Wigan Album

Ooops..meant to write motive rather than motif.

Fascinating Picture , thank you for posting Keith .
Not a single head uncovered!

Tom I believe that was changed by Attie Van Heerden when he signed for Wigan and walked round Wigan without a hat and all his fans followed suit.

I had always known in my heart that the experience would never leave me , that it was now woven into my very fibers , an inextricable part of my past , but I had hoped never to have to recollect it , consciously, and in full, ever again

Susan Hill - Women in Black

I will always recollect it , consciously and in full because that’s what holds me together. Without my past I am nothing !

The people look thinner than on a present day photograph.

Keith: This altered image from a 1902 Mitchell and Kenyon film in Wigan and your confession to an ulterior motive is interesting.
Your comment does provide some evidence via your family. Apparently your great grandfather had been a steam train driver. Presume therefore he became an electric tram driver as you mentioned, at some other point. The first tram in the film is without doubt a steam tram. Some steam train drivers did become steam tram drivers. I do have evidence to back up the actual identity of the steam tram driver in the film. I believe he was a former locomotive driver, but not an electric tram driver and remained a steam engine man untill his death. Obviously he was not your great grandfather. Question is Keith when was your relative a train driver and when did he become an electric tram driver? Evidently it is claimed by your family your great grandfather was the driver of the first electric tram in Wigan. The first municipally operated service was running on the 25th January 1901. Wigan Corporation. Therefore if your family's claim is correct the answer is your great grandfather would have become an electric tram motorman at least six months before and if still employed by Wigan Corporation at the time of the film in Aug 1902. Evidently steam was being phased out. The steam tram driver in the film worked for Wigan and District Tramways, Steam was taken over in September 1902. Some steam trams continued to run for another two years after the film was shot. The electric conversion had been taking place since 1900 and evidence can be seen by the electric power lines above a different tram on Market st, Wigan at the end of the 1902 Mitchell and Kenyon film. The steam tram in the altered / enhanced image you have kindly contributed is heading from Market Place down Wallgate on the Wigan, Newtown, Pemberton route. The steam tram driver I know of and your presumed electric motorman ancestor may have been colleagues at sometime and possible your great grandfather may have been driving his electric tram down Market st, Wigan at this time, but as previously confirmed your great grandfather was not the driver of the steam tram featured in the 1902 film and your recently altered, still image.

Kind Regards.

Thanks Keith for a excellent colourisation and to all those others who have posted comments.
Caps for the lads and head shawl wraps for the girls were the order of the day. No decent female would have ventured out without one.
Sad to think that all those happy faces are now long gone but their descendants are perhaps even now walking amongst us, we may even be one!

T.D. What a diatribe of pointless nonsense.
I love the picture and your version Keith.

Keith: There is a black and white photo of the first electric tram in Wigan. No 1 first ran at the time of the death of Queen Victoria. My copy of this event could be posted if you don't have one. Motive to see your ancestors electric tram in Wigan Corporation colours. Great if not derailed in the meantime by clueless Colin.

Kind Regards.

T.D. Although your comments are interesting, please keep them short, concise and to the point for the uninitiated..
I am sure your research on matters of trams (steam or electric) is far superior to mine but I did get brain fog trying to understand what you were getting at. It was a distraction to Keith's picture.
Apologies for any offence caused on the 13th.