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BERRY ST HOCKLEY

Astoness

Astoness

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just been looking through some old photos i have and found this lovely one of a street i have not heard of...does anyone know exactly where it was...the caption say soho mills corn merchant...it would be great to find any members of the summerton family

lyn

Berry Street Soho Mills Corn Merchant Hockley.jpg
 
Berry Street came out onto Park Road, i think shop would have been numbered 446 Park Road, and is now grass land on the right hand corner of this photo, Berry Street is the road up the centre of this photo, Park Road is across the bottom.
berry-st-2008R.jpg
 
thats great rob thanks.....i have just learned something new..so a possible chance that the building on the corner in your st view was there when my old photo was taken

lyn
 
Thomas Henry Summerton was born 1863 in Racine, Wisconsin son of Thomas Summerton and Jane Akers. Both are listed as Corn Merchants and judging by the date it was probably the elder Thomas that established the business.

The elder Thomas was born in Oxfordshire and is in Wootton Union Workhouse in 1841 so appears to have done well for himself.

Unfortunately Thomas Henry and his wife, Sarah Helena die relatively young in 1912.
 
MWS said:
Thomas Henry Summerton was born 1863 in Racine, Wisconsin son of Thomas Summerton and Jane Akers. Both are listed as Corn Merchants and judging by the date it was probably the elder Thomas that established the business.

The elder Thomas was born in Oxfordshire and is in Wootton Union Workhouse in 1841 so appears to have done well for himself.

Unfortunately Thomas Henry and his wife, Sarah Helena die relatively young in 1912.
Click to expand...

thanks mws..nice to have a bit of background info...wonder what members of the family are in my photo...

lyn
 
Astoness said:
elmo its just a bit further down from the soho tavern

lyn
Click to expand...
Yes just checked the map, thought it looked familiar, you got the Soho tavern on the corner of Factory Rd & Park Rd, then almost opposite 'your' shop was the Old Engine pub. I had a friend who lived 2 or 3 doors to the left of that house in the street view, ironically called Berry. I didn't live far from there but to be honest can't remember what buildings if any were ever on that side of interest to you.
 
Kelly's 1915 says that Summerton, Thos Henry was at 446 & 448
1915.JPG
Kelly's 1930 says that Summerton, Arthur Henry Ltd, was at 446 & 448
1930.JPG
Kelly's 1955 says that Summerton, Arthur Henry Ltd. Millers was there
1955.JPG
 
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Astoness said:
thanks mws..nice to have a bit of background info...wonder what members of the family are in my photo...

lyn
Click to expand...

Not sure if Thomas Henry's family fits the picture, there are 4 and then 10 years between his 3 sons so doesn't look right. The family of a shop manager maybe or one of his son's family?
 
Could be his son Arthur and his family if you think the 2 young boys are twins. Thomas & Robert Summerton born 27 Sep 1916.
 
Well I am coming very late to this 2020 thread, so hope someone might still find this of interest as member lyn had said it would be good to hear from the Summerton family! I am pretty sure that the family in the photo are Arthur Summerton (incidentally my grandmother's brother), who inherited the mill business from his father in 1912, his wife Lilian and his two twin sons Thomas and Robert, as MWS has observed. A third son was born in 1922. Don't know who the final young man is.

The picture must be from about 1923. The business went bankrupt in 1925: I don't know if it restarted, but it is interesting to see the directory entries above that imply that either the family or the business were still at 448 Park Road much later.

It is correct that Arthur's father Thomas Henry was born in Wisconsin. His father - another Thomas - went to the US in 1849, where he had a corn mill and business dealings with the Horlicks family. Both Thomas and his son Thomas Henry returned to Birmingham in the 1870s.

The family roots are in Oxhill, South East of Stratford-on-Avon, where they can be traced back to before 1600.

Tim
 
hi tim and welcome...it certainly looks to me as though you have a photograph there of your ancestors

lyn
 
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