John Higson

John Higson (25 July 1825 – 13 December 1871) was an English antiquary and topographer associated with Gorton, Droylsden and Lees (Lancashire). Employed by the Springhead Cotton Spinning Company, he produced local-historical writing alongside full-time work; he wrote in a letter that, despite twelve-and-a-half-hour shifts as a secretary (Monday to Friday, with a half-day on Saturday), he “managed to do a good deal of writing”.

Life Higson was born at Whiteley Farm, Gorton, on 25 July 1825, and was baptised at the Manchester Collegiate Church on 30 October 1825. He also produced a history of Droylsden and remained closely involved in local newspaper culture; an attempt to launch a Droylsden paper “on liberal-conservative lines” failed. “Boggarts and Feorin”, Notes and Queries (4th series), vol. 4 (1869), pp. 508–509. “Boggarts, Feorin, etc.”, Notes and Queries (4th series), vol. 5 (1870), pp. 156–157.