Memories from Jubilee Year

 BY HAROLD CUNLIFFE 

This year we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Coronation of HRH. Queen Elizabeth II.

Ihave no recollections of this event due to my age, but I was reminded of the celebrations during the 1960’s when I started work age 15 at a cabinet woks in Heywood. I must admit to not paying much interest to the conversations related by the older tradesmen as we sat round our workbench at lunch time, because it was mainly the subject of wartime experiences.

But there was one conversation which I remember clearly. This was the recollections of the Coronation of 1953. Television was in its infancy I believe, with television sets being expensive and few and far between. One of the cabinet makers I worked with was a wizard with electronics having gained this knowledge from the time he did his bit for his country in World War 2. He related that he purchased an ex-military oscilloscope which he converted in to a television set. Mazel Radio, who had shops dotted around Manchester sold all the valves and paraphernalia required to perform this task. The problem was that the screen was round in shape and was very small in comparison with today. Many people related watching the Coronation in a neighbour’s house. Stories related of living rooms being packed with friends and neighbours all attempting to catch a glimpse of the action on a six inch television screen.

At the time of the Coronation, Mr Arthur Horridge was in business who became well known in North Manchester for stocking the most up to date television and radio sets. Arthur who later became an Alderman, Mayor and J.P. had a wonderful sense of humour. He was not fussy about ‘wonky vegetables,’ as seen in the photograph. Should you wish to visit his shop during the mid-1950’s, it was very easy to find, especially on a Saturday afternoon. All you had to do is look for the shop which had a crowd of men huddled together on the footpath, all peering intently into the window display all watching the televised football match on a demonstration television set. It is obviously a football match being shown in the photograph judging by the lack of interest shown by the women who are seen standing next to the shop window having a good gossip.

 1953 Television with 12 inch screen  Arthur Horridge with his wonky vegetables

“Turkey in June.” Regular readers may remember the character which I featured recently, John Thomas Evans, who was very well known in town by his alias, “Turkey.” This chap was a keen follower of ‘Bacchus’ which caused him to appear in the local courts with great frequency. In fact he was on first name terms with the magistrates and court officials. 14 May 1887 the police were called to the home of Mr Evans by his daughter. Evans it transpired was so incapacitated with drink that he could not conduct himself in an orderly manner which was the reason his daughter requested that the police attend to put him out of the house. “Turkey” carried his disruptive behaviour in the street outside his home so the police had no other option than to lock him up. In court the magistrate, Mr Dickens stated, “These complaints had been going on for a very long time. (This was his 53rd summons for drunkenness), I suppose this is the way that you are celebrating this Jubilee year. How many times have you made me a promise to do better?” Evans replied, “Well sir, I went down to Manchester to see the Prince of Wales and could not help getting drunk.” Dickens decided to give him another chance seeing that he had only just been released from Manchester’s Strangeways Prison and with the promise that he would not get so drunk again. Also adding that the prisons were quite full at this time. “Turkey” had to pay a fine of 10s-6d, plus court costs. At the Petty Sessions on the 11 July 1887 the magistrate, Mr Barlow had a case in front of him for drunkenness. This was the 54th summons for John Thomas Evans. He was charged with being drunk and disorderly at half past eight the previous Saturday night. The question was put to Evans, “Are you drunk every night?” “Turkey,” replied, “That is a lie; I will bet you a shilling on that. I was not drunk, I am as right as any man on that bench.” Clerk, Mr Heap; you do not look it. In summing up Mr Barlow announced, “We have tried every means we could with you but it does not seem to do you any good, it shows the great need of something like an asylum for such people like you. We will send you to prison for one month without the option of a fine.” Evans (throwing up his hands): that’s all right, I guess that I will have my 12s-6d refunded from which I paid from my last do here, it is the Jubilee. He did not receive a refund of his previous fine.

Within the court case John Thomas Evans mentioned visiting Manchester to see the Prince of Wales. This relates to the opening of the Royal Jubilee Exhibition at Trafford Park which was officially opened on the 3rd May 1887 by the Prince and Princess of Wales. A souvenir of this event is reproduced. Thanks to Danny Hardman, both sides of the coin can be seen having been photographed and digitally spliced together.

