Some wartime memories about the Hanson family of Salford, Lancashire

Introduction

In August 2005, a BBC “People’s War” researcher called Mrs Chris Burney (User ID U1889249) contacted me via the “People’s War” website following accounts I had posted on behalf of two of my personal friends, Annie and Steve Ferguson (Article Reference IDs A3633725 and A3633761). Chris was mainly seeking further information about her husband George’s family who had originally lived in my hometown of Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria).

Although I did not know George or Chris before they made contact via the “People’s War” forum, I found out that George is in fact one of my distant relatives! After confirming with Chris and George a few details about George’s parents and grandparents I realised that George’s Great Grandmother, Mary Burney (née Cunningham), was an elder sister of my paternal Grandmother Agnes Ritson (née Cunningham).

Another coincidence was that Chris was born towards the end of World War Two in Salford, Lancashire (near Manchester). As my first full-time university had been the University of Salford, I knew some of the places where Chris’s family had lived. Of course, when I was a student in the Salford / Manchester area there had been many changes since the war years. Nevertheless, it was strange that Chris, George and myself had so much in common although we had never met before!

I have written a separate article about George’s relatives during the Second World War. This article concentrates on what Chris told me about her own relatives during the war years. I have written Chris’s account using her own words as closely as possible. Chris fully understands the terms of the “People’s War” website.

How I came to be born in Salford

“All my ancestors lived in Salford. My paternal grandparents were Henry and Elizabeth Hanson (née Robinson). They had married in 1912 and had two children: Lilian, born in 1914, and my father Joseph Henry, born in 1917. My maternal grandparents were John Henry and Matilda Georgina Brierley (née Crisp). They had married on 18th June 1899 and they had five children: Lilian, John, William, Leonard, and 10 years after Leonard, my mother Elsie Elizabeth was born in 1917.

During the Second World War my father worked at Metropolitan Vickers. So he was not called up for duty to the Forces as he was a skilled toolmaker and was needed for the war effort. My parents, Elsie Elizabeth Brierley and Joseph Henry Hanson had a wartime wedding. They were married at St. Thomas's Church, Pendleton, Salford on 17th January 1942. They then went on to have two children: my elder brother Colin Henry Hanson, born on 14th January 1943, and myself, Christine Elizabeth Hanson born on 5th December 1944.

When they married, my parents lived with my maternal grandfather John Brierley. By this time he was a widower because my Grandmother Brierley had died in 1934 when my Mum was 17. For the rest of the war, they lived at 35, Croft Street, Pendleton, Salford which is just off Broad Street, Salford and opposite Brunswick Methodist Church. The church is still there although the houses where my family lived at that time were pulled down in 1955 to make room for some flats that are there now. We later moved to Sale in Cheshire, my maternal grandfather having died in 1946. So, that is how I came to be born in Salford towards the end of the Second World War.

Remembering wartime events

Because I was only born at the end of the war, I don’t personally remember the war years. I do remember what my mother told me about the war when I was growing up and I can remember going to Remembrance Services and how important these were to everyone who remembered the war.

Salford and Manchester suffered a lot of German bombing during the war. My Mum used to say she had a terrible job trying to get my grandfather to go into the Air Raid Shelter. He used to say:
‘‘The Jerries are not turning me out of my home!’’.

So, he used to stay under the stairs. In fact I think towards the end of the bombing my Mum used to stay there as well, because my Dad was an ARP and he was never with them when the raids were on. Although my Dad worked at Metropolitan Vickers he had to do Civil Defence duties as well.

Although my Dad was at home during the war, two of my Mum’s brothers were away in the Forces. These were William Brierley and Leonard Brierley. Luckily, they both survived the war and came back home. When the war was over and my Mum knew everybody was safe she went to Church and thanked God that everyone in her family were safe.

One thing I do remember a few years after the war was going to a Remembrance Service at Christ Church, near The Crescent, Salford, which is very close to Salford University. During the service my Uncle Leonard was the lone bugler playing "The Last Post". It was very moving’’.

Conclusion

People in West Cumbria generally use the term ‘craic’ (or crack’) to describe a chat with good friends. So, although I only met with Chris and George for a short time during their visit to Cumbria in 2005, we did have a good ‘craic’! Obviously, most of the conversation was about George’s Whitehaven relatives and therefore not relevant for this particular article.

However, it was very interesting to learn a little about Chris’s family during the war years, especially as it was in an area I had lived for a time as a student. I would like to thank Chris for sharing these memories and allowing me to write this article.

I have written a previous article for the BBC ‘‘People’s War’’ project about Salford and Manchester (Article Reference ID A4248542). I am pleased that Chris has given me the opportunity to write a second article about an area I got to know well some years after the war had ended. Thank you very much, Chris!

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.