Wigan Album

My sister Anne was born at the Christopher Home ...my cousin Mary who lived in Swinley Rd was born there too.
I thought it was built before then Ozy as my sister was born in 1936....?

The mother of one of my school mates always claimed that he had been the first baby to have been born in the Christopher Home in december 1937.

I wonder what they are doing in the first pic? They are very close to the roadside wall and you can see the plantation gates. Maybe utilities? The entrance seen is still there for cars I wonder if it was widened at this very point?

Interesting photos Ozy, looks like they've struck water in the top left which looks to be on Wigan Lane, and at the time it would have been a hand pump to drain it out, and with a lot of hard work too, pity it wasn't oil they'd struck.

The Elms was once used as a maternity home, and a few folks commented on the site that they had been born there.

My sister was born there in 1958 and says she still has a bill our mother left.

George Christopher was the benefactor who built the Christopher Home and was a Freeman of the Borough of Wigan.
He and his wife lived at Park View (the mount) at the top of Bridgeman Terrace, they had no children. George Christopher also gifted the Christopher Playing Fields at Standish Lower Ground.

His Father Richard Christopher was a major contributor to the construction of the Royal Albert Infirmary, he live at Holly Cottage, Haigh. He was a director at the Wigan Iron and Coal Company.
Richard Christopher, his son George and other members of the family are buried in St David’s Church Yard Haigh.

Thank you for that piece of history Mr (?) A Christopher. I wonder if the benefactor of the Home is one of your forebears ?

A. Christopher. I presume a relation? I don't know much about the good Doctor did he gift any other pieces of land?

"George Christopher also gifted the Christopher Playing Fields at Standish Lower Ground".

The fields are now the private grounds of Wigan Athletic. The college were using it for some years maybe they put a claim on it. I do wonder how Dave Whelan got ahold of the land and how it became de-classified as an open public space belonging to the people.

Andy,
George Alfred Christopher gifted the Christopher Playing Fields at Standish Lower Ground to the Wigan Mining and Technical College for the benifit of the students of that College.

Thank you for your response it is really interesting.

It appears the college sold the land to Dave Whelan... I went to W&L college in the early 2000's and did sport down at Christopher Park on occasions showing a relationship between the college and WAFC.

I am quite interested in how public land falls in to private hands and have a keen interest in the story of Christopher Park. At least the name lives on with the park and the home at the hospital. :-)

I'm sure that WWL trust say that the Christopher Home was built with public subscription.

George Alfred Christopher died at the Christopher Home 03/02/1939.
His obituary in the Wigan Observer confirms his payments for the Christopher Home and the Christopher Playing Fields at Standish Lower Ground and that they bear his name.

The cost of building the Christopher home in 1936 came to £40,000 … which , if information gleaned from the internet can be relied upon , equates to
£3 ,502 ,840.68 by 2024 standards .