Manchester Grammar’s Preston pupils 1730-1837

Public schools helped preserve or enhance the social status and wealth of the families who sent their offspring to them. Several sons of Preston families benefited from this path to privilege. Here those who attended Manchester Grammar School (not strictly a public school) are considered. An overview can be found at:

Public School Prestonians

And information on Preston pupils at other schools can be found at the following links:

Eton
Harrow
Rugby
Charterhouse, Shrewsbury School, Westminster School and Winchester College

The Rev Jeremiah Finch Smith, whose father was headmaster of Manchester Grammar School from 1807 to 1837, transcribed and annotated the School Entrance Registers for the school from 1730 to 1837 in four volumes for the Chetham Society:

Smith, Jeremiah Finch. The Admission Register of the Manchester School : With Some Notices of the More Distinguished Scholars. Vol. 1. Manchester: Chetham society, 1866. http://archive.org/details/b21779454.

———. The Admission Register of the Manchester School : With Some Notices of the More Distinguished Scholars. Vol. 2. Manchester: Chetham society, 1868. http://archive.org/details/b21779454_0.

———. The Admission Register of the Manchester School, with Some Notices of the More Distinguished Scholars. Vol. 3, Part 2. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1874. http://archive.org/details/admissionregiste3294manc.

———. The Admission Register of the Manchester School, with Some Notices of the More Distinguished Scholars. Vol. 3, Part 2. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1874. http://archive.org/details/admissionregiste3193manc.

In his introduction to volume 1 Smith notes that the Manchester Grammar School Register of Admissions begins in 1730 and that no record of previous registers had been found. [1] His work is more than just a simple transcript. He fleshes out the entries with often quite detailed biographies of the pupils, often giving detailed references to his sources. But he did meet difficulties that will be familiar to present-day family historians:

It will be apparent at the first glance that many more scholars have been identified who entered into what are called the learned professions, than into those honourable walks of life with which the town and neighbourhood of Manchester are more closely connected in its merchants and manufacturers. But it is much more easy to trace the one than the other. The list of Exhibitioners from the school to the Universities, which dates so far back as the year 1699, at once supplied a long catalogue of the names of scholars who reached the highest point of education which the school could give, and the list of Hulmian Exhibitioners (both are given in Whatton’s history of the school, though with some errors in the names), and the Oxford and Cambridge ” Graduati,” carried identification a step farther. But with regard to the Manchester names, and others connected with mercantile life, there are but few public sources whence information could be had. If, therefore, there seem to be many omissions in the trade and commercial notices, it must be kindly remembered that these are the most difficult of all to obtain. And it is remarkable how, in many instances, even families of long standing in this great metropolis of trade know very little of the personal history of their ancestors. But men live so much in the constant bustling excitement of the present, that they seem to have no time to preserve, what some day would prove to be, interesting memorials of the past. [2]

He overcame these difficulties somewhat with regard to Preston pupils, for he had access to local knowledge, ‘I am bound gratefully to acknowledge the willing assistance given to me with the Preston names in all the three volumes [volume 4 was still in preparation] by a valued and attached pupil of my father, Richard Newsham, Esq.’ [3] Further help came from three of his brothers and from other contributors: their additions are included in brackets, with their initials, in the entries below.

The records contain the names of some 57 pupils whose fathers lived in Preston, or whose later careers brought them to the town. There will be more: the ones listed here were found by simply searching the on-line registers for occurrences of the word ‘Preston’. Amongst those names are many who were to play prominent roles in the transformation of the town from the late 18th century and well into the 19th century. Their names include Addison, Blackhurst, Clayton, Cooper, Grimshaw, Myer, Newsham, Pedder, Rawstorne, Shawe, Starkie and Swainson.

The last named family is of particular interest since it is represented by Christopher Swainson, the eldest of 12 children of John Swainson, a Preston calico manufacturer, and his wife Susannah. His younger brother, Charles, was one of the Preston cotton lords. Christopher entered one of what the Rev Smith calls the ‘learned professions’, becoming a clergyman. What his entry here makes clear is that the Swainsons were not self-made men; they were a gentry family with connections to the aristocracy. Christopher’s first role after leaving school was secured for him by the earl of Powys, a relative by marriage.

Occupation details are supplied for 27 of the pupils: clergyman (9), lawyer (9), cotton merchant (2), wine merchant (2), merchant (2), surgeon (2), banker (1). The occupations of all the fathers are listed, except seven who simply style themselves as gentlemen: lawyer (8), cotton manufacturer (4), banker (2), corn merchant (2), draper (2), grocer (2), surgeon (2), wine merchant (2), agent (1), army officer (1), bleacher (1), checkman (1), clerk (1), coach driver (1), haberdasher (1), hatter (1), land agent (1), publican (1), town clerk (1), upholsterer (1). Nine of the pupils went on to an Oxbridge college.

