1818.
The Savings Bank, Cross Street, instituted, and opened January 31.
— St. George’s Church consecrated by the Bishop of Chester, Jan. 17.
— Messrs. Smith and Ingle’s paper works, at Throstle Nest, burnt down February 4.
— Bennett Street Sunday School erected, to contain 2,687.
— The Manchester Observer, No. 1, published by Thomas Rogerson, January 3. Discontinued June, 1821.
— A general turn-out of the spinners, colliers, and weavers, for an advance of wages. Mr. Gray’s factory attacked, and one man killed, September 9.
— Joseph Green, Esq., boroughreeve; W. Wainhouse, and T. S. Worthington, Esqrs., constables; and Rev. W. R. Hay, chairman of the quarter sessions, were presented with silver cups, as testimonies to the zeal and decision with which they acted during the troubled times of their local administration.
— Mrs. Fry visited the New Bailey Prison, October 3.
— St. Mark’s Sunday School, Cheetham Hill, established: It is also used for a day school.
— The Spectator, No. 1, printed by Thomas Wilkinson, November 7.
— A meeting held in St Peter’s Field for the purpose of petitioning for Parliamentary Reform, March 9. The late Mr. James Wroe presided.
— An Act obtained for cutting a road from Ardwick Green to Gorton.
— Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, visited Manchester, and put up at the Bridgewater Arms, October 22.
— An amateur performance was got up at the Theatre Royal for the benefit of the House of Recovery, October 30, when the proceeds amounted to £300.
— St. Ann’s Church-yard enclosed with an iron palisading.
— Mrs. Sarah Bowden died January 29, in her 92nd year. She possessed a clear recollection of the year 1745 (at which time she was 18 years of age), when Prince Charles Edward entered the town. There were two brothers and two sisters living at one time, whose united ages averaged 80 years each.
— The first stone of Dr. Comb’s Chapel, Salford, was laid September 23.
— The total number of day scholars in Manchester and Salford were 4,334. December.
— The Manchester Observer, No. 1, January 3; printed and published by the proprietor, Thomas Rogerson. This paper changed hands many times; discontinued June 21, 1821. Mr. James Wroe, now a bookseller in Manchester, was a proprietor: he had thirteen processes against him in one month for what were deemed libels.

1819.
Blackfriars Bridge (of stone) was founded by Thomas Fleming, Esq., January 4th. The keystone was laid by John Entwistle Scholes, Esq., boroughreeve of Salford, June 17, 1820, and opened August 1, by T. Fleming, Esq.
— A third general meeting of the Radicals in St. Peter’s Field, January 18; another meeting, June 21.
— Riot in the Theatre Royal between Henry Hunt and his friends, and the Earl of Uxbridge and some officers of the 7th Light Dragoons, January 23.
— The Lock Hospital opened in Bond Street, March 1; since removed to Deansgate.
— The Recorder, No. 1, May 6, printed by John Leigh, in the Market Place, and edited by Mr. Joseph Macardy, who has since shone so conspicuously in some of the Joint Stock Banks of Manchester.
— Wardle’s Manchester Observer, No. 9, Saturday, June 5.
— Independent Chapel, Chapel Street, Salford, opened July 25.
— A meeting of the inhabitants, E. Clayton, Esq., boroughreeve, in the chair, at which resolutions were adopted declaratory of a determination to co-operate in the preservation of the public peace, June 9. Watch and Ward.
— A meeting in St Peter’s Field, attended by 60,000 persons. The meeting dispersed by the yeomanry cavalry: Mr. Henry Hunt, the chairman, and several of the speakers, taken into custody. Eight persons killed, and a number wounded. August 16.
— Henry Hunt and nine or ten other persons examined at the New Bailey, and committed to Lancaster, August 27.
— The Patriot, No. 1, price 2d. August 28. Printed by Joseph Aston.
— Infantry Barracks, Regent Road, commenced November 1.
— William Cobbett prevented by the authorities from passing through Manchester, on his way from Liverpool to London, on his return from America, November 30.
— The Collegiate Church-yard enclosed with iron railings, and a faculty obtained from the Bishop of Chester, prohibiting interments therein for the term of 31 years.
— James Banks Robinson, Esq., RN., died at his house, Cheetwood, in his 71st year. He was fifty years in the service, and fought in twelve general engagements, amongst which were those of the Nile and Trafalgar, when he acted as pilot to the fleet. Few men ever passed a more chequered life, or witnessed more hair-breadth escapes. He commenced his career with Bruce, the traveller; and was also the first of the party of midshipmen who ascended to the top of Pompey’s Pillar, and partook of a bowl of punch.
— The Manchester Vagrant Office established, January 28.
— Mr. Robertson’s factory, in Newton Lane (now Oldham Road), burned down, March 3.
— The Manchester Racecourse very much improved.

