In my ongoing survey of the prominent public clocks of South Manchester, I arrive at this one on the corner of Wilmslow Road and Burton Road, in Withington.
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| The White Lion in 1970 |
Now grade 11 listed, the building was designed by a young architect, William Mellor, in 1880 and opened its doors as “The White Lion” the following year. Sadly, William Mellor died, just 4 days before his 34th birthday on the 19th October, 1880 and did not live to see the completion of his design.
For more than a century, the pub continued as the “White Lion”; one of the three “lions” in close proximity on Wilmslow Road, Withington, the others being the “Red Lion” and the “Golden Lion”. It was briefly re-named “The Pavilion” and then “The Withington Ale House”, before reverting to its original name for the final few years of its existence. For six years, following the pub’s closure, the site was a boarded-up edifice until in June 2011 Sainsbury’s supermarket converted it into one of its expanding network of “Local” convenience stores, with flats occupying the upper floors.
There has been “White Lion” public house in Withington since at least the opening decade of the 19th century. (1) The first reference I came across was in the “Manchester Mercury” dated 1st May, 1810, which contained a notification of an auction of household furniture etc. (and tools and timber for the use of a wheelwright) to be held the following day at “the house of Thomas Barber near the sign of the White Lion, Withington, near Manchester”. An early landlord of the house was Mr. Jacob Hulme whose marriage to a Miss Alice Read, of “The Saracen’s Head”, Warburton took place at Warburton, Cheshire on the 20th July, 1828 was recorded in the 26th July, 1828 edition of the “Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser”. Jacob and Alice’s marriage was sadly a very brief one as the same newspaper dated 2nd January, 1830 reported that “Mr. Jacob Hulme, of the White Lion, Withington; and for many years a respectable livery-stable keeper of Ardwick-green" had died on the 26th December, (Boxing Day) 1829.
The next relevant record, the census of 1841, shows Joseph Sharples as an Inn Keeper in Withington with his wife Susannah. Joseph died, aged 41, in the March quarter of 1845.
In the following census of 1851, Shusana Sharples was recorded as an Inn Keeper and a widow born in 1801 in Tinsley, Lancashire.
There is a death notice of Mrs. Susannah Sharples, of The White Lion, Withington on 22nd December, 1854, in the Manchester Times of 6th January, 1855.
The next “keeper” of The White Lion was Sarah Carroll who is shown as the occupier in a notification in the Manchester Courier ---- of a forthcoming auction sale of the property on Wednesday 11th July, 1860. Miss Carroll’s entry in the census of 1861 confirms her status as the licensee and also records her as an un-married lady who was born in Edgeworth, Bolton, Lancashire in 1822. The church registers of St. Peter’s Church, Bolton, show that Sarah was christened on the 22nd September, 1822: her parents were Daniel, a tailor, and his wife Mary (née Aspull). By 1851 the family had settled in Withington. Another family member was Sarah’s younger sister, Hannah, born in Edgeworth on the 2nd April, 1828. Hannah, was also to take over the running of The White Lion after her husband, William Henry Ryan, whom she married SS. Peter and Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, Bolton on the 8th June, 1862, died in the September quarter of 1870. Hannah Ryan, as well as keeping on the White Lion, also ran the George Hotel at 54, Booth Street East, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester which was her residence when the 1871 census was taken. Her three young sons, however, remained in Withington.
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| The George Hotel, 1970 |
In the August of 1877 the license of the White Lion was transferred from Mrs. Ryan to William Eastwood Green who also owned the property. It was he who oversaw the construction of the current building, which, as revealed in an application of August, 1880 for the transfer of the license to the new building, was estimated at costing £6,000 - £7,000 and would be located some 20 yards from its existing site. (3)
Mr. Green died on the 27th January, 1887 and on the 9th March following, the joint licensees of The White Lion became Rosetta Hardman and Elizabeth Alice Furnival (née Lees), the daughter and granddaughter of William Eastwood respectively. On the 28th April, 1887, Elizabeth Alice relinquished the license. She had recently married, on the 15th August, 1885 in St. James’s Church, Gorton, Lancashire, her Husband Thomas Furnival, who owned a printing engineers' company in Gorton Lane, Reddish Nr. Stockport, Cheshire. Rosetta ran the pub with her second husband Joseph Flockton, who was already a manager to a wine and spirit merchant. Rosetta died on the 7th May, 1900 and is buried in Grave G 90 in the Church of England section of Southern Cemetery, Manchester. Following Rosetta’s death her husband retired and a new couple William Brundrett Newton and his wife Kate (née Crank) (4) took over the license only for Kate to be left a young widow before the year was out with William Brundrett dying on the 19th July, 1900. As a widow with two young children Kate continued to manage the business for a time but by September, 1902 the licensee was Mr. Kenneth Gaskell, as he appeared as such in the Manchester County Police Court on the 13th November, 1902. He was charged with serving alcohol during prohibited hours; viz. serving alcohol on a Sunday to customers who were not “Bona Fide travelers”. (He was by no means the first Landlord of The White Lion to fall foul of this law). Despite having recently had a successful time managing the Swan Hotel, in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in turn Mr. Gaskells tenancy was also a very short one, as The Manchester Evening News the 4th August, 1903 reported on an uncontested divorce case brought by his wife, Mary, on the grounds of his “cruelty and misconduct”. The report indicated that Kenneth Gaskell had left his wife in February, 1903 and gone to sea as a ship’s steward.
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| An 1850s balloon in Persia |
Perhaps the most sensational event to take place at the White Lion in these 100 years would be the descent of a gas balloon in a field close to the hotel on Saturday 5th August, 1854. The 50 feet high balloon was piloted by Lt. Chambers R.N., on his 75th ascent, and named “Victory” (after Nelson’s flagship) was launched from Belle Vue Gardens at 6-30 in the evening, reached a height of 1.5 miles before a controlled touch down in Withington, some 3 miles from its take-off site, after a short flight of a quarter of an hour.
And finally, what of the clock? Well, I am pleased to report that after being out of order for many years it has been restored and repaired by the current owners as a condition of their planning permission following pressure from Withington Civic Society.
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| Withington clock, June, 2022 |
Notes: -
1) Several references place the previous “White Lions” in the same location, on the corner of Burton Road (or Lane) and Wilmslow Road, as the current building.
2) Hannah also had interest in the Blue Bell public house on High Street, Manchester. The “entire failure” of this business together with a series of lifestyle extravagances resulted in Hannah and her husband appearing at a bankruptcy hearing in November, 1884 at Manchester’s County Court.
3) This re-location was necessitated by the compulsory purchase, by the Local Board of Withington, of land needed to widen the roadway to enable a new tram line to be laid.
4) Wlliam Brundrett Newton and Kate Crank were married at St. Bride’s Church, Stretford, Lancashire on the 10th February, 1886. The groom’s late father, James, latterly of Sale, Cheshire was a long-time licensee of the Abercrombie Tavern/ Vaults in Ancoats, Manchester. The bride was the daughter of Silas Crank, a lithographer, of 131, Clifton Street, Old Trafford, Lancashire and his wife Adelaide (née Hampson).
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