Living Wigan (1902)

A lively crowd surround the camera filming a tram leaving Wigan Market Place.

This vibrant film was shown as part of the Lancashire town's celebrations of Edward VII's coronation. People wave, cheer and laugh at the camera as a tram worker playfully tries to clear them out of the way by spraying them with water. As the camera pans to follow the tram disappearing down the hill, it passes over women in shawls, men smoking, and a little girl in a bonnet being held aloft.

The tram network - closed in the 1930s - ran to Wigan Pier. By 1902, the Wigan Corporation had taken full control of the town's tram network, and had begun a programme of electrification.