1882: A Boy from Beswick

Tom Tunaley was born on 27th January 1882 in Manchester. His mother Mary Ann Fletcher (b. 1850) had been born in Manchester but his father John Charles Tunaley (b. 1850) had been born in Derby.

A quarter of a century before Tom was born, in 1854, his grandfather, John Tunaley (b.1813) and grandmother Sarah Wood (b.1822) sold their dye works in Derby and moved to Manchester. The family settled in Beswick, renting a house at 79 Every Street in 1859. Sarah had already borne four children in Derby and she had four more in Manchester. They rented a house in Every Street, Beswick. The family had been there for less than a decade when 50 year-old John Tunaley (b.1813) died in 1863, a few months after his youngest daughter was born. His widow Sarah was left with eight children under the age of 15, the second eldest of whom was Tom's father, John Charles Tunaley (b. 1850).

Son of a Carpenter

Tom's father John CharlesTunaley (b. 1850) grew up to become a carpenter. His two brothers Matthew Henry Tunaley (b. 1848) and Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b. 1852) were carpenters too. It's probable that they all aquired their trade with the help of their their maternal uncle, Joseph Wood (b.1827) a timber merchant who moved to Manchester from Derby to support his widowed sister, along with their elderly mother Sarah Wood (b. 1792, formerly Thomason) who died in Cheetham in 1871 (thanks to Phil Tunaley and Dr Jane Holmes for this research).

In 1870, the three Tunaley brothers were living and working in Cheetham, near their Uncle Joseph Wood's timber business, according to Slater's Directory. .

The eldest brother, Matthew Henry (b. 1848) was in partnership with John Bland (Tunaley and Bland) with whom he had a joiners' shop in Carnarvon Street, on premises owned by his uncle Joseph Wood (Manchester Rate Books).

In 1870, Matthew Henry Tunaley (b. 1848) married Mary Stafford (b.1850) at Christ Church, Bradford.

In 1876, Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1852) married Alice Stevenson at All Souls Church, Ancoats, on 13th July 1876. The witnesses at their wedding were the groom's brother John Charles Tunaley and a woman called Mary Ann Fletcher.

A few months later, John Charles Tunaley (b.1850) married Mary Ann Fletcher (b.1850) in the fourth quarter of 1876. The couple moved to Beswick and had six children (three boys and three girls) within a decade. Their fourth child and middle son was called 'Tom':

• Sarah Tunaley (b. 1877)

• Edith Fletcher Tunaley (b.1878)

• John Henry Tunaley (b. 3 July 1880)

• Tom Tunaley (b.1882)

• Beatrice Tunaley   (b.1884)

• James Tunaley (b.1886)

Why "Tom"?

Tom's name was somewhat unusual as 'Tom' is usually an abbreviation of 'Thomas'. This assumption was made throughout Tom's life, with his name mistakenly recorded as "Thomas Tunaley" in official records, newspaper reports and even obituaries.

Tom's parents gave their first three children names thatreferenced family members, accordingto yradition. Thomas was a family name too. John Charles' grandparents were Thomas (b.1771) and Elizabeth (b.1776) Tunaley and his younger brother was Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b. 1852).

John Charles and Mary Ann may have wanted to minimise confusion between their son and his many relatives called "Thomas", such as his Uncle Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1852) who lived nearby, and whose son, Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b. 24 May 1882) arrived five months after Tom.

It's possible the name 'Tom' (and 'Beatrice' and 'James') could have come from their mother's family, but as we know little about Mary Ann Fletcher's origins, I can't confirm this.

The name "Tom" could also be derived from "Tomasi" and signify Italian roots, but it is hard to find evidence to support this link.

And although 'Tom' was an unusual name, it was not entirely uncommon. In Manchester in 1882, some 64 babies were given the first name "Tom", compared to 1,230 infants who were named "Thomas", according to the Manchester Register of Civil Births.

Whatever the source of Tom Tunaley's name, he and Maggie Tunaley didn't continue with it. In 1916, they named their third son 'Thomas Stanley Tunaley' and thereafter called him 'Tom'.

