Stories behind the book ....... nu 1 getting started

I first came across the Together Trust five years ago when I was researching our family history.  

Boys of the charity, 1871

Today they are a charity based in Stockport who “provide a wide range of support services  including fostering, residential, community and family support [and] provide specialist educational support through our schools and college” and are driven by the belief that “everybody deserves an equal chance in life.”*

They began in 1870 as the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuge and were involved in offering six boys who were living rough a bed and a meal for the night.
This was soon extended to include girls as well as boys, more residential properties were added and workshops were established to teach the young people a trade.

Thomas Bowers, a success story

The charity also campaigned on a range of issues to do with child welfare, migrated some to Canada and ran summer camps by the sea side.

And as we move towards their 150th anniversary the trust has decided to commemorate that event with a book which will be written by me and Liz Sykes who is their archivist.

Having decided on the broad themes Liz has generated a detailed chronology linked to archive material and I have gone off to trawl the newspapers.

During the last day and a bit I have identified over four hundred references to the charity in the Manchester Guardian for the first 50 years.

And as you do each of these has been dropped into a box, ranging from events, and summer camps to the work of the training schools, the migration parties sent to Canada, and finance.

The starting point has been the annual meeting where a report of the previous year was presented.

Destinations of the class of '72

In the January of 1873 Mr L. K. Shaw the secretary reported that “the Refuge had been in operation for three years and was for the relief and training of the homeless boys of Manchester and Salford.  

The great majority of the inmates had lost either the father or both parents.”**

He went on to describe where the 139 in their care were at the end of the year and what those who were still with them were doing.

It makes interesting reading and I can see why the charity was pleased with their progress.

Of those who had moved on, 23 were in “respectable situations and were supporting themselves” 7 had been migrated, another 11 “restored to their friends” six were in industrial schools and 75 still in the home, leaving only six who “had returned to the streets” and ten who were not accounted for.

Fund raising advert, 1906

Of the 75, just under half were learning a trade,  27 were in “shoeblack and messenger brigades" and 17 were employed on the premises in firewood making and shoe making.”

The report touched on the boys’ earnings and the economics of running the charity and the meeting concluded with contributions from the good, the wealthy and the worthy.

The following twenty four reports will I hope throw more light on the progress of the charity and make interesting comparisons.

So that is it day one of the research and I already feel I have learnt a lot.

Location Manchester

Pictures; courtesy of the Together Trust and data taken from the report of 1873.

* The Together Trust, https://www.togethertrust.org.uk/

**The Boys’ Refuge and Industrial Home, Manchester Guardian, January 7, 1873

Chorlton Pubs and Bars ..... the book has arrived

Now I have always been sceptical of writers who say a book took over their life.

But in the case of Peter who is the other half of Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping it has to be said that our latest book has taken over his house.

This is the second in the series on Manchester Pubs.

The first concentrated on 75 city centre drinking establishments, grouped in fifteen walks with more than 600 original Peter paintings, maps and photographs.

And today the first batch of 200 copies of Chorlton Pubs and Bars arrived and spread out across the hall and front room of Peter's house.

There are, inside its covers, the stories of 33 pubs and bars, also grouped into walks with paintings pictures and maps.

That said fifty of them will be in Chorlton bookshop tomorrow, delivered by me and Peter at midday.

And because we can, we shall be signing copies and talking to those who join us for the event.

I may even mention, the man, the goat and The Trevor Arms, although I suspect Peter will tell me off and direct everyone to the relevant chapter.

Peter will also have a collection of his badges and both of us will be happy to talk about the book and how we came to write it.

And that is all I am going to say until tomorrow, at midday in Chorlton Book Shop.

But will just hint at the section on the lost seven.

The Murder of Chorlton’s ‘Little Bobby’ ………… Who killed Constable Cock? by Angela Buckley*

Like many who live in Chorlton I knew something of the murder of PC Cock in 1876.

Cover of Who Killed Constable Cock? 2017

It was a crime that shook the township and was covered in some detail by the national newspapers.

But I always wanted to know more and in particular to dispel some of the myths about the event.

And so I was pleased when Angela  got in touch today to tell me that her new book on the crime was about to be published, and of course I couldn’t resist asking her to introduce the story for the blog.*

She kindly also allowed me to use two of the illustrations, and so that just leaves me to hand over to Angela.

“At midnight on Tuesday 1 August 1876, PC Nicholas Cock was on duty in Chorlton. It was a dry and cloudy evening, with little moonlight, and the police officer was approaching the junction of Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and Seymour Grove, known as West Point.

As he walked along the wide footpath overhung with trees towards the ‘Jutting Stone’, which marked the limit of his beat, he was joined by two more men: PC James Beanland, and law student John Massey Simpson, who was on his way home after a night out.

The three men exchanged pleasantries before Simpson left. When he was 150 yards away, he heard two loud shots ring out in the night. The student turned around to see flashes of light behind him in the pitch dark. Hearing screams of, ‘Oh, murder, murder; I’m shot, I’m shot’, Simpson rushed back to the junction, to find PC Cock slumped on the pavement near the garden wall of the large house, also known as West Point (it later became The Seymour Hotel).

