Walmsley , Sir , Joshua , 1794-1871 , Knight , Member of Parliament and reformer Allcard , William , b 1801 , engineer

Walmsley , Sir , Joshua , 1794-1871 , Knight , Member of Parliament and reformer Allcard , William , b 1801 , engineer

Sir Joshua Walmsley, (1794-1871), was the son of John Walmsley and his wife, Elizabeth Berry, and was born at Concert Street, Liverpool, on 29 September 1794. Joshua was educated at Knowsley, Lancashire, and Eden Hall, Westmorland. On the death of his father in 1807 he became a teacher in Eden Hall School, and on returning to Liverpool in 1811 took a similar situation in Mr Knowles's school. He was then employed by a corn merchant in 1814, and at the end of his engagement went into the same business himself, and ultimately acquired a comfortable income. He married in 1815 Adeline, née Mulleneux. In 1826 he became president of the Liverpool Mechanics' Institute, and about the same time began his close friendship and business partnership with George Stephenson. Elected a member of the Liverpool town council in 1835, he worked to improve the police, sanitary, and educational affairs of the borough; he was notable for promoting non-sectarian schools. He was appointed mayor in November 1838 and knighted in 1840 on presenting an address to Queen Victoria from the town council of Liverpool on the occasion of her marriage. Walmsley was the founder in 1848, president, and chief organizer of the National Reform Association and was a supporter of the forty-shilling freehold movement. In 1849 he was returned as MP for Bolton, Lancashire, but in 1852 exchanged that seat for Leicester, where his efforts on behalf of the framework knitters had made him popular. His parliamentary campaign for a reform bill was overshadowed by continental affairs. As proprietor of the Daily News, he adopted a non-interventionist stance during the Crimean War. Walmsley died on 17 November 1871 at his residence at Hume Towers, Bournemouth. His wife survived him by two years. Source: C. W. Sutton, 'Walmsley, Sir Joshua (1794-1871)', rev. Matthew Lee, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

William Allcard (b 1801) was an engineer who worked with George Stephenson. He was responsible for the design of the Sankey Viaduct on the Liverpool to Manchester Railway.