Osborne House - Minto Road

[hillsbro]

Thank you so much for that hillsbro, that is brilliant - just what I was after! Where on earth did you find that photo, are there any more do you know? Planning to visit the library this weekend so hopefully will find more info there. Thanks again!

Hello again - the postcard turned up on eBay a few months ago. I have quite a few similar cards showing Hillsborough in the early 1900s, but that view is the only one I have of Minto Road (PM me an email address if you'd like a high-resolution JPEG scan). Such real-photo postcards are keenly collected nowadays and I had to pay £28 (!) for it but it's an excellent card. They may well have this and other photos at the Local Studies Library - many of their photos can be seen on the http://www.picturesheffield.com site but they have some more that are not visible online, and you can order prints..

 

---------- Post added 15-11-2013 at 16:15 ----------

 

...I started my cub days at the HQ behind the kinema ... I also went to the jamboree at Sutton Coldfield in 57 we camped at a satellite camp , We became very friendly with some scouts from Nyasaland... Happy days

Happy days indeed - the HQ behind the kinema on Proctor Place was in the hut belonging to Hillsborough Tabernacle church; I also can't remember the group number. I still have the bronze commemorative woggle that my grandma bought me at Sutton Coldfield, and my autograph book with the names of scouts from all over the word (from Cape Town to Helsinki, New York to New Guinea)..

[Jonny1]

Here is a photo dating from the early 1900s (the postcard has a 1907 postmark). The Swifts who are shown as occupying Osborne House in the 1911 census had been there for at least 20 years to judge from earlier census returns. I would guess that Osborne House was built in the latter part of the 19th century - it does not feature in the 1862 directory. Milner Road was renamed Minto Road in 1903, apparently in honour of the 4th Earl of Minto who was Governor-General of Canada at the time.

 

Morning, so interesting reading what you know about Minto rd and Osborne House. I was brought up at No 7 Minto road from 1991-2012 until I moved out. Im now 22. My dad always told me about Osborne house and how it was a nunnery. He also told me it was owned maybe built by a doctor called Dr Swift and he used the outer building at the back that was been re-built in 2005 due to it catching fire as his stables. He used to visit people in crooks etc by horse and cart. I duno much about Dr Swift. I remember as a kid playing in Osborne house as I came friends with the new owners son there when it became a Nursey/summer school. The place is huge inside.

 

Thanks

Jonathan

[hillsbro]

Hi Jonathan - as mentioned in post #3 above the occupant of Osborne House in the 1911 census was given as William Swift, a "steel rolling mill manager". Here is a link to a scan of the census page. The later directories I have from the 1920s to the 1940s show "Dr Francis Joseph Birks, M.B., physician & surgeon" at Osborne House. I also remember a Dr Birks who had a surgery nearby at 172 Dykes Hall Road, on the corner of Leader Road in the 1950s and 1960s - he appears in directories as "Dr Francis D. Birks" - perhaps he was a relative. I do recall that as a schoolboy in 1964 I delivered the post over Christmas and I had a card addressed to "The Three Birks, 172 Dykes Hall Road"..

[Jane-Angela]

Bit of a random question, but does anyone know of any history of the building Osborne House on Minto Rod in Hillsborough? Trying to find information on the internet is proving to impossible so I wonder if it used to called something else?? I understand it was a children's home ran by nuns back in the day. Any info gratefully received.

Osborne House was built for William Swift, Owner of rolling mills in Owlerton. He lived there until his death then his son William Swift lived there with his family of six children and

maids etc. He left the house in 1924 and built at High Bradfield. My mother was born in Osborne House, the youngest of his six children. The House was then occupied by the Sisters of Mercy, until the present nursery took over.