James Crossley

This book offers a comprehensive account of the life and interests of James Crossley, one of the most important figures in the cultural, social, legal and political life of Manchester in the nineteenth century. It considers his involvement in the legal and political developments of the period before and after the incorporation of Manchester, as a key figure in the tory interest in the city. It explores his role in the cultural life of the city, especially in his involvement with the Chetham Society, of which he was president from 1847 until his death in 1883, and his wider impact as a scholar, particularly of Defoe, in the establishment of whose canon Crossley was a major figure.