William Hutton was a poet and the first significant historian of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Biography

A Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 nonconformist born in Derby

Derby

Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

, he went to school when five years old. Aged seven years he was employed in a Derby Silk Mill

Derby Industrial Museum

Derby Silk Mill, formerly known as Derby Industrial Museum, is a museum of industry and history in Derby, England. The museum is housed in Lombe's Mill, a historic former silk mill which marks the southern end of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Between 1717 and 1721 George Sorocold...

 on a seven year apprenticeship. In 1737 he took a second apprenticeship as a stocking maker in Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

 under his uncle. In 1746, after his uncle had died, he taught himself bookbinding, and three years later opened a shop in Southwell

Southwell, Nottinghamshire

Southwell is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, best known as the site of Southwell Minster, the seat of the Church of England diocese that covers Nottinghamshire...

. This was not successful and he moved to Birmingham in 1750 and opened a small bookshop.

He married Sarah Cock from Aston-on-Trent

Aston-on-Trent

Aston-on-Trent is a Derbyshire village, situated in the English East Midlands, near Derby. It is adjacent to Weston-on-Trent and is near to Chellaston. It is very close to the border with Leicestershire....

 in 1755 and they had three sons and a daughter, Catherine Hutton

Catherine Hutton

Catherine Hutton was an English novelist and letter-writer.Born in Birmingham, the daughter of historian William Hutton, Hutton became a friend of the scientist and discoverer of oxygen Joseph Priestley and the novelist Robert Bage...

 (1756–1846), who became a writer.

In 1756 he opened a paper warehouse – the first in Birmingham – which became profitable. He built a country house on Bennetts Hill in Washwood Heath

Washwood Heath

Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England...

, and bought a house in High Street. He published History of Birmingham in 1782 and was also elected as Fellow of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland (F. A. S. S.)

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...

. He was elected overseer of the poor, and in 1787, to the Court of Requests, a small claims court

Small claims court

Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and the name by which such a court is known varies by jurisdiction; it may be known as a county or magistrate's court...

 for nineteen years, handling over 100,000 claims.

Both his houses were destroyed in the Birmingham Riots in 1791 (the Priestley Riots

Priestley Riots

The Priestley Riots took place from 14 July to 17 July 1791 in Birmingham, England; the rioters' main targets were religious Dissenters, most notably the politically and theologically controversial Joseph Priestley...

) leading to his historical account in Narrative of the riots. He managed to recover £5,390 in a claim for damages against the town.

He is generally held to be the first person in modern times to walk the entire length of Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...

, producing an account of his 1801 journey in The History of the Roman Wall (Breeze 2006:16). Walking 600 miles from his Birmingham home, along the wall, and back home again, he wrote in the preface, "I have given a short sketch of my approach to this famous Bulwark; have described it as it appears in the present day, and stated my return. Perhaps, I am the first man that ever traveled the whole length of this Wall, and probably the last that will ever attempt it ...".
He completed his autobiography The life of William Hutton just before his death in 1815. He is commemorated by a blue plaque

Blue plaque

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....

 on Waterstone's

Waterstone's

Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....

 bookshop on High Street, near the start of New Street, Birmingham

New Street, Birmingham

New Street is a street in central Birmingham, England . It is one of the city's principal thoroughfares and shopping streets. Named after it is Birmingham New Street Station, although that does not have an entrance on New Street except through the Pallasades Shopping Centre.-History:New Street is...

 and as a Bas relief on Derby's Exeter Bridge

Exeter Bridge - Derby

Exeter Bridge is a Traffic Single Span Concrete Arch Bridge in the centre of Derby spanning the River Derwent 200 metres south of the more modern Cathedral Green Footbridge.-History:...

 close to the Mill where he did his apprenticeship.

There is a portrait of William Hutton by an unknown artist in Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collection includes a whole gallery displaying the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby; there is also a large...

.

Sources

• Literary Heritage West Midlands
• Chambers' Book of Days
• Breeze, D.J. (2006) J. Collingwood Bruce's Handbook to the Roman Wall (Newcastle)

Further reading

• The life of William Hutton
• Literary Heritage West Midlands - link to text of The life of William Hutton, his autobiography and history of Birmingham

}