Porter St

Tommy Holt came from Thomas Court, Dublin and joined the British Army. Looking for work he originally came to Stoke, England where he delivered coal.

Tommy already had an aunty living Leicester, Annie King, married to John Moran, and was probably coming over as early as 1948/49. Tommy met his wife-to-be, Greta Callaghan, back home in 1951 and they were married in 1951.  Greta came from Rainsford Avenue, Dublin and  came back over to Leicester with Tommy.

They originally lived on a first floor of a terraced house at 2 Porter St. in Highfields. Annie and John were then living near by at 88 Upper Conduit St. 

An old man lived downstairs and Greta took care of him as well as her own family. Their first child, Roseanna, was born in Bond St. hospital in 1952. She was named after Greta’s sister, Rosanna May who had died 6 months before baby Roseanna was born. Roseanna’s family has always called her May. When Greta was pregnant with their second child, Ray, the family moved down the street to  6 Porter St. where they had the two bedroom terraced house to themselves. As the only girl, Rosanna had the box room. It had been completely normal for them to have shared with others at No. 2 and they carried on sharing yard space and outside toilets with neighbours when at No. 6. The landlord called around to the house for the rent. The Sansomes lived at No. 8.

Tommy worked at Brigg’s Tannery almost facing their house and later at Gimson foundry, Vulcan Rd. His last job there was as a Castings Inspector and like many Irishmen and women Tommy sent money home regularly to his mother.

By the late 50s they were joined in Leicester by Tommy’s brother, Kinner who married an English girl. Greta’s brother, Paddy Callaghan, came too, with his wife Sarah (Hill).

Paddy and Sarah lived nearby at 104 Upper Conduit St with their children, Lynda and Sandra.  Rosanna would spend time with Aunty Sarah and her two daughters as her house with 3 brothers could get pretty hectic but all 5 cousins have fond memories of playing together and time spent in each other’s houses.

Roseanna has a memory of her Aunty Sarah expressing breast milk with a pump into glass bottles. These were then put into a tin box and put on the doorstep to be collected for the hospital. No refrigeration or cooler boxes then!

Greta had wanted Roseanna to go to Holy Cross School on New Walk but she actually went to Sacred Heart, Mere Rd. where her 3 brothers would follow her. In fact she originally went to Medway School, St. Peter’s Rd. May remembers walking to school, home for dinner and back again in the afternoon. May, Chris and Les later went to Corpus Christi and Ray went to Gateway.

Corner and local shops provided most of what everyone needed but Greta loved to get down to Leicester market and would walk down Sparkenhoe and Swain St. to get into town. Ray remembers being a delivery boy for the Co-op on the corner of St. Saviour’s Rd and Kitchener Rd.

 

If you'd like to be involved contact us on 0116 276 9186 or pop in to: 

The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB

We're now also on Twitter: follow me on  @irishleicester or join The Irish in Leicester group on Facebook.

Click here to view a map of The Irish in Leicester.

Gotham St

George Corry came to Leicester in 1958 where his cousin Michael Howard was working as a ward orderly. Michael had told George that there was work in Leicester and that the money was good.

Michael worked at The Hilcrest, Sparkenhoe St. and spoke to the ward sister/assistant matron who was from Belfast about George needing a job and she told him to come up to see her. He went up on the Monday and started work the next day earning 15/- a week. Most of the staff, nurses and ward orderlies where from either Ireland or the West Indies.

George first lived in was a room in a terraced house in Gopsall St but only stayed a couple of weeks. He then had a room around the corner in 22 Gotham St which cost him 7/6d a week. He got all his food at work and worked 7-5. Some shifts included a break between 2 and 4 which meant you had to then work till 8.

Gotham St.

He lived in Gotham St for a couple of years and shared a room.

A friend of his lived in Tichbourne St, but he and his girlfriend, were killed by a faulty gas pipe in the house.

A friend in Gotham St asked George if he’d like to move over to another place and so he moved to Tennyson St. Here he had a room on the top floor of a 3 storey building. He did his own cooking using a cooker on the landing shared with a lady who had the other room.

Gotham St.

George remembers going to 7.00 mass at Holy Cross on a Sunday and being late for work. However, the Matron was Catholic too and he’d have been in more trouble with her if he hadn’t gone!

