William Gaskell

William Gaskell (24 July 1805 – 12 June 1884) was an English Unitarian minister, charity worker and pioneer in the education of the working class. The husband of novelist and biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, he was himself a writer and poet, and acted as the longest-serving Chair of the Portico Library from 1849 to his death in 1884.

His personal theology was Priestleian rationalism; he rejected the doctrine of original sin, believing humans to have an innate capacity for good, and this belief seems to have underpinned his lifelong commitment to charitable and educational projects. Unlike many of his Manchester contemporaries, Gaskell always favoured social and educational work above political lobbying for free trade or factory reform. The Gaskell family were prominent Dissenters. His father, also William, was a sailcloth manufacturer with a business on Buttermarket Street Barred as a non-conformist from attending Oxford or Cambridge, Gaskell studied at Glasgow University (1820–25), taking his BA and MA in 1825. He then trained for the Unitarian ministry at Manchester New College (1825–28), at that time located in York, where his tutors included Charles Wellbeloved and James Turner. Founded in 1694, Cross Street was the major Unitarian chapel of the city, and its congregation contained many influential Manchester figures, at one time including five MPs. The prominent public health reformers James P. Kay (later Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth), Benjamin Heywood and Samuel and William Rathbone Greg were all associated with the chapel. In 1845, Engels described one of the poorest slums, not far from the Gaskells' house:

'ruinous cottages behind broken windows, mended with oilskin, sprung doors, and rotten doorposts, [...] dark wet cellars, in measureless filth and stench...'

It was also a city of extreme social inequality between the so-called 'millocracy' and the workers; Elizabeth Gaskell once described an acquaintance attending a ball wearing £400 of lace and £10,000 in diamonds. The Gaskell family moved between the two worlds, allowing Gaskell not only to collect charitable subscriptions from their wide circle and promote longer-lasting changes from within the local bureaucracy, but also to understand the real concerns of those living in poverty, with whom he was probably more at ease.

Both the Gaskells taught at the two Mosley Street Sunday Schools, which instructed young mill workers. Lessons covered basic numeracy and literacy in addition to traditional Biblical teaching, and Gaskell defended the practice of giving non-religious instruction on a Sunday, saying that they were doing 'their Father's business' by teaching reading. Its principal goal was to give mill workers sufficient knowledge so they might keep pace with the rapid technological progress of the time. The lectures were popular, and Gaskell repeated them in several other venues. Though she was referring specifically to his Owens College lectures, he seems to have diligently pursued all his various projects, and found excuses to avoid giving up any obligation he had once started.

Religious writings The Person of Christ 1853

Personal life and Elizabeth Gaskell

Gaskell married Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, daughter of the late Unitarian minister William Stevenson, in 1832. The couple had four surviving daughters.

Despite differences in personality, the couple seem to have had a strong relationship, although they frequently spent long periods apart, and Elizabeth Gaskell's biographer Jenny Uglow describes her as breathing more freely when William was away, but still always longing for his return.

Legacy

Gaskell's portrait and bust are on display at the new Cross Street Chapel.