The Register

1740

Nicholas, son of William Starkey of Manchester, checkman. January 7. Of the family of Starkie, of Huntroyd, and brother to William Starkie, see register anno 1751. Nicholas Starkie lived at Frenchwood, near Preston. See pedigree in Whitaker’s Whalley and Gregson’s Fragments. [Nicholas, son of Mr. William Starkey, baptised at the Collegiate church 29th May 1729. His mother was Mary, daughter of Thomas Foxley of Manchester gent. E.] [4]

John, son of James Salter of Preston, hatter. Held a school exhibition for one year only (1747). Perpetual curate of Chorlton, 177 1-1789. Schoolmaster of Chetham’s hospital. Died 24th July 1789, and is buried in the Collegiate church. Qy. of Balliol college, Oxford. B.A. 1748? As schoolmaster he earned the approval of the Trustees of Chetham’s hospital. They added 10I. to his salary in 1780; and in August 1789 they allowed ten guineas to his executors towards his funeral expenses, “in consideration of his long and faithful services.” [5]

John, son of the late Robert Windar of Preston, clerk. Exhibitioner of the school to Brasenose college, Oxford, in 1743. Hulmian exhibitioner, 1745; B.A. December 11th 1745; M.A. 1748. [6]

1755

Lawrence, son of Lawrence Rawstorne, esq., Preston, Lancashire. Of Newhall and Hutton, esq., the representative of an old Lancashire family. He was high sheriff of the county in 1776, and steward of the school dinner in 1786. He married a daughter of Robert Gwillim, of Bewsey and Atherton, esq., and died December 3rd 1803. (See Baines’s Lancashire, vol. iii., Penwortham parish.) [7]

1758

William, son of Thomas Lorimer, grocer, Preston, Lancashire. The family of Lorimer have long left Preston; and there is nothing to be learned there of this scholar, nor of his two brothers John and Charles, whose names occur in the years 1768 and 1777. But in the Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors, 1816, one William Lorimer, a clergyman, is said to have resided many years in South Carolina, and to be the author of a valuable tract entitled, A Letter to the Corn Committee on the importation of rough rice as a supplement to wheat flour. 8vo, 1796. [8]

Thomas, son of Richard Whitehead, esq., Manchester [later Preston. PS]. [He was descended from an old and respectable family in the Fylde, who held the advowson of S. Michael’s-on-Wyre and lands in Garstang. His father was an agent of the Derby family in Preston in the middle of the last century, and afterwards settled in Manchester. R.] The son became fellow of S. Peter’s college, Cambridge, on the foundation of Dr. Andrew Ferne; A.B. 1770; A.M. 1773; and rector of Eccleston in 1770, of which benefice his father (who was high sheriff of the county of Lancaster in 1759) was patron pro hac vice, and he held the same until his death, 26th May 1812, aged 66 years. He was in the commission of the peace, and died at Preston, leaving issue four sons and one daughter. His eldest son became lieutenant-general sir Thomas Whitehead K.C.B., who died 7th April 1851, at the age of 74, and is buried at Eccleston. [9]

1761

Henry and Richard, sons of the late Richard Briggs, attorney, Preston, Lancashire. The family of Briggs has disappeared from Preston many years. Henry Briggs became a wine merchant. One of the brothers appears to have taken part in the speeches in 1764, and recited an English essay with this title, “Adeo mibi videtur impudens eorum querimonia, qui naturam accusant quod vitam tam angustis spatiis fmierit, cum ipsi ex eo, quod datum, sibi tantum amputant.” [10]

John and Edmund, sons of Richard Addison, upholsterer, Preston, Lancashire. The younger brother is here placed first. Edmund went to Bengal and died there young. John Addison (born 2nd March, 1755) practised for many years at Preston as a barrister, and died there 17th October 1837, in his 83rd year, and is buried in Trinity church yard. He left two sons, the eldest of whom, Thomas Batty Addison esq., is the present recorder of Preston. His second son, the late John Addison esq., was judge of the county courts for the North Lancashire circuit. For an interesting note in which John Addison senior is mentioned see Wilson’s Miscellanies, p. lxix., [and for a curious anecdote of the first mayoralty of Richard Addison, in 1727-8, and of sir Edward Stanley bart. the bailiff, see Dobson’s History of Ancient Houses in Preston, 12mo, 1855. R.] [11]

