John Augustine Kilcoyne

Chairman of Horwich Urban District Council: 1934-35 (Labour)

Born: Bolton 21 July 1893

Died: Darley Street, Horwich 21 July 1940

Railway signalman.

Father of John Kevin Kilcoyne, Mayor of Horwich 1984-85.

Father-in-law of Alice Kilcoyne, Mayor of Horwich 1990-91, 1998-99.

Grandfather of James Michael Kilcoyne, Mayor of Horwich 1999-2000.

He began work as a half-timer in a cotton mill at 12 years old.

He became an apprentice in the engineering trade but the firm was disbanded.

He started work on the railway as a goods porter at Horwich in 1912 and finally became a signalman.

He was a trade unionist from the age of 16 and held every office in the Horwich No 1 branch of the National Union of Railwaymen.

He joined the Army in 1914 and served in the First World War in the Mediterranean Force before  being invalided home in 1915. He later served in France and was demobbed in 1919.

Represented Central Ward from 1929.

He served on all Committees of the Council and as Chairman of Housing he devoted much of his time to various developments in the Housing Acts.

Governor of Rivington and Blackrod Grammar School.

President of Horwich Co-operative Society.