People frequently mentioned

Individuals mentioned no more than three times are explained in a footnote at first mention, cross-referenced thereafter. Those mentioned more frequently are explained at first mention and asterisked in subsequent mentions. It has been particularly difficult to identify women, whose first names and unmarried names are rarely used.

Addison, Thomas Batty (1787–1874), Recorder (judge) of Preston, from one of the town’s ruling families, a magistrate, Poor Law Guardian and for 30 years a campaigner for a large union workhouse for Preston (Hunt, p.228). He ‘likes castigating rogues and vagabonds; has precious little respect for the brains of common jurymen, and once nearly got into a mess by calling a parcel of them, who wouldn’t use their reason, dunces or blockheads’ (PTC 120).

Ambler, Edward ‘Ned’ (1820?-87), printer, Poor Law guardian, Liberal, Congregationalist, an early member of the committee of the mechanics’ institute; part of the same faction of Preston Liberals as George Toulmin, often in opposition to Hewitson (PH 29 October 1887, p. 4).

Ascroft, Robert (1805–1876), Preston town clerk 1852–1875. Original secretary of mechanics’ institute. Born at New Cock Inn where his father was landlord. Solicitor, former councillor, Liberal, Anglican, ‘a blithe, energetic, portly looking man; but latterly he has shrivelled in … a cross between Father Christmas and our old theatrical friend, the pantaloon. Not a cuter, not a more far-seeing, not a more strategical man is there in Preston’ (PTC). Chairman of the Board of Guardians during Cotton Famine (PC 18 November 1876, p. 5).

Aspden, Thomas, journalist, friend, Conservative. Probably trained by Hewitson on the Preston Herald (diary, 26 January 1896); he went from Herald reporter in 1865 to Herald editor by 1871 (Lancaster Gazette 11 March 1871) and local correspondent for the Conservative London daily the Standard (letter to John Bull, 28 September 1872). He may have had a breakdown in 1874 (diary, 1 June 1874); in 1879 he was in a ‘lunatic asylum’ (Manchester Courier, 15 October 1879). He worked on the Nottingham Daily Guardian (Lancaster Gazette, 4 Feb 1893) and then became editor and manager of the London paper England, leaving before June 1898 (Daily News, 25 June 1898). Member of the Royal Historical Society (Nottinghamshire Guardian, 31 March 1882). He wrote historical books and booklets on local history and the Derby family, and The Member for Workshire, or, Church and State: A Political Novel (Swan Sonnenschein, 1894), described as ‘this exceedingly absurd book’ by the Glasgow Herald (8 November 1894, p. 10).

Atherton, John (d. 1896) of Fern Bank, Cadley, owner of Hanover Street Foundry, was a gentleman horticulturalist, a founder of Preston Floral and Horticultural Society, and a member of the Fulwood Local Board. In 1873 he sold the Nook farm on Garstang Rd which became the exclusive Nooklands estate.

Atherton, Will (1835?-94), engineer, friend. He took over his father’s Hanover Street Foundry and was a Conservative town councillor 1882–1893. He was involved in the Conservative Working Men’s Club and the Harris Institute, and collected scientific instruments (obit, PH 15 Aug 1894).

Bakewell, Thomas Jackson, friend. Master of Christ Church boys’ day school until 1864, when he reopened Preston Commercial School, Knowsley St; he was still head of the Commercial School in 1879. Author of Bakewell’s Exercises in Simple and Compound Rules of Arithmetic and History of the Preston Church of England Middle Class School, known as “The Commercial School” (Preston 1892).

Banks, Thomas (d. 1896), secretary of the Spinners and Minders’ Association (cotton workers’ union) from 1854, during the lock-out, into the 1880s.

Birley, Edmund (1817–1895) of Clifton Hall was a cotton manufacturer, alderman and mayor in 1866–1867, ‘a Churchman, and a rather stiff Conservative … a tall, well-formed, light-complexioned gentleman … seems full of energy, and business; shouts considerably when he talks … is quick, impulsive, full of temper; soon boils over, soon cools down’ (PTC, p. 45).

