Roberts' & Duigenan's Shops

Roberts, Stockport Rd, Crown Point, Denton
John Roberts MPS became the proprietor of this chemist shop when he replaced Henry Collins, of Collins and Butterworth, and in turn he was succeeded by Alfred Lloyd Nield MPS. A trade directory for 1914 records that John Roberts was in business as a chemist by this time and telephone directories show that the shop was still trading as J Roberts up to 1952. In 1954/55 it was acquired by Alfred Lloyd Nield who moved in from a chemist shop on Manchester Rd.

John Roberts was born at Denton on the 21 Mar 1875 to Alfred Roberts and Sarah Howard who were married at Ashton-under-Lyne in 1860. The Roberts family resided at two properties on Stockport Rd, situated on the right-hand corner of Tib St, where they had a grocery business. Alfred Roberts died in 1894 and his wife continued with the grocery business until she died in 1908. Subsequently, the two properties were occupied by sister and brother, Annie and James Alfred Roberts who carried on with the grocery business.

John Roberts married Edith Hyde Thornley at St Lawrence’s Church on the 19 May 1902. The couple had two children, William Thornley (b.1903) and Edith Annie (b.1912). His wife died at Denton in 1926, aged 50 years, and by 1939 he was resident at the Old Rectory on Meadow Ln, Haughton Green.

Duigenan's Shop, Manchester Rd, Denton
This chemist shop and dispensary was managed by Ernest Vincent Duigenan MPS (b.24 Jul 1896) and his wife, Hannah ‘Daisy’ (b.11 Nov 1899). Ernest was a pharmaceutical chemist and his wife was a nurse. They were married at St Lawrence’s Church in 1923.

Ernest Vincent Duigenan was the son of Dr Patrick Samuel Duigenan LRCS (Ireland) LMRCP (Edinburgh)* whose surgery was on Manchester Rd. The Denton & District Provident Dispensary was also at this surgery.

*Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) and Licentiate Member of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh).