Stanley Parnell

My Grandfather, 1916 - 1975 

​Stanley was born in 1916 at 6 East Church Street, Broughton, Salford. His parents were William Latimer Parnell and Amelia May; William was one of ten children.   

​Stanley married Eileen Marshall in 1936 at the parish church of St Clement, Broughton, Salford. Stanley's address at this time was 17 Arrow Street. He was aged 19 and Eileen 21. Stanley worked as a garment presser.

​They had four children – three boys and one girl. My dad, Michael, was their second born. 

​The1939 Register shows the couple living at 87 Nora Street, Broughton, Salford. My dad told me that their house on Nora Street was bombed during the War and that there was nothing left of it. I think that this must have happened in December 1940 during the 'Salford Christmas Blitz'. Nora Street no long exists; like so many of Salford's streets it vanished during the slum clearances of the 1970s.   

​During the Second World War, Stanley served at RAF Valley in Anglesey. Eileen and the children also evacuated to Anglesey and lived in a tiny cottage at Rhoscolyn on Holy Island. I'm not sure exactly where the cottage was. Below is a recent photograph of Rhoscolyn. Their eldest son, Stanley, said: "It was at the top of a hill in the grounds of a large house. Which covered a large distance. It was owned by a family called Green."  Their daughter, Jackie, said, "Mum loved to reminisce. We used to visit Vera, a Welsh lady, who became a dear friend when they were evacuated there. The place mum and the boys lived wasn’t a house, it was just a bit bigger than a shed!! She took … me to see it. Couldn’t believe the size of it. Vera’s was on the left side of the lane leading to the beach and the shed in a field not far from it".

​Stanley and Eileen divorced and Stanley married his second wife in 1959/60, with whom he ran a Salford pub. ​He died in 1975, aged 59.