Passing Hartley's College on Alexandra Road South

This is one of those pictures which I never dreamed I would come across.

We are looking at Hartley’s College and it is another from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.

Now I don’t have a date but judging by the tramlines and the fact that the building was renamed Hartley College in 1906 should be a rough guide.

The building was a training centre for the Methodist Ministry,  later a hall of residence and is currently a school.

Picture; Hartley’s College from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

Lost images of Whalley Range part 7............ the lake in the park

Now there will be the pedant who points out that the lake in Alexandra Park is still there and perhaps someone else who challenges linking the park with Whalley Range.

Added to which I bet a few will remember seeing this picture before on posts about the Alex Park and Whalley Range.

But that won’t stop me, so here from the Valentine collection produced around 1906 is that view of  the park.

Picture; the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date circa 1906, courtesy of Ann Love

Down at West Point in 1911 before the Seymour Hotel ........ looking for the story of Jonathan Brown .... gardener and expert orchid grower

Now the Seymour has passed into history and soon memories will fade that this was the last pub before the long dry walk along Upper Chorlton Road to Brooks Bar and the Whalley Hotel

West Point, 1911

That said you would be hard pressed to find anyone who could remember when this grand old place was a private residence.

And now only history books will offer up its time as the hone of Samuel Gratrix who called his house West Point at the junction of Manchester Road, Seymour Grove and Upper Chorlton Road.

All of which l was reminded of when Jonathan Brown set me off on a hunt for his grandfather who was the gardener for Mr Gratrix.

Jonathan came across a reference to the both men in an article from The Orchid World published in 1911.*

He grandfather was living in the lodge with his wife Betsy. They had been married for less than a year and in 1914 Mrs Brown had a son. Their home vanished long before I knew the Seymour and l haven’t found a picture of the lodge.  But it had five rooms and was situated on the south side of Mr Gratrix's big property.

Samuel Gratrix, curca 1911

Locating the Brown's in 1911 was easy enough and the story then made its way to Rawtenstall where Jonathan had been born in 1883.

Just eight years later and his mother was a widow bringing up six children and working as a charwoman.

Her husband had been a teacher and while it is unclear yet when he died it will have to be after 1886 when their last child was born.

In time l will track Mrs Brown who had been born in Norfolk in 1855 which made her just 36 when she was bringing up her children.

All of which was new to Jonathan who an hour earlier knew nothing of his paternal father's family before 1914.

And the final twist was the 1871 census which not only revealed that his great grandfather was a pupil teacher but that his great great grandfather farmed 35 acres outside Rawtenstall and had been born at the beginning of the 19th century in Colne.

That might seem a long way from West Point in 1911 so I shall finish with an extract from The Orchid World which having praised Mrs Gratrix for “looking after the wants of these delicate and youthful Orchids” turned to Mr Brown “who has charge also of the 17 acres of grounds and] shows fully his capabilities as an experts Orchid grower, and the many rare and beautiful plants which he is entrusted should act as a great incentive to his ever willing desire to still further improve their good qualities.”*

West Point, 1894

I think Mr Brown would be pretty pleased with that.

Not that he stayed at West Point.

At some time he moved on eventually landing up in Huddersfield where the family settled and along the way set up a business, although Jonathan told me his grandfather was for moving on but his son put his foot down and Yorkshire became home.

And that is about it for now but I remain fascinated at how chance connections open up a whole new set of stories.

So for me apart from making a new acquaintance I have found a picture of West Point before it became the Seymour, discovered that its grounds extended to 17 acres and learnt a little about one of our gardeners and residents.

Location; West Point

Pictures; West Point, Whalley Range and Mr Samuel Gratrix from The Orchid World, Vol 1 nu 1910-1911, from the collection of Jonathan Brown, and West Point from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*The Orchid World, Vol 1 nu 1910-1911, pages 154-8

What we did in Alexandra Park in 1906, nu 5 ......... admiring the Clock Tower

A short series of how we used Alexandra Park in 1906, from a collection Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.

And no sooner had I posted this when Dave Hulson shared this, 

"Hi Andrew, I know the tower clocking Alexandra park was a gift from the market traders of Sheudehill Manchester as they didn't want or need it.

When it was erected at Alexandra Park it's clock faces never kept the correct time

This is where it gets a bit strange it was removed from the park ( date not known) and reappeared at Belle Vue on an island , but I don't know what happened to it after that or the date it was removed."

