Email your story and photograph to Liverpoolpicturebook@ymail.com
Updated 25th July 2015
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This story is brought to us courtesy of Mary Railton-Crowder, who originally posted this article on the 'Liverpool Picturebook' Facebook page, under the heading "a press cutting from when my Grandfather James Railton retired from Bibbys in Liverpool"....
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I read the story and found it so interesting that I contacted Mary and asked her for some additional information, she was kind enough to send me the following:-
With grateful thanks to Mary Railton-Crowder.
The update today is not so much a story, as a story in photographs. Ian G Craig was a student in Liverpool in the early seventies and during his time here took some photographs. Ian was kind enough to send them to me and I was really grateful to him for this. There must be thousands of images out there in peoples private collections that we will never see, so it is fantastic when someone like Ian shares his photographs as they are sure to bring back memories for many others.
(Click on the image to view full size in Lightbox TM
I read the story and found it so interesting that I contacted Mary and asked her for some additional information, she was kind enough to send me the following:-
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| James Railton |
James Arthur
Railton was born 11th July 1886 at 57, Creswick Street,
Liverpool., the youngest child of Edward Railton and Sarah Ann Railton nee
Brunt. The family had moved only a few
years earlier from one of Liverpool’s slum courts. James attended Old Church Boys School. His home life was not a happy one. His
relationship with his parents was so bad that, in 1906, he left Liverpool and took
a ship to South America. He was able to do this as his eldest sister, Francis,
had lent him the money for his passage. He disembarked at the Welsh trading
settlement of Port Madryn in the Argentine where he worked as a clerk. He would
later tell stories of how rough life was there and how he always slept with a
pistol under his pillow. Eventually his sister wrote to tell him that his
parents had died prompting him to immediately return home to Liverpool.
On his return home from South America James took lodgings
with Sydney Jones, a dressmaker of Welsh descent at her home in Wheatland Lane,
Seacombe. He found employment at J Bibby & Sons the cattle food
manufacturer. Bibbys was the company who
employed most of James’s relations in Liverpool. Three years later James married Sydney’s
daughter, Caroline and over the next few years he had 3 sons and a daughter.
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| James Railton WW1 |
Life
with family and children were to be interrupted by the outbreak of the First
World War. James volunteered and joined the Cheshire Regiment. Through all of his service, other than at
times of action, he kept a diary of the routine of daily military life. Action was in the, now largely forgotten,
campaign in Mesopotamia, the modern day Iraq, against the German allies the
Turks. Conditions in Mesopotamia defied description.
Extremes of temperature of up to 120 degrees F were common which together with
a desert that was alternatively arid and flooded, flies, mosquitoes and other
vermin all led to appalling levels of sickness and death through disease. At night the temperature was below freezing
with snow on the ground. Under these incredible conditions, units fell
short of officers and men. Medical arrangements were minimal, with wounded men
spending up to two weeks on boats before reaching any kind of hospital. As a
result as many men died of sickness as from enemy action and James caught
malaria.
On his return from the war James returned to Bibbys
eventually becoming manager of their warehouse at Wellington Dock where he was to
stay until his retirement in 1951.
James died in December 1952 at
the age of 66 years.
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| James and Caroline Railton |
_____________________________________________________
Do you have a family story you would like to share?
email Liverpoolpicturebook@ymail.com
The update today is not so much a story, as a story in photographs. Ian G Craig was a student in Liverpool in the early seventies and during his time here took some photographs. Ian was kind enough to send them to me and I was really grateful to him for this. There must be thousands of images out there in peoples private collections that we will never see, so it is fantastic when someone like Ian shares his photographs as they are sure to bring back memories for many others.
If you have photographs in your collection you would like to share email them to Liverpoolpicturebook@ymail.com
Click on any image to view them all in 'Lightbox (TM)
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| Cafe Prescot Road, kensington, Liverpool 1972 |
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| F C Wilde, Prescot Road 1972 |
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| From the entrance to Gambier terrace 1971 |
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| Hope Street view from art college 1972 |
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| Low Hill 1971 |
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| Shop on Prescot Road 1972 |
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| Sunset view from upper duke street sunset |
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| View from Canning St 1972 |
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| View from Gladstone House chapel 1970 |
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| View from Upper Duke street |
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| 29 Upper Duke Street 1974 |
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| Anglican Cathedral 1972 |
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| Newsagent prescot road Kensington liverpool 1972 With thanks to Ian G Craig |
Liverpool PALS
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| George Spencer Ferguson |
The men formed the Liverpool Pals
battalions and were recruited by Lord Derby to answer Lord Kitchener's appeal
for voluntary recruits. The battalions formed part of the King's
Liverpool Regiment and came mostly from the commercial classes.
