£2 Wigan and Leigh's local history magazine - Summertime by the Canal - Wigan Council
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Produced by Wigan Archives & Museums Issue No. 85 August – November 2020
Summertime
by the
Canal
£2
Wigan and Leigh's local history magazine
ARCHIVES & MUSEUMS FOLLOW US
Contents Letter from the
4-6 Out of the Pits and
into Parliament
Editorial Team
7 Tracing Myles Standish Welcome to PAST Forward Issue 85.
We’re delighted that in spite of the pandemic and lockdown, your local
8-9 Lancashire Lads in history research has not stopped and we’ve plenty of fascinating stories to
Lincoln's Army share in Past Forward.
10-12 Death's Dictionary Yvonne Eckersley continues her exploration of the journey taken towards
political influence by Ashton-in-Makerfield’s miners, from the pits to
13 Covid-19 Archive Parliament. Charlie Guy examines ‘Death’s Dictionary’ with a fascinating
overview of the use of symbols on nineteenth century graves.
14-17 A Hidden Flaw: Brian Joyce looks at the tragic events at Dan Lane Mill in September 1911
An Atherton Tragedy and Karen Lynch investigates the evidence for the Observatory at Haigh Hall.
18-21 Lost parts of Standish We’re pleased to announce that our Past Forward Essay Competition will
Hall found in America continue as normal this year, thanks to the kind sponsorship of Mr and Mrs
O’Neill. Please see opposite for full details about how you can enter.
21 Information for With one eye on the future and one on the last few months, we launched
Contributors the Wigan Borough COVID-19 Archive. We all have a story to tell about
how the pandemic has altered our lives and we want to preserve and
22-23 Finch House – document our lived experiences for future generations. Everyone can play a
Fact and Fiction part and get involved. For more information please see page 13.
24-27 The Flitcroft Revealing Wigan and Leigh Archives
Inheritance
The Leigh Town Hall project is reaching the
28-29 Joseph Peters – end of our construction phase as we work
A Man of his time towards the re-opening of the building and
new facilities for visitors and researchers at
30-31 Jim Hammond – the Archives & Local Studies.
Miners' Leader and
Trade Unionist The shells of our new strongrooms – the vaults as we’re calling them – are
nearly complete. These spaces occupy the basement and ground floor of the
32-33 The Observatory former shop units on the Market Street elevation of the building.
Environmental control systems are now installed, alongside fire suppressant
34 Collections Corner: systems to help safeguard collections. Once we have new racking systems in
Battlefield Cross place we’ll be close to returning the archives to their new home.
On the upper floors of the building decoration work is nearly completed and
35 Society News conservation in the historic council chamber is underway with restored
plasterwork and paintwork.
FRONT COVER
Postcard showing the
Leeds-Liverpool Canal Copy Deadline for Issue 86 – Contributors please note the deadline for the
receipt of material for publication is Friday, 16th October 2020.
at Gathurst
Information for contributors, please see page 21
2
@WiganArchives Service @MuseumofWiganLife @WiganMuseum @wiganandleigharchives
Our exhibition designers, Creative Core, are working hard with the Archive and Museum team to polish text for the
exhibition and finalise image panels and interactive displays. We’re working with a group of volunteers to decide on
who will feature on our Famous Faces window, celebrating contributions to our history from every part of our
communities.
We are pleased to have successfully recruited to our team two project officer posts. The new postholders have a wealth
of experience and knowledge in the sector and will be getting to work very soon to support the delivery of activities,
educational workshops and volunteering for the duration of the National Lottery Heritage Fund supported scheme (until
March 2023). We’ll be asking them to introduce themselves in the next edition of Past Forward.
New spaces at Leigh Town Hall: exhibition entrance from foyer; exhibition space on Market Street.
Write 1000 words - Win £100!
Do you have a passion for local history?
Is there a local history topic that you would
love to see featured in Past Forward? Then
why not take part in Wigan Borough
Environment and Heritage Network’s Local
History Writing Competition?
Local History Writing Competition
1st Prize - £100
2nd Prize - £75
3rd Prize - £50
Five Runners-Up Prizes of £25
The Essay Writing Competition is kindly
sponsored by Mr and Mrs J. O'Neill. Winners from the Past Forward Essay Competition 2019
Criteria How to enter • It will not be possible for articles to
be returned.
• Articles must be a maximum of 1000 words. • Articles must be received by e-mail or post
by Tuesday 1 February 2021. • You are welcome to include photographs
• Articles must focus on a local history topic
or images however they cannot
within the geographical boundaries of • Electronic submissions are preferred
be returned.
Wigan Borough. although handwritten ones will be accepted.
• By entering the competition you agree to • You must state clearly that your article Submit to
your work being published in Past Forward. is an entry into the Local History
pastforward@wigan.gov.uk
The winning article will be published in Writing Competition.
Past Forward and other submissions may also OR
• You must include your name, address,
be published. telephone number and e-mail address Local History Writing Competition,
If selected for publication the Past Forward (if applicable). We will not pass your details Past Forward, Museum of Wigan Life,
Editorial Team may edit your submission. on to anyone. Library Street, Wigan WN1 1NU
3Out of the Pits and
into Parliament: Part 2
Winning hearts, minds and votes.
campaign James Keen, manager of women’s suffrage (which local
By Yvonne Eckersley Moss Hall Colliery, accused Sam Conservative MPs, F. S. Powell, Lord
The 1894 Local Government Act Woods of misappropriating public Balcarries and Colonel Blundell voted
introduced elected councils and money during strikes and lockouts. against in Parliament) and as soon as
working men were able to enter local Sam Woods instigated a successful they got the municipal franchise,
government. Miners Stephen Walsh libel action. Keen was found guilty women nominated candidates.
and Edward Walkden were elected on and fined £5.
to the first Ashton Urban District
Harry Twist
During the 1895 campaigns, women’s
Council.
