FRED (1877-1944) and FLORENCE SHIRT (1882 - 1946) - SHEFFIELD

The only photograph I've got of Lily's parents (my great-grandparents) was taken outside 55 Manor Oaks Close, Manor, Sheffield circa 1940. My grandmother Lily is third from the left with my mother just in front of her (she was ten at the time) My great grandfather FRED SHIRT is in the centre and my great grandmother FLORENCE is fourth from the right. Fred and Florence were married at *St Georges Church Sheffield (which incidentally is now part of the University of Sheffield) on 9th October 1898. At the time of their marriage Fred was 21 and Florence 2 years younger and were living on St Philips Road in Sheffield. Fred's occupation was given on the marriage certificate as Plate Layer.

The other interesting fact on the certificate is that both Fred and Florence's fathers were dead at the time of the wedding.

• HENRY SHIRT (Fred's father) whose occupation was given as a Printer
• JOSEPH WOOD (Florence's father) whose occupation was given as a Slater

HENRY and JOSEPH were my great great grandfathers

The Shirt Family - Sheffield 1942

The photograph was taken at the wedding of my grandmothers youngest sister FLORENCE IVY SHIRT. (Birth registered in the June quarter of 1920  (GRO reference Sheffield Volume 9C page 1217)The bridegroom was a HAROLD SALT, the son of John Thomas Salt who lived at 27 Spa Lane, Woodhouse, Sheffield. The GRO indexes place the date of the marriage as being in the June quarter of 1942 (GRO reference Sheffield Volume 9C page 1353). The marriage had taken place at St John's Church in the Wybourn district of Sheffield

At the time of the marriage, Harold Salt was employed at the local East Birley Colliery.

On the far left of the photograph is my grandmothers eldest brother HARRY SHIRT. The woman fifth from the right (just behind my great grandmother) is my grandmothers youngest sister NELLIE BOYES (nee SHIRT) who was married to the tall man at the back ALBERT BOYES. 

There is a area of confusion in as much as my grandmother also had an aunt called Nellie (Florence's sister). She married a man called Harry Fountain. I went to their Diamond Wedding celebrations and as far as I'm aware had been married longer than any other couple in my family history.

Sadly IVY SALT died at the relatively young age of 61 on Monday, 8th February 1982. The service and cremation was held a week later at City Road Crematorium in Sheffield. I have no further details of the family   

The 1901 Census gives the following information

Dwelling: 147 St Philips Road Sheffield (GRO Reference RG13/4366 page1)

Derelict Properties on St. Philip's Road and Jericho Street including No. 144, former premises of Arthur Pigott, friutier. The photo is dated 1930

JOSEPH HARRY SHIRT - he was always known as HARRY - was born in the June quarter of 1899 (Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 520)

LILY SHIRT - my maternal grandmother - was born on 2nd January 1901 (Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 557)

In the years following the 1901 Census FRED and FLORENCE SHIRT had a further five children

1. ADA SHIRT was born in the March quarter of 1903 (Ecclesall Bierlow - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 472). My mum's Aunty ADA married an ALBERT HOLROYD  in the June quarter of 1922 (Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 1033) and for many years ran a General Provisions shop in the Attercliffe district. They retired to Greenhill and it was there that ADA had a fatal asthma attack on Sunday 27th November 1966. She was cremated the following Thursday at City Road  Crematorium

2. NELLIE SHIRT was born in the September quarter of 1904 (Ecclesall Bierlow - Sheffield PRO ref Volume 9C Page 445). She married a ALBERT BOYES on Boxing Day 1929. (Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 1244). They celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1979  - an article and photograph appeared in the local press. Their address at the time was given as Waterslack Walk, Woodhouse, Sheffield

3. CHARLES HENRY SHIRT

4. FRED SHIRT was born in Sheffield in the June quarter of 1908. (Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 461). Unlike his brothers and sisters FRED married quite late on in life (September qtr 1946 - Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 2D Page 613). His wife's maiden name was PAGE.  He died on Tuesday May 20th 1975 at his house 5 Hartopp Avenue which is in the Arbourthorne district of Sheffield. (June qtr - Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 3 Page 1204). Fred was interred at City Road Cemetery on Wednesday May 28th 1944. He was 67 years old.  

5. FLORENCE IVY SHIRT - see above

My great grandmother FLORENCE SHIRT (nee WOOD) died at her daughters house 115 Hastilar Road South on the Manor Estate in Sheffield. Her age was given as 64 in the short notice that appeared in the Sheffield Star. The date of death is February 15th but no year is given. Apart from stating that her home address was 55 Manor Oaks Road, the only other information I've got is that the interment would take place the following Wednesday at 12.45p.m. A fellow researcher confirmed that the year of her death was 1946 . (Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page695)

My mother told me that the house where Florence died belonged her daughter Nellie and son-in-law Albert Boyes

Her husband FRED had died two years earlier in 1944 (March quarter - Sheffield - GRO ref Volume 9C Page 568). He was 67 years of age.

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This page was last updated on 31/01/07 10:34

* St Georges Church - Background Information

Following the Battle of Waterloo 1815 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a movement was launched to build new churches in celebration of the victory. The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of the counties that had become very short of places of worship in the rapidly growing industrial towns. A meeting was called at Freemasons' Hall in London on February 6th 1818, chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to form a committee and launch an appeal for funding.

The Church Building Society, as the committee was known, which later appointed Commissioners to run the scheme, lobbied parliament and was successful in that one million pounds was voted through for the building of new churches throughout the United Kingdom. The Church Building Act, in approving the money became known as the "Million Act", hence churches built under the programme became known as "million" churches.

The programme lasted for many years and by 1856 a total of over three million pounds has been raised, resulting in the building of 612 new churches, a tenth of which, 106, were in Yorkshire, mostly in the West Riding. Church building went on under other auspices as well and it's been estimated that between 1831 and 1851 more than 2,000 new churches were built, 

With regard to St Georges  - on 16th July 1817 Archbishop Harcourt consecrated a new burial ground lying between Broad Lane and Portobello, then on the outskirts of Sheffield town. The site, which cost many hundreds of pounds, lay unused until the building of the Church of St George.  St George's was the first church to be built under the "Million Pound" act in Sheffield, at a cost of around £15,000, and was able to accommodate around 2,000 worshipers. The first stone was laid on 19th July 1821 by Thomas Sutton the Vicar of Sheffield on the coronation day of King George IV, hence the name St George. The building work was completed four years later when the church was consecrated. Like many urban churches in Yorkshire the building was declared redundant in 1981, but fortunately the church still stands and is now used by the University of Sheffield as a lecture theatre