Man Found Drowned at Standish

Whilst on the initial trail of our research, we had applied to the GRO, for the death certificate of our great great grandfather Peter Worthington. We thought it was the right death certificate to begin with, only to discover later, it was the wrong Peter Worthington who was also born in 1816! He turned out to be our 2nd cousin, 4 times removed!!

However, there was an interesting find on this death certificate, as this man was found drowned in a colliery reservoir in 1885.

We decided to see if an article was published about his death in any Wigan Newspaper. We found the following article at the Wigan History Shop in their newspaper archives:-

WIGAN OBSERVER AND DISTRICT ADVERTISER -

WEDNESDAY JUNE 3rd 1885;

"Man Found Drowned at Standish"

On Monday at Noon, an old man named Peter Worthington, of High Street Standish was found drowned in the Broomfield reservoir in that township. He had been in the village shortly before and how he got into the reservoir is a mystery in as much as it is fenced round. Deceased formerly was in the employ of the Wigan Coal & Iron Co. as a contractor, but recently he has been out of work and has been living with a married daughter.

Though he has been somewhat depressed in spirit for a considerable period, it was not anticipated that he would endanger his life and accordingly he has been allowed to go abroad at pleasure. The information of the finding of the body caused considerable commotion amongst the inhabitants, and as it was born home, the bells of Standish Church were ringing a merry peel in honour of the visit of the Bishop of Manchester who had just concluded a confirmation in the sacred edifice.