Well Dave that should set the memories going.

Location; Alexandra Park

Pictures; the Clock Tower, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

What we did in Alexandra Park in 1906, nu 4 ........ at the bowling green

A short series of how we used Alexandra Park in 1906, from a collection Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.



Pictures; The bowling green, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

What we did in Alexandra Park in 1906, nu 3 ..... at the lake

A short series of how we used Alexandra Park in 1906, from a collection Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.







Pictures; the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

Walking in Alexandra Park in the November of 2014 part 2

The thing about Alexandra Park is that it looks good pretty much all the year round and so here are a series of pictures from Andy Robertson taken at the end of November on a day when the sun shone and the last of the leaves had yet to fall.

I thought I would start with the lake not least because it will allow me to include one of almost the same spot taken over a century ago.

The earlier shots come from a delightful little collection marketed by the Valentine company under the simple title of “VALENTINE SNAPSHOTS, 12 REAL PHOTOGRAPHS FOR YOUR ALBUM 1/-.”

They date from 1906 and perfectly capture what the park once looked like.

Not that I want to short change Andy’s pictures which make me wish I had wandered down there myself.

The makeover has recreated a stunning place to walk and take time out from the usual busy demands of everyday life.

And of course there is much more to the park for not only has it given untold pleasure to countless generations of people but has a rich history, including demonstrations and events stretching back into the 19th century.

Pictures; walking in the park in November 20114, from the collection of Andy Robertson and the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

Walking in Alexandra Park in the November of 2014 part 1

The thing about Alexandra Park is that it looks good pretty much all the year round and so here are a series of pictures from Andy Robertson taken at the end of November on a day when the sun shone and the last of the leaves had yet to fall.

I thought I would start with the lake not least because it will allow me to include one of almost the same spot taken over a century ago.

The earlier shots come from a delightful little collection marketed by the Valentine company under the simple title of “VALENTINE SNAPSHOTS, 12 REAL PHOTOGRAPHS FOR YOUR ALBUM 1/-.”

They date from 1906 and perfectly capture what the park once looked like.

Not that I want to short change Andy’s pictures which make me wish I had wandered down there myself.

And of course there is much more to the park for not only has it given untold pleasure to countless generations of people but has a rich history, including demonstrations and events stretching back into the 19th century.

Pictures; walking in the park in November 20114, from the collection of Andy Robertson and the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

Walking in Alexandra Park sometime around 1906 courtesy of Valentine's Snapshots

Now like many people I have fond memories of Alexandra Park.

The entrance

And so I was pleased my friend old Ann sent me a pack of pictures dating from sometime in the early 20th century.

They cover pretty much the whole of the park including the lake, bowling green, clock tower, terrace and entrance.

There will be similar images from the same period but what makes these particularly interesting is that the pack is complete, includes the carton they came in and the name of the person they were sent to.

Added to this we have the name of the company which distributed them.

The cover

This was the Valentine Company of Dundee who began selling “topographical view photographs” from the 1860s, along with “a great variety of photographic goods from single framed images, to albums, view books and booklets, pictorial greetings cards and a wide range of photographic novelties including their innovative children's cut-out books.”**

All of which makes Ann’s pictures quite a find.

They were sent to Mark Brewer who was living at 25 Graswood Road, Fallowfield, and the hunt is on to find more, although so far he does seem to have evaded the historical record.

The lake

But no matter I shall continue to post more of his pictures of the park during the next few weeks.

For those who are also fans of the park I invite you to post your own pictures which could be taken from the same angle or just a scene you enjoy.

And just after this was posted Ann told me that "Mark Brewer was one of Howard's pupils at Wilbraham, in the early 70's. 

He gave the pictures to Howard."

All of which opens up a whole new raft of questions, for the pictures are nearly a full 70 years older.

So watch this space.

Pictures; The entrance and lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, circa 1906, courtesy of Ann Love

*VALENTINE COLLECTION, St Andrews University Library, 1999

So who did try to blow up the Cactus House in Alexandra Park?

Now I have to say the story of the Cactus House in the Park and the bomb passed me by.

Viewing the damage, November 11 1913

But back in the early hours of Tuesday November 11th 1913 someone or some group placed a pipe bomb
at the back entrance of the building which when detonated “a considerable portion of the Cactus-house .... was blown away and much damage was done.”*

The Cactus House had been opened in 1906 and contained the collection of Mr Charles Darrah which had been left to the Park by his widow.

