Welcome back Kemp’s Corner ….. you have been missed

To all those who remember meeting up at Kemp’s Corner and the many more who only know it as part of the Four Banks I was pleased to see the development on the former HSBC  has adopted the name Kemps Corner.

Kemp's Corner is back, Wilbraham Road, 2025

Pedant’s will no doubt remark on the missing apostrophe but it’s a recognition of a bit of our past, because here on the corner of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads was Harry Kemp’s chemist.*

Mr Kemp is listed in the Rate Books as present in the property from 1886, went on to open another pharmacy on Beech Road and had previously occupied a shop on Stretford Road.

And he was an enterprising individual.  

In 1900 he applied to be granted the Freedom of the City of London “by redemption of the Company of Spectaclemakers of London", was elected to the Manchester City Council in 1904, and published his own Chorlton Alamanak and Handbook in 1910.

Added to all this he was also an agent for Sutton & Co Parcels office and a regular correspondent to the newspapers.

So I am not surprised that he erected a large clock above the door of his chemists, which quickly became a popular meeting place.

In the age before mobiles, Kemp’s Corner was the place to arrange to meet, with that added bonus that if your companion was late you could admonish them by pointing to the clock face.

Just when the term Kemp’s Corner came into common use is unclear but throughout the 20th century it was in use.

A name still in use, 1978

As late as 1978, the local newspaper referred to Kemp’s Corner in an article on the redevelopment of what was once the Midland Bank into the former Chemist, leading with the headline, “Kemp’s Corner is having a facelift”.

All the more remarkable as the chemist had long ago past out of Harry Kemp’s ownership, was for a while a Co-op Pharmacy and was briefly a fast-food outlet.

And there are still plenty of people who remember the corner as Harry Kemp’s as there will be more who knew it only as only one of the corners of “The Four Banks”

I like the way that places get names reflecting their usage or location which often defy the official name.  

More than just a chemist, 1910

So, in the same way the junction of High Lane, Sandy Lane and Barlow Moor Road were known as Lane End during the 19th century which made perfect sense, more so as Barlow Moor Road had been Barlow Moor Lane.

Kemp's Corner, cieca 1900

Well done the developers for bringing back Kemp’s Corner, although like my friend Tony Goulding I am a little puzzled at addition of "Est 1878" which accompanies the pained sign.

Now Harry Kemp didn’t wash up there till 1886, and the building post dates 1881 when the Withington Board of Health’s map records the land as an orchard.

And while he was practicing as a chemist in 1881 it was from a business in Hulme.

But I guess the developer knows something I don’t, leaving me just to observe that in 1845 the land was known as Hollingworth Acres and was an orchard owned by the Egerton’s and farmed by a Francis Dakin [Deakin]

And that is that.

Other than to say the return of Kemp's Corner may prempt the call for officialy naming the junction The Four Banks which briefly was to the go to campaign on social media with the accompaying petition.

All that Mr. Kemp could sell, undated

I said at the time it was a name and campain to far, and then up pops Mr Kemp's legacy.

And incidentlty Harry Kemp was elected to the City Council in 1904 and again the following year despite what the Manchester Guardian reported  had been "some personal elements introduced into the contestby his [Tory] opponent", along with "certain insinuationsregarding his actions on the City Council".**

When Mr. Kemp sought your vote, 1904

He retired six years later through ill health and was judged to be a hard working councillor not affraid to be controversisla as with his accusations of a "land grab" by a Withington developer in 1905.***

And he died in North Wales in 1927 leaving £9,892.9s.2d to his wife and daughter.

Slater's Manchester & Salford Surban Directory, 1903

Which I thought was the end, but then I decided to follow up Sutton & Co Parcels Office and found this, which will need more investigation.

