Wigan Album

This would have been when the Revd. Charles Hutton was Rector.
By all accounts he was an affluent man in his own right, and would have been able to afford the staff.

The gentleman on the right of the middle row looks like he might be Mr Kitchen, the gardener, when compared with a photo (p.63) in the book about Standish by Gordon Crumpton.

Where was The Rectory in 1902? It is not the present day Rectory nor The Old Rectory on Wigan Road near Boars Head. Was the Rectory where The Owls restaurant is now?

Yes it was Alan, i can remember just after the war in the later 40s having our 'Field Treat' as we used to call it then, on land that would have been adjacent to the old rectory.

In reply to John K,no it is not Mr.Kitchen.My Grandparents William&Emma Kitchen only came to the Rectory in 1911 with their 2 children William&Freda.My mother Katharine was born there in 1913.My Grandfather was Head Gardener until his death in January 1946.

To Janet Barlow - thanks for putting me right! I think your grandparents must have been friends of my grandparents (Sam and Bella Hale who had the shop in the Market place)as they attended my grandmother's funeral in 1925. I believe your mother also attended my mother (Marjorie)'s funeral at St Wilfrid's in 1984, although unfortunately I didn't meet her at the time.

It’s been years now since my dad Gordon, complied this book. He wasn’t born in Standish but saw the potential it’s characters had to tell a story. He lived there from December 1967 until his untimely death in December 2014. He loved the village, which now is just a sprawling continuation of Wigan. I’m glad that people are still discussing his book.
Carole Crumpton