1958-1959, Arthur Boardman, Mayor of Leigh

1958-1959, Arthur Boardman, Mayor of Leigh

Millworker and one-time licensee, Arthur Boardman was widely regarded as being the most popular member of Leigh Town Council – respected and admired by members of every political persuasion – when he was unanimously elected Conservative mayor in May 1958.

He was, as Labour Alderman C.H. Bratt said at the Mayor-making ceremony, “a man whom everybody likes and who likes everybody.”

Ald Bratt then sparked laughter in the Council Chamber when he added: “I venture to think he has more friends among the Labour Party than he has among his own and if he carries on with these qualifications I am quite sure that before long he will be good enough to be in the Labour Party itself.”

Arthur Boardman, of Ennerdale Road, entered politics in 1946 when he was elected councillor for St Joseph’s Ward having failed in the same ward the previous year. Much of his public service focused on education and when he retired from the Council on ill-health grounds in May 1965, he had been a manager of Bedford, Pennington and Leigh Church of England schools and Buts CE School. Arthur was also appointed as a Justice of the Peace.

He was a member of Leigh Friendly Collecting Society and a long-time member of Bedford Conservative Club, where he served as treasurer for 12 years.

Born in Size House Place, Bedford, in 1896, he started school at Bedford Methodist School and after working “half-time” at the age of 12 in the weaving shed at Jones Brothers Mill, he returned to full-time schooling at the age of 13. He eventually went full-time at Mather Lane Spinning Company, where he started as a learner, taking hot water to his spinner, on fourpence a week. He eventually completed 50 years’ service at the Mather Lane and Brooklands Mills, ending his working life in 1959 as head carder.

From 1932-35 he was “mine host” of the old Letters Inn in Duke Street.

During the First World War, Arthur Boardman enlisted in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, but was sent home on Reserve Certificate and worked at Sutcliffe and Speakman and Anchor Cables, before returning to mill work in 1918.

When he died at the age of 82 in Astley Hospital in November 1978 following a fall, he left a wife May Elizabeth, a son and a daughter.

Written by Gordon Sharrock

References

Biographical cuttings – Arthur Boardman, available at Leigh Local Studies.