Alfred Slater – my grandfather

Alfred Slater was my grandfather. I never knew him; he died before I was born. This is all I know of him including some questions that I haven’t been able to answer. Alfred was born on July 29th, 1897.  There’s an argument that 1897 was just about the worst year to be born in England. Alfred would have been faced with World war 1, then the worst flu epidemic we’ve known followed by a national strike, the Wall St crash precipitating mass unemployment and then Word war 2. 

Tom and Catherine were Alfred’s parents. They already had four children - Sarah (b. 1881), John (b. 1885), Maria (b. 1886) and Thomas (b. 1890). At the time of Alfred’s birth the family were living at 22 Billinge Street, Blackburn. Tom was working as a labourer in a cotton mill. Catherine was the informant of the birth but didn’t sign the certificate; she could only leave her mark.

By 1901 the family had moved to 16 Appleby Street in Blackburn. The town was thriving at this time because of the cotton industry. It’s population had risen from 76,000 in 1871 to 130,000 in 1913. The town was a maze of terraced streets with a cotton mill within walking distance of most of the population. The houses were probably what was called two up, two down ie two rooms upstairs and two downstairs. I’ll leave you to imagine the sleeping arrangements. Tom and Catherine now had a sixth child. Ada had been born in 1900. Tom was working as a window cleaner.

The family were obviously not well off but by the time of the 1911 census they seem to have come upon very hard times. Tom was not living with the family but was an inmate in the workhouse. Catherine, Alfred and young Ada had moved in with Sarah, Alfred’s eldest sibling.  Sarah had married Thomas Feeney. They had two young children of their own. So the household consisted of Thomas, Sarah, Thomas junior (5), Edward Feeney (2), Catherine, Alfred and Ada. They lived in Lawrence Street, Blackburn. Alfred who was 14 by then was working in a cotton mill as a Dobby lattice maker. The school leaving age at that time was 12. Tom died in the workhouse in 1912. The cause of death was acute bronchitis.

War broke out in August 1914. Alfred was just 17, too young to fight. I have been unable to find any information about Alfred’s war service. Most records were destroyed by fire during WW2. I do remember asking my father about what his father did during WW1. All he could tell me was that he had joined up when under age and worked with horses. So not much to go on really.

The next record we have of Alfred is his marriage certificate. He married, Ellen Huntingdon, my grandmother on 15th November, 1919 at our Lady and St Gerard’s Chapel, Tardygate, Walton-le- Dale. Both Alfred and Ellen had been born and brought up in Blackburn but were now living in Penwortham, Preston. Why had they moved to Penwortham? I don’t know.

The priest who married them was Peter Cuthbert Mercer whose name appeared in a letter I found in my father’s belongings.

My father had a photograph of the men who built the grotto at Our Lady’s and St Gerard’s church just after the end of WW1. The area is now known as Lostock Hall. Alfred is not in the photograph; apparently he took it. Selfies were unheard of then.

Accompanying the photograph is an interesting letter to my father from Gregory Swann, the then parish priest of Our Lady’s, dated Dec 18th 1949, just after my grandfather’s death. You can read it on the left.

THe first photograph shows Alfred taken for a wedding, possibly my parents' in 1948. The second photograph is an AI enhanced photograph of him taken from the top photo and. photo of my father when he was in his 20s.