Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Caw, John Young
CAW, JOHN YOUNG (1810?–1858), banker and miscellaneous writer, was born at Perth about 1810, but passed the last thirty years of his life in Manchester, where he died on 22 Oct. 1858. He was educated at St. Andrews, whence he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not stay to take a degree. His first thoughts were of the Anglican ministry, but this design was abandoned and he filled responsible positions in connection with the Bank of Manchester and the Manchester and Salford Bank. His leisure was devoted to literary and archæological studies, and to the extension of the offertory system in the church of England. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a member of the Royal Society of Literature, and of various local associations. He wrote: 1. ‘Plan for the Endowment of the Church of St. Andrew, Ancoats, Manchester,’ Manchester, 1846 (anonymous). 2. ‘The Necessity and Advantages of a Bankers' Clearing House: addressed to the Commercial Public of Manchester,’ Manchester, 1847. 3. ‘The Duty of Increasing the Stipends of the Manchester Clergy, stated and proved by a practical example,’ Manchester, 1852 (anonymous). 4. ‘Some Remarks on “The Deserted Village” of Oliver Goldsmith,’ Manchester, 1852. The poet is here surveyed from the standpoint of a political economist.
Caw had the reputation of an earnest-minded man of liberal disposition and intellectual sympathies. He is buried at St. Luke's, Cheetham Hill, and there is a memorial of him in the church of St. Andrew, Ancoats, of which he was a benefactor.
[Grindon's Manchester Banks and Bankers; Manchester Courier, 30 Oct. 1858; Proceedings of Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, 1858; Catalogue of the Manchester Public Free Library.]