Issue No. 35 November 2003 – March 2004 - Wigan · 2019. 12. 18. · which will make any Christmas tree sparkle. A welcome addition to our choice of Christmas cards this year is

Issue No. 35 November 2003 – March 2004

Produced by Wigan Heritage Service FREE

From the Editor

COPYDEADLINE

Please note thatthe copy deadlinefor issue no 36 ofPast Forward is

30 January 2004.

All comments and correspondence shouldbe addressed to:

Editor, ‘Past Forward’,Wigan Heritage Service, Market Suite,The

Galleries, Wigan WN1 1PXEmail: [email protected]

Cover:Wigan Athletic players Ian Breckin (back left) and Paul Mitchell (frontleft) present prizes to two of the winners in our You Are My Sunshinecompetitions, Lindsay Ravenhall and Jeff Wilson. (Courtesy of Wigan Evening Post)

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Welcome to a re-vamped PastForward. There is information aboutthe Heritage Service and a newFamily History Section, for example;and we’ve changed some of thetypefaces and sizes, which hopefullywill be easier to read. There’s also anew design for the cover, which thistime features the presentation ofprizes following a competition whichran as part of our highly successfulexhibition, You Are My Sunshine.

Talking of competitions, ahighlight of this issue is thecentrespread, which contains GeraldRickards’ latest drawing, this timecovering the entire borough. But itis a drawing with a difference, in theform of a quiz, which will hopefullygive many readers, both near and far,plenty to think about, over theChristmas period. There are excellentprizes as well, but most important,all proceeds will go to that mostdeserving of causes, Wigan & LeighHospice. The centrespread is in theform of an insert, so that you won’teven have to tear out a page fromthe magazine proper to enter.

This issue sees the end of twosplendid four part series, by FredHolcroft and Harold Smith. I knowthat many readers who have sent inarticles for the magazine will bedisappointed to find that these havenot been included in this issue. I’mafraid that here, Past Forward hasbeen a victim of its own success. Butdon’t let that put you off sending inyour contributions – I’ll do my bestto find room in the future.

As ever, my thanks to so manypeople for your support for PastForward, in many different ways. Itis so encouraging for us all in theHeritage Service to read of how muchthe magazine means to you, how youlook forward to each issue – no, wecannot possibly produce any morethan three issues a year! – and howit has brought together so many lostfriends – the last issue, for example,reunited two army men who had notseen each other for nearly half acentury! It only remains for me totake this opportunity to wish allreaders a very Happy Christmas andprosperous New Year. And don’tforget the History Shop for thatspecial Christmas present with adifference (see opposite).

WWiiggaann HHeerriittaaggee SSeerrvviicceeThe Heritage Service has three main outlets – the History Shop, Archives and Leigh LocalHistory. Please note that all telephone numbers have a 01942 code. If no individual Emailaddress is listed, please use [email protected]

The History ShopLibrary Street Wigan WN1 1NUTel: 828128 (general enquiries)

828020 (local history desk– research enquiries andbookings)

Fax: 827645Email: [email protected] hours: Mon 10.00 -7.00; Tues - Fri 10.00-5.00; Sat10.00-1.00

Staff based in the History Shopare:

Philip Butler – Visitor ServicesManager – 827594 [email protected] Webb – Collections Development Manager – 828123 – [email protected] Haddon – Heritage Officer (Industrial History) – 828121Claire Hawkins – Heritage Officer (Community Outreach & Education) - 828124 –[email protected] Watts – Heritage Officer (Local & Family History) – 827580Hilary Fairclough – Heritage Assistant – 828128Barbara Miller – Heritage Assistant – 828128Stephanie Tsang – Heritage Assistant – 828128

ArchivesTown Hall Leigh WN7 2DYTel: 404430 (general enquiries)Fax: 404425Opening hours: Tues-Thur 10.00 - 4.30 (by appointment)

Staff based in Archives are:Alan Davies – Heritage Officer (Archives) – 404431 – [email protected] Bradshaw – Heritage Assistant – 404430Len Hudson – Senior Technician & Photographer – 404432

Leigh Local HistoryTurnpike Centre Leigh Library Civic Square Leigh WN7 1EBTel: 404559Fax: 404567Opening hours: Mon, Thur, Fri 9.30-7.00, Tues 10.00-7.00; Wed 9.30-5.00; Sat. 10.00-3.30

Staff based in Leigh Local History are:Tony Ashcroft – Heritage Officer (Local History) – 404559

AlsoMarket Suite The Galleries Wigan WN1 1PXTel: 734732Fax: 704727

Alastair Gillies – Heritage Services Manager(and Editor of Past Forward) – 734732 – [email protected]

Wigan PierTerry Meehan – Museum Technician

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MEMORIAL DAY

This important annual event takesplace on 27 January, the anniversaryof the liberation of Auschwitz, themost notorious of all the Nazi deathcamps. The national theme forremembrance this year is Rwanda,on the 10th anniversary of thegenocide there.

As before, Wigan will be holding anumber of commemorative events:

27 JanuaryCeremonies of CommemorationMesnes Park Wigan 11.00 amFirs Park Leigh 2.30 pm

Both ceremonies will be held besidethe commemorative tree which wasplanted in remembrance in 2001.Everyone is welcome to attend theseshort ceremonies, as we remember,not just those who died in theHolocaust, but all those who havedied as a result of genocide.

ExhibitionsThe History Shop, 24 January - 14February (see p5)The Turnpike Centre, Leigh Library,12 January - 13 February.

Lessons from HistoryWith Stephen Lythgoe, Wigan LibraryService’s Reader-in-ResidenceDates and venues to be announced –please look out for details.

An Evening of Commemorationand CelebrationHawkley High School, Carr Lane,Wigan.

For the first time, there will be a localcommemoration on the evening ofHolocaust Memorial Day, in whichpupils of Hawkley High School (whowill also be participating in theservices of commemoration earlierin the day) and invited guests willtake part. Further details availablesoon. Everyone is most welcome toattend.

All readers of Past Forwardwhere possible are cordiallyinvited to attend the abovecommemorations.

WE’VE GOT CHRISTMASALL WRAPPED UP!

CAN’T think what to buy your lovedones and friends this Christmas? Thenpay a visit to the History Shop whereyou’ll be positively inspired by our rangeof gifts for all ages. As regularcustomers will know, we stock a variedrange of toys, gifts, coal figures,jewellery, local history publications andcards. We have loyal Christmasshoppers who come back year afteryear as they always find that ‘somethingdifferent’ here.

To help set the scene and get you inthe festive mood, we have a beautifulselection of hand-crafted decorations

which will make any Christmas treesparkle. A welcome addition to ourchoice of Christmas cards this yearis a series depicting local views bylocal artists. Scenes include oldCentral Park, Plantation Gates,Market Place, Mesnes Park and TopLock. A great way to send specialseason’s greetings from Wigan.

Two new titles in our local historyrange are Tony Ashcroft’s ‘Athertonand Tyldesley’ and John Hannavy’s‘Wigan’, both of which we expect tobe popular present choices this year.

Broadening our horizons a little

we are also stockists of ‘SharedEarth’ products, gifts from all overthe world produced, bought andmarketed using fair trade ethics.

‘Hidden Treasures’ is a range ofhand-crafted pewter, 24 carat goldplated, enamelled and jewelledcollectables. These ornate enamelboxes come in various designs witha ‘hidden treasure’ of a matchingpendant on 24 carat gold platedchain hidden inside them. Thesehighly decorative and distinctiveboxes have been voted ‘Gift of theYear’ and can be used as a specialjewellery box or secret hiding place.

If that’s not enough to entice you,as an extra bit of festive fun andgoodwill, if you buy any gift over £5we will gift-wrap it for you - FREE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

John Hannavy - Wigan : history and guideTempus £14.99. Available from theHistory Shop (add £1 for postage).Please make your cheques payable toWigan Leisure and Culture Trust. Alsoavailable from local bookshops.

An update of Professor Hannavy’searlier book "Historic Wigan" issued 13years ago, this is a timely publication.There is a wealth of black and white andcoloured photos, many of modern dayWigan. Included are two walking tours ofthe town centre which takes in the majorbuildings and the tourist sites. Wigan’slong history from its early obscurebeginnings to the 20th century is coveredin an attractive package. A must forChristmas.

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Events and ActivitiesIt’s been a lively summer for Wigan Heritage Service, withcolourful collages, animal antics and our very own stall at LeighCarnival. If you would like further information about events andactivities, or about our Education and Outreach service, pleasecontact: Claire Hawkins, Heritage Officer (CommunityOutreach & Education) on 01942 828124 or [email protected]. For details of all our future events see the“What’s On” booklet published by WLCT and availablethroughout the borough.

Out and aboutIt was a grand day out at the Leigh Carnival in July, withHeritage Officers Tony and Claire manning the Heritage ServiceStall. We were in good company with the Gin Pit Residents next-

Claire and Tony with the Heritage Service stall atLeigh Carnival.

door dressed as Pit Brow lasses. The stall was very successful,promoting the Parish Maps exhibition ‘Wigan on the Map’ andour services. We had a great response from familiesparticipating in our craft activities (not least because they werefun and free!). Thanks go to Leigh Carnival, and good luck fornext year.

Recent Local History Days at the branch libraries includedInce, Hindley and Ashton (thanks to the library staff for all theirhelp).

Family FunThe History Shop runs activities for families with children aged12 and under in the school holidays. Activities are free and thefinished product can usually be taken home (all children mustbe accompanied by an adult). Over the summer holidays ouractivities have become increasingly popular and included thecreation of two enormous (and brightly coloured!) Latics

players in collage (see below). Families also created somecrafty animal cards and made some very impressive windmillsand mobiles for the garden. It’s great to see so many youngvisitors enjoying the History Shop and we look forward to futurevisits.

Free Family Fun at the HistoryShop Winter 2003Monday 22 December 2-4pmChristmas crafts: CalendarsCreate a calendar using collage, to help you welcome in aHappy New Year!(All children must be accompanied by an adult).

Schools‘Wigan on the Map’ is an ideal exhibition to visit with your classand has links to the National Curriculum for history andcitizenship at K52 and 3. We will soon be making available aTeacher’s Pack to enable you to get the most out of your visit,including follow-up activities. To request a free pack or to booka visit, contact the Community Outreach & Education Officeron 01942 828124 or email [email protected]

We can also offer taster sessions for small groups of ‘A’ leveland college students in the Archives at Leigh. For furtherinformation telephone 01942 828124.

"… acquire your own piece of history …"

Heritage Estates UK

The perfect gift for any occasionfor anyone with an interest

in Wigan

www.heritage-estatesuk.com

Tel: 00 44 1942 770202Fax: 00 44 1942 770205

E-mail: [email protected]: Richard Weston

Heritage Estates UK, Caroline Street, Wigan, Lancashire, England, WN3 4EL

ï

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Wigan on the MapWe are now pleased to offer talks and tours of this fabulousexhibition of Parish Maps (upon request), kindly given by the keycoordinators of the original project. This is available to groupsand societies who wish to bring members to the History Shop fora visit (tel: 01942 828128 to book).

And the winners areWe ran two competitions at our recent Wigan Athletic exhibition“You are my Sunshine” (one for junior fans and a quiz for diehard Latics followers). Latics players Paul Mitchell and IanBreckin kindly paid us a visit to present the prizes.Winners of the Football Crazy Quiz were:Mr. J WilsonMr. A MillerMr. R PrescottThe only three entrants to get all the questions right!

Winners of the junior Spot the Ball competition were:Mark Wagstaff & Lindsey Ravenhall. (See front cover).

TEMPORARY EXHIBITION PROGRAMME 2004Titles of some exhibitions may be subject to change.19 November – 16 January: Paintings of Wigan &

BeyondGerald Rickards paintings.

24 January – 14 February: The Last Goodbye:Rescue of Children from Nazi EuropeTravelling exhibition.

1 March – 24 April: Phantoms of DelightChildren’s illustrated books from the Dootson Collection.

12 May – 17 July: Far Flung PlacesAn exhibition of some of the seldom seen items from thecollection which either come from or feature foreignclimes. The exhibition coincides with Museums &Galleries Month.

2 August – 25 September: The Family AlbumA celebration of our photographic collections, which willincorporate the two photographic society exhibitions.

11 October – January 2005: Northern SoulA look at Wigan Casino and its forerunner the EmpressBallroom, and their place in the contemporary cultureof the time.

Heritage Service staff Barbara Miller and Philip Butler admirethe ‘Wigan on the Map’ exhibition.

Exhibitions at theHistory Shop

IT HAS been a busy time forexhibitions since the publica-tion of issue 34 of PastForward. There have beenthree, and for those of you whomissed them, you missed atreat!

In August and Septemberwe had two annual photo-graphic exhibitions - first it wasWigan PhotographicSociety, then it was the turn ofAtherton PhotographicSociety. Both were wellattended, and many visitorsremarked on the very differentstyles of the two clubs, espe-cially the digital section ofAtherton. The Wigan club, asusual, asked visitors to vote fortheir favourite picture. I knowthe result, and what a fantasticpicture it is. However, if youwant to know if it was the oneyou voted for, you will have tocome to next year’s exhibition.

In October we had a won-derful exhibition from theCommon-wealth Games LegacyTeam Manchester 2002. Thishad been on tour throughoutGreater Manchester, and Wiganwas its final venue. The exhibi-tion featured many of theunusual gifts presented to thehost-city by some of the coun-tries which competed. Theseranged from samples of finerum from Barbados to a beauti-fully carved rhinoceros fromMalawi. We also had the batonwhich David Beckham andKirsty Howard presented to theQueen at the opening cere-mony, and an audio-visual pres-entation showing some of themost memorable sportingmoments of the Games. Itbrought back happy memoriesfor many of our visitors (andmyself!).

Our current exhibition isPaintings of Wigan andBeyond, by local artist GeraldRickards. This is Gerald’sthird exhibition at the HistoryShop, and showcases the manywonderful local buildingsdrawn and painted in hisinstantly recognisable style.

The focus of the exhibition iswork depicting familiar andwell-loved landmarks fromaround the borough, especiallythose which have recently fea-tured in Past Forward. In thisseries, Gerald has producedwork depicting Aspull, Orrell,Standish, Haigh, Ince andLeigh. The works are complex,and can consist of up to 40individual buildings. Geraldsays of this work, “it is verytime consuming looking at allthe different places and thenselecting which to include. Inthe space available I aim forbalance, trying to include build-ings and landmarks with linkswith the location, past or pres-ent.” In addition, there will bescenes from Angers, Wigan’stwin town, and the designs forthe new stained glass windowsrecently installed at St Mary’s,Ince.

Gerald was born and bred inWigan, His postgraduate stud-ies at the Edinburgh College ofArt and a travelling scholarshipto study mural painting inEurope helped him develop hisunique style of painting.Retired from teaching he is nowa professional artist. He hasexhibited in Warrington,Cambridge, Norwich,Salisbury, Preston and London.

Gerald also hopes to use theexhibition to raise money forWigan & Leigh Hospice withproceeds from a competition(see centrespread for details).

We will shortly be publishingour new exhibition leaflet, for2004. The New Year will startoff with The Last Goodbyewhich tells the moving story ofthe escape of 10,000 refugeechildren from Nazi occupiedEurope during World War II toBritain. The exhibition aims tohighlight the issues of racism,prejudice and indifference, andwill be part of our programmeto commemorate HolocaustMemorial Day.

Yvonne WebbCollections Development

Manager

HISTORY SHOP NEWS

HISTORY SHOP NEWSGGeenneerraall BBooookkss133 HOUGH, P Supernatural Lancashire133.4 POOLE, R Lancashire Witches - histories and stories338.7622334 SIMM, Geoff The Leghs and Haydock Colliery385.54 TOWNLEY, CHA & PEDEN, JA Industrial Railways of St

Helens, Widnes and Warrington, Part 2388.322 TAYLOR, P J Trolleybus to the Punch Bowl629.25 BALDWIN, Nick Proprietary Engines for vehicles914.2736 MILLER, G Historic Houses in Lancashire: The Douglas

Valley 1300-1770920 FAIR FAIRHURST, J Who’d a thowt it929.42 ROWLANDS, J The Surnames of Wales942.736 BOYDELL, Tom Diary of Old Leigh Vol.1

Diary of Old Leigh Vol. 2942.736 WIGAN OBSERVER Wigan: Fifty Golden Years942.736 WRIGHT, J J Story of Chowbent Chapel 1721-1921942.757 PRESLAND, Mary St Helens: a pictorial history942.7612 YOUNG, David One Man’s Pitch

MMiilliittaarryy MMaatttteerrss016.3 WHITE, Arthur S Bibliography of Regimental Histories

of the British Army355.1 Distinguished Service Order 6 Sept 1886 - 31 Dec

1915355.1 Distinguished Service Order 1 Jan 1916 - 12 June

1923355.1 FEVYER, W H Distinguished Service Cross 1901-38355.1 McDERMOTT, Phil For Conspicuous Gallantry: the

register of the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal 1885-1992

355.1 NALSON, David Victorian soldier355.1342 BROWN, George A For Distinguished Conduct in the

Field . . 1939-1992355.1342 SWINNERTON, Iain Identifying your World War I

soldier from badges and photos356.1 BULL, Stephen The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

1855-1970929.341 SPENCER, William Public Record Office Readers’

Guide: Army service records of the First World War940 JAMES, E A British regiments 1914-18940.4 Battle honours awarded for the Great War940.42 MICHELIN Bygone Pilgrimage: The Somme Vol.1

1916-1917940.42 MICHELIN Bygone Pilgrimage: The Somme Vol.2

1918940.46 WADHAM, W F A Fourth Battalion The King’s Own

(Royal Lancaster Regiment) and the Great War940.465 PEET, G Index to names from 26 war memorials in

churches and other locations in West Lancashire940.481 ARTHUR, Max Forgotten voices of The Great War940.5425 STUBBS, Les & Pam Unsung Heroes of the RAF: the

Far East Prisoners of War 1941-45

FFiicchhee DDoonnaattiioonnss1851 census class list1891 census name index - West LancsUpholland Marriage Index 1813-37British Isles Genealogical Register 1997 Lancashire Section

CCDD RROOMM1841 Census for Lancashire

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Donations to theTaylor Gallery

ONCE again our visitors and Friends have been extremelygenerous to us with their time and effort. A full list of newdonations is given below.

Gerry Rigby, Alan Maloney and members of UpHolland FamilyHistory Society continue their wonderful work indexing the 1901census and have several other large projects ongoing at themoment. These include the indexing of the Parish Registers ofSt. Anne’s Church, Shevington (the first part of which has beenreceived and is listed below) as well as supplementing the workof our much missed late friend, Ted Cheetham, by noting thememorial inscriptions of St. John’s Pemberton. Ted had earliercompleted St. John’s churchyard plan of the graveyard. Thisproject, however, could take quite a while to complete.

One other important recent donation has been Ken Taylor’slong awaited Sexton’s Day registers of All Saints Church (see PastForward 33 p4). These 12 surviving registers cover roughly theperiod 1765-1795 and are notes to burials. There is an index ofthose buried, and an additional list of those mentioned as beingalready buried.

NOW IN STOCK AT THE TAYLOR GALLERY

Donations254 JONES, Anthea A Thousand Years of the English Parish304.6021 GILES, K Missing! from the 1881 British Census.

British and non-British Crewmen arriving in Sydney,vol.1 Jan-March 1881

920 WAL YOUNG, Celia A Story of Heroism [Ronald A WalkerDFC]

929.2 JAMES, W H The Search for Lady Constantia936.2736 WIGAN Archaeological Society 1. Standish Corn Mill

excavation report 2. Arley Mills: investigation report942.736 SMITH, S Two Halls of Tyldesley942.736 SPEAKMAN, Robert Winstanley Hall: architecture and

social lifeG.P. RIGBY Shevington St. Anne’s Marriage Index

1887-1900W.A.MALONEY (et al) 1901 Census name indexes -1. Standish, Shevington2. Aspull, Blackrod, Haigh3. Upholland, Billinge4. Pemberton, Orrell5. St George’s6. St George’s & St Catherine

TTrraannssccrriippttssCatholic Registers of St John’s Wigan 1786-1802Lancashire Parish Register Society Vol. 131 - EcclesLancashire Parish Register Society Vol. 155 - Registers of Leigh

GGeenneeaallooggyy BBooookkssGUILD OF ONE NAME STUDIES Register of one name studies 2002(18th edition)PALGRAVE-MOORE, Patrick How to record your family tree (6thedition)SAVIN, Alan DNA for family historians

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HISTORY SHOP NEWS

Family history work-shops get off the ground

THIS autumn at the History Shophas seen the launch of a newcombined Friends and HeritageService initiative, the FamilyHistory Workshops. There havebeen six workshops in all, eachoffering assistance to the novice orbecalmed researcher. At each onewe have had a number of Friends onhand to help out and we would liketo offer our thanks to the group formaking the workshops such asuccess.

side of our borough, or simply thoselooking for a project not directly related tofamily history, this could be for you.

Due to the success of theseworkshops, we are planning some morefor 2004. Provisional dates are:

Wednesday 14 January 10.30-12.30Monday 26 January 2.00-4.00Thursday 12 February 2.00-4.00Friday 27 February 10.30-12.30Tuesday 16 March 2.00-4.00Saturday 27 March 10.30-12.30

As with the previous sessions, thesewill take the form of individualconsultations, and are to be aimedpredominantly at beginners. Sessionsmust be booked in advance at the HistoryShop and will carry a nominal charge of£1.50 to cover any reproduction costs,with the remainder going directly intofuture Friends projects.

******Friends are helping the Heritage

Service in more and more areas. Familyhistory is still the largest single area withthe Workshops; however, two exciting localhistory projects are now under way, withthe indexing of the Wigan Observer fromc.1950 to 1990, and the listing of thecelebrated Dootson collection of books.

