Posted on 5th October, in remembrance of Michael Satterthwaite's birthday.
Michael was the nephew of Esther (nee. Satterthwaite) Wilcockson so he was first cousin to her children. Michael was a Quaker and his name crops up on a lot of records. Michael lived in Preston. Like his cousin Isaac (the newspaper man) he seems a very interesting man, and like Isaac he had no children.
The Preston Guardian etc. Saturday July 13 1867
DEATHS
On the 6th instant at the residence of his nephew, Joseph Smithson, Halifax, Michael Satterthwaite, of Bank Parade, Preston, aged 82.
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The Preston Guardian etc. Saturday July 13 1867
DEATH OF MR. MICHAEL SATTERTHWAITE
We have this week to record the death of an old and worthy townsman, one of our oldest inhabitants, and one of the few connecting links between the Preston of the present day and our ancient borough when it was "an elegant and economical town, the resort of well-born but ill-portioned and ill-endowed old maids and widows." Mr. Michael Satterthwaite died on Saturday evening last, at Halifax, while on a visit to a nephew, Mr. Joseph Smithson. He was in the 83rd year of his age, having been born on the 5th of October, 1784. He was one of the sons of Edward and Mary Satterthwaite. Edward Satterthwaite was a currier and leather cutter, who came to Preston about 90 years ago, from the neighbourhood of Hawkshead, the relaxation of our municipal laws, about that time, allowing of non-freemen to carry on business in the town. His wife, whose maiden name was Parkinson, came from Sawley, in Yorkshire. They were respected members of the Society of Friends, of which body their son, the subject of this notice, remained an honoured and influential member until his death. When Michael Satterthwaite was born, his parents lived in the premises now occupied by Mr. Orrell, shoemaker, but before Michael was a year old, they removed to the premises known as the "Big Patten", where Edward Satterthwaite carried on business until his death, in 1794. His widow continued the trade after her husband's death until her marriage with Mr. Ralph Alderson, who then carried it on, on the same premises, first on his own acount, and then in partnership with his step-son, until his death in 1832, Mrs Alderson having predeceased him five years. Mr. Alderson was a man of scientific tastes, and was one of the founders of the Preston Institution for the Diffusion of Knowldedge. Mr. Satterthwaite continued the business after the death of his partner, until March of the present year, when he retired in favour of two of his nephews. When he gave up, he was the oldest tradesman in Preston, having been in business above sixty years, and during the whole of that period on the same premises, a circumstance without a parallel in the shopkeeping annals of this town. This shop has long been a noted one, and its appearance tells to a stranger that its possessor was of the "old school:" its old fashioned bay windows, of a kind of which there are now few in the town, were about the first bay windows ever inserted in a shop in Preston; previously shops had windows no different than cottages. It was the fore runner, - some however claim for the shop of Mr. Prescott, saddler, in Cheapside, the honour of being a few months its senior - of many scores that have been since displaced for more modern shapes with greater capabilities of display. Antiquated as their appearance is, when first inserted, they were considered quite an enterprising innovation, and were regarded as one of the wonders of the town, so much so, that country people, on a market day, for long after their erection, considered a visit to the town incomplete without a peep at the "new shop windows."
Mr. Satterthwaite was a shrewd and energetic man of business, but with a keen relish for travelling as a relaxation. For many years he seldom missed going to London to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Friends, in whose affairs he ever took a deep interest, and on this occasion he usually made a tour of some part of England famous for historic associations or scenic beauty. He, on more than one occasion, extended his rambles to the continent, and , in the spring of last year, in his 82nd year, he was one of a party that went through France and Switzerland to Italy, extending their tour to Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompeii, and was one of the most active and observant of the many thousand interested spectators of the grand ceremonial which marked the Easter of that year in the "Eternal City." It was while on a visit to a nephew in Halifax, after a visit to the yearly meeting of the Friends' school at Ackworth, in Yorkshire, where he was himself educated, of which he was one of the trustees, and in the welfare of which he ever took a deep interest, that he closed his life. He had arranged for a trip to Wales during the present month.
