The volume contains an early nineteenth-century journal of William Johns (1771-1845), the Welsh-born Unitarian minister and author, resident in Manchester, from 11 August 1810 to 5 June 1815. The volume was later reused, from the reverse, as a weather log from 1 January 1842 to 31 January 1846, and a collection of recipes, undated. The volume is a significant source for the social life and interests of an influential member of the Nonconformist and intellectual elites of early nineteenth-century Manchester.
There are a number of clues pointing to Johns’ authorship. John Dalton (1766-1844), scientist, lodged with the Johns family and is referred to in the diary as such: [18 January 1811] ‘I have now i.e. since Xmas, 4 boarders in my family besides Messrs Dalton & Buxton’. The writer’s Welsh background is established by an entry describing how he is called upon by ‘a Doctor Monro of Dumfries, who, professing to be fond of Celtic antiquities, wished to ascertain the pronunciation of the welch language’. The author’s death is recorded by his son in the weather log on 27 November 1845 (see below).
The journal covers 23 pages (ff. 1-14), the last nine of which are mostly in code or shorthand. The diary’s first entry, 11 August 1810, reads: ‘Wrote a letter to sister Margaret; and, another to brother Morris, at Deptford. | General observn.: My confinement in the school is from half after eight in the morning, till dinner, ie till very near one o’clock, and from two till five in the afternoon. I besides give Lessons to 9 young persons, which occupies nearly the whole of my extra time.’ The author preaches ‘at Blakeley A.M.’, at Knutsford, at Stockport, ‘at Mr. Hawkes’s Chap[el] Moseley Street’ and on several occasions at Partington. On 2 September 1810, ‘Mr. Grundy preached at the old chapel a sermon in which he openly avowed his Unitarian sentiments, in such a manner, that but few were offended, and many were gained over to his own opinions.’ On the preceding Friday, 31 August, ‘I dined with the Trustees of the Manchester N. College removed to York. 40 Gentn. dined.’ Later he receives a report that the College is ‘[i]n a flourishing state’. He receives a parcel of books from Longman & Co. of London, for which he has paid the considerable sum of £43 11s. He dines with Mr Hawkes of Dukinfield, and ‘Mr. Parker & Lamport’. He goes with his wife and with ‘Mr. Ashton & Mr. Shawcross in a hackney coach to Chowbent [near Wigan]: Preached ther [sic] twice: and dined at Mr. Sanderson’s’. He has a week’s visit from Mr Buxton of Northampton, who makes ‘a present to Betsy & Catharine of a portable writing desk each’. Johns gives him a copy of ‘The Confessional’ in return. At the beginning of 1811 he is ‘chosen Secretary to the broom street library committee’. He gets ‘eight subscribers for the unitarian book & tract Socy.’
The weather log, beginning at the other end of the volume, is written in a very close hand over 50 pages (ff. 61-35). It appears to be in Johns’ hand, despite the significant difference in size from the freer hand used for the diary. The log records daily thermometer and barometer readings, wind direction and observations. Average temperatures are occasionally noted. A clue to the area covered by the log is provided on 16 May 1845, where the weather at Warrington is given. The 50 pages are followed by two pages of notes in another hand beginning: ‘On the day of this last entry the 9th. Novr. [1845], my father’s health which had been declining ever since the beginning of July, gave way and he went to bed to rise no more. He died on the 27th, after having endured agonies inconceivable. At first, he requested me to keep an account of the temperature which I did for some days, but when his death appeared certain, the thing ceased to interest both him & me.’ Johns obviously shared Dalton’s interest in meteorology, albeit in a less rigorously scientific manner.
The recipes are written in a mid-nineteenth-century hand (one entry is dated ‘Bowdon, 1852’) over seventeen pages (ff. 34-26), with subjects including ‘Apple Jelly’, ‘To pickle Lemons’, ‘Parkin’ and ‘Economical family Pudding’. Enclosed between ff. 26-27 is a loose-leaf recipe for orange marmalade.
Enclosed inside the front cover is a receipt from Kendal, Milne & Co. of Manchester, department store, to a Mrs Buckley of Bury Old Road, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, for the supply of gingham, dated 14 May 1918.