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1
Overview
The most exhaustive scrutiny of ancestry and environment cannot fully
explain the secret of even the most commonplace personality; much
less can it account for men of outstanding gifts and achievement. Yet
it may help us in a measure to understand even a character and a
career so rare as that of Sir William Hartley, if we consider the
stock from which he sprang and the conditions which moulded him in
the most plastic period of his life.
The impression that his ancestors belonged to the poorer working
classes is incorrect; and to heighten the marvel of his career, too
much has often been made of his early disadvantages. "The Hartley
family," we learn, "are typical Lancashire yeomen. They can trace
their ancestry back to the early seventeenth century; indeed, one
branch of the family--Sir William's uncle, Richard Hartley--lived at
Barley, under the shadow of Pendle, in a house which, as the
date-stone shows, had been in the possession of the Hartley family
since 1620. There is also an East Lancashire tradition that the
family is of Huguenot stock, and it is associated by marriage with
the well-known East Lancashire families of Lister, Pickles, and
Horsfield."[*]
[*] _Southport Guardian_, October 28, 1922.
Sir William was born at Colne, a small but pleasant little town in
East Lancashire on the edge of Yorkshire, a few miles north of
Burnley. It is situated on a high ridge and is affectionately called
by its inhabitants "Bonnie Colne-on-the-Hill." Tourists often take it
as their starting-point when they are visiting the Bronte country.
How deep were the ties which bound him and Lady Hartley to their
birthplace will be clear from this biography; but it will be fitting
at this point to quote from the speech he delivered on the occasion
when he laid the foundation-stone of the Hospital they presented to
Colne, September 3, 1921. "I am now in my seventy-sixth year, and it
is forty-seven years since I removed from Colne; but my wife and I
never forget that we were born in Colne, and in the erection of this
hospital we have endeavoured to show in a practical manner our
affection for our native town."
The qualities which made him so successful as a man of business were
probably derived in large measure from Christopher Lister, his
great-grandfather on the father's side. He had the largest
ironmongery in Colne. His death was sudden, and occurred in his
carriage at the gates of Horsfield Cottage, his residence. His
daughter became the wife of William Hartley, a schoolmaster at
Trawden. He was a man of considerable ability, great religious
fervour and moral passion. At first a Wesleyan local preacher, he
later joined the Primitive Methodists, and was urged to enter the
ministry. This, however, through diffidence, he declined to do,
though he lamented his refusal in after years. He became in later
life a town-missionary in the Isle of Man, and died during an
epidemic of fever which claimed him as its victim, as with
self-effacing devotion he ministered to the needs of others. His
eldest son, Robert Hartley, Sir William's uncle, was a man of very
handsome presence and exceptionally fine character. He became a
Primitive Methodist minister at an early age, and after spending a
quarter of a century in England, went to Australia and laboured for
thirty-two years in Queensland. One feature of his many-sided
activity was his kindness to the emigrants from England whom he met
at the landing-stage. His home was at Rockhampton on the coast; but
he covered a wide field, reaching from Brisbane nearly to the Gulf of
Carpentaria. He was apparently too much occupied to send home reports
of his work; so Dr. Samuel Antliff, when he was sent to visit
Australia, was instructed to make investigations. He found him the
leading man in Rockhampton. His fellow-citizens celebrated his
ministerial Jubilee and presented him with a purse of gold; and after
his death dedicated a public fountain to his memory. A Hartley
Memorial Chapel also commemorates his work. A letter from Dr. McLaren
may fitly be quoted at this point. It was written on July 23, 1892.
explain the secret of even the most commonplace personality; much
less can it account for men of outstanding gifts and achievement. Yet
it may help us in a measure to understand even a character and a
career so rare as that of Sir William Hartley, if we consider the
stock from which he sprang and the conditions which moulded him in
the most plastic period of his life.
The impression that his ancestors belonged to the poorer working
classes is incorrect; and to heighten the marvel of his career, too
much has often been made of his early disadvantages. "The Hartley
family," we learn, "are typical Lancashire yeomen. They can trace
their ancestry back to the early seventeenth century; indeed, one
branch of the family--Sir William's uncle, Richard Hartley--lived at
Barley, under the shadow of Pendle, in a house which, as the
date-stone shows, had been in the possession of the Hartley family
since 1620. There is also an East Lancashire tradition that the
family is of Huguenot stock, and it is associated by marriage with
the well-known East Lancashire families of Lister, Pickles, and
Horsfield."[*]
[*] _Southport Guardian_, October 28, 1922.
Sir William was born at Colne, a small but pleasant little town in
East Lancashire on the edge of Yorkshire, a few miles north of
Burnley. It is situated on a high ridge and is affectionately called
by its inhabitants "Bonnie Colne-on-the-Hill." Tourists often take it
as their starting-point when they are visiting the Bronte country.
How deep were the ties which bound him and Lady Hartley to their
birthplace will be clear from this biography; but it will be fitting
at this point to quote from the speech he delivered on the occasion
when he laid the foundation-stone of the Hospital they presented to
Colne, September 3, 1921. "I am now in my seventy-sixth year, and it
is forty-seven years since I removed from Colne; but my wife and I
never forget that we were born in Colne, and in the erection of this
hospital we have endeavoured to show in a practical manner our
affection for our native town."
The qualities which made him so successful as a man of business were
probably derived in large measure from Christopher Lister, his
great-grandfather on the father's side. He had the largest
ironmongery in Colne. His death was sudden, and occurred in his
carriage at the gates of Horsfield Cottage, his residence. His
daughter became the wife of William Hartley, a schoolmaster at
Trawden. He was a man of considerable ability, great religious
fervour and moral passion. At first a Wesleyan local preacher, he
later joined the Primitive Methodists, and was urged to enter the
ministry. This, however, through diffidence, he declined to do,
though he lamented his refusal in after years. He became in later
life a town-missionary in the Isle of Man, and died during an
epidemic of fever which claimed him as its victim, as with
self-effacing devotion he ministered to the needs of others. His
eldest son, Robert Hartley, Sir William's uncle, was a man of very
handsome presence and exceptionally fine character. He became a
Primitive Methodist minister at an early age, and after spending a
quarter of a century in England, went to Australia and laboured for
thirty-two years in Queensland. One feature of his many-sided
activity was his kindness to the emigrants from England whom he met
at the landing-stage. His home was at Rockhampton on the coast; but
he covered a wide field, reaching from Brisbane nearly to the Gulf of
Carpentaria. He was apparently too much occupied to send home reports
of his work; so Dr. Samuel Antliff, when he was sent to visit
Australia, was instructed to make investigations. He found him the
leading man in Rockhampton. His fellow-citizens celebrated his
ministerial Jubilee and presented him with a purse of gold; and after
his death dedicated a public fountain to his memory. A Hartley
Memorial Chapel also commemorates his work. A letter from Dr. McLaren
may fitly be quoted at this point. It was written on July 23, 1892.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940013763418 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | WDS Publishing |
| Publication date: | 01/16/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 161 KB |
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