Produced byWigan Museums & Archives Issue No. 68 December 2014-March 2015

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ARCHIVES & MUSEUMS

Contents4-5 Ashton's First World War

'Alien Enemy'

6-7 Memories of Scholes: A Town within a Town

8-9 News from the Archives andLocal Studies

10 Homefront to Battlefront

11 Museum of Wigan Life winsHeritage Lottery Fundsupport

12-13 A Life of Service: WilliamBlackshaw and the LeighSpiritualist Temple

14-15 Back to the Pits: Wigan Colliery in 1923

16-17 Edward Hall –War and Peace

18-19 Egypt Study Day

20-22 Gullick Dobson and theBritish Coal Industry

23 Ellen Weeton

24-25 George Orwell's visit toWigan – Slagged off?

26-27 Giving Nature a Hand:Maternity Care in Leigh1902-1931

28-29 Using Electorical Registersfor your Research

30-32 The Old Police Station,Leigh – Memories of the Weights and Measures Service

33 Your Letters

34 Society News

35 Events Calendar

32

FRONT COVER 18th Dynasty Egyptian, gildedcoffin face, 1550-1292 BC.Part of the Sir John ScottEgyptology collection, donated toWigan Museums service in 1924 bySir Leslie Scott. Sir John Scott, wasborn in Wigan in 1841.

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PAST FORWARDSubscription Form

Copy Deadline for Issue 69Contributors please note the deadline for the

receipt of material for publication is Sunday, 1 March 2015.

Information for contributors, please see page 22

Letterfrom the

Editorial Team

Welcome to PAST Forward Issue 68.After our special commemorative issue, we’re back to the normal collection of varied and fascinating articles about allaspects of the Borough’s local history.

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Past Forward EssayCompetition, kindly sponsored by Mr and Mrs John O’Neill and theWigan Borough Environment and Heritage Network. The entriesreceived were of the usual high standard and we would like to thankeveryone who contributed an article.

The winners were announced at the Environment and HeritageNetwork annual prize giving and are:

1st Place: Anthony Pilgrim; 2nd Place (joint): Thomas McGrath; 2nd Place (joint): Alf Ridyard; 3rd Place: Tom Walsh.

You will find the first and third placed articles published for yourenjoyment in this edition; the joint second placed articles will appear inIssue 69 in April.

Elsewhere in the magazine you will find some details of our successfuljoint event with the Wigan Horus Egyptology Society to celebrate andraise funds for work on the Museum’s Egyptology Collection, areappraisal of George Orwell’s visit in the 1920s, an examination of thehistory of Gullick Dobson in Wigan and fond memories of life inweights and measures in Leigh.

We hope you will find much to enjoy – and remember that a PastForward subscription makes a wonderful gift for Christmas for thosedifficult-to-by-for friends and family members!

So on that note, Merry Christmas from everyone at the Archives and Museum!

We’re delighted to be able to welcome Becky Farmer to the Archives and Museums teams.

Becky is joining us as our new Digital Archives Trainee, and will beworking with us for the next year, part time at the Archives and parttime at Archives+ in Manchester. Becky’s post was created as part of athree year programme administered by The National Archives andfunded by the Heritage Lottery Fund’s, Skills for the Future scheme.

This unique project gives people the skills they need for future careersin archives, and aims to open up the profession to wider audiences.The programme has created 12 traineeships at archives around thecountry, including in Wigan. It will offer trainees the opportunity todevelop practical archiving skills focused on areas such as communityengagement, collections development, online interpretation and digital preservation.

Becky’s role will involve working with digital collections held by theArchives & Local Studies – both those born digital records and thosethat we have digitised from paper records. She will be running oursocial media pages, working on our First World War digitisation projectand tackling the catalogues of some of our hybrid paper-digital recordcollections. Becky’s background is in biology and nature photographyand she has a wealth of new skills to bring to the service; we lookforward to working with her over the next year.

Becky Farmer, Digital Archives Trainee

NEW ADDITION TO THE ARCHIVES & MUSEUMS TEAM

54

August Reiss was born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in 1877.At 14 he moved to England andbegan working at his brother'spork butcher's shop in Crewe. In1907 he married Rose Heinold andin 1908 secured his own premisesat 59 Gerard Street, Ashton-in-Makerfield. Council minutesconfirm the award of a,'certificate... for the use andoccupation of a slaughterhouse' atthat address on 19 November. Thecouple settled in above the shop,and became popular with theirneighbours and fellow-worshippers at St Thomas' Church.The business thrived.

By 1914, Britain had about 50,000German-born residents. Many, likethe Reiss family, had migrated foreconomic reasons in thenineteenth century, establishingcommunities in Liverpool,Manchester and elsewhere. Theinternment of those deemed 'alienenemies' began immediatelyfollowing the outbreak of war.Among the first to be detained,August Reiss was taken to adisused factory in Lancaster andkept there for five months. His staycoincided with that of RobertGraves, captain of a detachmentof Welsh Fusiliers, sent to guardthe internees. Graves laterremembered the camp as, 'a dirty,draughty place, littered with oldscrap metal and guarded by highbarbed-wire fences'. He wrote:'About three thousand prisoners

had already arrived there, andmore and more crowded in everyday: seamen arrested on Germanvessels in Liverpool harbour,waiters from large hotels in theNorth, an odd German band ortwo, harmless German commercialtravellers and shopkeepers. Theprisoners resented being interned,particularly family men who hadlived in peace in England for manyyears... But after a while [they]settled down to sullen docility,starting hobbies, glee parties,games and plans for escape.'

The criteria for internmentchanged as the war progressed.Security considerations, publicopinion and detention capacity allplayed a part in shaping the policy.By autumn 1914 the camps werefull and a risk-based approach was

adopted. Lord Lucas toldParliament: 'When the question of the releaseof any particular individual hasbeen raised inquiry is made by thePolice, and if the Police report doesnot show that the individual iseither dangerous or destitute, thequestion of his release isconsidered by the Home Officeand... War Office in conjunction'.3000 internees were released onthis basis between November 1914and February 1915, among themAugust Reiss.

When it emerged that severalprominent Ashtonians − includingthe town clerk and vicar − hadsigned a petition calling forAugust's release, there wasoutrage in the town. Rev. Pollock-Hill felt obliged to write to the

papers, defending himself against'attack... malice and personalabuse'. Another petitioncirculated, calling for a publicmeeting on the issue.

In fact, two meetings were heldon 8 February 1915. The first, aspecial meeting of the Council,considered a resolution ofCouncillor E. Walkden, 'That thisCouncil places on record its strongdisapproval of the action of itsClerk, Mr Albert Sykes, in signing atestimonial to the Home Officepraying for the release frominternment of an alien enemy whoresided in this township'. MrSykes said he had signed in aprivate capacity and because heconsidered it the right thing to doas a Christian. Councillor Walkdenthought this explanation 'more aninsult than anything else', buthaving made his own positionclear, agreed to withdraw. A'Citizens' Meeting' then followed atAshton library. August Reiss'doctor said he had signed theoriginal petition because, 'Reisswas suffering from a weak heart,and he (Dr Jones) thought that ifhe was interned it would probablyinjure him for the remainder of hislife'. Another speaker commented− incautiously, perhaps, given themood of the meeting − that theKing himself was of foreignextraction. He too appealed for'Christian tolerance'. However,

these voices were drowned out byothers calling for August Reiss' re-internment. After 45 minutes of'vigorous speeches on both sides',the following resolution was'carried by a large majority':

'We, the citizens of Ashton-in-Makerfield, enter our strongprotest against the action of thefew townspeople who signed amemorial which was despatchedto the Home Secretary praying forthe release of an alien enemy,August Reiss, and we petition theHome Secretary to reconsider hisdecision and re-intern the saidAugust Reiss'.

Despite extensive searching I havebeen unable to discover AugustReiss' ultimate fate. A brief surveyof the subsequent social, politicaland legal developments may allowus to speculate about this. Anti-German sentiment had alreadyspilled over into violence inOctober 1914, when attacks weremade on the shop belonging toAugust's brother-in-law and otherGerman businesses in Crewe.Serious rioting, involving manythousands of people, broke out inLiverpool following the sinking ofthe passenger ship Lusitania by aGerman torpedo on 7 May 1915.This quickly spread to other places,the shop belonging to August'sbrother Charles in Earlestownbeing the target of rioting there.

On 13 May the Prime Ministerannounced that all adult Germanmen 'should, for their own safety,and that of the community, besegregated and interned, or, if overmilitary age, repatriated'. By 1918,over 24,000 had been interned,most at Knockaloe on the Isle ofMan. Repatriations reduced thetotal German-born population toabout 22,000 by 1919. Withregard to property, the Tradingwith the Enemy (Amendment) Act1916 enabled the Government toclose any business 'carried onwholly or mainly for the benefit ofor under the control of enemysubjects'. Assets could be sold andthe proceeds held in trust by aPublic Custodian.

What is clear in regard to AugustReiss is that, already by September1915, a 'Mr Francis Webster (porkbutcher)' was in occupation at 59Gerard St and was applying in hisown right for a slaughterhouselicence. He was still there when theSeed's Wigan & District Directoryfor 1925-1926 was compiled.

Note On SourcesPanikos Panayi, Professor of EuropeanHistory at De Montfort University,Leicester, has written extensively onthe experience of Germans in Britain around the time of the First World War. I consulted several ofhis books and articles for backgroundinformation, in particular 'The Lancashire Anti-German Riots ofMay 1915' (Manchester RegionHistory Review, 1988/9) and 'Enemy inOur Midst: Germans in Britain duringthe First World War' (Berg, 1991).Information about the Reiss familywas found in the Ashton-in-Makerfield UDC Minute Books (Wigan Archives, ref. UD Ash/A/A1),RootsChat.com, various tradedirectories and back issues of The Wigan Observer & DistrictAdvertiser, The Wigan Examiner, The Newton & Earlestown Guardianand The Amsterdam EveningRecorder. Robert Graves' descriptionof the internment camp at Lancasteris from his autobiography 'GoodbyeTo All That' (Jonathan Cape, 1929). A visit to Lancaster City Museum wasalso instructive.

Ashton's First World War

'Alien Enemy'BY ANTHONY PILGRIM

Gerrard Street, Ashton-in-Makerfield, circa 1920.

Wigan Observer & District Advertiser, 9 February 1915

seemed a more tempting prospect to most. Similarlymany of these had colloquial names − the two mostfamous, the Dust Hole (Rose and Crown), thisestablishment was reputed to sell the best pint in thedistrict and was one of the last ale houses, and theKill and Cure (the Regent), the latter because it wasnear to Dr Hoey's surgery.

Whilst times were difficult for many the feeling ofcommunity was tangible. Even though manystruggled and had little for themselves they wouldshare what they had. Anyone without family who fellill would be cared for in the neighbourhood. Peoplecould leave the doors unlocked; in my Mother's caseshe would leave the rent on the sideboard forcollection. I never heard of a house being burgled.When recounting this fact the reply often comesback, 'there was nothing to steal'. On the contrary,every house had a gas meter full of money − talkingof which, after the gasman had emptied the meterand left the rebate there was usually spare money inthe parish and children armed with shillingsbombarded the local sweetshops. If we ever put afoot out of line, there were no need for ASBOS as 'I'll tell your mother', or the even more potent 'I'llbring Farther Lappin' − the respected parish priest ofSt Patrick's − was enough to bring the most unrulyyouths back to the straight and narrow.

The overwhelming majority of houses were very wellkept. Women would mop the step daily and woebetide anyone who walked on their newly cleanedlabours. Monday was washing day. Few had washingmachines; dolly tubs and rubbing boards were theorder of the day. It was said that there was arainbow over Scholes on Mondays! There was greatexcitement when the first launderette opened. It washalf a crown for a 9lb wash. The price alas put it out of the reach of many families − the cost of thewash would have bought fish and chips twice in theearly 1950s!

