Thursday 22nd October, 2009
Wigan's Benefactor
Sir Francis Sharp Powell was born in Wigan and lived there during the early part of his life. He was a Member of Parliament for the town from 1857 to 1859 and again from 1885 to 1910.
However, for most of his life he lived in Little Horton, Bradford and is remembered for his generosity towards the people of that area. (more here)
Even though he lived in Yorkshire, Francis did not neglect the people of his birthplace - he was after all their Member of Parliament.
It is in the field of education that Wiganers benefited most from Francis' generosity.
Former Mining and Mechanical School,
now the Town Hall
His greatest gift to the town was probably his financial and moral support of “Wigan Mining and Mechanical School” which opened in August 1858. It was the first institution of its kind in the country and was ideally placed to teach the theory of mining, supplemented by practical experience in the many nearby mines.
The School prospered so much that, by the beginning of the 20th century, it was in need of a new home. Francis donated £2,500 towards the cost of a new building in Library Street. He was also involved in raising much of the extra £50,000 which was needed for its construction.
The new building was opened in 1902 and is still in situ. It is Wigan's present Town Hall.
During his association with the college he donated regular amounts of money to ensure its continuing existence.
Wigan's library system also has reason to be be grateful to Francis. He was a firm believer in education for everyone and saw an expansion of the “Free Library” as a way of helping to achieve this aim.
He gave regular, generous donations to the institution and in 1895 he had a separate “Boys Reading Room” built at his expense.
He was, for a while, a pupil at Wigan Grammar School so it was a logical step for him to become a Trustee of the school in 1857 - an office he held until 1873. He became one of the school's governors in 1892 and was chairman from 1896 until his death in 1911.
In 1879, Francis provided a scholarship at Oxford or Cambridge of £50 per year for three years to the school's most deserving pupils. Later, the scholarship was extended for entrance to universities such as Manchester and Leeds. (Francis had an interest in the latter.) Occasionally there were no suitable candidates and the money was spent on school requirements such as gymnastic apparatus, a woodwork plant and laboratory benches.
He also provided £10 a year for school prizes and in 1892 he paid £250 to help clear the school's debt.
Francis' father, Rev. Benjamin Powell, was vicar at St. George's Church, and was responsible for the building of the associated school nearby. By the end of the 19th century the school building had been condemned.
Francis saved the school by donating £2,000 towards the construction of new buildings on a nearby hill, at the end of Windsor Street.
The new school was opened in 1896 by Lady Powell. A foundation stone bears her name.
Projects outside the field of education included a donation, in 1887, of £5,000, for the construction of a “Conservative Working Men's Club” in Market Street. Another was built in Scholes in 1907.
The concept of a “Conservative Working Men's Club” seems strange in modern day Wigan, but when the electorate was expanded to include working class voters after the 1867 Reform Act, the Conservative Party, in particular, began to take an interest in the Working Men's Clubs movement, in the hope of attracting some of the new electorate.
The Conservative Clubs were popular as they relaxed the rules on alcohol and entertainment imposed on earlier establishments which were formed to provide workers with places where they could socialise “without temptation”.
The Statue with the Shiny Foot
Sir Francis Sharp Powell, the Early Years
Sir Francis Sharp Powell, the Politician
Sir Francis Sharp Powell, Bradford's Benefactor