Charles William Sutton

“ His father, also named Richard, was a Cheshire man, who settled in Liverpool early in life, and died there on 15 June 1852, at the age of 91. Richard Brooke the younger practised as a solicitor in Liverpool, and devoted his leisure time to investigations into the history and antiquities of his county, and into certain branches of natural history. One of the favourite occupations of his life was to visit and explore the several fields of battle in England, especially those which were the scenes of conflict between the rival houses of York and Lancaster. ”

“ At the end of his apprenticeship in February 1791 he removed to Manchester, as partner with Benjamin and William Sandford and James m'Connel, machine-makers and mule-spinners, and the firm for many years were the sole makers of Crompton's ‘mule.’ Kennedy introduced several ingenious improvements for the spinning of fine yarns, including the ‘jack frame.’ As a spinner he was successful, and realised a considerable fortune. He was a friend of James Watt and many other scientific men of his day, and was a cordial supporter of every improvement in mechanical science. ”

“ For publishing 'an impious and blasphemous' tract called 'A Single Eye all Light no Darkness, or Light and Darkness One' (1650, 4to, pp. 16) , he was condemned by the House of Commons to be sent to prison for one month, and from that time 'to be banished out of the commonwealth and the territories thereof, and not to return upon pain of death.' The book itself was burned by the common hangman. Somehow its author escaped the penalty of banishment, and for a while he travelled about as a professor of astrology and physic, and even aspired to the art of magic. ”

“ EARNSHAW, LAURENCE (d. 1767) , mechanician, the son of a weaver or clothworker, was born early in the eighteenth century at Wednescough, in the parish of Mottram-in-Longdendale, Cheshire. After serving a seven years' apprenticeship to his father's business he went for four years to a tailor, and then took to his last trade, that of a clockmaker. He had a remarkable genius for mechanism of all kinds. He made musical instruments, and taught music; understood chemistry, metallurgy, and mathematics ”

“ Matthew Dobson, at Liverpool, on the retirement of that gentleman to Bath. He remained at Liverpool for the remainder of his life, and became an eminently successful and popular practitioner. He was a man of wide and various reading, and possessed a most accurate and tenacious memory, which he attributed to his habit of depending on it without referring to notes. He established the Dispensary at Liverpool in 1778, and for thirty years gave great attention to the Infirmary. The discovery of the utility of applying cold in fever is ascribed to him. ”

“ Crossley's father possessed a fair library, and the youth, having a free run of the books, acquired a decided taste for literature, especially for the Latin poets and the old English writers, a predilection which was fostered by Thomas Edwards, the bookseller and binder of Halifax, and further developed by frequent recourse to the Chetham Library at Manchester. Before he was out of his teens he began writing for ‘Blackwood's Magazine,’ his first article appearing in January 1820. It was an able essay on Sir Thomas Browne. ”

“ Though intended originally for the medical profession, he went into the Manchester trade, and subsequently became a book and print seller. While in business as a manufacturer, he formed a curious and valuable library, which when he commenced as a bookseller served as the basis of the stock described in his first catalogue, dated 1805. In this catalogue were many rarities, one of which was a volume containing 'Licia, or Poems of Love,' and the original edition of Shakespeare's 'Venus and Adonis,' 1593, now in the Malone collection, Bodleian Library. ”

“ He was duly received in May 1732, and afterwards spent thirty-eight years as a missionary, at first in Paraguay and Tucuman, and then, from 1740, among the native tribes of South America, between Rio de la Plata and Magellan's Strait, rendering conspicuous service to his order. His skill in medicine and surgery and his knowledge of mechanics aided him materially in his labours. In Paraguay he was looked upon as a Galen. In January 1768, on the expulsion of the jesuits from South America, he returned to England, and for a while stayed with friends in Lancashire and elsewhere. ”

“ When Booth rose in Cheshire in 1659 Heyrick, although sympathetic, was irresolute in action, like many other ministers. He hailed the Restoration with enthusiasm in a sermon preached on 23 April 1661, and afterwards published without his authority (Hibbert-Ware, Manchester Foundations, i. 361) . He complied with the Act of Uniformity by 'reading the service book' on 14 Sept. 1662, and maintained his position of warden until his death, having no doubt moderated his religious tenets. ”

“ By 1631 he had become so prominent as to elicit a call from court to receive the 'honour' of knighthood, but he disobeyed the summons, and in consequence had to pay a fine. Shortly afterwards, in 1635, he was appointed high sheriff of Lancashire. Although he took the office much against his will, he discharged its duties with great distinction. Among his earliest official tasks was that of levying 'ship-money.' He also assisted in the national subscription for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral. His zeal and integrity were rewarded by the special thanks of King Charles. ”

“ He was brought to Manchester in 1803, where his father settled as a drysalter, and he was educated at the Manchester grammar school. After being articled to a solicitor at Manchester, he was transferred to a London office, and subsequently was set to qualify for the bar. He was entered about 1818 at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he remained two years. While there he published some poems which, unfortunately for his success as a barrister, brought him much into notice. He went to London, and never returned to take his degree, nor was he ever called to the bar. ”

