# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Manchester

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​MANCHESTER, a city and county of a city, municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, 189 m. N.W. by N. of London, and 31 m. E. by N. of Liverpool. It stands for the most part on a level plain, the rising ground being chiefly on the north side. The rivers are the Irwell, the Medlock, the Irk, and the Tib, the last entirely overarched and covered by streets and warehouses. The Irwell, which separates Manchester from Salford, is crossed by a series of bridges and discharges itself into the Mersey, which is about 10 m. distant. The chief part of the district, before it was covered with the superficial drift of sand, gravel and clay, consisted of upper New Red Sandstone with slight portions of lower New Red Sandstone, magnesian marls and upper red marls, hard sandstone and limestone rock, and cold clays and shales of contiguous coal-fields. The city, as its thousands of brick-built houses show, has been for the most part dug out of its own clay-fields. The parliamentary and municipal boroughs of Manchester are not conterminous. The city boundaries, which in 1841 enclosed 4293 acres, have been successively enlarged and now enclose 19,914 acres.
There are four large stations for the Lancashire & Yorkshire, London & North-Western, the Midland, Cheshire lines, Great Northern, and Great Central railways, and many subsidiary stations for local traffic. Tramways, as well as railways, run from Manchester to Oldham, Ashton, Eccles, Stockport, &c., with which places the city is connected by continuous lines of street. The length of the streets in the city of Manchester is 758 m. (exclusive of those in the district of Withington, which joined the city in 1905). The tramway lines within the city boundaries extend to 111 m., and in addition there are 58 m. leased to the corporation by adjacent local authorities. As a matter of fact, the whole of south-east Lancashire and some portions of Cheshire are linked to Manchester by railways and tramways so as to form one great urban area, and the traveller passes from one town to another by lines of street which, for the most part, are continuous. Facility of communication is essential to the commercial prosperity of Manchester, and its need was recognized by the duke of Bridgewater, whose canal, constructed in 1761, has now been absorbed by the Manchester Ship Canal (q.v.). The making of this early waterway was an event only less important than the opening of the Manchester & Liverpool railway in 1830.
The township of Manchester, which forms the nucleus of the city, is comparatively small, and outlying hamlets having been added, its size has increased without regularity of plan. Roughly speaking, the city forms a square, with Market Street as its central thoroughfare. The tendency of recent development is to reduce the irregularities so that the other main streets may either run parallel to or intersect Market Street. Deansgate, which formerly ended in a narrow tangle of buildings, is now a broad road with many handsome buildings, and the same process of widening, enlarging and rebuilding is going on, more or less, all over Manchester. Market Street, which has not been widened since 1820, has been termed, and with some reason, “the most congested street in Europe”; but relief is anticipated from some of the other street improvements. The centre of the city is occupied by business premises; the factories and workshops are mainly on the eastern side. The most important of the public buildings are in the centre and the south. The latter is also the most favoured residential district, and at its extremity is semi-rural in character. Large masses of the population live beyond the city boundary and come to their daily avocations by train and tram. Such a population is rarely homogeneous and Manchester attracts citizens from every part of the globe; there are considerable numbers of German, Armenian and Jewish residents. The houses are for the most part of brick, the public buildings of stone, which is speedily blackened by the smoky atmosphere. Many of the warehouses are of considerable architectural merit, and in recent years the use of terra-cotta has become more common. It is only in the suburbs that gardens are possible; the air is laden with black dust, and the rivers, in spite of all efforts, are in the central part of the city mere dirty ditches. It is impossible to describe Manchester in general terms, for within the city boundaries the conditions vary from the most squalid of slums to suburban and almost rural beauty.
Churches.—Manchester is the seat of an Anglican bishopric, and the chief ecclesiastical building is the cathedral, which, however, was built simply as a parish church, and, although a fine specimen of the Perpendicular period, is by no means what might be expected as the cathedral of an important and wealthy diocese. In the course of restoration a piece of Saxon sculpture came to light. This “Angel stone” represents a winged figure with a scroll inscribed In manus tuas Domine in characters of the 8th century. The bulk of the building belongs to the early part of the 15th century. The first warden was John Huntington, rector of Ashton, who built the choir. The building, which was noticed for its hard stone by Leland when he visited the town, did not stand time and weather well, and by 1845 some portions of it were rapidly decaying. This led to its restoration by James P. Holden. By 1868 the tower was almost completely renovated in a more durable stone. Further restoration was carried out by J. S. Crowther, and the addition of a porch and vestries was executed by Basil Champneys. The total length is 220 ft. and the breadth 112 ft. There are several stained-glass windows, including one to the memory of “Chinese Gordon.” The recumbent statues of Bishop James Fraser and of Hugh Birley, M.P., should also be named. In the Ely chapel is the altar tomb of Bishop James Stanley. In the stalls there are some curious miserere carvings. The tower is 139 ft. high, and contains a peal of ten bells, chiefly from the foundry of the Rudhalls. There are two organs, one by Father Smith, and a modern one in an oak case designed by Sir G. Scott. The parish church was made collegiate in 1422, and when in 1847 the bishopric of ​ Manchester was created the warden and fellows became dean and canons and the parish church became the cathedral. The first bishop was James Prince Lee, who died in 1869; the second was James Fraser, who died in 1885; the third was James Moorhouse, who resigned in 1903 and was succeeded by Edmund Arbuthnott Knox. The church endowments are considerable and have been the subject of a special act of parliament, known as the Manchester Rectory Division Act of 1845, which provides £1500 per annum for the dean and £600 to each of the four canons, and divides the residue among the incumbents of the new churches formed out of the old parish.
Of the Roman Catholic churches that of the Holy Name, which belongs to the Jesuits, is remarkable for its costly decoration. The Greek Church and most of the Nonconformist bodies have places of worship. There are twelve Jewish synagogues. The meeting-house of the Society of Friends is said to be the largest of the kind in the kingdom and will seat 1200 persons.
Public Buildings.—The Royal Infirmary, founded in 1752, having become inadequate for its purposes, a new building has been erected on the south side of the city near the university, from designs by Edwin T. Hall and John Brooke; it was opened in 1909 by king Edward VII. The central site in Piccadilly thus became available for other purposes, and the corporation gave instructions for plans to be made for a new library and art gallery. The art gallery already existing in 1909 was founded as the Royal Institution, but in 1882 passed under the control of the city council. The building was designed by Sir Charles Barry. The collection contains some fine paintings by Etty, Millais, Leighton and other artists. The sculpture includes casts of the Elgin marbles and a statue of Dr John Dalton by Chantrey. The most striking of the public buildings is the town hall, probably the largest municipal building in the country, but no longer entirely adequate to the increasing business of the city council. It was completed in 1877 from designs by Alfred Waterhouse, who selected as the style of architecture a form of Gothic, but treated it very freely as purposes of utility required. The edifice covers 8000 sq. yds., and includes more than two hundred and fifty rooms. The building consists of continuous lines of corridors surrounding a central courtyard and connected by bridges. The principal tower is 286 ft. high to the top of the ball, and affords a view which extends over a large part of south Lancashire and Cheshire and is bounded only by the hills of Derbyshire. The tower contains a remarkable peal of bells by Taylor of Loughborough, forming an almost perfect chromatic scale of twenty-one bells; each bell has on it a line from canto 105 of Tennyson’s In Memoriam. The great hall is 100 ft. long and 50 ft. wide, and contains a magnificent organ built by Cavaillé-Coll of Paris. The twelve panels of this room are filled with paintings ​ by Ford Madox Brown, illustrating the history and progress of the city. The royal exchange is a fine specimen of Italian architecture and was erected in 1869; the great meeting-hall is one of the largest rooms in England, the ceiling having a clear area, without supports, of 120 ft. in width. The exchange is seen at its best on market days (Tuesday and Friday). The assize courts were built in 1864 from designs by Waterhouse. The style is a mixture of Early English and Decorative, and a large amount of decorative art has been expended on the building. The branch Bank of England is a Doric building designed by C. R. Cockerell. There are separate town-halls for the townships of Ardwick, Chorlton, Hulme, Cheetham, Broughton and Pendleton. The Free Trade hall is a fine structure in the Lombardo-Venetian style, and its great hall will accommodate about five thousand people. It is used for public meetings, concerts, &c., and was built by Edward Walters. The Athenaeum, designed by Barry, was founded by Richard Cobden and others associated with him for “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge.” The institution has, perhaps, not developed exactly on the lines contemplated by its promoters, but it has been very useful. The advantages enjoyed by members of social clubs, with the addition of facilities for educational classes and the use of an excellent news-room and a well-selected library, are offered in return for a payment which does not amount to a penny a day. The mechanics’ institution has developed into the school of Technology, which now forms a part of the university. The Portico is a good specimen of the older proprietary libraries and newsrooms. It dates from 1806, and has a library. The Memorial Hall was built to commemorate the memory of the ejected ministers of 1662; it is used for meetings, scientific, educational, musical and religious. The Whitworth Institute is governed by a corporate body originating from the liberal bequests of Sir Joseph Whitworth. The Institute contains a valuable collection of works of art and stands in the centre of a woodland park. In the park, which has been transferred to the corporation, is a sculpture group of “Christ and the Children,” executed by George Tinworth from the designs of R. D. Darbishire, by whom it was presented. The assize courts, built from designs by Waterhouse (1864), the post office (1887), and the police courts (1871) should also be named. Many fine structures suffer from being hemmed in by streets which prevent the proportions from being seen to advantage.
