Notes for Francis SWINDELLS II

Said to have run away from home when he was 16 in 1779 owing to the severity with which his father had treated him. After some exciting adventures he reached London and took service as a groom to a gentleman. On one occasion as he was taking his master's family by night in a coach over Hounslow Heath, he was attacked by a highwayman. By that time he had risen to be coachman, but he was riding as a Post-Boy, because at that time the coachman did sit on the box, nor drive as done now. But regardless of the threats of the robbers and of the fact that they fired at him, he rode furious on and brought the family safely within the gates of his master's grounds. He married one of the servants of the house, of the name of Litton, and having saved money, returned to his native country.

He and his brother came into Stockport together to settle there and it was said of them that they were the two finest looking men who had ever come to Stockport. There he began life again as a cotton manufacturer and went on successfully for some time.