This second project brings in to playour collections held over in Leigh, andgives volunteers the chance to work in theTurnpike Centre with our Local HistoryOfficer Tony Ashcroft. For those interestedin a fascinating collection of old books,keen to do voluntary work on the Leigh

At each workshop an experiencedgenealogist offered one-to-one attentionto the public. This enabled many would-be researchers to make a start on theirown family history or restart work thathad come to a dead end.

One fascinating story emerged fromthe first workshop we held. One of ourFriends was helping a lady from the Orrellarea on her family. After her session hadfinished this lady stayed to do some moreresearch. She was followed by anotherresearcher, who proceeded to tell ourFriend the family that he wanted topursue; lo and behold it was the samename at the same address at the sametime as the lady before him!! It turned outthat the two researchers on the workshopwere distantly related, sharing a relativethat to one was grandfather and the othera great-grandfather. But neither knew theother, and they had come along to theworkshop completely independently.Needless to say they then went on tospend the rest of the session deep inconversation, and searched together.

Contact Tony Ashcroft in Leigh (01942404559) or Max Finney, the Chair of theFriends, through the History Shop. For theNewspaper indexing project contactPhilip or Chris (01942 828128).

****** For those interested, the next meeting

of the Friends has been provisionally setfor 12 February 2004 at 1pm at theHistory Shop. (please ring to confirm).

****** I would like to wish every reader a

happy Christmas and a prosperousand fulfilling New Year. Rememberthe Friends do hold regular meetingsand are expanding the number ofprojects on the go all the time. Thisall needs good will and volunteers. Ifyou are interested in your localheritage and can spare some timethen why not get involved? We’d loveto see you.

Friends of Wigan Heritage Service

FRIENDS OF WIGAN HERITAGE SERVICEName .......................................................................................................................

Address ....................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................

Interests ...................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................Please enclose £5 subscription for one year’s membership. Cheque/P.O. payable toWigan Leisure & Culture Trust. Please return to the History Shop, Library Street, WiganWN1 1NU.Remember your subscription entitles you to a priority mailing of Past Forward threetimes a year, starting with the currrent issue unless you request otherwise. N.B. If you do not wish to cut this coupon out, a cheque along with your details on plainpaper is fine.

Friends explain just what can be found onthe internet.

Friend Eric Davies ‘holds court’.

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Family History

The FamilyHistory Project

History Channel hasrecently launched ‘TheFamily History Project’. Theaims of the project are tomake history relevant toeveryone by encouragingpeople to research into theirown families. Their target isnot only absolute beginnersbut also experiencedresearchers.

The Family HistoryProject would be interestedto hear from persons whowould be willing to sharetheir family stories, be theyabout emigration, their jobsof their experiences andachievements, famous orinfamous.

Information on the projectmay be found on theproject’s website atwww.thefamilyhistoryproject.co.uk. Entry is open to allover 18 years of age andthere are categories for boththe novice and experiencedresearcher. You may entervia the above website, bytelephone (0845 671 6005)or by writing to The FamilyHistory Project, The HistoryChannel, Grant Way,Isleworth, Middlesex TW75QD.

1861 CensusIndex

An apology is offered to allof those who have written orphoned to order their copy ofthe ‘Wigan Census’, only to

be told this is not, as yet,ready. Unfortunately, wehave had a couple oftechnical problems with thereproduction of the disc.These have beensuccessfully resolved, and itis now envisaged that we willbe able to fulfill all ordersfrom 1 December 2003.

Also, in Past Forward 34we gave the impression thatthe disc contained the wholecensus for Wigan, instead ofbeing a surname index to thecensus. This monumentaltask has been undertakenand completed by our“Friends of Wigan HeritageService”, and principally MrsBarbara Davies.

The details to be found onthis excellent disc are:-surname, Christian names ofall persons listed at thataddress (actual address isnot listed), their ages and areference to the relevantfolio. There is no streetindex.

A very useful feature is asection on boat-dwellers. Itis possible by using the“find” function to go throughthe enumerations veryquickly, to find yourparticular family.

All areas of the presentday Wigan Borough areincluded, as are a few whichare not part of the boroughe.g. Westhoughton, Heaton,Halliwell, Haydock, Winwick,Billinge Chapel End, UpHolland, Newton andKenyon.

This excellent disc opens

in Excel and is priced at only£7.

If you have orderedpreviously under theimpression that the disc isthe 1861 Census of Wiganand not an index, it would beappreciated if you couldreconfirm your order andcontact us by phone (01942828128), email ([email protected]) or post (TheHistory Shop, Library StreetWigan WN1 1NU). Apologiesonce again for any confusionand inconvenience.

Useful Internetweb siteswww.freebmd.rootsweb.comwww.freereg.rootsweb.comwww.lancashirebmd.org.ukwww.Cheshirebmd.org.uk

All of the above sites aimto provide free access torecords of birth, marriageand death. Most havevolunteer contributors andthus are in various stages ofcompletion. Therefore, asyet, most do not havecomprehensive coverage ofthe records. Nevertheless,they are of enormous help toresearchers at home andabroad. Full G.R.O.reference, for ordering thecertificates, are given and inCheshirebmd’s case arelinked to the register officeconcerned and provide aready made-out applicationform for you to send off.

www.1837online.comThis new pay by view site

provides access to all of thebirth, marriage and deathindexes for England andWales from 1837-2001. Theindexes are in 2 formats:-

from 1837-1983 allrecords are scanned pagesof the indexes found at theFamily Records Centre andthose held in microform bylibraries.

from 1984-2001 all infor-mation is in database for-mat. These are searchable.

There are four pricingplans:-

up to 50 units (i.e. pages)for £5. These must be used

up within 45 days frompurchase.

300 units for £25 to beviewed over 120 days.



The site is particularlyuseful for overseasresearchers. A great site touse.

Volunteer familyhistoryresearchers atthe History Shop

Every year the HistoryShop receives around 800enquiries from all over theworld. The great majorityare enquiries concerningfamily history research.Because of this ever-growingnumber of enquiries staffhave had to restrict theamount of time devoted toeach enquiry to 30 minutes.We formerly also offered afee paid research service.This has had to bewithdrawn, again due to thegrowing pressure on stafftime.

This demand, however,does not go away, and theHeritage Service isrethinking how we may helpenquirers without on the onehand overloading staff, andon the other hand charginglarge fees. One possiblesolution is to gather togethera group of experiencedvolunteers who would bewilling, on request, to followup those requests requiringlonger than the present 30minute allocation.

Therefore, if you wouldlike to help all thoseresearchers, whom wecurrently only partially help,please contact ChristineWatts or Philip Butler on01942 828020. Volunteersare asked for a smallcommitment in terms oftime e.g. a couple of hours aweek. We anticipate thatthis may not mean helpingout every week, since thereare often peaks and troughsin demand over the year.

THANKYOU

Dear Editor,I am writing to thank

you very much forprinting my letter on theback page of Past Forwardno. 34. Within a week Ihad a telephone call froma John Taylor in Chorleygiving me someinformation on WilliamBaron, so I would like tothank you and Mr. Taylorfor your help. I am stillhoping somebody willcome forward with theinformation on themissing second marriageof William Baron to MaryHeaps.

Sylvia Arden-Browne 14 Southfields Close

Donnington ChichesterWest Sussex PO19 8SD

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Alfred Crook Dear Mr. Gillies,

I am looking for anyinformation on relatives ofAlfred Crook and hisdescendants.

Alfred’s parents wereWilliam Crook (miner) andMargaret Beesley; Williamand Margaret married atWigan Register Office in1882. In 1891 they wereliving in Dicconson Lane,Westhoughton, but by1897 they had moved backto Wigan, living at TurnersYard, 2 Caroline Street.Margaret died that year.

In the book Working inWigan Mills, there is aphoto taken at RylandsMill of my grandfatherJohn Thomas Beesley andhis brother Alfred(Grandfather was bornbefore the marriage in1881). The caption saysthat shortly after it wastaken Alfred left Rylandsto become under - Managerat Eckersleys in SwanMeadow Mill.

Can anyone help me todiscover more about Alfredand any other Crookchildren?

Margaret Hegan67 Chester Road

Stevenage Herts SG1 4JY

Tel: 01438 233687

The Dragoon whoserved underWellington

THERE are two soldierswith the name JohnHitchen listed in militaryrecords:

A corporal in the 7th(Queen’s Own) Hussarsfrom 1803, fought in theBattle of Waterloo and wasin receipt of the Waterloomedal. The Muster Rolls ofBritish cavalry record himas “wounded” but nodetails are given. The Rollof Chelsea Pensioners whoattended the unveiling cer-emony of the WellingtonMemorial in Manchester in1856 also lists John ashaving the MilitaryGeneral Service Medalwith one clasp, that forSahagun and Benevente.(Extracts and illustrationkindly sent by D.L. Milner,w w w. b a t t l e o f w a t e r -loomen.co.uk. These werepart of the rearguardaction to support the with-drawal of Sir John Moore’sforces to Corunna(Wellington in thePeninsular War by J.Weller. Longmans, 1967and Wellington atWaterloo also by J. Weller.Ward, 1973).

Another John Hitchen, aSergeant in the 1stBattalion, 2nd Footguards(Coldstream Guards) is Continued on page 10

Dear Mr. Gillies,Whilst rounding off my interest in Family History in

Wigan, I have been in touch with members of WiganFamily and Local History Society, in particular with Mrs.Carol Littler. She encouraged me to update my article of2001 (which you published in Past Forward no. 29under the title “The HITCHEN name in Wigan”) which Iam now enclosing for possible publication.

DDrr.. PPaamm BBaaxxbbyy ((nneeee HHiittcchheenn))

Left: ‘Trooper 7th (Queen’s Own) Light DragoonsHussars, 1808’. (after a plate in ‘Wellington’s LightCavalry’ by B. Fosten Osprey, 1982).

recorded as born inPemberton. He was awheelwright (5’ 7” tall).John enlisted in 1794 andwas discharged in 1814,aged 37 years, havingserved for “18 years and330 days worn outthrough long service inEgypt, Holland, Hanover,Portugal and Spain”(Public Record Office, KewWO 97/178). The 2ndFootguards had arrived inPortugal by May 1809 andfought throughout thePeninsular War.

Wigan CensusPeter Hitchen of

Millgate in 1811, marriedat Deane in 1806 and had12 children. He was aweaver and later a carter,who in 1819 and 1820applied for funds to get toand from Liverpool withhis goods (HalliwellOverseers’ Accounts).Peter and his family livedin central Wigan, includingWallgate, where Peter diedin 1851 (All Saints’ ParishRegisters). So he cannotbe the same Peter as my 3xgreat grandfather (born inPemberton around1784/88) who died inDukinfield, Cheshire in1854.

It is likely, however, thatPeter of Millgate was theson of James Hitchen,weaver of Wallgate, shownin the family tree in myearlier article. John,brother of this Peter couldnot have been the Dragoonbecause John died (aged15 years) in 1801 (AllSaints’ burials). Thesedetails were sent by KathArkright, 3x great grand-daughter of Peter ofMillgate, who also sent thePRO record about John.

Coal Mining and MilitaryService

The association ofHitchens with the Orrellcoalfield was confirmed byseveral other readersincluding:

Mrs. Lily Hitchen, bornin Wigan and now living inDevon. Lily’s husbandClifford (1911-1994)joined the GrenadierGuards, aged 17years andfought with then until1946. Clifford’s familylived in Wigan “for manyyears, mostly inPemberton and the menwere engaged in coal-min-ing”. Lily’s father-in-lawWilliam, was a blacksmith

Childhood Revisited(Part four)

by

J. Harold Smith

AT the time, therewas no alternative tothe two and a halfmile walk to school,though in inclementweather, parentalcompassion, plus theslackness of thepurse strings justmight have run to thecircuitous alternativeof the 4d return trainfare to the nextstation at Bryn, plusa 1d WiganCorporation bus rideto within 200 yards ofthe school.

The journey on foot toand from school, especiallyin the lighter months, couldbe, and often was, anadventure. What fun it waswalking down Almond’sBrew! The childish thrill ofpicking up a large stone to

pitch down the disusedshaft of the derelictAlmonds colliery, listeningfor yonks, to hear the final,echoing splash and boy-ing; dislodging the fruitfrom the wild damson treethat grew over the bridge ofthe stream (MillingtonBrook, I seem to remember)that ran under the Bottomof Almond’s Brew,throwing them awaybecause they were far toobitter to eat. There mightalso have been time for aquick game of hide-and-seek in the dangerouslyrotting dereliction of thebuildings on Davy Lowe’sdeserted farm premises.

How sad to realise nowthat for many years I musthave crossed that scene

transversely on Them Sixor the M6, depending onhow far north of Watfordone hails, dozens of times.With the thought of themany years of dereliction ofDavy Lowe’s farm in mind,one gets a brief glimpseinto the foresight and theworkings of the minds ofour town and countryplanning buffs.

I suppose the initialimpression of arriving atour new school for the firsttime, was the vastness,though seeing it 30 or 40years later, it seemed tohave shrunk. Not only didwe have a large playgroundthere was a huge expanseof grassed playing field, thenorthern boundary ofwhich butted on to the

playing field of theGrammar School, a smallbrook running along thedemarcation path.

Order to ‘Fall In’

At five minutes to nine,a rather impatientlysounding electric bell rang,signalling the order to ‘fallin’ – no running allowed.At nine o’clock the samebell, in no better mood,rang again and the wholeof the boy’s school filedorderly into the school hallfor assembly, a completelynew innovation for usNorth Ashtoners, as wewere designated. As hewould on every morningduring my sojourn atAshton Boys CentralSchool, the headmaster Mr.J.A. Farrand took up hisstance on the stage todeliver his daily homily,

at Pemberton Colliery andanother of his sons, alsocalled William, wasemployed at the collierytoo.

John Hitchen (born1923, Marsh Green,Wigan) and his grand-daughter Deborah, tracedtheir ancestry back overthree generations of black-smiths in Pemberton toJames Hitchen (engineer)born in Pemberton in 1809(1851 census). Deborahwrites that John was “oneof the few soldiers toreturn from Arnhem” inWorld War II. Since con-tacting me on reading my

article in Past Forward,sadly, John died on 27April 2003. He is buried atSt. John’s, Pemberton.Daniel (born in 1884John’s father and Daniel’stwin brother Elias, bothfought in the HorseArtillery in World War I.

Mrs. E. Berry of Billingewrote that her father JohnHitchen (born in 1897)was a mining engineer andher grandfather Daniel(born in 1876) was “cap-tain of the pit rescue teamat local collieries”. It is ofparticular interest thatPeter Hitchen, owner ofBirchley Colliery in 1903(see earlier article), washer father’s great uncle.Mrs. Berry has traced herancestry to ReubenHitchen, her 3x greatgrandfather (born in1797).

Most recently, detailedresearch by KathArkwright shows that:

(1) Clifford andDeborah share the same

ancestry via William andDaniel (see photo) whowere brothers (1901 cen-sus, Newtown) and theirfather John Hitchen, also ablacksmith.

(2) Reuben is the son ofPeter Hitchen, carpenter, ofWinstanley who marriedAlice Barton at Standish in1781 (Parish Registers).This confirms what

Fitters with a colliery locomotive, Pemberton Colliery1924. Deborah’s great grandfather, Daniel (blacksmith)

is 5th from the left, front row.(Photograph reproduced by kind permission of John Hannavy).

another Family Historyenthusiast found andtakes Mrs. Berry’s ances-try back one more genera-tion.

With thanks to all ofthem for information andto Mrs. Carole Littler ofWigan Family and LocalHistory Society for encour-aging me to write the arti-cles in Past Forward.

The Dragoonwho served

underWellington

–––––

Continued from page 9

10

ï

which would be followedby a hymn, led by Mr. A.Jones at the piano. Aregular inclusion was,“Awake my soul and withthe sun, they daily stage ofduty run”, with emphasison the second line of,“Shake off dull sloth andjoyful rise, to pay thymorning sacrifice”.

Assembly over, all newstarts were shepherded intodelegated classrooms andthere introduced to the new(to us) idea of making outtime tables and learningwhich classroom to occupyfor the particular subject inquestion.

It took some little time toget used to the idea of see-ing masters wearing theirblack gowns, minus themortar boards of course, asdid the idea of movingaround from classroom toclassroom when the subjectdictated. This did, however,provide the opportunity forus to weigh up each mas-ter’s temperament e.g. Mr.D.M. Jones’s no nonsense,book throwing propensityor Mr. Davis’s woodpeckerimpersonation whilst driv-ing home his point with theaid of the blunt end of apencil tapping on thepupil’s skull.

Vociferous tiradeCaning was in evidence

as before, but again, Ithink it was generallyaccepted. The fact that theteaching staff was all malehad the effect of increasingthe pain barrier of the pun-ishment, of course. Beingsent to the Head’s officewas the cardinal sin and anexperience never to be for-gotten. There was some-thing surprisinglyincongruous about enter-ing Mr. Farrand’s lair,which was not directly con-nected with the usual arrayof books, the huge desketc., it was the vociferoustirade emanating from sosmall a person, no tallerthan many of his pupils.But make no mistake, asession with Little Alf wasan experience that wouldremain in the miscreant’smemory forever.

With the benefit ofhindsight, however, I do

feel that Mr. F. might havehad in him, a masochisticgene. He seemed to workon the premise that if themasters were not providinghim with enough canefodder, he would go andlook for it. This meantleaving his den to do a fullreconnaissance of theclassrooms, all of whichwere approachable, via aflagged walkway borderingthe lawned quadranglebetween the boys’ andgirls’ school.

The outward openingdoor of each classroom washalf glazed by six, perhapsnine, panels, the lowestline of each providing anexcellent, almost concealedviewpoint for Mr. Farrand… as long as he stood ontiptoe. Like a pike in a wellstocked pool, he wouldsearch the class for one ormore potential quarry. Theattack plan successfullyformulated, his opening ofthe door had the effect ofclass and master duckingfor cover. Pointing to hischosen victims he wouldcommand, “Come out you,and you” simultaneouslyclearing a space on thelarge form room table withone sweep of his forearm,commanding each victim tolie with his trunk on thecleared space, with feet stillon the floor. With hisvictim suitably anchored,there began anembarrassing fiddling withthe top of the trousers, notwith the intention ofremoval as first thought,but to allow hitching untilhe, Mr. F., was happy withthe tightness in the area ofoperation, a precariousstep in the dark, inconsequence of poorer ladswhose mothers had, for theumpteenth time, risked yetanother patch on thefraying parent material.

With the old adage ofsparing the rod in mind,Mr. Farrand, in his time,must have left a limitlesslegacy of unspoilt childrenin evidence.

Three yearsojourn

About half way throughmy three year sojourn at

Ashton Central School, Iwas earmarked for whatwas referred to as FirstYear Technical, as opposedto First Year Commercial, alegacy I suppose of myleaning towards scienceand technical drawing,with English as a strongthird. Or it might have beenmy leanings towards ourpopular science master, Mr.Winstanley (Billy Wink) –always very pleasant, witha penchant for bringingpure science down toschoolboy level. On thatscore, I remember his dis-sertation on the subject ofcoal gas, particularly inter-esting to us Garswood ladswhose village woulddepend on gas for manyyears to come, prior to theintroduction of electricity.We were all well aware thatgas was fed throughunderground pipes from aplace in Princess Road,Ashton, not surprisinglycalled the Gasworks where,one could have a bag filledwith coke for about 8d(three and a half pence).We were all familiar alsowith the fairly commonsight of the man who usedto push that coffin-like boxon wheels containing thepennies and shillings col-lected from every gas meterin the village. But how, Mr.Winstanley addressed theclass, enigmaticallyfondling none other but anold, white clay pipe…(no,there was not thick twist tofollow) is it made?

But what’s this he isnow packing into the pipe’sbowl? Coal dust!! Well, Isuppose some of us hadheard of poor old mensmoking tea leaves, butcoal dust! Fixing the pipeto a laboratory retort, heheld a lighted Bunsenburner under the pipe’sbowl and left us all to awaithis next trick. We were allinvited to watch the coaldust glowing red, at whichpoint Mr. W. Held a lightedtaper to the mouthpiece ofthe pipe and, hey presto, aspectacular, blue centredtongue of flame appeared,though not quite sospectacular as thebatswing burner thatilluminated our backkitchen.

Popularity soaredOne day, Mr.

Winstanley’s popularitysoared 100% when heturned up at school on abrand new James, 250cc,two stroke motorcyclewhich, on mounting tomake his homewardjourney, home to (wouldyou believe?) Winstanley,was the centre ofadmiration and animpromptu science lessonon the kerbside.

The spectacle, thoughprobably dominated by thenewness, was in completecontrast to woodwork mas-ter Mr. (Sammy) Atherton’sageing Sunbeam.Nevertheless, it is my guessthat the origin and lovingcare of Mr. A. combined tooutlast Mr. Winstanley’snew James by quite a fewyears. Woodwork masterMr. Atherton was, under-standably in view of thenature of his potential dis-aster scene, a much stricterdisciplinarian, and it wasquite some time before heallowed us to embark onany project of our ownchoice. At the time, I usedto take Hobbies Magazinein which there had been anarticle on how to make amodel speedboat, thelength of which was abouttwo feet, and so, after somediscussion, I was allowed toembark on this ratherambitious scheme. After acouple of weeks working onmy dream I was notunaware that its resem-blance was straying fromthat portrayed in HobbiesMagazine. I was also a littleworried about the littlechinks of daylight pokingthrough some joints whichdid not auger well for suc-cessful floating. I was notalone in my opinions, but itwas Mr. Atherton whofinally put me out of mymisery by compoundingit….”Is it going to float,Smith, what about this holehere? “D’ye think it’s goingto be strong enough?” Atthe same time he answeredhis own question by raisingmy handiwork aboutshoulder level, then bring-ing it down with a crash on

Continued on page 12

11

the bench…It broke. No, MrAtherton, it wouldn’t havebeen strong enough.