political activism was considered Harry Twist was born in Platt Bridge in
From the outset Ashton councillors, newsworthy. We learn that Wigan’s 1870, and went to Platt Bridge
mainly mine owners, managers, Ladies Primrose League, the ‘Colonel's Wesleyan School. At eight he was
colliery officials and large factory Amazons’, were actively disrupting orphaned and went to live with his
owners, were obstructive. At the Aspinwall and Woods’ campaign sister in Billy Gore’s Row, Plank Lane,
council’s inaugural meeting their meetings. At meetings in Newtown, before moving to Golborne,
hostility was particularly marked. Poolstock and Goose Green, groups of Bamfurlong then Ashton. He studied
Acting out of step with nearby ‘girls’ constantly heckled the speakers. for his engineering articles under C.F.
councils, they rejected Stephen In Scholes, Liberal women and Clarke, managing director of
Walsh’s request that meetings begin children were involved in fracas with Garswood Coal and Iron Company’s
at the end of the working day, voting groups and individual Conservative Colliery near Bryn Gates, and at Leigh
instead for mid-afternoon. voters on their way to vote. At one Technical School. He moved to
point anyone wearing a blue rosette Yorkshire, initially to Oaks Colliery,
The election of men like Walsh and was pelted with horse manure and Barnsley, then to Lofthouse Colliery
Walkden was helped by the Act’s dirt, and had red cloths and green where he was the general manager’s
abolition of plural voting in municipal cabbage leaves waved in their faces. assistant for over four years. In 1893
elections. Plural voting, whereby a The Observer reported that the newly he went as second engineer to
vote was attached to a piece of established Wigan Ladies Liberal Colonel North’s Arauco Nitrate Mining
property, meant a man could vote in Association stressed their advocacy of Company in Chile, South America.
every constituency that he owned
property; something that remained in
place for Parliamentary elections. After
the 1895 General Election James
Moon, defeated Liberal Parliamentary
candidate for the Newton Division, (in
which Ashton was a township) and
popular among miners, claimed the
‘wishes of the residents were
overridden by plural voters.’
At this election Sam Woods and
Thomas Aspinwall, both Liberal-
Labour candidates supported by the
Lancashire and Cheshire Miners’
Federation (LCMF), were defeated by
Conservative candidates, Colonel
Blundell at Ince and F S Powell in
Wigan. In hard fought campaigns,
opposition to the miners’ candidates
led at least one man to publish
malicious untruths. During the Ince
4Then he returned to Bryn Gates and On the vexed question of women’s
Bamfurlong. suffrage, the century began well. In
1901 Wigan Trades Council, with a
In 1897 the huge Ashton and Haydock high number of miners’ delegates,
Miners’ Federation, in which passed a resolution of support. In
Bamfurlong had branches, affiliated to 1904, when the Wigan Weavers
the reorganised Lancashire and Association, in conjunction with the
Cheshire Miners’ Federation (LCMF). By Lancashire and Cheshire Women’s
1899 Harry Twist was their Textile and Other workers
checkweighman at Cross Tetley’s Mains Representation Committee, chose
No. 1 Pit in Bryn Gates. A year later he Hubert Sweeney to run in Wigan as
became the pit union’s president. By Britain's first Women’s Suffrage
1903, living at 6 Lily Lane, Platt Bridge, candidate no objection was raised.
he was a trusted and influential man
committed to the development of In 1905 Christabel Pankhurst addressed
trade unionism and labour politics. a trades council meeting chaired by
Harry Twist. When she asked for them
As secretary of the LCMF’s Bamfurlong to support Hubert Sweeney as Wigan’s
Miners’ Association (with 5,000 miners Women’s Suffrage candidate in the
in three branches) an opportunity 1906 general election, they were
arose for him to fuse the two. In April fund for personal gain. He also supportive. Yet strangely, after Hubert
1903 he officially and successfully postulated that the weekly levy of Sweeney stepped down, they refused
proposed to the LCMF that they join one penny per member to provide to support his replacement.
the LRC (Labour Representation funds to fight elections and pay MPs’
Committee - forerunner of the Labour salaries should be spent to help Thorley Smith was Wigan’s Trades
Party). Soon after the Wigan LRC was individual miners. Council’s treasurer, Wigan’s first
formed. With Harry Twist as Vice working man councillor, very active in
President it affiliated to the Wigan and Given that Dixon’s accusations could labour politics and someone who
District Trades Council. fuel distrust and dissent among vowed to support Labour policies in
miners, in 1905 Harry Twist, supported Parliament. Interestingly it was a miner’s
The LRC was not its most powerful by the LCMF, sued Dixon for slander. union delegate who tabled the motion
group but it did have a definite political Their priority was the union’s not to support him. However, miners
agenda. Its aim was to unite working reputation rather than compensation. may have had sufficient supporters to
people behind the policy of putting The trial, reported in the Wigan pass their resolution, but they did not
working men on councils, and in Observer, offered a platform to have overall control. Many Trades
Parliament as a bulwark against direct reassure sceptical miners that their Council Unions declared their intention
attacks on trade unions. Employers had contributions were being used on to vote for him. And many did. With
formed the National Free Labour miners’ behalf. It also suggested Dixon 2,205 votes Thorley Smith pushed the
Association, a strike breaking may have been motivated by personal Liberal candidate into third place.
organisation, and the Employers’ jealousy, as much as his aversion to
Parliamentary Council, a powerful anti- LCMF’s financial support of Women and
union lobby. From 1901, the Taff Vale Parliamentary candidates James Wigan Labour politics
judgement enabled employers to sue Seddon (Newton) and Stephen Walsh
unions for money lost owing to strike (Ince), and the payment of expenses to The Labour Party manifesto of January
action. This was reversed by the Trades delegates attending LRC, trades 1910 pledged to support women’s
Disputes Act of 1906. council, Labour meetings and suffrage. During his 1910 election
This fusion of trade unionism and demonstrations. campaign Harry Twist put this pledge
politics did not meet with every miner’s into practise. He allocated five minutes
approval. Many resented union Miners and Women of each campaign meeting to women
involvement in politics, especially when suffrage workers as they advertised the
that involvement included financially Miners’ attitudes to women’s right to collection of signatures for their pro-
supporting the infrastructure needed to work and suffrage was ambiguous. In suffrage petition at polling stations. He
build a powerful organisation. One man 1866, 1885, 1886 and 1911 miners’ also worked closely with prominent
in particular, Richard Dixon, neighbour leaders called on Parliament to ban women activists.
