This is Warburton Street in Didsbury, and if you should care to walk it, it won’t take long.
In fact, it will be but a matter of moments to walk its entire length from Ogden Street to Wilmlsow Road.
In happier times that short walk would have lasted a tad bit longer if you had called in to Morten’s the Booksellers, followed by a meal in the restaurant next door, and finishing at the two gift shops which are positioned at either end of the street.*
The row of shops looks old, and as you do I decided to peel back their stories.
In 1911, those same properties were home to “Jn Crompton & Sons, paint stores", at number 2, William Richardson, platelayer at number 4, and Mrs. Emma Smith at number 6, who was listed as “householder”, and was a launderess, while finally at number 8 was Mr. Schofield who was a “night soil man” who worked for Manchester City Council.
While on the opposite side there lived a gardener, a hairdresser, two labourers along with the stables of the Midland Railways.
All of which is a neat cross section of the working resident of Didsbury, and by extension of the occupations of many who lived in Manchester.
Four decades earlier and those occupations were rooted in the land with a mix of agricultural labourers, and gardeners, along with a charwoman and domestic servant to cater for the wealthier.
But with a nod to the future one man described himself as “winder in a cotton factory” and another as "a grocery porter.”
Go back another twenty years to 1851 and along with those agricultural workers there were two of Didsbury’s last cotton weavers.
The census returns for the middle decades of the 19th century show that families were large, with anything between five to six people crammed into what were just two up and two down properties.
And using the Rate Books it is possible to track back and find not only the tenants but also the landlords.
In 1911 the entire south side of Warburton Street which consisted of our five houses, along with Hardman Street and Ogden Street were owned by a Charles Haynes who took home £147 from just these streets.
In time I shall go looking for him, but for now I am content to explore the life of his father, Richard Haynes, who was born in 1802, married Harriet Farrington in 1821, aged just 19, and by 1848 was operating as a Pawnbroker at 30 Pump Street which was off London Road.
For the next decade and more he plied his trade on Pump Street and also Minshull Street, before moving to Didsbury.
A move which in part might have been motivated by his growing property empire, which he may have built.
Just when that was is as yet unclear.
The first entry in the Rate Books for Warburton Street is 1849, but they appear on the tithe map four years earlier, and Mr. Richard Haynes was in business by 1841, so he might well have accrued enough capital to sink his money into property.
And nothing quite surprises me about the man, because back in 1841 he is listed as a baker working from Back Acton Street, which was off Pump Street and ran parallel with London Road.
Just when he escaped the city and the murky world of pawnshops is unclear, but by 1861, he and Harriet are at number 3 Hardman Street, in a house which commanded fine views of the fields all the way down to Didsbury House, with the added bonus that his growing property empire was just a minute’s walk away.
And so assured was he of his new position in Didsbury society that he described himself as a “Proprietor of Houses”, and all reference to him in Manchester is absent from the records.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; Warburton Street, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Back Pump Street, 1851, from Adshead’s map of Manchester, 1851, and Hardman Street, 1854, from the OS map of Lancashire, 1854, , courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Orchard Interiors & Gifts 2, Warburton Street, No. 4 Dine & Wine, 4 Warburton Street, E.J. Morten Booksellers, 6 Warburton Street, Harriet and Dee, Cards and Gifts, 8 Warburton Street
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| Warburton Street, 2020 |
In happier times that short walk would have lasted a tad bit longer if you had called in to Morten’s the Booksellers, followed by a meal in the restaurant next door, and finishing at the two gift shops which are positioned at either end of the street.*
 |
| Warburton Street, 1911 |
In 1911, those same properties were home to “Jn Crompton & Sons, paint stores", at number 2, William Richardson, platelayer at number 4, and Mrs. Emma Smith at number 6, who was listed as “householder”, and was a launderess, while finally at number 8 was Mr. Schofield who was a “night soil man” who worked for Manchester City Council.
While on the opposite side there lived a gardener, a hairdresser, two labourers along with the stables of the Midland Railways.
All of which is a neat cross section of the working resident of Didsbury, and by extension of the occupations of many who lived in Manchester.
Four decades earlier and those occupations were rooted in the land with a mix of agricultural labourers, and gardeners, along with a charwoman and domestic servant to cater for the wealthier.
 |
| Warburton Street and Hardman Street, south of the National School, 1845 |
Go back another twenty years to 1851 and along with those agricultural workers there were two of Didsbury’s last cotton weavers.
The census returns for the middle decades of the 19th century show that families were large, with anything between five to six people crammed into what were just two up and two down properties.
And using the Rate Books it is possible to track back and find not only the tenants but also the landlords.
In 1911 the entire south side of Warburton Street which consisted of our five houses, along with Hardman Street and Ogden Street were owned by a Charles Haynes who took home £147 from just these streets.
 |
| Mr. Haynes's stamping ground, 1851 |
For the next decade and more he plied his trade on Pump Street and also Minshull Street, before moving to Didsbury.
A move which in part might have been motivated by his growing property empire, which he may have built.
 |
| Pump Street, 1850 |
The first entry in the Rate Books for Warburton Street is 1849, but they appear on the tithe map four years earlier, and Mr. Richard Haynes was in business by 1841, so he might well have accrued enough capital to sink his money into property.
And nothing quite surprises me about the man, because back in 1841 he is listed as a baker working from Back Acton Street, which was off Pump Street and ran parallel with London Road.
Just when he escaped the city and the murky world of pawnshops is unclear, but by 1861, he and Harriet are at number 3 Hardman Street, in a house which commanded fine views of the fields all the way down to Didsbury House, with the added bonus that his growing property empire was just a minute’s walk away.
 |
| Hardman Street with Warburton Street and the National School, 1854 |
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; Warburton Street, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Back Pump Street, 1851, from Adshead’s map of Manchester, 1851, and Hardman Street, 1854, from the OS map of Lancashire, 1854, , courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Orchard Interiors & Gifts 2, Warburton Street, No. 4 Dine & Wine, 4 Warburton Street, E.J. Morten Booksellers, 6 Warburton Street, Harriet and Dee, Cards and Gifts, 8 Warburton Street
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