Bad Bugs Bookclub Meeting Report: The Manchester Man by Isabella Banks
The aim of the Bad Bugs Book Club is to get people interested in science, specifically microbiology, by reading books (novels) in which infectious disease forms some part of the story. We also try to associate books, where possible, with some other activity or event, to widen interest, and to broaden impact.
We have established a fairly fluid membership of our bookclub through our website In The Loop ( but we hope to encourage others to join, to set up their own bookclub, suggest books and accompanying activities to us, and give feedback about the books that they have read, using our website as the focus for communication.
The Manchester Man by Isabella Banks was written in 1876 and set, in Manchester between 1799 and1841. It describes the fictional life of Jabez Clegg, in the context of significant ‘real’ events and people in Manchester’s history. It is a somewhat moralistic Victorian tale, but remains in print, probably due to its intimate association with the city of Manchester and its streets.
We selected this book so that we could meet as part of the University’s ‘DevoManc’ festival. Our intention was to compare it with Mrs Gaskell’s Mary Barton, and Matthew Plampin’s The Street Philosopher, both previously read by the bookclub, and each with a focus on public health and/or infectious disease, as well as the history of Victorian Manchester.
Discussion
Our meeting took place in Gulliver’s Bar in Oldham Street – not far from the area of Manchester where the baby Jabezwas fished from the river Irk. It was preceded by a presentation from Anne Beswick, Green badge guide and Manchester expert. She talked about the author, the events and the streets where the story was set, and showed photographs of locations which featured in the novel. Another bookclub member had scoured the internet and sourced several maps of the city which showed how it grew in the nineteenth century. Some of our members were captivated by the important historical buildings which remain, in particular Chetham’s school, being hitherto unaware of its existence.
Although the novel is not high literature, its journalistic style was appreciated. The episodic nature of the story was apparent – it was serialised in Cassells magazine, and illustrated. The dialect was initially distracting, and did not convert well to digital format! It was notedhowever that the whole novel could be downloaded in pdf format. An audio version is also available. (A silent movie was made in the 1920s.)
The characters and plot were a little hackneyed: the ‘well-born and handsome but evil cad’; the ‘beautiful but shallow heroine’ who eventually sees the error of her ways; the ‘plain but loyal friend’; the ‘poor but noble hero’. Perhaps the ‘poor boy does well’ story fits well with the development of industrial Manchester in the nineteenth century. There were interesting points to note such as the key role of women in the running of business; the surprisingly brutal description of domestic violence; the industrial settings of ‘small ware’ production rather than the great mills of Ancoats.
We were very surprised by the almost total lack of reference to infectious disease, in contrast to Mary Barton, where death and disease were embedded throughout the story. The two tales are set in similar times (indeed they overlap: Mary Barton was written in 1848 and set between 1839 and 1842), but there is no impact of infectious disease on Clegg’s story. Considering how much (too much?) infection resulted from minor injuries in our previous reading ‘A Fierce Radiance’ (which focused on the advent of antibiotics in the mid-20th century), Jabez and his family and friends seemed extraordinarily healthy – if hungry on occasion. Even cholera (1832) misses them. The Irk was famously polluted, and the tanning industry on its banks by Angel Meadow would have provide a pungent indication of its presence. Dean Kirby’s 2016 account of Angel Meadow provides some well-documented information about living conditions in the area. Indeed, Manchester Man is itself full of fascinating detail about clothing, transport, education and other ways of life in the city.
We noted how the rivers of Manchester are themselves almost invisible. Indeed, as Manchester grew, houses were built with their backs to the rivers which were so polluted and unattractive. Even now it is not possible to walk through the city along the banks of its rivers, such as the Irk, Irwell and Medlock, even though they are becoming more evident as features of the city.
We enjoyed the discussion and appreciated the ‘local’ angle which the novel presented. The novel clearly could not be used as a vehicle for discussion around infectious disease per se, but it allowed us to talk about Manchester, and consider other novels about the city (there are many – this could be a separate focus for discussion).
Joanna Verran