A combination of writer’s block, pressure and distractions of life and plain laziness have resulted in a lack of stories from me for most of 2023.
 |
The medal was given by the Manchester Columbarian Society to Mr. J. Adams for having the best pouter (a breed of fancy pigeons) at their show in 1897.
This much can be ascertained from the medal itself.
After a little research I discovered more from an account of the show in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser of Thursday December 16th, 1897.
The show had taken place on Wednesday 15th at Belle Vue with no less than 523 birds being exhibited.
The keeping and breeding of various types of pigeon was a popular activity from the middle of the 19th century.
Indeed, the naturalist Charles Darwin, from 1855, pursued the hobby in a major way: although in his case it was more of an academic interest in how the different characteristics of birds could be determined by selective breeding.
A theme he developed into his great opus “On the Origin of the Species”.
As the hobby became more widespread shows began to take place around the British Isles and Societies were formed to organise and regulate them.
As was common practice of the time these societies looked to the classical languages of Greek and more especially Latin to form their official names.
 |
| Charles Darwin in 1855 |
Thus several “Columbarian” (1) Societies were born; columbarius is Latin for “keeper of doves”. Although there is evidence that there were shows in Manchester from around 1870 the first documentary record of a Manchester Columbarian Society, I was able to find, was in an issue of the Stalybridge Reporter published on Saturday 31st October 1885.
 |
| Market Place |
According to this report this was the 17th year of the event, however it is likely that most of these earlier shows were held under the auspices of The North British Columbarian Society.
Only with an increase in local members showing birds (around 300 in 1885) was the formation of a Manchester Society warranted.
 |
| Map showing location of Cotton Waste Dealers Exchange |
Pictures:- Medal (both obverse and reverse) from the collection of Tony Goulding. Charles Darwin by Henry Maull and John Fox in the public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11264065, Market Place, postcard and map showing location of Cotton Waste Dealers Exchange from:- https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/marketplace.html images from manchesterhistory.net used by permission of that site's admin
Notes:-
1) Not to be confused with “COLUMBARIUM”, a structure for the respectful housing of funeral urns containing cremated remains of deceased.
The word is derived from the same Latin root columba - a dove and originally rereferred to what is now more commonly known as a dovecote.
Fascinating insight into our past Thankyou
ReplyDelete