Saturday, 29 October 2022

From Whitechapel to Edge Lane in Chorlton …….. in the company of Mrs. Shevloff and Mr. Lazarus

Now, I never lose that sense of excitement of standing in front of a house which was home to someone I have been researching.

Leman Street, with 117, marked in red, 1874
And more so when the journey runs back from Chorlton  to Whitechapel in London.

The person in question was Julia Lazarus who was born in 1880, to parents who were from the Russian part of Poland.

Her father and mother had been here since 1874, and he sought and was granted naturalization as a British citizen just two years after Julia was born.

Back then they were living at 117 Leman Street, in the heart of Whitechapel, which was a three-story property on the corner with Hooper Street.

The building is still there and comparing the footprint with the same site from the OS map of 1874, this was where they lived.

Mr. Lazarus is variously listed as a grocer, hotel keeper, financier and running a loan office, all within a short distance of Leman Street.

He died in 1936, by which time his daughter was living in Chorlton, at 22 Edge Lane and that is the link to one of those fascinating research projects which never quite gets finished.

22 Edge Lane, 2019
Because 22 Edge Lane, keeps throwing up little gems which offer insights in to how we lived.

The house dates back to 1865, and for almost a century, was home to “the people of plenty” who were merchants, professionals, and employers of others.

And of these Julia’s husband is quite interesting.  He too was born in Russia, was naturalised in 1909 and had a flourishing business, in Sheffield and later Manchester,  selling “hosiery, blankets, quilts, sheets, towels, plain and fancy  linens, lace curtains”, and advertised himself as  “casement manufacturers and merchants”.*

The Lazarus family at 47 Leman Street, 1895
Like Julia’s parents he first settled in London, where he met and married Julia, moved to Sheffield and sometime in the 1920s set up business in the Manchester and moved into Edge Lane.

The romantic in me often wonders whether Mr. Lazarus took the train north from Whitechapel and visited his daughter, son in law and grandchildren.

I doubt I will ever turn up the evidence, but no doubt there would have been pictures of the house of Edge Lane which made their way south, along with stories of the Manchester business.

And while writing the story of Julia and her husband I encountered people who remembered shopping at Shevloff’s premises in the 1960s.

So, there is much still to research, and in the fullness of time I might get inside number 22 Edge Lane, and more pictures of the house along with those of Leman Street.

Pictures; Leman Street in 1874, from the 1874 OS of London, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Edge Lane courtesy of Armistead Property Ltd**


*Shevloff E. B. & S. Ltd 23 High Street, Slater’s Manchester & Salford Directory, 1929

**Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/

2 comments:

  1. Another tip top post. A really interesting subject. Great research as usual.

    ReplyDelete