Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 23rd May, 2022)

How many thousands of hands must of rubbed this foot for luck. No covid restrictions there or hand sanatizer. Four generations of our family have touched the foot over the years. A lot of kids make a bee line to touch the foot

Perhaps the government of the day should visit Menses Park & rub Mr Powell's foot. They must need an unimaginable amount of money ! Clever photo Dennis.

My Dad lifted me up in the 1950s to rub that shoe; I lifted up my son and daughter and my son did the same with my granddaughter and grandson. I love to see young Wigan children being held up to do the same today and I hope all their wishes come true.

Marvelous, how ironic .!! I sent a pic of Mr Powell to my cousin in Australia only YESTERDAY and asked her ''Do you remember him''? it was 2012 when she saw him, she came straight back with ''Mr shiny shoe in Mesnes Park''
I hope the rub comes good for you Dennis,

One day , as someone
reaches up, he’s going to switch feet .

He was a Yorkshireman.

He was a Tory

And he was taken to court accused of bribery and corruption at the General Election

Sir Francis Sharp Powell, 1st Baronet, was born 29 Jun 1827 in Wigan, Lancashire. Son of Rev. Benjamin Powell and Anne Powell of Wigan.

In the 1857 general election Powell was elected as a Member of Parliament for Wigan, but was not re-elected in 1859.
He was elected as MP for Wigan at a by-election in January 1881, but was unseated on account of corrupt practices at the election. He stood again for Wigan in the 1885 general election and was elected as MP.

So the good folks of Wigan still had good faith in him to re-elect him, and he must have done some good in his times of office, especially as these same good folks of Wigan subscribed to a statue to be placed in the park in his honour.

He died 24 Dec 1911 at age 84 in Little Horton, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom.

Information about Frank Powell from Mickipedia, err, that should read Wikipedia.

Well said, Syd Smith. When I was a little boy I remember Harold Wilson being elected and him saying “never again will this country be ruled from the grouse moors of Scotland”. He meant that times had changed. Almost 60 years later and nothing has changed. We are still electing self serving Old Etonian tories. By venerating this statue, we are perpetuating this folly. I do not think it should be pulled down but some informative data should be placed next to it.

‘Enough wriggling room Sir?
Whom shall I charge the bill to? Oh! Wigan Council… very good Sir.
These should last a lifetime Sir….. especially if you don’t walkabout much.’

Dear me . So much spite and hatred . I'm just an ordinary Joe . Working class . Live in a terrace house . But I don't have this rancour that's displayed here . Where does come from ? It reminds me of the sectarianism preached in Northern Ireland .
Politics isn't football . There should be a level of objectivity where you vote for the good of the country not out of blind allegiance to a party . This type of petulant carping from Labour puts me right off them . In fact I find their ideologically driven politics a bit scary .

He’s already had one new pair Veronica!

Cyril, It looks like Sir Francis employed a couple of dodgy election agents who were a little over enthusiastic in "getting out the voters" in that 1881 by-election - although he himself was absolved of any wrongdoing!

Out of interest, are there any other MP's memorialised in the Wigan Borough?

Great photo.

We don't seem to go much for statues in Wigan, Axcroft, although there is a stone lion up Haigh Hall. Had he stood for Labour I'm sure he would have got in.

I live in a terraced house too. Poet. And I haven't watched the news for forty years which is why I don't join in with the politics comments because I haven't a clue what's going on in the world. I don't read newspapers either. It's what keeps me sane.

There was no Labour party in Powell's political days. Especially in Wigan, a traditionally well-heeled conservative town.

No other statues for Wigan MPs as far as I know Axcroft, though some have roads named after them and the Blundell Memorial in Alexandra (Robin) Park at Newtown is for Col Henry Blundell MP for Ince. see link.
https://www.wiganbuildings.co.uk/building.php?id=692

We where told at school that wigan was the first burogh in lancashire and it has been labour ever since

You are right Poet. I have never understood people who vote for a political party because....' my family have always voted for them' Haven't they got minds of their own ?

Helen, I’m 75 yrs old and that’s a lot of budgets. I don’t think I have ever been more than 30 Bob better off or 30 Bob worse off no matter which bunch of clowns were running the circus.
I don’t think it’s a case of voting has their families, it’s more a case of it not mattering which party are flogging the donkey, the donkey still gets flogged.