“ His first cure was that of Sacred Trinity Chapel in Salford. His house became the resort of Wesley and others of the Oxford society whenever they came to Manchester, and Wesley on several occasions preached from his pulpit. George Whitefield also delivered one of his stirring addresses in Clayton's chapel. When Wesley was contemplating his mission to Georgia, he visited Manchester to take the opinions of Clayton and Byrom, and was, it is thought, influenced by their advice in carrying out that important project. ”

“ In addition to studying national education he had, while abroad, investigated the results of free trade in land and the subdivision of estates, and upon that subject wrote many articles in the ‘Manchester Examiner.’ At the time of his death he was engaged on a work which was subsequently published with the title of ‘Free Trade in Land,’ 1879. ”

“ In 1839 a committee of the privy council was nominated to administer such a grant as the House of Commons might annually vote for public education in Great Britain, and he was appointed the first secretary of the committee or department, retaining for a time the superintendence of the metropolitan schools for pauper children under the poor-law board. ”

“ HOLDEN, MOSES (1777–1864) , astronomer, was born at Bolton, Lancashire, on 21 Nov. 1777. As a youth he worked in a foundry at Preston, until disabled by an accident. On his recovery he occupied himself first as a landscape gardener, then as a weaver. Early in life he possessed a strong love of astronomy, and he collected a library that was remarkable for one in his station. ”

“ William Farington, vicar of Leigh and rector of Warrington, was born at Leigh in Lancashire on 21 Nov. 1747. He became a pupil of Richard Wilson in 1763, and, like his brother George [q. v.] , gained several premiums at the Society of Arts. At the age of twenty-one he joined the Incorporated Society of Artists, and was admitted a student of the Royal Academy at its formation in 1768. He was elected an associate of the Academy in 1783 and full member in 1785, and in later years took an active and influential part in the government of that institution. ”

“ During the terrible distress caused by the cotton famine in Lancashire (1861–5) Kay-Shuttleworth threw himself with fervour into the administrative work of relieving the sufferings of the operatives while guarding against the risk of pauperising them, and he acted as vice-chairman, under Lord Derby, of the great organisation at Manchester known as the central relief committee. In 1863 he was high sheriff of Lancashire, and in 1870 received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the university of Oxford. ”

“ After passing a short time at Doncaster he removed to Manchester in 1790, and was elected physician to the Manchester Infirmary, a position he retained until August 1823, gaining during the thirty-three years great esteem as ‘the very model of an hospital physician.’ He relinquished his professional ‘practice’ many years before his death, which occurred on 29 May, 1851, while on a visit to a friend near Hastings. ”

“ She began to write verses at an early age, and when she was fourteen years old her parents were unwise enough to publish her 'Poems' in a quarto volume (Liverpool, 1808) . She soon recovered from the harsh criticism which the volume met with, and in the same year published 'England and Spain, or Valour and Patriotism, a Poem,' inspired by the engagement of her two brothers in the Peninsular war. Shelley after reading her first volume, and hearing from his friend Medwin, who had met her, of her personal charm, wrote to her inviting her to correspond with him. ”

“ The speaker, Lenthall, to whom Brideoake applied, was unable to interfere with the sentence, but he was so much struck with the address and powers of the applicant, that he offered to make him his chaplain, which offer was accepted, as also that of preacher of the rolls, which came soon after. Lenthall underwent some obloquy for thus preferring a 'malignant,' but he remained true to his choice, and procured him about the end of the year 1654 the vicarage of Witney in Oxfordshire, to which the revenues of the rectory of the same place were subsequently annexed by Lenthall's means. ”

“ Lord Derby, while waiting in prison, wrote to his wife advising her that it would be best not to resist the forces sent against the isle, adding that ‘Colonel Duckenfield, being so much a gentleman born, will doubtless for his own honour's sake deal fairly with you.’
He was returned in July 1653 as one of the members of parliament for Cheshire, and in the same month was placed on Cromwell's council. ”

“ In 1870 she visited America, when she began to take a deepened interest in temperance reform and the women's suffrage question. She subsequently engaged in the work of the Association for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice, and became president of the British Women's Temperance Association, of which she was one of the chief founders. ”

“ A severe accident in boyhood stopped his growth. In later years ill-health caused him to relinquish the medical profession, and to devote himself partly to science and partly to his father's lucrative chemical business. Refined in manner and eloquent in speech, his society was much courted. ‘He was an accomplished and original man; one who advanced science, and took a prominent place among the chemists of the age’ (Smith) .
He died on 2 Sept. 1836, and was buried at the Cross Street Unitarian Chapel, Manchester. He married, on 27 June 1803, Mary, daughter of Thomas Bayley of Manchester. ”

