Reminiscences of Manchester fifty years ago

Introduction

TO OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMY. ' MANCHESTER : J. E. CORNISH, 33, PICCADILLY, and 16, ST. ANN'S SQUARE. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co. i 8 8 i.. DEDICATED TO J. II. NODAL, Esq., EDITOR OF THE "MANCHESTER CITY NEWS," THROUGH WHOSE KINDNESS THESE REMINISCENCES FIRST APPEARED IN THE COLUMNS OF THAT JOURNAL.

Preface

. /T~>HE present volume of Reminiscences is intended to convey an approximate idea of the Manchester of Fifty Years Ago — of its outward aspect, its trade, customs, manners, and society, and its form of government some years before it obtained its Charter of Incorporation, and long before it attained to the dignity of a city. If justification were needed for its publication, it will be found in the wide interest which its contents excited as they appeared in the columns of the Manchester City News. Such a step as their appearance in book form was the farthest thing imaginable from the mind of the author when he sent his first chapter to the editor of that journal, his expectation then being that all he had to say would be completed in some half-dozen or dozen chapters. As he proceeded, however, his work grew under his hand, a result which was fostered by a classification of the subjects. The area covered by the numerous topics handled being large, it was impossible to avoid an occasional

PREFACE.

. VI mistake. These errors were pointed out in most cases by correspondents of the City News, and also privately. In the present volume such corrections have been adopted, and a most careful revision has been made of the contents. The author wishes to draw attention to the fact that the period to which these Reminiscences refers is that which is indicated in the title. Many aged persons who remember well-known characters living in Manchester fifty-five or sixty years ago have been disappointed at not finding their names mentioned, and have erroneously spoken of the absence of such names as omissions. Many portions have been re-written, and a considerable quantity of new matter has been added. To those gentle men who have kindly furnished information and corrections, the author tenders his sincere thanks.

Their names are too numerous to mention, and to single any out would be invidious. J. T. S. Chorllon-cun.' Hardy, January, i$$z. CONTENTS. Chapter. Page. I. Streets and Bridges i II. Wholesale Firms 17 III. Calico Printers 27 IV. Bleachers, Drysalters, and Hookers-In . 41 V. Doctors 47 VI. Druggists * . . . 60 VII. Booksellers 77 VIII. Sundry Traders, Engineers, and Professors 91 IX. Notable Persons 105 X. Places of Worship — Church of England . 115 XI. Do. Independent Chapels . 12S XII. Do. Wesleyan Methodist Chapels . . . 147 XIII. Do. Unitarian Chapels . 170 XIV. Do. Various . . . . 1S1 XV. Lawyers and Magistrates .... 195 XVI. The Post Office 202 XVII. Stage Coaching Days 209 XVIII. Travel and Goods Carriage i;y Road and Canal 219 XIX. Opening of the Railway to Liverpool . . 227 XX. Government of Town : Curious Officials . 235 XXI.

Gas, Water, and Hackney Coaches . . 242 XXII. Medical and other Charitable Institutions 247 XXIII. Literary, Scientific, and other Societies . 260 XXIV. Newspapers . 276 XXV. Building Clubs 292 XXVI. Music, Paganini, and Malibran . . 297 XXVII. Public Amusements 307 XXVIII. Dress and Conclusion 316 Appendix 323 Obituary REMINISCENCES OF MANCHESTER FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Chapter I. The Streets And Bridges

TT was on the afternoon of a certain Monday in March. 1829, that I was driven to Manchester in his gig by the father of the late Mr. John Robinson Kay, formerly a director of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, who lived at Longholme, near Bacup, where my father, who was a Wesleyan minister, then was stationed. Having lived in Manchester ever since, I propose to furnish some reminiscences of the Manchester of that period. Mr. Kay was a manufacturer of cloth, both by steam power and hand loom, and always attended the Manchester market on a Tuesday. A very different thing it was then for a country manufacturer to attend the Tuesday's market from what it is now. With what ease and comfort, by the aid of a first-class carriage and an express train, he is now transported to Manchester, going and returning the same B <*■*» day, even to and from places as distant as Blackburn and Burnley.

