Wigan Album

The large advert mentions George Esplin, who was a well known Wigan clock and watch maker. George Esplin is recorded working from 1831 to 1858 in premises in Wallgate. His longcase and wall clocks sell for thousands of pounds at auction now!

Hi Dave, nice to see these adverts. John Worswick was my great grandfather and James Worswick my great great uncle (John's elder brother)

Hi just acquired a clock 'Barton Wigan' 1848 ish
? Barton and Esplin of Wigan Wallgate
Anyone got any memory's / pics of shop or history ?

My 3rd great-grandfather was Thomas Milner, born in 1818, who was a Wigan watch and clock maker. From my research it seems that he may have been George Esplin’s cousin. The Barton half of Esplin and Barton was Elizabeth Barton, George’s mother. George was illegitimate and born in Manchester in 1817. Elizabeth, whose maiden name was Milner, married a clockmaker called William Barton in Manchester in 1830. It is not clear what happened to William Barton, but George and Elizabeth were in a business partnership together that was wound up in 1840. They were living together in Wallgate, Wigan in the 1841 census, along with Thomas Milner, 20, a watchmaker, and Thomas’s sister Maria, who is described as a female servant; their father, William Milner was a coastguard and was stationed in Ireland at the time. Ireland was not a good place to be - famine and civil unrest etc - and I think Thomas was sent to be an apprentice to Elizabeth, who described herself as a retired watchmaker on her 1851 census return. I have yet to find definitive proof that William Milner and Elizabeth were brother and sister, but it seems the most likely explanation as to why the Grimsby-born son of a coastguard should become a watchmaker in Wigan.

Sorry, a couple of corrections to that:

William Barton was described as a watchmaker on his 1830 Manchester marriage record.

George Espline, illegitimate son of Elizabeth Milner, a spinster, was baptised in Manchester in April 1819. Espline could have been his middle name rather than his surname, which casts doubt on my whole theory, though the 1851 census for the 32 year-old George does state he was born in Manchester and suggests the year of his birth was indeed 1819.

If anyone has any further information, I'd be very interested to hear it :)

Fascinating reading, wish there was an accurate date of the publication.
Loved the entry for Woolstencroft, John in the Weind, He boasted of 'The Celebrated Hydroptikon' Now one of those might bring the crowds flocking back to Wigan.

Just tried to Google what is/was a Hydroptikon without success.
Hydro of course is something to do with water, could have been a pre-curser to Colonic Irrigation or was it something to do with washing your hair?????