ANNALS OF OLDHAM No. XLIX 1807 The annals for 1807 are unfortunately not to be found. Mr. Higson’s summary of important events will therefore have to stand instead. January 16th - A dispute arose between the churchwardens and singers of Oldham Church. January 30th - Northwood (Westhulme) was purchased by George Hadfield, Esq., of Oldham for £4,000, from Mr. Broom, bread baker. The leading firm of hatters in Oldham about this time was the firm of Messrs. Henshaw, Barkers, Hadfield, and Taylors, at Hargreaves. The above George Hadfield, Esq., was one of the junior partners in this concern, and was nephew to the Henshaws. In 1805, Mr. Henry Henshaw devised the sum of £64,000 to his nephew, Mr. Geo. Hadfield, who in 1807, renounced his claim to a princely fortune in order to gratify Mr. Thomas Henshaw; Mr. Thomas Henshaw died April 30th 1807, Mr. Geo. Hadfield, having renounced his claim to a princely fortune, naturally and properly expected his uncle Thomas to make up for it, when he came to make his own will. Accordingly in August 1807, Mr. Thomas Henshaw made his will (a second will) Comprising an equitable division of his property, principally to Mrs. Henshaw and Mr. George Hadfield, but including other bequests; and among them £2,000 to Mr. John Atkinson, hat manufacturer, of Manchester, one of the executors; and £500 to Mr. Joseph Atkinson, co-executor. On the 14th November 1807, Mr. Henshaw, under the guidance of Mr. John Atkinson, framed another and still more extraordinary will, by which he devised £20,000 to endow a Blue Coat School at Oldham, and £20,000 to endow a Blind Asylum at Manchester; £2,000 to Mr. John Atkinson; an annuity of £200 to Mrs. Henshaw, in addition to the £100 previously settled); and an annuity of £30 to his servant, Hannah McNaught, leaving the residue of his personal estate to be divided for the benefit of the charities. By a codicil to the will, dated January 9th 1808, he gave to the Blue Coat School, a further sum of £20,000, making the total for that institution, £40,000. By a second codicil, dated January 14 1808, he gave £1,000 to the Manchester Infirmary, £1,000 to the Lunatic Hospital, £500 to the Lying-in Hospital, and £500 to the Ladies Charity, also at Manchester. By a third codicil, dated May 9th, 1808, he directed that the £60,000 devised for a Blue Coat School and Blind Asylum should continue in the firm at Oldham as long as the executors determined, and he further devised £18,000 to Mr.; John Atkinson. In addition to alleged gift of £3,000 which he had already made him. The remainder of the property being bequeathed to the charities, the nearest relations, and particularly Mr. George Hadfield were effectually deprived of the bulk of the wealth. For the last nine years of his life Thomas Henshaw repeatedly showed symptoms of insanity, and he terminated his life by drowning himself in a pond near the works, March 4th, 1810.
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I should not have gone so fully into this matter had it not been that the late Mr. Henry Henshaw Hadfield, who was a relative, probably a son, of this Mr. George Hadfield, was said to have once had expectations from the Henshaws. We here see how these expectations were baulked. In the short account of the late Mr. H. Hadfield, recently published, we are told how he had to betake himself to an honourable calling to earn a living. We here see that if the family had had their rights they would have been probably the leading family in Oldham. Mr. Hadfield’s connection with the Manchester Societies is sufficient to stamp him as a man of considerable mark, and from the slender acquaintance which I had with him I should take him to have been one who in every way might be esteemed a gentleman. He held a very honoured place in local art, and died October 1887. It will be seen that I have derived much of the above information from E. Butterworth’s history of Oldham. March 24th -The lawsuit respecting Joel’s Dam at Busk, between Halliwell v. Clegg, terminated in a verdict for the plaintiff, £10 damages and costs. April 16th - Mount Pleasant Cotton Mill was burnt down. April 30th - Henry Henshaw, of Hargreaves, Esq., died, aged 81 years. He was partner in the hat trade with his brother Thomas, the founder of the Blue Coat School, and other charities. As an evidence of the profitable state of the hat trade in Oldham, it may be stated that the firm began with the small capital of £2,000, and in a comparatively short time accumulated property to the amount of £154,000. The Henshaws were natives of Prestbury, near Macclesfield, where they had a small estate. Thomas, the founder, was born in 1731. In his early days he was apprenticed to the hatting trade with Mr. John Fletcher, at Oldham. Subsequently he resided at Manchester, where he was possessor of, or partner in, some dye works. About 1768 or 1770 he settled in Oldham, and went partner with his old master, John Fletcher, of Holebottom, in the hatting trade. Soon