Database of British and

Irish Labouring-Class
Poets & Poetry
~ 1700-1900 ~
General Editor and Principal Writer: John Goodridge
Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Eighteenth-Century Editor: Bridget Keegan

Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska

Welsh Poetry Editor: Mary-Ann Constantine

Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth

‘Labouring‖Class‖Poets‖Online’‖Research‖and‖Development:‖Cole‖Crawford

Entries written by Florence Boos, Tim Burke, Bill Christmas, Cole Crawford, John
Goodridge, Bridget Keegan, Kaye Kossick, Yann Lovelock, Ned Newitt, Scott
McEathron, Katie Osborne, Ian Petticrew, Iain Rowley, David Shaw, Gordon Tait,
Meagan Timney, Sam Ward and Dawn Whatman.

This version is dated 1st February 2019

The database currently lists 2,146 named poets.

(c) Copyright the editors and contributors, 2001-2019.

The moral rights of the authors are asserted.

Information from this database may be downloaded and quoted for non-commercial
purposes such as teaching and private research providing its source and authorship
are correctly and fully acknowledged, but may not be published in any form without
the written permission of the copyright holders.
 Academic Advisory Board

Professor John Barrell (Queen Mary University of London)

Dr Valentina Bold (University of Strathclyde)
Professor Florence Boos (University of Iowa)
Professor Kirstie Blair (University of Strathclyde)
Professor William Christmas (San Francisco State University)
Dr Mary-Ann Constantine (Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic
Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth)
Professor Franca Dellarosa (University of Bari Aldo Moro)
Professor David Fairer (University of Leeds)
Professor Tim Fulford (De Montfort University)
Dr Mina Gorji (Pembroke College, Cambridge)
Dr Robert Heyes, Independent Scholar
Professor Bridget Keegan (Creighton University, Omaha)
Professor H. Gustav Klaus (University of Rostock)
Professor Simon Kövesi (Oxford Brookes University)
Professor Donna Landry (University of Kent)
Professor James McKusick (University of Missouri-Kansas)
Dr Jennifer Orr (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
Dr Michael Sanders (University of Manchester)
Professor Fiona Stafford (Somerville College, Oxford)
Professor Kelsey Thornton (formerly Universities of Birmingham and
Newcastle upon Tyne)
 In memory of Pete Goodridge, 1955-2017
beloved inspirer, supporter and enthusiast
INTRODUCTION

This database has been developed from the work of a group of scholars who have
been working in the field of labouring-class poetry over the past three decades. In
additional to individual research data it holds information compiled by the database
editor and other contributors from bibliographical and miscellaneous sources. The
main section of the database is an alphabetical listing, currently of 2,146 named
poets, centrally from the period 1700-1900, who published at least one poem, song or
hymn in verse. (We also record a very small number of unpublished figures of
whom there are clear records and who are of particular interest.)

Our aim is to compile a concise paragraph on each individual, to include vital dates,
a brief biographical and critical summary, key publications and secondary and
reference sources. This may then extend in various ways into a fuller set of resources
and information leads. A number of the entries discuss the poet more fully, as for
example‖with‖Tim‖Burke’s‖entry‖for‖Keats‖which‖examines‖his‖relationship‖with‖the‖
labouring-class tradition at some length. The alphabetic listing of poets is preceded
by conventions, sources and abbreviations, statistical information, informal notes on
groupings and categories, and a chronological sampling of anonymous and
pseudonymous poetry. As a general rule the entries are intended as a stimulus for
further research rather than intended as a complete, finished summary.

The database catalogues all the poets of lower-class origins we have discovered who
lived within the period anywhere in the British Isles, together with a small number
of‖poets‖from‖North‖America,‖Europe‖and‖elsewhere.‖It‖includes‖some‖‘possibly’‖or‖
‘partially’‖self-taught or labouring-class figures, for example, middle class women
who had fallen into poverty and in some sense identified themselves with the
labouring-class tradition, or individuals about whom little is known, where there are
good clues that they may be of humble origins, and a few others who are included
for comparative purposes, for example, the fact that they were presented, like many
of the labouring-class‖poets,‖as‖poetical‖‘novelty‖acts’—boy poets, blind men and
women,‖‘wandering‖minstrels’,‖etc. Inclusions that are doubtful, for these or any
other reason, begin with a question mark (?).

Beyond this caution, we have aimed to be inclusive rather than exclusive, and list
many figures who are tentatively identifiable as part of a labouring-class tradition.
Our aim is to discover and recover what we regard as an important and extensive
tradition that has been hidden or marginalised, and we have purposely cast our nets
wide in order to get a full picture of what exists and what may prove relevant.
Whilst some of our more extended entries, in particular, aim to appraise individual
poets more fully, the overall strength of the database should be rather in bringing
together and, in the majority of cases, recovering a great many individuals, a few
well-known, most obscure. This serves to provide an overall sense of the varied and
fascinating individuals who make up the labouring-class tradition in poetry over
two centuries, and helps counter the idea that these individuals were merely
mavericks rather than—as we would see them—representatives of a broad and
dynamic movement among those without educational, social or economic
advantage, to express themselves through poetry and to communicate this to others.1

There are a small number of pre-1700 and post-1900 figures—tagged [OP] for out of
period; otherwise all individuals lived and published in the period 1700-1900. All are
published poets (with at least one volume, or periodical publications), other than a
small number of unpublished poets (as mentioned above) who have made some
acknowledged contribution, for example Welsh balladeers included in OCLW or
DWB, whose medium was primarily oral.

This is very much a work in progress, and should be regarded as such. It remains
very uneven in the amount of detail given, and no doubt still contains errors and
omissions. The collation process is far from complete, and many of the current
entries are simply ‘skeleton’ entries, serving as basic markers for further
investigation. We recognise that for quite a number of poets fuller information will
be available elsewhere, and as far as possible we try and indicate where such
information lies. But even the skeleton entries, perhaps giving just a name and the
title of a poem or a volume, can add something to the picture. As Roger Sales notes
in his 2002 study of John Clare (qv), ‘titles‖are‖texts‖in‖their‖own‖right’‖(85).‖We‖
warmly welcome, and will happily acknowledge, corrections and additions, and we
shall continue to post and circulate corrected versions regularly.

John Goodridge
Nottingham Trent University
john.goodridge@ntu.ac.uk

1We do not prioritise judging the quality of the poetry, though the contributions often include brief
comment of an informal kind on this complex and multi-faceted issue. For some useful thoughts
about‖quality‖around‖popular,‖performative‖and‖‘doggerel’‖verses‖see‖Brian‖Maidment,‖‘Imagining‖
the Cockney University: Humorous Poetry, the March of Intellect, and the Periodical Press, 1820‐
1860’,‖Victorian Poetry, 52, no. 1 (Spring 2014), 32-9.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The compilers are grateful to the very many librarians and colleagues who have
helped us to gather this information together. The editor would especially like to
thank colleagues at Clifton Library, Nottingham Trent University, for help in
tracking down information, Bob Heyes for sharing many of his discoveries from
bookseller’s‖catalogues‖and‖the world of antiquarian books, Iain Rowley who
compiled entries for six women poets during his internship at Nottingham Trent
University, Summer 2005, and wrote sixteen further entries (including some major
figures) in 2007, and Ned Newitt for his information on the Leicester Chartist poets.
Florence Boos has very kindly shared with us her database of nineteenth-century
working-class Scottish women poets, and her rich research in this field forms the
backbone of many of the entries for them included here. Professor‖Boos’s‖great feat
of recovery research, in which she re-discovered, in twenty Scottish, English and
American repositories, some sixty Victorian working-class women poets who had
written forty volumes plus numerous periodical publications, rescued from oblivion
an entire field and tradition, which previous scholars had overlooked or denied
existed, and we are privileged to be able to incorporate many of the fruits of this
research. Dawn Whatman has added some new entries and further information on
this topic, too, and Yann Lovelock has shared his knowledge of Yorkshire and
especially Sheffield poets. In addition to his signed entries Gordon Tait has kindly
offered corrections and important statistical information on the database, with
particular reference to coalminer poets. Tim Burke did much to develop the database
as an online resource during his time as a researcher at Nottingham Trent
University, and wrote several entries including a very important one for Keats, while
his key essay on Robert Burns and the labouring-class tradition is cross-referenced in
our short Burns entry. Dick Ellis strongly supported the development of the
database during his time as Head of English at NTU, and fostered institutional
support for the project; his successors Lynne Hapgood, Sharon Ouditt, David
Worrall and Nahem Yousaf have been similarly positive and helpful. Katie Osborne
and her colleagues at Creighton and Notre Dame Universities moved the project
forward tremendously, and Katie strengthened and extended Welsh representation,
among many other improvements. Bridget Keegan enabled, oversaw and facilitated
these developments, and Cole Crawford and others are currently engaged in taking
them forward.

I am grateful to Steve Weissman at Ximenes Rare Books for kindly supplying copies
of his excellent three-part catalogue, ‘English Verse 1701-1750’, and to Justin Croft of
Justin Croft Antiquarian Books who helpfully sent sections of his and Simon
Beattie’s matching three-part‖series,‖‘English‖Verse‖1751-1800’.‖Antiquarian and
second-hand booksellers continue to be a vital source of information in compiling
and developing the present database, and in addition to the ‘English‖Verse’‖
catalogues, I have found especially useful those of the late Charlie Cox, of Charles
Cox Books, who specialised in nineteenth-century material and whose 73 numbered
catalogues have been a rich mine of information, and the late Chris Johnson, both his
regular numbered catalogues and his Provincial Verse 1789-1839, uniquely important
resources which have saved many interesting publications from oblivion.

Thanks are due to Barbara Bell for information on Robert Davidson and John Hoy; to
Frank Burr, his father Robert (a collateral descendant of the poet), and the Burr
family, for their carefully compiled family history information on James Burr
(‘Quilquox’);‖to Mark Gregory for information on Francis, ‘Frank‖the‖Poet’‖
Macnamara; to Andrea Hanaray of New Zealand for supplying much genealogical
and other information about her ancestor Jessie Russell; to Spencer Needs for
information about his ancestor Eliza Green; to Patrick Regan of the George Heath
web page; to James Walker for information on Owen Watson; and for suggestions
and information of all kinds, to Michael Baron, Ronald Blythe, Anthony Cartwright,
Lorna Clymer, Mary-Ann Constantine, the late Greg Crossan, David Fairer, Gary
Harrison, Bob Heyes, Simon Kövesi, Claire Lamont, Tom Leonard, Rodney and
Pauline‖Lines,‖John‖Lucas,‖Brian‖Maidment,‖Paddy‖O’Sullivan,‖David‖Radcliffe,
Steve Van-Hagen, Sam Ward and Bob White; and to our academic advisors and
contributors, listed above, for their generous assistance.
MAJOR SOURCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

The 325 or so printed and online sources listed here have not all been exhaustively
searched, nor do they represent a comprehensive ‘literature search’ on the subject—
they tend to reflect individual research lines of enquiry from the many stages in the
database’s‖thirty‖year‖history.‖Many‖of‖the‖early‖Scottish‖and‖other‖anthologies‖listed‖
here are now readily available in electronic form, especially at archive.org, Google
Books, the Hathi Trust, Gutenberg, and other open access sources. Single sources—
i.e. ones relevant only to a single author—are listed within the entries.

ABC (1996) Armstrong, Isobel, Joseph Bristow and Cath Sharrock (eds),
Nineteenth-Century Women Poets (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1996).
Aberdeen (1887) A Bibliography of Local Poetry to 1860 (Aberdeen, 1887), via
archive.org.
ADB Australian Dictionary of Biography, online edition.
Allan (1891) Allan, Thomas, Allan’s Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and
Readings, with Lives, Portraits, and Autographs of the Writers,
revised edition (Newcastle upon Tyne: Thomas & George
Allan, 1891).
Allibone (1859-71) Allibone, Samuel Austin, A Critical Dictionary of English
Literature, and British and American Authors, living and
deceased, from the earliest accounts to the middle of the nineteenth
century (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1859-71).
Alves (1996) Alves,‖Susan,‖‘‚A‖Thousand‖Times‖I’d‖Rather‖Be‖a‖Factory
Girl‛:‖The‖Politics‖of‖Reading‖American‖and‖British‖Female‖
Factory‖Workers’‖Poetry,‖1840-1914’,‖PhD‖dissertation,‖
Northeastern University, 1996.
Andrews (1885) Andrews, William, Modern Yorkshire Poets (Hull: A. Brown &
Sons; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co, 1885).
(Note: the copy of Edwards, 7 in the NTU special collection
is‖inscribed‖by‖Edwards‖‘To‖William‖Andrews,‖with‖warm‖
regards’,‖dated‖September‖1884.)
Andrews (1888-9) Andrews, William, North Country Poets: Poems and Biographies
(London: Simpkin Marshall, 1888-9), two volumes.
Armstrong (1993) Armstrong, Isobel, Victorian Poetry: Poetry, Poetics and Politics
(Abingdon: Routledge, 1993).
Ashraf (1975) Ashraf, Mary (ed), Political Verse and Song from Britain and
Ireland (East Berlin: Seven Seas Publishers, 1975).
Ashraf (1978) Ashraf, Mary, Introduction to Working-Class Literature in Great
Britain (East Berlin, 1978), two volumes: Part I. Poetry.
Ashton & Roberts Ashton, Owen and Stephen Roberts, The Victorian Working
(1999) Class Writer (London and New York: Mansell, 1999).
Backscheider (2005) Backscheider, Paula R., Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and
Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005).
Backscheider (2009) Backscheider, Paula R. and Catherine E. Ingrassia (eds),
British Women Poets of the Long Eighteenth Century (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).
Baines et al (2011) Baines, Paul, Julian Ferraro and Pat Rogers (ed), The Wiley-
Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and
Writing 1660-1789 (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2011).
Barrell & Bull (1974) Barrell, John and John Bull (eds), The Penguin Book of English
Pastoral Verse (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974).
Basker (2002) Basker, James G. (ed), Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems
about Slavery 1660-1810 (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 2002).
Batt (2017) Batt, Jennifer,‖‘‚Stirr’d‖up‖by‖Emulation‖of‖the‖Famous‖Mr.‖
Duck‛:‖Laboring‖Class‖Poetry‖in‖the‖1730s’,‖in‖Goodridge &
Keegan (2017), 24-38.
Behrendt & Linkin Behrendt, Stephen C. and Harriet Kramer Linkin (eds),
(1997) Approaches to Teaching British Women Poets of the Romantic
Period (New York: Modern Language Association, 1997).
Bell (2006) Bell,‖Kathleen,‖‘Class and Collaboration: What About the
Workers?’,‖in‖Silvia‖Bigliazzi and Sharon Wood (eds),
Collaboration in the Arts from the Middle Ages to the Present
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), 61-78.
Beveridge (1885) Beveridge, James, The Poets of Clackmannanshire, with
Numerous Specimens of their Writings (Glasgow: John S.
Wilson, 1885); via archive.org.
Binfield (2004) Binfield, Kevin (ed), Writings of the Luddites (Baltimore: John
Hopkins University Press, 2004).
Binfield (2009) Binfield,‖Kevin,‖‘Ned‖Ludd‖and‖Laboring-class
Autobiography’,‖in‖Eugene‖L.‖Stelzig‖(ed),‖Romantic
Autobiography in England (Abingdon: Ashgate, 2009), 161-78.
Binfield & Binfield, Kevin and William J. Christmas (eds), Teaching
Christmas (2019) Laboring-Class British Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Centuries (New York: Modern Languages Association, 2019).
Bisset (1896) Bisset, Alex. M. (ed), The Poets and Poetry of Linlithgowshire:
An Anthology of the County (Paisley: J. and R. Parlane, 1896).
BL/BLC British Library/British Library Catalogue.
Blackburne (1877) Blackburne, Elizabeth Owens, Illustrious Irish Women
(London, 1877), two volumes.
Blain et al (1990) Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (eds),
The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers
from the Middle Ages to the Present (London: B.T. Batsford,
1990).
Blair (2016) Blair, Kirstie (ed), Poets of the People’s Journal: Newspaper
Poetry in Victorian Scotland (Glasgow: Association for Scottish
Literary Studies, 2016)
Blair & Gorji (2012) Blair, Kirstie and Mina Gorji (eds), Class and the Canon:
Constructing Labouring-Class Poetry and Poetics, 1780-1900
Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
Bloomfield Circle Fulford, Tim and Lynda Pratt (eds) The Letters of Robert
(2012) Bloomfield and His Circle, assoc. ed. John Goodridge
(Romantic Circles Electronic Editions, 2012).
http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/bloomfield_letters/
Blunden (1929) Blunden, Edmund, Nature in English Literature (London:
Hogarth Press, 1929).
Boase (1908) Boase, Frederick Modern English Biography: Containing Many
Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Since the
Year 1850, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter (Truro:
printed for the author by Netherton and Worth, 1908), five
volumes.
Bold (1993) Bold, Valentina,‖‘Janet‖Little,‖the‖‚Scotch‖Milkmaid‛‖and‖
‚Peasant‖Poetry‛’,‖Scottish Literary Journal, 20, no. 2 (1993),
21-30.
Bold (1997) Bold,‖Valentina,‖‘Beyond‖‚The‖Empire‖of‖the‖Gentle‖Heart‛:‖
Scottish‖Women‖Poets‖of‖the‖Nineteenth‖Century’,‖in‖A
History of Scottish Women’s Writing, ed. Douglas Gifford and
Dorothy McMillan (Edinburgh, 1997), 246-61.
Bold (2007) Bold, Valentina, James Hogg: A Bard of Nature’s Making
(Berne: Peter Lang, 2007).
Boos (1995) Boos, Florence S.,‖‘Cauld‖Engle-Cheek: Working-Class
Women‖Poets‖in‖Victorian‖Scotland’,‖Victorian Poetry, 33, no.
1 (1995), 53-70.
Boos (1996) Boos,‖Florence‖S.,‖‘‚Oor‖Location‛:‖Scotswomen‖Poets‖and‖
the Transition‖from‖Rural‖to‖Urban‖Culture’,‖in‖Victorian
 Urban Settings: Essays on the Nineteenth-Century City and Its
Contexts, ed. Debra N. Mancope and D. J. Trela (New York
and London: Garland, 1996), 133-56.
Boos (1998) Boos, Florence S.,‖‘‚We‖would‖know‖again the‖fields...‛:‖The‖
rural poetry of Elizabeth Campbell, Jane Stevenson, and
Mary‖MacPherson’,‖Tulsa Studies in Women’s Writing, 1640-
1867 (Autumn 1998), 25-47.
Boos (2001b) Boos, Florence S.,‖‘The‖‚Homely‖Muse‛‖in‖Her‖Diurnal‖
Setting: The Periodical Poems of ‚Marie‛,‖Janet‖Hamilton,‖
and‖Fanny‖Forrester’,‖Victorian Poetry 39, no 2 (Summer
2001), 255-85.
Boos (2001a) Boos, Florence S.,‖‘The‖Poetics‖of‖the‖Working‖Classes’,‖
Victorian Poetry , 39, no 2. (2001), 103-9.
Boos (2002a) Boos, Florence S.,‖‘Working-class‖Poetry’,‖in‖A Companion to
Victorian Poetry, ed. Richard Cronin, Alison Chapman and
Antony H. Harrison (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, 2007), 204-228.
Boos (2002b) Boos, Florence‖S.,‖‘‚Nurs’d‖up‖amongst‖the‖scenes‖I‖have‖
describ’d‛:‖Political‖Resonances in the Poetry of Working
Class‖Women’,‖in‖Functions of Victorian Culture at the Present
Time, ed. Christine L. Krueger (Athens, Ohio: Ohio
University Press, 2002).
Boos (2008) Boos, Florence S. (ed), Working-Class Women Poets in Victorian
Britain (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2008).
Boos (2010) Boos, Florence S.,‖‘Not‖So‖Lowly‖Bards:‖Working-Class
Women Poets and Middle-Class‖Expectations’,‖in‖Burke‖&‖
Goodridge (2010), 21-37.
Boos (2017) Boos, Florence S., Memoirs of Victorian Working-Class Women:
The Hard Way Up (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).
Borland (1890) Borland, R., Yarrow: Its Poets and Poetry, second edition
(Galashiels: A. Walker & Son, 1908).
Bowers (1986) Bowers,‖Ann,‖‘A‖Study‖of‖the‖Poetry‖and‖Prose Descriptive
of the Yorkshire Dales 1730-1830, with Special Reference to
Materials‖in‖the‖Brotherton‖Library‖Collection’,‖M.Phil.‖
dissertation, Leeds, 1986.
Bradshaw & Bradshaw, David J. and Ozment, Suzanne (eds), The Voice of
Ozment (2000) Toil: 19th Century British Writings about Work (Athens, Ohio:
Ohio University Press, 2000).
Brennan (2003) Brennan, Catherine, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears:
Nineteenth-Century Women from Wales and English Language
Poetry (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003).
Brown (1889-90) Brown, Robert, Paisley Poets, with Brief Memoirs of Them, and
Selections from Their Poetry, two volumes (Paisley: J. & J.
Cook, 1889-90).
Burke & Goodridge Burke, Tim and John Goodridge (guest editors), Key Words, 8
(2010) (2010), special number on Labouring-class Writing.
Burmester English books by and related to women (book catalogue issued
by James Burmester Rare Books, Catalogue 38, undated).
Burnett et al (1984) Burnett, John, David Vincent and David Mayall (eds), The
Autobiography of the Working Class: An Annotated, Critical
Bibliography, Volume 1: 1790-1900 (New York: : New York
University Press, 1984).
By Himself (1996) Clare, John, By Himself (autobiographical writings), ed. Eric
Robinson and David Powell (Ashington and Manchester:
Mid-NAG and Carcanet, 1996).
Cafarelli (1995) Cafarelli,‖Annette‖Wheeler,‖‘The‖Romantic‖‚Peasant‛‖Poets‖
and‖their‖Patrons’,‖The Wordsworth Circle, 26 (1995), 77-87.
Carpenter (1998) Carpenter, Andrew (ed), Verse in English from Eighteenth-
Century Ireland (Cork: Cork University Press, 1998).
Carpenter (2017) Carpenter,‖Andrew,‖‘Working-class Writing in Ireland before
1800:‖‘Some‖must‖be‖poor—we‖cannot‖all‖be‖great’,‖in‖
Michael Pierse (ed), A History of Irish Working-Class Writing
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 72-88.
Carretta (1996) Carretta, Vincent (ed), Unchained Voices: An Anthology of Black
Authors in the English-Speaking World of the Eighteenth Century
(Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1996).
Carter (1972) Carter,‖Jefferson‖Matthew,‖‘The‖Unlettered‖Muse:‖The‖
Uneducated Poets and the concept of Natural Genius in
Eighteenth-Century‖England’,‖PhD‖dissertation,‖University‖
of Arizona, 1972 (via arizona.openrepositoy.com).
CBEL (1969) The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, ed. F.W.
Bateson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969),
four volumes plus supplement (I-V).
CBEL3 (1999) The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: IV, 1800-1900,
third edition, ed. Joanne Shattock (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999).
Charnell-White (2012) Charnell-White, Catherine (ed), Welsh Poetry of the French
Revolution, 1793-1805 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
2012).
Cheyp (1978) Cheyp at t’Price: Dialect verse from ‘Lancashire Life’
(Manchester: The Whitethorn Press, 1978).
Christmas (2001) Christmas, William J., The Lab’ring Muses: Work, Writing, and
the Social Order in English Plebeian Poetry, 1730-1830 (Newark:
University of Delaware Press and London: Associated
University Presses, 2001).
Christmas (2017) Christmas, William J., ‘The‖Verse‖Epistle‖and‖Laboring‖Class‖
Literary‖Sociability‖from‖Duck‖to‖Burns’,‖in‖Goodridge‖&‖
Keegan (2017), 39-54.
Coggeshall (1860) Coggeshall, William Turner, Poets and Poetry of the West, with
Biographical and Critical Notices (Columbus, OH, 1860)
Collins (1969) Collins,‖Philip,‖‘Thomas‖Cooper‖the‖Chartist:‖Byron‖and‖the‖
‚Poets‖of‖the‖Poor‛’,‖Nottingham‖Byron‖Lectures‖1969,‖
published on the Massey page and as a downloadable PDF
on http://byron.nottingham.ac.uk.
Colls (1977) Colls, Robert, The Collier’s Rant: Song and Culture in the
Industrial Village (London: Croom Helm, 1977).
Colman (1996) Colman, Anne Ulry, A Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Irish
Women Poets (Galway:‖Kenny’s‖Bookshop,‖1996).
Constantine (2017) Constantine, Mary-Ann, ‘‚British‖Bards‛:‖The‖Concept‖of‖
Laboring Class Poetry in Eighteenth-Century‖Wales’,‖in‖
Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 101-15.
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(online resource).
Copsey (2002) Copsey, Tony, Suffolk Writers who were born between 1800-1900
(Ipswich: Claude Cox, 2002).
Cowley, Cleveland Cowley, Bill (ed), A Cleveland Anthology: Dialect Poems from
(1963) Cleveland and the North Yorkshire Moors ([Ilkley]: Yorkshire
Dialect Society, 1963).
Craik (1830) Craik, George L., The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties;
illustrated by anecdotes (London: Charles Knight, 1830-1).
Craik (1868) Craik, George L., The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties, A
New Edition, Revised and Enlarged (London: Bell & Daldy,
1868),‖Bohn’s‖Illustrated‖Library‖single‖volume‖edition.
Cranbrook (2001) Parnassian Molehill: An Anthology of Suffolk Verse, by The Earl
of Cranbrook [1953], with a new preface by Ronald Blythe
(Aldeburgh: The Aldeburgh Bookshop, 2001).
Crawford (1976) Crawford, Thomas, Love, Labour and Liberty: The Eighteenth-
Century Scottish Lyric (Cheadle: Carcanet, 1976).
Crockett (1893) Crockett, W. S. (ed), Minstrelsy of the Merse: The Poets and
Poetry of Berwickshire, a County Anthology (Paisley: J. and R.
Parlane, 1893).
Croft & Beattie Croft, Justin and Simon Beattie, English Verse 1751-1800
(Faversham: Justin Croft and Chesham: Simon Beattie,
undated), Vol. I A-G; Vol. II H-P; Vol. III, R-Z.
Cross (1985) Cross, Nigel, The Common Muse: Life in Nineteenth-Century
Grub Street (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985),
esp. chapter 4: The Labouring Muse: Working-Class Writers
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CONVENTIONS

To simplify the process of uploading and upgrading the database, following earlier
problems of accessing and updating versions that were embedded on corporate web
pages, the Database is presented here simply as a single Word/PDF file, this being
the simplest, most widely available searchable file type. However, this format does
limit somewhat the ability to perform complex searches. It is hoped that such
searches will become available as material from the Database is incorporated more
fully in the Labouring Class Poets Online (LCPO) web page. Meanwhile we have
devised a limited set of marker symbols to assist with simple searches. They take the
form of code letters added in square brackets at the end of entries. Thanks are due to
Gordon Tait for sharing with us his listing of mineworker poets [M] in the Database.
Currently the marker symbols are as follows:

[A] Poet of Australian heritage or acculturation.

[B] Blacksmith

[C] Poet who was active in the Chartist movement or wrote about Chartism.

[C18] Eighteenth-century poet, who published or was active between 1700 and 1800.

[F] Female poet.

[I] Poet of Irish heritage or acculturation.

[LC1], [LC2], etc. This indicates that a poet is included in the six Pickering & Chatto
‘English‖labouring-class‖poets’‖volumes:‖the‖eighteenth-century series, [LC1] to
[LC3], and the nineteenth-century series [LC4] to [LC6].

[M] Poet who worked in the mining industries.

[OP] Out of period, i.e. inactive and had no publications in the period 1700-1900.

[R] Railwayman or worker in the railway industry.

[S] Poet of Scottish heritage or acculturation.

[SM] Shoemaker, bootmaker, cobbler, cordwainer and allied trades.

[T] Poet who worked in some capacity in the textile industry.

[US] Poet of American heritage or acculturation

[W] Poet of Welsh heritage or acculturation.

There is no hard and fast rule on where to file poets known by more than one
surname (for example women whose name has changed at marriage), but we do list
all known names, pen names and pseudonyms within each entry, so simple searches
should reveal them.

For technical reasons each entry in the Word file is restricted to a single paragraph,
so paragraph breaks within longer entries are indicated thus: ~

Surnames‖beginning‖Mac,‖Mc‖and‖M’‖are‖all‖filed‖under‖Mac.‖‘La‖Mont’‖is‖filed‖with‖
Lamont.

Where two poets have the same full name, they are filed chronologically by date of
birth if known, or the period in which they flourished if not.

Reference lists at the end of each entry are not comprehensive, and may simply
reflect the place(s) where information on a poet was discovered by the editor or
contributor. We cite ODNB, DWB and similar sources where possible, as these are
generally the most reliable and scholarly general biographical source; however, we
are aware that ODNB is not accessible to all readers, and that many of our named
poets are not represented on these sources, so in many entries we also now cite
Wikipedia, which often has valuable cultural and legacy details, and other open
sources, especially where they are the sole or the best source for a poet, e.g. the
useful Wikipedia entry for Alexander Barrass.
SOME STATISTICAL NOTES

Apart from the anonymous, pseudonymous and group productions variously

discussed or listed below there are currently 2,146 named poets in the list, 514 of
them, about a quarter, currently designated for one reason or another as uncertain
inclusions, and 89 marked‖‘OP’‖as‖having‖lived‖and‖published outside the period
1700-1900. A few of these are earlier, most are later; all are included to indicate and
represent the continuity of the tradition(s).

• 268 of the poets listed are identifiably female [F], a little under 13% of the total.

• 1,042 of the named poets, i.e. over half, are currently identified as being of
Scottish [S] origin or acculturation (some 125 of whom, over 12%, are women).
This reflects both the strength of the record in this material and the higher
valuation given to labouring class poets in Scotland this fuller record reflects,
particularly in the nineteenth century. A small number of the Scottish poets
wrote in Gaelic.

• 205 of them, over 10%, are identified as Irish [I] origin or acculturation (32
women among them), a few of them writing in Irish. There is crossover between
Scottish and Irish acculturation, since a number of poets moved from one country
to the other.

• 134 of them, just over 6%, are of Welsh origin or acculturation, largely writing in
the Welsh language. [W]

• The Database also includes representatives of the Manx, Jèrriais (Jersey) and
Guernesais (Guernsey) languages. The Cornish poets we are currently aware of
all wrote in English.

• We have not ventured much beyond the Atlantic Archipelago, though there are
several German women poets (Dippen, Karsch, Ludwig), and the French baker
poet Jean Reboul is listed. There is significant research in progress on labouring-
class‖poetry‖in‖France,‖for‖example‖Dinah‖Ribard’s‖‘Laboring‖Class‖poetry,‖
Baroque‖Poetry’‖project, described and discussed on the ENBaCH web page, and
there is work underway in other languages and nations too, which we shall
endeavour to include/describe in due course.

• Although emigration and diaspora issues have not been systematically analysed,
it is worth observing that at least 20 poets are noted here as having spent time in
 or emigrated to Australia; 20 to Canada; 10 to New Zealand, and over 50 to the
United States, the vast majority in all these cases being from Scotland; less
commonly from Ireland.

• Most of our poets are from the nineteenth-century period. About 250 of them,
roughly one eighth of the total, were active or published in the eighteenth
century.
INFORMAL NOTES ON GROUPINGS, CIRCLES AND CATEGORIES

(1) Scottish Poets

This is the largest and most distinctive general category of labouring-class poetry in
the British Isles, enormously fertile in terms of cultural and linguistic crossovers with
writings in English, Lowland Scots, Ulster Scots and (to a lesser extent) Scottish
Gaelic. ‘In‖no‖country‖in‖the‖world’,‖wrote‖Ayrshire‖poetry‖anthologist‖John‖
Macintosh,‖‘has‖the‖lyrical‖gift‖been‖more‖widely‖diffused‖than‖it‖has‖been‖in‖
Scotland’‖(1910,‖*v+).‖Perhaps the most important single factor in the proliferation of
Scottish labouring-class poetry, apart from its generally higher cultural valuation,
was the inclusion of poetry in so many local newspapers and periodical publications,
most notably the People’s Journal and the People’s Friend, with potentially huge
readerships, and a permanent hunger for new material. There are parallels in
England, such as Ben Brierley’s Journal in Manchester (Ben Brierley, qv), but
opportunities‖were‖less‖widespread‖than‖in‖Scotland‖and‖‘English‖poets‖of‖this‖class‖
lacked such an enriching culture to‖inspire‖and‖receive‖their‖work’,‖as‖Philip‖Collins‖
(1969) puts it in his Nottingham Byron lecture. A further factor was the richness of
late nineteenth-century‖anthologies‖of‖Scottish‖poetry,‖most‖notably‖D.‖H.‖Edwards’‖
sixteen volumes of Modern Scottish Poetry (1880-97), with their biographical
headnotes, and a very substantial number of solid regional anthologies, such as
Brown’s‖two‖volumes‖of‖Paisley‖poets (1889-90). Again there are English parallels,
for example in several county anthologies, but the record is much less substantial,
and there is less sense of this material being consistently valued. Glasgow and
Paisley are the most important centres, each with over 100 poets (with some
crossover between the two; see more on these below); there are also significant
numbers from Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh, and from many different rural
areas and smaller towns of Scotland. Bold notes that although the Scottish
autodidacts‖‘shared‖poetic‖concerns‖and‖techniques’‖they‖are‖‘characterized,‖above‖
all, by diversity‖of‖poetic‖voice’‖(2007,‖21).‖Since‖they‖constitute‖rather‖more‖than‖half‖
the poets in the present database, this seems to me important to understand.

Three groups are perhaps especially worth noting.

(a) The Glasgow and Dundee group of poets, centred in the later nineteenth-century
around Alex Campbell, radical editor of the Glasgow Sentinel and the Dundee Penny
Post,‖with‖its‖‘Poet’s‖Corner’,‖who‖encouraged‖many‖labouring-class poets including
Ellen Johnston. There were many other local groups of poets in nineteenth-century
Scotland based around newspapers and journals. Recent research by Kirstie Blair
including her anthology of its poetry (Blair (2016)) has shown the vital, even
overwhelming importance of the Dundee newspaper the People’s Journal, and its
sister publication the People’s Friend, which actively encouraged, and became a major
repository for, labouring-class poetry.

(b) The Paisley poets (Charles Fleming, Robert Nicoll, Robert Tannahill, William
Thom, and very many others). See Tom‖Leonard’s‖fine‖anthology,‖Radical Renfrew,
and its predecessor, Brown (1889-90),‖which‖proudly‖declares‖that‖‘every‖fifth‖person‖
in‖Paisley‖is‖a‖poet’.‖The‖weavers‖of‖Paisley‖have‖been‖seen‖as‖forming‖a‖particularly‖
distinctive and prolific group of poets. The Paisley figure of over 100 labouring-class
poets is striking for a modestly sized town, and reflects both the large number of
weaver-poets in the town, and the willingness of local printers and publishers to
take on their verses and songs (reflecting the popularity and marketability of such
poetry).‖‘No‖town‖in‖the‖empire,‖nor‖even‖the‖world,‖we‖feel‖certain,‖has‖produced‖
so‖many‖poets‖as‖that‖of‖Paisley’,‖D.‖H.‖Edwards‖wrote‖in‖1881‖(3‖(1881),‖287).‖For‖a‖
more careful and sceptical appraisal of the phenomenon of the Paisley weaver-poets
see‖Sandy‖Hobbs,‖‘A‖Nest‖of‖Singing‖Birds?’,‖in‖James‖&‖McCrae,‖77-85.

(c)‖Scottish‖women‖poets:‖‘I‖have‖been‖able‖to‖locate‖roughly‖three‖dozen‖Scottish‖
working class poets [in the Victorian period] who published at least a volume of
poetry’,‖writes‖Florence‖Boos‖(1995),‖55.‖Thanks‖largely‖to‖Professor‖Boos’s‖research‖
this database now lists over 100 Scottish female poets. They include such distinctive
and important writers as Janet Hamilton and Ellen Johnston. Also important in this
recovery‖process‖has‖been‖Catherine‖Kerrigan’s‖Anthology of Scottish Women Poets
(1991).‖In‖addition‖to‖the‖print‖traditions,‖as‖McCue‖(1997)‖notes‖(citing‖Kerrigan’s‖
Introduction),‖‘the‖importance‖of‖women’s‖role‖in‖the‖dissemination of the ballad
tradition‖through‖performance‖is‖now‖undisputed’.

Over‖half‖of‖the‖final‖volume‖of‖Edwards’s‖Modern Scottish Poets (vol. 16, 1897) is

given over to an invaluable series of indexes, which index the full series not only by
name (133-60), but by birthplace (161-86) and occupation (187-207), as well as the
titles of poems and songs (209-309). The birthplaces and occupations are also
usefully summarised in the introduction (x-xi).

(2) Welsh Poets

On Welsh labouring-class poets in the early part of the period see especially
Constantine (2017). A majority of Welsh labouring-class poets in the period wrote
and published in the Welsh language. They are strongly represented in both of its
two central traditions, canu caeth (strict metre) and canu rhydd (free-metre poetry)
and, since much of the eighteenth-century Welsh intelligentsia came from
rural/artisan backgrounds, cannot easily be assimilated into English models of
labouring-class‖poets‖and‖poetry:‖to‖be‖‘labouring-class’‖and‖a‖writer‖was‖far‖from
uncommon. Class and patronage are also different in their nature and expectations
from other parts of the British Isles. Traditions such as hymn-making and interlude
writing, cultural categories such as that of the gwerin (folk) and the bardd gwlad
(country‖poet)‖are‖relevant‖here,‖as‖are‖the‖families‖of‖rural‖poets‖such‖as‖the‖‘Cilie’‖
family‖group,‖the‖oral‖and‖wandering‖balladeers,‖and‖the‖‘bardic‖circles‖which‖
flourished in the industrial parts of south-east‖Wales‖during‖the‖nineteenth‖century’‖
(OCLW, under‖‘Clic‖y‖Bont’).

(3) Some English city groupings

Amongst the most prolific urban areas are Blackburn with about 40 poets, Greater
Manchester with about 50, Newcastle and Durham with about 40, Nottingham,
Leicester and Bristol with at least a dozen each. The following examples are mainly
northern English cities, perhaps significantly.

(a) Newcastle upon Tyne and the North-east of England. Tyneside poets,
documented in Allan’s Tyneside Song, and William Bell’s Rhymes of the Northern Bards
include printers and other city artisans, and a very strong contingent of mineworkers
(see esp. Harker (1999)), of whom Joseph Skipsey is the best known as a published
poet,‖while‖Tommy‖Armstrong’s‖songs‖are‖still‖sung‖on‖Tyneside.‖Other‖notable‖
performative figures included in the database are Ned Corvan, Bobby Nunn, Billy
Purvis, George‖‘Geordie’ Ridley and Joe Wilson; there are many fine songwriters
including‖Joseph‖Robson,‖and‖the‖entertainer‖Rowland‖‘Rowley’‖Harrison‖(of‖
uncertain origin so not included here). The output of song rather than other kinds of
verse is a feature of Tyneside labouring class poetry, perhaps because of its
sociability,‖and‖the‖many‖outlets‖available‖for‖song,‖in‖‘free‖and‖easies’,‖public‖
houses, clubs, theatres and music halls, and perhaps also because the difficulties in
finding the materials, space and time to write longhand—eloquently described by
Skipsey. Songs can far more easily be composed orally and are generally short, and
fed the strongly performative character of Tyneside labouring-class verse. There
were traditions of competitive song and verse writing among Tyneside coalminers,
reflected in the work of poets like Robert Elliott. A tradition of sociable description
of‖miners’‖lives‖in‖poetry‖may‖also‖be‖traced‖through‖poems‖like‖Edward‖Chicken’s‖
The Collier’s Wedding (1730),‖Thomas‖Wilson’s‖The Pitman’s Pay (1826), and Matthew
Tate’s‖Pit Life in 1893 (1894) (see also the entry for the neglected poet Alexander
Barrass). A very powerful tradition of autodidacticism and self-improvement
(nowadays‖slightly‖better‖known,‖thanks‖to‖Lee‖Hall’s‖play‖The Pitmen Painters),
feeds into the achievements of many of the north-east coalminer poets and
songwriters.‖In‖June‖2014‖the‖‘Festival‖of‖Mining‖Literature‖and‖Poetry‖in‖North-East
England’‖was‖held‖over‖a‖weekend‖at‖the‖Mining‖Institute‖in‖Newcastle‖
(http://www.thejournal.co.uk/culture/arts-culture-news/culture-coalfield-celebrated-
newcastle-mining-7278991), and included, along with panel discussions, much music
and‖song‖since,‖as‖has‖been‖said,‖‘north‖east‖culture‖lives‖on‖the‖tongue’. The poetry
of‖the‖coalfield‖has‖also‖been‖celebrated‖by‖folksinger‖Jez‖Lowe‖in‖his‖song‖‘The‖
Pitmen‖Poets’‖(on‖the‖album‖The Ballad Beyond, Tanobie, 2014). Lowe sings of these
poets as a source of knowledge and family storytelling, and as great men of the past:
‘These‖things‖I‖know,‖cuz‖the‖pitmen‖poets‖told‖me‖so’.‖(There‖are‖parallel‖traditions‖
of autodidacticism and self-improvement in other areas of mining and working-class
life,‖as‖shown,‖for‖example,‖by‖the‖miner’s‖libraries‖and institutes of the South Wales
coalfield.)

(b) The Manchester group: one of the most high-profile and prolific English city
group‖in‖the‖nineteenth‖century.‖The‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖(named‖after‖the‖Manchester‖
public house where they met) went on to launch the Lancashire Authors
Association, and contributed to an anthology, The Festive Wreath (1842), edited by
John Bolton Rogerson, which included contributions by John Critchley Prince,
Isabella Varley, Eliza Craven Green, George Richardson, Robert Story, (qqv), Robert
Rose (c. 1806-1849, the West Indian born self-styled‖‘Bard‖of‖Colour’, not included in
this database), Elijah Ridings, William Gaspey (qqv), Richard Wright Proctor, John
Mills, Thomas Arkell Tidmarsh, John Scholes, and Eliza Battye. It included
Alexander‖Wilson’s‖poem‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Corner’‖(first‖printed‖as‖a‖broadside,‖also‖
printed in Maidment, 163-6), which was sung at the second meeting of the
Lancashire Poetical Soirée and refers to 28 local poets and supporters (their names
are annotated by hand by Isabella Vardy on a copy reproduced by Maidment). The
widely-distributed local and regional publication Ben Brierley’s Journal (Ben Brierley,
qv) regularly published verse by other Manchester labouring-class poets, most
notably the Irish-born textile worker Fanny Forrester (qv). There is a strongly
Mancunian‖flavour‖to‖Brian‖Maidment’s‖pioneering 1989 anthology, The Poorhouse
Fugitives, and to the volumes he collected while researching it, now held in the
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) labouring-class poetry collection. Manchester
was made a UNESCO City of Literature in 2017, partly in recognition of the strong
poetry traditions noted here.

(c) Liverpool. The city, historically a major port with a thriving working-class and
Irish immigrant culture, has recently woken up to some of the richness of its heritage
of labouring-class writers, and there has been an important project on the twentieth-
century prose-writer George Garrett (1929-2008; www.georgegarrettarchive.co.uk/)
and much new attention given to the blind poet, sailor and campaigner Edward
Rushton (qv), with a critical edition and a monograph from Liverpool University
Press, major exhibitions in the city and even a church service at Liverpool Cathedral
in 2014 marking the bicentenary of his death. Many other labouring-class poets
passed through Liverpool, had poems published there, worked there for a time or
emigrated from it, though there are also some native Liverpudlian poets listed here
such as Joshua Marsden and George Mercer, John Shaw and the poor shoemakers
Charles Taylor Stephens and John Walker, and major figures like Rushton (whose
father was also a labouring-class poet) and William Roscoe (qqv). Recent work by
Franca Dellarosa and others has highlighted the significant group of early Liverpool
antislavery poets including Roscoe, Rushton and Irish-born Hugh Mulligan (qqv).
As with Manchester, there are a number of Welsh-born poets associated with the
city, as well as Irish emigrants.

(d) The Blackburn group. James (1963) names Richard Dugdale and William Gaspey
(qqv), while Maidment has Thomas Ince, William Baron and George Hull. In fact
there are three Blackburn Barons (John, John Thomas and William) as well as William
Billington,‖‘The‖Blackburn‖Poet’,‖who‖according‖to‖Iain‖Rowley’s‖entry,‖‘established
a Mutual Improvement Society, and ran a beer-house‖on‖Bradshaw‖Street‖from‖1875’,‖
which‖was‖known‖as‖‘Poet’s‖Corner’,‖he‖writes,‖‘on‖account‖of‖it‖functioning‖as‖a‖
forum‖for‖Blackburn’s‖sizeable‖circle‖of‖dialect‖poets’.‖There‖were‖other Blackburn
poets too, often weavers. See the Hull anthology for more information; there is also
valuable material on the website, www.cottontown.org. It should be noted that the
tradition of Lancashire dialect poetry, so popular in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries,‖remains‖strong.‖Important‖recent‖‘deep’‖research‖into‖Blackburn‖
newspaper poetry by Andrew Hobbs and Claire Januszewski of the University of
Central‖Lancashire‖(‘The‖Bards‖of‖Blackburn‖and‖the‖Centrality‖of Local Newspapers
to‖Victorian‖Poetry’,‖2013),‖widens‖our‖knowledge‖of‖Blackburn‖labouring-class (and
other) poetry, and suggests the need to investigate local poetry through newspapers
more than through published volumes. They quote the Blackburn poet and
journalist John Walker (qv) as saying that the‖town‖‘produced‖more‖weavers‖of‖
calico‖and‖of‖verse‖than‖any‖other‖town‖in‖the‖United‖Kingdom’,‖and‖they‖give‖a‖
striking‖picture‖of‖the‖poets’‖pubs‖of‖Blackburn:

Blackburn’s poets had their regular haunts. There was the Black Horse on
Northgate, ‘the rendezvous of lawyers, auctioneers, agents, reporters, local poets,
and litterateurs’, run by Will Durham, known as ‘the Blackburn chronologist’.
Journalist and poet William Whittaker recalled a visit with another reporter in the
1850s or 1860s, where they found John Boothman of the Blackburn Weekly Times
and ‘on the other side sat the burly bard of Ribblesdale, Dugdale, and two other
 poets—Billington and Baron, and snoring in the chimney corner sat John C Prince
<’

Billington himself became a pub landlord across the same street, at the Nag’s
Head, although ‘the descent from Parnassus to the beer-cellar < from Helicon to
Dutton’s brewery <’ seemed wrong to some of his friends. William Abram
describes one night when about 20 members of the Literary Club went for a drink
at Billington’s pub. ‘Among the party were poets, chief of them the host himself;
excellent elocutionists, singers, journalists, and literary critics< Recitation,
criticism, song, discussion, comical story, and bandied ‚chaff,‛ succeeded each
other’ until a passing policeman reported them all for drinking after hours; the
chief constable quietly let the matter drop.

Billington named his next place, a beerhouse in Bradshaw Street, ‘Poet’s Corner’,
and from 1875 until his death in 1885 it was an important centre of working-class
literary and educational activity, with Sunday evening debates (‘Wordsworth v.
Byron’, for example), lectures and poetry readings.

These meeting places were overwhelmingly male—in Manchester, Isabella Varley

had to hide behind a curtain at the Sun Inn to hear one of her own poems being
read. For such women, the local press was essential in bringing together writers
and readers who could not easily meet in person.

See Hobbs (2013; William Billington, John Baron, Richard Dugdale, John Critchley
Prince, Isabella Varley, qqv). Hobbs and Januszewski also point out that William
Billington’s poem ‘Where Are The Blackburn Poets Gone?’ (1882) names 26 local
poets:

I met an acquaintance a day or two since,

A friend of the reedmaker poet, JOHN PRINCE,
A man whose acquaintance with men and with books
Hath seldom been rivalled, ’twas Mr. CHARLES ROOKS,
The ‘Junius of Blackburn’ named, once on a time,
A master of prose and a critic of rhyme;
Whilst a tear and a tribute were paid to old John,
He asked,—Where the poets of Blackburn had gone?
My answer was ready, if time for a walk
Were at his disposal, the toil by the talk
Would be doubly repaid; he endorsed the remark,
Took my arm, and we sauntered along through the Park.
 This scene was once rural and rugged enough,
A quaint rustic valley called Pemberton Clough,
Where ‘Ribblesdale’s’ gooseberry garden once shone,
But alas! both the ‘bard’ and the garden are gone.
The time had been short but the changes were vast,
Our thoughts and our sympathies turned to the past,
And, with fond recollection, flew back to those days
When we loitered up Longshaw, or strolled through Damheys
With a posse of poets, though local in name,
Whose merit might match some of national fame—
Some are dead, some have fled, some have ceased to sing on,
But the most of the poets of Blackburn are gone!
Since HODGSON, and BARON, and DUGDALE are dead;
Since CHADBURN, and WALKDEN, and DALY are fled;
Since CLEMESHA, BRADLEY, and STEWART, and HUGHES
Have vanished; since SALISBURY deserted the muse;
Since ABRAM, and WALKER, and RAWCLIFFE, and YATES
Seem to rest on their laurels, defying the fates,
There’s JARDINE, there’s WHITAKER, WALSH, LITTLE JOHN—
Why, why are these silent, and where have those gone?
I replied, being queried, which did I like best,
The singing of GRAHAM, the silence of WEST,
The language of LITTLETON, least understood,
Or CHIP’S single song, and his ‘goose’?—which was good,
Don’t hide in a napkin your talent, like WEST,
Nor scruple to sing, lest you should not sing best:
The steps to the heavens that glitter up yon,
Each rests on one lower, and all upon one...

Identifiable here are the labouring-class poets John‖Baron,‖John‖Charlton‖(‘Little‖John‖

the‖Poet’),‖Thomas‖Chippendale‖(‘Chip’,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Lads‖of‖Chippendale’,‖
possibly‖his‖‘single‖song’),‖John‖Daly,‖Richard‖Dugdale,‖Joseph‖Hodgson,‖John‖
Critchley Prince, John and Richard Rawcliffe, George Salisbury, John Walker (b.
1845), John Walsh, William Whitaker and Henry Yates (qqv), and the printers
William Abram (see William Billington) and James Walkden (see John Baron).
(William Alexander Abram (1835-94) was a key figure in the Blackburn literary
community,‖a‖printer‖and‖journalist‖who‖was‖appointed‖Blackburn’s‖librarian‖in‖
1860, and then the editor of the Blackburn Times from 1867, going on to write a
substantial history of the town (1877) as well as memoirs of Blackburn characters
and events. Several of his dialect poems were also published in the newspapers in
the 1860s.) As‖noted‖above,‖Alexander‖Wilson’s‖poem‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Corner’‖in‖the
Manchester‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖anthology‖The Festive Wreath uses a similar method of naming
each poet, as a kind of bonding exercise, though not in quite the elegiac way this
verse does it.

(e)‖ The‖ Bradford‖ group‖ (centred‖ around‖ Abraham‖ Holroyd’s stationary shop and
newspaper). Significant names include John and Joseph Ackroyd, Stephen Fawcett
(The‖‘Ten‖Hours‖Movement‖Poet’),‖Ben‖Hardacre,‖Ben‖Preston,‖James‖Waddington.‖
The West Riding of Yorkshire more generally, including the textile-manufacturing
and industrial cities/towns of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield and Sheffield
(see next entry), were prolific areas for labouring-class poets in the period.

(f) The Sheffield group, identified by James (1963) and further explored by Lovelock;
the best known are Ebenezer Elliott and James Montgomery but apart from these
two relatively privileged figures there are also distinctive artisanal writers grouped
around‖Sheffield’s‖ancient‖small‖steel‖manufacturing‖industry, including oral poets
like the filesmith Joseph Mather. Yann Lovelock adds: During the 18th century, the
labouring class experience of poetry in Sheffield was largely dominated by
performing balladeers who sold single copies of their popular songs, often comic
and scurrilous—although Joseph Mather, the best known, was influenced by the
growing radicalism of the 1790s to criticism of the authorities too. Humanitarian
concern, often of a radical nature, and the confidence to express it, was centred about
the writers James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliott, both of whom were largely self-
educated and had known poverty and hardship before climbing to prosperity.
Montgomery was especially influential through his editorship of the Sheffield Iris.
This was taken over by John Holland (originally apprenticed as a maker of optical
instruments), a poet himself and an encourager of city poets from a labouring
background. Political radicalism was later taken further by the Chartist poets Edwin
Gill,‖J.‖M’Owen‖and,‖to‖a‖certain‖extent,‖by‖Mary‖Hutton.‖Another frequent poetic
theme was topographical description in an expanding city of frequent change. This
too was an aspect of the work of Holland and Hutton, as it was of James Wills, James
Senior and later writers, mixed with civic pride in the progress to which they were
contributing. Senior and H. P. Brufton added intimacy by writing in dialect, as did
those from later in the 20th century, although in many cases this writing is
increasingly marked by nostalgia for a social solidarity which is disappearing. From
the second half of the 19th century there had also been a growing readiness to
express the poverty and harsh working conditions of their personal experience.
Overall there was a sense of community felt at all levels by Sheffield writers, never
more so than in the welcome given to the many from elsewhere who had settled in
the city and who make up a third of those noted here.
(g) The Nottingham ‘Sherwood‖Forest’‖group: many labouring-class poets gathered
around‖the‖Howitts’‖bookshop and the circle of William and Mary Howitt, and
William’s‖brother‖Richard: they included the songwriter Frederick Enoch, Sidney or
Sydney Giles, the framework-knitter Thomas Lee, the basket-maker Thomas Miller,
the Sneinton stocking-maker Robert Millhouse, the Carlton stockinger Samuel
Plumb, and‖their‖‘leader’‖and‖biographer,‖the‖extraordinary‖Spencer‖T.‖Hall, known
as ‘The‖Sherwood‖Forester’.‖Dawn‖Whatman’s‖recent‖recovery‖of‖the‖lace-runner
poet Mary Bailey breaks the male monopoly and reminds us that the city had a vast
army‖of‖female‖labour‖in‖its‖textile‖industries‖and‖was‖sometimes‖known‖as‖the‖‘city‖
of‖women’.‖(We‖also‖list‖a‖number‖of‖male‖textile‖workers‖from‖the‖city‖including‖
glovemakers and stocking-weavers.) The Chartist poet Thomas Cooper wrote in a
short story (see‖Collins,‖1969),‖‘If‖any‖locality‖in‖England‖can‖tend‖to‖elevate‖the‖
sentiments‖of‖its‖young‖inhabitants,‖one‖would‖think‖it‖to‖be‖Nottingham’,‖reflecting‖
the strong autodidactic traditions in the city as well as its general situation (on which
see also Robert‖Millhouse’s‖poem‖Sherwood Forest.) On the Howitts, see inter alia, Hall
(1893), 308-15; and Cedric Bonnell, The Howitt Fellowship ([Nottingham: privately
printed, c.‖1904+),‖‘Lions‖of‖Lambkinville’‖series,‖no.‖9,‖reprinted‖from‖the‖Nottingham
Daily Express, 1904. Bonnell’s‖series of small pamphlets covers twelve cultural figures
from Nottingham’s‖history,‖seven‖of‖them‖writers‖and‖four of these given entries
here; several of the other pamphlets have relevance to the labouring-class and self-
taught traditions, too. What is suggested in these documents from a century ago is
the rich literary and popular printing culture in nineteenth-century Nottingham. The
account in pamphlet no. 2, for example, of the Nottingham ‘character’ Benjamin
Mayo,‖‘The Old General’ (b. c.‖1779),‖talks‖of‖his‖role‖as‖a‖‘flying‖stationer’,‖who
would often be seen on the streets of the city, ‘vending‖the‖penny‖lines‖in‖chap-
books, ballads, and topical broadsides of most recent issuance from the two or three
Nottingham presses then‖producing‖that‖class‖of‖literature’ (p. 4: on The Old General
see also Shepard (1973), 97-8).‖Nottingham’s 2016 elevation to the status of a
UNESCO City of Literature rests partly on the‖strength‖of‖the‖city’s‖deep history of
publishing, writing and reading, in both popular and literary genres. Rowena Edlin-
White’s‖new‖study,‖Exploring Nottinghamshire Writers (Nottingham: Five Leaves,
2017) includes a number of labouring-class poets in her catalogue of
Nottinghamshire writers, past and present. There are 27 Nottingham poets included
in the present database.

(h) Leicester poets. See Newitt (2006 and 2008) on the rich Leicester tradition of
Chartist poetry and song. Notable Leicester figures include Thomas Cooper, Joseph
Dare, John Henry Bramwich, Alfred C. Brant, William Jones, Millicent Langton and
Ruth Wills. Outlets for poetry included the short-lived working-class‖journal‖‘The‖
Leicester‖Movement’‖(first‖issue‖dated‖February‖9th‖1850—see Newitt (2008), 5).

(i) Bristol poets. Thomas Chatterton (qv), William Wordsworth’s‖‘marvellous‖boy’,‖

though largely unregarded in the city in his pitifully short lifetime, became a
formative influence on the Bristol tradition and beyond, especially on the major
Romantic poets who were born or who lived there, most notably Robert Southey and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Coleridge and Wordsworth first met in the city).
Significant labouring-class figures include Ann Yearsley, William Job, John Frederick
Bryant, and later the socialist shoemaker-poets John Gregory and John Wall, and the
‘Clifton‖Poet’‖Peter‖Gabbitass, all included here.‖Examples‖of‖the‖anonymous‖‘Clifton‖
Lamplighter’s‖Christmas‖Appeals’‖broadsheet‖verses‖are‖preserved‖in‖the‖city‖
library’s‖local‖studies‖collection.

(j) Birmingham poetry. A key figure in this black country industrial city was the one-
time foundryman, publican, singer and radical John Freeth, alias John Free, alias the
Birmingham poet, whose inn The Leicester Arms became a hub of literary, musical
and political activity. His extended entry below and that of James Woodhouse (of
nearby Rowley Regis) tell us much about eighteenth-century Birmingham and its
labouring-class poets. Birmingham also fostered‖eccentric‖figures‖like‖John‖‘Brush’‖
Collins, actor and staymaker, and John Crane, the ‘Bird‖at‖Bromsgrove’,‖watchmaker‖
and general dealer, who combined his literary and commercial activities through the
sale‖of‖chapbooks‖of‖his‖doggerel‖poems‖that‖also‖contrived‖to‖list‖the‖‘vast‖array‖of‖
goods and trinkets available from the author: jewellery, nutcrackers, cutlery, musical
instruments, shuttlecocks and battledores, magnets, pocket books, Tunbridge-ware,
cricket‖bats‖and‖other‖toys’.‖Birmingham‖was‖known‖for‖its‖small‖foundries‖and‖
workshops, and its enterprising production of cheap, often imitation‖‘Brummagem’‖
ware. Other labouring-class poets of the city include the anonymous ‘Evanus‖the‖
Song-smith’,‖forging‖lyrics‖and‖metalwork‖in‖his‖Rhymes from a Rhyming Forge,
temperance‖poet‖Reuben‖Chandler,‖radical‖tinsmith‖George‖‘Ion’‖Holyoake,‖and
Edward‖‘Commodore’‖Mead,‖popular‖Chartist‖lecturer‖and‖author‖of‖‘The‖Steam‖
King’.

(4) Occupational and other groupings

(a) Professions and roles

Most prominent in this database are‖weavers,‖followed‖by‖shoemaker‖poets‖(‘Sons‖of‖

Crispin’;‖see‖Winks‖(1883); Crispin Anecdotes, and Hobsbawm & Scott (1980),
especially the sources listed on 90n25). There are about 125 shoemakers (SM) and
over 230 weavers of one sort or other (included in a grand total of 435 poets involved
in the textile industry (T) in some way). The researcher Gordon Tait has identified
110 miners (of various ores and minerals, especially coal and lead), pitmen or colliers
(M) in the database. On coalminers see especially Harker (1999) and Lloyd (1978).
One could also identify many other work-based grouping, such as domestic
servants, tailor-poets, military (army and navy) poets, and others including (to give a
few examples) approximately 32 painters, 20 blacksmiths (B), 16 policemen, 18
postmen, 10 barbers and hairdressers. Edwards, 16 (1897), includes an index of
professions for all of his Scottish poets. Particularly in Scotland, a number of rural
occupations are used as identification: thus there are about 30 identified shepherds,
and 25 herders.

The weavers have a strong identity, especially in local groups like Paisley (see
above), and‖the‖Ulster‖‘Weaver‖Poets’,‖on‖whom‖see‖Hewitt‖(1974),‖but the
shoemakers retain the strongest self-identity as a group even after becoming poets.
The‖novelty‖aspect‖of‖a‖poet’s‖labouring‖profession‖is‖used‖in‖many‖other‖
soubriquets,‖so‖for‖example‖Alexander‖McGilvray‖is‖‘The‖Rhyming‖Baker’,‖William‖
Cruickshank‖‘The‖Rhyming‖Molecatcher’. Such habits of presentation pre-date even
Stephen‖Duck’s‖presentation‖to‖the‖public‖in‖1730‖as‖‘The‖Thresher‖Poet’,‖so‖that‖the‖
Thames‖ferryman‖John‖Taylor‖in‖the‖early‖seventeenth‖century‖was‖‘The‖Water‖
Poet’,‖John‖Clavel‖the‖‘Highwayman‖Poet’ (also a seventeenth-century figure).

(b) Locality and personality

Local identification is also prominent, especially in the later period: thus Spencer T.
Hall‖is‖‘The‖Sherwood‖Forester’,‖Joseph‖Gwyer‖‘The‖Penge‖Poet’,‖Francis‖Davis‖‘The‖
Belfast‖Man’,‖John‖Clare‖‘The‖Northamptonshire‖Peasant’‖(his‖publishers’‖rather‖than‖
his own term, which Clare often mis-spells‖as‖‘pheasant’).

Some broader categories are used in self-identification, thus, among the women
poets for example, Ellen Johnson boldly and clearly styles herself‖‘The‖Factory‖Girl’,‖
Sarah Parker Douglas (who had emigrated, like many others, from Ireland to
Scotland)‖‘The‖Irish‖Girl’.‖Mary‖MacPherson,‖who‖wrote‖in‖Gaelic‖and‖English,‖
acquired a Gaelic soubriquet which translates into English approximately as‖‘Big‖
Mary‖of‖the‖Songs’.‖There‖was‖even‖a‖poet‖known‖as‖‘The‖Licentious‖Poet’,‖the‖
Northumberland miller Thomas Whittell (1683-1736), working in the tradition of
comic verse and performative entertainment also associated with Ned Ward,
Emanuel Collins and other publican poets.
Local institutions such as the mechanics’ institutes, literary and philosophical
societies, civic and subscription libraries also became centres of activity for
autodidactic poets in the nineteenth century, and in some cases, important
instruments of publication and distribution, supplementing older patronage
systems.‖Thus‖for‖example,‖Henry‖Houlding’s‖beautifully‖and‖expensively‖produced‖
and illustrated volume, Rhymes and Dreams: Legends of Pendle Forest, and Other Poems
(1895),‖was‖published‖in‖Burnley‖‘by‖B.‖Moore‖for‖the‖Joint‖Committee‖of‖the
Literary‖and‖Scientific‖Club‖and‖the‖Literary‖and‖Philosophical‖Society’.‖Evidently
his reference to Pendle Forest would have sparked the local patriotism behind its
generous funding. A‖copy‖of‖John‖Gregory’s‖volume‖Idyls of Labour (1871) in the
Local Studies Collection at Bristol Public Library (B18858) has an added leaf among
its‖preliminaries‖with‖a‖printed‖commendation‖by‖St‖Agnes‖Workman’s‖Club‖of‖
Newfoundland‖Road,‖Bristol,‖dated‖October‖1883,‖expressing‖the‖club’s‖anxiety‖to‖
‘bring‖this‖Volume‖of Poems, by one of their Members, more prominently before
their‖Fellow‖Working‖Men‖and‖the‖general‖Public’.

(c) Precocious and/or tragic youth

Youth is sometime used as an identifier, so there are a number of boy poets as well
as a pair of prodigious young sisters, Harriett and Maria Falconar (qqv). Precocious
and/or tragic youths form a distinct group, not necessarily labouring-class but
presented to the world in a very similar way, as a kind of miracle of nature.
Lonsdale’s‖headnote‖on‖Maria‖and‖Harriett Falconar (1989), 451, briefly discusses the
phenomenon and lists a number of them. They are mainly included in the present
database where they are of identifiable labouring-class origin. A pair of later
examples (neither are included in the database) are John Buchannan of Whitby, who
published Albert: a poem in two cantos. Hilda; and other poems (London, 1828, second
edition 1831) when he was under eighteen (Johnson 46 (2003), nos. 274-5), and Janet
Wilkinson, who published Sketches and Legends amid the Mountains of North Wales: in
verse (London, 1840), aged 15 (Johnson 46 (2003), no. 254). On this subject see Laurie
Langbauer, The Juvenile Tradition: Young Writers and Prolepsis, 1750-1835 (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2016), which has chapters on Thomas Chatterton (qv) and
Henry Kirke White (qv). Among the many interesting things Langbauer has to say is
that Robert Bloomfield (qv), ‘farmer’s‖boy’, and Mary Maria Colling (qv), ‘servant
girl’,‖‘demonstrated‖how‖the‖appelations‖‚boy‛‖and‖‚girl‖‚could designate class
status‖as‖well‖as‖age’‖(47).

High mortality rates cut off a number of young poets in their teens or early twenties,
and they were sometimes, like Chatterton or (in early days) Keats, subsequently
celebrated by anthologists and critics as prodigious or tragic phenomena; several are
included. Greg Crossan (1991), 31, comments on the fact that John Clare had in his
library‖‘an‖alarming‖number‖of‖volumes‖by‖poets‖who‖died‖young—Keats at 25,
Richard Gall at 24, Henry Kirke White at 21, Chatterton at 17, William Thimbleby at
16,‖Edward‖Lenton‖at‖15’‖(all‖of‖these‖except‖Lenton have entries below).

(d) Disability / blindness / injury

Disability, particularly blindness, is also used as an identifier, and there are more
than 40 poets in the database who are identified as being partially or completely
blind, as well as a number of individuals who suffered the loss of limbs or hands, or
became paralysed or otherwise disabled, often in industrial accidents. Health
breakdown, particularly associated with periods in mining work, may be given as a
reason for the person having turned to verse, or a reason to appeal for subscribers or
readers. Writing poetry or selling chapbooks and broadsides of verses could provide
vital income for those unable to do physical labour.

A search of the database for disabled women poets (using the search words
‘disabled’,‖‘blind’‖and‖‘lame’),‖conducted‖at‖the‖end‖of‖January‖2019,‖identified‖28‖
names, most of these being blind women. Further such searches would no doubt
yield further specific disability groupings among the poets.

The‖image‖of‖the‖‘blind‖poet’‖both‖evokes‖sympathy‖and‖appeals‖to‖an‖ancient‖
perceived special relationship between poetry and blindness, most prominently in
Milton and, traditionally, Homer. Accounts of disability and poor health may
contribute to the idea of the labouring-class poet as having to strive against multiple
disadvantages, and therefore as being worthy of sympathetic support. On the subject
of disability in the earlier period, see especially The Idea of Disability in the Eighteenth
Century, ed. Chris Mounsey (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2014), which
includes chapters on Priscilla Poynton and Thomas Gills (qqv).

(5) Political and social themes, genres and key influences

(a)‖The‖‘School‖of‖Duck’‖and‖other‖focuses‖of‖influence.

Poets including Robert Tatersal and Mary Collier directly responded to the success
of Stephen Duck’s‖‘The‖Thresher’s‖Labour’‖in‖creating‖their‖own‖equivalent‖bodies‖of‖
work. Several other figures could be similarly cited as forming, or drawing out a
‘school’‖of‖labouring-class writers, most prominently Robert Burns, but to a lesser
extent John Clare, Robert Bloomfield, and some of the more influential of the later
nineteenth-century poets.
There is also a case to be made for the key influence of particular canonical writers,
such‖as‖Pope’s‖notable‖influence‖on‖many‖eighteenth-century women poets. The LC
collections‖include‖thematic‖indexes‖charting‖both‖canonical‖and‖‘labouring‖class’‖as‖
well as popular and folk influences on the poets.

(b) Chartist and Luddite poetry

‘There‖were,‖very‖probably,‖thousands‖of‖Chartist‖poets’,‖Stephen‖Roberts‖believes‖
(Radical Politicians and Poets, 1993, 4). Certainly Chartism was the most important
focus for labouring-class poets of the mid-nineteenth century, who often published
in The Northern Star, other Chartist newspapers such as the Glasgow-based Chartist
Circular, and elsewhere. They often published anonymously, pseudonymously, or
under an initial or initials. There are selections of Chartist poets in Ashraf, Kovalev
and Scheckner; see also Maidment (1987), 46, Janowitz (1998), 133-58, Schwab (1993),
and Sanders (2009), the latter including an invaluable week-by-week catalogue of
poetry published in the Northern Star, Appendix B, 225-85. (See also Mike Sanders,
‘‚Tracing‖the‖Ramifications‖of‖the‖Democratic‖Principle‛:‖Literary‖Criticism‖and‖
Theory in the Chartist Circular’,‖in‖Burke‖&‖Goodridge‖(2010),‖62-72.) There are 61
named poets identified as Chartists in the main part of the present database: see
especially the entries by Ned Newitt. Schwab offers a biographical summary of the
Chartist poets (including a list of pseudonyms), and a useful listing of poems by
broad‖category‖(including‖‘Satires’‖and‖‘Prison‖Poetry’).

Verse was also popularly used in the Luddite period, though for obvious reasons
much of it was anonymous. For further information see Binfield (2004 and 2009).

Brown’s‖rich‖anthology‖of‖Paisley‖poetry,‖though‖mainly‖ordered‖by‖poet,‖has‖a‖
twenty‖page‖section‖of‖‘Radical‖Rhymes’‖(I,‖141-61). Brown describes these as being
composed‖during‖‘the‖Radical‖time,‖between‖1816‖to‖1822’.‖It‖also‖has‖shorter‖section‖
of‖‘Reform‖Bill‖Rhymes’‖from‖1831-32 (I, 273-6), and brief comment (though no
poems)‖headed‖‘Election‖Rhymes’,‖from‖1868‖(525).Tom‖Leonard’s‖anthology‖is‖also‖
based, if more broadly, on the idea of radical poetry from the same area of Scotland.

(c) Slavery

Access to resources of any kind was extremely difficult for poets of colour in the
period, and only seven are currently listed here, four of them slaves. They are:
Olaudah‖Equiano‖(‘Gustavus‖Vassa’,‖1745-97); Johnson Green (1757-86); Jupiter
Hammon (1711-1806?); Juan Latino (fl. 1553-76); Lucy Terry (later Prince) (c. 1730-
1821); Phillis Wheatley (1753?-1784); Francis Williams (c. 1700-1770). Each of these,
perhaps excepting the unfortunate Green, and‖the‖‘out‖of‖period’‖figure‖Juan‖Latino,‖
is to some degree a pioneer, and they have accordingly received greater scholarly
scr1utiny in recent years. Francis Barber, a former Jamaican slave and Samuel
Johnson’s‖servant‖and‖legatee,‖is‖described‖by‖Robert‖Winder‖in‖his‖history‖of‖
immigration, Bloody Foreigners (London:‖Little,‖Brown,‖2004),‖as‖‘a‖poet‖and‖protégé‖
of‖Samuel‖Johnson’.‖Michael‖Bundock’s‖meticulous‖and‖fascinating‖biography, The
Fortunes of Francis Barber (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015),
shows‖no‖evidence‖of‖Barber‖writing‖poetry,‖though‖he‖was‖indeed‖Johnson’s‖
protégé and servant (he was a freed slave: Johnson was strongly and publicly anti-
slavery), and samples‖of‖his‖handwriting‖survive‖among‖Johnson’s‖dictionary‖papers‖
(blind‖poet‖Anna‖Williams,‖qv,‖was‖also‖Johnson’s‖protégé).‖A‖fuller‖picture‖of‖the‖
literary achievements of labouring-class writers of colour may be seen in the
anthologies of Basker, Carretta, Krise and others, and associated studies.

(d) The workhouse

William‖Lamborn‖(qv),‖a‖workhouse‖inmate‖from‖1835,‖was‖the‖author‖of‖‘The‖New‖
Poor‖Law‖and‖the‖Farmer’s‖Glory’,‖written‖in‖the‖1830s‖against‖the‖hated‖poor‖law‖of‖
1834. A fair number of the poets included in this database lived, or more often died
(and one or two were even born) in workhouses, prompting poems such as Ann
Candler’s‖(qv)‖‘Reflections‖on‖my‖own‖situation’‖and‖the prose narrative of her life
that accompanies it;‖or‖John‖Young’s‖(1825-91) collection Lays from the Poorhouse
(1860). A series of anonymous and pseudonymous verses by inmates of workhouses,
generally scrawled on their walls, are printed in Higginbotham, 39-43, though he
overestimates‖the‖abilities‖of‖‘Yankee‖Ned’ whose authorship he accepts for four
(admittedly relevant) lines that Ned has in fact evidently remembered from John
Dyer’s‖1726 poem ‘Grongar‖Hill’‖(‘A‖little‖rule,‖a‖little‖sway‖/‖A‖sunbeam‖on‖a‖
winter’s‖day‖/‖Are‖all‖the‖proud‖and‖might‖have /‖Between‖the‖cradle‖and‖the‖grave’).‖
It is nevertheless interesting to see this old anthology favourite finding new
purposes and levels of meaning in the graffiti of a workhouse inmate.

(e) Broadsides, popular verses and songs by concert hall artists and
balladeers.

William‖Donaldson‖notes‖that‖‘by‖the‖dawn‖of‖the‖eighteenth‖century‖there‖may‖
have been more than ten thousand broadside ballads alone in circulation, with
numbers‖of‖chapbooks‖and‖pamphlets‖probably‖at‖least‖as‖great‖again’‖(‘Poems‖on‖
the Streets’,‖Lynch‖(2016,)‖3-22, 3). This means title, not copies, of which there may
have easily been hundreds of thousands. With bound books beyond the pocket of
most people during the whole of the period 1700-1900, it is clear that street literature
of this sort was the most widespread printed reading matter for the majority. The
rise‖of‖the‖‘free‖and‖easies’‖and‖the‖music‖halls‖can‖be‖associated‖with‖a‖further surge
of popular publication in these areas, often labouring-class in origin and much of it
also, like folk song, essentially anonymous. Hepburn‖notes‖that‖‘in‖the‖course‖of‖
looking at many tens of thousands of copies of [broadside] ballads, I have come
across perhaps three hundred names of authors. Very few names are associated with
more than one ballad’‖(I,‖39).‖Its coverage in the present database therefore, which is
primarily an author index, is merely the tip of the iceberg. Good starting points for
researching this field would be the online catalogues of the major collections in
places such as the Bodleian, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland,
Glasgow University Library, the Pepys Library in Magdalene College, Cambridge,
the Lubrano Collection of nineteenth-century broadside ballads, etc.

(f) Popular and dialect verses and songs

These were often named and produced by well-known figures such as Samuel
Laycock and Edwin Waugh in Manchester (qqv), Joe Wilson and Tommy Armstrong
on Tyneside qqv), or John Brown (qv) in Lincolnshire, but the line between named
poets and anonymous popular and folk verses is often blurred. Regional dialect
poetry is a widespread and intermittently continuing tradition, although as with
broadsides it is often a forgotten tradition by mainstream literary and historical
study. A great many of the Scottish poets wrote in Scots, or used both Scots and
English.

(g)‖‘Lays‖of‖the‖Cotton‖Famine’‖and‖other‖topical‖verses

Popular poems and songs from the period of recession in the Lancashire cotton
industry, c. 1862-64, some anonymous, some by named labouring-class poets,
notably Samuel Laycock, often circulated in broadsides, and clearly popular (see
Harland (1882), 489-516). Recent research by Simon Rennie of Exeter University has
revealed a rich fuller local culture of dialect cotton-famine verse in the newspapers
of‖the‖time,‖much‖of‖it‖anonymous.‖BBC‖News‖reports‖that‖‘Dr‖Rennie‖believes‖about‖
1,000‖poems‖have‖survived’‖from‖the‖period,‖and‖quotes‖Rennie‖as‖giving‖the‖
example of one Burnley newspaper in which he found 18 poems published over
three years about the‖cotton‖famine‖(‘‚Forgotten‛‖Lancashire‖dialects‖revealed‖in‖
poetry‖research’,‖BBC‖News‖website,‖2nd‖November‖2016). Further reports on this
research in the Sunday Times and The Guardian in August 2018 mention 300 poems
unearthed so far, a quarter of them in Lancashire dialect. It seems likely that this
project will find further treasures. The‖related‖‘Poetry‖of‖the‖Lancashire‖Cotton‖
Famine’‖web‖pages‖offer‖printed‖texts‖of‖many‖of‖these‖poems,‖with‖contextual‖
materials, first publication details, and excellent sound files of their recitation.

Other specific events or historical phenomena could often produce a surge of

responses among labouring-class poets. Thus for example the Hartley colliery
disaster of 1862 drew poems from Joseph Skipsey, Joe Wilson, Orlando Wright (qqv)
and‖others:‖on‖this‖event‖and‖Skipsey’s‖response‖see‖Goodridge‖(2005).

(6) Solidarity, intertextuality, eulogy, elegy: the sense of belonging to a tradition

It is worth noting, finally, that there is often among our poets, notwithstanding the
isolation that many of them suffered, a very strong sense of solidarity and fellowship
between them, either generally or within smaller groups, or perhaps around an
inspiring fellow-poet like Robert Burns or Ellen Johnston, Fanny Forrester or
Thomas Chatterton, Robert Bloomfield or John Clare. This sense of grouping and
solidarity is touched on above in relation to the Blackburn, Manchester and
Nottingham groups of poets, but it could be much more widely applied. Discussing
Mary‖Smith’s‖(qv)‖‘historical‖epic’‖poem,‖‘Progress’,‖in‖which‖Smith‖‘sought‖solace‖
with other humble under-labourers of human‖history’,‖Boos (2002, 222) identifies a
‘distinct...subgenre...in‖working-class‖poets’ in their ‘expressions of pride in the fact
that they were working-class poets’. She notes that this is common among the better-
off poets too, of course.‖‘But‖their‖poorer‖brothers‖and‖sisters’‖intensity‖and‖
persistence bore witness to the strength of a sustaining but deeply threatened life-
ideal. Examples of such tributes‖include‖Ernest‖Jones’s‖‚The‖Poet’s‖Mission‛‖and‖
‚The‖Poet’s‖Death‛, Charles Cole’s‖‚The‖Poet’s‖Love‖of‖Liberty‛, Allen‖Davenport’s‖
‚The‖Poet’s‖Hope‛,‖John‖Rogerson’s‖‚The‖Minstrel’s‖Lot‛,‖John‖Critchley‖Prince’s‖
‚To‖Poesy‛,‖James‖Waddington’s‖‚Genius‛,‖Joseph‖Skipsey’s‖‚The‖Brooklet‛ and
John Nicholson’s‖relatively‖conflict‖ridden‖‚Genius and Intemperance‛, as well as
*Samuel+‖Laycock’s‖‚What! another‖Cracked‖Poet?‛’ (All these poets are included in
the database.) Boos also‖notes‖the‖ways‖in‖which‖the‖poets‖‘went‖out‖of‖their‖way‖to‖
pay‖tribute‖(sometimes‖posthumous)‖to‖their‖fellows’.‖When my colleagues and I
were compiling the first three volumes of the British Labouring Class Poets
anthologies, published the year after these important observations were made, we
noted similar phenomena: in‖addition‖to‖poems‖identifying‖the‖poet’s‖sense‖of‖
selfhood within a tradition, a great many connections were being made between the
poets, through intertextuality, eulogies and elegies, reflections of friendship, and
various other kinds of solidarity and connections. For this reason, within the subject
indexes we indexed separately (from the canonical influences), intertextual
connections with other labouring-class poets. It is also the reason why the present
database pays particular attention to connections of this kind, often marked by the
ubiquitous ‘(qv)’, designed to send readers off to another labouring-class poet who
has been mentioned or alluded to, and to reflect the sense of common interest and
endeavour, as well as sympathetic concern for hardships faced, among so many of
the poets.
SAMPLED ANONYMOUS/PSEUDONYMOUS POEMS

(ordered by date or surmised date of publication or appearance)

‘Bill‖o’‖th’‖Hoylus‖End’:‖see‖Wright,‖William;‖‘Blind‖Willie’:‖see‖Purvis,‖William.

(?) ‘A‖Poem‖Descriptive‖of‖the‖Manners‖of‖the‖Clothiers...1730’. ~ Ref: LC, 1, 121-6;

Thompson (1963, 2013), 300-1, Christmas (2001), 71-2. [LC1]
‘J.‖M.’,‖‘On‖the‖Sun’‖(written‖in‖close‖imitation‖of‖Stephen‖Duck),‖in‖The Country-
man‘s Miscellany (1732). ~ Ref: Christmas (2001), 85-6.
(?) ‘Drake‖upon‖Duck.‖A‖Poem,’‖(1735). ~ Ref: Christmas (2001), 94.
(?) The Artless Muse: Being Six Poetical Essays on Various Subjects. By a Person in
Obscure Life. Viz. I. A poem to the memory of John Milton. II. Damon’s dispair. III.
Stephen Duck’s translation from the threshing floor to the court. IV. Alexis’s farewel. V.
On the mutability of sublunary things. VI. The abandon’d shepherd (London: D.
Farmer and others, 1737; Stephen Duck, qv.) Ref: Foxon, A330; Christmas (2001),
337; Google Books.
(?) ‘The‖Drought’‖(1740),‖three‖lines‖quoted‖in‖Dorothy‖Marshall,‖Eighteenth-Century
England (Harlow: Longman, 1962), 475n.
(?) ‘A‖Salopian‖butcher’,‖St. Alkmond’s Ghost. A visionary poem (Birmingham, 1760). ~
Ref: ESTC.
(?) ‘Simon‖Hedges’.‖The Poor Man’s Prayer. Addressed to the Earl of Chatham. An Elegy.
By Simon Hedges, a Kentish Labourer (London, 1766); reprinted in 1797 in Poetry,
Original and Selected,‖where‖it‖is‖attributed‖to‖‘Dr.‖Roberts’‖(therefore‖possibly‖not‖
by a labouring-class poet). ~ Ref: ESTC.
‘An‖unletter’d‖bard’,‖Poems on Several Occasions, chiefly pastoral (1781). ~ Ref: Keegan
(2008), 66-68; ESTC. [LC3].
‘A‖friend‖to‖all‖mankind’,‖The Wrongs of Almoona, or, the African’s Revenge (1788).
[LC3].
‘T.‖F***,‖Plebeius’,‖‘On‖the‖happy‖recovery‖of‖his Majesty’‖(‘What‖British‖heart‖can‖
chuse‖but‖sing’),‖dated‖Northampton,‖7‖March‖1789.‖‘The‖following‖concise‖and‖
elegant poem, which breathes piety towards God, and a cordial affection to the
King, is the genuine production of a poor, and half blind, working shoe-maker.
He knew nothing of the publication, till it appeared in print, and knows as little
now of this second impression, which its own intrinsic merit induced a charitable
gentleman‖to‖promote.’‖*SM+
Anon,‖‘Industry‖Distressed,‖A‖True‖Tale’,‖Nottingham Review, March 6th 1812. ~ Ref:
Binfield (2004), 250-52.
‘A‖Poor‖Stockinger’,‖‘Poetry’‖(‘The‖Stockinger‖Lately‖so‖Blest’), Nottingham Review,
March 12th 1812. ~ Ref: Binfield (2004), 118-20.
Anon,‖‘Well‖Done‖Ned‖Ludd’,‖late‖April‖1812,‖pub‖in‖Binfield. ~ Ref: Binfield (2004),
129-30.
Anon,‖‘Welcome‖Ned‖Ludd’,‖May‖9th‖1812,‖pub‖in‖Binfield. ~ Ref: Binfield (2004),
130-32.
‘A‖journeyman‖carpenter’,‖‘To‖Mr.‖R.‖Bloomfield’,‖in‖Bloomfield,‖Remains (1824), I,
157.
‘A‖Putter‖Boy’,‖of‖Newbottle‖Colliery,‖Durham, published the broadside poem,
Grievances of the Pitmen (Houghton: J. Beckwith, undated, c. 1831). ~ Ref: Harker
(1999), 123-5. [M]
‘An‖Operative‖of‖Keighley’,‖The Weaver’s Complaint; or, a Bundle of Plain Facts, a Novel
Poem (Keighley: R. Aked; London: H. Hetherington, 1834), pp. 50. ~ Ref: extract
printed‖in‖Forshaw‖(1891),‖131,‖‘As‖a‖sample‖of‖the‖versification’; Google Books;
‘Bancrofts‖from‖Yorkshire’‖blog.
‘A‖Coal‖Hewer’,‖published the broadside poem, A New Song, Called, The Hasswell
Binding (Durham: Walker, undated, c. 1836). ~ Ref: Harker (1999), 147-9. [M]
[A ploughman of Galloway], Rhymes at random, by a Gallovidian ploughman
(Colchester, 1838), dedicated to Allan Cunningham (qv). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992),
751; online sources.
‘E.‖H.’,‖a‖factory‖girl‖from‖Stalybridge,‖the‖daughter‖of‖a‖‘preacher‖who‖could‖not‖
support‖his‖family’,‖without‖formal‖education,‖published poems in the Northern
Star including ‘On‖Joseph‖Rayner‖Stephens’‖(18‖May‖1839),‖concerning‖a‖
reforming Manchester Methodist minister, and including the telling
autobiographical‖lines,‖‘I‖was‖sent‖to‖the‖mill‖at‖eight‖years‖of‖age,‖/‖And‖for‖
many‖a‖year‖I’d‖stand‖on‖a‖stage;‖/‖When‖my‖limbs‖were‖all‖tir’d‖and‖my‖strength‖
overcome,‖/‖I’d‖often‖lay‖myself‖down‖under‖the‖loom’‖(29-32). ~ Ref: Timney
(2013), 182-6, who discusses this poem in some detail.
‘F.‖R.’,‖a‖draper,‖The Year of the Jubilee. A Poem, Commemorative of the Centenary of
Wesleyan Methodism, 1839 (Beverley, [1839]). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 733.
*Anon.+‖‘Chester‖Gaol’,‖Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser, 12 October 1839, a
poem about the Chartist trials in Chester in August 1839 which led to the
imprisonment of the defendants, possibly written by one of the condemned
Chartists. ~ Ref: Scheckner, 59-63, 236-7. [C]
The‖Leicestershire‖Framework‖Knitters,‖‘The‖Leicestershire‖Framework‖Knitters‖
Petition’‖(‘Pardon‖our‖visit‖to‖this‖place’),‖undated‖handbill,‖printed‖by‖J.‖Fowler,‖
Leicester, c. 1840s. ~ Ref: Newitt (2008), 3.
‘A‖Manchester‖Operative’,‖‘Just‖Instinct‖and‖Brute‖Reason’,‖Howitt’s Journal, March
]8th 1847, I, 132. ~ Ref: Maidment (1987), 47-8; Boos (2002a), 218-19.
‘Marie’‖(fl. 1847-50), factory dye worker in Chorley, published principally in The
People’s Journal; she also published in Eliza Cook’s Journal (Eliza‖Cook,‖qv).‖‘Marie’,‖
notwithstanding her anonymity, is a significant figure in the history of
 nineteenth-century labouring-class‖women’s‖poetry.‖As‖Boos‖well‖puts‖it,‖‘Her‖
ardent verses represent an ideal of poetry as a rhapsodic instrument to sustain
visionary hopes in the face of deprivation and death, and offering such hopes to
her fellow workers as tokens of sustenance and self-respect’‖(Boos (2001b),
‘Introduction’‖to‖‘Marie’,‖185-7; see also Kaye Kossick’s‖Headnote‖on‖‘Marie’,‖
LC5, 229). ~ Ref: LC 5, 229-44; Maidment (1987), 218-23; Zlotnick (1998), 212-13;
Boos (2001b); Boos (2002a), 221; Boos (2002b), 142-3; Boos (2008), 185-95. [LC5]
‘A‖Bingley‖Tallow‖Chandler’,‖Rhymes for the Times (Bingley:‖1849),‖pp.‖46‖(‘a‖shilling‖
booklet’). ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), [132].
‘A‖Factory‖Girl’,‖of‖(?)Derby,‖Poetic Thoughts in Working Hours by A Factory Girl
(Derby: Richard Keene, 1853) Ref: Timney (2009), 192-200, 328-32; . [F]
‘Narrative‖of‖a‖Miner’,‖The Commonwealth, October 25th 1856. A prose work with
poems in it. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), item 531, which gives a mass of
biographical detail to this Renfrewshire writer, b. 1828, a coalminer from the age
of nine—everything‖but‖the‖author’s‖name; inf. Gordon Tait. [M]
‘Stir(r)up’‖(b.‖1824,‖fl. 1856), shoemaker, individual poems published in newspapers
in‖Kirkintilloch,‖Airdrie‖and‖Glasgow;‖‘The‖Autobiography of a Journeyman
Shoemaker’‖in‖The Commonwealth (Nov-Dec 1856). [SM]
(?) ‘Working‖Pilgrim’,‖The white slave’s champion: or, volunteer’s crusade against
mammon and despotism; and, Songs on the march, by a working pilgrim (Edinburgh
and Dublin, 1860). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 507.
‘Outsider’,‖a‖man‖of‖Constitution‖Hill,‖London‖SW,‖‘probably‖a‖vagrant’‖(Reilly),‖The
ins and the outs: or, six of one and half-a-dozen to the other, by an outsider (London,
1861). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 352.
‘A‖Factory‖Girl’,‖of‖(?)Preston,‖Lancashire,‖The Cotton Famine and the Factory
Operatives: A Poem (Preston: Printed by W. and J. Dobson, Chronicle Office,
Fishergate. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1862). ~ Ref: Vicinus, 330; ABC
(1996), 575-6; Timney (2009), 201-10, 333-7
(?) Influences: or, the Poor Man’s Priest, and Other Poems (London, 1862). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 240.
‘W.‖C.’,‖‘The‖Mill-Hands’‖Petition’,‖c. 1862-4. ~ Ref: Harland (1882), 490.
‘Two‖Poor‖Women’‖(‘L.‖S.‖P.’‖and‖‘M.‖T.’),‖A hundred new acrostics on old subjects,
written by two poor women, with a preface by Mrs Greville (London, 1867). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 354.
‘A‖Working‖Man’,‖Lorne and Louise: A Republican Rhyme (Paisley, 1869)
‘Leeds‖Mechanic’,‖Tones from the lyre, by a Leeds mechanic (Edinburgh, 1873). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 271.
‘Sailor’,‖orphaned‖in‖childhood,‖went‖to‖sea‖at‖twelve,‖The Privateer: a metrical
romance, by a sailor (London, 1874). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 404.
‘Peregrine‖Pickle,‖Junior’,‖a‖quarryman,‖The Old Whig’s crone: a political satire
(Kilmarnock, 1877). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 367.
‘J.‖H.’,‖of‖Rochdale,‖weaver,‖‘Southport.‖by‖a‖Weyver’,‖Ben Brierley’s Journal, July 15th
1878, 222-3.
‘Nugent‖Taillefer’,‖served‖in‖the‖77th‖Foot‖Regiment,‖lived‖in‖Hounslow,‖The Dear
Old Regiment (London, 1879).
‘E.‖H.’,‖a‖ploughman’s‖daughter,‖servant in a parsonage, placed in Stafford lunatic
asylum for ten weeks in 1882, published a pamphlet of poems, A Bitter Cry from
the Ploughfield (London, 1885). Blain cites this publication as an example of the
‘vast‖treasure‖trove’‖of‖working-class‖women‖poets,‖which‖she‖describes‖as‖‘lost‖
voices<awaiting‖discovery,‖often‖in‖the‖dingy‖pages‖of‖regional‖newspapers,‖or‖
between‖the‖paper‖covers‖of‖cheap‖pamphlets’.‖She‖considers‖that‖this particular
pamphlet‖‘contains‖some‖extraordinary‖poems’‖but‖admits‖that‖‘it‖has‖not‖been‖
possible‖to‖discover‖anything‖further‖about‖their‖author’.‖~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 203;
Virginia Blain, Victorian Women Poets (London: Routledge, 2009), 2; inf. Valentina
Bold and Haoran Chan.
(?) ‘A‖Working‖Man’,‖The Two Benchers: Or, Prosperity Versus Poverty, and Other Poems
(1888). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 525.
(?) ‘Owd‖Weighvur’,‖Warty rhymes for warty folks; by th’owd wieghvur (Saddleworth,
1894). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 364.
(?) ‘Village‖Peasant’,‖Poetry, the press and the pulpit, by a village peasant (London, 1894).
~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 488.
‘Fanchon’,‖Work-a-day poems (London, 1895). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 160.
‘Evanus‖the‖Song-smith’,‖Rhymes from a rhyming forge (Birmingham, 1897). ~ Ref:
Reilly (1994), 156.
‘Jingling‖John’‖(fl. 1926), of Longeaton, working-class Labour Party member,
published Verses by Jingling John (Longeaton: Longeaton Labour Party, 1926). ~
Ref: copy in the Local Studies Collection of Longeaton Library. [OP]
POETS A-Z

Abbot, Richard (1818-1904), of Burton-in-Kendal, Westmorland, son of a contractor

