Frank Middleton (my uncle) was born on 14th December 1898.

Frank attended the Church School on Queen Street at Barton-upon-Humber. He recalled that he left school at the age of 12 years (in 1911) but could not get any factory work, as school-leavers had to be 13 years old before they were allowed to work in factories. As a result, he went looking after cows for cow-keepers (tenting (tending) cows, as he called it) for a year. Going into detail, he remembered looking after the cows along Eastfield Road at Barton (no doubt grazing them along the roadside grass verges all day) and that he looked after nine cows at 10d (ten old pence) a cow per week, this was for several small cow-keepers who only had two or three cows each. This gave him a weekly income of 7/6d (seven shillings and six old pence).

After a year, when he had reached the age of 13, Frank started to look for factory work and got a job at the Hopper Cycle Factory on Marsh Lane at Barton. His daily hours were 6 am to 5.30 pm and for this he was given 4/6d (four shillings and six old pence) per week. He worked there six months but did not like it, so he left and got a job as a butcher’s errand-boy with Eastman’s Butchers shop on Barton High Street at the corner of Finkle Lane. Frank liked this job and was very happy, often not leaving work until 11 pm or 12 midnight having had to wash the shop out after late closing. He delivered meat on occasions, and sometimes had to wake customers after they had gone to bed by knocking on the door, if he was making a late delivery. He worked there for two years.

Leaving the butcher’s he went to work in a brickyard for the summer of 1914. This was at Westfield Brickyard on the River Humber bank, accessed from Far Ings (these brickyard buildings were eventually made into Westfield Lakes Hotel and later into Reed’s Hotel). Frank worked throughout that summer for 15/- (fifteen shillings) a week. He left there after the summer, as there was not much work in the brickyards during winter months, and went to work at the Whitening Mill down Barton Waterside. This was owned by the Sisson’s Paint Company of Hull and used to grind chalk to make whitening for paints and putty at their Hull factory. Small ships used to come into Barton Haven (now grown up with weed) and bring coal for the whitening mill. This the men used to unload, and then reload the boat with 90 tons of whitening, which it used to take to Hull. Frank worked at the whitening mill for two years. By this time, Frank was 17 years old and he got a job at Immingham Docks helping to load railway metals (lines) onto ships to be taken to France to make railways for the war (WWI). He and a mate only worked at Immingham for three weeks, as they were approaching military age (18 years), and the company had a policy of finishing young men when they reached military age. Leaving Immingham, Frank got a job at the Barton-upon-Humber Cement Works, which was located on the River Humber bank. Frank’s father George Middleton (b1871) worked at the cement works as a clay digger and general worker. This Cement Works closed and ceased operations in 1926. After three weeks working at the cement works, Frank received his calling-up papers for war service in WWI.

Reminiscing about in Barton his younger childhood at Barton, Frank remembered his grandparents (Foster Middleton b1845 and his wife Mary Ann (nee Peel b1841)), and The White Lion Inn in Barton Market Place of which his grandfather was landlord. Frank said he used to spend a lot of his spare time at ‘the Lion’ when he was a lad. After school leaving time, he would go to the White Lion to see if they needed any errands running. He said his grandfather used to like a drink of whisky.

Frank said that his grandfather, Foster Middleton, was a small man who used to wear a sealskin waistcoat, and would often get drunk on whisky. Frank said that whenever a circus visited Barton, his grandfather would take him to see it. He said his grandfather liked sardines and he would often give Frank 6d (six old pence) and send him to a nearby shop in Market Lane to get either a tin of sardines or a jar of marmalade. The back room at the White Lion was the pantry at that time, its window facing up the pub yard at the back. Frank would run back with the sardines or marmalade and go into the back room where his grandfather would be waiting with some bread, and he would give Frank some and the two of them would tuck into the food. Frank recalls there being some strange characters in those days. He says that one man in particular used to like his booze and the man’s wife would hide his boots to try to prevent him going to the ‘Lion’. This man would get to the pub somehow and get himself very drunk and go into the granary above the horse stables at the back of the pub and sleep it off in the straw or hay.

Frank talked of a building at the back of the White Lion, which was beautifully decorated inside with an embossed ceiling, and he used to remember banquets being held in this building. Pigeon shows were also held in the building, with all kinds of pigeons, he said it was lovely. Frank said a pigeon-racing club used to meet there, and on race days, the organisers used to be based there to time or ‘clock’ the pigeons in. The entrants would take their birds up to the White Lion a day or maybe two before the race and the organisers would put a numbered rubber ring onto each bird’s leg before the birds would be sent by rail to a distant place, Frank mentioned Bristol as one such place. On the day of the race, each entrant would have a young boy with him for the day to act as a ‘runner’; Frank said it did not matter if the boy was not related to the entrant, as long as he was interested in pigeons. When a person had a pigeon return, he would take the rubber ring from the pigeon’s leg and give it to the boy who would then run up to the White Lion and give it to the organisers telling them that his entrant had had one of his pigeons return. The organisers would then note the time and put it down for that pigeon. Each entrant was allowed so much time for the boy to run from his house to the White Lion. The entrant with a pigeon home in the earliest time would win a prize.

