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James Kendrick was born in Warrington in 1809.Educated at Edinburgh University, he became a noted local antiquarian and donated many artefacts and papers to the Museum and Library. He died in 1882.

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Ref.wdia069
Joseph Priestley was born in 1733 in Yorkshire. From 1761 to 1767 he was a tutor at Warrington Academy, where he published some of his early works. It was here that he began his research on gases, leading to the discovery of oxygen in 1774. He died in Pennsylvania in 1804.

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Ref.wdia070
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (nee Aiken) was the daughter of a classics tutor at Warrington Academy who won respect and admiration from her father's colleagues for her intellectual skills. She became a respected poet and essayist. In 1774 she married a minister and former academy student, Rochement Barbauld. She died in 1825.

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Ref.wdia228
Fred Monks was born in 1834 at the family home on Winwick Street. After an apprenticeship at Rylands Bros., he became a successful businessman and the principal shareholder of the iron works at Atherton’s Quay, Monks, Hall & Co. He also became a councillor and a Justice of the Peace.Perhaps his most prominent contribution was the donation of the Town Hall gates, which were officially opened and celebrated on Walking Day, 28th June 1895. He died in 1897.

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Ref.wdia 229
William Beamont was born in 1797. A solicitor, he spearheaded the creation of the first Warrington Borough Council in 1846. He was appointed the first mayor and set up the Museum and Library. He died at Orford Hall in 1866.

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Ref.wdia071
John Wilson-Patten, Lord Winmarleigh, was born in 1802 and was educated at Eton and Oxford. He was elected Conservative MP for Lancaster and became secretary for Ireland under Disraeli as well as serving in Gibraltar during the Crimean War.Later he was an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria. He died in 1892.

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Ref.wdia072
Lt-Col William MacCarthy O'Leary was Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment. O'Leary was renowned for leadership and courage under fire. He was killed in 1900 during the Boer War, leading a bayonet charge. A memorial to the campaign stands in Queen's gardens, Palmyra Square.

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Ref.wdia073
Thomas Birtles was born in 1832 and after training at Warrington School of Art became a professional photographer. His business flourished from his studio on the corner of Legh Street and Sankey Street. His work was of very high quality and in 1895 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. He died in 1914, but the firm was carried on by his son until 1951. Warrington Museum has over 1000 original Birtles photos.

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