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
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.
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
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