This is the first in a new series of blogs by Historic Coventry Trust’s research volunteers. The blogs will reveal stories about people and events connected with our properties.
Sue Breslin, one of the team, says “I moved to Coventry in 2022 and as soon as I discovered the Historic Coventry Trust I signed up as a volunteer. I love family history, social history, and understanding how places have changed over time. The idea for this series of blogs was sparked by discovering how old the Priory Row cottages are and wondering about who might have lived there over the centuries. I love to find out the life stories of people from the past – there’s always something interesting, and often surprising.”
People of Priory Row Cottages – James and Ada Moore, 1840 – 1939
The 1911 census return for 3 Priory Row records the family of James Thomas Moore. James, aged 43, lived with his second wife Ada, 28, and his sons Sydney and Harold, aged 20 and 15 respectively.
The census shows James was a fish dealer born in Killarney, Ireland, and by searching birth and marriage records I found that James’ father Michael was an Irish soldier who had married Warwickshire girl Jane Marshall in Ireland in 1866. By the time of the 1871 census James, his mother and his two sisters were living in Coventry. Jane is described as a widow so she may have returned to be near her family; the older daughter was born in Ireland but the younger, only 5 months old in the census record, was born in Coventry.
By 1890 James Moore had opened a fishmonger business on Butcher Row in Coventry, it is listed in the Coventry Street directory for that year. Butcher Row no longer exists as it was demolished for redevelopment by the City Council but a map of 1905 shows that it ran by Holy Trinity church, roughly where the Coventry Cross is today. The 1911 street directory lists James’ business as a fish and oyster bar at 16 Butcher Row.
A search of death records shows that James’ first wife, Ada (nee Waters), died in 1909 while the family were living at 3 Priory Row. She is buried in London Road cemetery with Sydney and Harold and her oldest son James who died in infancy.
In 1910 James married Ada Oswin in Plumstead (now in London and then in Kent). Ada was a Coventry girl and it seems odd that they were married elsewhere. On the marriage record the witnesses are shown as James’ sister Emma and her husband John who were living in Plumstead, and the addresses James and Ada gave were close to where Emma and John lived. There could be many reasons why the couple chose not to marry in Coventry – it’s possible that James’ family objected to his remarrying so soon after his first wife’s death.
Ada and James went on to have children together as an advertisement in the Coventry Evening Telegraph of 12 September 1917 shows: Mrs Moore at 3 Priory Row was looking for a useful young girl, aged 15 or 16, who could undertake light household duties and take the baby out for walks.
Newspapers also carried a number of advertisements for James’ business now offering fish, chips, oysters and other seafood. We can also read how, in the summer of 1914, and not for the first time, James was summoned for supplying refreshments during hours prohibited without a licence. A Sergeant Morris described how he had found nine people eating fried fish and oysters at 11.48pm on James’ premises. James’ defence was that in warmer weather people didn’t come out to eat until later and if he didn’t sell the fish it would spoil. Unfortunately he was found guilty and fined £1 plus costs.
James had been summoned under the Refreshment House Act of 1860 which said that any building open for public refreshment between 9pm and 5am, and not already licenced for the sale of alcohol in those hours, was required to have a licence. This was in an attempt to limit noise and nuisance in residential areas.
James’ business went from strength to strength and his son Sydney joined him, later taking over management. In 1935, due to more redevelopment, the business moved to New Buildings near today’s Trinity Street, as Moore’s Fish Restaurant. There were regularly queues of people spilling out onto the street, waiting to be seated.
James died in 1936 and is buried in London Road Cemetery. By this time he and Ada had moved to “Cotswold” on Stoke Green, a much larger house reflecting his wealth. In his will he left £16,272.00; at this time the average house price was about £550.00.
By 1969 the business was based in Fairfax Street and had become known as Fishy Moore’s. It was a well loved institution in the city, its place cemented during World War II when Rose Moore provided free fish and chips to those helping to clear the rubble after the November 1940 Coventry Blitz. On Fairfax Street it was handily situated to feed those who had been swimming in the city’s baths, those arriving or leaving via Pool Meadow bus station, and hungry shoppers.
The family sold the business to Associated Fisheries Group in 1970, and following another move to City Arcade for yet more redevelopment at the end of the twentieth century, it finally closed in 2009 having served generations of hungry Coventry people.
I love how this story, as well as being about James, his family and their success, is about Coventry and its keenness to modernise. City Arcade itself is now being demolished as part of the new City Centre South regeneration scheme, bringing more new streets and demolishing old ones.