Teapot stand

But there was a happysequel. Mr. A. allowed me totry wood turning on theancient treddle lathe thatnobody ever seemed to beinterested in. I turned aquite presentable teapotstand around the edge ofwhich I did some fancygouging. Just as I was aboutto forget the occasion, I wasinformed that my teapotstand had been accepted asa craft item at the RoyalLancashire Show, then inBlackburn. My mother usedthat reminder of “Sammy”for many years.

Time now was rapidlyapproaching my 14th birth-day, and though I felthappy about leavingschool, signs of the alterna-tive were daily cancellingout any such euphoria.These times were certainlygrim reminders that the agewe knew as childhood hadabruptly come to an endand that soon, thoughnobody could say justwhen, adulthood would beupon us with a vengeancewith all the unsavoury por-traits of life in the early‘30’s. The term ‘job’ washaving the same signifi-cance as the one eyed manin the land of the blind.

One particular detail ofthese days of nothingnesswas the common use of theterm, “So and so’s playin’him”. Hardly grammaticallycorrect but to the personconcerned, there was a dev-astatingly degree of cor-rectness about theungrammatical statement,about which he and thou-sands of others could donothing but just try to sur-vive the conditions prevail-ing.

Here and there aroundthe village were the well

trodden venues where littlegroups of men congregatedjust to chat from morningtill evening, no doubt withunwritten agendas, none ofwhich would include theremotest attempt attackling the reason for whythey were in such a plight.As the groups broke up forthe day, there was ampleevidence of their presence,clog marks in the footpath,the gobs of those withpulmonary disorders plusthe empty Woodbinepackets, usually the paper(2d) variety. In thatconnection I did hear onmore than one occasion inthose days, that it wasimperative to get aWoodbine “going” fustthing in the morning, “justfert loosen t’ chest”.

Knowing what we knowtoday of the dangers ofcigarette smoking, I find itdifficult to believe that I canlook back on the time whenthe cigarette, and the way itwas smoked, was a sort ofstatus symbol, totally freeof any suggestion that itmight be harmful. Smokerswere everywhere. Even infilms, the smoking of acigarette was an art form,often emulated byyoungsters just to createthe impression of maturity.Sweet manufacturers got inon the act via those littlewhite, icing sugar stickswith a blob of red dye at theend, representing a lightedcigarette. There were alsothe liquorice imitations ofsmoking pipes with redhundreds and thousandsconfections in the bowl.

It is not surprising, then,that when a lad reached theage of say, 12 or 14, hethought of smoking as asymbol of manhood. Thebeginnings, or the experi-ments in pursuit of the‘new’ pleasure were legion,principally in clandestineconditions, well away fromadults and certainly awayfrom parents. For me, thebug bit comparatively late,coinciding with the vacuumdays after leaving school at14 years of age. My firstexperience of smoking wasin the company of three orfour playmates in the washhouse of a large manorhouse where one of the lads

‘draw’ on his cigarette,cheeks withdrawn at fullextent, through his halfopen lips he allowed me thebriefest glimpse of the ballof bluish green smokebefore “doin’ t’ swallow”or, as I know it now,inhaling the smoke. Butthat was not the end of it,just as I thought that theball of smoke haddisappeared forever, thisclever lad somehow hadtrained it to reappearthrough his nose….whatmagic!

Like a fool

“Ney thee try it” he sug-gested. And like a fool, Idid. The ‘draw’ was just asI had been doing since LadyNicotine first beckoned – noproblem. The disappearingball of smoke act, however,was something totally andalarmingly different, imme-diately on the first intake ofbreath. It was just a thoughI had been hit in the chestwith a sledge hammer –from the inside. My headspun and my legs wobbleduncontrollably, the wholeexperience being totallyincongruous with the dis-tant sound of guffawingfrom my new found precep-tor.

But that was the begin-ning of a habit that stayedwith me for nearly sevenyears, my last smoke of anydescription being on 20September 1937….why do Ialways remember the date?With the awful experiencedescribed, I have never yetcome across any explana-tion of why, whether it besmoking or any otheraddiction, does such a dis-tasteful experience lead oneto the addiction of thesource?

There seemed to besomething about smokingin that era which just likeleaving school seemed tosymbolise the closing of thedoor on childhood, irre-spective of any possibilityof a look into the adulthoodto follow. Just what did fol-low we can only assess nowas successful or otherwiseafter revisiting that (if notthe) most important theatreof our lives.

lived. The ‘cigarettes’ werehome made, to a recipesuggested by one of thelads. They were simplystrips of brown paper,rolled as tightly as onecould get them. The lightwas real of course, andwhen the smoulderingpaper caught on, it waspossible to apply one’s ownchoreography of how a cig-arette should be smoked,even though the smoke,sucked into the mouthproved chokingly foul….but it was a beginning.

Sheer aplombStage two, which was

still in the period where themoney to buy cigaretteswas out of the question,was the occasionalencounter with mates whowere veterans at the game,having been smoking sincethe age of 11 or so.Watching the sheer aplombwith which they smokedaway nearly the full lengthof the ‘cig’, one would ask,“Save us thi stump”, whichusually meant a butt ofabout half an inch long.The fact that it had quarterof an inch of the lad’s salivain evidence didn’t seem tomatter, the smoke was thething.

Stage three was a briefentry into euphoria of thehighest order when forsome remote reason, a fewpennies had appeared inone’s pocket. For just twoof them, it was possible tofind a Woodbine slotmachine which could beactivated to regurgitate fiveWoodbines plus one match,in the familiar flat, openpaper pack. (In hindsight,could it be that theinclusion of one matchassumed the client to be achain smoker?”

It was on the back of oneof those idyllic “trips” that Iwas showing off my newfound smoking skills to theerrand lad at our local co-op, himself a veteran at 14plus. He of course was notparticularly impressed anddid in fact point out, “Ah,but tha ‘re not doin’ t’swallow” at the same time,demonstrating with hisown fag exactly what hemeant. Taking a long

12

ChildhoodRevisited

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Village life in Abram 1902-1911Treasured among the photographs, old postcards and

other memorabilia left to me by my mother is a thick vol-ume labelled “Abram Parish Magazines 1902-11”. I recallseeing this in my grandmother’s bookcase when I was achild, and at that time, not surprisingly, it held no appeal.Nor does it sound as if it would be riveting reading now.However, open its pages and read: you will hear, loud andclear, voices, laughter and sadness from the past, and seein your mind’s eye a vivid portrait of people and events –indeed a whole way of life – now lost to us.

Why are the imagesevoked by the magazines sovivid, and how did theycome to be bound togetherbetween dark-blue boardswith gold lettering on thespine – and why only 1902-1911? The answer to thesequestions is the same:because of the man whowrote many of the words -the Revd Thomas BrownbillTwemlow, vicar of Abram,1902 -1911. It was he whoresurrected the magazine‘from its long sleep … sinceJanuary 1878’. Through hisskilled and often very enter-taining writing, his com-manding presence and hiscourage to tackle controver-sial subjects he inspired adevoted following amonghis parishioners. Amongthem was my grandfather,Sam Marsden who, for therest of his life, strove to fol-low Twemlow’s example.

Twemlow had come toAbram after serving as achaplain in South Africaduring the Boer War. Thepublic school-educated sonof a Cheshire accountantmight have felt like a fishout of water in a mining vil-lage, and might haverestricted himself to theusual parochial duties. Butthis was not the way ofThomas Twemlow. In hisfirst two magazines, in Julyand August 1902, we seehim planning clubs for ‘ouryoung men’, describing thevillage entertainmentsstaged to raise funds for amuch-needed new church,and beginning his crusade toreduce child mortality. Hecampaigns too for betterschooling and sanitation; fora playground for children inAbram and elsewhere; forshorter hours for miners andothers; and for much elsethat would improve the lot ofhis parishioners:

November 1902.Infant mortality. At last

England has aroused herselfon the question ofEducation. … But what isthe use of education if thereare no children to educate?It appears to us that it ishigh time for England tomake laws, not only for thepurpose of better educatingour children, but for the pur-pose of better rearing of ourchildren … Take our ownParish, and turn to theRegisters … and for the past60 years the rate of infantdeaths has been growing …for the last 4 months, out of24 funerals 13 are those ofbabies…’

August 1910‘...we consider the present

system of elementaryEducation ... to be as rottenand as wasteful a system ascan well be imagined ... ifthe Government compel allour children to be pushedthrough one scholasticmincing machine, turningout a mush pulp-jelly ofnothingness, thereby empty-ing our markets of skilledlabour, and filling them withcasual labourers ... then wesay with all the strength wepossess, THEN GOVEN-MENT ought to find themwork, and keep them fromstarving ...’

September 1910‘We have known cases

where stokers towards theclose of a 23-hour shift havebeen caught sleeping … andhave been sacked: to us itseems strange that … thelaw said nothing to theemployers for permittingsuch heathenish and iniqui-tous spells of labour … aswell as stokers we haveengine-winders: the duty ofthese men is to wind up andlower colliers from and into

the coal mines. … many ofthese winders have at timesto do a shift of 23 hours andthe justification is that prob-ably for the greater propor-tion of the 23 hours shift thewinder will not have to movea single lever … but what ifthe winder had to pull overhis lever just once to bringup a fireman, and throughmortal weariness … in ahot, stuffy, oil-smellingengine-room he had beendozing: the gong goes, halfdazed he moves his levers,forgetting for the momentthe position of the cages –and then! …Our point is …that the life of one manbeing pulled up at 1 am is asvaluable as the life of anyone of those being wound upby cage-fulls at 2 or 3 in theafternoon … In how manypits we wonder are the menlowered in a morning …by awinder who is just complet-ing his 12th or 13th hour ofwinding? It is our business… to claim that no manemployed on such awfullyresponsible work should beemployed for more than an 8hour shift …’.

May 1905‘The flowers are with us

again, the birds are

singing… and Nature callsthe children out to play …and the children answer thecall and out they go to play– but where? Why, on theroads and in the streets.Some years back the chiefdanger … lay around thestinking sewer grids, butnow to this another peril isadded, the horseless traffic.In the days gone by the chil-dren knew the horse, andthe horse knew the children,

and there was a mutualrespect and sympathy, butnow … what has been lostin sympathy has been alasreplaced by speed and thegong of the tram and thehoot of the motor, spellingonly danger to the children… Today Abram badly needsa playing-field; let the chil-dren have it …’

In a lighter vein Twemlowalso records, in words remi-niscent of Jerome K Jerome’s‘Three Men in a Boat’, thefun that was had on tripsand other entertainments:

June 1907 To Tourists. - As the

weather for walks and bicy-cle rides will (we still hope)soon be with us, we desire towarn our readers that themaps of this locality, espe-cially those setting forth themileage from Abram toLiverpool, must be receivedwith great caution. We havequite recently received someletters from persons (evi-dently) well qualified tospeak on this. The writersdesire to remain unknownfor the present, and signthemselves simply AchingArthur, Suffering Sam, JadedJohn, Toiling Tom, and oneother which we regret we areunable to decipher. Theystate that the distanceshown in the maps betweenAbram and Liverpool asbeing 18 miles, is outra-geous, scandalous, absurd,cruel (this is J. J.’s word).They vary somewhat in theirestimate of distance. A.A.says it’s well over 40, for “Iam able to maintain crack-ing jokes and whistling for25 miles, and for the last 15miles of this journey I wasdumb.” S.S says “I havebeen to school, and knowhow many yards make amile, and I know the size ofa yard (we’ve got one athome), and being accus-tomed to the use of figures Iestimate the distance to be45 miles.” T.T. says “Icounted the mile-stones upto 50, and then I forgotwhether I was countingmilestones or telegraphpoles, it was proper maul-ing.” J.J. writes, ‘The dis-

Sam Marsden(1884-1946)

13


tance is without doubt 82_miles, for we walked 5_hours at the rate of 15 milesan hour; it is not true thatmy condition called forthexpressions of profoundsympathy from all thepassers-by, possibly myanxiety for the pitiable stateof my four companionsmade me look a trifle care-worn. I may add as proof ofthe great distance, that inspite of two pairs of homeknitted socks, I havecounted seven blisters onone foot - the other foot hasnot yet been properly sur-veyed.

The comradeship charac-teristic of miners and ofclose-knit communities suchas Abram is evident in manyplaces in the magazines, butperhaps most clearly whenTwemlow uses the pages torecord the departure ofmembers of his congrega-tion for a better life over-seas:

May 1907God-Speed. These words

are sounding too frequentlyin our ears. Once again wehave said Farewell to somemore of our fellows. PeterGrimshaw (Capt. 1st XI),William Blakeley (Capt. 2ndXI), John Lowe (Member ofChurch Committee), andGeorge his brother, sailed bythe “Baltic” from Liverpoolfor New York, onWednesday, April 24th. Wehave seen many “goingsout” from us, but it was noordinary going abroad inthis case, and most of usknew it and felt it; … we feltthat we were losing men, fel-lows who never claimed tobe perfect, who would be thelast to think that their lighthas shone before men, andyet we who remain behindare conscious that they werefellows who have left anexample – a good example

Our “send off” to our ladscommenced as was fittingand proper, on Sunday(21st), when together withtheir friends they came to

the Holy Communion. At theevening service the fouracted as sidesmen and col-lected; the Vicar took as histext Psalm 121, v. 5,7, 8,and the hymns chosen were“Stand up, stand up,”“Soldiers of Christ arise,”“Fight the good fight,”“Jesus Lover of my soul.” OnTuesday afternoon Mr. Closemost kindly took a groupphoto of the four and theVicar [see right],and at night theClub gatheredtogether instrong force, fora cup of coffeeand a smoke,and to give aBible to thosegoing away.Each of the fourmade a stirring,straight, simplelittle speech, andthe gist of theirwords was thatthey would try touphold the nameof our club andour Parish inother lands. Atthe close of theevening we sang- holding eachothers’ handscrossed, withnever a break-“Auld lang syne,“ “God save theKing,” then “Lighten ourdarkness,” and “The Grace.”

At 8-0 a.m. the nextmorning we met at PlattBridge, bound for Liverpool.The large number of the pre-vious evening was onlyslightly diminished by thosewho were unable to getaway from their work. Fromthis hour until 2 p.m. allwas a kaleidoscopic rush. At2-15 the mighty “Baltic”slowly came alongside thestage; and from this timeuntil 4-10 p.m., when thelast hawser was cast off, wekept up a smiling face, withmany a joke and jest, whichall knew to be painfully hol-low. And now the siren hassounded for the last time,and the ship so vast, sohuge that we cannot realizeher enormous size, began tomove out slowly into theriver, and then with the dig-nity of a great giant,demanding respect from allaround, she slowly gotabout with her head to sea;and for a tiny moment sheseemed to stay, as if unwill-ing to part us - and then

slowly – so slowly, shemoved forward - outtowards the open sea - on tothat land, and to that futurewhere our lads were going.

The sun which had shoneso bright and warm, as if tohelp to keep our spirits up,now withdrew behind theclouds; and the wind whichhad dropped, as if to help usto speak to those on board,once again sprang up cold

and raw - nor would wehave had it otherwise; thecrowd had gone, and thosetwo who had gone to thenorth pier “to see the last ofthem” had no longer need tokeep up a hypocritical cheer-fulness - nor wish to. Andas they watched that mightyship now only a blur on thehorizon fast fading fromtheir sight, the sun shoneout for a moment as if to sayGod’s Peace, Good-bye.

One inevitably wonderswhat happened to such menin their new lives so faraway from Abram. For asmall insight, I am gratefulto my grandfather for pre-serving a postcard sent tohim by another of the four,Peter Grimshaw, and I repro-duce his words here:

9 June 1907Dear Old SamYou must excuse me not

writing before this as Iwanted to tell you somethingspecial, but I have had towrite at finish with nothing

fresh to tell you. Dear Sam,how are you going on withyour debating class nowthat Joe Chamberlain has leftyou. If you keep it on youmust let me know whether itis right or wrong to writeletters on a Sunday for it isSunday now and it is lovelyhere. We never go anywhereon a Sunday now, only on anight when we travel toJamestown to Church, but itisn’t like the old AbramChurch for it’s nearly emptyon a Sunday but he is achampion preacher. Itbrought back memories ofour last Sunday: Quit youlike men, Fight the GoodFight. I couldn’t sing it Sam,my thoughts went back toEngland to my old pals andI wondered what they weredoing, but a fellow can’tthink here Sam, the place istoo fast for thinking andCeleron is reckoned to be thegiddiest place in all NYstate. But Sam old chap wewill try out best to keep outof danger and not bring intodisgrace the name of APC[Abram Parish Church] andI think how you used to tryto make me a better chapand now that I have goneaway I want to tell you Samthat I think you are the bestfellow in the world and I amproud to call you a friend ofmine. From your old pal P.

Fortunately the maga-zines also shed light on thelives of some of the men intheir new countries:

March 1909‘Alberta, Canada, is

where Jack Lowe is, andfrom where he writes aninteresting letter, wishing tobe remembered to all his oldfriends; in his letter he says,“the weather is pretty coldhere. It was 50 degreesbelow zero for a week. I gotmy ears and fingers frozenseveral times. The work isaltogether different herethan it was in England,much easier. If you sweatyou sit down until you arecool. We only work eighthours, and we go to ourwork dressed up. They havewash houses at the mines,they are like the publicbaths. We come home cleanand leave our workingclothes at the pit. … Wewalk into the mines. They gounder the Rocky Mountains’Twemlow also used the

May 1907. Clockwise from top left:Peter Grimshaw, Vicar Twemlow, The

Blakeley Brothers and Jack Lowe.

Village life inAbram

1902-1911–––––


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magazine to mourn thetragic losses in frequent pitdisasters:

May 1903Moss Hall Colliery. Living

as we do in a Colliery dis-trict, we are but too wellacquainted with the feelingsaroused by the cry – ‘A SadAccident!’ Sad indeed wasthe terrible cage disasterwhich occurred at the aboveColliery a few weeks ago,whereby both the managerand under-manager losttheir lives … and dull wouldbe the heart that stoodunmoved in the presence ofsuch a calamity…

He shared in the shockand grief of Abram’s ownmining tragedy, the explo-sion at the Maypole, aboutwhich he wrote, on black-edged pages:

August 18th 1908, 5-7p.m., No.1 Pit at theMaypole fired. 75 menperished. 3 men rescued.7 bodies have been recov-ered. Weeks will have togo by before there can beany hope of recoveringother bodies.

The Manager - When dis-aster overtakes an army,when a ship is wrecked onthe rocks, … there is in eachcase one man on whom theeyes of the world are fixed;in the one case it is theGeneral, in the other it is theCaptain, or to use an ordi-nary phrase - it is the manat the helm on whom thegaze of the world is focused.When an awful catastrophewrecks a coal mine, theworld fixes its eyes on thewidows and orphans (andmost justly so), and onthose who are thrown out of

work, and on the collieryowners, but the worldsometimes seems (we hopethat we are sadly mistaken)to forget that here againthere is the one man – themanage - who if he behuman must suffer as noone else can suffer, for theyare his men - his own men,who have been wrenched, ina moment of time out of hislife. The manager or theman at the helm of theMaypole Colliery is Mr.Arthur Rushton. On theafternoon of the explosionMr. Rushton was returninghome from his holidays withhis wife and family; whensome 40 yards from his ownhouse, which adjoins thecolliery, the explosion tookplace. Had the explosionbeen arranged as a hellishsalute for the manager’shome- coming it would havebeen impossible to havetimed it with nicer accuracy.Jumping from the wag-onette, throwing away hisstraw hat, seizing the cap ofa passer-by, the managerrushed to his colliery. Toattempt to tell all that Mr.Rushton did, how helaboured, how he suffered,would be little short ofinsulting. The explosion tookplace on Tuesday afternoon,sometime on Friday Mr.Rushton was persuaded togo home and lie down - buteven then not to sleep. But inaddition to this, in the list ofthe killed the name of LeviRushton may be found - anyrelation of the manager?Yes, his uncle. And so uponhis terrible suffering as amanager for his men andtheir families, he carries theadditional burden of familysorrow. When after a day ofthinking about others, whenafter many and many a

patient answer, whenfagged out in body andbrain, when the time comesthat the pit can be left in itsgrim silence - then the man-ager is free to go home, andfasten the door, and be alonewith his own private sorrow.To Mr. Rushton we tenderour sincerest sympathy inthe hour of his greatanguish.

In sharing in the griefsand joys of his parishioners,Thomas Twemlow gainedthe lasting affection andrespect of many. It was mygrandfather who badefarewell to Twemlow in thevery last magazine in thevolume, so it is his wordsthat I quote here:

November 1911…we should like to speak

for a short time of our lateVicar and we are sure thatour new Vicar [the Revd WWentworth Scott] will for-give us if in penning theselines we refer to him not asMr Twemlow, which tomany of us sounds so unfa-miliar, nor as our late Vicar,but as … ‘the Vicar’. On theevening of the 28thSeptember, a very largenumber of our peopleassembled at the schools tobid goodbye to the Vicarand Mrs Twemlow upontheir leaving Abram. Theproceedings of the eveningwere very simple. A littlerefreshment, a grip of thehand, a few parting wordsof farewell, and he hadgone; he who for the pastnine years had been ourtrue friend and counsellor …As most of our people know,the Vicar has expressed astrong desire that thereshould not be any collection

September 15 1906. Abram Pigeon Fanciers. Left to right:Fred Livesey, Dick Longton and Billy Longton

11 February 1907. Abram Colliers. Front extreme right:Jack Lowe.

15

made … and in explainingthe gathering it was pointedout to him that no one hadfailed in their duty withrespect to the carrying outof his wish. Not one singlepenny … had been askedfor. All who had given hadcome forward voluntarily,and had tendered their por-tion as a mark of their sin-cere regard for him and histeaching …May we in con-clusion add our simple trib-ute to the memory of onewho did his very best forAbram. Perhaps we maybest do this by quoting thewords of one of the youngmen he loved so dearly… ‘Ishould have been a wrongun but for him’. We know ofmore than one fellow whocould say this. We quoteagain, this time the wordsof an older member: ‘Thegood work of the Vicar inAbram though quite evidentnow, will not be shown somuch in the present time asin the generations that willfollow’…

There surely cannot nowbe anyone who recallsThomas Twemlow, but theChurch that stands inAbram now owes much tohim, and there may beAbramers who remembertheir parents or grandpar-ents speaking of him. Iwould like to think too thatthe kindness, decency, wis-dom and common sense ofAbram people today deriveto some degree from theteaching of the vicar whocampaigned on behalf oftheir forebears nearly 100years ago.

