Rare and fascinating …….. the 85 year old relic

This could possibly be the last Anderson shelter in Chorlton.

Anderson Shelter, 2021

I know there was one on Upper Chorlton Road, but I am not sure it has survived.

This one is on Sandy Lane, and in 1939 the house beside it was occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Craven.

James Craven was born in 1896, and his wife Hilda seven years later.  On the 1939 Register he described himself as a "Textile Agent", working for himself, while Mrs. Craven was engaged on  “Unpaid Domestic Duties”. 

In all probability they were the first residents in the house which was built in 1935, and may well have been responsible for erecting the shelter.

Andersons were designed in 1939, could accommodate six people and were made of six galvanized panels which were bolted together.  They were 6 feet high, 4.5 feet wide, and 6.5 feet long.

They were either buried deep in the ground and with a covering of soil on the roof, or in some cases installed inside people's houses and covered with sandbags.  They were issued free to all householders who earned less than £5 a week.

But for those earning above £5 a week  there was a charge of £7 .

One and a half million shelters of this type were distributed between February 1939 and the outbreak of war, and  during the war a further 2.1 million were erected.

In 1945 householders were expected to remove their shelters and local authorities began the task of reclaiming the corrugated iron, and those householders who wished to keep their Anderson shelter could pay a nominal fee to retain them.

I first saw the Sandy Lane one back in the mid 1970, but never did anything about.

But back in 2021 I knocked on, got permission, and discovered that it sat level with the ground, leaving me to wonder whether the Craven’s or some one else had rescued it from the ground and rebuilt it on top. 

Anderson Shelter in the making, 1939

Or maybe it was never sunk into the ground.  

The present owner offered to move the bins, but I rather like them where they are, a reminder that the shelter and the bins, along with the garden are an essential part of the house.

Location, Chorlton

Pictures, the Anderson Shelter, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the first delivery of an Anderson Shelter, somewhere in Manchester,1939, Daily Herald, m09587, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass 

The Chorlton mysteries …….. which stubbornly keep their secrets

Sometimes despite a heap of research the stories just don’t come together.

Bomb damage, Manchester, 1941

And so, it is with a family of four who “were killed by enemy action in March 1941” and the mysterious link between a house in Chorltonville and the Nazi propagandist, Lord Haw Haw.

Both stories emerged from conversations during the week and in their different ways both seemed promising avenues of research.

The Smith family are buried in Southern Cemetery in the consecrated section T close to Barlow Moor Road, and a search of the City Council’s burial records list them as Eliza, Joseph, Ada and May.

I haven’t seen the grave yet, but Ed passed over the details and wondered where they may have lived.

I thought the bomb maps might offer up a location for their home, but that does depend to some extent on knowing where to look.

Barrage Balloon, 1940, Chorlton

Alas so far, I can’t find them on the 1921 census or the 1939 Register and while there is a reference to an Eliza Smith born in 1866, I can’t be sure this is her.

Nor do they appear in the list of dead killed on March 11th or the following day in one data base.*

Now given the confusion of war I fully accept that some records went missing, but it just ads to my failure.

And in the same way I haven’t been able to make a link between a house in North Meade and Lord Haw Haw, which was the was the “nickname applied to William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK from Germany during the Second World War. 

The broadcasts opened with "Germany calling, Germany calling", spoken in an affected upper-class English accent”. **

The possible link was suggested by one of our guests at the recent book launch, who said her mother had maintained that there was a connection between the house and the Nazi who had been an active Fascist in the 1930s before fleeing to Germany just before the outbreak of the war. ***

The census returns for 1921 and the 1939 Register threw up different people living at the property but as yet I can’t trace a connection to either the British Union of Fascists or to William Joyce.

The Meade, circa 1930

Nor so far I have come across a reference to Joyce in Manchester, despite trawling the Manchester Guardian, but then he was “Director of Propaganda for the British Union Of Fascists” and as such spoke at meetings around the country, so it is possible he appeared at a BUF meeting in the city or the surrounding area. ****

Now I not arrogant enough to suppose that just because I failed someone else will not be more successful, which lays down a sort of challenge.

But for now that is it, other than to record that Chorltonville appears unvisited by Goggle Maps which would have been a quick way of refreshing my memory of the said house on North Meade.

Chairs as weapons, Rotherham, 1936

So, we have all learnt something, apart from those residents of Chorltonville who already knew that Goggle Maps has not wandered down its leafy ways.

