Chorlton Operatic Society ...... three programmes and a story

Now, sometimes what you know about a bit of our history just increases tenfold.

Dorothy, 1920

Yesterday I knew a little about the Chorlton Operatic Society, but not much.

I had the name of its secretary in 1910, who was a Mr Herbert Bayfield of 61 Claude Road, and the name of the conductor, added to which I had two small newspaper clippings of the society’s production of
“Dorothy" which was staged at the Pavilion Theatre in April 1914 and “Peg o’ My Heart” at the Chorlton Public Hall, eleven years later.

Included in the first revue was a photograph of the cast and in the second a fulsome account of “three successful performances”.*

But today thanks to an anonymous donor, I have three programmes, and the musical score and script for “Be Careful Bill” which may have been performed in 1936 or 1937.

The Rebel Maid, 1927

All of which means, that the story of the Society can now be traced from 1907 through to the mid 1930s.

This includes the names of the actors and musicians along with the subscribers and a full list of performances from 1908 till 1927.

According to the programme notes from La Fille De Madame Angot, “Two Operas are performed by the Society each Season, and throughout the winter months a series of Whist Drives, Concerts and Social evenings are held, when Subscribers and Acting Members have the opportunity of becoming acquainted.

The subscription is 10/- per annum, which entitles each Subscriber to two Specially Reserved Seats for each of the two Opera, which they have the privilege of booking before the general public.

Proportionate profits derived from the Season’s working are devoted to local charities, each Subscriber having a vote as to this distribution, also in the choosing of the Operas for the following season”.**

An earlier Dorothy, 1914

In 1914 one of the charities had been the Chorlton and District Nursing Association, and later ones included the Widows and Orphans Fund of the National Union of Journalists, and the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen.

The influx of new people into the township was sufficiently large and diverse to support many cultural activities and the Operatic Society were performing in the relatively new Pavilion on the corner of Wilbraham and Buckingham Roads.

La Fille de Madame Angot, 1913

It had been opened around 1904, soon changed its name to the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens and from 1909 was our first cinema.

Kemp’s Almanack and Handbook for 1910, listed everything from an amateur gardening society, a drama club and Literary Association along with our operatic society and an orchestral society.

And for those who fancied sport, there was cricket, football, tennis, golf and hockey clubs which vied with lacrosse, cycling and bowling to draw the more athletic resident out to play.

As yet many of these clubs are still sitting in the shadows, but the donation of the programmes not only offers up some fascinating detail about the Operatic Society but also on Chorlton during the first two decades of its existence.

The programmes contain adverts for local businesses, two of which made it into the 21st century and add to what we know about the public halls which were open for hire.  In 1913 the society performed at the Public Hall in West Didsbury and later at St Edmund’s Hall on Alexandra Road and in 1927 at the Public Hall in Chorlton which was attached to the Conservative Club.

Adverts, 1927

But what caught my eye was that at one stage they were based at the Davenport Hall on Stamford Road, which is that part of Brantingham which runs from Manchester Road to Albany Road. During 1912-13 this was their headquarters and it has long been a place with a history waiting to be uncovered.

“The Hall measuring 45 ft long and 16 ft wide with Ladies’ and Gentleman’s Clock Rooms, Kitchen, etc may be hired for Parties, Socials, Whist Drives, Meetings etc, on very moderate terms.  Crockery, Chairs, etc., may also be hired separately”. ***

And like the Operatic Society, which has now come out of the shadows, that small advert has added to our knowledge of long lost public hall.

Leaving me just to reflect on one last advertisement from one of the the programmes, and my favourite.

It  was for Charles Shaw & Sons Ltd., at 98 Barlow Moor Road who as well as having opened the first petrol pump available to the public, proudly declared that having been "established in Chorlton for 29 years we offer the finest service it is possible to give in motoring [with]  for hire a splendid fleet of landaulettes, with men in livery to take you anywhere. No hackney carriage plates on the back but a car that nobody can tell is not your own".****

List of  subscribers, 1912-13

Now if I had the imagination and the skill that could be the start of an opera with and impossible plot, and full of pompous people.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; the Chorlton Operatic Society April 1914 from the Manchester Courier, courtesy of Sally Dervan, and programs of Chorlton Operatic Society, 1912-13, 1919-1920,and 1927, donated anonymously.

*Chorlton Dramatic Society’s Effort for Charity, Manchester Guardian November 21 1915.

