The view from the Bridge ……. another development

Crossing the Bridge

Location; Salford

Pictures New Bailey Bridge, 2020, from the; collection of Andy Robertson

What have they done to our landscape? …………….. looking out across the city

Now I nether, judge or comment ………… that I leave to you.

But here are two more of the images of changing Manchester from the camera of Andy Robertson, who for three decades and more has been recording the transformation of where we live.






Location; Knott Mill

Pictures; looking out across the city, from a metro stop, 2020 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The New Our Times…………….. New Bailey

The car park.

Location; Salford










Pictures: the car park, 2020 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Of Arctic snowstorms ……. rain and more rain

How odd is the weather, or more accurately the weather reports.

Beech Road, 2009

Today I woke up to a dire forecast of rain for the west, with, yes, the best and most heavy rain for us in the north.

And yet as I look out of the window this morning, the sun is bright, the streets are dry, and the  sky is a mix of pale blue stabbed through with white clouds.

Added to which all week the national forecast was for cold and dry weather, which was in direct contrast to Manchester where the rain came down like stair rods.

Nor is that all, for weeks google has been directing me to the weather reports from of all newspapers the Daily Express which for months has been warning of freezing Arctic weather sweeping the country.

But then the Daily Express also led with "There will be no European war this year or next year either", which it  first published on September 30th, 1938 to mark the Munich Agreement, and reprinted in various versions at regular intervals well into 1939.

All of which as well as being the “rant for today”, much favoured by those on social media, who haven’t yet got around to posting a picture of a cat or news of their forthcoming coffee break, has a serious point.

Hough End, 2019

And that is the lead into an excellent book on the weather and much more from the earliest of times to 1977*

I cam across it when I was writing the book on Chorlton-cum Hardy in the first half of the 19th century when the township was still an agricultural community.

The earliest records contained in the book are sparse, but it really comes into its own from the 17th century, when it details the cost of wheat per quarter, breaks down the weather by month and reports on other crops.

The most detailed accounts are based on the records of Mr. Thomas H. Baker, who was a farmer in south west Wiltshire and published 'Records of the Season, Prices of Agricultural Produce and Phenomena Observed in the British Isles', published in 1883, and revised in 1912.

It dealt year by year with the weather, crop yields, agricultural prices and other matters or prime importance to farmers.

To these have been added the records of Mr. J. M Stratton who was also a farmer.

Together “these records are the bricks of which farming history is made – the unspectacular , prosaic, day to day facts which every farmer is familiar.”**

Beech Road, 2009

So when France was convulsed with revolution after bad after a series of bad harvest, in England there was a late winter, a backward spring and a serious outbreak of sheep-rot, while the year of Waterloo was a year of drought, but of abundant harvests which were a contributory cause of a rapid fall in corn prices and consequent agricultural distress.***

And that means, Agricultural Records is my first port of call, when writing period weather stories, long before I trawl the media.

Beech Road, 2010

So that is it, other than to say in the course of the last twenty minutes, the sun has vanished, blue has been replaced by grey, and the clouds are once more sitting on the roof tops, with yes the first of the shows.

Should I apologies to the BBC?  Perhaps, but not I think to the Daily Express.

Location; a now very wet Chorlton

Pictures; of Beech Road in 2009 from the collection of Andrew Simpson


*Agricultural Records AD220-1977, J.M. Stratton and Jack Houghton Brown ed by Ralph Whitock, 1978

**ibid Agricultural Records, page 5

***1816 .... the year without a summer, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/06/1816-year-without-summer.html

Looking for the story on Rochdale Road ……. travels with Andy Robertson in Blackley

Now, there is a story here, I just haven’t found it, which may seem a cheap and pointless post, but there you are, I couldn’t resist posting this image.

We are on Rochdale Road and the picture comes from a collection Andy took on Friday in Blackley.

There will be someone who has chapter and verse on the property, and in time I will go looking for it in the historic record.

I know we are on the corner of Rochdale Road, and Blackley Park Road and in 1911 it was occupied Mrs. Martha Shepherd, who was 70 years old, and widow, who shared the house with her two sons, a niece and her grandson.

The Shepherd’s  had been there from 1885, and given that there is no record of the house before that date I think they may have been the first residents.