and checkweighman at Cross Tetley’s women working on pit brows. As
miners’ unions refused to admit During his election campaign he, as
Bamfurlong Pit, and unsuccessful LRC candidate, and Bruce Glasier,
competitor of Harry Twist during the women members until 1918, pit brow
women, with the help of women’s national leader of the ILP, shared a
1903 elections for secretaryships of the platform with Wigan ILP politician
Bamfurlong Miners’ Association and the industrial and suffrage organisations,
organised themselves. Their battle was Helen Fairhurst (Silcock). Helen had
Bamfurlong Agency for the Wigan and been active in trade union and labour
District Miners’ Permanent Relief on two fronts: with miners’ union
leaders and in Parliament. These battles politics from at least 1895 when she
Society, became bitter. He vociferously worked with the Social Democratic
accused Harry Twist of appropriating were successful, and the women kept
their jobs. Federation (SDF) to unionise Wigan’s
money paid into the Bamfurlong Relief weavers. When the SDF affiliated to
5Wigan’s LRC in 1903, Helen’s political Demonstrations attracted working of the four men appeared before the
trajectory led her to work actively with people from local towns. In impressive Vice Chancellor of Lancashire to
the LRC. displays of unity, each year at least request an injunction to restrain
10,000 people marched behind bands Thomas Greenall, Thomas Glover,
1905 found Helen as chair at a and banners to Ashton’s market Thomas Ashton (General Secretary)
Liverpool LRC meeting. As President of square, continuing in procession along and Harry Twist from threatening or
the Wigan Weavers’ union she was a Gerrard Street and Warrington Road to interfering with the men or their
prime mover in the promotion of Haydock Park. These were not viewed employers. The owners of Bamfurlong
Wigan’s Women’s Suffrage candidate. favourably by all. Traditionally, local Colliery had been warned that if the
In March 1907 Wigan’s newly formed working men’s political allegiance was men continued to work at their colliery
Independent Labour Party replaced to the Liberal or Conservative parties. as members of a rival union, then the
the SDF on Wigan’s LRC. From then Many thought that there was no need LCMF members would not work with
Helen worked continuously for the ILP. for a third. Yet the evidence could not them and the pit would close. The
Her journey took her from singing at be ignored. Vice Chancellor did not agree that the
its first social evening to becoming its law had been broken and refused their
vice president in 1913. Conservative Opposition application.
The role women like Helen played in In the general elections of 1906 and Undeterred, on 22 July they tried
winning the hearts and minds of 1910 Labour’s James Seddon had again. They requested permission to
potential Labour voters was defeated Conservative Parliamentary appeal against the decision of 12 July,
increasingly recognised. Speaking at candidates Richard Pilkington and slightly differing their complaint. This
the 1908 Railway Servants’ Women’s Roundell Palmer (Viscount Wolmer). time they included the accusation that
Guild Conference in Wigan, Stephen And Labour’s successes seemed set to the LCMF was diverting part of their
Walsh called on Wigan’s women to be continue. In 1909 the Miners’ members’ subscriptions for political
missionaries for trade unionism and Federation of Great Britain joined the purposes, something the Osborne
political activism at work, in society Labour Party and pledged financial Judgement had made illegal. This was
and within families. support to municipal and not proven and the request for an
parliamentary candidates, using appeal was dismissed. And the
At that meeting the first Wigan branch money raised by a membership levy. movement continued.
of the Women’s Labour League (WLL) After the Osborne Judgement of
was formed. The WLL was established December 1909 made this illegal,
The January 1910
in 1906 to support the campaigns of trades unionists contributed General Election
municipal and parliamentary Labour voluntarily.
candidates. At the beginning of In the weeks immediately before the
October 1909, during the weekly Ashton’s Conservative Association election, the national battle between
meeting of the Independent Labour identified the popularity and power of the Liberal and Conservative Parties
Party, Women’s Labour League the LCMF and local leaders as the dominated Wigan’s campaign. There
organiser, Dorothy Fenn, stated her driving force of Labour’s successes. was, however, a very significant
intention to hold recruitment meetings They sponsored ten branches of their difference in Wigan. Wigan had no
among groups of women workers. Constitutional Labour Union. By Liberal candidate. Wigan’s battle for
Many women responded and by 1910 offering conservative miners an representation was between the
Wigan had three branches. The WLL alternative, they hoped LCMF would Labour and Conservative candidates.
branches held weekly or fortnightly be weakened. As the election result showed,
meetings and offered programmes of sufficient hearts and minds had been
Furthermore, in 1910, with four
lectures in the Weavers Union Rooms. won, and had been transformed into
members’ compliance, they attempted
4,803 votes for Labour’s Harry Twist.
a legal challenge to restrict LCMF’s
Their trade union and political activism With 510 more than his Conservative
power. Initially Harry Twist was their
was acknowledged at the huge annual opponent, Reginald Neville,
target. In Parliament, on 27 March
Labour Demonstrations at Haydock Harry Twist had moved from pit
1911, Viscount Wolmer asked the
Park. These annual Labour to parliament to become Wigan’s first
Attorney General to instruct the
Labour MP.
Director of Public Prosecutions to
instigate a criminal prosecution
Main Sources.
against him. He accused Twist of
Wigan Observer 1895-1910 - at Wigan
threatening and intimidating four of
Archives; Raymond Challinor -
their members in an effort to insist
The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners;
they join the LCMF. After some
The Common Cause - Manchester
discussion, the Attorney General
Archives; Women’s Labour League
refused. He saw nothing
Records - People’s History Museum
to warrant him directing the Director
of Public Prosecutions to institute a
References.
prosecution.
Wigan Observer - 1881-1893
Then, on 12 July 1911, they targeted Raymond Challinor, ‘The Lancashire
the LCMF leaders. Solicitors for three and Cheshire Miners’
6WHAT'S IN A NAME?
TRACING MYLES STANDISH
BY JOHN O'NEILL
This year marks the 400th Standish themselves between
anniversary of the Mayflower’s 1190-1220, beginning with
voyage from Plymouth across the Radulphus de Standish.
Atlantic Ocean to the New World.
The name ‘Standish’, as described
The ship, captained by Christopher
by E.Ekwall in his ‘The Place Names
Jones, was often used in the Anglo-
of Lancashire’ (Manchester
French line trade, and set sail on the
University Press, 1923) is derived
6 September 1620, weighing
from the old English ‘stan’ meaning
anchor 66 days later on 11
stony and ‘edisc’ meaning a park or
November at what became New
enclosure for cattle.
