A Didsbury picture ……. an 1885 sales catalogue ….. and the story of Johnson, Clapham & Morris .... makers of all things galvanized iron

Now, I remain fascinated at the route which took me from a framed page of a sales catalogue on a wall in a house in Didsbury via a shop in Pembrokeshire back a century and more to Johnson, Clapham & Morris, makers of all things galvanized iron.

The framed Lamp Belge from the sales catalogue, 1889

The framed sales catalogue was a present to a friend , who having admired it in the said shop got it as a Christmas present.

And in turn when Barbarella posted the picture to me I knew there was a story, although just where it would take me was unclear.

As ever the starting point was the name of the firm and its location on Lever Street in town.  There is no property number on the catalogue, but the directories placed the firm at 24/26 Lever Street, which is between Stevenson Square and Bunsen Street.

They were here by 1886, and it will be easy to track back to when they left their premise at 27 Dale Street.  I know that they were on Dale Street in 1876, and that they had a warehouse in Liverpool and offices on Winchester Street in London, with their works in Newton Heath.

According to that excellent source, Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, the company was founded sometime around 1814, and they specialized in “reinforced brickwork and the clothing of steel-framed and reinforced concrete buildings”, which rather skates over the detail, which was pretty much everything involving metal. *

Johnson, Clapham and Morris, Lever Street, 1886

Their 1876 poster announced  that they were “Iron, Tin Plate, Wire and Metal Merchants, manufacturers of Galvanized Wire Netting, and Sheep Fencing,  Strong Wove Wire for Malt Kiln Floors, Smutt Machines and Mining Purposes”, along with Miner’s Safety Lamps and Lightning Conductors”.

So, I am not surprised that thirteen years later their catalogue included The Lamp Belge, which I am guessing were copied from the original designs which were made in Belgium.

The company was still in business in 1961 when they were “Engaged as metal, electrical and hardware manufacturers and factors, [with] 560 employees.”**

I took a virtual wander down Dale Street and Lever Street, and both sites are still occupied by what look to be late 19th or early 20th century buildings, but I am  not sure if either were connected to Johnson, Clapham & Morris.

Goad’s Fire Insurance maps of 1884 show the firm’s office and warehouse taking up all of the space between Stevenson Square and Bunsen Street, and suggests they were one building, whereas today number 26 is different in design and size from number 24.

The choice of lamps, 1886

All of which leaves me to go off and compare the 1884 map with later ones.

And there I thought the story had ended but not so, because Grace’s Guide offered up one little and very personal surprise, which was that Mr. Richard Johnson died at his home in Chislehurst in Kent, a place I knew well, and one where my girlfriend of the time lived.

I followed her north in 1969, which was not the best way to choose a degree course, especially as she returned home three months later.

I stayed and have yet to find way back.  But that is a story for another time.

Location; Didsbury, Manchester

Pictures; The Lamp Belge, from the 1889 sales catalogue of Johnson, Clapham & Morris, courtesy of Barbarella Bonvento, the warehouse of Johnson, Clapham & Morris, from Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps, Lever Street, 1886, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

* Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richard_Johnson,_Clapham_and_Morris?fbclid=IwAR06SdLJWpL2hEwB1-6Dqo1Opshx6DLaQ7sSWSFY9J_yRL7E9fu_WXT30JA

**ibid Grace’s

The art of 1938 ..... and a bit more

 This is the front cover of the 1938 October edition of Homes and Garden which my friend Beba sent over a few minutes ago.

What struck me was the design and that was enough to set me off with a story.

And that might have been it had Beba not then included an article on how to train a servant and heaps of adverts for the sort of things all homes should have.

From old fashioned kitchen ranges to  steel window frames, and of course that advice to an employer'. So its got the lot and over the next few weeks the blog will cover it all.

With a special thanks to Barbarella Bonvento.

Location; 1938

Pictures; from Home and Gardens, 1938, courtesy of Bebe Bonvento

The clouds of Tuscany say it all …….

Now like many I have that vision of Tuscany with verdant rich fields, blue skies and hilltop castles mixed with walled towns.  To which you can add heaps of vineyards and those Cypress trees. 