Sadly, there are no picture of the house, which had eight rooms, but the surviving properties may offer up a clue as to what it looked like.

But for those that want to delve deeper, there are a series of pictures of the old Blackley Library, which was built in 1901, and occupied the rest of the plot on the corner of Rochdale Road, and Blackley Park Road.

It was only demolished in 19169, and Central Ref holds the Visitors Book.  I rather like the idea that the Shepherds may well have used the library.

And while I know I have no evidence; it does seem logical.

All of which just leaves me to say that in time I will find out more.  I know the Shepherd’s were married in 1868 and that Martha’s father ran the Blue Pits Inn, on Manchester Road in Castleton.

Her husband Joseph was a surveyor and her son Harry enlisted in 1915, was posted to the Mounted Military Police and survived the war.

So, plenty more to find out about the house which is now marked just by those gate posts with the intriguing name of Mile House.

Or that was what I thought, but just before I posted the story, Andy came up with a picture of the Blue Pits Inn.

I don't know if this is the original building in which Martha grew up.

But it's close.

And just to show that the blog is a collaborative effort, just a few hours after the story was posted, Nick Rushton got in touch with an image which we both think must be Mile House.

It comes from Manchester's Local Image Collection, and was one of a series taken by L. Kaye in 1958 which includes the Library and this house.

And looking at the location and the size of the property from the census return I rather think this it.

So, as well as thanking Andy who took the original images and kicked off the story we now have to thank Nick as well.

Location; Blackley

Pictures; Mile House and surviving houses,along with the Blue Pits Inn,  2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1958, L. Kaye,m41704, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

The Didsbury pub that never was ……………a case of mistaken identity and incompetence

Now it is so easy to get things wrong when it comes to identifying a local pub.

You start with a picture that looks vaguely familiar, discover that it is in the collection either side of images of the same location, and hey presto the mistake is about to be made.

Of course, it doesn’t help that you want it to be a pub you know, which would fit into the story you are writing.

So, there we have it, the story of the Didsbury pub that never was.

It started with a trawl through the collection of Manchester images from 1967, and amongst a group of pictures which were clearly of Didsbury, I came across three pub interiors.

You don’t often come across photographs of the insides of pubs, partly I guess because people were too busy drinking, or because most of the clientele took the inside for granted seeing no reason to bother wasting film on what everyone knew.

All of which made these three a bit special, and knowing the interior of Didsbury pubs I quickly fastened on the Royal Oak.

Like our pub it once had tiny rooms and given its age, would have looked very similar to the one in the three pictures.

That said, something was not quite right, with the geography of the room in relation to the streets outside.

At which point I called in my co author of the Manchester pubs books for a second opinion.  Peter quickly pointed out that the name on the glass was the Queens Arms, and on closer inspection the partial street name visible through the window was not Old Oak Street.

Added to which for those who like these things the Royal Oak is a Marston’s pub, while the hand pumps on my mystery pub advertise Robinson’s brewery.

So it would seem that this is the end of the story, but not quite, because I rather think we can still learn something from our three images of what one of the smaller Didsbury pubs might have looked like.

And I know that this is historically a little questionable, but I have over the years sat in pubs across Manchester including Didsbury that come close to these interiors.

Back in 1967, you could still find pubs, with tired looking furniture, well worn lino, which offered just a darts board for entertainment and more than a few faded pictures of faraway scenes, along with a list of last seasons fixtures for the local football team, and an invitation to sign up for the next pub jolly to Blackpool.

Of course Didsbury pubs have long left this landscape well behind, and for those who want to know just how different they are I recommend our Didsbury pubs book ……….. Manchester Pubs - The Stories Behind the Doors - Didsbury, 2019, which is a companion to our other two in the series, on City Centre pubs, and the pubs and bars of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

You can  buy all three books from us at www.pubbooks.co.uk

Location; Manchester,

Pictures; The Queens Arms, 1967,  "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection",
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY

Walking Ryeband Fields …… on the wireless

Well here is a little gem.

I missed all the adverts for the programme and caught it by chance this morning on the World Service.

It is a picture of the history  and the place today, which captures the magic of the fields, along with a discussion on the proposed developments and an examination of the benefits of keeping it as it is now.

