On finding Mr. Howarth's bottle with the galloping horse ...... on Cheltenham Road

 Now here is a mystery which involves a bottle, George Howard of Thornburn Street and our own Cheltenham Road.

Yesterday David posted the bottle on social media asking for help identifying the company who sold it, adding, “This was found next to the foundations of my house in Cheltenham Road CCH. Marked 'HOWARD'S Thorburn St Upper Brook St Manchester.' Pictorial is a fast galloping horse with rider. Anyone know what it was?”

And never wanting to miss out on a mystery, I went looking for HOWARD'S Thorburn St Upper Brook St Manchester, and it all got a tad twisty.  

I couldn’t find a Howard at Thornburn Street in the early 20th century.  There was a John Spelman there listed as a mineral water manufacturer.

However George Howard “herb beer brewer (Howard Brothers)” was listed at 4 Sagar Street  in Lower Broughton from 1895 through to the early 20th century.  So perhaps they moved to Thornburn Street after 1911.

The houses  on Cheltenham Road date from 1927, and it is possible that sometime after that date the bottle was buried, lost or just thrown away, by which time George Howard had moved from Salford.

There was a George Howard who was in Hulme at the beginning of the 20th century and had brothers, and gave his occupation as a “Teasman” in 1916 at his marriage.

It is just possible that George made the short jump from a Teasman to a brewer of herbal beer.

We shall see.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the bottle, 2021, courtesy of David Strong.