George Hodson of Deansgate, was a leader in the Bolton Methodist Circuit and a Prayer leader. George was listed as a clock and watch maker. He met the preacher John Wesley and he and other leaders then opened the Sabbath School in Ridgeway Gates Chapel.
Said to be John Wesley preaching, probably in the original Ridgeway Gate Chapel. The only image yet to surface of the original chapel. From deanechurch.co.uk
One of George Hodson’s commissions came from no other than Samuel Crompton of Spinning Mule fame. Samuel had the watch made expressly for him at the cost of five guineas (£5.25). (The Gold Guinea was a coin that was minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold.)
The watch was bought by the Bolton inventor in 1779 with the proceeds from his Spinning Mule which helped revolutionise the cotton industry.
Crompton was a regular visitor to the Deansgate shop while the watch making was in progress, and he watched the work with some interest and impatience, but once delivered it was to be his constant companion for the next fifty years. Crompton left his treasured Hodson Watch to his James son on his deathbed.
The pair case, verge watch by George Hodson, is now in the Bolton Museum collection.
(Bolton Museum)