And that is all I am going to say.

Other than to say, it's a wonderful bit of radio, and well worth a listen.

The pictures first featured in the blog back in 2015**

Location; Ryebank Fields








Pictures; The Isles, in the 1880, courtesy of Miss Booth, from the Lloyd Collection, and Ryebank Fields, 2015 Stuart Marsden


*Ryebank Fields, Open Country, Radio 4
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000dgbk?fbclid=IwAR2fCqeIEqHAmzIIuft4P-DnCKmBId7kgOUGfzpm677RLVAQUnNfefDX97k

**What future Chorlton? ........ no. 2 Ryebank Road, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=ryebank+fields

The talk: The Rylands Estate by Richard Bond ....today

I have over the years become  very interested in Longford Hall and the talk this afternoon will fill in many gaps in my knowledge.

The talk will follow the AGM of the Manchester branch of the Victorian Society, and will focus on  The Rylands and the Longford Estate which will be given by Richard Bond, at Stretford Town Hall.

"In keeping with our aim of visiting Victorian venues being saved for and used by the community, our next AGM will be held at Stretford Public Hall. 

This hall was built by John Rylands and opened in 1878 for the specific use of the community. John and Enriqueta Rylands lived at the nearby Longford Park. In 2015 Stretford Public Hall was taken over by the Friends of Stretford Hall to restore it and maintain its community use: there is more information about its activities on its website stretfordpublichall.org.uk.

Richard Bond is a retired archivist who worked for twenty years for the Archive and Local Studies Collections of Manchester Central Library. He is now Chair of the Friends of Longford Park and has researched the Park's history extensively. 

The Rylands' home, Longford Hall (demolished in 1995) and estate were sold to the local council and Richard's talk will aim to reveal some of the hidden stories of the Rylands and their estate.

1 45pm for 2 pm

Stretford Public Hall
Chester Road
Stretford M32 0LG

Cost: AGM free; talk £5
No need to book"*

Picture; Longford Hall, 1914 from the series Longford Park, issued by Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/

* The Victorian Society, https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/site

The cranes march on ………….. January 2020

See them by day or night ....... they continue to dominate the skyline.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; the cranes of Manchester, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

“having my tonsils out” ……….. rare pictures of Manchester Royal Infirmary

Manchester Royal Infirmary has served the city’s population well, since it was opened in 1752.

And according to these picture postcards were still doing so in 1905, when Gert wrote to her friend that she was “having my tonsils out on Thursday night at 7 o’ clock”, and “think of me”.

Her only concern was that her friend might not get the postcard “as I have forgotten when you said you were going away”.

And as it was the card was forwarded on from Lloyd Street, Greenheys to Glen Esk Westby Road, St Anne’s on Sea.

Just what her friend thought of the news is lost, but the house is still there on Lloyd Street.

That said the MRI had just five more years on its site in Piccadilly, and having closed, was demolished by the April of 1910.

All of which brings me to the second postcard, which shows the final stages of its demolition.

Now David Harrop who owns both picture postcards, comments that he has “not come across many cards showing the MRI being knocked down".

So that is a first for the blog.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Manchester Royal Infirmary, circa 1905, and 1910, courtesy of David Harrop

“that plague has entered almost every house in the village which contains children.”

The April and May of 1886 were anxious times for any in the township with children for we were in the grip of a measles epidemic.

This according to one resident “has been ranging for many weeks now” with the result that “between two hundred and three hundred of our children have been attacked and five or six have died.”*

And the issue was bound up with bigger concerns of the general lack of sanitation and the tardiness of the public health authorities to act in the face of the epidemic

There had been growing disquiet about the high level of pollution in Chorlton Brook since at least 1875 with the local board a decade later commenting that it “is being constantly polluted with the sewage and other liquid refuse of several large manufacturing towns” and “emits most noxious odours and offensive gases which pollute the air.”**

And in 1881 a government inquiry called for the closing of the parish churchyard because the place was not only full but in an effort to accommodate more bodies, the authorities had resorted to removing some and burying others within 22 inches of the surface.  Added to this there was the assertion that there “were a great number of houses here which are jerry built... and one or two spots where hollow places have been filled up with stuff which is nothing more than night soil.”

