The bayonet … the man from Romania …. and the Chorlton mysteries

Now it’s one of those things about researching the past which is that you assume you will find the answers to the questions.

1907 Sword Bayonet

So, a few days ago my friend Glenys told me about the bayonet her father found in their house on St Annes Road.

At first, they thought it was a sword but later identified it as a standard British Army bayonet, which had first come into service in 1907 and was in use through both world wars.

And it is easy to see why it was mistaken for a sword, the blade is 17 inches [430mm] long with later models even longer, and to many people it resembles a sword, which I guess is why it was officially called the Sword Bayonet.  Over 5 million were made during the Great War and it was adopted by most Commonwealth armies and was made by Wilkinson Sword.

Inevitably I decided to go looking for a possible owner, or a story which might take me to why it ended up in Glenys’s old house.

But there were problems, the house doesn’t show up on either the street directories or census for 1911 and so far the first and only entry is from the 1939 Register which lists a Miss Ethel W Goulborn, who described herself as “unpaid domestic”, but appears to have lived alone.  

She was born in Harpurhey and her father gave his occupation variously as a “tea merchant” and "grocer", and by 1911 the family were living on Amherst Road in Didsbury in a large solid semidetached property.

And here is one of our mysteries, because Ms. Ethel Goulborn was born in 1896 but on the 1939 Register she said she was 35..  a small error perhaps, but an interesting one, as this would have meant she was 21 at the end of the Great War, which allows a little romantic speculation, which Glenys always “wondered if the bayonet belonged to a sweetheart or relative who may have returned injured”.

Alas for now we will never know.  But a trawl of the directories in Central Ref will tell us when she bought the house and if she was the first occupier, which may have been 1920.

She lived at the house till her death in 1954, leaving £5,700, but there is indication of who it was left to and as yet I haven’t gone looking for her younger brother.

The off license, 2013

But I did go looking her neighbours, Bernard and Bertha Krell who were running the off license at number 3.  

They had married in 1931, Bertha was from Didsbury and their son Adam Maurice had been born in 1946 in Blackpool.

Glenys remembered them and their son who was a little older than her.  They had stayed friends until he went off to live on a Kibbutz, but she also remembered that after his return he had married and lived in Didsbury.

I can track Mr. Bernard Krell back to Cheetham Hill, at the beginning of last century.  

It is a bit of another mystery because the family were called Solomon and were from Romania, where Bernard was born but had moved to Britain sometime just before 1901.

Now the mismatch between Solomon and Krell is a puzzle, but someone who claims the family on a genealogical platform mentions a name change to Krell which would explain why in searching on Ancestry for Bernard I kept getting brought back to Solomon.

They were in the garment trade, with Bernard’s father describing himself as a “Waterproof Garment maker”, in 1901 and a “Tailors Presser" a decade later” all of which promises much more research.

So, a bit of journey from a bayonet but that’s a history story for you.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; 1907 Sword Bayonet, 1907, courtesy of Auckland War Memorial, Collection of Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira, W2508, from Pattern 1907 bayonet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_1907_bayonet, and the off license at 3, St Annes Road, 2013 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Another story from Tony Goulding ....... St. Annes Road Off-license ( A response to a post of 10th. July 2015)

This shop was built in about 1912 and since then has mostly been an off-license. 

It ceased trading around the time of the turn of the millennium (or slightly earlier) and hasn't re-opened; the signs of the last SALE are still clearly visible in the window, however.

From the early 1930's until at least the 1960's it was run by an Mrs.Bertha Krell. (As recorded in Kelly's directory, 1933).  For some reason Bertha operated under her maiden name as she had already married Bernard Solomon at the South Manchester Synagogue in 1931.

Bertha was born in Cheetham Hill on June 17th. 1905 to Russian born parents, Benjamin and his second wife Fanny (nee Kerman), who kept a shop at 67, Cheetham Hill Road, trading in "earthenware goods” with a partner and fellow Russian émigré' David Zeligman.

By the time of Bertha's wedding the family had re-located to the more affluent area of Withington were they had an ironmongers shop as well as trading in wine and spirits. Dora, Bertha’s younger sister also gave piano lessons from their home at 17, Grove Terrace on Burton Road.

Bernard arrived in Manchester as a "Romanian" refugee when just three years old in the summer of 1901. Bernard's parents were Alter, a tailor's presser and Eva and by 1911 the family had settled at 8, Fairy Lane, off Bury New Road.

There is a record of a Bernard Krell (born 3rd.May, 1898) dying in Manchester in 1971.

It is extremely likely that this man was Bertha's spouse. Perhaps the couple used the less obviously Jewish surname "Krell" to avoid anti-Semitic activity. They were certainly using that surname in 1939, according to the just released "1939 Register".

Further perusals through both the street directories and the electoral rolls has added a little more information on the history of this building prior to, and since its occupation by the Krells.

In the first years of its life it appears to have been a solely residential property having a number of different residents. These included Mr. Nicholas Hennessey in 1915 and a Mr. James Craig in 1925. as yet I have been unable to discover any more about these two individuals.

Following the Krells the premises were occupied by Ronald and Edith Russell from the early 1970's until at least 1984, and possibly also for the final decade of its existence as an operational off-license.

This business may have been the last remaining of the traditional independent off-licenses which existed before the advent of chains such as "Threshers" and "Victoria Wine" which is now they largely confined to history with the proliferation of alcohol sales through supermarkets and convenience stores.

Replaced in some way by specialist wine and beer outlets at one end of the market and discount "booze" stores at the other.

 In the 1960's and 70's I only recall a few other "offies".

The "Feathers" and the "Southern" both had their own dedicated off-sales department with an access from the roadway. Otherwise apart from this one on St, Annes Road there was a tiny one on Beech Road (now San Juan Tapas Bar) where, incidentally, I was last asked my age when buying alcohol - I was in my late 20's at the time! I assume there must have been a few more around but, I suspect, not that many and I certainly don't remember them. Any thoughts?

© Tony Goulding, 2015

Pictures; from the collection, Tony Goulding, 2015
  

On St Annes Road in Chorlton and a reminder to keep taking the pictures a year ago

Today’s chance picture becomes tomorrow’s historical record.

Now there is nothing original in that thought but it is worth stressing over and over again.

All too often in the past I have ignored the warning signs that a building is about to be changed or to be demolished completely and once it has happened I missed the opportunity to record what had been there.

So with that in mind and ever one to carry a camera, Andy Robertson photographed the old offi’ on St Ann’s Road.

Now it was an off license for as long as I can remember.  Back in the 1970s it sold bottled Boddingtons’s and in the late 80s offered up a fascinating collection of Greek wines.

And then one day it had closed and that was that.

I have looked on the planning applications register and can’t find any reference to what might be happening.

Now it was a year ago that Andy took his picture and I rather think nothing has happened since then  but it is a few weeks since I passed the property.

The shop front is in itself a little bit of history and reflects that style of frontage popular fron the 1960s and which now looks a tad dated.

And it has begun to intrigue me, because back in 1911 the property has yet to be be built and seems to date from sometime during the next two decades.

What I find even more intriguing is that on that 1911 street directory, the house numbers start at 28 and conclude at 48.

It maybe that  the building plots for both sides of the road were already allocated but nothing had been constructed.

Unless someone can come up with an answer I will have to wait until I can get access to the street directoreis for after 1911.

So as they say watch this spot and keep taking the pictures.

Well someone has provided a partial answer and Alan's information is there under the story in the comments.  Thanks Alan

Pictures; courtesy of Andrew Robertson, 2013