John Higson (25 July 1825 â 13 December 1871) was an English antiquary and topographer associated with Gorton, Droylsden and Lees (Lancashire). Employed by the Springhead Cotton Spinning Company, he produced local-historical writing alongside full-time work; he wrote in a letter that, despite twelve-and-a-half-hour shifts as a secretary (Monday to Friday, with a half-day on Saturday), he âÂÂmanaged to do a good deal of writingâÂÂ.
Higson was born at Whiteley Farm, Gorton, on 25 July 1825, and was baptised at the Manchester Collegiate Church on 30 October 1825. A contemporary obituary described him as the son of poor parents who received little formal education, and as largely self-taught.
For some years he lived in Droylsden, and later at Lees (near Oldham). At the time of his death he was employed by the Springhead Cotton Spinning Company (described in the local press as a cashier). He was active in local civic life, including support for the Droylsden Mechanicsâ Institute and work at Leesfield Church.
Higson died at Lees on 13 December 1871, after a sudden collapse at home; heart disease was reported as the cause. The local press reported that he left a widow and seven children. (Crofton later recorded six sons and two daughters, with one son dying in infancy.)
Higson began publishing local history in the early 1850s, including The Gorton Historical Recorder (1852). He also produced a history of Droylsden and remained closely involved in local newspaper culture; an attempt to launch a Droylsden paper âÂÂon liberal-conservative linesâ failed.
From the mid-1850s he contributed articles, often on local history and antiquities, to the Ashton Weekly Reporter under the signature âÂÂHâÂÂ. At his death he was compiling a Glossary of Lancashire Idioms (unpublished). Crofton later credited him with further unpublished work, including a projected history of Lees and a dialect glossary, and noted that he wrote âÂÂsome hundreds of newspaper articlesâÂÂ.