Hugh Hornby Birley (10 March 1778 – 31 July 1845) was a leading

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 ...

millowner and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

who is reputed to have led the fatal charge of the

Manchester and Salford Yeomanry The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry cavalry was a short-lived yeomanry regiment formed in response to social unrest in northern England in 1817. The volunteer regiment became notorious for its involvement in the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, in which ...

at the

Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...

on 16 August 1819.

Early life

He was the son of Richard Birley (1743–1812), merchant, who had four sons and four daughters. Hugh's brother, Joseph Birley (1782–1847), was the father of

Hugh Birley Hugh Birley (21 October 1817 – 7 September 1883) was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Life Birley was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, the third son of Joseph Birley of Ford Bank, Manchester. Following education at Winchester ...

who served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

from 1868 to 1883. – features references to primary sources

Career

In 1814 he commenced the building of the Cambridge Street Cotton Mill in Chorlton-on-Medlock. He was a local magistrate and one of the commanders of the

responsible for the

at St Peter's Field in 1819. He assisted the Swiss inventor-engineer

Johann Georg Bodmer Johann Georg Bodmer (6 December 1786 – 29 May 1864) was a prolific Swiss inventor, making contributions to areas ranging from weaponry to steam engines, textile manufacture (machinery for wool spinning), and railroad construction. See also *Be ...

by making space available to him at his Chorlton Mills and was instrumental in founding the

Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science The Royal Victoria Gallery for the Encouragement of Practical Science was an adult education institution and exhibition gallery in Victorian Manchester, a commercial enterprise intended to educate the general public about science and its industria ...

in 1839. He was associated with the

Royal Manchester Institution The Royal Manchester Institution (RMI) was an England, English learned society founded on 1 October 1823 at a public meeting held in the Exchange Room by Manchester merchants, local artists and others keen to dispel the image of Manchester as a ...

and a moving force in the establishment of

Owens College Owens may refer to: Places in the United States *Owens Station, Delaware *Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota *Owens, Missouri *Owens, Ohio *Owens, Virginia People * Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name * Owens Bro ...

. He was a director of the Manchester Gas Works and became a business associate of

Charles Macintosh Charles Macintosh FRS (29 December 1766 – 25 July 1843) was a Scottish chemist and the inventor of the modern waterproof raincoat. The Mackintosh raincoat (the variant spelling is now standard) is named after him. Biography Macintosh was b ...

with the intention of putting the works' waste products to profitable use in the manufacture of waterproof fabrics.

Personal life

He married Cecily Hornby (1797–1843) of Kirkham, with whom he had four sons, including: * Joseph Hornby Birley (1827–1881) Hugh Hornby Birley died in 1845 and was buried in the family vault in St. Peter's Church, Manchester.

Descendants

His nephew was

(1817–1883), a businessman and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician, and his great-grandson was

Oswald Birley Sir Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley (31 March 1880 – 6 May 1952) was an English portrait painter and royal portraitist in the early part of the 20th century. Early life and family Birley was born in New Zealand to Hugh Francis Birley (1855–19 ...

(1880–1952), the

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

and

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

portraitist prominent in the early part of the 20th century.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Entry on Birley family genealogy

1778 births 1845 deaths British people of English descent Businesspeople from Manchester British Yeomanry officers

Hugh Hornby Birley Hugh Hornby Birley (10 March 1778 – 31 July 1845) was a leading Manchester millowner and Tory who is reputed to have led the fatal charge of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry at the Peterloo Massacre on 16 August 1819. Early life He was th ...

{{UK-business-bio-stub