1764

Henry, son of John Wilkinson, town clerk of Preston, Lancashire. [12]

Richard, son of John Derbyshire, grocer, Preston, Lancashire. [13]

1767

James, son of Henry Penny, apothecary, Knutsford. Brother of Henry and Edward Penny (see Register, p. 118), and of Robert and Peter Penny {see Register, p. 135). He was baptised 13th June, 1756. An exhibitioner of the school to Brasenose college, Oxford; B.A. February 1, 1779; and of Hertford college, M.A. May 24, 1784. He was vicar of Preston from 1809 to 1816, on the presentation of sir Henry P. Houghton, bart., M.P., dying on 16th October in the latter year. His name occurs in the Records of the earlier anniversaries. For his son Henry, see Register, anno 1812. [14]

1768

John, son of Thomas Lorimer, grocer, in Preston, Lancashire. Brother to William Lorimer (see Register, p. 78), and to Charles Lorimer (see Reg. anno 1777). This scholar may be the graduate of Trinity college, Cambridge, A.B. 1776, whose name appears as fourth among the junior optimes of that year. [15]

1769

Thomas, son of John Bolton, attorney, Preston, Lancashire. [16]

1770

Richard, son of Richard Whitehead, esq., of Preston, Lancashire. He is probably the scholar alluded to in a note to Doming Rasbotham’s verses (see Register anno 1774) as having entered the navy. For his brother Thomas see Register, p. 80. [17]

Christopher, son of John Smalley, wine merchant, Preston, Lanc. Christopher Smalley, son of John Smalley, who is known as being connected with Sir Richard Arkwright in business (see Baines’s Lancashire, vol. ii. pp. 430-1), having in the first instance assisted him with money, and subsequently entered into partnership with him, became a cotton spinner and partner in the Holywell Twist Company. He was originally intended for holy orders, but was removed from school and placed in business – for which he had no great talents – much, it is said, to Mr. Lawson’s regret, who regarded him as a pupil of much promise. Pennant, in his History of Holywell Parish, p. 214, states that Mr. “John Smalley, senior, had long been engaged in a cotton work at Cromford, near Matlock, in Derbyshire, unhappily within the baneful influence of a tyrant rival, which forced him to seek the protection of S. Wenefrede, under which he prospered, and his children still prosper, blessing the benefit of the change made by their injured parent.” He adds, “it is to Mr. Christopher Smalley, one of the partners, and eldest son of the founder of these great manufacturies (The Cotton Twist) I am obliged for the account of what relates to them.” The circumstances of the family, I believe, changed afterwards for the worse. There is in Whitford churchyard a tombstone bearing the following inscription “Here rest the remains of John Smalley, late of Preston, in Lancashire. He died at Holywell, on 28th day of January 1782, aged 53 years, where he established the cotton manufactory in the year 1777. Ann Smalley, eldest daughter, died May 20th 1790, aged 38. Elizabeth, his wife, died January 2nd 1796, aged 65. Here also lie the remains of Christopher Smalley, late of Holywell, esq. He died January 11th 1829, aged 74 years. Also of Sarah, his wife, who died 8th November 1832, aged 77 years. Also of John, their only son, who died 8th October 1808, aged 16 years.” The Rev. Robert Gibson, A.M., now vicar of Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, married the only daughter of Christopher Smalley. [18]

John, son of John Sharpe, clergyman, Preston, Lancashire. The father’s connection with Preston was only temporary. He appears to have been curate of the parish church for a short time. [19]

1771

Joseph and John, sons of Joseph Myers, wine merchant, Preston, Lancashire. Joseph Myers became a wine merchant at Preston, and died at Avenham house, in that town, 13th November 1796. John Myers was a merchant in Liverpool, and resided at Crosby house, of which he became possessed through his first wife, Miss Kitchen, who was an heiress, and by whom he had nine children. He married, secondly, Miss Collinson, but s. p. This branch of the family is now represented by Jacques Myers esq, of Crosby house, near Liverpool, grandson of this scholar. John Myers died 29th March 1820, and was buried in S. Paul’s churchyard, Liverpool. [20]

Thomas, son of Joseph Myers, wine merchant, Preston, Lanc. He practised as a solicitor in Preston, and died there many years ago. [21]

