I have written before about Joshua Batty, a Salford man who was to become a familiar figure in the Magistrates Courts of Salford and even the Crown Court in Manchester, for his political beliefs and his no nonsense attitude to the authorities.

Prior to this appearance in the Salford City Reporter from February 1908, he was in trouble for slandering Sir Andrew Lees Knowles the owner of several local coal mines and Thomas Greenhalgh who was the President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Mineworkers Federation, it has to be said that Batty had no fear of speaking out, on matters he felt strongly about and in the next few weeks I will tell you the outcome of those court cases.

On the morning of Sunday 27th January 1908, the 11 o' clock mass at Salford Cathedral, Chapel street, was interrupted by shouts of, "Query" and "Hear, Hear" as Father Walsh was preaching  a sermon from the pulpit.

A man then stood up and shouted, "Dearly beloved Brethren, in the name of God..." and proceeded to accuse the priests of the Catholic Church of hypocrisy and demanded to know what they had done for the unemployed people of Salford?.

This turned out to be Joshua Batty, who refused to be quiet when told by members of the congregation and continued saying that he had a right to speak for the unemployed people, he was eventually bundled out of the Cathedral but shouted that they had not seen the last of him.

Half a dozen men took him to the police station with a view to having him prosecuted, the police however, said that they knew Batty and he was searching for notoriety, and he was given a caution, not to approach Salford Cathedral again, then released.

The Salford City Reporter visited Batty at his home in, Arthur Street, Pendleton and he gave them the reason why he had stood up in the Cathedral and spoken out and here are his exact words, strong stuff.

"I am sick of the hypocrisy going in the Church, I was brought up a Catholic and I know all their attitudes on all such questions when it comes to the unemployed, it was my intention to get into the pulpit and say the following before I was dragged out.

"I appeal to the Catholic clergy to give me one instance of what the Roman Church has done to uplift the low wage workers and starving unemployed from their present condition of poverty.

"I appeal to the Pope and his followers to come out of their fools paradises and try to do something for the material benefit of the downtrodden masses of humanity.

"It might be said that they care not for the worldly interests of the body, only for the spiritual needs of the soul, I contend not for the spiritual needs of the soul, but for the material needs of the body, a God on earth and not a phantom in the sky.

"It is a hollow mockery for you to come here and waste your time while there are men and women in Manchester and Salford, starving, homeless and shelterless"

The church was given the chance to reply and the Catholic Times said that they were indignant that an agitator was given the chance to disrupt the Mass and added that they feared that the  "brawler", would not be saved from "the indignant chastisement of an outraged people" if he attempted this again.

A youth by the name of John Bonar Thompson, a friend of Batty's  who was also removed from the Cathedral, told the Salford City Reporter that he was told by those that dragged him out that if he tried it again, the police would not be called, and they would be taken into the backyard of the Cathedral and thrashed into an inch of their lives.

Not sure if this was brave or foolhardy of Joshua Batty to stand up in the Cathedral and let his feeling be known, and strange that the police didn't press charges against him, Batty was certainly well known in Salford as a champion of the unemployed, having been sacked from his job at Pendleton Pit for what he he said was, "asking the right questions to the Management"

Perhaps they thought the publicity may have swelled his popularity with local people?

This certainly didn't deter Batty for within months he would be back in the courts on the more serious charges of inciting people to riot in Manchester at a gathering of unemployed people in Stevenson Square.

I went into the Working Class Museum on the Crescent and was astonished to find that they had never heard of him and had no newspaper reports of his activities.

I firmly believe that Batty was a genuine, believer in standing up for not only his rights but for those of the less fortunate, the homeless, the starving and unemployed of Salford, despite the efforts of the authorities to persecute and hound him, which they did, right up to his death in 1929.

I have mentioned that he is in an unmarked common grave in Weaste cemetery, Salford, my intention is to try and find the exact location and pay a visit to pay my respects to this unsung hero.

More on Joshua Batty and his exploits over the coming weeks.

The Eccles and Patricroft Journal of August 1966 told how Deborah Hayes was playing on the canal bank near Parrin Lane bridge with her five-year-old brother Adrian and another young girl.

Somehow Deborah fell into the water and being so young, her friends had no chance of her pulling out.

Fortunately because of the Bank Holiday a group of men were fishing further along the canal bank.

A view of the Bridgewater Canal at Monton © Salford Local History Library

Fred Wharmby, 27, of Stanley Road in Peel Green was enjoying an afternoon’s fishing with his brother, Gordon, 33, and his father in law, Harry Flack, 54.

They had been on the canal for several hours in an attempt to land the ‘big one’ when they heard the girl’s screams and cries for help.

Fred told the Journal: “I looked into the distance and saw something splashing in the water and at first I thought it was a dog swimming near the side, I decided I’d better make sure and went towards the spot.

“It was then that I could see that it was a little girl.

“I threw off my leather jacket and raced to the scene, she had disappeared beneath the water but her head popped up, so I jumped in and pulled her to the canal bank where my brother Gordon lifted her out of the water.”

Miss Joan Grieves, 37, who lived at Verdun Road, was alerted by the sound of the shouting and rushed to help.

She took the little girl into her house and turned her upside down to empty the water out of her.

There was reportedly a horrible wait.

Luckily, Deborah was responsive and started crying, a sign that she could breathe unaided.

They wrapped her up in a blanket to keep the tot from shivering and phoned for an ambulance.

Meanwhile Deborah’s younger brother Adrian had raced home to tell his mother Marjorie what had happened, she was occupied looking after her two other children, Beverley and Brendan.

Adrian blurted out that Deborah was in the water: the mum’s first thought was that she was in a paddling pool, but when he mentioned boats, she quickly realised the seriousness of the situation and panic-stricken rushed to the canal, fearing the worse.

You can only imagine her relief when she met Joan Grieves who told her that her child was safely wrapped up in her house.

The ambulance arrived and the relieved mother and daughter went to Hope Hospital to check that she was okay.

As for our hero, Fred Wharmby, he had to go to his father in laws house in Anson Street for a much needed bath and change of clothes and the day’s fishing was abandoned.

In May and June 1965 the Salford City Reporter carried a stunning story on how a dog walker saved scores of lives when he averted a potential mega-disaster on the railways.