My Wikipedia tells me that the “climate is fairly mild in the coastal areas, and is harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer, giving the region a soil-building active freeze-thaw cycle, in part accounting for the region once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome”.*

But I didn’t expect the stories from a friend that last week the “weather is terrible. Raining incessantly and cold. Really weird for May”

All of which was testified by the pictures which offered up heavy grey rain clouds and a landscape more in keeping with bits of Britain during a very indifferent spring.

But then the weather has been particularly unpredictable in Italy over the last few months.

We have sat and watched the Italian news reporting floods and heavy rains across the south, and the appearance of snow in Campania.

And now we have those awful floods in the neighbouring region of Emilia Romagna which have deluged towns with storm water, cut off villages, blocked roads, along with a loss of power to communities whose rivers have burst their banks and a death toll which continues to rise.**

Location; Val D’Orcia, Pienza, Tuscany

Pictures; the good and the bad, Val D’Orcia, Pienza, Tuscany, 2023, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

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

**la Republicca, May 19th, 2023 https://www.repubblica.it/?refresh_ce

That mystery in Fog Lane Park, …..

Now as bandstands go the one in Fog Lane Park was not the most attractive examples of a civic bandstand.

The former bandstand, 2020

I grew up with those elaborate iron ones which adorned the parks in my bit of south east London, and have since started collecting them.*

In that pre television, pre cinema and pre wireless age bandstands offered a place to meet, sit and enjoy live music, although by the 1950s when I was growing up they had become less popular.

And many were already sad looking rusty old affairs, which would soon be swept away.  Ours lost its fine iron pillars and decorative bits
 followed by the demolition of the brick platform.

The bandstand in 1962

So  complete was elimination of these bandstands that within a generation their very existence would be all but forgotten.

So, when Barbarella out on a Sunday walk she happened on the circle in Fogg Lane Park,and was mystified, and I have to say so was I.

I toyed with the idea of a former bowling green, but dismissed it for obvious reasons, and speculated that it might have been the site of a pond.

But, rather than stay with speculation I looked up the OS map for 1959, which clearly shows a bandstand at the Parkville Road entrance.

And quick as a flash found a 1962 picture of the bandstand.

The bandstand in 1959

I don’t know when it was built, but the park dates from 1926, and I guess that it was erected around that time or a little later.

Its design resembles the open-air theatre in Chorlton Park which was laid out in 1928.

Which just leaves me to thank Barbarella, and scoop up a description of the park from Didsbury Civic Society.

"Fog Lane Park is off Fog Lane. Didsbury.  It was purchased in 1926 by the Council and was one of first public parks in Manchester.

It is said that Fog Lane Park earned its name from a grass, commonly known as 'Yorkshire Fog' which still grows throughout the park.

The site is comprised mainly of grassland and woodland, but also contains two small lakes, shrub beds, scattered trees, rose gardens and a sensory garden and children's play areas. 

The park is particularly suited to football, having several pitches and a large grassed area.

Welcome to the park, 2020

Fog Lane has an area dedicated to the growth of wildflowers. 

These attract wildlife such as butterflies, dragonflies and a large selection of insects.  In turn, these provide food for a wide variety of birds which visit the park and are then encouraged to nest.  

These include mallards, moorhens, Canada geese, kestrels, wood pigeons, coots and the occasional heron, plus the latest additions - ring-necked parakeets.

 The park has a variety of trees and shrubs, including dawn redwood, silver birch, laburnums and flowering crabs, as well as a number of unusual specimens which have reached maturity, including hornbeams, alders, poplars, Norway maple and Indian bean.

 The park is mainly used for children’s recreation, dog walking, personal fitness including organised health walking, Saturday and Sunday league football and for educational purposes, by school groups, church groups and scout/brownie groups.

 Fog Lane Park Bowling Club and the Friends of Fog Lane Park actively work with Manchester Leisure to improve and promote the site.”**

Location; Fog Lane Park

Pictures; Fog Lane Park, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento, Bandstand, Fog Lane Park,1962, m58046, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and Fog lane Park, 1959, from the OS Map of Manchester & Salford, 1959

*The Bandstand,  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Bandstands

***More on Fog Lane Park, Didsbury Civic Society, https://www.didsburycivicsociety.org/fog-lane-park

Buying your insurance from the Boulevard Anspach in Brussels ………

Now it began with this impressive list of offices of the The Gresnam Life Assurance Society Ltd, which my friend Barbarella came across on the Boulevard Anspach in Brussels.

