1928-1929, Patrick Murphy, Mayor of Wigan

Patrick Murphy

Mayor Of Wigan November 1928 to 1929 

Born: 29 December 1864 Bolton

Died: 19 November 1942 Wigan

Parents: Patrick Murphy and Jane Doyle

Wives: Susannah Droney circa 1890 and Ada Anna Markey circa 1928

Children: Mary Ellen, Jane, John, Patrick, Honora by Susannah Droney

Co-opted to Wigan Council: 1915

Elected Mayor: 9 November 1928

Appointed Alderman: 9 November 1929

Alderman Patrick Murphy was born in Bolton on 29 December 1864. His family moved to Wigan when he was aged five. His parents were Irish and came from Gorey in County Wexford, Patrick Murphy Senior was a labourer. He had two brothers John and William and two sisters Margaret and Eliza.

Ald. Murphy was a Roman Catholic and attended St. Patrick’s School. At the age of eight he started work at a Wigan rope works in Hardy Butts as a “half-timer” by way of earning a living while still attending school part of the day. Aged ten, he went to work in the card room at the cotton mills of Taylor Bros in Wallgate and stayed there for four years. He then went to work at the Wigan Coal and Iron Co Ltd. in the coke yard at Kirklees and later at Marsh House in Aspull. After working there for a number of years he decided to enter the insurance business and took an agency with the British Workman Assurance Co. A few years later Ald. Murphy became a commercial traveller with Christopher Bros., Tea Merchants of Wigan and worked there for nearly 20 years. He then went into business on his own account as a tea merchant, a business he was still associated with when he became Mayor of Wigan in 1928.

Ald. Murphy had a wide variety of interests in business, industry, politics, public life and religious affairs. He was President and Chair of the Wigan Branch of the National Union of General Workers and in 1937 he was presented with an Illuminated Address to commemorate his 21 years of chairmanship of the Wigan Branch, (Wigan Observer 13 March 1937).

Ald. Murphy was closely associated with the work of the Irish National Movement. For six years he was President of the Wigan Davitt Branch of the Irish League. In this capacity, he represented the Branch at conventions in England and Ireland. During his presidency of this league, he began to identify with the Labour Party.

Ald. Murphy was a Roman Catholic and firstly attended St.Patrick’s Church, later St. John’s in Standishgate and when he moved to the Springfield area of Wigan he attended the Sacred Heart Mission. He was the President of the Catholic Young Men’s Society of Sacred Heart and was also President of the Wigan and District Council of Catholic Young Men’s Societies. He was a member of the Knights of St. Columba and held the offices of Chancellor and Deputy Grand Knight.

Ald. Murphy first contested the St. George Ward for the Labour Party in 1907 but was unsuccessful in that election, and again in 1908. In 1915 Ald. Murphy was co-opted as a Councillor for St. George's Ward to fill a vacancy. Contested elections were in abeyance due to the war. Ald. Murphy was proposed by Ald. J. Fairhurst (Labour) and seconded by Ald. A S Hilton (Conservative) and was without opposition elected as a member of the Council, the first co-opted member. After the first world war, he was re-elected with a large majority and in subsequent elections successful each time. His mayoralty was his 14 year of service with the Council.

Ald. Murphy sat on many varied committees:

1. Vice Chair of the Market and Park Committee
2. Education Committee
3. Health Committee
4. Library Committee
5. Maternity and Child Welfare Committee
6. Water Committee
7. Tuberculosis Committee
8. Scholes Pension Committee
9. Allotment Sub Committee
10. Salaries and Wages Committee
11. Gas Committee
12. Baths Committee
13. Burial Board
14. Food Control Committee
15. Military and Naval Pensions Committee
16. Member of the Profiteering Tribunal
17. Chair of the Wigan Public Assistance Committee
18. Chair of the Coalfields and Distress Committee from1929 to1933.

Ald. Murphy was the sixth Catholic Mayor of Wigan since the Reformation and became Mayor at the age of 64.

Ald. Murphy was married twice. His first wife was Susannah Droney and they married circa 1890. The 1891 census shows Patrick and Susannah living at 11 Derby Street, Wigan and lists his occupation as labourer at the coke works and Susannah as a cotton weaver. It has been very difficult to find out dates for births, marriages and deaths due to the accessibility of some of the church records. They had five children, Mary Ellen, Jane, John, Patrick and Honora. The 1871 census shows Ald. Murphy as a young child living with his family at 108 Bradshawgate, 1881 census at 20 Cambridge Street. The married Ald. Murphy then living at 11 Derby Street in 1891 and the 1901 census at 13 Belvoir Street and in 1911 at 28 Greenough Street. Susannah died in 1920 and was buried at Wigan Cemetery on 16 April 1920. He remarried in 1928 to Ada Anna Markey.

Ald. Murphy died on 19 November 1942. The Council Minutes of 1 December 1942 paid tribute to him and the dignified way in which he and his wife filled the highest position in the Town as Mayor and Mayoress. His funeral and requiem mass took place at Sacred Heart Church and he was buried in Wigan Cemetery with Susannah, his first wife. At the time of his death, the family lived at 7 Newman Avenue.

Sources

Ancestry.com

Lancashire BDM

Wigan Observer 15 NOVEMBER 1919 P8F

Wigan Observer  10 NOVEMBER 1928 BOOK 2 P133

Wigan Examiner  13 NOVEMBER 1928 BOOK 2 P128

Wigan Observer 13 MARCH 1937 BOOK 4 P180 & 182

Wigan Observer 7 JANUARY 1939

Wigan Observer 21 NOVEMBER 1942 P5F

Council Minutes 1 DECEMBER 1942

Council Minutes 5 JANUARY 1943