KNOWSLEY ARK: Bringing history alive

Photographs can provide us with a powerful record of life from Victorian times to the present.

There are thousands of photographs in the archive collections, offering us a window into the past and recording for posterity key events in Knowsley’s history, from a grainy view of Huyton Railway Station in1860 and the harrowing images of bomb damage caused in the Blitz of 1941, through to events taking place in our own communities today.

One early 20th century, black and white photograph from the photographic archive features a splendid Victorian villa on Archway Road, Huyton. This property, Croft House (now demolished) was built during the construction boom in the years following the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway in 1830.

The ease of commute from Huyton into Liverpool meant that the rising merchant and professional classes could afford to live in the countryside and travel back into the city to work.  

Croft House appears on William Wrennall’s map of the area, drawn up in 1878 – but what can we find out about the people who lived there?

The 1911 census reveals that the householder at that time was a widow called Sarah Blain.

Aged 66, she was living with three of her unmarried, adult children – William, a book keeper aged 44, Laura, aged 42 and Edward, aged 39 and also a book keeper – and her 86 year old widowed mother, Mary Davies, supported by Margaret Smith, a 19-year-old domestic servant.

According to the particulars as to marriage, Sarah had been married for 45 years and had borne a total of six children. Obviously a lady of means, how did Sarah come to be the householder and where were her remaining children?

Using a range of resources in the archive, it has been possible to trace the fascinating history of this family.

The 1901 census gives us a broader view of the Blains. At this point, Sarah’s husband, William Hughes Blain, is still very much alive. Aged 58, he is recorded as being a cabinet maker and employer; all of the surviving children are at home, with Ernest, aged 31 and a salesman, and Arthur, an 18-year-old cabinet maker’s apprentice, completing the family. Where were they in 1911?

Researching the marriage and census records reveals that Ernest began married life at St Chrysostom’s, Everton, with Florence Beatrice Morris in January 1904 and Arthur, now a cabinet maker and upholsterer, had set up home at The Hollies, Westmoreland Road, with his wife, Flora.

Sadly, the civil registration death index reveals that William Hughes Blain died in 1909, leaving Sarah a widow until her passing in 1916.

William Hughes Blain was born in 1842, the son of Arbuthnot (Arthur) and Laura Blain of King Street, Edge Hill. His baptism took place on 22nd September 1842 at St David’s Church and the register notes that Artbuthnot was also a cabinet maker. By 1851, the family had moved to Garden Lodge on Tarbuck Road; the census records that Artbuthnot was born in Donegal, Ireland.

Census records from 1861 reveal that the Blains moved to Wheathill Farm in the township of Roby and, aged 18, William Hughes was taking after his father, carrying out the trade of cabinet maker.

William Hughes and Sarah Davies married in1865 and a year later, in 1866, William Artbuthnot was born. Bishops’ transcripts tell us that his baptism took place at Huyton Church, with the ceremony performed by the Reverend Ellis Ashton.  

Laura, Ernest and Edward followed, and in 1871, the family was resident at Poplar Bank, Huyton.

By 1881, the Blains had moved into Croft House on Archway Road, establishing a family home which would greet the arrival of Arthur in 1883.

How did the family support their comfortable lifestyle, in a beautiful, modern house with extensive grounds and staffed by servants?

The answer to this question can be found in the trade that was carried out by Artbuthnot, his father before him, his son William Hughes and grandson Arthur.

From around 1835, Artbuthnot, or Arthur as he was known, was crafting high quality furniture in Liverpool, establishing a warehouse at 35 Paradise Street in a business that had been started by his own father in 1796.

The firm also worked for Cammell Laird, furnishing the cabins for the screw sloop-of-war, CSS Alabama, which launched from Birkenhead in 1862.  Artbuthnot died in 1868, at which point William Hughes took over the reins of the family business.

His sons all worked in the enterprise, as clerks, book keepers, salesmen and of course, Arthur the youngest son carried on the trade of cabinet maker.

The Liverpool electoral registers (held at Liverpool Archives) and the electoral registers and Gore’s Directories held in Knowsley Archives show us that the business had expanded, operating out of several properties in the city during the latter part of the century.

These properties included an upholstery and carpet warehouse at 35 Paradise Street, a workshop at 28 Atherton Street, stables and a timber yard at Elizabeth Street and workshops on School Lane.

Following William Hughes’ death in 1909, Arthur continued at the helm, with the final entry in the Gore’s Directory for the company being made in 1926.

This listing shows the scope and diversity of the business, which at this time occupied a number of sites, having its offices at 15 Victoria Street, works at 28 Atherton Street, King Street Lane and 22 College Lane: ‘A. Blain & Son, cabinet makers, house & ship upholsterers, French polishers, decorators, furniture removers, office and ship fitters and linoleum and carpet warehousemen, army & navy contractors’

Incredibly, this story of a house and the business that, over 130 years, supported four generations of the family that lived there, has grown from a single photograph.