Monuments.—In Piccadilly are bronze statues of Wellington, Watt, Dalton, Peel and Queen Victoria. Another statue of the Queen, by the Princess Louise, is placed on the new porch of the cathedral. A bronze statue of Cobden occupies a prominent position in St Ann’s Square. There also is the South African War Memorial of the Manchester Regiment. The marble statue of the Prince Consort, covered by a Gothic canopy of stone, is in front of the town hall, which dwarfs what would otherwise be a striking monument. In Albert Square there are also statues of Bishop Fraser, John Bright, Oliver Heywood and W. E. Gladstone. A statue of J. P. Joule is in the town hall, which also contains memorials of other worthies. The Queen’s Park has a statue of Benjamin Brierley, a well-known writer in the Lancashire dialect. The most picturesque is Matthew Noble’s bronze statue of Cromwell, placed on a huge block of rough granite as pedestal. It stands at the junction of Deansgate and Victoria Street, near the cathedral, and was presented to the town by Mrs E. S. Heywood.
Education.—There are many educational facilities. The oldest institution is the grammar school, which was founded in 1519 by Hugh Oldham, bishop of Exeter, a native of the town. The master and usher appointed by the bishop were to teach freely every child and scholar coming to the school, “without any money or reward taken”; and the bishop forbade the appointment of any member of the religious orders as head master. Some corn mills were devised for the maintenance of the school, which was further endowed at both the universities by Sarah, duchess of Somerset, in 1692. The school has now two hundred and fifty free scholars, whilst other pupils are received on payment of fees. Among those educated at the grammar school were Thomas De Quincey, Harrison Ainsworth and Samuel Bamford the Radical. After the grammar school the oldest educational foundation is that of Humphrey Chetham, whose bluecoat school, founded in 1653, is housed in the building formerly occupied by the college of clergy. This also contains the public library founded by Chetham, and is the most interesting relic of antiquity in the city. The educational charity of William Hulme (1631–1691) is administered under a scheme drawn up in 1881. Its income is nearly £10,000 a year, and it supports a grammar school and aids education in other ways. There are three high schools for girls. The Nicholls hospital was founded in 1881 for the education of orphan boys. Manchester was one of the first places to adopt the powers given by Forster’s Act of 1870, and on the abolition of school boards the educational supervision was transferred to a committee of the corporation strengthened by co-opted members. In addition to the elementary schools, the municipality provides a large and well-equipped school of technology, and a school of art to which is attached an arts and crafts museum. There are a pupil teachers’ college, a school of domestic economy, special schools for feeble-minded children, and a Royal College of Music. The schools for the deaf and dumb are situated at Old Trafford, in a contiguous building of the same Gothic design as the blind asylum, to which Thomas Henshaw left a bequest of £20,000. There is also an adult deaf and dumb institution, containing a news-room, lecture hall, chapel, &c., for the use of deaf mutes.
The Victoria University of Manchester has developed from the college founded by John Owens, who in 1846 bequeathed nearly £100,000 to trustees for an institution in which should be taught “such branches of learning and science as were then or might be hereafter usually taught in English universities.” It was opened in 1851 in a house which had formerly been the residence of Cobden. In 1872 a new college building was erected on the south side of the town from designs by Waterhouse. In 1880 a university charter was granted, excluding the faculties of theology and medicine, and providing for the incorporation of University College, Liverpool, and the College of Science, Leeds. The federal institution thus created lasted until 1903, when the desire of Liverpool for a separate university of its own led to a reconstruction. Manchester University consists of one college—Owens College—in its greatly enlarged form. The buildings include the Whitworth Hall (the gift of the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth), the Manchester Museum and the Christie Library, which is a building for the university library given by R. C. Christie, who also bequeathed his own collection. Dr Lee, the first bishop of Manchester, left his library to Owens College, and the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth bought and presented E. A. Freeman’s books. The library has received other important special collections. The benefactions to the university of Thomas Ashton are estimated at £80,000. There are in Manchester a number of denominational colleges, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Unitarian, Baptist, &c., and many of the students preparing for the ministry receive their arts training at the university, the theological degrees of which are open to students irrespective of creed.
Libraries, Museums and Societies.—Manchester is well provided with libraries. The Chetham library, already named, contains some rare manuscripts, the gem of the collection being a copy of the historical compilation of Matthew Paris, with corrections in the author’s handwriting. There is a large collection of matter relating to the history and archaeology of Lancashire and Cheshire, including the transcripts of Lancashire MSS. bequeathed by Canon F. R. Raines. The collections of broadsides formed by Mr J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, and the library of John Byrom, rich in mystics and shorthand writers, should also be named. The Manchester Free Libraries were founded by Sir John Potter in 1852. There is now a reference library containing about 170,000 volumes, including an extensive series of English historical works, a remarkable collection of books of political economy and trade, and special collections relating to local history, Dr Thomas Fuller, shorthand and the gipsies. The ​ Henry Watson Music Library, and the Thomas Greenwood Library for librarians were presented to the reference library, and the Foreign Library was purchased. Affiliated to the reference library there are nineteen libraries, each of which includes a lending department and reading rooms. The municipal libraries contain in the aggregate over 366,000 vols. There are also libraries in connexion with the Athenaeum, the School of Technology, the Portico, and many other institutions. The most remarkable of the Manchester libraries is that founded by Mrs Enriqueta Rylands, and named the John Rylands Library in memory of her husband. The beautiful building was designed by Basil Champneys; the library includes the famous Althorp collection, which was bought from Earl Spencer. Mrs Rylands died in 1908, and by her will increased the endowment of the library so that it has an income of £13,000 yearly. She also bequeathed her own library.
Manchester possesses numerous literary and scientific associations. The oldest of these, the Literary and Philosophical Society, founded in 1781, has a high reputation, and has numbered among its working members John Dalton, Eaton Hodgkinson, William Fairbairn, J. P. Joule, H. E. Roscoe and many other famous men of science. It has published a series of memoirs and proceedings. The Manchester Statistical Society was the first society of the kind established in the kingdom, and has issued Transactions containing many important papers. The Field Naturalists’ and Archaeologists’ Society, the Microscopical Society, the Botanists’ Association, and the Geological Society may also be named. Manchester is the headquarters of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society and of several printing clubs, the Chetham, the Record, the Lancashire Parish Registers societies. Seven daily papers are published, and various weekly and other periodicals. The journalism of Manchester takes high rank, the Manchester Guardian (Liberal) being one of the best newspapers in the country, while the Manchester Courier (Unionist) has an important local influence. The Manchester Quarterly is issued by the Manchester Literary Club, which was founded in 1862. The success of the Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857 was repeated in the Jubilee Exhibition of 1887. The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts is a society of artists, and holds an annual exhibition in the city art gallery.
Parks and Open Spaces.—There are fifty-three parks and open spaces. The Queen’s Park, at Harpurhey, is pleasantly situated, though surrounded by cottages and manufactories. Philips Park is also attractive, in spite of its close proximity to some of the most densely populated portions of the town. The Alexandra Park has very good ornamental grounds and a fine cactus house with a remarkable collection presented by Charles Darrah. Some of the open spaces are small; Boggart Hole Clough, where great efforts have been made to preserve the natural features, is 76 acres in extent, and was the largest until 1902, when Heaton Park, containing 692 acres, was purchased. It was formerly the seat of the earls of Wilton, and includes Heaton House, one of Wyatt’s structures. In the Queen’s Park there is a museum, and periodical exhibitions of works of art are held. The total area of the city parks is 1146 acres. The corporation are also responsible for four cemeteries, having a total area of 228 acres.
