1929-1930, William Glover, Mayor of Wigan

1929 WILLIAM GLOVER (1869-1942)

William Glover was born in 1869, and attended St Thomas’s school as a child. 

The 1881 census shows the family living at 39 Hodson Street.  His father Charles was bookkeeper to Charles Butler Holmes (who was elected mayor in 1903):  Charles and his wife Jane were living with their 6 children.

William also worked for Holmes as a builder and joiner, and rose to be manager of the company.  After the death of Charles Holmes he started his own business as a builder and property repairer at Cross Street Saw Mills, which he continued until two years before his death.  Because of his profession, he was a member of several relevant organisations: Wigan and District Master Builders’ Association; Wigan Property Owners’ Association; Wigan Estate Agents’ Association; and President of the Wigan Permanent Benefit Building Society.

On 24 November 1897 he married Mary Elena Jones.

He was adopted as the Conservative candidate for Poolstock ward, and was elected there in 1910.

On the 1921 census he is described a joiner and was living with his wife Mary Elena, their daughter Anne Olive and son Charles William at 6 Ashland Avenue.

In 1923 he became an alderman, and the following year was created a justice of the peace.  In 1929 was he elected mayor. He served on the following committees at different times: Estates & development, Housing, Streets, Watch, Works, Insanitary houses, Cemetery,  Education, Civil Defence.  He was able to advise the Education Building & Repairs committee and the Corporation Works Department because of his knowledge of building.

William had a keen interest in sports.   As a young man he played rugby for Kitt Green and for Pemberton, and was a supporter of the Wigan team.  He was also a playing member of Norley Hall, St Mark’s and Poolstock cricket clubs, and for 35 years was treasurer of the latter club. He also played bowls at the Bellingham club.  He was a member of the Loyal Orange Institution, and a senior Freemason.  He was    the organiser of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Relief Fund.[i]

On 2 April 1930 a Cotton Ball was held at the Baths Assembly Hall, hosted by the mayor and mayoress[ii]. Mary Elena and her daughter Amy were dressed in flowered cotton dresses, as were most of the other women.  Competitions were held in the evening for dresses symbolic of cotton and cotton wear, and prizes were also offered in different categories, such as window dressing, and presented by the mayoress. The prizes were vouchers to be spent at Wigan shops.

[There is an amusing aside in the description of the evening: A new note in men’s evening dress was struck by Mr A Lowe and Mr H Lowe, of Messrs Lowe, Victoria House.  These two gentlemen appeared in unconventional dress suits of black cotton sateen.  And very smart and cool they looked, too.]

Later that year, half way through William’s mayoral term, his wife Mary Elena died.  His daughter, Ivy, took her mother’s place as mayoress.

William died on 11 October 1942 at his home, 26 Swinley Road  His funeral cortege was accompanied from his house to St Michael’s church by a detachment of police.  There was a very large congregation, representing every area of his life: his family and friends, the council, the police court, the building industry, the sports clubs with which he had been associated, and local freemasons.[iii]

Upon his election as mayor in 1929, the Wigan Observer[iv]  had carried a profile of the new mayor and his wife, and included this description of William:

“He combines a genial and kindly disposition with a keen and sound business faculty…His circle of friends is a particularly wide one, and he has the fullest respect of them all.  In short, he is a companionable man, capable in whatever work he takes up, and trustworthy in whatever office he may hold”.

[i] Wigan Observer 9 November 1929

[ii] Wigan Examiner 5 April 1930

[iii] Wigan Observer 17 October 1942

[iv] As footnote 2