on the Lancaster Canal, lost his mother at the age of three, educated at dame
schools at Shap Fell and Galgate, and a National School in Ingleton. From the age
of eleven he worked as a shepherd for his father in the Ingleborough area, and
five years later, following a life-changing accident which made his father have to
give up his business, the son took work in what his Teesdale Mercury obituary
describes‖as‖‘large‖freestone‖quarries,‖and‖in‖the‖construction‖of‖new‖railways‖in‖
the North of England and Scotland’. At the age of fifty he became the manager of
‘the‖extensive limestone quarries situated in the parishes of Forcett and East
Layton’,‖holding‖this‖post‖for‖thirty-two years. It was long and strenuous working
life, and‖one‖can‖understand‖his‖obituarist’s‖pleasure‖in‖the‖fact‖that‖‘Mr‖Abbot—
we say it with gratitude—contributed many beautiful poems‖to‖this‖journal.’‖He
published in other journals as well as the Teesdale Mercury, and produced four
collections: War!: A Descriptive Poem on Passing Events (Bishop Auckland, 1868);
War, Canto III: Raby, Keverstone, Staindrop, &c.; The Railway Jubilee; Ode to
Ingelborough, and Other Select Poems and Songs (London and Darlington, 1876); The
Pen, the Press, and the Sword, with Other Poems and Balsams for Wounded Hearts
(Darlington, 1879); and The Wanderer, in Special Trains of Grave Thoughts
(Darlington: William Dresser, 1901). Abbot died at home and his obituarist gives
his last address as the Abbey, Forcett, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, also
giving him the honorific M.R.H.S., which appears in this context to mean a
member of the Royal Horticultural Society. Andrews includes three of his poems,
‘The‖song‖of‖Ingleton‖bells’,‖O,‖turn‖aside‖thy‖loving‖eyes’,‖and‖‘Fading‖beauty’. ~
Ref: John Rowell-Waller (qv),‖‘Richard‖Abbot’,‖in‖Andrews (1888-9), II, 66; ‘Death‖
of a Local Poet’,‖Teesdale Mercury, 27 July 1904 (teesdalemercuryarchive.org);
‘Some‖Local‖Authors’,‖Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon
Tyne (1923), 317 (not seen); Reilly (2000), 4; Wikipedia; not in ODNB. [R]
Ablitt, Nat (1784-1865), one of seven sons of Jacob Ablitt, born and buried in
Kesgrave, but lived much of his life in nearby Rushmere, Suffolk. In a childhood
in which ‘one‖day‖was‖to‖school‖and‖one‖day‖was‖to‖keep‖the‖sheep’,‖he
‘developed‖his‖extraordinary‖interest‖in‖nature,‖which‖stayed‖with‖him‖for‖life’‖
(Tye) tending sheep on Rushmere Heath. His education completed, Ablitt decided
to go to America, which had a great influence on him and became the subject of a
number‖of‖his‖poems‖(There‖is‖also‖a‖prose‖and‖verse‖‘Soliloquy‖on‖a‖Burying‖
Ground‖in‖Upper‖Canada’). On his return he worked dealing in corn, then turned
to farming, moving‖to‖‘Little‖Roundwood’‖on‖the‖border‖of‖Rushmere.‖He‖kept‖a‖
diary‖and‖scrapbook‖of‖‘experiments,‖newspaper‖cuttings,‖letters’‖and‖his‖
opinions, especially on religion, politics and local matters. He wrote to the press
 on‖all‖kinds‖of‖things,‖ranging‖from‖local‖amenities‖and‖issues‖to‖‘theology‖and‖
astronomy’.‖He‖wrote‖to‖the‖Queen,‖‘begging‖her‖to‖prevent‖the‖further‖spread‖of‖
Roman‖Catholicism‖in‖the‖Anglican‖Church’,‖and‖got‖into‖disputes‖with‖local‖
doctors about the use of his beloved Heath. Ablitt is described by Walter Tye as a
‘prolific‖scribbler,‖a‖dabbler‖in‖science‖and,‖above‖all,‖an‖outstanding‖commoner’:‖
he was famous locally for attached a plaque to his cottage in Rushmere in 1861
(now glazed and attached to the front wall of the Baptist Chapel in Rushmere),
reiterating the rights of commoners on Rushmere Heath, a subject in which he
was involved as early as 1819, when he helped the local clergymen, Revd. Edge,
with‖the‖division‖of‖‘Heath‖Money’‖paid‖by the War Office for the use of the
Heath for drilling soldiers. All this is reflected in Ablitt’s‖principal publication,
The History, Poems, Writings and Miscellaneous Correspondence of Nat Ablitt (Ipswich:
Printed by R. F. Barber, Albion Printing Company, c. 1850); full text via Google
books. It has a scrapbook-like miscellaneousness, as Ablitt ponders in prose and
long lines of roughcast verse everything from chilblains, to the fate of Jane Shore,
to‖‘Jupiter,‖the‖Sun‖and‖the‖Earth’.‖It‖begins‖with‖a‖three-page verse
autobiography,‖‘Nat.‖Ablitt’s‖History’,‖in‖which‖he‖tells‖of‖his‖sheep-minding
childhood,‖‘When‖flock‖and‖boy‖alike,‖sought‖shelter‖from‖the‖cloudless‖sun,‖in‖
shade‖of‖tree‖or‖brake’; his growing up, ‘to‖hold‖the‖plough‖and‖swing the
glittering‖scythe’;‖his‖adventures‖in‖‘Columbus‖land,‖that’s‖overgrown‖with‖pine‖
and‖cedar,‖and‖skipping‖squirrel,‖and‖deer‖and‖buffalo,‖and‖York‖and‖Canada’;‖
and‖his‖settling‖in‖Rushmere,‖‘amongst‖my‖bees: / Admiring nature, skies, earth,
and‖trees’. ~ Ref: Walter‖Tye,‖‘Nat‖Ablitt‖(1784-1865),‖The‖Rushmere‖Eccentric’,‖The
East Anglian Magazine, November 1961, 45-52; Cranbrook (2001), 99, 153; not in
ODNB or on Wikipedia.
Abraham, William, (1842-1922), ‘Mabon’,‖of Cwmafan, Glamorgan, miner,
mineworker’s‖leader,‖trade unionist, singer and poet, later an MP. He was
educated at the local National School, leaving school early to become a tinplater
and‖then‖a‖‘door‖boy’ (elsewhere called a‖‘trapper‖boy’:‖see‖entries‖for‖James
Ballantyne, Reuben Holder, Joseph Skipsey, and others). In 1864 with three other
miners, he made an abortive trip to work in Chilean copper mines, but returned
empty handed after many difficulties, resuming work at the pit. As a result of the
economic downturn of 1869 he had his hours cut, and moved to a tinplate works
in Swansea. ~ In the 1870s Abraham became known as both a singer and poet, and
a‖worker’s‖representative,‖helping‖to‖form‖a‖new‖union‖following‖a‖dispute at the
Caergynydd pit in Swansea, where he was working in 1871. He adopted the
bardic name of Gwylim Mabon for his poetic work. The defeat of the local miners
and‖the‖dissolution‖of‖their‖union‖was‖a‖spur‖to‖Abraham’s‖move‖to‖the‖Rhondda
and a fresh role, first as a miner’s‖leader‖in‖the‖coalfield,‖and‖then‖as‖a‖
parliamentarian from 1885 to 1918. He made many other important interventions
 in negotiating and representing his men, and in 1898 became president of the
newly formed South‖Wales‖Miner’s‖Federation. ~ His other career as a bard
focussed especially on organising and‖participating‖in‖eisteddfodau.‖‘He‖would‖
often sing to the audience, as he was endowed with a good tenor‖voice’‖(DWB).‖~‖
Ref: Eric Wyn Evans, Mabon—William Abraham (1842-1922): A Study in Trade Union
Leadership (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1959); DWB; ODNB; Wikipedia and
online sources. [W] [M]
Ackroyd, John (1819-76), of Greenclough, Alderscholes, Thornton, Yorkshire,
weavers’‖son,‖powerloom‖weaver‖at‖Bradford,‖Sunday‖school teacher;
posthumously published Poems, ed. William Cudworth (Thornton, 1886). Holroyd
prints and illustrates his non-dialect‖lyric‖‘The‖Streamlet’,‖and‖includes‖‘Kirkstall‖
Abbey’‖and‖two‖other‖poems. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 7, 36, 87, 193; Reilly (2000), 5.
[T]
(?) Acquroff, Helen (1833-87), of Edinburgh, ‘Sister‖Cathedral’,‖was‖the‖second‖eldest‖
of ten children of John Acquroff, a St Petersburg-born hairdresser, and Sophia
Campbell Fletcher of Ardelach, Nairn. She was sight-impaired from birth and
became fully blind at the age of eleven, and attending the Blind Asylum School in
Edinburgh. Unmarried, she had a son, James, and continued to live with her
parents, and after her father died, with her mother. A music teacher, she was very
active in the temperance movement, and sang in theatres and halls in Edinburgh
and elsewhere‖in‖Scotland,‖being‖known‖for‖a‖‘humorous‖and‖irreverent’‖style.‖
She‖took‖the‖name‖‘Sister‖Cathedral’‖after‖an‖temperance‖address‖given‖in‖
Glasgow Cathedral was published. She wrote temperance music, hymns, poems
and songs, some of them published in her collection Good Templar Songs by Sister
Helen Acquroff (Edinburgh, [1872]). Titles included by Edwards are ‘Polly‖
Hopkins’,‖‘The‖Reformed‖Drunkard‖to‖His‖Wife’,‖‘Sabbath‖School‖Song’,‖‘The‖
Swiss‖Girl’,‖and‖‘When‖We‖Were‖Bairns‖Thegither’. She may have published two
other small volumes of poetry (mentioned by Edwards), but these are not proving
easy to identify or locate.‖A‖marble‖memorial‖drinking‖fountain‖to‖‘Sister‖
Cathedral’‖at‖the‖Meadows, Melville Drive, Edinburgh, originally erected by the
Independent Order of Good Templars, has recently been restored. ~ Ref: Edwards,
11 (1888); Boos (2008); online sources, including a well-researched piece by
Margaret Ferguson‖Burns‖on‖the‖‘Friends‖of‖Meadows‖and‖Bruntsfield‖Links’‖
website; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Adam, J. R. (b. c.‖1801),‖‘The‖Gartnaval‖Minstrel’,‖of‖Colinsee,‖Paisley,‖bleacher,‖
soldier, printer, who was institutionalised in Glasgow general lunatic asylum with
depression, where he helped produce an asylum weekly periodical and wrote
poems for it, later self-publishing The Gartnaval Minstrel: consisting of Original
Pieces in Rhyme, both Comic & Sentimental,‖‘With‖notes‖& a brief Biographical
Sketch of the author. Composed, printed and published by J. R. Adam, 62, York
 Street,‖Glasgow,‖1845’.‖The‖copy‖listed‖in‖Charles‖Cox’s‖catalogue‖has‖a‖
presentation inscription to William Prichard, who is referenced in the text. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 343-6; Charles Cox, Catalogue 68 (2015), item 2. [S] [T]
Adam, Jean, anglicised as Jane Adams (1704-65), of Carsdyke near Greenock,
shipmaster’s‖granddaughter,‖mariner’s‖daughter,‖governess‖and‖maid,‖teacher,‖
later a hawker, died in the workhouse; published by subscription Miscellany Poems
by Mrs. Jane Adams, in Crawfordsdyke (Glasgow: James Duncan, 1734), with an
elaborate Dedication‖to‖‘Thomas‖Crawford‖of‖Crawfordsburn‖Esq’. The main
recovery work on Adam so far was carried out by the late Bill Overton (see
references below). His 2003 essay goes through the poems one by one and
untangles much biographical information.‖Karina‖Williamson’s‖ODNB entry is
also very useful. Adam’s‖possible authorship of the well-known song‖‘There’s
Nae Luck About‖the‖House’‖has‖been‖much‖debated, and remains unresolved. ~
Ref: Renfrewshire (1819/72), xxii-xxvi; Alexander Rodger, Jean Adam of Cartsdyke:
Her Authorship of There’s Nae Luck About the House Vindicated (Greenock: A.
Mackenzie, 1866); Miller (1910), 137-40; Foxon (1975), A26; Todd (1987); Lonsdale
(1989), 141-5; Fullard (1990), 157, 547; Davis & Joyce (1991), item 16; Kerrigan
(1991), 159-61, 349; McCue (1997), 65, 66; Bill Overton, ‘The‖Poems‖of‖Jean‖Adam,
1704-65’,‖Women’s Writing, 10, no. 3 (2003), 425-51;‖Bill‖Overton,‖‘The‖Subscription‖
List‖for‖Jean‖Adam’s‖Miscellany Poems (1734), N&Q, 51, no. 4 (2004), 392-5; ODNB.
[F] [S] [C18]
Adam,‖John,‖of‖Dundee,‖mill‖worker‖and‖‘wandering‖minstrel’‖(ballad‖seller). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 3 (1881), 219-21. [S] [T]
Adams, Jane (c. 1788-1864), self-taught poet whose father died when she was young;
as a girl she kept cows, but received no formal education. In The British
Controversialist and Literary Magazine, which notes her death on 24 July 1864, she is
referred‖to‖as‖‘a‖self-taught Scottish poetess of fair talent’. She published Artless
Lays (Old Aberdeen, 1846; second edition, Aberdeen, 1849); the poems include
‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖C.‖H.,‖A‖Young‖Woman’,‖‘The‖Spittal‖Churchyard’,‖‘The‖Braemar‖
Poacher’,‖and ‘To‖Miss‖W.,‖On‖Her‖Birthday’.‖The‖prefatory‖poem‖to‖her‖book,‖
describing her childhood poverty and disfiguring smallpox at the age of seven, is
perhaps the most interesting of the volume. ~ Ref: The British Controversialist and
Literary Magazine (1864), p. 239 (via Google Books); Blain et al (1990), 7-8; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Adamson, Robert (b. 1832) of Muirkirk, near Dunfermline, Fife, who had scant
education, worked as a weaver and then as an engine-keeper in the ironworks;
published Lays of Leisure Hours, A Collection of Miscellaneous Poems and Sketches.
With Introductory note, by Rev. A. Wallace, D.D., Glasgow (Dunfermline: A.
Romanes, 1879). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 226-8 and 5, 220; Murdoch (1883), 274-7;
Reilly (2000), 6; inf. Bob Heyes. [S] [T]
Adcock, Anna (fl. 1808), originally from Street-Hill in Rutland (which I not yet been
able to identify) where, we learn from her‖poem‖‘On‖Leaving‖Street-Hill’, her
father‖‘tilled‖the‖land’‖and‖would die there, and she nursed her mother; latterly of
Somerby, Leicestershire. John Clare calls her the Oakham poet: Somerby is five
miles west of Oakham, Rutland. She may also have resided in Wales for a while,
perhaps during wealthier times, judging from the poem‖‘Our‖Cottage‖in‖Wales’.‖
The‖prefatory‖‘Note‖to‖the Public’‖in‖her‖1808‖collection is‖written‖‘with‖trembling‖
anxiety’,‖and‖elsewhere‖her‖‘Lines‖to‖Sophia’‖rehearse the terror for a woman in
putting her poems in the public domain (while encouraging her poet-friend to do
just that). Adcock says she‖was‖born‖‘among‖the‖wild‖and‖most‖sequestered
scenes‖of‖nature’,‖but that she was‖‘wholly‖denied’‖the‖‘advantages‖which‖arise
from‖a‖liberal‖education’.‖However,‖the‖contemplation‖of‖the‖‘varied‖beauties’‖of
her birthplace helped‖to‖make‖poetry‖her‖‘favourite‖study’.‖Her‖‘slender‖
knowledge’‖derives‖from‖an‖‘unwearied‖application‖to‖books’,‖which‖have‖given‖
her‖pleasure‖‘and‖in‖the‖hours‖of‖affliction...have‖taught‖me‖resignation’.‖
Unspecified misfortunes took her away from the idyllic scenes of her childhood
and‖‘impelled‖me‖to‖enter‖on‖the‖great‖theatre‖of‖the‖world’.‖These appear to have
involved‖financial‖hardship‖compounded‖by‖a‖‘failure‖in‖business’,‖as‖a‖result‖of‖
which any profit from the sale of her volume‖would‖be‖‘exclusively‖for‖the‖benefit‖
of‖my‖Creditors’.‖Jonathan‖Bate,‖in‖his‖biography‖of‖John Clare (2003), p. 105,
describes‖her‖as‖an‖‘impoverished‖schoolmistress’. In‖the‖poem‖‘A‖Fragment’‖she
describes‖having‖borne‖‘pain,‖poverty,‖and‖sickness’. That she had also been
deceived‖or‖abused‖in‖love‖is‖suggested‖by‖her‖poem‖‘Past‖Life’‖(‘Deceitful‖youth,‖
when‖I‖review‖they‖snares’),‖and‖perhaps‖in‖some‖of‖the‖darker‖‘Thoughts‖on‖
Life’,‖and‖‘A‖Fragment’.‖There‖are‖other ‘dark’‖poems,‖too,‖such‖as‖‘Distress.—A
Fragment’, perhaps suggesting a tendency to depression). ~ Adcock published
one collection, Cottage Poems (London: printed for the author by S. Couchman and
sold‖at‖Mr.‖Cockshaw’s‖Libraries‖at‖Leicester‖and‖Melton;‖by‖the‖Booksellers‖at‖
Stamford and Birmingham; and by the Author, Somerby, Leicestershire, 1808), 164
pages with six pages of subscribers, largely local and regional individuals. The
poems in it are as‖follows:‖‘Evening’, ‘A‖Peep‖into‖a‖Cottage’,‖‘Moonlight’,
‘Reflections at the Foot of a‖Hill’,‖‘The‖Wild‖Rose’,‖‘To‖a‖Friend‖in‖Affliction’,‖
‘Lines‖to‖a‖Robin’, ‘The‖Maniac’, ‘Past‖Life’(‘Deceitful‖youth,‖when‖I‖review they
snares’), ‘A‖Rose‖on‖its‖Stem‖and‖a‖Withered‖Rose’, ‘The‖Poor‖Player’‖(a‖
wandering actor, down on his luck, tells his story),‖‘To‖the‖Moon’, ‘Lines‖to‖Mrs.‖
______‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖Her‖Child’, ‘On‖Seeing‖Some‖Drops‖of‖Rain‖fall‖down‖the‖
Window at an‖Inn’,‖‘Thoughts‖on‖Life’,‖‘Lines‖to‖Sophia’, ‘Distress.‖A‖Fragment’‖
(‘Alas!‖what‖dejection‖I‖feel‖/‖Despair‖has‖laid‖siege‖to‖my‖soul’), ‘Lines on the
Marriage‖of‖Miss‖_____’, ‘On‖Hearing‖the‖Bell‖Toll‖for‖the‖Death of‖my‖Friend’,‖‘To‖
the‖Violet’, ‘On‖Seeing‖Some‖Children‖Play‖at‖Ball’,‖‘The‖Rose‖in‖December’,‖‘The‖
Old‖Shepherd’,‖‘Lines‖to‖a‖Singing-bird’,‖‘On‖the‖Departure‖of‖the Snow-drop’,‖
‘An‖Evening‖Walk‖in‖Autumn’, ‘Ode‖to‖Calumny’,‖‘Groaby‖Lake‖and‖Ruins’,‖‘The‖
Nutting‖Girl’,‖‘Lines‖upon‖the‖Marriage‖of‖a‖Beautiful‖Young‖Girl‖to‖a‖Foreigner’,
‘An‖Invitation‖to‖the‖Beauties‖of‖Spring’,‖‘To‖the‖Moon’‖(again),‖‘Life‖and‖Nature’,‖
‘Lines‖to‖Dr.‖****’, ‘On‖Seeing‖a‖Flower‖in‖December’, ‘Lines on the Unfortunate
Louisa’,‖‘To‖Maria’,‖‘Our‖Cottage‖in‖Wales’, ‘Ode‖to‖Switzerland’,‖‘Morn’,‖‘Collin’s‖
Complaint’,‖‘To‖the‖Setting‖Sun’, ‘Lines‖to‖a Friend on Leaving Street-Hill’, ‘A‖
Fragment’‖(‘’Twas‖now‖calamity‖seem’d‖to‖forsake‖/‖And‖hope‖made‖all my
youthful‖prospects‖clear’),‖‘Thoughts‖in‖a‖Storm’, ‘On‖the‖Moth‖Fluttering‖Round‖
the‖Candle’,‖‘An‖Ode‖to‖Charity’, ‘Poor‖Old‖Tray’‖(on‖a‖now-shepherdless
sheepdog),‖‘Edwin’s‖Wish’,‖‘The‖Wild‖Scene’, ‘A‖Simple‖Story’;‖‘The‖Sailor’s‖
Petition’, and finally, ‘To‖the‖Men‖of‖Gallantry‖and‖the‖Boasters‖of‖Sentiment’‖(a,‖
perhaps pointed, plea to young gallants not to abuse young women). Among
these,‖‘The‖Maniac’‖is‖a‖‘madwoman’‖poem‖about‖‘Crazy‖Mary’,‖comparable‖to‖
similar figures in poems by Robert Bloomfield, John Clare and Ann Yearsley
(qqv),‖as‖well‖as‖Cowper,‖Wordsworth‖and‖others:‖see‖also‖Adcock’s‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖
Unfortunate‖Louisa’.‖‘Groaby‖Lake‖and‖Ruins’‖is‖a‖topographical‖poem:‖Groby‖is‖
just north-west of Leicester, and it is worth comparing it with two other
topographical poems by Leicester poets, both about nearby Bradgate Park: Ruth
Wills’‖(qv);‖‘Bradgate‖and‖Its‖Associations’‖and‖Millicent‖Langton‖(qv),‖‘Lady‖Jane‖
Grey’.‖~‖John‖Clare’s‖(qv) comments on Adcock are worth recording here, as a
contemporary critical response. In his Journal for Tuesday 19th October 1824
Clare‖notes‖that‖‘four‖years‖ago‖a‖poet‖was‖not‖to‖be‖heard‖of‖with‖in‖a‖century‖of‖
Helpston [his village in Northamptonshire, now in Cambridgeshire] and now
there‖is‖a‖swarm’;‖and‖he‖lists‖some‖of‖them,‖including‖John‖Banton,‖Stephen‖
Messing‖and‖Nicholas‖Stratton‖(qqv),‖and‖‘‚Adcocks‖Cottage‖Poems‛‖of‖Oakam’.‖
Clare seems a bit put-out by this sudden increase in local rivals, and in a letter to
his publisher John Taylor dated 19th June 1825, notes that Adcock has taken a title
he was thinking of using (in fact it is similar but not identical)/ He writes:
‘‚Cottage‖Stories‛‖woud‖certainly‖have‖been‖a‖fair‖title‖&‖I‖think‖a‖better title then
the‖*Shepherd’s+‖Calender‖but‖it‖has‖been‖made‖use‖of‖by‖a‖Poetess‖here‖(at‖
Oakham) name Anna Adcock who a little while back published a Volume of very
middling poems under that Title which were printed in London by I forget
whom’‖(Letters, 333-4). Given the wide regional distribution networks listed on
Adcock’s‖title‖page‖(transcribed‖above)‖it‖is‖not‖surprising‖that‖Clare‖had‖seen‖her‖
book very early on, probably the year it came out; indeed he had addressed a
poem to her,‖‘To‖Mrs‖Anna‖Adcock‖Author‖of‖‚Cottage‖Poems‛’,‖one of his
earliest, perhaps dated as early as 1808 (seventeen years before he dismisses her as
‘very‖middling’).‖In‖it‖he‖addresses‖her‖in‖pastoral‖terms:‖‘Sweet‖rural‖Songstress‖
of the Rustic grove / How dear to me thy sympithising strain / Thy faults I trifles
deem‖thy‖lays‖I‖love‖/‖Nor‖shall‖those‖trifles‖strive‖to‖please‖in‖vain’.‖The‖second‖
quatrain‖continues‖in‖the‖same‖flattering‖vein:‖‘But‖O!‖Enthusiastic‖natures‖child‖/‖
When ere I roam thro love Eves moistning dew / Thy ‘Poems’‖charm‖me‖in‖the‖
dreary‖wild‖/‖While‖added‖lustre‖brings‖their‖scenes‖to‖view’.‖Five‖further‖
quatrains‖praise‖Adcock’s‖‘Wild‖briers‖straggling‖rose’‖(perhaps referring to her
poem‖‘The‖Wild‖Rose’‖though‖it‖could‖equally‖well‖be‖‘A‖Rose‖on‖its‖Stem‖and a
Withered‖Rose’, or‖even‖‘The‖Rose‖in‖December’);‖and‖he‖sympathises‖with‖her‖
‘slighted‖Friendship’‖(perhaps‖referencing‖‘Past Life’‖or‖her‖‘Ode‖to‖Calumny’).‖
He worries about her fate (clearly he has read her Preface); and he mentions the
poets Oliver Goldsmith and James Thomson, whose poem The Seasons (1726-30)
was‖one‖of‖Clare’s‖earliest‖influences‖(Early Poems, I, 34-5). (Incidentally, Adcock is
incorrectly named as Ann Adcock in By Himself (1996), xv.) ~ Clare MacDonald
Shaw (1994) considers‖that‖Clare‖‘values‖Adcock‖as‖a‖primitive‖voice‖rather‖than‖
as‖a‖poet’‖(91),‖though‖he‖also‖shares‖her‖sense‖of‖the‖loss‖of‖an Edenic childhood
landscape. MacDonald Shaw goes on to suggest that‖Adcock’s‖‘metres‖are‖often‖
hymnal and her diction draws on poetic stock, but she does achieve a pleasing
simplicity‖of‖expression’.‖She‖gives‖as‖an‖example the‖opening‖lines‖of‖‘The‖Poor‖
Player’,‖which‖is‖in‖‘the‖vein‖of‖the‖lyrical‖ballad—reminding us of the native
tradition on which Wordsworth and Coleridge‖drew:‖‚Pacing‖the‖fields‖I‖lately‖
met / A meagre looking man, / His face I never shall forget, / Pale, penetrating,
wan.‛’‖MacDonald‖Shaw‖describes‖Adcock’s‖themes‖as‖‘usually‖moral’,‖though
she‖sometimes‖‘allows‖the‖poetic‖conventions‖to‖slip‖and writes more directly of
her‖own‖experience’.‖‘Lines‖to‖a‖Friend‖on‖Leaving‖Street-Hill’‖is‖the‖example‖she
gives,‖noting‖how‖‘in‖this‖simple‖poem‖of‖flitting’‖Adcock‖describes‖how‖her‖
friend‖Anna‖came‖twice‖a‖year,‖and‖how‖she‖‘calls‖on‖that‖friendship‖to comfort
her‖in‖an‖act‖of‖celebration’.‖The‖‘sacrament‖of‖friendship‖is‖a‖constant‖theme‖in‖
women’s‖verse‖of‖the‖period’,‖she‖adds,‖‘marking a central element in their
alternative‖culture’.‖She‖draws‖attention‖to‖Adcock’s‖description‖of‖children‖at‖
play, who‖‘cause‖a‖pleasure‖I‖can’t‖describe’‖(‘On‖Seeing‖Some‖Children‖Play‖at‖
Ball’),‖and‖how‖she‖is‖moved‖by‖an‖early‖landscape‖in‖‘The‖Wild‖Scene’‖(‘By‖the‖
side‖of‖a‖brake,‖where‖wild‖was‖the‖glade‖/‖At‖evening‖with‖joy‖I‖strayed’).‖
Finally, MacDonald Shaw notes the further development of the theme of female
friendship, ‘as‖opposed‖to‖the‖‚delusive‖dream‛‖of‖love’, in‖‘Past‖Life’. She
considers‖that‖Adcock‖‘adds‖to‖the‖reflexive‖tradition‖in‖which‖the‖woman‖poet‖
questions‖the‖validity‖of‖her‖art’,‖and‖notes‖the‖way‖that‖in‖the‖‘Lines‖to‖Sophia’‖
(mentioned‖earlier)‖she‖‘may‖also‖be‖addressing‖herself’‖as‖a‖poet.‖~ Ref: John
Clare, Letters, ed. Mark Storey (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985); By Himself (1986)
and Early Poems (1989), two volumes, both ed. Eric Robinson and David Powell
(Oxford: Clarendon Press); Jackson (1993), 3-4; MacDonald Shaw (1994), 91-4; text
of Cottage Poems via Google Books. [F]
(?) Addison, Richard (fl. 1833), of Raindale-Heads near Pickering, North Yorkshire,
‘The‖Moorish‖Bard’ (i.e., punningly, a bard of the moors), author of Carmina
Excerpta; or, Gleanings from the Writings of Richard Addison of Raindale, The Moorish
Bard (Hull: J. Hutchinson, 1833); the subscription list reflects much local and
regional interest. Poems are on a wide range of themes, and include epigrams,
two‖acrostics,‖a‖poem‖on‖‘The‖Miseries‖of‖Law’,‖several‖pieces‖on‖love‖and‖love‖
lost‖including‖‘The‖Lover’s‖Alphabet’,‖and‖others‖on‖local‖events,‖including‖‘A‖
Peep‖into‖Staithes,‖1807’,‖‘The‖Old‖Nail‖at‖Kettleness,‖1807’,‖‘Verses‖occasioned‖by‖
an‖accident‖at‖Staithes’‖and‖an‖‘Epistle‖to‖___________‖Esq.’‖(‘Dear‖Sir,‖I‖have‖
received‖the‖wig’).‖There‖is‖a‖poignant‖and‖lengthy‖poem‖about‖poverty,‖‘Advice‖
to‖Poor‖Folks‖who‖live‖above‖their‖Income’,‖and a‖‘Memorial‖of‖Thanks‖from‖
Messrs‖____‖and‖____‖to‖M____‖H____‖of‖Pickering‖for‖the‖privilege‖of‖shooting’.‖
‘The‖frontispiece‖shows‖the‖author‖inside‖his‖cottage,‖a‖dog‖at‖his‖feet,‖and‖kettle‖
boiling on the fire. He sits with a pen in his hand apparently thinking what to
write. A table, a bed and various household utensils complete the picture’.
Blackwells‖describe‖this‖as‖‘an‖etched‖frontispiece‖depicting‖the‖poet‖in‖his‖‚sod‖
hut‛’‖and‖the‖author‖as‖an‖‘obscure‖provincial‖peasant‖poet’.‖They‖note‖that‖the
University of York copy has manuscript notes in pencil on front endpapers and
rear flyleaf (there are also copies at the British Library, the Bodleian, and York
Minster Library). ~ Ref: ‘W’,‖‘The‖Bards‖of‖Raindale‖and‖Lealholm,‖in‖the‖North‖
Riding of Yorkshire’,‖The Whitby Repository and Monthly Miscellany, n.s. III,
September 1833, 258-66; unidentified book catalogue; online sales description; also
listed on Abebooks by Blackwell Rare Books, 2017 (at an eye-watering price);
University of York online book catalogue.
Adley, John (fl. 1818), pitman, of Newbottle, Durham, published The Coal Trade: A
Descriptive Poem (Newcastle upon Tyne: J. Marshall, 1818), nine pages of songlike
doggerel verses on the hazards of coalmining, from the perspective of the
entrepreneur. Sample‖verse:‖‘But‖sometime‖you‖will‖lose‖the‖vein,‖/‖and‖then‖it‖
must‖be‖sought,‖sir:‖/‖In‖trouble‖you’re‖involved‖again;‖/‖Your‖coal‖is‖dearly‖
bought, sir. / With sinking Staples, and driving Drifts,‖/‖You’re‖often‖put‖to‖all‖
these shifts; /‖And,‖after‖all‖these‖drops‖and‖lifts,‖/‖The‖Coal’s‖oft‖good‖for‖nought,‖
sir.’‖Ref: Harker (1999), 103-5; text via Google books. [M]
Aggett,‖Thomas‖Henry‖(b.‖1863),‖‘Autolycus’,‖‘The‖Railway‖Poet‖of‖the‖West’,‖
railway porter of Teignmouth; published Demon Hunter, A Legend of Torquay
(1889); Vagabond Verses, Through the Combes and Vales of Delectable Devon, By
Autolycus (?1894; Teignmouth, 1904). ~ Ref: Wright (1896), 2-4. [R]
Agnew, Nellie Jane (b. 1868), later Mrs Allan McDonald, of Glasgow. Her mother
died when she was ten. She attended village school, and her artist father
encouraged her as a painter. She published poems in the Herald, Scotsman, Mail,
People’s Journal and other Scottish newspapers, and also wrote prose sketches e.g.
 ‘Angling‖in‖the‖Highlands’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 103 (in the index in vol. 16,
Edwards‖lists‖her‖as‖‘Agnew,‖Nellie‖Johnson’); Bisset (1896), 305-13. [F] [S]
(?) Aguilar, Grace (1816-47), born in Hackney, London, a poet, novelist and historian,
daughter of ‘Portuguese-Jewish parents who had fled the‖Inquisition’‖
(Galchinsky, Selected Writings, 17); educated by her mother. A bout of measles left
her‖‘permanently‖weakened’,‖and she struggled to support herself through her
prose writing, and died in Germany where her brother was studying, aged 31. By
the time of this early death, as her modern editor summarises her,‖she‖had‖‘built‖a‖
multi-faceted career: she was a poet, historical romance writer, domestic novelist,
social‖historian,‖theologian,‖and‖liturgist’, a writer in the fullest and richest sense.
Moreover,‖she‖had‖‘managed‖to‖produce‖a‖body‖of‖work‖that‖integrated‖the‖
various‖facets‖of‖her‖identity’,‖her‖readers‖including,‖‘Jews‖and‖Christians,‖women‖
and‖men,‖religious‖traditionalists‖and‖reformers’‖(ibid., 11). Her early poems were
inspired by the scenery around Tavistock in Devon, and she published a
collection anonymously at the age of nineteen, The Magic Wreath of Hidden Flowers
(Brighton: W. H. Mason, 1835,‖1839),‖‘slight‖poems’‖that‖‘resemble‖the‖riddles‖
collected‖by‖Emma‖Woodhouse‖in‖Jane‖Austen’s‖Emma; each poem contains clues
to the name of a particular flower’‖(Jewish‖Women’s‖Archive). After the success of
her first volume of poems, Galchinsky notes, she published in journals and
anthologies including Chambers’ Miscellany, Keepsake, and La Belle Assemblée, and in
specifically Jewish periodicals including the Hebrew Review and Magazine of
Rabbinical Literature, the Jewish Chronicle, the Occident, and Voice of Jacob. She was a
prolific prose writer, focusing on moral and social issues, history and theology,
and her many volumes were multiply reprinted throughout the Victorian period
and well into the twentieth century. ~ The scholar Michael Galchinsky terms her
the ‘moral‖governess’ of the Victorian‖‘Hebrew‖family’ and notes that she was
‘recognized‖by‖Christians‖and‖Jews alike as the writer who best defined the
Anglo-Jewish‖response‖to‖the‖challenge‖to‖enter‖the‖modern‖world’. Galchinsky
has done a huge amount to recover her work, published and unpublished,
drawing on her manuscripts and papers, which are now in the collections of
University College, London. Her poems are harder to track down than her prose
writings, most of which are now freely available online. But Galchinsky’s‖recent‖
generous selection of her writings, Grace Aguilar: Selected Writings (Peterborough,
Ontario: Broadview Press, 2003) includes a selection of her poems, containing the
following‖titles:‖‘Sabbath‖Thoughts‖III’,‖‘An‖Hour‖of‖Peace’,‖‘A‖Poet’s‖Dying‖
Hymn’,‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Spanish‖Jews,‖During‖Their‖‚Golden‖Age‛’,‖‘A Vision of
Jerusalem,‖While‖Listening‖to‖a‖Beautiful‖Organ‖in‖one‖of‖the‖Gentile‖Shrines’,‖
‘The‖Address‖to‖the‖Ocean’,‖‘The‖Hebrew’s‖Appeal,‖On‖Occasion‖of‖the‖late‖
Fearful Ukase Promulgated‖by‖the‖Emperor‖of‖Russia’,‖‘Dialogue‖Stanzas’,‖‘The‖
Wanderers’‖and‖‘The‖Rocks‖of‖Elim’.‖The edition also has a very useful appendix
 of receptional and contextual materials. Introducing the poems, Galchinsky notes
that‖her‖‘first‖successes‖were‖as‖a‖poet’,‖and‖considers‖that‖they‖are‖influenced‖
both‖by‖Romantic‖nature‖poetry‖and‖the‖tradition‖of‖‘tekhinot, or liturgical poems
and meditations originating among Jewish women in Eastern Europe’. She also
writes‖‘in‖and‖against‖the‖traditions‖of‖Romantic‖women’s‖poetry,‖including‖the‖
sentimental focus on mothers and children and the invocation of Biblical women
as‖progenitors‖of‖English‖women’s‖poetry.’‖Other‖poems‖‘deal‖imaginatively with
political,‖spiritual,‖aesthetic‖issues‖raised‖by‖Jews’‖experience‖of‖diaspora’‖
(Selected, 187). Aguilar is increasingly seen (as she was in her lifetime to some
degree) as an important figure in literary and cultural history. The Aguilar branch
of the New York Public Library is named after her. ~ Ref: Selected Writings as
cited; Blain et al (1990); Michael‖Galchinsky,‖‘Grace‖Aguilar:‖‘The‖Moral‖Governess
of‖the‖Hebrew‖Family’, The Origin of the Modern Jewish Woman Writer: Romance and
Reform in Victorian England (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1996, 2018),
135-89, 251-3 (bibliography of her unpublished and published work) and passim;
Michael‖Galchinsky,‖‘Grace‖Aguilar’s‖Correspondence’,‖Jewish Culture and History,
2, no. 1 (1999), 88-111 (via the Georgia State University, English Faculty
Publications‖*online‖open‖repository+);‖Daniel‖R.‖Langton,‖‘The‖Gracious‖
Ambiguity of Grace Aguilar (1816-47): Anglo-Jewish Theologian, Novelist, Poet,
and Pioneer‖of‖Interfaith‖relations’,‖Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies, 8
(2011), 1-29 (via Manchester University online research repository); online sources
including the Jewish Virtual Library website and‖the‖Jewish‖Women’s‖Archive
website; DNB/ODNB; Wikipedia; COPAC. [F]
Aird, Andrew, of Paisley (fl. 1815), joiner, published Hope-Temple, or Unpagan’d-
Pantheon, a Humorous Poetical Tale (1815). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 223-25. [S]
Aird, David Mitchell (fl. 1843-72), of Paisley, shawl-clipper, compositor with Alex
Gardner (who published many of the Paisley poets and poetry anthologies), then
in London, then with Galignani in Paris; poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90),
II, 34-37. [S] [T]
Airth, James (1804-70), of Arbroath, baker, stationmaster, tollkeeper, farmer. His
father died when he was five, leaving his mother to bring up two sons alone. His
school teacher encouraged him to train for the church, but died before Airth’s‖
primary education was complete, and so he was instead apprenticed to a baker,
serving his apprenticeship in Arbroath and working as a journeyman baker in
Aberdeen, and soon commencing his own business in Inverkeillor and Arbroath.
This was a struggle for him and when after some years a relative left him some
property, he tried farming, and then applied for and got the post of station-master
at Auldbar for the new Arbroath and Forfar Railway, also running the inn the
company had erected. The latter was not a success, and thereafter he worked
again as a baker and for the railway company in other roles, then as a tollkeeper,
 latterly in the Dundee area. Airth inherited money again, and emigrated with his
family to New Brunswick, Canada, establishing himself as a farmer with the help
of his 26-year-old millwright-trained son; however the son died of diphtheria, and
after further work as a clerk in a Fredricktown store, Airth returned to Scotland
on medical advice in 1869, and died the following year. Given the endless run of
bad luck and misfortune that had dogged his life it is unsurprising to learn that
‘bitterness and‖despondency...permeate‖much‖that‖he‖has‖written’‖(Edwards).‖
Though he had‖an‖‘exceedingly‖sensitive‖temperament’‖he‖was‖regarded‖with‖
affection by his friends, who persuaded him to publish his poems in a book,
Maud’s Dream, The Restoration, and Various Minor Poems (Dundee: P. & W. Wilson
and S. Gellatly, 1848). Edwards‖praises‖the‖title‖poem‖as‖a‖‘deeply‖interesting‖
legend‖of‖the‖olden‖time’,‖and‖finds‖room‖for‖his‖poems‖‘The‖Good‖Old‖Days’,‖‘A‖
Drop‖of‖Dew’,‖and‖‘Address‖to‖the‖Muse’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 60-69; Reid,
Bards (1897), 1-2. [S] [R]
Aitkin, William (1814-69), of Ashton-under-Lyne, born in Belmont, Dunbar; early
years spent in Ireland; a cotton-piecer dismissed for involvement in the Ten-
Hours Movement, schoolmaster, local Chartist leader, jailed for his political
activities c. 1840, visited USA; committed suicide. Aitkin published poems in the
Chartist Circular; English Chartist Circular; McDouall’s Chartist Journal. His
autobiography,‖‘Remembrances‖and‖struggles‖of‖a‖working‖man‖for‖bread‖and‖
liberty’,‖was‖published in the Ashton News in instalments in September and
October 1869. He also‖wrote‖a‖‘Journey‖up‖the‖Mississippi‖river‖from‖its‖mouth‖to‖
Nauvoo,‖the‖city‖of‖the‖latter‖day‖saints’,‖a‖copy‖of‖which‖is‖held‖in‖Tameside‖
Local‖Studies‖Library,‖Stalybridge.‖Aitkin’s‖life‖and‖writings,‖including‖his‖
autobiography and poems are well represented in William Aitkin, The Writings of
a Nineteenth Century Working Class Man, edited with an Introduction by Robert G.
Hall and Stephen Roberts (Dukinfield, Greater Manchester: Tameside MBS, 1996).
See also James Hindle (qv). ~ Ref: Schwab (1993), 183; edition cited. [C] [I] [S] [T]
Aitkin,‖William‖(b.‖1851),‖‘Inspector‖Aitkin’,‖of‖Sorn,‖Ayrshire,‖shoemaker’s‖
apprentice, railwayman, published Rhymes and Readings (Glasgow, 1880); Lays of
the Line (Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1883); Echoes from the Iron Road and Other Poems
(Glasgow and Edinburgh: John Menzies, 1893), 319 pp. ~Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881),
161-6; Murdoch (1883), 418-22; Vicinus (1969), 341; Leonard (1990), 319-22; Reilly
(1994), 7; Mair Wilkes Books catalogue M43, undated. [S] [R] [SM]
Akroyd, Joseph (fl. 1832),‖of‖Thornton,‖Bradford,‖weaver,‖‘a‖poor‖but‖apparently‖
pious‖man’‖whose‖‘habitation‖is‖the‖busy‖weaver’s‖cot,‖and‖his‖study,‖the‖
industrious‖loom’. He published Original Poems, Sacred, Natural and Moral (1832),
described as being free verse‖of‖a‖particularly‖‘feeble‖character’.‖Despite‖
Newsam’s‖Olympian‖dismissal,‖his‖writing‖describes‖his‖impoverished‖situation‖
 in valuable detail, though the verse is indeed weak. ~ Ref: Newsam (1845) 154-5.
[T]
Aldridge, T. L. (fl. 1850s-60s), of Oxford, published [with G. Curtis, qv] Poem
Dedicated to the Working Men of England; by Two of their Order, second enlarged
edition [cover title Golden Moments] (London and Oxford, 1861). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 7-8.
Alexander, James (b. 1858), of Edinburgh, whose father died when he was young,
published in the newspapers from the age of seventeen, and worked as a ticket-
writer in Glasgow. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 224-7. [S]
Alexander, William (1805-75), of Paisley, drawboy and weaver, later a schoolmaster,
published a posthumous collection of Poems and Songs (Paisley J. & J. Cook, 1881).
~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 384-88; online sources. [S] [T]
Allan, David (b. 1857), of Carstairs, Lanarkshire, railway signalman, poet and artist,
began working for the Caledonian Railway Company at the age of thirteen. After
losing a limb in an accident he was given the job of signalman, working in this
capacity for‖eight‖years.‖He‖began‖studying‖art,‖and‖his‖paintings‖‘have‖met‖with‖
such commendation from competent critics that he now intends to make it his
profession’,‖Edwards‖reports‖in‖1883. Allan published poems in the People’s
Journal, where he was prizewinner in their Christmas poetry competition, in the
People’s Friend, the Hamilton Advertiser, the Falkirk Herald, and elsewhere. Edwards
points‖to‖the‖‘power‖and‖sweetness’‖of‖his‖portrayals of rural life and scenery, the
quality‖of‖his‖songs,‖and‖his‖ability‖to‖use‖Doric‖(i.e.‖Scots)‖‘with‖good‖effect’.‖He‖
prints‖the‖poems‖‘Thomas‖Carlyle’,‖‘The‖Auld‖Scotch‖Sangs’,‖and‖‘My‖Ain‖Jean. ~
Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 166-70. [S] [R]
Allan, David Skea (b. 1840), of Eday, Orkney, a tailor from a poor family, later
acquired higher education and became an important civic figure in Glasgow. ~
Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 65-74. [S] [T]
Allan, John (b. 1850), of Bathgate, engineer at Bathgate Chemical Works, published
poems in the West Lothian Courier. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 136-8; Bisset (1896),
237-41. [S]
Allan, Peter (fl. 1854), of Creiff, shoemaker poet, published The Exile King, and Other
Poems (Edinburgh, 1854). ~ Ref: COPAC. [S] [SM]
Allan, Robert (1774-1841), of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, the son of a flax-dresser,
Scottish weaver poet, radical and political activist, friend of Robert Tannahill (qv);
his poems first appeared, set to music by Robert Archibald Smith, in a collection
of Scottish poets in 1820, The Scottish Minstrel; The Harp of Renfrewshire, and
another anthology, The Pocket Songster (Edinburgh, 1833, 1836). He published his
own first volume by subscription: Evening Hours: Poems and Songs (Glasgow:
David Robertson, 1836); Selected Songs (1855). His‖poems‖‘Liberty’s‖Tree’‖and‖‘The‖
Battle‖Field‘‖were‖published‖in‖Glasgow’s‖Chartist Circular, nos. 43, 18th July 1840,
 p. 176, and no. 52, 19th September 1840, p. 212. Allan emigrated to America in
1841 with his large family, but died of a chill shortly after arriving there. ~ Ref:
Wilson (1876), I, 510-14; Johnson (1992), item 11; Charles Cox, catalogue 73 (2018),
item 1; ODNB; online sources. [S] [T]
(?) Allan, William (1784-?1804),‖of‖Arbroath,‖wheelwright’s‖son,‖apprentice‖solicitor‖
but died at nineteen. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 6-7. [S]
(?) Allan, William (1837-1903), of Dundee, engineer, blockade runner in the
American Civil War, engineering manager of Sunderland, MP for Gateshead,
published six volumes of poetry, including Heather-Bells (1875); Rose and Thistle
(1878); Northern Lights (1889); A Book of Poems, Democratic Chants, and Songs, in
English and Scottish (1891); and a technical volume, The Shipowners' and Engineers'
Guide to the Marine Engine (1880). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 281-90; Murdoch
(1883), 309-13; Reid, Bards (1897), 2-6; ODNB. [S]
Allan, William (b. 1844), of Footdee, Aberdeen, bookbinder, working in 1883 for
Messrs Pirie & Sons, Stoneywood Paper Works, near Aberdeen, at which time he
was‖a‖‘valued‖contributor‖of‖poems‖and‖songs‖to‖the‖local‖newspapers’.‖He‖‘writes‖
with‖realism‖and‖simplicity‖and‖directness‖of‖purpose’,‖considers‖Edwards,‖who
finds‖room‖for‖his‖poems‖‘The‖Auld‖Hoose’,‖and‖‘We’ve‖Aye‖Held‖Oor‖Ain’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 6 (1883), 342-4. [S]
Allison, Elizabeth (1824-80), lamed in youth, began business as a dressmaker in her
teens, kept house for herself and her sisters, before later being confined for twelve
years‖to‖bed.‖Her‖verses‖include‖‘To‖the‖Departed‖Winter’,‖‘The‖World‖is‖Good’,‖
‘Long‖Ago’,‖‘Her‖Bright‖Boy’s‖Cap’,‖‘To‖the‖Wintry‖Winds’,‖and‖‘Death‖at‖the‖
Palace’.‖~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 145-51; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Allison, James (b. 1844), of Glasgow, son of a widowed millworker, storekeeper,
poems in Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 373-6. [S]
(?) Ambrose, William (1813-73), ‘Emrys’‖of Bangor, born at the Penrhyn Arms Inn,
educated at Friars school and then Holyhead, he was for a few years an
apprentice draper in Liverpool and a London shopworker, before finding his
vocation as an Independent minister at Porthmadog. Best known for his sermons
and lively contributions to Welsh-language periodicals, he was also well-regarded
as a poet, competing successfully in many eisteddfodau from an early age; his
poems can be found in Ceinion Emrys (1876). The Penrhyn Arms was rather a
grand place, and‖there‖were‖many‖clergyman‖in‖Ambrose’s‖family,‖so‖he‖might‖be‖
considered middle-class. ~ Ref: DWB. [W] [T]
Anderson, Alexander (1845-1909), ‘Surfaceman’,‖‘A. A.’,‖of Kirkconnel, in Nithsdale,
Dumfriesshire, son of a quarryman and the youngest of seven. In‖a‖‘Retrospective‖
Ode’,‖Anderson‖describes‖a‖childhood‖spent‖reading‖Dante‖and‖Ariosto‖and‖not‖
quite fitting in. LC6, quoting from his biographer Cuthbertson,‖records‖that‖‘As a
child he loved drawing and writing, and became a voracious reader of novels and
poems,‖*and+‖when,‖in‖his‖teens,‖he‖went‖to‖work‖as‖a‖‚surfaceman‛‖for‖the‖
Glasgow and South-Western Railway, he devoted all his leisure time,‖‚even‖his‖
meal-hour on the slope‖of‖the‖railway‖embankment‛,‖to‖reading‖‚the‖best‖
authors‛,‖his‖favourites‖including‖Wordsworth,‖Tennyson,‖Keats,‖Shelley‖and‖
Byron.‖He‖then‖moved‖on‖to‖languages,‖using‖‚Cassell’s‖Popular‖Educator‛‖to‖
master French and thus read Racine and Molière; thereafter he learned German,
Italian‖and‖Spanish.’‖~ Anderson is described‖by‖Vicinus‖as‖‘the‖first‖navvy‖poet’,
and LC6 considers that, ‘In Anderson, perhaps more than any other poet of the
period, the railway ... finds its heroic chronicler. Like his fellow labouring-class
poets [William] McGonagall and [Robert] Maybee (qqv) Anderson [also] vividly
chronicles the appalling and sudden disasters the new transport systems could
deliver; but he...thrills at the romance of the railway, and is well aware of its
poetic potential as both a metaphor and a site of reverie, a place where the poet
can dream of metaphysics, political progress and social change. Anderson
explicitly wished to ennoble the railwayman‖and‖his‖‚iron‖horse‛, as he makes
clear‖in‖the‖‚Prefatory‖Note‛ to Songs of the Rail.’ In this note, Anderson writes: ‘I
send out this volume, like former ones, in the hope that it may interest my fellow-
workers on the railway, and heighten to some degree their pride in the service,
however humble may be their position. I trust that its perusal may lead the
engine-driver, among‖others,‖to‖look‖upon‖his‖‚iron‖horse‛ as the embodiment of
a force as noble as gigantic—a force which has opened up for commerce and
industry a thousand paths that otherwise would have remained undiscovered: a
power destined, beyond doubt, to be one of‖the‖civilisers‖of‖the‖world’. But
Anderson’s poetry was also shaped by an ambitious literary classicism, and a
struggle to move beyond the harshly demanding working environment of heavy
physical labour, however perceptively he had written about it. ~ His poems began
to appear in The People’s Journal in the late 1860s, and he won People’s Journal
prizes in 1869, 1871 and 1872, which led to further publications in The People’s
Friend and a lifelong friendship with its editor, Andrew Stewart, and also to the
publication of his first volume. Reprinting‖his‖poems‖‘John‖Keats’‖and‖‘Jenny‖wi’‖
the‖Airn‖Teeth’‖from‖the‖People’s Journal, 17th April 1869 and the People’s Friend,
26th November 1873,‖Blair‖points‖out‖that‖Anderson‖was‖‘one‖of‖the‖most‖
admired and successful of the People’s Journal and People’s Friend contributors’,‖
and‖that‖the‖latter‖‘published‖most‖of‖his‖best‖known‖poems‖in‖the‖1870s’.‖As‖well
as winning their poetry competitions,‖in‖these‖journals‖‘his‖books‖were‖reviewed‖
and praised lavishly’.‖His‖talent‖was‖valued‖elsewhere,‖too,‖and he visited the
Lake District, Belgium, Germany and Italy (where he wrote a major sonnet
sequence,‖‘In‖Rome’)‖with‖his‖friend‖and‖patron,‖Archibald Cameron Corbett, MP
for Glasgow Tradeston and later Lord Rowallan. In 1880 Anderson obtained an
appointment in Edinburgh as an Assistant Librarian in the University, and in 1883
 he became Secretary to the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution. He was honoured
by a dinner in Edinburgh in 1891, and eventually became Chief Librarian at the
University: a long way from the life of a railway surfaceman. ~ Edwards writes of
Anderson:‖‘He‖sends‖on‖his‖passions‖rushing‖with‖the‖trains,‖and‖retains‖in‖his‖
own bosom and home the peace which passeth all understanding. His aims are
high and wide, and his thoughts have an elevating effect of the mind; while he
shows a culture of intellect, a nobility of mind and heart and a command of
language and imagery which would have been astonishing even if the highest
training‖had‖been‖received‖in‖college‖halls‖or‖classes’‖(quoted‖in‖Cuthbertson,‖p.‖
13). The reference to home and peace is a useful reminder that for all the grandeur
and intensity of his description of the world of the railways, and indeed his high
intellectual ambitions, Anderson is known today, and loved by many in Scotland,
largely for a very simple, homely lyric about putting the children to bed, ‘Cuddle‖
Doon’: ‘The‖bairnies‖cuddle‖doon‖at‖nicht‖/‖Wi’‖muckle‖faught‖an’‖din’‖/‖‚Oh‖try‖
an’‖sleep,‖ye waukrife rogues, / Your father’s‖comin’ in.‛’ ~ He published A Song
of Labour and Other Poems (Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, 1873; London, 1883); The
Two Angels and Other Poems, with an introductory sketch by George Gilfillan
(London and Edinburgh, 1874); Songs of the Rail (London and Edinburgh, 1878
[two editions], third edition 1881); Ballads and Sonnets (London, 1879); and
posthumously, The Later Poems of Alexander Anderson ‚Surfaceman‛, ed. with a
biographical sketch by Alexander Brown (Glasgow and Dalbeattie: Fraser, Asher
& Co, 1912). Borland‖includes‖four‖of‖Anderson’s‖topographical‖poems,‖‘In‖
Yarrow’,‖‘On‖Yarrow‖Braes’,‖‘St‖Mary’s‖Lake’‖and‖‘Yarrow‖Stream’,‖as‖well‖as a
fine portrait photograph of the poet in his middle years. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II,
501-5; Edwards, 1 (1880), 157-68; Murdoch (1883), 401-6; Borland (1890), 220-32;
Miles (1891), X, xviii; Miller (1910), 294-300; David Cuthbertson, The Life-History of
Alexander Anderson (‘Surfaceman’), Author of ‘Cuddle Doon’ and other Poems
(Roseville, Inveresk, Midlothian: privately published, [1929]); Vicinus (1969), 4,
342; Maidment (1987), 209 [image], 275-7; Reilly (2000), 12; Goodridge (2005);
Susan‖Ross,‖‘The‖Poetry‖of‖Alexander‖Anderson,‖‚Surfaceman‛,‖1845-1909’,‖PhD‖
dissertation, University of Salford, 2011; Blair (2016), 79-81, 192-4; LION; NTU;
ODNB; LC 6, 241-68. [S] [LC6] [R]
(?) Anderson, Basil Ramsay (1861-88), of Uist, Shetland, son of a Shetland fisherman,
brother to Peter Anderson (qv). His parents were Peter and Elizabeth Ramsay
(Elizabeth was from Montrose). His father was drowned at sea when Basil was
five, leaving his widow to bring up five boys (William the eldest, and Basil,
Andrew and Peter among the others), and one girl. Basil‖was‖‘an‖apt‖scholar’‖who‖
worked as a pupil-teacher until the family moved to Edinburgh in 1875, where he
attended school for a while more and‖then‖worked‖in‖a‖lawyer’s‖office,‖where‖he‖
was still working in 1883 when Edwards describes him‖as‖a‖‘young‖and‖very
 promising‖poet’.‖But‖just five years later he was dead from tuberculosis. (The
North Isles Family History website notes his residence in the Old Royal Infirmary,
Edinburgh as a patient in 1881, among much other useful information.) His poems
were posthumously published as Broken Lights: Poems and Reminiscences of the late
Basil Ramsay Anderson, ed. Jessie M. E. Saxby with a glossary of Shetland terms by
Gilbert Goudie (Edinburgh and Lerwick, 1888). (The editor was a celebrated
Shetlandic folklorist, novelist and poet.) Anderson had also published ‘frequently’‖
in a number of newspapers and periodicals, including the Christian Leader and the
People’s Friend.‖Edwards‖quotes‖from‖a‖series‖called‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Album’‖in‖the‖
Weekly News, which describes Anderson as being uninterested in fame and
fortune, and merely writing‖poems‖‘for‖his‖own‖amusement’,‖and‖‘simply‖to‖the‖
call of passing fancies that tickle his imagination when his mind is withdrawn
from‖the‖sterner‖duties‖of‖life.’ His brother Peter reveals a wider family tradition
of verse-writing,‖saying‖that‖he‖(Peter)‖‘first‖tried‖writing‖verse‖shortly‖after‖
leaving school, for we were quite a rhyming circle at home. Basil and Andrew are
gone, and my oldest brother, William, all tried their hands at it—Basil alone
succeeded.’ Edwards prints the poems ‘The‖Old‖Man’‖(about‖his‖grandfather, a
great storyteller), ‘Twilight’, ’Daisies’‖and‖‘An‖Old‖Song’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883),
402 (for his‖brother‖Peter’s‖comments,‖see Edwards, 15 (1893), 95); North Isles
Family History web page. [S]
Anderson,‖David‖(fl. 1808-33),‖mechanic,‖of‖Aberdeen,‖published‖The Scottish Village:
A Rural Poem‖(Aberdeen,‖1808);‖The Martial Achievements of Sir William Wallace: An
Historical Play‖(Aberdeen,‖1821);‖Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect‖(Aberdeen,‖
1826,‖two‖editions);‖King Robert Bruce, or the Battle of Bannockburn: An Historical
Play by the Author of The Scottish Village‖(1833).‖~‖Ref:‖CBEL3‖(1999),‖224.‖*S+
Anderson, Edward (1763-1843), son of a small-scale pre-enclosure farmer; after a
rudimentary education worked as a shepherd, then at the age of about 15 joined
the Lisbon Trading Company as an ordinary seaman, eventually rising to be a
ship’s‖master.‖He‖is‖described‖by‖one‖nineteenth-century‖source‖as‖a‖‘master‖
mariner’;‖his‖career‖began‖at‖Scarborough,‖according‖to‖the‖poem. He published
Poems, A Description of a Shepherd (Workington, 1792); The Sailor: A Poem:
Description of his going to sea, and through various scenes of life ... with Observations on
the Town of Liverpool (Leeds: Anderson, 1792), which went through many editions
in the north east and Yorkshire in the nineteenth century and was reprinted by
local historians‖in‖Hull‖in‖1986.‖Grainge‖extracts‖some‖lines‖that‖‘answer‖the‖
double purpose of a biographic sketch and present a specimen of his poetical
talent’;‖they‖begin:‖‘Though‖I‖but‖little‖education‖had,‖/ The muses often charmed
me when a lad: / Brought up a shepherd,‖though‖a‖farmer’s‖son,‖/‖My‖clothing‖
then it mostly was home-spun’.‖The‖lines‖continue‖with‖a‖picture‖of‖sturdy‖self-
reliance‖and‖simple‖food‖(‘On‖Yorkshire‖Wolds‖we‖mostly‖barley‖eat’).‖~ Ref:
 Grainge (1868), I, 302-3 (also a press cutting headed ‘Edward‖Anderson’s‖Poems’,‖
reproduced at the back of the British Library reprint of Grainge I, presumably
because it was tucked or tipped into the BL copy); Burnett et al (1984), no. 15;
Johnson (1992), item 15; Shattock (1999), 223-4; Google Books and WorldCat
online book catalogue; Scarborough Maritime History web page (visited 18 June
2014); inf. Stephen Harrison. [C18]
Anderson, George W. (b. 1856), of Muir of Rhynie, soldier poet. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14
(1891), 17-30. [S]
Anderson, James (fl. 1870), Northumbrian miner, worked at Elswick colliery, won
prizes for dialect songs in 1870, published The ‘Newcastle Chronicle’ Prize Song, and
Sundry other pieces, respectfully dedicated to the miners of Durham and Northumberland.
By James Anderson, one of their number (Newcastle upon Tyne: J.M. Carr, 1870). ~
Ref: Allan (1891), 519; MBP3 (1986), item 86. [M]
Anderson, Jessie Ann or Jessie Annie (b. 1861),‖‘Patience’,‖of Ellon, Aberdeenshire,
self-taught‖mason’s‖daughter,‖unable‖to‖attend‖school‖due to spinal injury.
Edwards records that she published poems in newspapers; Gifford and McMillan
list a prolific series of later volumes, those up to 1908 published by Milne &
Stephen, Aberdeen: Across the Snow (1894); Songs in Season (1901); Songs of Hope
and Courage (1902); An Old-world Sorrow and Other Sonnets (1903); Legends and
Ballads of Women (1904); Lyrics of Childhood (1905); A Handful of Heather (1906); The
Book of the Wonder Ways (1907); Flower Voices (1908); Dorothy’s Dream of the Months
(London: Horace Cox, 1909); Breaths from the Four Winds (Aberdeen: Milne &
Stephen, 1911); This is Nonsense: Verses Light and Satirical (Aberdeen: Aberdeen
Press & Journal, 1926); A Singer’s Year (Aberdeen: Aberdeen Press & Journal,
1928). ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 77-83; Kerrigan (1991), 216, 349; Gifford and
McMillan (1997), 679. [F] [S]
Anderson, John (1820-?90), of Musselburgh, the son of a soldier, received a basic
education and was apprenticed to a leather merchant. He moved to Edinburgh
and held a position in the Temperance Society, and lectured throughout Scotland.
He later opened the Caledonian Temperance Hotel in London. Anderson wrote a
series of political sketches. There are two poetry volumes, In Memory of John
Anderson and Mary Christine Anderson (Edinburgh: Neill and Co., 1863) which is
listed as being by both John and Mary Christine Anderson, but is not in fact of
joint authorship: Anderson’s‖sister‖Mary‖Christine had died in 1842 aged sixteen.
A further volume followed a decade later, The Weal and Woe of Caledonia, with an
Introduction by Fergus Ferguson (Glasgow: Scottish Temperance League, and
London, 1873). Note: Reilly‖gives‖Anderson’s‖death-date as 1862, but since
Edwards writes of his being still active in the temperance movement in 1884 this
appears to be a mistake. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 308-14 and 16, [lix]; Reilly
(2000), 12. [S] )
(?) Anderson, John (b.‖1879),‖‘Alpha‖Beta’,‖of Dumfries, a clothier and the great-great
grandson of a clothier, published poems in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard and
other papers; Wayfaring Songs (Glasgow and Dalbeattie: Fraser, Angus & Co,
[post-1912]). ~ Ref: Miller (1910), 314-15. [S] [OP] [T]
(?) Anderson, Joseph (fl. 1818), published The Artless Muse; or attempts in verse, on
different subjects (Peterhead, 1818), which includes a poem on the early eighteenth
century poet William Shenstone (on Shenstone see Joseph Giles, Thomas Nicholls,
James Woodhouse, qqv). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 16. [S]
Anderson, Lizzie D. (fl. 1895), born at the farm of Cairnrobin, about five miles south
of Aberdeen; her family moved to become tenants in the parish of New Machar,
and later to Thainstone, Kintore, where she continued to live with her brother, the
tenant; in later years she suffered ill health; published poems in the Aberdeen Free
Press and‖other‖newspapers;‖poems‖include‖‘There’s‖Mair‖Things‖Caw’d‖Doun‖
Than‖the‖Brig‖O’er‖the‖Tay’,‖‘Autumn’,‖‘The‖Home‖of‖My‖Childhood’,‖and‖‘The‖
Dying‖Girl‖and‖the‖Flowers’.‖~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 89-95; inf. Florence Boos. [F]
[S]
Anderson, Matthew (b. 1864), of Waterside, Dalmellington, Ayrshire, farmboy,
coalminer, soldier and special constable; published Poems of a Policeman (Paisley,
Edinburgh and London, 1898). ~ Ref: MBP3 (1986), item 88; Reilly (1994), 14. [S]
[M]
Anderson, Peter (b. 1864), of Shetland, brother to Basil Ramsay Anderson (qv),
draper of Edinburgh and Montrose. Anderson‖‘first‖tried‖writing‖verse‖shortly‖
after leaving school, for we were quite a rhyming circle at home. Basil and
Andrew, who are gone, and my oldest brother, William, all tried their hands at
it— Basil‖alone‖succeeded’‖(quoted‖by‖Edwards).‖Edward‖prints‖three‖of his
poems,‖‘Cloud‖and‖Calm’,‖‘Mother’‖and‖‘The‖Engagement‖Ring’.‖~ Ref: Edwards,
15 (1893), 94-6. [S] [T]
Anderson, Robert (1770-1833), pattern-drawer and calico printer of Carlisle.
Anderson received some education at the Quaker school of Carlisle, doubtless
helping to instill in him a veneration of equality, but he had to turn to hard labour
at the age of ten to‖assist‖his‖‘poor‖father’. Anderson was apprenticed as a calico
printer, using any spare money he had to obtain copies of Addison, Pope,
Fielding and Smollett. Later he worked as a pattern drawer. During the five years
he spent in London, he was exploited‖terribly,‖and‖was‖‘confined‖to‖a‖wretched‖
garret’‖for‖several‖months‖until‖a‖sister‖came‖to‖his‖aid. The mock-pastoral
Scottish-style songs Anderson heard on visiting Vauxhall Gardens simultaneously
disgusted him and roused his poetic sensibilities.‖~‖Anderson’s‖earliest‖poem,‖
Lucy Gray of Allendale, was inspired by a tale he heard from a Northumbrian
rustic, about a village beauty—‘fairer‖than‖any‖flow’r‖that‖blows’—who died at
seventeen, and was thereafter followed by her lover. He was granted free
admission‖to‖the‖gardens‖after‖the‖song‖was‖performed‖to‖‘great‖applause’. The
story‖also‖seemingly‖informed‖Wordsworth’s‖own‖‘Lucy‖Gray’. Anderson
published his first collection, Poems on Various Subjects, in 1798, which included
‘The‖Slave’,‖conveying‖his‖indignation‖at‖the‖slave‖trade:‖‘Torn‖from‖every‖dear‖
connection,‖/‖Forc’d‖across‖the‖yielding‖wave,‖/‖The‖Negro,‖stung‖by‖keen‖
reflection,‖/‖May‖exclaim,‖Man’s‖but‖a‖slave!’ It was the only edition, and was
reviewed,‖and‖was‖‘not‖widely‖noticed’‖(in‖comparison with what followed) but
the Monthly Visitor and Pocket Companion (October 1799) briefly reviewed it,
declaring:‖‘This‖poet‖is‖self-educated, and therefore his productions must not be
severely scrutinised’‖(Croft‖&‖Beattie);‖they recommended the volume. It was not
until 1805 that Anderson published his best-known work, Ballads in the
Cumberland Dialect, a selection taken from verse and prose featured in a local
newspaper, delineating the manners and customs of his native land. Caine (2004)
writes: ‘since‖he‖drew‖his‖materials‖from‖real‖life,‖Anderson‖was‖much‖feared‖for‖
his personal attacks; he had a keen eye for the ludicrous, and pictured with
fidelity the ale-drinking, guzzling, and cock-fighting side of the character of the
Cumbrian farm labourer’.‖~‖Following‖the‖death‖of‖his‖father‖in‖1807,‖Anderson‖
went to work in Belfast via a pilgrimage to the grave of Robert Burns (qv), which
affected‖him‖greatly,‖as‖did‖the‖‘distressing‖scenes’‖of‖poverty‖in‖the‖countryside‖
outside Belfast. In his memoir, he‖wrote,‖‘it‖is‖much‖to‖be‖lamented‖that‖no‖
provision whatever is held out by the British government to the poor of
Ireland’. The two-volume‖edition‖of‖Anderson’s‖Poetical Works appeared in 1820,
at a time when his local reputation drew subscriptions from Wordsworth and
Southey.‖~‖In‖his‖twilight‖years‖Anderson’s‖life‖became‖marred‖by‖bouts‖of‖
intemperance and acute poverty, and he was haunted by the prospect of ending
his‖life‖in‖St‖Mary’s‖workhouse. He died in Carlisle on 26 September 1833. ~
Anderson published Poems on Various Subjects (London: J. Mitchell, 1798); Ballads
in the Cumbrian dialect (Carlisle, 1805, London, 1881); Poetical Works of Robert
Anderson, Author of ‘Cumberland Ballads, &c., To Which is Prefixed the Life of the
Author, Written by Himself; An Essay on the Character, Manners, and Customs of the
Peasantry of Cumberland; and Observations on the Style and Genius of the Author By
Thomas Sanderson (Carlisle: B. Scott, 1820), two volumes (subscribers include
Wordsworth and Southey), Posthumous editions include Anderson’s Cumberland
Ballads and Songs. A Centenary Edition, ed. Revd. T. Ellwood (Ulverston: W.
Holmes, 1904); Selections from the Cumberland Ballads of Robert Anderson, ed. George
Crowther (Ulverston: W. Holmes, 1907). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 167-8; Miles (1891), X,
v; Robert Anderson, the Cumberland Bard. A Centenary Celebration Souvenir (Carlisle,
1933); Ashraf (1975), 117-18; Keith‖Gregson,‖‘The‖Cumberland‖Bard:‖Anniversary‖
Reflections’,‖Folk Music Journal, 4 (1983), 33-66; Burnett et al (1984), no. 16a;
Johnson (1992), items 17-22, 64, 573, 743, 795; Cafarelli (1995), 83-4; Sutton (1995),
 14 (manuscripts of poems and letters); W.‖Kemeza,‖‘Robert‖Anderson,‖‚The‖Slave‛‖
(1798)’‖(1999),‖http://www2.bc.edu/~richarad/asp/rasla.html; Basker (2002), 528-9;
Mike‖Huggins,‖‘Popular‖Culture‖and‖Sporting‖Life‖in‖the‖Rural‖Margins‖of‖Late‖
Eighteenth-Century England: The World of Robert Anderson,‖‚The‖Cumberland‖
Bard‛’,‖Eighteenth-Century Studies, 4, no. 2 (Winter 2012), 189-205; Susan Margaret
Allan,‖‘Robert‖Anderson’,‖in‖‘Folk-Song in Cumbria: A Distinctive Regional
Repertoire?’,‖PhD‖dissertation,‖University‖of‖Lancaster, 2016; Croft & Beattie I,
item 13; ODNB; texts via archive.org. [LC3] [C18] [T] [—Iain Rowley]
Anderson, Thomas (1810-88), of Fordyce, Banffshire, herdboy, shoemaker, printer,
published Poems and Songs (Aberdeen, 1844). ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 160-6. [S]
[SM]
Anderson, William (1793-1885), of Paisley, weaver and later bookseller, published
the New Paisley Repository (1835). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 276-78. [S] [T]
Anderson, William (1802-67), of Aberdeen, weaver, policeman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2
(1881), 234-9. [S] [T]
Andrew, John (1801-71), ‘Werdna’,‖of Ayr, weaver, bookbinder, upholsterer,
shopman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 290-5. [S] [T]
Andrews, John (d. 1869), of Paisley, lead drawer and dealer in weaving utensils,
shawl manufacturer, temperance campaigner and poet. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I,
418-22. [S] [T]
(?) Angus, James Stout (1830-1923), of Catfirth, Nesting, Shetland, worked as a
housewright and joiner and as a‖ship’s‖carpenter,‖married and settled at Lerwick
as a housewright. He published poems in the press in the 1870s, including his
important and well-known Shetland‖dialect‖poem‖‘Eels’,‖published in 1877. He
later published a glossary of Shetland place names and then a glossary of the
Shetland dialect. ~ Ref: John J. Graham and Laurence I. Graham (eds), A Shetland
Anthology (Lerwick: Shetland Publishing Company, 1998), 19-25; Wikipedia and
online sources. [S]
Angus, William Cargill (b. 1870), of Arbroath, Angus, apprentice tinsmith, soldier. In
childhood he ‘spent‖many‖days‖in‖the‖neighbourhood‖of‖the‖ancient‖‚Round‖O‛‖of‖
which many poets have‖sung‖so‖sweetly’‖(Edwards), i.e. Arbroath Abbey, whose
famous high round window in the south transept was a beacon for sailors. He
was apprenticed as a tinsmith, but was led to joining the‖army‖by‖a‖‘roving‖
disposition’ and a love of military life. Angus completed seven years in the Black
Watch from the age of fifteen, serving in Belfast during the riots of 1886, Malta,
and Gibraltar, and he began writing in the last two years of his army service in his
spare time, with‖a‖‘shady‖neuk’‖in‖the‖lower‖reaches‖of‖the‖Rock of Gibraltar as his
‘study’, or so Edwards romantically records. Angus contributed‖monthly‖‘Notes‖
from Gibraltar’ and sketches of military life, to the Arbroath Guide, his poems and
songs appearing there too, and in the (Dundee) Weekly News and elsewhere. He
 published one volume, Under the Shadow: Songs of Labour and of Love (Arbroath,
1896). Edwards‖selects‖the‖lyrics,‖‘O‖Lass,‖Are‖You‖Weary?’,‖‘My‖Bonny‖Jean’,‖and‖
‘The‖Sun‖Will‖Shine‖Again’.‖~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 122-6; Reid, Bards (1897),
14-16; Reilly (1994), 15. [S]
(?) Aram, Eugene (1704-59), son of the gardener and poet Peter Aram (qv), worked
as a London counting-house clerk and later as a schoolmaster in Knaresborough
and a peripatetic school usher. He was a poet as well as a talented philologist and,
most famously, was a murderer, tried, convicted and executed in 1759, whose
sensational story inspired much lurid and creative writing, including Thomas
Hood’s‖poem‖The Dream of Eugene Aram (London, 1831), Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s‖
novel Eugene Aram (1832), three early silent films, and most recently Amanda
Taylor’s‖novel Aram: Based on a True 18th Century Murder (York: West End
Publications, 2017). Newsam and Grainge briefly sample his poetry, though
understandably few others take much interest in this aspect of his life. ~ Ref: The
Genuine Account of the Trial of Eugene Aram for the Murder of Daniel Clark, late of
Knaresborough in the County of York, sixth edition (Knaresborough: E Hargrove, c.
1770); Newsam (1845) 65-8; Grainge (1868), I, 163. [C18]
Aram, Peter (1667-1735),‖fisherman’s‖son‖of‖Clifton,‖Notts.,‖later‖Sir‖John‖Ingilby’s‖
steward and gardener at Ripley Castle, naturalist and poet, author of Studley Park,
‘a well-informed, eloquently turned contribution to the tradition of local
descriptive poetry’‖(ODNB), published in Thomas Gent (qv), The Antient and
Modern History of the Loyal Town of Ripon (York, 1733); also an interesting prose
work, A Practical Treatise of Flowers, unpublished in his lifetime but now reprinted
in a scholarly edition (Felsenstein). His son was the notorious and unfortunate
Eugene Aram (qv). ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), I, 138-9; Frank Felsenstein (ed), Peter
Aram,‖‘A‖Practical‖Treatise‖of‖Flowers’,‖Proc. Leeds Phil. & Lit. Soc., XX, part i
(Leeds, 1985), which includes a biography; LC 1, 255-74; ODNB. [LC1] [C18]
(?) Archer,‖William‖(b.‖1843),‖‘Sagittarius’,‖of‖Carnoustie,‖served‖ten years as an
apprentice seaman and was later a senior customs officer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4
(1882), 105-9; Reid, Bards (1897), 20-22. [S]
Archibald, James (1817-87), of Paisley, weaver, lived in Robert Tannahill’s‖former‖
house, wrote poems in praise of Tannahill (qv). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 72-76.
[S] [T]
Armstrong, Andrew James (b. 1848), of Dumfries, lost his father in infancy and grew
up in a family of five, unprovided for. He spent‖two‖years‖in‖a‖‘society’‖school‖
before becoming an errand boy at‖a‖draper’s‖shop‖and‖later at a bookshop, where
he wrote his first poem, aged fourteen. This was printed in the Dumfries Herald
and commended by the editor, Thomas Aird. In childhood he spent much time in
the‖‘auld‖kirkyard‖where‖rest‖the‖remains‖of‖Robert‖Burns’‖(qv;‖Edwards). He
served an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, while studying at evening school to
 help make up for his lack of a formal education. Armstrong worked as a cabinet-
maker in England for some years before settling in Kirkcudbright. He contributed
prose tales and sketches as well as poems and songs to the newspapers. Edwards
prints‖his‖poems,‖‘Sweet‖Jessie‖Glen’,‖‘The‖Dominie’s‖Dochter’‖and‖‘The‖Wee‖
Creepie‖Stule’.‖He published a number of volumes: Friend and Foe: A Tale of
Galloway Seventy Years Ago (Dundee, 1885); Through the Shadows: A Story in Three
Parts (Dumfries, [1887]); Ingleside Musings and Tales Told in Rhyme (Dalbeattie:
Thomas Fraser, 1890), which includes a portrait of the author and illustrations
from original paintings by John and Thomas Faed; The Cobbler o’ Kirkiebrae: A
Romance of Galloway (London: Simpkin, Marshall et al, 1896); The Levellers: A
Historical Romance of Galloway (Dalbeattie: I.A. Callan, 1898). *Note:‖‘The Cottler of
Eurkiebrae: A Romance of Galloway (London,‖1896)’‖is‖listed‖by‖Edinburgh‖
University Library and echoed in COPAC and Wordcat, but I have not tracked
down another copy or reference to it anywhere, so I strongly suspect it may be a
phantom title based on the mis-typing of a catalogue entry for his actual 1896
volume.] Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 253-7; Reilly (1994), 17; COPAC; Worldcat;
DiscoverEd (Edinburgh University Library Catalogue); archive.org. [S]
Armstrong, A.W. (fl. 1816), Irish sailor, published O’Neil’s Farewell. A Poem (North
Shields:‖W.‖Orange,‖1816),‖a‖criminal‖narrative‖by‖the‖convict’s‖friend. ~ Ref:
Johnson (1992), item 25; Johnson 46 (2003), item 262. [I]
Armstrong, Tommy (1848-1920), of Tanfield, County Durham, pitman poet,
published numerous broadsheet poems and songs; collected editions include Song
Book containing 25 popular songs by the late Thomas Armstrong, Compiled by his son W.
H. Armstrong (Chester-le-Street, 1930); Tommy Armstrong Sings, introduced by
Tom Gilfellon (Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham, 1971); Pollisses and
Candymen, ed. Ross Forbes (Consett: Tommy Armstrong Memorial Trust, 1987);
Ray Tilley, Tommy Armstrong: The Pitman Poet (Newcastle upon Tyne: Summerhill
Books, 2010). His verses and songs are still sung on the folk circuit, for example
‘Trimdon‖Grange‖Explosion’,‖sung‖by‖Maureen‖Craik‖on‖the‖compilation‖CD‖
Tommy Armstrong of Tyneside (Topic 1965, 1977), and in his own arrangement by
Martin Carthy (The Definitive Collection, CD, Topic, 2002). ~ Ref: Lloyd, (1978), 12,
20, 21, 55, 183, 284, 283, 293, 324, 326, 342 note, 352 note, 361 notes, 362 note, 363
note, 366 notes; ODNB; http://www.pitmanpoet.derwentside.org.uk/; other
sources as cited. [M]
Armstrong, William (b. 1804), ‘Willie‖Armstrong’,‖of Newcastle upon Tyne,
shoemaker’s‖son,‖painter,‖author‖of‖‘Lizzie‖Mudie’s‖Ghost’‖and‖other‖popular‖
songs, published in miscellanies, 1823-42. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 215-21.
Arneil, William (b. 1856), of Paisley, tanner, who at the age of fifteen wrote a poem to
Robert Tannahill (qv) published in the Paisley Herald, and also wrote poems on
current political events. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 458-68. [S]
Arnott, John (1799-1868), of Chesham, later of Somers Town, London, cordwainer,
Chartist‖leader‖and‖popular‖Chartist‖poet‖‘of‖the‖circle‖round‖Northern Star’‖
(Schwab); a selection of his poems and a carefully researched biography are
included in John James Bezer, Chartist and John Arnott, National Charter Association,
by David Shaw (n.pub., 2008). ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 116-17; Ashraf (1975), 191-2;
Scheckner (1989), 329; Schwab (1993), 183. [C] [SM]
Ash, Charles Bowker (1781-1864),‖of‖Adbaston,‖Staffs.,‖farmer’s‖son,‖walker,‖actor,‖
published Adbaston: A Poem (London: G & S Robinson, 1814); The Hermit of
Hawkestone (Bath, 1816); A Layman’s Epistle to a Certain Nobleman (London:
Rodwell and Martin, 1824); Poetical Works (London, 1831). ~ Ref: Poole &
Markland (1928), 138-41; BL.
As(h)ton, Robert (fl. 1725-27), shoemaker poet, published A Congratulatory Poem to
the Reverend Daen [sic] Swift (Dublin, 1725); Poem in Honor of the Loyal Society of
Journeymen Shoe-makers. On the Feast of St. Crispin (Dublin, 1725, 1726); A Satyr on
the Journey-Man Taylors (Dublin, 1725); A Poem on the Birthday of Her Late Majesty
Queen Anne, of ever glorious memory, dedicated to Reverend Dean Swift (Dublin, 1726-
7). He also wrote a play, ‘The‖battle‖of‖Aughrim:‖or,‖the fall of Monsieur St. Ruth.
A Tragedy’‖(ESTC,‖ECCO). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 15; Christmas (2001), 69;
ESTC. [I] [SM] [C18]
Askham, John (1825-94) of Wellingborough, Northants., shoemaker, later librarian of
the Literary Institute, Wellingborough, member of the school board, school
attendance officer and sanitary inspector, 1874; published Sonnets on the Months,
and Other Poems, Descriptive, Domestic, and National (Northampton: [John] Taylor
and Sons, 1863, BL 11644.ee.61), which includes‖a‖sonnet‖‘To‖John‖Clare’ (qv) and
a subscription list headed by Clare’s‖patron,‖Earl Spencer; Descriptive Poems,
Miscellaneous Pieces, and Miscellaneous Sonnets (London: F. Warne; Northampton:
[John] Taylor and Sons, 1866); Judith and other Poems, and a Centenary of Sonnets
(London and Northampton, 1868); Poems and Sonnets, Descriptive, Miscellaneous,
and Special (London: F. Warne, Northampton: Taylor & Son, 1875); Irenia; or the
City of the Dead (1878); Sketches in Prose and Verse (Northampton: S.S. Campion,
‘Mercury‖Office’,‖and‖Wellingborough:‖Thos.‖Collins,‖‘News’‖Office,‖1893). ~ Ref:
Mark Storey (ed), John Clare: The Critical Heritage (London, 1973), 271-2; Burnett et
al (1984), no. 25; MBP3 (1986), items 134-6; Hold (1989), 25-29; Reilly (1994), 21;
Reilly‖(2000),‖17;‖‘Poet’s‖plaque’,‖
http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=f4317a4d-43f2-4f1d-
8d64-4029b7542156; ODNB; NTU. [SM]
(?) Atherstone, Edwin or Edward (1788-1872), of Nottingham, thirteenth son of a
dyer; made income from lecturing and publication; eventually earned a civil-list
pension; music teacher, elocution and philosophy lecturer, painting dealer and
collector. He published The Last Days of Herculaneum (1821); A Midsummer Day’s
 Dream (1824); The Sea-Kings in England (1830 [novel]); The Handwriting on the Wall
(1858), a romance; Israel in Egypt: a poem (London, 1861), The Fall of Nineveh: a
Poem, second edition, two volumes (London, 1868). ~ Ref: Miles (1891), 2, 495-506;
James (1963), 172; NCBEL III (1969), 363; Cross (1985), 83; Sutton (1995), 24
(numerous letters); Reilly (2000), 17; LION; ODNB. There are a number of
electronic editions online, and further biographical information. [—Cole Crawford]
Atkin, John (fl. 1823), of North Muskham, Nottinghamshire, self-taught carpenter
and joiner, correspondent of John Clare (qv), later schoolmaster, published Jonah
Tink, a poem (Newark, 1823), which mentions‖Clare‖in‖the‖Preface‖(‘Like‖Clare,‖he‖
pursued‖his‖favourite‖study,‖under‖every‖disadvantage’),‖and‖Robert‖Bloomfield‖
(qv)‖in‖the‖text:‖‘Like‖Giles,‖in‖Bloomfield’s‖pleasing‖tale,‖/‖The‖sweets‖of‖morning‖
did‖inhale’;‖‘If‖you‖your‖time‖would‖well‖employ,‖/‖You’d‖pleasure‖reap‖without‖
alloy:‖/‖Read‖Bloomfield’s‖works,‖then‖I‖am‖sure,‖/‖You’ll‖have‖a‖taste‖for‖
literature’‖(iv,‖23,‖54).‖Clare‖is‖also‖mentioned‖in‖a‖note‖forestalling‖accusations‖of‖
plagiarism:‖‘Clare‖in‖describing‖a‖Gossip,‖has‖the‖same‖idea and nearly the same
words, but as this part of the Poem was written before his made its appearance,
the‖Author‖is‖not‖afraid‖of‖plagiarism‖being‖imputed‖to‖him’‖(24).‖Atkin‖is‖brief‖
discussed in Thomas Matthews Blagg, Newark as a Publishing Town (Newark,
1898),‖which‖notes‖that‖Jonah‖Tink‖‘is‖a‖cryptogram‖for‖the‖real‖name‖of‖the‖
author’.‖Atkin‖was‖also‖a‖regular‖correspondent‖in‖the‖periodical‖press,‖Ref:‖
Jarndyce (1980), item 1264; Johnson (1992), item 35; Scott‖McEathron,‖‘Clare,‖John‖
Atkin, and The Parish’,‖JCSJ, 27 (2008), 5-3. [—Sam Ward]
(?) Atkinson, Jane (1836-76),‖‘Jenny‖Wren’,‖married name‖Jane‖Shackleton“‖farmer’s‖
daughter‖and‖printer’s‖wife‖of‖Keighley,‖Yorkshire,‖kept‖a‖school,‖published Facts
and Fancies in Verse and Prose (London and Keighley, 1864 and later editions;
posthumous‖1879‖edition‖has‖added‖materials).‖In‖her‖preface‖she‖writes,‖‘My‖
husband is a printer and I persuaded him, and in the days of my early bridehood,
while persuasion was an easy matter, to gather my stray scribblings together, and
reprint them in the form of a book, which would be my very own production, and
would‖be‖the‖realisation‖of‖the‖dreams‖and‖hopes‖of‖my‖girlhood’.‖She‖continued‖
to write after the birth of her twin daughters, and her short stories were popular;
she was a successful and locally very well-known writer. Forshaw prints the
sentimental‖‘Little‖Annie’. Kith and Kin (1931), a late edition of her short stories.
‘first‖published‖in‖The Halifax Courier and Guardian, The Manchester Guardian, The
Enquirer, and The Nursing Mirror’,‖includes‖a‖Foreword‖by‖Alderman‖Ben‖Turner‖
(qv), ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), 160-1; Reilly (2000), 18. [F]
Bachelor or Batchelor, Thomas (1775-1838), of Bedford, self-taught farm worker,
agriculturalist and poet, author of Village Scenes: The Progress of Agriculture, and
Other Poems (London: Vernor and Hood, 1804); A General View of the Agriculture of
the County of Bedford (1808). ~ Ref: Sambrook (1970), 1360; John Barrell, The Idea of
 Landscape and the Sense of Place: An Approach to the Poetry of John Clare (London:
Cambridge University Press, 1972), 32 and 75; Barrell & Bull (1974), 370-1;
Jarndyce (1980), item 1272; LC 4, 71-84; ODNB. [LC4]
Bailey, Mary (fl.‖1826),‖of‖Kingston‖Place,‖parish‖of‖St‖Mary’s,‖Nottingham,‖lace‖
runner (embroiderer), author of Poems Humourous and Sentimental (Nottingham: C.
N. Wright, Chapel Bar; second edition Nottingham: Samuel Bennet, Long Row,
both 1826). ~ This 26-page volume, published by subscription, begins with the
author noting the inadequacy of her ‘very‖deficient’‖verses; but‖‘as‖some‖Ladies‖
have been pleased to express a favourable opinion of them, she has been
encouraged to commit them to the press.’ She addresses the critics in verse:
‘Should‖they‖find‖fault,‖which‖is,‖alas!‖too‖common,‖/‖They’d‖only‖set‖their‖wit‖
against‖a‖woman!’‖Verses‖such‖as‖‘To‖a‖Lady‖who‖visited‖the‖author‖when‖she‖
was‖in‖great‖distress’‖express‖gratitude‖to‖one‖who‖dared‖to‖leave‖‘her‖
comfortable‖hearth,‖/‖And‖sought‖my‖humble‖roof’,‖facing‖‘damp‖and‖darkness’‖
and‖‘keen‖affliction’s‖hand’,‖to‖help‖Bailey‖feed‖her‖children.‖Bailey‖worked‖but‖
did‖not‖earn‖enough‖to‖feed‖her‖family:‖‘The‖day‖and‖evening‖hard‖I‖work’d,‖/‖In‖
sickness, and in pain, / In hopes for my dear little babes, / Some fire and bread to
gain’.‖(6).‖The‖poem‖tells‖us‖that‖her‖work‖was‖not‖done‖until‖the‖‘clock‖went‖
eight,’‖but‖that‖she‖came‖home‖‘pennyless’.‖The‖nature‖of‖her‖work‖is‖revealed‖in‖
‘Petition‖to‖the‖British‖Fair’:‖‘O‖view the ball-room, where beauty beams round, /
And shines with such elegant grace, / And think you in no ways indebted to us,—
/ THE RUNNERS OF NOTTINGHAM LACE’‖(11).‖This‖capitalisation‖is‖echoed‖throughout‖
the‖poem.‖She‖later‖protests:‖‘How‖pleasant’s‖the‖task,‖whenever‖we’re‖ask’d,‖/‖To‖
work‖hard‖to‖beautify‖you;‖/‖Then‖I’m‖sure‖you‖will‖own,‖with‖candour‖unmask’d,‖
/‖Good‖food‖and‖good‖clothing’s‖our‖due;‖/‖But‖the‖price‖is‖so‖low,‖that‖sad‖to‖
relate;‖/‖We‖cannot‖these‖blessings‖obtain’‖(12).‖Bailey’s‖poems are rich in local
interest and biographical detail, as in the lines addressed to her twins and to a
lady who upset Bailey by saying she should pray for her child to die, thus ending
the‖child’s‖poverty.‖The‖sickly‖child‖does‖recover,‖we‖learn‖(20),‖and is possibly
‘Ellinor,’‖who‖‘slept‖all‖the‖way.’‖In‖a‖letter‖thanking‖her‖brother‖and‖sister‖for‖
‘your‖pudding,‖your‖ham,‖and‖your‖wine’‖she‖follows‖the‖mention‖of‖Ellinor‖with:‖
‘If‖more‖of‖my‖baby‖you‖wish‖me‖to‖tell,‖/‖I’m‖glad‖to‖inform‖you,‖she’s‖now‖pretty
well.’‖A‖poem‖about‖twins‖comes‖later,‖so‖she‖may‖have‖had‖four‖or‖more‖
children, thus igniting the gossips who say she bred her way into poverty, and
whose‖spite‖‘spoils‖each‖joy’‖(26).‖So‖concludes‖this‖small‖volume‖of‖mainly‖two-
page poems that speak‖of‖a‖mother’s‖love‖and‖a‖struggle‖to‖live‖on‖the‖wages‖of‖
the Nottingham Lace-making industry. Edlin-White notes that among‖Bailey’s‖
subscribers are Lady Parkyns of Ruddington, and names such as Mrs Boothby of
Standard Hill, Mrs Gilbert and Mr Howitt (Richard Howitt, possibly), local
Nottingham subscribers. She‖describes‖Bailey’s‖poems‖as‖‘witty,‖political‖and‖
 literate’‖and‖notes‖the‖fact‖that‖the‖poem‖‘Lines’‖makes‖reference‖to‖Virgil,‖Milton,‖
Byron and Henry Kirke White (qv). ~ Ref: ‘Lost‖Poet‖of‖the‖Industrial‖Age’,‖
Nottingham Post, 27 June 2013; Edlin-White (2017), 8-9; Local Studies Collection,
Nottingham Central Library. [—Dawn Whatman] [F] [T]
(?) Bailey, Thomas, (1785-1856),‖Nottingham‖tradesman,‖‘rhyming‖shopkeeper’,‖son
of a stocking-maker who was later the town gaoler, was born in Coal-pit Lane,
Nottingham, a street that no longer exists but once part of the route used to bring
coal from the Wollaton pits to the Trent wharfs. He was educated in a local day
school and later at a boarding school in Gillingham, Yorkshire. He went into in
business as a silk-hosier, and became‖a‖wine‖and‖hop‖merchant‖at‖Nottingham’s‖
Low Pavement. He published What is Life and Other Poems (London: Baldwin
Cradock, 1820, 1821), with a Preface‖hailing‖‘an‖age‖of‖poetical‖soldiers,‖sailors,‖
cobblers,‖labourers,‖etc.’‖(there‖is‖a‖copy‖of this in‖John‖Clare’s‖(qv)‖library);‖The
Carnival of Death. A Poem in Two Cantos (London: Longman, 1822), whose
dedication indicates a pacifist poem; Ireton: A Poem [with other poems] (London:
James Ridgway, 1827); My Elbow Chair [two poems] (undated, 1830s); Recreations
in Retirement, by an Old Tradesman (London: Simpkin and Marshall; Derby: Mozely
and Son; Nottingham: G. Simons, 1836); and The Advent of Charity and Other Poems
(London, 1851). Edlin-White notes that he retired from business in the 1830s to
Basford House, which he had purchased in 1830, to become a full-time poet and
journalist, and wrote guidebooks to Nottingham Castle (1854) and Newstead
Abbey (1855), as well as his major work, The Annals of Nottinghamshire, in four
volumes (1852-5), and a number of prose pamphlets and other works. He was
elected a town councillor in 1836, and became the proprietor of a local newspaper,
the Nottingham Mercury in 1845-6, though this was not successful and closed in
1851. Bailey had raised a column in his garden to commemorate the passing of the
Reform Act of 1832, and this was removed to Basford cemetery where he was
buried. ~ His first book was reviewed in The New Monthly, 3 (1st February 1821),
78,‖as‖an‖‘unpretending‖volume...the‖production‖of‖a‖tradesman‖of‖Nottingham.‖
We have read it with pleasure. That a man engrossed with the petty cares of trade,
should be imbued with poetical feeling, is, we think, more surprising than that a
peasant,‖who‖has‖the‖woods‖and‖hills‖for‖‚his‖daily‖teachers,‛‖should‖be‖stirred‖by‖
high impulses. Though we do not desire to see tradesmen in general taking up the
unprofitable avocation of poetry, we rejoice... *etc.+’ Edlin-White, whose concern is
with Nottinghamshire writers, quotes‖Bailey’s‖poem‖on‖a‖Nottingham‖stream‖‘St.‖
Ann’s‖Well’:‖‘But‖blithely‖flow‖St.‖Ann’s!‖This‖little‖stream‖/‖Though‖temples‖fall,‖
and sink the wise and brave; / And still, as splendid glows‖yon‖orb’s‖bright‖beam,‖
/‖Whether‖its‖rays‖fall‖on‖a‖monarch’s‖grave‖/‖Or‖rustic’s‖sleeping‖child:‖and‖thou‖
dost teem, / Sweet well! As much for healing, and dost lave / The lip as coolly
now, and fresh, as when / Sherwood’s‖famed‖hero‖roused the deer in this deep
 glen’; sonorous and passionate lines, that reflect a huge sense of local pride, and
Bailey’s‖love for the topography and history of his native town. His son was
Philip James Bailey, author of the once famous but now unread epic poem Festus
(1839). ~ Ref: Powell (1964), item 104; Crossan (1991), 37; Johnson (1992), items 40-
1; Sutton (1995), 28 (numerous letters); Johnson 46 (2003), nos. 264-5; Edlin-White
(2017), 12-13; ODNB; Wikipedia; inf. Greg Crossan.
Bain, John (fl. 1859), of Maryculter, Aberdeen, ploughman, published The Ploughman
Muse, being a number of poetical pieces and random rhymes (Aberdeen: Printed for the
Author, 1859), 70 pages. ~ Ref: Aberdeen (1887), 22. [S]
(?) Baird, Henry (1829-1881),‖‘Nathan‖Hogg’,‖of‖Starcross,‖Devon,‖solicitor’s‖clerk‖
(‘Law‖feeds‖the‖lawyer,‖but‖it‖starves‖his‖clerk’),‖later‖a‖bookseller‖and‖reporter‖on‖
the Plymouth Mail and Western Times. He published Letters in the Devonshire Dialect
(Exeter, 1847; second edition, 1850); Poetical Letters tu es Brither Jan, and a witch
story in the Devonshire dialect (third edition, Exeter, 1858); The Song of Solomon in the
Devonshire Dialect. From the authorised English version (London, 1860). ~ Ref: Wright
(1896), 16-19.
(?) Bakewell, Thomas (1761-1835), weaver, ‘mad-doctor’ and poet, published The
Moorland Bard, or Poetical Recollections of a Weaver, in the Morlands of Staffordshire
(Hanley: Allbut, 1807), and also wrote a domestic guide in cases of insanity. A
couplet from Byron’s‖satirical‖‘English‖Bards‖and‖Scotch‖Reviewers’,‖‘May‖
Moorland‖weavers‖boast‖Pindaric‖skill‖/‖And‖tailors’‖lays‖be‖longer‖than‖their‖bill!’‖
(ll. 777-8)‖alludes‖in‖part‖to‖Bakewell’s‖title, ‘Recollections‖of‖a‖Weaver,‖in‖the‖
Moorlands of Staffordshire’. ~ Ref: Poole & Markland (1928), 113-14; Johnson
(1992), item 44; Jackson (1985); NCSTC; ODNB; inf. Sam Ward. [T]
Baker, Thomas (fl. 1759), of Wickham Market, thatcher, published A Poem on the
Winter Season: or, Mr. Hervey’s Winter-Piece Paraphrased, By Thomas Baker, Thatcher,
in Wickham-market, Suffolk (Ipswich: William Creighton, 1759). The poem
provoked a put-down, typical of its period, from the Monthly Review:‖‘A‖Thatcher!‖
Likely enough! for any thatcher, or thresher, or ditcher, who can write at all, may
make‖such‖verses‖as‖Thomas‖Baker’s.‖The‖favourable‖notice‖taken‖of‖the‖late‖
Stephen Duck, has, we fear, set many a poor mistaken clown to rhyming, instead
of‖endeavouring‖to‖excel‖in‖more‖useful‖employments.’‖The‖second‖edition,‖
undated but likely published in the 1760s (estimated dates on COPAC for various
copies range from c. 1767 to c. 1790), is entitled in full, A Poem on Winter, A
Versification of Mr. Hervey’s Winter-Piece. The reference is to a poem by James
Hervey (1714-58) included in his popular and much-reprinted volume,
Meditations, contemplations and reflections...and a winter piece (1748), usually referred
to‖as‖Hervey’s‖Meditations‖among‖the‖Tombs. ~ Ref: Monthly Review, 20 (1759),
476, via Google Books; Cranbrook (2001), 249; second edition of text cited via
Google Books. [C18]
Balfour, Alexander (1767-1829), of Monikie, Forfarshire, weaver, schoolmaster, later
a‖merchant‖and‖manufacturer,‖poems‖include‖‘Elegy‖to‖the‖Memory‖of‖Robert‖
Burns’‖[qv] in the Edinburgh Magazine (December 1896). He published the volumes
Contemplation and Other Poems (1820); and Characters Omitted in Crabbe’s Parish
Register [George Crabbe, qv]; with Other Tales (Edinburgh: Published for the
author, 1825)—there‖is‖a‖copy‖of‖this‖in‖John‖Clare’s‖(qv)‖library. ~ Ref: Wilson
(1876), I, 434-41; Reid, Bards (1897), 23-6; Powell (1964), item 105; Sutton (1995), 34
(manuscript of a poem, letters, legal documents); ODNB. [S] [T]
Balfour,‖Charles‖(b.‖1819),‖of‖Carnoustie,‖farmer’s‖boy,‖factory‖worker,‖soldier,‖
stationmaster. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881) (1881), 406-10; Reid, Bards (1897), 26-7. [S]
(?) Ballantine, James (1808-77),‖of‖West‖Port,‖Edinburgh,‖merchant’s‖son,‖
housepainter’s‖apprentice,‖maker‖of‖stain-glass windows, published poems in
Whistlebinkie, and the volumes Gaberlunzie’s Wallet (1843); Miller of Deanhaugh
(1845); Lilias Lee, and Other Poems (Edinburgh and Buxton, 1871); A Visit to Buxton:
A Metrical Description (Buxton, 1873). He also published Life of David Roberts, R.A.
(1866), an eulogy to his eponymous teacher, the inspiration for his success in
reviving the art of Scottish ecclesiastical stained glass. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 298-
303; Edwards, 3 (1881), 25-32; Douglas (1891), 309; Miles (1891), X, xviii; Sutton
(1995), 35 (numerous letters); Reilly (2000), 25; ODNB. [S]
Ballantyne, James (1860-87), of Crindledyke, Cambusthen, trapper boy in a coal mine
from the age of twelve, broke his spine in an accident. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 277-82;
Edwards, 11 (1888), 113-18 and 12 (1889), x. [S] [M]
Ballantyne, Margaret, of Paisley (fl. 1863), daughter of a weaver (who died in 1863);
she published poems in local press. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 382-83; Bold (1997),
251; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Baltharpe, John (fl. 1671), seaman, published The Straights Voyage, or St David’s, Poem,
being a description of the most remarkable passages that happened in her first expedition
against the Turks of Argeir, Sir John Harman, Commander, Rere-Admiral of His
Majesty’s Fleet, beginning May 1669, ending April 1671, by John Baltharpe, belonging to
the foresaid ship (London: E.C. for T. Vere, 1671); reprint edited by J. S. Bromley
(Oxford: Basil Blackwell for the Luttrel Society, 1959). ~ Ref: Charles Napier
Robinson, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction (New York and London: Harper and
Brothers, 1909), 74, 173, 203; COPAC. [OP]
Bamford, Samuel (1788-1872), of Middleton, Lancashire, radical weaver, member of
the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖of‖Manchester‖poets,‖published The Weaver Boy; or
Miscellaneous Poetry (Manchester 1819); Hours in the Bowers. Poems (Manchester,
1834); Homely rhymes, Poems and Reminiscences (1843, revised and enlarged edition
London and Manchester, 1864); his prose works include Account of the Arrest and
Imprisonment of Samuel Bamford (1817), Walks in South Lancashire (1844), and Tawk
o'Seawth Lankeshur (1850); and a widely-read autobiography Passages in the Life of a
 Radical (1860), two volumes. ~ Although in his time some thought Bamford had
‘sold‖out’‖his‖political‖principles,‖he‖would go on become an influential and
inspiring figure, not only through his early political activism, but also his poetry,
prose and especially his lifewriting. To give a single example, Malcolm Hardman,
discussing the radical Bolton weaver Thomas Grimshaw (1800-77), notes that
Grimshaw recalled that he was inspired by, among other things, ‘hearing‖an‖old‖
man‖singing‖the‖liberation‖anthem‖known‖as‖‚Bamford‛‖after‖Samuel‖Bamford‖
(1788-1872) who composed it in‖prison‖after‖Peterloo’ (110-11). ~ Ref: Harland
(1882), 220-8, 289-91, 353-5, 411-13, 479-80, 485-8; Thompson (1963, 2013), 325; W.
H. Chaloner (ed.), The Autobiography of Samuel Bamford, two volumes (London:
Frank Cass, 1967); Vicinus (1973), 741; Vicinus (1974), 149; Hollingworth (1977),
151; Burnett et al (1984), 17-18, 356 (nos. 38-90, 792; Maidment (1987), 232-42;
Johnson (1992), item 46; Sutton (1995), 36 (manuscript of a glossary of local dialect
and numerous letters); Zlotnick (1998), 179-80; Martin Hewitt and Robert Poole
(eds), The Diaries of Samuel Bamford, 1858‐61 (Stroud: Sutton, 2000); Reilly (2000),
27; Sales (2002), 94-7; Robert‖Poole,‖‘‚A‖poor‖man‖I‖know‛:‖Samuel‖Bamford‖and‖
the Making of Mary Barton’,‖Gaskell Journal, 22 (2008), 96-115; Malcolm Hardman,
Global Dilemmas: Imperial Bolton-le-Moors from the Hungry Forties to the Death of
Leverhulme (Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson, 2017); LC 5, 123-38; ODNB; NCSTC;
NTU. [LC5] [T]
Banks, George Linnaeus (1821-81), of Birmingham, cabinet casemaker, salesman,
editor; married to Isabella Varley Banks (qv), another poet, novelist and member
of‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group.‖He published in magazines, and produced a volume of
poems, Daisies in the Grass (1865). Banks also edited the following: Harrogate
Advertiser, Birmingham Mercury, Dublin Daily Express, Durham Chronicle, Sussex
Mercury, and Windsor Royal Standard. ~ Ref: Andrews (1888-9), I, 48-56; Poole
(1914), 236-41; Sutton (1995), 37 (several manuscripts of poems and stories;
numerous letters); ODNB.
Banks or Bancks, John (1709-51), of Sonning, Berkshire, weaver, later a bookseller in
Spitalfields, poet and miscellaneous writer; published The Weaver's Miscellany
(1730, in imitation of The Thresher’s Labour by Stephen Duck, qv); The
Bacchanalians: Or a Modern Midnight Conversation: A Poem, Address’d to the Ingenious
Mr. Hogarth (London, 1733); Miscellaneous Works in Verse and Prose (1738), to which
Pope subscribed; and various non-fiction prose works including lives of Christ,
Oliver Cromwell, and King William III. ~ Ref: Røstvig (1971), II, 155-7; Klaus
(1985), 15-16; Goodridge (1990), 19-20; Greene (1993), 104-5; Christmas (2001), 21,
96-106; Batt (2017); Weissman, I, no. 62; LC 1, 181-230; ODNB. [LC1] [C18] [T]
Bannard, James (b. c. 1795), of Buxton, Derbyshire, ‘A‖poor‖man‖from‖Buxton, who
made‖a‖living‖selling‖his‖verses’,‖described‖in‖Jewitt‖as‖‘Wandering‖Poet‖in‖his‖
75th‖Year’; he wrote‖‘Derbyshire‖Hills’‖(‘At‖length‖my‖wandering‖feet‖have‖
 brought‖/‖Me‖on‖this‖Derby‖Hill’),‖printed‖in‖Jewitt‖(1867),‖243-6. ~ Ref: Jewitt as
cited.
(?) Bannerman, Anne (1765-1829),‖‘Augusta’,‖‘B’,‖a‖‘crooked‖poetess’‖of‖Edinburgh,‖
daughter of William Bannerman, a ‘running‖stationer’,‖i.e.‖a‖person‖who‖sold‖
ballads in the street, and Isobel Dick; became destitute in the 1790s following the
death of her mother and brother; contributed to the Poetical Register; a friend of
Robert Anderson. Elfenbein suggests she may be a gay poet of labouring-class
origins [and gives her birth‖date‖as‖‘1780?’+;‖endured‖poverty,‖became‖a‖governess‖
to the Beresford family in Exeter; published Poems by Anne Bannerman (Edinburgh:
Mundell & Sons; London: Longman and Rees, and J, Wright, 1800); Tales of
Superstition and Chivalry (London: Vernor & Hood, 1802); revised subscription
edition of Poems (Edinburgh: printed by Mundell, Doig, and Stevenson, 1807). ~
Ref: Jackson (1993), 16-17; Sutton (1995), 37 (letters); Andrew Elfenbein,
‘Lesbianism‖and‖Romantic‖Genius’,‖English Literary History, 63, no. 4 (1996), 929-
57; Gifford & McMillan (1997), 679; Meyenberg (2000), 200; Backscheider (2005),
403; Backscheider (2009), 868; Verdonck (2015); ODNB; information about her
father from her Wikipedia entry; inf. Dawn Whatman. [F] [S]
Banton, John (d. 1848),‖labourer’s‖son‖of‖of‖Teigh,‖Rutland,‖educated‖at‖the‖village‖
school but ‘never‖taught‖a‖grammatical‖lesson’‖(Phillips),‖however‖later‖became‖
the Teigh schoolmaster himself; published The Village Wreath (1822); Excursions of
Fancy (1824); subscribers to the latter include John Clare (qv), whose surviving
library includes both books; The Sulliot Chief (1834),‖‘a‖dramatic‖poem,‖founded‖on‖
an attempt made by the notorious Ali Pasha to subjugate the Suliotes, an
independent tribe of Greeks, an account of which the author found in the Monthly
Magazine’‖(Phillips). Phillips’s‖County Geography, first published in 1913, regards
Banton‖as‖little‖Rutland’s‖‘one‖local‖poet’,‖but‖see‖also‖Anna‖Adcock‖(qv). He
praises‖Banton’s‖‘vivid‖imagination‖...‖excellent‖knowledge‖of‖the‖classics,‖and‖
facility‖of‖expression’. ~ Ref: Powell (1964), items 106-7; Crossan (1991), 37; By
Himself (1996), 187; G. Phillips, Rutland (Cambridge University Press, 2012,
Cambridge County Geographies series, first published 1913), 137-8; inf. Greg
Crossan and Bob Heyes.
(?) Barber, Mary (c. 1685-1755/7),‖of‖Dublin,‖English‖woollen‖draper’s‖wife,‖
supported and encouraged by Jonathan Swift and his friends. In 1734, she was
arrested‖‘for‖possession‖of‖manuscript‖copies‖of‖some‖of‖Swift’s‖political‖poems‖
attacking Walpole’s‖administration’‖(ODNB); she was also accused of (and never
cleared‖for)‖forging‖Swift’s‖signature‖on‖a‖letter‖about‖her‖to‖Queen‖Caroline.‖She‖
contributed to numerous magazines and anthologies including: Tunbrigialia, or,
Tunbridge Miscellanies, for the Year 1730 (anonymously), Gentleman's Magazine
(1737) and Poems by Eminent Ladies (1755). She published A True Tale to Be Added to
Mr. Gay’s Fables (Dublin: Sarah Harding, 1728); Poems on Several Occasions
 (London: Printed for C. Rivington, 1734), which attracted over 900 subscribers
including Jonathan Swift and Samuel Richardson, and included six posthumous
and previously unpublished poems by Constantia Grierson (qv). A modern
edition‖of‖Barber’s‖poetry‖is‖The Poetry of Mary Barber, ?1690-1757, ed. Bernard
Tucker (Lewiston, Ontario: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992). ~ Ref: Dyce (1825), 161-2;
Rowton (1853), 117-18; O’Donoghue‖(1912), 18; Lonsdale (1989), 118-29; Fullard
(1990), 296-300, 548-9; Landry (1990), 8; Sutton (1995), 38 (letters); Carpenter
(1998),‖194;‖Christmas‖(2001),‖115;‖Christopher‖Fanning,‖‘The‖Voices‖of‖the‖
Dependent‖Poet:‖The‖Case‖of‖Mary‖Barber’,‖Women’s Writing, 8, no. 1 (2001), 81-97;
Adam‖Budd,‖‘‚Merit‖in‖Distress‛:‖The‖Troubled‖Success‖of‖Mary‖Barber’,‖Review of
English Studies, 53 (2002), 204-27; Backscheider (2005), 404; Backscheider (2009),
868-9; Batt (2017); Burmester, item 357 and 107 (image); Weissman, I, 63-4; ODNB.
[I] [F] [C18]
Barclay, Andrew (fl. 1842), of Dundee, stone mason, later and at the time of his death
a city missionary, published Sacred Poems (1842). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 30. [S]
Barham, George (fl. 1866), shepherd, published The Christian’s Last Hope; Or, Pathetic
Pieces on Departed Friends (London, 1866). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 28.
(?) Barker, John Thomas (1844-1919), of Bramley, near Leeds, in commerce from
fifteen, sometimes wrote in dialect; published The Pilgrimage of Memory: A Romance
of the Yorkshire Moors, and Other Poems (London: Simpkin Marshall, 1886); The
Midsummer Day’s Dream (London and Leeds, 1869). Barker also edited The Life of
Joseph Barker, Written by Himself, Edited by His Nephew (London: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1880). ~ Ref: England (1983), 35; Reilly (2000), 28; online sources.
Barker, Robert (b. 1729), of Wigan, apprenticed to a Liverpool shipwright at 14, later
a‖ship’s‖carpenter,‖published The Unfortunate Shipwright, Or Cruel Captain. Being a
Faithful Narrative of the Unparallel’d Sufferings of Robert Barker, Late Carpenter on
Board the Thetis Snow, of Bristol, in a Voyage to the Coast of Guinea and Antigua
(London: Printed for, and Sold by the author, undated; editions of 1758, 1759, 1762
and 1795 identified). ~ Ref: undated edition of principal work via Google Books.
[C18]
(?) Barlow, John (fl. ?1879), of Cheadle, Cheshire, published Homely Rhymes and
Sayings, Humbly Dedicated to the Working Classes of England, the Colliers in Particular
(Cheadle, ?1879). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 29.
Barlow, Thomas (1826-1904),‖of‖Radcliffe,‖Lancs.,‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Longdendale’,‖calico‖
printer,‖later‖‘one‖of‖the‖first‖working-man‖magistrates‖of‖Glossop’,‖published A
Pic-nic at Woodhead: Scenes around Castleton, and Other Poems (Manchester and
London, 1867); Poems (London, 1894). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 30-1, Reilly (2000), 29.
[T]
(?) Barmby, John Goodwin or Goodwyn (1820-81), of Yoxford, Suffolk,
‘comprehensively‖educated‖autodidact,‖a‖Chartist‖agitator,‖writer‖of‖poems‖and‖
 pamphlets,‖socialist‖and‖feminist’‖(Klaus),‖Owenist,‖Unitarian‖minister,‖published
The Poetry of Spring: A Poem (London, 1860); The Return of the Swallow, and Other
Poems (London, 1864). ~ Ref: Andrews (1885), 87; Ashraf (1975), 228-30; Klaus
(1985), 37-40, 42 (discussing his utopian writings); Maidment (1987), 213; Schwab
(1993), 184; Reilly (2000), 29; Cranbrook (2001), 128-9, 158-9; ODNB. [C]
Barnard, Andrew (b. 1860), of Grangemouth, son of the mineworker poet Francis
Barnard (qv), worked with his father, disabled in an accident, later a weaver,
joiner and musician, then an engine-keeper; published poems in newspapers. ~
Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 132-5; Bisset (1896), 271-6. [S] [M] [T]
Barnard, Francis (b. 1834), of Woodend, Armadale, mineworker poet, father of
Andrew Barnard (qv), published Sparks from a Miner’s Lamp: Being Poems and
Songs (Airdrie, 1875); and Chirps frae the Engine Lum; Ghaist o' Gartmorn, and Other
Poems (Bathgate, 1889). ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 290; Bisset (1896), 191-202;
COPAC (which lists copies in Aberdeen University Library). [S] [M]
(?) Barnes, William (1801-86), sixth child of a Dorset farmer in reduced
circumstances, a major regional, rural and dialect poet sometimes associated with
the‖‘peasant‖poet’‖tradition,‖a teacher and philologist, ordained at Salisbury
Cathedral in 1847. Publications: Poems in the Dorset Dialect (1844, five editions by
1866); Poems, Partly of Rural Life (in National English) (1846); Hwomely Rhymes: a
Second Collection of Dorset Poems (1850); Third Collection of Poems in Dorset Dialect
(1863), and Poems of Rural Life in Common English (1868). A selection made by
Thomas Hardy, Select Poems of William Barnes, was published in 1908 by Henry
Frowde, London. There are several useful selections of Barnes in print, and a
scholarly edition from Oxford is in progress (details below). ~ Ref: Sutton (1995),
40 (manuscripts of prose and poetry; numerous letters); T. L. Burton, William
Barnes’s Dialect Poems: A Pronunciation Guide (Adelaide, Australia and Provo,
Utah: Chaucer Studio Press, 2010); Sue‖Edney,‖‘William‖Barnes’s‖Place‖and‖
Dialects‖of‖Connection’,‖in‖Blair & Gorji (2012), 191-210; T. L. Burton and K. K.
Ruthven (eds), The Complete Poems of William Barnes, Volume I: Poems in the Broad
Form of the Dorset Dialect (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013); K. K. Ruthven
and T. L. Burton (eds), The Complete Poems of William Barnes, Volume 2: Poems in the
Modified Form of the Dorset Dialect (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018); ODNB.
Barnet, James (b. 1825), printer, emigrated to America, lived in Chicago, returned to
Scotland to live in Kingsmuir, Forfar. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 30-1. [S]
Baron, John (1823-80),‖of‖Blackburn,‖‘The‖Grimshaw‖Park‖Poet’,‖handloom‖weaver‖
then cotton factory operative, published a collection of poems jointly with the
printer James Walkden, Flowers of Many Hues, in 1847. A further collaboration is
noted by Hobbs and Januszewski: ‘when‖John‖Baron’s‖former‖teacher‖Charles‖
Tiplady‖was‖60‖and‖Baron‖50,‖‚an‖exchange‖of‖reminiscences‖in‖verse‖took‖place‖
between‖the‖teacher‖and‖scholar‛,‖with‖poems‖such‖as‖Tiplady’s‖‚Answer‖to‖John‖
 Baron’s Retrospective Stanzas‛.’ His newspaper publications include ‘Song of the
Emigrant’,‖published‖in‖the‖Blackburn Times, 11 July 1863. Baron’s powerful
manner of reciting verse is captured in William‖Billington’s‖(qv)‖dream-poem‖‘A‖
Night‖with‖the‖Brother‖of‖‚Mine‖Host‛’:‖‘John‖Baron‖stood‖reciting next, / Till all
the building echoed round; / The‖‚Balaclava‖Charge‛‖his‖text,‖/ Made the
unvaulted roof‖resound,‖/‖And‖Dicky’s‖parlour‖door‖to‖shake,‖at‖which‖I‖started,‖
wide‖awake!’‖Ref: Hull (1902), 85-100; Hobbs (2013);‖‘Poetry‖of‖the‖Lancashire
Cotton‖Famine’‖web‖page. [T]
Baron, John Thomas (1856-1922),‖‘Jack‖o’Ann’s’,‖of‖Blackburn,‖shopworker,‖foundry‖
worker, iron turner and fitter, prolific dialect poet, brother to William Baron (qv;
his nephew Joseph Baron was also a dialect poet—see Hull, 386-404—but is not a
‘labouring‖class’‖poet).‖Hobbs‖and‖Januszewski‖record‖that‖he‖‘had‖many‖poems‖
published in the local Dick Snowdrop’s Comic Journal and went on to write some
1,800 dialect poems for the Blackburn Times under his dialect nom de plume, Jack
o’Ann’s’. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 362-86; Maidment (1987), 351-2; Hobbs (2013);
www.cottontown.org.
Baron, William (1865-1927),‖‘Bill‖o’‖Jacks’,‖of‖Blackpool‖then‖Blackburn,‖factory‖
worker,‖dialect‖‘poet‖of the‖people’,‖brother‖of‖John‖Thomas‖Baron‖(qv),‖published
Bits o’ Broad Lancashire (Blackburn and Manchester, 1888); Echoes of the Loom
(Rochdale, 1903). ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 429-39; Hollingworth (1977), 151; Maidment
(1987), 269-70, 351-2; NTU; Massey page.
Barr, Catherine (fl.‖1859),‖of‖London,‖‘a‖poor‖blind‖woman,‖who‖was‖never taught to
read‖or‖write’.‖Barr‖was‖‘brought‖up‖by‖a‖pious‖grandmother’,‖a‖missionary,‖‘until‖
the age of sixteen’, and ‘afterwards‖placed‖at‖the‖Blind‖Asylum‖in‖St.‖George’s‖
Fields,‖where‖she‖remained‖for‖seven‖years’.‖On‖losing‖her‖guardian,‖Barr‖
maintained herself by playing the guitar, singing sacred music on the streets of
London, and from an annuity of £10 from a charitable institution. Her verses were
transcribed and sold to raise further funds. She published Verses by Catherine Barr,
(a Poor Blind Woman), Better Known in the Church Militant as ‚Kitty‛ (London: Rixon
& Arnold, 1859). ~ Ref: Verses, Preface, pp. 3-4, via Google Books. [F] [—Dawn
Whatman]
(?) Barr, G. James (1781-1860), of Tarbolton, South Ayrshire, weaver and composer,
worked for a Glasgow publisher, set poems by his friend Robert Tannahill to
music‖and‖composed‖the‖tune‖that‖inspired‖‘Waltzing‖Matilda’. ~ Ref: Knox
(1930); letter from Tannahill to Barr of 6th January 1811, reproduced on the
‘Robert‖Tannahill‖Commemoration‖Website’; Wikipedia; inf. Bridget Keegan. [S]
[T]
(?) Barr,‖John‖(b.‖1812),‖of‖Paisley,‖manufacturer’s‖son,‖mechanical‖engineer,‖
emigrated to New Zealand in 1852, published Poems and Songs, Descriptive and
 Lyrical (Edinburgh, 1861). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 427-29; Edwards, 12 (1889),
284-90. [S]
Barrass,‖Alexander‖(1856-1929),‖of‖Blackhall‖Mill,‖County‖Durham,‖coal‖miner,‖tells‖
us‖in‖the‖preface‖to‖his‖first‖volume‖that‖he‖left‖school‖at‖nine‖and‖‘never‖saw‖a‖
grammar’‖until‖he‖was‖nineteen.‖He‖published‖two‖volumes,‖The Derwent Valley,
and Other Poems‖(Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne:‖J.M.‖Carr,‖1887),‖and‖The Pitman’s Social
Neet‖(Consett:‖J.‖Dent,‖1897);‖he‖also‖wrote‖a‖column‖for‖the‖Newcastle Chronicle.‖
Barrass’s‖first‖volume‖is‖equally‖divided‖between‖an‖elegant‖and‖learned‖
topographical‖poem‖inspired‖by‖‘an‖earnest‖love’,‖and‖which‖the‖author‖describes‖
as‖a‖five‖year‖project‖of‖‘self-improvement‖as‖much‖as‖self-amusement’,‖concerned‖
with‖‘the‖useful‖as‖much‖as‖the‖ornamental’;‖and‖some‖occasional‖and‖other‖
verses,‖all‖largely‖in‖standard‖English.‖The‖second‖volume‖is‖quite‖different;‖the‖
main‖text‖is‖a‖neglected‖dialect‖classic,‖a‖coalminer’s‖social‖poem‖in‖the‖north-east‖
tradition‖of‖Edward‖Chicken’s‖The Collier’s Wedding‖(1730),‖Thomas‖Wilson’s‖The
Pitman’s Pay‖(1826),‖and‖Matthew‖Tate’s‖Pit Life in 1893‖(1894),‖all‖qqv.‖The‖‘Social‖
Neet’‖is‖set‖in‖a‖pub‖in‖Stanley,‖and‖describes‖a‖pay‖night,‖which‖is‖the‖occasion‖
for‖a‖sequence‖of‖songs‖and‖recitations‖from‖different‖speakers,‖as‖well‖as‖being‖a‖
poetical‖device‖for‖gathering‖them‖in‖a‖sociable‖poetical‖portmanteau,‖like‖Robert‖
Bloomfield’s‖(qv)‖late‖collection‖May Day with the Muses‖(1822).‖Each‖contribution‖
contrives‖to‖relate‖to‖one‖of‖the‖main‖roles‖in‖pit‖work,‖from‖‘The‖Driver’‖to‖‘The‖
Deppity’‖(these‖are‖listed‖on‖Barrass’s‖Wikipedia‖page).‖Songs‖from‖The Pitman’s
Social Neet,‖including‖‘The‖Driver’‖and‖‘The‖Putter’,‖have‖been‖set‖to‖music‖at‖
various‖times,‖and‖continue‖to‖be‖sung‖in‖the‖north-east‖by‖folk‖singers‖such‖as‖the‖
ex-miner‖Johnny‖Handle‖(b.‖1930).‖~‖Barrass‖suffered‖a‖mental‖breakdown‖in‖the‖
mid-1890s,‖and‖in‖1894‖was‖institutionalised‖in‖Sedgfield‖Asylum,‖where‖he‖
would‖remain‖for‖his‖last‖35‖years.‖His‖second‖volume‖was‖evidently‖put‖into‖
print‖by‖friends‖and‖admirers‖including‖the‖local‖Member‖of‖Parliament‖who‖
contributed‖its‖brief‖introduction.‖He‖describes‖it‖as‖‘the‖last‖endeavour‖of‖the‖
genius‖of‖poor‖Barrass’;‖so‖the‖mental‖crisis‖that‖had‖overcome‖him‖was‖evidently‖
already‖regarded‖as‖having‖put‖him‖beyond‖rescue.‖In‖the‖preface‖to‖his‖first‖
volume‖Barrass‖thanks‖two‖fellow‖local‖poets,‖Joshua‖Lax‖for‖books,‖and‖John‖
Rowell‖Waller‖(qv)‖for‖encouraging‖his‖poetical‖efforts;‖the‖third‖canto‖of‖The
Derwent Valley‖is‖dedicated‖to‖his‖partner,‖‘Lizzie’.‖A‖hand-corrected‖and‖signed‖
copy‖held‖by‖the‖present‖contributor‖(JG)‖is‖inscribed‖to‖a‖G.‖R.‖Hedley,‖dated‖
May‖9th‖1888.‖Barrass’s‖first‖printer/publisher,‖J.‖M.‖Carr‖of‖Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne,‖
also‖published‖the‖Elswick‖mineworker‖James‖Anderson’s‖(qv)‖volume.‖~‖There‖is‖
a‖facsimile‖edition‖of‖The Pitman’s Social Neet‖published‖by‖the‖British‖Library.‖
COPAC‖also‖lists‖several‖library‖copies‖of‖a‖small‖36-page‖edition‖(Seaham:‖Amra,‖
1993),‖edited‖by‖Bill‖Griffiths‖(who‖has‖published‖extensively‖on‖North-east‖
dialect‖and‖‘Pitmatic’).‖Information‖on‖the‖internet‖suggests‖that‖Barrass’s‖song‖
 ‘The‖Church‖wi’‖the‖Lantern‖Toor’‖is‖still‖sung‖by‖the‖Tyneside‖Maritime‖Chorus.‖
A‖small‖edition‖of‖The Pitman’s Social Neet,‖giving‖the‖original‖music‖for‖the‖songs,‖
has‖also‖recently‖been‖discussed‖online.‖There‖is‖clearly‖still‖much‖interest‖in‖
Barrass’s‖work‖in‖the‖North-east.‖~‖Ref:‖Lloyd‖(1978),‖12‖note,‖51,‖58,‖342‖note,‖343‖
note;‖Reilly‖(1994),‖31;‖Bridget‖Keegan‖and‖John‖Goodridge,‖‘Modes‖and‖Methods‖
in‖Three‖Nineteenth-Century‖Mineworker‖Poets’,‖Philological Quarterly,‖92:‖2‖
(2013),‖225-50;‖Wikipedia;‖general‖online‖sources.‖*M+
(?) Barrell, Maria (fl.1788-90), née‖Weylar,‖‘Maria’,‖dramatist, polemicist and poet.
She‖was‖‘probably‖the‖wife,‖and‖later‖the‖widow,‖of‖a‖British soldier who fought
in America, and she‖was‖subsequently‖imprisoned‖for‖debt’;‖she‖had‖two‖children‖
(Jackson), She published Reveries du Coeur; Or, Feelings of the Heart. Attempted in
Verse (London: printed for the author by Dodsley, Walter, Owen, and Yeats, 1770).
Her pamphlet British Liberty Vindicated (London: printed for the author, 1788)
pleaded against imprisoning debtors, who are removed from a situation where
they can work and alleviate their debt. Her play The Captive (1790) compares the
horrors of the French Bastille to her own sense of captivity in her native land. She
urges people to petition for reform. Barrell wrote for the periodicals, under the
pen-name‖of‖‘Maria’. ~ Ref: Todd (1987), p. 40; Jackson (1993), 22; inf. Dawn
Whatman [F]
Barrie,‖James‖(1753-1829),‖shepherd,‖journeyman‖wright,‖‘The‖Earl‖of‖Buchan’s‖own‖
poet-laureate’‖(Sir‖Walter‖Scott);‖published‖Poems for the Use of Children‖(1808);‖
Poems on Various Subjects‖(Kelso,‖1817);‖Riverside Poems‖(1821).‖~‖Ref:‖Crockett‖
(1893),‖97-8;‖Johnson‖(1992),‖item‖53.‖*S+
Bartlett, Frederick R. (fl.‖1886),‖‘a‖working‖man‖of‖the‖Black‖Country,‖living‖at‖
Bilston,‖Staffordshire’,‖published Flashes from Forge & Foundry: A Volume of Poems
(Bilston, Staffs., 1886). Bartlett claimed his volume to be ‘Under‖the‖Distinguished‖
Patronage of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Premier; and H. H. Fowler, esq.,
M.P.’‖In a Preface, Charles Lee, Vicar of Bilston, mentions local pride in its
publication:‖‘To‖me‖it‖is‖a‖real‖gratification‖to‖know‖that‖our‖spirited‖little‖Black‖
Country town has not only been enriched by many an inventive genius amongst
the descendants of Tubal Cain [i.e. blacksmiths], but has been, in more than one
instance,‖ennobled‖by‖the‖offspring‖of‖the‖Muses‖also’‖(p.‖iv). Poems include one
on climbing the Wrekin at sunset, quite an interesting series of Christmas poems,
and some light verses on rural and working-class life. ~ Ref: Poole & Markland
(1928), 462; Reilly (1994), 32; LC 6, 339-42; NTU. [LC6]
(?) Basse, or Bas, William, (c. 1583‐1653?), of ?Northamptonshire, retainer to Lord
Wenham‖of‖Thame‖Park;‖may‖have‖attended‖Oxford;‖wrote‖an‖‘Elegy‖on‖Mr.‖
William‖Shakespeare’‖and‖‘The‖Angler’s‖Song’‖included‖in‖Walton’s‖Compleat
Angler; also published Sword and Buckler, or, The Serving-Mans Defence (1602); Three
Pastoral Elegies of Anander, Anetor, and Muridella (1602); posthumously published
 Poetical Works of William Basse (1893). ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 29-31; ODNB; Radcliffe.
[OP]
Bastard, Thomas (fl. 1709-65), of Exeter, textile fuller, published A Monody to the
Memory of My much endeared brother in Christ, The Reverend and Pious Mr. John
Cennick, who Fell Asleep in Jesus, on Friday the 4th of July, 1755 (Exeter: John Spencer,
1765). A Thomas Bastard, weaver, joined the Gild of Weavers, Tuckers and
Shearmen of Exeter in 1709 and became a Master of the Gild in 1723; in the same
year a Thomas Bastard, sergemaker, swore an oath at the Michaelmas Quarter
Sessions in the Guildhall, Exeter. ~ Ref: text via Google books; Friends of Devon
Archives and Exeter Memories web pages; inf. Nick Groom.
Bates, J. (fl. 1886), of Derbyshire, common soldier in the 3rd Battalion of the
Derbyshire Militia, Chatsworth Rifles. A poem of his is included in Housley, on
being‖stationed‖at‖Farfield‖Common‖(‘Here‖we‖are‖on‖Fairfield‖Common‖/‖Come‖
to take our annual drills / And mingle with rich man and women / Who seek a
change‖for‖world‖ills’). ~ Ref: Housley (c. 2002), n.pag.
(?) Bealey, Richard Rome (1828-87), of Rochdale, master bleacher, draper,
businessman, dialect and temperance poet, lived in Manchester and Nottingham,
published After-Business Jottings: Poems (London and Manchester, 1864, 2nd
edition ?1867); Field Flowers and City Chimes: Poems (London and Manchester,
1866); Old Hall Rhymes (London and Manchester, 1868); Poems (c. 1870); Later-life
Jottings in Verse and Prose (Manchester and London, 1884). ~ Ref: Harland (1882),
260-2, 295-7, 303-9, 321, 332-3, 385-90, 392, 394-5, 425-6, 449-51, 480-1; Vicinus
(1969), 30; Hollingworth (1977), 151; Reilly (1994); 35, Reilly (2000), 34; Boos
(2002a), 211; NTU. [T]
Bearman, Louisa (b. 1899), of Bolton, dialect poet, began work in a cotton mill at age
thirteen, drove a bread van in WW1, later a businesswoman. Bearman began
writing poems at age of 68 following an eye operation; later, almost blind, she
dictated poems to a friend. She made a number of radio and TV appearances and
a collection was published, Poems in the Lancashire Dialect (Clapham: Dalesman,
1977). ~ Ref: Cheyp (1978), 19, 56, 59, 71. [F] [OP] [T]
Beattie, George (1786-1823), of St Cyrus, Kincardineshire, son of a crofter and
fisherman, trained to be a mechanic, became a clerk, and later an attorney; the
author‖of‖‘John‖o’‖Arnha’,‖published as John o Arnha’. To which is added the Murderit
Mynstrell and Other Poems (Montrose, 1818). ~ Ref: Andrew Smith (ed), George
Beattie, of Montrose, a Poet, a Humourist, and a Man of Genius (1863); Wilson (1876),
II, 87-90; Reid, Bards (1897), 35-40; ODNB; Wikipedia. [S]
Beattie, William (c. 1756-1801), of Aberdeen, flax-dresser; published Fruits of Time
Parings: Being a Collection of Original Poems, Scotch and English; Composed to Fill up a
Few of the Author’s Blank Hours—and respectfully offered to the public (Aberdeen: W.
Rettie, 1801). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 61. [S] [T]
Begg, Peter (1819-85), of Dundee, shoemaker, a founder of the Dundee Literary
Institute who also, in 1865, founded the movement (and later drafted the bill) that
led to the Scottish Libraries Act. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 209-12; Reid, Bards
(1897), 46-7. [S] [SM]
Beggs, Thomas (1789-1847), of Glenwherry, Co. Antrim, sailor, weaver, bleacher,
published Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse, (1819); Rathin: A Descriptive Poem (Belfast,
1820); The Rhyming Pedagogue (1821); The Momento, a Choice Variety of Original
Poems (1828); The Minstrel’s Offering (1834); The Second Part of the Minstrel’s Offering
(1836); Nights in a Garrett (a prose work) (1830). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 24;
Hewitt (1974); Johnson 46 (2003), no. 82; DUB. [I] [T]
(?) Bell, Dugald (fl. c. 1847-81),‖head‖gardener’s‖son,‖secretary‖and‖president‖of‖the‖
Vale‖of‖Leven‖Mechanics’‖Institute; published Among the Rocks around Glasgow
(Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1881). ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 74-80. [S]
Bell, John (fl. 1816),‖‘self‖taught,‖without‖any‖regular‖education’,‖published Cartland-
Craigs: A Poem (Edinburgh: C. Stewart, for William Blackwood, J. Annan, and W,
Robertson, Lanark, 1816) viii, 79, [3]. ~ Ref: crjohnson.com, 27 November 2001. [S]
(?) Bell,‖Maria‖(d.‖1899),‖‘although‖little‖is‖known‖about‖Bell’s‖circumstances,‖it‖is‖
likely‖she‖was‖an‖autodidact’‖(Bold);‖published Songs of Two Homes (1899). ~ Ref:
Kerrigan (1991), 210, 350; Bold (1997), 252-3. [F] [S]
Bell, Thomas (1766-1824),‖of‖Ceres,‖Fife,‖of‖humble‖birth;‖‘Ballad’‖and‖‘Song’‖in‖
Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 55-7. [S]
(?) Bell, Thomas (fl.‖1853),‖a‖‘humble‖individual’‖living in a cottage in Barnwell,
Northamptonshire, published The Ruins of Liveden; with Historical Notices of the
family of Gresham, and its connection with the Gunpowder Plot, etc., etc., etc., To Which
is Added a legendary Poem (London: Whittaker & Co., 1847); The Rural Album,
containing Descriptive and Miscellaneous Poems; with Historical Notices of Barnwell and
Fotheringay Castles, &c. (London: Joseph Masters, 1853). ~ Ref: Charles Cox,
catalogue 73 (2018), item 24; texts via Google Books.
Bell,‖William,‖‘Billy‖Bell’‖(1862-1941), roadman and poet, of Redesdale,
Northumberland, poems collected in [William Bell,] Susanne Ellingham and John
Handle, Billy Bell, Redesdale Roadman, Border Bard: His Life, Times and Poetry (Seaton
Burn:‖Northern‖Heritage,‖2013),‖‘a‖large selection of poems and a biography of
Billy‖Bell’.‖In‖1885‖Bell‖was‖employed‖by‖his‖local‖council‖to‖maintain‖an‖eight-
mile stretch of road from Carter bar to Rochester. Bell lived nearly all his life in a
cottage in Byrness. He filled many exercise books with poems, writing 360 in all
on nature, the landscape, rural life and people, including three on the annual
Bellingham Show, and poems on fishing, his sciatica, and two from 1905 on the
coming‖of‖the‖motor‖car.‖His‖poems‖often‖‘join‖a‖sequence‖of‖thoughts after a
day’s‖working‖on‖road‖maintenance’‖(folk‖musician‖Johnny‖Handle,‖who‖
rediscovered the poems in the 1980s), and Bell had a particular gift for dialect
 poetry, often comic in tone. From about 1904 his poems were often published in
the‖‘Original‖Poetry’‖spot‖in‖the‖local‖newspaper,‖the‖Hexham Courant. ~ Ref:
‘Northern‖Heritage’‖catalogue,‖2014;‖Tony‖Henderson,‖‘North’s‖rural‖poet‖is‖on‖
the‖road‖to‖recognition‖at‖last’,‖Newcastle Journal, 27 March 2013, J2, 24 (includes a
photograph of Bell); text as cited. [OP]
(?) Belson, Mary, later Mary Elliott (1794?-1870), Quaker, Looking-glass Maker and
children’s‖writer,‖published The Mice and their Pic Nic... (London: Private, 1810),
and many other works for children, using poetry as an educational medium. ~
Ref: Philip‖D.‖Jordan,‖‘The‖Juvenilia‖of‖Mary‖Belson‖Elliott:‖A‖List‖with‖Notes’,‖
Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 39 (1935), 869-81; Jackson (1985); Marjorie
Moon, The Children's Books of Mary (Belson) Elliott: A Bibliography (Winchester,
Hampshire: St. Paul's bibliographies, 1987); Jackson (1993), 116-19; inf. Dawn
Whatman. [F]
(?) Benger, Elizabeth Ogilvy (bap. 1775 d. 1827), of Wells, Somerset, daughter of a
navy‖purser‖who‖‘read‖open‖books‖in‖shop‖windows,‖returning‖each‖day‖when‖
the page had‖been‖turned’,‖published The Female Geniad; a Poem, Inscribed to Mrs.
Crespigny (London: Hookham and Carpenter, Kearsley, 1791), written‖‘at‖the‖Age‖
of‖Thirteen’,‖which mentions Mary Collier, Mary Deverell, Constantia Grierson
and Ann Yearsley (qqv; the latter misnamed Kearsley), as well as other women
writers;‖‘A‖Poem,‖Occasioned‖by‖the‖Abolition‖of‖the‖Slave‖Trade’‖in‖Poems on the
Abolition of the Slave Trade by James Montgomery, James Graham and E. Benger
(London: Bowyer, 1809), 101-41; also wrote novels and biographies. ~ Ref: Jackson
(1993), 25-6; Basker (2002), 620-2; ODNB; inf. Dawn Whatman. [F] [C18]
Bennet, John (fl. 1774-96, d. 1803), shoemaker of Woodstock, Oxford. ~ Bennet
worked as a Journeyman shoemaker and succeeded his father as parish clerk at
Woodstock.‖He‖also‖ostensibly‖inherited‖his‖father’s‖musical‖penchant,‖declaring‖
in‖the‖preface‖to‖his‖poems:‖‘Witness‖my‖early‖acquaintance‖with‖the‖pious‖strains‖
of‖Sternhold‖and‖Hopkins,‖under‖that‖melodious‖psalmodist‖my‖honoured‖Father’‖
(Ditchfield 1907). Bennet received guidance in improving his rhymes from Oxford
Professor of Poetry Thomas Warton—the curate of the town and a customer in
Bennet’s‖shop—and under his patronage accumulated an extensive list of
subscribers for his first volume in 1774. ~ Although Southey (1831), 122, asserts,
‘There‖is‖nothing‖in‖his‖poems‖which‖deserves‖to‖be‖extracted‖for‖its‖own‖sake’,‖
Ditchfield‖(1907)‖argues‖that‖despite‖Bennet’s‖plain‖modesty‖concerning‖his‖
poetical faculties, his verses—which are largely marked by simple rhymes and
rustic themes—are‖‘not‖without‖merit‖or‖humour’.‖As‖for‖Bennet’s‖character,‖the‖
Monthly Review (July-Dec‖1774,‖483)‖notes:‖‘Unlike‖the‖raft‖of‖the‖Crispinian‖
fraternity, he seems to have a sense of virtue and religion; to spiritualise his
profession’. The Critical Review, however, sarcastically parodied his preface and
dedication. Bennet states that the motive for publishing the poems was to allow
 him‖to‖‘rear‖an‖infant‖offspring‖and‖to‖drive‖away‖all‖anxious‖solicitude from the
breast‖of‖a‖most‖amiable‖wife.’‖~‖Bennet‖concludes‖his‖first‖volume‖with‖the‖
humorous‖lines:‖‘So‖may‖our‖cobler‖rise‖by‖friendly‖aid,‖/‖Be‖happy‖and‖successful‖
in his trade; / His awl and pen with readiness be found, / To make or keep our
understandings sound’ (37 (1774), 473); ~ In 1796, Bennet published Redemption—
dedicated to Dr. Mavor of Woodstock —which‖Ditchfield‖(1907)‖considers‖‘a‖
noble‖poem,‖far‖exceeding‖in‖merit‖his‖first‖essay’.‖Bennet‖died‖in‖Woodstock‖in‖
1803. He published Poems on Several Occasions by John Bennet, A Journeyman
Shoemaker (London: Printed for the Author, and sold by T. Evans...J. Southern...;
Oxford: Printed for the author, and sold by T. Evans...; J. Southern ...; by Messrs.
Prince, Fletcher, and Parker, booksellers, in Oxford; and by the author, in
Woodstock, Oxem., 1774), via Google Books; Redemption, a Poem. In two books
(Woodstock, Banbury, London, 1796). Bridget Keegan has suggested that the
dedicatory poem in the 1774 volume ([ix]-xiv),‖‘To‖the‖Author on his Book of
Poems’,‖signed‖‘James‖Green,‖London‖Sept.‖11,‖1773’,‖may‖be‖by‖another‖
shoemaker-poet. ~ Ref: Southey (1831), 122-4; Hood (1870), 216-17; Winks (1883),
297-9; P. H. Ditchfield, The Parish Clerk (London: Methuen, 1907), via archive.org;
NCBEL II (1971); Christmas (2001), 18, 210-12, 215-20; Keegan (2001), 205-6; ESTC;
LC 2, 273-96; Croft & Beattie, I, item 45. [SM] [LC2] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Bennet, William (b. 1802), of Glencairn, Dumfriesshire, of humble parents,
apprenticed as a mechanic, contributed poems to the Dumfries Courier, became
editor of the Glasgow Free Press, published his first vol. of poetry at eighteen
(1820); his second was Songs of Solitude (Glasgow:‖W.‖R.‖M’Phun, 1831); then The
Chief of Glenorchy (London, 1840); he also published prose works. ~ Ref: Wilson
(1876), II, 248-50. [S]
Bennett, Robert (b. 1855), of Linlithgow, West Lothian, son of a pattern designer,
draper, wrote in the Glasgow Weekly Herald and Sunday School, published Poems
and Prose (Glasgow, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 27-32; Reilly (1994), 42. [S]
[T]
(?) Bennoch, Francis (1812-90), of Durrisdeer, Dumfriesshire, son of a farmer on the
Drumlanrig estate, his mother being from a family who had long been tenants on
the estate. He himself helped out on the farm, and he describes helping the
shepherd keep his sheep out of the snowdrifts on a winter night in a great storm,
in‖his‖poem‖‘The‖Storm’.‖By‖the‖age‖of‖sixteen‖he‖had‖crossed‖the‖border‖and‖
moved down to London, and in 1837 set up a business, retiring forty years later as
a prosperous London silk merchant and a significant figure in the community,
serving as councilman and deputy of his ward in the Corporation and as a
commissioner of Lieutenancy of the City of London. He helped reduce working
hours, and among a number of other things was a conservator of the Thames, a
Fellow of the Society of Arts and secretary of the female school of art. He had
 published poems in his local press at the age of eighteen and continued to write,
winning the friendship of many literary figures including leading writers of the
day such as Wordsworth, Dickens, Hawthorne and Longfellow, as well as
individuals such as the Nottingham writers William and Mary Howitt (significant
local figures mentioned elsewhere in this database), Charles Swain and Allan
Cunningham (qqv). He‖spoke‖‘warmly’‖of‖Cunningham’s‖‘kindness‖to‖him‖on‖his‖
first‖arrival‖in‖London’‖(Edwards). Bennoch is described as ‘a‖poet‖of‖wider
reputation’‖(Miller,‖277).‖He‖published three volumes, The Storm, and other Poems
(1849); Sir Ralph de Rayne (1872); and Poems, Lyrics, Songs and Sonnets (1877).
Edwards‖prints‖his‖poems,‖‘Who‖Dares‖to‖Scorn’,‖‘The‖Bonnie‖Bird’,‖‘Eva’,‖‘May-
Day’,‖‘My‖Bonnie‖Wee‖Wifey’,‖‘My‖Johnny’,‖‘Hey‖my‖Bonnie‖Wee‖Lassie’,‖and‖
‘Hast‖Thou‖a‖Friend?’‖Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 381 and 16, [lix]; Miller (1910), 277-8.
[S] [T]
Bentley, Elizabeth (1767-1839), of Norwich, daughter of a journeyman cordwainer,
Daniel Bentley, had no formal education but was taught to read and write by her
father. She printed many of her poems first in the Norwich Chronicle, and
published the following volumes: Genuine Poetical Compositions on Various Subjects
(Norwich, 1791, BL 993.c.43(4)); An Ode on the Glorious Victory over the French...
(Norwich 1805? BL 10601.a.28(3)), 4 pp.; Poems, Being the Genuine Compositions of
Elizabeth Bentley, of Norwich (Norwich and London, 1821, BL 11642.bb.43), a
subscription edition: the London publishers were Taylor & Hessey, publishers of
John Keats and John Clare (qqv); Miscellaneous Poems; Being the Genuine
Compositions... Third Volume (Norwich, 1835). Her first volume had 2,000
subscribers and was well reviewed in the Gentleman’s Magazine, and enabled her
to open a small school in Norwich. She also received support from the Royal
Literary Fund. ~ Ref: Landry (1990), 8-9, 209-16, 273-80; Rizzo (1991), 243; Johnson
(1992), items 68-70, 932; Jackson (1993), 26-7; Sales (1994), 267-8; Sutton (1995), 54
(letters); Feldman (1997), 87-90; Meyenberg (2000), 201; Kord (2003), 259; LC 3,
193-202; ODNB. [LC3] [C18] [F]
(?) Bernstein, Marion (1846-1906), of Jewish-Scottish heritage, lame and invalided as
a child, earned an uncertain living as a music teacher in Glasgow, though at least
once she was forced to seek help for indigence. She published Mirren’s Musings
and Other Poems (Glasgow: McGeachy, 1876), and wrote remarkable comic and
feminist poems for the Glasgow Weekly Mail, including one entitled ‘Mirren’s‖
Autobiography,’‖in‖tetrameter‖rhymed‖couplets.‖Her work has recently been
recovered and well-edited: see E. H. Cohen, A. R. Fertig and L. Fleming (eds), A
Song of Glasgow Town: The Collected Poems of Marion Bernstein (Glasgow:
Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2013). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 44-47;
Leonard (1990), 296-305; Boos (1995), 68; Bold (1997), 256-7; Reilly (2000), 39; Boos
(2008), 337-47; Linda‖Fleming‖and‖Edward‖Cohen,‖‘A‖Scottish‖Dozen:‖Uncollected‖
 Poems‖by‖Marion‖Bernstein’,‖The Victorians Institute Journal, 37 (2009), 1-14;
Scottish Women Poets website (Wordpress blog); edition cited; inf. Florence Boos
and Kirstie Blair. [F] [S]
Berry, Lizzie (=Elizabeth Kemp, née Marshall) (1847-1919), of Great Bowden,
Leicestershire, of poor parents, lived in Otley, published Poems (Rugby, 1877/79),
two volumes, with sixty-seven poems in the first, sixty-eight in the second; Day
Dreams: A Collection of Miscellaneous Poems (Otley, 1893); Heart Sketches: Original
Miscellaneous & Devotional Poems (Otley, 1886), with a portrait of the author. She
also privately published two volumes, The Tramp and The Wayside Inn, and kept a
scrapbook with an additional 319 poems, carefully arranged, possibly for another
intended volume. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 44; Reilly (2000), 39; ODNB; NTU. [F]
Bethune, Alexander (1804-43), Fifeshire labourer, brother of John Bethune (qv),
worked‖‘digging‖clayey‖soil’,‖began‖his‖career‖with‖his‖brother‖as‖a‖weaver‖and‖
suffered the collapse of the Scottish weaving market. Bethune published the
following volumes: Tales and Sketches of the Scottish Peasantry (1838); The Scottish
Peasant’s Fireside: A Series of Tales and Sketches Illustrating the Character of the
Peasantry of Scotland (1843); and posthumously, Memoirs of Alexander Bethune:
Embracing Selections from his Correspondence and Literary Remains (1845); [Alexander
and John Bethune], Tales of the Scottish Peasantry, with a Biography of the Authors by
John Ingram (Glasgow and London, 1884). The Bethune brothers are mentioned in
Charles‖Kingsley’s‖1850‖novel‖Alton Locke. ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 412-16; Wilson
(1876), II, 265-7; Shanks (1881), 146-53; Burnett et al (1984), no. 62; Maidment
(1987), 138, Sutton (1995), 58 (letters); ODNB; LION. [S] [T]
Bethune, John (1810 or 1812 to 1839), of Abdie, Newburgh, Fifeshire, quarry and
roadworker, younger brother of Alexander Bethune (qv), began his career as a
weaver and was apparently quite skilful before suffering the collapse of the
Scottish weaving market; contributed verses to newspapers, published Poems by
the late John Bethune: With a Sketch of the Author’s Life by his Brother (Edinburgh,
1840). ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 412-16; Wilson (1876), II, 330-4; Edwards, 1 (1880), 94-98;
Shanks (1881), 146-53; Cross (1985), 153; Maidment (1987), 138-41; ODNB; LION;
NTU. [S]
Beveridge, Mitchell Kilgour (b. 1831), of Dunfermline, emigrated to Australia in
1839, bushman, published Gatherings Among the Gum-trees (1863). ~ Ref: Edwards,
12 (1889), 258-63. [A] [S]
Bewley, John (fl. 1891), apprentice shoemaker at Crookdale, Wigtown, Cumberland,
published Bewley’s Day Dreams: A Series of Poetical Pieces (Mealsgate, 1891). ~ Ref:
Reilly (1994), 45. [SM]
Billington, William (1827-84),‖‘The‖Blackburn‖Poet’,‖born‖at‖Samlesbury, Lancashire,
doffer (a worker involved in removing the full [cotton] bobbins or spindles, OED),
‘stripper‖and‖grinder’,‖then‖dandy-loom weaver, later a publican ~ At the time of
his‖birth‖at‖Samlesbury‖in‖the‖Ribble‖valley,‖William’s‖parents‖were‖unemployed
handloom weavers, and found themselves working as road navvies. Following
his‖father’s‖passing‖in‖1832,‖William’s‖mother,‖Ann,‖had‖to‖support‖four‖of‖seven‖
surviving children—two of whom were invalids—through handloom weaving,
with sleep being a luxury.‖In‖the‖1883‖‘Dedicatory‖Sonnet.‖To‖my‖two‖brothers,‖
Joseph‖and‖James‖Billington’,‖William‖would‖refer‖back‖to‖when‖‘a‖mother’s‖/‖
Lone‖life‖was‖darkened,‖bravely‖battling‖for‖/‖Her‖orphaned‖children’s‖welfare<‖
grim‖want<‖grown‖familiar’.‖~‖During‖the‖evenings that Billington assisted his
mother, she would sing for him songs and satires composed by her brother,
Robert‖Bolton.‖This‖influence,‖alongside‖the‖example‖of‖Richard‖Dugdale,‖‘The‖
Bard‖of‖Ribblesdale’‖(qv)—whom he befriended in his youth—certainly helped
bring out the poet in Billington. Having learnt to read and write at Catholic
Sunday Schools, Billington lodged in his memory an abundance of lines from
major English poets such as Chaucer and Wordsworth (Manchester Guardian, 19
June 1886). ~ Upon relocating to Blackburn at around the age of 12, Billington
spent his days in the factory and his nights at the Mechanics Institute - of which
he‖was‖a‖founder‖member.‖An‖‘insatiable‖autodidact’,‖he‖later‖taught‖grammar‖at‖
a school in exchange for mathematics lessons, tendered his counsel to trade
unions, toured the North and Midlands to disseminate his poems, regularly
lectured on and debated political and religious matters—his initial reputation was
that‖of‖a‖‘public‖denier‖and‖assailant‖of<‖religious‖belief’‖(Abram,‖1894)—
established a Mutual Improvement Society, and ran a beer-house on Bradshaw
Street from 1875—it‖was‖dubbed‖‘Poet’s‖Corner’,‖on‖account‖of‖it‖functioning‖as‖a‖
forum‖for‖Blackburn’s‖sizeable‖circle‖of‖dialect‖poets.‖~ Many of the poems that
would constitute Sheen and Shade: Lyrical Poems (1861) and Lancashire Songs, with
other poems and sketches (1883) were featured in The Blackburn Evening Standard and
The Blackburn Times. In the dedication to Thomas Clough in Sheen and Shade,
Billington‖refers‖to‖the‖collection‖as‖‘the‖scattered‖offspring‖of‖my‖vagrant‖muse<‖
a‖motley,‖but‖not‖immoral‖group’.‖In‖the‖notes‖to‖‘A‖Lancashire‖Garland’,‖
Billington‖writes:‖‘Why‖do‖I‖rhyme?‖Ask‖the‖wind‖why‖it‖blows.‖/‖Why‖do‖I‖
rhyme? Ask the stars why they shine. / Ask the rain why it falls and the stream
why‖it‖flows,‖/‖Ask‖the‖rich‖why‖they’re‖proud‖and‖the‖poor‖why‖they‖pine!’‖~‖A‖
staunch defender of the working-classes—deploring‖‘men‖who‖mortgage‖/‖Their‖
souls to serve Mammon, the god of the‖age!’—Billington’s‖most‖widely‖celebrated‖
poem‖is‖‘Th’‖Surat‖Weyver’,‖which‖was‖written‖during‖the‖Cotton‖Famine‖and‖
sold‖14,000‖copies‖as‖a‖broadsheet.‖The‖embitterment‖is‖inescapable:‖‘We’n‖left‖no‖
stooan‖unturn’d,‖nod‖one,‖/‖Sin’t’‖trade‖becoom‖so‖flat,‖/‖Bud‖new‖they’n‖browt‖us‖
too‖id,‖mon,‖/‖They’n‖med‖us‖weyve‖Surat!’‖~‖In‖his‖latter‖years,‖Billington‖
produced an extensive series of essays for the Blackburn Standard on local authors,
trade unionists and countryside. He succumbed to bronchitis and lung
 inflammation on 3 January 1884 (Hepburn). With regard to tributes, in the poem
‘To‖the‖Memory‖of‖William‖Billington’,‖George‖Hull‖refers‖to‖him‖as‖‘a‖master-
mind’‖and‖writes:‖‘The‖Singer‖has‖departed;‖and‖no‖more‖/‖Is‖heard‖the‖voice,‖o‖
strong and clear‖and‖sweet,‖/‖Cheering‖the‖crowds‖in‖factory‖and‖in‖street’.‖John‖
Walker,‖in‖‘Ode:‖On‖the‖Death‖of‖William‖Billington’,‖affirms:‖‘Thou‖wert‖a‖part‖of‖
me‖/‖As‖I‖of‖thee,‖/‖As‖‚all‖are‖parts‖of‖one‖stupendous‖whole‛’.‖Billington is
depicted‖as‖‘William‖Bentley’‖in William Westall’s‖novel‖Red Ryvington (London,
1882). Billington published Sheen and Shade: Lyrical Poems (Blackburn, 1861);
Lancashire Songs, with other poems and sketches (1883). ~ Ref: William Abram,
William Billington, Operative, Sceptic and Poet (Blackburn, 1894); Hull (1902), 113-32;
Vicinus (1974), 141, 167; Hollingworth (1977), 151-2;‖Michael‖I.‖Watson,‖‘William‖
Billington:‖Cotton‖Operative,‖Teacher‖and‖Poet’,‖Transactions of the Historical
Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 134 (1985); Maidment (1987), 15, 160, 170; Reilly
(1994), 47; Reilly (2000), 41; Hepburn (2001), 251-5; Boos (2002a), 207-8; Hobbs
(2013); ODNB; Massey page; NTU. [T] [—Iain Rowley]
Bilsland, Alexander (fl. 1741),‖of‖Glasgow,‖a‖‘married‖shoemaker‖of‖forty-seven’,‖
produced religious verses following a conversation with the church leaders James
Fisher and Ebenezer Erskine. ~ Ref: Elspeth‖Jajdelska,‖‘‚Singing‖of‖Psalms‖of‖
which‖I‖could‖never‖get‖enough‛: Labouring-class Religion and Poetry in the
Cambuslang‖Revival‖of‖1741’,‖Studies in Scottish Literature, 41, no. 1 (2015), article
11. [S] [SM] [C18]
(?) Binns, George (1815-47), of Sunderland, one of fifteen children, son of a Quaker
draper, Chartist agitator, poet, bookseller, published a ‘Chartist‖Mother’s‖Song’‖in‖
The Northern Liberator, 1 February 1840;‖a‖poem‖entitled,‖‘Give‖Us‖This‖Day‖our‖
Daily‖Bread’,‖in‖the‖Chartist Circular, Glasgow, 12 September 1840, p. 208; and the
volume The Doom of Toil (1841), composed whilst the author was jailed for
sedition. After working in the family business, Binns opened a bookshop in 1837
with his fellow Chartist James Williams; both were imprisoned in 1840 and Binns
emigrated to New Zealand in 1842. One of Binns’s‖poems‖is‖entitled‖‘To‖the‖
Magistrate Who Committed Me to Prison under the Darlington Cattle Act for
Addressing‖a‖Chartist‖meeting’‖(Kovalev,‖65).‖He‖also‖defended‖himself‖spiritedly‖
when political enemies attempted to use his Chartist history against him, in New
Zealand. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 65-69; Ashraf (1975), 165; Scheckner (1989), 119-23,
313, 330, 343; Stephen Roberts, Radical Politicians and Poets in Early Victorian Britain:
The Voices of Six Chartist Leaders (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1993), 39-57;
Schwab (1993), 185; ODNB *‘Binns‖family’+;‖‘Brief‖Lives‖of‖the‖Chartists’‖page,‖
www.chartists.net (March 2015). [C]
Bird, James (1788-1839), of Yoxford, Suffolk‖farmer’s‖son,‖apprenticed‖to‖a miller,
later a stationer, published The Vale of Slaughden, a Poem. In Five Cantos
(Halesworth, 1819), a poem favourably compared to the work of Robert
 Bloomfield (qv); The White Hats (1819), a mock-heroic attack on radical Reformers.
He also wrote an imitation‖of‖Byron’s‖Don Juan, in his Poetical Memoirs: The Exile,
A Tale (London: Baldwin, Cradock, 1824), as well as many other collections,
including Machin, or the Discovery of Madeira. A Poem. In Four Cantos (London: John
Warren, 1821); Cosmo, Duke of Tuscany, a Tragedy, in Five Acts (London: Rodwell
and Martin, 1822); Dunwich: a Tale of the Splendid City (London 1828); Framlingham:
a Narrative of the Castle (London, 1831); The Emigrant’s Tale...and Miscellaneous
Poems (London, 1833); Francis Abbot, the Recluse of Niagara (London, 1837). ~ Ref:
Jarndyce (1980), item 1284; Johnson (1992), items 74-81; Sutton (1995), 59 (letters);
Johnson 46 (2003), no. 266; LC 4, 235-56; ODNB; inf. Bridget Keegan. [LC4]
Birkett Card, Mary (1774-1817), poet of humble origins, daughter of a candlemaker,
devout Quaker and abolitionist, published A Poem on the African Slave Trade.
Addressed to her Own Sex (1792),‖online‖on‖Brycchan‖Carey’s‖web‖page; [anon]
Lines to the Memory of Our Late Endeared and Justly Valued Friend, Joseph Williams
(Dublin, 1807). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 27 (listed as Mary Birkett); Basker
(2002), 442-4;‖Deirdre‖Coleman,‖‘Women‖Writers‖and‖Abolition’,‖in‖Labbe‖(2010),‖
172-93 (181-90). http://www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/birkettcard.htm. [F] [I]
[C18]
(?) Birrell, Mary (fl. 1861-71), of Dundee, semi-educated, published The Rifle
Volunteers, and Other Poems (Dundee, 1861, second edition Dundee, 1871); The
Sanctuary (Dundee), largely poems on patriotic themes. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 42; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Bisset, Alexander M. (b. 1869), of Perth, insurance agent, published Spring
Blossoms: Poems and Songs (Bathgate, 1890). ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 314-21; Charles
Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 44; COPAC. [S]
Black,‖John‖(b.‖1847),‖of‖East‖Handaxwood,‖Midlothian,‖moorland‖farmer’s‖son,‖
engineering‖worker.‖~‖Ref:‖Edwards,‖2‖(1881),‖179-81.‖*S+
Black, William (1825-87), of Calton, Glasgow, the‖‘son‖of‖a‖Peninsular‖hero’;‖a‖
weaver, temperance agitator, and orangeman; poems in Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards,
12 (1889), 102-4. [S] [T]
Blackaby, Jem (fl. 1842-48), of Croydon, radical, Chartist leader, shoemaker and poet,
described in ODNB as‖a‖‘highly‖articulate‖and‖romantic‖‚organic‛‖individual’‖who‖
influenced the radical writer Thomas Frost; Janowitz notes that he appears
‘throughout’‖Frost’s‖Forty Years’ Recollections (1880), and she compares him to a
‘folkloric‖trickster‖figure’,‖but‖one who was known and reputable in local circles.
Sanders‖describes‖his‖small‖poetic‖output‖of‖‘only‖two‖poems‖in‖his‖lifetime—one
on‖the‖death‖of‖Lord‖Abinger‖in‖the‖manner‖of‖Byron’s‖‚Vision‖of‖Judgment‛,‖
printed privately in an edition of fifty copies, and another on the subject of the
night-flowering cereus‖which‖appeared‖*thanks‖to‖Frost’s‖patronage+‖in‖Reynolds’
Miscellany’.‖Blackaby published A Vision of Judgment (new version, ?1844),
 reviewed in the Northern Star, September‖7th‖1844;‖‘Moral‖Musings’, Northern Star,
April 24th 1847. I have not yet located‖a‖copy‖of‖Blackaby’s‖Vision of Judgment, or
indeed established‖a‖clear‖connection‖with‖‘Blackaby‖the‖blacksmith‖who‖was‖
Chartist‖chief‖in‖Croydon’‖in‖the‖direct‖action‖of‖1839,‖according‖to Cole and
Postgate. ~ Ref: G.D.H. Cole and Raymond Postgate, The Common People (London:
Methuen, 1971 edition), 324; Janowitz (1998), 148-9; Sanders (2009), 6-7; ODNB,
‘Thomas‖Frost‖(1821-1908). [C] [SM]
Blackah, Thomas (1828-95),‖of‖Greenhow‖Hill,‖Yorkshire,‖‘the‖leadminer’s‖poet’,‖a‖
lead miner from the age of nine, minimally educated but attended night school for
two years at age 24; published Songs and Poems, written in the Nidderdale Dialect
(Pateley Bridge: T. Thorpe, 1867); poems collected in Dialect Poems and Prose, with a
short biography by Harald John Lexow Bruff, first edition (York, 1937). Blackah was a
key‖figure‖in‖his‖small‖community,‖known‖for‖‘expressing‖his‖sentiments‖in‖
scathing sayings and‖epigrams’,‖as‖he‖sat‖in‖the‖‘shop’‖he‖had‖set‖up‖in‖his‖front‖
room,‖retailing‖poems,‖stationary‖and‖homemade‖knitwear,‖and‖‘knitting,‖while‖
his‖friends‖and‖cronies‖would‖drop‖in‖for‖a‖crack’‖(Bruff,‖quoted‖in‖LC6). For some
years he wrote and published, under‖the‖pseudonym‖‘Nattie‖Nydds’,‖a‖dialect‖
almanack, T’ Nidderdale Olminac (but note that Moorman says he only contributed
to it). A prose journal of his 1857 voyage to America is available online, listed
below. It was transcribed from the original diary by its owner, his great-grandson
Michael Blackah, great-grandson, of Whitley Bay, formerly of Pudsey, Yorkshire,
in 1996. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 131-2 (who gives his birth date as April 6th 1827);
Andrews (1885), 241-2; Moorman (1917), xxx, xxxiv, 51-3; England (1983), 21, 28;
Maidment (1987), 227, 229-30; Smith, Dales (1987), 13-17; Bridget Keegan,
‘‚Incessant‖toil‖and‖hands‖innumerable‛:‖Mining‖and‖Poetry‖in‖the‖Northeast‖of‖
England’, Victoriographies, 1 (2011), 177-201; LC 6, 65-72; NTU; inf. Bob Heyes;
online sources (there are significant texts and family materials online). [LC6] [M]
Blackburn, Ernest (b. 1848), of Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire, farm carter from the
age of eleven, whose brief autobiography includes some doggerel verses about
leaving‖for‖London‖(‘In‖1866‖I‖left‖my‖Humble‖Home’),‖published from a
manuscript by his grandson in 1987. ~ Ref: Ernest‖Blackmore,‖‘A‖Voice‖from‖the‖
Wessex‖Chorus’,‖The Countryman, 92, no. 4 (Winter 1987), 144-8.
Blackburn, John James (1836-72), of London, lived most of his life in Scotland, hosier,
glover and shirtmaker, published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14
(1891), 62-6. [S] [T]
Blacket, Joseph (1786-1810), of Tunstall, Richmond, Yorkshire, shoemaker poet, son
of‖a‖Yorkshire‖day‖labourer,‖sent‖to‖London‖and‖‘placed‖with‖his‖brother’‖at‖age‖
eleven‖to‖be‖a‖ladies’‖shoemaker,‖saw‖Kemble‖perform‖Richard‖III‖at‖Drury‖Lane‖
and‖‘henceforth‖Shakspere‖became‖his‖idol’‖(Newsam);‖also‖read‖Eusebius‖
(Edmund Rack, [qv]) as a youth, was satirized by Byron, and supported by
 patrons William Marchant and Samuel Jackson Pratt, who compared him to
Robert Bloomfield (qv). Bloomfield himself wrote warmly and wittily to this
‘brother‖in‖leather’‖on‖receiving‖his‖poetry volume from James Lackington in
1809:‖‘‚The‖Conflagration‛‖is‖so‖truly‖full‖of‖fire‖that‖it‖allmost‖burns‖ones fingers
to read it. Saragossa is a noble poem. You have got the right pig by the ear, go on;
but choose your own themes, and let the master-tint of your mind have full play. I
fear from your own hints in the work that you are not healthy. this makes the last
page the more afflicting. I have much to say but will now only tender my hearty
good wishes and congratulations. And am sincerely your friend and Brother in
Leather’.‖Bloomfield’s‖fears‖were‖well-founded, as Blacket died of consumption
the next year. He published Specimens of the Poetry of Joseph Blacket, with an account
of his Life and some introductory observations (private edition and limited circulation,
London, 1809); The Times, an Ode (1809); and posthumously The Remains of Joseph
Blacket, ed. with a memoir by Samuel Jackson Pratt (London: Sherwood, Neely
and Jones, 1811). ~ Ref: Newsam (1845) 106-8; Hood (1870), 219-20; Winks (1883),
308-13 (image on 309); Vincent (1981), 204; Burnett et al (1984), no. 68; Cross (1985),
130-3; Rizzo (1991), 243; Sales (1994), 271-2; Sutton (1995), 61 (letters, including
one that provides a short sketch of his life); Goodridge (1999), item 8; Keegan
(2001), 209-10; Bloomfield Circle (2012), letter 241 and notes; ODNB. [SM]
Blacklock, Thomas (1721-91), of Annan, blind poet and‖‘a‖pioneer‖of‖blind‖education
in‖the‖British‖Isles’‖(ODNB), son of a bricklayer from Annan, Dumfriesshire, lost
his sight to smallpox in infancy. In childhood, he enjoyed having poetry read to
him, and began writing himself at the age of twelve. His poems were circulated
and came to the attention of an Edinburgh doctor, John Stevenson, who paid for
Blacklock to attend Edinburgh‖University.‖Blacklock’s‖first‖volume‖was‖published‖
while he was still a student there. He was given further support by the
philosopher David Hume (in 1754, Hume transferred his Faculty of Advocates
library salary to Blacklock) and Joseph Spence, Oxford Professor of Poetry (who
wrote a short account of Blacklock's life, as he had earlier done for Stephen Duck,
qv). He completed a degree in divinity and became a preacher in 1759. Five years
later, in 1764, he became a schoolmaster. Blacklock married in 1762 and was
awarded an honorary doctorate from Aberdeen in 1767. He would live long
enough to correspond with the greatest of all Scottish poets, Robert Burns (qv).
Bridget‖Keegan‖in‖LC2‖makes‖the‖following‖remarks‖on‖Blacklock’s‖poetry:‖‘Like‖
fellow Scottish poet Michael Bruce [qv], Blacklock eschewed writing poetry in
dialect,‖though‖he‖did‖capitalize‖upon‖the‖Scottish‖song‖tradition,‖‚translating‛‖
songs into proper poetic English. His poems follow conventions of neoclassical
poetry in their subject matter and attention to propriety. The 1746 volume
includes‖pieces‖advertising‖their‖debt‖to‖the‖classics,‖including‖‚The‖First‖Ode‖of‖
Horace‖Imitated‛‖and‖‚To‖Lesbia:‖Translated‖from‖Catullus‛;‖several‖moralizing‖
 hymns‖including‖‚An‖Hymn‖to‖Benevolence‛, and‖‚An‖Hymn‖to‖Fortitude‛;‖odes‖
on‖contemporary‖issues‖including‖‚To‖a‖young‖Gentleman‖bound‖for‖Guinea:‖An‖
Ode‛‖and‖‚An‖Ode‖on‖the‖present‖Rebellion‛;‖occasional‖and‖pastoral‖poetry‖and‖
‚An‖Elegy‖on‖Mr.‖Pope‛. This last poem, a common subject among labouring-
class poets, underscores the relevance of this avatar of Augustan poetry. Blacklock
joins a chorus of poets who celebrated Pope, including Henry Jones, Mary Leapor,
and‖Ann‖Yearsley‖*qqv+.’‖Keegan‖describes‖Blacklock as a ‘prime‖success‖story‖in‖
the annals of labouring-class poetry, overcoming more than the typical share of
hardships’.‖He published Poems on Several Occasions (Glasgow, 1746; extended
second edition 1754); Advice to the Ladies, A Satyr ([?Edinburgh], 1754); A Collection
of Original Poems, By the Rev. Mr Blacklock and other Scotch Gentlemen (1760-2, two
volumes); An Essay towards Universal Etymology, in Verse (1756); A Panegyric upon
Great Britain (1773); The Graham, an Heroic Ballad in Four Cantos (1774); as well as
translations and theological works. ~ Ref: Joseph Spence, An Account of the Life,
Character, and Poems of Mr. Blacklock, Student of Philosophy, in the University of
Edinburgh (London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1754); Wilson (1876), I, 198-201; Miller
(1910), 113-25, 211; Sutton (1995), 64 (letter); Christmas (2001), 75; Christmas
(2017); Croft & Beattie, I, 18 (items 51-2); LC 2, 49-50; ODNB; Radcliffe. [S] [LC2]
[C18]
Blackwell, John (1797-1840), ‘Alun’,‖Welsh poet of Mold, Flint, had no formal
schooling but was apprenticed to William Kirkham, a shoemaker with literary
interests. He attended meetings of the local Cymreigyddion (literary societies), and,
through a subscription supported by local gentry and clergymen, went to Jesus
College, Oxford. In the 1820s he won prizes for poems at eisteddfodau in Mold,
Ruthin and Denbigh, becoming curate of Holywell (Flintshire) in 1829 and rector
of Manor Deivy (Pembrokeshire) in 1833. There was no lifetime collection, but
posthumous works include Ceinion Alun / Beauties of Alun : Being the Life and
Literary Remains in Welsh & English of the late Revd. John Blackwell, B.A. (Alun),
(Griffith Edwards, Ruthin 1851); and some verse edited by Isaac Foulkes (1879),
collected by Owen M. Edwards in the series Cyfres y Fil *‘The‖Thousand‖Series’,
OCLW] (1909). His work is popular and lyrical, drawing on folk-song and
showing English Romantic influence. Well-known poems include ‘Doli’‖*‘Doll’‖or‖
‘Dolly’+,‖‘Cân‖Gwraig‖y‖Pysgotwr’‖*‘Song‖of‖a‖Woman‖and‖the‖Fisherman’+‖and‖
‘Abaty‖Tintern’‖*Tintern‖Abbey+‖Ref:‖D.‖Gwenallt‖Jones,‖‘Alun’,‖Llên Cymru, I, 4
(1951) 209-19; OCLW (1986); DWB; ODNB; gutenberg.org. [W] [SM] [—Katie
Osborn, rev. M-AC]
Blair, Alexander (b. c. 1838), of Aberdeen, tailor, self-taught disabled poet, was
paralysed‖and‖never‖able‖to‖walk,‖‘but‖crept‖about,‖as‖he‖himself‖puts‖it‖‚like‖a‖
little‖doggie‛’‖(Reid);‖very‖limited‖schooling‖and‖no‖grammatical‖learning,‖
 apprenticed in the tailor trade, eventually having his own tailor business in
Arbroath; published in the Arbroath Guide. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 48-9. [S] [T]
Blair, John (1818-89), of Stirling, type-foundry worker, published Masonic Songs,
Oddfellow Songs, and Other Rhymes (1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 146-51. [S]
(?) Blake, Nicholas (d. 1850s), of Marley, County Meath, farmer ruined by the famine
of 1846-7, poems published ‘many‖years‖after‖his‖death’‖in‖the‖Drogheda Argus; he
had moved to London with‖the‖MS‖of‖a‖novel,‖‘The‖Absentee’,‖unpublished ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912), 29. [I]
(?) Blake, William (1757-1827), London-born painter and printmaker, son of a hosier,
and the third of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. Blake was a major
artist, visionary, radical thinker and poet,‖often‖regarded‖as‖one‖of‖the‖‘big‖six’‖
poets of canonical Romantic poetry. Though he attended school and learned the
basic of reading and writing, he left at ten and was largely home educated by his
mother, the Nottinghamshire-born Catherine Blake, née Wright, whose own
cultural roots lay in independent and radical, freethinking nonconformist
traditions; more broadly he may be described as self-educated. He trained as a
printmaker, being apprenticed in 1782 to the engraver James Basire.‖Blake’s‖first‖
volume, Poetical Sketches (1783), was presented as the work‖of‖an‖‘untutored‖
youth’. Blake‖was‖proud‖of‖the‖independence‖he‖gained‖by‖being‖‘untaught’, and
fiercely resisted in his art the generalising academicism he associated with Sir
Joshua Reynolds, his artistic bête noire. He was an admirer of his near-
contemporary, the poet Thomas Chatterton (qv), and like Chatterton took
inspiration from the gothic and the medieval, as represented by the great
churches of London (or in‖Chatterton’s‖case,‖Bristol),‖and spent many hours
sketching in this environment in his teens. In 1779 Blake became a student at the
Royal Academy. In 1784 he opened a print shop with his fellow former
apprentice, James Parker. In 1800 he and his wife Catherine moved out to
Felpham, taking on book-illustrating jobs to make a precarious living, and
dependent on a single significant patron, William Hayley, whose poems Blake
was then illustrating. They returned to London in 1804. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 92-4;
Richardson (1994), 249, 254; Sutton (1995), 66 (drawings, manuscripts, letters and
miscellaneous materials); Goodridge (1999), item 10; Dabydeen et al (2007), 58-9l;
numerous other online and printed sources; ODNB; www.blakearchive.org/.
[C18]
(?) Blamire, Susannah (1747-94),‖‘The‖Muse‖of‖Cumberland’,‖yeoman‖farmer’s‖
daughter, Cumberland poet and musician, wrote poems and songs in Lallans,
Cumberland‖dialect‖and‖standard‖English’‖first‖poem‖date‖1766;‖verses‖
posthumously collected in 1842. ~ Ref: Rowton (1853), 237-39; Lonsdale (1989),
278-94; Fullard (1990), 550; Susanna Blamire: Poet of Friendship 1747-1794: A Lecture
Given by Dr Jonathan Wordsworth, and a Selection of Poems (privately published
 bicentenary pamphlet, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 1994); Sutton (1995), 67 (poem
MS); Feldman (1997), 103-46; Becky‖Lewis,‖‘The‖Appeal‖of‖the‖Domestic‖in‖the‖
First Year‖Course:‖Susannah‖Blamire’,‖in‖Behrendt‖& Linkin (1997), 157-60; McCue
(1997), 60; Wu (1997), 55-66; Backscheider (2005), 404; Backscheider (2009), 869-70;
ODNB; Radcliffe. [F] [C18]
Blandford, Edward James (fl. 1819-20), musician, hairdresser, ultra-radical and poet,
‘second-generation‖Spencean’‖(Janowitz: Thomas Spence, qv); involved in the
early‖planning‖of‖the‖Cato‖Street‖‘conspiracy’;‖secretary‖to‖the‖committee‖of‖two‖
hundred; arrested in 1820. Publications include‖‘Nature’s‖First,‖Last,‖and Only
Will!‖Or,‖a‖Hint‖to‖Mr.‖Bull’,‖a‖‘miniature‖epic‖of‖paradise‖lost’‖(Janowitz),‖
published in the journal Medusa; a pro-Queen Caroline broadside poem published
in 1820. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 115-16; Worrall (1992), 146-63; Janowitz (1998), 93-7;
not in ODNB.
Blann, Michael (1843-1934), of Upper Beeding, Shoreham, Sussex, shepherd, singer
and whistle player. A handwritten book of his songs (some original, some by
others) from the 1880s is held in the Barclay Wills collection at Worthing Museum.
See Colin Andrews, Shepherd of the Downs: The Life and Songs of Michael Blann
(1843-1934) (Worthing: Worthing Museum, 1979, 1987), revised third edition with
CD of the songs, 2008. ~ Ref: source as cited; online sources.
Bleakley, William (fl. 1840), of Ballinaskeagh, weaver and loom maker, also a cart-
builder and furniture maker; published Moral and Religious Poems (1840), which
includes‖an‖‘Author’s‖Account’. ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [T]
Bloomfield, George (1757-1831), brother of Isaac, Nathaniel and Robert Bloomfield
(qqv), who supplied Capel Lofft with biographical material about his brother; he
also was a poet, and some of his verses are supplied in the apparatus to
Bloomfield Circle. They include Thetford Chalybeate Spa. A Poem by a Parishioner of
St. Peter’s (Cambridge: Printed by J. Smith, and sold by the booksellers in
Thetford, Bury, and Norwich, 1820); and the broadsheet ballad, Friendly Hints,
Affectionately Addressed, by an Old Man, to the Labouring Poor of Suffolk and Norfolk:
Occasioned by Reading the Accounts of the poor deluded Men who have suffered at
Norwich and Ipswich, for Burning corn-stacks, etc. (Bury St Edmunds: T. D. Dutton,
Printer and Bookseller, 1822), a versified appeal for moderation and restraint at a
time of rural unrest and conflict. (This is not on COPAC but there is a recently-
accessioned copy in Cambridge University Library). ~ Ref: Hobsbawm and Scott
(1980), 97; Meyenberg (2000), 201; Cranbrook (2001), 68, 164-65; Bloomfield Circle
(2012); personal knowledge (John Goodridge); LC 4, 99-104; DNB (under Robert
Bloomfield). [LC4]
Bloomfield, Isaac (d. 1811), brother of George, Nathaniel and Robert Bloomfield
(qqv), wrote songs, setting several‖of‖his‖brother‖Robert’s‖(qv)‖Rural Tales to music
and‖‘was‖designing‖a‖mechanical‖pea‖and‖potato‖planter‖when,‖in‖1811,‖he‖died‖
 unexpectedly’.‖He published Rosy Hanna. A favourite New Song. The words written
by Robert Bloomfield, author of ‘The Farmer’s Boy’; the music composed by his brother,
Isaac Bloomfield (London: Printed for the authors by Rt. Birchall, [?1801]). ~ Ref:
Bloomfield Circle (2012); COPAC.
Bloomfield, Nathaniel (1759 - after 1822), tailor, brother of George, Isaac and Robert
Bloomfield (qqv), published An Essay on War, in Blank Verse; Honington Green A
Ballad; The Culprit an Elegy; and Other Poems on Various Subjects (London: Thos.
Hurst and Vernor and Hood, 1803, printed by P. Gedge, Bury, two editions), with
a‖preface‖by‖Capel‖Lofft;‖‘Honington‖Green’, an important poem on enclosure, is
reprinted in The Suffolk Garland (Ipswich and London, 1818), 33-7, and elsewhere.
~ Ref: Jarndyce (1980), items 1287-8; Johnson (1992), item 100; Cranbrook (2001),
70, 165; C. R. Johnson, cat. 49 (2006), item 55; Bloomfield Circle (2012); LC 4, 47-70;
NTU. [LC4] [T]
Bloomfield, Robert (1766-1823), of Honington, Suffolk, lived in City Road London,
and‖later‖in‖Shefford,‖Bedfordshire,‖‘farmer’s‖boy’,‖ladies’‖shoemaker,‖Aeolian‖
harp-maker, a highly successful and a significant poet, brother to George, Isaac
and Nathaniel Bloomfield (qqv). There is an excellent introduction to Bloomfield
by Tim Fulford on the Romantic Circles website, attached to the edition of his
letters listed below. Bloomfield published The Farmer’s Boy (1800); Rural Tales,
Ballads and Songs (1802); Good Tidings; or News from the Farm (1804); Wild Flowers; or
Pastoral and Local Poetry (1806); The Banks of the Wye (1811); The History of Little
Davy’s New Hat (1815); May-Day with the Muses (1822); Hazelwood Hall: A Village
Drama (1823); and posthumously, the Remains of Robert Bloomfield (1824), two
volumes, and (co-authored by his son) The Bird’s and Insects’ Post-Office (1880). A
number of poems and extracts by Bloomfield are included in The Suffolk Garland
(Ipswich and London, 1818). A modern edition is Selected Poems, ed. John
Goodridge and John Lucas, revised and enlarged edition (Nottingham: Trent
Editions, 2007). On the many early editions of Bloomfield, see especially B. C.
Bloomfield,‖‘Robert‖Bloomfield: A Provisional Checklist of His Published Work,
with‖Some‖Bibliographical‖Notes‖and‖a‖Record‖of‖Later‖Editions’,‖in‖White,‖
Goodridge and Keegan (eds, 2007: listed below), 288-301. A full edition of The
Letters of Robert Bloomfield and His Circle, ed. Tim Fulford and Linda Pratt
[Bloomfield Circle (2012)], available on open access on the Romantic Circles
webpage, is undoubtedly the most useful resource on Bloomfield published to
date, not least because the original letters are widely scattered through many
archives in the UK and US. Professor Fulford has also prepared an illustrated
multi-text edition of The Banks of Wye for the same platform. A complete scholarly
edition of Bloomfield’s‖Works, edited by Fulford, and others, will also be online
on the same website in 2019. The Robert Bloomfield Society Newsletter (RBSN), 1-31
(2000-2017), contains much that is of interest, including links with other writers,
musical settings, and some valuable critical‖essays‖on‖Bloomfield’s‖work,‖as‖well‖
as information on events, etc. ~ Ref: Craik (1830), II, 208-19; Southey (1831), 163;
Cunningham (1834), 93; Hood (1870), 227-30; Hall (1873), 155-73; Winks (1883), 99-
116; Miles (1891), 1, 151-72, IX, 19-22 and X, 257; Blunden (1929), 117-31; Unwin
(1954), ch. 5, 87-109; Powell (1964), items 118-24 (listing the Bloomfield volumes
owned by John Clare, qv); A. J. Sambrook,‖‘The Farmer’s Boy: Robert Bloomfield,
1766-1823’,‖English, 16 (1967), 167-71; William Wickett and Nicholas Duval, The
Farmer’s Boy, the Story of a Suffolk Poet, Robert Bloomfield, His Life and Poems 1766-
1823 (Lavenham: Terence Dalton, 1971); Hobsbawm and Scott (1980), 96; Jarndyce
(1980), items 1289-1302; Jonathan Lawson, Robert Bloomfield (Boston: G. K. Hall,
1980); Maidment (1983), 87; Klaus (1985), 6-9, 15, 20; Hold (1989), 9-10; Shiach
(1989), 60-1; Rizzo (1991), 243; Johnson (1992), items 486, 754, 840; B. C.
Bloomfield,‖‘The‖Publication‖of‖The Farmer’s Boy by Robert Bloomfield’,‖Library, 15,
no. 2 (1993), 75-94; John‖Lucas,‖‘Bloomfield‖and‖Clare’,‖in‖Goodridge (1994), 55-68.
Richardson (1994), 247-50; Sales (1994), 260-1; Cafarelli (1995), 85-6; Sutton (1995),
74 (numerous manuscripts and letters); Phillips (1996), 216; Meyenberg (2000),
202-3; John Goodridge, ‘John‖Clare‖and‖Eighteenth-century Poetry: Pomfret,
Cunningham,‖Bloomfield’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 42, no.
3 (Fall 2001), 264-78; Keegan (2001), 201-2; Simon‖J.‖White,‖‘Rural‖Medicine:‖Robert‖
Bloomfield’s‖Good Tidings’,‖Romanticism, 9, no. 2 (2003), 141-56;‖Tim‖Burke,‖‘The‖
Poetry of Friendship: Robert Bloomfield, John Clare, and the Labouring-class
Tradition’,‖Robert Bloomfield Society Newsletter, 5 (March 2003), 3-6; 6 (October
2003), 10-13; and 7 (Spring 2004), 10-13; Donald‖Mark‖Zimmerman,‖‘The‖Medium‖
of‖Antipastoral:‖Protest‖between‖the‖Lines‖of‖Bloomfield’s‖The Farmer’s Boy’,
American Notes and Queries, 17, no. 2 (2004), 35-9; Bridget‖Keegan,‖‘Giles’s‖Duty:‖
Poetry,‖Husbandry,‖Sustainability’,‖RBSN 9 (Spring 2005), 2-8;‖Sam‖Ward,‖‘Brother‖
Bards: John Clare and Allan‖Cunningham‖on‖Bloomfield’, RBSN 10 (Autumn
2005), 6-12;‖Simon‖J.‖White,‖‘The‖Triumph‖of‖the‖Gander‖and‖Power‖Relations in
The Farmer’s Boy’,‖RBSN 11 (Summer 2006), 2-6; Simon White, John Goodridge and
Bridget Keegan (eds), Robert Bloomfield: Lyric, Class, and the Romantic Canon
(Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2006, which includes the following:
John Barrell, Foreword, 11-12; Simon White, Introduction, 17-26; William J.
Christmas,‖‘The Farmer’s Boy and‖Contemporary‖Politics’,‖27-48; Bruce Graver,
‘Illustrating‖The Farmer’s Boy’,‖49-69;‖Kevin‖Binfield,‖‘Labor‖and‖an‖Ethic‖of‖Variety‖
in The Farmer’s Boy’,‖70-88; Tim‖Burke,‖‘Colonial‖Spaces‖and‖National‖Identities‖in‖
The Banks of Wye:‖Bloomfield‖and‖the‖Wye‖after‖Wordsworth’,‖89-112; John Lucas,
‘Hospitality‖and‖the‖Rural‖Tradition:‖Bloomfield’s‖May-Day with the Muses’,‖113-
141;‖Tim‖Fulford‖and‖Debbie‖Lee,‖‘The‖Vaccine Rose: Patronage, Pastoralism and
Public‖Health’,‖142-58;‖John‖Goodridge,‖‘‚The‖only‖Privilege‖our‖sex‖enjoy‛:
Women’s‖Storytelling‖in‖Bloomfield‖and‖Clare’,‖159-77;‖Simon‖White,‖‘A‖Lyric‖for‖
the‖Artisan‖Poet:‖‚To‖My‖Old‖Oak‖Table‛’, 178-94; Bridget Keegan, ‘Science,‖
Superstition and Song: Varieties of Religious Experience in the Poetry of Robert
Bloomfield’,‖195-212;‖Scott‖McEathron,‖‘An‖Infant‖Poem‖of‖War:‖Bloomfield’s‖‘On‖
Seeing the Launch of the Boyne’,‖213-31;‖Mina‖Gorji,‖‘Burying‖Bloomfield:‖Poetical
Remains‖and‖‚the‖unlettered‖muse‛’,‖232-52;‖Donna‖Landry,‖‘Georgic‖Ecology’,‖
253-68;‖Hugh‖Underhill,‖‘‚Domestic‖Happiness,‖thou‖only‖bliss‛:‖Common‖and‖
Divided‖Ground‖in‖William‖Cowper‖and‖Robert‖Bloomfield’,‖269-87; B. C.
Bloomfield,‖‘Robert‖Bloomfield: A Provisional Checklist of His Published Work,
with‖Some‖Bibliographical‖Notes,‖and‖a‖Record‖of‖Later‖Editions’,‖288-301); John
Goodridge,‖‘‚That‖Deathless‖Wish‖of‖Climbing‖Higher‛:‖Robert‖Bloomfield‖on‖the‖
Sugar‖Loaf’,‖in‖Wales and the Romantic Imagination, ed. Damian Walford Davies
and Lynda Pratt (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007), 161-79; Simon White,
Robert Bloomfield, Romanticism and the Poetry of Community (Aldershot: Ashgate,
2007); Keegan (2008), 10-36;‖Tim‖Fulford,‖‘To‖‚Crown‖with‖Glory the Romantick
Scene‛:‖Robert‖Bloomfield’s‖‚To‖Immagination‛‖and‖the‖Discourse‖of‖
Romanticism’,‖Romanticism, 15, no. 2 (2009), 181-200; Tim‖Fulford,‖‘The‖Road‖Not‖
Taken:‖Robert‖Bloomfield’s‖Wye‖Valley‖and‖the‖Poetic‖Imagination’,‖in‖English
Romantic Writers and the West Country, ed. Nicholas Roe (Houndmills: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010), 237-54; Goodridge (2010), 15-17; Scott McEathron,‖‘The Rise of
Robert Bloomfield’, in Burke & Goodridge (2010), 48-50; John Goodridge and
Bridget Keegan (eds), Robert Bloomfield: The Inestimable Blessing of Letters, online
essay collection, Romantic Circles Praxis series (2012, containing the following:
John‖Goodridge‖and‖Bridget‖Keegan,‖‘Introduction:‖‚The‖inestimable‖blessing‖of‖
letters‛’;‖Tim‖Fulford,‖‘Bloomfield‖in‖His Letters: The Social World of a London
Shoemaker‖Turned‖Suffolk‖Poet’; Peter‖Denney,‖‘The‖Talk‖of‖the‖Tap-Room:
Bloomfield,‖Politics‖and‖Popular‖Culture’;‖Ian‖Haywood,‖‘The‖Infection‖of‖Robert‖
Bloomfield: Terrorizing The Farmer’s Boy’;‖Bridget‖Keegan,‖‘Bloomfield’s‖Writing‖
for‖Children’); Simon‖J.‖White,‖‘Otaheite,‖Natural‖Genius‖and‖Robert‖Bloomfield’s‖
The Farmer’s Boy’,‖Romanticism, 17, no. 2 (2011), 160-74; John‖Goodridge,‖‘Sociable‖
or‖Solitary?‖John‖Clare,‖Robert‖Bloomfield,‖Community‖and‖Isolation’, in Class and
the Canon: Constructing Labouring-Class Poetry and Poetics, 1780-1900, ed. Kirstie
Blair and Mina Gorji (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 55-76; John
Goodridge, John Clare and Community. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 2013), chapters 4 and 8; Tim‖Fulford,‖‘The‖Production‖of‖a‖Poet:‖Robert‖
Bloomfield,‖His‖Patrons‖and‖His‖Publishers’,‖in‖Romantic Poetry and Literary
Coteries: The Dialect of the Tribe (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2015), 131-63; Ve-Yin Tee,
‘The‖Moral‖Language‖of‖Nature’,‖Romanticism, 21, no. 2 (2015), 160-70; Scott
McEathron,‖‘Working‖Class‖Poetry‖and‖the‖Royal‖Literary‖Fund’:‖Two‖Case‖
Studies‖in‖Patronage’,‖in‖Goodridge‖&‖Keegan‖(2017),‖149-75; LC 4, 21-8; ODNB.
There are important collections of Bloomfield books at NTU and most especially
 in the BL (which also holds the major manuscripts), and a small collection of
Bloomfield materials in Cambridge University Library. [SM] [LC4]
Blyth, David (1810-37), of Dundee, merchant seaman, brother of Thomas and Isabella
Blyth (qqv); posthumously published The Pirate Ship and Other Poems (1879),
edited‖by‖‘B.M.’,‖a‖relative‖(perhaps‖his‖sister Isabella, who by then was Mrs
Blyth-Martin). The book contains memoirs and materials relating to several of
David‖Blyth’s‖relatives who wrote poetry, including Thomas, with thirty poems
by Isabella. Reid‖discusses‖the‖‘Blyth‖family’‖in‖his‖headnote. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1
(1880), 344-5; Reid, Bards (1897), 49-51. [S]
(?) Blyth, Isabella (b. c. 1810s, fl. 1879), of Dundee, later Mrs. Blyth-Martin, sister of
David and Thomas Blyth (qqv). She contributed thirty poems David’s
posthumous Pirate Ship collection (see his entry), which she may also have edited,
and a substantial sum towards a memorial hall for her brother (suggesting that
she was reasonably wealthy, at least later in her life). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 52.
[F] [S]
Blyth, Thomas (b. c. 1818, d. 1874), of Dundee, flax spinner, brother of David and
Isabella Blyth (qqv), died at Newport-on-Tay,‖‘a‖wit,‖and‖a‖genial‖spirit’‖(Reid). ~
Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 51. [S] [T]
Blythe, John Dean (1842-69), of Ashton-under-Lyne, cotton-mill factory hand,
reporter on a local paper, clerk, radical, killed in a gun accident, posthumously
published A Sketch in the Life, and a Selection from the Writings of John Dean Blythe
(Manchester, 1870). Blythe was a distinctive figure, the grandson of a Scottish
schoolmaster and a Manchester Christian radical who took night classes, learning
Latin, French and Spanish, and studying English literature, memorising much
Shakespeare. He was a Methodist Sunday School teacher, and in his writing
thinks and writes very much in Sunday School terms, and in some ways is a
rather better prose rhetorician than a poet. He was encouraged to write by the
controversial Methodist clergyman, Joseph Rayner Stephens, and the poet John
Critchley Prince (qv), publishing poems in local Ashton-under-Lyne newspapers,
and a piece in Punch magazine. Poems in his collection‖include‖‘The‖sleeping‖
pauper-boy’,‖‘Vanity‖of‖earthly‖hopes’,‖‘Shepley‖Wood’,‖‘Paraphrase‖of‖the‖first‖
psalm’,‖‘Mungo‖Park‖and‖the‖flower’,‖‘To‖R. Platt,‖Esq,‖of‖Stalybridge’ (on the Platt
family see Helen Lee, qv),‖‘Five‖shillings‖and‖costs’,‖‘A‖Charade’;‖the‖prose‖
includes‖an‖essay‖on‖‘Self-Conquest’. The account of his life in the volume, by
Joseph Williamson, is very interesting, particularly on the unusual cause of his
unfortunate death. He edited a privately circulated magazine, and left much work
in manuscript. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 46; ODNB/DNB; Wikipedia; NTU. [T]
(?) Bolton, William (b. 1861), of Brindle, Lancashire son of a handloom-weaver,
educated at Ampleforth and became a salesman, published poems in newspapers.
~ Ref: Hull (1902), 417-23.
Bolton, William (fl. 1869), Corporal, 1st Middlesex Engineers Volunteers, published
Foliage and Blossom (Croydon, 1879). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 47.
(?) Bond, Richard (fl. 1769), bookseller, published Poems Divine and Moral
(Gloucester, 1769?). ~ Ref: GM 39 (1769), 158; BL. [C18]
Bonwick, James (b. 1817), of London, son of a carpenter, emigrated to Australia,
published an autobiography, An Octogenarian’s Reminiscences (1902), including 21
pp. of poems. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 33. [A] [OP]
Borland, Alexander (1773-1828), of Paisley, handloom weaver, acquaintance of
Tannahill, joined Lanarkshire militia, published poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 84-85. [S] [T]
Borland, Alexander (1793-1858), of Paisley, weaver and pattern-designer, shawl-
manufacturer, coal merchant, dyer and banker, jailed for six weeks for
intercepting‖his‖partner’s‖letters,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Brown‖Cleuk‖on’‖in‖Brown. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 273-75; Leonard (1990), 195-96. [S] [T]
(?) Bostock, Susan (1862-1948), of Northampton, daughter of an early Northampton
shoe-manufacturer, poet, artist and musician, published poems in Northampton
and County Independent, Northampton County Magazine, and three volumes, Spring
Notes and Other Poems (1912; The Call of the Uplands (1913), The World of Heart’s
Delight (1930);‖poems‖include‖‘A‖Yorkshire‖Mill‖Girl’. ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 35-36. [F]
[OP]
Boucher, Ben (1769-1851), born at Horsley‖Heath,‖‘The‖Dudley‖Poet‖and‖Rhymist’,‖
