Christmas in Chorlton ……………..

And where else better to start than at Sue Ryder’s?

With the promise of Oxfam and Reach Out to the Community next.

And for those who mumble darkly that it is still too early, we received our first Christmas card on Monday, and I rather think I saw my first TV advert for the event back in September.

To be fair to Heather Maria she was posting from Christmas and clearly wanted to beat the rush, especially as the card was accompanied by a food parcel.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Christmas in Chorlton, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The story is simply that there is no story …….. the Victorian family

We will all have some family pictures with faces whose names are lost in time.

"Uncle Bob and Aunty Jean and mother"

And even if there is a name, the family connection has been severed leaving just a host of questions.

So, who were Uncle Bob and Aunty Jean? Their names are recorded on the back of this picture postcard along with the comment that “mother is on the left”.

But just who they were, or when and where the picture was taken were never added.

I wish there were more.

Of course, the fashion historian will be able to suggest the decade the picture might have been taken, but alas I am not qualified to pass such a judgement.

But at least the three are young enough to be wearing clothes from the time they sat for the photo shoot.  With older people there is always that danger that they are wearing the fashions of their youth, which might stretch back into the past.

Sadly, there is no clue from the backdrop or from the objects held by the two women which in probability were also photographic props, and the name of the studio is absent from the back of the card.

Head and shoulders

So, I am forced back on the questions I know there are no answer to.

What special occasion might have warranted the visit to the studio and why is only one of the three staring directly at the camera?

And am I the only one who thinks there is something slightly amiss with the three heads, as if they have been superimposed?

Unknown

But then perhaps that is what comes of staring at a picture for too long, looking for something significant which offers up clues to the picture’s story.

I have Tony Goulding to thank for the picture, which he spotted in the local Oxfam shop, which begs another question, of how it got to be donated, and whether there is a connection between it and the other one he sent me of a young girl.

It would be easy to fall back on speculation, which can be fun but is not very historical, so I shall close with the thought that whoever the four were, at least they have come out into the daylight for a short while.



Location; unknown

Picture; the 3 and the one, dates unknown

Shop windows in a time of Tier Three …………..

Just the picture …… no more no less.

Wilbraham Road on the day we learned we were to stay in Tier Three.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; shop window, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The Number Stamp ........ The Minature Duplicator .... another find from Tony Goulding

One of the great pluses of working in a charity shop is the periodic arrival, amongst the donations, of extraordinary objects which require a degree of research to value. 

A recent instance of this was the “THE NUMERSTAMP” which is described on its label as “a miniature duplicator”. The equipment consisted of a packet of miniature stencils a metal base plate a couple of stamps and a supply of printer’s ink.

As well as providing an insight into office work of a bygone age this artifact had the added interest in that it was made locally at 74, Manley Road, Whalley Range.

This ingenious device was developed and patented by Harry Sinclair sometime during the early 1920’s and continued to be manufactured in Whalley Range until at least the mid-1950’s (and possibly much later) from the factory on Manley Road and offices at 33, Grosvenor Road.

Harry Sinclair was a self-made man. He was born in Southsea, Hampshire, on 19th December, 1882, to John Wesley Sinclair, an instructor in the Royal Naval College, and Ellen Rebecca (née Lincoln) the daughter of a baker of Southwold, Blything, Suffolk. Harry and his 9 siblings, (7 sisters and 2 brothers) as a consequence of his father’s occupation moved frequently around the naval ports of southern England.

The family finally settled in Spilsby, Lincolnshire when John Wesley took up the post of headmaster of its elementary school. While at Spilsby Harry met and (in the June quarter of 1907) married Vera Fenton Bailey the daughter of Charles Sylvester a hairdresser and tobacconist of the town.

Harry and Vera’s first child Leonard Sylvester was born on 22nd January, 1909 in Spilsby, however by the time of the birth of their daughter Joyce E during the June quarter of 1913 the family had relocated to Manchester.

In the 1939 register, Leonard Sylvester is described as a works manager for an office equipment company.

As he was living at that time on Old Hall Road, Cheadle and Gatley this was very likely his father’s.

Harry died in Manchester during the September quarter of 1951 his wife Vera Fenton passed away also in Manchester in the March quarter of 1976. Leonard Sylvester moved to Malvern, Worcestershire where he died in the June quarter of 1991.

