The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.
It began when a group of revolutionaries, harmoniously "took tea together” at the Church Inn on November 12th, 1853, after which they set about challenging the social order.
Now I said they were revolutionaries set on challenging the social order, but that may have been a wee bit of an exaggeration.
They were in fact members of the British Freehold Land Society and amongst their members were the radical Abel Heywood, and the equally radical Richard Cobden and John Bright who were MPs.
The aim of the society was the simple one of acquiring estates which could then be divided up into smaller plots to be bought by people of modest means, enabling them to own sufficient property to qualify for a Parliamentary vote at a time when ownership of property secured you a vote.
And that brings us back to the harmonious tea meeting in the Church Inn which is now the Didsbury Hotel, because having taken “tea together” they apportioned the newly bought Kingston estate amongst “the various members who had accepted the 133 allotments” and discussed the “recently purchased second estate consisting of 27 acres situated at Crumpsall Green, within five minutes’ walk of Cheetham Hill omnibus office”.*
The Kingston Estate was situated on what is now either side of Kingston Road, and each plot amounted to one share, which cost £40, and these could be purchased by subscriptions of 4/- per month.
At the meeting those present expressed “the greatest satisfaction at the appearance of new street, extending through the whole estate.”
The Rate Books for the year, record that the rateable value of the estate was £45 and the estate had belonged to our old friend John Arnold, who ran the Prince Albert beer shop and worked the iron in his smithy.
This may not seem in the same league as storming the Bastille, or participating in the attack on the Winter Palace, but it was a serious attempt to address the failure of Parliament to pass a second Reform Bill which would widen the electorate and offer some working-class men the vote.
Of course, it was not about giving the vote to women, or to those with no means even to purchase an allotment, but it was nevertheless a challenge to the existing order.
All of which just leaves me to reflect, that as you sit in the Didsbury Hotel, or look out of that small window across to the parish church, this was where a little bit of our history was made.
Location; Didsbury
Picture; Kingston Road, date unknown
*British Freehold Land Society, Manchester Guardian, November 12th, 1853
It began when a group of revolutionaries, harmoniously "took tea together” at the Church Inn on November 12th, 1853, after which they set about challenging the social order.
They were in fact members of the British Freehold Land Society and amongst their members were the radical Abel Heywood, and the equally radical Richard Cobden and John Bright who were MPs.
The aim of the society was the simple one of acquiring estates which could then be divided up into smaller plots to be bought by people of modest means, enabling them to own sufficient property to qualify for a Parliamentary vote at a time when ownership of property secured you a vote.
And that brings us back to the harmonious tea meeting in the Church Inn which is now the Didsbury Hotel, because having taken “tea together” they apportioned the newly bought Kingston estate amongst “the various members who had accepted the 133 allotments” and discussed the “recently purchased second estate consisting of 27 acres situated at Crumpsall Green, within five minutes’ walk of Cheetham Hill omnibus office”.*
At the meeting those present expressed “the greatest satisfaction at the appearance of new street, extending through the whole estate.”
The Rate Books for the year, record that the rateable value of the estate was £45 and the estate had belonged to our old friend John Arnold, who ran the Prince Albert beer shop and worked the iron in his smithy.
This may not seem in the same league as storming the Bastille, or participating in the attack on the Winter Palace, but it was a serious attempt to address the failure of Parliament to pass a second Reform Bill which would widen the electorate and offer some working-class men the vote.
Of course, it was not about giving the vote to women, or to those with no means even to purchase an allotment, but it was nevertheless a challenge to the existing order.
All of which just leaves me to reflect, that as you sit in the Didsbury Hotel, or look out of that small window across to the parish church, this was where a little bit of our history was made.
Location; Didsbury
Picture; Kingston Road, date unknown
*British Freehold Land Society, Manchester Guardian, November 12th, 1853
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