** La Fille De Madame Angot programme. La Fille De Madame Angot was performed between May 1st and May 3rd 1913, at the Public Hall West Didsbury

*** La Fille De Madame Angot programme

****The Rebel Maid Programme 1927

Another bit of the story of Chorlton's first cinema and a performance of Dorothy in the April of 1914

Now I would like to think that one day I could identify these members of the Chorlton Operatic Society.

In 1910 their secretary was  Herbert Bayfield of 61 Claude Road, and their conductor a T M Ferneley, but of course three years later when they gave this performance at the Pavilion Theatre in the April of 1914 these two may have passed on to greater things.

But the picture remains a wonderful find and has set me off again thinking about just how much there was to do in Chorlton back in the early decades of the last century.

According to Kemp’s Almanack and Handbook for 1910, there was everything from an amateur gardening society, a drama club and Literary Association along with our operatic society and an orchestral society.

So plenty to do, and if instead if you fancied sport there were cricket, football, tennis, golf and hockey clubs which vied with lacrosse, cycling and bowling to draw the more athletic resident out to play.

Which brings me back to the operatic society and the Pavilion Theatre.

The society was active by 1910 and still going strong fifteen years later when the Manchester Guardian reported that the "Chorlton Operatic and Dramatic Society has given three successful performances of ‘Peg o’ My Heart” this week at the Chorlton Public Hall, in aid of the Widows and Orphans Fund of the National Union of Journalists.  A fourth and final performance of the play will take place tonight.”*

Back in 1914 they had been performing in aid of the Chorlton and District Nursing Association which was also listed in the Alamanck and run by Mrs Worlidge of 12 Edge Lane who would soon be running the Red Cross Voluntary Hospital in the Sunday School of the Baptist Church.

And so the picture does begin to tie many little things together.  The influx of new people into the township was sufficiently large and diverse to support many cultural activities and the Operatic Society were performing in the relatively new Pavilion on the corner of Wilbraham and Buckingham Roads.

It had been opened around 1904, soon changed its name to the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens and from 1909 was our first cinema.

It remains a place that fascinates me and continues to offer up new stories ever since I came across a photograph of the place in the June of 1910.

And finally there was Mr Herbert Bayfield of 61 Claude Road whose address is listed in 1911 but is missing from the census record just a few month later, which is odd given that he had been living there by 1904.

But maybe he had moved on, which of course will perhaps mean he is not one of those on our picture.

Pictures; the Chorlton Operatic Society April 1914 from the Manchester Courier, courtesy of Sally Dervan, and the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens, June 1910 from the Lloyd Collection

*Chorlton Dramatic Society’s Effort for Charity, Manchester Guardian November 21 1915.

Coming soon ………..Chorlton Arts ….. the Festival

Now every community should have their own Arts Festival, and the news that this September Chorlton Arts will be staging events across the township is very exciting.

Chorlton Arts Festival 2002-14

The original Chorlton Arts Festival grew out of a conversation over a bottle of wine in 2002 between Hilary Barber, Val Stevens and Ed Wyllie, which became a series of events embracing theatre, visual arts, exhibitions and the spoken word.

The following year there were 28 venues around Chorlton, including pubs, bars, schools, art galleries church halls and the streets.

Badly Drawn Boy performed at St Clements Church, there was an Arts Trail across the Meadows and amongst the highlights was that simple fact that over 3,000 young people were involved in some of of "art" over that week
In the run up to the 2003 festival, Zoe Morris who was deputy head at Chorlton High School and festival director,  commented that “the idea was to create a festival for the community, by the community and people of all ages and backgrounds, taking part in what is a fantastic event”.*

Launching the Chorlton Arts Festival, 2004

That determination to involve the whole community is very much at the heart of Chorlton Arts,
which aims “to bring together residents and venues active in the Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, and Crafts at all levels facilitating creativity within the Chorlton Community”. **

Much the same was true just 100 over years ago.

In Kemp’s Chorlton Almanac for 1910 there are listed seventeen associations ranging from the political to drama, musical, and gardening to horticultural societies.

And there were clubs catering for cricket, football, bowling, golf, as well as hockey, lacrosse and lawn tennis. ***

What is even more surprising is that back then the population of Chorlton was 16,000.

Chorlton Operatic Society, 1913

Of all these cultural ventures one of the most lasting was the Chorlton Operatic Society, which was active from 1907 into the 1930s

According to the programme notes from La Fille De Madame Angot, “Two Operas are performed by the Society each Season, and throughout the winter months a series of Whist Drives, Concerts and Social evenings are held, when Subscribers and Acting Members have the opportunity of becoming acquainted.

The subscription is 10/- per annum, which entitles each Subscriber to two Specially Reserved Seats for each of the two Opera, which they have the privilege of booking before the general public.