Mary SayersBuxton Derbyshire

Email:[email protected]

16

THE ORIGINAL band, which wasformed in 1942 from the cadets of316 Squadron of the Air TrainingCorps, Leigh, consisted of 5 saxes, 2trumpets and 3 rhythms. The man-ager was Squadron Leader CharlesGrundy who was in charge of theyoung band. Their leader was VinceHayes and the secretary KenWilliams.

The band members were allcadets:

SaxesAlto/Clt Vince HayesAlto/Clt Bill DickinsonTenor Bert SmithTenor Joe CowardBaritone Ken Williams

BrassTrumpet Bill ClarksonTrumpet Eric Gregory

RhythmPiano Birkett HodsonDrums Frank SmithBass Tom Jackson

Soon after its formation, the bandplayed in many local venues, includ-ing Leigh Church Institute, St.Joseph’s Hall, the Co-op Hall and atvarious R.A.F., U.S.A. and navalcamps in both the Leigh andWarrington areas, as well as in the

Drill Hall at Atherton and WalkdenTown Hall.

In order to achieve wider recogni-tion, the Falcons entered numerousMelody Maker and Musical ExpressDance Band contests. In 1945 theywere rewarded with their first win-ning position in the NorthernCounties section, the contest takingplace at Levenshulme Palais. A yearlater in 1946, Alwyn Ainsworth, anenthusiastic young big bandarranger from Bolton, took over theband and produced special arrange-ments for them. As a result, theystarted to obtain bookings from a

wider area including Altrincham,Bolton, Oldham and various otherlocations in the north of England.

Alyn added two more trumpetswhich made a big difference to thesound of the band and new person-nel appeared on other instruments.The additional trumpets were AlbertRamsden on lead and Dennis Martin,who also provided vocals. The leadalto changed when Maurice Alcockjoined the band, Harold Hill came inon piano and Ken Bowers took overdrums. A little later, due to illnessand the sudden death of Harold Hill,Frank Gregory came in on piano.Other fine musicians played a bigpart before the personnel settled,including Derek Healey (trumpet),the son of Johnny Healey, the bandleader at Bolton Palais, WilfHardman (tenor sax), FredLightbrown, Sam Pollitt and MaxHolgate (saxes), and occasionally inthe very early days Jimmy Mee ontrombone and Jim Speakman on gui-tar.

Apart from the odd session themake up of the band was always fivesaxes, four trumpets, bass piano anddrums, with vocals by the bandmembers. The arrangements thatAlyn produced were based on thiscombination.

TheFalconsDanceBand

October 1947. The Falcons Dance Band in the Regal Zonophone RecordingStudios, London where they were recording the numbers “I’ve Got You UnderMy Skin” and “Opus One” for their latest record. In the photograph are: AlynAinsworth (second left standing); Alto Clarinets: Maurice Alcock and SamuelPollitt; Tenor Clarinets: Joseph Coward and Herbert Smith; Baritone Clarinet:Kenneth Williams; Trumpets: Albert Ramsden, William Clarkson, Eric Gregory;Piano: Frank Gregory; Bass: Thomas Jackson; Drums: Kenneth Bowers.

ï

HIRE OFMEETING

ROOMThe History Shop has a Meeting

Room, with a capacity for 36.This is available for hire by local

groups and societies at a veryreasonable cost:

SOCIETY RATE£8.25

PER MORNING/ AFTERNOONSESSION

£12.35PER EVENING SESSION

COMMERCIAL RATE£20.00

PER MORNING/AFTERNOON/EVENING SESSION

If you are interested, contactPhilip Butler

Tel (01942) 828128

17

Contests

August 1945, Northern CountiesChampionship, Levenshulme Palais,Manchester. 1st Prize.

June 1946, East LancashireChampionship, Majestic Ballroom,Accrington. 1st Prize.

March 1947, Manchester andDistrict Championship, CoronationBallroom, Belle Vue, 1st Prize.

September 1947, North BritainWestern Region Championship,Empress Ballroom, Blackpool.

October 1947, All Britain FinalChampionship, Coronation Ballroom,Belle Vue, Big Band section winners,runner up to the overall contest win-ners – Etch and his Quads.

April 1948, Central LancashireChampionship, Carlton Ballroom,Rochdale.

March 1949, North LancashireChampionship, Preston. 1st Prize.

September 1949, North ofEngland Championship, WinterGardens, Blackpool. 1st Prize.

October 1949, NationalChampionship, Winter Gardens,Blackpool.

Following their success at the allBritain contest in October 1947, theFalcons were rewarded with a record-ing session in London with RegalZonophone Records, and were alsogiven a radio broadcast at the BBC inManchester. Alyn Ainsworth’sarrangements of I’ve Got You UnderMy Skin, Opus One and Sympathywere the contest numbers and thesame arrangements were recorded.

Alyn eventually left the band toform one of his own in London. By1951 he had begun to arrange for thenewly formed BBC Northern VarietyOrchestra, and after Vilem Tauskymoved to the Northern SymphonyOrchestra, Alyn was offered the job ofresident conductor with the NVO. Ayear later Ainsworth and the NVOprovided the musical setting for theBBC’s long running show from theCity Variety Theatre, Leeds, The GoodOld Days. He became a highlyrespected musical director andarranger for records, television andthe West End stage. He worked withand accompanied such illustriouspersonalities as Geraldo, SydLawrence, Frankie Vaughan, DavidWhitfield, Marty Wilde, Neil Sedaka,Barry Manilow and Shirley Bassey.

He was also aleading conductorand arranger forvarious West Endshows, includingHello Dolly,Gentlemen PreferBlondes and SweetCharity. He diedin 1990.

The Falconscontinued withoutAlyn for a littlewhile, but in1952/3 the bandceased to exist, asseveral of themusicians left tojoin other bandsin the Bolton andLeigh areas.

My thanks toTom Jackson, aformer member ofthe group, for therelevant informa-tion. Should any-one have any fondmemories of hear-ing the band orhave any photosor even an old 78rpm, I would loveto hear from them.

Tony AshcroftLocal History

Officer

Certificate awarded to Tom Jackson, bass player withthe Falcons when they won first prize in the EastLancashire Championship in 1946 at Accrington.

Mr Tom Bennett died lastChristmas (see a tribute to himin Past Forward 33 p3). Thisdelightful letter from Californiawas received recently. Ed.

To the staff of the History Shop.I am writing to inquire if there is

a way to remember our wonderfulfriend Mr.Tom Bennett, by helpingthe History Shop to acquire someitem it needs? We met Mr. Bennettin the 1990's, through his cousin inSydney. She arranged that wewould get together with him at theHistory Shop. I will never forgetmeeting this gracious man. Duringthe time we were in Wigan, hedevoted much time to helping metrace my father's family. (Dad wasborn in Wigan in 1911).

During that visit, andsubsequent ones, we enjoyedTom's company. One favouritememory is of taking Tom to lunchat the Travel Inn in Orrell, becausewe had spotted the display ofphotos from days past at 'UncleJoe's Mint Balls'. It was a joy towatch him remembering his oldfriends,and telling us about hismany years of service at UncleJoe's.

I am not the only person whohas happy memories of spendingtime in Tom's company, and whohas benefited by his researchefforts. Perhaps we could jointogether to help the History Shopmake an acquisition it needs? Ifso,please let me know of any waythe friends of Mr. Tom Bennettcould do something for the HistoryShop that was such an importantpart of his life. I saw for myself, onseveral occasions, the respect andaffection shown to him by the staffand patrons. He was a very specialperson, and I hope that by poolingour resources, we can dosomething worthy of the memory ofthis kind, intelligent, and generousman.

Mary Ann Ashcroft

If anyone who remembers TomBennett would like tocontribute towards a memorialto him in the way that Mary Annsuggests, please contact PhilipButler in the History Shop. Ed.

As we head to the end of 2003, staffat the Wigan Pier Experience aregearing up for a busy time as anumber of initiatives on which theyhave been working over the last 18months come to fruition. The mainaim of all of our initiatives is tomake the site more accessible andattractive to both local people andour national and internationalvisitors. Here is a taster of what’shappening:

l Thanks to a grant from theHeritage Lottery Fund we arehappy to announce the start ofthe project to restore our worldfamous steam Engine. TheTrencherfield Mill EngineRestoration Project will culminatein this wonderful engine runningagain with new vigour fromautumn 2004. There will also bea complete change to the waythat the Engine is displayed tovisitors, through the use oftheatre lighting, audio-visualpresentations and improveddisplays.

l After a year of piloting tailor-made group and family eventspackages linked to site activitiesand celebrations, we are pleasedto announce that we areextending what’s on offer fromChristmas and beyond. Thesepackages include dramaperformance, art activities, trailsaround the Museums, MusicHall sing-alongs, participationin our Victorian Schoolroom, aswell as providing refreshmentsand a visit to Santa (for some!).

l We have recently been awardedCharter Mark accreditation,whereby we had to demonstratehow we react to customerdemands and suggestions, howwe serve our local communitiesand how we can make WiganPier more accessible and offervalue for money.

l Carole Tyldesley, Pier Manager,was part of a recent delegationto Romania from Wigan Leisure& Culture Trust, the EpiphanyTrust and the HiltonFoundation; the exchange tripto Romania was undertaken tosee how the Romanians dealwith heritage promotion, and todeliver a series of seminars ontourism issues to them. The tripcovered a number of sights andthe team has brought back anumber of ideas from theirRomanian counterparts.

l The Wigan Pier TheatreCompany is putting together aseries of projects designed toopen the site up to peopleinterested in exploring historyand culture through theatre. TheTheatre Company are alsolooking to broaden the horizonsof their work and find avenuesof working with the community.Their first project will be thedevelopment on site of acommunity theatre company;membership will be open toanyone over the age of 16. Thecommunity theatre group willperform their first show inMarch 2004; this will relate to

issues and cultural referenceslinked to the borough. Otherplans are to set up Youth Theatregroups around the region, todeliver community productionsin community venues and toalso undertake some peereducation work.

Special Offer

For January 2004 we are offeringschool classes the chance toparticipate in one of our award-winning educational workshops forthe bargain price of just £10.00, asaving of £40.00. This offer is opento all schools who make a bookingto visit either museum duringJanuary 2004.

We also offer Free TeacherPreview Days where ourexperienced members of staff willanswer any questions you may haveabout our facilities and what toexpect during your visit to us. Pleasecontact our Education BookingsDepartment on 01942 702495 forworkshop and booking information.Remember places are strictly limited,so book early to avoiddisappointment.

Hopefully this has given you aflavour of what is on offer atWigan Pier, and you will be ableto go and sample some of it (tel01942 323666 for fullinformation). To encourage youto pay us a visit, here is amoney saving voucher you can’trefuse.

18

WIGAN PIERPROMOTING NEW INITIATIVES

19

RANDOM THOUGHTSON ATHERTON

Lancashire technicians.The position was simplythat the cotton industrywas financed by manyshareholders, some on alarge scale, but there wasa preponderance of mod-est to small investors whohad little or no knowledgeof the share market or theunderlying financial stateof the country and in par-ticular the changes takingplace in the world cottontrade. In other words,they were living from dayto day, oblivious to theworsening situation; fun-damentally they retaineda strong faith in their cot-ton industry and forlornlybelieving that the shortterm problem would beovercome. And so, peoplewho retained shareswhich formed a good partof their savings suddenlyfound them to be worth-

less or worth only a frac-tion of their originalvalue. My grandfather,Richard Rigby, was one ofthese. As a respectedpublican he had a goodliving, not prosperous butgot along nicely. Heinvested most of his capi-tal in cotton and it wasapparent from the docu-ments I saw after he diedthat his shareholdingshad been quite substan-tial, but then suffered thesame fate as so many oth-ers in the Lancashiretowns.

Loved to lookback

Atherton BaptistChurch is remembered ashaving a very active con-gregation; my mother,Ethel Furber, attendedregularly with the rest ofher family, and I treasurethe Bible which was givenwhen she was a memberof the Young People’sUnion. It is signed by G.Bullough, Richard Morris,Thomas Davis and S.Yates – perhaps thenames will mean such alot to some of your olderreaders. At that time shewas living at 62 StanleyStreet. Later on my firstcousin, Tom Part, was, Ibelieve, a respected mem-ber of the same churchbefore he retired toSouthport. One of hisbrothers, Kenneth, was agood footballer whoplayed for Wigan andManchester United. Asfor my father, he loved tolook back on his achieve-ments in the boxing ring.As a flyweight he wasboxing at the same timeas the great world cham-pion, Jimmy Wilde, but

THERE is very little I canrecall of the first threeyears of my life inAtherton, but the housein Wardour Street wasundoubtedly a very happyhome, with my motherEthel and my fatherAlbert striving to makeends meet in the difficultyears in the early 1920’s.Miners’ wages were verylow, particularly if oneworked at the coalface asa hewer, and there waslittle scope for marriedwomen with youngchildren to supplementthe family income. Mysister Winnie was born in1916 and I arrived in June1921.

Dad was born andbred in Atherton and hada sister Jane (Butler) andthree brothers Fred, whoemigrated to Canada,Richard and William.Their parents were wellknown in the town – for

many years they werepublicans at the‘Woolsack’, which I lovedto visit when I was asmall child. Just beforeopening time I would sitin the public bar with aset of dominoes and atiny glass of beer – it wasa warm, friendly pub withhigh-backed benches andopen fires, wooden seatsand stone floor. Thememory lingers on.

Depression period

These were the daysleading up to the depres-sion period in the late1920’s which, admittedly,affected many industries,but I believe that cottonsuffered far greater thanmost, with the Japanesebecoming fierce competi-tors after acquiring all theexpertise and skills from

by Albert Rigby

Continued on page 20Atherton Baptist Church.

20

BOB DOBSONPublisher and Book Dealer

LANCASHIREYORKSHIRE & CHESHIRE

I buy, sell and search for second-handbooks relating to these counties: I searchfor books: I issue lists. I buy quantities ofother books.

LIST OF MY NEW PUBLICATIONSON REQUEST

BOB DOBSON“Acorns”3 STAINING RISESTAININGBLACKPOOL FY3 0BUTel: (01253) 895678

dad had no pretensions ofreaching Wilde’s class.They met briefly in a gym-nasium in Wigan whenmy father was training fora fight – this could havebeen at the time he wonthe Northern CountiesFlyweight Championshipfighting under the nameof Young O’Hara. It was tohis regret, and that ofmany of his followers,when he bowed to theinsistence of my mother,supported by his parents,that he should abandonthe ring when they gotmarried. Gone were thedays of fighting in fair-ground booths, oftenagainst men who wereheavier opponents, or theWigan Football Groundwhere he won his title andwhere he defeated theLondon Champion. Notrophies remain, exceptfor a cup given to him forthe Northern Counties title– it has pride of placeamong our silverware.

As a small boy I lovedto sit on my father’s knee,listening to his exploits inthe boxing ring, no doubtto my mother’s disap-proval. I suppose I was acaptive but willing audi-ence, but he liked to recallthe Wardour Street dayswhen, on returning homefrom the pits, he wouldsee me sitting on the cob-bles in my ‘frock’ withlegs wrapped round thelamp-post – I shrank visi-bly. Incidentally, I alsohave a Bible presented tomy father for regularattendance and good con-duct in 1906 at the HoweBridge CongregationalChurch Sunday School.

AttractiveDaughter

I remember so well thecompetition organised bythe Daily Dispatch for aCotton Queen. Girls fromall over Lancashire sent intheir photos which werepublished for severalweeks, before the finalchoice was made. MyAunt Jane and UncleCharlie Butler had severalattractive daughters,Millie, Marie, Connie, Joanand Marjorie. Marie waschosen as one of the final-ists, an event whichcaused a great deal ofexcitement in the family.Cynics have habituallycriticised beauty competi-tions, and maybe some ofthe comments have beenjustified, but I do believethe Cotton QueenCompetition came at theright time, as it providedlight relief when therewas a great deal of bewil-derment in the industrialnorth. Moreover, it wasnot just a parade of beau-tiful girls but instead wasintended to show all con-cerned that within the cot-ton mills there wasgenuine beauty andattractiveness.

It was not unusual forLancashire families touproot their homes in thelatter part of the 19thcentury and in the first 30years of the 20th century,because of the workshortages in industrialtowns or the attraction ofliving in holiday resortssuch as Southport,Blackpool, Morecambe,Colwyn Bay andLlandudno. Consequently,there were tradespeople,hoteliers and boarding-house landladies therewho would welcome youwith broad Lancashireaccents, and many ofthem began to playincreasing roles in therunning of thecommunity. Some weresuccessful in theirventures, but I know howdifficult it was for several

to eke out a living duringa short summer season.For family reasons myparents decided to moveto Colwyn Bay in the mid-1920’s, and our returnvisits to Atherton weremostly at Christmastimewhen we stayed with amill manager, Jim Lomasand his wife Hilda atWestleigh. Through themwe eventually becamefriends with Richard andHarry Tyldesley, whospent holidays with uswhen they were notplaying cricket for leagueclubs.

After the War, mywork took me south toGuildford, High Wycombeand London, and for 50years my wife and I haveenjoyed living in PrincesRisborough (the town ofthe Black Prince) wherewe have just celebratedour Diamond Wedding. Iam pleased to say that ourdaughter Ann, who livesnearby in Aston Clinton,visits Wigan and Atherton

fairly often, mostly forfamily history reasons,but she genuinely lovesboth towns and especiallywhere I was born so manyyears ago.

Footnote: Following hisservice in the Royal NavyPatrol Service, Albertrejoined the Ministry ofAgriculture, Fisheries andFood and had an interest-ing career covering manyaspects of MAFF work,including some parlia-mentary involvement andvisits to the EEC inBrussels andLuxembourg. He and hiswife Patricia areAssociates of the RoyalPhotographic Society;Albert is President of theChilterns Association ofCamera Clubs and for 18years was photographerfor Hearing Dogs for DeafPeople. He is the authorof two books on mine-sweeping and life onsmall ships in World WarII.

RANDOMTHOUGHTS

ONATHERTON

–––––


THE DRAWINGGerald Rickards’ drawing in this issue of Past Forward featuresbuildings and landmarks from different parts of the borough.The idea for this has been influenced by the preparation for agroup of murals at Wigan and Leigh Hospice where the artist andothers aim to incorporate into the design items from as manyparts of the district as possible.

THE QUIZThe drawing is presented in the form of a quiz. Hopefully it willgive enjoyment to all over the Christmas period and at the sametime raise some money to help the Hospice.

ENTRY FORMSThese can be sent either by submitting the question page (orphotocopy) as printed in this issue of Past Forward, orhandwritten on a plain piece of paper with question numbersalongside. All entries must be accompanied by a donation of atleast £1 (stamps will be accepted).

AROUND WIGANA DECORATIVE DRAWING AND QUIZ

by

GERALD RICKARDSQuestion sheets are also available from various centres,including the History Shop, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1NU,Wigan & Leigh Hospice, Kildare Street, Hindley WN2 3HZ,Hospice Shops, local libraries, CCArt Picture Framers andGallery, Hallgate, Wigan, or from the artist himself.

All forms must be returned, with a donation, to one of the abovevenues before 31 January 2004.

THE PRIZESTwo prizes are offered from the artist’s selection of signed printsin frames. One prize is offered for the highest number of correctanswers, AND (to encourage everyone to enter) another prize forthe most apt and original answer to question 40 – with this prizeawarded irrespective of answers given or ignored from all theother questions.

Prizewinners will be sent a list of all the signed prints available.These include:

• local subjects eg public buildings, churches, streets, Formbyhouses, parkland and canalside

• the Central Park triptych (three views of the stands as seenfrom the Spion Kop)

• decorative compositions developed from designs printed inPast Forward: Aspull, Haigh, Ince, Leigh, Orrell, Standish etc.

• subjects further afield, including limited editions of ThomasHardy properties and places linked with his writing, EnglishCathedrals and Cathedral Close buildings, National Trustproperties, canalside views, Oxbridge Colleges.

Prizewinners can choose either any framed print or twocard mounted unframed prints from the above.

Hospice’s CommunityChapel Murals

Exciting news! Wigan & Leigh Hospice has beensuccessful in securing funding from Arts CouncilNorth West. The original idea for the creation of fourmurals came from Gerald Rickards, who felt quitepassionate about ‘doing something special’ for theHospice. Gerald has also agreed to be the lead artist.

The murals will feature many of the familiarbuildings and landmarks throughout the area servedby the Hospice. Central to the project will be theinvolvement of both the Hospice and the widercommunity. A series of workshops will be held toinclude school children, Hospice patients, staff,volunteers and carers in the production of ideas forthe mural. Three local emerging artists will lead thevarious workshops.

An exhibition is planned at Drumcroon in Wiganand the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh in March 2004 anda grand opening ceremony will be held at theHospice in April.

EXHIBITION IN THE HISTORY SHOPSeveral of the above prints, some of the

paintings they were taken from and many morewill be on display during the artist’s

‘‘PPaaiinnttiinnggss ooff WWiiggaann aanndd BBeeyyoonndd’’exhibition in the History Shop

(Taylor Gallery) – 19 November 2003 to 16 January 2004.

