Charles Hulbert (18 February 1778 – 9 October 1857) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
businessman and writer.
Life
The son of Thomas Hulbert of
Hulbert Green, near
Cheadle,
Cheshire, he was born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
on 18 February 1778, and educated at the grammar school of
Halton, Cheshire
Halton, formerly a separate village, is now part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The name ''Halton'' has been assumed by the Borough of Halton, which includes Runcorn, Widnes and some outlying parishes.
History
There is evidence o ...
.
After learning cotton-weaving he became manager, at the age of twenty-two, of a large print works at
Middleton, near Manchester, and subsequently began business with his elder brother at
Swinton, also near Manchester. In 1803, he moved to
Shrewsbury, and in conjunction with others leased some large factories at
Coleham
Coleham is a district of the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England. It is located just south, over the River Severn, from Shrewsbury town centre.
History
Coleham grew up as a village outside medieval Shrewsbury, with the nearest crossing ov ...
on the outskirts of the town.
He applied, but unsuccessfully, for ordination in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
. He entered into
Sunday school and other religious work, carrying on classes and services at the factory. He became acquainted with the Shropshire
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
Circuit and guest-preached at
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
,
Madeley and
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
This is where iron ore was first s ...
. He assisted
Joseph Lancaster
Joseph Lancaster (25 November 1778 – 23 October 1838) was an English Quaker and public education innovator. He developed, and propagated on the grounds both of economy and efficacy, a monitorial system of primary education. In the first de ...
in building one of his
Lancasterian schools in Shrewsbury.
At the request of
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
and
Henry Grey Bennet
The Honourable Henry Grey Bennet FRS (2 December 1777 – 29 May 1836) was a British politician.
Life
Bennet was the second of three sons and fourth of eight children of Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville, and his wife, Emma, Lady Tank ...
(who was then
Shrewsbury's local Member of Parliament) in 1808 he drew up a report on the management of factories, as an answer to a claim made in parliament that manufactories were hotbeds of vice. Soon afterwards he declined an offer to move to
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, made to him, it is said, by an agent of the
emperor of Russia.
In 1813, his business as a cotton manufacturer having fallen off, he opened a bookshop and printing-office at Shrewsbury, where he published the ''Salopian Magazine'' (1815–17), and printed many small books, most of them written by himself.
He also traded as an auctioneer. In 1825 he gave up the lease of the factory, returning it to its builder
John Carline.
In 1827 he built a house at
Hadnall
Hadnall is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the A49, some 9 km north-north-east of Shrewsbury. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 688. The Welsh Marches Line runs just outside the villa ...
, near Shrewsbury, which he called 'Providence Grove,' and here he continued to print and publish his writings. His house burned down, and his large library was destroyed, on 7 January 1839; but he was able by a public subscription and a grant from the
Royal Literary Fund, to rebuild his residence and to purchase an annuity. He died there after a stroke on 7 October 1857 aged 79, and was buried at the parish church in Hadnall,
where his epitaph speaks of "a diversified and uesful (sic) life".
Works
His works include:
* ''Candid Strictures ... on Thoughts on the Protestant Ascendency,'' Shrewsbury, 1807.
* ''Memoir of General Lord Hill,'' 1816.
* ''African Traveller,'' 1817.
* ''Museum of the World,'' 1822-6, 4 vols.
* ''Christian Memoirs,'' 1832.
* ''Religions of Britain.''
* ''History of Salop,'' 1837.
* ''Cheshire Antiquities,'' 1838.
* ''Manual of Shropshire Biography,'' &c., 1839.
* ''The Sunday Reader and Preacher,'' 1839–42.
* ''Biographical Sketches,'' 1842.
* ''Memoirs of Seventy Years of an Eventful Life,'' 1848–52. Of this autobiography he published an abridgment entitled ''The Book of Providences and the Book of Joys,'' 1857.
Family
In 1805 he married Anna, daughter of Thomas Wood, proprietor of the ''
Shrewsbury Chronicle
The ''Shrewsbury Chronicle'' is a local news newspaper in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is one of the oldest weekly newspapers in the United Kingdom, publishing its first edition in 1772.
It is printed on Wednesday evening and is on sal ...
.'' His eldest son,
Charles Augustus Hulbert (1804–1888), was also a writer, and instrumental in the restoration of
Almondbury Church. Two other sons and a daughter predeceased him.
References
*
External links
Open Library page
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hulbert, Charles
1778 births
1857 deaths
English businesspeople
English writers