Fawcett St, Hulme, Manchester

[Thowdfettler]

According to 1841 census My GG Grandparents Thomas and Agnes Williamson  and her Parents were living next dorr to each other in Fawcett St. Hume, Manchester. In 1841 the houses have no numbers.
As both these families had reacently moved to the area from Dumfrieshire, Scotland.   I am of the opinion that these dwellings could well have been Mill Owners houses, built by a particular Mill owner and made available to prospective employees for the purpose of migration.

I wish to determine who had this Street of houses built and or who owned them at this time.  This would give me a lead as to where my ancestors were employed and by whom.  The period that I am researching in respect of this matter is 1837 to 1841.

Any assistance would be most welcome.

Stuart

[Barbara.H]

Hi Stuart,

Brilliant site here! Just what you need.
 http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/places/cottonopolis.php

If you go here and click on the Chorlton on Medlock link on the map, you will find a description of the local mills and  mill owners names. Keep clicking the links, there's loads of stuff!

Fawcett St is near the border of Hulme/chorlton on Medlock. Nearest mill on the 1849 map were the Cambridge St mills. At a quick read I can't tell whether this was the one buildt for Birley or Mackintosh, but if your family were Scottish, the Mackintosh one might be the best bet, as word would have spread that there was work available here.

Can't be sure that the houses were built specifically for these employees though, as there was such massive expansion in this area at this time. Turnover of land, houses and human beings must have been huge.

If you want an extract of the map posting I can do that for you this evening

Good luck!

Barbara

[Barbara.H]

Further to that last one (I love Hulme!  can't keep away) Fawcett St is in the 1821-22 directory, the majority of the inhabitants were weavers, spinners, dyers etc.  The houses were numbered, but the 1841 census doesn't record them.
There is an Ann Williamson, widow, at no 6 Back Fawcett St, might she be one of yours?

  Barbara

[Thowdfettler]

Hi,
Yes please I would like an extract of the map that you mention.

As regards Ann Williamson  6 Back Fawcett St,  Is this from 1821-22 diectory or 11841 census.
1821 is I feel too early.

As my Thomas and wife Agnes appear to have moved from Dumfriesshire between  1836 to 1839.  Deduced because following their marriage 1835 Lochmabbon, Dumfriesshire their first born a daughter (Nicholas) was born 1836 Dumfriesshire and the  second a son (James)was born 2nd qu Manchester.
I have found them on 1841 census at Fawcett St,  But also next door
on the same census are Agnes's parents and siblings,  Namely Robert and Nicholas Jardine (nee Johnston)
As you state the house have no numbers.
For them to have migrated so far,  it suggests that more than one section of the family moved together or in a very short space of time.   This then poses the question of how many more of the family also made the move.   Thomas the eldest of 10 ha d 6 brothers in all,  all apprenticed to the father, a Joiner/Carpenter/Wheelwright.  One migrated to Birmingham the another to Liverpool, the
youngest brother who was a scholar at the time of Thomas's migration remained in Closeburn, Dumfriesshire in the family home and workplace and continued the family business long after his fathers death. He eventually died still in the area.

To get back to my Thomas most of his sons were also joiners,  I suspect having been apprenticed to him.    I also suspect that he would on arrival in Manchester would have been employed for his joinery skills,   rather than as just manpower, ie labourer.   
Another point,  Agnes's father was a Tailor in Dumfriesshire,   but on the 1841 census in Fawcett St,  he is a Sawyer. (a semi Skilled wood cutter)I also suspect that he was working with or at the same place as Thomas.

I am now asking myself, would a cotton mill owner have recriuted a joiner and Sawyer,  or was there a Sawmill etc. in the area.
Your comments please.

Stuart

[Barbara.H]

Hi Stuart, I'll post the map asap but am having slight technical difficulties at the moment! (computers! )

Meanwhile, I've had a look and there is a big complex of timber yards ( or maybe one big one) very nearby, so plenty of work for joiners and sawyers in the area.  Its on the junction of Cambridge St/Higher Chatham St, I think that nowadays this is the Manchester Business School? Fawcett St was just to the north of that junction.

This is the area that Engels and other Victorians wrote about, describing the living conditions of the new industrial classes, so it is very well documented. The famous 'Little Ireland' area is  to the north of Fawcett St, quarter of a mile away, if that.  If your family were skilled workers and could afford two houses between them, it sound as if they were more comfortable than some in this area.


Map to follow!
  Barbara

[Barbara.H]

Hello again Stuart, hope this picture works (I lost the camera's memory card inside the computer, how embarrassing is that?  )

Fawcett St is in the middle of the square bounded by Newcastle St, Wilmott St, Devonshire St and Clarendon St. At the lower edge of the map are the timber yards, at the top is part of the Cambridge Mill complex.

If I have read the sources right, the mill was built by Hugh Birley who was notorious as one of the leaders of the cavalry charge at the Peterloo massacre in 1819. Not sure if he still owned it in the 1840s when your family were in the area though.

Barbara

[Biko]

Hello BarbarraH

I hope you don't mind but I can't read the map you provided. Could you look up Violet St for me. apparently my Peter Worrall was living there in 1841. I know that he was living in William St in 1843 which falls into the infamous 'Little Ireland' area and I suspect Violet St is not to far away. My Peter Worrall was also a Joiner/Carpenter.

I do have a readable map of the Hulme area but not sure for what years it is covering Also, the area around little Ireland falls off the page I can view as far as the start of Lower Chatham St. to the Junction of Devonshire St

Would I be pushing it if I asked if you could also look for Panoma Sq/place/st, Hulme. The map I have doesn't seem to cover it although it covers the area I suspect it should be (around the docks) I have connections there from 1873.

If you can just give me ideas of where these streets are (closest main roads/st)

Thanking you in advance

Marjie

[Barbara.H]

Hi Marjie

Pomona Square is on the section of map I posted, in the top left hand corner. Its near the junction of Chester St and Wilmott St, just by the wiggly black line running through the map, which is a boundary line. So its not a square, its a street, and its not near Pomona Dock as you might expect!

Violet St is further to the east of this section, left along Chester Street, near the junction with Welcomb St (gone now). I'll post another bit of map for you soon.  Sorry the map was so small, but I found guidelines somewhere on rootschat about resizing images to under 500kb, so I've started doing that.

On a modern map you still have Chester St and Wilmott St to locate where Pomona Sq was. If you follow Chester St till you get to the Mancunian Way, Violet St was somewhere underneath the Mancunian Way!

  Barbara

[Biko]

Thank You Barbarah

Yes I have located Pomona St on your map.  But on the map I have it doesn't exisit. I have a Marshland St that runs between Willmot St and Cambridge St and above that Hulme St.

It's made me really curious about the dates of my map as I know that my ancestors gave Pomona St as an address in 1873.

Also on the map I have Chester St ends at Leaf St (we used to walk there for swimming, from Holy Name School up by the dental hsp. My children's school hire a coach to travel half that distance-make em walk, I say) With Hunmanby and Humbersite Avenues directly behind Leaf St.  Welcomb St is a continuation of Humbersite Ave over  Claredon St. and becomes Dunham St once you cross over Stretford Rd.

I am guessing my map is from the early 1900's maybe just a little earlier.
  http://www.scottlandcare.com/MemoriesofHulmeIntro1.html

Its funny but all my family still live in Manchester (a few have even moved into those fancy 'appartments' in Hulme, ain't that ironic) Whenever I visit I have to drive around Hulme and  under the Mancunian way to visit my son in Salford.

Once again Thank You