Catherine Murnane: - Victim of German bombing 1/6/1941 ... another story from Tony Goulding

To mark remembrance month, I was going to complete the story of the Firewatchers who died as a result of the German Luftwaffe bombing of Manchester on the night of 1st June, 1941.

I decided to shelve this to a later date, however, and tell the story of just one victim of that night. 

In this way wishing to highlight the fact that each of the over a million names on the Commonwealth War Graves was an individual person.

Catherine was born in Stockport, Cheshire on the 19th March, 1902 the first child of Robert John Garside, a machine fitter at a printer’s and his wife, Catherine (née Dunne). 

Memorial to Manchester’s Civilian War Dead; Piccadilly

In 1911, the census records her as the eldest of five children, with 4 younger siblings, 3 sisters (Mary, 7, Eileen, 4, and 10-month-old baby, Florence) and 1 brother Robert who was 3. 

The family were then living at 19, Wally Street, Broughton, Salford. Catherine was joined by another brother, Joseph on the 20th February, 1912 and a fourth sister, Winifred, on the 11th may, 1913.

She married Matthew Murnane in Salford during the September quarter of 1929 and in 1939 the National Register recorded the couple at 15, Eskrigge Street, Salford with Catherine described as a “Mantle costume baister” Matthew was a "General labourer (heavy worker)”.

Catherine was a Senior Air Raid Warden and was killed at Hacking Street in the Salford part of Cheetham Hill on on the 2nd June,1941.

Pictures; From the collection of Tony Goulding.