Absalom Watkin came to Manchester in 1801, a poor boy of fourteen, to work in his uncle's business. Through his eyes we see the growth of Manchester from small manufacturing town to major industrial city and witness the changes that growth imposed on its inhabitants. As a young man, Watkin helped to write the famous Peterloo Protest and also to draw up Manchester's petition in favour of the Great Reform Bill.

A sharp and critical observer, he was involved in many of the movements for social reform of his day. His diaries record conversations with famous contemporaries and relate fascinating details of daily living including the prices of food, houses and travel. Although successful in business and public affairs he remained dissatisfied with his own life, unhappy in his marriage and his work, longing, most of all, to write, tend his garden and read alone in his library

1. Magdalen Goffin, a descendant of the diarist, has written a commentary which links the diary entries and places them in their historical context. Absalom Watkin's diaries are a valuable social document of an important period in English industrial history.