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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Staffordshire => Topic started by: RogFromBrum on Wednesday 06 November 13 15:48 GMT (UK)
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Hello,
My mother was born at 6 Silver Street, Tamworth, in 1908. It was a hairdressers and remained as such until the 1950s.
Looking on Google Street View there appear to be a few old houses still left in Silver Street. Does anyone happen to know if number 6 is still there and, if so, just where it is? (An advert in 1925 said it was opposite the [Tamworth] Herald Office, but this doesn't help me as I don't know where this office was!)
Thanks a lot, Roger
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Hi
Ive looked back on Findmypast and the census runs
7,8,9 Lady Bank then 1,2,3,4,6,7 then Lichfield Street and the first entry is a pub
regards
westmorland
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Hi
Just looked on Google
Could not see any numbers on the shops and one side of the street has gone, the one opposite the council buildings!
Good luck
Westmorland
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Looking on Google Prontoprint is number 10 and Gemini Restraunt is number 11 Silver Street so number six is either the otherside of the crossing opposite the pub (think this is Aldergate though) or it was the other side of that street and looks like it has been knocked down
Willow x
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Thanks both, for your help,
I agree that the evidence shows that number 6 was on the side of the road that has been demolished. Never mind!
Regards, Roger
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There's a photograph of the property next door - ie 5 Silver Street - on www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk - just enter "Silver Street Tamworth" as your search term. It might give you an idea of the area at the time
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Thanks very much - that's a good photo of number 5. I'd not seen that website before.
A few minutes ago, I saw in a newspaper clipping on FindMyPast that the Herald was based at 14 Silver Street, which is now Industry Barbers. Fourteen was opposite 6 according to an advert I've seen from 1925 so this is further proof that 6 has been demolished.
It seems very likely that 5 was next to 6. Interestingly, by 1911 number 5 had become a private house.
Cheers, Roger
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And there's a view down Silver Street dated 1949 on the Francis Frith website:
www.francisfrith.com/tamworth
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Thanks very much - that's a good photo of number 5. I'd not seen that website before.
Staffs Pasttrack is one I use frequently - there's a vast archive on there.
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Thanks, it looks a good site.
I just found a photo of Silver Street in 1949 in the Francis Frith collection (http://www.francisfrith.com/tamworth/photos/#utmcsr=google.co.uk&utmcmd=referral&utmccn=google.co.uk (http://www.francisfrith.com/tamworth/photos/#utmcsr=google.co.uk&utmcmd=referral&utmccn=google.co.uk)). This clearly shows the offices of the Herald so number 6 will be opposite.
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Comparing the two photographs, it seems to me that the doorway just behind the young woman with the pale handbag on left hand side of the Frith photograph is the same doorway part of which is shown on the extreme left hand side of the Past Track photograph.
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Yes, I think you're right!
Thanks, Roger
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I think this could be about as far as we're going to get, unless the Staffs Record Office hold any photos.
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I agree, but this is still very significant progress! The house next to number 5 and nearer the camera doesn't look like a hairdressers with all those boxes outside so number 6 is probably the one a little further from the camera, just beyond the car. (In 1911 number 4 was a fruiterer and may still have been something similar in 1949 judging from the boxes.)
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I thought "Fruiterer" when I saw the photograph.
I can't see anything in the Staffordshire RO catalogue that helps us.
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I have a copy of Tamworth Past and Present and there are a number of photographs of Silver Street comparing pre and post demolition views.
One in particular from 1950s shows Felton's Garden Shop (#4?), The Identical Fish and Chip Saloon - this is #5 as it is definitely the same building as the earlier photograph and the caption says it was formally the Wine and Spirits Vaults run by Oliver Boonham. Next is what is probably #6 B (Benny) Davis and Sons "umbrella hospital". The caption says Mr Davis was also a hairdresser!
There is also a lovely street view from 1911 that shows Silver Street beautifully decorated for celebration of the coronation of George V. This I guess would be very much how it looked when your mother was born (possibly minus the bunting!).
From the post demolition photographs it looks sadly as if these buildings have now all gone.
Pinetree
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Hi Pinetree,
Thanks very much! Benjamin Davis of 6 Silver Street was my great uncle. He was primarily a hairdresser but I've seen adverts in the Tamworth Herald for umbrella repairs (who would think to repair an umbrella nowadays!?) and also fishing tackle.
I'll track down a copy of the book.
Cheers, Roger
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A little more Info. The building on the north corner of the junction of Silver St/Market St was the Peel hotel, now Wilko. The mock-Tudor building behind it which now houses hairdressers (not your gt-uncle I'm afraid) was the Tamworth Herald office. The whole of the property on the opposite side of Silver St was demolished in the '60s, and the property on Lichfield St also, including the White Horse pub, which stood on the corner. I remember the street from when I worked in Tam'uth in the '50s, and my wife, who was born in the town knew the people who ran the Fish & Chip shop. If you contact the Tamworth Herald, www.thisistamworth.co.uk Their historian, Kohn Harper may give you more info.
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Thanks for that, Guyana
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A little more on this, speaking to my wife, she remembers the Davis family and confirms what you said about the diverse business, hairdressing, umbrellas and fishing tackle. She believes he had two daughters, small, darkhaired girls, who both attended Tamworth Girls High School, as did she, but they were older than she, (now 73) She believes one married a bookmaker, and lived in a bungalow or house in Salter's Lane, Tamworth. Does any of this tie in with what you know?
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Yes, they did have two daughters, but they were substantially older than your wife. One daughter was Doris Marion Davis, born 1900, and the other Olive May Davis, born 1907. It's possible that my great uncle's son took over the business. He was Ernest Benjamin Davis and he had three daughters although I only know the name of one of them - Thelma Marian Davis, born 1924. She died in Tamworth in 1983 having married Eric Wiggall in 1945.
Unfortunately, I never met any of them so I don't really know anything more about them. But thanks very much for your information which has given me something more to work on.
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My grandfather was Benjamin Davis. My mother was Olive May Davis, born in Silver Street in 1907.
Her sister was Doris and her brothers were Benjamin Ernest and Arthur. Doris married Louis Barratt an insurance agent.