NO doubt you recall the picture of Little Edith I printed recently -- a midget lady sitting on the knee of a sailor. It had been sent to me by Mr John Watson, of Thornton Cleveleys, who did not have any information about it.

Last Friday I told you of a letter from Mr G. Smedley, who told me of how little Edith Barlow used to visit her uncle, Sid Wilkinson, who lived in Kirk Street. However, there was no indictation of the name of the sailor.

Now, however, I have been contacted by Mrs Edna Bannigan, of Winton Grove, Ladybridge, who tells me that the sailor was her brother, Albert Wilkinson, and that Little Edith was her cousin.

"The picture would have been taken during the war," she tells me. "Edith's mother and my father were brother and sister. Edith came from Rotherham, and often came to stay with us, at first in John Street, and then in Kirk Street. She was next to the youngest of 17 children, and was the only one who was not a normal size. In fact, one of her brothers was six feet in height. Edith lived until she was in her early 30s, and her mind was as good as any."

So how tall was she? "Well", says Mrs Bannigan, "she could run under the kitchen table without bending." And as for her appearing in fairs, Mrs Bannigan says she may have done, but if so only for a short time, and she never came to Bolton while in a fair.

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