Princess Street was the home of Henry Mawdsley (b. 1806), Ellen Barton (b.1812) and their children from about 1846 until Ellen’s death, sometime in the 1870s. Henry and Ellen moved to Princess Street when they first moved to Wigan from Skelmersdale circa 1846. The 1851 census first recorded Henry and Ellen at “Princess Street (Ecclesham Yard)”. This map dating from 1849 shows Princess Street around the time the Mawdsley’s settled there, but does not show Ecclseham Yard. Henry and Ellen’s children Mary, Ellen, Alice and Margaret were all born on Princess Street. Ellen’s birth registration gives Princess Street (no number) as her place of birth. Ann Barton (b. 1840) aka Ann Mawdsley, Henry Harold’s maternal grandmother, grew up here from the time she was about six years.
Beginning sometime in the 1850s Henry and Ellen started a grocery business which they probably ran from their Princess Street home. The 1861 census records that Henry was a Provision Dealer. Henry Mawdsley died at 43 Princess Street in 1862, however his family stayed on at this address. An 1869 Wigan Directory records Ellen Mawdsley, shopkeeper, at 43 Princess Street giving credence to that address being the address of the shop as well as the home. The 1871 census (taken after Henry died) records that Ann was a Grocer.
Ann Barton was living on Princess Street (no number given) when she married Edward Barton (b. 1839) in 1861. It seems likely that Edward and Ann initially lived with Ann’s parents at 43 Princess Street for the first five or so years of their marriage. Ann gave birth to her first two children Alice Barton (b. 1863), Henry Harold’s mother, and Ellen Barton (b. 1865) at 43 Princess Street. When Ann registered Ellen’s birth she gave her own address as 43 Princess Street.
After Ellen died her son John Barton (b. 1843), aka John Mawdsley, lived with his wife and family at 43 Princess Street where he carried on the family business. The 1881 census records John and his family at this address and John’s occupation as “Shopkeeper.” An 1881 Wigan directory records John Mawdsley, Shopkeeper at 41 and 43 Princess Street. Between 1881 and 1885 John gave up groceries and became a jam-maker. The 1885 Wigan & District Directory lists one John Mawdsley, jam-maker, living at 43 Princess Street. Then John and his family moved down the street to Mill Yard, located between 21 and 27 Princess Street where John continued making jam. (A baker moved into the shop at 43 Princess Street.) The 1891 census records John, his wife and their six children all living at Mill Yard where John worked as a “Marmelade Preserver.” John and his family moved to Southport in the 1890s where he continued to make jam. However it appears that he may have sold his jam business on Princess Street. The 1894 and 1907 Ordinance Survey Maps of Wigan shows The Premier Jam Works on the south side of Princess Street!
Princess Street is in St. Thomas Ward close to the centre of Wigan running north east off Chapel Lane. In the 19th century it was a residential street between Queen Street and Caroline Street. Today Princess Street is an industrial area with no trace of the residences the Mawdsley – Barton families once inhabited.