Chorlton-cum-Hardy Churches in World War 1 ............. another from Tony Goulding

The use of the Sunday school buildings of both the Manchester Road Methodists and Mclaren Baptist churches has already been well covered on this blog and I have nothing new to add to their stories. However, the churches in the township also have other links to the War. 
       

High Lane (Macpherson Memorial)

Among the multitudes of young men who lost their lives in the conflict were two with links to a couple of prominent churchmen with strong ties to Chorlton-cum-Hardy churches.

These were Rev. John Cocker a curate at St Georges, Hulme and a close friend of Walter Sidney Tuke the future rector of St Werburgh’s Church (April 1944 – March 1953) and Raymond George Grayson, (1) the son of a former minister of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church, Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson. (1910 - 1913)

High Lane (Macpherson Memorial)
Primitive Methodist Church

(m 17903 A.E. Landers: 1959)

Rev. John Cocker K.i.A. Flanders 25th
April 1916
 
John Cocker and his “chum” (2) Walter Tuke volunteered together to serve as private soldiers in the newly formed 24th battalion of The Royal Fusiliers – the “Sportsman’s Battalion”.

At the time of their enlistment both men were curates of the Church of England serving in neighbouring Manchester parishes, Rev. Cocker at St. George’s and Rev. Tuke at St. Stephen’s both in Hulme. The two friends decided to join up as ordinary soldiers wishing to share in the common hardships of the other ranks.
 
While shaving outside his dugout on the morning of 25th April 1916 Rev. John was hit by a shell fragment and died instantly. He is thought to be the first serving minister of the Church of England to be killed whilst on active service in World War 1.  This factor and the human interest of his “chum” Walter having to conduct his funeral service led to the incident being widely reported in the press.
     
John Cocker was born, the son of William Pickup Cocker and Catherine (née Williams), in 1887, in Blackburn, Lancashire where his father, brother and two sisters all worked in a cotton mill – the family also ran a grocer’s shop. John’s mother came from Meliden Nr. Prestatyn, North Wales.
   
Soon after this incident Walter Tuke, himself, was also badly wounded, four pieces of shrapnel piercing his shoulder. While recuperating from this injury on 19th December 1916 Walter was appointed a temporary Army Chaplain which carried a rank of Captain. He served as chaplain at The Whalley War Hospital near Blackburn until the end of the War and later as chaplain with his old regiment in Egypt.
 
Walter was born in Leeds on 15th November 1889. His parents were George Thomas Tuke, a manager for a corn & hay merchant (who later became a contractor for The Post Office) and his wife Henrietta (née Roadhouse). A graduate of Durham University and London Divinity College he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Manchester at Manchester Cathedral on 7th June 1914 and was appointed to a parish in Burnley, Lancashire.

The following year he was ordained as a priest and appointed to his position at St. Stephen’s, Hulme. On leaving the army Walter returned to parish work initially at Ashton-under-Lyme then St. Luke’s, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester and from 1927 as the vicar of St. John’s Church, Smallbridge, Wardle, Rochdale, Lancashire. (3) From this Rochdale parish he was appointed to St. Werburgh’s taking up this post from April 1944.
 
After 10 years as rector of St. Werburgh’s Rev. Tuke left the parish in 1954 and passed away in the March quarter of 1964.

Raymond George Grayson D.o.W. 7th August 1917

     Lance Corporal Raymond George Grayson of the 15th battalion The Royal Scots – (“The Edinburgh Pals”) died on the 7th August 1917 at Nottingham General military hospital and is buried in Colchester military cemetery where his father was the chaplain.

 Raymond was born in Ealing, Middlesex on the 18th September 1897 the son of Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson and Bessie Mary (née Kidd). Just 8 days after his 19th birthday he enlisted on 26th September 1914, initially at Colchester into the 5th battalion Essex Territorials. After just 10 days he was discharged from this unit in order to travel to Edinburgh where on 7th October 1914 he joined the “Edinburgh Pals” His civilian occupation is recorded as accounts clerk.
   
Lance-corporal Raymond G. Grayson suffered a serious shrapnel wound to his head on the Western Front in France on 24th April 1917. After a lengthy stay at a hospital in Boulogne   he was transferred back to England on 9th June and admitted to Nottingham General Hospital.