1. Who was the original owner of the stable block?………………………………………………………..…….......………………………………….....2. What was the name of the Power Station demolished in 1989?………………………………….……………………………………………………3. Where is the windmill and why was it erected? ……………………………………………………………………………………………..........………

…………………………………………………………………………………………...............................................………………………....................4. What is the name of the Pennines landmark?…………………………………………………………………………........………………………….....5. Why has Winter Hill become so well known? …………………………………………………………………………………………………….............

………………………………………………………………………………...................................................................…………………………………6. Between which junctions of the M6 is the high level crossing?………………………………………………………………………………………..7. What is the name of the Hall and what is it now used for?………………………………………………………………………………………….….

……………………………………………………………………………………........................................................................................…………8. Name the two members of the royal family who passed through these gates in 1873 and what was the reason for their visit? ....

…………………………………………………………….............................................................................……………………………………….....9. What is the name of the ancient stone?…….................……………………………………………………………………………………………….....10. What is this tower part of?……………………….....................................…………………………………………………………………………….....11. What was the new name given to this building in 2002?…...……………………………………………………………………………………………12. What is the link between the cenotaph, telephone kiosk and Liverpool Cathedral?………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………….............................................................................……….....13. In which part of the borough is this war memorial?……………………………………………………………………………………………………....14. What is the name of the church and why was it demolished? …………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..................................................................................15. Where is the well (near cross and stocks) and how was it damaged in 1943? ……………………………………………………….………….

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..................................................................................16. What is the name of the school?……………………………………………………………………………………...........................……………….....17. What is the name of the structure standing near the Stag Hotel? ……………………………………….........……………………………………18. How was this large tree demolished in 1920? ………………………………………......…………………………………………………………….....19. What is the name of the water area with nearby golf course?………………………………………………………………………………………….20. Which sailing club uses the water area?………………………………………………………................…………………………………………….....21. Name the former vicarage and the reason for the extensions to it?………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….............................................................................……………….....22. Who was the entertainer who once lived in Hindley Green House?…………………………………………………………………………………..23. Name one of the films he appeared in? ……………………………………………………................……………………………………………….....24. What is the name of the building?…………………………………………………………….........................……………………………………….....25. What is the name of this building opened by the Duchess of Norfolk? ……………………………………………………………………………..26. Where is the recently renovated building?………………………………………..............…………………………………………………………….....27. Where is the building and who opened it in 1906?…………………………………………………………………………………………………….....28. What is the name of the Sports Centre?……………………………………................……………………………………………………………….....29. Who was the author born at 26 Wilkinson Street? .…………………………………………………………………………..……………………….....30. Name a film made from one of his novels?…………………………...........………………………………………………………………………….....31. What is the place name on the sign and who are the people alongside?…………………………………………………………………………...

………………………………………………………...................................................................................................................………………32. What is the name of the church?………………...........................…………………………………………………………………………………….....33. What is the name of the public building? ………………..............…………………………………………………………………………………….....34. What is the name given to the tapered pillar?……………........……………………………………………………………………………………….....35. What is the name of this building? …………………………….......................……………………………………………………………………….....36. What disaster occurred near this colliery building? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………....37. In which square does this structure stand? ……………………………………………………………………………………..........……………….....38. What is the name of the house beside the water? …………………………………………………………………………………………………….....39. Where is this pit head wheel? ………………………………………………………………………………...............................…………………….....40. What do you think the fisherman is saying to the man on the canal boat? ………………..…………………………………………...………………………………………………………………………………….......................................……………….......….....(no more than 10 words)

NAME ..............….………………………………………………….………………………………………………................……....…………………….….......

ADDRESS ….………………………………………………….….............………………………...……………………….....……….........................…………

…………...............……………………….………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………….………....

………………………………………………….…………………….………………………………………………………….…………………………………………….

Telephone Number (optional) ...…….………………………………………………

Wigan & Leigh Hospice old and– new from Poolstock to Hindley

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l aims to complement and supportother palliative care providers, nottaking over from them, but seekingto collaborate with them to promotea seamless service for people withspecialist palliative care needs

l is committed to delivering needs –assessed, research and evidence-based palliative care education, bothin-house and through outreacheducational programmes

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old . . . and new

21

Letters from the FrontLocal men in the Boer War 1899-1902

(Episode four)by

Fred Holcroft

Victory – at a price

ROBERTS now did what Bullershould have done back in December1899. He concentrated on the left,sweeping round behind the Boers andthreatening their homelands. GeneralCronje’s army was captured and theBoers retreated. By the end ofFebruary 1900 both Kimberley andLadysmith had been relieved. On 13March 1900 the Orange Free Statewas knocked out of the war when itscapital Bloemfontein was captured.Two months later on 17 May 1900Mafeking was relieved, on 31 May1900 Johannesburg was captured,then on 5 June 1900 Pretoria, thecapital of the Transvaal, was at lastoccupied.

These were tremendous victories,but won at a price and paid for bylocal men as much as anyone. One ofthe first to fall, on 23 February 1900,was Private P. Higgins, who hadsurvived the hell of Spion Kop whichhe described in his last letter to somefriends in Hindley:

“no one knows what a battlefieldis except those who have seen one.The sight is fearful and the cryingand moaning of the wounded issomething never to beforgotten….hoping that I shall seehome and friends once more.”

A death which shocked Wiganwas that of Sergeant Albert Ward ofthe Lancashire Hussars, killed in askirmish at Klein, Cape Colony on 28May 1900. He had been landlord ofthe Waterloo Inn, Lyon Street,Wallgate since ending his days in theregular army, was well-known inlocal cricket and rugby circles, and asa reservist had been recalled to theColours. Encountering a force ofBoers, his mounted column hadcaptured their wagon-laager togetherwith 80 women and children and over3000 cattle, and went on to attack theBoer escort. An un-named trooper ofthe Lancashire Hussars wrote in theWigan Examiner:

“We were on the right and tryingto flank them. I wouldn’t havethought our men would have beenso cool under fire. There were onlybits of bushes, just enough to hideyour head in. Then our men beganto fall as we were only a few yardsfrom the Boers who did not wastea shot. The first to fall was ourSergeant Ward (Wigan) who wasshot through the bowels and theleg. The next was a St. Helens ladJack Fairclough. The shot went

through his side. He was deadwhen picked up. Then there wasClarke from Ashton – he was shotthrough the lungs. Captain Joneswas shot through theankle!....Captain Tindle andLieutenant Matthews have sincedied.”

Baptism of fire

For most it had been their baptismof fire. Trooper F.W. Lawrence, son ofMr. J.W. Lawrence, the owner of InceBrewery, was in the same fight. YoungLawrence was no stranger to war, andwhen the present conflict broke out heoffered to raise a company of 100 menmounted and equipped at his ownexpens; but the government declined,so he went out with the LancashireHussars. Writing to his father:

“We along with the GloucesterMounted Infantry and Nesbitt’sHorse lined the banks of the riverand opened fire on the trenchesopposite. After a sharp exchange ofshots the Lancashires were orderedto cross the drift which we did infine style being covered by the fireof the Gloucesters and Nesbitt’s.Immediately we gained the oppositeside – the river is about 500 yardswide here – the Boers retreatedtowards Kleis followed by the wholeforce. At Kleis they had a laagerand they took up a position somedistance away behind long brokenKopjies. The order of attack was:Lancashires on the right,Gloucesters centre, and Nesbitt’sleft. The Lancashires coming moredirectly on the Boer position hadthe hottest place in the fight. We gotbehind a ridge and the Boers werebehind another 200 yards away,and anyone who showed his headwas either hit or heard a bulletuncomfortably near him. The gamewould have been interesting had itnot been for our artillery which sentscreaming, yelling, bursting shellsamong friend and foe alike. With afew exceptions it was our firstexperience under fire and thatwould have been enough withoutour own fire as well; in fact it wouldhave shaken the nerves of many oldseasoned campaigners. The officerswere at a loss to know what to do,

but there was only one thing andthat was to sit tight and waitevents. Retreat would have beenmurder and to advance equally asbad.

Trooper Roberts of St. Helens was inthe same regiment and on his returngave an interview to the local paper:

Sergeant Ward was leading ourtroop and he was shot in threeplaces, on the face, the leg, and thefingers. He rolled off his horse andmy horse being shot I was alsodismounted. I helped the sergeantto cover and then ran across to letsomeone know he was hit. Just as Iwas getting back and was justasking Sergeant Ward where myhorse was when a Martini-Henrybullet hit Ward in the back andcame out of his chest and enteredmy left leg just above the knee. Weboth fell and lay there for six hoursand although Sergeant Ward was ingreat agony there was not much Icould do for him. As we lay thereone of our own shells burst near usand scattered dirt all over us, and ashort time afterwards one of theshrapnel shells from our ownbattery rolled about a yard from usbut fortunately did not burst. Iexpected it to explode any minuteand I could not take my eyes off it,quite excepting to be blown topieces. Luckily it did not burst.After the fight I was put across ahorse for we had no ambulancewagon after crossing the river, andI was taken to camp bleeding like astuck pig. There were severalattempts to extract the bullet but itcould not be found. I was in acritical state and was given up fordead three times. However I keptcheerful and managed to pullthrough. I was taken 100 miles tohospital in an old Boer wagon andowing to the lack of springs and thebig stones on the road the journeywas torture. On 27 June my legsuddenly went worse, the bulletwas still unfindable and the doctorssaid that to save my life they wouldhave to take my leg off. I agreed tothat and my leg was taken off onSunday 1 July.”

Gallant husbandTrooper Frank Stout of the 12th

Lancers, son of the landlord of the Starand Garter pub, Tyldesley, suffered asimilar amputation. Sadly, LieutenantB. Stapleton Bretherton, his troop


22

commander, wrote to Ward’s wife andfamily:

“Dear Mrs. Ward, it is with thegreatest sorrow that I have to writeand break the sad news to you ofthe death of your most gallanthusband who was killed in actionon May 28th in front of his troopsfacing the enemy. From the momenthe became sergeant to my troop Ialways told Captain Jones that‘when it comes to fighting Ward isthe man. He is as brave as a lion,’and this has proved more thancorrect. From the moment the fightbegan your husband showed theutmost coolness and wasconspicuous through the wholefight for his bravery. We one and allmourn the loss and sad death of sogallant a friend. I buried him myselfand although there is only a roughcross over his grave at present, Ihave made arrangements that aproper stone shall be placed thereas soon as peace is declared. Acceptagain my sincere condolences inyour sad loss.”

Several letters from Sergeant Wardhad already been published in the localWigan press, and poignantly, two wereprinted after his death had alreadybeen announced:

“We are having a jolly time ofgalloping about the country. TellJ.H. he does not know what he hasmissed. I would not have missed thesights I have seen for a thousandpounds. I can’t tell you what it islike to see the cannon roar and tosee the troops moving likeclockwork. Bugles are sounding,drums rattling and men gallopingup and down the valleys. It is worthhalf a man’s life to see it. If it wasnot for the poor fellows getting shotI could stick it all my life. Whatsport it is to see a head peep frombehind a boulder then to hear ashot.”

“The only thing I am short of is tosee your face and the children. Iwas so pleased to get a letter fromthe girls. We are off in the morningto do the final job on our side.When it is over we shall be on ourway home. I don’t think it will be avery big job for they have all the

fight knocked out of them. I hopemy dear that I shall be spared tojoin you all again for I am longingto see your dear faces, but if I amtaken it is God’s will and my timehave come, but I shall be all right.Don’t be uneasy about me for I amin the best of health and in goodspirits. I must close now for it is lateand my candle will soon be out.”

Two further deaths stunned thelocality, both members of the activeservice company attached to theManchester Regiment. Lance CorporalFrank Munro was engaged in moppingup operations near the Mozambiqueborder, when on 26 August 1900 hiscompany made a flank attack and hewas hit in the head and died instantly.A month previously, on 30 July 1900,the Manchesters’ camp had beencaught in a bush fire and five of theeight large storage tents werecompletely destroyed. Private KennedyBall was trying to rescue some of thecontents when he tripped over a tentpeg, fell into the flames and was sobadly burned that he died of hisinjuries a fortnight later.

A memorial service for LanceCorporal Munro was held at St. Mary’sR.C. Church in Standishgate, whileanother one was held for Private Ball atthe Parish Church, Standish. Therewere many more. Wigan and districthad paid its full share in the price ofvictory.

Everyone thought that the war wasnow over. Lord Roberts returned toBritain, leaving Kitchener to deal withthe scattered Boer commandos whowere not seen as much of a threat bythe British Army, the Britishgovernment, and the British public. Allthree were to be sadly mistaken.

The Phoney WarAlthough both their republics were

occupied and their armies dispersed theBoers would not give in. Many Boerleaders – Botha, de Wet, de la Rey,Smuts, Viljoen – decided to fight on tothe bitter end, earning the soubriquet‘bitter enders’ (those Boers whosurrendered were known as ‘handsuppers’). Divided into small mobilegroups – often only one commandostrong – the Boers attacked railways,bridges, convoys, and camps,especially at night, believing that ifthey could make the war drag on,causing constant attrition, then theanti-war party in Britain would forcetheir government to make a peace morefavourable to the Boers than had onceseemed likely.

The Boers were far better suited tothis type of warfare – hit and run –using their mounted mobility. Theywere helped by poor British intelligenceof their movements, while they in turnhad an excellent spy system. Half theBoer strength – 25,000 men – refused

to give in. To make matters worse theBoer farmers who had not joined theGreat Trek but remained in Cape Colonynow chose to take part in this type offighting. These ‘Cape rebels’ were anadded threat. Trooper James Whitefrom Pemberton, in the LancashireHussars, had the job of chasing them:

“there had been a dust with therebels today. A lot of them has beenkilled and hundreds taken prisoner.They have however taken some ofthe Cheshire Yeomanry prisonerand gone off with them.”

Trooper Hanman, aged only 16, ofthe Army Service Corps wrote to hisaunt, the landlady of the Lion Inn,Hindley describing how his convoy wasambushed and he was almost captured.

“…..I only escaped by a miracle. Ithappened while we were crossing adrift (a river ford) and no soonerwere we well in and half way up theother side than thousands of Boersran in amongst our wagons andshot all our drivers so we could notget away.….we were fired on but Iwas not touched and escaped. Welost seven wagons, 15 black men,five of our own men and 70 mules,besides seven guns of artillery. Ishall never forget that night as longas I live.”

Another Wigan soldier, TrooperWilliam Browne of the South AfricanLight Horse, was not so lucky. Heenlisted during Black Week and foughtnon-stop for 12 months, seeing therelief of all three towns and chasing‘bitter enders’. On 27 July 1900 hispatrol was a few miles fromVlaaglaagte when it was ambushed,and his excitable horse reared andgalloped off as he tried to remount:

“at this time Corporal Dudgeon, inspite of sharp Boer firing, rode up tome…..and asked me to try to mountbehind him. His horse was a goodheight and twice I tried but failedthe second time nearly pulling theCorporal from the saddle. I thankedthe brave man and told him to savehimself. During the whole time theBoers kept up an incessant fire.Next moment our Colonel rode up tome. The only other sign of our menI could see was a grey horse racingacross the velt with two men on itsback…..he rode up to me and in aquiet tone said ‘try and runalongside me and hold my stirrup-leather’. I ran some little distanceand completely exhausted I prayedthe Colonel to leave me and savehimself but he would not. After aslight pause he said – ‘now haveanother try. I won’t go too fast’. Idid not run far…..I begged him togo which he did seeing I couldadvance no further.”

Letters fromthe Front

Local men in the BoerWar 1899-1902

–––––


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23

Hero’s welcomeBrowne lay still on the ground and

the Boers only discovered that he wasalive when they tried to remove the twobandoliers of ammunition which hadweighed him down. The mobile Boercolumns had no room for prisoners andafter being detained at Vrede he wasreleased on 23 August 1900. Afterfurther active service he returned homein time for Christmas 1900 to a hero’swelcome in his father’s new home town– Southport.

South Africa was suited for thistype of guerrilla warfare – hugedistances, high steep hills, fewrailways, poor roads, sparse watersupplies. Unable to catch the Boers,Kitchener divided the country intosegments where each side was anobstacle – a fortified railway line, a lineof black houses, a mountain range, thesea, the border. The British cavalry tookeach segment in turn and searched forthe Boers trapped inside. To prevent theBoers from being supplied by theirfamilies, the farms of known guerrillaswere burned down and their occupantsbrought in from the scattered farms and‘concentrated’ in camps. Private Lewtaswas involved in these proceedings:

“The war would have been over longago if they had burned all thefarmhouses we came across andthey are only just finding it out now.Yesterday we captured 20 Boerwagons loaded with corn and otherstuffs. In two of the wagons therewere four Boer women and fourteenchildren. Their husbands werefighting against us and they toldsome of our men that theirfarmhouses were burned down andthey had to travel the Veldt. We onlyleft them with three weeks stock sothat can find their husbandsagain.”

Opinion in Britain was bitterlydivided over the use of concentrationcamps. Pro-Boer visitors were allowedto see them but were regarded asmeddlesome busybodies by those whowere looking after the Boer families. Anurse from Leigh wrote:

“We have two of these beauties,pro-Boer women from England, atour camp for a fortnight or moreinspecting our camp and looking forcomplaints, and they are not at allsatisfied because they cannot findenough. We don’t feel gracioustowards them and the old Boerslaugh and make fun of them.”

She went on to quote one officialvisitor who had complained:

“I am not at all satisfied. I havebeen in 38 tents this morning andhave not had one single complaint.There must be something wrong.They are afraid that if theycomplain the nursing sisters willpunish them.”

The nurse who omitted to give hername, went on to describe camp lifeand how the inmates were well lookedafter but refused to work. She hadbeen prompted to write on hearing thatEmily Hobhouse (the leading critic)had given a lecture in Westhoughton.

But there were successes, and Boercasualties mounted. Trooper H.Stephens of the South AfricanConstabulary wrote to his mother, Mrs.Gratrix, at 29 Scholes, Wigan:

“Nowadays we have to root Boersout of caves and kloofs, rocks andbeds of dry rivers where they hidein twos and threes. We had thehonour last week to captureCommander Hall a traitor who atone time belonged to the ImperialLight Horse. It appears that he andsix others thought we had passedthrough a nek after camping thereovernight but we turned back andcaught him searching forammunition and cartridges. Isuppose he will get shot because heis wanted for murder.”

More successful

By the end of 1901 there were250,000 British and Empire soldiers inSouth Africa, of which 70,000 were inthe mobile cavalry columns actuallychasing the Boers, while 180,000guarded the blockhouses, railways,depots, and towns; about 12,000 Boershad been caught or killed. Graduallythe British forces grew more successfulat this type of warfare, usually becausethey adopted Boer methods of fighting– small but elite forces, fast marches,surprise attacks, improved intelligenceusing natives or friendly Boers whohad joined the British and were knownas ‘joiners’. The Australians, NewZealanders and Canadians wereparticularly good at this. The Britisheven gave up carrying swords andlances, relying entirely on rifles andpistols.

The last few Boers surrendered, notentirely due to these tactics but becausetheir families, who had been releasedfrom the concentration camps, pleadedwith their husbands, fathers and sonsthat it was hopeless to continue. Theterms of the peace treaty of 1902 weregenerous to the Boers:

All Boers still fighting to surrenderimmediately.No Boers who surrendered to beimprisoned.No Boers to be prosecuted for legitimateacts of war.The two Boer republics to join with thetwo British colonies to make one newcountry – the Union of South Africa.Afrikaans (the Boer language) to haveequality with English.Boers be allowed hunting and sportingrifles under licence.Military government to be replaced bya civilian government as soon as

possible.£3,000,000 compensation for all thedestroyed farms.No extra taxes in South Africa to payfor the war.When the new country becameindependent there was to be an inquiryinto giving the native population thevote.

A new country is bornSo the war ended and a new

country was born. But although Boerand Briton were given equality, theBantu natives were not, and thissowed the seeds of discord which wereto throw up their shoots many yearslater.

The new enlarged South Africa wasa huge success, and the morethoughtful Boers rallied to make itwork. Twelve years later many,including the best soldiers, had risento high government posts, and whenthe Great War broke out they actedswiftly and decisively to put downuprisings by the pro-Germanextremists who had been their formerwartime comrades. The Boer War wasthe first occasion that the armed forcesof the British Empire had rallied to thedefence of one part of it. In 1902Empire Day was instituted, wherethere were public displays of loyalty tothe Empire, recognition of itsachievements and appreciation of whatit stood for. Between 1914-18 and1939-45, the Empire’s forces againrallied to help the Mother Country, butthe stresses and strains of theseconflicts only contributed towards theEmpire’s breakup.

All this was not known to theordinary soldiers who make up theBritish Army. All they knew and wrotehome about were their ownexperiences. The story ends withPrivate Lewtas once more;

“I have gone through somehardships these last five months. Iwill tell you all when I come to thedear home, when a traction enginewill not drag me away again. Ihave earned my medal which is afive-pointed star with the Queen’shead in the centre, made of gold,silver and bronze, with red, white,blue and khaki ribbon. It will behung up in the house to look atforever in remembrance of the BoerWar.”

But the after-effects of the warwere not over. In November 1915 hisHindley neighbours were shockedwhen William Lewtas took his ownlife. He had returned home to his jobas a guard on the L. & N.W. Railway,but his health had been affected by hiscampaigning. Over the years hisasthma had got worse, and 15 yearslater the 37 year old William Lewtascould endure the pain no longer andcut his own throat with a razor. Wardoes not end with peace treaties.

He began prospecting in an area ofcoal near the place of his birth, and by1950 their Quaker House Colliery Co.Ltd. had developed a mine at Garswood.The Quaker House Colliery, together withLeyland Green Drift Mine, was to becomeone of the largest private mines in theUK, and certainly the largest inLancashire prior to the re-privatisation ofthe coal industry in the early 1990’s.

