William Ross (d. 1873): Worked in the calico printing trade and in the mid-1820s was employed by the Manchester-based firm John Dugdale & Brothers. In 1832 he set up his own firm, Potter & Ross, in Darwen, in partnership with Charles Potter (1802–1872), and later became Vice-President of the Salford Mechanics Institute. In 1840 he gave evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Copyright of Designs. Ross retired in 1847 and was twice Mayor of Salford (1853–1854 and 1854–1855). In 1826 Ross offered Southey an unpublished letter of Kirke White’s for a future edition of the Remains of Henry Kirke White.