Mary Jane Billington was born in Milnrow in 1873, the daughter of a farmer, George and his wife Harriet.
The family can be traced through the various census returns, in 1881 the family were living at 49 Butterworth Hall, at this time George's occupation was listed as being a carter, Mary had 3 siblings, Jesse, Alice and Harry, Mary being the second eldest child.
George was a native of Preston, his wife Harriet was a Milnrow girl, her maiden name being Hornby, they married in 1871.
Harriet the daughter of Samuel and Mary Hornby was baptised by the vicar of St. James, F.R. Raines on the 15th September 1850 (incidentally, Raines Crest is named after the clergyman).
In 1891, George & Harriet were living on Charles Lane, George was now listed as being a farmer and cotton waste dealer, the family had grown by one with the addition of another son, Samuel.
Mary Jane is listed as being a domestic house maid.
10 years later and the family is still living on Charles Lane, number 49.
The family have taken in a boarder, 60 year old James Kerr, a wheelwright from Ayr in Scotland, it may be that he was also employed on Georges farm, as both Harry and Samuel gave their accusations as wheelwright to the census enumerator.
Tragedy struck the family on Tuesday 21st January 1902.
At around 4pm, Mary Jane was in the yard of the farm and told their wheelwright (possibly James Kerr), to fill the skip with firewood, she then told her brother, Jesse, that she was going for a short walk before tea. At 8 o'clock that evening when she hadn't returned home, the family became worried and began searching for her.
A body was seen floating in Stott Lodge near Butterworth Hall early the following morning.
PC Thomason managed to recover the body with grappling hooks at around 5.30am on Wednesday morning - it was Mary Jane, she had drowned in 8-10 feet of water.
An inquest was held at the Hole in the Wall in Milnrow the following Friday.
The coroner stated that no marks had been found on Mary Janes body and that he urged the jury to return an open verdict, there was no suggestion that Mary Jane had any intention of taking her own life.
The lodge was predominantly used to water the horses that worked at Butterworth Hall colliery.
Mary Jane was the third person to drown in Stotts Lodge within 12 months, the coroner stated that the owners of the lodge should attempt to make it shallower to prevent any further drownings, and that Milnrow Urban District Council should see to it that steps were taken to remedy the problem.
Mary was laid to rest at St. James on Friday 24th January 1902.
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