Every day was a different task − washing, bedrooms,baking, another day and so forth. Thursday in ourhouse was the day Mother would black lead theYorkshire Range. I remember the cleaning agentsZebo and Brasso, each with its own distinct smell. On another day out came the Mansion polish for useon our on well cared for furniture.

From early on I was aware that people not from thearea looked on Scholes with some misgivings, to saythe least. They were not aware of the warmth andhonesty of its populous, believing the many negative

comments made by commentators who had nevervisited the locality. Some choose to concentrate onthe less pleasant aspects. George Orwell's book, 'The Road to Wigan Pier', certainly didn't do anyfavours for Wigan as a town and the township ofScholes in particular. It was generally agreed inScholes that Orwell, who claimed to be a socialist,was a charlatan who used his so called socialism as away of easing his conscience. Could someone whoattended Eton (scholarship boy or not) possibly havethe slightest empathy with the beleaguered workingclass of the 1930s?

Orwell's demeaning comments prove that he didn't.He sought out the poorest-of-the-poor, to suit hisown agenda. In the book, he says, 'If there is oneman to whom I feel inferior to it is the coal miner';that sentence ought to have 'stuck in his craw'. Theytrusted him, he betrayed their trust, for profit andself promotion. In afterlife he may feel he owesWigan an apology.

I am proud of my background, and wouldn't wish to have been reared anywhere other than mybeloved and much maligned Scholes of yesteryear.Maybe you had to be born within the sound of St Catherine's or St Patrick's bells to fully appreciatethe wonderful atmosphere and sheer goodness ofthe people who lived and worked there. I am oftenaccused of looking back with rose tinted spectacles. I suppose there is an element truth in that, butbetter that than looking back in anger.

6 7

Memories of Scholes:A Town within a Town

BY TOM WALSH

I have very fond memories of Scholes. Born inMcCormick Street, named after the second parish priest of St Patrick's, this in itself made mepart of the history of the township. I describe the area as a township because that was what itwas, a separate community in every sense. Peoplehad a feeling of belonging to Scholes first, andWigan second.

The majority of men were miners, many womenworked in the cotton factories both in Wigan andfurther afield, travelling to local towns by coach,putting hours on to the working day because thepay was slightly better. I remember hearing theknocker up rousing households and not leavinguntil a response was forthcoming. The lady whofilled that role in the streets surrounding myhome was Agnes Wynn and she charged a shilling a week. Agnes lived locally and because of her job, went to bed early; children wereinstructed not play near her house, she neededher sleep. If she overslept half the parish wouldmiss a day's work!

Scholes itself had shops of every sort, so much sothat many older people would rarely visit Wigantown centre as almost everything could be sourcedlocally, from ladies fashions − Vi Almonds − tomotor bikes − Millers − we had two cinemas,countless public houses and grocers, a Chineselaundry and a myriad other businesses. Locals saythat if they had put a roof over the street in itsheyday, it would have been the first Trafford Centre!

Many shops had nicknames, 'Pie Joe's', being one. It's a wonder he didn't go bankrupt; I remembergoing there, sent by neighbours for a meat pie, theywould send a large jug with the instruction to fill itwith gravy, free in those days. I think the surplus wasfor use on the Sunday dinner! Another amusingname was, 'Polly do out', a clogger, it was said shecould put a clog iron on a bladder without burstingit! One of the less hygienic shops often had a cat sat on a flitch of bacon. Needless to say mosthousewives avoided that shop's delights. Scholeseven had a temperance bar, though fair to say itwasn't the most frequented of venues. Public houses

Aerial view of Wigan and Scholes, showing Central Park, theRiver Douglas and Derby House, flats built in the

redevelopment of the Scholes area. The cross-road at bottomof the image is the meeting point of Millgate, School Lane and

Scholes Road going through to Whelley.

Interior of John Gee and Sons, Grocers, at 239 Scholes, Wigan.Stanley Ashall (owner) is in the centre, c. 1950.

98

NEWS FROM THE ARCHIVES& LOCAL STUDIES WORLD WAR 1 CENTENARY ART PROJECT

The focus at the Archives and Local Studies isstill very much on the First World War.Volunteers at all the venues are to be thankedfor their hard work in compiling the full List ofthe Fallen that we hope to release early nextyear, together with our updated Wigan ImagesOnline website.

The major news from the Archives & LocalStudies is that all of our Wigan and district parishregisters have now gone online on Ancestry. This is the culmination of a long project todigitise and transcribe all these records, datingfrom 1580 and including more than 600,000entries. The records digitised are those for whomthe Archives hold original registers as a DiocesanRecords Office for the Diocese of Liverpool. Thisincludes Church of England Churches in Abram,Ashton, Aspull, Bickershaw, Billinge, Golborne,Haigh, Hindley, Ince, Lowton, Pemberton, PlattBridge and Wigan.

We hope these are an invaluable new resourcefor family historians – and remember that ifyou do not have an Ancestry subscription, youcan access all these records online and free ofcharge at Wigan Local Studies and Leigh LocalStudies, and make use of the expert advice ofstaff whilst you are there!

Page from the Wigan Registers, now online withAncestry.co.uk

Recent Acquisitions & Accessions

Wigan Archives

• Records concerning Wigan Waterworks and Makerfield Water Board, 1897-1972(Acc. 2014/61)

• Gerrard & Green, hosiery manufacturers,Hindley, 1909-1916 (Acc. 2014/70)

• Martha Hogg Collection, midwife, councillorand magistrate (Acc. 2014/71)

• Beech Hill Library, records, 1961-1986 (Acc. 2014/74)

• Wigan Mechanics Institute, records, 1838-1880 (Acc. 2014/77)

• St. John’s, Abram, parish records, additionaldeposit (DP/1)

• Wigan Council Public Relations andMarketing Photographic Collection, 2000-2013 (Acc. 2014/79)

• Edna Stephenson Photographic Collection,of Wigan, Orrell and Haigh, and Wigan Girls’ High School (Acc. 2014/80)

Wigan Local Studies

• Catholic Directories, 1826-1903 (incomplete)

• Irish Catholic Directory, 1893

• St John’s RC Church, Wigan, Registers onmicrofilm, Baptisms, June 1870 – December1940; Marriages, January 1865 – December 1940

• Lancashire Parish Register Society, Volume180, The Registers of Horwich Chapel, 1660-1843

News from Mindart about a First World Warinspired installation

The community art groupMindart worked with artists from Redfolio to create the installationinspired by research into the First World War.

The group visited theBorough Archives and looked at original warrecords, including personaldiaries and letters, handdrawn maps andphotographs. Art sessionsdeveloped skills usingcreative discussion, printmaking, calligraphy andcreative writing.

The final installation is displayed in an old handmadecarpentry box which works as a backdrop for theideas explored by the group. Maps and fragments ofpoems have been rolled and tied and stand upright toreflect the idea of looking down the barrel of a gun,but the words and images within the rolls areprecious and represent the unspoken feelings of themen in the trenches.

The simple string used to contain the paper rollsreminds us of the makeshift way that boundaries areformed during wartime, as well as the way thatindividuals make temporary homes in a hostileenvironment. A recreated love letter to a sweetheart back home has also been included in thebox, as well as a hand-bound book of printed imagesand hand-printed crosses depicting casualties andwar-dead.

The members of Mindart who took part in this artproject are: Linda, Lyn, Tricia, Karl, Seiriea, Mark, Paul,Philip, Dianne, Keith, Clive, Heather, David, Colin.

Mindart meets weekly for creative sessions at The Turnpike Gallery Studio Space in Leigh. The group provides peer support for adults who have experienced mental health issues and making art helps the participants to maintain their wellbeingand happiness.

The YoungSoldierTo take a boy from all he knowsAnd send him to a field of woesFar away on foreign shoresIn combat with aggressive foes

He lies in trenches that run with bloodTo cope with flies and rats and mudThe mortars explode and all aroundHis fallen comrades make no sound

There’s barbed wire on the crest aboveIn no mans land, the next big shoveKeep your head down, shield that lightThe sniper waits to glimpse a sight

Thoughts of home run through his mindOf loved ones that he’s left behindThey knit him socks and send suppliesIn every parcel a small surprise

He reads about the rationingThe zeppelins, the blackout ruleThe letters try to play them downBut he knows better, he’s no fool

The fear returns, it makes him wonderIf the next big push is where he’ll go underThe panic rises, a tangible fearWill he see them again? Will he feel them near?

He wonders why, if there’s a god aboveHe allows the carnage, in place of loveFor a fellow man, any race or creedThat’s the evil that this war’s decreed

He stiffens his shoulders and straightens his spineTomorrow it’s his turn to hold the lineHe hopes when it’s over, mankind will learnThat it’s love that’s important and let peace return

Commemorative poem, by Mindart member, Linda Boylan

The installation byMindart, on display at

Leigh Library

1110

This year marks the centenary of the beginning of theFirst World War and a new exhibition at the Museumof Wigan Life commemorates this terrible event.

With many people expecting it to be ‘over byChristmas’, the conflict had a devastating affect onWigan Borough with thousands of men serving on theWestern Front, Gallipoli or further afield. Men from allwalks of life signed up to fight, from cotton workersto the 27th Earl of Crawford. Sadly, many neverreturned. Local men often served in the 1/5thBattalion of the Manchester Regiment or the 1stBattalion Lancashire Fusiliers and were encouraged tosign up with friends or colleagues into the famous‘Pals’ Battalions.

It was the first war to be fought on an industrial scaleand men battled conditions, illness and fatigue as wellas the enemy to stay alive. Terrible losses saw over600 Lancashire Fusiliers killed on the first day of theGallipoli landings (1915) and over 100 local mendying during the Battle of the Somme (1916). Womenvolunteered as nurses and for war work. More than3800 local men and women were killed.

The war was not only fought on the battlefield. It alsohad a huge impact on those left behind. Womenbecame skilled in munitions and other roles and the

war came first hand to the Borough with the arrival ofBelgian refugees, a Prisoner of War camp in Leigh andthe Zeppelin raid over Scholes.

The commemorative exhibition at the Museum ofWigan Life explores how the war affected every aspectof local life. Visitors can learn about the bravery oflocal men and the struggle faced by those at home.They can also discover how grand houses such asHaigh Hall were used as hospitals and convalescenthomes and about sportsmen who went to war.

Highlights include William Kenealy’s Victoria Cross,one of the famous ‘six before breakfast’ awarded for bravery at Gallipoli, which is on display until 10 January 2015. There are also papers fromconscientious objector Arthur Turtle and LordCrawford’s original war diary. There is a prostheticarm belonging to local soldier Robert Marsh as well asmedals, trench art, a wooden grave cross, a Germanpickelhaube helmet and trench dagger.

For schools and families there is an interactive trenchwith a tunnel, war sounds and real objects. There isalso original footage of the Battle of the Somme andGerman Prisoners of War marching through thestreets of Leigh. A special ‘Our Borough, Our Story’oral and video history project funded by WiganCouncil’s First World War Fund features local residentssharing stories of their ancestor’s wartime experiencesat home and abroad. Many of these stories will beavailable online soon.

The Museum’s collections will also be on display atlibraries throughout the Borough during the centenaryas part of the ‘Moving Histories’ project funded byWigan Council.

‘Home Front to Battle Front – Wigan Borough at War1914-1918’ is a free exhibition and suitable for ages.Current – 28 March 2015. To bring your school, booka group or find out about accompanying eventsplease call 01942 828128 or visit our website.

