OF SAMUEL CROMPTON. 3t3 



his merits. He went to London himself with the 

 memorial, and obtained an interview with one of 

 the members for the county of Lancaster. He 

 remained there during the session, and was in 

 the House on the evening that Mr. Percival was 

 shot, and witnessed the catastrophe. A short 

 time before this disastrous occurrence, Mr. 

 Percival had given him a promise to interest 

 himself in his behalf, and in accordance with 

 this assurance had brought in a bill, which was 

 passed, for a grant of £5fi00 in full, without 

 fees or charges. 



Mr. Crompton was now anxious to place his 

 sons in some business, and fixed upon that of 

 bleaching ; but the unfavorable state of the times 

 the inexperience and mismanagement of his sons, 

 a bad situation, and a misunderstanding with 

 his landlord, which occasioned a tedious lawsuit, 

 conspired in a very short time, to put an end to 

 this establishment. His sons then dispersed, 

 and he and his daughter were reduced to poverty. 

 Messrs. Hicks and Rothwell of Bolton, myself 

 and some others, in that neighbourhood and 

 in Manchester, had in 1824 recourse to a second 

 subscription, to purchase a life annuity for him, 

 which produced ^63 per annum. The amount 

 raised for this purpose was collected in small 

 sums, from one to ten pounds, some of which 

 2 s2 



