John Dillon (ca 1847-1898)

Every record on John Dillon gives his place of birth as Scotland or Edinburgh. His birth took place in about 1847, though it has not been possible to trace the certificate. His father's (Patrick Dillon) occupation was given as broker, so John's family were probably travelling Irish tinkers who had no experience of registering the births of their children.

By April 1871, John Dillon had moved to Manchester - although there is no evidence of any other members of his family living there. He was aged 23 and employed as a labourer in a brewery, while lodging at 52 Pilling Street, just off Rochdale Road in what is now Newton Heath. None of his family lived with him and he may have remained behind as they moved through, or he could have moved to Manchester alone in search of work and a better future.

On 9th October 1871, John married Mary Smith at Manchester Cathedral, which was also the parish church at the time, so she must have lived somewhere in its vicinity. He was aged 24, a brewer by occupation, so it is possible that his job had changed since being a labourer the previous April, and now he was more involved in the actual brewing process. This would have given him an increase in wages, which may have been the stimulus to get married.

Mary was born in Manchester and only 20 years old. At that age, she would have needed permission to marry from her father, James Smith. He was a weaver and would have worked in one of the many cotton mills in the area. Further research on the Smith family has been unsuccessful, as there are just too many Smiths in the records, but it is possible that they were also of Irish origin. No occupation was given for Mary, and she made her mark on their marriage certificate, so she must have been illiterate. John Dillon had some basic education as he signed his name.

John and Mary Dillon began their married life at 4 Birchall Street, which was adjacent to Pilling Street where he had previously been a lodger. In the census taken in April 1871, a Joseph Smith from Yorkshire was living at this address with his wife Maria, and he may have been related to Mary, but it could just be a coincidence as Smith is such a common name. The Rochdale Road Gasworks was at the top of the street and they would have had a fine view of the rusting iron gas holders from their front door. The railway ran across the top of Pilling Street and the area was hemmed in by Rochdale Road, so it was not a nice place to raise a growing family.

John and Mary's first child, Edward Clifford, was born in 1873. It was another five years before their next child, and our direct ancestor, William Dillon was born on 19th June 1877, but there may have been others in between that did not survive. By this time, the family had settled at 10 Birchall Street, and John was again described as a labourer. This was probably a larger house to accommodate their growing family. Their first daughter, Ann, was born in about December 1880 and four more children were born over the next ten years: Margaret 1883, Isabella 1886, John 1889, and Lilian 1890.

By April 1881, they had moved to 16 Lewis Street on the other side of Rochdale Road, and John was now described as a coal and provision dealer. This could have been a shop with a yard to store the coal, though enterprising people did set up small retail businesses from the front room of their house. Perhaps they had provisions in the front room and coal in the back yard. Small businesses like this supplied the basics to the local population, who could often only afford to buy in small quantities, depending on the fluctuation of the husband’s wages. Many shops offered credit, commonly known as “tick”, and would be paid at the end of the week after the wages had been paid.

In those days, coal was a vital commodity as it was the main fuel for cooking and heating water, as well as heating the house in cold weather. It was usually a job for the elder children to collect the coal from a local yard and it was a common sight to see them pulling a cart full of coal through the streets. Coal was sold in quarter-hundredweights (28 pounds, about 15 kilos) and the carts were hired from the yard for 3 old pence (just over 1p). Families would augment the coal with cheaper coke bought from the gas works, though it didn’t burn as well as coal.

It must have taken some effort and sacrifice for John and Mary to set themselves up in business, even at the most basic level. They would have needed some source of capital to purchase goods wholesale, and this would been almost impossible on a labourer’s wages. Perhaps he was on better wages and she established the business from home, or a family member died and they had a small inheritance. We will never know. Whatever happened, they would have struggled to establish the business, giving us an insight into the determination of their character.

Their strategy worked because, by April 1891, they had moved again to 36 Whitley Street, further up Rochdale Road (now in Collyhurst). John was now listed as a grocer, and an employer - a self-employed trader, employing other people. The property was on a corner diametrically opposite the Mechanics Arms public house, so it must have been a proper shop. At this time, their eldest son Edward was an 18 year old iron turner, who probably worked at the nearby Vauxhall Iron Works. William, our direct ancestor, was an errand boy and, at age 13, would already have left school. Perhaps he was also working in the shop, and his job was to run errands and collect supplies for his father.

Clearly, John and Mary Dillon’s grocery shop was not in a major shopping area. They probably just supplied basic provisions to the locals, most of whom lived from week to week. Wages were just about high enough for people to exist on, and they scraped by. Small shops usually offered “tick”, the local name for credit that was paid up at the end of the week.

John Dillon died on 23rd January 1898 of a carcinoma of the lung, and his eldest son Edward was present at his death. He was only 49 years old and could have been a heavy smoker, or possibly another victim of the grossly polluted Manchester atmosphere. The family had moved again, to 71 Sycamore Street, which was only about three hundred metres from Whitley Street in a direct line, though there was a railway goods yard and Oldham Road in between.

On his death certificate, John was described as a labourer working in a chemical works, so the grocer’s business had not been a success despite their efforts over many years. In the census of April 1901, Whitley Street consisted of only eight houses (numbers 2-16). So it is possible the area had been cleared for redevelopment, and Dillon’s grocery business went at the same time. This could also have coincided with his failing health.

Mary Dillon and her family do not appear in the April 1901 census for England, Wales or Scotland. (It is unlikely that any of our Dillon family still lived in Scotland at this date.) It is more likely they moved to Ireland to be closer to their wider family after John’s death, and this could explain why their children maintained close contact in later years. Alternatively, she may have remarried and her children are indexed under her new married name. More research is needed to answer these questions.

My mother, Ruby Dillon, remembered Mary Dillon, her father's mother. Mary was a buxom woman of mid-height with very dark hair, which retained its colour even in old age. She was a positive, strong willed person who spoke her mind, and was frequently at loggerheads with Ruby’s mother, Elizabeth Taylor. It has to be borne in mind, though, that Elizabeth had a similar strong personality and this could account for their disagreements. Elizabeth blamed their conflict on the fiery nature of the Dillon family’s Irish ancestry, and she was often heard to make derogatory comments about it. From this, it is possible to believe that Mary was also of Irish origin, and perhaps the Smith family also had a link with Ireland, in addition to the Dillons.

Mary Dillon’s strong personality helps to explain how a labourer and his wife managed to become the owners of a grocers shop. The desire, spirit and ambition must have been shared by her husband John. In the 1920s, Ruby Dillon remembered Mary living in Sycamore Street in Manchester. It was a terraced house with a plain, straight façade, the front door opening directly into the parlour with the living room and kitchen beyond. It is believed that she died in the mid-1920s, but it has not been possible yet to find her certificate, indicating that she did remarry.