Despite the absence of any evidence the police suspected it was the work of the suffragettes and part of the campaign to damage property in support of the demand of the extension of the vote to women which had been going on throughout the year.

According to the Manchester Guardian, “though there was nothing to indicate that the outrage was the work of militant suffragists the police entertain the belief that they are responsible for it.  

The Chief Constable, Mr R Peacock, who lives on the other side of the park, was early on the scene.  

He stated that although none of the literature usually found where outrages are perpetrated by violent women was discovered, he had no doubt on the subject.”*

Broken windows

All of which may have fed the prejudices of certain parts of the community but I doubt was enough on its own to point the finger.

Although just over twenty years later the Manchester Guardian returned to the story on the retirement of Mr Cobbold who had been Curator of the Cactus House since it was built, reporting that “in the days of the militant suffragettes [he] had to guard the cactus house from violence, and one occasion an attempt was actually made to blow it up.”**

That said I am off to trawl the records for any reports of arrests or convictions but may be pipped at the post by someone who can quote chapter and verse.

And with the confidence that my work might be done for me I went looking instead for the Cactus House but alas it is no more.

Despite being repaired and being a visitor draw, the collection the Coporation planned moving it to a new Cactus House in Wythenshawe Park in 1936.

The Manchester Guardian, 1913

Location, Alexandra Park, Manchester




Picture; Cactus House, Alexandra Park, Moss Side, Chief Constable and some of his staff early on the spot after attack by Suffragettes Date 1913, m57683 , and extract from the Manchester Guardian, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Early Morning Outrage, Explosion at Manchester cactus House, Senseless Piece of Work, Manchester Guardian November 12 1913

**In Manchester, Keeper of the Cacti, Manchester Guardian, January 31, 1934

Back in Alex Park demanding …….. “the Parliamentary franchise for women.”

In the early years of the last century many of the bog public meetings held in Alexandra Park were dominated by the demand for votes for women.

Alexandra Park, 1908

The press reported on a series of such rallies from 1908 through to 1912 with speakers ranging from Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, to Margaret Ashton and Mrs Annot Robinson.

One of the best documented was that held on October 24 1908 with a list of speakers which pretty much covered all the leading lights in the campaign both locally and nationally.*

There had been a public meeting the night before at the Free Trade Hall and on the Saturday the march set off from Albert Square and by degree made its way along Market Street, Deansgate, Peter Street, Oxford Street and then by way of Stretford Road, Upper Jackson Street to Upper Moss Lane and Alexandra Park.

Such was the distance and the expected numbers that the organisers planned for the march to start at 2.30 and enter the park by 4 o’clock.

Nothing had been left to chance. “A robbing room had been provided at 9 Albert Square where a maid will be in attendance between the hours of 1.p.m and 6.p.m., to take charge of hats &coats etc., for those who are walking in academic dress.”

 Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Wolstenholme, date unknown

On reaching the park there was provision in the shop to store the banners but societies wishing to take their banners in to the park were at liberty to do so with that ever so modern warning the “the Joint Demonstration Committee will not be responsible for their safety in any event.”

Today over a century and a bit since the demonstrators arrived at the park it is possible to create something of what happened.

Annie Briggs, Evelyn Manestra, Lillian Forrester, 1913

The march had been orderly and in the bright sunshine attracted a large audience of spectators and the “walkers acted on the crowd of watchers like a perpetual provoker of argument.  From Albert Square to the Park there were two miles of debaters for an and against the suffrage.  As one hurried one caught queer fragments of speech – ‘....they’ll never get it; If they pay rates, I say it’s only fair ....’ ‘What’ll they do wiv  it.’***

At the entrance to the park the first half of the procession entered by the man gate beside Hulme Lodge, while the second half made its way down Alexandra Road and entered by the side gate.

Both sections then converged on the large expanse of grassland to the north of the lake where there was the choice of those 35 speakers.

These were arranged on ten different platforms each with a theme, and with the help of the organisers map we can stand in that expanse of open space and choose who to listen to.

Platform one was given over to Housing and Health, two was Prison Reform, three Temperance, four Peace, and five Education.  The remaining platforms were devoted to the Protection of Children at number six, Social Ethics at seven, the Poor Law at eight and the remaining two were Labour Legislation at nine and Co-operation at ten.

Some of the people wandered between the platforms while others loyally stayed with their first choice and largest of all was the audience for Mrs Despard speaking from the Social Ethics platform.