When at business he was remarkable for close application thereto, and was highly esteemed as a high-minded and honourable tradesman. Although retiring and unobtrusive in daily life, he was not an uninterested observer of public events. Like most members of the Society of Friends he was a Liberal in politics, and an energetic and consistent supporter of every measure of political, social, commercial, and religious freedom. The first time that he had the privilege of a vote for a member of Parliament was at the general election of 1807, when George the Third dissolved parliament to get rid of Fox and the Whigs, and by which he unfortunately secured a long lease of power to Toryism, and its then attendants of political and commercial monopoly, and persecution and exclusion from civil offices of citizens on account of religious belief. On that occasion two candidates offered themselves together, one a Whig, the other a Tory, and though so opposite in their principles that they perhaps never voted together during a whole parliamentary session, they came forward together before the Preston constituency, they canvassed together, their names were subscribed to the same address, they had only one committee, and they jointly resisted any attempt to break through a compact providing for this state of things, and which, on political grounds, was certainly "unprincipled." Mr. Samuel Horrocks was the Tory candidate, and Lord Stanley, the late Earl of Derby, the Whig. The Independent Liberal party invited Mr. Joseph Hanson, Colonel Hanson, as he was styled, to fight their battle against the "coalition," and among the memorable "1,002" who supported Mr. Hanson on that occasion, was Mr. Satterthwaite. How few now survive who took a part in that exciting twelve days' contest! In a hasty glance over the 2,582 names of the voters who exercised the suffrage on that occasion, we only recognise the name of one person now living, John Bairstow, Esq; possibly there may be another or two, but the youngest voter on that occasion, if now living would be above eighty-one years old. From that time Mr. Satterthwaite was ever found in the Liberal ranks at the Preston elections, and he uniformly recorded his vote on the side of popular progress. In the local demonstrations in favour of parliamentary reform, municipal reform, Free Trade, and the abolition of negro slavery he was accustomed to take part.
In one department of public duty, Mr. Satterthwaite took his full share. On the first establishment of the Board of Guardians for the Preston Union, on the adoption, in this district, of the New Poor-Law, in the year 1837, he was elected one of the guardians for the town-ship of Preston, being returned, by a large majority, at the head of the poll. At the end of the term for which he was elected, he declined re-appointment, and was out of office two or three years. He afterwards resumed his place at the Board, and since that time with one exception, he has been re-elected for the town-ship, or for one of the wards into which the town is divided. For many years he was very active in the discharge of the duties devolving on him, and he has frequently filled the post of one of the vice-chairmen of the Board.
Mr. Satterthwaite was once, for a short period, a member of the Preston Corporation. On the 15th August 1838, he was elected a councillor for St. George's Ward, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Bulman. He had only the opportunity of attending one meeting of the Corporation, for the term for which he was elected expired on the ensuing 1st of November, and he then declined re-election. With the exception of Mr. Dodd, who represented the same ward for a few weeks, in 1852, Mr. Satterthwaite's term of office as a town councillor is the shortest in the annals of the Preston Corporation. The deceased gentleman was a director of the Blackpool Pier Company, of the Lytham Pier Company, and of the Preston Steam Sawing Company.
Mr. Satterthwaite was one of the founders of the Preston Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society; he was a member of the committee of management from its establishment till the day of his death, and on the death of the late Mr. John Fisher, in 1864, he was appointed treasurer of the auxiliary. Two of his colleagues in the formation of the Preston Society still lives:- Mr. Thomas Clarke and Mr. John Hamer.
Mr. Statterthwaite was twice married, but on both occasions he lost his wife very shortly after entering the matriomonial state. He had never any family. He was seized with a fainting fit on Saturday evening, while walking with his nephew, in the streets of Halifax, and fell into his arms. He was taken to Mr. Smithson's house, and the assistance of two doctors was called in, but he expired immediately. He had on a few previous occasions had similar fits, and in other ways, within the last year or two had shown symptoms of failing health and strength, but until he had long passed his eightieth year, he was uncommonly hale and hearty. He preserved his business aptitude and memory to the last.
Yesterday, his remains were interred in the secluded graveyard of the Society of Friends, at Calder Bridge, near Garstang, near those of his sister, Mrs. Sarah Ord, a minister of the Society of Friends, who died a few months ago. The prohibition of intramural interments in Preston prevented his being buried in his own family grave, in the yard of the Preston Friends' Meeting House. His remains were followed to the grave by a large circle of relatives, in seven mourning coaches, and the funeral cortege was preceded, to the outskirts of the town, on the Garstang road, by about eighty or ninety gentlemen of the town, who thus showed their respect for the character of the deceased. As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, nearly all the shops in Friargate, and many in the Market-place, were closed as the funeral procession passed.
