The Flitcroft Family
Well, I suppose I'd better start with me, David Anthony (the Anthony after my late uncle who I never knew). I thought about starting with photo's of our daughters Nicola and Maxine, but Id probably need hospital treatment if they saw their likenesses on the web! So this is a youthful me outside 7 Ruskin Ave, Chadderton. I was born at No 13 in 1943 and lived there 'til I married Anne in 1969. My parents lived there all their married lives from 1939. I vividly remember that kite, it was blue and had all the aerodynamic qualities of a housebrick. I remember galloping up and down the Avenue in a gale and still it would not fly. A year or two later Mr Heywood from No 17 taught me how to make kites from greaseproof paper, garden cane and cotton. I spent many hours on Sally's field flying them. There are houses on the field (which was just behind Chestnut Street) now, and have been for a good number of years.
This motley crew are the boys of my class at Drury Lane Infant School. Note the playground surface and the stone slab wall. I've still got cinder scars on my knees from that playground. I
can remember quite a few names: Bryn Jones, Geoff Rothwell, Graham Butler, Barry Thompson, Harold Spivey, Tony Moran, Harry Kay, Les Dyson and Kevin Platt spring to mind. If a group of kids looked like this today social services would descend en mass.
Page updated July 19, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name: Ellis FLITCROFT

Birth Date: May 17, 1910
Birth Place: Oldham
Death Date: Jan 5, 2000
Burial Date: Jan 20, 2000
Burial Place: Crem. Hollinwood

Occupation: Engineering Turner

Father: Albert FLITCROFT - 50 (1872-1915)
Mother: Elizabeth Anne JACKSON

Spouse: Edith WAITES
Marriage Date: Sep 30, 1939
Marriage Place: Oldham Parish Church
Children: David Anthony

My parents were married in 1939. in this group are fromleft to right- my father's younger brother James, my mother's sister Elizabeth Waites, My father , my mother and my mother's cousin Frederick Barnett.

 

My parents on honeymoon at Blackpool, 1939

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A collection of my relatives on my father's side. BackRow: Fred Smith with his wife and my aunt Hilda, then my cousin Albert and my favourite aunt Susan (Rigg), Aunt May, Uncle John (husband of Susan and father of Albert) and aunts Ethel and Annie. Front Row: William Busby, husband of Annie, cousin Joan, and Granville Armitage (husband of May). I remember uncle Granville at a family wedding holding a collection to buy me a fishing rod! I never fished in my life but the collection was useful!
My father's class at Roundthorn School in 1917. Dad is at the left of the middle row.

These are my grandparents with most of their children.: May, Ethel, Alfred and Hilda at the back. Lily, James, Ellis, Marjorie and John. Lily died young. The final time grandfather Albert came home on leave from France in 1914 or 15 was to her funeral. He was killed in France shortly afterwards. Alfred, father of my cousin Eric was badly wounded during the war also.

Name: Elizabeth Anne JACKSON
Father: ? JACKSON
Mother: Anne
Spouse: Albert FLITCROFT
Children: Alfred, May, Ethel,
Lily, Annie, John, Hilda, Ellis, Marjorie and James.
This is the only photograph that I have of my grandmother, and I know very little about her. I think that she may have come originally from Ashton under Lyne. They were certainly married in Ashton in September 1894

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name: Albert FLITCROFT
Birth Date: 1872
Birth Place: Rochdale
Death Date: Sep 24, 1915
Death Place: Bois Grenier
Burial Place: Brewery Orchard Cemetery, Bois Grenier, Armentiers.
Occupation: Soldier
Father: Ellis FLITCROFT (1849-1890)
Mother: Amelia (1852-?)
Spouse: Elizabeth Anne JACKSON
Children: Alfred, May, Ethel, Lily, Annie, John, Hilda, Ellis,
Marjorie and James.

Notes:
Private Albert Flitcroft, 11641, serving with the 10th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, died on 24th September 1915 aged 45, and is buried in Plot 3, Row C, Grave 7, in Brewery Orchard Cemetery, Bois -Grenier,France. Bois- Grenier is a village in the department of the Nord, 3 kilometers south of Armentiers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brewery Orchard Cemetery, Bois Grenier
Grandfather's Grave

The cellar of the brewery was used as a dressing station and the cemetery was started in the orchard nearby in November 1914. It was sheltered from enemy observation by ruined houses and continued in use until January 1918. Brewery Orchard Cemetery contains 339 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. There are also four Second World War burials and five German war graves. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
For many years I had harboured a desire to visit my Grandfather's grave. The above photographs were taken in September 2002 when, along with my wife, Anne, my daughter Nicola and her husband Chris, when my desire was realised.