Frank said his grandmother Mary Ann (nee Peel, b1841) was a kind old soul. He said she used to regularly send him round with cans of broth (soup) to less fortunate people. He recalls taking these cans of broth to numerous people, including an old road-working man who used to live in King Street. Grandma would always give Frank something to go home with, for taking the broth out, maybe a can of broth for himself or a date pie.

Frank recalled a man called Tom who used to live in The Butchery (a small street off the Market Place) in houses that have long been demolished. This man was a bootmaker and cobbler, making and mending boots, and every so often he would go on the booze continuously for a full week, not doing any bootmaking or mending, and being drunk all the time (what we today would call a ‘bender’). The White Lion had regular customers, especially people who lived on farms or in nearby villages, who would go there on Saturday evenings. These people would not get drunk, they did not have the money; they would maybe have a couple of glasses of beer but they could not afford to have eight or nine pints.

Many people were always in debt because they would go and spend all their money in pubs. Frank remembered a man who worked as a bricklayer’s labourer at one of the building firms in the town and when he was paid on a Saturday lunchtime (dinnertime as it was called) he would go straight to the pub and spend most of his money. Frank said the man had a houseful of children, and later he would throw half-a-crown (2/6d, two shillings and six old pence) onto the table for his wife to feed them all with, most of his wages having been spent in the pub.

Frank said the Middleton family had been proprietors at the White Lion for sixty-four years, and that his great grandfather (John Middleton b1818) had kept the Crown Inn at Ashby. John had a fairly large family and they all lived to be a good age and that one of John’s sons (Amos Middleton b1848) lived to be 100 years old. Frank said his grandfather Foster used to live at Brigg and was an Ostler in his younger days. Amos never ran a pub; he was only interested in horses, and used to visit the Brigg Horse Fair every year until a few years before his death. Frank said his grandfather took over the running of the Ashby Ville pub and he would also hire horses out. When the ironworks started at Scunthorpe, iron ore used to be transported to the works in trucks pulled by horses, and his grandfather used to hire horses to the ironworks for that purpose. Later Frank’s grandfather moved to Barton to take over the running of the White Lion Inn. Frank said that his great grandfather John lived to be 92 years old (records seem to show that he died when he was 88 years old) but his grandfather Foster (the little whisky man, as Frank called him) died when he was only 64 years old.

Returning to reminiscing about the early days at the White Lion at Barton, Frank again said that his grandmother Mary Ann was a kind person, and that if anyone was not well, she would send Frank to Lee’s the chemists in Barton to get a pint of what he called Black Beer. This he thought was some kind of remedy for illnesses. He did not know what the ingredients of this were. He went on to say that the ‘White Lion’ had a cone-shaped tin, similar to an old-fashioned dunces hat, pointed at one end and with a handle on the side. His grandmother would put the Black Beer into this tin and place it point down into the fire to hot up the contents. She would then give some of this to customers who were not well, and they would have it instead of having a pint of beer. They would pay her for it.

Frank recalled there used to be gas lighting at the pub and his grandparents also used to have small portable lamps that had vessels at the bottom. Frank used to be sent to Kirkby’s (grocers, in Market Lane) to get some Benzene for them, he said the light from these Benzene lamps was better than the light from a candle. Frank remembered seeing his aunt (Florence Middleton b1880) walking about with these lamps. Florence lived at the White Lion all her life, first helping her parents run the pub, and later when they died, helping her brother Fred Middleton (b1878) when he took over the running of it.

Occasionally a circus would visit Barton. Frank said they were not regular but they would visit from time to time. They would be set up in ‘The Paddock’, this used to be an area of grassland, now called Beretun Green where pensioner’s bungalows have been built, and this was accessed from Brigg Road, not far from the Market Place. Visiting ‘Fairs’ originally used to set up in the Market Place, but later they too located in The Paddock. Travelling picture shows would visit (this was in the days before cinemas) and show films in a wooden-sided canvas-top portable building. Frank said it was 2d (two old pence) for a seat at the front, but most people would stand on a floor that sloped from back to front. He said that after his grandfather Foster died in 1908, he did not have any pennies for it. He also remembered one of these portable picture shows once being set up in Whitecross Street, when a fair came to Barton. Frank remembered circus and fair people performing in Barton Market Place.