MANCHESTER’S JUBILEE EXHIBITION

The general public were keen to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of HRH Queen Victoria. At Manchester we discover that large numbers of people visited the vast exhibition. It was stated that the Manchester Exhibition was the best in the country. The Whit Monday holiday enabled a great influx of visitors. Numbers published state that on this day alone 49,873 entered the turnstiles, and the total admissions since the exhibition opened was 539,669. We have a glimpse of what the exhibition was like from magazines and newspapers from that period. One image shows a ‘fairy fountain,’ which is ironic, during this period Lancashire was suffering a drought. This was a serious drought too. At the exhibition there was a shortage of water to maintain the plants on display and those who exhibited in the fruit and vegetable shows had a problem obtaining water for their prize specimens. The large reservoir at Hollinwood, Oldham, which supplied the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Canal with water, was empty which caused restrictions and stoppages to the canal traffic. The town of Heywood in Lancashire entered into an agreement with its neighbour, Rochdale, which would see 600,000 gallons of water a day entering the Heywood filtering system for use by their customers. Lake Windermere was at its lowest level ever seen in living memory. Relief to Manchester’s water famine about came when someone mentioned the

 Manchester’s Jubilee Exhibition

 Manchester’s Jubilee Exhibition

 Souvenir from Manchester’s Jubilee Exhibition

problems associated with Moston pit. Parts of their network of mines had to be abandoned due to flooding. Water flowed in at such great volumes that the pumps could not keep up with demand. Manchester Corporation with its rapidly diminishing water reserves took up the idea of extracting water from the mine shafts, but, first of all the water had to be analysed. The colliery engineer stated that due to the vast volume of water there must be an underground stream, in which their records documented such a prolific supply of water. The test result of this abundant supply of water showed it to be of splendid quality and was suitable for both domestic and manufacturing purposes. Then nature changed the situation in a dramatic way which ended the water famine. Suddenly during the first week of September 1887 violent thunderstorms hit Lancashire. 30 days’ supply of water fell within a short period of time. At the height of the storms a considerable amount of destruction was caused by the torrential downpours, public houses lost beer when their cellars became flooded. Many homes suffered considerable water damage at ground floor level along with the roads being covered with surface water. This caused problems with traffic due to horses refusing to enter the water. On the 10 September the newspapers published details of the location where the heaviest thunderstorms hit, the area which suffered the most damage, was Warrington. The Barracks suffered considerable damage by a strike of lightening. At the height of the storms there were concerns for the Jubilee Exhibition buildings. Many engineers had concerns that the structure, which was not designed for longevity would not stand the pounding of the storm. The local newspapers did not report any damage taking place. A testament to Victorian engineering.

THE OLDHAM MONUMENT

At the time of the 1887 drought, two Lancashire towns decided to celebrate the Jubilee by erecting drinking fountains. Oldham celebrated the Jubilee by erecting a magnificent ornate fountain complete with four illuminated lamps at the junction of George Street and Manchester Street. The cost of the drinking fountain was borne by the Oldham Industrial Co-operative Society, (one of the most prosperous in the country), which combined the useful and practical adding beauty to the town in which the residents were proud to celebrate Her Majesty’s 50 years of reign. Other happenings which made the news during this period being an incident at a public house on Henshaw Street. It transpired that a farmer was moving his prized bull along the highway, which was the normal way of transporting animals back then. I suppose the hot dry weather made the rather large bull a little grumpy. Passing this hostelry at Henshaw Street the beast noticed the door was open, so took it upon itself to enter the building. Imagine enjoying a beverage in your local and you’re faced with a huge bull. I would do exactly as the customers did, jump over the bar and exit as soon as possible. The main problem was, how do you turn a bull round to face the opposite direction? Or make it walk backwards? It transpired that a route was made out of the building without the animal having to manoeuvre itself inside the pub. Folk who lived at Oldham were early risers from what we can gather. It was around six o’clock in the morning when a number of persons were making their way to work that panic prevailed. A beast had escaped from a menagerie at Tommyfield Market and took to running around the streets. The problem encountered was that many members of the public could not identify the species, the animal was a camel which made good its escape, but the screams heard on Lord Street were, “Big lion.” The camel could move at speed, then, in an attempt to slow its progress a resident offered the animal his breakfast. P.C. Smith seized the camel by the neck, he was bent on its capture, then was carried away eventually letting go his hold he fell to the ground, unhurt. Being on the run for several hours the animal set off on route to Ashton. When at Bardsley Brow, the poor animal became tired and was captured. The facial expression of a camel is totally different to that of a lion. Camels seem to look down in the mouth.