collier poet of Dudley, Worcs.;‖‘the‖greater‖part‖of‖his‖singular‖and‖irregular‖life‖
was spent in Dudley, at certain favourite public house haunts, where his talents
were appreciated, and his songs admired and read‖by‖the‖curious’‖(Clark).‖He
sold‖his‖poems‖himself,‖broadsheet‖style,‖‘a‖penny‖a‖sheet’.‖They‖include‖‘Lines‖on‖
Dudley‖Market’ (1827).‖His‖‘Chartist‖Anthem’‖(1847)‖has‖been‖recorded‖by‖the‖
band Chumbawumba. Although he wrote hundreds, only a small number of his
poems are preserved: there are samples on his Wikipedia page and elsewhere
online. Clark quotes‖some‖ironic‖memorial‖lines‖to‖Boucher:‖‘Oh!‖rare‖Ben‖
Boucher,‖Boucher‖Ben;‖the‖best‖of‖Poets,‖but‖the‖worst‖of‖men’.‖Boucher‖became‖
homeless and poor late in his life, and died in the workhouse. A bronze statue of
him was erected in Dudley Market in 2015. ~ Ref: The Curiosities of Dudley and the
Black Country, from 1800 to 1860, compiled and ed. Charles Francis G. Clark (1881),
214-16 (includes poems and an image); Poole & Markland (1928), 115-18; Notes &
Queries, 219 (1974), 61; Wikipedia and online sources. [M]
(?) Bourne, Hugh (1772-1852), of Bemersley, Staffs., wheelwright, hymn-writer and
Primitive Methodist pioneer/founder and preacher; published hymns‖and‖‘The‖
Creation,‖Fall‖and‖Redemption‖of‖Man’‖(Methodist Magazine, 1822). ~ Ref: Poole &
Markland (1928), 472-3; ODNB.
Bourne, Isabella (fl. 1857/8), of Acton, servant, referred‖to‖in‖a‖poem‖called‖‘Cherub‖
and‖the‖Poetess’‖(in‖William‖Floyd’s‖(qv)‖Lays of Lapstone); published Lays of
Labour’s Leisure Hours (London: Judd and Glass, 1858), which includes a 56-page
novelette. The preface describes the continued importance of poetry to working
people,‖and‖indicates‖that‖Bourne‖is‖a‖‘servant‖of‖humble‖pretensions’. ~ Ref:
Davis & Joyce, xii and 30; inf. Bridget Keegan. [F]
Bouskill, Thomas (b. 1779), of Paisley (born in Nottingham), stocking weaver, never
published in his lifetime but wrote for himself; poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 129-33. [S] [T]
Boustead, Christopher Murray (fl. 1892-1902),‖of‖Keswick,‖‘road‖man’,‖published‖
Rustic Verse and Dialect Rhymes (Keswick, 1892), printed by a local printer and
priced at one shilling, and a second volume, A Few Rustic Lines (1902). In the
Preface to his first volume Boustead says he has published his poems at the
request‖of‖‘many‖friends’,‖and‖apologises‖for‖the‖‘many‖defects’‖of‖his‖‘untutored‖
efforts’.‖For‖all‖this,‖he‖moves‖comfortably‖between‖‘standard’‖and‖dialect‖English,‖
formal and informal styles. The poems celebrate work and leisure, community
and the family, and distinctive‖‘characters’.‖There‖is‖a‖unifying‖sense of place and
local pride, and he is well-informed on the history and meaning of the roads he
builds and repairs for a living. For example,‖the‖poem‖‘Oft‖Jack‖an’‖Me’‖describes‖
a long-anticipated fell-walk, and reveals a remarkably detailed knowledge of the
landscape, its features and its history. Evidently the poet has read Robert Burns
(qv) and William Wordsworth, and he also draws on the Cumbrian traditions of
Susannah Blamire and Robert Anderson (qqv). In his anthology, Cumbrian Songs
and Ballads (Clapham: Dalesman, 1982), Keith Gregson points out that
Cumberland and the border counties made a rich contribution to the British song
and ballad traditions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the area being
‘bounded’‖by‖‘the‖works‖of‖Robert‖Burns‖*qv+‖to‖the‖north‖and‖those‖of‖Geordie
Ridley,‖Joe‖Wilson‖and‖Ned‖Corvan‖*qqv+‖to‖the‖east’‖(p.‖4).‖(On this topic see also
Susan‖Margaret‖Allan,‖‘Folk-Song in Cumbria: A Distinctive Regional
Repertoire?’,‖PhD‖dissertation,‖University‖of‖Lancaster,‖2016.)‖Boustead makes a
modest contribution to this important regional tradition of popular rhyme and
song. (The comments above draw on those in LC6.) Ref: Reilly (1994), 56; LC 6,
355-62; NTU. [LC6]
Bowen, Ben (1878-1903), of Treorci, Rhondda, Glamorgan, brother of David Bowen
(qv), worked in the local colliery from the age of twelve; at seventeen he won the
Chair at the National Eisteddfod, the youngest poet to do so. He studied at the
Academy at Ponypridd and the University of Wales, later suffering health
deterioration through tuberculosis, resulting in an early demise. Bowen published
one volume of poems, Durtur y Deffro (‘Doves‖that‖awake’,‖1897);‖and‖several‖
posthumous volumes, prepared by his brother David Bowen (qv). T. Robin
 Chapman‖considers‖him‖a‖‘mediocre‖poet‖of‖immoderate‖self‖belief’:‖his‖study‖of‖
Bowen‖has‖been‖described‖by‖its‖reviewer‖as‖‘the‖destruction‖of‖a‖revered,‖if‖
forgotten,‖icon’. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); T. Robin Chapman, Ben Bowen (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2004),‖Writers‖of‖Wales‖series;‖Gareth‖Alban‖Davies,‖‘A‖
Hundred‖Years‖On’‖*review‖of‖Chapman+,‖Planet, 163 (February/March 2004), 98-
9; DWB. [W] [M]
Bowen, David (1874-1955), ‘Myfyr‖Hefin’,‖of Treorci, Rhondda, Glamorgan,
coalminer, later minister, editor, educator, poet, brother of Ben Bowen (qv), whose
works he edited and did much to publicise and champion after his brother died
prematurely, and whose biography he wrote. He also published several
pamphlets of poetry himself. ~ Ref: DWB. [W] [M]
Bower, Fred (1871-1942), born in Boston, MA, of an English family which moved to
Liverpool three years later, a stonemason descended from a long line of Dorset
stonemasons, working in‖Britain‖and‖America,‖a‖‘tramping’‖artisan,‖a‖socialist‖
involved in labour politics, and a poet; published Rolling Stonemason. An
Autobiography (London: Jonathan Cape, 1936). This has been re-printed by Merlin
Press, London, in 2015, edited by Ron Noon and Sam Davies, thanks to the efforts
of Noon, a historian who uncovered the story of Bower cutting the first stone on
the site of Liverpool Cathedral, and in June 1904 secretly burying a tin time
capsule in its foundations containing socialist messages and literature. Though he
had‖‘practised‖the‖stonemason’s‖craft‖on‖three‖continents’, Bower is buried at St
Peter’s‖Church‖in‖Haswall,‖Merseyside.‖His‖poem‖‘The‖Pirate‖of‖Park‖West’‖is‖
extracted‖in‖Coles’‖Wirral‖anthology. The reprint of his autobiography is a
worthwhile and welcome addition to the recovery of labouring-class lifewriting,
and working-class and socialist history. The chapters on the Liverpool Cathedral
time‖capsule‖(Chapter‖IX)‖and‖on‖Liverpool’s‖‘Bloody‖Sunday’‖(XV) are especially
interesting, as is the moment at the end of chapter XIV when Bower‖meets‖a‖‘little‖
grey‖man’‖who‖has‖enjoyed‖hearing‖Bower speak at a meeting, and turns out to be
the great Irish-born socialist novelist Robert Tressall (born Robert Croker), then in
his last months and living in‖a‖Liverpool‖workhouse.‖Bowers’‖poems‖are‖scattered‖
through the text (e.g. the sustained piece at pp. 107-12), and lively and song-like in
structure. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 78; Gladys Mary Coles, Wirral: An
Anthology (2002), 37; Ron Noon, The Secret in the Stone (Liverpool: Merseyside
Construction Safety Campaign, 2004); Paddy‖Shennan,‖‘The‖Secret Message
Buried in Liverpool Cathedral’,‖Liverpool Echo, 6 July 2015; text as cited. [OP]
Bowie, Agnes H. of Bannockburn (fl. 1892-3),‖builder’s‖daughter,‖poems‖include‖the‖
broadside ballad Lines Written on the Occasion of the Battle of Bannockburn (Stirling:
C. Harvey, 1893). The broadside, reproduced and transcribed on the National
Library of Scotland website, is dedicated to ‘Wallace‖Bruce,‖Esq.,‖American‖
Consul‖at‖Edinburgh’‖and‖the‖President‖of‖the‖Scottish‖National‖Associaton‖of‖
 Victoria. Stirling Libraries and Archives list two other works on their website, The
Russian Emperor and the Sailor’s Mother: A Bannockburn Story (1892, 1893), and The
Muckle Slide. A Memory of the Olden Times, Most Respectfully Inscribed to the natives
of Bannockburn (Stirling, undated). ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 152-61; library
websites as cited; www.worldcat.org. [F] [S]
(?) Bowker, James (fl. 1862), ‘A‖Lancashire‖Lad’,‖author of the dialect protest poem,
‘Hard‖Toimes,‖or‖the‖Weaver‖Speaks‖to‖his‖Wife’,‖published 1862. ~ Ref: Harland
(1882), 512-14, 546-7; Vicinus (1970), 334-7.
(?) Bowness, William (1809-67), of Kendal, Westmorland, self-taught artist,
published Rustic studies in the Westmorland dialect, with other scraps from the sketch-
book of an artist (London and Kendal, 1868). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 51; ODNB.
(?) Boyd, Elizabeth (fl. 1727-45),‖‘Louisa’,‖‘from‖the‖lowest‖condition‖of‖Fortune’,‖
published Variety: A Poem... by Louisa (1727) and other poems and prose works
including a miscellany of riddles and poems, a novel and a ballad-opera, specific
titles: The Humorous Miscellany, or, Riddles for the Beaux; Verses most Humbly
Inscrib'd to his Majesty King George IId on his Birth-Day (1730); The Happy North-
Briton (1737); and Glory to the Highest, a Thanksgiving Poem on the Late Victory at
Dettingen (1743. Admiral Haddock, or, The Progress of Spain (1739 or 1740, praises
defeat of Spanish Armada). ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 134-35; Fullard (1990), 550;
Backscheider (2009), 870; ODNB. [F] [C18]
Boyd, George (b. 1848), of Kilmarnock, house painter. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889),131-
4. [S]
Boyd, George Pringle (fl. 1852), of Dollar, shoemaker, published Miscellaneous Poems
and Songs (Alloa, 1852). ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885), 60-61; COPAC. [S]
Boyd, Hugh (fl. 1777), of Darnel (Darnal), Sheffield, collier who survived a mining
accident and‖produced‖a‖single‖sheet‖publication‖whose‖title‖tells‖his‖story:‖‘The‖
Submissive Petit[I]on of the Distressed Hugh Boyd, late Collier in Darnel, near
Sheffield, in the West-Riding of Yorkshire. Who was confined Six days and
fourteen hours under Ground, with six more, by reason of the Roof falling upon
them, by which Accident he lost two of his Fingers, which renders him incapable
o[f] gaining his Family Bread, which consists of four Mother-less Orphans, she
dying soon after he was delivered from the Pit, which happened the second of
September,‖1777’. The story is then fleshed out in twelve quatrains, beginning
‘Good Christians who my distress do see, / Look‖with‖an‖eye‖of‖pitty‖upon‖me’.‖At‖
the end is printed, as in a legal document, ‘The‖above‖is‖a‖True Case, as Witness
our hands, William Johnston, Esq. James Howard Stewards‖to‖the‖above‖Colliery.’‖
Darnell (now Darnall) is an eastern suburb of the city of Sheffield, but was a mere
hamlet‖in‖Boyd’s‖time.‖It‖would‖continue‖to‖have‖coalmines up to and beyond the
nationalisation of 1947, when Darnall colliery became High Hazels nos. 1 and 2. ~
 Ref: Broadside Ballads Online from the Bodleian Library, Johnson Ballads 2188;
inf. Bill Christmas. [M]
Boyle, Francis (b. c. 1730), of Gransha, Drumore, weaver (Hewitt also identifies him
as a blacksmith from the poems); wrote‖the‖poem‖‘Bonny‖Weaver’‖(1811);‖‘The‖
Wife‖o’‖Clinkin’‖Town’;‖Miscellaneous Poems (1811). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [C18]
[T]
(?) Boyle, James (fl. 1842), referred to as a cork-cutter‖and‖poet‖in‖Alexander‖Wilson’s‖
(qv)‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Corner’. Ref: source cited.
Boyle, James Thompson (b. 1849), of Friockheim then Arbroath, millwright, soldier. ~
Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 166-70; Reid, Bards (1897), 61-2. [S]
(?) Boyle, Margaret (b. 1862), born in Cincinnati, Ohio of Irish parentage, blind from
birth and educated in the Asylum for the Blind in Cincinnati. Her poems were
published in‖‘various‖American‖periodicals’. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 35. [F] [I]
[US]
Brack, Jessie Wanlass (fl. 1889), of Longformacus, Lammermoor, domestic servant.;
emigrate to Canada, publishing in the Scottish American Journal and elsewhere. ~
Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 169-72. [F] [S]
Bradbury, Stephen Henry (b. 1828), ‘Quallon’,‖of Nottingham, from a poor family, a
glove maker, Sunday school reader, journalist; published Lyrical Fancies (London,
1866). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 52. [T]
Bradford, John Sion (1706-85), of Betws Tir Iarll, Glamorgan, weaver and fuller, poet
and antiquarian, part of a circle of literary men in the district, studied bardic
tradition,‖instructor‖of‖Edward‖Williams‖(‘Iolo‖Morganwg’,‖qv)‖who‖‘claimed‖him‖
as an heir to the druidic and bardic system which...had persisted over the
centuries‖in‖Tir‖Iarll’‖and‖insisted‖‘that‖it‖was‖in‖Bradford's manuscripts he had
found‖much‖of‖the‖material‖which‖was‖later‖shown‖to‖be‖of‖his‖own‖invention’. ~
Ref: OCLW (1986); ODNB. [W] [C18] [T] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Bradley, Daniel (b. 1852), of Derry, educated at Catholic schools, moved to
Glasgow in 1872 to work at an engineering firm; published Musings in Exile: Poems
(Glasgow, 1894); also published in the journals United Ireland, Derry Journal,
Donegal Indicator, People's Journal (Dundee), Glasgow Weekly Mail. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912), 37. [I] [S]
Bradley,‖William‖Joseph‖(b.‖1857),‖of‖Bridgeton,‖Glasgow,‖worked‖in‖an‖iron‖
foundry,‖lost‖an‖arm,‖then‖worked‖as‖a‖timekeeper;‖published‖poems‖in‖the‖
newspapers.‖~‖Ref:‖Edwards,‖8‖(1885),‖63-5.‖*S+
Bramwich, John Henry (1804-46), of Leicester, Chartist and stockinger; born in
Shoreditch, brought up by his mother. A ribbon-weaver, he worked in a Leicester
factory from the age of nine, enlisted and served for 16 years including ten in the
West Indies before returning to Leicester as a framework knitter. Bramwich
contributed‖14‖hymns‖to‖Thomas‖Cooper’s‖(qv) Shakespearean Chartist Hymn Book
 (Leicester, second edition, 1843). He‖wrote‖the‖‘Funeral‖Hym,‖Sung‖at‖the‖
Interment‖of‖the‖Murdered‖Patriot,‖Samuel‖Holbery’‖(on‖the‖Sheffield‖Chartist‖
who died at York Castle while incarcerated), printed as a broadsheet with his
name mis-spelled as Bramarch: this appears in the Sheffield Libraries online
Chartism Information leaflet. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 118-19; Scheckner (1989), 124-
5, 330; Schwab (1993), 186; Newitt (2006), 3-7. [C] [T]
Brant, Alfred C. (b. c. 1852), of Louth, Lincolnshire, secularist and socialist poet,
compositor by trade. During the 1890s, he contributed articles to the journal
Wyvern on‖a‖range‖of‖topics‖including‖‘White‖Slaves‖in‖Leicester,’‖and‖a‖
description of the 1897‖May‖Day‖demonstration.‖Under‖the‖acronym‖‘A.C.B.,’‖he‖
wrote an autobiographical poem which tells the reader of his secularism,
socialism and joy at working at the Leicester Co-operative Printing Society. He
also wrote a sonnet in dedication to Ramsay MacDonald, A Rhymester’s
Recollections (?1903) and a poem welcoming delegates to the 1911 Labour Party
conference in Leicester. He was a member of F.‖J.‖Gould’s‖ethical guild. ~ Ref:
Leicester Co-operative Record (October 1910); The Wyvern;‖‘Who’s‖Who‖in‖Radical‖
Leicester’‖web‖page; not in ODNB. [—Ned Newitt]
Brechin, George (b. 1829), of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, housepainter, poems in Edwards.
~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 414-16. [S]
Breckenridge, John (1790-1840),‖handloom‖weaver‖of‖Parkhead,‖Glasgow,‖wrote‖‘The‖
Humours‖of‖Gleska‖Fair’. ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 96-103; Glasgow Poets (1906), 203-
8. [S] [T]
Bremner, David (1813-78), of Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire,‖baker’s‖son,‖herdboy,‖
baker, merchant. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 303-10. [S]
(?) Brereton, Jane (1685-1740), ‘Melissa’,‖born at Mold, Flints., m. playwright Thomas
Brereton in 1711 and lived with him in London for a time; in 1722, having
squandered the considerable fortune he had, they separated and he drowned,
leaving Jane destitute; published verses in The Gentleman’s Magazine and the
posthumous collection Poems on Several Occasions (1744).Also included in Gramich
& Brennan. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Gramich & Brennan (2003), 55-57, 394. [W] [F]
[C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Bridie, John (b. c. 1833), of Dundee, served his apprenticeship as a painter, published
poems in the newspapers. Bridie‖studied‖‘pictorial’‖as‖well‖as‖‘decorative’‖art,‖‘and‖
has produced‖a‖number‖of‖interesting‖‚bits‛ [i.e. paintings]’ (Edwards). Edwards
interestingly suggests a wider circle of literary interest among his fellow painters:
‘Young Bridie having always evinced a fondness for literature and poetry, and
these tastes being shared by a number of his apprentices and fellow workmen, a
number of clever and amusing productions emanated from these workshop
associates’. Bridie was an active member of one of the literary societies which then
flourished‖‘in‖Dundee‖as‖elsewhere’.‖He worked in Edinburgh, Glasgow and
 other places, settling in Bairgowrie where he was strongly involved in civic life,
serving as a J. P and elected as Chief Magistrate. Bridie wrote for the Dundee
Advertiser and the Scotsman. His verses are generally written in Scots. Edwards
prints‖‘The‖Auld‖Bleachin’‖Green’,‖‘The‖Auld‖Brig’,‖‘‚There’s‖Aye‖Some‖Water‖
Whaur‖the‖Stirkie‖Droons‛’,‖‘Burns‖Centenary‖Celebration’‖(in‖‘standard’‖English)‖
and‖‘Peter‖the‖Postman’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 338-14. [S]
Brierley, Ben (1825-96), ‘Ab‖o’‖th’Yate’,‖of Failsworth, Manchester, handloom weaver
of velvet, dialect poet, later a journalist, city councillor. Brierley is a key figure in
the history of Manchester labouring-class writing, as evidenced in the widespread
distribution and readership of his periodical, Ben Brierley’s Journal, and its
important role in developing other labouring-class writers. In his later career as a
city councillor he played a vital role in the decision to fund a purpose-built library
for Manchester (in a maiden speech, printed‖as‖‘Those‖Town‖Hall‖Stairs’‖(see‖LC6)
that made use of a parody‖of‖Longfellow’s‖‘Excelsior’‖(cf. John Clemintson, qv).
His work has increasingly been reprinted and discussed, and his prose writings
have been drawn on in recent historical work, for example Vivienne Richmond,
Clothing the Poor in Nineteenth-Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press,‖2013),‖23.‖Brierley‖‘helped‖to‖establish‖in‖Manchester‖a‖regional‖literary‖
culture, in which labouring-class poets, non-metropolitan and dialect writers
could‖participate‖and‖sometimes‖thrive’‖(LC6).‖His‖many‖publications include
‘Goosegrave ‚Penny Readings‛’, Ben Brierley’s Journal (November 1871); The
Lancashire Dialect (Manchester: Manchester Literary Club, 1871); Home Memories
and Recollections of a Life (Manchester: Simpkin, Marshall; London: A. Heywood &
Son, 1886), an autobiography; Personal Recollections of the Late Edwin Waugh (qv)
(Manchester: Abel Heywood, [1891]); Spring Blossoms and Autumn Leaves, poems
(Manchester, 1893, reprinted Preston, 2003); Failsworth, My Native Village (1895). ~
Ref: Harland (1882), 447-8, 552-4; Andrews (1888-9), I, 82-6; Vicinus (1970), 349n5;
Vicinus (1973), 753-6; Hollingworth (1977), 152; Vincent (1981), 111-13, 182;
Burnett et al (1984), no. 85; Maidment (1987), 360-2, 364-6; Reilly (1994), 64; Ben
Huk, Ben Brierley 1825-1896 (Manchester: Neil Richardson, 1995); Zlotnick (1998),
195-7; Ashton & Roberts (1999), ch. 8, 97-121; Boos (2001a); Goodridge (2005);
Hakala (2010a); Hakala (2010b); NRA (Manchester); LC 5, 331-3; LC 6, 363-72;
ODNB; NTU. [LC5] [LC6] [T]
Brierley, Thomas (1820-1900), of Alkrington, Middleton, Lancashire, silk weaver,
author‖of‖‘Th’‖Silk-Weaver’s‖Fust‖Bearin’-Home’,‖published Nonsense and Tom-
foolery, and Seriousness and Solemnity (Manchester and London, 1870); Original
Pieces, for either Recitation or Fireside Reading (Manchester and London, 1872); Short
Poems, with Pepper and Salt in (Manchester and London, [?1892]); The Countrified
Pieces of Thomas Brierley (Oldham, 1894). ~ Ref: Harland (1882), 338-9, 402-3, 430-1,
454-5, 471-2; Reilly (1994), 64; Reilly (2000), 56-7. [T]
Brimble, William (fl. 1762-5), a disabled carpenter, published Poems Attempted on
Various Occasions (1765). As Christmas, and Keegan in LC2, have observed,
Brimble’s‖main‖objective‖in‖publishing‖his‖volume‖appears‖to‖have‖been‖to‖raise
money. An important source of information, quoted in LC2, is the critical
response to the publication of two journals, the Monthly Review and the Critical
Review. The Monthly in passing also gives us important information about
Brimble:‖‘It‖seems‖he‖was,‖some‖time‖ago,‖obliged‖through‖unavoidable‖
misfortunes, to leave his business, and a large family, in the country; and came to
work‖in‖London,‖’till‖his‖affairs‖could‖be‖accommodated: but since his residence in
the capital, a series of misfortunes hath befallen him; the last of which was his
falling from a scaffold, while at work, and breaking his collar-bone; in
consequence of which, he has been, for some time, disabled from earning his
subsistence by his labour.—We therefore beg leave to recommend this honest but
unfortunate person, not as a poet, but as an object of benevolence.—Nor will he,
we‖apprehend,‖be‖greatly‖mortified‖by‖our‖sparing‖to‖praise‖his‖‚unletter’d muse,‛
for he appears, from his preface, to be a modest man, and by no means vain of the
productions of his pen; for which, he assures us, he never quitted the hand-saw, but
by way of relaxation, at his leisure hours: and it was merely owing to the urgency
of his friends,‖that‖he‖appeared‖in‖print.’‖The‖reviewer does recognise something
of literary value in the project, too: ‘Among‖other‖pieces‖in‖this‖collection‖we‖have‖
observed a pastoral ballad, entitled Strephon and Celia, in which there is a degree
of elegant simplicity, beyond what could be expected from the uninstructed pen
of‖a‖poor‖mechanic’.‖The‖Critical,‖by‖comparison,‖is‖relentlessly‖sneering:‖‘Little‖
did her late munificent majesty queen Caroline know what she was entailing
upon this country, by generously patronizing Stephen Duck, the thresher; for we
have had inundations of such poets ever since, from the awl up to the
sledgehammer.‖Prefixed‖to‖the‖poems‖before‖us,‖is‖a‖list‖of‖the‖author’s‖
subscribers, whose generosity, we think, would have been much better judged,
had they become his customers instead of subscribers; and instead of patronizing
him as a poet, had employed him as a carpenter. How many honest and
industrious tradesmen have been ruined by that tinnitius aurium, tingling in the
ears, or singing‖in‖the‖head,‖which‖they‖mistake‖for‖poetry!’‖Again,‖though,‖there‖
is a slight critical easing, later in the response, though not of the sceptical and
cynical‖tone:‖‘From‖these‖reflections‖the‖reader‖is‖not‖to‖conclude‖that‖we‖think‖
Mr. Brimble a despicable poet. All we mean is, that he would make more money
by keeping to his original profession than by going a-whoring after the muses,
who‖will‖most‖certainly‖jilt‖him’.‖250‖years‖on,‖LC2‖presents‖a‖selection‖of‖his‖
work with a rather more balanced and fair-minded critical introduction than these
early‖critics‖can‖muster:‖‘While‖Brimble’s‖poetry‖is‖sometimes‖marked‖by‖less‖than‖
felicitous grammatical choices, he writes upon a good range of topics that reveal
 perhaps more ambition than the poet would admit. Although a fair number of
poems may be considered occasional, the occasions themselves are not
predictable,‖including‖‚On‖seeing‖a‖Human‖Skeleton‖with‖a‖Gold‖Ring,‖buried‖in‖
a‖Stone‖Coffin‛,‖or‖‚On‖an‖Artificial Auricula Winning the Prize at Lyncomb
Florist-Feast,‖1764‛‖(which‖was‖printed‖separately).‖Brimble‖also‖writes‖reflective‖
verse on nature and on moral topics, pastoral dialogues, versifications of scripture
(such‖as‖the‖poem‖‚The‖Song‖of‖Deborah‖and‖Barak‛),‖and‖treatments‖of‖local‖and‖
national events (such as the Taunton Assizes or the war with Spain. Brimble also
tried‖his‖hand‖at‖numerous‖poetical‖‚Enigmas‛—riddles in verse (with answers
happily‖included‖at‖the‖end‖of‖the‖volume).’ Also‖included‖in‖LC2‖is‖Brimble’s‖
Preface, which is important to the critical reception his work received. ~ Ref:
Monthly Review 36 (March 1767), 241; Critical Review 24 (1767), 317; Christmas
(2001), 210-15; Keegan (2005), 481-2; LC 2, 123-40. [LC2] [C18]
Brimlow, John (fl. 1828), of Winster, Derbyshire, soldier, served‖in‖Egypt‖‘in‖Colonel
Thornhill’s‖regiment’;‖later‖became‖blind‖and‖‘got‖a‖precarious‖livelihood‖by‖
rambling about the countryside collecting‖‚rags‖and‖bones‛’. He wrote a ballad
‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖the‖Late‖Rev.‖Bache‖Thornhill,‖M.A.’,‖published on a broadsheet.
(Revd. Thornhill died on 13 December 1827 so the probably date of this was 1828.)
~ Ref: Jewitt (1867), 255-6.
Britton, Frances (fl. 1828), poor woman, published Short and True Sketches on the
Conflicts of Life: and Other Subjects (London: Printed for the author, 1828). She
‘wrote‖bitterly‖of‖her‖poverty‖and‖her‖arrest‖as‖a‖vagabond’;‖her‖poetry‖is‖‘about‖
poverty‖&‖England’. ~ Ref: Davis & Joyce (1991), xi-xii, 36; Jackson (1993). 39;
COPAC; BL. [F] [—Dawn Whatman]
Brock, William (1793-1855),‖tenant‖farmer‖of‖Eastertoun,‖Armadale,‖author‖of‖‘Frost‖
in‖the‖Mornin’,‖printed‖in‖Bisset. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 77-8. [S]
Brooksbank, Mary, née Soutar (1897-1978), of Dundee, jute mill worker, trade
unionist and socialist, best known for her lyric‖‘The‖Jute‖Mill‖Song’‖(‘Oh‖Dear‖
Me’),‖on‖of‖a‖group‖of‖songs‖she‖called‖‘mill‖songs’. Brooksbank was born into a
Catholic and very political family, the daughter of Sandy Soutar, an Arbroath
dock worker and trade unionist who had worked with the Irish radical James
Connolly, and Rose Ann née Gillan, a domestic servant‖and‖‘fisher‖lassie’.‖‖
Originally from Aberdeen, she began working (illegally, due to her age) as a
bobbin shifter in a jute mill in Dundee, at the age of eight or nine. When she was
fourteen the mill girls marched successfully for a pay rise of 15%. A political
activist and communist (who spent several spells in priosn as a result of her
agitation), she founded the Working Women Guild and was centrally involved in
the Unemployed Worker’s‖Union,‖among‖many other concerns. Her songs include
‘The‖Four‖Marys’,‖‘The‖Spinner’s‖Wedding’‖and‖‘My‖Johnny’.‖~ Ref: Siobhan
Tolland, ‘‚Jist Ae Wee Woman‛: Dundee, the Communist Party and the
 Feminisation of Socialism in the Life and Works of Mary Brooksbank’,‖PhD‖
dissertation, University of Aberdeen, 2005; ODNB; Wikipedia and other online
sources; inf. George Deacon. [S] [T] [OP]
(?) Brough, Robert Barnabas (1828-60),‖brewer’s‖son‖of‖London,‖miscellaneous‖writer‖
and editor; the family moved to Pontypool where the family became legally
embroiled in the fallout from the Chartist uprising of 1839 and was financially
ruined; Brough then lived in Manchester where he became a clerk. His many and
diverse‖publications‖include‖a‖parody‖of‖Poe’s‖‘The‖Raven’‖(The Vulture: An
Ornithological Study, 1853), and Songs of the Governing Class (1855, 1890). ~ Ref:
ODNB; NTU. [W]
Brown, Alexander (1775-1834),‖‘Berwickshire‖Sandie’,‖apprentice‖mason,‖side-
schoolmaster, published Poems, Mostly in the Scottish Dialect (1801). ~ Ref: Crockett
(1893), 110-13. [S]
Brown, Alexander (1801-81), of Burngrange, Perthshire, calico printer / block printer
(father of William Brown (b. 1836) [qv]), published Poems Secular and Sacred (1872).
~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 340-42. [S]
Brown, Alexander (b. 1823), of Penicuik, near Edinburgh, sailor, spent time in US
and Canada. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 176-80; Reid, Bards (1897), 65-6. [S]
Brown, Alexander (b. 1837), of Auchtertool, Fifeshire, cattle herder, cabinet maker,
published in People’s Friend, People’s Journal, local press. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880),
151-6; Murdoch (1883), 302-9. [S]
Brown, Archibald (b. 1850), son of a piermaster, apprenticed and served as a
journeyman blacksmith, later emigrated to Queensland and became a
schoolteacher; poems in Macleod. ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 178-81. [S] [B]
Brown, David (1826-86), of Paisley, weaver, later keeper of the West End Reading
Room, published Minstrelsy of My Youth (Paisley, 1845). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II,
226-8; Leonard (1990), 184-5. [S] [T]
Brown,‖‘Sergeant’‖David (fl. before 1893), of Horndean, soldier and later pedlar in
the‖borders,‖wrote‖rhyming‖epistles‖and‖poems‖of‖‘inferior‖merit’. ~ Ref: Crockett
(1893), 293. [S]
Brown, Elizabeth (b. c.‖1809),‖‘cottage‖girl,‖of Woodend‖Northamptonshire’,‖who‖
wrote‖poems‖‘to‖chase‖away‖a‖dreary‖hour‖in‖my‖secluded‖cottage’;‖published
Original Poetry (1839, 1841, 1842); described by Hold (who includes only a
McGonagallesque‖coronation‖poem)‖as‖‘Northamptonshire’s‖female‖McGonagall’;‖
more‖interesting‖poems‖include‖‘On‖a‖poor‖Irishman‖calling‖at‖the‖cottage’,‖
numerous elegies, and a number of poems on benevolence and charity. ~ Ref:
Hold (1989), 43-44; inf. Bob Heyes; Google Books (full view of 1841 edition). [F]
Brown, Fred (b. 1893), Huddersfield textile worker and dialect poet, published The
Muse Went Weaving (Ilkley: Yorkshire Dialect Society, 1964). ~ Ref: K. E. Smith, The
 Dialect Muse (Wetherby: Ruined Cottage Publications, 1979), 23-4, 27-30; Smith,
West (1982), 41-7 [OP] [T]
Brown,‖Henry‖(Henry‖‘Mechanic’‖Brown,‖fl. 1830-35), carpenter, artisan, published
The Mechanic's Saturday Night, A Poem In The ‘vulgar’ Tongue; Humbly Addressed To
The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Peel. By A Mechanic (London: Printed for the author, 1830);
Sunday: A poem in three cantos (1835). ~ Ref: Ashraf (1978), I, 24; LC 5, 1-10. [LC5]
Brown, Henry (fl. 1860), of Northfleet, cement worker, published A Voice of Warning,
by Henry Brown, a Working Man, Who was Blind for six months through an accident at
the Cement Works, in the Parish of Northfleet, in the County of Kent. Composed and
written by himself (1860). ~ Ref: COPAC.
Brown, Hugh (1800-85), muslin weaver, of Newmilns, Ayrshire, later schoolmaster
in‖Galston,‖Lanark,‖and‖a‖printer’s‖reader‖in‖Glasgow,‖published The Covenanters:
and Other Poems (Glasgow: John Symington and Co., 1838). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3
(1881), 182-8 and 9, xv; Johnson (1992), item 137. [S] [T]
Brown, Isaac (fl. 1821), muslin manufacturer, of Paisley (‘late‖manufacturer‖in‖the‖
Plunkin of Paisley’), published Renfrewshire Characters and Scenery: A Poem, in three
hundred and sixty five cantos (Paisley: Printed for T. Dick, bookseller, 1824), with
memoir and notes. ~ Ref: text cited, via Google Books; inf. Bob Heyes. [S] [T]
(?) Brown, J. J. (b. 1859), of Kilsyth, chemist, published at the age seventeen Visionary
Rhymes, or the Tuneings of a Youthful harp (1876), brother of Simon Brown (qv). ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 341-2. [S]
Brown, James (b. 1836), of Fieldhead, Avondale, Lanarkshire, whose‖parents‖‘rented‖
a few acres of land, but they afterwards removed to Glasgow, where they kept
cows, and carried on‖a‖dairy‖business’‖(Edwards).‖Brown‖was‖‘sent‖to‖the‖country’‖
as a herd boy at the age of ten, and began working in a warehouse a few years
later, before joining the postal service. Edwards supplies one of those anecdotes,
familiar in its trajectory from many other lives described in this database, that
reflects huge hunger and determination in relation to reading and self-education:
where do the books come from? Mary Collier (qv), for example, ‘soon‖got‖by‖
heart’ the poems of Stephen Duck, no doubt briefly borrowing the volume from
one of the middle-class women for whom she charred. According to Karl Miller,
James Hogg (qv) availed himself of the practice shepherds had of caching books
for each other here and there around the countryside (Electric Shepherd, p. 5).
Brown‖‘early‖manifested‖a‖strong‖love‖of‖reading,‖and‖to‖gratify‖this‖desire,‖he‖has‖
walked many a mile after nightfall to manse, farmhouse, and cottage for the
purpose of getting a supply. Being very careful of these favours, he was always
kindly received and soon had access to all the bookshelves within a wide circle.’
In‖the‖postal‖service‖he‖also‖‘formed‖the‖acquaintance of a small band of literati’‖
and began to write poetry. He‖contributed‖prose‖pieces‖and‖poems‖to‖‘various‖
newspapers‖and‖magazines’,‖his‖main‖topics‖being‖‘the‖beauties‖of‖nature,‖
 domestic‖joys,‖and‖character‖sketches’.‖Edwards‖prints‖six‖of‖Brown’s‖poems,‖
‘Mither’s‖Questions’‖,‖‘Rural‖and‖City‖Poets’,‖‘The‖Cauld‖Fire-en’,‖‘Half-Witted
Will’,‖‘The‖Bairns‖in‖Our‖Street’,‖and‖‘Wee‖Jean’.‖Brown‖published‖a‖collection,‖
Linda, and Other Poems (London, 1871). ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 230-7; Reilly
(2000), 61. [S]
(?) Brown, James B. (b. 1832), of Galashiels, woollen manufacturer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7
(1884), 33-42. [S] [T]
Brown,‖James‖Pennycook‖(b.‖1862),‖of‖Brechin,‖farmer’s‖son,‖compositor on the
Aberdeen Journal, published Poetical Ephemeras (1831), emigrated to Canada. ~
Walker (1887); Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 66-8. [S]
Brown, John (1812-90),‖‘The‖Horncastle‖Laureate’,‖born‖in‖Horncastle‖Workhouse,‖
Lincs., apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, ran away to sea as a cabin boy, travelled to
Russia, later a housepainter in London, published The Lay of the Clock and Other
Poems (Horncastle, 1861); Literae Laureate: Or, A Selection from the Poetical Writings
in Lincolnshire Language, ed. J. Conway Walter (Horncastle: W. K. Morton, 1890). ~
Ref: Reilly (1994), 68.
Brown, John (b. 1822), of Alexandria, Vale of Leven, Dunbartonshire, pattern-maker
in Glasgow and Manchester, published Song Drifts (Glasgow, 1874, 1883), Poems
and songs (Glasgow, 1883); Wayside songs, with other verse (Glasgow, 1883); Wayside
songs, with other lyrics (Glasgow, 1887). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 131-4; Murdoch
(1883), 266-9; Macleod (1889), 115-1; Reilly (1994), 68; Reilly (2000), 61. [S]
Brown, Simon (b. 1853), of Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, hatter, brother of J.J. Brown (qv),
wrote articles for the Hatter’s Gazette; pub The Lord’s Day: An Essay, Attempted in
Verse (1883). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 288-91. [S]
Brown, Thomas (1781-1848),‖of‖South‖Normanton,‖‘the‖Derbyshire‖Stocking‖Weaver’,‖
published poems over thirty years in the Nottingham Review and the Derby
Reporter signed‖‘T. B.’ Edlin-White‖describes‖Brown‖as‖having‖become‖‘something‖
of‖a‖literary‖mentor’‖to‖Spencer‖T.‖Hall‖(qv). ~ Note: James (1963) incorrectly
ascribes the poem The Field of Peterloo to Brown and‖calls‖him‖one‖of‖the‖‘better-
known’‖working-class poets, but the Peterloo poem is usually listed as by Thomas
Moore using the pseudonym of Thomas Brown. ~ Ref: Hall (1873), 331-4; James
(1963), p. 171; Edlin-White (2017), 30-31; Derbyshire R.O. D1768, D1768/1 (copies
of‖Brown’s‖poems), D7145/3 (Thomas Brown, by John Spencer); inf. Sam Ward. [T]
Brown, Thomas (fl. 1861), workman, of Cellerdyke, Anstruther, Fife, published
Musings of a Workman on the Pains and Praise of Man’s Great Substitute (Anstruther
and Edinburgh, 1861). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 62. [S]
(?) Brown, William (b. 1836), of Paisley, son of Alexander Brown (1801-81, [qv]),
block printer, photographer, poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 309-14.
[S]
(?) Brown, William (1791-1864), of Dundee, flax-spinner,‖laird’s‖son,‖businessman,‖
retired from business in 1856 and published non-verse Reminiscences of Flax
Spinning and anonymously his Poems (1863). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 68-9. [S] [T]
(?) Browne, Frances (1816‐79), of Stranorlar, Co. Donegal, ‘The‖Blind‖Poetess‖of‖
Ulster’,‖educated‖at‖home,‖published The Star of Atteghei: The Vision of Schwartz
(London: Edward Moxon, 1844); Lyrics and Miscellaneous Poems (Edinburgh:
Sutherland and Knox, 1848); also ‘Songs‖of‖our‖Land,’‖for‖the‖Irish Penny Journal,
and many poems over her initials in the Athenaeum, 1840-41; awarded a modest
Civil List pension; in 1847 moved with her sisters to Edinburgh and was able to
make a living as a miscellaneous prose writer; she also published an
autobiography: My Share of the World: An Autobiography (London: Hurst and
Blackett, 1861). ~ Ref: ‘Frances‖Brown,‖the‖Blind‖Poetess’,‖Northern Star, 30
(November 1844); O’Donoghue‖(1912), 43 (as Frances Brown); ABC (1996), 356-8;
Colman (1996) 44-7; Patrick Bonar, The Life and Works of Frances Browne
(Ballybofey: Bonar Publishing, 2007); ODNB. [I] [F]
Browne, Moses (1704-87), self-taught son of a pen-cutter, Church of England
clergyman, published The Throne of Justice (1721); The Richmond Beauties (1722);
Piscatory Eclogues (1729); Poems on Various Subjects (1739); plays; sermons. ~ Ref:
CBEL II (1969), 312; Røstvig (1971), II, 153; ODNB; Radcliffe. [C18]
(?) Browne,‖Thomas‖(b.‖1787),‖of‖Queen’s‖County,‖miller,‖later‖a‖journalist‖and‖the‖
‘leading‖spirit’ on the Comet newspaper; later emigrated to USA and ran a
successful milling business in Cincinnati; wrote or co-wrote [anon] The Parson’s
Horn Book (1831), which reprinted material from the Comet; his contributions
sometimes in verse. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 44. [I]
Bruce, David (b. 1860), of Cupar, Fife, tailor, postman, the fourth of ten children and
the‖son‖of‖a‖shoemaker‖whose‖‘weekly‖wages‖never‖exceeded‖ten‖shillings’.‖After
a‖‘scanty’‖education,‖he‖was‖apprenticed‖at‖the‖age‖of‖ten‖to‖a‖tailor,‖moving‖to‖
Glasgow for some years after he completed his apprenticeship. During his time in
Glasgow he improved his handwriting and knowledge of grammar. He returned
‘in‖weak‖health’,‖and‖strengthened by walks in the countryside took a job as a
letter-carrier. Bruce published poems in the Fife Herald and other newspapers.
Edwards includes‖four‖of‖his‖poems,‖‘The‖City‖of‖the‖Sad’‖(subtitled‖‘Suggested‖by‖
a‖walk‖to‖a‖Lunatic‖Asylum’),‖‘Gin‖I‖Had‖a‖Lad‖of‖my‖Ain’,‖‘Fife,‖an’‖a’‖the‖Lands‖
about‖it’,‖and‖‘Sleep’.‖~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 274-9. [S] [T]
Bruce, George (b. 1825), of St. Andrews, orphan, apprentice joiner, engineer,
journalist, and town councillor, published The First Canto of a Poem, entitled,
Destiny (Cupar-Fife, 1865); Destiny, and other poems (St Andrews, 1876); The Two
Spirits: A Poem (St Andrews, 1872); Poems and Songs (Dundee: John Leng, 1886).
Blair‖reprints‖his‖poem,‖‘The‖Battle‖of‖Tel-El-Kebir’,‖first‖published in the People’s
 Journal, 14th October 1882. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 217-21; Reilly (1994), 71;
Reilly (2000), 64; Blair (2016), 182-3. [S]
Bruce, Michael (1746-67), of Portmoak, Kinneswood, Kinross, ‘The‖Gentle‖Poet‖of‖
Lochleven’,‖poet and hymn-writer, the son of weaver; a ‘boy‖genius’‖(one who
was very close in his dates to‖that‖other‖‘marvellous‖boy’, Thomas Chatterton
(qv), 1752-1770), died of consumption at the age of twenty; his verses were
reissued several times; he published an ‘Ode‖to‖the‖Cuckoo’; ‘Lochleven’‖(1766),
his most famous poem; and an ‘Ode‖to‖Spring’‖(1767), a kind of self-elegy; and
posthumously, Poems on Several Occasions, by Michael Bruce (Edinburgh, 1770).
Robert‖Bloomfield‖(qv)‖included‖Bruce’s‖poem‖‘On‖Hearing‖an‖Eolian‖Harp‖at‖
Midnight’‖in‖his‖anthology‖Nature’s Music (1808). Bold (2007, 39) describes Bruce
as‖one‖who‖‘might‖be‖Scotland’s‖first‖great‖peasant‖poet’.‖His memory is
particularly valued in his home town of Kinneswood, where there is a Michael
Bruce‖Cottage‖Museum,‖and‖there‖is‖also‖a‖walking‖route‖called‖the‖‘Michael‖
Bruce‖Way’. The Michael Bruce Trust, which runs the museum, also published a
volume, Life and Works of Michael Bruce, ‘The Gentle Poet of Lochleven’, The
Bicentenary Edition, ed. with an introduction by Edward Vernon (Perth: Printed by
Milne, Tannahill & Methven, Ltd for the Michael Bruce Memorial Trust, 1951). ~
Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 294-306; Douglas (1891), 57-8, 290-1; James Mackenzie, The
Life of Michael Bruce, Poet of Loch Leven (London, 1905); Crawford (1976), nos. 59-60;
LC 2, 263-4; ODNB; Wikipedia; Radcliffe; Beattie & Croft, I, item 84. [LC2] [C18]
[S]
Brufton, H. P., (1872-1947),‖of‖Sheffield,‖‘T’‖Owd‖Hammer’,‖followed‖his‖father‖as‖a‖
‘little‖mester’‖(a local term for self-employed makers of knives and other fine
metal goods, for which Sheffield was famous), in the Crookes area of Sheffield,
wrote mainly in dialect, published Sheffield Dialect Poems (1932); Sheffield Dialect
and other poems (1937). Other poems were broadcast and published in magazines
and newspapers. There are two poems at Sheffield Voices, the Sheffield
University website dedicated to dialect writers:
http://sheffieldvoices.group.shef.ac.uk/fghpbrufton.htm. ~ Ref: Lovelock (1970), p.
48; England (1983), 20; inf. Yann Lovelock. [OP]
Bryan, Mary, née Langdon, later Bedingfield (1780-1838), widow of a Bristol printer
who‖‘inherited‖the‖debt-ridden business’‖and‖‘eventually‖married‖her‖patron’‖Dr‖
James Bedingfield; published Sonnets and Metrical Tales (Bristol: Printed and sold
at the City Printing-Office, 1815; facsimile with intro. by Jonathan Wordsworth,
Woodstock Books, 1996); and (under the name Mary Bedingfield) published a
novel, Longhollow: A Country Tale (1829); corresponded with Scott, Wordsworth
and‖others,‖‘seeking‖advice‖and‖assistance’‖(all‖quotations‖from‖LC4).‖As a female
working printer Bryan was a rarity, and she published many volumes including
Coleridge’s‖correspondent‖Thomas‖Curnick’s‖volume‖Jehosaphat and Other Poems
 (Bristol: Printed by M. Bryan, 1815). ~ Ref: Curran (1996); Sharon A. Ragaz,
‘Writing‖to‖Sir‖Walter:‖The‖Letters‖of‖Mary‖Bryan‖Bedingfield’,‖Cardiff Corvey:
Reading the Romantic Text, 7 (December 2001); LC 4, 105-24; Antiquates online
booklist R [under Curnick]. [LC4] [F]
Bryant, John Frederick (1753-91), tobacco pipemaker, of London and Bristol. ~ Bryant
was‖born‖in‖Market‖Street,‖St.‖James’s,‖Westminster,‖but‖following‖his‖father’s‖
fruitless venture as a journeyman house painter, spent much of his childhood in
Sunbury with his grandparents, and later Bristol, when his father returned to the
family trade of tobacco pipe manufacturing. At the age of nine, after one year of
basic schooling by an old woman that taught him to read, Bryant was called upon
to pack pipes for exportation. Owing to his bashfulness and partial deafness,
Bryant‖considered‖himself‖‘ill‖fit‖to‖be‖in‖company‖with‖other‖boys’,‖who‖
apparently dismissed him‖as‖‘little‖better‖than‖an‖idiot’. Bryant sought consolation
in reading, engrossing himself in the scriptures, and later an account of the
Heathen‖Gods,‖in‖which‖he‖would‖learn‖by‖heart‖quotations‖from‖Pope’s‖Homer‖
and‖Dryden’s‖Virgil. He developed a craving‖for‖the‖wonderful,‖‘preferring‖by‖far‖
the stories of giants, fairies, magicians, or heroes performing impossibilities, to
any‖history‖or‖narrative‖that‖wore‖the‖face‖of‖truth’.‖~‖Stirred also by a passion for
music, accentuated by way of the recovery of his hearing, Bryant was creating
verses by age ten, and his father, who occasionally played violin at Bristol’s‖
genteel assembly rooms, would take pleasure in reading curious fragments to his
acquaintances. However,‖Bryant’s‖taste‖for‖reading‖and‖music‖conflicted with his
duties to the family business; he was permitted to read only on Sundays, though
he‖affirmed‖that‖his‖mind‖was‖‘ever‖among‖books’.‖~‖Bryant‖experienced‖‘grief‖
beyond‖measure’‖when‖he‖left‖to‖stay‖with‖his‖beloved‖grandparents‖for‖none‖
days, only to return to discover that his pregnant mother had died. Following
abortive careers as a sailor and as a labourer in London, Bryant married and
adopted the path of an itinerant pipe-seller, which proved quite favourable to his
poetic pursuits. Indeed, upon returning from walking as far as Swansea, Bryant
sang several songs on board a boat crossing the Severn, which were heard by
Solicitor-General Archibald MacDonald. It was Macdonald who presented him to
the literary societies of Bristol and London, set him up as a stationer, bookbinder
and printseller in London, and facilitated the publication of Verses by John Frederick
Bryant in‖1787.‖~‖Bryant’s‖poetry‖is‖characterised‖more‖by‖geniality‖and‖fraternity‖
than radical criticism, surely conducive to the harmonious relations he maintained
with his patrons. Contrary to the sentiments of the anonymous editor, who
seemingly‖equates‖the‖‘growth‖of‖a‖poetical‖spirit’‖with‖the‖advancement‖towards‖
‘high’‖literary culture, Tim Burke (LC3)‖argues,‖‘his‖voice‖is‖most at ease in the
tavern songs and ribald ballads that dominate the first half of his volume of
Verses’. An‖autobiographical‖account‖of‖Bryant’s‖life‖was‖prefixed‖to‖the‖volume.‖~‖
 That Bryant achieved a degree of success in his trade is indicated by his obituary
in The Times. He died of consumption in March 1791 at his London home in a
fashionable building on the Strand. He published Verses by Bryant, Late Tobacco-
Pipe Maker at Bristol, Together with his Life, Written by Himself (1787). ~ Ref: Letters of
Anna Seward Written Between the Years 1784 and 1807, six volumes (Edinburgh,
1811); Southey (1831), 135-62, 199-202; Unwin (1954), 84-6; NCBEL II (1971);
Lonsdale (1984), 726, 853n; Klaus (1985), 6-7; Shiach (1989), 59; Rizzo (1991), 243;
Heinzelman (1994), 115-17; Christmas (2001), 210-12, 223-7; LC 3, 117-30; Beattie &
Croft, I, item 85 and image, p. 30; BL. [LC3] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Buchanan, Andrew (fl. 1888), of Cowie Bank, Stirlingshire, grocer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11
(1888), 355-9. [S]
Buchanan, David (1811-93), of Hillhead, Dunbartonshire, handloom weaver, and
manufacturer, published Man and the Years, and Other Poems, ed. William Freeland
(qv) (Glasgow, 1895). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 72. [S] [T]
Buchanan, David Wills (b. 1844), of Dundee. His parents died when he was four, and
he was brought up in Blackwater, Glenshee, Blairgowrie, where he attended
school until the age of fourteen. He was a local farmworker for seven years, then
worked as a van driver, and by 1883 had worked as lodge and storekeeper in a
shipbuilding yard in Dundee for eight years. For three years he was precentor at
Cray Free Church and was much esteemed by the congregation. He was also a
collector for Dundee Burial Society. Buchanan began writing his typically spiritual
poetry at the age of twenty, following an accident that kept him at home and
reading a great deal, and he was‖frequently‖published‖in‖‘newspapers‖and‖
religious‖periodicals’. Edwards‖includes‖four‖poems,‖‘Kindness’,‖‘Farewell’,‖‘A‖
Ruined‖Life’‖and‖‘Faith’,‖and‖admiringly‖quotes‖28‖lines‖from‖his‖poem‖‘Creative‖
Wisdom’,‖describing‖Buchanan’s‖verses‖as‖‘highly‖creditable‖to‖the‖head‖and‖heart‖
of‖one‖in‖very‖humble‖circumstances’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 328-33; Reid, Bards
(1897), 69-71. [S]
Buchanan, Francis (b. 1825), of Perth, draper, moved to Sheffield, later incapacitated
by an accident, published The Crusader and Other Poems and Lyrics (1848), and
Sparks from Sheffield Smoke: A Series of Local and Other Poems (Sheffield, 1882). ~ Ref:
Andrews (1885), 122-3; Edwards, 11 (1888), 133-39; Reilly (1994), 72. [S] [T]
(?) Burgess, Alexander (1807-86),‖‘Poute’,‖‘The‖Fife‖Paganini’,‖of Lalathan, largely
self-taught‖dancing‖teacher,‖fiddler‖and‖poet,‖‘one‖of‖the‖best‖known‖comic‖poets‖
of‖Victorian‖Scotland’‖(Blair);‖published The Book of Nettercaps, Being Genuine
Poutery, Poetry and Prose (Dundee: Dundee Advertiser Office, 1875), and in the
People’s Journal,‖his‖verses‖‘characterised‖by‖a‖grotesque‖orthography‖that‖was‖as‖
suggestive of latent, lurking fun as the ideas were thoroughly original and
humorous‖to‖the‖degree‖of‖burlesque’‖(Edwards).‖His‖poems‖were‖‘clever‖and‖
sophisticated satires on the level of education and poetic skill that might be
 expected‖from‖a‖‚natures‖poet‛’‖and‖they‖‘spawned‖a‖host‖of‖imitators‖in‖the same
style‖in‖the‖Dundee‖press’‖(Blair).‖He‖took‖his‖own‖life‖in‖1886. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1
(1880), 271-4 and 9, xxii-xxiii; Kirstie Blair,‖‘McGonagall,‖‚Poute‛‖and‖the‖Bad‖
Poets‖of‖Victorian‖Dundee’,‖The Bottle Imp, 14 (November 2013), online
publication; Blair (2016), 25-8, 46-7, 52-5, 101-3, 138-9. [S]
Burgess, Joseph (1853-1934), ‘The‖Droylsden‖Bard’,‖of Oldham, later Failsworth,
Manchester, cotton factory operative, card-cutter from the age of six, working in
the mills at eight, and was later a journalist and an Independent Labour Party
parliamentary candidate in several constituencies including Leicester. Burgess
published several volumes: ‚In Memory of My Wife‛: A Volume of Amatory and
Elegiac Verse (London, Manchester and Oldham, 1875); Pictures of Social Life: Being
Select Poems, by ‚The Droylsden Bard‛‖(Manchester‖and‖London,‖1869);‖A Potential
Poet? His Autobiography and verse (Ilford, 1927). Boos‖singles‖out‖his‖poem‖‘Neaw‖
Aw’m‖a‖Married‖Man’‖for‖its‖‘touchingly‖didactic‖and‖hortatory‖aims’‖(the‖poet‖
vows in it to help his wife with the housework). He is also the author of a very
interesting autobiography, laced with many of his own poems. He is valuable for
his dialect work (which is largely comic), his social observation, political
comment, and the volume of elegiac poetry the following the tragic death of his
wife from tuberculosis a month after their wedding: clearly a terrible shock if not
exactly a surprise, and one from which, some of the later poetry would suggest,
Burgess developed a sympathetic engagement with the bereaved. He wrote, for
example,‖a‖poem‖entitled‖‘Lines‖addressed‖to‖Mr.‖Ben‖Brierley‖*qv+,‖the‖
Lancashire‖author,‖on‖reading‖his‖poem‖on‖the‖death‖of‖his‖only‖daughter’,‖(1927,‖
126-7.) His‖prose‖‘framing’‖of‖some‖of‖his‖poems‖in‖the‖late‖collection‖is‖worthy‖of‖
attention, too: he is a strong prose writer with a nice line in what one might call
anecdotage.‖One‖would‖like‖to‖know‖more‖about‖Burgess’s‖‘friends‖of‖the‖Poet’s‖
Corner’,‖named‖as James Barnes of Hollinwood, William Cheetham of Middleton,
Sim Schofield and Edwin Wright of Failsworth, the latter the subject of the poem
‘Good-bye‖to‖Edwin‖Wright’‖(1927,‖117,‖143).‖None‖of‖them‖appear‖on‖this‖
database at present. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), nos. 108-9; Maidment (1987), 91-3;
Reilly (2000), 71; Boos (2002a), 210-11; Newitt (2008), 33; Wikipedia; NTU. [T]
Burland, John Hugh (1819-85), handloom weaver, largely self-taught, Chartist,
member‖of‖Barnsley‖Mechanics’‖Institute,‖businessman,‖school warden, published
John Hugh Barland to John Close and the Grand Cluster of Poets: (A Satire) (?1868) and
an autobiography, John Hugh Burland By Himself (Barnsley: Barnsley Chronicle,
1902), pp. 8. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 110; Reilly (2000), 71. [C] [T]
(?) Burlend, Edward (fl. 1869), of Swillington, then at Barwick-in-Elmet, West Riding,
published Village Rhymes: or, Poems on Various Subjects, Frequently Appertaining to
Incidents in Village Life, new enlarged edition (Leeds, 1869). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 71.
Burness, John (b. 1771), of Glanbervie, Kincardine, self-taught‖farmer’s‖son,‖soldier,‖
baker,‖author‖of‖‘Thrummie‖Cap’,‖published Plays, Poems and Metrical Tales
(Montrose, 1819); claimed to have met and to be related to Robert Burns (qv). ~
Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 72-9. [S]
Burnett, William Hall (b. 1840), of Blackburn, of poor parents, largely self-taught
journalist and poet, published a poem, The Polytechnic, when aged 17, and many
prose works. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 314-19.
Burns, David (fl. 1883), joiner, published Scottish Echoes from New Zealand
(Edinburgh, 1883). ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 387-91. [S]
Burns, John (fl. 1775), of Monaghan, born deaf and dumb, in old age published a
Historical and Chronological Remembrancer of All Remarkable Occurrences: From the
Creation to This Present Year of Our Lord, 1775 (Dublin, 1775), with a thousand
subscribers. Largely a prose work, it ends with a poem on Ulysses’ dog, entitled
‘A‖Striking‖example of fidelity and gratitude in‖a‖Dumb‖Animal’.‖Carpenter‖is‖
unsure if the mass of material in this book is indeed by Burns himself, noting that
if‖‘Burns‖really‖did‖compile this extraordinary book, he should be remembered as
the most intellectually energetic of Ireland’s‖eighteenth-century‖working‖class.’‖
Ref: Carpenter (2017), 84-5. [I]
Burns, Peter of Kilwarlin (b. 1800), muslin weaver and freemason, published Poems
on Various Subjects (1835). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [T]
Burns, Robert (1759-96), of Ayr, Alloway, Scotland’s‖national‖poet,‖a‖major‖figure‖
with an immense and continuing international readership, whose debut volume,
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), was a breakthrough for Scottish poetry,
English poetry, and indeed labouring-class poetry. For his complex relationship to
the labouring-class‖tradition‖see‖especially‖Tim‖Burke’s‖introductory‖essay‖and‖
bibliography in LC 3, further revised in his Wordsworth Classics edition of Burns
and‖in‖his‖essay‖‘Labour,‖Education‖and‖Genius’‖in‖Fickle Man: Robert Burns in the
21st Century, ed. Johnny Rodger and Gerard Carruthers (Highland, Scotland:
Sandstone Press, 2009), 13-24; Valentina‖Bold,‖‘Heaven-Taught‖Ploughman’‖in‖
Bold (2007), 41-59; and‖Nigel‖Leask,‖‘Was‖Burns‖a‖Labouring-Class‖Poet?’,‖in‖Blair
& Gorji (2012), 16-33. An older short study‖is‖James‖Kinsley’s‖1974 British
Academy lecture, Burns and the Peasantry, 1785 (Oxford, 1975, free pdf online at
britac.ac.uk). Burns was hugely influential on English, Welsh and Irish as well as
Scottish labouring-class poets, and indeed had a worldwide influence on the
working-class movement and the development of poetry and song. For some
examples of the widespread tradition of labouring-class and other poets
honouring‖Burns‖in‖verse‖see‖‘Odes‖on‖Burns‖by‖Local‖Bards’,‖in‖Knox (1930), 328-
44; Burns and Other Poets, ed. David Sergeant and Fiona Stafford (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2012); Seamus‖Heaney’s‖essay‖‘Burns’s‖Art‖Speech’,
in Robert Burns and Cultural Authority, ed. Robert Crawford (Edinburgh: Polygon,
 1997, 1999), 216-33, revised and slightly condensed in his collection Finders
Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001 (London: Faber, 2002), 347-63; and further
references and cross-references throughout this database, which includes ten
different poets, for example, who published volumes with‖titles‖echoing‖Burns’s‖
‘Poems,‖Chiefly‖in‖the‖Scottish‖Dialect’,‖and‖numerous‖tributes‖to‖Burns‖and‖
memorial poems. ~ Ref: Cunningham (1834), 18-24; Wilson (1876), I, 349-73; Miller
(1910), 144-55; Tinker (1922), 104-11; Powell (1964), items 134-5, the latter item
being‖the‖copy‖of‖Burns’‖Works (1814) presented to John Clare (qv) by Sir Walter
Scott; Carter (1972), 233-8; Ashraf (1975), 89-94; Crawford (1976), passim; Rizzo
(1991), 242; Richardson (1994), 250-2; Cafarelli (1995), 81-3; Sutton (1995), 139
(numerous manuscripts, letters); Jarndyce (1980), items 1325-30; Christmas (2001),
32-35; Christmas (2017); LC, 3, 103-16; ODNB; Radcliffe; www.robertburns.org/.
[S] [LC3] [C18]
Burns, Thomas (b. 1848), of Eckford, Roxburghshire, self-taught farm-worker, later a
police officer in Newcastle upon Tyne and a school board officer, published
Chimes from Nature, Introduction by James Graham Potter (Newcastle upon Tyne,
1887). ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 302-6; Reilly (1994), 77; NTU. [S]
Burns, Tom (fl. 1912), former Clydeside shipyard worker who published a collection,
Clydeside Musings (1912), dedicated to the shipworkers of the Clyde, and including
the‖poems‖‘The‖Riveter’,‖‘The‖Riveter’s‖Lament’,‖‘A‖Dialogue—Address to
Caledonia‖on‖launch‖day‖by‖the‖Duchess‖of‖Montrose‖and‖the‖ship’s‖reply’,‖and‖‘If‖
our‖Old‖Ship‖goes‖down’,‖about‖the‖Boilermakers’‖Union. ~ Ref: online sources
including shipyardculture.wordpress.com and online sources. [S] [OP]
Burns, William (b. 1825), of Clackmannan, sailor, wood carver, went to sea at the age
of fourteen and became disabled on his second voyage, 1839, then went to
Glasgow as a wood carver, moving to Stirling in 1858, working as a railway
timekeeper; six of his poems are published in Beveridge, and a number of others
named. ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885), 108-18, 181-2; Edwards, 8 (1885), 340-44. [S] [R]
Burnside, Thomas (1822-79), of Paisley, weaver, shopkeeper,‖‘born‖to‖narrow‖
circumstances,‖and‖nurtured‖up‖in‖hardship’. His father was a reedmaker (a craft
that fed into the weaving trade). Burnside was sent to work at seven as a drawboy
to a weaver. At sixteen he was apprenticed as a weaver, and then worked for an
uncle in Dunfermline, leaving precipitately when he overheard his aunt making
hostile remarks about him. He left at night, penniless, and a period of wandering,
hardship‖and‖a‖‘severe‖illness’‖followed.‖He‖found‖refuge‖in‖his‖sister’s‖house‖in‖
Glasgow, where he recovered. At 21 he married: his wife was Margaret Marshall
(probably‖referred‖to‖in‖his‖poem‖‘My‖Peggy‖and‖Me’,‖though‖Peggy‖had‖been‖a‖
stock name in Scots poetry at least since the days of Allan Ramsay, qv). The
following year, lack of trade in Paisley made him move out to the village of
Balfron, where he lived and worked for three years, a happy place and period in
his life (remembered in his poem‖‘The‖Auld‖Toon‖of‖Balfron’). He was then in
Glasgow for several years, working as a mill-hand or a weaver as work
demanded. Finally Burnside returned to Paisley, where he spent the last thirty
years of his life. When his eyesight failed he opened a small shop with a
circulating library, though this was not a successful venture,‖and‖he‖‘was‖again‖
compelled‖to‖return‖to‖the‖loom‖to‖gain‖a‖livelihood’‖(Brown). ~ In 1865, now in
his forties, Burnside began writing. Its genesis seemed to have been the need to
write a letter to his only son, then working at Ardrossan, and the inspiration of
Tannahill (Robert Tannahill, qv), and‖‘several‖other‖local poets with whose
writings‖he‖was‖familiar’ (Memoir). (As noted elsewhere in this database, Paisley
poets, especially weavers poets, were prolific and plentiful in the period.) There is
also a hint that writing was therapeutic for him. For example, he was able to turn
‘occasions‖of‖agitation‖in the weaving trade in reference to prices and other
matters’ (Memoir), a troublesome worry for poor weavers, into topical verses
which often heavily satirised the powerful. In this he also found a role in his
community, one of the very hardest challenges for a labouring class poet, as a
chronicler‖of‖the‖troubles‖of‖his‖fellow‖weavers.‖His‖satirical‖verses‖‘were‖signs‖of‖
the fermentation that prevailed amongst operatives, and were read with much
avidity‖by‖his‖fellow‖tradesmen’ (Memoir). Burnside was becoming more political
later in life, and‖‘professed‖to‖be‖a‖Radical‖of‖the‖most‖advanced‖type’,‖though‖he‖
was‖‘more‖inclined‖to‖indicate‖his‖difference‖of‖opinion‖with‖political‖opponents‖
by‖good‖humoured‖banter‖than‖by‖rancorous‖expressions’ (Memoir). He was also,
like a number of other Scottish labouring-class poets of the period, a supporter of
temperance, joining the Good-Templar movement, to which he ‘often contributed
by singing his own songs at the frequent social meetings of the lodge with which
he was connected, to increase the attractions‖of‖such‖assemblies’ (Memoir). No
doubt one of these songs would have been his‖‘Never Drink Onything Stronger
then Tea’‖with‖its‖chorus‖of‖‘Aye‖to‖keep‖sober,‖/‖Aye‖to‖keep‖sober,‖/‖An’‖never‖
drink‖onything‖stronger‖than‖tea’.‖~ Burnside published his poems and songs in
the Paisley and Renfrewshire Gazette,‖and‖in‖‘popular‖periodicals’.‖A selection of his
work was also published posthumously as Lays from the Loom (Paisley, 1889), a
title possibly influenced‖by‖the‖Chartist‖Poet‖James‖Gow’s‖(qv)‖Lays of the Loom
(1845). ~ This posthumous‖collection‖was‖‘issued‖under‖the‖superintendence‖of‖a‖
Committee‖of‖friends‖of‖the‖late‖Mr.‖Burnside’ (which in itself offers evidence of
his success in the local community), and is‖based‖on‖Burnside’s‖declared‖intention‖
of making a gathering of his work. It was also now a way of making money for his
widow, Margaret. The committee say‖they‖‘have‖taken‖steps‖to‖enlarge the list of
subscribers’ Burnside had obtained, which suggests that his plan was already
quite well advanced. The copy I have seen lacks a list of subscribers, though it
may possibly be present in other‖copies.‖The‖‘committee’‖did include‖Burnside’s‖
own‖prepared‖Preface,‖which‖begins‖as‖follows:‖‘Dear‖Reader,‖You‖may‖not find
much of a profound nature in the following pages, but more of a superficial cast;
as, unfortunately, I never had the advantage of even a common school education,
so that my poetical legs were never strong enough to climb the steep and rugged
hill of Parnassus’. He has done his best, he modestly suggests, ‘gathering‖the‖
crumbs‖at‖the‖foot‖of‖Parnassus’.‖Two‖further‖points‖are‖made:‖the‖book, he
correctly says, is‖‘toned‖with‖a‖localism of‖scenery,‖incident‖and‖character’‖which
may give it some interest; and he dedicates the‖book‖to‖‘my‖brethren‖in‖toil,‖with‖
the hope that they will read and think‖over‖its‖contents’‖(*iv+).‖The six-page
memoir that follows supplies most of the biographical information supplied
above. Its author, ‘J.‖C.’, perhaps his publisher, J. Cook, the subject with his
brother‖of‖an‖‘Epistle‖to‖J.‖&‖J.‖Cook,‖of‖the‖‚Paisley‖and‖Renfrewshire‖Gazette‛’,
notes that Burnside did not hold his own poetry in high esteem, regarding many
of his verses‖as‖being‖‘what‖they‖were‖generally‖recognised to be, contributions of
an ephemeral character in connection with the passing life of the community in
which‖he‖dwelt’‖(xi),‖though‖he goes on to find some more notable features in his
pastoral and social verses. ~ The poems, mainly written in Scots, include two
poems on Tannahill, ‘To‖the‖Memory‖of‖Tannahill’‖and‖‘Ode‖to‖the‖Memory‖of‖
Robert‖Tannahill,‖Written‖after‖a‖walk‖over‖Gleniffer‖Braes’, and a set of three
epistles to a friend, Robert Henderson, written in June and July 1874 from
Saltcoats and then Morpeth, two of them in ‘Standard Habbie’ metre, in which the
author’s voice comes through very effectively. (There are other epistles to named
individuals.) The third epistle to Henderson, in which the poet is visiting a
brother and sister in Morpeth, discusses a dramatic train derailment he had been
in. Burnside’s‖good‖humour‖and‖sociability‖are‖everywhere‖evident in his work,
even when he is in Saltcoats to recover from poor health, including a twisted back,
and‖admits‖to‖Henderson‖that‖‘A‖subject‖fit,‖I’ve‖turned‖of‖late‖/‖For‖the‖Craw‖
Road’‖(the‖crow‖road,‖i.e.‖death,‖though‖his editor footnotes it‖as‖‘the‖locale of the
Abbey‖Asylum’).‖Occasional‖poems‖include‖‘Auld‖Robin‖the‖Smith’,‖which‖was‖
‘written‖for‖the‖purpose‖of‖being‖sung‖at‖a‖social‖meeting in the Hay Weighs Inn,
King Street, on 2nd April 1874, at which Mr. Robert Pattison, blacksmith, Castle
Street, was presented with a staff and a purse of guineas by a number of well-
wishers’. Klaus (1998) compares his ‘The‖Idle‖Weaver’‖with‖Ellen‖Johnston’s‖(qv)‖
‘The‖Last‖Sark’.‖‘A‖Voice‖from‖the‖Workshop’‖is‖a‖powerful plea for working-class
pride and unity, and the volume ends with another of his informal epistolary
poems,‖‘Epistle‖to‖Mr.‖George‖Odger,‖London’. Odger, founder and first President
of the First International among many other glittering achievements as a working-
class leader, had evidently come north to give a talk, perhaps in support of the
weavers (the details of this need further research), and is praised in the poem for
speaking‖well‖at‖the‖‘Rifle‖Ha’’,‖resisting‖press‖attacks‖on‖himself‖(common‖in‖this
 period), and speaking out about a wealthy bishop. The poem ends with a
charming, and characteristically framed invitation:‖‘If‖ere‖again‖the‖Tweed‖ye‖
cross,‖/‖An’‖ha’e‖a‖grain‖o’‖time‖to‖lose,‖/‖To‖come‖the‖length‖o’‖Paisley‖Cross,‖/‖Jist‖
draw your plan;‖/‖If‖I’m‖no‖covered‖wi’‖the‖moss,‖/‖I’ll‖see‖ye‖then’. Altogether this
is a very interesting and lively collection. ~ The two major Paisley anthologies
give space for Burnside, and complement each other. Brown prints‖‘Gleniffer‖
Braes’‖and‖‘The‖Wa’‖Gaun‖o’‖the‖Bairn’.‖Leonard‖has‖‘The‖Idle‖Weaver’,‖‘A‖Voice‖
from‖the‖Workshop’,‖‘A‖Union‖Lay’,‖‘Never‖Drink‖Onything‖Stronger‖than‖Tea’,‖
and‖the‖‘Address‖to‖my‖Brither‖Wabsters’.‖~‖Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 170-73;
Leonard (1990), 311-18; Klaus (1998), 45-6; text as cited. [S] [T]
Burr,‖James,‖‘Quilquox’‖(1863-1934), of Tarves, shoemaker, was the oldest surviving
child of Charles Burr (who died in 1926 aged 88) who was also a shoemaker, and
Sarah Logie (who died in 1928 aged 88), who had a family of fourteen of whom
three daughters and seven sons survived to adulthood. After living in
Cumminestown,‖Burr‖acquired‖the‖shoemaker’s‖business‖in‖Methlick,‖a‖village‖
about three miles from his apprenticeship home of Quilquox. Burr was a very
promising student at school, whose interest in poetry began when he won a copy
of the poems of Robert Burns (qv) in a raffle. He began contributing verses to the
People’s Friend, including acrostics, riddle and enigmas, and latterly songs and
poems. He also published in the Aberdeen Free Press, Dundee Weekly News, and
other newspapers. Apart from his poetry, Burr enthusiastically directed in his
spare time the Methlick Amateur Dramatic Society. He and his wife Ann
Chalmers (who died in 1953 aged 89) had two daughters Janet (Nettie) and Annie
(d 1945) and four sons, two of whom were killed in action in the First World War
(Herbert William in 1916 aged nineteen and George in 1917 aged twenty-five).
Their fourth son, Charles, died in Winnipeg in 1945 (aged 55). ~ Ref: Edwards, 10
(1887), 204-8; family history information from Robert Burr, Frank Burr and the
Burr family. [S] [SM]
(?) Bursnell, Sarah (fl. 17??), blind woman who lost her sight at the age of 22,
broadside balladeer, author of a broadsheet ‘Lamentation‖of‖Sarah‖Bursnell,‖
Composed‖by‖Herself,‖a‖Blind‖Woman’ (published by J. Grundy, Printer, Silver
St.). ~ Ref: Hepburn (2001), I, 40; II, 481; University of Oxford Ballads Online. [F]
Butler, Ann (b. 1829), of Abystree, Llawhaden, Pembroke, of a humble family,
Sunday school educated, published A Selection of Sacred Poems, ed. G. S[mith]
(London, 1878). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 74. [W] [F]
Butterworth, James (1771-1837), ‘Paul‖Bobbin’,‖of Ashton-under-Lyne, poet and local
historian, a weaver and a son of two handloom weavers, Sunday School teacher,
later a postmaster, bookseller and stationer; published A Dish of Hodge Podge, or, A
Collection of Poems by Paul Bobbin, Esq. (1800); Rocher Vale (1804). ~ Ref: ODNB,
Wikipedia and online sources. [T]
Byrne, Mary (b. c. 1771, fl. 1789), of Ballyguile, County Wicklow, blind from birth,
daughter of a labouring man. Her ‘genius’‖was‖discovered‖when‖she‖was‖twelve‖
years old. Her poem The Blind Poem, Written by a GIRL, BORN BLIND, and now in her
Eighteenth Year. (Dublin: 1789), pp. 24, was published after a parishioner at her
church‖‘accidentally‖heard’‖her‖reciting‖poetry‖and‖suggested‖that‖publishing‖
these works might alleviate some of her debts. The‖text‖is‖marked‖‘Price‖3s.‖3d.,‖or‖
such‖greater‖price‖as‖the‖affluent‖choose‖to‖bestow‖on‖poverty’,‖and‖the‖poem‖is‖
‘dedicated‖to‖the‖world’,‖with‖two‖lines‖from‖Thomas‖Gray’s‖Elegy in a Country
Churchyard,‖‘Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid / Some heart, once pregnant
with‖celestial‖fire’.‖Elsewhere‖she‖defensively‖emphasises‖her‖disability:‖‘And let
the‖Scorners‖keep‖this‖truth‖in‖mind,‖/‖That‖she‖who‖writes‖is‖unimprov’d‖and‖
blind’‖(7),‖and‖‘The‖Grammar Criticks who in closets pore, / May find some Lines
too long—some‖wanting‖more,‖/‖May‖find‖the‖Persons‖chang’d‖without‖a‖rule,‖/‖
And‖then‖pronounce‖the‖Poetess‖a‖Fool’‖(8). She also uses her blindness
metaphorically to assert her gratitude to God: ‘Who‖hast‖in‖mercy‖been‖kind‖to‖
me, / Knowing my heart and its Propensity: / To veil in darkness my exterior
Sight,‖/‖Yet‖shew’st‖thy‖wonders‖by‖internal‖Light’‖(p.‖7).‖The‖‘parishioner’‖who‖
writes‖the‖preface‖explains‖that‖the‖‘short,‖sudden,‖and‖frequent‖Transitions‖from‖
one [subject] to another’,‖happen‖because,‖‘Had‖the‖whole‖of‖her‖works‖been‖
printed,‖they‖would‖have‖made‖a‖large‖and‖an‖expensive‖Volume’. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912), 52; Jackson (1993), 48; Carpenter (2017); inf. Dawn Whatman.
[F] [I] [C18]
Bywater, Abel (b. 1795), of Sheffield, awl-blade maker, published two Yorkshire
dialect‖poems‖in‖the‖England‖anthology,‖‘Sheffield‖Cutler’s‖Song’‖and‖‘Owd‖
Pinder’.‖Between 1830 and 1834 Bywater published a number of prose
‘conversations’‖entitled‖The Sheffield Dialect: Be a Sheevild Chap. Other prose works
include The Wheelswarf Chronicle (1832), and for twenty years from 1836 The
Shevvield Chap’s Annual, the first of many West Riding publications of this sort (see
also‖e.g.‖John‖Hartley’s‖(qv),‖The Halifax Clock and Thomas Blackah’s‖(qv)‖‘Nattie‖
Nydds’‖publications). ~ Ref: Moorman (1917), xxix-xxxi, 22-4; England (1983), [5],
30-1 and 59-60.
Cadenhead, William (b. 1819), of Aberdeen, worked in a factory from the age of nine,
published The Prophecy (1839); Flights of Fancy and Lays of Bon-accord (1853).
Edwards indexes him as a wine-merchant. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 347-50. [S]
Cadwaladr, David (1752-1834), smallholder and Calvinistic Methodist preacher, self-
educated‖(‘taught‖himself‖reading‖by‖noting‖the‖letters‖on‖sheep’s‖backs‖and‖then‖
picking‖his‖way‖through‖the‖Prayer‖Book’,‖DWB)‖and‖‘highly‖regarded’‖poet‖and‖
preacher. ~ Ref: DWB; ODNB (entry‖on‖his‖daughter,‖‘Elizabeth‖Davis‖(1789-
1860)’).‖*W+
Cadwaladr or Kadwaladr, Sion (John, Sionyn) (fl. 1650-65), of Llanycil, Merioneth,
writer of interludes and ballads, self-described‖as‖‘a‖sad‖creature,‖without‖brother‖
or sister, stubborn,‖and‖always‖poor’,‖transported‖to‖America‖for‖seven‖years‖for‖
stealing half-a-crown; his interludes were written on his return. ~ Ref: OCLW
(1986); DWB. [W] [OP]
Caedmon (d. 680), of Whitby, unlearned stockman (Hood calls him a ploughman) at
Whitby Abbey, later a monk, often described as the first English poet, in the sense
of being the first whose name is known. His story is told, and the alliterative
‘Hymn’,‖which‖came‖to‖him‖in‖a‖vision‖survives,‖in‖Bede’s‖Historia Ecclesiastica (c.
731). ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 283-9; Tweddell (1872), 9-20; Richard Hamer (ed. and
trans.), A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse (London: Faber, 1970); ODNB. [OP]
Cairns, Arthur (b. 1840), of Dundee, spinner, powerloom tenter, weaver (weaving
foreman), worked in India in a jute factory. His father died when he was ten, and
he was consequently sent to work in s spinning mill. After a scanty education, he
learned more at evening classes. He became a powerloom tenter, and worked for
some years in India, running the weaving department of a large jute factory on
the banks of the Hooghly river in West Bengal. Returning to Dundee, he held a
similar post. He began writing verse later in his life, and his songs became
popular at social gatherings. Edwards records that for seventeen years Cairns was
‘one‖of‖the‖most‖energetic‖members‖of‖the‖Dundee‖Burns‖Club’,‖who‖could‖‘sing‖
with‖touching‖pathos‖his‖own‖songs’,‖and‖possessed‖‘histrionic‖powers‖of‖no‖
mean order’.‖He‖was‖widely‖admired‖for‖his kindly nature and philanthropic
work with the poor. Edwards paints a picture of a passionate poet, interested in
the‖feelings‖of‖‘daily‖life’.‖He‖includes‖four‖of‖Cairns’‖poems,‖‘The‖Land‖o’‖the‖
Brose’,‖‘Love’s‖Victory’, ‘Cauld‖was‖th‖Blast’‖and‖‘Oh,‖Weel‖Do‖I‖Mind’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 6 (1883), 96-101; Reid, Bards (1897), 81-2. [S] [T]
(?) Calder, Robert MacLean (1841-95), of Duns, Berwickshire, draper, emigrated to
America, returning in 1882 to work in shoe-trimming and embroidery trade,
published A Berwickshire Bard: The Songs and Poems of Robert MacLean Calder, ed.
W. S. Crockett (Paisley and London, 1897). ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 42-9 and 16,
[lix], who gives a death date of 1896; Crockett (1893), 254-60; Reilly (1994), 81. [S]
[T] [SM]
Calder, William (fl. 1863), published Poems, Moral and Miscellaneous, with a Few Songs.
By a Journeyman Mechanic (Edinburgh, 1863). ~ Ref: COPAC. [S]
(?) Callanan, Helena (b. c.‖1864),‖of‖Cork,‖‘The‖Frances‖Brown‖[qv] of the South’;‖
blind poet, connected with the Asylum for the Blind, Infirmary Road, Cork;
published eleven poems between 1879 and 1896 in the Irish Monthly. ~ Ref:
Colman (1996) 49. [I] [F]
Cameron,‖Archibald‖(d.‖1887),‖of‖Edinburgh,‖builder’s‖clerk‖in‖London,‖disabled by
rheumatism, admitted to the workhouse,‖‘died‖in‖Dartmouth‖infirmary‖after‖three‖
 years‖as‖an‖inmate’‖(Reilly). He published An Invalid’s Pastime: Musings in the
Infirmary Ward (London: Wyman & Sons, 1878). In the Preface‖he‖writes:‖‘The
effusions were composed to wile away the tedious hours consequent on long
confinement to a sick room and sick ward. Bedridden and permanently disabled
by rheumatism, the use of each limb gone, except the partial use of the right hand,
lying on his back in bed, in a rigid state, with no prospect of a change —only the
change that will come by death—the author, under these circumstances, ventures
before the public, not in the character of one aspiring to fame, but with the less
noble aspiration of deriving, if possible, some small pecuniary benefit from his
labours. The volume may, perhaps, resemble a small flower-garden, where weeds
predominate,‖and‖where‖the‖flowers‖are‖‚few and far‖between‛;‖however,‖when‖
such is the case, the flowers when found are generally more prized, simply
because‖they‖are‖so‖scarce’.‖Edwards‖makes‖reference‖to‖‘several‖small‖collections‖
of‖poems’‖but‖no‖other‖collection‖has‖been‖identified‖so‖far. He prints three of
Cameron’s‖verses,‖‘The‖Scottish‖Hospital’,‖‘Kiss‖and‖Make‖It‖Up‖Again’,‖and‖‘A‖
Plea‖for‖Pussy’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 239-43; Reilly (2000), 80. [S]
Cameron, John (d. 1850), of Dundee, bagpipe-maker and player, piper to the Dundee
Highland Society, later mentally deranged, and took his own life. ~ Ref: Reid,
Bards (1897), 85. [S]
Cameron, William (c. 1787-1851), ‘Hawkie’,‖probably of St Ninians, Stirlingshire, son
of a mashman, street pedlar, beggar, songwriter, travelling player, fortune teller,
travelling in Scotland and the north of England, and esp. in Glasgow. Cameron
and James McIndoe (‘Jamie Blue’, qv) were rival criers and vendors in Glasgow
during the 1820s. Leslie Shepard quotes from the very interesting
autobiographical notes on his wanderings and adventures, while the excellent
ODNB entry by David M. Hopkin conveys the diversity of his precarious
existence. ~ Ref: Shepard (1973), 94-7, 130; ODNB. [S]
Cameron, William C. (1822-89), of Dumbarton-castle, son of a sergeant and
schoolmaster, stable boy, shoemaker, foreman in Glasgow, bankrupt
businessman, employed in Menzies, Glasgow, published Light, Shade and Toil:
Poems, with an Introductory note by W. C. Smith (Glasgow and London, 1875).
[Note: this‖may‖be‖the‖same‖‘W. C.‖Cameron’‖who‖Brown‖says‖was‖‘a‖fireman‖in‖
Backhall Factory—a‖coarse‖fellow’,‖and‖published Mall Jamieson’s Ghost, or The
Elder’s Dream, Founded on Fact, with Other Poems (Paisley, 1844), especially if
Brown’s‖‘fireman’‖(repeated‖by‖Leonard)‖were‖a‖typo‖for‖‘foreman’,‖since‖Macleod‖
says William C. Cameron was a foreman in a large shoemaking establishment for
13 years.] Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 274-8 and 12 (1889), xxii; Murdoch (1883), 217-
21; Macleod (1889), 157-59; Brown (1889-90), I, 436; Leonard (1990), 180; Reilly
(2000), 80. [S] [SM]
Campbell,‖Archibald‖(b.‖1855),‖of‖Dumbarton,‖painter,‖‘the‖poet-laureate of football
players’. ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 206-12; Edwards, 14 (1891), 66-69. [S]
Campbell,‖Mrs‖C.‖(b.‖1844),‖of‖Alexandria,‖Vale‖of‖Leven,‖cooper’s‖daughter,‖married‖
a master brass founder; composed poems from the age of thirteen; poems
included in Macleod. ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 187-92. [F] [S]
Campbell, Dorothea Primrose (1792-1863), of‖Lerwick,‖Shetland,‖a‖surgeon’s‖
daughter and a distant relative of Sir Walter Scott, her father died when she was
sixteen, and there was family debt. She worked as a governess in England, and
unable to get further work applied to the Royal Literary Fund in 1844, being
awarded £30. She worked as a teacher in Sevenoaks, and set up a school for girls
in Lerwick. She died in the Aged Governesses Asylum, Kentish Town, London.
She published by subscription Poems (Inverness, 1811); Poems (London, 1816); and
the novel Harley Radington: A Tale (London, 1821). ~ Ref: Jackson (1993), 49. [F] [S]
Campbell, Duncan (fl. 1798), of Scottish origin, private soldier stationed at Cork,
published A New Gaelic Song-Book (Cork, 1798). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 55. [I]
[S] [C18]
Campbell, Duncan (fl. 1825), cotton spinner, published Miscellaneous Poems and Songs
(Carlisle: George Irwin, 1825), his only publication. ~ Ref: inf. Bob Heyes. [T]
Campbell, Elizabeth Duncan (1804-78),‖‘The‖Lochee‖Poetess’,‖of‖Lochee,‖born at
Quarryhead, by the ruins of Castle Vane, Edzell. She was the fifth of eight
children of a ploughman, and her mother died when she was three. She began
work as a cowtender and whin gatherer at the age of seven, receiving one quarter
session of schooling. She was then in service as a maid at various farms, and was
taken by one of her employers for two years to France. After returning to Scotland
she married William Campbell, a flax dresser. Since she had learned to work the
handloom, for two years after marriage she filled pirns to four weavers. She and
her husband and their children lived in Brechin and Arbroath. He suffered an
accident which permanently disabled him and led to his death, and all four of
their sons died, two in accidents. (Wilson locates her in Tannadice, Forfarshire,
describing her as a‖‘poetess‖in‖humble‖life...entirely‖self-taught’.)‖Campbell
published small collections of her verses to enhance the family earnings. ~ Her
publications include Burns’ Centenary: An Ode, and Other Poems (Arbroath, 1862)
(Robert Burns, qv); Poems (four series, Arbroath, 1862, 1863, 1865 and 1867); Poems
(Arbroath: printed by the author, 1872). The third series of Poems by Elizabeth
Campbell (Arbroath, 1865), included ‘Cora’s‖House’,‖‘The Prison‖Cell’,‖‘The‖
Criminal’s‖Death-Bell’,‖‘Winter’‖and‖‘The‖Bereaved‖Mother’.‖Her‖fullest‖collection,‖
Songs of My Pilgrimage, has an introduction by George Gilfillan, a remarkable and
beautifully written nine-page autobiographical sketch, and a photograph
(Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1875). Gilfillan’s‖introduction‖describes‖her‖reading:‖
Scott’s‖novels,‖some‖history,‖but very little literature. Other notable poems by
 Campbell are‖‘The‖Fairy‖King’s‖Wedding’,‖‘The‖White‖Lily’,‖‘Willie‖Bill’s‖Burn’,‖
‘Nelly’,‖‘Struck‖by‖Lightning’,‖‘The‖Spanish‖Rock’,‖‘My‖Infant‖Day‖and‖My‖Hair‖
Grown‖Grey’,‖‘My‖Tramp‖to‖See‖the‖Queen’,‖‘Threescore‖and‖Ten’ (published in
the People’s Journal, 15 May 1875, and reprinted by Blair),‖‘First‖Love’,‖‘The‖Graves‖
on‖My‖Sons’,‖‘The‖Shadows‖on‖the‖Wall’,‖‘Ossian’s‖Grave’,‖and‖‘The Death of
Willie, My Second Son’. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 514-15; Edwards, 1 (1880), 135-38;
Reid, Bards (1897), 86-90; Bold (1997); Boos (1998); Reilly (2000), 81; Boos (2002b),
148-50; Boos (2008), 120-45 (includes photograph and autobiography); Boos (2010);
Blair (2016), 126-7; Boos (2017), 117-28, 143-4; further inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Campbell, George (bap. 1761 d. 1817), of Kilmarnock, shoemaker poet, ordained
minister of the Secession church of Stockbridge, Midlothian, 1794, published
Poems on Several Occasions (Kilmarnock, 1787). ~ Ref: LC 3, 131-2; ODNB, ESTC. [S]
[SM] [LC3] [C18]
Campbell, James, of Ballymure (1758-1818), weaver, born near Larne, Co. Antrim,
member‖of‖the‖Samuel‖Thomson‖circle.‖According‖to‖Hewitt,‖‘Campbell‖was‖the‖
most socially outspoken, the most class-conscious, of weaver bards. He composed
an‖‘Inscription‖for‖the‖Tombstone‖of‖Thomas‖Paine’<which‖had‖171‖octosyllabic‖
lines—implying a huge headstone—expounding his views on priest-craft and
extolling the virtue of social justice. The Posthumous Works of James Campbell of
Ballymure (Belfast, 1820; Ballymena/Ballyclare, 1870) was published to raise money
for his widow and children. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 55; Hewitt (1974), p. 53;
Jennifer‖Orr,‖‘Constructing‖the‖Ulster‖Labouring-Class Poet: The Case of Samuel
Thomson’,‖in‖Blair & Gorji (2012), 34-54; inf. Bridget Keegan. [I] [T]
Campbell, John (1808-92),‖‘Will‖Harrow’,‖‘Chartist‖John’,‖of‖Kinclaven,‖Perthshire,‖
agricultural‖and‖general‖labourer,‖skilled‖in‖‘digging,‖draining,‖trenching‖and‖
other‖work‖with‖the‖spade’‖(Blair),‖Chartist,‖worked‖in‖Glasgow,‖Dundee,‖and‖
South Africa. He was a long term contributor of poems to the People’s Journal, and
posthumously published Poems and Songs of Will Farrow (John Campbell), with a
short autobiography, both incorporated into Robert Menzies Fergusson’s‖
fictionalised account of Campbell’s‖life, A Village Poet (Paisley and London: A.
Gardner, 1897). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 164-7; Blair (2016), 45-6, 81-2, 112-14. [S]
[C]
(?) Campbell, John (1823-97),‖‘Iain‖Campbell’,‖‘The‖Ledaig‖Bard’,‖of‖Oban,‖
Argyllshire, Gaelic poet and Sunday School teacher, son of a schoolteacher, grew
up in Ledaig, Benderloch, moved to Glasgow, set up in business and worked in a
Glasgow warehouse, later returning in poor health to Ledaig where he ran a shop
and was postmaster. He published Poems (Edinburgh: McLachlan and Stewart,
1884); Yggdrassill and Other Poems (London, 1898). Campbell received many
literary honours. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 35-48; Reilly (1994), 83; text of Poems via
archive.org; online open-access sources. [S]
Campbell, John (b. 1846),‖of‖Kilburnie,‖Ayrshire,‖a‖‘descendant‖of‖Covenanters’‖and‖
the son of a cotton-spinner‖who‖was,‖however,‖‘starved‖out‖of‖the‖place’‖as‖a‖
result‖of‖which‖his‖son‖was‖‘nursed‖in‖the‖lap‖of‖poverty’.‖The‖family‖moved‖to‖
Glasgow when he was five, and for two years he attended the school attached to
the factory in the east end of the city where his father worked. They moved then
to Kelvin Street, to the north-west of the city, and Edwards notes that although
the‖‘onward‖march‖of‖the‖great‖city’‖had‖swept‖the‖area’s‖rusticity‖away,‖it‖was‖
then a semi-rural‖‘outlying‖suburb’‖replete‖with‖market‖gardens,‖‘rows‖of‖fruit’,‖
and‖the‖river‖Kelvin,‖with‖its‖‘poetic’‖spots‖of‖Kelvin‖Grove‖and‖the‖Three‖Tree‖
Well (for examples of verse on these places see Ellen Johnson’s‖‘Address‖to‖Kelvin‖
Water’‖*LC6,‖115+,‖Andrew‖Reston’s‖‘Kelvingrove’,‖and‖Jessie‖Russell’s‖‘The‖Three‖
Tree‖Well’‖*LC6,‖292+;‖qqv). For Campbell the area was his childhood idyll to
which his memory often returned. At thirteen he was apprenticed as a compositor
in Jamaica Street, in the commercial heart of Glasgow, and in the second year of
his apprenticeship, according to Edwards, he was inspired by the poems of Hugh
MacDonald (qv), which he was then typesetting, into trying his own
compositions. He published Wayside Warblings (1874; enlarged edition 1883). Both
editions‖of‖this‖collection‖were‖for‖‘private‖circulation’,‖and‖are‖so‖far‖untraced‖
(COPAC, LoC, Glasgow Mitchell Library catalogue, etc.): possibly they were
small-print-run pamphlet publications. Some of his poems were set to music as
songs. Edwards includes four poems, in Scots and English:‖‘A‖Moorland‖Spring’,‖
‘Hail!‖Sweet‖Season’,‖‘Oor‖Lambs‖in‖the‖Shepherd’s‖Fauld’,‖and‖‘The Hour I Meet
Thee’ ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 200-5. [S]
Campbell, John (b. c. 1900s), of Annathill, New Monkland, miner, Christian poet. ~
Ref: Knox (1930), 278-9. [S] [M] [OP]
Campbell, Samuel Scott (b. 1826), of Abercorn, Linlithgowshire, son of a shoemaker,
his mother a weaver, Campbell was a self-taught shoemaker who published
poems in the newspapers. The family moved to Glasgow, and after the break-up
of his family and the death of his mother he moved, aged 16 and still almost
illiterate, to Aberdeen, then back to Glasgow where he attended a night-school.
Finally he settled in Edinburgh, beginning an intensive programe of self-
education, learning French and other languages, and finding work as a foreman in
a boot and shoe warehouse. His poems were published in‖‘several‖of‖the‖leading‖
weekly and evening newspapers’;‖Edwards‖includes five poems, in English and
Scots,‖‘Children,‖Joyous‖Tripping’,‖‘Oot‖o’‖Wark’,‖‘A‖Sleeping‖Child’‖‘The‖Lass‖to‖
Mak’‖a‖Wife’‖and‖‘Spring‖is‖Nearing’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 266-71. [S] [SM]
Campbell, Thomas (b. 1837), of Alton, Loudon, Ayrshire, herder, weaver, musician,
vocalist, travelling salesman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 25-6. [S]
Campbell, Thomas (b. 1855), of Lisnagarvey, Lisburn, County Down, millworker,
published Lays from Lisnagarvey (Belfast, 1884); published in the local newspapers
 using the pseudonym ‘Pat‖McBlashmole’. A 1917 article in the Lisburn Standard
(one of a series on local poets included‖in‖O’Donoghue), gives some very precise
details about Campbell, probably following an interview with him. Campbell was
born in Sandy Row, Belfast, and his family moved to Derriaghy, Lisburn when he
was about two, then to Low Row, also in Lisburn, where he was still living in
1916. He attended Tullynacross National School and Market Square Presbyterian
Church School, Lisburn, and at the age of eleven went to work for William
Barbour & Sons, Hilden, as a millworker, in 1916 completing fifty years of
working for this firm. Campbell was a founder of the Lisburn Co-operative
Society and its first treasurer and president, from 1892-9.‖He‖‘served‖on‖the‖
committee for twenty-five years, and was closely identified with the early
struggle‖of‖the‖Society,‖and‖during‖the‖period‖of‖its‖early‖prosperity.’‖He‖became‖a‖
freemason in 1877 and was active in this movement and in the Orange Institution.
His 1884 volume, with 66 poems in it, explains: ‘They‖were composed by a mill
operative in his leisure moments, who from boyhood has been nurtured among
the whirl of belts and the din of machinery—no enviable situation for the
cultivation of the Muses.’‖Between‖1884‖and‖1900‖he‖printed‖many‖uncollected
poems in the Lisburn Standard.‖‘Many‖of‖his‖poems‖deal‖with‖Masonic‖subjects.’‖
The‖article‖prints‖an‖example,‖‘Derraighy’,‖which‖follows‖a‖song-structure in
praises of his masonic lodge‖(St.‖Patrick’s Lodge) for its brotherliness and the
ideals‖‘Of‖Faith,‖and‖Hope,‖and‖Love’.‖Also‖printed‖in‖the‖article‖are‖two‖poems‖
from‖the‖collection,‖a‖descriptive‖poem‖in‖praise‖of‖‘Maghraleave’‖(‘Sweet‖
Maghraleave’s‖green‖hills‖and‖vales’),‖and‖a‖comic‖verse,‖‘Paddy’s‖Wooing. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912), 55; James‖Carson,‖‘Some‖Extracts‖from‖the‖Records‖of‖Old‖
Lisburn and the Manor of Killultagh: Lisburn Writers from The Poets of Ireland,
1912,‖Part‖2’,‖Lisburn Standard, 12 January‖1917,‖reproduced‖on‖the‖blog‖‘An‖
Extract‖of‖Reflection’,‖2011;‖Reilly (1994), 84. [I]
Candler, Ann More (1740-1814), of Yoxford, Suffolk, daughter of a glover, who
learned to read and write by imitating her father; later, made destitute by her
husband’s‖drinking,‖she‖entered‖the‖workhouse‖at‖Tattingstone‖(the‖subject‖of‖her‖
1802‖poem,‖‘Reflections‖on‖my‖own‖situation...‖‘),‖where‖she‖gave‖birth‖to‖twin‖
boys. She may have worked in domestic service. Scott McEathron in LC2
describes‖her‖life‖as‖a‖‘bleak‖chronicle‖of‖hardship‖and‖travail’,‖though‖perhaps‖
‘not‖untypical‖of‖women‖of‖her‖class’. She published by subscription Poetical
Attempts...with a short narrative of her life, by Ann Candler, a Suffolk Cottager (Ipswich
and London, 1803), thanks to the efforts of a group of local women, prominent
amongst them the poet Elizabeth Cobbold (an indefatigable figure who managed
to crowbar no less than fifteen Cobbolds onto the subscription list, along with
many other individuals of all classes).‖Candler’s‖‘short‖narrative’‖is‖especially‖
interesting,‖a‖piece‖of‖writing‖‘at once deeply personal and a vivid, even shocking
 piece of social history’‖(LC2),‖telling‖of‖the‖hardship‖of‖her‖life,‖of forty years of
being married to a man whom she loved but whose deep irresponsibility and
tendency to abscond at key moments, in many ways ruined her life, and of the
twenty years she spent in the workhouse. As‖McEathron‖points‖out,‖‘the Memoirs
provides a level of confessional detail rarely found in the highly conventional
prefaces to labouring-class‖volumes;‖Candler’s‖narrative‖reminds‖us‖that‖there‖
must be equally powerful human stories behind the sketchier, less forthcoming
accounts‖of‖many‖of‖her‖contemporaries’.‖Alongside it sits her‖poem,‖‘Reflections‖
on‖my‖own‖situation’,‖which‖tells‖the‖story‖of‖her‖life‖and‖her‖fall‖into‖the‖
workhouse in a different way. Her poems often tend to deal with incidents in her
life. She lost three of her nine children in infancy, with two more disappearing,
presumably‖into‖the‖‘great‖wen’‖of‖London,‖and‖the‖first‖poem‖in‖the‖book,‖‘A‖
Mothers‖Feelings‖for‖the‖Loss‖of‖Her‖Child’‖reflects‖these‖experiences.‖Among‖the‖
other poems, there are thoughtful pieces like ‘Serious‖Reflections‖on‖the‖Times’
looking out from her life to the broader picture of a divided society, moralising its
horrors. Candler’s‖‘Stanzas‖addressed‖to‖the‖inhabitants‖of‖Yoxford,‖in‖1787’, was
included in The Suffolk Garland (Ipswich and London, 1818), 41-2. ~ Ref: Sheila M.
Hardy, The Story of Anne Candler (Hanley Swan, Worcestershire: The Self
Publishing Association, 1988); Landry (1990), 273-80; Jackson (1993), 49-50; Sales
(1994), 265-6; Feldman (1997), 180-4; Cranbrook (2001), 53, 173; Kord (2003), 259-
60; C. R. Johnson, cat. 49 (2006), item 55; Higginbotham (2012), 18-19; LC 4, 1-20;
ODNB. [LC4] [F]
Canning, Dan (b. 1851), of Glasgow, printer, singer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 363-4.
[S]
Cannings, Thomas, (fl. 1800), private soldier in the 61st Regiment, published ‘The‖
Unfortunate‖Lovers’,‖Hibernian Magazine (1790), collected in his Detached Pieces in
Verse (Cork, 1800). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 57. [I]
Capern, Edward (1819-94),‖‘The‖Rural‖Postman‖of‖Bideford’,‖of‖Tiverton,‖Devon,‖
baker’s‖son,‖worked‖in‖a‖lace-factory, then as a letter-carrier, later lectured in the
Midlands, a friend of John Gregory (qv). He was the author of Poems (second
edition 1856, third edition, London, 1859); The Devonshire Melodist: A Collection of
Original Songs by Edward Capern, Rural Postman, Bideford, Devon, Transcribed for the
Voice and Pianoforte, under the Author's Direction, by T. Murby (London: Boosey &
Sons, [1861]); Wayside Warbles (London, 1865; second edition, London and
Birmingham 1870); Sungleams and Shadows (London and Birmingham, 1881); and
the later selection of his work The Postman’s Poems (Bristol: Bellman Press, 1939). A
copy of Sungleams and Shadows listed by Jarndyce in their Catalogue 211 (2015)
notes an authorial inscription ‘To‖Frank‖Denton‖Esq‖from‖his‖friend‖and‖brother‖
minstrel,‖Edward‖Capern,‖Combe‖May‖10th‖1881’‖and‖the‖signature‖‘Frank‖
William‖Denton’.‖In‖2016‖Roger‖Collicott‖Books‖listed‖an autograph letter from
 Capern to William Pengelly, the geologist, dated 28 January 1858, and Lesley
Aitchinson Books listed a letter to a J. H. Haydon dated 27 November 1877. ~ Ref:
William Ormond, Recollections of Edward Capern (Bristol, [1860?]); W. Ormond, An
Hour with Edward Capern. An Address (Bristol: Taylor, undated pamphlet, c.
1860s.); Miles (1891), X, xiv; Wright (1896), 71-3; Maidment (1987), 137, 147-9;
Reilly (1994), 85; Reilly (2000), 83; Ilfra Goldberg, Edward Capern: The Postman-Poet
(Cambridge: Vanguard Press, 2009); LC 5, 289-300; ODNB; NTU. [LC5]
Capitein (or Captain), Jacobus Elisa Johannes (1717-47), former slave, brought to
Holland and educated at the University of Leyden, later becoming a missionary.
He wrote‖a‖Latin‖dissertation,‖‘Is Slavery‖Contrary‖to‖Christian‖Liberty’,‖which‖
includes a long poem. ~ Ref: Basker (2002), 84-6. [C18]
Carey, Mr, first name unknown (fl. 1815), an Armagh stone-mason, referred to as a
poet in the Newry Magazine, I (1815), 138. Poems include an epitaph on a
‘clergyman‖inordinately‖fond‖of‖oysters’:‖‘Behold‖the‖spot‖where‖A*verell+‖lies,‖/‖
Amid these lonely cloisters! / Michael! if he will not rise / At the last trump, cry
‚Oysters!‛’. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 57. [I]
Carleton, William (1794-1869),‖of‖Tyrone‖peasant‖stock,‖‘hedge-school’‖educated,‖a
Protestant convert, was a successful novelist. He wrote a great deal of fiction and
non-fiction prose (including numerous contributions to political and religious
debates). He was also a poet, and wrote the ballad of Sir Turlough. There are two
posthumous volumes: Farm Legends (New York: Harper, 1876), and Farm Ballads
(London, Routledge, 1889). Late in life Carleton received a Civil List pension for
his work. His son, William Carleton junior, became a leading Australian poet. ~
Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 59; Taylor (1951), 311-16, 389; Sutton (1995), 169
(manuscripts, letters); ODNB; NTU. [I]
Carmichael, Daniel (b. 1826), of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, son of stonemason,
engineer on Clydeside and Merseyside, published Cosietattle, and Other Poems
(Liverpool, 1888), Rhyming Lilts and Doric Lays (1880). ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 201-
6; Beveridge (1885), 71-75; Edwards, 9 (1886), 88-96; Reilly (1994), 85. [S]
Carmichael, Peter (b. 1807), of Kirkfieldbank, Clydeside, kinsman of banished
Jacobites, apprenticed shoemaker, later station-master at Douglas, Lanarkshire,
published Clydesdale poems (Hamilton and Glasgow, 1884). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4
(1882), 230-33; Reilly (1994), 86 (misdating birth as 1897, clearly a simply typo);
NTU. [S] [R] [SM]
(?) Carmichael, Rebekah, later Hay (fl. 1790-1806), orphaned young, left destitute as a
widow; Robert Burns [qv] subscribed to her Poems by Miss Carmichael (Edinburgh:
printed by the author and sold by Peter Hill, 1790), full text on Google Books. ~
Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 445-7; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 161. [F] [S] [C18]
Carnduff, Thomas (1886-1956),‖of‖Belfast,‖‘The‖Shipyard‖Poet’,‖son‖of‖working-class
parents, born in the Little May Street district of Belfast, worked at many jobs
 including Belfast shipyard, which proved inspiration for many of his poems. He
had‖two‖plays‖put‖on‖at‖Dublin’s‖Abbey‖Theatre,‖Workers and Machinery (1933),
and two in Belfast (Traitors, 1934 and Castlereagh, 1935). Carnduff published Songs
from the Shipyard and Other Poems (1924) and Song of an Out of Work (1932);
reprinted together as Poverty Street and Other Poems (1993). He also wrote radio
plays and popular newspaper articles. His‖archive‖is‖at‖Queen’s‖University,‖
Belfast. ~ Ref: John Gray, Thomas Carnduff: Life and Writings (Belfast: Lagan, 1994);
Wikipedia and other online sources. [I] [OP]
Carnegie, David (1826-91),‖of‖Arbroath,‖Forfarshire,‖bookseller’s‖messenger,‖
handloom then powerloom weaver, published a pamphlet collection, Lays and
Lyrics from the Factory (Arbroath: Thomas Buncle, 1879). Blair‖reprints‖his‖poem‖‘I‖
Sigh‖Not‖for‖Greatness’,‖published in the People’s Journal, 26 June 1858 and signed
‘A‖Son‖of‖Tammas‖April‖1858’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 189-91 and 16, [lix]; Reid,
Bards (1897), 106-7 (gives death date of 1890); Reilly (2000), 83; Blair (2016), 10-11.
[S] [T]
Carnie, Ethel (1886-1962), later Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, of Oswaldtwistle,
Lancashire,‖cotton‖worker,‖poet‖and‖novelist,‖‘the‖early‖twentieth-century’s‖best-
known working-class‖woman‖poet’‖(Boos);‖published Rhymes of the Factory (1907
and 1908); Songs of a Factory Girl (Manchester, 1911); Voices of Womanhood (1914),
and ten novels (as Ethel Carnie Holdsworth), plus short stories and articles. Her
works are now being edited and re-published in a series overseen by Nicola
Wilson: see This Slavery, ed. Nicola Wilson (Nottingham: Trent Editions, 2010);
Helen of Four Gates, introduced by Pamela Fox (Edinburgh: Kennedy and Boyd,
2016). There is a copy of Songs of a Factory Girl in the surviving library of Alfred
Williams (qv), held in Swindon Public Library. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 304-7; John
Lucas, Radical Twenties: Writing, Politics and Culture (Nottingham: Five Leaves,
1997); Susan‖Alves,‖‘‚While‖working‖at‖my‖frame‛:‖The‖Poetic‖Production‖of‖Ethel‖
Carnie’,‖Victorian Poetry, 38, no. 1 (2000), 77-93; Boos (2008), 252-78, includes
photographs of the author; Boos (2010). On Carnie’s popular fiction see Nicola
Wilson,‖‘Politicising‖the‖Home‖in‖Ethel‖Carnie‖Holdsworth’s‖This Slavery (1925)
and‖Ellen‖Wilkinson’s‖Clash (1929)’,‖Key Words, 5 (2007), 26-42, ‘Ethel‖Carnie‖
Holdsworth: Genre, Serial Fiction, and Popular Reading Patterns’,‖in‖Goodridge‖&‖
Keegan (2017), 311-26, and Home in British Working-Class Fiction (Abingdon:
Routledge, 2015), 65-81 and passim. [F] [T] [OP]
Carr, James (b. 1825), boot and shoemaker of Ipswich, author of a poem on the
Crimean veterans, Heroes Wreaths; Or Tributes to the Brave (Ipswich, 1857). ~ Ref:
Cranbrook (2001), 144, 173; Copsey (2002), 68. [SM]
Carrick, John Donald (1788-1837), of Glasgow, of humble parents, worked variously
in Glasgow and‖London,‖in‖an‖architect’s‖office,‖in a pottery, opening a
china/stoneware establishment, and later as a travelling agent and a journalist.
 Carrick wrote songs published in Whistle-Binkie, and a collection of Scottish
anecdotes, The Laird of Logan (1835).—There is a copy of this in the surviving
library of John Clare (qv), presented to him by William Smith of Alloa in 1837. ~
Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 91-3; Glasgow Poets (1906), 190-94; Powell (1964), item 148;
Sutton (1995), 183 (manuscripts, letters); ODNB. [S]
Carroll, John (fl. 1860), of Dublin, boot and shoemaker, published Circular of the Poet
Shoemaker: Being a Few Poems Promiscuously Selected from the Volume Preparing for
Publication (Dublin, 1860). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 61; Reilly (2000), 86. [I] [SM]
Carson, Joseph (fl. 1831), of Kilpike, weaver, published Poems, Odes, Songs, and Satires
(1831). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [T]
Carter, Thomas (b. 1792), of Colchester, later of London, tailor, poet and author of
technical books and an autobiography. Carter was from a family of six, the son of
a‖‘husbandman‖and‖general‖labourer‖to‖a‖wine‖merchant’,‖and‖a‖domestic‖servant‖
and dame school‖mistress.‖He‖attended‖his‖mother’s‖dame‖school,‖and‖then‖a‖
dissenting school to the age of eleven or twelve, then worked casually as a horse-
minder when he left school, later becoming a woollen draper, and a tailor. He was
an overseer during the 1812 elections, a Sunday school teacher, and in 1824 was
elected a member of a literary society. He ran his own tailoring business and was
also a landlord. In 1810 Carter moved to London, returning to Colchester before
moving to London again to avoid enlistment; by 1812 he had returned again to
Colchester, and thereafter moved between the city and the town (London, c. 1815-
19; Colchester, 1819-36; London, 1836-). Burnett et al say that he wrote poetry,
‘much‖of‖it‖published’, presumably in the newspapers and journals of the time.
Burnett et al describe him as a rather high-minded churchgoer, careful in his
friendships and serious in his reading, an‖‘early‖Victorian,‖self-educated,
deferential‖working‖man’‖whose‖autobiography‖‘was‖calculated‖not‖to‖offend‖
sense of propriety,‖decency‖and‖respectability’.‖However‖it‖does‖contain‖much‖of‖
value, both on conditions in the tailoring trade and on aspects of the wider
political and social world. It has accordingly been drawn on by a number of
historians (an example is cited in the references below). Carter published a Guide
to Trade (London: Charles Knight & Co., 1838-42), The Manual for Apprentices; and
his autobiography, first published in the Penny Post, 11 May 1844, in two volumes,
Memoirs of a Working Man, with an Introduction by Charles Knight (London, 1845)
and A Continuation of the Memoirs of a Working Man, Illustrated by Some Original
Sketches of Character (London: Charles Cox, c. 1850). Burnett et al list also [Two]
Lectures on Taste (Colchester, 1834), a volume of lectures given to the Philosophical
Society of Society, though this is listed elsewhere as being by James Carter of
Colchester (1798-1855). It is therefore possible that other details in the Burnett et al
entry, drawn on in my entry, above, could relate to this other figure.) ~ Ref:
Vincent (1981), 35; Burnett et al (1984), nos. 131-2; Cross (1985), 128, 151-2; Pamela
 Sharpe,‖‘The‖Bowels‖of‖Compassion: A Labouring Family and the Law, c.1790-
1834’‖in‖Tim‖Hitchcock,‖Peter‖King‖and‖Pamela‖Sharpe‖(eds),‖Chronicling Poverty:
The Voices and Strategies of the English Poor, 1640-1840 (Houndmills: Macmillan,
1997), 87-108 (107, note 94). [T]
(?) Carter, William (fl. early 1780s), Lieutenant in the 40th Regiment of Foot, author
of The Disbanded Subaltern, an Epistle (?1780), BL 11779.bb.47, Dobell 2800; A
Genuine Detail of the Several Engagements...during the years 1775 and 1776 (1784). ~
Ref: Dobell (1933); BL. [C18]
Carter, William (fl. 1868), hairdresser of Manchester, published Rhythmical Essays on
the Beard Question (London, Liverpool and Manchester, 1868). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000),
86.
(?) Casey, Elizabeth Owens Blackburne (E. Owens Blackburne) (1845-84), of Slane,
Co. Meath, lost her sight at the age of eleven, regained it under skilled medical
treatment, a successful novelist but latterly became almost destitute and took
assistance from the Royal County Fund, died in Dublin in a burning accident. As
well as her Irish novels and two volumes of Illustrious Irish Women (1877), she
published Con O'Donnell and Other Legends and Poems for Recitation (London, 1890).
~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 62. [F] [I]
Casey, John Keegan (1846-70), ‘Leo’,‖‘Kilkeevan’,‖of Mount Dalton, near Mullingar,
Co.‖Westmeath,‖peasant‖farmer’s‖son,‖mercantile‖clerk,‖popular‖radical‖journalist‖
writing for The Nation, The Irishman, The Irish People and other periodicals, first
poem appearing in The Nation when he was sixteen; imprisoned in 1867 for
complicity in the Fenian rising and died at the age of twenty-four.‖It‖‘is‖said‖that‖
60,000‖people‖attended‖his‖funeral’;‖a‖monument‖was‖raised‖in‖Glasnevin. He
published A Wreath of Shamrocks (1866); The Rising of the Moon... (1869; reprinted,
Glasgow); Reliques of J. K. Casey,‖collected‖and‖edited‖by‖‘Owen‖Roe’‖(Eugene‖
Davis), and published by Richard Pigott (Dublin, 1878). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912),
63. [I]
Castillo, John (1792-1845), journeyman stonemason, born in Rathfarnham, County
Dublin, brought up at Lealham Bridge in Cleveland, died at Pickering, Yorkshire;
of poor Catholic parentage, embraced Wesleyan Methodism and became a fiercely
puritanical preacher. He published dialect poems including ‘Awd‖Isaac’‖(in‖
Cleveland dialect, first published Northallerton,‖1831);‖‘T’‖Leealholm‖Chap’s
Lucky‖Dream’;‖and the volumes Awd Isaac, The Steeplechase, and Other Poems
(Whitby, 1843); The Bard of the Dales: Or, Poems and Miscellaneous Pieces, partly in the
Yorkshire Dialect (1850); Poems in the North Yorkshire Dialect,‖‘by‖the‖late‖John‖
Castillo,‖Journeyman‖Stonemason‖and‖Wesleyan‖Revivalist’,‖ed. George Markham
Tweddle (Stokesley: Tweddle, 1878). His‖dialogic‖poem,‖‘Voices‖which‖I‖Think‖I‖
Hear’‖and‖his‖‘Lines‖on‖Returning‖a‖Borrowed‖Stick’‖were‖printed in The Whitby
Repository and Monthly Miscellany, n.s. Vol. III, September 1833, 257-8. ~ Ref:
 Newsam (1845), 217-18; O’Donoghue‖(1912), 64; Moorman (1917), xxxi-xxxii, 33-5;
Cowley, Cleveland (1963), 10-11; Ashraf (1978), I, 33-4; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51
(2005), item 64; Robert‖Bridge,‖‘John‖Castillo’s‖‚Awd‖Isaac‛’,‖The Library 19, no. 4
(2018), 433-54; ODNB. [I]
(?) Cathcart, Robert (1817-70), of Paisley, shawl designer, published an early
pamphlet and the collection Gloamin’ Hours (1868). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 89-
92. [S] [T]
Catcott, William (fl. 1870), Somerset baker, son of a stocking-maker, published
Morning Musings, Second Series, with a Memoir of the Author (Wells, 1870). He also
appears to have co-authored with Michael Westcott a book called The Human
Mind, and How to Cultivate it, in prose and verse. This is described as‖being‖‘in‖press’‖
at the back of an 1857 book by Westcott (The Gossamer Spider), and styles Catcott
as‖‘The‖Author‖of‖Morning‖Musings’,‖so‖clearly‖the‖(apparently‖lost)‖first‖series‖of‖
that work was published before then. Unfortunately I have been unable to track
down this jointly authored book, either. ~ Ref: WorldCat; Google Books, etc; inf.
Bob Heyes.
Catto, Edward (b. 1849), of Aberdeen; his father died when he was two; sent to work
at eight as a half-timer, working in the calendaring department of the
Camperdown linen works. His first‖poem‖‘The‖Orphan‖Laddie’‖was published in
the Weekly News; other poems‖include‖‘The‖Crippled‖Orphan‖Loon’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 144-6. [S] [T]
Catton, William (fl. 1733-63),‖of‖Maxfield‖Street‖in‖the‖parish‖of‖St‖Ann’s,‖
Westminster, foot soldier, notably in the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48),
who‖describes‖himself‖on‖the‖title‖page‖of‖his‖small‖volume‖of‖poems‖as‖‘Late‖a‖
soldier;‖who‖served‖His‖Majesty‖fifteen‖Years‖in‖General‖Folliot’s‖Regiment‖of‖
Foot; I was 12 Years abroad, in Minorca, France, Flanders, and Scotland; and
discharged at the general Reducement, at Berwick upon Tweed, 1748, and as I am
not wounded, so I am not provided for, therefore I am most humbly obliged to all
Persons of Distinction, that are pleased to accept of my Poems, and encourage my
Performances, since having neither Trade or Friend, I am obliged to Write the
same‖for‖a‖Maintenance’.‖This‖is‖evidently‖patron- and reader-bait, but it tells us
some interesting things, such as his plight as a discharged soldier with no other
trade, a common problem in the period: whenever the state wanted to downsize
its soldiery the unwounded discharged would have to make shift, and poetry
might be a means of survival. ~ There is similar but variant biographical
information in one of the surviving broadsheets of his poems that preceded the
publication of his volume: Sacred to the Memory... (see further below). Onto this
sheet he has cleverly crammed seven poems, and at least two appeal statements,
one‖for‖each‖page.‖‘Sacred‖to‖the‖Memory‖of‖that‖renowned‖Hero‖Major‖General‖
Wolfe’‖heads‖the‖sheet,‖leading‖into‖‘An‖Epitaph,‖suitably‖adapted‖to‖his‖*i.e.‖
Wolfe’s+‖Monument‖Proposed‖to‖be‖in‖Westminster’,‖and‖‘An‖Epitaph,‖on‖her‖Late‖
Royal Highness, the Illustrious Princess Elizabeth, who departed this Life at Kew,
in the 19th Year of her‖Age’.‖~‖The‖first‖‘appeal’‖follows‖this,‖at‖the‖foot‖of‖the‖
page:‖‘Composed‖by‖the‖Person‖that‖comes‖for‖the‖Answer,‖William‖Catton,‖Late‖a‖
Soldier’.‖His‖service‖record‖follows‖as‖with‖the‖volume,‖and‖again‖he‖mentions‖
that‖he‖was‖‘discharged‖at‖the‖general Reducement, at Berwick upon Tweed,
1748’,‖i.e.‖following‖the‖Treaty‖of‖Aix-la-Chapelle and the end of the War of
Austrian‖Succession.‖This‖time‖he‖ends‖with‖a‖verse:‖‘Extensive‖Bounty’s‖
doubtless blest, / Diffusive Love, shall sleep in rest, / Errors excuse, my Works
accept,‖/‖I’m‖your‖Obedient‖with‖Respect.‖/‖Having‖no‖Pension,‖Trade,‖or‖Friends,‖
/‖I’m‖turn’d‖Poor‖Poet,‖in‖the‖End.’‖~‖‘Side‖Two’‖is‖more‖of‖the‖same,‖at‖least‖at‖
first:‖a‖‘Poem‖on‖the‖taking‖of‖Cape‖Breton‖and‖Cherbourg,‖also‖the‖destroying
their‖fleet‖at‖St‖Maloe’s,‖by‖his‖Grace,‖the‖late‖Duke‖of‖Marlborough’‖and‖‘An‖
Encomium on the Magnanimous Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick. The Right
Honourable‖Lord‖George‖Sackville,‖and‖the‖truly‖noble‖Marquis‖of‖Granby’. But
next comes something similar‖but‖also‖rather‖different,‖‘An‖Encomium‖on‖Eaton‖
School’,‖a‖place‖where‖‘Wisdom‖and‖wisdom’s‖sons‖dwell’.‖This‖is‖again‖an‖
appeal:‖‘These‖lays‖for‖succour‖I‖impart,‖/‖And‖no‖Assistance‖have‖from‖art.‖/‖
Errors‖excuse,‖my‖works‖accept,‖/‖I’m‖your‖obed’ent‖with‖respect.‖/‖In‖Maxwell-
street,‖Saint‖Anns‖was‖born,‖/‖Pecunia’s‖aid‖all‖arts‖adorn;‖/‖Having‖no‖pension,‖
friend‖or‖trade,‖/‖Nature‖hath‖me‖a‖poet‖made.’‖The‖last‖line‖is‖a‖clever‖way‖of‖
moving‖from‖his‖financial‖need‖to‖the‖idea‖that‖he‖is‖a‖‘natural’‖poet,‖a‖species‖
much prized in the period. Appealing to the sons of the great at Eton chimes in
with both his nose for power, and (as with Oxford: see below), perhaps some
desire to get closer to the pinnacles of learning. Finally there is a verse appeal,
headed‖‘A‖short‖Touch‖on‖the‖Number‖of‖Lines‖in‖this‖Poem’.‖In‖eight‖lines‖he‖
recounts‖that‖Pope,‖‘Some‖say’,‖had‖‘half‖a‖guinea’‖for‖each‖line‖of‖the‖Essay on
Man; whereas he only wants a penny as line (a true hack-writer’s‖price),‖and‖so‖he‖
would like six shillings and six pence for the 78 lines of verse on this broadsheet.
He actually tots the figures up at the end. It is a clever and witty broadsheet,
overall, though it is unlikely anyone ever gave him 6/6d for it. ~ ESTC lists five
broadsheets by Catton: An Elegy on the universally lamented death of His Late Royal
Highness, Frederick Prince of Wales (London?, 1751?); An Elegy on the much lamented
death of the noble Charles Noel Somerset, late Duke of Beaufort (London?, 1756?); A
Poem on Lord Blakeney’s bravery at the siege of Minorca (London, 1756); A Poem on the
taking of Cape Breton and Cherbourg, also the destroying their fleet at St Maloe’s
(London?, 1758?); and Sacred to the Memory of that renowned Hero Major General
Wolfe (London?, 1860?), discussed above. ~ His sole collection (ESTC gives two
states of it), is Poems on Several Occasions, Composed by William Catton (London?:
printed for the author, 1763), comprising 16 pages of military themes and related
 panegyric and elegy, all in solid rhyming couplets. The book ends with a familiar
quote‖from‖Pope,‖‘Good-nature with good sense should always join, / To err is
human,‖to‖forgive‖divine’,‖followed‖by‖a‖couplet‖of‖his‖own‖which‖then‖runs‖into‖
prose:‖‘Since‖learning’s‖brightness‖shineth‖not‖on‖me, / I hope my errors, may
excused be, / By the lenity and humane condescension of the Gentlemen
belonging‖to‖the‖ancient‖and‖famous‖University‖of‖Oxford’.‖What‖precise‖
encouragement‖from‖academia‖(compare‖his‖encomium‖to‖‘Eaton‖School’,‖
discussed above) he is acknowledging, or perhaps soliciting here is not clear, but
it is of a piece with the note of flattery to the powerful that runs through all his
verses, and is in tune with the persistent tendency William J. Christmas has noted,
especially in the decades after 1750, of labouring class poets often writing
primarily for money (Christmas (2001), 157-61). Catton knows, not just how to
rhyme neatly and to flatter, but who exactly is in charge , and where the power
and money (and knowledge) lie. ~ Ref: texts as cited; ESTC; inf. from and
foundational research by Bill Christmas.
(?) Caulfeild, John (fl.‖1777),‖soldier,‖‘late‖Cornet‖of‖the‖Queen’s‖Regiment‖of‖
Dragoon‖Guards’;‖published The Manners of Paphos, or, Triumph of Love (Dublin,
1777; another edition, London: Edward and Charles Dilly, 1777). Extracts of two
approving letters from Thomas Blacklock (qv) appear before the poem, which was
well received. This was his sole publication. O’Donoghue‖includes‖him‖in‖the‖
Poets of Ireland, perhaps because of the Dublin first publication. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖64;‖Dobell (1933), no. 2808; BL; Croft & Beattie, I, 39 (item
116). [C18] [I]
Cavanagh, Michael (c. 1827-1900), of Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, cooper, Fenian,
moved to USA in 1849, working as a cooper until in 1867 began contributing on
Irish matters to the Emerald and the Celtic Monthly Magazine, New York and the
Boston Pilot; fought in the Civil War, then worked in the Treasury at Washington;
secretary to the Fenian‖John‖O’Mahony.‖He was a Gaelic‖scholar,‖‘and‖many‖of‖his‖
poetical‖versions‖from‖the‖old‖tongue‖are‖well‖known’. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912),
65. [I]
(?) Cave, later Winscom, Jane (c. 1754-1813), born in South Wales, daughter of an
English exciseman stationed in Talgarth, also married an exciseman, lived in
Bristol, Winchester, Newport; published Poems on Various Subjects, Entertaining,
Elegiac and Religious. With a few select poems, from other authors. By Miss Cave. Now
Mrs. W___ (Winchester,‖1783;‖Bristol,‖1786‖*with‖new‖poems‖added+;‖‘second’‖*in‖
fact third] edition, Shrewsbury, 1789; further editions published by 1794). Title
given here is as per the Shrewsbury third edition listed by Edwards, who notes
the presence of a subscription list focused on Shrewsbury and Chester. There
were considerable changes between editions of her work. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986);
Grundy; entry in Blain et al (1990), 190; A.‖Elizabeth‖McKim,‖‘Making‖Poetry‖of‖
 Pain:‖The‖Headache‖Poems‖of‖Jane‖Cave‖Winscom’,‖Literature and Medicine, 24. no.
1 (2001), 93-108; Brennan (2003), 23-41; Gramich & Brennan (2003), 78-83, 396;
Kord‖(2003),‖260;‖Sarah‖Prescott,‖‘Anglophone‖Welsh‖Women’s‖Poetry‖1759-84:
Jane Cave and Anne Penny’,‖in‖Labbe‖(2010),‖102-24; Norbert‖Schürer,‖‘Jane‖Cave‖
Winscom:‖Provincial‖Poetry‖and‖the‖Metropolitan‖Connection’,‖Journal for
Eighteenth-Century Studies, 36, no. 3 (2013), 415-31; Ashleigh Blackwood,
‘*Pro+creative‖Experience‖in‖the‖Poetry‖of‖Jane‖Cave‖Winscom’,‖in Joanna Fowler
and Allan Ingram (eds), Voice and Context in Eighteenth-Century Verse (Houndmills:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 155-72; Christopher Edwards catalogue 55, item 31.
[W] [F] [C18]
(?) Chadwick, [Richard] Sheldon (fl. 1850-56), son of Jeremiah Chadwick, city
missionary of Manchester; Chartist‖poet,‖lived‖in‖London,‖author‖of‖a‖‘Labourer’s‖
Anthem’‖printed‖in‖Red Republican, I (1850) 56; published Working and Singing:
Poems, Lyrics and Songs on the Life-march (London, 1895). Ashraf (1978) discusses
his‖poem,‖‘The‖Building‖of‖the‖Lighthouse’‖(1856),‖which‖‘allegorizes‖the‖long‖
struggle‖for‖freedom‖and‖free‖thought’. ~ Ref: James (1963), 175; Ashraf (1975),
221-3; Ashraf (1978), I, 70; Scheckner (1989), 126-7; Schwab (1993), 187; Reilly
(1994), 89. [C]
(?) Chadwick, William Henry (1829-1908), of Manchester, Wesleyan preacher at age
14, temperance advocate who became a zealous Chartist; imprisoned in 1848 for
Chartist agitation, wrote poems in prison. He was later an actor, phrenologist,
mesmerist and touring séance-holder. Chadwick also helped to found the
agricultural‖workers’‖union‖with‖Joseph‖Arch. He published A Voice from Kirkdale
Gaol: A Poem for the People (c. 1849). ~ Ref: T. Palmer Newbould, Pages from a Life of
Strife. Being Some Recollections of William Henry Chadwick. The Last of the Manchester
Chartists (London: Frank Palmer, 1911), 63 pp.; Schwab (1993), 187; James Vernon,
Politics and the People: A Study in English Political Culture, c.1815-1867 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993), 117-22; www.chartists.net and other online
sources.
(?) Chalenor, Mary (fl. 1841), ailing mother and widow‖who‖‘follow*ed+‖an
occupation‖productive‖of‖little‖else‖than‖toil‖and‖hardship’,‖author‖of‖‘simple‖
verses’,‖‘humble‖but‖sincere‖tributes‖to‖the‖muse’‖(all‖these‖phrases,‖strongly‖
suggesting a labouring-class‖poet,‖come‖from‖the‖posthumous‖‘Editor’s Address’‖
to her final volume). She published Walter Gray: A Ballad (London, 1841). The book
attracted positive reviews, but the author died before she could read them. Her
Poetical Remains were posthumously published in 1843 to support her three
children. ~ Ref: inf. Dawn Whatman; Poetical Remains via Google books. [F]
Chalmers, Margaret (1758-1827), of Lerwick, Shetland, the daughter of a customs
officer, wrote‖‘verses‖in‖Humble‖Imitation‖of‖Burns’ (Robert Burns, qv); published
a collection of Poems by Margaret Chalmers, Lerwick, Zealand (Newcastle upon Tyne:
 S. Hodgson, 1813),‖in‖‘circumstances‖of‖severe‖domestic‖affliction’: her brother
was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar, and it is notable that there are two poems
here about the Newcastle-born Trafalgar hero Lord Cuthbert Collingwood, as
well as her Burns imitation and another in‖imitation‖of‖Walter‖Scott’s‖popular
‘Lady‖of‖the‖Lake’. Chalmers described‖herself‖as‖‘the‖first‖British‖Thulian‖quill’‖
(i.e. writer from Thule, the far north). Her poems sold poorly, and with the
support‖of‖Sir‖Walter‖Scott‖she‖‘secured‖a‖grant‖from‖the‖Royal‖Literary‖Fund’‖in‖
1816. ~ Ref: Corey‖E.‖Andrews,‖‘Writing‖in‖Burns’s‖Shadow:‖The‖Great‖Unknowns‖
of Nineteenth-Century Scottish Labouring-class‖Verse’,‖The Bottle Imp,
Supplement 2 (April 2015), online via academia.edu; Antiquates online booklist S;
Wikipedia. [F] [S]
(?) Chalmers, Robert (1779-1843), of Paisley, tobacconist and grocer, weather-
forecaster, published poems and a pamphlet: Observations of the Weather in
Scotland, showing what kind of Weather the various Winds produce, and what Winds are
most likely to prevail in each Month of the year; also, a Garden Calendar adapted for
Cottars and Others (1839). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 142-45. [S]
Chalmers, Robert (1862-96), of Aberdeen, ropemaker from the age of eight,
published in the newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 326-30. [S]
Chambers, James (1740-182?),‖of‖Soham,‖Cambridgeshire,‖‘itinerant‖poet’,‖pedlar‖and‖
net-maker, seller of verses and acrostics. According to fellow writer John Webb
(qv), Chambers could read but could not write, so he would have needed a scribe
to create his verses, like several other poets listed here. He seems to have been a
familiar figure in and around Suffolk. He published The Poetical Works of James
Chambers, Itinerant Poet, with the life of the author (Ipswich, 1820). ~ Ref: John Webb,
‘Haverhill’,‖ll.‖159-62 in Haverhill, A Descriptive Poem, and Other Poems (London: J.
Nunn, 1810); Johnson (1992), item 177; Cranbrook (2001), 58, 174-5; LC 4, 139-58.
[LC4]
Chamber, James (fl. by‖1885),‖of‖Alloa,‖glazier,‖author‖of‖‘Bannockburn’,‖‘Bailie‖
Broon’,‖‘Never‖Cut‖a‖Friend’‖(poems‖listed‖but‖not‖printed‖in‖Beveridge). ~ Ref:
Beveridge (1885), 148. [S]
(?) Chandler, Mary (1687-1745), daughter of a dissenting minister, Malmesbury,
Wiltshire, milliner, self-educated poet. Her spine became crooked and her health
suffered‖as‖a‖result.‖In‖1705,‖still‖in‖her‖teens,‖she‖set‖up‖a‖milliner’s‖shop‖in‖Bath.‖
Her poetry-writing began with poems and rhyming riddles sent to friends. Her
best-known work, A Description of Bath: A Poem (London, 1733, 1734, 1736, 1738,
1741) was published‖anonymously‖as‖‘a‖letter‖to‖a‖friend’,‖with‖a‖dedication‖to‖Dr‖
Oliver, her physician. She knew Mary Barber (qv), who was a neighbour in Bath. ~
Ref: Dyce (1825), 169-70; Rowton (1853), 125-6; Foxon (1975), C107; Lonsdale
(1989), 151-5; Fullard (1990), 552; David‖Shuttleton,‖‘Mary‖Chandler’s‖Description
of Bath (1733): the Poetic Topographies of an Augustan‖Tradeswoman’,‖Women’s
 Writing, 7 (2000), 447-67; Christmas (2001), 31; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 162;
Backscheider (2005), 405; Backscheider (2009), 871; Burmester, 11; ODNB;
Wikipedia. [F] [T] [C18]
Chandler, Reuben (fl. 1862-7),‖‘a‖working‖man‖of‖School‖House, 8 Pinfold Street, near
New‖Street,‖Birmingham’,‖published Onward & Upward: Temperance Poetry,
Melodies, Recitations, Rhymes, and Dialogues, with Religious and Moral Musings,
second edition (London and Birmingham, 1862); The Temperance Life-boat Crew
Reciter and Melodist, second enlarged edition (London, Manchester and
Birmingham, 1867). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 90.
Chapman, James (1835-88), of Upper Banchory, Kincardineshire, son of a blacksmith,
farm worker, asylum attendant, later worked in a detective office and as a
sanitary officer in Partick; published A Legend of the Isles, and Other Poems (Partick
and Edinburgh, 1878); ‘Ecce homo’ and Other Poems (Partick, 1883); The Scots o’
Lansyne, and Other Poems (Glasgow, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 318-23; 12, xxii
and 16, [lix]; Murdoch (1883), 296-302; Reid, Bards (1897), 113-14; Reilly (1994), 90;
Reilly (2000), 91. [S]
Chapman, Thomas (1844-88), ‘Joseph’,‖of Falla, Lanarkshire, self-educated; worked
as a cowherd and a ploughman; later a policeman, rising to the rank of Sergeant.
He published Contentment and Other Poems (Kelso, 1883). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882),
69-72; Reilly (1994), 91. [S]
Chapman, Thomas Learmonth (b. 1824), of Beancross, Falkirk, herder, tenant farmer,
President of the Woodend Burns Club (Robert Burns, qv), published prose pieces
in the local press; poems in Bisset. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 128-32. [S]
Chappell, Henry (1874-1937), ‘The Bath Railway Poet’, porter on Bath station, wrote
‘The‖Day’,‖a‖ferocious‖poem‖addressed‖to‖the‖Kaiser‖that‖was‖published in the
Daily Express, 22 August 1914 and had significant impact. His Collected Poems were
published in 1918. According to his great-granddaughter in a BBC interview, he
met Kipling, and turned down a station-master’s‖job‖to‖write. ~ Ref: BBC4
‘Railways‖of‖World‖War‖One’,‖aired‖April‖2015;‖online sources. [R] [OP]
Charles, David (1762-1834), of Llanfihangel Abercywyn, Carmarthenshire, hymn-
writer; had little education, apprenticed as a ropemaker, later owned the factory.
A collection of hymns by Charles and his son (another David) were published as
Ffrydiau Gorfoledd (1977), ed. Goronwy Prys Owen. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Charlton, John, (1804-c. 1883), ‘Little‖John‖the‖Poet’,‖of Blackburn, cobbler poet and
singer, born in Lymm, Cheshire. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 153-9. [SM]
Chatt, George (d. 1890), of Hexham, Northumberland, agricultural labourer, soldier,
edited West Cumberland Times, published Miscellaneous Poems (Hexham: Courant
Office, 1866), 110 pp., ‘The‖productions‖of‖a‖farm‖labourer,‖in‖the‖few‖scattered‖
hours‖of‖leisure‖snatched‖from‖a‖toilsome‖occupation’. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 92; inf.
Bob Heyes.
(?) Chatterton, Thomas (1752-70), of Redcliffe, Bristol,‖‘The‖Marvellous‖Boy’‖
(Wordsworth), a major poet of humble origins, the posthumous son of the writing
master of St Mary Redcliffe Pile Street School and a seamstress and dame
schoolmistress;‖an‖antiquarian‖and‖‘forger’‖of‖medieval‖poems‖and‖documents, a
precocious genius, a poet and a writer of great diversity and ability. After a
limited‖commercial‖education‖as‖a‖‘bluecoat‖boy’‖at‖Colston’s‖School,‖Bristol,‖
Chatterton’s‖apprenticeship‖with‖a‖legal‖scrivener‖left‖him‖many hours to himself.
He had taken an intense interest in antiquarianism and genealogy since early
childhood, and this period is probably the time he took up his medieval-style
writing‖in‖earnest:‖the‖‘Rowley’‖corpus‖was‖largely‖the‖fruit‖of‖this‖leisure‖time‖
(ODNB). As the medieval monk‖‘Thomas‖Rowley’‖and‖his‖companions,‖
Chatterton wrote poems, plays, literary letters, biographies, architectural and
antiquarian‖reports.‖His‖books‖of‖antiquities‖include‖‘Battle‖of‖Hastynges‖I’‖(1768),‖
‘Craishes‖Herauldry’‖(1768),‖‘The‖Tournament’‖(1768),‖‘The‖Bridge‖Narrative’‖(a‖
supposed thirteenth-century account, which he published in Felix Farley's Bristol
Journal). Frustrated at provincial life and clerical drudgery, he successfully
escaped his apprenticeship indentures with threats of suicide and made his way
to London, aged 17. His tragically short career there as a miscellaneous writer,
from April to August 1770 was, despite much mythologising to the contrary,
remarkably successful before it was cut short by his untimely death. ~ He
posthumously published Poems, Supposed to have been written by Thomas Rowley and
others (1777, 1778, 1782); Miscellanies (1778); and many subsequent editions of his
poems, including an early edition of the Rowley Poems edited by Jeremiah Milles
(1781) which argues at length for their medieval authenticity and was memorably
described‖by‖S.‖T.‖Coleridge‖as‖‘an‖owl‖mangling‖a‖poor,‖dead‖nightingale’.‖The‖
‘Rowley‖Controversy’‖over authorship that erupted in 1782 spawned a mass of
literature (it is not attempted to describe or list this here). A three-volume edition
was‖edited‖by‖Robert‖Southey‖and‖Joseph‖Cottle‖for‖the‖benefit‖of‖Chatterton’s‖
surviving relatives (Bristol, 1803). A further edition was published in Cambridge
in 1842 and formed the basis for a popular American edition published in Boston
in 1882. The Victorian edition edited by the Chaucer scholar W. W. Skeat (1872)
‘modernised’‖the‖Rowley‖texts,‖thereby‖missing‖the‖point‖entirely‖(ODNB);
fortunately few later scholars took up the modernised texts, though Nevill’s‖
biography (1948) does and is best avoided for this reason. In addition to the
‘Rowley’‖poems‖and‖documents,‖Chatterton‖wrote‖satires,‖a‖burletta,‖three‖
‘African‖Eclogues’,‖and‖other‖poems‖including‖‘Ossianics’,‖elegies‖and‖occasional‖
verse. ~ Chatterton was profoundly influential, especially among the Romantic
poets and the Pre-Raphaelites, and in many ways he remains so, continuing to
provide inspiration, for example, for creative works in all media (see Goodridge
(1999) for a listing of many such works).‖Chatterton’s‖supposed‖suicide‖in‖a‖
London garret at the age of seventeen, around which an immense mythography
has been based, is now seriously contested (see Bell (1943), Holmes (1971, 2000),
and especially ODNB and related essays by Nick Groom). A blue plaque is the
only‖trace‖of‖Chatterton’s‖last‖home‖in‖Brooke‖Street,‖London,‖and‖his‖nearby‖
grave is long since obliterated. However the house in which Chatterton grew up,
opposite St Mary Redcliffe Church in Redcliffe, Bristol, has after many years of
neglect‖now‖been‖restored,‖and‖was‖opened‖as‖the‖‘Chatterton‖Cafe’‖in‖2016.‖~‖
Richard Greene, reviewing LC2, was puzzled as to why Thomas Chatterton (qv)
was‖included‖in‖an‖anthology‖of‖‘labouring-class’‖poets‖(Scriblerian, 37. no. 1
(Autumn 2004), 73).‖Bridget‖Keegan’s‖Introduction‖to‖Chatterton‖in‖LC2‖explains‖
this,‖and‖has‖relevance‖for‖the‖present‖entry:‖‘Chatterton’s‖background‖was‖not,‖
strictly speaking, labouring-class.‖His‖father,‖who‖died‖just‖prior‖to‖the‖poet’s‖
birth, had been the writing master of St. Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol. His
mother supported him through running a dame school and taking in piece work,
and was able to send him to school as a charity boy, where he was educated for
the‖purpose‖of‖becoming‖a‖lawyer’s‖clerk.‖He‖began‖an unhappy apprenticeship
as a clerk at the age of fifteen. Yet despite the fact that Chatterton never practiced
a manual trade, his poverty and his personal struggles have made him an
important icon in the labouring-class‖tradition.’‖(See‖also‖Keegan’s‖important
essay,‖‘Nostalgic‖Chatterton:‖Fictions‖of‖Poetic‖Identity‖and‖the‖Forging‖of‖a‖Self-
Taught Tradition’,‖in‖Groom‖(1999.)‖To give an example of this influence, Powell
(1964),‖item‖152,‖lists‖the‖copy‖of‖Chatterton’s‖Rowley Poems (1777) owned by John
Clare (qv), from which Clare took many notes, commenting on Chatterton in his
journals and elsewhere, as well as sometimes following Chatterton in attempting
to forge antique verses; Clare also makes it clear in his notes that he has read the
Davis (1806) biography of Chatterton. ~ There are two modern bibliographies of
Chatterton, Warren (1977) and Rowles (1981). The definitive edition of Thomas
Chatterton’s‖works,‖unlikely‖now‖to‖be‖bettered,‖is‖The Complete Works of Thomas
Chatterton, A Bicentenary Edition, ed. Donald S. Taylor in association with
Benjamin B. Hoover (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971), two volumes. There are also
useful modern selections of the poetry edited by Grevel Lindop (1972, 2003), and
Nick Groom (2003). The best short reference source on Chatterton is his ODNB
entry, written by Nick Groom, much the most engaging current critic on all
aspects of Chatterton and his poetry. The standard biography of the poet,
notwithstanding its quirks and blind spots, remains E.‖H.‖W.‖Meyerstein’s‖labour‖
of love, A Life of Thomas Chatterton (1930), though there are many other
biographies, some worth exploring, among the more interesting being perhaps
those of George Gregory (1789, re-printed in the 1803 edition), David Masson
(1856, 1874), Daniel Wilson (1869), and the novelised biography by Neil Bell
(1943). A good ‘life‖and‖times’‖summary‖is‖Kelly‖(1971,‖2012),‖whilst‖Kaplan‖(1987,‖
1989) wins many useful insights from her psycho-biographical approach. (There
are earlier psycho-biographical studies by Ellinger (1930), and two articles by
Greenacre (1958). B. H. Bronson also deploys psycho-biographical ideas in his
important essay on Chatterton.) The fullest study of Chatterton to date is Donald
S.‖Taylor’s‖Thomas Chatterton’s Art: Experiments in Imagined History (1978). In line
with‖Taylor’s‖policy‖in‖his‖standard‖Oxford‖edition‖of‖reintegrating‖‘Rowleian’‖
and‖‘Non-Rowleian’‖works,‖this‖very‖valuably‖gives‖equal‖and‖full‖weight‖to‖all‖
areas‖of‖Chatterton’s‖work.‖Cook‖(2013)‖is‖an‖important‖study‖of‖Chatterton’s‖
reception. There have been three modern collections of essays on and around the
subject of Chatterton, edited by Groom (1994), Groom again (1999), and Heys
(2005).‖~‖Among‖Chatterton’s‖friends‖were‖James‖Thistlethwaite‖(qv);‖he‖also
satirised Emanuel Collins (qv); major poets he influenced included his near
contemporary William Blake (qv), and many later figures including John Clare
and John Keats (qqv). Chatterton is also referenced in poems by William
Billington, Joseph Blacket*, Thomas Cooper*, Allan Cunningham*, Thomas
Dermody*, James Dacres Devlin*, Ebenezer Elliott*, Sidney Giles, John Gregory*,
John Harris, Israel Holdsworth, Thomas Hood*, Joseph James*, Isabella
Lickbarrow*, Henry F. Lott*, James Montgomery*, John Nicholson (1790-1843)*,
John Fitzgerald Pennie*, John Critchley Prince*, John Rannie*, William Isaac
Roberts*, Edward Rushton*, Edwin Waugh*, Henry Kirke White*, James
Woodhouse*, and Ann Yearsley* (qqv). For details on the asterisked poets see
Goodridge‖(1999).‖Thomas‖Dermody‖(qv)‖was‖sometimes‖referred‖to‖as‖‘The‖Irish‖
Chatterton’,‖and‖Chatterton was compared with other youthful prodigies
including William Newton and fellow Bristolian William Isaac Roberts (qqv). ~
Ref: [Thomas Tyrwhitt] (ed), Poems, supposed to have been written at Bristol, by
Thomas Rowley, and Others, in the Fifteenth Century, To which are added a Preface, an
Introductory Account of the Several Pieces, and a Glossary (London: T. Payne & Son,
1777; facsimile edition Menston: Scolar Press, 1969), two editions in 1777, and a
third in 1778 with an important appendix concerning authenticity; the fourth
edition (1781) was edited by Jeremiah Milles who attempted in it to prove the
authenticity of the poems; later editions of Chatterton as noted; George Gregory,
The Life of Thomas Chatterton (London: G. Kearsley, 1789), re-printed in the 1803
edition of his works; John Davis, The Life of Thomas Chatterton (London: Thomas
Tegg, 1806); John Dix, The Life of Thomas Chatterton (London: Hamilton, Adams
and Co., 1837), but see N & Q, 4th ser. 9 (1872), 294-6, 365-6, 429-30; 4th ser. 10
(1872), 55, 229-30); Robert Browning, [Essay on Chatterton, 1842], first published
anonymously‖as‖‘Article‖VIII’‖The Foreign Quarterly Review, July 1842, edited and
acknowledged‖as‖Browning’s‖in‖Donald Smalley (ed), Browning’s Essay on
Chatterton, with a Foreword by William C. De Vane (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1948); David Masson, Chatterton: A Story of the Year 1770 (1856;
London: Macmillan, 1874); Daniel Wilson, Chatterton, a Biographical Study
(London: Macmillan, 1869); W. R. Barker (ed.), A Catalogue of the Autograph
Manuscripts and Other Remains of Thomas Chatterton now in the Bristol Museum of
Antiquities (Bristol, 1907); Charles Edward Russell, Thomas Chatterton the
Marvellous Boy. The Story of a Strange Life 1752-1770 (New York: Moffat, Yard and
Co, 1908; London: Grant Richards, 1909); John H. Ingram, The True Chatterton—A
New Study from Original Documents (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1910); Francis
Adams Hyett and William Bazeley, Chattertoniana (Gloucester: John Bellows,
1914); Ernest‖Clarke,‖‘New‖Lights‖on‖Chatterton’,‖Transactions of the Bibliographical
Society, 13 (1916), 219-44; E.‖R.‖Norris‖Mathews,‖‘Thomas‖Chatterton,‖a‖
Bibliography’,‖Bristol Bibliography (Bristol: Libraries Committee, 1916), 55-82; W.
MacNeile‖Dixon,‖‘Chatterton’‖(The‖Warton‖Lecture‖on‖English‖Poetry),‖Proceedings
of the British Academy (1930), 183-202; Esther P. Ellinger, Thomas Chatterton The
Marvellous Boy: To Which is Added, The Exhibition, A Personal Satire (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930); E. H. W. Meyerstein, A Life of Chatterton
(London:‖Ingpen‖&‖Grant,‖1930);‖E.‖H.‖W.‖Meyerstein,‖‘Chatterton:‖His‖
Significance‖Today’,‖Essays by Divers Hands, 16 (1937), 61-91; Wylie Sypher,
‘Chatterton’s‖‚African‖Eclogues‛‖and‖the‖Deluge’,‖PMLA, 54 (1939), 246-60; Neil
Bell, Cover His Face: A Novel of the Life and Times of Thomas Chatterton (London:
Collins, 1943); John Cranston Nevill, Thomas Chatterton (London: Frederick Muller,
1948); Nai-Tung‖Ting,‖‘The‖influence‖of‖Chatterton‖on‖Keats’,‖Keats-Shelley Journal,
5 (1956), 103-8‖and‖‘Chatterton‖and‖Keats:‖a‖Re-examination’,‖Keats-Shelley Journal,
30 (1981), 100-17;‖Phyllis‖Greenacre,‖‘The‖Imposter’,‖Psychoanalytical Quarterly, 27
(1958), 359-82‖and‖‘The‖Family‖Romance‖of‖the‖Artist’,‖Psychoanalytic Study of the
Child, 13 (1958), 9-36; Basil Cottle, Thomas Chatterton (Bristol: Bristol Historical
Society,‖1963),‖pamphlet‖no.‖6;‖B.‖H.‖Bronson,‖‘Thomas‖Chatterton’,‖The Age of
Johnson: Essays Presented to Chauncey Brewster Tinker (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1949), 239-55, reprinted‖in‖Bronson’s‖Facets of the Enlightenment (Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968, 1992); Richard Holmes,
‘Thomas‖Chatterton:‖the‖Case‖Re-opened’,‖Cornhill Magazine, 178 (1970), 201-51,
reprinted in Sidesteps: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer (London:
HarperCollins, 2000); B. Keith-Smith,‖‘The‖Chatterton‖Theme‖in‖Modern‖German‖
literature’,‖in‖Affinities: Essays in German and English Literature, ed. R. W. Last
(London: Oswald Wolff, 1971), 126-38; Linda Kelly, The Marvellous Boy: The Life
and Myth of Thomas Chatterton (1971, reprinted London: Faber, 2012); Irvin B.
Kroese,‖‘Chatterton’s‖‚Aella‛‖and‖Chatterton’,‖Studies in English Literature 1500-
1900 (1972), 557-66; Grevel Lindop (ed) Thomas Chatterton, Selected Poems
(Manchester: Carcanet/Fyfield, 1972, 2003); Donald‖S.‖Taylor,‖‘Chatterton:‖Insults‖
and Gifts to the Revd Mr. Catcott’,‖Literature and Psychology, 22 (1972), 35-43;
Murray Warren, A Descriptive and Annotated Bibliography of Thomas Chatterton
(New York: Garland, 1977); Donald S. Taylor, Thomas Chatterton’s Art: Experiments
in Imagined History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978); Jean C.
Rowles,‖‘Thomas‖Chatterton‖1752-1770.‖An‖Annotated‖Bibliography’‖
(unpublished dissertation, submitted for fellowship of the Library Association,
October 1981, two typescript copies held at Bristol Central Library, ref. nos. 31853
and 31448); Ian Haywood, The Making of History: A Study of the Literary Forgeries of
James Macpherson and Thomas Chatterton in Relation to Eighteenth-Century Ideas of
History (Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh-Dickinson University Press, 1986), and Faking It:
Art and the Politics of Forgery (New‖York:‖St‖Martin’s‖Press,‖1987);‖Louise J. Kaplan,
The Family Romance of the Imposter-Poet Thomas Chatterton (Berkeley and Los
Angeles:‖University‖of‖California‖Press,‖1987,‖1989);‖Paul‖Baines,‖‘‚All‖of‖the‖
House‖of‖Forgery‛:‖Walpole,‖Chatterton,‖and‖Antiquarian‖Commerce’,‖Poetica
(1994), 45-72;‖Nick‖Groom‖(ed),‖‘Narratives‖of‖Forgery’,‖Angelaki, I, no. 2 (1994);
Sutton (1995), 194 (numerous manuscripts and letters; the most significant
collections are in the British Library and Bristol Central Library); Lucy Morrison,
‘Chatterton‖and‖Keats:‖The‖Need‖for‖Close‖Examination’,‖Keats-Shelley Review, 10
(1996), 35-50;‖Nick‖Groom,‖(1998a)‖‘Thomas‖Rowlie‖Preeste’,‖and‖Jerome‖McGann,‖
‘The‖Infatuated‖Worlds‖of‖Thomas‖Chatterton’,‖in‖Thomas‖Woodman‖(ed),‖Early
Romantics: Perspectives in British Poetry from Pope to Johnson (Basingstoke:
Macmillan, 1998), 243-55, 233-41;‖Nick‖Groom,‖(1998b)‖‘Thomas‖Chatterton‖Was‖a‖
Forger’,‖Yearbook of English Studies, 28 (1998), 276-91; Nick Groom (ed), Thomas
Chatterton and Romantic Culture (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1999); Meyenberg (2000),
207; John Goodridge, ‘The‖Electric‖Shepherd‖and‖the‖Marvellous‖Boy:‖Literary‖
Evocations‖of‖Thomas‖Chatterton’s‖‚Suicide‛‖in‖Philip‖K.‖Dick’s‖A Scanner Darkly
and‖Elsewhere’,‖Symbiosis, 6, no. 2 (October 2002), 115-132 (and online at
www.academia.edu); Nick Groom, The Forger’s Shadow: How Forgery Changed the
Course of Literature (London: Picador, 2002); Nick Groom (ed) Thomas Chatterton:
Selected Poems (Cheltenham: Cyder Press, 2003); John Goodridge, ‘New‖Light‖on‖
George‖Catcott’s‖‚Obstinate‖Arguments‛’,‖Thomas Chatterton Society Newsletter, 2
(2004), 4-6 (and online at www.academia.edu); John‖Axelson,‖‘Saving‖Chatterton:
Imagining Historical Transmission in‖Coleridge’,‖The Wordsworth Circle, 36, no. 3
(2005), 126-33; Nick Groom, ‘The‖Death‖of‖Chatterton’‖in‖Heys‖(2005),‖116-25;
Alistair Heys (ed), From Gothic to Romantic: Thomas Chatterton’s Bristol (Bristol:
Redcliffe‖Press,‖2005);‖Robert‖Jones,‖‘Thomas‖Chatterton‖and‖the‖Experience‖of‖
Defeat’,‖Romanticism, 11, no. 1 (2005), 41-54; John Goodridge, ‘Rowley’s‖Ghost:‖
Two more late-nineteenth-century‖poems‖on‖Chatterton’,‖Thomas Chatterton
Society Newsletter, 3 (2006), 3-5; Nick‖Groom,‖‘Love‖and‖Madness:‖Southey‖Editing‖
Chatterton’,‖in‖Lynda‖Pratt‖(ed),‖Robert Southey and the Contexts of English
Romanticism (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), 19-35; Julie‖Crane,‖‘‚Wandering‖between‖
two‖worlds‛:‖The‖Victorian‖Afterlife‖of‖Thomas‖Chatterton’,‖in‖Romantic Echoes in
 the Victorian Period, ed, Andrew Radford and Mark Sandy (Abingdon: Routledge,
2008), 27-38; David‖Fairer,‖‘Between‖Youth‖and‖Age:‖Coleridge’s‖‚Monody‖on‖the‖
Death of Chatterton, 1790-6‛’,‖Organising Poetry: The Coleridge Circle, 1790-1798
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); Nick Groom,‖‘‚Al‖under‖the‖wyllowe‖
tree‛:‖Chatterton‖and‖the‖Ecology‖of‖the‖West‖Country’,‖in‖English Romantic
Writers and the West Country, ed. Nicholas Roe (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan,
2010), 37-61; Daniel Cook, Thomas Chatterton and Neglected Genius 1760-1830
(Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013); Joseph Bristow and Rebecca Mitchell,
Oscar Wilde’s Chatterton (Yale University Press, 2015); John Goodridge, ‘John‖
Gregory, St Mary Redcliffe‖and‖the‖Memorialising‖of‖Chatterton’,‖in‖Literary
Bristol: Writing the City, ed. Marie Mulvey-Roberts (Bristol: Redcliffe Press, 2015);
John Goodridge, ‘Meyerstein‖Reads‖the‖Tibbles:‖Chatterton’s‖Biographer‖on‖*John+‖
Clare’s‖Biography’,‖John Clare Society Newsletter, 124 (2015), 5-8; Nick‖Groom,‖‘The‖
Poet‖as‖Fraud’,‖in‖Lynch‖(2016),‖227-46; Laurie‖Langbauer,‖‘‚The‖Darlynge‖of‖
Futuritie‛:‖Thomas‖Chatterton‖and‖the‖Technologies‖of‖Juvenile‖Prolepsis’,‖in‖The
Juvenile Tradition: Young Writers and Prolepsis, 1750-1835 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2016), 81-109; Radcliffe; ODNB; LC2, 353-62. [LC2] [C18]
Cherry, Andrew (1762-1812), of Limerick, son of a printer and bookseller, went on
the‖stage‖‘while‖only‖a‖boy,‖and,‖after‖hard‖struggles,‖made‖a‖moderate fortune
and‖some‖reputation‖by‖his‖acting’,‖married the daughter of the theatre manager
Richard Knight and became a manager himself. He died on tour with his
company at Monmouth, Cherry was well known as the writer of popular songs
like‖‘The‖Bay‖of‖Biscay’,‖‘He‖was‖Famed‖for‖Deeds‖of‖Arms’,‖‘The‖Dear‖Little
Shamrock’‖and‖‘Tom‖Moody’.‖Six‖of‖them are included in Hercules Ellis, Songs of
Ireland, second series (1849). He also published or wrote for performance
(unpublished work noted as such): Harlequin in the Stocks, pantomime (1793); The
Outcasts, unpublished opera (1796); The Soldier's Daughter, comedy (1804); All for
Fame, unpublished comic sketch (1805); The Village, unpublished comedy (1805);
The Travellers, musical drama (1806); Thalia's Tears, unpublished poem (1806);
Spanish Dollars, musical entertainment (1806); Peter the Great, operatic drama
(1807); A Day in London, unpublished comedy (1807). ~ Ref: Walker’s Hibernian
Magazine, April 1804 (portrait and biography); O’Donoghue‖(1912), 66. [I] [C18]
(?) Chetwood, William Rufus (William Chetwode) (d. 1766), of Dublin, prompter at
Drury Lane Theatre, London, for thirty years. He published or wrote for
performance Kilkenny; or. The Old Mans Wish, poem (Dublin, 1748); The Generous
Freemason, ballad opera (1731); The Lover’s Opera, musical piece, (1729); The Stock
Jobbers; or The Humours of Change Alley, comedy (1720); South Sea; or, The Biter Bit, a
farce (1720), and miscellaneous works including a A Tour Through Ireland (1746)
and A General History of the Stage (London, 1749). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 67. [I]
[C18]
Chicken, Edward (1698-1746),‖of‖Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne,‖weaver‖and‖weaver’s‖son,‖
later opened a school, and became a figure in civic society, serving as a parish
clerk. Chicken published The Collier’s Wedding (Newcastle upon Tyne, 173?),
Foxon C147; Lonsdale (1984), 216-18, 843n, variant text printed in David Wright
(ed) The Penguin Book of Everyday Verse (1983); and a political verse, No;...This is the
Truth (1741, Foxon C148). The Collier’s Wedding is the first in a line of verse
portrayals‖of‖coalminers’‖lives‖in‖the‖north-east, and became the stimulus for later
accounts, which sometimes reflect‖dismay‖at‖Chicken’s‖often‖earthy‖and‖riotous‖
poem, and a desire to portray the miners in a more dignified light. Good examples
are‖Thomas‖Wilson’s‖The Pitman’s Pay (1826),‖Matthew‖Tate’s‖Pit Life in 1893
(1894), and Alexander‖Barrass’s‖The Pitman’s Social Neet (1897), qqv. Baines et al
deduce that The Collier’s Wedding ‘must‖have‖circulated‖widely‖in‖manuscript,‖for‖
no printings of it survive before its first ascription to Chicken, in 1764, long after
he‖was‖dead’.‖They‖also‖note‖its‖later wide circulation. It was reprinted in
Newcastle, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Warrington,‖and‖‘used‖as‖a‖source‖by‖local‖
historians‖of‖the‖nineteenth‖century’‖(it‖was‖reprinted‖again‖in‖1829). ~ Ref: Allan
(1891), 5-7; Welford (1895), I, 546-9; Foxon (1975); Klaus (1985), 62-4; Baines et al
(2011), 62; ODNB; LC 1, 53-72. [LC1] [T] [C18]
Chippendale, Thomas (d. 1889), of Waddington near Clitheroe, orphaned and
moved to Blackburn. He worked as a weaver, and as an insurance agent, moving
to Nelson and then to Edinburgh. His poems, published in the newspapers,
include‖‘The‖Lads‖of‖Chippendale’,‖quote‖by‖Hobbs‖and‖Januszewski. ~ Ref: Hull
(1902), 355-61; Hobbs (2013). [T]
Chisholm, Isabella (fl. 1865-82), travelling tinker, a principal source of poems, songs
and‖incantations‖for‖Alexander‖Carmichael’s‖Carmina Gaelica collection
(Edinburgh, 1900). ~ Ref: Boos (2002b), 150-1; Boos (2008), 116-20’‖text‖cited. [F] [S]
Chisholm, Walter (1856-77), Berwickshire shepherd lad, leather warehouse porter,
published in the newspapers, and posthumously published Poems, by the Late
Walter Chisholm, edited with a Prefatory Notice, by William Cairns (Edinburgh and
Haddington, 1879). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 62-7; Crockett (1893), 198-204; Reilly
(2000), 93; ODNB. [S]
Christie, J. Knox (fl. 1877), ‘J.‖R.‖Christie’,‖of Paisley, printer’s‖assistant‖from‖the age
of eight or nine, postman, bookseller (listed in‖Brown‖as‖‘J.‖R.‖Christie’),‖published
Many Moods in Many Measures: Poems in Fifty Varieties of Verse (Glasgow, 1877). ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 19-30; Murdoch (1883), 373-78; Brown (1889-90), II, 415-17;
Reilly (2000), 95. [S]
Christie, William (fl. 1889), ‘Stable‖Boy’,‖of Hexham, Northumberland, published
Three Leal and Lowly Laddies: Mauricewood Pit Disaster, Midlothian, September 1889
(Manchester: John Haywood; Peebles: J.A. Kerr, 1889), 24 pp.,‖poems‖‘to‖the‖
memory‖of‖three‖pony‖boys,‖by‖a‖stable‖boy’. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 93; WorldCat.
(?) Clancy, L. T. (fl. 1843),‖Chartist‖poet,‖author‖of‖a‖cycle‖of‖poems,‖‘Scraps‖for‖the‖
Radicals’,‖published‖in‖The Northern Star. Examples‖are‖‘No.‖XVII.‖The‖Soldier’s‖
Bride,‖or‖La‖Heroine‖de‖Francais’‖and‖‘No.‖XVIII‖The‖Fall‖of‖Warsaw’‖(pub.‖11‖
February‖1843;‖‘No.‖XIX.‖The‖Mountain‖Nymph‖Liberty’,‖‘No.‖XX.‖‘For‖Freedom!‖
For‖God!!!‖And‖for‖Right!!!’,‖and‖No.‖XXI.‖Impromptu’‖(pub.‖25‖March‖1843). ~
Ref: Kovalev (1956), 111; Scheckner (1989), 128, 331; Schwab (1993), 187. [C]
Clapham, William (fl.‖1866),‖Yorkshireman‖‘of‖humble‖birth’,‖published The First
Selection of the Yorkshire Gems of Poetry (Leeds, 1866). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 96.
Clare, John (1793-1864), ‘The‖Northamptonshire‖Peasant’,‖of Helpston,
Northamptonshire, major poet, son‖of‖a‖‘whopstraw’‖(thresher)‖and‖a‖town‖
shepherd’s‖daughter;‖sometime gardener, limeburner, briefly in the militia. After
early‖success‖as‖a‖poet,‖Clare’s anxious and cyclically depressive temperament, his
poverty and the difficulty in managing his life and his large family led him into
increasingly serious mental health problems, and his later years were spent in
asylums in Epping Forest and Northampton where he continued to write,
prolifically but sporadically,‖including‖his‖most‖famous‖poem,‖‘I‖Am’‖(1848). Clare
was educated at a village dame school and a church porch school at nearby
Glinton, under enlightened schoolteachers both of whom he memorialised fondly
in verse; he was also hugely and comprehensively self-educated, particularly in
poetry, but also in many other subjects (he tutored local children in mathematics).
He devoured print of any and every kind, reading everything he could: even the
thick volumes of stodgy sermons his well-meaning patrons sent him. Clare
published Poems Descriptive of Rural Life (1820); The Village Minstrel (1821); The
Shepherd’s Calendar (1827); The Rural Muse (1835). The vast hinterland of his
unpublished poetry was eventually put into print in the modern era, in a long-
term editorial project for Oxford University Press begun by Geoffrey
Summerfield, and continued by Eric Robinson, David Powell and others, and in a
very useful and more widely accessible series of Carcanet editions. There is a
good choice of both specialised and selected editions now available. Much of
Clare’s prose remains unpublished, however, though his letters, natural history,
political and autobiographical writings are for the most part now in print. ~ Clare
in the twenty-first century is regarded as a major figure, particularly valued for
his portrayal of natural history, village culture and the effects of enclosure, as a
love poet, a folksong maker and collector, a verse-storyteller in the line of George
Crabbe, William Wordsworth and Robert Bloomfield‖(qqv),‖and‖an‖‘ecological’‖
poet, prescient in his interest in the variety, detail, behaviour, range and
variations in the flora and fauna he so carefully observed and richly described in
so many of his poems. Most of his papers are held in Northampton, Peterborough
and‖New‖York.‖The‖cottage‖in‖Helpston‖in‖which‖Clare’s‖family‖held‖a‖small
tenement is now owned by the John Clare Trust, whilst his landscape is the focus
of the Langdyke‖Trust’s‖activities,‖which‖include‖managing‖Swaddywell‖Pit‖and‖
other Clare-associated local sites of particular natural history interest. The John
Clare Society is active, with a first-rate annual journal and an annual festival in
Helpston, and there is a well-supported John Clare Facebook group. ~ Intrest i
Clare was kept alive in the twentieth century, particularly in work by Edmund
Blunden amd by John and Anne Tibble. The modern academic study of Clare was
begun in Cambridge by John Barrell in his doctoral dissertation and subsequent,
highly influential 1972 monograph on Clare. It was further developed in several
excellent studies in the 1980s (listed below), and then through the John Clare
Forum at Nottingham Trent University in the 1990s and 2000s. The baton has now
been passed back to the University of Cambridge, with its Centre for John Clare
Studies, which holds monthly open talks and runs conferences and seminars.
Single author studies of Clare now regularly appear, as well as numerous articles
and creative responses. ~ The standard modern edition of‖Clare’s‖poetry‖is the
nine-volume Clarendon Press Oxford English Texts edition (1984-2003), ed. Eric
Robinson, David Powell and P.M.S. Dawson, divided into Early Poems (two
volumes), Poems of the Middle Period (five volumes), and Later Poems (two
volumes); there are also good selections available from Oxford, Penguin, Faber,
Carcanet (an important series of editions), Everyman, and several other imprints.
See also John Clare, Natural History Writings, ed. Margaret Grainger (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1983) and John Clare, Letters, ed. Mark Storey (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1985). The standard biography is Jonathan Bate, John Clare: A
Biography (London: Picador, 2003), and each of the eight or nine earlier
biographies also has strengths.‖Clare’s‖autobiographical‖writings‖are collected in
John Clare: By Himself, ed. Eric Robinson and David Powell (Ashington and
Manchester: Mid-Northumberland Arts Group and Carcanet Press, 1996), while
many of his political writings are gathered in John Clare, A Champion for the Poor:
Political Verse and Prose, ed. P.M.S. Dawson, Eric Robinson and David Powell
(Ashington and Manchester: Mid-Northumberland Arts Group and Carcanet
Press, 2000). ~ Major studies of Clare include: John Barrell, The Idea of Landscape
and the Sense of Place, 1730-1840: An Approach to the Poetry of John Clare (London:
Cambridge, University Press 1972); George Deacon, John Clare and the Folk
Tradition (London: Sinclair Browne, 1983); Tim Chilcott, ‘a real world and doubting
mind’: A Critical Study of the Poetry of John Clare (Hull: Hull University Press, 1985);
Johanne Clare, John Clare and the Bounds of Circumstance (Kingston and Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s‖University‖Press,‖1987);‖Ronald‖Blythe,‖Talking About John Clare
(Nottingham: Trent Books, 1999, revised and extended as At Helpston, Norwich:
Black Dog Books, 2011); Paul Chirico, John Clare and the Imagination of the Reader
(Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); Mina Gorji, John Clare and the Place of
Poetry (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2009); Sarah Houghton-Walker,
John Clare’s Religion (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009); John Goodridge, John Clare and
Community (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, 2015); Stephanie
Weiner, Clare’s Lyric: John Clare and Three Modern Poets (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2014); Sarah Guyer, Reading with John Clare: Biopoetics, Sovereignty,
Romanticism (New York: Fordham University Press, 2015); John Goodridge and
R.K.R. Thornton, John Clare, The Trespasser (Nottingham: Five Leaves, 2016); Simon
Kövesi, John Clare: Nature, Criticism and History (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2017);
Adam White, John Clare’s Romanticism (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2017); Erin Lafford,
‘Forms‖of‖Health‖in‖John‖Clare’s‖Poetics’,‖DPhil‖dissertation,‖University‖of‖Oxford,‖
2016. ~ Essay collections include: Hugh Haughton, Adam Phillips and Geoffrey
Summerfield (eds), John Clare in Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994); Goodridge (1994); John Goodridge and Simon Kövesi (eds), John Clare: New
Approaches (Helpston: The John Clare Society, 2000); Simon Kövesi and Scott
McEathron (eds), New Essays on John Clare: Poetry, Culture and Community
(Cambridge University Press, 2015), and the 37 volumes to date of JCSJ, most of
which are now digitised on Google Books. ~ Selected creative responses to Clare
include: Iain Sinclair, Edge of the Orison: In the Traces of John Clare’s ‘Journey Out of
Essex’ (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2005), and associated film and book by
Andrew Kötting, By Our Selves (2015); Robert Hamberger, Heading North: John
Clare’s Journey out of Essex (Pilton, Somerset: Flarestack Poetry, 2007); Carry
Akroyd, ‘of natures powers & spells’: Landscape Change, John Clare and Me
(Peterborough: Langford Press, 2009); Adam Foulds, The Quickening Maze
(London: Jonathan Cape, 2009); Judith Allnatt, The Poet’s Wife (London:
Transworld, 2010); Hugh Lupton, The Ballad of John Clare (Sawtry: Dedalus, 2010);
Jeanette Lynes, Bedlam Cowslip: The John Clare Poems (Hamilton, Ontario: Wolsak
and Wynn, 2015); John Gallas, Mad John’s Walk (Nottingham: Five leaves, 2017).
See also the Clare images by Carry Akroyd (www.carryakroyd.co.uk). ~ General
resources include‖the‖‘John‖Clare‖Info’,‖‘John‖Clare‖Resources’‖and‖‘John‖Clare‖
Blog’‖websites,‖and‖the‖publications‖JCSJ and JCSN. Major bibliographies are: H.
D. Dendurent, John Clare, a Reference Guide (London and Boston: George Prior
Publishers and G. K. Hall, 1978); Barbara H. Estermann, John Clare: an Annotated
Primary and Secondary Bibliography (New York: Garland, 1985); P. M. S. Dawson,
‘John‖Clare’,‖in‖Literature of the Romantic Period: A Bibliographical Guide, ed. Michael
O’Neill‖(Oxford:‖Clarendon‖Press,‖1998),‖167-80;‖John‖Goodridge,‖‘Index‖to‖the‖
John Clare Society Journal, 1-36 (1982-2017)’ and‖‘Further‖Reading:‖A‖
Chronological Survey of Clare Criticism, 1970-2012’‖(both‖these‖are‖available on
John‖Goodridge’s‖academia.edu page); Andrew Hodgson and‖Erin‖Lafford,‖‘An‖
Index of Significant Publications on John Clare, 2011-16’,‖John Clare Society Journal,
36 (2017), 69-75. Clare’s manuscripts are catalogued in the following works:
[David Powell], Catalogue of the John Clare Collection in the Northampton Public
 Library (Northampton: Northampton Public Library, 1964; with inserted loose-leaf
Supplement, 1971); Margaret Grainger, A Descriptive Catalogue of the John Clare
Collection in Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery (Peterborough: printed for the
Earl Fitzwilliam, 1973); Barbara Rosenbaum,‖‘John‖Clare‖(1793-1864)’,‖Index of
English Literary Manuscripts, Vol. IV (1800-1900), Part I (Arnold-Gissing), ed.
Barbara Rosenbaum and Pamela White (London: Mansell, 1982), 421-58, 828-9;
David C. Sutton, Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters:
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century (London: British Library, 1995), I, 203-5. ~ Ref
also: Hood (1870), 25-78; Hall (1873), 155-73; Miles (1891), III, 79; Unwin (1954),
121-42; Ashraf (1975), 137-42; Burnett et al (1984), nos. 152-153a; 137-42; Hold
(1989), 47-52; Shiach (1989), 61-7; Richardson (1994), 251-8; Sales (1994), 261-4;
Cafarelli (1995), 84-5; Sutton (1995), 203 (numerous manuscripts and letters);
sources as listed earlier; Phillips (1996); Goodridge (1999), item 19; Douglas Mack,
‘James‖Hogg,‖John‖Clare,‖and‖Duncan‖Ban‖Macintyre:‖Three‖British‖‚Peasant
Poets‛?’,‖JCSJ, 22 (2003), 17-31; Keegan (2005), 485-8; Sam‖Ward,‖‘Brother‖Bards:‖
John‖Clare‖and‖Allan‖Cunningham‖on‖Bloomfield’,‖RBSN 10 (Autumn 2005), 6-12;
Goodridge (2010), 16, 19-20; Sales (2002); Dabydeen et al (2007), 104; Keegan
(2008), 148-71; ODNB; LC 4, 159-68. [LC4]
Clark or Clarke, Charles Allen (1863-1935), ‘Teddy‖Ashton’,‖of Bolton, Lancashire,
working-class parents, worked in cotton mill, journalist, edited popular Teddy
Ashton’s Weekly, wrote communist fiction, founder of the Lancashire‖Authors’‖
Association, published ‘Voices’ and Other Verses (London and Manchester, 1895),
among many other publications, edited or written, all carefully catalogued by
Sparke. They include popular serials, and publications clearly aimed at holiday
purchasers‖and‖‘repeat’‖trade (see Beetham, listed below). Sparke gives their
reference numbers in the collection at Bolton reference library, whose catalogue
still (2018) has‖41‖‘Teddy‖Ashton’‖items‖listed.‖~ Ref: Sparke (1913), 45-8; Reilly
(1994), 95;‖Margaret‖Beetham,‖‘‚Oh!‖I‖do‖Like‖to‖be‖Beside‖the‖Seaside!‛:‖
Lancashire‖Seaside‖Publications’,‖Victorian Periodicals Review, 42, no. 1 (Spring
2009), 24-36 . [T]
(?) Clark [or Clarke], Ewan (fl. 1779), published Miscellany Poems (Whitehaven, 1779);
The Rustic, A Poem in Four Cantos (1805). ~ Ref: CBEL II (1969); Johnson (1992),
item 18; inf. Brian Maidment. [C18]
Clark, Hugh, (b. 1832), ‘Heone’,‖of New England Farm, Ardrossan, Ayrshire, worked
as a farmboy, received‖an‖‘excellent commercial‖education’,‖then‖went‖to‖help‖his‖
brother in his shop at Saltcoats, and later at Ardrossan. At the age of sixteen Clark
went‖to‖Glasgow‖to‖work‖in‖‘one‖of‖the‖great‖counting‖houses‖of‖the‖city’‖as‖a‖
clerk, working there for two years, but then, as Edwards delicately puts it, falling
into ‘the‖whirlpool‖of‖dissipation into which so many of our brightest youths are
sucked’‖(presumably he means drinking), and losing a number of jobs in Glasgow
 and Edinburgh as a result. Macintosh, who sees this as the inevitable result of a
country‖lad‖moving‖to‖the‖big,‖bad‖city,‖talks‖of‖him‖being‖‘left‖stranded‖on‖the‖
tide‖of‖commerce,‖a‖hopeless‖social‖wreck’.‖These‖periods‖of‖‘dissipation’‖
alternated with bouts of remorse, and an ability to rally himself that saw him
make numerous fresh starts. (Both Edwards and Macintosh remark on the fact
that, as Macintosh‖puts‖it,‖Clark‖in‖his‖early‖manhood‖was‖‘gifted‖with‖a‖fine‖
presence‖and‖address’.)‖Edwards‖quotes‖an‖unnamed source:‖‘My‖first‖
acquaintance with Clark was when I was an apprentice printer. I was so
enraptured with his verses that the idea often occurred to me that if ever I should
become‖a‖publisher,‖it‖would‖be‖among‖my‖first‖volumes.‖That‖time‖did‖arrive.’‖
Clark published Poems for the Period, by Heone (Irvine: Chas Murchland, 1881),
edited by Revd. Henry Reid, Minister of the West United Presbyterian Church,
Irvine, and Dedicated to the Irvine Burns Club (presumably either Murchland or
Reid was the anonymous source). Clark was in no position to relish the
publication however, and Edwards tells a melancholy, not to say melodramatic
story‖here,‖in‖the‖genre‖of‖temperance‖narrative:‖‘...*T+he‖poet‖was‖unable‖to‖be‖
conscious of the voice of popular applause, and regardless of the accents of pity or
blame. In a lonely garret, he eked out many a weary day, till at length the brain
gave way, and now he presents the painful picture of a helpless, hopeless inmate
of‖the‖imbecile‖ward‖of‖the‖Irvine‖Poorhouse.’ Both Edwards, and Macintosh
regard‖Clark‖as‖‘a‖person‖of‖genius as contrasted with talent’, as Macintosh puts
it, and Edwards dwells on what might‖have‖been,‖his‖volume‖giving‖‘only‖
fragments‖of‖the‖great‖things‖we‖might‖have‖had‖from‖the‖poor‖sufferer’;‖
nevertheless his extant poems are‖‘quite‖colossal‖in‖their melancholy‖grandeur’.‖
Edwards‖finds‖room‖for‖a‖solid‖extract‖from‖Clark’s‖poem‖‘An‖Essay‖on‖Ice’,‖and‖
the‖poems‖‘I‖Think‖of‖Thee’,‖‘She‖Weeps’,‖‘Night’,‖‘Sunrise‖in‖Spring’‖and‖
Ardrossan:‖A‖Retrospect’,‖from‖Clark’s‖larger‖poem,‖‘An‖Excursion from the City
to‖the‖Sea’.‖Macintosh has the same extract from this, and also prints the lyrics
‘The‖Spirit‖of‖Love’,‖‘Pan’s‖Dream’,‖and‖‘Ion’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 352-62;
Macintosh (1910), 249-52. [S]
(?) Clark, J. (fl. 1744), patient in Bethlehem Hospital, author of Bethlem a Poem. By a
Patient. Humbly Inscrib’d to the Honble. Edwd. Vernon (London: Sold by Saml. Lyne,
1744), inscribed at the foot‖‘Proper‖to‖be‖had‖and‖read,‖by‖all‖when‖they‖go to see
Bedlam’.‖Apparently the only copy is in Guildhall Library, London. ~ Ref: Dobell
(1933), 301; Foxon (1975), C225. [C18]
Clark, James (d. 1868), ploughman, tenant farmer, of Glenfarquhar, the Mearns. His
poems were published by (and along with those of) his son William Clark (qv), as
Leisure Musings (1894). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 119-20. [S]
Clark, Robert (1811-47), of Paisley, weaver, emigrated to America, returned to
Scotland, but sailed for America again and the ship sunk, published Original
 Poetical Pieces, Chiefly Scottish (Paisley, 1836); Random Rhymes (1842). ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 452-54; Leonard (1990), 182-3. [S] [T]
Clark, William (d. 1868), tenant farmer, of Glenfarquhar, the Mearns, published his
poems along with those of his late father James Clark (qv), as Leisure Musings
(1894). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 120-1. [S]
Clarke, John Smith (1885-1959), John S. Clarke, sometimes dubbed the ‘Poet Laureate
of the Revolution’, politician, poet, circus worker (specialising in lion-taming),
journalist, editor, educator and adventurer, of Jarrow, County Durham, the
thirteenth of fourteen children of whom seven survived to adulthood, born to
parents of gypsy heritage, and into a circus family: his relatives included nine
circus folk including a clown, an elephant-trainer, a juggler and a rope-dancer.
His father, also a John Clarke (his mother was Sally Ann Clarke), was at that time
a‖draper’s‖assistant,‖but‖was‖able‖to‖secure‖a‖new‖role‖opening‖new‖shops, which
meant travelling all over the country, a reversion of sorts, as Chalinor notes, to the
lifestyle he had abandoned. ~ Clarke received scant formal education, though his
circus kin taught him many notable practical skills, so that by the age of ten he
could ride a horse bareback, and in his teens could break and train horses. He
would‖recall‖that‖‘Circuses‖and‖wild‖beasts‖have‖always‖been‖part‖of‖my‖life‖ever‖
since‖I‖can‖remember’‖(quoted‖Chalinor,‖12).‖At‖the‖age‖of‖twelve‖he‖went‖to‖sea,‖
both in the spirit of adventure and as a better option than factory work, and at
seventeen was a lion-tamer’s‖assistant,‖becoming‖the‖youngest‖lion-tamer in the
country, standing in when his tamer got injured. He would continue to take both
circus work and jobs on ships for several more years. His parents had made
attempts to fill the gaps in his education, but it was his own intense curiosity,
especially about animals, that fuelled his desire to read and learn, and to travel.
He wrote articles in the Newcastle Journal ‘on‖animals‖and‖well-known
personalities‖of‖the‖time’‖(WCML‖web‖page).‖~‖Clarke‖became‖involved‖in‖the‖
smuggling of arms to Russian revolutionaries in 1906, the year before the first
Russian Revolution. In that year, 1907, he joined the Social Democratic Federation.
Clarke was a strong public speaker, and also wrote for the cause, both articles and
political poetry. In 1908 he became the editor of The Keel, a Newcastle socialist
newspaper. When the SDF failed to support a series of strikes on Tyneside in
1908, he joined the breakaway Socialist Labour Party. The following year,
working on an appallingly unseaworthy boat, he jumped ship in Durban, South
Africa, and was felled by malaria while attempting to walk home, being nursed
back to health by sympathetic Zulus. ~ In 1910 Clarke moved to Edinburgh,
working as secretary to the veteran writer and social reformer Jane Clapperton,
while editing and writing on his own account and continuing his political work.
He also gave horse-riding lessons, wrote for children, and gave lantern-lectures.
He married in 1912. During the war period, he was threatened with arrest for his
 anti-war stance; friends were imprisoned, and for a time he went on the run. In
1919 he published pro-Soviet pamphlets, visiting the Soviet Union in 1920,
meeting Lenin (and‖apparently‖curing‖Lenin’s‖sick‖dog). ~ Clarke differed from
his political colleagues on such issues as the‖‘sidelining‖of‖Sylvia‖Pankhurst’‖
(WCML web page), and he joined the Independent Labour Party in 1927, serving
as a Glasgow councillor for fifteen years, and as MP for Glasgow Maryhill from
1929-31. He continued to write and lecture on many subjects, particularly politics
and literature. Clarke became a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission for
Scotland, a board member of the Glasgow School of Art and a trustee of the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery. He was President of the Burns Federation
(Robert Burns, qv) too, and was involved in the Burns revival, publishing a study,
Robert Burns and his Politics: A Study in History and Human Nature (Glasgow: J. B.
Payne for Glasgow Labour College, 1925). Clarke lectured and wrote for the
Labour College. He served as a magistrate. He published an Encyclopaedia of
Glasgow (1936). During the Second World War he again worked as a lion-tamer
(now the oldest in Britain, balancing his earlier record as the youngest), and in the
post-war period wrote a column for the Scottish Daily Express,‖as‖‘Uncle‖Mack’.‖~‖
Clarke published Satires, Lyrics and Poems, chiefly humorous (Glasgow: Socialist
Labour Press, 1919) and The Poems and Satires of Romany Rye: a selection (Glasgow,
d.n.k). He published two books of lifewriting: Roughing it Round the World (d.n.k.,
not seen) and Circus Parade (London: 1936). Among his political writings are: The
Man They Could Not Hang (1911), an anti-capital punishment pamphlet centring on
a grotesquely bodged execution; The Young Worker’s Book of Rebels (Glasgow:
Proletarian School, 1918); The Red Army: Revolutionary Poems (Glasgow: Proletarian
School, 1919), with Albert Young and Tom Anderson; Pen Pictures of Russia Under
the Red Terror: Reminiscences of a Surreptitious Journey to Russia to attend the Second
Congress of the Third International (Glasgow:‖Workers’‖Committee,‖1921);‖Marxism
and History (1928). When a reprint of Marxism and History was needed, he refused
the‖publisher’s‖demand‖to‖excise‖the‖names‖of‖Trotsky‖and‖Bukharin‖from‖the‖
index, which meant it was not reprinted but well epitomises his independence
and strong sense of principle. Ashraf selects four of his‖poems‖‘Karl‖Marx’,‖‘To‖the‖
Memory‖of‖*Karl+‖Leibknecht‖and‖*Rosa+‖Luxemburg’,‖‘The‖Proletarian‖Pedigree’‖
and‖‘The‖Soul‖of‖Silas’.‖~‖Ref:‖Ashraf‖(1975),‖337-44; Ray Chalinor, John S. Clarke,
Parliamentarian, Poet, Lion-Tamer (London: Pluto Press, 1977); Gordon Munro, John
S. Clarke (2006), not seen; Working-Class Movement Library web page; ODNB;
spartacus-educational.com, Wikipedia entry and other online sources; inf. Ross
Bradshaw. [OP] [S]
(?) Clavell, John (1601-43), highwayman poet, associated with the‖‘uneducated‖poet’‖
tradition by Robert Southey. After moving to Dublin in 1635, he enjoyed
successful dual careers as physician and lawyer, despite doubtful qualifications.
