James Birtwhistle

James Birtwhistle was knocked down by a Ford van that drove off on the evening of 19 December 1958 and later died in hospital on Monday 21 December 1958.

James Birtwhistle was found lying on a pedestrian crossing in a pool of blood in Colne Road near the junction with Every Street. He received a fractured skull and his leg was badly injured.

He was taken to Victoria Hospital where he later died on the Monday.

The police said that they were trying to trace a Ford van that was seen in the vicinity of the accident on the Saturday evening which was seen to turn off Colne Road at the point of the accident into Every Street and then into Humphrey Street. The van had been travelling towards Burnley at the time and didn't stop.

The police appealed for anyone that could help to identify the van to contact their local police station at once.

James Birtwhistle had lived at 21 Elland Road in Brierfield and had been crossing Colne Road near the Junction Hotel when he was knocked down by a small van.

It was thought that James Birtwhistle had been on his way to the Junction Hotel at the time where he was a well-known regular although it was noted that he was by no means in there every night.

It was heard that he had only a month come out of hospital following an operation.

He was a retired spinner at Brierfield Mills and had lived in an old folk's bungalow in Ellend Street, previous to which he had lived in Church Street.

He was said to have been a keen pigeon fancier in his younger days and to have had raced birds in competitions and to have also been one of the oldest members of the Walter Street Working Men's Club.

It was heard that his wife had been hit at the same spot 13 years earlier, having been knocked down by a lorry resulting in her becoming a semi-invalid for the remainder of her life until her death around 1956.  It was said that since the death of his wife that James Birtwhistle's family had made a custom of meeting at his home for Christmas dinner and it was said that the same plans had been made for 1958.

It was also heard that in talking to a friend on the Saturday morning James Birtwhistle had confidently told him, his friend, 'I'll live to be a hundred'.

He had two sons and two daughters, with one of his sons being in Canada. One of his daughters who lived further along Elland Road said that James Birtwhistle's sight and hearing was good and that she could not understand how he could not have failed to have seen or hear the van.