Nicholas, son of Thomas Grimshaw, attorney, Preston, Lancashire. Thomas Grimshaw, for many years senior alderman and father of the Preston Corporation, and formerly an eminent attorney there, died at Preston in 1787. His son Nicholas became a member of the same corporation, was seven times elected mayor, and the only instance on record of the same person having filled the office of guild mayor on two occasions. In 1802 and in 1822, when those ancient and splendid festivals, known as the Preston Guild Merchant, were held, Nicholas Grimshaw served the office of mayor, and on the latter occasion received an address not only from his fellow-townsmen, but from the nobility and gentry who attended the festivities, thanking him for “the zeal, assiduity, judgment, good taste, and courtesy which marked his conduct” during the two weeks’ celebration. His wife was unable to be present, owing to a terrible affliction which befell the family a few months previously: two of her sons, youths of the age of 19 and 17, having been drowned in the Ribble, when on an excursion in a sailing boat; and the duties of the mayoress were discharged by another lady. Nicholas Grimshaw’s signature appears to the resolutions passed at the meeting in 1781, sir Thomas Egerton, bart., in the chair, for the establishment of the anniversary festivals, but he does not appear to have been present on any subsequent occasion. His portrait, engraved by Scriven from a painting by Lonsdale, is in the old school. (See Wilcockson’s Authentic Records of the Guild Merchant of Preston in the Year 1822; Baines’s Lancashire, vol. iv. pp. 348-354; and Wilson’s Miscellanies, pp. 58-61.) [22]

1774

Thomas, son of Thomas Blackhurst, gent., Howick, near Preston, Lancashire. This scholar is probably Thomas Blackhurst, of Brasenose college, Oxford. B.A. 25th May 1780. [23]

Edward, son of Robert Wilson, haberdasher, Preston, Lancashire. [24]

1776

William and Richard, sons of William Shawe, attorney, Preston, Lanc. Of these two brothers, William died young. Richard, on leaving school, entered University college, Oxford, and graduated B.A. 15th January 1787. He became a barrister, and travelled for some time in Italy. He died at Fishwick, near Preston, in 1794. In a note to Byrom’s Remains, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 399, “William Shaw of Preston, attorney-at-law,” is mentioned as having aided in collecting funds for the purpose of raising troops to oppose the advance of “the rebels” in 1745. In the Gentleman’s Magazine, the death of Mr, William Shawe, of Preston, attorney-at-law and under sheriff, is recorded on the 16th February 1789, and that of his widow on the 17th March 1791. [25]

John, son of the late John Baldwin, surgeon, Preston, Lanc. The name of John Baldwin, esq., was placed on the committee appointed in 1807 for the erection of a monument to Mr. Lawson (see School Register, vol. i. p. 126), and occurs in the records of the anniversary festivals. He was steward in 1808 as colleague to George Eaton, esq. He signs his name variously, as Baldwyn, Baldwen and Baldwin. John Baldwin, probably this scholar, was a twist dealer, resided at 2, Bath street, and one of the constables of Manchester in 1800. [26]

1777

Charles, son of Thomas Lorimer, grocer, Preston, Lanc. Brother to William Lorimer (see vol. i. p. 78) and to John Lorimer (p. 146). [27]

Edward, son of the late Mr. Christopher Rishton, lawyer, Preston, Lanc. The family of Rishton was long connected with Preston. Thomas Rishton was one of the aldermen of the Preston Guild Merchant in 1664, and Ralph Rishton held the same office in 1682. This scholar resided at Elswick lodge, near Preston, held a commission in the Lancashire militia, and died at Boulogne in May 1822. [28]

1778

Henry, son of Fleetwood Shaw, linen draper, Preston, Lanc. [29]

1779

Francis, son of the late John Dutton, esq., Preston, Lanc. [30]

1784

William, son of William Prichard, surgeon, Preston, Lanc. The name of William Prichard, gent., appears as one of the stewards of the Preston guild merchant in the years 1802 and 1822. See Wilcockson’s Authentic Records of the Guild Merchant of Preston, 8vo, 1822. [31]

1789

Christopher, son of John Swainson, calico manufacturer, Preston, Lanc. To the eldest son of this scholar I am indebted for the greater portion of the following notice. Christopher Swainson was the eldest son of John Swainson, of Preston, and Susannah his wife, daughter of Charles Inman, esq., of Lancaster, and of Kingston in the island of Jamaica; of an ancient family, once the possessors of broad lands in Netherdale, and who suffered severely for their loyalty in the Civil wars of the parliament. His grandfather was the Rev. Christopher Swainson, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony Lister, esq., of Giggleswick, and was successively vicar of Giggleswick and rector of Stavely, in Yorkshire, and incumbent of Copp and Goosnargh, in Lancashire. Christopher, the scholar here recorded, was born on the 12th July 1775. Having been nominated to a school exhibition in 1793, he was admitted a member of S. John’s college, Cambridge, in April, and went into residence in October of the same year. In October 1795 he left Cambridge and entered Worcester college, Oxford, where he took the degree of B.A. on the 28th February 1797, and of M.A. on the 22nd November 1799. He was ordained deacon in 1800, and priest in 1801, by Dr. P. H. W. Cornwall, bishop of Bristol. Soon after leaving college he was appointed tutor to the sons of the second lord Clive (created earl of Powis), and accompanied his pupils to Eton in 1798. He obtained this appointment from his connection with the Wilsons of Eshton hall, in Craven. Two of his great-uncles, brothers of his grandfather, married two sisters of that family. Their nephew, Matthew Wilson, of Eshton, espoused the sister of the first and great lord Clive. In April 1802 he was inducted to the vicarage of Hawkesbury, in Gloucestershire, on the presentation of lord Liverpool. This living he held in commendam for the son of the patron. It was in this year (1802) that he sold the advowson of the vicarage of S. Michael’s-on-Wyre, in Lancashire, a family living. An early succession to its incumbency seemed impossible, and he had good prospects of ecclesiastical preferment in other quarters. In 1805 he was presented to the vicarage of Clun, in Shropshire, by the earl of Powis. About this time, or early in the spring of 1806, and near the close of Mr. Pitt’s last administration, the earl of Powis was offered the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, and it was arranged that Mr. Swainson should accompany him as his chaplain; but whilst the earl went to London to receive the appointment from the king, and Mr. Swainson came down into Lancashire to see his mother, Mr. Pitt died, and the appointment did not take place. In 1808 Mr. Swainson was appointed to the prebendal stall of Cublington, in the cathedral of Hereford; and in the following year (1809) he married, on the 3rd August, Elizabeth, sole daughter and heiress of Thomas Lowe, esq., M.D., of Preston, by whom he had two sons, who survived him. In 1816 lord Liverpool, then prime minister, offered him the crown living of the rectory of Lutterworth once held by Wycliffe, “the morning star of the Reformation.” Mr. Swainson was not, however, inducted to Lutterworth, having effected an arrangement for an exchange with the rector of Wistanstow, in Shropshire, about nine miles distant from the vicarage of Clun; and he was appointed to that rectory in the same year, on the presentation of the earl of Craven. During the duke of Wellington’s administration (in 1829-30) the duke of Northumberland, who married lady Charlotte Clive, the daughter of the first and sister of the second earl of Powis, was lord-lieutenant of Ireland. It is stated that at that time Mr. Swainson had the offer of an Irish bishoprick. However this may be, it is very probable that he may have been recommended for high ecclesiastical preferment, seeing the estimation in which he was held by the Clive family and by the duchess of Northumberland, whose instructor he had been in the dead languages at the time he was tutor to her brothers. The duchess was a woman of strong sense and ability, and was appointed governess to the princess Victoria, our present queen. If a positive offer was made, it is equally probable that his natural diffidence would have induced Mr. Swainson to shrink from the acceptance of a post of great prominence and responsibility. “His character,” as described by an intimate and much-valued friend, the Rev. Christopher Bird, rector of Chollerton, Northumberland, “was shy and retiring. The qualities of his heart were far more estimable and distinguished than the acquirements of his head, yet he was a sound and accurate scholar, and did honour to the school in which he was educated and valuable service to the pupils at Eton who were intrusted to his care. He was far from doing justice to himself. His attainments, both intellectual and moral, were much higher than his own claim upon others, or his estimate of himself. By those who knew him well he was esteemed a person of sound judgment, good acquirements, and both in principle and practice a sincere Christian, but, not having those demonstrative talents which the world loves and admires, his worth will only be seen when the secrets of all hearts shall be open.” The portraits of Christopher Swainson, in his early manhood, show that he had a handsome countenance of refined and regular features. He was tall in figure, and his manners were peculiarly pleasing and courteous. He died at Wistanstow on the 19th December 1854, and his widow only survived him two days. His eldest son, Edward Christopher, M.A., of Worcester college, Oxford, the present rector of Wistanstow, succeeded his father in the possession of that living, of which he had bought the next presentation (the advowson he himself purchased), and also inherited from him a considerable landed estate in the county of Salop. His second son, Charles Lowe, of Grappenhall, Cheshire, succeeded to property near Chorley, in Lancashire, derived from his mother’s family, in whose possession it had been since the time of Edward VI. The family of Swainson were, from an early period, located in districts of Craven, in Yorkshire, and in the hill country about the sources of the Ribble, and inter-married with the Grandorges, Carrs, Listers, Wilsons, Coulthursts and Garforths, the principal families of that neighbourhood. Roger Swaynson de Staynforth, of this family, fought at Flodden under the banner of Henry lord Clifford. (Vide Battle Roll of Flodden, at Bolton Abbey.) [32]

The following gentlemen are known to have been educated at the school, although their names do not appear in the Register. They would all, with one exception (Thomas Starkie), be admitted to the school within the period comprised in this volume. It is much to be regretted that there should be omissions in the Register.

Thomas Starkie. This name occurs among the old scholars present at the anniversary meeting of 1786, and other occasions, down to the year 1792. In 1789 the stewards were John Arden, esq. (the elder brother of lord Alvanley), and Thomas Starkie, esq. He was brother to Nicholas and William Starkie, for whom see Register, vol. i. pp. II and 38. On the death of his brother Nicholas, s.p., he succeeded to his estate at Frenchwood, near Preston. He married Christiana, sixth and youngest daughter of Edward Downes, esq., of Shrigley, and sister of the wife of his younger brother, William Starkie. I conclude that he lived in Manchester, as he served the office of senior constable in 1777, and of boroughreeve in 1786. [33]

1812

Henry, son of James Penny, vicar of Preston. For his father, who had only two sons, of whom Henry was the younger, see Register, vol. i. p. 145. Henry Penny served his clerkship with Messrs. Grimshaw and Palmer, solicitors, Preston. He subsequently went out to India, and died there many years ago. The elder son, Edmund Henry, was M.A. of Brasenose college, Oxford, one of the assistant masters of the Charter House school, and rector of Great Stambridge, near Rochford, Essex. The family have long passed away from Preston. [34]

Richard, son of Richard Newsham, banker, Preston. Richard Newsham, senior, was one of the firm of Pedders, Newsham, Lomax and Denison, of the well-known old bank, Preston, now discontinued. He was born on the 3rd March 1754, and married, on the 9th January 1787, Margaret, youngest daughter of Peter Hopwood of Preston, goldsmith. He was alderman, and four times mayor of that borough, in the years 1807, 1813, 1818, and 1824, and died at Avenham house, Preston, on the 16th June 1843, in his 90th year. His son, Richard, born on the 16th May 1798, younger, but eventually only surviving son (his elder brother James, who was also partner in the Preston old bank, having deceased in his father’s lifetime, leaving an only daughter, Margaret, who married Edmund Francis ffarrington, barrister-at-law, second son of admiral William ffarrington of Woodvale, in the Isle of Wight, of the old Lancashire family of that name, see Register, vol. i. pp. 69, 231), on leaving school, where he took part in the public speeches in 1813 and 1814, entered the office of Messrs. Rawstorne and Wilson, solicitors, of Preston, with whom he afterwards became partner. He relinquished his profession many years ago, and since 1842 has been an active magistrate, and subsequently deputy-lieutenant of the county. [35]

William, son of the late William Fisher, cotton manufacturer, Walton, near Preston. William Fisher, on leaving school, passed some years in Preston, London and Manchester, intending to enter into mercantile business, but having a strong desire to take holy orders, he went to Oxford in 1825, and was admitted to S. Edmund hall as a gentleman commoner, and took his B.A. degree on the 7th May 1829. He was ordained by the bishop of Lichfield in the same year to the curacy of Chesterfield, and in 1831 was appointed curate in the populous parish of S. Peter, Derby, where he remained for 18 years. In 1849 he was presented by William Evans, esq., of Allestree, to the vicarage of Parwick, and perpetual curacy of Alsop-le-Dale, both near to Ashbourne in Derbyshire, which he held until his death on the 28th September 1863, aged 67. Mr. Fisher was much respected as a conscientious clergyman, and as a man of great energy and perseverance, whose heart was in his work. He was instrumental in providing large daily schools for the parish of S. Peter in Derby, and afterwards suitable schools for the small benefice which he held. He continued his ministerial duties to within a fortnight of his death, dying of no particular disease, but of sudden failure of both mind and body, the result of many years unceasing labours. There is an inscription on the tombstone over his grave in Parwick churchyard. [36]

[From this point the age of the boys is included in brackets.]

1815

Henry and William, sons of Lt.-colonel Henry Hulton, barrack master. Isle of Man (14 and 12). For their father, who died in September 1831, see Register, vol. ii. p. 27. Henry William, the eldest son, was born on the 31st October 1800, and on leaving school was articled to Thomas Starkie Shuttleworth, esq., attorney-at-law, Preston. He was lost with three young companions by the oversetting of a boat on the Ribble on the 24th April 1822. A monument, with the following lines by Montgomery, was erected by several of their friends and companions to their memory in the parish church of Preston:

They sailed in hope, but they returned no more;
Youth, health, and pleasure cheered them on their way;
Brief was the voyage, yet they reached a shore
Beyond the seaman’s track, ere close of day.
Low in the grave their ashes slumber now,
Reader, thy days are numbered, where art thou?

