Wigan Album

This photo belonged to my late uncle and was rescued from a package destined for the bin about 15 years ago. There has been some delay in sharing the image due to a lack of answers to some obvious questions. Often pondered… could this be the rucks of Abram or the rabbit rocks of Ince? Where are they? What type is the huge dog? When was the photo taken? Who are they? Why would some of these fellows be dressed in the type of garb most suitable for the likes of Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday and with not a clog in sight, what on earth has this lot got to do with Wigan?
The photo would have been on display at my grandfather’s house in Wigan, over 100 years ago with another image, accumulating a film of soot from the smoky hearth in those days. Recent cleaning revealed a clue to the following.
Once upon a time a chap named Robert Leroy Parker the son of British parent’s, held the paymaster at gunpoint and robbed the pleasant valley company of a payroll amounting to 7 thousand dollars in gold, but outlaw Parker was long gone by the time some of the above posse had arrived. Parker was otherwise known as Butch Cassidy, he and his wild bunch committed a number of other robberies and then fled to Bolivia….
Our posse had their photo taken later, near the scene of the crime. The man seated on the left with the small child is John Sutch and the man behind him leaning on a boulder is his brother Oliver Sutch. Both men were from Platt Bridge Wigan and were brother in law of my grand aunt Martha Sutch nee Battersby. The photo was posted from the brave new world, back home to her brother Peter Battersby and his wife Hannah Frances, good friends of the Sutch family in those days.
Martha Battersby married Christopher Richard Sutch at Christ church Ince in October 1900 when she was 25, at the time she was living on Belle Green Lane Ince with her aunt Lucy Bithell nee Orrell. John Sutch above married Martha Kinnery in 1903 at Saint Peters Hindley. Grand Aunt Martha and her husband Christopher were witnesses at the wedding.
Mining agents were looking for workers to emigrate to the brave new world around this time. Coincidentally Buffalo Bill had toured England with his Wild West show in 1902 - 1903 and appeared in Leigh in Oct 1904, accompanied by American natives. Oliver Sutch left Wigan for America shortly after the death of his father Peter and arrived in June 1904, I believe some of his relatives arrived in the previous year’s 1902 - 1903. Oliver’s brothers Christopher Richard and John followed. Christopher Richard boarded the SS Arabic on a second class ticket with a few dollars in his pocket and arrived in America 1906. Oliver was named as a point of contact at a Salt Lake City address and became employed at the Castle Gate mine, previously robbed by the famous outlaw Butch Cassidy.
Meanwhile back in Wigan Christopher’s grandparents the Bagguley’s from Staffordshire lived on Betley / Bank st, Platt Bridge. Christophers wife Martha nee Battersby eventually left England to join her husband for a new life in America , sadly not before losing their child Nellie, buried in Hindley with their son Albert and the Sutch brothers father, Peter Sutch age 62. Martha nee Battersby and her daughter Gladys traveled together with Martha nee Kinnery and her daughter Hester. They boarded the White Star steam liner Republic on the 17th July 1907, soon to be reunited with their husbands the Sutch brothers. The 4 females disembarked safely at Ellis Island New York and then headed to Colorado in the days of the steam train. Oliver Sutch was to have a successful career and eventually became a superintendent at Castle Gate no 2 mine Utah, owned later by the Utah fuel company. John and Martha had a son John Sutch junior. Presuming the child in the photo is John Sutch Junior, places the date of the photo c1911. Castle Gate number 2 mine opened 1911-1912 and a small mining town was incorporated at Castle Gate in 1915. Unfortunately a disastrous explosion occurred at the Castle Gate no 2 mine in 1924. Although Wigan men were a minority of the multicultural mining community in Castle Gate, sadly some of those poor Wiganers were among the 174 fatalities and may be on the photo, taken some years previously? Castle Gate was dismantled in the 1970s and is now a ghost town.
For any interested Wigan people or foreign folks with ancestors who emigrated from Wigan to the USA over 100 years ago, I can confirm, all of the men on the photo are Wigan miners in Castle Gate, Utah, U S A, c1911. Martha Sutch nee Battersby remarried did not return to live in Wigan and ended her days in Las Vegas. Many people traveled to the brave new world and soon came back, but the Wiganers in Castle Gate appear to have been resilient. Oliver Sutch was later recorded to have never regretted his move to America. The following are surnames belonging to some of the Wigan men who were in the Castle Gate area at the relevant time who could possibly be on the photo. Hilton, Johnson Howard, Pelly, Tyrer, Dodd, Fish, Draper, Bagguley, Harrison Fairhurst, Sutch, Orrell. Thomas Pelly came from Ince, he perished with his son in the 1924 Castle Gate disaster and may have been related to John Hilton who also died in the explosion with a relative named Tyrer. John Hiltons son Robert took part in the rescue attempt, collapsed from the fire damp and had to be rescued, the disaster is well documented as is life in Castle Gate. Three of the Harrison family perished. Robert Dodd died in the explosion with his son Harry. Robert (Bob) had also traveled to America in the early 1890’s with two of his close neighbours from Warrington road Abram, Hugh Fish and Tom Draper. With respect to all people connected to Castle Gate the photo was worth saving as a reminder of what it was supposed to represent for the folks and friends of these proud men, back home over 100 years ago. Wigan Miners in Castle Gate.