Here is a story, with photographs from ‘Liverpool
Picturebook’ viewer, Peter Ferguson…
The photographs that follow, from 1914-15 are taken from an
album belonging to my great uncle, George Spencer Ferguson from West Derby. George
appears in most of the pictures:
They show his training with the first of
the Liverpool Pals (the 17th Battalion Kings (Liverpool) Regiment). “This
should be a battalion of Pals, a battalion in which friends from the same
office will fight shoulder to shoulder for the honour of Britain and the credit
of Liverpool” (from Lord Derby’s recruiting speech).
George enlisted in September 1914. The numbers enlisting outstripped the
resources to train them, and accommodation was found for the 17th at
the old watch factory in Prescot (currently being demolished) where some of the
group photos were taken. From here, they
marched daily to their training ground at Knowsley Hall, seat of their sponsor
Lord Derby. With few weapons (100 old fashioned rifles per 1000 men for the
first few months), they practiced digging trenches (helping to landscape
Knowsley by improving the sightlines from the house to the lake).
Eventually, on April 30th 1915 the
Pals battalions were transferred to Belton Camp in Grantham to complete their
training. Pathé filmed the march to
Prescot Railway station (available on the web via the Prescot Role of Honourwebsite: . The current Lord Derby is
unveiling a memorial at the station on April 25th 2015.
However, George left the Pals in September,
before their eventual arrival in France. As a trained chemist, he was
transferred to one of the chemical weapons battalions of the Royal Engineers
where he served for the remainder of the war.
More photos on Flickr.
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| George Spencer Ferguson |
Also from Peter
This photograph of a group of nurses is believed to be a photo of a hospital/orphanage that a nurse in the family was with before or after she served with an army hospital in Egypt in 1917 as part of the Voluntary Aid Detachment
With thanks to Peter Ferguson for his contribution to the website:
Dennis and Margaret Francis wedding 1966 at St John the Baptist church
One of the great pleasures of running a site like Liverpool
Picturebook is not only being able to share past memories but encouraging
others to share their past. Some time ago I added a ‘Your Stories’ section to
the website to encourage people to share their photographs and memories. Today
I am very pleased to be able to add a video sent to me by Clare Fofana (Nee
Francis). Clare says:
“I have
attached a family video that I think you may be interested in for your site.
Dennis
& Margaret Francis wedding 1966 at St John the Baptist church, The Dingle,
Liverpool (Steble Street).
My
great grandma (Ganny), Mary Jane Clare and Grandad, Charles Francis are in the
film. They are the small Indian guy in the flat cap and the small white haired
lady with the fur collar (58 seconds in). They were the aunt and uncle of the
groom.
When
growing up, Ganny lived at 37 Pitt Street and Grandad at 20 Frederick Street.
They were married at St. Peter's church (now Alma de Cuba) on 27th October 1917.
Constable John Arrowsmith Storey
I have said many times that one of the great things about
running a local history website, is the information that comes from the people
who use the site.
A lady recently posted a photograph on my ‘Liverpool
Picturebook, Facebook page of her Great Grandfather, who was a Police Officer
with both Lancashire Constabulary and Liverpool City Police, I contacted her to
see what further information she could supply and was delighted to find that,
not only did she have more photographs, but also the discharge certificates
issued to her Great Grandfather, by both the forces he served with.
She says:
“My grandfather was John Arrowsmith Storey, born 1860 in Shildon,
County Durham.
He was a police constable (1090) with the Lancashire
Constabulary between 1881 and 1883.
At the time of his marriage at Holy Trinity, Wavertree in
March 1883, his profession was a tram conductor. However, he then served with the
Liverpool constabulary from 1883 to 1909, when he retired.
Perhaps, the tram conductor role was to fill in between the
different police forces. John died in 1922 in Liverpool and is buried in
Allerton cemetery”.
This story is from Lyn Matthews.....
This is a picture of my great, great, great uncle David Johnson. He was one of four children born to Emma and John Johnson who moved to Waterloo in the mid 1800's from Renshaw Street, Liverpool when they married. John Johnson had taken up a position as head coachman for Squire Houghton and they were given a lodge house on his estate, N Sandheys Lodge, Crosby Road. Their children, Emma, Margret Anne, David & George, all were born in Sandheys Lodge. My great Grandmother, Emma Camden, lived with her grandparents in the lodge after being sent there when her mother Margret was having her second child. She refused to go back to her parents and remained with her grandparents until she married. The family remained in the lodge house following the death of John but were later forced to move out for it to be demolished to make way for Victoria Park. David and George Johnson eventually went to live with my great grandmother in Corona Road Waterloo.
This is the house my great grandmother used to peer through the window of when they had balls there. She told me of the long drive, and there it is.
Adam Costello sent this photograph
My Great-great Uncle John T Costello
The Kings (Liverpool Regiment)
There were eight John Costello's in The Kings during the
time this was taken - only one had a rank - he was a Corporal:
John T Costello.
He sailed to France on the 12th of March 1915.
He was later transferred to the Labour Corps - this was made
up of those declared "unfit for front-line service", often due to
being wounded.
He was discharged on 24th of February 1919.
Thanks to Paul McCormick, archivist of The Loyal Regiment
(North Lancashire) for finding this out for me.
