I am delighted to say that Judi Brown contacted is with some photographs of said club.
She also sent this message...
"I am trying to find out whether anyone remembers The Forty Gang, of which my grandfather, Isaac Moores Abbott, was a member. My mother and uncle told me that it comprised a group of Hyde amateur sportsmen who staged events for charity. I am attaching a couple of postcard photos - one inherited and one purchased - depicting The Forty Gang dressed for one of their events. I'm not sure, but think the Gang existed in the early 1900s."
"My grandfather on the photos:-
(1) He is in the centre of the photo, sporting a top hat, standing behind and to the right of the chap wearing a fetching picture hat.
(2) Isaac is on the back row, fourth from the left.
Apparently he was also a very successful bookie's runner, due to the fact that before he suffered from mustard gas poisoning he was a fast sprinter. Unfortunately his army papers were amongst those destroyed but he was a member of the Manchester Regiment and, at some time during WW1, was transferred to the Middlesex Regt, presumably to make up numbers"
We think the photos could have been taken in the Town Yard as Tanner Street runs behind the wall behind the gang!
Thank you so much for sharing these fabulous photos, Judi !
Tanner Street
Old wall from the Town Yard
If that's Tanner Street then the street leading off it which you can see in the top right-hand corner of the photos is Grafton Street. Part of Tanner Street still exists, it's the little stretch of road between Grafton House and the Bangla City. Part of the Town Yard wall still exists at the back of the Bangla City and I'll send you a photo of it. The people in your photos are just about where the motorway slip road passes the back of the Bangla City.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures and info Nancy.. and thank you so much Judi.. I'd heard the Forty Gang mentioned a few times but never new much about them and what they did until recently.
ReplyDeleteI've up dated the post with two pictures from Dave... cheers Dave.