For a time, he appeared to be on the road to recovery only to experience a sudden and rapid deterioration of his condition due to an abscess forming around an undiscovered foreign object lodged in his cerebellum which was to prove fatal. He died some 12 hours after an operation to remove the shell fragment from his brain.

The George Cross

Canon Edward McGuinness M.C.

Long after peace had returned, at least temporarily, to Europe Chorlton-cum-Hardy’s churches links to the “Great War” continued when another ex-Army Chaplain Edward McGuinness M.C. was installed as the new parish priest of Our Lady and St. John’s Roman Catholic Church on the death of Monsignor Joseph Kelly in 1930.
 
Father Edward was born on 21st February 1878 in Workington, Cumbeland. His parents were John McGuinness, a mason / builder and his wife Sarah (née McMullen). Edward’s mother died aged just 40 when he was only 6 and his younger brother, Robert William not yet one year old.

After attending St. Bede’s College, Whalley Range, Manchester he was trained for the priesthood at St. John’s College, Waterford, Ireland where he was ordained on the 19th June 1904. In the years before the First World War Fr. Edward was involved in parish work in Blackburn and Bolton in Lancashire. On the outbreak of hostilities, he became a chaplain with The Irish Guards. In this role he was awarded a Military Cross, for gallantry, while serving on the Western Front in the same battalion as Captain Harold Alexander the future Field Marshall (4), the two becoming life long friends. Fr. Edward remained a chaplain to the Irish Guards at the end of the war later spending a year in China. Immediately prior to his appointment to “St. John’s” he was the chaplain at Catterick Army Camp in Yorkshire. A few months before his death on 28th March 1946 Fr Edward had been made up to a Canon. He was buried in grave D 219A in the Roman Catholic section (naturally) of Southern Cemetery, Manchester on 3rd April 1946.

Pictures; High Lane (Macpherson Memorial) Primitive Methodist Church, A.E. Landers: 1959  m17903, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass remaining images, courtesy of Tony Goulding

Notes: -
   
    1)  During the three years of his father being the minister of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church, the family home was   3, Napier Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy
    2) “chums” was how the newspapers of the day insisted on referring to the two friends.
   3)While vicar of Smallbridge in May 1930 Walter was involved in a tragic and sensational case

Canon Edward McGuinness’s Grave

when he was called upon to give evidence at the trial regarding the violent deaths of his sister-in-law and 15-year-old nephew. Testimony was given that Walter’s brother, William Clarence, a former electrical engineer turned accountant, had murdered his wife and child at their home in Edgware, London It was stated that he suffered from periodic mental breakdowns and it was alleged that at the time of the deaths he’d, had a particularly severe breakdown due to the stress over concerns regarding the future care of his mentally handicapped son. The jury brought in a verdict of ‘Guilty but of unsound mind” without having to leave the jury box and the defendant was sentenced to be “detained at His Majesty’s pleasure”

4) Having also been decorated with a Military Cross and a Distinguished Service Order in the First World War, Earl Alexander of Tunis was one of the most   illustrious officers in the British army during World War 2. After overseeing the last part of the evacuation from Dunkirk he went on to serve with distinction in Burma, in operations in Tunisia harassing Rommels retreating “Afrika Korps” and in the capture of Sicily and the move into Italy. In 1946 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George VI a post in which he proved very popular. On his return to the United Kingdom in February 1952 he served briefly as the Minister of Defence in Sir Winston Churchill” s cabinet. He was created an Earl by one of the new Queen’s first acts on the 14th March 1952. A member of the organising committee for the Coronation he was chosen to carry the Queen’s orb in the procession on that occasion. Earl Alexander retired from politics in 1954 and died on the 16th June 1969.

On a Sunday in Trafalgar Square ......... sometime in the 1980s

Now I am the first to say that I have taken better pictures, but this one from a demonstration in the early 1980s does capture the moment.

I have no idea of the year or the route we took but back then I attended quite a few and with time they have blurred together.

I vaguely remember that the sight of the young people waving the banner looked similar to that iconic image of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima.

Of course there the similarity ends.

It will have been a Sunday and the journey down by chartered train would have meandered across the country and will have added an hour at least to the trip.

I am fairly confident that the second picture dates from a different demonstration but I can’t be sure.

And while Trafalgar Square was the final destination for some of those marches I know also that we ended up in Hyde Park for others.

