Author: Hatton, William
Biography:
HATTON, William (1789-1857: findmypast.com)
Hatton belonged to a notable Methodist family in Yorkshire. His grandfather John Hatton of Lightcliffe, Halifax, was an early convert of John Nelson (1707-74) and his father William was a preacher. They were also well known tradesmen in the district, manufacturing and selling woollens: in the 1851 Census Hatton noted that he was the employer of 28 men, 15 women, 11 boys, and 8 girls. He was born on 13 Aug. 1789 and baptised at St. John’s, Halifax, on 13 Sept.; the name of his mother is not known. He went into the family business but as a lay member took an active part in the local Wesleyan Methodist community: taught in the Sunday school, led prayer meetings, acted as trustee and treasurer for some of the chapels, and was a keen supporter of the Methodist Missionary Society. His best known work was A Brief Account . . . of Local Preaching among the Methodists, which went into five editions 1815-22; his one poem is a supplement to that. He also published a speech about the Missionary Society (1815) and a prose Sketch of Methodism in Halifax and its Vicinity (1824). On 18 Sept. 1815 he married Mary Ann Rigg of Halifax (d 1849); the couple had at least ten children, but four of the girls died of consumption in their teens. Four sons and two daughters survived their parents. Hatton died suddenly on 12 Nov. 1857, leaving an estate valued at nine thousand pounds. (findmypast.com 6 Mar. 2022; ancestry.com 6 Mar. 2022; Rev. John Lambert, “Memoir of Mr. William Hatton, of Halifax,” Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine 82 [1859], 583-90; Leeds Times 21 Nov. 1857; J. H. Turner, Halifax Books and Authors [1906], 235-6) HJ