The High Street, 1977

Now it is one of those things that while we all snap away at places, people and events most never survive.

The pictures came back from Boots in those little envelopes, were handed out for a few days and then carefully put away and  forgotten.

Some will have made it to the photograph album but like as not there will be no date and no logical sequence.

I should know, our house is littered with them.

All of which is an introduction to a new short series on the Snaps of Eltham.

Now unlike the serious photographer most of us snap away at what takes our fancy and in the process capture images which are important to us, often unusual and always an important record of how Eltham has changed.

Tricia, Kath and others have been out over the last months sending me the most wonderful pictures of the town today but I bet out there  will be shed loads of old pictures,ranging  from a afternoon in the Pleasaunce to aunt Vi’s wedding at the church in 1953.

So here is the appeal, if you've got them, want to share them and even better if there is a story please pass them over.

You can get in touch using the comment box, twitter or facebook.

Picture; the High Street in 1977, from the collection of Jean Gammons.

Listening to The Poor Laws ……….. the discussion …… today on Radio 4

Now, here is a programme anyone interested in the Poor Laws and poverty in the 19th century should listen to.*

Alms Houses, Eltham, 1909

It is part of the In Our Time series on Radio 4 and is hosted by Melvyn Bragg.

I am a great fan of the history and literary ones and less drawn to those on science.

But they are always informative and challenging.  Last week was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which I enjoyed as I did this one.

Today, Melvyn Bragg and guests discussed the 19th century legislation intended to discourage poor people from seeking relief instead of work, with handouts replaced by the workhouse.

Withington Workhouse, date unknown

The guests were, Emma Griffin at the University of East Anglia, Samantha Shave at the University of Lincoln and Steven King at the University of Leicester.

Essential listening.

Location; Britain

Pictures; The Alms Houses from the story of Royal Eltham, R.R.C. Gregory, 1909, , and staff and inmates of Withington Work House, the Chorlton Union, date unknown m81238, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*The Poor Laws; In Our Time, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001m73

Shopping in Salford ....... Prosecco and Mr Lowry

The third in a short series on shopping in Salford.

In the shadow of the Lowry in late October.

Location; Salford










Picture; Salford Shopping, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Every place should have its own history book ...............

Now Chorlton has had quite a few history books along with historians, starting with the Rev Booker in the 1850s, our own Thomas Ellwood, thirty years later  and eleven others.*

The old church, circa 1880

Of course modesty forbids that I should mention my own book,

The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, or the five I written with Peter Topping covering Hough End Hall, Chorlton pubs and bars, The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury,   Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Churches, Chapels, Temples, A Synagogue and a Mosque and the new one nothing to do in chorlton which was published earlier in the month

Each historian has brought something different to the story of where we live, ranging from personal stories to unseen photographs, and the best have drawn on a vast local knowledge gathered from living here or talking to people whose links with the area go back decades.

Chorlton from Alexandra Road, 1920

In writing his 26 articles in the winter and spring of 1885-86, Thomas Elwood drew on conversations with residents who had been born at the beginning of the 19th century, and who in turn could draw on the memories of family members, taking the story of Chorlton back to before King George lost the American colonies.

My own favourite historians include Miss Templar who lived almost her whole life at Dog House Farm, and wrote vividly of the history of our local churches, along with some fine descriptions of the aerodrome at Hough End Hall, and Tony Walker who combined his love of the past with photography and a flair for technology to produce a series of aerial photographs of the village green in the 1980s.

History of Chorlton, N. Fife, circ 1970

Some of our authors have sadly stayed in the shadows, like Mr Blythe who as a student produced a little history of Chorlton in the 1930s, illustrated with a number of photographs of the Horse and Jockey and the old parish church.

I found his booklet by sheer chance, and in the same way was introduced to a handwritten manuscript by N. Fife, who while recovering from an illness wrote his own history of the township.

It was never published and consisted of a mix of general history, with some personal anecdotes, including a description of the old water pump in the courtyard of the farm on Beech Road, facing the Rec.

What marks out most of these historians is their desire to bring something original to the story.

So my own book The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy*** described the area during the first half of the nineteenth century, and was not a general history, but a study of when we were a small rural community on the edge of Manchester, as the city was being transformed from a quaint Georgeian town, into “the shock city of the Industrial Revolution”.

That same wish to break new ground has informed my collaboration with Manchester artist Peter Topping, which has ranged from books on Hough End Hall, the Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, the story of our bars and pubs and the latest which is devoted to the places of worship across the township and into Didsbury.

But history shouldn’t just be delivered through books, and so we have run a diverse set of historic walks, and talks, mounted displays in shops and pubs, along with an ambitious 80 meter installation on the corner of Albany and Brantingham roads.

The History Wall, 2012

It told story of Chorlton’s past  in 16 panels, from the 15th century, to the present and was designed as a history walk allowing people to start at one end in the village green in 1512, moving through the area, as it turned from a collection of three hamlets to a suburb of Manchester.

