FOLLOWING on from the picture we recently featured from the General Strike in 1926, here is another mining-themed picture from the past.

 

 

 

This picture shows the unveiling of the memorial dedicated to Robert Isherwood, miners' leader at Tyldesley Cemetery, Tyldesley.

 

 

 

A date for the photograph is not specified in the local archive records.

 

 

 

Robert Isherwood, born in 1845, was a miner's agent, local councillor and the first treasurer of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation.

 

 

 

The son of a handloom weaver in Tyldesley, he started work in the pit aged nine. In 1867 Isherwood acted as the local secretary in an industrial dispute and 19-week strike that ended with victory for the miners.

 

 

 

He became secretary of the Leigh and District Miners' Association, vice-president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Permanent Relief Society and treasurer of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation, and was instrumental in building Tyldesley Miners' Hall.

 

 

 

Robert Isherwood died in January, 1905 and on the day of his funeral, the streets between his home and Tyldesley Top Chapel were lined with mourners.

 

 

 

n Send us your old pictures to newsdesk@leighjournal.co.uk.

 

 

 

See the local archives at archives.wigan.gov.uk