Bridget De Courcey

Bridget De Courcey was a well known personality in the town of Altrincham. Originally from Ireland, she spent much of her life in Altrincham and managed a number of lodging houses in the Chapel Street area. By all accounts, she was Chapel Street's 'matriarch'. Throughout her long, colourful life, Bridget had six husbands and ten children.

She was born Bridget Burke in Clifden, Galway, Ireland and there is some uncertainty about her year of birth. The 1881 and 1891 censuses suggest 1853, while the 1939 Register and her death record state her year of birth as 1856. This latter date would make her fourteen when she married Dudley Cloherty on 17 October 1870, in Mayros, Galway. Two sons were born to Bridget and Dudley - Thomas, in 1872, and John Joseph, in 1874. At this time the family was living at Clifden.

At some point between 1874 and 1878, Bridget left Ireland and went to live in Altrincham. We will never know what made her leave her family – did she go voluntarily to live with Patrick De Courcey, her new partner, or was she forced to leave? There is no record of Dudley Cloherty’s death at that time, nor are there any records of Thomas or John Joseph living with their mother in Altrincham. A Dudley Cloherty died in the Galway area in 1936, aged ninety and there are several records for men of the right age called Thomas and John Joseph in Clifden, but Clifden was a sizeable town and the names not unusual, so there is no proof that any of these records refer to Bridget’s first family.

In 1878, Bridget’s daughter, Mary Frances was born in Altrincham, followed by a son, Joseph, who was born two years later. The 1881 census shows Bridget living as the wife of Patrick De Courcey (also of Clifden, Ireland) at 8 Paradise Street, Altrincham. Patrick was a bricklayer’s labourer. Mary Frances and Joseph lived at the same address, along with Bridget’s brother, Joseph aged twenty two.

Six more children were born to the couple - Martin, in 1881, Rose Hannah in 1883 and Margaret in 1886. Bridget and Patrick were married on 28 September 1886 in Chorlton. A daughter named Bridget was born in 1887, but she died soon after birth and was buried in Bowdon Churchyard on 7 September 1887. In 1890, their son, Patrick, was born. By 1891, the family had moved to 4 Chapel Street and in August of that year daughter Catherine was born. Patrick senior died on 19 July 1898, but apparently the couple had separated prior to his death.

In the last quarter of 1898, Bridget married William Henry Blease and in 1901 they were living at 4 Chapel Street with Margaret, Patrick junior and Catherine (Kate). The 1901 census indicates Bridget’s occupation was a lodging house keeper and William was a chemist’s porter.

In 1903, son Martin appeared at the Altrincham Petty Sessions charged with assaulting his stepfather William Henry Blease.

Slater’s Directories of the time give an idea of the number of lodging houses that Bridget managed. Between the years 1898 and 1927, Bridget and her various husbands were listed as keeping lodging houses at numbers 3,4,7,9 & 11 Chapel Street – albeit different numbers at different times.

In 1909 Bridget’s son Joseph aged twenty-nine, and her husband William both died and were buried together at Hale Cemetery on 8 November 1909.  The following year, Bridget married Henry Walker. In the 1911 census, Bridget, a lodging house keeper, lived at 4 Chapel Street with Henry, a camera shutter fitter and photographic apparatus manufacturer from Wakefield, Yorkshire. Bridget’s son Patrick, by now a general building labourer, lived with them.

Bridget's sons, Martin and Patrick served during the First World War: Martin served with the 2^nd Cheshire Regiment and Patrick, with the South Wales Borderers. Bridget’s four sons-in-law served in the armed forces: Alfred Oxley (married to Mary Frances), John Behan (married to Rose Hannah), Edward Birmingham (married to Margaret) and John William “Jack” Norton (married to Catherine). All of Bridget’s sons-in-law lived in Chapel Street.

Bridget was mentioned in the Altrincham, Hale and Bowdon Guardian on several occasions. She was no stranger to the Altrincham Petty Sessions, cited for using obscene language and being involved in a brawl. She also sued Ann Kelly for theft after she had taken Ann in out of charity on Christmas Day. In December 1908 there was a report of a fire at her lodging house.

An idea of her formidable personality comes from an article in the Altrincham Bowdon and Hale Guardian of 15 June 1915, in which it describes the large number of men from Chapel Street who had enlisted in the armed forces:

Mrs De Courcey, the proprietress of a lodging house, has a splendid record as a recruiting officer, and partly as a result of her instrumentality, about 33 of her lodgers are now serving in HM Forces. In fact, she staunchly refuses to house eligible men and is not slow in telling them that their place is fighting for their King and country. In a single day at the beginning of the war thirteen of her lodgers left her to enlist.” In another article of October 1915 her family’s “ill-luck” was mentioned. Son Patrick was a patient at the military hospital in Malta, suffering from dysentery; Martin was a prisoner of war and it was reported that her son-in-law Alfred Oxley was killed by the explosion of a shell in France.

Early in 1915 Henry Walker died. The following year Bridget married Gerald Raleigh, who died in 1927. In 1928 she married William Ryan, a road stone quarrier. In 1938/39 Bridget and William moved to 15 Milner Road, Broadheath, a new house on an estate built by the local council. Bridget died in April 1943 and was buried in a family grave in Hale Cemetery on 29 April 1943 alongside William Blease, her son Joseph and other members of her large extended family.

Researched and written by Trafford Local Studies volunteer Sue Arcangeli

Sources

Slater's Street Directories

Ancestry

Find My Past

Altrincham Bowdon and Hale Guardian 

Trafford Lifetimes