The Meade, 1913

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Blitz bomb damage, 1941, m08608, Fight at fascist Meeting, 1936courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council,  http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass barrage balloon on the Rec circa 1941 from the collection of Allan Brown, and the Meade, 1913, and circa 1930s from the Lloyd Collection

*Luftwaffe Over Manchester, The Blitz Years 1940-1944, Peter J C Smith, 2003, Neil Richardson

**Lord Haw Haw, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Haw-Haw

*** The book …. some poems … a cake and the mystery of Lord Haw Haw in Chorltonville, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-book-some-poems-cake-and-mystery-of.html

****Fight at Fascist Meeting Chairs as Weapons, Manchester Guardian February 14th 1936

Chorlton-cum-Hardy …… 1939-1945 …. the missing years

I have been thinking about Chorlton during the last war.

Private Stevens, date unknown

It started after a request for information about the Home Guard in Chorlton, and was firmed up after my friend Ann posted pictures of her dad in Home Guard uniform along with a list of local members.

Over the years I have written about the impact of the Christmas Blitz on Chorlton, along with the Manchester Bomb maps, accounts by those who lived here at the time, and the celebrations on VE Day.*

Along the way another old friend, Allan Brown, shared pictures of a barrage balloon on the Rec and set me looking for the  headquarters of the Home Guard, which he told me was where our own brass band rehearsed.

This was the Masonic Lodge on Edge Lane, but so far I haven’t been able to discover any thing more about the Home Guard’s time at the building.

And as it turns out there is a lack of information about how Chorlton passed the war years.

In the city’s local image collection there are a few bomb photographs and those classic ones of evacuees leaving Chorlton carrying their gas masks, suitcases and accompanied by their parents, while back in 2013, Chorlton History group featured some local veterans**

Added to which there has been the series of interviews undertaken by Michael Thompson for the Wargen project which led to his film War Memories.***

But so far there appears little about the day-to-day experiences of people here in the township.

With lock down coming to an end it will be possible to call into Central Ref and begin to trawl the local newspapers for any references to what was happening here.

A group of the local Home Guard, date unknown

The online Manchester Guardian does have four hundred references to the period 1940-1945, and these are a mix of adverts, family announcements, with a few crime reports, which are all for petty crimes, including a black market scam and an alleged attempt to divert ARP money.

Most of the reports refer to small fines, for failing to turn up on time for Home Guard Parades, Fire Watch duty and a three month prison sentence for failing to comply with a “direction to take up farm work with the Cheshire War Agricultural Committee."

But there are also the hidden gems, like the meeting of the Anglo Soviet Friendship group, and the award of a medal to a nurse who attended a patient in a bombed out house.

And in a nod to a very topical matter, Manchester’s deputy medical officer of Health reported during the city’s campaign to immunize all children from diphtheria, Chorlton had the highest take up, recording a figure of 83%, adding that "his answer to anti-vivisectionists [was] that the anti-toxin was not derived in anyway from any animal, and that on a simple calculation based on the accurate statistics for 1942 showed that non-immunized children were nearly six times as likely to contract diphtheria than  those who had been immunized , and nearly thirty times as likely to die”.****

Leaving me just to reflect on the impact of the war, here where we live.

Halstead Avenue VE Day, 1945

On September 26th, 1942 the Manchester Guardian carried the story that “all women of British nationality who were residing in Manchester on September 6th and between the ages of 20 and 45 years of age will be required to register this weekend for fire prevention duties".*****

And even more somber was the addition of an extra 33 “rest and feeding centres for the reception of homeless people”, which was announced on January 3rd, 1941, just weeks after the Manchester Blitz.******

Chorlton’s additional centres were the Methodist Church on High Lane and McClaren Baptist School on Sibson Road.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures, Private Stevens, and a group of the Home Guard, date unknown, from the collection of Ann Love, and  VE Day celebrators in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1945 from the Lloyd Collection

*Chorlton At War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20at%20war

**Chorlton War Veterans, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-story-of-artic-convoys-today-at.html

***Remembering the Second World War …… today …… at St Nininan’s, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/12/remembering-second-world-war-today-at.html

****Diphtheria: Manchester’s Campaign, the Manchester Guardian August 7th, 1943

*****Today’s Registration in Manchester, Manchester Guardian, September 26th, 1942

Firewatchers killed by German bombing 2/6/1941 .... from Tony Goulding

This memorial on the site of a mass grave of 122 of Manchester’s Second World War civilian dead located in Southern Cemetery, Manchester includes a separate section listing 5 Auxiliary Fire Service Men, however there were also other casualties of the Luftwaffe’s attacks who were killed while on duty. Most apparently, besides the large number of firemen killed, there were a significant number of Air Raid Wardens, Policemen A.R.P. Personnel and Nurses in the list of casualties.
   

Memorial in Southern Cemetery, 2019

Less obvious were the 39 firewatchers (37 men and 2 women) who were victims of the Bombing. These brave men and women were definitely among the “unsung heroes” of World War 2 and as such their lives deserve to be remembered.