Now I don’t have a date but I know that the company were established in 1848.

And that “They were based at St Mildred's House, Poultry in 1901 and later at Aldwych House, Holborn. 

It was taken over by Legal and General Assurance Society in 1934, and sold in 1973. In 1975 the company’s head offices were moved to Bournemouth. In 1992 it was taken over by Windsor Life Assurance”.*

So our list must date from sometime before or around 1901 given that the information board lists its headquarters at St Mildred's House, Poultry in the City of London.

The records of the Gresnam Life Assurance Society, include registers, notices, minutes, annual reports, financial accounts, valuation summaries, samples of policy forms, and papers relating to branches in Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, South Africa, and Spain.

As well as papers of the Gresham Continental Life Assurance Society, including memorandum and articles of association, minute books and letter books.

I wish I had time to go down to London and peruse the records but I don’t.

In the meantime I can admire the entrance to what looks to have been the offices and the impressive door.

Location; Brussels

Pictures; from Barbarella Bonvento, 2022

* Gresnam Life Assurance Society, London Metropolitan Archives, https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail/REFD+CLC~2FB~2F144-10?SESSIONSEARCH

Hidden …. forgotten ….. and neglected ….. a piece of our old technology

Now I remain fascinated by those odd bits of our old technology, and so is my friend Barbarella who came across this box.

She told me “It was above a train line, in Cheadle, just passed the Mersey and before the Garden Centre”.

And I think it is a Lucy box, which according to I Spy Lucy Boxes, "is a name applied to boxes, about 3 feet high, about 2 feet wide and about 18 inches deep, which are to be found on pavements throughout the city.*   

Such boxes were originally used in connection with the tram network and then with the trolley bus network; and as part of the general electricity supply network; and for telephone purposes…….. 

The name 'Lucy box' was applied to these boxes because the great majority of them, in the early days at least, were made by the Lucy Foundry in Oxford.**

The equipment in them was used to isolate a section of the tram or trolley bus route - that is, to stop electricity running through that section. 

It could also be used to make the route solid, that is, you could make the electric current bypass the isolating components in the box; this would enable you to work on the box while the trams or trolleys continued running”. 

Of course I might have got this terribly wrong, but then someone will tell me, which is the joy of the blog.

Location; Cheadle

Pictures, what Barbarella saw, 2022, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

*I Spy Lucy Boxes, http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/lucy/lucyboxes.htm

**W. Lucy & Co., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Lucy_%26_Co.

Discovering the secrets of one Didsbury house ………….. it’s all in the wallpaper

It’s not the most scientific way to research the tastes of 1930 Didsbury residents, but it’s fun.

So here under the layers of more recent decorative styles are the wall paper choices of one family back just under 90 years ago.

They come from my friend Barbarella who came across these clues to what one of the previous owners of the house thought were the cutting edge of design.

To be fair the examples showing 19th century figures set against a rural landscape may have been for a children’s bedroom, and may originally been taken from nursery stories.

And here I remember having once asked and got an entire room decorated with Dan Dare wall paper when I was seven.  

With more research I might be able to actually locate and date the different wall papers.

A quick search suggested that similar “vintage period” wall papers from the 1930s go for between £17 and £44 a roll. Now there’s a thought.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; wallpapers from a Didsbury house, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

Shops in the time of Tier Three ....... whisky....walking sticks .... and piles more

So, with Tier Three about to imposed on us, and with essential journeys stripped back to the minimum, here for the next few weeks are shops I have visited or wished I had visited.

All will be from far away places which soon will be but a distant memory, for at least a while.

And this one comes from Barabrella who write, “It was a shop in Crieff. I only took a picture of the whisky section but it was a proper grocery. Had cheese at the back, tinned food, fresh bread and crackers. The grocer was wearing a brown robe on top of his clothes and he was quite old. And, there were walking sticks on sale as well, outside”.

Crieff is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross. It lies on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. 