Local man Leonard Jones was exercising his dog close to the now demolished Weaste rail footbridge when he noticed two youths on the tracks.

To his horror he saw that they had placed five steel plates on the line – each measuring 5 inches by 15 inches and secured in place with a pickaxe handle.

He shouted at them to stop and even managed to get hold of one of them, however they both escaped on bicycles in the direction of Liverpool Street.

Mr Jones quickly dialled 999 and waited for the police to arrive.

Had a steam train gone over the steel plates it would have derailed the carriages, causing certain injury and even death for the 20-30 passengers.

The following evening the two boys, age 12 and 16, were arrested when Mr Jones spotted the pair from a police car trawling the streets.

At first they denied being at the scene the night before, then the younger one said: “Is it about the railway line that you are chasing us?”

He then admitted his guilt and said that the other boy – who it turned out was his brother – was also responsible, adding that their reason for the act was that they wanted to see if the train would derail.

The full extent of the story came out the next day as it was revealed that the train was the 10.20pm boat train from Manchester to Holyhead and would pass through Weaste at 60 miles an hour.

The train was a steam locomotive and compromised six corridor coaches, and two vans.

Investigators told that the heavy metal plates had been stolen from a scrap yard and had been carried a considerable distance to the railway lines.

Mr Theodore Clayton, a railways expert who examined the scene, said that if the train had hit the obstruction it would have been definitely derailed with two probable outcomes.

Firstly either the engine and two or three coaches would have been completely overturned, or if it had managed to remain upright it would have ploughed into the stone buttress of the Weaste footbridge.

The feared magistrate Mr Leslie Walsh remanded the boys in custody for a week whilst further examinations took place.

When they appeared in court the following week they were told that the train derailment bid could carry a life sentence.

Mr Walsh also criticised the boys’ mother for not taking up his advice when he offered legal aid: she claimed she wasn’t in the house when the policeman called.

Two police officers carried one of the steel plates into the court, along with the pickaxe handle to show the court the size and weight of them.

Both boys were sent to the Crown Court in Manchester.

Mr W. H. Jalland, prosecting, told the court that perhaps the nastiest aspect of this incident was that the plates had been secured in place by a pickaxe handle being driven into a railway sleeper.

For the defence Mr Logan Petch said that the accused could never have visualised for one moment the terrible consequences that might have been forthcoming.

Judge Crichton told the boys: “This was a dreadful act, I cannot believe that each of you failed to contemplate that which would have resulted from the derailment of this express train travelling at high speed.

“Many innocent people could have been killed and families made fatherless.”

He sentenced the 16 year old boy to five years detention and the 12 year old boy to three years detention.

Strangely enough, I knew the younger brother, and the evening before I had been playing football in nearby Grey Street when he told me that he had been playing on the railway lines and had put old pennies onto the railway lines to watch them being flattened, which I thought was not only strange but stupidly dangerous.

We have to thank Mr Leonard Jones who managed to avert this possible tragedy by being in the right place at the right time.

Lancashire has had some grand traditions which have sadly died off, coal mining, child chimney sweeps, rickets, bare knuckle fighting, dog fight, bear baiting and that old favourite, "purring" better known as clog fighting.

The rules like the combatants were simple, two people which often included women as often as men, would grasp each other by the shoulders and start kicking the living daylights out of each other with steel tipped, heavy wooden clogs, until one of the combatants either collapsed in agony or worst....

The following story from the pages of the Eccles Journal, December 1921 tells how clogs were used to good effect, in a neighbourly dispute.

Mrs Emily Shimmonds and her husband, Frank who resided at Strand Street, appeared at Eccles Magistrates Court charged with assaulting, Ethel Whiting.

The Court heard that Ethel Whiting was seen by neighbours having an argument with Mrs Shimmonds on her doorstep which quickly escalated into a full blown brawl. Mrs Shimmonds took off one her clogs and used it as a weapon to batter Mrs Whiting around the head with it.

A neighbour, Gertrude Bent told the court she had gone to bring her milk in and saw the women fighting, she bravely separated them, only for Frank Shimmonds to come out of his house and he joined in hitting Ethel about the head and body, and urged his wife to carry on with the assault.

Emily Shimmonds admitted to the Clerk of the Court that she had given Ethel Whiting, two black eyes by striking her with her clog, but only because she had bit her husband, Frank on the arm.

Frank Shimmonds took the stand and told the Court that Ethel Whiting was always interfering and was a busybody, who had scratched and bit him when he tried to calm her down, and that there had been bad blood between the two women for the past five years.

The unnamed Clerk of the Court, said that he hoped that there would be no return to clog fighting on the streets of Eccles.

He fined Emily and Frank Shimmonds, ten shillings and sixpence each, Ethel Whiting was cautioned to her further behaviour and the neighbours left the Court no doubt to lead a quiet and peaceful life.

Over 100 years ago the 400 hostelries in Salford were doing a roaring trade – but as this June 1915 court case shows, some had better clients than others.

The Nags Head beerhouse on Regent Road was a boozer that seemed to attract the more ‘rough and ready’ customers, shall we say.

The licencee was Emmanuel Bradshaw who hailed from Rochdale and his previous occupation was that of a calico printer.

This was his very first venture having saved the £140 to purchase the licence. Sadly it would be something he would come to regret, not having done his homework on the pub and its regulars.

It came out in court that the pub depended chiefly on sailors and dock workers, and such was its notorious reputation that Salford police were called to step in at least once a day.

Mr Bradshaw was summoned to appear at Salford Magistrates Court on the charge of ‘permitting the house to be the habitual resort of disorderly women’.

The court was told that the pub had been under police observation from 16-23 April and it was noted ‘that women of ill fame’ had been seen to enter the pub and leave with foriegn sailors and other men.

Police Constable McNee told the court that he visited the pub on 16 April and saw in the parlour “two women of ill repute, eight other women, and fourteen sailors, mainly foreigners”.

One of the women was sitting between two sailors and was smoking a cigarette, whilst another was sitting on the knee of a sailor and seemed to be indulging in improper conduct.

PC McNee brought this to the attention of the landlord who replied: “I think you people are messing me about, I was wrongly fined last time, and I am doing the best that I can”.