Plymouth, on the shores of Cape
Cod, New England. Branches of the Standish family
gradually spread across Lancashire
There were just over 100 passengers
over the centuries to include
on board, referred to as ‘pilgrims’,
places such as Ormskirk, the Isle of
seeking to practise their extreme
Man and Duxbury, together with a
protestant faith in peace.
number of cadet branches,
All were English, a number of them which included Shevington and
coming from Leiden, Holland where possibly Crooke.
they had been living in order to
For years the antiquarian, Thomas
escape religious persecution under
Cruddas Porteus, vicar of St John
King James I (1603-1642) and had,
the Divine, Coppull, who spent
whilst there, made a meagre living
much of his leisure times
in the cloth industry.
researching and writing about many
The voyage had been funded by the elements of local history including:
The monument to Myles Standish,
Merchant Adventurers Company, Captain Myles Standish - his lost
Duxbury, Massachusetts
hoping for improved commercial lands and Lancashire connections
prospects following a number of Despite many set-backs they (1920); A History of the Parish of
disappointing earlier ventures. established one of the earliest Standish, Lancashire (1927); A
colonies in North America and Calendar of Standish Deeds, 1230-
They placed the protection of the ultimately contributed to the 1575 (1932), endeavoured to prove
vessel, crew and passengers under foundations of the United States of that Myles Standish had claimed in
Myles Standish, from Lancashire, as America. Duxbury itself became the his will that he was born in Standish
the military commander. He had last resting place of Myles Standish Hall and therefore directly
come to that company’s notice on 3 October 1656 where, in descended from the Standishes of
when on the continent in the honour of his memory, a granite Standish Hall.
service of Queen Elizabeth (1558- shaft 116 feet high, surmounted
1603) on campaigns against Spain with a 14 foot bronze statue of However, unable to prove that,
in the early 1600s. Myles, was erected in the 1870s. Porteus finally followed up rumours
which led to the Isle of Man but
It was thanks to the skill and It was a belief held locally for years was unable to determine that Myles
courage of Myles, and the Pilgrims’ that Myles was descended from the was definitely born there. Since
leader, William Bradford, that saved principal branch of the family, the then, however, according to
the new colony that had been Standishes of Standish Hall. It was Lawrence Hill (Gentlemen of
established from annihilation in the thought these connections went Courage, Magnolia Publishing
face of sickness, and the hostility of back to William the Conqueror Company, 1987), documents have
the native Indians; although only through men who received grants of been found, including the will of
half of the pilgrims survived the first land from William following the John Standish, father of Myles,
winter there. Norman Conquest, including Warren which demonstrate that all the
In 1632 the colony moved to a more de Bussel, the Spielman and Leising evidence points to the irrefutable
suitable location on the northern families. These lands included the conclusion that Myles was the son
side of Plymouth Bay and named the manor eventually referred to as of John Standish of Ellanbane,
site Duxbury, after a branch of the Standish. With subsequent marriage Lezayre, Isle of Man and that
Standish family line living in the settlements and transfers of land the he was born at the ancestral
Chorley area of Lancashire. inheritors adopted the name home there.
7Lancashire Lads
in Lincoln's Army
BY JOHN UNSWORTH
Union troops in Virginia. Well fed and well equipped. (Library of Congress)
It must have seemed to private Henry Broadhurst Henry was not alone. Ignoring Queen Victoria's
that he had a charmed life when the knapsack he Neutrality Proclamation and the Foreign
was carrying took a direct hit from an enemy bullet. Enlistment Act forbidding British subjects to bear
The bullet was meant for him, but luckily the only arms in the conflict, an estimated 150,000
casualties were his pocketbook and a letter he had Britons enlisted to fight. Their choice, whether
penned for his father Isaac, a cotton carder in Leigh, for the North or South, depended on a number
Lancashire. Henry had literally dodged a bullet, and of reasons: abhorrence of the institution of
in a spirit of bravado, pride and maybe a tinge of slavery; opposition (if they opted for the
gratitude to the gods of war, he sent the missive on Southern cause) to what they regarded as the
to his family. After receipt of the battle-scarred letter belligerent and bullying attitude of Lincoln’s
Isaac, probably in the same spirit, forwarded it on to government; and, for those Brits who were
the editor of the local newspaper, the Leigh already domiciled in the States, patriotism
Chronicle. War news is always good copy and the towards their adopted country or region. And
editor duly printed a short item in the paper under money. Both sides offered cash bounties upon
the headline - A Narrow Escape. The date was 2 July enlistment that in some cases was the equivalent
1864. Henry was 3,000 miles away in Virginia, of a year’s wage. And in this conflict of high
fighting in a foreign war, a recruit in the Union army ideals and outraged morals it was one of the less
battling its way to Richmond, the capital of the noble, but more practical, incentives for lining up
Confederate States of America. as potential cannon fodder.
8There were also those, as in any war, whose In all likelihood, even though James and Henry were
actions were anything but noble. One of these was stationed on the same front and were both from the
James Taylor from Manchester. According to the same corner of South Lancashire, due to the erratic
Leigh Chronicle James signed up as a substitute for nature of war, chances are they never actually met.
one Samuel Corliss, a draftee from New York City. However, the War Between the States certainly did
This meant that, for a sum of money, anyone who throw up some remarkable coincidences. Like all civil
had been drafted into the army could pay a wars it was called a brothers’ war because the
'substitute' to serve on their behalf. It was a deeply emotive issues involved tested and, in some
common practice in both the Union and Southern cases, snapped the threads of family loyalty. Brother
armies. James would take Corliss's place in the literally did fight with brother – and, in some cases,
ranks. However, James Taylor had other plans, and father with son. And this wasn't solely from an
they didn't include being shot at by the enemy. American perspective. English born Confederate
Accompanied by the Provost guard he and a few Captain John L. Inglis was ordered to storm and
other enlistees went into a local restaurant for capture a Federal artillery battery. The mission was
refreshments. As they sat down at the table James accomplished and Captain Inglis dutifully accepted
took the opportunity to bolt for the nearest exit. the flag of surrender from the Federal Captain - his
One of the guards, as the Chronicle reported, who brother James.
had him in charge, was too quick for him and
Henry's regiment, the 183rd Pennsylvania, went on
discharged a pistol as he fled. The ball passed
to experience some of the fiercest and bloodiest
through Taylor’s wrist, broke a nearby chair and
fighting of the conflict as the Federal troops
tore into a dress coat draped over it. The ‘deserter’
fought their way to the Confederate capital: the
was taken to the US General Hospital where,
Battle of the Wilderness, 5-7 May; Spottsylvania,
according to the newspaper, it is ‘understood he
8-12 May; Cold Harbor, 1-12 June; Siege of
will lose his arm’. Whatever became of him is
Petersburg, 16 June; Strawberry Plains, Deep
unknown. With that grim prognosis James passed
Bottom, 14-18 August; Ream's Station, 25 August;
into history.
