Liverpool Working Lives: One Family's Story

I have been researching my husband's family who lived in Liverpool for over 200 years. I have explored some of their personal stories.But what of their working lives? From photographs, documents and census returns, I have been able to look into how they earned their living and what links there were to the city of Liverpool.

Joe Vernon Smith was my husband's grandfather. Joe served with the King's Liverpool Regiment in the Great War, but before this, he worked for his father, Joseph McDougall Smith. Joseph owned a Varnishmaking factory based around the docks in Liverpool, a trade that was important in shipping and of course in a thriving area at this time.  . I have a photograph that I believe shows Joseph, his son Joe and possibly one of his other sons. We are very lucky to have a photo showing them at work!

"Old Joe" as he was known is centre. 

I think Joe is on the right.

 

After the Great War Joe returned for a while to his position in his father's company. Sorting through the huge archive of documents my mother in law left us when she died I discovered that Joe and his father  worked on the building of The Kop in 1927. Joseph's father owned the company but  I’m sure Joe would have done much of the hard graft! I discovered the name of the Company because I found a letter on headed paper giving a reference to Joe when he headed for America..

 

 

 

From the Liverpool Echo March 1927

“If you inquire of George Patterson, the secretary to the club, he will tell you that the “Spion Kop” at Anfield has, since its inception, been particularly devoid of comfort on a wet day."

And so, it was decided to add a roof..

 "With the exception of the roof trusses and the four stanchions in the terracing, all of which will, however, be painted with selected local bitumastic rust-proof paint from the Mersey Varnish Company, Bootle, the remainder of the steel is completely buried in the concrete casings.”

My husband has been a Liverpool fan for decades and for all those years, standing and seated on the Kop, my husband stood beneath the very roof his grandad worked on!

Daniel McDougall Smith

Daniel was born on 26th May 1888, one of four sons born to Joseph McDougall Smith and Fanny Vernon. Unlike two of his brothers, Daniel stayed in Liverpool but unlike Joe, he did not work for his father's varnish making company. He was a cook, who progressed to "chief cook" by the time of the 1911 census and also gives his occupation as that "rotisseur" who is the chef responsible for all spit-roasted, oven roasted, grilled and in some cases fried foods. He worked on the Lusitania until early 1915. Sadly, he joined the merchant navy and died when the ship he was on (the Bayano) was torpedoed in March 1915. He was married to Dorothy Alice Leigh. There were no children and she never remarried.

 

 

 

 This photo is of all the cooks on board the Lusitania.

He was noted to be "chief cook", presumably there were several

 

 

Postcard sent to his family from New York

Henry Banks Rich  

Was  my husband's great grandfather. I have recently blogged about him. He was a shipwright, as were his father and his father's father. A great tradition and very much linked to the port of Liverpool.

 Henry at work

 

 

Henry was a member of the Shipwright Association 

 

Henry's Daughters, Lilian, Doris and Grace 

 

They all worked at some stage before they married. Sarah, the eldest (my husband's grandmother and Joe's wife) carried out domestic duties at home and at one stage had her father, four sisters and a brother to look after. They lived in a small terrace house. It must have been a very hard life.

I have found a photograph of Lilian and Doris, standing outside of a shop. I was thrilled to find that in the 1921 census, Lilian actually gives the name of the shop, because she describes herself as a shop assistant and puts the name of the shop as S & J Wallace. I have found the shop in a Trade Directory, and it was a grocers and provisional store.

 

Doris left and Lillie

 

 

Lillie also worked as a nurse. 

I cannot find any records, so I think she worked

in an unregistered capacity.

Catherine Grace  

Catherine (knows as "Gracie) was Henry's youngest daughter. Born in 1906, her mother died when she was 4.

 

 

 

Grace and her family lived at number 12 Cowley Road

for most of her childhood.

I think this is Grace standing outside that address 

(There is a helpful No. 12 visible!)

 

We know that Grace worked as a milliner - before she married I found her in a city directory as working from a shop in Cherry Avenue, Walton. Grace lived to be 112 and became the oldest person in Britain for a while. She mentions working as a milliner and owning a shop. When she married, she gave up working outside of the home.

These two families are an excellent illustration of working life in Liverpool in the late 1800s and early 20c. Trades associated to shipping, working on the big liners and women working outside of the home. The family were exceptionally close - we have 100s of photos of them and very many of them in a group - on holiday, days out or weddings. A wonderful example of a close family who worked hard to keep their families together. I will end with some of these photos!

 

 

This photo shows most of the family. 

All four sisters are there - (one is the bride!)

Also here are Joe next to his wife and holding his baby son

"Old Joe" and Henry stand at the back. 

1920

A few more family photos.

 

 

I love this one. Lillie, Sarah and Doris are here, along with Sarah's

two brothers in law. I love Sarah and Doris's outfits!

What seems a truly happy, family day out.

 

Sarah, "Gracie" and Lillie with various children and

Doris's husband.