The Terraces of Ardwick

[P136_XWRO]

Does anyone remember Wycliffe Street?

[MJH001]

Hi,

I have been going through my Dads old photos and thought this may be of interest. 

It is a school photo of his class at Birley Street School, Beswick, taken in 1925.

He lived at Devon Street Beswick which was just round the corner.

The teacher is Mrs Pearson and my Dad, Cliff Harrison, is on the second row from the back, 3rd from the right.

[LizzieW]

A really good read is a book called Mary Barton written by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1850's.  It's set in Ardwick, Chorlton on Medlock, Ancoats and gives a real flavour of the area in mid 19th century.  If you're feeling really academic, read the Penguin Classics edition for loads of background info.

After getting bored with reading some of the lightweight novels I usually download onto my Kindle, I decided to download some classics and one of them was Mary Barton.  I found it very interesting, especially the historical aspect of it written by someone who was there at the time, rather than latter day historians who can only give you facts.

If you go to www.gutenberg.org you will find over 60,000 free ebooks you can download.  My husband has an old Kindle and can just download direct, with my Kindle paperwhite, it is a bit more complicated but still easy.

[PaulJC]

Thanks for the school photo.

Not only did my dad attend Birley Street School but he also lived on Devon St with my gran and his many brothers and sisters. The picture is a little too early for him to be shown, however, his brothers Bill, Ted and George also went there and were all older than him so perhaps one of them is on the photo?

Paul

[MJH001]

Thanks for the school photo.

Not only did my dad attend Birley Street School but he also lived on Devon St with my gran and his many brothers and sisters. The picture is a little too early for him to be shown, however, his brothers Bill, Ted and George also went there and were all older than him so perhaps one of them is on the photo?

Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes, they may well be on it and they may have been neighbours.  My Dad and his Parents and younger Brother lived at 47 Devon Street, but also moved to a couple of other addresses on the same road.

I've just started researching my family tree and found that in the late 1800's one of my Grandads Uncles decided to go to South Africa for work as there were opportunities in diamond mining. 
He must have done well, but as he was returning to England he found that someone had gone through his bags and stolen his diamonds.  Luckily he had kept some in a money belt on his person and when he returned to Manchester he sold them and used the money to buy 14 houses on Devon Street!

It may be why my Grandad, and at least one other relation, moved to Devon Street.

Martin

[Viktoria]

It was a tough area, but ,and I wish I remember his name,  The  Headteacher was a wonderful man by all accounts.
The boys leaving were sought after, they were disciplined - by that I mean they could behave well etc.
Some were ,as my husband was, in the second  recording of Nymphs and Sheoherds ,during the war.
Birley St often won a Schoolboy’s cup for football ,my husband’s ambition was to play on the team with his brother.
He refused to go to Grammar School so he could go to Birley St.
He wrote his name on the exam paper but nothing else!
When you look at the size of classes in those days!

Fifty children in that    ohotograph.
Viktoria.

[LizzieW]

Just looked at information on my family tree and see that my husband's mother was admitted to Birley Street Higher Elementary on 4 August 1911 (bit odd as she was 10 then) and left on 27 May 1915 for a secondary school.  I don't know which secondary school, I guess Birley Street School that you are all talking about.  At the time she lived on Grey Mare Lane.  She was born in Baslow Street, Beswick.  Sometime before she was born the family lived in Wardlaw Street.  Her father went to Armitage Road School in the 1880s.

Modified - checked on FindMyPast and it seems she went to Birley Street School in 1904 thenshe then went to Birley Street Higher Elementary on 4 August 1911, when she was 10 and then in 1915 when she was 14 she left school.  My late brother in law gave us the original information, which he obviously didn't get quite right, he was researching in the days when you had to visit record offices to view records.

[PaulJC]

Hi Martin,

I am not sure about the address on Devon Street but I have a feeling it was 114 or 117 perhaps. It was close to a coal yard and the entry that led to Viaduct St and the footbridge over the railway and then to the park. Surname is Carter.

Paul

[PaulJC]

Hi Lizzie,

The school is in the area you mention.

Paul