The Manchester Man
by Mrs. G.L. Banks
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The Manchester Man is a novel by the British writer Isabella Banks. It was first published in three volumes in 1876 under her married name, Mrs G. Linnaeus Banks. The story follows the life of a Manchester resident, Jabez Clegg, during the nineteenth century and his rise to prosperity in the booming industrial city. It depicts a number of real historical events such as the Peterloo Massacre. An orphaned child is rescued by a tanner and his daughter from the River Irk during a storm. Simon, show more the tanner learns that the child's family did not survive the flood and Bess, his daughter, decides to foster the child herself. They christen him Jabez Clegg and he is educated as a Blue Coat Boy at Chetham's Hospital School under the supervision of clergyman Joshua Brookes. Jabez meets his antagonist, the wealthy Laurence Aspinall, who is to be a rival for the rest of his life. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
'You and I know what Manchester men are made of, and that young fellow has good stuff in him! He was made to rise, sirs.'
A delightful book, albeit weakened by a slightly rushed conclusion, about the rise of the 'Manchester man' and the history of the city. Part Dickensian metaphor and social commentary, part Victorian romance, Mrs Banks wrote of early industrial Manchester in 1874 (serialised for Cassell's Monthly Magazine and published two years later). A baby is plucked from the flood waters of the River Irk by a poor tanner, and taken home to be raised by his young daughter. Given every opportunity in life - a scholarship to a Blue Coat school (now Chetham's School of Music), an apprenticeship with a local tradesman, marriage to a show more gentleman's daughter - Jabez Clegg, as he is named by the delightfully wilful and cantankerous vicar, embodies the spirit of the Manchester man - integrity, strength, forthrightness, determination and the ambition to earn for himself what others are born into. He falls in love with a girl 'above his station', and is bullied by the spoiled son of his sponsor, but Jabez's character ultimately wins him success and happiness. The message is rather heavy-handed, but the story enjoyable for all the social and historical instruction.
This forgotten novel, reprinted from a later edition containing illustrations by Charles Green and Hedley Fitton, should be more widely known, and even taught in schools! Banks manages to combine a potted history of nineteenth century Manchester, covering the Peterloo massacre and other local events and celebrities of the time, with an adventurous and engrossing bildungsroman, only rushing headlong into melodrama towards the close (a whole slew of coincidences and disasters serve to remove unwelcome and unfortunate obstacles between Jabez and his reward for persevering!)
Very much of its time, but none the less readable for that, and full of funny and sympathetic characters (bar the villain of the piece, of course!) show less
A delightful book, albeit weakened by a slightly rushed conclusion, about the rise of the 'Manchester man' and the history of the city. Part Dickensian metaphor and social commentary, part Victorian romance, Mrs Banks wrote of early industrial Manchester in 1874 (serialised for Cassell's Monthly Magazine and published two years later). A baby is plucked from the flood waters of the River Irk by a poor tanner, and taken home to be raised by his young daughter. Given every opportunity in life - a scholarship to a Blue Coat school (now Chetham's School of Music), an apprenticeship with a local tradesman, marriage to a show more gentleman's daughter - Jabez Clegg, as he is named by the delightfully wilful and cantankerous vicar, embodies the spirit of the Manchester man - integrity, strength, forthrightness, determination and the ambition to earn for himself what others are born into. He falls in love with a girl 'above his station', and is bullied by the spoiled son of his sponsor, but Jabez's character ultimately wins him success and happiness. The message is rather heavy-handed, but the story enjoyable for all the social and historical instruction.
This forgotten novel, reprinted from a later edition containing illustrations by Charles Green and Hedley Fitton, should be more widely known, and even taught in schools! Banks manages to combine a potted history of nineteenth century Manchester, covering the Peterloo massacre and other local events and celebrities of the time, with an adventurous and engrossing bildungsroman, only rushing headlong into melodrama towards the close (a whole slew of coincidences and disasters serve to remove unwelcome and unfortunate obstacles between Jabez and his reward for persevering!)
Very much of its time, but none the less readable for that, and full of funny and sympathetic characters (bar the villain of the piece, of course!) show less
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Fiction With Familiar Settings
280 works; 93 members
Author Information
19+ Works 72 Members
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Manchester Man
- Original publication date
- 1876
- Important places
- Manchester, England, UK
- Important events
- Peterloo Massacre
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 47
- Popularity
- 635,358
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.29)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 4