"It has become a hub for tourism, famous for its whisky and history of cattle droving. Attractions include the Caithness Glass Visitor Centre and Glenturret Distillery. 

The nearby Innerpeffray Library (founded about 1680), is Scotland's oldest lending library. 

St Mary's Chapel, adjacent to the library, dates from 1508. Both are open to the public: the library is run by a charitable trust, while the chapel is in the care of Historic Scotland".*

Picture; the shop in Crieff, 2019, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

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

A little bit of that Coronation celebrations from 1911 …….…..

This is part of the Coronation procession passing down Wilmslow Road at the corner of King Street on a June day in 1911.

There can be no one from that crowd who is still alive today, and apart from a detailed description of the festivities in in a souvenir book and some press cuttings I doubt I will ever turn up anything else which can tell me more about that day in Didsbury.*

Or so I thought, but Barbarella, in response to my story on the Coronation procession, sent me over a picture of this coronation mug.

Like many such artefacts it turned up in an Oxfam shop, and while there will have been thousands in circulation back in the day, I would be surprised if there are any more knocking around in Didsbury.

It was produced by Grimwades of Stoke on Trent, who are famous for their Royal Winton range of earthenware and fine bone china.  The company was established in 1885 by two brothers, and continued into the 1960s, when it was taken over.

Barbarella’s mug has survived over a century and I suppose is lucky to be in one piece.

The romantic in me would love to know its history, including it line of owners.

I suspect it will have been carefully placed on display for decades, before changing fashions and different owners finally consigned into a charity shop from where it has returned to a place of care and safety.




Location; Didsbury

Pictures; Wimlsow Road, from the Souvenir of the Coronation Festivities Held at Didsbury, June 22nd 1911, Fletcher Moss, and the Coronation mug, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento










* the Souvenir of the Coronation Festivities Held at Didsbury, June 22nd 1911, Fletcher Moss

Telephone Exchanges…….. doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 26

I have to say, I thought telephone exchanges were as dead  as the telegram, and VHS recorders.

But not so, as Barbarella’s picture of this one in Northenden testifies.

In my defence, I have always taken them for granted, and just assumed the onward march of how we communicate with each other had rendered them obsolete.

At which point I pause for all the technical experts to explain a]why I got it wrong and b] why telephone exchanges are still needed


Location; Northenden

Picture; in Northenden, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

Passing the ghost bank ....... doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 25

Now I am back with that ghost bank. 

It is  one of those buildings that I have never given much thought to, but it caught Barbarella's eye recently on a walk, and she sent over a series of pictures, adding, "This used to be a physiotherapy centre, about twenty years ago. Lapwing Lane"

It is the former bank on Lapwing Lane and I must have passed it countless times, and on occasion stared at it from the window of the restaurant opposite.

I did once try to take some pictures but the light was wrong and I gave up which is a shame because I might have been inspired to dig down in to the history of The Mercantile Bank of Lancashire.

But Barbarella's pictures have caught it perfectly.

As yet I haven’t found out much other than it merged with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank in 1904 which merged with the Bank of Liverpool and Martin in 1927 which subsequently changed its name to Martins and in turn merged with Barclays in 1969.

But there will be someone out there who knows all about the bank and in time will be in touch.

In the meantime I know that our building dates from 1903, which means it had a brief existence as the Mercantile Bank.

Such are the exciting times of the banking world.

And since I posted this Richard has dug deeper and discovered that the Mercantile Bank Of Lancashire Ltd was "founded in 1890 with a head office at temporary premises in Guardian Buildings, Cross Street, Manchester, with capital of £1m, its early growth reflected the continuing industrial prosperity of Manchester.

The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal resulted in over 200 new accounts, and on 30 June 1891 the bank reported a net profit of £2,806.

Several branches were opened in the Manchester area, as well as others across Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire.

In 1900 branches were acquired on the Isle of Man by amalgamation with the Manx Bank.

Soon after, however, the Mercantile Bank began to run into difficulty, partly due to the effect of the Boer War on investments.

The board of directors saw that as a relatively small bank, they could only survive by further amalgamation.