Bond, Walter (c. 1827–1900), Preston Guardian printing overseer, invented the ‘Prestonian’ rotary printing and folding machine in 1871: A. E. Musson, ‘Newspaper Printing in the Industrial Revolution’, The Economic History Review, 10.3 (1958), 411–26 (p. 417), https://doi.org/10.2307/2591261.

Bussey, George Thomas Moir (1830–1892), son of George Moir Bussey (editor of Preston Chronicle 1844–1846); reporter on Preston Chronicle when father was editor, on Lancaster Guardian in 1854 (‘Notices to correspondents’, Lancaster Standard 19 May 1893, p. 4), then The Times parliamentary reporter in 1850s and 1860s. His brother, Harry Findlater Bussey, was Preston Guardian chief reporter c. 1857–1859 (Scoop! biographical dictionary of British and Irish journalists, https://www.scoop-database.com/).

Bussey, Bernard (d. 1908) was the son of George Moir Bussey (1807–1864), who had edited the Preston Chronicle 1844–1846. Bernard was ‘either born or reared’ in Kendal when his father was editor of a paper there in 1848. He may have been in Kendal when Hewitson worked there briefly. Was reporter for Lancaster Guardian in 1864 (notebook of Bernard Bussey, Lancashire Archives DDX 1211/3). He worked for the Norwich Mercury, then the Morning Herald, and finally the Standard. His brother, Harry Findlater Bussey, was Preston Guardian chief reporter c. 1857–1859 (Scoop!).

Catterall, John (1803–1868), leading temperance campaigner, and a dresser at the cotton mill of Horrockses, Miller & Co. Worked with Hewitson to establish the Blind Institute (obits, PH 4 April 1868, PC 11 April 1868, p. 5).

Cooper, John (1807–1888), friend and benefactor. Mill owner. Supported local veterans of the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns, and the Rifle Volunteers. Magistrate and Poor Law Guardian. His son William married Marion German, daughter of Major James German, unsuccessful Liberal candidate for Preston (obits LEP 10 Feb 1888, p. 3; PH 11 Feb 1888, p. 9).

Crombleholme, Joseph (1827–1885), friend, Roman Catholic potato merchant who had begun handloom weaving at eight or nine in Blackburn. A ‘well read man, with fine natural capacity’ (diary, 27 Dec 1885). A Liberal, he was involved in the Central Working Men’s Club and the free library movement. Frequent writer of letters to local papers, although his first submission was rejected because the editor did not believe a working man could write so well (obit, PH 30 December 1885).

Davies, Henry (1841–1908), accountant, councillor, for some years borough accountant until 1872, became chief proprietor of the Conservative Preston Herald and Blackburn Standard (LDP 9 May 1908, p. 4).

Dobson, William (1820–1884). Owner and editor of the Liberal Preston Chronicle until he sold it to Hewitson in 1868. Hewitson worked for him twice. Town councillor, well respected historian. A ‘corpulent, portly-hued gentleman, with a broadly-radiant physiognomy, indicative of no fasting whatever; he is round, red, and easy looking’ (PTC 106).

Finch, Alice, nee Hewitson (1852–1931). Younger sister. Married Rev Dr John Finch (1849–1921), emigrated to USA.

France, Will (1828?-1898), shoemaker who lived above his shop at 117 Fishergate, Hewitson’s friend from the 1860s until his death, their wives and daughters were also friends, Eliza France being a bridesmaid at Florence’s wedding. ‘Being of a jovial, bright, sociable nature, his shop became a centre for the discussion of municipal and political matters.’ A Poor Law Guardian and an Oddfellow (LDP 16 December 1898, p. 2).

Fraser, James (1818–1885), educational reformer, made Anglican Bishop of Manchester by Gladstone in 1870. He created an efficient diocesan administration, oversaw the building of 99 new churches and 109 new parishes, and arbitrated in labour disputes. He was popular and hard-working (ODNB).