By Joan Livesey, Exhibitions & Display Officer at the Museumof Wigan Life

WIGAN BOROUGH AT WAR, 1914-1918

Home Front to Battle Front

Museum ofWigan Lifewins HeritageLottery Fund supportThe Museum of Wigan Life team are very excited toannounce that a new project working with youngpeople at the Museum has received £37,200 from theHeritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The project will engagechildren and teenagers with Wigan Borough’s richand varied history through the Museum’s collections,in particular the pottery collection. The project willculminate in a temporary exhibition at the Museumin 2015 and a subsequent touring exhibition that willtravel around the Borough.

A Potter’s Tale: Everyday Wigan life told throughfragments of history will give young people fromWigan Youth Zone the opportunity to develop atemporary exhibition using Museum collections.Participants will be supported in handling Museumobjects from Roman pottery to twentieth centuryceramics. The Museum has a range of pottery itemsmarking the history of the Borough from the 5000year old Ur Pottery brought here from modern-dayIraq to the 2000 year old Roman tiles made in thearea. The collection contains a range of Romanarchaeological items imported from elsewhere inthe Roman Empire and found in the area. Theseinclude Black Burnish ware from Dorset, glossy redSamian ware from Gaul (France), Amphora whichwould have contained wine, fish sauce and food,Mortaria used to break down herbs/wheat forcooking and the handheld Roman lamps which aresuch common finds throughout the Roman Empire.Digs around Wigan town centre have also revealedsamples of medieval and early modern pottery.

Alongside collection-handling and historicalresearch, the young people will learn key skillsaround project management, marketing andcurating as part of the project. They will recordtheir experiences of the project on a special digitaltable which will form part of the exhibition and willbe a legacy following the project. Working togetherwith Museum staff and an external designer, thegroup will shape the content, look and feel of aprofessional exhibition.

The Potter’s Tale (working title) exhibition willopen after the existing ‘Home Front to Battle Front– Wigan Borough at War 1914-18’ exhibitioncloses in March 2015. Alongside Wigan YouthZone the Museum will work in partnership withCraftWorks in Standish and Creativity for ChangeCIC. Working with CraftWorks, young people willdevelop pottery pieces that tell the story of ourBorough and mark the history of ceramics in theBorough from Roman Coccium through to moderntechniques. The new artworks will help paint apicture of domestic, working and daily life in thepast and today – whether it be watching a rugbymatch, working in industry or spending time inone of the parks. The young people will selectitems that they feel best illustrate this side ofWigan’s past, helping to tell their own story andreflecting on more recent history.

This is a fabulous opportunity to get more youngpeople involved in their heritage and we hope tocreate a ‘Young Ambassadors’ team after theproject who can help work with the Museum inthe future. Other legacy aspects of the projectfunding include the digital table and a high qualityMuseum case which will continue to makeMuseum collections more accessible long after theproject finishes.

The funding has been granted under the HLF’sYoung Roots programme, which supports projectsthat engage young people, aged 11 to 25, withheritage in the UK. The Potters Tale (working title)will run from April – June 2015. For moreinformation about this project please contact theMuseum on 01942 828128 or email:wiganmuseum@wigan.gov.uk

1312

He moved from Wigan to Atherton at the age of20, but lived in Leigh for over 40 years. It is notclear at what age he became a Spiritualist. Whatis clear though, is that having decided to changehis religion, he went all the way in his endeavourson behalf of Spiritualism. It is a matter of recordthat the Spiritualist movement in Leigh, under hisleadership, was one of the forerunners ofSpiritualism in this country.

Leigh Temple was opened in 1914 − 2014 is itsCentenary year − and William Blackshaw wasvery much involved in the movement and inraising funds to build the Temple.

His religion was the mainspring of his life, and hewas an indefatigable worker in the cause. In1914, although many others were also involved,Mr Blackshaw was primarily responsible for theerection and opening of the Temple. He wasPresident from then to the day of his passing – a total of thirty years.

He was well known in the town and during thespring and summer months, would always weara straw hat. A great advocate of physical fitness,he believed that the mind could only functionproperly in a healthy body. He was a popularfigure in Leigh, particularly in the working-classhomes which he visited in the course of his work.He had a cheery word and a happy smile foreveryone he met. “Be happy”, was his motto andhe referred to it frequently in public speeches.

His funeral service was held in the Temple,attended by family members and friends. Mr TomGregory of Leigh conducted the service andprayers were offered up by Mr Tom Connor ofBolton, who also gave the address. He spoke ofthe affection they all had for AldermanBlackshaw, whom they regarded as, ‘PaBlackshaw’ and spoke of him as the leader ofmodern Spiritualism in Leigh. He praised WilliamBlackshaw's great services to the town asCouncillor and Mayor, finally speaking of the fineexample he showed throughout his life and thehelp he had given to others.

The hymns were, ‘How pure in heart’, andAlderman Blackshaw’s favourite, ‘Abide with me’,played by the organist, Mrs Hainsley.

Simultaneously with the Funeral Service, aMemorial Service was held at Leigh ParishChurch, attended by the Mayor, members of theCouncil and officials and representatives of publicbodies. The service in the Parish Church wasconducted by the Rev. J. E. Low, with the addressbeing given by Canon L. Spencer Murdoch, RuralDean. Other clergy attending represented BedfordChurch and XII Apostles Church.

When the cortege left the Spiritualist Temple,they were joined by the congregation from theParish Church, and the entire group proceededtogether to Leigh Cemetery.

On the day of the Funeral, at the Leigh BoroughCourt, many kind tributes were paid to MrBlackshaw, noting his devotion to any duties heundertook and how his loss would be felt by allwho knew him. They could always rely on himbeing fair, an extremely able magistrate and avery kindly man.

At the meeting of the Town Council a resolutionwas moved deploring the death of AldermanBlackshaw, placing on record an expression ofappreciation of the valuable services rendered byhim as a member of the Council and tenderingtheir sincere sympathy and condolence to hiswidow and family in their bereavement. It wasvery rarely that he ever gave offence to anymember and carried out splendid work whilstserving on various committees. His work foreducation would always be remembered. Thetributes were many and given with affection,recognizing the many qualities of this kind man.The staunch support he had from his wife wasalso acknowledged.

'Leigh Spiritualist Temple - A History', byJoyce Hayes, is now available. Pleasecontact the Editor for further details.

William Blackshaw was born in Wigan in 1870and passed away in 1944 at the age of 74years. Although he was a most importantfigure in the history of Leigh Spiritualist Templein particular and of Spiritualism in general, hewas in fact brought up as a Wesleyan andtrained as a local preacher. He was elected tothe Leigh Town Council in 1924, asrepresentative for St Paul’s Ward and threemonths before his passing was electedAlderman following the passing of Alderman JL Prescott.

A man very interested in the welfare ofchildren, he was associated with the LeighChildren’s Holiday Camp, providing holidays forchildren of poorer families in the borough. Hewas naturally on the Education Committee (asVice-Chairman) and was Chairman of theEducation Finance Committee and theElectricity Committee. During the Second WorldWar he served on the Food Control Committee.He was also on the Leigh Area AssessmentCommittee and Leigh and Atherton JointSewage Board.

Leigh Grammar School and the Leigh Girls’Grammar School were each fortunate to havehim on their board of governors, and at onetime he held office as Chairman of bothboards. Education was always of great interestto Mr Blackshaw and for several years he was

manager of King Street Methodist School andWindermere Road Council Infants’ School inthe town centre. He was also an activesupporter of Leigh Infirmary and LeighSwimming Club.

In 1926, this already busy man was appointedone of Leigh’s representatives on theLancashire County Council, holding office untilMarch 1940, when he retired. Retirement isperhaps not the correct word, for it was thenthat he was appointed a Borough Magistrate.

In 1935, he and his wife were made Mayor andMayoress of Leigh. The Mayor was wellrespected in the town and known to be eventempered and seldom ruffled. Needless to say,during his term of office, Mr Blackshaw wasstill very active as President of Leigh Temple. Hisfavourite hymns were 'Abide with Me' and'Onward Christian Soldiers'.

By Joyce Hayes

A Life ofService:William Blackshaw and the LeighSpiritualist Temple

William Blackshaw, J.P., 1870-1944, President and FounderMember of Leigh Spiritualist Temple

Back to the Pits

Wigan Colleriesin 1923 Part Two

Two big companies dominated the pits around Abram,Platt Bridge and Bamfurlong. The Moss Hall CoalCompany was part of Pearson & Knowles, theWarrington company which merged with Wigan Coal &Iron in 1930. They owned pits at Low Hall and Maypoleand controlled Wigan Junction Colliery nearby, with acombined labour force of 2,931.

Cross Tetley & Company owned Bamfurlong and Mainscollieries. For about 40 years, Bamfurlong was a largeand productive pit and it still employed 1,424 in 1923,while the same company’s Mains Colliery had 1,081 onthe books.

By the early 1930s, all the above pits had fallen into thehands of the Wigan Coal Corporation.

The area around Amberswood Common was workedfor coal in the 1840s but the pits did not last long.New, deeper, pits were sunk in the area, mainly byCrompton & Shawcross and their unusually namedStrangeways Hall Colliery was still active with 887 men,while their Grange pits employed 467. Cromptons soldout to J. E. Rayner, but the pits were closed before theSecond World War.

We’re approaching Ince now. A look at Victorian mapsof Ince shows a complex, tangled web of collieries,works, railways and canals – one of the most denselypacked industrial areas in the country. Only one smallpit now bore the name Ince Hall; sixty years earlier therewere Ince Hall collieries all over the place! Mining wasfar from finished though as the large complex ofpithead gear at Moss Colliery testified. Moss had sixactive shafts and employed no less than 2,402 men. Italso became one of the Wigan Coal Corporation’sproperties in 1930.

Stretching away from Moss towards Ashton was a lunarlandscape of dirt heaps, smoking chimneys and collierybuildings. When the collieries eventually closed, thewhole area lay derelict for a few years. Wanderingaround in my early teens, I was dumbstruck by it all.Nearest to Ince was Brynn Hall colliery (note the double'nn' in Bryn). The epitome of a scruffy colliery, Brynn Hallemployed 616 in 1923, but its neighbours were on alarger scale. Garswood Hall had grown and spread out.Its Number Nine shaft was a long way from the mainsite which itself had five working shafts. Altogether, thesprawling complex employed 2,912, more than anysingle-site colliery in the Wigan area. It was owned byGarswood Hall Collieries and, not far away, the rivalGarswood Coal & Iron Company had their Long LaneColliery. This pit was largely unknown to people outsideBryn and Ashton, but it was a major contender with1,653 men on the books.

Beyond Bryn, the next railway station is Garswood, thenhome to Park Colliery, owned by J. & R. Stone right up tonationalisation. Not far away is Haydock, which was theepicentre of Richard Evans mining empire. Evans’ Haydockpits comprised Old Boston, Lyme and Wood (then calledNewton). The employment figures for Lyme are muddled

Ted McAvoy continues his examination of thecollieries in the Wigan area in the early 1920s;see Past Forward Issue 66 for Part 1.

by the inclusion of hundreds of men who worked inEvan’s extensive Haydock workshops, but the Haydockgroup still had over 2,500 miners, as well as satellitecollieries at Edge Green and at Golborne. The latter wasvery successful and didn’t finally close until 1989.

Heading back towards Wigan, there was a once verylarge pit between Bryn and Goose Green. This wasPark Lane, whose glory days were in the past, thoughit still employed 1,273 and would survive into the late1950s. In the late nineteenth century, mining engineersand mining journalists were keen to visit Park Lanebecause of its size and reputation. Only a mile or sofrom Goose Green was another colliery every bit asrenowned – Pemberton Colliery – which had minedclose on 750,000 tons a year in its prime. In 1923,2,392 miners made their way up Pemberton's streetsto the pit. My grandmother remembered the earlymorning noise of hundreds of pairs of clogs and bootsup Victoria Street. From the late 1920s, it rapidlydeclined as the workable seams were exhausted butthe site remained largely unchanged in 1970, twentyfour years after the colliery closed.

