HOROWITCH TRUE NEWS STORIES
|
STRANGE WAYS & CHEETHAM HILL
|
The British Newspaper Archive allows free searches, but to view original newspaper pages, which you often don't need you'll need to pay. The British Newspaper Archive website gives access to over 40 million fully searchable pages, featuring more than 1,000 newspaper titles from every part of the UK and Ireland, and some overseas titles.
|
Manchester Evening News
See The Sofa In August 1956, four schoolboys - Brothers David (12) and John (10) Lucas of Boyle St., Cheetham and brothers Leonard (9) and Eric Stapleton (6) of Temple Square, were playing on Barney's Croft when they came across and old sofa dumped there. They jumped up and down on it and out fell a bank pass book containing banknotes amounting to £1,300. They dutifully handed these over to the police. (£3,150 From the Sunday Dispatch Reporter). Investigation revealed that the bank book belonged to a gentleman named Mr Myer Horowitch. was a Russian émigré who had come to Manchester at the turn of the 20th century and had never learned English or become naturalised but had made a small fortune running a scrap rag and metal business at 25-31 Mary Street, Strangeways. He had gone missing from his home, 1 Brunswick St., Cheetham in 1939 whilst his family were out at the theatre, and he was never found. He was declared dead in 1954 and his estate, valued at £10,000, was inherited by his three children. Following his disappearance, his children had sold the sofa for £6. It had passed through several owners until eventually, it had been bought by a Mrs Webster who lived in a caravan parked on Barney's Croft. She had subsequently bought a new sofa and chucked out the old one onto the croft. She was kicking herself to think she'd been sitting on £1,300 for six months and hadn't known anything about it! See - STRANGE WAYS STORIES Manchester Evening News
Mr. Myer Horowitch. a 70-year-old Manchester man, who disappeared from his home in Brunswick-street. Cheetham, in February. 1939, while his family were at a theatre. Mr. Myer Horowitch. a dealer was legally presumed dead in 1954 Daily Herald
OLD MYER VANISHED Myer Horowitch came to Manchester from the steppes of Russia. He never mastered English, but he amassed £lO,OOO. Then he suddenly disappeared—and left behind a mystery still unsolved after 14 years. SEE STRANGE WAYS STORIES "The stories above are from newspapers. Here is what my sister and I were told. Myer Horowitch, granddad never fully trusted in banks and liked to have cash hidden around his house in tins, cupboards and under mattresses. He had come from Dvinsk in Latvia to England as a penniless refugee (emigré) and hadn’t adapted to the new country. He was incredibly mean with his wife our grandmother and children, Joseph our Dad, Rosie and Morris. He would take coal off the fire to save money. The house was shabby looking with mouse traps all over the rooms. He was illiterate in his own language Yiddish as well as English, so he had to sign his cheques with a cross", Myrna Shoa
|
Manchester Evening News
Williams Deacon's Bank is where Mr. Horowitch had his account until June. 1938. But the mystery of why Mr. Myer Horowitch placed such a large amount of money in the settee, as he is believed to have done, will probably never be solved. There were five notes of £5OO. five of £lOO, five of £lO and two of £5O. (The amount of money varies according to different news reports!) Manchester Evening News
Friday, the 25th of February 1955 See Rosie & The Iron Bar POLICE HUNT ATTACK MAN A 52-year-old Cheetham Manchester woman brutally attacked by a man with an iron bar was "still very ill" in the Jewish Memorial hospital Manchester today. As she lay unconscious detectives were enquiring at lodging houses and cafes in the area for a well built man aged about 30 about 5 foot nine tall and wearing a fawn gabardine coat. This is the description given by Miss Rose Horowitch, after she had been struck down at her home in Cheetham Hill Road by a man, who asked to see her brother (Morris). See - STRANGE WAYS STORIES
Manchester Evening News . Our mother put an advert in. Mrs Horowitch. 37 Stanley Road. Broughton Park. Salford 7. CHE 3634. Experienced DOMESTIC HELP wanted to live In: wage £3/5: good food and conditions. Modern House: good home and wages • references required. We reckon this story is about our uncle Morris as we were told he ran a boxing club in Manchester.