Here then was a real threat to public health made worse by the unwillingness of the authorities to close the schools during the epidemic with the result “that the plague has entered almost every house in the village which contains children.”

Of course the authorities and medical opinion sought to argue an alternative picture.  It was said by Dr Rains that the epidemic was “now passing away” and “the death rate has been very small.”

And at the heart of the rebuttal was the plain fact that “The death rate varies, as we all know, in the different townships, but the rate per 1,000 in different townships of children under five years of age in 1885 was as follows, Withington 3.3, Didsbury, 4.3, Chorlton-cum-Hardy 3.2 Burnage 5.5 showing very much in favour of Chorlton.”

But then there are statistics and dammed statistics, and when the figures are viewed over a longer period there may well have been less room for complacency.  Taking the years from 1881-4 together and comparing the death rate across the townships Chorlton recorded the highest deaths of under fives per thousand of the population.

But measles is not caused by poor sanitation.  And in the absence of hard evidence about the state of housing conditons it is difficult to draw a conclusion about the general threat to public health.

By the 1880s there were only six houses left which were wattle and daub which one Parliamentary Committee had argued were often no better than hovels.  True there were plenty of brick built cottages which were just one up one down and many that predated 1840 and there was still overcrowding in some of them.  But Dr Rains maintained that “the main drainage of the place being very good, that all dwellings are connected therewith, under the superintendence if the surveyor to the Local Board.”

Nor if he can be believed was there any evidence of Typhoid during the period which along with Cholera is a bed fellow of unsanitary conditions.

So despite the concerns over the smelly brook and the odd set of bones on the highway perhaps he was right when he asserted that people wanting to settle here could be confident that Chorlton was “more healthy than most others round Manchester whatever their elevation may be.”  And he had come “here for the good of my health in June 1868.”

Of course I might yet be proved wrong.  But then that is the fun of history. You do the research, draw the conclusions, write what you think and then something new pops up.  Well we shall see.

Location; Chorlton, Manchester

Pictures; extracts from the Manchester Guardian, 1885

*Samuel Norbury Williams, letter to the Manchester Guardian May 17th 1886.

**Pollution of streams in the Withington District, Manchester Guardian September 12 1885

Walking Middleton's Golden Cluster of Heritage

Now, I have Andy Robertson to thank for reigniting my interest in Middleton, and in particular its Golden Cluster of Heritage.

Old Boar, 1632

It started with his picture of the timber framed Old Boar, which appears to date from 1632 but has bits that go back into the 15th century.

And from there Andy wandered across a mix of Middleton’s past, which he duly recorded.

So, having got the pictures I then discovered the site Middleton’s Golden Cluster of Heritage, which I instantly plundered.

Jubilee Library

“The Golden Cluster is an area of outstanding heritage focused on Middleton, Greater Manchester.  They are vivid reminders of the area’s fascinating history and the outstanding people who came from there, figures such as Cardinal Thomas Langley, Julia Schwabe, Ashton Lever, Samuel Bamford and Lydia Becker. 

Capping it all off, is the Arts & Crafts heritage of Edgar Wood, the pioneer of art deco architecture.”

Added to which are the  “historic buildings in the Golden Cluster, including the Samuel Bamford obelisk in the Old Burial Ground, the National School on Long Street and the old Police Station on Market Place. There are also many Edgar Wood designed buildings including Manchester & Salford Bank, Market Place, Redcroft and Fencegate, Rochdale Road and 36 Mellalieu Street”.*

So that’s it.

Location; Middleton

Picture; the bandstand Jubilee Gardens, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson.

*Middleton Heritage,  https://middletonheritage.co.uk/

The Kickety Brook, Stretford, once a vital part of our flood defences

I first walked the Kickety Brook with my old botanist friend, David Bishop.

It doesn’t look much but it was vital in its day for protecting the Duke’s Canal at Stretford.

The Canal dates from the 1760s and was cut to bring coal into the heart of the city and also was used by our farmers and market gardeners to ship their produce into the Manchester markets.

But the canal was close to the Mersey which could flood with little warning. In July 1828 flood water transported hay ricks from the farm behind Barlow Hall down to Stretford only later to take them back, while later floods proved to be even more destructive with one destroying the bridge across Chorlton Brook.