Heading from the Pemberton site towards Winstanleywe could have found the last vestige of the Winstanleycollieries, owned for generations by the Bankes family ofWinstanley Hall. Theirs was the colliery railway whichran all the way down to Wigan Pier! Leyland Green wastheir last pit and when it closed in 1927, 206 minershad to find work elsewhere. North of Pemberton wasanother rarely-photographed pit – Worsley Mesnes, with906 men. Latterly, it was owned by the company which

owned Winstanley Collieries and it was to close verysoon after Leyland Green. The Wigan Pier railway, whichthey shared, was ripped up soon afterwards.

To tidy things up, we need to travel from Winstanleythrough Upholland again to Skelmersdale andBickerstaffe. Bickerstaffe had two sizeable collieries –Bickerstaffe and Blaguegate, with 1,133 men betweenthem. Skelmersdale had a history of marginal pits andthis was still the case in 1923, but the clock was tickingand large scale mining here would be finished beforethe Second World War. The White Moss Coal Company’spits at White Moss Arley & Park Number Two were thelast sizeable pits in Skelmersdale, still with 482 menbetween them.

Excluding the little drift mines and pits mentioned inPart 1, just under Forty Seven Thousand peopleworked in our Wigan collieries in 1923 and even thatfigure fails to tell the whole story. Hundreds of localmen worked on the intricate web of main line railwaysserving the pits. Hundreds more worked at WalkerBrothers, John Wood, Clarington Forge, Pepper MillFoundry and other firms whose engineering businessdepended on the mines. Many thousands of tons oftimber were imported, stockpiled and sawn for useunderground. Horses and carts and a few ex-wartimelorries delivered coal to tens of thousands of houses. J.H. Naylor churned out miner’s lamps... and the list ofancillary businesses could go on and on. If you livedanywhere round Wigan in 1923, the chances were highthat you either worked in the pit or were part of amining family.

By Ted McAvoy

1514

Coal haulage in tubs linked to a rope haulage system, Bamfurlong Colliery, Ashton-in-Makerfield, c. 1920

Fitters and locomotive at Pemberton Colliery, 1924

We continue Bill Melling's examination of the creator ofWigan Archive Service's famous diary collection

After organising the Christmas festivities for 73 Squadron,Edward was granted home leave and was reunited with hisfamily, showering them with gifts and souvenirs. With his pay asan officer, Edward had money in his pocket and was able toreturn to France without any financial worries. For the firstcouple of months after his return things remained quiet. Lifechanged dramatically in April 1940 when the Germans launchedtheir surprise Blitzkrieg through Holland and Belgium.

Caught completely unawares, the Squadron awoke onemorning as their airfield was bombed and strafed by enemyaircraft. The Squadron was in the thick of the fighting.Ground staff fell back and organised makeshift airstrips asthe Germans advanced. In mid-June the French surrendered.Defeat was inevitable and the remaining Hurricanes wereordered to fly back to England. The ground staff wereordered to destroy any equipment that might be of use tothe enemy and make their way independently to the coastand get home as best they could. After destroying the airfieldthey split into small groups, one of which was commandedby Edward, and which he led to theport of La Rochelle. Here he foundtwo small British cargo boats thathad been used for delivering coalfrom South Wales. They were aboutto leave but he managed to get hisparty aboard the S. S. Philip M, alongwith hundreds of other stragglersand refugees. After a slow anduncomfortable voyage theyeventually arrived safely at Newportin South Wales.

The squadron's aircraft had flownback to Church Fenton in Yorkshireand the surviving ground staff madetheir way back there. Some of themhad been lost in the sinking of theLancastria by German bombers, when

over 4000 lives were lost. Unfortunately for Edward, now thatthe squadron was operating from a fighter station as part of alarger group, they no longer required a separate adjutant andso he was out of a job. Fortunately his old Wing Commanderfrom France got him a job as adjutant to the Barrage BalloonCentre in Cardiff. Balloon barrages were a passive form ofdefence designed to force enemy raiders to fly higher, andthus bomb much less accurately. Their HQ was in arequisitioned Hall called Bryneithen. Edward was able to rent anearby cottage and was able to move his family there awayfrom the London blitz. Both Em and the children hated thequiet country life and the heavy bombing of Cardiff in early1941 meant that they were no safer than they were inSurbiton. In May 1941 they returned home leaving Edwardbored and lonely, a state of mind that led him to apply forservice overseas. This resulted in an appointment as PersonnelOfficer to 260 (Balloon) Wing, a group that was being formedto go out to Egypt and act as a central HQ for all the balloonsquadrons in the Eastern Mediterranean sector.

The group sailed from Liverpool on 15 August 1941 on thetroopship Strathnaver, arriving at Suez, via the Cape of GoodHope, on 4 October. Edward kept a detailed diary of the

voyage. The group were based atIsmailia, the main British base on theSuez canal and Edward enjoyed acomfortable time there. In early 1942a fellow officer was going on a tourof inspection of balloon squadrons inPalestine and the Lebanon andEdward took some of his leave toaccompany him on a sightseeing tourthat took in Jerusalem and Beirut.Whilst in Beirut he found out that thesquadron there had a vacancy for anadjutant and he successfully appliedfor the post. Whilst he was there hissightseeing travels ranged from TelAviv to the Turkish border andincluded a visit to Damascus. Whennot travelling around he divided hisleisure time between the Officers

Edward Hall, 'Back from France', 1940

1716

Club and the French Club, but he again became restless andin mid-1942 he applied for and obtained a position at theOperations Research Section at Airstaff HQ in Cairo. Theoffice collected and collated information on RAF operationsin the sector and issued reports on these activities. DuringOctober 1943, following the advance of the 8th Army, thesection moved from Cairo to Tunis. By Christmas 1943,Edward was very depressed. There were problems at homeand he applied for compassionate leave, which after acertificate from Em's doctor, was granted. He left Algiers onthe troopship Ormonde on 13 February 1944, arriving atLiverpool on 18 March 1944.

The Edward Hall who came out of the war was a verydifferent man from the one who was called up in 1939. Hewas financially solvent and his years of service as an officerhad restored his self confidence. After the war he got a jobat the Air Ministry where he remained until he retired. Healso started dealing in ancient manuscripts, at first as a side-line, which by the time he retired he had built up into aprosperous business and one that he enjoyed. In a letter atthe time of his seventieth birthday he said he had achievedhis life's ambition – 'to dabble in manuscripts' – and inanother in March 1969 that 'he had a vast stock of MSS', was'not penniless' and had 'more than enough customers to keephim fully employed'. He owned his house and seems to havebeen comparatively well off financially. He had a number ofcustomers, all dedicated collectors, whose particular interestshe was aware of. He bought old manuscripts wherever hecould and matched them up to the needs of his clients towhom he sent them on a sale or return basis.

A number of his customers were wealthy US collectors withwhom he developed personal as well as businessrelationships and with whom he exchanged visits. In 1947Edward made a gift of 40 manuscript diaries to the WiganLibrary and in succeeding years there were further giftsincluding some of his own diaries and papers. This was toform the basis of the Edward Hall Diary Collection andEdward's portrait hung on the wall of the Archive Service's

first Searchroom in 1974. Edward eventually disposed of hisown collection of ancient manuscripts in 1977 which wasvalued at £8000.

After the war Edward and Em settled in Gravesend. Theirchildren had flown the nest – Joan had married an AmericanOfficer, John Jacob Enders, during the war and lived inAlbuquerque, New Mexico and came to England on visits toher parents who also went over to see her. Their eldest sonJohn, lived in Gravesend and was a pilot guiding ships in andout of the Port of London. Their youngest son qualified as adoctor and became a Consultant, specializing in liver diseasesat a hospital in Exeter. They had numerous grandchildrenwho were frequent visitors.

Throughout the post-war years, Edward appears to havebeen in robust health. He was still cycling at the age of 80.On the other hand, Em was becoming increasingly frail. Shesuffered from arthritis, calcium deficiency, varicose veins inher legs and from the mid 1970s was showing increasingsigns of dementia. She accompanied Edward on a visit to theUSA to visit her daughter in 1973. By the summer of 1976she was increasingly subject to outbursts of anger and withthe onset of winter she was confined to bed with muscularrheumatism and eventually was hospitalized. She came homeagain but now regarded Edward as her worst enemy and inrefusing his help she fell and broke her hip. She was againhospitalized, first at Gravesend then in a nursing home atExeter. She never came home again and ended her days in anursing home in Rochester where Edward visited her everyday. She could converse lucidly but had no idea of what wasgoing on around her. She died in 1979. Edward survived foranother six years, eventually passing away in 1985.

For anyone familiar with the Edward Hall DiaryCollection, we hope you would agree that Edward's collection is a wonderful and permanentreminder of a man who lived life well.

EDWARD HALLWAR AND PEACE

BY BILL MELLING

Bryneithen, HQ

18 19

(now the museum) for local people by his son, Sir Leslie Scott in 1924.

After lunch Dr Stephen Buckleypresented some preliminary resultsfrom chemical analysis of the Wigancollection. Perhaps the most excitingresult so far is that two of theMuseum of Wigan Life’s coffin piecesat least may be a match, meaningwe have the outer coffin face andthe mask from the inner coffin of thesame individual. There were alsointeresting findings regarding wherethe unusual pigments used hadcome from and what this means. The full results will be exploredfurther in our Egyptology exhibition which we are hoping tohold towards the end of 2015following conservation work onsome of the collection.

John Johnson also highlighted theimportance of our fascinatingpredynastic basalt pot. This pot isapproximately 5500 years old and of incredible quality andworkmanship. It is one of the oldestobjects in the museum collection andhand drill marks are clearly visible

upon the inside of the vessel. AsJohn pointed out, at the timeWigan’s fantastic gold mask wascreated, this pot was alreadyapproximately 2500 years old!

The event was attended by 120people and raised over £1000 for thecollection. The worshipful Mayor ofWigan Councillor Phyllis Cullen andher son John were also honouredguests. The museum collectioncontains 38 Egyptian items includingsome of very high quality andinterest. Wigan’s Gold Coffin mask inparticular is extremely rare and maybe only one of 5 known types of thiskind in the World! The Study Daywas part of the museum’s efforts toraise funds to conserve and displaythis unique collection. We are veryexcited to have recently beenawarded £9800 for a high qualitydisplay case from the Headley Trustand will continue to work with theHorus Egyptology Society to raiseawareness of the collection. Watchthis space for further events andfamily activities around the Egyptiansat the museum!

To support the collection or find outmore about the Egyptian collectionplease call 01942 828122 or emailwiganmuseum@wigan.gov.uk. To find out more about the HorusEgyptology Society please call 01253 810104 or 07889 189162.

Special thanks to Joan and JohnJohnson for helping organise theStudy Day.

EGYPT STUDY DAYA Great Success

BY CARRIE GOUGH, COLLECTIONS OFFICERAT THE MUSEUM OF WIGAN LIFE

The Museum of Wigan Life andHorus Egyptology Society held astudy day to raise funds for the re-display and conservation of Wigan’samazing Egyptology collection onSat 8th November. The day featuredtalks by renowned Egyptologist andBBC Egyptology presenter ProfessorJoann Fletcher and BAFTA awardwinning scientist and presenter DrStephen Buckley. Joann and Stephenhave become great supporters ofthe museum’s collection, generouslyrefusing payment for their lecturesand providing free forensic testingof the artefacts. The day also sawpresentations by museum staffLynda Jackson (Community HistoryManager) and Carrie Gough(Collections Officer) along with JohnJohnson (founder of the Horussociety) and Horus members Rachael

Griffith and Hazel McGuiness whohave both worked to interprethieroglyphs in Wigan’s collection.