I have a sneaking feeling I might have tarried for a while in front of platform number ten to listen to Professor Weis speaking on Peace more because of his involvement with the Cactus House and his support for women’s suffrage.

But despite the plan to keep the platforms far enough away from each other it would have been possible to pick out snatches of other themes.

Speaking on Prison Reform Miss Robertson “showed how great an influence women had had in securing prison reforms,” while Margaret Ashton on the Poor Law platform also spoke on the contribution of women on the boards of guardians [and] claimed the vote so that women may have more influence on the making of the Poor Laws, so that those laws really may be made by the people for the people.”

The speeches lasted just an hour and at the stroke of five announced by the sound of a bugle all ten platforms presented the same resolution to the listeners “calling on the Government to incorporate in their promised Reform Bill a clause granting the Parliamentary franchise to women.”

After which for those who had not yet availed themselves of the opportunity there was tea at the Refreshment rooms, price 4d., 6d., and 9d.

Sadly I have no idea what you got for the different prices but I might just have opted for the economy offer at 4d and spent another penny on one of the scarlet and white badges promoting the cause which were on sale in the park and no doubt also picked up a leaflet or two on the “rights of the women’s just claim to the vote.”

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Alexandra Park, 1908, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, group of Suffragettes including Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Wolstenholme, date unknown, m08239, and Annie Briggs, Evelyn Manestra, Lillian Forrester, 1913,m08224 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*The 35 speakers included Miss Margaret Ashton, Mrs Despard, Mrs Swanwick, Professor Weiss, and Mr Pollit,

**Women’s Suffrage.  Procession in the Manchester Streets; Manchester Guardian, October 26, 1908

The mystery of the old gate posts in Burford Road, .... and the house they called Denby Grange

Now, the two gateposts on Burford Road announce that the property beyond is Denby Grange, and anyone who lives in Whalley Range or Chorlton will know that this usually means one of those grand old houses dating back into the 19th century.

Denby Grange, 2018

Back then if you wanted to be seen as important you gave your house a name, which I suppose aped the great aristocratic palaces and set you apart from the mean terraced properties which were cheap and cheerful.

But as Rachel’s picture shows, the path up from the gatepost reveals a house built sometime in the mid 20th century and there rests the mystery.

I have yet to pinpoint when our modern property was built but I do now know that its predecessor was a large 12 roomed house, with a stable and dates from at least 1893.

It stood pretty much in splendid isolation beside an orchard and nursery owned by a Mrs Harriet Gregory which along with the trees included a large greenhouse.

Denby Grange, 1893

For those who marvel at the ease with which it was possible to call up the old Denby Grange, I have to say it was less magic and more just a matter of knowing where to look.

In this case that began with the street directories which offered up the name of James Howard, who was a Provisions Merchant and who also appeared in the Rate Books.

Tracking back through the rate books, showed that he bought the house in 1894 from an Edward Livingstone who was there in 1893.  Beyond that date it gets a little difficult to identify the house or an owner, which may mean it, had not yet been built.

A gate post ...... all that remains of Denby Grange

But given that we have the names of others who were on Burford Road in 1891 it should be possible to find them on the census for that year and make a guess about Denby Grange.

In the meantime we have the 1911 census which provides a wealth of information about Mr Howard.

So it is a start.

Coming up with a date for the end of Denby Grange has as yet proved elusive, but looking through the directories again for the years after 1911 will deliver the moment when the one house becomes two.

But that is for the future, which leaves me just to reflect that the story of Denby Grange will not start much before the 1890s and that back in 1854 the plot was just fields.

Location; Whalley Range

Picture; Denby Grange gate post, 2018 courtesy of Rachael Stevenson, and Burford Road in 1983 from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  digitalarchives.co.uk/

That house in Whalley Range and the grander one in Chorlton, which was Oak Bank and became Oakley

Doenberg today

Doenberg is that fine old house on Wood Road just where it joins College Road.

It was built in 1896 by Robert Rohleder and remained the family home until it was bought as the new residence for the Dean of Manchester in 1934.

And given that many of these houses were later torn down and replaced with more functional properties during the last decades of the twentieth century it is something that this one survived.

Today it has been converted into flats but was for a while left empty and forlorn which is where I left the story yesterday.

Sylvia who first asked me if I knew anything of its history thought that it might have once been a children’s home.  She had encountered a woman in the grounds searching for the site of a children’s home and thought Doenberg might have been the place.

