Much has already been written on this Blog about Chorlton-cum-Hardy's most famous policeman, P. C. Nicholas Cock who was shot by the infamous Mid-Victorian villain Charles Peace on the 1st August, 1876 near to where the Seymour Hotel once stood.
What follows is an investigation into some other “Guardians of the Law” associated with this area.
1) John Edward Rook.
2) William Benson.
3) Thomas Singleton.
4) William Robinson Priestner.
The above four men were all police officers in Edwardian Chorlton-cum-Hardy. This was the era in which the policing of the area would have changed from the Lancashire Constabulary to The Manchester City Police in, 1904. (1) This was a consequence of the incorporation into the City of Manchester of the Withington Urban District, of which it was one of its four townships, alongside Withington, Didsbury, and Burnage.
Interestingly also, all four lived in the same location close to Hawthorn Road. Indeed two P. C. s, Singleton and Rook, were actually, for a time, next-door neighbours at 11 and 13, Ashfield Road, respectively, before P.C.Rook moved to nearby 22, Swayfield Road. (2)
On the 18th February 1920 the christening record of Thomas, the first son of the then Inspector Singleton shows him living at 23, Cartwright Road which according to the 1911 census was once occupied by retired police Sergeant Benson.
Although P.C. Priestner lived mostly at 14, Brookfield Avenue, his initial address in Chorlton-cum-Hardy as at the birth of his first child, Georgina Louisa, on the 5th January, 1910 was also on Ashfield Road at No. 1.
John Edward Cooke was born in Binbrook, Lincolnshire on the 25th May, 1874. His parents were John Rook, a waggoner, and his wife Susannah (née Gooding). The family later settled on Gonerby Lane in the village of Hatcliffe, Nr. Caistor, Lincolnshire where according to the 1891 census 16-year-old, John had started his working life as a “farm servant”
He moved to Manchester; joining its Police Force on the 8th August, 1899. In 1901, as indicated by the census taken that year, he was lodging with a fellow Police Officer, John F. Talbot, his wife Lizzie and family at 41, School Street, Prestwich, Lancashire. In the September quarter of 1906, P.C. Rook married Emma Parry at Christ Church, Harpurhey, Manchester shortly after which he was posted to Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The couple’s first child, Mabel, was born on the 29th January, 1907 which was quickly followed by another daughter, Susannah, on the 16th March, 1908, a son, John William, on the 12th July, 1909, then two more daughters, Annie on the 17th June, 1911 and Edna on the 31st May, 1913. All these children were baptized at St. Clement’s Church, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
P.C. Rook moved back to Lincolnshire in his retirement; the 1939 register shows him, a widower, living with one of his married daughters, Susannah (Hutson) at “States”, North Ormsby, Nr. Louth, Lincolnshire
He died there in the December quarter of 1950.
William Benson, the oldest of the four, was born in Ulverston, Lancashire in the September quarter of 1859 where his origins remain a little obscure. P.C. Benson was also the only one to serve in Chorlton-cum-Hardy whilst an officer in the Lancashire Constabulary. He married Annie Yeoman at St. Wilfrid’s Church, Northenden, Cheshire in the June quarter of 1887. At this time, he was already stationed in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, having previously been at Old Trafford, Lancashire. The couple lived in Chorlton-cum-Hardy first for two months on Sandy Lane then at 71, Whitelow Road from July, 1887 until April, 1889 when they moved to 11, Stanley Grove. They had three children two boys and one girl. The two boys, John William and Harry were both born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in June quarters of 1888 and 1891 respectively. Towards the middle of the last decade of the 19th century P.C. Benson was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and re-assigned to a station at Livesey, Blackburn, Lancashire where his third and final child, Margaret, was born in the September quarter of 1898. The 1911 census records the family back in Manchester at 23, Cartwright Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, William was shown as a police pensioner working as an accounts collector for a bill-posting contractor. He died at the Manchester Royal Infirmary on the 17th October, 1914. In his will he left an estate of £156-5s-4d to his widow. He is buried in Manchester’s Southern Cemetery; grave Q 744 in the consecrated (Church of England) section.