Beswick

Tom Tunaley grew up in Beswick, 1.6 miles south-east of the city centre, next to Bradford. Beswick was primarily a residential township, with the River Medlock and Ashton Canal flowing through it, as well as railyards and timber yards, but with less heavy industry than neighbouring Bradford.

In 1882, Tom's family lived at the northern end of 8 Darley Street, Beswick in a four-roomed house which they rented for an estimated ten pounds per year, according to the Rate Books, similar to those in this photograph, taken before the area was razed for 'slum clearance'.

Tom's house at 8 Darley Street was situated between Rowsley and Beaumont Streets. This section of Darley Street north of Ashton New Road lay within a loop of railway lines that ran into the nearby Beswick Mineral Yards, the Bradford Iron Works and the Bradford Colliery.

In 1885, when Tom was three, his family moved south of Ashton New Road to 242 Palmerston Street, Beswick. Palmerston Street ran in a north-easterly direction from Helmet Street near Ancoats Goods Station over the River Medlock to Hillkirk Street. This image from Wentworth Street depicts the area of Palmerston Street where Tom Tunaley lived, at its northern end.

Tom's new house at 242 Palmerston Street was more expensive to rent than the Darley Street house (at 12 pounds ten shillings per annum, according to the Rate Books) but it was well away from the Beswick Mineral Yards and Bradford Colliery.

It was also close to Tom's Uncle Thomas Gronow and Aunt Alice, who had been living at 232 Palmerston Street until they moved to 73 Devon Street, Beswick, where Thomas Gronow Tunaley, now a timber merchant in partnership with Wililam Henry Maddock had his timber yard.

The map below indicates where Tom and his extended family lived in Beswick. When his grandparents John (b. 1813) and Sarah (b. 1822) Tunaley arrived from Derby in 1858, they lived in Every Street (green arrow). When Tom's father John Charles (b.1850) married Mary Ann Fletcher (b.1850) in 1876, their first home was at 8 Darley Street (yellow arrow), where Tom was born. By 1886, Tom's family were living at 242 Palmerston Street, (blue arrow) where they stayed for ten years.

in 1895, when Tom was 13, the family moved to 74 Devon Street, Beswick (red arrow), where the family lived for the next five years. In February 1900, Tom's sister Sarah (b.1876) gave 74 Devon Street as her address when she married. Tom's Uncle Thomas Gronow and his family had lived at 72 Devon Street in 1886 and had run his timber business (Maddock and Tunaley) from a works yard at 73 Devon Street. But by the time Tom's family moved there in 1895, Thomas Gronow Tunaley had moved his business to a premises in Robinson Street East, owned by Joseph Wood, and had moved his family three miles south to Levenshulme.

Beswick Boys

Tom's cousin Bill Smith was his lifelong friend. Bill was the son of Tom's Aunt Elizabeth (b. 1854), the eldest sister of his father John Charles Tunaley (b.1850). She married a baker from Bedfordshire, George Jarvis Smith (b. 1845) in 1884 with whom she had three children:

• William (Bill) John Smith (b. 1884, 3rd qtr) in Bedford;

• Dorothy Smith (b. 1887); and

• Stanley (b. 1890, 4th qtr) in Prestwich.

  
  

As their third child Stanley was born in Prestwich, Elizabeth and George presumably moved their family to Manchester, but except for Stanley's birth registration, I have found no records of where they lived. All we know is that Tom Tunaley and William John (Bill) Smith (b. 1884) were best friends, they both became carpenters and then emigrated to Australia together in 1911 (see "The Smiths" post).

Tom's Uncle Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1852) also had two sons who were Tom's cousins: Thomas Gronow (b.1882) and Albert Edward (b.1886).

This photograph (from John Tunaley's collection) could be of Tom Tunaley with some of his cousins.

