Migration Stories: German families in Scholes
Posted on 23rd Oct 2025 by AWL Team
The census of 1881 reveals Scholes to be a site of concentrated immigration. In the enumeration district which covers Scholes there are 805 men, women and children recorded, 229 of those are shown as being born outside the UK. Many of them were born in Ireland, some had been here for a few years and had families while living and working in the town, but there are also people who came from America, Australia and Germany.
Two couples from this census were both from Württemberg in Germany, and both had butcher shops.
Charles and Christine had a shop at 24 Scholes Street, in 1881 they were 26 and 23 years old. They had married in Liverpool a couple of years earlier. In 1901 they had six children aged between 6 and 19 years. The 1911 census shows Charles, now aged 56, and a widower, with four of their children still living at home. One is recorded as the housekeeper, taking care of the family, two work with their father, one is an assistant, one in wholesale and the fourth is a baker of both bread and confectionery.
From later records it appears that some of Charles and Christine’s descendants are still living and working in Wigan.
The second couple, Henry and Wilhelmina Smith, had a butcher shop at 94a Scholes Street. Like many immigrants, Henry had changed his name, from Heinrich Schmidt to Henry Smith, when he arrived here.
In 1881 Wilhelmina was 39 years old and her sister, Babetta Weth was also living with them, along with their three children. Henry and Wilhelmina had married in Sheffield and their oldest child was born there. Their second child had been born in Skipton, and the youngest, Louisa, in Wigan. The 1891 records show the family living and working at the shop with their three surviving children. By 1901 Wilhelmina (recorded as Annie) is a widow living with her youngest son and sister at the shop.
Henry, died in 1900 and is buried in Wigan (Lower Ince) Cemetery, along with his son Charles.
So far I haven’t been able to discover what happened to Wilhelmina, her surviving son and daughter or her sister, Babette, but I will continue to search for them.
by Amanda O'Sullivan