Then, if a manufacturer lived fifteen or twenty miles from Manchester, he generally came on the Monday previously, frequently driving his own conveyance, and put up at some inn — there were not many "hotels" in those days — the name of which was given in the " Directory," as well as the address of his place of business in town. Accordingly, in that for 1829, we find, under the head of ■' Country Manufacturers," " Kay, Thomas, calico manufac turer, Longholme, 3, Walton's Buildings, Tues., White Lion, Hanging Ditch." This is a sample of most other entries under that head, though here and there one may be found having only the place of business named. After Mr. Kay had put his horse up at the White Lion, he conducted me to my future home, No. 21, Market Street. The same shop is now numbered 41, inasmuch as the streets were not then numbered on the sensible plan at present adopted, viz., the even numbers on one side and the odd on the other.

Market Street was numbered, for instance, from the first shop on the left-hand side going up — ■ which was then, and till very lately, that of Clark, cutler — consecutively to the last shop on the same side, which was occupied by R. and J. Gleave, booksellers, and was num bered 61 ■ then crossing over the top of Market Street, 62 was the Royal Hotel and New Bridgewater Arms, kept by Henry Charles Lacey, which had been removed from the corner of High Street a few years previously ; and the last shop on the left-hand side going down was 108, occupied by Mr. Prince, a grocer, who made a princely fortune, and from whom Prince's Court was named. Prince's Court NE WALL'S BUILDINGS. 3 existed till the last enlargement of the Exchange, which now covers the site. A few weeks after my coming to Man chester, I was taken to the office of Messrs. Atkinson and Birch, in Norfolk Street, then one of the leading firms of solicitors, and bound an apprentice to W. Dentith and Co. , wholesale and retail druggists.

One of my fellow-apprentices was the youngest son of the celebrated Dr. Warren, and brother of the late Samuel Warren, recorder of Hull, and author of the " Diary of a Late Physician," and " Ten Thousand a Year." Warren's brother Edward was an artist of some promise. About ten or twelve years before the time I speak of a special Act of Parliament had empowered certain commis sioners to widen and improve Market Street. This had been nearly completed but not entirely ; there were two old piles of buildings still left standing. One was that which occupied the site of the front part of the present Exchange, and which when pulled dow*n was succeeded by the ever memorable Newall's Buildings (No. i ). Mr. Newall, who was a grocer, was then living, his shop being the first in the old building going up the street.

In the alteration Market Street had been raised at the lower end and lowered at the middle part. Consequently the floor of Newall's shop was lower than the level of the street, and to enter it you had to descend by a step. The next shop to this was Shaw's, a saddler ; then came a florist and seedsman, whose nursery was in Cheetwood. Next was Charles Lovatt, the well known tobacconist. By the way, there were then only twenty-three tobacconists in the whole of Manchester and Salsord. To-day, to show how society has in one respect made a retrograde movement, I may mention that the last '■Directory" contains the names of nearly 500. Of course some allowance must be made for increase of population, but will that account for all this difference? The last place of business in this old pile was the Peacock Coach Office, kept by Mr. John Knowles, the father of the late proprietor of the Theatre Royal, who also carried on the business of a coal merchant at Ducie Street, Piccadilly.

It was from this office that the afterwards popular London coach the Peveril of the Peak started, it then being only a two-horse one. The other pile of old buildings stood nearly opposite Spring Gardens, on the site now occupied by the shop of Messrs. Woolley and the adjacent ones. The street here having been considerably lowered, the foothpath on that side was on a sort of bank, which separated the carriage way from the path. Singular to say, there was also a coach office in this old pile, the Swan, kept by Weatherald and Webster — (the latter gentleman was a Quaker) — from which the Red Rover used to start. Next to it was the shop of Mr. Hargreaves, then one of the oldest druggists in Man chester; and hereabouts was the place of business for a time of Old Weatherley, the bookseller. A little higher up was Cunliffes, Brooks, and Co.'s Bank ; and near it was the warehouse of Mr. Emmanuel Mendel, father of Mr. Sam Mendel, a rope, twine, and pitch-paper manufacturer, his house being in Brazennose Street.