Location; London








Pictures; of a demonstration, circa 1980s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

At the toll-gate on the Lee-Eltham Road with Jean Gammons

Now it has been some time since I have included a story from my friend Jean and so here is a short piece on the toll-gate on the Lee-Eltham Road which was part of a talk she gave to the Eltham Society.

The toll-gate was much disliked by many who resented having to pay to travel on a road.

The companies of course who built them and maintained them argued you don't get anything for free and those who wanted to use these new and well kept  roads had to contribute to their upkeep

So  from the very start there had to be gates across the roads, with a gate keeper's house and clearly laid down charges.

Nor were these erected just at the start of a company's road but at junction with existing roads thereby preventing people from skipping a section and missing the toll.

“This is the toll-gate that used to be on the Lee-Eltham Road, near the junction with Umbridge Road.

This old toll-gate saw much activity in the days of the once famous Eltham Races at Middle Park.

The Eltham Races were the social event of the year and were visited by the young prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and other members of the Royal Family.

It must have been like old times for Eltham.  Not since the great days of Eltham Palace had so many members of the Court visited our little country village.”

Picture; the toll-gate courtesy of Jean Gammons

The Rohatyn Jewish Heritage Program

Rohatyn is a city in western Ukraine, with a population of 7,983, and a history dating back to at least 1184.

Rohatyn, from the Jewish cemetery, 2011

And I doubt I would ever have come across it, were it not for the Rohatyn Jewish Heritage Program which is “a volunteer-led program of heritage preservation and education, working to re-connect the history of Rohatyn’s now-lost Jewish community with the people and places of the modern town. 

With the cooperation of current Rohatyn residents and volunteers from around the world, today the program focuses primarily on recovery of Jewish headstone fragments discovered in town and their return to the old Jewish cemetery”.*

During the last World War that Jewish community was all but wiped out, with almost all of the 3000 Jewish inhabitants murdered during the Holocaust.

Brush clearing, old Jewish cemetery, 2018

“Today it is difficult to see evidence of the long history of Rohatyn’s Jewish community anywhere in town, but the surviving sites and physical heritage, together with records and family stories, can help to reanimate this significant part of life in Rohatyn”.

A shared experience, 2012

And that in part is what the program is all about, with active projects including both physical work in Rohatyn recovering Jewish headstone and ‘virtual’ work on the website and its educational resources. Future projects such as cemetery rehabilitation are currently in the planning and costing phases”

I could say more, but that would only be repeat their web site, so I will just leave you with the link to the site and urge you to visit Rohatyn Jewish Heritage Program.

Alternatively, there is a facebook site, Rohatyn Jewish Heritage

Location; Rohatyn, Ukraine

Pictures; view toward Rohatyn town centre from the old Jewish cemetery, 2011, brush clearing at Rohatyn’s Old Jewish Cemetery, 2018, a shared experience during headstone recovery work, 2012  © Jay Osborn courtesy of the Rohatyn Jewish Heritage,

*The Rohatyn Jewish Heritage,  http://rohatynjewishheritage.org/en/

Stretford Precinct ………… before it becomes something new and shiny

Now, in a few years from now, when the new shiny addition to Stretford Precinct has become part of the landscape, these pictures will be an important record of the history of that place.

Back when the first development was underway, I doubt that may people took photographs of what was going on.

And, many of those pictures will have long ago been lost, damaged or consigned to the back of a cupboard.

So, I was pleased when Andy Robertson began recording the changes to the shopping centre.

At which point I must confess I can’t remember what it is now called, or the details of the plans for the new ones.

Suffice to say you saw the start of it all here.

Location; Stretford

Pictures; Stretford Precinct, 2019, from the collection of Any Robertson

A day in London ……. doing something different

Now I am a Londoner who long ago left for Manchester.

And I regularly return, usually to visit family in south east London, but occasionally washed up in the City, for the day walking the streets as part of a demonstration.

A few were organized to protest a new generation of nuclear weapons which in the 1980s were being placed across Europe by the Super Powers.

Others were shouts of anger at the rise of unemployment and cuts in public services, and one was linked to the Miner’s strike of 1984-85.

What they had in common, was an early start from Manchester and a long journey south, followed by the march, lots of speeches and finally the trip home.

Usually there were chartered coaches or trains, which got you there, although in the case of the railway the route sometimes took one of those roundabout journeys, which alternatively took you from Lancashire into Yorkshire and zigzagging across the country.