Having been advised by the mosteminent persons in the Lancashiremining industry that it was “commercialsuicide” and that “there was no morethan five years coal in any of theproposed reserves”, it is perhaps anindication of his qualities as both amining surveyor and an engineer that hisenterprise outlasted all the majorcollieries in the North West; its last tonneof coal was wound in 1991

.A devoted family man

Donald was the proud father of threechildren, to whom he devoted energy,direction and love, giving them so manyopportunities, passing on his knowledge,experience and wisdom, and instilling inthem a respect for family, books, historyand his country. They all enjoyed manydays with him and their mother visitinghistoric sites, little suspecting that theywere being educated at the same time!

HHiissttoorriiccaall dduuttyy

He genuinely considered it a duty tofaithfully record the history of the miningindustry and pass on to others his vastknowledge, particularly of the Lancashirecoalfield. In 1964 the first of a three-volume work on the history of theBlundell’s Colliery business, where hisfamily had worked and where he firstembarked on a career in the miningindustry, was published. Many otherbooks were to follow. (A full list ofDonald’s published works will appear inthe next issue of Past Forward.)

Always a staunch supporter of thetown of Wigan, Donald was a foundermember and Vice President of WiganCivic Trust, and in 1988 he was proud toreceive their Special Award. He was alsoa member of the Chetham Society, theNewcomen Society, the Historic Society ofLancashire and Cheshire and theLancashire and Cheshire AntiquarianSociety, as well as Vice-President of the

24

DONALD Anderson was born atHighfield, Wigan, the first of fourchildren born to James and Isabella.His grandfather William Alexanderwas a Scottish mining official andalso a shaft sinking and tunnellingcontractor.

Donald’s mother was a Webster whosefamily were great sportsmen, two inparticular being players for WiganHighfield in the newly formed breakawayRugby League.

Donald lived with his sisters andbrother near to the park wall surroundingWinstanley Hall. A great friend of his inthose early days was Andrew Fraser, ahighland Scot who was in service at theHall. He was very lucky to be allowed totravel to London with Andrew and theother staff on a couple of occasions, toopen up the Bankes’s (of Winstanley Hall)family house in Eton Square. These earlybrushes with beautiful and historicbuildings, fine furniture and parklandmust have sparked his interests of lateryears.

Mining career begins

At 14 years of age, Donald wasoffered an apprenticeship in thesurveying office at Pemberton Collierywhere his father was an official. Hestudied hard, at the then world renownedWigan Mining College, obtaining hisColliery Surveyor’s Certificate in 1933.Three years later, he obtained his CollieryManager’s First Class Certificate ofCompetency, one of only a handful ofpeople ever to have held both thesestatutory government certificates.

Times were difficult in the UK miningindustry with little prospect ofadvancement, so Donald left home forthe goldfields of Tanganyika. In 1937 hewent to India as Assistant Manager forthe Turner Morrison’s Sripur Colliery inBengal. A few months after arriving hewas appointed as colliery manager. Hewas actually under the age laid down bylaw and some years later was told that hecould claim to be the youngest collierymanager in the British Empire!

World War II

At the outbreak of the War heattempted to return home to join theforces, but because of his reservedoccupation, was forbidden to do so.Nevertheless, he did join the ChotaNagpur Light Horse Regiment of the

Auxiliary Forces of India. They weremainly used at that time for internalsecurity duties.

Sometime in late 1943, in secrecy,Donald (or Andy as he was nicknamed inIndia), was told to expect an importantvisitor to the mines. He did not realisehow important that person would be untilthe Viceroy of India’s Bodyguard arrived,to be followed by the Viceroy, Lord Wavelland his ADC Group Captain Townsend,together with Lady Wavell and their

daughter. Lord Wavell, ever a hands-onViceroy, had come to see at first hand thedifficulties in producing coal for the wareffort.

His own coal mine

Towards the end of the war Donaldbecame ill, and was invalided home. Onhis return to Highfield, after convalescinghe began prospecting for coal at Daltonwith his friend Bill Gorton, to fulfil hisambition to own his own coal mine.Together they invested their savings, andhelped by his father James, developed asuccessful business, the Dalton Coal &Fireclay Co Ltd.

A two pronged disaster struck shortlyafterwards; in 1947 the Governmentnationalised the coal industry, and inearly 1948 they were flooded out bywater from ancient unrecorded workings.The determination, tenacity and gritwhich was a feature of Donald’scharacter enabled them to start again atwhat became known as the “Top Pit”. Itwas during this time in Dalton andParbold he met his future wife.

Donald Anderson receives the Wigan Civic TrustSpecial Award, 1988.

DonaId Anderson8 June 1912 - 3 June 2OO3

ï

NW Branch of the Royal Institute ofChartered Surveyors Minerals Division.

A true gentleman

My first encounter with Donald was in1974. I had written to him saying howmuch I enjoyed his Orrell Coalfield book,not really expecting a reply, yet receivinga detailed letter back and an invite toQuaker House Colliery!

I soon realised that there wassomething very special about Donald,hard to define, as though here was a raretype of man with a distinct aura abouthim. People, their lives and familybackgrounds fascinated him, no matterwho they were. Even though he was abusinessman he still made time for mewhich I never forgot. After then I had afriend for life.

Donald did not often outwardlydemonstrate his naturally religiousnature, but in his thoughts and in his actsof caring, compassion and generosity toothers less fortunate than himself, hepractised the tenets of his Christianupbringing. As a young man in 1968,whilst working in India, his son John, alsoa mining engineer, witnessed at first hand

25

the respect and fondness with which hewas remembered by his former Indiancolliery staff and his old Pathan bearer,still alive and in service at his oldbungalow. John was also privileged towork with him at Quaker House Colliery,and see again the respect and friendshipof the miners and officials, some ofwhom had been with him from the earlydays at Dalton.

A cruel blow

Following a disabling stroke, Donaldwas determined to battle on, beingsuperbly nursed for the last six years ofhis life at Douglas Bank Nursing Home,only a stones throw away from his firstmine.

It is said that only the forgotten aretruly dead. I am sure that DonaldAnderson will not be forgotten.

Alan DaviesHeritage Officer (Archives)

AcknowledgementI am very grateful to John Anderson

(who may I add is very much in the samemould as his father) for Donald’sbackground.

STAN SMITH(1935 - 2003)

Tyldesley and District HistoricalSociety began its 31st seasonwithout its long-standing Chairmanand Treasurer, Stan Smith, who diedon 27 July. Stan, a well-known localhistorian who has written severalbooks and recently published hisstudy of The Halls of Tyldesley, hadheld office in the Society for 10years. Born in 1935, Stan attendedLeigh Grammar School. AfterNational Service he entered thebanking profession, and laterworked for a variety of textile firms.In retirement he dedicated himselfto local history research, and wasworking on a history of coalminingin Tyldesley at the time of his death.He had a great knowledge of andaffection for the railways, and was awell-known speaker at many localsocieties. He leaves a wife, twosons, and two grandchildren. Hewill be sadly missed.

I was saddened to hear of the deathrecently of Evelyn Finch, followinga stroke. Evelyn, together with herhusband Norman, was one of thestalwarts of both the Leigh FamilyHistory and Leigh Local HistorySocieties. Evelyn’s maincontribution to the Leigh LocalHistory Society was her enthusiasmfor ensuring that a local historypublication programme producedregular booklets relating to thelocal area. She was also a very keenand active genealogical researcher.

Evelyn was born in Liverpool, theonly daughter of Alfred Horne, amaster mariner of Ireland, andWinnifred Moore of Wanstead. Sheattended Ranworth Square School,Norris Green and St Margaret’s,Anfield before entering StEdmund’s College for Girls,Liverpool. She worked in anaccountant’s office in Liverpooluntil she was 18, when she left towork in London for a short while.On returning she worked inWoolworth’s as head cashier.

In 1944 she met Norman over afence on the allotments and theywere married in October 1945. Theirmarriage was blessed with twodaughters, two sons David andGeoffrey, and eight grandchildren.

While bringing up her own familyshe still found time and energy over

EveIyn Finch(1924-2003)

a period of many years to fosteraround 80 children who were all inneed of her love and attention. In1968 she qualified as a children’snursery nurse and worked inseveral nurseries in the Liverpoolarea. The family moved to Lowtonearly in 1975, when Evelyn took uppost at Hope Carr nursery in Leigh.

She was a strong and determinedwoman with a sense of standing forwhat was right. She was a greatbeliever in having a go at anything,

be it painting, bricklaying orbuilding motorhomes - the list isendless; she was an original DlYerin every sense, always sure thatchallenging the mind was the wayto overcoming physical pain. Inrecent years she expanded herartistic talent in painting with bothoils and watercolours.

When she and Norman retired in1981 they both embarked on a newinterest, researching their familyhistory; this culminated in a bookThe Finch Family which theypublished themselves in 1992. Shewas elected chairman of LeighFamily History Society and laterLeigh Local History Society, andheld both posts up to her death. Shewas also a member of the AntiqueSociety, Chairman of the Anglo-Irish Society until 2002 and amember of the Lancashire LocalHistory Federation.

Despite all her health problemsshe has still managed to lead a veryactive life in the societies, lecturingregularly and continuing to fulfilher role as a dedicated mother andgrandmother. She will be sadlymissed by many, for her untiringwork in promoting both localhistory and genealogy in the Leigharea.

Tony AshcroftLocal History Officer

26

‘Good stuffcomes outof Wigan’!

ON 23 AUGUST 1898 at no. 6Bird Street, Ince-in-Makerfield, my grandmother,Eunice Bowman, formerlyPearson, nee Crook was born.She was the second of 12children of Thomas and SarahCrook, nee Hosler. Thomas andSarah Crook had 12 children,seven boys and five girls, oneof which died in infancy.

Although times were hardher family and generationsbefore had earned a living in

Wigan from coal mining,weaving or in the cotton mills.But at the turn of the 20thcentury the big cotton mills ofLancashire were in decline,work and jobs were drying upand it meant that her fatherand other members of thefamily had to take drastic

The story of Eunice Bowman’s remarkable life as it appeared in her local newspaper in August 2003.(Courtesy of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle).

Right: Eunice Bowman (neeCrook) left, with her sisterHarriet (born 1920).

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27

action. So around 1905, Eunice’s

father came to the North East tosuss out the area. He gave it thethumbs up and his wife Sarah,the children, including Eunice,uncles, aunts, cousins andnephews all headed north. Itwas part of a big evacuation offamilies from the Wigan arealooking for work on Tyneside.

“Lankie Row”

Eunice recalls that it wasprobably the first time she hadever been on a train. Theyarrived in Felling, nearGateshead and had to live insomeone else’s house, sleepingon the floor. One of their nexthouses was in Quarry Row,Felling. That house was in theshape of a coffin! Then theycame to Nursery Lane, WindyNook, Felling. Nursery Lane gotthe nickname “Lankie Row”because of all the Lancashirepeople who were living there.

On one occasion sheremembers someone getting thecane. So the next day she wentinto the classroom early and hidthe teacher’s cane behind theblackboard. I wonder if theteacher every found that cane!

Eunice can remember alwaysbeing asked to read poetry.

The ‘Three Sisters’, taken in June2003. Harriet (left), Eunice and

Annie (seated).

Could it have been that theteacher and the class wanted tohear her Lankie twang?

When Eunice left school sheworked with her gran inLomas’s fish and chip shop. Shehad to stand on a box and serveover the counter. Her fathermade her pack the job in whenshe got a big bone in her nail.Years later she worked inanother fish and chip shopowned by her sister’s daughterJoan and her husband Ronnie.

Playtimes for Eunice did notexist as she was always lookingafter kids or doing odd jobs forpeople. She also looked after hermother when her father Thomasdied in 1953.

No holidays

During World War I Euniceworked seven days a week, withno holidays, on 12-hour shiftsat Vickers-Armstrong munitionworks. She had to walk all theway from Felling to Scotswoodin Newcastle, even during theblackouts. She started as amessenger and then went on topiece work, putting all thegunpowder in the fuses. Sheremembers how one night shewas not able to go to workbecause she was ill. The nextday she found out that the placewhere she had worked hadblown up!

Eunice had been courtingRobert Pearson during the war,and on Christmas Day 1919 theymarried at Christ Church,Felling. Bob Pearson was a tallman, while my gran is quiteshort, so they must have lookedquite a pair going down thestreet – little and large!

Eunice can still rememberhelping her mother do thewashing with a poss-tub in theyard and using the big wringers.Eunice says “you had to get intoa rhythm. If I was possing downmy mother would poss up. Ittook a whole day to wash andiron. You put the iron on theside of the fire. I was kept offschool every week to look afterkids, and help with the washingand ironing. You would hangyour washing outside and thenthe coal carts came round andyou’d have to go out and pull allyour clothes in. But sometimes

the coalman would just gostraight through the washingand leave it with big blackmarks”.

Sadly Bob Pearson contractedtuberculosis and died on 20April 1928, leaving Eunice withfour children, Norman, Thomas,Doris and Constance.

Tough time

Eunice got 10s. for herself, 5s.for Norman and 3s. each forTommy, Doris and Connie.Altogether, therefore, she got24s. to feed, clothe and bring upher family. There were no more

Eunice with her most recent greatgranddaughter,

Aimee Flynn (born 2003).

State hand-outs. It was a toughtime for her, but she was alwayslooking for bits of jobs to do tokeep the coppers coming in. Asshe says, “I saw more mealtimesthan meals”.

Eunice was always willing tohelp – even laying people outwhen they died. Eunice gave alittle laugh, as she recalledlaying out a man called ‘LankieBob’ – “There was a big tallfella, we called him ‘LankieBob’, who lived on his own. Hisdaughter went upstairs with histea and found that he had diedin his sleep, curled up with hisknees under his chin. Thewoman I worked with sat on hisknees to try and straighten himout, and the body promptly sat


28

up, giving us the fright of ourlives.”

At the beginning of World WarII Eunice’s sons, Norman, aged19 and Tommy, aged 17, werecalled up into the Army. Becauseof their ages they wereseparated, one going to Dunkirkand the other to Africa. Theyboth - surprisingly - returnedsafely from the war and wentback to their work in theshipyards.

Eunice married for a secondtime on 13 December 1941 – this

‘Good stuffcomes outof Wigan’!

–––––


time her neighbour, FrankBowman. They had two children,Sheila, who died in infancy andAnn (my mother) who was bornin 1945. Sadly, Frank died in1950, leaving Eunice on her ownonce again.

Ann married George Berry in1964 and I was born later thatyear. Eunice by now was agrandmother 13 times over, withfour more grandchildren still tocome.

Eunice returned to working inthe fish and chip shop, and I canremember when I was younggoing for two papers (two lots offish and chips), and four packetsof chips at Ronnie’s fish and chipshop. I used to go everyThursday night and get servedby my gran – and boy did weenjoy them!

My mother, my brothers andsisters and I used to go for ourtea to my gran’s every Saturdayat 4 o’clock. If anyone was late

we would get a right ear-bash-ing. She was still making our teawhen she was in her ‘90’s!

Happy days

Eunice has for the most partenjoyed good health, with a goodsense of humour. Money andsometimes food were scarce, butof the past Eunice says “theywere happy days”.

At Eunice’s 100th BirthdayParty she received many pres-ents and cards. She made aspeech thanking everyone andsaid, “I wonder what I’ll getwhen I’m 200 years old”. On 23August 2003 Eunice reached thegrand old age of 105. She is stillliving in her bungalow by herselfand is still quite independent.

Good stuff in little bundlesmust have come out of Wigan!

J. M. BerryGateshead Tyne & Wear

I remember when . . .MANY Past Forwardreaders will have visitedBlenheim Palace, nearOxford, which was builtas a present by QueenAnne, to the First Duke ofMarlborough as a ‘thankyou’ for his victory atBlenheim. In due course itbecame the birthplace ofwho many believe wasthe greatest PrimeMinister of all time, SirWinston Churchill.

Few readers, however,will know that it was aWigan lad who wasinstrumental in‘persuading’ the father ofthe present Duke topermit visitors to thePalace, and not just to thegardens as hitherto!

A small coach operator,Arthur Elliott, with onlyone 27 seater Bedfordcoach, had approached meto suggest that as he was“no good at writingletters, perhaps I would dohim a favour by

composing one for him”.And so it was that I wroteto the Duke ofMarlborough to advisehim that a Mothers Uniongroup from a church inCoventry would like tovisit Blenheim Palace,fully expecting to be toldthat only the groundswere open, as they thenwere.

Imagine our jointsurprise when the EstateManager of Blenheimreplied, “His Grace theDuke would be pleased towelcome you as hisguests, and no doubt indue course you willadvise us of the date andtime you suggest, for hisagreement”.

As word got around theMothers Union, more andmore wanted to take partin ‘the event of a lifetime’,as never previously hadany Coventrians or indeedany other non-familymembers been inside the

Palace. On the big day, I found

myself ringing the bell ofBlenheim Palace; andinstead of a butler as Iexpected the door wasopened by none otherthan the Duke ofMarlborough himself! Onseeing the size of ourparty (the Duke had notseen my later letterinforming him that ournumbers had grownconsiderably), he called tohis wife “Sarah dear, it isthe party from Coventrywe were expecting, butthere are rather morethan we thought. Thereare 60 of them. Perhaps ifyou called ‘Sonny’, thenwe each could take 20and meet up hereafterwards.”

‘Sonny’ (who still liveson the estate, as thepresent Duke), thenappeared with a tear inhis trousers – a veryjovial character, quite

lighthearted, who madeeverything into a joke.

After the tour, trestletables loaded with cakestands full of deliciouscakes and urns ofscalding hot tea appearedas if from nowhere andwe travellers thoroughlyenjoyed being ‘the guests’of nobility!

The Duke engaged mein conversation, andasked if I had ever been toChatsworth House? I wasable to tell him that I had,many times, and that theDuchess of Devonshirewas the prime motivator,in opening the Hall to thepublic. We discussed thepossibilities of doinglikewise at Blenheim and Iencouraged him to do so.

Before long, visitorswere being welcomed toSir Winston’s birthplace,and I like to think that I –a slum kid born at WiganPier – had a part in it!

© Ernie Taberner

PARISH VIDEOSTANDISH

presents

The History of Coalminingin the Borough of Wigan

Titles include

Nothing Too Serious?(The last working year and closure

of Bickershaw Colliery)

Blue Scars, Black Diamonds(A History of Mines and Miners

in the Wigan area)(in two parts)

Also available

The Standish ChroniclesPart 1, Part 2

(A General History of Standish)

For more details: 01257 422108

Tyldesley Railway StationTYLDESLEY used to have arailway station until Dr.Beeching came along andchopped it. It was an oldVictorian edifice illumi-nated by gas lamps, andwith enamelled advertise-ments for Stevens Ink andMazawatti Tea, and one ofthose machines that youput a penny in and got abar of Nestles milk choco-late – for a pre-decimalpenny!

We thought it was a cutabove other stations in thearea because not only did ithave three platforms but itwas also a junction. Themain line came fromManchester and went on toLeigh, Golborne andNewton-le-Willows, andthere was a branch line toBolton Great Moor Street.

A shuttle service oper-ated on these lines, longbefore British Airwaysthought about it. This useda little shunting enginewith two carriages thatserved the destinationsalternatively. As there wereno turning round facilitiesfor the engine at the finaldestination, the enginepulled the carriages out-wards and had to pushthem on the way back. Theend carriage that nowbecame the leading car-riage had a window at theend, behind which thedriver sat to see where theywere going whilst the fire-man drove the engine atthe other end. A length of

wire went from the driver,over the carriage tops andinto the engine cab. Thiswas the engine room tele-graph – 1 for go, 2 for stop,3 for slow down.

When the train wasleaving Tyldesley, one ofthe porters would call outthe destination. One ofthem lived in CommonLane, and as the peoplewho lived there were notvery conversant with BBCpronunciation it must havebeen a bit confusing forstrangers when he shouted… ‘Yeau bridge, Chowbent,Chequerbent, Dobble andBowton’.

One of the features forwhich the station wasnoted was as the startingplace for pigeon races – asTyldesley stands on thefirst rise in the ground fromthe Cheshire plain it wasideally placed. The rise wasknown as a bank thusTyldesley Banks. Tyldesleypeople being what theywere pronounced banks asbonks, and somehowbonks became bongs. Sothat’s the theory of howTyldesley got the name ofBongs.

On certain Fridays in thesummer months incomingtrains would unload bas-kets of pigeons, until theywere stacked up 10 deepand the length of the plat-form. At 10.55 on Saturdaymorning the stationmasteremerged from his officeand checked the time with

his big railwayman’sWaltham double-leverwatch. At 11 o’clock heblew his whistle and theporters flung themselves atthe baskets and openedthem up. Huge flocks ofpigeons emerged to circleround, whilst they got theirbearings to go back to theirvarious lofts, and youcould hear shotguns goingoff over Gin Pits. Pigeon piefor Sunday dinner!

The porters then shiftedthe baskets to the back ofthe platform, and wherethey had been was a halfinch thick layer of pigeonmuck which they loaded onto a handcart and sold tothe men on the allotments –it was good rich pungentstuff, as a result of whichTyldesley had the reputa-tion of growing some of thefinest rhubarb in the north-ern counties!

Word of this eventually

29

got to headquarters atManchester Victoria, and aletter came from thempointing out that this mate-rial was the property ofLondon Midland andScotland Railways and sothe practice must ceaseforthwith. So the lads had ameeting with the unionbloke and a reply was sentagreeing that the materialwas indeed the property ofLondon Midland andScotland Railways andoffering to deliver the nextconsignment directly totheir headquarters atManchester Victoria. Well,they never heard any moreof that and Tyldesley con-tinued to grow splendidrhubarb!

J.G. Smith (age 4 scoreand 4 years)

Astley Nr. ManchesterTel: 01942 882513

Email:[email protected]

Tyldesley Station

THE CLARKE BROTHERSOF LEIGH

THE Clarke brothers lived at 1Barker Street, Leigh. The streetis still there, as is the house, offFirs Lane, opposite where theFirs Maternity home stood.Mother and father were Emmaand John Clarke, John being ajoiner by trade.