But that wasn't quite the end because Tony then went looking for 74 Manley Road, and this is what he found.

I like it when a plan comes together!

After a brisk walk  this morning I was able to take these  photos of 74, Manley Road and its immediate environs.

As you can see the size of the property itself is an indication that its former owner must have been a man of some substance.

A second  photo shows a view of the rear showing a possible extension but it is not clear of what date this would have been added.

The third picture is of a vacant lot adjacent to  the  the main building.

This is a significantly large area especially when the area of a newly built property within it is included. I consider that this was the most likely location of Harry Sinclair's factory.



 Location; Chorlton and Whalley Range

Pictures. the Number Stamp, 2019, from the collection of Tony Goulding
  

A pair of spoons ………. their story ……. Another from Tony Goulding

These two spoons were part of a recent donation at the Oxfam shop. 

The spoons

As each had an intriguing set of marks my curiosity was so stimulated that I decided to investigate to see what I could discover of their history.

The oldest of the two is marked with the name of a Manchester Restaurant – The City Restaurant, New Brown Street and its proprietor, C.H. Ogden.

A couple of afternoons at Central Library perusing various directories revealed that Mr. Ogden operated a restaurant business, on New Brown Street, for a period of 15 years or so either side of the First World War.

Cannon Street/New Street, 1903

He first occupied 22a from around 1908/09 moving to 19a sometime during the war years.*
   
This spoon also carries the maker’s mark “J.& J.E.D.” is stamped as “Nickel Silver”.  Nickel silver is an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc containing no actual silver. The metal can be polished to a silvery finish and was used largely to produce a much cheaper (imitative) alternative to silver tableware. As regards to the manufacturer I have not been able, yet, to trace the company which used the initials as described.
   
The use of higher quality cutlery and the fact that the spoon was stamped with the name of the restaurant and its owner suggests that Mr. Ogden may have been trying to attract a more affluent clientele.

Whatever the case it appears that he ran a lucrative business as by the mid-1920’s he was able to sell-up and move from Newton Heath to Oldham Road, Failsworth.

 Later, the 1939 Register shows Charles Harold and his wife Emma, ** living in retirement in a village in rural Denbighshire near Colwyn Bay.
   
The second spoon is of a later date being as it is stamped ‘E.R.’ with a crown above.
 It also carries the mark E.P.N.S. and the word “witness”. This word misled me to consider it signified a legal connection: on investigation, however, the word was only a trade name which by the time of this spoon’s manufacture belonged to Taylor Brothers of Sheffield. ***
     

New Street, 1903

The crown above E.R. is known as a monarch’s mark most likely representing the present Queen (although Edward VII or an extremely unlikely Edward VIII are other possibilities).

This mark may indicate that the spoon was used in some government department or other or it could be that the maker simply held a royal warrant. With no further evidence to hand the precise history of this artifact must remain unknown.

Pictures; the spoons, from the collection of Tony Goulding, Cannon St. /New Brown St. Corner 1903, Showing Wm. Prince, Woolen merchants 5, New Brown Street m 03564 and T.J. Seagrave, Mantle manufacturer, 8, New Brown Street, m 03563, and an earlier photograph, 1892  of New Brown St. / Cannon St. by S.L Coulthurst m00723, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
                                                           
Notes: -

New Brown Street/Cannon Street, 1892

*There is a long history of restaurants trading on New Brown Street. Richard Gould had by 1895 opened a “dining room” at 22A in premises he had previously used for his plumbing business. A 1903 directory shows this “dining room” then being run by Joseph William Field and it seems likely that it was from him that Mr. Ogden acquired the business. At this time (1909) 19A New Brown Street was occupied by a printer Charles H. Swindels. Then prior to becoming “The City Restaurant” was being used by an electric accessories manufacturing firm “General Accessories Ltd.”
       
In 1926, there were new residents Frank and Grace Kershaw, whilst the 1933 street directory shows the property as still being a “dining room” operated by Mrs. Margaret Bradley. As late as 1970 a Post Office Telephone Directory entry shows the business operating from 19A New Brown Street still trading as “The City Restaurant”

**Mr. Charles Harold Ogden married Emma Schofield at St. John the Evangelist Church, Failsworth on New Year’s Day, 1907.

***Prior to the 1920’s the “witness” trademark had been used by Needham, Veall, & Tyzack of Sheffield from 1889.