On display throughout the day wasa selection of ancient Egyptianobjects from the museum’scollection including a yellow femalecoffin (C900BC), possibly belongingto a priestess, a wooden coffin mask(1300-1400BC), Ptar Sokar Osirisstatue (300BC) and a pre-dynasticpot (3500BC) along with other smallvessels and shabti (servant) figures.Rachael and Hazel from Horus hadalso reproduced one of Wigan’scoffin fragments as a fantastic linedrawing depicting how the full sizecoffin would have looked.

After a brief introduction from themuseum team the day began with a

fascinating talk by Prof Fletcherabout famous Archaeologist JohnPendlebury who had family linkswith Wigan and led a fascinating lifebefore being tragically killed as aresult of wounds after he was shotby Nazis in Greece during theSecond World War. Prof Fletcher alsospoke about Wigan’s key Egyptologycollectors, who donated most of theMuseum’s collection – Sir John Scottand Mrs Hopkins. Sir John Scott wasborn in Leigh and was a fascinatingman and humanitarian. He hadimmense goodwill toward the nativepeople of Egypt and revolutionisedthe judicial system during his time asJudicial Advisor to the Khedive in the1890s. His collection of artefacts,which were likely to have been giftspresented to him during his time inEgypt, were left to Wigan Library Preparing the collection for display The mayor, her son, Prof. Fletcher and Dr. Buckley, Horus

founders and Museums staff

Prof. Fletcher and Dr. Buckley studying the Wigan Collection

Affectionately known as 'pointy beardman' this mask may be an inner mask

from our large outer coffin face

2120

For a period of nearly 30 yearsfrom the early 1960s until about1990 Gullick Dobson Ltd. wasthe major employer in the townand by far the largestengineering company in thewider Wigan district. Throughthe pay packets of its 2000 plusemployees and the business itplaced with scores of sub-contractors and service providersit injected millions of poundseach year into the town’seconomy. Through its associatecompany H. Cotterill Ltd. itemployed a further 600 peopleat various other locations,including a plant at Haydock,manufacturing steel fabricationsand precision components for itsassembly line. Now a namealmost forgotten, Gullicksurvives in Wigan as a mereshadow of its former self in theform of Joy Global UK Ltd., itsinternational successor. Based atSeaman Way, Ince, Joy Global isa subsidiary company of its USAnamesake, a massiveinternational organisation withan unrivalled reputation for theexcellence of its miningequipment. Alas, all that exists inWigan today is the successordesign team of the formerGullick Dobson company andsome administrative activities.

Gullick Dobson, better knownsimply as Gullick to local folk,made its name and fortune asthe biggest supplier to the UKcoal industry of self advancingroof supports or chocks,commonly known as 'walking pitprops'. It was a productinvented, developed, andmanufactured in Wigan, fromwhere most of the coal mines inthe country were initiallyequipped. After the very early days of development and

considerable collaborativesupport of the National CoalBoard, the company pioneeredits product concept in othermajor coal producing countriesof the world and establishedimportant future overseasmarkets. Its original inventionstill forms the 'spine' of thehighly automated systemsuniversally in operation wherever deep mined coal is produced.At the end of the Second

World War, British coal mineswere in a run down stateand urgently neededinvestment to moderniseproduction and improvesafety. By the time ofnationalisation of theindustry in 1947, when some700,000 men wereemployed in over 950collieries, both wooden andrigid steel props were stillwidely used as the roofsupports at the coal face andit was a slow and dangerousprocess to move theserepeatedly as progressivecoal extraction demanded.The process ofmodernisation began firstwith the introduction ofmechanised coal cutters andthen mechanised armouredface conveyors fromGermany brought furtherimprovements. But thespeed of face advancementwas still retarded by thecumbersome manual systemof moving forward thewhole of the roof supportsystem. This was improvedto a significant extent about1948 by the introduction ofthe single hydraulic prop, ineffect a self containedhydraulic jack, an inventionof the Dowty Group ofCheltenham. This made thewooden pit prop obsoleteand thousands of the newhydraulic type were put towork over the space of just afew years. But these propsstill had to be manhandled,and they worked on thebasis of mineral oils whichpresented an ever-presentfire risk.

The Self AdvancingRoofing Support

By 1948, Gullick Ltd. wasdeveloping its own version ofa hydraulic prop, this timeutilising a water basedemulsion and in principle asafer system than the Dowtyversion. But this wasovershadowed when thecompany came up with theidea of placing five of thesewater props into a steel framesurmounted by a steel canopy.Four of the props wereinstalled vertically to hold upthe mine roof and the fifthone fixed horizontally in thebase whose purpose was topush over the face conveyor at the end of each cuttingcycle. In 1951 two limitedface-end trials wereundertaken at National CoalBoard mines and they quicklydemonstrated the hugepotential for speeding up face

advancement. So the selfadvancing roof supportsystem was born and the firstfull face was installed atOrmonde colliery in the EastMidlands in 1954. It wasimmediately successful andthe concept eventuallybecame the blueprint for over90% of mines in the country.The number of fullymechanised faces rose from36 in 1959, to 264 in 1964and 812 in 1972. This was thebasis of Gullick’s rapid rise toprosperity. The NCB would notpermit a situation ofmonopoly supply to developand commercial agreementswere established with Gullickwhich allowed othermanufacturers to enter themarket. All of them adoptedthe Gullick central designconcept but with their owndesign variations. Even so, inthe 1960s Gullick haddifficulty in meeting the

This roof support, known as the '6 leg 240 ton chock' had become theworkhorse for a large proportion of British coalmines by 1970. Compared withthe original configuration, two further hydraulic legs had been added and the

base extended to form a safe walkway for the miner.

This was one of the first 'walking pit props' or 'chocks' ever to be installed in adeep coal mine anywhere in the world. Typically, up to one hundred or moreunits would be placed side by side along the longwall coal face to support the

roof in the area of coal extraction.

SUPPORTING THE TOWN by Alan Kaye

Gullick Dobson and theBritish Coal Industry

22 23

Can You Help?

‘The Priory Church and Village of Upholland’ by Charles Towne

Ellen Weeton Needs You!

demands placed upon it andsignificant steps had to betaken to increase productioncapacity.

The Early Years

The Gullick company startedtrading in King Street in 1920under the name of 'GullickBrothers'. The proprietors wereGeoffrey and Donald Gullickwho had longstandingconnections with coal mines inLancashire and particularlywith Pemberton collierieswhere Donald becamemanaging director and laterChairman. In 1923 the name,'Machine Mining Services' wasadopted and in the earlyyears, as well as undertakingcoal cutting contracts, thecompany became agents forthe Leyland and BirminghamRubber Co. Ltd., distributingand servicing rubber conveyorbelting, hose and couplingsand accessories for earlylongwall cutters. Subsequentlythe company was appointedsales agent for theConsolidated Pneumatic ToolCompany and pioneered theintroduction of the pneumaticpick and rotary drills into UKmines. This latter activitybecame a profitable activityand provided the financial andtechnical base from whichfuture business was toemerge. In 1928 its nameagain was changed to 'GullickLimited'. After the war itdeveloped a hydraulic ramarrangement for theadvancement of faceconveyors, the experience ofwhich was vital to the laterinvention of the poweredsupport. The catalyst for much

of this work was designengineer Tom Seaman whojoined the company in 1926and who later became adirector until his death in1956. He was the inventor ofthe Powered Roof Supportand his name lives on inWigan in the form of SeamanWay, the approach road to theformer Gullick Dobson factory,Seaman Works.

It soon became clear that the'walking pit prop' would haveincreasing financial andmanufacturing needs and in1957 the Gullick brothersdecided to sell out to WilliamPark and Company(Forgemasters) Ltd., a muchmore substantial and longestablished Wigan engineeringcompany. William Park’sWigan roots extended as farback as the eighteenth centuryand their businesses includedPark Webb and English Tools,later known as Bulldog. Buteven Park’s resources werefully stretched with a team ofjust 29 Gullick employees at

the time and a reliance onsub-contractors to meet themassive customer demandsthat lay ahead. When in-houseproduction began atClarington Forge it soonoutstripped the newmanufacturing space availableand a decision was taken topurchase a large acreage ofland nearby in Ince for acompletely new factory. By1964 some 65,000 square feetof manufacturing space hadbeen created and developedover later years into the giantplant known throughout thearea as Seaman Works.

This is an edited extract fromthe new book on the historyof Gullick Dobson by AlanKaye. In the second part ofthe history Alan will explorethe development of the firmfrom the late 1960s, throughthe Miners' Strike and to thetake over by Joy Global.

The book is on sale in theshop at The Museum ofWigan Life, priced at £3.

Information forContributorsWe always welcome articles and lettersfor publication from both new andexisting contributors.

If you would like to submit an article forPAST FORWARD, please note that:

• Publication is at discretion of Editorial Team

• The Editorial Team may edit yoursubmission

• Published and rejected submissionswill be disposed of, unless you request for them to be returned

• Submissions may be held on file forpublication in a future edition

• Articles must be received by the copy date if inclusion in the next issue is desired

Submission Guidelines• Electronic submissions are preferred,

although handwritten ones will be accepted

• We prefer articles to have a maximumlength of 1,000 words

• Include photographs or images where possible – these can bereturned if requested

• Include your name and address – we will not pass on your details toanyone unless you have given uspermission to do so

We aim to acknowledge receipt of allsubmissions.

CONTACT DETAILS:pastforward@wigan.gov.uk or The Editor at PAST FORWARD,Museum of Wigan Life, Library Street,Wigan WN1 1NU.

Is anyone out there able to assistwith a short-term research project,of up to 1500 words?

More senior loyal Past Forwardreaders may recall a series of articlesabout the life of Ellen (Nelly) Weeton(1776-1849). They appearedthroughout ten issues from 1998-2001 (Issue 20-29), contributed byAlan Roby. Alan has a continuinginterest in British social history, inparticular during the second half ofthe eighteenth and first half of thenineteenth centuries, especially thatperiod's theological controversies, asthey affected non-conformity. Now retired, for the past 12 monthsAlan has been writing and re-editingan up-to-date account of MissWeeton's life.

During the 1930s, Oxford UniversityPress published 'Miss Weeton'sJournal of a Governess', in two

volumes. The book was republishedby David and Charles in 1969. All have long been out of print. It wasfirst published as a result of EdwardHall's painstaking research throughhis discovery in a Wigan second-handbookshop in the 1920s, of anextensive number of 'copy-letters'written by Miss Weeton. For manyyears Miss Weeton regularlycorresponded with certain familymembers and friends, from wherevershe lived and/or worked as agoverness. It was her normal practiceto write an identical copy of all herletters, each up to 2000 words, into amemorandum book. Her writings alsocontain autobiographical information.All extant are now safely cared for byWigan Archives & Local Studies. None of the existing published bookscontain the conclusion to MissWeeton's life, which was discoveredonly in 1994. Alan's proposed book(as a single volume), will not only

include the end of her life – she diedin Liverpool in 1849 – it will alsoinclude very surprising newinformation concerning MissWeeton's grandson.

Alan would love to hear from anyonewho has both the interest and thetime to assist with two biographicalprofiles of no more than 1000 wordson either of the following twoindividuals: Edward Pedder, a Prestonman and Miss Weeton's employer atDove's Nest, Ambleside, and/or AaronStock, Miss Weeton's cruel husband. (All reference sources to be included).The name of the researcher andreference source/s will be includedwith the profile to be included as anAppendix at the end of the book.

