Bollington at the Time of the 1911 Census

A Century Ago – Bollington at the time of the 1911 census

SOMEWAYS DIFFERENT…SOMEWAYS NOT.

The Bollington of 100 years ago was not so very different in appearance from the Bollington of today, give or take wedges of new housing at Bollington Cross, Ingersley Road and elsewhere. The basic physical outline of the village with its stone cottages and houses was already in place alongside the churches, public houses and other community features in that Census year 1911. The aqueduct carrying the Canal across the valley was there, and the railway viaduct with the green sward of the (Gnat Hole) Recreation Ground between them. White Nancy had been standing guard on Kerridge Hill from 1815 onwards.

The Cotton Mills (Clarence, Adelphi and Olivers’ Waterhouse Mill) were working and the Paper Mill, Oak Bank, and others. There were, to be sure, many more shops and, other than on foot, by horse, train, and such cars as there were, there was no great back and forth to Macclesfield and beyond. Supermarkets lay in the future and Bollington was much more self-contained than it is now. The skies above were quiet with no Manchester Airport nearby and the main noise (and smell) in the streets came from horses, although cars were beginning to make an appearance.

With no radios, TV sets or Internet it was naturally the case that folk knew more about their actual neighbours than “breaking news” about people on the other side of the world and in the country at large. Yet, without a doubt, events national and international could have their impact in Bollington as when the American Civil War had (many years before) shut down our Cotton Mills through lack of raw materials. Down in London in 1911 the Commons won their great battle with the Lords and by the “Parliament Act” their Lordships were no longer able to veto major legislation from the Commons while British Members of Parliament were paid for the first time.

National Insurance came into being under the Liberal Government and Bradford City (in a replay at Old Trafford) won the FA Cup for the first and only time, beating Newcastle United 1-0. By that year Macclesfield Town FC had won the Cheshire Senior Cup five times, Warwickshire won the Cricket County Championship and a New Zealand player beat an English one in the Wimbledon Men’s Final in the middle of what turned out to be a perfect summer.

Yet all was not sunshine in 1911. There was a National Railway Strike (which closed Bollington Station for two days in August) and a Strike by the Miners for more money. In faraway Antarctica the brave British Captain Scott was beaten to the Pole by the Norwegian explorer Amundsen. In London a new King was crowned: George V, grandfather of our present Queen after the short reign of King Edward (Teddy) had ended with his death in 1910.

A Revolution in China probably didn’t bother the people of Bollington overmuch, but no doubt there was something exciting in the air just a fortnight before Easter 1911 when, (on Sunday April 2nd to be exact) people had to be counted, household by household, in this village and throughout the land for the Census of 1911, as happened again in the National Census for 2011.

Looking east from the aqueduct in 1910

Market Place and High Street in 1912

STATISTICS

We can get an impression of how Bollington has changed over the last century or so by comparing statistics from the 1911 census with those from the 2001 census*.

This comparison is not as straightforward as might first appear for a number of reasons, not least because different questions were asked on the census forms.

The total population living in Bollington and Kerridge in 1911 was 5,224; in 2001 it was 7,095. But of course Bollington in 1911 was principally a cotton town, with 38% of people over 12 years of age working in the cotton and calico industries. 170 people (4% of those aged over 12) worked in the paper staining mill, but even more (186) worked in shops around the village.

People are generally living longer than they used to, and this can be seen from the census results; in each of the age-groups under 30 years old, there were more people in 1911 than in 2001 (even though the total population was smaller), whereas in all the older age-groups there were many more in 2001.

In 1911 children were expected to attend school until 12 or 13 years of age. Many 13 year-olds attended school part-time and also worked in one of the mills. Nowadays of course, children stay at school longer and many go on to further education. It may be that on the night of the 2001 census there were a significant number of university students away from home and therefore not counted in the Bollington census. It is also possible that the absence of a secondary school in Bollington meant that in 2001 there were fewer families with teenage children living in Bollington than the average in other larger towns. We don’t know for sure, but considerations such as these may distort the population statistics.

In 1911, 47.0% of the population were male; in 2001, the proportion was 48.6% male. In 1911, 70.5% of the total male population of Bollington were employed, compared to 58.1% in 2001 – of course, in 1911 people started work at a much younger age. The Welfare Reforms of the Liberal Government elected in 1906 were starting to take effect, and a number of people were listed as pensioners. Nevertheless, welfare benefits were not what they are today and most households needed able- bodied family members to be gainfully employed; in 1911 over 95% of all males over 12 years of age were recorded as working full- or part-time. The number of women in employment in 1911 was 1,049 (37.9% of all females), compared to 1,788 (49%) in 2001.

