1831 JOHN LORD (1796-1863)
John Lord was born in Wigan on 2 January 1796 and baptised at All Saints Church, Wigan, on 19 February. His baptismal record shows he was the son of John Lord of King Street, a Sheriff’s officer, and Mary Lord, daughter of James and Ellen Alker. He had a younger sister, Mary, who was born in 1805.
He married Ann Pickup, who was born in Blackburn c.1801, on 18 January 1820, at St Mary the Virgin in Blackburn. Their one child, John Pickup Lord, who was born on 8 February 1821, was baptised at All Saints.
Directories for the Wigan area show that John Lord was an attorney. His business address in 1828 was given as Legs of Man Yard, Wigan. Several later directories give his home address as Ince Hall, while his business, Lord and Ackersley, was in King Street.
He was first elected mayor in 1831, but was subsequently re-elected in 1834, 1840, 1841, 1843, 1845 and 1847.
Two items of business from the meeting of the council on 10 January 1844:
The mayor having represented to the meeting that Mr Gore had at his own expense re-erected the Monument in Wigan Lane: it was unanimously resolved that the thanks of the council be transmitted to Mr Gore for the handsome manner in which he had re-erected the Monument to the memory of the late Colonel Sir Thomas Tyldesley and at the same time to assure him that every protection will be afforded it.
The meeting received a report from the Improvements Committee meeting held two days earlier: Your committee beg to state that they have examined the state of the public stocks in the Wallgate Street which they consider an hindrance to the free passage of Her Majesty’s subjects and they beg to recommend to the council that immediate steps be taken for the entire removal of such stocks from the public streets.
On 24 August that year the council received a report from the Improvement Committee which:
John Lord was a leading member of the Conservative party in Wigan. The Poll Book of 1845 records that he seconded the proposal of James Lindsay as the Conservative parliamentary candidate.
A document relating to a court case of 23 February 1846 details a deed, drawn up in 1838, which was ostensibly made between John Lord, his son John Pickup Lord and his son’s father in law James Pickup. The deed granted John Pickup Lord and James Pickup a yearly rent charge of £5. [At that time, men had to be ’40 shilling freeholders’ - owners of property which yielded at least a £2 per annum.] If genuine, this would confer on them the right to vote in elections. The court established that the deed had been kept in John Lord’s safe and that the two other men had not been present when the deed was drawn up. The court decided that the two men would be denied the right to vote on the grounds of fraud.
At a meeting on 19 October 1846 the council considered a report from the General Purposes committee regarding a matter of ‘vast importance’ to people in the town. All medical men agreed about the ‘injurious effect of emanations’ from stagnation of ditches, open cesspools or accumulated decayed refuse. They recommended that drainage should be improved; refuse should be removed and areas cleaned; public streets, alleys and courts should be paved; there should be a supply of water for public and private use; and buildings should be ventilated.
Many of the poorer areas had no underground drainage. For example, of some streets in a particular area with a total length of 18,725 yards, only 3,000 yards were drained. There was no local act pertaining to the need for drainage or removal of nuisances. They recommended that one council body should have oversight of the problem, and determine how funds were to be raised to pay for the essential work.
The description of the lack of systematic cleansing and the resulting appalling state of privies, cesspools and middens which led to ‘fetid exhalations’ was a cause for great concern. It was not unusual for heaps of such material to remain for a whole winter.
They were convinced that much disease could be alleviated by a clean water supply which everyone could afford. There was no general law covering the provision of water. They proposed that the council should have the power to acquire land to create and widen streets to improve the ventilation of overcrowded areas. The use of cellars for accommodation should be banned.
The 1851 census shows John, his wife Ann, son, John Pickup, and his sister Mary living at Standish Hall. John is recorded as an attorney at law and his son as a gentleman. By 1861 the family had left Wigan, and were living at Elmley Park, in Pershore, Worcestershire. John’s occupation is a landed proprietor of coal mines. His son is also a landed proprietor, and a Captain in the 5th Royal Lancaster Militia.
John Lord died on 15 November 1863. According to probate records his effects of under £80,000 were granted to his only child John Pickup Lord of Hallow Park in Hallow.
The Wigan Observer of 20 November 1863 included the following obituary:-
Death of John Lord, Esq – Our obituary of this morning records the death of John lord, Esq., for many years one of the leading residents of this town. His decease took place early on Sunday last, at his residence, Elmley Park, Pershore, Worcestershire, and the melancholy tidings, telegraphed at once to Wigan, greatly shocked his many friends. We learn that he had been in excellent health of late years, but on Sunday, whilst speaking to his grandchild, he ruptured a blood vessel near the heart and died almost immediately. He was not at the time undergoing any exertion whatever to account for this sad event, the suddenness of which was truly startling. The deceased gentleman was 67 years of age. Mr Lord at one time occupied a very prominent position in Wigan. He was the acknowledged leader of the Conservative Party for many years, and discharged the onerous duties of the office with credit to himself and satisfaction to his friends. He filled the chief magistrates’ chair no less than seven times, twice before the Municipal Act came into operation, in 1831 and 1834, and five times subsequently, in the years 1840, 1841, 1843, 1845 and 1847. A few years ago he retired from public life in this district, and, giving up his residence at Standish Hall, went to live at Elmley Park, Pershore, Worcestershire, where he expired as above stated. His remains will be interred in the burial ground attached to the Parish church on Saturday (tomorrow).
Further documents and deeds relating to his son John Pickup Lord are held in the Worcester Archives.
The information about the council during John Lord’s mayoralty is taken from minute books held in Leigh Archives [Reference Council minute books 1836-1863, CB.Wi a1/1 – A1/3. Vol. for 1841-1849]