1819-20.
The silk-throwing mill of Mr. Vernon Boyle, erected in this year, was the first to be completed and brought to perfection in Manchester.

1820 .
— Messrs. Clay and Cullingworth’s, and Messrs. Hudson and Price’s warehouses, in Marsden Square, were burned down, January 22.
— John Dunn hanged at Lancaster for the murder of Margaret Grimes, at Manchester, March 27.
— All Saints’ Church, Oxford Road, consecrated April 12. Founded by the Rev. Charles Burton, LLD., the late rector, and father of the present minister, the Rev. Dr. Burton.
— Henry Hunt sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment in Ilchester Gaol, for presiding at the Peterloo meeting, May 5. He died February 13, 1836, aged 63.
— James Watson, a man of some literary notoriety, but of eccentric habits, was drowned in the river Mersey, near Didsbury, June 24.
— The Law Library, Marsden Square, established July 21.
— Thomas Barritt lies buried in the Collegiate Church, and of whom we cannot speak better than in the words of his epitaph, or give a more succinct illustration of his character than in the lines which follow it, written by the late Joseph Aston, Esq.

He was born in Withy Grove, where he carried on the business of a saddler. He was three times married, his last wife dying in 1825. In early life he had the misfortune to lose a leg, and had recourse to one of cork. He was interred by torchlight, and his remains were attended to the grave by 30 or 40 of the most respectable inhabitants of the town; and his collection was disposed of in the following manner, viz.: His manuscripts were purchased by the feoffees of Chetham’s College his collection of ancient arms, armour, and other antiquities, were disposed of by lottery; his collection of ancient stained glass pictures, together with his drawings, were purchased by the late Mr. W. Ford; and his books, &c., were sold by auction by Mr. Thomas Dodd.
--- Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Grosvenor Street, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, erected.
— St Augustine’s Catholic Chapel, Granby Row, opened September 27. Cost £10,000. John Palmer, architect.
— The Manchester Chamber of Commerce established. Its object is for the promotion of measures calculated to benefit and protect the trading interest of its members, and the general trade of the town and neighbourhood of Manchester.
— The Salford Gas Works, Clowes Street, erected by Messrs. Appleby, Clay, and Fisher, on a scale of 11,000 cubic feet of gas. From these works Salford was supplied by contract until December, 1831.
— The aggregate length of the streets of Manchester and Salford calculated at sixty miles.
— At a parish meeting the Church Building Commissioners offered to build three new churches if the parish would pay for sites by a church rate; but the inhabitants, by a majority of 720 votes against 418. declared that there was church room enough without them, and refused the rate.
— The import of cotton wool for home consumption was 152,829,633 pounds, the whole duty on which amounted to £426,957 11s. 3d.
— A well discovered in Castle Field, supposed to have been upwards of 2,000 years old, October 17.
— A partial illumination to celebrate the withdrawal of the Bill of Pains and Penalties against Queen Caroline, November 20.
— A meeting held in the Manor Court Room, Brown Street, to move addresses to George IV. and Queen Caroline, expressive of their feelings on the proceedings against the Queen; Mr. Baxter in the chair, the Boroughreeve having previously refused to call a public meeting. December 4.
— Another meeting held by the High Church party, in the large room at the Police Office, to move an address to George IV., December 9.
— George IV. proclaimed in Manchester, by Thomas Sharpe, Esq., on which occasion a splendid procession was got up.
— A feu de joie was fired at Ardwick Green, by the 15th Hussars, the 31st Infantry, and the Manchester Yeomanry, to celebrate the accession of George IV., February 7.
— Mr. Chapman, printer of the Manchester Observer, was fined £250 for a libel on Thomas Fleming, Esq., February 12.
--- Dr. Hibbert Ware, of Edinburgh (formerly of Manchester), was presented by the Royal Society of Arts with their large gold medal, for his discovery of chromate of iron in one of the Shetland Isles.
— The day on which George III, was interred was religiously observed in Manchester, and the various churches were crowded to excess.
— The first celebration of George IV.’s birthday was observed by the civil and military authorities of the town, who went in procession to Ardwick Green, and a feu de joie was fired, April 24.
— The annual value of cotton goods exported, £18,282,292.

