My cousin Alan

My cousin Alan (grandson of Ethel Armstrong) who is an expert on this family history stuff and to whom I owe a lot for his generous sharing of information about the family, has contributed this to the comments on Ancoats;
- small world and all that - the Hampsons made the same move from "Ancoats" to Salford at around the same time. The "mystery" man (whose name, on an 1876 grave paper, we didn't recognize, and therefore started my family history trail back in 1991) turned out to be Robert Hampson, brother of my g-g-grandfather, John. Born in 1812, from 1838 to his death in 1876, Robert ran a beerhouse at 4 Cornwall St, later known as the Three Pigeons. John lived at Primrose St, which originally ran from Cornwall St to Bengal St (one end of it still exists, but with no property on it now) - most of it was obliterated when they built Victoria Square, Sanitary St and the "model" cottages on George Leigh St. He also lived at Wigby's Court and Blossom St for a while before moving to Chorlton-on-Medlock. Meanwhile, my mum's g-grandad, William Payne, came north from Newbury in the 1870s and setlled first at 72 George Leigh St, then later at Gun St (partly still there), Jersey St then Fawcett St, off Great Ancoats St. He was a chair-maker with a workshop in Jersey Mill (still standing, now offices) and then Brownsfield Mill (also still standing). So they could all have bumped into each other, for all we know!
Coming to more recent times, when I worked for the Gas Board in the mid-1970s, quite a lot of the old industry in the area was still going and I remember a small metal foundry called Pressbar Products who had a ramshackle works in a courtyard on Portugal St - this street, which was originally a continuation of Primrose St, also still exists, but just looks like a back-alley behind the few remaining old shops on Oldham Road, nowadays. One old street sign still exists on Butler Lane. People pass these without a second glance, but the rear walls of these shops pre-date Engels, being 18th century, but much rebuilt.
If you have ever seen the film "A Taste of Honey" (Rita Tushingham, Dora Byran, etc), the higgledy-piggledy flat where Jo (Rita T) lives, towards the end of the film, was filmed in this area, and I'm convinced the courtyard is the Pressbar Products one (the firm is still going, but off Ducie St, Piccadilly, now). The canal scenes are also in Ancoats (plus one in Salford) and parts of Oldham and Manchester also appear. As you've no doubt seen, they are putting a lot of effort into modernising what is being promoted as "Ancoats" but, being a pedantic Mancunian (!) this area is NOT Ancoats, it was always called the Oldham Road district. Ancoats proper was a separate town at the far end of Great Ancoats St, which LEADS to Ancoats, hence the name. The border would be about Redhill St and, for convenience, the boundary was generally regarded as the canal.

Incidentally, Cornwall St was renamed Cornell St in 1954, part of a move by Manchester Council and Royal Mail to clear up duplicated street names. There were two Cornwall Streets (one in Gorton, still extant) so one had to go! It was understandable, really, because there were TWELVE John Streets, for example, and before postcodes it led to a lot of misdelivered letters. I remember Sanitary St having a wooden name sign, from which the first and last letters had been chopped, so although it said " Anita St" the spacing was weird. I think the council just gave up (or didn't notice) and called it Anita St when they made new metal-plate signs in the 1970s.

Your comments about Engels are interesting, because I have read the Condition of the Working Classes myself and, although some of what he said was undoubtedly true, it must be remembered that he was making a political point and so picking all the worst features he could find. I don't know if you've read what might be regarded as the counter to this, "Manchester and the Textile Districts 1849" by Angus Bethune Reach - if not, try and borrow a copy, it's worth a read. He was commissioned to write a series of reports by the Morning Chronicle, who were anxious to allay people's fears after Engels' book, so you could say it is biased the opposite way, but then the truth may be somewhere in between. Don't go off internet quotes from this compilation, because they tend to extract snippets that sound exactly like Engels (he didn't disagree with him on everything). What makes it worth reading is that Reach, an early form of investigative reporter, actually went into people's homes, places of work, pubs, clubs, etc and noted down, not only details and impressions of the surroundings, but what people actually told him in interviews. A lot of it rings true, for instance, he describes one house in Ancoats as very sparse, one single room downstairs and one up, with bare flag floors and whitewashed walls - but - there is a square of matting near the door, home-made rug by the fireplace, a geranium or two in pots by the window and a couple of pictures above the mantelpiece. This sounds so like my grandad's house that I can easily believe that this is more typical - ordinary people, not having much, but making the most of what they do have. There are other snippets that were news to me, for instance, most people drank coffee, not tea, as the latter was five times the price! Barrows on street corners sold coffee and hot bacon sandwiches for mill workers who had to start early (origins of the bacon barm). People mostly ate potato hash during the week, with a piece of meat at weekends (Sunday joint). It's full of fascinating insights that are believable because, in modified form, many of the traditions are still with us. But, as I say, it also has its political agenda, so is perhaps painting a rosier picture than was actually the case.

Unfortunately, both Engels and Reach are uncomplimentary (putting it mildly) about the Irish - there was a lot of anti-Irish feeling, especially after the famine, which brought many to England seeking work. Having little choice, they tended to rent the cellars and ramshackle houses that others wouldn't touch and were then castigated for living a lowly life - the sort of petty bigotry that, regrettably, is still with us, except that it's generally the Muslims that are bearing the brunt of it nowadays. Then as now, though, not everyone was as narrow-minded as the press would have us believe, and I'm sure most ordinary people had a "live and let live" attitude. To assume all Victorians were racist is like assuming we all vote BNP now! Personally, I don't think people change that much over time, there are good guys and bastards now, always have been, and probably always will be.