Margaret Rowntree was the first female Mayor of Fleetwood. This clock tower commemorates her as a mayor, teacher and poet.
This clock is mounted at the top of a concrete tower, with a cupola type covering topped by a weather vane of a stylized ship. The clock face is round, solid white with twelve black Roman numerals and marks for the minutes. Each of the four sides of the tower have an identical clock face.
The clock tower is the centerpiece of Albert Square, a clear concrete area near the heart of the historic business center. There is no clear date for the erection of the clock tower, but presumably after he death in 1983. At the base of the clock tower is the following dedication plaque, and nearby is a Heritage plaque from the Wyre Borough Council.
This clock was bequeathed to the Town by
Margaret Elizabeth Rowntree, M.B.E.
(Widow of Lawrence Tather Rowntree)
first woman Mayor and Alderman of
the Borough of Fleetwood.
Born 3rd February 1899.
Died 13th February 1983.
ALBERT SQUARE
On the site of the Rowntree Clock Tower, erected in memory of the
town's first woman mayor, Margaret Rowntree, M.B.E., was originally
the Parish Pump. This was used to supply local householders with
water which was distributed on carts.
The butcher shop opposite on the junction of North Albert Street
and Adelaide Street is believed to be the first business established in the town.
Wyre Borough Council
Not only was Margaret Rowntree a mayor, but was a noted poet in her own right, also known by her maiden name of Margaret E. Fish. The following entry from the
Female War Poets gives more biographical history:
Margaret E. Fish (Mrs Margaret Rowntree MBE)
1899 -
Margaret was born in Fleetwood, Lancashire. Both her grandfathers were Master Mariners and her Father was a Trinity House Pilot.
Margaret attended Chaucer School and Blackpool Grammar School. She later trained as a teacher at Edge Hill College in Liverpool.
In 1926, she married Lawrence T. Rowntree from Hull.
Margaret became a teacher, teaching first at her old school and then after the death of her husband in 1947, she taught at Tyldesley School, Blackpool.
Several of Margaret's many poems were published in "Lancashire Life" magazine and in the local press. Margaret published an anthology of her verse in 1984 under the title "Sixty years of verse".
In the fall of 2013 there was a special exhibit at the Fleetwood library with the following information for the Female Poets of World War One Exhibition at Fleetwood Library:
18th October 2013
Go to Fleetwood library and, on a series of boards near the front door, be prepared to meet an astounding collection of people. Most were women, many now largely forgotten, but their stories will amaze you. From female poets of the First World War to the many activities of that time carried out by women who travelled the world, the exhibition ranges from poetry to spying, flying aircraft, setting up countries and more – all centrally involving women.
The exhibition is centered largely on poets who were once quite well known and indeed pioneers. The exhibition also has a local focus with one central character being Margaret Rowntree who was the first female mayor of Fleetwood. She is commemorated by the clocktower in Fleetwood and wrote some moving and perhaps prescient verse. Included in the exhibition is her poem Any Widow in Any War, which points out the follies of both the leaders and the led who “have missed the call.”
Margaret Rowntree was rooted firmly in the traditions of Fleetwood that lived and died by the sea. Fleetwood at its height became the third largest fishing port in Great Britain, but it came at a price and many memorials here keep their memories alive, such as the
Fishermen's Memorial on the Esplanade which states, "
The price of fish is the lives of men." The following caption on a web site for the
Fish Family which identifies her father.
William Fish 1871 - 1940 "Uncle Bosun". Trinity House Pilot and Ferry Manager. Lost at Sea