 His uncle was Colonel Nathaniel Eckersley, from Laurel House in Hindley, who served with the Duke of Wellington and at the military station established in Manchester after the Peterloo Massacre.In addition to his cotton mills,
Eckersley was a partner of the "Wigan Old Bank", formerly "Thomas Woodock's, Sons and Eckersle"y, which amalgamated in 1874 with "Parr's Banking Company" in Warrington.He was Mayor of Wigan in 1853 and in 1873, and was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire in September 1863.