Strangeways Brewery is believed to have been founded in 1778. It was set up by grain merchants called Thomas Caister and Thomas Fray. They built the brewery just outside the boundaries of Manchester in order to avoid paying a tax to the Manchester Grammar School, which had a monopoly on the grinding of grain within the town. The brewery was established on the eve of the Industrial Revolution, when the growth in population and industry created a ready market for locally brewed beer. Henry Boddington arrived at the brewery in 1832 to work as a traveller for the company. In 1848, when Henry was only 34 years old, he was made a partner in the business. Within five years he had become sole proprietor of the company. Boddingtons became a family business, as three of Henry’s sons joined their father in the management of the brewery. The 1870s and 1880s was a time of expansion for Boddingtons. The company acquired several other breweries and extended the works at Strangeways. By 1877, Boddingtons had become the biggest brewery in Manchester. It was one of only 30 companies in the country to brew more than 100,000 barrels a year and already owned 71 public houses. Henry Boddington delighted in innovation and progress. In 1877, the local and national press reported that his company had become the first business in Manchester to install a telephone link between two of its sites. In 1887, Boddingtons Breweries Ltd became a publicly registered company. In the following years, despite trade fluctuations caused by the First World War and the Great Depression, the company consolidated its position as one of the leading breweries in North West England. On the 22 December 1940, the brewery was struck when Manchester was hit by a massive air raid. The site was very badly damaged and brewing was forced to stop for seven months whilst repairs were made. After the war, the Boddingtons took the opportunity to modernise the brewery, embarking on a major construction programme. The Strangeways Brewery was once again expanded and state-of-the-art brewing equipment was installed. In the post-war period, Boddingtons fought off several attempts to take over the brewery. Members of the family continued to run the business until 1989. In October of that year, the brewing section of the business was purchased by the Whitbread Beer Company. Under Whitbread, large-scale investment in the Strangeways site allowed Boddingtons to increase production from 200,000 to 600,000 barrels in 1994. The connection with Whitbread gave Boddingtons access to a national distribution network that included 7,000 pubs. This was also supported by the famous ‘Cream of Manchester’ advertising campaign, which helped to catapult Boddingtons into the national arena as an instantly recognisable and well-loved brand. The brewing section of Whitbread’s business was bought out by InterBrew UK (now InBev) in 2000. Two years later, the company was forced to put off plans to close the Strangeways Brewery following a concerted campaign by local people. However, in 2005, the decision was finally taken to close the Strangeways site after 227 years. Production of keg beer was switched to InBev’s other sites in Salmesbury, near Preston, and Magor, South Wales. Boddingtons beer was brewed under licence at Hyde’s brewery, Moss Side, but this brewery closed in 2012 meaning that Boddington’s beer is no longer brewed in Manchester.

Born in Shildon, County Durham in 1820, Daniel Adamson was educated at Edward Walton Quaker school. He left school aged 13 to take up an apprenticeship with Timothy Hackworth, engineer to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. After his apprenticeship, he continued to work under Hackworth as a draughtsman and engineer. By 1850, Adamson was the general manager of the Stockton and Darlington engine works. He left the Stockton works in 1850 to become the manager of the Heaton foundry, Stockport. A year later, Adamson established his own ironworks at Newton Moor, Dukinfield. He expanded the works by building a foundry in 1852, known as the Newton Moor Iron Works. The company manufactured engines and boilers, initially to designs by Hackworth. Adamson's improvements to the boiler designs led to the development of the Manchester Boiler. Expansion of the company through the international success of the Manchester Boiler enabled Adamson to build a new factory in Dukinfield in 1872, under the company name Daniel Adamson & Co. The success of the company also allowed Adamson to experiment with foundry processes and boiler manufacturing, improving boiler design and manufacturing processes. Between 1852 and 1888, Adamson took out nineteen patents relating to engineering and metallurgy. Adamson's other business interests included the Newton Moor Spinning Company, which he established in 1862, and the Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works set up by Adamson at Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1863. The Penistone works were the first in the country to carry out the large-scale manufacture of steel the Bessemer process. Adamson also contributed to the development of the Lincolnshire iron field through the North Lincolnshire Iron Company, which he established at Frodingham in 1864–5. He also held shares in iron works in Cumbria and South Wales. Adamson is also known for championing the development of the Manchester Ship Canal. In 1882, he arranged a meeting of all interested parties at his home in Didsbury, Manchester, at which the engineering and commercial aspects of creating a shipping waterway between Manchester and Liverpool were discussed. Adamson was elected chairman of the provisional committee to promote the Manchester Ship Canal. The scheme faced opposition from railway companies and the Liverpool port authority, but Adamson successfully pushed it through Parliament. The resulting Act of Parliament in 1885 ensured the canal would be built and allowed the establishment of the Manchester Ship Canal Company. Adamson was appointed first chairman of the board of directors. Lack of funding for the completion of the project led to a reconstitution of the board in 1887, with Adamson resigning as chairman in favour of Lord Egerton of Tatton. Adamson was active in industry and public life. He was vice-president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and president of the Iron and Steel Institute. He was also a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Geological Society, and the British Iron Trades Association. In the public realm, Adamson was a director of the Manchester chamber of commerce, Justice of the Peace for Cheshire and Manchester, and chairman of Dukinfield local board. Adamson died at home in Didsbury in 1890 and is buried in the Southern Cemetery, Manchester.

The Royal Society of Arts (RSA), was founded during the Enlightenment by William Shipley in 1754 with the first meeting being held at Rawthmell’s Coffee House, Covent Garden, London. Shipley’s belief that the creativity of ideas could enrich social progress was reflected in the diversity of awards offered by the Premium Award Scheme. For the first 100 years the Society encouraged innovation and excellence through this scheme in six areas - Agriculture, Manufacture, Chemistry, Mechanics, Polite Arts, Colonies and Trade. The Society was granted a Royal Charter in 1847 and the right to use the term Royal in its name by King Edward VII in 1908 Their long lasting commitment to education from being one of the first to promote improvement in girl’s education leading to the establishment of Girls’ Public Day Schools and the first public examination system continues today with their growing family of RSA Academy schools. They also demonstrate a strong commitment to the environment by offering awards for the reduction of smoke emissions as early as 1770, the first recorded use in an environmental context of the word ‘sustainability’ in 1980 and our continued commitment to environmental sustainability reflected in our Great Recovery Programme.

British daily newspaper based in London and founded in 1785 as The Daily Universal Register. It became The Times on 1 January 1788. In 1981, Times Newspapers became a subsidary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp.