So, who did pay for the Chorlton Conservative Club back in 1891? ……… And why it matters

Now there will be some who dismiss the question either because they hold no time for the Conservative Party and others who can’t see the relevance given that the club was sold off around 2013 and was converted it into residential use.

The end of the story, the Conservative Club, 2013

But for over 120 years it was one of our biggest buildings, and with its clocktower was a local landmark.

Added to which, plenty of people will have attended all sorts of dos in what was the Public Hall, along with quite a few well-known actors who performed in repertory companies on the stage of that Public Hall.

And for anyone interested in our history, knowing who helped pay for its construction will help offer up a better understanding of who voted Conservative in Chorlton  in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as providing an insight into Chorlton-cum-Hardy, just as the township was evolving from an agricultural community into a suburb of Manchester.

I have long been intrigued by those who took a risk and subscribed in the new Conservative Club which opened in Chorlton in 1892 and have written about them. *

The share book opened on February 20th, 1891, and between that date and November 7th of the same year, 118 signed on the dotted line handing over a minimum of £1, with some putting down a lot more.

Mary Jane Weeks takes a punt, 1891

So far, I have only analysed the first 50 and they are an interesting cross section.

As you would expect there were a few individuals who bought between £100 and £250 in one purchase, while sliding down the scale there were quite a few buying just one share.  Of those that splashed out, one was the MP, John William McLaren of Whalley Range, another was a merchant and another two described themselves as engineers.

At the other end over a third bought shares worth between £10 down to £1, and as you would expect their occupations were also more modest, with a collection of clerks, shop keepers and craftsmen.

The Register, 1891

The largest single group of subscribers were professionals, including John William McLaren MP, a doctor and architect, three engineer’s and our own Charles Ireland who described himself a “Photo Artist” with a chain of Photographic Studios in Manchester and across the Northwest.

Occupations of the first 50 subscribers, 1891

But there were also plenty of businessmen, some who still made a living from the land, and commercial and traveling salesmen and one who was employed in a warehouse.

And with a few notable exceptions, most of our subscribers lived in properties on roads which were cut between 1880 and 1890.

These were the homes of the middling people who rented or bought properties on Albany, Chequers, and Stockton Roads as well as Oak Avenue and Whitelow Road. There's were the substantial tall semi detached houses, home to many who worked in the city but like the "country feel" of Chorlton, which still had plenty of open land.

Most of the 82 I have so far looked at were men, but there were a few women, and one in particular who gave her occupation as domestic servant.

She was Mary Jane Weeks who held shares amounting to £2. She had been born in 1849, in the small market town of Hathereigh in Devon, and was working as a servant by 1871.

Two decades later she was employed by the Adams family in their house on Chequers Road. Her employer, Mrs. Elizabeth de Worth Adams, had also taken out a subscription for £20 and both ceased membership in February 1900.

It may be that Ms. Weeks followed her boss in to subscribing on the basis that this was a venture worth investing in.

Of course, we will never know.  She died in January 1917 and was buried in Southern Cemetery.

The next task will be to research each of those early subscribers and in particular to dig deeper into their occupations because it has always been easy to categories some of them.

Share holdings of the first 50 subscriber, 1891

So I can be pretty sure Mr. Arnold Bryce Smith was one of our more wealthy inhabitants, for while he described himself as a “Calico Printer” he lived in the fabulously big house called Rye Bank which was on Edge Lane. *

But the jury is out on Mr. William Chester Thompson, of Manchester who listed his occupation as brewer, although as he subscribed £25 I think he was not from the factory floor.

It really all will be down to the detail.  That said some are easier to identify, like Mathew Henry Holland of the Horse and Jockey, Mr. and Mrs. Lomax who farmed the land around Hough End Hall or the prestigious Samuel Gratrix of West Point on the border with Whalley Range.

The New Conservative Club, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1892

Leaving lots of the “middling people” who were clerks, shop keepers and salesmen.

All in all, the register will gives us a fascinating insight into the Chorlton of the 1890s.  Not all the subscribers will have voted Conservative, and some may just have fancied an investment while others may even have just wanted to join a club.

We shall see.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; The Conservative Club in 2013 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, in 1892 from the Manchester Courier, April 30th, 1892. and the cover and a page from the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club, Limited, Register of Members, 1891

*Chorlton Conservative Club Financing, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Conservative%20Club%20Finances

**Register of Members Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club Limited 1892-96

***Rye Bank, Edge Lane, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Rye%20Bank

So just who owned Chorlton’s Conservative Club in 1891?

Now this is not an arcane question but gets to the very heart of who lived in Chorlton, and what their political affiliations were in the February of 1891 and by extension what our township was like at the end of the 19th century.

