LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. I 



who were married at St. Michael's, Coventry, on 

 September 8, 1773. This Thomas Huxley continued 

 to live at Coventry until his death in January 1796, 

 when he left behind him a large family and no very 

 great wealth. The most notable item in the latter 

 is the " capital Messuage, by me lately purchased of 

 Mrs. Ann Thomas," which he directs to be sold to 

 pay his debts an inn, apparently, for the testator 

 is described as a victualler. Family tradition tells 

 that he came to Coventry from Lichfield, and if so, 

 he and his sons after him exemplify the tendency to 

 move south, which is to be observed in those of the 

 same name who migrated from their original home in 

 Cheshire. This home is represented to-day by a farm 

 in Broxton Hundred, about eight miles from Chester, 

 called Huxley Hall. From this centre Huxleys 

 spread to the neighbouring villages, such as Overton 

 and Eccleston, Clotton and Duddon, Tattenhall and 

 Wettenhall ; others to Chester and Brindley near 

 Nantwich. The southward movement carries some 

 to the Welsh border, others into Shropshire. The 

 Wettenhall family established themselves in the 

 fourth generation at Kushall, and held property in 

 Handsworth and Walsall ; the Brindley family sent a 

 branch to Macclesfield, whose representative, Samuel, 

 must have been on the town council when the* 

 Young Pretender rode through on his way to Derby, 

 for he was mayor in 1746 ; while at the end of 

 the sixteenth century, George, the disinherited 

 heir of Brindley, became a merchant in London, and 