Proportionate profits derived from the Season’s working are devoted to local charities, each Subscriber having a vote as to this distribution, also in the choosing of the Operas for the following season” ****

So, we have a long tradition of doing the "Arts" and doing them well in Chorlton.

For those interested in the forthcoming festival, there will be a presentation at the next Civic Society meeting which will be in Chorlton Library on Tuesday May 14th at 7.30

CHorlton Operatic Society, 1913

Location; Chorlton

Pictures, memorabilia from the early years of the Arts Festival, 2003-4, courtesy of Zoe Morris, and programme of the Chorlton Operatic Society, 1913 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the Manchester Courier, Sally Dervan


*South Manchester Reporter, May 2003

** Chorlton Arts Mission Statement, www.chorltonarts.org

*** The Chorlton-cum-Hardy District Almanack & Handbook For 1910, Harry Kemp, 35 Wilbraham Road

**** La Fille De Madame Angot programme. La Fille De Madame Angot was performed between May 1st and May 3rd, 1913, at the Public Hall West Didsbury

Chorlton Arts Festival ........ so good it's back this September

 Now every community should have their own Arts Festival, and the news that this September Chorlton Arts will be staging events across the township is very exciting.*

Chorlton Arts Festival 2002-14

The original Chorlton Arts Festival grew out of a conversation over a bottle of wine in 2002 between Hilary Barber, Val Stevens and Ed Wyllie, which became a series of events embracing theatre, visual arts, exhibitions and the spoken word.

The following year there were 28 venues around Chorlton, including pubs, bars, schools, art galleries church halls and the streets.

Badly Drawn Boy performed at St Clements Church, there was an Arts Trail across the Meadows and amongst the highlights was that simple fact that over 3,000 young people were involved in some of  "art" over that week
In the run up to the 2003 festival, Zoe Morris who was deputy head at Chorlton High School and festival director,  commented that “the idea was to create a festival for the community, by the community and people of all ages and backgrounds, taking part in what is a fantastic event”.**

Launching the Chorlton Arts Festival, 2004

That determination to involve the whole community is very much at the heart of Chorlton Arts,
which aims “to bring together residents and venues active in the Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, and Crafts at all levels facilitating creativity within the Chorlton Community”. ***

Much the same was true just 100 over years ago.

In Kemp’s Chorlton Almanac for 1910 there are listed seventeen associations ranging from the political to drama, musical, and gardening to horticultural societies.

And there were clubs catering for cricket, football, bowling, golf, as well as hockey, lacrosse and lawn tennis. ****

What is even more surprising is that back then the population of Chorlton was 16,000.

Chorlton Operatic Society, 1913

Of all these cultural ventures one of the most lasting was the Chorlton Operatic Society, which was active from 1907 into the 1930s

According to the programme notes from La Fille De Madame Angot, “Two Operas are performed by the Society each Season, and throughout the winter months a series of Whist Drives, Concerts and Social evenings are held, when Subscribers and Acting Members have the opportunity of becoming acquainted.

The subscription is 10/- per annum, which entitles each Subscriber to two Specially Reserved Seats for each of the two Opera, which they have the privilege of booking before the general public.

Proportionate profits derived from the Season’s working are devoted to local charities, each Subscriber having a vote as to this distribution, also in the choosing of the Operas for the following season” ****

So, we have a long tradition of doing the "Arts" and doing them well in Chorlton.

And now the Festival is run by Chorlton Voice through the year under the auspicies of Chorlton Arts Project culminatiing with Chorlton Arts Festival whch because of Covid has movved once again to September from its traditinal date in May.

CHorlton Operatic Society, 1913

This year there are around about 1000 artists, including art on the streets and in shops, pubs and other public places, as well as perfomances by choirs, and a range of activities by young people and school groups.

Added to which you can take your choice from events inside, outside, and virtualy from September 11th to September 19th.

Leaving me just to point you to the programme and wish you good reading.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures, memorabilia from the early years of the Arts Festival, 2003-4, courtesy of Zoe Morris, and programme of the Chorlton Operatic Society, 1913 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the Manchester Courier, Sally Dervan

*Chorlton Arts Festival Programme, www.chorltonarts.org

**South Manchester Reporter, May 2003

*** Chorlton Arts Mission Statement, www.chorltonarts.org

**** The Chorlton-cum-Hardy District Almanack & Handbook For 1910, Harry Kemp, 35 Wilbraham Road

***** La Fille De Madame Angot programme. La Fille De Madame Angot was performed between May 1st and May 3rd, 1913, at the Public Hall West Didsbury

A Sunday School …. Red Cross Nurses …. and the Edge

Last night proved to be an entertaining evening down at the Edge as we watched “Tickle your fancy host a night of exciting turns with something for everyone”.

