In the November of 1884 William Hepplestone died of "probably disease of the chest" and his wife, Mary Ann Hepplestone (née Whittaker), was left without any means of support for her children. After William's death, Mary Ann was left to fend alone for her seven children who were aged between six months and ten years. Life was hard for widows. There was little work for women, and women with small children were severely restricted in what they could do to earn enough money to survive. She had no real choices. She could not stay in Black Horse Yard and she could not keep the family together. In a desperate attempt to keep them all from the dreaded workhouse she had to ask their relatives for help. Her husband's brother, Walter, who was a miner in Silkstone took ten year old Joseph as he was old enough to work as his hurrier. Her mother's sister, Grace, and her husband Matthew Peck took seven year old Jane. They lived nearby in Thurgoland and had eight children. Jane would be a help in the home. Mary Ann knew that there was work at the pit tops in Lancashire.

Wigan was the centre of the Lancashire coalfield and there were a thousand pit shafts within five miles of the town. She could stay with another of her mother's sisters, Sarah Ann, and her husband Thomas Hart in Whelley and she could get work at the pit top. Benjamin was eight and he would be able to earn and Mary Elizabeth was nearly five. Sarah would look after her during the day but she couldn't cope with the youngest three children. Mary Ann took George, 3, Norah, 2, and the baby Lydia to the workhouse in Penistone and set off for Lancashire. Mary Ann worked at the pit top or pit brow. Wigan pit brow lasses had one of the most gruelling jobs imaginable. Their job involved picking stones and shale from the coal on the screen before washing. They shovelled the coal and riddled it. They loaded it onto coal wagons. It was backbreaking work.