William Hutton (30 September 1723 – 1815) was a poet and the first significant historian of
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
A
UnitarianUnitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity ....
nonconformist born in
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, he went to school when five years old. Aged seven years he was employed in a silk mill on a seven year apprenticeship. In 1737 he took a second apprenticeship as a stocking maker in
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England and is one of only eight members of the English Core Cities Group....
under his uncle. In 1746, after his uncle had died, he taught himself bookbinding, and three years later opened a shop in
SouthwellSouthwell is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, best known as the site of Southwell Minster, the seat of the Church of England diocese that covers Nottinghamshire...
.
William Hutton (30 September 1723 – 1815) was a poet and the first significant historian of
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
A
UnitarianUnitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity ....
nonconformist born in
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, he went to school when five years old. Aged seven years he was employed in a silk mill on a seven year apprenticeship. In 1737 he took a second apprenticeship as a stocking maker in
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England and is one of only eight members of the English Core Cities Group....
under his uncle. In 1746, after his uncle had died, he taught himself bookbinding, and three years later opened a shop in
SouthwellSouthwell is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, best known as the site of Southwell Minster, the seat of the Church of England diocese that covers Nottinghamshire...
. This was not successful and he moved to Birmingham in 1750 and opened a small bookshop.
He married Sarah Cock in 1755 and they had three sons and a daughter,
Catherine HuttonCatherine Hutton was an English novelist and letter-writer.Born in Birmingham, the daughter of historian William Hutton, she became a friend of the scientist and discoverer of oxygen Joseph Priestley and the novelist Robert Bage...
(1756-1846), who became a writer.
In 1756 he opened a paper warehouse – the first in Birmingham – which became profitable. He built a country house on Bennetts Hill in
Washwood HeathWashwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England...
, and bought a house in High Street. He published
History of Birmingham in 1782 and was also elected as
Fellow of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland (F. A. S. S.)The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters, collections, archive, and lecture theatre in the Royal Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...
. He was elected overseer of the poor, and in 1787, to the Court of Requests, a
small claims courtSmall-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and the name by which such a court is known varies by jurisdiction: it may be known by such names as county court or...
for nineteen years, handling over 100,000 claims.
Both his houses were destroyed in the Birmingham Riots in 1791 (the
Priestley RiotsThe Priestley Riots took place from 14 July to 17 July 1791 in Birmingham, England; the rioters' main targets were religious Dissenters, most notably the politically and theologically controversial Joseph Priestley...
) leading to his historical account in
Narrative of the riots. He managed to recover £5390 in a claim for damages against the town.
In 1801 he is generally held to be the first person in modern times to walk the entire length of
Hadrian's WallHadrian's Wall is a stone or turf and timber fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall in what is...
, producing an account of his journey in
The History of the Roman Wall (Breeze 2006:16).
He completed an autobiography
The life of William Hutton just before his death in 1815.
He is commemorated by a
blue plaqueA blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker...
on
Waterstone'sWaterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that now employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. Waterstone's has since acquired the Ottakars and Dillons bookshops after itself becoming a subsidiary of the HMV Group in 1998...
bookshop on High Street, near the start of
New Street, BirminghamNew Street is a street in central Birmingham, England . It is one of the city's principal thoroughfares and shopping streets. Named after it is Birmingham New Street Station, although that does not have an entrance on New Street except through the Pallasades Shopping Centre.-History:New Street...
.
Sources
Further reading