Here then is the stuff of mystery and I wonder if the woman had herself been a resident of the home or had been drawn to Wood Road through a search for a relative.

Now a few people have confirmed that here was Cambrian House but so far that is where the trail ends.

Instead I shall return to an even bigger house which stood in the heart of had been Martledge and became New Chorlton.

The Oakley gate post

This was Oak Bank and was home in its time to the wealthy Morton family and later still the Cope’s who ran a chain of wine shops and drinking establishments in Manchester.

It stood in its own grounds which ran along Barlow Moor Road as far as Sandy Lane, and was bounded by what are now Zetland, Corkland and Wilbraham Roads.

By 1894 the estate had shrunk too little more than a pocket hemmed in by the houses on Corkland Road, Wilbraham Road and Maple Avenue and while its garden still extended west to Barlow Moor Road this too would be surrendered to housing by the beginning of the 20th century.

Today all that is left is a stone gate post with the name of the house and a bit of the old  wall.

The post gives the name of the house as Oakley and it was the Needham family who changed the name from Oak Bank.

They had moved in 1869 and stayed till the September of 1889 having changed the name to Oakley in 1883.

Oakley in 1894

To be fair the family did also leave their name which with that wonderful flair of civic imagination has become Needham Avenue although briefly in 1883 Oakley Moor Road appears in the rate books.

This seems to have referred to that stretch of Barlow Moor Road that ran alongside the estate.

A few years later and the old name of Barlow Moor had reasserted itself although there was a brief flirtation with Oakley Barlow Moor Road.

All of which seems rather nerdy but I am on a roll and will finish with Wallworth Road which again existed briefly from sometime around 1901 and was still in use in 1911.

It was that that short stretch of what is now Needham Avenue running off from Barlow Moor Road to the junction of Priory avenue where it continued as Needham.

Wallworth, Priory and Needham Avenues, 1907

Now this I tell you only because William H Wallworth had lived along here from 1901 and had owned the bakery on the north side of the avenue which is still there but has long since become home to a small set of industrial units.

This building has intrigued countless numbers of people passing along Neeedham on their way to the parcel depot.

And if you look closely there at the side of the building is our Oakley gate post, not I suspect in its original position which rather begs the question of why that wall is there.

But that is for another time.

In the meantime it is all that is left of Oak Bank/Oakley which has fared less well than Doenberg which can be still be seen and which has returned to its residential character.

Pictures; of Doenberg, courtesy of Sylvia Waltering, the gate post of Oakley from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the Oakley from the OS map of South Lancashire 1893, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the OS for Manchester & Salford, 1907

For the Friends of Range Road ....... and the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company

It’s been almost a year since I wrote about the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company and their depot down in Whalley Range.*

And I pretty much thought I done with the company and the depot, but not so because Andy Robertson was down there yesterday and took some fine pictures, of which this is one of my favourites, especially because in the previous story I featured pictures he took in 2014.

The rest I leave to you, spot the changes, and post your observations to me as a comment in the blog or social media

*On Range Road in Whalley Range with the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company depot, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/on-range-road-in-whalley-range-with.html

The Lost Red Cross Hospitals of Whalley Range

Patients and Red Cross VADs in a hospital in France

There were at least five of them ranging from private homes given over to the needs of war to theological colleges with room to spare.

Some across the border in Chorlton and Didsbury have been documented, but in the case of Whalley Range there is just a list in a Red Cross file and the occasional newspaper report.*

The Lancashire Independent College along with the Hartley Primitive Methodist College on Alexandra Road offered their dormitories as hospital wards.

But then there were the private homes which have been less easy to locate and a military HQ.

Burford Road in 1894

Of these there was Sunnyside on Range Road, numbers 1 & 3 Burford Road and Lancaster House.

Sunnyside still exits and is a tall semi detached house on the north side of Range Road.

In 1911 its occupant a Mr Henry Cartledge described it as having nine rooms with a longish garden which backed on to the properties fronting Yardburgh Street.

And that pretty much is all there is.  A newspaper report referred to it as the Britannia Hospital but places it on Withington Road which joins Range Road.

It was a small hospital accommodating just thirty-three beds and in 1917 the Red Cross decided to close it and transfer its patients to the Wesleyan College in Didsbury site which was to increase its capacity to 250 beds.

The houses on Burford Road are equally still shrouded in mystery.  In 1911 number three was home to Mr and Mrs Gamble and their three daughters and a servant.

