Criddle Estate

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Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

I am the great grand-daughter of John Frankland Criddle who built the Criddle Estate for his workers. In view of his philanthropic and generous approach we are currently looking into having a commemorative plaque for him and his wife Helah (an active Suffragette) somewhere on the estate. The museum are also looking into exhibiting some of the artefacts relating to his life and Criddles Treacle Factory, any input would be most appreciatex
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BOBHAMO
Posts: 5930
Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:20 pm
Location: BIG CITY

Hi Katykitten welcome :D :D
John was a great benifactor reminds me of William Jones ,klondyke bill
the bootle Mayor who built houses in orrell for working class people
to use his own money from the sale to was it United molasses
and rent them out was a generous thing to do
to name the roads after emily pankhurst and ebinezer howard
was the thinking of a considerate man
pity the 1938 dir rectory does not have the roads down
but 1949 has Edgar Criddle at no 6 Pankhurst Road
one of your wagons is in the museum
hope your blue plague can be put up in the area
it would be nice if Sefton council would help :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
bobhamo
bootle born altcar road
Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

They are currently saying there’s no funding for a plaque but we’re hopeful of changing their minds. Did you know my great grandfather “Mr John”, he died when I was three so I have no recollection of him at all. His three grand daughters are still alive and he has many great grandchildren, my sister Lucie is very like him in that she is also a philanthropist and her daughter studies Effective Altruism at Yale in the USA - must be in the genes!
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BOBHAMO
Posts: 5930
Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:20 pm
Location: BIG CITY

Only a kid then :D :D :D
litherland digital Ronies site
http://www.litherland-digital.co.uk/alb ... e_obit.htm
bobhamo
bootle born altcar road
Evadeus
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 1:44 pm
Location: Southport

Hi Kitty, the obituary that Ronnie Cusworth published on "Litherland Digital" is a reproduction of an article published by the Crosby Herald. The Criddle family had it reprinted for Mr Johns funeral. My mother Hilda White was a great family friend and also a friend of Miss Amos Mr Johns PA. I still have a copy of the original obit and sent a jpeg copy to Ronnie who is a personal friend of mine. I spent many happy days in Wicks Road at our caravan that was sighted on the field that housed Daisey the Donkey's stable. If you are interested I will write again I must go now as my wife has an appointment. I will root out some photo's I have taken at Formby from those days so long ago. I will write again. Dave White. You may contact me at esuaved@gmail.com
JillMclean
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2020 2:31 pm

Hi Kitty,

I live on the Criddles estate, a plaque would be wonderful. Many people in the area are not aware of the history of the estate.
My husbands Nan was the first person to move onto the estate, my mother in law still lives here. There are a number of original residents still here, I am sure they would be happy to answer any questions you have.
I have recently contacted the landlords, to see if we can find out any more about the history of the estate, as my son was going to do a project on it, they couldn't offer any information. I am not sure what I was hoping for, maybe records of the original tenants or my inlaws moving in.
In my search online I have stumbled across your post. Do you have any history that you can share?
If you have any particular questions about the estate I'd be happy to speak to the older residents for you.

Thanks
Jill
Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

sorry for delay in replying - thanks everyone for your contributions and recollections
we are in the process of applying for a road to be named after Mr John on the new Pinewoods Park development in formby which is exciting

you might also be interested to know that the current owners of the house where I was brought up in merrilocks road, crosby, where my great grandparents lived are applying for a plaque for their own house, I am in regular contact with Helen and am hoping to revisit the house soon for a glass of wine

the museum remain interested in any photos or artefacts people who live on the estate may have, plus memories of Mr John

I will upload photos as and when I can

jan
Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

Some history of the family to date
Mr John (John Frankland Criddle) had 3 sons, one of whom was my grandfather Bernard. Bernard had 3 daughters who are all still alive, and there are 9 great great grand children and two great great great grandchildren, all still living in the area.
I was very young when he died but I have lots of paperwork about the factory and the estate including some images of the designs they considered for the original properties.
The house where I was born and he spent many years is in merrilocks road, blundellsands - I lived there til I was 3 - the current owners of the house are trying to get a plaque on the house but would be equally delighted if there was a plaque on the estate

Mr John was know as a very kind, generous man, to the extent that when my great grandmother took her grandchildren to give food and other things to poor families, the girls were made to leave their shoes for the children, my mother has clear memories of this and of her grandfather, she is now 87.
Helah was a staunch Sufragette and was known to be very active in Liverpool, she was arrested and imprisoned but Mr John bailed her out so was never tube fed.

I would love all the paperwork and images to be available online but it would require someone with the skill, patience and time to do this and its not me for sure!!

We are all very proud of our great grandparents, some of us have his philanthropic approach to life and some have successful businesses, all of us are so happy that so many benefited from his generosity and kindness.
Silver-Haired-Hippy
Posts: 3398
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:50 pm
Location: Abergele

Very interesting post! :D

Loretta
A bit of Bootle in Wales
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Bernie R
Posts: 5598
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Netherton

Please excuse my ignorance but where is the Criddle Estate?

Ta

Bern
Born and raised in Romeo Street, later Lambeth Walk, Jersey Close, Garden Place, Hawthorne Rd, Gonville Rd now Netherton
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filsgreen
Posts: 3392
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 8:28 am

It is on Gorsey Lane, Bernie, just past the cemetery on the left, going towards Bootle
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Bernie R
Posts: 5598
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Netherton

Thanks Phil
Born and raised in Romeo Street, later Lambeth Walk, Jersey Close, Garden Place, Hawthorne Rd, Gonville Rd now Netherton
JillMclean
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2020 2:31 pm

Hi Katy Kitten,
Its so nice to. hear about the legacy that your grandfather has left, I think his biggest legacy on the Criddles Estate is the community that he has created, its such a nice place to live, all my in laws live on the estate and that is true for many of the occupants.

