an ancient parochial chapelry and market-town, and modern municipal and parliamentary borough, is situated in the hundred of Salford, in the county of Lancaster, distant 7 miles N.E. from Manchester, and 186 miles N.N.W. from London. In the neighbouring hills are the sources of the rivers Medlock and Irk, which pass through the town, and supply moving power to many of the mills.

Oldham is built upon an eminence, and is difficult of access by highways. It has no canal, nor was there any railway accommodation till the year 1842, when a branch was made from the Manchester and Leeds line; this is a great advantage to the district, although its utility is impaired by a steep incline of 1 in 26. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, trade has rapidly extended, a fact which may be accounted for by the existence of vast fields of coal beneath and near the town. For a long period Oldham has been distinguished for the manufacture of hats, a distinction which it maintained till the early part of the present century, when the use of silk instead of beaver considerably diminished the demand, and induced many of the work-people to seek employment in other branches. As little capital is required for the production of silk hats, the trade is now largely distributed over the country. A few extensive establishments still exist here, one of which obtained the highest prize in this department at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Another important branch of industry is the iron trade, the growth of which has greatly contributed to the prosperity of the place, there being several large works giving employment to upwards of 4000 persons. The principal one, that of Platt Brothers and Co., in which 3000 men and boys find constant occupation, and receive £130,000 per annum in wages.

Cotton manufacture is the staple trade, there being within the borough, in 1856, 96 mills, with steam-engines of 3400 horse-power, and employing 7906 men and boys, and 8635 women and girls, or a total of 16,541 hands.

Oldham was incorporated in 1849, and is governed by a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 24 councillors. Formerly its sanitary condition was exceedingly defective, the streets ill paved, and the supply of water scanty. Improvements are going on rapidly, and since the water-works have been purchased by the corporation, an increased quantity equal to a million and a half of gallons daily has been secured, which will be sufficient to meet the growing wants of the town for many years to come.

For educational purposes many private schools exist; there is also a most efficient blue-coat school for the instruction and support of 120 orphan boys, endowed by Thomas Henshaw, an opulent hat-manufacturer, who, in 1808, bequeathed for the purpose £40,000. At his death, in 1810, his heirs filed a bill in chancery, praying that the will might be set aside on the ground of the alleged insanity of the testator. This led to protracted litigation, which terminated in favour of the school. During this time the property bequeathed had accumulated to upwards of £100,000. By local subscriptions a handsome and capacious building was erected, where, since 1834, nearly 700 orphan boys have enjoyed the comforts of home, and received a substantial English education; many of whom are now filling respectable positions in society. There are several mechanics' institutions; the principal one, the Lyceum, a large and beautiful structure erected at a cost of £6000, and opened in July 1836, is supported mainly by working men. In the evening classes about 450 operatives receive the elements of a sound English education, with French, Latin, and the higher branches of mathematics, great proficiency being often attained, particularly in the latter study. There are also several national and British schools, and the Sunday-schools contain 12,500 children.

Amongst the public buildings, besides the blue-coat school and the lyceum, is a handsome town-hall, a capacious working-man's hall, and ample and well-arranged public baths. Parochially Oldham is united to Prestwick. The parish church, dedicated to St Mary, is an imposing modern structure, besides which there are eight other churches, four Independent chapels, two Wesleyan, one Roman Catholic, and a large number of places of worship belonging to different Protestant dissenting communities.

Since the passing of the Reform Act it returns two members to Parliament. The population amounted to 12,024 in 1801; to 16,690 in 1811; to 21,662 in 1821; to 32,381 in 1831; to 42,595 in 1841; and to 52,818 in 1851. The annual value of rateable property in 1692 was £287; in 1857, £166,815.

