On Monday 7th July 1913, a postcard with an image of St Matthews's, Little Lever was written and posted by somebody who signed themselves as S.A.T. Their message advised that they had returned home safe and sound on Saturday evening, after what seems to have been a visit to the recipient.
The postcard was was stamped by the postal worker at Radcliffe at 8.45pm that evening, and will have been received within a day or two by its recipient - Miss Bowman at Rivington View, Heath Charnock, Lancashire. Who were Miss Bowman and S.A.T?
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| Image credit Kim Hunter |
"Monday 7/7/13. I arrived home all safe & sound on Saturday Eve at ten minutes to nine {?} my hubby had gon to Prestwich Show he called at 29 Clifton Rd & had tea with them. hoping this will find you & all the others quiteamwell am A I to day SAT"
The sender and recipient were sisters. S.A.T. was Sarah Ann Taylor (born Bowman), and she was writing to Emma Bowman, who lived with another sister and her family at Rivington View, Heath Charnock. Given its order in census enumerations, and the fact that there were six households of this name, it's likely that Rivington View was this row of houses here, not far from the Bay Horse.
Sarah Ann had been born in Cumberland in about 1860. Her father had died when she was only a few years old. At some point in her childhood, Sarah Ann and family moved to Heath Charnock, Lancashire where her widowed mother gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Emma, on 06 June 1871.
Their mother died in early 1879, when Emma was still a child. Their eldest sister married later on that year, and both girls went to live with her at Pilkington Brow, Heath Charnock. Sarah Ann worked as a cotton weaver, and it appears that Emma did the same after she finished school.
In 1890, Sarah Ann married William Taylor at St Paul’s, Adlington. After their marriage, the couple lived on Babylon Lane, Anderton, before moving to 12 James Street, Little Lever prior to 1911. William worked as a cashier and bookkeeper for a cotton factory. Emma remained living with her sister, brother-in-law, and their children, and by 1911 they were living at Rivington View.
Sarah Ann's message mentions that William had been to Prestwich Show - the Prestwich and District Agricultural Society's annual show which was held at Heaton Park, where local persons and companies could enter their animals, such as horses and dogs, to the show. On William's way home, he had called at had tea at 29 Clifton Road, Prestwich, the home of another married Bowman sister, Elizabeth and her husband Isaac Jamieson.
Neither Emma nor Sarah Ann left descendants; Sarah Ann and William had no children, and Emma remained unmarried until her death in 1963 aged 92.