 His commonplace book remains, containing some original, some copied verses—
and letters and medical prescriptions. He published A Recantation of an Ill Led Life
(1628). ~ Ref: Southey (1831); ODNB. [OP]
Cleaver, Thomas John (fl. 1848), of Stockton-on-Tees, worked for the Durham
County Coal Company, published Night and Other Poems (1848). ~ Ref: Tweddell
(1872), 125-43; Maidment (1987), 124-6; NTU. [M]
Cleghorn, Jane (b. 1827), of Port Glasgow, the orphaned daughter of a shipmaster
who was wrecked on the coast of Wales at the age of 27, when she was just four.
Edwards describes how by his courage he saved the entire crew, and this is
significant‖in‖that,‖as‖he‖puts‖it,‖‘a‖period‖of‖sore‖bereavement‖opened‖a‖well‖of‖
poesy’‖in‖her,‖though‖he‖may‖be‖thinking‖here‖of‖the‖cumulative‖effect‖of‖a‖later‖
major bereavement in her life. Cleghorn received a scanty education, and earned
her living from the age of ten. She was later left a widow with her aged mother
and young child to provide for, and worked as a hairdresser. She published
poems in Glasgow newspapers and other periodicals. Edwards includes four of
her poems, ‘The‖Temple‖of‖Nature’,‖‘The‖Aged‖Widow‖to‖Her‖Wedding‖Ring’,‖
‘Oor‖Ain‖Fireside’‖and‖‘Woman’s‖Mission’, written in both Scots and English. ~
Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 366-70; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Cleland, Alexander (1863-85), son of a colliery workman, apprentice journeyman
tailor, died at 22 in an enteric fever epidemic. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 159-62. [S] [T]
Clemintson, John C. (fl.‖1872),‖of‖Jarrow,‖miner,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Black‖Leggin’‖Pollis’,‖
a‖parody‖of‖Longfellow’s‖popular poem ‘Excelsior’‖(‘The‖shades‖iv‖neet‖wor‖fallin’‖
fast’: cf. Ben Brierley, qv, who also parodied this poem for political purposes), that
was printed‖and‖awarded‖‘Third‖Prize’‖in‖the‖almanack‖Chater’s Canny Newcassel
Diary and Local Remembrancer (Newcastle upon Tyne: J. W. Chater, 1872). ~ Ref:
FARNE archive. [M]
(?) Clephan, James (1804-88), of Monkwearmouth Shore, son of a baker, apprentice
printer and bookseller, editor of the Gateshead Observer (a paper of national
reputation). He published Hareshaw Burn; Evening on Hexham ‚Seal‛ and Other
Poems (Stockton-on-Tees, 1861); and The Bishop’s Raid, with Other Poems (Newcastle
upon Tyne, 1864). ~ Ref: Andrews (1888-9), I, 77-81; Allan (1891), 43; Welford
(1895), I, 593-6; Reilly (2000), 97; ODNB.
(?) Clifton, Harry (1832-72), of Hoddeston, Herts., orphaned in his early teens,
educated in Cheshunt, apprenticed in a circus as rider and clown, later achieved
music hall success as a singer and lyricist/composer, wrote the broadside ballad,
‘Polly‖Perkins,‖of‖Paddington‖Green’‖and‖was‖known for‖his‖‘motto’‖songs‖of‖
advice‖(example:‖‘Work,‖Boys,‖Work,‖and‖Be‖Contented’). ~ Ref: Hepburn (2001),
II, 449-51.
(?) Close, John (1816-91),‖‘Poet‖Close’,‖of‖Gunnerside,‖Swaledale,‖Yorkshire,‖son‖of‖a‖
butcher and lay preacher from Stephen, Westmoreland, assisted his father from
 1826-46. Then in 1846, he became a printer at Kirby Stephen and kept a bookstall
at Bowness on Windermere. He was granted a Civil List pension of fifty pounds
on April 1861, but it was cancelled by Lord Palmerston in June 1861, before it had
received royal signature;. He was eventually, however, granted 100 pounds from
the royal bounty fund. These events seem to have gained Close some notoriety,
for they were featured in the periodical Byrne’s Gossip of the Century in an article
titled‖‘Poet‖Close‖and‖his‖pension:‖shewing‖how‖it‖was‖got,‖who‖took‖it‖from‖him‖
and what the queen sent him from the royal‖bounty‖1861’‖(1892,‖I,‖249-51l; also
apparently featured in The Illustrated London News, Feb 1891 p. 239). Biographer
Frederick‖Boase‖notes,‖‘He‖indited‖some‖verses‖to‖the‖king‖of‖Bonny‖*referring‖
perhaps to his 1862 publication], who created him his poet laureate, but
unfortunately‖for‖the‖poet‖no‖salary‖was‖attached‖to‖the‖office’.‖Close published
numerous volumes including: The Satirist, or, Every Man in his Humour (Appleby,
1833); The Poetical Works, etc. of John Close (Kirkby Stephen, 1860, in five parts); The
Wise Man of Stainmore: Or, Tales and Legends of Old Time (1864); Bowness Church
Bells and other Poems (1872); Poet Close's Christmas Book, Containing, Memorial of His
Late Royal Highness Prince Albert; The Black Man’s Visit to Poet Close; Drops from the
Spring; New Sketches, New Poems; Capt. Hudson’s Mesmerism, &c (Kirkby Stephen,
1862); Poet Close at the Lakes. Dedicated to Everybody. Part II (Kirkby Stephen: J,
Close, [1865]); Poet Close in Carlisle and Scotland; and, a Night with Jacob Thompson,
the Celebrated Westmoreland Painter; Shap Abbey, and the ‚Wise Men‛ of Kendal; Grand
Cluster of the Barnsley poets, &c. (Kirkby Stephen, 1866); Poet Close’s New Poem on
the Late Awful Fire at his Bookstall, Bowness, Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland (?Kirkby
Stephen, 1875). ~ Ref: Boase (1908), IV, 692; Sutton (1995), 209 (manuscripts and
letters); Reilly (2000), 98-9; ODNB. [—Katie Osborn]
Close, John George (fl. 1879), linen wrapper of Belfast; published Echoes of the Valley
(Belfast, 1879). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 99. [I] [T]
Clounie, Thomas (b. 1867), of Kirkcudbright then Blackburn, draper. ~ Ref: Hull
(1902), 440-5. [S] [T]
Coaker, Jonas (1801-90), The Dartmoor Poet, servant-boy, later labourer, publican,
parish tax-collector. Most of his work was printed in fragments but there was a
volume, A Sketch of the several Denominations in the Christian World; with a short
account of Atheism, Judaism, and Mahometanism (verse) (Tavistock, 1871); he also
contributed to Things New and Old concerning the Parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor
and its neighbourhood, ed. R. Dymoke (Torquay, 1876), published to raise church
funds, which also recorded‖a‖contribution‖by‖Widecombe’s‖policeman‖poet‖John‖
Webber (qv), who may have been influenced by Coaker. ~ Ref: Wright (1896), 99-
101.
Coates, James (fl. 1805-13), labourer, published A Description of Burlington Key and
Neighborhood (in verse) (Gainsborough, 1805); A Pathetic Elegy on the Death of W.
 Brown and C. Choddick, who Suffered on the Tempestuous Night of Oct 30th, 1807, while
Engaged in the Herring-fishery (York, 1808); Bridlington-Quay, a Descriptive Poem
(second edition, Scarborough, 1813). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), items 192-3.
Cochran, John (fl. before 1889-90), of Paisley, drawboy, weaver, coal seller; published
pieces in newspapers. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 418-20. [S] [T]
Cochrane, Robert (b. 1854), of Paisley, turner, tenter, poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), II, 444-51. [S]
Cock, James (b. 1752), of Elgin, Aberdeenshire,‖‘The‖Grandholm‖Poet’,‖weaver, born
into a large family, trained as a handloom weaver, emigrated to the United States
in 1771, but returned to Elgin when the ship was blown astray. In 1881 he began
work as‖a‖‘customer weaver at Fraserburgh under the patronage of Lady Altoun’‖
(Radcliffe), and as an estate steward. in 1796 he became the overseer of a linen
factory at Grandholm, and also worked independently as a weaver. He published
Hamespun Lays, or the Simple Strains of an Untutored Muse (1806; Aberdeen, 1810,
1820, 1824); the various editions have changes in their contents, and variant titles:
‘Simple‖Strains‖or...’‖and‖‘Hamespun’‖for‖‘Homespun’. Radcliffe includes the
poem‖‘Willie‖and‖Davie’‖from‖the‖second‖edition‖on‖his‖webpage,‖and‖quotes‖
from‖Cock’s‖interesting account‖of‖the‖volume’s‖genesis:‖‘In‖the‖year‖1806,‖being‖
then labouring under a complaint of the stone, under which I groaned for six
years, and being greatly disabled from labour, I applied my self to the
composition of poetry. Reduced to extreme necessity, with the advice of some
friends, I forced myself out in public view, and at the above date, published the
first‖copy‖of‖my‖lame‖productions’‖(pp.‖v-vi). The sense of needing a morally of
practically justifiable reason to publish was a common one, and the use of the
adjective‖‘lame’‖to‖describe‖his‖poems‖subtly‖adds‖the idea of lameness to the
disabling pain of a kidney-stone that he discusses. Despite this modesty and self-
abnegation, his verses were clearly popular, and he is described by Radcliffe as
the leader of a coterie of labouring class poets. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 181-2 and
16, [lix]; Johnson (1992), items 198-9; Radcliffe; online sources. [S] [T]
Colburn, George (b. 1852), of Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, from a large working-
class family though‖‘by‖dint‖of‖untiring‖perseverance‖and‖self-denial, the children
received‖a‖fair‖education’‖(Edwards).‖They‖moved‖to‖Stonehaven‖when‖George
was nine, and he attended school there for a short while, working in summer in
the country and attending the school through the winter. He enjoyed being in the
countryside and had an early passion for books, especially history and poetry. At
fourteen he was sent to Montrose to train in the grocery business. He also spent
some time in America, visiting scenic places such as Niagara Falls, the Great
Lakes and the St Lawrence River, before returning to Scotland after three years
due‖to‖poor‖health.‖He‖contributed‖prose‖and‖poetry‖to‖‘various‖public‖prints’‖and‖
published a volume, Poems on Mankind and Nature (1891). Edwards selects four
 poems, all in rather formal poetic‖English:‖‘The‖Glen’,‖‘James‖Beattie’,‖‘Eliza’‖and‖
‘Dunnotar‖Castle’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 64-70; Reid, Bards (1897), 121-3. [S]
Coldwell, Peter (1811-1892), of Lauder, grocer, wrote humorous poems and
recitations, published in Crockett. ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 335-9. [S]
Cole, Charles (fl. 1833-5), described on the title page of Political... Poems as‖‘a‖London‖
Mechanic’,‖by‖Ashraf‖as‖a‖‘mechanic’,‖by‖Scheckner‖as‖a‖‘Little-known worker-
poet’,‖and‖by‖Schwab‖as‖Secretary‖of‖the‖United‖Operative‖Weavers‖of‖London.‖
He published Political and Other Poems (London: W.C. Mantz, 1833, second edition
1834,‖both‖in‖BL);‖‘A‖poetical‖address‖to‖his‖grace‖the‖Duke‖of‖Wellington’‖(1835);‖
poems in the radical papers in the 1840s and 1850s (see Scheckner); Sanders lists
his poem ‘The Spirit‖of‖Wat‖Tyler’,‖published in the Northern Star, 16 September
1848. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 120-1; Ashraf (1975), 143-8; Ashraf (1978), I, 13, 24, 43-
4; Scheckner (1989), 129-32, 331; Schwab (1993), 188; Boos (2002a); inf. Bob Heyes.
[T]
Coles, John (b. 1775), of Weedon Lois, Northamptonshire, son of John and Hannah
Coles, shoemaker, agricultural labourer, published with Joseph Furniss (qv),
Poems Moral and Religious (1811),‖stating‖in‖the‖preface,‖‘We‖are‖plain‖unlettered‖
men; having never received the advantages of an education ... from our childhood
to the present time we have been under the necessity of labouring hard for our
daily‖support’. ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 53-4. [SM]
Collier, Mary (1688?-1762), of Midhurst, Sussex, farm worker, charwoman,
washerwoman and general labourer, had no formal education, but was taught to
read when very young by her mother. In delineating the seasonal drudgery
working-class women are locked in, and railing against such inequities as the
women’s‖double-shift, The Woman's Labour (1739) embodies a rejoinder to Stephen
Duck’s‖poem‖of‖male‖labour,‖The Thresher's Labour (1736). At 246 lines, it is wittily
written‖in‖what‖E.P.‖Thompson‖describes‖as‖‘the‖old‖folk‖mode‖of‖the‖‚argument‖
of‖the‖sexes‛’,‖and‖also‖comments‖upon‖the‖relation‖between‖private‖vices‖and‖
public welfare with a lack of deference that illuminates the humbug about
‘national’ wealth, and may partly account for the shortage of patronage. Collier
spent several years nursing her sick father before relocating to Petersfield in
Hampshire after his death, where she worked as a washerwoman and itinerant
household brewer until the age of 63. She retired to a garret in Alton, last being
identified in her 72nd year composing a poem in honour of the marriage of
George III. Collier is one of several eighteenth-century plebeian poets who have
been revived and anthologised since the 1980s. (Her poems were reprinted
around 1820, perhaps in response to the revived interest in labouring-class poetry
in this period. Her modern re-emergence was a product of second-wave
feminism: in 1974 Sheila Rowbotham printed an extract of The Woman’s Labour in
her major study, Hidden from History; Mary Chamberlain included an extract in
her Fenwomen the following year. Roger Lonsdale printed substantial extracts in
his two anthologies (1984 and 1989), bringing her to a wide audience, while two
‘back-to-back editions‖of‖Duck’s‖and‖her‖‘labour’‖poems‖put‖these‖texts‖solidly‖on‖
the academic radar.) Although the absence of letters and eminent patrons has
meant that the particulars of her life remain cloaked in obscurity, she stands
unmistakably as a seminal poetic spokesperson for the common woman. Her
poem‖‘The‖Three‖Wise‖Sentences’‖is‖an‖archetypal‖feminist‖reworking‖of‖scripture,‖
from‖the‖apocryphal‖Book‖of‖Esdras.‖Three‖young‖men‖debate‖‘What,‖in‖their‖
Judgments,‖did‖in‖strength‖excel‖/‖All‖other‖things’.‖The‖third triumphantly argues
the‖case‖for‖‘Women’.‖~ Collier published The Woman’s Labour: An Epistle to Mr.
Stephen Duck; in Answer to the late Poem, called The Thresher’s Labour. To Which are
added, The Three Wise Sentences, taken from the First Book of Esdras, Ch. III. and IV
(1739);‖the‖main‖poem‖has‖been‖edited,‖alongside‖Stephen‖Duck’s‖The Thresher’s
Labour, by Moira Ferguson (Augustan Reprint Society, 1985), and by E.P.
Thompson and Marian Sugden (Merlin, 1989): see Refs, below. Also published
were Poems on Several Occasions. Winchester: For the Author, by Mary Ayres, 1762
and‖?1820),‖with‖‘Some‖Remarks‖of‖the‖Author’s‖Life‖drawn‖by‖herself’,‖and‖The
Poems of Mary Collier (1765?).‖‘To‖a‖Friend‖in‖Affliction’‖and‖‘Verses‖Addressed‖to‖
Mrs‖Digby’‖were‖featured in Vol. 2 of The Lady’s Poetical Magazine (1781-82), four
volumes. ~ Ref: Tinker (1922), 94-5; Unwin (1954), 73-4; Sheila Rowbotham,
Hidden from History (London: Pluto Press, 1974), 24-6; Mary Chamberlain,
Fenwomen (London: Virago, 1975), 10; Lonsdale (1984), 325-6; Klaus (1985), 3-18;
Moira Ferguson (ed), The Thresher’s Labour, Stephen Duck (1736) and The Woman’s
Labour, Mary Collier (1739) (Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial
Library/Augustan‖Reprint‖Society,‖1985);‖Donna‖Landry,‖‘The‖Resignation of
Mary‖Collier’,‖in‖Felicity‖Nussbaum‖and‖Laura‖Brown‖(eds),‖The New Eighteenth
Century, (1987), 35-8; Lonsdale (1989), 171-3; Shiach (1989), 51-3; The Thresher's
Labour by Stephen Duck, The Woman's Labour by Mary Collier, Two Eighteenth
Century Poems, ed. E. P. Thompson and Marian Sugden (London: The Merlin
Press, 1989); Blain et al (1990), 225; Fullard (1990), 553; Landry (1990), 34-5, 38-40,
56-77; Rizzo (1991), 243; Ferguson (1995), 7-26; John Goodridge, Rural Life in
Eighteenth-Century English Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995),
Part I; Phillips (1996), 214-16; Milne (1999), 100-38;‖H.‖Gustav‖Klaus,‖‘Mary‖Collier‖
(1688?-1762)’,‖Notes and Queries, new series, 47, no. 2 (2000), 201-4; Christmas
(2001), 115-29; William Christmas, ‘An‖Emendation‖to‖Mary‖Collier’s‖The Woman’s
Labour’,‖Notes and Queries, 246 (March 2001); Milne (2001); Keegan (2003); Kord
(2003), 260-1; Landry (2003), 225-34; Peggy‖Thompson,‖‘Duck,‖Collier‖and‖the‖
Ideology‖of‖Verse‖Forms’,‖Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 44, no. 3 (2004),
505-23; Backscheider (2005), 405 and passim; Keegan (2005), 478-81; John
Goodridge,‖‘Stephen‖Duck,‖The Thresher’s Labour and Mary Collier, The Woman’s
 Labour’,‖in Gerrard (2006), 209-22; Milne (2008), 50-67; Goodridge (2010), 13; Kathy
G.‖Fellers,‖‘A‖Study‖in‖Contrasts:‖Mary‖Collier‖and‖Mary‖Leapor’s‖Diverse‖
Contributions to Eighteenth-Century British Laboring-Class‖Women’s‖Poetry’,‖
PhD, University of Houston, 2013; Peter Cochran (ed), The Farmer’s Boy by Robert
Bloomfield: A Parallel Text Edition, with The Thresher’s Labour by Stephen Duck and
The Woman’s Labour by Mary Collier (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars,
2014); Batt (2017); Christmas (2017); LC 1, 311-48; ODNB. [F] [LC1] [C18] [—Iain
Rowley]
Collier, Mary (Mary Peach) (1799-1858), of Derby, housemaid, was born in Matlock,
the daughter of James Peach, a stone mason. She moved to Belper, and married
John Collier in Duffield in 1823. Collier published Poetic Effusions, by M. Peach
(Derby: printed for the authoress, 1823; 1835, 1847, 1851). The first edition
appeared in 1823 and the pieces composed in intervening years added to the later
editions. The Bodleian‖catalogue‖specifies‖her‖as‖‘Mary‖Collier,‖of‖Belper’.‖The‖
biographical facts briefly given here were gathered by two English students from
Murray State University, Kentucky, Angie Hatton and Angela Walther, who with
their project supervisor Kevin Binfield visited Derbyshire in 2009 to research
Mary Peach Collier, as part of a remarkable and pioneering project in recovery
research teaching, described in Binfield & Christmas (2019). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992),
item‖205;‖C.‖R.‖Johnson,‖cat.‖49‖(2006),‖item‖72;‖‘Poetry‖in‖Motion‖for‖Derbyshire‖
Writer’,‖Derbyshire Telegraph, 12 February 2009 (article online); Kevin Binfield,
‘Life‖Study‖in‖and‖beyond‖Mary‖Peach‖Collier’s‖Poetic Effusions’‖in‖Binfield and
Christmas (2019). [F]
Collier, Samuel (fl. 1743), labourer, published On Discontent (1743). ~ Ref: Foxon
(1975), C291; COPAC. [C18]
Colling, Mary Maria (née Kempe) (1805-53), of Tavistock, Devon, daughter of a
husbandman, self-taught, worked as a domestic servant for most of her life,
patronised by Anna Bray, author of Fables and Other Pieces in Verse. With some
account of the author, in Letters to Robert Southey by Mrs Bray (London: Longman,
Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1831), subscribers include Wordsworth, Southey,
Rogers,‖L.E.L.,‖and‖a‖‘Mrs‖Kempe’‖who‖was‖perhaps‖the‖poet’s‖mother‖and‖whose‖
copy was listed by Hart. ~ Ref: Southey (1831), 212-13; Blain et al (1990), 225-6;
Jackson (1993), 83; ABC (1996), 271-2; ODNB; Burmester, item 378; John Hart,
catalogue 69, item 108; LC 5, 11-16. [F] [LC5]
(?) Collins, Emanuel (b. 1712?), of Bristol, rhyming publican who kept the Duke of
Marlborough‖public‖house‖in‖Bedminster,‖‘where‖he‖celebrated‖irregular‖
marriages’‖(Meyerstein);‖published Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (Bristol, 1762).
Thomas Chatterton (qv) satirises him in an ironic‖wish‖to‖sing‖‘like‖Midnight‖Cats‖
or‖Collins’. ~ Ref: Meyerstein, A Life of Thomas Chatterton (London: Ingpen &
 Grant, 1930), 81; Lonsdale (1984), 500-1; Thomas Chatterton, Selected Poems, ed.
Nick Groom (Cheltenham: Cyder Press, 2003), 66. [C18]
Collins, George Thomas (b. 1844), of Southampton then Blackburn, brush maker,
published in Blackburn newspapers. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 264-71, which includes an
autobiographical statement by the poet.
(?) Collins, John (1742-1808),‖‘Brush‖Collins’,‖born in Bath though he later settled in
Birmingham, tailor’s‖son,‖staymaker,‖popular actor and musical entertainer,
published Scripscrapologia, or Collins’s Doggerel Dish of All Sorts (Birmingham:
‘Published‖by‖the‖Author‖Himself‖and‖printed‖by‖M.‖Swinney’, 1804). A long sub-
title gives a further sense of what is intended, essentially an entertaining
miscellany developed partly from his stage performances, a sort of greatest hits:
‘Consisting‖of‖Songs‖Adapted‖to‖Familiar‖Tunes,‖And‖which‖may‖be‖sung‖without‖
the Chaunterpipe of an Italian Warbler, or the Ravishing accompaniments of
Tweedle-dum or Tweedle-dee. Particularly those which have been most
applauded‖in‖the‖author’s‖once‖popular‖performance,‖call’d‖The‖Brush.‖The‖
gallimaufry garnished with a variety of comic tales, Quaint Epigrams, Whimsical
Epitaph,‖&c.‖&c.’‖The‖title‖page‖displays‖a‖variety‖of‖typefaces‖and‖sizes
appropriate to this idea‖of‖a‖comic‖miscellany.‖In‖an‖‘Apology‖to‖the‖Reader’‖
Collins notes that some of the pieces have been published in the Birmingham
Chronicle ‘and‖copied‖from‖thence,‖though‖not‖altogether‖correctly,‖into‖other‖
provincial prints, while their editor omitted to insert the Name of poor BRUSH at
the‖Bottom‖of‖of‖the‖Scroll’. The volume is effectively dedicated a poem entitled
‘Previous Apostrophe, (For it cannot be called a dedication) To Mr. Meyler,
Bookseller‖and‖printer,‖in‖the‖Grove,‖Bath’‖(William‖Meyler,‖qv).‖Collins’‖poems‖
as‖much‖as‖his‖performances‖were‖admired,‖and‖one‖of‖them,‖‘Tomorrow’‖was‖
included in the popular Victorian anthology,‖Francis‖Palgrave’s‖Golden Treasury of
English Verse (1861), and other poems of his were reprinted in other anthologies.
He performed in Bath, Dublin, London (where he also gave lectures) and
elsewhere before settling in Birmingham. ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 207;
DNB/ODNB; NCBEL III (1969); LION; main text via Google Books. [T]
Collins, Samuel (1802-78),‖of‖Hollinwood,‖near‖Manchester,‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Hale‖Moss’,‖
weaver, radical, wrote verses in Lancashire dialect, published The Wild Floweret
(Manchester, 1875); Limerick Races, as Sung by Sam Collins (1860?); and
Miscellaneous Poems and Songs (1859) in Lancashire dialect. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 103;
ODNB.
(?) Collins, Sarah (fl. 1839?),‖broadside‖balladeer‖who‖‘was‖transported‖to‖Van‖
Dieman’s‖Land‖for‖highway‖robbery’,‖according‖to‖her‖ballad,‖quoted‖in‖Fraser’s
Magazine in 1839: possibly a pseudonym or just a folk story. ~ Ref: Hepburn
(2001), I, 40, 274 note. [F]
Collins, William (1838-90), of Strabane, Co. Tyrone, labourer, soldier, journalist,
emigrated to Canada at the age of thirteen or fourteen, lived in Upper Ottawa for
some years, crossed to the US when the Civil War broke out and served in one of
the Western regiments; In 1866 he accompanied‖General‖O’Neill‖to‖Canada,‖‘in‖
connection‖with‖the‖expected‖Fenian‖invasion‖of‖the‖Dominion’. He worked as a
labourer in the quarries of Cleveland, Ohio, writing poems for the Boston Pilot;
became a staff writer on the Irish World and later the New York Tablet; co-founded
with fellow Irish poet J. C. Curtin a short-lived periodical, The Globe in New York,
and‖wrote‖for‖‘many‖other‖papers’.‖He published Ballads, Songs and Poems (New
York,‖1876);‖notable‖poems‖include‖‘Tyrone‖Among‖the‖Bushes’‖and‖‘Summer‖in‖
Ireland’; the latter re-printed in Shamrock, 8 September 1883. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖
(1912), 74. [I]
Collyer, Revd. Robert (b, 1823), Keighley factory-worker and blacksmith, emigrated
to the US in 1850 and later entered the Methodist ministry. ~ Ref: Andrews (1885),
137-40. [B]
Comrie, William (fl. before 1889-90),‖of‖Paisley,‖‘knight‖of‖the‖shuttle’‖(i.e.‖weaver),‖
poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 260-63. [S] [T]
Connell, Philip (fl. 1865), of Mountnugent, County Cavan, attended‖a‖‘hedge‖school’‖
in‖Ireland,‖an‖‘immigrant‖Irish‖plasterer’‖in‖Manchester‖when‖he‖wrote‖‘a‖Winter‖
Night‖in‖Manchester’,‖published in his Poaching on Parnassus: A Collection of
Original Poems (Manchester‖and‖London,‖1865),‖a‖‘tiny‖subscription‖edition’. One
of the sources implies there may have been earlier publications. ~ Ref: Philip
O’Connell‖*not‖the‖poet+,‖The Schools and Scholars of Breiffne (Dublin, 1942), 410;
Maidment (1987), 99, 150, 152-4; Reilly (2000), 104; NTU. [I]
Constable, Michael (fl. 1841-56), ‘M.C.’,‖‘One‖of‖the‖Ranks’,‖‘A‖British‖Soldier’,‖Irish-
born tailor, enlisted in 1841 and was appointed a messenger at the Admiralty in
London in 1856. He published National Lyrics for the Army and Navy (Dublin,
undated; second edition 1848); Othello in Hell, and The Infant with a Branch of Olives,
by ‘One in the Ranks’ (Dublin, 1848); Othello Doomed, etc., by ‘One in the Ranks’
(Dublin, 1849); Songs and Poems (Dublin, 1849). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 78. [I]
(?) Constantine, Henry (1791-1870),‖of‖Carlton,‖Yorkshire,‖‘The‖Coverdale‖Bard’,‖
published Rural Poetry and Prose (Beverley, 1867). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 105; NTU.
Cook, Andrew (b. 1836), of Paisley, compositor. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 268-71. [S]
Cook, Eliza (1818-89), of south London, the daughter and eleventh child of a
Southwark brewer, tinsmith and brazier. Self-taught, she established in 1849 a
periodical, Eliza Cook’s Journal. She also published the collections Lays of a Wild
Harp: A Collection of Metrical Pieces (London, 1835); Poems (1845); New Echoes, and
other poems (London, 1864); Poems (1860, 1861); Poetical Works (London, 1870, 1882
and‖New‖York,‖1882).‖Her‖poems‖include‖‘God‖Speed‖the‖Good‖Ship;‖Or,‖The‖
English‖Emigrant’,‖‘Stanzas‖to‖my‖Starving‖Kind‖in‖the‖North’‖both‖discussed‖by‖
 Hepburn,‖as‖well‖as‖‘The‖Streets’‖(in which she recalls her London‖childhood),‖‘A
Song,‖to‖The‖People‖of‖England’,‖and five poems which were set to music in the
1840s and 1850s: ‘Nature’s‖Gentleman’,‖‘The‖Old‖Arm-Chair’,‖‘The‖Old‖Water‖
Mill’,‖‘The‖Indian‖Hunter’,‖‘O‖come‖to‖the‖Ingle Side’.‖Her‖‘Stanzas’‖(‘Truth!‖truth!‖
where‖is‖the‖sound’)‖were‖printed‖in‖Glasgow’s‖Chartist Circular, no. 54, 3rd
October 1840, p. 220. ~ Ref: Rowton (1853), 480-95; Jewitt (1867), 245-7; Jackson
(1993), 84; Reilly (1994), 103; McCue (1997), 67; Bradshaw & Ozment (2000), 551-7;
Reilly (2000), 105; Hepburn (2001), II, 409-10; Boos (2002a), 220; Sales (2002), 77,
84-5l; Boos (2008), 279-98; Boos (2010); Alexis‖Easley,‖‘Constructing the Mass-
Market Woman Reader and Writer: Eliza Cook and the Weekly Dispatch’, in
Women, Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1830s-1900s, ed. Alexis Easley, Clare
Gill and Beth Rogers (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming);
ODNB. [F]
Cooke, Noah (1831-1919),‖of‖Kidderminster,‖‘The‖Weaver‖Poet’,‖of‖poor‖illiterate‖
parents, carpet weaver, published Wild Warblings (Kidderminster, 1876). The
volume begins with a short autobiography in which the poet describes the
opportunities and limitations of his upbringing. It is worth quoting at some
length:‖‘My father was a journeyman weaver; he wove bombazine, a fabric
composed of silken warp and woollen weft. The looms he held were built in the
garret of the house he occupied. My mother also employed her spare time at the
same business; and a bombazine loom was probably one of the first objects my
eyes‖beheld.‖At‖an‖early‖age‖I‖was‖sent‖to‖the‖‚Old‖Church‖school,‛‖where‖the‖
instruction was, I think, given gratuitously, for I do not recollect ever carrying any
school-pence. During the time I attended that school there was a blithe, cleanly-
looking, kind old gentleman, and I learnt to read and write a little under his care.
His successor was a violent austere man, and I took a dislike to him at first sight. I
often had cause to repent the change, and I began to dread the school as a place
for torture rather than tuition. I played truant very frequently; the meadows and
green lanes had greater attractions for me than the hated school. About that time
the bombazine trade collapsed, and we were reduced to the greatest straits. I soon
learnt by a too practical experience the miseries of extreme poverty. After
enduring many privations and vicissitudes our domestic prospects grew a little
brighter, and I got my first job of work. My employment was to turn a silk-
winding machine, and my wages were two shillings a week, with twopence for
myself. With this pocket money I often made purchases of little‖books.’‖Thus
began his interest in writing. Cooke was a thoughtful man, and took an active role
in his community, as a union representative for the weavers. Despite the hardship
of his working life he continued to write poetry, and as late as 1916 privately
printed a long religious poem, Life. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 170; Ashton &
Roberts (1999), ch. 6, 70-75; Reilly (2000), 106-7; LC 6, 269-86; NTU. [T] [LC6]
Cooper, George (1829-76), of Arbroath, was trained as a painter, and also worked as
a flax-dresser when trade was slow. He moved to England as a young man,
working at his trade and then enlisting in the 83rd Regiment of Foot, serving in
India with that regiment during the Indian Rising of 1857-8. This took a great toll
on him, and he returned to Arbroath in poor health in 1862, living thereafter a
‘quiet,‖unostentatious‖life’‖(Reid),‖finding‖solace‖in‖writing‖tales‖and‖lyrical‖
poems. He appears to have been a modest writer who wrote for his own pleasure,
and declined to publish when encouraged to do so. He left behind in manuscript a
large number of poems, including several of three or four hundred lines, as well
as his tales, which were passed to George Gilfillan, who admired them, though
they were never published, the suggestion being that his family were as cautious
about them as‖he‖had‖been.‖Edwards‖notes‖that‖many‖of‖his‖verse‖are‖‘exceedingly‖
humorous’.‖He‖find‖space‖for‖two,‖‘Dry‖Up‖Thy‖Tearfu’‖E’e’,‖Sweet‖Lass’‖(also‖in‖
Reid),‖and‖a‖comic‖narrative‖poem,‖‘The‖Bowl‖o’‖Bluid’;‖both‖written in Scots. ~
Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 72-7; Reid, Bards (1897), 124. [S] [T]
Cooper, Joseph (1810-90),‖of‖Thornsett,‖New‖Mills,‖Derbyshire,‖‘The‖Poet‖of‖
Temperance’,‖orphaned‖at‖seven‖and‖went out to work early; published The
Temperance Minstrel: Original Melodies (Manchester, 1877); Helping God to Make the
Flowers Grow, with other original poems, hymns, song, dialogues, recitations
(Manchester: Brook and Chrystal, 1889). ~ Ref: Samuel Laycock (qv),‖‘To‖my‖
Friend, Joseph Cooper, the Derbyshire Bard’,‖Collected Writings (2nd edition,
Oldham, 1908); Reilly (2000), 107; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 73.
Cooper, Thomas (1805-92), ‘Adam‖Hornbook’,‖shoemaker, of Leicester then
Gainsborough, Chartist poet, best known for his epic prison poem, The Purgatory
of Suicides: A Prison Rhyme (1845), and for the fact that, as Sales (2002) puts it,
Cooper’s‖‘life,‖and‖to‖a‖lesser‖extend‖his‖works,‖were‖raided‖and‖reconstructed‖by‖
[Charles] Kingsley for his social-problem novel Alton Locke: Tailor and Poet (1850)’.
Cooper published many other volumes of poetry and prose including Wise Saws
and Modern Instances (1845); The Baron’s Yule Feast. A Christmas rhyme (1846);
‘Sonnets‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖Allen‖Davenport [qv], by a Brother Bard and
Shoemaker’,‖The Northern Star, 5th December 1846; Captain Cobbler; or the
Lincolnshire Rebellion. An Historical Romance of the Reign of Henry VIII (1850); Eight
Letters to the Young Men of the Working Classes (1851); The Belief in a Personal God and
a Future Life (1860); A Calm Inquiry into the Nature of Deity (1864); The Bridge of
History over the Gulf of Time (1871); Plain Pulpit Talk (1872); The Life of Thomas
Cooper. Written by Himself (London, 1872); God, the Soul, and a Future State (1873); A
Paradise of Martyrs (1873); Old Fashioned Stories (1874); The Verity of Christ’s
Resurrection from the Dead (1875); The Verity and Value of the Miracles of Christ (1876);
Poetical Works (1877); Evolution, the Stone Book, and the Mosaic Record of Creation
(1878); The Atonement and other discourses (1880); Thoughts at Fourscore, and Earlier.
 A Medley (1885). Cooper also edited the Shakespearian Chartist Hymn Book
(Leicester, second edition 1843). His 1872 autobiography, listed above, ran into
many editions; apart from its political, social and spiritual interest, it throws light
on the life of Thomas Miller (1807-74, qv), a close contemporary and childhood
friend‖of‖Cooper’s.‖~ Ref: Hood (1870), 230-48; Winks (1883), 190-228; Miles (1891),
X, xiv; Kovalev (1956), 87-8; James (1963), 172, 175-6; NCBEL III (1969), 516-7;
Vicinus (1974), 108-12, 159, 189; Ashraf (1975), 173; Ashraf (1978), I, 36-7; Vincent
(1981), 146-7, 194; Maidment (1983), 79; Burnett et al (1984), no. 177; Cross (1985),
128-9, 150-6; Maidment (1987), 57-9, 127-32; Scheckner (1989), 133-7, 331-2; Schwab
(1993), 188-9; Gareth Stedman Jones, Languages of Class: Studies in English working
class history 1832-1982 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 97 and
note; Sutton (1995), 240 (numerous manuscripts and letters); Janowitz (1998), esp.
166-73; Zlotnick (1998), 176-7; Goodridge (1999), item 21; Bradshaw & Ozment
(2000), 501-9; Reilly (2000), 107; Boos (2002a), 217-18; Sales (2002), 76-7, 80-83;
Newitt (2006), 8-22; Newitt (2008), 2; Mike‖Sanders,‖‘‚The‖Guilty‖Game‖of‖Human‖
Subjugation‛:‖Religion‖as‖Ideology‖in‖Thomas‖Cooper’s‖The Purgatory of Suicides’,‖
in Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 226-47; LC 5, 189-204; ODNB; NTU. [LC5] [C] [SM]
Cope, Elijah (1842-1917), of Ipstones, Staffs., gardener’s son, wood carver; published
Poems by Elijah Cope of Leek (Leek,‖1875),‖including‖‘An‖Elegy‖on‖the‖Late‖George‖
Heath’‖(George‖Heath,‖qv). ~ Ref: Poole & Markland (1928), 248-50.
(?) Copland, William (b. 1837),‖of‖Strichen,‖Aberdeenshire,‖saddler’s‖son,‖became‖a‖
parish teacher, published Vacation Rhymes and Verses, Chiefly Relating to the District
of Buchan (Dundee, 1866). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 108. [S]
Corbet, Denys (1826-1909), of Vale, Guernsey, patois poet. His seafaring father died
and he was drafted into militia, but left as a pacifist. He became a parish
schoolteacher and a farmer. He published Les Feuilles de la Forêt: ou, Recueil de
Poesie Original, en Anglais, Francais, et Guernesais (Guernsey, 1871); Le Jour de l'an de
1874 (successful, led to subsequent Le Jour de l'an 1875, 1876, and 1877) and Les
Chànts du drain rimeux (1884), which acknowledges that he is the last, dernier, of
patois poets). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 108; ODNB.
Corbett, Hamilton (1850-85), of Glasgow, plumber, singer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885),
302-5. [S]
(?) Cordingly, John (fl. 1827),‖received‖‘a‖very‖limited‖commercial‖education’,‖
published Poems (Ipswich, London, Bury, Colchester and Norwich, 1827). ~ Ref:
Johnson 46 (2003), nos. 280-1; text via Google Books.
Corrie, Joe, of Fife (1894-1968), of Slammanan, Stirlingshire, coalminer, poet,
playwright, lifelong socialist and prolific poet, published The Road the Fidler Went,
with a Foreword by J. Ramsay MacDonald (Port-Dundas, Glasgow: The Forward
Publishing Co., undated [c. 1925]); Poems, with an Introduction by Hugh S.
Robertson (Port-Dundas, Glasgow: The Forward Publishing Co., [1926]); The
 Image o’ God and Other Poems (Port-Dundas, Glasgow: The Forward Publishing
Co., undated [1929?]; Edinburgh: Porpoise Press, 1937); Rebel Poems, with a
Foreword by W. Stewart (London, 1932); Poems (Edinburgh, 1937); Poems [with a
portrait] (Newton Stewart: The Galloway Gazette, 1955); Scottish Pride and Other
Poems (Newton Stewart: The Galloway Gazette, 1955); Plays, Poems and Theatre
Writings, ed. Linda Mackenney (Edinburgh: 7:84, 1985). ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 353;
Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 344; ODNB. [S] [M] [OP]
(?) Corry, John (fl. 1792-7), self-taught Ulster writer, settled in London. He published
Odes and Elegies, Descriptive and Sentimental, with ‘The Patriot’, A Poem (Newry,
1797), and miscellaneous prose works including histories of Liverpool,
Macclesfield and Lancashire, biographies and stories. Subscribers to Odes
included Lord Edward Fitzgerald, several other writers, and a number of United
Irishmen, suggesting a link. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 80. [I] [C18]
(?) Corry, Samuel (1867-70), of Ballyclare, reedmaker, printer and bookbinder.
Hewitt implies he is a poet, but I have not yet found evidence of this, though he
certainly printed volumes by other Northern Irish poets included in this database.
~ Ref: Hewitt (1974) [I]
Corvan, Edward (c. 1830-65), Ned Corvan, of Newcastle upon Tyne (born in
Liverpool), popular entertainer and prolific dialect songwriter, apprenticed as a
sailmaker,‖then‖a‖member‖of‖Billy‖Purvis’s‖(qv)‖company,‖later‖a‖publican. His
songs and verse, as published in his four Song Books and in Allan, are
meticulously catalogued in his Wikipedia article. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 387-446;
Lloyd (1978), 86, 270, 345 note, 360 note; Corvan: A Victorian Entertainer and his
Songs, ed. Keith Gregson (Banbury: Kemble Press, c. 1983); Ian‖Peddie,‖‘Playing‖at‖
Poverty:‖The‖Music‖Hall‖and‖the‖Staging‖of‖the‖Working‖Class’,‖in‖Aruna‖
Krishnamurphy (ed), The Working-Class Intellectual in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-
Century Britain (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), 235-54 (241-4); David Harkner, Cat-gut
Jim the fiddler: Ned Corvan’s Life and Songs (Newcastle upon Tyne: Wisecrack
Publications, 2017); ODNB; Wikipedia.
Coslett, Coslett (1834-1910), ‘Carnelian’,‖of Nantyceisiaid or Nantygleisiaid, near
Machen, the family moving to Bedwas; coal miner and poet,‖member‖of‖‘Clic‖y‖
Bont’,‖the‖Pontypridd‖poets’‖group,‖brother‖of‖William‖Coslett‖(qv),‖tutored‖by‖
Caledfryn, competed in eisteddfodau though without national success. There is a
monument to him at the Groes-wen burial ground. ~ Ref: DWB. [W] [M]
Coslett, William (1831-1904), ‘Gwilym‖Elian’,‖of Nantyceisiaid or Nantygleisiaid,
near Machen, the family moving to Bedwas; coal miner and poet, colliery official,
brother‖of‖Coslett‖Coslett‖(qv),‖member‖of‖‘Clic‖y‖Bont’,‖the‖Pontypridd‖poets’‖
group. ~ Ref: DWB. [W] [M]
Costley, Thomas (1837-1900), of Maghaberry, Belfast, County Down, of poor parents,
hand-loom handkerchief weaver in Belfast, Glasgow, Salford, later estate agent,
 poor law guardian, published Sketches of Southport, and Other Poems (Manchester,
1889). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 82; Reilly (1994), 108. [I] [S] [T]
(?) Coupe or Coop, Joseph (fl. 1850s),‖of‖Oldham,‖Lancashire,‖‘barber,‖tooth-drawer,
blood-letter, spinner, rhymester and jack-of-all-trades’,‖and‖possible‖co-author
with Joseph Lees (qv)‖of‖‘Jone‖o’‖Grinfilt’s‖Ramble’.‖He‖is‖described‖in‖one‖of‖the‖
sources‖as‖‘a‖little‖old-fashioned fellow with a wooden‖leg’.‖~‖Ref:‖Vicinus‖(1969),‖
31-2; Hollingworth (1977), 127; Patrick Joyce, Visions of the People: Industrial
England and the question of class, 1848-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1991), 239; Hepburn (2001), II, 387. [T]
Courtenay, Georgina (fl.‖1886),‖of‖Dundee,‖resident‖of‖‘The‖Home’,‖a‖home‖for‖
‘fallen’‖women,‖Paton’s‖Lane,‖Dundee;‖published ‘Out‖of‖the‖Depths,’‖in‖The
People’s Journal, 27 November 1886, later issued as a broadside. It may be a
coincidence‖that‖‘Georgina‖Courtenay’‖is‖also‖the‖name‖of‖a‖character‖in‖Charles‖
Lever’s‖1865‖novel,‖Luttrell of Aran, or perhaps the poet is using a pseudonym. ~
Ref: inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Cousin, Mary (b. 1862), of Stirling, blind poet who lost her sight through measles,
but at twenty still planned to become a teacher; poems published locally, and
include‖‘The‖Shetland‖Fishermen’,‖‘Mother’,‖‘Comfort‖in‖Adversity’,‖and‖‘A‖
Friend’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 364-7; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Cowan, Isa (fl. 1886), of Newton Stewart, was born and lived‖‘in‖the‖humbler‖walks‖
of life’, and received little education; published The Banks O’ Cree and Other Poems
by Isa (1882; second edition, enlarged, Newton-Stewart:‖M’Credie‖and‖Anderson,‖
1886), full text on archive.org;‖her‖poems‖‘have‖been‖produced,‖sometimes‖in‖the‖
intervals of domestic duties, and at other times in the very acts of household
work’‖(Edwards);‖many‖were‖addressed‖to‖friends;‖several‖are‖the‖acrostic‖verses‖
popular‖in‖the‖period.‖Titles‖include‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Funeral‖of‖Miss‖Ranken’,‖
celebrating‖the‖life‖of‖a‖teacher,‖‘On‖Hearing‖An‖Essay‖Read‖in‖the‖‚Vale‖of‖Cree‛‖
Lodge by Miss M. A—, Now Mrs. G—’,‖and‖‘Wee‖Magie’. ~ Ref: archive org; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Cowan, John (b. 1840), of Paisley, boilermaker, spirit dealer, poems uncollected. ~
Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 369-73. [S]
Cowan, Thomas (b. 1834), of Danskine, Garwald, East Lothian, printer, bookseller. ~
Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 326-34. [S]
Coward, Nathan (1735-1815),‖grocer’s‖son‖of‖March,‖Isle‖of‖Ely,‖glover‖and‖breeches-
maker and poet, later of Dersingham, Norfolk, published Quaint Scraps, or Sudden
Cogitations (1800). ~ Ref: William Hone, The Table Book (London: William Tegg,
1878), 543-6. [T]
Cowie, James (b. 1827), of Woodside, Aberdeen, mason, published Hame-spun Lays of
a Deeside Ploughboy (1850). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 386. [S]
Cowper, William (1812-86), of Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, taught by his mother,
weaver, teacher, published At Midnight with the Book and the Stars, and Other Poems
(Montrose, Edinburgh and London, 1874). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 185-87 and 9,
xxii; Reid, Bards (1897), 124-5; Reilly (2000), 113. [S] [T]
(?) Cox, Roger (fl. c. 1699), of Cavan, hatter, later Parish Clerk of Laracor, eccentric;
four poems by him are quoted in Henry Brooke, Brookiana (London,‖1804):‖‘The‖
Landlord’‖and‖‘Interest‖Like‖Rust’,‖The‖Deserted‖Fair’,‖and‖‘Verses‖written‖in‖a‖
Marriage‖Register‖Book‖of‖the‖Parish‖of‖Laracor’‖(34-40). ~ Ref: Swiftiana, ed. G. H.
Wilson (London, 1804), 1. pp. 4-7; O’Donoghue‖(1912), 84. [I] [C18]
Cox, Walter (b. 1770-1837),‖of‖Co.‖Meath,‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖gunsmith,‖political‖writer‖
and journalist, wrote for the papers of the United Irishmen, founded the Union
Star in 1797 and after spending time in America founded in Dublin the Irish
Magazine and Monthly Asylum of Neglected Biography, which he ran from 1807-15; in
America again he started another journal, The Exile, which failed; he later lived in
France‖and‖Ireland,‖dying‖in‖poverty.‖O’Donoghue‖describes‖Cox‖as‖a‖‘remarkable‖
character‖of‖the‖’98‖movement’.‖He published The Snuff Box, a bitter satire against
America (New York, 1820); The Widow Dempsey's Funeral (Dublin, 1822), a
comedy, ‘much‖of‖the‖verse‖in‖the‖Irish Magazine for‖1814’‖including‖‘The‖Parting‖
Cup;‖or‖The‖Humours‖of‖Deoch‖an‖Darrish’, and a number of other works. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912), 84; DNB. [I]
(?) Coyle, Henry (fl. 1899), self taught son of a Connaught father and a mother from
Limerick, born in Boston, MA, contributed verse to the periodicals Harper's Bazaar,
Detroit Free Press, Boston Transcript, Catholic Union and Times (Buffalo), and Boston
Pilot; became assistant-editor of Orphan’s Bouquet, Boston. He published The
Promise of Morn (Boston, Mass., 1899), poems. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912), 85. [I]
Coyle,‖Matthew‖(b.‖1862),‖‘The‖Smiddy‖Muse’,‖of‖Arva,‖Killeshandra, County Cavan,
lived in Scotland from infancy, educated Port Glasgow, later a blacksmith in
Govan. He published poems in the Glasgow Weekly Mail, Belfast Irish Weekly,
Glasgow Observer, Ulster Examiner, and many other papers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14
(1891), 215-19; O’Donoghue‖(1912), 85. [I] [S] [B]
(?) Crabbe, George (1754-1832), of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, major poet, the son of a
‘violent-drunken‖saltmaster’‖(The Guardian, 24 April 2004); apprenticed to a
doctor, later a surgeon, also a clergyman. In a review of the series English
Labouring-Class Poets 1700-1800 (2003), Richard Greene was puzzled as to why
Crabbe,‖‘who‖was‖brought‖up‖in‖desperate‖poverty’‖was‖excluded‖from‖these
volumes while Thomas Chatterton (qv) was included (Scriblerian, 37. no. 1
(Autumn 2004), 73). The short answer as regards Crabbe would be that he worked
in two of the professions (doctor and church minister) and did not identify
himself with the labouring-class or its traditions in his writings. But quite apart
from his early poverty, there are a number of reasons to connect Crabbe with the
labouring-class tradition. He wrote about working-class life as well as middle-
class society in a way that suggests he had experience of both. In his early poem
The Village (1783), which Raymond Williams calls a‖‘counter-pastoral’‖(The Country
and the City, 91), he endeavoured to offer a‖‘real‖Picture‖of‖the‖Poor’‖as‖an‖antidote‖
to the usual sentimental view of village life, and in doing so acknowledged the
importance of the most prominent labouring-class poet of his century, Stephen
Duck (qv), in the course of an exceptionalist argument about poverty and
opportunity, cast‖as‖a‖rhetorical‖question:‖‘Save‖honest‖Duck,‖what‖son‖of‖verse‖
could‖share,‖/‖The‖poet’s‖rapture‖and‖the‖peasant’s‖care?’‖Crabbe’s‖influence‖on‖
labouring-class poetry may be less pervasive than that of Robert Burns, John Clare
or Robert Bloomfield (qqv), but may be seen obliquely in a work such as
Alexander‖Balfour’s‖(qv)‖poetry‖volume,‖Characters Omitted in Crabbe’s Parish
Register (1825). John Clare, however, took strongly against Crabbe, no doubt
drawing on some of his own negative experiences, in reading him as part of a
conservative tradition of comfortably-off clergymen with too much power in the
village, telling the poor how they must live:‖‘whats‖he‖know‖about‖the‖distresses‖
of the poor musing over a snug coal fire in his parsonage box’ (Letters, 137; see
also 302). John Lucas, a long time admirer of both poets, comes‖to‖Crabbe’s‖
defence by facing down Clare’s‖rhetorical question: he knows ‘a‖great‖deal’,
actually,‖‘as‖anyone‖who‖has‖read‖The Village and The Borough knows’‖(Lucas,
‘Bloomfield‖and‖Clare’,‖in Goodridge (1994), 57). Clearly something in the writing
catches a nerve with Clare, though. ~ In‖a‖review‖of‖Robert‖Bloomfield’s‖final‖
volume of poetry, May-Day with the Muses (1822), the Monthly Review considers
that Crabbe‖‘is‖always‖most‖successful‖when‖he‖is‖painting‖some‖scene‖of‖
wretchedness‖or‖knavery’‖(94:‖89-94), unlike‖Bloomfield,‖whose‖tales‖‘delight‖to‖
describe‖the‖virtues‖and‖happiness‖of‖rural‖life’.‖The kernel of truth in this
generalisation is that Crabbe does indeed show a deep awareness of the
wretchedness and poverty of rural life, not just in an early work like The Village,
but throughout the series of ‘tales’‖that‖form‖the‖most widely admired part of his
poetic output. For Clare and Bloomfield this might seem like a form of
condescension, an attack on the way poor people live, only seeing the bad things,
but it is equally‖valid‖to‖read‖Crabbe’s‖narrative‖poems as merely realistic,
offering a social critique rather than class contempt. Does he ‘blame and shame’,
or does his verse storytelling have a higher function? Either way, these stories in
verse are deeply rewarding to read, both a literature and as a perspective on social
history, including working-class history. ~ Crabbe’s‖major poetry publications
were: The Village (1783), The Parish Register, published in Poems (1807), The Borough
(1810), Tales (1812), and Tales of the Hall (1819). The standard edition of his poems
is: George Crabbe, The Complete Poetical Works, ed. Norma Dalrymple-Champneys
and Arthur Pollard (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), three volumes. Modern
selections include John Lucas (ed), A Selection from George Crabbe (Longman, 1967,
1987); Howard Mills (ed), George Crabbe, Tales, 1812, and other Selected Poems
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967); Jem Poster (ed), George Crabbe:
Selected Poetry (Manchester: Carcanet, 1986); Gavin Edwards (ed), George Crabbe,
Selected Poems (London: Penguin, 1991); Stephen Derry (ed), George Crabbe
(London:‖Dent,‖Everyman’s‖Poetry‖series,‖1999). His‖‘lost’‖poem,‖The Voluntary
Insane, was rediscovered, edited and published by Felix Pryor in 1995
(Manchester: Cohen). There is also a scholarly edition of the Selected Letters and
Journals of George Crabbe, ed. Thomas C. Faulkner and Rhonda L. Blair (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1985). Prominent‖among‖Crabbe’s‖prose‖works‖is‖An Account of
the Natural History of The Vale of Belvoir (1795).‖There‖are‖seven‖of‖Crabbe’s‖
notebooks in Cambridge University Library and one in Trinity College,
Cambridge; many are concerned with scientific matters. ~ Ref: The Life of George
Crabbe, by His Son, with an Introduction by Edmund Blunden (London: The
Cresset Press, 1947), first published in The Poetical Works of George Crabbe (London:
John Murray, 1834, eight volumes); Cunningham (1834), 25-31; René Huchon,
George Crabbe and His Times 1753-1832: A Critical and Biographical Study, trans.
Frederick Clarke (London: Frank Cass, 1968), first published in 1907; A. M.
Broadley and Walter Jerrold, The Romance of an Elderly Poet: A Hitherto Unknown
Chapter in the Life of George Crabbe (London: Stanley Paul & Co., 1913); Robert
Chamberlain, George Crabbe (New York: Twayne, 1965); Oliver F. Sigworth,
Nature’s Sternest Painter: Five Essays on the Poetry of George Crabbe (Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 1965); Raymond Williams, The Country and the City
(London: Chatto & Windus, 1973, 1985), especially 90-95; Ronald B. Hatch,
‘George‖Crabbe‖and‖the‖Tenth‖Muse’,‖ECS, 7 (1973-4), 274-94; P. B. Wilson,
‘Crabbe’s‖Narrative‖World’,‖Durham University Journal, ns 37 (1975-6), 135-43;
Ronald B. Hatch, Crabbe’s Arabesque: Social Drama in the Poetry of George Crabbe
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s‖University‖Press,‖1976);‖Beth Nelson, George Crabbe and
the Progress of Eighteenth-Century Narrative Verse (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell
University Press, 1976); Terence Bareham, George Crabbe (New York: Barnes &
Noble, 1977); Jerome‖J.‖McGann,‖‘The‖Anachronism‖of‖George‖Crabbe’,‖ELH, 48,
no. 3 (1981), 555-72; Arthur‖Pollard,‖‘George‖Crabbe’,‖Proceedings of the British
Academy, 68 (1982), 413-29; Marilyn‖Butler,‖‘Invariably‖Cloudy‖and‖Chearlessly‖
Calm’,‖TLS, 3 January 1986, 3-4 (review of the Selected Letters and Journals); Gavin
Edwards,‖‘Crabbe’s‖So-Called‖Realism’,‖Essays in Criticism, 37 (1987), 303-20;
Donald‖Davie,‖‘Against‖rule‖and‖Compass’,‖TLS, 30 September-6 October 1988
(review‖of‖the‖standard‖edition);‖Gavin‖Edwards,‖‘The‖Essential‖Crabbe’,‖Essays in
Criticism, 39 (1989), 84-91 (review of the standard edition); Frank Whitehead,
‘Crabbe,‖‚Realism‛,‖and‖Poetic‖Truth’,‖Essays in Criticism, 39 (1989), 29-46; Gavin
Edwards, George Crabbe’s Poetry on Border Land (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press,
1990); Frank Whitehead, George Crabbe: A Reappraisal (London: Associated
University Presses, 1995); Gavin‖Edwards,‖‘Scott‖and‖Crabbe:‖A‖Meeting‖at‖the‖
Border’,‖Eighteenth-Century Life, 22, no. 1 (1998), 123-40; Richard D. Jackson,
‘George‖Crabbe‖and‖Scott’s‖Saint Ronan’s Well’,‖Scott Newsletter, 36 (2000), 7-23;
Colin‖Winborn,‖‘George‖Crabbe,‖Thomas‖Malthus‖and‖the‖‚Bounds‖of‖Necessity‛’,‖
Romanticism, 8, no. 1 (2002), 75-89;‖Neil‖Powell,‖‘George‖Crabbe:‖A‖Stranger‖in‖the‖
City’,‖PN Review, 30, no. 3 (2004), 56-67; Neil Powell, George Crabbe: An English Life
1754-1832 (London: Pimlico, 2004), reviewed by Jonathan Bate, TLS, 30 April 2004,
26; Colin Winborn, The Literary Economy of Jane Austen and George Crabbe
(Abingdon: Ashgate/Routledge, 2004, 2018); Caryn‖Chaden,‖‘Oliver‖Goldsmith,‖
The Deserted Village, and George Crabbe, The Village’,‖in‖Gerrard‖(2006),‖303-15;
Gavin‖Edwards,‖‘George‖Crabbe:‖A‖Case‖Study’,‖Romantic Textualities, 16
(Summer 2006), 7-20; M. M. Mahood, ‘Crabbe’s‖slimy‖mallows‖and‖suffocated‖
clover’,‖The Poet as Botanist (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 82-
111;‖Aaron‖Fogel,‖‘Wordsworth’s‖‚We‖Are‖Seven‛‖and‖Crabbe’s‖The‖Parish‖
Register: Poetry and Anti-Census’,‖Studies in Romanticism, 48 (Spring 2009), 23-65;
Helen‖Lange,‖‘Thomas‖Hardy‖and‖George‖Crabbe:‖The‖Native‖Environment‖
Calls’,‖Hardy Society Journal, 7, no. 2 (2011), 34-50;‖Travis‖Feldman,‖‘Controversial‖
Crabbe:‖A‖‚Namby-Pamby‛‖Mandeville’,‖Studies in Romanticism, 51, no. 2 (2012),
207-31; Simon‖White,‖‘George‖Crabbe‖and‖the‖Architecture‖of‖The‖Parish’,‖
Romanticism and the Rural Community (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2013), 101-22. ~
Gavin‖Edwards‖and‖Michael‖Rossington‖(eds),‖‘George‖Crabbe‖Special‖Issue:‖
Crabbe’s‖Tales’,‖Romanticism, 20, no. 2 (2014), 103-94, which contains the following
essays: James‖Bainbridge,‖‘‚The‖Species in‖This‖Genus‖Known‛:‖The‖Influence‖of‖
Taxonomy‖on‖Crabbe’s‖Tales’, 128-39, Gavin‖Edwards,‖‘Putting‖Stories‖Together’,
185-94, Matthew‖Ingleby,‖‘‚Fences...Form’d‖of‖Wreck‛:‖George‖Crabbe’s‖The
Borough and the Resources‖of‖the‖Poor’,‖140-50, Andrew Lacey, ‘The‖Epitaphic‖
Poetry of Crabbe‖and‖Wordsworth’,‖151-61, Claire‖Lamont,‖‘The‖Smallest‖
Circumstances‖of‖the‖Smallest‖Things:‖Domestic‖Interiors‖in‖Crabbe’s‖Poems’, 106-
16, Michael‖Rossington,‖‘Crabbe’s‖Times’, 117-27, Fiona‖Stafford,‖‘‚Of‖Sea‖or‖
River‛‖Crabbe’s‖Best‖Description’, 162-73, Thomas‖Williams,‖‘George‖Crabbe‖and‖
John‖Clare:‖Refinement‖and‖Reading’,‖174-84. ~ Clare‖A.‖Simmons,‖‘Crabbe’s‖The
Borough:‖Environment,‖Loss,‖and‖the‖Place‖of‖the‖Place‖of‖the‖Past’,‖in‖Wordsworth
and the Green Romantics: Affect and Ecology in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Lisa Ottum
and Seth T. Reno (Durham, New Hampshire: University of New Hampshire
Press, 2016), 164-85; ODNB; Wikipedia and general online sources. This list of
secondary sources may be supplemented by Arthur Pollard, Crabbe: The Critical
Heritage (London:‖Routledge‖&‖Kegan‖Paul,‖1972),‖and‖Ann‖Peterson,‖‘A‖
Secondary‖Bibliography‖of‖George‖Crabbe’‖Bulletin of Bibliography, 51, no. 3 (1994),
269-72.
Craggs, Joseph (c. 1870-1948), ‘Jossy’,‖Durham miner, author of Scalloper Jim (a
scalloper‖is‖a‖miner‖‘who‖works‖coal‖entirely‖by‖hand,‖without‖the‖use‖of‖
gunpowder’),‖self-published as a broadside in the early 1930s. Lloyd is rather
patronising about this energetic verse-narrative,‖describing‖it‖as‖a‖‘piece of epic
hyperbole’‖and‖giving‖it its‖‘strophic‖arrangement,‖such‖as‖it‖is’‖himself. ~ Ref:
Lloyd (1978), 328, 366 (note). [M] [OP]
Craig, David (b. 1837), of Dundee, a Baxter’s factory boy at the age of thirteen, who
rose to weaving manager, and wrote ‘lively‖skits‖at‖election‖times’. ~ Ref: Reid,
Bards (1897), 126-7. [S] [T]
Craig, John (1796-1854), of Airdrie, weaver poet. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 110-20; inf.
Bridget Keegan. [S] [T]
Craig, John (b. 1851), of Burrelton, Coupar Angus, agricultural labourer, fruit-
grower, published in the Dundee Weekly News and other papers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2
(1881), 121-3. [S]
Craig-Knox, Isabella (1831-1903), ‘Isa’,‖of‖Edinburgh,‖hosier’s‖daughter,‖orphaned‖in‖
childhood, left school at ten, became a journalist, lived in Edinburgh and London
feminist and social campaigner, serving as Secretary to the National Association
for the Promotion of Social Science. She won first prize for an ode on Robert Burns
(qv) and her poem was recited at the Burns Centenary to a crowd of 6,000 at the
Crystal Palace. She published Poems by Isa (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1856);
Poems: An Offering to Lancashire [this is a benefit publication for relief of the cotton
famine] (1863); Duchess Agnes, a Drama, and other Poems (London, 1864); Songs of
Consolation (London, 1874); novels and prose writings including a Little Folk's
History of England (1872). Contributed to Fraser's, Good Words, and The Quiver. ~
Ref: Kerrigan (1991), 196-7, 350-1; Bold (1997), 253-4; Reilly (2000), 260; Copsey
(2002), 100; ODNB. [F] [S]
(?) Crane, John (fl. c. 1799-1820),‖‘a Bird‖at‖Bromsgrove’,‖watchmaker‖and‖general‖
dealer, published An Address to the Bachelors by a Bird at Bromsgrove (Birmingham:
printed for the author by Swinney and Hawkins, undated [c. 1799]); Rhymes after
Meat. By a Bird at Bromsgrove, fourth edition (Birmingham: Printed for the author
by Messrs. Swinney and Hawkins, [undated, ?1800—but Cox gives c. 1804]);
Poems. Dedicated without Permission, to John Bull. By a Bird at Bromsgrove. Volume the
First, perhaps the Last. The seventh Edition. With the Addition of Forty pages
(Stourport: printed for John Crane, senior, by G. Nicholson, Stourport, And sold
by Joshua Crane, Bookseller, Bromsgrove, [undated, c. 1817-20]), which
incorporates‖his‖extended‖poem‖‘The‖London‖Wakes’.‖A‖number‖of‖chapbooks‖
were published by this clever and eccentric shopkeeper. Rhymes after Meat has a
‘typographically‖ingenious‖folding‖advertisement‖frontispieces‖bearing‖his‖
punning emblem, a crane with a watch in its beak. The advertisement lists a vast
array of goods and trinkets available from the author: jewellery, nutcrackers,
 cutlery, musical instruments, shuttlecocks and battledores, magnets, pocket
books, Tunbridge-ware,‖cricket‖bats‖and‖other‖toys’. ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), items
226-8; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 79; Croft & Beattie, I, 58 (item 183).
Craw, William (1771-1816), of Chirnside, mason, sailor, published Poetical Epistles
(Kilmarnock, 1809). ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 107-9. [S]
Crawford, David (fl. 1785-98), of Heriot Hospital, Edinburgh, published Poems,
Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, on Various Subjects (Edinburgh: Printed for the Author
by‖J.‖Pillans‖&‖Sons,‖1798).‖In‖his‖poem‖‘Some‖Account‖of‖the‖Author’, Crawford
writes of his lack of classical learning, and how he was ‘a‖kintra‖*country+‖farmer‖
bred’‖but‖that‖‘Lady‖Fortune‖turn’d‖her‖back,‖/‖An’‖lawyers‖cam’‖an’‖fell’d‖my‖
pack’.‖Clearly‖he‖lost‖his‖agricultural‖livelihood,‖and‖so made‖for‖‘Edina‖Town’,
Edinburgh, where he found‖good‖friends,‖‘An’‖now‖I’m‖singing‖like‖a‖lark,‖/‖
Within‖the‖gate‖o’‖Heriot’s‖Wark’,‖i.e. he is living and working at Heriot Hospital,
a charitable school founded in the seventeenth century outside the city walls (see
his‖poem‖‘A‖Description‖of‖Heriot’s‖Hospital’,‖6-9). Crawford’s‖precise role there
is not made clear, though there is a great deal of interesting biographical and
contextual information to be gleaned from his sprightly collection of informal and
‘occasional’‖poetry.‖The‖volume‖has‖an‖impressive‖and‖extensive‖subscription‖list‖
headed by the Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant of Edinburgh, and ranging from
councillors‖and‖‘bailies’,‖to‖(for‖example, under‖‘A’)‖a‖shoemaker,‖a‖farmer,‖a‖
slater, two wrights, a music teacher, an M.D. and a tailor. No doubt the title,
echoing‖Robert‖Burns’s‖*qv+‖famous‖debut,‖helped;‖but‖clearly‖he‖was‖well liked
in‖the‖city,‖and‖he‖presents‖himself‖as‖a‖‘character’, as well as a bard engaging in
several exchanges of poetic epistles with others in the volume. ~ Ref: text cited, via
Google Books. [S]
Crawford, James Paul (1825-87),‖‘Paul‖Rookford’,‖of‖Catrine, tailor in Glasgow,
temperance poet and author of the enormously popular newspaper and broadside
verse,‖‘The‖Drunkard’s‖Raggit‖Wean’; brother to Mungo and John Kennedy
Crawford (qqv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 372-7 and 12, xvi-xvii; Murdoch (1883),
188-92; Glasgow Poets (1906), 361-63;‖Kirsty‖Blair,‖‘‚The‖Drunkard’s‖Raggit‖Wean‛:‖
Broadside‖Culture‖and‖the‖Politics‖of‖Temperance‖Verse’,‖Cahiers victoriens et
édwardiens, 84 (Automne 2016), online open-access publication. [S] [T]
Crawford, John (1816-73), of Greenock and Alloa, house-painter, cousin once
removed of Robert Burns’s‖[qv] ‘Highland‖Mary’‖(Mary‖Campbell); published
Doric Lays: Being Snatches of Song and Ballad (1850; 2nd ser., 1860); also wrote non-
verse Memorials of the Town of Alloa (1874). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 396-8; Edwards,
1 (1880), 324-5 and 5, 101-4; Beveridge (1885), 39-45, 153-4; Reilly (2000), 114-15;
ODNB. [S]
Crawford, John (b. 1851), of Carluke, Lanarkshire, opencast miner, cabinet-maker,
published poems in the newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 150-7. [S] [M]
Crawford, John Kennedy (b. 1831), of Catrine, Ayrshire, brother to James Paul and
Mungo Crawford (qqv), apprentice draper in Glasgow, later in the shawl trade in
Paisley. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 292-7. [S] [T]
Crawford, Margaret (fl. 1855),‖gardener’s‖daughter,‖factory‖girl,‖published Rustic
Lays, on the Braes of Gala Water by Margaret Crawford, A Gardener’s Daughter, Stow
(1855);‖includes‖poems‖on‖her‖pastor,‖her‖sister,‖the‖trials‖of‖a‖factory‖girl’s‖life,‖
and on an ill-tempered suitor. ~ Ref: Boos (2008), 19; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Crawford, Mungo (1828-74), of Catrine, Ayrshire, brother to James Paul and John
Kennedy Crawford (qqv), apprentice draper in Glasgow, part-paralysed at 25,
ship’s‖purser,‖later a draper in Kilmarnock. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 292-7. [S]
Crawford, William (b. 1803), of Paisley, weaver and soldier, published The Fates of
Alceus: or Love’s Knight Errant. An Amatory Poem in five books, with other poetical
pieces on various subjects (1828). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 404-05. [S] [T]
(?) Crealock, W. M. (fl. 1888), sailor, published Scraps by a Sailor; or, Rhymes of the
Land and Sea (London, 1888). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 115.
Cresswell, Marshall (1833-89), of Fawdon, Northumberland-born miner, worked at
Dudley colliery (Cramlinton), also worked in Borneo; a poet and songwriter who
published numerous songs and autobiographical materials in local newspapers
and elsewhere; a 36-page publication, Local and Other Songs and Recitations was
published by John W. Chater in Newcastle, in 1876, and included an
autobiographical sketch; an enlarged (100 page) second edition was published
1883. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 512; FARNE archive; Wikipedia; not in ODNB. [M]
Crighton,‖James‖(d.‖1892),‖‘The‖Whistler’,‖of‖Perth,‖later‖Arbroath,‖ploughboy,‖
stationmaster, finally an estate manager in England. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 128-
30. [S]
Crocker, Charles (1797-1861), of Chichester, shoemaker, left school at the age of
twelve. Robert Southey,‖a‖good‖friend,‖‘asserted‖that‖his‖sonnet‖‚To‖the‖British‖
Oak‛‖was‖one‖of‖the‖finest‖in‖the‖English‖language’.‖He published The Vale of
Obscurity, the Lavant and other poems (1830, second edition Chichester and London,
1834, third edition, 1841); Kingley Vale and Other Poems (Chichester, 1837); A Visit to
Chichester Cathedral (1848); The Poetical Works of Charles Crocker (1860). There is a
‘Sonnet.‖To‖Charles‖Crocker’‖by‖H.‖G.‖Adams‖in‖the‖Nottingham-based literary
journal Dearden’s Miscellany, II (1839), 779. In‖2014‖a‖‘blue‖plaque’‖was‖unveiled‖in‖
South‖Street,‖Chichester,‖commemorating‖this‖‘Poet,‖Cathedral‖Sexton,‖and‖most‖
respected‖Cicestrian’‖(Chichester Observer, 11 March 2014). His papers are in the
West Sussex Record office, Add. Mss 21,431 (National Archives web page). ~ Ref:
Winks (1883), 321-2; Johnson (1992), items 233-4; Sales (1994), 257-9; Sutton (1995),
256 (letters); Reilly (2000), 116; Keegan (2001), 200; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 282;
ODNB; NTU. [SM]
Crofts, Thomas (1815-1904),‖‘The‖Belper‖Poet’,‖of‖Woolley‖Moor,‖Ashover,‖farmer’s‖
son, later a draper in Belper, Derbyshire, a congregationalist and a radical,
admired for his satires around local and general elections; published A Castle in
the Air and Other Poems (1892). ~ Ref: Derbyshire Record Office, D1771; belper-
research.com.
Cronshaw, Joseph (b. 1851),‖‘The‖Ancoats‖Poet’,‖of‖Newton‖Heath,‖Ancoats,‖
Manchester, self-made‖working‖man,‖the‖son‖of‖‘poor‖but‖respectable’‖parents‖
who by the time he reached the age of 13 had become successful provision
merchants.‖He‖had‖a‖‘rough‖bringing‖up’‖and‖was‖sent‖to‖work‖for‖a‖‘gutta‖percha‖
shoemaker’,‖but‖‘this‖business‖proved‖injurious‖to‖the‖lad’s‖health’,‖and‖he‖left,‖
determining‖that‖he‖would‖‘never‖again‖work‖for‖a‖master’.‖Despite‖opposition‖
from his parents, he hired a handcart and hawked salt, eventually becoming a
successful salt merchant and entrepreneur, running the Onward Salt Wharf in
Ancoats. Cronshaw wrote prolifically in verse and prose, in dialect and standard
English, publishing in local newspapers, including the Wheat Sheaf,‖‘issued‖by‖the‖
Cooperative‖Society‖at‖Greenfield’,‖the‖Manchester City News, the Burnley Record,
the North Cheshire Herald and the Cheshire Post. He published a single vol., Dingle
Cottage (A Lancashire Story), with Poems and Sketches (Ancoats, Manchester: Herbert
Eva & Co, Mosley Press, [1908]). Clearly a great deal of planning, design and care
has gone into the presentation of this volume: the cover has the strap-line,‖‘A‖
Voice‖from‖Ancoats’,‖the‖title‖page‖notes‖‘Introductory‖Remarks‖by‖David‖
Lawton, Thomas Booth, Thomas Middleton’,‖cover‖and‖page‖both‖beautifully‖
presented, with the text bordered by flower patterns (two bright red Lancashire
roses frame the title-page), while the back cover is blind stamped with an ornate
‘DC’‖framed‖in‖a‖curtained‖window‖or‖stage‖with‖open‖curtains. Opposite the title
page‖is‖a‖delicately‖printed‖photograph‖of‖the‖author,‖signed‖‘Yours‖faithfully,‖Jos‖
Cronshaw’.‖The‖volume‖is‖illustrated‖with‖line‖drawings‖throughout.‖(All‖this‖
may be seen on the copy on the Massey page.) Behind this pleasing presentation,
and the apparatus of a triple Introduction and authorial Preface, lies an intricate
network of support: librarians, fellow writers in and on the dialect, co-operative
societies, outlets for talks and recitations, local newspapers, and publishers
willing to invest (for there is no subscription list). Behind the volume as a whole
there is a tremendous sense of pride in regional writing, presided over by three
spirits from the previous generation, the poets Edwin Waugh, Samuel Laycock
and Ben Brierley (qqv), who are regularly name-checked in the preliminary
materials. Indeed, one mixed prose-verse‖piece,‖‘A‖Strange‖Dream’,‖uses‖the‖
dream motif to discuss the experience of reading these three hallowed Lancashire
dialect poets, and to underline this, handsome photographic portraits of each of
them with names and vital dates, are interleafed with the poem (156-63). One of
several frank, self-reflective‖poems‖in‖the‖volume,‖‘Am‖I‖a‖Poet?’‖(167-71) confirms
 one’s‖sense‖of,‖if‖not‖quite‖an‖anxiety‖of‖influence, at least a self-effacing,
deferential and anxious desire to perpetuate and participate in the powerful
popular and literary traditions the earlier poets represent. In his Preface
Cronshaw‖proudly‖claims‖that‖‘for‖over‖thirty‖years‖I‖have‖recited‖from the
platform poems and sketches from WAUGH, BRIERLEY, LAYCOCK and other
Lancashire‖authors’.‖The‖first‖poem‖in‖the‖book,‖‘Aw’m‖Lonely,‖an‖Weary,‖an’‖
Sad’,‖is‖sub-headed‖‘(Sequel‖to‖E.‖Waugh’s‖beautiful‖poem,‖‚Come‖Whoam‖to‖thi‖
Childer‖an’‖Me.‛)’,‖and‖there‖are‖three‖other‖poems‖about‖coming‖‘awhoam’‖in‖the‖
book. (One might contrast this‖deeply‖respectful‖response‖to‖Edwin‖Waugh’s‖
enormously‖popular‖sentimental‖poem,‖with‖Ben‖Brierley’s‖acidly‖parodic‖verse-
riposte‖to‖the‖same‖poem:‖‘Go‖tak’‖the‖ragged‖Childer‖an’‖flit’.)‖‘Eawr‖Parson’‖(72-
3)‖says‖of‖the‖parson‖that‖‘He‖ma’es‖one‖think‖o’‖‚Gentle‖Jone,‛‖/‖An’‖good‖owd
‚Roger‖Bell‛,‖with‖these‖names‖footnoted‖as‖characters/titles‖of‖poems‖by‖Waugh‖
and‖Laycock.‖Among‖the‖other‖poems,‖‘Lost‖in‖London,‖or‖the‖Dialect‖in‖Distress’,‖
subtitled‖‘(Supposed‖conversation‖betwixt‖an‖Author‖and‖his‖Book)’,‖reflects‖a‖
desire to re-assert the local and homely over the overwhelming, corrupting power
of‖the‖metropolis,‖and‖is‖something‖akin‖to‖Mary‖Leapor’s‖(qv)‖humorous‖poem,‖
‘Upon‖her‖Play‖being‖returned‖to‖her,‖stained‖with‖Claret’‖(compare also Robert
Bloomfield’s‖(qv)‖satiric‖diatribe‖against‖the‖‘great‖whirlpool’‖of‖London,‖in‖his‖
poem‖‘Spring’,‖in‖The Farmer’s Boy,‖1800).‖‘A‖Tribute‖to‖Morley‖Park’‖(186-7) is a
paeon‖both‖to‖a‖local‖amenity‖and‖to‖the‖author’s‖late‖parents‖(to‖whom the whole
volume‖is‖dedicated).‖‘Dingle‖Cottage‖‘,‖the‖opening‖prose‖work,‖is‖a‖60-page
novella in south Lancashire dialect, and there is prose scattered elsewhere in the
volume. ~ Ref: Maidment (1987), 368-9; main volume as cited, via Massey page;
NTU.
Cross, William (1804-86), of Paisley, son of a handloom weaver ‘in‖humble‖
circumstances‖*who+‖could‖afford‖him‖little‖or‖no‖school‖education’‖(Edwards),
though he was taught to read and write. His father had been admitted a member
of the Paisley Craft of Weavers‖in‖1776‖and‖‘to‖his‖last‖day the son preserved with
pride‖the‖craft‖ticket,‖with‖the‖worthy‖weaver’s‖specimen‖of‖fine‖lawn—
‚seventeen‖hunder‖linen‛—attached’‖(Glasgow Poets). At the age of eight Cross
went to work as a drawboy in the textile industry, though his teacher, Mr Barr,
evidently seeing talent in the boy, tried in vain to get Cross’s‖father‖to‖consent‖to‖
his continuing to tutor him without payment. ~ The‖labour‖was‖‘slavish,‖and
consisted of heavy and constant tugging at hard cords, which often blistered and
bled the tender hands engaged in it’ (Edwards).‖But‖he‖was‖‘bred‖a‖designer‖of‖
textiles’,‖as‖Glasgow Poets puts it, and would progress to a pattern maker and then
a manufacturer of tartan shawls‖‘when‖Paisley‖was‖the‖great‖seat‖of that‖trade’‖
(ibid). He was never a weaver like his father. (Commentators on his poetry
inevitably‖use‖the‖metaphor‖of‖‘weaving’,‖however.)‖~ Although he had rejected
 Mr‖Barr’s‖offer,‖Cross‖senior‖was‖able‖to‖help‖educate‖his‖son‖himself,‖being‖a‖
‘man‖of‖refined‖taste’‖whose‖‘fireside‖training’‖of‖his‖son‖was‖‘exceptionally‖
extensive‖and‖stimulating’‖(Edwards).‖With‖the‖help‖of‖a‖‘small,‖but‖choice’‖
library of books, he learned some history, astronomy and especially poetry, and
‘gained‖a‖general‖knowledge‖of‖the‖great‖facts‖of‖history‖and‖science’‖(ibid).‖His
father also passed on his own love of drawing, which helped Cross on his journey
to becoming a textile maker and a designer Eventually he was taken into
partnership with the shawl manufacturing firm of Cross & Water, before going
into business on his own account. After the downturn in trade in 1840 Cross
moved into journalism, buying up a paper called the Edinburgh Chronicle, which
he ran for five years as the business manager, with his early friend and tutor in
French and design Alexander Colquhoun as editor. It was not a success, though,
and lost him most of his capital, and he returned to Glasgow to resume his old
trade, which he managed with great success for forty more years. ~‖Cross’s‖
literary work, both prose and verse, ran in parallel with his other work, and his
first known publication was made when he was 21: three verse pieces in the
magazine Gaberlunzie, 1825,‖‘Long‖Yellow‖Hair’,‖‘Edie‖Ochletree’‖and‖‘Auld‖Man’s‖
Lament’ Among his later works is what became a‖very‖famous‖story,‖‘The‖
Disruption’,‖on‖the‖subject‖of‖the‖1844‖splits‖in‖the‖Scottish‖Church. It was printed
in the Edinburgh Chronicle, and then as a separate volume in 1846. (It was
reprinted in the Weekly Mail some years later). In 1882 Cross gathered his best
work together and published it with a telling subtitle as Songs and Miscellaneous
Poems, Written at rare intervals of leisure in the course of a busy life (Glasgow, 1882).
His humorous‖poem‖‘The Daintie Bit Plan’,‖among‖other‖works, was included in
the third series of Whistle-Binkie. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 17-28 and 9, xxi-xxii;
Brown (1889-90), I, 379-83; Glasgow Poets (1906), 263-66; Reilly (1994), 118. [S] [T]
Crossarthurlie,‖Jessie‖(later‖C19th),‖published‖a‖poem,‖‘The‖Factory‖Girl’s‖Lament,’‖in‖
The Poet’s Box, sold in Glasgow and Dundee (1849-1911). According to Boos this is
one of only two poems by Victorian working-class women poet she is aware of
that describes working conditions. ~ Ref: Boos (2008), 20-21; inf. Florence Boos. [F]
[S]
Crowe, Robert (b. 1832), tailor, temperance advocate, born in Ireland, raised in
poverty, educated at a National School, later lived in London and Birmingham,
emigrated to America, published autobiography, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian
(New York, 1901?), 32 pp.,‖copy‖in‖Library‖of‖Congress;‖‘some‖poetry‖and‖ballads‖
is‖included’. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 189; Harte (2009), 37-41. [I] [T]
Crozier, William (fl. 1814-47), of Wolfhope, in Ettrick Forest, Selkirkshire, shepherd;
published The Cottage Muse; Consisting of Epistles, Poems, and Songs, by William
Crozier, shepherd, Wolfhope, Selkirkshire (Galashiels: Printed for the Author, by
William‖Brockie,‖‘Border‖Watch’‖Office,‖1847). The title page has an epigraph by
 Henry‖Scott‖Riddell‖(qv):‖‘There’s‖beauty‖in‖the‖wild‖green‖bower,‖/‖And‖beauty‖
all the greater, / That‖hand‖ne’er‖there‖trimmed‖twig‖or‖flower,‖/‖As‖simplest‖
words have deepest power, / When thoughts are true to Nature.’‖The volume is
dedicated to Robert‖Napier‖(the‖‘Father‖of‖Clydeside‖shipbuilding’:‖compare‖Ellen‖
Johnson (qv) who also dedicated a poem to him). A brief‖note‖‘To‖the‖Reader’‖
remarks‖that‖the‖poems‖were‖written‖‘during‖the‖lapse‖of‖many‖years of toil and
servitude, and often under circumstances not at all agreeable for wooing the Muse
with any degree of‖success’.‖They‖‘have‖beguiled‖many‖a‖solitary‖and‖labour-
encumbered hour, whether when the hand was wielding the implements of actual
toil, or‖the‖foot‖exercised‖in‖wending‖after‖the‖flocks,‖by‖the‖wilds‖of‖hill‖and‖glen’.
The title poem,‖an‖epistle‖in‖the‖‘Standard‖Habbie’ metre,‖is‖dedicated‖‘To‖William‖
Aitchinson,‖Esquire,‖Linhope,‖Inclosing‖a‖Few‖Poems’ and‖dated‖‘Deloraine,‖
August,‖1823’ (modern West and East Deloraine, near Selkirk); the second poem.
‘To‖a‖Young‖Friend‖at‖College’,‖is in the same metre, and similarly signed and
dated,‖‘Whiteslade,‖September‖1814’ (modern Whitslade, Selkirk), and there are
other dated poems, epistles and dedicated verse throughout. the places named are
hard to track on modern maps but offer a kind of conspectus of places he has
worked. Some of the more interesting titles‖include,‖‘The‖Author’s‖Earnest‖Prayer‖
to‖Her‖Majesty,‖for‖a‖Repeal‖of‖the‖Corn‖Laws’‖and‖‘To‖the‖Men‖of‖Ettrick and
Yarrow, calling upon them to give Aid to the Anti-Corn‖Law‖League’;‖‘Reflection‖
on‖the‖Year‖1833’‖(a‖purely‖personal‖reflection‖on‖passing‖time‖and‖mortality);‖
‘Lines‖to‖the‖Memory‖of‖the‖Right‖Honourable‖William‖John‖Napier,‖who died at
Macao,‖11th‖October‖1834’,‖and‖‘Lines‖on‖Hearing‖of‖the‖Death‖of‖James‖Hogg‖
*qv+,‖the‖Ettrick‖Shepherd’. ~ Ref: text as cited via Google Books; inf. Bob Heyes.
[S]
Cruickshank, William (d. 1868), ‘The‖Rhyming‖Molecatcher’,‖of Bauds of
Montbletton,‖Gamrie,‖Banffshire,‖gardener’s‖son,‖molecatcher, published Charlie
Neil, and Other Poems, Chiefly in the Buchan Dialect (Peterhead, 1869). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 2 (1881), 192-5; Reilly (2000), 117. [S]
(?) Cruse, Jesse (fl. 1890s), London postman, Primitive Methodist lay preacher,
abstainer; numerous 30-page publications in the 1890s include Labour of Love:
Containing Twelve Original Poems on Moral & Religious Subjects (London, 1898); A
Poor Man’s Logic: Containing Twelve Original Poems on Moral & Sacred Themes
(London, 1896). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 119-20; NTU.
Cryer, Silas (b. 1840), of Bingley, printer, compositor, published Leisure Musings:
Consisting of Original Poems on Pleasant Subjects. with Appendix and beautiful
Illustrations (Keighley: Printed‖at‖the‖‘Herald’‖Office,‖1876),‖72‖pages,‖‘a‖good‖
example of the motto poeta nascitur non fit’‖(Forshaw). ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), 67-8.
(?) Cryer, William (1845-1917), born at Ryecroft, near Rochdale, and moves to
Farnworth in 1867. He published Spring Blossoms (Bolton: James Stead, 1874); The
 Coronation: A Lancashire lad's free and loyal address to his sovereign (Bolton: J.
Blackshaw & Sons, [1911]), pp. 12; and Lays After Labour; Or, Evening Songs
(London: Elliott Stock, 1902; Bolton, Alfred Blackshaw, 1913), pp. 440, with
guarded photograph. The author writes of his final collection that‖‘A‖large‖
proportion of these poems, which I now present to my friends and the public in
book form, have already appeared in periodical literature. Whatever may be their
literary value, they are gratefully offered as a tribute to friendship, and to all those
sacred and social ties which tend to ennoble our nature and make our lives
pleasant and enjoyable. I shall be happy to find a place among that goodly
number of present-day bards who, though engaged in the business of life, yet find
occasion and time to‖voice‖their‖impressions‖of‖life‖in‖song.’‖Among‖Cryer’s‖
poems‖there‖is‖a‖poem‖‘To‖the‖Memory‖of‖Samuel‖Laycock’‖(qv).‖~‖His son James
Wilfred Cryer, born at Farnworth in 1882, was also a poet, and published Songs for
the Right (1902); Lyrical longings (Bolton: A. Blackshaw & Sons, 1910), 48 pp.;
Lyrical longings and Songs for the people (1912), pp. 83. ~ Ref: Sparke (1913), 52-3;
Massey page; main text via archive.org and Google Books.
(?) Cumming, Thomas (fl. 1810-19), of Paisley, glazier, bookseller and poet,
published Peep into the Cabinet, A Poem (Paisley: printed for the author, 1818);
Strictures on the Election of John Maxwell, Esq., of Pollok, 4th July, 1818, as
representative in Parliament for the Shire of Renfrew: a Poem printed by Stephen Young,
Paisley (Paisley, 1818); Sympathy Displayed and Patriotism Delineated: A Poem
(Paisley: printed for the author, undated [?1819]); he also published Dreadful
Catastrophe at Paisley, November 10th, 1810 (Paisley: printed for and sold by
Thomas Cumming 1810), relating to the tragic capsizing of a pleasure boat on the
Paisley Canal at Martinmas Fair, but it is not clear from the sources if this is a
verse a prose work, or indeed if Cummings wrote or merely printed it. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 197; Scottish Book Trade Index, National Library of Scotland
web page. [S]
(?) Cunliffe, William (fl.‖1863),‖‘Willife‖Cunliam’,‖of‖Burnley,‖wool-sorter, author of at
least six poems published in local newspapers during the cotton famine years, in
dialect and standard English. They‖include‖‘Hoamly‖Chat’,‖‘The‖Petched‖Shirt’‖
and‖‘Settling‖th’ War’.‖Simon Rennie‖describes‖his‖work‖as‖‘a‖very‖good‖poet—a
great‖poet’‖(Guardian, 9 August 2018). His rediscovery is part of a major project
led by Dr Rennie to recover the voices of textile worker poets of the period. ~ Ref:
David‖Collins,‖‘Williffe‖Cunliam:‖lost‖Victorian poet becomes a new literary star
with his Lancashire dialect’,‖Sunday Times, 5 August 2018; Alison‖Flood,‖‘Mill‖
workers’‖poems‖about‖1860s‖cotton‖famine‖rediscovered’,‖The Guardian, 9 August
2018;‖‘Poetry‖of‖the‖Lancashire‖Cotton‖Famine’‖web‖page.‖[T]
Cunningham, Allan (1784-1842), ‘Hidllan’,‖‘The‖Nithsdale‖Mason’,‖stonemason, poet,
miscellaneous writer and editor, friend to James Hogg (qv), whose‖‘Sixteenth‖
 Bard’‖in‖his‖portmanteau‖poem‖The Queen’s Wake (1812) is said to be based on
Cunningham, and John Clare (qv); esteemed by Sir Walter Scott; brother of
Thomas Mounsey Cunningham (qv); published Songs, Chiefly in the Rural
Language of Scotland (1813); Sir Marmaduke Maxwell ... and Twenty Scottish Songs
(London: Taylor & Hessey, 1822); The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern (four
volumes, 1825); Lives of the most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
(six volumes, 1829-1833); The Maid of Elvar, A Poem. In Twelve Parts (London:
Edward Moxon, 1832); The Works of Robert Burns [qv] with His Life (eight volumes,
1834; a one-volume version of this was published by Henry Bohn, 1847).
Cunningham’s‖Biographical and Critical History of British Literature of the Last Fifty
Years (1834) includes chapters on Robert Bloomfield, Robert Burns, George
Crabbe, Ebenezer Elliott, William Gifford, James Hogg, Thomas Hood, John
Keats, Henry Kirke White, John Leyden, James Montgomery, Thomas Pringle
(qqv). ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 380-2; Wilson (1876), II, 61-72; Douglas (1891), 302-03;
Miles (1891), X, xvii; Miller (1910), 192-203, 217; Powell (1964), items 171-4 (listing
copies‖of‖Cunningham’s‖works‖owned‖by‖John‖Clare); Johnson (1992), items 109,
373, 751; Jarndyce (1980), items 1358-9; Cafarelli (1995), 84; Sutton (1995), 269
(numerous manuscripts and letters); Goodridge (1999), item 26; The Collected
Letters of James Hogg, Volume 1, 1800-1819, ed. Gillian Hughes (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2004), 384, 386; James Hogg, The Queen’s Wake, ed.
Douglas S. Mack (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005); Sam Ward,
‘Brother‖Bards:‖John‖Clare‖and‖Allan‖Cunningham‖on‖Bloomfield’,‖RBSN 10
(Autumn 2005), 6-12; Radcliffe; ODNB. [S]
(?) Cunningham, John (1729-93), born in Dublin, lived in Edinburgh and other cities;
wine‖merchant/cooper’s‖son,‖grammar‖school‖educated‖strolling‖player,‖
playwright and poet who wrote his first poems for the Dublin papers before he
was twelve. He published An Elegy on a Pile of Ruins (1761), 144 lines, showing a
knowledge‖of‖England’s‖medieval history; Poems, Chiefly Pastoral (Newcastle upon
Tyne, 1766); and Poetical Works (1781)—there is a copy of this last volume in the
surviving library of John Clare (qv), in the back of which Clare has written out
two short poems of his own. Cunningham lived in his last years in the Bigg
Market in Newcastle upon Tyne and his gravestone‖is‖in‖St‖John’s‖churchyard‖(on
the corner of Grainger Street and Westgate Road, at the back on the right). ~ Ref:
Allan (1891), 18-21; Welford (1895), I, 676-9; O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖93;‖Powell (1964),
item 175; Myers (1995), 22; Sutton (1995), 272 (manuscripts and letters); John
Goodridge, ‘John‖Clare‖and‖Eighteenth-century Poetry: Pomfret, Cunningham,
Bloomfield’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 42, no. 3 (Fall 2001),
264-78; Radcliffe; ODNB. [I] [C18]
Cunningham, Thomas Mounsey or Mouncey (1776-1834), of Culfaud,
Kirkcudbrightshire, brother of Allan Cunningham (qv) and friend of James Hogg
 (qv), educated at a village school and Dumfries Academy, mill-wright, later lived
in Rotherham and London, and rose to chief clerk in engineering firm Rennie;
contributed verses to the Scots Magazine,‖Hogg’s‖Forest Minstrel, and the Edinburgh
Magazine; published Har’st Kirn, and Other Poems and Songs (1797); brother of Allan
Cunningham (qv). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 537-40; Harper (1889), 251; Miller (1910),
212-13; Sutton (1995), 273 (letters); Radcliffe; ODNB; Wikipedia. [S] [C18]
(?) Curling, Mary Anne (b. c. 1796), daughter of a London tailor and a lace-cleaner,
won a suit for breach of promise of marriage in 1819, against the Pastor of the
Baptist Church in Oxford Street; published Poetical Pieces (Dover, 1831); Poetical
Pieces...with some additional pieces (London, 1831). ~ Ref: Jackson (1993), 93. [F]
Curll, Edmund (1683-1747),‖possibly‖from‖the‖west‖of‖England,‖a‖tradesman’s‖son,
apprenticed to a London bookseller in 1698, and thereafter a bookseller and
pornographer, scandal-monger and patent medicine-seller, notorious in his time
for unscrupulous and mercenary entrepreneurialism, lack of concern for property
rights or decorum, and opportunism of every kind. It is less well-known that he
wrote‖poetry,‖perhaps‖because,‖as‖Paul‖Baines‖and‖Pat‖Rogers‖put‖it,‖‘Pope was a
great‖writer‖and‖Curll,‖despite‖repeated‖efforts‖to‖break‖into‖verse,‖was‖not’‖(8).‖
Pope‖was‖Curll’s‖great‖enemy‖and‖condemner,‖the‖1828‖version‖of‖his‖Dunciad
provoking‖Curll’s‖The Curlliad. A Hypercritical upon the Dunciad Variorum (1829),
chiefly interesting as a source of biographical information about its author. ~ Ref:
[W. J. Thoms], Curll Papers. Stray Notes on the Life and Publications of Edmund Curll
(privately printed, 1859); Ralph Straus, The Unspeakable Curll (London: Chapman
& Hall, 1927); Peter Murray Hill, Two Augustan Booksellers: John Dunton and
Edmund Curll (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas, 1958); Paul Baines and Pat
Rogers, Edmund Curll, Bookseller (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007); ODNB; online
sources including Wikipedia.
Currie, James (1829-90), of Selkirk, child textile-worker, soldier, lost his right arm in
the Crimea, later a post-runner, mill employee; published Wayside Musings; or
Poems and Songs (Selkirk, 1863); Poems and Songs, with a biographical sketch by
Charles Rogers (Glasgow, 1883). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 117-21 and 16, [lix];
Reilly (1994), 120-1, Reilly (2000), 119; NTU. [S] [T]
Currie, William J. (b. 1853), of Selkirk, son of James Currie, creeshie (carding
machine worker). ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 226-33. [S] [T]
Curtis, G. (fl. 1850s-60s), of Oxford, published [with T. L. Aldridge, q.v.] Poem
dedicated to the working men of England; by two of their order, second enlarged edition
[cover title: Golden Moments] (London and Oxford, 1861). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 7-8.
(?) Cuthbertson,‖David‖(b.‖1856),‖of‖Kilmarnock,‖Ayrshire,‖draper’s‖shop‖worker,‖
clerk, librarian, published Eskdale Lyrics (Edinburgh, 1878), Rosslyn Lyrics
(Edinburgh, 1878). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 120. [S] [T]
Dafydd, John (1727-83), of Bedw-gleision, Caeo, Carmarthenshire, shoemaker, hymn
writer‖(as‖was‖his‖brother‖Morgan,‖qv).‖Five‖of‖his‖hymns‖and‖nine‖of‖his‖brother’s‖
were‖included‖in‖William‖Williams’s‖volume‖Aleluia (1747). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986).
[W] [C18] [SM]
Dafydd, Morgan (d. 1762), of Bedw-gleision, Caeo, Carmarthenshire, shoemaker,
hymn writer (as was his brother John, qv). Nine of his hymns and five of his
brother’s‖were‖included‖in‖William‖Williams’s‖volume‖Aleluia (1747). ~ Ref: OCLW
(1986). [W] [C18] [SM]
Dakers, Robert A. (b. 1865), ‘D.A.R.’,‖of Creiff, later of Haddington then Edinburgh,
weaver’s‖son,‖compositor. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 144-9. [S]
Dalby, John Watson (1800-85), ‘J.‖W.‖Dalby’, ‘J.‖W.‖D.’, of Thornbury, near Bristol,
radical writer, later an exciseman; apprenticed to a London bookseller, wrote for
the Literary Chronicle, Black Dwarf and‖for‖Leigh‖Hunt’s‖publications;‖published
Poems (London: Printed for the Author, 1822), a review of which described him as
being‖‘under‖all‖the‖disadvantages‖of‖privation,‖disease‖and‖domestic‖calamity’;‖
Tales, Songs and Sonnets (1865). Dalby variously lived in Amersham, Bucks;
Wooton, Northants., retiring to Thornbury but ending his days in and Richmond,
Middlesex. A sonnet addressed to him by J. A. Leatherland (qv) pub in 1862
played on the idea of having lost track of him and wondering where this
‘Peripatetic‖poet’‖was‖now:‖‘Is‖Buckingham’s‖old‖rural‖town‖thy‖home?‖/‖Does‖
classic‖Olney‖tempt‖thee‖there‖to‖stray?’‖Ref:‖Radcliffe;‖‘Thornbury‖Roots’‖
webpage; inf. Bob Heyes.
Dale, Sarah (fl. 1883-90s), ‘Essdee’,‖née Schofield, of Ashton-under-Lyne, taught to
read and write by her mother, a cotton mill worker, published Adelia and Other
Poems (Ashton-under-Lyne, 1883); Merriky Letters, with Other Rhymes of Old and
New England, by Essdee (Huddersfield, c. 1890s). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 124. [F] [T]
(?) Daley, Victor James William Patrick (1858-1905),‖‘Victor‖J.‖Daley’,‖of‖Navan,‖Co.‖
Armagh, of a Fenian family, son of a William John Daley, a soldier in the Indian
army,‖and‖his‖wife‖Mary‖Jane,‖née‖Morrison,‖educated‖‘sketchily’‖by‖the‖Christian‖
Brothers‖in‖Armagh,‖‘because‖he‖preferred‖roaming‖the‖countryside‖and‖visiting‖
sites‖of‖history‖and‖legend‖as‖recounted‖by‖his‖grandfather’‖(ADB). After his
mother re-married he attended a Catholic school in Devonport. In about 1875 he
obtained a position as a clerk in the Plymouth office of the Southern, later the
Great Western Railway company (ADB). Daley moved to Australia around 1878,
living in Adelaide, where he worked as a clerk, then Melbourne, and finally
Sydney, joining the Sydney Punch as a journalist, later writing for the Sydney
Bulletin. In addition to his journalism he wrote short stories and poetry for the
newspapers. He published a poetry collection, At Dawn and Dusk (Sydney, 1898);
and posthumously Wine and Roses, poems, with portrait and memoir, Sydney,
1911. He was married with six children, and enjoyed much literary
 companionship, his friends including fellow-balladeers A. B.‖‘Banjo’‖Paterson‖and‖
Henry Lawson. O’Donoghue‖describes‖him‖as‖one‖of‖the‖best‖of‖the‖Australian‖
poets,‖much‖admired‖and‖‘whose‖fame‖as‖a‖poet‖spread‖over‖Victoria‖and‖New‖
South‖Wales’.‖He‖died‖of‖tuberculosis‖and‖is‖buried‖in‖the‖Catholic‖section‖of‖
Waverley Cemetery, Sydney. His papers are in the State Library of New South
Wales and National Library of Australia. ~ Ref: A. G. Stevens, Victor Daley
(Sydney, 1905);‖O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖95;‖G.G.‖Allwood‖Keel, 1981 entry in ADB,
giving much fuller biographical and bibliographical details. [A] [I]
Dalgity, Isa (fl. 1895), born at Craigharr Cottage, on Persley Braes, over the Don
valley, Aberdeenshire; attended school at Whitstripes, Old Machar, until the age
of fourteen, when she began to work first as a farm servant, and later for some
years as a papermaker; lived in Aberdeen and published in the Aberdeen Free
Press;‖sister‖to‖John‖Dalgity‖(qv).‖Her‖verses‖include‖‘Alane’,‖‘Oor‖Countra‖Side’,‖
‘School‖Days’,‖and‖‘Freen’s‖O’‖Auld‖Langsyne.’‖Ref:‖Edwards, 8 (1885), 65-69; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Dalgity, John (b. 1859), of Upper Persley, Aberdeen, gardener, brother to Isa Dalgity
(qv), published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 208-11. [S]
(?) Dalglish, A. (b. 1856), of Stonehouse, at the age of fourteen entered a mercantile
house‖in‖Glasgow,‖wrote‖‘Bauldy’s‖Hay‖Stack’‖and‖a‖poem‖in‖Edwards. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 351. [S]
Dalgleish, Walter (b. 1865), farmer’s‖son‖of‖Potburn,‖Ettrick,‖apprenticed as a joiner,
but spinal disease‖left‖him‖‘unfit‖for‖regular‖work’‖(Edwards).‖He published The
Moorland Bard (Silloth: J. J. Martin, 1887); and Poems and Songs (Silloth, 1891).
These titles are listed by Edwards, but they are extremely hard to track down. The
Moorland Bard is not on any of the usual catalogues, and Poems and Songs is on
WorldCat but with limited detail; they seem likely to be very small circulation
local publications, and there may be others of the same type (Edwards uses the
word‖‘several’). Most of Dalgleish’s‖poems,‖Edwards‖records, were published in
the Hawick Standard ‘and other newspapers: these are perhaps a better source for
their recovery than the elusive volumes. His poems tend to be humorous and
good-humoured. He began writing as an apprentice joiner, and began to do so
more steadily under the shadow of illness and disability. Edwards gives us three
of‖his‖poems,‖‘By‖the‖Auld‖Trystin’‖Tree’,‖‘Biddy‖Magee’‖and‖‘The‖Scottish‖
Tongue’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 67-9; WorldCat. [S]
Daly, John (fl. c. 1891),‖of‖Blackburn,‖tentatively‖identified‖as‖the‖fellow‖‘factory‖bard’‖
of‖Richard‖Rawcliffe’s‖(qv)‖‘In‖Blackburn‖Park—To‖Flora’,‖and‖clearly‖identified‖in‖
Daly’s‖reply‖‘The‖Voice‖of‖Flora—In‖Blackburn‖Park’‖*c. 1891]. ~ Ref: Hull (1902),
202-4; Massey page.
(?) Dalziel, Gavin (fl. 1808-25), published Poetical Satires & Epistles (Kilmarnock:
printed by H. & S. Crawford, for the author, 1808), and A Selection of Poetical
 Pieces.‖(Paisley:‖printed‖for‖the‖author,‖1825);‖the‖two‖poems‖in‖Brown,‖‘Hard‖
Times’‖and‖‘Prison‖Song’‖strongly‖suggest‖this‖is‖a‖labouring-class poet. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 233-34; COPAC. [S]
(?) Dalziel, Mrs Jane Waddell (fl. 1895), of Stoneyburn Farm, Addiewell,
Linlithgowshire; her poems are included in Bisset. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 242-6. [F]
[S]
(?) Dare, Joseph (1800-83), glovemaker, of Leicestershire, later a teacher, radical
reformer,‖described‖by‖Ashraf‖as‖among‖‘the‖most‖active‖radical‖and‖socialist‖
organisers and poets of the 1820-ies and 1830-ies’. He published The Garland of
Gratitude, 1849). ~ Ref: Ashraf (1978), I, 24; Sales (2002), 98; Schwab (1993), 290; inf.
Ned Newitt. [T]
(?) Darling, Isabella Fleming (1861-1903), of Glasgow, left school at the age of fifteen
to assist her mother. She was the author of five volumes of poetry, including
Poems and Songs (Glasgow, 1889); Scotia, Mountainland, and Other Poems, and
Whispering Hope (Edinburgh: Simpkin & Marshall and Glasgow: J. Menzies, 1893);
Songs from Silence (Paisley: Gardner, 1904); A Certain Rich Man (Shotts: J. Macleod,
1913). ~ Ref: Bold (1997), 250, 682; Grian Books web page, visited 7 July 2014; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Davenport, Allen (1775-1846), of a poor peasant family, served in the army, was a
London Chartist and shoemaker, and a Spencian (Thomas Spence, qv). He
published Kings, or, Legitimacy Unmasked (1819); Claremont (1820?); English
Institutions (1842); Claremont, or the Sorrows of a Prince. An Elegiac Poem [on the death
of Princess Charlotte (1821?); The Muse’s Wreath (1827); The Life, Writings, and
Principles of Thomas Spence (1836). Thomas‖Cooper‖(qv)‖published‖two‖‘Sonnets‖on‖
the‖Death‖of‖Allen‖Davenport,‖By‖a‖Brother‖Bard‖and‖Shoemaker’‖in‖the‖Northern
Star and National Trades Journal, 5 December 1846 (Scheckner, 134-5). ~ Ref:
Kovalev (1956), 122-4; Burnett et al (1984), no. 199; Scheckner (1989), 134-5, 138-40,
332; Worrall (1992), esp. 77-88; Schwab (1993), 190; Gareth Stedman Jones,
Languages of Class: Studies in English working class history 1832-1982 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1983), 147; Janowitz (1998), esp. 115-32, 159-64;
ODNB. [C] [SM]
(?) Davidson, Elizabeth (1828-73), born at Thornhill, Dumfriesshire; though poor,
received a relatively good education and worked as a teacher until her marriage;
1853 moved to England with her husband, where she lived near Alnwick in
Northumberland, died leaving seven children between the ages of three and 23;
published Miscellaneous Poems (Edinburgh: printed for the author by Ballantyne,
1866), and The Death of King Theodore, and Other Poems. She recorded that of her
poems‖‘the‖greater‖number‖have‖been‖composed‖with‖a‖baby‖in‖the‖arm,‖or‖while
sitting by the cradle, and written most frequently during the hours borrowed
from rest. If some cynic should ask, what business has a woman in such
 circumstances to write poetry? He might be answered by telling him that a
crowing or sleeping baby is of itself sufficient to inspire a poetic mind. He who
formed the human soul, formed it with faculties which not only enable it to plan,
and calculate, and bargain, but which lead it to admire and enjoy what is pure,
and good, and beautiful; and when we can gain a short respite from toil, and rush
away to the contemplation of such subjects, the soul comes back purified and
strengthened to resume the duties of life. ... our sympathies wander outward to
the great suffering, sinning world, and we cherish the desire, and breathe the
prayer,‖that‖we‖may‖do‖something‖to‖make‖it‖better‖and‖happier.’‖A‖second‖
volume (1874) edited by her husband, a gardener at Newton Gardens, Felton,
Northumberland, was published shortly after her death. He remembered that her
writing was done on Sunday evenings, and every piece finished at one sitting
because she never knew when other opportunities for writing would be granted.
She contributed to religious periodicals and took a lively interest in the
temperance cause, disliked attention to religious theology rather than the practice
of‖religion.‖She‖wrote‖poems‖on‖liberty,‖autumn‖leaves,‖‘The‖Old‖Family‖Clock.’‖
She is possibly the same as Elizabeth Davidson, also of Northumberland, who
published‖‘The‖Seasons’, in the anthology, Poems by the People (1869). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 4 (1882), 93-9; Reilly (2000), 124; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Davidson, George (fl. 1861), of Scottish origin though lived in Yorkshire,
published ‘Thoughts‖on‖Peel‖Park’,‖The Bradfordian, 1 (October 1861), 198; Holroyd
includes‖his‖‘To‖a‖Sprig‖of‖heather,‖from‖the‖Braes‖of‖Balmoral’. ~ Ref: Holroyd
(1873), 8; Vicinus (1974), 150-1, 180n. [S]
(?) Davidson,‖James‖(b.‖1829),‖‘The‖Buchan‖Poet’,‖of‖Logie‖Buchan,‖Aberdeenshire,‖
son of a mason, orphaned at nine, shopkeeper, reporter, published Poems, chiefly
in the Buchan dialect (Aberdeen, Banff, Peterhead, Fraserburgh and New Pitsligo,
1861). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 91-94; Reilly (2000), 125. [S]
Davidson, John (1825-60), of Maxton, Roxburghshire, carpenter, published Poems
(Kelso, 1860). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 125. [S]
(?) Davidson, John (1857-1909), of Barrhead, schoolteacher at charity school and
writer, first employed in scientific and analytic offices, and spent a year at
Edinburgh University before moving to Glasgow, where he taught and wrote. His
first publication was a novel, North Wall (Glasgow, 1885). He married Margaret
McArthur, daughter of a Perth bobbin-manufacturer, to whom this novel was
dedicated, in 1885. He then published a Scottish chronicle play, Bruce (Glasgow:
Wilson & McCormick, 1886), and would continue to write novels and plays,
including‖the‖‘spasmodic’‖play Smith: A Tragic Farce (1888). In 1890 the couple
moved to London, which gave a new direction to his poetry, collected in the
volumes In a Music Hall and other Poems (London, 1891); Fleet Street Eclogues (1893
and 1896); Ballads and Songs (1894); New Ballads (1897); The Last Ballad and Other
 Poems (1899). The standard modern edition is The Poems of John Davidson, ed.
Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh and London: Scottish Academic Press, 1973), and
there have been selections published in 1961 and 1995. Davidson is a significant
and respected figure, particularly in the Fleet Street Eclogues and other poems of
urban realism.‖Cunningham‖describes‖him‖as‖a‖‘London-Scottish poet of nineties
decadence,‖who‖reacted‖into‖Nietzcheanism‖and‖journalistic‖realism’,‖and‖notes
his contributions to ‘the‖decadents‖flagship‖publication‖The Yellow Book (1894)’,‖in‖
the second number of which his best-known‖poem,‖‘Thirty‖bob‖a‖week’‖appeared.
Davidson, always struggling financially, was awarded £250 by the Royal Literary
Fund in 1898 and a Civil List Pension in 1906. ~ Ref: Miles (1891), VIII, 349; James
Benjamin Townsend, John Davidson: Poet of Armageddon (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1961); Ashraf (1975), 279-91; Ricks (1987), 600-3; Leonard (1990),
346-59; John Sloan, John Davidson, First of the Moderns: A Literary Biography
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995); ODNB; LION. [S]
Davidson, Margaret (d. c. 1781), of Killinchy, Ballybreda, daughter of poor
uneducated parents, blinded by smallpox at two, self-taught flax-spinner, self-
converted Methodist, published The Extraordinary Life and Christian Experience of
Margaret Davidson, (as Dictated by Herself) Who Was a Poor, Blind Woman among the
People Called Methodists, but Rich towards God, and Illuminated with the Light of Life.
To Which are Added, Some of Her Letters and Hymns, Edited by the Rev. E. Smyth
(Dublin, 1782). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912)‖98;‖Jackson (1993), 97. [F] [I] [T] [C18]
Davidson, Robert (1778-1855), born at Lempitlaw, Roxburghshire, cowherd,
ploughman,‖day‖labourer,‖‘The‖Morebattle‖Poet’,‖self-described in the short
autobiography‖he‖wrote‖at‖the‖age‖of‖seventy‖as‖the‖descendant‖of‖‘poor but
honest parent, who like the great majority of mankind, had their bread to earn by
the‖sweat‖of‖their‖brows’.‖Thus‖his‖‘patrimony‖was‖poverty‖and‖toil,‖which,‖in‖the‖
agricultural‖districts,‖amount‖to‖an‖unalterable‖entail’.‖He‖describes‖a‖severely‖
limited education, the effects of superstitious beliefs on young imaginations, and a
working life than began at the age of ten (as it did for so many at that time).
Poetry-writing,‖as‖for‖so‖many‖other‖poets‖in‖this‖database,‖‘made‖the‖labour‖to‖
seem lighter and‖the‖day‖shorter’.‖He published three collections: Poems (1811)
does not seem to have survived, but Poems (Jedburgh: W. Easton, 1825) and Leaves
from a Peasant’s Cottage Drawer; Being Poems by Robert Davidson, Day-Labourer,
Morebattle, Roxburghshire (Edinburgh, 1848) are both extant; the latter was
published by James Hogg the son of the poet James Hogg (qv) and includes his
autobiography. This final volume has recently been reprinted by the Robert
Davidson Committee, with an introduction by David Welsh that evidences careful
research‖and‖usefully‖supplements‖Davidson’s‖own‖biography,‖and‖a‖carefully‖
compiled glossary (Leicester: Matador, 2008). The volume gives a powerful sense
of self-presentation, seen in the title and sub-title, the title-page epigraph‖(‘There‖
 is‖a‖pleasure‖in‖poetic‖pain‖/‖Which‖only‖poets‖know,‖Cowper’),‖and‖the‖
dedication‖to‖‘The‖Working‖Men‖of‖the‖Border’,‖who‖are‖‘the‖very‖soul‖and‖life-
blood‖of‖our‖country’.‖The‖poems‖themselves‖freely‖mix‖a‖lowland‖Scots‖dialect‖
with a more formal,‖‘poetic’‖linguistic‖register‖There‖is‖a‖good‖range‖of‖topics‖with‖
an emphasis on narrative, local history and culture, and a strong sense of the
changes in it, especially those associated with enclosure. The poems are followed
by some detailed endnotes by the poet. ~ Ref: Robert Davidson, Leaves from a
Peasant’s Cottage Drawer, with an introduction by David Welsh (Leicester:
Matador, 2008), and Poems (1825) via Google Books;
(www.robertdavidsonpoet.co.uk; Wikipedia; inf. Dr Barbara Bell. [S]
Davies, David (1812-74), ‘Dai’r‖Cantwr’‖(David the Singer), farmer and radical, born
near Llancarfan, Glamorgan; participated in the Rebecca Riots, an uprising by
poor farmers in 1839 at Cilymaenllwyd in Carmarthenshire, and was
subsequently sentenced to be transported to Australia for twenty years; wrote his
‘Threnody of Dai’r Cantwr’, a poem in strict metre illustrating scenes of his youth,
while awaiting transportation; pardoned in 1854 and returned to Wales, where he
lived as a vagrant and died in a barn fire perhaps set by his own pipe. ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986); Wikipedia. [A] [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Davies, Idris (1905-53), of Rhymney, Monmouthshire, coalminer, poet, popularly
known‖for‖the‖lyric‖beginning‖‘Oh‖what‖can‖you‖give‖me?‖/‖Say the sad bells of
Rhymney?’,‖taken‖from his longer sequence Gwalia Deserta (London: Dent, 1938),
which was adapted and set as a song by Pete Seeger and popularised in a version
by The Byrds. Davies left school at the age of fourteen to work at McLaren pit,
Abertysswg. His other lifetime poetry volumes are The Angry Summer (London:
Faber, 1943), and Tonypandy and Other Poems (London: Faber, 1945); Selected Poems
(London: Faber, 1953). Posthumous editions include The Collected Poems of Idris
Davies, ed. Islwyn Jenkins (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1972); The Angry Summer,
edited by Anthony Conran (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1993); The Complete
Poems of Idris Davies, ed. Dafydd Johnson (Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
1994); and Idris Davies, A Carol for the Coalfield and Other Poems (The Corgi Series:
Writing from Wales), ed. Meic Stephens (Llanwyrst: Carreg Gwalch Cyf., 2002).
Although Davies was born into a Welsh-speaking family, he wrote in English.
There have been a number of editions and studies of his work in recent years, and
he has come to be regarded as an important figure in modern Welsh poetry in
English. A bibliography of secondary material is included in John Harris, A
Bibliographical Guide to Twenty-Four Modern Anglo-Welsh Writers (Cardiff:
University of Wales, 1994). ~ Ref: Islwyn Jenkins, Idris Davies (Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 1972), Writers of Wales series; Ashraf (1975), 363-7; Poetry Wales,
16. no. 4 (1981), special number dedicated to Davies; Islwyn Jenkins, Idris Davies:
A Personal Memoir (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1986); OCLW (1986); Fe’m gamed i yn
 Rhymney / I was born in Rhymney, Idris Davies Memorial Volume, marking the
National Eisteddfod held in Rymney (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1990); ODNB. [W]
[M] [OP]
Davies, John (1784?-1864), ‘Brycan’,‖of‖Llanwrthwl,‖Breconshire,‖‘one‖of‖the‖self-
taught‖poets‖of‖Gwent‖and‖Glamorgan’,‖moved‖to‖Tredegar‖to‖work‖in‖the‖
colliery; later a bookseller and publisher, editing four anthologies of his
contemporaries; Davies was among those initiated in the Gorsedd of Bards by Iolo
Morganwyg (Edward Williams, qv). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [M]
Davies, John (1839-92), ‘Ossian‖Gwent’,‖born in Cardigan, moved to the Rhymney
valley and trained as a carpenter; published two volumes of poetry, Caniadau (c.
1873) and Blodau Gwent (‘Flowers of Gwent’)‖(1898). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Davies, Oliver (1881-1960), of Greenwich, Kent. His father was a Welsh-speaking
builder from Cardiganshire. Davies joined the prison service in 1901, working at
different jails in England. He published five volumes between 1909 and 1949
including Dartmoor Prison Lyrics (1915): Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [OP]
Davies, Robert (1769-1835), ‘Bardd‖Nantglyn’,‖of Nantglyn, Denbighshire,
apprenticed to a tailor, wrote carols and englynion, won prize at Caerwys
Eisteddfod (1798) with an awdl titled ‘Cariad i'n Gwlad' and became president of
the Society; published Cnewyllyn mewn Gwisg (1798); Diliau Barddas (1827), and a
popular and influential grammar, Iethiardur neu Ramadeg Cymraeg (five editions by
1848). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Davies, William Henry (1871-1940), W. H. Davies, of Newport, Monmouthshire, son
of an iron-moulder, picture-framer, America, tramped, begged and prospected in
America, lost his leg riding the rails, settled in London, self-published The Soul’s
Destroyer and other Poems (1905); other volumes include New Poems (1906); Nature
Poems and Others (1908); Farewell to Poesy (1910); The Poems of W. H. Davies (1940).
Now best known for his prose Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908). ~ Ref: Ashraf
(1975), 330; OCLW (1986); Lawrence Normand, W. H. Davies (Bridgend: Seren
Books, 2003), Border Lines series; W. H. Davies, The True Traveller: A Reader, ed.
Rory Waterman (Manchester: Carcanet, 2015). [W] [OP]
Davis, Francis (1810-85),‖‘The‖Belfast‖Man’,‖of‖Ballincollig,‖County‖Cork,‖muslin‖
weaver‖in‖Belfast,‖‘Young‖Irelander’,‖wrote‖a lot of poetry in The Nation and other
papers (as‖‘The‖Belfast‖Man’)‖and edited periodicals, began the short-lived
nationalist publication the Belfast Man's Journal (1850), and published the
following volumes: Lispings of the Lagan (Belfast, 1844); Poems and Songs (Belfast,
1847); Miscellaneous Poems and Songs (Belfast 1852); Belfast, the City and the Man
(1855); The Tablet of Shadows; A phantasy, and other poems (London, Dublin,
Edinburgh and Belfast, 1861); Leaves from our cypress and our oak (London, 1863),
anonymous; Earlier and Later Leaves, or, An Autumn Gathering, with an
introductory essay by‖the‖Rev.‖Columbian‖O‖‘Grady,‖O.P. (Belfast, 1878), with
 portrait, a charity volume published by friends, essentially a collected edition.
Davis was given small Civil List pension, ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 99-100; Reilly
(2000), 127; ODNB; NTU. [I] [T]
Davitt, Michael (1846-1906), of Straid (Strade), County Mayo, Labour leader, land
reformer, home rule politician and MP, was born into a peasant family which like
many other poor Irish families faced eviction in his early childhood, and exile to
England. Davitt‖was‖‘implicated’‖in‖the‖Fenian‖Rising‖of‖1867‖and‖sentenced‖to‖14‖
years in prison, of which he served nine. In October 1869 he founded the Land
League. Best known for his political career, Davitt wrote significant prose works,
notable The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland (1904). He contributed a good many poems
to The Irishman,‖Dublin,‖and‖(as‖‘M.D.,‖Heslington’)‖to‖the‖Universal News, London.
~ Ref: Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, Michael Davitt: Revolutionary, Agitator and
Labour Leader (1908); O’Donoghue‖(1912), 100; online sources. A number of
modern books have been written about Davitt and his work, recent studies
including Carla King, Michael Davitt After the Land League, 1882-1906 (Dublin:
University College Dublin Press, 2016), and Laurence Marley, Michael Davitt:
Freelance Radical and Frondeur (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2017). [I]
Davlin, Charles (1793?-1871), ‘The‖Weaver‖Poet‖of‖Bolton’,‖handloom weaver,
autodidact, revolutionary Chartist, was born in Carlisle, enlisted as a Marine, but
after five years returned to hand-loom weaving in Carlisle, moving to Bolton in
1829. He published Gilbart: a poem, illustrative of the evils of intemperance, with a
preface by the Revd. Franklin Baker (Preston, [1838]), 41 pp., and The democrat; or,
A cursory picture of the present crisis: a poem (Bolton: H. Bradbury & Co., [1839]),
iv+32 pp. Davlin contributed the following poems to Reid, City Muse (1853):
‘Stanzas‖on‖the‖death‖of‖Campbell,‖author‖of‖The Pleasures of Hope’,‖on‖the‖poet‖
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), 15-20,‖‘Reflections‖on‖man’,‖44-8,‖‘Ode‖to‖time’,‖59-
63,‖‘The‖spider’,‖78-105,‖‘Despair’,‖114-15,‖‘The‖last‖spree’,‖144-5,‖and‖‘Mountain‖
Mary’,‖150-1. The‖poem‖‘Questions‖from‖the‖Loom’,‖published‖in the Chartist
Circular,‖no.‖49,‖29‖August‖1840‖might‖perhaps‖be‖his.‖It‖is‖signed‖‘Charles‖Darlin’,‖
but‖I‖know‖no‖other‖poems‖by‖a‖‘Darlin’‖(and‖there‖are‖other‖naming‖errors‖in‖this‖
journal,‖e.g.‖calling‖Robert‖Nicoll‖*qv+,‖William‖Nicol).‖Davlin’s poems were
‘appreciated‖by‖Robert‖Owen’. ~ Ref: Reid, City (1853); Sparke (1913), 55; Schwab
(1993), 191. [C] [T]
(?) Davys, Mary (1674-1732), wife of friend of Jonathan Swift, of very uncertain
origins, after the early death of her husband kept a coffee house in Cambridge;
author of popular novels and plays; published The Works of Mrs Davys: Consisting
of plays, novels, poems, and familiar letters. Several of which never before publish’d. In
two volumes (London: H. Woodfall, 1725). ~ Ref: Carpenter (1998), 135; Harte
(2008), 1-3; ODNB. [F] [C18]
(?) Dawson, Daniel Lewis (1855-1893), of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, ironfounder and
one‖time‖pugilist.‖He‖is‖described‖by‖O’Donoghue‖as‖a‖‘well‖educated’‖man,‖
whose first volume had great success, He published The Fragment of a Norse Epic
(Philadelphia, 1892), and posthumously, The Seeker of the Marshes, and other Poems
(Philadelphia, 1893). The posthumous collection is in the Library of Congress, but
I have not yet traced a copy of the earlier collection. ~ Ref: Stedman (1900), no.
1238;‖O’Donoghue (1912), 101-2] [I] [US]
Dawson, James, jun. (1840-1906), of Hartshead, near Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancs.,
farmer’s‖son,‖agricultural‖labourer,‖dialect‖poet,‖‘a‖working‖man’‖(Harland),‖later‖
a journalist in Manchester and London, published Facts and Fancies from the Farm:
Lyrical Poems (1868). ~ Ref: Harland (1882), 441-2, 469-70; Hollingworth (1977), 153;
Maidment (1987), 274-5; Reilly (2000), 127-8; NTU.
(?) Dawson, William Henderson (fl. 1862), of Newcastle upon Tyne, bookbinder and
poet, songwriter, writer on local history and song. His most famous song is ;The
Stephenson’s‖Monument’‖(1862),‖written‖for‖the‖monument’s inauguration that
year. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 484-90; Wikipedia and other online sources.
(?) Deans, Mrs.‖C.‖E.‖Pettigrew‖(b.‖1862),‖farmer’s‖wife,‖lived‖near‖Fordoun,‖educated‖
at Bathgate Academy and attended the Church of Scotland Training College in
Edinburgh, and wrote sentimental and comic verses, with touches of social
observation. A few were in Scots,‖such‖as‖‘The‖Stirkie’s‖Sta’’,‖‘My‖Ain‖Laddie’,‖and‖
‘The‖Terrible‖Mearns‖Folk’. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896); inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Deans,‖George‖(b.‖1851),‖of‖Fogo,‖tenant‖farmer’s‖son,‖cow-herder, newspaper
reporter, published Harp Strums (Kelso, 1890). ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 265-9. [S]
(?) Dearnley, William (fl. ?1865), of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, published The
Power Loom Weaver, Being a Reply to the Factory Child (Halifax, ?1865). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 129. [T]
(?) Deer, James (fl. c. 1864), of Risby, Bury St Edmunds, thatcher, published
Occasional Poems by the Thatcher of Risby (Bury St Edmunds, [c. 1864]), 20. ~ Ref:
Cranbrook (2001), 187.
Deevers, W. J. (fl. 1879-1912), of Belfast, composer and author of popular songs
including.‖‘Our‖Jack’s‖come‖Home‖To-day’,‖which‖was‖‘composed‖in‖a‖railway‖
compartment 12 years ago as its author...was returning from Newry to Belfast
after taking part in a concert at the Woodside‖Rink,‖Rostrevor’‖and‖was‖‘popular‖
wherever‖the‖English‖language‖is‖known’‖(Otago Witness, 1891). He was for a time
employed at Sirocco Engineering Works in Belfast, and in 1912 was living in
London.‖~‖Ref:‖‘Literary‖Notes’,‖Otago Witness, 19 November 1891; O’Donoghue
(1912), 103 [I]
Delday, William (b. 1855), of Quoybelloch, Deerness, Orkney, farmer. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 12 (1889), 39-41. [S]
Dell, Henry (b. by 1733), of St Peters Chalfont, Bucks., son of a tailor, apprentice
stationer, London playwright and bookseller, and author of The Booksellers: a Poem
(1766), a rhyming list of booksellers in London, dismissed by GM as‖‘mere‖prose‖
in‖rhyme’. ~ Ref: GM, 36 (1766), 241; ODNB; inf. Bridget Keegan.
Denholm, Agnes Mack (b. 1854), of Abbey St. Bathans, educated at the parish school;
at fourteen she entered domestic service, and at 34 married William Denholm,
overseer on farm of Abbey St. Bathans. She published romantic ballads. ~ Ref:
Crockett (1893), 270-3; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Denning, John Renton (fl. 1888), ‘J.A.N’,‖served as a private in the Rifle Brigade, in
India, c. 1878; published Poems and Songs (Bombay, 1888); ‘Soldierin’’: A Few
Military Ballads (Bombay, 1899). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 133.
Derfel, Robert Jones (1824-1905),‖‘Munullog’,‖of Llandderfel, Merionethshire, hand
loom weaver, socialist and Welsh nationalist, poet and religious and secular
hymnologist, radical, attended Sunday School but otherwise self-taught. He was
christened‖Robert‖Jones,‖‘Derfel’‖being‖an‖adopted bardic name; his pen-name
‘Munullog’‖(Welsh‖Mynyllog), loosely echoed the mountain and lake above
Bethel, Mynydd Mynyllod and Llyn Mynyllod. In‖his‖early‖years‖Derfel’s‖family‖lost‖
their small-holding, shamingly sold by public auction (he was apparently beaten
for throwing a stone at an auctioneer when his favourite mare was sold). He
worked long hours on a farm and then in a factory, leaving home at ten to live
with his uncle, a master weaver, at Corwen; at the age of twelve he was working
at a loom in a Llangollen factory. Derfel moved to Manchester in 1843, learned
English and became travelling salesman. A Baptist lay-preacher, friend of John
Hughes Ceiriog (qv) and political activist prominent in the Manchester Cambrian
Literary Society, Derfel published three volumes of Welsh verse between 1861 and
1865, as well as poetry volumes in English and volumes of songs and secular
hymns, and a play (Brad y Llyfrau Gleison, The Treachery of the Blue Books, 1854).
Poetry publications include Rhosyn Meirion (1853),‖‘contained‖a‖prize-winning
poem‖on‖the‖Hungarian‖nationalist,‖Kossuth’‖(ODNB); Caneuon min y ffordd (Songs
from the Wayside, 1861); Mynudau segur (Sleeping Monuments, 1863); Caneuon
gwladgarol Cymru (Songs of Patriotic Wales, 1864); Songs for Welshmen (1865); Hymns
and Songs for the Church of Man (Manchester, 1890); Musing for the Masses
(Manchester, 1895); and Social Songs (Manchester, 1890). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 134;
Eddie‖Cass,‖‘Robert‖Jones‖Derfel:‖A‖Welsh‖Poet,‖in‖the‖Cotton Factory Times’,‖Llafur,
7, no. 2 (1996), 53-67; Ashton & Roberts (1999), 6, note 11; Paul Ward and Martin
Wright,‖‘Mirrors‖of‖Wales—Life Story as National Metaphor: Case Studies of R. J.
Derfel (1824-1905) and Hugh T. Edwards (1892-1970)’,‖History, 95, no. 217
(January 2010), 45-63; OCLW (1986); ODNB; LC 6, 343-54. [W] [T] [LC6]
(?) Dermody, Thomas (1775-1802), the son of an Ennis schoolmaster. Jason Edwards
observes‖that‖Dermody‖showed‖‘a‖precocious‖talent‖for‖drinking,‖poetry,‖and‖
 scholarship’‖(ODNB), and alcoholism would ail him until his death in near
vagrancy in London in 1802. His poetry, often reprinted and anthologized, has
been noted for its wit and allusiveness. He became known as‖‘The‖Irish‖
Chatterton’ (Thomas Chatterton, qv). ~ Dermody was a child prodigy, learning
Greek and Latin at the age of four and serving as his father’s classical assistant
from the age of nine. He ran away to Dublin when he was fifteen and won the
patronage of several high-profile dignitaries and aristocrats (Henry Grattan, Lady
Moira, and Charlotte Brooke), who (in the space of one year) helped him publish
three volumes of poetry, a few critical essays, and a pamphlet on the war in
France.‖Dermody,‖however,‖resisted‖his‖patrons,‖boldly‖declaring‖in‖his‖poetry,‖‘I‖
am‖vicious‖because‖I‖like‖it’‖(ODNB). Having put up with his alcoholism and
distemper, his patrons finally abandoned him when he refused a scholarship to
Trinity College, Dublin. ~ Dermody joined the army (the 108th regiment, as a
private) and served with such distinction in France that he won a commission.
However, returning to London, he quickly fell back into his drinking habits and
died in poverty in a hovel in Kent on his half-birthday, 15th July 1802. Dermody
published Poems (Dublin, 1789); Poems Moral and Descriptive (1800); Poems,
Consisting of Essays, Lyric, Elegiac (Dublin, 1792); The Rights of Justice [prose] (1793);
Poems on Various Subjects (1802); and posthumously, The Harp of Erin, containing the
Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Dermody, ed. J. G. Raymond (1807), two volumes.
~ Ref: James Grant Raymond, The Life of Thomas Dermody, Interspersed with Pieces of
Original Poetry (London: Miller, 1806); O’Donoghue (1912), 105; Jackson (1985);
Seamus Deane (ed), The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, 1 (1991), 399, 401‐3,
418, 492, 495; Johnson (1992), item 326; Richardson (1994), 249; Robert Anthony
Welch (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature (1996), 142; Goodridge (1999),
item 32; Meyenberg (2000), 209; Basker (2002), 406-7; R.‖Stephen‖Dornan,‖‘Thomas‖
Dermody’s‖Archipelagic‖Poetry’,‖European Romantic Review, 21, no. 4 (2010), 409-
23; Michael Griffin,‖‘Arcades Ambo: Robert Burns and Thomas‖Dermody’,‖in‖
Fiona Stafford and David Sergeant (ed), Burns and Other Poets (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2012), 127-42; CBEL III, 232; ODNB. [I] [C18] [—Katie
Osborn]
Derrick, Samuel (1724-69),‖Irish‖poet,‖linen‖draper’s‖apprentice,‖referred‖to‖in‖
Cuthbert‖Shaw’s‖The Race. Like Shaw (qv), he tried his hand first as an actor, but
then turned to hack writing, published in several genres, and wrote translations
and criticism.‖Poetry‖includes‖‘The‖Battle‖of‖Lora’.‖He‖eventually‖went‖on‖to‖
become master of ceremonies at Bath. He was known to Johnson, who pitied his
condition‖of‖‘poor‖poet’. ~ Ref: Sutton (1995), 287 (manuscripts and letters);
ODNB; inf. Bridget Keegan. [I] [T] [C18]
Deverall, Mrs Mary (b. 1737), self-taught daughter of a Gloucestershire clothier,
published Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, Mostly Written in the Epistolary Style:
 Chiefly upon Moral Subjects, and Particularly Calculated for the Improvement of
Younger Minds (London, Bristol, Bath, Oxford, Hereford & Tunbridge-Wells,
1781); Theodoras & Didymus, or, the Exemplification of Pure Love and Vital Religion. An
Heroic Poem, in Three Cantos (London, Bath & Bristol, 1784, 1786); and Mary Queen
of Scots; an Historical Tragedy, or, Dramatic Poem (London and Gloucester, 1792),
Ref: Jackson (1993), 103-4. [F] [C18]
Devlin, James Dacres (d. c.‖1863),‖shoemaker,‖‘radical,‖activist‖and‖minor‖literary‖
figure...the‖best‖craftsman‖in‖the‖London‖trade’‖(Hobsbawm‖and‖Scott (1980),
107n), journalist, published The Shoemaker (1838/39), two volumes, a prose work;
Two Odes Written upon the occasion of the Cinque Ports festival held at Dover (1839);
An essay on the Boot and Shoe Trade of France as it affects the manufacture of the British
manufacture in the same business. (1838); Helps to Hereford History, civil and legendary
(1848); Critica Crispina, or the Boots and Shoes British and Foreign of the Great
Exhibition (1852); Strangers’ Homes; or the Model Lodging Houses of London (1853);
The Sydenham Sunday (1853); Rules and Regulations (1855); Contract Reform: its
necessity shown in respect to the shoemaker, soldier, sailor (1856);‖(with‖John‖O’Neill,
qv)‖letter‖and‖‘Sonnet,‖to‖Mr.‖Bloomfield,‖with‖Prospectus’‖(1820),‖in‖Bloomfield,‖
Remains, 1824, I, 164-6.‖Simon‖Kövesi‖has‖traced‖Devlin’s‖notable‖role‖in‖the‖1841‖
campaign to raise support and funding for John Clare (qv), then languishing in an
asylum in High Beach, through a series of essays and poems published in the
English Journal.‖Kövesi‖reproduces‖the‖poem,‖‘A‖Reflection,‖on‖reading‖the‖appeal,‖
in‖behalf‖of‖the‖poet‖John‖Clare‖in‖the‖‚English‖Journal‛‖May‖15’‖(first‖printed‖in‖
the Journal, 1, no. 23, 5 June 1841), along with its extended footnote comparing
Clare with Robert Burns, Robert Bloomfield and Thomas Chatterton (qqv). Devlin
first‖essay’s‖title‖casts‖light‖on‖his‖sense‖of‖himself‖as‖a‖craftsman:‖‘The‖Trialist;‖or‖
Head-attempts. By a Hand-Producer,‖A‖New‖Beginning‖with‖an‖Old‖Name’.‖
Kövesi‖also‖describes‖and‖quotes‖from‖a‖very‖significant‖lost‖work‖by‖Devlin,‖‘the‖
first and only book-length‖poem‖dedicated‖to‖Clare‖published‖during‖his‖lifetime’,‖
a poem entitled Go to Epping!, published by‖‘the pre-eminent radical publisher in
London,‖Effingham‖Wilson’,‖and‖now‖known‖only‖through‖‘fragments‖quoted‖in‖a
review in the Chartist weekly Cleave’s Penny Gazette’‖(Kövesi,‖2015‖,‖156).‖These‖
include‖the‖lines‖‘Go‖to‖Epping!‖will‖you‖go?‖/‖Are‖you‖deaf, or blind, or lame? /
There‖the‖forest‖trophies‖grow,‖/‖There‖abides‖the‖son‖of‖Fame!’‖Devlin‖also‖
corresponded‖with‖Dickens,‖and‖his‖poem‖‘The‖November‖Primrose’‖(Peoples
Journal, 6 [1848] 316), is reprinted by Brian Maidment (who however misnames
him as ‘John’). ~ Ref: Robert Bloomfield, Remains (1824), I, 164; Winks (1883), 313;
Cross (1985), 151-2; Maidment (1987), 216-17; Madeline House, Graham Storey
and Kathleen Tillotson (eds), The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens,
Volume 6 1850-1852 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), 163; Simon‖Kövesi,‖‘John‖
Clare’s‖deaths:‖poetry,‖education‖and‖poverty’,‖in‖Simon‖Kövesi‖and‖Scott‖
 McEathron (eds), New Essays on John Clare: Poetry, Culture and Community
(Cambridge University Press, 2015), 8; Simon Kövesi, John Clare: Nature, Criticism
and History (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2017), conclusion. [SM]
(?) Dibb, Robert (fl. 1839), ‘The‖Wharfedale‖Poet', from‖‘the‖humbler‖walks‖of‖life’,
published The Minstrel’s Offering: Or A Wreath of Poetry (London: Hamilton,
Adams‖&‖Co.,‖Leeds:‖J.‖Y.‖Knight,‖1839);‖poems‖‘of‖a‖radical‖tinge’‖and‖include‖
‘The‖Factory‖Girl’;‖Ebenezer‖Elliott‖(qv)‖is‖among‖the‖subscribers.‖Newsam
records‖that‖before‖this‖official‖publication‖Dibb‖‘printed‖in‖Dewsbury,‖and‖
hawked‖around‖the‖county,‖in‖1836,‖a‖small‖volume,‖entitled‖‚Harriet‖Stanton;‖or‖
the‖victim‖of‖an‖Insurrection,‖a‖Poem,‖taken‖from‖real‖life.‛‖Also,‖the‖‚Legend‖of‖
the White‖Rose;‛‖and‖the‖‚Mountain‖Maid‛’;‖Newsam‖then‖describes‖the‖plot‖and‖
prints‖an‖extract‖from‖‘Harriett‖Stanton,‖which‖centres‖around‖a‖slave‖revolt‖in‖
America. (COPAC describes two versions of this publication: Harriet Stanton; or,
the Revolt of the Slaves: a Poem, Taken from Real Life (Leeds: George Crawshaw,
1835), copy at Leeds University, and Harriet Stanton; or, a Victim of an Insurrection.
A Poem, taken from Real Life...Also, The Legend of the White Rose; and The Mountain
Maid (Dewsbury: Printed by E. Willan, 1836), copy at York Minster.) Ref: Newsam
(1845) 167-8; Johnson (1992), item 270; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 284; Charles Cox,
Catalogue 51 (2005), item 91; John Hart Catalogue 74, item 101.
Dick, Robert (1849-89), of Langlands Brae, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, child factory
worker, printer, published Tales and Poems (Kilmarnock, 1892). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994),
137. [S]
Dick, Thomas (fl. 1846-52), of Paisley, weaver, published The Burn-lip: A Tale of
1826—containing an account of Paisley at that time, with particular notices of the great
fire at Ferguslie in 1789, the dearth in 1800, and the capsizing of the Canal passage boat
in 1810 (1852). He also published The Temperance Garland (1846), which included
some of his own pieces. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 438-40. [S] [T]
Dickey, John (fl. 1818), weaver of Rockfield, County Donegal; published Poems on
Various Subjects (1818). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [T]
Dickinson, Grace (d. 1862), mother of six, entered the Halifax workhouse, died of
tuberculosis; published Songs in the night: a collection of verses; by the late Grace
Dickinson, composed in the Halifax Union Workhouse, edited by the chaplain, with some
account of the author (London and Halifax, 1863; second edition Wakefield, 1863,
with Frontispiece). Turner states that her amanuensis‖was‖Sarah‖Thomas,‖‘a‖deaf-
mute’,‖and‖that‖her‖husband‖had‖‘become‖insane,‖committed‖suicide‖and‖left‖her‖
with‖three‖children’. ~ Ref: Turner (1906), 126; Reilly (2000), 132. [F]
(?) Dillon, John Brown (1808-79), of Welsburg, Brooke County, West Virginia, Irish-
American‖poet‖and‖historian‖known‖as‖the‖‘Father‖of‖Indiana‖History’.‖His‖father‖
removed to Belmont County, Ohio when Dillon was in his infancy, and left him
an orphan at nine. He trained as a printer, and lived in Cincinnati for ten years,
 contributing poems to Flint’s Western Review, the Western Souvenir, the Cincinnati
Review and other periodicals. In 1834 he moved to Logansport, Indiana, and
trained as a lawyer, though he never practiced. He published Historical Notes of the
Discovery and Settlement of the Territory Northwest of Ohio relating to Indiana in 1843,
and his major work, A History of Indiana, in 1859. He published further historical
and other works over the next twenty years, and served as Indiana State Librarian
from 1845-51, later working in the Department of the Interior in Washington for
twelve‖years.‖His‖poem‖‘The‖Burial‖of‖the‖Beautiful’‖is in Coggeshall (1860). ~ Ref:
Coggeshall‖(1860);‖G.S.‖Cotman,‖‘John‖Brown Dillon, The Father of Indiana
History’,‖The Indiana Magazine of History, I (1905), 4-8;‖O’Donoghue (1912), 109. [I]
[US]
Dillon, Thomas (d. 1852), of County Meath, miller, millwright, and wheat buyer for
Manders of Brackenstown, County Dublin, published poems in The Nation from
1842‖(19‖November‖number)‖onwards,‖over‖the‖signature‖of‖‘Cuchullin,‖Tara’s‖
Cave’.‖His‖poem‖‘Gathering‖chaunt‖of‖the‖Ulster‖Septs’‖was‖included‖in‖Irish
Poetry (1846),‖and‖O’Donoghue‖notes‖a‖handwritten‖note‖in‖the‖British‖Museum‖
(British Library) copy noting that the poem most probably appeared in the
Drogheda Argus,‖from‖J.‖*sic+‖Dillon,‖of‖Brackenstown,‖signed‖as‖‘Cuchullin’.‖This‖
poem appears to have been published twice in The Nation, once early in his career,
and‖again‖on‖11‖October‖1845.‖As‖well‖as‖‘Cuchullin’,‖Dillon‖was‖‘Logan’,‖and‖‘‖
Mary‖O’Donnell’‖in‖the‖Drogheda Argus, around 1849, and this paper later
published a supplement with selections from Dillon’s‖and‖others’‖poems.‖Dillon‖
had used these same pen-names in the Wexford Independent before writing for the
Argus. He eventually emigrated to the United States, writing poems for the papers
there including one in American Celt that was reprinted in Nation of April 10, 1852,
the year he died. Ref: Irish Poetry (1846);‖O’Donoghue (1912), 109-10. [I] [US]
Dinnie, Robert (1808-91),‖of‖Allancreich,‖Birse,‖mason,‖‘father‖of‖the‖athlete‖Robert‖
Dinnie’,‖published Songs and Poems. By the Author of The History of Birse (Aberdeen,
1876); he also published a prose work as indicated, An Account of the Parish of Birse
(1865). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 286-96, Halkett and Laing, II, 825; WorldCat. [S]
Dippen, Maria Catharina (c. 1737-62), German poet and farmer of Halberstadt,
‘discovered’‖by‖Anna‖Louisa‖Karsch‖(qv).‖Dippen‖‘wrote‖in‖High‖German‖but‖
spoke‖the‖local‖dialect‖of‖her‖village’‖and‖was‖noted‖for‖the‖‘speed‖and‖
spontaneity‖with‖which‖she‖wrote’.‖She did not publish, but there are three poems
in‖Karsch’s‖correspondence,‖possibly‖re-worked,‖and‖we‖rely‖on‖Karsch’s‖
descriptions‖of‖her‖poetry,‖some‖of‖which‖‘depicts‖the‖horror‖of‖war‖and‖its‖
consequences‖for‖the‖rural‖population’.‖Dippen‖also‖‘was‖a‖great‖inspiration‖for‖
numerous‖fledgling‖women‖poets‖in‖her‖village’. ~ Ref: Kord (2003), 261-2. [F]
[C18]
(?) Ditchfield, Ralph (fl. 1882-3),‖‘The‖Longton‖Poet’,‖probably born in Burscough,
later of Blackburn, itinerant tailor. The sources print the following dialect poems:
‘May Day‖Song’,‖‘Folk‖Know‖Their‖Own‖‚Know‛‖t’‖Best’,‖‘Buried’,‖all‖published in
Blackburn‖newspapers;‖‘Bosco‖Fowd’‖supplied‖by‖a‖friend;‖also‖the‖song,‖‘Take‖it‖
Cool’‖and‖the‖poem‖‘Poor‖Old‖Tom‖that‖is‖Dead’.‖John‖Pickup‖(qv)‖reports‖
remembering Ditchfield reading the latter poem at the home of William Billington
(qv). Ditchfield was reported to have drowned in a pit in Burscough, although it is
biographically suspicious that this is also the‖fate‖of‖‘Poor‖Old‖Tom’‖in‖his‖poem. ~
Ref: Hull (1902), 185-93; Massey page (includes photograph). [T]
Dixon, William (1829-68), of Steeton, Yorkshire, of humble parents, self-educated
woolcomber, later a watchmaker and working jeweller, published The Poetical
Works of William Dixon, including Epistles, Pleasures of meditation, Melodies, etc., with
Preface by the Author (Bingley,‖1853),‖a‖‘first‖attempt’‖by‖a‖poet‖self-confessedly
‘entirely‖unknown‖to‖the‖public’. There are three poems in Forshaw. (Note: it
seems probably that this is the poet referred‖to‖by‖Ashraf‖as‖‘William‖Dickinson’,‖a‖
figure otherwise unknown.) Ref: Grainge (1868), II; Forshaw (1891), 69-71; Ashraf,
I, 33-4. [T]
Dobie, George (b. 1824), of Lanark, served an apprenticeship as a handloom weaver
for several years, but‖then‖‘turned‖his‖attention‖to‖decorative‖art’,‖and‖used‖this‖to‖
establish his own business in Edinburgh. In this Edinburgh period he wrote many
poems in Scots, some of which were commended by the Queen and Lord
Palmerston. He published Poems (Edinburgh, 1883); and Rambling Rhymes
(Edinburgh: Constable, 1895). ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 128-33; online sources. [S]
[T]
Dodds, Jeanie (b. 1849), of Hillhouse, parish of Channelkirk, Lauder, daughter of a
farm grieve, worked from the age of twelve as a message girl‖in‖a‖draper’s,‖later‖
head of dress-making department, and finally a self-employed businesswoman.
She published Ruth’s Gleanings: Poems (Kirkcaldy, 1894), and poems in the Fifeshire
Advertiser; her poems‖include‖‘A‖Pauper’,‖‘The‖Artist’,‖‘A‖Mother’s‖Trust’,‖
‘Consider‖the‖Lilies’,‖‘The‖Pauper’s‖Burying‖Ground’,‖‘Lines‖Written‖on‖a‖Child’s‖
Album’,‖and‖‘Nothing‖that‖Defileth’.‖She specialises in sentimental verses on the
stresses of life and rewards of friendship. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 53-6; Crockett
(1893), 263-4; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Dodsley, Robert (1704-64), of Ratcliffe Gate, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, apprentice
stocking-weaver, footman, later a major London publisher, one of the most
important of his century. He published: Servitude (1729); A Muse in Livery, or, The
Footman's Miscellany (London, 1732); The Muse in Livery. A Collection of Poems
(London, 1732); The Modern Reasoners: An Epistle to a Friend (London: Lawton
Gilliver, 1734); An Epistle to Mr. Pope, Occasion'd by his Essay on Man (1734); Beauty,
or, The Art of Charming (London: Lawton Gilliver, 1735); The Toy-shop (1735), a
 ‘dramatic‖satire’ reprinted‖‘a‖dozen‖times‖within‖the‖year’‖(Croft‖&‖Beattie); The
Toy-shop; to which are added, Epistles and Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1737);
The Art of Preaching: In Imitation of Horace’s Art of Poetry (London, [1738]); Trifles
(London,‖1745),‖the‖‘major‖collection‖of‖Dodsley’s‖miscellaneous‖writings‖during‖
the early years of‖his‖career’‖(Weissman); a prose essay, A Sketch of the Miseries of
Poverty (1731), which was also bound in with A Muse in Livery; and a very
influential poetry anthology, A Collection of Poems by Several Hands (1748), three
volumes, published ‘to‖preserve to the public those poetical performances, which
seemed‖to‖merit‖a‖long‖remembrance’‖(ODNB). Agriculture (1753) was the only
completed part of his planned sequence of georgic poems, Public Virtue, long
dismissed by critics but recently re-analysed and revalued by J. C. Pellicer. ~ Ref:
Ralph Straus, Robert Dodsley, Poet, Publisher and Playwright ([1910]; New York: Burt
Franklin, 1968); Unwin (1954), 71-72; Røstvig (1971), II, 158; James E. Tierney (ed),
The Correspondence of Robert Dodsley, 1733-1764 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988); Greene (1993), 103-4; Cafarelli (1995), 78; Sutton (1995), 320
(manuscripts, letters, legal papers); Harry M. Solomon, The Rise of Robert Dodsley:
Creating the New Age of Print (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois
University Press, 1996); Christmas (2001), 69-71, 106-10, 147; J. C.‖Pellicer,‖‘The‖
Georgic at Mid-Eighteenth‖Century‖and‖the‖Case‖of‖Dodsley’s‖‚Agriculture‛’,‖
Review of English Studies, n.s. 54 (2003), 67-93; Batt (2017); Christmas (2017); Edlin-
White (2017), 64-6; Weissman, I, nos. 277-84; LC 1, 73-120; ODNB; Radcliffe;
Nottinghamshire Archives, M376 (commonplace book). [LC1] [C18]
Doig, Alexander (1848-92), of Dundee, tailor. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 261-4; Reid,
Bards (1897), 133-5. [S] [T]
Donahoe, Thomas J. (b. 1862), of Middletown, Connecticut, hardware factory worker
in Holyoke, Massachusetts, who contributed poems to the newspapers from an
early age, including the Boston Pilot, Hartford Times, and Connecticut Catholic.
O’Donoghue‖records‖in‖1912‖that‖he‖‘proposes‖to‖publish‖his‖verses in book form
before‖long’‖but there is nothing recorded in the main catalogues. Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 112-13. [I] [US]
Donald, George (b. 1826), of Thornliebank, Renfrewshire, son of a factory worker
(his father was a radical and also a poet published in Glasgow newspapers—
though unidentified further); calico printer, pattern designer, warehouseman,
journalist, published in the newspapers and in one collection, Poems: Reflective,
Descriptive, and Miscellaneous (1865), which was well-received. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2
(1881), 72-7; Murdoch (1883), 279-82; Brown (1889-90), II, 229-33. [S] [T]
Donald, George Webster (1820-91), G. W. Donald, of‖Westfield,‖near‖Forfar,‖farmer’s‖
son, lamed cattle-herder, weaver, teacher, keeper of Arbroath Abbey from 1866,
published Poems, Ballads and Songs (Arbroath: T. Buncle, 1867, 1879); ‚The Muckle
Skeel‛ and Other Poems (Dundee, 1870). Blair‖notes‖that‖he‖was‖a‖‘well-known
 contributor to newspapers and periodicals’,‖and‖reprints‖his‖poem,‖‘Lines,‖
Suggested by the Melancholy Wreck of the Tay Bridge’, first published in the
People’s Journal, 31st December 1879. His‖‘’Mang‖Our‖Ain‖Fouk‖at‖Hame’‖is‖
included in the anthology Poems by the People (1869), 3-4. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880),
21-4; Reid, Bards (1897), 136-40 (with photograph); Reilly (2000), 136; Blair (2016),
162-4; NTU. [S] [T]
Donald, James (1815 - c. 1893), of Kirriemuir, handloom weaver, Chartist, band
leader and raconteur. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 129-32; Reid, Bards (1897), 140-1.
[S] [C] [T]
Donaldson, Alexander (b. 1851), of Gifford, Haddingtonshire, received four year
schooling from the age of seven, and was then apprenticed to his father, a village
tailor.‖Three‖years‖later,‖‘desiring‖a better‖knowledge‖of‖his‖trade’,‖he‖joined‖a‖firm‖
in Haddington, completing his apprenticeship there. In Haddington, aged 16, he
enlisted into and Artillery Regiment of the Militia, on a five-year term, as was
discharged with good character. He had worked in different parts of Scotland
when not required by the militia, and in 1972 settled in North Berwick. Edwards
gives some interesting details on his struggle to start writing verse at this time:
‘We‖are‖informed‖that‖when‖he‖first attempted versification, he had so far
neglected versification, he had so far neglected the little education he possessed,
that he knew nothing of grammar, and was ignorant of the fact that every line
should begin with a capital letter’.‖This may be true, however it also echoes many
similar statements from other poets laying claim‖to‖the‖‘natural‖genius’‖category.‖
At any rate the progress of catching up was determined and fast, and in 1880 he
was appointed a school board officer for the local parishes. He also became a
precentor‖in‖the‖Yester‖Free‖Church.‖Donaldson‖contributed‖‘for‖many‖years’‖to‖
the Haddington Courier, culminating in the publication of his collection, Rustic Lays
(Haddington: The Courier Office, 1879). Reilly tells‖us‖he‖was‖well‖known‖‘as a
comic vocalist and Scottish humourist’, but‖Edwards’‖tastes‖are‖more‖for‖his‖
‘touchingly‖pathetic’‖verses,‖and‖he‖prints‖‘The‖Fatherless‖Bairn’,‖‘Welcome,‖Little‖
Bairnie’,‖‘The Shepherd’s‖Lament’,‖‘My‖Bairnie‖and‖Thee’,‖‘May‖Morning’,‖and‖
‘November‖in‖the‖Wood’.‖~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 374-9; Reilly (2000), 137. [S] [T]
Donaldson, Thomas (fl. 1809), of Glasgow, weaver, published Poems, Chiefly in the
Scottish Dialect; both Humorous and Entertaining by a weaver at Glasgow (Alnwick,
1809). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 276; NCSTC. [S] [T]
Donaldson, William (1847-76), of Rathven, Banffshire (Moray), shoemaker; at the age
of seventeen published The Queen Martyr, and Other Poems (Elgin: J. MacGillivray,
1864); he had already published poems in the People’s Journal: Blair reprints one
from 11th August‖1866,‖‘A‖Lay‖of‖Reform’,‖addressing‖the‖political‖debate‖and‖
struggle which led to the Second Reform Act of 1867, which had included, a week
before‖this‖poem‖was‖published,‖a‖‘massive‖Reform‖meeting‖on‖the‖Magdalen
 Green’‖in‖Dundee‖(Blair).‖Edwards‖describes‖Donaldson‖as‖a‖‘printer’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 343-4; Blair (2016), 60-62. [S]
(?) Donegan, Michael (fl. 1872), of Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, farmer, published a
number of political poems and a collection, The Setting of the Sun; or, The Songs of
Holy Ireland (Maryborough,‖1872,‖unverified).‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 113. [I]
(?) Donnan, Jeanie (1864-1942), of Gatehouse of Fleet, Castle Douglas, Galloway,
ordinary life poet, the fifth of ten children, her father a sawyer on the Cally estate
disabled in an accident; he also taught at Cally Sunday School for twenty years
and‖was‖‘known‖in‖Gatehouse‖for‖something‖of‖a‖poet‖himself‖when‖he‖threw‖
together verses‖on‖some‖passing‖event.’‖His‖daughter‖attended‖Cally‖Episcopal‖
School but her health broke down at twelve, after which she was self-taught; she
was‖married‖‘while‖still‖very‖young’‖and‖moved‖to‖Whithorn.‖She‖was‖said‖to‖
have gained her love of reading and of nature from both her parents. In addition
to‖her‖poems‖in‖the‖‘poet’s‖corner’‖of‖the‖Galloway Gazette, she published
Hameland: The Poems of Jeanie Donnan (Newton Stewart: John F. Brown, 1907), with
a frontispiece photograph of the author and an Introduction by [Revd] D[onald]
M. H[enry]; Heatherbloom: Poems and Songs by Jeanie Donnan, with a Prefatory Note
by Sheriff Watson (Glasgow: Fraser, Asher, 1911); War Poems (Newton Stewart:
The Galloway Gazette Press, 1915); The Hills o’ Hame, with a prefatory note by the
Hon. Lord Sands (Newton Stewart: The Galloway Gazette Press, 1930). ~ The
Hameland volume of 1907 evidences the popularity of her verses in its impressive,
fourteen-page list of subscribers. It is headed by the Earl of Galloway, but
dominated by ordinary folk, mainly local subscribers from the Whithorn area, but
also significant numbers of subscribers from far and wide: Cardiff, the English
cities,‖Australia,‖South‖Africa‖and‖the‖United‖States.‖In‖a‖‘Prefatory‖Note’,‖her‖
‘neighbour’‖Herbert‖Maxwell‖invokes‖John‖Barbour’s‖fourteenth-century
historical‖poem‖‘The‖Brus’, placing Donnan in an unbroken Scottish vernacular
tradition. The subscription list tells us that her unpretentious vernacular verse
remained of widespread interest both regionally and throughout the Scottish
diaspora.‖The‖poem‖‘Callin’‖Me‖back’‖is‖footnoted,‖‘A‖gentleman‖from‖
Queensland,‖writing‖to‖order‖a‖copy‖of‖‚Hameland,‛‖said—‚Your‖poems‖were‖
like‖voices‖calling‖me‖back‖home.‛’‖The‖poem‖‘Back‖Tae‖the‖Hameland’, written
‘By‖request‖of‖Mrs.‖McK.,‖Winnipeg,‖Canada’‖is‖also‖suggestive‖in‖this‖respect.‖
Her‖poems‖mix‖Scottish‖dialect‖with‖a‖standardised‖‘poetic’‖English,‖and‖include‖
much local material, some melodrama and sentiment, elegies, and poems which
reply or respond to requests, with little asides or sub-headings giving a strong
sense of a community of writers and readers, no doubt the legacy of her Galloway
Gazette writing. ~ Her‖poem‖‘Sons‖of‖Galloway’‖was‖set‖by‖the‖composer‖A.‖J.‖
Lancashire in 1908. The Whithorn‖web‖page‖correctly‖records‖that‖a‖‘plaque‖still‖
exists at number 76 George Street, Whithorn, to local poetess Jeanie Donnan, who
 composed‖odes‖on‖local‖events,‖usually‖publishing‖them‖in‖the‖‚Galloway‖
Gazette‛’.‖There‖are‖archives‖of‖her‖work‖held‖in the Ewart Library, Dumfries,
and Broughton House Library, Kirkcudbright. ~ Ref: works as cited; Whithorn
web page, COPAC and other online sources; inf. Florence Boos. [OP] [F] [S]
Donnelly, Robert (b. c. 1800), of Portadown, County Armagh, weaver, published
Poems on Various Subjects, Moral, Religious and Satirical (Portadown, 1852); Poems on
Various Subjects (Armagh, 1867); Poems (Belfast, 1872); The Poetical Works of Robert
Donnelly of Portadown,‖second‖edition,‖‘carefully‖revised,‖embracing‖all‖his‖late‖
productions’‖(Portadown,‖1882). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 114; Hewitt (1974);
Reilly (2000), 137; DUB.[I] [T]
Donnet, James (1830-69), of Dundee, flax-dresser, published jointly with D. S.
Robertson, Lays of Love and Progress (1859); also collaborated with David Gardiner
(qv). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 141-3. [S] [T]
(?) Dorey, Jean (1831-72),‖‘JD’,‖‘JDR’,‖‘Jean‖des‖Ruettes’,‖of‖Saint‖Helier,‖Jersey,‖
worked abroad as a printer, retired to Jersey for health reasons; wrote a history of
Jersey in verse in 1863, completed 1864 in London, and covering a span from the
‘druids’‖to the battle of Jersey (1781). Dorey wrote in Jèrriais, French and English,
sometimes using a phonetic version of Jèrrias. Some of his short poems were
published in La Nouvelle Annee: Pièces en Jersiais (1870). A collection of his
unpublished sayings, nursery rhymes and poems in manuscript is held in the
library of the Société Jersiaise. Dory wrote for the Jersey, London and French
newspapers. ~ Ref: Wikipedia (English and French articles) and other online
sources.
Dorward, Alexander Kent (b. 1866), of Letham, Forfarshire, weaver, tailor, soldier
poet, published poems in the Forfar Herald, emigrated to Pawtucket in the USA.
Reid‖includes‖‘The‖Worker’s‖Song’‖and‖other‖poems. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890),
347-50; Reid, Bards (1897), 143-4. [S] [T]
Dorward, John (fl. by 1897), carter at Letham spinning mill. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897),
144-5. [S]
(?) Doubleday, Thomas (1790-1870), of Newcastle upon Tyne, son of a soap
manufacturer, of a Quaker family, a merchant,‖‘angling‖poet’,‖novelist,‖Chartist;‖a
companion to Robert Roxby (qv); and the secretary of the Northern Political
Union in 1832. His first publication was a collection of sixty-five sonnets (1818); he
also wrote verse dramas The Italian Wife (1823); Babington (1825); Diocletian (1829);
Caius Marius (1836); his novel The Political Pilgrim’s Progress [1839], first published
in the radical Newcastle newspaper the Northern Liberator; and a non-fiction
work, Political Life of Sir Robert Peel (two volumes, 1856). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 160-2;
Schwab (1993), 191; Sutton (1995), 324 (manuscripts and letters); Ian Haywood
(ed), Chartist Fiction: Thomas Doubleday, The‖Political‖Pilgrim’s‖Progress [1839];
 Thomas Martin Wheeler, Sunshine and Shadow [1849-50] (Aldershot: Ashgate,
1999); ODNB. [C]
Dougall, Neil (1776-1862), of Greenall, sailor, songwriter, published Poems and Songs
(1854). ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 110-16; ODNB. [S]
Douglas, Alexander (fl. 1806), weaver, of Strathmiclo (Strathmiglo), Fifeshire,
published Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect (Cupar-Fife, 1806), which includes a
short‖biography‖and‖a‖poem‖‘To‖Mrs.‖M___‖of‖R___‖on‖Returning‖Dr‖Blacklock’s‖
Poems’‖(Thomas‖Blacklock,‖qv). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 277. [S] [T]
(?) Douglas, Francis (bap. 1719 - d. c. 1790), of Aberdeen, miscellaneous writer,
commenced business as a baker; published Rural Love, A Tale in the Scottish Dialect,
to which is added a Glossary, or alphabetical explanation of the Scottish words and phrases
(Aberdeen: F. Douglas, 1759); The Birthday, with a few strictures on the Times, a poem
in three cantos. By a Farmer, Glasgow (Glasgow: Foulis, 1782); A Pastoral Elegy to the
Memory of Miss Mary Urquhart (1758); Life of James Crichton of Clunie, Commonly
Called the Admirable Crichton (1760); Reflections on Celibacy and Marriage (1771);
Familiar letters, on a variety of important and interesting subjects, from Lady Harriet
Morley and others (1773); The Birthday; with a Few Strictures on the Times; a Poem in
Three Cantos (1782), and A General Description of the East Coast of Scotland from
Edinburgh to Cullen (1782). ~ Ref: Aberdeen (1887), 8, 10; Sutton (1995), 324 (letters);
ODNB. [S] [C18]
Douglas, Sarah Parker, formerly Sarah Parker (1824-81),‖‘The‖Irish‖Girl’,‖of Newry,
County Down, emigrated to Ayr in childhood, tended cows. She was uneducated,
but later through the help‖of‖friends‖was‖able‖to‖learn‖‘enough‖to‖give a tone to
my‖musings’.‖At‖the‖age‖of‖twenty‖she‖had‖published in the newspapers
including the Ayr Advertiser. Her husband had a paralytic arm, became
completely helpless and died in the hospital at Ayr; she too died in poverty. She
published [as Sarah Parker] The Opening of the Sixth Seal, and other poems (Ayr,
1846; BL); Miscellaneous Poems, second edition with additions (Glasgow, 1856; BL);
(as Sarah Parker Douglas) Poems, third edition (Ayr, 1861); Poems and Songs, 4th
edition (Ayr, ?1880; BL). Her poems‖include‖‘The‖Stream‖of‖Life,’‖Speak‖Gently‖of‖
the‖Dead,’‖and‖‘Envy‖Not‖the‖Poet’s‖Lot’. She admired Robert Burns [qv] and
wrote an ode to him. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 282-6; Davis & Joyce (1991), nos.
1576 and 4156; Reilly (2000), 137-8; Sales (2002), 90, 175 note 29; NTU; inf. Florence
Boos. [F] [I] [S]
Dowey, Ralph (b. 1844), Northumberland miner who had poems published in the
newspapers. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 568-9. [M]
Dowling, Bartholomew (1823-63), of Listowel, County Kerry, miner, farmer,
journalist‖and‖author.‖His‖parents‖took‖him‖to‖Canada‖as‖a‖boy,‖and‖he‖‘received‖
part‖of‖his‖education‖there’.‖On‖the‖death‖of‖his‖father,‖the‖family‖returned‖to‖
Ireland and settled in Limerick (originating the erroneous idea that the poet was
 from Limerick). He published poems in The Nation, the first on 4 January 1845,
usually using the pen-name‖of‖‘The‖Southern’,‖though‖his‖well-known poem,
‘Brigade‖at‖Fontenoy’,‖published‖on‖17‖May 1745, was unsigned. Dowling may
have travelled to Boulogne in 1848, then to Cork and to Liverpool, and he
certainly emigrated to California in 1852, working as a miner. During this period
he wrote a good deal for the California Pioneer, over pseudonyms of‖‘Hard‖
Knocks’,‖‘The‖Southern’,‖and‖especially‖‘Masque’.‖Notable‖among‖these‖is‖his‖long‖
poem,‖‘Reminiscences‖of‖the‖Mines’,‖published‖November‖1855.‖He‖then‖worked‖
as a farmer in Crucita Valley, Contra Costo County, where he entertained three
fellow Irish emigrants, author John Mitchel (1815-1875), General James Shields
(1806-1879) and Young Irelander Terence MacManus (d. 1861). In 1858 he was
appointed editor of the recently-founded San Francisco Monitor. He knew several
languages, and always carried about with him a copy of Beranger, printing many
translations from that poet in the Monitor, for which he also wrote many sketches,
poems,‖and‖stories.‖He‖died‖following‖a‖fall,‖aged‖40,‖in‖St‖Mary’s‖Hospital,‖San‖
Francisco. His life was written up in the St. Joseph’s Union, San Francisco, March
1890,‖along‖with‖his‖poem,‖‘A‖Memory‖of‖Seville’,‖formerly‖published‖in‖Young
Ireland,‖11‖August‖1877‖as‖‘A‖Half-Forgotten‖Memory’,‖signed‖there‖as‖by‖‘Henry‖
C.‖Watson’.‖Three‖of‖his‖poems‖are‖included‖in‖Hayes‖(1855). ~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue
(1912), 116-17; Wikipedia and other online sources. [I] [US]
Downey, Joseph (1845/6-1870),‖of‖Co.‖Kildare,‖grocer’s‖assistant,‖published‖much‖
verse in The Shamrock and other Irish periodicals, usually over his initials, though
sometimes‖signed‖as‖‘Shamrock‘.‖A‖memorial‖was‖erected‖over‖his‖grave,‖in‖
Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, with a quotation from one of his poems on it. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 119. [I]
Downing, Ebenezer (fl. 1906),‖‘T’‖Stoaker’,‖of‖Sheffield,‖wrote‖in‖dialect;‖published in
1906‖‘The‖Filecutter’s‖Lament to Liberty’‖(on‖new‖health‖and‖safety‖regulations). ~
Ref: England (1983), 15-6; inf. Yann Lovelock. [OP]
Downing, James (b. ?1780), of Truro, an apprentice shoemaker and a soldier, who
lost his eyesight and after a period of drunkenness experienced a conversion. He
later worked a mangle. Downing published A Narrative of the Life of James Downing
(A Blind Man) late a Private in his Majesty’s 20th Regiment of Foot. Containing
Historical, Naval, Military, Moral, Religious and Entertaining Reflections. Composed by
Himself in easy verse, and publishe [sic] at the request of his Friends (published by
subscription, 1811; London, 3rd edition, 1815; Bedford, 1840). ~ Ref: Burnett et al
(1984), no. 212. [SM]
Dowsing, William (1868-1954), of Sheffield, sonneteer; his fatherless family arrived
in Sheffield, tramping from workhouse to workhouse; he worked in mines and
factories; his original collection was financed by the owner of Vickers. He
published Sonnets Personal and Pastoral, with an Introduction on the construction of
 the sonnet(London, 1909); Sheffield Vignettes (Sheffield: printed for the author by J.
W. Northend, 1910); Dream Fantasies and other poems (Sheffield: Ward Brothers,
1912). ~ Ref: WorldCat; Hathi Trust; inf. Yann Lovelock [M] [OP]
(?) Doyle,‖M.‖M’Donald‖(fl. 1833-44),‖of‖Wexford,‖‘The‖Young‖Bard‖of‖Bannow’,‖was‖
very young when he published his first volume, Moorland Music (Wexford, 1833),
and‖it‖‘caused‖some‖stir,‖resulting‖in‖his‖being‖appointed‖to‖a‖post‖in‖the‖G.P.O.,‖
Dublin’,‖where‖he‖still‖worked‖in‖1844.‖Also‖mentioned‖are‖his‖role‖in‖welcoming‖
the poet Thomas Moore to Dublin in 1835, and a poem on the coronation of Queen
Victoria,‖1837.‖He‖may‖have‖been‖the‖author‖of‖the‖anonymous‖poem,‖‘Seize‖thy‖
pencil,‖child‖of‖art’,‖generally‖attributed‖to‖W.‖M.‖Downes,‖and‖which‖apparently‖
first appeared in the Isle of Man paper The Voice of the People An article by T. D.
McGhee in the Boston Pilot for‖1844,‖appears‖to‖be‖O’Donoghue’s‖principal‖source.
~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 121. [I]
Drake,‖John‖(b.‖1846),‖of‖Edinburgh,‖tailor’s‖boy,‖worked in various menial and
clerical jobs in Glasgow, published The Crofter, and Other Poems (Glasgow, 1888,
1890); Jock Sinclair, and Other Poems (Glasgow, 1890); The Lion of Scotland, a Tale of
1298 (Glasgow, 1897). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 109-13; Reilly (1994), 145; NTU.
[S]
Draper, Francis (b. 1832), of London, carver and gilder, published The Escape from
Lochleven (1879). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 48-54. [S]
Drummond, Alexander (1843-70), of Larbert, Stirlingshire, ploughman,
businessman, studied German in Königsberg, land steward to the Earl of Zetland.
~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 48-53. [S]
Drysdale, Lawrence (c. 1798-1882),‖of‖Alloa,‖farmer,‖‘King‖o’‖Muirs’,‖‘Old‖King’,‖(m.‖
Helen Maul, son Lawrence b. Alloa, 1838), poet, singer and songwriter. Beveridge
evidently knew him, and speaks warmly in his praise, giving insight into the
social‖and‖performative‖aspect‖of‖Drysdale’s‖verses:‖‘King‖o’‖Muirs,‖lately‖
deceased,‖woo’d‖the‖muse‖with‖unflagging‖energy.‖Many‖of‖his‖pieces‖have‖
appeared in our Alloa weeklies, and always with acceptance. Ploughing matches,
shows of the agricultural society, of which he was poet laureate, epistles and
replies to friends and acquaintances, acrostics, strikes, failures, successes,
successes and old schoolfellows, go to make up a respectable total of literary
matter. ... Moving about amongst us for such a length of time—frank, free and
joyous—a‖veritable‖king‖of‖men,‖his‖soubriquet‖of‖‚Old‖King‛‖will‖not‖soon‖be‖
forgotten. ... It was one of the greatest treats imaginable to hear Mr. Drysdale sing
the songs which he had himself composed. At festive gatherings, curling club
meetings,‖and‖agricultural‖society‖meetings,‖he‖was‖ever‖ready,‖and‖‚kept‖the‖
table‖in‖a‖roar.‛’‖(118,‖125).‖Beveridge‖prints‖poems‖on‖‘Burns,‖The‖Poet‖
Ploughman’ (Robert Burns, qv), and several other poems and songs. ~ Ref.
 Beveridge (1885), 118-27, 139-40; dates drawn from online family history postings.
[S]
Duck, Stephen (1705-56), of Charlton St Peter, Wiltshire, thresher poet, and (despite
his personal and literary modesty) a founding and highly influential figure in the
history of labouring-class‖poetry,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Thresher’s‖Labour’‖(1730,‖1736),‖
patronised by Queen Caroline, later a minister of religion whose sermons were
admired. His huge success led to a number of parodies, so it may be worth
spelling‖out‖in‖this‖context‖that‖the‖Suffolk‖Thresher‖‘and‖former‖Eton‖scholar’‖
Arthur Duck (see refs below), and the Berkshire thatcher Philip Goose were
merely parodic concoctions, while the sailor-poet James Drake was not a sailor
but the translator and poet John Lockman (qv). (Edward Chicken (qv), author of
‘The‖Collier’s‖Wedding’,‖is‖real.)‖Much‖research‖still‖needs‖to‖be‖done‖on‖Duck’s‖
life‖and‖works,‖including‖the‖questionable‖story‖of‖his‖‘suicide’‖by‖drowning in
1756. ~ Ref: Craik (1830), II, 219-22; Southey (1831), 88-113, 182-91; Tinker (1922),
92-5; Rose Mary Davis, Stephen Duck, the Thresher Poet (Orono: University of Maine
Press, 1926); Blunden (1929), 106-17; Unwin (1954), 47-67; James M. Osborn,
‘Spence,‖Natural‖Genius‖and‖Pope’,‖PQ, 45, i (January 1966), 123-44; Carter (1972),
69-141; Ashraf (1978), I, 30-1, 53; Vincent (1981), 30-3; Peter‖J.‖McGonigle,‖‘Stephen‖
Duck and the text of The Thresher’s Labour’,‖The Library, 6th ser., vol. iv (1982), 288-
96; Moira Ferguson (ed), The Thresher’s Labour, Stephen Duck (1736) and The
Woman’s Labour, Mary Collier (1739) (Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library/Augustan Reprint Society, 1985); Klaus (1985), x, 2-21; Shiach
(1989), 44, 47-52; The Thresher's Labour by Stephen Duck, The Woman's Labour by
Mary Collier, Two Eighteenth Century Poems, ed. E. P. Thompson and Marian
Sugden (London: The Merlin Press, 1989); Linda‖Zionkowski,‖‘Strategies‖of‖
Containment: Stephen Duck,‖Ann‖Yearsley‖and‖the‖Problem‖of‖Polite‖Culture’,‖
Eighteenth-Century Life 13 (1989), 91-108; Rizzo (1991), 242-9; Greene (1993), 107-11;
Richardson (1994), 257; Cafarelli (1995), 78; John Goodridge, Rural Life in
Eighteenth-Century English Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995),
Part I; Sutton (1995), 331 (manuscripts and letters); Phillips (1996), 212-13;
Christmas (2001), 17-18, 20-1, 26, 73-95, 122-5; William‖Christmas,‖‘Introduction:‖
An Eighteenth-Century Laboring-Class Tradition, The Eighteenth Century: Theory
and Interpretation 42, no. 3 (2001), 187-94; Bridget‖Keegan,‖‘Georgic‖
Transformations‖and‖Stephen‖Duck’s‖‚The‖Thresher’s‖Labour‛’,‖SEL, 41, no. 3
(2001), 545-62;‖Milne‖(2001);‖Keegan‖(2003);‖James‖Mulholland,‖‘‚To‖sing‖the‖toils‖
of‖each‖revolving‖year‛:‖Song‖and‖poetic‖authority‖in‖Stephen‖Duck’s‖‚The‖
Thresher’s‖Labour‛’,‖SECC, 33 (2004), 153-74;‖Peggy‖Thompson,‖‘Duck,‖Collier‖
and the Ideology‖of‖Verse‖Forms’,‖Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 44, no. 3
(2004), 505-23; Jennifer‖Batt,‖‘From‖the‖Field‖to‖the‖Coffeehouse:‖Changing‖
Representations‖of‖Stephen‖Duck’,‖Criticism, 47, no. 4 (Fall 2005), 451-70; Keegan
 (2005), 478-81; Steve Van-Hagen,‖‘Literary‖Technique,‖the‖Aestheticization‖of‖
Laboring‖Experience,‖and‖Generic‖Experimentation‖in‖Stephen‖Duck’s‖The
Thresher’s Labour’,‖Criticism, 47, no. 4 (Fall 2005), 421-50; Keegan (2008), passim;
Jennifer‖Batt,‖‘Stephen‖Duck‖and‖Literary‖Culture: A Re-evaluation of the
‚Thresher‖Poet‛’,‖unpublished PhD dissertation, Oxford University, 2008; Batt
(2017); Christmas (2017); LC 1, 127-80; ODNB.‖For‖‘Arthur‖Duck’‖of‖Ipswich‖(b.‖
1680), author of the parodic The Thresher’s Miscellany (1730) see Røstvig (1971), II,
157-8; Cranbrook (2001), 187, and for more on the parodists see Batt (2017). [LC1]
[C18]
(?) Dudgeon, William (1758-1813), Berwickshire farmer, older contemporary of
Robert Burns (qv), wrote the song‖‘The‖Maid‖that‖Tends‖the‖Goats’‖(included‖in‖
Allan‖Cunningham’s‖*qv+‖edition‖of‖Burns’s‖Works). ~ Ref: Shanks (1881), 115;
Crockett (1893), 99-101; ODNB. [S]
Duffy, Alexander (fl. 1813), Irish weaver, published Poems on Various Subjects
(Dungannon, 1813), which had 197 subscribers. ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [T]
Dugdale, Richard (1790-1875),‖of‖Blackburn,‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Ribblesdale’“‖parish‖
apprentice, ran away at fourteen, enlisted and served as a soldier, was also an
engraver; poems included in Hull (photograph of the poet in Hull, frontispiece).
Hobbs and Januszewski note‖that‖Dugdale‖‘claimed to have met a relative of
Burns,‖of‖whom‖he‖was‖a‖great‖admirer’,‖adding‖that‖‘Burns’s‖class,‖his‖rootedness‖
and his proud use of his own language, gave legitimacy to writers of working-
class dialect poetry in Lancashire and across‖Britain’ (Robert Burns, qv). ~ Ref:
Hull (1902), 27-38, James (1963), 171, 173; Hobbs (2013).
Dugeon, Robert (fl. c. 1831),‖Scottish‖youth,‖apprenticed‖to‖a‖tailor,‖‘Mr‖Bateman,‖in‖
Ripon’,‖Yorkshire,‖when‖he‖composed‖a‖poem,‖‘The‖Lovers’‖on‖the‖tragic
drowning of two lovers in the river Ure at Ripon in 1831; the poem is described as
‘100‖verses‖of‖homely‖rhyme’,‖extracted‖in‖Newsam;‖further‖publication‖not‖
noted. ~ Ref: Newsam (1845), 153-4. [S]
Dunbar, William (?1852-74), of Wardley Colliery, Gateshead, songwriter, published
Local and other songs, recitations, and conundrums: A local tale, &c, composed by the late
William Dunbar (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1874). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 511; Reilly
(2000), 143. [M]
Duncan, Alexander (1823-64), of Dalmeny, Linlithgowshire, tailor, published Leisure
Hours (1858). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 188-92. [S] [T]
Duncan, D. (fl.‖1860?),‖‘A‖Young‖Working‖Man’,‖author‖of‖a‖poem,‖The Author
Outwitted (Islington: Grubb and Co., [?1860]). ~ Ref: COPAC; BL; inf. Bridget
Keegan.
Duncan, John F. (b. 1847), of Newtyle, painter and decorator, published ‘Light‖and‖
Shadows’,‖a‖dramatic‖sketch‖in‖verse‖of‖the‖life‖of‖Robert Burns (qv), for the
 Dundee Burns Club and performed at the Theatre Royal, Dundee. ~ Ref: Edwards,
3 (1881), 49-51. [S]
Dunlap, Jane (fl. 1765-71),‖‘Little‖is‖known‖about‖this‖pious‖Bostonian,‖except‖her‖
self-description‖as‖a‖‚poor‖person‖in‖*an+‖obscure‖station‖of‖life‛‖who‖avidly‖
followed‖the‖evangelist‖George‖Whitefield<’‖(Basker‖(2002),‖192);‖published
Poems upon several sermons, preached by the Rev’d, and renowned, George Whitefield,
while in Boston. A New-year gift, from a daughter of liberty and lover of truth (Boston,
1771). ~ Ref: Basker (2002), 192. [F] [C18]
Dunn, Sarah Jane (b. 1852?), of Wormley, Hertfordshire, educated at charity school,
suffered from heart and spinal defects, published Poems (London: Printed for the
Benefit of the Authoress, 1870). The slim, two-poem volume shows clear signs of
being‖in‖the‖hands‖of‖a‖charitable‖patron,‖and‖a‖‘Preface’‖signed‖by‖‘Henry‖Shaw,‖
F.S.A.’‖of‖Russell‖Square,‖London,‖is‖unusually‖full.‖It‖begins:‖‘The‖following‖
poems were written by a little village girl of the name of Sarah Jane Dunn,
deformed by spinal, and suffering also from heart disease, who has received no
education beyond that supplied by an ordinary charity school. The first poem was
written at the age of sixteen , to the memory of her sister, who died at the age of
ten years from blood poisoning, the result of adjacent sewage being allowed to
percolate into a public well used for culinary‖purposes.’‖It‖continues‖with‖detailed‖
information about further illness and death in the family and the neighbourhood,
the‖discovery‖of‖Dunn’s‖talent,‖and‖Shaw’s‖role‖in‖bringing‖the‖volume‖to‖press. ~
Ref: Reilly (2000), 143; text cited via archive.org. [F]
Dupe, Eliza (fl. 1860),‖‘A MEMBER OF THE WORKING CLASS’, Christian poet, published
Happiness, or the Secret Spring of Bliss and Antidote of Death. By Eliza Dupe, a Member
of the Working Class (Oxford: W. Baxter, 1860). Dupe hopes that her poetry will
win souls for Christ, the topic of the first poem and the discussion that follows.
Poems then‖follow‖themes:‖‘Happiness’,‖‘Friendship’,‖‘Heaven’,‖‘Adoption—or
Christian‖Blessedness’,‖‘To‖Backsliding‖or‖Disheartened‖Christians’‖and‖finally,‖
‘The‖Antidote‖of‖Death’. ~ Ref: text cited, via archive.org. [F] [—Dawn Whatman]
Durie or Durrie, James (b. 1823), of Kingskettle, Fifeshire, weaver, quarry worker,
seriously injured, became a book and sewing-machine seller. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8
(1885), 158-63; Beveridge (1885), 52-59, 102-4. [S] [T]
Duthie, George (1804-84), of Glenbervie, Kincardineshire, shoemaker to the Royal
Lunatic Asylum, Dundee for 25 years; poems in Edwards, and may have
published a poem in the People’s Journal as‖‘G.D.’‖~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 345-9;
Reid, Bards (1897), 153-5; Blair (2016), 29-30. [S] [SM]
Duthie, Jane Allardice, née Farquhar (1845-1928), ‘J.‖D.’,‖‘Mrs.‖Duthie’,‖of‖Tannadice,‖
raised in parish of Guthrie where her father tenanted a small farm; worked as a
nursemaid, seamstress, milliner and servant, married Mr. Duthie, a road
surveyor, and lived at Dun Cottages, by Montrose. According to Reid, Bards
 (1897), Jane Duthie became chronically ill as a result of circumstances of early life.
She was religious of character, and interested in astronomy; her songs are about
her‖grandparents,‖and‖on‖how‖the‖poor‖can‖lead‖good‖lives:‖‘life’s‖wirth‖the‖livin’‖
yet’;‖other‖poems‖include‖‘Winter’,‖‘The‖Bonnie‖Braes‖O’‖Dun’,‖and‖‘Stocking‖
Lore’.‖Blair notes that Duthie regularly contributed to the People’s Journal from the
1870s to the 1890s, and reprints her poems,‖‘Naething‖New’ and‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Wail‖
about‖the‖Balaam‖Box’, first published in the People’s Journal, 28 July 1877 and 23
November 1878. Duthie published a selection of her verses, Rhymes and
Reminiscences (Brechin: D. H. Edwards, Advertiser Office, 1912), which includes
correspondence she had had with the Editor of the People’s Journal,‖‘Tammas‖
Bodkin’ (William Latto, qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 307-9; Reid, Bards (1897),
155-7 (with photo); Blair (2016), 135-7, 148-9; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Duthie, Robert (1826-65),‖of‖Stonehaven,‖Kincardineshire,‖baker’s‖son,‖
antiquarian, Presbyterian, town clerk, published Poems and songs; and, Lecture on
poetry, with a brief memoir of the author (Stonehaven, 1866). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897),
157-9; Reilly (2000), 143-4. [S]
Duxbury, James (b. 1854), of Blackburn, factory worker, printer. ~ Ref: Hull (1902),
347-55.
Easson, James (1833-65),‖‘people’s‖poet’‖of‖Dundee,‖painter,‖popular‖contributor‖of‖
poems and prose pieces to the Dundee People’s Journal; published Select Miscellany
of Poetical Pieces (Dundee,‖1856);‖his‖poems‖‘The‖Midnight‖Streets’‖and‖‘The‖
Factory‖Girl’‖are‖included‖in‖Reid;‖his‖memorial‖in‖the‖Eastern‖Necropolis‖in‖
Dundee was erected by the proprietors of the People’s Journal. A recent, well
edited volume, The Life and Works of James Easson, the Dundee People’s Poet by
Anthony Faulkes (Dundee: Thorisdal, 2016), includes all his poetry and prose,
with useful biographical and contextual information. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897),
160-1; Faulkes edition as cited. [S]
Eccles, Joseph H. (1824-73),‖of‖Ripponden,‖nr.‖Halifax,‖later‖of‖Leeds,‖‘entirely‖self-
educated’‖dialect‖poet‖and writer of songs in standard English; self-taught twin
from a poor family; published in Yorkshire and Leeds papers and produced
dialect annuals including Tommy Toddles, Tommy’s Annual and the Leeds Loiner and
a volume of Yorkshire Songs (1862).‖‘One‖hundred‖of‖his‖songs‖were‖set‖to‖music‖
by‖English,‖American,‖French‖and‖German‖composers’‖(Turner). There is a
substantial account of Eccles in Turner, and a slightly fuller account by Holroyd in
an unidentified press‖cutting‖headed‖‘A‖Yorkshire‖Song-Writer’,‖reproduced‖at‖
the back of the British Library reprint of Grainge (1868), I, presumably because it
happened to be tucked into the BL copy. ~ Ref: Turner (1906), 126-8; Holroyd
(1873) 40-2; Andrews (1885), 8-12; Moorman (1917), xxxv, 47-51; England (1983),
26.
Eckford, Thomas (b. 1832), herd boy, joiner, hospital warder. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8
(1885), 404-8. [S]
(?) Edington, James Stead (fl. 1863), a secretary to the North Shields Tradesmen and
Mechanics’‖Institution, Northumberland, published Billy Purvis’s [qv] Benefit: The
Keelman’s Grand Remonstrance, and Other Pieces (North Shields, South Shields,
Newcastle, Sunderland, Hartlepool, West Hartlepool and Blyth, 1863). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 146.
Edwards, John (bap. 1699- d. 1776?) ,‖‘Sion‖y‖Potiau’,‖‘The‖Welsh‖Poet’, of
Glynceiriog, Denbighshire, weaver, Welsh-language poet, translated Bunyan into
Welsh; poems uncollected. ~ Ref: DWB; Wikipedia. [W] [C18] [T]
Edwards, John (b. c. 1772), of Fulneck near Leeds, son of shoemaker, began life as a
weaver,‖known‖by‖the‖Wordsworths,‖who‖called‖him‖‘the‖ingenious‖poet’,‖
published The Tour of the Dove, a Poem ...with Occasional Pieces (London, 1821,
