William Hutton

William Hutton was an English poet and historian. Originally from Derby, he migrated to Birmingham and became the city's first notable historian, releasing History of Birmingham in 1781. William Hutton, a Unitarian nonconformist born in Derby, attended school when he was five years old. When he was seven years old, he began a seven-year apprenticeship at a Derby silk mill. In 1737, he began a second apprenticeship as a stocking maker in Nottingham, under his uncle. Following the death of his uncle in 1746, he taught himself bookbinding and three years later founded a shop in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. This was not successful, so he relocated to Birmingham in 1750 and established a small bookshop. In 1756, Hutton opened Birmingham's first paper warehouse, which became successful. He built a country house on Bennetts Hill in Washwood Heath and purchased a home in High Street. In 1782, he wrote his History of Birmingham and was elected to the Antiquarian Society of Scotland (F.A.S.S.). He was chosen superintendent of the poor in 1787 and then to the Court of Requests, a small claims court that handled over 100,000 claims over the course of 19 years. Both of Hutton's houses were damaged during the Birmingham Riots of 1791 (the Priestley Riots), prompting his historical account in Narrative of the Riots. He was able to recover £5,390 in a lawsuit for damages against the town.