Sometimes a family of travellers (travelling salesmen, not the travellers we know of today) would visit Barton, they would have a large cart and they would stay several nights at the White Lion. They would have many pots (cups, saucers, plates, dishes, etc.) with them and they would go round nearby villages selling pots to householders. These people also sold paraffin lamps (no electric in those days) which consisted of a vessel at the bottom to hold the paraffin and a burner with wick above it to provide light. The travellers would also hold Pot Sales in Barton Market Place on Saturday evenings, in which they would lay straw down on the floor and spread out a good selection of pots for people to view. Frank recalls one time when some paraffin had been dropping from one of the lamps onto the straw. He said this caught alight and set the pot sale on fire, this caused great excitement among the local children. Frank was very amused recalling this incident.

Frank remembered a performing bear visiting from time to time, and this used to do tricks in the Market Place. He said the Salvation Army Band used to play in the Market Place every Saturday evening. He also remembered there being a water pump in the Market Place and young boys always used to be swinging on it. There used to be a single house in the Market Place roadway area and this used to be a tailor’s shop; Frank remembered his grandfather Foster having a brown overcoat and taking it to this shop to get it altered so that it would fit Frank. There was another pub nearby, The Queen Inn, situated in The Butchery just off Barton Market Place and Frank said that publicans were not supposed to drink in their own pub and their families would keep them to this, but they could go to another. He said his grandfather could not get any whisky at home but the pubs used to open from 6 am in a morning until 11 pm at night in those days. Frank said the landlord of the Queen Inn was as bad as his grandfather for drinking, and each would go into the other’s pub at 6 am in a morning and have a drink.

There was what was called a ‘Dram Shop’ between the downstairs rooms at the White Lion, and this was where beer and spirits were served from, to customers in the other rooms. On one occasion, Frank was watching when three farmers entered one of the rooms; these men were very friendly with his grandfather and his grandfather went to them. These farmers ordered whisky and Frank’s aunt Florence served them; these three farmers then stood up so that Frank’s aunt could not see, and his grandfather popped into the Dram Shop and got himself a whisky.

Frank said that he remembered ice-skating in Barton Market Place. There was no salt put on the roads in those days, and snow would get packed quite thick and solid with ice. He had a pair of old adult ice-skates which were too large for him and he would tie these to his feet. Other lads would do the same and they would skate all over Barton Market Place. The skates were wooden with a metal blade fitted to the centre of them.

Barton Fair would visit, and Barton ‘status’ would be held in May of each year, when farm workers would often change employers. Frank pronounced this as ‘stat-us’, and his great uncle Amos (previously mentioned) always referred to the Brigg Horse Fair as being the ‘stat-us’. Frank said ‘Show People’ would go to Brigg for a week (presumably to Brigg Horse Fair) and then come to Barton. These people would have what Frank called ‘Dolly Shies’; these were like skittles made up as dolls, and people would throw at them, and if they knocked so many down they would win a prize. Farm lads would get small trinkets and bits & pieces, and would pin these to their caps and wear them all the year round. Still remembering the Showmen, Frank said he was in Barton Paddock one day and a man was giving an exhibition with a horse from The George Hotel (in Barton Market Place). The George Hotel had a horse and trap in those days, and this was going to meet some travellers at Barton Railway Station and bring all their belongings up to the George Hotel where they would be based. There was a pony there as well. The man giving the exhibition had a clothes line, and he looped this once around the horses neck and told people how strong he was and that the line would break before it would hurt him when the horse pulled, and that is exactly what happened. Frank said that it was true; he saw it for himself.

Frank said people used to sell and exchange horses, it was all horses in those days, there were very few motors. He said roundabouts used to come with the fair, and people used to call them ‘Roundy Hosses’ (roundy horses). There were also switchbacks and these were run by traction engines, which would have an electric generator mounted above the boiler at the front; this would also provide electric for the lights. The traction engines would no doubt pull the rides from town to town, but people who only had ordinary stalls, had to move from town to town with horses.

Frank said nearly everyone kept a pig, and he thought nine out of ten people would have a pig. Nearly all houses, however small, had a pig-sty in the garden, and the remains of some still exist to this day. He said that most working people kept a pig, some maybe two. Frank said his uncle Fred (Middleton b1878) used to have a horse, which he kept at the White Lion, and he said it was a strong horse. Fred would often go to Brigg Market on Thursdays (Brigg Market Day) and Frank, when he was a lad, would often go with him. Ordinary people would ask Fred if he could get a pig for them, and he would buy a number of six- to eight-week-old pigs at Brigg Market and bring them back in the back of the cart or trap with a pig-net over the top so they did not escape. Having got the pigs back to Barton, Fred would put them in what was called a ‘Loose Box’ (a kind of stable) at the back of the White Lion. Fred would then sell the pigs individually to anyone who wanted one, making a small profit on each one.