And I have often wondered what would happen if you missed the designated coach or train.

Not that I ever did, but I do remember once giving up on the protest and catching an early train home to my shame.

Always accompanying me was a camera and much of my time was spent snapping away, which was tolerated back then, in a way I doubt it would be today.

Most never saw the light of day, but more recently I have dusted down the pile of negatives, and while I can’t claim they are great photographs, they are a record of demonstrations, now all but forgotten.

Location; London

Pictures; from a demonstration, circa 1981, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Two old pictures of Wilbraham Road and a story

Now, I guess like many people that block of modern shops which runs back from Brundretts Road towards Whitelow is one I have always taken for granted.

And while it is a later addition to Willbraham Road I never gave it much thought, given that it was already thee when I arrived in Chorlton in the mid 1970s.

There is one image which shows the site of the present Co-op as an empty plot which dates from the early 1960s, but that is it.

And until today I had always assumed the whole block from Brundretts to the Red Cross shop was one continuous building.

But not so because there is here two distinct buildings, which differ in height and design, and will be separated by a few years.

It is a discovery which came to light when George Cieslik posted two pictures of Wilbrahm Road from Brundretts Road.

I can’t date them exactly, but I know they will be after 1961, because in that year A. E. Landers photographed the site of the Co-op just after the two shops which had been on that spot had been demolished.

By contrast Georg’s pictures show the new building, along with the remaining original buildings.

And that is it.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Wilbraham Road, circa 1961-62 from the collection of George Cieslik

The Radical potato, Mr Johnson of Northenden and a story of official revenge.

Now I first came across Joseph Johnson in 1847 when he was the subject of a newspaper article by the radical journalist Alexander Somerville.*

In that year Mr Somerville had walked from Manchester into Chorlton and on to Northenden looking for evidence of potato blight.

He didn’t find any sign of the disease but in the course of his travels did  met some of the local farmers of Chorlton from whom he learned of the “radical potato”  which was a type grown by Joseph Johnson.

Mr Johnson, was on the platform in St Peter’s Field, during the Peterloo Massacre and was arrested for “assembling with unlawful banners at an unlawful meeting for the purpose of inciting discontent,” found guilty, and on his release in 1821 settled in Northenden.

He was born in Manchester which some sources narrow down to Didsbury in 1791 and became a successful brush maker.

And I have visited his story already, but as so often happens today up popped a bit more on the man from my old friend Lawrence who sent me two photographs linked to the man, adding, “Attached is two photos.

Notice the first name on the gravestone is Elizabeth his wife. 

Died Feb 8th 1821 aged 26. This was when Joseph Johnson was in prison for his part in Peterloo. The trial of Hunt, Johnson, Bamford and three others was in March 1820 at the York Assizes. I think he received a one year sentence. Apparently the authorities refused to allow him to attend the funeral at Saint Wilfred parish church Northenden.

I know it's not a great photo. Other items to note the name of the cottage Sanedelen, also the use of the long S that looks like a F at the top of the grave but had ceased by the time of Johnson's death in 1872.”

On his release he settled in the Northenden and we can track him in the village from 1841 through till his death in 1872.

During that time he gave his occupation variously as brush maker and later land proprietor and it will be as such that he planted potatoes which became known as “radicals.” 

It seems such a petty, vindictive l response on the part of the Government that he was not allowed to attend his wife’s funeral.

So with the anniversary of Peterloo just last month I think it is timely to print these two pictures and remember Joseph Johnson, his contribution to the campaign for extending the vote and the mean way Government’s can act against those they deem a threat.

Location; Northenden

Pictures; the gravestone of Elizabeth Johnson and the window in St Wilfred parish church, from the collection of Lawrence Beedle

*Joseph Johnson, radical, farmer and almost a Chorlton Chartist, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Joseph%20Johnson

Looking for the stories of the children who worked the land during the Great War

I have pretty much admitted defeat in the search for Herbert Catchpole.

Now anyone who has gone looking for a relative as part of a family history project will know how frustrating it can be.

Despite acres of official documents, parish records and the off chance of a newspaper story there is nothing  on him save an entry in the 1911 census and a reference in a report from the National Agricultural Labourers’ & Rural Worker’s Union dated 1915.

Not that this is that surprising for even at the beginning of the 20th century it was still possible for an individual  to fall through the cracks or just reinvent him or herself

Some missed having their birth registered, avoided being recorded on a census return or  might never offer personal information about work, shopping preferences or voting intentions.

