1939-1941, Herbert Gough, Mayor of Leigh

1939-1941, Herbert Gough, Mayor of Leigh

Herbert Gough was born around 1891 and was Mayor of Leigh from 1939 to 1941 as well as the thirty-first ^t citizen to be elected as Chief Magistrate and the eighth  Labour Party member to be elected Mayor. His path to mayoralty wasn’t easy, his Dad died when he was young and he had to look after his Mum and 7 siblings. He became an apprentice mechanic at Plank Lane pit at 13 years old and on completing his apprenticeship he went to Sutton Manor pit. He was one of the founders of the Lancashire and Cheshire Colliery Tradesmen’s Union, which at Sutton Manor wasn’t recognised by the owners. They went on strike because of this. He was sacked after being blamed for the strike and had to return to Plank Lane.

He was the treasurer of the Miners Relief Fund and overlooked the soup kitchens during the 1926 strike; as a result of this no pit would take him on just because he ran soup kitchens for miners. He went into coal dealership with a partner as a result and was also secretary of Lancashire & Cheshire Colliery Tradesman and a member of the executive.

After a decade of coal dealership he became clerk of works at the skip-winding and dry cleaning plant installation at Bickershaw, and later an education and training officer. He was apprentice supervisor for the Wigan No. 2 area.

He was first elected as a councillor for the Etherstone ward in 1924, then unseated in 1932. He was re-elected a year later to the St. Mary’s ward, elected Mayor from 1939 to 1941 and was elected Alderman in 1945. He was appointed to the Housing Committee in 1927, then chairman in 1942. He also sat on several education committees and as with many mayors he was also appointed magistrate, in 1938.

He was closely associated with his church (Zion Independent Methodists, Plank Lane) and held most of the offices that a layman could hold. He moved to Cornwall in 1959 to live nearer his son who had a guest house and died there in 1962.

References

Biographical cuttings – Herbert Gough – Leigh Local Studies