He remembers dances at The Corn Exchange, Sacred Heart, the Palais de Dance. and Joe Willis running dances at The Trade Hall.

George married Sorca Gregan and they  moved to Eastleigh Rd then Latimer Rd.

He worked at Wolsey Hosiery.

George’s two children Gerard and Sara went to Christ the King and later English Martyr’s school.



If you'd like to be involved contact us on 0116 276 9186 or pop in to: 

The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB

We're now also on Twitter: follow me on  @irishleicester or join The Irish in Leicester group on Facebook.

Click here to view a map of The Irish in Leicester.

Evington St, Mere Rd

Steve  Beatty’s father went to America in 1910 and his mother, Kate, joined him the following year. They married and then lived in Boston, Massachusetts.

Steve’s father Michael worked in a warehouse and he and his wife returned to Galway in 1920.

Steve was born a month later in The Cladagh, Galway, on May 25. Steve’s father bought a small lorry and started his own business transporting pigs, sheep and flour. He later put a seat on the back of the lorry and would carry passengers around the town.

Steve had previously worked as a mechanic in Galway but his boss had had to make redundancies. Being single, Steve and another man were let go.

He left Ireland in 1939 and arrived in Coventry September 15. He found digs at 2 Rolloson Rd. and went back home in 1947 for his honeymoon.

Due to the petrol shortage after the war there were very few cars and therefore few jobs for mechanics. He got work driving in Coventry for £3/10s and £8 if he worked nights. After 2 years in the country Steve became eligible for National Service in the British Army but was exempt because of the work he was doing. Another brother, Johnny was also called up and served in Arnhem.

Steve transferred to Leicester in June 1945. His brother Martin, who had been living in Coventry, had then moved over to Leicester. He wrote to Steve saying that things were better in Leicester and to come over.

Martin saw an advert for a flat in a post office on Mere Rd and Steve got the ground floor flat in a 3 storey house at 37 Mere Rd.

He remembers needing a reference to get the flat and had one with him from his old boss in Ireland.

Steve got a job night driving for a transport company and then started doing car repairs. By 1947 he was selling cars and building up his own successful business.

In 1954 Martin bought a piece of land at 88-92 Sparkenhoe St and they set up the Beatty Brothers’ forecourt selling cars. He also bought a workshop at 1 Evington St. which was two terraced houses knocked together. He lived opposite at No. 2 Evington St. and could walk through the back door and into the office.

The piece of land had been the site of 2 houses bombed in 1941 which had lain disused for years. (Steve recalls that the council in Coventry were much more efficient when it came to clearing rubble from bombsites.)  It took 104 lorry loads to take away all the old brickwork, rubble and rubbish that had accumulated. Steve and Martin cleared the land and used it to display and sell used cars. Local people were very grateful that they had cleared the land, erecting a fence and putting up flower boxes!

The Beatty brothers built a car showroom in 1959 which could hold 30 cars with 14 cars in the car park. Steve describes himself as first “in the overalls”, in the workshop. Martin was Managing Director and Steve had a quarter share in the company. Because of the shortage of cars he would later travel around to car auctions in Hull and Lincolnshire looking for cars to sell. They sold the business in 1988 and Martin retired back home to Galway but was in bad health. Steve retired although he carried on dealing in cars for another 9 years: he says he feels very lucky to have been able to keep working as he did.

The brothers later became a Fiat Agency but it seemed that the public weren’t ready for foreign cars.

Steve and his wife Julie, nee McGrath, lived at 2 Evington St until he retired from the motor trade in 1956. They were married for 61 yrs. Julie was a nurse at The Towers Hospital and had come from a family of 9 children.

Martin had two daughters, Maureen, and Rosemary.

Steve and Julie have two sons: James and Geoffrey. James, born in 1947, went to Scared Heart and Gateway. Geoffrey, born 1961 went to Sacred Heart and City of Leicester School. 

Steve’s two sisters came over to Leicester because their brothers were here. Nora (married name, Robertson) bought a house in Aylestone for £3000 in 1950 and Ann (married name, Parker) lived at 92 Victoria Park Rd. for 30 years 



If you'd like to be involved contact us on 0116 276 9186 or pop in to: 

The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB

We're now also on Twitter: follow me on  @irishleicester or join The Irish in Leicester group on Facebook.

Click here to view a map of The Irish in Leicester.