Recreation.—There are nine theatres, mostly large, and eight music halls. The Theatre Royal was established as a patent theatre. When the bill for it was before the House of Lords in 1775 it was advocated as an antidote to Methodism. The Bellevue Zoological Gardens is a favourite holiday place for working people. The Ancoats Recreation Committee have since 1882 had Sunday lectures, and occasional exhibitions of pictures, window gardening, &c. The Ancoats Art Museum was founded to carry out the educational influences of art and culture generally. In addition to works of art, there are concerts, lectures, reading circles, &c. The museum is worked in connexion with a university settlement. The German element in the population has largely influenced the taste for music by which Manchester is distinguished, and the orchestral concerts (notably under Charles Hallé) are famous.
Population.—From a census taken in 1773 it appears that there were then in the township of Manchester and its out-townships 36,267 persons. The first decennial census, 1801, showed the population to be 75,275; in 1851 it was 303,382; in 1901, 606,824. It is not easy to make an exact comparison between different periods, because there have been successive enlargements of the boundaries. The population has overflowed into the surrounding districts, and if all that belongs to the urban area, of which it is the centre, were included, greater Manchester would probably rival London in the number of its inhabitants.
Manufactures and Commerce.—Manchester is the centre of the English cotton industry (for details see Cotton and Cotton Manufacture), but owing to the enhanced value of land many mills and workshops have been removed to the outskirts and to neighbouring villages and towns, so that the centre of Manchester and an ever-widening circle around are now chiefly devoted not so much to production as to the various offices of distribution. It would be a mistake, however, to regard Manchester as solely dependent upon the industries connected with cotton. There are other important manufactures which in another community would be described as gigantic. Wool and silk are manufactured on a considerable scale, though the latter industry has for some years been on the decline. The miscellaneous articles grouped under the designation of small-wares occupy many hands. Machinery and tools are made in vast quantities; the chemical industries of the city are also on a large scale. In short, there are but few important manufactures that are wholly unrepresented. The proximity of Manchester to the rich coal-fields of Lancashire has had a marked influence upon its prosperity; but for this, indeed, the rapid expansion of its industries would have been impossible.
The Manchester Bankers’ Clearing House returns show an almost unbroken yearly increase. The amount in 1872 was £72,805,510; in 1907 it was £320,296,332; by the severe depression of 1908 it was reduced to £288,555,307. Another test of prosperity is the increase in rateable value. In 1839 it was £669,994; in 1871, £1,703,627; in 1881, £2,301,225; in 1891, £2,798,005; in 1901, £3,394,879; in 1907, £4,191,039; in 1909, £4,234,129.
The commercial institutions of Manchester are too numerous for detailed description; its chamber of commerce has for more than sixty years exercised much influence on the trade of the district and of the nation. Manchester is the headquarters of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, and indeed of the co-operative movement generally.
The most important event in the modern history of the district is the creation of the Manchester Ship Canal (q.v.), by which Manchester and Salford have a direct communication with the sea at Eastham, near Liverpool. The canal was opened for traffic in January 1894. The official opening ceremony was on the 21st of May 1894, when Queen Victoria visited Manchester. The total expenditure on capital account has been £16,567,881. The original share capital of £8,000,000 and £1,812,000, raised by debentures, having been exhausted, the corporation of Manchester advanced on loan a further sum of £5,000,000.
Municipality.—Manchester received a municipal charter in 1838, received the title of city in 1853, and became a county borough in 1889. The city is divided into 30 wards, and the corporation consists of 31 aldermen and 93 councillors. The mayor received the title of lord mayor in 1893. Unlike some of the municipalities, that of Manchester makes no pecuniary allowance to its lord mayor, and the office is a costly one.
The water supply is controlled by the corporation. The works at Longdendale, begun in 1848, were completed, with extensions in 1884, at a cost of £3,147,893. The area supplied by Manchester waterworks was about 85 square miles, inhabited by a million people. The increase of trade and population led to the obtaining of a further supply from Lake Thirlmere, at the foot of Helvellyn and 96 miles from Manchester. The watershed is about 11,000 acres. The daily consumption is over 38 million gallons. Manchester supplies in bulk to many local authorities in the district between Thirlmere and the city. The corporation have also established works for the supply of hydraulic and electric power.
