George Heywood’s Diary and Memoir
George Heywood’s Diary and Memoir
George Heywood was born in Huddersfield in 1788 and moved to Manchester in 1809. He started with a job at William Hyde’s grocery shop on Market Street as a journeyman grocer but stayed only three weeks before moving to work for the grocer and widow, Ann Owen, with whom he soon became romantically involved. Their relationship forms a central focus of Heywood’s diary. Although Heywood appeared infatuated with his employer, his feelings were not reciprocated with anything like the same degree of fervour and he also came up against opposition from Owen’s family and friends. After leaving Ann’s employment in 1811 he continued to court her for the next three years but failed to achieve his twin desires of marriage and taking over the Owen family business. He finally redirected his sights instead towards Betty Bowyer, a servant at the house of John and Elizabeth Jones’ where he worked and lodged after leaving Owen. In 1815, Heywood agreed to form a business partnership with one of his fellow journeyman grocers at the Jones’s, Robert Roberts, who died not long after leaving George and Betty in sole charge of the enterprise.
Keywords: Industrial Revolution, Trade, Work, Families, Business, Manchester, Generation, Religion, Gender
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