JUDITH​ HOLMAN-CROOK

 

George born 30 May 1874, Heywood, Blackburn, Lancashire, died 21 July 1949, 125 Liverpool, Street, Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire, buried, Willow Grove Cemetery, Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire, married Mary Ann Sullivan 17 Jan 1903, Chorley, Lancashire. George and Mary Ann had eight children six boys and two girls.

 

George was only 17 when his parents died. He and his brother were too young to look after his family so he went off to join the Army.  A place was found for three of the younger siblings in a Girls Refuge in Barley Lane, Blackburn, for Catherine and Mary Ann and a Boys Home for John Thomas at Paradese Street, Blackburn. These places were to be only for short term until a place was open at the Blackburn Orphanage in Wilpshire.

 

[Over 125 years ago Blackburn Orphanage's founder, James Dixon began working with vulnerable children and young people across the region, caring for those in need in what he established as Blackburn Orphanage at Wilpshire. The majority of those 'orphans' weren't bereaved of parents, but bought from families experiencing a wide range of problems. There were a wide range of social, physical and mental problems including poverty, unemployment, neglect, abuse, addictions, crime and imprisonment, marital breakdown, teenage pregnancies and dysfunctional relationships.]

 

This is where on the 5th August 1891 on the opening day of the Wilpshire Orphanage three of the Crook children were taken to the very large forbidding building. [More of that later]

 

George joined the Manchester Regiment and by the time he was 19 he was in South Africa fighting alongside Commander George Redvers Buller V.C. in the famous battle of Ladysmith. George left the army in 1905, so after 14 years in the service he decided to it was enough, it was time to do something different. There were already two children born to George and Mary Ann, one of which was named after the famous George Redvers, a name that has been handed down at least two more generations. George now had to find work.

 

One occupation George had was a fire Beater at a Paper Mill. He also owned two horses so he could deliver fire wood to homes and stabled them at North Reddish.

 

George suffered no fools but was a proud man with a strong will. George was a hardworking northern Englishman and was very well known and respected in the Reddish area being a member of the Reddish Workingmens Club which stands on Houldsworth-street and the Ivyleague Club on Broadstone-road, of which he was a committee member.

 

George was head of the family and supported his wife no matter what the issue. He and his wife Mary Ann were inseparable after retiring he always went with her shopping and other places together. George and Mary raised six sons together who all joined the Army during the WW11 which made them very proud.  They were staunch Primitive Methodist called the Reddish Green Chapel, and this would cause the family a lot of heartache in the not too distant future after the war.

 

 [See son Charles Crook]

 

After Mary Ann passed away George moved in with Horace and Evelyn, (George's son and daughter-in-law) and grandsons Howard and Ian. Horace and the family decided it was too much for George to live on his own anymore and anyway they wanted him with them. He had a few very good years with them and taught Howard a lot.

 

Howard and his brother Ian were at school when George died, a neighbour told them while they were on their way home. Howard was 10, Ian was 9 and they far too young to understand they were not going to see their grandfather again.

 

George and Mary Ann Sullivan together had eight children they are Mary Elizabeth, George Redvers, Charles, Mildred Rachel, Horace, Gilbert Sydney & Leonard.

 

[Despite the growing wealth due to trade and commerce, prosperity lay in the hands of very few of Manchester's residents. The working people, who actually produced the wealth, lived, worked and died in conditions of the most desperate poverty and degradation. Innumerable reports and surveys were carried out during the 19th century, and they all told much the same story: poor wages, impossibly long working hours, dangerous and unsanitary working conditions, even more unsanitary dwellings, little or no health provisions, high infant mortality and a short life expectancy. {Manchester UK}].