This next post regarding Manchester’s forgotten Georgian heritage focuses on King Street in the heart of the city centre. In the eighteenth century, King Street was home to some of the most exclusive private residences in the town.  In the nineteenth century the street became the centre for retail, banking and business and today it is part of Manchester’s shopping district. Fortunately, number 35 King Street has survived almost three centuries of change and it is a classic example of an eighteenth century domestic property and it is possibly my favourite piece of architecture in Manchester.

Number 35

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35 King Street, Manchester (Source: Own Photograph, 2015)

Number 35 King Street was built c.1736 as the residence of Doctor Peter Mainwaring. At the time of Dr Mainwaring’s occupation of the property, it must be noted that the address was 12 King Street. Therefore, we can avoid confusion with the historical 35 King Street, which was the home of the Greg family who owned Quarry Bank Mill. Their former townhouse no longer exists.

Dr Peter Mainwaring (1694-1785) was the son of Peter Mainwaring of Wybunbury, Cheshire and he studied firstly at Northwich school and then for his BA and MA degrees at Cambridge University, graduating in 1716 and 1720 respectively.

By 1725 he was practising medicine in Manchester and in 1731 he married Ann Malyn in Ashton-upon-Mersey. Whilst in Manchester, Mainwaring worked with the Byrom family and he was a close friend of the poet John Byrom. Although, the two friends apparently did not see eye-to-eye about who was the rightful monarch of Britain during the eighteenth century. Byrom supported the Jacobite cause and Mainwaring was a loyalist to the Hanoverian dynasty.

Mainwaring also served as a Justice of the Peace. In 1745 when the Jacobites were retreating from their failed march on London, Dr. Mainwaring rode around Manchester on horseback encouraging local people to arm themselves against the rebels in an attempt to hold them off. However, the rebels broke through the barricades and a group of them went to Dr. Mainwaring’s home on King Street. Byrom’s daughter, Elizabeth wrote in her diary about the event later, noting they had “been a little rough“.

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Entrance hall at 35 King Street, showing internal features and tiled floor. (Source: Own Photograph, 2015)

Dr Mainwaring was one of the original physicians at the Manchester Infirmary. The Infirmary was founded in the early 1750s at Daub Holes Field, which is now the site of Piccadilly Gardens. Dr Mainwaring was responsible for setting out a list of rules for the care of patients in the “lunatic” wards there. He retired in 1778 and in 1782 he was awarded the title of Physician Extraordinary when he presented many of his books to the Infirmary. This act of generosity led to the creation of a library at the Infirmary. Around the same time, he was elected President of the Literary and Philosophical Society on its foundation, out of respect for his life-long work and his interest in learning and education.

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Manchester Infirmary and Lunatic Asylum, Daub Holes Field. C. 1770, Greaves Collection (Source: Manchester Libraries http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass)

Dr Peter Mainwaring died on 30th December 1785 at the age of 91. His obituary published in the Manchester Mercury reads:

“ Last Friday died, in the 91st year of his age, Peter Mainwaring, M.l)., of this town. A gentleman highly respected for his integrity and public services
in the line of his profession, and as a magistrate and greatly beloved by all who had the happiness of his acquaintance.”

He was buried in the churchyard at St. John’s, just off Deansgate. The church had been founded by his old friends, the Byrom family. The church itself was closed in 1931 and subsequently demolished, however those interred in the graveyard were left where they lay. The site is now home to St. John’s Gardens, a memorial park to the approx. 22,000 people still buried there, including Mainwaring.

Changing Roles

In 1788, Number 35 was taken over by banking firm John Jones & Co. Its founder was John Jones, who had died in 1775. He was a banker and a tea-dealer on Market Street, known at the time as Market Street Lane. This reflects the duality of mercantile and banking businesses in this period. The business was inherited by his sons; Samuel, Joseph, Daniel and William, who ditched the tea-dealing and focused on the banking. They were later joined by their brother-in-law, Lewis Loyd.

Eddis, Eden Upton, 1812-1901; Lewis Lloyd (1767-1858)
Lewis Loyd (1767-1858) (Source: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/lewis-lloyd-17671858-221999)

Lewis Loyd was born in Cwm-y-to in Carmarthenshire, Wales in 1767 and he went to Manchester in 1789 to finish his education with the intention of becoming a Unitarian Minister. Whilst preaching at Blackley, in north Manchester, he met Sarah Jones, the daughter of John Jones. The pair married in 1793 and Loyd entered into the family banking business, which was known at the time as “Samuel & William Jones, Loyd & Co.”

Three of Lewis Loyd’s brothers also came to Manchester and one of them, Edward Loyd, worked as a clerk at the bank. In 1809 he and his wife were residing at the property which was both home and business but as the town centre became unfashionable to live in, the building changed from its multi-functional role to operating solely as a bank. This became the role of the property for the next 200 years. Lewis and Sarah’s son, Samuel Jones Loyd took over his father’s branch of the bank. In 1848 the bank on King Street became known as the Loyd Entwisle & Co. after the men who ran it; Edward Loyd, William Entwisle, Henry Bury and Thomas Barlow Jervis. In 1863 it was taken over by the Manchester & Liverpool District Bank Ltd and later it merged with the London and Westminster Bank. By this point in the nineteenth century, King Street was at the heart of Manchester’s business and civic district; this included several other banks and the original town hall, which had been built on the junction of King Street and Cross Street.

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Number 35 King Street, 1904 (Source: Manchester Libraries http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass)

In 1952 the building was given its Grade II listed building status, however this did not deter interior alterations during the 1970s when the bank was operated as a branch of the National Westminster.

In the 1990s the building was sold by the bank and it became retail space. The side wings of the house were demolished and replaced by steel and glass extensions. For quite some time the building was used as retail space by Jack Wills, but the company vacated the property around 2019. At the moment the building is currently used as a retail space for ‘pop-up’ businesses. The eye-catching property retains many historic features, including the railings at the front, which continue to define Number 35 as one of King Street’s most elegant addresses.

Researched and Written by Thomas McGrath

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