Nat Gould

Manchester

Nat Gould was born on 21 December 1857 at 27 York Street in Manchester.

His birthplace does not now exist. In the 1887 trade directory, York Street is described as being between New Bridge Street and Cheetham Hill Road, with many streets crossing along its considerable length.

There is now no York Street in the Cheetham area of Manchester. The Ordnance Survey map of 1922 still shows all these streets except York Street, which by then had probably been renamed or disappeared under new buildings.

Because of his birth in Manchester, Nat Gould is sometimes regarded as a Lancashire writer (1). However nothing of Lancashire (apart from his early days in Manchester) appears in his books.

(1) "Three Lancashire Plays" by Harold Brighouse (1920) page 10.
The Accrington writer J.R. Swann wrote ably and affectionately of Nat Gould, although he did not himself describe him as a Lancashire author.