William Gaskell

William Gaskell
William Gaskell on holiday in Scotland (photograph by Rupert Potter, father of Beatrix Potter)
Born	24 July 1805 Latchford, Cheshire, UK
Died	12 June 1884 (aged 79) Manchester, UK
Education	University of Glasgow Manchester New College
Occupation	Unitarian minister, educator
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Gaskell

The Reverend William Gaskell (24 July 1805 – 12 June 1884) was an English Unitarian minister, charity worker and pioneer in the education of the working class. The husband of novelist and biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, he was himself a writer and poet.

His personal theology was Priestleian rationalism; he rejected the doctrine of original sin, believing humans to have an innate capacity for good, and this belief seems to have underpinned his lifelong commitment to charitable and educational projects. Unlike many of his Manchester contemporaries, Gaskell always favoured social and educational work above political lobbying for free trade or factory reform. His personal philosophy can perhaps be summarised in his dedication which he penned at the publication of his poetry collection Temperance Rhymes: 'to the working men of Manchester ... in the hope that they may act as another small weight on the right end of that lever which is to raise them in the scale of humanity.'

Gaskell was born in Latchford, a suburb of Warrington, the eldest of six children. The Gaskell family were prominent Dissenters. His father, also William, was a sailcloth manufacturer with a business on Buttermarket Street and also a Unitarian theology teacher; according to one source, his mother, Margaret Jackson, was a housemaid. He was tutored by a local minister, Joseph Saul. Barred as a non-conformist from attending Oxford or Cambridge, Gaskell studied at Glasgow University (1820–25), taking his BA and MA in 1825. He then trained for the Unitarian ministry at Manchester New College (1825–28), at that time located in York, where his tutors included Charles Wellbeloved and James Turner.