Frank talked in detail about how, after fattening, pigs were killed in the back yards of peoples houses, and how neighbours used to help one another with getting the yard and outbuildings ready and boiling lots of water. When everything was ready, a local butcher would come in the morning and kill the pig, and it would be hung up vertically, either on strong tripod poles or if the person had a passage between their house and the next, hung from beams in the passage. The butcher would then return later in the day and cut the pig up. This cost 2/6d (two shillings and six old pence). Labouring wages in those days was 4½d (four and a half old pence) an hour. The neighbours would then help afterwards to ‘get the pig out of the way’ or ‘put the pig away’ as it was called. This means making sausages and pork pies, and laying down hams and cuts of meat to be salted and stored so the meat would keep (no fridges or freezers in those days), this work often going on late into the night. Neighbours would often be rewarded with a plate of pigs-fry (a plate full of various small cuts of meat). This person then helping others when they had a pig killed.

Frank said that everything from the pig was used, not a single thing was wasted or thrown away, and said he still liked a piece of properly salted and cured bacon (rare now). He said that he could still get some of this from Curtis, Butchers, at Scunthorpe, and hang it up in his garage and go cut a piece off it when he felt like eating some; he said it was just like the old home-fed bacon.

Sometimes people who had two pigs would often sell one to local Pork Butchers when the pig grew large enough to be pork. The pork butchers would have a handcart with lattice sides and an end door that dropped down to form an entrance slope, and they would collect the ‘porker’ as these pigs were called, in it. Returning to talking about the White Lion, Frank said that his uncle Fred knew most of the local farmers well, and he also had a good knowledge of cattle and horses. He would often take cattle and sheep to Hull Market for the farmers. If a farmer wanted some livestock sold at Hull Market, he would contact Fred who would then ask the railway company for a railway cattle-truck to be brought to Barton. The farmer would then take his livestock to Barton Railway Station and put them into a special pen at the line-side, which was kept there for the purpose. The truck was put alongside the pen and Fred had to get the livestock into the cattle-truck, after which a train would take the cattle-truck to the bottom of New Holland pier. The cattle or sheep would be then let out of the truck and driven loose down the walkway to the pontoon and onto the ferry where they would be penned-off at one end of the aft deck. Fred had his contacts, drovers (who were usually also boozers), and they would meet with him at the ferry and drive the livestock through the streets to Hull Cattle Market. Fred would see the cattle through the auction and then bring the money back for the farmers. Fred had a blue serge waistcoat and he had a large pocket sewn into this to carry money home from the markets. Frank was given this waistcoat when his uncle died.

In those days, the only way for people to travel any distance was by railway or horse and trap. A man who lived up Brigg Road at Barton used to have a horse and waggonette, which seated three people on either side. This man used to take people to Brigg and back for shopping, etc. Sometimes people could get lifts and travel on Carrier’s carts. The carrier they would often take a person or two in addition to goods, but any passengers would have to get off and walk up hills like Elsham Hill or Ferriby Hill, getting back onto the cart at the top of the hill. If they did not get off, the load would be too much for the horse to pull.

Frank said he would often go with his mate to Hull on the railway. The railway used to run cheap trips on Sunday afternoons when it would cost 6d (six old pence) return and this included both the train and the ferry fare. He remembered once going with a number of other lads, they were 13 or 14 years old at the time, and they had a wonderful time on the trams in Hull; he said it was a wonderful experience.

Frank was born on 14th December 1898 at Barrow Road, Barton, but was only a few weeks old when his parents moved to West Acridge in the town. He said that he spent all of his childhood living on West Acridge, but in fact he spent almost all of his long life living on West Acridge. Frank said that his father George worked at the Barton Cement works on the River Humber bank to the West of the town, and there was a footpath through fields at the top of West Acridge, this made it a handy shortcut for his father to get to work.

Frank said the Hopper Cycle Factory sent thousands and thousands of cycles away on the railway, he said there was no other way of transporting them. There were quite a number of passenger porters and several goods porters at Barton Railway Station, and goods were distributed around the town with a horse and cart when Frank was young, but later they got another horse and cart and used to deliver using two carts. He said there were five or six office staff.

The photographs show Barton Market Place as it would have been when Frank was a boy in the early 1900s and how he has described it above.

Frank Middleton died on 16th July 1993 aged 94 years.

Terry Clipson
February 2009