Police Constables Lamb, Neary and McDonald all gave evidence against the landlord stating that the pub was a well known haunt of women of ‘ill fame’.

However, in his defence, Mr Bradshaw said that he had only received one warning from the police and in his opinion the women were entitled to a drink or reasonable refreshment and that he intended to serve them.

Mr Brocklehurst, defending, told the court that the pub was situated close to Salford Docks and was undoubtedly a difficult one to manage. He added that his client had come to Salford with his wife as a perfect stranger to the district and would not willingly allow disorderly women into the public house.

Sergeant Ronan, the Licencing Officer for Salford, said that he had warned Mr Bradshaw about the class of women who visited the pub and had told him to be very careful.

The Stipendary Mr Carnt weighed up all the evidence and and imposed a fine of £5 on him and warned him about his conduct and the class of customers that his pub was attracting.

Looking through the Salford City Reporter court cases from that period it would appear that the pubs of Regent Road/Trafford Road area particularly the Fox, Trafford, Ship and The Clowes were all well known haunts of these ladies, a tradition I believe that carried on until the late 1960’s.

Photo: Greater Manchester Police Museum

April 1965 saw the Salford City Reporter proudly boast in an article that the “Ellor Street dream begins to come true” complete with interviews with residents of the newly constructed Walter Greenwood, Eddie Colman and John Lester Courts all which towered some 120 feet above the Hanky Park skyline.

These particular blocks of flats were of special significance because their completion was the end of the first stage of the Ellor Street redevelopment scheme which was to provide 3,000 new homes, the £10 million pound Salford Shopping Precinct and a new civic centre – which never got built – making this “A Salford of the Space Age”.

In what is the perhaps the most optimistic assessment of the former ‘slum clearance’ area, the Reporter article states it will have tree-lined open spaces, a community centre and a health centre all segregated from traffic – which sounds really pleasant but hardly the truth as time would tell.

“Small wonder that many Ellor Street folk have fought shy of moving to overspill areas or other parts of the City, and have waited eagerly for the chance of being rehoused here – if they leave their present homes,” the reporter writes.

I grew up in Hanky Park and I can guarantee that my parents were in no rush to leave their terraced house in Bell Street and move into these concrete monstrosities, which could only boast of having two bedroooms, not very useful if you came from a large family as did many people in the area.

The 14-storey towerblocks were built at a cost of £1 million each and could boast of having such luxuries as built-in cupboards, underfloor electric heating, drying cabinets, gas or electric cookers, bathrooms, and a balcony from which you could view the site of your old house in the middle of a slum clearance area.

Several of the residents of these flats were interviewed and its interesting to read of their hopes and fears for the future in their new high rise flats.

Annie Joynson, 52, formerly of Florin Street but now in Eddie Colman Court told the paper:

“We really wanted a house but these new flats are so nice and well designed that I would not change for a house.

“I like the underfloor heating, the nice living rooom, and bright bedroooms, we used to pay 16 shillings a week rent and now it is 44 shillings and 10 pence and well worth it”

Dorothy Huckle, 26, moved into Walter Greenwood Court from Church Street with her husband and baby daughter Jaqueline.

She said:

“We would have preferred a house but now we find that we really like living in these flats, I think that they are lovely and the rent is fair.

“We have no coal to buy and mess about with and we only occasionally use the electric fire.

“My only criticism is that the hall is a bit big and the kitchen a bit small.”

It would appear that almost everybody interviewed much preferred their new homes in the sky.

Let’s face it, in those days having an inside toilet, a bathroom and central heating was the height of luxury for most people in the Ellor Street area.

One dissenting voice came from 71-year-old widow Mrs M Rathbone ,who had previously lived on Bury Street. She complained about the lack of clothes-washing facilities – she had to take her washing to a launderette which was a 10-minute walk away – also that some of the windows on her flat were not reversible as they were on most other flats and she couldn’t clean them.

I can recall how houseproud the women were in that area: clean windows and curtains were the order of the day and door steps were “donkey stoned” in brown or cream sandstone.

Walter Greenwood Court was demolished in 2000/2001 whilst Eddie Colman and John Lester Court are now student accommodation for the nearby Salford University.

The city planners have since demolished some of the other tower blocks that were thrown up in that period, whilst others have been sold to private developers.

In April 1965 the Eccles Journal reported how a local company Bridge TV had an innovative idea to turn a a former Sunday school into a television and radio workshop.

Bridge was incorporated in 1934 and continued to trade until 1997.

It saw The Ebenezeer Chapel on Liverpool Road, Patricroft, was prime for conversion.

But council planners refused permission and an almighty row broke out between Councillors Cooper, Bradley and Woodrow as to the merits of using church ground for such a purpose.

Councillor Cooper stated that not so long ago the building had been used by the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance as a group office, adding:

“I would have thought that the church authorities must have been in agreement with the premises being used for these purposes.

“It does not detract from the church grounds and the sacredness of the church, I would have thought that the church would be glad of the income to be derived by letting off the building and if the council wants to help the church then let them rent off the rooms.

“I would further presume that this workshop would be inoffensive and not in operation day and night”.

Councillor Woodrow said that it would appear that the church authorities were going to move across the road and merge with the Trinity Methodist Church but if that were so the building would become empty and become a target for vandals who would smash windows and steal lead off the roof.

However Councillor Bradley spoke up:

“We must realise that television and radio service is a seven day week service and I think it would be wrong to mix this workshop with the Church.

“It is wrong for Councillor Cooper to refer this matter back for this is drafted on the Town Map as being for religious purpose only.”

The application was turned down by the Planning Committee and Bridge TV had to take their holy plan elsewhere.

However further research led me to discover that the owner of Bridge Television Mr Naylor was the father of Doug Naylor who went onto fame as the co author the cult TV series Red Dwarf, how many people know that?

The Ebenezeer Chapel was finally demolished in 1972 and a became a Mormon Church, was built on the site, which in turn was demolished and the site is now the Springfield Medical Centre.

Finally the merger between The Ebenezeer Chapel and the Trinity Methodist Church did take place, but that building is now the Theatre Organ Heritage Museum in Peel Green and a new Methodist Church on Liverpool Road was built and opened in the 1990s.