Hatcher's Run, 27-28 October; and the
Henry's motivation for enlisting is unknown, but as Appomattox Campaign, 28 March-9 April, 1865.
he was from the predominantly working class The regiment lost during service, four Officers and
North of England we can hazard a guess that he 92 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded.
felt some solidarity with the heavily industrialised Disease claimed the lives of two Officers and 89
Northern states. On 5 February 1864, in Enlisted men.
Philadelphia, he had mustered in with the rank of
The war came to its foregone, but no less bloody,
private with a Pennsylvania regiment, the 72nd,
conclusion in April of 1865 when Lee and the
before transferring to the 183rd. He saw action
Army of Northern Virginia, cornered at last,
during the final stages of the war when Union
surrendered to Union general, Ulysses S. Grant at
forces were closing in on the rebel capital.
Appomattox Court House. With the coming of
Southern resistance was intense, and in his letter
peace scores of Union and Confederate regiments
he expresses the hope they may yet reach
and fighting units were disbanded. The 183rd
Richmond. He may even have encountered another
mustered out on 13 July 1865. The nation now
Lancashire lad, James Battersby from Lowton, who
had to look to the long and difficult task of
was stationed in the same combat zone.
rebuilding the fractured Union. The many
James had also written a letter that had ended up thousands of soldiers who had taken up arms now
in the columns of the Leigh Chronicle. In it he had to adapt to peacetime. For those who survived
mentions the daily hazards experienced by him it was about trying to pick up the lives they had
and his comrades as they had to be constantly on known before the start of hostilities. Maybe James
their guard against rebel sharpshooters who ‘use Battersby was one of these. In Henry's case
English ammunition, which is superior to ours though, peace was short lived. Suffering from ill
and at long range they can pick off their man at health, two years after the war’s conclusion, he
every shot’. He goes on to describe an artillery passed away in Ward Nine of the Soldiers’ Home in
barrage directed at the Confederate positions in Philadelphia. He was interred in the Mt Moriah
and around the city of Petersburg, likening it to Cemetery, where you can still see the plain marble
the fireworks display he had witnessed at tablet that marks his final resting place. He was 32
Bellevue Gardens, Manchester, representing the years old.
siege of Sebastopol.
9Death’s Dictionary By Charlie Guy
A Guide to 19th Century Gravestone Symbolism
Close your eyes and take a stroll The Industrial Revolution brought anchors were combined with
through a seventeenth century with it not only technical symbols of the cross, therefore also
graveyard. It is likely that you have innovation and opportunity, but representing religious faith.
just pictured a yard of crooked also increased death rates,
stones, and heaving earth; however, overcrowding and disease, while Angels and Cherubs
in the seventeenth century a science heralded a new age of
gravestone for a common soul was God’s messengers, sent to watch
understanding which shook the
a rarity. The dead were seen as their over the grave and guide the soul
foundations of Christian religion. As
own community - once a wooden of the deceased. Angels are usually
a result, mourning and grief
marker had worn away with time it depicted in poses of grief, often
became not only a way to
was not replaced, and the dead with heads bowed, or weeping.
memorialise the dead, but a means
were left in peace. Your stroll would Cherubs traditionally mark the
of comfort – a way of holding on to
likely have taken place through a grave of a child and are set to
times better understood. While
quiet, green churchyard; essentially guide the infant soul on its journey
earlier symbols had usually depicted
a mass grave, with the names of into paradise.
occupations – for instance, a lathe
the sleeping dead lost to time and and a hammer would represent a
memory. Fast-forward a couple of woodworker; a scalpel a surgeon -
Animals
hundred years, however, and we in the Victorian era, gravestone Animals on gravestones often
see an architectural revolution. symbolism became as much about represent personal attributes of the
fashion as it was about function. deceased. For instance, a lamb or
The nineteenth century was a time
One graveyard can therefore look sheep represents piety and religious
of unprecedented change, and
vastly different to another, and yet faith; foxes depict cunning,
must have been a time of thrill,
– uncannily – the same. knowledge and intelligence; and an
inquisition and terror in equal
measure. The people of the long owl is representative of wisdom.
Here follows a guide to some
nineteenth century were the first to
ride a bicycle (the original title of
common nineteenth century Birds
gravestone symbolism found across
‘velocipede’ being far superior), Britain; and all of them should be The dove of peace is a commonly
taste ice cream, and have a picture able to be found within the seen symbol. A bird on a
taken. Who can comprehend what graveyards and cemeteries of gravestone represents not only
it must have been like to see a Wigan. How many will you see, peace but also the flight of the
photograph produced, for the first when next you walk among the soul, and the fleeting nature of
time? Was it a scientific wonder, or dead? human life.
had you just risked a portion of
your soul? Despite having shuffled Anchors Interestingly, the common belief
off this mortal coil long before our that the appearance of a robin
lifetime, the people of the The depiction of an anchor may be means that a departed loved one
nineteenth century have so many occupational for a sailor; however, has returned to watch over the
stories to tell us – if only we anchors also denote hope, family is one which evolved
remembered how to listen. steadfastness and eternal life. Many alongside the increased capabilities
Anchors Angels and Cherubs Animals
10Crosses and Celtic Crosses Boats and Ships Books
of medicine in the late nineteenth life, and a new life for the soul in Flowers and Plants
century, and as a response to the paradise. The dragonfly was also
grieving of the lost war dead in the used in this manner, representing Flowers and plants are common
early twentieth century. Prior to change, transformation and joy. symbols, popular in the Victorian
this, the robin had been viewed as era, and each type has a different
a bringer of death. Chains meaning.
