William Francis: A Cooper in Runcorn Road

Amongst the migrants to Balsall Heath were a branch of my own family. My great-grandfather, William Thomas Francis was born in Burton-On-Trent in 1871. He married Kathleen Stenson at nearby Stapenhill in 1896 and they had eight children. He followed his father into the brewery trade working as a Cooper (barrel maker) and it seems he followed this job across the Midlands to his eventual home in Balsall Heath. The family moved initially to Cubbington near Leamington Spa. My grandfather, Ronald Francis (the seventh child), was born there on 11th April 1911 but sometime shortly after that the family moved to 190 Runcorn Road, where the last child, Kathleen, was born on 6th September 1913. William continued working as a Cooper but quite who for is open to conjecture, the likeliest option is Dare’s Brewery which was located about where the Mosque now stands on the Middleway. All of the children went to Clifton Road School and most of them married in the area too. The trend being to marry and leave. Two married at St Paul’s, one at Saint John The Evangelist (George Street) and two at Moseley Road Congregational Church. The latter church had the strongest family connections as the then 16 year old Freda was received into the church as a member in 1925. Freda undertook doorstep meetings and collections in the Runcorn and Clifton Road area and persuaded some other family members to come along to the church too. The First World War saw young Albert Francis join up in the latter stages. He went into the Royal Flying Corps and stayed in afterwards as it became the Royal Air Force. Somewhat surprisingly his father, William Thomas, joined up in 1916 as part of Kitchener’s New Army. He was 45 years old and served his time as a Cook with the Army Service Corps. This always puzzled his daughter Phyllis who had never seen any sign of his supposed culinary skills! Albert and William both returned safely from the war. Albert, like his siblings, left Runcorn Road through marriage but his father left in 1925 for the City Sanatorium in Yardley Green Road. He had contracted tuberculosis and never recovered, dying there on 26th September. His wife Kathleen stayed on in Runcorn Road but left when the two youngest children married in 1935. One of these was my grand-father Ronald who worked as a milkman in Balsall Heath and also had a small delivery business on the side with elder brother Sidney. Not much else is known now about William Thomas Francis. Nobody, for example, seems to know if he played the banjo other than him posing with it in the picture – which was taken in the backyard at Runcorn Road. The barrel he is sitting on is probably one he made himself. Today his house has gone too – agonisingly in the short stretch that was redeveloped. If anyone out there knew this family I would be most pleased to hear from you. Chris Sutton (vcgcbham@yahoo.co.uk)