The gas lighting of Manchester has been in the hands of the corporation for many years, as also the supply of electricity both for lighting and energy. When the works are complete the electricity committee will supply an area of 45 sq. m.
Sanitary Condition.—Dr John Tatham constructed a Manchester life-table based on the vital statistics of the decennium 1881–1890, from which it appeared that, while in England and Wales of 1000 men aged 25 nearly 800 survived to be 45 and of 1000 aged 45, 569 survived to be 65, in Manchester the survivors were only 732 and 414 respectively. The expectation of life, at 25, was, for England and Wales 36.12 years, and for Manchester 30.69 years. But the death-rate has since rapidly decreased; in 1891 it was 26.0 per thousand living; in 1901 it was 21.6; in 1906 it was 19.0; in 1907 it was 17.9. The deaths of infants under one year old amounted to 169 per 1000. ​ The reports of the medical officer show that whilst the density of the population, the impurity of the atmosphere, and the pollution of the streams are difficult elements in the sanitary problem, great efforts have been made towards improving the health of the people. The birth-rate in 1907 was 28.4, but the population is augmented by immigration as well as by natural increase. The number of persons to the acre is 33.
Administration of Justice.—The city has a stipendiary magistrate who, in conjunction with lay magistrates, tries cases of summary jurisdiction in the police courts. There are also quarter sessions, presided over by a recorder. Separate sessions are held for the Salford hundred. Certain sittings of the Court of Chancery for the duchy of Lancaster are held in Manchester. In addition to the county court, there is an ancient civil court known as the Salford Hundred Court of Record. Assizes have been held since 1866.
Parliamentary Representation.—By the first Reform Bill Manchester received in 1832 two representatives. In 1868 this was increased to three, but each voter had only two votes. In 1885 the city was divided into six divisions, each returning one member. Owing to the extension of the city boundaries there are Manchester voters in the Stretford, Prestwich and Gorton parliamentary divisions.
History.—Very little is known with certainty of the early history of Manchester. A Roman station of some importance existed at Castlefield, and a fragment of the wall still exists. Another, perhaps earlier, was at Hunt’s Bank. In the 18th century considerable evidences of Roman occupation were still visible; and from time to time, in the course of excavation (especially during the making of the Bridgewater Canal), Roman remains have been found. The coins were chiefly those of Vespasian, Antoninus Pius, Trajan, Hadrian, Nero, Domitian, Vitellius and Constantine. Investigations by the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society and the Classical Association have brought to light many relics, chiefly of pottery. The period succeeding the Roman occupation is for some time legendary. As late as the 17th century there was a tradition that Tarquin, an enemy of King Arthur, kept the castle of Manchester, and was killed by Lancelot of the Lake. The references to the town in authentic annals are very few. It was probably one of the scenes of the missionary preaching of Paulinus; and it is said (though by a chronicler of comparatively late date) to have been the residence of Ina, king of Wessex, and his queen Ethelberga, after he had defeated Ivor, somewhere about the year 689. Almost the only point of certainty in its history before the Conquest is that it suffered greatly from the devastations of the Danes, and that in 923 Edward, who was then at Thelwall, near Warrington, sent a number of his Mercian troops to repair and garrison it. In Domesday Book Manchester, Salford, Rochdale and Radcliffe are the only places named in south-east Lancashire, a district now covered by populous towns. Large portions of it were then forest, wood and waste lands. Twenty-one thanes held the manor or hundred of Salford among them. The church of St Mary and the church of St Michael in Manchester are both named in Domesday, and some difficulty has arisen as to their proper identification. Some antiquaries consider that the passage refers to the town only, whilst others think it relates to the parish, and that, while St Mary’s is the present cathedral, St Michael’s would be the present parish church of Ashton-under-Lyne. In 1301 Manchester received a charter of manorial liberties and privileges from its baron, Thomas Gresley, a descendant of one to whom the manor had been given by Roger of Poictou, who was created by William the Conqueror lord of all the land between the rivers Mersey and Ribble. The Gresleys were succeeded by the De la Warrs, the