Harry

The second eldest son, Harry,was my wife’s grandfather. Hejoined the Army as a regular in1907, lying about his age,saying he was 191/2 when infact he had just turned 18. Heenlisted in Bury into the 1stBattalion Lancs. Fusiliers, andwas sent out to India where hetrained as a signaller. At theoutbreak of war the 1stBattalion were brought home,spent some time in Nuneatonbefore being sent out on theinfamous Gallipoli adventure.Harry took part in the famousLancashire landing – 6 VC’sbefore breakfast – survivingonly to have his right arm andshoulder shot off by a Turkishsniper in May 1915, one monthafter landing.

Robert

The next son was Robert(Bob), who again had joined asa regular in 1904 into the 2ndBattalion Border Regiment.When war broke out his unitwas sent to France as part ofthe BEF, the ‘OldContemptibles’! After fightingin Belgium and NorthernFrance, Bob suffered a severeshell wound in his back atFestubert on 16 May 1915 – his30th birthday – and he wasinvalided out of the Army. Hewas to die in the street in 1927when shrapnel which had beenleft in his body moved. The

coroner’s comments at the timewere quite scathing, as it turnedout on investigation that Roberthad been denied a pension forhis wounds. On his death,therefore, his wife was basicallydestitute, so she took herselfand her four children back toYorkshire, cutting all ties withthe family in Leigh.

[A very happy footnote tothis sad event is that Robert’schildren were traced to Ripon inYorkshire in 2000. All of themwere in or approaching their80’s and had no idea they hadfamily elsewhere. But by achance in a million, young Alf –now 84, but eight when he leftLeigh had seen an advert placedin a magazine by my wife’scousin.]

Alf

The original Alf was anotherof the Clarke brothers, butunfortunately we know nothingof his military service. We doknow that he worked at Irlamsteelworks after the War, andvery sadly took his own life in1920. He left a very poignantnote for his mother, calling her“the bravest of women”, adding“no more sleep until death, whyprolong the agony?” Themedical report on Alf’s deathstated he was suffering fromneurasthenia, commonly shellshock.

James

The youngest of the brotherswas James who enlisted in 1914in Leigh into the Loyal NorthLancashires. He was to die onthe Somme in July 1916.

Joe

The 5th and eldest brotherwas Joe, born in 1876. Joe hadenlisted as a regular in the 1stBattalion Loyal NorthLancashires and was serving inIndia when the Boer War brokeout.

At the time my wife startedon the story of the brothers, wehad no idea that Joe had servedin South Africa or even in WorldWar I. But Joe’s survivingdaughter gave us a photographof him with Mary his wife whichshowed him in uniform wearinghis medals. I took this photointo the Fusilier’s Museum inBury, and the curatorimmediately identified themedals as being from the BoerWar – The Queen’s S.A. Medal,King’s S.A. medal and a very

Dear Sir,Both my wife and I hail from

Leigh and have recently moveddown here. We are very interestedin family history and receive yourexcellent publication via my wife’scousin who lives in Atherton.

I was prompted to write to youas a result of Fred Holcroft’sseries of articles in Past Forwardon ‘Letters from the Boer War’.

My wife’s family name wasClarke, and she has compiled anaccount of the five Clarke brotherswho served in World War I.Obviously I cannot say thissituation was unique in Leigh andDistrict, but there can’t have beenmany. Their story is very sad – notuncommon for the time, of course- but it is a story that might beworth sharing with your readers.

Bill BelchWeston-Super-Mare

SomersetTel: 01934 613573

Email: [email protected]

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This photograph was kindly loaned by Mr and Mrs Cyril Walls of 10Alexandra Crescent, Pemberton, Wigan WN5 9JP. It is of St. John’s School,New Springs, taken about 1927/8. Cyril could only name himself (secondrow and third from right with folded arms), and his cousin Freddie Walls(front row, second from right). He would love to know if any readers canname anyone?

special medal – one that heshould not have been wearingwith his uniform – theKimberley Star!

Further research showed thatthe 1st Battalion Loyals werethe only regular British Armyunit actually in Kimberleyduring its siege by the Boers.Trapped in Kimberley with themwas the famous Cecil Rhodes –by all accounts in theRegimental Diary, a verydifficult man, who had constantdifferences of opinion with Lt.Col. Kekevich, the militarycommandant. The siege lastedsome four months, with thetownspeople and the garrisondown to half a pound ofhorsemeat at the point it waslifted.

In gratitude for everythingdone by the volunteerdefenders and the Loyals, theMayor of Kimberley had theKimberley Star medal struckprivately. He had 5000 made intotal, one gold for Rhodes and4999 silver for all the others. Asa private medal, not sanctionedby H.M. Government, soldierswere forbidden to wear them.The photograph (right) showsJoe and the offending article.

Many people in Leigh willremember Joe, even though he

died in 1951. Many more willstill remember Harry, not leastbecause of his missing arm andthe job he had for 30 years asan Insurance collector with thePearl.

P.S. I wonder if any readerhas any information whateveron Alf Clarke, the brother whokilled himself by drowning in1920. We have no idea, forexample, in which regiment heserved.

Right: 4512 Private Josephe Clarke(1876-1951), Regular Soldier.

Fought in the Boer War, Sergeantin World War I. Pictured with his

wife, Mary.

Left to right: 6948 Private Robert Clarke (1885-1927), Regular Soldier;1331 Private Harry Clarke (1889-1972), Regular Soldier; 17807 Private

James Clarke (1894-1916).

31

I greatly value all contributions toPast Forward, and if you don’thave access to a computer or wordprocessor, please don’t let that putyou off sending me your article -preferably typed, but again, if youcan only manage handwritten,that’s fine.However, if you can possiblysubmit your contributions to meelectronically ie by Email([email protected]), or on CDROM or floppy disc together withhard copy printouts, so much thebetter. And it would help theproduction team and myself evenmore if articles were double linespaced with one inch (25mm)margins each side, and a wordcount included. Many thanks.

Ed.

PLEA FROM THEEDITOR

32

SOCIETY NEWSTo all SecretariesWould Secretaries please note thecopy deadline on p2, and ensure thatyou send in all details of yourmeetings up to Summer 2004 forinclusion in the next issue. Thanks.

Ashton-in-Makerfield Probus ClubMembers of the Club are retiredbusiness/professional people, who meet atthe Angel Hotel, Ashton-in-Makerfield on thefirst Wednesday of every month at 11.00 a.m.Further details from the Honorary Secretary,Alan Bradshaw (01942 726493)3 DecemberChristmas Readings and LunchJames Fairhurst7 JanuaryOpen Meeting4 FebruaryLocal History Walter Carney3 MarchMonologues and Poems Pete Edwards7 AprilKing Edward VII, his Life and LovesJames Fairhurst

Aspull & Haigh Historical SocietyMeetings are held in Our Lady’s R.C. ChurchHall, Haigh Road, Aspull on the secondThursday in the month at 7.30 p.m. Furtherdetails from the Secretary, Barbara Rhodes(01942 222769).

Atherton Heritage SocietyMeetings are held on the second Tuesday ofthe month at 7.30 p.m. at St. RichardsJubilee Hall, Atherton. Admission £1(members), £1.50 (non-members). Furtherdetails from Mrs. M. Hodge (01942 884893)2 DecemberLancashire Witches (followed by Christmasbuffet) Lizzie Jones, Brian Clarke13 JanuaryLancashire humour Brian Clarke10 FebruaryBadges and Tokens of Bolton Cliff Stockton9 MarchThe Life & Times of Samuel CromptonSean Baggeley

Billinge Local History SocietyFor further details contact Jack Boardman.(01744 892613), or visit our web site atwww.billinge-history.com.

Golborne & Lowton Local History SocietyFounded in 1984 the society now has anaverage monthly attendance of over 20.Meetings are held at Golborne Library on thesecond Tuesday of the month at 7.00 p.m.Further details from Ron Marsh, P.R. Officer(01942 726027).

Hindley History SocietyWe meet in the Museum at Hindley Library,Market Street at 7.00 p.m. Further detailsfrom the Secretary Joan Topping (01942257361) or the Treasurer Norma Brannagan(01942 258668).12 JanuaryThe Worst of the Victorian MurdersJames Fairhurst15 MarchVictorian Surnames Fred Holcroft

Leigh & District Family History SocietyMeetings are held on the third Tuesday ofevery month at 7.30 p.m. in the Derby Roomof Leigh Library. Further details from theSecretary, Mrs. O. Hughes (01942 741594).

16 DecemberPoets and Poisoners Lizzie Jones

Leigh Literary SocietyMeetings are held in the Derby Room at theTurnpike Centre, on alternate Mondayevenings at 7.30 p.m. Annual subscriptions£11; visitors £1.50 per meeting. For furtherdetails from Tony Ashcroft, Local HistoryOfficer, Leigh Library (01942 404559)1 DecemberSea Bird Summer & Birds of the PennineForest Gordon Yates15 DecemberThe Last Lighthouse Keeper Gordon Medlicott5 JanuaryCanals in Camera Roy Murphy19 JanuaryThe Kerry Way David Cookson2 FebruaryTravels through Peru Andrew Calder16 FebruaryLancashire Comedians Tony Hilton1 MarchGilbert & Sullivan David Hill9 Apri1Cornwall (also AGM) Trevor Lucas

Leigh Probus ClubMembers of the Club, which is non-sectarian,are generally retired professional/businessmen.The Club meets at the Leigh Masonic Hall onalternate Thursday afternoons betweenOctober and April.Further details from H.Wilkinson (01942 671943).

Shevington Memories GroupThis small, informal group meets each Fridayat 2.30 p.m. in Shevington Methodist Church(New Lounge), to share memories about oldtimes. Anyone is welcome – just turn up!Contact Maurice Hilton (01942 223107) forfurther details.

Skelmersdale & Upholland FamilyHistory SocietyMeetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of mostmonths at 7.30 p.m., in the Hall GreenCommunity Centre, Upholland. Beginnersand more experienced family historiansalways welcome. Further details from theSecretary, Simon Martin (01942 702594).25 NovemberLiverpool in the Blitz Simon Martin27 JanuaryAGM and Workshop – Starting Out24 FebruaryRalph Cartlidge, Napoleonic SoldierNeville King23 MarchWorkshop – Births, Marriages & Deaths

27 AprilBounds of Upholland Dr. Audrey Coney

Standish Probus ClubMembers are retired business andprofessional people. Meetings are held at‘The Owls’, Rectory Lane, Standish on thesecond Tuesday of every month at 10.30 a.m.Further details from the Secretary, BryanShepherd (01257 424994)13 JanuaryLife is 3D Roy Jackson10 FebruaryHidden Treasure Agatha Brown9 MarchLady Anne Clifford Margaret Curry

Tyldesley & District Historical SocietyMeetings are held on the third Thursday ofevery month from September to May at theTyldesley Pensioners club on Milk Street at7.30 p.m. Voluntary contributions are alwayswelcome. Refreshments available. Contactthe Secretary Tony Rydings (01942 514271)or [email protected]. Visit ourwebsite at www.tyldesleyhistoricalsociety.co.uk.18 DecemberLast Weekend of Peace, First Weekend ofWar, 2 & 3 September 1939 (also AGM)(See also p25 for a tribute to Stan Smith).

Wigan Archaeological SocietyThe Society meets at the BP Centre (ScoutHQ) in Greenhough Street on the firstWednesday of the month at 7.30 p.m.Entrance is only £1.

Wigan Civic TrustThe Trust meets at Drumcroon EducationArts Centre, Parsons Walk, Wigan, on thesecond Monday of the month at 7.30 p.m.Further details from the Secretary, A.J.Grimshaw, 6 Bridgeman Terrace, Wigan(01942 245777).

Wigan Family & Local History SocietyMeetings are held on the third Tuesday ofmost months in the Springfield Hotel,Springfield Road, Wigan, at 7.30 p.m. for8.00 p.m. The meetings alternate betweenmembers’ evenings and external speakers onhistory related topics. Annual Membershipfees are £6 for individuals, £7 for familiesand £10 for overseas membership. Ameeting fee is charged at £1 per memberand £1.50 per non-member. Further detailsfrom John Wogan, 678 Warrington Road, GoodeGreen, Wigan WN3 6XN. or [email protected]. Visit our websiteat www.ffhs.org.uk/members/wigan.htm.16 DecemberWilliam Hutchings: Evangelical Preacher,Writer, Debater and Journalist Max Finney(Christmas Buffet)20 JanuaryAnother Road to Wigan Pier Carole Banks17 FebruaryTaking a Walk along the Leeds & LiverpoolCanal Ron Rigby16 MarchWater Corn Mills in Standish Adrian Morris20 AprilThe Story of Wigan Railways Philip Heyes

33

The Children's EmploymentCommission (Mines) 1842

A unique insight into our mining forbears.An ancient practice

It is known not least fromillustrations in tombs and on potterythat women and young children workedin the metal mines of ancient Egypt andGreece well over 2000 years ago. InEngland children of poor and workingclass families had worked for centuriesbefore industrialisation, helping aroundthe house or in the fields.

The practice of putting children towork was first actually documented inEngland in medieval times when fathershad their children spinning thread forthem to weave on the loom. Childrenhad always performed a variety of tasksthat were auxiliary to their parents butnevertheless critical to the familyeconomy. There is no reason to doubt atall that the Wigan Borough area'searliest organised coal mines over 700years ago utilised female and childlabour.

Lord Anthony Ashley CooperBefore 1842, legislation was not in

place to improve or safeguard theworking conditions of those employed inthe mines. Virtually the single drivingforce to eradicate the employment ofwomen and girls in the mines was tocome from a Tory MP, Anthony AshleyCooper, who has never really receivedthe enormous credit he deserves.

He was born in April 1801, the eldestson of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury; at theage of 10, Anthony was given thecourtesy title of Lord Ashley. Educatedat Harrow and Christ College, Oxford, hewas elected M.P. for Woodstock at theage of 25.

He began to take an interest in socialissues after reading reports in The Timesabout the accounts given to MichaelSadler's Committee investigating childlabour, and wrote to Sadler offering hishelp in his campaign for factory reform.On Sadler’s defeat in the 1832 GeneralElection, Lord Ashley was asked tobecome the new leader of the factoryreform movement in the House ofCommons. He accepted, and in March1833, proposed a bill that would restrictchildren to a maximum 10 hour day; thisbill, however, was defeated by 238 votesto 93. Although the government opposedAshley's bill, it accepted, however, thatchildren did need protecting and decidedto put forward its own proposals.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl ofShaftsbury (1802-1885).

1833 Factory ActThe government's 1833 Factory Act

was passed by Parliament on 29August. Under the terms of the new act,it became illegal for children under nineto work in textile factories, whereaschildren aged between nine and 13could not be employed for more thaneight hours a day. The reformers,however, were disappointed thatchildren over 13 were allowed to workfor up to 12 hours a day. They alsocomplained that with the employment ofonly four inspectors to monitor thislegislation, factory owners wouldcontinue to employ very young children.

Children's EmploymentCommission

In 1840 Lord Ashley helped set upthe Children's Employment Commission.Its first report on mines and collierieswas published in 1842. It caused asensation when it was published. Themajority of people in Britain were totallyunaware that women and children asyoung as six years of age were beingemployed in mines.

Graphic illustrationsThe report was the first of its kind to

include engraved illustrations, which forthe already evidence-shocked Victorianreader added an unbelievable visual

dimension. Images of muscularlydeformed naked young girls draggingcoal carts along low tunnels were to beinstrumental in speeding up theparliamentary route to a change inlegislation.

The engravings were reproduced inthe national newspapers, standing outat a time when pictures in newspaperswere few, and images of bare breastedfemales even fewer! The illustrations,most of which were to be found in theLancashire sections of evidence, alsogive us the first accurate glimpse intoworking conditions and mining'technology' below ground. Althoughphotography had recently arrived, thefirst attempts to create images in coalmines were at least 40 years into thefuture. The engravings appear to havebeen accurately sketched in a coldmanner, without any form of artisticembellishment or licence. Perhaps theartists felt a sense of moral duty torecord accurately the horrors beforethem, which they themselves wereprobably seeing for the first time.

The evidenceThis was gathered by the sub-

commissioners below ground andamongst the mining community on thesurface - in local pubs for example, awell known haunt of most colliers. Somesmaller coalowners who knew that theirworkforce slaved in terrible conditionswere very uncooperative, theirmineworkers giving little useful insightinto conditions.

Larger concerns such as the Duke ofBridgewater's massive mining complexwere the opposite. Even though theyemployed over 140 women and girls,they readily supplied statistics andallowed workers to openly speak to thesub-commissioners.

There was a great deal of suspicion ofthe motives behind the gathering ofevidence. Mineworkers felt that therevealing to an audience outside of theirclose-knit communities of their terribleworking conditions and immoralpractices would lead to job losses,colliery closures or prosecution. Asmining wages were often higher thanmill wages the workforce often felt itworthwhile to keep quiet, accept their lotand hope for the best.


34

The evidence which follows for thisarticle only scrapes the surface of thescope of the full report and is drawnfrom the Wigan Borough area and thewider Lancashire coalfield.

Twelve hour dayJohn Charnock was about 10 or 12

years old and worked as a waggoner(pushing and pulling pit tubs belowground) at Mr. Thickness’s Kirkless Pit,near Aspull.

What age are you? - I do not know. Where do you work? - I work at

Kirkless, Mr. Thickness's. What time do you go in the

morning? - I go at five o'clock in themorning, and I come out between fiveand six at night.

What time do you have forbreakfast? - I get my breakfast before Istart in the morning, it is thick porridge;we don't stop for it.

What time do you have dinner? - Ihave praties (potatoes) for dinner andwe don't stop for bagging [mining termfor food]; I get praties for suppersometimes; I have enough to eat.

Have you any clothes besidesthose you have on? - No. [His clotheswere a tissue of rags; the wonder washow they hung on the child.]

How many of a family are you?Father, mother, three sisters and myself.

Do you all sleep in one room? -Yes.

In one bed? - Yes. Are your sisters older than you? -

Yes. [This boy was about 12 years, orbetween that and 13: his appearancewas wretched.]

Amazing feats of staminaChildren were given tasks an adult of

today would never accept. Anastonishing piece of evidence comesfrom Benjamin Berry, aged 14, workingat Patricroft Colliery, near Worsley;

What is the greatest length youhave known a drawer bring awaggon? [during a shift]. I haveknown two drawers, a lad and a lass,draw 800 yards on the level, with rails,10 times [16,000 yards] and 360yards up and down without rails 20times [14,400 yards]; total 30,400yards or 17 1/2 miles nearly.

Many ramblers today would be proudto walk 17 miles in the Lakes, but just

imagine dragging loaded and emptytubs in the mine for 10 hours for thesame distance!

A rough community!William Harrison was the Relieving

Officer for Orrell, Pemberton andUpholland and several other townships.In his evidence of 12 May 1841 hereplies to the following question;

Have you ever noticed thedomestic condition of the children ofcolliers? As regards their habits, someof them are very respectable, but thegreat body are quite the reverse, andvery disorderly in conduct, and theymake bad use of their money; they areusually filthy in their habits, they willwash their neck, face, and hands, whenthey return from work, but they scarcelyever wash their bodies, very rarelyindeed.

Have you ever observed the moralcondition of the colliers? It is notuncommon for four or five of them tosleep in one bed, and sometimes two orthree beds in one room; the girls andboys sleep in the same room, and I haveknown cases where they have slept inthe same bed. I have known them sleeptogether until the boys and girls were 14or 15. They are very much demoralisedin their habits; bastard children arethought nothing of, it scarcely makesany difference on a young woman’scharacter in this district, if they get achild they think they should go to theparish with it.

Mr. Latham was the hard-pressedChief Constable of Wigan. He had been aresident for 42 years and amazingly wasasked the following question;

In that time have you had theopportunity of noting the characterand habits of the colliers in thisneighbourhood ? Yes, I have; and allclasses of working men in this district,excepting the lower classes of Irish, whoare probably as bad, the colliers are themost turbulent and riotous; their

language is of the most blasphemousdescription, and the children follow theirexample; the name of Christ is always intheir mouths; their constant oath is, ‘bythe heart of Christ I’ll tear thy liver out.’

Is it considered discreditable for aman to be seen drunk? No, it isconsidered no disgrace to be seen drunkand disorderly; every pay night theycome to the town, and they are drunkand disorderly upon these occasions;their wives usually accompany them,and leave the children to fend forthemselves.

Betty Harris, aged 37 was a drawer(pushing and pulling coal tubs andbaskets) in a coal mine at Little Bolton.Her description is well worth citing asher working process would be typical ofwomen, girls and boys in the Wiganarea. Her evidence is much quoted;

"I have a belt round my waist, and achain passing between my legs, and I goon my hands and feet. The road is verysteep, and we have to hold by a rope;and where there is no rope, by anythingwe can catch hold of. ... I am not asstrong as I was, and cannot stand thework as well as I used to. I have drawntill I have had the skin off me; belt andchain is worse when we are in thefamily way".

Patience Kershaw, aged 17 and alsofrom Bolton, describes a sad dailyworking routine where the job itself wasnot the only cause for concern;

"I hurry the corves [pull or dragwicker baskets full of coal] a mile andmore underground and back; theyweigh 3 cwt [20 cwt to a ton] ... thegetters [the men at the coal face] that Iwork for are naked except for their caps,sometimes they beat me if I am not quickenough" [in supplying them with emptybaskets].

Betty Wardle of Outwood, nearRadcliffe, recalls her time in the pits. Amodern day mother will find herevidence virtually unbelievable;

ï

The Children'sEmployment

Commission (Mines)1842

–––––


35

Have you ever worked in a coalpit? Ay, I have worked in a pit since Iwas six years old.