Please contact in the first instance, The Editor,pastforward@wigan.gov.uk or 01942 404430.

admiration for the working-class of that time.The men he admired most of all were thecoalminers whose work was so awful, and yet sonecessary.

'All of us really owe the comparative decency ofour lives to those poor drudges underground,blackened to the eyes, with their throats full ofcoal dust, driving their shovels forward with armand belly muscles of steel'.

The second part of the book consists of an attackon the class divisions of his day and a critique ofBritish socialism from Orwell's idiosyncraticsocialist perspective. Perhaps less than a quarterof the book specifically relates to Wigan, so whydid he call it, 'The Road to Wigan Pier'?

It was because Wigan was famous. Or rathernotorious. Wigan was a joke town. A comedianhad only to walk onto a stage and shout, 'I’vejust come from Wigan!', to raise a laugh. Thejoke was based around Wigan Pier. The word'pier' originally referred to a structure built overwater to facilitate the loading and unloading ofboats. Wigan Pier was used to load coal ontocanal barges. However, from the mid-nineteenthcentury, many seaside resorts built pleasure piersfor the enjoyment of holidaymakers, and thisbecame most people's idea of a pier. When theword got around that a grimy industrial townlike Wigan had a pier, a joke was born. The titleOrwell chose was meant to grab the reader’sattention.

It may surprise Wiganers today, but the book wasfavourably reviewed in the local newspaperswhen it was published in March 1937. Thereviewers noted that the author described similarconditions in other towns. Yet some Wiganersprotest that Orwell should have mentioned the

more pleasant parts of Wigan: Mesnes Park,perhaps, or the upper reaches of Wigan Lane.But this is to miss the point. The book is anexposé of the dark underside of England in the1930s, not a tourist guide.

Perhaps Orwell suspected that his intentionsmight be misunderstood, for he wrote that heliked Wigan − the people, not the scenery. Still,disgruntled Wiganers may find some consolationin what he wrote about Sheffield, 'Even Wigan isbeautiful compared with Sheffield. Sheffield, Isuppose, could justly claim to be the ugliest townin the Old World'.

Note: (1) Means Test: If an unemployed man had aparent living with him the parent was classed as alodger and the man’s meagre benefit was reduced.

Sources 1. Orwell, George (2001), The road to Wigan Pier.London, Victor Gollancz, 19372. Crick, Bernard (1980), George Orwell: A life.London, Secker and Warburg3. McClarence, Stephen (2006), Oh to be in Wigan.The Times, 16 July 20064. Wigan Examiner, 6 March 19375. Wigan Observer, 13 March 1937

IllustrationW.L.C.T. ref. 67431/6 or 934/2.

Caption: The Wigan Pier area at the time of Orwell’s visit.

Every Wiganer knows that George Orwell'slagged off' Wigan in his book, 'The Road toWigan Pier'. Even the thousands who have neverread it. After all, why read the book whenrespectable and reliable sources such as 'TheTimes' newspaper tell us this is so? However, anunprejudiced reading of the book tells a differentstory.

Britain was in the depths of the Great Depressionand the subject of mass unemployment was 'inthe air', when the publisher Victor Gollanczcommissioned the young author Eric Blair − penname, George Orwell − to write a book aboutthe condition of the working class in theeconomically depressed north of England. Therewere many towns Orwell could have visited, sowhy did he come to Wigan?

Orwell’s visit to Wigan was unplanned. He hadwritten some articles for a magazine called 'TheAdelphi', and the editor, John Middleton Murray,gave him the address of that magazine's office inManchester. The people there gave him theaddress of Jerry Kennan, an electrician in thecollieries, who lived in Wigan. Kennan introducedhim to some men from the National UnemployedWorkers’ Union, who found him accommodationat the home of the Hornbys in Warrington Lane.

However, he had only been there for about aweek when Mrs Hornby was suddenly taken illand had to go into hospital, and Orwell neededsomewhere else to live.

He wrote in his diary, 'They have found lodgingsfor me in Darlington Road [sic] over a tripeshop... Social atmosphere much as at H.'s, buthouse appreciably dirtier, and very smelly'.

Orwell doesn’t state who 'they' were. They couldhave been the men from the N.U.W.U., orperhaps the Hornbys, who would have beenaware of the tripe shop-cum-lodging house, as itwas only a short distance from their home.The opening chapter of 'The Road to Wigan Pier'is a description of this lodging house, and it hasgiven considerable offence to Wiganers. Theimages of it stick in the mind: the unemptiedchamber pots; the dead flies from the previoussummer in the shop window; the dirty fingers ofthe landlord as he handed out slices of bread;the beds crammed so tightly in the makeshiftbedroom that Orwell had to sleep with his legsbent at the knees. As for the landlord andlandlady, they were dirty and lazy, and thelandlord was fiddling the benefits system. Butnot everyone in the house was at fault. Thelodgers were decent workingmen who had fallenon hard times through circumstances beyondtheir control. Such were the two old men drivenout of their homes by the Means Test.(1)

After spending some time in Wigan, Orwell wentto Barnsley and Sheffield, and made brief visits toLiverpool and Leeds. In Barnsley and Sheffield hestayed in working-class homes, and continuedcollecting information on the hardships sufferedby many manual workers: poor workingconditions, low pay, slum housing,unemployment, and cuts in benefits. Hedescribes these in the first part of the book,giving examples from various towns, includingWigan. He also paints a vivid picture of thelandscapes of these industrial towns: the factorychimneys belching black smoke, the colliery spoilheaps, the blast furnaces, the stinkinggasometers, and the filthy canals.

What comes over is his sympathy, even

George Orwell's visit to Wigan

Slagged Off?By Bob Blakeman

2524

The arrival of H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucester at Wigan Pier, circa 1937

2726

1913: A Pivotal YearFrom 1913, as the fight against themajor cause of maternal death gatheredpace, PF and PS became NotifiableDiseases. Midwives were required toreport these conditions but as they couldbe suspended, fined and lose income iftheir patient showed signs of infection,there was a certain reluctance to informthe authorities. Midwives were freelance,they did not receive a statutory incomeuntil 1947. The 1926 Midwives andMaternity Homes Act attempted toremove this obstacle by payingcompensation to suspended midwives.

On a pragmatic level to avoid deaths,Leigh midwives were increasinglysupplied with free sterile equipment foreach delivery. Affected patient’s homeswere disinfected and Astley Sanatoriumprovided compulsory and specialisthospital care.

Perhaps the most far reaching piece oflegislation was the extension of the 1911National Insurance Act. In 1913, its 30shillings maternity benefit was extendedto all mothers, regardless of their insuredand/or marital status. The Women’sCooperative Guild’s campaign wasinstrumental in ensuring attention waspaid to ‘help bring the mother round’after childbirth. The money was to bepaid to mothers, not fathers, from theday they delivered. For the first time,poor women had money as a right toprovide at least part of the cost ofmedical care during childbearing.

Claims on this money were not withoutcontention. A constant theme in Leigh’sMOH Reports was the lack of a MaternityHome. Mothers requiring or preferringdelivery at a medical institution hadthree options: St Mary’s Manchester;Bolton Maternity Home or LeighWorkhouse Infirmary.

At the Workhouse, Guardians feltinclined to claim this money on behalf oftheir patients. Government protocolsprevented this. Guardians moved fromthe archaic attitude of removing pauperpregnant women from Leigh as soon aspossible, resettling them in their originalbirth town, to refusing admittance totheir Infirmary for all insured pregnantwomen, then finally to supplying services‘on loan’; mothers were to pay theircosts once they received the thirty

shillings. Not that the standard of careoffered at the Workhouse Infirmary washigh. Guardians were rebuked for usinginmates as nurses, for the lack of hotwater on the Maternity Ward and theabsence of night nurses.

Provision of Care Despite growing evidence of theinadequacy of a midwife-led maternityservice, many of Leigh’s doctorsremained, ‘disinclined to undertakematernity work’, among poor women.When they did, they billed the Council.Revealingly, as late as 1930 the Leighand District Medical Society was refusingto co-operate with Government requestsfor details of maternal deaths. Therewere exceptions; Dr Burt ran ante-natalclinics at Stone House in an Honorarycapacity – unpaid – from the mid 1920s.

By 1918 Government consternationabout the continuing high maternalmortality rate provided the drive andmoney for maternity homes. It wasargued that the provision of a medicallysafe environment would reduce thenumber of birthing ‘accidents’, which atworst cost lives and at best causedchronic gynaecological conditions.Funded by Government and LeighCouncil, a five bed maternity wing wasadded to Stone House Maternity andChild Welfare Clinic, opening on the 1January 1927. One does wonder howfive maternity beds, each occupied for10-14 days, coped with approximately1000 births annually. But it was abeginning. Very soon after opening, theservice proved inadequate. After three

years, Leigh Council bought ‘The Firs’from John Holden for £4000 and with acombination of government grants andborrowed money, converted it into aMaternity Home. The eighteen bed FirsMaternity Home replaced Stone Houseon the 31 October 1931.

However, home births remained thenorm and although numerically theMOH considered Leigh sufficientlystaffed, with between sixteen andtwenty-three midwives, these wereunevenly distributed. Some midwivesattended just five births whilst othersaround a hundred.

What lay beyond the Ministry of Health’scontrol was the harsh everyday life ofpoor mothers. Although Leigh’s MOHReports acknowledged the factualdifficulties working class mothers faced,it was/is the personal testimony ofmothers’ themselves that reveal thehorror some women suffered. Letters bymothers describing their lives werecollected by the Co-operative Women’sGuild and published in 1915. The tragicreality these letters reveal is thatalthough aware of the damage theywere doing to themselves, mothers hadno option but to continue. The lettersrecord lives of continual toil anddeprivation, of the inability to afforddecent medical care, poor nutrition, ofleaning over dolly tubs hand washingclothes, lifting heavy pans on and offcoal fires; all this right up to giving birthand beginning again almostimmediately after. There was muchprogress to be made.

Giving Nature a Hand:Maternity care in Leigh

1902-1931

BY YVONNE ECKERSLEY

Firs Maternity Home

In this sister article to ‘Saving Leigh’sBabies’ (Past Forward Issue 66), I offeran overview of how Leigh’s embryonicmaternity service evolved – stimulatedby a high maternal mortality rate – andof factors that worked against it.

Once again I have used Leigh’s MedicalOfficer of Health (MOH) Annual Reportsas my main source. Significantly, theseReports show that although maternaland infant welfare were ostensibly ofequal importance, until the mid-1920sdeveloping infant welfare services tookthe lion’s share of time, effort andavailable money. There were a numberof emotional, cultural and traditionalreasons for this. Predominant amongthese were that mothers instinctivelyprioritised their babies’ needs beforetheir own. Their experiences during andas a result of child bearing was personaland private; consequently it was hidden.If you add the pervading belief thatbearing children was natural; for whichwomen’s bodies were designed; that

pain and suffering was inevitable; andthat women’s bodies recoverautomatically, then the debilitating anddangerous nature of childbearing couldbe – and was – easily overlooked.

By 1900 it was becoming clear that thesituation was unacceptable. A pregnantwoman’s medical care began with herfirst and ended after her last labourpain; time had come to, ‘Save Leigh’sMothers’.

MidwivesThe process began by addressinginadequacies in midwifery practices. Itwas a top-down approach, beginningwith the Midwives Act of 1902. Fromthen, each new midwife was toundergo specific training (initially 3months); be certificated by virtue of thattraining; and be registered on a CentralMidwives Roll, before they could callthemselves midwives. From 1910, whenthe Act was made compulsory, the

Central Midwives Board increasinglyregulated midwives work and providedsupervising bodies. Initially, Leigh cameunder the auspices of the LancashireCounty Council, later Leigh’s MOH.