Galloway, George (1823?-1912), father of WW Galloway, cotton manufacturer and merchant, freemason; married to Ellen, daughter of John Hawkins of Newsham House. Became councillor 1876, alderman 1887, mayor 1890–1891, Preston magistrate 1882, county magistrate 1893 (PH 14 Feb 1912, p. 4). Attended Cannon St Independent Chapel and was instigator of expulsion of some long-standing members (PH 6 Nov 1869, p. 5).

German, James (1820–1901) was from a wealthy Preston family with interests in cotton mills in the town. Barrister, a major in the 3^rd Royal Lancashire Militia, Preston mayor 1849–1850, at the age of 29. Made three unsuccessful attempts to become Liberal MP for Preston. He moved to Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1867. His daughter Marion married William Cooper, son of Hewitson’s friend John Cooper.*

Gilbertson, Dr Joseph Bray (1826–1893), Preston magistrate from 1880, coroner from 1886 on the death of his brother William. Conservative. (PH 22 November 1893, p. 4).

Gilbertson, William (1827–1886), solicitor, councillor 1864–1871, then alderman; coroner 1874–1886, Conservative agent for the North Lancashire constituency, leader of the controversial ‘Ribble scheme’ to develop Preston dock, campaigned for a public library (PH 21 April 1886, p. 2). ‘Tenacious, hard to master, sharp-witted, critical, rather crotchetty; looks chilly, methodical, and weather-wise; likes small gossips at the end of Winckley-street; always appears to be in a hurry’ (PTC).

Gillow, Joseph jnr (1850–1921), born in Preston to an ancient Catholic family, related to the Gillows of Lancaster, furniture manufacturers. He married well, enabling him to live on his wife’s fortune and devote himself full-time to scholarship, carving out a reputation as ‘the Plutarch of the English Catholics’, going on to compile the five-volume Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics (1885–1902), still in use today.

Goodair, John (1808–1873) was a self-made man and one of Preston’s largest cotton manufacturers, a town councillor and former mayor. He was one of the few mill owners who did not join the Preston Lock-Out (1854–1855), and set up libraries in his mills: H.I. Dutton and John Edward King, ’Ten per Cent and No Surrender’: The Preston Strike, 1853–1854 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 85.

Gorst, Sir John Eldon (1835–1916), Preston-born politician and lawyer. After Cambridge he went to New Zealand to ‘civilise’ the Maoris but had to leave a few years later, for fear of his life. Returning to England in 1864 and publishing a book about his experiences, The Maori King, he became a Conservative MP in 1866. He opposed extending the vote to working-class men, perhaps because of his experiences with the Maoris. In 1870 he became the Conservative party’s national agent, overseeing organisation and electioneering. In the 1880s and 1890s he held various government posts, but maintained an independent line, achieving educational and social reforms (ODNB).

Goss, Alexander (1814–1872), from 1856 Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool, the diocese which included Preston. From an old Lancashire Catholic family, an opinionated defender of Catholicism and Conservatism, and an accomplished theologian and historian. Tall yet shy, ‘he had a commanding public presence and was a forceful speaker and controversialist’ (ODNB).

Hallam, John (1833–1900), friend; former mill worker of Chorley, Preston and Lancaster, where, ‘owing to his knowledge of books’, he met Hewitson before emigrating to Toronto in 1856 (PC 23 Oct 1869; ‘Westward Ho!’ ch.17, PC 3 May 1884, p. 6). Hallam became a wealthy wool and hide merchant, an alderman, and the founder of Canada’s first free public library. Hewitson’s second son, Horace Hallam, was probably named after him.

Hawkins, John (1792–1873), friend, former handloom weaver who became a wealthy Preston mill owner, lived at Newsham House, Broughton. Former councillor, ‘he was not brilliant, but he was plodding’, a lifelong Liberal, magistrate, loved music—when young played the ‘clarionette’ at Heapey church, and once walked from there to Manchester and back (a 50-mile round trip) to buy an instrument, and later had an organ built in his house (PC 26 April 1873, p. 5). Owned Greenbank Mills.