The Edge and a heap of flowers, 2023

These included Doolally the comedy singing act who compèred the night with their usual mix of comedy, and topical songs, and in between there was a folk group, a poet and a musician along with a comic and actor.

And in the interval, I reflected on the Edge Theatre, its story and the bigger history of the building it occupies.

The Edge on Manchester Road, 2023

The Edge opened in 2011 and remains “Manchester’s Theatre for Participation. Our beautiful venue has entertained, captivated and enthralled audiences with some of the best small scale touring theatre in the country, alongside our own productions made by our wonderful in-house creatives.

Over the years we’ve worked with hundreds of fantastic actors and musicians; many are professional, some have learning disabilities, some have experience of homelessness, some are from our local community and all of them are brilliant!

As theatre makers we delight in creating shows which reflect the world that we live in, even if we’ve set them on the moon. They’re honest, relevant and always full of hope.

As a Manchester Cultural Partner we play a vital role in the cultural offer of the city. As leaders in participation we provide a range of exciting opportunities for people to be creative. At The Edge you can Act, Sing, Dance, play the Ukulele, Write, Paint, Draw or just be. Our café is known as one of the most friendly and welcoming in Chorlton!*

For at least eight of those years it is the final destination for the Library sponsored history walks which are part of Chorlton Book Festival.

And at the end of the walk through Chorlton’s past, Jenine, Dom and their team have offered up a much-needed light meal in the Dressing Room Café.

All of which leads me on to the building which was opened in the 1880s and was the Sunday School for the Methodist Church which was built a decade earlier.

"Wounded Soldiers of the Wesleyan School Hospital Xmas 1917”, 2013

During the Great War the Sunday School was handed over to the Red Cross as a centre for servicemen recovering from wounds, ailments and infections, and was one of three so far identified in Chorlton. The others were the McLaren Baptist Church Sunday School on Edge Lane and a private residence on Wilbraham Road.**

As yet I don’t have any pictures of the nurses, or their patients, but we do have a silver cup, which carries the inscription “Presented to the Wesleyan Church by the Wounded Soldiers of the Wesleyan School Hospital Xmas 1917”, along with a letter sent by a soldier to the children of St Clement’s Sunday School thanking them for the gift of a pillow.

Chorlton Operatic Society, 1920

And in the interval of the show last night I wandered through the corridors and pondered on that period in the story of the building, which with the end of the Great War was soon forgotten.

Less likely to be lost from memory  is the theatre which was built by the Methodists in the upper hall of the Sunday School.  From memory I think it dates from the 1950s or possibly two decades earlier and was still there when the Edge opened.  But by then it was in a poor state and no longer really fit for purpose.

That said it might have hosted performances by our own Chorlton Operatic Society which was active from 1907 through to the mid 1930s, and offers up that sense of historic continuity which links the Sunday School, a heap of Red Cross Nurses …. and the Edge.

Location; The Edge, Chorlton

Pictures; the Edge, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, picture of the silver cup, 2013, courtesy of Philip Lloyd and the programe of the Chorlton Operatic Society April 1920, donated anonymously.

*The Edge, https://www.edgetheatre.co.uk/

** Red Cross Hospital, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Red%20Cross%20Hospitals

***Chorlton Operatic Society, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Chorlton+Operatic+Society

Sunshine at the Edge, 2023

The church ... the hall …….. and two Chorlton mysteries

Now, the stretch along Brantingham Road up from Manchester Road to Albany Road might not seem to have a lot to offer, consisting of a few houses on the eastern side, and a car wash and garage on the opposite side.

But this bit of Chorlton has history, starting with the name which was once Stamford Road and the now lost Davenport Hall and St Andrew’s Protestant Episcopal Evangelical Church.

They date from sometime between 1907 and 1909. The church later become St Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Evangelical Church and by 1910 the church and hall were unlisted.

And that for a long time was all I knew, until last week when I came across a set of programmes for the Chorlton Operatic Society which was established in 1907.*

During 1912-13 the Davenport Hall was their headquarters and according to one programme, the  “The Hall measuring 45 ft long and 16 ft wide with Ladies’ and Gentleman’s Clock Rooms, Kitchen, etc may be hired for Parties, Socials, Whist Drives, Meetings etc, on very moderate terms.  Crockery, Chairs, etc., may also be hired separately”. **

It now seems that the hall or the church was still there in 1950 because we have a painting by the artist J Montgomery who painted the building in 1966, using a picture postcard.