Whilst *working at SalfordOnline Tony Flynn came across this rather interesting mystery from the pages of the long-defunct Eccles and Patricroft Journal from April 1966; a body found in the laboratories at Lankro Chemicals in Eccles.

Lankro is a long-established chemicals and manufacturing company just outside Eccles town centre.

It is now named Akcros Chemicals Ltd and will be familiar to the older generation, as it employed thousands of local families in the post-war period.

Lankro Chemicals – The Darapon Plant, 1966 © Peter Kilvert

Lab worker Mary Hartley, who lived at Charlton Avenue, Eccles came in one morning in April and was shocked to find the unresponsive body of a fully-clothed man lying on the floor.

His right leg was trapped underneath a mixing machine, but there were no obvious signs of trauma.

He was not a worker at Lankro’s. In fact, he had no relations working there, had no connection with the company and no reason to be in the building.

Mary quickly summoned help and police were soon on the scene.

Lankro Chemicals – Filling tanks, 1966 © Peter Kilvert

The body was later identified as 33-year-old Edward Nelson Hegan, who had been lodging in a house in Nutter Street, Salford, the previous week.

DC Edward Hughes was the first policeman on scene, at 9.15am on Thursday 7 April 1966.

He noticed on the floor of the laboratory several scrape marks about 12 inches in length, which ended underneath the machine.

The floor was described as being “slippery but not wet”.

Near the body was a small, overturned cardboard container, which was large enough to have been used as a stool.

Hegan’s body was taken to Eccles mortuary for examination.

No marks of violence were found on the body, however there were traces of blood around the man’s nostrils.

Police discovered that when Mr Hegan left his last address in Salford he was carrying a suitcase containing all his clothing and two paintings.

It was thought that he may have been sleeping rough in the Salford and Eccles area.

Lankro Chemicals – The Stripper Plant, 1966 © Peter Kilvert

The Coroner, Mr J Rothwell, adjourned the inquest until 4 May 1966.

Derek Neild, a technical services manager at Lankros, told the inquest that on the evening of Tuesday 5 April 1966 at 5.55pm he was driving away from the works when he noticed a shabbily-dressed man staggering across some wasteland close to the factory and making his way to the company gates.

He thought that the man was drunk because of the way he was lurching about and the fact that his eyes looked glazed.

A ladyfriend of Mr Hegan’s gave evidence in which she said that he was a heavy drinker and had recently come out of prison.

While in prison he had often complained of headaches to the medical authorities but they wouldn’t attend to him.

He had also been in quite a few fights recently and she said that he had one or two ‘good hidings’.

Lankro Chemicals – View towards the Oxide Plant, 1966 © Peter Kilvert

In the mortuary Mr Hegan’s body was scoured for possible long-standing injuries.

A bruise to the back of his skull was discovered – which doctors assumed was caused by him falling backwards and striking his head.

Dr Charles Hill told the inquest that he believed the cause of death was a recurrent blood haemorrhage in the brain due to an old head injury.

This would have been caused by “a severe blow could have happened several weeks ago”.

Reading between the lines it seems the poor Mr Hegan had broken into the Lankro laboratory with a view to either sleeping there or possibly stealing something of value.

Taking into account Mr Neild’s evidence that the deceased “looked drunk”, the man could have easily slipped on the wet floor and banged his head which caused his untimely death.

Summing up, the Coroner told the inquest that he could not link any injuries inflicted upon Mr Hegan to any one person at any given time.

He added that the case “absolutely bristled with doubt” and it would be impossible for a jury to convict anyone for being responsible for Mr Hegan’s death.

He returned a verdict of death by natural causes.

*Shirking

Tensions at Strangeways prison boiled over and exploded into the longest prison riot in British penal history.

The images and scenes from this anarchic violence were broadcast around the world.

Incensed by their sqaulid living conditions, packed three men to a cell, the prisoners complained of frequent prison officer brutality, but it would soon turn from talking to violence.

It set in motion a chain of events which would culminate in 25 days of inmate protest – with prisoners taking hold of the prison and sitting out on the roof for television cameras and photographers to see.

On 1 April 1990 inmates took control of the prison chapel and the riot quickly spread.

The newspapers of the time were soon full of lurid stories stating that inmates had murdered convicted sex offenders and prison officers in an orgy of revenge.

I can recall that the Manchester Evening News front page read, “20 Dead” which must have been harrowing for people who had family members in there.

On 3 April the front page of the Daily Mirror read “Prison Mob Hang Cop”, and claimed a former policeman imprisoned at Strangeways for rape had been killed by prisoners. The newspaper was forced to publish a retraction admitting that “reliable police sources” had been mistaken, when it transpired that the man was actually alive and imprisoned in HMP Leeds.

We now look back at how the Strangeways riot was reported in the Salford Advertiser at the time.

A headline reading “Violence Backlash” was the first news published on April 5 1990 in which it stated that vandals had gone on the rampage smashing windows at Canon Hussey and Arthur Millward Court, also electricity cables were cut at Windsor house leaving the residents without power for several hours on Monday 2 April.

Tellingly enough, there were also anti Poll Tax slogans daubed on the walls of the flats which suggested the two may have be linked.

Councillor Joe Murphy said:

“This is the work of outsiders, they have come in and terrorised the good people living here.”

He added that rumours that the vandals responsible could have marched up to Islington straight after the Strangeways riot could not be discounted.

One week later the Salford Advertiser led with a story that read “We saw them Murdered”.

This story was the account of Salford solicitor Mary Monson who said that two of her 18-year-old clients, who were remand prisoners, had to literally fight their way out of the prison and were now “shell-shocked” by what they saw in there.

“One told of a man who was thrown over a landing and fell five storeys." said, Miss Morson.

“He hit each one on the way down before being set upon as he lay on the ground.

“The other claimed to me that he had seen six bodies which he presumed were dead.”

The following week we were told the story of an 18-year-old Salford man who had written a four page letter to his mother describing what he had allegedly seen.

“It was like walking through hell in there that day.

“It was worse than any film that I had seen, every time that I close my eyes I can see the bodies”

He then went on to say that he had seen “beasts” – a name for sex offenders – beaten to death with hammers then hung off the landings. He claimed another prisoner had chosen to hang himself rather than face the avenging mob.

