Tom Aspinall Burke was born at 7 Mather Lane, Leigh, Lancashire on March 2nd 1890, the first of nine children of an Irish immigrant collier, Vincent James Burke and his wife Mary Josephine Aspinall. (pictured below)

At the age of 12 Tom went to work in a silk mill and at 14 he followed his father down the pit.

His interest in singing started at an early age and his fellow miners would do his share of the work in exchange for a few Irish ballads. At 19 he walked 60 miles to hear Caruso sing in Blackpool ... his friends wanted to know who Caruso was wrestling!