Why move? Lawley Street

[iolaus]

It may be that noone can help and I won't find out the reason however figured I'd try

My grandparents were living at 1 court 3 Lawley Street, Birmingham in the 1939 survey

By the time my dad was born in 1947 they had moved down the street to 1 back 79 Lawley Street, Birmingham

I know they were both back to back houses but was wondering if some were bigger than others - or if court 3 was bombed maybe?

Just seems strange to me to move in the same street (they moved out when rehoused due to slum demolition

[carol8353]

I will copy this that I wrote on a previous thread talking about the same thing.

"My mum grew up in Macclesfield Cheshire and lived in 5 different houses in the same street!

She said it would depend on the size of your family,often landlords owned the whole road.
So if you had a small family you had a 2 bed house,get more kids and you'd trundle across the street with all your belongings in a handcart to swop with someone whose child had just left home,or an elderly person who had just lost their partner.

Houses became unfit to live in and so they had to be moved once. And all the time they still shared the same toilet block at the bottom of the yard 

Mum said that it would also depend on whether the husband was in work or not,if they couldn't afford the rent on a larger house,they would be moved to a smaller one also owned by the same landlord."


Carol

[Bearnan]

Several generations of my family lived in the back to back houses in Heneage Street which is close to Lawley Street. Private landlords did indeed often own several properties and my great grandmother lived in one yard and then moved to the next one. When the family expanded they got another house in the same yard off the same landlord and so it went on. This happened with some of their neighbours too. My family lived in various houses in Heneage Street from the late 1890's until the 1950's when Birmingham City Council  introduced their slum clearance programme.

[suzard]

there is also the possibility (as I have found with some of mine) of the houses being renumbered ) -I have one street where they renumbered at least 3 times x

Suz

[cristeen]

Same situation here on my mum's side in Darwen, I have found at least three generations living in various houses on the same street. In fact my gg grandfather was known as the 'Mayor of Pothouse' because he owned so many properties on Pothouse Lane. How he managed to buy so many I will never know, he wasn't a wealthy man (worked as an overlooker in the cotton mills). I suspect some were passed down on previous owners' death.