A "GOLDEN CLUSTER" OF HERITAGE
Designing at the cusp of European Art Nouveau, Edgar Wood’s architecture constantly anticipated future trends. He led the northern Arts & Crafts movement through vernacular, art nouveau and finally art deco phases – an evolution traced in his Middleton buildings. In doing so, he became England’s uncontested pioneer of modern design. As an architect, Wood…
Lydia Ernestine Becker (24 February 1827 – 18 July 1890) was a scientist and early leader of the British suffrage movement. She is best remembered for founding and publishing the Women’s Suffrage Journal between 1870 and 1890. Lydia’s grandfather, Ernest Becker, had come to Manchester from Germany in the late 1790s and made his money…
From https://www.britannica.com/ Alexander Nowell, (born c. 1507, Whalley, Lancashire, England—died February 13, 1602, London), English scholar, Anglican priest, and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London whose tactless preaching brought him into disfavour with Queen Elizabeth I. He was the author of the catechism still used by the Church of England. He is famous in…
From https://www.wikipedia.org/ Ashton Lever was born in 1729 at Alkrington Hall. In 1735, Sir James Darcy Lever, his father, had served as High Sheriff of Lancashire.[1] Perspective interior view of Sir Ashton Lever’s Museum in Leicester Square, London 30 March 1785 Lever began by collecting seashells in about 1760, and gradually accumulated one of the…
From https://en.wikipedia.org/ George Caley (10 June 1770 – 23 May 1829) was an English botanist and explorer, active in Australia for the majority of his career. Caley lived much of his life in Middleton and was president of the Middleton Botanical Society which met at The White Hart Public House on Rochdale Road. He corresponded…
From https://www.artnet.com James William Booth (1867-1953) Booth was a leading member of the Staithes Group. He studied at Manchester School of Art under Elias Bancroft. He was a friend of Fred Jackson. Bancroft and Jackson visited Whitby and Hinderwell to paint and Booth followed. He initially shared a studio with Laura and Harold Knight in…
From https://www.fwjackson.co.uk/ Frederick William Jackson was born in 1859 at Middleton Junction. He was one of three children, and his father worked as a photographer in Oldham. His two brothers were Vincent Jackson, a musician trained at Leipzig Conservatoire, and Charles Arthur Jackson, who was an art dealer and owned a gallery at 7 Police…
From https://en.wikipedia.org/ Thomas Langley (c.1363 – 20 November 1437) was an English prelate who held high ecclesiastical and political offices in the early to mid-1400s. He was Dean of York, Bishop of Durham, twice Lord Chancellor of England to three kings, and a Cardinal. In turn Keeper of the King’s signet and Keeper of the…
Samuel Bamford (28 February 1788 – 13 April 1872) was an English radical and writer, who was born and lived in Middleton, Lancashire. Bamford was one of five children born to Daniel Bamford, a muslin weaver, part-time teacher, and later master of the Salford workhouse, and his wife, Hannah. After his father withdrew him from…