And yes, I shall close with our new book, which is part history and part celebration of what makes Chorlton diverse and interesting.

Chorlton-cum-Hardy Churches, Chapels, Temples A Synagogue and a Mosque, draws on a collection of official records, newspaper reports, old photographs and maps, but is underpinned with contributions from those who have attended the different places of worship and remember those that are now just history.****

You can obtain your copy  from us at http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or Chorlton Bookshop, 506 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW 0161 881 6374

Location; Chorlton & Didsbury





Pictures;, courtesy of McCarthy & Stone,and from N. Templar, N. Fife and Tony Walker 

*Rev Booker, Thomas Elwood, Nora Templar, J.D. Blythe, N Fife, John Lloyd, S Dickens,Cliff Hayes, and Tony Walker, Peter Topping & Andrew Simpson

**Chorlton Historians, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Historians

***The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson, 2012, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

****A new book on the places of worship in Chorlton-cum Hardy, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20places%20of%20worship%20in%20Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Standing in front of Annie Kenney and Mrs Pankhurst .......

Now, amongst all the press coverage of the unveiling of the statues of Ememeline Pankhurst in Manchester and that of Annie Kenney in Oldham’s Parliament Square, one fact leapt out at me which is that we have had to wait a long time for both.

Mrs Pankhurst, Manchester, 2018

In the case of Mrs Pankhurst, hers is the first statue of a woman to be erected in the city since Queen Victoria statue  was unveiled in 1901 and until relatively recently the role of working class women in the campaign for the vote was largely overlooked.

At best working class women like Annie Kenney, Selina Cooper and Annot Robinson get “walk on parts” and at worst were almost completely ignored.

Many combined their campaigning activities alongside full time work and bringing up young families.

Others were also involved in their trade unions and in the campaigns to improve working conditions and during the Great War arguing for peace.

All of that said, to have two statues unveiled at the same time just eight miles apart commemorating the struggle to achieve the right of women to vote in Parliamentary elections is to be applauded.

Looking towards the Free Trade Hall, 2018

Mrs Pankhurst’s story is well known, and now she is represented by a bronze statue by sculptor Hazel Reeves which stands in St Peter’s Square facing towards the old Free Trade Hall  where some of the first demands for the vote and just a short distance from her home in Nelson Street.

The original idea came from Councillor Andrew Simcock who  launched a campaign in 2015,  to identify a Manchester “woman of significance” who would be remembered by a statute.

Andrew asked for suggestions and Mancunians voted for Mrs Pankhurst.

From there the project took another step forward with the invitation of 19 sculptors to produce a design from which a short list of six was chosen which resulted in the winning design by  Hazel Reeves, and the result was unveiled this week.

With Annie Kenney in Oldham, 2018

And while that event was happening, over in Oldham the statue of Annie Kenney was also unveiled.

Ms Kenny was born in 1879, and started part-time work in a textile mill at the age of 10, before going full time at 13.

She remained at the mill for 15 years, was involved in trade-union activities, furthered her education through self-study and promoted the study of literature among her work colleagues. She was a regular church attender.

One day I hope that there may also be a statue to Annot Robinson, who was born in Scotland in 1874.*

Annot Robinson, circa 1895

She had become active in Scottish politics in the 1890s and by 1895 was working for the Independent Labour Party in Dundee.

After her marriage she settled in Ancoats and became active in the labour movement in Manchester, continuing her work after she and her husband parted.

Subsequently living as a single-parent in an unaccepting age, she remained an active member of the ILP and at different times of the WSPU, the NUWSS and the Women’s Labour League (WLL), Women’s War Interests Committee, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, an ebullient speaker and tireless traveller and twice a candidate in local elections.

We shall see.

Location; Manchester and Oldham

Pictures; at the unveiling of Mrs Pankhurst and Annie Kenney's statues, courtesy of Matthew Benham and Annot Rbinson, from ANNOT ROBINSON: A FORGOTTEN MANCHESTER SUFFRAGETTE**

*Annot Robinson, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Annot%20Robinson

**ANNOT ROBINSON: A FORGOTTEN MANCHESTER SUFFRAGETTE, Kate Rigby, Manchester Regional History Review, Vol 1 Nu 1 Spring 1987,
http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/mcrh/files/2013/01/mrhr_01i_rigby.pdf

A Merry Christmas ..............

A Merry Christmas to all our readers

Manchester, 2017

I could say lots more but I rather think that is it.

Except to say thanks for continuing to read the blog and contributing, comments, pictures and stories.

It started as just outrageous piece of self promotion aimed at advertising the first book, and like that book was designed to tell the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

But nature abhors a vacuum and pretty quickly I began writing about where I grew up in South east London, and ranged from Eltham to Peckham, New Cross and Lambeth.

London, 1979

And then spread out to include British Home Children, who in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were migrated first to Canada and later Australia along with other parts of the old British Empire.

