John Hope.
Chairman of Aspull Urban District
Vice -Chairman April 1909, elected Chairman in October 1909 on resignation of Henry Trotman.
Re-elected chairman 20/04/1910, 19/04/1911, 17/04/1912, 20/04/1921, 19/04/1922
b 1861 in Aspull
Parents: James & Elizabeth Hope, Shopkeeper
m 1888 Rachel daughter of Isaac Southern, Inn Keeper and widow of James Hope, born 1852 in Westhoughton died 1922 Aspull
children: Three sons and one daughter
d 1924
Born in 1861 in Aspull his parents had moved from Westhoughton around 1850 and the family became well known shopkeepers at 174 Lower Gullet. In the early 20th Century Higher and Lower Gullet was renamed Bolton Road, Lower Gullet being the section from Hall Lane to the boundary. The Hope’s house and shop on the east side of the road became 572-574 Bolton Road.
John was educated at the Friend’s School in Penketh, Warrington until the age of 16. The family attended the Friend’s Meeting House in Westhoughton in his younger days but John later became a member of St Elizabeth’s Church in Aspull.
When his father died in 1872, James, the eldest son took, over the grocery business and in 1873 married Rachel, daughter of Isaac Southern, Inn Keeper. John may have intended to follow a different career as he was not with his parents and siblings in the 1871 census. The only John Hope born in Aspull in 1860 in the 1871 census was an engineer living as a lodger in Thornton-Cleveleys.
In 1883 when James died, aged 29, John took over the business and married Rachel, his sister-in-law, in 1888.
John was a member of Aspull Urban District Council for twenty-four years from its formation in 1894 and served as overseer of the poor for twenty-two years. He represented the Council on the School Management Committees of St. Elizabeth’s, Wesleyan and Aspull Church Schools and was a member of the Old Age Pensions Committee. In addition he was one of the promoters of Aspull Football Club.
In November 1902 John and Rachel Hope appeared before Wigan County Court charged with obstructing bailiffs and rescuing goods. The bailiffs were executing a warrant when the Hope’s intervened demanding payment for rent.
The judge expressed regret that a local councillor and a respected member of the community should have found themselves in such a situation and had they not pleaded guilty then a stiffer sentence would have been imposed. John Hope was fined 40 shillings and Rachel 1 shilling.
Rachel died in 1922 and John died in 1924, both are buried with his brother, James, in St David’s Churchyard. Haigh.
Author: Peter Walker
Sources:
Aspull Urban District Council Minutes
Wigan Observer 12 January 1924 p9e – Obituary
Ancestry.com
Ordnance Survey 1892 & 1929 maps
Findmypast.co.uk (Subscription required)
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 19 November 1902 BL_0000206_19021119_065 (British Library at Findmypast.co.uk)
Leeds Mercury 19 November 1902_BL_0000747_19021119_193 (British Library at Findmypast.co.uk)