I am pretty sure that Tom Tunaley (b.1882) is the boy standing on the right, with his hand on the shoulder of a seated Bill Smith (b.1884). Tom looks like a younger version of himself in the photograph below, and Bill looks like a younger version of himself as an adult (see "The Smiths" post). The small boy on the lower right could be Tom's younger brother James Tunaley (b. 1886) or Bill's baby brother Stanley (b. 1890).

The two boys on the left could be their cousins Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1882) - seated and Albert Edward Tunaley (b.1886) standing. But we can't be sure. These boys have probably been brought together at a formal family wedding, so perhaps they barely know each other. But my belief is that they were photographed together because their families wanted them to be, which suggests a stronger connection between them.

This next photograph shows the three Tunaley boys pictured with their father, John Charles Tunaley (b.1850), possibly taken around 1895 when Tom was in his early teens.

Tom (b. 1882) on the left of the picture, is wearing a gold watchchain in his waistcoat, and was probably an apprentice carpenter. His elder brother John Henry (b. 1880) on the right, would become an Electrician. The youngest brother James (b. 1886), who seems to be standing on a footstool, would became a carpenter and joiner like Tom.

A new century

The turn of the 20th century was a sober affair in Manchester. On the evening of 31st December 1899, a larger crowd than usual gathered outside the Manchester Town Hall, a neo-gothic palace topped with a soaring clocktower. The Town Hall overlooked five and a half thousand square metres of public space called Albert Square, which, by a quarter to twelve, according to the Manchester Guardian, was "filled with people".

It was an orderly gathering. In spite of "noise and horseplay" among "the younger portion of the assembly," as the Manchester Guardian reported: "the larger body of the crowd silently watched the minute hand of the clock as it approached the midnight hour. Meanwhile the bells chimed continuously, until, above their clangour, the great striking bell boomed twelve o'clock. Then the people cheered, shook hands and exchanged mutual good wishes, and slowly dispersed."

(Manchester Guardian, Monday 1st January 1900)

1900

The 27th January 1900 was Tom Tunaley's 18th birthday. An apprentice since his early teens, Tom was now working as a carpenter and joiner. He was still living at 74 Devon Street, Beswick with his parents and five siblings, where his parents paid an estimated 12 pounds ten shillings annual rent.

Tom's cousin Bill Smith (b. 1884) had also become a carpenter, as had their cousin, Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1882), whose family was much wealthier than his cousins'. His father, the prosperous timber merchant Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b.1848) had recently purchased his own home, and was recorded in the 1889 Rate Books as the owner and occupier of Rose Villa, Rushforth Place, Levenshulme. a "house with garden", worth an estimated rent of 60 pounds per year. This red brick detached house (pictured) is still standing, preserved in a protected residential landscape of 7.8 hectares called the Rushford Park Conservation Area.

In April 1900, Tom's eldest sister Sarah Tunaley (b. 1878) married a blacksmith called Bernard Nutt at St Mary's Parish Church, Beswick on 14th April 1900. The couple lived at 6 Sawley Street, Beswick and Sarah gave birth to a daughter, Beatrice Violet on 5th March 1901, followed by Nellie (b.1903), John Joseph (b.1906), Albert (b. 1909), and May (b.1911).

On 3rd June 1900, John Charles Tunaley (b. 1850) died at the age of 50.

1901

By the time of the 1901 census Tom's widowed mother Mary Ann (b. 1850) was living at 262 Palmerston Street, Beswick with her five youngest children:

• Edith Fletcher Tunaley (b.1878)

• John Henry Tunaley (b. 3 July 1880)

• Tom Tunaley (b.1882)

• Beatrice Tunaley (b.1884) and

• James Tunaley (b.1886)

Mary Ann's daughters Edith Fletcher (b. 1879) and Beatrice (b. 1884) were both working as shirtmakers. And her three sons were also working: John Henry (b. 1881) was an Electrician; Tom (b. 1882) was a Carpenter and Joiner; and 15 year-old James (b.1886) was an "Office Boy". The house at 262 Palmerston Street cost a pound less per annum (at 11 pounds ten shillings) than their former home at 74 Devon Street (Manchester Rate Books).

