The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 enabled towns to be granted a charter of incorporation after the inhabitants and householders had made an application to the Privy Council. The Charter of Incorporation was given to the town on the 23 October 1838 and allowed the six townships of Manchester, Cheetham, Hulme, Ardwick, Chorlton on Medlock and Beswick to become incorporate and provide the mechanism to set up the Borough of Manchester, made up of a Mayor, 16 aldermen and 48 councillors. In 1844 the council resolved by an Act of Parliament for the good governance, regulation and policing of the borough by purchase the manorial rights of the Manor of Manchester from the then Lord of the Manor, Sir Oswald Mosely. This was duly done and although the council had a greater control over the well-being and safety of its inhabitants it was still a town. Manchester did not achieve city status until 1853, only the second one to be granted since the Reformation.

Established as a printers in Suffolk in 1815 by John Jarrold II. Though the original partnership was dissolved in 1821, John Jarrold continued in the printing trade, setting up as a bookseller, publisher and printer in Norwich, with his four sons. The company gradually acquired the site that the current store occupies, and also gradually expanded the business into a department store.