It was, wrote Thomas Ellwood the local historian
“no uncommon thing to see the great level of green fields completely covered with water presenting the appearance of a large lake , several miles in circuit,” and he recorded six major floods between  December 1880 and October  1881

By then the stone weir had been in place for nearly a century.  It had been built after a heavy flood in August 1799 had broken the banks where Chorlton Brook joined the Mersey.  This had led to fears that the Bridgewater Aqueduct across the flood plain could be damaged in a subsequent flood.

The weir was designed to divert flood water from the Mersey down channels harmlessly out to Stretford and the Kicketty Brook.  Not that it always worked.  Soon after it had been built flood water swept it away and during the nineteenth century neither the weir nor the river banks prevented the Mersey bursting out across the plain.

This happened in 1840 and in the following year it was rebuilt by the engineer William Cubitt. After litigation the cost of repair was borne by the Bridgewater Trust who paid out £1,500, the Turnpike Commissioners £500, Thomas de Trafford £1,000 and Wilbraham Egerton £1,000.

Today, standing beside the weir you get little sense of the force of the river in full flood. In the winter there can be a pool of water at its base stretching out across the plain but on many occasion in the past on warm summer’s days even this bit of land can be bone dry.

And likewise the Kickety Brook seems just an overgrown and quite forgotten bit of water. The last time the weir took an overflow of flood water was 1915 when these two pictures were taken.

Pictures; Higgibotham's field in flood, 1946, from a painting by J Montgomery, 1963, m80092, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, and 1915 pictures from the Lloyd collection

Forever young ………………………..*

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb up every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see it's light surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
And may you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
And may you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.
Stay forever young.

*Forever young, Bob Dylan, 1968, sung by Fairport Convention, 1972. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-s9QKuoIZc&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2XnVu7rdM8KhHj1Hs2qjq2fWukJoJrQ7-x7ctqmtHxmKV9TIcDV23jA70

Today ..... Discovering Milan ….. without leaving Manchester.

Now here is one to do.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan 2009

Today -  4.30pm for 4.45pm start.

Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL.

The Dante Society, is hosting a talk by Angelo Farnetano, who will offer a description of this fascinating and dynamic Italian city featuring its “main treasures, its life and its secrets, all accompanied with a selection of popular music. 

The lecture will take us for an imaginary tour around the city discovering its main treasures, its life and its secrets. Some songs will be played during this walk to add a bit of flavour to the visit.

 Some of the places which will be visited are:

Piazza Duomo, piazza dei Mercanti, piazza S. Alessandro, Chiesa di San Satiro and Castello Sforzesco.

 The talk will be followed by a social gathering with a glass of wine and nibbles.

With the Dante Society, Manchester, 2017

Admission: £ 2.00 members – £ 3.50 non-members”*

 To better arrange the necessary refreshments, it would be helpful if you could book in advance by emailing us at dante@newfuture.org 

Pictures;  Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, 2009, and he Dante Society does St Anns' Square, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson


*SOCIETA' DANTE ALIGHIERI – MANCHESTER
Il mondo in italiano – Promoting Italian Culture in the world since 1889

Email: dante@newfuture.org    



Website: www.dantemanchester.org.uk

South Drive in 1913 and another of those postcards from Tuck & Sons

Now South Drive was still very new when Tuck and Sons featured it as one of their six postcards of Chorlton in the summer of 1913.

And like all six in the series it will be familiar to most of us, so instead I want to explore the reverse and in particular the reference to R. SOWERBUTTS, NEWSAGENTS STATIONARY & CIRCULATING LIBRARY CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY.

Robert Sowerbutts ran his business from 105 Manchester Road which is that parade of shops running back from Kensington Road to Ransfield Road.

The shop is there still there but will have gone through many hands and changes of business use.

But I am intrigued by Mr Sowerbutts, and I rather think he must have been an enterprising chap, given that as well as acting as a distributor for Tuck and Sons and running his newsagents and stationary business he had also advertised that he had a Telephone Call Office.

Nor was this all because like other newsagents and stationers he offered a private library, which of course has featured in the blog. **

There were plenty of them in the township from Mr Lloyd’s on Upper Chorlton Road, across to Manchester Road, Barlow Moor Road and Sandy lane and Beech Road.

