Frank Woollatt HOOKINS (Tree A)

80 Andover Street

Frank Woollatt HOOKINS was born on 31 December 1882, the 3rd of 4 children born to John Lyddon HOOKINS, a Minister with the Methodist Church, and his wife Sallie Sophia (nee WOOLLATT).

His birthplace was 80 Andover Street, Brightside in Sheffield.

2 years later however Frank's mother died, possibly as a result of the birth of her 4th child. A further 2 years down the line his father John re-married, this time to Sarah Charnock LUMB. 

By the time of the 1891 Census the family was somewhat fragmented. Father John was lodging with a dental surgeon in Kingston-Upon-Hull, presumably having moved to a different area with the Methodist Church. Frank's step mother Sarah was lodging in Darlington with Frank's eldest sister and his younger step-brother. Another sister was visiting in Helston, whilst Frank aged 8 and his younger brother aged 6 were in Newcastle upon Tyne living as HOOKING with a General Servant and a Nurse Maid at 20 Oxford Street.

21 Prospect Place

Family normality had been resumed in 1891 and the family were back together at 54 Carr Lane, Kingston upon Hull with the exception of Frank who was at 21 Prospect Place in Ashton-under Lyne working as a Warehouse Apprentice in a Glove Department.

In 1910 Frank married Emily May BULLEN in Ashton and the following year they were together at Brooklyn, Wood Moor Lane, Davenport in Stockport living with one servant. Frank is designated as a Commercial Traveller. In 1913 their first child Joan Adelaide was born in Stockport, followed in 1919 by a son Frank Bryan who was born in Helen Bay, Newtownards in Northern Ireland with father Frank still being a Commercial Traveller.

In the 1939 Register Frank and Emily are living at The Croft, Wrigleys Lane in Formby with daughter Joan.

Frank was unfortunately bedridden for the last 10 years of his life. He died on 24 March 1958 when he was living at Oakmead, Horsham Road, Beare Green, Dorking still recorded as being a Commercial Traveller.

Frank had only one employer for the whole of his life which was S & J Watts of Manchester, a very large and prosperous Haberdasher & Linen Wholesaler.

Watts Warehouse Manchester

Watts Warehouse

At its peak, Manchester's cotton industry controlled 65% of the world's trade, amounting to nearly a billion tonnes per year.  Although cotton manufacture only accounted for 18% of the work force (most manufacturing went on in the surrounding Lancashire towns) Manchester grew to become the commercial centre of the trade.  The dominant building was the warehouse for the display of finished goods.  Merchants competed with each other in the opulence of the buildings, employing some of the most famous architects in the country.  The Italian Palazzo style became dominant and the best example is the vast warehouse of S & J Watts, completed in 1856 (Travis & Magnall). The general outline resembles the Fondaco dei Turchi in Venice and each of its six floors is given a different style, ranging from Egyptian, through Italian and French Renaissance to Elizabethan, culminating with four great roof towers lit by rose windows.  A journalist of Freelance magazine commented in 1867, "I am not naturally of a sceptical or suspicious cast of mind. I have eaten sausages and kidney pudding without asking questions but when I was told that this was only a warehouse I felt that it was necessary to draw the line of credulity somewhere".  By a miracle it survived the Manchester blitz of December 1940, when the company's small force of fire fighters, led by Wilf Beckett, fought with sheets and blankets after the water supply failed.  It once more took direct hits in 1941 but Beckett and his band once again saved the day. He was later honoured at Buckingham Palace.  It was converted to the Britannia Hotel in 1980.