Hawkins, Henry ‘Harry’, Liberal town councillor (1874–1876), mill owner (John Hawkins & Sons with brother Charles,* Greenbank Mills). Son of John Hawkins.*

Hawkins, Charles Wilson (1849?-87), Liberal town councillor (1874–1877), mill owner (John Hawkins & Sons, Greenbank Mills, with brother Henry*). Lived West Cliff. Son of John Hawkins.* (PC 27 August 1887, p. 5)

Hesketh, Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh (1825–1872), Conservative MP for Preston 1862–1872.

Hewitson, William (1847–1930), Anthony’s brother, employed briefly as reporter by Anthony on the Preston Chronicle from April 1868, then on the Toulmins’ Warrington Examiner as its first reporter, for four months; he went to the Bury Times, then the Manchester Examiner, as reporter in September 1877, sub-editor in 1889 then chief sub-editor in 1892. He was editor of the Bury Times 1892–1900, then sub-editor there. Historian of Bury and Lancaster.

Hibbert, James (1831–1903), friend, architect, councillor (from 1871), later alderman and mayor (1880–1881), member of the 11^th Lancashire Rifle Volunteers. Preston born and bred, his greatest achievement was the design of the town’s Harris Library and Museum, now a Grade I listed building, and described by Pevsner as ‘one of the most remarkable Victorian public buildings of Northern England’. He also designed Fishergate Baptist chapel. ‘Quite Carlylean in many ways and in some respects a disciple of the rugged philosopher of Chelsea’, he wrote a number of philosophy books. In 1898 he left Preston to live near London, where Hewitson visited him shortly before his death (obit, LDP 19 November 1903, p. 4).

Holker, John (1828–1882), Conservative MP for Preston 1872–1882, lawyer from Bury, became Solicitor General then Attorney General in Disraeli’s second government.

Johnson, Thomas (c. 1818–1892), solicitor, was a Sunday school teacher at High Street (Independent) Chapel, Lancaster; he befriended Hewitson, then a printers’ apprentice, in the 1850s. A ‘cosmopolitan Protestant, and in politics a Radical’ (obit, Lancaster Gazette 29 June 1892, p. 2).

Jones, Jabez B. (1836–1891), auctioneer and estate agent, excellent marksman, became landlord of the Old Dog Inn, Church St.

Jones, Robert (c. 1835–1908), master plasterer.

Kellett, Robert, friend of Hewitson; pawnbroker, of Kilshaw St, Conservative, Anglican (PH 1 April 1874, p. 3). Sold his pawnbroking business in 1874.

King, Ernest (d. 1900) worked on the Preston Guardian 1846–1856, then went to the Empire newspaper in London with John Livesey. He was reporter-editor for the Moreton Bay Courier (est 1846), Brisbane (Australia), probably 1858–1860. Back in England, he edited the Bolton Guardian, then bought the Blackburn Times in 1861, selling it to the Toulmins in 1867. He emigrated to America, working on the Pittsburgh Commercial, and in Canton (Ohio), Trenton (New Jersey), Brooklyn and Newark, then in 1875 in Middletown, Connecticut where, with his son Ernest jnr, he launched the Middlesex Monitor and in 1878 bought the Middletown Sentinel and Witness (1823–1899). He was also involved with the Fall River Herald and the daily Middletown Penny Press (est 1884) (Hewitson’s obituary, PG 3 March 1900, p. 9).

Kenyon, James, son of Richard Kenyon (d. 1880) of Mount Pleasant in rural Claughton, north of Preston. By 1873 he was living and working in Preston as a ‘railway goods collector’, when he had a breakdown, and spent four months in Lancaster Asylum. His brother, Mr N.S. Kenyon, qualified as a physician and surgeon in 1875 (PH 30 January 1875).

Lawrence, R. A. (c. 1845–1899), replaced Thomas Wemyss Reid as Preston Guardian sub-editor in 1866. He began his journalistic career in his native North of Scotland, then went as reporter to the Stockton and Hartlepool Mercury in 1865, before arriving in Preston. In 1870 he went to Barnstaple as editor of the Conservative North Devon Herald, becoming sole owner of the paper a few years later (North Devon Journal, 14 Sept 1899, p. 5: Daily Gazette, Middlesbrough, 16 Oct 1899, p. 2).