1825). ~ Ref: Hall (1873), 340-4; Johnson (1992), items 305-6. [T] [W]
Edwards, Thomas (1738-1810),‖‘Twm‖o’r‖Nant’, of Penparchell Isaf, Llanefydd,
Denbighshire, writer of interludes and songs, brief school attendance fired a love
of reading; worked as a farm labourer, later a haulier, tavern-keeper. He also
wrote an autobiography. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Constantine (2017). [W]
Edwards,‖Thomas‖(b.‖1857),‖of‖Milnab,‖Creiff,‖miller’s‖son,‖house‖painter,‖published
in People’s Friend, People’s Journal and newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 63-68.
[S]
(?) Edwards, William (fl. 1810), of Delgaty, Turreff, gardener, published A collection of
poems, on various subjects, in the English and Scottish dialects (Aberdeen, 1810). ~ Ref:
Johnson (1992), item 307. [S]
Edwards, William (1790-1855), ‘Gwilim‖Callestr’,‖‘Wil‖Ysgeifiog’,‖of Caerwys,
Flintshire,‖millwright,‖poet,‖won‖some‖Eisteddfod‖prizes‖but‖‘*E+xcessive‖drinking‖
ruined‖him’‖and‖he‖ended‖his‖days‖in‖Denbigh‖Asylum;‖his‖poems‖were‖
published with others in Cell Callestr (1815). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Edwards, William (1863-1940), ‘Gwilym‖Deudraeth’,‖of Caernarfonshire, brought up
in Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, worked in the slate quarries of Blaenau
Ffestiniog and on the Ffestiniog railway; published two volumes, Chydig ar Gof a
Chadw (1926), and posthumously Yr Awen Barod (1943). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
[R] [OP]
(?) Egan, Pierce (1772-1849), born probably in London, of Irish migrant parents,
became a printer and compositor, later a highly successful journalist and sports
writer. Publications include Boxiana; or Ancient and Modern Pugilism (four
volumes, 1813-24); Life in London (1821).‖These‖are‖prose‖works,‖but‖Egan’s‖output‖
includes‖verses,‖for‖example‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Fight‖between‖Randall‖and‖Turner’,‖and‖
‘John‖Small‖(1737-1826)’,‖both‖included in Sporting Literature: An Anthology, ed.
Vernon Scannell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 148-9, 229. ~ Ref:
 John Reid, Bucks and Bruisers: Pierce Egan and Regency England (London:
Routledge, 1971); Gregory Dart,‖‘‚Flash‖Style‛:‖Pierce Egan and Literary London,
1820-28’,‖History Workshop Journal, 51 (2001), 180-205; Brian Maidment, Dusty Bob:
A Cultural History of Dustmen, 1780-1870 (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 2007), 50-7, 242-4 and passim; works cited; ODNB; Wikipedia.
(?) Elder, William (b. 1829), of‖Dewar’s‖Mill‖farm,‖St.‖Andrews, apprentice gardener
for the Duke of Atholl, Dunkeld, later superintendent of the Fountain Gardens,
Paisley; published A Shakespearean Bouquet (1827); A Milton Bouquet (1874); A
Burns Bouquet (1875); A Tannahill Bouquet (1877) (Robert Burns, Robert Tannahill,
qqv), all works examining the use of flowers in the works of these poets, and
doing‖so‖in‖his‖own‖poems;‖and‖‘To‖the‖Defenders‖of‖Things‖as‖They‖Are’‖in‖An
Address Delivered by William Elder on the Evening of Monday 27th March 1870, at the
Soiree of the Eclectic Mutual Improvement Class, Meeting in the Trades Hall, Paisley, S.
Mitchell in the Chair (Paisley, undated, [1870]). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 256-59;
Leonard (1990), 278-80. [S]
Elliott, Ebenezer (1781-1849), of Rotherham, self-styled‖‘Corn‖Law‖poet’,‖Sheffield‖
ironmaster, poet and political campaigner, a major figure in the history of
nineteenth-century regional and political poetry, whose works include The Village
Patriarch (1829); Corn Law Rhymes (1830); The Splendid Village [with other poems]
(1833); Poetical Works (1840); More Verse and Prose (1850). Sheffield poet Paul
Rodgers‖(qv),‖in‖his‖poem‖‘Greasbrough‖Ings’‖(1806),‖has‖the‖following‖interesting‖
footnote about a memory of the‖young‖Elliott:‖‘Ebenezer‖Elliott,‖the‖Corn-law
rhymer, was, at the period referred to, well acquainted, as a fisherman, &c., with
the same locality. I well remember him, when I was about ten, and he about the
age of eighteen. Nor have I ever lost the recollection of his remarkably elastic step,
and of his upright, manly, and independent gait—perfectly typical, if not
indicative,‖of‖his‖future‖mental‖career.’‖(Poems, or Amusements in Rhyme, 1806), 11.
John‖Miller‖places‖Elliott’s‖hymn,‖‘God‖Save‖the‖People’‖as‖one‖of‖the‖earliest‖
examples of how the Primitive Methodist tradition fed into the development of
song in the labour movement. ~ Ref: Cunningham (1834), 111; Thomas Carlyle,
‘Corn-Law‖Rhymes’,‖Edinburgh Review, CX (April 1832), 338-61, reprinted in
various‖editions‖of‖Carlyle’s‖essays;‖Newsam (1845), 103-4; Howitt (1858), 643-68;
Hood (1870), 108-29; Hall (1873), 32-48; Holroyd (1873), 9, 17; Miles (1891), II, 231-
60; William Odom, Two Sheffield Poets: James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliott
(Sheffield, 1929); A. A. Eaglestone, Ebenezer Elliott...1781-1859 (Sheffield, 1959);
James (1963), 171, 173-4, 176-9; Sambrook (1970), 1360; Vicinus (1974), 96-7, 165-6,
168-70; Ashraf (1975), 149-52; John‖Miller,‖‘Song‖in‖the‖Labour‖Movement’,‖Artery,
17 (undated, c. 1979-80), 11-13; Maidment (1983), 80-3; Burnett et al (1984), no. 226;
Cross (1985), 148-50; Maidment (1987), 48-55, 61-2, 102-11, 223-4; Ricks (1987), 302-
3; Scheckner (1989), 141-52, 332-3; Johnson (1992), items 127, 313, 612; Karen Sue
 Wolven,‖‘Ebenezer Elliott, the ‚Corn Law rhymer‛ (1781-1849): poetry, politics
and the development of working-class culture in an age of transition 1830-1850#,
PhD dissertation, University of Exeter, 1997; Sutton (1995), 353 (business records,
manuscripts, letters); Goodridge (1999), item 40; Sales (2002), 83-4; Keegan (2008),
95-97; Selected Poetry of Ebenezer Elliott, ed. Mark Storey (Cranbury, NJ: Associated
University Presses, 2008, reviewed JCSN, 101 (Sept. 2008), 15-16); Marcus Waithe,
‘The‖Pen‖and‖the‖Hammer: Thomas‖Carlyle,‖Ebenezer‖Elliott,‖and‖the‖‚active‖
poet‛’,‖in Blair & Gorji (2012), 116-35;‖Simon‖J.‖White,‖‘Ebenezer‖Elliott,‖the‖
Industrial‖Revolution‖and‖the‖Rural‖Village’,‖in‖his‖study‖of‖Romanticism and the
Rural Community (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2013), 154-74; LC 4, 177-86; ODNB; NTU.
[LC4]
Elliott, Jack (1907-66), of Birtley, miner, singer, storyteller, member of a mining and
singing family recorded by Peggy Seeger and Ewan McColl on three occasions in
1961;‖other‖singers‖in‖the‖family‖included‖Jack’s brother Reece Elliott (1894-1980),
and his wife Pat, who ran the Birtley Folk Club, where many people including
Jock Purdon (qv) sang. The‖Elliotts‖were‖at‖the‖centre‖of‖the‖‘second‖folk‖revival’,‖
and were also a part of a powerful and unbroken tradition of working-class song
in the Birtley and surrounding area, also represented by Jock Purdon, down to
contemporary singers like Johnny Handle, Jez Lowe, Benny Graham, and The
Unthanks, who have continued the tradition of singing the traditional working-
class song of the north-east. ~ Ref: ‘Jack‖Elliott‖of‖Birtley:‖The‖Songs‖and‖Stories‖of‖
a‖Durham‖Miner’‖(LP,‖1969,‖Leader‖Records‖LEA‖4001);‖‘The‖Elliotts‖of‖Birtley:‖A‖
Musical‖Portrait‖of‖a‖Durham‖Mining‖Family’‖(LP,‖1969,‖Folkways‖Records‖*USA+‖
FG 3565; reissued as a CD/download 2007); Lloyd (1978), 25, 62, 90, 131, 343 note,
345 note, 348 note; Pete Wood, The Elliotts of Birtley (Sowerby Bridge: Herron
Publishing, 2008); BBC‖radio‖programme,‖‘Jock‖Purdon,‖The‖Miner’s‖Poet’,‖first‖
aired in 2015, narrated by Billy‖Bragg,‖who‖talk‖to‖Elliott’s‖daughter. [OP] [M]
(?) Elliott, Margaret (fl. 1883), of Teviothead, Roxburghshire, tenant farmer. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 6 (1883), 379-81. [F] [S]
Elliott, N[?athaniel] (fl. 1767-76), shoemaker of Oxford, author of The Vestry (Oxford,
1767); An Ode to Charity (Oxford, 1770, Dobell 479); Food for Poets, a Poem (London,
1775); A Prophecy of Merlin, an heroic poem concerning the wondrous success of a project
now on foot to make the River from the Severn to Stroud in Gloucestershire navigable,
translated from the original Latin annexed, with notes explanatory (1776), Dobell 480;
The Atheist, a Poem (Birmingham, 1770), Dobell 2889; Food for Poets (undated). ~
Note: there may very well have been two different N. Elliotts writing at this time,
and the ESTC entry suggests The Atheist is by the other one. Keegan in LC2 notes
that the Jesuit provincial serving in England at the time, Nathaniel Sheldon, used
the‖pseudonym‖Nathaniel‖Elliott,‖though‖the‖subject‖matter‖of‖some‖of‖Elliott’s‖
poems seems unlike anything a Catholic priest might produce. But the question of
 authorship must remain uncertain. ~ Ref: Dobell (1933); Keegan (2001), 207-9; LC
2, 251-62; ESTC. [SM] [LC2] [C18]
Elliott, Robert (fl. 1872-77), of Choppington, coal miner, poet, songwriter, co-founder
with his fellow miner Thomas Glassey and the Scottish poet and reformer Dr
James‖Trotter‖of‖the‖Miners’‖Franchise‖Association,‖and‖a member of the group
sometimes‖referred‖to‖as‖the‖‘School of‖Bedlington‖Radicals’‖in‖the‖early‖1870s.‖
The group was dedicated to improving living conditions for local miners and
fighting for their right to full citizenship. This led among other things to the
election of former miner Thomas Burt as MP for Morpeth, one of the first
working-class‖Members‖of‖Parliament,‖an‖event‖celebrated‖in‖Elliott’s‖two‖dialect‖
poems,‖‘A‖Pitman‖gan‖te‖Parliamint’‖and‖‘A‖Pitman‖in‖Parliamint’,‖both‖published
in his 48-page softbound collection, Poems & Recitations (Bedlington: Printed by
Richardson & Fenton, Stationers, 1877). Elliott himself failed to secure the
nomination for a neighbouring constituency. Another poem in the collection,
‘What‖right‖to‖vote‖have‖Howkies?’,‖angrily‖addresses‖the‖franchise‖issue.‖A‖
howky, or grubber-up, was a contemptuous term for the miners which, as
Wright’s‖Dialect Dictionary puts‖it,‖they‖‘accepted‖with‖a‖certain‖grim‖dignity’.‖‘A‖
Pitman’s‖Trubbles’‖follows‖the‖two‖‘parliamint’‖poems‖in‖the‖collection,‖a‖poem‖
previously‖printed‖and‖awarded‖‘Second‖prize—Silver‖Medal’‖in‖the‖almanack‖
Chater’s Canny Newcassel Diary and Local Remembrancer (Newcastle upon Tyne: J.
W.‖Chater,‖1872).‖The‖copy‖of‖Elliott’s‖modest‖chapbook‖in‖the‖NTU‖collection‖is‖
signed‖‘S.‖Elliott’,‖while‖a‖copy‖held‖by‖the‖present‖contributor (the editor) is
stamped‖on‖the‖flyleaf‖‘A.‖V.‖Murray‖/‖Frances‖Ville‖/‖Choppington,‖Morpeth’.
These two signatures show that family and local readers owned copies, and may
even‖have‖funded‖its‖publication‖(the‖title‖page‖has‖‘Price‖Sixpence’‖at‖the‖bottom
of‖the‖page).‖Another‖poem‖in‖the‖chapbook,‖‘On‖visiting‖my‖birth‖place‖after‖an‖
absence‖of‖twenty‖years’,‖is‖briefly‖discussed‖in‖John‖Goodridge,‖John Clare and
Community (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) 188-9. ~ Ref: Edwards,
11 (1888),‖186;‖Allan‖(1891),‖571;‖‘The‖Memoirs‖of‖William‖Adams’,‖first‖published
in the Newcastle Chronicle in 1902, now valuably reproduced on the blog
northumberlandpast.blogspot/co/uk; DLB 1 (1972), 59-63, on Thomas Burt; Reilly
(2000), 150; Goodridge (2005); FARNE website; NTU. [M]
Elliott, Thomas (1820-68), of Fermanagh, shoemaker in Belfast then Glasgow,
published Doric Lays and Attic Chimes (1856). Janet‖Hamilton’s‖verse‖appeal‖on‖his‖
behalf suggests he has fallen into destitution. Her poem eloquently and tenderly
presents‖his‖plight,‖opening‖by‖quoting‖Shakespeare’s‖‘Poor‖Tom’s‖a-cold’,‖and
tactfully concluding with a biblical reminder that who give to‖the‖poor‖‘lends‖to‖
the‖Lord’.‖~ Ref: Janet‖Hamilton‖(qv),‖‘An‖Appeal‖for‖Thomas Elliot, The
Shoemaker‖Poet’‖(poem), in her Memorial Volume: Poems, Essays and Sketches
(Glasgow, 1880), 311-12; Glasgow Poets (1906), 345-50. [I] [S] [SM]
Ellis, Edward Campbell‖(b.‖1875),‖of‖Montrose,‖‘Sartor’,‖tailor‖in‖Arbroath,‖moved‖to‖
Glasgow in 1897. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 162-3. [S] [T]
(?) Emerson, G. R. (fl.‖1850),‖wrote‖‘The‖Dream‖of‖the‖Artisan’‖(People’s Journal, 10
(1850), 74. ~ Ref: Maidment (1987), 214, 224-6.
(?) Emery, Robert (1794-1871), born in Edinburgh, lived on Tyneside, a printer and a
songwriter whose songs‖include‖‘Baggy‖Nanny,‖or‖The‖Pitman’s‖Frolic’. ~ Ref:
Allan (1891), 284-90; Lloyd (1978), 84, 344 note; Harker (1999), 115-16; Wikipedia
(the entry usefully lists many songs and collections). [S]
Emmott, James (fl. 1896), published A Working Man’s Verses (London, 1896), copy in
the Bodleian Library. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 154; COPAC.
Emsley, John (fl. 1863), Yorkshire village blacksmith, published Rural Musings
(Skipton, 1883), with a subscription list. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 154; NTU. [B]
(?) Enoch, Frederick (fl. 1877), songwriter, of Leamington, Warwickshire, member of
the‖Nottingham‖‘Sherwood‖Forest’‖group, later connected with the Pall Mall
Gazette, published Songs of Land and Sea (London, 1877). ~ Ref: James (1963), 171;
Reilly (2000), 152.
Equiano, Olaudah (1745-97), ‘Gustavus‖Vassa’,‖slave, African-American whose
famous‖autobiography,‖‘The‖Interesting‖Narrative‖of‖the‖Life‖of‖Olaudah‖Equiano’‖
(1789) includes a long poem on his spiritual awakening. A good modern edition is
The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, ed. Vincent Carretta (Harmondsworth:
Penguin,‖2003).‖The‖‘Narrative’‖is‖also‖on‖the Early Americas Digital Archive,
eada.lib.umd.com. Vincent Carretta’s‖‘controversial’‖biography,‖Equiano the
African: Biography of a Self-made Man (Athens, GA: University of Georgia, 2005) has
been much-debated, and the detail of this debate, primarily over the accuracy of
Equiano’s‖‘Narrative’,‖and‖how‖we‖should‖now‖value‖him‖and‖his‖writing,‖makes
a good starting point for critical discussion. ~ Ref: Basker (2002), 387-90; David
Dabydeen,‖‘Poetic‖Licence’‖(review‖of‖the‖Carretta biography), The Guardian, 3
December 2005 (now online); sources cited, and online discussion and
information. [C18]
Evan or Evans, Edward (1716-98), ‘Iorweth‖ab‖Ioan’,‖weaver’s‖son‖of‖Aberdare,‖
briefly‖followed‖his‖father’s‖trade‖before‖being‖apprenticed‖as‖a‖carpenter‖and‖
glazier.‖His‖master‖Lewis‖Hopkin‖(qv)‖of‖Hendre‖Ifan‖Goch‖‘also‖apprenticed‖him‖
in Welsh strict-metre‖verse’.‖Also‖shaped‖by‖the‖Gramadegyddion‖(grammarians),
a Glamorgan-based circle of poets and writers of similar dissenting backgrounds.
His poems, including translations into Welsh of Pope, Samuel Butler and Isaac
Watts, published posthumously by his son, Rhys Evans, as Caniadau Moesol a
Duwiol (Moral and Godly Songs, 1804), and as Afalau’r Awen (The fruits of the
muse, 1816, 1836, 1874). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Charnell-White (2012), 64-74, [387]-
400. [W] [C18] [T]
Evans, Einion (b. 1926), of Mostyn, Flintshire, a miner and the son of a coal miner,
later a librarian. Strict metre poet and satirist, published volumes in 1969 and
1978. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [OP] [M]
Evans, Ellis Humphrey (1887-1917), ‘Hedd‖Wyn’,‖of Trawsfynydd, Merioneth,
farmer’s‖son,‖shepherd, a keen eisteddfod competitor, volunteered for the Royal
Welsh Fusiliers early in 1917 and was killed in battle on July 31st (by coincidence
his Irish contemporary Francis Ledwidge, qv, was killed in the battle the same
day).‖A‖memorable‖‘black‖chair’ posthumous award was made at the next
National Eisteddfod and his poems were published as Cerddi’r Bugail, ed. J. J.
Williams, in 1918. A film of his life, Hedd Wyn, dir. Paul Turner, was released in
1992. A bilingual biography (first published in 2009) and a pocket edition were
published in 2017 to‖mark‖the‖centenary‖of‖Hedd‖Wyn’s‖untimely‖death‖(see‖
references below), both of them beautifully illustrated and presented. In an
eloquent introduction to the edition, Gruffudd Antur considers‖that‖Hedd‖Wyn’s‖
name‖‘remains‖seared‖on‖an‖entire‖nation’s‖memory’, noting how his early and
wasteful‖death‖‘has‖come‖to‖embody‖the‖impact‖of‖the‖First‖World‖War‖on‖Wales’,
so that ‘all‖of‖rural‖Wales’‖losses‖have‖been condensed‖into‖one‖loss’,‖that‖of‖a‖
‘promising‖young‖poet’. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Alan Llwyd, Stori Hedd Wyn, Bardd y
Gadair Ddu / The Story of Hedd Wyn, The Poet of the Black Chair (Llandybïe:
Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, 2009, 2017); Gruffudd Antur (ed.), Howard Huws
(trans.), The Shepherd War Poet Hedd Wyn (Ellis H. Evans 1887-1917), with
photographs‖by‖Keith‖O’Brien‖(Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2017); Giles
Fraser,‖‘Hedd‖Wyn:‖The‖shepherd‖poet‖whose‖story‖shows‖the‖stupidity‖of‖war’,‖
The Guardian, 9 November 2017. [W] [OP]
Evans, Evan (1795-1855), ‘Ieuan‖Glan‖Geirionydd’,‖farmworker, schoolmaster,
translator and priest; born at Trefriw, Caernarfonshire, and educated at the
Llanrwst‖Free‖School;‖worked‖on‖his‖father’s‖farm‖for‖a‖while‖before‖becoming‖a‖
schoolmaster at Tal-y-Bont in 1816; ordained priest in Church of England in 1826
and worked as a curate in Cheshire until he retired in 1852 and returned to
Trefriw;‖won‖numerous‖prizes‖and‖accolades‖at‖eisteddfodau;‖considered‖‘the‖
most‖versatile‖Welsh‖poet‖of‖the‖nineteenth‖century’‖(OCLW); published ‘Gwledd
Belsassar’ (1828),‖‘Y Bedd’ (1821); a collected works, including biographical notes,
was edited by Richard Parry (1862); other selections were collected by Owen M.
Edwards (series Cyfres y Fil, 1908) and Saunders Lewis (1931). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986).
[W] [—Katie Osborn]
Evans, Hugh (1767-?1841), ‘Hywel‖Eryri’,‖of Llanfair-mathafarn-eithaf, Anglesey,
weaver, poet; much of his work appeared in the North Wales Chronicle and Welsh
periodicals. ~ Ref: DWB. [W] [T]
Evans, John (1818-73), woolcomber, born at Pilton, Somerset, died at Keighley,
having been a resident of Bradford and Keighley for 40 years. He published The
 Emigrant (Keighley); Village Scenes (Keighley); The Poacher (Keighley)‖and‖‘a‖12‖pp.‖
pamphlet‖on‖‚The‖Progress‖of‖Intemperance‛‖in‖decasyllabic‖verse’‖(Bradford). ~
Ref: Forshaw (1891), [72]. [T]
Evans, John (1827-88), ‘Y‖Bardd‖Cocos’,‖The‖cockle‖poet,‖of Menai Bridge, Anglesey,
‘rhymester’‖who‖‘earned‖a‖living‖by‖selling‖cockles‖and‖gathering‖chaff’,‖known‖
for‖the‖humour‖of‖his‖doggerel,‖where‖‘meaning‖was‖neglected‖or‖abandoned‖for‖
the‖sake‖of‖rhyme’.‖He‖sold‖leaflets‖of‖his‖work‖at‖fairs,‖and‖selections of his work
were published in‖1879‖and‖1923.‖There‖other‖such‖‘cockle‖poets’:‖OCLW names
Arthur Simon Jones and Elias Jones (qqv) but considers John Evans to have been
‘the‖most‖ingenious‖of‖them‖all’. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Adrian Room, Dictionary of
Pseudonyms, fifth edition (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2010), 47. [W]
Evans, Simon (1895-1940),‖farmer’s‖son,‖born at Tynyfedu in Wales, became known
as‖‘the‖postman-poet‖of‖Cleobury‖Mortimer’,‖writer‖and‖broadcaster,‖published
five collections between 1931‖and‖1938;‖his‖poem‖‘The‖Valley‖of‖the‖Rea’‖included‖
in Griffiths (1994), 27. ~ Ref: source cited; Wikipedia; not in ODNB. [OP] [W]
Ewart, Charles, H. (fl. before 1889),‖of‖Dalbeattie,‖sailor,‖‘a‖frequent‖contributor‖to‖the‖
‚Poet’s‖Corner‛‖of‖the‖local‖newspapers‖on‖various‖names’;‖poems‖in‖Harper‖
include one on Hawaii. ~ Ref: Harper (1889), 245. [S]
Ewing, William (b. 1840), of Gardenside, Bridgeton, Glasgow, engineer and
boilermaker, blinded in a workplace accident, published Poems and songs
(Glasgow, 1892). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 157. [S]
Fair, R.C. (fl. 1814-15), shoemaker poet and‖‘second-generation Spencian political
activist‖and‖poet’‖(Thomas‖Spence,‖qv)‖who‖has‖been‖‘around‖the‖London‖
Corresponding Society, becoming a follower of Spence in 1814; (Janowitz, 106).
His‖‘Ode‖to‖Religion’‖was‖published‖in‖the‖Theological Enquirer in 1815, and
influenced‖Shelley’s‖‘Hymn‖to‖Intellectual Beauty’,‖written‖the‖following‖year.‖~
Ref: Michael Scrivener, Poetry and Reform: Periodical Verse from the English
Democratic Press, 1792-1874 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992), 176-7;
Janowitz (1998), 69, 71, 106-7; source cited. [SM]
(?) Fairburn, Angus (1829-87), of Edinburgh, office boy, vocalist, itinerant lecturer,
pub Poems by Angus Fairburn, a Scottish Singer (1868). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 316-
21. [S]
(?) Fairburn, Margaret Waters (b. 1825), ‘M.W.F.’,‖née Waters, of Selkirk, assistant
keeper of Melrose Abbey, m. a factory worker, published ‘Songs in the night’
(London and Edinburgh, 1885). ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 249-55; Reilly (1994),
159. [F] [S]
Fairley, Cessford Ramsay Sawyers (b. 1868), of Leith, Edinburgh postman known as
‘The‖Postman‖bard’,‖published Poems and songs (Leith, 1890). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994),
159. [S]
(?) Falconar, Harriett (b. 1774?), precocious girl / youthful prodigy; her and her sister
Maria’s‖(qv)‖background‖is‖uncertain,‖but‖they‖were‖presented‖as‖having‖written‖
poems‖as‖children‖in‖their‖‘rest’‖hours,‖Lonsdale‖notes that their subscription list
suggest Scottish relatives (Robert Falconar of Nairn and James Falconar of
Drakies), while Backscheider considers that their mother was probably Jane Hicks
Falconar‖and‖suggests‖a‖daughter‖or‖niece‖relationship‖to‖‘the‖Scottish poet
William‖Falconar’‖(?William‖Falconer,‖qv).‖In‖1787,‖aged‖about‖13‖Harriett‖
contributed poems to the European Magazine; with her sister she published Poems
(London: Joseph Johnson, 1788), with 400 subscribers including the Duke of
Northumberland; Poems on Slavery (1788), and Poetic Laurels (1791). ~ Ref:
Lonsdale (1989), 451-2; Backscheider (2009), 873-4; Basker (2002), 359-60. [F] [C18]
(?) Falconar, Maria (b. 1771?), precocious girl / youthful prodigy; her and her sister
Harriett’s‖(qv)‖background‖is‖uncertain,‖but‖they‖were‖presented‖as‖having‖
written‖poems‖as‖children‖in‖their‖‘rest’‖hours,‖Lonsdale‖notes‖that‖their‖
subscription list suggest Scottish relatives (Robert Falconar of Nairn and James
Falconar of Drakies), while Backscheider considers that their mother was
probably‖Jane‖Hicks‖Falconar‖and‖suggests‖a‖daughter‖or‖niece‖relationship‖to‖‘the‖
Scottish‖poet‖William‖Falconar’‖(?William‖Falconer,‖qv).‖In‖1786,‖aged about 15
Maria contributed poems to the European Magazine; with her sister she published
Poems (London: Joseph Johnson, 1788), with 400 subscribers including the Duke of
Northumberland; Poems on Slavery (1788), and Poetic Laurels (1791). ~ Ref:
Lonsdale (1989), 451-2; Backscheider (2009), 874; Basker (2002), 359-60. [F] [C18]
Falconer, William (1732-70), of‖Edinburgh,‖barber’s‖son,‖sailor poet, worked on
merchant and military ships. He served as a purser to Archibald Campbell, who
encouraged his writing. He published the popular and successful poem, The
Shipwreck: a Poem, in Three Cantos, by a Sailor (1762, 2nd edition 1764, 3rd edition
1769), one of the best-selling poems of its century, as well as a political satire, The
Demagogue. By Theophilus Thorn (1766). His Universal Dictionary of the Marine
(1769),‖became‖the‖‘standard‖nautical‖dictionary‖until‖the‖end‖of‖sail’‖(ODNB). His
ship, The Aurora, was lost at sea in 1770. There is a copy of his Poetical Works
(1798), one of a number of posthumous editions, in the surviving library of John
Clare (qv). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 235-46; Unwin (1954), 81-4; Powell (1964), item
201; Sutton (1995), 361 (manuscripts, receipts); William Jones (ed), A Critical
Edition of the Poetical Works of William Falconer (Lewiston, NY and Lampeter, UK:
Edwin Mellen Press, 2003); Keegan (2008), 122-47; LC 2, 115-22; ODNB; Croft &
Beattie, I, 70 (229). [LC2] [C18]
(?) Falkner, George (fl. 1841-3),‖member‖of‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖of‖writers,‖editor‖of‖
Bradshaw’s Journal (1841-3) and publisher. ~ Ref: Vicinus (1974), 160; NTU.
Faragher, Edward (1831-1908),‖‘Ned‖Beg‖Hom‖Ruy’,‖‘The‖Creigneash‖Poet’,‖of‖
Creigneash, Isle of Man, Manx poet, folklorist, story-writer, translator, worked as
 a fisherman, later worked in Liverpool in a safe-making factory, struggled to
make a living in later life and finally lived with his son in Alfreton, Derbyshire
where he died. He published Skeealyn Aesop (Douglas, 1901), a translation into
Manx‖of‖Aesop’s‖Fables,‖with‖‘a‖number‖of‖poems‖and‖a‖sketch of old
Creigneash’;‖the‖manuscript‖of‖a‖fuller,‖unpublished‖collection‖is‖in‖the‖library‖of‖
the‖Manx‖Museum.‖‘His‖poems‖and‖prose‖have‖been‖re-printed today and form
part‖of‖the‖canon‖for‖Manx‖language‖learners’‖(Wikipedia). ~ Ref: Robert Corteen
Carswell (ed), Manannan’s Cloak: An Anthology of Manx Literature (London: Francis
Boutle, 2010), 151-5; Wikipedia.
Farmer, Edward (fl. 1846), ‘Ned‖Farmer’,‖chief of the Midland Railway Department
at Derby, published poems on common topics, in various revisions of Ned
Farmer’s Scrap Book (1846, 1853, 1863 and later editions), first published as A
Selection of Original Songs, Scraps, Etc., by Ned Farmer (London: Simpkin, Marshall
& Co.; Birmingham: W. B. Marchetti, 1846). ~ Ref: 1846 text via Google Books;
www.abebooks.com listings; inf. Bob Heyes. [R]
Farningham, Marianne (Mary Anne Hearn) (1834-1909)“‖from‖a‖‘Baptist,‖working-
class‖family’,‖teacher,‖published eight volumes of poetry from 1860 to 1909,
including Poems (1866); A Working Woman’s Life. An Autobiography (London: James
Clark, 1907). ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 238; Hold (1989), 78-79; ABC (1996),
571-2; Forsyth (2005); Boos (2017), 46-50, 224; ODNB [as Hearn]; NTU. [F]
Farquhar, Barbara H. (fl. 1849-64), daughter of a labourer, published The Pearl of
Days; or The Advantages of the Sabbath to the Working Classes by a Labourer’s
Daughter, With A Sketch of the Author;s Life, by Herself (1849), a best-seller, discussed
by Boos in terms of conversion narrative and lifewriting; Real Religion; or, the
practical application of Holy Scripture to Daily Life (1850); Female Education; Its
importance, design and nature (1851); Poems, by B. H. Farquhar, the author of The Pearl
of Days, Real Religion, Etc. (London, 1863, 1864). The book of poems is dedicated
(in the form of a dedicatory poem) to the Nottingham philanthropist and friend of
many labouring-class writers, Mary Howitt. The poems themselves are
exclusively religious in nature, including the forty pages of poems for children at
the end of the book. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 160; Boos (2010), 152, 162-8 (on the
lifewriting). [F]
Farquhar, William A. G. (b. 1863), of Fyvie, gardener at Fyvie Castle. ~ Ref: Edwards,
7 (1884), 275-6. [S]
Farquharson,‖Alexander‖(b.‖1836),‖of‖Carlops,‖tenant‖farmer.‖~‖Ref:‖Edwards,‖13‖
(1890),‖278-82.‖*S+
Fawcett, Stephen (1805-76), ‘The‖Ten‖Hours‖Movement‖Poet’,‖b. Burley, Wharfedale,
farmer’s‖son,‖moved‖to‖Bradford,‖published Wharfedale Lays; or, Lyrical Poems
(London, and Bradford, 1837); Edwyn and Algiva (1842); Bradford Legends: A
Collection of Poems (1872, by subscription, dedicated to Mayor of Bradford). ~ Ref:
 Holroyd (1873), 117; Andrews (1885), 154-5 (gives birth as 1807); Vicinus (1974),
141, 161, 172; Johnson (1992), item, 326; Reilly (2000), 160.
(?) Feist, Charles (fl. 1818), from East Anglia, who declares that‖‘Mine’s‖but‖an‖
humble‖Muse,‖content‖to‖sing‖/‖Of‖rustic‖deeds,‖and‖rural‖scenes‖t’explore’;‖
published The Wreath of Solitude (Newark, 1818), which includes a poem to Henry
Kirke White (qv) and mention of Robert Bloomfield (qv). There is a copy of this
volume in the surviving library of John Clare (qv). ~ Ref: Powell (1964), item 202;
Crossan (1991), 37; Johnson (1992), item 327.
Fenby, Thomas (fl. 1824)‖of‖Beverley,‖‘mechanic’‖(i.e.‖worker),‖published Wild Roses
(Liverpool:‖Printed‖for‖the‖Author,‖1824):‖‘The‖effusions‖which‖are‖here‖offered‖to‖
the reader, have been the amusement of a few of the leisure hours of a mechanic,
who, at the close of the day, like most other mechanics, feel a want of amusement,
as a relaxation‖from‖business’.‖Fenby‖goes‖on‖to‖quote‖verbatim‖from‖the‖Preface‖
to Robert Burns’s‖(qv) 1786‖Kilmarnock‖edition‖of‖his‖poems‖(as‖‘the‖language‖of‖
‚a‖certain‖bardie‛’),‖on‖judging‖his‖work‖fairly‖after‖making‖‘every‖allowance‖for‖
education and circumstance‖of‖life’(‘Advertisement’,‖vi).‖The‖poems‖include‖an‖
imitation of‖James‖MacPherson’s‖‘Ossian’‖poems,‖‘The‖Grave‖of‖Morrar’‖(13-16). ~
Ref: Johnson (1992), item 328; text via Google Books.
(?) Fennel, Alfred (fl. 1850), published ‘The‖Red‖Flag’‖(‘Tis in the red flag true
republicans‖glory’),‖published in The Democratic Review (1850). ~ Ref: Kovalev
(1956), 130; Ashraf (1975), 214-15; Scheckner (1989), 153, 333; H. Gustav Klaus,
Introduction to Ecology and the Literature of the British Left: The Red and the Green,
ed. John Rignall, H. Gustav Klaus and Valentine Cunningham (Farnham: Ashgate.
2012), 1.
(?) Fennell, Patrick (b. 1842), of Carlow in 1842, railroad worker and engineer, was
educated at the national school and emigrated to America with his family in 1852,
settling at Oswego, New York. Fennell worked on the railroad, subsequently
becoming‖an‖engineer.‖As‖‘Shandy‖Maguire’‖he‖was‖a‖regular‖contributor‖to‖
American‖engineering‖and‖railwaymen’s‖papers,‖and‖became‖known‖as‖the‖‘poet‖
laureate of the railroad’.‖He‖published‖Recitations, epics, epistles, lyrics and poems,
humorous and pathetic (Oswego, New York: R. J. Oliphant, printer, 1886) and (as
Shandy Maguire), Random Rhymes and Rhapsodies of the Rail (Cleveland: The
Cleveland Printing Company, 1907). ~ Ref: titles as listed (no UK copies noted, but
copies‖of‖both‖in‖the‖Library‖of‖Congress‖catalogue);‖O’Donoghue (1912), 139. [I]
[US]
(?) Fennell, Samuel (fl. 1811), of Tipperary, published Original Poems, corrected and
revised by the author (Clonmel, 1811), in the preface to which the author declares
that‖he‖‘had‖not‖a‖classical‖education’,‖and‖in‖the‖‘advertisement’,‖that‖he‖‘never‖
outstepped‖*his‖county’s+‖borders‖for‖education’‖and‖that‖the‖work‖was‖printed‖
 and published, and the portrait (from which the engraving prefixed is taken)
painted‖in‖the‖same‖county.‖O’Donoghue (1912), 139. [I]
Fenton, [Thomas] (fl. 1849), sergeant in a Highland Regiment, stationed at Belfast,
published Military Lays; or Barrack-Room Amusement. In Two Parts (Belfast: Printed
at the Banner of Ulster Office, 1849). This appears to be a very rare volume
indeed, with no copies on COPAC, LoC, the National Library of Ireland or the
Dublin City Library: the sole copy I have located is in the Libraries of Northern
Ireland, Belfast. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 139. [I] [S]
Ferguson,‖Dugald‖(b.‖1839),‖of‖Brenfield,‖Ardrishaig,‖Argyleshire,‖farmer’s‖son,‖
emigrated to Australia then New Zealand, settled in Otago, published Castle-Gay
and Other Poems (Dunedin), and another volume. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 296-
302. [S]
(?) Ferguson, Duncan (1824-79), of the Vale of Leven, pattern designer, poems in
Macleod. ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 112-14, 159-62. [A] [S] [T]
Ferguson, James or Jems (b. 1842),‖‘Nisbet‖Noble’, of Stanley, Perthshire, worked in a
mill from the age of ten, apprentice grocer, worked in Glasgow and Perth as a
labourer, engine keeper, clerk, surfaceman, dyer, published Lays of Perthshire
(1880). Blair notes that he was a frequent contributor to the People’s Friend and also
contributed to the People’s Journal, and reprints his dramatic narrative poem‖‘The‖
Storming‖of‖Perth’ and‖his‖‘Epistle‖to‖Robert‖Wanlock’, first published in the
People’s Friend, 19 January 1876 and 4 January 1882. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 146-
50; Blair, 198-201, 213-15. [S]
Ferguson, Malcolm (b. 1838), of Paisley, carpet weaver, mechanic, emigrated to New
Zealand, published ‘The‖Emigrant’s‖Warning’,‖in‖Brown,‖II,‖321-24. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), II, 315-24; Leonard (1990), 323-7. [S] [T]
Ferguson, Nicol (b. 1830), of Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire, descendant of the major
poet Robert Ferguson, coalminer, emigrated to America. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12
(1889), 355-9. [S] [M]
(?) Fergusson, Ballantyne, (c. 1798-1869),‖farmer,‖of‖Gretna,‖who‖died‖‘aged‖71,‖
leaving a great number of MS. poems and prose tales, which are now scattered
and‖probably‖hopelessly‖lost’‖(Miller,‖203).‖His‖poem‖‘Young‖Bridekirk’,‖subtitled‖
‘An‖Old‖Border‖Ballad’,‖though,‖was‖supplied by his son John Ferguson to the
Annandale Observer, who published it (22 May 1995), as does Miller. ~ Ref: Miller
(1910), 203-6. [S]
Fergusson, William (1806-62), of Edinburgh, plumber, supporter of Labour League,
director of the Philosophical Institution, published Songs and poems, with a memoir
of the author (Edinburgh, 1864), Ref: Reilly (2000), 162. [S]
Field, George (b. 1804), of Stratford-upon-Avon,‖Warwickshire,‖gardener’s‖and‖
seamstress’s‖son,‖self-educated farm worker stricken by rheumatism, worked as a
shoemaker and carpenter, shopworker, postman. He published Poems and essays
 on a variety of interesting subject ... in Reference to the natural and scientifically
cultivated systems developed in the world (Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham and
London, 1870); second edition published with The Universality of Probation
(Stratford-upon-Avon: E. Adams, 1871). Both poems and essays are in verse,
prefaced‖by‖a‖prose‖autobiography‖described‖as‖a‖‘sad‖catalogue‖of‖illness‖injury‖
and‖poverty’;‖the‖second‖vol.‖is a continuation of the main poem in the first. ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 164; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005); inf. Bob Heyes. [SM]
(?) Findlay, John Haddow (1849-95), of Kilmarnock, apprentice ironmonger,
commercial traveller, published Prose and Poetry (Kilmarnock, 1899). ~ Ref: Reilly
(1994), 165; NTU. [S]
Finlay, William (1792-1847), of Paisley, weaver, published Poems, Humorous and
Sentimental (1846). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 131-3; Brown (1889-90), I, 265-68. [S] [T]
Finlay, William (1828-84), of Dundee,‖shoemaker,‖married‖in‖his‖teens‖and‖‘fell‖into‖
dissolute‖ways’,‖wrote‖a‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Wanderer’. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 170. [S]
[SM]
Finlayson, William (1787-1872), of Pollokshaws, weaver, exciseman, published
‘Weaver’s‖Lament‖on‖the‖Failure‖of‖the‖Celebrated‖Strike‖of‖Weaving, for a
Minimum‖of‖Wages,‖in‖1812’, included in his Simple Scottish Rhymes (Paisley,
1815). ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 27-9; Leonard (1990), 57-62. [S] [T]
(?) Fisher, James (b. 1818), of Glasgow, foreman in a Barrhead calico‖printer’s,‖also
lived in Manchester, returning to Glasgow and later settling in Kilmarnock ‘where‖
he acted as schoolmaster for‖sixteen‖years‖under‖Lord‖Ashley’s‖Act‖relative‖to‖the‖
education of under-age‖workers‖in‖printfields’‖(quoted‖in‖Leonard).‖He‖purchased
The Soulis Tavern in Kilmarnock, and according to Leonard wrote a successful
play, Tam Raeburn, or the Ayrshire Hermit, and a collection, Poems and Songs (1842)
[note: neither of these publications traced]. He also edited The Barrhead Minstrel.
Murdoch and Leonard both include his poem ‘The‖Queer‖Folk‖in‖the‖’Shaws’. ~
Ref: Murdoch (1883); Leonard (1990), 178-9. [S] [T]
Fisher,‖Robert‖M’Kenzie‖(b.‖1840),‖of‖Prestwick,‖Ayrshire,‖weaver,‖farm‖servant,‖ship‖
carpenter, bookseller and stationer, published Poems, songs, and sketches, third
edition (Ayr, 1898), Poetical Sparks (1880, two editions by 1890). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6
(1883), 324-8; Brown (1889-90), II, 377-81; Reilly (1994), 166. [S] [T]
Fitton, Sam (1868-1923), of Congleton, Cheshire, then Rochdale, worked in a mill as a
doffer then a piecer (weaver), then as a cartoonist/entertainer, doing recitations of
his own verse. Boos‖notes‖his‖poem,‖‘Th’‖Childer’s‖Holiday’‖as‖one‖of‖several‖male‖
dialect‖representations‖of‖women’s‖lives. ~ Ref: Hollingworth (1977), 153; Boos
(2002a), 210. [T]
Fitzgerald,‖John‖(d.‖1910),‖of‖Cork,‖wood‖carver‖and‖‘zealous‖local‖antiquary’‖who‖
was also‖‘clever‖as‖a‖black‖and‖white‖artist’,‖published‖Legends, Ballads and Songs of
 the Lee, included in Gems from the Cork Poets (Cork, 1883); Echoes of ’98 (Cork, 1898).
~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 143. [I]
Fleming, Andrew (fl. 1838), of Whithorn, stonemason, believed to have composed
some of the poems in the collection of his brother John Fleming, teacher (Poems,
Glasgow, 1838). ~ Ref: Harper (1889), 262. [S]
Fleming, Charles (1804-57), of Paisley, second generation weaver, published Poems,
Songs and Essays (1878). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 406-10; Maidment (1983), 84;
Maidment (1987), 331-4; Reilly (2000), 166; NTU. [S] [T]
Fleming,‖Robert‖(b.‖1856),‖of‖Bathgate,‖orphaned‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖printer,‖reporter,‖
published poems in the People’s Friend and other miscellanies and newspapers. ~
Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 199-202; Bisset (1896), 254-67. [S]
Fleming, William (b. 1860), of Paisley, father a dyer, apprenticed to boot and
shoemaking trade, published poems in papers. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 483-87.
[S] [SM]
Flower, Joseph (fl. c. 1785), butcher, of Chilcompton, published The Prodigal Son, A
Poem: Or, A Dialogue between an extravagant youth, his father, Fancy, (the youth’s
companion) and an elder brother. In imitation of the parable of the prodigal in the 15th
Chap. of St. Luke. Address’d to Parents and Children. By Joseph Flower, Butcher, of
Chilcompton (Bath [1785?]). ~ Ref: ESTC. [C18] [—Bridget Keegan]
Floyd, William (fl. 1862), cordwainer of Notting Hill, London, published Lays from
the Lapstone (Kensington, 1862). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 167. [SM]
Foley, Ed (fl. 1892),‖‘The‖Irish‖Minstrel‖Boy’,‖of‖Pennsylvania,‖coal‖miner‖of‖Irish‖
heritage,‖songwriter.‖O’Neill‖quotes‖lines‖from‖his‖boasting‖/‖drinking‖song,‖
variously‖known‖as‖‘The‖Celebrated‖Working‖Man’,‖‘In‖the‖Bar-Room’ and
‘Shovelling‖back‖the‖Slate’:‖‘I’m‖a‖celebrated‖working‖man,‖my‖duties‖I‖don’t‖shirk‖
/‖I‖can‖cut‖more‖coal‖than‖any‖man‖from‖Pittsburgh‖to‖New‖York‖/‖It’s‖a‖holy‖
terrogation, boys, how I get through‖my‖work‖/‖While‖I’m‖seating‖at‖my‖glory‖in‖
the‖barroom’.‖Lloyd‖includes‖a‖variant‖version‖of‖this‖widely-travelled song, from
the singing of Jack Elliott (qv). Foley also wrote of disasters and industrial conflict.
~ Ref: George Korson, Minstrels of the Mine Patch (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1938); Lloyd (1978), 90, 345 note; Gerard‖F.‖O’Neill,‖Pittsburgh
Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2015), 89. [M]
Foot, Edward Edwin (b. 1828), of Ashburton, Devon, son of a shoemaker and hatter,
house painter and glazier, inventor, worked for HM Customs in London,
published The Original Poems of Edward Edwin Foot (London, 1867). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 167-8.
Ford, Robert (1846-1905), of Wolfhill, Cargill, Perthshire, cloth-measurer, clerk,
published in newspapers, and Hamespun Lays and Lyrics (1878); Humorous Scotch
Readings (1881). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 125-30; Murdoch (1883), 409-13; Glasgow
Poets (1906), 444-47. [S] [T]
Forrest, John (fl. c. 1831-2), pitman, author of the broadside The Total Banishment of
Self-Tyranny & Oppression (Newcastle upon Tyne; E. Mackenzie, undated c. 1831-
2). ~ Ref: Harker (1999), 135-7. [M]
Forrester, Arthur M. (1850-95), son of Ellen (qv) and sister of Fanny and Mary
Magdalene Forrester (qqv), co-author with his mother of Songs of the Rising Nation:
and Other Poems (Glasgow and London, 1869). ~ Ref: Davis & Joyce (1991), item
1901; Boos (2008), 34. [I]
Forrester, Ellen (1828-83), née Magennis, of Clones, County Monaghan, Irish
immigrant to Liverpool, m. stonemason Michael Forrester; mother of poets
Arthur, Fanny and Mary Magdalene Forrester (qqv), moved to Manchester as a
widow and worked as a seamstress, published in English and Irish newspapers
and the volumes Simple Strains (1863) and Songs of the Rising Nation (Glasgow and
London, 1869), the latter co-authored with her son (Colman attributes co-
authorship to her daughter Fanny as well). Forrester contributed poems to the
Dundalk Democrat, The Nation,‖and‖‘various‖periodicals‖in‖England’. ~ Ref: Colman
(1996), 153; Boos (2001b), 269-70; Boos (2008), 34. [F] [I] [T]
Forrester, Fanny (1852-89), of Salford, operative in a Pendleton Dye-Works, daughter
of the Irish immigrant, seamstress and poet Ellen Forrester (qv) and sister of
Arthur and Mary Magdalene Forrester (qqv). She was a regular and popular
contributor to Ben Brierley’s Journal throughout the 1870s (Suz Garrard call her the
periodical’s‖‘house poet’), with poems reflecting the condition of Irish emigrants
in Manchester, often of a pastoral, sentimental or melodramatic kind. Colman
notes that as well as being a‖‘frequent‖contributor’‖of‖poetry‖to the Irish journal
The Nation she was ‘the‖occasional‖author‖of‖short‖stories’ and that she contributed
to‖her‖mother‖and‖brother’s‖shared‖collection,‖Songs of the Rising Nation (1869).
Other journals to which she is known to have contributed are Ben Brierley’s Seaside
Annual, Chamber’s Journal, Harper’s Bazaar, The Home Journal, The Irish Times and
The Quiver. Many of these poems are untraced, and the fullest listing of her poetry
so far is in Boos (2001b), 283-5 supplemented in Boos 2008), 237 and 352. ~ Note:
Fanny‖Forrester’s‖name‖was‖stated to be a pseudonym in the Irish Monthly, 13
(1885), and is similarly assumed to be one by Maidment, but this is clearly
incorrect given the known family history and connections. ~ Ref: (death notice),
Irish Monthly, 18 (1890), 101-2, via archive.org; Maidment (1987), 151, 156-8;
Colman (1996) 85-6; Zlotnick,‖Susan,‖‘Lowly‖Bards‖and‖Incomplete‖Lyres:‖Fanny‖
Forrester and the Construction of a Working-Class‖Woman’s‖Poetic‖Identity’,‖
Victorian Poetry, 36, no. 1 (1998), 17-35, and Zlotnick (1998), 168-222; Boos (2002a),
223; Boos (2002b), 145-7; Goodridge (2005); Boos (2008), 237-52; Boos (2010); Suz
Garrard,‖‘‚And,‖oh!‖but‖the‖lilies‖are‖pure‖and‖fair‛:‖Fanny‖Forrester,‖Ben Brierley’s
Journal, and the Creation of a Working-class‖Women’s‖Pastoral‖Tradition’,‖
 Victorian Periodicals Review, 50, no. 3 (Fall 2017), 447-66; LC 6, 175-92. [F] [I] [T]
[LC6]
Forrester, Mary Magdalene (b. 1857), daughter of Ellen Forrester (qv), sister of
Arthur‖and‖Fanny‖Forrester‖(qv),‖and‖contributor‖of‖poems‖to‖‘various‖Irish‖
newspapers’. ~ Ref: Colman (1996) 86; Boos (2008), 34. [F] [I]
Forster, John (fl. 1793-7), of Winteringham, Lincolnshire, shoemaker poet, published
Serious Poems (1793); Poems, Chiefly on Religious Subjects (1797). ~ Ref: Winks (1883),
313; LC 3, 301-4. [SM] [LC3] [C18]
Forsyth, William (1818-79), ‘William‖o’‖ye‖West’,‖of Earlston, Berwickshire, of a
Covenanting family, pupil-teacher, wool-spinner, hotel keeper, published A Lay of
Lochleven (Glasgow, 1887), The Martyrdom of Kelavane (1861) and Idylls and Lyrics
(1872). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 205-9; Crockett (1893), 183-6 (who gives his birth
as 1823); Reilly (1994), 171; Sutton (1995), 376 (letters); ODNB. [S] [T]
Foster, James (b. 1845, fl. 1899),‖of‖High‖Moor‖Farm,‖Stapleton,‖Cumberland,‖‘The‖
Cumberland‖Ploughman’,‖but‖spent‖‘the‖principal‖part‖of‖my‖life’‖in‖the‖Tyne
valley, later living in Weymouth and then Liverpool; published Poetical Works
(Bootle: Printed at the ‚Times‛‖Office,‖1899),‖84‖pp. The Preface and several
personal letters published at the back yield much useful biographical information
Ref: Poetical Works (inscribed copy with press cutting tipped in, held by the
contributor, JG).
Foster, William Air (1801-62), of Coldstream, shoemaker, moved to Glasgow in 1842,
Border sportsman, friend of James Hogg (qv), published verses in Whistle-Binkie
and the Book of Scottish Song. ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 149-54. [S] [SM]
Foster, William C. (fl. 1798-1805),‖‘Timothy‖Spectacles’,‖of‖New‖York‖State,‖a‖‘self-
described‖workingman‖of‖little‖formal‖education,‖but‖a‖passionate‖autodidact’‖
(Basker (2002) 588); published Poetry on Different Subjects, Written under the
Signature of Timothy Spectacles (Salem, NY, 1805). ~ Ref: Basker (2002), 588-9.
Foulds, Andrew (1815-41), of Paisley, cooper; poems appeared in Renfrewshire
Annual of 1841;‖longest‖piece‖‘The‖Begunk:‖a‖Halloween‖Tale’. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-
90), II, 42-47. [S]
(?) Fowler, John (fl. 1798), printer and shopman, of Salisbury and later London,
published Fowler’s Address, To the Ladies and Gentlemen of Salisbury; Wrote, during
his Residence in that City, and now re-published in London, for the Amusement of his
Friends (London:‖At‖Fowler’s‖printing‖Office,‖No.‖21,‖Newcastle-Street, near
Somerset‖House,‖Strand,‖*1798+),‖broadsheet‖verse‖beginning‖‘O‖Yes!‖with‖due‖
respects we greet / All folks who pass down Silver-street’.‖While‖not‖strictly‖
speaking part of a labouring-class poetry tradition, this type of humorous self-
advertising verse has a kinship with it and is an important presence and element
of popular culture, akin to verses used in C18th advertisements, and the annual
broadsheet Christmas appeals in verse written and printed by the Clifton
 Lamplighters‖in‖Bristol‖in‖the‖Victorian‖period‖and‖the‖section‖of‖‘New-Year
Rhymes’‖of‖Newsboys‖and‖printers‖in‖Brown‖(II,‖536-40). ~ Ref: Croft & Beattie I,
74-5 (item 246), which gives a full-plate image of the broadsheet. [C18]
Fox, John Dawson (b. 1849), poet and hymn writer, of Harden, Bingley, raised by
grandparents‖to‖age‖12,‖worked‖as‖a‖‘doffer’‖at‖Victoria‖Mill,‖Bingley,‖for‖five‖
shillings a week; was appointed Librarian‖of‖Bingley‖Mechanics’‖Institute,‖later‖
insurance agent, businessman, local Methodist preacher, temperance advocate;
published Bonny Morecambe Bay: A Souvenir (1910, verse); Life and Poems of John D.
Fox, ‘Throstle Nest’, Bingley (Bingley: Thos. Harrison, 1914); Forshaw calls him the
author of Struggles of a Village Lad, but if so he published it anonymously: COPAC
has none with his name on). ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), 73-7 (Fox was a subscriber to
this); Burnett et al (1984), no. 244. [OP] [T]
(?) Francis, Benjamin (1734-99), of Newcastle Emlyn, poet and hymn-writer, an
orphan raised in Swansea and educated at the Baptist Academy, Bristol, became a
minister in England; published English poems The Conflagration (1770) and The
Association (1790) and a collection of Welsh hymns, Aleluia (1774, 1786). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W] [C18]
Franklin, Robert (fl. 1809-51), of Ferriby Sluice, Lincolnshire, weaver, miller, and
descendant of millers, published The Miller’s Muse: Rural Poems (Hull, 1824). ~ Ref:
Johnson (1992), item 339; LC 4, 291-308. [LC4] [T]
Fraser, Janet Douglas (1777-1855), of Closeburn?, Dumfriesshire, daughter of a
joiner, from an old covenanting family, stocking weaver at Penpoint, published
three‖volumes‖of‖religious‖verse‖which‖‘may‖still‖be‖found‖in‖the‖cottages‖of‖pious‖
Nithsdale‖shepherds,’‖according‖to‖Miller‖(1910),‖who‖quotes‖her‖lines‖‘On‖
reading‖Ralph‖Erskine’s‖Paraphrase‖on‖the‖Song‖of‖Solomon’;‖published Poems on
Religious Subjects (Dumfries [1850?]), copy in BL. ~ Ref: Miller (1910), 240-2. [F] [S]
[T]
Fraser, John (b. 1812), of Edinburgh, later of Paisley, worked in a foundry, worked in
tobacco shop, shoemaker, sewed belts in factory, sustaining an injury in which his
friend was killed, lectured on phrenology, and was himself discussed in a lecture
on‖‘The‖Paisley‖Poets’,‖given‖by‖J. S. Mitchell in November 1882. Fraser published
a collection in 1830; the second enlarged edition is Poetic Chimes, or Leisure Lays;
also, a Scottish National Play in three acts, entitled King James V., or the Gipsey’s
Revenge (Paisley: Gardner, 1852), 192 pp. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 455; Alex &
Emily Fotheringham book catalogue no. 68; inf. Bob Heyes. [S] [SM]
(?) Fraser, Lydia Mackenzie Falconer, née‖Fraser,‖later‖Miller,‖‘Mrs‖Harriet‖Myrtle’‖
(1812-76),‖of‖Inverness,‖poet,‖children’s‖writer,‖merchant’s‖daughter,‖wife‖of‖Hugh‖
Miller (qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 309-12; Kerrigan (1991), 192, 351; Bold (1997),
250-1; ODNB. [F] [S]
Fraser or Frazer, John De Jean (c. 1809-52), ‘Jean‖de‖Jean’,‖‘the‖poet‖of‖the‖workshop’,‖
cabinet-maker of Birr, Offaly (King’s‖County), Ireland; Chartist and Irish
Nationalist; published Hints from Fancy: Poems for the People (Dublin, 1845); Poems
(1851), which included his stark poem on the Irish‖famine,‖‘The‖Three‖Angels’.‖
Fraser also published under a number of pseudonyms in Irish radical periodicals
of the 1840s. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 188-90; Christopher Morash, The Hungry Voice:
The Poetry of the Irish Famine (Newbridge, Co. Kildare: Irish Academic Press, 1989);
Schwab (1993), 192; ODNB; online sources. [C] [I]
Freeland, John (1826-88), of Edinburgh, chemist and druggist, local poet and
parodist,‖member‖of‖the‖‘Under‖the‖Beeches’‖Literary‖Society; two poems in
Bisset. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 151-3. [S]
Freeland, William (1828-1903), of Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, apprenticed as a
calico-printer, moved to Glasgow and used the public library and classes at the
Athenaeum and elsewhere to improve his education. in 1858 he was appointed as
a sub-editor on the Glasgow Weekly Citizen, supervised and encouraged by the
poet, journalist and newspaper proprietor Dr James Hedderwick (1814-97), who
also became the friend and biographer of the poet David Gray (qv) at about this
time. In 1866 Freeland joined the Glasgow Herald as a journalist. In 1872 he
published Love and Treason (London: Tinsley Brothers 1872), a ‘triple-decker’‖
novel, on the subject of the Glasgow‖‘Radical‖Risings’‖of‖1820,‖first‖published‖in‖
instalments in the Glasgow Weekly Herald and raising considerable interest
through its local and political material before its London book publication found
it a further market. Freeland was‖a‖‘constant‖and‖valued‖contributor‖of‖poetry‖to‖
the‖magazines‖of‖the‖day’‖(Edwards),‖and‖he‖gathered‖his‖poems‖into‖a‖volume, A
Birth Song, and Other Poems (Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons, 1882). He edited
and wrote a biographical notice to‖James‖Macadam‖Neilson’s‖(qv) Songs for the
Bairns; and, Miscellaneous poems (Glasgow: William Rankin, 1884); he also edited
and wrote a biographical‖sketch‖for‖David‖Buchanan’s‖(qv)‖Man and the Years, and
Other Poems (Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1895). There is a stray undated
item by Freeland on COPAC with no publication details, possibly a broadside,
and probably one of the ballads he wrote in a traditional style: The Weird Sisters: A
Ballad of Craigmadie (copy in Glasgow University Library special collections).
Finally, there was a posthumous collection, Ballads and Other Poems by the Late
William Freeman, with a Memoir by Henry Johnson (Glasgow: James Maclehose and
Sons, 1904). Edwards praises his work fulsomely as both excellent and
unobtrusive, and quotes a review of his 1882 collection which, after
acknowledging the work he has done in the Glasgow and London magazines and
journals,‖opines‖that‖‘this‖is‖a‖book of rare thoughtfulness and beauty. The
imagery is exquisite; the language musical and refined; while the blank verse
poems are characterised by a pensive melodiousness which reminds us of
 Coleridge‖in‖his‖loftier‖moods.’ Edwards prints seven poems, in English and
Scots: a ballad in traditional‖style,‖‘The‖Eaglet‖and‖the‖Child’; a‖‘Work‖Song’‖that‖is‖
just that; and the poems ‘The‖Ring’,‖‘Reaping’,‖‘The‖Cabin‖Boy’,‖‘A‖Falling‖Blow’‖
and‖‘A‖Winter‖Daisy’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 17-27; Macleod (1889), 277-83;
Glasgow Poets (1906), 435-40; Reilly (1994), 173; COPAC; Encore (Glasgow
University Library Catalogue); NTU. [S] [T]
Freeth, John (1731-1808), ‘John‖Free’,‖alehouse keeper of Birmingham, topical
songwriter and singer, political ballad writer, born at Bell Tavern, Philip Street,
Birmingham. Freeth began his working life as a brass foundry apprentice on Park
Street, inheriting his father's inn, the Leicester Arms, by 1768. ‘Freeth’s‖Coffee‖
House’,‖as‖it‖became‖known,‖was‖transformed into a vibrant public sphere; Freeth
combined his words about topical local and national events with popular
melodies, singing to assemblies that included eminent visitors and patrons. One
of the most renowned taverns in England, it became a meeting place for the
Birmingham Book Club and Jacobin Club. ~ From 1771 until 1785, Freeth used the
pen name John Free in punning reference to his radical and nonconformist
outlook. To publicise the inn, Freeth also distributed printed invitation cards,
written in verse, comprising vigorous comments on news items as well as
indicating‖the‖fare‖offered.‖~‖The‖style‖and‖content‖of‖Freeth’s‖material‖reveals‖
affinities with the likes of Ned Ward, the songwriting publican of the
1730s. Britain’s‖conduct‖in‖the‖War of American Independence irked Freeth to the
extent that he repudiated his early radical patriotism, though his later work
underlines‖that‖Briton’s‖have‖a‖particular‖historical‖claim‖on‖liberty. Indeed,
‘Britain’s‖Glory’‖became‖his‖most‖famous‖song‖in‖the 1780s and beyond. ~ The
enthusiastic‖response‖to‖Freeth’s‖material‖conduced‖him‖to‖publish‖over‖a‖dozen‖
collections between 1766 and 1805—the most substantial being The Political
Songster (1790)—and‖he‖became‖known‖as‖‘the‖Birmingham‖poet’.‖~‖Freeth‖had‖
nine children with his wife Sarah. He‖died,‖possibly‖of‖Paget’s‖disease,‖on‖29‖
September 1808. He published in The Warwickshire Medley (Birmingham, 1780);
Modern Songs on Various Subjects (Birmingham, 1782); New London Magazine, III
(1786), Supplement; The Political Songster, or, a touch of the times, on various subjects,
and adapted to common tunes (6th edn. with additions, Birmingham, 1790). ~ Ref:
Poole (1914), 156-60; John Money, Experience and Identity: Birmingham and the West
Midlands 1760-1800 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977); Peter Clark,
The English Alehouse: A Social History, 1200-1830 (London: Longman, 1983);
Lonsdale (1984), 656-60, 852n; Roy Palmer, The Sound of History: Songs and Social
Comment (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988); Eric Hopkins, Birmingham: The
first Manufacturing Town in the World, 1760-1840 (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicholson, 1989); Rizzo (1991), 243; Johnson (1992), item 346; John Horden, John
Freeth (1771-1808): Political Ballad-Writer and Innkeeper (Oxford:‖Leopard’s‖Head‖
 Press, 1993); Hobday (1996); Johnson 46 (2003), no. 290; ESTC; BL; ODNB; LC 3, 1-
6. [LC3] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Frizzle, John (fl. 1733),‖miller,‖of‖Correy’s‖Mill,‖near‖Enniskillen,‖published ‘Verses‖by‖
a Miller in Ireland, to Stephen‖Duck’‖/‖‘An‖Irish‖Miller,‖to‖Mr.‖Stephen‖Duck’,‖
describing his work in the mill in some detail, GM, III (1733), 95. ~ Ref: Klaus
(1985), 4-5; Batt (2017); Christmas (2017); LC 1, 231-2. [LC1] [C18] [I]
(?) Fulcher, George Williams (1795-1855), printer, son of a tailor, biographer of the
artist Thomas Gainsborough; publications include The Village Paupers: An anti-Poor
Law Poem of the 1840’s (1850); reprint edited by E. A. Goodwyn (Cherry Hill,
Ashmans Rd, Beccles, Suffolk: E. A. Goodwyn, 1981). The Sudbury Pocket Book
(second edition, 1841), an anthology of poetry, is ascribed on its final page to
‘G.W.‖Fulcher,‖Printer,‖Sudbury’,‖and‖Fulcher‖is‖presumably‖the‖author‖of‖the‖
numerous‖poems‖in‖it‖signed‖‘G.W.F’,‖including‖the‖first‖one,‖‘The‖Village‖Poor’. ~
Ref: ODNB; inf. Bob Heyes.
Fullarton, John (b. 1808), of Ballynure, County Antrim, reedmaker, wrote for The
Ulster Magazine, published O’More: a tale of war, and other poems (Belfast and
London, 1867). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 174. [I]
Fullerton, John (b. 1836), ‘Wild‖Rose’,‖‘Goodfellow’,‖of Woodside, Aberdeen,
millworker,‖flax‖‘heckler’,‖‘twister’,‖learned‖grammar‖and‖composition‖at‖evening‖
school,‖later‖a‖writer‖in‖a‖solicitor’s‖office,‖contributing‖to‖newspapers including
the People’s Friend in‖prose‖and‖verse‖as‖‘Wild‖Rose’‖and‖‘Robin‖Goodfellow’,‖
published The Ghaist o Dennilair (1870); Poems (Peterhead: P. Scrogie, Observer
Works, 1905). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 16-19; Murdoch (1883), 295-8; inf. Kirstie
Blair. [S] [T]
Furlong, Thomas (1794-1827),‖‘The‖Hermit‖of‖Ireland’‖(Dublin and London Magazine),
of‖Scarawash,‖County‖Wexford,‖the‖son‖of‖a‖small‖farmer,‖worked‖as‖a‖grocer’s‖
assistant, and began to write for newspapers and periodicals. As early as
November 1814 there is a poem by him in Watty Cox’s Magazine. He wrote
political and other verse for the Ulster Register (1816-17), edited by John Lawless.
In 1822 he started The New Irish Magazine in Dublin. Furlong also published
poetry, including parodies, in The Morning Register, a Dublin-based Catholic
newspaper, and also wrote for Dublin and London Magazine (1825-27), edited by his
friend M. J. Whitty, as well as The Literary Gazette and The New Monthly Magazine.
He published several volumes: The Misanthrope and other poems (London, 1819,
second edition, Dublin, 1821); Lines written in a Blank Page of Lady Morgan’s ‘Italy’
(1821?); and posthumously, The Plagues of Ireland (London, 1834), and The Doom of
Derenzie (London, 1829), with an introduction and notes by M. J. Whitty. ~ A
notice of him written by Whitty appeared shortly after his early death at the age
of 33, in The Literary Gazette, and another biography (probably from the same
hand) with included, along with unpublished materials, in the Dublin and London
 Magazine at around the same time. A further notice‖of‖him,‖with‖a‖portrait‖and‖‘a‖
great‖number‖of‖his‖translations‖from‖the‖Irish’‖are‖in‖Hardiman‖(1831).‖The Dublin
Journal of Temperance, Science and Literature (1842-3) also has a biography,
unpublished‖materials,‖and‖a‖sketch‖by‖‘MoC’.‖There‖is‖a‖biography‖and‖portrait‖
in The Nation, March 11, 1843. A manuscript collection of his poems, along with
letters and ephemera arranged by James Hardiman, was included in the sale of
Edward‖Evans’‖library‖in‖Dublin‖in‖1889.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 155. [I]
Furness, Richard (1791-1857), of Eyam, Derbyshire, later of Sheffield, currier and
preacher, one‖of‖the‖‘better-known’‖working-class poets (James), published The
Rag-bag: A Satire. In three cantos (London and Sheffield, 1832); Medicus-Magicus, A
Poem, in three cantos, with a glossary (Sheffield and London, 1836), a poem
addressed to and descriptive of the miners of the Peak region; and a posthumous
Poetical Works, with a Life by J. Calvert Holland (London: Partridge and Co., 1858).
~ Ref: Hall (1873), 334-40; Clarence Daniel, Richard Furness, The Peakland Poet
(Derby: Derbyshire Archaeological Society, 1958); James (1963), 171-2; Maidment
(1983), 84; Maidment (1987), 162-3, 171-2; Josie Dunsmore, I, Richard Furness: The
Life and Works (1791-1857) (Dore, Derbyshire: Dore Village Society, 1991); Johnson
(1992), items 352-3; Jarndyce (1998), item 1377; LC 5, 43-54; ODNB; Wikipedia;
NTU. [LC5]
Furniss, Joseph, senior (b. 1783), of Weedon Lois, Northamptonshire, son of Richard
and Jane Furniss, father of Joseph Furniss jnr. (qv), shoemaker, published with
John Coles (qv), Poems Moral and Religious (1811),‖stating‖in‖the‖preface,‖‘We‖are‖
plain unlettered men; having never received the advantages of an education ...
from our childhood to the present time we have been under the necessity of
labouring‖hard‖for‖our‖daily‖support’. ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 53-54. [SM]
Furniss, Joseph, jnr. (b. 1821), of Weedon Lois, Northamptonshire, son of Joseph
Furniss, senior (qv), agricultural labourer, published Miscellaneous Poems by Joseph
Furniss jun. of Loys Weedon (Northampton: Thomas Phillips, 1841), a softbound 56-
page collection. ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 53-54.
Fyfe, Archibald (1772-1806), of Paisley, mechanic, published posthumous Poems and
Criticisms, by the Late Archibald Fyfe, Paisley. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 75-77. [S]
Fynes, Richard (1827-92). English sailor, collier, trade unionist and lecturer; went to
sea aged ten and was swept overboard; he survived this and typhoid, and began
working at St. Hilda’s pit. A prominent trade unionist, active in the 1844 Great
Strike, he later travelled as a lecturer, addressing miners about their rights. Fynes
started his own theatre in 1892 but remained involved with the mines. He
published‖at‖least‖one‖poem,‖‘The‖Coil‖Barrers’,‖and‖an‖important‖factual‖prose‖
work, The Miners of Northumberland and Durham (Blyth, John Robinson, 1873). ~
Ref: A Pitman's Anthology, compiled by William Maurice (London: James and
James, 2004); inf. Bridget Keegan.
Gabbitass, Peter (b. 1822), of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, carpenter, moved to Bristol
and became known‖as‖‘The‖Clifton‖Poet’.‖A‖teetotaller, he published Musings
Poetical from the Diary of Miss Chameleon Circumstances (Bristol, 1876); Cook’s Folly:
A Legendary Ballad of St. Vincent’s Rocks, Clifton, and Written There, third edition
(Bristol, 1882); Excelsior! a Day Dream in Autumn on St. Vincent’s Rocks, with Other
Poems Suitable for Readings and Recitations (Clifton, ?1880); Heart Melodies; For Storm
and Sunshine. From Cliftonia the beautiful. By P. Gabbitass, the Clifton Poet, once a
Carpenter Boy (Bristol, 1885), which includes‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Autobiography’. ~ Ref:
Burnett et al (1984), no. 253a; Reilly (1994), 178, Reilly (2000), 176.
Gair, Elizabeth (fl. 1844), of North Shields, self-styled‖‘Collier’s‖Wife’,‖author‖of‖‘The‖
Colliery‖Union’,‖published as a broadside. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 262, 358 note. [F]
[M]
Gairns, Robert (b. 1804), of‖New‖London,‖St‖Martin’s,‖Perthshire,‖handloom‖weaver,‖
stone dyker and wood cutter, abstainer and reciter, published Rustic Rhymes. ~
Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 385-8. [S] [T]
Gaites, Benjamin (fl. 1820), of Bath, hairdresser, published A Basket of Flowers; Being a
Collection of Poetical Pieces (Bath: printed by W. Meyler (qv) and Son, 1820), with a
short‖list‖of‖subscribers.‖‘While at Bath, I purchased a little volum[e] of poems
written by a man living there, & following the business of a Hair dresser—He
calls‖it‖the‖‚Basket‖of‖wild‖flowers‛—and certainly it contains many very sweet
little things[ ] but they are only of a class to please the ear, and to admire for their
purity of feeling: they have no touches of the sublime, and beautiful[ ] The poor
man, has‖consequently‖met‖with‖very‖little‖patronage,‖altho’‖he‖has‖seven‖children‖
to‖support.’‖(Eliza‖Emmerson,‖unpublished letter to John Clare (qv), November
25th 1820, British Library MS Egerton 2345, ff. 239-42). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), 356;
source cited.
Galbraith, James (b. 1838), of Glasgow, orphaned by the age of thirteen, bookbinder,
shoemaker, self-taught lecturer and journalist, businessman and employer,
published City Poems and Songs, with a prefatory note by Fergus Ferguson
(Glasgow, 1868). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 147-54; Reilly (2000), 176-7. [S] [SM]
Galbraith, Tina (1837-1923), of Forrestfield, Airdrie, a domestic‖servant‖who‖‘thought‖
in verse, spoke in verse,‖and‖wrote‖in‖verse’,‖sending verse-letters to the editor of
the Airdrie Advertiser. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 229-34. [F] [S]
Gale, James (d. 1859?),‖of‖Alloa,‖sailor.‖‘As‖one‖of‖the‖crew‖of‖an‖American‖vessel,‖the‖
‚Yeamesea,‛‖he‖sailed‖from‖Liverpool‖in‖1858,‖and‖the‖vessel‖was‖lost‖in‖February,‖
1859.‖The‖crew‖was‖reported‖as‖‚saved,‛‖but‖Mr. Gale was never afterwards heard
of.’ Beveridge‖prints‖‘Scenes‖around‖Alloa’,‖whose‖detail‖suggests‖Gale‖was‖an‖
observant world traveller as well as a local topographical poet. ~ Ref: Beveridge
(1885), 142-47. [S]
Gall, James Hogg (1842-78), of Aberdeen, tailor, soldier. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 13-
14. [S]
(?) Gall, Richard (1776-1801)‖of‖Linkhouse‖near‖Dunbar,‖notary’s‖son,‖apprentice‖
housebuilder, printer and poet, friend of Robert Burns (qv) and the Edinburgh
poet Hector MacNeill, published Poems and Songs by the Late Richard Gall
(Edinburgh, 1819). John Clare (qv) owned‖a‖copy.‖‘Two‖of‖*Gall’s songs+,‖‚The‖
Farewell‖to‖Ayrshire‛‖and‖‚Now‖bank‖and‖brae‖are‖clad‖in‖green‛,‖were‖falsely‖
assigned‖to‖Burns’‖(ODNB). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 551-4; Douglas (1891), 300;
Powell (1964), item 217; ODNB. [S] [C18]
(?) Gallacher,‖Daniel‖Warrington‖(b.‖1848),‖Irish‖labourer’s‖son,‖of‖Paisley,‖attended‖
charity school, apprenticed printer, compositor, published a vol. in 1879 (not
found on COPAC, but Brown confirms‖Edwards’‖date‖and‖says‖it‖was‖printed‖in‖
Kilmarnock and was 80 pages). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 43-4; Brown (1889-90), II,
307-08. [S]
Galloway, Robert (1752-1794), born in Stirling, lived in Glasgow, shoemaker and
shopman, bookseller and poet, published Poems, Epistles and Songs, Chiefly in the
Scottish Dialect. To which are added a Brief Account of the Revolution of 1688, and a
Narrative of the Rebellion of 1745-6, Continued to the Death of Prince Charles in 1788
(Glasgow: Printed for W. Bell, for the author, and sold at his shop, No. 24, South
side of Bridgegate, and by other Booksellers, 1788), includes two poems on
Vincenzo‖Lunardi’s‖balloon‖ascent‖from‖Glasgow‖and‖‘The‖Whiskey‖Brewers’‖
Lamentation’.‖Other‖notable‖poems‖include‖‘A‖Bard’s‖Soliloquy’‖and‖‘Glasgow
Reviewed‖and‖Contrasted’.‖Hamish‖Whyte,‖writing‖in‖ODNB notes‖Galloway’s‖
relationship to the work of Robert Burns (qv) and Robert Fergusson, his flexible
use of linguistic registers, his Scottish patriotism and his possible association with
the‖radical‖politics‖of‖the‖‘Friends‖of‖the‖People’. ~ Ref: Robertson (1822), II, 128; R.
B.‖Sher,‖‘Glasgow‖in‖late‖eighteenth-century‖popular‖poetry’,‖The Glasgow
Enlightenment, ed. A. Hook and R. B. Sher (1995), 190-213; Croft & Beattie I, 78
(item 257); ODNB. [S] [SM] [C18]
Garden, Alexander (b. 1845) of Auchanacie, Banffshire, brother of William (qv),
crofter’s‖son,‖herdsman,‖railway‖labourer,‖policeman,‖published in periodicals. ~
Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 117-21. [S] [R]
Garden, William (b. 1848), of Auchanacie, Banffshire, brother of Alexander (qv),
crofter’s‖son,‖herdsman,‖baker,‖published Meg’s Wedding, and Other Poems (Keith,
1868), Sonnets and Poems (London, 1890). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 24-7;Reilly
(1994); 180, Reilly (2000), 177. [S]
Gardiner, David (fl. 1853), of Dundee, a poor weaver and field-worker; published
with James Donnet (qv), a 52-page booklet, Love and Liberty; Being Poems and songs
by David Gardiner, Dundee, with Additional Pieces by James Donnet (Dundee, 1853). ~
Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 174-5. [S] [T]
Gardiner, Peter, of Edinburgh (1847-85), blacksmith, served in the US Marine Corps
from 1865; poems in Murdoch. ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 378-83 (with image);
Edwards, 10 (1887), 315-21. [S] [B]
Gardiner, William (fl. 1815-18), father of the botanical William Gardiner (qv, 1809-
52),‖also‖presumably‖of‖Dundee,‖Reid‖makes‖reference‖to‖him‖as‖managing‖‘an‖
inheritance‖of‖toil‖and‖care’,‖and‖the‖‘warblings‖of‖the‖self-taught‖muse’;‖
published two small volumes of Poems and Songs (1815 and 1818). ~ Ref: Reid,
Bards (1897), 177-8. [S]
Gardiner, William (1804-85), of Applegarth, Dumfriesshire, cabinet maker, organ
and piano maker. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 248-55. [S]
Gardiner, William (1809-52),‖of‖Dundee,‖‘destined‖to‖a‖life‖of‖toil’,‖though‖followed‖
his uncle and father (William Gardiner, fl. 1815-18, qv) in pursuing botany, and
published The Flora of Forfarshire (London, 1848), a 300-page book of poetry and
prose. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 175-7. [S]
(?) Gardner, Henry P. (fl. 1893-1910), of Guilsborough, Daventry, Northamptonshire,
farmer, published Poems (Northampton: Arlidge & Sons, 1898?), including poems
hunting poems on‖the‖death‖of‖Gladstone,‖‘Harvest‖1898’,‖and‖‘The‖Pytchley‖
Huntsman’,‖included‖in‖Hold. He is listed in Stevens’ Directory of Wellingborough,
Kettering, Market Harborough and District (London, 1893), though I have not yet
tracked down his book (see below).~ Ref: Hold (1989), 81-3, but nothing on
COPAC, Northamptonshire online library catalogues, or via Google or Google
Books, WorldCat, etc.
(?) Garland, James (d. c. 1842), of Shankill, Lurgan, County Armagh, small farmer of
about 6-8 acres, political songwriter and poet, described by a correspondent in the
Nation (9‖August‖1845)‖as‖‘uneducated,‖but‖a‖true‖poet’.‖His‖work‖was‖published‖
in various Ulster papers, and he‖‘wrote‖numerous‖popular‖songs‖of‖a‖National‖
and anti-Orange tendency, and was somewhat persecuted by the loyalists of his
district’‖(O’Donoghue).‖Among‖these‖songs‖are‖‘The‖Banished‖Defenders’,‖‘The‖
Boys‖of‖Blaris‖Camp’,‖‘Cooningham’s‖Pot’‖and‖‘The‖Demolition of Armagh
Market‖Cross’.‖He‖died‖of‖‘old‖age’‖so‖we‖can‖perhaps‖assume‖a‖birthdate‖of‖
somewhere around 1770-80.‖One‖of‖his‖poems‖is‖included‖in‖James‖McHenry’s‖
novel, O’Halloran, or the Insurgent (1824). In 1845 a grandson of his possessed
about sixty‖of‖his‖songs,‖but‖he‖wrote‖more‖than‖this.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912),
158. [I]
(?) Gaspey, William (1812-86) of Blackburn, second-generation journalist, published
Poor Law Melodies (1841); A Dish of Trifle (London and Whitehaven, 1869);
Landmarks of Paradise (London, 1878); Remanets [sic] (London, Keswick and
Cockermouth, 1865), and contributed to The Festive Wreath (1842). ~ Ref: Hull
(1902), 43-8; James (1963), 171, 177; Reilly (2000), 180.
Geddes, James Young (1850-1913), of Dundee, tailor and clothier, librettist,
published The New Jerusalem, and other verses (Dundee, 1879); The Spectre Clock of
Alyth, and Other Selections (Alyth, Perthshire: Thomas McMurray, 1886); In the
Valhalla, and Other Poems (Dundee, 1891). Blair reprints‖his‖poem‖‘Died‖on‖the‖
Streets’,‖first‖published in the People’s Journal, 22 March 1879, noting his unusually
experimental style (also discussed by Bold). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 244-6; Reid,
Bards (1897), 179-81; Valentina‖Bold,‖‘James‖Young‖Geddes‖(1850-1913): A Re-
evaluation’,‖Scottish Literary Journal, 19, no. 1 (1992), 18-27; Reilly (1994), 182; Reilly
(2000), 180; Blair (2016), 151-4. [S] [T]
Gellatly, William (1792-1868), of Kettins, Coupar-Angus, wright, spent time in
America. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 181-3. [S]
Gemmell, Robert (1821-87), of Irvine, Ayrshire, shipbuilder, soldier, railwayman,
published Sketches from life, with occasional thoughts and poems (Glasgow and
Edinburgh, 1863); Montague a drama, and other poems (London, Glasgow and
Edinburgh, 1868); The village beauty, and other poems (Glasgow, Edinburgh and
London, 1886). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 57-62, and 12, xix-xx; Murdoch (1883),
199-201; Reilly (1994), 182; Reilly (2000), 180-1; NTU. [S] [R]
(?) Gemmill, Jamie (fl. 1820), of Paisley, tailor, published Elegy on Jamie Gemmill, tailor
(Paisley, 1820), chapbook. ~ Ref: COPAC. [S] [T]
Gent, Thomas (c. 1702-1788), miscellaneous writer, born in Dublin of English
parents,‖served‖as‖a‖printer’s‖apprentice of Dublin, ran away to England from a
cruel master, worked as a printer in London, Norwich and York where he married
and settled as a printer and author of a great many works especially of antiquity.
Gent‖was‖‘like‖a‖kind‖of‖northern‖Caxton,‖printing books of his own writing, and
illustrating‖them‖by‖pictures‖of‖his‖own‖engraving’ (Grainge, 147). His
‘circumstances‖were‖generally‖indigent;‖so‖much‖so,‖that‖he‖often‖sold‖almanacks,‖
&c‖from‖the‖York‖booksellers‖from‖door‖to‖door’.‖Gent‖published‖the‖major poem
of‖Peter‖Aram‖(qv),‖‘Studley‖Park’,‖in‖his‖The Antient and Modern History of the
Loyal Town of Ripon (York, 1733), and was the major publisher of the blind poet
John Maxwell (qv). ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), I, 146-50. [I] [C18]
Geoghegan, Joseph Bryen, (1816-89), of Barton-upon-Irwell, brought up to be a
fustian cutter, but early in his life began writing songs on current events.
Geoghegan went on to become a music hall manager in Manchester, Liverpool,
and elsewhere, and was later the manager of the Old Museums Concert Hall,
Bolton. For over twenty years he managed various music halls in Bolton. He
published A book of selected songs, comic and sentimental, written and composed by Mr.
J. B. Geoghegan, and sung with immense success by Mr. Sam Torr (Bolton: T. Abbatt),
12 pp. There are four copies of this, with some variations in title but no date, in
the Bolton Library Catalogue, and a two page item (possibly a broadsheet), also
undated, entitled Account of the Death of J. B. Geoghegan in 1889; with Song
 Prophesying the Opening of the Manchester Ship Canal composed by Geoghegan in 1941.
~ Ref: Sparke (1913).
(?) Gerrie, James (b. 1852), of Crosshill, Lamphanan, Aberdeenshire, worked in
agriculture, later in a mercantile firm in Glasgow. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 356-7.
[S]
Gerrond, John (b. 1765), of Kirkpatrick-Durham, Dumfries and Galloway,
blacksmith, emigrated to the USA, published Poems on Several Occasions, Chiefly in
the Scottish Dialect (1802), and various editions of his poems. ~ Ref: Harper (1889),
260. [S] [B]
Gibb, George (1826-84), of Aberdeen, factory operative, railway official; poems in
Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 376-9 and 9, xxiii. [S] [R]
Gibb, George A. G. (b. 1860), of Rothiemay, Aberdeenshire, son of George Gibb (qv);
railwayman, police officer, published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9
(1886), 349-53. [S] [R]
Gibbon, Levi (1814-70), of Carmarthenshire, balladeer, blinded at the age of 25, sang
in Welsh at fairs; 35 of his ballads have been preserved. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Gibson,‖George‖(d.‖1806),‖‘Bell‖Geordie’,‖of‖Glasgow,‖city‖bellman,‖a‖‘worthy‖
successor‖to‖Dougal‖Graham’‖(qv).‖M’Dowell‖writes‖that‖‘Geordie‖was‖a‖great‖wit,‖
and could deliver his orations in an inimitable fashion, and some of his original
poetical‖effusions‖are‖preserved‖to‖this‖day’.‖He‖was‖dismissed‖for‖some‖
disrespectful verses at the expense of the magistracy, and later became blind and a
beggar.‖He‖was‖‘buried‖in‖the‖High‖Kirk‖burial‖ground’.‖Some‖of‖his‖extemporised
verses were recorded in the Glasgow Mercury and Courier newspapers. ~ Ref:
M’Dowell‖(1899),‖107;‖Ian‖Crofton,‖A Dictionary of Scottish Phrase and Fable (2012);
online sources. [S]
Gibson, John (1819-82), of Greenlaw, tailor, Religious Tract Society book-hawker,
published Poems, Grave and Gay (1875). ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 181-2. [S] [T]
(?) Gibson, Miss (fl. 1813-14),‖of‖Nottingham,‖‘an‖uneducated‖young‖woman’,‖
contributed‖a‖sonnet‖to‖Capel‖Lofft’s‖Laura, or an Anthology of Sonnets (London,
1813-14). ~ Ref: Meyenberg (2000), 212. [F]
Gifford, William (1756-1826), shoemaker, later a major poet and critic, published The
Baviad (1791); The Maeviad (1795); Epistle to Peter Pindar (1800); The satires of D. J.
Juvenalis, translated into English verse (1802). ~ Ref: Cunningham (1834), 305-7;
Hood (1870), 226-7; Radcliffe; Hobsbawm & Scott (1980), 96; Keegan (2001), 197-2;
LC 3, 329-38. [SM] [LC3] [C18]
(?) Gilchrist, Robert (1797-1844),‖of‖Gateshead,‖sailmaker’s‖son,‖local‖poet‖and‖
songwriter, celebrated in his day, published A Collection of Original Songs, Local
and Sentimental (Newcastle upon Tyne: published for the author, 1824); there is a
rich store of information about him, samples of his work and some pictures, on
 his‖descendant‖Paul‖Gilchrist’s‖research web pages. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 169-96;
Welford (1895), II, 295-7; http://www.paulgilchrist.net/2.html.
Gilding, Elizabeth (fl. 1776), of Woolwich, Kent, an orphan without formal schooling,
published The Breathings of Genius, Being a Collection of Poems; to Which are Added,
Essays, Moral and Philosophical (London, 1776). ~ Ref: Jackson (1993), 133. [F] [C18]
Giles, Joseph (fl.‖1771),‖‘an‖uneducated‖poet‖hired‖and‖coached‖by‖[William]
Shenstone’, and a member of the topographical movement of the 1770s (Aubin);
published Miscellaneous Poems: on various Subjects, and Occasions. Revised and
Corrected by the late Mr. Shenstone (London: J. Godwin, F. Newbury, et al, 1771),
includes‖‘The‖Rapture:‖on‖viewing the tomb of SHAKESPEARE, at Stratford-upon-
Avon’. ~ Ref: Croft & Beattie I, 81 (item 271). [C18]
(?) Giles, Sidney or Sydney (1814-46), born in Mount Street, Nottingham, to humble
parents, a‖member‖of‖the‖‘Sherwood‖Forest’‖Group;‖he‖lived‖in‖Sneinton‖for‖some‖
years, and contributed the following poems to Dearden’s Miscellany, (1839-40):
‘Sonnet‖to‖the‖Trent’,‖I,‖218‖(no. 4, April 1839);‖‘Sonnet.‖To‖the‖Earliest‖Violet’,‖I,‖
291 (no.‖5,‖May‖1839);‖‘Sonnet’,‖I, 363‖(no.‖6,‖June‖1839);‖‘Stanzas’,‖II,‖464‖(no.‖8,‖
August 1839(;‖‘What‖Joy‖Can‖Equal‖Dreaming’,‖II,‖543‖(no.‖9,‖September‖1839);
‘Sonnet‖Written‖on‖the‖Blank‖Leaf‖of‖a‖Bible’, II, 611 (no. 10, October 1839);
‘Stanzas‖to‖A.‖S.’,‖II,‖749‖(no.‖12,‖December‖1739);‖‘Sonnet,‖in‖Answer‖to‖Richard‖
Howitt’s‖‚On‖the‖Vanishing‖of‖Good‖Old‖Customs‛’,‖III,‖85‖(no. 14, February 1840;
Howitt’s‖sonnet‖is in no. 13, January 1840, p. 20);‖‘Sonnet.‖To‖a‖Friend’,‖III,‖130‖(no.‖
14, February 1840);‖‘Sonnet’‖(‘I‖saw‖a‖being,‖pure‖as‖is‖the‖light’),‖III,‖147‖(no.‖15,‖
March‖1840);‖‘Sonnets‖to‖Edith’,‖III,‖221‖(no. 16, April 1840; a set of three sonnets);
‘Sonnet.‖The‖Hawthorn’,‖III,‖436‖(no. 17, May 1840);‖‘Sonnet.‖Poets’,‖III,‖471‖(no. 18,
June 1840);‖‘Address‖to‖Poesie’,‖IV,‖634 (no. 20, August 1840);‖‘Sonnet’‖(Lady,‖
thou’st‖seen‖a‖spot‖of‖sunshine‖rest’),‖IV,‖649‖(no.‖20+;‖‘Sonnet,‖On‖the‖‚Sleeping‖
Child‛‖at‖the‖Nottingham‖Exhibition’,‖IV,‖758‖(no.‖22,‖October‖1840); ‘Sonnets.‖
Written After Attending Service in Redcliff Church, Bristol’,‖IV,‖819‖(three sonnets
on Thomas Chatterton (qv), no. 23, November 1840). In 1841 he was living in
Leicester and married Jemina Cartwright, the daughter of a dyer (Edlin-White).
He died in 1846 of cholera, leaving a widow and two children. ~ Ref: [William]
Dearden’s Miscellany (1839-40), via Google Books and the Internet Archive; Mellors
(1924); James (1963), p. 171; Edlin-White (2017), 92-3.
Gilfillan, Robert (1798-1850), of Dunfermline, son of a weaver, apprenticed to a
cooper,‖also‖worked‖as‖grocer’s‖shopman‖and‖a‖clerk;‖published Original Songs
(Edinburgh, ?1831); Songs (2nd ed, Edinburgh, 1835); Poems and Songs (3rd ed,
1839); Emanuel’s Land [a poem] (Leith, 1846); Poems and Songs, with a Memoir (4th
ed., Edinburgh, 1851). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 177-81; Johnson (1992), items 373-4;
Sutton (1995), 399 (manuscripts and letters); ODNB. [S]
Gilkinson, John (1851-95), of Gorbals, Glasgow, son of a working man, writer and
shopkeeper, published The Minister’s Fiddle: A Book of Verse, Humorous and
Otherwise (Glasgow, 1888). ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 91, 261-64; Edwards, 13 (1890),
165-73; Glasgow Poets (1906), 430-34; Reilly (1994), 185. [S]
Gill, Edmund (1754-1830),‖of‖York,‖shoemaker‖poet,‖published‖A‖‘series‖of‖elegant‖
sonnets’‖(Hood)‖in‖the‖European Magazine; a descendant has created the website,
‘The‖Gill‖Pedigree’. ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 219; A. J.‖Peacock,‖‘Edmund‖Gill,‖Poet,‖Son‖
of‖Crispin,‖and‖Political‖Protestant’,‖York History, 3 (1976), 150; online sources.
[SM] [C18]
(?) Gill, Edwin (fl. early 1840s), of Sheffield, Chartist whose work appeared in the
Northern Star in the early 1840s. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 104-5; Scheckner (1989),
154-5, 333. [C]
Gills,‖Gill‖or‖Gils,‖Thomas,‖‘the‖Blind‖Man‖of‖Bury‖St‖Edmunds’,‖beggar (fl. 1711),
published The Blind Man's Case at London: or, a character of that city. In a letter to his
friend in the country. By Thomas Gills, the blind man of St. Edmunds-Bury, Suffolk
(1711, Dobell 575; second edition 1712),‖‘a‖vivid‖if‖unsophisticated‖picture‖in‖verse‖
of‖the‖noise‖and‖filth‖of‖London’,‖8‖pp.‖Weissman‖also‖notes‖that‖a‖‘portion‖of‖the‖
poem is based upon the‖observations‖of‖the‖poet’s‖wife‖Deb,‖who‖stands‖at‖the‖
‚garret-window‛,‖and‖looks‖out‖at‖the‖street‖below.‖The‖poet‖goes‖on‖to‖describe‖
the‖city’s‖tumult,‖as‖he‖wanders‖the‖streets‖as‖a‖beggar’.‖He‖also published
Instructions for Children in Verse (London, 1707); Advice to Youth (1708); Upon the
Recovery of His Sight, and the Second Loss thereof (?1710). ~ Ref: Dobell (1933); Chris
Mounsey,‖‘Thomas‖Gills:‖An‖Eighteenth-Century Blind Poet and the Language of
Charity’,‖in‖The Idea of Disability in the Eighteenth Century, ed. Chris Mounsey
(Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2014), 223-45; ESTC; Weissman, III,
item 1201 (xix). [C18]
Gilmour, George (fl. c. 1833), of Edington, son of a mason, emigrated to America c.
1833,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Sabbath’,‖published in Crockett. ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 209-
10. [S]
Glass, Andrew (b. 1820), of Girvan, Ayrshire, handloom weaver, journalist,
published Poems and Songs (Ayr, 1869). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 338-42; Reilly
(2000), 184; NTU. [S] [T]
Glass, Richard Aitken,‖‘Roderick’‖(b.‖1874),‖commercial‖painter,‖published poems in
the People’s Journal, Dundee News and elsewhere. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 328-33. [S]
(?) Glassford, William (1762-1822),‖of‖Paisley,‖grocer,‖described‖as‖a‖‘dirty,‖daidlin’,‖
snuffy body, fond of a dram, and fond to dispose of his rhyme, which he hawked
through‖the‖town’; published Poems upon Engaging Subjects (1808), 16 pp. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 41-2. [S]
Glover, Jean (1758-1801), Scottish poet, daughter of a weaver, actress and singer;
appears to have published only in periodicals/newspapers; Robert Burns (qv)
 transcribed‖her‖song‖(‘O’er‖the‖muir‖among‖the‖Heather’)‖directly‖from‖a‖
performance and published it with music to a different tune in Scots Musical
Museum (1792). Miller calls her‖‘a‖girl‖of‖notoriously‖bad‖character’‖and‖is‖
unremittingly hostile. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, p, 518; Douglas (1891), 80-1, 294-5;
Miller (1910), 169-71; Fullard (1990), 555; Kerrigan (1991), 169, 352; McCue (1997),
60, 62, 66; Bold (1997), 247; Kord (2003), 262; ODNB. [F] [S] [C18]
Goldie, Alexander (b. 1841), of Catrine, Sorn, Ayrshire, cotton factory worker, Co-op
Treasurer, Abstainer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 358-63. [S] [T]
(?) Gomersall, Mrs. A. (fl. 1824), destitute widow of seventy-four, published by
subscription Creation. A Poem (Newport, [Isle of Wight]: printed for the author,
1824). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 382; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 119.
[F]
Gooch, Richard (b. 1784), ‘Cassial’,‖of Blundeston, Suffolk, self-taught farm labourer
and whitesmith, lived for most of his life in Norwich and Lakenham; published
Memoirs, Remarkable Vicissitudes, Military Career and Wanderings in Ireland,
Mechanical and Astronomical Exercises, Scientific Researches, Incidents and Opinions of
Cassial, the Norfolk Astrologer, Written by Himself (Norwich,‖1844),‖a‖‘most‖unusual’
book‖which‖‘occasionally‖breaks‖into‖verse’‖(Burnett‖et al). ~ Ref: Burnett et al
(1984), no. 133.
Goodlet, Quentin C. (fl. 1878), compositor, of Glasgow, published Flittings of Fancy
(Glasgow, 1878). His prefatory note tells us his poems were first sent, somewhat
reticently,‖for‖publication‖in‖the‖‘Poet’s‖Corner’‖of‖‘a‖provincial‖newspaper’.‖They‖
are‖written‖in‖Scots,‖and‖Edwards‖prints‖three‖of‖them,‖‘Wae,‖Wae‖Is‖My‖heart’,
‘Gran’faither’s Ne’er-Day‖Lilt’‖and‖‘Faither‖Is‖Gane’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893),
173-6. [S]
Gordon, Alexander (1809-73), of Aberdeen, shoemaker, clerk, trade unionist, soldier,
published satirical and political poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886),
96-103. [S] [SM]
Gordon, Francis Hogg (b. 1853/4), of Durris, Kincardineshire,‖shepherd’s‖son,‖
forester, piper; published in the East of Fife News, the People’s Journal, and the
Weekly News. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 365-6; Reid, Bards (1897), 184-5. [S]
(?)‖Gordon, Georgina Jane (fl. before 1881), of Melbourne, Australia, daughter of an
emigrant farming family who returned to Scotland when she was three, settled in
the Highlands of Sutherland, then moved to farm at Alehouseburn, Bannf; poems
include‖‘A‖Mother’s‖Grief’,‖‘Cuddle‖Doon,‖My‖Bairnie’,‖and‖‘Dreich‖I’,‖the‖Draw. ~
Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 256-9; inf. Florence Boos. [A] [F] [S]
Gordon, John W. (b. 1868), of Kilmarnock, miner, brought up by his grandmother
when his mother died shortly after his birth and his father re-enlisted in the 79th
Cameron Highlanders. The grandmother died when he was twelve, and he
became a miner. In about 1884 he moved down to Catrine, and he contributed
 what‖Edwards‖calls‖his‖‘bright‖and‖sparkling‖‚Notes‖from‖Catrine‛’‖to‖the‖
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald,‖making‖‘frequent‖contributions’‖in‖prose‖and‖verse‖
to the newspapers. Edwards prints three‖of‖his‖verses,‖‘Did‖You‖Ever‖Think‖to‖
Write‖a‖Poem’,‖‘The‖Minister’s‖Tree’‖and‖‘Paddle‖Your‖Own‖Canoe’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 15 (1893), 329-33. [S] [M]
Gordon, Joseph (fl. 1825), butler to the Earl of Airlie at Gortachy Castle; published
Poetical Trifles (Forfar, 1825). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 185-6. [S]
Gordon, William (b. 1857), of Bourtie, Aberdeenshire, herd laddie, railway porter,
signalman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 241-6; Reid, Bards (1897), 187. [S] [R]
(?) Gould, Robert (1660?-1708/9), born in humble circumstances, orphan, servant of
the Earl of Dorset, obtained some education, published Love Given O’re: or, A Satyr
against Woman (1680), reprinted in Satires Against Women,‖along‖with‖Sarah‖Fige’s‖
‘reply’,‖The Female Advocate: Or, and Answer to a Late Satyr ... Written by a Lady in
Vindication of her Sex (1686), Introduction by Felicity A. Nussbaum (Los Angeles:
William Andrews Clark Library/Augustan Reprint Society, 1976); Poems chiefly
consisting of Satyrs and Satyrical Epistles (1689); The Rival Sisters (1696), a tragedy
acted at Drury Lane; The Works of Mr. Robert Gould (1709). ~ Ref: E. H. Sloane,
Robert Gould: Seventeenth-century Satirist (1940); Foxon (1975); C. R. Johnson
catalogue 55 (2013), items 1-4; ODNB. [C18]
Gow, James (1814-72),‖of‖Dundee,‖‘Weaver,‖Seafield‖Road‖Works,‖Dundee’,‖‘The‖
Weaver‖Poet’,‖soldier’s‖son,‖poet‖and‖Chartist;‖published ‘widely in British
periodicals‖and‖newspapers’‖(Blair)‖including‖a‖poem‖in‖the‖People’s Journal, 8th
July 1867, reprinted by Blair; also published a volume, Lays of the Loom (1845).
Blair notes that the People’s Journal published a detailed obituary following his
death‖in‖1872,‖‘recalling‖his‖participation‖in‖the‖literary‖and‖radical‖cultures‖of‖
Dundee’‖(‘History‖of‖James‖Gow,‖the‖Weaver‖Poet’,‖People’s Journal, 10 February
1872, 2). ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 273-84; Reid, Bards (1897), 188; Blair (2016), 68-
70; sources cited. [S] [T] [C]
(?) Gowenlock, R. Scott (fl. 1867), of Oldham, published Idyls of the People (London
and Manchester, 1867). This is listed in Reilly (2000), but no other reference to it
has been traced, either the title or the author, apart from a fleeting reference in the
Athenaeum, 2059, 13 April 1867, 484, which lists it with other poetry volumes
‘under‖the‖head‖of‖mediocrity’. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 189.
Gracie, Thomas Grierson (fl. 1921), of Wanlockhead, Sanquhar, Dumfries, lead
miner, published Songs and Rhymes of a Lead Miner: With a Portrait (Dumfries: The
Courier and Herald Press, 1921), 100 pp. with photo; The Grey Glen: Reprinted from
‚The Hamilton Advertiser‛ and ‚County of Lanark News‛ (1921), pp. 78, prose fiction.
The Imperial War Museum keeps a copy of the Songs and Rhymes as being related
to the First World War. ~ Ref: bookfinder.com and other online catalogues and
sources; inf. Bob Heyes. [OP] [M] [S]
Graham, Charles (b. c. 1750, fl. 1796),‖of‖Penrith,‖Cumberland,‖‘mechanic‖who‖was‖
never‖taught‖the‖rudiments‖in‖the‖English‖language’,‖published Miscellaneous
Pieces, in Prose and Verse (Kendal:‖W.‖Pennington,‖1778);‖includes‖an‖epistle‖‘To‖a‖
friend‖in‖America’,‖‘On‖John‖Wesley’s‖Address‖to‖the‖Americans’,‖‘A‖Pastoral‖
Dialogue,‖in‖the‖Cumberland‖Dialect’,‖and‖an‖essay‖‘On‖the‖Savage‖diversion‖of‖
Cock-Fighting’.‖Croft‖&‖Beattie‖quote‖a‖notice‖in‖the‖Cumberland Chronicle and
Whitehaven Public Advertiser for March 1778 that Graham intends to publish this
volume‖by‖subscription,‖wishing‖him‖success‖and‖noting‖that‖‘several‖of‖Mr.‖
Graham’s‖productions‖have‖been‖noticed‖by‖the‖ingenious‖Mr.‖Dodsley,‖and‖
published in his Annual Register’.‖The‖subscribers‖are‖‘a‖cross-section of
Cumberland‖society’‖and‖include‖Wordsworth’s‖cousin‖Richard‖Wordsworth,‖of‖
Whitehaven.‖The‖title‖page‖has‖four‖lines‖from‖‘Thom.’,‖i.e.‖James‖Thomson,‖
apparently‖from‖the‖‘Hymn‖to‖the‖Seasons’. ~ Ref: Radcliffe; Burmester catalogue
58; Croft & Beattie I, 85 (item 285); inf. Bob Heyes. [C18]
(?) Graham, Dougal (1721-79),‖‘John‖Falkirk’,‖‘the‖Scots‖piper’,‖of‖Raploch,‖
Stirlingshire, ‘one‖of‖the‖most‖famous’‖(Shepard)‖chapbook writers, ‘doggerel’‖
poet, and later a Glasgow‖city‖‘skellat’‖(general‖news) bellman. As a young man
he was a farm worker, but in 1745 he took part in and was an important witness
to‖the‖’45 Jacobite Rising, being present at the Battle of Falkirk. He published a
series‖of‖chapbooks‖which‖are‖‘valuable‖as‖folklore’‖(ODNB). His rhyming
chronicle, A Full, Particular and True Account of the Rebellion in the Years 1745‐6
(1746),‖was‖perhaps‖the‖most‖famous‖and‖important‖example.‖‘Priced‖at‖
fourpence, it was more substantial than most chapbooks, but it became
immensely popular, carried all over Scotland‖by‖the‖chapmen’‖(Sheperd). His
poem‖‘The‖Battle‖of‖Drummossie-Muir’‖(1746)‖describes‖what‖is‖better‖known‖as‖
Culloden. (A Full Account is quoted and discussed by Donaldson.) Graham‖‘went‖
on to compose and sell a score of chapbooks, full of pawky humour and shrew
wit’‖(Shepherd).‖These‖included‖The Coalman’s Courtship, The Comical Sayings of
Paddy from Cork, The History of Haverel Wives, Jocky and Maggy’s Courtship, John
Cheap the Chapman, Leper the Tailor, The Witty and Entertaining Exploits of George
Buchanan. Many of his publications were were printed by the Paisley bookseller
George Caldwell. Shepard notes that John Cheap the Chapman may be
autobiographical, and that these chapbooks (the list is of the best-known among
them)‖were‖‘reprinted‖over‖and‖over‖again‖for‖more‖than‖a‖hundred‖years,‖and‖
passed‖into‖the‖folklore‖of‖Scotland’.‖The‖poems‖‘The‖Turnimspike’,‖‘John‖
Highlandman’s‖Remarks‖on‖Glasgow’‖are‖also‖ascribed‖to‖Graham. There is a
very full Victorian edition of his work, Collected Writings of Dougal Graham, ‘Skellat’
Bellman of Glasgow: Edited with notes, together with biographical and bibliographical
introduction, and a sketch of the chap literature of Scotland, ed. George MacGregor
(Glasgow, 1883). ~ Ref: John Fraser, The Humorous Chapbooks of Scotland (New
 York, 1873), Part I, 157-218, a very substantial account of Graham; Wilson (1876),
II,‖519;‖M’Dowell‖(1899),105-6; Glasgow Poets (1906), 38-46; Shepard (1973), 91-2;
Maggie Craig, ‘Reporter‖in‖Rhyme:‖Dougal‖Graham,‖The‖Bellman‖of‖Glasgow’,‖
Bare-Arsed Banditti: The Men of the ’45 (London: Penguin, 2010), 141-52; William
Donaldson,‖‘Poems‖on‖the‖Streets’,‖Lynch‖(2016,)‖3-22 (11-14); ODNB; Wikipedia.
[S] [C18]
(?) Graham, Maud (b. 1871), of Beechhill, Londonderry, Ireland, moved with her
parents to Paisley when she was four; after a school education to the age of
thirteen, she began work in a furnishing shop (Colman says she opened a
business). Her poems were published in the Brown anthology. Colman also
records a series of romantic novels published in‖1935‖and‖1936‖in‖the‖‘true‖love‖
series’. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 541-47; Colman (1996) 101-2; inf. Florence Boos.
[F] [I] [S]
Graham, William (b. 1816), of County Down, went to Paisley at the age of six,
working as a drawboy then a weaver, enlisted in British Legion, worked in coal
mining before returning to Paisley. He published The Wild Rose, Being Songs,
Comic and Sentimental (Paisley, 1851). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 61-65; Leonard
(1990), 193-94. [I] [S] [T] [M]
(?) Grant, Joseph (1805-35), of Afrusk (Affrusk), Kincardineshire‖farmer’s‖son,‖picked
up his education during the winter months, working on the farm through the
summer months. He began writing poetry at the age of fourteen. In 1831 he
became an assistant shopkeeper in Stonehaven, and was later a clerk at the Dundee
Guardian and in a legal office. He published Juvenile Lays (1828) and
Kincardineshire Traditions (1830). ~ Ref: Shanks (1881), 141; Edwards, 10 (1887), 344-
57; Reid (1897), Bards, 193-8; ODNB; Wikipedia. [S]
Grant, Lewis (1872-92), of Loch Park, Keith, a workman’s‖son‖and‖self-taught
teenage ‘prodigy’, published poems in the People’s Journal. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12
(1889), 196-206; ‘Newtown‖Cottage,‖Mill‖O‖Towie,‖Lewis‖Grant’s‖Home’,‖The
Leisure Hour Monthly Library, 43 (1993), 151-6. [S]
Grant, Robert (1818-95), of Peterhead, tailor, newspaper editor. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3
(1881), 391-2 and 16, [lix]. [S] [T]
Grant, William (c. 1828-57),‖of‖Tannadyce,‖miller‖at‖Finhaven,‖fiddler,‖‘debater’,‖
emigrated to Detroit in 1856, died a year later; published A Few Poetical Pieces
(1856). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 198-9. [S]
Gray, Christian (1772-1830), blind poet of Aberdalgie, Perth, born into a farming
family ruined by the drought years of 1816-26, daughter of George Gray and Janet
MacDonald, published Tales, Letters, and Other Pieces, in Verse (Edinburgh, 1808);
‘The‖Victims‖of‖War’‖(1811);‖A New Selection of Miscellaneous Pieces, in Verse (Perth,
1821). Gray wrote in many styles and genres. She expresses gratitude to her
patron‖in‖the‖1821‖volume‖in‖‘Lines‖addressed to the E—L of K—I’,‖subtitled‖‘On‖
 granting‖me‖the‖neat‖cottage‖which‖I‖now‖inhabit.’‖While‖the‖1808‖edition‖has‖
some biographical information in a poem initially written to procure her a place in
‘The‖Asylum‖for‖the‖Blind,’‖A New Selection suggests her occupation: she speaks of
Mrs‖P’s‖goodness‖in‖teaching‖her‖how‖to‖‘knit‖stockings,‖and‖by‖means‖of‖that‖
employment,‖I‖enjoyed‖more‖liberty.’‖By‖1821‖Ill‖health‖has‖reduced‖this‖means‖of‖
income. She pleads for a cart from the local farmer, to carry her firewood home, as
she is struggling to do so. She laments that her old petticoat is replaced by a fine
new one (cut from the same cloth); and she bids the reader farewell, indicating she
will not write another volume. ~ Ref: Isobel Grundy in Blain et al (1990), 454;
Jackson (1993), 138; Isobel Armstrong and Virginia Blain, Women’s Poetry of the
Enlightenment: The Making of a Canon 1730-1820 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999),
157-9; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 187; inf. Bob White; entry detail by Dawn Whatman.
[F] [S]
Gray, David (1838-61), of Duntiblae, Dunbartonshire and Glasgow, son of a
handloom weaver, pupil-teacher, published The Luggie, and other poems (1862)
with a memoir by James Hedderwick, and a prefatory notice by Richard
Monckton Milnes (Cambridge, 1862); and posthumously, Poems by David Gray
(1865); The Poetical Works of David Gray. A New and Enlarged Edition, ed. Henry
Glassford Bell (Glasgow: Maclehose, 1874); and a further edition of 1886; also
some poems republished in 1920 and 1991 as In the Shadows. Listing the 1874
volume,‖Charles‖Cox‖observes,‖‘Gray’s‖legend—the unfulfilled ambition, the
urgency of his poetic mission, the tragic early death—remain, perhaps
undeservedly,‖better‖known‖than‖the‖poems‖themselves’.‖Blair suggests that the
poem‖‘My‖First‖Attempt’,‖by‖‘John‖Stargazer’,‖first‖published in the People’s
Journal, 15th May‖1875,‖could‖be‖a‖response‖to‖Gray’s‖story. ~ Ref: Hood (1870),
367-78; Wilson (1876), II, 485-8; Macleod (1889), 273-77; Douglas (1891), 269-73,
314-15; Glasgow Poets (1906), 398-403; A. V. Stuart, David Gray, The Poet of the
Luggie: A Centenary Booklet (Kirkintilloch: privately published pamphlet, 1961);
Sutton (1995), 413 (manuscripts and letters); Reilly (2000), 191-2; Charles Cox,
catalogue 66 (2013), item 84; Blair (2016), 122; LION. [S]
(?) Gray, Isabella A. (fl. before 1888), born at Hawthorn Cottage, Lilliesleaf, St.
Boswells, where her father owned a few acres of land; published in local
periodicals such as The Border Magazine.‖Among‖her‖poems‖are‖‘Eyes’,‖‘The‖
Bairns’,‖‘Gossip’,‖and‖‘Dear‖Little‖Loo’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 293; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Gray, John Y. (b. 1846), ‘G.’,‖of Letham, Forfarshire, handloom weaver, poems in
Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 257-66. [S] [T]
(?) Gray, Mary (b. 1853), of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, where her father was a house
carpenter; educated in England and Germany; telegraph clerk; prepared to teach,
and did so until 1880, but since then was ‘occupied‖chiefly‖in‖private‖tuition‖and‖
 home‖duties’;‖obtained‖L.L.A.‖from St. Andrews University in 1882. He published
Lyrics and Epigrams After Goethe and Other German Poets (Edinburgh: David
Douglas, 1853). Her poems and translations (from German into English and Scots)
are‖of‖high‖quality,‖among‖them‖‘The‖Dead‖Child’,‖‘A‖Cradle‖Song’,‖‘The‖Violet’,‖
‘The‖World‖Is‖Fair’,‖‘Springtime’,‖‘Necessity’,‖and‖‘Twilight‖Thoughts.’‖Ref:‖
Edwards, 14 (1891), 186; Kerrigan (1991), 208 353; Bold (1997), 258; inf. Florence
Boos. [F] [S]
Greatbach, John (fl. 1860), ‘a‖member‖of‖the‖operative‖community’,‖of‖Staffordshire,
potter; writing for a prize offered by the committee of the Stoke-upon-Trent
Athenaeum, competing with other working men, published Christmas (A Prize
Poem) and Other Poems (London: Lockwood, 1860, also published in Leeds,
Manchester, Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 192; inf. Bob
Heyes.
Green, Elizabeth, (1803-66), Mrs E. S. Craven Green, of Leeds, professional actress,
seamstress and milliner, she worked at the New Theatre in Douglas, Isle of Man,
later living in Manchester before returning to Leeds where she would live for
many years (Spencer Needs notes that the census returns for 1841 and 1851
indicate‖her‖‘very, very poor standard of dwelling without servants of any kind’‖
[email, 11-9-18]). Craven was deserted by her husband and brought up three
children alone. She was a friend of John Bolton Rogerson (qv) and gave support to
his journals, The Falcon, The Phoenix, and The Odd Fellows Manchester Unity Journal
which he edited.‖Her‖poem‖‘Children‖Sleeping’‖was‖included‖in‖The Festive Wreath
(1842), and she published a book of poetry in 1825 in the Isle of Man and a much
larger collection in 1858, Sea Weeds and Heath Flowers; Or, Memories of Mona (1858).
Craven gathered and edited‖James‖Waddington’s‖(qv) poems as Flowers from the
Glen (1862). Her daughter was engaged to Waddington before he died. The retired
scientist Spencer Needs, a linear descendant of the poet who has found and
published many of her uncollected poems, is currently collecting her short stories
and writing her biography (email, 11 September 2018). Ref: Leeds Intelligencer, 9
Aug 1856; Grainge (1868), II; OBNB; inf. Spencer Needs. [F]
(?) Green, George Smith (d. 1762), watchmaker of Oxford, also lived in Leicester,
Cirencester and Ross, became an official tradesman to the University (later
revoked). An eccentric figure, his publications include‖(as‖‘A‖Gentleman‖of‖
Oxford’)‖The State of Innocence and Fall of Man (1745), a kind of peculiar prose
version of Paradise Lost; a collection of poems, Parson’s Parlour (1756), and several
plays. ~ Ref: Foxon (1875), 84; ODNB. [C18]
Green, Johnson (1757-86), of Plymouth, Massachusetts, condemned criminal of
mixed race. The Life and Confession of JOHNSON GREEN, Who is to be Executed this
Day, August 17TH, 1786, for the Atrocious Crime of BURGLARY; Together with his LAST
and DYING WORDS, a broadsheet issued by Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, included as
 part‖of‖his‖‘dying‖words’‖some‖cautionary verses, written down for him by a
fellow prisoner, since he could not write. ~ Ref: Carretta (1996), 134-41. [C18]
Greene, J. W. (b. 1864), of Galston, Ayrshire, son of a colliery manager, worked as a
miner, contributing some verses to the local paper, then emigrated to Australia in
1884, working at different jobs in Melbourne and around Victoria and New South
Wales, publishing poems and stories in the local papers of the places he went.
Edwards gives the examples of‖the‖‘two‖serial‖tales‖and‖a‖number of short stories
and poetical pieces’‖published in the Wide Bay News of Maryborough when he
worked as a miner at Howard, Queensland; and‖the‖year‖he‖‘spent‖as‖
correspondent‖to‖a‖sixpenny‖weekly‖published‖in‖the‖same‖town’. In 1890 he was
commissioned by a Queensland newspaper to write a series of articles about the
vineyards of Victoria, and travelled around the state and parts of New South
Wales researching it, but was struck down by sunstroke, spent three months in
hospital and returned home to Scotland. Some‖‘fugitive‖papers‖of‖his‖Australian
experiences—of a very entertaining and instructive‖nature’ appeared in the
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, along with tales‖such‖as‖‘For‖Love‖of‖a‖Collier‖
Laddie’‖and‖‘The‖Bonnie‖Lass‖o’‖Irvine‖Vale’, and‖a‖weekly‖column,‖‘Notes‖on‖My‖
Beat’,‖often‖having a tone of satirical humour and including comment on poetry
matters.‖Edwards‖find‖room‖for‖four‖of‖his‖verses,‖‘A‖Mother‖Sat‖Watching’,‖‘An‖
Unorthodox‖Ballad’,‖‘Doodles‖gets‖a‖Tooth’‖and‖‘When Your‖Pants‖Are‖Letting‖In’.
~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 345-50. [A] [M] [S]
Greensted, Frances (fl. 1896), of Maidstone, Kent, domestic servant who was
supporting an ageing mother, and had worked for the same family for twenty
years at the time that she published Fugitive Pieces (Maidstone, London, Bath,
Marlborough, Faversham, Chatham & Canterbury, 1796). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992),
item 390 (reproduces title page, with 4-line tag from Pope [Epistle to Arbuthnot]
beginning‖‘I‖left‖no‖calling‖for‖the‖idle‖trade’);‖Jackson (1993), 139; Burmester, item
404 and 118 (image). [F]
Greenwood, Thomas (fl. 1861), of Todmorden, Lancashire, published Zeta, Historical
Glimpses Of England, and her Sons and Other Poems (London, Liverpool, Manchester
and‖Todmorden,‖1861);‖a‖preliminary‖‘Advertisement’‖deals‖satirically‖with‖the‖
standard prefatory apologies of labouring-class poets, but does so in such a way as to
subtly‖make‖clear‖the‖author’s‖own‖lowly‖social‖status. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 193;
Google Books; NTU.
Gregory, John (1831-1922),‖‘The‖Poet-Shoemaker‖of‖Bristol’,‖of‖Bideford,‖Devon,‖
minimally educated shoemaker in Bristol, Tenby, Aberavon, Swansea and Cardiff,
friend of Capern (qv), socialist and stalwart of the labour movement, much
honoured in his adopted city of Bristol, whose university awarded him an MA. ~
Gregory‖was‖born‖in‖Bideford,‖Devon.‖His‖father‖was‖a‖clerk‖in‖a‖merchant’s‖
office and a highly esteemed Wesleyan lay preacher. He received minimal
schooling, and became an apprentice shoemaker at age eleven. During his seven-
year apprenticeship, Gregory gained the friendship of Edward Capern, the
‘Postman‖Poet’,‖which‖compounded‖his‖proclivity‖for‖writing.‖While‖aiding‖a‖sick‖
friend leaving Bristol for Devon in 1856, Gregory met Ann, whom he would wed
five‖weeks‖later:‖‘I‖saw‖him‖off‖by‖the‖train,‖and‖in‖the‖evening‖met‖my‖fate,‖this,‖
as‖usual‖being‖in‖feminine‖form’‖(Gregory,‖cited‖Wright,‖1896).‖The‖North Devon
Journal featured‖Gregory’s‖earliest‖literary‖contribution. From the outset, Gregory
championed the cause of his fellow workmen, and became a pioneering member
of the labour movement, affiliating himself with an assortment of trades societies.
~ Gregory spent the largest portion of his life in Bristol. His verses were published
regularly in local newspapers, and in 1883, a volume entitled Idyls of Labour was
met with commendation in the Cliftonian:‖‘Mr. Gregory’s‖is‖a‖teeming,‖luxuriant‖
fancy; he could set up a score of poets with the mere filings of his‖gold<‖It‖is‖
quite‖certain‖that‖his‖book‖contains‖poetry,‖and‖a‖great‖deal‖of‖very‖fine‖poetry’‖
(Wright). In the preface to his second volume, Song Streams (1877), Gregory
stresses the difficulty of accomplishing a feat of literature under the shadow of
grinding‖labour,‖and‖writes:‖‘Hope‖not,‖then‖to‖find‖within‖the‖compass‖of‖my‖
waif-fold the wonders of poesy. Yet here shall you discover flowers you will not
disdain,‖and‖among‖the‖leaves‖thoughts‖that‖shall‖not‖be‖forgotten’‖(Wright).‖~‖
Gregory was assigned leader of the Organising Committee of the Bristol Socialist
Society in 1885. He was noted for his antipathy towards the death penalty and his
advocacy of freedom of speech. His opposition to imperialistic policy is
exemplified‖in‖‘Ireland’,‖which‖marks the‖1886‖General‖Election‖and‖Gladstone’s‖
efforts to pass the Home Rule Bill. Unflinching declarations and observations
abound:‖‘When‖that‖I‖read‖her‖story,‖/‖I‖hate‖my‖nation’s‖name<‖We‖taught‖them‖
with our tortures, / The hate they justly hoard, / When we made them rebels, / We
cut‖them‖down‖with‖the‖sword<‖Much‖have‖we‖sinned‖against‖her,‖/‖And‖great‖
hath‖been‖our‖crime.‖/‖Her‖fat‖lands‖for‖the‖spoiler,‖/‖And‖not‖for‖her‖are‖sown<’‖
(Sables 2001). ~ Gregory was conferred with an honorary MA from the University
of Bristol in 1912. He and his wife had nine children. Richard, his second son,
became sub-editor of the journal Nature and was knighted for his contributions to
science, especially in the field of astronomy. He published Idyls of labour (London
and Bristol, 1871); Song Streams (1877); Murmurs and Melodies (1884); My Garden
and Other Poems (1907); A Dream of Love in Eden (1911); Star Dreams (1919). ~ Ref:
Wright (1896), 211-14; George Hare Leonard, Some Memories of John Gregory (1922);
Reilly (2000), 194; Gerrard Sables, A working-class friend of Ireland: John Gregory
1831-1922 (2001), http://www.irishdemocrat.co.uk/features/a-working-class-
friend-of-ireland/; Goodridge (2005); A Souvenir of John Gregory, ed. Gerrard Sables
(Bristol: Fiducia Press, 2007); John‖Goodridge,‖‘John‖Gregory,‖St‖Mary‖Redcliffe‖
and‖the‖Memorialising‖of‖Chatterton’‖in‖Literary Bristol: Writing the City, ed. Marie
 Mulvey-Roberts (Bristol: Redcliffe Press, 2015), 105-27; ‘Volume‖of‖poems,‖
newspaper cuttings, etc., by or about John Gregory, c. 1886-1931’,‖Bristol‖Public‖
Library Local Studies Collection, item 21416; Gregory Papers, Special Collections
Department, Bristol‖University‖Library,‖ref.‖DM1741;‖the‖papers‖of‖Gregory’s‖
friend and fellow shoemaker-poet John Wall, Bristol Record Office, ref. 37886; LC
6, 193-210. [SM] [LC6] [—Iain Rowley]
Greig, David Lundie (b. 1837), of Edinburgh, mill-worker, blacksmith, Sunday
school teacher, published Pastime Musings ... with supplementary contributions by
John Paul [qv] and David Tasker [qv] (Arbroath: Arbroath Herald Office, 1892). ~
Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 110-16; Reid, Bards (1897), 202-3; Reilly (1994), 197. [S] [B]
Greig, James (1861-1941), of Arbroath, Angus, flax-dresser, journalist and writer;
published poems in Dundee Weekly News, and a collection, Poems and Songs from
the Hackle-shop (Arbroath, 1887). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 59-63; Reid, Bards (1897),
203-5; Reilly (1994), 198. [S] [T]
Grewar, Alexander (1815-94), of Dalnamer, Glenisla, tailor. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897),
205-6. [S] [T]
Grierson, Constantia (1704/5-1732),‖Irish‖printer’s‖wife,‖daughter‖of‖‘poor‖illiterate‖
country‖people’,‖self-taught classicist, born in Graigvenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny.
Although‖born‖to‖a‖poor‖family,‖Grierson’s‖father‖facilitated‖her‖rapid‖mastery‖of‖
the classical languages through supplying her with suitable volumes. She
proceeded to garner further instruction from the minister of the parish when she
could find time away from her needlework. At age 18, Grierson was appointed to
a‖Dublin‖physician‖to‖train‖as‖a‖midwife,‖and‖married‖George‖Grierson,‖the‖King’s‖
Printer, soon after her arrival. This granted her the direct means for publishing
her own work, and she produced three editions of Latin classics: Virgil (1724),
Terence (1727) and Tacitus (1730).‖Dr‖E.‖Harwood‖considered‖the‖latter‖to‖be‖‘one‖
of‖the‖best‖edited‖books‖ever‖delivered‖to‖the‖world’.‖Grierson‖was‖working‖on‖an‖
edition of Sallust when she died at 27. Her Poems on Several Occasions was printed
in 1735, but many of her poems are no longer extant; a few have survived mainly
through inclusion in collections. Laetitia Pilkington ranked her talent beyond that
of any other woman‖writer‖of‖her‖era,‖singling‖out‖a‖poem‖on‖‘Bishop‖Berkeley’s‖
Bermudian‖Scheme’—which presented the Bishop as a true ambassador of
Christ—as particularly noteworthy. She published‖‘The‖Goddess‖Envy’‖(1730),‖
Poems on Several Occasions (London: Printed for C. Rivington 1735); ‘On‖the‖Art‖of‖
Printing’‖(pub. 1764). A modern edition of her poetry is The Poetry of Laetitia
Pilkington (1712-1750) and Constantia Grierson (1706-1733), ed. Bernard Tucker
(Lewiston, Ontario: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996). ~ Of her two sons, one died
young,‖while‖the‖other,‖George‖Abraham‖Grierson,‖grew‖to‖be‖King’s‖Printer. Like
his mother he died at 27, after a spell of recognition for his exceptional
knowledge, wit and vigour. ~ Ref: Dyce (1825), 158-60; Rowton (1853), 161-2;
 Blackburne (1877), II, 22-6; Todd (1987); Lonsdale, (1989), 91-3; Blain et al (1990),
462; Fullard (1990), 556; Carpenter (1998), 203; Backscheider (2005), 406;
Backscheider (2009), 875; ODNB. [F] [I] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
(?) Grieve, John (1781-1836),‖‘C’,‖born‖at‖Dunfermline,‖lived‖in‖Edinburgh;‖his‖father‖
was‖a‖Presbyterian‖minister;‖a‖merchant’s‖clerk,‖then‖a‖bank‖clerk,‖and‖finally‖
settled as a hat maker with partner Chalmers Izzet. On intimate terms with James
Hogg (qv), who‖supported‖him‖financially,‖and‖Grieve‖contributed‖to‖Hogg’s‖
collection The Forest Minstrel (1810):‖the‖Fourteenth‖Bard‖in‖Hogg’s‖portmanteau‖
poem The Queen’s Wake (1812) is said to be based on Grieve. Grieve’s‖own poems
include‖‘Polwarth‖on‖the‖Green’,‖published in Crockett. ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 325;
The Collected Letters of James Hogg, Volume 1, 1800-1819, ed. Gillian Hughes
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), 364-6; James Hogg, The Queen’s
Wake, ed. Douglas S. Mack (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005). [S]
(?) Griffith or Griffith-Jones, George Chetwynd (1857-1906), ‘Lara’,‖self-educated
clergyman’s‖son,‖explorer, poet and science fiction writer, wandered the world as
a sailor, butcher, schoolmaster and journalist, among other jobs, settled in
Littlehampton, published Poems: General, Secular, and Satirical (London and
Edinburgh, 1883), and a great many science fiction novels between 1890 and his
death in 1906. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 198; Wikipedia.
(?) Grindall, Oliver (fl. 1810-27), of Hull, coast-waiter (i.e. a customs officer who
supervised the unloading of goods), sent a verse-letter to John Clare (qv),
beginning‖‘Bard‖of‖nature,‖thee‖I‖greet’‖on 10 February 1821, and wrote to him
again on 16 October 1821. No published poems are currently known, but there is a
manuscript book of poems in the British Library, a gift of the American scholar T.
O.‖Mabbott:‖‘Trifles‖in‖Verse‖on‖Moral‖and‖Religious‖Subjects by Oliver
Grindall...Hull,‖1827’‖described‖as‖‘autograph‖fair‖copy‖of verses composed 1810-
1821, undated,‖with‖some‖autogr*aph+‖corrections‖and‖notes’.‖~‖Ref:‖BL‖(Add.‖MS‖
44967); the two letter to Clare are also in BL (Egerton MS 2245, ff. 283, 370);
searcharchivesbl.uk; inf. Bob Heyes;.
Gruffydd, Owen (c. 1643-1730), of Llanystumdwy, Caernarvonshire, weaver, Welsh-
language poet and genealogist, blind poet, whose poems, written in alliterative
metre,‖include‖‘The‖Day‖of‖Judgement’,‖‘Old‖Age‖and‖Youth’,‖‘The‖Creation‖of‖
Man,‖his‖Fall‖and‖Deliverance’,‖‘A‖Song‖of‖Praise’.‖They‖appeared‖in‖Carolau a
Dyriau Duwiol (1696, 1720, 1729) and Blodeu-gerdd Cymry (1759), and Gwaith Owen
Gruffydd (selected verse), ed. Owen M. Edwards (1904). The majority of his verse
remains in manuscript in the British Library, Cardiff Public Library, and the
National Library of Wales, Cwrt-Mawr MSS. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); DWB; ODNB.
[W] [T] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Guthrie, Ellen Emma (fl. 1876), originally from the Isle of Skye, Hebrides,
published Retrospection. An Exile’s Memories of Skye (1876), dedicated to a lady in
 Skye to whom she has sent these verses of her memories. The poem itself tells of a
boy’s‖poverty-stricken childhood, in which he and his parents nearly starved
before they were forced to emigrate; it seems quasi-autobiographical, even though
told from the viewpoint of a male protagonist. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 197; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Guthrie, George (b. 1842), of Newcastle upon Tyne, blacksmith at Wallsend and
Sunderland, songwriter;‖songs‖include‖‘Heh‖you‖seen‖wor‖Cuddy’. He was
championed by Joe Wilson (qv). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 518; Wikipedia. [B]
Gwyer, Joseph (b. 1835), ‘The‖Penge‖Poet’,‖originally of Redlynch, Downton, Wilts.,
farmer’s‖son,‖millworker‖in‖Bermondsey,‖potato-salesman‖and‖author‖of‖‘doggerel‖
platitudes’,‖moved‖to‖Penge,‖south-east London, where he was involved in the
Baptist Church and the temperance movement. He published Sketches of the life of
Joseph Gwyer; with his Poems, Ramble round the Neighbourhood, Glimpses of Departed
Days (second edition Penge, 1876, fourth edition, Penge and London, 1877); Poems
and Prose (London, 1895), with biographical materials by Revd. C.H. Spurgeon. ~
Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 291a; Maidment (1987), 209; Reilly (1994), 202; Reilly
(2000), 197-8; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 122; NTU.
Hadden, James (1800-64),‖of‖Stonehaven,‖‘belonged‖to‖the‖labouring‖class’;‖a‖‘big‖
sonsey‖cheild’,‖with‖a‖reputation‖for‖his‖poetry‖and‖his‖skill‖at‖playing‖draughts‖
while blindfolded; died in poverty, leaving unpublished MSS with his widow;
published a‖‘small’‖vol.‖in‖Aberdeen‖in‖1850,‖The Poetical Works of James Hadden,
consisting of tales, songs, satires, epistles, &c. (Aberdeen: Printed for the Author,
1850), 96 pp. ~ Ref: Aberdeen (1887), 22; Reid, Bards (1897), 214-15. [S]
Hague, Tom (1915-98),‖coalminer‖who‖wrote‖prose‖and‖verse‖under‖the‖name‖‘Totley‖
Tom’,‖his dialect verse published in Tales of a Yorkshire Miner (1976);
http://sheffieldvoices.group.shef.ac.uk/fgttom.htm. ~ Ref: source as cited; info
Yann Lovelock. [OP] [M]
Haigh, Levi (b. 1861, fl. 1927-9), of Sowerby Bridge, village postman at Sowerby,
author and musician, published Poems and Pictures 1922-9 (Halifax, 1929), five
booklets bound together; he also contributed to an autograph commonplace book
up until 1927. ~ Ref: Sam Mellor, (ed.), Biographies, Sketches and Rhymes by the
Calder Valley Poets (Edward Mortimer, 1916), 60; inf. Bob Heyes.
(?) Hair, Mary Bowskill (1804-84), of Airdrie, printer (in partnership with Hugh
Baird),‖schoolmaster’s‖widow;‖poems‖in‖Knox‖include‖one‖on‖the‖sewing‖machine.
~ Ref: Knox (1930), 288-9. [F] [S]
Hall, Joseph (fl. 1831), collier, broadside songwriter, of Sheriff Hill, Gateshead,
composed‖‘The‖Oppressions‖of‖the‖Pitmen’‖(1831). ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 228, 356
note; Harker (1999), 120-22. [M]
(?) Hall, Richard (1817-66), of Brecon, pharmacist, published A Tale of the Past, and
Other Poems (1850). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Hall, Spencer Timothy (1812-85), ‘Spencer‖T.‖Hall’,‖‘The‖Sherwood‖Forester’,‖born‖in‖
Sutton-in-Ashfield, after a very limited education was set to work at seven, and
was later a stocking weaver, printer, bookseller and lecturer, publisher; leader and
biographer‖of‖Nottingham’s‖‘Sherwood‖Forest’ group of poets and writers; also an
accomplished mesmerist: in 1843, he founded the journal The Phreno-Magnet, or,
Mirror of Nature. Hall was inspired to become a printer by reading the life of
Benjamin Franklin. His first publication, The Forester's Offering (London:
Whittaker, 1841), he initially set in print himself, in large part without a
manuscript. Other publications include The Upland Hamlet (1847); Lays from the
Lakes (Rochdale and Windermere, 1878); The Peak and the Plain (1853). Hall
published the following poems in Dearden’s Miscellany (1839-40): ‘Sonnet:‖Early‖
Spring’,‖I,‖276;‖‘Midnight’,‖III,‖175;‖‘Friendship’s‖Pilgrimage’,‖IV,‖576;‖‘Sonnet’‖(‘To‖
stroll‖at‖stintless‖ease‖through‖some‖wild‖dell’),‖IV,‖644.‖His Biographical Sketches of
Remarkable People, Chiefly from Personal Recollection (London, 1873) has a chapter on
John Clare (whose surviving library contains a copy of The Upland Hamlet) and
Robert Bloomfield (qqv), whom he also cites as a key influence on him as young
poet (298-300); as well as perhaps a dozen or so other poets included in this
database (it is cited in all their entries); and some autobiographical material
including an account of his visits to Scotland, and a moving tribute and biography
of‖Hall’s‖parents‖(210-28) which includes his‖poem‖‘My‖Birthplace’. Among his
Miscellaneous Poems in the same volume (436-7) is‖one‖‘To‖Henry‖Houlding‖*qv+,‖
After‖reading‖his‖beautiful‖poem,‖‚In the Wood‛’‖and‖another‖on‖‘Burns‖and‖His‖
Fame’‖(Robert‖Burns,‖qv)‖sub-titled‖‘Written‖for‖a‖Meeting‖of‖Scotsmen, in
Sheffield, on the Anniversary of the Poet’s‖Birth,‖Jan,‖25th‖1841’‖(439-40). ~ Ref:
Newsam (1845), 190-2; Hood (1870), 345-55; Cedric Bonnell, Spencer T. Hall (‘The
Sherwood Forester) ([Nottingham: privately printed, c.‖1904+),‖‘Lions‖of‖
Lambkinville’‖series,‖no. 5, reprinted from the Nottingham Daily Express, March
1904; James (1963), 171; Powell (1964), item 232; Reilly (2000), 202; ODNB. [T]
(?) Hall, Thomas (fl. 1805-15), of Winchester, published Poems on Various Subjects,
written in the debtors’ ward (Winchester, ?1805; 1808; Oxford and London, 1810;
Hereford,‖?1815);‖includes‖the‖poem‖‘To‖the‖memory‖of‖John‖Howard’‖and‖‘May‖
Day;‖or,‖chimney‖sweeper’s‖elegy‖on‖the‖death‖of‖Mrs‖Montagu’. ~ Ref: Johnson
(1992), 405; CBEL3 (1999), 345.
Hall, William (b. 1825), of Galashiels, weaver, gamekeeper, photographer, published
poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 59-63. [S] [T]
Halliday, John (fl. 1745-48), of Longbaulk, Hawick, Teviotdale, Roxburghshire,
radical working-class poet, published The Rustic Bard, or, A Voice from the People,
Being Miscellaneous Poems and Songs (Galashiels: James Brown; Edinburgh:
Sutherland and Knox; Jedburgh: Walter Easton; Kelso: John Rutherford; Hawick:
 James Dalgleish, 1848), with a Dedication‖‘To‖the‖Working‖Classes‖of‖Scotland’. ~
Ref: text as cited, via Google Books. [S]
Hamilton, Alexander (1832-95), of Kirkton Mains, Bathgate, farmer and gardener,
published poems in the West Lothian Courier. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 184-90. [S]
Hamilton, Janet Thomson (1795-1873), of Langloan, Coatbridge, poet, daughter of a
shoemaker; though she received no formal education, her mother taught her to
read and spin. At the age of thirteen or fourteen she married John Hamilton, also
a shoemaker, with whom she raised their ten children, while working also as a
tambourer. At fifty-four she learned to write. ~ Born Janet Thompson at Shotts
parish, Lanarkshire, while she was still in infancy her family relocated to
Langloan, to the east of Glasgow, where her parents worked as field labourers.
Janet initially supplemented their income by spinning yarn, before taking up
embroidery.‖With‖her‖mother’s‖assistance she learnt to read before she was five
years old, borrowing books from the village library, including the Bible, Paradise
Lost, the poetry of Robert Burns (qv), assorted histories, and volumes of the
Spectator and Rambler. In her teens, she began writing religious verses that
embodied her Scottish Calvinism; Robinson (2003) highlights the fact that she
memorised her works as she composed them, and Cunningham (2000. p. 41) notes
‘a‖pseudo-oriental‖handwriting‖she‖concocted‖for‖herself’.‖~‖After‖Janet’s‖father‖
secured business as a shoemaker, at 14 years of age she married one of his
workmen, John Hamilton, with whom she would bear 10 children. Janet
Hamilton’s‖devotion‖to‖her‖family‖would‖not‖afford‖her‖sufficient‖time‖to‖practice
her poetry until she was in her mid-fifties. Then, having taught herself to write,
she became one of the few women to have‖essays‖featured‖in‖Cassell’s‖journal‖
Working Man’s Friend, and proceeded to have several volumes of poetry
published—the first being Poems and essays of a miscellaneous character on subjects of
general interest, published in 1863. The Glaswegian missionary William Logan is
noted as a significant figure in facilitating her literary success, buying her books in
bulk and dispatching them to prominent critics. ~ Over these volumes,
Cunningham‖(2000.‖p.‖41)‖distinguishes‖her‖writing‖as‖‘forthright,‖indignant,
canny about Scottishness, the plight of the poor, worldwide oppression, war,
slavery, drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking’.‖In‖‘Oor‖Location’,‖Hamilton’s‖trenchant,
heavily onomatopoeic Scots verse‖rails‖against‖the‖‘dreadfu’‖curse‖o’‖drinkin’!’—
‘Oh‖the‖dool‖an’‖desolation,‖/‖An’‖the‖havock‖in‖the‖nation‖/‖Wrocht‖by‖dirty,‖
drucken wives! / Oh hoo mony bairnies lives / Lost ilk year through their
neglec’!’—as part of a reflection on the darker ramifications of the Industrial
Revolution.‖~‖Hamilton’s‖commitment‖to education is crystallised in a prose
extract from Poems and Essays<‖She‖laments‖that‖the‖labouring‖classes‖are‖
‘debarred‖from‖the‖attainment‖of‖the‖elegant‖tastes‖and‖refined‖perceptions‖
acquired by those on whom the gifts of fortune, and a desire of improving and
adorning their minds, have conferred the high advantages of a liberal and
finished‖education’.‖However,‖she‖affirms‖that‖access‖to‖literature‖empowers‖
anyone‖to‖‘indulge‖a‖taste‖for‖the‖sublime‖and‖beautiful’,‖suggesting‖that‖the‖‘gifts‖
of God, of‖Nature,‖and‖of‖the‖Muses‖are‖as‖impartially‖and‖profusely‖bestowed’‖
on the lower orders as on the higher ones (Robinson (2003), 132). ~ As Hamilton
grew blind in her last eighteen years, her literary output decreased. Her husband
and daughter Marion read to her, while her son James was amanuensis.
Nonetheless, she retained her popularity, being bestowed with a £10 grant from
the Royal Bounty following a petition to Prime Minister Disraeli, and being
visited‖by‖the‖likes‖of‖Garibaldi’s‖son—noting her advancement of the Italian
liberation cause. ~ Hamilton died on 27 October 1873, having never been twenty
miles from home. 400 people attended her funeral, and roughly 20,000 people
congregated to hear the dedicatory lecture at the erecting of a memorial. ~ She
published Poems and Essays of a Miscellaneous Character on Subjects of General
Interest (Edinburgh, 1863); Poems of Purpose and Sketches in Prose of Scottish Peasant
Life and Character in Auld Langsyne, Sketches of Local Scenes and Characters, with a
Glossary (Edinburgh, 1865); Poems and Ballads (Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1868),
with introductory papers by G. Gilfillan and A. Wallace; Poems, Essays and
Sketches: A Selection from the First Two Volumes...with Several New Pieces (Edinburgh,
1870); and posthumously, Pictures in Prose and Verse; or, Personal recollections of the
late Janet Hamilton, together with several hitherto unpublished poetic pieces, ed. John
Young [qv] (Glasgow, 1877); and a full memorial volume edited by her son James
Hamilton, Poems, Essays, and Sketches: Comprising the Principal Pieces from her
Complete Works (Edinburgh, 1880, 1885). Hamilton published poems and essays in
periodicals, including The Adviser and The Working Man’s Friend, throughout the
1850s. Her lifewriting in‖‘Sketches‖of‖Village‖Life‖and‖Character’‖is‖discussed‖in‖
some detail by Boos (2017), 85-114. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 149-151; Edwards, 1
(1880), 248-59; Shanks (1881), 159; Murdoch (1883), 334-7; Memoirs and Portraits of
One Hundred Glasgow Men: William Logan (Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1886);
Joseph Wright, Janet Hamilton and Other Papers (Edinburgh: R & R. Clark, 1889);
Glasgow Poets (1906), 224-32; Maidment (1987), 187, 203-4, 267-8; William Findlay,
‘Reclaiming‖Local‖Literature:‖William‖Thom‖and‖Janet‖Hamilton’,‖The History of
Scottish Literature: The Nineteenth Century, ed. Douglas Clifford (Aberdeen:
Aberdeen University Press, 1988), 353-75; Kerrigan (1991), 181-4, 353; Jennifer
Breen (ed), Women Victorian Poets 1830-1900: An Anthology (London: Dent, 1994),
xvii, 89-92; Boos (1995); ABC (1996), 162-6; Boos (1996); Bold (1997), 255-6, 258;
McMillan (1997), 84-6; Valentine Cunningham, The Victorians (Oxford: Blackwell,
2000); Dorothy McMillan (ed), The Scotswoman at Home and Abroad (Glasgow:
Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2000); Reilly (2000), 204; Boos (2001b);
Boos (2002a), 211-14; Boos (2002b), 139-40, 145; Boos (2008), 47-109; Solveig C.
 Robinson (ed), A Serious Occupation: Literary Criticism by Victorian Women Writers
(Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2003); Forsyth (2005); Boos (2010);
Goodridge (2010), 21; Florence‖S.‖Boos,‖‘Janet‖Hamilton:‖Working-class Memoirist
and‖Commentator’,‖The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Women’s Writing, ed.
Glenda Norquay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012), 63-74 and 165-
67; Kaye‖Kossick,‖‘‚And‖aft‖Thy‖Dear‖Doric‖aside‖I‖Hae‖Flung,‖to‖Busk‖oot‖My‖
Sang‖wi’‖the‖Proud‖Southron‖Tongue‛:‖The‖Antiphonal‖Muse‖in‖Janet‖Hamilton’s‖
Poetics’,‖in‖Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 208-25; Boos (2017), 85-115; inf. Florence
Boos; ; NTU; ODNB; LC 5, 245-66. [F] [S] [T] [LC5] [—Iain Rowley]
Hamilton, John (b. 1827), of Paisley, cloth calenderer, later photographer in Greenock
and Port Glasgow, published The Lay of the Bogle Stone, An Erratic Poem, Part First
(London, 1869). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 239-43; Leonard (1990), 271-74. [S] [T]
Hamlyn, George (1819-96?), ‘The‖Dartmoor‖Bloomfield’ (Robert Bloomfield, qv), of
Tamerton,‖Devon,‖farmer’s‖son,‖wheelwright,‖coachmaker,‖farmer,‖travelled‖
country and lived in Australia for a while with his brothers. He published Rustic
Poems by George Hamlyn, the Dartmoor Bloomfield (Devonport, Plymouth and
London, 1869), 48 pages with illustrations. The introductory note makes reference
to‖Hamlyn‖often‖reciting‖his‖poems‖for‖his‖‘numerous‖friends‖and‖acquaintances’;
the‖poems‖include‖‘Bickleigh‖Vale’.‖~ Ref: Wright (1896), 228-30; Reilly (2000), 204.
[A]
Hammon, Jupiter (1711-1806?), slave, the first African-American writer to be
published, He published An Evening Thought. Salvation by Christ with Penitential
Cries: Composed by Jupiter Hammon, a Negro belonging to Mr. Lloyd of Queen's Village,
on Long Island, the 25th of December, 1760 (broadside, 1761); An Address to Miss
Phillis Wheatley (broadside, 1778) (Phillis Wheatley, qv); A Winter Piece (1782),
prose; An Evening’s Improvement (1783), a work in prose and verse; An Address to
the Negroes in the State of New York (1787), an important prose work. ~ Ref: Phillis
Wheatley, Complete Writings, ed. Vincent Carretta (Penguin, 2001), 202-21; Basker
(2002), 137-45; PAL
(http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/hammon.html); Wikipedia
and other online sources. [C18]
Hampson, Walter (1864-1932), of Normanton, Yorkshire, railway engine driver,
union official and activist, poet, writer and editor. Hampson was known
especially‖for‖his‖humorous‖prose‖dialect‖work:‖he‖is‖‘our‖Yorkshire‖Mark‖Twain’,‖
writes Moorman, and (of his 1911 volume, Tykes Abroad’)‖‘his‖narrative‖of‖the‖
adventure of a little party of Yorkshiremen in Normandy and Brittany is full of
humour’,‖noting‖that‖‘Songs‖are‖scattered‖through‖the‖story’.‖(‘Owd‖England’‖and
‘Life‖is‖worth‖the‖living’‖are‖among‖his‖better‖known‖verses.)‖After‖publishing‖
some pieces in the Railway Review, Hampson self-published a poetry collection,
Songs of the Line. And other Poems (London:‖Printed‖for‖the‖Author‖by‖the‖King’s‖
Cross Publishing Co, 1905), and the following volumes of dialect writing: Tykes
Abrooad. An accahnt of Joss Jenkins’ travels and trials throo Normanton to Normandy,
etc. (Wakefield and London: W. Nicholson & Sons, 1911); Pte. Job Muggleston; or,
‚Fun i’ th’ Army,‛ etc. (London: W. Nicholson and Sons undated [1916-18]); A
Yorkshire Tyke: A Dialect Poem, second edition (Barnsley, [1917?]); A Wheel in
Wharfeland: A holiday tour in a land of natural beauty, romance and historical
associations (London: William Nicholson & Sons [1918]); Joss Jenkins and His Pals Go
Carol Singin’: When Jemmy Greased His Flute (London: W. Nicholson & Sons, [1919];
Roomin’ i’ Rooam, Flirtin’ i’ Florence, Voyagin’ in Venice (1934), which does not
appear in COPAC or BL and may be a lost or ephemeral work. In 1915 Hampson
took over from John Hartley (qv) in editing the annual Bradford-based magazine
The Original Clock Almanack: in the Yorkshire Dialect (I have traced copies for 1920,
1922, 1925-26, 1928, 1930-32). He co-edited with Abe Warkup, Bob Stubbs Original
Comic Yorksher Awmynack for 1925 (Bradford: Watmough, 1925), and his history of
Normanton,‖‘Normanton‖Past‖and‖Present’,‖is‖listed‖in‖the‖Wakefield‖library‖
catalogue. (This appears to be an unpublished work.) ~ Looking briefly at
Hampson’s‖first‖volume,‖Songs of the Line (compare the title‖with‖F.‖W.‖Skerrett’s‖
[qv] Rhymes of the Rail, 1820 or‖‘Inspector’‖Aitkin’s‖*qv+‖Lays of the Line and Echoes
from the Iron Road), its first ten pages follow the kind of exciting, quasi-heroic
railway narratives established by Alexander Anderson (qv) in his Songs of the Rail
(1878) before, as it were, branching off, first into a series of poems about
brotherhood, social solidarity and the hope for better times, and then into a
gentler and more lyrical section. Intermingled with poems on subjects such as
‘Edith’s‖Grave’‖and‖‘To‖an‖Early‖Daisy’‖are‖stirring‖political‖and‖social‖songs‖and‖
verses‖such‖as‖‘The‖Workless‖Worker’s‖Soliloquy’‖and‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Unemployed’.‖
The‖(day)‖dream‖poem‖‘A‖Night‖with‖Burns’‖is‖a‖homage to Robert Burns (qv)
akin‖to‖Joseph‖Cronshaw’s‖homage‖to‖earlier‖Lancashire‖poets,‖‘A‖Strange‖Dream’‖
(Cronshaw, qv). The final poem in this short, 35-page volume of Hampson’s‖non-
dialect‖verses,‖‘Ingleton’,‖reflects‖the‖author’s‖love‖of‖travel‖and‖of‖the‖Yorkshire‖
landscape. ~ Note:‖a‖number‖of‖sources‖confuse‖or‖merge‖Hampson’s‖publications‖
with those of another working-class writer, the Dublin-born writer, socialist,
musician‖and‖lecturer‖also‖named‖Walter‖Hampson,‖who‖published‖as‖‘Casey’,‖
and whose vital dates appear to match closely those of the poet (though this is in
itself suspicious, and there may be errors in the dates reflecting the mix-up).
‘Casey’‖lived‖in‖Canada,‖in‖Whittingham‖(near‖Preston)‖and‖in‖Stockport,‖and‖the‖
following‖publications‖are‖his‖and‖NOT‖the‖poet’s:‖Hampson’s Violin School
(Stockport: J. Neild & Son, 1901); The Bungle: A Book of Moral Fables by Casey
(Stockport: J Pollitt, 1905, 1910); A Wand’ring Minstrel 1: Vagrom Sketches by ‘Casey’
(Manchester: National Labour Press, [1913?]); with an Preface by Ernest Wharrier
-Soulsby (Devon: Turrif Press, undated, c. 1920-30); The Burston School Strike
 (Manchester and London: National Labour Press, 1915);The Good Old Days: A
Drama in Three Acts, etc. (Devon:‖Turrif,‖undated,‖*1930?+);‖‘Reminiscences‖of‖
Casey’,‖published‖serially‖in‖31‖weekly‖articles‖in‖Forward magazine, 28 March-31
October 1931. Additionally, he contributed articles to the Labour Leader and the
Sunday Chronicle.‖On‖‘Casey’‖see‖Burnett et al (1984), no. 297; Harte (2008), 106-10).
Neither author is included in ODNB or has a Wikipedia entry. ~ Ref: Moorman
(1917), xxxvii, 92-4; Patrick Joyce, Democratic Subjects: The Self and the Social in
Nineteenth-Century England (CUP, 1994), 74-5 (this gives further references); P.
Wood, Walter Hampson 1864-1932. A Brief Study of one of Yorkshire’s most gifted
dialect authors and poets (1998, copy in Wakefield library); inf. John Lucas. [OP] [R]
Hanby, George (1817-1904) ,‖‘Peter‖Pledge’, of Barnsley, colliery surfaceman and
verse-writer for charitable causes and income; ardent temperance writer, poems
include‖‘Verse‖on‖the‖Temperance and Sunday School Tea Meeting held on the
11th of‖November,‖1864,‖in‖Miss‖Pilkington’s‖Reading‖Room,‖Newmillerdam,‖near‖
Wakefield, convened for the purpose of presenting a testimonial to Mr. William
Gates of Rotherham, late of Barnsley, for his unwearied zeal in the Church
Sunday‖School‖at‖Walton’. ~ Ref: Vicinus (1969), 26; Burnett et al (1984), no. 135.
[M]
Hands, Elizabeth Herbert (1746-1815), servant, of Allesley near Coventry, married to
a blacksmith, published (as‖‘Daphne’)‖in‖The Coventry Mercury, and won 1,200
subscribers for her The Death of Amnon. A Poem. With Appendix containing pastorals
and other poetical pieces (Coventry, 1789, BL 1466.h.18); Caroline Franklin,
Introduction to The Death of Amnon. A Poem by Elizabeth Hands [and] The Rural Lyre,
A Volume of Poems by Ann Yearsley (London: Routledge, 1996). ~ Ref: Lonsdale
(1989), 422-9; Blain et al (1990), 483; Landry (1990), 6-7, 33, 186-208; Rizzo (1991),
243; Johnson (1992), item 406; Jackson (1993), 144; Feldman (1997), 256-76; Milne
(1999), 60-99; Christmas (2001), 228-34; Cynthia‖Dereli,‖‘In‖Search‖of‖a‖Poet:‖the‖life‖
and‖work‖of‖Elizabeth‖Hands’,‖Women’s Writing, 8, no. 1 (2001), 169-82; Kord
(2003), 262-3; Backscheider (2005), 406-7; Milne (2008), 68-87; Backscheider (2009),
876; LC 3, 153-70; Radcliffe; Johnson, 46, no. 192. [F] [LC3] [C18]
Hannah, John, (1802-54), of Creetown, moved down from Scotland to Diss in 1823,
itinerant packman, published Posthumous Rhymes (Beccles, 1854). ~ Ref: Harper
(1889), 243; Cranbrook (2001), 118, 201; Copsey (2002), 168-9. [S]
Hannan, Roberts (1816-59), of Cardross, stonemason, poems in Macleod. ~ Ref:
Macleod (1889), 217-19 [S]
Hardacre, Ben (c. 1820-80), factory operative of Bradford, published Miscellanies in
Prose and Verse (London and Bradford, 1874). ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 194-5; Vicinus
(1974), 146-7, 180n; NTU.
Hardaker or Hardacre, Joseph (fl. 1822-31), of Haworth, self-styled‖‘illiterate‖
Moorland‖muse’.‖He‖published Poems, Lyric and Moral, on Various Subjects
 (Bradford: Printed for the author, 1822); The Aeropteron: or Steam Carriage
(Keighley: Aked, for the author, 1830); The Bridal of Tomar; and other poems
(Keighley and London: Charles Crabtree, and Simpkin and Marshall, 1831).
Forshaw‖includes‖‘The‖Author’s‖Cot‖in‖Ruins’;‖Holroyd‖includes‖an‖extract‖from‖
‘A‖Tour‖of‖Bolton‖Abbey‖and‖its‖adjoining‖scenery’,‖and‖notes‖that‖he‖‘tried‖almost‖
every sect of religionists’‖before‖settling‖for‖Catholicism,‖in‖which‖he‖died. ~ Ref:
Holroyd (1873), 52-3; Forshaw (1891), 78-81; Johnson 46 (2003), nos. 296-7.
Hardie, Alexander (1825-88), of Carlton, Glasgow, moved to Paisley aged one, father
a shoemaker who entered the army and then retired with good pension, got a
good education but could not get a situation and so was apprenticed to
shoemaker; late in life went blind; had started writing poetry in 1843, contributed
to newspapers, published A Selection of Songs and Sentiments (1849); Freedom: A
Poem (1854, a 16-page poem). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 52-5. [S] [SM]
Hardie, John, (b. c. 1782), of Glasserton, Wigtownshire in SW Scotland, and
Whitehaven, Cumberland, cabinet maker at Whitehaven, vocal supporter of Tory
Lord Lonsdale, patronised by Stair Hathorn Stewart of Glasserton. He published
Poems on Various Subjects (Whitehaven,‖1839)‖and‖occasional‖verses‖in‖Lonsdale’s‖
newspaper, The Cumberland Pacquet. ~ Hardie is a poet whose place in the
shadows of literary history seemed until recently quite secure. His sole volume of
published verse appeared in 1839, receiving only one review (in the newspaper
that his publisher also happened to print). Hardie disappears thereafter from the
literary scene, presumably to return to his trade of cabinet making. He is
overlooked also by the Pickering and Chatto anthology of English Nineteenth-
Century Poets, and the omission is entirely understandable: the 1830s is populated
by infinitely more labouring-class writers than any single anthology might
represent.‖Although‖little‖is‖known‖of‖his‖life,‖Hardie’s‖poems‖do‖have‖some‖
historical interest. They reveal much about the political squabbles afflicting
Cumberland in the crisis-torn decade of the 1830s, as the Tory Lord Lonsdale and
his immediate and extended family battled against the Whigs, usually led by
Henry Brougham, and various radical and reformist factions. The period in which
Hardie‖writes‖is‖the‖moment‖of‖Chartism’s‖most‖extensive‖influence‖in‖British‖
political discourse. ~ They can tell us something about the thriving culture of
literary patronage, too: Hardie wrote two Birthday poems dedicated to Lonsdale,
which‖look‖like‖appeals‖for‖his‖Lordship’s‖direct‖support.‖Although‖his‖poems‖
occasionally‖appear‖in‖Lonsdale’s‖newspaper,‖The Cumberland Pacquet, there is no
evidence‖that‖Hardie’s‖petitions‖succeeded,‖in‖the‖sense‖that‖he‖probably‖never‖
met, or received any form of financial support from Lonsdale directly. Lord
Lonsdale‖did‖act‖as‖patron‖to‖another‖poet‖in‖the‖1830s:‖Hardie’s‖rather more
illustrious neighbour and contemporary, William Wordsworth; still, Lonsdale and
his‖influence‖on‖Cumberland’s‖cultural‖life‖do‖nonetheless‖indirectly‖shape‖
Hardie and his work. (On‖the‖role‖of‖Lonsdale‖as‖Hardie’s‖work,‖see‖Burke‖(2005),‖
527-30.) ~‖Hardie’s‖volume‖opens‖with‖a‖Preface‖addressed‖not‖to‖Lonsdale,‖but‖to‖
‘Stair‖Hathorn‖Stewart,‖Esq.‖of‖Glasserton’.‖Hardie‖grew‖up‖close‖to‖his‖estate‖in‖
south‖west‖Scotland,‖and‖it‖was‖a‖childhood,‖he‖recalls,‖in‖which‖‘the‖magical‖fire‖
of poesy was kindled‖within‖my‖soul’,‖perhaps‖by‖Stewart‖granting‖him‖access‖to‖
his private library. It was not until he was aged 50 that Hardie composed his first
published‖poem.‖The‖occasion‖was‖the‖death‖of‖a‖‘youthful,‖lamented’‖friend,‖
McCargo. (He insists that all‖his‖poems‖are‖similarly‖occasional:‖‘founded‖on‖facts’‖
and‖‘written‖to‖the‖moment’.)‖After‖writing‖the‖elegy‖to‖McCargo,‖‘the‖long‖
dormant but unextinguished fire ignited in infancy blazed forth before my
doubting‖and‖astonished‖senses’‖and‖he‖found‖himself‖moved‖by‖‘spirit‖of‖
celestial‖minstrelsy’.‖~‖The‖sublime‖of‖inspiration‖is,‖as‖so‖often‖in‖prefatory‖
documents of this type, tinctured by a prosaic insistence upon authorial modesty:
‘Through‖the‖kind‖encouragement‖of‖his‖friends‖and‖numerous‖subscribers, the
Author has been induced to submit his lucubrations to the public; and possessing
but a moderate share of scholastic learning, and being unacquainted with poetic
rule,‖respectfully‖solicits‖the‖indulgence‖of‖the‖critical‖reader.’ ~ The Preface, dated
April 1, 1839, concludes with a dedication to Stewart: ‘The‖fond‖and‖undying‖
recollections of the blissful scenes of my early youth—the unimpaired veneration
for the memory of your honoured ancestors—together with your own amiable
and endearing qualities, prompt me to dedicate to you the first effusions of the
Bard of Glasserton. Honoured by your patronage, and favoured with your name,
my‖untaught‖sympathetic‖song‖may‖cheer‖the‖sad‖and‖calm‖the‖gay‖<’‖~‖There‖
are moments that do indeed cheer and calm within the volume. The elegies are
plainly‖heartfelt,‖and‖the‖satires‖are‖often‖funny.‖In‖‘The‖Herald’s‖Constant‖
Reader’,‖he‖pokes‖fun‖at‖the‖bad‖poetry‖of‖a‖regular‖correspondent‖to‖the‖
Whitehaven Herald (an anti-Lonsdale newspaper). Perhaps this was the poet who
had‖some‖fun‖at‖Hardie’s‖expense,‖by‖inserting,‖also‖in‖the‖Herald,‖poems‖in‖his‖
name:‖the‖episode‖is‖humorously‖recounted‖in‖‘J. H. to J. H , or A Reply to the
Hoax’.‖~‖Yet‖another‖poem‖concerning‖the‖Herald‖more‖obviously‖indicates‖the‖
influence of Lord‖Lonsdale.‖In‖‘Lines,‖Addressed‖to‖The‖Editor‖of‖the‖Whitehaven‖
Herald’,‖Hardie‖makes‖clear‖his‖partisan‖position‖as‖the‖voice‖of‖the‖‘Yellows’‖(the‖
colour‖associated‖with‖Lonsdale’s‖political‖supporters),‖but‖is‖tolerant‖nonetheless‖
of‖the‖Herald’s‖Whiggish‖politics:‖‘The‖Herald‖I‖peruse‖with‖partial‖pleasure,‖/‖Its‖
colour‖chang’d,‖’twould‖be‖a‖real‖treasure.‖/‖’Tis‖well‖conducted,‖venture‖I‖to‖
say— / From dullness free, although both grave and gay,— / Thy hand in
friendship I shall shake some day, / Thou social, kind, good-natur’d,‖clever‖
fellow— /‖At‖once,‖to‖make‖thy‖fortune,‖turn‖a‖yellow.’‖As‖Burke‖has‖argued,‖
Hardie’s‖admiration‖for‖the‖well-edited Herald is premised on its balanced
reluctance to create Dunciad-esque mayhem in the charged political atmosphere in
the‖later‖1830s.‖(Hardie‖notes‖elsewhere‖his‖disdain‖for‖‘fierce‖factions’‖faithless‖
master-men’).‖Nonetheless,‖Hardie‖anticipates‖the‖time,‖‘some‖day’,‖when‖even‖
the Herald will support Lonsdale. This will happen, and indeed ought to happen
‘at‖once’,‖because‖its‖editorial‖line‖is‖essentially‖social‖and‖kind‖(and‖hence‖there‖is‖
no call for Hardie to employ Popean satire), but also because if the editor is as
clever as he seems, he will surely make his political and financial fortune by
throwing his lot in with Lonsdale.‖The‖poem’s‖tone‖is‖noteworthy because it was
written in the context of repeated violent exchanges between the Yellows and the
Blues (supporters of the Whig party). Hardie in this poem and elsewhere is a
promoter of tolerance and‖peace.‖~‖It‖would‖be‖a‖mistake‖to‖think‖that‖Hardie’s‖
horizons are limited, or that his vision does not extend beyond the local and the
partial. He occasionally turns his attention to international concerns—making
reference to the struggles in Poland to its domination by Russia, for example—
and he also produced two poems about Peru. ~ But it is true to say that Hardie is
most‖at‖ease‖when‖describing‖familiar‖scenes‖and‖emotions.‖In‖‘Glasserton’,‖he‖
describes the humble house he was born in, and the Scottish lowland landscape
that surrounded it. For a Scottish poet of the period, it is unusual to find no direct
reference to Robert Burns (qv) in‖Hardie’s‖work,‖but‖there‖is‖no‖doubting‖his‖
familiarity‖with‖Burns’ poem‖‘The‖Vision’‖in‖his‖‘Lines,‖Written‖on‖the First
Anniversary‖of‖the‖Author’s‖Poetical‖Inspiration’. ~ In it, Hardie recalls his
initiation‖into‖verse,‖at‖McCargo’s‖funeral.‖Visiting‖his‖friend’s‖grave,‖‘a‖female‖
fairer‖than‖the‖summer‖skies’‖rises‖from‖the‖tomb‖to‖greet‖him.‖Her‖voice‖is‖‘than‖
Orpheus, sweeter’,‖and‖like‖Coila,‖Burns’ Muse‖in‖‘The‖Vision’,‖she‖reconfirms‖the‖
bard in his poetic vocation and his native voice, telling him: ‘Live‖thou‖a‖poet‖
from sweet April day; / In strains melodious from this present hour / Prompted by
me thy native‖song‖shall‖pour‖/‖To‖sooth‖the‖woes‖entail’d‖on‖human‖nature,‖/‖
And‖banish‖misery‖far‖from‖ev’ry‖creature.‖/‖By‖me‖supported,‖thou‖shalt‖never‖
quail‖/‖To‖envy,‖burning‖with‖a‖rancorous‖tale;‖/‖By‖thee‖o’erthrown‖shall‖dark‖
assassins lie, / And grovelling cowards bite the dust and die. / With powerful
satire‖I‖will‖point‖thy‖pen,‖/‖To‖when‖fierce‖factions’‖faithless‖master-men;— / To
quench‖the‖demagogue’s‖incend’ary‖fire.‖/‖For‖sweet‖philanthropy‖first‖tun’d‖thy‖
lyre./‖~‖Hardie’s‖unswerving‖support‖for‖Lord Lonsdale is principally informed
by‖an‖admiration‖of‖his‖philanthropic‖interests.‖His‖‘Lines, On the Celebration of
the‖Right‖Honourable‖The‖Earl‖of‖Lonsdale’s‖Birth-Day’‖is‖the‖first‖of‖two‖birthday‖
poems written for Lonsdale, in 1836 and 1837. Its occasion is the scene of its first
public‖reading,‖in‖the‖dining‖rooms‖of‖the‖Hensingham‖Inn,‖in‖which‖Lonsdale’s‖
supporters and employees had gathered, as they did every year on December 29,
to toast his birthday. Elsewhere in Cumberland and neighbouring Westmoreland,
similar celebrations were taking place: The Cumberland Pacquet noted of the 1838
festivities‖that‖‘at‖all‖these‖places‖the‖meetings‖were‖kept‖up‖with‖great‖spirit‖and‖
 glee, and all present were delighted with the manner in which the evening was
spent.’ Hardie’s‖poem‖opens‖with‖a‖familiar‖pitch‖for‖patronage,‖and‖its‖syntax‖
and the metre are, for a self-consciously humble offering, aptly awkward. Hardie
asserts‖Lonsdale’s‖masculine‖supremacy‖as‖the‖‘noblest‖chieftain‖of‖the‖noblest‖
line’,‖but‖he always deploys the power of the artfully artless verse that is the
labouring-poet’s‖stock-in-trade, making peace, petitioning for protection and
influence,‖not‖awed‖by‖sublime‖magistracy‖but‖forging‖relations‖of‖‘love’.‖Here,‖
those who love Lord Lonsdale can gather without being harangued by the many
‘vile‖traitors’‖who‖oppose‖his‖Lordship’s‖paternalistic‖values.‖~‖Ref: Tim Burke,
‘‚Yet‖tho’‖I’m‖Irish‖all‖without,‖I’m‖every‖item‖Scotch‖within‛:‖Folk‖Poetry‖and‖
Self-Fashioning‖in‖1790s‖Ulster’,‖JCSJ, 22 (2003), 35-49, and ‘Lord Lonsdale and
His‖Protégés:‖William‖Wordsworth‖and‖John‖Hardie’,‖Criticism, 47, no. 4 (Fall
2005), 515-29. [—Tim Burke]
Hardie, John (b. 1849), of Gamrie, Banffshire, son of a day-labourer, worked as a cow
herder from the age of eleven, after his education had ceased. He independently
developing a love of reading in his teens. At the age of 20 he took a two-year
apprenticeship as a gardener, working on a number of estates until 1890 when he
moved to Brechin and worked as jobbing gardener, before finding permanent
employment as a gardener to‖a‖‘gentleman’‖there. Edwards records that Hardie
had‖always‖been‖interested‖in‖music‖and‖‘often‖amuses‖himself‖in‖his‖leisure‖time‖
by composing and harmonising pieces’. ‘About‖1874’,‖he‖continues,‖‘he became
fascinated by the poems‖and‖articles‖from‖the‖pen‖of‖‚The‖Vicar‖of‖Deepdale‛’.
This was the Revd. Alexander Lamont (b. 1843), a schoolmaster, essayist and poet
who contributed to journals including the Glasgow Weekly Herald, Chambers’
Journal, and the People’s Friend where he published his‖‘Thoughts from Deepdale,
by the Vicar’,‖painting‖an‖idyllic‖picture‖of‖‘one of our sweetest English seaboard
counties’ in ‘rambling‖thoughts’, collected as Wayside Wells; or, Thoughts from
Deepdale (London, 1874): for more on Alexander Lamont see Edwards, 3 (1881),
291-8. Hardie corresponded with Lamont, and Edwards implies that these
exchanges awoke the interest in writing verses he had harboured since childhood.
In his Brechin years he wrote a lot of poetry and contributed to the Brechin
Advertiser and‖other‖newspapers.‖Edwards‖selects‖four‖of‖his‖poems,‖‘Only‖Lent’
(on life being temporary),‖‘O‖Winter‖Days’,‖‘The‖Old‖Mill‖Wheel’‖and‖‘I‖Am‖
Dreaming,‖Often‖Dreaming’. Hardie published one volume, Sprays from the Garden
(Brechin: D. H. Edwards, 1898). ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 351-3. [S]
Hardy, William (fl. 1737), of Oxford, groom, published Poems on Several Subjects by ...
a Poor Groom at Oxford (no imprint, ? Oxford, 1737), 36 pp. The copy in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford, has recently been reprinted in the Gale ECCO Print
Editions series (2010). The‖author’s‖Preface‖describes‖‘his‖Circumstances’‖as‖‘being‖
very‖Mean‖and‖Poor’‖and‖write‖of‖his‖‘having‖a‖Family‖to‖maintain’.‖Having‖being‖
 ‘at‖last‖vastly‖Importun’d‖by‖a‖Friend‖or‖Two’‖to‖bring‖his‖poems‖‘to‖Publick‖
View’,‖he‖has‖done‖so,‖‘trusting‖to‖Fate,‖and‖to‖those‖that‖sill‖be‖so‖propitious‖as‖to‖
Encourage a Natural Genius, in one that is so far from being a Scholar, that he can
scarce distinctly‖Read‖an‖English‖Book’.‖These are familiar strategies of self-
presentation, but as such are very early: Stephen Duck (qv) seems to be the likely
influence on the style of this self-presentation (and perhaps on the occasional dig
at women). The poems are in heroic couplets like‖Duck’s,‖and‖the‖subjects are
unexceptionally‖‘occasional’,‖with‖possible echoes of Duck here and there. The
titles are: ‘Diligence‖and‖Sloth’,‖‘On‖the‖Author’s‖being‖Pro-Porter,‖and‖Resigning’,‖
‘In‖Praise‖of‖a‖Crop Mare’,‖‘On the Gossiping Women at‖his‖own‖Child’s‖
Christening’,‖‘In‖Praise‖of‖Good‖Ale’,‖‘On‖his‖being‖left‖in‖Care‖of‖Two‖Dogs’,‖‘On‖
Himself‖and‖Another,‖finding‖a‖Gentleman’s‖Watch’,‖‘On‖his‖Finding‖a‖Drunken
Man,‖as‖he‖Rode‖out’,‖‘On‖a‖Jobation from his Wife, for Sitting-up at Night to
Study’,‖and‖‘On‖his‖Stirrup Breaking’.‖(A crop-mare is a horse with distinctive
markings, and a jobation is a tedious telling-off.) There are apparent links with the
university in‖the‖‘pro-porter’‖and‖the‖‘lost‖watch’‖narratives, so the lack of an
imprint or subscription list (the book has only a half-title, as Foxon notes) could
perhaps be explained by some member of the university having had it unofficially
or informally printed for the author. ~ Ref: Dobell (1933), 2946; Foxon, 328;
reprinted text as cited. [C18]
Hargrave, Hugh Dunbar (1854-83), of Parkhead, Glasgow, son of a yarn dyer, left
school at ten to work in dye works, later a bricklayer, published Poems, songs and
essays (Glasgow, 1886). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 139-40 and 9, xx; Reilly (1994),
211; NTU. [S] [T]
Hargreaves, Edith (b. 1918), of Burnley Wood, Burnley, cotton mill worker,
Lancashire dialect reciter for many years, latterly (from 1973) a written dialect
poet;‖poems‖include‖‘Reytch‖mi,‖fetch‖mi,‖carry‖mi,‖bring‖mi’,‖published in Cheyp,
13. ~ Ref: Cheyp (1978), 13 and 72. [OP] [T]
Harman, Matthew (b. 1822), of Scarborough, went to sea with the Scarborough
fishing fleet in youth, published Poetic Buds (second edition 1865, revise edition
1874), Wayside Blossoms (1867, revised edition 1883), A Wreath of Rhyme
(Scarborough: James Ainsworth, 1871). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 206-7; NTU.
(?) Harney, (George) Julian (fl. 1849-50), of Kent, Chartist and journalist, founder and
editor of The Red Republican and The Democratic Review (1849-50). ~ Ref: Kovalev
(1956), 125-6; Scheckner (1989), 156, 333-4; Schwab (1993), 193-4; ODNB. [C]
Harper, Francis (b. 1865), of Feughs Glen, Aberdeen, farm worker, published poems
in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 344-7. [S]
Harri, Edward (1752?-1837), of Penderyn, Brecknock, weaver, poet, Unitarian. Two
Welsh‖poems‖survive,‖‘Galargan‖ar‖oi‖ei‖wraig’‖and‖‘Cynghorion‖idd‖ei‖ŵyr’. ~
Ref: DWB. [W] [T]
Harris, John (1820-84), of Camborne, Cornwall, copper miner, worked in Dolcoath
mine, wrote for magazines, including essays on the land question. Harris
published some fifteen collections of poetry, including Lays from the Mine, the
Moor, and the Mountain (1853); The Mountain Prophet, The Mine, and Other Poems
(London: Alexander Heylin, 1860); A Story of Carn Brea, Essays, and Other Poems
(London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1863); Monro (London and Falmouth:
Hamilton, Adams and Co., and The Author, 1879); Linto and Loner [and other
poems] (London and Falmouth, 1881). In addition he published a detailed account
of his life in My Autobiography (London, Falmouth and Exeter, 1882, which
includes a photograph of the poet. He also published prose tales, religious
pamphlets and more ephemeral writings, largely of a religious nature. In 1857 he
left the mines and found a position as a scripture reader at Falmouth. ~ Keegan
and Goodridge note that the‖work‖of‖the‖mines‖and‖the‖miner‖is‖a‖‘recurrent‖and‖
powerful‖topic’‖in‖Harris’s‖poetry,‖and‖argue that he represents this work is heroic
ways.‖An‖example‖is‖the‖poem‖‘The‖Dolcoath‖Man-Engine’, in his first collection,
which‖‘celebrates‖technology,‖progress,‖and‖industrial‖innovation’‖while‖
exhibiting ‘epic‖qualities‖in‖the‖poem’s‖imagery’.‖The‖‘heroes’‖of‖his‖epic‖are‖‘Art
and‖Science,‖sisters‖twin,‖/‖On‖Cornwall’s‖mineral-ground’,‖and‖the‖poet‖uses
classical allusions and imagery to depict the miners.‖Harris’s‖longest poem on
mining, The Mine (1860), is‖‘part‖sentimental‖tale,‖of‖starving‖parents‖and‖a‖son‖
forced to emigrate, and part tale of triumph, of virtue, self-help, and hard work
rewarded’. His epic style bears comparison with other worker-poet depictions of
industry in the period, especially Alexander‖Anderson’s‖(qv)‖heroic‖portrayals‖of‖
the great steam-engines and the railway. Although Harris expressed concern that
his verse portrayals of mining would lack the precision a historian might bring to
the subject, in fact his poetry gives much valuable detail about the winning of tin
and copper and what it involved and cost. In The Mine, the‖miners’‖‘practical‖
intelligence, creativity, and ingenuity are celebrated as what enables his enterprise
to‖prosper’‖(Keegan‖and‖Goodridge). The skills involved in discovering the
copper seams allow for a style of description that is at once practical and poetic,
and also allows this deeply religious writer to celebrate the variety of creation:
‘Copper‖has‖colours‖different‖in‖the‖ores, / As various as the rainbow,—black and
blue / And green and red and yellow as a flower; / Gold‐coloured here, there
dimly‖visible,‖/‖Though‖rich‖the‖same‖in‖measure‖and‖in‖meed.’ ~ Harris continues
to have an active and enthusiastic readership, at least regionally, and there is a
John Harris Society in Cornwall (see below). ~ Ref: John Gill, John Harris, the
Cornish Poet: a lecture on his life and works (Falmouth and Penryn, 1891); Wright
(1896), 231-3; Vincent (1981), 14, 151, 182, 194; Burnett et al (1984), no. 304; Reilly
(1994), 211-12; Sutton (1995), 436 (letters); Reilly (2000), 207-8; Bridget Keegan and
John‖Goodridge,‖‘Modes‖and‖Methods‖in‖Three‖Nineteenth-Century Mineworker
 Poets’,‖Philological Quarterly, 92: 2 (2013), 225-50; The John Harris Society Newsletter;
www.johnharrissociety.org.uk/; ODNB. [M]
(?) Harrison, George (1876-1950), hairdresser, artist and popular Northamptonshire
poet, published A Wanderer in Northamptonshire, with 15 illustrations by the author,
ed. George F. Timpson (London: Mitre Press, 1948), briefly reviewed in the TLS,
28 March 1949, 207. George and Vera Worledge have written several books about
or after Harrison: Wanderers in Northamptonshire: following in the steps of George
Harrison, artist, writer and poet (1876-1830) (Oldbury: Meridian, 1992); Wanderers in
Northamptonshire: the second journey: following further in the steps of George Harrison,
artist, writer and poet (1876-1830) (Oldbury: Meridian, 1994); The Northamptonshire
Poetry and Sketches of George Harrison (1876-1950) (Northampton: Jema
Publications, 1997) ~ Ref: David‖Hall,‖‘Wanderers‖in‖Northamptonshire:‖
Following in the Steps of George Harrison, Artist, Writer and Poet (1876-1950)’,‖
Northamptonshire, Past and Present, 9 (1996-7), 301; Hold (1989), 84-85. [OP]
Harrison, John (1814-89), of Forglen, Aberdeenshire, herd-boy from the age of eight,
seaman, published The Laird of Restalrig’s Daughter (1857), Three Ballads: The Clipper
Screw; Maximilian; Trafalgar (London, 1869). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 195-201 and
12, xv-xvi; Reilly (2000), 208; NTU. [S]
Harrison, Matilda (fl.‖1890),‖of‖Blackburn‖and‖Accrington,‖did‖not‖have‖‘the‖advantages‖
of‖education’. Encouraged by Benjamin Hargreaves and others, she published The
Poet’s Wreath, Being a Selection of Poems (Blackburn:‖‚Express‖and‖Standard‛‖General‖
Printing Works, 1890); among the many memorial poems in the volume is one to
Edwin‖Waugh‖(qv).‖Her‖poem,‖‘An‖Appeal‖for‖the‖Moorfield‖Explosion’‖(1890),‖is‖
reproduced among a selection of such mining disaster poems on the Coalmining
History Resource Centre (CMHRC) webpage. ~ Ref: NTU; text via archive.org. [F]
Harrison, Susannah (1752-84), of Ipswich, a child of poor parents, worked as a
domestic servant from the age of sixteen, then taught herself to read and write.
She was a permanent invalid from 1772. An exclusively religious poet, Harrison
published Songs in the Night; By a Young Woman under Deep Afflictions, ed. John
Conder (London, 1780), which was highly popular and ran through at least fifteen
UK and six US editions by the 1820s. She also published a broadside, A Call to
Britain. ~ Ref: Fullard (1990), 414-18, 557; Landry (1990); Jackson (1993), 145-7;
Cranbrook (2001), 202-3; Backscheider (2005), 407; Keegan (2005), 471-3, 488;
Nancy‖Cho,‖‘‚The‖Ministry‖of‖Song‛:‖Unmarried‖British‖Women’s‖Hymn-Writing,
1730-1936’,‖PhD‖dissertation,‖University‖of‖Durham,‖2007;‖Backscheider (2009),
876; LC 2, 375-86; DNB; Wikipedia. [F] [LC2] [C18]
Harrison, Tony (b. 1937), son of a Leeds baker, poet; Harrison is also a distinguished
playwright and translator, theatre and film director, but considers that all this
work focuses on poetry and that he is a poet, first and last. His poetry has done as
much as any single body of writing in English to articulate the conflicts and
complexities facing the working-class writer, and his insistence on verse, indeed
on formal rhyme and metre, has been a vital ingredient in this. In the most
effective of his poems, such as the Meredithian sixteen-liners he calls‖his‖‘Sonnets‖
‚From‖the‖School‖of‖Eloquence‛’,‖or‖his‖famous‖1985‖city‖elegy,‖v., Harrison is
able to articulate political and cultural conflicts, the big issues, often through
intimately personal and familial materials. As he told Richard Hoggart in a 1986
television‖interview,‖‘The‖metre‖itself‖is‖like‖the‖pulse.‖...‖I‖don’t‖have‖the‖heart‖to‖
confront some experience unless I know I have this rhythm to carry me to the
other‖side.‖It’s‖an‖existential‖need,‖the‖metrical‖form,‖for‖me.’‖(Astley‖ed.,‖42)‖~‖His
most‖essential‖subject‖has‖been‖his‖own‖journey‖as‖a‖‘scholarship‖boy’‖into‖a‖
cultural world that took him away from his working-class family, his roots. Even
at 80 Harrison remains intensely conscious of this schism, and the high price of
his entry into the literary world, notwithstanding his many successes as an
internationally respected film, theatre and printed poet, a past President of both
the Virgil Society and the Classical Association, and the recipient of major prizes
and tributes. At a reading he gave on his 80th birthday at Salts Mill, Shipley, in
April 2017, he reminded the audience of a foolish, patronising conversation about
himself he had once overheard in a theatre bar, the punchline to which was,
‘Yes—and they say he comes from Sheffield!’‖The‖class‖assumptions‖still‖sting,‖
and they feed his art with a spirit of resistance. ~ In addition to his personal-
political poems, Harrison has achieved very considerable success as a journalistic
poet, a theatre poet, a film poet, and an adaptor of classical and European plays,
reflecting the international and multicultural sensibility that sits alongside his
Leeds rootedness. The formal classicism of his poetry is offset by a delight in
informal, popular cultural and linguistic forms, as seen for example in the
characterisation and language of his adaptations of The Mysteries, The Oresteia, and
the play he built around the surviving fragment of Sophocles satyr-play,
‘Ichneutae’, The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus. In these works, he puts non-classical
language into the mouths of the characters, drawing on early northern English
linguistic‖forms‖in‖the‖first‖two‖of‖these,‖and‖informal‖and‖‘vulgar’‖humour‖in‖the‖
third.‖His‖lyrical‖poems,‖such‖as‖‘A‖Kumquat‖for‖John‖Keats’,‖‘Cypress‖and‖
Cedar’,‖or‖more‖recently‖‘Fig‖on‖the‖Tyne’‖and‖‘Fruitility’,‖celebrate‖sensuous‖and‖
earthly delights, food and drink and the pleasures of being alive, as an antidote
both to the tragic horror of war and violence that his poetry elsewhere insists on
‘facing‖up‖to’,‖and‖the‖ascetic religious traditions he firmly resists in favour of a
humanistic‖love‖of‖life‖that‖unflinchingly‖accepts‖its‖strict‖limits‖(‘Life‖has‖a‖skin‖of‖
death‖that‖keeps‖its‖zest’,‖as‖he‖puts‖it‖in‖‘A‖Kumquat‖for‖John‖Keats’).‖His‖poems‖
on the first Gulf War, ‘Initial‖Illumination’‖and‖‘A‖Cold‖Coming’,‖spoke‖
powerfully against the war-drums of the British tabloid press, while his later
verses on the conflicts in former Yugoslavia, true to his internationalism, kept
these events in view for a forgetful and ignorant west. ~ Harrison is neither a
tragic nor a comic poet because he insists on reuniting these twin poles of human
experience‖whose‖cultural‖separation‖has‖followed‖class‖lines.‖(‘I‖played‖the‖
drunken‖porter‖in‖Macbeth’,‖recounts‖one‖of‖the‖‘School‖of‖Eloquence’ sonnets, the
schoolboy placed firmly into the low comedy of his lowly social class). In bringing
together‖classical‖and‖popular,‖formal‖and‖informal‖modes,‖‘high’‖and‖‘low’‖art,‖
tragedy and comedy, Harrison creates powerful webs of resistance to the
compartmentalised and controlled culture of class society, and the western
Christian‖tradition‖which‖historically,‖as‖he‖puts‖it,‖‘drove‖a‖wedge‖into‖human‖
nature‖and‖subverted‖the‖wholeness‖of‖an‖earlier‖imagination’‖(Inky Finger, 208).
An alert analysis of this desire to restore human wholeness in Harrison is Edith
Hall’s‖fine‖essay,‖‘Classics,‖Class‖and‖Cloaca’‖(2007),‖detailed‖below.‖~ Harrison is
highly conscious of the existence and struggles of working-class poets and
writers, and makes reference to a number of them, including John Goodwyn
Barmby (qv, Inky Digit,‖260),‖and‖the‖‘Airedale‖Poet’‖John‖Nicholson‖(1790-1843,
qv), the subject of his play Poetry or Bust (1993), a comic and tragic meditation on
patronage and the price of success for working-class‖poets.‖His‖‘imagined’‖book‖of‖
sonnets,‖‘The‖School‖of‖Eloquence’,‖is‖named‖after‖a‖cover‖name‖for‖secret‖
working-class political meetings of the 1790s, and the sonnets themselves make
numerous references, as his work often does elsewhere, to working-class history
and culture. ~ Ref: Manuscripts: Tony‖Harrison’s‖manuscripts‖and‖papers,‖1953-
2009, are now housed in the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, Special
Collections, comprising 132 working notebooks and 88 boxes of archival
materials. ~ Individual Works: Earthworks (Leeds: Northern House, 1964); The
Lysistrata of Aristophanes, trans. and adapted by T.W. Harrison and James
Simmons‖(Ibadan:‖Oxford‖University‖Press,‖1966);‖‘English‖Virgil:‖The‖Aeneid‖in‖
the‖XVIII‖Century’,‖Philologica Pragensia, 10 (1967), 1-11 and 80-91 [again as T. W.
Harrison, two scholarly articles]; Newcastle is Peru (Newcastle upon Tyne: Eagle
Press, 1969; second edition Newcastle upon Tyne: Northern House, 1974); The
Loiners (London: London Magazine Editions, 1970); The Misanthrope (London: Rex
Collins, 1973); Palladas: Poems (London: Anvil Press, 1975); Phaedra Britannica
(London: Rex Collins, 1975, third edition 1976); Bow Down (London: Rex Collins,
1977); From ‘The School of Eloquence’ and Other Poems (London: Rex Collins, 1978);
Continuous: 50 Sonnets from’ The School of Eloquence’ (London: Rex Collins, 1981); A
Kumquat for John Keats (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, 1981); The Oresteia
(London: Rex Collins, 1981); US Martial (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books,
1981); The Fire Gap: A Poem with Two Tails (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1985);
The Mysteries (London: Faber, 1985); v. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books,
1985; extended edition with press comment, 1989, 1991); The Trackers of
Oxyrhynchus (London: Faber, 1990); A Cold Coming (Newcastle upon Tyne:
Bloodaxe Books, 1991); The Common Chorus: A Version of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
(London: Faber, 1992); The Gaze of the Gorgon (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe
Books, 1992); Square Rounds (London: Faber, 1992); Black Daisies for the Bride
(London: Faber, 1993); Poetry or Bust (Shipley: Salts Estates, 1993) [John Nicholson
1790-1843, qv]; A Maybe Day in Kazakhstan (London: Channel 4 Television, 1994);
Victor Hugo/Tony Harrison, Le Roi s’amuse/The Prince’s Play (London: Faber,
1996); Prometheus (London: Faber, 1998); Laureate’s Block and Other Poems (London:
Penguin, 2000); Hecuba by Euripides, trans. Harrison (London: Faber, 2005); Under
the Clock (London: Penguin, 2005); Fram (London: Faber, 2008); Polygons (Shipley:
Salts Mill, 2017) ~ Audiovisual Records of‖Harrison’s‖diverse‖film,‖television‖and‖
theatre work are hard to find, partly because of his liking for what he calls
‘kamikaze‖projects’,‖often‖unrecorded‖one-off theatrical performances in specific
locations, and partly for assorted copyright and distributional reasons. Richard
Eyre’s‖film‖,‖v. (1987), built around a live reading of that poem by Harrison,
illuminates‖its‖subject‖excitingly‖and‖well.‖Harrison’s‖feature‖film‖Prometheus
(1998) is worth seeking‖out‖(it‖preceded‖Ridley‖Scott’s‖blockbuster‖of‖the‖same‖
title,‖whose‖existence‖however‖makes‖it‖harder‖to‖search‖for‖Harrison’s‖film).‖A‖
film record of The Oresteia (1983) is available on YouTube. ~ Collected editions:
Theatre Works 1983-1985 (London: Penguin, 1985); Selected Poems, second edition
(London: Penguin, 1987); Permanently Bard: Selected Poetry, ed. Carol Rutter
(Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, 1995); The Shadow of Hiroshima and Other
Film Poems (London: Faber, 1995); Plays, 1-5 (London: Faber, 1999-2004); Collected
Poems (London: Penguin Viking, 2007); Collected Film Poetry (London: Faber, 2007);
The Inky Finger of Defiance: Selected Prose, ed. with an Introduction by Edith Hall
(London: Faber, 2017) ~ Selected secondary Works: John R. Kaiser, Tony Harrison:
A Bibliography 1957-1987 (London: Mansell, 1987); Bloodaxe Critical Anthologies: 1
Tony Harrison, ed. Neil Astley (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, 1991);
Luke Spencer, The Poetry of Tony Harrison (Brighton: Harvester, 1994); Joe
Kelleher, Tony Harrison (Plymouth: Northcote House, 1996); Sandie Byrne (ed),
Tony Harrison: Loiner (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997); Sandie Byrne, Tony
Harrison: H, v. and O (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998); Lorna
Hardwick (ed), Tony Harrison’s Poetry, Drama and Film: The Classical Dimension
(Milton Keynes: The Open University, 1999); Antony Rowland, Tony Harrison and
the Holocaust (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2001); Hans Osterwalder,
‘Eros/Thanatos‖a‖Pair’:‖The‖Dialectic‖of‖Life‖and‖Death‖in‖Tony‖Harrison’s‖
Laureate’s Block’,‖Critical Survey, 17, no. 3 (2005), 85-99;‖J.‖C.‖Pellicer,‖‘‚Still‖under‖
that‖Hawthorn!‛:‖Pastoral‖in‖Tony‖Harrison’s‖Elegy‖in‖an‖Urban‖Graveyard’,‖in‖
Pastoral in the Humanities: Arcadia Reinscribed, ed. Mathilde Skoie and Sonia
Velasquez‖(Exeter:‖Bristol‖Phoenix‖Press,‖2006);‖John‖Whale,‖‘John‖Keats‖and‖Tony‖
Harrison:‖The‖Burden‖of‖History’,‖in‖Damian‖Walford‖Davies‖and‖Richard‖
