Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Does anybody know what kind of houses where in this street as I've just come across over 20 people in some of the houses.

I know we've talked about slums and court dwellings and I'd be interested to find out what kind of housing this was please. It was either huge and sectioned off into flats or it was 1 room per family, probably the latter.

RG10/Piece 3798/Folio 10/Page 14

Barbara,

If you look at the adverts in the papers, they can give you a flavour of what kind of houses, etc.

Below, 1871 Liverpool Mercury,
8/- per week.



This morning I was reading about the courts in 1880 having a rent of 3s-6d per week compared with a cottage with own back yard being 5s-6d per week, by cottage I think, we now call them Terrace.

So that could be a big house then at 8s per week, sublet off into rooms? Did you check the census, I don't recall seeing one set out like that before or maybe I've just never noticed, it was all the crossings out by the enumerator that drew my eye.

It wasn't unusual for houses to be shared amongst different families or for landlords to offer a let of 1, 2, or 3 rooms, etc. Page 1 on the census has that part of Beaufort St the enumerator is concerned with recording 127 houses, no courts in Beaufort St, though there are in other streets he's covering.

Most older houses were three storeys with cellars. If you look at the fire insurance maps I think the number three that often appears means that the row is three storeys high. Someone in our family was said to have come into a bit of money and lived in a house in Beaufort Street. The family usually lived in court houses.


Blue

Many members of my family lived in numerous houses in Beaufort Street over the years, including my dad, who was born there. They were large houses - a cellar (which was often used as living quarters by a family), a front and back parlour, the bedrooms upstairs and an attic. When my dad lived there, there were several families in his house, but all of them were related.

Thanks everybody it all helps to paint a bigger picture than just names on a census.

The address in question was 143 Beaufort Street so I've gone to the 1911 census where you can do an address search on FMP and found that at the same address were 3 families:

4 people in 2 rooms
3 people in 4 rooms
2 people in 1 room

So 7 rooms in total.

Even in 1911 there are multiple occupancies in most of the houses in this street with some having up to 5 families living in them.

Can I just add that Beaufort Street is one of the Liverpool streets whose name is not pronounced the way anyone from elsewhere would expect. I imagine all the non-scousers are imagining a rhyme with, say, "low-fort". My understanding is that it was (and is?) pronounced "bew-fort", like dew or yew.
I love these idiosyncratic local pronunciations of street names, my favourite being Angela Street, pronounced An-GEE-la. (I used to know someone who lived there)

Yes agreed. Bew-fort Street


Blue

barley28 wrote:Can I just add that Beaufort Street is one of the Liverpool streets whose name is not pronounced the way anyone from elsewhere would expect. I imagine all the non-scousers are imagining a rhyme with, say, "low-fort". My understanding is that it was (and is?) pronounced "bew-fort", like dew or yew.
I love these idiosyncratic local pronunciations of street names, my favourite being Angela Street, pronounced An-GEE-la. (I used to know someone who lived there)

Well you learn something every day on here!!!

Another is Soho Street and my father always said it was pronounced S'ho Street, difficult to spell so that you can understand, but basically the first o wasn't sounded.

PS The Beaufort was like the Bewfort T Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit film.

Also known locally as just 'Bewie.'