Boats and Ships A chain represents the links and A daisy, for instance, symbolises
bonds of family, with a broken link youth – the occupant of the grave
Like anchors, boats and ships can being representative of the died young. Similarly, lilies
also be occupational symbols; deceased. The loss of the deceased represent virtue, chastity and
however, a boat can also represent has left a permanent break in the innocence, becoming a popular
the journey of the soul to paradise family they have left behind. Victorian funeral flower as they
– the crossing of the River Styx. represent the soul’s return to purity.
Circles
Books Ivy and oak leaves represent
Representative of eternity and the steadfastness, immortality and
Books may be representative of circle of life. Often depicted strength, with ivy also representing
religion and the Book of Life, alongside a cross, a circle has no friendship and fidelity. The
indicating piety and trust in God, or beginning and no end, and may depiction of roses on a grave
knowledge. A person whose also represent the Christian promise denote everlasting love, and the
monument depicts a book may also of resurrection. religious symbol of a palm can tell
have been a scholar, or a writer. us of piety; as well as standing for
Books on later graves may Crosses and peace, victory and the triumph of
represent scientific thought, and Celtic Crosses eternal life over death.
the triumph of science over
religion. Obvious indicators of Christian faith, Many other flowers represent the
piety and religion; with the Celtic seasons, rebirth, new life, hope and
Butterflies cross being particularly fashionable love – for example the daffodil,
during the Celtic revival of the late snow drop, and wheat.
The butterfly was popular nineteenth and early twentieth
throughout the Victorian era, being The presence of a thistle signifies
centuries. The deceased has been
symbolic of resurrection, eternal that the deceased was of Scottish
taken into the arms of Christ.
Circles Flowers and Plants Grapes
11Hands IHS Skulls and Bones
descent, while a Tudor rose marks IHS the dead to the living. We all end up
English heritage. the same – take care of your soul,
Common on gravestones while you still can.
Despite now being associated more throughout the North West, this is
commonly with the war dead, the a monogram symbolising Jesus Stars
poppy has long been a symbol of Christ, being derived from the first
death and eternal sleep, due to the Stars are indicative of eternity,
three letters of the Greek name for immortality, and divine guidance.
associations it has with opium, and Jesus – Iota-eta-sigma. The
its sedative qualities. A pentagram – or five-pointed star
appearance of this symbol marks – represents the wounds of Christ.
Grapes the deceased as being at one with
Christ. First appearing in the 1760s, Trees
With their roots in ancient Greece, this symbol came back into fashion
The depiction of a tree is
grapes represent prosperity and in the mid-nineteenth and early
representative of eternal life,
fertility; the lush abundance of the twentieth centuries.
strength and protection. A tree-
afterlife.
Sand timers stump symbolises a life cut short.
Hands Veiled Urns
Displaying the inevitable passage of
Hands are often used to denote time, a sand timer reminds the A popular nineteenth century
piety, particularly when held in living that they are always travelling symbol of grief, a veiled urn tells us
prayer, and there are three more toward death. Time waits for no that the deceased is deeply
common variations used. man. A sand timer standing upright mourned. The veil, covering the
indicates that the individual died at funeral urn, distancing it from the
Clasped hands represent the the ‘right’ time, having lived a full living, represents the veil between
exchange between life and death, life, while a sand timer on its side is life and death – through which we
and are an acknowledgement of a usually indicative of a death at a all must pass.
life well lived. young age – a life cut short.
A hand pointing upward represents Winged Heads
the soul’s ascent to heaven, while a
Skulls and Bones A slightly earlier symbol, these ‘soul
hand pointing downward… Memento mori – remember you will heads’ represent the soul of the
represents a sudden death – the die. Along with shovels, pickaxes and deceased taking flight to the
hand of God descending, come to coffins, morbid symbols of death and afterlife and were popular during
choose a soul. What else? decay serve as a literal message from the Regency period.
Veiled Urns Trees Winged Heads
12Everyone in our community has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19)
We will all have a story to tell about how the pandemic generations ago were passed down through songs
has altered our lives. Our lived experience now is and storytelling.
something people will want to understand in the future.
But how much will we remember? And how will we tell Collecting leaflets and other ephemera - this may be
future generations what life was really like? something through the door about a local restaurant
delivering meals to the vulnerable, or an email from your
Once the restrictions are lifted, we may forget, or local church about the Easter service. Anything local
choose not to dwell on the everyday experiences that recording the changes to our lives is potentially
make this period in history so unique. We’ll have important for future historians. They’re all valuable and
newspapers and websites to look at, but we want to we’d like copies, whether digital or paper.
capture the voices of normal people.
3D objects - you might work for a local firm who
switched production to medical PPE supplies and have a
We want to hear from YOU.
design sample, or have created a banner in support of
We’re asking you to record your experiences of life now, NHS workers. Please let us know what you have.
as it is happening. We’d love to receive COVID-19 diaries
(currently being written) and photographs. The How do I submit my contribution
experience of every member of our community is relevant.
to the Archive?
We’d like you to record how you are being affected -
You can submit your contributions to Wigan and Leigh
family life, work, school, shopping, neighbourhood
Archives by:
support networks, or any details of life at the moment.
• Emailing archives@wigan.gov.uk
Everyone can play a part and get involved - young and
old, school children and adults, workers and those self- • Post or in person, once restrictions on movement are
isolating at home. lifted. Keep checking this page for address details.
How can I contribute to the How will we use the Archive?
COVID-19 Archive? Building the Archive will give future generations an
Keep a diary - make a daily or weekly record of life in insight into our lives, but we’ll be keeping in touch in a
your local area during the pandemic. This might include few ways, including sharing new content with you
photographs and could be digital or on paper. through our social media pages on a weekly basis.