 Marggraf Turley (eds), The Monstrous Debt: Modalities of Romantic Influence in
Twentieth Century Literature (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2006), 163-80;
Edith‖Hall,‖‘Classics,‖Class‖and‖Cloaca:‖Harrison’s‖Humane‖Coprology’,‖Arion, 15,
no. 2 (2007), 83-108; Simon‖Dentith,‖‘‚I‖chewed‖up‖Litererchewer‛:‖Literature‖and‖
Standard‖English‖in‖Tony‖Harrison,‖Seamus‖Heaney‖and‖Derek‖Walcott’,‖Key
Words, 6 (2008), 61-75; J.‖C.‖Pellicer,‖‘‚And‖Doubly‖Sweet‖a‖Brotherhood‖of‖Song‛:‖
Allusion‖and‖Imitation‖in‖Tony‖Harrison’s‖A Kumquat for John Keats’,‖English, 57
(2008), 84-97; Sean Sheehan, The Poetry of Tony Harrison (London: Greenwich
Exchange, 2008); Christine‖Regan,‖‘The‖Presence‖of‖Rimbaud‖in‖the‖Verse‖of‖Tony‖
Harrison’,‖English, 64 (June 2015), 116-30; Christine Regan, The Rimbaud of Leeds:
The Political Character of Tony Harrison’s Poetry (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press,
2016); Jack‖Windle,‖‘‚It‖have‖a‖kind‖of‖communal‖feeling‖with‖the‖working‖class‖
and‖the‖spades‛:‖Sam‖Selvon,‖Tony‖Harrison,‖and‖‚Colonization‖in‖Reverse‛’, in
Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 352-66. [OP]
Hart, Alexander Morrison (b. 1853), of Maryhill, Glasgow, papermill worker,
stationery manager. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 231-2. [S]
(?) Hart, Samuel (fl. c. 1840),‖miller’s‖son,‖quack-doctor and parish verse-maker of
Kettleburgh, Suffolk, published a Poem on the Coronation and Marriage of...Queen
Victoria (undated, c. 1840). ~ Ref: Cranbrook (2001), 204.
Harte, Laurence (b. 1863), of Clonroche, County Wexford, police sergeant in the
Royal Irish Constabulary, had poems printed in several Irish papers, and has two
poems‖in‖Paul‖(1894),‖vol.‖2.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 186. [I]
Hartley,‖Elizabeth‖(b.‖1844),‖of‖Dumbarton,‖gardener’s‖daughter,‖a‖sickly‖child‖who‖
left school at eight and was self-taught, committing poems to memory from an
early age;‖her‖poems‖create‖a‖‘strange,‖allegorical‖landscape’‖(Bold). She published
The Prairie Flower, and Other Poems (Dumbarton, 1870). ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 181-
6; Bold (1997), 254-5; Reilly (2000), 209. [F] [S]
Hartley, John (1838-1915), of Halifax, pattern designer of worsted goods, worked in
the‖Halifax‖dialect,‖and‖made‖a‖‘really‖substantial‖income’‖from‖dialect‖writing‖
and later worked in America as a small businessman. Hartley published Yorkshire
Lyrics: Poems Written in the Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding of Yorkshire, To which
are added a selection of Fugitive Pieces not in the Dialect (London: W. Nicholson,
1898). Hartley also has has four Yorkshire dialect poems in the England
anthology:‖‘Wayvin’‖Music’,‖‘To‖a‖Daisy’,‖‘Bite‖Bigger’,‖‘Give‖’Em‖It‖’Ot’.‖Bite
Bigger, which he originally sold as a penny broadsheet throughout the West
Riding, writes of hurrying through town to work, and only having tuppence to
give to a poor beggar. Hartley wrote a great deal about the poverty of his district,
in poetry and prose. He edited the popular Original Illuminated Clock Almanack
from 1866 (Moorman, and K.E. Smith in the Intro to England give 1867) until his
death in 1915, when Walter Hampson (qv) took over. Hartley wrote a number of
 books‖about‖his‖character‖‘Sammywell‖Grimes’,‖who‖‘has‖a‖series‖of‖adventures‖
and‖suffers‖unfortunate‖mishaps’. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 74; Andrews (1885), 68-
74; Moorman (1917), xxxv-xxxvi, 62-7, 135-6 (gives birthdate as 1839); Smith, West
(1982); England (1983), 17, 44, 54, 63; antiquarian bookseller descriptions via
Abebooks; NTU. [T]
Harvey,‖William‖(b.‖1874),‖‘Sterlini’,‖of‖Stirling,‖son‖of‖a‖coach‖painter‖who‖died
when William was three months old; apprenticed to a hatter at eleven, he
completed his apprenticeship but then moved to another trade, becoming a
carriage-trimmer in a large carriage-building enterprise in 1889. After winning an
essay competition connected‖with‖the‖Boys’‖Brigade‖he‖began‖contributing verse,
as‖‘Sterlini’,‖to‖The Stirling Sentinel, where he also published ‘a‖series‖of‖articles‖in‖
prose‖and‖verse,‖mostly‖of‖a‖legendary‖character,‖entitled‖‚Scottish‖Lays‖and‖
Legends‛’‖(Edwards), and other materials. In 1892 he won another essay
competition‖for‖an‖essay‖on‖‘The‖Scottish‖Covenants’.‖As‖Edwards‖puts‖it,‖‘Mr‖
Harvey’s‖poems,‖like‖his‖prose,‖very‖frequently‖have‖for‖their‖theme‖the‖scenes‖
and traditions of his native land.’‖Edwards‖prints‖two‖samples‖of‖his‖poetry,‖‘The‖
Dying‖Pilgrim’‖and‖‘The‖Scottish‖Clans’,‖the‖latter‖sub-titled‖‘(Written‖at‖the‖
Gathering-Stone‖of‖the‖highland‖army‖on‖the‖field‖of‖Sherriffmuir)’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 15 (1893), 403-6. [S]
Hatton, Ann Julia or Julia Ann (1764-1838), ‘Ann‖of‖Swansea’,‖née Kemble, other
married name Curtis, b. in Worcester into a theatre family, congenitally lame,
later scarred by smallpox, received little education, claimed to have been
neglected and abandoned by her (middle class) family, married C. Curtis (d. 1817)
in a union that proved bigamous and was abandoned by Curtis (though she
published‖her‖first‖volume‖of‖poems‖as‖‘Ann‖Curtis’); became an apprentice
mantua maker; a newspaper advertisement in 1783 accused her family of neglect
and solicited donations‖for‖her‖relief;‖lectured‖at‖James‖Graham’s‖‘Temple‖of‖
Health’;‖attempted‖suicide‖by‖poison‖in‖Westminster‖Abbey;‖was‖working‖at‖a‖
bagnio in 1789, when a press report indicates she was accidentally shot in the eye;
married William Hatton in 1792 and travelled to America (where she addressed
the‖New‖York‖Democratic‖Society‖and‖wrote‖the‖libretto‖for‖an‖opera,‖‘Tammany,‖
or,‖the‖Indian‖Chief’‖1794),‖but‖returned‖to‖Britain‖and‖settled‖in‖Swansea‖in‖1799,‖
where they purchased and ran a bath house. Hatton was involved in the Swansea
theatre scene and she was well-received in several roles, despite her physical
disabilities. When William died (1806), Hatton ran a dancing school in Kidwelly;
she returned and settled in Swansea in 1809, and claimed to receive financial
assistance from her family on condition that she not come within 100 miles of
them; died in relative isolation, and though‖she‖was‖brought‖up‖Protestant,‖‘it‖is‖
said‖that‖she‖died‖a‖Catholic‖like‖her‖father’‖(ODNB). She published numerous
novels, and the poetical volumes Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1783); Poetic
 Trifles (1811). In 1832 she sought a subscription for a third volume, to be titled
Fifty-Two Poetic Cumaean Leaves. Predicting the Destiny of Ladies and Gentlemen. ~
Ref: OCLW (1986); Gramich and Brennan; Brennan (2003), 42-62; ODNB. [F] [W]
[C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Hatton, Edmund (b. 1844), of Bradford, has two Yorkshire dialect poems in the
England‖anthology:‖‘Fettlin’‖Neet’‖and‖‘Poor‖Barns’,‖and‖two‖in Holroyd including
‘Ahr‖Maggie’. Hatton writes autobiographically of poverty and hardship and
from the evidence of his poetry seems to be a working man. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873),
12, 75-6; England (1983), 31, 40.
Hawkins, Susannah (1787-1868), of Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, uneducated
blacksmith’s‖daughter,‖cattle‖herder‖and‖dairymaid:‖the‖proprietor‖of‖the‖Dumfries
Courier published her volumes for free and she sold them door to door for 50
years, travelling as far as Manchester. She published The Rural Enthusiast, and
Other Poems (London, 1808); The Poetical Works (Dumfries, 1829); The Poems and
Songs of Susanna Hawkins. Vol.‖8.‖(Dumfries:‖W.‖R.‖M’Diarmid,‖1866); Vols. 1-10
appeared 1829-61. Her poems‖include‖‘To‖the Honourable Lady Jane Johnston
Doublas’,‖‘A‖Hymn’, ‘To Mrs. M.’, ‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖James‖Steward,‖Esq.’,‖‘To F. C.
Professor of Chemistry’, ‘On a Ship That was Overturned at Tynemouth in a
Storm’,‖‘Satan‖and‖Falsehood’‖and,‖perhaps‖her‖most‖ambitious,‖‘Art‖and‖Nature’.
~ Ref: Miller (1910), 238-41; Jackson (1993), 150; Meehan (2008), 72-86; DNB; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Hawkins, Walter Thomas (b. 1855), of Tilbury, moved to Annan, Dumfriesshire in
childhood, later a manufacturer in Huddersfield; published Bolter’s Barn (1888);
prose works and magazine poems. ~ Ref: Miller (1910), 313-14. [S]
Hawthorne, John (fl. 1779), linen weaver, soldier, published Poems, By John Hawthorn,
Light Dragoon in the Inniskilling Regiment (Salisbury, 1779). ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1984),
653-6; ESTC. [C18] [T]
Hay, Alexander (b. 1826), of Newcastle upon Tyne, apprentice cabinet-maker,‖ship’s‖
carpenter, tutor, journalist, songwriter. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 560-4.
Haynes, Lemuel (1753-1833), servant in Massachusetts, had an African father and
white mother, fought in the Revolutionary War and became a preacher; poems
circulated in MS but not published until 1980s. ~ Ref: Basker (2002), 229.
(?) Haynes, William (fl. 1871),‖cadet‖bandsman‖on‖the‖HMS‖Phoebe‖‘at‖a‖time‖when‖
all officers‖and‖cadets‖were‖required‖to‖keep‖a‖log‖during‖their‖voyages’. He
published My Log. A Journal of the Proceedings of the Flying Squadron. Dedicated to
Captain Bythesea (Devonport, 1871), a verse-log of a voyage to Australia via South
America, returning via Japan. ~ Ref: John Hart, catalogue 69, item 145.
(?) Head, Catherine (fl. 1837),‖sailor’s‖wife,‖poet,‖translator‖and‖novelist,‖published
Sketches in Prose and Poetry, by K.H. (London: 1837); The Seven First Cantos of the
Messiah; A Poem, by Friedrich Gottlied Klopstock: Translated [from the German] into
 English verse (1826); Rybrent de Cruce, a novel published in 1829. Sketches was
published by subscription, and the author expresses gratitude towards a Mrs
Muspratt. Head laments that the death of a sailor does not bring an annuity to his
widow as the death of a soldier would. However, it is unclear whether she is
struggling herself, writing to support‖sailors’‖widows,‖or‖both.‖She‖appears‖fairly‖
learned, having travelled with her husband and knowing several languages; the
book alternates verse and prose and includes accounts of experiences in Ireland,
from riots to the kindness of peasants, and comment on what life is like for sailors
and their wives. ~ Ref: Samuel Halkett, Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous
English Literature (New York: 1971), V, 236; works as cited. [F] [—Dawn Whatman]
Heany, James (fl. 1738), bookbinder, author of Oxford, the Seat of the Muses, a Poem by
J. H., to which are added some original Pieces by the same Hand: with a Preface giving
Some Account of the Author (Oxford: Printed by L. Litchfield for the Author, 1738,
Dobell 2956). This is a 14-page book whose preface and the other poems suggests
someone who has travelled in the west country and has probably lived in Dublin,
though he now works as a bookbinder,‖‘settled‖to‖business‖with‖Mr‖Broughton’.
The first line of the main poem (an eight page descriptive poem of the beauties of
Oxford),‖‘Could‖my‖Hibernian Muse but‖soar‖on‖high’, evidences an Irish origin.
The‖poem‖is‖dedicated‖‘To‖the‖Learned‖Governors‖of‖the‖University‖of‖Oxford’. ~
Ref: Dobell (1933), 2956; text via Google books. [C18] [I]
Heath, George (1844-69),‖of‖Gratton,‖Staffordshire,‖known‖as‖‘The‖Moorland‖Poet’‖
and‖‘The‖Invalid‖Poet’,‖educated‖at‖village‖school,‖worked‖on‖his‖father’s‖farm,‖
then as an apprentice builder, published two slim volumes: Preludes (1865; second
edition, 1866, as Simple Poems); and Heart Strains (1866). Both were printed locally,
the latter by Mr Hallowes of Leek, Heath died of consumption at the age of 25.
His work was gathered as The Poems of George Heath, selected and arranged by J.
Badnall, with a memoir by F. Redfern, memorial edition (1870; second edition
1880). His gravestone‖is‖in‖Horton‖churchyard.‖‘Death and the frustration of
unfulfilled ambition are the two major themes of his poetry, and the epitaph on
his‖gravestone‖reveals‖his‖own‖belief‖that‖his‖work‖would‖be‖forgotten:‖‚His‖life‖is‖
a fragment—a broken clue— / His harp had a musical string or two, / The tension
was great, and they sprang and flew, / And a few brief strains-a scattered few— /
Are‖all‖that‖remain‖to‖mortal‖view‖/‖Of‖the‖marvellous‖song‖the‖young‖man‖knew’‖
(Patrick Regan, email to the present editor, 2002). ~ Ref: Poole & Markland (1928),
254-60; Maidment (1987), 19; inf. Patrick Regan and the George Heath web page;
additional links via the Shropshire and Staffordshire county web pages; NTU.
Heath, Noah (b. c. 1780), of Sneyd Green, Stoke, operative potter, later modeller and
moulder, paralysed by an operation following a dog-bite, published Miscellaneous
Poems, I (Hanley: James Amphlett, 1823) and II (Burslem: S. Brougham, 1829). ~
Ref: Poole & Markland (1928), 131-2; inf. Patrick Regan.
Heaton, William (1801-70), handloom weaver of Halifax: he was a carpet weaver for
Messrs‖Crossley’s‖of‖Halifax‖for‖eight‖years‖(his‖second‖volume is dedicated to
John‖Crossley),‖and‖later‖keeper‖of‖the‖People’s‖Park; published The Flowers of
Calder Dale (1847), and The Old Soldier, The Wandering Lover and Other Poems,
together with a sketch of the Author’s Life (London, 1857). ~ Ref: Athenaeum, 21
August 1858, (review); Holroyd (1873), 50-1, 70-1; Andrews (1885), 79-81;
Thompson, (1963, 2013), 324; Vicinus (1974) 141, 149-51, 169, 177; Vincent (1981),
124-5, 183; Burnett et al (1984), no. 317; Maidment (1987), 344-7; LC 5, 205-20. [LC5]
[T]
(?) Heavisides, Edward Marsh (1820-49), of Stockton-on-Tees, a young printer and
poet who died of cholera. He published Songs of the Heart (1945); and
posthumously, The Poetical and Prose Remains, ed. Henry Heavisides,‖‘Author‖of‖
‚The‖Pleasures‖of‖Home‛’ (London: Longmans, 1850), with a list of subscribers
mainly from the North-East,‖and‖two‖tributary‖poem,‖‘A‖Tribute‖to‖the‖Memory‖of‖
Edward Marsh Heavisides; by T. J. Cleaver (Thomas John Cleaver, qv, who is also
the subject of a sonnet in the book), and ‘To‖the‖Memory‖of‖Edward‖Marsh‖
Heavisides’‖by‖George‖Tweddell.‖The‖editor‖was‖the‖poet’s‖father, himself a
published poet. It was printed in Stockton. The first section comprises five short
chapters on the writings of Charles Dickens. ~ Ref: inf. Bob Heyes.
(?) Hebenton, Edward (1842-87), of East Memus, Tannardyce, Forfarshire, youngest
of‖a‖large‖family,‖followed‖the‖others‖into‖‘an‖early‖apprenticeship‖to‖toil’‖but‖
physical‖weakness‖drove‖him‖to‖clerical‖work‖and‖a‖solicitor’s‖apprenticeship,‖
later a Clerk at Register House, Edinburgh. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 53-6. [S]
(?) Hedley, George Roberts (b. 1833), of Ovington, Northumberland, farmer in the
Newcastle upon Tyne area, published Ballads, and other poems (London, 1885). ~
Ref: Reilly (1994), 219.
Heggie, John (b. 1859), of Scotlandwells, Kinross, son of a small farmer who died
when his son was fifteen; worked as a clerk in Glasgow. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884),
318-21. [S]
Hemingway, John (fl. 1764), shoemaker poet of Halifax, published a magazine poem
as‖from‖a‖fellow‖worker‖to‖James‖Woodhouse‖(qv),‖dated‖1764:‖‘Verses‖addressed‖
to‖James‖Woodhouse,‖By‖a‖Brother‖Craft’,‖published in Lloyd’s Evening Post,
London, England, May 23rd-25th 1764, no, 1072. ~ Ref: journal as cited; inf. Steve
Van-Hagen. [C18] [SM]
Henderson,‖Daniel‖M’Intyre‖(b.‖1851),‖of‖Glasgow,‖wholesale‖draper,‖emigrated‖to‖
Baltimore, book-keeper, published poems in local and US newspapers. ~ Ref: Ross
(1889), 90-7; Edwards, 6 (1883), 115-20 and 12 (1889), 140-45 (this looks like an
accidental duplication by Edwards: he does the entry twice, quite differently and
largely using different poems). [S]
(?) Henderson, Duncan (d. 1832), grocer and correspondent of Cobbett, poet. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 121-26. [S]
(?) Henderson, Fred (1867-1957),‖of‖Norwich,‖clothier’s‖son,‖socialist‖activist,‖poet‖
and songwriter, journalist; published several books of verse, including By the Sea
and Other Poems (second edition, London: T. F. Unwin, 1892); poems including
‘Song‖of‖Springtide’‖also‖appeared‖in‖anthologies;‖described‖as‖‘one‖of‖the‖few‖
workers‖who‖provided‖songs‖for‖the‖*socialist+‖movement’. ~ Ref: Chris Waters,
British Socialists and the Politics of Popular Culture 1884-1914 (Stanford, 1990); text
cited via www.archive.org; not in ODNB but has a Wikipedia entry.
(?) Henderson, James (b. c. 1850), of Edrim Glebe, County Donegal, the son of
Andrew Henderson, was for many years jeweller and general merchant, printing
poems in The Derry Journal, Derry Sentinel, Donegal Independent, Belfast Weekly
News,‖and‖other‖newspapers.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 190. [I]
Henderson, William (b. 1831), of Biggar, Lanarkshire, compositor for the publishing
company Constable in Edinburgh, later worked in London, poet. ~ Ref: Edwards,
7 (1884), 278-84. [S]
Henrietta, Frank (1837-83), of Glasgow, the son of a home-working handloom
weaver who died when he was five, leaving a mother of four (seven others had
died in infancy or childhood). Edward says that Frank was‖‘at‖a‖tender‖age‖sent‖to‖
the‖‚ca’in’‖o’‖pirns‛’,‖that‖is‖he‖was‖given‖the‖job‖of‖filling‖weaver’s‖bobbins‖(DSL,
‘pirn’,‖n.1,1,1,‖(22)), a task generally reserved for the old and infirm and for small
children. An older brother taught him to read, and he was able to join a
circulating‖library‖before‖he‖was‖ten.‖He‖then‖worked‖as‖a‖barber’s boy for a
shilling a week, eventually completed his apprenticeship in this trade, after which
he went‖‘on‖the‖tramp’‖(Edwards),‖working‖in‖England‖before‖enlisting‖in‖the‖East‖
India Local Forces. He fought on the North-Western Frontier in the aftermath of
the Indian Mutiny. He returned to England in 1869, and then to Airdrie to resume
his old profession. Henrietta‖wrote‖a‖series‖of‖‘Short‖Tales‖by‖an‖Old‖Soldier’ and
also wrote sketches and poems for the newspapers. He had begun writing poetry
in 1873, and published a collection, Poems and Lyrics (Airdrie: Baird & Hamilton,
Advertiser Office, 1879) which was well received. Some of his songs were set to
music and published in the Academy Vocalist, the series of musical primers printed
by Swan & Sons, London in the period (they are often undated). Edwards prints
four verses in‖English‖or‖Scots,‖‘It’s‖Not‖Enough’,‖‘I‖Dearly‖Lo’e’,‖‘Bonnie‖Jean’‖
and‖‘A‖Wish’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 165-9 and 9, xxiii; Knox (1930), 193-7;
Reilly (2000), 217; sources as cited. [S]
Hepburn, David (b. 1857),‖of‖Drumard,‖near‖Draperstown,‖County‖Derry,‖‘of‖a‖
family‖long‖settled‖there’,‖educated‖at‖the‖local‖National‖School,‖and‖worked‖
successively as a farm-hand, a navvy on the American rail-roads,‖and‖a‖draper’s‖
assistant in Belfast, Glasgow, and London, where he was living from 1882. He
 married in 1886. Hepburn published, jointly with Dugald MacFadyen, Lays and
Legends of the North of Ireland (London, 1884?), under the pen-names‖of‖‘Carrick-a-
Leaghan’‖and‖‘Slievegallion’.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 193 [I]
Herald, Alexander (c. 1802-65),‖postmaster‖of‖Guthrie,‖‘suffered‖greatly‖from‖various‖
maladies’,‖published Amusements of Solitude (1845). ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 221-2.
[S]
Herbert, Henry (1816?-76?), of Fairford, Gloucester, shoemaker poet, published
Autobiography of Henry Herbert, a Gloucestershire Shoemaker and Native of Fairford [in
verse] (Gloucester, 1866; second edition, Gloucester: printed for the author, 1876).
~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 324; Reilly (2000), 219. [SM]
Herbison, David (1800-80), ‘The‖Bard‖of‖Dunclug’,‖of Ballymena, County Antrim,
son of an innkeeper, blinded at three, sight regained later, emigrated to Canada,
survived a shipwreck, returned to Ballymena as a weaver; published in Ulster
periodicals, and as follows: Midnight Musings (1848); The Snow-wreath (Belfast and
Ballymena, 1869); Children of the Year, with Other Poems and Songs (Belfast and
Ballymena, 1879); The Fate of M'Quillan and O'Neill's Daughter (1841); The Woodland
Wanderings (1858). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974); Reilly (2000), 219; DUB; NTU. [I] [T]
Herd, Richard (fl. 1837), shepherd of Howgill, published Scraps of Poetry. An Essay on
Free Trade (Kirkby‖Lonsdale:‖printed‖by‖Arthur‖Foster,‖1837);‖contains‖‘Sir‖Walter‖
Scott’‖and‖‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖Lord‖Byron’, the majority of the poems composed
‘while‖wandering‖upon‖the‖lofty‖fells‖of‖Howgill,‖in‖his‖occupation‖as‖a‖shepherd,‖
without pen or paper, when the ear alone was consulted...not only composed, but
committed to memory, amended, and corrected in the author’s‖mind...as‖in‖the‖
case of the poet Bloomfield’‖(Robert Bloomfield, qv). Ref: Johnson (1992), item 428.
Hersee, William (1786-1854),‖of‖Coldwaltham,‖Surrey,‖ploughboy,‖later‖‘for‖many‖
years’‖Accountant‖to‖the‖Chief‖Officer‖of‖the‖Honourable‖Board‖of‖Excise; printer,
publisher, editor. According to an article in the Surrey Mirror (13 July 1928,
‘abridged‖from‖an‖account‖his‖life’‖in‖the‖Sussex County Magazine, October 1927),
Hersee‖was‖‘baptised‖at‖Coldwaltham,‖Sussex,‖where‖his‖father‖was‖a‖
wheelwright, and‖small‖farmer,‖on‖February‖12th,‖1786’.‖He‖attended‖a‖dame‖
school,‖‘but‖at‖an‖early‖age‖he‖began‖to‖take‖his‖share‖in‖the‖work‖of‖the‖little‖farm,‖
and‖he‖had‖no‖further‖education.’‖Following‖the‖publication‖of‖his‖first‖volume,‖in‖
1808,‖he‖‘obtained‖a‖clerkship in the Excise Office, and he therefore went to
London‖where‖he‖lived‖for‖more‖than‖20‖years’.‖He‖‘continued‖to‖write‖poetry‖an‖
magazine articles, and his official duties were not so arduous as to prevent his
starting a business as a printer and publisher in a small way, a project that
involved‖him‖in‖constant‖financial‖difficulties’.‖From‖1831-52 he edited the
Warwick Advertiser,‖and‖‘died‖at‖Warwick‖on‖August‖6th‖1854’.‖According‖to‖his‖
obituary in GM. He published Poems (1808), dedicated to William Hayley and
containing‖a‖‘Sonnet‖to‖Mr‖Bloomfield’;‖Poems Rural and Domestic (Chichester:
 printed by W. Mason for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, and Johnson
and Co, London, 1810). Robert Bloomfield (qv) was a subscriber to this volume,
which had gone‖into‖an‖expanded‖third‖edition‖by‖1822‖(to‖which‖was‖added‖‘A‖
tribute‖of‖gratitude‖to‖the‖memory‖of‖W.‖Hayley,‖and‖several‖other‖pieces’).‖Also‖
published The Fall of Badajoz. A Poem (Chichester, 1812); The Battle of Vittoria, A
Poem (London, 1813); The Tomb of Love, and Other Poems (London, 1822, no copy
traced);‖‘Triumph‖and‖Benevolence,‖A‖Poem’‖(GM, xcix, 1829, 632-4), and the
prose work, The Spirit of the General Letters and Orders Issued by the Honourable
Board of Excise for the Guidance of Officers of Every Station, from 1700- to 1827
inclusive (London,‖1827)‖and‖‘two‖others‖in‖the‖same‖class’,‖one‖a‖‘Guide‖to‖Inn-
Holders’‖and‖the‖other‖‘The‖Excise‖Trader’s‖Guide’‖(GM). Ref: Obituary, GM
(April 1855); Johnson (1992), item 429. [—Sam Ward]
Hetrick, Robert (1769-1849), brought up a weaver, later became blacksmith,
published Poems and Songs (Ayr, 1826), which includes‖a‖‘Prologue‖to‖the‖Gentle‖
Shepherd’ (of Allan Ramsay, qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 368-71; Johnson (1992),
item 431. [S] [T] [B]
Heughan, Joseph (b. 1836), of Auchencairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, blacksmith who
‘early‖began‖to‖write‖verses,‖most‖of‖which‖are‖remarkable‖for‖the‖uncouth,‖old-
fashioned Galloway words they contain, and for their richness in Biblical and
classical references’. ~ Ref: Harper (1889), 262. [S] [B]
(?)‖Hewit, John (fl. before 1893), of Auchecrow, labourer and farm-labourer, wrote
songs‖and‖ballads‖on‖the‖‘Witches‖of‖Edincraw’,‖unpublished. ~ Ref: Crockett
(1893), 293. [S]
Hewitt, Alexander (1778-1850) of Lintlaw, Bunkle, Berwickshire, sailor, ploughman,
published Poems (Berwick, 1807). ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 114-16. [S]
Hewitt, James (b. 1847), born in Essex, settled in Perth as a garment dyer, published
in the Perth Citizen, Scottish Guardian. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 242-4, [S] [T]
(?) Hewitt, Richard (d. 1794), companion and amanuensis to the poet Blacklock (qv);
author‖of‖‘Roslin‖Castle’‖and‖other‖Scottish‖lyrics. ~ Ref: Eyre-Todd (1896), II, 86.
[S] [C18]
(?) Hick, William (fl. 1840), Leeds Chartist, author of Chartist Songs and Other Pieces
(Leeds: Hobson, 1840). Janowitz discusses and quotes from a poem in which he
writes of the transportation to Tasmania of the leader of the Newport uprising,
John Frost, and others,‖‘internalising‖place‖as‖commitment’‖(‘The‖people’s‖friends‖
in‖dungeons‖pine;‖/‖And‖some‖are‖banished‖‚far‖away,‛‖/‖Whose‖only‖fault, whose
only crime, / Was that, to break despotic sway’‖(155-6). Chase notes that Hick was
the Secretary of the Leeds Total Abstinence Charter Association, and wrote poems
‘eulogising‖*Feargus+‖O’Connor‖as‖well‖as‖deploring‖the‖demon‖drink’‖(147).‖
Bowen‖and‖Pickering‖list‖Hick’s‖book‖among‖a‖group‖of‖songbooks‖produced‖by‖
Chartists,‖relating‖them‖to‖Chartism’s‖role‖as‖‘the‖first nation-wide movement of
 working people animated by a fierce sense of independence and abrasive class-
consciousness’‖(193,‖210‖note‖3)~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 89-90; Scheckner (1989), 157-
8, 334; Janowitz (1998); Schwab (1993), 194; Malcolm Chase, Chartism: A New
History (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), 147, 378 n 57; Kate
Bowen‖and‖Paul‖A.‖Pickering,‖‘Singing‖for‖Socialism’‖in Laurajane Smith, Paul A.
Shackel and Gary Campbell (eds), Heritage, Labour and the Working Classes
(London: Routledge, 2011), 192-215. [C]
Hicklin, John (b. 1805), apprenticed to a Nottingham hosiery firm, reading and
writing in his leisure hours; abandoned a university course through ill-health but
became joint proprietor of the Nottingham Journal. He was Secretary of the
Nottingham Literary Society; later moved to Chester. He published Leisure Hours
(Nottingham: G. Stretton, 1826), a volume of poems and essays, and a History of
Nottingham Castle. ~ Ref: Hall (1873), 82, 323; Mellors (1924). [T]
Hickling, George (c. 1827-1909), ‘Rusticus’,‖of Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, stocking-
maker, educated at the village school, his verses‖written‖‘direct‖from‖the‖heart‖and‖
home of one who‖is‖essentially‖a‖working‖man’; published The Mystic Land (1856);
The Pleasures of Life and Other Poems (Nottingham and London, 1861). ~ Ref:
Mellors (1924); Reilly (1994), 224, Reilly (2000), 221; NTU; inf. Bob Heyes. [T]
Hill, E. S. (fl. 1862-7), working man of Nottingham and elsewhere, published
Matthew Hart’s Dream; or, Discontent Disconcerted: A Ballad for Working Men, by one
of themselves (Alfreton, Derby and London, 1862); The Politics of the People: Rhymed
Reason by a Radical; by one of themselves (London, 1865); Russelas: A Political Poem,
for ‚the people‛; by one of themselves (London, 1865); Melodies of the Heart: Poems
(London, 1867). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 222.
(?) Hill, Mrs Robert, née Philippina Burton (fl. 1770-88), actress and playwright,
widowed. She published Miscellaneous Poems, Written by a Lady [Philippina Burton,
afterwards Hill+, being her first attempt. *With the Writer’s Autograph.+ (London: 1768;
3 vol. BL 994.g.21); A Rhapsody, by Philippina Burton (London: 1769; Bodleian
T.192971);‖an‖original‖‘Epilogue’‖from‖her‖character Constance in The Tragedy of
King John in Gentlemen’s Magazine, Sept. 1770 following her well-received
performance (485; ESTC no. P002032); (Poems on Several Occasions, 1775); A Poem,
Sacred to Freedom: and A Poem, intitled, Beneficence (by‖‘Mrs.‖Robert‖Hill’,‖Dublin,‖c.
1780 [BL 11646.cc.24]), full text on Google Books; Portraits, Characters, Pursuits and
Amusements of the Present Fashionable World, Interspersed with Poetic Flights of Fancy
(London: 1785? BL 992.g.4); The Diadem; or King David, a Sacred Poem; Dedicated to
Her Majesty,‖(by‖‘Mrs.‖Robert‖Hill’,‖Dublin,‖c. 1791 [BL Cup.408.tt.20], contains the
footnote:‖‘Mrs.‖Hill‖hath‖been‖advised‖to‖adopt‖the‖Christian‖Name‖of‖her‖late‖
Husband for distinction sake’).‖She published by subscription. The endnote to her
last volume of poems notes that she was planning another publication. She is
jokingly‖chosen‖as‖‘poet‖laureate’‖(mentioned‖as‖‘An‖am’rous,‖incoherent‖muse’)‖
 in‖the‖poem‖‘The‖Petticoat‖Administration’‖(by‖‘Molly‖Machiavel’,‖in‖The New
Foundling Hospital for Wit. Being a Collection of Curious Pieces in Verse and Prose, ed.
John Almon (London: 1771). ~ Ref: Benjamin White, A New Catalogue of Books for
the Year 1770, Consisting of Several Valuable Libraries lately purchased< (1770), item
4653; ESTC; BL; ECCO. [F] [I] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Hill, Thomas Ford (d. 1795), son of a glove-manufacturer of Worcester, Quaker,
antiquary, collector of Antient Erse Poems, Collected among the Scottish Highlands, in
order to illustrate the Ossian of Macpherson (1784). ~ Ref: ODNB. [C18]
(?) Hindle, James, of Ashton (fl. 1869),‖wrote‖‘A‖Poetic‖Tribute‖to‖Aitkin‖*William‖
Aitkin,‖qv+,‖written‖by‖James‖Hindle‖soon‖after‖his‖death’,‖published in Ashton
under Lyne News, October 9th‖1869,‖referring‖to‖‘Our‖Aitkin’‖and‖evidently‖written‖
by a fellow Chartist and worker. ~ Ref: The Writings of a Nineteenth Century
Working Class Man, edited with an Introduction by Robert G. Hall and Stephen
Roberts (Dukinfield, Greater Manchester: Tameside MBS, 1996), 55. [C]
Hird, James (1810-73), of Bingley, Yorkshire, self-taught poet, his father died when
he was very young and he worked in a factory from the age of six, later a brewery
manager, councillor; published The Harp of the Willows (1834); The Prophetic
Minstrel (1839); A Voice from the Muses (London and Bradford: Simpkin Marshall &
Co and T. Brear, 1866). ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), I, 241; Forshaw (1891), 84-7; Reilly
(2000), 223; Newsam (1845), 223.
Hodgson, Joseph (1783-1856), of Blackburn, handloom weaver, sometime librarian of
the‖Mechanics’‖Institute,‖prolific‖poet,‖the‖‘earliest...of‖the‖Blackburn‖poets’.‖
Poems published in local papers the Blackburn Mail and the Blackburn Standard
include‖‘The‖Steam-Engine‖Coffee‖Grinder’,‖quoted‖by‖Hobbs & Januszewski,
who record that his obituary says that he left a library of 800 volumes. ~ Ref: Hull
(1902), 17-26; Hobbs (2013). [T]
Hoey, Christopher Clinton (1831-85), of Dublin, slater employed by a Dublin builder.
From 1860 to 1876 wrote a great deal for the Irish Builder, contributing a hundred
poems‖as‖‘Civis’‖under‖the‖general‖title‖of‖‘Civic‖Lyrics’.‖His‖many‖articles‖for‖the‖
periodical‖(usually‖signed‖with‖his‖initials,‖or‖‘H.’,‖or‖‘H—y’)‖include‖‘Notes‖on‖
the‖Rise‖and‖Progress‖of‖Printing‖and‖Publishing‖in‖Ireland’‖and‖‘Unknown‖
Dublin’.‖He‖also‖wrote‖for‖the‖Irishman and the London Builder. Hoey edited the
London Universal News, an Irish paper, for a while. He planned to write a volume
of Lives of the Irish Architects, but was not much encouraged, and abandoned the
project. He died aged 54 and is buried in the Catholic cemetery of Leytonstone. ~
Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 199. [I]
Hogan, Michael (1832-99), ‘The‖Bard‖of‖Thomond’,‖of Thomond gate, County
Limerick, labourer, bank governor for Limerick Corporation, published in The
Nation and in small edition poetry pamphlets, and as follows: Lays and legends of
Thomond, I (Limerick 1865); The Story of Shawn-a-Scoob, Mayor of Limerick, who
 didn‘t know himself, nor anyone else, Dedicated to the Corporation and the Catholic
gentry of Limerick, by their Grateful Servant, the Bard of Thomond (Dublin, 1868-76,
eight volumes). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 226. [I]
Hogg, James (1770-1835),‖‘The‖Ettrick‖Shepherd’,‖poet and novelist, a major figure;
emerged with a volume of poems, The Mountain Bard (1807),‖including‖a‖‘Memoir‖
of‖the‖Author’s‖Life’,‖and‖subsequently published numerous other works in verse
and prose. Hogg is best known today for his powerful novel, The Private Memoirs
and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), but in his lifetime he was known as a
poet, storyteller, editor and folk-collector and maker, and was made famous by
his 1813 work The Queen’s Wake, a ‘collection of poems within a narrative
framework concerning a festival of poetry held in honour of Mary Queen of Scots’‖
(Mack, ed., Selected Poems, Oxford, 1970, p. xx). Hogg was also known through the
parodic presentation of him as a garrulous bumpkin in Blackwood’s Edinburgh
Magazine, in the long-lasting series of dialogues entitled Noctes Ambrosiana (1822-
35). The real James Hogg was a versatile, prolific and hugely talented writer; a
poet and novelist, himself a brilliant parodist (as in the collection The Poetical
Mirror, 1816); an editor and contributor to the journals of the time (his own
weekly literary journal The Spy ran for a year, 1810-11), and a collector and maker
of folk songs, ballads and folk tales (his collection of stories, The Shepherd’s
Calendar (1829), includes some his best work in this genre, while his collection of
songs, Jacobite Relics (1819-21) sits alongside similar projects by Walter Scott and
Allan Cunningham, qv). ~ Hogg’s‖reputation‖dwindled‖in‖the‖later‖nineteenth‖and‖
early twentieth century, but two major recovery projects, begun in the last decade
of the twentieth century have done much to rescue him from this relative neglect.
Firstly, he is the subject of a major multi-volume editorial project led by Stirling
University and published by Edinburgh University Press and University of South
Carolina Press, begun in 1995 and now approaching thirty volumes; unusually for
a scholarly edition of this sort, the hardback volumes covering each of the many
areas of his work have been succeeded by paperback publication, anticipating the
revival of a popular readership for Hogg. Much of the inspiration for and
foundational work in bringing this project into the world was achieved by
Professor Douglas S. Mack (who died in 2009). Alongside this major edition,
Studies in Hogg and His World, published annually by the James Hogg Society since
1990, has developed into a significant one-name journal, facilitating, as its title
suggest, wide-ranging discussion of Hogg in his literary, cultural and historical
contexts, discussion further supported‖by‖the‖Society’s‖biennial‖conferences, its
blog and other activities. ~ Hogg’s‖‘classification‖as‖a‖working-class‖author’‖is,‖say‖
Sharon‖Alker‖and‖Holly‖Faith‖Nelson,‖‘far‖from‖simple’.‖Their‖essay‖on‖‘Hogg‖and‖
Working-class‖Writing’‖(Duncan‖and‖Mack,‖2012,‖55-63), usefully discusses this
issue, examining some of the ways in which‖the‖poet‖‘disturbs‖class‖boundaries’.‖~‖
 Ref: Cunningham (1834), 68-75; Renfrewshire (1819-72), xlii-xliii; Hood (1870), 326-
42; Wilson (1876), I, 446-61; Macleod (1889), 13-15; Borland (1890), 98-126; Miles
(1891), I, 173-210 and IX, 77-88; Powell (1964), items 244-9 (copies‖of‖Hogg’s‖works‖
in the surviving library by John Clare, qv); James Hogg, Selected Poems, ed.
Douglas S. Mack (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970); Vincent (1981), 14, 151; Burnett
et al (1984), no. 337; Valentina‖Bold,‖‘James‖Hogg‖and the Scottish Self-Taught
Tradition’,‖in‖Goodridge‖(1994),‖69-86; Richardson (1994), 247; Cafarelli (1995), 84;
Sutton (1995), 461 (numerous manuscripts of poems and letters); Douglas Mack,
‘James‖Hogg,‖John‖Clare,‖and‖Duncan‖Ban‖Macintyre:‖Three‖British‖‚Peasant‖
Poets‛?’,‖JCSJ, 22 (2003), 17-31; Karl Miller, Electric Shepherd: A Likeness of James
Hogg (London: Faber, 2003); Douglas‖Mack,‖‘James‖Hogg,‖John‖Clare,‖and‖Duncan‖
Ban‖Macintyre:‖Three‖British‖‚Peasant‖Poets‛?’,‖JCSJ, 22 (2003), 17-31; Bold (2007);
Ian Duncan and Douglas S. Mack (ed.), The Edinburgh Companion to James Hogg
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012); Meiko‖O’Halloran,‖James Hogg and
British Romanticism (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); LC 4, 93-8. [LC4] [S]
Hogg, John (b. 1839), of Kirkfieldbank, Lanarkshire, handloom weaver from the age
of nine, railwayman, pithead worker, published in the Hamilton Advertiser. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 9 (1886), 163-6. [S] [T] [R] [M]
Hogg, Robert (b. 1864), of Glasgow, engineer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 236-8. [S]
Hogg, William (1822-89), of Cambusnethan, Wishaw, Lanarkshire, cowherd, butcher,
Robert Burns (qv) enthusiast, published a collection, That Hielan’ Coo, and Other
Poems (Glasgow, 1892). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 370-4; Reilly (1994), 227. [S]
Hoggarth, James (b. 1834), of Ambleside, Westmorland, a farmer’s‖son‖at‖Troutbeck,‖
apprenticed as a bobbin-manufacture, but was disabled by glaucoma and lost an
eye, moving to Kendal. He published Evening Strains & Parlour pastimes (Kendal:
Thompson Brothers, 1880); Echoes from Years Gone by (Kendal: Thompson Brothers,
1892), and Outlets from the Hills (Kendal: Thompson Brothers, 1896). COPAC also
lists‖a‖single‖copy‖held‖by‖the‖National‖Trust‖of‖Hoggarth’s‖Westmorland Dialect:
Simon Proudskin in search of a wife, and Simon at a Brigsteer wedding, an eight-page
publication from the same publisher and of the same date as Evening Strains
(which also contains dialect material). It appears to be a separate publication. ~
Ref: Reilly (1994), 227; COPAC; WorldCat and online sources.
Holcroft, Thomas (1745-1809), shoemaker, English Jacobin, wrote Memoirs of the Late
Thomas Holcroft, written by Himself, and continued to the Time of his Death from his
Diary (1816); and numerous popular comedies, poems, and some prose tales, viz:
Elegies. I. On the death of Samuel Foote, Esq. II. On Age (1777); Duplicity. A Comedy
(1781); The Family Picture; or Domestic Dialogues on Amiable Subjects (1783); Human
Happiness: or the Sceptic. A Poem in Six Cantos (1783); Songs, Duets, Glees, Choruses
&c. in the Comic Opera of The Noble Peasant (1784); The Choleric Fathers: A Comic
Opera (1785); Seduction; A Comedy (1787); The School for Arrogance. A Comedy (1791);
 Anna St. Ives (1792); The Road to Ruin, A Comedy (1792); Heigh-ho! for a Husband
(Dublin, 1794); Love’s Frailties. A Comedy in Five Acts (1794); The Adventures of Hugh
Trevor (1794-97); A Letter to the Right Hon. W. Windham on the Intemperance and
Dangerous Tendency of his Public Conduct (1795); A Man of Ten Thousand. A Comedy
(1796); Knave or Not? A Comedy in Five Acts (1798); A Tale of Mystery, a Melodrama
(1802); Hear Both Sides. A Comedy (1803); Travels from Hamburg through Westphalia,
Holland, and the Netherlands, to Paris (1804); The Lady of the Rock, a Melodrama in Two
Acts (1805); Memoirs of Bryan Perdue. A Novel (1805); The Theatrical Recorder
(periodical publication, 1805-6); Tales in Verse; Critical, Satirical and Humorous
(1806); The Vindictive Man: A Comedy (1806); Gaffer Gray. A Favourite Song
(undated); The Deserted Daughter (undated). ~ Ref: Craik (1830), I, 407-116; Hood
(1870), 227; Winks (1883), 304-8; Ashraf (1975), 83; Hobsbawm & Scott (1980);
Sutton (1995), (manuscript, receipt, letters); Meyenberg (2000), 213; ODNB. [C18]
[SM]
Holder, Reuben‖(b.‖1797),‖of‖Bradford,‖according‖to‖Vicinus‖‘a‖licensed‖hawker‖who‖
had started life as a trapper boy at five years, later became a brickmaker, and
finally a seller of fish and poetry. As a strong teetotaller before the temperance
movement, he wrote many‖poems‖against‖drink’‖(24).‖Wrote‖numerous‖poems‖on‖
contemporary and local events, as well as several regarding labour issues,
especially‖‘The‖New‖Starvation‖Law‖Examined—on‖the‖New‖British‖Bastiles’,‖
online here: http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/broadshe.html. ~ Ref:
Vicinus (1974), 24-5; inf. Bridget Keegan; online sources. [M]
Holdsworth, Israel (b. 1816), of Armley, Leeds, weaver, bookkeeper, bookseller;
published The Ivy Wreath; Being Original Poems (Leeds: printed & published by the
Author, 1854) [BL]; The Literary Pic-nic, and Other Poems (Leeds, 1872). ~ Ref:
Ashraf (1978), I, 101; Reilly (2000), 227; COPAC; LC 5, 335-48; NTU. [T] [LC5]
Holkinson, Jacob (b. 1822), who had just three weeks of formal education, worked in
a tobacco works from the age of seven, was later a farmworker and working in the
textile trade, and published some‖of‖his‖poems‖in‖‘various‖periodicals’.‖His
autobiography,‖‘The‖Life‖of Jacob Holkinson, Tailor and Poet’‖was published in
The Commonwealth, 24, January 31st 1857. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 340. [S] [T]
Hollamby, John (fl. 1810-42),‖of‖Frant,‖Sussex,‖‘brought‖up‖in‖the‖trade‖of‖his‖father—
that of a‖miller’,‖educated‖at‖a‖dame‖school‖and‖briefly‖at‖Mount‖Sion‖School‖at‖
Tunbridge Wells, and had a family of eight children when he published The
Unlettered Muse (Hailsham: G. Breads, 1828), which includes a list of subscribers; a
second edition was issued the following year, with additions. Hollamby also
published poetry and prose, often anonymously, in the newspapers the Sussex
Advertiser, Brighton Guardian, Hasting Iris, the Gazette and the Patriot. By 1840 he
had‖‘retained‖his‖situation‖*as‖a‖grinder‖at the local windmill] in Hailsham for the
last‖thirty‖years’.‖The‖East‖Sussex‖Record‖Office‖holds‖a‖‘Metrical‖autobiography‖
 of‖Edward‖H*ollamby+,‖a‖native‖of‖Hailsham‖in‖61‖verses’,‖dating‖from‖around‖
1848, which appears to be related (Ref AMS356, National Archives website); it
also holds letters between John Hollamby and his friend the poet and collector
Charles Clark. ~ Ref: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction, vol. 36
(1840), p. 8, via Google Books; Johnson (1992), item 446; online sources.
(?) Holland, John (1794-1872), of Sheffield, Yorkshire, poet and editor, self-taught,
initially trained as a maker of optical instruments. Many publications include
Sheffield Park (1820); The Village of Eyam (1821); Diurnal Sonnets (1852). ~ Ref: The
Life of John Holland of Sheffield Park (1874); Wikipedia; inf. Gary Harrison.
Holland, Joseph (fl. 1806), farm labourer, published An Appendix to the Season of
Spring, in the Rural Poem, ‘‘The Farmer’s Boy’’ (Croydon, 1806), an addendum to the
best-known poem of Robert Bloomfield (qv). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 454.
Holloway, William (1761-1854), of Dorset, but moved to London in 1798 and
remained there for the rest of his life, retiring in Hackney village in north London;
friend and imitator of Robert Bloomfield (qv); trained as a journeyman printer;
worked at the East India House and was a colleague of Charles Lamb; author of
The Peasant’s Fate: A Rural Poem (London: Vernor and Hood, 1802; 4th edition
1821); The British Museum, or Elegant Repository of Natural History (London, 1803-4),
a prose work, with John Branch; The Chimney-Sweeper’s Complaint (1806), via
www.archive.org; The Minor Minstrel; or, Poetical Pieces, Chiefly Familiar &
Descriptive (1808), which includes‖‘The‖Desolate‖Village—A‖Sketch‖from‖Nature’,‖
‘William‖the‖Thresher‖’‖and‖‘To‖Robert‖Bloomfield‖on‖the‖Abolition‖of‖the‖Slave‖
Trade’. His poem ‘To‖Mr‖Bloomfield’‖and‖other‖poems‖dedicated to Bloomfield
were published in Robert Bloomfield’s Remains (1824), I, 166-71. ~ Ref: Sambrook
(1970), 1360; Barrell & Bull (1974), 409-12; LC 4, 29-46; NTU. [LC4] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Holmes, Gilbert (b. 1868), of Paisley, colour‖dyer’s‖son,‖shopboy,‖engineer; poems
included in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 518-24. [S]
Holroyd, Abraham (b. 1815), of Bradford, handloom weaver, soldier, editor and
stationer, financially helped by the textile magnate Titus Salt (who was also the
patron of John Nicholson, 1790-1843, qv); published poems in the Yorkshire
papers and edited poetry anthologies, including A Garland of Poetry (Saltire,
Bradford: 1873; this is referenced elsewhere in this database as Holroyd (1873);
published the local journal, The Bradfordian, providing an important focus and
outlet for local and dialect poets. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 29; Andrews (1885), 177-
81 (citing William Smith, Old Yorkshire, II, 230-5); Forshaw (1891), 88-97 (includes
print of the poet); Vicinus (1974), 161, 171; England (1983), 7, 64. [T]
(?) Holt, David (b. 1828), of Manchester, quaker, son of a cotton-spinning magnate
and civic figure (another David Holt, 1766-1846, also a writer:‖‘David‖Holt‖& Co.,
twist‖manufacturers,‖Holt‖Town’‖are‖listed‖in‖the‖Manchester & Salford Directory,
1797; the father appears to have attended Manchester Grammar School, and to
 have been the son of yet another David Holt; so it seems that our poet is the third
generation of David Holts). Our David Holt worked in a railway office; published
his first volume at the age of seventeen, Poems Rural and Miscellaneous, by David
Holt, Jun. (Manchester: Joseph Gillett, 1846, text via Google Books); also published
A Lay of Hero Worship and Other Poems (London: Pickering, 1850); Janus, Lake
Sonnets, &. (1853); Poems by David Holt (London and Manchester, 1868). Holt’s‖first‖
volume has a cannily chosen title-page epigraph from the popular poet L.E.L.
(Letitia‖Elizabeth‖Landon),‖‘Poetry‖is‖youth’s‖language—and the scroll / Whereon
is‖poured‖the‖music‖of‖the‖soul’, and the volume is dedicated with handsome filial
piety‖to‖his‖father:‖‘To‖David‖Holt,‖Author‖of‖‚Miscellaneous‖Extracts‛,‖
‚Incidents‛,‖etc.,‖These‖Poems‖are‖most‖respectfully inscribed, as a small but
sincere token of reverence for his character, admiration of his talents, and
sympathy‖in‖his‖misfortunes,‖by‖his‖affectionate‖son,‖the‖author’. [The books of his
father’s‖that he refers to are worth spelling out, since at least one bookseller has
confused the son with the father: Miscellaneous Extracts from Various Authors,
Calculated to Amuse, Instruct and Edify, second edition (Manchester, 1839); Incidents
in the Life of David Holt, Including a Sketch of Some of the Philanthropic Institutions of
Manchester, During a Period of Forty Years (Manchester, 1843)]. The poems
themselves are unexceptional and often insipid, though there is some interest in
the topographical material, much of it centring on the Peak District, including a
sonnet on Chatsworth, and poems about Buxton, where his widowed mother may
have resided, and an anti-slavery poem. A Lay of Hero Worship has, in addition to
the 14-page‖title‖poem,‖a‖‘Sonnet.‖Written‖in‖the‖Valleys‖of‖the‖Derbyshire‖Wye’,‖
another ‘Sonnet.‖Borrodale’,‖and‖a‖set‖of‖‘Songs‖of‖the‖Earth‖Spirits’.‖It‖has a
dedication to Philip James Bailey, the Nottingham poet, son of Thomas Bailey
(qv), and author of the forgotten epic, Festus (1839). ~ Ref: J. T. Slugg,
Reminiscences of Manchester Fifty Years Ago (Manchester: J. E. Cornish, 1881), and
the Admission Register for Manchester School, Vol. II. 1776-1807, ed. J . Finch Smith
(Manchester: The Chetham Society, 1868), both via Google Books and consulted
on Holt senior; Andrews (1888-9), I; Poems Rural and A Lay of Hero Worship via
Google Books; online sources. [R]
Holt, Jane, née Wiseman (d. 1717), of Oxford, domestic servant to William Wright,
recorder of Oxford, who apparently had access to his extensive library; published
The Fairy Tale<With Other Poems (1717). Her play Antiochus the Great was acted at
Lincoln’s‖Inn‖Fields‖in‖1701‖and‖revived‖several‖times. ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 72-
3; Greene (1993), 103; Backscheider (2009), 876; LC 1, 33-46. [F] [LC1] [C18]
Holyoake, George Jacob (1817-1906), ‘Ion’,‖Birmingham tinsmith and whitesmith,
Owenite, Chartist, secularist and pioneer of the co-operative movement,
imprisoned for blasphemy, closely involved with political movements in Leicester
where he advised in co-operative factories, published Blasts from Bradlaugh’s Own
 Trumpet: Ballads, Extracts, Cartoons, Versified, Selected and Sketched by ‘Ion’ (London,
1882); Songs of Love & Sorrow (Manchester and London, 1887) and a number of
educational, political and theological prose works. Holyoake also edited The
Reasoner and Utilitarian Record, a journal reflecting‖the‖views‖of‖the‖‘Society‖of‖
Theological‖Utilitarians’‖from‖1846‖to‖1861,‖and‖a‖Co-operative movement paper,
The English Leader, from 1864-7. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 229; Newitt (2008), 5, 27. [C]
Holyoake, William (1818-1907), of Leicester, tailor and bookseller, Owenite, poet and
founding member of the Secular Society in 1852. ~ Ref: Newitt (2008), 5. [C]
Home, James (d. 1868), dry-stone dyker and poet. ~ Ref: Shanks (1881), 154-6. [S]
(?) Hood, Thomas (1799-1845),‖London‖bookseller’s‖son‖(Vernor‖and‖Hood,‖of‖The‖
Poultry, London, who published‖Robert‖Bloomfield’s‖(qv)‖major‖poem‖The
Farmers Boy). Hood came from a line of Scottish‖farmers‖on‖his‖father’s‖side; he
was an engraver, a humourist, and the author of the highly influential protest
poem, ‘The Song of the Shirt’ (first published in Punch magazine, Christmas 1843),
and other well-known‖poems‖including‖‘The‖Dream of Eugene Aram, the
Murderer’‖(Eugene‖Aram,‖qv)‖and‖a‖‘Sonnet:‖Written‖in‖Keats’s‖Endymion’‖(John‖
Keats, qv). The early death of his father and older brother forced an end to his
education at the age of fourteen, and he worked as a clerk in a counting house.
Like Thomas Chatterton (qv) before him, he leavened his clerical work with his
own‖writing,‖‘mingling‖poetic‖honey‖with‖trade‖wax’‖(quoted‖by‖Flint,‖8).‖Nearly‖
all of his writings first appeared in the popular new middle-class magazines and
annuals: The Gem, London Magazine, the Athenaeum, New Monthly Magazine, and
Punch. Hood published Comic Annuals (1830-9); collected writings in Whims and
Oddities (1826-1827); Whimsicalities (1844). ~ Ref: Miles (1891), III, 215 & IX, 249-70;
Ricks (1987), 66-74; Scheckner (1989), 159-60, 334; Thomas Hood, Selected Poems,
ed. Joy Flint (Manchester: Carcanet, 1992); Goodridge (1999); item 54; ODNB;
LION; Massey page.
Hoole, Barbara, formerly Wreaks or Wreakes, later Hofland (1770-1844), of Sheffield,
orphaned‖daughter‖of‖a‖Sheffield‖manufacturer,‖author‖of‖children’s‖books,‖
schoolbooks and poetry. ~ Ref: The Life and Literary Remains of Barbara Holland
(London, 1849); Verdonck (2015);‖Wikipedia‖(under‖‘Hofland’).‖*F+
(?) Hope, Henry Joy McCracken (1809-72),‖of‖Belfast,‖son‖of‖James‖Hope‖(qv),‖‘for‖
many‖years‖a‖bookbinder‖at‖Messrs.‖Chambers’,‖of‖Dublin’,‖wrote‖religious‖verse,‖
some‖of‖which‖is‖included‖in‖W.‖F.‖Stevenson’s‖Hymns for the Church and Home
(London, 1873). ~ Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 203. [I]
Hope, James (b. 1764), of Templepatrick, County Antrim, father of Henry Hope (qv),
working weaver, United Irishmen and poet. In 1846 he was living in Belfast.
About a dozen pieces by him are included in Madden (1846), and some of his
poems are quoted with the memoir of him in Madden (1842-6). ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 203. [I] [T]
Hopkin or Hopcyn, Lewis (fl. in the 1720s), of Llabedr-ar-fynydd, Welsh carpenter
poet, later settled at Hendre-Ifan-Goch; one of the Glamorgan Grammarians,
possibly a bardic tutor of Iolo Morganwyg (Edward Williams, qv) and Edward
Evans (qv). He published Y Fel Gafod (1812). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); inf. Tim Burke.
[W] [C18]
(?) Horn, Miss Margaret (fl. 1950s?), published a poem,‖‘Suspension‖Bridge,’‖issued
from‖The‖Poet’s‖Box,‖Glasgow, a supplier of single-sheet broadsides between 1849
and 1911. (It may possibly relate to the South Portland Street Suspension Bridge
across the river Clyde in Glasgow, built in 1851-3.) ~ Ref: inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Hornsby, William (fl. c. 1844), of Shotton Moor Colliery, near Richmond, north
Yorkshire,‖coal‖miner,‖author‖‘The‖Tools‖of‖Shotton‖Moor’‖(‘A‖New‖Song‖by‖
William‖Hornsby’)‖and‖most‖probably‖of‖the‖song‖‘The‖Coal‖Owner‖and‖the‖
Pitman’s‖Wife’. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 232, 253, 356 note and 358 note. [M]
Horsfield, Louisa Adelaide (1830-65), the wife of a collier at Blacker Hill, Barnsley,
published The Cottage Lyre: Being Miscellaneous Poetry (Leeds: J. Parrott, 1862), two
editions. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 116; ABC (1996), 516-18; Reilly (2000), 232. [F] [M]
Horsley, James (1828?-1891), of Alnwick, orphaned in Newcastle, worked as a stable
boy, cabin boy, journalist/writer, songwriter. He published Lays of Jesmond Dene
(1891), and made numerous contributions in prose and verse to the local
newspapers.‖There‖is‖a‖tribute‖in‖Matthew‖Tate’s‖(qv)‖Songs, Poems and Ballads
(1898),‖in‖a‖poem‖addressed‖to‖‘Jesmond‖Dene’‖(the‖ribbon‖of‖wooded‖parkland‖
following the southward course of the river Ouseburn and joining the Tyne to the
east‖of‖Newcastle):‖‘I‖thought‖upon‖poor‖Horsley‖too‖/‖’Mong‖local‖bards‖there’s‖
none‖were‖sweeter‖/‖How‖oft‖he’d‖rove‖thy‖mazes‖through‖/‖And‖wove‖together‖
links of metre; / How often thou hadst been his god, / Bear witness, oh, his book of
carols,‖/‖He’s‖sleeping‖now‖beneath‖the‖sod,‖/‖reposing‖on‖his‖well-won‖laurels’‖(ll.‖
17-24, p. 166). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 495-501; Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 14 March
1891 (obituary); Tate as cited; NTU.
Hosken, James Dryden (1861-1953), postman poet of Helston, Cornwall, son of an
ironfounder, worked as a saddler, customs officer, librarian and postman. He
published Phaon and Sappho: A Play. With Selection of Poems (Penzance: F. Rodda,
1891); Phaon and Sappho, and Nimrod (London: Macmillan, 1892); Verses by the Way,
with‖a‖Critical‖and‖Biographical‖Introduction‖by‖‘Q’‖*Hosken’s‖fellow‖Cornishman‖
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch] (London: Methuen, 1893); A Monk’s Love and Other
Poems (undated, possibly privately printed); Christopher Marlowe: A Tragedy, and
Belphego: A Harlequinade in Doggerel (London: G. Henry and Co., 1896); Poems and
Songs of Cornwall (Plymouth: Mitchell, Burt & Co., Ltd, 1902); The Betrothal of Venus
and Other Poems (London:‖Methuen,‖1920).‖Hosken’s‖Verses by the Way was
reviewed anonymously by W. B. Yeats in The Speaker: The Liberal Review, in
August‖1893.‖Yeats‖compared‖Hosken’s‖work‖to‖that‖of‖Joseph Skipsey (qv),
 found‖that‖‘he has done better than [Edward] Capern [qv],‖the‖Devon‖postman’,
and that Hosken‖‘writes often<with‖real‖force‖and‖beauty’. Bookseller Charles
Cox‖offers‖an‖interesting‖sidenote:‖under‖the‖name‖of‖Charles‖Granville,‖Hoskens’‖
brother, a double bigamist and convicted fraudster, was briefly the publisher of
Ezra Pound and Katherine Mansfield. ~ Ref: Charles Cox, catalogue 68 (2015),
item‖75;‖Gordon‖Tait,‖‘Joseph‖Skipsey,‖the‖‚Peasant‖Poet‛,‖and‖an‖Unpublished‖
Letter‖from‖W.‖B.‖Yeats’,‖Literature and History, 25, no. 2 (2016), 134-49; NTU (one
of a hand-numbered limited edition, no. 27/75: this one also has press cuttings
pasted on the front endpapers); inf. Bob Heyes. [—Gordon Tait]
Hossack, Annie Dennison (fl. before 1889), of Burray, Orkney, domestic servant,
dressmaker. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 182-5. [F] [S]
Houlding, Henry (d. 1901), of Burnley, factory worker, journalist, published an
account of a foot journey to London; Poems (Burnley, 1874); Rhymes and Dreams:
Legends of Pendle Forest, and Other Poems (Burnley: Published by B. Moore for the
Joint Committee of the Literary and Scientific Club and the Literary and
Philosophical Society, 1895). Houlding’s‖second‖book‖is‖a‖notably substantial
volume‖of‖poems‖‘of‖local‖interest’,‖beautifully‖produced‖and‖bound‖in‖a‖
subscription edition of 500, with bevelled edges, photographic plates with tissue
plate-guards, blind-stamped on the boards and the spine, and all printed on
heavy, creamy paper. It has very clearly cost a lot to produce, and I think this well
illustrates some of the advantageous publishing conditions available through
local and regional organisations, for some labouring-class poets in the later
nineteenth century. By‖cannily‖including‖‘Legends‖of‖Pendle‖Forest’‖Houlding‖has‖
tapped right into the burgeoning sense of local and regional pride, and historical
and geographical interest, and by doing so has won the resources of the local
clubs who were the focus of these interests and who funded publication of this
sumptuous volume. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 233; NTU.
Houston, Thomas (1777-1803), born in Ireland, later a brass founder in Newcastle
upon Tyne; published prolifically in a short period, The Woes of Erin, an ode
(Edinburgh, 1798); The Cock Fight: A Heroic Poem: with Egbert and Birtha, a Ballad
(Edinburgh, 1799); An Ode to Avarice, (1800); A Love Elegy; with three odes; intended
as hints to such as will take them, by Cuthbert Cudgel (1800); The Newcastle Sportsman;
or, A Race to Hell between three noted characters of the present day, Viz. A hypocritical
and detached Clergyman, a cruel Military Man, and a religious Corn Dealer, a
Monopolizer of provisions, and a Starver of the Poor; with a Postscript, a Satire; by T.
Houston; Likewise a A Love Elegy (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1800); An Apology, or Key
to the Race to Hell, or the rise and origin by that poem, exemplified in a story of the
Kingdom of the Beings, one of the islands of the moon ... to which is added An Ode to
Avarice, second edition (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1800?); another edition, published
by the author (Newcastle, 1800); The Progress of Madness; or The Irishman insane, a
 Poem, To which is added, The squire’s expedition (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1802); Part II
published‖the‖same‖year,‖subtitled‖‘written‖on‖a‖parallel‖case‖with‖that‖if‖Robson,‖
the reputed lunatic, who was confined two months and two days in a Mad-house
near‖Newcastle’;‖An Epistle From Silly Billy, an ideot in Newcastle, to General
Bonaparte, First Consul in France (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1803); Term- Day, or The
Unjust Steward, a comedy in five acts (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1803); and
posthumously, A Collection of Poems, odes and songs, by the late Cuthbert Houston
(Newcastle upon Tyne: David Bass, 1804). In some of his works he uses the pen-
name of Cuthbert Cudgel. He died at the age of 26, and was buried in the ground
attached to Newcastle Infirmary (situated at Forth Banks, Newcastle upon Tyne,
and superseded by the Royal Victoria Infirmary, sited elsewhere in the city, in
1906, so it is possible the grave may have been obliterated). There is a notice of
him in The Newcastle Magazine, c. 1820, and he is represented in A Choice Collection
of Tyneside Songs (Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne,‖1873).‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 204-5.
[I]
Howard, Nathaniel (fl. 1804), a charity boy, published Bickleigh Vale, with Other Poems
(York, 1804). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 465.
Howatson,‖Bella‖(b.‖1863),‖of‖Tarbrax,‖coachman‖and‖surfacemen’s‖daughter,‖
educated until the age of fourteen, learned to love poetry and folk-lore from her
mother. She became a farm servant at sixteen, but later returned home to help her
mother. She published in local newspapers such as the Hamilton Advertiser and the
Annandale Observer.‖Her‖verses‖include‖‘Another‖Baby,’‖‘The‖Dying‖Child’s‖
Words’,‖‘Dreamland’,‖‘Only’, and‖‘His‖Last‖Look’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 162;
inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Howden, Robert (b. 1776), wrote numerous unpublished poems including the
satirical‖‘The‖Raven‖and‖Mavis’,‖and‖the‖humorous‖story,‖The King’s Welcome to
Edinburgh (1822); poems in Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 34-6. [S]
(?) Howden, Walter Cranston (b. 1851), of Penicuik, later of Dundee, watchmaker
and jeweller, published in Chamber’s Journal, the Quiver, the People’s Friend and
other journals. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 354-60; Reid (1897), Bards, 227-8. [S]
Howell, John (1774-1830),‖‘Ioan‖ab‖Ywel’,‖‘Ioan‖Glandyfroedd’,‖apprenticed‖as‖a‖
weaver, edited the anthology Blodau Dyfed (The Flowers of Dyfed, 1824); the first
attempt to anthologise Welsh poets regionally, it includes poetry by Ieuan
Brydydd Hir (Evan Evans, qv), Eliezer Williams, Daniel Ddu o Geredigion (Daniel
Evans), Iaco ab Dewi (James Davies), Edward Richard, and Ioan Siengcin (John
Jenkins), all Anglicans. He also published a number of other titles in the Welsh
language. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); DWB; ODNB. [W] [T] [—Katie Osborn]
Hoy, John, Junior (fl. before 1781), of Gattonside, Melrose, Roxburghshire, son of a
small farmer. He was unable to go to school due to a heart problem which began
in early infancy, and was taught the alphabet by his father; he was self-taught in
 poetry and in writing. He died aged just 26. Posthumously published were his
Poems on Various Subjects (Edinburgh, 1781), with a subscription list, Preface and
‘Some‖Account‖of‖the‖Author’. ~ Ref: publication as cited, via Google Books; inf.
Barbara Bell [S] [C18]
Hoyle, William (1831-86), of Rossendale, Lancashire, cotton spinner, temperance
Reformer, vegetarian, published Daisy Ballads and Recitations (London and
Manchester, 1891). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 235; ODNB. [T]
Huddleston, Robert (1814-87), of Moneyreagh, published A Collection of Poems and
Songs on Rural Subjects (1844); A Collection of Poems and Songs on Different Subjects
(1846); and numerous poems in Ulster Magazine (1860-63). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974);
Orr (2015), x-xi, 15, 47-8, 229-30, 234-6; ODNB. [I]
(?) Hudson, Thomas (b. 1791), of London, publican-entertainer, comic
songwriter/singer and broadside balladeer, stationer, grocer, tea-dealer, music
seller;‖kept‖the‖Kean’s‖Head‖tavern‖in‖Covent‖Garden.‖Hudson published at least
fourteen collections of comic songs from c. 1818-32 including Comic Songs (Printed
by Gold and Walton for T. Hudson, 1818); Songs (1820); Comic Songs: Collection the
Third (1825). Ballad titles show a predictable mixture of stock ‘types’‖and‖topical‖
references,‖e.g.‖‘The‖Petticoat‖and‖Breeches’,‖‘Billy‖Bumpkin’s‖Peep‖at‖the‖
Coronation’,‖‘The‖Dog’s‖Meat‖Man’,‖‘The‖Age‖of‖New‖Inventions’. ~ Ref: Hepburn
(2001), I, 43; II, 429-30, 554 notes; Charles Cox, Catalogue 68 (2015), items 78-82.
Hugh, Alexander (b. 1854), of Kirkcaldy, grocer, published poems in the
newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 232-4. [S]
Hughes, Hugh Derfel (1816-90), of Llandderfel, Merioneth, farm labourer and
quarryman, poet and local historian, published two collections in Welsh, Blodau’r
Gân (1844) and Y Gweithiwr Cariadgar (1849) and a study of local history (1866). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Hughes, John Ceiriog (1832-87), ‘Ceiriog’,‖Welsh railwayman, born at Llanarmon
Dyffryn‖Ceiriog,‖friend‖and‖protégé‖of‖R.‖J.‖Derfel,‖‘Creuddynfab’‖(William‖
Williams), and Robert Davies (qqv); published Oriau'r Hwyr (1860); Oriau'r Bore
(1862); Cant o Ganeuon (1863); Y Bardd a'r Cerddor (1865); Oriau Eraill (1868);
Oriau'r Haf (1870); and Oriau Olaf (1888). Author‖of‖‘what‖is‖probably‖the‖best-
loved‖poem‖in‖the‖Welsh‖language’,‖quoted‖in‖relation‖to‖the‖Gleision‖Mine‖
tragedy of September‖2011:‖‘Aros‖mae’r‖mynyddau‖mawr,‖/‖Thuo‖trostyny‖mae‖y‖
gwynt’,‖‘The mighty hills unchanging stand, / tireless the winds across them
blow’. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Jan Morris, The Guardian, 16 September 2011. [W] [R]
Hughes, Jonathan (1721-1805), ‘Bardd‖Pengwern’,‖of Llangollen, a poor farmer,
probably largely self-taught, regularly published poems in annual almanacks of
John Prys and Cain Jones and anthologies, a selected collection, Bardd a Byrddau
Amryw Seigiau neu Gasgliad o Gynghanedd (‘A‖poet‖with‖a table laid with various
dishes,‖or‖a‖collection‖of‖poetry’,‖1778),‖and‖in‖a‖posthumous‖anthology‖published
 by his son, Gemwaith Awen Beirdd Collen (‘The‖gems‖of‖the‖muse‖of‖the‖bards‖of‖
Llangollen’,‖1806).‖Hughes‖also‖published two interludes, Y Dywysoges Genefetha
(‘The‖Princess‖Genoveva’,‖1744)‖and‖‘Twyll‖y‖Cyllyll‖Hirion’‖(‘The‖deceit‖of‖the‖
long‖knives’). ~ Ref: Charnell-White (2012), 88-101, 403-7. [W] [C18]
Hughes, Matthew F. (1834-95), of Dublin, tailor. His first poem was published in The
Nation, in 1852, and he wrote many poems for this journal, and for The Irish People,
London’s‖Universal News,‖and‖other‖journals,‖over‖his‖initials,‖‘Conaniensis’‖or‖
‘Francisco’.‖He‖published‖one‖collection‖(as‖‘Conaciensis’),‖Lyrics and Sonnets of
Ireland (Dublin, 1871). Hughes is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, where a
monument to his memory was erected by John McCall. He has one poem in
Hayes (1856). ~ Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 206-7. [I]
(?) Hugman, John (fl. 1825), of Halesworth, itinerant tanner, travelled the south-east
selling his own books and prints as he went; published Original Poems, in the
Moral, Heroic, Pathetic, and Other Styles, by a Traveller, which went through a total
of eighteen editions between 1825 and 1836, mainly published around the south-
east‖(mostly‖in‖Suffolk),‖‘an‖interesting‖example‖of‖wide‖circulation‖being‖due‖
not...to the merit of the work but to unprecedented efforts at distribution by the
author’‖(Johnson);‖Charles‖Lamb‖owned‖a‖copy. ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 469;
Cranbrook (2001), 208-9; inf. Bob Heyes.
(?) Huish, Alexander (fl. 1941),‖of‖Manchester,‖Chartist‖poet,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Radical’s‖
Litany’,‖published in the Northern Star, 20th February‖1841,‖which‖was‖‘received
with‖general‖approbation‖at‖democratic‖meetings‖in‖Manchester’‖and‖critiques‖
establishment Christianity (quoted in Pickering). It comically parodies a Christian
prayer with the repeated fourth line of each quatrain as the refrain:‖‘From‖nobles‖
that at court do sit, / To rule our land as they sit fit, / Whom many a beggar could
outwit,‖/‖Good‖Lord‖deliver‖us’,‖and‖so‖on. ~ Ref: Scheckner (1989), 161-2; Paul
Pickering, Chartism and the Chartists in Manchester and Salford (Houndmills:
Palgrave, 1995), 111; Sanders (2009), 140. [C]
(?) Hull, George (b. 1863), of Blackburn, clerk, son of a coal merchant, school
educated, author of The Heroes of the Heart, and Other Lyrical Poems (Preston and
London, 1894); and edited the important anthology Poets and Poetry of Blackburn
(Blackburn, 1902), referenced here as Hull (1902). ~ Ref: Hull (1902), xii-xxxii;
Maidment (1987), 170-1, 277-8; Reilly (1994), 236; NTU.
Humbles, John (fl. 1826), a Bedfordshire peasant, published Thoughts on the Creation,
Fall, and Regeneration, ed. Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1826). ~ Ref: DNB and
Wikipedia, ‘Wiffen’‖entries.
(?) Hume, Alexander (1811-59), of Edinburgh, chairmaker, chorister, musician and
poet. He published frequently in Edinburgh’s Scottish Press and edited The Lyric
Gems of Scotland (1856),‖‘to‖which‖he‖made‖over‖fifty‖contributions‖of‖his‖own’‖
 (ODNB). ~ Ref: Ulster Magazine, January 1863; Glasgow Poets (1906), 305-09; ODNB.
[S]
(?) Hunter, Andrew (fl. 1921), of Airdrie, police sergeant, staff member at the
Coatbridge Gas Light Company. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 121-43, [S] [OP]
Hunter, Charles Fergus (b. 1846), apprentice tinsmith, railwayman, published poems
in The Scotsman. ~ Ref: Edwards 9 (1886), 30-2. [S] [R]
Hunter, James (b. 1830), calico‖printer’s‖tearer,‖baker,‖restauranteur,‖spent‖time‖in‖
Canada; poems in Macleod. ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 219-25. [S] [T]
(?) Hunter, John (1807-85), of Tealing, near Dundee, ‘The‖Mountain‖Muse’,‖mason,‖
teacher, preacher to the Chartist congregation, later a congregationalist minister;
chaplain in the Poorhouse, Old Machar. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 228-9. [S] [C]
Hunter, Robert (b. 1854), of Hawick, powerloom tuner, published poems in
newspapers and in the Masonic Magazine. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 250-3 [S]
Huntington, William (1745-1813), formerly William Hunt, illegitimate tenth son of a
Kentish labourer, worked as a servant and at numerous other occupations;
Methodist preacher; changed his name from Hunt after an affair went sour. He
published The Kingdom of Heaven Taken by Prayer (1784); God the Guardian of the
Poor and the Bank of Faith (two parts, 1785‐1802); The Naked Bow, or, A Visible
Display of the Judgments of God on the Enemies of Truth (1794); and posthumously,
Gleanings of the Vintage (1814), two volumes; Posthumous Letters (1815-22), four
volumes; Epistles of Faith (1785‐97), two volumes of collected letters; Living
Testimonies (1794‐1806), two volumes; Correspondence between Noctua Aurita and
Philomela (1799); The Spiritual Birth. A Divine Poem (1789), and many sermons and
other items. ~ Ref: The Celebrated Coalheaver: on reminiscences of the Rev. W.
Huntington...consisting of numerous anecdotes...never before published, edited and
arranged by Ebenezer Hopp (London, 1871), and Facts, Letters, and Documents
(chiefly unpublished) concerning William Huntington, his family and friends: forming an
addendum to ‚The celebrated coalheaver‛ (London, 1872); Unwin (1954), 77; ODNB;
WorldCat. [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Hurn, David (fl. 1813), farmer of Holbeach, Lincolnshire, published Rural Rhymes,
or, A Collection of Epistolary, Humorous and Descriptive Pieces (Spalding and London,
1813), with a largely local subscription list; he is mentioned by John Clare (qv). ~
Ref: text via Google Books; John Clare (qv), Early Poems (1989), I, 567n102-3,
573n302-3; II, 323-4 and note.
Hurrey, John (fl. 1845), of Spalding, son of a fisherman; later became a clerk and a
potato salesman in London, before emigrating to Australia where he died shortly
afterwards. He published The Cottager's Sabbath and Other Poems (Spalding:
Thomas Albin and London: C.A. Bartlett, 1845). ~ Ref: inf. Rodney and Pauline
Lines, from the Old Lincolnshire Magazine, 1883-5. [A]
Hutcheon, Rebecca (b. 1851), of Bowglens, at head of Glen of Drumtochty, in the
parish of Fordoun; at the age of eight began work as cowherder, and since then
kept house, living in‖Aberdeen;‖verses‖include‖‘Childhood’s‖Days,’‖‘Life—A
Journey.’‖Ref:‖Edwards, 3 (1881), 223; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Hutchinson, John. (b. 1851), of Links, Kirkcaldy, glass-worker, sailcloth tenter,
published How to Make Life Worth Living, or Golden Thoughts in Prose and Verse, by J.
H. (Edinburgh: R. Symon, 1889; 108 pp.). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 183-6;
WorldCat. [S]
Hutton, Mary née Taylor (1794-1831), of Sheffield, wife of a poor penknife cutler,
was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, one of the six children of William Taylor, who
worked as a servant of Lord Cathcart, and Mary Parry, a Roman-Catholic who
was the governess-nurse for the family of Lord Howe. When her family moved to
London,‖Mary’s‖delicate health forced her to remain in Wakefield. She moved to
Sheffield some years later, and there met Michael Hutton, a pen-knife cutler
nearly twenty-five years her elder, who had two children from a previous
marriage.‖After‖a‖‘very‖brief‖courtship,’‖they‖married in Sheffield. We know very
little about Mary's life after her marriage to Michael Hutton, but what little we
know of her life and work, we know from two contemporary middle-class male
writers. The first is Newsam, and the second is the preface to Hutton’s‖first‖work,‖
Sheffield Manor and Other Poems, written by John Holland. ~ In 1830, Hutton wrote
a letter to Holland, the author of Flowers from Sheffield Park (1827), appealing to
him to publish a volume of her poetry. Before she wrote to Holland, Hutton—
who published her first poems in the Sheffield Iris—had already applied to James
Montgomery (qv), a local publisher, who had told her he would publish her
volume‖if‖she‖could‖find‖subscribers.‖In‖her‖letter‖to‖Holland,‖Hutton‖wrote‖‘But,‖
alas! Sir, I could not procure subscribers. Poor, friendless, and unknown, very few
would‖patronize‖me’‖(Sheffield Manor, vi). Holland writes in the preface to Sheffield
Manor that he was intrigued by the ardour of Hutton's letter, and that he decided
to meet her in person.‖He‖found‖that‖she‖was‖living‖in‖Butcher’s‖Buildings,‖Norris-
Field,‖‘the‖wife‖of‖a‖pen-knife cutler, whose lot, it seems, had constituted no
exception to the occasional want of employment and paucity of income, so
common with many of his class. A son (not residing with them) and a daughter—
the‖children‖of‖a‖former‖wife,‖composed‖the‖family’‖(ix).‖Holland‖describes‖
Hutton’s‖poems‖as‖consisting,‖‘for‖the‖most‖part,‖of‖allusions,‖in‖a‖style‖of‖easy‖
and pleasing versification, and generally correct in sentiment, to scenery and
subjects‖with‖which‖the‖present‖writer‖has‖long‖been‖familiar’‖(viii).‖But‖Hutton‖
also tackled larger issues in her verse, including American slavery, the New Poor
Law, and the Russian occupation of Poland. ~ The final record we have of
Hutton’s‖life‖is‖the‖1851‖England‖census‖entry,‖in‖which‖Hutton‖(age‖59‖and‖by‖
then‖widowed)‖listed‖her‖occupation‖as‖‘Poetess’;‖published Sheffield Manor, and
 other poems (Sheffield, 1831); The Happy Isle; and other poems (1836); Cottage Tales
and poems (1842, full text available on Google books). ~ Ref: John Holland,
‘Preface’,‖Sheffield Manor and Other Poems. Sheffield Manor and Other Poems
(Sheffield: J. Blackwell, 1831); Newsam (1845), 224-5; Ashraf (1978), I, 38; Jackson
(1993), 170; Ian Haywood, The Literature of Struggle: An Anthology of Chartist Fiction
(Aldershot:‖Scolar‖Press,‖1995);‖Meagan‖Timney,‖‘Mary‖Hutton‖and‖the‖
Development of a Working-class‖Women’s‖Political‖Poetics’,‖Victorian Poetry, 49,
no. 1 (2011), 127-46; Loose (2014), 160-7; Wikipedia; not in ODNB; LC 5, 25-42; ;
inf. Gary Harrison. [F] [LC5] [—Meagan Timney]
Hutton, William (1723-1815), of Derby, apprenticed at seven in Derby Silk Mill,
serving as a mill-boy.‖After‖‘‚seven‖years’‖heart-ache‛‖and‖not‖without‖some‖foul‖
scars‖on‖his‖body’‖(Hall),‖in‖1738‖he‖left‖to‖become‖an‖apprentice‖stocking-maker
with his uncle in Nottingham; he was later a bookbinder, shopman in Southwell,
Notts.; later still a wealthy paper factor and the historian of Birmingham as well
as a noted autobiographer. His house was destroyed in the Birmingham riots of
1791‖including‖his‖‘juvenile‖verses,‖written‖forty‖years‖earlier’‖(ODNB). He tried to
reconstruct as much of them as he could, and began writing verse again,
publishing The Barbers, A Poem (1793); Edgar and Elfrida; or the Power of Beauty
(1793), various occasional poems including a signed poem in GM in 1799, and a
further volume, Poems, Chiefly Tales (1804). ~ Ref: Hall (1873), 72-80; ODNB;
Wikipedia; inf. Bill Christmas.
Hyslop, James (1798-1827),‖sometimes‖‘Hislop’,‖of‖Kirkconnel,‖Dumfriesshire,‖
illegitimate child, self-taught farmworker and shepherd, schoolmaster on board a
man-of-war,‖wrote‖‘The‖Cameronian’s‖Dream’‖(1825)‖and‖other‖poems‖about‖the‖
Covenanters; published Poems, with a Sketch of his life by the Revd. Peter Mearns
(Glasgow: Wright, 1887). ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 424; Wilson (1876), II, 181-90; Shanks
(1881), 129-35; Edwards, 7 (1884), 73-82; Miller (1910), 226-30. [S]
Hyslop, John (1837-92), ‘The‖Postman‖Poet’,‖of Kirkland, Dumfriesshire, landworker,
engineering apprentice, letter carrier, married to Sarah Jane Hyslop (qv);
published The Dream of a Masque, and Other Poems (Kilmarnock, 1882); and
posthumously, Memorial Volume of John Hyslop, the Postman Poet, ed. William
Johnson (Kilmarnock, 1895). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 281-5 and 16, [lix]; Murdoch
(1883), 313-16; Reilly (1994), 239. [S]
Hyslop, Mrs Sarah Jane, née Stewart (b. 1845), of Highland ancestry, raised in Loch
Earn, Perthshire; educated until the age of twelve, but at the death of both parents
became a servant, aged thirteen; sister of John Joseph Smale Stewart (qv); married
the Kilmarnock postman-poet John Hyslop (qv), settled in Kilmarnock, and raised
their‖children;‖poems‖include‖‘Marion‖Neville:‖A‖Tale‖of‖Windsor‖in‖the‖Days‖of‖
Queen‖Mary‖of‖England’.‖Memorial Volume of John Hyslop, the Postman Poet, ed.
William Johnson (Kilmarnock, 1895) includes some of her poems and a short
 biography; Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 348-53; inf. Kaye Kossick and Florence Boos.
[F] [S]
Ibbett, William Joseph (fl. 1889), postman poet, with a particular predilection for
private printings—he had a press of his own, and used other private presses. A
friend of the bibliophile Henry Buxton Forman, he published Poems by Antaeus
(n.p.: privately published, 1889). ~ Ref: Charles Cox, Catalogue 42 (2001); inf. Bob
Heyes.
(?) Illingworth, John (b. 1846), of Allerton, Yorkshire, farmer, dialect poet; received
limited schooling.‖Holroyd‖prints‖‘Towd‖Man’s‖Address‖to‖t’‖Wife’,‖a‖sentimental‖
poem reminiscent of the opening of Robert Bloomfield’s‖(qv) ‘Richard‖and‖Kate’,‖
written in an autobiographical style. He published a pamphlet of four poems,
Echoes of the Harp of Ebor (Bradford, 1870), and also published temperance and
dialect poems in local annuals and almanacks. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 63; Forshaw
(1891), 98-100.
Ince, Thomas (1850-1902), of Bingley, Yorkshire, son of a soldier, educated in Wigan
Union Workhouse, worked as a collier and labourer, studied medical botany,
became a herbalist, moved to Blackburn, published Beggar Manuscripts: An
Original Miscellany in Verse and Prose (Blackburn, 1888). ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), 101-
6 (includes a print of the poet); Hull (1902), 320-4; Burnett et al (1984), no. 367;
Maidment (1987), 270-2, 348-50; Reilly (1994), 240; NTU. [M]
Inglis, John (1813-87), born at Hearthstone, a shepherd’s‖shieling‖in‖Tweedsmuir,
Peeblesshire, a shepherd whose ancestors on both sides had been shepherds for
several generations. When he was a child his parents moved to Glengabber,
Meggetdale,‖‘one‖of‖the‖most‖romantic,‖though‖lonely‖scenes‖to‖be‖met‖with‖in‖the‖
south‖of‖Scotland,‖lying‖at‖the‖western‖end‖of‖St.‖Mary’s‖Loch’‖(Edwards);‖they‖
then moved to Dryhope, at the eastern end of the Loch. It is not easy to identify
these places precisely on the modern maps, but it is clear that the child grew up
very‖much‖in‖the‖countryside‖familiar‖to‖James‖Hogg,‖‘The‖Ettrick‖Shepherd’‖(qv).‖
Inglis went to school at Mount Benger (modern day Mountbenger), and took up
his ancestral occupation‖of‖shepherding,‖‘on‖the‖Lyne‖and‖Cairn‖Waters,‖and‖also‖
on the Pentland Hills’.‖He later found his way to Edinburgh (as James Hogg has
done),‖where‖he‖‘engaged‖in‖mercantile‖pursuits’,‖successfully,‖it‖seems,‖living‖at‖
10 Leven Street. He published a volume quite late in life by subscription, Poems
and Songs (Edinburgh: Ballantyne, Roberts & Co., 1866). Edwards prints two of his
verses,‖‘The‖Shepherd‖Lad’,‖and‖‘Glengaber‖Burn’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 161-5
and 12, xxii; Reilly (2000), 241. [S]
Inglis,‖John‖(b.‖1857),‖of‖Hawick,‖Roxburghshire,‖trained‖as‖a‖framework‖knitter,‖
which‖he‖did‖for‖twelve‖year‖before‖becoming‖a‖tweed‖factory‖worker.‖In‖1872‖he‖
emigrated‖to‖America,‖but‖became‖homesick‖for‖Teviotdale‖and‖returned‖after‖two‖
years.‖He‖later‖lived‖at‖‘Rosalee’,‖Wilton,‖Hawick.‖He‖published‖a‖volume,‖The
 Border Land, and Other Poems‖(Kelso:‖J.‖&‖J.‖H.‖Rutherfurd,‖1879).‖~‖Ref:‖Reilly‖
(2000),‖241.‖*S+‖*T+
Inglis,‖Robert‖Stirling‖(1835-86),‖of‖Heriot,‖Midlothian,‖second‖generation‖shepherd,‖
published‖Whisperings from the Hillside‖(Edinburgh,‖1886;‖second‖edition‖1888).‖~‖
Ref:‖Edwards,‖10‖(1887),‖297-8;‖Reilly‖(1994),‖241.‖*S+
Ingram, William (1765-1849), of Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire, weaver,
schoolmaster; published Poems in the English and Scottish Dialects (Aberdeen, 1812).
~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 393-6. [S] [T]
Inskip, Thomas (c. 1780-1849), of Kimbolton, Northamptonshire, watchmaker, friend
of Robert Bloomfield and John Clare (qqv), wrote‖‘Epitaph‖on‖Robert‖Bloomfield’‖
(Bloomfield, Remains, I, 184-5); Cant, A Satire (1843), and other poems published in
the Bedfordshire press. He was also an amateur archaeologist and collector of
Roman relics: his collection is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Inskip
died of cholera in Hastings. His unpublished letters to Clare are in
Northamptonshire Central Library, MS NMS 54, and in the BL, Egerton 2250. ~
Ref: Powell (1964), item 261 (this lists a copy of Cant in the surviving library of
John Clare, which contains a verse-letter from Inskip to Clare); Bloomfield Circle
(2012); Inskip One-Name Study Blog; MS sources as indicated; not in ODNB.
Ironside,‖Daniel‖(b.‖1825),‖of‖Bonnykelly,‖New‖Deer,‖cattle‖herder,‖joiner,‖religious‖
poet.‖~‖Ref:‖Edwards,‖10‖(1887),‖400-2.‖*S+
Irwin,‖Anne‖(b.‖1835),‖of‖Slade,‖Ilfracombe,‖domestic‖servant,‖author‖of‖Combe
Flowers: Poems,‖ed.‖Elizabeth‖Marriott‖(Ilfracombe:‖John‖Tait,‖1878,‖second‖edition‖
1879);‖Autumn Berries: Poems‖(Ilfracombe,‖1889).‖~‖Ref:‖Wright‖(1896),‖268-9;‖Reilly‖
(1994),‖242;‖Reilly‖(2000),‖242;‖inf.‖Bob‖Heyes;‖NTU.‖*F+
(?)‖Irwin,‖Edward‖(fl.‖1850-68),‖of‖Fermoy,‖bank‖accountant‖who‖emigrated‖to‖
America‖in‖about‖1868.‖He‖wrote‖King O’Toole’s Goose, an extravaganza in verse,
published‖in‖one‖of Thomas‖Hailes‖Lacy’s‖collections‖of‖plays,‖c.1850;‖Poems Grave
and Gay‖(London,‖1863).‖He‖is‖represented‖in‖Varian‖(1869).‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue‖
(1912),‖210.‖*I+
Isacke,‖John‖(fl.‖1859),‖self-taught‖lodge-keeper‖of‖Cemetery‖Lodge,‖Stroud;‖
published‖Leisure Hours: A Collection of Poems‖(Stroud:‖Printed‖by‖J.‖Elliott,‖1859),‖
text‖via‖archive.org.‖The‖short‖Preface‖quotes‖S.‖T.‖Coleridge‖and‖Hugh‖Miller‖
(qv),‖and‖the‖poems‖include‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Premature‖Death‖of‖the‖Author‖of‖
Endymion’‖(i.e.‖John‖Keats,‖qv)‖and‖‘Recollections‖of‖Clifton’,‖whose‖references‖to‖
rugged‖rocks,‖a‖rolling‖river‖and‖to‖forgotten‖childhood‖friends‖imply‖childhood‖
days‖spent‖in‖Clifton,‖Bristol‖as‖a‖resident‖or‖visitor.‖Isacke‖uses‖quite‖a‖lot‖of‖
epigraphs‖and‖endnotes‖and‖includes‖a‖few‖antiquarian‖themes,‖giving‖an‖air‖of‖
wide‖reading‖and‖scholarliness‖to‖these‖lyrics.‖~‖Ref:‖Jarndyce,‖Cat.‖CLXIX,‖item‖
481,‖offering‖two‖manuscript‖poetry‖books;‖inf.‖Bob‖Heyes.
Isherwood,‖Gideon‖(b.‖1860),‖of‖Blackburn,‖plumber,‖water‖inspector,‖later‖an‖
invalid;‖published‖poems‖in‖the‖newspapers.‖~‖Ref:‖Hull‖(1902),‖414-16;‖Massey‖
page.
(?)‖Jackson,‖Ferdinando‖(fl.‖1829),‖calico‖weaver‖of‖Rainow,‖Cheshire,‖published‖
Poems, Descriptive and Miscellaneous‖(Macclesfield,‖1829).‖~‖Ref:‖Johnson‖(1992),‖
item‖485.‖*T+
(?) Jackson, John (fl. 1807-10), of Harrop Wood, near Macclesfield, friend of Robert
Bloomfield (qv) and other shoemakers, published An Address to Time, with other
poems (Macclesfield: J. Wilson; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1807);
the second edition of 1808 has an appendix of letters to friends including
Bloomfield, who had sent him a copy of The Farmer’s Boy; a copy of this described
by‖Johnson‖(487)‖includes‖a‖letter‖‘To‖Mr. G—,‖Shoemaker,‖Liverpool’.‖Jackson‖
also published Barythymia, a poem addressed to the Sons and Daughters of Adversity
(1810). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), 486-7; Bloomfield Circle (2012), letters 205, 205a.
James, Ann R. (fl. c. 1868), of Wilne, Derbyshire, wrote Village Memories: Being Poems
of a Poor and Invalid Parishioner of Wilne (pamphlet, originally c. 1868); the
collection is dedicated to Revd. W Lloyd, vicar of Wilne, and contains a number of
poems to old and blind friends, perhaps suggesting that Ann James was a fellow-
resident of an almshouse. ~ Ref: modern typescript (presumably of a lost original;
it is unclear whether this was ever actually published or remained in typescript),
in Longeaton Library, Local Studies collection. [F]
James, Daniel (1847-1920), ‘Gwyrosydd’,‖of Treboeth, Swansea, poet and hymn-
writer, worked as an iron and tinplate worker in Morriston Iron Works, and in
Landore, Dowlais, Tredegar, Blengarw and Mountain Ash. He was the author of
popular recitation verses, collected in Caneuon Gwyrosydd (1892); and Aeron Awen
Gwyrosydd (1898). Perhaps‖his‖best‖known‖hymn‖is‖‘Calon‖Lân’‖(‘Pure‖Heart’). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986); online sources. [W]
James, Elinor (1644-1719),‖printer‖and‖printer’s‖widow,‖pamphleteer‖and‖political‖
campaigner, married a printer at age of seventeen and‖after‖his‖death‖‘wrote,‖
printed‖and‖distributed’‖some‖90‖broadsheets,‖largely‖in‖the‖form‖of‖political‖
petitions.‖Her‖writings‖include‖‘a‖doggerel‖verse‖commemorating‖the‖anniversary‖
of‖the‖Restoration‖of‖Charles‖II’,‖published 1712; they have been collected as Elinor
James, Printed Writing 1641-1700, ed. Paula McDowell (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005).
~ Ref: edition as cited; TLS, 9 December 2005, 8-9; Wikipedia. [F] [C18]
James, Evan (1809-78), ‘Ieuan‖ap‖Iago’,‖of Caerphilly, later of Pontypridd, weaver,
author of the national anthem of Wales, Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (usually rendered in
English‖as‖‘Land‖of‖my‖Fathers’);‖his‖son‖James‖James‖(qv),‖wrote‖the‖tune;‖
published poems in Gardd Aberdâr (1854). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T]
(?) James, James (1832-1902), ‘Iago‖ap‖Ieuan’,‖publican and co-creator with his father
Evan James (qv) of the Welsh national anthem, harpist. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986);
ODNB. [W]
(?) James, Joseph (fl. 1859), confectioner, published The Workman’s Sabbath and other
poems (London: Partridge & Oakey, 1859), 24 pages. ~ Ref: Google Books
(Goodridge (1999), item 59 may be another James Joseph).
James, Maria (1795-1845), a Welsh-speaker, emigrated with her family from
Snowdonia to the USA, aged seven, to join a community of Welsh quarry workers
in New York State. She worked as a servant, served as an apprentice lacemaker,
and returned to working as a servant again, working for the Garretson family,
who appear to have encouraged and patronised her poetry, which was published
in local magazines and newspapers. She published a volume, Wales and Other
Poems (New York: John S. Taylor, 1839; online via Google Books), edited and
introduced by A. Potter, DD, of Union College, New York. These poems ‘offer‖
rare and interesting insights into the experience of a nineteenth-century working-
class‖woman‖poet’.‖Her work is also included in Gramich and Brennan. ~ Ref:
Brennan (2003), 87-110; Gramich and Brennan (2003), 96-102, 399-400; DWB. [W]
[F] [T]
(?) James, Nicholas (fl.‖1741),‖author‖of‖‘The‖Complaints‖of‖Poverty’‖(using‖the‖
pronoun‖‘we’‖for‖the‖poverty-stricken), published in his Poems on Several Occasions
(Truro, 1742), with a list of subscribers. ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1984), 342-3, 846n. [C18]
Jamieson, Robert (fl. 1885), ‘Bob‖o’‖Tullibody’,‖of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, feuar
(feudal rights holder) and laird, onetime weaver.‖‘As‖he‖marched‖to‖and‖from‖the‖
Alve Mills, he would croon to himself rhymes on many subjects, more especially
on the passing events of the day, on incidents in his daily work and working
companions, or on sights and scenes that interested him. On his return he would
pen these, or retain them in his memory till a suitable time came for transcribing
them. Incidents around his own domestic hearth had always a keen interest for
him, and some of his best lyrics have their locale around‖his‖own‖fireside’‖
(Beveridge). Beveridge record that he had penned ‘over forty’ verses, and enjoyed
sharing them with others. He‖prints‖‘Lizzie’s‖lament‖for‖Her‖Pet‖Dog’,‖‘Cat’s‖
Reply’‖(to‖a‖poem‖entitled‖‘Lizzie’s‖Lament‖for‖her‖Pet‖Rabbit,‖which‖had‖been‖
killed‖by‖the‖Cat’),‖and‖‘Lines‖to‖David‖Aitken’. This last poem is about an
expected‖comet,‖presumably‖the‖‘Great‖Comet’‖of‖1882. ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885),
68-71, 107-8. [S]
(?) Japp,‖Alex‖H.‖(b.‖1837),‖of‖Dun,‖Brechin,‖carpenter’s‖son,‖draper,‖attended‖
Edinburgh University and became a journalist, published numerous prose works,
and poems in newspapers and magazines. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 106-11. [S] [T]
Jardine, James (b. 1852), of Broadmeadow, Ecclefechan, orphan, tweed factory
worker, Hawick tweed merchant. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 239-41. [S] [T]
Jeffrey, Agnes (b. 1848), of Peebleshire, raised in Stobo, where her father was
employed by Montgomery family; at the age of thirteen she left school and
became a domestic servant until she married in 1875. Poems include ‘Jimmie‖
Jenkins’,‖‘Balm‖and‖Briar’,‖‘Homely‖Things’,‖and‖‘Nae‖Freen’s‖Like‖Auld‖Freen’s.’‖
Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 337-40; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Jeffrey, William Duthie (1845-92), of Fyvie, herd laddie, sawyer, shoemaker. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 8 (1885), 103-9. [S] [SM]
Jeffryes, Alexander E. (b. 1874), of Dysart, Fifeshire, house-painter. ~ Ref: Edwards,
14 (1891), 219-26. [S]
(?) Jenkins, John (1825-94),‖‘Cerngoch’ (‘red-cheek’), brother of Joseph Jenkins (qv), a
‘ready‖and‖prolific‖versifier‖and‖composer‖of‖englynion’‖(a‖Welsh‖verse‖form);‖his‖
verses‖included‖‘the‖prize-winning‖englyn‖to‖‚The‖Lost‖Sailor‛’‖(‘Y‖Morwr‖
Colledig’),‖quoted‖in‖his‖brother‖Joseph’s‖diary;‖his‖poems‖appeared‖in‖Cerddi
Cerngoch (Lampeter: Welsh Church Press Co., 1904; Caxton Press, 1920). Ref:
sources as per Joseph Jenkins (qv). [W]
Jenkins, Joseph (1818-98),‖‘Amnon‖II’,‖of‖Blaenplwyf,‖Llanfihangel-Ystrad,
Cardiganshire, one of twelve children, a successful and innovative farmer at
Tecefel, Tegarn from the age of 28; then at 51 he left his family to travel to
Australia, where he worked as a swagman or itinerant worker, keeping a diary of
his experiences in the Outback. He later worked as a street cleaner, and came back
to Wales in 1894. Jenkins was‖a‖‘strict‖metre’‖poet,‖and‖80‖of‖his poems were
published in Cerddi Cerngoch (Lampeter: Caxton Press, 1920), along with those of
his brother John (John Jenkins, qv); others remain unpublished. His diary was
posthumously published in various editions including Diary of a Welsh Swagman,
1863-1894, ed. his grandson William Evans (Sydney, Australia: Macmillan, 1975).
The diary includes examples of the Welsh verse form englynion, and records his
participation‖in‖eisteddfodau‖held‖annually‖on‖St‖David’s‖day‖at‖Ballarat,‖Victoria,‖
Australia. His uncle David Davies (1745-1827, qv) was also a poet, as well as his
brother John. ~ Ref: Bethan Phillips, Pity the Swagman: The Australian Odyssey of a
Victorian Diarist (Aberystwyth, 2002); texts as cited; online sources. [A] [W]
Jennings, James (1772-1833),‖‘Speculator’,‖of‖Huntspill,‖Somerset,‖the‖son‖of‖a‖village‖
shopkeeper, educated at North Petherton School, apprenticed to a Bristol
apothecary; published as‖‘Speculator’‖a‖series‖of‖essays‖in‖a‖Bristol‖newspaper.‖
Encouraged by Robert Southey, he published newspaper essays in the Spectator,
placed poems in magazines including the European Magazine, and produced three
volumes, The Times, A Satirical Rhapsody (1794); Poems, Consisting of the Mysteries of
Mendip, The Magic Ball, Sonnets, Retrospective Wanderings, and Other Pieces (1810),
and The Prospects of Africa, and Other Poems (1814). Jennings lived for a time in
London, working as a professional writer, and later set up a school in Huntspill. ~
 Ref: Meyenberg (2000), 214; biography on the Bridgwater Heritage Group website.
[C18]
Jewell, Joseph (1763-1846), of Stanford, Oxfordshire, farmworker, smuggler, ostler,
working chemist. His mother died when he was ten. He published in verse A
Short Sketch of a Long Life, accompanied by a Few Useful Hints (Newbury: printed by
M. W. Vardy, 1840; Hereford: printed by Joseph Jones, 1846). ~ Ref: COPAC:
copies in BL, Cardiff University, and Society of Friends Library.
Jewitt, Arthur (1772-1852), of Sheffield, cutler, schoolmaster, exciseman, better
known as a topographer and miscellaneous writer but also a poet, the author of
‘Peak‖Rhapsody’,‖a‖celebrated‖lyric‖on‖the‖beauties‖of‖the‖Peak‖District,‖later‖set‖to‖
music. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 384; ODNB; Wikipedia.
Job, William (fl. 1785), gardener of Bristol, published Poems on Various Subjects (1785).
~ Ref: Alan‖Richardson,‖‘Darkness‖Visible?‖Race‖and‖Representation‖in‖Bristol‖
Abolitionist Poetry, 1770-1810’,‖in‖Romanticism and Colonialism: Writing and Empire,
ed. Peter Kitson and Tim Fulford (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998),
129-47; Baines et al (2011); LC 3, 45-50. [LC3] [C18]
Jobling, Charlotte (fl. 1881), born in Belfast,‖lived‖in‖Glasgow,‖sailor’s‖daughter,‖poet‖
and folklorist; published poems in the Glasgow Herald; widowed and moved back
to‖Ireland,‖where‖she‖lived‖near‖Dublin;‖poems‖include‖‘Overdue’,‖‘Blow‖Him‖
Home’,‖‘At‖Her‖Feet’,‖‘Winifred‖Lee’,‖‘Liars’‖and‖the‖Scots‖‘Pedlar’s‖Cream’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 8 (1885), 296-302; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [I] [S]
(?) Johnson, David (fl. 1869),‖of‖Brechin,‖contributed‖a‖poem‖on‖‘Co-operation’‖
(designed‖to‖be‖sung‖to‖the‖‘Air’‖known‖as‖‘Tullochgorum’)‖in‖the‖People’s Journal,
3rd April 1869. Blair contextualises the poem in relation to the rise and
significance of the co-operative movement. Johnson is unidentified but internal
evidence suggests a working-class‖figure.‖He‖identifies‖himself‖as‖‘David‖Johnson,‖
F___,‖by‖Brechin’, a lightly‖masked‖location‖that‖might‖suggest‖‘Farnell’‖or‖some‖
other location near Brechin. ~ Ref: Blair (2016), 77-8; online sources. [S]
(?) Johnson, Mary F. (fl. 1810, d. 1863), of Wroxall Farm, Isle of Wight, described
herself‖in‖her‖volumes‖as‖a‖‘secluded,‖unknown‖and‖inexperienced‖female’;‖
published Original Sonnets and Other Poems (1810). ~ Ref: Meyenberg (2000), 214; A
Century of Sonnets: The Romantic Revival, 1750-1850, ed. Paula R. Feldman and
Daniel Robinson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 138-9. [F]
Johnson, William (fl. 1844), of Framwellgate Moor, County Durham, coal miner,
author‖of‖‘The‖Miners’‖Grievances’,‖and‖‘The‖Miner’s‖Friend’‖printed‖as‖a‖
broadside‖along‖with‖‘Mr‖Roberts‖the‖Pitman’s‖Friend’. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 240,
244, 356 note, 357 note; Harker (1999), 44. [M]
Johnston, Ellen (1835-73),‖‘The‖Factory‖Girl’,‖daughter‖of‖James Johnston (fl. 1835,
qv), a stonemason and sometime poet who left his family behind to emigrate to
the United States (the precise circumstances around this event, as sympathetically
described by his daughter, are discussed in his own entry, below), and Mary
Bisland, the second daughter of a Glasgow dyer (‘then‖well-known as the
Bridgeton‖Dyer’‖according to his grand-daughter). Mary Bisland married James
Johnston when she was 18; after his departure she supported herself and her child
as a dressmaker and milliner, and, hearing that her husband had died in America,
re-married. At the age of eleven Johnston was forced by her abusive stepfather to
begin work in a factory, and she continued as a powerloom weaver for most of
her life. She published poems in the People’s Journal, and a volume, Autobiography,
Poems and Songs of Ellen Johnston, The Factory Girl (Dundee; Glasgow: W. Love,
1867; second edition 1869). ~ Ellen Johnston called herself‖‘The‖Factory‖Girl’,‖
underscoring class and gender in this poetic persona and giving herself a strong
identity, especially in the use of the definite article (she was not just any old
factory girl, but THE Factory Girl). In her poetry she strongly claimed her right to
speak and act, often in a manner transcending social and sexual divisions. Boos
(2003)‖describes‖her‖as‖‘assertive,‖undevout,‖and‖independent’‖in‖a‖way‖that‖
‘clearly‖clashed‖with‖contemporary‖stereotypes‖of‖the‖meekly‖virtuous‖working-
class‖woman‖and‖mother’.‖From‖her‖earliest‖writing,‖she‖shows‖an‖almost‖Byronic‖
flamboyance in expressing her genius. At the same time her work also reveals, as
Judith‖Rosen‖notes,‖a‖‘dependence‖on‖communal‖acknowledgement‖of‖her poetic
role and identity ... an‖anxious‖need‖for‖response‖and‖acceptance’.‖Taken‖as‖a‖
whole,‖Johnston’s‖poems‖navigate‖her‖‘double‖position‖as‖representative‖voice‖
and‖distinctive‖talent’.‖~‖Much‖of‖what‖we‖know about Johnston comes from the
rich, frank autobiography (recently reprinted by Simmons, 2007) that prefaces her
poetry collection. Born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, she lived with her grandparents
for several years after her father went to America, until her mother remarried.
Johnston’s‖stepfather‖abused‖her‖physically‖and‖(the coded language of her
autobiography implies) abused her sexually. He sent her to work in a factory at
the age of eleven. She attempted to run away from home several times, and gave
birth to a daughter, Mary Achenvole, in September 1852 when she was seventeen.
The father is not identified and Johnston is unabashed about her status as an
unwed mother and proud of her daughter, taking‖Oliver‖Goldsmith’s‖lines‖about‖
‘When‖lovely‖woman‖stoops‖to‖folly’‖head‖on,‖and‖squarely refuting them, though
by the second edition her book she had suppressed some of the details of her
teenage years and their aftermath. She travelled and worked in many places
including travel in Ireland, England and France, she says, describing her restless,
adventurous and troubled youth. ~ Her first published poem appeared the
Glasgow Examiner in‖1854.‖‘Lord‖Raglan’s‖Address‖to‖the‖Allied‖Armies’‖earned‖
her a gift of £10 from Lord Raglan. She would repeat the tactic in her poem‖‘An‖
Address‖to‖Napier’s‖Dockyard’,‖a‖bold,‖romantic, and frankly flattering portrayal
of the shipyard of Robert Napier (1791-1876), sometimes called ‘The‖Father‖of‖
Clyde‖Shipbuilding’.‖In‖her‖autobiography,‖Johnston‖notes‖that‖in‖1854,‖when‖her‖
health was failing and her ability to work compromised, she sent this poem to
Napier. After making enquiries about her character Napier sent a note to Johnston
‘to‖call‖at‖a‖certain‖office‖in‖Oswald‖Street,‖Glasgow,‖and‖draw‖as‖much‖money‖as‖
would‖set‖me‖up‖in‖some‖small‖business,‖to‖see‖if‖my‖health‖would‖revive’.‖He‖
gave her £10, and this money supported Johnston, her mother, her stepfather, and
her daughter for five months, until she regained her strength and was able to
return to factory work. In 1857 she moved to Belfast and worked in James
Kennedy’s‖mill,‖and‖in‖1859‖went‖to‖Dundee where she was involved in a labour
dispute, suing a foreman who had wrongfully dismissed her. Though her case
was successful she was ostracised by her fellow-workers: not the only time this
sort of thing would happen, as her poems and autobiography both reveal. As well
as supporting her mother, stepfather and daughter, she learned that her father,
who had been alive and well and living in Maine, committed suicide when he
discovered‖that‖his‖wife‖had‖remarried.‖Johnston’s‖mother died in 1861. ~ In 1865
Ellen Johnston began to publish poetry in the Glasgow Penny Post. Since 1860 the
Post had been under the editorship of James Campbell, a former joiner and early
socialist who was an ardent supporter of labouring-class causes and worked very
hard‖to‖promote‖Johnston.‖As‖Boos‖(2003)‖notes,‖Johnston’s‖brief‖period‖of‖success‖
in the late 1860s was‖due‖to‖‘the‖fortunate‖conjunction‖of‖her‖own‖ambition‖and‖
accomplishments,‖Campbell’s‖active‖help,‖and‖the‖support‖of‖a‖remarkably‖
responsive working-class‖audience’‖(p.‖504).‖In‖the‖paper’s‖‘Poets’‖Corner’,‖
Johnston engaged in several ongoing poetic dialogues with other poets who has
submitted‖responses‖to‖her‖work‖(for‖example‖‘Lines‖by‖Edith‖to‖the‖Factory‖Girl’,‖
printed‖in‖LC6).‖With‖the‖editor’s‖help‖in‖garnering‖subscriptions, she was able to
publish her collection in 1867, and in it she includes a substantial group of poems
by others as well as her responses to them, reflecting the collegiate nature of much
of her poetry. While many of her poems are deeply personal and speak of her
sense of exile from her community, she also takes pride in assuming the role of
the voice of that community, as Rosen notes, reflecting the way she sees herself
heroically‖adopting‖the‖role‖of‖‘queen-like‖bard’‖(as‖she‖calls‖herself‖in‖one‖of‖her‖
poems). ~ Her collection sold well, and a second edition was issued in 1869.
Johnston’s‖goal‖was‖to‖be‖liberated‖from‖factory‖work,‖but‖she‖was‖not‖able‖to‖
support herself from poetry alone, although she eventually received £50 from the
Royal Bounty Fund. When Campbell retired from editing the Penny Post in 1868
she lost her strongest supporter and her celebrity waned. In 1873 her ill health
was noted in the pages of the Post, but other details of her life in the early 1870s
are unclear. Boos (2010) notes that her beloved daughter Mary (Achinvole)
Johnston‖‘survived‖to‖offer a home to her in her last illness’.‖However,‖a woman
by the name of Helen Johnston died in 1873 in the Barony (Barnhill) Poorhouse
owing to complications from malnutrition, and most scholars, including Florence
Boos and H. Gustav Klaus, believe this to have been the poet. She would have
been just 38 years old. ~‖Johnston’s‖work‖has‖been‖included‖in‖recent anthologies
of Victorian and‖women’s‖poetry‖because‖of‖its‖distinctive‖qualities,‖including‖the‖
poet’s‖expression‖of‖her‖physical‖desires‖(‘Wanted,‖a‖Man’),‖her political rights,
and her ambition and pride as a poet. She speaks movingly and vividly about the
sufferings‖of‖her‖class,‖for‖example‖in‖her‖most‖anthologised‖poem‖‘The‖Last‖
Sark’.‖She‖also‖writes‖playfully,‖often‖in‖Scots,‖sometime‖writing‖against‖her
enemies‖(‘The‖Sha’maker’s‖Wife’)‖and‖sometimes‖in‖ways‖strongly‖reminiscent‖of‖
Burns‖(‘Nelly’s‖Lament‖for‖the‖Pirnhouse‖Cat’).‖In‖‘writing‖back’‖against‖the‖
wrongs that had been done to her, she clearly sees herself as providing a model
for other women (and‖men)‖of‖her‖class‖to‖follow.‖As‖Rosen‖notes,‖‘By‖constituting‖
herself as a heroine, Johnston lays claim to an imaginative life unfettered by class
or gender constraints, even as she remains pointedly conscious of her position as a
working-class woman and‖the‖limitations‖that‖position‖imposes’.‖Like‖Ann‖
Yearsley (qv) two generations earlier Johnston was unafraid to give voice to both
the realities and the aspirations of working-class women, confidently speaking
her own mind, in her own voice. (These last remarks are adapted from my
comments in LC6.) ~ See also the entry for her father, James Johnston (fl. 1835),
below. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 525-6; Burnett et al (1984), no. 389; Julia Swindells,
Victorian Writing and Working Women (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1985); Maidment
(1987), 19; Kerrigan (1991), 191, 354; Susan‖Zlotnick,‖‘‚A‖Thousand‖Times‖I’d‖
Rather‖Be‖a‖Factory‖Girl‛:‖Dialect,‖Domesticity,‖and‖Working-class‖Women’s‖
Poetry‖in‖Victorian‖Britain’,‖Victorian Studies 29 (1991), 7-27; Boos (1995); ABC
(1996), 574-5; Boos (1996); Angela‖Leighton,‖‘Ellen‖Johnston‖(1835-1873)’,‖in‖
Victorian Women Poets: A Critical Reader (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), pp. 406-14; Bold
(1997), 258; McMillan (1997), 83-4; Klaus (1998); Zlotnick (1998); Florence S. Boos,
‘Ellen‖Johnston‖(ca.‖1835-1873)’,‖in‖Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers, ed.
Abigail Burnham Bloom (London: Aldwych Press, 2000), pp. 231-34; Bradshaw &
Ozment (2000), 287-8; Reilly (2000), 249; Judith‖Rosen,‖‘Class‖and‖Poetic‖
Communities:‖The‖Works‖of‖Ellen‖Johnston,‖‚The‖Factory‖Girl‛’,‖Victorian Poetry,
39 (2001), 207-27; Boos (2002a), 219-20; Boos (2002b), 140-1, 144; Florence S. Boos,
‘The‖‚Queen‛‖of‖the‖‚Far-Famed‖Penny‖Post‛:‖‚The‖Factory‖Girl‖Poet‛‖and‖her‖
audience’,‖Women’s Writing, 10 (2003), 503-26; Forsyth (2005); Goodridge (2005);
Simmons (2007), 301-24, 366-90; Boos (2008), 195-219; H. Gustav Klaus, ‘New‖
Light‖on‖Ellen‖Johnston,‖‚The‖Factory‖Girl‛’,‖Notes and Queries, 55, no. 4 (2008),
430-3; Boos (2010), 197-222; Monica‖Smith‖Hart,‖‘The‖Factory‖Exile:‖Ellen‖
Johnston’s‖Autobiography, Poems and Songs’,‖Victorian Poetry, 53, no. 1 (2015), 77-99;
Blair (2016), 30-31, 43-4; Suz‖Garrard,‖‘‚Welcome‖and‖Appeal‖to‖the‖‘Maid‖of‖
Dundee’‛:‖Constructing‖the‖Female‖Working-Class‖Bard‖in‖Ellen‖Johnston’s‖
 Correspondent Poetry, 1862-7’,‖in‖Women, Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain,
1830s-1900s, ed. Alexis Easley, Clare Gill and Beth Rogers (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, forthcoming); ODNB; LC 6, 101-30; inf. Florence Boos, Gustav
Klaus. [LC6] [F] [S] [T]
Johnston, James (fl. 1835),‖father‖of‖the‖poet‖Ellen‖Johnston,‖‘The‖Factory‖Girl’‖(qv).‖
He was the second oldest son of another James Johnston, a canvas-maker of
Lochee, Dundee, and was trained as a stonemason. He moved to Glasgow, where
he married‖Mary‖Bisland.‖At‖the‖time‖of‖his‖daughter’s‖birth‖in‖1835‖he‖was‖
working for the Duke of Hamilton, extending the northern wing of his residence,
and when this work finished he decided to emigrate to America, booking a
passage for himself and his wife and seven-month-old child. However, his wife
would not come‖with‖him,‖fearing‖for‖her‖baby’s‖safety.‖Ellen Johnston paints the
scene of this parting of the ways vividly, and presumably‖from‖her‖mother’s‖
memory:‖‘But‖when‖all‖the‖relatives‖and‖friends‖had‖assembled‖at the Broomielaw
[the quayside on the river Clyde in Glasgow] to give the farewell kiss and shake
of the hand before going on board, my mother determined not to proceed,
pressing me fondly to her bosom, exclaiming—‚I‖cannot,‖will‖not‖go,‖my‖child‖
would‖die‖on‖the‖way‛; and taking an affectionate farewell with my father, he
proceeded on the voyage, and my mother fled from the scene and returned to her
father’s‖house,‖where‖she‖remained‖for‖some‖years,‖and‖supported‖herself‖by‖
dressmaking‖and‖millinery.’‖H. Gustav Klaus, in his important study of Ellen
Johnston (1998), takes a more sceptical view of how James‖Johnston‖‘made‖off‖
when‖she‖was‖only‖a‖couple‖of‖months‖old’:‖‘Ellen‖likes‖to‖believe‖that‖he‖had‖
booked passages for them all to America but, of course, she has to rely on the
‚communicated‖evidence‖of‖witnesses‖of‖these‖events‛‖(p.‖3).‖No‖unkind‖word‖
about the man, whose desertion of the family is at the root of many of her later
problems, passes her lips. On the contrary, she attributes to him her own poetic
talent.’ (p. 25) It would be quite understandable that Johnston might idealise her
missing father, but on the other hand we have no evidence to contradict her (or
her‖mother’s)‖version‖of‖events.‖Whatever‖the‖truth‖of‖the‖matter,‖the‖remainder
of James Johnston’s‖story‖is‖clearly tragic, and is told by his daughter in two
passages of her autobiography. She writes: ‘In‖the‖course‖of‖time‖my‖mother‖
received‖some‖information‖of‖my‖father’s death in America, and again married a
powerloom tenter when I was about eight years of age, till which time I may truly
say that the only heartfelt sorrow‖I‖experienced‖was‖the‖loss‖of‖‚Dainty‖Davie‛’‖
(her pet dog). The disturbance of this long-distance bereavement was multiplied
by the seriously abusive behaviour of her new stepfather—for her mother had re-
married on hearing of the death of James Johnston—and we hear no more of her
father until quite late in her story. By now she had left home, travelled, worked
and‖been‖through‖many‖other‖experiences.‖Her‖mother‖‘had‖been‖an‖invalid‖for‖
 several years, and, to add to her sorrow, a letter had come from her supposed
dead husband, my father, in America, after an absence of twenty years, inquiring
for his wife and child; on learning their fate he became maddened with remorse,
and, according to report, drank a death-draught from a cup in his own hand; and
my mother, after becoming aware of the mystery of my life, closed her weary
pilgrimage‖on‖earth‖on‖25th‖May,‖1861.’‖After‖this‖tragic‖end‖to‖her‖parents’‖lives,‖
Ellen‖Johnston‖moved‖to‖Dundee,‖where‖her‖father’s‖sister‖lived, perhaps the last
link in the parental chain, but found little solace there. ~ She writes of her father,
earlier in her autobiography, as being a poet, and says that when he worked for
the Duke of Hamilton, the‖Duke‖‘familiarly‖used‖to‖call‖him‖Lord‖Byron’.‖So‖we‖
know that he was composing verses at this stage of his life. He was, writes Ellen
in explaining his desire to emigrate to America, ‘of an active disposition,
somewhat ambitious, proud, and independent, with some literary and scientific
attainments, with a strong desire to become a teacher and publish a volume of his
poetical‖works’.‖We cannot currently ascertain whether or not he succeeded in
these aims, and how apt the ‘Lord‖Byron’‖nickname‖was;‖we‖can‖only‖note‖that‖he
was a poet who (in the words of the old folk song) left his true love behind him on
the quayside; and later died tragically by his own hand, in the state of Maine in
the United States. ~ Ref: Sources as per‖Ellen’s‖Johnston’s‖entry, especially her
autobiography and poems in Simmons (2007), 301-24 and 366-90; Valentine
Cunningham, The Victorians (Blackwell, 2000), 749; online sources. [S]
Johnston, James (b. 1849), of Whitburn, plasterer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 335-6. [S]
Johnston, James John (b. 1862), of Baltasound, Shetland, seaman’s‖son‖whose‖father‖
would be away at sea most of the year. He spent much time with his uncle,
enjoyed‖the‖selections‖from‖the‖‘standard‖poets’‖at‖school,‖and‖joined‖the‖
‘Working Men’s‖Library’‖in‖his village. He left school at thirteen and began a
commercial training, but then his family moved to Leith when his father began
working on the Leith-Hamburgh steamboat. He worked for an accountant and
began writing poetry partly as a response to being taken away from and missing
his original home on Shetland. He moved to a job working for a manufacturing
company in Edinburgh, where the poetry became a means of relaxing after his
paid work. He won several poetry competitions and submitted verses to a
number of newspapers. Edwards prints‖his‖‘Song’‖(‘What‖is‖song?‖A‖holy
feeling’),‖‘Pity’s‖Shrine’,‖and‖‘The‖Home‖of‖My‖Boyhood’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883)
(1883), 238-41. [S]
Johnston, James M (fl. 1887), a Belfast working man, published Jottings in Verse
(Belfast, 1887). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 251. [I]
Johnston, John (1781-1880), of Clackleith, Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, sheep-farmer’s‖
son, soldier, schoolmaster, published Lord Nelson: A Poem, with a Biographical
 Sketch of His *Johnson’s+ Life by A.B. Todd (London, 1874). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 249.
[S]
Johnstone, Alexander, of Paisley (fl. c. 1840?), gardener, father of the poet Jeannie
Johnstone (qv); no separate collection; poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II,
384-86. [S]
(?) Johnstone, Jeannie (b. c. 1870), of Paisley, daughter of the gardener poet
Alexander Johnstone (qv). After attending the John Neilson Institution, Miss
Johnstone began work in a warehouse, and published poems locally. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), II, 526-28; Boos (1997), 251; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Johnstone, John Craighouse (1761-1846), agricultural labourer, shoemaker(?),
published a volume, Poems on Various Subjects but Chiefly Illustrative of the Manners
and Superstitions of Annandale (Dumfries, 1820); and posthumously, Poems on
Various Subjects, with Additional Poems and a Memoir of the Author (1857). ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 24-26; Winks (1883), 313; Johnson (1992), item 494. [S] [SM]
Johnstone, Thomas (1812-70), of Paisley, apprenticed to watchmaker, unsuccessful so
became a soldier and served in America, worked in a store in Liverpool and
served as drill instructor, published posthumous collection, A Soldier’s Thoughts in
Verse and Prose,‖with‖prefatory‖note‖by‖James‖M’Naught‖(Edinburgh,‖1871). ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 24-26; Reilly (2000), 250. [S]
Jones, Abel (1830-1901), ‘Y Bardd Crwst’,‖of‖Llanrwst,‖Denbighshire,‖‘particularly‖
famous‖in‖the‖fairs‖of‖Glamorgan‖and‖Gwent’,‖but‖ended his days in a workhouse.
~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W].
Jones,‖Arthur‖Simon,‖‘Anellyd’,‖of‖Abergwili,‖cockle-seller, rhymester. There other
such‖‘cockle‖poets’:‖OCLW names John Evans (1827-88) and Elias Jones (qqv), and
says‖that‖the‖words‖‘cocosfardd’,‖‘cocoswaith’‖and‖‘cocosaidd’‖are‖used‖to‖
describe the kind of rhymes the cockle-poets made. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986),
mentioned in the entry for John Evans. [W]
Jones, Christopher, (fl. 1775-82), journeyman woolcomber, author of Sowton. A Village
Conference: Occasioned by a Late Law decision (Crediton, 1775); The Miscellaneous
Poetic Attempts of...an Uneducated Journeyman Wool-Comber (Exon./London:
Freeman/Kearsley, [1786]), ‘by‖C.‖or‖G.‖Jones’. ~ Ref: Monthly Review, 74 (1786),
146-7; Critical Review, 61 (1786), 398; Jackson (1985); LC 2, 303-30. [LC2] [C18] [T]
Jones, Dafydd (1711-77), of Cwm Gogerddan, Caeo, Carmarthenshire, drover, hymn-
writer; translated hymns and psalms of Isaac Watts into Welsh, published in three
volumes; also published his own hymns as Difyrrwch i’r Pererinion (1763-70), three
volumes. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [C18]
Jones, Dafydd (1881-1968), ‘Isfoel’,‖of Cardiganshire, blacksmith, poet and farmer,
member of the poetry-composing Cilie family; published Cerddi Isfoel (1958); Ail
Gerddi Isfoel (1965); and posthumously Cyfoeth Awen Isfoel, ed. T. Llew Jones
 (1981). He also published a vol. of prose reminiscences (1966). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986).
[W] [B] [OP]
Jones, Dafydd (b. 1907), of Ffair Rhos‖(known‖as‖‘the‖poet’s‖village’), Cardiganshire,
shepherd, later a Ministry of Agriculture official; published Yr Arloeswr (1965). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [OP]
Jones, David Watkin (1832-1905), ‘Dafydd‖Morganwg’,‖of Merthyr Tydfil, coal miner
and agent for prospectors; published Yr Ysgol Farddol (1896), and a prose history
of Glamorgan (1874). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [M]
(?) Jones, Ebenezer (1820-60), born in Islington, London, to Welsh Calvinist parents,
school-educated. His family became reduced to poverty, and returned to Wales.
Jones remained in London, working long hours in a counting-house. A
‘spasmodic’‖poet,‖and‖a‖Chartist,‖he published Studies in Sensation and Event
(1843), fuller edition with life published 1879. ~ Ref: Miles (1891), V, 18; Kovalev
(1956), 127-9; James (1963), 172; Ashraf (1975), 200-08; Maidment (1987), 39; Ricks
(1987), 162-4; Scheckner (1989), 165-7, 335; Schwab (1993), 195-6; OCLW; ODNB;
NTU. [C] [W]
Jones, Elias (fl. 1897), ‘Ffumerydd Jones’, ‘Cocosfardd y De’,‖‘cockle‖poet‖of‖the‖
south’,‖‘rhymester’,‖published Simleiau’r Cwm (1897). There were other such
‘cockle‖poets’: OCLW names John Evans (1827-88) and Arthur Simon Jones (qqv).
~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
(?) Jones, Ernest [Charles] (1819-68),‖‘spasmodic’‖poet,‖Chartist;‖through‖George‖
Julian Harney (qv) met Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx; co-edited The Labourer
(Chartist‖land‖plan‖journal)‖with‖Feargus‖O’Connor;‖after two-year imprisonment,
took sole leadership of journals Notes to the People (1851‐2) and The People's Paper
(1852‐8). Although Jones was not of working-class origins, he was deeply
associated and engaged with the working-class movement, and became a very
important figure in its political and cultural development. He published poems in
The Northern Star, a collection of Chartist Songs and Festive Pieces (London, 1846),
and a particularly significant poetry collection, The Battle Day and Other Poems
(1855). An‖important‖recent‖study‖of‖Jones’s‖poetry‖is‖Simon‖Rennie,‖The Poetry of
Ernest Jones: Myth, Song, and the Mighty Mind (Oxford: Legenda, 2016). ~ Ref: Miles
(1891), IV, 547; Kovalev (1956), 135-79; James (1963), 172-3; Vicinus (1974), 100-2;
Ashraf (1975), 193-9; Burnett et al (1984), 359 (no. 817); Maidment (1987), 44-6, 67-
73, 195-6; Ricks (1987), 326-7; Scheckner (1989), 168-224, 335-6; Rizzo (1991), 242;
Janowitz (1998), esp. 173-94; Boos (2002a), 215-16; ODNB; NTU. [C]
Jones, Gwilym Gwesyn (1910-78),‖of‖Caerphilly,‖farmer’s‖youngest‖son,‖left‖school‖
and worked in forestry; published Pacific Poems (1936), and The Loom of Love
(1953), his writing focussing on his love of the natural world. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986).
[W] [OP]
Jones, Henry (1721‐70), born at Beaulieu, near Drogheda, bricklayer poet, whose
patron was Lord Chesterfield, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; published Vectis: The
Isle of Wight, a poem, in three cantos (London, 1766; second edition‖without‖‘Vectis’,‖
Isle of Wight: J. Mallet, 1782); Poems on Several Occasions (1749), numerous
successful plays, The Relief, or, Day Thoughts, a Poem Occasion'd by ‘The Complaint,
or, Night Thoughts’ (1754),‖‘and‖several‖loco-descriptive‖pieces’:‖Kew Garden (1763),
The Isle of Wight (1766), Clifton (1767), and Shrewsbury Quarry (1769). LC2 describes
Jones‖as‖‘one of the most productive and most interesting poets of labouring-class
origins to publish during the middle of the eighteenth century’‖and‖notes‖that his
poetry‖‘demonstrated‖an‖impressive‖formal‖range’. ~ Ref: Tinker (1922), 95-7;
Carter (1972), 142-58; Rizzo (1991), 242; Christmas (2001), 130-56; C. R. Johnson,
cat. 49 (2006), item 33; Keegan (2008), 70-75; Carpenter (2017), 83; Christmas
(2017); LC 2, 1-40; ODNB. [LC2] [C18] [I]
Jones, Henry (fl. c. 1775), Irish shoemaker, published Lucy a Dramatic Poem (c. 1775). ~
Ref: Christmas (2001), 297-8. [I] [SM] [C18]
Jones, Jeremiah (1855-1902), of Llangrannog, Cardigan, blacksmith, farmer, popular
barrd gwlad (country poet) and member of a talented family of poets: six of his
seven‖sons‖‘vied‖with‖each‖other‖in‖bardic‖competitions‖from‖an‖early‖age’.‖OCLW
(1986) *under‖‘Cilie‖Family’+.‖*W+‖*B+
Jones, James Lloyd (1913-96), ‘Jimmy‖Jones’,‖of Tyldesley, Manchester, coal miner,
dialect poet, began with scribblings on coal-waggons; published two collections,
Jimmy Jones and Jimmy Jones Again (1976), and a prose work, Jimmy Jones’s Tyldesley
(1975). ~ Ref: Cheyp (1978),‖43,‖73;‖‘Death‖of‖pitman‖poet‖Jimmy’,‖Lancashire
Telegraph, 11 July 1996; Dave Lane with the Red Rose Steam Society, Astley Green
Colliery (Lulu, 2008). [OP] [M]
(?) Jones, John (fl. 1610-54), of Gelli Lyfdy in parish Ysgeifiog, County Flint,
translator and copier in English, Welsh, French, Spanish, and Italian, antiquary,
wrote most of his books as a debtor in Fleet Prison in London. ~ Ref: Parry (1955),
222-3. [W] [OP]
Jones,‖John‖(b.‖1740),‖of‖Bristol,‖farrier’s‖son,‖orphaned‖early‖and‖apprenticed‖to‖a‖
stuff-weaver after a brief period of schooling. He later found patronage from a Dr
Johnstone in Kidderminster and with his help, opened a school. Later became a
vestry clerk. He published An Elegy on Winter, And Other Poems: To Which is Added,
An Inscription to the Memory of the late Lord Lyttelton. By John Jones, School-Master in
Kidderminster, Author of Poems on Several Subjects (Birmingham: 1779), which
includes‖‘Stanzas,‖addressed‖to‖Christopher Jones [qv], a poor Wool-comber, at
Crediton, in Devonshire; author of two ingenious poems inserted in the Monthly
Magazine’.‖The‖introduction‖includes‖the‖following‖information:‖‘It‖ought‖not‖to‖
be omitted that a few years before the death of the late Lord Lyttelton, Mr.
Woodhouse [James Woodhouse, qv], the ingenious author of a poem on the
 Leasowes,‖very‖obligingly‖presented‖a‖poem‖of‖our‖author’s‖to‖his‖Lordship,‖who‖
having previously made acquaintance with his character by his friend Dr.
Johnston, that nobleman expressed a desire to see him, and accordingly soon
afterwards he was admitted to the honor of an interview at his seat at Hagley,
where he has at all times since met with a most favourable reception, of which he
makes a grateful acknowledgement to the present Lord Lyttelton, in his lines
written‖in‖the‖Poet’s‖Walk.—Indeed, it was principally with a view of paying a
tribute of gratitude to many kind friends and benefactors, that he yielded to the
publication of this short account of his life, and of these Poems. January 12th,
1779’. ~ Ref: COPAC. [C18] [T] [—Bridget Keegan]
(?) Jones, John (1766-1821), ‘Jac‖Glan-y-gors’,‖of Cerrigydrudion, Denbighshire,
satirical poet, became a London tavern-keeper, and an important figure in London
Welsh literary life; wrote Paineite pamphlets and squibs of various kinds. ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W]
Jones, John (b. 1774), servant, published Attempts in Verse...With some account of the
writer, written by himself, and an introductory essay on the lives and works of our
uneducated poets by Robert Southey, Poet Laureate (1831), a work that was rather
eclipsed‖by‖Southey’s‖substantial‖Introductory‖Essay,‖a‖potted‖history‖of‖the‖
uneducated poets from‖‘Water‖Poet’‖John‖Taylor‖(qv)‖to‖Jones. Kaye Kossick in
LC5 draws‖out‖what‖is‖of‖value‖in‖Jones’s work, and its significance. John Clare
(qv) read this work,‖though‖he‖was‖unhappy‖that‖Jones’s‖description‖of‖a‖robin‖as‖
a‖‘Sweet‖social‖bird‖with‖breast‖of‖red’‖too‖much‖resembled‖his‖own‖‘Sweet‖little‖
bird‖in‖russet‖coat’‖(Clare,‖Letters, 537-8 and 545 and note). ~ Ref: Southey (1831),
1-14, 167-80 (see also Childers’s‖Introduction to the 1925 edition); Maidment
(1983), 84; Burnett et al (1984), no. 399; Rizzo (1991), 243; Richardson (1994), 248;
Sales (1994), 259-60; LC 5, 17-24; ODNB; NTU. [LC5]
Jones, John (1788-1858),‖‘Poet‖Jones’,‖of Llanasa, Flintshire. An avid reader, he
worked in a Holywell cotton mill from the age of eight, served in the navy for ten
years, and was later a factory worker, He published Poems by John Jones (1856). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T]
(?) Jones, Mary (1707-78), of Oxford, daughter of a cooper, poor woman, eventually
postmistress of Oxford, author of The Lass of the Hill (?1740); Miscellanies in Prose
and Verse (Oxford, London and Bath, 1750); and sixteen poems which appeared in
Poems by Eminent Ladies (1755). ~ Ref: Poems by Eminent Ladies (1755), three
volumes, including a life; Dyce (1825), 206-11; Rowton (1853), 151-3; CBEL (1969),
II, 368; Foxon (1975), 391; Lonsdale (1989), 155-65; Fullard (1990), 559; Christmas
(2001), 95, 116; Johnson 46 (2003), nos. 202-3; Backscheider (2005), 407;
Backscheider‖(2009),‖877;‖Mascha‖Hansen,‖‘Envisioning‖the‖Future‖of‖Women’s‖
Poetry’‖in Joanna Fowler and Allan Ingram (eds), Voice and Context in Eighteenth-
 Century Verse (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 173-90 (178-9); Burmester,
item 427 and 123 (image); ODNB. [F] [C18]
Jones, Nathaniel Cynhafal (1832-1905), of Llangynhafal, Denbighshire, tailor, later a
preacher, poet and editor; published five volumes of Welsh verse between 1859
and 1898, and co-edited the works of William Williams (1717-91). ~ Ref: OCLW
(1986). [W] [T]
Jones, Peter (1775-1845), ‘Pedr‖Fardd’,‖of Garn, Dolbenmaen, Caernarfonshire, tailor,
hymn-writer and poet, later a schoolmaster and a shopkeeper,‖one‖of‖‘the‖last‖
great hymn-writers‖of‖the‖Methodist‖revival’‖(OCLW)‖and‖‘a‖master’‖of‖the‖
cynghanedd form, published several collections of hymns and a vol. of poetry, Mêl
Awen (1823). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T]
(?) Jones, Robert Isaac (1815-1905), ‘Alltud‖Eifion’,‖of Pentrefelin, Porthmadog,
Caernarfonshire, chemist, poet and printer/publisher, ran a literary journal, Y
Brython. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Jones, Simon Bartholemew (1894-1966), of Cilie, Llangrannog, Cardiganshire, a
member‖of‖the‖‘Cilie’‖family‖of‖poet-writers (cf. Dafydd Jones, (1881-1968) and
Jeremiah Jones, qqv), a sailor who suffered a serious accident at sea, became a
minister, registered as a conscientious objector in WW1, studied and graduated at
Bangor, and won prizes at the 1933 and 1936 eisteddfodau; a collection of his
poems, edited by his nephew, were published in 1966. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
[OP]
Jones, William (1726-95), ‘Gwilym‖Cadfan’,‖‘The‖Rural‖Voltaire’,‖of‖Llangadfan,‖
Montgomeryshire, self-taught farmer and country doctor, poet and antiquarian,
atheist and republican. There is an excellent summary of his poetry and political
and cultural life in Charnell-White. ~ Ref: Charnell-White (2012), 102-11, 407-10.
[W] [C18]
Jones, William (1764-1822), of Cynwyd, Merionethshire, but lived most of his life at
Bala, weaver, hymn-writer, published a collection of hymns, Aberth Moliant neu
Ychydig Hymnau (1819). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T]
Jones, William (c. 1809-55), of Leicester, Chartist and poet, worked as a glove hand,
and‖the‖1851‖census‖describes‖him‖as‖a‖‘framework‖knitter‖and‖poet.’‖His‖wife‖was‖
a‖‘Day‖School‖Teacher’‖and‖his‖21-year-old son was a bricklayer. He contributed
to the Shakespearean Chartist Hymn Book in 1842 and assisted Thomas Cooper
(qv) at‖his‖Adult‖Sunday‖School.‖In‖1850,‖he‖wrote‖an‖article‖on‖‘The‖Factory‖
System‖vs.‖Frame‖Charges’‖arguing‖against‖the‖iniquities‖of‖frame‖charges.‖He‖
was‖initially‖a‖supporter‖of‖Fergus‖O’Connor,‖but‖like Cooper, came to distance
himself from him. He published two books of poetry: The Spirit; Or a Dream in the
Woodland (London and Leicester, 1849); and Poems: Descriptive, Progressive, and
Humorous (Leicester, 1853). He also contributed poems to the local papers such as
The Leicester Movement (1850) and the national Chartist press. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975),
 216; Schwab (1993), 198; Newitt (2006), 23-44; Newitt (2008), 1. [C] [T] [—Ned
Newitt]
Jones, William (1815-99), ‘Ehedydd‖Iâl’,‖of Derwen, Denbighshire, farmer and miller,
poet and hymn-writer, published a volume of poems, Blodau Iâl (1898). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W]
Jones, William Ellis (1796-1848),‖‘Gwilym‖Cawrdaf’,‖Welsh‖poet‖and‖journeyman‖
printer; published ‘To‖the‖Most‖Noble‖the Marquis of Bute, on the Opening of
Bute‖Dock’‖(London‖1839);‖his other works are largely in Welsh and include an
interesting romance sometimes described as ‘the‖first‖Welsh‖novel’,‖as‖well‖as at
least eleven odes in Welsh. There is a posthumous published selection of his
Welsh poetry and prose, Gweithoedd Cawrdaf (1851). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986), which
gives birth date as 1795; ODNB. [W]
(?) Jordan, Agnes C. (fl.‖1862),‖of‖Leicester,‖‘a‖soldier’s‖daughter,‖wife‖and‖mother’,‖
published Poems, Social, Military, and Domestic (London and Leicester, 1862), 111
pp.‖The‖title‖page‖has‖an‖epigraph‖from‖Robert‖Bloomfield‖(qv):‖‘Let‖labour‖have‖
its due! My cot shall be / From chilling want and guilty murmurs free: / Let labour
have its due; —then peace is mine, /‖And‖never,‖never‖shall‖my‖heart‖repine.’
(‘Summer’.‖397-9, The Farmer’s Boy, 1800). The book is dedicated to Lady Blanche
Balfour, and there is four-column subscription list. The poems include military
and patriotic material (for which the author apologises in her Preface), and there
is‖a‖poem‖on‖the‖Hartley‖colliery‖disaster,‖‘The‖Stricken‖Village’‖(6-7), as well as
more‖personal‖and‖lyrical‖material.‖The‖poem‖‘To‖the‖City‖of‖Bath’‖suggests‖that‖
Jordan grew up there, and the generally quite varied material includes a poem
‘Composed‖on‖Visiting‖the‖Tomb‖of‖Burns‖at‖Dumfries’‖(71-2, Robert Burns, qv).
An interesting volume. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 250; text via Google books. [F]
Jordan, John (1746-1809),‖‘the‖Stratford‖poet’,‖wheelwright‖‘of‖little‖education’;‖
published Welcombe Hills, Near Stratford upon Avon; a Poem, Historical and
Descriptive (London: printed for the Author, 1777, reprinted 1827), with
subscription list; Original Collections on Stratford-upon-Avon, by John Jordan (1864)
and Original Memoirs and Historical Accounts of the Families of Shakespeare and Hart
(1865),‖both‖edited‖by‖James‖Orchard‖Halliwell.‖Mair‖writes‖that‖Jordan’s‖poems‖
were‖a‖failure,‖so‖he‖took‖on‖the‖identity‖of‖a‖‘literary‖rustic‖with‖a‖folk-
knowledge of Shakespeare’,‖and‖thus‖‘Jordan’s‖Shakespearian‖Anecdotes‖and‖
Traditions, some of them probably quite genuine, found their way into the note-
books‖and‖memoirs‖of‖a‖good‖many‖visitors’‖to‖Stratford. ~ Ref: Poole (1914), 169-
73; John Mair, The Fourth Forger (1938), 16-17, 19; ODNB. Croft & Beattie II, 26-7
(item 101), includes a full-page‖reproduction‖of‖Jordan’s‖1777‖title-page with a
large vignette of the Welcombe Hills. Jeffrey Kahan has edited and published a
great deal of Ireland material in recent decades, including Reforging Shakespeare:
The Story of a Theatrical Scandal (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 1998);
 The Poetry of W. H. Ireland (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2005), and editions
of‖Ireland’s‖gothic‖novels,‖Gondez the Monk (n.p.: Zittaw Press, 2005), Rimualdo; or,
The Castle of Badajos (n.p.: Zittaw Press, 2005), and The Abbess: A Romance (n.p.:
Zittaw Press, 2006) [C18]
(?) Jowitt, Jane (b. 1770), of Dublin, a‖‘poor‖poetess’.‖Her‖family‖had‖‘some‖wealth‖
and‖social‖standing’‖but‖fell into debt, and she eventually moved to England,
living in London and Dover and marrying an Irish soldier in the British army.
They settled in Sheffield but his death left her in poverty. She earned a precarious
living‖‘as‖a‖professional‖letter-writer and then as a poet, writing memorial verses
on‖commission’‖(Harte).‖She published Memoirs of Jane Jowitt, the Poor Poetess, Aged
74 Years...Written by Herself (Sheffield: J. Pearce, 1844), which memoirs include
verses. ~ Ref: Davis & Joyce (1991), item 156; Harte (2008), 29-32. [F] [I]
Karsch, Anna Louisa (née Dürbach, 1722-91), Silesian Cowherd, much studied
‘German‖peasant‖poet’;‖poems‖quoted‖in‖German‖and‖English‖in‖Kord’s‖study,‖
which offers a short biography (263-5) and lists her publications including poems
in modern anthologies (265, 292-3). ~ Ref: Kord (2003). [F] [C18]
Kavanagh, Patrick (1904-67), of Iniskeen, County Monaghan, son of a cobbler and
small‖farmer,‖a‖major‖Irish‖poet‖and‖writer,‖best‖known‖for‖‘The‖Great‖Hunger’‖
and other poems of Irish life, especially rural life; greatly influenced and was
championed by Seamus Heaney. He published Ploughman and Other Poems (1936);
A Soul for Sale (1947); Come Dance with Kitty Stobling and Other Poems (1960);
Collected Poems (1964). ~ Ref: Collected Poems, ed. Antoinette Quinn (London:
Penguin, 2005), Penguin Modern Classics series; ODNB. [I] [OP]
Kearney,‖W.‖J.‖(d.‖1852),‖of‖Passage,‖County‖Cork,‖sailor,‖published‖Leisure Hours at
Sea and Ashore, containing The Log, The Vision ... dedicated by permission to Father
Mathew‖(Cork,‖1843).‖His‖principal‖poem‖is‖‘Our‖Village’,‖and‖also‖well-received‖
were‖his‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖Capt.‖Roberts’,‖a‖tribute‖to‖Richard‖Roberts‖(1803-
41),‖the‖skipper‖of‖the‖SS‖President‖which‖was‖lost‖at‖sea.‖(Enlarging‖on‖a‖note‖of‖
O’Donoghue’s,‖Roberts’‖monument‖is‖in‖the‖churchyard‖of‖St‖Mary’s‖Church‖
(Church‖of‖Ireland),‖Passage‖West,‖and‖according‖to‖online‖sources‖is‖‘in‖dire‖need‖
of‖conservation’.)‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖223.‖*I+‖
(?) Keats, John (1795-1821), major, canonical Romantic poet, son of an Ostler, whose
humble origins formed a key plank in the savage critical backlash against him.
Recent work on Keats, such as the monographs of Nicholas Roe and R.S. White
and the Andrew Motion biography, emphasise the importance of class, politics
and the habit of conscientious self-education‖in‖the‖poet’s‖development‖and‖life.‖~‖
The exact proximity of Keats to the labouring-class poetic tradition is not easily
determined. None of the recent critical commentators on the tradition (such as
Klaus, Christmas, Keegan) have included him in their lists, but as far as the critics
of Blackwood’s and the Quarterly Review were concerned, he was, like his mentor
Leigh Hunt, an ill-educated, lower-class vandal, bent on wrecking the polite
precincts of modern letters. John Gibson Lockhart, in a now notorious series of
pseudonymous essays in the pages of Blackwood’s in 1817-18, identified Keats with
Hunt and others in the circle that gathered in the pages of the Examiner as a
‘Cockney’.‖This‖term,‖which‖should‖strictly‖refer‖only‖to‖persons‖born‖within‖
hearing of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in the London district of
Cheapside,‖traditionally‖home‖to‖some‖of‖London’s‖poorest‖citizens,‖was‖used‖
rather indiscriminately by Lockhart to condemn a band of poets who lacked
respect for King and Church and Country, and wanted refinement in both their
social and their poetic habits. ~ Keats was born in Moorgate in 1795 and thus was
indeed in the technical sense a cockney, but his origins were somewhat removed
from the lowest classes of the London poor. Although as Robert Gittings remarks
in‖his‖1968‖biography‖of‖the‖poet,‖‘we‖have‖no‖real‖knowledge‖at‖all‖of‖how‖
Keats’s‖parents‖lived‖and‖worked‖in‖the‖first‖seven‖years‖of‖his‖boyhood’,‖there‖
are enough salient facts to attempt a reconstruction. His father Thomas Keats was
employed as a livery-stable manager at the Swan and Hoops inn, which was
thriving‖in‖the‖stewardship‖of‖John‖Jennings,‖the‖poet’s‖maternal‖grandfather.
When‖Thomas‖died‖in‖1804,‖Jennings’‖legacy‖to‖Frances,‖Keats’s‖mother,‖was‖
£2,000,‖a‖sum‖described‖as‖‘useful’;‖when‖John‖Jennings‖died‖a‖year‖later,‖he‖left‖
£13,000, from which £1,000 and an annuity of £50 was provided for Frances. In
short, the Keats‖family‖during‖the‖poet’s‖earliest‖years‖were‖financially‖
comfortable,‖if‖not‖affluent.‖He‖may‖have‖been‖an‖ostler’s‖son,‖but‖William‖Sharp,‖
Keats’s‖grand-nephew,‖rightly‖noted‖in‖1892‖that‖it‖would‖be‖a‖mistake‖‘to‖assert‖
that, like Jesus of Nazareth, the‖poet‖was‖born‖in‖a‖manger’.‖~‖Keats’s‖education‖
was also significantly longer and more thorough than most labouring-class poets
of‖the‖early‖nineteenth‖century‖experienced.‖In‖1805,‖Keats’s‖mother‖remarried‖
and moved to Edmonton, several miles north of the capital. In these years, he was
schooled at the progressive Enfield College. Far from being ill-educated, as
Lockhart‖supposed,‖Keats‖enjoyed‖not‖just‖Enfield’s‖‘generous‖and‖humane‖
community’‖but‖made‖extensive‖use‖of‖its‖‘remarkable’‖library‖and‖the‖air of
intellectual rigour that went hand-in-hand‖with‖its‖founders’‖faith‖in‖a‖rational‖
dissent with a distinctly radical, republican flavour, as Nicholas Roe has most
thoroughly‖demonstrated.‖Keats‖was‖transformed‖under‖Clarke’s‖guidance‖from‖a‖
pugnacious youth‖into‖a‖young‖man‖driven‖by‖a‖‘continual‖drinking‖in‖of‖
knowledge’.‖At‖18,‖he‖was‖apprenticed‖to‖an‖apothecary-surgeon, and by 1815,
the‖poet‖was‖studying‖medicine‖at‖Guy’s‖Hospital‖in‖London,‖becoming,‖a‖year‖
later, a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, which permitted him to practice
surgery. In the subsequent years of his life, cut short by consumption in 1821, he
worked for a time as a medical dresser and junior house surgeon. The work was
difficult, demanding and by no means well-remunerated, but it was a necessary
stage in the apprenticeship for a promising medical career. His selection, from the
hundreds of candidates, for the latter post is an indication of the promise that
Keats was showing, despite reports that he sometimes struggled with his medical
studies. That career was soon abandoned, however. He dedicated himself instead
to‖poetry‖and‖to‖becoming,‖in‖his‖own‖words,‖a‖‘great‖poet’.‖~‖Lockhart‖and‖others‖
downplayed‖Keats’s‖schooling‖and‖professional‖training‖when‖they‖persisted‖in‖
treating‖him‖as‖though‖he‖were‖a‖latterday‖Chatterton,‖‘an‖uneducated‖and‖flimsy‖
stripling’.‖The‖diminutive‖‘Johnny‖Keats’‖label‖they‖applied‖was‖intended‖to‖
infantilise,‖as‖was‖the‖comment‖that‖he‖was‖a‖‘boy‖of‖pretty‖abilities,‖which‖he‖has‖
done everything‖in‖his‖power‖to‖spoil’.‖‘It‖is‖a‖better‖and‖a‖wiser‖thing’,‖Lockhart‖
counselled,‖‘to‖be‖a‖starved‖apothecary‖than‖a‖starved‖poet;‖so‖back‖to‖the‖shop‖
Mr. John,‖back‖to‖‚plasters,‖polls,‖and‖ointment‖boxes‛<’.‖These‖are‖phrases‖
redolent‖of‖Hannah‖More’s, to‖Ann‖Yearsley,‖about‖her‖milkwoman’s‖duties‖as‖
‘wife‖and‖mother’‖being‖prior‖to‖her‖calling‖as‖a‖poet,‖or‖Samuel‖Johnson’s‖casual‖
dismissal‖of‖James‖Woodhouse‖(‘he‖may‖make‖an‖excellent‖shoemaker,‖but‖he‖can‖
never‖make‖a‖good‖poet’).‖~‖In‖his‖fourth‖Cockney article, Lockhart made an
explicit connection between Keats and the writers of what was rapidly emerging
as a distinctive labouring-class‖literary‖tradition:‖~‖‘Of‖all‖the‖manias‖of‖this‖mad‖
age, the most incurable, as well as the most common, seems to be one other than
the metromanie. The just celebrity of Robert Burns [qv] and Miss Baillie has had the
melancholy effect of turning the heads of we know not how many farm-servants
and unmarried ladies; our very footmen compose tragedies, and there is scarcely
a superannuated governess in the island that does not leave a roll of lyrics behind
in her handbox. To witness the disease of any human understanding, however
feeble, is distressing—but the spectacle of an able mind reduced to a state of
insanity is of course ten times more afflicting. It is with such sorrow as this that
we‖have‖contemplated‖the‖case‖of‖Mr.‖John‖Keats’‖~‖Modern‖critics,‖most‖
forcefully Marjorie Levinson and Duncan Wu, have shown that Keats was not
working-class, as several nineteenth and early twentieth-century commentators,
following Lockhart and Byron, had supposed. Rather, Keats is best conceptualised
as one troubled by the lack of a definitive social station, being neither wealthy,
professional, nor artisanal. It is perhaps a dangerous essentialising of class
experience‖to‖say,‖with‖Levinson,‖that‖he‖was‖caught‖between‖‘the‖Truth‖of‖the‖
working-class‖and‖the‖Beauty‖of‖the‖leisure‖class’,‖but‖Keats‖was‖certainly‖
conscious of the need to resist any attempts to categorise him with the likes of
Samuel‖Bamford,‖the‖weaver‖poet‖who‖had‖entered‖Hunt’s‖circle‖around‖the‖same‖
time:‖‘I‖am‖a‖weaver‖boy‖to‖them‖<‖the‖literary‖fashionables’,‖he‖lamented‖(Letters
II:‖186).‖~‖Keats’s‖professed‖love‖for‖the‖work‖of‖Burns‖might‖suggest‖an‖
identification‖with‖the‖Scottish‖poet’s‖own‖class‖indeterminacy.‖In‖1818,‖as‖part‖of‖
his‖preparation‖for‖the‖poetic‖career‖and‖the‖‘Life‖I‖intend‖to‖pursue‖<‖to‖write,‖to‖
study,‖and‖to‖see‖all‖Europe‖at‖the‖lowest‖expence’,‖he‖visited‖Burns’s‖grave.‖It‖
proved to be a strangely underwhelming experience. Still, the ribald sociality
sometimes‖found‖in‖Keats’‖early‖letters,‖usually‖interpreted‖as‖experiments‖with‖
the Cockneyisms affected by Hunt and his circle, surely owes something to Burns
too. In the account of the visit‖to‖Burns’‖cottage,‖however,‖this‖ribald‖playfulness‖
is replaced with a tone less social, more aggressive, and untypically superior. The
account of the visit is dominated not by memories of Burns, but a most unpoetical
character: a drunk man, selling whiskey while superintending the site. The man
so disgusts Keats that he dreams of occupying a very different class position,
imagining‖himself‖as‖employing‖‘Caliph‖Vatheck’,‖the‖cruel‖vainglorious‖tyrant‖of‖
Beckford’s‖novel,‖to‖have‖the‖drunkard‖‘kicked’.‖Worse‖still,‖‘his‖gab‖hindered‖my‖
sublimity:‖the‖flat‖dog‖made‖me‖write‖a‖flat‖sonnet’.‖~‖Later‖in‖the‖letter,‖Keats‖
laments‖the‖premature‖crushing‖of‖Burns’s‖‘etherealising‖power‖of‖<‖
imagination’.‖But‖the‖Burns‖he‖imagines‖is‖a‖travesty:‖‘the‖fate‖of‖Burns, poor,
unfortunate fellow! his disposition was Southern! How sad it is when a luxurious
imagination is obliged, in self-defence, to deaden its delicacy in vulgarity and in
things attainable, that it may not have leisure to go mad after things that are not!’‖
This‖deadening‖vulgarity‖is‖presumably‖a‖reference‖to‖Burns’s‖employment,‖in‖his‖
last‖years,‖as‖an‖exciseman,‖rather‖than‖to‖Burns’s‖recurrent‖concern,‖in‖his‖poems‖
and‖in‖his‖project‖of‖collecting‖the‖folk‖songs‖of‖Scotland,‖with‖his‖‘fellow‖inmates‖
of hamlet’,‖the‖ordinary‖working‖people‖amongst‖whom‖he‖was‖born‖and‖raised.‖
Keats’s‖relationship‖with‖Burns,‖like‖that‖with‖Wordsworth,‖was‖by‖turns‖
insightful and obscured by a prejudice born of his sense of a need to distinguish
himself as a professional poet.‖~‖An‖examination‖of‖Keats’‖poems‖for‖evidence‖of‖
concerns‖in‖common‖with‖heav’n‖taught‖ploughmen,‖weaver‖boys‖and‖other‖
working poets yields uncertain results. There is an expression, in the Fall of
Hyperion’s opening lines, of a sense of disentitlement that is familiar enough. The
feast that the poet stumbles upon in the forest is mostly consumed already,
though‖he‖does‖not‖exactly‖starve;‖the‖poet‖here‖is,‖in‖Richard‖Cronin’s‖reading,‖
an‖‘interloper’,‖like‖‘the‖servant‖who‖gains‖entry‖to‖a‖costly‖banquet after the
authentic‖guests‖have‖left,‖and‖gluts‖himself‖on‖the‖rich‖remains’.‖Labour‖in‖the‖
poems is generally, however, figured as something to be transcended or elided.
The‖‘Ode‖to‖a‖Nightingale’‖famously‖leaves‖behind‖‘the‖weariness,‖the‖fever,‖and
the‖fret’,‖and‖while‖‘The‖Eve‖of‖St‖Agnes’‖begins‖with‖the‖work‖of‖the‖weaving‖
nuns and the Beadsman, performing spiritual labours in exchange for money,
such semi-corporeal‖activities‖are‖soon‖subsumed‖into‖the‖romance.‖The‖‘Ode‖to‖
Indolence’‖expresses‖a‖hope‖that‖the‖‘voice‖of‖busy‖common‖sense’‖may‖never‖be‖
heard;‖and‖yet‖perhaps‖the‖desire‖for‖a‖life‖‘steeped‖in‖honeyed‖indolence’‖might‖
have just the faintest echoes of the labour of the bees in it, and moreover, the
Hyperion poet‖also‖shares‖a‖‘vessel of‖transparent‖juice’‖with‖the‖‘wandered‖bee’.‖
Yet even the bee, conventionally deployed since the Georgics of Virgil as a
metaphor‖for‖human‖endeavour,‖belongs‖in‖Keats’s‖poetry‖to‖the‖world‖of‖opulent‖
courtly luxury and tranquil sensory pleasures, as in an‖early‖poem,‖‘Sleep‖and‖
Poetry’:‖What‖is‖more‖soothing‖than‖the‖pretty‖hummer,‖/‖That‖stays‖one‖moment‖
in‖an‖open‖flower‖/‖And‖buzzes‖cheerily‖from‖bower‖to‖bower’.‖Later‖poems,‖like,‖
‘To‖Autumn’‖are‖more‖ambivalent:‖the‖season‖and‖the‖sun‖are‖together‖allotted
most‖of‖Stanza‖one’s‖active‖verbs‖‘to‖load’,‖‘bless’,‖‘bend’,‖‘fill’,‖‘swell’:‖only‖the‖
bees,‖though,‖get‖to‖‘think’.‖In‖Stanza‖2,‖autumn‖is‖personified‖as‖a‖reaper‖and‖a‖
gleaner, and as the mood turns elegiac in stanza 3, the several recent readings of
the‖poem‖which‖align‖it‖with‖Keats’s‖sympathies‖for‖the‖radical‖protestors‖
massacred at Peterloo in the month before the poem was written seem plausible.
But‖the‖‘Ode‖to‖Psyche’‖is‖Keats’s‖most‖sustained‖use‖of‖labour-as-trope: the poet
will‖‘build’ a‖temple‖to‖thought‖and‖there,‖amidst‖birds‖and‖once‖again‖bees,‖‘A‖
rosy‖sanctuary‖will‖I‖dress‖/‖With‖the‖wreathed‖trellis‖of‖a‖working‖brain,‖<‖With‖
all‖the‖gardener‖Fancy‖e’er‖could‖feign.’‖In‖general,‖however,‖Keats‖is‖usually‖
faithful‖to‖Hunt’s‖conviction that in the‖poem‖‘the‖essence‖of‖poetical‖enjoyment‖
does‖not‖consist‖in‖belief’‖—in other words, a faith in the materiality of history
and human practices—‘but‖in‖a‖voluntary‖power‖to‖imagine.’‖~‖None‖of‖this‖can‖
finally resolve the complicated questions about class position and identification
that have beleaguered Keats criticism since Blackwood’s. But the power of an
Ostler’s‖son‖to‖imagine‖in‖such‖outrageous‖fashion,‖and‖to‖voluntarily‖quit‖one’s‖
professional training for a career in poetry, testify to significant shifts occurring in
the early nineteenth-century aesthetic and the literary marketplace for such
aesthetic output, where Keats sought, all too briefly, his professional identity. ~
Ref: For‖a‖meticulous‖reconstruction‖of‖Keats’s‖early‖years‖and‖the‖formative‖
period at Enfield School, see Nicolas Roe, John Keats and the Culture of Dissent
(Oxford:‖Clarendon,‖1997).‖On‖Keats’s‖sense‖of‖his‖own‖social‖class‖position,‖see‖
Marjorie Levinson, Keats’s Life of Allegory: The Origins of a Style (Oxford and New
York:‖Oxford‖University‖Press,‖1986);‖on‖others’‖sense‖of‖that‖position,‖especially‖
Byron’s,‖see‖William‖Keach,‖‘Byron‖reads‖Keats’‖in‖Susan‖Wolfson‖(ed.),‖The
Cambridge Companion to Keats (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). On
the‖political‖implication‖of‖the‖Cockney‖school’s‖style‖generally,‖see‖Jeffrey‖N.‖
Cox, Poetry and Politics in the Cockney School: Keats, Shelley, Hunt and their Circle
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Robin Jarvis, Romantic Writing
and Pedestrian Travel (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997); Richard Cronin, The Politics of
Romantic Poetry: In Search of the Pure Commonwealth (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2000);
and‖Duncan‖Wu,‖‘Keats‖and‖the‖‚Cockney‖school‛’,‖in The Cambridge Companion to
Keats. Keats has been richly served by biographies, of which those of Aileen Ward
(1963), W. J. Bate (1963), Robert Gittings (1968), Andrew Motion (2003), R. S.
White (2010) and Nicholas Roe (2012) are perhaps the most rewarding. White is
 especially good on the medical training and labour Keats undertook, a subject also
richly and diversely examined in a recent book of essays, Nicholas Roe (ed), John
Keats and the Medical Imagination (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
~ See also Cunningham (1834), 102, 408-50; Miles (1891), III, 1; Goodridge (1999),
item 60; Powell (1964), between items 269 and 270: this is a list of the copies of
Keats’‖three‖lifetime‖volumes‖formerly‖owned‖by‖John‖Clare,‖qv,‖sold off by
Northamptonshire Libraries in 1914. Two are lost to scholarship,‖but‖Clare’s‖copy‖
of Endymion, in private hands for a hundred years, reappeared in 2018 and was
listed‖for‖auction‖by‖Christie’s‖on‖12‖December. On Keats and Clare see John
Goodridge, ‘Junkets‖and‖Clarissimus:‖The‖Clare-Keats‖Dialogue’,‖Keats-Shelley
Review, 24, no. 1 (April 2011), 32-54, revised in John Clare and Community
(Cambridge, 2013). [—Tim Burke]
Kee,‖John‖(b.‖1842),‖originally‖a‖farm-labour,‖later‖a‖printer‖in‖Donegal‖who‖set‖up‖
and‖published‖his‖own‖booklets.‖He‖published‖poems‖in‖the‖Derry Journal,‖the‖
Derry Standard,‖the‖Derry Sentinel,‖the‖Belfast‖paper‖the‖Northern Whig,‖The
Christian,‖and‖the‖London‖periodical‖Young Folks.‖He‖published‖a‖number‖of‖
pamphlet‖collections:‖The Ruins of Love: A Tale of the Black Forest; The Hero of Derry,
and Other Poems‖(Belfast:‖James‖Reed,‖1871),‖as‖‘K.J.’,‖a‖34-page‖pamphlet; Spray:
Sketches from the Shannon to the Bann (Derry,‖1891),‖a‖36-page‖pamphlet;‖Snow
Flakes‖(Strabane,‖1893),‖16‖pages,‖self-published;‖Idyls of Youth,‖and‖The Voice of the
Heart‖(both‖of‖these‖as‖‘K.J.’).‖Kee‖is‖included‖in‖Paul‖(1894).‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue‖
(1912),‖223‖*I+
(?) Keegan, John (1809-49),‖‘Steel‖Pen’,‖Irish‖ballad‖writer‖and‖‘peasant’;‖many‖pieces‖
appeared in Dolman’s Magazine, The Nation, the Irish Penny Magazine, and the
Dublin University Magazine, and‖are‖in‖Hayes’s‖Ballads of Ireland and the
compilation The Harp of Erin. Keegan was preparing his own collection at the time
of his death; his collected legends and poems were published in Dublin in 1907.
Manuscripts‖of‖his‖poem‖‘Caoch‖the‖piper’‖(in‖MS.‖8117)‖and‖his‖‘Commonplace‖
book’‖(microfilm‖n.5225‖p.5329)‖of‖notes‖and‖poems are held at the National
Library of Ireland, Dublin. ~ Ref: Sutton (1995), 532; ODNB. [I]
Keighley, Arthur Montague (b. 1842), from a humble family of twelve, given a
Sunday school education, worked as a railway porter, later station master at
Bredon; published The Emigrant and Other Poems, with Short Essays on the Seasons
(Keighley and London, 1866). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 252-3. [R]
Keith, Don (b. 1848), of Stracathro, Brechin, Angus, agricultural labourer, spent two
years in America, returned and became gamekeeper at Brechin Castle; poems
include‖‘To‖a‖Brither‖Bar’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 192-5. [S]
Kelly, James (1848-79),‖of‖Cambusnethan,‖Wishaw,‖Lanarkshire,‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖
printer, published The Printers’ Carnival, and Other Poems (Airdrie: Love and
 Duncan, 1875); brother to John Liddell Kelly (qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 204-8;
Knox (1930), 144-8 (gives dates as 1846-77); Reilly (2000), 253. [S]
Kelly, Joan (fl. 1884), of Irvine, Ayrshire, posthumous child, daughter of a poor sick-
nurse; lived with her mother, later a permanent invalid in the poorhouse.
According‖to‖Kelly,‖her‖verses‖were‖composed‖while‖‘trying‖to‖expel‖rebellious‖
thoughts‖from‖my‖mind’;‖published Miscellaneous Poems (Irvine: Charles
Murchland,‖‘Irvine‖Herald’‖Office,‖1884);‖Poems‖include‖‘Thoughts‖Upon‖
Oppressing‖the‖Poor’,‖‘To‖a‖Young‖Gentleman‖Returning‖to‖America’,‖‘A‖
Dialogue.‖Lines‖Upon‖a‖Young‖Lady‖Going‖to‖India’,‖‘On‖the‖Wreck‖of‖a‖Vessel’,‖
‘Wee‖Jock‖and‖His‖Granny’,‖and‖‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖a‖Fair‖Young‖Girl.’‖According to
Edwards her works were reviewed by Revd. W. B. R. Wilson, of Dollar, in the
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, who offered the following brief biography:
‘However‖humble‖and‖obscure‖the‖lot‖of‖Joan‖Kelly,‖I‖would‖not‖like‖to‖overlook‖
her‖claims‖to‖recognition.‖She‖certainly‖possesses‖some‖of‖the‖poet’s‖sympathies‖
and gifts, and she has earned the distinction of having published a volume of
verse, while an inmate of the Cunninghame Combination Poorhouse. Miss Kelly,
whose father, a Manxman, was drowned in six week before her birth, in a
shipwreck off the long rock of Ballawater, was born during the first quarter of the
present century in the town of Irvine, in which her mother, who was a native of
the place, was then living. The widowed mother continued to reside in her native
town, earning her living as a sick nurse, and doing her best to educate her only
child. The two women, mother and daughter, were never separated, but lived
together till the death of the former in her 84th year. This bereavement was keenly
felt by the survivor, who says pathetically in her little volume of verse, concerning
its effect on her life, that she never felt that this world was lone, till she knew that
her‖task‖was‖done.‖Two‖years‖after‖her‖mother’s‖death,‖she‖was‖taken‖almost‖in‖a‖
dying state to the Poorhouse; but under careful nursing she revived, and
continues to live there still, though sadly infirm and a permanent invalid’. Wilson
goes‖on‖to‖explain‖how‖the‖verses‖‘she‖had‖been‖wont‖to‖throw‖off‖during long
life’‖were‖gathered‖at‖the‖suggestion‖of‖friends‖to‖form‖a‖‘handsome‖volume’‖and‖
published by Mr Murchland (see above), though to little financial gain, and that
her life appeared to be drawing to a close. Edwards finds room for three of her
Scots‖language‖poems,‖‘Oh‖Tell‖Na‖Me’,‖‘The‖Sailor’s‖Wife’ and‖‘The‖Widow’s‖
Mite’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 333-7; Reilly (1994), 256; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Kelly, John (1809-75), of‖County‖Westmeath,‖weaver‖‘whose‖whole‖life‖was‖a‖long‖
struggle‖against‖poverty’.‖He‖wrote‖a‖lot‖of‖poetry‖and‖left‖a‖large‖quantity‖in‖
manuscript‖at‖his‖death.‖His‖most‖popular‖piece‖was‖the‖street‖ballad‖‘Paddy‖
O’Carroll’s‖Wedding’.‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 226. [I]
(?) Kelly, John Liddell (1850-1925), of Cambusnethan, Wishaw, Lanarkshire,
blacksmith’s‖son,‖newspaper‖editor,‖emigrated‖to‖New‖Zealand‖as‖a‖journalist. ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 204-8; Knox (1930), 149-58. [S]
(?) Kennedy, James (fl. 1795), radical (weaver?), author of Treason!!! Or, Not Treason!!!
Alias the Weaver’s Budget (1795), Assistant Secretary to the British Convention of
the Friends of the People in Edinburgh, November 1793. ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1984),
802-4, 856n; ESTC. Johnson (1992), item 506 poss. relates. [S] [T] [C18]
Kennedy, James (b. 1848), of Carsegowrie, Forfarshire, farm labourer and agitator,
father died young, left school at 12 and got an apprenticeship as a machinist in
Dundee, emigrated to USA, travelled widely, lived in New York, published
poems in periodicals and several volumes in America. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883),
213-22; Ross (1889), 38-46. [S]
Kennedy, John (1789-1833), born in Kilmarnock, Scottish poet and weaver; published
collection titled Fancy's Tour with the Genius of Cruelty, and other Poems in 1826; The
Poetical Works of John Kennedy (Ayr, 1818). ~ Ref: ODNB. [S] [T]
Kennedy, Thomas (b. 1823), of Cowgate, Galashiels, Selkirkshire, weaver, published
Poems (Galashiels, 1889). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 258, Murdoch (1883), 207-11. [S] [T]
(?) Kenrick, William (1725?-79), son of a staymaker, apprentice to a mathematical
instrument maker, miscellaneous writer, worked as a reviewer, playwright and
translator. He published The Town (1748); Old Woman's Dunciad (1751); The
Pasquinade (1753); Monody to the Memory of < Frederick Prince of Wales (1751); The
Whole Duty of Woman (1753); Fun: a Parodi-Tragi-Comical Satire (1752); Epistles to
Lorenzo (1756), substantially expanded as Epistles Philosophical and Moral (1759);
and A Scrutiny, or, The Criticks Criticis'd (1759). ~ Ref: Sutton (1995), 538-9 (plays
and letter); ODNB. [C18]
(?) Kent, John (b. 1860), of Paisley, educated at‖John‖McGarvie’s‖school,‖a messenger
boy for four years, then served his apprentice as a compositor, working also as a
stationer in Edinburgh, Glasgow and other towns before returning to Paisley
where he was employed in the office of the Paisley Daily Express before becoming
a bookseller and stationer. He began writing poetry at the age of 22, publishing in
local newspapers. His poems were praised by John Stuart Blackie, the eminent
man of letters to whom he had cannily sent copies of his work. Edwards prints
‘Aye‖Dae‖Your‖Best’,‖a‖title‖perhaps‖deriving‖from‖Professor‖Blackie’s‖advice‖to‖
him‖to‖‘cultivate‖your‖gift’;‖and‖‘A‖Happy‖Hame’;‖Brown‖also‖includes‖these‖two,‖
adding‖a‖longer‖piece,‖‘A‖Windy‖Night’s‖Tale’,‖sub-titled‖‘Being‖an‖Episode‖in‖the‖
Career of Mr.‖Valentine‖McFlash’,‖Kent’s‖good-humoured moralising being much
in evidence. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 488-97; Edwards, 15 (1893), 63-7. [S]
(?) Kenworthy, Charles (fl. 1847), of Manchester, a poet apparently of humble origin
who published by subscription Original Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects
(Manchester:‖Cave‖and‖Sever,‖*1847+).‖The‖‘Second‖Edition,‖Enlarged’‖is‖‘Printed‖
 by Wm. Francis Jackson, New Bailey Street, and sold by the author, No. 2,
Railway‖Street,‖Oldham‖Road’.‖The title page has a quotation‖from‖Beattie,‖‘Song‖
was his favourite and first pursuit. / The wild harp rang to his adventurous hand,
/ And languished to his breath the plaintive flute. / His infant muse, though
artless, was not mute—/And Heaven enlarged his heart in riper years; / For
Nature‖gave‖him‖strength‖and‖fire,‖to‖soar‖/‖On‖fancy’s‖wing’,‖followed‖by‖a‖
subscription list including Sir Elkanah Armitage, John Bright MP and the Rt. Hon.
T. M. Gibson MP (two copies each), the Earl of Ellesmere, and the mayors of
Manchester and‖Salford.‖Kenworthy’s‖‘Introductory‖Stanzas’‖invite the‖‘bards‖of‖
th’‖Aonian‖mount’‖to‖‘aid‖a‖bard‖Parnassus’‖steep‖to‖climb‖...‖Nor‖let‖chill‖Want‖
repress‖the‖rapture‖of‖his‖Muse’‖(such‖echoes‖of‖Gray’s‖‘Elegy’‖are‖common‖in‖
nineteenth-century labouring-class poetry). There is a poem on the death of
Princess Charlotte dated 1817, two poems to the singer Jenny Lind (a subscriber),
and‖among‖section‖of‖memorial‖poems,‖one‖‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖Robert‖Rose,‖The‖
Bard‖of‖Colour’.‖Rose‖was‖a‖West‖Indian-born poet (hence‖the‖poet’s‖opening‖
address,‖‘Bard‖of‖the‖Western‖Isles’)‖who‖lived‖in‖Salford‖and‖was‖Vice-chairman
of‖one‖of‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group.‖(Note: James‖(1963),‖171,‖identifies‖‘James
Kenworthy’ as a nineteenth-century Manchester labouring-class poet, but we have
not found him in any other source; presumably he meant Charles Kenworthy.) ~
Ref: Second edition of the poems via www.archive.org; John Hart Catalogue 69,
item 167.
Kerr, Alexander (b. 1879), of Riggend, Airdrie, miner, a descendant of weavers; a
freemason; he retired from mining due to ill-health. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 280-1. [S]
[M]
Kerr, Hugh (1815-93), of Stewarton, Ayrshire, a shoemaker who‖‘was‖acknowledged
to‖have‖few‖equals‖as‖a‖workman’‖(Edwards), a self-taught‖poet‖and‖‘descriptive‖
prose‖writer’ who‖published‖a‖‘small‖booklet’‖of‖poems, c. 1843, that won the
praise of the esteemed critic George Gilfillan, and another, c. 1853, (neither of
these has been identified); he also contributed to local newspapers until quite late
in‖his‖life.‖Edwards‖summarises‖his‖themes‖as‖‘the‖beauties‖of‖nature,‖and‖the‖joys‖
and sorrows‖of‖humble‖life’, but suggests that his‖‘ready‖pen’‖was capable of a
much wider range than was publicly seen, printing‖his‖poem,‖‘The Wee‖Claspin’‖
Bible’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 418-20; nothing on WorldCat or other online
sources. [S] [SM]
Kerr, Robert (1811-48), of Midtown, Spottes, the Urr poet, farm labourer,
posthumously published three‖short‖poems‖in‖‘Bards‖of‖Galloway’‖1888‖
(Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquities Society, 3
ser., 21); his works were collected in Maggie o’ the Moss: and other Poems, ed. with a
memoir by Malcolm McLelan Harper (Dalbeattie: Thomas Fraser, 1891). ~ Ref:
sources as cited; Harper (1889), 252; John Hart catalogue 69, item 168. [S]
(?) Kertland, William (d. c. 1850-55), an incomer to Ireland, lived for many years in
Dublin, with a business of Capal Street as a perfumer and brush and comb dealer.
He wrote for the Irish annuals‖and‖periodicals,‖including‖the‖poem,‖‘Whiskey’,‖
Walker’s Hibernian Magazine, December, 1797, with an an epilogue, August, 1800;
and‖he‖was‖probably‖the‖‘W.K.’‖of‖January,‖1804.‖His‖song‖‘Repeal’‖is‖in‖the‖Belfast
Vindicator, August, 1840, and his ‘National‖Song’‖is‖in‖the‖Nation, 17 December
1842. He published Patrick and Kathleen, a, domestic tale in verse (Dublin, 1822); The
Woes of Whiskey, or the Sorrowful History of Patrick and Kathleen (Dublin); The Maid of
Snowdon, an operatic romance (1833; possible unpublished); Mr. and Mrs. Pringle
(1832-3), a play performed in London and Dublin; Shaun Long and the Fairies, an
operatic legendary romance, produced in Dublin in January, 1835. The latter piece
was set to music by F. W. Southwell, and successfully acted at the Theatre Royal,
Hawkins‖Street,‖Dublin,‖25‖January‖1833.‖His‖poem‖‘Shaun‖Long‖and‖the‖Fairies’,‖
which‖appeared‖in‖an‖Irish‖periodical,‖formed‖the‖basis‖of‖Tyrone‖Power’s‖
‘O’Flanagan‖and‖the‖Fairies’.‖His‖song‖‘Irish‖Oak’‖was‖included in some song
books.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 234. [I]
(?) Kidd, John G. (b. 1857), of New Galloway, assistant postmaster, moved to
Newcastle upon Tyne. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 336-8. [S]
Kilpatrick, Hugh (1832-1909), ‘Eagle‖Eye’,‖Paisley weaver and manufacturer,
emigrated to America and later returned, published The Death of Wallace or the
Spectre of Elderslie and Other Poems (Paisley, 1909), and poems in Brown. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), II, 183-86; Leonard (1990), 337-9; NTU. [S] [T]
King, Daniel (1844-91 or 92), of Glasgow, orphaned herdboy, shipyard foreman-
riveter, freemason, published The Auchmountain Warbler: Songs, Poems &c. (Paisley,
Edinburgh and London); His poem ‘Tongue‖Discipline’‖is‖in‖Edwards. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 9 (1886), 244-8; Leonard (1990), 330-1; Reilly (1994), 260; NTU. [S]
King,‖Francis‖(d.‖1844),‖‘The‖Skipton‖Minstrel’,‖of Rylstone, a‖‘poor‖minstrel’,‖lame‖
from‖birth,‖described‖by‖Bell‖as‖a‖‘singer‖of‖heroic‖ballads’, whose recital is cited
as‖the‖source‖of‖‘King‖James‖I‖and‖the‖Tinkler’.‖He‖drowned‖after‖a‖‘merry-
making’‖in‖Gargrave. ~ Ref: Robert Bell, Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the
Peasantry of England (London, 1857), 72-75.
King, James (1776‐1849), of Paisley, trained as a weaver, served in the military,
published pieces in periodicals,‖including,‖‘The‖King‖of‖the‖Radical‖Islands,‖
Written‖a‖little‖after‖the‖death‖of‖George‖IV’,‖Chartist Circular, Glasgow, no. 46, 8
August 1840, p. 188. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 114-20; Chartist Circular, via Google
Books. [S] [T]
King, Jessie Margaret (b. 1862), ‘Marguerite’,‖of Bankfoot, Perthshire; her father died
when she was in her teens, and she was forced to work in an office in the village,
and later joined the staff of the Dundee Advertiser. She published poems in the
Dundee Evening Telegraph and the People’s Friend.‖Her‖poems‖include‖‘A‖
 Midsummer‖Night’s‖Dream’,‖‘O,‖Wind‖of‖the‖West’,‖‘Life‖and‖Death’‖and‖‘The‖
Perfidious‖Sea’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 270; Bold (1997), 258-9; inf. Florence
Boos. [F] [S]
King, John (1779-1837), of Paisley, weaver; periodical publications. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 134-41. [S] [T]
King, John (fl. 1863-74), of Lincolnshire and Scarborough, farm labourer in
Lincolnshire; as a boy, published Rustic Lays (Scarborough, c. 1863); other
publications are Sprays, Leaflets and Blossoms (London and Scarborough, 1869);
Hebeora (London and Scarborough, 1872); Rustic Pictures and Broken Rhymes
(London and Scarborough, 1874). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 257.
King, Robert (b. 1812), of Paisley, weaver, later school teacher. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-
90), I, 481-88. [S] [T]
Kinlay, James (b. 1838), of Cupar, Fife, house-painter. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 226-
29. [S]
Kirby, Charles (b. 1843), ‘The‖Wharfedale‖Poet’,‖of Tadcaster, Yorkshire, cattle-trader
boy, joiner. He lived in Leeds, and was an asylum inmate in later life. He
published anonymously (though the‖author’s‖name‖is‖given‖in‖the‖final‖poem,‖
signed‖‘DANIEL’,‖by‖means‖of‖an‖acrostic) Wharfedale Poems (Leeds, 1870); Word
Pictures (Leeds, 1874); A Royal Wreath (London and Leeds, 1875). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 258.
Kirkland, Daniel (b. 1833), ‘Thistle’,‖of Brechin, Angus, weaver. As a boy he worked
in the evenings helping his mother to spin, to feed the mill and his mother’s‖loom.‖
Leaving school early he worked briefly at book-canvassing before entering the
local steam-mill. Over thirty years Kirkland was a church precentor. He began
publishing in the local and regional newspaper late in life, having previously used
letters‖to‖friend‖as‖an‖outlet‖for‖his‖‘epistles’.‖Several‖of‖his‖lyrics‖were‖included‖in‖
The National Choir: Standard Songs for Part-Singing, published in instalments in
Paisley by the poetry and music publisher J. & R. Parlane from the late 1880s. (For
these Kirkland used the nom de plume of‖‘Thistle’;‖his‖son‖Alex‖A.‖Kirkland,‖a‖
music‖teacher,‖set‖them.)‖Edwards‖prints‖‘A‖Response‖from‖Home’,‖‘Brechin’s‖
Braes’‖and‖‘O‖Annie‖Fair’,‖and‖quotes‖from‖‘The‖Wee‖Chairie’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15
(1893), 190-3. [S] [T]
(?) Kirkland, Thomas (d. 1863), master mason, butcher. He published Nineteen
Original Songs (1813),‖from‖which‖Brown‖prints‖‘The‖Brave‖Commander‖Downie’‖
and‖‘The‖Highlandman’. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 235-37. [S]
Knight, Jane (fl. c.‖1844),‖of‖Durham,‖probably‖a‖miner’s‖wife,‖author‖of‖‘Pitmen’s‖
Grievances’‖(undated‖broadside,‖Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne‖Central‖Library‖local‖
studies collection). ~ Ref: Lloyd, 261, 358 note. [F] [M]
Knight, William (b. 1824), of Keith, shoemaker, later worked in a law office, became
a wanderer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 193-6. [S] [SM]
Knight, William (fl. 1864), of new Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, shoemaker, published The
Valley of the Isla: A Descriptive Poem (Peterhead, 1864). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 260. [S]
[SM]
Knott,‖John‖(d.‖1840),‖of‖Sheffield,‖author‖of‖‘Tom‖Topsail’,‖‘Ben Block’‖and‖other‖
popular songs. He died‖in‖the‖workhouse.‖‘Tom‖Topsail’‖is‖printed‖in‖a‖section‖of‖
largely‖unattributed‖‘Miscellaneous‖Songs‖Related‖to‖Sheffield’‖in‖The Songs of
Joseph Mather (qv, 1862), 109-10; the editor John Wilson attributes the song and
regrets in a footnote that such a capable songmaker should have died in poverty.
~ Ref: text as cited.
(?) Knowles, Herbert (1798-1817), young poet born near Leeds of humble parentage,
orphaned, sent to Richmond Grammar School, patronised by Robert Southey,
died aged nineteen; posthumously published The Three Tabernacles (Lines Written
in the Churchyard in Richmond, Yorkshire), (written 1816, published in 1818);
Grainge‖includes‖his‖‘Stanzas Written in Richmond Churchyard, October 7th
1817’. ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), II, 378-9; Miles (1891), X, 683; Bowers (1986), 32, 324.
Knox,‖Anna‖(b.‖1823),‖of‖Leith‖Walk,‖Edinburgh,‖gardener’s‖daughter,‖received‖a‖
limited education. An injury caused by a fall rendered her bedridden for 25 years.
She moved with her family to Greenock, where her health improved somewhat,
and later emigrated with them to New Zealand, but she wished to return and
despite the difficulties of doing so, returned to her native land. She published
Effusions from a Sick Bed: Or, Israel in Sorrow, Israel in Joy, and Other Poems
(Glasgow, 1840; 1886); Poems by Anna Knox (Brechin: D. H. Edwards, 1898); poems
include‖‘The‖Sea‖Foundling’,‖‘The‖Sailor‖Boy’,‖‘The‖Emigrant’s‖Child’s‖Grave’,‖
‘Slavery’, ‘Mary’s‖Love’,‖‘The‖Covenanter’s‖Clover’,‖‘Resignation’,‖‘The‖Old‖
Chest’, and‖‘The‖Reading‖Wife’,‖the‖latter‖unusual in its subject. ~ Ref: Edwards,
14 (1891), 361-6; Reilly (2000), 260; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 206; inf. Florence Boos.
[F] [S]
Knox, Jane Ogden (fl. 1870), of Fifekeith, Keith, Banffshire, received no formal
education, In the preface to her volume she‖comments,‖‘Whatever‖slips‖the‖keen-
eyed critic may descry—either in metre or in measure, he must needs excuse; for
in my earlier days there were no Education Bills; and, what was worse, so far as I
was concerned, I got no education. To one labouring under these disadvantages,
the indulgence sought may not be unneeded, and in most cases, I presume, will be
readily‖granted’. She published one volume, Religious Poetry, on Various Subjects
(Keith: A. Brown, 1870). Her poems are entirely religious. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 260;
inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Knox, Thomas (1818-79), of Greenlaw, haberdasher, labour agitator, temperance
advocate. He published Rhymed Convictions in Songs, Hymns, and Recitations for
Social Meetings, and Recitations for Social Meetings and Firesides (London); Scottish
 Temperance Songs to Scottish Airs (Paisley, 1880). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 107-16;
Crockett (1893), 173-78. [S]
Knox, William (1789-1825), of Lilliesleaf, Roxburghshire, poet, correspondent and
‘dissolute‖friend‖of‖Scott’,‖He published The Lonely Hearth and Other Poems (North
Shields, 1818); The Songs of Israel (Edinburgh, 1824); The Harp of Zion (1825). An
unsuccessful farmer in Dumfriesshire, Knox moved to Edinburgh, and became a
contributor to the literary journals,‖writing‖‘prose‖compositions,‖tales‖&c.’‖
(Edwards) as well as poetry, being friended and supported by Scott and other
literary notables. In noting his premature passing from‖a‖‘paralysis’, Scott wrote of
his‖life:‖‘His‖father‖was‖a‖respectable‖yeoman,‖and‖he‖himself,‖succeeding‖to‖good‖
farms under the Duke of Buccleuch, became too soon his own master, and
