As we meander around Widnes, we probably pay little attention to street names. Yet in many cases those thoroughfares were named in honour of a person from the past who played a critical part in the very birth of Widnes. A number of the names you will read below are enrolled for ever on the town’s A-Z road map. One man, though, stands out. In just two short decades he made such an impact, he was described as the ‘Father of Widnes’. This story will start not at the beginning, but at the end of his life. That man was John Hutchinson. He was born in Liverpool in 1825 and died, from TB, in Widnes on the evening of March 14, 1865, just 40 years old. On the day of his funeral shops closed at 10am and flags were flown at half-mast across Widnes. He was not a Catholic, but he was buried in the shadow of St Bede’s, then in the pastoral care of his great friend Father Fisher. He left behind his devoted wife. Mary Elizabeth Evelyn (nee Kinsey), who he married in 1850, and their five children, two boys and three girls. John, Arthur, Lucy, Mary ad Gertrude. Arthur was blind from a very early age. Just a month before his untimely death, Hutchinson had drawn a new will. Just three days before his death he added a codicil, giving his sister Catherine a yearly income of £100. He set aside a trust fund of £17,500 to ensure blind Arthur was provided for. To his wife he left most of his possessions, as well as his horses, carriages, jewels, the family home- Appleton Lodge – and an annual income of £1,000. But he stipulated all that would go, including the guardianship of their children, should she remarry. In such case as well as losing the bequests her income would drop to £300 a year. It could be concluded as his health worsened, Hutchinson would have been aware that his illness was potentially terminal and he set about planning for a family future without him at the helm. His oldest child was still a teenager, and the other four were younger, some of them infants. His eldest son John would receive his books, pictures, insurance policies and his shares in the gas and irons in Widnes, to be inherited when he reached the age of 25. Young John would also receive his father’s wine collection, except for 12 bottles chosen by the widow. By the time of his death John Hutchinson owned vast areas of Widnes and interests in copper mines in Spain. Such a canny businessman, when the London and North Western Railway Company wanted land for their proposed new railway across the river to Runcorn he stipulated the area beneath the archways of the railway viaduct would remain his, to be used as warehouses. In just 18 years he had seen the population of Widnes grow five-fold, largely due to his own industriousness. When he arrived in the area Widnes as such didn’t exist; it was a collection of small hamlets and villages. Within that span of less than two decades a town called Widnes had been born. Had he not died he could well have become a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party. Next time I’ll turn back the clock to the days when a young Mr Hutchinson embarked on building a business that would transform Widnes. Along the way he would work, collaborate or befriend a number of people remembered today by street names. William GOSSAGE, Henry DEACON, Arthur SINCLAIR, James CROSS, John Tominson BRUNNER, and many others. I’m sure I remember a Muspratt Street somewhere.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 08:49:39 +0000
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