Home to a Manufacturer with links to Mather & Platt...and me
Whin Knowle
Whin Knowle is one half of a Victorian semi detached property on the corner of Cavendish Road and Bury New Road. It stands in Salford, just on the Salford side of the boundary between Prestwich and Kersal. The property adjoining Whin Knowle is called Ridgemont.
Whin Knowle...then & now.
The property today is hidden from Bury New Road by an overgrown hedge.
Whin Knowle first makes an appearance in the census of 1881, when Thomas Waterhouse, a widow and a "stuff merchant" originally from Keighley in Yorkshire was living at Whin Knowle with his son Thomas Crompton Waterhouse and niece Mary Goodbrand. His son was a Commercial Traveller, and his niece took the role of House Keeper. They also had a housemaid and a cook living in the house. Checking the 1871 census of 1 Fairfield Place, Bury New Road, Thomas senior actually imported French Merinos Wool, which comes from Merino sheep and is used for high-quality, soft-handling fabrics and knitting yarns.
The previous generation of the Waterhouse family had lived in a property in Oakworth, Keighly, that had also been called Whin Knowle.
By the 1891 census, Thomas had retired and was recorded as "living on his own means", his son Thomas was residing at The Grand Hotel in Bath, an importer of French Woolen Goods, and a nephew had moved in, also called Thomas, who was working as a clerk for a Stuff Merchant. Thomas snr. died in 1895.
In 1899 the Scouloudi Greek merchant family were living at Whin Knowle, when sadly, they buried their four month old son at St Mary's in Prestwich.
Frank Scouloudi was the warden at the Greek Church on Bury New Road in Higher Broughton, and as the Greek Church had no burial ground, permission was granted for burials to take place at St Mary's Church in Prestwich. Follow this link to read more about the Greek Merchants of Bury New Road
By the census of 1901, the Scouloudi family had moved out and John Halley had moved in with his wife Elizabeth and son Samuel. They had no servants present at the census and the house was just recorded as number 498. John Halley was a Grey Cloth Warehouseman.
Ten years later, in the census of 1911, Frederick Foy (b:1874) and his family had moved in to Whin Knowle. Frederick and his wife Louisa (b:1877, Stockport) had three children, Frederick (b:1910), Lenore (b:1897) and Mona (b:1901), and two servants.
Curiously, I had an aunt who everyone called "Aunty Mona", however she was actually called Ruby...curious...
Frederick Foy Snr. had been born in Ardwick and he listed his occupation was a Motor Engineer (employer). Back in 1901 the family was at Clarence Street in Lower Broughton, and Frederick's occupation was listed as a Brazier & sheet metal worker. Ten years earlier Frederick, a Brazier and Sheet Metal Worker was living at 39 Clarence Street, Broughton. He had also been listed as a Iron Plate Worker when he was aged 16 in 1881.
The Foy Family from IrelandFrederick's father William had also been an Iron plate Worker. He had been born in 1846, in Lower Broughton but his father, also called William (b:1821) had emigrated from Ireland and was listed as a Iron Plate worker on Gravel Lane in Greengate Salford (1841), a tin plate worker in Balloon Street, Manchester (1851), and the same occupation at Canning Street in Broughton (1861). By 1881 William was aged 62 and he and his son Peter were Tin Plate Workers, living on Pearson Street in Lower Broughton. His wife during these years had been a tassel maker.
In 1896, Frederick Foy and Louisa sadly lost a new born son called Frederick Shirley Foy, this little boy was placed in the Shirley family plot at Weaste cemetery. Now it gets intersting...well for me anyway !
The above Shirley family headstone is known to me (though I need to get a better photo!) as John Shirley was my great grandad. My paternal great grandad married John's daughter, Eliza Shirley (b:1879, Stockport), so she was a younger sister of Frederick Foy's wife Louisa (nee Shirley b:1877, Stockport). In relationship terms Frederick Foy of Whin Knowle was the husband of my great great aunt, or he was my great great uncle. But there's more to peak my interest than a loose family connection.
Looking into Frederick's occupation, he came from three generations of Metal Plate Workers. Over the decades they had lived in the cramped housing of Greengate, Pendleton and Lower Broughton, so he seems to have done quite well to end up living in such a substantial house in the leafy suburbs of Bury New Road in 1911.
