1756.
Cotton velvets first made at Bolton by Mr. Clarke.
— War proclaimed against France, on which occasion a procession took place, June 5.
— “Shudehill Fight;” riots caused by the high price of provisions, June 6 and November 15. Four killed and thirteen wounded.

1758.
A Celt and Roman bulla of gold found in deepening the canal near the second lock of the Irwell.
— Lewis Paul’s patent for spinning with rollers renewed.
— The first carriage set up in Manchester by any person actually in business, was that of Madame Drake, who lived in Long Millgate.
— The Duke of Bridgewater obtains in the sessions of Parliament for 1758-9, an act to enable him to cut a navigable canal from Worsley to Salford, near Manchester, and to carry the same to or near Hollins Ferry, in the county of Lancaster.

1759.
The right of soke, compelling all the inhabitants of Manchester to grind their corn and malt at the lord’s mill, on the Irk, repealed, except as to malt, by an Act of Parliament, September 29.
— The manufacture and dyeing of ginghams, damasks, moreens, &c., is greatly improved by the inventions of Mr. Mather.
— In this year oats were 2s. the bushel of 45lbs., wheat 5s. the bushel of 70lbs., meal 20s. the load, “jannock” 15lbs. for 1s., malt 23s. the load, a goose cost 15d., cheese about 3d. the pound, beef 2d, the pound, neck of mutton 9d., land 40s. or 45s. the Cheshire acre; a weaver’s cottage, with a two-loom shop, rented at 40s. or 45s. the year.
— The Duke of Bridgewater obtains a second act for carrying his canal across the Irwell to Manchester.
— The taking of Quebec celebrated by illuminations, &c., October 23.
— Manchester begins to grow into celebrity for its cotton manufacture. The entire value of the cotton goods made was £200,000 per annum.

1760.
The drop box invented by John Kay, of Bury, son of the inventor of the picking peg, or fly shuttle.
— About this period the manufacturers of this town began to treat their apprentices in a somewhat different manner to what they had hitherto done. The apprentices had allotted to them the use of a back parlour, with a fire, and had tea twice a day. It had been usual for the manufacturer and his apprentices to be in the warehouse by six in the morning; at seven they had breakfast, which consisted of one large dish of oatmeal porridge and another of milk; each with a wooden spoon in his hand, without loss of time dipped into the dish, and thence into the milk pan, and as soon as it was finished they all returned to their work. At this period the dinner hour in Manchester was, at twelve o’clock, and ladies paid afternoon visits at two, and then repaired to the four o’clock prayers at the Old Church.
— Aqueduct at Barton commenced, September; finished July 17, 1761.
— A musical entertainment takes place in the garden of the Infirmary, the proceeds given to the charity, June 18.
— Kersal Moor races renewed. Thomas Barlow, Esq., and John Gore Booth, Esq., stewards. A very long and severe paper war was carried on against their renewal. October 1.
— George III. proclaimed at the Market Cross, November 4.
— There was a theatre held in the Riding School, Salford, at this time.
— Manchester gains celebrity for its cotton manufactures.

1761
Cannon Street Independent Chapel erected enlarged 1829
— Blackfriars Bridge built (of wood) by a company of comedians, for the purpose of inducing the inhabitants of Manchester the more readily to cross the river to the riding school in Water Street, Salford, which they occupied as a theatre.
— The coronation of George III. celebrated by processions, illuminations, and balls September 22.
— The first English “Navigation Canal,” extending from Worsley to Manchester, is opened, June 17. It originated with Scroope, Duke of Bridgewater, called “The Father of Inland Navigation in England.”

1762.
War against the King of. Spain proclaimed in the Market Place by Thomas Chadwick, Esq., the boroughreeve, attended by a procession of magistrates.
— The secret of dyeing Turkey-red introduced by John Wilson of Ainsworth.
— . Riots through the high price of corn, July.
— The Manchester Chronicle, or Anderton’s Universal Advertiser. Printed and published by Thomas Anderton, at the Shakespeare’s Head, near the Market Cross. Price 2d. June.

1763.
Bleaching generally introduced.
— A project, called the “Chorlton Rant,” proposed for erecting Manchester into a borough, under a royal charter. It was proposed that the new magistrates should consist of one-third of High Churchmen, one-third of Low Churchmen, and the other third of Protestant Dissenters. But the High Churchmen anticipating a union of the other two-thirds, and not liking that the mace should be taken on Sunday to a conventicle, they opposed the bill, and celebrated their success with circumstances of galling exultation. Buildings were erected as a workhouse in Miller’s Lane, and also a prison, but were eventually taken down.
— John Byrom, the inventor of a system of shorthand, and a poet of considerable talents, died September 26. His father was a linen draper at Manchester, and was born at Kersal in 1691. He was educated at Cambridge, and became a fellow of Trinity College; but declining to take orders, he resigned this provision, and soon after married his cousin, Miss Elizabeth Byrom, against the consent of both families. Being without a profession, and pressed by the res angustoe domi, he repaired to the metropolis, and supported himself by teaching shorthand. In 1723 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in the following year he succeeded by the death of his elder brother to the family estate, when he returned to Manchester, where he remained till his death. Byrom was a visionary in philosophy, and a mystic in religion, but a man of virtue and ingenuity. Two volumes of his poems were published in 1773, and were received into an
edition of the English poets in 1810. The pastoral of “Colin and Phoebe” has been universally read and admired, perhaps beyond any similar composition in the English language.
— British muslins, both striped and plain, were first manufactured by Mr. Shaw, at Anderton, near Chorley, though with small success, from the deficient supply of yarn.
— First cotton quiltings made by. Joseph Shaw, of Bolton.
— The first spinning jenny was constructed by Thomas Highs, a reed maker, at Leigh, and so named after his beloved and favourite daughter, Jane. This was the grand premier pas — the first step that led to the extension of the cotton trade throughout the civilised world; and however meritorious may have been the subsequent improvements, the sagacious mind that first opened the long closed door to this wonderful discovery must ever be entitled to the praise of an original and powerful genius.
— In this year only eight flats (vessels so called) were employed in the trade between Manchester and Liverpool.
— The Lancashire Magazine published and printed by T. Anderton, at the Shakespeare’s Head, near the Market Cross.