last of whom was educated for the priesthood, and became rector of the town. To avoid the evil of a non-resident clergy, he made considerable additions to the lands of the church, in order that it might be endowed as a collegiate institution. A college of clergy was thus formed, whose fellows were bound to perform the necessary services at the parish church, and to whom the old baronial hall was granted as a place of residence. The manorial rights passed to Sir Reginald West, a descendant of Joan Gresley, who was summoned to parliament as Baron de la Warre. The West family, in 1579, sold the manorial rights for £3000 to John Lacy, who, in 1596, resold them to Sir Nicholas Mosley, whose descendants enjoyed the emoluments derived from them until 1845, when they were purchased by the municipality of Manchester for a sum of £200,000. The lord of the manor had the right to tax and toll all articles brought for sale into the market of the town. But, though the inhabitants were thus to a large extent taxed for the benefit of one individual, they had a far greater amount of local self-government than might have been supposed, and the court leet, which was then the governing body of the town, had, though in a rudimentary form, nearly all the powers now possessed by municipal corporations. This court had not only control over the watching and warding of the town, the regulation of the water supply, and the cleaning of the streets, but also had power, which at times was used freely, of interfering with the private liberty of their fellow-citizens. Thus, no single woman was allowed to be a householder; no person might employ other than the town musicians; and the amount to be spent at wedding feasts and other festivities was carefully settled. Under the protection of the barons the town appears to have steadily increased in prosperity, and it early became an important seat of the textile manufactures. Fulling mills were at work in the district in the 13th century; and documentary evidence exists to show that woollen manufactures were carried on in Ancoats at that period. In 1538 Leland described it as “the fairest, best-builded, quickest, and most populous town in Lancashire.” The right of sanctuary granted to the town in 1540 was found so detrimental to its industrial pursuits that after very brief experience the privilege was taken away. The college of Manchester was dissolved in 1547, but was refounded in Mary’s reign. Under her successor the town became the headquarters of the commission for establishing the Reformed religion. In 1641 we hear of the Manchester people purchasing linen yarn from the Irish, weaving it, and returning it for sale in a finished state. They also brought cotton wool from Smyrna to work into fustians and dimities. An act passed in the reign of Edward VI. regulates the length of cottons called Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire cottons. These, notwithstanding their name, were probably all woollen textures. It is thought that some of the Flemish weavers who were introduced into England by Queen Philippa of Hainault were settled at Manchester; and Fuller has given an exceedingly quaint and picturesque description of the manner in which these artisans were welcomed by the inhabitants of the country they were about to enrich with a new industry. The Flemish weavers were in all probability reinforced by religious refugees from the Low Countries.
In the civil wars, the town was besieged by the Royalists under Lord Strange (better known as earl of Derby—“the great Stanley”); but was successfully defended by the inhabitants under the command of a German soldier of fortune, Colonel Rosworm, who complained with some bitterness of their ingratitude to him. An earlier affray between the Puritans and some of Lord Strange’s followers is said to have occasioned the shedding of the first blood in the struggle between the king and parliament. The year 1694 witnessed the trial of those concerned in the so-called Lancashire plot, which ended in the triumphant acquittal of the supposed Jacobites. That the district really contained many ardent sympathizers with the Stuarts was, however, shown in the rising of 1715, when the clergy ranged themselves to a large extent on the side of the Pretender; and was still more clearly shown in the rebellion of 1745, when the town was occupied by Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and a regiment, known afterwards as the Manchester regiment, was formed and placed under the command of Colonel Francis Townley. In the fatal retreat of the Stuart troops the Manchester contingent was left to garrison Carlisle, and surrendered to the duke of Cumberland. The officers were taken to London, where they were tried for high treason and beheaded on Kennington Common.
