Thomas Horridge was killed on the night of the 1st/2nd June 1941; one of the 87 victims of the second worst night, in terms of the number of fatalities, of the Luftwaffe’s bombing campaign over Greater Manchester during World War 2.
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| Memorial to Greater Manchester’s Civilian War Dead, Piccadilly Gardens |
Thomas died on the night of the bombing but his body was not recovered until the following day when he was discovered in the rubble of the destroyed Ward & Goldstone Electric Engineers Works in Frederick Road, Pendleton, Salford.
He was born at 37, Ringley Street, Harpurhey, Manchester on the 25th June 1904; the youngest child or his parents Thomas Horridge and Mary (née Walker). He was christened at St. Stephen’s Church in Harpurhey on the 3rd August 1904. Thomas’s father was a commercial traveller in plumbing and building supplies.
He had two older brothers William born in 1893 and Ernest who was born in 1896; another sibling, John, had died in infancy in 1899. The family were living, when the 1901 census was taken, at 8, Lathbury Street, Harpurhey, Manchester. Completing the household as well as Thomas and Mary and their (then) two living sons were William Walker, a retired mechanic, 20-year-old Katie Walker and her new born baby Nellie.
These ‘Walkers’ were Mary’s father and the wife and child of her younger brother, Robert. Ten years later, as recorded in the 1911 census, with the addition of young Thomas the Horridge family had moved to 217, Church Lane, Moston, Manchester.
They were still at this address when the 1921 census was taken, though by this time the eldest son William had married and left the family home. (1) The youngest son, Thomas had by this time also started work. He was working as an office boy employed by G. Heath & Co. (Merchants and Agents) of 57, Postal Street, Manchester. (2)
The year 1931 was a doubly sad one for the Horridges when firstly Ernest, the second son, died in the February, then on the 29th October the father, Thomas Snr. passed away. By the time of these deaths the family were living at 56, Waverley Road, Moston, Manchester which remained young Thomas’s home until his death.
Thomas Jnr. became a musician; the notice of his death in the Manchester Evening News of the 5th June 1941 stated that he was the “Leader of the Royal Blues Dance Band”. The National Register records him living with his widowed mother at the Waverley Road address. The Register also indicates that Thomas was a married man, however, neither the newspapers’ death notices nor the probate details included any reference to a wife. (3)
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| Manchester General Cemetery, Rochdale Road, Harpurhey, Manchester |
Although the burial records of Manchester City Council show his parents, his maternal grandparents and his brother Ernest are all buried in grave No 1875 of the non-conformist section of this cemetery there is no entry for Thomas’s burial.
I recently took a trip to the cemetery to see if I could find any more information from a headstone inscription. Unfortunately, as this picture of the grave’s location shows, this part of the cemetery is quite weather-worn with several of the headstones lying flat and covered in moss, so I was unable to find the Horridge family grave.
Pictures: - All from the collection of Tony Goulding.
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| Location of the Horridge Family Grave |
1) William, who at the time was serving as a Lance Corporal in the Manchester Regiment married Amy Shoreman at St. John’s Church, Moston, Manchester on the 28th December 1915. The 1939 Register records the couple keeping a newsagent’s shop at 55, Upper Conran Street, Harpurhey, Manchester.
2) Thomas Snr. was working as a commercial traveller for Joseph Baxendale & Co. Ltd., Furnishers and Ironmongers of Miller Street, Manchester. Ernest was an “Out of Work” general labourer.
3)Probate of Thomas’s estate, valued at just £15 was granted to his mother. In contrast, the value of his father’s estate in 1931 was £598.
I have now ascertained that Thomas Horridge was indeed buried in Manchester General Cemetery, Harpurhey, Manchester. The confusion resulted from the fact that the burial records show the interment, on the 6th June 1941, under the name of Thomas HARRIDGE. Thomas is in fact buried in Grave no. 1873 very nearby the family grave no. 1875.
ReplyDeleteThus, one little mystery is solved, but as is the nature of historical enquiry it was replaced by another. Thomas was interred in a grave which had already been used for the burial of a Mary Holmes on the 5th of April 1909. Now the problem is finding her connection, if any, to the Harridge/Walker family.