And some of these also sold postcards for both the big companies or like Burt’s on Wilbraham Road marketed their own.

Pictures; South Drive, from the series Chorlton-cum-Hardy, issued by Tuck & Sons, November 1913 courtesy of TuckDB http://tuckdb.org/history

*Chorltonville, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorltonville

**Chorlton’s private lending libraries, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%27s%20private%20lending%20libraries

Discovering Milan ….. without leaving Manchester.

Now here is one to do.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan 2009

Sunday 19 January 2020 -  4.30pm for 4.45pm start.

Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL.

The Dante Society, is hosting a talk by Angelo Farnetano, who will offer a description of this fascinating and dynamic Italian city featuring its “main treasures, its life and its secrets, all accompanied with a selection of popular music. 

The lecture will take us for an imaginary tour around the city discovering its main treasures, its life and its secrets. Some songs will be played during this walk to add a bit of flavour to the visit.

 Some of the places which will be visited are:

Piazza Duomo, piazza dei Mercanti, piazza S. Alessandro, Chiesa di San Satiro and Castello Sforzesco.

 The talk will be followed by a social gathering with a glass of wine and nibbles.

With the Dante Society, Manchester, 2017

Admission: £ 2.00 members – £ 3.50 non-members”*

 To better arrange the necessary refreshments, it would be helpful if you could book in advance by emailing us at dante@newfuture.org "*

So, that just leaves me to to go back to Milan Milan, because just after this story went live, Dave Wilkinson sent over his own picture of Milan.

Adding, "Literally in Milan right now!"

And because you can never get enough pictures of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, I just had to include it.

Dave commented, "This was taken with my phone, I have loads more I have taken with my DSLR camera that I’ll be editing once I’m home today".

Now I bet we would all like to see them.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, 2020

Location; Milan




Pictures;  Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, 2009, the Dante Society does St Anns' Square, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, 2020, courtesy of Dave Wilkinson


*SOCIETA' DANTE ALIGHIERI – MANCHESTER
Il mondo in italiano – Promoting Italian Culture in the world since 1889

Email: dante@newfuture.org    



Website: www.dantemanchester.org.uk

Burrowing deep into the Great War ................the War Emergency Workers National Committee

Women munition workers Belsize works, Openshaw, 1918 

Yesterday I was thinking back to  one of those mornings which for me was pretty near perfect.

I had been in the Labour History Archive and Study Centre in the Peoples’ History Museum looking at the work of the War Emergency Workers National Committee which was formed the day the Great War broke out “by the Labour Party, the Trades Union Congress, and the Co-operative movement, plus a number of other affiliated organisations such as the Fabian Society. 

Manchester Tramways Employees in uniform, 1915

The main concern of the WNC was to defend the interests of organised working people. 

The size of the collection goes some way toward showing the impact of the war on people’s lives. 

With over 20,000 pages of correspondence on all domestic matters relating to the war including: rents, food, employment, agriculture, pensions, railways, war babies, air raids and women’s war service etc. 

Bullet Factory, the Royal Arsenal Woolwich, 1918

It is a large collection of papers that relates very closely to the day to day domestic environment during the war. 

Importantly it depended on the actions of what used to be called the ‘rank and file’ of the labour/trade union movement for its running, it was far from a ‘top down’ committee.”*

Now there will be those that mutter I have wandered off into the academic stratosphere but not so.

During the war there were massive rises in food prices along with fuel and rents, a persistent concern about the adulteration of food and growing anger at pay levels and working conditions.

And all these issues were being grappled with by the National Committee.

There are correspondence about the separation allowances paid to the wives of men who had enlisted, reports of sweated labour and the exploitation of children and the availability of speakers on a range of issues from food prices to rent rises.

It is the stuff of everyday life made more vivid by the backdrop of the war.

In 1915 the Stockport Labour Party reported on the level of representation on pensions committees, and Mr J. Robinson of the Stockport Branch of the Tailor’s Society queried the rates for making Khaki tunics.

Later still in 1917 the National Committee was engaged in the registration of shops in Manchester and the rising price of coal.

What makes these documents fascinating is that not only do they cover the whole country but are powerful examples of ordinary people challenging wrong doing and seeking to improve conditions.