He continued to tell of the agony of inmates who had overdosed from drugs stolen from the prison pharmacy that were dying on the floor and nobody could help them.

The siege went on until April 25 and actually became a bizarre tourist attraction with entreprenuers selling Strangeways Riots t-shirts to the crowd outside.

To many people watching it seemed detached from reality, the inmates had rigged up a sound system and were dancing on the roofs in what seemed like a grotesque rave, others flew banners protesting their innocence whilst others seemed intent upon doing as much damage to the prison as they possibly could.

In my opinion I think that many of the younger more impressionable prisoners got carried away with the excitement of the riot, joining in to throwing roof slates at the police and fire service on scene.

After a few days the novelty wore off and they were glad to come down, while a hardcore bunch of prisoners including Paul Taylor would stick it out until the bitter end.

Eventually the prisoners did come down from the roof but they had managed to get their point across to the media that they were being treated like animals and also hung out banners saying, “None Dead” to contradict the newspaper reports of mass murders in the prison.

The truth slowly did filter out about the so-called mass murders of sex offenders: just one prisoner died from his injuries in hospital and one prison officer would die from a heart attack.

In total 147 prison officers and 47 prisoners were injured, much of the prison was damaged or destroyed with the cost of repairs coming to £90 million.

The only positve outcome of the riot was the Lord Woolf Report in which he concluded that conditions in the prison had been intolerable, and recommended major reform of the prison system.

Image: Scan from Strangeways 1990: A serious disturbance, original photo by Ged Murray

While the Great War raged on in Europe troops were looking forward to an end to the fighting and a return to their homes in Blighty.

However judging from a newspaper article from the Eccles and Patricroft Journal from April 1916, the prospect of a cosy home life was far from reality.

Sergeant Downs, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corp, lived at Worsley Buildings in Pendlebury with his wife Sarah Ann and their four children aged, 5, 8, 10 and 12.

The paper reported how on a visit home from the battle lines he was shocked at what he found.

His wife was a habitual drunkard, his children were under-nourished and the house was in a filthy and squalid condition.

It emerged that a young girl aged 14 was staying at the house and was giving Sarah Ann nine shillings a week from her wages earned at a local mill.

On top of this Sarah Ann was receiving her husband’s army pay of 27 shillings a week. She was also asking her 12-year-old daughter for three shillings a week rent.

Sergeant Downs was so shocked by this state of affairs he took the 14-year-old girl to live with her aunt and reported his wife to the local authorities.

Detective Constable Falder and Inspector Rivers from the NSPCC paid the house a visit on a Monday evening after concern for the children grew.

When they called the children’s mother was out and the eldest was sent to fetch her from a nearby beerhouse.

An examination of the rooms that they lived in showed that they had only one chair in the house and that the only bed was filthy and verminous.

The children were found to be filthy, ragged and crawling with lice.

When Mrs Downs returned to the house she denied that she had been drinking in the beerhouse but had been ‘cleaning’ there.

Mrs Downs and the children were taken to a nearby police station for further examination by Inspector Munroe.

He found that the children were poorly nourished, their clothes were filthy and that they were all verminous about the head and body.

Mrs Downs smelled of alcohol but wasn’t deemed to be drunk, her clothing was said to be dirty and she was unwashed.

Further investigations revealed that she had been visited on at least three occasions by the NSPCC who have grave concerns for the children’s welfare and so she was committed to the Manchester Police Courts to face charges of child neglect.

The court heard further damning evidence against her including the fact that she had sold most of the furniture to buy alcohol and that the children were often fed by sympathetic neighbours.

The Chairman of the Court told Mrs Downs that this was about as bad a case as he had heard in his court and that he was going to make an example of her: chilling words indeed.

She was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour whilst the poor children were taken to the workhouse.

In this sad tale the main losers are the poor children; at least they would be fed and clothed but the workhouse regime was known to be ferociously harsh and they would have to stay there until they were of an age where they could find full-time employment.

A visit to the cinema today is plush experience with state of the art of equipment including luxury seats, wide screens and surround sound.

Over 100 years ago it was completely different story with small cinemas sprouting up across the country.

These early cinemas were often a meeting hall or dance hall which had been converted into a makeshift cinema, with long benches to sit upon and very little attention paid to hygiene or personal safety.

At its height Salford could boast of having a staggering 22 cinemas: Irlam, still a small town at the time, had two, Eccles had 12 and Swinton had at least three.

At the time, film stocks were made on a nitrate. This was cheap and easy to produce but had the drawback of being highly flammable.

It was sensitive to changes in moisture, static electricity, friction, light and heat, making the projectionist extremely vulnerable to the hot lamp of a film projector in a small, cramped room.

And the projectionist would be much busier swapping over rolls of film in that era, as each would contain no more than around 20 minutes of video.

The worst tragedy on record in a cinema was the Glen Cinema disaster which was caused by a fire sparked by a smoking film canister in Paisley, Scotland on 31 December 1929.

The resulting panic and crush killed 69 children and injured 40; the final death toll was 71.

It wouldn’t be until 1948 that Eastman Kodak brought to the market a much safer version of the technology with cellulose acetate film.

This story from the pages of the Eccles and Patricroft Journal, September, 1916 predates the Glen Cinema disaster but was to serve as a warning of the dangers of not being prepared for an emergency.

George Fredrick Wilson, proprietor of the 150-seater Royal Picture Palace on Manchester Road, Swinton was summoned to appear at the Manchester County Court charged with offences under the Cinematograph Act.

Inspector Munroe told the court that he visited the cinema at 8pm on Friday 15 August 1916.

Along with his collegague Detective Constable Falder, he saw Mr Wilson in the auditorium and told him that he wanted to inspect the fire appliances in the operating room and the auditorium.

In the operating room, from where films were projected, they found a young boy named only as Cheadle.

He, rather suspiciously, gave his age as being “over 14”.

Subsequent questioning revealed that he was in fact only 13 years of age – it meant he was working illegally as the school leaving age, and first possible employment age then was 14.

‘Cheadle’ told the police that he was paid four shillings a week to operate the projector whenever Mr Wilson was downstairs.

An inspection of the projection room found no firefighting appliances at all.

Portable fire extinguishers were available in 1916 – usually heavy brass and copper tools – but were a far cry from today’s modern equipment.

