Making their home in Chorlton, Nu 1 the Cope Family

Oak Bank in 1841

An occasional series about people who settled in Chorlton.

Frederick Cope had moved here from Oxford Street in 1845.  He described himself as a spirit and wine merchant and was in partnership with his brother.  They had a number of premises across the city including 12 Exchange Street, opposite the Exchange and close to St Anne’s Square and St Anne’s Church.

The family bought Oak Bank   which consisted of
 "three entertaining rooms, six bedrooms, excellent kitchen, scullery, cellars, &c.  The outbuildings consist of two coach houses, stabling for four horses, gardener's room, wash house, laundry, &c.  There are good gardens well stocked with fruit trees and about three acre. "
It stood in a parcel of land bounded by Wilbraham Road, Barlow Road, Sandy Lane and Corkland Road

As well as the house and gardens there was a stretch of land running along Barlow Moor lane to Lane End which was a mix of woodland and meadowland which was rented. Later still Frederick bought the farm tenanted by Thomas Cookson at Dark Lane, Martledge.

The estimated rental value of Oak Bank was £130 and with its rateable value of £120 marked it out as the highest rated domestic property in the township.  Added to this was the farm at Dark Lane which also commanded an estimated rental value of £130.

All of this makes the Cope family very wealthy, and as we shall see from other well off families who moved into the township they played little part in the politics of the community.

The Sawyers Arms, 1973

So while Frederick had been active in the 1830s calling for an improvement into the policing of Manchester,  later tried to secure a property vote in 1841, and twice served on the Grand Jury his names does not appear in any of the records for Chorlton nor were any of the family buried here.

They remained rooted in the city and their business continued to expand during the decade.  In 1857 the partnership had acquired the Exchange Tavern on St Mary’s Gate and may well have owned the court which bore their name also off St Mary’s Gate which was given over to business and industrial businesses.  In 1853 Frederick’s daughter was married not in the parish church but in Manchester cathedral.  And briefly for a while had links with the Sawyers Arms on Deansgate

From, THE STORY OF CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

Picture; detail from the OS map of Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Sawyers Arms, H Milligan, 1973,m50482,courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

* Valuable Property in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, The Manchester Guardian, June 28, 1845

The Chorlton Nurse Who Became A Spy ……. the book of Madge Addy’s War against Fascism

Now I am so pleased and more  than a bit excited that Chris Hall’s book on Madge Addy will be published on July30th.

Madge Addy

I first came across Madge Addy back in 2016 and she has appeared in 14 stories on the blog, culminating with the unveiling of a plaque to her, here in Chorlton. 

Chris Hall, 2021

Madge Addy was a shadowy figure, who worked as a nurse on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and went on to work for the SOE during the last World War.

But her story and in particular her time as a spy was barely know, but now thanks to Chris it is out in the open.  

He told me today that the book will feature "in the Chorlton Arts and Books Festival, and on  Saturday September 18th 7.30-9 at Wilbraham St Ninians church, Return of Los Internacionales with the Mad Donnas are performing a play about Madge Addy written by me  £5 cash payment on the door, along with an appearance on Tuesday September 21st 7-8.30 at Chorlton Library during the Book Festival talking about discovering the story of Madge Addy, which is a free event".

The press release, 2021

The book is published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Lucy May, 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, Email: promotions@pen-and-sword.co.uk and cost £25

So there you have it …..more details to follow.

*Madge Addy, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Madge%20Addy

Making their home in Chorlton, nu 2 the Clarke Family

The sales transaction, 1860

The Clarke family arrived on Chorlton in 1860 and worked the smithy on Beech Road for nearly 100 years.

I know this because I have a copy of the sale transaction he made between himself and the widow Elizabeth Lowe. He paid £55 for the “Goodwill, fixtures about the forge. Also the pig sty and wooden shed.....”

It is a remarkable document for many reasons. Not only does it shed light on what was in the smithy but it is in Clarke’s own handwriting which makes it one of only two dozen or so personal records from the period to have survived. But there is more.

This was a time when many were still illiterate and Elizabeth Lowe was one of these. Just a decade before in 1851, 45% of the women who were married gave a mark rather than a signature on the marriage certificate.

The Clarke family were to remain on the Row well into the 20th century, and their shop would have been at the heart of the rural community.

John Clarke and before him William Davis supplied the needs of the village, repairing broken tools, forging new ones and shoeing horses.

Charles Clarke, date unknown

When he was hammering and heating at his forge on the Row he acted as a magnate for people. Some coming to collect a repaired tool or bringing a horse which was in need of a new shoe would stop and pass the time of day.

And there were always requests to personalise a farm tool. This might mean making a left handed scythe or widening or narrowing hoe blades used to chop out weeds. Then there would be the endless procession of labourers needing tools sharpened from bill hooks and scythes to axes and all the other types of edged tools.

In the process William might well replace the broken or split staves

And all the time, gangs of children attracted to the smithy by the red hot metal and frequent shower of sparks would stand and stare rooted to the spot. Marjorie Holmes remembers being late for school in the 1930s because she, like countless young people before her had been lost in the magic of the smithy.

But as busy as they were they could still pose for a photograph, and so sometime in 1913 John’s son Charles stood outside the smithy and had his picture taken.

He was 55 and still lived beside the forge. He had been married for over 26 years and he and his wife Sarah had five children.

The two boys had followed their father into the trade. In the 1911 census John described himself as a plumber, and Charles the younger son as a blacksmith striker.

Lillian the eldest of the daughters described herself as a machinist while Ethel worked in a laundry and Florence was still at school...

Charles Clarke Junior, 1893

One of the boys was also active in the Chorlton Brass Band and in the summer of 1893 was also photographed when the band played at Barlow Hall. Sadly he was to die in Gallipoli in June 1915 aged 23.

Pictures; sale of the smithy October 1860, picture of Charles Clark, 1913 Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, picture of Charles Clark, DPA 328.18, 
Courtesy of Greater Manchester Archives, and photograph of Charles Clarke junior 1893 from the collection of Alan Brown