John, justly styled the "English Juvenal," both from the power and severity of his satires, and from Oldham, his spirited delineation of contemporary life and manners, was the son of a Nonconformist clergyman, and was born at Shipton near Tedbury, in Gloucestershire, on the 9th August 1653. He was educated at Tedbury school and at Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he distinguished himself in Latin and Greek, and displayed a great love for poetry. Scanty means compelled him to leave college after taking his degree of B.A. in May 1674. Idleness and dependence were peculiarly irksome to the proud young scholar, and in the absence of any definite plan of life, he was glad to secure occupation and independence as usher at the free school of Croydon in Surrey. His first published poem, a Pindaric ode on the death of his close companion, Richard Morwent, belongs to this period, and displays not only great power of illustration, but also a subtle tenderness of feeling peculiarly interesting and suggestive when contrasted with the strong satirical vehemence of his subsequent compositions. He endeavoured to lighten the thankless task of "beating Greek and Latin for his life," as he calls it, by secret attention to the muses. Some of his pieces having found their way in manuscript to the literary haunts of the London wits, drew upon their author the attention of such grand personages as Rochester, Dorset, and Sedley. These lettered nobles visited the poor scholar at Croydon, but no immediate consequences followed. In 1678 he became tutor in the family of Judge Thurland, at Reigate, where he remained till 1680. It was about this period he composed those celebrated Satires upon the Jesuits, which, appearing in 1679, during the terrible episode of the Popish plot, met with signal success, and at once secured for their author a great reputation. In boldness and bitterness, in strong rage and fierce rancour, no Protestant writer of that feverish time can be compared for a moment with this obscure young Nonconformist. Dryden had more art than Oldham, but did not surpass him in power and depth of invective. On becoming tutor to the son of Sir William Hicks, Oldham made the acquaintance of Dr Richard Lower, who inspired him with a temporary enthusiasm for the study of medicine. After a year's estrangement from his muse, however, the old passion came back upon him, and he resolved no longer to prove inconstant to his first love. Having escaped from the bondage of tuition, Oldham settled in the metropolis, where he gained the acquaintance of the choicest spirits of the time. Dryden contracted the strongest attachment to the young satirist, and recognised in him a genius kindred to his own. Oldham just shared enough in the gaiety and dissipation of the town, to enable him, with fresh energy, to lash its vices and expose its vanities. He was not to be bribed or corrupted from his vocation. He declined the office of private chaplain to the household of the Earl of Kingston, but that generous nobleman, who seems to have had a sincere regard for the proud and manly satirist, prevailed upon him to become his guest at Holmes-Pierpont, in Nottinghamshire. This seclusion the poet did not long enjoy. His constitution was naturally consumptive, and an attack of small-pox put an end to his days on the 9th December 1683, in the thirteenth year of his age. His last piece, A Sunday thought in Sickness, is peculiarly touching, from its devotional penitence and humble resignation. The poets of his time wrote enthusiastic tributes to his memory; and distinguished above them all, both for truth and pathos, were the generous lines of Dryden. Oldham's poems, while remarkable for condensed force, rugged vehemence, and striking choice of language, are in general deficient in finish and harmony of versification. This he knew and vindicated. "No one," he says, "would expect that Juvenal, when he is lashing vice and villany, should flow so smoothly as Ovid or Tibullus, when they are describing amours or gallantries." His satires possess a lasting historical value, as a faithful picture of the life and manners of the Restoration; and while the subjects of his invectives are for the most part temporary, the freedom and breadth of handling which they receive inspire them with an abiding interest. For courage and independence—for love of liberty, and scorn of the slavery of patronage—Oldham had no equals among the writers of that servile age. He casts a withering glance of his satirical eye upon "very sparkish dedications," and, reliant on his own genius and honesty of purpose, passes the patron by with a haughty modesty. His works were collected and published in a single volume in 1686; in 2 vols. in 1722. An edition in 2 vols., with a life of the author, edited by Captain Edward Thompson, appeared in 1770; and an admirable edition of Oldham's works, with the omission of a few of his coarser pieces, together with a biography of the poet, appeared in 1854 in the Annotated Edition of the English Poets, edited by Robert Bell, London.