He married Elizabeth Fell, and by 1878 he was listed in a local trade directory as a fancy goods dealer.
In 1880 he succeeded to the furniture dealing and cabinet making business of his wife's uncle in King Street, Blackburn.
Then in 1994, during building alteration work at the premises in Northgate, three large sealed steel drums were discovered in the basement.
On examination, the drums were discovered to contain the original nitrate negatives of 800 Mitchell and Kenyon films in a remarkably good state of preservation.
In 2014, The Life and Times of Mitchell and Kenyon was produced at The Dukes, Lancaster and the Oldham Coliseum, with video elements by imitating the dog.