Mrs. Clara Nicholson of Chorlton ……. the mile of pennies ……. and a Disaster Appeal

“In the Russian famine we are witnessing the most terrible devastation that has afflicted the world for centuries.

"Hordes of starving disease infected people have left their homes" 1921

It is estimated that 35 million people will require relief.  I am sorry to say that such news as we have received points to a most appalling catastrophe”.*

The words could have come from any one of several celebrities or journalists looking to camera and reporting on a human disaster against a background of moving and awful images of starving people.

But not so, they come from the Manchester Guardian reporting on the appalling famine that was ravaging Russia in the summer of 1921.

And in the face of that famine thousands of people were on the move.  Some were heading towards Turkestan, others to Siberia and more to Poland in the knowledge that there were “no food supplies and no shelter and they are doomed to annihilation.  Of these migratory bodies only some 20 per cent are able bodied and MORE THAN 30 PER CENT. ARE CHILDREN. The condition of these last is piteous.  Many of them have been abandoned to their parents.  The people are eating grass, roots and other rubbish”. **

Now my Wikipedia tells me “The Russian famine of 1921–1922, also known as the Povolzhye famine, was a severe famine in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic which began early in the spring of 1921 and lasted through 1922. This famine killed an estimated 5 million people, primarily affecting the Volga and Ural River regions.”***

The mile of pennies, 1921

Reading the Manchester Guardian’s coverage I am struck by the depth of the crisis, and how contemporary were the appeals for help, particularly for The Save the Children Fund, which produced a series of films about the famine and the wider relief problems across Europe.

Here in Britain people were encouraged to send subscriptions responding the simple appeal “Send what you can ‘All you can- Today!”

And individuals and groups looked to the imaginative ways they could raise money and that has led me back to Mrs. Clara Nicholson of Chorlton who along with others set out to raise £220 by making a “mile of pennies”.  

The event took part on October 30th, 1921, in the waiting room of the former tram office on Barlow Moor Road, because the location was a busy spot on a Sunday afternoon.

And just like modern fund-raising activities the committee had invited the Lady Mayoress to take part, personalizing the appeal by specifying “Twenty four pennies will keep one Russian child for a week and so every step in that 'proposed mile' would bring hope and happiness where there is only despair."****

One of the members of that committee was Mrs. Clara Nicholson of Gilbrook Edge Lane, and as you do I went looking for her.

Chorlton Tram Office, circa 1920/30s

And in 1921 I found her at Gilbrook which was number 10 Edge Lane, married to James Nicholson, who was a clothing manufacture with works at Worsley Street in Hulme.

Sadly their home on Edge Lane had vanished by 1933, but I did come across their house on Wilbraham Road close to Blair Road where they had lived a decade earlier.

As yet that is about it, and the trail goes dead.

There is a Clara Nicholson living on “private means” in Oldham in 1939, but that is about it, which is a shame because I would like to know more about her charity work.

But someone may offer up more.

We shall see.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures, Cartoon and description of the mile of pennies, 1921, the tram office with waiting room, circa 1920s-30s from the Lloyd Collection

*The Most Terrible Devastation that has Afflicted the world for Centuries., Manchester Guardian, August 28th, 1921

**ibid, Manchester Guardian, August 28th, 1921

*** Russian famine of 1921–1922, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1921%E2%80%931922

***From Chorlton-cum-Hardy to the Volga Valley, Manchester Guardian, October 20th, 1921

The tram office ...... a mile of pennies ..... and the story of Sport Diving in Chorlton

So, who would have thought that the waiting room of the Corporation tram office would end up as the home of the Manchester Diving Group?

The door to diving, 2022

I have yet to find out when it stopped its connection with the travelling public, but it may have been in the 1950s when the Manchester Diving Group was set up or a tad later during a rationalization of transport facilities.

That building circa 1920s-30s

As far as I can remember it was no longer the Chorlton Office when I arrived in 1976.

But an email to the Diving Group may reveal the date.

For now, I enjoyed the history of “Sport Diving” from their web site and the story of how Diving came to Chorlton.*

Leaving me to look for when our building was erected, which will be around some time soon after 1914,when according to the Manchester Guardian "The Manchester Tramways Committee have bought a piece of land at the tram terminus in Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, for the purpose of a siding, a verandah and shelter and other convivences"**

Interestingly in 1922, the waiting room of the building featured in a fund raising exercise for the Save the Children Fund in Russia organised by "a committee of Chorlton- cum-Hardy residents who planned to make a mile of pennies on Sunday October 30th."  

"A mile of pennies", 1921

The Lady Mayoress was "to place the first pennies on the line in the middle of our mile which we are making in the tram waiting-room, as we feel this is the most densely populated on a Sunday afternoon between three and four thirty. 

If we complete our mile, we shall be able to send through £220.  

Twenty four pennies will keep one Russian child for a week and so every step in that 'proposed mile' would bring hope and happiness where there is only despair."***

The appeal was made by a Mrs. Nicholson of Gilda Brook, on Edge Lane which I think may prompt more research.

Leaving me just to add that the tram office  the subject of a firebomb on October 9th, 1940

Location; Chorlton

Picture, the door to diving, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Chorlton Office circa 1920s, 30s, from the Lloyd Collection

* Manchester Diving Group, https://www.manchesterdiving.org.uk/

**Tramway Shelters, Manchester Guardian, March 11th, 1914

***From Chorlton-cum-Hardy to the Volga Valley, Manchester Guardian, October 20th, 1921

Reach Out to the Community ...........

Now the history of the charity shop in Chorlton has yet to be written.

And before someone passes a sniffy comment about such a project I would just remind them of how important such shops are, from the work they do, and the people they help to that simple observation that without them a lot of Chorlton’s retail units would be empty.

The trouble is we tend to take them for granted and I doubt many of us could say which charity opened up first and how each of their stories have panned out.

So that is the challenge should anyone care to take up the project.

Peter has made a start with this painting  for Reach Out to the Community which supports “people struggling with the most basic of needs: food and shelter.”

It focuses on two groups: rough sleepers in and around the Chorlton area of Greater Manchester, and local individuals and families who are in food poverty, especially those who are particularly vulnerable, for example the elderly.”*

He will be donating the painting to the charity and for those who want to know just what the charity does and what you can do for the charity just follow the link at the bottom.*

Location;Chorlton

Painting; Reach out to the Community,© Peter Topping 2017.

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures, https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

* Reach Out to the Community, A new website is on its way. In the meantime please connect with the initiative through social media:
 Facebook:      https://www.facebook.com/OutReachtotheCommunity/
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReachOut_Com