Hugh Greenhalgh

Father of Reuben Greenhalgh, Chairman of Westhoughton UDC 1956-57.

As a child he was taught by Thomas Sinkinson at Fourgates School - also known as 't'bar school''.

He later lived at Leigh and worked as a half timer in a weaving shed.

Coal miner - Worked in the pit from the age of 13, his first job being at Messrs Fletcher Burrows Pit at Howe Bridge.

He returned to Westhoughton when he married in 1900 and worked at the Pretoria Pit for 30 years until its closure. He left in November 1910 to work at Hewlett's Pit for a short period, a break which saved his life as it was in the following month that the Pretoria Pit disaster occurred. Apart from the rescuers, he was one of the first to descend, having told the police that he had been sent for when they tried to turn him away.

He identified the bodies of his wife's brothers, Robert and John Morris. John's 13 year old son, Joseph Morris, also died in the disaster.

He was for 22 years President of the Hulton Park branch of the Miners Federation and was also a member of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners Federation Executive.

In his younger days he was a professional footballer for Leigh.

He was the only Labour candidate to win Hulton Ward, before representing East Ward from 1924. (He was considered something of a 'heretic' in an otherwise strongly Conservative family.)

Chairman of the General Purposes and other Committees.

He was a member of the Pretoria Pit Disaster Fund, Chairman of the local Hospital Saturday Committee and Vice-Chairman of the After Care Committee.

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