Now I have Darren Watmough to thank for this picture, I just wish I had found out more.
This is the grocery pushbike belonging to Robert Wilson, Fish, Game & Poultry Dealer, 517, Wilbraham Road.
And as you do, I went looking for him along that parade of shops running towards the old railway bridge on the east side of Wilbraham Road.
The shops date from after 1911, but I have yet to find him selling his chickens, fish and game.
To be fair I have only just started, and so far have just used the bench dates of 1969 and 1939.
1969 is the last street directory that was published listing householders and traders, and he is not there, instead the property was occupied by Needham Shoe Repairs.
Nor was he there in 1939 when the Government compiled a register of all householders, as part of the preparations for the Second World War.
That register is particularly useful to historians and those engaged in family history, because the 1921 census will not be published for another two years, leaving us only the 1911 census and the street directories.
Of these the street directories are in many ways more useful, because while they lonely list the householder, they were issued every year, and so it is possible to track a business over decades.
But the rub is, they are only available in part online, which means long days in Central Ref in Manchester trawling the books.
Alternatively, there are always the electoral registers, but they too are on microfilm in the Library
All of which means it may be sometime before we can locate our Mr. Wilson, but there is just the outside chance that he was delivering his products to the doors of Chorlton, after 1969.
And for the observant there is always that telephone number.
We shall see, and who knows there may be people out there who remember him.
In the meantime, I will just reflect that our bike reminds me that the man/woman in van, from Morrisons is only the most recent manifestation of that old practice of delivering the shop to the door, with just that caveat that what is now a yellow refrigerated van was a lad with a bike and a basket, or horse and van.
And back then it was pretty much anything that could be ordered up from fresh food to coal, along with the man who called to sharpen your knives or took away your rubbish.
Leaving me just to thank Darren Watmough who saw the bike in a shop in Chorley and those who alerted me to the post or sent me a copy of it.
And then, not long after the story was posted, my old friend Bill also went digging and came up with an intriguing reference in the Manchester Operative Fishmongers and Poulterers Association, whose records are lodged at the National Archives
Bill adds, "He was at Wilbraham Road in 1936 and at 130 Withington Road in 1937, this address seems to be a private house of some substance but he is described as a Fish Dealer in the phone book for Withington Road.
No entries for any other year though".
And not content with that gem he also found number 517 Wilbraham Road in 1959 which is where I shall stop for now.
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Mr. Robert Wilson’s bike, date unknown, courtesy of Darren Watmough, 2019, delivery van, date unknown from the collection of Tony Walker, receipt for a delivery of coal. Marjory Holmes, 1963, and 519 Wilbraham Road, 1959, A E Landers, m18463, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
 |
| Mr. Robert's superior delivery bike, 2019 |
And as you do, I went looking for him along that parade of shops running towards the old railway bridge on the east side of Wilbraham Road.
The shops date from after 1911, but I have yet to find him selling his chickens, fish and game.
To be fair I have only just started, and so far have just used the bench dates of 1969 and 1939.
1969 is the last street directory that was published listing householders and traders, and he is not there, instead the property was occupied by Needham Shoe Repairs.
 |
| The sign with the telephone number, 2019 |
That register is particularly useful to historians and those engaged in family history, because the 1921 census will not be published for another two years, leaving us only the 1911 census and the street directories.
Of these the street directories are in many ways more useful, because while they lonely list the householder, they were issued every year, and so it is possible to track a business over decades.
 |
| Delivery van, date unknown |
Alternatively, there are always the electoral registers, but they too are on microfilm in the Library
All of which means it may be sometime before we can locate our Mr. Wilson, but there is just the outside chance that he was delivering his products to the doors of Chorlton, after 1969.
And for the observant there is always that telephone number.
We shall see, and who knows there may be people out there who remember him.
In the meantime, I will just reflect that our bike reminds me that the man/woman in van, from Morrisons is only the most recent manifestation of that old practice of delivering the shop to the door, with just that caveat that what is now a yellow refrigerated van was a lad with a bike and a basket, or horse and van.
 |
| Marjorie's coal delivery reciept, 1963 |
Leaving me just to thank Darren Watmough who saw the bike in a shop in Chorley and those who alerted me to the post or sent me a copy of it.
And then, not long after the story was posted, my old friend Bill also went digging and came up with an intriguing reference in the Manchester Operative Fishmongers and Poulterers Association, whose records are lodged at the National Archives
 |
| 517 Wilbraham Road, 1959 |
No entries for any other year though".
And not content with that gem he also found number 517 Wilbraham Road in 1959 which is where I shall stop for now.
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Mr. Robert Wilson’s bike, date unknown, courtesy of Darren Watmough, 2019, delivery van, date unknown from the collection of Tony Walker, receipt for a delivery of coal. Marjory Holmes, 1963, and 519 Wilbraham Road, 1959, A E Landers, m18463, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
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