On discovering Stockport’s own Cattle Market …………….

Now, when you are a stranger and unfamiliar with the history of a place you can be forgiven for stating the obvious and even more so if you discover something which everyone else knew about.

So, I had no idea that Stockport had its own cattle market which was sandwiched between Great Portwood Street and the River Goyt in a pocket of land which backed on to the Gas Works.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given that during the 19th century it was still the practice to bring live animals into our towns and cities, to be butchered by family businesses and sold on to their customers.

In the 1950s, I spent great chunks of time while on holiday with my grandparents at the Derby Cattle Market, which I suppose was what passed for a special treat.

So, with this in mind I went looking for references to the Stockport Cattle market.

It appears on the 1906 OS map, but not on the 1870 version, and so far I can’t find mention of it in the directories.

Today the site is occupied by the retail park which include, Matalan, Next, Boots and Argos, and so I am confident that there will be people who remember the area before the recent development.

And in turn will be able to point me in the direction of pictures, maps and descriptions of the market and its final demise.

Location; Borough Cattle Market, Stockport

Picture; Borough Cattle Market, Stockport, from the OS for Cheshire, 1906, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Mr Emerson's ghost sign in Stockport and the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood

The Emerson sign, 2014

I am back with that ghost sign in Market Place, Stockport.

It is a fine example of a street advert that has survived long after the business has gone.

I fell across it purely by chance a few months ago and it has intrigued me ever since.

And I am not alone, my friend Sally has written about it and it regularly evokes comment from people I talk to from Stockport.

I know the firm was there by about 1905 but had never gone much deeper by crawling over the street directories, and then by chance I discovered an advert for Mr Emerson from 1895 and my interest has been set off again.

The Emerson advert, 1895

But today it was the book from which the advert came that set me off because it was a copy of the 1895 Heaton Mersey PSA Magazine.

And as you do

Now I had come across the P.S.A,or to give them the full name, the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood back in the 1970s in Ashton Under Lyne.

They were what they said they were an organization designed to provide a pleasant afternoon with a Christian slant on a Sunday.

The first seem to have sprung up in the mid 1870s and their first national conference was in London in 1906.

Now this is another of those areas I want to dig deep into.  There was a political dimension  “The long standing relationship between political Liberalism and Nonconformity brought active Liberals into the movement. 

Market Place, 1905

In the early twentieth century key Labour and Trade Union leaders became actively involved in the PSA/Brotherhood Movement. Labour MPs Arthur Henderson and Will Crooks, and the Liberal MP Theodore C. Taylor were all present at the founding of the National Association of Brotherhoods, PSAs etc in London in 1906. 

Keir Hardie, was also actively involved, he was a main speaker for a Brotherhood Crusade in Lille in 1910. Arthur Henderson MP was elected National President in 1914. The National Adult School Union’s ‘One and All’ journal reported 7 out 9 ‘adult school men’ who stood for parliament were successful in 1910.”*

And there appears to be a Temperance aspect so there is a lot to play for and find out.

The Emerson shop and sign 1895

I had not thought they had a presence in the south of the city but they were here in Chorlton.
Harry Kemp’s Chorlton Alamack for 1910 listed  “The P.S.A. (Men’s Meeting),  Macfayden Memorial Church.  Sundays, 3 p.m. William S Bradshaw, 4, Beechwood Avenue. & P.S.A. (Men’s  and Women Meeting), Wesleyan Mission Hall. Sundays, 3 p.m, Secy., E.H. Astle, 34 Reynard Road.”

And now I find them in Heaton Mersey which I suppose shouldn’t be a surprise, and along with Mr Emerson give me more research opportunities.

Picture; Parish Church and Market, from the series Town & City, by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/  the ghost sign of J. Emerson from the collection of Andrew Simpson and advert for Emerson’s Tailoring from the P.S.A., Magazine, 1895 courtesy of David Harrop

** The Early Adult School and Brotherhood Movements in the West Midlands: Adult Education, Evangelism or Social Activism?, European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 14 2012

In the Market Place in Stockport in 1905

We are in Stockport at the Market Place with the parish church in the distance.

Now the date is a little unclear but the postcard was registered by Tuck & Sons Ltd on July 31st 1905 and I guess the photograph will date from about then.

And there are clues that confirm this.

Andrew  Beckett & Sons whose ice cream van stands in the corner of the picture was trading in 1902 at both 11 Wellington Street South and 26 Middle Hillgate in 1902.

And as you would expect there is a story here.

Andrew Becket was born in 1830 in Italy and I doubt that Beckett was his given name.

He was in England in Runcorn by 1865 and was living at numbers 1 & 3 John Street in Stockport by 1881

A decade later the family had moved to 26 Hillgate.

But in 1901  the firm is in the hands of his son Angelo who while he was born in Runcorn had an Italian wife, gave both his children Italian forenames and employed four men all born in Italy.

All of which just leaves me to ponder on the identity of the young man staring back at us in the van.

It might be Alberto Cavilli or Guiseppina Pasquale both of whom were working for Angelo in 1901 but both will have been in their early 20s in 1905 so perhaps not.

