A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Chester Regiment, was raised in 1777 to serve in the 

 war of American Independence. It took part with 

 distinction in the defence of Gibraltar in 1781-2, and 

 was disbanded in I783- 137 In 1789 the Dissenters 

 petitioned Parliament for the repeal of the Test and 

 Corporation Acts, and this led to a revival of dissen- 

 sions. The advocates of reform were stigmatized as 

 Jacobins, and refused admission to public houses. 138 

 The Government was suspicious, and in 1 794 indicted 

 Thomas Walker and others for conspiring to over- 

 throw the constitution and aid the French in case 

 they should invade the kingdom. The charges 

 rested on perjured evidence and were dismissed. 139 The 

 fear of invasion at the same time led to the raising of 

 two regiments of ' Volunteers ' in 1 794, and others 

 were raised later. 140 



The misgovernment of the town, the disagreements 

 between employers and employed, and occasional 

 periods of famine or bad trade all contributed to 

 quicken the desire for reform both in the town and 

 in the country at large. 141 In 1812 Radical meetings 

 were held, at one of which, in Ancoats, thirty-eight 

 workmen were arrested on charges of sedition ; they 

 were acquitted on trial. 142 The agitation began again 

 in 1816, when meetings were held in St. Peter's 

 Field, on the south side of Peter Street ; they excited 

 alarm and were stopped for a time ; but were resumed 

 in iSig. 143 This resulted in what was denominated 

 the * Peterloo massacre.' A meeting on 9 August 

 having been prohibited, another was summoned for 

 the 1 6th, which the magistrates resolved to disperse 

 by arresting Henry Hunt, the leader of the agitation, 

 in the face of the meeting, supposed to number 60,000. 

 There were regular troops at hand, but the duty was 

 assigned to the Manchester Yeomanry, described as 

 * hot-headed young men who had volunteered into 

 that service from their intense hatred of Radicalism.' 144 

 These drew their swords and dashed into the crowd, 

 while Hunt was speaking, but were unable to effect 

 their purpose, and were themselves in danger from 

 overwhelming numbers ; whereupon the hussars 

 charged and dispersed the assembly. Some were killed, 

 and about 600 wounded. The magistrates considered 

 they themselves had done well, and received a letter 

 of thanks from the Prince Regent ; but a fierce storm 

 was aroused in Manchester and the whole district. 145 

 Henry Hunt and four others were brought to trial 

 and condemned for unlawful assembly. For a time 



the agitation in this form ceased, but Manchester 

 showed itself clearly on the side of reform in i832, 14S 

 and was the birth-place of the Anti-Corn Law League 

 of i838. 147 The Chartist movement of 1848 had 

 adherents in Manchester, and many arrests were made 

 by the police. 148 The rescue of Fenian prisoners in 

 1867 was a startling incident. 149 



The first royal visit to the district was that of 

 Henry VII in I495. 150 The next, after a long 

 interval, was that of Queen Victoria in 1851 ; she 

 stayed at Worsley Hall and came through Salford to 

 Manchester. 151 She visited the Art Treasures Exhibi- 

 tion at Old Trafford in 1857, and in 1894 formally 

 opened the Ship Canal. More recently, on 1 3 July 

 1905, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra 

 opened a new dock of the Ship Canal. 



The government of the district was greatly altered 

 by the formation of the municipal boroughs of 

 Manchester in 1838 and of Salford in 1844. After 

 several extensions of the former the ancient townships 

 then within its bounds were in 1896 reduced to three 

 Manchester, North Manchester, and South Man- 

 chester ; more recently the borough has been enlarged 

 again. The township of Reddish has been added to 

 the borough of Stockport. 



