PHOTOGRAPHS RELATED TO CATHERINE NIXON AND FAMILY

The donor married John Henry Nixon in 1931. Her husband, born in Longsight in 1907, was the son of John Nixon and Alice Birchall. Alice came from Tunstall in Staffordshire. She met her future husband when he was visiting his father, Charles Thomas Nixon who had left Manchester and bought a gents outfitters business in Tunstall. Catherine Nixon is the only child of Herbert Neville Birchall and Ada Kearton. The Birchall family came from Cheshire, but moved to Tunstall when the donor's paternal great-grandfather became manager of the Golden Dale Iron works there. There were 9 children in the family. One son, the donor's grandfather, Peter Birchall, married Eliza Ann Price. He was a builder and also specialised in building-up businesses, one of which was a pot-bank, used for firing teapots. His only child, Herbert, the donor's father, was made the manager of this business. Herbert's main interest was music. He was a talented organist and wished to play professionally. Soon after his marriage and the birth of the donor, a mistake in the firing at the pot-bank, resulted in a disagreement with his father. He took his family to Canada to start a career as a theatre organist. Before the outbreak of World War I, because her mother had been ill, both returned to England for a visit. The war prevented their return to Canada, although later the donor's mother managed to make the trip, leaving Catherine with her paternal grandparents. In 1920 she rejoined her parents. When her grandfather, Peter Birchall died in 1924 his wife made a six month visit to Canada. It was decided that Catherine should return to England to live with her for a short time. To extend his career, the donor's father moved to the U.S.A. where he died suddenly in 1927. Her mother returned to Tunstall and she too died in 1933. Catherine's family and her husband's family are inter-related. John Nixon was an accountant. Their only child, Neville Nixon is also an accountant in Stockport.