Have you any children? Yes, I havehad four children; two of them wereborn while I worked in the pits.

Did you work in the pits when youwere in the family way? Ay, to besure. I had a child born in the pits and Ibrought it up the pit shaft in my skirt.

Are you quite sure you are tellingme the truth? Ay, that I am; it wasborn the day after I were married, thatmakes me to know.

‘Purring’A tough collier, recorded only by his

surname of Cooper, but with thenickname of 'The Strapper', wasworking at a pit in Dukinfield. Hementions the painful practice of'purring', also known as 'parring' orkicking with clogs, usually on eachothers shins, which was also verycommon in the Wigan area.

Have you ever been hurt? No Inever was hurt in a pit, but I have hadseveral bones broken.

How did that happen, out of thepit? With fighting.

Do you fight naked? Yes, up anddown, with clogs on.

How much beer do you drink on aSaturday night? Sometimes half abarrel!!

Earnings on the side!Mary Glover, working at a pit near

Ringley was asked:How are you dressed when at work

in the pits? I wear a shift and a pair oftrousers when at work, and I always willhave a good pair of trousers. I have hadmany a 2d given me by the boatmen onthe canal side to show my breeches.

Coal Mines ActThe Children's Employment

Commission was published in May1842. General outrage at the revelationsmeant that no one could really argueagainst the continuation of many of theworkplace practices or condone thepresence in the mines of the lowestlevels of moral behaviour. The CoalMines Act, piloted by Lord Ashley, cameinto effect only three months afterpublication in August 1842. Women andgirls and boys younger than 10 wereprohibited from working underground.

The 'pit brow lass' emergesWomen and girls removed from the

mines often bitterly resented theirlivelihoods being taken away from themin one foul swoop. Some women evenresorted to dressing as men to continuework. Hannah Hathaway wasdiscovered after being killed in a rooffall at a Standish pit in 1845. An enquiryfound others were working at the pit.

A young boy working as a ventilation door tenter, often in total darkness,cold and draughty for up to sixteen hours a day.

Women mineworkers hadtraditionally worn petticoats overtrousers. Many now intent on sneakingbelow ground, often with themanagement turning a blind eye, were tobe increasingly seen on the surface inmore masculine caps, jackets andtrousers. 70 years after the 1842legislation this style was still in place,particularly in Wigan, giving us thememorable image of the 'pit brow lasses'.

Work optionsOther women and girls were lucky to

be given agricultural or service work onthe estates of the coal owners or driftedaway to other industries, textiles forexample, or even cockling in MorecambeBay. By 1860 work for 30 ex pit womenwas being provided at Sumner's HaighBrewery near Aspull.

20 years later it was felt the generalpublic were still relatively ignorant ofthe problems facing the industry.C.Collier in his Gatherings From The PitHeap of 1861 stated that: "of miners themass of mankind knows no more than ifthey were Hottentots:- born, bred andburied, for the most part out of sight ofthe highly civilised and educated peoplearound them".

The rest of Europe was slow inadopting female exclusion from themines after 1842. This was only finallyachieved in Belgium, for instance, by1911. Today women and girls can stillbe found in mines in China, India,Cambodia and Columbia and manyother remote areas worldwide.

Tireless campaigner As for Anthony Ashley Cooper, he

continued to campaign for effectivefactory legislation. In 1863 hepublisheda report revealing that children as youngas four and five were still working fromsix in the morning to ten at night insome British factories.

He was also associated with themovement to provide free education forthe poor. He was president of the

Ragged Schools Union. By 1850 theorganisation had established over 100schools for poor children. He helpedboth Florence Nightingale, founder ofthe nursing profession, and thephilanthropist Dr Thomas Barnardo.Despite his reforming work, however,his opponents accused him of neglectingthe labourers on his own estates.

The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury died on 1October 1885.

Appendix"Boompin' Nell", a poem by

A.J.Munby of 1887 (Victorian diarist,poet and barrister, 1828-1910)

'Couldn't I work theer ageean Sir? I'd goas snug as I can;I'd cut my hair quite short, I would, andI'd dress mysen like a man.Why, I've getten by breeches here, anmy owd top coat an all,An I lay they suits me better, nor aSunday bonnet and shawl;For my showthers is rare and broad,you see, an I never had much of a figure,An my hands is as hard as nails, look,an as big as a man's, or bigger;An' what is a woman's voice, when youshouts, but never speaks?An' my face 'ud be thick in coal dust, sothey'd never notice my cheeks,An' the best of it is, I are tall, so theywouldna make much out o' me,If I once goes down like a man, Sir, whya man I can easy be.My mates 'ud know me, it's true; butthey wouldna tell, not they!So, if you'll only let me, why I'll do it,straight away'.

Alan DaviesHeritage Officer (Archives)

Acknowledgement Thanks to Ian Winstanley of Ashton-

in-Makerfield for access to histranscription of the Children'sEmployment Commission (Mines). Havea look at his excellent mining websitewww.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

36

SATURDAY MORNINGSaturday morning. No school! What more could a

little lad want? Well, he could want not to be sent off toAllsop’s, to queue for a rabbit for a start.

A measly rabbit!

This was in wartime days, everything was rationed,and folks took every opportunity to get something extra.Like a rabbit!

Well, when I say folks, I mean me, because nobodyelse in our family ever had to spend Saturday morningqueuing for a rabbit!

And never a nice, sunny, warm Saturday morning!Always a freezing cold winter morning, when your nosewas all runny, your hands lost all feeling, and your earswould have dropped off if anything just touched them.

All for a skinny rabbit!

Mind you, it was a very educational experience. Fora start, you learned to recognise every single brick inAllsop’s wall. Especially the bit that stuck out, so youcouldn’t avoid being exposed to the full fury of theelements for a good ten minutes while you got past thebuttress. I only knew it was a buttress, because someboring History teacher told us castles had them to stop thewalls falling down.

He never said nothing about them being put onshops so as little lads, who had never done anybody anyharm, had howling hurricanes blowing up their pants legs.Right up to your waist if the pants were a bit big, havingbeen bought to grow into.

And rain! It was just like it said in the Bible whenthey started building Arks. Only little lads didn’t have anyArks, they just got witchert!

And for just standing there, being patient and fedup waiting for a rabbit, you could get in no end of bother.

There were always big ladies, (you would neverhave thought there was rationing, the size of them!), whowere always going on about “Her.” Her was some otherlady whose identity you never knew, because she wasalways referred to furtively through pursed lips, and aheave of ample bosoms.

Then they would look at you, standing there allinnocent, as though you were trying to listen, and you gotthe look. The one that turns little lads to stone, even if theydon’t understand what they can’t help hearing.

Anyway, all the Yanks I ever met were really niceand gave you toffee and gum and nylons for your mam.

Usually, by the time you got turned to stone, youdidn’t really notice anyway because you were so frozen. Ina way, being turned to stone with the look wasn’t a badthing. By then you were halfway along the queue, nearlypast the buttress, where it got a bit warmer.

Mind you, when I was a little lad, nothing was evergradely fair, and when you got past the buttress, there wasno guttering, so all the water went down the back of yourneck.

Eventually, it happened. You got nearly through theshop door. That’s if they didn’t suddenly decide there wereno more rabbits!

I never did understand that, because the time wehad been standing in the queue was plenty long enoughfor them to breed!

But, sometimes they said no more rabbits.

That was the worst possible thing that couldhappen! Then you had to walk the two miles back home,frozen, wet through, fed up and, of course, to blame!

Naturally it was your fault there were no morerabbits. You should have gone sooner, or you should haverun to get there instead of walking, or you shouldn’t havelet people push in front of you in the queue.

But there were no people. They were all big ladiesand if they pushed you, you stayed pushed.

Of course, you didn’t always fail. Usually, youwould get into the shop and slowly work your way roundto the counter. Perhaps that’s where you first learned to beterrified of big ladies.

Bessie, I think they called her! I didn’t of course! Ijust tried to be very little so she wouldn’t see me. She satthere, on a stool - well, half of her was on a stool, the otherhalf was sort of free flowing - and she skinned the rabbitfor you as you bought it. Great big hands, like shovels, gothold of these scrawny little rabbits and skinned themeasier than I could take a pair of gloves off. If I’d ever hadany gloves that is!

Still, once you had your rabbit, you could be on yourway home. You would think that by now, you would bereally looking forward to a rabbit feast.

Not me. By then I hated the rotten rabbits in a wayonly little lads know how to hate. Evil, venomous,hopeless!

Soon there would be the smell of the hot oven, andpastry being mixed, and eventually rabbit pie cooking.Now wouldn’t you think, that when this pathetic littlerabbit finally got chopped up into a pie, that it would be alllumpy?

But no! There were never any lumps in my bit.There was plenty piecrust and plenty dip, but I don’tremember lumpy!

I suppose it was good - everything‘s good to hungrylittle lads who could manage it with the skin on if need be.But I never remember any lumps, and there must havebeen lumps.

Anyway, that was that, another Saturday morninggone. At least I would be able to go out and play for theafternoon, wouldn’t I?

But that’s another story!

Alan LloydAstley Nr Manchester

From all atWigan

HeritageService to all

readers ofPast Forward

a HappyChristmas anda Prosperous

New Year.37

Past Forward‘triggers a stringof memories’Dear Sir,

Being an avid read of PastForward I always find somearticle or letter which triggersoff a string of memories. Nonemore so than Issue no. 34(summer 2003)

I was born in Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield on 6 August1929, and lived in DownallGreen Road until 1957 when Ileft home to get married in1957….exactly 46 years ago.

The photograph on the backpage (bottom left) is Holy TrinityChurch, Ashton….or as we kidsknew it….’Downall GreenChurch, Rectory Road’. It wasthe ‘mother’ church of St.Peter’s Church, Bryn Road,Bryn, which I attended. Theminister at that time was RectorHall. A well-known figure in the

area and one who visited ourhome quite often.

Re ‘Childhood Revisited’ byHarold J. Smith….I remembermost vividly Mr. Waterhouseand his trains which to us kidswas sheer magic. He livedapproximately 500 yards away,and I remember spending manyhappy hours leaning on thefence and watching Mr.Waterhouse with his trains. Iwonder if Harold J. Smith is theHarry Smith who lived a fewdoors away from us?

Re the short piece ‘Betterthan Heaven’ by K. Dutton fromBillinge, yes, Wiggin Infirmarywas somewhere better thanheaven in those days. I trainedas a student nurse there, 1954to 1957, when I qualified as anS.R.N. Some of the happiestdays of my life were spentthere. I wonder if any of the girlsin the same P.T.S. as myselfremember me? My maidenname was Liptrot. Two people Ivividly remember are LilianLeverington and LorraineJones; Lilian lived in Scholesand Lorraine in Hindley. Whoknows they may read PastForward and remember….

Thank you for such aninteresting magazine.

Irene RileyDunham Massey Cheshire

Wigan’s wartime AuxiliaryFire Service (AFS)

This photograph was taken in1940 opposite Tom Hughes’sCycle Shop in Wallgate, Wigan;the building was the Canal Co.offices. The room withsandbags round was the headAir Raid Warden’s Post forWallgate and Poolstock,covering the mills.

The fire engine was mannedby the Auxiliary Fire Service(AFS) who were full time onshifts and slept at night in theroom above the ARP Post.When Wigan fire engines fromChapel Lane Station went torelieve the Liverpool orManchester firemen during theblitz this engine went up toChapel Lane on standby. It wasstationed at the Wigan Pier forthe duration of the 1939-45

war. The warehouse on the leftof the picture is now The WayWe Were museum. Thebuilding on the right is now TheOrwell Public House. Theengine is parked where theQueen unveiled a plaque at theofficial opening of Wigan Pier in1986.

The driver was George Dayof Darlington Street, and forpractising the engine was takenacross the cobbled yard up tothe edge of the Leeds andLiverpool canal.

The photograph was takenwith a Kodak Baby Browniecamera (hawkeye model) givenwith the boys magazineModern World.

Alan DavenportWhitley Wigan

Wigan Police Cricket Team, at Wigan Cricket Club in the early 1940’s. Mrs. B.J. Berry ofEccleston, Chorley has kindly loaned this photograph. Her father, Jos. Leather, is

standing third from right.

Past Forward

38

MADAME DORIS WOOD’SLIFE OF MUSIC

Lancashire shows featuringTommy Handley and Rawicz &Landauer. She was a greatsinger at celebrity concertswith Toni & his orchestra atBlackpool’s North Pier andalso at St. Annes Pier; she wasaccompanied by Horace Finch(Blackpool Winter Gardensorganist) and Stanley Tudor(Manchester Gaumont cin-ema).

Perhaps the peak spots inher career, however, wereattained at Bridge MethodistChurch, Ratcliffe where, in1947, she sang in ‘Messiah’there with Isobel Baillie, TomPhillips and George Allen; andin 1958 she appeared in thesame work with Isobel Baillie,Heddle Nash and OwenBrannigan.

The march of time did notdeter this fine artist. Sheretained her voice by disci-plined practice. Her favouritemodern show was ‘The Soundof Music’, the theme tune ofwhich she often sang. At 59,her musical zest and enthusi-asm were unbounded and herrich, mellow contralto voicestill gave pleasure to all wholistened.

I considered it a great hon-our and privilege to haveaccompanied her on severaloccasions at Rodney StreetChurch of Christ, Wigan andelsewhere.

Mr. Smith and I pay thisaffectionate tribute to Wigan’sgifted musician who so freelygave her talent and delightedthousands of music lovers.

C. Miller28 Norbreck Crescent

Wigan WN6 7RF

Dear Mr. Gillies,Earlier in the year I wrote to

you about a letter from A.E.Smith who was the nephew ofDoris Westhead, better knownperhaps to many people asMadame Doris Wood. Youkindly sent my letter to Mr.Smith and we have since beenin contact. We feel that Wiganfolk would be interested in thehighlights of Madame DorisWood’s life of music whichtragically ended at the earlyage of 59

Doris Wood, leading lady ofsong in Wigan and, indeed,throughout the country, livedwith her husband BillWesthead in Coniston ParkDrive, Standish, a few doorsaway from her married sisterMrs. Mary Fishwick with whomshe had sung duets so manytimes.

For 43 years, from the ageof 16 to her death, she was astaunch choir member ofStandishgate MethodistChurch and was a soloist atmost special services. Her first‘Messiah’ was with WiganChoral Society. She returnedas soloist with the society inseveral subsequent ‘Messiahs’and performed the work onmany occasions in variousparts of the country. In lightervein, she took part in produc-tions by Wigan AmateurOperatic Society.

Although oratorio work washer first love, she had a vastrepertoire of songs fromshows. Among her wartimecharity concert appearances,she sang with BickershawColliery Band and at

ison of a mining problem withsomething outside of mining.When hydraulic supports wereintroduced he remarked oneday on their time-savingaspect. Seeing the questioninglook on my face, he asked,“How many times do you haveto hit a rigid support to put it inplace?” Not having given thematter any thought I wasunable to comment. He wenton, “How many strokes of therazor do you have to makebefore you are clean shaven?”He pointed out that, apart fromthe long strokes, there were theinnumerable little nicks onehad to make. Similarly withrigid prop-setting. Apart fromthe large hammer blows therewere the numerous little tapsbefore the support was finallyerected. I told that story manytimes afterwards to workingminers and it was alwaysreceived with nods of approval.

Mr. Challoner earned therespect of all in mining circlesfor the invaluable contributionhe made to safety and health.

James FairhurstAshton-in-Makerfield

FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE

Earned respectof all in miningcirclesDear Editor,

Mrs. Tonge was quite rightin assuming that the H.M.I. Iworked with on dust suppres-sion at Bold Colliery in the late1950’s was her father, Mr.William Challoner (ref. PastForward 34, p39). During thatshort period I came to see himnot as another stick for theback of officials but a person ofwide experience, always willingto offer help and advice. Hewas never happier than whendiscussing mining problemsand envisaging the industry’sfuture.

I never failed to be amazedat his ability to draw a compar-

I remember Roger TaylorDear Sir,

I was given a copy of Past Forward no. 33 and I rememberedRoger Taylor c.1931 as a boy.

I wrote to Roger and he put me in touch with two boyhoodfriends, Leslie Seddon and Reggie Lamb – we all lived in AthertonStreet in Wigan. Les, Reg and I have met and I visited Roger (inLindsey) three weeks ago. Both Roger and I would like to contactLeslie Grundy (Platt Bridge c.1934) I was in the same class as Lesand Roger and we worked together for a time.

In 1941 I joined the RAF with a Jack Taylor (ex Wigan G.S.) Onthe photo Roger sent to you is a J.E. Rigby – I wonder if they arethe same. Jack lived at Crawford House in Appley Bridge.

I have just received Past Forward no. 34, and see that Roger’sarticle has awakened even more memories.

Geoff YatesOver Hulton Bolton

Dear Editor,I was introduced to Past

Forward by a dear friend, likedit so much I became a sub-scriber.

In issue 34 (p42) there wasa letter by Tom Silvester, whomentioned his sister Dorothy. Ifeel sure she is the little girlcentre right, back row in theenclosed photograph; next toher is Irene Lavin.

The photograph was takenat a garden party held at the

Parish Church, DownallGreen. The vicar at the timemay have been the Rev. W.W.Willliams. The girl second leftfront row was Joan Brownbillwho sadly died shortly after.

I frequently visit Wigan fora walk about, and if I passthrough Mesnes Park, for oldtimes’ sake I rub Mr. Powell’sfoot, and perhaps make awish.

E. Wilkinson(address supplied)

39

Published by Wigan Heritage Service, Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust,Market Suite, The Galleries, Wigan WN1 1PX

The views expressed in this issue are not necessarily supported byWigan Leisure & Culture Trust. Nothing printed may be construed aspolicy or an official announcement unless so stated.

Neither Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust, nor the Editor, accept liabilityfor any matter in this publication.

Contributions are welcome but no responsibility can be taken for lossor damage to contributors’ material.

© Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust, November 2003.

WRIGHTINGTON HALLDear Sir,

Please find enclosed two photographs of Wrightington Hall.The picture of the Hall appears to have been taken during the

restoration and re-building between 1860-62. The Old Hall isvisible on the left, the Barn can be seen through the gap betweenthe buildings and the porch appears to be in the middle ofconstruction at the front of the New Hall. The extension has yet tobe built.

The people featured in the ‘Horses’ picture are not known.Perhaps one of your readers will be able to identify them.

David RoughleyEmail: [email protected]

CAN ANYONE HELP?Dear Sir,

I ask if the following conflictof memories can be satisfacto-rily resolved by your readers.

An elderly gentleman friendof mine (incidentally onlylocated by me in Blackpoolthrough a caption in PastForward!) and I recollect thatNo. 1 pit, at the MaypoleColliery, had a main windingengine, at the top of the pit;halfway down the shaft, therewas another electric windingengine that took a smaller cageto the Arley mine. In otherwords, a continuation of No. 1shaft.

My cousin, however, whoworked there from 1940 to1949, has no recollection ofthis. No way can I convince himthat this was in fact so. Can

anyone help?I enclose a photograph of

our N.C.B. training group,taken at Low Hall, Platt Bridge,in the spring of 1950. I amthird from the left, back row.The only others I can remem-ber are Benny Bennison, sec-ond from left, back row, (hisparents were the licensees ofthe Bath Springs, near theLittle Theatre), and JohnLawless, who lived in the samelocality (third left, front row).

I should like to add thatthe publication of PastForward is one of the bestthings that has happened inWigan in modern times.

Albert Edward Short20 Geldof Drive

Blackpool FY1 2AQ

MYSTERYSOLVED

Dear Mr. Gillies,When I wrote to you asking

for readers of Past Forward tohelp with information aboutthe two photographs of slabsfound dumped in the Wiganarea many years ago (issueno.34 p38) I was confidentthat, our readers and their con-tacts would come good.

Yesterday (18 September) Ireceived a very informative let-

ter from a Mr. Chris Ward ofBlackburn. It seems the coat ofarms is that of our famous‘Man in the Park’ Sir FrancisSharp Powell, and Mr. Wardsuggests the location as theformer Powell Museum,demolished to make way forthe ring road.

I also wonder what hap-pened to a smaller slab show-ing the Moot Hall emblemwhich was built into the gableend of the old porter’s lodge atWigan Infirmary (a picture of itcan be seen in issue 23 p11 ofPast Forward, as part of mystory of “Wigan Infirmary inthe Early Years”). I do know fora fact that it wasn’t preservedby the hospital authorities atthe time.

Don Rayner8 Edale Drive

StandishWigan WN6 0LN

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o?

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as a

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last

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and

part

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scho

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ctiv

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tow

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y Tr

init

y, D

owna

ll G

reen

was

a p

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lose

rin

spec

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in t

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sugg

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it

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som

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hing

at

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how

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,fo

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use

(top

left

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mus

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olog

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to M

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oots

on,

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se

phot

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ho?

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inis

sue

33.

Ref

eren

ce

was

mis

take

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mad

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M

rD

oots

on’s

wid

ow;

how

ever

, I

am d

elig

hted

to

conf

irm

tha

tre

port

s of

his

dea

th,

in t

hew

ords

of

Mar

k T

wai

n, “

have

been

gre

atly

exa

gger

ated

”. M

rD

oots

on i

s, i

n fa

ct,

aliv

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dw

ell,

and

livin

g in

‘gl

orio

usD

evon

’.

As

his

son

wit

tily

rem

arke

d, “

Is

that

our

fath

erw

hich

art

in D

evon

?”If

you

can

ide

ntif

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y of

thi

sis

sue’

s ph

otog

raph

s,

plea

seco

ntac

t L

en H

udso

n in

Lei

ghTo

wn

Hal

l (01

942

4044

32).

Documents

Issue No. 35 November 2003 – March 2004 - Wigan · 2019. 12. 18. · which will make any Christmas tree sparkle. A welcome addition to our choice of Christmas cards this year is