Bannister, HR
The first record of an Urmston omnibus service is an 1846 plan to run one from Flixton through Urmston to Stretford. The opening of the Manchester to Cheshire railway line in 1873 resulted in Flixton and Urmston becoming middle class suburbs of Manchester.
Herbert Roland Bannister from Stretford, the son of the merchant Herbert Bannister. In 1891 he was a Chemist's assistant in Stretford. He became landord of the Lord Nelson Hotel in Urmston in 1901. In this year he either started operating a horse drawn omnibus service between Urmiston and Stretford or took over an existing service. It is possible that he took over the Urmston to Streford service operated by Hamlet, Henry, or was in competition with him.
In January 1903[1] the service is listed as being half hourly between Urmston, Stretford and Chorlton. At this time Herbert Bannister is listed as the landlord of the Lord Nelson Hotel but not as an omnibus owner. There is a photograph of the Coop and Sons Urmston to Stretford omnibus. Coop and Sons are listed in 1903 as mainly an undertaker business. In 1909 and 1911 they are listed as a coach and cab business.
The indication is that by January 1903 Henry Bannister was not operating an omnibus service. He left the Lord Nelson Hotel in 1905 and by 1911 was the owner of the Railway Hotel in Prestatyn, Wales.
In 1905 it was reported that Manchester Corporation nearly completed a proposal to run tramlines to Urmston but dropped the proposal in favour motorbuses. The new proposal was to run a motorbus service from the Danghulme boundary of Urmston to the Stretford boundary, connecting tram services at either end of the district. [2]. A motorbus service was tried in 1906 between Urmston and Stretford but the inidcation is that one was not operating until 1913, but that the motobuses were taken by the government during WW1 with horse buses operating during this time.
The Urmston to Stretford omnibus service is listed in 1909 and 1911 [3] with the service varying between half hourly and hourly. There is a note of a photograph taken in 1913 with the Urmiston to Stretford horse drawn omnibus outside the Victoria Hotel in Urmston but this may be the photograph of an early motorbus outside the Victoria Hotel.
| Bannister, HR | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Source | (Smith) | |
| Filename | BAN.001 | |
| Value | 1d | |
| Add Desc. | The old original bus Urmston | |
| Size (mm) | 28 | |
| Manufacture | 0 Brass | |
| Notes | ||