Belfast Telegraph - Thursday 13 July 1933 OWED GOVERNMENT A PENNY. COURT SAT FOR TWO HOURS HEARING THE CASE. Nearly two hours were spent in arguing a Customs and Excise case at the Manchester City Police Court in which • boxing hall proprietor was said to have evaded payment of entertainment tax to the extent of one penny. Two inspectors, it was explained, had visited a Sunday boxing show conducted by Maurice Horowitch (Morris Horowitch our uncle) at the Holland Street Arena, Newton Heath,Manchester and when asked for a Is 2d ticket, including tax, each received two sevenpenny tickets instead. The effect was that on the higher rate of the tax there was a loss of one halfpenny on each ticket. It was alleged also that only a few of the people present had tickets at all. Mr. Lustgarten successfully argued, in defence, that as admission was free, and seats were only procurable by the purchase of programmes. there was no evidence of evasion of tax in that instance. Horowitch was fined 40s in each of the two cases respecting the inspectors' tickets. |
No body was ever found of our grandfather and after nearly 20 years he was declared dead so that his estate could be settled and his children, Morris, Joseph and Rosie could move on with their lives. Here is the official declaration of that. The London Gazette Myer Horowitch - Brunswick Street Cheetham Hill, Metal and Rag Merchant Death On or Since 10th February 1939 - 10th January 1955 declared dead.
HOROWITCH FAMILY RECORDS
In 2022 Richard Casson from Manchester found the Horowitch Census stating that our dad and all his family were born in Dvinsk, Russia. The trades are listed as Rag Merchant, Traveller, Assistant Rag Merchant.
Horowitch Census
Richard Casson sent me the actual marriage certificate for our Aunty Rosie. (The Marriage) which reveals a more poignant story, something I didn’t know about. Rosie and Moishe were 34 years old in 1933 when they married, a very old age at that time for a woman to marry. This was his second marriage, as he was a divorced man. I expect she thought her luck had changed to marry in her thirties, but as I wrote in my book, he left her on the wedding night, never to return. Now it seems that Rosie was born in 1899 not 1905?
Aunty Rosie marriage certificate
Aunty Rosie was only married for 2 years when she first tried and failed to get a divorce in 1935. In 1936 she applied for a divorce on the grounds of his adultery and this time it was granted. Her husband never turned up to the court and his address was unknown. Rosie knew an address to send letters to where he would pick them up. A landlady was a witness to the alleged offence of adultery. Sandra and I were told that on the honeymoon night Rosie’s new husband left to buy cigarettes and never came back. It’s very likely true.
|
Our granddad hated our father, wished him dead many times. “Why didn’t you die instead of my beloved Simon”, he said. See The Sofa story. Here is the grave of Simon Horowitch who died age 3 or 4 years old.
|
|
|
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FAMILY - BIRTHS AND DEATHS
Bella or Bailie Horowitch BIRTH: ? DEATH: 1945 - city, Manchester Lancashire, England Meyer Horowitch BIRTH: ? DEATH: during the Second World War possibly 1945 Manchester Lancashire, England Rose Horowitch BIRTH: 1899 DEATH: 1972 she was 73 years old Manchester Lancashire, England Ina Horowitch nee Hendry BIRTH:1904 Clydebank Scotland DEATH: 5th January 1979 She was 75 when she died East Grinstead, West Sussex, England 3 Forest View Road Joseph Horowitch BIRTH: December 25 1903 DEATH: 1961 He was 58 when he died Manchester, Lancashire, England Morris Horowitch BIRTH: 02/02/1905 He was 87 years old when he died DEATH: 1990 - Greater Manchester, England Simon Horowitch BIRTH: 1913 DEATH 12 May 1917 (aged 3–4) BURIAL Blackley Jewish Cemetery |
.
Our Uncle Morris had been in Strangeways prison. Sandra and I never found out exactly why. We think he was jailed for receiving stolen goods. He also had a boxing stadium, but we could't find any information about that until 2021. As far as we knew he had never married. Rosie lived with Morris her brother in the family house in Mary Street, then in a house at 347 Cheetham Hill Road. see - Strange Ways Stories In 2021 I found this story about a Morris (Maurice) Horowitch who ran a boxing club in Manchester.
(As children Sandra and I were told that Uncle Morris was involved with boxing). Belfast Telegraph - Thursday 13 July 1933 OWED GOVERNMENT A PENNY. COURT SAT FOR TWO HOURS HEARING THE CASE. Nearly two hours were spent in arguing a Customs and Excise case at the Manchester City Police Court in which • boxing hall proprietor was said to have evaded payment of entertainment tax to the extent of one penny. Two inspectors, it was explained, had visited a Sunday boxing show conducted by Maurice Horowitch (Morris Horowitch our Uncle) at the Holland Street Arena, Newton Heath,Manchester and when asked for a Is 2d ticket, including tax, each received two sevenpenny tickets instead. The effect was that on the higher rate of the tax there was a loss of one halfpenny on each ticket. It was alleged also that only a few of the people present had tickets at all. Mr. Lustgarten successfully argued, in defence, that as admission was free, and seats were only procurable by the purchase of programmes. there was no evidence of evasion of tax in that instance. Horowitch was fined 40s in each of the two cases respecting the inspectors' tickets. |