As we continue to record our lives and experiences through the medium of photography, creating our own digital archives through social media platforms, we can only wonder at the stories that our images will tell…

KNOWSLEY ARK: Bringing history alive

Voices from the past

One of the most evocative ways of sharing information about a community’s past is through the medium of oral history.  

Storytelling is the most ancient form of sharing personal experiences, deeply embedded in many cultures as a way of communicating important information and of preserving community identity.

The folk tradition ensured that this identity was maintained, defining tales being passed down through the generations as a shared wisdom.

Oral traditions, however, were eclipsed by the written historic account which became the accepted recorded history.

It wasn’t until the latter half of the 20th century, with the formation of the Oral History Society and technical advancements in sound recording, that interest in the validity of the spoken word and its impact on our understanding of historic events began to gain credence.  

Oral history is important because it gives a voice to the ordinary person, as both observer of and participant in events, regardless of gender, social class, race or disability.

The recordings differ from reminiscences in that they are more focused and deal with first hand experiences examined through specific themes, the dialogue prompted by an experienced interviewer who guides the subject (or narrator) through their memories to provide a structured, coherent record of that person’s very personal experiences.

Oral history can present that person’s perspective of events in a way that is far more powerful than the printed word alone: it captures emotion and tone; it reveals dialect in a way that print simply can’t.

Importantly, it makes an emotional, personal connection between the listener and the narrator that is both absorbing and intense.

The oral history collection in The ARK records many aspects of the socio-economic, political and cultural life of the borough, from childhood recollections and Lancashire dialect recordings, through to memories of wartime Huyton and the rapid social change experienced in Kirkby from the 1940s onwards, to the accounts of politicians and activists from across the political divides.

The collection can be divided quite neatly into two parts, roughly based on when – and how – the recordings were made.

The analogue collection features cassette recordings made during the 1970s and the 1990s using basic equipment. These have now been converted to digital format to enable access to the recordings.

The digital collection, initiated through support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is now in development, and includes the ‘Talking Kirkby’ project interviews from 2015, which feature memories of Kirkby from the 1940s to 1970, and the ‘Huyton Camps’ project of 2016, which recalls the Internment, Prisoner of War and United States Army Transit camps operational in Huyton during and just after the Second World War.

Delving into the analogue collection, made primarily in the 1970s and later the 1990s, reveals a broad selection of recordings recalling memories of 20th century life.

Interestingly, many of the speakers share a Lancastrian accent, common at the time before the full integration of the Scouse accent.

In particular, the voice of Alice Wharton, who was born in 1907 and recorded in 1998, evokes a gentler pace of life, when early 20th century Kirkby was a truly agricultural village. She speaks eloquently of the harshness of farming life.

The teamsmen would have to get up at 3am to feed and harness the horses, load the wagons with produce such as potatoes and travel into Cazeneau Street Market, Liverpool in time to sell their wares.

Once empty, the men would load the wagons up with manure from the cow keepers in the city centre, to be carted back to Kirkby to be spread on the fields as fertiliser. She also talks about ‘bagging time’ – break time for the farm workers who would take a short rest and a snack whilst feeding the farm horses their nose bags – hence ‘bagging time’.

Other childhood memories are related by Mrs Winifred Wallace of Cronton. Born in 1896, she remembers with wonder trips into Liverpool and to Widnes by horse-drawn cab for the Christmas pantomime, in an interview recorded in 1978.

There are numerous recordings of past local councillors and former Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Sir Harold Wilson KG, features a number of times, recorded in conversation with Tom Scragg and Bill Lund in 1977 as well as in interviews originally broadcast by Radio Merseyside.

The Second World War is covered from several different perspectives.

In an interview with Tom Scragg recorded in 1978, Mr Lyde talks about his ARP duties in Huyton during WW2 and vividly describes a direct bomb hit.

More eyewitness accounts were recorded digitally as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund supported ‘Huyton Camps’ project in 2016, when we were fortunate to be able to interview Dr John Goldsmith, a former internee at Huyton Internment Camp 009 and Erich Kirste, the last remaining German Prisoner of War from the King George V Playing Fields Camp to have remained in Huyton, as well as local residents who remembered the events of the time.

Here we see the beauty of oral history and how it gives a voice to those individuals who would not normally be able to contribute to the historical record: each was present, each has a different – and equally valid – point of view that serves to add depth and texture to the official information that is held on events set in a very specific space and time.  

The process for recording oral history involves careful training of the staff and volunteers, who understand the sensitivities that surround the rendering of such personal testimonies and making them available to researchers.

Recordings are securely held, by permission of the narrator, in WAV format (the most flexible, time-proof format) and each recording is fully documented according to British Library guidelines.

In line with copyright restrictions and the wishes of the individual involved, recordings can then be made available for researchers to listen to. There are some excerpts from the archive available online via the ARK’s Soundcloud page. Find them at https://soundcloud.com/knowsleyarchives – or drop in to the ARK in the Kirkby Centre to browse the collection.
 You can visit the ARK at the Kirkby Centre, Norwich Way, Kirkby, L32 8XY.

For more information about the ARK or to find out about the services on offer, call 0151 443 4365 or email infoheritage@knowsley.gov.uk.

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