A little higher up again was the Palace Inn, which stood back, having a good open space in front, and being a large brick house having a double flight of steps at the front door. It is well known that in 1745 Mr. Dickensen lived and entertained Prince Charles MARKET STREET. 5 here. John, the head waiter for many years, was widely known. He afterwards kept the King's Arms, at the bottom of King Street, his name being Pownall. The time prescribed by the Act of Parliament for effect ing the improvement of Market Street was limited, I believe, to twelve years. When it had transpired, there was one more alteration to be effected and which was conse quently not made for many years after. The next shop to the inn at the corner of Palace Street, occupied by Mr. John Roberts, the stationer, projected a little beyond the line of the street, and has only been pulled down at a recent date, having been the subject of litigation between Mr. James Cheetham, the last occupier, and the Corpora tion.

The office of the Guardian newspaper, published by Messrs. Taylor and Garnett, was on the opposite side of the street, nearer Brown Street. Neither Corporation Street nor New Brown Street had then any existence, whilst a portion of Cross Street running from Chapel Walks to Market Street, then known as Pool Fold, was a narrow and somewhat dingy street. In it was the office of Hannibal Becker and Co., large oil of vitriol manufacturers. Mr. Becker was an ancestor of a well-known member of the Manchester School Board. The first shop on the right hand near where the Exchange steps now stand, was that of Patison, a confectioner ; next was a tavern called the Rifleman ; and next the book shop of Ann Hopps, the wife of James Hopps, who was the brother of John, a well known bookseller. The shop was entered by a flight of steps, and Mrs. Hopps lodged with Morris, a chimney sweeper, who lived farther on in the same street.

Of course we should hardly expect that any one who was in business fifty years ago in Market Street would be found there to-day. In the case of the Messrs. Darbyshire, the business is still carried on by the sons, whom I well remem ber as youths. A few other names are still perpetuated — though the owners have long since passed away — in Lynch and Jewsbury, the druggists, Mr. Daniel Lynch being a leading man amongst the Freemasons of that day. The celebrated James Everett, the Wesleyan minister, at that time kept a stationer's shop about ten doors above Clark's. He was originally a Wesleyan minister, but on account of a throat affection went into business, and afterwards re-entered the ministry. The next shop was that of the fashionable hatter of that day, Mr. Mountcastle, whose appearance was rather remarkable, being very good looking, always un usually well dressed, and wearing a scrupulously white neckerchief.

At that time there was a very heavy duty on all kinds of glass, and as a consequence not a single shop window contained any plate glass, but shop windows were composed of small squares of ordinary crown glass. The first shop which made a venture in that line was one very near Mr. Mountcastle's, I think a milliner's, and called Chantilly House. This was before the duty was taken off. There were two windows, and in the centre of each was in serted a brass frame about two feet long and one and a half broad, holding a sheet of plate glass. It used to be said that the two cost more than £._o. If the object of the proprietor was to cause a little sensation I am sure he was gratified, for everybody went to see these "large" squares of plate glass. MARKET STREET. 7 The next building to the Bridgewater Arms coach office was the warehouse of H. Bannerman and Sons ; and not far from this was the office of Mr. David Holt, generally known as Quaker Holt, a cotton spinner, who was reputed to be the best carver at a public dinner-table in Man chester.

He was one of the commissioners for the widen ing of Market Street. Nearly opposite to Dentiths' was the Norwich Union Fire Office, having a statue of Justice blindfolded over the door. The Talbot Inn, which was pulled down a few years since, was then standing at the corner of the street now called West Mosley Street ; and a little lower down was the Mosley Arms, afterwards removed to Piccadilly. Turning out of .Market Street into Brown Street, next to the Commercial Inn, were the Shambles, since converted into the Post Office * and over was the Manor Court Room, where the Court Leet was held, where the boroughreeve and constables were elected, and where the " Court of Requests " was held. The Court, which had only jurisdiction to the amount of forty shillings, was presided over by commissioners, of whom the chairman was a barrister named Hill, whilst his colleagues were lay men, as in a Court of Quarter Sessions.