Pictures;  Kemp's Corner is back, Anne Hall, 2025, [permission being sought], Harry Kemps’ chemist shop, circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection, the 1904 election address, courtesy of Lawrence Beedle, Chorlton-cum-Hardy District Almanack and Handbook for 1910, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, Otto of Rose tub top, date unknown from the collection of Jay Hurst, and news story from the Stretford & Urmston Journal, April 12, 1978 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Harry Kemp, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Kemp%27s+Corner

**Todays Elections, Manchester Guardian, November 1st, 1905 Chorlton-cum-Hardy & Whalley Range 

***Mr. Kemp on Workman's Wages, Manchester Guardian, November 1st, 1905

So no more will I meet you at Kemps’ Corner

One of Chorlton best known landmarks .... rebuilt to form an extension to a bank

Kemp’s Corner is no more and lives only in the memories of  older residents.  

And yet for more than half a century it was one of the places in Chorlton which was a recognised meeting place.

It was located on the corner of Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads and was the site of Harry Kemp’s Chemist shop.

Now it is a story I have told before but is worth bringing out of the shadows again underling that simple observation that despite planners efforts to designate a place with an official name if it doesn’t catch the popular imagination it will not be used.

So it is with the junction of the two roads.  The official name which appeared just before the end of the last century is Chorlton Cross, but older people still think of it as Kemp’s Corner and most people today refer to it simply as the Four Banks.

Detail from the story in the Stretford and Urmston Journal, 1978

Both names arose out of popular usage, for not only was Kemp’s Chemist a prominent shop and he was a local politician but above the shop door was a big clock which I guess made meeting there that bit easy while today the presence of  a bank on each corner continues to make it a landmark.

All of which is a long way round to this newspaper report which captured the moment when Kemps’ Corner disappeared.

The Chemist had been run by the Coop for a while and then became a fast food out let but eventually the Midland Bank bought the building and set to converting it.

And the rest is almost history, for as someone said to me the idea that the place could have been known as Kentucky Fried Chicken Corner was just not going to happen.

Once the Midland had taken the corner we were on the way to the “Four Banks” which is itself an echo of an earlier name.  For back at the end of the 19th century someone had told a friend on a postcard to meet her at Bank Corner.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the Chorlton edition of the Stretford and Urmston Journal, April 13, 1978

The poster …… the Arts Festival ……. and a look back over a century and a bit of local culture

It’s easy to become smug about living in Chorlton, especially when you consider the amount of things that usually go on in the township.

Leaving aside the lock down, during the last two decades, there have been the regular Arts Festival and Chorlton Book Week, along with the Beer Festival, and stretching back there was the Beech Road Festival, the Big Green Festival and the 80-meter installation on the corner of Albany and Brantingham Roads, which celebrated the history of Chorlton in 16 giant panels, and was popularly known as the History Walk.

Nor is this a new development. Back in 1910 Harry Kemp’s Almanack and Handbook, listed 47 different political, cultural and sporting associations and clubs across the old township.

Our brass band was one of the oldest in the area, dating back to the 1820s, and apart from one hiccup remained a feature until 1945.

All of which has been prompted by the appearance of the big signs for this year’s Chorlton Arts Festival.

The posters have a prominent position the railings of the Rec, directly opposite our house, and advertise the event which this year will last from September 11-19th.

I could say more but the poster say it all.

So for those who want a bit more history, there was the Public Hall which shared the same building  as the Con Club on Wilbraham Road, and various church halls, all of which offered venues for our local amateur dramatic societies, musical groups and comic performances.

And yes a young John Thaw did perform in the Public Hall on Wilbraham Road, which also hosted some of the best local jazz and folk music in its day, the Rec has been home to another of other festivals including the Peace Festival back in 1984

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Arts festival banner, 2021, and Harry Kemp’s Almanack and Handbook, 1910 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the Peace Festival, 1984, from the collection of Tony Walker

Kemp’s Corner on the corner of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads .......... sometime in the early 1960s

The name Kemp’s Corner is not so familiar now but once and until quite recently it was the place you arranged to meet up.