It too had nine rooms and was one of two semi detached properties on the corner of Burford and Withington Road. Two years earlier, number one known as Burford House was the residence of Edward R Buck, manufacturer and number three, the Falklands   was occupied by A Mrs Hester.

Lancaster House, Whalley Road, 1961

But 1911 number one was vacant and in the way of these things perhaps number three was also empty by the outbreak of the war.

Already the Corporation had had plans to buy the 14 roomed properties known as the Alders just a little further along Burford Road and is it as preparatory school for Whalley Range High School for Girls.

Lancaster House on Whalley Road was already a military establishment being the HQ of C Squadron of the Imperial Yeomanry, continuing to serve the army well into the mid 20th century.

Now the existence of all these Red Cross Voluntary Hospitals across south Manchester has pretty much been forgotten which is a shame really, given the good they did and the work on the people of Whalley range, Chorlton, and Didsbury who staffed them  and raised money for them.

*The McLaren Memorial Baptist Church Edge Lane, Chorlton, The Wesleyan Church, Manchester Road, Chorlton, , The Wesleyan College, Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Woodlawn, Mersey Road, Didsbury.

Pictures; Patients & Red Cross VADs in a hospital at Gournay, France, 1916, courtesy of the Red Cross, detail from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives, Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Lancaster House, Whalley Road, 1961, by A.E.Brown, m40912, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

On Range Road in Whalley Range with the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company depot

Now as far as a story goes that I think will have to wait but I couldn’t resist using Andy’s picture of this bit of Grange Road taken last month.

Range Road, once a tram depot later a laundry and homes, 2014

The jury maybe out on whether using the facade of an old building and constructing something entirely new behind it constitutes good design but I rather like the idea.

If you can’t use the original for what it was intended for this at least allows a little of its history to be preserved and in the process gives a context to this bit of Range Road.

It also prompted me to try and understand what this building was and more importantly how it fits with the rest of the structure on the corner of Range and Withington Roads.

The bits of the deport that are left, 2014

Today the bits of what was once one building look odd and pretty much defy any attempt to make sense of what is a brick block with a canopy on one side of it.

If I think hard enough I can just remember it as a garage and that is about it.

You would see it as you passed on the bus and it never really intruded very deeply.  It was just a jumble of ugly bits of building made worse by someone’s attempt to paint some of the brick work.

That canopy, 2014

But once it belonged to the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company and extended along Withington Road and round on to Range Road.

The company had been formed from a merger of two transport business's in 1880 and for over 20 years operated horse drawn tram services throughout Manchester and Salford.

At its greatest extent in 1900 it ran services over 140 route miles, using 515 trams and 5,244 horses housed in 19 depots.*

And our building was one of those depots with another close by on Chorlton Road.

Badly painted walls, 2014

But by the early 20th century local authorities were showing an interest in operating their own Corporation transport services and the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company ceased trading in 1903.

So while in 1894 our building was one of their deports by 1911 it had moved with the times and was home to the Provincial Motor Cab Company Ltd.

But this “new century” enterprise had no use for all of the original building and so the stretch on Range Road was used by Mrs Emma Thompson as a laundry.

And that pretty much is where we started the story with that picture of Andy’s which was once part of a horse drawn tram empire became a laundry and now fronts private residences.

Not that I have finished because just as I couldn’t resist starting with Andy’s picture I shall close with this one of part of the building in 1962, when it was the Range Garage.

Range Garage in 1962

Something of the grandeur of the place when it was owned by the Carriage Company can be seen from the picture by A H Landers.

And there is that canopy to the left of the great entrance, complete with petrol pumps.

But this original was too big even for a garage which boasted it was open Day & Night so the section to the right housed the Metalic Construction Company (Manchester) Ltd.

All now gone save that odd bit of brick and canopy and of course the facade on Range Road without which Andy wouldn’t have had a picture or me a story.

Pictures; Range Road and the surviving bits of the deport from the collection of Andy Robertson, and the Range Garage, 1962, A H Landers m41068, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* Gray, Edward (1977), The Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company, Manchester Transport Museum Society

Now here is a bit of a detective story for anyone in Whalley Range

Angela emailed me just now to ask “I wonder if your blog could appeal for anyone who can remember where the Quakers met in Whalley Range? 

Alexandra Park, 2014

According to Harold Wilde they met in Alexandra Park- not just at the gates, but in a building.  