plunged‖into‖dissipation‖and‖ruin’‖(Journal, Dec 8th 1825). Edwards describes his
‘smooth‖and‖harmonious’‖verse,‖notes‖its‖‘pathetic‖and‖religious’‖tenor,‖and‖
praises‖the‖‘exquisite’‖quality‖of‖some‖of‖his‖scriptural‖paraphrases:‖he prints the
poem‖‘Mortality’. ~ Ref: Shanks (1881), 135-8; Edwards, 15 (1893), 164-6 and 16,
[lix]; Johnson (1992), item 518; Sutton (1995), 551 (miscellaneous letters); ODNB.
[S]
(?)‖Kyd, Jean (1858-1929),‖‘Deborah’,‖of‖Dundee,‖eldest‖daughter of Sinclair Christie
and Mary Key Mackay, Twice widowed, she worked for the Dundee Advertiser;
‘Deborah’‖of‖the‖People’s Journal, published Poems of the Hearth (1869). In 1897 Kyd
married the Revd. Archibald Allan (1852-1924). ~ Ref: Reid,‖Bards (1897), 256; Bold
(1997), 250; archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb254-ms208.txt. [F] [S]
Kydd, Samuel (1815-92),‖of‖Arbroath,‖shoemaker,‖Chartist,‖the‖‘chronicler’‖of‖the‖
Factory‖Movement,‖later‖trained‖as‖a‖barrister,‖wrote‖poems‖‘occasionally’,‖
published in Cooper’s Journal. ~ Ref: Stephen Roberts, Radical Politicians and Poets in
Early Victorian Britain: The Voices of Six Chartist Leaders (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen
Press, 1993), 107-28; ODNB;‖information‖and‖further‖sources‖on‖the‖‘Looking‖at‖
History’‖blog,‖richardjohnbr.blogspot.co.uk [S] [C] [SM]
Lackington, James (1746-1815), was a shoemaker poet and an oral ballad composer,
before his enormous success as bookseller. He is best known for his prose
lifewriting, however. He published Memoirs of the First Forty-five Years of James
Lackington (1791) and The Confessions of J. Lackington (1804), expressing regret for
his criticism of Methodism. ~ Ref: ODNB. [C18] [SM]
Lahee, Margaret Rebecca (1831-95), Lancashire dialect poet and prose writer, born
and brought up in Ireland, apprenticed to a Rochdale milliner and dressmaker,
author of immensely popular works like ‘Owd‖Robin’ and Owd Neddy Fitton’s
Visit to Earl of Derby, which went into at least 33 editions. Lahee‖declared‖that‖‘I‖
have laboured in the field of Lancashire literature for over half my life-time, and
have tried to bring forth‖the‖pure‖gold‖hidden‖beneath‖the‖surface‖of‖the‖people’s‖
nature’. ~ Ref: Taryn‖Hakala,‖‘M. R. Lahee and the Lancashire Lads: Gender and
 Class‖in‖Victorian‖Lancashire‖Dialect‖Writing’,‖Philological Quarterly, 92, no. 2
(Spring 2013), 271-88; online sources. [F] [I] [T]
(?) Laidlaw, William (1779-1845),‖of‖Yarrow,‖Selkirkshire,‖farmer’s‖son,‖poet,‖
amanuensis and land-steward to Sir Walter Scott,‖described‖in‖James‖Hogg’s (qv)
memoir,‖author‖of‖the‖song‖‘Lucy’s‖Flittin’’,‖first‖published‖in‖Hogg’s‖The Forest
Minstrel (1810), and re-printed in Borland.‖Other‖songs‖included‖‘Her‖Bonnie‖
Black‖E’e’‖and‖‘Alake‖for‖the‖Lassie’.‖Laidlaw‖published in the periodicals. His
prose‖work‖included‖an‖article‖on‖‘Scottish‖Superstitions’‖for‖the‖Edinburgh
Magazine, and several encyclopaedia entries.‖Borland‖states‖that‖Laidlaw‖‘was‖the‖
author‖of‖a‖geological‖description‖of‖his‖native‖county’.‖His‖Recollections of Sir
Walter Scott (1802-1804) were published by the Hawick Archaeological society in
1905. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 35-37; Shanks (1881), 138-41; Borland (1890), 147-51;
Douglas (1891), 300-301; The Collected Letters of James Hogg, Volume 1, 1800-1819,
ed. Gillian Hughes (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), 460-1; ODNB.
[S]
Laing, Alexander (1787-1857),‖of‖Brechin,‖Angus,‖‘the‖Brechin‖poet’,‖apprenticed‖to‖
flax-dresser, and worked as one for 14 years; contributed to miscellanies and
newspapers; edited Robert Burns and Robert Tannahill (qqv). Manuscripts of
Wayside Flowers (MS.‖7181)‖and‖his‖poem‖‘Monody‖on‖the‖death‖of‖David‖
Robertson’‖(1854,‖MS.‖14303,‖f.‖120)‖are‖held‖at‖the‖National‖Library‖of‖Scotland,‖
Edinburgh. Manuscripts of letters and miscellaneous poems held at the University
of Glasgow (in MSS Robertson 16, 17, and 19). He published The Harp of Caledonia
(1819); Wayside Flowers (1846, second edition, 1850). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 93-8;
Edwards, 2 (1881), 273-80; Johnson (1992), items 520-22; Sutton (1995), 552; NTU.
[S] [T]
Laing, Alexander (b. 1840), of Forres, Morayshire, agricultural worker, nurseryman,
published in local papers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 147-53. [S]
Laing, Allan S. (b. 1857), of Dundee, of a humble family, working from the age of
ten, upholsterer, businessman, published poems in the People’s Friend and in
Murdoch. ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 427-30; Edwards, 12 (1889), 59-65. [S]
Lake, John, tailor (1792-1836), published The Golden Glove, or the Farmer’s Son, A
Comedy in Five Acts, with Some Poetical Sketches (London, 1815); Criticism and Taste,
A Satire in Verse (Pall Mall: C. Chappel, 1834); The Retired Lieutenant and The Battle
of Loncarty: Poems, by John Lane, Author of The Golden Glove, etc. (London: John
Hatchard and Son, 1836), two volumes. ~ Ref: 2003), 47; COPAC; Kord (inf. Tim
Burke; 1836 volume online at archive.org. [T]
Lamberton, William (b. 1828), of Larch Bank, Kilmaurs, shoemaker, teacher and lay
preacher. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 375-9. [S] [SM]
Lamborn, Edward (b. 1787), of Uffington, Oxfordshire, illegitimate son of an illiterate
woman, grew up in poverty, labourer, broadside balladeer, ordered with his
 family‖into‖the‖Faringdon‖Poor‖Law‖Union‖workhouse‖in‖1835,‖author‖of‖‘The‖
New‖Poor‖Law‖and‖the‖Farmer’s‖Glory’,‖a‖song‖and‖poem,‖and‖an important
indictment of the workhouse system, experienced first hand. The words have
been posted online on several blogs. ~ Ref: Hepburn (2001), I, 22-3, 163-5; online
sources.
Lamont, Duncan (b. 1842), of Lochgilphead, Argyllshire, blacksmith in Greenock,
published Poems and Songs (Greenock, 1895). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 303-10;
Reilly (1994), 265. [S] [B]
La‖Mont,‖Elizabeth‖née‖Elizabeth‖or‖Elisabeth‖Ramsay‖(b.‖1821),‖of‖Edinburgh,‖‘E.‖La‖
Mont’,‖Chartist‖poet,‖daughter‖of‖Isobell‖Wilson‖and‖Robert‖Ramsay, a
bookbinder, m. John Oatt La Mont, also a bookbinder, later a commercial clerk;
they moved to a working-class area of Glasgow and had one daughter, possibly
two; by 1844 they had moved to London. Both Elizabeth and her husband were
interested and active in the Chartist movement; she published poems in Chartist
publications, seven of which have been identified, as follows: ‘The‖Land‖of‖the‖
Brave‖and‖the‖Free’,‖Northern Star, 15‖August‖1840,‖7;‖‘Universal‖Liberty—The
Chartist‖Reaction’,‖Northern Star, 26‖September‖1840,‖3;‖‘Thoughts‖by‖Moonlight’‖
Northern Star, 10 October 1840,‖3;‖‘The‖Honest‖Working‖Man—A‖Character’,‖
Northern Star 21 August 1841, 3 (re-printed in The Penny Satirist, 30 October 1841);
‘Life’s‖Dream’,‖11‖September‖1841,‖3;‖‘The‖Old‖Maid’s‖Scarf’,‖Chartist Circular, 18
Sept‖1841,‖436;‖‘Lines‖to‖a‖Mother’,‖Cleave’s Gazette of Variety, 20 August 1842. ~
Note: Scheckner, following‖Kovalev,‖misattributes‖La‖Mont’s poems‖to‖a‖‘Eugene‖
La‖Mont’,‖alias‖John‖La‖Mont‖who,‖as‖we‖have‖seen,‖was‖in‖fact‖Elizabeth’s‖
husband. John was, however, an important Chartist writer and editor in his own
right, writing works entitled The Grave of Genius and The Rebel Revolt, arguing for
women’s‖suffrage,‖editing‖The Scottish Patriot and then the radical Dundee
Chronicle, and dying of consumption in Islington, London, in 1844, at which point
his wife also disappears from the records. Chartist scholarship is much indebted
to Margaret Loose‖for‖sorting‖out‖the‖misinformation‖about‖‘Eugene’ and
recovering Elizabeth as an individual, a Chartist and a poet in her own right. ~
Ref: Sanders (2009), 237-8, 242-3; Loose (2014), 152-60, 177. See also (but with
caution) Kovalev (1956), 72-73; Scheckner (1989), 224-5, 337-8; Michael Sanders,
‘Poetic‖Agency:‖Metonymy‖and‖Metaphor‖in‖Chartist‖Poetry‖1838-1852’,‖Victorian
Poetry, 39, no. 2 (Summer 2001), 111-36; www.thepeoplescharter.co.uk/profiles. [S]
[C]
Lane,‖William‖(b.‖1744),‖‘a‖poor‖labouring‖man’‖of‖Flackwell-Heath, High Wycombe,
Bucks., who worked variously as a paper-maker, tavern-waiter and pastry-seller;
publications include Poems on the Following Subjects: Abraham and Lot. Manoah and
his Wife. Manoah and Ruth, Part I. Life of David. Flood of Formosa, and Fire of Cliffden.
Vale of Wycombe. Detached Pieces, Chiefly Wrote on Particular Occasions, and Particular
 Persons... [the title is much longer, but this gives the flavour](Reading and
London, 1798), and there is a further collection of 1806. His tributary poem to
Robert Bloomfield (qv), from the 1806 collection, is reprinted and discussed by
Burke. ~ Ref: Jarndyce (1980), item 1427; Johnson (1992), item 524; Johnson 46
(2003), nos. 305-6; Tim‖Burke,‖‘The‖Poetry‖of‖Friendship:‖Robert‖Bloomfield,‖John‖
Clare, and the Labouring-class‖Tradition’,‖parts‖2‖and‖3,‖Robert Bloomfield Society
Newsletter, 6 (October 2003), 10-13, and 7 (Spring 2004), 10-13; Keegan (2008), 80-
93; Croft & Beattie II, 32 (item 116); LC 3, 215-32. [LC3] [C18]
Langford, John Alfred (1823-1903), of Birmingham, chairmaker, published in
Howitt’s Journal and elsewhere; Religion, Scepticism and Infidelity (1850), Religion and
Education in Relation to the People (1852), The Lamp of Life (1855), Poems of the Field
and Town (1859), and historical works on Birmingham. ~ Ref: Poole (1914), 248-50.
Langton, Millicent (fl. 1865), of Leicester, Sunday school educated factory worker;
published Musings of the Work-room (Leicester, 1865, a 136-page collection. On the
title‖page‖Langton‖is‖described‖as‖the‖‘Authoress‖of‖‚Ararat‖of‖Life,‛‖a‖Prize‖Essay‖
on‖the‖Sabbath’,‖and‖she‖confirms‖in‖her‖rather‖diffident‖Preface‖that‖Sunday
School‖has‖been‖the‖sole‖source‖of‖her‖learning:‖‘It has been my lot, from very
early childhood, to toil from morning until evening, and, for a greater part of the
time amid the monotonous din of machinery, and I have thus been deprived of
the benefits of a liberal education. All that has been received has come from the
Sunday‖School,‖and‖to‖it‖I‖owe‖a‖deep‖and‖lasting‖debt‖of‖gratitude.’‖She‖goes‖on‖
to describe how she has composed the poems, and what their creation has meant
to‖her:‖‘The‖pieces‖contained in this little book have all been composed while
engaged in my daily calling, while the pressure of domestic duties when at home
in the evening, has rendered it extremely difficult to commit my thoughts to
paper; still the work of composition has been a labour of love; care has been
lightened and sorrow beguiled while I have wandered in thought amid the
beauties‖of‖nature,‖or‖mingled‖with‖the‖great‖and‖good‖of‖past‖ages.’‖This‖last‖
remark points particularly to her 30-page opening‖poem,‖‘Lady‖Jane‖Grey’—also
one‖of‖the‖subjects‖of‖Langton’s‖fellow‖Leicester‖factory‖poet‖Ruth‖Wills‖(qv)‖in‖
her‖historical‖poem‖‘Bradgate‖and‖its‖Associations’.‖In‖both‖cases‖there‖is‖a‖sense‖
of local as well as historical interest (and, perhaps particularly, an interest in
women’s‖history).‖Langton’s‖habit‖of‖composing‖her‖verses‖in‖her‖head‖while‖
working in a noisy factory or a demanding home environment seems
remarkable—‘Lady‖Jane‖Grey’‖is‖written‖in‖70‖rhyming‖eight-line stanzas, with an
alexandrine for the final line of each verse and a precise pattern of rhyme
(ABABABCC), so it is quite a complex form to imagine building mentally and
remembering, perhaps for quite some time before it could be written down,
though such feats are not uncommon among the labouring-class poets—both
Robert Bloomfield and Mary Collier (qqv) describe composing their poems
 mentally. Langton tends to use interlaced rhymes as described, though her other
major‖narrative‖poem,‖‘Gertrude,‖or‖the‖Earthquake’,‖uses‖the‖simple rhyming
couplets Bloomfield, Collier and many others favoured. Her shorter poems
encompass the pious, the political and the traditionally poetic. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000),
266; Forsyth (2005); text via Google books. [F]
(?) Lapage, Edward (b. 1839), of Bridge St., Bradford, son of George Lapage, wool
buyer for Messrs Walker; a wool sorter who during his apprenticeship attended
evening‖classes‖at‖the‖Bradford‖Mechanic’s‖Institute‖‘where‖he‖made‖great‖
progress’.‖Holroyd‖includes‖his‖poem‖‘To‖Romilies‖Moor’‖and‖tells‖a‖sentimental‖
story of Lapage on his deathbed asking to be raised up to see his beloved moor
before he died. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 132-3. [T]
Large, Thomas (fl. 1812),‖Nottingham‖stockinger,‖‘one‖of‖the‖most‖literate‖and‖lively‖
of the writers associated with the United Committee of‖Framework‖Knitters’‖
whose‖‘verses‖appear‖in‖the‖letters‖that‖he‖wrote‖during‖his‖travels‖on‖committee‖
business‖between‖Nottingham,‖Leicester‖and‖London’.‖His‖colleagues‖appreciated‖
his humorous style of writing; he apparently had connections with the Luddites,
‘whom‖he‖familiarly‖and‖affectionately‖calls‖‚Sherwood‖Lads‛’‖(all quotes from
Binfield). (See Thompson (1963, 2013), 604-28,‖for‖more‖on‖the‖‘Sherwood‖Lads’.)‖~
Ref: Binfield (2004), xix, 122-4, 126-9, 186; papers in Notts. Archives. [T]
(?) Latimer, Joseph (fl. 1896), member of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and a frequent
contributor to Weekly Irish Times and other periodicals. He published a collection,
Harp and Crown, poems (Dublin).‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 243. [I]
Latino, Juan (fl. 1553-76), of Granada, black slave who published three volumes of
Latin verse between 1553 and 1576. ~ Ref: Charles T. Davis and Henry Louis Gates
(eds), The Slave’s Narrative (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985),
xxvi-xxvii; Landry (1990), 311n24; Bold (2007), 14; Wikipedia. [OP]
Latto, William Duncan (1823-99),‖‘Tammas‖Bodkin’,‖of‖Ceres,‖Fife,‖handloom‖
weaver, teacher, poet and editor; his poems were published in the Fife News, and
in the People’s Journal, which he edited from 1860; published The Twa Bulls: A
Metrical Tale, for the Times (Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife and Montrose, c.‖1860).‖‘From‖
1864‖onwards‖Latto‖published‖collected‖editions‖of‖his‖*Tammas+‖Bodkin‖pieces’‖
(Blair). These were very popular prose pieces written in the persona of Bodkin, a
‘comic‖tailor’‖(Blair). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 37-42; Reilly (2000), 27; Blair (2016),
xi-xii, 24. [S] [T]
Lauder,‖James‖(b.‖1841),‖of‖Leith,‖Midlothian,‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖street‖musician‖in‖
Leith, wrote for The Scotsman; published Warblings of a Caged Bird (Leith, 1870). ~
Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 362-6; Reilly (2000), 267. [S]
Law, Samuel (fl. 1772-83), weaver, of Barewise, Lancashire, author of A Domestic
Winter-Piece, or, a Poem exhibiting a full view of the Author’s Dwelling Place in the
Winter-Season, in Two Parts (Leeds 1772, Dobell 2993). Law describes himself as a
 ‘poor,‖mean‖and‖contemptible‖Weaver,‖who‖did‖not‖so‖much‖as‖know‖the‖
alphabet perfectly well, when my twenty-first‖annual‖sun‖rolled‖away’.‖Bridget
Keegan‖points‖out‖in‖LC2‖that‖‘Some records of a Samuel Law do exist in local
archives; these indicate that he may have worked as a clog maker as well as a
weaver’.‖He was self-taught and modelled his poem on James Thomson’s‖Seasons,
with which he appears to have been very familiar. There are also numerous
classical references in the poem. An interesting feature of his work is how he says
he‖composes‖‘in‖the‖sounding‖loom’,‖using‖work-rhythms to create rhyme and
metre. ~ Ref: Dobell (1933); Thompson (1963, 2013), 324; Keegan (2003); Croft &
Beattie, II, 34 (item 121); ESTC; BL; LC 2, 265-72; ODNB. [T] [LC2] [C18]
Law, William (fl. 1818), of Bagshot, forester, published A Forest Ramble, with a
Description of a Royal Stag Hunt, and Characteristic Sketches of all the Masters of the
Staghounds during his Present Majesty’s Reign; with Notices of Several Well-known
Characters in the Forest of Windsor (London: J. Pittman, 1818); anonymous (author
attributed). ~ Ref: C. R. Johnson, cat. 49 (2006), item 36; copies in BL; Harvard
Houghton.
Lawson, Jessie Kerr (1838-1917), ‘Hugh‖Airlie’,‖‘Katherine‖Leslie’,‖shopkeeper and
miscellaneous‖writer,‖a‖‘woman‖of‖enormous‖energy‖and‖determination’,‖born‖in‖
Edinburgh, died in Toronto, raised by maternal grandparents after her father
died, took her mother’s‖surname;‖after‖her‖husband,‖a‖ship’s‖carpenter,‖became‖a‖
semi-invalid, she took her family to Canada where she supported her husband
and ten children by writing, and ran a dry goods and millinery shop while her
husband William worked in the shipyard at Hamilton. Publications include eight
novels, much journalism, and at least one book of poems, Lays and Lyrics (Toronto:
William Briggs, 1913). Lawson used‖a‖number‖of‖pseudonyms‖including‖‘Hugh‖
Airlie’‖and‖(in‖her‖journalism)‖‘Katherine‖Leslie’.‖A notably‖‘Hugh‖Airlie’‖prose‖
publication (with one poem late in the text,‖‘The‖Birth‖of‖Burns’,‖101-01). written
in an energetic and comic dialect style, is The Epistles o’ Hugh Airlie (formerly o’
Scotland, presently connecktit wi’ Tam Tamson’s Warehoose in Toronto), illustrated by
J. W. Bengough (1851-1923) (Toronto: Grip Printing and Publishing, 1888), 104 pp.
~ Ref: Gifford & McMillan (1997),‖686;‖biography‖on‖Canada’s‖Early‖Women‖
Writers webpage, Simon Fraser University Library; Hathi Trust digital library.
[OP]
Laycock, Samuel (1826-93), originally from Marsden, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire,
but lived much of his life in Lancashire and would come to be regarded as a
classic Lancashire dialect poet; worked in a mill from the age of nine, later a cloth
looker, made redundant in 1762 as a result of the Cotton Famine and wrote twelve
‘Lyrics‖of‖the‖Cotton‖Famine’,‖initially‖sold as single broadsheets on the streets of
Manchester. These gentle, but nevertheless socially and politically aware, dialect
poems were Laycock’s‖response‖to‖a massive social and economic crisis in the
textile-making regions, brought about by the blockade of the southern ports in the
American Civil War, and they made his name. In their tone, subject matter and
language, they affirmed a sense of community, common cause and solidarity that
was desperately needed in these hard times, and as a result their popularity was
enormous and they sold like hot cakes: some 14,000 copies were known to have
been sold, which suggests an even greater readership as copies were passed
round families and social spaces, or aired to an even wider audience where they
were recited or sung. The Manchester Guardian wrote of one of his later
publications: ‘The poems express with great truth and vigour the feelings and
sentiments of the average Lancashire workman. They have usually a good lyric
swing with them; they are always on the side of honesty and manliness and clean
living. Mr. Laycock is a genuine optimist. He does not rail at fortune; he has no
fault to find even with the reviewers; he is satisfied with the measure of success
which he has achieved; and is to be congratulated on the publication of this
handsome‖volume‖in‖the‖evening‖of‖his‖days.’‖The‖‘good‖lyric‖swing’‖is‖well‖put,‖
as is the‖comment‖on‖the‖feeling‖of‖the‖‘average‖Lancashire‖workman’.‖But‖
bracketing him as a contented, even tame working-class optimist mistakes
gentleness for meekness. There is strong moral and social indignation in a poem
like‖‘Starved‖to‖Death’‖(q.v.),‖with‖its‖attack‖on‖a‖society‖that‖can‖leave‖‘Yo’r‖
brother‖an’‖mine‖lyin’‖stiff‖an’‖cowd,‖/‖In‖a‖city‖o’‖splendour,‖a‖mart‖o’‖gowd’‖(ll.‖
23-24. (Incidentally, this poem was plagiarised by a Dundee poet, Robert Mullen,
in Poems by the People (1869), 5-6.) Laycock’s‖personal‖gentleness‖and‖lack‖of‖
rancour, remarked on by those who knew him as well as by his readers, masked
an‖alert‖sense‖of‖his‖community’s‖anguish‖and‖how‖it‖could‖best‖be‖remedied.‖~‖In‖
1865 Laycock became librarian at the Stalybridge Mechanic’s‖Institute.‖Six‖years‖
later he left this post and variously ran a bookstall at Oldham Market, worked as a
photographer, and became Curator of the Whitworth Institute, Fleetwood. He had
moved to nearby Blackpool for the sake of his health in 1868, and died there from
bronchitis in 1893. Among his poems is an informal dialogue verse in praise of the
village of Bispham, on the Fylde coast just north of Blackpool. ~ Laycock remained
regionally popular. There were two posthumous editions of his Collected Writings
(1900 and 1908), and there have been subsequent reprints of his work. Along with
his contemporaries Ben Brierley and Edwin Waugh (qqv), Laycock would come to
be seen as one of the three founding figures of south Lancashire dialect poetry.
Some of Laycock’s‖lyrics,‖including‖‘Bonny‖Brid’‖and‖‘The‖Shurat‖Weaver’s‖Song’‖
were set to music and continue to be sung by folk singers. There is a blue plaque
dedicated to him on a stone plinth in Stalybridge High Street, at the site of the old
Mechanics Institute. (The Tameside Web page has an image of it.) ~ Laycock
published Lancashire Poems, Tales and Recitations (Manchester and London, 1875);
Warblin’s fro’ an Owd Songster (Oldham, London and Manchester, 1893, 3rd
 enlarged edition, 1894); Collected Writings (second edition, Oldham, 1908); Selected
Poems, ed. Glyn Hughes (Sunderland: Ceolfrith Press, 1981). ~ Ref: Jewitt (1867),
227-30; Holroyd (1873), 98-9; Harland (1882), 377-9, 398-400, 459-62, 500-1, 506-8,
510-11, 515-16, 547-52; Andrews (1885), 33-39; Ashraf (1975), 255-7; Hollingworth
(1977), 153; England (1983), 50; Maidment (1987), 253-61; Reilly (1994), 272;
Zlotnick (1998), 206-07; Reilly (2000), 268; Larry‖McCauley,‖‘‚Eawr‖Folk‛:‖
Language,‖Class,‖and‖English‖Identity‖in‖Victorian‖Dialect‖Poetry’,‖Victorian
Poetry, 39, no. 2 (2001), 287-300; Boos (2002a), 209-10; Goodridge (2005); LC 6, 1-32;
ODNB; NTU. [T] [LC6]
Leapor, Mary (1722-46), born in Marston St Lawrence, Northants, on the estate of
Judge Blencowe, where her father, Philip, worked as a gardener. At the age of five
Mary Leapor and her family moved to Brackley, where her father maintained a
nursery and worked for local landowners. She was taught to read and write by
her parents, but they disapproved of her penchant for scribbling verses when she
was‖ten‖or‖eleven.‖Leapor‖laboured‖as‖her‖father's‖housekeeper‖after‖her‖mother’s‖
passing in 1742, but continued to‖write.‖The‖local‖circulation‖of‖Leapor’s‖verses‖
drew the notice of Bridget Freemantle—daughter of a former rector of Hinton—
who was moved to raise a subscription that would accord her more time for
writing. However, Leapor died of measles before her Poems upon Several Occasions
(1748),‖was‖published.‖Sixteen‖or‖seventeen‖volumes,‖including‖part‖of‖Pope’s‖
works‖and‖Dryden’s‖Fables were present in her library at the time of her death, but
the couplets in which she devised religious verse, moral epistles, fables and
epitaphs are typically of a less acerbic quality than those of Alexander Pope, who
nevertheless was an important influence on her work. Leapor developed her own
distinctive style of satirical verse-writing, which drew on her life as a servant to
comment on differences of class, gender, and physical appearance, including size
(a theme of particular interest to Leapor, who was short), often humorously and
using small social nuances to do so. ‘The‖Epistle‖of‖Deborah‖Dough’‖
ventriloquizes in doggerel an imagined attack upon herself by a particularly
stupid fellow-servant,‖as‖‘neighbour‖Mary’,‖a‖girl‖who‖is‖so‖foolish‖and‖useless‖
that‖‘She‖throws‖away‖her‖precious‖time‖/‖In‖scrawling‖nothing‖else‖but‖rhyme’,‖
unlike‖Deborah’s‖own‖daughter‖Cicely‖who‖‘Is‖taller‖by‖a‖foot‖than‖she’,‖and‖can‖
knit‖and‖cook‖‘like‖a‖queen’. Leapor turns her own disparaged physical attributes
and transgressive activities as a poet into a weapon to expose‖the‖other‖servant’s‖
degraded and slavish sense of priorities.‖In‖‘The‖Visit’‖she‖draws‖on‖the‖familiar
theme for eighteenth-century women poets of female friendship, to imagine her
friend offering a refuge, ‘Where‖careless‖creatures‖such‖as‖I,‖/‖May‖’scape‖the‖
penetrating‖eye‖/‖Of‖students‖in‖physiognomy’, i.e. a break from the relentless
male, and patrician gaze , and perhaps the gaze of her hostile fellow-servants, too,
the Deborah Doughs. As a servant who does not conform in appearance and
behaviour, Leapor is especially aware in her poems of being under scrutiny, and
uses this to great effect. In the poem, ‘On‖her‖play‖being‖returned‖to‖her‖stained‖
with‖claret’, Leapor models the‖‘prodigal‖son’‖story from the bible to imagine that
her playscript is actually her wayward child, who has been keeping ‘ill‖company’
in the big bad city, so she can ‘scold’‖it,‖and‖in‖ironically welcoming back the stray
can re-claim her own self-worth from what has clearly been a metropolitan
rejection:‖‘But‖now‖I’ll‖keep‖you‖here‖secure,‖/‖No‖more‖you‖view‖the‖smoky‖sky;‖/‖
The Court was‖never‖made,‖I’m‖sure,‖/‖For‖idiots‖like‖thee and‖I’.‖The‖use‖of‖‘idiot’‖
in the old sense of a detached individual here offers a self-presentation as a loner
and a provincial, and proud of it, though always with the suggestion of self-
mockery.‖Leapor’s‖poems‖‘Man‖the‖Monarch’‖and‖‘An‖Essay‖on‖Woman’‖(‘a‖
pleasing but short-lived‖flower’)‖apply‖these‖methods‖to‖the‖divisions‖of‖gender:‖
irony, detachment, a sense of scrutiny, and the questioning and ironic reversal of
stereotyping; while her most-discussed and perhaps best poem,‖‘Crumble‖Hall’,‖is‖
a‖nuanced‖and‖‘intriguing‖tour‖of‖a‖country‖estate’‖(Young,‖51). ~ Affirmed in the
public consciousness as an embodiment of the untutored poet denied the
advantages‖of‖artistic‖cultivation,‖Leapor’s‖work‖was‖widely‖appreciated
following her death. In 1791, William Cowper indicated, a propos of another
‘natural’‖poet,‖that‖he‖had‖not‖observed‖such‖talent‖in‖any‖disadvantaged‖poet‖
since Mary Leapor. Published after her death were Poems Upon Several Occasions,
by Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire (London: J. Roberts, 1748), whose 600
subscribers included Revd. Stephen Duck (qv). (Volume 1, ed. Ralph Griffiths.)
Poems Upon Several Occasions, by the late Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire
(London: J. Roberts, 1751).‖‘The‖Second‖and‖Last‖Volume’,‖ed. Samuel Richardson
and Isaac Hawkins Browne]. She is also represented in anthologies of the period:
Poems by Eminent Ladies (Coleman and Thornton, London: 1755, 1757, 1773, 1785,
Vol. 2); The Muse in a Moral Humour: Being, a Collection of Agreeable and Instructive
Tales, Fables, Pastorals &c. By Several Hands. (compiled by Francis and John Noble,
London 1757-8: Vol. 2); The Poetical Calendar. Containing a Collection of scarce and
Valuable Pieces of Poetry: With Variety of Originals and Translations, by the Most
Eminent Hands. Intended as a Supplement to Mr. Dodsley’s collection. (‘Written‖and‖
selected‖by‖Francis‖Fawkes,‖M.‖A.‖and‖William‖Woty.‖In‖twelve‖volumes’,‖
London: 1763, second edition, Vol. 8); Lonsdale (1989) and Fairer and Gerrard,
Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology (2004). The standard modern
edition is The Works of Mary Leapor: A Critical Edition, ed. Richard Greene and Ann
Messenger (Oxford University Press, 2003), to which Greene (1993) and Van-
Hagen (2011) form very useful companion volumes. The publication of a special
number of Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature on‖‘New‖Directions‖in‖Mary‖Leapor
and‖Ann‖Yearsley‖Studies’,‖edited‖by‖Kerri‖Andrews‖(34,‖no.‖1,‖Spring‖2015;‖
essays individually listed below and under Yearsley) marks a further significant
 step forward in the critical recovery of Leapor begun by Lonsdale, Messenger and
Greene, and widens the critical discussion of Leapor and of labouring-class
women poets more generally. ~ Ref: Dyce (1825), 171-8; Rowton (1853), 132-5;
Blunden (1929); Hold (1989), 97-103; Lonsdale (1989), 194-217; Shiach (1989), 54-6;
Blain et al (1990), 640; Fullard (1990), 560; Landry (1990), 27, 32, 78-119; Rizzo
(1991), 242-3, 249-54; Betty‖Rizzo,‖‘Molly‖Leapor:‖An‖Anxiety‖for‖Influence’,‖The
Age of Johnson, 4 (1991), 313-43; Greene (1993); Milne (1999), 29-59; Christmas
(2001), 22, 161-83; Jeannie‖Dalporto,‖‘Landscape,‖Labor,‖and‖the‖Ideology‖of‖
Improvement in Mary‖Leapor’s‖‚Crumble-Hall‛’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory
and Interpretation, 42, no. 3 (2001), 228-44; Richard‖Greene,‖‘Mary‖Leapor:‖The‖
Problem‖of‖Personal‖Identity’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 42,
no. 3 (2001), 218-27; Susan‖Goulding,‖‘Reading‖‚Mira’s‖Will‛:‖The‖Death‖of‖Mary‖
Leapor‖and‖the‖Life‖of‖the‖Persona’,‖Modern Language Studies, 32, no. 2 (2002) 69-
89; Keegan (2003); Kord (2003), 265-6; Landry (2003), 234-9; Valerie Rumbold,
‘Mary‖Leapor‖(1722-46):‖Menial‖Labour‖and‖Poetic‖Aspiration’,‖in‖Sarah‖Prescott
and David Shuttleton (eds.), Women and Poetry, 1660-1750 (Houndmills: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2003), 88-95; Backscheider (2005), 407; Keegan (2005), 482; David
Fairer,‖‘Mary‖Leapor,‖Crumble Hall’,‖in‖Gerrard‖(2006),‖223-36; Milne (2008), 33-49;
Backscheider (2009), 877; Steve Van-Hagen, The Poetry of Mary Leapor (London:
Greenwich Exchange, 2011), contains a useful summary bibliography. Tulsa
Studies in Women’s Literature, 34, no. 1 (2015), special number on‖‘New‖Directions‖
on‖Mary‖Leapor‖and‖Ann‖Yearsley’,‖edited‖by‖Kerri‖Andrews‖and‖dedicated‖to‖
the memory of Bill Overton, contains the following essays on Leapor: Bill
Overton,‖‘Mary‖Leapor’s‖Verse‖and‖Genre’,‖19-32;‖William‖J.‖Christmas,‖‘Lyric‖
Modes:‖The‖Soliloquy‖Poems‖of‖Mary‖Leapor‖and‖Ann‖Yearsley’,‖33-50; Sharon
Young,‖‘Visiting‖the‖Country‖House:‖Generic‖Innovation‖in‖Mary‖Leapor’s‖
Crumble Hall’,‖51-64;‖Anne‖Chandler,‖‘Monarchy,‖Meritocracy,‖and‖Tragic‖Realism‖
in‖the‖Work‖of‖Mary‖Leapor’,‖65-87;‖Anne‖Milne,‖‘The‖Place‖of‖the‖Poet‖in‖Place:‖
Reading‖Local‖Culture‖in‖the‖Work‖of‖Mary‖Leapor’,‖125-39; David Fairer,
‘‚Flying‖atoms‖in‖the‖sightless‖air‛:‖Issues of Coherence and Scale in Leapor and
Yearsley’,‖141-62; LC 2, 51-74; Radcliffe. [F] [LC2] [C18] [—Iain Rowley, with
additional material by the editor]
Learmont, John (c. 1765-1818), of Dalkeith, gardener, began writing in the 1780s.
Learmont worked as a gardener for the Duke of Buccleuch at Langholm and
began‖composing‖poetry‖in‖the‖1780s‖‘as‖a‖nobler‖substitute‖for‖a‖foible‖that,‖alas!‖
is‖but‖too‖prevalent‖in‖northern‖regions’‖(1791).‖The‖‘Prefatory‖Address‖to‖the‖
Public’‖in‖Poems Pastoral, Satirical, Tragic and Comic (1791) is the chief source of
information‖about‖Learmont.‖He‖highlights‖his‖‘stinted‖education’‖and‖indicates‖
that the verses were not intended for public scrutiny. A Mr. P—r Sl—ght
‘accidentally‖gave‖them‖a‖review’‖and‖recommended publication. In his own
 appraisal‖of‖the‖poems,‖Learmont‖states:‖‘That‖they‖are‖destitute‖of‖deep‖thought,‖
or poetical decoration, is obvious; but that they also have some natural beauties,
the‖ingenious‖reader‖will‖readily‖allow’.‖~‖Keegan‖(2006), 574, discusses the
importance‖of‖garden‖spaces‖as‖a‖site‖of‖class‖conflict‖in‖Learmont’s‖‘The‖Position‖
of the Journeyman Gardeners of Scotland, (and we shall take in the North of
England‖for‖connection’s‖sake,)‖to‖the‖Nobility‖and‖Gentry‖of‖these‖Realms’‖(1791).‖
Keegan suggests that Learmont embodies an overt example of labouring-class
poetry’s‖traditional‖contestation‖of‖the‖rights‖of‖certain‖classes‖to‖experience‖
exclusive, privileged views of nature. The opening stanzas function to concentrate
the‖‘gentlemanly’‖viewer’s‖awareness‖upon‖whose‖labour‖his‖aesthetically‖
pleasing‖scenery‖depends:‖‘Look‖round‖amang‖your‖balmy‖bowers,—/ Thae
smiling witnesses are ours;— /‖An’‖a‖family‖of‖flowers‖/‖Attest‖our‖hand<‖I’‖short,‖
whate’er’s‖sublime‖or‖great,‖/‖Or‖worth‖while‖seein’‖round‖your‖seat,‖/‖Or‖renders‖
nature’s‖dress‖complete,‖/‖To‖cleek‖the‖een,‖/‖We‖do,‖an’‖toil‖’neath‖streams‖o’‖
sweat‖/‖Baith‖morn‖an’‖e’en’.‖Keegan‖(2006),‖575,‖sees‖Learmont’s‖poems‖as‖
prefiguring‖‘a‖more‖explicit‖expression‖of‖the‖desire for the general human
equality‖symbolised‖by‖the‖prelapsarian‖garden’‖that‖arose‖towards‖the‖end‖of‖the‖
century,‖noting‖that‖the‖epigraph‖to‖his‖poem‖reads:‖‘THE FATHER OF ALL MEN
WAS A GARDENER’.‖~‖Campin‖mentions‖Learmont‖as‖a‖songwriter‖associated‖with
the‖market‖town‖of‖Dalkeith,‖near‖Edinburgh.‖‘The‖Woman’,‖from‖Learmont’s‖
1791‖poems,‖was‖put‖to‖a‖tune,‖and‖even‖anthologized‖in‖an‖edited‖form‖as‖‘My‖
Goddess‖Woman’,‖in‖Johnson‖and‖Burns’ (1853) Scots Musical Museum. The poem
is effusive in its reverence‖for‖‘Woman’;‖it‖begins:‖‘Of‖Nature's‖Work,‖(I‖hold‖it‖
good)‖/‖Stupendous‖or‖common,‖/‖There's‖nought‖thro’‖all‖its‖limits‖wide‖/‖Can‖be‖
compared‖to‖Woman’,‖~‖Learmont‖expected‖to‖secure‖the‖gardening‖position‖at‖
Dalkeith Palace when his elder relative, also John Learmont, retired in 1806.
However,‖he‖was‖supposedly‖sacked‖because‖he‖had‖‘studied‖poetry‖more‖than‖
raising garden-stuff’.‖He‖lived‖the‖rest‖of‖his‖life‖in‖Colinton,‖west‖of‖Edinburgh.‖
Poems‖include‖‘An‖Address‖to‖the‖Plebeians’‖in‖his‖Poems Pastoral, Satirical, Tragic
and Comic (Edinburgh, 1791). Words‖and‖tune‖to‖‘The‖Woman’‖are available at:
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/dalkeith/Market/text/TheWoman.htm. ~ Ref: CBEL
(1969), II, 972; Lonsdale (1984), 783-5, 855n; Christmas (2001), 207-8; Jack Campin,
Music of Dalkeith (2001); Keegan (2006); Keegan (2008), 63-64; LC 3, 203-14. [S]
[LC3] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Leatherland, John A. (1812-74), of Kettering, Northamptonshire, weaver, autodidact,
Chartist, published Essays and Poems with a Brief Autobiographical Memoir (London
and Leicester, 1862). A 40-page memoir is followed by 90 pages of essays on
themes‖ranging‖from‖‘Household‖Economy’‖to‖‘Death’‖to‖‘The‖Uses‖of‖Poetry’‖and‖
sixty pages‖of‖poems,‖which‖include‖one‖‘To‖Poverty’,‖a‖sonnet‖addressed‖to‖J. W.
Dalby‖(qv),‖‘Lines‖to‖Earl‖Grey’, and‖‘A‖Miller’s‖Cottage’.‖At‖the‖back‖of‖the‖
 volume is a list of eminent patrons including one or two who were associated
with John Clare (qv), and a list of subscribers. Refs: Vincent (1981), 124-5, 176-7,
184; Burnett et al (1984), no. 428; Hold (1989), 104-6; Schwab (1993), 199; Ashton
and Roberts (1999), 58-64; Reilly (2000), 270. [C] [T]
Ledgerwood, Isabella (b. 1866), of Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, toll-bar‖keeper’s‖daughter‖
who worked in the mills of Clark and Co. and Messrs. Coats, until ill health forced
her to quit work. Some of her, rather conventional verses are included in Brown. ~
Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 516-17; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Ledwidge, Francis Edward (1887‐1917), ‘poet‖of‖the‖blackbirds’,‖of Janeville, Slane,
County Meath, Ireland, farm worker, left-wing nationalist, war poet, was
publishing poems in the Drogheda Independent from the age of fourteen, and much
of his verse was published in newspapers in Ireland and elsewhere. He published
Songs from the Field (1915) and was killed by‖a‖‘stray‖shell’‖on‖31st‖July‖1917,‖the
very same day his Welsh contemporary Ellis Evans,‖‘Hedd Wyn’‖(qv),‖was‖killed,
during the Battle of Passchendaele. Posthumously published were Songs of Peace
(1917), and Last Songs (1918), and among later editions are Francis Ledwidge:
Complete Poems, ed. Alice Curtayne (1974); and Selected Poems, ed. Dermot Bolger,
with an Introduction by Seamus Heaney (Dublin: New Island Books, 1993).
Ledwidge is widely memorialised now, and there among other things is a Francis
Ledwidge Museum in Slane. ~ Ref: JCSN, 86 (Dec 2004), 8-9, 87 (March 2005), 9,
120 (February 2014), 10-13; Miriam‖O’Gara‖Kilmurry,‖Eire’s WW1 Poet: F. E.
Ledwidge (2016); ODNB; online sources; texts cited. [I] [OP]
(?) Lee, Helen (fl. 1893), of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, published Bits o’ Things
(Manchester: John Heywood, 1893), copy in Manchester Public Library. Opposite
the title page is a photograph‖of‖‘My‖Owd‖Woman‖an’‖Me’—the author and her
mother, the subject of the last poem in the book, which celebrates their life
together (278-80). The volume is largely verse (30 pages of prose monologues and
dialogues‖are‖followed‖by‖250‖pages‖of‖poetry),‖written‖‘thickly’‖and‖energetically‖
in a Lancashire dialect. The author names Poulton-le-Fylde as being where her
‘rooghyed’‖(rough-head, rough-haired)‖family‖now‖resides:‖‘Aye,‖we‖live’n‖i’‖
Powton,‖we‖loike‖the‖th’‖place‖weel,‖/‖Aw‖shouldno’‖mich‖care‖to‖go‖back;‖/‖Oh,‖
aye!‖we’re‖still‖rooghyeds,‖just‖look‖thee‖at‖mine,‖/‖It’s‖as‖roogh‖as‖a‖dog’s,‖an’‖as‖
black’‖(‘Mi‖Mother’s‖Seventieth‖Birthday‖Party’, 228). It is not stated where the
speaker‖shouldn’t‖much‖care‖to‖go‖back‖to,‖perhaps‖Manchester,‖where‖the‖book‖
was published, or nearby Oldham (see further below). In the (non-dialect)
prefatory‖remarks‖‘To‖My‖Friends‖and‖Subscribers’,‖Lee‖describes‖her‖writings as
the‖product‖of‖being‖‘shut‖out‖of‖the‖world‖by‖a‖long‖and‖severe‖illness,‖from‖
which‖at‖one‖time‖there‖seemed‖no‖hope‖of‖my‖recovery’, so a move from the
notoriously unhealthy Manchester area to the clearer air of the Fylde peninsula
would make sense. (One thinks of her fellow-poet Samuel Laycock (qv), retiring
 from Manchester to Bispham, five miles seaward of Poulton.) The book is
dedicated‖to‖‘Mrs.‖S.‖R.‖Platt‖of‖Werneth‖Park,‖Oldham’.‖The‖Platts‖were‖‘Textile‖
Machinery Makers, Civic Leaders in Oldham,‖Country‖Squires‖in‖North‖Wales’‖
(Eastham, sub-title). They were centrally involved in many areas of local life, and
Samuel Radcliffe Platt (1845-1902) was the first president of Oldham Chamber of
Commerce in 1882, a magistrate, councillor and alderman, Mayor of Oldham from
1887-9, and a key figure in the building and opening of the Manchester Ship
Canal. In 1883 he married Helen May (1863-1926), daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel
Roberts, of Renny, County Cork, and this is clearly the person to whom Lee’s‖
book is dedicated. Newspapers of the period describe her involvement in
charitable works, so it may well be imagined that she had helped Lee in some
capacity, perhaps in raising subscriptions (there is no list of subscribers in the
book, but as noted above they are addressed as a group in the prefatory note). The
prose‖pieces‖yield‖a‖few‖probable‖Oldham‖references‖(‘Grinikers‖Hill’‖i.e.‖
Greenacres,‖and‖‘Gledhill’,‖7),‖as‖do‖one‖or‖two‖of‖the‖poems.‖These‖give‖a‖strong‖
sense of oral and regional culture, with much storytelling, some dialogue, and
some song-like line-repetition. They also evidence wider reading—Dickens,
Robert Burns (qv), Tennyson—and thematic interests in home, birth and death,
childhood and old age. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 274; R. H. Eastham, Platts (Oldham:
privately published, 1994); online sources; text as cited. [F]
Lee,‖John‖(b.‖1797),‖of‖Montrose,‖Angus,‖soldier’s‖son,‖shoemaker,‖bookseller,‖clerk‖
printer, published Wild Flowers in Solitude, second edition (Montrose, 1875). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 3 (1881), 59-63; Reilly (2000), 271. [S] [SM]
(?) Lee, Joseph (fl. 1916), soldier, Lance-Corporal in 1st/4th Battalion of the Black
Watch, published Ballads of Battle (London:‖John‖Murray,‖1916);‖‘I‖Canna‖See‖the‖
Sergeant’‖later‖anthologised‖by‖John‖Buchan‖in‖his‖anthology‖of‖Scots‖vernacular‖
poetry, The Northern Muse (1924). ~ Ref: Google books; inf. Darren Kirkbride. [S]
[OP]
Lee, Thomas (fl. 1795), Nottingham framework-knitter, poet and prose writer, whose
works include Poetical Essays, on Curious and Interesting Subjects (Nottingham: C.
Sutton, 1795). ~ Ref: Google Books; inf. Dawn Whatman. [T] [C18]
Leech, Sarah (b. 1809), ‘S.‖L.’,‖of Ballylennan, Taughboyne, County Donegal, peasant
girl, daughter of a linen weaver, Thomas Leech, who died when she was three;
published Poems on Various Subjects. With a Biographic Memoir (Dublin: J. Charles,
1828); the frontispiece includes a portrait at her spinning wheel, and the book is
dedicated‖‘To‖the‖President,‖Vice‖Presidents,‖and‖Committee‖of‖the‖Brunswick‖
Constitutional‖Club‖of‖Ireland’‖(the‖Brunswick‖Clubs‖were‖a‖Protestant‖network‖
opposed to Catholic emancipation) . Her memoir records that her father died of
pleurisy, leaving her mother a widow with six children. Her eldest sister could
read and taught the younger children the basics while also earning a living
 through spinning. Leech then borrowed books from a kindly neighbour, who
instructed her in what she calls ‘the‖true‖religion’.‖She‖enjoyed‖her‖solitude‖and‖
was already showing a gift for verses before 1822, when her mother moved the
family‖to‖Lettergull.‖Leech’s‖first‖written‖poem‖(1825)‖was‖a‖satirical‖response‖to‖a‖
lady who had insulted her; she shared this only with close friends. She had no
intention of publication and even her family did not know she could write poetry.
The earliest poems in the collection were conceived when she was just thirteen. A
gentleman‖visitor‖saw‖her‖‘Elegy‖on‖a‖Loquacious Old Woman’‖(‘She‖vow’d‖she‖
had‖nae‖thoughts‖o’‖greed, / And strove her innocence to plead, / But aye her
tongue gaed at full speed, / Baith day and night / In hopes she might contention
breed— /‖Her‖sole‖delight’). He sought out the poet and was surprised to find her
in a humble home, working at the spinning wheel. He transcribed some of her
poetry, but she was horrified that they were accompanied in the Londonderry
Journal by‖descriptions‖of‖her‖‘humble‖situation.’‖Leech’s‖eyesight‖had‖
deteriorated by 1826 and people feared she would go blind. Her memoir states
that when she removed the bandages that were on her eyes, she wrote verses
about her failing eyesight and her Christian faith in times of affliction. ~ Her
verse-letter‖to‖Mr‖Richard‖Ramsay‖‘On‖perusing‖his beautiful Address to the
Author,’‖addresses‖her‖lack‖of‖formal‖education: ‘My muse, impelled by
gratitude, /‖Resolv’d‖your‖kindness‖to‖acknowledge, /‖Tho’‖it‖should‖be‖in‖verses‖
rude; /‖You‖ken‖I‖ne’er‖was‖at‖a‖college.’‖Leech wrote in both standard English and
Ulster Scots (her book has a glossary), and her work has helped preserve some of
the Ulster-Scots dialect that is no longer in use. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912);‖Hewitt
(1974); Colman (1996) 141; Sarah Leech: The Ulster-Scots Poetess of Raphoe, Co.
Donegal, ed. Celine McGlynn and Pauline Holland (n.p.: Ulster-Scots Agency,
2010); Richard Froggatt, entry in the Dictionary of Ulster Biography (online edition);
extract‖from‖Leech’s‖memoir‖on‖the‖Ulster-Scots Language Society webpage. [F] [I]
[T] [—Dawn Whatman]
Lees, Joseph (1748-1824),‖‘Joseph‖o’‖Randalls’,‖of‖Glodwick,‖Oldham,‖Lancs.,‖
handloom weaver and schoolteacher, probable co-author‖or‖author‖of‖the‖‘Jone‖O’‖
Grinfilt’‖Lancashire‖dialect‖poems. ~ Ref: Vicinus (1969), 31-5; Hollingworth
(1977), 153; Hepburn (2001), II, 386-7; Hollingworth (2013), 291-4. [T]
(?) Lefevre, Jonathan (fl.‖1840),‖of‖Bristol,‖Chartist‖poet;‖poems‖include‖‘The‖Vision‖of‖
Liberty’‖(signed‖‘J. L.’)‖and‖‘The‖Enslaved’,‖both‖discussed‖by‖Sanders. ~ Ref:
Kovalev (1956), 74-5; Scheckner (1989), 226-7, 338; Sanders (2008), 110, 113. [C]
Leggat, Joseph (b. 1846), of Blackburn, Linlithgowshire, sailor, soldier, coalminer,
weaver, taught in early childhood by Robert Tennant (qv), later attended night
school. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 185-90. [S] [T] [M]
(?) Leigh, Helen (fl. 1788), of Middlewich, Manchester, author of Miscellaneous Poems
(Manchester, 1788), wife of a country curate and mother of seven children,
 published by subscription. ~ Ref: Dobell (1933) 857; Lonsdale (1989), 420-2;
Feldman (1997), 389-96; BL; text via Google Books. [F] [C18]
(?) Leighton, Robert (1822-69), of Dundee, largely self-taught orphan, travelling
businessman, manager, spent most of the last twenty years of his life in Liverpool,
uncle of William Leighton (qv); his poems were praised by Longfellow and
Emerson; published Poems by Robin (1855); Rhymes and Poems (1861); Poems
(Liverpool, Edward Howell, 1866) includes a section of Scottish poems in dialect;
Records and Other Poems (1880). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 300-5; Murdoch (1883),
180-4; Miles (1891), V, 73; ); CBEL (1969), III, 294; Sutton (1995), 571 (letter from RL
in the papers of the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge. [S]
(?) Leighton, William (1841-69), of Dundee, nephew of Robert Leighton (qv), worked
in‖a‖Liverpool‖merchant’s‖office. He published ‘Eighteen‖Hundred‖and‖Sixty-
Two’,‖‘The‖Seasons’,‖‘Baby‖Died‖Today’,‖and‖‘Rose’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 294-
9; ODNB. [S]
Leiper, Andrew (d. c. 1862), of Paisley, weaver, member of the Republican Club, died
in the town poorhouse; poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 364-66. [S] [T]
Leno, John Bedford (1824-94),‖sometimes‖‘Timothy‖Whackstraw’,‖of‖Uxbridge,‖
Middlesex, Chartist, shoemaker, printer and poet/reciter. In his autobiography,
Leno‖says‖he‖was‖‘born‖in‖the‖P‖season,‖and‖strangely‖enough‖have‖been‖Pieman,‖
Pastrycook,‖Printer,‖Publisher‖and‖Poetaster’.‖He‖could‖have‖added‖‘performer’‖
and‖‘practical‖shoemaker’‖to‖this‖list;‖he‖was‖a‖versatile‖man.‖Born‖to‖parents who
were in service, he was taught to read and write by his mother, who ran a dame
school, and later attended a National School. At the age of twelve he was
apprenticed to a printer, where he gained a lifelong interest in books and politics.
He would become a staunch and active Chartist. Marrying Sarah Thrift at the end
of‖his‖apprenticeship,‖he‖struggled‖to‖find‖work‖‘tramping’‖in‖search‖of‖it.‖He‖had‖
gained a reputation as a speaker and a singer, and in his late twenties he arranged
a benefit concert to raise the money needed to set himself up in a print shop. This
was successful, and in 1849 he and his fellow poet Gerald Massey (qv) began
publishing a periodical, the Uxbridge Spirit of Freedom and Working Man’s
Vindicator, which ran for a year. ~ Leno also edited the journal St. Crispin and
published The Art of Boot- and Shoe-making. A Practical Handbook (London, 1885), a
prose work; Herne’s Oak, and other miscellaneous poems (1853); The Poetic Magazine
(periodical publication, 1860-1); King Labour’s Song Book (1861); An Essay for the
Nine Hours Movement (1861), a prose tract; Female Labour (1863), a prose tract;
Drury Lane Lyrics, and other poems (1868); Kimburton, A Story of Village Life, and
Other Poems (1875-6); The Anti-Tithe Journal (1881), a periodical publication; The
Last Idler, and Other Poems (London, 1889); The Aftermath. A Collection of Poems, with
Autobiography of the Author (London, 1892). Leno’s‖poem‖‘King‖Labour’‖provides‖
the‖title‖to‖David‖Kynaston’s‖study,‖King Labour: The British Working Class, 1850-
 1914 (1976), and is printed in epigraph to that volume. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 244-
54; Hobsbawm and Scott (1980), 107; Vincent (1981), 194; Maidment (1987), 19;
Schwab (1993), 41-6‖(discussion‖of‖‘Long,‖long‖ago’),‖200,‖214‖(pseudonyms‖list);‖
Reilly (1994), 279; Ashton & Roberts (1999), 76-96; Reilly (2000), 273-4; Goodridge
(2005); LC 6, 73-100; NTU. [LC6] [C] [SM]
(?) Leonard, John (fl. 1808-14), of Gateshead, joiner, son of a gardener, ‘possibly‖with‖
private‖means’,‖and‖‘well-known‖radical’,‖author‖of‖the‖comic‖song‖‘Winlaton‖
Hopping’‖and much political verse. He published a small collection, Original
Poetry on Moral & Satirical Subjects, With Patriotic Songs (Gateshead: Printed for the
Author and sold by J, Marshall, Gateshead, 1808). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 128-32; Colls
(1977), p. 29, 37;‖‘The‖Bards‖of‖Newcastle’; Wikipedia; text cited, via Google Books
from a BL copy.
Leslie, Eliza A. (fl. 1866),‖of‖Paisley,‖blacksmith’s‖wife,‖published Stray leaves
(Edinburgh: R. Grant and Son, 1866); the British Library copy is inscribed to the
Rev.‖William‖Dry,‖M.A.‖One‖poem‖describes‖a‖grandmother’s‖memories‖of‖the‖
faithlessness of friends and acquaintances. The mother of William Leslie (qv), and
the daughter of Mrs MacMillan of Elderslie (qv), both also poets. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), II, 498-501; Reilly (2000), 274; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Leslie,‖Peter‖(b.‖1836),‖‘John‖Pindar’,‖‘Pindar’,‖of Glenvale, Fife, of humble origins,
coalminer, later a soldier in the 71st Highland Light Infantry, serving in India,
Ireland, and Gibraltar from 1868-72. He published (under his pen-name of John
Pindar) his autobiography in the Fife News, and through the same channel, his
volume of poems, Random Rhymes, ed. A. M. Houston (Cupar: Fife News, 1893).
Blair‖reprints‖his‖rather‖homesick‖poem‖‘To‖My‖Auld‖Knapsack’,‖first‖published
in the People’s Journal, 4 June 1870, and notes how he claims in the poem to have
carried‖a‖year’s‖supply‖of‖the‖People’s Journal on his travels. The poetic address to
a‖faithful‖and‖reliable,‖if‖inanimate,‖old‖‘frien’’‖harks‖back‖at‖least‖as‖far‖as‖Robert‖
Bloomfield’s‖(qv)‖poem‖‘To‖His‖Old‖Oak‖Table’,‖published in his 1806 collection,
Wild Flowers. Leslie also published poems in the Lochgelly Times: see Pindar: The
Complete Poems of Peter Leslie, ed. James Campbell (Creiff: Grace Note Publications,
2016), which includes his autobiography, unpublished poems, and images from
his files of press cuttings of poems and correspondence from the Cowdenbeath &
Lochgelley Times & Advertiser. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 279; Blair (2016), 90-91; Jim Stark,
‘Pindar—The‖Complete‖Works‖launches‖this‖week’,‖Central Fife Times & Advertiser,
27 July 2016; sources cited. [S] [M]
(?) Leslie,‖William‖(b.‖1862),‖of‖Paisley,‖Glasgow‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖warehouseman,‖
engineer, life insurance agent. Brown records that his mother and grandmother
were‖also‖poets,‖and‖prints‖a‖poems‖of‖each‖(‘Dialogue:‖father‖and‖son’‖by‖the‖
grandmother, 499-450,‖and‖‘Margaret’‖by‖the‖mother’,‖501).‖He‖does‖not‖name‖
them but says the grandmother (Mrs MacMillan, qv) hailed from Elderslie and
 was married to a David MacMillan who worked as a farm servant; the mother is
Eliza A. Leslie (qv). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 498-506. [S]
Levack, George Wallace (b. 1846), self-styled‖‘Poet‖of‖the‖North’,‖of Glasgow, tailor,
blacksmith, published a volume of Poems (Wick: W. Rae, 1882), with a portrait.
Berenson recounts that in the enthusiasm for erecting a suitable memorial
following the death General Gordon in 1885,‖Levack‖‘sent a handwritten poem
because‖‚this‖is‖the‖only‖contribution‖I‖can‖send‖towards the memorial of your
deceased brother, as gold and silver I have none, moving in the humbler ranks of
life.‛’‖~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 53-6; Edward Berenson, Heroes of Empire: Five
Charismatic Men and the Conquest of Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press,
2011), 117; COPAC; WorldCat. [S] [T] [B]
Lewis, David (fl. 1815),‖of‖Knaresborough,‖gardener,‖farmer,‖‘the‖first Yorkshire
peasant‖poet‖to‖write‖dialect‖verse’‖(Moorman);‖published in one of the chapbooks
Specimens of the Yorkshire Dialect two dialect poems, ‘The‖Sweeper‖and‖the‖Thieves’‖
and‖‘An‖Elegy‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖a‖Frog’,‖later‖collected‖in‖his‖volume‖The Landscape
and Other Poems (York, 1815), which contains an interestingly facetious
‘Dedication.‖To‖Her‖Royal‖Highness‖Indigena,‖Empress‖of‖Thule,‖Queen‖of‖
Poverty’s‖Island,‖Pacificatress‖of‖Europe‖...‖Grand‖Mistress‖of‖the‖ancient‖Order‖of‖
Mendicants, from the Servants of the Public who demand Millions, to the poor
publishing‖Poet,‖who‖solicits‖a‖Subscription’,‖addressed‖as‖a‖‘Most‖August‖Lady’,‖
pp. [iii]-v. A dialogue‖poem,‖‘The‖Pocket‖Books’,‖was‖published in later
chapbooks. Bowers list an anonymous topographical journey poem as being by
Lewis, The Beauties of Harrogate and Knaresborough. A Poem (Ripon,‖1798):‖‘The‖
Preface‖contains‖an‖apologia‖for‖the‖‚confined‖education‛‖under‖which‖the‖poet‖
laboured’.‖Grainge‖says,‖perhaps‖with greater neatness than reliability, that he
‘cultivated‖his‖muse‖but‖neglected‖his‖farm’.‖Lewis‖is‖very‖briefly‖described‖under‖
the DNB entry for another David Lewis (1683?-1760), but has no entry of his own,
and is not easily found. ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), II, 309; Moorman (1917), xxviii, 20-
22; Bowers (1986), 32-3, 318; DNB.
Lewis, Joseph (fl. 1750-74), ivory turner, published Lancelot Poverty Struck (1758);
Mother Midnight's Comical Pocket-Book (1753?; pseudonym‖‘Humphrey‖Humdrum’‖
but attributed to Lewis); and The Miscellaneous and Whimsical Lucubrations of
Lancelot Poverty-Struck (1758). ~ Ref: ODNB. [C18]
Lewis, Lewis William (1831-1901),‖‘Llew‖Lllwyfo’,‖of‖Pensarn,‖Llanwenllwyfo,‖
Anglesey,‖worked‖in‖the‖copper‖mines‖at‖Parys‖then‖as‖draper’s‖apprentice,‖
founded Welsh-language newspapers in Wales, Liverpool and America, wrote
novels,‖and‖‘was‖a‖prolific‖writer‖of‖heroic‖verse’‖(OCLW). He published Awen
Ieuanc (1851); Gemau Llwyfo (1868); Y Creadur (1868) and Buddugoliaeth y Groes
(1880). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [M]
Lewis, Stewart (not Stuart as per Sutton and DNB) (1756-?1818), of Ecclefechan, son
of an inn keeper and farmer who died bankrupt when Lewis was a child; tinker
and poet; may have also been a tailor; published The African Slave; with other poems
and songs (Edinburgh, 1816); Fair Helen of Kirconnel Lee. A poem (4th ed., Dumfries,
1817);‖poems‖include‖‘Ae‖morn‖of‖May’. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 526; Miller (1910),
167-69; Sutton (1995), 578 (letter); DNB. [S]
Lewis, Thomas (1759-1842), of Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire, later blacksmith at
Talley, hymn-writer,‖known‖for‖the‖hymn‖‘Wrth‖gofio‖’i‖riddfanau‖’n‖yr‖ardd’. ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [B]
Lewis, William (fl. 1786-94), of Llangloffen, Pembrokeshire, weaver, hymn-writer,
best‖known‖for‖his‖hymn‖‘Cof‖am‖y‖cyfiawn‖Iesu’. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T]
[C18]
(?) Leyden, John (1775-1811), of Denholm, Cavers, Roxburghshire, orientalist,
antiquarian,‖writer‖and‖poet.‖Though‖university‖educated,‖Leyden‖was‖a‖farmer’s‖
son, and Hood in his Peerage of Poverty makes this the basis for an 8-page essay on
his‖industry‖and‖achievements,‖especially‖his‖‘crowding‖into‖a‖period‖of‖thirty‖
years‖more‖learning‖than‖even‖active‖minds‖attain‖in‖a‖hundred’,‖as‖Hood
overstates‖it.‖His‖parents‖were‖‘lowly‖people,‖not‖so‖well-to-do as the parents of
Robert‖Burns’ [qv],‖says‖Hood‖(Wikipedia‖calls‖his‖father‖‘a‖shepherd’),‖and‖by‖
noting‖that‖like‖‘many‖others‖who‖may‖pass‖in‖review‖before‖us’‖Leyden‖was‖‘the‖
descendant‖of‖a‖line‖of‖fathers’‖Hood‖perhaps‖suggests‖a‖kind‖of‖georgic‖
sturdiness‖and‖virtue‖in‖this.‖He‖quotes‖twice‖from‖Leyden’s‖poem‖on‖‘The‖Scenes‖
of‖Infancy’,‖among‖other‖things.‖Publications include posthumously, The Poetical
Remains of the Late John Leyden; with Memoirs of His Life by the Revd James Morton
(London, 1819). ~ Ref: Cunningham (1834), 79; Hood (1870), 416-24; ODNB;
Wikipedia; text via archive.org. [S]
(?) Lickbarrow, Isabella (1784-1847), of Kendal, b. into a Quaker/Unitarian
community, lost her mother at age of six, and her father at age 21; prob. educated
at‖the‖Kendal‖Quaker‖School;‖after‖he‖father’s‖death‖‘began‖a‖period‖of‖
unrelenting financial struggle in an attempt to provide for herself and her two
surviving‖sisters’,‖both‖of‖whom‖had‖health‖difficulties.‖She‖may‖have‖kept‖a‖
school in Kendal at this time,‖and‖began‖to‖write‖poetry‖‘out‖of‖financial‖need’‖(P‖
& W); published Poetical Effusions (Kendal: M. and R. Branthwaite; London: J.
Richardson, 1814); A Lament upon the Death of Her Royal Highness the Princess
Charlotte. And Alfred, a Vision (Liverpool, 1818); also published in the Westmorland
Advertiser. ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 535; Jackson (1993), 201-2; Curran (1996);
Feldman (1997), 397-414; Wu (1997), 471-8; Goodridge (1999), item 66; Constance
Parrish‖and‖Duncan‖Wu,‖‘Isabella‖Lickbarrow:‖A‖Romantic‖Rediscovered’,‖PN
Review, 153 (Sept-Oct 2003), 64-9. [F]
Lidbetter, Sarah (1822-32), of Brighton, child poet, daughter of Elizabeth and Bridger
Lidbetter, formerly Sussex‖farmers‖‘obliged‖to‖leave‖during‖the‖general‖distress‖
that‖the‖agriculturists‖met‖with’;‖the‖family‖were‖members‖of‖the‖Society‖of‖
Friends (Quakers); Sarah’s‖mother‖published Memoir of Sarah Lidbetter, Aged Nine
and a Half, by her affectionate mother (London: Harvey and Darton, 1832), which
included pious and affectionate family verses by her late daughter. ~ Ref: text via
archive.org; inf. Dawn Whatman. [F]
Lindsay, William (b. 1840), of Kirriemuir, herd laddie, handloom weaver, bleacher,
packman, published many poems in newspapers and magazines. ~ Ref: Edwards,
1 (1880), 328-9. [S] [T]
(?) Linen, James (1815-73), of Kelso, book-binder, emigrated to New York, went to
California‖in‖the‖gold‖rush‖of‖1849,‖later‖a‖lecturer,‖one‖of‖‘an‖interesting‖group of
Scottish-American‖poets’‖(Edwards). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 137-45. [S]
(?) Linton, William James (1812-97),‖‘W.‖J.‖Linton’,‖‘Abel‖Reid’,‖sometimes‖‘Master‖
Woodbine’‖or‖‘Mr‖Honeysuckle’,‖wood‖engraver,‖Chartist,‖author‖of‖very‖many‖
works including To the Future and The Dirge of Nations (privately printed, 1848);
The English Republic (1851); Claribel and Other Poems (London; Simpkin, Marshall &
Co, 1865); Love-lore [poems] (Hamden, Connecticut, 1887); Poems and Translations
(London, 1889); Broadway Ballads, Collected for the Centennial Commemoration of the
Republic 1876, by Abel Reid (Hamden, Connecticut, 1893); Love-lore, and other, early
and late, poems (Hamden, Connecticut, 1895); Memories (London, 1895). He also
edited Poetry of America: Selections from One Hundred American Poets from 1776 to
1876, with an Introductory Review of Colonial Poetry, and some Specimens from Negro
Melody (1878). ~ Ref: Miles (1891), IV, 377; Kovalev (1956), 180-201; F. B. Smith,
Radical Artisan, William James Linton 1812-97 (Manchester, 1973); Vicinus (1974),
98-100; Robert‖F.‖Gleckner,‖‘W.J.‖Linton,‖a‖Latter-day‖Blake’,‖Bulletin of Research in
the Humanities, 85, no. 2 (Summer 1982), 208-27; Burnett et al (1984), no. 445;
Maidment (1987), 40-1, 62, 73-84, 96 [image]; Scheckner (1989), 228-56, 338-40;
Schwab (1993), 201-2, 214; Reilly (1994), 283; Sutton (1995), 582-3 (misc. letters);
Janowitz (1998), 195-216; Bradshaw & Ozment (2000), 417; Reilly (2000), 277; Boos
(2002a), 216-17; Johnson 46 (2003), nos. 118-21; ODNB; NTU. [C]
Lister, David (b. 1865), of Ceres, Fife, son of a labourer and a handloom weaver,
apprenticed‖to‖a‖chemist,‖managed‖a‖chemist’s‖shop,‖presented‖his‖work‖in‖
recitals, wrote for periodicals, taught elocution, pub, Temperance Poems for Recital:
Dramatic and Humorous (Edinburgh, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 70-76; Reilly
(1994), 283. [S]
Lister, Thomas (1810-88), Barnsley cart driver, later a prominent naturalist,
published The Rustic Wreath: Poems, Moral, Descriptive, & Miscellaneous (Leeds,
1834), which sold 3,000 copies (there is a presentation copy in the surviving
library of John Clare, qv); also Temperance Rhymes (1837), and Rhymes of Progress
 (1862). Note: Forshaw (1891), 107-8 includes another Thomas Lister (not in this
database), a maltster, teacher and preacher poet of Baildon, Yorkshire who spent
time in America. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 124-5; Andrews (1885), 146-53; Powell
(1964), item 283; Vicinus (1974), 171; Crossan (1991), 37; Johnson (1992), item 541;
LC 5, 55-74; ODNB; NTU; inf. Bob Heyes. [LC5]
Little, David, of Blackburn (fl. 1861), no biographical data, but the poems clearly
indicate impoverishment. Little contributed to the Blackburn Weekly Times and
other papers (under a pseudonym);‖later‖emigrated‖to‖the‖US.‖Poems‖include‖‘The‖
Angel‖of‖the‖Cot’,‖‘The‖Voice‖of‖Want’. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 134-7.
Little, James (b. 1821), soldier, shoemaker, emigrated to US in 1852 and later
returned, He published two collections, Sparks from Nature’s Fire (1856), and The
Last March and Other Poems (1857). ~ Ref: Glasgow Poets (1906), 349-50. [S] [SM]
Little, Janet, later Richmond (1759-1813),‖servant,‖known‖as‖the‖‘Scotch‖Milkmaid’,‖
born in Nether Bogside, near Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, married a labourer at
Loudon Castle named John Richmond, a widower 20 years her senior, with five
children. Little demonstrated a keen interest in Robert Burns (qv), sending him a
letter and rhyming epistle. The parodic appropriation of Standard English
through‖Scottish‖mimicry‖is‖foregrounded‖within‖the‖bilingual‖text‖of‖Little’s‖
Poetical Works. Although she was well able to command several linguistic registers
and‖tones,‖her‖Scots‖poetry‖‘in‖the‖vernacular‖tradition‖of‖Ramsay‖and‖Fergusson’‖
is‖‘undoubtedly’‖her‖finest‖work,‖as‖Bold‖(1993)‖notes,‖adding‖that‖her‖work‖‘has‖
not‖yet‖received‖the‖appreciation‖it‖deserves’. She published The Poetical Works of
Janet Little, the Scotch Milkmaid (Air[e], 1792). ~ Ref: Paterson (1840); Miller (1910),
157-58; Hilton‖Brown,‖‘Burns‖and‖the‖Scottish‖Milkmaid’,‖Burns Chronicle, 2nd ser.,
25 (1950), 15-20; Johnson, 542; Lonsdale (1989), 453-5; Landry (1990), 33, 220-36;
Rizzo (1991), 243; Bold (1993); Jackson (1993), 203-4; Ferguson (1995), 91-110; Bold
(1997), 247-8; Feldman (1997), 423-37; Milne (1999), 174 210; Kord (2003), 266;
Meehan (2008), 21-47, 87-111; Milne (2008), 110-28; Backscheider (2009), 878-9 LC
3, 233-52; ODNB. [LC3] [C18] [F] [S] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Livingstone, William (1776-1849), of Paisley, weaver, actor, acquaintance of
Tannahill; published in periodicals. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 112-13. [S] [T]
Livingstone, William (1807-70), Gaelic Uilleam MacDhun-Léibe, of Killarow, Islay,
tailor, multi-lingual autodidact who taught himself Latin, Greek, French and
Welsh from which he translated materials , author of epic poems, living later in
life in Glasgow. His verse includes battle poetry and verses on the Highland
clearances,‖including‖his‖most‖famous‖poem,‖‘Fios‖thun a’‖Bhàird’.‖His‖major‖
prose work is A Vindication of the Celtic Character, and and incomplete history of
Scotland. Ref: Bold (2007), 15;‖Christopher‖Whyte,‖‘William‖Livingston/Uileam‖
Macdhunleibhe (1808-70):‖a‖Survey‖of‖his‖Poetry‖and‖Prose’,‖PhD thesis,
 University of Glasgow, 1991, online at http://theses.gla.ac.uk/; Wikipedia and
online sources. [S] [T]
Llewelyn, Sion (1690-1776), of Vaynor, Brecknock, blacksmith (or a weaver,
according to one manuscript), self-taught (in the Welsh language), Arminian
deacon, published a 60-page collection of poems and hymns that went through
four or five editions by 1814. ~ Ref: DWB. [W] [T] [B] [C18]
Llwyd, Richard (1752-1835),‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Snowdon’,‖‘began‖life‖as‖a‖domestic‖
servant but applied himself with great diligence to education and self-
improvement’‖(Johnson);‖published Beaumaris Bay (Chester, [1800]); Gayton Wake,
or Mary Dod (Chester, 1804); Poems. Tales, Odes, Sonnets, Translations from the British
(Chester, 1804); The Poetical works of Richard Llwyd, the Bard of Snowdon (London,
[1837]); Beaumaris Bay and Other Poems, ed. Elizabeth Edwards (Nottingham: Trent
Editions, 2016). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Johnson (1992), items 546-9; C. R. Johnson,
Catalogue no. 46, nos. 307-8; Sutton‖(1995),‖584;‖Elizabeth‖Edwards,‖‘Footnotes‖to‖
a‖Nation:‖Richard‖Llwyd’s‖Beaumaris Bay’,‖in‖Joanna‖Fowler‖and‖Allan‖Ingram‖
(eds), Voice and Context in Eighteenth-Century Verse (Houndmills: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2015), 133-51; Radcliffe. [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Lochore, Robert (1762-1852), Glasgow shoemaker, published Willie’s Vision, or the
de’il personified by...the collier *and other pieces+ (1796); The Foppish Taylor; or Fancy
disgrac’d (1796), Margret and the Minister. A True Tale (1796); A Morning Walk
(1796); Patie and Ralph, an elegiac pastoral on the death of Robert Burns [qv] (1797);
Tales in Rhyme and Minor Pieces, in the Scottish Dialect (1815). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I,
382-6; Johnson (1992), items 550-1, 891; ODNB. [S] [SM] [C18]
(?) Lock, Joseph (fl. 1870), of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, apparently a
blind‖poet,‖known‖as‖‘Sightless‖Joe’;‖published Thoughts in Rhyme (Bourton-on-
the-Water, 1870). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 279.
(?) Lockman, John (1698-1771),‖miscellaneous‖writer,‖known‖as‖‘l’illustre‖Lockman’‖
in‖France,‖baptised‖at‖St.‖Paul’s,‖Covent‖Garden,‖published ‘occasional‖
complimentary‖poems’‖and‖poems‖in‖newspapers and magazines; also numerous
popular translations: A Description of the Temple of Venus at Cnidus (trans. from
French, 1726); La Henriade (trans. Voltaire, 1728); Lettres philosophiques (Letters
Concerning the English Nation) (trans. Voltaire, 1733); Siècle de Louis XIV (An Essay
on the Age of Lewis XIV) (trans Voltaire, 1739), and Oration (trans. Charles Poree,
1734). Contributed to the General Dictionary, Historical and Critical (1734-41). He
contributed‖to‖a‖‘General‖Dictionary’;‖the‖original‖agreement about the book,
Lockman’s‖receipt,‖and‖several‖letters‖concerning‖this‖are‖in‖the‖British‖Library. ~
Ref: Sutton (1995), 592; ODNB. [C18]
Logan,‖Alexander‖(b.‖1833),‖‘The‖Laureate‖of‖the‖Household’,‖of‖Edinburgh,‖
orphaned tin-plate worker, songwriter and dialect poet, brother of Thomas Logan
 (qv), published Auld Reekie Musings: being poems and lyrics (Edinburgh, 1864). ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 196-9; Murdoch (1883), 270-4; Reilly (2000), 280-1. [S]
Logan, J. C. (b. 1839), of Airlie, Forfarshire; a farm‖overseer’s‖son,‖on leaving school
at fifteen he worked in the railway station office at Eassie, was promoted to a
booking-clerk at Kirriemuir when a new branch of the line opened, then
promoted again to chief goods clerk. In 1858 he became the stationmaster at
Craigo, but left in 1867 to become a coal trader. This was not a success and
Edwards writes in 1893 that he is now in ‘straitened circumstances’‖though‖still‖
hopeful‖and‖determined,‖as‖he‖tells‖Edwards,‖to‖‘do‖his‖best,‖trusting‖that‖the‖sun‖
will‖yet‖once‖more‖shine‖upon‖him’.‖He‖‘cheers‖himself‖up‖by‖occasional‖
contributions of prose and verse to‖the‖local‖and‖other‖newspapers’, though it is
not clear when he began publishing or indeed writing, or exactly where the
writing was published. Edwards praises his choice of themes,‖‘poetical‖instinct’,‖
and‖‘fluent‖and‖facile’‖ability in a range of styles and genres. The three poems
selected for inclusion are in‖Scots,‖and‖of‖a‖nostalgic‖kind:‖‘Granny’s‖Pirnwheel’,‖
‘Wearin’‖Doon‖the‖Brae’ (a‖song,‖given‖the‖tune,‖‘John‖Anderson,‖my‖Jo’),‖and
‘The‖Hoosie on‖the‖Brae’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 170-3. [S] [R]
Logan, Thomas (b. 1835), of Edinburgh, of humble circumstances, orphaned, brother
of Alexander Logan (qv), lived in New York, returned to be brush factory
manager in Dalkeith, Midlothian, published The Green Glens of Lothian, and other
poems and songs (Edinburgh, 1871). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 30-3; Reilly (2000),
281. [S]
Loker, Timothy (fl. 1861-5), of Cambridge, from a poor family, largely self-taught,
worked as an under-butler‖at‖St.‖John’s‖College.‖He‖published Poems and Ballads
(Cambridge: Jonathan Palmer, 1861; second enlarged edition 1865). The Preface
sets out his stall clearly as a labouring-class‖poet:‖‘I‖am‖a‖self-taught working man;
my parents were poor, and I was proud to be sent to work before I was ten years
of age, that I might render them some little assistance in bringing up a large
family. I had just learned to write when‖I‖left‖the‖National‖School,‖Cambridge.’‖He‖
later states that many of the poem have appeared in The Family Herald . The
poems, generally fairly short (and short-lined) and varied in subject,‖include‖‘A‖
Voice from the East: On Reading Some Poetry by Omesh C. Dutt, A young Native
Hindoo’‖(Omesh‖Chunder‖Dutt,‖1836-1912, Bengali poet), and there is a wider
sense of reaching out to other writers and to the working class in general, as well
as elegies and other kinds of poem. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 281.
Longstaff, William (b. 1849), of Soulby, Westmorland, labourer, worked on farm and
railway, finally a signalman, published Her Majesty’s Royal Jubilee, 1887: Ode and
Song, The Tribute of a Working Nan (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1887). ~ Ref: Reilly
(1994), 287. [R]
(?) Lonsdale, Mark (fl. 1808), Cumberland poet, dialect poems included in Ballads in
the Cumberland Dialect Chiefly by Robert Anderson (Wigton, 1808). ~ Ref: Johnson
(1992), item 18; inf. Michael Baron, 2000.
Lott, Henry F. (fl. 1850), a working carpenter, author of One Hundred Sonnets (1850). ~
Ref: Maidment (1987), 214-16; Goodridge (1999), item 67.
Love, David (1750-1827), originally from Torryburn, Dunfermline, pedlar poet, a
miner who lost his job following an arm injury and began hawking books;
published single sheets and chapbooks. Shepard gives an interesting example of
‘Love’s‖patter,‖in‖selling‖his‖compositions‖at‖country‖fairs:‖Good people, here are
two excellent new songs, never before printed, composed by myself, your humble
servant. One is‖the‖‚Pride‖and‖Vanity of Young Women, with advice to Young
Men‖that‖they‖may‖take‖care‖who‖they‖marry.‛‖And‖that‖the‖young‖women‖may‖
not‖be‖offended,‖I‖have‖another‖which‖may‖serve‖as‖an‖answer,‖the‖‚Pride‖and‖
Vanity of Young men, with Advice to the Maids, to beware of being ensnared by
their‖flatteries‖and‖enticing‖words.‛‖One‖can‖well‖imagine‖how‖these‖purposely‖
provoking but carefully gender-balanced songs would sell like hot cakes,
especially‖after‖Love‖had‖sung‖‘a‖verse‖or‖two’,‖since‖fairs‖were‖a‖prime meeting
place for young men and women, as John Clare (qv) and others make clear. ~
Love settled in Nottingham, where most of his books were published, including A
New and Correct Set of Godly Poems (1782); David Love’s Journey to London and his
Return to Nottingham (1800); and The Life, Adventures, and Experiences of David Love
(Nottingham, 1823-4). ~ Ref: William Hone, The Table Book (London: William Tegg,
1878), 503-4; Cedric Bonnell, David Love (‘Prince of Ballad-Mongers’) ([Nottingham:
privately printed, c.‖1904+),‖‘Lions‖of‖Lambkinville’‖series, no. 4, reprinted from
the Nottingham Daily Express, 8 and 15 March 1904; Shepard (1973), 93-4; Burnett et
al (1984), no. 451; Sutton (1995), 594; LC 3, 39-42. [M] [LC3] [C18]
Loveless, George (1797-1873), agricultural labourer, of Dorset, Chartist, one of the
‘Tolpuddle‖Martyrs’,‖‘foremost‖in‖everything‖concerned‖with‖the‖life‖of‖the‖tiny‖
community’‖of‖Tolpuddle,‖and‖looked‖upon‖by‖the‖group‖of‖men‖who‖gathered‖to‖
discuss combining in a union as their leader. Loveless, who was m. with three
children,‖was‖sent‖to‖Van‖Diemen’s‖Land‖in‖1834,‖returning‖to‖London‖in‖1837,‖
and finally settling in Ontario, Canada. Loveless was also a poet, whose lyrics
‘form‖part‖of‖the‖Trade‖Union‖Tradition’. ~ Ref: The Martyrs of Tolpuddle (London:
Trades Union Congress, 1934); Schwab (1993), 204. [C]
Lovett, William (1800-77),‖artisan,‖member‖of‖the‖London‖Workingmen’s‖
Association, Chartist and radical, author of an autobiography, some international
Addresses, and Woman, a‖poem‖‘worth‖reading’,‖as‖well‖as‖Chartism: a New
Organization of the People (1840, co-written with John Collins) and The Life and
Struggles of William Lovett, in his Pursuit of Bread, Knowledge, and Freedom (1877). ~
Ref: Ashraf (1978), I, 24; Schwab (1993), 204; ODNB. [C]
Lowe, John (1750-98),‖gardener’s‖son,‖apprentice‖weaver,‖tutor;‖see‖Remains of
Nithsdale and Galloway Song, ed. R. H. Cromek (1810). ~ Ref: Harper (1889), 244;
Sutton (1995), 595 ODNB. Johnson (1992), item 555 also possibly relates. [S] [T]
[C18]
Lowery, Robert (1809-63), seaman, tailor, Chartist poet and activist, a major political
figure,‖but‖also‖a‖published‖poet:‖‘The‖Collier‖Boy’,‖published in Charter, 23 June
1839. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 455; Scheckner (1989), 257, 340; ODNB. [C] [T]
Luby, John (b. c. 1862), of Glasgow, born of Leitrim parents, stationer and bookseller,
‘a‖cripple‖from‖birth’, published a considerable amount of poetry in various Irish
and Scottish Catholic papers, and many of his pieces appeared in the Dundee
periodicals The People’s Journal and The Weekly News, as well as The Glasgow
Observer, The Glasgow Weekly Mail, and other newspapers. He self-published
several small pamphlet collections: The Book of the Season, described by
O’Donoghue‖as‖‘political‖and‖Irish’, Liberal Rhymes for Liberal Times (Glasgow,
188?),‖‘religious’;‖and‖Poems (Glasgow,‖188?).‖O’Donoghue‖records‖that‖he‖was‖
related‖to‖T.‖C.‖Luby,‖the‖Fenian‖leader.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 257. [I]
Lucas, John (fl. 1776-81), shoemaker poet, author of Miscellanies in Verse and Prose
(Salisbury, 1776); and The Fall of Pharaoh and Philo’s Apology (1781). ~ Ref: Ashraf
(1978), I, 31-2; Klaus (1985), 7-8, 16-17; Christmas (2001), 210-12, 220-3; Keegan
(2001), 206-7; Kord (2003), 46; LC 2, 331-52; ESTC. [SM] [LC2] [C18]
(?) Ludwig, Sophie (1764-1815),‖German‖forester’s‖wife,‖who‖published‖single‖
poems; however, Joan Thirsk in her review of Kord (Literature and History, 3rd
ser., 13/2, 107-9),‖asserts‖that‖she‖‘was‖clearly‖not‖of‖the‖peasant‖class’. ~ Ref: Kord
(2003). [F]
Lumsden, James (1839-1909), ‘Samuel‖Mucklebackit’,‖of Abbey Mill, Haddington,
East Lothian, the son of a miller and farmer, variously an apprentice grocer,
millworker, itinerant, farmer, working in the potato trade, journalist. Lumsden
published a number of popular dialect volumes in the 1880s and 1890s, including
Sheep-head and Trotters: Being savoury selections, poetic and prosaic, from the bulky
literary remains of Samuel Mucklebackit and Thomas Pintail, late Parnassian hill and
arable farmers in Lothian (Edinburgh, 1892); The Battles Of Dunbar & Prestonpans,
And Other Selected Poems (New and Old). By James Lumsden (‚Samuel Mucklebackit‛),
Late of Nether Hailes, East Lothian, Author of "Country Chronicles,‛ ‚Sheep-Head and
Trotters,‛ &c. (Haddington: William Sinclair, 63 Market Street, 1896); Edinburgh
Poems and Songs (Edinburgh: Thomas Allan, 1901); Edinburgh and Country
Croonings: Being Selections from the Shorter Poetic Writings of James Lumsden
(Edinburgh: William MacDonald & Co, 1905). ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 339-45;
Reilly (1994), 291; online sources; NTU. [S]
Lunn, John (fl. 1835-68),‖of‖Pontefract,‖Yorkshire,‖barber,‖‘wrote‖many‖pieces,‖chiefly‖
of‖a‖comic‖and‖satirical‖kind’.‖He published Original Tales in Verse, and Oddities in
 Prose and Verse; The Duniad *sic,‖a‖‘collection‖of‖pieces‖on‖the‖election‖contest‖in‖the‖
borough‖of‖Pontefract,‖1768’+;‖Liberty; The Mirror (1771);‖one‖of‖his‖‘most‖amusing’‖
poems’ The Newcastle Rider, or Ducks and Green Peas [c. 1835], briefly extracted in
Grainge, which ‘also‖appeared‖as‖a‖farce‖in‖one‖act;‖which‖was‖performed‖at‖the‖
theatre‖in‖Pontefract,‖with‖great‖applause’.‖Almost‖none‖of‖these‖works‖can‖be‖
found on COPAC; they appear to be locally distributed chapbooks. ~ Ref: Grainge
(1868), I, 279-81.
Lyall, (first name unknown, possibly John) (d. 1836 or 1837), of Paisley, a weaver, the
father of John Wallace Lyall (qv), and himself a poet and songwriter‖‘of‖some‖
considerable merit, for his songs were sung in‖public‖by‖vocalists‖of‖standing’‖
(Edwards). ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 386-90; Brown (1889-90), II, 325. [S]
Lyall, John Wallace (1836-1913), of Paisley, a weaver’s‖son whose father (Lyall, d.
1836, qv) was‖also‖a‖poet‖‘of‖some‖considerable‖merit,‖for‖his songs were sung in
public‖by‖vocalists‖of‖standing’‖(Edwards). The father died when John was only
nine months old, and he was left with his grandmother while his mother went out
to work. He wrote songs and sung them as a boy. He went to sea as a sailor,
visiting‖America‖and‖‘courted‖the‖muse‖in‖various‖foreign‖climes’.‖The account of
this part of his life in his poetry volume grippingly describes being shipwrecked
off the coast of Nova Scotia [in 1853] and the adventures and scrapes that
followed, with sub-titles‖like‖‘The‖Phantom‖Bell’‖and‖‘A‖Journey‖Through‖the‖
Woods’. He is well aware of the potential readerly interest in this material, and
the‖section‖entitled‖‘Courtship‖in‖North‖America’ begins by observing‖that‖‘Some
of my fair readers [i.e. women] would rather hear something about love than
about‖horses.’ It is an interesting piece of travel writing. ~ After these excitements,
Lyall returned to Scotland and worked in a factory as an iron planer for 25 years
or more, contributing poems, songs and hymns to the newspapers, especially the
Greenock Telegraph, which would also print his obituary. He married Mary
McDermid in Paisley in 1858, and they had four children, Mary, Margaret, Annie
and John. Material‖in‖the‖‘sacred‖songs’‖section‖of‖his‖poetry volume would
suggest that he had probably lost a son and a daughter. When the company of
Blackwood and Gordon started in business in Port Glasgow in the 1860s, Lyall
moved his family there and lived there for the rest of his life. ~ He published a
volume, Sun-Gleams Through the Mist of Toil: Poems, Songs, Dialogues, Recitations,
and Sacred Verses by John W. Lyall, with Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the
Author’s Experiences in America &c (Brechin: Advertiser Office, and Edinburgh:
John Menzies, 1885); and a 107-page temperance text, Jack Bentley’s First and Last
Glass (1888), which began as a series of prose pieces in the Port-Glasgow Express.
His collection is dedicated to the anthologist and ‘Friend‖of‖the‖Bards‖of‖Scotland’‖
D. H. Edwards and in the prefatory note the author described himself as‖a‖‘hard-
working‖son‖of‖toil’‖with‖‘no‖pretensions‖to‖literature’.‖The‖selection‖chosen‖is‖
 ‘principally‖written‖for‖the‖working-class’ and is in‖‘simple‖language’. Edwards
returns his dedicatory compliment with a four-page Introduction, revealing
something in the process of his own motivation for being such a dedicated rescuer
of‖poets‖in‖danger‖of‖being‖forgotten.‖‘It‖has‖of‖late‖years‖been‖amply‖
demonstrated’,‖he‖writes, ‘that‖vast‖treasures‖of‖practical‖wisdom,‖wit,‖and‖science‖
are‖found‖in‖verse.’‖John‖Lyall,‖with‖the‖practical‖wisdom‖of‖his‖factory‖work and
the interest in history, music and song that he inherited from his father, seems to
be precisely the sort of poet he has in mind. Poems in the collection include
‘Home‖of‖My‖Childhood’,‖‘Still‖be‖Happy‖While You May’,‖‘The‖Cabin‖on‖the‖
Moor’,‖‘The‖Friend‖that‖Can‖Feel‖for‖Another’,‖‘The‖Hardy‖Son’‖of‖Toil’ (with a
note‖saying‖that‖‘Music,‖with‖piano‖accompaniment, may be had for this and the
following song, vol. 9, Musical Budget, Hart & Co., London), ‘Here’s‖to‖Scotland’s‖
Sturdy‖Sons’, ‘The‖News-Boy’,‖‘Port-Glasgow‖Fair’‖(a‖poem‖defending‖this‖
working-class holiday event from the stern magistrates who wished to close it
down), ‘Here’s‖to‖Auld‖Paisley’,‖‘Broadstone‖Hall’; and a set of sea-poems, some
love songs of a traditional style, temperance material including a verse-dialogue
between‖‘Age‖and‖Youth’‖and a‖prose‖‘temperance‖recitation’‖entitled‖‘Bacchus‖
and‖Venus’; and a large‖separate‖section‖of‖’Sacred‖Songs’‖including‖epitaphs‖for‖
particular individuals, with his 30 pages of prose‖‘Reminiscences’‖at‖the‖end of the
book. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 386-90; Brown (1889-90), II, 325-31; Reilly (1994),
292; Sun-Gleams volume via archive.org;‖‘Inverclyde’s‖Heritage’‖website‖and‖other‖
online sources. [S]
Lyle, William (b. 1822), of Edinburgh, left school at twelve, worked as an apprentice
potter at Annfield Pottery, Glasgow, and emigrated to Rochester, New York,
where he was the manager of the Rochester Sewer Pipe Company, Lyle achieved
some success and published some volumes in America. Beveridge mentions but
has no space to print his poem ‘Chimes‖for‖the‖Times’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883),
28-35; Beveridge (1885), 148; Ross (1889), 68-76. [S]
Lynch, Michael (b. 1852), of Cork, emigrated to Boston the following year. He
received an elementary education and was apprenticed to a plasterer, a trade he
pursued for fifty years or more. Lynch published poems in the Boston Pilot, the
Celtic Magazine (New‖York),‖and‖other‖periodicals,‖usually‖signed‖as‖‘Lamech’.‖~‖
Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 259. [I] [US]
Lyndon, William (b. c. 1862), of Dungarven, Waterford, dockworker’s‖son,‖itinerant
‘tramp‖labourer’, who lived in Cardiff, London, Liverpool and in Scotland, doing
seasonal and other labour. Though‖‘tramping’‖was‖very often a matter of grim
necessity in the nineteenth century, as H. Gustav Klaus has recently argued
(Goodridge & Keegan, 2017), Edwards present Lyndon as an example of a
particular and‖familiar‖‘type’: ‘restless,‖erratic‖mortals‖who‖roam‖about‖the‖
country, doing occasional turns of work when the spirit‖moves‖them’;‖he‖writes‖
 further of this‖‘honest,‖upright,‖though‖unsettled‖son‖of‖song‖whose periodic visits
to certain localities are greatly enjoyed, and who receives warm and substantial
sympathy from many friends’.‖Lyndon would feel especially welcome, no doubt,
in‖Scotland,‖where‖‘he‖has‖spent‖nearly‖all‖his‖life’,‖and‖which‖is‖the‖source‖of‖the‖
‘pithy‖Doric’,‖i.e.‖the Scots language,‖in‖which‖‘most‖of‖his‖writings’‖are‖cast.
Lyndon‖‘spends‖a‖good‖part‖of‖each‖year‖in‖the‖Western‖Isles‖but‖is‖best‖known in
Ross, Sutherland, Argyl, and Caithness shires, where he occasionally works for
the‖farmers.’‖Other‖details‖of‖Lyndon’s‖life and experiences are equally
interesting. Born in Ireland, he moved to Cardiff as an infant (his father working
in the docks there), briefly attended a Roman Catholic School then began
tramping at the age of fourteen. He worked in a match factory in the East End of
London and‖in‖a‖Liverpool‖dairy‖for‖a‖year.‖Edwards‖describes‖him‖as‖‘a‖man‖of‖
great‖intelligence,‖well‖read’‖and‖who ‘writes‖a‖good‖hand,‖though‖self-taught’.‖
The school may perhaps have taught him to write neatly, but the evidence would
also seem to suggest both an intense programme of self-education (a familiar
phenomenon in this period), and a man whose travels and wide experience of
people, and not least his need to make himself employable in many different
social contexts, have helped foster a rich knowledge of life and social cultures.
Lyndon wrote ballads and love poems as well as more reflective material.
Edwards prints his poems, ‘The‖Skye‖Crofter’‖and‖‘Oor‖Tammy‖Mak’s‖the‖Anvil‖
Clink’, but gives no indication of where and how Lyndon published, if indeed he
did. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 31-3; nothing on WorldCat, Google, etc. [S] [I] [W]
Lyness, Benjamin (fl. 1842-61), Belfast policeman, possibly originally from
Coalisland, published two collections, Orange and Love, poems and songs on
different subjects addressed from Coalisland, County Tyrone (Belfast, 1842); John
Barleycorn, and other Poems (Belfast, 1861), temperance poems. ~ Ref:‖O’Donoghue
(1912), 260. [I]
Lynn, Adam (1866-1956), of Culleybackey, County Antrim, attended two National
Schools and then worked in a linen mill from the age of thirteen, working for
William Young, J. P., of Fenaghy. He published poetry for the local mainly for the
Ballymena newspapers, in Antrim dialect and on a range of topics. He was later
appointed missionary lay reader in the parish of Shankhill, Lurgan, where he
stayed until her retired. He died in Fenaghy, aged 91. He is described as being of a
gentle, retiring nature. Lynn published one collection, Random Rhymes frae
Cullybackey (Belfast,‖1911).‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 260; Cullybackey and
District Historical Society webpage (visited 27 November 2018). [I]
(?) Lyttle, Wesley Guard (1844-96), of Newtownards, County Down, self-educated.
He worked as a junior reporter, a school teacher, a lecturer on the popular
diorama of Ireland and its scenery of Dr Thomas Charles Stuart Corry, a teacher
of shorthand: possibly the first to teach it publicly in Belfast, an accountant, a
 newspaper proprietor, editor, and printer. He founded the liberal and home rule
newspaper, The North Down and Bangor Gazette, in 1880. Lyttle published eight
volumes of Robin’s Readings, a miscellany of stories, poems and sketched in the
voice and dialect of County Down. These were immensely popular, and Lyttle
was‖‘known‖all‖over‖Ulster‖as‖‚Robin‛’‖as‖a‖result.‖They‖ran‖through‖many‖
editions. In 2010 they were dramatised by BBC Radio Ulster in a series of
broadcasts. Lyttle also published novels, including Sons of the Sod (1886), The
Smugglers of Strangford Lough, and Betsy Gray, a Tale of ’98 (1888), which first
appeared‖serialised‖in‖newspaper‖form.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 261; online
sources including Wikipedia and BBC Radio Ulster pages. [I]
Mabon, Agnes Stewart (b. 1841), of Lochtower Farm, Yethom, Roxburghshire,
daughter of a farm overseer who died when she was two, when her mother
moved to Yetholm and later Jedburgh; attended school until age 13 then sent to
work in a mill, remained there until marriage, then reared a family. Mabon was
often in weak health. She published in local newspapers and the People’s Friend,
and then her own collection, Hamely Rhymes, etc. from the Banks of the Jed (Paisley,
Edinburgh‖and‖Jedburgh,‖1887).‖Poems‖include‖‘Our‖Baby’,‖‘My‖Own‖True‖Love’,‖
‘The‖Drunkard’s‖Inhumanity’,‖‘The‖Song‖of‖the‖Linnet’,‖‘The‖Vale‖of‖Bowmont’,‖
and‖‘In‖Cauld,‖Bleak‖December’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 207-13; Kerrigan (1991),
202-5, 355; Reilly (1994), 295; Boos (1995), 68; Bold (1997), 256; Boos (2010); NTU;
inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
M’Anally,‖Henry‖(fl. 1884), of Castledawson, Londonderry, Irish patriot, shipbuilder
in Dumbarton and Partick, later worked for the railway company in Chicago,
published Effusions After Toil: A Collection of Poems and Lyrics (Glasgow, 1884). ~
Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 263; Reilly (1994), 295. [I] [R]
Macansh, Alexander (b. 1803), of Dunfermline, a self-educated flax-dresser described
as‖‘deformed’,‖i.e.‖physically‖disabled;‖wrote‖for‖Scottish‖literary‖periodicals,‖
published Social Curse; Or, Intemperance, a Rhyme; and Other Pieces (1850), A
Working-man’s Bye-hours: Consisting of Essays, Lectures, Poems, etc. (Dunfermline,
1866), also co-author of a prose work: Two Essays on the Benefits of Savings’ Banks to
the Working-classes by Messrs. Macansh and Cousin, etc. (1852) Ref: Reilly (2000), 287-
8; National Library of Scotland online catalogues. [S] [T]
M’Arthur,‖Peter‖(1805-81), of Barrhead, Renfrewshire, calico printer, pattern designer
promoted to department head in Glasgow, published Amusements in Minstrelsy
(Glasgow, 1880). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 329-31 and 8 (1886), xxv; Murdoch
(1883), 156-64; Reilly (1994), 296. [S] [T]
Macaulay, John (b. 1854), of Port-Glasgow, from a poverty-stricken family,
blacksmith, published in Glasgow Weekly Mail, and published Poems and songs
(Greenock, 1895). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 340-5; Reilly (1994), 296. [S] [B]
(?) M’Auslane,‖William‖Thomson‖(1832-93), of Glasgow, attended a village school
and evening classes, clerk and book-keeper, journalist, published Summer musings;
and, Memories dear (Glasgow, 1889). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 296; Edwards, 2 (1881),
135-9. [S]
(?) Macbain, Elizabeth (fl. 1864), of Dumbarton, notes in her book that she received a
limited‖education,‖and‖that‖her‖‘sphere‖of‖life’‖gave‖many‖barriers‖to‖‘the‖spirit‖of‖
poetry’;‖published Evening Thoughts (1864). ~ Ref: inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
McCallin, John (fl. 1860-1),‖of‖Belfast,‖a‖blind‖man‖who‖‘hawked‖his‖productions‖
through‖Belfast‖about‖fifty‖years‖ago’(‖O’Donoghue, writing in 1912). They
include The Path of Light...a poem (Belfast, 1860); The Sage of the Causeway, a poem
(Belfast,‖1861).‖His‖elegy‖on‖‘the‖famous‖Revd.‖Dr.‖Cooke,‖of‖Belfast’‖was‖a‖
popular‖item.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 266. [I]
(?) MacCodrum, John (Iain) (1693?-1779), born at Aird an Runnair in North Uist;
Gaelic bard, son of a peasant. ~ Ref: ODNB. [S] [C18]
(?) M’Coll‖or‖MacColl,‖Evan‖(1808-98), ‘Clarsair‖nam‖Beann’,‖‘The‖Mountain‖Harper’,‖
of Kenmoor, Lochfyneside, Argyllshire, Highland fisherman and farmer, self
styled highland peasant, Gaelic poet. His father emigrated to Canada in 1831; he
stayed, obtaining a clerkship in Liverpool in 1839, emigrating to Canada a decade
later. ~ Born‖in‖Kenmore,‖Scotland,‖where‖he‖became‖known‖as‖‘Clarsair-nam-
beann’‖or‖the‖‘Mountain‖Minstrel’, MacColl was granted a decent education—
though his father could scarcely afford the tutor—and quite possibly acquired a
poetic disposition from his mother, who belonged to the Clan Cameron. Stirred by
the‖standard‖English‖classics‖and‖Robert‖Burns’s‖(qv) poems, MacColl began
composing‖verses‖when‖barely‖out‖of‖his‖childhood.‖~‖MacColl’s‖youthful‖
employment in farming and fishing did not quell his artistic development. In
1831,‖Evan’s‖family‖emigrated‖for‖Canada,‖but‖he‖remained‖behind,‖and‖five‖years‖
later published a volume of verse, Mountain Minstrel (1836). The following year,
MacColl became a contributor to the Gaelic Magazine then published in Glasgow,
and was also appointed clerk at the Liverpool Custom House. ~ A number of
literary critics commended MacColl’s‖poetry. Dr Norman McLeod, editor of Good
Words,‖wrote:‖‘Wild‖indeed‖and‖sometimes‖rough‖are‖his‖rhymes‖and‖epithets,‖yet‖
there are thoughts so new and striking—images and comparisons so beautiful and
original—feelings so warms and fresh that stamp this Highland peasant as no
ordinary‖man’.‖~‖In‖1850,‖with‖his‖health‖suffering,‖MacColl‖moved‖to‖Canada. He
accepted a position in at Provincial Customs of Upper Canada in Kingston, where
he worked for the next thirty years. He wrote numerous poems, mainly lyrical,
during this time—two of the most well-known‖pieces‖being‖‘My‖Rowan‖Tree’‖
and ‘Robin’,‖the‖latter‖a‖melodious‖composition‖that‖marked‖the‖occasion‖of‖the‖
Burns Centennial celebration in Kingston. ~ MacColl was among those who
contested the notion that the decline of Gaelic language was a natural and
 inevitable consequence of its alleged inferiority. In The Scottish-American Journal
(13‖January‖1881)‖he‖comments‖upon‖the‖‘barbarous’‖techniques‖employed‖to‖
estrange school children from anything other than English as the sole vehicle of
speech:‖‘It‖is‖to‖be‖hoped‖that‖no‖such‖foul,‖short-sighted means of killing off my
good mother-tongue are still allowed to exist in any part of the Highlands. If it
must die—though I see no good reason why it should—let it have at least a little
fair‖play‖in‖the‖fight‖for‖its‖life’.‖~‖In‖1880,‖MacColl‖retired‖to‖Toronto.‖
Biographical sketches reveal he was twice married and had fathered nine
children—one of whom, Mary J. MacColl, is noted for her own volume of poems
entitled Bide a wee. Evan MacColl was for a long-time‖bard‖of‖the‖St‖Andrew’s‖
Society of Kingston, where he was buried, and his achievements are also
honoured though a monument at Kenmore. He published Clar-sach Nan Beann, or
Poems and Songs in Gaelic (Glasgow, 1837, 1838; new edition, 1886); The Mountain
Minstrel, or Poems and Songs in English (Glasgow, 1836, also published in Gaelic;
Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, 1838; new edition 1846; third Canadian edition
of his works, Toronto, 1887) includes‖‘On‖the Abolition of Slavery in the British
West‖India‖Colonies’,‖and‖‘Stanzas‖on‖Viewing‖‚The‖Rejoicings‛‖in‖a‖Highland‖
Glen,‖Occasioned‖by‖the‖Passing‖of‖the‖Reform‖Bill’; The English Poetical Works of
Evan MacColl, with a biographical sketch of the author by A. Mackenzie (Toronto:
Hunter, Rose, 1883). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 303-8; Ross (1889), 20-8; Johnson
(1992), items 561-2; J. Y. Murray, Evan MacColl—The Lochfyneside Bàrd (Crùisgean
and An Comunn Gàidhealach Argyll Branch, 1998, available from the Gaelic
Books‖Council);‖M.‖Newton,‖‘‚Becoming‖Cold-hearted like the Gentiles Around
Them‛:‖Scottish‖Gaelic‖in‖the‖United‖States‖1872-1912’,‖e-Keltoi, 2 (2009), available
online; LC 5, 83-8; NTU. [S] [LC5] [—Iain Rowley]
McCorry, John (fl. 1866), of Meath, working man in Dublin, published his poems in
The Nation, collecting them as National Songs and Ballads (Dublin, 1866). ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 271. [I]
M’Crackett,‖or‖M’Craket,‖Peter‖(1827-82), of Greenlaw, Berwickshire, Lammermoor
shepherd‖or‖‘herd‖laddie’,‖draper,‖teacher,‖published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 2 (1881), 340-5 and 9 (1886), xvii; Crockett (1893), 187-9. [S]
McCreery, John (1768-1832), printer, Irish-born but served his apprenticeship to a
Liverpool printer; later worked with Edward Rushton (qv) when the latter
became a bookseller. He published The Press: A Poem (1803); part 2 was published
in 1828. ~ Ref: Collected Writings of Edward Rushton, ed. Paul Baines (Liverpool,
2014), 8-9. [I]
M’Culloch,‖James‖Sloane‖(1855-1924), of Burnfoot, Carsphairn, Kirkcudbright,
Galloway,‖‘descended‖from‖a‖long‖line‖of‖sturdy,‖noble-minded‖peasants’‖
(Edwards), smallholder and stonedyke worker, working‖in‖‘remote‖parts‖of‖the‖
county with his father and three brothers (Reilly), educated at the village school;
 published Poems: Local, Lyrical, and Miscellaneous (Edinburgh, 1885). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 7 (1884), 212-16; Harper (1889), 252; Reilly (1994), 298;
girvangenealogy.com/mcculloch.html. [S]
McDermott, Patrick (1797-1862), of Kells, County Meath, successively a soldier
(serving under General de Lacy Evans in Spain), a schoolmaster and a letter-
carrier. He publishes a good deal of verse over some forty years in the Dublin
almanacs and Irish provincial papers. He produced a collection, Wild Flowers or
Fancy, a collection of poems on various subjects (Kells,‖1835).‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue
(1912), 274. [I]
M’Donald,‖Agnes‖(fl. 1870),‖of‖Glasgow,‖blacksmith’s‖daughter,‖orphaned,‖received a
minimum education, wrote for papers including Glasgow Mail; published a
collection, Features of Our River, and Other Poems (Glasgow: Maurice Ogle and Co,
1870).‖Poems‖include‖‘Twilight’, ‘Infant‖Dream’,‖‘The‖Withered‖Spray’ (these three
included by Edwards),‖and‖‘Epigrams’.‖Note: the only copy of Features of Our
River located through WorldCat is in the Columbia University Library Special
Collections, New York; it is not on COPAC. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 155-9;
Reilly (2000), 290; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
MacDonald, Christian (b. 1868), of Callendar, Perthshire, orphaned, machinist in
Glasgow. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 321-4. [F] [S]
MacDonald, Mrs Christina (fl. 1890s), ‘Teenie’,‖born in Denny, Stirlingshire and a
resident of Glasgow, blind poet, wife of Norman Macdonald, a surfaceman; wrote
her‖poems‖during‖her‖80’s‖and‖they‖were‖published‖after‖her‖death‖as‖Musings at
Eventide (Paisley: Alexander Gardner, 1906). Her poems comment on the ironies
and inequities of life, but advocate faith and hopefulness. She was a firm
supporter of temperance. ~ Ref: inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [R]
MacDonald, Hugh (1817-60), of Glasgow then Paisley, born in humble
circumstances, printer and journalist, published Poems and Songs with A Memoir of
the Author (Glasgow, 1863), Poetical Works (1865). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 43-8;
Wilson (1876), II, 398-402; Murdoch (1883), 132-38; Brown (1889-90), II, 93-106;
Glasgow Poets (1906), 333-36; Leonard (1990), 215-18; Sutton (1995), 611 (letters);
Reilly (2000), 290. [S]
MacDonald, James (b. 1810), of Laurencekirk, shoemaker, messenger-at-arms. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 7 (1884), 356-7. [S] [SM]
MacDonald, John (b. 1860), of Glasgow, bookbinder; his‖‘Lay‖of‖Time’‖won‖a‖local
newspaper prize. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 98-9. [S]
M’Donald,‖Joseph‖(b.‖1827),‖of‖Dundee, soldier and casual worker, botanist and poet.
His family moved to Aberdeen when he was in infancy, and at the age of seven he
became a herd laddie on‖the‖Hill‖of‖Coul,‖near‖Kincardine‖O’Neill‖on‖the‖river‖
Dee, 25 miles west of Aberdeen, working to farmers and gardeners. At the age of
eighteen he joined the 42nd Royal Highlanders, serving as an officer’s‖servant‖in‖
 Bermuda. He then purchased his discharge and worked as a prison guard, a
stoker‖on‖the‖railway,‖and‖‘in‖several‖occupations‖until‖he‖returned‖home’.‖Back‖
home he served as a staff sergeant in the Aberdeenshire Militia, he was a police
officer on the Great North of Scotland Railway and in the Clyde police, then again
was a‖soldier‖in‖South‖Africa,‖‘an‖orderly‖to‖General‖Windyards’‖(i.e. General
Robert Wynyard, 1802-64, Acting Governor of Cape Colony, 1859-60 and 1861-2),
and‖‘at‖a‖host‖of‖other‖callings’‖before‖once again buying himself out of the army
and returning home from South Africa. Eighteen months later he went to
American, where he resided for about ten years before returning and settling in
Falkirk. Edwards‖records‖that‖M’Donald‖used a number of pen-names, and was a
keen botanist and an‖‘esteemed member of the Stirlingshire Botanic Society’.
Unfortunately he gives no details of any publications, so that all we currently
have of this well-travelled, restless, enquiring writer’s‖output‖is‖the‖two‖poems‖
Edwards‖prints,‖‘The‖Minstrel’s‖Lament’‖(an‖‘Ossianic’),‖and‖‘On‖Knowledge’. ~
Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 257-61; online sources. [S] [R]
(?) McDonagh, Michael (1822-93), of Greencastle, County Donegal, printer and
compositor on the Limerick Reporter, published Lays of Erin, and Other Poems
(Limerick, 1882). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 299. [I]
(?) McDouall, W. (fl. 1840),‖of‖Dumfries,‖published‖the‖poem‖‘Song’‖(‘There‖was‖a‖
time‖when‖o’er‖the‖land’‖in‖the‖Chartist Circular, 39, 20 June 1840, 160, lamenting
oppression in Scotland and looking to better times. It has an unattributed
epigraph‖from‖Sir‖Walter‖Scott’s‖Marmion,‖‘Oh!‖for‖one‖hour‖of‖Wallace‖wight’.
Ref: Chartist Circular as cited, via Hathi Trust.
MacDougall, Allan (1750-1829), of‖Glencoe,‖Argyllshire,‖known‖as‖‘Blind‖Allan’,‖
Gaelic Poet, apprenticed to an itinerant tailor, memorised much poetry and
became a satirical poet; later (after being blinded) became a strolling musician;
poems published in Edinburgh in 1798; eventually became a family bard to
Colonel MacDonald, Laird of Glengarry. ~ Ref: DNB. [S] [T]
M’Dougall,‖William‖(b.‖1800),‖of‖Dundee,‖child‖millworker,‖wanderer,‖commercial‖
traveller, railway clerk, retired in Preston, Lancs. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 17-21.
[S] [R]
M’Ewen,‖Tom‖(b.‖1846),‖of‖Busby,‖near‖Glasgow,‖calico‖printer’s‖‘tearer’,‖pattern‖
designer, painter and poet. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 326-36. [S] [T]
MacFadyen,‖Dugald‖(b.‖1857),‖‘Philotas’,‖of‖Maryhill,‖Glasgow,‖of‖Irish‖roots,‖draper,‖
songwriter, published Songs from the City (London, Edinburgh and Dublin, 1887).
~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 246-7; Reilly (1994), 301. [S] [I] [T]
Macfarlan, James (1832-62), of Glasgow, weaver’s‖son,‖pedlar,‖walked‖from‖Glasgow‖
to London to publish a volume of lyrics (1853); contributed to Household Words.
Other publications include Poems (1854); Lyrics of Life (1856); poems contributed to
All the Year Round (Glasgow, ?1870); Poetical Works (1882). Kossick described him
 as‖a‖wanderer‖‘from‖infancy’‖and‖a‖man‖both‖shaped‖and‖cut‖short‖by‖poverty.‖~
Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 482-5; Murdoch (1883), 248-54; Glasgow Poets (1906), 377-86;
Ashraf (1975), 224-7; Sutton (1995), 611 (letters); Reilly (2000), 291; CBEL III, 347;
LC 5, 301-14; ODNB. [S] [LC5]
M’Farlane,‖Samuel‖(b.‖c. 1831), of Auchtergaven, Perthshire, small farmer, botanist,
published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 394-6. [S]
(?) McGeechan, Patrick (1847-1928), of Airdrie, musician and artist, played in the
Airdrie Choral Union; paintings well known in the West of Scotland; died in
Glasgow. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 293-4. [S]
MacGill, Patrick (1890-1963),‖‘The‖Navvy‖Poet’,‖of‖Glenties‖in‖the‖Donegal‖hills,‖born‖
into a poor peasant family, tramped in Ireland and Scotland, was variously a
farmboy, potato-picker, railway navvy; served in the First World War with the
London Irish Rifles, and was recruited into Military Intelligence; became a
journalist and successful and prolific novelist, and also wrote two plays. His
poetry volumes include Songs of a Navvy (1910); Songs of the Dead End (London,
1913); Soldier Songs (1917). The Navvy Poet: Collected Poems published in 1984. A
literary festival in his honour is held regularly in Glenties. ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975),
308-10; Ashraf (1978), I, 72-3; Burnett et al (1984), no. 466; Wikipedia. [S] [I] [R]
[OP]
(?) McGilvray, Alexander, (1800-71),‖of‖Paisley,‖‘The‖Rhyming‖Baker’,‖town‖
councillor, wrote squibs, published The Town’s House on the Market Day, A Poem in
Two Cantos (Paisley, 1840), Poems and Songs Satirical and Descriptive, Bearing on the
Political, Moral and Religious Character of Man (Glasgow, 1850). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-
90), I, 335-39; Leonard (1990), 166-75; Reilly (2000), 291. [S]
McGonagall, William (c. 1825-1902), of Edinburgh, son of an Irish cotton weaver,
handloom weaver in Dundee, amateur Shakespearian actor who gave public
readings of his verse; published Poetic Gems, Selected from the Works of William
McGonagall (Dundee, 1890; second series, 1891); numerous reprints and selections
from 1890 to the present day, often sold on the gimmick of his being notoriously
‘the‖world’s‖worst‖poet’,‖while‖McGonagall’s‖extraordinary‖style‖and‖cultural
potency is parodied or humorously echoed in works by Spike Milligan, Billy
Connolly, J. K.‖Rowling,‖and‖Terry‖Pratchett’s‖five‖‘Tiffany‖Aching’‖novels‖from‖
The Wee Free Men (2003) to The Shepherd’s Crown (2015). Shrewd readings of
McGonagall are offered by Henderson, Cunningham and ODNB, arguing for a
better understanding of the roots of his art in the world of street bawlers and in a
tradition of exaggerated loquaciousness deriving from his Irish roots, onto which
McGonagall grafted his own sense of civic pride, drama and interest in the effects
of new technologies and current events. ~ On‖the‖‘street’‖side‖of‖the‖argument,‖
LC6 argues for a kinship with rap and‖performance‖poetry:‖‘McGonagall is unable
to curb his enthusiasm for enunciating and sharing the rich melodies and rhythms
 of‖language.‖To‖fit‖the‖phrase‖‚parliamentary‖Franchise‛‖into‖a‖48-line poem, and
then repeat this tongue-twister no less than eight times, as he does in his poem on
‚Women’s‖Suffrage‛,‖bespeaks‖a‖wilful,‖almost‖heroic‖linguistic‖energy.‖One‖
could hardly achieve this sort of effect by accident. It seems that for McGonagall—
as for present day performance poets and rappers—fitting complex phraseology
into an elaborate rhythm was a challenge and a pleasure, something to be relished
rather than tastefully avoided.’ Perhaps this might help to explain why, like Burns
but unlike almost any other figure listed in this database, McGonagall appears
never to have been out of print: readers enjoy this unabashed relish in language
and rhythm. For his relationship with and reception in the People’s Journal, see
Blair (2016), who reprints‖his‖poem‖‘An‖Address‖to‖The‖Tay‖Bridge’,‖first‖
published in the People’s Journal, 15 September 1877. ~ Ref: Hugh MacDiarmid,
‘The‖Great‖McGonagall’,‖Scottish Eccentrics [1936], ed. Alan Riach (Manchester:
Carcanet, 1993); Burnett et al (1984), no. 467; Hamish‖Henderson,‖‘McGonagall‖the‖
What’‖in‖his‖Alias MacAlias: Writing on Songs, Folk and Literature (Edinburgh:
Polygon, 1992), 274-94; Reilly (1994), 302; Valentine Cunningham, ed., The
Victorians: An Anthology of Poetry and Poetics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), 585-8;
Goodridge (2005); Norman Watson, Poet McGonagall: The Biography of William
McGonagall (Birlinn, 2010); Kirstie Blair,‖‘McGonagall,‖‚Poute‛‖and‖the Bad Poets
of‖Victorian‖Dundee’,‖The Bottle Imp, 14 (November 2013), online publication; Blair
(2016), 138-9, 144-5; LC 6, 305-18; ODNB; NTU. There is a great deal of
McGonagall material online, some of it useful. ([I] [S] [T] [LC6]
McGregor, James (b. 1858),‖of‖Perth,‖son‖of‖the‖poet‖John‖M’Gregor‖(b.‖1827,‖qv),‖
shoemaker, policeman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 152-6. [S] [SM]
(?) McGregor, Jane (fl. 1862), perfumer of Port Glasgow, published Redeeming Love,
and Other Poems (Edinburgh, 1862). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 291. [F] [S]
McGregor, John (1790?-1870), of Paisley, embroiderer. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 251-
54. [S] [T]
M’Gregor,‖John‖(b.‖1827),‖of‖Perth,‖handloom‖weaver,‖father‖of‖poet‖James‖McGregor‖
(qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 149-52. [S] [T]
McHutchinson, William (1814-79), of Airdrie, stone mason and monumental
sculptor,‖‘one‖of‖Airdrie’s‖best‖known‖bards‖of‖last‖century’‖(Knox),‖published
Poems and Songs (Airdrie: Baird & Hamilton, Advertiser Office, 1868, enlarged
edition, 1877). ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 170-85, inf. Kirstie Blair. [S]
MacIndoe, George, (1771-1848), of Paisley, silk weaver, later hotel keeper and
publican in Glasgow, published Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect
(1805); The Wandering Muse, A Miscellany of Original Poetry (Paisley, 1813). ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 69-71; Leonard (1990), 55-6. [S] [T]
McIndoe,‖James‖(d.‖1837),‖‘Jamie Blue’,‖‘Blue Thumbs’,‖‘The ’Shaw‖Poet’, of
Pollokshaws, soldier, street singer and vendor of chapbooks, listed among the
 ‘Old‖Glasgow‖Characters’‖in‖M’Dowell. He served as a soldier with the 71st
regiment of the Glasgow Highland Light Infantry. After being discharged from
the army he began street vending, selling goods including chapbooks, hardware,
domestic goods, and indigo-colored buttons, which inspired his ‘Blue Thumbs’‖
nickname. At election times he wrote poetical effusions and was known as the
’Shaw‖Poet.’‖McIndoe was a rival of William Cameron (‘Hawkie’, qv), who he
considered to have ‘stolen his position as Glasgow’s unofficial head speech crier’‖
(Terry). He ended his life in the Govan Poorhouse. I have not been able to trace
publications, but there is in the Glasgow University Broadside Ballads collection
an ‘Elegy on Jamie Blue, alias Blue Thumbs, a once well-known character in
Glasgow’, by R. Husband, written in the ‘Standard Habbie’‖metre:‖‘Alas! alas!
what will we do, / We’ll a’‖grow dull and heartless now, / The Glasgow [?mobs]
may sairly rue, / And greet and grane, / Their orator, auld Jamie Blue, / Is dead
and gane.’ ~ Ref: M’Dowell (1899), 106; Stephen Terry, The Glasgow Almanac: An A-
Z of the City and its People (Glasgow: Neil Wilson Publishing, 2011); Glasgow
University Special Collections online catalogue. [S]
M’Intosh,‖David‖(b.‖1846),‖of‖Hillside,‖Montrose,‖mechanic, emigrated to America,
published in People’s Journal. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 329-31. [S]
M’Intosh,‖John‖(1848-86), of Grantown, in the Spey valley, son of a tailor, who
moved to Aberdeen where he briefly attended school before being put to work as
a tailor with his father, aged 12. After quarrelling with his step-mother he left to
find another master, but was laid off when he developed the skin infection
erysipelas, causing him great hardship: he would not apologise and return home.
Instead he went on the tramp, working in Montrose, Dundee, Greenock and
Lockerbie, then crossing into England where he travelled around, plying his
trade. He was already writing poetry at this time, and some of his early verses
appeared in English newspapers. In Spring 1872 he returned to Scotland,
painfully walking every step, through Old and New Cumnock, moving west until
he‖had‖to‖stop‖at‖Catrine‖where‖he‖was‖‘knocked‖up‖a‖week‖with‖fatigue and
swollen‖feet’ (Edwards). He stayed at Ayr, where he married, and subsequently
worked in Glasgow before settling in Kilmarnock. Edwards reports that he had
‘frequently‖written’‖columns‖for‖the‖Glasgow Weekly Mail ‘where‖his‖poems‖have‖
been‖much‖admired’, and he also contributed to the Kilmarnock Standard. He won
prizes‖for‖‘several‖ballads’‖and‖first‖prize‖in‖the‖People’s Journal for the best poem,
1892,‖‘against‖over‖160‖competitors’.‖Edwards‖describes‖him‖as‖‘successful‖in‖what‖
is most difficult—in the ballad‖measure’ and prints five poems, all in Scots
(though‖the‖second‖draws‖on‖English‖regional‖culture),‖‘Oor‖Ain‖Land’,‖‘Fair‖
Helen’s‖Weird—A‖Westmorland‖Ballad’,‖‘A‖Retrospect’,‖‘Oh‖Mither‖Lat‖Me‖Rise‖
the‖Nicht’‖and ‘An‖Address‖to‖a‖Flea’, written in the‖‘Standard‖Habbie’‖measure‖
favoured by Burns. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 203-11. [S] [T]
(?) M’Intosh,‖William‖Stevenson‖(b.‖1838),‖of‖Edinburgh,‖apprentice‖jeweller. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 9 (1886), 69-72. [S]
McIntyre, Duncan Ban (1724-1812), Gaelic Donnchadh Ban Mac an t-Saoir, known by
pen-name, Donnchadh Ban nan Oran (‘Fair-haired‖Duncan‖of‖the‖Songs’), Gaelic
poet, forester and soldier for the Earl of Breadalbane, author of Moladh Beinn
Dóbhrain (Praise of Ben Dorain). His poems were first published in Edinburgh in
1768. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 227-32; Douglas‖Mack,‖‘James‖Hogg,‖John‖Clare,‖and‖
Duncan‖Ban‖Macintyre:‖Three‖British‖‚Peasant‖Poets‛?’,‖JCSJ, 22 (2003), 17-31;
ODNB. [S] [C18]
McIntyre, John (1811-72), of Paisley, warper, published Favourite Songs (1850); The
Emigrants Hope: A Collection of Articles in Prose and Verse, Together with a Number of
Original Pieces contributed by Literary and Poetical Acquaintances—Men of Ability and
Talent—whose names have been before the public these many years (1854). ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 449-51. [S] [T]
(?) Mackay, Alexander (fl. 1821), butler at Myhall, published Original Songs and
Poems, English and Gaelic (Inverness, 1821). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 572. [S]
McKay, Archibald (1801-83), Scottish poet apprenticed to a weaver, published a
satirical poem, Drouthy Tam (1828), and the popular poems ‘My‖First‖Bawbee’,‖
‘My‖Ain‖Couthie‖Wife’,‖and‖Ingleside Lilts (undated). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 375
and 9, xvi; Murdoch (1883), 29-33; ODNB. [S] [T]
Mackay, James (b. 1838), of Leyton, Kincardineshire, miller, published in local
newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 334. [S]
Mackay, Robert (1714-78),‖known‖as‖‘Robb‖Donn’‖(‘Brown-haired‖Robb’),‖Gaelic‖
bard, unlettered drover, oral poet and folklorist, regarded by some as being as
significant to Scottish Gaelic traditions as Robert Burns (qv) was to Lowland
culture. His poems include ‘Cead‖fhir‖Bhìoguis‖don‖fhrìth’‖(‘Bighouse’s Farewell
to the Deer-Forest’),‖and‖an‖ode‖to‖Death,‖‘S‖tric‖thu,‖Bhàis,‖cur‖an‖cèill‖dhuinn.’‖
Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 180-3; Ian Grimble, The World of Robb Donn (Edinburgh: The
Saltire Society, 1979, revised 1999); ODNB; Wikipedia and other online sources. [S]
[C18]
M’Kay,‖Thomas‖(b.‖1857),‖of‖Paisley,‖son‖of‖a‖letterpress‖printer,‖packing-box maker,
consecutively lost sight in both eyes through accidents, ran a shop; poems
included in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 469-74. [S]
MacKarsie, William (b. 1821), of Falkland, molecatcher from the age of twelve,
farmer, published Hamely Rhymes on Hamely Subjects (Cupar-Fife, 1886). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 14 (1891), 253-8. [S]
McKay, William (1824-76), baker, published in the Airdrie Advertiser, lived in later
years in the New Monkland Poorhouse, where he continued to write and where
he died. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 186-92. [S]
M’Kean,‖Hugh‖(b.‖1869),‖of‖Boquhan,‖Killearn,‖Stirlingshire,‖baker’s‖son,‖joiner,‖
published poems in the newspaper. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 324-6. [S]
Mackellar, Mary (fl. 1880), farm worker, left school at fifteen and married a
shipmaster, with whom she sailed for some years; published Poems and Songs in
Gaelic and English (Edinburgh, 1880). She also published The Tourist’s Hand-Book of
Gaelic and English Phrases for the Highlands. Mackellar wrote poems in both English
and Gaelic, the English ones celebrating the Highlands and mourning the death of
children. A couple of semi-humorous poems are in Scots. ~ Ref: Sutton (1995), 614
(letters); Boos (2008), 23; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Macken, John (1783-1823), of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, the son of
Richard Macken, uses the pen-namer‖‘Ismael‖Fitzadam’‖in‖his‖books‖of‖poems‖and‖
elsewhere,‖and‖in‖his‖second‖volume,‖‘Ismael‖Fitzadam,‖Formerly Able Seaman on
Board‖the‖________‖Frigate’.‖O’Donoghue‖notes‖that‖‘some‖doubt‖exists‖as‖to‖his‖
ever having been an able seaman...for according to his autobiographical letter to
A.‖A.‖Watts,‖given‖in‖*the+‖latter’s‖Poetical Album (1828-29), and [in] certain poems
of‖his,‖it‖would‖appear‖he‖was‖never‖in‖the‖navy’.‖‘Nor’,‖he‖continues,‖‘was‖he‖so‖
unsuccessful‖as‖some‖accounts‖imply,‖as‖the‖same‖letter‖and‖Watts’‖inquiries‖
show’.‖Macken‖published‖three‖volumes,‖Minstrel Stolen Moments, or Shreds of
Fancy (Dublin, 1814); The Harp of the Desert, containing the Battle of Algiers and other
poems (London, 1818); Lays on Land (London, 1821).The second of these is
dedicated‖to‖Lord‖Exmouth,‖commander‖at‖the‖battle‖of‖Algiers,‖and‖‘the‖officers
who‖acted‖under‖his‖command’,‖but‖Exmouth‖apparently‖took‖no‖notice‖of‖this.‖
Macken wrote for various annuals and other periodicals including the London
Literary Gazette. The genealogist Henry Nugent Bell, a good friend of his, had
introduced him to William Jerdan, the editor of The Literary Gazette, who took a
deep‖interest‖in‖the‖poet.‖However‖Macken‖left‖London‖‘a‖disappointed‖man’,‖
becoming editor of and frequent contributor to The Erne Packet or Enniskillen
Chronicle. He died on 7th June 1823, aged 39, and there is a memorial to him in
Aughaveagh Parish Church, where he was buried. The poet Letitia Landon
(‘LEL’)‖wrote‖some‖lines‖on‖his‖death.‖~‖Ref:‖Literary Gazette (1823); The
Autobiography of William Jerdan Autobiography (London, 1853), III, pp. 39-46, and
313-19;‖O’Donoghue (1912), 283. [I]
McKenzie, Andrew (1780-1839), ‘Gaelus’,‖of‖Dunover,‖County‖Down,‖farmer’s‖son,‖
linen weaver, poet, who composed at the loom; corresponded with Robert
Anderson (qv), enduring eviction and hardship, became a tract-seller in Belfast;
published Poems and Songs on Different Subjects (Belfast, 1810), which had 2,000
subscribers (now online through the Ulster Poetry Project); The Masonic Chaplet
(1832). ~ Ref: Anderson’s Cumberland Ballads and Songs. Centenary Edition, ed. T.
Ellwood (Ulverston: W. Holmes, 1904); Hewitt (1974); ODNB. [I] [T]
(?) M’Kenzie,‖George‖(b.‖1827),‖of‖Paisley,‖‘carver,‖gilder,‖picture‖frame-maker’. ~
Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 548-52. [S]
M’Kenzie,‖Hugh‖(b.‖1828),‖of‖Kilmarnock,‖shoemaker,‖Robert Burns (qv) memorialist
and poet, published Lyrical Lays (Kilmarnock, 1866). ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 176-
82. [S] [SM]
Mackenzie,‖Peter‖(b.‖1811)‖of‖Forres,‖Scotland,‖soldier’s‖son,‖gardener,‖‘butman’‖to‖
the‖‘Duff‖Rifles’‖at‖Lhanbrid,‖amateur‖astrologer,‖published‖A Short Account of
Some Strange Adventures and Mishaps in the Strange Life of a Strange Man‖(Elgin:‖for‖
the‖author,‖1869),‖which‖‘often‖reverts‖to‖the‖3rd‖person‖and‖includes‖many‖
examples‖of‖the‖author’s‖versifying’.‖~‖Ref:‖Burnett‖et al‖(1984),‖no.‖474.‖*S+
McKenzie, William (fl. 1871), quarrier of Carmyllie, Angus, published A Collection of
Songs & Poems (1871). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 293. [S]
MacKie, David Bruce (b. 1861), of Dundee, orphan, left school at 14 to be a clerk,
published poems in the newspapers and magazines. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 192-
5. [S]
McKinley, John of Dunseverick (fl. 1819-21),‖weaver,‖‘only‖six‖months‖at‖school’,‖
published Poetic Sketches Descriptive of the Giant’s Causeway, and the Surrounding
Scenery; with some detached pieces (Belfast: Joseph Smyth, 1819), now online through
the Ulster Poetry Project; second edition 1821. ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I] [T]
(?) Mackintosh, Margaret (fl. 1836); evidence regarding her background is from the
volume itself: her preface speaks of her limited education, and in a poetic epistle
to a friend she notes that both are poor; her poems are skilful and varied, with a
mildly anti-pedantic cast. She published The Cottager’s Daughter; A Tale, To Which
Are Added Miscellaneous and Religious Pieces; and Also a Few Songs. Both in English
and in Scotch Poetry (Edinburgh, 1836). ~ Ref: inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
McKowen, James (1814-89), born at Lamberg, near Lisburn, weaver bard,
bleachworks finisher. Poems appeared in The Harp of Erin (1867, second edition
1869) and Household Library of Ireland's Poets (1889, named misspelled as
‘McKeown’). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974); ODNB. [I] [T]
McLachlan, Alexander (1818-96), of Johnstone, worked in cotton factory, apprentice
tailor,‖emigrated‖to‖Canada‖(‘The‖Burns‖of‖Canada’ [Robert Burns, qv]), farmer,
published Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect (1855); Lyrics (1858); The Emigrant
(1861); Balmoral: Lays of the Highlands and Other Poems (Edinburgh: Blackie, c. 1871);
The Poetical Works of Alexander McLachlan (Toronto, 1900). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II,
403-6; Edwards, 2 (1881), 258-65; Lighthall (1889), 115, 168, 456; Ross (1889), 152-
60; Leonard (1990), 236-8; Grian Books web page, visited 5 July 2014. [S] [T]
MacLachlan, Alexander (b. 1856), of Greenock, son of Kenneth McLachlan (qv), left
school at eleven, working briefly in an office in Greenock before learning to be a
draper.‖He‖had‖‘always entertained a warm affection for poesy, and wrote
‘numerous‖thoughtful‖descriptive‖prose sketches’ and ‘pleasing‖verses’‖
 (Edwards), presumably published in local newspapers, though there is no
indication given. Edwards prints‖four‖poems‖in‖English‖and‖Scots,‖‘The‖Snow-
Storm’,‖‘Mount‖Olympus’,‖‘Jamie‖McDougall’‖and‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Bliss’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 5 (1883), 40-4. [S] [T]
McLachlan, Kenneth (1815-85), of Greenock, Renfrewshire, father of Alexander
McLachlan (qv), son of a soldier and shoemaker, calico block-printer, policeman,
went deaf, ran a drapery business, published The Progress of the Sciences: A Poem
(Glasgow and Greenock, 1860); Scenes of the City by Night: A Poem in Six Cantos
(Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, 1863); Hope’s Happy Home, and Other Poems
(1869); Beauties of Scotland, and Other Pieces, with Historical Notes (London, 1872). ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 364-8 and 9, xviii; Murdoch (1883), 173-80; Reilly (2000),
294. [S] [T] [SM]
(?) MacLagan, Alexander (1811-79),‖of‖Perth,‖farmer’s‖son,‖plumber,‖lived‖in
Edinburgh and London, published first vol. of poems in 1841, second in 1850,
third, Ragged and Industrial School Rhymes, in 1854, received a Civil List pension,
and went on to write patriotic and military verses: Volunteer songs (1863); Balmoral:
Lays of the Highlands, and other poems (Blackie, 1871); Ragged School Rhymes (1871);
National Songs and Ballads (1878). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 341-7; Murdoch (1883),
147-50; Reilly (2000), 294. [S]
McLardy, James (b. 1824), of Glasgow, learned to be shoemaker like his father,
involved in founding boot and shoe factories, later emigrated to the US. His
individual works were never collected or published separately but some appeared
in the Paisley Literary Miscellany. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 189-92. [S] [SM]
M’Laren,‖John‖Wilson‖(b.‖1861),‖‘The‖Laddie‖Bard’,‖of Grassmarket, Edinburgh,
seaman’s‖son,‖orphan,‖messenger,‖bootmaker,‖newsagent,‖compositor,‖published
Rhymes frae the chimla-lug (Edinburgh, 1881); Scots poems and ballants (Edinburgh,
1892). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 346-9; Reilly (1994), 308. [S] [SM]
McLaren, William (1772-1832), of Paisley, poet and weaver, acquainted with
Tannahill, whom he helped to publish, published ‘Address‖delivered‖at‖the‖
celebration of the birth of Burns, at the first general meeting of the Paisley Burns
Anniversary‖Society’‖[Robert Burns, qv] (1815), Emma, or the Cruel Father: A
Poetical Tale, with other Poems and Songs (1817), Isabella, or the Robbers: a Poetical Tale
of the Olden Times, and other Poems (1827), many periodical publications. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 78-83; Sutton (1995), 618 (letter); Johnson 46 (2003), no. 309. [S]
[T]
McLauchlan, Thomas (b. 1858), of Glasgow, brushmaker, wrote humorous sketches.
~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 156. [S]
McLaughlin, Edward A. (1798-1861), of North Stamford, Connecticut, of Irish
parentage, worked variously as a printer and a sailor. He published The Laws of
 the Deep, a poem (Cincinnati, 1841). He died in New York. Ref: O’Donoghue (1912),
286. [I] [US]
M’Lay,‖John‖(b.‖1799),‖of‖Airdrie,‖collier. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 388-92. [S] [M]
M’Lean,‖Andrew (b. 1848), of Renton, Dunbartonshire, apprentice joiner, worked his
passage across the Atlantic, joined the US Navy, served in the Civil War, became
Managing Editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 135-9; Ross
(1889), 84-9. [S]
MacLean, Hugh Archibald (fl. before 1887), engineer, postal worker. ~ Ref: Edwards,
10 (1887), 84-7. [S]
McLennan, Anne (1840-83), of Resolis, Ross & Cromarty, worked as a domestic
servant and later as a Bible-woman, published Poems, sacred and secular
(Edinburgh: Printed for private circulation, 1884), a short paperbound leaflet of
hymns and religious verses. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 308; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
M’Leod,‖Ewen‖(b.‖1809),‖of‖Colbost,‖Durinish, Isle of Skye, Gaelic songwriter and
Scots and English poet, small farmer’s‖son, apprenticed as a shoemaker but
abandoned this after three years and worked for a publishing house, Virtue & Co.
of London, becoming one of their principal agents, travelling in England and
Scotland.‖Edwards‖describes‖M’Leod‖as ‘an‖enthusiastic‖upholder of his native
tongue’‖(Gaelic),‖‘holding‖the‖Celtic‖language‖to‖be‖the‖most‖poetical‖in‖existence’,‖
adding‖that‖‘he‖has‖contributed‖numerous‖Highland‖love‖stories‖and‖racy‖
sketches‖to‖magazines‖and‖newspapers’.‖(No further details of his publications are
given.) He retired to Newcastle, c. 1888. Edwards selects one English, two Scots
and one Gaelic poem to re-print:‖‘Lines‖to‖Thought’,‖‘My‖Highland‖Lad’,‖‘Moladh‖
Air‖Oigh‖Ghealaich‖Air‖Fonn’‖(subtitled‖‘Duncan‖MacIntyre’s‖‚A‖Mhairi‖Ban‖Og‛’‖
[Duncan Ban McIntyre,‖qv+)‖and‖‘The‖Young‖Wife‖to‖her‖Drunken‖Husband’. ~
Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 133-6. [S] [SM]
M’Lintock,‖Agnes‖C.‖(d.‖1878),‖of‖Gourock‖or‖Greenock,‖Renfrewshire,‖servant‖at‖
Glasgow, lived in humble circumstances, died of consumption, published The
Broken Plough, and other poems (Glasgow and Edinburgh: C. Glass and Co., 1877);
her poems are very religious. ~ Ref: Macleod (1889), 264-65; Edwards, 13 (1890),
338-9; Reilly (2000), 295; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
McManus, Cornelius (b. 1863), of Brindle, Lancashire,‖working‖man,‖author‖of‖‘John‖
Barleycorn’s‖Diary’‖and‖other‖poems‖and‖stories. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 424-9;
Maidment (1987), 179-80.
McManus, Patrick (1863-88), of Kearney, near Portaferry, County Down, the son of a
carpenter who followed this trade himself. He published in The Nation, Weekly
News, Belfast Examiner, and other journals, mainly in Ulster, with the pen-name of
‘Slieve‖Donard’‖or‖sometimes‖‘Sunbeam’.‖He‖emigrated‖to‖America‖in‖1886‖but‖
died‖there‖the‖same‖August.‖O’Donoghue,‖who‖calls‖him‖‘a‖clever‖young‖
poet...who‖died‖at‖an‖early‖age’,‖refers‖to‖an‖undated account of him by John
 McGrath in Young Ireland, and another by the same author in the Irish Monthly,
March‖1890.‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 289. [I] [US]
MacMillan, Daniel (b. 1846), of Dalintobel, Campbelltown, Argyllshire, herder,
ironmonger, manufacturer. ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 282-5; Edwards, 14 (1891), 300-
5. [S]
(?) MacMillan, Mrs (fl. before 1890), of Elderslie, the wife of a farm servant, David
MacMillan,‖is‖mentioned‖in‖Brown’s‖Paisley Poets, and one poem by her
(‘Dialogue:‖Father‖and‖Son’)‖is‖printed; mother of Eliza A. Leslie (qv) and
grandmother of William Leslie (qv). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 498-501; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
MacMorine, Mary (fl. 1799), servant maid, published Poems, Chiefly on Religious
Subjects. In Two Parts (Edinburgh: J. Pillans & Sons, 1799). The larger (223 pages)
first‖‘part’‖of‖the‖book‖is‖described‖as‖‘Religious’,‖the‖second‖(75‖pages),‖
‘Miscellaneous’.‖The substantial biblical content ties in with her apologetic preface
that she has no grand ideas to rise above her station but publishes her poetry (the
‘effusions‖of‖the‖unlettered‖muse’)‖to do some good. Her life experiences
including the loss of her children and how she deals with this, is interlaced with
the biblical material, as though to draw comfort from the scriptures. Pieces like
‘On‖The‖Dumfries‖Infirmary’‖(296-7) contrast the treatment of the poor with the
upper classes, highlighting injustice through emotional language. It begins with
the poet taking her friend from the‖infirmary‖to‖‘mark‖the‖river‖how‖it‖glides.’‖
They‖see‖a‖‘stately‖mansion’‖that‖is‖‘Raised‖on‖yon‖rising‖ground/‖Where‖sickness‖
finds‖relief’.‖The‖illnesses‖cured‖were‖‘gout’‖and‖‘stones’.‖She‖contrasts‖the‖care‖
offered by the infirmary with‖‘the‖dark‖abodes of woe, / Where naught but wild
despair‖is‖heard,/‖Eyes‖rolling‖to‖and‖fro’.‖Describing‖a‖hell-like asylum, she
writes:‖‘Here‖poor‖Maria‖shed‖her‖tears,‖/And‖Annie‖wept‖in‖vain!‖/‖Here‖
blooming‖Marg’ret‖hapless‖sigh’d,/‖And‖clink’d‖her‖heavy‖chain!’‖MacMorine
expected criticism, and ends this poem by asking her Muse reflexively:‖‘How‖will‖
the haughty critic sneer / And scorn thy homely phrase? / How durst thou grate
the‖poet’s‖ear/‖With‖rude‖unpleasant‖lays?’ Many of the Part 1 poems are direct or
indirect biblical paraphrases, and there are also a number of poems suggesting
her‖own‖susceptibility‖to‖illness‖and‖depression,‖such‖as‖‘On‖Deep‖Dejection’‖(in‖
Part‖1),‖and‖‘On‖Submission‖to‖an‖Affliction’ (in Part 2). ~ Ref: Text as cited, via
Google Books. [F] [S] [C18] [—Dawn Whatman]
McMullan, William John (1813-63), of Belfast, educated as a free pupil at Brown
Street School, and Academical Institution, Belfast. He ran away to sea, and sailed
on a coasting vessel for nine months, then learned the printer's trade, often
thereafter composing his own verses directly into type. McMullan wrote street
ballads and contributed to various journals, including the Ulster Magazine (from
1860), as ‘Paddy‖Soot‖the‖Piper’,‖and‖‘Hector‖Oge’,‖and‖was‖a‖popular‖as‖a‖poet‖in‖
 the province. He published The Brigand, Death of Gerstein, Songs of the Captives, and
other poems (Belfast, 1830); and The Heir of Avonmore (Belfast, 1861. This latter
volume is dedicated to Sir Wm. F. McNaghten, a benefactor of the poet, and the
title poem concerns the Yelverton case, the famous Irish marital dispute that
would lead to the Marriage Causes and Marriage Law Amendment Act, 1870,
allowing marriage across the religious divide. McMullan had died seven years
before this, on February 16, 1863. He was buried in Shankhill churchyard, Belfast.
~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 289; online sources. [I]
M’Murdo,‖George‖(b.‖1843),‖of‖Muirkirk,‖Ayrshire,‖the son of a miner, and after a
‘rudimentary‖education‖at‖the‖Ironworks‖School’‖(Reilly),‖he‖himself became a
coalminer at the age of twelve,‖toiling‖‘Nine‖hours‖a-day, six days a-week, /
Honking‖coals‖’mong‖stoure‖and‖reek:‖/‖Scores‖o’‖fathoms‖’neath‖the‖daisy,‖/‖In‖
darkness‖dool,‖and‖air‖that’s‖hazy’‖to‖feed‖his‖family‖(quoted by Edwards).
M’Murdo writes in‖‘the‖pure‖lowland‖tongue‖of‖our‖classic‖writers’ as Edwards
puts it, distinguishing this from what he sees as a more degraded, or
compromised‖version‖of‖Scots‖used‖by‖some‖poets.‖M’Murdo‖published a volume,
Poems and Miscellaneous Pieces (Ardrossan: Arthur Guthrie, 1882), 119 pp. Apart
from‖the‖lines‖quoted,‖Edwards‖selects‖three‖of‖his‖poems‖to‖print,‖‘Blawearie‖I’m‖
Wae’,‖‘The‖Muirs‖o’‖Kyle’,‖and‖‘My‖Muirlan’‖Hame’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 220-
4; Reilly (1994), 309. [S] [M]
(?)‖Macnamara,‖Francis‖(1811-61),‖of‖Cashel,‖Ireland,‖‘Frank‖the‖Poet’,‖Irish‖poet‖
transported‖to‖Australia‖in‖1832.‖‘Most‖of‖his‖work‖has‖been‖collected‖from‖oral‖
sources‖either‖from‖prisoners‖who‖remembered‖his‖compositions‖or‖much‖later‖
field‖recordings‖of‖ballads‖by‖Australian‖folklorists.‖His‖most‖famous‖work‖is‖A
Convict’s Tour To Hell,‖an‖epic‖world‖turned‖upside‖down‖poem’‖(Mark‖Gregory,‖
e-mail).‖‘Frank‖the‖Poet’‖now‖has‖a‖dedicated‖web‖page,‖and‖features‖on‖a‖
considerable‖number‖of‖other‖pages.‖The‖Australian‖Society‖for‖the‖Study‖of‖
Labour‖History‖held‖a‖conference‖on‖McNamara‖in‖2011,‖and‖Mark‖Gregory’s‖
PhD‖dissertation‖discusses‖in‖detail‖the‖making‖of‖a‖‘Frank‖the‖Poet’‖radio‖
documentary‖(Appendix‖A).‖~‖Ref:‖John‖Meredith‖and‖Rex‖Whalan,‖Frank the Poet‖
(Melbourne:‖Red‖Rooster‖Press,‖1979);‖Mark‖Gregory,‖‘Australian‖Working‖Songs‖
and‖Poems:‖A‖Rebel‖Heritage’,‖PhD‖Dissertation,‖University‖of‖Wollongong,‖2014;‖
inf.‖Mark‖Gregory.‖*A+‖*I+
McNaughton,‖Peter‖(1814-89),‖‘Bail‖’An‖Eas’,‖of‖Middleton‖of‖Tulliepowrie,‖farmboy‖
of‖a‖large‖family,‖ploughman,‖merchant;‖the‖father‖read‖to‖them,‖the‖mother‖sang‖
Gaelic‖hymns;‖McNaughton‖became‖a‖leading‖Gaelic‖scholar,‖translated‖much‖
from‖Gaelic‖to‖English,‖made‖a‖metrical‖version‖of‖the‖poems‖of‖Ossian.‖~‖Ref:‖
Edwards,‖4‖(1882),‖265-74.‖*S+
M’Neil‖or‖McNeil,‖Duncan‖McFarlane‖(b.‖1830),‖of‖Paisley,‖weaver’s‖drawboy,‖baker,‖
published‖‘When‖I‖was‖a‖Drawboy’‖and‖other‖poems‖in‖his‖collection‖The Reformed
 Drunkard or the Adventure on the Muir with Other Poems and Songs‖(Paisley,‖1860,‖
Glasgow,‖1899).‖~‖Ref:‖Edwards,‖6‖(1883),‖318-21;‖Brown‖(1889-90),‖II,‖287-92;‖
Leonard‖(1990),‖219-23;‖Reilly‖(2000),‖296.‖*S+‖*T+
M’Neill, Kate (b. 1858), of Houston, Renfrewshire, daughter of a working man; when
she was eight her family moved to Inverkip, and then Glasgow. She attended
school from the age of six to fourteen, and she nursed her mother, an invalid, for
sixteen years‖until‖the‖latter’s‖death.‖Her‖verses,‖which‖include‖‘Mary‖at‖Jesus’‖
Feet’,‖‘Mother’s‖Death’,‖‘Night’,‖and ‘Inverkip’,‖are‖sentimental‖and‖religious in
character. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 228-32; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
M’Neill,‖Peter‖(b.‖1839), of Tranent, East Lothian, coal miner from the age of nine,
attending evening school for‖‘several‖winters’, where a schoolmaster who had
‘seen‖better‖days’‖nevertheless‖proved‖to‖be‖‘an‖able‖teacher,‖full‖of‖lore’,‖and‖
what is more, ‘had‖a‖valuable‖little‖library, containing all the old Scottish Poets,
selections‖from‖which‖he‖took‖great‖delight‖in‖reading‖to‖his‖pupils’‖(Edwards,‖
quoting from an interview with the poet). At‖the‖age‖of‖twenty‖M’Neill‖was‖
appointed rural post messenger between Tranent and Gladsmuir,‖‘at‖a‖salary‖of‖
eleven‖shillings‖per‖week’, and by saving money was able to go into business as a
bookseller, stationer and newsagent, with one of his sisters helping him in the
shop while he went about his postal duties; eventually he worked full-time at the
shop, and had done so for twenty years by 1893. M’Neill‖wrote poems from the
age of sixteen, selling hand-written copies of his early work on‖the‖subject‖of‖‘two‖
village‖characters’‖through a‖local‖bookseller.‖M’Neill‖published a slim volume,
Youthful Musings (1863); and then Poems and Songs (1864); Archie Tamson, the Parish
Beadle (1867, a prose work); Adventures of Geordie Borthwick, a Strolling Player
(1869); Sandy Glen and Other Sketches (1871); and The Battle of Preston; Gaffer Gray:
or, Knox and his Times, and Other Poems and Songs (Tranent and Edinburgh, ?1878,
1882): this was effectively a complete edition of his poems. Edwards reports
M’Neill‖in‖1893‖as‖being‖‘engaged‖on‖a‖work‖on‖the‖annals‖of‖the‖parish‖of‖
Tranent, treating of its old castles, and containing much traditional lore, and
historical‖information‖of‖deep‖interest’.‖The‖old‖superannuated‖schoolmaster‖
clearly‖mentored‖his‖pupil‖well.‖Edwards‖prints‖five‖of‖his‖poems,‖‘The‖Harper’,‖
‘Wee‖Willie’,‖‘Auld‖Grannie’,‖‘My‖Ain‖True‖Lover,‖Johnnie’‖and‖‘Bonny‖Bus’‖o’‖
Brier’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 292-7; Reilly (2000), 296. [S] [M]
M’Nicol,‖Duncan‖(b.‖1851, d. after 1904), of Luss, Dunbartonshire, teacher, gardener,
handyman, settled on Rothesay as a cabman, published Glen Fruin, and Other
Poems (Rothesay, 1885); Bute, and Other Poems (Glasgow, 1897); Sprigs of Heather,
New and Enlarged Edition, With Illustrations by J. Muir Mathieson (Glasgow:
Aird & Coghill, 1901). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 279-82; Reilly (1994), 310; NTU. [S]
M’Owen, J. (fl. 1844), of Sheffield, Chartist poet, published ‘only‖a‖few‖poems’ in The
Northern Star;‖they‖include‖‘Father!‖Who‖Are‖the‖Chartists?’,‖which is included in
 Scheckner (1989), 292-3. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 115; Scheckner (1989), 292, 341;
Schwab (1993), 208. [C]
(?) M’Phail,‖Duncan‖(b.‖1844),‖of‖Paisley,‖handloom‖weaver’s‖son,‖draper,‖counting-
house manager, has poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 395-401. [S] [T]
MacPhail, Marion (b. 1817), of Dundonald, western Ayrshire, became blind and deaf
from disease at age 13, moved to Glasgow, and was able to work as laundress,
composing verses to entertain herself; published Religious Poems (Glasgow,
printed by Charles Murchland, of Irvine, 1882), with an introduction by Rev.
Fergus Fergusson, D. D.‖Poems‖include‖‘Submission,’‖‘Jesus,’‖and‖‘The‖Bible’. ~
Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 86-9; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
MacPherson, Colin (b. 1826), of Keith, Banffshire, herder, shoemaker, packman,
potato merchant, published The Farmer’s Friend: The Errors in the present method of
rearing and breeding of cattle exposed, the causes of disease and plagues in cattle traced to
the injurious system of gross stall feeding, and inadequate housing and breeding from too
young and unmatured stock, spurious manures, their baneful effects on cattle, crops, and
soil, &c (Dundee, 1878). This is in fact a book of poems, but MacPherson also
wrote‖prose‖articles‖on‖diseases‖in‖potato,‖described‖by‖Reilly‖as‖‘useful’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 3 (1881), 33-6; Reilly (2000), 297. [S] [SM]
MacPherson, Daniel (c. 1810-86), of Alvie, Badenoch, servant, police officer in
Edinburgh, colliery engineer on Tyneside. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 26-331.
MacPherson, Mary (1821-98),‖‘Mairi‖Nic‖a’ Phearsain’,‖‘Mairi‖Mhor‖nan‖Oran’,‖‘Big‖
Mary of the Songs’,‖‘The‖Skye‖Poetess’,‖was‖born‖in‖Skeabost,‖Isle‖of‖Skye, the
daughter of Ian Ban MacDonald (she would refer to herself as Mairi Nighean Iain
Bhain, or Mary, daughter of fair-haired John); moved to Inverness in 1848, where
she married Isaac MacPherson, a shoemaker. He died after twenty-five years of
marriage, leaving her with four surviving children. She worked as a nurse first in
the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and later elsewhere, until in 1882 she returned to
Skye as a crofter. She began to write poems in her native Gaelic in 1872 when
seeing the injustices wreaked on the Highlanders in Inverness. She was fluent in
reading English and Gaelic but unable to write. Lachland Macdonald of Skeabost
gave her life tenancy of a cottage and paid for publication of her poems in a large
volume (Inverness, c. 1893), containing 6,000 lines [she is said to have written
12,000 lines in Gaelic in her lifetime], all taken down from her recitation by an
amanuensis, John Whyte. Her poems include praises of Skye, elegies on departed
country-persons, and a series of denunciations of the landowners who forced
evictions and the politicians who supported them. She also remembered poems
by many other Highland bards, sang songs, and wove tartans and practiced other
Highland crafts. Her poems received wide circulation and were credited with
influencing local elections, and would seem to constitute a genuine link between
oral and written traditions. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 42-5; Kerrigan (1991), 89-90,
 356‖(filed‖under‖‘Nic‖a Phearsain’);‖Boos (1996); Boos (1998); Boos (2002a), 206-7;
Boos (2002b), 151-3; Boos (2008), 171-84, includes photographs of the author; Boos
(2010); inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
MacPherson, Rachel S. (b. 1861), of Huntly, milliner in a drapery establishment in
Aberchirder, Banffshire, published in Aberdeenshire newspapers. Poems include
‘A‖Word‖to‖the‖Bairnies’‖and‖‘When‖Skies‖Were‖Blue’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881),
203-5; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
McPherson,‖William‖(b.‖1842),‖of‖Paisley,‖farm‖labourer,‖joiner,‖ship’s‖carpenter,‖
published pieces in newspapers. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 387-90. [S]
M’Queen,‖James‖(b.‖c.‖1862),‖of‖Edinkillie,‖Moray,‖cartwright’s‖son‖and‖miller’s‖
grandson, uneducated outworker, music tutor and musician, published Beauties of
Morayland and Other Poems and Songs (Elgin, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 45-9.
[S]
MacQueen, Mary (1786-1854), ‘Mrs.‖Storie’,‖from‖‘a‖travelling‖family’;‖married‖
labourer William Storie in 1821. They emigrated to Canada in 1825, leaving Loch
Winnoch‖to‖settle‖in‖‘MacNam‖by‖Hull‖in‖upper‖Canada’‖(Kerrigan).‖MacQueen‖
learnt from an oral tradition passed down to her by her grandmother; fourteen of
her songs appear in Crawfurd. ~ Ref: Andrew Crawfurd’s Collection of Ballads and
Songs, Vol. I, ed. Emily B. Lyle (Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1975); Kerrigan
(1991), 136-41, 355; Sarah M. Dunnigan, Scottish Ballads (Glasgow: Association for
Scottish Literary Studies, 2005). The Scottish Text Society has also published an
audio cassette of Mary MacQueen’s Ballads, sung by Jo Miller, including four of the
songs that appear in Crawfurd: ‘Bob‖Norris’,‖‘Lady‖Jean’,‖‘Earl Richard’‖and‖‘The‖
Thrie‖Ravens.’‖*F+‖*S+‖*Dawn Whatman]
MacQueen, Thomas (fl. 1826-42, d. 1861?), of Bakip, journeyman mason, published
Poems and Songs on Various Subjects (Glasgow: Printed by Robert Harrison, 1826);
My Gloaming Amusements, A Variety of Poems (Beith: J. Smith, 1831); The Exile, A
Poem in Seven Books (Glasgow, 1836), with miscellaneous poems including
‘Monody‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖Sir‖Walter‖Scott’,‖‘Verses‖Addressed‖to‖R.‖E.‖McCosh,‖
Surgeon,‖Beith,‖on‖his‖emigration‖to‖America’‖and‖‘Verses‖on‖the Death of William
Motherwell,‖Esq’ (William Motherwell (1794-1835), poet, antiquary and journalist,
founder and editor of the Paisley Magazine: see Cunningham (1834), 108); The
Moorland Minstrel (Glasgow: Printed by Muir, Gowans, & Co., for the author; 2nd
edition‖Glasgow,‖1841);‖‘Thomas‖MacQueen’s‖Farewell‖to‖Britain’,‖Northern Star,
13‖August‖1842.‖Of‖this‖last‖poem,‖Sanders‖writes:‖‘Over‖the‖course‖of‖ten‖
Spenserian stanzas, MacQueen offers an accomplished and far-reaching poetic
analysis‖of‖the‖costs,‖causes‖and‖consequences‖of‖emigration’‖(149).‖Edwards‖
records‖that‖‘Thomas‖M’Queen’,‖presumably‖the‖same‖poet, emigrated to Canada
and died in 1861, Edwards mentions three volumes published between 1836 and
1850, so if these dates are correct there may be a further (possibly Canadian)
 volume unrecorded here. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 323-5; Ashraf (1978), I, 35;
Johnson (1992), items 576-8; Sanders (2009), 149-52, 247; COPAC. [S]
M’Queen,‖William‖(1841-85), of Pollockshaws, warehouse worker,‖ship’s‖steward,‖
powerloom factory manager; published Songs and Rhymes (1878). ~ Ref: Edwards,
1 (1880), 30-12. [S] [T]
M’Vittie,‖James‖(b.‖1833),‖of‖Langhorn,‖Dumfriesshire,‖crofter-shepherd’s‖son,‖cotton‖
weaver, wool spinner, revivalist and temperance reformer; published In
Memoriam, and Songs of Cheer from the Cradle to the Grave (Glasgow, 1893). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 11 (1888), 345-52; Reilly (1994), 310. [S] [T]
M’Whirter,‖David‖(fl. 1883), of the Isle of Whithorn, Wigtownshire, agricultural
labourer, published A Ploughboy’s Musings: Being a Selection of English and
Humorous Scotch Poems (Whithorn: R. D. Ballantyne, 1883), copy in Aberdeen
University Library; there appears to have been a second edition of 1884, but this is
unlisted on COPAC. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 310; Whithorn web page. [S]
(?) Maddocks, Mrs. (fl. 1820-30), a widow of London, a Christian poet, who
published poems‖‘adopting‖this‖means‖for‖the‖purpose‖of‖obtaining‖a‖morsel‖of‖
bread,‖to‖save‖her‖from‖perishing‖with‖hunger’.‖She‖‘belonged‖to‖a‖church‖under‖
the pastoral care of the Revd. T. James of the City‖Chapel‖in‖London’‖(Jackson).‖
She published the following volumes: Scripture Female Portraits in Verse, for the
Instruction of Youth (London: E. Wallis, 1820); The Female Missionary Advocate. A
Poem (London: printed for the author by B. J. Holdsworth, 1827; second edition,
London: Holdsworth & Ball, 1830); Cottage Similes, or, Poems on Domestic
Occurences, Designed for Those in Humble Life, by the Author of The Female Missionary
Advocate, ed. E. Henderson (London: Holdsworth and Ball, 1829). The first of these
is listed by Jackson as being in the Free Library of Philadelphia; the others in the
BL. ~ Ref: Jackson (1993), 211. [F]
Magill, Patrick (b. 1891), of Glenties, Donegal, farmhand, moved to Scotland, worked
as‖‘farmhand,‖drainer,‖tramp,‖hammerman,‖navvy,‖plate-layer‖and‖wrestler’,‖
published Gleanings from a Navvy’s Scrapbook (1911), which sold 8,000 copies;
Soldier Songs (London, 1917); Songs of the Dead End (London, 1920). ~ Ref: Leonard
(1990), 360-6. [I] [S] [OP]
Maguire, Thomas (fl. 1907),‖of‖Irish‖origin,‖wrote‖numerous‖‘popular‖music-hall
type’‖songs.‖In‖1907‖when‖he‖was‖an‖old‖man,‖and‖had‖fallen‖on‖hard‖times,‖he‖
and his wife were charged with obstruction of the thoroughfare in London, where
they were playing and singing his songs in the street, and selling penny books of
them to the crowds. The London papers c.19 October 1907 report this and list
some‖of‖his‖songs.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 297. [I]
Mahon,‖James‖(b.‖1862),‖‘Dick’,‖of‖Ancrum,‖Jedburgh,‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖factory‖
worker. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 221-4. [S]
Mailing, Edith (fl. 1875), of a poverty-stricken family; taught to read by her father;
married at seventeen; two of her children died in infancy and her son died of
sunstroke, aged seventeen.‖The‖family‖‘lived‖in‖a working-class area and
experienced‖the‖effects‖of‖drunkenness’‖(Reilly). She published Poems, with a
Sketch of her Life, in her Own Words (London: Houlston & Sons, 1875), 48 pp. ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 299. [F]
Mainds, W. R. (fl.‖1867),‖of‖Dundee,‖painter,‖published‖‘Lines‖Addressed‖to‖James‖
Gow‖*qv+,‖Weaver,‖Seafield‖Road,‖Dundee’‖and‖signed‖‘W.‖R.‖Mainds,‖Painter,‖20‖
Constitution‖Road,‖Dundee’,‖in‖the‖People’s Journal, 20 July 1867. ~ Ref: Blair
(2016), 69-70. [S]
(?) Malins, Joseph (1844-1926), of Worcester, apprentice decorative painter,
temperance advocate, published Professor Alcoholico: A Temperance Poem
(Birmingham, 1876); Popular Temperance Recitations (Maidstone, 1890). ~ Ref: Reilly
(1994), 312; Reilly (2000), 299-300.
(?) Mallett, Josiah Reddie (fl. 1895), of Harlyn Bay, Cornwall, published A Life’s
History, told in Homely Verse, and Miscellaneous Poems (London: Richard Bentley
and Sons, 1895). ~ Ref: MBP3 (1986); Reilly (1994), 312; Charles Hart Catalogue 51,
item 179.
Malone, Robert L. (1812-50), born at Anstruther, Fifeshire, of Irish parents, his father
being a sea-captain. Malone served in the navy himself until he gave it up due to
ill-health. He published The Sailor's Dream, and other poems (1845). O’Donoghue
notes that some of his songs are written to Irish airs. He died at Greenock. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 300. [I]
(?) Mangan, [James] Clarence (1803-49),‖Irish‖poet,‖lawyer’s‖clerk,‖the son of a
Dublin grocer, a major figure in Irish literary history, sometimes described as the
most important poet before Yeats and acknowledged as a key figure by major
later Irish writers including James Joyce, W. B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney.
Mangan was a journalistic and miscellaneous prose writer too, and a significant
translator, especially of German literary works, of which he made a particular
study. An autodidact, Mangan worked in solicitors’‖offices as a scrivener,
eventually supporting himself by writing for numerous magazines. He suffered
severe mood swings and hypochondria, adding to the difficulties he experienced
in making a living. Mangan published a first‖‘ephemeral‖poem’‖in‖1818,‖and his
first‖nationalist‖poem‖in‖1826‖(‘To‖my‖Native‖Land’). He also published The Friend
(translated from German, 1830); many humorous as well as nationalist poems;
and an unfinished Autobiography (written in 1848, finally published in 1960). A
member‖of‖the‖‘diarians’‖group‖with‖James‖Tighe‖and‖Laurence‖Bligh,‖Mangan‖
contributed significantly to The Nation and Irish Monthly National. His collected
works, edited by his friend John Mitchel, were published in 1859, and a centenary
edition was published by‖D.‖J.‖O’Donoghue‖in‖1903-4. As with John Clare in
 England,‖‘Iolo‖Morganwyg’‖in‖Wales,‖James‖Hogg‖and very recently Allan
Ramsay in Scotland (qqv), a major recovery research effort involving significant
editorial work has recently taken place with Mangan, reinforcing the idea of his
central significance to the Irish tradition, notwithstanding his eccentricities,
complexity and unusual position as a writer (well summarised by David
Wheatley in his Introduction‖to‖a‖recent‖selection‖of‖Mangan’s‖poems).‖Significant
modern editions are: The Collected Works of James Clarence Mangan, ed. Jacques
Chuto, Rudolf Patrick Holzapfel et al, four volumes (Newbridge, County Kildare:
Irish Academic Press, 1997-2004), and several selections: Poems, ed. David
Wheatley (Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 2004), reviewed in PN Review, 157 (May-
June 2004), 76-7) and LRB, 17 March 2005; Selected Poems, ed. Chuto et al
(Newbridge, County Kildare: Irish Academic Press, 2004); Selected Writings, ed.
Sean Ryder (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2004). See also the
important collection of Essays on James Clarence Mangan: The Man in the Cloak, ed.
Sinead Sturgeon (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2014), which usefully explores a good
many‖of‖Mangan’s‖roots‖and‖branches. ~ Ref: Miles (1891), III, 453; Ashraf (1975),
210-13; Ricks (1987), 94-6; Scheckner (1989), 264; Sutton (1995), 624; ODNB;
sources and editions cited. [I]
Manley, Richard (fl. 1830), journeyman sadler, published Miscellaneous Pieces, in
Verse, Moral and Religious, by Richard Manley, of Southmolton, Devon (Southmolton:
W. Paramore, 1830). ~ Ref: inf. Bob Heyes.
(?) Manning, Patrick M. (fl. 1874), of Riverstown, near Ardee, County Louth, farmer,
who had many poems on local political and social subjects in the Dundalk
Democrat,‖usually‖as‖‘M.M.P’.‖Manning‖was‖the‖‘local‖laureate‖of‖the‖Home‖Rule‖
movement’‖in‖the‖Louth‖election‖of‖1874,‖and‖his verses were long remembered in
his‖own‖district‖for‖their‖‘point‖and‖humour’.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 301. [I]
Manson, James (1792-1863), clothier, journalist, violincellist, blind in later life,
published Lyrics & Ballads (Glasgow, 1863). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 300. [S] [T]
Marsden, Joshua (1777-1837), born in Liverpool, went to sea as a youth, was
dissolute, survived two shipwrecks and had a religious conversion at the age of
twenty, becoming a missionary in America. Marsden published Amusements of a
Mission, or Leisure Hours (1812), and a conversion narrative/autobiography,
Sketches of the Early Life of a Sailor, now a preacher of the Gospel (1821). ~ Ref: Burnett
et al (1984), no. 493a; Basker (2002), 647-59.
(?) Marshall, Charles (1795-1882), of Paisley, shoemaker poet, later a minister in
Dunfermline, published Lays and Lectures for Scotia’s Daughters of Industry
(Edinburgh, 1853); Homely Words and Songs for Working Men and Women
(Edinburgh, 1856); The Watchman’s Round, in the Way of Life, and the Way of Death
(Edinburgh, 1868). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), xvi; Leonard (1990), 199-202. [S] [SM]
Marshall, James (b. 1829), of Burrelton, Cargill, Perthshire, nurseryman and
seedsman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 163-7. [S]
Marshall, Thomas (d. 1866), of Newcastle upon Tyne, brush-maker, songwriter,
published a chapbook of eleven songs, Collection of Original Local Songs by Thomas
Marshall (Newcastle upon Tyne: printed for the author by Wm. Fordyce, 1829). ~
Ref: Allan (1891), 250-6;‖Wikipedia‖(under‖‘A‖Collection‖of‖Original‖Songs’,‖and‖
‘Geordie‖Songwriters’).
(?) Martin, James (1783-1860), of Millbrook, near Oldcastle, County Meath. In the
Preface to his 1813 volume of Poems he says he never went to school in his life. A
frequent contributor to the Dublin almanacks, Martin also made something of a
home industry of making and selling ‘little‖volumes’,‖of‖which‖he‖is‖said‖to‖have‖
published‖perhaps‖two‖dozen.‖O’Donoghue‖lists‖the‖following‖23‖of‖them:‖
Translations from Ancient Irish MSS., and other poems (1811); Poems,‖‘sold‖by‖the‖
author’‖(Cavan,‖1813);‖Poems on Various Subjects (Cavan, 1816), second edition,
including poems addressed to him by Michael Leonard, James Murphy, Phill
O’Reilly,‖and‖Henry‖Ireland‖(Cavan,‖1816); Cottage Minstrelsy, or poems on various
subjects (Kells, 1824-31), second series (Kells, 1841); A Poetical Letter addressed to the
Independent Electors of the Co. of Meath, (1831); The Wounded Soldier, a tale of
Waterloo, in verse, and a Dialogue between a Totaller and the Bottle, second edition
(Kells, 1841); The Medal and Glass, a poem (as ‘Philip‖O’Connell’,‖Kells,‖1841);‖The
Truth-Teller, or Poems on Various Subjects (Kells, 1842); Man's Final End, a poem on
the Last Judgment, from the Irish (1823); Paddy the Politician, or The Tithe Cant, a
comedy dedicated to Mr. Patrick Lalor, Queen's Co., Carlow (undated); The Repealer, or
The Bane and the Antidote of Ireland (Cavan?, 1844); Reformation the Third, or The
Apostate N[o]l[a]n and the Perverts of Athboy, a poem in four cantos (as‖‘Thady‖
McBlab’,‖Dublin,‖1838);‖Death and the Poet, a dialogue (Kells, undated); A Dialogue
between John Bull and Granu-Waile, (Kells?, 1845), 86 pp.; Edmund and Marcella, in
four cantos (Kells, 1849); The Mass (1853); John and Mary, a modern Irish tale (Trim,
1855); The Dirge of Erin, translated from the Irish (as‖‘Owen‖Clarke,‖no publication
details); Imitation of Dean Swift (no publication details); Poem on the Immaculate
Conception (n.pub.); Miscellaneous Verses (no publication details); The Irish Bard, (no
publication details); Dialogue between an Irish Agent and his Tenant (no publication
details).‖O’Donoghue‖says‖there‖is‖a‖‘very‖full’‖account‖of‖Martin‖by‖John‖McCall‖
(qv) in the Irish Emerald ‘some‖years‖ago’,‖presumably one‖of‖the‖‘several
biographies for Young Ireland and Irish Emerald’‖that McCall wrote. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖303.‖[I]
(?) Martin, Tobias (1747-1828), of Breage, Cornwall, miner and mine agent;
posthumously published The Remains of the late Tobias Martin of Breage, in Cornwall,
Mine Agent, with a Memoir of the Author [by Alfred Tobias John Martin] (Helston:
 Printed at the Temple of the Muses by W. Fenaluna, 1831). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992),
item 592; text via Google Books. [M]
(?) Martin, William (1772‐1851), of Twohouse, Haltwhistle, Northumberland, the son
of a tanner, publican and coachbuilder; Martin was an inventor, natural
philosopher and poet; worked as a ropemaker and served in the militia; 151
entries in NCSTC; pub Harlequin’s Invasion (1811); A New Philosophical Song or
Poem book, called the Northumberland Bard (1827). ~ Ref: NCSTC.
Massey, Gerald (1828-1907), of Gamble Wharf, Tring, Hertfordshire, straw-plaiter
and errand boy, later a Chartist and popular lecturer. ~ Massey was the eldest son
of William Massey, a canal boatman, and his wife Mary. He was born (May 29,
1828) into a life of poverty at Gamnel Wharf, Tring, in Hertfordshire. Put to work
in‖the‖town’s‖silk‖mill‖at‖the‖age‖of‖eight,‖Massey‖later‖turned‖his‖hand‖to‖the‖local‖
cottage industry of straw-plaiting for the manufacture of straw hats. ~ At the age
of 15 Massey found work as an errand boy in London, and it was there that he
joined the Christian Socialists, embracing their aims of co-operation but at the
same time becoming more actively involved within the Chartist movement, where
he aligned himself strongly with George Julian‖Harney’s‖views‖on‖social‖rights.‖
Self taught, as were many artisan writers of that time, by the age of 19 Massey was
composing‖both‖lyrical‖verse:‖(‘Spring‖is‖coming;‖lovely‖Spring!‖/‖Soon‖her‖liquid‖
silvery voice / Will through waving woods be ringing,‖/‖In‖her‖bow’r‖of‖roses‖
singing,‖/‖Where‖the‖limpid‖streams‖rejoice...’)‖and‖poems‖of‖political‖and‖social‖
protest:‖(‘...we‖are‖crush’d‖and‖trodden‖under‖/‖By‖imps‖of‖power,‖who‖long‖have‖
torn / The fair rose of toilworn pleasure, / Flinging us the piercing‖thorn...’)‖~‖It‖
was at Tring that his earliest poetry collection, Original Poems and Chansons, was
published at a shilling a copy. But it was not until 1854, when his third
collection—including‖his‖most‖cited‖poem,‖‘The‖Ballad‖of‖Babe‖Christabel’‖― was
published that Massey attracted the attention of Hepworth Dixon, Editor of the
widely read literary periodical, the Athenæum. Favourable reviews in that and
other‖journals‖and‖newspapers‖assured‖Massey’s‖entry‖into‖literary‖society.‖Dixon‖
also introduced‖him‖to‖Lady‖Marian‖Alford,‖who‖was‖attracted‖to‖Massey’s‖
poetry. She was to assist him with her patronage over a period of some 25 often
difficult‖years,‖including‖housing‖his‖family‖on‖a‖farm‖on‖her‖family’s‖estate‖at‖
Ashridge, near Berkhamsted. ~ By his early twenties Massey had already been on
the editorial staff of several radical newspapers, including The Red Republican, The
Friend of the People and The Star of Freedom, to which he contributed republican
articles and fiery poetry aimed at the working‖man:‖‘...Our‖fathers‖are‖praying‖for‖
pauper-pay, /Our mothers with death's kiss are white! / Our sons are the rich
man’s‖serfs‖by‖day,‖/And‖our‖daughters‖his‖slaves‖by‖night!...’‖In‖1855,‖he‖moved‖
to Edinburgh to take up an editorial post with the Edinburgh News, but the
appointment was short-lived. By 1857, redundancy coupled with the death of two
of‖his‖children‖and‖his‖wife’s‖growing‖depressive‖illness‖forced‖his‖return‖to‖
England. Here he gained a foothold as a poetry reviewer for the Athenæum, a post
that he held for the next 10 years. He also commenced lecturing. ~ For many years
Massey’s‖main‖livelihood‖was‖as‖a‖travelling‖lecturer,‖initially‖speaking‖on‖literary‖
subjects. The press often reported his talks as being crowded and well received:
‘...the lecture proceeded with that rippling eloquence of which Massey was such a
master. His voice—always full, musical and mellow—had lost none of its
resonance, and his hearers were alternately dissolved in tears or shaking with
laughter. Tender glances from bright eyes were thrown upon him, and before he
had progressed half and hour it required no particularly acute observer to
discover that half of the young ladies in the hall adored him. When he began to
recite‖the‖‚Bridge‖of‖Sighs‛‖*Thomas‖Hood+‖you‖could have‖heard‖a‖pin‖drop...’‖~‖
Massey’s‖later‖lectures‖tended‖to‖focus‖on‖spiritualism—which had a wide
following during the nineteenth century and to which he was an adherent—and
on subjects relating to mythology and religion. Unsurprisingly, his talks touching
on religion sometimes met with loud controversy:‖‘<Gerald‖Massey‖delivered‖two‖
lectures, on Spiritualism, to large and intelligent audiences at Barnard Castle; the
subject was handled in a masterly style, orthodox theology was fought on its own
ground, several ministers were there to hear it, and such was the artillery brought
against the old creeds that the most independent thinkers declare that its
foundations are terribly shaken; raving priests and foaming bigots raised such an
uproar with the old cry,‖‚the‖church‖is‖in‖danger;‛‖and‖an‖attempt‖was‖made‖to‖
get‖Mr.‖Massey‖out‖of‖the‖town‖before‖completing‖his‖engagement...’‖~‖Besides‖
lecturing throughout Britain, Massey made three overseas lecture tours, each
taking in the U.S.A., while his 1883-85 tour extended to Australia and New
Zealand.‖~‖Massey‖took‖a‖great‖interest‖in‖Shakespeare’s‖Sonnets,‖and‖following‖
much research he published his theories on the identities of those involved.
Shakspeare’s Sonnets never before interpreted (1866) is an interesting, readable
volume‖that‖he‖later‖updated‖(1872‖and‖1888).‖In‖Massey’s‖view‖some‖sonnets‖are‖
dramatic and others personal, while the evidence points to Lady Penelope Rich
(the‖‘Stella’‖of‖Sir‖Philip‖Sidney’s‖love‖poem‖Astrophel and Stella)‖as‖Shakespeare’s
‘Dark‖Lady’,‖while‖Shakespeare‖himself;‖Henry‖Wriothesley,‖3rd‖Earl‖of‖
Southampton and his wife, Elizabeth Vernon; and William Herbert, 3rd Earl of
Pembroke,‖are‖the‖other‖participants.‖~‖Massey’s‖last‖significant‖poetry,‖A tale of
eternity and other poems appeared in 1870. It was then that he commenced his study
of the origin and development of western religions, work that was to absorb him
for‖the‖remainder‖of‖his‖life.‖~‖Massey’s‖conclusions―based‖on‖an‖enormous‖
amount of research into the development of myth, symbol, language and
religion―were‖published‖in‖three‖books‖(A Book of the Beginnings; The Natural
Genesis; and Ancient Egypt) in which he braved much censure and ridicule to
 advance new theories on human and religious origins. He identified Ancient
Egypt as the origin of civilisation, demonstrating that close parallels exist between
Egyptian,‖Hebrew,‖Gnostic‖and‖Christian‖religious‖structures‖―‖this‖inevitably‖
places a question mark against the strict historical veracity of the Gospels. ~
Massey’s‖‘Darwinian’‖ideas‖were‖sufficient‖to‖condemn‖him‖in‖the‖eyes‖of‖many‖
critics. But the Quarterly Journal of Science commented that if his work could be
presented in a condensed form, it would represent a valuable—almost
necessary—companion‖to‖Darwin’s Descent of Man, the one complementing and
supporting the other. ~ Massey ranks among the more significant of minor
Victorian‖poets,‖his‖early‖‘radical’‖poetry‖also‖being‖of‖interest‖to‖social historians.
His essays on literary subjects present well-studied and perceptive observations
on the authors, poets and literary subjects of the age. Since his death (October 29,
1907), ongoing research in genetics, archaeological anthropology, philology and
astro-mythology‖has,‖largely,‖vindicated‖many‖of‖Massey’s‖evolutionary‖theories,‖
and‖it‖is‖in‖this‖field‖that‖Massey’s‖most‖enduring‖reputation‖is‖likely‖to‖rest.‖~‖
Published Poems and Chansons (1848); Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love! (1850,
1851); The Ballad of Babe Christabel, with other Lyrical Poems (1854); Poems and Ballads
by Gerald Massey, containing the Ballad of Babe Christabel (1855); Complete Poetical
Works (Boston, 1857); Havelock’s March and Other Poems (London: Trubner and Co.,
1861); A Tale of Eternity and Other Poems (London: Strahan & Co. 1870); My lyrical
life: poems old and new (London, 1889, various editions and series; John Hart
Catalogue‖69,‖item‖189,‖is‖the‖author’s‖copy‖of‖series‖one‖and‖two,‖with‖‘about‖50‖
corrections to the‖poems’,‖mostly‖minor);‖may‖have‖written‖Chartist‖poetry‖under‖
the pseudonym‖‘Bandiera’‖(Scheckner, 116-18, 330). Much‖of‖Massey’s‖work‖is‖
reproduced (together with a wealth of biographical and contextual detail) on the
Massey page. ~ Ref: Miles (1891), V, 315; David Shaw, Gerald Massey: Chartist, Poet,
Radical and Freethinker (Buckland, 1955); Kovalev (1956), 202-9; NCBEL III (1969),
538; Vicinus (1974), 102-7, Maidment (1983), 79; Cross (1985), 128, 156-61;
Maidment (1987), 55-6, 167-9, 201-3, 312-14; Ricks (1987), 560-1; Scheckner (1989),
265-84, 340-1; Schwab (1993), 205-6; Reilly (1994), 318; Zlotnick (1998), 175; Reilly
(2000), 305-6; Massey page; LC 5, 267-88; ODNB; NTU. [LC5] [C] [—David Shaw
and Ian Petticrew]
Massie, Joseph C. (1868-88), of Forfar, factory worker in the textile industry,
published as‖‘Adonais’‖and‖‘The‖Factory‖Boy’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 55-9 and
12, x. [S] [T]
Masters, Mary (c. 1694-1755), of Otley, Yorkshire, of humble origins (her father was a
schoolmaster at Norwich), and her family discouraged her learning, but at that
time and later in her life she adeptly defended her poetry. She published Poems on
Several Occasions (1733), and Familiar Letters and Poems on Several Occasions (1755),
both by subscription. Bowers considers her best poem to‖be‖‘A‖Journey‖from‖Otley‖
 to‖Wakefield’. ~ Ref: Rowton (1853), 139-40; Grainge (1868), 1, 205-6; Bowers
(1986), 31-2; Landry (1990), 8; Sutton (1995), 634 (letters); Christmas (2001), 31;
Kord (2003), 366-7; Backscheider (2005), 407-8; Backscheider (2009), 879-80;
William‖J.‖Christmas,‖‘Genre‖Matters:‖Attending‖to‖Form‖and‖Convention‖in‖
Eighteenth-Century Labouring-Class‖Poetry’,‖in‖Burke‖&‖Goodridge‖(2010),‖38-45;
LC 1, 233-54; ODNB. [LC1] [C18] [F]
Mather, Joseph (1737-1804), of Sheffield, radical, poet, songwriter and filesmith who
‘could‖neither‖read‖nor‖write’,‖and‖who‖‘appears‖to‖have‖led‖a‖life‖of‖dissipational‖
singing‖his‖songs‖in‖public‖houses’.‖Despite‖this‖disapproving‖summary,‖Grainge‖
is compelled‖to‖admit‖that‖Mather’s‖‘indelicate’‖songs‖form‖‘a‖correct‖
representation of the state of manners, morals, and political feelings of the
working‖classes‖in‖Sheffield‖during‖the‖latter‖half‖of‖the‖eighteenth‖century’‖(283).
Steven Kay and Jack Windle describe‖him‖as‖‘a giant of Sheffield history’,‖whose‖
songs‖and‖radicalism‖made‖him‖a‖local‖hero‖and‖‘the‖voice‖of‖the‖common‖person‖
in the turbulent, revolutionary times of the late eighteenth century’.‖His‖songs‖
were posthumously published as A Collection of Songs, Poems, Satires, &c.
(Sheffield, 1811). A later gathering, is a useful and wide-ranging source. Seditious
Things: The Songs of Joseph Mather, Sheffield’s Georgian Punk Poet, ed. Steven Kay
and Jack Windle (n.p. [?Sheffield], 2017), an inexpensive new edition, reprints the
1862‖material‖with‖its‖original‖footnotes‖(in‖the‖section‖called‖‘The Songs of Joseph
Mather’,‖37-138), adds a short section of uncollected songs (140-4), then reprints
from the 1862 edition a section of non-Mather Sheffield-related songs of the
period (144-84,‖here‖listed‖as‖‘Miscellaneous‖songs‖from‖the‖1862‖edition’);‖it‖also‖
offers a new introduction (preceding the original one). There is a selection of
Mather’s‖songs‖on‖Irish-born Sheffield folksinger Ray‖Hearne’s CD, The Songs of
Joseph Mather (Sheffield, 2016). ~ Ref: Newsam (1845), 96-7; Grainge (1868), I, 283-
4; W. H. G.‖Armitage,‖‘Joseph‖Mather:‖poet‖of‖the‖filesmiths’,‖Notes & Queries, 22
(July 1950); Vicinus (1969), 22-3, NCBEL II (1971); Lonsdale (1984), 788-91, 855n;
Hobday (1996), 61-83; Basker (2002), 411; biography at Sheffield Voices:
http://sheffieldvoices.group.shef.ac.uk/fgjmather.htm; inf. Yann Lovelock. See also
Jack‖Windle’s‖valuable writings on Mather, on his academia.edu page. [C18]
Mathieson, George S. (b. 1857), of Helmsdale, Sutherland, grandfather removed from
Sutherland in the clearances, father a shoemaker, he was a crofter and a book
delivery agent, published A Poetical Scroll Book. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 99-101.
[S]
Matthews, Alfred T. (b. c. 1860), of Broughton-Ferry,‖painter,‖bleacher’s‖son,‖worked‖
in a warping mill. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 270-8. [S]
Matthewson, James (b. 1846), ‘Dub-o’-Hass’,‖‘Dauvid‖Millhench’,‖of Dalbeattie,
granite hewer, published poems in Harper, in local papers (as ‘Dub-o’-Hass’‖and‖
‘Dauvid‖Millhench’);‖also‖published ‘Chronicles‖of‖a‖Galloway‖Peasant’‖in‖ten‖
 parts in the Kircudbrightshire Advertiser,‖and‖‘The‖Wife‖o’‖Powbraid’,‖published as
a serial in the Dalbeattie and Colvend Visitor’s Guide (1886). ~ Ref: Harper (1889),
242. [S]
Mauchline, James (b. 1817), of Gifford Park, Edinburgh, soldier poet. ~ Ref: Edwards,
14 (1891), 318-20 [S]
Maxwell, Alexander (1791-1859), of Dundee, cow herder, joiner, works manager. ~
Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 402-6. [S]
(?) Maxwell, George (b. 1832), of Dundee, shop-worker, book keeper. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 8 (1885), 399-403. [S]
Maxwell, James (1720-1800),‖‘Poet‖in‖Paisley’,‖Paisley weaver and poet, published a
great deal in both prose and verse, and has a total of 46 ESTC entries. His
publications include Divine Miscellanies; or Sacred Poems (1756/7); Hymns and
Spiritual Songs (1759); Animadversions on Some Poets and Poetasters of the Present Age
(1788); The Divine Origin of Poetry Asserted and Proved, The Abuse of it Reproved, and
Poetasters Threatened. To Which is Added a Meditation on May, or, The Brief History of
a Modern Poet. Two Moral Essays (Paisley, 1790); A Brief Narrative; or Some Remarks
on the Life of James Maxwell, Poet, in Paisley. Written by himself (1795). ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 14-26; Leonard (1990), 1-4; Keegan (2005), 482-5; ODNB; LC 2, 75-96.
[S] [T] [LC2] [C18]
(?) Maxwell, John, of York (fl. 1743-57), blind poet, author of poems published by
Thomas‖Gent‖(qv)‖including‖‘The‖Reflector:‖A‖Poem’‖(1743)‖and‖‘The‖Polite‖
Assemble,‖or‖the‖Charms‖of‖Solitude‖Displayed’‖(1757). ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), I,
207;‖briefly‖mentioned‖by‖Chris‖Mounsey‖in‖‘Thomas‖Gills:‖An Eighteenth-
Century‖Blind‖Poet‖and‖the‖Language‖of‖Charity’,‖in‖The Idea of Disability in the
Eighteenth Century, ed. Chris Mounsey (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press,
2014), 223-45 (242). [C18]
May, Henry (fl. 1761), day-labourer in Richmond Gardens,‖‘unlettered‖bard’,‖
published Poetic Essays (1761). ~ Ref: GM, January 1761, p. 55; Critical Review, 11
(January 1761), 75-6; British Magazine, 2, January 1761, 46; Scots Magazine, 23 (April
1761), 201; inf. Bill Christmas. [C18]

