A life against the odds
William Edward Armytage Axon, born 13th of January 1846, died 27th of December 1913, has been described as the busiest man in Manchester. He was a key figure in Victorian Manchester‘s intellectual life and an active member of The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.
His papers, held in the John Rylands library, contain over 6600 letters covering a wide variety of subjects and include correspondence from major Victorian figures such as Walter Bagehot, Millicent Garrett Fawcett and CP Scott. It is said that he wrote or contributed to over 1000 books, articles and other publications.
His life story is surprising and inspirational in the sense that he achieved so much from an extremely disadvantaged start. Those achievements were against the odds, especially in the stratified Victorian society into which he was born.
He was the illegitimate child of Edward Armytage, a clothing manufacturer and a 15-year-old servant girl, Lydia Whitehead, in his employment. The young William was sent to foster parents in Manchester where he lived in poverty and was succumbing to the childhood illnesses that killed many a child in the city at that time. Fortunately for him and Manchester, his neighbours, the Axon family, took pity on him and adopted him into their own home. Although ill health prevented him from having a formal education, he was supported to learn by the daughters of the Axon family and via Sunday school, then the public libraries.
This informal education revealed that he had the ability to absorb huge amounts of information and take an interest in vast range of topics. In this way, this illegitimate child, born into poverty, who in most circumstances at the time would probably not have made it through to adulthood, became a well-known figure in Manchester literary life.
Axon worked as a librarian for Manchester libraries and for 30 years was on the literary staff of the Manchester Guardian, the forerunner of today’s Guardian newspaper. He was a vigorous public letter writer on all sorts of local and national issues. For example, he became involved in the debates around the historical subject matter of the murals being painted for Manchester town hall by Ford Maddox Brown. He wrote books and articles on a wide range of topics including literature, dialect, folklore, and history.
One of the books that he wrote, which gives an interesting insight into his eclectic mind, is The Mechanics Friend – collection of receipts and practical suggestions, published in 1875. This is, in effect, a DIY manual covering topics as diverse as glues, lacquers and locomotives. In it, Axon, who was usually more of a literary than practical man, collected a huge amount of information to enable the Victorian DIY enthusiast to carry out many household tasks, including cutting a hinge, and, more esoterically, making a raft to rescue someone trapped on ice!
He noted prominently on the frontispiece of the book that he was a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, which perhaps indicates a belief that membership gave him authority on practical and scientific matters. Such an endorsement of the Society confirms that it was a well-known and respected institution in Victorian Manchester.
As well as being a prolific author, Axon was a social campaigner. He was active in campaigns to open up public libraries in Manchester and Salford on Sundays. The idea of this was to allow working class people in the cities to have access to books and knowledge on Sundays, the only day they got off work. The public libraries had educated Axon, and he was keen to extend the opportunity to others from poor backgrounds.
He was also a leading light in the vegetarian movement, holding senior positions in the Vegetarian Society. That movement can trace its roots back to Manchester and Salford and Axon was a passionate early advocate for it. Similarly, he campaigned against tobacco and alcohol, being a member of the anti-tobacco and temperance leagues. These would not necessarily have been universally popular in a Victorian city like Manchester when concern about animal welfare was less common than it is today and tobacco, like a drink, would have been seen as one of the few outlets of pleasure for working people. However, Axon was an extremely principled man and worked throughout his life for various causes without regard to popularity. In addition to writing extensively on the subject, he went as far as to open up his own vegetarian bed and breakfast accommodation in Southport.
He was self-taught in most things and his sponge-like mind allowed him to learn numerous languages which also gave him access to yet further knowledge from other countries and cultures. His involvement in African American campaigns for equality resulted in him being awarded an honorary degree by Wilberforce University in the USA.
Notwithstanding his lack of formal education, his achievements propelled him into the Manchester and national intellectual establishment. He appears in a long list of learned and other societies including Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquaries, the English Dialect Society and, of course, the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. It is remarkable that in an era when most members of these institutions would have been drawn from the educated upper and middle classes, the illegitimate boy raised in poverty was invited to join. Today the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society is open to anyone, but in Axon’s time it, like others, required members to be elected. It is a tribute to his lifelong activity and prominence in numerous fields that he was elected to so many positions.
His contributions to the intellectual life of the city were eventually recognised by the University of Manchester, which conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts shortly before his death in 1913. The University officials attended his home to confer the honour on him while he was on his sickbed, reflecting the esteem in which he was held.
Leaving aside his intellectual achievements and recognition by the establishment, it is indicative of the man that he kept in contact with his birth mother and her family, visiting them regularly. It is evident that he never forgot his roots.
For the illegitimate son of a 15-year-old servant girl, born into poverty and with no formal education, this member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society battled against the odds to achieve recognition, advocating for many causes and becoming a thought leader in the City. A Lit and Phil member to be proud of.
Lit&Phil Member – Andrew Welch