lostwolverhampton.co.uk

I Remember

Billy — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:10:38 +0000

What happened to Dudley Street?

People are always asking me what, where, or how things happened in Wolverhampton, so to mark the 75th anniversary of my birth, I shall do a series of small posts entitled “I REMEMBER”.

A trip down memory lane for those who remember Dudley Street in the days before the many sweeping changes brought the mander Centre to our town.

Singleton and Cole tobacconists on the far right, while on the far left of this 1950s photograph is the Kings head pub which was built around the turn of the century.

In between the tobacconists and “Nancie” Gown specialists, was an alley.
I remember in the 1940s at the bottom of this alley was little amusement arcade with bumping cars etc.

The 1930s built Portland stone building, besides housing Nancie was home to Melias and W Evans a butcher later replaced by Dewhursts

Who remembers shopping at the likes of Melias back then when housewives did their shopping at the small grocery chains? Of which there were many in Wolverhampton around Dudley street alone.

Where customers would queue to be served while the assistants weighed and sliced the butter and cheese from large slabs and sliced the bacon while you waited; a far cry from todays plastic bags. People may have waited longer to be served but at least they had the personel attention of the staff.

Further to the left is the ill-starred Central Arcade. The decision to demolish this well-loved Edwardian landmark was fought tooth and nail by protesters who wanted it to be integrated into the design of the new shopping centre.

What a difference this Beautiful entrance would have made to the existing Mander Centre, but it was not to be. It was mysteriously destroyed by a fire in May 1974.

To the left of this entrance the impressive J.E. Knight florists Shop and finally small the strip of the building that was the Kings Head.

Here is how the site looks today in 2012.

Portland Today 2012

Finally, here’s a shot comparing the two:

1950s - 2012 Then & Now

Titanic’s Grand Staffordshire Links

Billy — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:20:43 +0000

"Titanic" at that time greatest of all the world's great ships, stands alone in its awfulness, supreme in tragedy.

To mark the centenary of this extraordinary and tragic event Titanic the musical is being presented in Wolverhampton and because of this the Grand Theatre is asking for stories from anyone in Wolverhampton who has connections with this unforgetable ship

Here at the Grand Theatre

I have no personal family connection with anyone aboard “Titanic” on its fatal trip. But I do know once upon a time that the story our Grand Theatre and the Story of the “Titanic” in part shared the stage together I discovered this fact fifty odd years ago.

The sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage in the early hours of April 15th 1912 was one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century. And before the doomed ship was engulfed in the devouring waters there was drama on her decks more wonderful in its dignity and splendour than any that has been invented by imagination Here a just two small stories of that drama played out in reality by a Staffordshire man and acted out on the stage by a well remembered Wolverhampton thespian.

Titanic’s Grand Staffordshire Links

Titanic's Last Plunge

The tragedy represented, in its own right, the end of an era of arrogance and social discrimination in sea travel.

Quickly superseded by the horrors of the Great War, and further sinkings – notably of the Lusitania – interest in the Titanic waned until Walter Lord wrote his famous book “A Night to Remember” in the 1950s.

This book was based on the many survivor testimonies he collected, and was made into a feature film by William MacQuitty.

So how is this tragic story, now film, connected to the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton?

Memories of a Staffordshire man

A total of 1,517 souls (men, women, and children) perished. went the titanic went down, Only 711 survived. This is a small portion of the list of those survivors.

Notice it included a Mrs Florence Angle, whose husband was among the passengers who lost their lives, and nearly fifty years on; she gave this account to the local paper after being offered a grand night out to the Film premiere of A Night to Remember in 1958.

” I could not bear to see that terrible scene reproduced on the screen,” she told us today. Mrs Angle and her husband a Staffordshire man, were returning to America after a holiday with her parents at Warwick.

“I was asleep in our cabin when the ship struck the iceberg and I never even felt the shock,” she said. “My husnband woke me to tell me of it, and went on deck to find out what happened. I was so unconcerned I went back to sleep again.”

Even when he returned to say the Titanic was sinking the situation still seemed completeley unreal. “My husband made me dress in my warmest clothes, helped me into a lifeboat and waved as we were lowered into the icy water. That was the last I saw of him. Then followed a terrible night. At one stage we were overjoyed to see what appeared to be a large well lighted ship approaching – but it was only the reflection of the Titanic’s lights in the iceberg. The ship sank several hours before we were picked up by the Carpathia”

The link to the Grand is A Night to Remember.

The Titanic connection comes about through this man and Repertory at the Grand

Each week during the summer season at The Grand Theatre Wolverhampton, a core company of twenty actors and crew would present a new play to packed houses.

Future stars of stage and screen such as Kenneth More, Peggy Mount, June Whitfield and Leonard Rossiter honed their craft under the watchful eyes of discerning Black Country audiences.

later in the 1950s actors such as these went into big stage and television adaptions many became box office film stars one of these was Kenneth More.

Superb as Douglas Bader.in Reach for the Sky, and

Who amongst those brave enough to sit through “A Night to Remember” in 1958, recounting the final night of the RMS Titanic, will forget the part played with great effect by Kenneth More.

