The life of a travelling fairground man in Victorian times must have been a hard one. Quite often the same families seem to have  worked on the fairgrounds for several generations, but MARK WHATMORE,  born in 1850 in the township of Pilkington at Radcliffe in Lancashire 7 miles north west of Manchester, was the first of his line to do so.

Mark’s father was George Whatmore, baptised 21 June 1807 at Ringley, Farnworth. He worked as a Dyer and married  Catherine Connor on 8 April 1849 at St Mary’s, Prestwich. Catherine was born in Manchester about 1808 and who died between 1851 and 1861. Mark had a half sister called Susannah Connor who was born about 1842 at Kearsley, so Catherine may have been a widow when she married George.

Mark’s grandparents were a George Watmough who married an Alice – probably Alice Morris married on 2 Jan 1803 at Deane by Bolton.  

It is interesting to note that even within Lancashire – the Watmough spelling was capable of changing to Watmore or Whatmore during the nineteenth century. 

Mark was at home at Radcliffe at the time of the 1851 census. He was still at home aged 11 at the time of the 1861 census and employed as a cotton spinner. In 1871 he was lodging at Radcliffe with his half sister Susannah and working as a coal miner. 

In 1874 Mark married Alice Sixsmith in the Bury Registration District. In 1881 they were living at Radcliffe and Mark was employed as a general labourer.  By 1891 Mark had joined a travelling fair and in 1891 they were living (presumably in a horse drawn caravan) on spare ground facing Kay Street, Ashton Road in Openshaw and in charge of a ‘steam horse’ – presumably a steam carousel.

 The fair, which must have been quite a small one, consisted according the census of an Aunt Sally, three Shooting Galleries, three Steam Horses, a Toy Stall, a Photographer and – surprisingly – a Fine Art Exhibition.  

Alice died in 1900 and in the 1901 census Mark is shown as a widower at the Queens Road Fairground, Harpurhey, Manchester, running a coconut shy.

 shy.jpg

This wonderful photograph was taken in 1886 at Wirksworth in Derbyshire by Elizabeth Wright who married William Nowell-Usticke at Wirksworth in 1889. Copyright: Brenda Pearson and reproduced her by her kind permission.

To see further pictures from Elizabeth Wright’s photograph album, please follow this link: http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/B67-ALBM.htm

There was a Whatmore listed under ‘other amusements’ at the Hull fairground in 1914 and this may have been Mark or one of his sons. Mark died in the Sheffield Registration District in 1918. 

The known children of Mark and Alice, all born at Radcliffe, were Ellen 1874, Alfred 1878 Ernest 1880, Catherine 1881, Walter 1884 and Thomas 1888.

 radcliffe-church.jpg Radcliffe Parish Church  Copyright: Alexander P Knapp   Phtograph from the Geograph website and reproduced here under the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 

Ellen married an Horatio Manders on 5 Feb 1908 at St Matthews Methodist church in the Chorlton Registration District. They had several children.  Alfred married Margaret Mather in 1900 in Bury Registration District. In 1901 they were at Harpurhey and Alfred was employed as a travelling showman. Their known children were Alice born 1901 in Manchester who married  Joseph Harrison, Alfred born 16 October 1903 at Blackburn who married Alice Holland in 1925, Ernie, Tommy and Walter If anyone knows any more about Mark Whatmore and his family I would be grateful if they could please contact me at rhyswhatmore@btinternet.com  Many thanks.