Create a scrapbook - include photographs, newspaper Over time we’ll be working with our volunteers to
cuttings, notes and cards from friends and family, any decide which material to permanently include in the
leaflets you’ve received relating to coronavirus, your own Archive and thinking about how we can share the
notes and observations. Don’t forget to add dates where Archive more widely, online at Wigan and Leigh Archives
possible. This is a particularly good idea for children who or through our venues at The Museum of Wigan Life,
may have created a lot of artwork during lockdown - see Archives and Local Studies and The Fire Within.
diary ideas for kids. For more information on guidelines for submissions,
Take some photographs or record a video - capture please see https://www.wigan.gov.uk/COVID19Archives
something unique about the impact of COVID-19 on email us at archives@wigan.gov.uk
your local area. This might be the view of your street
taken from your garden or from a flat or top floor Terms for submissions
window. If you’re a key worker, maybe capture
When you contact us or send any material, we’ll get in
something you see while travelling around the
touch to explain the terms by which we accept any
borough. Please remember to do so only within
material into the Archives. This allows us to record any
government guidelines.
wishes you have for the material and ensure everything
Songs, poems and sketches - this is a great way of is properly documented.
recording your personal experiences. Many stories from
13A HIDDEN FLAW
An Atherton Tragedy
BY BRIAN JOYCE
In late 1911, Ernest Boardman One assumes that Thursday 21 now impassable. The screaming
was forced to make far reaching September 1911 started like any women stumbled blindly towards
decisions. He gave up his home in other. Emily and her co- workers, another, rarely used doorway
Mosscrop Street in Leigh and, with drawn not only from Atherton but obscured with a sacking curtain.
his two infant children, moved in from as far afield as Leigh and To reach it, they would have to
with his widowed mother in Hindley, started their usual climb onto a wooden platform
Windmill Street. She already morning shift in Room 17 - the two feet above the floor. They
shared her four roomed house ‘cop warehouse’. At 12.30pm, failed.
with three unmarried adult Walter Melvin, the mill’s assistant
children. At the same time, engineer, stopped the machinery One of the women stumbled and
Boardman gave up his job at a and the women went for their fell while trying to climb to the
nearby colliery to return to his dinner. At 1.30pm, they returned exit. Others collapsed on top of
previous occupation as a railway and Melvin restarted the engine, her, blocking the doorway.
platelayer which, at about £1 per which operated smoothly for 17
Barnett Clark, the cop winders’
week, was better paid. Ernest had minutes. Then disaster struck.
overlooker was standing in a
no real choice because, at a stroke
A range of overhead pipes took neighbouring room when the
and without warning, his family
steam under great pressure from calamity occurred. He, and others,
had lost more than a third of its
the boilers to the machinery including the mill’s manager
income. His wife Emily’s weekly
operated by the cop winders. Claude Blair Jnr, rushed into the
wage of 16s 10d had died with
Suddenly, and without warning, seething cauldron to drag the
her when she was scalded to
one of the pipes fractured and scalded women out. Meanwhile
death at work.
burst through its lagging, sending the mill’s engineer, Thomas Carr
Emily was a cop winder, ‘doubling’ jets of boiling steam onto the Johnson, was still on his dinner
spun yarn to strengthen it for the startled women 10 feet below. hour at his nearby house. He was
weaving process. She and several The shattered pipe was adjacent disturbed by frantic banging at
hundred other workers were to the room’s main exit which was the door and dashed round the
employed at Dan Lane Mill, the
premises of the Lee Spinning
Company in Tyldesley Road
(formerly Dan Lane) in Atherton.
By 1911, the company had
become part of the Fine Cotton
Spinners and Doublers Association,
a conglomerate formed in 1898
which became the largest spinning
concern in the country.
The Association’s Secretary was
Claude Blair, who had risen to the
position in 1909, having
managed Dan Lane Mill for
several years. His son, also named
Claude, took over as mill manager.
The Blairs’ extended family
continued to reside in Southbank,
an 11 roomed house adjacent to
the mill.
Dan Lane Mill, Atherton, 1909
14corner to help Walter Melvin shut had not been the mill’s engineer often incurred on child minders
down the boilers. when the new pipework was and housekeepers by husbands
installed. He had never had reason used to having unpaid domestic
Three local doctors hurried to the
to doubt its stability. Both men chores undertaken by their wives.
mill to examine the prostrate
emphasised that the flaw was Remarriage after a respectable
women. They rushed the nine
hidden internally and could not period of mourning was a
most badly scalded, including
have been spotted by an external preferable option for many
Emily Boardman, to Leigh
examination. widowed men. There is some
Infirmary by ambulance and in
evidence that Ernest Boardman
cabs. Given the ever present risk Following the Coroner’s
had this consolation after a
of accidents in factories and recommendation, the inquest jury
few years.
collieries, the hospital had taken returned a verdict of accidental
the precaution of reserving spare death. In the fullness of time a The Workmen’s Compensation Act
capacity for such an emergency. Board of Trade enquiry would provided a cushion of sorts by
By the time the vehicles clattered definitively establish exactly what establishing the automatic right of
to a standstill nurses, led by Sister had happened. dependents to seek compensation
Annie Louth, were waiting to from the employers of the
The first funerals were those of
receive the casualties. All of the deceased. Employer negligence
Alice Landers and Beatrice Kay,
women had suffered severe did not have to be proved; the
who were laid to rest in adjacent
scalding to their faces, necks and mere occurrence of an accident
plots at Atherton Cemetery.
arms. was sufficient. The bereaved
Claude Blair and his son attended
families of the Atherton cop
Three of the nine were eventually both funerals, as did
winders had no need to wait
discharged, scarred but alive. Two, representatives of the mill’s
for a Board of Trade enquiry to
15 year old Beatrice Kay and Alice workforce and women from the
assign blame.