An accomplished athlete, P.C. Benson often featured in the annual sports day organized by the Lancashire Constabulary at Pomona Gardens, Old Trafford as reported in the “Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser” on 5th September, 1885 and the 28th July, 1888, (3) and in the “Athletic News” the 16th, August 1887.
Thomas Singleton was born in Warton, Fylde, Lancashire in 1879; one of ten children of Edward Singleton, a “brick labourer” and later a church sexton and gardener, and his wife, Mary (née Murray). While stationed at the Police Station on St. Thomas Road, Chorley, Lancashire he met and married Mary Alice Pendlebury, a draper’s daughter from Platt Bridge, Hindley, Nr. Chorley, Lancashire, at Chorley’s Parish Church, St.George’s in the September quarter of 1902. Thomas transferred to the Manchester City Police on the 9th November, 1904.
The couple had arrived in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, by the time of the birth the first of their six daughters, Eva, on Christmas Eve, 1904.
Their home as recorded on the record of Eva’s baptism at St. Clement’s, on the 4th February, 1905 was 21, Acres Lane. When their second daughter, Doris, was baptized on the 28th October, 1906 they had moved to 13, Ashfield Road. As already stated, the family later moved to 23, Cartwright Road. Officer Singleton served in Chorlton-cum-Hardy for nearly two decades rising to the rank of inspector. There is some good evidence that Thomas retired and moved his family back to the Fylde area of Lancashire, several of his daughters being married in that registration district. There is also a death of a Thomas Singleton of the correct age in the district in the September quarter of 1938.
William Robinson Priestner was born on the 30th July, 1877 in Altrincham, Cheshire, where his father James Arthur and grandfather, William, were wheelwrights, carpenters, and blacksmiths. His mother was Elizabeth Ann (née Robinson). After serving in the Lancashire Constabulary for 6 years, partly at the Bold Street Station, Moss Side, he transferred to the Manchester Force on the 19th November, 1904.
He married Georgina Owen Martin on the 21st December, 1907 at Glodwick, Prestwich, Lancashire. As already stated, their first child, Georgina Louisa, was born on the 5th January, 1910 at which time they were living at 1, Ashfield Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The couple then had two sons, William Martin on the 17th July, 1915 and John Barton on 7th April, 1917 while the family home was at 14, Brookfield Avenue. A second daughter, Margaret Elizabeth was born on the 23rd September, 1918 in the Prestwich registration district.
After retiring from the police force William became the sub-postmaster of Slyne, Hest Bank, Lancaster, Lancashire which was his mother’s home village. Living with him in the 1939 Register were his wife his unmarried daughter Margaret Elizabeth and his son John Barton whose occupation, interestingly, is given as “stained glass artist”
William died on Christmas Day, 1945 at the Royal Infirmary, Lancaster leaving in his will an estate of £771- 11s -4d to his widow.
Tony Goulding ©2020
Pictures; from the collection of Tony Goulding
NOTES: -
1) This changeover was not universally well-received. The sudden tripling of the number of officers “on the beat” in the area led to a number of instances were citizens were the alleged victims of officious, over-zealous policing. The Manchester Evening News edition of 3rd October, 1905 carried a report of one such case and included comment on it in its Leading articles. Over the following a week the paper was inundated with approaching a dozen indignant letters on the topic. The chief concerns were the additional cost of the extra police to the ratepayers allied to numerous flimsy cases presented at the police court, where the magistrates largely accepted the constable’s evidence without question.
2) Confusingly three of the roads in this area have been renamed: -
Hawthorn Road is now Ivygreen Road.
Swayfield Avenue is now Swinfield Avenue
Ashfield Road is now Attercliffe Road
3) The 1888 Sports were held on the ground of Whalley Range Football Club.
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