William Pilkington

William Pilkington (1800–1872)

1800 Born son of William Pilkington (1765-1831), brother of Richard (1795-1869)

1820 Joined his father's wine and spirit business

1821 Married Charlotte Boyes; 12 children survived infancy

1823 William Pilkington and Sons started to rectify spirits themselves

Mid-1820s: the St Helens Crown Glass Company was established. William Pilkington and his brother-in-law Peter Greenall were each invited to subscribe for a two-elevenths share of the company, along with other local people and two glass-making specialists.

1826 William Pilkington senior retired from the wine business; William and Richard continued the business

c.1827 William took over management of the glass works

1838 The Pilkingtons sold their wine and spirit business; they would have sold the glass business but for the large amount of capital invested in it.

1842 Peter Greenall withdrew from the partnership.

Of his sons, the eldest, William (1827–1903) and Thomas (1835–1925) began work in the glass works and eventually became partners, in 1844 and 1853 respectively; younger sons included George (1840–1923) and Leonard (1847–1925) who became chemical manufacturers at Widnes; of the other sons, Harold (1844–1879) trained for the law; his second son, Richard (1830–1894), a mechanical engineer, spent some time with the firm but moved to London

1853 Henry Deacon set up a chemical works at Widnes with William Pilkington (presumably this one), the younger of his employers at St Helens, to make carbonate of soda.

1855 Pilkington withdrew from Deacon's business.

1872 William died on 12 September at Downing Hall near Holywell, Flintshire

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Pilkington family, ODNB [1]