Yeultide celebrations in Manchester one hundred years ago were quieter than they had been in recent times
This was the fourth Xmas that the country had been at war and the news from the front was not good.The Russia Army was breaking up following the Bolshevik revolution of two months previous, the Germans were attacking on the Western Front north of Ypres and casualties were rising again in the weekend before the big day.
Manchester was proud of itself though, it had raised more that London and Liverpool that month for the country’s tank fund.
On Xmas Eve it was announced that Manchester had collected over £4.5m towards the appeal for Tanks.A solitary tank had been parked in Albert Square over the last few weeks as part of the appeal, Manchester had raised a million pounds more than London proclaimed the headline.
Two issues were the main concerns on the home front, the increasing queues for food and the fact that the trams and buses were not running on Xmas Day.
As rationing got worse, there were reports on the scandal of scenes of queuing with reports of women fainting as they stood in line for restricted items including margarine,bacon, tea and sugar.
A few days before Xmas, Manchester Police court heard the tale of two juveniles arrested for stealing three turkeys.One of the lads said that his father had died in France and wanted to do his mother a good turn.Both were bound over for twelve months.
Robert Lomas a discharged soldier was in court in Salford charged with attempting to murder his sweetheart.
His application for bail was turned down when the court heard that she was not yet out of danger but may be able to appear as a witness later in the week.The magistrates heard that he was a survivor from the retreat from Mons back in the autumn of 1914.
Tramcar drives had refused to work on Xmas Day forcing large numbers of workers to walk home, a cause that was taken up by both the Manchester Guardian and the Manchester Evening News.
“people were seen making their way in foot carrying heavy parcels”, reported the later, adding:
“Others after a hard night’s work at the hospital at the post office and many other places tramped wearily home, and others in khaki, who should have been considered were seen here and there, labouring under their heavy equipment, walking some distance to get to the house of a friend. “
However reported the Guardian, “the generosity of over 150 private car owners meant that some two thousand wounded troops were able to visit it visit friends and family on the day.”
In the hospitals and poor law institutions, there was the usual Xmas arrangements.The Charter Street Ragged school entertained nearly fourteen hundred children with four hundred families from Angel Meadow, Hulme and Longsight being given parcels of food while the Manchester and Salford Children’s Street Mission entertained another thousand distributing toys and dolls on the streets to another four thousand.