after, his brother Henry joined them. At this time the brothers Henshaw resided in an old house at the bottom of Church-lane, and were remarkable for their habits of industry and frugality. About 1778 or 1780 Messrs. Henshaw established a hat manufactory on their own account at Hargeaves, in Oldham, which in a few years ranked as one of the principal manufactories in the kingdom. Previous to 1796 Mr. Thomas Barker became a partner in the firm, and Mr. Thomas Henshaw, having married, in 1799, Sarah, the relict of Mr. Taylor of Crumpsall, two of Mr. Taylor’s sons, John and James M. Taylor, embarked on the hatting trade with Messrs. Henshaw, Barker and Hadfield. During the lifetime of the brothers, upwards of 300 operatives were employed at the hatting works. |
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July 8th - The first July fair was held at Oldham, when on account of the war, there were numerous recruiting parties present. September 4th - Dr. Majendie, Bishop of Chester, consecrated new portions of graveyards at Oldham Church and S. Peter’s Chapel. The land, or part of it, was bought from Edward Greaves, Esq. One of these plots was evidently a portion of Rod Lee Estate. E. Butterworth says:- Thomas Percival, Esq. ,the son of a wealthy tradesman of Manchester, and the purchaser of Royton from the Byrons in 1662, purchased about the same time lands in Oldham. Jane, his only daughter, married John Gilliam, Gent. of Newton, a relative of James Guillame, a contributor to the military muster in 1574. John Gilliam Gent was possessor of property in Oldham in 1681. His heiress, Jane, conveyed the estate by marriage, about 1713, to John Greaves, Esq., of Culcheth, apparently a descendant of the Greaves of Nottinghamshire. He served the office of High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1733, and died Oct. 8th 1739. His son, Edward Greaves, Esq., who married Martha, daughter of Sir Darcy Lever, Knight, and died 1783, was father of Edward Greaves, Esq., of Culcheth and of Nettleworth Hall, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, who served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1812, and died March 29th 1824. At the death of Mrs. Greaves, the property, consisting of about 34 acres of valuable land, now chiefly built upon, passed to John Bradshaw, Esq., by royal sign manual, he being the son of James Bradshaw, Esq., of Darcy Lever, who married a sister of the late Mrs. Greaves. The grandfather of the present Mrs. Bradshaw Greaves was John Bradshaw, Esq., a respected magistrate of Manchester, who married a daughter of Dr. Peploe, Bishop of Chester, and died in 1777. October 9th – There was a further dispute between the singers and the curate of Oldham church. October 23rd - There was a celebrated peal of 15,120 bob majors rung on the old bells of Oldham Church. November 11th – There was a severe storm of wind and snow. November 14th - Was the date of Thomas Henshaw’s will, as already stated. He was an opulent hatter. By his will he expressed his wish that a Blue Coat School should be erected at Oldham and a Blind Asylum at Manchester, under the direction and management of trustees, and for that purpose he bequeathed £20,000 to each of those charities as funds for endowment, i.e., not to be applied to the purchase of land or the erection of buildings.
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December 3rd -Prices of weaving were very low, and the martial spirit of Oldham, as usual when a war was raging and the people poor, exhibited itself in large enlistments in the army. December 25th – Christmas Day. A public meeting of the friends of peace was held on Oldham Edge, to petition Parliament for a cessation of hostilities. The Jacobins, or early Radicals, though quiet for many years, here show signs of existence, and probably in an organised form. We shall see further on that these appeals to Government for peace were backed out by a strike for higher wages on the part of the distressed weavers. In this year Sholver-lane Sunday School was established. Gadsby’s preaching place was erected in 1823. Mr. Partington, afterwards the Rev. George Partington, entered the service of the County Union of Oldham and neighbourhood, but was soon removed to Burnley. He died in 1838, and independent pastor at Glossop, Derbyshire. In 1807 - On the south side of the “old church” yard, there were many low cottages, whilst the present east part of the graveyard was an open field. In 1807 - The waste of Greenacres Moor had all been effectually reclaimed, and manufactories and habitations were starting into existence as if by magic. There were 8 cotton mills and nearly 230 houses on the spot which, 36 years previously, had been almost an uninhabited wilderness. The number of dwellings in Northmoor had increased to 130. December 9th -Comedy of the “Birthday” performed at the Theatre, George Inn, Oldham, for the benefit of Mrs. Holbrook. |
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