His funeral was a significant event in Harrogate, with local worthies, Freemasons, tradesmen and others accompanying the coffin to Grove Road Cemetery.

Then, of course, there was the distinction of being an accredited citizen of no mean city [i.e. Worcester], besides certain mundane privileges in the form of grazing rights on Pitchcroft, and of preference in application for certain almshouses.

[16]Before he had completed his apprenticeship, "[Ackrill] had developed such qualities as a newspaper reporter" that he was given a permanent job as a journalist, and he "became well known in the Worcester district".

[13] After working on various newspapers in the North of England,[17] Ackrill was hired as a journalist on the Leeds Mercury,[15] where "he was a colleague of some of the best known and most successful writers of the time.

He had the chance of a "desirable position" on The Times and other "flattering offers" emanating from London, but had to decline them due to his wife's health.

[21] Ackrill was a Liberal who took part in local political activity, so when he purchased the Herald from Dawson, that newspaper' began a rivalry with the town's other paper, the Conservative Harrogate Advertiser, which was founded 1836 and run by Thomas Hollins.

[19] He expanded the business and bought The Ripon Gazette, and also founded The Bedale and Northallerton Times, The Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale Herald, and The Knaresborough Post, "all of which newspapers became ... the recognised local organ of their respective districts".

[13] Of those newspapers, the Harrogate Advertiser (incorporating The Ripon Gazette, The Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale Herald and The Knaresborough Post) still exists.

[24] For a long time before the end of his career, he was "designated the "father of reporters" in Yorkshire,[25] and The Athaenium called him "one of the oldest of provincial journalists".

Ackrill contributed to meetings and, alongside many of the town's worthies, signed the formal memorial of 12 March 1883 sent to the improvement commissioners, saying that the townspeople wanted to begin the process of obtaining the charter.

After a celebratory procession from the station, with decorated streets and the ringing of church bells, he gave a public speech from a stand in front of the New Victoria Baths.

[18]: 347, 633  Ackrill's bust (pictured, right) by Leeds sculptor Anthony Welsh is undated,[28] but it is possible that it commemorates his time as Charter Mayor.

"[Ackrill's] name stands upon that document prominently, and on him devolved the duty of carrying out some of the earlier preliminary stages connected with the Municipal Incorporations Act".

[18]: 432 Ackrill gave "important evidence" on the Chartist Movement when it was the subject of a local enquiry, "and his cross-examination was regarded as a matter of interesting history".

[13] Another enquiry to which he gave evidence was the 1845 trial at the Lent Assizes of eleven poachers from Pershore who were accused of murdering Thomas Staite, a watcher employed by the Earl of Coventry.

"The beginning of the end approached" about two weeks before he died at his home in Swan Road, Harrogate, on 22 June 1894, aged 77, leaving a widow, a son and daughter, and four grandsons.

[17][13][nb 6] The Bradford Weekly Telegraph commented: "By [Ackrill's] death ... Harrogate loses a townsman to whom it owed much, for his energy and foresight were due many of the improvements [to the town] effected during the past thirty years.

[25] This sentiment was echoed by other papers, including The Times, which said: "To his energy and forethought, Harrogate is indebted for many important improvements [to the town]".

[7] As the cortège left Ackrill's home, all the blinds of the houses along the way were drawn, according to custom, and the bells of St Mary's Church "rung a muffled peal".