Local Life - Wigan - August 2021

32
Wigan Infirmary - 1873
Their first recorded charitable act came in February 1856,
when the sisters gave a £10,000 loan to Wigan Council for
the improvement of the water and sewerage works in the
town. And later in February 1860 gifted more than £6,000
to the building work and redecoration of Christ Church
on Ince Green Lane, with Margaret laying the foundation
stone herself on Easter Monday.
Margaret and Amelia eventually moved out of the Wigan
area and the 1861 census shows them living together at
an address in Newton Abbot in Devon. Wigan evidently
meant a lot to the sisters, and the church opened in
1864 with a full house listening to the sermon of Rev
Canon Fergie. Other gifts to the church included a silver
communion plate, further funds to renovate the vicarage
and contributions to an Easter fund for the curates and
assistants.
Their biggest and most influential donations amounted
to more than £43,000 given to Wigan Infirmary, worth
several million pounds in today’s money. Access to
medical care isn’t something that we think too much
about, if we need help, we can walk into a hospital or be
straight on the phone to our doctor. This hasn’t always
been the case and life had the potential to be very grim,
especially if you were poor and sick.
When all this is considered, the sisters concern for the
health and welfare of the people of Wigan must have
impacted many lives for the better. Margaret and Amelia
made regular donations to The Wigan Dispensary, the
predecessor to the Infirmary, on King Street. It was a
place where the poor could get free medicines but only
if they were referred there
by a priest or other official
person.
There had been talk of
opening a hospital in Wigan
as far back as the 1830’s
and finally in 1866 after
substantial backing by
Margaret and Amelia things
started to happen. The idea
gained momentum and
a committee was formed,
chaired by Wigan MP John
Lancaster, alongside millowner
and Conservative
Party politician, Nathaniel
Eckersley. During one of
the initial meetings a letter
from the sisters was read aloud, in that letter they had
pledged an initial donation of £1,000, further donations
from various individuals amounted to £15,000, half of the
projected total cost of building the hospital.
The letter and promise of funds kickstarted the initiative
and Margaret and Amelia turned out to be the main
facilitators in the building of the Infirmary. Plans were
put into place; the foundation stone was laid by the Earl
of Crawford in 1870 and the hospital was opened by the
Prince and Princess of Wales in 1873.
There were many more additions to the hospital over the
years, including a children’s ward in 1877 and the hospital
also retained the name of The Royal Albert Edward
Infirmary and Dispensary until the creation of the NHS in
1948, when dispensary was dropped.
Little is known about the movements of the sisters during
the following years; Margaret died on 20th December
1877, aged 64 at her home in Eastbourne. Margaret was
brought home to Wigan in a saloon, she was then taken
by horse-drawn hearse to Ince Cemetery, where her coffin
was interred into a vault belonging to the sisters.
Amelia, who was living in Southport at the time, was
named as sole executor of her estate. Obviously not one
to rest on her laurels, Amelia went on to help add more
facilities to the Infirmary in the shape of the Gidlow Wing
extension in memory of Margaret.
In July 1883, Amelia was identified as the anonymous
donor of £6,000 that had been pledged to help build the
extension. The extension was officially opened on the