Ex-mill worker and serviceman, John, dies 101

John Warburton at Acacia lodge New Moston.

A CHADDERTON war veteran has passed away, aged 101.

John Warburton was born near Blackburn but moved to Denshaw aged five and attended Denshaw School. The son of a mill worker and a coal miner, John left school at 14 after moving to Shaw and began work at Fern Mill.

John met wife Alice Hilton, also a mill worker, in 1938 and the pair tied the knot at the Methodist Chapel, on Manchester Street, and bought a house on Stock Lane, Chadderton.

The couple went on to have two daughters, Margaret and Dorothy.

Despite being only 4ft 11in tall and missing his right index finger from an accident with a mangle, John was called up to serve his country as a gunner in the Royal Artillery.

After six years, he returned home to work in Chadderton Mill before going self-employed as a painter and decorator but the dust and paint forced him into a career change and John took a position as a cook at the Royal Oldham Infirmary.

In 1961, John married Alice Howard, who had four children of her own - Don, George, Tony and David - and the pair spent 44 years together until Alice died in 2005.

John, a grandad and great-grandad, passed away at Acacia Lodge on September 19.

Service and committal will take place at Oldham Crematorium, Hollinwood, on Wednesday, October 5, at 11.30am.

Family flowers only, with donations if desired to RNIB c/o Hedley Jackson Funeral Directors, Shaw.