To celebrate the Manchester Shipping Canal in Warrington, let us go back in history and introduce you to local lad George Clayton. Here his wife comforts him on his deathbed and tells the story of his life.
Born to a farm hand in Woolston, George had many jobs from working the plough, serving in the 5th Royal Dragoons in Afghanistan and as a navvy building the Manchester Shipping Canal. He had two children, Frederick and Elizabeth and lived in a 2 bed dwelling on Church Street. At age 42, he died on New Years Eve 1895 from multiple illnesses including tuberculosis. Illnesses that were bought on through a life of hard graft and poor living conditions.
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