In the early part of 1904, several meetings were held with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, and on 1 July the business of the Mercantile Bank was transferred to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank."*

And in turn the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank merged with he Bank of Liverpool and Martin in 1927.

Pictures; former Mercantile Bank of Lancashire, 1903, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento, 2020

*Barclays Bank PLC, https://www.archive.barclays.com/items/show/5305

Street furniture …….. doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 24

I have to confess to liking and collecting street furniture, be it an old coal hole cover, a 19th century water trough, umpteen different types of postboxes or the humble road sign.

All of which I have written about on the blog over the years, and today I can add a new one, which was sent over by Barbarella, who added, “Urban furniture, they don’t make them like they used to!"

And I have to agree, which in this case appears to be an old fashioned streetlamp with a slightly more up to date light shade.

There will be someone out there who can date the lamp post, and explain its place in the pantheon of streetlamp design.

We shall see.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Didsbury street furniture, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

*Street furniture lost and saved, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Street%20Furniture%20lost%20and%20saved

Relics of our industrial past …….. doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 23

Now, here is a story yet to be explored.

Barbarella came across this impressive brick viaduct on her walk yesterday along the Mersey on the border between Didsbury and Cheshire.

It clearly has seen better days and despite my confidence earlier this morning I have not tracked down its history, despite staring at maps of the area dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

But someone will know, and offer up chapter and verse, from which I can go back and delve deeper.

To which John Anthony Hewitt has responded with "That would have been part of the Manchester Central to London St Pancras main line railway, closed in 1969. Apart from Central station, other stations closed had included CCH, Withington & WD, Didsbury, H. Mersey, Cheadle Heath and Hazel Grove"

And looking at the 1900-1910 OS map for Cheshire, a line does cross the Mersey at that point.

And I suspect this one will rumble on ..... well I hope so.

Leaning me just to wallow in that wonderfully sad lament for the passing of all things, .....The Slow Train, Flanders and Swann.*

Location; Didsbury, Cheshire border

Picture; that viaduct, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento, and extract from the OS map of Cheshire, 1900-1910, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*The Slow Train, Flanders and Swann, https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=slow+train+to+flanders+and+swann+youtube#id=1&vid=d4db089311173cef82d5b22b68fe010d&action=click

Reuniting a war memorial with its church in West Didsbury ........ the picture of St Mary's

Now, ever since I discovered that the war memorial in the grounds of what was St Luke’s on Burton Road had come from another church which closed in 1929 I had been looking for a picture of that lost church.

St Maru's, date unknown

It was called St Mary’s and was located on Queens Court Road on the corner with Palatine Road. 

There was no reference to it in the Directories, although there was a school bearing the same name behind Barlow Moor Road.

Then as so often happens, someone came forward and offered up the answer, which in this case was Maureen Stephenson who responded to the original story with, "The following information is from Pam Siddon's booklet West Didsbury - A Walk on the West Side. Hopefully, it will solve the St. Mary's mystery. 

On the opposite side of the St. Aidan’s United Reform Church, on Palatine Road was  St. Mary's Church, which was demolished in 1929.

St Mary's on Queens Court Road

St. Mary's had been built in when the parishioners of St Luke's on Burton Road became very resentful at having to attend services there. 

The road was badly lit, the pavements dirty and hardly anyone lived nearby. 

In 1888 they held a meeting and agreed to build a temporary church on Palatine Road. 

St. Mary's was a wooden structure of pitched pine with a corrugated iron roof which was always known as 'The Iron Church'. 

The organist and choirmaster, Samuel Lamford, was the music critic of 'The Manchester Guardian'. (Andrew, the church may have been on the site of the present day Queens Court flats?)"

Queens Court

And having finally got its location I found it on the 1893 OS map for South Lancashire, and again on the 1933 OS, after which it was demolished and the complex of flats known as Queens Court was built.

But until now I lacked a picture, but that too has now been sorted, because a few days ago John Waterton posted a picture postcard of the church  from the Wrench series and gave me permission to reuse it.

I don’t have a date, and although there is a serial number on the card, I have yet to locate a Wrench catalogue which would provide that date.

The War Memoriral, Northern Grove, 2017

Still, for now it is enough that I can place the memorial beside its original church.