The 1911 census is the latest for which we have any details about individuals. For the later censuses, including 2001, we only have statistics relating to population groups.

But for 1911 we know the names of each person living in Bollington (or visiting on the night of the census). We know how old they were, whether they were married or not, where they lived, how many rooms were in their house, what their occupations were, and where they were born. We also know for married people, how many years they had been married and how many children had been born from their marriage. Also (very usefully for genealogists) how many of these children were still alive at the time of the census.

*These details are taken from a book published before 2011 census results were available

The “top ten” family names in 1911 were as follows (numbers of people with surname):

Jackson 111 Goodwin 82 Wright 72 Gleave 62 Wood 62 Potts 61 Snape 59 Mayers 56 Nolan 55 Bradley 53

HEALTH ISSUES

Bollington in 1911 seems to have been fortunate in having a very able Medical Officer of Health in the person of Dr Main who kept a keen eye on all matters concerning the health of local people. The year before the Census was taken he had issued a long Annual Report covering everything from housing and sanitary conditions to general cleanliness in the village. “Diseases of the chest and various form of Rheumatism are perhaps the most common ailments to which the inhabitants are liable,” he says. Black smoke from Mill Chimneys and general smoke from household fires no doubt contributed to these chest problems, together with dust and fluff in the air in the Cotton Mills.

As to housing conditions he says that there were 1180 inhabited houses in the district, most of them “two up and two down”. “The air space at the back of the houses was, on the whole, satisfactory although, here and there, they have no backyards but simply a passageway”. With such small houses he records “there is generally insufficient sleeping room for families”. This was especially so in view of the larger families of those times, as is well demonstrated in the Census returns. But things were on the mend, he says, and with the later built houses there was now a scullery added below and a third small bedroom above it. “Some of the newer houses have a small bathroom added”. Five new houses had been built during 1910, he says and three old ones had been closed for habitation. In that period of time, and for many years to come, most properties were rented, although at that time Bollington had no “lodging houses”.

During 1910 there had been 100 registered births, a lower figure than the previous year and also lower than the average of the previous ten years. 52 people had died during 1910. More in than out. “No offensive trade is carried out in this district” he says and “all dairies, cowsheds and the premises of purveyors of milk had been inspected. The milk is of good quality and no complaints have been made as to its being adulterated or impure”.

One problem which concerned Dr Main (as it still concerns the Public Utility Companies) is that of dripping taps in homes and industrial premises. “A very increased supply of water is needed for the district. Until a time of stress comes it is difficult to gauge how far the supply will stand it but we cannot but help awaiting such a time without a certain sense of foreboding”. (This is probably why Bollington’s roads are still being constantly dug up even in the 2000s). “The checking of water wastage in the mills, which was found to be so serious last year, has been rigorously imposed and no doubt a great saving has been effected. There is still however, the loss of individual houses to be guarded against. It is not an uncommon thing on entering the different houses to find a leaking going on from the tap onto the slopstone. Sometimes it is only a constant dripping but frequently it is a very decided flow of water”. The Water Committee were tackling this problem and “the Council’s men are at the call of the householder at any time to supply and fit new washers to the taps free of charge. Something is still required as evidenced by the fact that one frequently sees a piece of old rag or dishcloth tied around the leaking tap to prevent splashing and to mitigate somewhat the noise of escaping water”.

The planning and execution of a new water supply for Bollington - in 1910 - was still one of the most, if not THE most important matter the Council had to deal with, despite the falling of income from the rates being experienced in the area.

Under Dr Main and with the formation of a Bollington Housing Committee, a special house-to-house inspection had been set in hand and an index card system set up “as recommended in the regulations of the Housing of the Working Classes Act” (What would Dr Main have thought of such Working Class Housing fetching the prices of these days, as ”delightful stone cottages with paved patios and country views to rear”?) In Dr Main’s day it was thought sufficient ventilation to have “windows such that half of each will open”.

By the end of 1910, 72 houses had been inspected and their details filed. Another major headache for the Local Council was the need for more graveyard space. A Public Cemetery was proposed and sites in Albert Road and the Ovenhouse Farm area were examined. But in the end it was the Parish Church which stepped in and extended the Churchyard at St John’s and in 1912 the Vicar informed the Council that “most of the money needed to provide 50 new graves will be forthcoming so once again the ratepayers have been spared the burden of providing a public cemetery”. Dr William Main was a Liverpudlian by birth (1871) and was baptised at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church in Liverpool. His parents hailed from Dumfries in Scotland. Trained as a Physician and Surgeon at the Victoria University in Manchester he was registered as a Doctor in 1896. By 1899 he was working at Crosby on Merseyside and married Wilhelmina (Minnie) Esplen in 1901. That same year they came to live in Wellington Road, Bollington and in the 1911 Census he is shown as living at Brook House, Wellington Road with Minnie and their two sons Donald and Ewan. By this time Dr Main had been appointed Medical Officer of Health for Bollington along with other public offices. The Medical Register shows him at the same address in 1915 but by 1923 he had moved back to Merseyside at Birkenhead. He later practised medicine in Edinburgh and then at Pershore in Worcestershire.