Landers who was 25, died on the Johnson and Davies bolt works in
day and 18 year old Margaret Atherton. Hannah McCool and Five of the six took their cases
Tickle on the Friday. Emily Elizabeth Spires were also buried against the Lee Spinning Co to
Boardman’s agony lasted until she at Atherton later. Contemporary Leigh County Court in late January
succumbed the following day. accounts indicate that the town 1912. Contemporary accounts do
Hannah McCool clung to life until came to a virtual standstill during not mention a claim being made
the Sunday. At 47, the oldest of these occasions. Margaret Tickle by the family of Hannah McCool.
the six was Elizabeth Spires. She and Emily Boardman were interred They were certainly entitled to
was the last to die, her suffering at Hindley and Leigh respectively. compensation: perhaps they
lasting until Monday. At their settled out of court. Judge Henry
As well as being a lasting tragedy
inquest, the cause of death of Stanger, who presided over the
for the families of the deceased
each was given as a combination hearings, was a former Liberal MP
women, their deaths caused an
of bronchitis and shock. sympathetic to female suffrage
immediate threat to their financial
and listened to the claimants’
The inquest jury also heard survival. A woman’s wages often
arguments favourably.
evidence from Claude Blair Snr, provided a vital component of the
the secretary of the company, and family’s income, as seen in the William Craston, the solicitor for
Thomas Carr Johnson, its engineer. case of Ernest Boardman outlined Ernest Boardman, explained the
They both described how a new above. Not only was income lost financial consequences of Emily’s
engine and accompanying but additional expenditure was unexpected death: that he had
pipework had been installed in
1902. On entering the cop
warehouse after the explosion
both men had immediately
spotted that the broken pieces of
pipe lying on the floor varied in
their internal diameters. The pipe
had split along a nine to ten foot
length at the point at which it was
thinnest internally. Blair believed
this to be a flaw in the pipe’s
casting, claiming that: “I should
not have allowed that pipe to be
put up or used if I had known it
was in that condition”.
Thomas Carr Johnson emphasised
that he was new to the firm and
The remains of Dan Lane Mill
15been forced to seek a better paid Another Hindley Green family was Musgrave’s of Bolton supplied and
job, that he and his infant that of Thurston Landers who, like fitted the new installation.
children had been forced to move Tickle, was a coal miner. Again, Musgrave’s engineer was told to
into his mother’s already five of his seven children were fix the boiler’s new pipes to what
overcrowded house and so on. working and contributing to the remained of the old ones, even
Ernest and Emily had pooled their family budget, but when his though nobody knew who had
incomes, so he had been partially daughter Alice was scalded to installed them or how long they
dependent on his wife’s earnings. death at the Dan Lane Mill it was had been in place. When
He was claiming £150 in reduced by about 13s weekly. Musgrave’s man objected to this
compensation. Rhodes, for the Once more, Rhodes attempted to instruction as contrary to normal
Lee Spinning Co, accepted that minimize the amount of practice, Richard Rogers the mill’s
Ernest had been partially compensation, but the judge own engineer, presumably under
dependent on Emily but, using a awarded Landers £35. Forrest’s orders, had told him to
complicated formula, suggested go ahead anyway. Both Forrest
The largest award went to the
that £35 would be more and Rogers had since died, as had
family of one of the youngest
appropriate. At one point, Rogers’ immediate successor.
victims. Beatrice Kay was 18 years
Rhodes claimed that Ernest might
old when her lungs were scorched Under questioning at the enquiry,
well remarry, ‘and then his loss
with boiling steam. Her 64 year Vernon Bellhouse, the present
would cease’.
old father, a former collier, had head of the Fine Cotton Spinners
Judge Stanger would have none been laid off three years engineering department, admitted
of this, insisting that the figure previously due to his age. He now that he had started as a cotton
Rhodes was offering was totally earned a maximum of 2s 6d a spinner, picking up what
inadequate. Ultimately Ernest was week doing odd jobs when he engineering knowledge he had in
awarded £75 for the loss of could. Beatrice’s mother kept their the mechanics’ shop. As reported
Emily’s income. house in Atherton and brought in in the Leigh Chronicle he admitted
no income. While her older sister that: ‘It was emphatically his
Forty seven year old Elizabeth
worked in a bolt works, for which practice not to make calculations
Spires had earned, on average,
she earned 10s 6d weekly, Beatrice in his (the engineering)
12s 8d per week as a cop winder.
had been the mainstay and might department but to depend upon
Her husband, John, was a pit
have continued to be so. As the the persons who executed the
brow labourer for a reported £1
family’s solicitor, Thomas Dootson work to make calculations’.
weekly. The couple had no
observed: “There was for three AA Hudson KC, the barrister
children, but they paid 2s 6d
years a prospect of the girl doing presiding over the enquiry, was
towards the support of his aged
a lot more, and even after that shocked. The Leigh Chronicle
father. Since Elizabeth’s tragic
time, she might have been able to reported this exchange:
death, John needed to pay a total
help her parents, as some good
of 4s a week to a housekeeper for ‘It was an extraordinary state of
married girls in this district did”.
cleaning the house and doing the things. Mr Bellhouse was throwing
By the standards of the time, Mr
washing. Rhodes, for the over all his duties as engineer and
and Mrs Kay were elderly. The loss
company, denied that John had leaving someone to perform his
of Beatrice’s 12s to 15s weekly
been dependent on Elizabeth’s duties. Mr Bellhouse said cotton
was a serious blow so the family
income and so did not merit spinners were not engineers and
were awarded £100.
much compensation, but Judge they really depended upon the
Stanger disagreed. Three people It took more than 12 months for people from whom they got their
had lived off their pooled the Board of Trade enquiry into plant to do what was required’.
incomes. Elizabeth’s 12s 8d had the Atherton tragedy to meet at
disappeared and yet household Manchester Town Hall. The initial Hudson: “What is the good of the
expenditure had risen. John Spires observations made by Claude Blair engineering department?”
was awarded £40. and Thomas Carr Johnson during Bellhouse: “To keep an eye on
the victims’ inquests were shown what is going on. To look after the
Margaret Tickle had shared her
to be substantially correct. financial part of the business”.
six-roomed house in Leigh Road,
Hindley Green with her husband When the Fine Cotton Spinners Hudson: “You will admit that it is
Richard, a miner, and nine of their and Doublers Association took quite misleading to call it the
eleven children, five of whom over Dan Lane Mill, three boilers engineering department”?
were working and paying keep. had been in situ. One of them was
Nevertheless, four were either replaced in 1902. This project had Bellhouse: “It is the wrong name
infants or at school. Over Rhodes’ been theoretically managed by a for it”.
objections, Judge Stanger director of the firm named Forrest, A Board of Trade surveyor
awarded Richard £30 for the loss the head of the Fine Cotton examined the broken pieces of the
of Margaret’s 11s a week. Spinners engineering department. old pipe as part of the enquiry. He
16You can also read