PC Cock, 1876

Even in the dim light, he could see the unmistakable stain of blood spreading across the police officer's chest: Nicholas Cock had been shot.

PC Beanland blew his whistle and soon more officers arrived on the scene. They quickly hailed two passing night soil men, who took Cock in their cart to a doctor’s surgery. By 1 am, Cock was settled on Dr Dill’s sofa, where the doctor tried to revive him with brandy and water.

Ten minutes later the semi-conscious police officer died - the bullet had passed through his ribs into his spinal column, causing a massive haemorrhage.

Shortly before PC Cock's death, Superintendent James Bent, of the Manchester Division of Lancashire Constabulary, had arrived, after receiving the news of the shooting just after midnight. The experienced officer knew instantly who had committed this terrible crime: ‘I suspected these men from the first.’

Bent's prime suspects were the Habron brothers, three Irish labourers who lived close to the spot where PC Cock had been shot.  John, 24, Frank, 22 and William aged 18, were all employed in the nursery gardens of Francis Deakin, at Firs Farm, where they lived in an outhouse in the grounds. The brothers had crossed the path of PC Cock many times and threatened him, especially when he interfered with their drinking in the Royal Oak and the Lloyds Hotel.

The murder scene, 1876

As soon as he heard about the incident, Superintendent Bent instructed his men to surround the small brick building, where the brothers were alleged to be. After the officer's death, Bent joined his colleagues at Deakin’s nursery and arrested all three Habron brothers.

A painstaking investigation led by Superintendent Bent followed. There were plenty of clues: sets of footprints that matched the suspects' muddy boots, percussion caps found in their clothing and a bullet discovered at the scene. Superintendent Bent would stop at nothing to bring PC Cock's killer to justice, despite the contradictory evidence of key eye witnesses, shifting alibis and a mystery man spotted at the crime scene. This led to an extraordinary case featuring a controversial detective, a startling revelation and a grave miscarriage of justice.

PC Nicholas Cock was just 21 years old when he was killed.

He was born in Cornwall, in 1856 and, like his father, he worked in a copper mine. When he lost his job, due to the widespread closure of the mines, he moved first to Durham, and then to Manchester.

He joined the Lancashire Constabulary at the end of 1875, and was stationed in Chorlton. After his murder, the local press described him as ‘a very active officer, punctual in the discharge of his duties.’ Locally he was known affectionately as the ‘Little Bobby’ and was buried in the churchyard on Chorlton Green.”

And the rest is as they all to be read in Who Killed Constable Cock? by Angela Buckley is now available for pre-order on Amazon

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; courtesy of Angela Buckley

*Angela Buckley, http://www.angelabuckleywriter.com/

** Who Killed Constable Cock? by Angela Buckley is now available for pre-order on Amazon

Who knew W M Rawlinson of Eccles?

Now I say Eccles because that is the place name which was written on the back of this picture postcard.

I don’t have a date, and so far I have been unable to track W M Rawlinson down.

His large sign says he was a “Bricklayer Contractor & General Repairer of Property” but there is no listing for him in the trade directories or the census returns for the early part of the 20th century which given his appearance is where I would expect to find him.

That said there is a Samuel and Sons , “joiners and builders’ recorded in 1903 on Wesley Street in Salford but this led nowhere.

So there you have it, mystery picture of as yet an unknown builder.

I wonder if anyone knows?

I might strike lucly, after all there were other Rawlinson's in Salford at the time.

And soon after posting the story suggestions have flowed in.  One person sent me a census return and Bill Sumner added, "William Rawlinson was at 483 Liverpool Rd Peel Green Eccles in 1904, the site now seems to be a car sales lot opposite Asda. info from Slaters Directory."

So another story is bubbling up!

Location Salford

Picture; W M Rawlinson, date unknown possibly Eccles, from the collection of David Harrop

The Moravian Settlement.

If you live in Manchester, and especially on the east side of the city sooner or later you come across the Moravian Settlement.

I suppose in my case it must have been around 1972 or ’73 when we were living off Grey Mare Lane. 

Sundays in the summer were often spent wandering up the Old Road in a brave but fruitless attempt to walk to the hills above Ashton under Lyne.  I say fruitless because it is a long way.

But on one of those trips having taken a diversion along Fairfield Street we came across the Moravian Settlement.

Now there has been a lot written about the place but I want to focus on an article written by Alice McIlwrick in the summer of 1931*

"A Visit to the Moravian Settlement

Openshaw, Audenshaw, Droylsden-and Fairfield.  Knowing the district one could not help but wonder how the name Fairfield came to be there.  So it was very interesting and illuminating to discover that it was the name given by the Moravians over 150 years ago to their Settlement.  They meant to make the place a fair field amidst the rather drab surroundings of the fringe of the Pennines.

A visitor to the Settlement today at once feels it to be a place set apart.  It has the quietness and serenity, but also not the opulence of a Cathedral close.   

There is an absence of impressive brass knockers on the doors of this Close, but as one stands with the main buildings on one hand and the Cemetery on the other, one realizes more and more as the moments pass, that the Settlement was given the right name.  It is indeed a “Fairfield” and a place of romance in the industrial region aroun.