The Titanic the largest vessel afloat, was widely believed to be unsinkable. Her passengers included the cream of American and British society. and story of her sinking is told from the point of view of her passengers and crew, principally second officer, Charles Lightoller played in the film by Kenneth More.

In the waters of Death.

A great chorus of human agony, a great and bitter cry, went wailing up to the black dome of night as 1,600 human beings or more plunged into the sea of death. The story of what followed is agonising, yet must be told, because out of its horror there shines the most heroic virtu, and the victory of death was greater than its tragedy. It has been told by those who escaped in a miraculous manner. mr Lightoller, the second officer, is one of those who lived to tell the story.

“I was standing on the top of the officers quarter,” he said “There was nothing more to be done. The last boat had been sent away… the ship took a dive… I faced forward and also took a dive.

I was sucked to the side of the ship against the grating over the blower for the exhaust. There was an explosion, and it blew me to the surface again, only to be sucked back once more by the water rushing into the ship. This time I landed against the grating over the pipes which furnish the draught for the funnels and stuck there. There was another explosion, and I again came to the surface not many feet from the ship before she made her final plunge. I discovered I had surfaced close to a capsized collapsible boat and clung to it . A funnel fell within inches of him and killed many swimmers. Thirty clung to the capsized boat and a lifeboat with 40 survivors in it already finally took him off.

The Titanic story has put a spell on our imagination Its cherished memory will forever be remembered like no other.

The Bicycle Pioneers

Billy — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 07:00:21 +0000

Molineux Pleasure Grounds.

It is safe to say the the name “Molyneux” is famous in every part of the World of Sport. It is surely synonymous with “soccer” at its best whatever the current fortunes of the Wolverhampton Wanderer’s side.

But how many followers of the leather ball are aware that Molyneneux was originally the family name of one of the great Wolverhampton families, or that the stadium now covers the gardens of the house their forebear John Molineux built.

This house later the Molineux Hotel, was enlarged by his son Benjamin one of the towns leading ironmasters in the 18th century.

Cartoon No.12 History of the Wolves.

Looking at the bottom half of the number 12 Cartoon in a series printed just after the war by The Birmingham Argus.

We can see probably just after the Molyneux family left the town and football arrived the existing grounds were used for a variety of purposes including the new sport of cycle-racing. Thousands used to flock to see these new fangle machines racing in much the same manner as they do today as they flock to see Speedway racing on motor-cycles.

The advent of the Bicycle.

But the advent of the bicycle had more far – reaching effects than the provision of a new and exiting spectacle for the public. It was an entirely new mode of transportation and one so cheap that it came within the means of thousands who could not afford a horse and carriage.

The result of its poularity was to bring an end to those territorial restrictions under which nearly all but the wealthy spent their days. It opened up the age of popular travel and introduced thousands to the delights of the countryside and the freedom of the open road.

In this social revolution Wolverhampton played a leading part.

Henry Clarke Cogent Works Darlington Street.

At one time and another there were no fewer than thirty Wolverhampton firms engaged in the manufacture of bicycles and in in 1900 the industry employed 3.000 men.
The honor of being first in the field (or on the road) with a bicycle was probably Henry Clark In 1868 he founded the ‘Cogent Cycle Company’ in Darlington Street, and was joined by his five sons; Tom, George, William, Jack, and Henry.

The Special Cogent machines apparently sold extremely well.

The The Tiger Inn, Church Street,Wolverhampton.

Talk to anyone about bicycle manufacture in Wolverhampton during the second half of the nineteenth century, and the name Dan Rudge will probably be mentioned. At one time he was the landlord of the Tiger Inn, Church Street and actively associated with the cycle racing at the Molineux.

He was the inventor of “ball-pedals and Rudge bearings and his racing machines became famous.
When Daniel Rudge died in 1880 the business was sold and transferred to Coventry to become the celebrated Rudge Cycle Company.

The 3 Speed Golden Sunbeam.

Perhaps the most famous name of all these pioneers is that of John Marston. Born in Ludlow on leaving school he became apprenticed to Edward Perry, tin plate worker and japanner at Jeddo works.
At the end of his apprenticeship in 1859 he purchased a japanning business at Bilston from Daniel Lester. This venture proved to be a great success, so much so that when Edward Perry died in 1871 John purchased Jeddo Works and returned to business life in Wolverhampton.

With his son in partnership he produced the famous oil-bath gear-case for the Sunbeam Cycle which he manufactured here in Paul Street and whose name was to become synonymous with the higher quality of cycle manufacture.

The Cleveland Road Wolverhampton in 1902.

It was W. S.Lewis an Ironfounder of Cleveland Road, Wolverhampton who first had the idea of making the rim concave, thus enabling a solid rubber tyre to be fitted. In 1888 a belfast veterinary surgeon, John Boyd Dunlop, produced the pneumatic tyre.

But the road to this important development was at least in part, pioneered by the Wulfrunian capacity of inventiveness.