1932 WALTER ATHERTON
Walter Atherton was born on 20 January 1874. The 1881 census shows him living at 44 Scholefield Lane with his parents Henry and Isabella.
During his acceptance speech on becoming mayor, he gave a brief biography. He had had a very elementary education, not enhanced by frequent truancy! He then started as a colliery surface hand being paid 10d per day, while attending evening school. At the age of 16 he went underground and within 7 years he had received an underground management certificate at a mining college in Manchester. By then he was an underground fireman, working from 4am to 6pm, an 80 hour week. During the winter he saw daylight only on Saturdays and Sundays.
He married Elizabeth Ellen Pennington in Wigan in 1900. He left mining in 1909, and joined his wife’s family’s grocery business.
The 1911 census shows him as a ‘confectioner & sugar boiler’. He is living at 242 Scholes with his wife Elizabeth and their son Henry.
By 1921 the family had moved to Oakvale, a house on Wigan Road, Standish..
As a councillor he served on the Gas Committee. He happened to be in a restaurant when the electricity in town went off. The manager asked him, “ Are you responsible for this?”. His reply was, “ No, I’m the gas man!”.
When he was elected mayor in 1933, he said that he was broadminded (in the sense that he was not ideological) in regard to both religion and politics. He asked the audience to bear with him and his wife: he said that they were getting on, so would not be staying late at functions (he was 58!).
During his mayoralty, the cause closest to his heart was the provision of cots for the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary. One of the highlights of the fundraising activities was a series of motor car trials, when Gracie Fields, one of the highest paid and most popular stars of the time, was the guest of honour. Thousands came to witness the trials, for which Gracie was the starter and judge.
At a civic reception to honour their guest, Walter mentioned that the Blackpool lights were being turned on but “Wigan today is illuminated by your presence”. Gracie Fields said that to her Wigan was “one of the best of Lancashire towns”.
There was a display of splendid cars in the market square before the trials started. 102 cars set off on a 97 mile course, starting at 1.30. The last car returned at 7.15. Awards were presented by the mayor in the Clarence hotel.
At the mayor-making ceremony of his successor, Walter was praised for his ‘able, courteous and acceptable manner’ as mayor. He was thanked for his great interest in the welfare of school children. His great efforts towards providing cots for the Infirmary had raised £1500. Walter said that amongst his other activities in his mayoral year he had attended 6 conferences outside the borough; he had hosted General Higgins, the leader of the Salvation Army in Britain; and opened the nurses’ hostel at Billinge Hospital.
After his retirement, the 1939 Register shows him as a billiard hall proprietor. He and Elizabeth were still living in Oakvale. Their son Henry lived next door in Ashvale, and was described as a ‘proprietor and manager of entertainments’.
Walter died on 3 December 1940.