George Bradshaw was born at Windsor Bridge, Pendleton on 29 July 1801. He was apprenticed to J. Beale, a Manchester engraver, on leaving school. In 1820 he went to Belfast with his parents and established himself as an engraver and printer. He returned to Manchester in 1821, due to lack of work. He set up a business in Market Place, Manchester. From 1827 he focused on engraving maps. The first map projected, engraved, and published by him was of Lancashire. This was followed in 1830 by his map of the canals of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the surrounding region. This map eventually became one of a set of three known as Bradshaw's Maps of Inland Navigation. In 1830, Bradshaw had moved premises to Cope's Court, Manchester. Here he employed William Blacklock as an apprentice. Blacklock made such an impression that in 1838, aged 21, he was made a partner in Bradshaw's company. The business became known as Bradshaw & Blacklock. The following year, the company moved premises to Brown Street, Manchester. Bradshaw married Martha Darbyshire of Stretton, near Warrington in May 1839. They had two sons, Christopher and William. The same year, Bradshaw & Blacklock began to produce Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables, followed in 1840 by a fuller edition under the new title of Bradshaw's Railway Companion, which included sectional maps. In December 1841, the company produced the first issue of Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide, which became famous worldwide. Other publications included Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, known colloquially as ‘the foreign Bradshaw’, and Bradshaw's General Railway Directory and Shareholders' Guide. The small format and small print of the Monthly Railway Guide led to ‘Bradshaw’ becoming a byword for incomprehensibility: the guide was mocked in Punch and Vanity Fair and was the subject of music-hall jokes. Actress Fanny Kemble was asked what she read to send her to sleep, and replied: ‘Why, the foreign Bradshaw, of course.’ The monthly Bradshaw was published until 1961 and played a large part in making the British time-conscious. Bradshaw was active in the Quaker movement, and was largely responsible for organizing ‘Friends of Peace’ congresses in Brussels (1848), Paris (1849), and Frankfurt (1850). He also established schools for the poor. Bradshaw joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as an associate in February 1842. In August 1853 he toured Norway and, while visiting a friend in Christiana, contracted cholera. He died on 6 September 1853 and was buried in Christiana.

Bradshaw & Blacklock was established in 1838 when George Bradshaw took on his apprentice William Blacklock as a partner in his printing and publishing business. The company moved to Brown Street, Manchester in 1839, where they began production of Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables, followed in 1840 by a fuller edition under the new title of Bradshaw's Railway Companion, which included sectional maps. In December 1841, the company produced the first issue of Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide, which became famous worldwide. Other publications included Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, known colloquially as ‘the foreign Bradshaw’, and Bradshaw's General Railway Directory and Shareholders' Guide. The small format and small print of the Monthly Railway Guide led to ‘Bradshaw’ becoming a byword for incomprehensibility: the guide was mocked in Punch and Vanity Fair and was the subject of music-hall jokes. Actress Fanny Kemble was asked what she read to send her to sleep, and replied: ‘Why, the foreign Bradshaw, of course.’ The monthly Bradshaw was published until 1961 and played a large part in making the British time-conscious.

Publisher founded in London in 1852 by Henry Blackett and Daniel William Stow Hurst. Soon after the company formed, it took over the business of Henry Colburn. The firm was taken over by Hutchinson, which later became part of Random House.

1821–1897, public lecturer and writer, Manchester. Also known as Mrs G. Linnaeus Banks. Published her first volume of poetry, Ivy Leaves in 1844. She married George Linnaeus Banks (1821–1881), a journalist and poet from Birmingham, and later assisted him in his work by contributing to the journals he edited. Between 1865 and 1894 Isabella published twelve novels, three volumes of poetry, and three volumes of stories. Her most famous work was The Manchester Man, first published in 1876. Mrs G. Linnaeus Banks died of heart failure at her home in London on 4 May 1897.

1846-1913, Journalist and author

1839–1908, architect, Salford. Built the Comedy Theatre, Manchester and carried out alterations at the Theatre Royal and the Prince's. He also designed a theatre at Rawtenstall, Lancashire. In London he altered and decorated the Lyceum Theatre in 1878, and co-developed the ‘Irving–Darbyshire safety plan’, which was intended to make the audience safe from fire by isolating the separate parts of the theatre and providing two fireproof escape routes from every part of the house. His other buildings include: Alston Hall, Lancashire (1876); the churches of St Cyprian (1899) and St Ignatius (1900) in Salford; and the Carnegie Library in Knutsford, Cheshire (1903–4). Darbyshire was elected an associate of the Institute of British Architects in 1864, fellow in 1870, and vice-president 1902–5. He was elected FSA in 1894. From 1901 to 1903 he was president of the Manchester Society of Architects, He died at Manchester Infirmary on 5 July 1908, and is buried at Flixton church.

Manchester publishing company founded by Abel Heywood (1810–1893)

President of the Manchester Literary Club, active 1887.

Manchester publisher, established in 1842, and known to have still been active in 1922.