Though on the stream of time thy vessel glide,
And, pure as heaven, the waters seem to roll,
Ere long in calm or tempest shall the tide
Cast, on a land unknown, thy naked soul;
Ah! then, when life and death no more shall be,
Where, reader, wilt thou spend eternity?

William Adam, the second son, was born on the 18th October 1802. He entered the Inner temple in 1822, and was called to the bar in June 1827. In 1831 he was appointed treasurer of the county, an office which he held till 1849. He acted as assessor to the successive sheriffs of Lancashire, and, as such, presided over the county courts for several years prior to 1847; in which year, on the establishment of the present county court system, the lord chancellor appointed him judge of a circuit of county courts in Lancashire. Mr. Hulton, who is a magistrate of the county, married Dorothy Anne, the youngest daughter of Edward Gorst, esq., of Preston, and has issue three sons and two daughters. Mr. Hulton, who has been one of the council of the Chetham society since 1848, edited for the society, The Coucher Book, or Chartulary of Whalley Abbey, in 4 vols.; and also, in 1 vol., Documents relating to the Priory of Penwortham, and other possessions in Lancashire of the Abbey of Evesham. He also published A Treatise on the Law of Convictions , with the statutes and forms applicable to summary convictions before Justices of the Peace, i2mo. London 1835. [37]

1816

Thomas, son of Thomas Weeton, attorney, Leigh (11). Thomas Barton Weeton practised for a short time as a solicitor in Preston. He is said to have removed to Adlington, near Chorley, and to have died some twenty years ago. [38]

Thomas, son of Richard Ryley, cotton manufacturer, Preston (14).[39]

1822

William, son of the late Thomas Wilson, banker, Preston, Lanc. (10). He became partner in the bank of Messrs. Wilson and Clayton, Preston, which firm was unable to meet its engagements and was wound up. William Wilson died in one of the channel islands some years ago. [40]

1823

Jessop, son of Henry Hulton, esq., Preston (12). For his elder brothers, Henry William and William Adam, see supra, p. 109. Jessop George de Blackburn Hulton on leaving school took his degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, and obtained an appointment in the East India company’s service at Bombay. In 1836 he accompanied the surveying brig Palinurus as the surgeon of the vessel. In company with Mr. Cruttenden, son of the late rector of Alderley, Dr. Hulton proceeded into the interior from Mocha to Sanaa, where he was attacked with dysentery, and though he rallied so as to be able to return back to the vessel lying at Mocha, he died from fever and a return of the disease shortly after reaching the ship. There is, I believe, a printed narrative of the journey by Mr. Cruttenden. Dr. Hulton on more than one occasion received the thanks of the Indian government for his communications respecting the Arabian coast. [41]

Campbell, son of Henry Hulton, esq., Preston (9). Campbell Bassett Arthur Grey Hulton, the fourth son, was born at Ballahick in the Isle of Man on the 3rd May 1813. After eight years spent in the school, five of which were in the high master’s department, during which he took part on the public speech days, he proceeded to Brasenose college, Oxford, with one of the school exhibitions, was elected a scholar on the Somerset foundation, and appointed Hulmian exhibitioner in January 1834. At the public examinations in Easter 1835 he was placed in the second class in Lit. Sum., and gained the Ellerton theological prize in 1837, the subject of which was “The mission of John the Baptist.” His degrees bear date B.A. on the 6th June 1835, M.A. on the 28th June 1838. He was ordained deacon and priest to the curacy of S. Mary’s, Manchester, in 1839 and 1840; was Chetham’s librarian from 1839 to 1845; and afterwards held for some time the incumbency of S. Paul’s church. On the 27th March 1845 he married Sarah Stokes, daughter of Samuel Fletcher, esq., of Broomfield, and succeeded to the rectory of Emberton, near Newport Pagnell, Bucks., in 1860, where he is now resident, having previously held the curacy of the parish. Mr. C. Hulton, who was senior steward at the anniversary festival in 1847, published in 1854, London, Collingridge, pp. 174, A catechetical help to bishop Butler’s Analogy. [42]

1824

Thomas, son of Ralph Clayton, bleacher, Preston (12). [43]

Edward, son of Ralph Clayton, bleacher, Preston (8). [44]