The notes accompanying the painting merely say, “Chapel on Albany Road, from a 1950 photograph. The site was later occupied by a garage”.

Not much I know, but it is a bit more than I knew last week, and the logical conclusion is that Davenport Hall and the church of S Andrew/St Luke were one, with the hall serving as both the headquarters of the operatic society

and the church.

But there is a second mystery and that is centred on J Montgomery who painted upwards of 200 paintings from the 1940s through to the mid 60’s and despite them being in the digital archive of Manchester Libraries, there is no information on the artist.

And after a long search stretching back six year’s I have come up with only one reference to him, in a catalogue listing some of his works in a neighbouring library.

During that time, I have appealed for information, introduced the subject of the missing artist in countless talks and walks and got nowhere.

All of which is a puzzle because you would think someone would have a memory of the person, who they had come across in a local church, or the library or just living nearby.

But just as the Davenport Hall has started to come out of the shadows, perhaps Mr Montgomery will also.

We shall see.

A thank you to Lawrence Beedle who reminded me of the hall and church and went looking from Mr Montgomery's painting.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Programmes from the ChorltonOperatic Society, 1920 & 1927, Chapel on Albany Road, from a 1950 photograph. The site was later occupied by a garage, J. Montgomery, 1960, m80123, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, https://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* Chorlton Operatic Society, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Operatic%20Society

** La Fille De Madame Angot programme. La Fille De Madame Angot was performed between May 1st and May 3rd 1913, at the Public Hall West Didsbury

When Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford visited Chorlton ….. our own palace of varieties ….… part two

Now the ambitious plans for Chorlton’s own music hall began well.

The theatre, circa 1910

The Chorlton Pavilion was opened sometime around 1906, continued with the addition of a ‘Winter Garden’ four years later, and underwent further alterations in 1912.

From the out set, it appeared to draw in the locals, with the Stage reporting that “For the opening week Miss Florence Baine’s company with Miss. Lancashire, Limited, have been secured and on a Monday a house packed in all parts gave a demonstrative welcome to the popular farce, Miss Madge Grey as the blunt Lancashire lass, Miss Ellen Thompson, kept the house in roars of laughter, and was a great favorite.  Miss Maria Lorenzi made an effective Eva Lancashire”. *

Theatre and Winter Gardens, circa 1910

But despite all that promise something didn’t quite go right, and in July 1914, the Manchester Guardian carried the notice that the building was up for sale, including “the WOODEN ERECTION, with corrugated roof, forming the theatre; Pay Huts, about 200 Upholstered Tip-up Seats, 28 Forms with backs; Scenery, Limelight’s, Fire Extinguisher Apparatus , the whole of the Electric Light Fittings, Carpets, Curtains, Mats Rugs and other Effects.”*

It seems that by then the Pavilion had already moved away from a palace of varieties and entered the new shiny world of films.

This I know because in 1913 it was listed as the “Chorlton Pavilion Theatre, Wilbraham Road, seating 800, and owned by Chorlton Pavilion Theatre Co Ltd”. ***

Still from the Battle of Waterloo, 1913

It might of course also continue as a live theatre, and the Chorlton Pavilion Theatre Co Ltd, may have been a subsidiary of Chorlton Entertainments Ltd who had opened the building in 1910.

Or they may have been separate companies.  At present I haven’t been able to locate a history of either.

What I do know is that our own Chorlton Operatic Society used the building for performances of their production Dorothy in the April of 1914.

Still from the film, Sixty Years a Queen, 1913

Sadly, two years later the building was up for sale again during the summer of 1916 and despite several attempts the sale was withdrawn in the September of that year.

The rest as they say is unclear.  At some stage it was part of the cinema chain owned by H.D. Morehouse, but I don’t know when that was.

It maybe that the alterations in 1912 were to adapt it to cinema use.

All of which means that there will have to be many hours spent in Central Ref looking through the entertainment’s pages of the local newspapers for references to the cinema.

I thought it had closed in the 1930s but according Edward Hollingworth, it had gone by 1924 to make way for the garage and petrol station owned by Edward’s father who had lost a leg aged just 20 in the Great War.

Along with the petrol station there were a set of lock up garages running along the railway fronting Buckingham Road and both the lockups and the petrol station had been built by Edward’s grandfather.

Still from the film Tess of the D'Ubervilles, 1913

The business was sold in 1951 but the original 1920s building was still there eleven years later and looking at that 1962 picture it is possible to pick out evidence of the old theatre which judging from more recent photographs was a very substantial building.