So I have no doubt that they will reveal much about life during the war

All of which just leaves me to reflect on what a pleasant place the archive centre is for burrowing deep into the past.  The staff were most helpful and friendly and there are grand views of the river.

Pictures; Women Munitions workers Belsize works, Openshaw, 1918 m08093, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass the Bullet Factory, Arsenal, Woolwich, 1918,  from the collection of Mark Flynn, http://www.markfynn.com/london-postcards.htm and  Manchester Tramways Employees in uniform, 1915 Don’t You Wish you were boak in Bolton from the collection of David Harrop

* Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Information Guide No. 8, http://www.phm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/8-World-War-I.pdf Peoples’ History Museum, http://www.phm.org.uk/

The Iliad, some rather dark Greek tales, all wrapped up with humour ……. on the wireless

Now I found this by chance, and in less than a minute I was hooked.

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics Series 5 Episode 4 of 4

Walls of Troy

Natalie Haynes stands up for Homer's Iliad, in an extraordinary tour-de-force performance recorded in the BBC's Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House. 

The original epic story would most probably have been performed from memory, and Natalie does the same: her only prompt is the voice of Dr Adam Rutherford to number the twenty-four books.

It's a vivid, cinematic tapestry of extraordinary stories: of gods, Greeks and Trojans, men and women, mothers and fathers and lovers. 

There's fighting and trickery, and touching domestic detail (when Hector's wife Andromache and son Astynax bid a final goodbye to him). 

The great Greek hero Achilles spends quite a lot of time in a sulk, refusing to fight, because King Agamemnon forces him to give up his trophy girlfriend, Briseis. But his vengeance is merciless when he hears of the death of his beloved Patroclus at Hector's hands. 

There's a child frightened by the plumes on his father's helmet; a magic bra, which Hera uses to seduce Zeus (unnecessary encouragement, to be honest) and there's the reason why the phrase 'rosy-fingered dawn' is so-often repeated. It's a breathtaking story that echoes down the centuries, inspiring each generation with new interpretations of this epic work.

Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome. Each week she takes a different figure from the ancient world and tells their story through a mix of stand-up comedy, extremely well-informed analysis, and conversation. Natalie picks out hilarious details and universal truths, as well as finding parallels with modern life, or those parts of life which are still influenced by ancient thought.

Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery"*

Later today I will go back and listen to the previous episode on Suetonius, the Roman biographer of the Caesars and friend of Pliny the Younger, who is one of my favourite Romans.

Picture; Walls of Troy, Hisarlik, Turkey, author, CherryX,this file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

* Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics Series 5 Episode 4 of 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000czlf

Memories of Woolwich Arsenal

Now of all the pictures in the collection of the Woolwich Arsenal this one I suppose best sums up what was done behind the high walls just beyond Beresford Square.

This is the Bullet Factory, and while others in the collection show the Brass Foundry, Machine Shops, Wood workshop and the Boring Mill here is the end bit of one of the processes.

Hence the Arsenal’s name and its importance particularly when Britain was at war.
And also to the livelihood of many in Woolwich and the surrounding area.

After all the Progress Estate in Well Hall was built to house munitions workers and so many of us who grew up in Eltham are linked to what went on in Woolwich.

I grew up on the Progress Estate as did my friend  Jean and some of her family were employed in that giant plant which at its heyday gave work to 80,000 people and covered 1285 acres.

She remembered that,

“my grandfather and grandmother met working in the Arsenal, may be around the year 1905.

My grandfather had moved down from Norfolk and was an engineer.

They lived with her family in Plumstead, and my dad, the youngest of 5 boys was born at the granny’s house.

Dad was born in 1914 and the family were one of first to move into Love Lace Green.

It’s sad but dad’s mum passed away when he was 3 yrs old in 1917.

My grandfather then met and married another Arsenal girl. 

They all lived at Love Lace Green till 1957, when grandparents died and mum and dad moved to Well Hall Road.

Before my mother went into nursing at the beginning of the Second World War she worked on MUNITIONS, as she called it at the Arsenal.

She never told me much but that when she used to open the drums of CORDITE, THE RATS USED TO RUN UP HER ARMS."