More damningly police discovered a a rickety wooden stool that children would use to operate the heavy projecter and a “considerable number of highly flammable film-ends were lying about the floor”.

They asked Mr Wilson what he would do in the event of a fire.

He rather flippantly replied, “I would blow it out.”

This was not what the concerned officers were looking to hear.

The police then discovered another boy in one of the ante-rooms, Simon Atkinson, who was busy winding films onto a spool which were driven by electricity, which could run at up to 1,000 revolutions per minute.

The edges were sharp and there was nothing to protect the boy’s hands from from being cut by the fast-moving mechanism.

Simon was asked if he worked there regularly; he told the officers that he “only did it now and again,” but didn’t get paid, but was allowed to watch the films for free.

The police inspected the auditorium and again found no firefighting appliances, Mr wilson pointed out that it was like this when he took over in May.

Mr Wilson was issued with a warning to stop employing underage boys and to acquire adequate firefighting appliances before they returned a week later.

When the date rolled round for the officers’ second visit, they arrived on Manchester Road to find no safety equipment in the auditorium and in the projection room just a simple bucket of water and some loose sand to shovel onto a fire: hardly what was required if a blaze broke out.

Mr Wilson got his court-orders there and then: he was charged with three offences, one for not having adequate fire fighting appliances and two charges of employing underage boys in dangerous occupations.

The Magistrate fined him £5 for the first offence, whilst the other two summonses were withdrawn.

On a curious note the father of the Cheadle boy, Thomas Cheadle of Lansdale Street, Swinton was fined 5 shillings and 6 pence for allowing his son to be employed there!

I believe the cinema changed its mame to The Adelphi shortly after the First World War as this information suggests and was possibly demolished to make way for the New Adelphi Cinema.

The New Adelphi Picture House was opened on 15th December 1923 with a (then) state of the art 28ft wide proscenium.

Operated by Swinton Entertainments it was re-named Adelphi Cinema in 1929 and came equipped with a Western Electric sound system.

It was taken over by the Newcastle-based Essoldo chain in March 1947 and was re-named Essoldo in 1949.

The cinema finally closed its doors for good on 3 October 1970.

Pendleton Pit or Pendleton Colliery to give it's real name was situated in the Whit Lane area of Salford, and was owned by Andrew Knowles and Son, and opened in the 1830s  

Pendleton became the deepest coal mine in the country when the workings reached 3,600 feet where the temperature at the coal face reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The pit was no stranger to human tragedies, in February 1870 an explosion took place in the Albert mine causing the deaths of nine men and boys, two of the boys being 14 years of age, the following story is about the events on the morning of September 25th,  1923 when a further four men would be killed in the mine.

An inquest was opened and adjourned at Pendleton Town Hall and the deceased men were named as, Thomas Fury aged 24 of Picton Street, Amos Williams aged 32 of Railway Street, Richard Collier aged 46 of Higson Street and Joseph Gallagher aged 47 of Bolton Road.

The relatives of the dead men told the Coroner that they had identified the bodies at the Police Street Mortuary and gave harrowing testimonies of the last time they saw them alive before the accident.

The inquest into their deaths reopened in October before a jury at Pendleton Town Hall, the proceedings lasted two and a half hours.

Thomas Constantine a coal getter at the pit told the inquest that he went to work at 6 am and proceeded to the 14 West Level and about 12pm there was an explosion which blew his lamp out and threw him to the floor, he mentioned that the roof was well timbered.

Thomas Bold a fireman said he heard a loud retort or "crump" and found Gallagher in a sitting position surrounded by roof and rails, he said he had worked there for 12 years and had never seen a crump lift the floor as this one did.

Henry Halliwell also a fireman told the inquest that he was working in 15 East District and was told that something had wrong, he found Fury dead with a tally in his hand as is if he was putting it into a tub, and Amos Gallagher dead between two coal tubs he then went to release Gallagher who was dead and helped bring the bodies to the surface.

After all the evidence was heard the jury retired and gave a verdict of Accidental Death on all four men.

I spoke to Paul Kelly an ex miner and historian who told me that a crump was the noise caused by sudden movement of the earth suddenly shifting, or a floor heave,  just another hazard for the poor coal miner.

Sadly there was another crump at Pendleton Colliery in November 1925 which saw the deaths of a further six men.

Pendleton Colliery closed in April 1939 with the exhaustion of available reserves in the Rams Mine. 

At Salford Media we are strong on our local history with our Salford History Group which has over 15K members who regularly contribute both photos and memories from the surrounding areas.

Last week we showed you some colour photographs from the early 1960s taken by our Eccles photographer, the wonderful George Shepherd, who collection of photos were saved for the nation by his daughter Angie who had the foresight to see the importance in them.

Once again Angie contacted me with several more colour photographs that George had taken in the early 1990s around Eccles whilst on his travels, to me the early 1990s doesn't seem that long ago but it is 30 years ago and some of our readers were not born then or still young children!

The Flour Mill Construction

The construction site photographs are from 1993 and show the construction of Centenary Way and the Allied Mills buildings and others nearby.

Winton Senior School

The school photos are off Winton Senior School from 1992. memories of your time there?

Curtess Shoes Shop Fire

The photos taken mainly in 1992 show the aftermath of a fire in the Curtess Shoe Shop, in Eccles Precinct in August that year, now the Skill Exchange Centre.

The Regency Off Licence on Regent Street interesting to see that it was also a Video rental shop, I can remember when it was a small off licence that sold sherry from a barrel on the counter in the mid 1970s, it has been completely rebuilt and is now called Vintage which sells clothes etc.

Monks Hall is shown in all it's glory and a a painful reminder of what a beautiful building we once had in Eccles... don't get me started on this subject... just enjoy the photos!

Once again a huge thanks to Angie and George Shepherd for all your great work.

Trafford Road, was one of the main thoroughfares in Salford running from Cross Lane towards Trafford Swing bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal and more importantly it passed Salford Docks (I refuse to call it Manchester Docks) which saw ships from all over the world discharge and load cargoes and with it seaman eager to spend their money in local pubs,

There were three pubs, on Trafford Road, The Salisbury, The Trafford and The Clowes all of them very busy and popular pubs, I would suggest that The Clowes was the most, "lively and vibrant" shall we say, and saw it's share of incidents over the years.