And that I thought was that, but as you do, just as I was finishing the research, I came across one last little story, concerning the Boys’ Highland Company who appeared at the Pavilion I the November of 1907.

The troupe consisted of 16-18 boys, who despite their name all came from the Nottingham area and during their period of engagement in Chorlton had stayed in B&Bs in the township.  Five had resided with a Mrs. Shaw in Cheltenham Road who reported the children for being “infested with vermin”.

 At the subsequent court case brought by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the troupe’s manager was found guilty of neglect and was fined £5 and costs. ****

Leaving me to ponder on what to say next.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; The Chorlton Pavilion and Winter Gardens, circa 1910, from the Lloyd Collection, remaining pictures from films showing in 1913, from The Kinematograph Year Book, Program Diary and Directory for 1914

*The Stage, March 31, 1910

**Chorlton Entertainments Ltd, Manchester Guardian, July 14, 1910

***The Kinematograph Year Book, Program Diary and Directory for 1914

****A Boys’ Band Singular Charge of Child Neglect, Manchester Guardian, November 13, 1907

Chorlton’s palace of varieties …………. part one ....... The Chorlton Pavilion and Winter Gardens

Now there is always more to find out about our old theatres and cinemas, and so it is with the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens, which is an old favourite of mine. *

It was situated just over the railway bridge on Wilbraham Road on what is now Morrison’s petrol station.

Until now I had just one photograph and a few memories from Ann Love’s dad who saw Tom Mix the American film star in a western sometime in the early 1920s

But in the space of a few days there is much more.  I now have a detailed description of what it was like, evidence of its chequered history and the names of those who walked its boards and the plays they performed in.

The actual date of its opening is still a little hazy.  I thought it opened in 1904, but I can be certain it was up and running by1906 when a Walter Broadhurst of 71 Nicolas Road applied for a license to put on shows at the “Chorlton Pavilion adjoining Chorlton Railway Station”, which were followed up by yearly applications thereafter.

In the June of 1907, The Stage carried the notice that Messrs. Levy and Cardwell were performing their “musical Comedy, Little Paul Pry” with an appeal from the managers of the Theatre wanting “Musical Comedies, Burlesques Opera Light Drama” for slots in July into September asserting that “Good Companies do well.  Packed nightly”. **

And that was all to be expected, given that there had been a housing boom in Chorlton which from the 1880s had seen the area around the Three Banks go from open fields to rows of houses, which catered for the “middling people” who worked in town in a range of professional, clerical and entrepreneurial businesses.

These were the very people with money in their pockets who also supported a range of cultural and sporting groups and clubs and will have been a ready audience for a place of varieties.
And this was not lots on a group of businessmen who in 1910 founded the Chorlton Entertainments Ltd.  Their prospective argued “that there was a want of a high-class theatre and place of entertainment in Chorlton a district which is well known”.

To this end they had bought the old theatre for £700 including the “furniture, fixtures, electrical and other fittings, scenery” and “the goodwill attached to the said Pavilion and to the business”

It was an ambitious plan which saw the addition of land laid out as a "Winter Gardens”, which was incorporated into the new name of the Chorlton Pavilion and Winter Gardens”.
And the business plan fully recognised that the site was “in the centre of the populous and growing township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy adjoins the railway station and  is within two minutes’ walk of the Manchester electric tramways [and] within easy access of Moss Side, Fallowfield, Withington, Didsbury, Old Trafford, Stretford, Sale and Urmston, with an estimated population of one hundred and fifty thousand”

Its five directors lived in Whalley Range, Levenshulme and Gorton, and listed their professions as broker, Assurance manager, supply company manager and solicitor’s clerk, and included as one of its auditors Mr. H. D. Morrhouse who was later to establish a popular chain of cinemas of which the Pavilion would later be part of.

But I will close with a description of the newly opened theatre from March 1910.
“It is situated close to the railway station, and is a fine, commodious, and spacious building, standing within its own grounds, which are laid out as gardens; hence the appellation Winter Gardens.  

The building is of corrugated iron on a brick foundation, the exterior being painted a green colour, whilst the entrance is plain, and effective in a white fibrous plaster, with several rows of electric lamps, which gives it a bright appearance when it is lit up.  The seating capacity is a 1,000.

The orchestra stalls and stalls, which are now fitted with tip-up seats, upholstered in crimson velvet, can accommodate 500 persons.  

The pit and promenade seat another 500.  The stage has an opening of 23 ft., and extends from the footlights to exterior wall, 28 ft. 6 in.  There are four commodious dressing -rooms, the ladies on one side and the gentlemen on the other.  

