2026: Centenary of the Jean Stansfield Memorial Park
The Year 1926
1926 is a memorable year in British history. In London, the Duchess of York gave birth to her first child; the baby girl was a princess by birth and was named Princess Elizabeth. The City was also at this time the centre of a General Strike called by trade union leaders.
Poulton’s problems were on a smaller level. The Lytham Times reported in September that the old stone stocks in Poulton’s Market Place had been demolished by a motor vehicle for the second time in four months, suggesting that the Urban Council might consider moving them to the recently-opened Memorial Park.
A separate article the previous month in the Lancashire Daily Post announced the Council had dropped plans to engage a caretaker for the Jean Stansfield Memorial Park as “the behaviour of the older children had considerably improved of late.”
The opening of the park on 17th June 1926 was one of Poulton’s most important events that year.
The opening of the Jean Stansfield Memorial Park
ALTHOUGH there are few online accounts of the opening of the JEAN STANSFIELD MEMORIAL PARK, it was captured on camera.
Close to the right of the photo is a lady in a broad-brimmed hat holding flowers, with a man in his fifties with a flower in his lapel to her immediate left. These are the parents of Jean Stansfield, a little girl in whose name the park is dedicated.
Jean’s grave, within the old cemetery on Moorland Road, would have been sufficient for most parents, but the Stansfields were after a living memorial that could be enjoyed by other children for many years, starting with Jean’s friends. Money was no obstacle, so they donated a plot of land off Vicarage Road to be used as a park.
The date of the opening ceremony coincided with what should have been the 12th birthday of Jean Stansfield. She had no siblings, but the young girl in the picture may have been a cousin or a schoolfriend of Jean.
Samuel Frederick Stansfield and his wife Queenie moved to Poulton in 1921 but were still living in Rawtenstall at the time of the 1921 census.
The parents and birth of Jean Stansfield
SAMUEL Frederick Stansfield was born in Crawshawbooth in 1868, a place mostly remembered for its textile mills. At the age of 13 he was a cotton mill hand and his father James was a cotton waste dealer.
At the age of 32, after his father’s death, he still worked in the same business alongside two elder brothers, living with their mother and sister in Rawtenstall.
Samuel married in Ambleside on 28th February 1910 aged 43. His wife was Jeannie MacQueen, known affectionately as Queenie, born in Edinburgh and only five years younger than her husband. The couple settled in Rawtenstall at 113 Pleasant View, later renamed Haslingden Old Road.
Joy came into the life of this couple on the 17th of June 1914 with the birth of a daughter. Queenie was now aged about 42, and the birth was registered 11 days later. The daughter was named Jean.
The house at Poulton
SAMUEL and his wife and young daughter retired to Poulton-le-Fylde shortly after the 1921 census was taken, moving to a house called Oaklands. It is now number 45 Blackpool Old Road.
At the time of writing, the centenary of the opening of the Jean Stansfield Memorial Park, the house is up for sale. Local estate agent Royles has provided the photos below. The house was constructed in 1900 and although technically Victorian it is in the Edwardian style.
Jean’s father Samuel was involved with many local groups including the freemasons, whilst her mother Queenie was on the Board of Guardians at Rawtenstall. Mrs. Stansfield organised trips for about 11 years, inviting children from Rawtenstall to their house in Poulton. The children were given buckets and spades and were taken on a trip to Blackpool Tower.
Jean becomes ill
JEAN fell ill in September 1923 and was taken to a nursing home at 230 Hornby Road, Blackpool. She had acute appendicitis.
Four days later, on 24th September 1923, she succumbed to what was described as “auto intoxication”, presumably a fatal infection. Jean was just nine years old, and the couple’s only child.
Jean was buried at the old cemetery on Moorland Road. Her memorial, shown in this photo, is easy to find. Despite Jean’s death, the couple continued to invite children from Rawtenstall to their Poulton home right up to 1931.
The deaths of Jean’s Parents
SAMUEL Frederick Stansfield died aged 63 on 3rd April 1932.
Following Samuel’s death, an obituary was published in the Fleetwood Chronicle on the 8th of April 1932. He left an estate valued for probate purposes, including his home in Poulton, at £18,294. Allowing for inflation, this equates to just over a million pounds today.
Queenie continued to live at the house in Poulton until her own death aged 62 on 16th January 1939. She died at the same nursing home as her daughter.
Both parents were buried alongside their daughter. New plinths were added below Jean, firstly for her father and then for her mother, as shown in the photo.
An obituary For Samuel was published in the Fleetwood Chronicle on 8th April 1932, and one for Queenie in the Ramsbottom Observer on 27th January 1939. These can be seen or downloaded from Findmypast® using the links below.
An advertisement for the sale of 45 Blackpool Old Road was published in the Burnley Express. Follow this link to view it.
