MENNIE, James (1824-1898) — Manchester
Lithographer, engraver and printer; landscape painter. Produced Ernst & Co.’s illustrated plan of Manchester and Salford 1857, for Gustavus Ernst, published by Thomas Agnew & Sons (see BME 2011). “We have received, through Messrs. Gifford, a very beautifully designed and engraved plan of Manchester, with views of all the principal buildings of that city artistically arranged around the margin of the plate. The plan is the work of Mr. James Mennie, a young draughtsman belonging to Aberdeen, now engaged in one of the principal lithographic establishments in Manchester, and, its execution bears out the promise which he early gave of being the possessor of no common artistic ability” (Aberdeen Herald, 23 May 1857).
Born in Scotland and baptised 29 Dec 1824 at St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, the son of Alexander Mennie (1795-1864?), a merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Horn (1801?-1883), who had married in 1823. He married Mary Ann Heywood (1834-1913) at Chorlton in 1855. In 1861, he was living in Hulme with his wife and three small children, then employing a man and a boy. He was declared bankrupt 22 Nov 1862, but by 1871 was employing six men, two boys, and six girls. A partnership with John Galloway had been formally dissolved 30 Jul 1870. He joined the masonic Ashton Lodge in 1871. He was recorded as an artist in 1881 and more specifically as a landscape artist in 1891. He appears to have lived apart from his wife and children in later life. He died at Salford aged seventy-four and was buried 22 Oct 1898.
— 11 Drake Street, Hulme, Manchester (home) — 1855-1862
61 Faulkner Street, Manchester — 1859-1876
— 56 Abbey Street, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester (home) — 1868-1876
— 213 Brunswick Street, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester (home) — 1875-1877
BNA. Census 1841, 1861-1891. LG.