Funnily enough my Nan worked for a lady on Merrilocks road, my Nan died at the age of 38, leaving 10 children behind, so the family knowing my grandad would be too proud to take handouts, gave the children little jobs to do so that they could pay them, there must have been a philanthropic movement in the area!
I'd be happy to help scanning documents to put them online. It would be a great project for my son too, he loves the history of the estate, we have learnt bits about Emmeline Pankhurst, Octavia Hill and Ebeneezer Howard, so to learn about John Frankland Criddle top it off. It would be quite easy to scan them and create a Facebook page for the estate maybe?

When you refer to the museum, is that the Liverpool Museum?
Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

Hi Jill

yes its the liverpool museum, they have one of the criddle trucks there and also the sufragette statue has lots of plaques at the base - one of which is for Helah Criddle, she was a force to be reckoned with apparently!!

id love to chat more about putting stuff online, so that its accessible for others for many years to come, paper is easily destroyed although its all been kept safely in boxes its a bit of a responsibility to keep it all safe

my knowledge of FB, scanning and google drive is limited - clunky to say the least but any help or input would be much appreciated!

my email is coaching4adhd@gmail.com

jan
peter c
Posts: 45
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 6:21 pm

So nice to hear there will be some recognition of Mr Criddle. From what I have heard he was a very nice person. Both my parents worked at the Criddle Works in Bootle prior to the second world war, and from what I gathered from my mum, it was a great place to work and they treated their employees very well, with employee social clubs and events, etc. I have a photograph taken at the "girls" music class at Criddles showing my mum and the rest of the group, probably taken about 1939. The photo, which has "Criddles & Sons Ltd" printed on the back, is depicting all the ladies in the class gathered around a piano . My mom, before she passed away over 40 years ago, explained the photo to me. She said it was just one of the social clubs provided by the company. She always spoke very highly of Criddles saying that they took good care of their people. I have been away from Bootle for a long time now and had no idea Criddles build an estate for employees but it sounds like something he (they) would do.
My Mom actually went back to work at Criddles for several years around 1947-48. At that time we lived at Park Street, just a short walk across Stanley Road from Criddles. I left for Canada in 1957, where I now live, but I still have a lot of good memories.
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Bonesy
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Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:05 pm
Location: Lydiate

I've found this topic facinating.
As a child I always wanted to live on the "Criddle" estate. It was so much greener than where I lived.
Up until I read this topic yesterday I always thought that Octavia Hill Road was just that, a road.
I never realised it was named after the amazing activist and pioneer woman
Octavia Hill.
http://www.octaviahill.org
As they say, "you learn something new every day"


Keith
Bri
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:35 pm
Location: Netherton

All the roads are named after activists or philanthropists.
Alfena
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2021 7:45 am

Hi katykitten, a terrible thing has happened in March of this year, our lovely criddles estate has been sold to a property investment company called Placefirst, along with the other 3 estates Bushells owned. The coming enormous rent hike will effectively make alot of people homeless. The estate in Bury was on BBC 1 news on Wednesday night regarding the enormous rent increase giving residents only 4 weeks notice, (they have started a campaign). Would it be ok for me to email you regarding the history of our estate, we all know alot already but you, or family members, will know much more? John criddles will be turning in his grave with what is happening here. x
Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

peter c wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 10:23 pm So nice to hear there will be some recognition of Mr Criddle. From what I have heard he was a very nice person. Both my parents worked at the Criddle Works in Bootle prior to the second world war, and from what I gathered from my mum, it was a great place to work and they treated their employees very well, with employee social clubs and events, etc. I have a photograph taken at the "girls" music class at Criddles showing my mum and the rest of the group, probably taken about 1939. The photo, which has "Criddles & Sons Ltd" printed on the back, is depicting all the ladies in the class gathered around a piano . My mom, before she passed away over 40 years ago, explained the photo to me. She said it was just one of the social clubs provided by the company. She always spoke very highly of Criddles saying that they took good care of their people. I have been away from Bootle for a long time now and had no idea Criddles build an estate for employees but it sounds like something he (they) would do.
My Mom actually went back to work at Criddles for several years around 1947-48. At that time we lived at Park Street, just a short walk across Stanley Road from Criddles. I left for Canada in 1957, where I now live, but I still have a lot of good memories.
How lovely to hear your memories, I'm so proud of Mr John and what he achieved for his workers. Id love to see the photo of the ladies around the piano if possible, there's also a journalist who is interested if y ou would be happy to email it to her? molliesarahsimpson@gmail.com- if anyone else has any photos or memories she would like to hear from you
peter c
Posts: 45
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 6:21 pm

I'm not sure how frequent the social events were but Mom certainly seemed to appreciate them.
The attached photo shows her at one of the events in about 1939, which she was quite proud of.
Mom's maiden name at that time was Marion Leay. My Dad, Ambrose Clarke, also worked at Criddles prior to the war . His job apparently was loading the tanker trucks, I suppose with syrop of some sort. Having lived at Park Street through late 1940's into the 50's I remember Criddies as a major force in the neighbourhood. A lot of people I knew worked there.
There I go with the old memories again.
[url=https://postimg.cc/BjpJ8DQZ][img]https://i.postimg.cc/BjpJ8DQZ/Criddles-1.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.cc/WqLBYbbf][img]https://i.postimg.cc/WqLBYbbf/Criddles-2.jpg[/img][/url]
:)
Katykitten
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 9:50 am

Does anyone have the actual date that the estate was built -do any of the older residents recall?
Thanks
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