In addition to his tutoring and lecturing, Gaskell campaigned for better education for the working classes, co-founding the Lancashire Public Schools Association in 1847. He served on the committee of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, which gave public lectures and campaigned for social change; in 1849, he became the Chairman of the Portico Library, a subscription lending library. In 1861, he helped to organise a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science which brought scientists from across the world to Manchester. Gaskell seemed to relish the immense teaching burden he accumulated in later life. Elizabeth Gaskell complained that 'you might as well ask St Pauls to tumble down, as entreat him to give up this piece of work; which does interest him very much, & which no one could do so well certainly...'Letter to Anne Robson (10 May 1865) in Chapple & Pollard Though she was referring specifically to his Owens College lectures, he seems to have diligently pursued all his various projects, and found excuses to avoid giving up any obligation he had once started.
