Joshua Mawdsley
Chairman of Aspull Urban District Council 1945/46, 1952/53, 1959/60
Elected Chairman 19 April 1945
Elected Chairman 3 May 1952
Elected Chairman 29 May 1959
b 1882 Blackrod
Parents: John Mawdsley, coal miner and Jane (formerly Edwards).
m 1908 Aspull Susan daughter of George Bowden, coal miner, and Jane. Died 1924 Aspull
children: Seven daughters, five sons, two sons died in infancy.
m 1925 Westleigh Maggie daughter of John Fairhurst, engineer. Died 1967 Aspull.
Children: Two sons.
d 1963 Aspull
Born in 1882 in Blackrod, Joshua moved with his family to School House Farm (or Bagshaw Farm), Pennington Green, Aspull shortly before the 1891 census.
From 1891 Joshua was educated at St Elizabeth’s School, Aspull, before beginning work on the farm as a carter (1901), labourer (1908) and horseman (1911). Later he would leave the farm to work in coal mining, possibly attracted by the prospect of better wages and regular employment.
In 1908 he married his first wife, Susan, daughter of George Bowden, a collier, at St Elizabeth’s Church Aspull. In 1911 they were living with Susan’s parents in Bolton Road, Aspull. Between 1908 and 1924 they had twelve children, seven girls and five boys. One son, John, died aged three days old in 1916 and in May 1924 Susan gave birth to her last child, Joshua, who survived for just sixteen hours. His mother passed away a couple of weeks later and was buried with her two infant sons in St Elizabeth’s Churchyard, Aspull.
In 1925 Joshua remarried at St Paul’s Church, Westleigh, to Maggie, daughter of John Fairhurst, an engineer. They had two sons. By 1925 Joshua had begun working in the mines and had become a colliery foreman, when he retired in 1937 he was a surface foreman and machinery inspector at Parsonage Colliery in Westleigh.
Joshua’s political career began in 1938 when he was elected to Aspull Urban District Council. In 1941 he became an Alderman on Lancashire County Council. He served in the Division 14 Education Committee, Division 8 Health Committee and as chairman of Aspull Housing Committee. On Lancashire County Council he served as Chairman of the County smallholdings and diseases of animals committee and was a member of the Highways, bridges and planning and development committees.
He also served as chairman of the South West Lancashire Development Committee and was a governor of Wigan and District Mining and Technical College, Blackrod Secondary School and Rivington and Blackrod Grammar School.
His local government work also included serving on the South Lancashire Valuation Panel, Lancashire River Board, Western and Lancashire Deep Sea Fisheries Committee and the County Agricultural sub-committee.
Joshua was elected chairman of Aspull Urban District Council on three occasions – 1949, 1952 and 1959 and was chairman of Aspull Labour Party. He was a member of the Loyal Order of Shepherds, in 1941 he was appointed Worthy Master of the Manchester Victory District and for many years was an active member of Dicconson Lane Methodist Chapel, Aspull.
During his last term of office as chairman he had achieved much in “beautifying Aspull” – removing the scars of industry and mining and improving the environment, including the “making up” of Hall Lane. Replying to tributes, on his retirement as chairman, in 1960, he said that “his maxim had been to try and play the game at all times. Much had been done to improve Aspull but still more remained to be done. He wanted to see an improved bus service, playing fields for the children and a bowling green for the older people.”
Joshua died at Bolton Road, Aspull in May 1963, Maggie in 1967, both were buried in St Elizabeth’s Churchyard, Aspull.
Author: Peter Walker
Sources:
Aspull Urban District Council Minutes
WO 13 March 1963 p12f Obit
WO 24 May 1960 p1b “Beautifying Aspull”
Liverpool Daily Post 26 July 1940 (British Newspaper Library on Findmypast – subscription required)
Ancestry.Com (Free at Museum of Wigan Life)
Findmypast.co.uk (Subscription required)