medusa Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 The current committee of the Sheffield Cats Shelter would like some information about the history of the charity and its founder, a Miss Jane Barker, who founded the charity in 1897, to put on our website. We know that at some point in the past the charity was based on Gell Street, but we have no idea when or why the Shelter was moved to its current location at Travis Place, Broomhall, or whether these were the only two addresses where the Shelter's been based. We also don't know anything about Miss Barker apart from her name, but we'd love to know more. I've done web searches and the like, but that hasn't really found us very much, so we'd like to hear from anybody who remembers a time when the Shelter was at Gell Street, or anybody who knows how we could go about searching for further information. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubydazzler Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Is Mr Maw still connected with the Shelter at all? He used to live on Wharncliffe Road and he was on the committee for years as was Michael Maas and they both seemed to know a lot about the early life of the Shelter. I think the time of Gell St was in the late 19th c. Was she bequeathed the house on Travis Place? There was some sort of booklet iirc, that was when I lived nearby and we used to support the Shelter, certain I remember seeing one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arfer Mo Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 HI I remember taking our cat to the cats shelter in Gell st over 70 yrs ago and recall there was no charge, Arthur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted August 31, 2006 Author Share Posted August 31, 2006 Thank you Ruby- I'll get someone to have a look up of the two gentlemen and see if they're still members. Neither is still on the committee, but they might be willing to share their knowledge with us if we can still trace them. Whatever information used to be available, we can't find anything in the Shelter currently, and it's probable that those sorts of leaflets have been thrown out years ago as they became 'out of date'- of course the problem with that is that the out of date background information then gets lost. We aren't even sure how we've ended up in the current building- maybe we can get our solicitors to dig out the deeds and tell us when we took occupation. Thank you Arthur- so we know that the Shelter was still at Gell Street approaching WWII. I wonder if it was damage in the war that necessitated a change in location, or whether it was a bequest of a new building that enabled it. This is asking more questions than it's answering at the moment, but maybe it's like doing a jigsaw puzzle and we'll find a picture when we have enough pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 This looks as if its going to be a fascinating thread. I cant help one bit because Ive never heared of the lady in question but im definately going to follow this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted August 31, 2006 Author Share Posted August 31, 2006 Thank you Jabberwocky- I'm hoping that some of the forummers who know about genealogy and the like will know how we can narrow down searches for Miss Barker (apart from her name and that she lived in Sheffield in 1897 we know nothing else about her- and we only know that because there's a plaque on the door that's been about longer than everyone we know has been involved with the Shelter). There is one image that we know of in existence (ironically not owned by ourselves, so I can't reproduce it here without permission) from, we believe, the 1920s, showing the Gell Street address, so that's our starting point, but anything else is a bouns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutch Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 The 1927 Kellys Sheffield directory gives a Miss Jane Barker living at the Rookery 27 Collegiate Cres, with Miss Mary Beatrice Barker, by 1951 just Jane living there. Just a thought it may be her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share Posted September 1, 2006 The 1927 Kellys Sheffield directory gives a Miss Jane Barker living at the Rookery 27 Collegiate Cres, with Miss Mary Beatrice Barker, by 1951 just Jane living there. Just a thought it may be her. Thank you for looking, and there is a possibility that this is our Miss Jane Barker, but if this is her and she founded the Shelter when she was 30, then she'd be over 80 by 1951. It's even the correct area- we're very near to Collegiate Crescent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jana Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Medusa- I have sent you a private message please check your forum in box Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 I seem to remember, many years ago, seeing a photo of an old van thing, (reminded me of Corporal Jones' lorry, off "Dad's army "! ) which i'm sure had, emblazoned on its side, the legend "Sheffield Cat's Shelter, Gell St". Is that the photo you refer to, Medusa? PT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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