In the case of Herbert Catchpole I know he was born in 1903 in Woodton in Norfolk, that his mother’s name was Caroline and that she was single, worked a sick nurse and in 1911 was 46 years old.

And that is pretty much all I have on her.  There are two earlier census references but they do not add much to what I know.

Now all of this matters because of what Herbert was doing in the April of 1915 a year into the Great War which is where that report from National Agricultural Labourers’ & Rural Worker’s Union comes in.

The union was much concerned with the employment of both women and children on the land at a time when agricultural labourers were leaving to enlist and others were being tempted by better wages in the towns and cities.

The response of some farmers was to take on women and boys but pay them substantially less than men.

The union’s position was simply that if women were to be employed it had to be on the same wage rates as men and remained totally opposed to the use of child labour and collected evidence on both the exploitation of women and the use of children.

And so Herbert appeared on that report for April 1915 along with six other boys aged between 11 and 13.

The report detailed the pay they received, the hours they worked and what they were expected to do.

Herbert was working in both Norfolk at Woodton and on the Suffolk border, was paid 3 shillings a week , and worked six out of the seven days for nine hours each day.

The remaining six worked similar or longer hours with some being paid slightly more.

So far a search of the records for two of the other boys has also turned up very little.
Fred Noble was paid four shillings for working the fields with the men, digging, weeding and keeping cows while John Thomas Longhurst spent 10½ hours a day, scaring birds, thistle spudding, horse hoeing and carting manure.

Both were just 13 years old, but apart from one census return there is so far nothing more.

In time I will pursue the records of the union and the degree to which more evidence come to light about child labour but I doubt little will surface of the lives of these three and for that I am saddened.

Pictures; extracts from Report on Child Labour in Agriculture, Agricultural Labourers & Rural Workers’ Union.

*Report on Child Labour in Agriculture, Agricultural Labourers & Rural Workers’ Union.
April 1915, courtesy of the Archives & Study Centre,  at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/

In celebration of Chorlton artists, historians, writers and photographers

I am getting quite excited about Chorlton Arts which “aims to reconnect everything to do with art and the people of Chorlton [by promoting] art in, by and for the people of Chorlton and assist existing art facilities”.

The “primary aim is to bring together residents and venues active in the, Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, and Crafts at all levels facilitating creativity within the Chorlton Community”. *

Now being interested in all thing’s history, I thought I would reflect on those people who made their own contribution as artists, historians, or writers to the story of Chorlton.

Not all of them were born here or died here, and some had only a fleeting association with the township, but each in their different way made an impact.

The first is Nora Templar, Nora Templar who was a well-known historian and artist who wrote a series of articles about the township which were published in the St Clements parish magazine during the 1960s.

She had been born in 1910 and spent most of her life at Dog House Farm in what is now Whalley Range.

Dog House was over 300 years old when Nora moved there in 1910 and it was only demolished in 1960.

Her father Herbert was also talented an artist and some of his paintings are in the City’s collection.

It was from Dog House that Mary Moore set out in 1838 to sell farm produce at the Manchester markets only to be murdered on her way home. Nora remembered the “large barn and coach house which was sheltered from the north and east winds” and the “cobbled yard, pump and trough close to the kitchen and the well” all of which would have been familiar to Mary Moore.

As well as writing about the history of the township she witnessed some of the key events during the 20th century, including the Royal Agricultural Show held at Hough End fields in 1916, the Royal Lancashire Shows of 1924 and 1937, and the first aircraft to land at Hough End.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Harvest Festival October 1981, Nora Templar from the Lloyd collection and an extract from Chorlton-cum-Hardy At Work and Play, St Clements Parish Magazine, November 1961

**About Chorlton Arts, http://chorltonartsfestival-org.stackstaging.com/?fbclid=IwAR25MbfqNpd1NeX6Qp1ROLnXYfbvSgldVo4eT-XrpDJk8iN5846McGYZaBY

Back with that ghost sign on Burton Road and memories of "sweet shops galore"

Now I like returning to stories, especially ones where people pick up on what I have written and take the tale just that bit further.

Today on Burton Road, 2014

So yesterday I posted about a ghost sign on Burton Road, and I half expected that my friend Sally would be able to tell me more.