Loopholes existed, enabling untrained,un-certificated women to deliver babies.Thirty years after the 1902 Act, Leighstill had two bona fide (i.e. un-certificated but registered) midwives,practicing by virtue of longevity ofservice rather than training. Doctorswere free to employ any woman todeliver babies providing he could claimher services were given as a result of anemergency.

Nevertheless it was an important firststep in the fight against Puerperal Fever (PF), Puerperal Sepsis (PS) –infections contracted during childbirth –some ‘accidents’ of childbirth,identification of pre-eclampsia and astarting point for the professionalisationof midwifery. Delivery Room at Firs Maternity Home, Dick Sutton Collection

2928

With more and more peoplebecoming interested in researchingtheir family history, many peopleconcentrate on Census Returns orBirths, Marriages and Deaths. Sourcesoften overlooked are ElectoralRegisters. Although they aren’tarranged by name – but byconstituency, ward and street – theyare a very useful source ofinformation.

Before Electoral Registers we had PollBooks. They originate from a 1696Act of Parliament designed to curbdisputed election results and fraud.The solution included requiringsheriffs to make a list of voters andthe candidate they had voted for.These could then be published as pollbooks. Poll Books continued to beused until the secret ballot wasintroduced in 1872.

Poll Books don’t list all residents of anarea until 1832; most voters werefreeholders and others who couldmeet property requirements. Pollbooks only list those who actuallycast a vote as can be seen by theexample below from the Wigan PollBook of 1841 at the election ofMembers of Parliament.

Electoral Registers were introduced bythe Representation of the People Act1832 and evolved over the years asthe franchise expanded. The right tovote slowly increased from only asmall proportion of the population inthe early nineteenth century to theright for everyone to vote over theage of 21 in 1928 (apart fromprisoners and members of the HouseOf Lords). Some people could vote inlocal elections even if they could notvote in parliamentary elections, forexample unmarried women after1869. Gradually this increased to thepresent day universal suffrage forthose over the age of 18. Registershave been produced annually eversince with the exceptions beingduring the two World Wars and1920-1926, when Spring andAutumn editions were published.

As the qualification to vote changed,various types of entries in theregisters can be found. Someexamples can be seen below.

If the voter had a Business Premisesqualification or an Occupationqualification the name and place ofabode was listed, as can be seenfrom the 1929 register for WiganMarket Hall and The Market Arcade.Until 1948 the nature of his/herqualification to vote was also shown.

The Index Letters indicate whether itwas a man or a woman, Rw, Bw, OwDw indicating a female voter.

R- Residence qualificationB-Business premisesO-Occupation qualificationD-Qualification through wife’soccupationDw-Qualification through husband’soccupation

For a few years after 1918, the namesof Absent Voters in the services werenoted. N.M. next to a name indicatesa Naval or Military voter. The 1918Representation of the People Act hadan exclusion that disqualified anyonefrom voting who was exempted frommilitary service during the First WorldWar as a Conscientious Objector, forfive years.

An interesting discovery was recently made by VicRawlinson, a volunteer at Wigan Local Studies. In the 1885register for Wigan there is a Corrupt And Illegal PracticesList of convicted persons.

The court case referring to the guilty verdicts in the listbelow was reported in depth by the Wigan Observer overa lengthy period, concluding on 10 March 1894. TheCommissioner returned his verdict on the eighth day ofthe enquiry into a by-election which took place on 20 December 1893 for the Swinley Ward. The candidateswere George Rushton and Thomas Worthington; thepetition was brought by George Rushton against thereturn of Thomas Worthington at that election.

The petition alleged that the election of ThomasWorthington should be voided because of bribery. On several occasions bribery took place in the Saracen’sHead Inn, Wigan Lane, and involved plying people withdrinks and making payments in order to secure votes.There was extensive and detailed press coverage of theproceedings in the Wigan Observer – the proprietors ofwhich had themselves been sued for contempt of courtfor earlier reporting the rumours which had beencirculating at the time.

With boundary changes over a number of years ourElectoral Registers cover areas that now lie in otherBoroughs, such as Wrightington, Parbold, Skelmersdale,Horwich and Dalton. Researchers may not realise thatSkelmersdale, for example, was for a period of time in theWesthoughton Constituency.

For a list of holdings of registers and poll books please seeour Guide To Genealogical Sources on our website.

The Wigan Observer is available on microfilm along withour collection of Electoral Registers and Poll Books atWigan Local Studies. For more information please phone01942 828020 or heritage@wigan.gov.uk

Ballots, Books and Bribes:Using Electoral Registers for your Research by Rita Musa

Wigan Borough Environment & Heritage Network‘Our Local Environmental and Heritage Matters’

If you agree, groups and individuals are warmly invited tojoin our Network. The Network provides:• Regular Meetings• Advice and Information• Site Visits• Speakers• Partnership working with Wigan Council, WLCT and

other bodies in the Borough

Please contact joe41@blueyonder.co.uk or visitwww.wiganheritage.com for more information.

3130

In 1961, having successfully completed an interviewwith Chief Superintendent Enstone of the Lancashirecounty Council Police Force, a young man of 17 years,fresh from Grammar School, was despatched to theWeights and Measures Office within the oldabandoned Police Station, Leigh. The young man hada burning desire to be a police officer but afterattempting to join as a cadet in the forces of bothLancashire County Council and Bolton BoroughCouncil he found himself wanting in height. TheWeights and Measures Service seemed to be a secondbest option although the post was that of a civilianassistant trainee.

I was that young man. Although brought up inWalkden from the age of two I had only been toLeigh once before to visit my uncle Douglas who rana bakers and confectioners shop there. It was quite

an adventure to not only catch the correct bus butalso find my way without the assistance of a streetmap to the office entrance on Charles Street. Thebuilding was so innocuous that I walked past it twicebefore being accosted by my future senior officerInspector Arthur Wedgwood. Inspector Wedgwoodwas born in Glossop and had joined the Police Forcein 1947. He had been a sportsman of some qualityhaving captained the Glossop cricket team and hewas reputed to have been on the books ofManchester United.

This tall, powerfully built officer was ably assisted bytwo civilian weights and Measures Inspectors,although we were later joined by another trainee,John Sharratt, the son of a Westhoughton PoliceOfficer and also my lifelong friend. This work force was the entire strength. We had tocover the Warrington Division, which covered an areasurrounded by the boundaries of Warrington, Wigan,Bolton and Salford.

I remember the old station well for it alsoincorporated the local Magistrates Court and wasbounded by Church Street, Charles Street, Bold Streetand Vernon Street across from The Courts Hotel. Theinterior area was a quadrangle surrounded bygarages used for storage by the charity Toc H andthere were the old horse stables. Within the buildingwere the many offices, including the cells and theCourt with its ornate chairs still remaining on thebench. The Weights and Measures Office, which todate stands on the corner of Charles Street and BoldStreet, is the only remaining feature of the old stationnow that it has been demolished.

A feature of the office most remembered by ourmore senior citizens was the cast iron plaque ofstandard measures of length affixed to the outsidewall of the building. Traders could check there ownmeasures of length, or indeed purchasers whowished to ensure that they had received correctmeasure. Of course they were rarely utilised as there

was a more sophisticated pecking order of standards,culminating in the standard yard derived from thestandard metre, and the standard pound nowderived from the standard kilogram.

Sadly the plaque is no longer there, a sad demise foran historic relic if it was sold simply for its scrapvalue, but the office still has a worthy purpose inbeing currently occupied by the Wigan and LeighPensioners Link.

Life in the 1960s was great fun for a young trainee,the music was great, the pop groups were plentiful,and our lunch periods were often spent playingcricket and football in the empty station quadrangle,although once Inspector Wedgwood was at thecrease it was impossible to bowl him out.

We also had an affinity with Avery’s, the scalemakers, who had a repair workshop at the top end ofPlatt Fold street, it was from their upper storey craneloading bay that I could shout to the girls walkinginto town from Ward and Goldstones; I was too shyto chat to them face to face.

It wasn’t always fun of course; there was a seriousside to the work we did. There was the routinemaintenance of our physical standard weights andmeasures in order that we could ensure theequipment used for trade was accurate. This entailedvisiting every premise within the Division so if onecan imagine all the shops, factories, mills, coal mines,market stalls and petrol stations, it was quite amammoth task, particularly as our goal was to coverevery one each year. During this period we were alsofurnished with a brand new 30 hundredweightBedford Van in which we could carry our petrolpump testing measures, a ton of 56lb workingstandard weights and our coal deadweight machinefor weighing sacks of coal. The penalty for this newacquisition was that we now had to cover ourWidnes Division twice a week to cater for their heavyindustry. Every so often we held what we termed astamping station within several of the outlyingtowns. Local traders would bring their weights for re-adjustment, as of course with constant use theyeventually lost weight. Every weight was furnishedwith a sunken lead plug to which extra lead could beadded if required. After testing on our precisionbalance, the plug was then re-stamped with thecrown and date.

A most enjoyable day trip for me was the usual Fridayexcursion with Inspector Wedgwood to the Scalemakers in Wigan for testing and re-stamping ofrepaired machines. At lunchtime the older chapswould tell me endless tales of what happened in theold days, anecdotes from their lives, some funny andsome sad. Sometimes they would pull my leg but itwas all fascinating to a young man.

Perhaps my favourite venture followed the taking offormal samples of fertilisers and animal feedingstuffs. I was charged with taking these to the publicanalyst in Preston. This entailed me catching thetrain from Bolton to Preston and after delivering mysamples I could treat myself to quick lunch beforehopping on the train home, arriving early enough tobe back before my normal finishing time, and forthat one day I had been my own boss.

My studies to become a fully-fledged Inspector ofweights and measures were somewhat onerous,entailing three nights attendance per weekthroughout the winter at the Ducie Avenue EveningCentre, Manchester, and this was in conjunctionwith a correspondence course. Later a weekly oneday course at Openshaw Technical College onAshton Old Road, Manchester, was introduced andwas most welcome considering the travellingnecessary. Nowadays students take the subjects inmodular form and progress by taking additionalmodules, different to my experience.

Apart from all the routine duties there was an evenmore serious side to the work of this office and thatwas the detection of criminal offences. Althoughweights and measures crime may appear not tohave been rife in those days it did happen, eitherdeliberate fraud or through lack of diligence. Shortweight loaves of bread were often down to lack ofcare in the baking process. With old methods of pre-packing foodstuffs in paper bags they often driedout, resulting in loss of weight. Many of ourskirmishes were with a minority of coal haulers whowould have on their vehicles short weight sacks offuel, or when delivering to a coal bunker they wouldomit to drop a bag and therefore be able to sell thatfor a little beer money. These were of course thedays in which the division had many coalmines andit was usual practice to provide mineworkers withconcessionary coal as part of their remuneration.

Most dear to many of our clients was the concernthat they might not be getting their correct measure

The Old Police Station Leigh Memories of the Weights and Measures Service

BY IAN FERGUS BAILLIE

Inspector Arthur Wedgwood

The culmination of Tyldesley Creative Writers’ First World WarCommemoration project has been the production of a DVD whichcovers the 1914-1918 period, at home and at the Western Front.

Nearly thirty people were involved, from ages 16 to 90. The writtenpieces included letters, drama, poems and accounts of soldiers at thefront and families at home. These were bound together by a narrationof how the war progressed. The whole production was filmed byuniversity student, Emma Costello, who now works for the BBC inLondon. Most of those taking part wore period costume.

On 6 November, a presentation evening was held at Tyldesley Librarywhere guests watched excerpts of the 3-hour DVD. Mary Berry, thegroup organiser and director of the project, was congratulated byTyldesley Writers before presenting a bound copy of the script toLibrary staff.

The group, as a token of appreciation to the Library, also donated atelevision for groups needing to use one for their own future projects.The DVD will be available to all interested parties.