Here I now give great thanks to a Salford historian Eric Pegg, and specifically I refer to his publication "Lower Broughton Remembered" from 1977. Eric also had a family link to the Shirley family and recounts vital information for me in his publication.
An older brother of Louisa, had married a sister of Eric Pegg's grandad in 1900, namely James Shirley (b:1873) of Bevil Street had married Clara Grundy (b:1878), and they lived in the Farriers Arms on Bombay Street in Lower Broughton, which was run by her mother Elizabeth.
Louisa Shirley had married Frederick Foy of Gordon Street in 1896, and in 1905 Frederick set up his own workshop at the corner of Gordon and Milton Street, not far from from his home on Clarence Street in Broughton.
The workshop made radiators for the emerging motor car industry, and Frederick was partnered in this business by someone he had worked with at Manchester's first automobile manufacturer - Bellsize Motors in Clayton. His partner in this business came from a well known Engineering family in Salford & Manchester, his name was Colin Mather (b:1854).
The Mather Family of Mather & PlattColin Mather was the third son of "Cast Iron" Colin Mather(b:1812 Northshields), who had come down to Salford in about 1817, living at Hough Lane (1851) then Willow Bank House near the Cliff in Broughton (1861). He established with William Platt (b:1814), the Mather and Platt Engineering Company. The younger Colin had been apprenticed by age 17, working at the Salford Iron Works, however his father's business had passed to his cousin William. Sir William Mather (b:1838) lived at Woodhill in Prestwich, and was Director of Mather & Platt Engineering.
Colin Mather and Frederick Foy established their company as Reliance Manufacturing Co. in 1908.
The business must have been doing fairly well already with its links to Bellsize Motors, and the company also sold to Rolls Royce. Both Frederick and Colin had moved to substantial properties in Prestwich and Kersal.
By 1881 young Colin had married Louisa S. Crago and they moved into Wrenwood on Hilton Lane in Prestwich, not far from Frederick Foy's house on Bury New Road.
Reliance exhibited at the Olympia Motor Show of 1907:
"Reliance Manufacturing Co. of 19, Milton-street, Lower Broughton, Manchester, is introducing a radiator of light weight and large cooling area, the cooling surface of which is made of corrugated flat tubes. The tubes are made without solder or other filling medium in the vertical joints, and although of thin material, are capable of withstanding comparatively high pressures. The connection of the tubes with the top and bottom plates is also effected in a special manner."
"THE RELIANCE MANUFACTURING Co., 19, Milton Street, Lower Broughton, Manchester (302).—A patent radiator formed of plates which are placed over and corrugated or crimped to leave a very small water passage between. These plates are then set with the corrugated edge towards the direction in which the car is travelling."
Gordon Street Works
The company then benefited from the boom in heavy vehicles during WWI, specialising in radiators for diesel engines business grew even more. , By 1922 Reliance were employing 150 at the Gordon Street works providing the following products:
"Radiators for pleasure, commercial and agricultural vehicles, aero and stationary engines air and gas compressors, also pressed metal work."
Colin's son, Roy Mather went on to be director of Mather & Platt in 1942, and manager-Engineer in chief of the General Machinery Department in 1945, retiring in 1956.
Colin Mather and his wife were both buried within a month of each other in 1933 at St Mary's in Prestwich, close by to his cousin Sir William Mather's imposing family plot. Frederick Foy senior had retired to Cheshire and also died in Spring 1933. His wife Louisa moved back to Prestwich, living with her son Frederick who was a Pharmacist, they lived in a more modest house on the corner of Polefield Rd., but they did still have a house maid in 1939. Louisa Foy died in 1943 aged 69, and was buried in Tabley Hill Cemetery Knutsford with her husband.
Colin's sloping headstone (far left), with a polished granite plaque, is inscribed: In Loving Memory of Colin Mather born 4th Sept. 1853 died 24th March 1933. Also of Louisa Spear, his wife, born 20th June 1854, died 5th April 1933. Also Roy Crago Mather born 16th September 1885 died 20th August 1965 and his wife, Margaret Isabel, died 7th October 1976.
James Shirley (b:1873) who had married Clara Grundy (b:1878) had also joined Reliance in 1918 and he became workshop foreman, he was my 2nd great-uncle (so the computer tells me) but it appears that I have an even closer family member who worked at Reliance....my Great grandad!