 Queens Jubilee Monument at Oldham

THE MOONRAKERS FOUNTAIN

The combined fountain and shelter erected at Middleton was gifted by Mrs T.B.Wood, the wife of Thomas Broadbent Wood, Esq. J.P. and mill owner at a cost of £400. The fountain was designed by her son, Mr Edgar Wood in the 14th century style of architecture. The interior provides drinking water for public use. On either side of the building stone troughs were placed at which horses or other animals could have a drink. This gift was to commemorate the Jubilee reign of Her Majesty. An inscription was engraved on the front of the structure which read: “The gift of Jane Ann Wood, daughter of the late James Haigh of this town. Jubilee year, 1887.” This fountain was of great benefit in providing passing animals with water, then as technology provided a different form of transport, the introduction of steam and motor traffic we find that the fountain caused congestion. A policeman was required constantly at the road junction to keep the traffic moving. There are reports of officers being in danger due to the high volume of traffic,

the shelter, it was stated became an obstruction. I think the act of trying to run over a policeman’s toes who were on point duty by lorry drivers was a bit of a joke, a game. You would hear drivers in transport café’s chatting about how close they came to running over a bobby’s feet. I remember my late father sitting at the breakfast table relating how he had almost scored a hit in flattening a policeman’s size 9’s. The highways Committee decided to widen the road in the centre of town and relocate the fountain to a site on the road to Oldham in 1925. The final demise of the 72 year old shelter designed by architect, Edgar Wood came about in January 1960. The Highways Committee decided to scrap the structure because it had outlived its usefulness and had attracted young people at night in which their actions were not socially acceptable. It was stated that decay had set in and was becoming a danger. It is a shame that the stone was not saved, especially the troughs. Our image of the demise

 The Middleton shelter and fountain of the fountain was captured by newspaper photographer, Alan Halkyard, who at this period lived near the fountain. At the time that I produced the memories of yesteryear for a local paper I covered architect, Edgar Wood. I had acquired letters and correspondence between the editor and the architect where Mr Wood commented that he did not like old stonework being cleaned, so much so he did not like to see the housewife cleaning masonry with a mop and bucket. He was of the opinion that the stone should age gracefully. At one period of time there was a revival of interest in this architect, a purge on renovating and restoring Edgar Woods work. The bank designed by him at Market Place was cleaned, sand blasted. Each week I would write snippets in my column which I would try to ‘get passed’ the editor. Just for my amusement really. At the time the bank was being cleaned, being blasted with sand I thought that Edgar Wood would be horrified if he was alive today, no doubt Edgar would not associate with the people who admire this architect today. With this in mind I wrote, “If Wood was alive today, he would turn over in his grave.” It must have ticked the editor because he left it in. In 1887 a notice was visible at the entrance of a Lancashire cemetery, it stated, “Only the dead who live in this Parish are buried here.”

CAMPANOLOGY AT ITS BEST

A Middleton “Moonraker,” is a person who was born within the sound of the bells at the church of St Leonard. The bells at this church had been re-tuned and re-hung during 1886-87, the work was completed just in time for the Queens Jubilee. On the 3 June a party of bell ringers arrived from Saddleworth and Glossop being invited to ring several peals on the restored bells. It was acknowledged that the party who climbed the tower were very experienced at the art of campanology. It was stated that the bells rang in a first rate manner as not been heard in Middleton for many years. The visitors upon leaving the church commented that the bells were the best toned bells they had ever rung upon. Maybe this was because they had just been tuned.

COW WITH AN IRON TAIL

There are many court cases recorded in the Victorian period which sport this title. Back then everyone knew what the title referred to. They expected to read the case where a local farmer had been prosecuted for adding water to his milk. The ‘iron tail’ refers to the handle from a water pump which was above a well. Farm fresh milk really is a delight. Helping out at haymaking time I have experienced the taste of milk fresh from the cow. It is thick so I can understand water being added. But the courts came down hard on anyone found adding water to their milk. Many local farmers were prosecuted.

Bob was a young boy who liked to help his mum. One day he called at the grocers for some potatoes. As he selected half-a-peck of potatoes the grocer decided to educate the young lad. “Did you know that those potatoes contain sugar, starch and water?” Bob replied, “No I did not, but I heard mother say that you put peas and beans in your coffee and about a pint of water in every quart of milk you sell.” The lesson on natural philosophy ended promptly.