The dressing rooms are spacious and supplied with every convenience and can be heated as required.  

There is a complete electrical installation, and the heating is on the Radium principle.  For the opening week Miss Florence Baine’s company with Miss. Lancashire, Limited, have been secured and on a Monday a house packed in all parts gave a demonstrative welcome to the popular farce, Miss Madge Grey as the blunt Lancashire Lass”. ***

It was also the venue for shows by our own Chorlton Operatic Society and hosted at least one large political meeting by the Unionist Party in 1913.

Tomorrow; dark days, strange stories and its time as our first cinema

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Chorlton Pavilion and Winter Gardens, circa 1906, from the Lloyd Collection

*Chorlton Pavilion and Winter Gardens, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Theatre%20and%20Winter%20Gardens

**The Stage, June 27th, 1907

***The Chorlton Entertainments Ltd, Manchester Guardian, January 8th, 1910

The Alcock Family …. another story from Tony Goulding

This memorial to the famous aviator, Sir John William Alcock, is located in a very prominent position in Manchester’s Southern Cemetery.  

Being the pilot of the aeroplane which made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic on the 14th –15th June, 1919 his story is well recorded, on Wikipedia and elsewhere, and will not feature further in this story. 

However, this site is also the grave of other members of the Alcock family with Sir John William’s father, mother, and one of his brothers, Edward Samson, interred in it. As it is my contention that we all have a story worth recording, not just the famous, it is these which form the basis of this piece.     

Sir John’s father, also John Alcock was born on the 21st February, 1870 to Thomas Alcock, a coachman, and his wife Betsy (née Louth) at 26, Maple Street, Hulme, Manchester. John Alcock Snr. Followed his father’s occupation of “coachman” and in the 1891 census he appears as such on Seymour Grove, Stretford, Lancashire. However, at this time he was still single and was residing at no. 64 not Basford House (which was no. 126). 

Basford House, Seymour Grove, Stretford 

In the December quarter of 1891 he married Mary Whitelegg with John William their first child being born on the 5th November, 1892. According to several sources the child was born in the coach house of Basford House(1)   Over the next decade and a half the family relocated several times and expanded, quite modestly for the time, with John William getting four siblings, Elsie, Edward Samson, Albert Gerard, and Dudley. Indicating the family’s different homes in this period, Elsie was born in Hulme, Manchester on the 25th September, 1895, both Edward Samson and Albert Gerard were born in St. Annes on the Sea (2) on 2nd October, 1901 and 23rd July, 1903 respectively.  Finally, Dudley was born on the 6th March, 1907 after a move to Heaton Moor, Stockport. The 1911 census shows they had moved again, this time to 6, Kingswood Road, Fallowfield. 

6, Kingswood Road, Fallowfield, Manchester

The frequent changes of addresses were probably due to John Snr’s. occupation as a coachman which would have required him to reside in the “coach house” attached to his employer’s property. The late Victorian and more especially the Edwardian eras saw a decline in the numbers of domestic servants, generally and the switch to “horseless carriages” would also have impacted on those working with horses as John Alcock did. 

At the baptism of his last child, Dudley, his occupation was recorded as “coach proprietor” which may explain the family gaining a degree of stability as they remained at Kingswood Road for the next 10 years. Following Sir John William’s death in a flying accident in Normandy, France on the 18th December, 1919 his father inherited a large portion of the £10,000 prize money awarded by The Daily Mail for the first crossing of the Atlantic. This aided John and Mary to move, with their two youngest children, to a larger house viz. 215, Burton Road, West Didsbury, Manchester. This continued being their home for the remainder of their lives. John dying on the 24th August, 1929 and Mary on the 7th November, 1941.

The census of 1921 records them at this address with John Snr. employed as a “horse keeper” (3) by E. Hulton & Co. newspaper proprietors (the publishers of The Manchester Evening Chronicle, Sporting Chronicle, Daily Sketch and others).

 

215, Burton Road, West Didsbury, Manchester

By this time Elsie had married James Frederick Moseley at The Holy Innocents Church, Fallowfield, Manchester during the September quarter of 1915. The couple had six children together. James Frederick died suddenly at Stoke-on-Trent station on the 24th July, 1948 and shares a grave with three of his siblings in Y Fynwent Newydd, Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, Wales. 

Elsie died on the 21st November, 1981 while living at 7, Meadow Bank, Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester. She was interred in the family grave (G 966) in Southern Cemetery, Manchester.

A former pupil at Manchester Grammar School, Edward Samson was also absent from the Alcock’s 1921 census return. He had, by then, emulated his brother and joined the R.A.F. 

