1900: Tunaleys of Clayton

Welcoming the New Year was not a major cause for celebration in 19th Century England. However on the evening of 31st December 1899, a larger crowd than usual gathered outside the Manchester Town Hall. This neo-gothic palace topped with a soaring clocktower fronted a large public space called Albert Square, which by a quarter to twelve, according to the Manchester Guardian, was "filled with people".

It was reportedly an orderly gathering, in spite of some "noise and horseplay" among "the younger portion of the assembly," as "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)

The first year of the 20th Century would be a sober one for the Manchester Tunaleys.

1900

Tom Tunaley turned eighteen on 27th January 1900. An apprentice since his early teens, Tom was now working as a carpenter and joiner, and 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.

Three months later, Tom's eldest sister Sarah Tunaley (b. 1878) left home, having married a blacksmith called Bernard Nutt at on 14th April 1900.

On 3rd June 1900, Tom's father, 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 Annĺ 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

Tom's uncle, Thomas Gronow Tunaley (b. 1852) died of pneumonia on 8th December, 1903. The funeral notice of this wealthy businessman and longstanding member of th Conservative Club was listed in the Manchester City News on 12th December 1903.

1904

in 1904, Tom's mother 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, about 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 moved out of Beswick to 92 Edge Lane, in Droylsden, a suburb that shared a border with Clayton, where they had four daughters, Nellie (b. 1905), Beatrice May (b. 1908), Vera (b. 1915) and Doris (b.1920).

1905

In 1905, there is no record to confirm if Tom's mother Mary Ann Tunaley was still renting the house at 262 Palmerston Street Beswick.

1906

In the first quarter of 1906, Tom's mother Mary Ann Tunaley (b. 1850) died. Her place of death was 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, being duly admitted to the Manchester 2nd Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (see "1907: Solidarity Forever" post). Tom may have been the first person in his family to do so, and his younger brother James may have been the second, joining the same union two years later.

In May 1907, Tom's second eldest sister, Edith Fletcher Tunaley (b. 1879) married a mechanic called Samuel Beaconsfield Middleton (b. 1880), of 114 Church Street, Bradford 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 (or perhaps earlier). It's possible that all of the four youngest, single Tunaleys - Edith, Tom, Beatrice and James - moved in with their married sister Sarah and her husband Bernard Nutt and their three children at 6 Sawley Street, Beswick after their mother died in 1906. But we only have hard evidence of Edith living there.

After Edith married Samuel Middleton in May 1907, she may have taken over from Sarah in providing a home for her three siblings. By 1911, both Beatrice and James were living with Edith and Samuel Middleton at 916 Ashton New Road, Clayton with their two year-old daughter Edith (b. 1908). So it's likely that Tom lived there too. Edith's marital home, like her sister Sarah's was a modest house, worth an estimated rent of 13 pounds per annum, located a five minute walk from 6 Dargai Street, Clayton, where Maggie Simpson lived with her parents. If Tom was living at Edith's house in Clayton with his two younger siblings from 1907, this could explain how he met Maggie Simpson.

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, or if he had rented the house with a view to it being their marital home.

1909

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

On 4th October, 1909, Tom's younger brother James Tunaley (b.1886), a joiner, joined a trade union, being admitted to the Manchester 8th Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners that Tom had joined two years earlier.

1910

By 1910, all the four younger Tunaley siblings were living in Clayton and the eldest, John Henry (b. 1880) lived in the neighbouring suburb, at 92 Edge Lane Droylsden.

• Only their elder sister Sarah (b. 1878) remained in Beswick at 6 Sawley Street.

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 Fletcher Middleton (b.1879) is seated with her daughter, two year-old Edith Middleton (b. 1908) on her lap. Samuel Middleton, the husband of Edith and father of two year-old Edith, is standing behind Maggie Tunaley on the right.

We don't know the identity of the two women in the middle of the photograph. But the warmth in Tom's expression and the intimacy of the picture makes me think that this is a picture of Tom and his three sisters. Tom's unmarried sister, the shirtmaker Beatrice Tunaley (b. 1884) could be the young woman seated in the middle. The older woman standing behind Beatrice could be their elder sister and mother-of-four (and soon to be a widow), Sarah Nutt (b. 1877).

The six Tunaley siblings had been on their own since 1906 after their Beswick family home disappeared with their mother's death. Sarah who married in 1900 and Edith who married in 1907, had both provided homes for their younger siblings. We only have evidence of Edith living with Sarah at the time of her marriage in 1907, but Edith subsequently provided Beatrice with a home for life, and it's possible that Edith and Sarah had provided homes for Tom and James as well. Edith settled in Clayton with her husband Sam Middleton from 1907 and at the time of this photograph, Beatrice was living with her and Tom and Maggie lived only five minutes walk away, in Dargai Street, Clayton.

It looks like they have been photographed 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.