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Division Street in Sheffield City Centre


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Division Street.jpg

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Here's a thread for all things Division Street over the years.

Let's start it off with this amazing photograph of Division Street, showing the Prince Of Wales Pub on the right (on the corner) that is now the Frog and Parrot pub.

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This photo shows just how reliant we were on horse power, it shows brothers Samuel & Jabez Pottinger, their shop was 95-97 Division Street, on the corner of Canning Street and Division Street, 97 has horse collars hung up so maybe it was their storeroom or one of them lived there, number 95-97 are still there and I wonder if the new occupants have any idea as to what this shop was selling in the 1890s.


This little shop has stood here for getting on for two hundred years and as you can see by the  picture that times certainly have changed, the two gentlemen stood in front of the Saddlers shop are Samuel (on the left) and Jabez (on the right) Pottinger, as you can plainly see they sold a whole array of leather goods for horses, I should imagine that this once thriving business was on the wane when this photo was taken  as in the next 10 years the motor car started to replace horses and strangely enough in  the Kelly’s 1974 Directory a certain Kenyon Motor Engineers was the proprietors of their premises, progress, progress my friends. I cant really tell by studying the photo of these two Saddlers what their ages were at the time of the photo in 1900, but I do know that  Jabez Pottinger lived at 131 Ecclesall Road died in 1933 aged 74 and  Samuel Pottinger who resided at 162 Springvale Road died in 1921 aged 69, Samuel lived not a stones throw away from where he and his brother were buried in the same grave in Crookes cemetery, which makes you think that with being buried together  they were confirmed bachelors‘. The name Pottinger is very rare in Sheffield, looking through records I can only find a further three people of the same surname in the lifetime of Samuel & Jabez and they are Samuel perhaps their Father who died in 1894 and two women Mabel in 1892 and Dorothy 1897 maybe Mother and Sister who knows but they did all come from the same part of Sheffield so its not a big leap to say they were all family, I realise that people have mobile phones and such but I can only find one Pottinger in the Sheffield telephone Directory, the name goes back to the middle ages, a “Pottinger” was a maker or seller of Pottage an Oat based stew with vegetables which the poor ate among other things.
The  Pottingers shop stands on the corner of Canning Street, this street is a very special street as it has six  blind back houses that were built around 1830 and some of the houses retain the old sash windows, all the houses have three storeys which most of the houses in the Town had at the time, Im glad these buildings have avoided the demolition men. The street is named after a Mr George Canning who was Foreign Secretary from 1822 - 27, he did become Prime Minister in 1827 but he turned out to be the shortest serving Prime Minister in history, just 119 days, this was he was struck down by stress and strain of the job and he died on the 8th of August 1827 aged  just 57.
Division Street is just named because as it divides the two main roads out of the Town, West Street and the Moor, from being a busy manufacturing area and a myriad of small businesses supplying everything for the household and the business men of the Town, the area has greatly changed from the days of Samuel and Jabez, its now the haunt of students and other academics, the pubs have gone its now plastered with bars and eating places,  I feel as though I’m in a totally alien area to what I knew in my teen-age years. Just further on at 150-154 Devonshire Street on the corner of Broomhall Street was the Rickshaw Restaurant one of the first Chinese restaurants in Sheffield, I regularly nibbled Prawn balls in this place, but no matter what businesses are in this area, its keeping the area alive which cant be a bad thing.
 

 

 

EE6919E2-41E4-4DA8-B316-4BB5492E584A.jpeg

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34 minutes ago, tozzin said:

This photo shows just how reliant we were on horde power, it shows brothers Samuel & Jabez Pottinger, their shop was 95-97 Division Street, on the corner of Canning Street and Division Street, 97 has horse collars hung up so maybe it was their storeroom or one of them lived there, number 95-97 are still there and I wonder if the new occupants have any idea as to what this shop was selling in the 1890s.

 

 

EE6919E2-41E4-4DA8-B316-4BB5492E584A.jpeg

 

Screenshot 2020-05-16 at 07.57.22.jpg

 

Amazing!!

Looks like some kind of clothes shop now?

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Last year, Tozzin posted about Samuel & Jabez Pottinger "This photo shows just how reliant we were on horse power, it shows brothers Samuel & Jabez Pottinger, their shop was 95-97 Division Street, on the corner of Canning Street and Division Street, 97 has horse collars hung up so maybe it was their storeroom or one of them lived there, number 95-97 are still there and I wonder if the new occupants have any idea as to what this shop was selling in the 1890s."

He'd researched the brothers & thought they died as "confirmed bachelors". I came across his post, when I searched the Internet for any info on Jabez. The brothers were cousins of my great-great grandfather, William Pottinger. Samuel & Jabez were born in the Nottinghamshire village of Wellow, 2 of 11 children born to Joseph & Ann.  Joseph had been lucky. When he became old enough to work (or maybe later), there was an opportunity for an apprenticeship with the village blacksmith. Possibly, the smith either had no children or no sons. This gave him the chance to have a trade & not spend his life as an agricultural labourer (the lot of most boys in his village). As a result, his own sons were either apprenticed as blacksmiths or saddlers, as the craftsmen often worked closely together.

Joseph's 2nd son, Joseph, was apprenticed to a saddler in Sheffield & stayed there, as a Master saddler. Both Samuel & Jabez later went as apprentices to Joseph, who was 13 years older than Samuel & 20 years older than Jabez. However, neither remained bachelors. Samuel married Mahalah Blythe on 16 October 1891, in Sheffield Cathedral, when he was 39, but they had no children. Jabez married her sister, Amathea Blythe on 14 January 1892, also in the cathedral & they had 3 children, Samuel Frederick, Dorothy Blanche & Florence May. Despite the cathedral weddings, their wives' names suggest they were Methodists, not C of E & I believe the Pottingers were too. the cathedral reflected their status in Sheffield. In the 1991 census, pre-marriages, their sister, Fanny lived with them as their housekeeper, but returned to Wellow, after their father's death in 1893.Later, she returned to Sheffield & married a silversmith's manager, Bernard Bagshaw Batt in 1903.

