Lomax, Mitchell & Wilshaw's Shops

Lomax's Shop, Stockport Rd, Denton
This shop was situated at 7 Stockport Rd, close to Crown Point. The 1901 census records that the premises were occupied by Levi Lomax and his wife, Mary.

Levi was born at Worsley in 1840 and he married Mary Crabtree at St Mary’s Church, Stockport, in 1863.

Mitchell's Shop, Stockport Rd, Denton
This shop was located on the corner of Russell St and over the years it had a number of occupiers with varied trades. By 1889 until 1902 the occupier was Matthew Woolley, a pawnbroker, following which the premises were converted into a fried fish shop. In 1903 the occupier was Samuel Shaw, then Mrs Elizabeth Ashton in 1904 and Thomas Chandler in 1905. By 1911 it had become a greengrocer’s shop and the occupier was George Ingleby and by 1913 the occupier was Mr A Mitchell. The 1939 Register for England and Wales makes no record of the four shops between the Gardeners Arms (now the Queen Vic) and the corner of Russell St as they had been demolished shortly before. Russell St is no longer extant.

Wilshaw's Shop, Stockport Rd, Denton
This corner grocer's shop was in a row of terraced cottages built with the decorative Flemish brick bond that was popular in Denton and it was situated next to the churchyard of St Lawrence's Church.

Slater's Trade Directory for 1903 lists Miss Alice Knowles as the shopkeeper, while in 1909, 1911 and 1914 Mrs Lucy Walker was the shopkeeper. Lucy Walker née Dunks was the wife of Edwin Walker whose father, Josiah Walker, was associated with the hat manufacturers, Messrs Walker, Ashworth & Linney.

James Horne Wilshaw was born at Denton in 1872 to Zachariah Wilshaw and Ann Horne (aka Orme) who were married at Christ Church, Ashton-under-Lyne, in 1870. He married Sarah Rothwell at St Lawrence’s Church, Denton, in 1899 and the couple had two children Janet (b. at Denton, 1903) and Arnold (b. at Denton, 2 Mar 1911).

James Horne Wilshaw was a journeyman felt hatter by trade but sometime after 1914 he moved with his family into the shop next door to St Lawrence’s Church. By 1939 James and his wife had retired and their son, Arnold, was running the shop as a bakery and confectionery business specialising in cakes.