She grew up just off Burton Road and more over went to school with the son of the chap who ran the shop which once proudly displayed the sign on the gable end.

"The newsagents as I remember it was called Gibsons.

There were so many sweet and cake buying opportunities in that area its a wonder all of the children were not morbidly obese, but we weren't, because we played lots of rounders and Rally Vo and we had Chopper bikes.

Back in 1962

On Burton road , just in the stretch between Nell Lane and Cavendish Road , there was Bancroft's, Lyngrays, Gibsons, Duwe's another shop (that was actually two shops) and sold greetings cards and stationary in one bit, while the other side was called 'The Chocolate Cabin' and sold the sort of boxes of chocolates you only really saw at Christmas .

If you dared to turn the corner onto Lapwing Lane, there was Smiths and Bennetts , both newsagents and sweet shops.

And a short walk up to ‘the terminus ‘ at the top of Lapwing Lane would bring you face to face with chocolate machines , where you could get those square bars of Cadburys Fruit and Nut..

And still in 1962

Under the veranda at the Terminus was also Inmans newsagents ... More opportunities to get rid of your 'spends.' "

And along with these priceless memories she dug up a series of pictures which complimented mine and showed Burton Road back in 1962, which is pretty much how I still remembered it a decade later just before it began to change into what we know now.

But that is another story which of course I hope Sally will tell.

And in 1995

In the meantime having wandered down Burton Road it looks today and in 1962 I decided to visit just once more sometime in 1995.

By then the big hoardings on the gable end had gone and there was our sign which of course is still there today and where we started the story.

Sadly the newsagents is no more an in the course of the last two years has been a restaurant offering up different cuisine.

And that pretty much is that for now.

Picture; the ghost sign on Burton Road in 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and in 1962, by J F Harris, m42962 & m42961  and in 1995 by M Luft m21519, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

An election in Chorlton …………

Beyond the serious side of an electoral contest, there is always a bit of fun.

And in the 1980s Chorlton Labour party always finished off the election with car cavalcade on the Saturday before polling day.

Along with the procession of cars, which were all dressed in posters and balloons, there was a walk through the ward where the candidate and supporters handed out leaflets and talked to the residents.

I can’t be sure of the date, but it will be in the 1980s, possibly 1986 or ’87.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; campaigning in Chorlton, 1986-87, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A little bit of my history and a lot more on the walls of the common room in the Faculty of Education in Didsbury

Now I know that somewhere in a dusty set of filing cabinets or in some long forgotten book on the history of Manchester’s education service there will be a record of the different colleges which over the last century and a bit have offered training to those who wanted to become teachers.

But there is a short cut and here it is in the form of a poster in the common room of MMU’s Faculty of Education in Didsbury.

My friend Pierre kindly sent me the image of the poster after a conversation yesterday about the imminent move of the faculty from Didsbury to Hulme.

Mindful of the rich history of teacher training at the former Methodist College there are moves to discover what priceless documents may lie at the bottom of a filing cabinet or at the back of a cupboard.

In the past institutions have been all too quick to discard their history in the interests of rationalization, saving space and just starting a new.

In some cases just because there was no one interested in collecting the material and once thrown into a skip of burnt it is lost forever.

So I am intrigued at the plaque, which was “placed for safekeeping in the former Manchester College of Higher Education and City of Manchester College of Higher Education” recording “the students of the former Manchester Municipal Day Training College (1910-24) who gave their lives in the First World War.”

All the more fitting given that soon we shall be marking the centenary of the outbreak of the Great  War.

And during this time when we focus on the sacrifice made I would like to dig deep into the records of the young men who went through the Municipal Day Training College and see what can be discovered of their lives.

But for me it is also that here is a little of my history covering my years at the old College of Commerce which merged to form Manchester Polytechnic, absorbed Didsbury Training College and became the M.M.U.

So  I suppose you could say a little bit of me has been preserved on the wall of the common room along with that long line of former colleges all the way back to 1857.

I just hope it makes the move safely to Birley.

Picture; courtesy of Pierre Grace, 2014

Over the bridge on Wilbraham Road reflecting on almost a century of change

Now it was something Andy Robertson said when he sent me these pictures of Wilbraham Road about KINGBEE RECORDS that got me thinking about the two parades of shops just over the bridge.

I remember fondly the hardware store almost opposite the record shop with those wooden floors and distinctive smell of paraffin and waxed string along with the wood shop which is now home to Maple Kitchens.