Now any one who has walked around an old textile mill dating from the 19th century will be aware of those leather belts running from the machinery to rods in the roof which in turn were connected to drives.

And here they are each machine with its own belt running off towards the roof.

Picture; the Bullet Factory, Arsenal, Woolwich from the collection of Mark Flynn, http://www.markfynn.com/london-postcards.htm

The remarkable Miss Olga Hertz and her work for the children of Manchester

I doubt I would ever have come across Miss Olga Hertz, had it not been for a report she wrote in 1909 which surfaced recently.

The report, 1909

What makes the report and Miss Hertz particularly interesting for me, is that she was one of the elected Guardians on the Chorlton Union which was the Poor Law authority covering my bit of Manchester and she lived almost all her adult life just round the corner.

Now I say I wouldn’t, but as the plan has always been to research this Poor Law Union, I suppose I would in time have met up with her.

The Chorlton Union covered most of south Manchester with its first work house in Hulme and its later one in Withington.  This second workhouse built in the 1850s, saw the Union out and developed into Withington Hospital only closing in 2002.

Like other Poor Law authority’s, Chorlton migrated some of their young people to Canada, and at the beginning of the century the three socialist Guardians argued against the policy, raising concerns about the degree of monitoring of children were highly critical of an economic and social system which accepted poverty and inequality as natural.

And that brings us back to Miss Hertz who in the June of 1909 sailed from Liverpool to Montreal and then across Ontario, visiting the Marchmont Home and by degree the farms and homes where Chorlton children had been placed from both Marchmont and Belleville.

It paints a positive picture of those who had been sent over, raising some concerns about the monitoring of some children given the large distances.

There will be those who wonder whether it was “too positive”, but Miss Hertz was very dedicated to the welfare of the young people in the charge of the Union and maintained close contacts with many of them long after they had grown up, even referring to them as “Miss Hertz’s grandchildren".

The offices of the Chorlton Union, 2009

So like so much to do with British Home Children there will have to be much more research, matching the assertions of the socialist Guardians with the quality and quantity of the reports sent back.

For now it is Miss Hertz who interests me.  She was born in Scotland in 1851 and moved to Manchester in 1871, settling on Palatine Road in Withington sometime after 1881 and where she died in 1946.

Her adult life was predicated on public service, and she was involved with administration of nursing in the city as well as her work with young people.

She was first elected as a Guardian to the Chorlton Union in 1892 and served until 1930, during which time she did five years as chair of the committee responsible for the Styal Cottage Homes for young people run by the Chorlton Union.

She remained a champion of such provision, arguing such small homes were preferable to the older and larger “barrack” institutions or the practice of boarding children out.

And she campaigned for feminist issues, opposing the practice of one hospital for refusing to employ women doctors, argued that at least one of the Union’s three doctors should be a woman and consistently pushed for the establishment of maternity centres across Manchester and in 1914 had been a delegate at  the Fifth International Council of Women held in Rome.

The entrance to the offices of the Chorlton Union' 2009

There is much more to find out about this remarkable women but I will close with her work for "the Girls’ Lodging House which existed to meet the needs of young homeless, inexperienced domestic workers during their off duty time and during periods of unemployment, girls brought up in the Poor Law homes having first claim”.**

It had been set up in the 19th century and while it closed in 1937, Miss Hertz had remarked that "she considers that there are still young workers to whom such a place would be a boon".

Leaving me just to reflect that while her house has gone, replaced by a car park for Christies' Hospital, there are the offices of the old Chorlton Poor Law Union and by an odd quirk some of the Canadian soldiers from the Great War were treated in the Unions' hospital in Withington Workhouse, and some who died are buried Southern Cemetery which is close by.

And if all that is a coincidence some of those Canadians were British Home Children.

Location; Manchester & Canada

Pictures; cover of Report to the Chorlton Board of Guardians, the offices of the Chorlton Union, 2009, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Research, the Manchester Guardian, 1894-1946, selected census records and street directories

*Copy of the Report to the Chorlton Board of Guardians on a Visit to Emigrated Children in Canada, by Miss O Hertz, Chairman of the Cottage Homes Committee

**Miss Olga Hertz Her 90th Birthday, Manchester Guardian November 19 1941