The left-hand side of Piccadilly going from Market Street consisted principally of shops, a few* private houses, and offices. Amongst the shops was that of Mr. Joseph Kid son, a tailor, which remains yet in the hands of his son. The supply of water was then in the hands of the Man chester and Salsord Waterworks Company, and it was here they had their offices. Near to them was that of the well known John Law, a solicitor, who was very popular as an advocate in the police court, his opponent generally being another solicitor, Edward Foulkes. Opposite the end of Portland Street were two good houses, in one of which Mr. John Roberts the stationer lived, the other being occupied by Mr. James Bloor, one of the principal pawnbrokers, whose business was conducted at the back of his premises in Back Piccadilly, the front presenting all the appearance of a private house.

Mr. Bloor now resides at Southport, a hale and hearty old man nearly eighty years of age, and he told me lately that having been born in that house he resided there for seventy-two years. Will not this fact bear out what Mr. Turner the surgeon used to say as to the mis taken views of those people who are so fond of talking of the unhealthiness of Manchester? Mr. Turner lived for the greater part of his life in the heart of Manchester, and after spending many of his last years in Mosley Street, died at a good old age. I am tempted to add my own testi mony to the effect that at a most important period of my life, when being developed from a boy into a man, I lived eight years in Market Street, and had not a day's illness during the whole time. Instead of the magnificent hotel which now stands at the corner of Portland Street, there existed two or three large brick houses, known as Portland Place.

In the first of them dwelt Mr. Thomas Houldsworth, who lived to be one of the oldest members of Parliament, representing success ively Pontefract, Newton, and North Notts. " Houldsworth's Factory," in Little Lever Street, was well known all over Manchester. He was very popular amongst his employe's, as well as amongst the inhabitants generally, and was a THE INFIRMARY. 9 liberal supporter of the races, keeping a stud of racehorses his jockeys always wearing green and gold. The next house was occupied by Mr. Robert Ogden, cotton spinner ; and the next by the two partners in the firm of Hargreaves and Dugdale, calico printers, whose warehouse was in Marsden's Square. The Infirmary was a plain brick building, without the two wings, which have been added to it since; the lunatic asylum, which had a lower elevation, being an extension of the main building.

In front was the sheet of water known as the Infirmary Pond, separated from the footpath by palisading. At the Infirmary gates stood the public baths, the income arising from them being appropriated to the support of the Infirmary. The charge for a cold bath to non subscribers was is.; to subscribers of half-a-guinea, iod.; and to those of a guinea, 9d. The price of a vapour bath was 5s. ; of a vapour and hot bath when used together, 6s.; and of the shampooing bath, 7s. They were under the superintendence of Mr. William Galor, who was succeeded by Mr. John Haworth, for many years a councillor for St. George's Ward, and now a resident of Southport, in the enjoyment of excellent health at the age of seventy-six. Perhaps there is no street which has been so completely metamorphosed in the course of fifty years as Mosley Street.

I do not mean as to its shape and size, for they are not altered, but as to its character. Could one of its old residents see to-day its warehouses lining each side and the immense stream of traffic pouring constantly through it, he would be astonished. Fifty years ago it was a quiet, orderly, genteel street, the abode of some of the elite of Manchester. Here were the residences of the Rev. Dr. Calvert, warden of the Collegiate Church, Daniel Grant, Sam Brooks, David Bannerman, Thomas Worthington, Leo Schuster, S. L. Behrens, John Frederick Foster, the Stipendiary Magistrate, and several of the leading medical men. The Portico was there, as also the Royal Institution, which had been recently built, at a cost of ,£26,000. The Assembly Room, opposite the Portico, was a plain brick building; whilst on the other side of Charlotte Street, but on the same side of Mosley Street, was the chapel where Dr. M'Call was preaching to large congregations every Sunday.