In true DIY style Tommy and I carried a huge sheet of thick plywood back from there to Beech Road by hand before I did a bodge job on some home improvement plan.

Never underestimate either the confidence or the foolishness of a man who thinks he can do anything.

All of which is a bit of diversion from Andy’s pictures which remind me again of how much Chorlton has changed from the walk with the wood back in 1979 and for that matter how it changes almost at the blink of an eye.

And because at this point I can here are some images of the same spot in the early 20th century.

The picture is undated but will be sometime after the Great War judging by the car in the distance and those shops on either side.

They were not there in 1911 but I shall have to go looking in detail at the street directories to pin point the exact moment they were built.

That said I know what is now Maples was John Williams and Sons the Grocers, there would still have been bulls grazing in the land between that shop and the railway line, and it is possible that the Pavilion Theatre on the corner of Wilbraham and Buckingham Roads was opening its doors to show films and live entertainment.

Not that John Williams and Sons were  local traders they owned a chain of grocer shops across the city and beyond which in 1931 accounted for 41 shops of which there were three in Chorlton, six in Didsbury and another four in Rusholme.

Now I rather think there is a story here.  Back in 1895 they are listed as John & Sons with five shops in Didsbury and Fallowfield which by 1911 had become 11 with John Williams described as managing director and the head office at 400 Dickinson Road.

Later still although I can’t date it is a wonderful advert for the company which advertises their ‘“Dainty, Delightful Delicious Tea, [from] John Williams & Sons limited, “The Suburban Grocers”, [at] 28 Victoria Street Manchester Stockport & Branches’.

And having stocked up on some sweet things to eat you might have slid across to the Pavilion which had opened as the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens and bu 1909 was showing films as well.

It lingered on in to the 1930s by which time we had two purpose built cinemas and a third planned.

All of which I suppose made our little theatre a tad old fashioned and so like the ice rink on Oswald Road it vanished and has been almost completely forgotten.

But again I have strayed from Andy’s pictures, so I shall close with a promise that there are more to come and if you scroll down the side of the blog page and look for Wilbraham Road you will come across more alternatively  just go to the link.

Or you can call up the exact story at Thirty years in the history of a bit of Chorlton but that will mean you will miss some other pictures from that period and a whole host of stories about Wilbraham Road.**

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; Wilbraham Road 2014 courtesy of Andy Robertson and Wilbraham Road some time in the 1920s from the Lloyd Collection

*Wilbraham Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Wilbraham%20Road

* Thirty years in the history of a bit of Chorlton, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/thirty-years-in-history-of-bit-of.html

Looking at Salford a bit before today ....... nu 4 the old, the temporary and the new

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 viewsa 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.

Location; Salford,

Picture; on Chapel Street, date unknown, m77280, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

The Life of Arthur Harold Clarke …. a photographer of Chorlton-cum-Hardy..by Tony Goulding

Typical example of my grandfather's work, with distinctive "AHC" number

Arthur Harold Clarke’s photographs and postcards continue to periodically appear on this blog.

As this man was also my maternal grandfather, I thought it was time I expanded his biography.

  

Arthur was born in Redditch, Worcestershire on 8th February 1889.  

His father, William Thomas, was the son of a miller from Knossington, Leicestershire, and his wife Betsie (née Woodfield)

Engraved pocket watch given to Arthur by his parents

His mother’s uncle William Woodfield, owned a factory making needles and fishhooks, and was prominent in local government – a onetime chairman of the town’s Urban District Council. 

William Thomas had been a master grocer in nearby Stoke Prior; Bromsgrove later opened a photographer’s shop at 47, Evesham St. Redditch after a spell working as a clerk in his uncle-in-laws business.

 

Arthur was an only child and spent his childhood in fairly affluent and loving home as indicated by these inherited artifacts.

The watch, engraved A token of love to our dear boy

Engraved pocket watch given to Arthur Harold by his parents on his 7th birthday

The inscription reads” A Token of Love to our dear boy Arthur Harold on his seventh birthday”

 The back of the watch is engraved with his name A.H. Clarke.

A 7th Wedding Anniversary gift from Arthur’s father to his mother – an anthology of love poems and prose “The Bridal Bouquet” by Henry Southgate.

 “The Bridal Bouquet” by Henry Southgate.