Nor is that the only clue to the date, for in the same street directory for 1902 there is one Joseph Emerson, tailor at 28 Market Place, and that is his shop on the left.

His painted sign on the side wall proudly announced that he promised that “MORNING ORDERS IN 8 HOURS PROMPTLY EXECUTED” and offered everything from suits, overcoats to trousers and much more.

The firm has long gone but the sign is still there, faded and a little difficult to read but very much the same as in our 1905 photograph.

In time the picture will reveal much more but there is much to look at, from the men in deep conversation to the detail of the delivery van in the distance and those closer to us.

Picture; Parish Church and Market, from the series Town & City, by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/ and the ghost sign of J. Emerson from the collection of Andrew Simpson

On Stockport's Lower Hillgate in 1908 looking for a German band.

We are looking up Lower Hillgate in Stockport sometime in the summer of 1905 and with a bit of imagination it is not hard to reconstruct the scene, not least because some of the buildings have survived almost intact.

That said what interests me more is the message on the back from Clara to her friend Miss Carless of Guildford which she sent just three years after our picture was taken.

Clara is full of the news that she has “just bought four new songs this morning.” Now the four included Oh, Oh Antonio, and In the Twi Twi Twilight and Has anyone seen a German Band?

And new they were with Has anyone seen a German Band? having been published the year before in 1907.

We are of course in that time when people still bought sheet music and performed the songs themselves.

Sadly we will never know what Miss Carless thought of the songs or for that matter how good a singer was Clara.

Picture; Lower Hillgate, from the series Stockport, by Tuck & Sons, 1905 courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/ 

In St Peter's Square in the summer of 1905

This much I know.  This is St Peters Square in Stockport sometime around the summer of 1905.

In the distance lurking just to the left of the horse drawn tram is “the bronze statue of Richard Cobden who was the MP for Stockport from 1841-47. 

It stands on a pedestal of Aberdeen granite and was unveiled on Saturday November 27th 1883 by Miss Cobden, daughter of the statesmen.”*

And that is about the extent of my knowledge.

I know that in the square there was also the New Theatre and Opera House which was erected in 1888 and could seat 2,220 people and that the Grand Theatre of Varieties was opened in September 1901.

But which of the two is featured to the right of the picture I am hoping someone will tell me.

That said I doubt that there is anyone who will recognise the place as it was then, but gain I bet there some vivid memories of its transformation.

*Kelly’s Directory of Cheshire, 1902

Picture; St Peter’s Square, Stockport from the series Town & City, by Tuck & Sons, 1905 courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/ 

Recovering from wounds in a Red Cross Hospital during the Great War

Alexandra Park School Red Cross Hospital, date unknown

The story of the voluntary Red Cross Hospitals which were set up during the Great War was not one I knew much about.

Given the huge numbers of casualties I suppose I should have realised that there would be a huge demand for hospital beds to take those recovering from wounds and illnesses.

And even before the war had begun the Red Cross had planned for just such an eventuality.

McLaren Memorial Baptist Church, Edge Lane, circa 1920

What started me off was the discovery of one of these hospitals on Edge Lane in the Sunday School of the old Baptist Church.

Both buildings have long gone but the Sunday School of the Methodist Church on Manchester Road is still there and this was the second of the hospitals in Chorlton.

After that it was just a matter of research to track them down in Whalley Range, Didsbury, Flixton and pretty much everywhere.

Some were in large private homes or like those in Chorlton in public buildings volunteered for the duration of the war.

Alexandra Park School Red Cross Hospital, date unknown

They were quickly established, supported by the local community and with the end of the war closed almost as quickly.

Looking through the newspapers for 1918 and 1919 you can come across plenty of adverts for the sale of the fitments and fixtures, including beds, blankets buckets, typewriters in fact everything which allowed the hospital to function.

And with the sale of all these and the return of the buildings to other uses the presence of the hospitals quickly faded from memory.

Alexandra Park School Red Cross Hospital, date unknown

I suppose it was inevitable having performed their task they receded back from popular thought and within a few generations were pretty much forgotten.

Some of course continued as private hospitals and in time became part of the NHS but many more have been lost to history.

So with that in mind here are three photographs from the Red Cross Hospital at Alexandra Park School, Edgeley in Stockport.

The images pretty much speak for themselves but it is worth drawing attention to the hospital blues which were the uniform worn by men convalescing and the presence of the same wheel chair in all three.

The photographs come from the extensive collection of David Harrop who runs a permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Hall at Southern Cemetery.

Pictures; the Red Cross Hospital at Alexandra Park School, Edgeley in Stockport, date unknown courtesy of David Harrop and the McLaren Memorial Baptist Church, Edge Lane, from the Lloyd Collection,

December 15 1915 a quiet day on the Western Front ...............

December 15 1915 seems to have been a quite day on the Western Front.

The Battle of Loos had ended in October with the loss of over 59,000 British soldiers and with the onset of winter campaigning had come to an end.

All of which makes me wonder just how Gunner William Watson of the Royal Field Artillery was killed on that day in December.

The official records list the event but give no detail and I have yet to research the war diaries for his unit for December 1915.