The origin and achievements of the Moravian movement made a thrilling tale as told by the minister at Fairfield, the Rev. E.W. Porter.  It began as a revolt from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16^th Century and flourished in Moravia and Bohemia for 100 years.  

This success was wiped out during the Thirty Years War and the survivors fled into Germany.  There they found a safe harbourage in the little village of Herrnhut and a generous patron in its Count.  He, it was who encouraged them with leadership and financial help. 

Under him the movement grew and spread into America and England. But more than this the Moravians were the first to send missionaries to Africa, to the Red Indians and to the Eskimos. 

This part of their work was always considered to be the most important and was pursued with vigour, enthusiasm and great success. 

However, it was the history of the Fairfield Settlement which was of particular interest to the visitor.  

The Moravian Brethren after an unsatisfactory attempt at Duckinfield bought land known as Fairfield and began to build a settlement there in 1783.  It was planned and built by its people.  

Food was grown on its own farms.  It was self contained and self governing.  The life of the village centred round the Church, and the vigour of that life was indicated by the ownership of a fire engine, a night watchman, an inspector of weights and measures, an overseer of roads and lastly of a physician.

A unique feature of the village was the existence of a Single Sister’s house and a Single Brother’s House.  The Single Sisters ran one of the two farms and a laundry.  

As might be expected, they did beautiful needlework.  Some of it was sent to Queen Adelaide and one can imagine their joy and pride when the Queen ordered more.

The Single Brothers had a bakery and the bread made there they distributed every day on horseback, so probably they covered a fair distance.  It was the Single Brothers who dug the well and so supplied the village with water, and it must have been they who, in 1786, helped to lay water pipes and construct the sidewalks.

One likes to think of these two houses in the village and imagine the lively life in each.  Here, evidently, the youth of the community was gathered together and given work to do.  There must have been a healthy rivalry between them, occasionally punctuated by the intrusion of Cupid, with the inevitable result of a marriage and a new family.

There was a boarding school for boys and one for girls for the Moravians early realized the importance of education of the young.  Today the boys’ school has become the Municipal Secondary School.

The whole Settlement was in those early days and for many, many years alive with the activities of every kind but the religious benefits of the group were the guiding spirit of everything.  It is a lasting tribute to the strength of this spirit that on entering the village streets one feels at once a calmness and serenity in contrast to the materialistic unrest of the city beyond.

Today the Settlement has lost much of its land and its activities are reduced, but its glowing religious beliefs still make this Settlement a “Fairfield” among the turbulent life around.

One does in that village glimpse “The Peace that passeth understanding.” A.M.

*The article appeared in The Droylsden & District Advertiser which published and printed by her husband who started his own printing business in 1926 in the Falcon Mill off Poland Street by Oldham Road.  

F. A. McIlwrick & Co. Ltd. stayed there until the premises were destroyed by an arsonist in the spring of 1974 when the business, relocated to Cambridge Street.

Now there is no date on the paper clipping but given the start up date of the newspaper in 1926 and its closure in the war there are only two possible dates.  

These are 1931 and 1942 and are based on an advert for the Greenside Horticultural Show which was held on the Saturday and Sunday of August 29^th and 30^th and yes you have guessed it these two only fell in 1931 and ’42.  Now at present I don’t have a date for its closure but I guess it might have closed by 1942 leaving us with 1931.

Pictures; courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, the Settlement in 1794, m80233, in 1825 by Harwood, J And Watkins, m71622, & in 1900, m71634, and detail from the Droylsden & District Advertiser, courtesy of T McIlwrick who also supplied the press clipping.

Revisiting favourite places with a twist of history ............... nu 3 Florence

An occasional series which just aims to reflect old places and places with a story.

Dinnertime in Florence.

Picture; Florence, 2012, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Stories behind the book ......... a thank you

It has only been a few days since we signed off the new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton.

In the way of modern publishing it went down the wire on Thursday and just a week or so later the first batch will be with us on May 19th.

As you do, I began reflecting on the people who made it all possible.  There were those who supplied stories, along with those who found long forgotten pictures and others who went off to do a bit of supportive research.

And then there are the two or three who have the job of proof reading the manuscript.  It doesn’t matter how many spell checks you do and how many times you read through the text there are always mistakes.

Part of that comes from just writing it, because when you re read it, often you see what you wanted to say and quite simply miss the spelling error or the grammatical slip up.

And even when all that is done there can still be the odd typo as well as the technical question of exactly how  a certain word should be seen on the page.

Now the full list of those we thanked appears in the book, but I would just like to thank Andy Robertson who supplied pictures, and went away at frequent intervals to trawl the 1969 street directory, and Linda Topping and Lindy Newns who had the  task of proof reading the entire book , not once but twice.

And finally there are the staff and owners of the 33 bars and pubs who offered up information, and who were prepared to be photographed pouring a pint.

It is out on Friday May 19 and you can pre order at www.pubbooks.co.uk email Peter at peter@pubbooks.co.uk or the old fashioned way on 07521 557888

Location; Chorlton

*A new book on the pubs and bars of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Chorlton%20Pubs%20and%20bars