Viewing their finished work for the first time, members said how much they had learned from theirresearch. Particularly poignant was an account by member Diane Brooks of her father who had fought inthe war, losing an arm. She took the part of her own grandmother, who expressed her pride in the braveryof her son. On 11 November we attended our usual Creative Writing meeting, and stood for the twominutes silence with Library staff. On this historic day, we had particular good cause to contemplate thesacrifice of both soldiers and their families.

By Frances Raftery

• TYLDESLEY CREATIVE WRITERS •

YOUR LETTERS - CAN YOU HELP

Dear Editor

I am enclosing a few details and pictures, which I hopemay be of interest to readers.

This is a photograph of my grandfather, Herbert JamesPennington, and his five brothers, taken at a time whenthree of them were in service during the First WorldWar. They are (back row, left to right): Herbert James,Harry Hammond, James Reginald and (front row)Walter, Richard Allan and Sidney Arthur. Walter andRichard Allen returned safely from the conflict.

Sadly, Sidney Arthur, who was called up at the age of26 in 1914, was killed in action three years later on 23 October 1917, whilst serving in France with theRoyal Engineers. He is buried in the Hooge GraterCemetery, Zillebeke, Belgium. News of his deathappears in the Wigan Observer. I also have in mypossession a photograph of Sidney with his two youngchildren, Brenda and Lyndon, that he took to war withhim. When he was killed it was found and written onthe back is, ‘To be returned to Mr and Mrs Pennington,135 Wigan Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield’ – Sidney’sparents and my great-grandparents.

I always look forward to receiving Past Forward andreading the many interesting articles.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs Jean Parfrey

Dear Editor

This is a picture of my grandad,James Orme (second left, middlerow), with his First World Warcomrades at Catterick Camp inYorkshire. He survived the war andsadly passed away in 1975. I am trying to find a picture of his brother (my grand-uncle),Thomas Orme. He served in the 2nd Battalion of the GrenadierGuards who went to France in 1915.

A lot of their records weredestroyed by fire and they don’thave any pictures of him. If anyPast Forward readers’ ancestorswere in the same Batallion perhapsyou may have a picture, or anydescendants of his may have one intheir collections? If anyone can help with any information, please contact me atlindacarter43@hotmail.co.uk

Many thanks,

Linda Carter

3332

of beer or spirit and to this end we were obliged toutilise our favoured method of detection, theundercover test purchase. Contrary to popularopinion we could never drink the product on dutyas it was necessary to allow the beer to flatten andspecific gravity beads were dropped into spirits tocheck the alcoholic strength.

I suppose by its very subject, Weights and Measures,it comes across as a rather boring occupation butthe truth was far from it. There was so muchvariation, visiting every type of industry andwitnessing so many different production techniques.With the advent of the Trade Descriptions Act andthe plethora of consumer protection legislation thatwas to follow the job became such that the onlyconstant was continuing change. So this has been avery rough sketch of the type of work carried outfrom this small unimposing office on Charles Street.My work in Leigh came to an end when I wastransferred to the Bolton Division and after severalchanges of Local Authorities I finally ended mycareer as the Assistant Director in charge of TradingStandards and The Chief Inspector of Weights andMeasures for the City of Salford.

However, I never lost my fondness Leigh all thoseyears ago and I often have to visit the town with mygrandchildren who live locally. I never fail to borethem by walking past the old office and regalingone memory or another that no doubt they haveheard a hundred times before.

An example of the wall standards this one being from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich

Rudrani Kadiyala prepares to nursethe casualties

3534

Aspull and Haigh Historical Society Meetings are held on the secondThursday of the month at Our Lady’s RCChurch Hall, Haigh Road, Aspull at7.30pm.

All are welcome, contact Barbara Rhodesfor further details on 01942 222769.

Atherton Heritage Society Monthly meetings held on secondTuesday of each month in St Richard’sParish Centre,Mayfield Street, Atherton at 7.30pm.Admission – Members, £1.00, NonMembers, £2.00, including refreshments.Contact Details: Margaret Hodge, 01942 884893.

13 January 2015Lost Treasures – Speaker, Mark Olly10 February 2015Walkden Yard Colliery Locos – Speaker, Alan Davies10 March 2015The Mary Rose – Speaker, Harry Eatough

Billinge History andHeritage Society Meetings are held on the secondTuesday of the month at Billinge ChapelEnd Labour Club at 7.30pm. There is adoor charge of £2.Please contact Geoff Crank for moreinformation on 01695 624411 or atGcrank_2000@yahoo.co.uk

Hindley & DistrictHistory Society Meetings are held on the secondMonday of the month at 7.00pm atTudor House, Liverpool Road, Hindley.Please contact Mrs Joan Topping on01942 257361 for information.

Leigh & District Antiquesand Collectables Society The society meets at Leigh RUFC, BeechWalk, Leigh. New members are alwayswelcome and further details availablefrom Mr C Gaskell on 01942 673521.

Leigh & District Family History Society

Monthly meetings held in the DerbyRoom, Leigh Library at 7.30pm on thethird Tuesday of each month (exceptJune and July). A weekly helpdesk is runby members each Monday afternoon atLeigh Local Studies, Leigh Library.Contact Mrs G. McClellan (01942 729559).

20 January 2015AGM followed by Reading, Writing &‘Rithmetic – Louise Wade17 February 2015Leigh’s WW1 Military Tribunal Recordsand New Developments at Archives andLocal Studies – Alex Miller17 March 2015Maximillan Parker – Katherine Carter

Local History Federation Lancashire

The Federation holds several meetingseach year, with a varied and interestingprogramme. For details visitwww.lancashirehistory.org or call 01204 707885.

Skelmersdale &Upholland Family History Society

Meetings held at 7.30pm on the fourthTuesday each month at Hall GreenCommunity Centre, Upholland. There areno meetings in July or August.For more information contact SueHesketh (Secretary) 01942 212940 orSuehesketh@blueyonder.co.uk or visitwww.liverpoolgenealogy.org.uk/SkemGrp/Skem

Wigan Civic Trust

If you have an interest in the standard ofplanning and architecture, and theconservation of buildings and structuresin our historic town, come along andmeet us. Meetings are held on the

second Monday of the month at7.30pm. The venue is St George’sChurch, Water Street, Wigan WN1 1XD.Contact Mr A Grimshaw on 01942 245777 for further information.

Wigan Archaeological Society

We meet on the first Wednesday of themonth, at 7.30pm, in the Standish Suiteat the Brocket Arms on Mesnes Road -on the first Wednesday of the month(except January and August). There is acar park adjacent on the left. Admissionis £2 for members and £3 for guests.For more information call Bill Aldridgeon 01257 402342.

You an also visit the website atwww.wiganarchsoc.co.uk

Wigan Family and Local History Society

We meet on the second Wednesday ofeach month at St Andrews Parish Centre, 120 Woodhouse Lane, Springfield,Wigan at 7.15pm.

14 January 2015Researching your Family Tree This meeting will be held at TheMuseum of Wigan Life, and we will be inattendance to help you (with assistancefrom Museum staff) from 4pm to8.30pm, where you can use all theexcellent facilities available at theMuseum.

14 February 2015Speaker, Bill Ashurst – Bill will share histhoughts of his Rugby League career incontrast to the present day.

11 March 2015Speaker, Alex Miller – Alex will talk aboutthe Borough Archives Service

Attendance fees are £2.50 per meetingfor both members and visitors. Our aimis to provide support, help, ideas andadvice for members and non membersalike. For more information please visit,http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/familyhistory/ or see us at our weekly Mondayafternoon helpdesks at the Museum ofWigan Life.

SOCIETY NEWS EVENTS CALENDAR

Trace your First World War Ancestors

This taster session will help you trace your wartime ancestorsby using archive and local studies collections. The workshopwill also introduce the different online resources to help youtrace your ancestor.

9 December, 10.30-11.30, Hindley Library20 January, 10.30-11.30, Golborne LibraryFree • Contact: 01942 404559 or emailH.Turner@wigan.gov.uk

Holocaust Memorial Day

27 January 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the liberationof Auschwitz-Birkenau. 2015 will also be the 20th anniversaryof the Genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia. There will be acommemoration at both the Museum of Wigan Life and inLeigh (venue to be confirmed). The theme for this majoranniversary year will be memory.

27 January 27, Museum of Wigan LifePlease call the museum for further details of thecommemoration at Leigh. Everyone is welcome to attend bothevents but please let us know by calling 01942 828128 oremailing heritage@wigan.gov.uk

Carry On Cleaning @ Wigan Archives

If you've ever wondered how we preserve historic records,come along to Wigan Archives to join in with our ongoingproject to clean and document the records of Wigan's Victoriancourts. Join our team of volunteers in revealing the stories ofcrime and punishment in Wigan and learn how to helppreserve the Borough's history.

28 January 2015, 25 February 10.00am-3.00pmWigan Archives Service, Leigh Town Hall Free • 01942 404430

Stand and Deliver – George Lyon, theUpholland Highwayman

12-1.15pm Thursday 29 January£2.50 including tea/coffeeGeorge Lyon was the last highwayman to be hanged atLancaster Castle and 2015 marks the 200th anniversary of hisexecution. Highwaymen often became folk heroes andhundreds turned up to watch Lyon’s execution. He had beenconvicted for burgling Westwood House in Ince, the home ofCharles Walmsley. Come along to this illustrated talk byMarianne Howell which contrasts the fortunes of George Lyonand Charles Walmsley.

A special Crime Month event.

Good Friends and Good Neighbours –Neighbourhood life 1900-1930

Join author and historian Elizabeth Roberts to find out how our parents and grandparents got along with their neighboursin the early 1900s. How did neighbours support each other100 years ago?

How did they stick together in times of need? What happened if you fell below the strict social standardsexpected by the community? Find out about street andneighbourhood life through original oral history interviews.

7 February 2015, 12.00-1.15pmMuseum of Wigan Life£2.50 including tea/coffeeBook early to avoid disappointment on 01942 828128 or emailheritage@wigan.gov.uk

Chinese New Year

Join us for a special celebration as we welcome in Chinese NewYear 2015 at the Museum of Wigan Life. Amazing activitiesand fun for all the family with a day of drop in sessions, thechance to get up close to original objects and lots lots more.With support from the Confucius Classroom at Wigan andLeigh College. Please note this is a one-day only event. Contact the museum for exact date and full details.

February half termMuseum of Wigan LifeFree • No booking required

Chinese New Year Family Fun

Come along celebrate with us the new Year of the Sheep!Children will love trying out some traditional Chinese skills andfinding out about the zodiac animals. Investigate the New Yeartraditions and come face to face with objects from China’s past.17, 19 February 2015, 1.00pm-2.30pm

TuesdayMuseum of Wigan Life £2.50 per childBook early to avoid disappointment on 01942 828128 or email heritage@wigan.gov.uk

Moving History

This is your opportunity to see everything from trench art tomunitions as objects from the museum of Wigan Life go ontour around the Borough. You can get up close and personalwith the museum’s collections at various library venues.

Spring 2015Libraries across the BoroughFree01942 828128 or email heritage@wigan.gov.uk

How to Find Us

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Museum of Wigan LifeLibrary Street, Wigan WN1 1NUTelephone 01942 828128heritage@wigan.gov.uk

Leigh Local HistoryLeigh Library, Turnpike Centre, Civic Square, Leigh WN7 1EB

Telephone 01942 404559h.turner@wigan.gov.uk

ArchivesLeigh Town Hall, Leigh WN7 1DY

Telephone 01942 404430a.miller@wigan.gov.uk

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Trencherfield Mill EngineWigan Pier Quarter, Heritage Way, Wigan WN3 4EFTelephone 01942 828128b.rowley@wigan.gov.uk