Location; Didsbury






Pictures; St Mary’s from a Wrench picture postcard courtesy of John Waterton, the war memorial 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Queens Court, 2020 from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

Losing a bar and avoiding the gladiators ....... doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 20

Now here I have to admit I am cheating.

This was not Barbarella's essential walk in 2020, but her holiday in Rome, long before the virus and travel restrictions.

My own pictures of the "Eternal City" are filed under a collection of odd titles which are not easily found and so I was happy when Barbarella offered up these.

This as everyone will know is the Tiber and back in the early 1950s, somewhere along here was that floating bar which featured in Roman Holiday.  The film remains a favourite of mine, partly because it is a daft romantic story, but also because the backdrop is Rome in 1953.

And as you do each time we watch it; we do the touristy bit of picking out the places we know and reflecting on how different they look today.

So, I will mutter about the tons of euro coins we have thrown in the Trevi Fountain and Tina will yet again tell me about the man, the ice cream and the Spanish Steps.

But despite a series of walks along the Tiber I have never found that floating bar., although the boat on the water in her picture looks promising.

On the other hand, Barbarella must have chosen the only day when the Gladiators were not out and about at the foot of the Colosseum posing for pictures with tourists.

I don’t begrudge anyone a living, but paying a shedload of money to stand beside Eric from Morecambe and Lib from Milan dressed in a plastic breastplate and helmet, with a bendy sword from the Euro Shop, doesn’t capture the historic moment of the Colosseum.

Well that is it …… I could wax historical on the river and the amphitheatre, but their stories are too well known.

Location Rome

Pictures; The Tiber and the Colosseum, from the collection of Barbarella Benevento

Stories of Nazi persecution, Russian emigres and a wartime crime ............. Nuremberg, Didsbury, Minsk and Liverpool

Now, the thing about researching the past, is that you can never be quite sure where you will end up.

Manchester Guardian, 1940

So, the story of the man from Didsbury, sentenced to six years hard labour in 1940, for contravening the Official Secrets Act, led to  a Jewish refugee, fleeing Nazi persecution and by degree led me to Liverpool and a family of Russian emigres.

Of course, the journey was not as undirected as it seems, because you make choices in the course of the research.

I could have chosen to follow up on the young woman who arrived in Britain in March 1939, and tried to track her early years living in Nuremberg where she was born.

Queens Court, Didsbury, 2020

But instead I chose to follow Mrs. Cashdown of 10 Ducie Street, in Liverpool who gave the young woman a job as a domestic servant in the October of that year.

Just how  long she stayed with Mrs. Cashdown is unclear but by the March of 1940 she was working for a new couple who lived in Queens Court in Didsbury, and as these things sometimes go, fell in love with her employer, who later would be tried and found guilty of breaking the Official Secrets Act.

He left his wife, and they set up home in a house in Old Trafford, and her failure to inform the Police of her change of address, led to her arrest and the discovery that her partner who as an “aircraft examiner” had made copies of classified material.

And there the story goes cold, she may have been interned because of that failure to give notice that she had moved.  If so this in itself was a personal tragedy given that in the October of 1939, a tribunal had judged she shouldn’t be interned because it was decided she was  “a refugee, fleeing Nazi persecution”.

With time I might find out more, but I doubt it.

As for the man, he too pretty much vanishes from history, although there are a few possible candidates in the records who might be him.

All of which led me out of curiosity to Mrs. Cashdan.  She and her husband were from Russia, and arrived in Britain sometime between 1905 and 1908.  In 1911, they were living at 73 Great Newton Street, and he is described in the local directory as a “Poulter”, adding a few months later on the census that he was a "Shocket (Jewish Butcher)” who slaughtered animals in conformity with Jewish religious practices.

Manchester Guardian, 1940

As such he was an important member of the community, and his sons followed his occupation with one of them describing himself as “a Minister of Religion and a Slaughterman”.

Sadly, nether of the two houses they lived in have survived.  73 Great Newton Street is now underneath one of the buildings belonging to Liverpool University, while Ducie Street was demolished sometime between 2009 and 2012.  Looking at pictures predating the demolition, no 10 looks to have been a fine town house.