It might be a house near St Bedes called something like ‘Edinburgh Court’ or ‘Edinburgh.’ 

There must be someone who remembers the place.”

Harold Wilde was a peace campaigner and conscientious objector during the Great War and refers to meetings he attended in his diary.*

The 1911 directory lists the Friends Meeting Houses on Mount Street, Albert Square, Langworthy Road, Pendleton and the Adult Schools at Byrom Street, Deansgate, Ainsworth Street in Gorton and Pendleton and Didsbury.

But Whalley Range fails to get a mention.  Nor could I find a reference to ‘Edinburgh Court’ or ‘Edinburgh’on Alex Road South.

So there for the moment it rests, but I bet as Angela says there will be someone out there who knows.
Failing that it will have to be the old fashioned way of the sleuth and a visit to the Friends’ Meeting House and Central Ref.

Location; somewhere in Whalley Range

Picture; Alexandra Park, 2014 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* "my life will be spent in fighting the Christian fight against Militarism in England.”......... stories behind the book nu 19, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/my-life-will-be-spent-in-fighting.html

More from Tony Goulding ...............Another War Memorial Anomaly in Chorlton-cum-Hardy

I recently wrote about the curious double entry on one of Chorlton-cum-Hardy's War Memorials, the one at Manchester Road, Methodist's and it is with a certain amount of trepidation that I now refer to a possible anomaly on another at St.Werburghs Church.

Included in the roll of 40 names are two "Blaydon’s" "C" and "E".
"C" has remained a bit of an enigma, however, "E" I have been able to trace viz.

Eric Blaydon
(K.i.A. 1/7/1916 France)

Eric was a private in the Manchester Regiment, 19th.Battalion and like so many others his name is memorialized on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme Battlefield.

He has a very interesting family background. Eric was born, in April 1891, in Earlsfield, Middlesex to Avey Blaydon, a commercial clerk, and his wife, a divorcee, Caroline Augusta Page(1) (nee. Rhind).

The family moved to Manchester sometime in 1894, initially at 16, Church (now Chequers) Road and then at 20, Hartington Road. Soon after their arrival in Chorlton-cum-Hardy came the arrival of Eric's brother Charles Caple Boyd Blaydon wrongly, assumed that this person would turn out to be the C.Blaydon on the memorial.

This is definitely not the case as Charles C.B.'s story before, after and during the 1914-1918 war is exceptionally well covered in the available documents as follows:
1901 Census

Living with family at Hartington Road Father, mother, three brothers (Richard Avey, Lionel Eric and Harold Jack) and four sisters (4year old twins Enid Mabel and Edna Isabel plus Kathleen Augusta and Helen Gertrude).
CC--1905

Following the death of their mother in October 1904 the family broke up ---- by the time of the:-

1911 Census
Charles C.B., by then an apprentice tinsmith, was living at 177, Moss Lane East as the adopted son of John Statham, a joiner/builder and Mary Ann, his wife.

Richard A. had immigrated to Canada where he joined the Canadian Army - reaching the rank of Sergeant-Major before the outbreak of the War which saw him land in France as a member of the 6th.Battalion, 2cnd. Infantry Brigade in the first Canadian contingent.

Following four months on the Western Front he was ordered back to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he had attained the rank of Captain before receiving there, as named next of kin, notification of his brother’s death.
He later lived in North Hollywood Los Angeles where he became an American citizen and married at least twice.

Kathleen A.H. was residing in a "rescue home" at 7,Boniface St. Lambeth, London She married in Portsmouth the following year and had a daughter and a son , christened Avey, there during the war before returning to Manchester giving birth to another boy, Robert J.B. , in 1922
Lionel Eric was working as a clerk in a shipping office and boarding with a Mrs. Elizabeth Gresty at 2, Randolph Street, Higher Crumpsall.

There is some evidence to suggest that, in the aftermath of his wife's untimely death, Avey moved to his home area of East Anglia taking some of his younger children with him.

Certainly the twins Edna and Enid Isabel appear in the 1911 census living as boarders of George Theedam, a retired Farm labourer on Stanway Street, London Road, Nr.Colchester, and Essex. Both girls later returned to Manchester to live.

Unfortunately I could not trace either Avey or his two youngest children Helen Gertrude and Harold Jack in the 1911 census.

However Harold Jack reappears in the records of the Royal Navy. He saw active service towards the end of the hostilities, joining the fleet on 13th. May 1918 (less than 4 months after his 18th. birthday) signing up for a 5 year engagement. He was "invalided" out on the 15th. May, 1923 when his option for a 7 year extension was not taken up.

