The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-08-15 00:00:00

REVERSES OF FORTUNE

(From Railway Rambles round Manchester

Whalley is a c

uiet and secluded villa,

" far from

the town, its madness, and its riot." —.A.coach passes
through it twice a week. Here, in this locality, lives Mr.
William Brooks, familiarly styled in the village " Old
Billy Brooks." This gentleman is the father of two of
the Crcesi of Manchester—viz., Mr. Alderman John
Brooks, the rich merchant and calico printer, and Mr.
Samuel Brooks, the opulent banker of the firm of Con-
liffes, Brooks and Co. Mr. William Brooks was origi-
nally a hand-loom weaver of Whalley, but is now a nartner
in the bank just named, and is a man of considerable pro-
perty. His manners are quite primitive, and his diction
that of the working operative of these districts half a cen-
tury ago. He lives in a house less ostentatious than that
of one of his clerks, and this from liking and not penu-
riousness. This family affords another instance of those
gigantic strides which many of our Lancashire manufac•
turers have made from poverty to enormous wealth.

It was in this village, too, when passing through it, ac-
cident detained the late Dr. Hardy (the father of the
highly respected physician of that name in Manchester),
and who, in consequence, was induced to fix his abode
here, where, in the course of forty years, he acquired, as
the reward of his very superior talents, an ample fortune.
This gentleman was of rather a rough exterior, but con-
cealed beneath it lay a heart of kindliest warmth, always
open to the claim of the poor and needy. He never
dunned for his debts, and his system was to send in his
accounts every seven years. He never sued for the reco-
very of a debt but once, and being the loser by some
quibble, he determined never more to employ a lawyer ;
he notwithstanding died rich, after having discharged his
arduous duties on horseback till nearly 70 years old. It
was no uncommon thing for him to tell the young wife
who came to give him notice of her expected accouche-
went, that he had never been paid the fee for her own
entree into the world, but the doctor was not therefore
absent in the hour of need. He was independent in the
avowal of his political opinions. On the occasion of Mr.
Brooks and he voting for Mr. Fort, a lady of the neigh-
bourhood, in the opposite interest, who was the proprie-
tress of the houses in which they lived, sent them notice
to quit the abodes they had occupied for more than this ty
years (how absurd was such a notice to such men !) ; but
the doctor went at once to her ladyship, and told her he
was independent of such intimidation; that he, with the
ability of buying her estate, had paid in rent, several times
over, the value of the house which he held of her ; and
that he gave her notice in return—he had been useful to
her when his skill was in requisition, but if she attempted
to fetter him in the exercise of his conscientious duty as
a citizen of a free country, she must look for another doc-
tor when she needed one, for, in such case, he would not
visit her "if she died on a hillock." Great ability like
his could not be spared, and the notices to quit were
withdrawn.

Wh Ist chatting on the personal histories of this neigh,
bourhOod, we may mention that the steward of this estate
accumulated many thousand pounds, and when his mas-
ter, who, by his convivial habits and his losses in play to
George IV., had become straitened in his circumstances,
and was on the edge of difficulties, he found seasonable
relief in the thrifty savings of his servant, who, dying,
bequeathed all his property to his master.
Passing by Padiham, we pass along a road of varied
beauty, the length of which is forgotten by the wayfarer,
as each new feature of grace or grandeur alternately en-
gages his contemplation. Sabden lies on the left of the
road we have chosen. Here are the print works of
Messrs. Sheriffs, Foster, and Co., the well known Lon-
don House, whose beautiful work has so high a reputation
in our home trade. We cannot refrain from a passing
remark on a gentleman connected with this establishment
whose character and conduct have endeared him to every
individual in this neighbourhood. We allude to Mr.
George Forster, the junior partner in the firm just men-
tioned,who,to his honour be it spoken,resides atWinshouse,
a mansion, his father, as a labourer, limewashed. He is
a partner in one of the most respectable print-houses in
Britain. His history is briefly told. He is the son of a
poor man ; was born at the village of W iswall, near
Whalley. At the age of ten he was put to the occupation
of a hand-loom weaver, and his prospect at this time, did
not encourage him to hope for anything beyond the com-
forts of that class of now miserably remunerated operatives.
Evidencing, however, a taste.for drawing and design, an
opportunity occurred, when he had attained his fourteenth
year, to be apprenticed to a pattern designer—an opportu-
nity eagerly embraced by his father, as opening for his son a
more lucrative employment. During his apprenticeship and
subsequently his steady attention to business his efforts at
self improvement, and his superior moral character acquired
for him the high respect and confidence of his employer--the
late Richard Fort Esq. father of the late M.P. for Clithero,
At the death of the former gentleman, Mr. John Fort
succeeded to the works. Being soon after elected the
member for Clitheroe, and being the senior partner
at the large establishment at Oakenshaw, he made
a liberal offer to Mr. R. Cobden (the present M. P. for
Stockport) and Mr. George Foster, which enabled those
gentlemen to take this valuable establishment into their
hands. Two men, so well skilled in their respective de-
partments, with youth, indomitable spirit, and energy to
sustain them in their first efforts, were sure to succeed.
Their progress was almost unparalleled, and their advances
to wealth have been very rapid. The member for Stock-
port has of late occupied too prominent a position in the
world's regard for us to dwell upon his fortunes here. It
is only necessary to indicate that this place is the point
whence the " son of the Sussex farmer" first plumed his
wing, when he sought to soar high above the heads of his
former compeers. Mr. Foster, from his less conspicuous
situation, has not become, like his late partner, the " cy-
nosure of all eyes," yet he is a man of no mean mark.
For miles around his home he is regarded as the poor
man's friend, the encourager of virtue, the promoter of
education. From the time of his apprenticesnip, he was
a laborious and exemplary Sabbath school teacher, and to
the present hour takes an active concern in the same es-
tablishment. In purposes of charity and religion he has
expended large sums. To the Baptist jubilee fund he gave
a thousand pounds, and his firm has established a hand-
some educational institute near the works, capable of ac-
commodating in its lecture room upwards of 800 persons.
Mr. Foster is a dissenter, but is no bigot or gloomy fana-
tic. Nor is he blinded to the merits of other churches in
his attachment to his own, for, as we were informed, that
when about leaving home on a recent occasion, to visit the
continent, without any solicitation, he left a handsome do-
nation towards the collection which was announced as
about to be made in aid of Sabden Church.