The Title Page: -

William Thomas’s Dedication: -

(The “First Flower of Folio 303” referred to is a long piece of prose entitled “The Good Wife Defined” 

It begins with the statement "A well-nurtured woman is a man’s best and truest friend” and includes the following piece of matrimonial advice 

‘You are not to proceed without her knowledge or advice. In many cases her opinion may be preferable to your own”

At the time of the 1911 census my grandfather was living at 84, Ickleford Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire newly married to his first wife, Ellen Maries and working as a photographer’s assistant.

The couple soon returned to Redditch, however, as Ellen bore a son Eric Cyril on 27th November 1913 at 16, Melen Street of that town. This birth was followed by that of a daughter Cecilia Elaine on 25th September 1915.

The death of his infant son   towards the end of 1914 may have put a strain on Arthur and Ellen’s relationship.

For whatever the reason the marriage broke down and Arthur Harold met my grandmother Nora Janet Ross.

Avoiding the resulting scandal, no doubt (it was the early 20th century!) they left the small town and moved first to Liverpool in which city my mother Mary Teresa was born on 28th May 1927 at 27 Granby Street.

On my mother’s birth certificate my grandfather’s occupation is given as “photographer’s assistant”

Soon after the birth of my mother the family relocated to 83, Clarence (1) Road Chorlton-cum-Hardy where my uncle Denis was born in 1929.

The 1930, s appear to see an upturn in his fortune as Arthur was at this time working for himself producing postcards, many of which have been used on this blog.  

He also produced other photographic material such as this book mark of Manchester’s (then new) Central Library and undertook other photography work

 

After his divorce from Ellen, Arthur Harold was finally able to marry Nora, my grandmother at the Manchester register office on 22nd April 1944 by which time he had ceased working as a photographer (the reason being unclear) and was employed as a clerk with the Inland Revenue.

He remained in this job until his death during November 1953.

Arthur Harold was buried on 2nd December in a common grave I 1626 of the Roman Catholic section of Manchester’s Southern Cemetery.

 For the final 10-15 years of his life he had resided in this house at 5, Keppel Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

 I make no apology for revisiting this man’s story as, perhaps because he had died shortly before my own appearance in 1954.

I have always seen him as a somewhat enigmatic figure, with his connection to the mystique of early 20th century photography and the ambiguity of his being a divorcee with two families who was also a staunch Roman Catholic convert who used to give public speeches promoting and/or defending Catholicism for The Catholic Truth Society.

Pictures; courtesy of Tony Goulding

NOTES

1) Now Claridge Road

What was lost is found .........down in Didsbury with a forgotten house and a team of archaeologists

Another story from 2015.

I doubt that there are that many people today who will remember the two houses buried under the car park in the old Didsbury College. 

Down in Didsbury with cellars, archaeologists and lots more

They date from at least the 1840s, and were demolished sometime in the 1960s and have been brought out of the shadows by an exciting archaeological dig by a team from CgMs who are working on behalf of P.J. Livesey the company which will be developing the site now that the college has moved down to Birley.

When the dig began no one was quite expecting what was found.

It began as it always does with a trial trench, stretched to two and by degree an extensive set of stone flagged cellars, some bits of marble fireplace the odd bit of electrical equipment and a gas fitting have been revealed.

The site in 1844

All of which suggests that one of our two houses was fairly high status.

So now I am off on a bit of a hunt to find out more.

The archaeologists will be finished by the end of the week and their report on the site and the finds will follow in due course but I can’t wait and so have begun trawling the census returns and street directories looking at clues for who lived there.

And as so often happens it was a chance conversation with Noel who was walking his dog that offered up a tantalising first clue in the form of a picture which may exist of the house and his memory of its demolition sometime in the 1960s.

So in the fullness of time I shall go looking for the story behind the houses, and close with a thank you to Robert and Pascal who are two of the archaeologists who took us round and to P.J. Livesey who allowed us down there and supplied the pictures.

The site today

And today, two years on from 2017, there are new buildings where in the picture opposite, there were trenches, builder's spoil and heaps of mud.

Pictures; the dig down at Didsbury, courtesy of P.J. Livesey and detail of the area in 1853 from the 1841-53 OS for Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives, Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

* P.J. Livesey http://www.pjlivesey-group.co.uk/

**CgMs, http://www.cgms.co.uk/page/Home_1/1.html