Early Life and Education
Gaskell was born in Latchford, a suburb of Warrington, the eldest of six children. The Gaskell family were prominent Dissenters. His father, also William, was a sailcloth manufacturer with a business on Buttermarket Street and also a Unitarian theology teacher; according to one source, his mother, Margaret Jackson, was a housemaid. He was tutored by local minister, the Reverend Joseph Saul. Barred as a non-conformist from attending Oxford or Cambridge, Gaskell studied at Glasgow University (1820–25), taking his BA and MA in 1825. He then trained for the Unitarian ministry at Manchester New College (1825–28), at that time located in York, where his tutors included Charles Wellbeloved and James Turner.
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