While Manchester has taken a prominent part in 

 English commerce and politics, it has not neglected 

 learning. Its University is a typical modern one. 15 * 

 It traces its origin to the bequest of some 97,000 

 by a local merchant, John Owens, who died in 

 1846. He desired to found a college for higher 

 studies which should be free from all religious tests, 

 and in 1851 his wish took effect, the Owens College 

 being opened in Quay Street, with a staff of five pro- 

 fessors and two other teachers. Its first principal 

 was A. J. Scott, the friend of Edward Irving. After 

 a struggling existence it seemed about to fail, but in 

 1857, under Dr. J. G. Greenwood as principal, and 

 with (Sir) Henry Roscoe as professor of chemistry, it 

 began to grow. In 1870-1 it was reorganized, 153 and 

 the management was transferred from the founder's 

 trustees to a court of governors, and in 1873 the old 

 site was left for the present one in Oxford Street. 

 Not long afterwards came proposals to raise the college 

 to the position of a degree-giving university. After 

 opposition from other colleges it was agreed with the 

 Yorkshire College at Leeds that the new university 

 should have its seat at Manchester but should not bear 



18 7 Manch. Guard, N. and Q. no. 303, 

 720. 



138 Prentice, Mane A. 7-9, 419, &c. 

 189 Ibid. 10-14. 



140 For the volunteers of 1783, 1798, 

 and 1804, see Local Glean. Lanes, and 

 Ches. i, 73 ; ii, 44 ; i, 25, 14, &c. 



141 The story of the political agitation 

 of the time is told in Archibald Prentice's 

 Recollections of Manch. (1851), referred to 

 above. The author was the son of a Scotch 

 farmer and settled in the town in 1815, 

 starting the Manch. Times, afterwards the 

 Examiner and Times, in the interest of re- 

 form. He died at Plymouth Grove, 

 Chorlton-upon-Medlock, in 1857. 



148 Prentice, op. cit. 76-82, and 'Trial 

 at full length of the 38 men,' 1812. 



MS s ee Prentice, op. cit. 159-71. The 

 attendants at these meetings came from 

 all the factory districts around Manches- 

 ter, as Oldham, Rochdale, and Middleton. 



144 Prentice, op. cit. 160. 



146 The magistrates considered to be 

 chiefly responsible were William Hulton 

 of Hulton Park and the Rev. W. R. Hay. 

 In their defence they could urge the 

 turbulence of the population, which had 

 often manifested itself, and the seditious 

 and even revolutionary character of many 

 of the speeches made at such gatherings. 

 ' Protestant ascendancy ' was one of the 

 watchwords on the anti-reform side. 



146 Prentice, op. cit. 394-418. 



"7 Reilly, Manch. 361, &c. 



148 Ibid. 446. 



149 Two Fenian head centres, Kelly and 

 Deasey, were rescued from the prison van 

 in Hyde Road by a band of armed Fenians 

 on 1 8 Sept. ; the policeman in charge, 

 Sergeant Brett, was shot. For this crime 

 three men, Allen, Gould, and Larkin, were 

 executed at the New Bailey, Salford, on 

 23 Nov. ls On 5 Aug. 



151 An account of the visit will be 

 found in Procter, Manch. Streets, 85-98. 



184 



153 This account has been compiled 

 from Joseph Thompson's elaborate ac- 

 count of the first thirty-five years' history, 

 The Owens College, 1886 ; P. J. Hartog's 

 The Owens College, Manch. 1900, which 

 gives a detailed account of the build- 

 ings and work at that date ; Manch. of 

 To-day (ed. C. W. Sutton), 1907. 



Mr. Thompson gives the petition of the 

 people of Manchester addressed to Parlia- 

 ment in 1641, praying that a university 

 might be founded in the town ; op. cit. 

 512-16. 



iss B V Acts of Parliament in 1870 and 

 1871, rendered necessary by a movement 

 begun some years earlier for the extension, 

 of the college. 



A grant of arms was obtained in 1871. 



The Royal School of Medicine at Man- 

 chester, founded in 1836, was incorporated 

 with the college in 1872. The Museum 

 of the Natural History Society was taken 

 over at the same time. 



