Beaumont Street was the street where my great, great grandfather William Siddall died in 1887. William was born 64yrs earlier in Middlewich Cheshire, and was one of six children. His father, whom William was named after, had been born in Middlewich in 1791, and was now an agricultural labourer in Kinderton, nr Middlewich, though he had served as a soldier prior to William's birth in 1823.  During the course of his upbringing in Middlewich, young William served an apprenticeship as a cordwainer (shoemaker) and at about the age of 18yrs of age he left his parents home and set out in the direction of Manchester - arriving in Ardwick in 1842.

In Ardwick, he met and married a Bolton born girl by the name of Harriet Sharples.  Edward Sharples, Harriet's father, was a Spindle & Flymaker and it wasn't too long before he got William fixed up in the same trade, a trade to which William would devote the rest of his life. Twenty years on and nine children later, William and Harriet took up residence in Beaumont street, where they settled in at number 48, just a few doors away from their son, George, and his wife, Mary Jane. In the month of March, 1887, William was taken ill with Bronchitis and was moved to George's house at number 40. But no amount of care or nursing would save him now and on March, 7th 1887, William Siddall passed away.

Son George, who had followed his father into the same trade as a Spindle and Flymaker, was born in Newton Heath in 1861, the seventh child in a family of nine. In 1884, George married Mary Jane McCartney, and just two years later they had a son, who they named George after his father.  In 1888, Mary was born, followed in 1890 by another son, Edward. 

George Siddall was, amongst other things, an Orangeman, and took part in large-scale fights between the Orange Brigade and the Irish Catholics that were ongoing in Ancoats in the late 1880s.  Shortly after the death of his father, George and Mary Jane moved from Beswick to Ancoats, where they settled in at number 18 Canning Street. George, it appears, was another of the Siddall's who liked a pint or two, but maybe to a greater extent than most. On George's pay days for instance, Mary Jane would have to make her weekly visit to the pub to get some money off George before it all went on beer. Every evening, George's path from work would take the same route - straight to the nearest pub. Once there he would stay all evening until kicking out time and would roll home every night, blind drunk.

After the birth of his third child in 1890, George was in his sick bed suffering from another common ailment of those days - Tuberculosis. In those days T.B was deadly, as the medical profession had not yet found a cure for it and on May 4th, 1891, George Siddall’s life slipped away from him.   Mary Jane was present at the death of her husband, along with the Doctor, who recorded the cause of death as Phthisis - the old name for Tuberculosis. George's life had been terminated just six weeks after his 30th birthday. Mary Jane was now left with three very young children to feed and clothe from her own resources. To enable her to do this she went into service as a cleaner and one way or the other managed to bring the three youngsters through their lives and on to adulthood.

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