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Varna Road

orcaz1 said:
Thanks very much for looking that up (shocked at how close to home that was, wow! ). There was an elderly lady who lived at 105 Varna rd. Mrs Worsley or Worsall I can't remember which. A widow who's husband was killed in WW1 maybe. She must have kept lodgers to survive one of whom came to an unfortunate demise. Whats really interesting here is how swift the justice system was back then.
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I can't see a Mrs Worsley or Worsall at 105 Varna Rd but at 106 is a Fanny Wassail who was resident at least from 1927 - 1960 as per the electoral rolls.

Suzanne
 
That must be her, I can see Wassail being pronounced as Worsall. I am a little confused over the house numbers. I can't remember how the house numbers ran in Varna Rd but here in Canada they run odd numbers one side of the road and even the other side, usually in increments of 2. If it was the same on Varna rd, the low numbers would have been at St Lukes rd end with the highest numbers down by Calthorpe park and Mrs Wassail would have lived at 105 or possibly 101 with us lot living at 103. If she doesn't appear after 1960 she must have died or possibly got out of there somehow. Thanks for your time and help.
 
Varna Road was one of those roads that began as continuous numbering (1,2,3...) and never changed to odd one side , even the other. From Kellys directory 106 was about half way between Balsall Heath Road and Speedwell Road, on the south side. From about 1936 up to 1956 , but not 1962, in addition to Mrs Wassall it is also listed as being occupied by Howard Cromwell Walker , commercial artist
 
Thanks mikejee, Can any of you history sleuths come up with info about Alexander rd being blocked off between Balsall heath rd and speedwell rd for about 3 or 4 weeks in 1952-4ish. I was tol;d it was a smallpox outbreak and not to go anywhere near it. It may have been a suspected outbreak or people living there that had been exposed to it. Smallpox is pretty deadly even now.
 
Not sure if anyone is still active on this forum or not but I’m looking to do a bit of research into persons living at 103 Varna Road in around 1952. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
Blue_Clouds said:
Not sure if anyone is still active on this forum or not but I’m looking to do a bit of research into persons living at 103 Varna Road in around 1952. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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what exactly are you trying to find out and do you have a name for us

lyn
 
Astoness said:
what exactly are you trying to find out and do you have a name for us

lyn
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So I’ve been going through my late fathers files and came across some official looking documents with the name John Henry Edwards of 103 Varna Rd. Possibly a gents hairdresser? Unfortunately I don’t have much more to go on or what the link is about. Googled the address and came across this forum
 
Blue_Clouds said:
So I’ve been going through my late fathers files and came across some official looking documents with the name John Henry Edwards of 103 Varna Rd. Possibly a gents hairdresser? Unfortunately I don’t have much more to go on or what the link is about. Googled the address and came across this forum
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ok thanks..maybe one of our members could check the kellys directory for you to find out if it was a hairdressers...we could also check the electoral rolls which are on ancestry

lyn
 
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1952 Kelly's lists 103 Varna rd as Bartlett Jn (no profession so it's probably residential rather than commercial).
There is one Edwards Jn Hy but he's at 75 Wychall Rd Northfield. There are other John Edwards's (see attached).
There is no Hairdresser named Edwards listed in the Trade section.
The next Kelly's I have is dated 1965. Around this time demolition would have started on the streets between Pershore Rd and the River. There is no 103 Varna Rd listed.
 

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In 1955.1956, and 1947 John Bartlett is also listed at 103. Newspaper reports in 1950 report Timothy O'Brien of 103 Varna Road, as being injured in an explosion at the BSA "secret research shop in Montgomery St" (not that secret apparently!!).
There is a female hairdresser Mrs J.T.Edwards listed 1958,1960 at 160 Herbert road
 
Best guess if this JH Edwards was a hairdresser and lived at 103 Varna is that this was a rooming house and he was one of the tenants amd that he was employed as a hairdresser by someone with a shop or did this at the client's home. He'd be invisible to the directory in that case. The only way you might find anything is by checking the voting registration for that address in those years. Even then he might not appear.
 
Frank Bartlett seems to be the main occupier on the online electoral rolls from at least 1947 till 1960. there do seem to be other people withn him, who probably are lodgers. The only Edwards are Ilorweth P.Edwards and Hanna J Edwards, but no Edwards in 1950 or 1952
 
Had to go into the centre of town today so I looked this up. John H Edwards is listed in both 1953 & 1954. I'd guess there were 4 or more flats since most of the time from 51-55 there are 3 married couples and up to two singles. In 1955 It's down to the Bartletts and one other.
 
This is the full listing from the voter's register for 103 Varna from 1951 to 1955. Something must have changed in 1951 because that list is named 1951-2 whereas all the others are just a single year.
1951-52
Bartlett, Frank J
Bartlett, Lily
Brien, Timothy J
Brien, May
Tattum, David G
Tattum, May

1952
Bartlett, Frank J
Bartlett, Lily
Brien, May
Tattum, May

1953
Bartlett, Frank J
Bartlett, Lily
Edwards, John H
Fitzgerald, William J
O'Brien, Matthew
O'Brien, Lucy
Wood, Ronald
Wood, Gladys M

1954
Bartlett, Frank J
Bartlett, Lily
Edwards, John H
Floyd, Edward
Floyd, Annie
Wood, Ronald
Wood, Gladys M

1955
Bartlett, Frank J
Bartlett, Lily
Hyde, Mary F

I would have put this in on Thursday but the last post was made from a short-hire terminal at the central library and there wasn't time to type everything out.
 
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