Discovering the forgotten

I don’t suppose Charles Taylor or his wife Ann would have been much surprised that their home has not survived.

Taylor's Court, 1849

In 1851 they were living in Taylor’s Court which was one of those tiny places sandwiched between other streets.   All our towns and cities had their share of these courts which were often a byproduct of in filling where a builder or speculator fell on an open space and built a few houses for rent.

In the case of Taylor’s Court there were just five such houses which were accessed through two narrow passages.  The properties commanded rents of 2/3d which were not the cheapest rents in the area but not far off.  I can’t be sure of the size of the five houses, but they show up on maps of the period as back to backs, so it is most likely that they were one up one downs.

And like other streets in the immediate vicinity there was a degree of overcrowding.  So, while in four of the houses the number of inhabitants ranged from 2 to four people, at number 1 the Taylor’s squeezed a total of six family members and a lodger their home.

The occupations of the residents were typical of the area, and included those who worked in textiles, shoe and dress making, and others engaged as labourers and launderesses.

Taylor's Court and surrounding streets, 1849

Their origins were equally mixed, with 5 of the 20 having been born in Ireland and the rest from Manchester, Cheshire, Cumberland, and Scotland.

But at least they could give an address, which was more than could be said of the Holland and Horan families who lived in the narrow passage which gave access to Taylor’s Court.  The census records their address as Stock’s Court but on maps of the period it appears as No. 1 Passage, and in the Rate Books, as just a Court attached to the list of properties on Royton Street and are not recorded in any of the street directories.

Taylor's Court moves, circa 1900

I have no idea when Taylor’s Court vanished but Goad’s Insurance maps, which cover the last two decades of the 19th century show them still in place, but the passageway has been renamed Taylor’s Court, and the original location has lost its houses and its length is described as “Wood Hoardings 40’ high. 

The remnants my have lingered on, but by 1951 it and the eastern side of Royton Street had been subsumed by industrial units. 

And just as the properties have faded so have the residents of the two courts, and despite a trawl of the census returns I have only been able to trace two.  In 1841 Charles Taylor was living in the Deansgate area, but after 1851 has so far disappeared from the official records.

The search for Thomas Holland has proved a tad more successful.  I know he was from Cheshire and that his younger brother farmed over 200 acres.

In 1841 he was still living with his family but ten years later he was in Stocks Court where he was renting the house and a workshop.  In both the census for that year and the street directories he gave his occupation as Whitesmith which my Wikipedia describes as “a metalworker who does finishing work on iron and steel such as filing, lathing, burnishing or polishing. The term also refers to a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals, and is sometimes used as a synonym for tinsmith”*

All gone, 1951

A decade later he and his wife were on Shaw Street in Salford, still working as a Whitesmith, on a street which appears to be only a marginal step up from that Court off Deansgate.

All of which is a little confusing, given that on the 1871 census while visiting his brother he describes himself as “gentleman”, which only adds to the mystery of his birthplace, which on all the official documents is different.

Of course we maybe dealing with different men, but the other details of occupation, wife and age all would suggest we are dealing with the same man, and I doubt I will resolve the confusion.

Location; Manchester, Salford and Cheshire

Pictures; Royton Street in 1849, from the OS map of Manchester and Salford, 1844-49, and Royton Street circa 1880-1900 from Goad's Fire Insurance maps, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/and Royton Street 1951, from the OS map of Manchester and Salford

*Whitesmith, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitesmith