The Burnett Tracy Preston biographies

In 1903, the firm of W. T. Pike and Company published ‘Lancashire at the Opening of the Twentieth Century’ by W. Burnett Tracy, which included in addition to a not very interesting history hundreds of biographies of Lancastrians to form what represents a sort of Who Was Who of the county at that period. The biographies were edited by Mr Pike himself, and what is not made clear is the criteria he used to select individuals for inclusion. To judge by those from Preston that he included, it was a pretty hit and miss form of selection. He assigned people to a number of categories, including one for clergy that provides a good example of the randomness of his selection. ¹

For example, Pike includes the ministers at St Andrew’s Ashton, Barton, Broughton, English Martyrs’, St Mark’s and Penwortham, but leaves out the ministers of the rest of the town’s churches, including the vicar at St John’s Parish Church. Similarly, he includes most of the county’s MPs but not the Preston MPs, although he does include the Rev Arthur Tomlinson, vicar of Bolton-le-Sans, the brother of Preston MP William Tomlinson. The de Hoghton family does not get a mention. Unsurprisingly, it is a female-free list.

Despite the limitations such an approach to inclusion represents, what Pike does include provides an excellent source for the study of the history of the county in the years leading up to the First World War. It is similarly very useful for the light it sheds on Preston at that period. From the hundreds of biographies, fifty-nine have been selected for inclusion on this website.

The selection includes persons born in Preston, those who lived in Preston at some period and those educated at Preston Grammar School, even if they were not from the town. Several Anglican clergy are included who served as curates at churches in the town before going on to higher callings, such as Francis Chavasse, the bishop of Liverpool, who was a curate at St Paul’s for seven years.

Those educated at Preston Grammar School have been included even if they were not from the town. This is to show how what had been originally a free boy’s school for the town had morphed over the course of the nineteenth century into an institution serving the wealthier members of the community. These included boys from surrounding towns, such as William Cocker from Blackpool, the son of a doctor and magistrate in the resort. The school itself moved to a site in Cross Street, at the heart of ‘gentry’ Preston, in the middle of the century.

The fifty-nine entries include photographs of all but two of the individuals. The map below shows the addresses of individuals living in Preston and surroundings (download to view the image on phones and tablets).

Burnett Tracy locations Download

Below is a selection from the Preston entries with their key details to give an idea of what is contained in the full biographies.

Full biographies of all fifty-nine individuals can be found on the following pages:
Burnett Tracy biographies A-D
Burnett Tracy biographies E-H
Burnett Tracy biographies J-R
Burnett Tracy biographies S-W

William Francis Anderton: educated at Stonyhurst College. Justice of the Peace for the County of Lancaster; chairman of the Visiting Committee of H.M.Prison, Preston; vice-chairman of the Preston Rural District Council; chairman of the Haighton Parish Council. Address: Haighton House (the Anderton who gave his name to ‘Squire Anderton’s Wood’?)

William Blackhurst: son of William Blackhurst, of Preston, solicitor; born at Preston, July 1st, 1826; educated at Preston Grammar School. Admitted solicitor in 1851; practising at Preston, Blackpool, and Garstang; took over the business of his father and brother in 1852. Address: Grimsargh Cottage, Grimsargh.

Robert Charles Brown: born at 27, Winckley Square, Preston, October 2nd, 1836. President of the Preston Scientiﬁc Society, Preston Medico-Ethical Society, and Fylde Medico-Ethical Society; Trustee of Goosnargh Hospital; Esquire of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; Consulting Medical Officer (late Hon. Medical Officer), Preston and County of Lancaster Queen Victoria Royal Inﬁrmary; Consulting Physician, Harris’ Orphanage and Royal Cross School for the Deaf and Dumb; late Senior Resident Medical Officer and Hon. Medical Officer, Preston Dispensary. Address: 27, Winckley Square.

James Clarke: Head of the ﬁrm of Clarke, Son and Walsh, of Preston and Blackpool; Solicitor. Clerk to the Guardians of the Preston Poor Law Union and to the Preston Rural District Council. Address: Broughton Park.

John James Cockshott: born at Preston; educated at Kirkham Grammar School. Articled to the ﬁrm of Buck and Dicksons. solicitors, of Preston, afterwards joining them, and practising for many years in Southport and Preston; dissolved partnership on June 30th, 1899, taking Southport practice himself, with his eldest son, George, B.A. Cantab, as partner. Address: 24, Queen’s Road, Southport.

Thomas Henry Crane: born at Preston, October 18th, 1847; educated at All Saints’ School, Preston. commenced as an accountant on own account at Southport in 1875, and in 1883 entered into partnership with Alderman Henry Davies, of Preston; now practising under the style of Davies and Crane, of Preston and Southport. Address: Florence Villa, Southport.

Thomas Miller Crook: has a herd of well known pedigree shorthorn cattle, and has during the last twelve years taken ﬁrst prizes at the Royal Agricultural Society‘s Exhibition, Great Yorkshire, Royal Lancashire, and other provincial shows; amongst the herd is the yearling bull, “Royal Recorder,” bought at His Majesty the King’s last spring sale, 1903; has also a very large collection of orchids, including a number of very rare specimens; restored St. Leonard’s-the-less Church, Samlesbury, 1901. Address: Stanley Grange, Samlesbury.

No photograph
Joseph Eccles: head of the ﬁrm of Joseph Eccles and Company, cotton spinners and manufacturers, of Preston. Address: Myerscough House, Garstang.

No photograph
William Eccles: son of the late Joseph Eccles, of Ashton, near Preston. Partner in the ﬁrm of Joseph Eccles and Company, cotton manufacturers, of Colne and Preston. Address: The Grange, Colne.

Thomas Fair: land agent, and Fellow of the Surveyors’ Institution; succeeded his father, in 1862, as principal agent of the extensive Clifton and Lytham Estates, which comprise the towns of Lytham and St. Anne’s-on-Sea, and belonging to J. Talbot Clifton. Address: Clifton Hall, near Preston.

John Forshaw: born at Preston, in 1837; educated at the Commercial School, Preston, and at Whalley Grammar School. Founder of the firm of Forshaw and Parker, solicitors, 9 and 10, Cannon Street, Preston; Perpetual Commissioner and Commissioner for Oaths for the Colony of Victoria. Senior Alderman of the borough of Preston; Mayor of the Borough, 1883-4-5; Chairman of the Finance and Ribble Committees of the Corporation; Director of Preston Gas Company; Trustee of Harris Orphanage, etc. Married, in 1862, Hester Eliza, daughter of James Horrocks, and grandniece of John Horrocks, of the late ﬁrm of Horrocks and Jackson, cotton manufacturers, of Preston. Address: Hurst Grange, Penwortham.

James Gregson: born at Preston, in 1833; educated at Preston. Head of the ﬁrm of Gregson and Monk, machinists, loom makers and engineers, Vulcan Iron Works, Preston, and Atherton Brothers, Ltd., Hanover Street Foundry, Preston; also Director of the Longridge Manufacturing Company, Ltd. Address: Highgate Park, Fulwood.

Joseph Hutchinson Hammond: consulting physician to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Stonyhurst College and Rossall School. Trustee of Goosnargh Hospital; Chairman of Preston High School for Girls in Winckley Square; member of the Council for the Harris Institute. Address: 11, Winckley Square.

Ralph Edmund Harrison: accountant, born at Valentine House, Cottam, March 9th, 1852; educated at Preston Grammar School. Formerly engaged in farming; was a member of the Royal Agricultural Society, and a breeder of shire horses. Address: late of Brungerley, near Clitheroe.

John Denby Harrison: vicar of Barton. Built the new church replacing the pre-Reformation one. Address: The Vicarage, Barton.

