Author: Mugliston, William
Biography:
MUGLISTON, William (1752-88: ancestry.co.uk)
He was baptised on 23 May 1752 at Alfreton, Derbyshire, the son of John Mugliston, a dyer, and Jane Mugliston (probably a cousin), who had married at St. Werburgh, Derby, in 1739. His father died in 1762 and he came under the guardianship of Anthony Tissington FRS (1703-76), a local mineralogist. He was apprenticed at fourteen to a stocking-maker. After his brother’s death from consumption, he took over his father’s business and added hosiery manufacture. His brother had left him £1400 which together with the successful business gave him leisure to pursue literary work. He wrote A Letter on the Subject of Wool, Interspersed with Remarks on Cotton (Nottingham 1782). Another pamphlet, The Cruelty of Removing the Poor [Addressed to Sir John Dalrymple], has either not survived or is incorrectly described. His work listed here, A Contemplative Walk with the Author’s Wife and Children, in the Park of George Morewood, Esq. at Alfreton, appears to exist in a single copy in the National Library of Australia at Canberra although a copy once existed in Manchester Free Library. In 1782-3, as “Castalio,” he contributed two series of essays to the Lady’s Magazine. He married Mary Fisher, a clergyman’s daughter, on 30 Mar. 1775 at All Saints, Darton, Yorkshire. She must have died, possibly in childbirth, about a year after the marriage. He then married Martha Bramley on 27 Aug. 1776, at Alfreton. They had at least two sons and two daughters. He died on 1 May 1788 and was buried on 4 May at St. Martin’s, Alfreton. His widow, a son, and the two daughters survived him. She died in Alfreton in 1826. The only contemporary source for his life is Thomas Bateman’s “Description and Historical Account of Alfreton” (1812) in manuscript, which has been corroborated and supplemented in this headnote by modern genealogical sources. (ancestry.co.uk 11 Apr. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 11 Apr. 2022; Thomas Bateman, “Description and Historical Account of Alfreton” [1812], Derbyshire Record Office D654/A/PZ/10/f. 26-29; Staffordshire Record Office, Lichfield Wills, 21 May 1788, B/C/11) AA