The following story from October 1923 tells the story of William Anthony O'Keefe an assistant engineer on an American boat berthed in the docks, who appeared at Salford magistrates Court  charged with being drunk and disorderly and having a revolver pistol without a licence.

Detective Inspector Smith told the Court that the accused had been drinking in The Clowes with friends from his ship, the landlord William Farrell was told by one of the pubs waiters that he had seen O'Keefe with a revolver in the waistband of his trousers and was shouting loudly very calmly asked him to remain in the pub after it had closed as he wanted a private conversation with him.

They both went upstairs and Farrell accused him of having a revolver in his pub, a scuffle ensued and the Chief Officer of the ship who had been waiting downstairs, ran upstairs and  saw O'Keefe waving the revolver around, he was dragged out of the pub and put onto Trafford Road where he was hurried away by his friends.

The police were called and Constable Brown found two live bullets on the floor of the pub, he then went and arrested O'Keefe where a search of his jacket found another live round of ammunition, when charged he denied having the revolver in his possession but pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly.

Mr Desquenes who was defending O'Keefe told the Court that his client had pleaded guilty at the first chance to being drunk and disorderly but had forgotten that he had taken the revolver out with him that evening and he much regretted his behaviour and asked that a fine be imposed so that his client could rejoin his ship.

The Magistrate fined him 40 shillings for being drunk and disorderly or 21 days in prison.

As for possession of the revolver?

The Magistrate told him..."As for this other offence, you are a bounder and that is putting it, mildly, for having the revolver without a licence you will be fined £10 and £1 witness fees, failure to pay will result in 51 days in prison"

That was a whopping fine and £10 then is now equal to £7,500, no mention if the gun was confiscated perhaps because O'Keefe was American?

Sadly the three named pubs have been demolished but will remain in many peoples memories, along with Salford Docks, another part of old Salford gone.

Photo: The Clowes in 1923.

If you are claustrophobic or of a nervous disposition, possibly best that you not read the following article from the Salford City Reporter, September 1923 which tells of the harrowing ordeal of Mr George Brown.

George who lived in Kirkham Street, Weaste, Salford was employed by the Manchester Ship Canal Company as a diver and  his work entailed underwater maintenance on the locks of the canal.

He was inspecting an engine chamber below the level of Barton Lock, he had been lowered from a boat in the lock and groped his way through an underwater doorway 30 feet below the surface into the inky blackness of the chamber, he felt his way along one wall and had almost finished his inspection when a sudden rush of water through the doorway, lifted him off his feet.

The force of the water left him hanging from the ceiling of the chamber with the water swirling about him, despite his efforts he could not grasp anything to hold onto and straighten himself upright, he managed to tug on his safety rope and gave the alarm signal to the men above waiting in their boat,

And this is when things start to go wrong, there was no spare diver with them to go and rescue George and they couldn't drag him out off the chamber far too dangerous, so they pumped air to him and and gave the alarm along the Manchester Ship Canal.

Another diver working at Latchford Locks heard the alarm and jumped into a boat and made his way to the stricken diver, it took an agonising three hours for him to reach Barton Locks, and remember poor George was still suspended upside down in a water filled chamber not knowing what his fate would be.

He hastily donned his diving suit and went into the chamber where he found the suspended figure of George, he wrapped a rope around him and dragged him to his feet, the two men were then hauled to the surface.

George was taken to hospital and was found to have no permanent injuries and was advised too.....take a week off work to recover!  a week? I would want at least a year in fact I would never go back.

He told the Salford City Reporter that..

"Nobody can imagine what I went through, it was terrible torture, I don't know how I managed to survive. I thought this was my last hour and this chamber was my coffin"

Mrs Brown said she would never forget the look on her husband's face when he returned home and she was always fearful of something happening to him.

I leave the last word to the reporter from the Salford City Reporter who appears to have been a master of the understatement said.

"Mr Brown a grey haired man, now appears to be little worse for his adventure"   

I came across this rather sad, story in the pages of the Salford City Reporter from September 1923 and two things surprised me, the quickness of the arrest and the unbelievable harshness of the sentence considering the circumstances.

William Pender aged 22 who resided in Asaph Street, Salford appeared at Salford Magistrates Court charged with stealing a bicycle worth £3 and 10 shillings belonging to Alfred Horrocks who resided at Jubilee Street, Pendleton.

Detective Inspector Jowett told the Court that Mr Horrocks had attended the Labour Exchange on Guy Fawkes Street, when he came out a few minutes later he found that his bicycle had been stolen.

That evening Pender sold the bicycle to a licenced broker in Manchester, he was given some money on account and told to call back the next day for the balance, when he did he was arrested by Manchester police and charged with the offence to which he replied. "that is correct"

In the dock, Pender said that he stole the bicycle to obtain food for his family, saying that in the six weeks he had been unemployed he had received neither dole or relief money, he had a wife and a young child and the workhouse was staring him in the face and apologised for his actions.

Detective Inspector Jowett said that Pender was birched in 1915 for stealing two boxes of sweets and that he was dismissed from his last place of employment for doing private work in his employers time.

The Magistrate then sentenced him to 14 days hard labour in Strangeways Gaol.

Firstly not certain how the the police in those days could be so efficient in apprehending a criminal without the aid of modern day technology but somehow they did.

Secondly the sentence of 14 days hard labour seems very harsh, hard labour in those days meant you were not allowed to talk to other prisoners, given tedious manual labour jobs and fed the basics, soup, bread and water,

Surely this sentence would impact on Penders young wife and child would they have, had to go into the workhouse? Pender seems a petty criminal and receiving the birch when he was 14 years of age for the theft of sweets,hasn't acted as a deterrent to stop him committing further petty crimes.

All in all a sad tale and lets hope Pender and his wife and child were reunited and led a happier life.

Photo ©: Salford Labour Exchange

Many years ago at a book fair I spotted a menu signed by all the players of Manchester United F.A. Cup winning team of 1948 who had attended a banquet in their honour held at Eccles Town Hall in August that year.

Last week I did a bit of further research and found the full story in the now defunct, Eccles and Patricroft Journal, which included a photograph of the team sat at a table in Eccles Town Hall with civic dignitaries sadly the article was on microfilm and the photo was basically a series of dots... however, I copied the article and this is very much it..

