QUITE A CHARACTER WAS MY DAD

by Eva Unwin

My father: Arthur Unwin

Dear Alan

Here is a batch of photographs you may be interested in. I should have some older ones but can’t find them at the moment. Sorry it has taken so long. I have had an eyelash operation on my one good eye – not very pleasant. I’m enclosing a little piece about my father. Hope it helps.

The only Unwin that I am in contact with now is Frank, son of Albert Unwin. He lives in Wetwang in Yorkshire

Love to all - Eva

Building the Manchester Ship Canal

ARTHUR UNWIN (1889 – 1985)

Hugh Unwin (born in 1859 in Norton, Staffordshire) worked on the building of the Manchester Ship Canal (1887 – 1894) and on completion obtained a job as the driver of a big crane. He married Selina Swincatt whose family were market gardeners in the Wallasey area of Cheshire.

Arthur Unwin was the third child and second son of Hugh and Selina Unwin. The other children were Henry (Harry), Eleanor and Albert.

Salford Technical School	Harland & Wolff shipyard, Belfast

College and ship building

Arthur and his younger brother went to Salford Technical School for engineering. (The school was founded in 1896 and gained its Royal Charter and full University status in 1967). He was a bit of a rover in his younger days and worked in many places. He went to work in the shipyards in Belfast and was always in trouble for making friends with Catholics. Father said that he didn’t ask what religion they were before speaking to people. When told he would have to join Carson’s Army he left and went to work at Barrow in Furness in Cumbria.

Annie and Elizabeth Cook on holiday

Jack Unwin

A young Eva

It was there that he met mother who was on holiday at Blackpool with Auntie Betty. He eventually went to work at Manchester Docks and after he and mother were married (in Leicester in the spring of 1917) they settled in a suburb of Eccles called Patricroft where Jack and I were born.

Arthur and Annie Unwin

He worked at the docks for many years but left for some reason during the war and had various jobs before falling on his feet and going in his early 50s to work for Griffiths Hughes, Manufacturing Chemists, making in those days Krushen Salts and many other products. He eventually retired about 70 and received from them a good pension. It was the first time he had holidays with pay and he made full use of the fortnight.

He lived to be 97 and only died of old age!

Quite a character, my Dad!!

AN UNWIN PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM

The following is a sample of the photographs Eva referred to above. Eva's Grandmother, Elizabeth Burditt, married Walter Cook and lived in Leicester. They had one son (George - Newfloridian's grandfather) and four daughters (Jesse, May Ann or Polly, Ada Anne - or Annie, and Elizabeth). They also took in Nellie Youle who subsequently married Roy Dible and had a son (Fred) and a daughter (Hilda). Jesse married Elijah Benson. George served in Malta during the first world war. He had a daughter, Hilda.

More of their story can be found at "TOO MANY COOKS ... SPOIL THE BRATS?"

Anne Cook with friend	George Cook (Anne's brother)	Polly Cook (Anne's sister)	Nellie Dible with Hilda and Fred	Elijah Benson (Anne's brother in law)

Grandma Cook with Hilda Dible	Jack Unwin with Hilda Cook	Jack and Eva Unwin	Jack Unwin in RN uniform	Corporal Eva

A GALLERY OF CERTIFICATES

Below are the relevant certificates for some of the Unwin family which have been referred to in this article. More will be added to the database over the course of the next few weeks.

MARRIAGES

Hugh Unwin and Selina Swinchatt: 1883

FOOTNOTES

Sir Edward Carson

Sir Edward Carson (1854 - 1935)

Edward Carson was an Anglo-Irish politician committed to the preservation of the union of Ireland with Great Britain. He was elected to Parliament in 1892 and became Solicitor General in the Conservative administration between 1900 and 1905. He organised a private army "The Ulster Volunteers" in 1912 in direct opposition to the Home Rule Bill, threatening that Ulster would establish its own provisional government. It was at his insistence that the North of Ireland including the counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone (remained under the British Crown when southern Ireland gained Home Rulew. He continued to campaign for Ulster interests after the First world war. He was knighted and ultimately made a Baron.

Griffiths Hughes, Manufacturing Chemists (1)

In 1851 Ernst Schering, a qualified dispensing chemist, opened a pharmacy in Chausseestrassesin the north of Berlin. In what he named the 'Green Pharmacy' he started making his own chemicals, making it his policy only to sell items of the highest possible purity. In 1925 a British subsidiary, Schering Limited, was founded which during the war years was taken over by the Board of Trade. In 1941 it was taken over by Griffiths Hughes Limited, and continued to trade Schering products under the name British Schering Limited. By 1967 the Company had reacquired the name Schering AG in the UK, and the Company as a whole was trading under the name Schering Chemicals with interests in pharmaceuticals, electroplating and industrial chemicals. The Company has been known as Schering Health Care Limited since 1987.

Krushen Salts

Kruschen Salts

This product is still available. According to a recent pharmacy catalogue, Kruschen is described as an excellent aperient and diuretic, helping to maintain the balanced salt content of body fluid and body cells, which is so important for healthy and normal functioning. It is indicated for constipation associated with sluggish liver and rheumatism and for sick headache, dizziness and indigestion due to constipation. Some years ago it was claimed to have weight reducing properties.

The active ingredients are:
Magnesium Sulphate (3.2g), Potassium Chloride (0.04g), Potassium Iodine, Potassium Sulphate (0.22g), Sodium Chloride (0.4g) Sodium Sulphite (0.8mg)

The Diamond Jubilee edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2001) (2) notes that the slogan for Kruschen salts, ”that Kruschen feeling”, became a catchphrase of the 1920s to indicate a feeling of vigorous health.

REFERENCES:

(1) Schering AG UK; http://www.schering.co.uk/content/global/about_updated_version.asp
(2) The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/quotations/quotefrom/jubilee

Added: September 20th 2005
Updated: January 3rd 2007

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