In that pre-mobile age when arrangements to meet someone had to be done in advance and then stuck to
Harry Kemp’s chemist shop was the perfect spot.

Not only was it on the corner of two busy roads with plenty of bus stops but there was a large clock above the shop.

Harry Kemp had opened his shop in the early years of the 20th century, had another one on Beech Road and was one of our three councillors who were elected in 1904 after Chorlton along with the other three townships had voted to join the City.

It continued as a chemist well into the century and is now the HSBC.

All of which makes this picture quite a find.  It is one I haven’t seen before and I have to thank Mark Flynn for permission to reproduce it.

Mark as a vast collection of picture postcards .

Pictures; Kemp's Corner, circa early 1960s courtesy of Mark Fynn

*Manchester Postcards, http://www.manchesterpostcards.com/index.html

Another instalment in the fascinating story of Harry Kemp

Harry Kemp was one of those local figures who has faded somewhat from Chorlton’s history, and that is a shame.

Kemp's Corner, circa 1900

For more than half a century his name was used for the corner of Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads, now occupied by the HSBC.

So, for anyone born in the 1950s or earlier this spot was Kemp’s Corner, which in that pre mobile age was a recognised meeting place, not least because above the door of Harry Kemp’s chemist shop was a giant clock.

And as we all know a clock is an important part of any prearranged meeting, if only as a measure to judge how late your companion will be.

But there was more to Harry Kemp, that just that spot on the corner of a junction.

He ran two Chemist shops, one on Wilbraham Road and the other down on Beech Road, and was responsible for the Chorlton-cum-Hardy District Almanack and Handbook for 1910.

The Almanack, 1910

I can’t be sure if this was a one off or a series, but alas I have only been able to track the one copy for that one year.

It offered up a lot of local information, including the various sporting clubs and cultural societies which were active, as well lots of local information on posting times and council offices.

And as useful as it was back in 1910, a century and bit later it is a fascinating historical document, which I regularly trawl.

Added to this document there is Harry Kemp’s election address for 1904, which includes his fellow candidates, and a statement of their joint programme if elected.

What marks the election address out as particularly interesting is that it was the first time that the people of Chorlton-cum-Hardy had participated in elections for the Manchester City Council.

Election Address, 1907

In that year the rate payers of the Withington UDC, which comprised Burnage, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury and Withington voted for incorporation into the City having been made offers which many couldn’t turn down.

Now, all of this I have written about on the blog and elsewhere, but today I got to see something rather special, which is the ceramic top of a tub of Otto of Rose Cold Cream, from the collection of Jay Hurst.

And in that way that those of us who are involved in local history share material I have my old Facebook chum Bill Sumner to thank for sharing it with me.

Just on its own this item is a wonderful connection with harry Kemp, but of course there is so much more.

First, there is that simple observation, that like the Alamanck, Mr. Kemp was never backward at promoting himself and his business.  So, the top includes the locations of both of his shops, just in case there was any doubt as to where to obtain this product.

Otto of Rose tub top, date unknown

And then there is the product itself which was made from the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of roses, and which is still the most widely used oil in perfumery.

The process was and is expensive, but by the time Harry Kemp was marketing his rose oil, I suspect some producers were adulterating the oil with cheaper ones.

That said, I am in awe of how it was produced, given that like many kids I soaked rose petals in water, assuming that the result would be scented water, only to discover  what you got was best just thrown away.

Kemp's Corner, 1978

All of which just leaves me to thank Jay and Bill and reflect that Harry Kemp and his corner had not quite been forgotten by 1978, judging by this newspaper article.

Location; Kemp’s Corner, and Beech Road

Pictures;  Harry Kemps’ chemist shop, circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection, the 1904 election address, courtesy of Lawrence Beedle, Chorlton-cum-Hardy District Almanack and Handbook for 1910, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, Otto of Rose tub top, date unknown from the collection of Jay Hurst, and news story from the Stretford & Urmston Journal, April 12, 1978 from the collection of Andrew Simpson