Joseph Bailey - 1895-1916
Joseph Bailey was Derek’s Uncle. He was born on 26 November 1895 in Manchester, and died in Malta on 25 March 1916, aged 20 years and 5 months, and until Derek’s Dad, Albert, died in 1991 we had no knowledge of his existence at all.
We found out about him whilst looking through Albert’s things after his death, and in a small cardboard box we found some tunic buttons, Lance-Corporal’s stripes, a small notebook and pencil, a metal mirror, a miniature set of cricket stumps and a bat (which looked hand-made), and a hand-carved cross and stand. Also amongst Albert’s things, we found a number of post-cards and letters, a photograph, and a will.
From these things, we discovered that Albert had had several brothers and sisters that none of the surviving family were aware of - his only known siblings were Nellie, born 22 October 1893, and Jean, born 10 June 1908. If you click here, you will be able to see that there were a further 5 children in the family, and we would like to tell you Joseph’s story.
Joseph’s birth certificate shows that he was born at 121 Labourer’s Dwellings, Pollard Street, Ancoats, Manchester. This was one of Manchester’s early municipal housing developments, and was situated on Pollard Street, between Munday Street and Carruthers Street, and was also called Granville Place . We understand that the buildings were demolished in the late 1950s. We hope to be able to include a photograph of Granville Place shortly, by kind permission of Manchester Archives & Local Studies, Central Library, St Peter's Square, Manchester M2 5PD, follow this link to see more images.
We know very little about Joe’s early life. We have his Band of Hope Society membership card - he was a member of the Heyrod Street School, Ancoats Branch. His membership number was 99. It shows that he paid a weekly subscription of ½ d per week, indicating that he was under 14 years of age at the time (unfortunately the card is undated). The Hon. Secretary was Mr Albt. Taylor, of 161 Tipping Street; the Treasurer was Mr DE Hartley, of 10 Pitt Street, Ancoats.
The Band of Hope was a Temperance organisation, founded in Leeds in 1847. It encouraged activities for working-class children from the age of 6 to encourage them to avoid alcohol problems. Members ‘signed the Pledge’ - a commitment not to drink alcohol, and activities at the weekly meetings included some religious teaching, ‘magic lantern’ shows, music and choral competitions and organised outings for the children. Follow this link for more information on ‘magic lanterns’.