1821
Joseph Nadin, who had been upwards of twenty years deputy-constable of Manchester, resigned, March, and was succeeded by Mr. Stephen Lavender, of London.
— Sir Walter Scott visited Manchester, April 9.
— St. John’s Church new roofed (the old one having proved faulty), and beautified throughout, at the expense of Miss Byrom, the daughter of the founder. Reopened November 4th.
— The coronation of George IV. celebrated with great splendour, July 19. Processions of trades, &c., forming such a scene as will probably never be witnessed again in Manchester. The various processions contained upwards of 40,000 persons. In the afternoon the following articles were given away, viz., 25 oxen, 60 sheep, 29,000 pounds of bread, and 400 barrels of strong ale.
— An act obtained for widening Market Street, King Street, Nicholas Croft, Toad Lane, and Pool Lane. Completed 1836.
— Tent Methodists’ Chapel, Canal Street, Ancoats, opened Dec. 25.
— By the third Parliamentary census, the fourteen districts of the township of Manchester contained 16,653 inhabited houses, occupied by 22,839 families, which consisted of 51,520 males, and 56,496 females; total, 108,016 persons. The total population of the townships constituting the parish of Manchester was 187,031.
— The number of publications of the banns of matrimony in the Collegiate Church of Manchester was 2,191. The whole fees (including publication of banns and marriage fee), then 3s. 6d., was paid at the time the names of the parties intending to be married were inserted in the bann’s book. The number of marriages solemnised after the publication of banns, during the same year, was 1,924. The fee, 3s. 6d., which includes the publication of banns, was thus divided, viz., 10d. each chaplain, 1s. 8d.; 9d. each clerk, 1s. 6d.; 1d. each chorister, 4d.; 3s. 6d.
— Manchester Guardian, No. 1, May 5, price 7d., printed and published by John Edward Taylor and Jeremiah Garnett. Wednesday edition commenced September 15, 1836.
— The premises of Messrs. Buxton and Sons, builders, &c., in Oxford Road, burned down, January.
— A meeting convened by the Chamber of Commerce in the Police-Office, to take into
consideration the propriety of a petition to Parliament to amend the Stamp Duties Act. May 1821.
— James Currie, for many years newsman from this town to Wigan, died February 24, aged 81.
— A colony of rooks established themselves in a small garden at the top of King Street, belonging to Mrs. Hall. April.
— The changing of the £1 and £2 notes commenced at the Bank of England. The place was constantly crowded, May 10. The amount of notes exchanged for gold up to June 30, exceeded £420,000, upwards of four tons weight.
— The Shambles, Newton Lane (now Oldham Road), removed to the new market, Shudehill, and the new cross taken down. May.
— Ralph Nixon, formerly a master manufacturer of this town, committed to prison for robbing the Turk’s Head, Shudehill. May.
— The Catholic, edited by the Rev. Mr. Gilbert, of Antigua, changed to The Catholic Phoenix, 1822; edited by Mr. Grimes, surgeon; printed by Mr. Joseph Pratt, Bridge Street.
— A meeting of lay payers in the Police Office, to take into consideration Mr. Scarlett’s Poor Laws Bill, June 1
— A young man severely crushed between the wheel of a carrier’s cart and the wall in the narrow part of Market Street, June 4.
— A requisition, signed by nearly 400 lay payers of the parish, presented to the churchwardens to convene a meeting to induce the commissioners to forego the erection of three or four new churches in this town.
— Reddish, a bookseller of this town, imprisoned for selling a copy of the Political Dictionary. July.
— The first meeting under the Market Street Improvements Bill. About 40 commissioners qualified. July 23.
— The second anniversary meeting of the Radical Reformers in the Union Rooms, George Leigh Street: they walked to St; Peter’s Field, and on to Christ Church, Hulme, where several children were baptised in the name of Henry Hunt, August 16.
— Local bank notes were refused to be taken by the principal inhabitants, September 1.
— Explosion at Mr. Robert Andrews’ works, Green Mount, Harpurhey, September 11..
— The Manchester Express commenced. Left London at 4 p.m., and arrived here the following morning. It only carried two passengers. October 1.
— Acres Fair removed to the new market, Shudehill. October.
— Writs were served on Messrs. Birley, Withington, Tebbitt, Oliver, and Meagher, for assaults committed at St. Peter’s Field on the 16th of August, 1819. October.
— Mr. Macready played in the character of Hamlet for the first time here in the Theatre Royal, Fountain Street, November 3.
— A reduction of 3s. 4d. per ton on the carriage of cotton from Liverpool to Manchester by the Duke’s Canal and the Old Quay Company. November.
— Northern Express and Lancashire Daily Post, No. 1, December 1, printed at Stockport, and published in Manchester, for Henry Burgess. This was the second attempt to establish a daily newspaper out of London.
— Samuel Waller, a Methodist preacher, indicted at the New Bailey Sessions for preaching in the highway, and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, June 23.
— Daintry, Ryle, and Co.’s Bank removed from Macclesfield and opened in Norfolk Street, Manchester, September.
— Prospectus, announcing the publication of the Manchester Guardian, April or May.
— Mr. William Ogden, letterpress printer, the last surviving son of the well-known “Poet Ogden,” died February & Mr. Ogden in his political principles was a determined Jacobin and a Radical Reformer. During the temporary suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act he was arrested as a state prisoner, and underwent several examinations before the Privy Council, but was ultimately discharged.