Strange, Charles l C. Strange, Strange I, chemist and druggist. Listed in Slater's 1850 directory of Manchester and vicinity as chemist and druggist. Contributed an occasional article to Once a Week, e.g., "Nest-Building Fish," "The Confession of a Tea-Kettle; or a Hint to Housewives." Author of two booklets dealing with his hobby – indoor aquaria: Ponds in the Parlour and Neptune's Garden, both published in Manchester (London publisher also given on title pages), 1861.

      The second and third items ["Chip: Death in the Teapot", II, 277. Dec. 14, 1850; "Chip: Death in the Bread-Basket", II, 323. Dec. 28, 1850] indicate the contributor's knowledge of chemical and other substances and their effect on the human body. The references to Manchester in the first ["Chip: The Knocking-up Business", I, 501–02. Aug. 17, 1850] and second items imply that the contributor was a resident of that city. In the first, he tells of seeing a sign in the window of a house while he "was passing through a bye-street in Manchester," of his later returning to ask the meaning of the sign, and of his discovering how some of "our Manchester friends" earn a livelihood. In the second item he describes an experiment conducted by a friend of his, "a chemist in Manchester."
      The Office Book assigns "The Knocking-up Business" to Strange alone, but with the notation "rewritten by W.H.W."

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971