A year into his service Harold married Evelyn Cook in 1919 at Stockport. The couple named their first child, born the following year, Eric in memory of the brother killed on the Somme. (3)
 Charles C.B.'s War Record

These documents cleanly indicate that this soldier survived the conflict and returned to civilian life. Despite being less than 3 months married to a Margaret Mason at the outbreak of the War Charles evidently was determined to "do his bit”.

He initially enlisted into The (Kings) Liverpool Regiment just a month after the declaration of war on 4th.September, 1914. Having been discharged as being medically unfit for service (due to a rupture), he was not deterred and successfully re-joined the colours with the Manchester Regiment from the 12th. January, 1915, serving in the 16th. and 17th Battalions until getting a discharge on de-mobilization on 27th February, 1919

Returning to Salford he settled down  with his wife Margaret ,the couple producing two sons the first born in 1931 also being named in memory of his "fallen" brother(3)

All of this poses the question who then is the C Blaydon on the memorial? A trawl through several databases including that of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and "Soldiers Died in the Great War" on Find

My Past has produced no obvious answers; neither did perusing the 1901 and 1911 censuses of the environs of the church.

I can only postulate that amid the devastation and disruption of the immediate post-war years, together with his move to Salford and with the absence of any other family in the area to refute it, Charles's death was presumed and his name added to the memorial next to his brother's. Otherwise it remains a mystery!

Pictures; St Warburgh’s Church, 2015 from Tony Golding, interior date unknown, courtesy of Miss Templer from the Lloyd Collection

Notes

1) Avery Blaydon was "cited" in the divorce case of Philip Homer Page vs. Caroline Augusta Page 1889

2) Charles Caple Boyd was born on 7th September and christened at St. Clements on the 27th. October, 1894)

3) Very sadly both these young Eric’s were to die in infancy

Down on College Road looking for Beech Hurst and Doenberg

Now I am back with gateposts and the stories they have to reveal.

Beech Hurst Close, September 2014

Andy Roberston recorded this one on College Road earlier this month.

Today it leads to Beech Hurst Close which is a small bit of development but was once the entrance to Beech Hurst, a grand looking property set in a tree lined garden with substantial outhouses.

It is a building I knew nothing about but I suspect I must have passed it countless times as I walked along College Road.

I don’t know when it was demolished or for that matter when it was built.

The gate post

It was there by 1894 bounded by the Independent College to one side and surrounded by cricket grounds that ran down to Burford Road and up Withington Road.

And in 1911 it was the home of the Beaty family.

Mr David Beaty described himself as a “Clothier and Merchant.”  He was married to Kate who had been born in Yorkshire in 1860 and they had four children of whom three were still living with them in 1911.

The family employed four servants one of whom Annie Birch was a “sick nurse” which invites all sort of speculation on who she was looking after.

Beech Hurst in 1894

If I have got this right they had moved into  Beech Hurst sometime between the January and the April of 1911.

Two decades earlier their home had been set in a secluded and pleasant spot for not only had they  been able to look out on the College and those cricket grounds but directly opposite were another collection of fine mansions set back in their own tree lined gardens with names like Whalley Villa, Hazel Green, Sunnyside, Liguria House and the Cedars.

But by the time the Beaty’s had taken up residence some of those fine properties were either vacant or demolished and by 1933 all had gone replaced by small semi detached properties.

Added to this development were now similar houses on the east side of Beech Hurst and almost directly opposite there was the “Sunnyside clothing works.”

Perhaps by then the Beatty’s had left their 13 roomed home.  There is a record of a David Beaty dying in 1925 in Bucklow, Cheshire and a Kate Beaty who died Bucklow, thirteen years later.

Doenberg today

That said they would have been familiar with Doenberg just a little further along College Road.*

It is a place I have written about already on a number of occasions, and Andy included it in his collection of photographs.

It too has a fascinating past made more so because since the stories were posted a number of people have come forward with bits to add to its history, including Jim Warner, who wrote that

“this was my great grandparents home, my grandparents being Wilhelmina Doris Rohleder and Dr. James Leather of Bolton.”

So there you have it, never pass an old gate posts without clocking its history.

Pictures; of Beech Hurst Close, and Doenberg, September 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and Beech Hurst in 1894 from the OS for South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Doenberg, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Doenberg