John Tootle
Chairman of Aspull Urban District Council 1931/32, 1939/40, 1947 (April to August)
Elected Chairman 22 April 1931, re-elected 20 April 1932
Elected Chairman 2 April 1939
Elected Chairman 21 April 1947, resigned August 1947
b 1889 Aspull
Parents: Charles Tootle, Colliery Banksman and Clarissa daughter of John Seddon, Collier
m 1918 Wigan to Margaret, daughter of Robert Workman, greengrocer, and Margaret
children: Two sons and a daughter who died in childhood
d 1960 Aspull, Margaret died 1982, Aspull
John Tootle was born in Aspull in 1889, first son of Charles Tootle, colliery banksman, and Clarissa, daughter of John Seddon, collier. He had a stepbrother and a brother.
On leaving school John began work in the mines, eventually rising to become manager of the Lindsay Colliery of Wigan Coal & Iron Company and after Nationalisation the National Coal Board.
In 1918 he married Margaret, daughter of Robert Workman, a greengrocer, they had two sons and a daughter, the daughter died in childhood.
After the Great War John was member of the committee to erect the Haigh and Aspull War Memorial at the Fingerpost. His interests centred on social welfare issues and the Wesleyan Methodist Church and school in Aspull, of which he was a lifelong member serving as a steward of the church and a foundation manager of the school.
He was elected to Aspull Urban District Council around 1934 and served on the local coal fields distress committee, a member of Houghton’s charity and Borsdane Wood Joint Committee. He was also involved in reviving the Aspull Old Folks’ Treat and a Freemason member of Sincerity Lodge.
John Tootle served as chairman of Aspull Urban District Council first in 1931 for two years and again in 1939 for one year. In April 1947 he was elected Chairman for the fourth time but resigned from the Council in August. The Council Minutes state that he objected to the appointment of a temporary lady typist, by the Clerk to the Council, without consulting the chairman.
Minutes of meetings rarely state more than the bare facts and the Wigan Observer’s account of the meeting show that this was perhaps the last straw in a series of events.
“Councillor Green said that the public of Aspull were dissatisfied with what was happening and it was common talk that they had been overridden by the Clerk for some time”
Councillor Naylor was proposed for Chairman, paying tribute to Councillor Tootle he said that “he had no intention of being chairman of a council that would support the action of a Clerk which caused the Chairman to resign.”
“Councillor Mawdsley said he was averse to any dirty linen being washed in public. If Councillor Naylor had ‘any guts’ he would accept the chairmanship.”
“Councillor Naylor said the Clerk had flagrantly violated everything they had done and had deliberately insulted himself and the Council.”
The origin of the dispute lay in the contract for building new houses on the “Crawford estate” at a cost of £204 per pair. Messrs. Abletts, the builders, reported difficulty in keeping bricklayers at that price. The Surveyor Mr Holland, said that he could get good bricklayers and a sub-contract was awarded to Messrs. Burroughs and Berry for four pairs of houses at price of £225 per pair.
There was pressure from the Council to make progress with the new building work and the officials had acted to do this. The Chairman of the Housing Committee had been informed but not the full Council. The Clerk apologised and promised that he would not, in future, take any action unless there was a definite resolution to support it.
John Tootle died in May 1960 in Scot Lane, Aspull. His wife Margaret died in 1982. Both were buried in St Elizabeth’s Churchyard. Aspull.
Author: Peter Walker
Sources:
Aspull Urban District Council Minutes
Wigan Observer 2 May 1931 Cuttings Book 3 p33
Wigan Observer 4 October 1947 p5de
Wigan Examiner 27 May 1960 p5e Obituary (Photo)
Ancestry.com (Free at Museum of Wigan Life)
Findmypast.co.uk (Subscription required)