Livesey, James (1833–1925), international railway engineer and inventor, son of Joseph Livesey.* He presented a newspaper folded by a machine he had invented to Queen Victoria at the Great Exhibition in 1851 (ODNB).

Livesey, Joseph (1794–1784), campaigner against the Corn Laws and the New Poor Law, and for teetotalism and many other good causes. He was a self-made man, progressing from child handloom weaver to wealthy cheese merchant; an accomplished lecturer and natural journalist, he published campaigning anti-Corn Law and pro-temperance papers, before launching the Radical Preston Guardian in 1844, which quickly became one of the best-selling local newspapers in England. Hewitson worked for the Guardian under Livesey and his sons briefly, before Livesey sold the paper to the Toulmins (ODNB).

Livesey, William (1816–1909), eldest son of Joseph Livesey,* editor of the Preston Guardian when Hewitson first arrived in Preston in 1858. He continued in journalism after his father sold the Guardian in 1859, including deputising for Hewitson as editor of the Lancaster Standard while Hewitson was in America. He was a councillor and chaired the Board of Guardians in Preston, and was on Blackpool local board when he lived there (LDP 13 December 1909, p. 4). Hewitson edited Livesey’s autobiography, published serially in the Preston Guardian (1–29 January 1910).

Longworth, David (1821–1877) was a friend who probably met Hewitson when Longworth was a reporter and Hewitson a printer’s apprentice on the Lancaster Gazette. Longworth also reported for the Preston Pilot and Wigan Herald. He was a colourful character, and lived in New Orleans for six or seven years before returning to his native Preston and starting his own printing business. He published the idiosyncratic monthly Longworth’s Advertiser (1867–1882) (PC 13 October 1877).

Martyn, Henry Julius, minister of Cannon St Independent chapel, Preston, 1864–1879. He later joined the Church of England (PC 5 April 1879, p. 2) and wrote an anonymous memoir, The Autobiography of an Independent Minister (1887), in which Preston was called Langton.

McKay, James (1847–1894), friend. Born in Thurso, Scotland, grew up in Burnley and in 1869 launched the Burnley Standard which ran for 17 issues. In the 1870s he worked in Worcestershire, then became editor of the Blackpool Gazette. In 1879 he was editor of the Burnley Advertiser until it was incorporated with the Burnley Express in 1880, when he moved to the Preston Herald until about 1892. Assistant editor of the Western Mail, Cardiff, editor of Aberdeen Journal and Evening Express in 1894 but died the same year. Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (obit, PG 4 Aug 1894).

Noblet, John (1826–1906), friend, landlord of Plumpton Brook, Snow Hill/Lawson St. Conservative town councillor 1862–1865, Roman Catholic (PH 1 April 1874, p. 3). Son of a provision dealer, began work in a Manchester warehouse at 13, then apprenticed to a draper in Bromsgrove for seven years. Went to Australia for his health; on his return he managed a Manchester hotel before coming to Preston (obituary, PG 3 February 1906). He later moved to Liverpool.

Parkinson, William (1834–1905), friend, Preston-born operatic tenor who trained in Germany and then Italy under ‘the famous San Giovanni’. He sang the lead part in ‘Robin Hood’ at Covent Garden and toured the UK with various opera companies. Roman Catholic. By 1873 he was the proprietor of the Preston Theatre Royal. His costly attempts to raise the tastes of the Preston public were unsuccessful, and he emigrated to Australia, where he sang and taught music. He is mentioned in James Joyce’s short story The Dead (LDP 19 September 1905).

Parkinson, William James, friend, grocer and provision merchant with his brother John Thomas Parker Parkinson in Preston and Liverpool, said to have got rich from speculation during the American Civil War. Bought a mansion, Myerscough House, but in 1888 he went bankrupt after his wife sued him for money she had lent to the firm (PC 11 April 1874; PH 2 June 1888, p. 10). He became a farm labourer in New Zealand before returning to his native Preston, to work as a butter inspector for Lancashire County Council.

