Home People Obituaries An Old Bolton Councillor – Mr. George Wigfield.

An Old Bolton Councillor – Mr. George Wigfield.

January 1928

Mexborough and Swinton Times January 27, 1928

Mr. George Wigfield.

An Old Bolton Councillor.

The death occurred on. Monday of Mr George Wigfield of 160, Furlong Road, Bolton on Dearne, aged 81, an old and prominent resident of Bolton, and for many years a member of the local authority. Mr. Wigfield came to the district from Elsecar some forty years ago.

He was landlord of the Crown Inn at Elsecar, a hostelry which had been in his family for years, and while there served on the School Board and the Local Board. He came to Bolton to take over the licence of the Collingwood Hotel, which he held for about eight years, and then retired from the licensed trade.

He went into business as a brick manufacturer and in 1893 he started the Bolton-on-Dearne brickworks, and owned and managed it until 1919, When he sold it to the Bolton Urban Council, who acquired it for housing purposes. Mr. Wigfield entered this business when the district was at the dawn of its top industrial development The Hickleton.Main Colliery was being sunk at that time, and Mr. Wigfield supplied practically all the bricks for the hundreds of houses which, were built at Goldthorpe to accommodate ,the miners attracted to the district by .the sinking of this colliery.

He also supplied most of the bricks required in the locality by the contractors for the Dearne Valley Light Railway which was then being constructed.

Mr. Wigfield retired from business immediately after the war. He took a keen interest in public affairs throughout his life, and both at Elsecar and Bolton he served on the public authorities. He became a member of the Bolton Parish Council, and afterwards of the Bolton Urban District Council, and served in all for about 24 years on the two bodies. He served as Chairman of the Council and he was also a member of the Doncaster Board of Guardians for about 20 years, being the first representative of the parish to sit on that body.

He. was keenly interested in sport, particularly in cricket, and was one of the organisers of the old Bolton Cricket Club.

The funeral took place at- Bolton yesterday. The mourners included : Mrs. Wigfield (wife), Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Wigfield (son and daughter-in-law),. Mr. George Wigfield (son), Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Wigfield (son and daughter-in-law), Mr. Arthur Wigfield (son), Mr. and Mrs. Walton, and Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood (daughters and sons-in-law), Miss Clara Wigfield, Miss. Morrie Wigfield (daughters), Messrs. George and Charles Walton (grandsons), Misses Madge and Phyllis Walton (grand-daughters), Mr. J. Ledger Hawksworth, (representing the, Bolton-on-Deanne U.D.C.), Mr. Fred Beaumont, a former councillor, and Mr. Alban Turner. There were many wreaths. The service was conducted by the vicar of Bol up ton, the-Rev. T. B. Almond.