Forms, 1940s-50s

Higher Ardwick from Chancery Lane, 1959

St Gregory’s is in the distance at the top end of the road. Note the trolleybus power cables. Many of these old buildings, blackened by a century of smoke pollution, would eventually be demolished.

Charles Dickens stayed with his sister, Fanny, at her house at 3 Elm Terrace – situated half way down Higher Ardwick, right-hand-side looking at the photo – when he visited in 1843. She was a talented singer and musician and married fellow musician Henry Burnett, moving with him to Manchester. The couple had two sons: Henry Augustus in 1839, and Charles Dickens Kneller in 1841, both born in London. Henry Jr was a disabled and sickly child and is said to have been Dickens’ inspiration for Tiny Tim when he wrote A Christmas Carol later that year.