Matthew Curtis (mayor) explained

Matthew Curtis (1807–1887) was an industrialist and civic leader in Manchester. He was Mayor of Manchester three times.

Born in Manchester in 1807,^[1] Curtis was initially apprenticed to the firm of Joseph Chessborough Dyer,^[2] subsequently becoming foreman, and then succeeding in 1836 to the ownership of Dyer's business, which became Curtis, Parr & Walton.^[3] By trade, Curtis was a wire-card manufacturer and a machine-maker. He was a partner in two businesses: Curtis, Parr & Walton, wire-card makers (with James Walton), and Parr, Curtis & Madely, machine-makers. These firms were involved in the manufacture of equipment for spinning cotton, the former in the production of Dyer's Frame and the latter producing Smith & Orr's Self-Acting Mule. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Curtis's firms were the largest manufacturers of cotton-spinning machinery in Britain.^[4]

In December 1875, during his second term as Mayor of Manchester, Curtis put in place the copper ball on the summit of the Albert Square tower of the new Manchester Town Hall, which was nearing its completion in 1877.^[5] Curtis was a council member of the Manchester Anti-Corn Law Association^[6] and a founding director of the Manchester Athenaeum.^[7] He resided at Thornfield in Heaton Mersey, south of the city, and died on 9 June 1887^[8] or 11 June 1887,^[9] during his third term as Mayor.

Marriages and children

He married twice:

• Firstly to Amelia Weaver (1810–1877), daughter of Richard Weaver of Tarvin in Cheshire, by whom he had 2 sons and 1 daughter,^[10] including:
  • John Curtis (1836–1878),^[11] eldest son, who predeceased his father, leaving 3 sons including the youngest Walter Septimus Curtis (born 1871) lord of the manor of Denbury in Devon, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn.^[12] One of Walter's daughters was Lettice Curtis (1915–2014) an aviator, flight test engineer, air racing pilot, and sportswoman.^[13]
  • Richard Curtis, 2nd son;
• Secondly he married Charlotte Laughton (1824–1918), 5th daughter of Edmund Laughton of Tickhill, Yorkshire.^[14]

The lych gate (1927) of St John's Church, Heaton Mersey carries an inscription, much faded, dedicated to Curtis and other, later members of the Curtis family.^[15]

Notes and References

1. Paul A. Pickering and Alex Tyrrell The People's Bread: a history of the Anti Corn Law League (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000), 978-0-7185-0218-8. p. 275
2. Lance Day & Ian McNeil Biographical dictionary of the history of technology (Taylor & Francis, 1996), 978-0-415-06042-4. p. 227
3. Parliamentary Papers, 17 March 1841. p 110–124. Pub. HMSO
4. Albert Edward Musson & Eric Robinson Science and technology in the Industrial Revolution (Manchester University Press, 1969), 978-0-7190-0370-7. p. 62, fn. 6
5. William E.A. Axon, The annals of Manchester: a chronological record from the earliest times to the end of 1885 (J. Heywood, 1886) p. 355
6. Pickering & Tyrrell, p. 275
7. Thomas Swindells Manchester Streets and Manchester Men (Cornish, 1906–1908) p. 33
8. The London Gazette, September 23, 1887
9. The Manchester Guardian, 21 June 1887
10. Burke, 1937, p.544; five or more children per: Pickering & Tyrrell, p.275
11. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial families : a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour, Volume 1. (Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1905)
12. [John Burke (genealogist)| Burke's]
13. Lettice Curtis, Lettice Curtis - her autobiography, Red Kite, Walton on Thames, 2004,
14. Burke, 1937, p.544
15. C. Hartwell, Lancashire: Manchester and the South East, Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England. (Yale University Press, 2004) . p. 230