Almost half of these heroic individuals (13 men and 1 woman) lost their lives on the night of Whit Sunday / Monday, 1st - 2nd June, 1941; the second heaviest bombing raid over the Greater Manchester area during World War 2. To make this post more manageable I have arbitrarily divided these 14 into two groups. The first seven are recorded below. I intend to include the other seven histories in a follow-up post.               
       

Only one Arthur Walton is listed on this memorial (1) being buried here in Southern Cemetery: (listed as grave Q 956 in the non-conformist section). Five  are buried elsewhere and one, Albert Henry Bowers was cremated Two James Gerard Wynne and Frederick Gerard Lund were interred in St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Moston. East Manchester. Frederick Augustus Penn’s grave can be found in Agecroft Cemetery, Salford, whilst that of Walter James Bull is in St. Margaret’s Churchyard, Prestwich.
     
The body of the last of the seven men, James Richardson, was returned to his home village for burial there. He was laid to rest in St. John’s Churchyard in Read , Nr. Burnley, Lancashire.
   
Manchester’s Civilian War Dead Memorial Tree: - Piccadilly

Manchester's War Memorial Tree, Piccadilly, 2019

Arthur Walton:-
Arthur resided at 17, Clifton Drive, Higher Crumpsall, Manchester. Arthur was born in Manchester on 23rd February, 1881.  He was married to Mary Eliza (née Millar) in the September quarter of 1908.  He worked as a wages clerk for 42 years at the offices of the Manchester cotton merchants Frederick Cawley & Company. He died at The R.A.F Yard, Gartside Street

Gartside St, Bomb Damage m 08573 – G. R. Hinks
James Richardson:-
James resided at 54, Corwen Avenue, Harpurhey, Manchester where he traded as a newsagent. He was born in the village of Read near Burnley in 1887, and was baptized in the church of St. John the Evangelist on 27th December, 1887. His father was William, a cowman, and his mother Sarah. James was a proficient batsman for the village cricket team and later stood as a well respected umpire in the Ribblesdale Cricket League. He was also a prominent member of the Constitutional Club where he regularly enjoyed a game of billiards. He married Alice Maud (née Harwood) in the September quarter of 1909 and the couple had three daughters Eva, Nellie, and Elsie. Sadly Elsie died in 1913 aged just two. Around 1933 the family moved to open a business in Manchester. James  also died on Gartside Street at the premises of J Duncan.

Gartside Street Bomb damage, 1941

James Gerard Wynne:-
Resided at 91, Dudley Road, Whalley Range, Manchester.  He was born in Manchester in 1911 to James Wynne, a boot maker, and his wife Lilian (née Hallion). He married Irene (née Kerr) a ladies hairdresser in the September quarter of 1936.

Frederick Gerard Lund:-
Lived with his parents and sister, Clare Monica at 237, Bury New Road where he was a hardware dealer. He was born on the 19th August, 1899 in Blackburn, Lancashire. His parents were James Thomas, a joiner, and Elizabeth Alice (née Bolton).

Frederick Augustus Penn:-
A near neighbour of the above, he lived at 219, Bury New Road where he kept a butcher shop. He was born in the St. George district of Manchester in the December quarter of 1893. His parents were both born in London. His father, also named Frederick Augustus worked as a glass beveller and his mother was Mary Ann (née Gilder) He married Annie Gladwyn Powel in Prestwich, North Manchester in the December quarter of 1914. Their daughter, Mary Freda, was born on 3rd January, 1916.

Walter James Bull:-
The oldest of these seven men Walter was born on 20th January, 1868. Known as “Jim” he was working as a builder’s labourer and living at 21, Waterloo Street, Lower Crumpsall, Manchester. He died at 53, George Street.

Cumberland Street bomb site, 1941

Albert Henry Bowers:-
The last of the seven was a textile designer and the only one to reside in Chorlton-cum-Hardy at 40, Cavendish Road (2) He was born in Salford, Greater Manchester on 3rd October, 1874. His parents were William Henry a builder and Sarah Ann Perolz from Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Albert didn’t marry till late in his life marrying Annie Maud Craig in the September quarter of 1922. He died at 80, Cumberland Street, Deansgate, Manchester.

Tony Goulding, © 2019

Cumberland St. Bomb Site m 08574 G. R. Hinks.

Location; Chorlton & Manchester

Pictures; memorial on the site of a mass grave of 122 of Manchester’s Second World War civilian dead located in Southern Cemetery and Manchester’s Civilian War Dead Memorial Tree: - Piccadilly, 2019, Tony Goulding, Gartside Street, Bomb Damage, 1941, m 08573, G. R. Hinks, Cumberland Street, bomb site, 1941, m 08574 G. R. Hinks, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

 NOTES:-
1) Another firewatcher is named on the Southern Cemetery civilian memorial, Charles Harfield, but he died on the 12th March, 1941 at Withington Hospital, Manchester having been injured the previous day at Yapp’s Laundry Ltd., 922, Chester Road, Stretford. His story I hope to tell at a future date

2) Cavendish Road was the old name of Corkland Road.

Looking for Mr Anderson .......... 79 years after his debut in the gardens of Chorlton and pretty much everywhere

Now there was a time when Mr Anderson could be found in 4 million gardens across the country and certainly in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Mrs Waterworth's Anderson, 2018

The Anderson Shelter was cheap effective and could be built in a day which was an important consideration with war just round the corner.

The Government began issuing them in the February of 1939 and by the outbreak of war there were one and half million of them, which by the end of the conflict had risen to 4 million.

Yesterday I wrote about the one in Lambton Road and its proud owner a Mrs Waterworth.*

And as I hoped people came forward with the location of others along with stories of growing up with one.

The Anderson arrives, 1939

So this is the competition ....... how many are left and how many can be located?

And that it is.  You can reply via the blog, or by social media.

Already, John H Parker,  commented "We had one buried in the back garden in the house we moved into in November 1943 on Barlow Moor Road. 

It was buried just over four feet deep and covered with grass sods. 

We used it once between 1943 and the end of the war in 1945.

It was removed by the Council in 1946, the hole filled in and covered with mowable lawn".

Putting he bits together, 1939

And Marion Jackson recalled, "the damp smelliness of them!We had a Morrison shelter which was a big metal cage in our cellar, needed large cellars to fit them".

Location; all over Britain


Picture; Mrs Waterworth’s Anderson, 2018, courtesy of Peter Topping, delivery the Anderson Shelter, Daily Herald, 1939,m09586, and erecting it, 1939, Daily Herald, m09587, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass 

*At the bottom of almost every garden ...... a shelter from Mr Hitler’s bombs ..... in Lambton Road in Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/07/at-bottom-of-almost-every-garden.html

At the bottom of almost every garden ...... a shelter from Mr Hitler’s bombs ..... in Lambton Road in Chorlton

Now I bet Mrs Elsie Waterworth of Lambton Road would have been pretty surprised that her Anderson air raid shelter would still be standing at the bottom of her garden, 79 years after the workmen delivered it.

Mrs Waterworth's Anderson haven, 2018

Of course I can’t be exactly sure that it was one of the one and half million which were delivered to homes across the country between February and September 1939.

She might instead have been one of the two and half million other householders who received theirs during the war.

Nor do I know if she got hers for free or had to pay the charge of £7 to get the peace of mind that Mr Anderson’s shelters offered.

Those earning less than £5 a week were exempt from paying, but she worked as a telephone operator and shared the house with two other women who I guess made a contribution to the income of the household.  All of which suggests hers was not free.*

The design of the Anderson, was very simple and consisted of six curved panels of galvanised and corrugated steel sheets, bolted together, with a front and a back made of the same material.

The Bedford Anderson, 2007

The shelters could sleep six and were six feet high, 4.5 feet wide and 6.5 feet long.

They could be buried in the ground with more soil added on top which was sometimes turned into a vegetable garden, and given that they were often underground a pump was incorporated into the floor.

The internal fitting out of the shelter was left to the owner and so there were wide variations in comfort.**

Not that sitting in one with the ever present threat of German bombs could ever be described as comfortable, and I doubt Mrs Waterworth, or her two companions were overjoyed at a night in the garden.

One day I might go looking for her fellow shelter sufferers who were the 67 years old Lily McNolorey who was blind and Alice Leeboth who was three years younger.

The Bournemouth shelter 1941

Despite the shelters being cold and damp, they offered better protection from blast and ground shock than the brick and concrete ones.

In the case of ours, we will never know how many times it was used, and in particular if the three sheltered there during the Christmas Blitz of December 1940.

I suspect as the war progressed and moved closer to its end their stay out in the garden became less, and as often happens the shelter became a place to deposit “stuff”.

And that became the fate of many of these shelters, for while it was expected that they would be returned so the metal could be salvaged, many paid to keep them.

In the case of ours someone decided to make it more permanent by adding a brick wall at one.

And that is all I have to say.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Mrs Waterworth’s Anderson Shelter, 2018, from the collection of Peter Topping, and an “old and badly rusted Anderson shelter, that has in it's time been converted for use as a garden shed, on display in the courtyard of Bedford Museum, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England”, 2007, Simon Speed, and, Anderson shelter in Bournemouth in 1941,The Brit,licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

*1939 Register

*Anderson Shelters, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raid_shelter