“ He was president of the Warrington Library, which was established in 1760, and took a prominent part in the promotion of the literary and social interests of the town. Owen died unmarried in April 1807, and was buried in the chancel of Warrington parish church. His portrait is preserved in the Warrington Museum, and a silhouette portrait is given in Kendrick's ‘Warrington Worthies.’
Gilbert Wakefield speaks of Owen as ‘a man of most elegant learning, unimpeachable veracity, and peculiar benevolence of heart;’ he was, however, lampooned in Thomas Seddons's ‘Characteristic Strictures,’ 1779. ”

“ By dint of hard study and careful observation he acquired a remarkable knowledge of engravings, and began an elaborate biographical catalogue of engravers, which eventually formed thirty folio volumes of manuscript. His dealings in prints gradually extended, and his stock assumed immense proportions. In 1806 he opened an auction-room in St. Martin's Lane, and there he sold some famous collections, among them being that of General Dowdeswell in January 1809. In the course of his business he had large sales of prints and books at Liverpool, Portsmouth, and elsewhere. ”

“ PAULTON, ABRAHAM WALTER (1812–1876) , politician and journalist, was son of Walter Paulton of Bolton, Lancashire, where he was born in 1812. His family were Roman catholics, and he was sent to Stonyhurst College to be educated for the priesthood. His views underwent a change, and on leaving college at the age of sixteen or seventeen he was apprenticed to a surgeon named Rainforth at Bolton. His thirst for general information was strong, and he began to take a deep interest in the political topics of the day, especially in the corn laws, then beginning to excite attention. ”

“ He went to Nuneaton Church school and to another school, and at thirteen was apprenticed to a ribbon weaver. As a lad he had the gift of public speaking, and often harangued his fellow workmen, ending with ‘preaching to them hell and damnation.’ In 1793 he met with a baptist minister named Aston from Coventry, and on 29 Dec. that year was formally baptised at the Cow Lane chapel, Coventry. Until he was twenty-two he worked as a ribbon weaver, and then went to Hinckley, Leicestershire, as a stocking weaver. In 1796 he married Elizabeth Marvin, and began business on his own account. ”

“ George Holden, LL.D., head-master of the free grammar school at Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Yorkshire, was born at that place in 1783. He was educated at the Glasgow University, where he graduated. In 1811 he was presented to the perpetual curacy of the village of Maghull, near Liverpool. Living there in seclusion he read and wrote much. He succeeded his father as vicar of Horton in 1821, but resigned that living in 1825, preferring to devote himself to Maghull. He died suddenly at Maghull on 19 March 1865, aged 81. He was not married. ”

“ When Laud was taunted with giving preferment only to men ‘popishly inclined,’ he replied that he disposed of livings to ‘divers good and orthodox men, as to Doctor Jackson of Canterbury,’ to whom he had given ‘an hospital.’ Wood says that he ‘mostly seemed to be a true son of the church of England.’ He nevertheless found favour with the parliament, as he continued in office until his death in November 1646. ”

“ On Pearson's death in 1739 Collier succeeded him as master, though he did not procure his license from the Bishop of Chester until 1742. He held the position up to his death in 1786, with the exception of an interval of some months in 1751, when he filled the situation of bookkeeper to a cloth manufacturer at Kebroyd in Yorkshire. His patron at Milnrow was Colonel Richard Townley of Belfield, who remained his friend to the end and wrote his biography after death. He began early to exercise his faculty for rhyming, and he acquired a knowledge of music, drawing, painting, modelling, and etching. ”

“ BUSHELL, SETH, D.D. (1621–1684) , divine, the only son of Adam Bushell, of Kuerden, near Preston, by his wife Alice, daughter of John Loggan, of Garstang, was born in the year 1621. At the age of eighteen he became a commoner of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and lived at the university until Oxford was garrisoned by King Charles's forces, when he returned to Lancashire. ”

“ At the age of sixteen he was in the habit of attending the theatre at Manchester, but was soon turned from 'the snares connected with that place of gay resort and destructive pastime,' and, as the result of his 'effectual awakening,' prepared himself for the Wesleyan ministry, and devoted a considerable portion of his time among the poor in the neighbourhood of Middleton. He became a methodist itinerant preacher at the age of twenty-one. ”

“ He wrote a pamphlet relative to a proposed union of mechanics' and literary institutions, 1839, and a short treatise entitled ‘Popular Education, a series of Papers on the Nature, Objects, and Advantages of Mechanics' Institutions,’ which was printed at Liverpool in 1840, and reprinted at Manchester in 1841. On relinquishing mercantile pursuits he became at first a practical engineer, conducting railway, canal, and mining works, and subsequently practised as a consulting engineer. ”

“ In 1842, on being appointed physician to the infirmary, he printed 'An Address delivered to the Pupils,' &c. His other appointments were those of physician at Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum and lecturer at the Manchester College of Medicine. He had an extensive connection with the scientific societies of the town, where he was warmly esteemed as a lecturer, practitioner, and philanthropist. He died at his father's house at York on 9 April 1848, after a painful illness, and was buried in the neighbouring cemetery. ”