Higher up the street was the Unitarian Chapel, where the Rev. J. J. Tayler officiated. I well remember a hue and cry that one Sunday morning Daniel Grant's house had been robbed whilst the inmates were at church. The large warehouses in Parker Street, behind the Infirmary, had then no existence, whilst George Street and Faulkner Street contained princi pally private residences. In fact, I cannot remember that there was a single warehouse in either of these streets, Mosley Street, Portland Street, Peter Street, Oxford Road, or Dickenson Street, except that in the latter street was Pickford's canal warehouse, an arm of the canal reaching into the warehouse, where the boats were loaded with goods for London. It is an extraordinary circumstance that whilst so many buildings in this street and neighbourhood which existed fifty years ago have been destroyed to make way for the erection of large and substantial warehouses on their site, there is nearly opposite to the former site of Pickford's warehouse a row of small cottages which were there at the time I speak of, and which are standing yet.

OXFORD ROAD. 11 Peter Street, which now has its Free Trade Hall, Con cert Hall, Theatre, and other public buildings, contained nothing of the kind fifty years ago. Both the Theatre Royal and " Concert Rooms " were in Fountain Street, the former occupying a site between York Street and Charlotte Street, on which the warehouse of Daniel Lee and Co. now stands ; whilst music was not then honoured by being domi ciled in a separate building, but had apartments next door to the churchwardens' office and nearly opposite the theatre. The large space of ground known as St. Peter's Field, on which the building erected for a museum with others now stand, and on which the great meeting of 60,000 persons was held which ended so disastrously, in 181 9, was still un occupied by buildings. A large meeting of, it was said, 40,000 or 50,000 persons was held on it shortly after the time of which I am writing for some political purpose.

Oxford Road was pretty much then as it is now, except that of course the traffic was much less; no railway bridge crossed it, there were fewer shops and more private houses, and a little beyond Tuer Street, the houses were large and detached, the homes of the wealthy. Here were the residences of Richard Potter, afterwards M.P. for Wigan; William Entwistle, once M.P. for South Lancashire; the Rev. Dr. M'Call, James Wood, the founder of the firm of Wood and Westhead ; and John Fernley, who before he died presented such a magnificent gift to the Wesleyan Connexion, in the shape of a large and handsome chapel, day and Sunday schools, a school for ministers' daughters, and a minister's house at Southport. Mr. Jeremiah Garnett, one of the proprietors of the Manchester Guardian, lived in one of the houses which have since been converted into shops opposite to the east side of All Saints' Church, known then as Grosvenor Place.

Chorlton-upon-Medlock was then known as Chorlton Row. The Stretford Road was not made, and the townships of Hulme and Moss Side consisted mainly of fields. What houses and shops there were in Hulme were chiefly in Chester Road and the neighbourhood. Jackson's Lane contained thirty or forty houses at the Chester Road end, and then became a winding country lane extending in the direction of Greenheys. I remember taking a walk one Sunday afternoon soon after I came to Manchester, and turning out of Oxford Road into a street which I think was Boundary Street, when I soon got into the fields, and by following a footpath at last found myself in Jackson Street, near to Chester Road. For more than forty years no alteration was made in Deansgate itself of any importance ; so that the Deansgate of fifty years ago was very like that of ten years ago.

The names of some streets turning out of Deansgate have been altered, whilst one or two new streets have been made, and others have disappeared. Cupid's Alley has been changed into Atkinson Street, and Parliament Street into Hardman Street, the latter street being in such bad repute it was thought best to obliterate the name. Neither John Dalton Street nor Lower King Street existed at that time. At the corner of Bridge Street and Deansgate were commodious meat shambles, and behind them the pork shambles. Where now is the beginning of Lower King Street was an open space, known as the Star Yard, leading to the stables behind DEANSGATE. 13 the Star Hotel. At the other corner of the yard was the Star Coach Office. The inn was kept by Mr. Thomas Yates. He was about the last gentleman in Manchester who wore that peculiar appendage of hair hanging down the back, known as a queue.

Mrs. Yates survived him, and continued the business to the time of her death, when she was succeeded by her daughter, Miss Ann Yates, in whose hands it still remains. Mrs. Yates, who was a tall handsome lady, appeared at the first Fancy Dress Ball in 1828, dressed as an " Old English Lady," attracting considerable attention from her fine representation of the character. King Street, from Deansgate to Cross Street, has not undergone any important alteration. The part opposite the Old Town Hall has been widened. St. Ann's Street, leading from the Square into Deansgate, only extended as far as Back Square, the remainder of the way consisting of a very narrow street, known as Toll Lane, so called, I suppose, from the fact that it being originally the principal entrance to Acres Fair, held in the Square, toll was there demanded on the cattle passing through.

