John Thorpe was a prominent member of Manchester's civic elite in the 1830s, a period of significant development leading up to the restoration of the town's status as a Borough in 1838. He was Comptroller of the Commissioners of the Manchester Police in 1833, a post from which he retired in 1834 (receiving a formal presentation on doing so);28 Clerk to the directors of the Manchester Gas Works (a more significant post than its title would suggest, since the gas company, with its offices in the Town Hall, was the main source of civic income for urban improvements at that time);29 a director of the Northern & Central Bank ofEngland;30 a member of the Manchester Board of the Standard Life Assurance Reversionary Interest and Annuity Company;31 of that of the Provisional Committee of the Manchester South Union Railway;32 and, after the grant of a charter in 1838, Borough Treasurer, a post to which he was re-elected with acclaim in 1840 and 1841.33 It was probably through his role as a member of the Comissioners of the Manchester Police that he met Aglio; the Commissioners, the board of the Gas Works, and the 'Improvement Committee', all based at the Town Hall which Aglio decorated, seem to have formed a tight-knit ruling group. |
