James Fletcher Jnr

First Chairman of Kearsley Urban District Council.

Managing Director, Robert Fletcher and Son, Paper Manufacturer

Son of James Fletcher Snr, Chairman of Kearsley Local Board 1868-69, 1877-81.

Son-in-law of Joseph Grimshaw, Chairman of Kearsley Local Board 1871-72.

Represented East Ward 1890-1915. He remained on the Council until his death but due to ill health his last attendance was on 29 January 1914. The Farnworth Journal reported that "the regard in which he was held by his fellow Councillors is manifest in the fact that none of them have drawn attention to his absence, which would have meant declaring a seat vacant."

Elected Alderman 1904. He was appointed a County Magistrate in 1907.

He was the principal mover against the charges Bolton Corporation made for water supplied to the out districts. He was Chairman of the Joint Committee of District Councils, which opposed the Bolton Water Bill, and succeeded in getting the differential charges abolished.

Chairman of Farnworth and Kearsley Gas Company

Vice-Chairman of Health Committees for Lancashire.

He was Chairman of the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Board. Many people visited the hatcheries at Piel, near Barrow as his guests, making the journey from Fleetwood in the Board's steamer. One of the Board's boats was named "James Fletcher" and was on Naval service in the First World War at the time of his death.

He was President of Radcliffe-cum-Farnworth Conservative Association. and was recognised for many years as the leader of the Conservative Party in the Farnworth half of the Radcliffe-cum-Farnworth Division. He was a benefactor to the Party and responsible for the maintenance of the Stoneclough Conservative Club. He also supported the Club in Higher Kearsley.

He was president of a Committee which organized drama performances at Farnworth in aid of the Manchester Children's Home.

The family was connected with the New Jerusalem Church, Kearsley but he also occasionally attended St Saviours Church, Ringley.

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