​The variations of political action in Manchester had been exceedingly marked. In the 16th century, although it produced both Roman Catholic and Protestant martyrs, it was earnestly in favour of the Reformed faith, and in the succeeding century it became indeed a stronghold of Puritanism. Yet the successors of the Roundheads who defeated the army of Charles I. were Jacobite in their sympathies, and by the latter half of the 18th century had become imbued with the aggressive form of patriotic sentiment known as anti-Jacobinism, which showed itself chiefly in dislike of reform and reformers of every description. A change, however, was imminent. The distress caused by war and taxation, towards the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, led to bitter discontent, and the anomalies existing in the parliamentary system of representation afforded only too fair an object of attack. While single individuals in some portions of the country had the power to return members of parliament for their pocket boroughs, great towns like Manchester were entirely without representation. The popular discontent was met by a policy of repression, culminating in the affair of Peterloo, which may be regarded as the starting-point of the modern reform agitation. This was in 1819, when an immense crowd assembled on St Peter’s Fields (now covered by the Free Trade Hall and warehouses) to petition parliament for a redress of their grievances. The Riot Act was read by a clerical magistrate; but in such a manner as to be quite unheard by the mass of the people; and drunken yeomanry cavalry were then turned loose upon the unresisting mass of spectators. The yeomanry appear to have used their sabres freely; several people killed and many more injured; and, although the magistrates received the thanks of the prince regent and the ministry, their conduct excited the deepest indignation throughout the entire country. Those who had organized the meeting, including “Orator” Hunt with Samuel Bamford and other working men, were imprisoned.
Naturally enough, the Manchester politicians took an important part in the Reform agitation; when the Act of 1832 was passed, the town sent as its representatives the Right Hon. C. P. Thomson, vice-president of the board of trade, and Mark Philips. With one notable exception, this was the first time that Manchester had been represented in parliament since its barons had seats in the House of Peers in the earlier centuries. In 1654 Charles Worsley and R. Radcliffe were nominated to represent it in Cromwell’s parliament. Worsley was a man of great ability, and has a place in history as the man who carried out the injunction of the Protector to “remove that bauble,” the mace of the House of Commons. The agitation for the repeal of the corn laws had its headquarters at Manchester, and the success which attended it, not less than the active interest taken by its inhabitants in public questions, has made the city the home of other projects of reform. The “United Kingdom Alliance for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic” was founded there in 1853, and during the continuance of the American War the adherents both of the North and of the South deemed it desirable to have organizations in Manchester to influence public opinion in favour of their respective causes. A charter of incorporation was granted in 1838; a bishop was appointed in 1847; and the town became a city in 1853. The Lancashire cotton famine, caused by the Civil War in America, produced much distress in the Manchester district, and led to a national movement to help the starving operatives. The more recent annals of Manchester are a record of industrial and commercial developments, and of increase in educational opportunities of all kinds. Politically Manchester was Liberal, of one or other shade, under the first Reform Act; a Conservative member was first elected in 1868, and in 1874 two. Under household suffrage in 1885 that party secured five out of six members; in 1886 and 1892, three out of six. In 1895 and 1900 five Unionists were elected, but in 1906 six Liberals were returned, one of whom (Mr Winston Churchill) was defeated at a by-election in 1908. In 1910 three Liberals, two Labour members and one Conservative were elected.
Authorities.—Although several excellent books have been written on subjects connected with the town, there is no adequate modern history. The History of Manchester, by the Rev. John Whitaker, appeared in 1771; it is a mere fragment, and, though containing much important matter, requires to be very discreetly used. The following may be recommended: John Reilly, History of Manchester, (1861); R. W. Procter, Manchester in Holiday Dress (1866), Memorials of Manchester Streets (1874), Memorials of Byegone Manchester (1880); Richard Buxton, Botanical Guide to Manchester, &c. (2nd ed., 1859); Leo Grindon, Manchester Flora (1859); Edward Baines, History of Lancashire, edited by Croston (1886–1893), 5 vols.; W. A. Shaw, Manchester, Old and New (1894); W. E. A. Axon, Annals of Manchester (1885), Cobden as a Citizen (1906); Harry Rawson, Historical Record of some Recent Enterprises of the Corporation of Manchester (1894); Official Manual of Manchester and Salford (1909); J. P. Earwaker, Court Leet Records of Manchester, 1552–1686, 1731–1846 (1884–1890), 12 vols.; Constable’s Accounts, 1612–1647, 1743–1776 (1891–1892), 3 vols.; Manchester Municipal Code (1894–1899), 5 vols.; George Saintsbury, Manchester (1887); Thomas Swindells, Manchester Streets and Manchester Men (1906–1907), 3 vols.; James Tait, Medieval Manchester (1904); Charles Roeder, Roman Manchester (1900); Sir Bosdin Leech, History of the Manchester Ship Canal (1907), 2 vols. (W. E. A. A.)