Parr, Rev John Owen (1798–1877), Vicar of Preston 1840–1877, ‘an easy-going, genial, educated man kindly disposed towards good living, … fond of wearing a billycock, and strongly in love with a cloak. … he would have been more respected if he had been less exacting towards Dissenters, and less violent in his hatred of Catholics’ (OCC). Staunch Conservative, anti-Catholic, was chairman of local relief committee during the Cotton Famine but then moved to Nice for his health. Secretly married his housekeeper in 1858 when he was in his fifties and she was in her twenties. Said by some to write some of the leading articles for the Conservative Preston Herald (‘The Irish Church’, letter from ‘A Looker-On’, PC 23 May 1868).

Pateson, Robert (1827–1910), friend, photographer and science enthusiast, one of Preston’s first photographers, he fell on hard times in his later years. In 1903 Hewitson described him as ‘a scientific philosopher of very modest and retiring parts, yet one who has unselfishly over a long life done many things to promote scientific research, to give information, and to confer the benefits of numerous observations and accomplishments’ (‘From the old armchair’, PG 21 February 1903; Emma Heslewood and John Garlington, Robert Pateson : A Scientific Philosopher: The Life and Work of an Early Photographer [Preston: Harris Museum & Art Gallery, 2004]).

Peters, Rev Thomas Abbott, MA (1834–1909), Hewitson’s friend and a regular advertiser in the Chronicle, born at Samlesbury, educated in Preston, he built Alston College east of Preston in 1855 when he was 21 years old. Doubts were cast on his MA (awarded by the ‘Chelsea College’) and ordination in the Free Church of England in 1864. Alston College was demolished in the 1890s to make way for a reservoir. Meanwhile, in 1873 Peters had bought The Hermitage nearby, and converted it into St John’s College. Freemason and Conservative, he left nearly £10,000 when he died (LDP 3 Nov 1909, p. 4).

Rawcliffe, John (1813–1874) of Prospect House, Broughton, coal merchant and mill owner, alderman, mayor (1869–1870), ‘tall, strong, straight, and active … talks in a manly, go-ahead style. Is florid, flowery, catawompous [fierce, savage], and patriotic in tone; played the organ, Anglican and Conservative, ‘the only man who has quoted more than six lines of Shakspere consecutively in our Town Council for twelve years’ (PTC 13–14). One of the owners of the Preston Herald, where Hewitson had worked.

Rodgett, John Lord (1830–1879), husband of Margaret Hewitson’s sister Sarah Wilson; superintendent of Preston Quay from 1866.

Sharman, William (1841–1889), minister of Preston Unitarian chapel. He and his American wife Sophia were early members of the Socialist League, and he was a friend of Ruskin, Italian revolutionary Mazzini, American poet Walt Whitman and English socialist and arts and crafts pioneer, William Morris.

Singleton, William (d. 1896), former beerseller who opened Preston’s first Turkish bath in Grimshaw Street, part of a network of more than 30, inspired by David Urquhart (1805–1877). An inveterate letter-writer to local papers, under the pen-name ‘Saxon’ (Malcolm Shifrin, Victorian Turkish Baths [Historic England, 2015]; PH 6 December 1871, p. 2).

Smith, Dr William (1834–1883), friend, Conservative councillor, Anglican, Poor Law Union doctor for Fishwick and Walton, studied at Guy’s and St Andrews. ‘Strong, energetic, holds his chest well forward, has much activity, walks with a firm, dashing step, has much self-reliance, is impulsive, knock-ahead, full of nerve, slightly blaze-away at times, alive in every part, frank in speech, immensely determined when put upon his mettle, wears excellent waistcoats, dislikes itchy patients’ (PTC; obit PC 26 May 1883, p. 5).

Stanley, Frederick Arthur (1841–1908), Conservative MP for Preston (1865-68), North Lancashire (1868-85) and Blackpool (1885-86). His father had been Prime Minister three times. Colonial Secretary (1885-86), Governor General of Canada (1888-93). The 16^th Earl of Derby.

