Alex Smith



One time Chester publican turned builder, plumber and later in life, baker and confectioner, Alexander Roylance Shepherd Smith was 22yrs old when he married local girl Jane Chesworth; they were married for 40 years and had 12 children in 25 years, between 1872 and 1897. Amongst the well known buildings he was taken on to build were:


 * the Old Police HQ (designed by John Douglas) at 142 Foregate Street built in 1884 - now Grade II listed and still standing.


 * the Dee Restaurant, 136 Foregate Street - on the corner with Grosvenor Park Road - where Alex worked as a baker and confectioner in his later years, with his wife and daughter, also Jane. It was demolished when the road junction was widened and an underpass added.

He owned all the Dee Banks land (opposite the Earls Eye) and built many of the houses by the river, namely the great Dee Fords House, Rudale and Kenwyn (now Deva Heights), all of which remain standing today. Another large home called Riversdale has all but disappeared, except for an old newspaper discovery.

His life:
Born in 1850, he lived with his parents in Milton Street, close to where the Mill Hotel is now. The 1861 census shows he was a ‘Scholar’, aged 11. At 21yrs old on the 1871 census, he’s still living at home with his parents now at 26 Suffolk Street Boughton; his occupation is given as ‘’Joiner’ and in 1872 he marries Jane Chesworth. Suffolk Street was demolished to make room for the flats near Edgerton and Crewe Streets.

The 1881 census mentions he’d moved to 135 Francis Street with Jane, 4 children and his mother-in-law; his occupation: ‘House Carpenter and Publican’.

By the 1891 census he’d moved into the Old Queen’s Head pub with Jane and 9 children plus 2 servants; his occupation: Licenced victualler. In the Chester Castle Petty Sessions Court, the Cheshire Observer 6 May 1893 edition mentions Alex:


 * "occupied a public house, the Old Queen’s Head, 97 Foregate Street and having recently bought the White House, wished to sell (to eldest son Duncan), the goodwill of the Queen’s Head and take possession of The White House."

In 1896 before the birth of his last child, he built and moved into the large house called Rudale, on Dee Banks. The name Rudale is the name of the small farm and croft his grandfather rented and which his father was brought up on; it's in Kilmartin Glen, Argyllshire, over 330 miles away. On the 1901 census he’s 51 years old; Jane and all 12 children – aged between 28 and 3 - are living with him at Rudale; his occupation is given as ‘House Carpenter’.

Gallery
Kelly’s Trade Directory of 1906 mentions his occupation as ‘Plumber’ and in October 1907, he’s elected to represent Boughton in the Municipal Elections. The 1911 census - now 61 years old – shows Jane and 7 of his 12 children - aged between 36 and 13 - living with him at Rudale. Having built the Dee Restaurant at 136 Foregate Street, his occupation is ‘Baker and Confectioner’; he, his wife Jane and daughter of the same name, run the shop together.

Wife Jane died in 1812 and he retired from business a year later, aged 63, leaving his daughter to run the bakery and restaurant. Kelly’s 1914 Trade Directory shows his occupations as ‘Plumber of 161 Boughton’ and ‘Confectioner, 138 Foregate Street’.

He married again in 1918 and moved into 11 Lord Street, where he died in 1923, aged 73. He's buried in Overleigh Cemetery (plot P2344) with his first wife and 2 of their sons.

Sources and Links

 * Rudale from Placenames of Argyll: appears to be from Old Norse;