One of the most important alterations ever made in Manchester was the opening out of Victoria Street and the making of the road past the Cathedral to its junction with Strangeways, together with the building of Victoria Bridge, an improvement be it remembered designed and completed without the assistance of the Corporation, for it then had no existence. Most persons are aware that what is now Victoria Street was formerly Smithy Door. The entrance to it from Market Street was like a narrow isthmus passing between the projecting corners of two buildings opposite each other, the space between the curbstones being only sufficient to allow a vehicle to pass with scarcely an inch to spare. The width of the footpath was proportionate, so that it was dangerous for a person to attempt to pass through at the same time as a vehicle.

The right-hand building was the Unicorn Inn, kept by Joseph Challender, at which the celebrated club known as " John Shaw's " a few years after wards used to meet. The other end of Smithy Door opened into a street which was a continuation of Cateaton Street, and was joined to the bridge which there spanned the Irwell. This was a very narrow structure and had a much greater declivity than has the present bridge. It was known as the " Old Bridge," and the street which joined Cateaton Street withit, and which blocked up that end of Smithy Door, was " Old Bridge Street." The footpath which now separates the Cathedral yard from the Mitre Hotel was continued round the yard on the river side, just as it is yet on the other side. Between this footpath and the high rocky bank of the river were a few shops and two or three taverns, of which I remember the Blackamoor's Head was one and the inevitable Ring-o'-Bells another.

The fine open space in which the statue of Cromwell now stands had then no existence. Foot passengers could get into Strangeways by means of the footpath, but carriages had to go round by Hanging Ditch and Fennel Street. So also in going to Cheetham Hill, a foot passenger would have to take the right-hand footpath of the churchyard and proceed through Long Millgate to Ducie Bridge ; whilst a vehicle would have to get into Millgate by Hanging Ditch and Fennel Street. BRIDGES. 15 Manchester was then encircled by a number of toll-bars, at some of which foot passengers had to pay toll for cross ing a bridge. There was a toll-bar on Ducie Bridge ; one in Strangeways, not far from Strangeways Hall, which was then standing ; one at Longsight, one on Broughton Bridge, one on Blackfriars Bridge, one in Regent Road, one in Stretford Road after it was formed, one at Pendleton, and I think others.

I remember the case of a medical man who wanted to see a patient that lived just through the Strangeways bar, and who left his gig waiting whilst he walked through to see his patient and back. He was sum moned by the keeper of the bar before the magistrates and had to pay the toll. The bridges connecting Salsord with Manchester were the iron bridge leading from Strangeways to Greengate, the Old Bridge, Blackfriars, New Bailey, and Regent Road. Like the Old Bridge, the New Bailey one has been replaced with a handsome structure, more suited to the increasing traffic passing over it. The little chain bridge, as it was called, in Lower Broughton, was then in existence, for I remember the circumstance that very shortly after I came to Manchester, a number of soldiers of the rifle corps which was then stationed here, and who wore a green uni form, were crossing the bridge, when, in consequence of the uniformity of their step, the chains gave way, and a number of them were precipitated into the river, without any fatal result, though with some serious injury to a few.

Had they broken the regularity of their step, and crossed the bridge in non-military fashion, I suppose the misfortune would not have happened. A singular circumstance connected with the accident was, that the bridge was erected by the father-in-law of the officer in command of the men, and who lived at the castellated mansion close by, called Castle Irwell. To return to the central part of the town, the streets in which the principal Manchester warehouses were to be found, were High Street, Cannon Street, Marsden Square, Church Street, and the smaller streets running out of these. There was not then, or for some years after, a single ware house in Manchester making any pretensions to architectural effect, either in the home or shipping trade. Not only were the buildings in which the latter were carried on very plain structures, but they were to be found mostly in retired situations, such as Back George Street, Mulberry Street, Queen Street, and Back Mosley Street. LEESE, KERSHAW, AND CALLENDER. 17