﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlix. (1905), No. 15. 5 



and eventually was entirely dependent on his two 

 sons. Mr. Palmer says he was, about 1761 or 17612, 

 " obliged to bring his operations at Bersham to a close," 

 but under what circumstances he does not say. I do not 

 find any record that he became bankrupt, and the works 

 at Bersham were carried on by his son John. A phrase 

 in Dr. Priestley's "Autobiography" suggests that the 

 impoverishment of Isaac Wilkinson happened about the 

 time that Dr. Priestley became his son-in-law, viz,, on 23rd 

 June, 1762. Writing of his wife Priestley says, " in con- 

 sequence of her father becoming impoverished... in the 

 latter part of his life, I had little fortune with her." After 

 leaving Bersham, Isaac Wilkinson is said to have gone to 

 Bristol. He died 31st January, 1784. 



Isaac Wilkinson had three sons, John and William, 

 mentioned later, and Henry, who died a young man, and 

 a daughter who married Dr. Joseph Priestley, F.R.S., 

 Unitarian Minister, whose distinction as a natural philo- 

 sopher earned him a place amongst the first honorary 

 members of our Society. Another daughter of Isaac 

 Wilkinson is supposed to have married a Mr. Jones, and 

 her son, who took the name of Wilkinson, carried on a 

 long litigation with the testamentary heirs of his uncle, 

 John Wilkinson. This T. J. Wilkinson was a resident in 

 Manchester, and was an ordinary member of this Society. 

 Isaac Wilkinson's eldest and most famous son, was John 

 Wilkinson, "the father of the South Staffordshire iron 

 trade." Born at Clifton, in Cumberland (probably the 

 Clifton in Workington Parish) in 1728, he accompanied 

 his father into Lancashire. He is said to have assisted 

 his father when first he went to Backbarrow, but as he 

 was then under ten, his assistance would not be of an 

 important nature, and it could scarcely have interfered' 

 with his education, as it is recorded that he went to Dr. 