Henry Henn: was ﬁfteen months curate of the Parish Church, Preston. Vicar of the Parish of St. Paul, Preston, and chaplain of the Preston Royal Inﬁrmary, 1894. Vicar of Bolton in 1902. Address: Bolton Vicarage, Castle Street, Bolton.

William Henry Hincksman: born at Preston, January 27th, 1835; educated at Preston Grammar School. Formerly director of the Preston Banking Company, and also chairman of the Preston Gas Company. Address: The Starr Hills, Lytham

Thomas Riley Jolly: governor and secretary to the Harris Orphanage, secretary and registrar to the Harris Institute, and Victoria Jubilee Technical School, and secretary to the Homes for the Blind for North and East Lancashire. Address: Harris Orphanage, Fulwood.

William Edward Ord: son of Thomas Ord, Preston; born at Preston, July 17th, 1862. Member of the ﬁrm of Satterthwaite and Company, leather merchants, of Preston. Chairman for many years of Preston North End Football Club. Address: 10, Bairstow Street, Preston.

John Allen Parkinson: educated at Preston Grammar School. Is a member of one of the oldest yeoman families in the Fylde District of Lancashire. Head of the ﬁrm of Messrs. Parkinson and Wilson, land agents and surveyors, 5, Chapel Street, Preston. Address: Claughton House, near Garstang.

Charles Harvey Plant: born at Ashton-on-Ribble: educated at Preston Grammar School, and by private tutors. Member of the ﬁrm of Plant, Abbott and Plant. solicitors, of Preston. Married, August, 1885, Mamie, daughter of John Forshaw, of Hurst Grange, Preston. Address: Nooklands, Fulwood.

Joseph A. Pyke: Ordained on September 20th, 1868, in the Church of the English Martyrs, Preston, under the Rectorship of Rev. James Taylor; in 1870, the Union Workhouse, Preston, was opened, and Canon (then Father) Pyke, was appointed chaplain, this being the ﬁrst paid appointment as a Roman Catholic Religious Instructor recognised in England since the Reformation; in 1874 he succeeded Canon Taylor as Rector of the Church of the English Martyrs. died on November 9th, 1902. Address: The English Martyrs’ Presbytery, Preston.

Alexander Clement Rayner: late President of the Preston Medico-Ethical Society; president for many years of the Lune Street Literary Society. Married, July, 1869, Mary, daughter of the late Henry Sharples, of Moor Park Avenue, Preston. Address: Fair View, Fulwood.

James Arthur Rigby: born at Preston, May 31st, 1849. Hon. Consulting Medical Officer to the Preston and County of Lancaster Royal Victoria Inﬁrmary; Surgeon-Major to the 5th Lancashire Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) and Army Medical Reserve. Address: 15, Winckley Square.

William Bryham Roper: mayor of Preston, 1900-01. Instrumental in the erection of St. Jude’s, St. Saviour’s, and St. Luke’s Churches, also School Chapels-of-Ease for St. Paul’s, Christ Church, and St. Saviour’s Churches, and a number of Mission Rooms and Ragged School Buildings. Address: Burrow Bank, Fulwood.

Albert Simpson: director and last chairman of the Fylde Waterworks Company; chairman of the Hartford Mills Company and of the Park Lane Twist Company, Preston. Chairman of the Preston Property Owners’ and Ratepayers’ Association. Address: Elmhurst, Garstang, and Burghill Grange, Herefordshire.

Benjamin Sykes: head of the ﬁrm of Garlick and Sykes, civil engineers, of Preston, Blackpool and London, who have carried out, amongst other large contracts, the Preston Waterworks, the Preston Docks (this contract being for over £1,000,000), Preston Covered Market. Address: Priors Lea, Broughton.

Robert Trimble: Hon. Medical Officer of the Preston and County of Lancaster Queen Victoria Royal Inﬁrmary; Medical Ofﬁcer of Health to the Walton-le-Dale Urban District Council. Recreations: shooting and salmon ﬁshing. Address: 9, Winckley Square.