Manchester United played Blackpool in the final of the F.A. Cup at Wembley in April 1948 and won the game, 4 - 2, prior to the game, Eccles Council had sent the Manchester United team a message of support and an invitation to bring the trophy back to Eccles.

Surprisingly, Johnny Carey the team captain messaged Eccles Council and said the team and the F.A. Cup would be brought to Eccles before the new 1948/49 season began, and true to his word he did.

In the first week of August the Eccles and Patricroft Journal reported that a "gaily decorated coach" appeared on Regent Street, Eccles and the top was removed, Johnny Carey and the other players waved to the crowds lining the streets and showed off the F.A.Cup, as the coach drove through. Patricroft, Peel Green, Winton, Monton and finishing at Eccles Town Hall where the players and their wives were met by the Lord Mayor and Mayoress,.(Alderman Mrs N. Hayes and Mrs S. Watson J.P).

The  Eccles Journal reported that. 

"Hundreds of children cheered themselves hoarse, parents applauded with little less dignity, and there was more general excitement and more smiling faces since the V.E. and V.J. Day celebrations and the players were delighted with their reception"

Inside the Town Hall the Mayor said she was happy to be the first Mayor of Eccles to welcome a team which had won the F.A. Cup, and the fact that it was Manchester United was all the more pleasing because they felt that United belonged to Eccles, just as much as neighbouring towns.

moreover United had a root in Eccles, in that  their Colts were strong members of the Eccles and District League from which many young players had graduated to first class football. and added that she hoped the reception they had received today would spur them onto win the F.A. Cup next season!

Mr G. E. Whittaker a Director of the club said that he had been a follower of the club for over 50 years and these players and staff were the best he had seen, they always played good football and high hopes for next season.

Finally the team Captain, Johnny Carey stood up and said that the reception they had received in Eccles had been a "grand get together" and the players were the finest set of fellows he had ever met and hoped they would repeat their cup win and return to Eccles.

I thought it was a nice little story from an age less tainted with money and egos, as a Manchester United fan, I couldn't see the team visiting Eccles even if they won the F.A. Cup!

Has anybody got that signed menu or a photograph of that day in August 1948 I would love to see them,

I love trawling through the pages of the now defunct, Salford City Reporter both historical and quirky stories, and have uncovered some corkers over the years and this story made me laugh.

Salford in it's heyday could boast of having several breweries including, Walker and Homfrays, Groves and Whitnall and Chester's Ales no to mention some 400 pubs before World War Two and countless off-licences, clubs, theatres etc were you could buy beer.

This story from September 1923 tells the plight of Richard Gould aged 36 of no fixed abode, who appeared at Salford Magistrates Court, charged with being drunk and disorderly on Broad Street, Pendleton.

The Clerk of the Court asked him if he pleaded guilty to which he promptly replied, "Correct, Sir"

A police constable told the court that Mr Gould was seen annoying pedestrians on Broad Street, and staggering along the road, shouting and swearing.

Mr Gould took the witness stand and offered a curious explanation for his behaviour to the Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr P.W. Atkin.

Quote

"I had a drop of beer again last night, as usual, I have been out of the area for two months looking for work, I have rambled through four counties, and it seems strange to me that when I return to Salford, I always seem to fall into trouble. I don't know if the beer here is stronger than elsewhere. anyway when I am in Salford I have the misfortune to get into trouble"

The Stipendiary Magistrate showing he had a sense of humour replied.

Quote

 

"The worst of it is, that you pay such high testimony to the strength of the beer in Salford that I fear that unless the newspapers are reticent about what you say that the Borough will receive such fame that I shall be having more work than I care about"

"He then added that he recognised Gould's voice and complimented him on it, Gould told him that he had been a chorister for five years and still did a bit of singing to raise a few bob, he than asked him if he thought it would be a good thing if he tried to avoid coming to Salford?

"I wish I had never seen the town,  I would be better off and not have the convictions that I have against me"

 

When asked if Mr Gould had any convictions the Clerk of the Court replied with a single word... "Plenty"

It was his fifth appearance this year and he had four appearances here last year.

Mr Gould was fined £1 or 13 days imprisonment.

Was Mr Gould correct about the strength of Salford beer an argument that has raged for years, I have heard of Chester's Fighting Mild also Walker and Homfrays referred to as... Water for Courses... so possibly not that strong then. I do remember Boddingtons bitter in the 1970s and the beer was superb but now... dreadful stuff.

I do hope that Mr Gould took up singing and avoided Salford like the plague for his own good, he seemed a likeable enough drunk.

And so we come the final batch of photographs that were so kindly given to us by Phil Rawnsley, which we cleaned up and restored, sadly there were many. many more in the box which were either too badly damaged or family holiday photos.

Today's final selection is another mixed bunch and we need your help in identifying the various locations, we have a feeling that the floral gardens shots may not be local but we could be wrong.

Where is the man posing outside his car is it Salford or Eccles?

Also the school Nativity play we think that me be Eccles

Other shots include:

The Park Hotel prior to demolition and  digging the foundations for the new one

Wellington Road

Possibly looking along Barton Lane at night with Motorway in distance

The elderly lady looking out of her window, is that Eccles or Salford?

A cricket match

A golf course possibly Swinton Park?

Look through them and if you know the location please let us know.

Finally if you have any old slides or photographs lying about your house long forgotten about in cupboards or boxes please get in touch with us at newsdesk@salford.media

We hope you have enjoyed looking through these photos, I know we have... Enjoy.

Today's selection of photos are mainly of Hope Hospital,  Eccles Old Road showing nurses at what we think is the maternity unit, with two views of the old main gates with a White ambulance coming up the drive, look how neat the lawns are.

Does anybody know what the sculpture is and where it is now?

The new Park Hotel is almost finished being built, with views of the shops on Monton Road.

The wonderful floral displays are inside the old Greenhouse in Buile Hill Park.

Tomorrow's selection will sadly be the last and are a mixed bunch  showing various locations in Salford and Eccles and a school nativity play, possibly in Eccles.

Hope you are pleased with what we have posted so far, we have had a tremendous response so far with lots of comments and memories,  which is exactly what we wanted.  Enjoy.