Of Samuel & Jabez' siblings, John, William, Richard & Sarah never married & stayed in the Wellow/Ollerton area. George remained a blacksmith, in Carburton, Notts & his only son, became a blacksmith too, but eventually moved to Nottingham. Joseph Jnr remained in Sheffield with his wife & 5 children & James also became a saddler & harness maker, in Wilford, Nottingham, with his wife & 4 children. My own ancestor also moved to Nottingham, which is where their descendants (mainly) stayed for the next generations. 

Hopefully, that fills the gaps in Samuel & Jabez' history for Tozzin. It certainly was a lovely surprise for me to learn so much about my distant cousins, who moved to Eccleshall Bierlow.

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On 16/05/2020 at 07:57, Sheffield History said:

 

Screenshot 2020-05-16 at 07.57.22.jpg

 

Amazing!!

Looks like some kind of clothes shop now?

Slugger is a skateboard shop.

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12 hours ago, Victoria said:

Last year, Tozzin posted about Samuel & Jabez Pottinger "This photo shows just how reliant we were on horse power, it shows brothers Samuel & Jabez Pottinger, their shop was 95-97 Division Street, on the corner of Canning Street and Division Street, 97 has horse collars hung up so maybe it was their storeroom or one of them lived there, number 95-97 are still there and I wonder if the new occupants have any idea as to what this shop was selling in the 1890s."

He'd researched the brothers & thought they died as "confirmed bachelors". I came across his post, when I searched the Internet for any info on Jabez. The brothers were cousins of my great-great grandfather, William Pottinger. Samuel & Jabez were born in the Nottinghamshire village of Wellow, 2 of 11 children born to Joseph & Ann.  Joseph had been lucky. When he became old enough to work (or maybe later), there was an opportunity for an apprenticeship with the village blacksmith. Possibly, the smith either had no children or no sons. This gave him the chance to have a trade & not spend his life as an agricultural labourer (the lot of most boys in his village). As a result, his own sons were either apprenticed as blacksmiths or saddlers, as the craftsmen often worked closely together.

Joseph's 2nd son, Joseph, was apprenticed to a saddler in Sheffield & stayed there, as a Master saddler. Both Samuel & Jabez later went as apprentices to Joseph, who was 13 years older than Samuel & 20 years older than Jabez. However, neither remained bachelors. Samuel married Mahalah Blythe on 16 October 1891, in Sheffield Cathedral, when he was 39, but they had no children. Jabez married her sister, Amathea Blythe on 14 January 1892, also in the cathedral & they had 3 children, Samuel Frederick, Dorothy Blanche & Florence May. Despite the cathedral weddings, their wives' names suggest they were Methodists, not C of E & I believe the Pottingers were too. the cathedral reflected their status in Sheffield. In the 1991 census, pre-marriages, their sister, Fanny lived with them as their housekeeper, but returned to Wellow, after their father's death in 1893.Later, she returned to Sheffield & married a silversmith's manager, Bernard Bagshaw Batt in 1903.

Of Samuel & Jabez' siblings, John, William, Richard & Sarah never married & stayed in the Wellow/Ollerton area. George remained a blacksmith, in Carburton, Notts & his only son, became a blacksmith too, but eventually moved to Nottingham. Joseph Jnr remained in Sheffield with his wife & 5 children & James also became a saddler & harness maker, in Wilford, Nottingham, with his wife & 4 children. My own ancestor also moved to Nottingham, which is where their descendants (mainly) stayed for the next generations. 

Hopefully, that fills the gaps in Samuel & Jabez' history for Tozzin. It certainly was a lovely surprise for me to learn so much about my distant cousins, who moved to Eccleshall Bierlow.

Wedding of Fanny Pottinger and Bernard Bagshaw Batt at 41 Oak Hill Road, Nether Edge Date:1900

Photograph taken at 41, Oakhill Road. The bride and groom are Fanny Pottinger and Bernard Bagshaw Batt.

Is this bride and groom any relation to you?

 

 

 

 

C3572128-CD4F-4E8D-86E2-325C28D14A49.jpeg

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Hi, yes. Fanny Pottinger is the sister of Samuel & Jabez. She was born in 1857, in Wellow, Notts. In 1881 census, she lived with her brothers, as a domestic housekeeper. After hey married, she went back to Notts & in 1891 census, she was a general servant in Nottingham. However, she reurned to Sheffield & married Bernard Bagshaw Batt, in 1903. he was a silversmith's manager & lived in the same road as her older brother, Joseph. Joseph also ran a successful saddlery business in Sheffield. They are my 3rd cousins once removed.

The photo is great. It makes me wonder how many more of my Pottinger relatives are in it! Thank you.

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Guest leksand
On 16/05/2020 at 07:23, tozzin said:

Division Street is just named because as it divides the two main roads out of the Town, West Street and the Moor, ...

I think the name Division probably arose due to the position of the boundary of the civil parishes of Sheffield and Ecclesall Bierlow. This roughly follows the southern line of frontage at the eastern end of the street.

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On 15/05/2020 at 20:02, Sheffield History said:

Division Street.jpg

Screenshot 2020-05-15 at 20.03.01.jpg



Here's a thread for all things Division Street over the years.

Let's start it off with this amazing photograph of Division Street, showing the Prince Of Wales Pub on the right (on the corner) that is now the Frog and Parrot pub.

Regarding the lower photograph, isn't this where Jarvis Cocker fell out of one of the upstairs windows?

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