Where did Grandma work?

[Viktoria]

 Hello, I am wondering how I can find out where my grandmother from Shropshire worked when she came to Manchester ,some time between the  1891 census( when she was still with her parents) and 1896 when she married in Manchester.
She came as a servant but where  to?-- her address in Manchester at her marriage was Bronze Street.
She married in St. Catherine`s ,this in the Collyhurst area near Dalton Street.
 There were no houses there where servants would be employed but a little further up Rochdale Road  there were ,where perhaps one domestic would be employed.
 I`d love to find out where a young woman from the countryside  would go to work.
 Any suggestions? Thanks for any ideas.   Viktoria.

[andrewalston]

You would be surprised at the sorts of households where servants were employed. I've come across a household where the head described himself as a Labourer, but a live-in servant was there to help with the 3 children.

In my lot, one great grandmother was given a placement 25 miles away by Kirkdale Industrial School in Liverpool.

A great great grandmother, having been a servant close to home in Cheshire, travelled to Bolton. Both myself and my mother from the signatures on her marriage certificate decided that she and one of the witnesses had been taught to write by the same teacher. I looked up the witness, and found her living a quarter of a mile away from the bridegroom - and she was from the same small village.

So it may be worth looking at the marriage witnesses. They may have helped your grandmother when work in Shropshire was scarce.

[Viktoria]

 Thankyou, I have their marriage certificate.                                                                        Oddly enough my father`s cousin(grandma`s sister`s son) married a girl from the same village as he and she came to the North West in about 1930 as a servant  as did other girls from the village,so perhaps there was an agency.Grandma too was from that village.
 She would not have been a servant for long as between 1891 and whenever she came ,and married by 1896, just a very few years.
 Thankyou again. Viktoria.

[Barbara.H]

Only two entries for Bronze St in the 1895 directory:

Samuel Mills, hat manufacturer (no street number)
6 Bronze St, William Watts, shopkeeper

  Barbara

[Viktoria]

 Thankyou Barbara,that is kind of you.I`ll go and look at my old maps of M/C an see how big the houses were--- you know were they true back to backs ,no back entrance, and for very poor people
or a bit bigger. When I think what she came from, so green and lovely and that part of M./C was so built up and overcrowded, Engel`s description is horrendous . She may have returned for her mother`s and then her father`s  funerals.Also two of her brothers`. But they were very poor and she may not have been able to afford the fare .But my father knew his Shropshire relatives . He was born in 1897. She died in 1916, just as my dad went into the army aged 19. She cried and cried that he was going. Apparently he had not been a stong baby. His chest measurement at this age in his amy papers was the magnificent size of 31 inches, Six stone weakling or not he went.
 Thankyou again. Viktoria.

[RonOne]

you know were they true back to backs ,no back entrance, and for very poor people
or a bit bigger.

The houses on Bronze Street were terraced with a backyard and an alleyway separating the properties on the street behind. Bronze Street was located about 0.4 miles North East of the area known as Angel Meadow (This is the area described by Friedrich Engels as 'the Old Town of Manchester' in 'The Condition of the Working Class in England'). Angel Meadow was roughly bounded by Miller Street, Rochdale Road, Gould Street and the River Irk.

A reporter from the 'The Manchester Guardian' wrote a series of five articles titled 'In the Slums' which were published between 16 Feb 1870 and 17 Mar 1870 - A good insight into Angel Meadow and other run-down neighbourhoods of Manchester at that time (he goes into graphic detail). These articles were followed by another series the following year titled 'The Census in The Slums'  published between 3 April 1871 and 27 April 1871 (more graphic detail).

A portion of Bronze Street is shown [top-left] on Sheet CIV. 7. 7. of this 1891 map - CLICK HERE - (unfortunately the adjoining map isn't available)

Compare the houses to those of Angel Meadow [top-left] which contains numerous 'back to back' houses. - CLICK HERE -

Bronze street can be seen in full on this 1893 map [smaller scale] - CLICK HERE -

[Viktoria]

 Thankyou Ron, Ive just sent you a long answer but the devil knows where it has migrated to!!

 I was recommending a book which may still be available, "Sunrise to Sunset" by Mary Bertenshaw whose parents ran a lodging house in St. Michael`s square, opposite the gates of St. Michael`s church at the bottom ofAngel Street.
Although not exactly in Angel Meadow my family lived very close, and I`d love to be able to say they did because it was a very special part of M/C and despite the extreme poverty  happy families  did live and grow up there and became responsible citizens. No doubt due to their fantastic and formidabe  mothers.My other grandma had 12 children and then adopted four more orphans.Talk about a glutton for punishment!  Thankyou again for your help. Viktoria.
..

[RonOne]

Thankyou Ron, Ive just sent you a long answer but the devil knows where it has migrated to!!

 I was recommending a book which may still be available, "Sunrise to Sunset" by Mary Bertenshaw whose parents ran a lodging house in St. Michael`s square, opposite the gates of St. Michael`s church at the bottom ofAngel Street.

Thanks for the recommendation, now I'm intrigued and off to find a copy. My great-grandmother was born on Ludgate Hill, then she and her family moved to Back Irk Street, which is where her mother died. After my great-grandmother married and had children they slowly moved eastwards over the years but always remained around Collyhurst. They we living in Bronze Street when my great-grandfather died.

[Viktoria]

 Right Ron the smalll book--115 pages ---was published by Pan Visuals.338/340 Liverpool road. Patricroft . Manchester. M30 ORY telephone 0161 789 5875. Bear in mind  the book was published in the 1980`s .It ought to be available from the Town Hall Local history book shop. If such a thing exists nowadays.The book was read on Radio Manchester. Alan Yardley adaped it.No I.S.B.N number I`m afraid.                                                                                                                  I ought to have given you these details yesterday. Hope they help you trace a copy.
 Thanks again for your info. I`m always fascinated by Angel Meadow where it was said you could be mugged by nuns and police dogs would only go in threes!!! Just joking.kind regards. Viktoria.