Manchester History Club

Manchester History Club

Finding Mr Engels: Part 1

How a journey to uncover my family history led me to an encouter with Friedrich Engels in slums of Victorian Manchester

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Dean Kirby
Jun 06, 2025
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Friedrich Engels still casts a shadow over Manchester. (Artwork copyright Manchester History Club)

It’s an overcast day in the autumn of 2012.

Inside the archaeologists’ hut at the bottom of Dantzic Street, I’m picking over the Victorian artefacts that have come up from the trench.

The bowl of a clay pipe that still whiffs of tobacco. The delicate handle o…

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