Teale, George (1820–1883), wool merchant, Liberal councillor in the 1850s; part of a group who broke away from Cannon St congregational chapel in 1869 (PC 28 July 1883, p. 5).

Toulmin, George (1813–1888), owner of the Radical Preston Guardian, also publisher of the Conservative Bolton Chronicle. In 1859 he and his brother James bought the Preston Guardian from Joseph Livesey,* developing a powerful stable of Liberal newspapers with the Blackburn Times (purchased in 1867), the Accrington Reporter (launched in 1868) and the Warrington Examiner series (launched in 1869). Toulmin employed Hewitson as chief reporter 1865–1867, before dismissing him. There was personal animosity between the two, perhaps through personality clashes, but they were also part of different factions of the Preston Liberals, and in 1870 both men launched evening newspapers, with Toulmin winning this minor newspaper ‘war’, probably because of his greater wealth and skill as a newspaper manager. He operated on a bigger stage than Hewitson: he was a town councillor and magistrate, active in Wesleyan Methodism and teetotalism, and was vice-president of the Provincial Newspaper Society (a national trade association) and the British Temperance League. His obituary described him as ‘a rugged, solid, earnest man, of cool temper, sagacity, and principle … when he was on the premises every employee felt that the captain was on the bridge, and that there must be no remissness … Mr Toulmin was a stern and intrepid man … he had a keen appreciation of the Quaker argument that if a blow must be struck it should be effective’ (David Shuttleworth and Andrew Hobbs, ‘George Toulmin’, in Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalism, online, C19: The Nineteenth Century Index [ProQuest, n.d.]).

Walton, Henry Crane (c. 1821–1891), auctioneer from an old Preston family (PH 21 February 1891, p. 5).

Ware, Joseph (1821–1881) was the landlord of the Church Hotel at the junction of Park Lane (now North Rd) and Lancaster Rd, where his bar parlour featured original engravings by Hogarth, Bartolozzi and other Old Masters. Born in Middlesex, his father was lord of the manor of Teversham, Cambridgeshire. After boarding school he was an auctioneer and surveyor in London before moving to Preston in the 1850s, to be a fishmonger. He was a prolific writer of letters to newspapers. About 1859 he married Margaret Pickles, the widowed landlady of the Church Hotel, and was a Conservative councillor 1867–1870. Hewitson described him as ‘tall and slender; has a polished, gentlemanly exterior; is florid-looking … can give a long, knowing, wide-awake wink … has seen much of life’ (PTC). A Freemason, active in the Licensed Victuallers’ Association, the pub landlords’ trade body.

Watson, Robert Green (1817–1879), solicitor, Conservative councillor from 1867, alderman from 1872. Keen astronomer. ‘Brisk, stiff and mortally straight in the vertebrae, fresh as half a thousand larks; plucky as a houseful of Spartans; bitingly sarcastic’. A bachelor, he ‘had an extraordinary dislike of dogs’ and liked to go for walks at night wearing a long cloak and slouched felt hat (PTC; PC 21 June 1879, p. 6).

Wilson, John (1834–1872), brother of Hewitson’s wife Margaret.

Wilson, Joseph (1812–1879), father-in-law, tailor and draper of Lancaster, Lancaster Liberal town councillor 1858–1862; (obit, PC 1 Nov 1879); moved from Lancaster to Carnforth, then to Holme, where he tried agriculture; then ran Morecambe Pier refreshment rooms. Member of Morecambe Local Board of Health; retired 1875, bought Bank Top, Penwortham, moved to Lombard Terrace, Garstang Rd, 1879.

Wilson, Joseph R (b. 1855), younger brother of Margaret Hewitson. He lived with the Hewitsons while a printing apprentice on the Preston Chronicle, becoming foreman in 1875.

Wilson-Patten, John (1802–1892), MP for North Lancashire 1832–1874, when he became First Baron of Winmarleigh (Lord Winmarleigh).