31 Booth Street ………. and the embarrassing revelation

Now this is 31 Booth Street, and it is a building I have passed for over half a century and never given it a second glance.

31 Booth Street, 2022

But on Monday I was drawn to the entrance partly I guess because of the welcoming light above the door on what was mostly a grey day.

And as you do, I went looking for its story.

In 1903 it was home to Grundy, Kershaw and Samson who were solicitors, and I can track them back to 1876, when they were plain Grundy and Kershaw.  

Booth Street circa 1900

Three years later they had expanded to become Grundy, Kershaw, Saxon, Samson and Watkins which must have made for a long letterhead, but within a few years they had lost Saxon and Watkins.

The obvious next task was track the building back to its construction and using old maps, the street directories and Rate Books, I confidently came up with a date between 1864 and 1878.

All of which seemed a neat piece of research, dashed only by the date carved above the door which I had missed.

This proclaimed the construction date as 1868, which fitted the research but leaves me a tad embarrassed.

Still, I like the entrance and can record it was owned by the County Fire Office and was home to a variety of professional companies.

While earlier in the century the site was home to an engraver, a glass manufacturer and a plumber, and is evidence of the slow transformation of this bit of the city from  industry to commercial use.

To which I can add that my friend Anthony has tracked our firm of solicitors through the late 19th century into the 20th as far as 1961 which is a pretty long time.  Along the way they acquired new partners and may still have been at 31 Booth Street just eight years later when I first wandered past as an eager undergraduate.

Now that would be a nice bit of continuity.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; 31 Booth Street, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Booth Street circa 1900, from Goads Fire Insurance Map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, https://digitalarchives.co.uk/