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Audiobook edition · 15 h 29 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What makes a man's name when he has no known family, and the city around him never stops changing?
A flood sweeps through Manchester, and a rescued baby finds a home with Ben Clegg's working family. That child is Jabez Clegg: lively, plain-spoken, and quick to anger at unfairness. In The Manchester Man, Isabella Banks follows his path from poor streets toward a place in the world of trade.
An apprenticeship in merchant Simon Ashton's house opens a new world, but Laurence Aspinall stands in Jabez's way, armed with the social advantages he lacks. Around their rivalry, Manchester grows from a crowded market town into a great cotton city. Love, loyalty, hunger, and political unrest give this personal struggle a wider reach.
What you’ll discover
- A child in the flood Enter the story beside the swollen River Irk, where disaster brings Jabez a new home.
- A name worth making Follow a foundling who must define himself through honest work rather than family standing.
- Unequal rivals Watch Jabez face Laurence Aspinall, whose pride rests on advantages Jabez cannot claim.
- Manchester in motion Walk streets shaped by rivers, warehouses, and the pressures of a growing cotton city.
- Loyalties under pressure Explore ambition, love, and belonging in a town strained by war, hunger, and unrest.
Who will love it
Readers who love big historical novels full of real streets and events, warm and quirky side characters, and a hero who rises by honesty.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A tanner pulls a baby from the flood
- A gruff parson changes the baby's name
- A spiteful lie costs Bess her sweetheart
- The Blue-Coat school makes a boy of Jabez
- A schoolyard feud ends with a plunge
- An honest apprentice learns the warehouse trade
- Peterloo breaks into the household
- Augusta chooses a handsome danger
- Names, duty and mercy hold the story together
- A town speaks through its storyteller
Who’s who
- Jabez CleggA foundling saved from the flood who grows into a steady, honest businessman and tries to keep a promise to deserve his name.
- Simon CleggA small, kind tanner who rescues the cradle and teaches Jabez to swim, to read his Bible and to refuse payment for doing right.
- Bess CleggSimon's quiet daughter, a cotton batter who raises the foundling and waits for a sweetheart who believes a lie.
- Joshua BrookesA blunt, short-tempered chaplain who hides generosity behind scolding and quietly guides Jabez's schooling.
- Laurence AspinallA spoiled cotton merchant's son who grows from a cruel schoolboy into a handsome, reckless rival for Augusta.
- Augusta AshtonThe beautiful, romantic daughter of Jabez's master, who wants a gallant hero and not a plain, steady friend.
- Ellen ChadwickA kind, reserved young woman who admires Jabez in silence and hides her feelings behind duty.
- Ben TravisA big-hearted yeomanry officer and former schoolmate who becomes Jabez's loyal friend and protector.
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The Manchester Man
by Isabella Banks · 1876
A baby asleep in a painted cradle floats down a flooded Manchester river toward a tanner's hook.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What would you do if a cradle with a sleeping baby came floating down a flooded river toward you? In August 1799 the Irk in Manchester bursts its banks, and an old tanner named Simon Clegg runs onto Tanners Bridge with a hook and a pole.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A tanner pulls a baby from the flood
The story opens in 1799 on the banks of the Irk. Simon Clegg, the oldest man in William Clough's tannery, drags hides from the pits before the water can take them.
Then a shriek goes up from house to house. A painted wooden cradle rides over the mill dam, and inside it a baby sleeps calmly while the water carries him toward ruin. Simon rushes onto Tanners Bridge with a hook and a pole. He catches the wooden hood, and the men lift the cradle onto the footpath. Simon carries the screaming child to his daughter Bess, who quiets him at once.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1876
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 10 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Banks, Isabella. The Manchester Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-manchester-man.
Banks, I. (2026). The Manchester man. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-manchester-man (Original work published 1876)
Banks, Isabella. The Manchester Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-manchester-man.
@book{banks2026manchester,
author = {Banks, Isabella},
title = {The Manchester Man},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-manchester-man},
note = {First published 1876}
}
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What is The Manchester Man about?
It follows Jabez Clegg, a baby rescued from a flooded river in 1799, as he is raised by a tanner, schooled at a charity college, apprenticed to a manufacturer and rises in Manchester's trade.
Is The Manchester Man a true story?
It is a novel, but it uses real places, clergy and events such as Peterloo, and the author says some episodes were based on true incidents she knew, including a baby saved in a cradle.
Who is Joshua Brookes in The Manchester Man?
He is a real Manchester clergyman shown here as a blunt, quick-tempered chaplain with a kind heart, who baptizes Jabez, helps him enter school and keeps watching over him.
The author
Isabella Banks
1821–1897 · English novelist
Isabella Banks (1821–1897) was an English novelist and poet who published as Mrs. G. Linnaeus Banks. She was born in Manchester and later lived in London, where she died. Her novel The Manchester Man appeared in 1876. She married George Linnaeus Banks, a writer, in 1846.
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