There was a military hospital at Rock Bank during the First World War. Bollington’s Dr Main is at centre-left in the front row of this picture—sporting a substantial moustache in this 1918 photograph

There was in 1911 no rushing off to Accident and Emergency in Macclesfield or elsewhere, when medical care was perhaps still seen as something of a luxury.

“First Aid” was often the order of the day and local members of the St John Ambulance Brigade did more than their fair share of work. A leading light with the Brigade was Mr Albert Horatio Tate a Baker and Confectioner with a shop in High Street. His Case Book (from a few years just after 1911) shows him busy at the sort of work tackled by the Ambulance Brigade.

Martin Nolan of Wellington Road collapsed at school and Mr Tate rushed round and applied a warm bottle to his feet, gave him a cup of hot tea with Sal Volatile (Smelling Salts) and sent him home in the Van. Mr Sutton of Oldham Street got lime in his eye and was treated with Weak Vinegar and Barley Water in an Eyebath.

One patient from Water Street had a “self-inflicted cut throat”. He was bandaged until arrival of the Doctor and then removed to Macclesfield Infirmary.

A “lady stranger from Bolton” was thrown off her bicycle and suffered injuries to leg and side. She was bandaged to satisfaction and “proceeded home”.

Mrs Chadwick of High Street got a sewing machine needle through her finger. Mr Tate cut her nail away and bathed it with antiseptic and fomentation.

A motorcyclist from Whaley Bridge and pillion passenger from The Patch, Rainow (latterly the Highwayman Inn) were injured and Mr Tate applied Vaseline to the passenger and dressed the wounds of the Whaley man and sent him home in the ambulance.

A worker at the Adelphi Mill had an epileptic fit and was removed from machinery, had false teeth removed and had Sal Volatile and Hot Tea. He was taken to Rest room and then home. The same patient (on another occasion) had the Smelling Salts Treatment and was “fanned with handkerchief”.

Mr Smith of Oldham Street had a heart failure and was treated with Steam kettle, Bed Rest (by order of the Doctor) and was “pillowed up”.

Another passing cyclist from Failsworth, Manchester (with concussion and scalp wounds) was treated and then put on train (with fare paid) back to Manchester.

Mr Wood of Macclesfield, who was working at the Paper Mill caught his arm in cog wheels, was wrapped in splints and a large arm sling and taken to Macclesfield Infirmary where he had his arm amputated three hours later.

But for mainly minor injuries - often treated with iodine or smelling salts - it was vital First Aid of the sort which the Brigade still does to this day. Perhaps they were a little more interventionist than nowadays and got on with things without waiting for wailing sirens and green uniformed Paramedics, but no doubt they had just as many grateful patients.

ECONOMIC WOES... AND UPTURN?

There seems to be a great deal of truth in the theory that History usually repeats itself. Certainly there are many parallels between the economic woes of 1911 and those of more recent times. Even then there was talk of a wage freeze for Public Sector Workers. At the February 1911 meeting of Bollington Urban District Council, leading light Mr A. E. Snape moved that a Committee be formed to look into the advisability or otherwise of fixing a maximum salary for all officials of the Council. What he would think of present salaries in the higher echelons of Cheshire East Council would be very interesting! His reason in 1911 for checking salaries was that they could not afford to continue increasing the administrative expenses when Bollington’s income from the Rates was falling. A Rating re-assessment of Lower House Mill meant a loss of £80 while local Big Houses such as Endon Hall and Endon House at Kerridge, the Rookery and Oakbank House were not occupied. Endon Quarries at Kerridge and Oak Bank Mill had been closed down, at a time when major expenditure was needed to provide for a new public cemetery for Bollington and to sort out the local water supply. Endon House, Kerridge had been put up for sale towards the end of 1910. The advertisement for its sale said it was for sale or to let. “Beautifully situated on Kerridge Hills surrounded by nice woods and comprising entrance porch and inner hall with fireplace, dining, drawing and breakfast rooms, billiard room, butler’s pantry, larder, seven bedrooms, three dressing rooms, lavatories and wc. Gas and Water Supply. Outside: terraced grounds, flower and kitchen gardens, bowling lawn, greenhouse, coachman’s cottage, good stabling and coach house”.