From there, it took in stories of other parts of the world as well as two world wars and now pretty much covers everywhere and every time allowing me more than once to proclaim tat here there "Everything you ever wanted to know about the history of everywhere".

Varese, 2017

In turn, it developed into two three social media sites which also have a large devoted following and which also are supported by contributions from friends and people  interested in history.

All of which just leaves me to give a special thank you to Lois who shares my love of history,  Andy Robertson and his daughter Cathy for a never ending supply of photographs, Tricia Leslie who manages one of our sites and digs deep into the history of south east London, and David Harrop whose vast collection of memorabilia from two world wars have been a constant source of stories.

That said, I am indebted to Peter Topping who continues to paint Chorlton and Manchester and of course to my family and Tin who between them offer up a wealth of family stories from London and Italy.

Manchester. 2006

Location; everywhere















Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 1979-2018

Stories from Salford nu 3 .............. that Hall

Now every blog should have one picture of Ordsall Hall.

It is after all a fine building with a history which goes back to the 15th century on a site where there has been a house since at least 1251.

And since it was bought by Salford Corporation there will be many with fond memories of day visits to the place when it was a museum.

And perhaps a few stories from when it was a working man's club in the 1870s

All of which makes Andy’s picture a nice contrast to the usual mix of brand new Salford buildings and the grimy old ones which I often feature.

Location; Salford



Picture; Ordsall Hall, 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Heading towards a full century and a half of British Home Children ..... a story for everwhere

How do we reflect, commemorate and remember 149 years of British Home Children?

Leaving Manchester for Canada in 1897, on the Town Hall steps

Now I am the first to admit that I tire of all those media created anniversaries, as if we can only truly remember those who participated in the Great War, The Armenian Massacre, or the Holocaust if we tie them to an article headed “on this day”.

That said, the story of British Home Children will soon reach its 150th birthday, and it is perhaps time to think about how that event is marked.

I discovered my BHC only in 2008, and so am a relative newcomer.

But in that time I have seen British Home Children move from a group of people curious to know more about a relative who was migrated to Canada as a child, to a full blown mature area of study, which generates learned books and articles, as well events ranging from exhibitions in museums and to talks in schools, community halls and on the steps of public buildings.

Where my great uncle ended up, 1914

Most of the work to publicise British Home Children has come from Canada, and from a group of people determined to raise the awareness of what happened.

Some of these people I know and now count as friends, and while it might seem unfair to single one person out from so many, I think the work Lori Oschefski deserves mention.  Her tireless effort and determination to both inform and research British Home Children while drawing and acknowledging those who went before has been vital in getting the story out.*

There is also Mary Humphries who in the 1980s explored the more recent migration of young people to Australia and there will be others in New Zealand and other former parts of the British Empire starting their own journeys of discover.

Working in the print room, circa 1900

But here where it all began, there is surprisingly very little activity. 

I know of only one book published in Britain on the subject, two facebook sites, and a few special events designed to commemorate and explore the migration of young people of which those promoted by the Together Trust are the most significant.

Our own facebook site, British Home Children ....... the story from Britain** has only been going since April but has already attracted over a thousand members with the prime purpose of sharing stories and information.

Very early on we took the decision to look outwards, and produced a poster can be downloaded and distributed to friends, heritage centres/libraries & history groups and early in the new year there will be  a power point on BHC which people can use.

Tricia Leslie who is the other admin, and I,  feel that the next step must be to take the story out across the country, and given that many of our 1,029 members live in Britain it would advance the awareness, if all of them could “post the poster” and identify opportunities in their home town to pass the message on.

A poster to download

Next year there will be some very interesting and exciting events happening across the country, of which more later, but until then, in the words of that great Northern Soul call to arms, “Keep the Faith” and tell everyone about British Home Children.

Location; Britain, Canada and beyond

Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust, https://www.togethertrust.org.uk/ British Home Children ....... the story from Britain, and the collection of Andrew Simpson



*British Home Children Advocacy and Research, http://www.britishhomechildren.com/

** British Home Children ....... the story from Britain, www.facebook.com/groups/bhchildren/

A little bit of Beech Road ………. with just the space of a few decades in between

Now I know showing an old photograph of the Rec is a winner.

For those who remember the park four decades ago this picture will bring back fond memories.

Just a few days ago when I posted it, there were a shed load of reminiscences.

They ranged from parents who sat on the bench watching your young children play on the grass, to a heap of people now in their mature years who were too young for the pub and in the absence of a youth club whiled away long hours with just a packet of Woodbines.

More recently Michael Thompson was passing the same spot and took the now image which sits with the ten picture and is a reminder of what we have lost.

And for anyone who mutters, this is hardly the stuff of great history, well they would be right.

But then, why should history always be about the big events?

Location; The Rec, Beech Road

Pictures; the Rec, 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and in 2018 courtesy of Michael J Thompson