Comments on: Ben Jonson Street c1890

By: Margaret Powell

Margaret Powell — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:04:12 +0000

My paternal grandmother was living in Gay St. in the 1881 census, aged 2. I have been trying to locate it for ages. Her parents were ‘ballad singers in the st.’ and lived with others who were petty hawkers and a scissor grinder, so possibly were of traveller origin. Thank you for this interesting picture. Is there a date?

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:52:53 +0000

Hi Ged

What if my suggestion at No. 1 is correct; i.e. that the photo was taken from Comus Street and not Scotland Road? Then it could perhaps be the tower you mention above?? What do you think?

By: Ged

Ged — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:18:49 +0000

The Tower on the lost tribes of Everton is that of the round counter cafe where Scottie met Bevington Bush which is further north than the top of Ben Jonson Street. I met Colin last week and remarked about this ‘tower’ interest and he said somebody has ‘possibly’ solved it, telling him what it was, though frustratingly, he couldn’t remember. It could just be another red herring of course.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:48:57 +0000

If you go to http://www.losttribeofeverton.co.uk and click on pictures you will see a photo taken from Everton Brow with a tower in the distance, i.e. the view from the opposite side. What do you all think? Could it be the same tower?

I think the photograph was taken far too close to be from a building on Scotland Road; my money is on a stationary vehicle or a plinth.

Also, I wonder what the two wooden buckets in the road are for (dread to think).

By: eddie orrell park

eddie orrell park — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:52:25 +0000

the ‘phrase’ that is Ben Johnson Street has been a byeword in my family for at least 70 years. My grandfather, a protestant from Kensington Street, Low Hill, used the phrase ‘you wouldn’t see that in Ben Johnson Street’ as anything that was crude, lewd or downright vulgar or probably Catholic.ie at the age of 7 after a delicious bowl of scouse, I proceeded to lick my plate. To be admonished ‘cut that out where do you think we live, Ben Johnson Street’? It was his personification of what we would call ‘the underclass culture’ in a named street. Considering he lived in A 4 roomed house with no inside water supply, or electricity and a family of 5 kids, his snobbery, or genuine high sense of cleanliness and manners, probably made him feel slightly ‘upper’ compared with some people’s demeaner. Seventy years on my well spoken, unbigotted grand kids, still used the word jokingly, without any idea of its social origins. For instance I wore a pair trainers with a pair of suit trousers in the garden….granddad ‘you wouldn’t see that in Ben Johnson Street!’

By: John

John — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:02:03 +0000

This picture is causing a facinating interest in what the tower is, im sure someone will find the answer, in addition what is at the corner of the street ? on the extreme left of photo is four letters, the end of four words going from top to bottom.

By: Ged

Ged — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:27:05 +0000

Very interesting comments by everyone. Perhaps Colin could clarify that his source for the information that this is in fact Ben Jonson Street is reliable. Not that I would doubt it as that street would have ran on an incline from West to East and Comus street did back then run across the top of it which would explain the buildings seen immediately opposite the photographer. It’s just that tower which is puzzling me though it could have been on an establishment that was either demolished soon after or indeed bombed though it doesn’t show up on my 1922 aerial map of the area. A number of us on a local history forum are trying to get to the bottom of it. Rose Hill police station would have been directly in the sight lines too, perhaps the tower belonged to that, though it wasn’t there for sure before the police station’s demolition. Also, I too think it unlikely that the shot would have been from a moving bus in 1890, though perhaps a stationary one. It is a raised view, so perhaps from the upper floor of houses on Scotland Road that were directly facing Ben Jonson Street.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:40:34 +0000

Oops; I mean “Chihuahua”.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:31:33 +0000

Do you know, Linda, I thought the same thing; it looks like a little chiwawa, but it could just be the folds of her apron.

My paternal great-grandparents were Irish imigrants who lived in the Scotland Road area and I would love to think that this lady was my great-grandmother. I must do some more research!

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:41:35 +0000

I found my great-great-grandfather in this street in the 1841 census. He was a 14 year old boy living with his elder sister and her husband. This was much earlier than this photo was taken, but I cannot imagine things were much better! I am fascinated by this picture and, like Barbara, spot something different every time I look at it. Is the seated, shawled woman in the foreground clutching a small dog?

Would it be possible to take such a clear photo from a moving bus in those days?