John Harrison (b. 1813) and Elizabeth Ormandy (b. 1813), Henry Harold Harrison Sr.’s great-grandparents, lived at this address in the 1870s and 1880s. Their spinster daughter, Jemima Harrison (b. 1845) lived with them at this address. Their son, James Harrison (b. 1849), and his wife Annie Strathearn also lived here with a number of their children. One child, Nellie Elizabeth, was born here to James and Annie in 1879. The extended family was enumerated here in the 1881 census. The 1881 Directory for Wigan lists “John Harrison, Cowkeeper” as the resident of 148 Chapel Lane.
Chapel Lane is the eastern continuation of Poolstock (the road). Although it was once a residential street, today it is a more of a main thoroughfare running through an industrial area near the centre of Wigan. On modern maps street number 148 is located where Chapel Lane crosses the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which was the location of Henhurst Bridge Coal Wharf and therefore may have been close to John Harrison’s place of work when he was a coal merchant.