All in all an attractive deal but obviously the owner wanted to get out. Nowadays it would probably have been quickly snapped up by some passing professional footballer.

Oak Bank House, off Shrigley Road, Bollington is no longer there but in 1910, the year before the Census, it had been up for sale along with Oak Bank Mill. The house was a detached residence with a square hall, a drawing room (24 feet by 13 feet) and a Dining Room of the same size, together with a kitchen, scullery, pantry, two housemaids’ pantries, six bedrooms, a sewing room, bathroom, lavatory (WC), three attics, three box rooms and cellars. With the house there was also a washhouse, three greenhouses, two vineries, stone-built stables and coach house with loft over and stone-built entrance lodge.

This grand property stood in marked contrast to the general housing stock of Bollington in 1911 which was of stone-built rows of cottages, usually two up and two down and in general built straight onto the street, usually with a shared backyard and toilet. The downstairs rooms were a kitchen- cum-living room with a high kitchen range housing fire, hob (for boiling a kettle) and oven. The range generally had a facility for warming water but certainly - later in their lives - these often leaked and were not used. There was a stone sink (usually called a slopstone) and a cold water tap, although at some of the houses in the more rural areas around the village, water had to be carried from a well. This continued for some until after World War 2.

Some kitchens retained their stone flag flooring but by 1911 many probably had oilcloth on the floors (linoleum which later on gave way to vinyl and fitted carpets). A “pegged” rug (handmade from rags on a hessian backing) often took pride of place before the fender in front of the hearth. Without bathrooms, the weekly bath was in a zinc bath in front of the fire with hot water from kettles or drawn from a gas water boiler.

With a good fire going the cottages could be warm, near the fire, but often draughty, and upstairs in winters the bedrooms could be distinctly chilly. Bedrooms had fire places but these were only used when someone was ill. Bedroom lighting was often by candle or nightlights. “Front Rooms” (parlours) were generally only used for special occasions or weekends. Such properties were rented and the punishment for anyone failing to pay their rent was to have the front door removed: chilly if it happened in winter!

Meanwhile other people in 1911 were on the move. In September the Local Press reported that “Emigration from Bollington has been going on steadily for some time past. Yesterday (September 8th) a remarkable case occurred when eight members of one family long resident at Bollington Cross - the Thompson Family - sailed for Quebec in Canada en route to British Columbia. Other members of the family had already settled in the Dominion.”

An emigration party leaving for Canada in 1909

In fact, advertisements encouraging emigration to Canada had been appearing weekly in British newspapers. “Homesteads of 160 acres each are given free by Canada (Britain’s nearest overseas dominion). Place yourself and your money there. There is work for all farm labourers and domestic servants”. But Canada wasn’t the only far distant outpost for Bollington folk around 1911. In 1912 it was reported that “several well-known Bollington tradesmen will shortly with their families emigrate to Australia and New Zealand” And the reason? “There is no doubt that, with many of the large houses in the district becoming empty, in a place like Bollington this means a serious loss to business men”. Due to set sail for Australia was Henry Brown, fishmonger and fruiterer of Palmerston Street, while his brother-in-law William Travis was off to America, as were Mr and Mrs Gleave of High Street, travelling to California for the sake of Mr Gleave’s health. Some Gleaves did remain in High Street in the 1911 Census… which is a good job, otherwise latter-day residents of Gleave Avenue might have had nowhere to live.

But then there seemed to be a silver lining to the economic cloudiness of 1911. Things started to look up. Calico Printing started again at Oak Bank Mill and two of the Kerridge Quarries, idle for more than a year, began to be worked again. Wetton and Sons had purchased the quarries and the new owners were “making arrangements to recommence working them immediately”. The Albert Quarry was also to be re-opened after having been closed for 40 years.

And modernisation was in hand at Mount Pleasant Farm, Bollington Cross, where (it was reported) “Mr Arthur Blease, the Local Carrier, is going in for motor traction” and had for sale “two valuable carthorses, 16.3 and 16.2 hands high, both capital workers”. Both of Mr Blease’s sons survived the fighting in World War 1, but the younger son Herbert died in May 1919, only a month after demobilisation, as a result of an accident on Bollington Railway Station (being crushed between a motor vehicle and a railway van). These extracts are taken from the book “Bollington 1911” by Roy Arnold and Dave Williams. The book is now out of print, but you might be able to get a copy in a second-hand bookshop or charity shop.

The photographs are from the Photo Archive at the Discovery Centre.