In 1901, Tom's Uncle Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b. 1852) and Alice Tunaley (b.1852) were living at Rose Villa in Levenshulme with three of their five children: Sarah Ann (b.1881); Thomas Gronow (b.1882); and Albert Edward (b.1886). On the census form, 21 year-old Thomas G was a was "joiner", but 20 year-old Sarah Ann was not working and neither was 15 year-old Albert Edward, who would become a solicitor. Their two younger sisters, 11 year-old Alice (b.1889) and 13 year-old Gertrude (b. 1887) were both in boarding school, at St-Anne's-on-the-Sea in Blackpool.

The sixth member of the Rose Villa household in 1901 was a 29 year-old woman called Mary Ann Stevenson (b.1871) who was a domestic servant. She had also been listed on the 1891 census, so she may have been a member of the household since they moved to Levenshulme in 1888. As Alice Tunaley was Alice Stevenson before she married, this Mary Stevenson may have been a relative, but we can't be sure. Mary A Stevenson had left the household before the 1911 census. (In 1911 Alice Tunaley, now a widow, employed two servants at Rose Villa, one of whom was "Elizabeth Ann Stevenson", a 66 year-old widow, while the second was a 28 year-old Annie Joseph Keneally from Cork).

1903

Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b. 1852) died on 8th December, 1903. The Manchester City News reported his death, of pneumonia, and funeral arrangements on 12th December 1903.

1904

Mary Ann Tunaley was still renting the house at 262 Palmerston Street Beswick, according to the 1903-4 Electoral Register, where we assume she was still living with her five unmarried children, soon to be four.

In February 1904, Tom's elder brother John Henry Tunaley (b. 1880) married a sewing machinist called Nellie Foote (b. 1883), the daughter of a plumber who lived at 169 Palmerston Street, Beswick. John Henry's sister Edith Tunaley and Nellie Foote's brother David Foote (b. 1879), also an Electrician, were witnesses to the wedding at St Mary's Parish Church, Beswick. The couple settled in 92 Edge Lane, Droylsden, where they had four daughters, Nellie (b. 1905), Beatrice May (b. 1908), Vera (b. 1915) and Doris (b.1920).

1906

In the first quarter of 1906, Mary Ann Tunaley (b. 1850) died. Her place of death was in Chorlton, three miles away from Beswick. This may have been the location of a hospital, or it could mean that she was being nursed by her widowed sister-in-law Alice Tunaley (b. 1852) at Rose Villa in Levenshulme.

1907

On 9th March 1907, Tom Tunaley joined a trade union, admitted to the Manchester 2nd Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (see "Solidarity Forever" post)

In May 1907, Edith Fletcher Tunaley (b. 1879) married a mechanic called Samuel Beaconsfield Middleton, at St Mary's Parish Church, Beswick (their witnesses were Ethelbirt Middleton, John Henry Tunaley and Beatrice Tunaley). Edith's address on her wedding certificate was 6 Sawley Street, Beswick, the home of her sister Sarah (b. 1887) who had married Bernard Nutt in 1900.

This suggests that the family home at 262 Palmerston Street had broken up after their mother Mary Ann Tunaley died in 1906, and that some or all of the four unmarried Tunaleys moved in with their sister Sarah and Bernard Nutt and their three children.

Once Edith had married Samuel Middleton in May 1907, she may have taken over from Sarah in providing a home for her unmarried siblings. Both Beatrice and James were living with Edith and Samuel Middleton in Clayton at 916 Ashton New Road, Clayton with their three year-old daughter Edith (b. 1908) at the time of the 1911 Census. Beatrice Tunaley (b. 1884) was working as a shirtmaker, and James Tunaley (b.1886), was a carpenter and joiner.

1908

In the first quarter of 1908, Tom's cousin William John ("Bill") Smith married Harriet Armstrong, who worked as a Jack tenter in a cotton mill. Their first child Dorothy (b. 1908), was born in Manchester. Their second daughter Beatrice (b. 1914) and their son Ted, would be born in Australia.