1828

Frederick, son of Henry Hulton, esq., Preston (10). Frederick Blethyn Copley, the youngest son, on leaving the school in 1834, was articled to Mr. Charles Buck, attorney, of Preston, and in 1840 was admitted an attorney, entering as a partner in the firm of Cross and Forrest, of Preston. Mr. Cross was father of Richard Assheton Cross, M.P., and died some time before Mr. Hulton joined the firm. In 1845 he came to Manchester, and since 1847 has held the office of registrar to the Salford county court and clerk to the justices of the New bailey prison, as well as other official legal appointments. Mr. F. Hulton who is unmarried, and resident at Whalley view, Whalley Range, near Manchester, published in 1841 a small book entitled The practice of the County Courts of Lancashire, and was junior steward of the anniversary festival of 1852. [45]

1829

John, son of Barten Fletcher Allen, corn merchant, Preston (13). He died unmarried on the 3rd June 1836, aged 20. [46]

1830

Henry, son of Thomas Dixon, corn merchant, Preston (13). [47]

1831

George Bancroft, son of the late James Withington, Pendleton (15). The family of Withington, several members of which were educated at the school (see Register , vols. i., ii.), was long settled in Manchester. The great-grandfather of this scholar, John Withington, who married a Milne (as did also his grandson John, see Register, vol. i. p. 145), was a fishmonger, and carried on his business by means of pack-horses principally between Preston and Manchester … [48]

1832

William, son of the late George Cooper, cotton merchant, Preston (15) He died in 1834 of fever, aged 17, and was buried at Trinity church, Preston. [49]

Daniel, son of Daniel Newham, gentleman, Preston (15). Daniel Newham (whose brother, William Leighton Newham, A.M., formerly fellow of S. John’s college, Cambridge, is now vicar of Barrow-on-Soar, near Loughborough) was the eldest son of Mr. Daniel Newham, who had for some years a mill at Preston for spinning linen yarn. The son married, in 1843, Mary, daughter of J. Bluett, esq., advocate, Douglas, Isle of Man. He afterwards entered Emmanuel college, Cambridge, but did not graduate, going out with bishop Perry to Melbourne in 1847, where he became the first incumbent of S. Peter’s church in that city, and died there in 1851, leaving two children, a son and a daughter, both now living. He took great interest in the establishment of Sunday schools. [50]

1833

John, son of John Scott, coach driver, Preston, Lancashire (10). [51]

Edward, son of Thomas Dean, woollen draper, Preston, Lancashire (16). This scholar did not proceed direct from the school to Cambridge, there being some uncertainty as to his future course, but having decided on taking holy orders he was afterwards admitted to S. John’s college, where he was elected scholar in 1839, and graduated A.B. in 1840, being placed sixth among the junior optimes. He is now perpetual curate of Barlby, near Selby, Yorkshire, to which he was presented in 1848. [52]

1834

Edward, son of the late Edward Pedder, gent., Lancaster (15). The father of this scholar, cousin to James Pedder (for whom see Register , vol. ii. p. 42), died on the 26th May 1833, and was buried in Preston parish churchyard. Edward Pedder, the third but now eldest surviving son, was born at Preston, and admitted to Brasenose college, Oxford, with a school exhibition in 1838, elected a Somerset scholar and Hulmian exhibitioner, and graduated B.A. on the 6th May 1842, having been placed in the first class in mathematical, and in the third class in classical, honours at the preceding Easter examination, and M.A on the 23rd January 1845. He was ordained deacon in 1843 and priest in 1844, by Dr. J. B. Sumner, bishop of Chester, to the curacy of S. Thomas’s church, Lancaster, and has continuedly resided in that town to the present time, becoming curate of S. Anne’s in 1845, and of the parish church from 1852 to 1862, when he was presented to the vicarage of S. John’s. By the present bishop of Manchester he was appointed an honorary canon of Manchester cathedral. Mr. Pedder is unmarried. [53]

Thomas, son of the late Edward Pedder, gent., Lancaster (14). Thomas, the fourth son, born at Preston, left school at the close of 1836, and entered the warehouse of Messrs. Leese and Kershaw, merchants and manufacturers. He is still living in Manchester, unmarried, and engaged in the Manchester trade. [54]

1836

James, son of James Baines, publican, Preston (12). [55]

1837

Richard, son of Barten Fletcher Allen, land agent, Preston (16). For his elder brother, see supra, p. 226. Richard Allen was for some time at the Manchester royal infirmary, and is now in practice as a surgeon in Preston, and connected with the 3rd royal Lancashire militia, having been elected a member of the Royal college of surgeons in England in 1846. [56]