Earlier in the month there had been a mix of activity with British air raids on German positions and on December 10 “an expensive morning ‘Hate’” when according to the Manchester Guardian 3,000 shells had been fired in two and half hours.

The paper reported that  “the guns on both side have been very active again during the last few days, despite the adverse weather conditions. 

In reply to the early morning bombardment of our artillery on the German positions in the vicinity of Pilkem a few days ago, the enemy retaliated with 3,000 shells, fired between 10.30 a.m. and one o’clock ....... at every point of the front artillery duels have been of daily occurrence.....”*

So perhaps this was how Gunner Watson died but for the time being I have no access to his records and only know that he had enlisted at Preston.

I doubt that I would have even known this much if it wasn’t for the photograph of the young William which was taken with his girlfriend his sister and which someone has written on the back, “In memory of William w Watson kia 15/12/15 from Finland Road Edgeley Stockport, 19 Royal Field Artillery buried in France.”

He had been born in 1897 in Stockport and the family seem to have moved around the town.  In 1911 they had been in Middle Hillgate and just before his death were living in Finland Road.

So far I haven’t been able to discover much more about the family.  His parents had been married in 1900 his father was a butcher and William’s sister was two years younger.

It’s not much but it is a start and with time I might find his obituary and that will lead to more.

As for Wednesday December 15th it also seems to have been a quiet day across Manchester and Stockport.  The papers were full of commodity prices, stories of battles far away in the Balkans and on the Eastern Front and the opening of the film The Story of an Avenger at the Grosvenor Picture Palace at All Saints,  Manchester.

It was a “TRADE SHOW” with one performance at 11 am, and like the story of Gunner William  Watson the film has been equally elusive.

Pictures; Gunner Watson date unknown from the collection of David Harrop, and film advert from the Manchester Guardian December 13 1915, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

**3,000 SHELLS IN TWO HOURS AND HALF, Manchester Guardian December 16 1915

December 15 1915 a quiet day on the Western Front ............... remembering Gunner William Watson killed this day a century ago

December 15 1915 seems to have been a quite day on the Western Front.

The Battle of Loos had ended in October with the loss of over 59,000 British soldiers and with the onset of winter campaigning had come to an end.

All of which makes me wonder just how Gunner William Watson of the Royal Field Artillery was killed on that day in December.

The official records list the event but give no detail and I have yet to research the war diaries for his unit for December 1915.

Earlier in the month there had been a mix of activity with British air raids on German positions and on December 10 “an expensive morning ‘Hate’” when according to the Manchester Guardian 3,000 shells had been fired in two and half hours.

The paper reported that  “the guns on both side have been very active again during the last few days, despite the adverse weather conditions. 

In reply to the early morning bombardment of our artillery on the German positions in the vicinity of Pilkem a few days ago, the enemy retaliated with 3,000 shells, fired between 10.30 a.m. and one o’clock ....... at every point of the front artillery duels have been of daily occurrence.....”*

So perhaps this was how Gunner Watson died but for the time being I have no access to his records and only know that he had enlisted at Preston.

I doubt that I would have even known this much if it wasn’t for the photograph of the young William which was taken with his girlfriend or his sister and which someone has written on the back, “In memory of William w Watson kia 15/12/15 from Finland Road Edgeley Stockport, 19 Royal Field Artillery buried in France.”

He had been born in 1897 in Stockport and the family seem to have moved around the town.  In 1911 they had been in Middle Hillgate and just before his death were living in Finland Road.

So far I haven’t been able to discover much more about the family.  His parents had been married in 1900 his father was a butcher and William’s sister was two years younger.

It’s not much but it is a start and with time I might find his obituary and that will lead to more.

As for Wednesday December 15th it also seems to have been a quiet day across Manchester and Stockport.  The papers were full of commodity prices, stories of battles far away in the Balkans and on the Eastern Front and the opening of the film The Story of an Avenger at the Grosvenor Picture Palace at All Saints,  Manchester.

It was a “TRADE SHOW” with one performance at 11 am, and like the story of Gunner William  Watson the film has been equally elusive.

Pictures; Gunner Watson date unknown from the collection of David Harrop, and film advert from the Manchester Guardian December 13 1915, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

**3,000 SHELLS IN TWO HOURS AND HALF, Manchester Guardian December 16 1915
David Harrop, Stockport, Stockport in the 1900s, The Great War

In Vernon Park, Stockport in 1905

It is a testimony to how far picture postcards were marketed that this picture of Vernon Park in Stockport was sent from Chatham in Kent to East Peckham in Paddock Wood near Maidstone.

I doubt we will ever know whether J.D.S who sent the card came from Stockport or just liked the scene and bought it from a local shop.

Vernon Park was the first of Stockport’s park and was opened in 1858 on land donated by George John Warren, whose title of Lord Vernon became the name for the park.

It is situated a little to the north east of Stockport and one side is bounded by the river Goyt.

Now I have never been which my loss is because it is a magnificent example of an early municipal park.

It was a very popular park in the 19th century and something of its grandeur can be got from our picture.

Those steps are still there as I believe is the mill in the distance.

Picture; Vernon Park, from the series Stockport, by Tuck & Sons, 1905 courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/