A most shocking story was published at the time of the Jubilee. The details were received by letter. The terrible news was that a boat arrived in the Solomon group of islands to collect a number of labourers who belonged to the island of Malaita. Their contract had expired, then on their way home they ate the entire crew of the vessel, then plundered the boat. This news brought great excitement because it was thought that this occurrence could not happen. In America we would know about scalps being taken by the Indians in western films. But what was thought provoking was when a necklace was found which consisted of human fingers. The ghastly adornment was once owned by the “big medicine man” of the Northern Cheyenne’s and dates to 1876 uprising we are informed. Hard to believe that cannibalism existed at this period.

EXECUTION OF ELIZABETH BERRY

Oldham made the national news in the early part of 1887. Very well documented was the execution of Mrs. Elizabeth Berry who was convicted for the murder by poisoning of her 11 year old daughter on the 1st January 1887 at the Oldham Union Workhouse. Berry however claimed that the medication she administered to her daughter was prescribed by a doctor. In a twist to the story Mrs. Berry’s mother died the previous year following being visited by her at her home. The neighbours became suspicious at this sudden death, then, when the news of the death of Edith Ann Berry, Elizabeth’s daughter broke they reported their suspicions to the police. The Coroner gave an order for the body of her mother to be exhumed from Moston cemetery. The press covered this story in great detail; a Manchester newspaper reporter attending the exhumation commented that at the time the lid of the coffin was removed, “It presented a ghastly appearance.” The report gives graphic details of the post mortem, which is not suitable for publication. Details on the gravestone read, “Mary Ann Finley. Died 13th February 1886. Aged 55 years.” Mrs. Berry however, up to the time of her execution pleaded her innocence at the demise of her daughter. The very last words spoken by this distressed woman prior to the bolt being drawn sending her body down a six foot six inch drop was, “Pray God forgive Dr Patterson.” The executioner was James Berry of Bradford, Yorkshire. The execution took place at eight o’clock Monday morning, with executioner, Berry arriving at Walton prison at five o’clock on Saturday afternoon. James Berry had to make his calculations, in which he estimated the weight and height of the condemned woman. When arrested Elizabeth Berry weighed 10 stone, but owing to her confinement and state of mind she had lost one and a half stone in weight. Considerable interest was shown in this case by the public and press alike. On the day of the execution, 14th March 1887, with around 800 people attending the streets outside the prison. On this occasion however there were no unauthorised spectators. The execution was carried out in a converted shed. Two prison warders were to be seen awaiting a signal at the tower, then at the moment of execution the signal was sent and the morbid flag was hoisted with which almost all of the spectators dispersed in a business-like manner.

THE BERRY EXHIBITION

It would be around Easter time that an exhibition toured the towns of Lancashire giving graphic details of the execution of Mrs. Berry. From the reports we find that the exhibition was a concise representation of the ghastliness of this execution. Items of clothing worn by the deceased woman were on show to the public. The exhibition had a chaplain in attendance reading prayers and prison warders who performed the death penalty. The audience, which were considerable, eagerly watched the performance with satisfaction and in some cases delight. The decent folk who make up the Liverpool Watch Committee did not agree with this type of exhibition and did their best to ban the event, but had no powers to interfere or prohibit the performances. The conduct of exhibitions was brought to the notice of the Home Secretary.

Oldham Corporation took a different view of the exhibition. At Tommyfield Market, three large screens were displayed which documented the demise of Elizabeth Berry. First scene depicted the monstrous parent holding out her hand, looking away as she administered the poison to her daughter young daughter. Painting number two gave the impression of her making a confession with the executioner seen in the background holding the pinioning apparatus. Number three image, being the most dramatic showing the woman dangling from a rope with the parson and executioner James Berry standing close to the lifeless body. Inside the exhibition the whole affair was related with the use of waxworks figures. During Easter the proprietor made a good profit, this amounted to £16. Not a great deal of money by today’s standards, but back in 1887 the annual cost of renting a house was £5.

It was stated that on Jubilee day one London borough gave a breakfast to 73,977 day school and other children in need, and 1,600 people over the age of 68 years were entertained to tea at the Free Trade Hall.

As a result of the Queens Jubilee the town of Middleton gained a library and park.

Special appreciation to Yourtrust, Rochdale, for their support in providing research material.