The Con Club, 2013

And of course, at the outset I have to say that the history of political clubs over the years, is that many members join because of the social attractions rather than the political outlook of the club.

It is true of Labour clubs as it is of Conservative ones, and no doubt also of the old Liberal clubs.

That said I am intrigued by those who took a risk and subscribed in the new Conservative Club which opened in Chorlton in 1892.

The share book opened on February 20th, 1891 and between that date and November 7th of the same year, 118 signed on the dotted line handing over a minimum of £1, with some putting down a lot more.

So far, I have only analyzed the first 50 and they are an interesting cross section.

As you would expect there were a few individuals who bought between £100 and £250 in one purchase, while sliding down the scale there were quite a few buying just one share.  Of those that splashed out, one was the MP, John William McLaren of Whalley Range, another was a merchant and another two described themselves as engineers.

The first 50 subscribers, 1891

At the other end over a third bought shares worth between £10 down to £1, and as you would expect their occupations were also more modest, with a collection of clerks, shop keepers and craftsmen.

The most interesting was Miss Mary Jane Weeks who bought two shares in the February and made her living from working as a domestic servant for a family living on Chequers Road.

I suspect some saw it as a solid enough investment, but it was one which Miss Weeks and a few others tired of very quickly, with a handful ceasing to be members within a year.  In the case of Mary Jane, she lasted just seven years.

The Con Club, 1908

Others stayed the course, bought into more shares,  and continued as members long after they had left the area, and were only parted from their membership by death.

So the task will be to finish collecting the data on all 118, with a side look at those who joined in the following decade, and then matching them against the other official records of Chorlton, from census returns, to directories and electoral rolls.

All of which lead to a better understanding of who our residents were and why so many chose to take a punt with a a share in the Conservative Club and Public hall.

Well that's the plan.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; The Conservative Club, 1908, from the Lloyd Collection,  and in 2013 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Register of Members Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club Limited 1892-96

Miss. Mary Jane Weeks ……… domestic servant and shareholder in the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club

Now history is messy and doesn’t always conform to rigid rules of historical development.

The Conservative Club and Public Hall, 1908

And nowhere is this more the case than in the individuals who came forward to buy shares in the new Conservative Club which opened for business, in 1892.

This was after all the party of class which represented the people of plenty.

But as we all know amongst their ranks no less than their loyal voters were people drawn from all classes.

And here it is easy to be dismissive and sniffy about those who consistently voted Tory despite coming from humble beginnings.

My father was a working class Tory.  He drove coaches all his life, and yet he voted for the party which on the surface was least likely to look after him.  That said mother was Labour and she always maintained that her vote cancelled out Dad’s which was a start on the way to a Labour Government.

The political side, 1980s

Here in Chorlton throughout the late 19th century and into the first two decades of the next the Liberals and Conservatives fought it out, and at a local level this often resulted in the electorate returning candidates from both parties on alternative years  to the Town Hall.

But like elsewhere after the last world war, the Liberals were eclipsed and the Tories came out on top, dominating local elections until 1986 and continuing to return an MP until Keith Bradley’s victory in 1987.

And I have long been fascinated by what makes people from the working class vote Conservative.  There will be many explanations and the idea that they were all just class traitors is not good enough.

So that has led me to the big book of subscribers for the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club.  The land had been handed over by the Egerton’s in 1891, and the subscription fund opened that year.

As you would expect here can be found the very wealthy, including Samuel Gratrix of West Point in Whalley Range who bought £200 worth of shares, and a collection of our farmers, merchants and businessmen.

The club up for sale, 2013

Here too was Charles Ireland who owned a string of photographic shops, as well as estate agents, civil engineers down to shop keepers and warehousemen.

Some may have been drawn by the politics, while others by the social attractions of the club

And along with all these was Miss. Mary Jane Weeks, who held shares amounting to £2.

What makes her interesting is that she was domestic servant, working for the Adams family from at least 1891 through to 1911 and possibly beyond.

She had been born in 1849, in the small market town of Hathereigh in Devon, and was working as a servant by 1871.

I would like to know more about Miss. Mary Jane, but so far there are only the census returns to go on, but something more will turn up.

 And in the same way in the fullness of time, all the subscribers will be plotted and their lives revealed.

All of which will help get a better understanding of who voted Conservative in Chorlton  in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as offering up an insight into Chorlton-cum-Hardy, just as the township was evolving from an agricultural community into a suburb of Manchester.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; The Conservative Club, 1908, from the Lloyd Collection,  in 1980, from the collection of Tony Walker, and in 2013 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Register of Members Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club Limited 1892-96