1764.
Joseph Harrop, proprietor of the Manchester Mercury, gave in weekly numbers “A New History of England,” 778 pages, to encourage the sale of his newspaper. In an address at the end of the work, Mr. Harrop says it cost him one hundred guineas.
— Cotton markets first opened abroad. At this time the trade of Manchester was greatly pushed by the practice of sending out-riders for orders all over the kingdom, carrying with them patterns in bags.
— The following table of cotton wool imported, and cotton goods exported, contrasted with similar tables of more recent date, will prove an extraordinary record :—

COTTON WOOL IMPORTED COTTON GOODS EXPORTED
1697 1,970,359 lbs. 1697 £5,915 official value.
1701 1,985,868 “ 1701 23,253 “
1710 715,008 “ 1710 5,698 “
1720 1,972,805 “ 1720 16,200 “
1730 1,545,472 “ 1730 13,524 “
1741 1,645,031 “ 1741 20,509 “
1751 2,976,610 “ 1751 45,986 “
1764 3,870,394 “ 1764 200,354 “

1765.
St. Paul’s Church, Turner Street, consecrated, July 28. considerably enlarged and again consecrated in 1778.
— A weaving factory erected in Manchester by Mr. Gartside, and (probably) filled with looms.
— An urn of Roman pottery was discovered by some workmen in Castle Field.
— Lunatic Hospital and Asylum erected adjoining the Infirmary.

1766.
The Lunatic Asylum opened for the reception of patients.

1767.
Great flood at Manchester, October 8.
— The spinning jenny improved upon by James Hargreaves, of Blackburn. He was the inventor of the crank and comb, an engine of singular merit for facilitating the progress of carding cotton.
— The Manchester Agricultural Society founded. This society (extending to a circuit of thirty miles round Manchester) is now in a very flourishing condition, and every year offers premiums for useful discoveries — for industrious exertions in cultivation, for spirited experiments and for superior specimens of produce, both in crops and cattle. The premiums offered are generally gold and silver medals, or silver cups. Patron at this period, Wilbraham Egerton, Esq., Tatton Park. President, Lord Francis Egerton, M.P. Secretary, Mr. Thomas Hampson.

1768.
— The shock of an earthquake felt at Manchester, February 2.
— The first, stone of St. John’s Church, laid by Edward Byrom, Esq., April 28.
— Christian VII., King of Denmark, visits Manchester, and lodges at the Bull’s Head, in the Market Place, September 2. At this time the Bull’s Head was the only inn in the town where wine might be purchased. Few houses sold spirits.
— High floods in the Irwell.

1769.
Richard Arkwright takes out his first patent for the making of mule yarn by means of rollers, and erects a mill at Nottingham.

1770.
An ulcerous sore throat prevails as an epidemic.
— A day school attached to St. John’s Church, endowed by Mr. Edward Byrom, about this time, and aided by other legacies as well as the offertory money.
— Some curious antiquities discovered in Castle Field, June 4.
— The manufacture of ginghams, &c., is greatly improved by the inventions of Mr. Meadowcroft.
— A peal of eight bells were rung for the first time at St. John’s Church. They were cast by Messrs. Lester and Pack, of London, November 20.
— The first volume of Whitaker’s “History of Manchester” published. The second appeared in 1775.
— The charters of the Manchester Collegiate Church, Chetham’s Hospital, and Free Grammar School published.
— The Subscription Library for Promoting General Knowledge established; revived in 1802. Its original designation was that “for Promoting Christian Knowledge.”
— Richard Arkwright erects a mill at Cromford, Derbyshire.
— The Gentlemen’s Concert Club originated at a tavern in the Market Place. The first stone was laid of the Gentlemen’s Concert Room, in Fountain Street, by Edward Greaves, Esq., of Culcheth, August 24,. 1775. This was superseded by one in Lower Mosley Street, built 1831.

1771.
Prescott’s Manchester Journal, No. 1., printed and published every Saturday by John Prescott, in. Old Millgate; price 2d. March 23.
— Mr. Peter Clare procured a patent for a smoke jack. January.

1772.
Jeremiah Clarke, the inventor of cotton velvet, died at Bolton December 9.
— Passage boats established by the Duke of Bridgewater, to go from Manchester to within two miles of Warrington, October 1.
— John Lees, a Quaker, of Manchester, invented the feeder in the manufacture of cotton.
— Mr. John Kay, of Bury, received a present of two hundred guineas from the Manchester manufacturers, for his invention of a double jenny, which was exhibited in the Exchange.
— Mr. Robert Whitworth, for many years an eminent printer and publisher, and proprietor of the Manchester Magazine, died October 27.
— A police office first established, on the recommendation of Sir John Fielding. It was opened at Messrs. Chippendall and Milne’s, Bow Street.