ABSTRACT
Manchester, though it had become in the eighteenth century one of the most important towns in England, did not become a borough until 1838, or secure any representation in Parliament until 1832. Dr. Pereival, the inspiring genius of the Manchester Board of Health, had founded in 1781 the Manchester Literary and Philosophic Society, of which the two – Henrys, Dalton, and Robert Owen, were among the distinguished members. Owen himself came to Manchester at a time when the new attitude was rapidly displacing the old, but had not yet banished it or made it merely a dead tradition. The years Owen spent at Manchester brought out his latent powers, and completed his development to self-reliant manhood. David Dale was at this time one of the leading business men of Glasgow. In the autumn of 1799 Owen and Anne Caroline Dale were married in David Dale’s house, according to the usage of the sect to which he belonged.
