Ratcliffe, John, Chester, cm (1812–37). Trading in Foregate St, 1812–19; Britain's Entry in 1826; and Brook St in 1837. Admitted freeman on 10 October 1812. [Chester freemen rolls and poll bks] Notice in Chester Chronicle, Cheshire and North Wales Advertiser, 6 November 1829, concerned the ‘violent Assault’ by Ratcliffe on Mathias Rowlands, when Ratcliffe visited Rowlands's sister ‘to demand some clothes which she had taken off his child's back’. Rowlands had attempted to throttle him, and Ratcliffe ‘was obliged to cut at them with a large hinge’. The case was settled by Ratcliffe agreeing never to molest Rowlands in future, and paying all expences, including the surgeon's bill.