And back in 1911, the street could boast a “foreign correspondent," a ship owner, a merchant, and a manager, along with a “glass and china merchant”, two “dental manufactures", a brewer, a solicitor and a "coffee merchant”.

Leaving me to reflect that in a short few hours of research I entered the world of the first half of the last century, touching on the war, Nazi persecution, and the lives of a Russian émigré family.

Pictures; headlines from Manchester Guardian, 1940, and Queen's Court, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

Sources; Manchester Guardian, March- July 1949, census records for 1911, the 1939 Register and Internment Tribunal, 1939

Wartime stories from Didsbury ……… following up on yesterday

Now there is a fine line when researching other’s people’s lives between telling the story and being mindful of picking over the personal history of an individual and revealing stuff that is sensitive and private.

And so it has been today, when I followed up on a story from yesterday, which was about a block of flats on the corner of Palatine Road and Queens Court Road.

The buildings looked to have been built in the 1930s, and in a trawl of the Manchester Guardian found a series of articles, which named the flats.  The earliest was 1939, which fitted with what I wanted to believe, and so I gave short shrift to the other references, which included the case of a woman found innocent of stealing a £1 in 1945, and the trial of an “Aircraft Examiner, under two charges of the Official Secrets Act which was heard in camera”.  *

“He was also charged with aiding and abetting a German Refugee from Nazi oppression to commit an offence under the Aliens Order.”

I promised myself that I would return if only to see what happened to him, and having done just that I was confronted with that dilemma of describing what happened, and in the process naming names.

It was 1940, he was living at Queens Court and he accused of making drawings of sensitive items in his care, and keeping them in a locked briefcase, along with possessing a key to a room he had no official permission to access.

All of which in wartime was very serious, and despite pleading that he was merely wanting keep a record of his work, he was found guilty and sentenced to six year had labour.

And as so often happens his actions had been discovered by chance when the police searched  his home in relation to another matter, involving a young German woman, who had been granted the status of “refugee from Nazi oppression".

She was twenty, and was working as a domestic servant in one of the flats in Queens Court, and was employed by the  “aircraft examiner” and his wife.

He had fallen in love with her, left his wife and the couple moved into a house in Old Trafford, but on his advice she had failed to disclose to the Police the change of address.

Now I know both their names, but have chosen not to reveal them.  That said I haven’t been able to find out anything more.

Were they reunited after the war and his release?  Did they go their separate ways, and carve out new lives?  As far the historical records are silent.

So it’s just one of those stories of little people caught up in big events, who just happened to live at Queens Court.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; Walking Palatine Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

*Manchester Guardian, March-September 1940

A breath of the 1930s on Palatine Road ……………doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 17

Now I have always been intrigued by Queens Court, on Palatine Road, which looks out of place amongst the grand old Victorian and Edwardian houses, and the more modern blocks of flats, which stretch down from Lapwing Lane and on towards Wilmlsow Road.

They have a stylish presence, with their arched exterior staircases which marks them off as different and very bold when they were built sometime in the 1930s.

I say 1930s, because I have always thought they reflected that period.

And now I know that they were at least there by 1939, and possibly earlier.

They are on the site of St Mary’s Church which ran along Queens Court Road and Palatine Road.

The church closed in 1929, and I suspect sometime in the next decade our flats went up.

The search for a date for the flats was one of those little detective exercises which involved trawling past copies of the Manchester Guardian looking for any reference to the buildings.*

In 1945 in the local magistrates courts a resident of one of the flats who was described as a married woman in an “extremely good financial position” was cleared of an accusation of theft, while in 1940, an “Aircraft Examiner” was “Charged under two charges of the Official Secrets Act [in a case] heard in camera”.  

“He was also charged with aiding and abetting a German Refugee from Nazi oppression to commit an offence under the Aliens Order.”

And a year earlier the newspaper carried an advert "Queens’ Court, Palatine Road, West Didsbury 2 only Entirely Self Contained   4 roomed Maisonettes”

Now I have Barbarella to thank for the pictures, because she tailored her essential walk of the day to include Queens Court following a request by me.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; Walking Palatine Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

*Manchester Guardian, July 15th 1939, Jul 6th 1940, March 28, 1945