Heywood followed the finishing of his formal education by travelling abroad before beginning his very promising career in the family banking business.

This transported goods made in Manchester to West Africa, where they were traded for African slaves who were then taken to Barbados.

He witnessed all the panic that had ensued after the bankruptcy of Overend, Gurney & Co.; the entire banking sector in London was in chaos.

The firm's well-weathering of the financial crisis of 1866 is largely given credit to how Heywood managed his company, he was reliable and prudent.

As part of the agreement made in the acquisition, there was an arrangement that Heywood and his three younger brothers would continue to hold high ranking positions in Manchester & Salford Bank.

Heywood's reasoning for no longer attending the board meetings came from a place of disapproval with the firm's general manager Thomas Read Wilkinson's recent acquisition.

Heywood even assisted his resources to help erect and establish the Owens College, which eventually became a forerunner of the University of Manchester.

His contemporaries, or other people with substantial wealth, were moving out of the grimy cities to the more desirable country manor or suburban areas.

Heywood, deciding to stay in Manchester, and with his very generous inclinations, was very prone to provide a little extra to his community's needs.

One of the more notable meetings, held in November 1872, recorded Heywood in attendance; it was focused on the stopping of the African slave trade that was being carried out in East Africa.

The funeral ceremony was vast and impressive: The bishops of Guildford and Manchester both conducted the service where thousands of people showed up to pay their respects and 150 carriages were used.

[7][page needed] It was decided to erect a marble statue in commemoration and to place it in Albert Square, Manchester.