Going through my family history bits'n'bobs I've always been intrigued by this photo...
I recognise this as my great grandad, based on other photos I have from when he served in WWI and in his later years.
He was born in 1876 and lived in what was must have ironically been called "Paradise" in Greengate, Salford. He married Eliza Shirley in 1900, a sister of Louisa Foy.
Now that I know the link between my family, the Shirley family and Reliance Manufacturing, it explains why my great Grandad is stood in front of some impressive radiators! In the census of 1911, aged 34, he was listed as a driller at a radiator manufacturer - now I know that workplace was Reliance, and that he had family ties to the boss.
And looking back at the staff photo from 1909 (above), my grandad also makes an appearance, 3rd from the left on the front row, with flowers in his lapel.
I suspect my great grandad also made it on to the charabanc above, 4th in from the left, standing.
My Great grandad had moved out of the crowded housing of Greengate into the terraces of Lower Broughton by 1900 and had a son in 1906, giving him his mother's maiden name of Shirley as his middle name. Then eleven years later, aged 41, he went off to War serving in the Labour Corps from 1917 to 1918. Based around Arras and Ypres, he helped to keep the Army fighting, before performing dock duties at Dunkirk and finally returning home.
About 1938, shortly after my dad had been born, my paternal Great Grandparents and Grandparents both moved into the 1930's semi-detached housing that had sprung up in Prestwich. They lived not far from each other, and not far from where Colin Mather and Frederick Foy had once lived. My Grandad worked at Crossley Motors in Openshaw, and then went on to get a job as a Pattern Maker at Mather & Platt.
My Grandad's occupation was protected during WWII, but I believe he still tried to sign up, but was declined. After getting the first bus from Prestwich to get to Mather & Platt at Newton Heath each day, he would then do a night shift on top of Irwell House, which was then an Isolation Hospital, watching out for incendiary bombs...or anything else they cared to drop.
The German bombers weren't after my Grandad, they were actually after the Factories on the Salford side of the Irwell. The Pilkington's factory I believe may have supplied glass canopies for aircraft and the Magnesium Elektron factory produced metal alloys as well as (ironically) components for incendiary bombs. Even more ironically, it was German know how that came over and actually showed the workforce at MEK Clifton how to make incendiaries, before the German tutors were expelled from the country when war broke out. The fact that the enemy knew of factories lead to the Bolton & Bury canal being drained during WWII to stop German aircraft from navigating the canals to find the factories. The canals never got refilled.
The census of 1921 has not been checked as yet, and by 1934 Lionel & Alice Singleton were listed as living at Whin Knowle on the Electoral Register. By 1939 John Webster, a general Merchant, & his wife Louisa were living in the house.
Although several similar properties have been lost during the last century, Whin Knowle survives with it's main external features intact, though it is now divided into flats and its driveway has been relocated away from the busy Bury New Road Junction.
Just beside where the gateway to Whin Knowle once was sits a rusting metal box forming part of the boundary wall. This unimpressive box, could be an example of what is commonly called a Lucy box, named after Lucy Foundry in Oxford which made them. This box doesn't seem to have that foundry name/emblem on it, it's sadly rusted beyond visibility.
Lucy boxes would usually carry the Manchester or Salford Crests along with the foundry emblem. There is a Lucy box in Castlefield Manchester with a circular emblem on it.
These boxes were originally used in connection with the tram trolley bus network and then used as part of the general electricity supply and telephone network. If it is indeed related to the trams which once ran along Bury New Road, then it dates from around 1901, which was when the trams were extended past the Kersal Toll Bar. The box is wider than usually seen in relation to the tram network though.
On the opposite side of Bury New Road once stood more villas that were home to several Greek Merchant families and one was also home to the son of Abel Heywood, the Prestwich-born, twice Lord Mayor of Manchester...he imaginatively called his son Abel Heywood...but that's another story.
On the opposite side of the road you can also spot some Victorian iron kerbs still remaining. When Bury New Road was turnpiked in 1827 it was given a hard surface to better handle the increase in traffic. The Wagons in turn had iron rims on their wheels to stop wear from the hard surface, and that led to iron kerbs being added to provide protection from the wheels. Several remain in City Centre Manchester, but these are some of the furthest outlying iron kerbs to remain.
Also not far away lies the boundary stone with Prestwich, marking for me, the return to my homeland.
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