He joined the service on the 19th March, 1921 having already been flying with his brother. Prior to joining the air force, he had served briefly in The Royal Navy, (4) signing up on his 18th birthday for 12 years. However, after just over three months he was discharged. In the time between his spells in the country’s armed forces he was employed as a motor cycle tester by Douglas Norton Ltd. of Kingswood, Bristol. 

He joined the R.A.F. as an aircraftman/ motor cyclist but rose rapidly through the ranks to become a senior N.C.O. and both a pilot and flying instructor. The R.A.F. records also give details of his wedding at Easthampstead, Berkshire on the 7th June, 1924 to Hilda Willmin. Edward was placed on the reserve list in June, 1929 and became a civil pilot with Imperial Airways, then on the 18th March, 1933 he was granted a permanent discharge from the service.  

The Manchester Evening News of 15th September, 1942 carried a report that Captain Alcock, who was in command of a flying boat, “Castor”, had recently landed in Durban, South Africa having completed flights totaling 2,000,000 miles. Captain Alcock later became the chief flying instructor for the nationalised  B.O.A.C and by the end of his flying career had flown over 4,000,000 miles and for 25,000 hours. Included in these totals were journeys with Winston Churchill and King Alfonso of Spain and the evacuation of British troops from Crete, flying an unarmed aircraft. In retirement he had an indifferent career in business. Edward Samson was married three times. After his divorce from Hilda, his second wife was Esme Grace Oldham, the wedding taking place in Cairo, Egypt during the turmoil of the Second World War. This second marriage did not survive long as in June, 1949 he married Mrs. Ruth Mary Whitefoot an air stewardess he had met in Durban South Africa. Mrs. Whitehouse was the widow of First Officer George Kenneth Whitehouse (24) who was killed in a flying boat crash on the Isle of Wight on the !9th November, 1947. Edward Samson Alcock died in December, 1974 in Surrey and was buried in Southern Cemetery, Manchester on the 7th January, 1975.  In his later years, as a tribute to his late brother, Edward Samson added the name John to his official name.

Albert Gerard Alcock, married Elizabeth Dorothy Lancashire at the United Reformed Church, Water Street, Radcliffe during the September quarter of 1927.  An electoral roll of 1931 shows the couple residing at 34, Elms Road, Whitefield, Nr. Bury, Lancashire. They later moved to 7, Hardman Road, Whitefield, where they raised two sons, Winston Neville and John D. Albert Gerard was employed as a salesman for a wholesale cotton company. He died at 27, Hardman Road, Whitefield, Lancashire on the 16th September, 1971; leaving an estate of £9,238.

In contrast to two of his brothers, Dudley, the youngest child of John Snr. and Mary Alcock eschewed the air and instead pursued a career in the Merchant Navy in which he progressed to the rank of Radio Officer and included service during World War 2. In the September quarter of 1940, Dudley married Dulcia M. Forrester in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Miss Forrester was born in Kettering and in the 1939 Register is shown residing with her parents in that town and working as an assistant in a chemist’s shop. There exists a record of Dudley’s discharge from the ship Dorsetshire in Torquay, Devon on the 15th of March, 1943 and it was the Torbay area of that county in which the couple settled after the war. The Torbay Express and South Devon Echo dated 26th March, 1951 includes Dulcia’s name in a list of cast members for the Paignton Operatic, Dramatic, and Choral Society’s production of “Bless the Bride”

Dudley Alcock passed away in the Torbay area during July, 1992. 

Pictures: - Basford House, Seymour Grove by Peter McDermott, CC BY-SA 2.0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85394728 

All others from the collection of Tony Goulding.

Notes: - 

1) In the 1891 census John Alcock Senior was living in the coach house attached to the residence of William Devonshire Ryde a silk manufacturer who in 1881 was described as a manufacturer of church tapestries with 200 employees. Basford house was the home of James William Jones, a chemical manufacturer and colliery proprietor until his death on the 9th February 1894 after which the house became the residence of William Gregory Thompson an aniline dye manufacturer. One of Mr. Thompson’s previous homes had been 7, St. Clement’s Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

2) The Alcock family’s address in 1901 was 41, Nelson Street, St. Annes on the Sea, Fylde, Lancashire.

3) In John William’s probate record dated 27th February, 1920, his father’s occupation was inflated somewhat being recorded as “Veterinary Surgeon”. The estate was assessed at £9,275-9s-9d (= £319,533 today).

4) During the First World War, Edward Samson had joined the Naval Air Cadets first flew solo with them.