On 5th September 1908, Tom Tunaley (b. 1882) married Margaret Eliza Ann Simpson (b, 1885), a shirtmaker from Yorkshire who had come to Manchester in 1894 (see blog posts). They married in the Anglican Church of St Cross in Clayton and their witnesses were Tom's younger brother and sister, James (b. 1886) and his sister Beatrice (b. 1884).

Tom's home address on his marriage certificate was 13 Dargai Street Clayton, across the road from Maggie Simpson's house at 6 Dargai Street. We don't know how long he had lived there, but it's likely that he met Maggie Simpson on Dargai Street, so he probably moved there some time in 1907. We don't know where Tom and Maggie lived as newlyweds.

1909

Tom and Maggie Tunaley's son John Charles Tunaley (b. 1909) is born, a year after they married.

1910

By 1910, all of the four younger Tunaley siblings were living in Clayton. Their elder sister Sarah (b. 1878) was at 6 Sawley Street, Beswick and their brother John Henry (b. 1880) remained at 92 Edge Lane, Droylsden with his family.

The photograph below was in the possession of John Charles Tunaley (b.1909). It was taken when he was a baby. John Charles (b. 1909) is being held by his mother Maggie Tunaley (b. 1885), who is seated on the right hand side of the picture. His father Tom Tunaley (b. 1882) stands at the back on the left, with his signature watchchain attached to his waistcoat.

In front of Tom, on the left of the picture, his sister Edith (b.1879) is seated with her daughter, two year-old Edith Middleton (b. 1908) on her lap. Samuel Middleton, the husband of Edith Tunaley and father of two year-old Beatrice, is standing behind Maggie Tunaley on the right.

We don't know the identity of the two women in the middle of the photograph. The intimacy of the picture suggests they could be family members. Tom's unmarried sister, the shirtmaker Beatrice Tunaley (b. 1884) could be the young woman seated in the middle. The older woman standing behind her could be their elder sister and mother-of-four, Sarah Nutt (b. 1877).

It looks like the participants are at a family gathering, possibly held in a garden, which suggests it could be at Rose Villa, the home of their late Uncle Thomas Gronow Tunaley (1852 - 1903), which their Aunt Alice still lived in, with her four younger children and two servants. An Easter garden party perhaps?

1911

Tom and Maggie Tunaley's second son, William Simpson Tunaley (b. 1911) was born in January 1911. On census day, when Tom and Maggie Tunaley and their two sons were living with Maggie's parents at 6 Dargai Street, Clayton. Tom filled out the census form on behalf of his father-in-law, William Rodger Simpson, writing his wife's first name as "Margaret", rather than attempting to fit "Margaret Eliza Ann" into the space.

On 6th July 1911, Tom Tunaley (b. 1882) boarded the "SS Themistocles" bound for Australia, leaving Maggie and their two sons behind at 6 Dargai Street with her parents. On 21st October 1911, Maggie sailed out to join him, boarding the ship with their second son William who was nine months old.

Why did Maggie leave John Charles behind?

Maggie lived with her parents for three months after Tom left, During that time, Sarah Simpson tried to convince her daughter that Maggie wouldn't be able to cope with two small children on the six-week journey and should leave two year-old John Charles (b. 1909) behind. Maggie disagreed and prepared to leave with both children. As soon as she got word that Tom was settled in Melbourne, she booked their tickets.

On the day of their departure, Maggie's parents Sarah and William accompanied her and the children to the dock. As they stood there saying goodbye, John Charles seemed unwell with a cold and Sarah noticed her daughter's resolve wavering. So she took John Charles out of Maggie's arms. When Maggie protested and tried to take him back, Sarah reassured her that she and William would bring John out to Australia themselves. Yes, they would come out to Australia as soon as possible, bringing John.

So Maggie made the journey out to Australia with baby Billie alone, try convincing herself that her mother had meant what she said. She sent John Charles a postcard from the ship, telling him that she missed him very much and was looking forward to seeing him soon.

But Sarah Simpson never kept her promise.