BAPTISED:

27th July 1794 at Latchford Chapel, Latchford, Cheshire

MARRIED:

1st April 1816 to Thomas Percival at Runcorn, Cheshire.

KNOWN CHILDREN:

Thomas (bap 30 Aug 1818) at St. Elphin, Warrington. Father listed as Bank Quay glass maker.

Mary Ann (bap 23 May 1824) at St. Elphin, Warrington. Father listed as Bank Quay glass maker.

Jesse (bap 18 Mar 1832) at St. Elphin, Warrington. Father listed as Bank Quay glass maker.

DIED:

4th April 1871 in Manchester

Buried 7th April 1871 in Manchester General Cemetery

Biography

Maria Webb was one of the three children of Thomas Webb to survive childhood. Her brother Thomas co-founded Molineaux & Webb and her other brother Jesse also worked there.

In 1811, Maria married William Birtles in Warrington. The Birtles / Burtles family were originally Scotland, and other members of their family co-founded Ancoats glass firm Burtles & Tate in Manchester in the late 1850s. William Birtles died soon after marriage and Maria, as Maria Birtles, married Thomas Percival in 1816.

Thomas Percival worked in the glass industry at Warrington from an early age and was a works manager at the glass firm of Perrin & Geddes. As far as we know, he was the first Percival to work in the industry. Prior to that it is thought that the Percivals worked as flatmen on the Bridgewater Canal, which opened in 1761.

In 1818, their son Thomas Percival, who went on to form Percival & Vickers in Manchester, was baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington. At the time of baptism the father, Thomas, was listed as a glass maker living at Bank Quay.

The Webb family moved to Manchester in the 1820s but judging from the baptism records, the Percivals remained in Warrington until the early 1830s. In 1833 Thomas Percival opened the Manchester Glass Bottle Works at Prussia Street, Oldham Road, Ancoats, with business partners John Woolfall (born 1802, Warrington) and William Jackson. Thomas Percival appears on the 1836 directory of Manchester living at 10 Richmond Street, off Oldham Road.

Thomas Percival died at the age of 53, and was buried at the Manchester General Cemetery on 26th January 1850. His final address was 6 Prussia Street, Ancoats. After his death, Maria remained in the Newton Heath area of Manchester with family members.

An unidentified member of the Percival family named a child Maria Webb Percival in 1845, who died the following year.

The Manchester Glass Bottle Works

The firm started life in 1833. In 1840 William Jackson left the firm and the business continued with Woolfall and Percival until about 1848. After Percival's death in 1850, John Woolfall can be seen still working as a glass manufacturer on the 1861 census but it is not known if he carried on the Bottle Works in some form or joined another concern.

We are not aware of the company registering any designs, though in the late 1840s the firm involving Percival's son, Percival & Vickers, registered bottle designs.

Newspaper Clippings

An advert from January 1836 details the items made at the glass works.

MANCHESTER GLASS BOTTLE WORKS. PRUSSIA-STREET, OLDHAM ROAD. JACKSON, WOOLFALL, and PERCIVAL, Bottle Glass Manufacturers.

Wines, qts. & pts.

Champagnes, qts. & pts.

Clarets, qts. & pts.

Porters, qts. & pts.

Round Imperials, qts. & pts.

Oval Imperials, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Square ribbed, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

PICKLING JARS

Round and Square, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Gooseberries, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Mustard Squares,

Caper,

Snuff,

MEDICINE BOTTLES

Winchester, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Carbyns, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Olives, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Drugs, qts. pts. & 1/2 pts.

Castor Oils,

Macerating Jars

TINCTURE BOTTLES

Flats, 6oz. 8oz. 12oz. & 16oz.

Soda-Water Bottles

Carboys and Demijohns of all sizes

Bell Glasses of all sizes.

And every other description of Article in the Trade, for exportation and home use.

JOHN S. ROYLE, Agent, 35 Exchange Alley North, Old Hall Street, Liverpool

The next clipping involves their Liverpool agent John S. Royle, who they took to court in 1844!

6th April 1844 - CHARGE OF EMBEZZLEMENT

At the police court Liverpool on Friday, a highly respectable looking person named John Swainson Royle, was placed before Mr. Rushton on a charge of embezzling various sums of money to the amount of between £1,200 and £1,400, the property of Messrs. Jackson, Woolfall, and Percival, bottle manufacturers, of Manchester. Three cases were adduced against Royle, wherein he had received moneys belonging to Messrs. Jackson, Woolfall, and Percival, from parties who owed them account, for which he had not given them credit in the books. The first was a sum of £262 16s 1d, paid to the prisoner in 1839 by Messrs. Owens, Johnson and Co.; the second was £11 5s 6d from Mr. Cearns in 1836; and the third a sum of £59, paid by Mr. Hickson. Mr. Woolfall produced the books and proved that no credit was given to the parties for the sums received by the prisoner, who absconded to America in 1839.

John S Royle was committed for trial at the next Sessions.

The final clipping concerns an industrial dispute, prompting Woolfall and Percival to write to the local paper:

NOTICE TO GLASS BOTTLE MAKERS

Manchester Bottle Glass Works, 27th August 1845

In reply to an advertisement in last week's paper, we beg to say that when our men turned out in April last, we offered to pay them the same wages as any other Bottle Manufacturers in England then paid, or thereafter might pay, excluding none, but we were more particularly desirous to pay according to the Rules and Numbers of the Newcastle and Sunderland Manufacturers, and which we have ever since been, and are willing to do, to good workmen.

Although there are 13 Bottle Houses in the next county - Yorkshire, that are working at Numbers as follows: 65 Dozens for Quarts, and Overwork, 3 1/2d per dozen small bottles, 70 Dozens, and Overwork, 2 1/2d per Dozen: Bottle Makers' Wages, 24s per Week. Yet the Lancashire Numbers for upwards of 50 Years have only been 62 1/2 Dozens for Quarts and all other smaller Bottles, Overwork, 4 1/2d per Dozen for the same.

With this brief statement of facts, we would appeal to the good sense of the North of England Workmen, in thinking they are acting correctly, by supporting our men in their present turn-out against us.

WOOLFALL & PERCIVAL

Grave of Thomas Percival and Maria Webb at Manchester General Cemetery

1841 CENSUS:

Not located

1851 CENSUS:

Not located

1861 CENSUS:

Job Title: Proprietor of houses

Address: Oldham Road, Newton Heath, Manchester

Others: Living with servant

1871 CENSUS:

Job Title: Annuitant

Address: 3 Warden Street, Newton Heath, Manchester

Others: Living with daughter, granddaughter, and one servant