Biography

George W Meadley (1774-1818)

The radical Unitarian George Wilson Meadley was born in Sunderland and at fourteen years old he was apprenticed to Thomas Chipchase, a grocer, draper, and banker in Durham town. The actor James Field Stanfield befriended Meadley when performing for the Durham theatre company in 1788 and his activities in support of the abolition of the slave trade made a significant impact on the teenage Meadley.

The couple were influential in Sunderland’s literary culture and established the town’s first subscription library which later developed into the town’s Literary and Philosophical Society. Meadley was particularly drawn to biography and wrote the memoirs of William Paley, Algernon Sydney and Mrs. Jebb. He spent the last two years of his life collecting material for a life of John Hampden.

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