Maybee, Robert (1810-91),‖of‖the‖Scilly‖Isles,‖‘The‖Scillonian‖Poet’,‖son‖of‖a‖windmill‖

keeper whose mother who was also a poet; miscellaneous trader, oral poet
(unable to write himself, he had his poems transcribed by others). Maybee
worked as a trader of fruit, rags and bones, and broadsides, for selling which
without a licence he was prosecuted in 1857. He specialised in shipwreck
narratives, events that were common in the seas around the Isles then, and of
community-wide significance. As Ashton and Roberts put it (66), Maybee
‘regarded‖himself‖as‖a‖poet‖of‖record’,‖composing‖his‖verses‖swiftly‖after‖a‖
shipwreck and sending them off to Penzance to be printed. He also recited his
 own poems, perhaps as part of his sales patter. He published Sixty-eight Years’
Experience on the Scilly Islands (Penzance, 1884). ~ Ref: Wright (1896), 327-8;
Vincent (1981), 207; Burnett et al (1984), no. 502; Ashton & Roberts (1999), 65-9;
Marea‖Mitchell,‖‘Commanding‖Perspectives‖on‖the‖Isles‖of‖Scilly:‖Robert‖Maybee’s‖
Ballad‖of‖Sir‖Cloudesley‖Shovel’,‖Refereed Papers from the 2nd International Small
Islands Culture Conference, ed. Henry Johnson (2006), 93-103, online open-access
publication; LC 6, 325-38; ODNB. [LC6]
(?) Mayne, John (1759-1836), of Dumfries, printer, journalist, published The Siller
Gun: A Poem in Five Cantos (Edinburgh: Cadell, 1777); Hallowe'en (1780), and
poems in Glasgow Magazine, The Star, and the Gentleman's Magazine (1807-1817).
Libraries own manuscripts of several of his poems and letters, including:
‘Rosabell’‖(1806)‖at‖the‖National‖Library‖of‖Scotland,‖Edinburgh,‖and‖‘Sweet‖
sounds!‖I‖love‖to‖hear‖the‖parish‖bells’‖(sonnet)‖at‖the‖Hornby‖Library,‖Liverpool‖
City Libraries. ~ Ref: Glasgow Poets (1906), 64-89; Miller (1910), 160-67; Sutton
(1995), 638-9;‖‘Electric‖Scotland’‖web‖page; ODNB. [S]
(?) Mead, Edward (fl. 1841-4), ‘Commodore’,‖of Birmingham, popular Chartist
lecturer‖and‖poet,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Steam‖King’‖(Northern Star, 11 February 1843). ~
Ref: Kovalev (1956), 91-5; Ashraf (1978), I. 42-3; Maidment (1987), 41-2; Scheckner
(1989), 287-91, 341; Schwab (1993), 52-55, 207. [C]
(?) Meek, George (b. 1868), of Eastbourne, worker, songwriter and socialist, his father
a plasterer, his mother‖a‖Midland‖woman‖‘of‖a‖family‖of‖peasants’. Meek
organised Clarion (socialist choir) groups on the south coast in the late nineteenth
century. He published an autobiography, George Meek: Bath Chair Man (London:
Constable & Co, 1910), with an Introduction by H. G. Wells (second impression,
London: Constable, 1910). ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 505; Chris Waters, British
Socialists and the Politics of Popular Culture 1884-1914 (Redwood City, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1990).
Meek, Robert (b. 1836), of Leith, message boy, public weigher. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6
(1883), 209-13. [S]
(?) Mellor, John William (fl. 1869), Lancashire dialect poet, published Stories and
Rhymes (Manchester, 1869). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 309-10.
Mennon, Robert (1797-1885), of Ayton, Berwickshire, slater, plasterer and glazier,
later lived in London, published Poems: Moral and Religious (Edinburgh, ?1860,
?1885). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 130-6 and 9, xv; Crockett (1893), 133-6; Reilly
(1994), 322, Reilly (2000), 310. [S]
Menzies, George (1797-1847), of Arbuthnott, Kincardineshire, gardener, teacher,
editor. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 48-57. [S]
Menzies, John (b. 16 July 1811, fl. 1883), of Airntully, Kingclaven, ploughman, soldier
‘Late‖of‖the‖Forty-Fifth or First Nottinghamshire Regiment and Drill-Instructor of
the‖Stanley‖and‖Creiff‖Volunteers’,‖published Reminiscences of an Old Soldier
 (Edinburgh: Crawford & McCabe, 1883), which includes a substantial prose
autobiography. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 370-8; text via archive.org. [S]
Mercer, George (fl. 1860), of Liverpool, a labouring-class man who received a poor
education, and found himself unable to work, due to rheumatism. He published
Will Barton o’ the Mill, and Other Poems (London: Saunders & Otley, 1860). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 311.
(?) Merry, John (1756-1821), of Moulton,‖Northamptonshire,‖‘The‖Bard of Moulton
Mill’,‖miller, posthumously published Miscellaneous Pieces; in Verse (Bedford: C. B.
Merry, 1823). Merry was a good occasional poet. He wrote to John Clare (qv). ~
Ref: Hold (1989), 115-16; Johnson (1992), item 604; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 313; inf.
Bob Heyes.
(?) Messing, Stephen (fl. 1819-21), of Rutland,‖poet‖of‖humble‖origins‖(‘a plain
education‖in‖a‖country‖village’), published two collections, Rural Walks (1819), and
Poems on Various Subjects (1821). Messing has links with John Clare (qv), who
owned both his books (they‖are‖still‖in‖Clare’s‖library‖in‖Northamptonshire‖
Central Library), via the printer Drakard and the subscriber the Revd. Thomas
Mounsey, and Clare lists him as one of the local poets who have sprung up in his
area. ~ Ref: Powell (1964), item 300; Crossan (1991), 37; By Himself (1996), 187; inf.
Greg Crossan.
(?) Methven, James (b. 1832), of Glasgow, pedlar from an early age, a son of
wandering pedlars. With only six weeks of formal schooling, he spent most of his
life travelling. Methven published two volumes of poetry and an autobiography,
‘Adventures‖of‖An‖Author.‖Written‖by‖Himself’,‖The Commonwealth, Jan 3rd 1857.
He hawked his own books so the volumes mentioned in the sources will probably
have been chapbooks; Burnett et al describe his name as a pseudonym so these
poetry volumes may prove difficult to identify. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), no. 509.
[S]
(?) Metivier, George (1790-1881),‖‘The‖Guernsey‖Burns’ (Robert Burns, qv), wrote in
Gernésiais (Guernsey dialect poetry); published Rimes Guernesiaises, par un câtelain
(1831). ~ Ref: Wikipedia and online sources.
(?) Meyler, William (d. 1821), of Bath, printer, published Poetical Amusement on the
Journey of Life... (Bath, 1806); this volume contains‖an‖epilogue‖to‖Ann‖Yearsley’s‖
(qv) play Earl Godwin, reproduced with the Preface and other extracts on David
Radcliffe’s‖‘Spenser‖and‖the‖Tradition’‖web page. There are several business cards
and related images of Meyler and Son, printers of Bath, online, and Meyler
printed among other things Benjamin Gaites’‖(qv)‖volume,‖A Basket of Flowers.
John‖‘Brush’‖Collins‖(qv)‖dedicated his volumes Scripscrapologia to him in a
dedicatory‖poem‖that‖reveals‖among‖other‖things‖that‖‘Mr. Meyler‖once‖perform’d‖
Richard [i.e. the title role in Shakespeare’s‖Richard III] upon the Bath Stage, for a
Charity‖Benefit’. ~ Ref: Radcliffe; Johnson (1992), item 607.
(?) Millar, Agnes (fl. 1840),‖the‖daughter‖of‖a‖minister‖‘in‖reduced‖circumstances’;‖
published Essays, Moral and Religious (1840). ~ Ref: inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Millar,‖Thomas‖(b.‖1865),‖of‖Dunfermline,‖passenger‖guard’s‖son,‖upholsterer. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 11 (1888), 318-22. [S]
Miller, Hugh, the Elder (1802-56), stonemason, later a distinguished geologist. He
published Poems Written in the Leisure Hours of a Journeyman Mason (Inverness: R.
Carruthers, 1829). He also compiled his Miscellaneous Writings (includes poems,
essays, notes, drawings and exercises, and chapters 4-7‖of‖‘Scenes‖and‖legends‖of‖
the‖north‖of‖Scotland’;‖manuscript‖owned‖by‖the‖National‖Library‖of‖Scotland,
Edinburgh, which also has some notebooks and a number of letters); Scenes and
Legends of the North of Scotland, or the Traditional History of Cromarty (Edinburgh
and London, 1835). His‖wife‖Lydia‖Fraser‖(qv)‖authored‖children’s‖books. ~ Ref:
Peter Bayne, The Life and Letters of Hugh Miller (1871), two volumes; Wilson (1876),
II, 250-4; Edwards, 3 (1881), 312-18; Johnson (1992), item 610; Sutton (1995), 642-3;
DNB; NCSTC (58 entries). [S]
Miller, John (fl. 1754),‖surgeon’s‖mate,‖published Poems on Several Occasions: To Which
are Added Dramatic Epistles from the Principal characters of our Most Approved English
Tragedies (London: Robert Dodsley and others, 1754). The Preface is signed off
‘From‖on‖board‖his‖Majesty’s‖Ship‖Penzance‖Apr.‖1‖1754’,‖and‖the subscription list
includes many naval officers as well as surgeons and others, notably his main
publisher‖Robert‖Dodsley‖(qv).‖Poems‖include‖‘The‖Tempest’,‖‘The‖Wish’‖(after‖
Pomfret’s‖poem‖‘The‖Choice’),‖translations‖of‖Horace‖and‖imitations‖of‖Ovid. ~
Ref: ESTC; text via archive.org. [C18]
Miller,‖John‖(b.‖1840),‖of‖Goukha’ (now Gowkhall), near Dunfermline, Fifeshire,
builder and contractor. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 332-9. [S]
Miller, Thomas (1807-74),‖‘The‖Basket‖Maker’,‖of‖Gainsborough,‖later‖Nottingham,‖
basket-maker poet, novelist and miscellaneous writer, published an Elegy on the
Death of Lord Byron’s Mary (London and Nottingham, c. 1832); A Day in the Woods:
A Connected Series of Tales and Poems (1836); Poems (1841); Songs of the Sea Nymphs
(1832); A Day in the Woods (1836); Beauties of the Country (1837); Rural Sketches
(London, 1839), reviewed in the Nottingham-based literary journal Dearden’s
Miscellany, I (1839), 383-6 which‖describes‖it‖as‖a‖‘fit‖companion‖to‖William‖
Howitt’s‖Boy’s‖Country‖Book’; Our Old Town (1847); and at least five novels,
including what has been called a‖‘Chartist Robin‖Hood’‖novel,‖Royston Gower; Or
the Days of King John (1838). There is a triple ‘Sonnet‖to‖Thomas‖Miller,‖On‖
Reading‖His‖‚Day‖in‖the‖Woods‛’‖by‖H.‖G.‖Adams‖in‖Dearden’s Miscellany, II
(1839),‖635.‖Later‖in‖the‖same‖miscellany,‖in‖a‖review‖of‖the‖‘annual’,‖Friendship’s
Offering,‖Miller’s‖poem‖‘The‖Happy‖Valley’‖is‖praised‖and‖printed‖in full (IV
(1840), 939-41). ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 355-66; Thomas Cooper, The Life of Thomas
Cooper. Written by Himself (London, 1872); Hall (1873), 321-2, 377; Miles (1891), X,
 xiv; Cedric Bonnell, Thomas Miller (The Basketmaker), Poet—Novelist ([Nottingham:
privately printed, c.‖1904+),‖‘Lions‖of‖Lambkinville’‖series,‖no.‖11,‖reprinted‖from‖
the Nottingham Daily Express, 10, 17 and 24 June 1904; James (1963), 171; Cross
(1985), 127, 133-41; Maidment (1987), 141-43; Johnson (1992), item 611; Sutton
(1995), 643-4 (letters and prose); Ashton & Roberts (1999), 32-45; Stephen Basdeo,
‘The‖Chartist‖Robin‖Hood:‖Thomas‖Miller’s‖‚Royston‖Gower,‖or,‖The‖Days‖of‖
King‖John‛‖(1838)’,‖gesteofrobinhood.com, 4 August 2016; Edlin-White (2017),
170-1; Burmester, item 370; ODNB; LC 5, 89-106. [LC5]
Miller, Thomas (b. 1831), of Dunse, Berwickshire. His parents were both in service
with the Maitland family, the mother as a maid to Lady Maitland; the family
moved to Dunbartonshire and then to Glasgow during his childhood, where he
attended school to the age of nine, then began work as a herder, ‘herding‖cows‖in‖
a park off the Paisley Road—wages‖10s‖for‖six‖months’‖(Edwards). He then
worked as a tearer in a calico print works on two shillings a week, and then as a
messenger boy in a tailor and clothier’s‖establishment.‖The‖tailors ‘were all
Chartists, and the lad, when not otherwise engaged, had to read aloud the Irish
Chartist organ—The Northern Star, edited by the great‖agitator‖Feargus‖O’Connor’.‖
Edwards is keen to show‖that‖Miller,‖though‖only‖a‖‘lad’,‖was‖the‖‘only‖loyal‖
subject‖on‖the‖premises’,‖and‖swiftly‖moves‖his account on to the subject of the old
copy of Shakespeare that one of the men let Miller read,‖a‖‘pleasing‖relief to one of
his poetic temperament from‖the‖Chartist‖journal‖and‖‚The‖Life‖of‖Robert‖
Emmet‛’.‖Edwards‖seems unaware that there were poems as well as politics in
every number of the Northern Star, and among a company of Chartist tailors, one
of whom owned a copy of Shakespeare, it seems likely indeed that he would have
been asked to read some of them out. Miller also acquired an interest, presumably
through Shakespeare, in drama; and here Edwards is more alert. Miller, he says,
would‖have‖had‖to‖have‖satisfied‖himself‖with‖‘the‖legitimate‖drama‖as
represented‖by‖‚Messrs.‖Mumford‖&‖Dupain‛’.‖The‖reference is to two of the
‘geggies’‖that‖played‖in‖the‖Saltmarket‖in‖Glasgow.‖These‖are‖described‖by‖Paul‖
Maloney as ‘touring‖fit-up theatres constructed of canvas and wood, which visited
rural fairs with heavily cut-down versions of popular classics such‖as‖Rob‖Roy’.‖
He adds, ‘The‖most‖famous‖Saltmarket‖geggies‖were‖Dupain’s,‖Parry’s‖and‖
Mumford’s, which were housed in a wooden building that survived until the
early‖1900s.’‖(p.‖54) Edwards notes that the Theatre Royal admission was
sixpence, whereas the geggies were‖only‖a‖penny,‖‘and‖like‖many‖others‖in‖the‖
world‖he‖had‖to‖suit‖himself‖to‖circumstances’.‖Edwards has already aired at the
beginning of his headnote his strong disapproval of music‖hall’s‖vulgar humour,
setting against it Miller’s‖‘fine‖fresh‖spirit,‖and‖a‖racy‖appreciation‖of‖the‖
humorous—pawky and clever without being‖meaningless‖and‖vulgar’. So it
seems his‖subject’s‖attendance‖at‖the popular geggies is as embarrassing for
 Edwards as‖Miller’s reading out radical newspapers, and equally in need of
explaining away. This tells us, incidentally, that the principal source for so many
Scottish poets is also their policeman, anxious to keep them within the bounds of
gentility and apolitical worthiness. Yet he is also invaluable on the many details
he discovers, especially from interviews with the poets. Miller attended on‖‘four‖
occasions’‖(an example of such detail)‖‘Saturday Evening Concerts’ where he
heard‖Sam‖Cowell‖sing‖his‖‘Billy‖Barlow’,‖a‖key‖moment‖for‖a‖poet‖who‖himself‖
would adapt the song, to great success and popularity. ~ Miller’s‖family‖moved‖to‖
Edinburgh, and both parents soon afterwards died; their son was only thirteen.
Edwards says that he‖then‖had‖‘many‖ups‖and‖downs’, before becoming a
‘collector’‖in‖Edinburgh,‖i.e.‖‘a‖person‖delegated‖to‖collect‖money‖due‖or‖paid‖as‖
rent,‖tax,‖fine,‖alms,‖etc.’‖(DSL; Scots‖‘collectour’), at which he was still employed
in 1893. Crockett gives us a scene of discovery that tells us something more of
Miller’s‖early‖employment,‖though‖there‖are‖no‖dates‖given‖for‖this.‖‘Entering‖a‖
printer’s‖establishment’,‖he‖writes,‖‘he‖came‖much‖in‖contact‖with‖books‖and
readers,‖and‖a‖perusal‖of‖Shakespeare‖awakened‖in‖him‖the‖poetic‖fire’.‖He had
only recently begun to sign his work, Edwards notes, ‘even‖his‖initials’, on the
songs that he wrote and which had been popular for many years. As a result,
there were mis-attributions: Edwards instances the Edinburgh press giving his
song‖‘The‖Guid‖Auld‖Days’, sung by the singer and performer James Lumsden, as
being by ‘a‖humorous‖and‖genial‖old‖scholar‖of‖our‖University’. Yet his songs ‘are‖
sung in every theatre, music hall, and concert room throughout Scotland, and in
many‖parts‖of‖both‖England‖and‖Ireland’.‖The same James Lumsden had sung
them‖in‖Canada‖‘with‖the‖greatest‖success’,‖while‖the‖singer‖and‖entertainer‖R.‖S.‖
Pillans had taken them as far as Australia. Miller’s‖verses,‖signed‖‘T.‖M’,‖were
printed in The Scotsman, the Ladies’ Own Journal,‖and‖‘other newspapers’,‖and‖
Edwards includes four‖of‖them:‖‘My‖Heart‖Aye‖Warms‖to‖the‖Tartan’,‖‘Only‖a‖
Little‖Child’,‖‘Cushendall’,‖and‖the‖song‖mentioned‖above,‖‘The‖Guid‖Auld‖Days;‖
Or,‖When‖I‖Was‖a‖Lassie’; Murdoch prints two of these; Crockett one. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 5 (1883), 146-55; Murdoch (1883), 245-8; Crockett (1893), 248-9; Paul
Malony, Scotland and the Music-Hall, 1850-1914 (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 2003) p. 54; online sources. [S]
Miller, William (1797-1862),‖‘Radical‖Wull’,‖weaver‖from‖Airdrie,‖local‖leader‖during‖
1819-20‖agitation,‖voiced‖‘radical‖hopes’‖in‖his‖poem‖‘Aurora‖Borealis’. ~ Ref:
Knox (1930), 96-109; inf. Bridget Keegan. [S] [T]
Miller, William (1810-72), of Briggate, Glasgow, woodturner, cabinet-maker, popular
children’s‖poet,‖‘The‖Laureate‖of‖the‖Nursery’,‖author‖of‖the celebrated nursery
rhyme,‖‘Willie‖Winkie’ (‘Wee‖Willie‖Winkie’‖in‖the‖widely-known English
paraphrase), first published in Whistle-Binkie (1841). He began writing poems and
children’s‖songs‖as‖a‖young‖man,‖contributing‖to‖newspapers‖and‖periodicals.‖
 According to one source, Miller aspired to becoming a surgeon, but ill-health
prevented him from doing so. He died in poverty, aged 62, and was buried in the
Tollbooth in Glasgow. There is a memorial to him in the Glasgow Necropolis, and
since 2009 there has been a plaque on the wall of the brewery that stands where
his home once was. Miller published a collection, Scottish Nursery Songs and Other
Poems (Glasgow, 1863), with a dedication,‖‘To‖Scottish‖Mothers,‖gentle‖and‖
semple, these nursery songs are respectfully dedicated, not fearing that, while in
such keeping, they will ever be forgot’. Some of his poems are included in Wilson
(1876), and his work was posthumously collected as Willie Winkie and Other Songs
and Poems, ed. Robert Ford (1902). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 334-40; Edwards, 3
(1881), 142-7; Murdoch (1883), 33-8; Douglas (1891), 310; Glasgow Poets (1906), 301-
4; Ricks (1987), 98; Sutton (1995), 644; ODNB; Scottish Poetry Library website;
WorldCat. [S]
Millhouse, Robert (1788-1839), of Sneinton, Nottingham, stocking maker, ‘born‖in‖
poverty in Mole-Court, Milton Street and died in much the same condition at 32,
Walker‖Street,‖Sneinton’‖(Edlin-White); he was the second child in a family of ten,
put to work at six and set to a stocking-frame at ten, educated only through
Sunday school, spent time in the militia from 1810-14, posted to Dublin and
Plymouth, writing during this time his poem ‘Nottingham Park’, published in
Vicissitude: A Poem in Four Books; Nottingham Park; and Other Poems (Nottingham,
1821, and a later edition); his other volumes are: The Song of the Patriot, Sonnets and
Songs (1826); The Destinies of Man (London, 1832); Sherwood Forest and other poems
(London, 1827), the title poem of which paints Robin‖Hood‖‘as‖a‖Byronic‖hero’‖
(Collins); The Sonnets and Songs of Robert Millhouse, the Artizan Poet of Nottingham,
and the Burns [Robert Burns, qv.] of Sherwood Forest; with a Biographical Sketch of the
Author, ed. John Potter Briscoe (Nottingham, 1881). There‖is‖a‖‘Biographical‖
Memoir‖of‖Robert‖Millhouse’‖in‖Dearden’s Miscellany, I (1839), 300-303, which
prints‖his‖‘Sonnet:‖To‖a‖Redbreast’,‖303.‖~ Ref: Hall (1873), 302-7; William Hone,
The Table Book (London: William Tegg, 1878), 495-99; Mellors (1924); James (1963),
171-3; Collins (1969); Johnson (1992), items 612-16, 738; Sutton (1995), 644 (letters);
Edlin-White (2017), 172-3; Scott‖McEathron,‖‘Working‖Class‖Poetry‖and‖the‖Royal‖
Literary‖Fund’:‖Two‖Case‖Studies‖in‖Patronage’,‖in‖Goodridge‖&‖Keegan‖(2017),‖
149-75; Radcliffe; LC 4, 169-76; ODNB;
http://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com/2010/03/grave-of-poet-robert-millhouse-1788.html.
[LC4] [T]
Mills, Thomas (fl. 1830), published The Unlettered Muse (Hoxton: printed for the
author by F. Nicholls, 1830). ~ Ref: COPAC; inf. Scott McEathron.
(?) Milne, Alexander (b. 1869), of Aberdeen, of a working-class family, clerk. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 14 (1891), 141-3. [S]
(?) Milne, Christian (née Ross, 1773-after 1816), wife of a journeyman ship-carpenter,
of Footdee, Aberdeen, born in Inverness. Subsequent to the death of her mother
and eight of her siblings, Milne relocated to Edinburgh with her father, helping
him combat consumption and bouts of depression as well as supporting him
monetarily‖by‖working‖as‖a‖servant.‖Milne’s‖autobiographical‖introductory‖
sections and poems render a toilsome past from the refuge of a seemingly happy
marriage in Aberdeen, where she embraced her roles as a writer, as the wife of a
ship’s‖carpenter,‖Patrick‖Milne,‖and‖as‖the‖mother‖of‖four‖children.‖Her single
volume of poetry, Simple Poems on Simple Subjects (Aberdeen: J. Chalmers and Co.
1805), includes autobiographical poems, pacifist poems recast as ballad tales,
fictional narratives, and songs. Most of the poems take the form of pentameter
couplets,‖tetrameter‖couplets,‖or‖stanzas‖of‖‘common‖meter’,‖or‖hymn‖meter.‖
Poems‖such‖as‖‘The‖Inconstant‖Lover’‖and‖‘To‖Peace’‖dichotomise‖the‖pugnacious‖
claims of British imperialism and the pastoral harmony of Scotland, but the
precise‖nature‖of‖Milne’s‖anti-war politics—in some instances advancing a simple
jingoism, at other times being framed in personal, sentimental and domestic
terms—seems difficult to pin down without referring to the overall‖‘double-
voicedness’‖of‖her‖poetry.‖~ Ref: Jennifer Breen (ed.), Women Romantic Poets 1785-
1832: An Anthology (London: Dent, 1992); Johnson (1992), item 619; Jackson (1993),
219; Sales (1994), 266-7; Feldman (1997), 443-50; Kord (2003), 267-8; Kathryn S.
Meehan,‖‘‚When‖My‖Pen‖Begins‖to‖Run‛:‖Class,‖Gender,‖and‖Nation‖in‖the‖Poetry‖
of‖Christian‖Milne’,‖MA‖thesis,‖Florida‖State‖University,‖2004 (online); Meehan
(2008), 48-71; Bridget‖Keegan,‖‘‚The‖Mean‖Unletter’d—Female‖Bard‖of‖Aberdeen‛:‖
The Complexities‖of‖Christian‖Milne’s‖Simple Poems on Simple Subjects’,‖in‖Scottish
Women Poets of the Romantic period, online subscription publication. [—Iain Rowley]
[F] [S]
Milne, John (1792-1871), of Dunottar, Kincardineshire, orphaned son of a seaman,
shoemaker at Glenlivat, Banffshire, Aberdonian Postman, began producing songs
and poems in the 1820s. Blair quotes from his obituary (published in the People’s
Journal, 25 November 1871 along with a review of his recent volume): Milne
‘travelled‖about‖the‖country,‖like‖Homer‖of‖old,‖singing‖and‖reciting‖his‖own‖
poems,‖and‖selling‖them‖in‖broadsheets‖for‖the‖purpose‖of‖eking‖out‖a‖living’.‖
Milne published The Widow and Her Son (1830); The Widow and Her Son; or, the
runaway. A Borough Tale of 1782, in four cantos. With the Autobiography of the Author,
including his post office reminiscences for the greater part of thirty years, second edition
with notes and other miscellaneous productions (Aberdeen: J. Alexander, 1851)
and other volumes; Selections from the songs and poems of the late John Milne
(Aberdeen, 1871). Blair includes in her anthology an anonymous tributary poem
to‖Milne,‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖the‖Glenlivet‖Poet’,‖by‖‘M’,‖first‖published in the
People’s Journal,‖18‖February‖1871,‖and‖notes‖that‖much‖of‖his‖local‖poetry‖‘did‖not‖
 survive‖or‖was‖considered‖too‖scurrilous‖to‖print’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 362-7;
Reilly (2000), 315; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 189; Blair (2016), 95-6. [S]
[SM]
Milne, Robert Conway (b. 1859), ‘Captain‖Tom’,‖born at Kirkintilloch,
Dunbartonshire.‖The‖‘circumstance‖of‖his‖birth‖and‖early‖life‖were‖extremely‖
humble’‖(Edwards),‖and‖Milne had no memory of his father, but had early
memories of heavily patched clothes, and of his mother and himself struggling to
survive. He moved early in his life to‖Arbroath,‖‘round‖about‖the‖Round‖O’,‖i.e.‖
near Arbroath Abbey (cf. William Angus, qv), where he would settle. He entered
the Abbey Charity School at the age of nine, and received two years of schooling
there before‖beginning‖work‖as‖a‖‘bobbin laddie’‖in‖the‖spinning‖mill‖where‖his‖
mother worked, in Arbroath.‖He‖spoke‖positively‖of‖his‖employers’‖kindnesses,
and during this period began to write verses. He had pieces printed in the Dundee
Evening Telegraph, and later the Arbroath Herald, and the Arbroath Guide in which
he‖also,‖as‖‘Captain‖Tom’, wrote a popular‖column‖for‖children,‖‘The Kind Hearts
Brigade’. He became a sewing-machine dealer and an assistant registrar, and a
teacher and deacon in‖the‖church.‖Edwards‖prints‖two‖poems,‖‘Chit-chat by a
Little Kit-Cat’,‖in‖English‖and‖clearly aimed‖towards‖children,‖and‖‘Willy‖and‖
Frances’,‖in‖Scots. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 78-82. [S]
Milne, William (b. 1829), born at Little Haughmuir, Brechin, brought up at
Myrestone near Forfar until the age of eleven, attending the parish school at
Roscobie and then the village school at Lumanhead. When Milne was twelve his
father had left for England and he left school to work as a farm servant. In 1855 he
began working for the Scottish North Eastern Railway Company. Nine years later
he won a prize for an essay on improving the conditions of employees on the
railway. He went on to become the travelling representative and traffic agent for
one of the Clydeside shipping companies. Edwards records that he has ‘from‖time‖
to time, in the columns of various newspapers and periodicals, given the public
the‖benefit‖of‖his‖experiences’,‖but‖does‖not‖say‖anything about how the poems
were published, presumably through the same sort of outlet. He includes three
poems,‖one‖in‖Scots‖and‖two‖in‖English:‖‘Auld‖Jamie‖the‖Blacksmith’,‖‘In‖
Strathmore’,‖and‖‘Castle-Kennedy’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 277-81 [S] [R]
(?) Mitchard, G. (fl. 1889-1904),‖of‖Somerset,‖official‖of‖the‖Somerset‖Miners’‖
Association,‖author‖of‖‘Who‖Will‖Help‖Them?’‖(undated‖broadside,‖prob.‖c. 1904)
and‖likely‖author‖of‖‘The‖Miners’‖Song‖of‖Freedom’‖(‘As‖sung‖by‖the‖
Somersetshire Miners on strike, 1889’).‖The‖song‖is‖also‖marked‖‘composed‖by‖An‖
advocate‖of‖Right‖against‖Might’. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 282, 286, 361-2 notes. [M]
(?) Mitchell, Alexander (b. 1804) of Earlston, Berwickshire, self-taught businessman,
founded and chaired Dalkeith Scientific Association, published The English Lakes:
 An Excursion (Edinburgh, 1862; further editions‖with‖‘other‖poems’‖1873‖and‖
1888). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 317. [S]
(?) Mitchell, Alexander (fl. 1869),‖‘The‖Bridge‖of‖Dee‖Poet’,‖published Musings in
Verse, and a Sketch of the Author’s Life, by George Mitchell, Together with, Select poems,
by Alexander Mitchell, the Bridge of Dee Poet, second edition (Aberdeen, 1869). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 317. [S]
(?) Mitchell, David Gibb (b. 1863), of Glendye, Strachan, Kincardineshire, bracken-
cutter‖boy,‖fieldworker,‖railway‖clerk,‖studied‖at‖St.‖Andrew’s‖University. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 11 (1888), 33. [S] [R]
Mitchell, James (1866-1923), of Airdrie, a miner from the ages of twelve to 25, then in
poor health worked in National Telephone Company in Edinburgh, retiring to
Airdrie. He published poems in the Glasgow and Weekly Herald and the Airdrie
Advertiser, and Lyrical Poems (Airdrie: Baird & Hamilton, 1902), two volumes, and
The Warning Bell and other War Poems (Leith: George McKay, 1915). Both were well
received‖and‖‘had‖a‖large‖circulation’. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 272-5. [S] [M]
Mitchell, John (1786-1856), of Paisley, shoemaker, father of poets Jessie Mitchell
Taylor (qv) and John Struthers Mitchell (qv); published A Night on the Banks of the
Doon, and other poems (Paisley 1838); The Third Class Train, Respectfully Inscribed to
the Weavers of Paisley by a Third Class Man (Paisley, 1840); The Wee Steeple’s Ghaist,
and other Poems and Songs (Paisley: Murray and Stewart, 1840); A Braid Glower at
the Clergy by Ane not o’ Themsel’s (Glasgow, 1843); One Hundred Original Songs
(1845); Cautious Tam or How to Look a Foe in the Face (Paisley, 1847); My Grey Goose
Quill, and other Poems and Songs (1852);‖also‖wrote‖‘Nick’s‖Tour,‖or‖the‖Cobbler‖
Triumphant’,‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Celebration‖of‖Thomas‖Paine’s‖Birthday’. ~ Ref: Brown
(1889-90), I, 176-80; Leonard (1990), 124-56, 371; Johnson (1992), item 622; Johnson
46 (2003), no. 316; Grian Books web page, visited 7 July 2014. [S] [SM]
Mitchell, John (1807-45), of Aberdeen, but born in Peterborough, received only six
months schooling, worked as a shoemaker and was taught by his workmates, lost
a leg in an accident at the age of twenty. Mitchell was a Chartist, an opponent of
the Corn laws and a temperance advocate. He published two volumes, Poems,
Radical Rhymes, Tales etc. etc. (1840) and The Wreath of Temperance (1841). His poem,
‘The‖League‖of‖Crime’‖was‖published‖in‖the‖Chartist Circular, no. 44, Glasgow,
25th July 1840, p. 180,‖and‖‘The‖Vision‖of‖Famine‖(Part‖1)’‖in‖no.‖31,‖25‖April‖1840‖.
~ Ref: Schwab (1993), 207-8; Klaus (2013), 150-1. [S] [SM]
Mitchell, John Struthers (b. 1818), of Paisley, son of John Mitchell (qv, 1786-1856),
boot and shoemaker like his father, poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II,
107-11. [S] [SM]
Mitchelson, Alexander (b. 1849), of Dundee, ropemaker from the age of eight,
apprenticed as a pastry cook at 15. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 322-3. [S]
Mitford, John (1782-1831),‖‘Alfred‖Burton’,‖sailor,‖hired writer, journalist who lived
hand-to-mouth. Scott McEathron in LC4 notes how much of a double-edged
sword was his involvement with his distant cousins the Mitfords of Mitford
Castle, Northumberland. It won him a berth in the navy but got him into
significant legal trouble, more evidence, perhaps, of the perils of aristocratic
patronage:‖‘Viscountess Perceval ... retained Mitford in 1811 as a hired pen in
defence of the embattled Princess of Wales, but then eventually sued Mitford for
perjury, fearing that the writings would be traced to her. The fact that Mitford had
been committed to Whitmore House, a lunatic asylum at Hoxton, for some nine
months in 1812‐13, and had been released at‖the‖Viscountess’s‖behest,‖may‖have‖
given her a sense of safety in this betrayal; but because Mitford was able to
produce correspondence proving the original arrangement, he was acquitted in
February‖1814’‖(LC4).‖He‖was‖discharged‖from‖the‖navy‖and‖‘took‖to‖journalism‖
and‖strong‖drink’‖(DNB). Mitford published Poems of a British Sailer (1818), A Peep
into W—r Castle, after the lost mutton. A poem. (London: 1820); and My Cousin
in the Army (c. 1825); and under his pseudonym Alfred Burton, The Adventures of
Johnny Newcome in the Navy, a Poem in Four Cantos (1818, second edition 1819). ~
Ref: John Mitford, The Important Trial of John Mitford on the prosecution of
Viscountess Perceval for perjury (London: T.A. Phipps, 1814); Sketches of Obscure
Poets (London: Cochrane and McCrone, 1833), pp. 91‐101; John Wade, British
history, chronologically arranged, ‘Annual Obituary, 1831’, third edition (London:
Henry G. Bohn, 1844); DNB/ODNB; LC 4, 125-38. [LC4]
Mitford, or Midford, William (1788-51), of Preston, North Shields, orphan,
‘Shoemaker‖in‖the‖Back‖Row‖Newcastle’,‖publican,‖songwriter‖(‘singing‖landlord’,‖
Harker). His songs‖include‖‘Cappy’,‖‘The‖Pitman’s‖Courtship’.‖There‖are‖eleven of
his songs in The Budget or Newcastle Songster (Newcastle upon Tyne: Marshall,
1816). ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 132-6; Ashraf (1975), 124-6; Harker (1999), 87-92, 98-103;
family history posting by his descendant Fee Mitford, 2004:
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NORTHUMBRIA/2004-
07/1088963038. [SM]
Moir, William‖R.‖(b.‖1842),‖‘William‖Armour’,‖of‖Bridgefoot‖of‖Ironside,‖
Aberdeenshire, draper, cashier, published a monthly Poetical Portfolio, fiction and
poetry. A‖poem‖entitled‖‘Song‖of‖Songs’‖by‖‘W.‖R.‖Moir,‖Kirkburn‖Mills,‖
Peterhead’,‖included‖in‖Poems by the People (1869), 9-10, may perhaps be by the
same man. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 61-6. [S] [T]
Mollison, James (fl. 1901), working-class poet, author of Poems (Paisley: Alexander
Gardner, 1901). ~ Ref: Grian Books catalogue, 6 July 2006; NTU. [S] [OP]
(?) Monaghan, James (b. 1862), of Delvin, County Westmeath, emigrated to new
Jersey, USA, in 1887, where he worked on the Central Railway. He wrote poetry
prolifically from 1882 onwards, and a number of his poems were published in
 Young Ireland, the Dublin Weekly News, and elsewhere. he is included in Emerald
Gems (Dublin, 1885). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 312. [I]
Montgomery, James (1771-1854), of Ayrshire and Ulster, settled in Sheffield. A poet,
he also worked as baker, and a radical editor; he associated with Methodists, and
was an acquaintance and correspondent of Robert Bloomfield (qv), John Clare
(qv), and Robert Southey, among many others (for Montgomery appears to have
been a prolific letter-writer), A prolific writer and editor, he has 112 NCSTC
entries, and numerous items, including more than thirty poems or poem
collections, in Sutton (1995) (see further in manuscript materials in the referencing
section, below. Important publications are: The Wanderer of Switzerland, and Other
Poems (London, 1806); The West Indies and Other Poems (1810); The World before the
Flood, A Poem, in Ten Cantos; with Other Occasional Pieces (London, 1813; Greenland
(1819); The Pelican Island (1826); The Ocean (1805); The Wanderer of Switzerland and
other Poems (1806), which received high praise from Southey and Byron; and
Montgomery also contributed to the Eclectic Review. Two of his poems are
included in Dearden’s Miscellany (1839),‖‘Massacre‖of‖the‖Innocents,‖from‖the‖Latin‖
of‖Prudentius’,‖I,‖12,‖and‖‘Closet‖Prayer’‖I,‖137. Hall reproduces his memorial ode
‘Robert‖Burns‖(‘What‖bird‖in‖beauty,‖flight,‖or‖song’)‖written‖for‖one‖of‖the‖
anniversaries of Robert Burns (qv), describing‖it‖as‖‘one‖of‖the‖finest‖touches‖of‖its‖
kind’‖(149).‖A useful modern reprint of one of his major works is Verses to the Late
Richard Reynolds of Bristol and The World before the Flood, A Poem, in Ten Cantos; with
other Occasional Pieces (1816; 1813), with an Introduction by Donald H. Reiman
(New York: Garland, 1978). ~ Ref: Cunningham (1834), 62-5; Memoirs of the Life and
Writings of James Montgomery: including Selections from his Correspondence, Remains
in Prose and Verse and Conversations on Various Subjects, ed. John Holland and James
Everett (London, 1856), seven volumes; Howitt (1858), 556-77; Hall (1873), 147-54;
Holroyd (1873), 18-20, 114-15; Wilson (1876), I, pp 485-98; Miles (1891), X, 1;
William Odom, Two Sheffield Poets: James Montgomery and Ebenezer Elliott
(Sheffield, 1929); James (1963), 171; Powell (1964), item 153 (this lists the copy of
Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820), presented to Montgomery by its
author,‖John‖Clare‖(qv)‖and‖now‖kept‖with‖Clare’s‖surviving‖library‖in
Northampton); Jarndyce (1980), items 1446-57; Cross (1985), 142; Johnson (1992),
items 49, 115, 149, 451, 470, 608, 626, 637, 738, 748, 766, 937; Sutton (1995), 655-6;
Goodridge (1999), item 78; Meyenberg (2000), 217; Basker (2002), 611-16; Joselyn
M. Almeida,‖‘Conquest‖and‖Slavery‖in‖Robert‖Southey’s‖Madoc and James
Montgomery’s‖The West Indies’,‖in‖Robert Southey and the Contexts of English
Romanticism, ed. Lynda Pratt (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), 151-66; Sam Ward,
‘Montgomery,‖Southey,‖and‖The World Before the Flood’,‖The Wordsworth Circle, 42,
no. 1 (2011), 85-9; Derbyshire R.O. (papers of Montgomery); James Montgomery
 Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale
University. DNB/ODNB; LION; NTU. [S] [I]
(?) Montgomery, John Wilson (?1835-1911),‖‘The‖Sweet‖Bard‖of‖Bailieborough’,‖of‖
Billis,‖County‖Cavan,‖farmer’s‖son,‖police‖officer,‖master‖of‖the‖Bailieborough‖
workhouse, County Cavan, published Rhymes Ulidian (Downpatrick, 1877),
Fireside Lyrics (Downpatrick, 1887). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 332, Reilly (2000), 320-1. [I]
Mooney, John (b. 1862), from a family of itinerant rag-gatherers, agricultural clerk,
published Songs of the Norse, and Other Poems (Kirkwall, 1883). ~ Ref: Edwards, 10
(1887), 135-9. [S]
Moor, T. (fl. c. 1824), of Denton Chare, Newcastle upon Tyne, shoemaker, singer and
songwriter, wrote the folk-song‖‘The‖Skipper’s‖Dream’‖(c. 1824), described by
Wikipedia as an anti-Catholic song likely responding to the fear of the influx of
Irish workers to the north-east in the early nineteenth-century:‖‘In‖the‖song‖a‖
Tyneside‖skipper,‖having‖fallen‖into‖a‖drunken‖sleep,‖is‖tempted‖to‖‚turn‖Papist‛,‖
with‖caustic‖comments‖about‖the‖forgiving‖of‖sins‖for‖money.’‖~‖Ref:‖Allan‖(1891),‖
312-13; Wikipedia. [SM]
(?) Moorcock, Rachel (1829-70), of Lane End, Bucks., attended Methodist Sunday
school, suffered from poor health, her poems posthumously published in Memoirs
of Joseph, Sarah and Rachel Moorcock, by Benjamin North, with the poetical works of
Rachel Moorcock (London, 1872). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 317. [F]
(?) Moore, Dugald (1805-41), of Glasgow, of humble parentage, apprenticed to a
stationer, became a bookseller, published The African, and Other Poems (1829), The
Bridal Night and other Poems (1831), and The Bard of the North, a Series of Poetical
Tales, Illustrative of Highland Scenery and Character (1833), and several other
volumes. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 267-9; Glasgow Poets (1906), 276-80; Sutton (1995),
659 (letters); ODNB. [S]
(?) Moore, Jane Elizabeth (b.‖1738),‖a‖clerk‖in‖her‖father’s‖business, involved with
freemasons. She contributed poems to the Sentimental and Masonic Magazine (1792-
5); published Miscellaneous Poems, on Various Subjects (1796, by subscription;
second edition 1797). ~ Ref: Carpenter (1998), 530; ODNB. [F]
Moorhouse, William Vincent (b. 1796, fl. 1828), published The Thrasher [= thresher] and
Other Poems (Wellington, Shropshire: Houlston & Son, 1828) by subscription, for
the benefit of the author who, aged twenty, lost his left‖hand‖by‖the‖‘bursting‖of‖a‖
gun’.‖The dedication is to the Duke of Devonshire, there is a very large list of
subscribers, and the title poem rather blatantly plagiarises Stephen‖Duck’s‖(qv)‖
‘The‖Thresher’s‖Labour’‖(1730), though I have found no evidence of anyone
having noticed this. ~ Ref: Jarndyce (1980), item 1460 and 1460 (image); Johnson
(1992), item 634; Charles Cox, catalogue 73 (2018), no, 129; inf. Gary Harrison.
Moran, Michael (d. 1846),‖‘Zozimus’,‖of‖Dublin,‖of‖poor‖parents,‖blind‖from‖infancy,
beggar‖and‖versemaker,‖a‖‘celebrated‖character‖in‖Dublin‖known‖as‖‚Zozimus‛,‖
 who‖used‖to‖recite‖in‖the‖Dublin‖streets’‖(O’Donoghue).‖His‖recitations‖were‖
popular,‖especially‖Whiskey‖and‖Water’,‖and‖‘The‖Birth‖of‖Moses’,‖and‖his‖chief‖
recitation‖was‖the‖‘St.‖Mary‖and‖Zozimus’‖of‖Bishop‖Antony‖Coyle.‖He‖died‖on‖3‖
April 1846, at his lodgings at 15 Patrick Street, Dublin, aged 43, and is buried in
Glasnevin cemetery. ~ Ref: Memoir of the Great Original Zozimus,‖by‖‘Gulielmus‖
Dublinensis‖Humoriensis’‖(Joseph‖Tully?) (Dublin: Joseph Tully, 1871), 34 pp;
O’Donoghue (1912), 319. [I]
(?) Morgan, John (fl. 1733), tailor?, published A Poem on the Taylor Craft: Shewing the
Arise thereof from the first Creation of the World, and Progress ever since. Wherein the
Greatness, Exquisiteness, Excellency sand Antiquity of said trade is Handle. Divided into
eight sections, shown from various texts of scripture. ... By J. M. a well-wisher of the said
incorporations (Edinburgh: Robert Brown, 1733), pp. 41. ~ Ref: Foxon (1975), M445;
COPAC (copy in NLS); not on ECCO. [S] [T] [C18]
(?) Morgan, John (b. ?1790s, d. after 1876), of Plymouth, apparently of humble
origins, important broadside balladeer and stationer who eked a scant living from
poetry balladry in London from the 1830s, working for Catnach; later interviewed
by Mayhew and by Charles Hindley. He died in poverty. ~ Ref: Hepburn (2001), I,
49-54; Boos (2002a), 207.
Morgan, William (1808-78), ‘Gwilym‖Gellideg’,‖of Carmarthen, coal miner at
Gellideg, Merthyr Tydfil, poet and musician; published Cerbyd yr Awen (1846). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Morison, Joseph (b. 1838), of Londonderry, of Scottish parentage, worked as a joiner
in Glasgow. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 45-8. [S] [I] [M]
Morley, Thomas (fl. 1801),‖described‖in‖a‖review‖as‖a‖‘plebeian‖satirist’,‖chastised‖for‖
his critique of the upper-classes, and linked to Stephen Duck and John Banks
(qqv); published The Mechanic (Southampton, 1801; second edition with additions
London). ~ Ref: Monthly Review, 37 (February 1802), 212; inf. William Christmas.
(?) Morris,‖Andrew‖(b.‖1842),‖‘Amos’,‖of‖Shott’s‖Iron‖Works,‖West‖Lothian,‖miner’s‖
son, published in the West Lothian Courier as‖‘Amos’. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 217-25;
Edwards, 12 (1889), 401-5. [S]
Morris, David or Dafydd (1744-91), of Lledrod, Cardiganshire, a drover, later a
hymn writer and Calvinistic Methodist preacher; published his hymns as Cân y
Pererinion Cystuddiedig (1773). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [C18]
Morris, Edward, (1607-89), of Perthillwydion near Cerrig-y-Drudion in Denbighsire,
farmer and cattle-drover; wrote in Welsh and spoke English; friend of Huw
Morys, who among others wrote an elegy to him; published many carol poems
(often in the three-beat measure) as well as traditional strict meter poetry, in
accomplished‖imitation‖of‖the‖old‖masters.‖He‖wrote‖many‖‘tender‖and‖
melodious’‖love‖songs,‖which‖the‖OCLW calls‖‘among‖the‖best‖of‖their‖kind’.‖His‖
prolific output of carols shows that he embraced free meter canu rhydd poetry
 popular in the day, although according to the ODNB, Morris‖‘became‖one‖of‖the‖
greatest practitioners of strict-meter‖poetry’,‖deftly‖wielding‖Welsh‖conventions‖of‖
cymeriad and cynghanedd in his strict-metre poems. He published [English titles are
translations+‖Carols:‖‘A‖Consideration‖of‖man’s‖manner‖of‖life,’‖‘The‖world’s‖
judgment‖between‖rich‖and‖poor’,‖‘A‖carol‖against‖the‖frequenting‖of‖taverns’,‖
‘Carol‖Ciwpid’‖*‘Cupid’s‖Carol’+,‖‘A‖carol‖to‖send‖the‖summer‖to‖his‖beloved’;‖a‖
translation‖of‖J.‖Rawlet’s‖Christian Monitor into Welsh, as Y rhybuddiwr
Christnogawl (1689; second edition, 1699; third edition, 1706; two more editions).
He was buried in Essex. ~ Ref: Parry (1955), 225-226; OCLW (1986); ODNB. [W]
[C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Morris, Eliza Fanny (1821-74),‖of‖East‖London,‖tailor’s‖daughter,‖poet and hymn-
writer, married a schoolmaster, Josiah Morris, in 1849; lived in Oxford and
Malvern, published The Voice and the Reply (Worcester and London, 1858); Life
Lyrics (London and Worcester, 1866); and posthumously, The Life and Poems of
Eliza F. Morris, edited by her husband (London and Malvern, 1876). [Note: Reilly
says‖that‖this‖volumes‖was‖‘written‖and‖edited’‖by‖her‖husband’:‖presumably‖she‖
means the life was written by him rather than the whole volume.] Morris won a
prize‖from‖the‖Band‖of‖Hope‖for‖a‖poem‖on‖‘Kindness‖to‖Animals’.‖She‖also‖
‘edited‖a‖Bible Class Hymn Book and contributed the words to School Harmonies,
published‖by‖her‖husband’‖(hymnary.org). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 324; hymnary.org;
COPAC. [F]
Morris, Thomas Linwell (fl. 1801), helmsman or pilot in the Royal Navy who
described‖himself‖as‖‘a‖rude‖unletter’d‖seaman’,‖published The Daneid: An Epic
Poem, in Four Books, Written on His Majesty’s Ship La Desiree (Newcastle: Printed by
E. Walker, sold by the widow of the author, 1803?),‖a‖‘patriotic‖yet‖detailed‖
narrative‖of‖the‖events‖leading‖up‖to‖the‖battle’‖with‖‘meticulously‖detailed‖
footnotes’. ~ Ref: Pickering & Chatto ‘new acquisitions’ email, 2015; inf. Bob
Heyes.
Morrison, David H. (1824-72),‖of‖Airdrie,‖Lanarkshire,‖‘The‖Moffat‖Bard’,‖‘The‖Bard‖
of‖Caldervale’,‖had no formal education and was a weaver from the age of ten, a
miner at fifteen, worked in the Moffat Paper Mills and later Caldervale Printing
Works.‖His‖poem‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Caldervale’‖,‖was‖published in the People’s Journal,
10 August 1867 and reprinted by Blair (he signs himself as a Night-Watchman of
Caldervale, by Airdrie); his poetry was widely published in the local papers and
encouraged by this he published Poems and songs (Airdrie: Baird & Hamilton,
Advertiser Office, 1870), which includes an autobiographical sketch. Blair notes
that his newspaper verses included exchanges with Ellen Johnston and John
Pettigrew (qqv). ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 290-2; Reilly (2000), 325; Blair (2016), 70-71. [S]
[T] [M]
(?) Morrison, James (b. c. 1800), of Newcastle upon Tyne, painter (nephew of the
eminent self-taught missionary and scholar Dr Morrison) and songwriter, author
of‖‘The‖Newcastle‖Noodles’‖and‖‘Burdon’s‖Address’,‖moved‖to‖Edinburgh‖in‖1830.
~ Ref: Allan (1891), 198-202; Colls (1977), pp. 34, 35, 37, 68.
(?) Morton,‖Jessie‖D.M.‖(b.‖1824),‖of‖Dalkeith,‖Midlothian,‖bookseller’s‖daughter,‖
shopkeeper, published Clarkson Gray, and other poems (Edinburgh, 1866, second
edition London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1867). Modern‖sources‖give‖Morton’s‖
birth date as about 1824, Murdoch about 1825; Reilly has 1842, but it seems likely
in this case the last two digits were accidentally transposed.~ Ref: Edwards, 1
(1880), 353-5; Murdoch (1883), 337-43; Bold (1997), 250; Reilly (2000), 326. [F] [S]
Morton, Thomas (b. 1861), of Edinburgh, gardener. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 105-10.
[S]
Morus (Morris, Morys), Huw, (1622-1709), ‘Eos‖Ceiriog’,‖of Pontymeibion, Llansilin,
Denbighshire; apprentice tanner, farmer and poet; wrote cywyddau and profuse
carols; most prolific Welsh poet of the seventeenth century; staunch Royalist,
critical‖of‖leading‖Welsh‖Puritans.‖Morus’s‖poetry‖gives‖important‖insight‖into‖the‖
daily life and customs of common Welsh people in his time. Bell spends many
pages tracing his mastery of strict-metre poetry and showing the influence of old
masters‖on‖even‖Morus’s‖carols. He published Eos Ceiriog, sef casgliad o bêr
ganiadau Huw Morys, ed. Walter Davis (Gwallter Mechain), two volumes (1823). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Mowat, George Houston (b. 1846), of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, tailor, poet and
songwriter. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 110-16. [S] [T]
Muir, Hugh (b. 1846), of Edinburgh, coalminer, bobbin-turner, musician, published
Hamely echoes from an auld town [poems] (Glasgow, 1899); Reminiscences and
sketches: being a topographical history of Rutherglen and suburbs (Glasgow, 1890). ~
Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 174-9; Reilly (1994), 341; NTU. [S] [M]
Muir, Janet Kelso (?1840-88), of Glasgow, orphaned, lived most of her life in
Kilmarnock. She was educated to the age of eleven, then employed in a millinery
shop, and later began a millinery business of her own. She published Lyrics and
poems of nature and life (Paisley and London, 1878). There is an advert for this in
the back of Agnes Mabon’s‖volume‖(qv).‖Her‖poems‖include‖‘The‖Lone‖
Churchyard’, ‘The‖Ruined‖Mill’,‖‘Old‖Letters’,‖and‖‘Sabbath‖Bells’. ~ Ref: Edwards,
2 (1881), 381-4 and 12, xx-xxi; Reilly (2000), 329; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Muir, William (1766-1817), journeyman saddler, published Poems on Various Subjects
(Edinburgh, 1818), died in a fall; monument raised at the churchyard at Clachan
of Campsie. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 49-51; Macleod (1889), 266-6; Johnson (1992),
item 641. [S]
Mullan, Luke (b. c. 1766), weaver and poet, freemason, brother-in-law of prominent
United‖Irishman,‖weaver‖and‖autobiographer‖James‖‘Jemmy’‖Hope‖(1764-1847),
 correspondent of Samuel Thomson (qv) and member of his circle; emigrated to
Britain. ~ Ref: Jennifer‖Orr,‖‘To‖Mr‖Robert‖Burns [qv]: Verse Epistles from an Irish
Poetical‖Circle’,‖in‖Burns Lives! (undated online publication on the Electric Scotland
web page); Jennifer Orr, ‘Constructing‖the‖Ulster‖Labouring-Class Poet: The Case
of‖Samuel‖Thomson’,‖in‖Blair & Gorji (2012), 34-54, and Jennifer Orr (ed.), The
Correspondence of Samuel Thomson (1766-1816): Fostering an Irish Writers’ Circle
(Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012); Orr (2015), 9, 45, 51, 67 (his name is not
indexed). [I] [T]
Mulligan, Hugh (fl.‖1788),‖of‖Liverpool,‖born‖in‖Ireland‖(a‖‘transplanted‖Irishman‖
and‖Liverpool‖resident’,‖Dellarosa,‖143),‖engraver,‖editor‖and‖poet,‖friend‖of‖
William Roscoe and Edward Rushton (qqv), fellow radical, and a significant
member of the group of abolitionist poets active in Liverpool in the early
Romantic period. He co-edited with Rushton a newspaper whose radical
sympathies may have got it rather swiftly closed down (Dellarosa 11), and he
published a significant volume of verse, Poems, Chiefly on Slavery and Oppression
(London,‖1788),‖which‖gathers‖in‖his‖‘cycle‖of‖powerful‖Eclogues’‖(Dellarosa,‖9n,‖
143, 147-50;‖cf.‖Thomas‖Chatterton’s‖*qv+‖‘African‖Eclogues’,‖and‖other‖poems‖of‖
the‖period‖in‖the‖same‖genre).‖O’Donoghue‖notes‖that‖Mulligan‖was‖‘one‖of‖the‖
first to‖denounce‖the‖slave‖trade’,‖citing‖the‖Liverpool Daily Post for July 1891. ~
Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 323; Nini Rodger, Ireland, Slavery and Antislavery
(Houndmills: Palgrave, 2007), 232-9; Franca Dellarosa, Talking Revolution: Edward
Rushton’s Rebellious Poetics 1782-1814 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,
2014);‖Elena‖Spandri,‖‘‚Can‖fancy‖add‖one‖horror‖more?‛:‖Radical‖Sympathy‖in‖
Hugh‖Mulligan’s‖Eclogues‖against‖the‖Empire’,‖La Questione Romantica, 8, nos. 1-2
(2016), 31-48. [I]
Murdoch, Alexander G., Sandy (?1840s-1891),‖of‖Glasgow,‖‘by‖trade‖a‖working‖
engineer’‖who‖had‖‘the‖disadvantage‖of‖a‖scanty‖education’‖(Wilson),‖later‖a‖full-
time writer, published Lilts in the Doric Lyre: A Collection of Humorous Poems and
Versified Sketches of Scottish Manners and Character (1872); The Laird’s Lykewake, and
Other Poems, with an introductory preface by George Gilfillan (London, 1877);
Rhymes and Lyrics (Kilmarnock: James McKie, 1879); an important anthology, The
Scottish Poets Recent and Living (Glasgow and London, 1883); Scotch Readings,
Humorous and Amusing, Fifth Edition (Glasgow and London: Thomas D. Morison,
and Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1895). Blair reprints his poems ‘The‖Thistle‖Yet!’
and‖‘The‖Song‖of‖the‖Clyde‖Workers’, first published in the People’s Friend, 20
December 1886 and 3 January 1883. His‖poem,‖‘Lost‖Lilias,‖A‖Christmas‖Legend’‖is‖
included in Poems by the People (1869), 11-12 (giving his address as 57 Taylor
Street, Glasgow). The sources vary on his birth year. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 532-3;
Edwards, 1 (1880), 177-84 and 16, [lix]; Murdoch (1883); Glasgow Poets (1906), 422-
26; Reilly (2000), 330; Blair (2016), 204-6, 217-19; NTU. [S]
Murdoch, James (b. 1806), of Elgin, Morayshire, son of a butcher and a servant,
herder, packman, itinerant cutler and poet, published The Autobiography and Poems
of James Murdoch, known as ‘Cutler Jamie’ (Elgin, 1863). ~ Ref: Vincent (1981), 199,
207; Burnett et al (1984), 527; Reilly (2000), 330-1. [S]
Murdoch, William (b. 1822 or 1823), of Paisley, son of a shoemaker, trained as one
and went to night school, started writing poems aged 16, active member of
Literary‖and‖Convivial‖Association,‖‘whose‖weekly‖meetings‖were‖attended‖by‖
local versifiers, debaters, humorists, and other literati, all belonging to the well-to-
do working classes. William Murdoch’s‖place‖of‖business‖became‖a‖rendezvous‖of‖
many‖gifted‖men‖like‖himself.’‖Pieces‖appeared‖in‖local‖newspapers‖and‖were‖
signed‖under‖name‖of‖‘Chodrum’‖(his‖name‖reversed), went to Canada, published
Poems and Songs (1860; enlarged second edition 1872). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 441-
4; Brown (1889-90), II, 174-79; NTU. [S] [SM]
(?) Murdock, John (fl. 1885),‖of‖Portarlington,‖Queen’s‖County,‖telegraph‖clerk,‖
contributed poems to Young Ireland, Weekly Irish Times and other periodicals, and
published a collection, Joy Hours, or Poems, Essays, and Lyrics (1885). Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 325. [I]
Murie, George (b. 1845), of Calder Braes, Monkland, the son of a miner, who himself
became a miner at the age of twelve. The family moved when he was five to a
place‖of‖their‖own‖near‖Airdrie,‖the‖‘woods‖surrounding‖the‖home‖of‖the‖young‖
poet surpassing to his mind all others, for there his thoughts were first uttered in
rhyme’,‖as‖Edwards‖rather romantically puts it. After some years as a miner,
Murie went to America, saved some money, and after returning home to a further
spell of mining, became a draper, which he still was in 1893. His early poems were
often love poems, and after a quiet spell he resumed writing ‘regularly,‖and‖with‖
much‖acceptance,‖for‖the‖Glasgow‖and‖other‖newspapers’. Edwards notes the
range of his verse-forms‖and‖the‖‘gentle‖spirit‖visible‖in‖every‖line’,‖and‖prints‖
four‖of‖his‖poems,‖‘Time’,‖‘The‖Skylark’,‖‘Put‖It‖Through‖Again’,‖and‖‘Our‖Candy‖
Man’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 264-71 [S] [M]
Murison, Alexander (b. 1859), of Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, shoemaker, spent two
years in Australia, returned from poor health. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 311-17. [A]
[S] [SM]
(?) Murphy, Henry (fl. 1790), of Dublin, blind from the age of five, brother-in-law to
Abraham‖Newland,‖‘a‖well‖known‖Dublin‖merchant’‖who‖appears‖on‖his‖
subscription list. He published The Conquest of Quebec. An Epic Poem. In eight books
(Dublin: Printed for the Author by W. Porter, 1790). ~ Ref: Croft & Beattie, II, 62
(item 212); ESTC. [I] [C18]
(?) Murphy, Katharine Mary (1840-1885), of Ballyhooley, County Cork, daughter of a
coal merchant whose business failed; after this she opened a shop and wrote for
the Irish papers, contributing to the Cork Examiner, The Nation (including her often
 reprinted‖poem‖‘Sentenced‖to‖Death’),‖Sharp’s London Magazine, Young Ireland, and
‘some‖American‖publications’.‖~‖Ref:‖Colman‖(1996)‖1656-6. [F] [I]
Murphy, Michael John (b. 1863), of Waterford, was taken to America in 1865. After
leaving school, he became a blacksmith, He had a good voice, though, and was
able to join an operatic company, performing in concerts in New York when he
was still only about twenty, and travelling all over the States as the principal
baritone of American operatic companies, as the manager of several dramatic
troupes, and as an actor in a number plays. He also successfully wrote his own
plays,‖including‖‘The‖Rat-catcher‖of‖Hamelin’,‖‘The‖Rose‖of‖Connaught’,‖‘The‖
Doctor’,‖and‖‘Shawn‖O’Dheer’. Murphy wrote many articles, poems, and stories,
chiefly on Irish themes (he was well-versed in the Irish language), for the Irish-
American and American Press, and translated poetry from German, Danish, and
Hungarian writers. He published a collection of The National Songs of Ireland, with
music (Chicago, 1899). Ref: ~ O’Donoghue (1912), 329. [I] [US]
Murray, Alick (b. 1856), of Peterwell, Aberdeenshire, gardener, published Poems
(Edinburgh: Bishop & Collins, 1885). ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 213-17; Reilly
(1994), 343. [S]
Murray,‖David‖Scott‖(b.‖1853),‖of‖Selkirk,‖shoemaker’s‖son,‖insurance‖agent,‖
published in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 354-8. [S]
Murray, George (1819-59), of Peterhead, shoemaker poet who set up the Union
Industrial Schools in Peterhead, published Islaford and Other Poems (London and
Aberdeen, 1845); Literary Remains of George Murray. With Sketch of His Life, by
William McCombie (Peterhead: William L. Taylor and Charles Henry; Aberdeen:
George and Robert King, 1860). ~ Ref: Charles Cox, Catalogue 72 (2017); BL. [S]
[SM]
Murray, Thomas (b. 1835), of Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire, shepherd, published
poems in the Galloway Gazette. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 268-73. [S]
(?) Murray, William (b. 1834) of Breadalbane, Perthshire, son of a head gardener,
emigrated to Canada, worked in a mercantile house in Toronto. ~ Ref: Ross (1889),
161-70. [S]
Murray, William (b. 1855), of Brechin, farm worker. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 56-9.
[S]
Mutrie, Robert (1832-80), of Paisley, weaver, published poems in local press, author
of‖‘The‖Shilling‖in‖the‖Puir‖Man’s‖Pouch’,‖in‖his‖Poems and Songs Dedicated to the
West-End Callans Association (Paisley, 1909). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 270-72;
Leonard (1990), 261. [S] [T]
Naismith, William (fl. 1872), of Paisley, draper, published Visions of the Night, and
Other Poems (1872). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 365-68. [S] [T]
Neil,‖George‖(b.‖1858),‖of‖Whiteletts,‖near‖Ayr,‖miner’s‖son,‖soldier,‖draper, briefly a
miner himself. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 192-7. [S] [T] [M]
(?) Neill, Charles (fl. 1884), of Edinburgh, apprentice printer, lost a hand in a gun
accident, became a teacher; published Poetical musings...with a literal translation of
the third and fourth book of Virgil’s Aeneid (London, Aberdeen, Wick and Dornoch,
1884). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 348; NTU. [S]
(?) Neill, William (b. 1821), of Chapelton, near Greenock, farmer, and the descendant
of farmers in the East Parish of Greenock for over three centuries. After his
elementary education, Neill worked in agriculture until 1843 when he took up
market-gardening, which he continued to do in Port-Glasgow as late as 1893/ He
wrote‖poems‖and‖songs,‖and‖Edwards‖prints‖his‖verses,‖‘The‖Beauty‖o’‖Scotland’
and‖‘Lizzie’s‖Black‖E’e’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 339-40. [S]
Neilson, James Macadam (1844-83), of Campsie, Stirlingshire, engraver for calico-
printer, self-educated, wrote journalism, published Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the
Scottish Language (Glasgow, 1877); Songs for the Bairns; and, Miscellaneous Poems,
edited with a biographical notice by William Freeland (qv) (Glasgow, 1884). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 34-6 and 9, xx-xxi; Murdoch (1883), 387-94; Macleod (1889),
283-86; Reilly (1994), 348, Reilly (2000), 336. [S]
Nelson, Henry (fl. 1725-29), of Dublin, bricklayer and poet of the tailors, who
‘appears‖to‖have‖been‖the‖chief‖panegyrist‖for‖the‖tailors’‖procession,‖an‖annual‖
event’.‖He‖‘penned‖a‖tailors’‖procession‖poem‖every‖year‖from‖1725‖to‖1729’‖(LC1,‖
47). In all, thirteen broadside poems are attributed to him, including A Poem, in the
Honour of the Antient and Loyal Society of the Journey-Men Taylors, who are to Dine at
the King’s-Inns, on Monday the 25th Inst. July, 1726 (Dublin, [1726]); A New Poem on
the Procession of Journey-Men Taylors; who are to Dine at the King’s Inns, on Tuesday
the 25th of this Instant July 1727 (Dublin, [1727]); Poem on the Procession of
Journeymen Taylors, July the 28th, 1729 ([Dublin, 1729]). ~ Ref: Greene (1993), 104;
Christmas (2001), 67-9; LC 1, 47-52. [I] [LC1] [T] [C18]
Nelson, John (b. 1810), of Dunning, Perthshire, carpenter and housebuilder,
emigrated to America, lived in Syracuse, published in newspapers, involved in
Syracuse Scottish expatriate events. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 82-6. [S]
Nevay, John (1792-1870),‖of‖Forfar,‖handloom‖weaver‖who‖‘turned‖to‖literature‖for‖
diversion’‖(DNB). He published A Pamphlet of Rhymes (1818); Poems and Songs
(Dundee, 1818); Poems and Songs (Forfar, 1821); Emmanuel, a sacred poem in nine
cantos. With other poems (1831); The Peasant; A Poem in nine cantos; with other poems
(Edinburgh, 1834); The Child of Nature, and other poems (Dundee, 1835); Rosaline’s
Dream, in four duans; and other poems (Edinburgh and London, 1853); The Fountain
of the Rock (Forfar, 1855). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 122-4, Sutton (1995), 690; DNB.
[S] [T]
Newbigging, Thomas (b. 1833), of Glasgow, moved to Lancashire, cotton factory
worker, gas engineer, published Poems and Songs (1881). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881),
402-6; Andrews (1888-9), I, 11-15. [S] [T]
Newman, Sarah (b. c. 1752), of Odiham, Hampshire, was an orphan, her only
education‖the‖‘occasional‖lesson‖from‖a‖schoolmaster’.‖She‖worked‖as‖a domestic
servant, then took in sewing and worked at haymaking. Newman won 500
subscribers for her Poems, on Subjects Connected with Scripture, ed. Elijah Waring
(Alton, London & Sherborne, 1811). ~ Ref: Jackson (1993), 242; BL. [F] [T]
Newton, William (1750-1830),‖carpenter,‖the‖‘Peak‖Minstrel’.‖Newton, variously
described by those who remembered him as a carpenter or as a spinning wheel
maker by trade, was born in 1750 at Cockey, near Eyam in the Derbyshire Peak
District. A curate at Eyam, the Revd. Peter Cunninghame, was the first to discover
him;‖he‖told‖his‖Rector‖at‖Eyam‖of‖Newton’s‖abilities,‖who‖in‖turn‖informed‖his‖
daughter. The rector was Thomas Seward, later Canon of Lichfield Cathedral; his
daughter was Anna Seward (1742‐1809), who by the mid-1780s was
unquestionably the most celebrated female poet in Britain. She wrote to the
Gentleman’s Magazine,‖introducing‖the‖‘self-taught‖Bard’‖to‖the‖public,‖informing‖
them‖that‖Newton‖had‖‘nothing‖in‖his‖appearance‖beyond‖the‖clean‖and‖decent’,‖
and‖that‖he‖was‖‘a‖being‖in‖whom‖the‖lustre‖of‖native‖genius‖shines‖through‖the‖
mists which were thrown around him by obscure birth, the total absence of all
refined‖instruction,‖and‖by‖the‖daily‖necessity‖of‖manual‖labour’‖(55‖pt.‖1,‖p.‖169).‖
His‖discovery‖was‖a‖miracle,‖she‖thought:‖‘To‖have‖found,‖in‖the‖compositions‖of‖
a laborious Villager, some bright sparks of native genius, amidst the dross of
prosaic vulgarity, had been pleasing, though but perhaps not wonderful; but the
elegance‖and‖harmony‖of‖William‖Newton’s‖language,‖both‖in‖prose‖and‖verse,‖
are‖miraculous’‖(p.‖170).‖(She‖also‖observed‖that‖he‖was‖‘rather‖handsome’.)‖~‖A‖
sonnet‖by‖Newton‖was‖printed‖alongside‖Seward’s‖letter,‖as‖was‖a‖poem‖of‖her‖
own‖(‘Verses,‖Written‖by‖Miss‖Anna‖Seward,‖in‖the‖Blank‖Leaves‖of‖her‖own‖
Poems,‖Presented‖by‖her‖to‖William‖Newton’).‖Her‖poem‖makes‖much‖of‖
Newton’s‖‘kindred‖talents’‖with‖the‖prodigious‖and‖neglected‖Chatterton,‖who‖
died‖at‖17;‖she‖also‖hails‖him‖as‖‘the‖Peak‖Minstrel’,‖summoning‖up‖‘Edwin’,‖the‖
young‖hero‖of‖James‖Beattie’s‖The Minstrel (1771-4).‖~‖Newton’s‖appearance‖in‖the‖
GM follows‖shortly‖after‖Hannah‖More’s‖very similar introduction of Ann
Yearsley to the public in the monthly magazines. Was Seward merely following
More’s‖lead? Did she soon regret her public expressions of enthusiasm for his
talents? Certainly, unlike most labouring-class poets announced to the public in
this way, no volume of poems for sale by subscription followed. Indeed, it would
be four years before Newton appeared in print again, with another sonnet, again
in the GM. Yet, behind the scenes, his relationship with Seward remained cordial;
in‖1790‖she‖lent‖him‖a‖significant‖sum‖of‖money,‖and‖Seward’s‖letters‖make‖
occasional‖references‖to‖Newton’s‖visits‖during‖her‖annual‖visit‖to‖her‖birthplace.‖
~ Indeed, Eyam seems to have been a remarkable breeding ground for poetic
talent. As William Wood notes in The History and Antiquities of Eyam (1842), in
addition‖to‖Seward‖and‖Newton,‖‘this‖romantic‖village‖has‖other,‖if‖less‖successful‖
candidates for poetic honour: and of these there are a few whose effusions have
only‖been‖perused‖by‖friends.’‖In‖such observations we sense that what we
currently know of the labouring-class poetic tradition in eighteenth-century
Britain is but the tip of the iceberg. ~ When Eighteenth-Century Labouring-Class
Poets was‖published‖in‖2003,‖William‖Newton’s‖‘neglect‖and‖disappearance’‖was‖
thought‖‘perplexing‖and‖disappointing’‖(53),‖given‖the‖impression‖he‖had‖made‖
upon Seward and several members of the local gentry and clergy. (Cunninghame
dubbed‖him‖a‖‘Prospero’‖for‖his‖ingenious‖facility‖in‖his‖trade‖as‖well‖with‖his‖
book learning, and he worked for a time for Duke of Devonshire.) Despite
displaying considerable promise in the sonnet form, in the three poems that he
published in The Gentleman’s Magazine between 1785 and 1790, there is as yet no
evidence that Newton published anything further. However, recent researches
into‖Newton’s‖professional‖life‖have‖revealed‖that‖he‖was‖the‖agent‖of‖Richard‖
Arkwright (1732-1792),‖often‖called‖‘father‖of‖the‖industrial‖revolution’‖for‖his‖
invention of the Spinning Frame, at Cressbrook Mill, Tideswell, near Eyam. They
quarrelled in 1790, and Newton was sacked—this perhaps explains the dismal
and‖suicidal‖thoughts‖of‖his‖Sonnet‖‘When‖will‖my‖weary‖aching‖head‖have‖rest?’,‖
which appeared in the GM in 1790 [reprinted in LC3, 55] and his dismissal
accounts‖for‖Anna‖Seward’s‖loan‖to‖Newton,‖enabling‖him‖to‖invest‖in‖a‖new‖mill,‖
around‖this‖time.‖The‖project‖‘realised‖a‖fortune’,‖and‖after‖Arkwright’s‖death,‖
Newton personally rebuilt Cressbrook mill following its destruction by fire.
Archives at Manchester Central Library contain evidence that he sought to
provide better living conditions for his apprentices than were prevalent at many
other mills, and he oversaw the construction of model cottages and a village
school. ~ The poem below is one of the sonnets that Newton published in the
Gentleman’s Magazine. (The other two are reprinted in LC 3, 54-5.) It appeared in
1790, the year in which his strained relationship with that notoriously mercurial
employer, Richard Arkwright, finally broke down. The‖poem‖expresses‖Newton’s‖
grief‖upon‖the‖loss‖of‖his‖son,‖his‖‘life’s‖chief‖gem’:‖‘Year!‖That‖hast‖seen‖my‖hopes‖
and‖comforts‖fall,‖/‖Huddled‖in‖dark’ning‖vest,‖like‖Night-hag / And breathing
chill a baleful vapour cold, / On‖thee‖abhorr’d‖with‖banning‖voice I call.— /
O’erlaid‖with‖woes‖I‖view‖thy‖sweeping‖pall,‖/‖Nor‖execration‖from‖thy‖form‖with-
hold; / For loss of friends,—and,‖ah!‖More‖lov’d‖than‖all,‖/ My‖life’s‖chief‖gem‖
enwrapt in timeless mold! / Go! Worse than all thy train that went before: /Thy
youth‖came‖mark’d‖by‖Sorrow’s‖griping‖/ Thy old age shrunk my hopes:—for not
to me / Lives lost fidele! He whom I deplore, / Whom Fancy in her brightest hour
still‖plann’d‖/ My‖solace.‖Him‖I‖mourn,‖and‖pour‖my‖hate‖on‖thee’.‖~ Ref: GM 57
(1785), 169-70, 212-13; The Poetical Works of Anna Seward, ed. Walter Scott
(Edinburgh, 1810), three volumes; Anna Seward’s Letters, 1784‐1807 (Edinburgh,
 1811), six volumes; William Wood, The History and Antiquities of Eyam (London,
1842); Joseph Tilley, Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire (London, 1892-
1902), four volumes; E. V. Lucas, A Swan and her Friends (London: Methuen, 1907);
Hesketh Pearson (ed.), The Swan of Lichfield, being a Selection from the
Correspondence of Anna Seward (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1936); Christmas
(2001), 31-2; Sandro Jung, ‘William‖Newton:‖Anna‖Seward’s‖‚Peak‖Minstrel‛’,‖The
Wordsworth Circle, 40, nos. 2-3 (2009); ‘Private‖Letter‖Book‖of‖Cressbrook‖
Mill’, Manchester Archives and Local Studies, Business Collections, Manchester
Central Library, C5/(MF); LC 3, 51-6; DNB (Anna Seward). [LC3] [C18] [—Tim
Burke]
(?) Nicholl, Robert (1814-37), journalist and poet, died of consumption at twenty-
three, published The Poems of Robert Nicoll (second edition, Edinburgh, 1842). ~
Ref: Shanks (1881), 116; Douglas (1891), 233-45, 311-12; Miles (1891), X, xviii;
Maidment (1983), 84; Maidment (1987), 145-7, 228-9. [S]
(?) Nicholls, H. R. (fl. 1840s-1853), Chartist poet, published in Chartist newspaper,
Thomas‖Cooper’s‖(qv) Cooper’s Journal, George‖Harney’s‖(qv)‖The Friend of the
People, and Ernest‖Jones’‖(qv)‖Notes to the People. He migrated to Victoria, Australia
in 1853. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 131-2, Scheckner (1989), 293, 342; P. A. Pickering,
‘Glimpses‖of‖Eternal‖Truth:‖Chartism,‖Poetry,‖and‖the‖Young‖H.‖R.‖Nicholls’,‖
Labour History (Australia), 70 (1996), 53-70;‖Paul‖Pickering,‖‘Betrayal‖and‖Exile:‖A‖
forgotten Chartist Experience’,‖in‖Michael‖T.‖Davis‖and‖Paul‖A.‖Pickering‖(eds),‖
Unrespectable Radicals? Popular Politics in the Age of Reform (Aldershot: Ashgate,
2008), 201-17 (217, note). [C]
(?) Nicholls, Thomas (fl. 1776-90), published Shenstone, or the Force of Benevolence
(1776) (Dobell, 1154); The Wreath, a Collection of Poems (1790?) (Dobell, 1153); The
Harp of Hermes (1797?). ~ Ref: Dobell (1933); ESTC; BL. [C18]
(?) Nicholson, Ellen Corbet (fl. 1880-4), of Glasgow, daughter of James Nicholson
(qv), poet who like her father contributed to the People’s Journal and the People’s
Friend, and is credited as co-authoring with her father, Poems, by James and Ellen C.
Nicholson (London: Hamilton Adams and Co.; Glasgow: J. McGeachy, 1880) and
Willie Waugh, and Other Poems, by James & Ellen C. Nicholson (Edinburgh: John
Menzies; Glasgow: J. McGeachy, 1884). (Reilly marks both of these works,‖‘Not‖
joint authorship’,‖but‖does‖not‖explain‖her‖reasoning‖or‖evidence‖for‖saying‖this.)‖
Nicholson trained as a teacher at Glasgow Normal School and went on to become
Head Teacher in South Shields. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 352; Blair (2016), 202. [S] [F]
Nicholson, James (1822-97), of Edinburgh, herd boy, tobacco worker, village tailor,
head tailor at Govan workhouse, temperance writer, father of Ellen Corbet
Nicholson (qv), friend of William Penman (qv),‖‘one‖of‖Scotland’s‖better‖known‖
better known working-class poets, especially‖as‖a‖temperance‖campaigner’‖(Blair);
published Kilwuddie, and Other Poems, with Life-Sketch and Portrait of the Author
 (Glasgow: Scottish Temperance League, 1863, several later editions); Father Fernie,
the Botanist: A Tale and a Study, Including His Life; Wayside Lessons; and Poems
(Glasgow, 1868); Idylls o’ Hame, and Other Poems (London, Edinburgh and
Glasgow, 1870); Rest for the Weary: or, Mary’s Wa’-gaun (Glasgow and Edinburgh,
1875); Poems by James & Ellen C. Nicholson [qv] (London: Hamilton Adams and Co.;
Glasgow: J. McGeachy, 1880); Wee Tibbie’s Garland, and other poems (Glasgow,
?1880); Wee Tibbie’s Garland, and Other Poems and Readings, new enlarged edition
(Glasgow, 1888); Willie Waugh, and Other Poems, by James & Ellen C. Nicholson
(Edinburgh: John Menzies; Glasgow: J. McGeachy, 1884). Blair reprints his poem
‘Jenny‖wi’‖the‖Lang‖Pock’,‖first‖published in the People’s Friend, 20 September 1876,
a‖‘response‖poem’‖to‖a‖poem in an earlier number by Alexander Anderson (qv),
and one of a number of poems he published in the People’s Journal and the People’s
Friend. ~ Ref: ‘A‖Poet‖of‖the‖People’,‖People’s Journal, 9 May 1863, 2; Edwards, 1
(1880), 233-41; Murdoch (1883), 125-32; Glasgow Poets (1906), 354-57; Reilly (1994),
352; Reilly (2000), 339-40; Blair (2016), 202-4. [S] [T]
Nicholson, John (1790-1843),‖of‖Harewood‖and‖Bingley,‖‘The‖Airedale‖Poet’,‖wool-
sorter,‖followed‖this‖occupation‖all‖of‖his‖life‖except‖‘for‖intervals‖when‖he‖was‖
hawking‖his‖poems’.‖Apparently‖Nicholson‖applied‖for‖a‖grant‖from‖the‖Royal‖
Literary Fund. He published The Siege of Bradford (1821); Airedale in Ancient Times
(1825); The Lyre of Ebor; The Fall of Belshazzer; Genius and Intemperance; and other
poems (London: Seeley and Son, 1827); Folly of the Chartists (Bradford, 1839);
Strictures on the proposal of a New Moral World (Bradford, 1839), an attack on
Owenism; Complete Poems by John Nicholson, The Airedale Bard, with a Sketch of His
Life by John James (1844, second edition Bingley: Thomas Harrison, 1876); Lines on
the Young Lady Drowned in the Strid (Bradford, undated; this is not in COPAC and
may be a lost work). Tony Harrison’s‖(qv) play about Nicholson, Poetry or Bust
(collected in his Plays: Three, London: Faber, 1996, 1-59), gives a modern working-
class‖poet’s‖perspective‖on‖Nicholson‖and‖the‖issues‖of‖patronage‖and‖power‖he‖
faced, and does so with wisdom and wit. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 45-7; Forshaw
(1891), 113-26 (includes a detailed bibliography); James (1963), 172; Vicinus (1974),
141, 143, 144-5, 151-2, 162-4, 170, 174-6; Bowers (1986), 34-5, 334; Maidment (1987),
173-5. 181-5, 347-8; Johnson (1992), items 649-53; Sutton (1995), 702; Goodridge
(1999), item 84; LC 4, 275-90; NTU. [T] [LC4]
(?) Nicholson, John (fl. 1843), apparently the older brother of William Nicholson (qv),
poet and antiquarian, published Historical and Traditional tales in prose and verse,
connected with the south of Scotland (Kirkcudbright: John Nicholson, 1843) whose
Galloway legends include the cannibal story of Sawney Bean. ~ Ref: Charles Cox,
Catalogue 68 (2015), item 137; DNB (under William Nicholson, qv). [S]
Nicholson, Thomas (fl. 1849-52), Manchester‖poet,‖‘humble‖and‖obscure’,‖author‖of‖A
Peal for the People, with Sundry Changes (Manchester, 1849); The Warehouse Boy of
 Manchester (1852). ~ Ref: Reid, City (1853); Harland (1882), 320; Maidment (1987),
174-9; NTU. (Note: Johnson (1992), item 654, appears to be another Thomas
Nicholson, of Hunslet, Leeds.)
Nicholson, William (1782-1849), of Tannymas, Borgue, Dumfries & Galloway, the
Galloway‖‘Pedlar‖Poet’,‖the‖youngest‖of‖eight‖children‖(John‖Nicholson,‖fl. 1843,
qv, seems to have been his older brother), pedlar, friend of James Hogg (qv),
author‖of‖‘The‖Brownie‖of‖Blednoch’‖(published in the Dumfries Magazine in 1825),
which‖introduced‖the‖brownie‖‘Aiken-Drum’;‖published Tales in Verse and
Miscellaneous Poems Descriptive of rural life and manners (1814; second edition,
Edinburgh,‖1828,‖with‖a‖‘life’‖by‖James‖Hogg’s‖friend‖John‖McDiarmid (editor and
proprietor of the Dumfries Courier); there was also a third edition). See also The
Collected Poems of William Nicholson, The Bard of Galloway, ed. John Hudson
(Wigtown, 1999). ~ Ref: The West of England Miscellany, 1, no 1 (1844), 232 (via
Google Books); Wilson (1876), II, 43-6; Edwards, 3 (1881), 63-70; Shanks (1881),
159; Harper (1889), 249-50; Douglas (1891), 301-2; Miles (1891), X, xviii; Miller
(1910), 222; Johnson (1992), item 655; Sutton (1995), 702 (letter and portrait at the
Bodleian, MS.Montagu d.9, ff. 20-22); The Collected Letters of James Hogg, Volume 1,
1800-1819, ed. Gillian Hughes (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), 404;
LION; ODNB. [S]
Nicol, Alexander (bap. 1703, fl. 1739-66), of Kettins parish, Forfarshire, Scottish
packman and son of a packman, one year only at school, freemason, later became
a teacher; published Nature without Art: Nature’s Progress in Poetry (1739); Nature’s
Progress in Poetry (1739); The Rural Muse: or, a Collection of Miscellany Poems, both
Comical and Serious (Edinburgh: Printed for the author, 1753); both 1739 books
reprinted in 1766 as Poems on Several Subjects. The 1753 book has sections
suggesting it is designed to teach children. ~ Ref: Charles Cox, Catalogue 51
(2005),‖item‖203‖(an‖association‖copy‖of‖the‖1753‖vol.‖once‖owned‖by‖Nicol’s‖fellow‖
mason and neighbour, the traveller George Paterson of Castle Huntly); ODNB;
LION. [S] [C18]
Nicol,‖Charles‖(b.‖1858),‖of‖Pollokshaws,‖worked‖in‖a‖weaving‖factory,‖in‖a‖printer’s‖
engraving department, and as a travelling salesman/representative; published
Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh, undated). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 6 (1883), 70-72; Leonard (1990), 342-5; online sources. [S] [T]
Nicol, James (1769-1819), of Traquair, Selkirk, shoemaker poet, later minister,
published Poems Chiefly in Scottish Dialect (1805); there may be other volumes. ~
Ref: Winks (1883), 313. [S] [SM]
Nicol, James (1800-60),‖weaver‖at‖Luthermuir,‖Angus,‖‘studied‖the‖Bible‖at‖his‖home‖
and‖walking‖abroad’‖(Reilly);‖published The Life of Paul the Apostle in Metre
(Brechin, 1845); An abridgement of Bible History, in Verse (Aberdeen, 1860). He also
 published poems to the Edinburgh Magazine and articles to the Edinburgh
Encyclopaedia. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 340; ODNB. [S] [T]
Nicoll, Robert (1814-37), of Little Tulliebeltane farm, Auctergavin, Perthshire,
described‖by‖Ebenezer‖Elliott‖as‖‘Scotland’s‖second‖Burns’‖(quoted‖in‖Simmons‖
(2007), 291, 358; Ebenezer Elliott, Robert Burns, qqv), the son of a ruined farmer
turned day-labourer, his parents were ‘poor,‖but‖respectable’‖(Simmons,‖358);
apprenticed to a grocer, opened a circulating library at Dundee. At Whitsuntide
1836 he left for Edinburgh, and shortly after that he took the editorship of the
Leeds Times, but became ill and, returning to Scotland, died in Edinburgh, aged
just 23. He is described in interesting detail in James Myles’s‖autobiography,‖
Chapters in the Life of a Dundee Factory Worker (Dundee, 1850). Nicoll, encountered
among a small group of working-class intellectuals, ‘had‖only‖reached‖his‖twenty-
second year. He was fully above the middle height, slenderly formed, and
stooped slightly when he walked. He had a delicate and thoughtful expression of
face, which was lighted up with large intellectual eyes of intense blue. His brow
was lofty, and shaded by dark brown hair, and his manner of address, as well as
general appearance, was winning and pleasing; so much so, that his young
friends listened to the sweet flow of his conversation as if he had drunk at the
living‖fountain‖of‖inspiration.’‖It‖is‖worth‖seeking‖the‖whole‖passage,‖which‖is‖
readily accessible in Simmons (2007), 286-92. ~ Nicoll published Poems and Lyrics
(Edinburgh, 1835, 1842, 1843, 1852, 1855); each posthumous edition claims to have
additions, and later, memoirs); Tales of the Glens (1836); Marian Wilson, A Tale of
Persecuting Times (1845). Klaus (2007), 465-7,‖compares‖his‖poem‖‘Endurance’‖with‖
Ellen‖Johnson’s‖(qv)‖‘The‖Last‖Sark’.‖Nicol’s‖poem‖‘The‖Hero’‖was‖re-printed and
discussed in the Chartist Circular, no. 22, 2 May 1840, though it mis-names him
‘William‖Nicol’ ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 290-325; Holroyd (1873), 89-90, 109; Wilson
(1876), II, 370-8; Ashraf (1975), 159-62; Ashraf (1978), I, 14; Johnson (1992), item
656; Schwab (1993), 46-7‖(discussion‖of‖‘The‖Bacchanalian’),‖208-9; Sutton (1995),
703 (letters); Simmons (2007), 286-92, 358-63; Massey page (includes Samuel
Smiles’‖biography‖of‖Nicoll);‖NTU.‖*S+
Nicoll, Thomas P. (b. 1841), of Aberdeen, ironmonger from the age of thirteen,
bookseller, clerk, published Trifles in Verse (Aberdeen and Greenwich, 1874). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 81-3; Reilly (2000), 340. [S]
Nicolson, Laurence James (1844-1901),‖‘Bard‖of‖Thule’,‖of‖Lerwick,‖Shetland,‖cabinet-
maker, clerk, later living in Edinburgh, published Songs of Thule (Paisley: A.
Gardner, 1894); poems also in Murdoch. Blair‖reprints‖his‖poem,‖‘A‖Shetland‖
Lullaby’,‖first‖published In the People’s Friend, 10 August 1881, noting its extreme
rarity in that period as a poem in Shetland dialect. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 335-8;
Murdoch (1883), 394-99; Blair (2016), 211-12; online sources. [S]
(?) Nisbet, Hume (1849-1923), of Stirling, painter and itinerant worker, poet, novelist,
thriller-writer, travel and miscellaneous writer, the son of a house painter who
was himself‖a‖‘man‖of‖some‖literary‖powers’‖(Edwards),‖and‖his‖training as an
artist‖was‖thus‖‘constant‖from‖infancy’.‖He‖also‖benefited‖from‖the‖advice‖of‖
visiting French, German and Italian artists, in what sounds to have been quite a
bohemian household. At the age of fifteen he travelled to Australia, stayed for two
years with a clergyman in Queensland, then went south and restlessly ‘began‖his‖
wanderings’.‖In‖Melbourne‖he‖learned‖something‖of‖stage‖scenery‖painting,‖and‖
worked in many fields of work, including acting, white-washing, sign-writing,
gold-digging, picture-painting, and working as a sailor, as well as writing verses
and painting. He was often in hardship during his adventures in the different
areas of the continent. He visited New Zealand, then took ship to London where
he studied in the National Gallery before returning to Scotland. He worked for
many years as a teacher in the School of Arts and the Watt Institute, Edinburgh.
Nisbet‖was‖a‖‘voluminous‖writer on‖art‖and‖other‖subjects’,‖his‖publications‖
including a primer for art students, The Practical in Painting; also a few Remarks on
John Ruskin (Edinburgh, second edition. 1882), and several dramas. He published
a volume of poetry, Egypt and other Poems (according to Edwards, but I have not
traced it; it is not on COPAC or WorldCat). Edwards notes that Nisbet‖has‖‘lost‖
sight‖of‖many‖of‖his‖excellent‖productions‖in‖prose‖and‖verse’,‖but‖nevertheless‖
finds‖six‖poems‖to‖print:‖‘Maggie:‖An‖Elegy’,‖‘Spring‖on‖the‖Tweed,‖Melrose’,‖
‘Love’‖(‘Love‖lives‖through‖darkness—not‖alone‖whilst‖fair’),‖‘Sunset—A Study in
Gems‖and‖Gold’,‖‘The‖Tangled‖Skein’,‖and‖‘Charity’‖(‘We‖do‖not‖ask‖the‖reason’).‖
COPAC‖lists‖very‖many‖works‖of‖Nisbet’s‖including‖a‖series‖of‖dramas,‖travel‖
writing and stories including much Australian material, popular prose fiction,
recitations, another art primer or two, and further books of poems, Memories of the
Months, with Illustrations by the Author (London, 1889); Hathor, and other Poems
(London, 1905), and a collection of his Poetic and Dramatic Works (London, 1905),
as well as several books Nisbet has illustrated. He died in Eastbourne in 1923. ~
Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 155-60; COPAC; WorldCat; Wikipedia; online sources. [A]
[S]
Niven, John (fl. 1846), journeyman baker, published The Strathmore Melodist: A
Collection of Original Poems and Songs (London, 1846). Ref: Alibone (1859-71),‖II’‖
COPAC. [S]
Noble, Samuel (b. 1859), of Arbroath, worked in an Aberdeen jute mill, sailor,
shopkeeper, librarian, published Rhymes and Recollections, with a biographical
introduction by John Paul (Dundee, 1896). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 354; NTU. [S] [T]
(?) Noel, Thomas (fl. 1833-41), Chartist poet. He published The Cottage Muse (1833);
Village Verse (1841), and Rhymes and Roundelays (1841),‖which‖includes‖‘Rat-Tower
 Legend’,‖‘Poor‖Voter’s‖Song’‖and‖the‖‘Pauper’s‖Drive’. ~ Ref: Scheckner (1989),
294-5; ODNB. [C]
Norval, James (1814-1891 or 1901), of Parkhead, Glasgow, weaver, published early in
Glasgow and other newspapers; sources disagree on death date. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6
(1883), 193-200 and 16, [lix]; Murdoch (1883), 138-43; Glasgow Poets (1906), 318-21.
[S] [T]
(?) Notman,‖Peter‖(b.‖1818),‖‘Petrus’,‖of‖Paisley,‖son‖of‖a‖cowfeeder,‖author‖of‖‘Lines‖
on‖Mechanism’‖in‖his‖Small Poems and Songs by ‘Petrus’ (Paisley, 1840). ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), II, 112-14; Leonard (1990), 176-7. [S]
Nunn, Robert or Bobby (1808-53),‖of‖Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne,‖‘blind‖fiddler’,‖slater,‖
popular songwriter, lost his sight in an accident. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 318-41; Lloyd
(1978), 118, 120, 346-7 note; Wikipedia.
Nye, James (1822-92), of East Chiltingon, Sussex, one of eleven children of an
agricultural labourer, a Calvinist, an agricultural labourer, groom, quarry worker
and gardener, as well as a poet, musician, composer and instrument-maker; his
autobiography, A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness, was
published in 1981, ed. Vic Gammon (Brighton: QueenSpark Books), with three
pages of his poems included. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), 240 (no. 538).
(?) O’Brien,‖Burnett‖(fl.‖1893),‖coal‖miner,‖of‖Wigan,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Miner’s‖Lockout’,‖
broadside ballad. ~ Ref: Lloyd, 255, 362 note. [M]
O’Brien,‖Frances Marcelia Attie (1840-83), of Peafield, Ennis, County Clare, a
farmer’s‖daughter‖whose mother died when she was four or five, and whose
father then emigrated, leaving the girl with her grandmother. She was largely self-
taught,‖devout‖and‖charitable,‖a‖lifelong‖asthmatic‖with‖a‖love‖for‖Milton’s‖verse.‖
Her poems were published in the Irish Monthly (15 poems between February 1878
and September 1881, and one posthumously, June 1886), The Nation, Tinsley’s
Magazine, United Ireland, Weekly Freeman, Young Ireland and ZOZ. ~ Ref: Colman
(1996) 172-3. [F] [I]
O’Brien,‖Thomas‖(1851-1906), small farmer who took part in the Fenian movement.
He contributed to the national journals for some years, with the pen-name
‘Clontarf’.‖O’Brien‖published‖a‖collection,‖Songs of Liberty (Dublin, 1889). He died
at Julianstown, County Meath on 9 November 1906. His work is represented in
Emerald Gems (Dublin, 1885). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 342. [I]
O’Connor,‖Francis‖(b.‖1833),‖of‖Clonmel,‖County‖Tipperary,‖the‖son‖of‖a‖stone-cutter.
He was taken to America in 1836, and learned his father's trade, executing stone-
carving‖work‖in‖Albany,‖Rochester,‖and‖Ithaca,‖New‖York.‖O’Conner‖wrote‖stories‖
as well as poems, one of the stories being in the Romance in the Little Classics
series,‖ed.‖Rossiter‖Johnson‖(Boston,‖1880).‖His‖poem‖‘Country‖Courtship’,‖is‖
popular‖as‖a‖recitation,‖and‖is‖included‖in‖several‖collections‖of‖‘Readings’.‖~‖Ref:‖
O’Donoghue (1912), 346. [I] [US]
(?)‖O’Connor,‖James‖(b.‖1835),‖born‖at‖Andes,‖New‖York,‖of‖Irish‖extraction,‖suffered
deafness. He was successively a printer and a farmer. He published The Works of
James O’Connor, the deaf poet, with a biographical sketch of the author, by A. B. Douglas
(New York: N. Tibbals, 1879). The poems are largely of a spiritual and patriotic
flavour,‖and‖many‖of‖them‖were‖originally‖read‖to‖meetings‖of‖teachers’‖
organisations and on other occasions. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 346; text as cited
via Hathi Trust. [I] [US]
(?) O’Connor,‖Murrough‖(fl. 1719-40), sub-tenant of a farm in County Kerry from
which he was evicted; all of his five extant poems written in connection with that
eviction. ~ Ref: Carpenter (1998), 83. [I] [C18]
(?) O’Conor,‖Charles‖Patrick‖(b.‖1837),‖‘The‖Irish‖Peasant‖Poet’,‖of County Cork, of
poor parents, went to England, wrote songs and journalism, took government
clerical post in Canada, retired early and lived in Lewisham for many years,
received Civil List pension, published Wreaths of Fancy (London, 1870); Songs of a
Life: Wayside Chants; Fatherland (London, 1875). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 345. [I]
Officer, William (b. 1856), of Lonmay, Aberdeenshire, farm worker, cabinetmaker. ~
Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 364-69. [S]
(?)‖O’Flaherty,‖Charles‖(c. 1794-1828), of Dublin, the son of a pawnbroker in Ross
Lane, Dublin, apprenticed to a bookseller in Parliament Street, and began to
submit poems to the Morning Post, later joining its staff. He worked on it for
several years, then in 1826 moved to Wexford to edit the Evening Post. He
apparently died there in May, 1828, aged just 34. He published Poems (Dublin,
1813),‖dedicated‖to‖Thomas‖Moore,‖and‖containing‖‘Donnybrook‖Fair’,‖often‖
attributed to Edward Lysaght; Poems and Songs (Dublin, 1821); Triples in Poetry
(Dublin, 1821); Retrospection, or A Lover's Lapses and a Poet’s Love, being an attempt to
illustrate the tender passion, with other trifles in poetry and prose, including a few rough
rhymes and a couple of sketches of Donnybrook Fair, taken on the spot in the autumn of
1822-3 (Dublin, printed for the author,1824), as‖‘Rory‖O’Reilly,‖stonecutter’.‖
O’Flaherty‖was‖also‖the‖author‖of‖‘Hermit‖Minstrelsy’,‖‘Judy‖Rooney’,‖‘Biddy‖
Maguire‖of‖Ballinaclash’,‖and‖other‖once-popular songs. He was also probably the
‘C.O.F.’‖who‖wrote‖verse‖for‖the‖Dublin and London Magazine, 1825-26. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 352. [I]
Ogden, James (1718-1802), of Manchester, fustian cutter or shearer. His ODNB entry
notes that after working as a fustian shearer, he travelled to Europe and returned
to Manchester and became a school master, but returned to being fustian shearer.
Publications include An Epistle on Poetical Composition (1762); On the Crucifixion
and Resurrection (1762); The British Lion Rous'd, or, Acts of the British Worthies, a
Poem in Nine Books (1762)‖‘published‖by‖subsidy‖of‖600‖subscribers‖and‖is‖
indicative of the kind‖of‖recognition‖Ogden’s‖literary‖talents‖received’‖(ODNB).
Other poems include A Poem, on the Museum, at Alkrington, Belonging to Ashton
 Lever (1774); The Revolution, an Epic Poem (1790); Archery: a Poem (1793); Emanuel,
or, Paradise Regained: an Epic Poem (1797); Sans Culotte and Jacobine, an Hudibrastic
Poem (1800),‖a‖‘staunchly‖conservative’‖poem.‖He‖also‖wrote‖prose‖including‖a‖
history of Manchester. His son William (1735-1822) was a publisher and a radical
reformer‖who‖published‖his‖father’s‖last‖poem. ~ Ref: Dobell (1933) 3021, ODNB.
[T] [C18]
(?) Ogg, James (b. 1849), of Banchory-Ternan, Kincardineshire, lived in Aberdeen,
saw-miller, published Willie Wally, and Other Poems (Aberdeen, 1873); Glints i’ the
Gloamin’: Songs and Poems (Aberdeen,‖‘Free‖Press’‖Office,‖1891). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1
(1880), 360-2; Reilly (2000), 346; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 204. [S]
(?)‖O’Hara,‖Hugh‖(fl. 1768), of Dublin, beadle, published Verses Humbly presented by
Hugh O’Hara, Beadle of the Parish of St Mary’s, Dublin (Dublin: printed for the year
1768), folio‖sheet,‖BL,‖ESTC‖T7767,‖described‖as‖‘Broadside‖Poems’;‖likely‖a‖
Christmas‖appeal.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖356.‖[I]
O’Keeffe,‖William‖(fl. 1858), born near Donnybrook, Dublin, a working man living in
Stoke-on-Trent, published The Promptings of the Heart, Poems (Stoke-on-Trent,
1858). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 360]. [I]
O’Kelly,‖Pat‖(1754-1837),‖of‖County‖Galway,‖a‖‘colourful’‖wandering‖bard,‖lame‖in‖
his‖foot,‖who‖‘travelled‖around‖Ireland‖on‖a‖piebald‖pony‖seeking‖patrons‖for‖his‖
poems’,‖working‖as‖a‖teacher, among other things; publications include The
Hippocrene: A Collection of Poems (1831), full text available via Google Books. ~ Ref:
Carpenter (1998), 468; Wikipedia; http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-
data/authors/o/OKelly_P/life.htm [I]
Olahan, P. J. (b. 1836), of Dalkey, County Dublin, went to England and joined the
Salford police, eventually being promoted to sergeant. He later worked as a clerk
in the Salford police court. Around the years 1879-82 he wrote, largely for Weekly
Freeman, Weekly News, Young Ireland, and other periodicals and almanacs.
O’Donoghue‖described‖‘some‖of‖his‖poems’‖as‖‘being‖very‖racy’.‖~‖Ref:‖
O’Donoghue (1912), 361. [I]
Olden, Robert (fl. 1833), of Cork, barber or hair-dresser‖of‖Daunt’s‖Square,‖Cork,‖
published Soap Bubbles: or, the Lyrics of Robert Olden now first collected (Cork, 1833).
~ Ref: The Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences (1833), 517-18,
via Google Books; O’Donoghue (1912), 361. [I]
Oliphant, Ebenezer (1813-93), of Torphichen, Linlithgowshire, mason, poet of the
sport of curling, in demand for his jeux d’esprit. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 95-100. [S]
(?) Oliver, Thomas (b. 1830), of Lutgvan, Cornwall, metal and mineworker in
Cornwall and elsewhere (including Australia), attended Dame School, Sunday
School and self-educated. Burnett et al identify him as a poet but give no detail of
published poetry, just his autobiography, clearly a wide-ranging work, covering
an adventurous and intellectually voracious life: Autobiography of a Cornish Miner
 (Camborne: Camborne Printing and Stationary Company, 1914). ~ Ref: Burnett et
al (1984), 241 (no. 540). [A] [M]
(?) Oliver, William (b. 1800), of Newcastle upon Tyne, apprentice draper, grocer,
songwriter. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 228-44. [T]
Olivers, Thomas (1725-99), shoemaker poet, published A Hymn on the Last Judgment.
Another of Praise to Christ (1763); An Hymn to the God of Abraham, in Three Parts
(1773); A Full Defence of the Rev. John Wesley, etc. (1776); A Rod for a Reviler (1777);
An Account of the life of Mr. Thomas Olivers. Written by Himself (1779); A Full
Refutation of the Doctrine of Unconditional Perseverance (1790); A Descriptive and
Plaintive Elegy, on the Death of the Late Reverend John Wesley (1791); An Answer to
Mr. Mark Davis’s Thoughts on Dancing. To Which are Added Serious considerations to
Dissuade Christian Parents from Teaching their Children to Dance (1792). ~ Ref: Winks
(1883), 300-4; LC 2, 297-302. [SM] [LC2] [C18]
(?)‖O’Neill,‖Bernard‖(fl. 1861), of Blackwatertown, County Armagh, farmer who from
about 1861 contributed verses to Ulster newspapers and almanacs. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 364. [I]
O’Neill,‖Frances‖(fl. 1802), Irish woman, emigrated to London, worked as a
seamstress and shopworker. She published Poetical Essays. Being a Collection of
Satirical Poems, Songs and Acrostics (London: Printed for the Authoress by A.
Young, 1802). ~ Ref: Orlando project; Google books. [F] [I] [T]
O’Neill,‖John‖(1778-1858),‖of‖Waterford,‖shoemaker‖(‘we‖bear‖the‖Crispin‖name’),‖
moved to Liverpool, then London where he lived for most of his life; published
Irish Melodies (undated); The Sorrow of Memory (undated); Alva (Dublin, 1821); The
Drunkard, A Poem (Dublin, 1840); The Blessings of Temperance (Dublin, 1851):
according to the ODNB, this poem is really just The Drunkard, renamed; The
Triumph of Temperance (Dublin, 1852); Handerahan, the Irish Fairyman; and legends of
Carrick (Dublin, 1854); Hugh O’Neill, the Prince of Ulster. A Poem (Dublin, 1859);
(with‖James‖Devlin,‖qv)‖letter‖and‖‘Sonnet,‖to‖Mr.‖Bloomfield,‖with‖Prospectus’‖
(1820), in Bloomfield, Remains, 1824, I, 164-6. He also published a memoir, ‘Fifty‖
years'‖experience‖of‖an‖Irish‖shoemaker‖in‖London’,‖in‖St Crispin (trade mag) in
forty-one weekly instalments (8 May 1869-19 February 1870), extracted in Harte. ~
Ref: Winks (1883), 316-19; Sutton (1995), 719 (letters); Harte (2008), 15-19; ODNB.
[I] [SM]
O’Neill,‖William‖Cassells‖(1854‐89), of Paisley, ironmoulder, published collection
1884, emigrated to New Zealand in 1888. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 452-75. [S]
Ormond, Thomas (1817-79), of Dunnichen, Forfarshire, handloom and factory
weaver. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 354-7. [S] [T]
Orr, James (1770-1816),‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Ballycarry’,‖of‖Ballycarry,‖freemason,‖United‖
Irishman and poet, a weaver like his father, member of the Samuel Thomson (qv)
circle. According to ODNB,‖‘Orr‖is‖probably‖Ulster’s most important eighteenth-
 century poet; his work is increasingly recognized by scholars as of more than local
significance’. He published Poems on Various Subjects (Belfast, 1804) and numerous
poems‖in‖Belfast’s‖Northern Star, including the popular poem ‘The‖Irishman’,‖later‖
collected‖in‖a‖posthumous‖volume‖sold‖for‖the‖benefit‖of‖Ballycarry’s‖poor. ~ Ref:
Jane‖Gray,‖‘Folk‖Poetry‖and‖Working-Class Identity in Ulster: An Analysis of
James‖Orr’s‖‚The‖Penitent‛’,‖Journal of Historical Sociology, 6, no, 3 (Sept, 1993), 249-
75, online via Maynooth University eprints site; Sutton (1995), 723 (letters);
Carpenter (1998), 542; Stephen‖Dornan,‖‘Beyond‖the‖Milesian‖Pale:‖The‖Poetry‖of‖
James‖Orr’,‖Eighteenth Century Ireland, 20 (2005), 140-55; Jennifer Orr,
‘Constructing‖the‖Ulster‖Labouring-Class‖Poet:‖The‖Case‖of‖Samuel‖Thomson’,‖in‖
Blair & Gorji (2012), 34-54; Orr (2015), passim (refer to the index for details);
ODNB; DNB. [I] [T]
Orr, John (b. 1814), of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, handloom weaver from the age of
fourteen, later powerloom weaver, published Poems and songs (Ardrossan, 1874). ~
Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 327-9; Reilly (2000), 351. [S] [T]
Orrock, Thomas (b. 1827), of South Queensbury, shoemaker, published poems in the
local press, and a volume, Fortha’s Lyrics and other Poems (1880); patronised by
Lords Rosebery and Hopetoun. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 154-60. [S] [SM]
(?) O’Sullivan,‖Owen‖Roe‖(b.‖1748),‖Eughan Ruadh O Suillebhain, of south-west
Munster, itinerant schoolmaster, sailor and soldier, primarily a Gaelic singer, his
one‖known‖poem‖in‖English,‖‘Rodneys‖Glory’,‖extemporised‖to‖mark‖an‖English‖
naval‖victory‖over‖the‖French.‖His‖Irish‖poetry‖has‖earned‖him‖the‖description‖‘the‖
sweetest‖singer‖of‖Gaelic‖verse‖in‖his‖time’. ~ Ref: Augustan Lyric, ed. Donald
Davie (London: Heinemann, 1974), 130, 173-4. [I] [C18]
Otley, Richard (fl. 1847), of Eccleshall, Sheffield, newsagent, poet and a prominent
figure‖in‖Sheffield’s‖circle‖of‖radical‖Chartists.‖In‖1847‖he‖was‖one‖of‖a‖group‖of‖
Chartists who were elected to the local council; he represented Eccleshall but was
disqualified fairly soon after his election. Ebenezer Elliott (qv) was an admirer of his
poetry. ~ Ref: http://www.judandk.force9.co.uk/Otley2.html; inf. Yann Lovelock. [C]
Overs, John (1808-44), carpenter and cabinet-maker, helped by Dickens, author of
Evenings of a Working Man, Being the Occupation of his Scanty Leisure (1844), BL
1457.c.15; published much of his work in Tait’s Magazine. ~ Ref: Vicinus (1974),
182n47; Maidment (1983), 87; Maidment (1987), 19; Sales (2002), 85-6.
Owen, Aneurin (fl. 1941), coal miner of Clydach Vale, worked in the Cambrian
Colliery.‖His‖poem‖‘Blaenclydach‖Spake‖Disaster‖November‖25th‖1941’‖is‖
reproduced on the welshcoalmines.co.uk webpage. Ref: source cited. [W] [M]
[OP]
(?) Owen, David (1784-1841), ‘Dewi‖Wyn‖o‖Eifion’,‖of Y Gaerwen in the parish of
Llanystumdwy, Caernarfonshire, farmer and poet; privately educated in Wales
and England before returning to Gaerwen, where he stayed the rest of his life;
 bardic pupil of Robert Williams, who was also his neighbour; well-regarded in his
day, Owen influenced nineteenth-century Welsh poets, especially the
development of the awdl (‘ode’)‖and englynion forms;‖known‖for‖his‖‘masterpiece’,‖
‘Elusengarwch’‖(‘Charity’),‖which‖caused‖some‖controversy‖in‖1819‖when‖it‖was‖
not awarded a prize at the Denbigh Eisteddfod. He published posthumous
collected poems and biography, Blodau Arfon (Chester: Edward Parry, 1842). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Owen, Goronwy, (1723-69), ‘Goronwy‖Ddu‖O‖Fôn’,‖born at Llanfair Mathafarn
Eithaf, Anglesey, his father Owen Gronw from a family of tinkers; vicar, poet, and
tobacco‖planter;‖buried‖in‖Lawrenceville,‖VA,‖USA;‖‘belonged‖to‖a‖family‖of‖
tinkers‖from‖Tafarn‖Goch.’‖(OCLW); studied Latin at the Friars school in Bangor
with the intent of becoming a priest, then served as an assistant teacher in
Pwllheli (1742-44) and Denbigh (1745). As a young man he excelled in Welsh
poetry under the patronage and tutoring of Lewis Morris (1701-1765, a well-
known poet and scholar); excelled in writing awdl and cywyddau. He was ordained
deacon‖in‖1746‖and‖served‖at‖native‖parish‖for‖just‖one‖year.‖‘Thereafter‖he‖led‖a‖
wandering existence, living in the constant hope that he would be given a parish
in Wales instead of having to suffer the‖poverty‖of‖a‖curate’s‖life’‖(OCLW). His
best‖known‖poems‖were‖written‖in‖this‖time,‖including:‖‘Awdl‖Gofuned’,‖
‘Cywydd‖y‖Farn‖Fawr’,‖‘Cywydd‖Y‖Gem‖neu’r‖Maen‖Gwerthfawr’,‖‘Cywydd‖y‖
Gwahodd’‖and‖‘Cywydd‖yn‖ateb‖Huw’r‖Bardd‖Coch‖of‖Fôn’.‖He‖was‖offered‖a‖
teaching position at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, VA and sailed in
1757 before he finished work on an intended epic poem after Milton, which he
never completed; his wife and youngest child died on the journey. He married
twice more, and devoted‖several‖years‖to‖‘alcohol‖and‖prodigal‖living’‖before‖
being becoming a tobacco planter and vicar of a parish in Brunswick County, VA
in‖1762.‖He‖was‖‘a‖hero‖in‖the‖eyes‖of‖many‖Welsh‖poets;‖and‖his‖verse‖was‖
imitated and invoked at many nineteenth-century eisteddfodau. He published verses
in Diddanwch Teuluaidd (1763, 1817); several poems in the anthology series Cyfres y
Fil, ed. O. M. Edwards, (1881, 1902), two volumes; The Poetical Works of the Rev.
Goronwy Owen with his Life and Correspondence, ed. Robert Jones, two volumes
(1951). ~ Ref: Branwen H, Jarvis, Goronwy Owen (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 1986), Writers of Wales series; OCLW (1986); Constantine (2017). [W] [C18]
[—Katie Osborn]
(?) Owen, John Lorton (1845?-98) of Manchester, journalist and short-story writer,
worked in Leicester, Manchester, London, imprisoned for stealing a cheque in
1883; author of Lyrics from a Country Lane; A Miscellany of Verse (London: Simpkin,
Marshall, 8c Co.; Manchester: John Heywood [1873], pp. xvi, 207); ‘A‖Whitsuntide‖
Carol’‖(Ben Brierley’s Journal, 15 May 1873, p. 162), ‘The‖City‖Singers’‖(BBJ,
September 1873, 241), noted by Boos as claim for the nurturing civic value of verse
 in an alienated city environment. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 352; Maidment (1987), 158-9;
Boos (2002a), 222-3; journal sources indicated.
(?) Owens, Samuel (fl.‖1730),‖locksmith,‖unpublished‖member‖of‖the‖‘School‖of‖Duck’‖
(Stephen Duck, qv). The Universal Spectator, 21 November 1730,‖reported‖that‖‘The‖
ingenious‖Samuel‖Owens,‖Locksmith...having‖been‖stirr’d‖up‖by‖Emulation‖of‖the‖
famous Mr. Duck, is now preparing some Poetical Works for the Press, which are
not‖doubted‖to‖prove‖entertaining‖to‖the‖Publick’.‖No‖such‖volume‖has‖been‖
traced. Ref. Universal Spectator; Batt (2017). [C18]
Owler, David, (b. 1860), of Dundee, ‘Dib’,‖son‖of‖a‖‘seafaring‖man’, attended East
Church Parish School, leaving at the age of ten to begin work in a Dundee mill
half-time, and then to work as a messenger boy. He worked again in the mill for a
while, and then for four years in the warping department of a local factory. He
worked at joinery for eight year, moved to Dysart and set up as a bookseller and
newsagent, also framing pictures, acting as an insurance agent, and
‘corresponding to one or two newspapers’. By 1893 Owler had ‘for‖a‖number‖of‖
years’‖been supplying prose and verse material to the Fifeshire newspapers,
under the‖name‖of‖‘Dib’. Edwards‖notes‖the‖‘quiet and rippling‖humorous‖cast’ of
some of his verse,‖and‖his‖‘happy‖use’‖of‖old‖saws‖‘which‖he‖turns‖to‖good‖
account’.‖He‖chooses four Scots poems:‖‘The‖Golden‖Rule’,‖‘Markinch’,‖‘When‖
Birdies‖Sang’‖and ‘Tho’‖Lang‖Is‖the‖Nicht’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 356-60. [S]
Pagan, Isobel, Isabel or Tibbie (c. 1742-1821), of Ayrshire, lame, self-taught hermit
who‖‘lived‖alone‖in‖old‖brick-store‖hut’,‖an unlicensed whisky-dealer, famed for
the‖songs‖‘Ca’‖the‖yowes‖to‖the‖knowes’,‖revised‖by‖Robert Burns (qv) and often
set‖to‖music,‖and‖‘Crook‖and‖plaid’;‖she‖did‖not‖know‖how‖to‖write‖so‖her‖poems‖
were transcribed by a friend who was a tailor; published A Collection of Songs and
Poems on Several Occasions (Glasgow, 1805). Edwards says of Pagan that she
‘possessed more original genius and far greater wit than [her fellow poet of the
Muirkirk region John] Lapraik, though unfortunately many of her productions are
highly indelicate. She was a contemporary of both [Robert] Burns [qv] and
Lapraik, being some thirteen years‖the‖junior‖of‖the‖latter.‖If‖‚Ca’‖the‖ewes‖to‖the‖
knowes‛‖was‖really‖her‖production,‖as‖also‖one‖of‖the‖versions‖of‖‚The‖Crook‖and‖
Plaid,‛‖then‖she‖could‖write‖the‖most perfect‖lyrics‖in‖the‖language‛.‖This is
unhesitatingly generous; but the prim note about her indelicacy, and the hint of
doubt over her authorship in this assessment were far from unique to Edwards:
these two issues, together with her unrespectable profession and the purely oral
transmission of her work,‖helped‖to‖blacken‖Pagan’s‖name and reputation for
many years among middle class critics, moralists and readers, and it is only in
recent years that her full significance, and the value of her lyric gift, have begun to
be properly and unequivocally understood. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 220; Scot;
Douglas (1891), 55-6, 290; Kerrigan (1991), 164-5, 357; Jackson (1993), 249; Sutton
 (1995), 724 (letter); Bold (1997), 246-7; Feldman (1997), 539-55; McCue (1997), 60;
Kord (2003), 268-70; ODNB. [F] [S] [C18]
Palmer, John (1800-70), of Annan, Dumfriesshire, herder, cotton factory worker,
bookselling agent for Blackie & Fullarton, nurseryman, Liberal in local politics,
published Poems and Songs by the Late John Palmer (Annan, 1871). ~ Ref: Miller
(1910), 237-38; Reilly (2000), 356. [S] [T]
Parker, Benjamin (d. 1747), of Derby, started life as a stocking-maker and became
book‖manufacturer‖before‖turning‖to‖‘quack’‖medicine;‖published Money...a Poem
in Imitation of Milton, humbly inscribed to...the Earl of Chesterfield (1740), BL 1163-
0.e.13(2), with an advert on p. 16 for patent medicine prepared by Parker; prose
publications on scientific and philosophical subject published at Nottingham and
Derby. ~ Ref: Foxon (1975), 67; ODNB. [C18] [T]
Parkinson, Thomas (fl. 1882), forester, published Lays and Leaves of the Forest: A
Collection of Poems, and Historical, Genealogical and Biographical Essays and Sketches
relating chiefly to...Knaresborough (Harrogate [1882]. ~ Ref: Peter Bell of Edinburgh,
booklist‖97/2,‖‘including‖many‖from‖the‖library‖of‖the‖late‖E.P.‖Thompson’.
(?) Parr, William (fl. 1874), publican in London and Newbury, Berks., published
Original Songs and Poetry (Speenhamland/Newbury, 1874). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000),
357.
Parsons, Samuel (b. 1762), of Nottinghamshire, poet and itinerant ballad singer,
orphaned at four, taken on as a chorister at Southwell, travelled widely and
worked as an apprentice saddler (1774-82), journeyman saddler (1782-4), then a
comedian and strolling player, living in Nottingham, Market Rasen, Southwell,
Newark, Grantham, Falkingham; he ‘travelled‖for‖36‖years‖before‖settling‖in‖
York’. He published Poetical Trifles, Being a Collection of Songs and Fugitive Pieces, by
S. Parsons, Late of the Theatre Royal, York, with a Sketch of the Life of the Author (York:
R. Johnson, 1822). ~ Ref: Newsam (1845) 101-2; Burnett et al (1984), 244-5 (no. 546).
Pass, Fred (1942-2007), of Sheffield, worked in the scrap metal industry; published
two‖books‖of‖dialect‖poetry‖in‖aid‖of‖St‖Luke’s‖Hospice:‖Just Fred and Oh no, Not
Fred Again. From 2001, he wrote fiction. He ended his own life in a fit of
depression in 2007. ~ Ref: http://sheffieldvoices.group.shef.ac.uk/fgfpass.htm; inf.
Yann Lovelock. [OP]
Paterson, Archibald (fl. 1861-4), of Selkirk, stocking frame weaver from the age of
ten, self-taught, wrote for periodicals, published The Musiad, and other poems
(Selkirk, 1861), The Forest Lyre: Or, Man, and Other Poems (Kelsoe, Melrose, Hawick
and Galashiels, 1864). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 358. [S] [T]
Paterson, James (1775-1843), of Paisley, weaver, florist, published in periodicals. ~
Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 107-11. [S] [T]
Paterson, James (1805-76), of Struthers, Ayrshire, stable boy, farm boy, stationer,
printer and newspaper editor; political activist; poet and miscellaneous writer;
 published in Thomson’s Miscellany from the age of thirteen; later works include his
Autobiographical Reminiscences (Glasgow, 1871). ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), 245 (no.
548). [S]
Paterson, Jeannie Graham (b. 1871), of Springburn, Glasgow, educated at Springburn
Public School and continued living with her parents, working as a milliner. She
began composing poetry at the age of sixteen, and published her first poem in
‘Poet’s‖Corner’‖of‖the‖Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald in 1890. She carried on
publishing in local periodicals like the People’s Friend, the Kilmarnock Standard, the
Weekly Mail, and several religious magazines,‖and‖Edwards‖notes‖that‖‘not‖a‖few‖
of‖her‖poems‖have‖been‖quoted‖in‖American‖and‖other‖newspapers’.‖At‖the‖age‖of‖
23 she published a collection, Short Threads from a Milliner’s Needle: Poems by
Jeannie Graham Paterson (Glasgow, 1894). The Preface to Short Threads notes that
her poems were written for her own pleasure and that of friends who encouraged
her, and that her poems celebrate home, the Scots language, and the happiness of
friendship. They include: ‘The‖Auld‖Kirkyaird’,‖‘Bidin’‖Her‖Time:‖Suggested by a
Painting‖with‖This‖Title’,‖‘A‖Brighter‖Dawn’,‖‘The‖Captive’s‖Release’,‖‘Class‖
Distinction’,‖‘Common‖Gifts’,‖‘Dinna‖Chide‖the‖Bairnies’,‖‘The‖Exile’s‖Lament’,‖
‘Golden‖Days’,‖‘The‖Mountain‖Path’,‖‘The‖New‖School‖on‖the‖Hill’,‖‘Oor‖Mither‖
Tongue’,‖‘A‖Plea.‖For‖the‖‚Little‖Barefeet‛‖Fund’,‖‘To‖My‖Father’,‖‘To‖My‖Sister’,‖
‘To‖One‖Who‖Believes‖that‖Women‖are‖Soulless’,‖‘We‖Never‖Miss‖the‖Water’,‖‘The‖
Wee‖Bit‖Heather’,‖‘The‖Wee‖Cot‖Hoose:‖A‖Picture‖Scene’,‖‘A‖Wee‖Drap‖o’‖Tea’,‖
and‖‘Hereford‖Castle’,‖a‖drama. Her poem in praise of a‖‘wee‖drap‖o’‖tea’,‖to‖
sample her work, focuses on tea-drinking’s‖democratic‖sociability‖rather‖than‖
pressing the familiar teetotal message (which is discreetly hinted at, however, at
several points). This and its presentation of the ideal of a homely and cheery
simplicity may help explain why her verses was popular with newspaper readers
on both sides of the Atlantic. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 284-8; Reilly (1994), 371;
Boos (2008), 327-37, includes author photograph; Boos (2010); further inf. Florence
Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Paterson, John (1777-1845), of Paisley, warper (weaver) and brother to James (qv),
also published in periodicals. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 127-28. [S] [T]
(?) Paterson, John (b. 1833), son of John Paterson (qv, 1777-1845), of Paisley, letter-
press printer, poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 302-06. [S]
Paterson, John (b. 1853), of Glasgow, from a working-class family, self-taught,
telegraphist. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 226-32. [S]
Paterson,‖Mary,‖née‖Crighton‖(b.‖1850),‖‘The‖Carnoustie‖Poetess’,‖of‖Carnoustie,‖
Angus, employed at Panmure linen works of the Messrs. Smeaton, and m. in 1878
Mr.‖Paterson,‖a‖blacksmith‖with‖whom‖she‖had‖‘a‖large‖family’;‖lived in Glasgow,
an active Methodist, published Poems (Dundee, 1872); poems include ones
 celebrating the Highland thistle, reproving fault-finding,‖‘Canaan’s‖Land’,‖‘Our‖
Mither‖Tongue’. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 358; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Paton, Joseph Noel (b. 1821), of Paisley, pattern-drawer, poems in Brown. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), II, 125-30. [S] [T]
Patrick, James (1801-34), of Paisley, weaver, published posthumous collection of
1836. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 398-401. [S] [T]
(?) Patrick, James (fl. 1802),‖‘the‖intellectual‖pedlar’‖of‖Kendal: it is not clear from the
sources whether he is a poet;‖also‖described‖as‖Scottish,‖and‖‘of‖Hawkshead’,‖
childhood‖companion‖of‖Sara‖Hutchinson,‖and‖model‖for‖Wordsworth’s‖wanderer‖
in‖‘The‖Excursion’.‖He‖was‖a‖cattle‖herder‖in‖Perthshire‖before‖becoming‖a‖pedlar‖
and a draper in Kendal. Ref: Dorothy‖Wordsworth’s journal entry for 27 January
1802; Stephen Gill, William Wordsworth: a Life (Oxford, 1990), 25, 134; Cafarelli
(1995), 83; The Fenwick Notes of William Wordsworth, ed. Jared Fenwick
(Humanities-Ebooks, 2011), 374. [S]
Patterson, John (b. 1831), of Inverness, son of a seafarer, apprenticed as a compositor
and printer, moved to Glasgow then emigrated to America, surviving typhoid
fever on the boat in 1853, quarantined on Staten Island for months then obtained
secure work as a printer in New York. ~ Ref: Ross (1889), 178-86. [S]
(?) Pattison, William (1706-27),‖of‖Rye,‖Sussex,‖small‖farmer’s‖son,‖admitted‖as‖Sizar‖
to Sidney Sussex college, Cambridge but did not complete his course, and died of
smallpox. His patron, the notorious publisher Edmund Curll (qv), published The
Poetical Works of Mr William Pattison, and Cupid's Metamorphoses (1728); Pattinson
was‖mixed‖up‖in‖Curll’s‖dubious‖strategies,‖and‖wrote‖a‖poem‖‘To‖Mr.‖E.‖Curll,
Bookseller’,‖quoted‖by‖Baines‖&‖Rogers,‖185. ~ Ref: ODNB; Paul Baines and Pat
Rogers, Edmund Curll, Bookseller (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007), 185-6. [C18]
Paul,‖James‖(b.‖1859),‖of‖Longforgan,‖Perthshire,‖ploughman’s‖son,‖joiner,‖brother‖of‖
John Paul (qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 387-94. [S]
Paul, John (b. 1853),‖of‖St‖Madoes,‖Cares‖of‖Gowrie,‖ploughman’s‖son,‖joiner,‖brother‖
of James Paul (qv). He published largely in newspapers, and appears to have
contributed,‖along‖with‖David‖Tasker‖(qv)‖to‖David‖Lundie‖Greig’s‖(qv)‖volume‖
Pastime Musings (1892). ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 382-87. [S]
Paxton, James (1839-97), of Millerhill, near Edinburgh, colliery engine-keeper, kept a
poetry notebook with his brother, John (qv); poems published in the collection
listed below. ~ Ref: David Littleton, M. Litt. on the Paxton brothers, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne, 2004, and (ed.) Poems by James and John Paxton, Engine-
keepers at Newbattle Colliery (2004); NTU. [S] [M]
Paxton, John W. (1854-1918), of Millerhill, near Edinburgh, colliery engine-keeper,
kept a poetry notebook with his brother, James (qv); had over fifty poems
published in the Dalkeith Advertiser. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 173-80; David
Littleton, M. Litt. on the Paxton brothers, University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
 2004, and (ed.) Poems by James and John Paxton, Engine-keepers at Newbattle Colliery
(2004); NTU. [S] [M]
Peacock, John (d. 1867), of South Shields, shoemaker, Chartist, cooperative
storekeeper, second-hand bookseller in South Shields market, poet and
songwriter, published poems in the Shields Garland (1859). His best known song
was‖‘Marsden‖Rocks’.‖As‖a‖young‖man‖he‖was‖a‖seaman,‖and‖was‖taken‖prisoner‖
in the wars with France and confined in northern France. He was described in a
local paper, the Weekly Chronicle,‖as‖‘sober,‖intelligent‖and sharp-witted’. ~ Ref:
Allan (1891), 343-44; Newcastle Song Writers web page; Wikipedia. [C] [SM]
Peacock, John Macleay (1817-77), of Kincardine, Chartist, tobacco factory worker,
Clydeside‖‘rivet‖laddie’‖then‖boilermaker,‖later‖in‖his‖life‖when he lived on
Deeside known‖as‖‘The‖Birkenhead‖Poet’,‖planting‖a‖memorial‖oak‖tree‖in‖
Birkenhead Park for the Shakespeare tercentenary celebrations in 1864 and
writing two poems about this. He describes himself in the Preface to his first
volume‖as‖being‖born‖‘of‖humble parents—nursed in the lap of poverty—sent to
work for a scanty pittance at the age of nine or ten—left an orphan at an early
period‖of‖my‖life,‖to‖battle,‖as‖best‖I‖could,‖through‖the‖world‖without‖a‖guide’.‖He‖
adds‖that‖‘my‖education‖has‖been‖but‖meagre, picked up at intervals and by
snatches,‖and‖confined‖to‖the‖simplest‖rudiments‖of‖reading‖and‖writing’.‖Perhaps‖
as a result of these early losses and insecurities Peacock loved to travel, and his
shipbuilding skills enabled him to live at different times in Ireland, on Tyneside,
on Deeside, and in southern Spain where he wrote the poem ‘Beautiful‖Spain’,‖
composed on his first day there, celebrating Seville and Cadiz, lamented the
decline‖of‖science‖since‖the‖‘days‖of‖the‖Moor’‖and‖praising the ‘sweet‖
Guadalquivir’ river. He ended his days as a Glasgow shopkeeper. He was also a
delegate to the Chartist National Convention in London, and published a
‘Conventional‖Hymn’‖in‖the‖Northern Star, 2 March 1839. LC6 describes him as
‘very much a figure of his times, a radical and restless internationalist who
travelled‖widely‖and‖took‖a‖keen‖interest‖in‖events‖in‖America‖and‖Europe’‖and‖
notes‖that‖he‖‘also‖offers‖a‖valuable‖first-hand view of the industrial landscape:
rivers and dockyards, the city at night, and the heroic scale of nineteenth-century
shipbuilding.’ His books are Poems and Songs (1864); Hours of Reverie (1867); and
the posthumous Poems (1880). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 212-19; Ashraf (1978), I,
72, 100-101, 182, 247-8; Schwab (1993), 212; Reilly (2000), 361; LC 6, 131-44; ODNB
(Wikisource has the older DNB entry‖by‖Peacock’s‖friend‖Walter‖Lewin). [LC6] [S]
[C]
(?) Pearce, Paulin Huggett (fl. 1860), of Harbour Street, Ramsgate, champion
swimmer and swimming teacher, published Cheap Bathing...and Hymn. Praise
God... (Bell & Co, [c. 1860]), ornamenting the poems in this and others volumes
with‖useful‖information‖on‖his‖commercial‖work‖including‖a‖‘list‖of‖charges‖for‖
 swimming lessons and‖hire‖of‖bathing‖machines’.‖The‖poems‖and‖swimming seem
otherwise unconnected. ~ Ref: Charles Cox, Catalogue 51, item 214.
Pearson, Edward (fl. 1872), of Ashford, Kent, farm labourer, published The History of
Jimmie Lee, An Ambassador of Christ of Small Stature, with a Large Heart, which kept his
tongue in constant exercise with the King’s Messenger for fifty-two years (Rochford,
Essex, 1872). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 361-2); NTU.
Pearson, S[arah] (c. 1768-1833), of Sheffield, domestic servant of Sheffield, poet and
novelist, published Poems, Dedicated by Permission to the Right Honourable the
Countess Fitzwilliam (Sheffield: J. Gales, 1790); Poems on Various Subjects (London,
1800), and two novels including Medallion (1794). ~ Note: there has been much
unfortunate scholarly confusion and entangling between Pearson and the
evangelical writer Susanna (Flinders) Pearson of Lincolnshire (1779-1829), author
of Essays and Letters (Ipswich,‖1827)‖and‖subject‖of‖her‖husband’s‖Memoirs of the
Life and Character of Mrs S. Pearson (Ipswich, 1829). For this reason some suspect
details and a number of the sources consulted have been omitted from the list
below, including Jackson [(1993), 253]. ~ Ref: Grainge (1868), I, 242-3; Blain et al
(1990), 840; Binfield (2009), 164-5;‖Sandro‖Jung,‖‘Sarah‖Pearson‖(1768-1833): A
Sheffield‖Poet’,‖Women’s Writing, 16, no. 3 (2009), 392-407; Verdonck (2015). [F]
[C18]
Peddie, Robert (d. 1864), of Edinburgh, master staymaker, Chartist insurrectionist,
martyr and prisoner, moved to Yorkshire in 1839 and led an armed uprising in the
West Riding of Yorkshire on 27 January 1840; betrayed by a spy, he briefly went
on the run, then stood trial for sedition, conspiracy and riot. He went sentenced to
three years of hard labour—the dreaded treadmill—in Beverley prison. He
refused to do this demeaning and backbreaking work and was thrown in the
‘black‖hole’‖with‖only‖bread‖and‖water to eat and drink. After his release from
imprisonment he returned to Scotland and lectured widely on his experiences and
political ideas. He died of‖an‖‘apoplexy’‖in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1866, then
working as an auctioneer.‖Peddie’s‖poetry‖is‖all‖in a single book, The Dungeon
Harp: Being a Number of Poetical Pieces Written During a Cruel Imprisonment of Three
Years in the Dungeons of Beverley: Also a Full Proof of the Perjury Perpetrated Against
the Author by Some of the Hired Agents of the Authorities (Edinburgh, 1844). James
cites this as a typical nineteenth-century labouring-class nature poem; Maidment
says‖the‖poem‖‘deserves‖hearing’.‖Its literary significance apart, it is, like other
Chartist prison poems‖such‖as‖George‖Binns’‖(qv)‖The Doom of Toil (1840) and
Thomas‖Cooper’s‖(qv)‖The Purgatory of Suicides (1845), a valuable document in the
history of Chartism, and the history of state repression. There is an excellent
summary and analysis of Peddie in‖Kaye‖Kossick’s introduction to her selection
from his writings, in LC5, and a briefer one with some important original research
by Stephen Roberts on the website www.thepeoplescharter.co.uk,‖and‖in‖Roberts’‖
 earlier book, listed below. Under‖the‖heading‖of‖‘A‖Voice‖from‖Beverley’,‖
Glasgow’s‖Chartist Circular printed‖his‖poem‖beginning‖‘Hark‖the‖doleful‖prison‖
bell’,‖dated‖August‖1840,‖declaring‖to‖its‖readers,‖‘The‖following‖beautiful‖and‖
affecting song has been addressed by MR ROBERT PEDDIE to his WIFE. It cannot
fail‖to‖be‖popular‖with‖our‖readers’‖(no,‖53,‖26th‖September‖1840,‖p.‖216). ~ Ref:
sources cited; James (1963), 177; John‖Markham,‖‘The‖East‖Riding‖House‖of‖
Correction,‖Beverley‖and‖Robert‖Peddie,‖Its‖Most‖Famous‖Prisoner’,‖Journal of
Local Studies (1980), 20‐46; Maidment (1987), 19; Stephen Roberts, Radical
Politicians and Poets in Early Victorian Britain: The Voices of Six Chartist Leaders
(Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1993), 59-76; Schwab (1993), 212-13; LC 5, 171-88.
[LC5] [S]
Peel, Dorothy (1782-1857), known as Dolly Peel, of South Shields, fishwife, smuggler
and hawker of contraband goods who protected local sailors from the press gang.
When her husband and his brother were press-ganged into serving, during the
Napoleonic Wars, she stowed aboard the ship; after discovery she nursed injured
sailors and carried powder to the guns during three sea-battles, She became a
local heroine, winning a pardon and a reprieve for her husband Cuthbert. She
published poetry, including verse in praise of the local MP. She died aged 75, and
has been commemorated locally in several different ways, including a statue;
journalist‖Janis‖Blower‖describes‖her‖as‖‘one‖of‖the‖most‖iconic‖figures‖associated‖
with the maritime history‖of‖South‖Shields’. ~ Ref: Janis‖Blower,‖‘The‖Legendary‖
Dolly‖Peel‖DID‖Fight‖at‖Sea’,‖Shields Gazette, 10 September 2014; Wikipedia; inf.
Dawn Whatman. [F]
(?) Peers, Richard (1645-90), of Downpatrick, son of a tanner, apprenticed to his
father’s‖trade,‖but‖‘gave‖it‖up‖in‖disgust‖and‖fled‖to‖England’,‖where‖a‖relative‖in‖
Bristol‖placed‖him‖in‖a‖‘good‖school’‖in‖Carmarthenshire;‖thence‖he‖went‖on‖to‖
Westminster School, and to Christ Church, Oxford (BA,1668; MA, 1671). He
published Four Small Copies or Verses made on sundry Occasions (1667). Peers also
carried out translation work for Oxford University Press, compiled the first
catalogue‖of‖Oxford‖Graduates,‖and‖wrote‖a‖‘Description‖of‖the‖Seventeen‖
Provinces‖of‖the‖Netherlands’‖(in‖Moses‖Pitt,‖The English Atlas, Oxford, 1680-83),
and‖other‖prose‖works.‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 379; DNB. [I]
Pegg, William (1775-1851), of Derby, a‖Quaker,‖sometimes‖known‖as‖‘Quaker’‖Pegg,‖
b. at Whitmore, Newcastle-under-Lyne, son of a gardener, apprenticed as a
ceramic painter in Staffordshire at the age of ten, flower‖painter‖(‘one‖of‖the‖best’)‖
at the Derby china factory from 1796-1820,‖and‖author‖of‖‘poetical‖pieces,‖essay‖
and‖reflection‖on‖religious‖subjects’,‖with‖some‖lifewriting,‖gathered‖together‖in‖a‖
‘bulky‖MS.‖volume’.‖Pegg‖had‖some‖of‖his‖poems ‘of‖a‖religious‖character’‖printed
up on small cards. ~ Ref: Alfred Wallace and William Bemrose, The Pottery and
Porcelain of Derbyshire (London, 1870); John Haslem, The Old Derby China Factory:
 The Workmen and their Productions (London: George Bell and Sons, 1876; reprinted
East Ardsley, Wakefield: EP Publishing, 1973, with a Foreword by A. L. Thorpe),
70-96; John Twitchet, Derby Porcelain (London, 1980); inf. Sam Ward.
(?) Pemberton, Charles Reece (1790-1840), of Pontypool, Monmouthshire, ‘The‖
Wanderer’,‖playwright, actor, author and lecturer, Welsh mother, English father,
family moved to Birmingham aged four, sent to charity school, apprenticed to an
uncle as a brass-founder, ran away to Liverpool and was press-ganged and sent to
sea,‖serving‖seven‖years;‖became‖a‖‘strolling‖player’,‖wrote‖plays,‖poems‖and‖
prose. He published (posthumously by subscription) The Life and Literary Remains
of Charles Reece Pemberton,‖ed.‖John‖Fowler‖(‘Secretary‖of‖the‖Sheffield‖Mechanics‖
Institute’) (London: Charles Fox, 1843). ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 343; Hall (1873), 81-95;
DNB; Wikipedia; Life and Literary Remains, via Google Books. [W]
Penman, William (1848-77),‖‘Rhyming‖Willie’,‖of‖Carronshore,‖Falkirk,‖Stirlingshire,‖
blacksmith‖then‖foundry‖worker‖in‖Glasgow,‖leg‖crushed‖in‖accident,‖‘Good‖
Templar’‖and‖Freemason,‖friend‖of‖James‖Nicholson‖(qv);‖a‖‘true‖poet‖and‖genuine‖
humorist’‖(Edwards); published Echoes from the Ingleside: A Selection of songs and
poems (Glasgow, 1878). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 36-8; Reilly (2000), 363. [S] [B]
(?) Pennie, John Fitzgerald (1782-1848), of East Lulworth, Dorset, his parents
probably in service at the Vicarage there; self-taught‖and‖‘lacking‖regular‖
education’‖(ODNB),‖worked‖as‖a‖solicitor’s‖clerk,‖school‖usher,‖travelling‖player,‖
then opened a school; a playwright, poet and autobiographer, writing his first
play at the age of fifteen; publications include The Royal Minstrel, or, the Witcheries
of Endor, an epic poem, in eleven books (Dorchester, 1817); and an autobiography, The
Tale of a Modern Genius, or the Miseries of Parnassus (London: J. Andrews, 1827). ~
Ref: Johnson (1992), item 697; Sutton (1995), 740 (letters); Goodridge (1999), item
87; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 318 ODNB.
(?) Perring, Mrs E. M. (fl. 1841),‖of‖Leeds,‖printer’s‖wife,‖published Domestic Hours:
Poems by Mrs. Perring (London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1841). Holroyd prints her
poem‖‘Love‖of‖Nature‖and‖Retirement’,‖dated‖Leeds,‖1847;‖he‖seems‖to‖be‖
incorrect‖in‖his‖description‖of‖her‖‘two’‖volumes‖though. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 88;
COPAC. [F]
Perring, Samuel, of Blackburn (fl. 1876),‖‘from‖birth‖a‖cripple...his‖arms‖and‖hands‖
being mis-shapen’,‖published poems in the newspapers. ~ Ref: Henry‖Yates,‖‘A‖
Nearly‖Forgotten‖Humble‖Townsman’,‖Blackburn Times, 30 November 1895; Hull
(1902), 343-6; Massey page.
Petrie, George (1792-1836), of London, soldier, tailor, political writer and organiser,
poet, published his epic poem Equality, dedicated to Robert Owen, in 1832. Its
‘politico-philosophical ideas are largely based on Thomas Spence [qv] and the
cooperative movement’;‖Petrie‖‘can‖be‖regarded‖as‖an‖immediate‖precursor‖to‖
Chartist‖poetry’‖(Schwab).‖Also‖posthumously‖published The Works of George
 Petrie, comprising Equality and other poems; select extracts from the letter of Agrarius;
with a biographical memoir of the author (London 1841). (Ashraf also mentions an
otherwise‖unidentified‖‘Charles‖Petrie’‖on‖p. 24; possibly the same person.) Ref:
Ashraf (1978), I, 44; Schwab (1993), 212; COPAC/BL.
Pettigrew, John (b. 1840), of Keppochhill, Glasgow,‖‘The‖Parkhead‖Bard’ or
‘Parkhead‖Minstrel’,‖‘The‖Roving‖Gardener’,‖itinerant‖gardener,‖published
extensively in the Glasgow and Kilmarnock press, especially the Glasgow Penny
Post. Pettigrew’s‖parents‖were‖poor‖and‖he was able to receive only six months of
schooling. He was apprenticed to a cartwright, but instead went into farm service
after his parents both died, and then worked in a nursery, learning his trade as a
gardener‖and‖working‖with‖‘Mr‖Abercromby,‖Stirling’‖(‘Abercromby, Arch.,
gardener, 30 Port St.’,‖Duncan & Jamieson’s Directory for Stirling, St. Ninian’s, *etc.+ ,
Stirling, 1868-9), before setting out as a jobbing gardener, working throughout
Scotland. He is described as ‘intelligent,‖skilled,‖and‖of‖a‖civil‖and‖obliging‖
disposition’ as‖a‖result‖of‖which‖‘he‖has‖gained‖friends‖in‖many‖parts‖who‖still‖
cling‖to‖him‖in‖the‖hour‖of‖adversity’‖(Edwards), i.e. they still seek his
horticultural advice despite his later disability (see below). Edwards notes that
when he was at Parkhead in 1862‖‘a‖‚poetical‖war‛‖broke‖out in the columns of a
Glasgow newspaper, and John took an active part in the contest After some hard-
hitting on both sides, he was allowed to be the conqueror, and he received
encouraging epistles from the late Janet Hamilton [qv+‖and‖others.’‖Pettigrew‖also‖
wrote for the Kilmarnock Standard,‖and‖the‖English‖newspapers,‖‘now‖painting‖
nature, singing to the child in the cradle, and again writing comic verses for the
music‖halls’.‖In‖his‖mid-thirties he became an invalid after an attack of bronchitis,
and lived for part of the time in the poorhouse, venturing out when well enough
to‖sell‖copies‖of‖his‖songs.‖These‖songs,‖says‖Edwards,‖‘have‖found‖much‖favour‖
in‖some‖of‖the‖English‖journals’, and they appeared in the Scottish papers too,
including the Glasgow Herald and Glasgow Mail, the People’s Journal and‖‘many‖
provincial newspapers’.‖Some are also included in Kyle’s Scottish Lyric Gems: A
Collection of the Songs of Scotland (1880). Pettigrew won a number of poetry
competitions. Edwards‖includes‖half‖a‖dozen‖of‖his‖poems‖and‖songs:‖‘Blyth‖
Summer’s‖Awa’’,‖‘Where‖the‖Highland‖Tartans‖Wave’,‖‘To‖Mary’,‖‘My‖Bonnie‖
Dark‖Eyed‖Dearie’,‖‘Summer‖a’‖the‖Year’,‖and‖‘Sweet‖Summer‖Comes‖Forth’.‖Blair
reprints‖his‖poem‖‘What‖is‖Sweet’,‖published in the People’s Journal, 27 March
1869. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 35-40; Blair (2016), 76; online sources. [S]
(?) Pfeiffer, Emily Jane, (1827-90), née Davis, Montgomeryshire; her father, an army
officer, lost most of his property and fortune due to his bank’s‖failure‖in‖1831;‖
their impecuniousness kept Pfeiffer from receiving regular or formal education;
her father encouraged her writing and painting; she married German merchant
Jurgen Edward Pfeiffer in 1850; she wrote prolifically, especially in the sonnet
 form, and has been compared to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Sara Coleridge;
she was highly critical of female disempowerment and theories concerning
women’s‖inherent‖weakness‖and‖contributed‖articles‖on‖the‖subjects‖to‖Cornhill
Magazine and the Contemporary Review, to positive review. She published The Holly
Branch, an Album for 1843 (printed privately in 1842); Valisneria (1857); Gerard’s
Monument (1873); The Rhyme of the Lady of the Rock, and How it Grew (1884); The
Wynnes of Wynhavod (1881); Flying Leaves from East and West (1885); Women and
Work (1887); Flowers of the Night (1889). ~ Ref: Sutton (1995), 750 (letters); Brennan
(2003), 143-69; Gramich & Brennan (2003), 113-16, 401; OCLW (1986); ODNB. [W]
[F] [—Katie Osborn]
Phillips, James Gordon (b. 1852), of Newmill, Banffshire, herding boy, apprentice
tailor, published in the Banffshire Journal and the Elgin Courier, was involved in
archaeology and local history; published Wanderings in the Highlands of Banff and
Aberdeen Shires; With Trifles in Verse by J. G. Phillips (Banff, 1881). ~ Ref: Murdoch
(1883), 424-5, Reilly (1994), 377. [S] [T]
Philp, Robert (1803-79), of Dunfermline and Alloa, draper; painter, musician and
poet. ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885), 78-79. [S]
Picken, David (1809-1874 or 1875), of Paisley, drawboy and weaver, Chartist,
published posthumous Poems and Songs, with a memoir of the author and notes
(Paisley, 1875). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 411-13; Reilly (2000), 367. [S] [C] [T]
(?) Picken, Ebenezer (1769-1816), of Paisley, son of a weaver, friend of Alexander
Wilson (1766-1813, qv), father of Joanna Picken (qv), made various attempts to
train for the ministry, worked as a schoolmaster and in commerce, often lived in
poverty. As a student, his poems were published in Poems and Epistles, Mostly in
the Scottish Dialect (1788). He later published Miscellaneous Poems, Songs, < Partly
in the Scottish Dialect, with a Copious Glossary (1813), two volumes. Ref: Renfrewshire
(1819-72), xxvi-xxvii, lxxii-lxxiii; Wilson (1876), I, 443-6; Brown (1889-90), I, 62-68;
Leonard (1990), 188; Sutton (1995), 751 (letters); ODNB (See also his son, Andrew
Belfrage Picken, in same entry). [S] [C18]
(?) Picken, Joanna [Belfrage] (1798-1859), of Edinburgh, daughter of Ebenezer Picken
(qv), music teacher, poet of Paisley, emigrated to Canada in 1842, published verse
in the Glasgow Courier, two poems in Wilson (1876), II, 174-5. ~ Ref: Leonard
(1990), 188-91, 371; Boos (1995); Bold (1997), 255; DNB. [F] [S]
Pickering, Derwent (1901-84), of Little Broughton, Cumbria, coalminer, youngest of
13 children, joined the Allerdale Coal Company, living at Chapel Brow and
working at Buckhill Pit, then William Pit, Great Clifton, and Solway Colliery,
Workington. He began writing in 1917, ‘when‖a workmate, fed up and wet
through,‖said‖to‖the‖lad‖with‖a‖love‖of‖language,‖‚Ah‖wish‖thoo’s‖mak‖summat‖up‖
aboot‖this‖spot‛’.‖He‖wrote‖in‖Cumbrian‖dialect,‖in‖poem‖such‖as‖‘T’ Steean Waw
Idyll’‖(on‖dry-stone‖walling)‖and‖‘Leuk‖After‖Thee‖Lamp’.‖Poems‖published
 regularly in the West Cumberland Times. ~ Ref: Workington Times and Star, online
edition, 17 February 2005. [OP] [M]
Pickles, Nellie (b. 1911), of Trawden, Lancashire, lifetime cotton mill worker, retired
in 1972, dialect poet, her work was broadcast on Radio Blackburn; her poem
‘Coppin’‖on’‖published in Cheyp, p. 51. ~ Ref: Cheyp (1978), 51, 74. [T] [OP]
Pickup, John (b. 1860), ‘Jean‖Piko’,‖of Blackburn, largely self-taught, weaver from the
aged of ten, later an insurance agent. A dialect and local poet, Pickup was a key
figure in nurturing other Blackburn poets. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 404-9. [T]
Plumb, Samuel (fl. 1821), stockinger, of Carlton, Nottingham, a member of the
Nottingham’s‖‘Sherwood‖Forest’‖group;‖sent a verse-letter to John Clare dated 9
March 1821 in‖which‖he‖complained‖that‖‘A‖Stockinger‖with‖all‖his‖might,‖/‖May‖
press o’er‖th’ arch from morn till night, / And half the night by candle-light, / But
seldom can, / Be debtless, and appear upright, / As‖should‖a‖man’. ~ Ref: Hall
(1873), 315-20, 382; James (1963), 171; inf. Bob Heyes. [T]
Plummer, John (1831-1914), of London and Kettering, staymaker and shoemaker,
partially lame and deaf, published Songs of Labour, Northamptonshire Rambles and
Other Poems (With an Autobiographical Sketch of the Author’s Life) (London and
Kettering, 1860). ~ Ref: Vincent (1981), 207, 183; Burnett et al (1984), 249 (no. 557);
Hold (1989), 121-24; Ashton and Roberts (1999), 63; Reilly (2000), 369); NTU. [SM]
Polin, Edward (1816-43), of Paisley, drawboy, handloom weaver and pattern-setter,
involved with Radical party and became editor of Newcastle Courant, drowned.
His first poems appeared in Chartist Circular,‖including‖‘Scotland’s‖Song‖of‖
Liberty: To William Lovett [qv],‖John‖Collins,‖and‖Dr‖P.‖M.‖M’Douall‖[editor of the
Chartist Journal] on Their Liberation from the Prisons of England, July and August
1840’,‖Chartist Circular, no. 50, Glasgow, 5th September 1840, 204. He also
published anonymously as a 24-page pamphlet, a short satirical piece, Councillors
in Their Cups, or the Reformed Transformed; a Lyrical Laughterpiece (Paisley, 1842). ~
Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 56-60; Leonard (1990), 160-5; Chartist Circular via Google
Books. [S] [T]
Pooley, John (1800-after 1841), of Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire, agricultural
labourer, self-described‖as‖an‖‘untaught‖peasant’,‖published Poems, Moral, Rural,
Humorous, and Satirical (1825); Blackland Farm (1838); wrote to John Clare (qv), who
in a marginal note‖nicknamed‖him‖‘dull‖Fooley’‖(Journal,‖27‖February‖1825). ~ Ref:
Hold (1989), 124-28; By Himself (1996), 214.
Portal, Abraham (1726-1809), gold/silversmith poet, befriended and helped by John
Langhorne, published two volumes of poetry, Nuptial Elegies (1774) and Poems
(1781), which reprints earlier material with additions, and an occasional piece on
the death of Langhorne (1779); better known for his dramatic works, including
Songs, Duets and Finale (1778)‖‘from‖the‖comic‖opera‖The Cady of Baghdad (music by
Thomas‖Linley‖the‖younger,‖libretto‖by‖Portal)’.‖The‖preface‖to‖his‖first‖play,‖
 Olindo and Sophronia,‖notes‖that‖he‖had‖‘hitherto‖passed‖his‖time,‖not‖in‖the‖
learned and peaceful retreats of the Muses but in the rude and noisy shop of
Vulcan.’‖He‖also made a name for himself in his trade, and his work is still sought
after in the antique market. An example of his finest work in silver, an enormous
wine cistern commissioned by the Earl of Huntingdon, was exhibited on the
webpage of the New York silver dealer S. J., February 3rd 2006. ~ Ref: Christopher
Portal, The Reluctant Goldsmith (Castle Cary Press, 1993); ODNB; inf. William
Christmas and Bridget Keegan. [C18]
Porter, Alexander (d. 1863), shepherd of Edzell, Angus, published Poems on Various
Subjects (Montrose, 1861). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 372. [S]
Porter, Hugh (b. c. 1780, fl. 1800-1813),‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Moneyslane’,‖Linen-weaver, of
County Down, associated with Mary Tighe and Thomas Percy, patronised (along
with Patrick Bronte) by Revd. Thomas Tighe, published Poetical Attempts by Hugh
Porter, A County of Down Weaver (Belfast: Archbold & Dugan, 1813); full text on
Google Books. A modern edition of his work is The Country Rhymes of Hugh Porter,
The Bard of Moneyslane, with an Introduction by Amber Adams and J.R.R. Adams
(Bangor,‖Northern‖Ireland:‖Pretani‖Press,‖1992,‖‘The‖Folk‖Poets‖of‖Ulster’‖series),‖
includes‖a‖list‖of‖the‖original‖subscribers,‖identification‖of‖Porter’s‖dedications‖and‖
other valuable information. ~ Ref: Carpenter (1998), 552; inf. Bob Heyes. [I] [T]
(?) Potter,‖Mary‖Jane‖(b.‖1833),‖of‖York,‖daughter‖of‖a‖ship’s‖carpenter,‖moved‖to‖
Montrose‖aged‖three;‖raised‖her‖deceased‖sister’s‖four‖orphaned‖children,‖and‖
wrote‖for‖local‖newspapers;‖poems‖include‖‘My‖Companie’,‖‘Lines‖to‖an‖Early
Snowdrop’,‖and‖‘They‖Left‖the‖Bay‖at‖Midnight’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 375-9;
inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Powell,‖James‖Henry‖(b.‖1830),‖of‖London,‖engineer’s‖son,‖worked‖in‖paper‖mill,‖then‖
as an engineer, published The Poets Voice (1852); The Poetry of Thought and the
Poetry of Feeling (Wolverhampton, [?1853]); Phases of Thought and Feeling, Poems and
Lyrics (London: Partridge & Co, 1857); Life Incidents; and, Poetic Pictures (London,
1865). ~ Ref: Ashraf (1978), I, 100; Reilly (2000), 373, inf. Bob Heyes.
(?) Powell, Thomas E. (fl. 1870),‖Member‖of‖London‖Trades’‖Council,‖published Down
the River, from Pimlico Pier to Temple Bar: A Satire (London: Darling & Son, 1870), 32
pp., copies in BL and Glasgow University Library. ~ Ref: COPAC; copy in the BL.
(?) Poynton or Pointon, Priscilla (c. 1740-1801), of Litchfield, went blind at age 12,
strict parents, largely self-taught, married a saddler in Chester (becoming Mrs
Pickering), published Poems on Several Occasions (Birmingham, 1770), with nearly
1,300 subscribers; second edition, Poems by Mrs Pickering...to which are added
Poetical Sketches (Birmingham and London, 1794), ed. Joseph Weston, published to
support‖herself‖after‖her‖husband’s‖premature‖death‖that‖year. ~ Ref: Poole &
Markland (1928), 387-9; Lonsdale (1989), 272-6; Jackson (1993), 259; Backscheider
(2009), 883; Jess‖Domanico,‖‘Reading‖‚The‖Blind‖Poetess‖of‖Lichfield‛:‖The‖
 Consolatory‖Odes‖of‖Priscilla‖Poynton’,‖in The Idea of Disability in the Eighteenth
Century, ed. Chris Mounsey (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2014),
203-22; Chris‖Mounsey,‖‘Blind‖Woman‖on‖the‖Rampage:‖Priscilla‖Pointon’s‖Grand‖
Tour of the Midlands and the Question of the Legitimacy of Sources for
Biography’,‖in Joanna Fowler and Allan Ingram (eds), Voice and Context in
Eighteenth-Century Verse (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 230-47. [F] [C18]
Pratt, Ellis (fl. 1770), ‘E.‖P.‖Philocosm’,‖hairdresser of Bath, published The Art of
Dressing Hair. A Poem. Humbly inscribed to the members of the T. N. Club, by E. P.
Philocosm, and Late Hairdresser to the Said Society (Bath: R. Crutwell, 1770). The
‘T.N.‖Club’‖is‖the‖fashionable‖Tuesday‖Night‖Club.‖Pratt‖promotes‖his‖shop‖and‖
the‖‘numerous‖hair‖treatments‖he‖had‖to‖offer’. ~ Ref: C. R. Johnson, catalogue 55
(2013), item 21 (includes title-page image). [C18]
Preston, Benjamin (1819-1902), Ben Preston, ‘The‖Burns‖of‖Bradford’ [Robert Burns,
qv], born in Bradford, Yorkshire where he lived until 1865, wool sorter and
comber, a publican, and a dialect writer. He made his name with a dialect poem,
‘Natterin‖Nan’‖(1856),‖and‖published‖extensively‖in‖local‖periodicals;‖Holroyd‖
prints‖several‖poems‖including‖his‖tribute‖to‖Charlotte‖Bronte,‖‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖
Currer‖Bell’‖(1857),‖and‖enthuses‖that‖for‖‘raciness‖and‖vigour of language, there is
nothing‖in‖the‖whole‖range‖of‖English‖literature‖to‖surpass’‖Preston’s collection of
eighteen dialect poems, published in 1872, expanded as Dialect and Other Poems by
Ben Preston, With a Glossary of Local Words (London and Bradford: Simpkin,
Marshall & Co., and T. Brear, 1881).‖Moorman‖considers‖that‖‘his‖pathos‖has‖
dignity‖and‖restraint,‖and‖in‖the‖poem‖‚I‖nivver‖can‖call‖her‖my‖wife‛‖it‖rises‖to‖
the‖heights‖of‖great‖tragedy’‖(xxxv). ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 2-3, 23, 64-5, 100-101,
107; Andrews (1885), 106-11; Forshaw (1891), 132-9 (includes a photograph);
Moorman (1917), xxxiv-xxxv, 37-43; Vicinus (1974), 161; Ashraf (1975), 233-6;
Ashraf (1978), I, 7-8, 227-9; K.‖E.‖Smith,‖‘Ben‖Preston‖in‖His‖Time‖and‖Ours’,‖
Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, 15, part 80 (1980); England (1983), 14,
21, 49, 66); Reilly (1994), 385; NTU. [T]
(?) Preston, Edward Bailey (fl. 1820s), itinerant calligrapher, poet and correspondent
of John Clare (qv). ~ Ref: John Clare, Letters, ed. Storey (Oxford, 1985).
Price, Emma (fl. 1868),‖of‖humble‖origin,‖the‖only‖child‖of‖‘humble‖but‖respectable‖
English‖parents’;‖her‖mother‖died‖and‖she‖lived‖with‖her‖father,‖who‖had‖become‖
incapacitated, in the workhouse. Though able to work for a time as a
nurserymaid, she was forced from blindness to live in the Edinburgh Blind
Asylum, and her poems were published in the hope of raising money for her.
Price is one of at least four blind Scottish women poets who published books
during this period, reflecting a fairly high incidence of blindness. She published
Verses, by a Blind Girl (Edinburgh, 1868); her verses, simple and of a pious cast,
 include‖‘The‖Blind‖Girl‖to‖Her‖Book,’‖and‖‘A‖Village‖Scene‖(Llandysill)’. ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 374; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Price, Frederick (1804-84), of Bilston, Staffs., printer and compositor, published
Rustic Rhymes (Birmingham and Litchfield, 1859) and Little Jane the Cottage Girl.
(undated). ~ Ref: Poole & Markland (1928), 152-3.
Prichard, Thomas Jeffery Llewelyn, (1790-1862), born at Builth, Breconshire; actor,
poet, and historian; made a living in London as an actor and periodical writer; in
1823 published Welsh Minstrelsy by subscription and returned to Wales to sell the
poetry collection; married and settled in Builth, where he was a bookseller,
anthologist and novelist; became a strolling player in 1839, but lost his nose in a
fencing accident. He worked as a book cataloguer at the Llanover Library and
returned to writing and research. When he fell back into destitution (in Swansea,
1854-62) friends organized a fund for him through the newspaper The Cambrian;
died‖‘of‖burns‖received‖when‖he‖fell‖into‖his‖own‖fire’‖(OCLW). He published
Welsh Minstrelsy (London, 1823); The Cambrian Wreath (1828,‖an‖‘anthology of
poems‖by‖English‖Writers‖on‖Welsh‖historical‖subjects’);‖The Adventures and
Vagaries of Twm Shon Catti, Descriptive of Life in Wales, ‘the‖first‖Welsh‖novel’‖(1828,
1839, 1873, etc.); and Heroines of Welsh History (1854). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—
Katie Osborn]
Prince, John Critchley (1808-66),‖of‖Manchester,‖the‖‘Reedmaker‖Poet’,‖leading‖figure‖
in‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group,‖also‖lived‖in‖Blackburn,‖published the influential poem
‘The‖Death‖of‖the‖Factory‖Child’,‖first‖published‖in‖The People’s Magazine, July
1841, swiftly reprinted in the Fleet Papers, 17 July 1841, and much re-printed after
that. His collections included Hours With the Muses (1841), Dreams and Realities in
Verse and Prose (1847), The Poetic Rosary (1850), Autumn Leaves (1856; extended
edition, 1866), and Miscellaneous Poems (1861). His poems were gathered in three
volumes in The Poetical Works of John Critchley Prince , ed. R. A. Douglas Lithgiw
(Manchester and London, 1880). Prince edited The Loyal Ancient Shepherd’s
Quarterly Magazine (1848-), and contributed greatly to the periodicals of his time.
At‖the‖back‖of‖John‖Kay‖Taylor’s‖(qv)‖publication,‖The Burial of Burns: A Poem
(Glasgow:‖William‖Hamilton,‖1847)‖is‖a‖‘Sonnet‖to‖John‖Kay‖Taylor,‖on‖Reading‖
the‖Poem‖Entitled‖‚The‖Burial‖of‖Burns‛,‖by‖John‖Critchley‖Prince’.‖~ Ref: Reid,
City (1853); Hood (1870), 398-404; R. A. Douglas Lithgow, The Life of John Critchley
Prince (London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., 1880); Harland (1882), 285, 302, 349-50,
362-3, 366-8, 374-5, 381-2, 390-1, 420, 432-3, 446, 476; Miles (1891), X, xiii; Hull
(1902) (photograph of the poet on the frontispiece), 49-57; James (1963), 171-3;
Vicinus (1973), 743-5; Vicinus (1974), 141-3, 152-5, 159-60, 163-7, 171-2, 176-8;
Ashraf (1978), I, 14; Brian Maidment and A. S. Crehan, J. C. Prince and ‘The Death of
the Factory Child’: A Study in Victorian Working-Class Literature (Manchester:
Manchester Polytechnic, 1978),‖with‖a‖bibliography‖of‖Prince’s‖prose‖contributions
 to periodicals; Maidment (1983), 79, 84; Cross (1985), 142-7; Maidment (1987), 98-
101, 111-16, 136-7, 191-5. 198-200, 338-44; Armstrong, (1993), 224-30; Sutton (1995),
778 (letters and poems); Goodridge (1999), item 91; Reilly (2000), 375; Hobbs
(2013); ODNB; NTU; LC5, 107-22. [LC5]
(?) Pringle, Thomas (1789-1834),‖farmer’s‖son‖from‖Blakelaw,‖near‖Kelso,‖emigrated‖
to South Africa, returned as an ardent abolitionist. He raised more than 10,000
pounds‖‘for‖the‖relief‖of‖settlers‖in‖Albany’‖with‖Some Account of the Present State of
the English Settlers in Albany, South Africa (1824). He also published The Autumnal
Excursion’ and Other Poems (1819); Ephemerides or Occasional Poems, written in
Scotland and South Africa (London,‖1828),‖copy‖in‖John‖Clare’s‖(qv)‖library;‖African
Sketches (1834); Narrative of a Residency in South Africa (1834). He also wrote The
Desolate Valley: A South African scene; and, The Wild Forester of Winterburg: A South
African Tale. His poem ‘Afar‖in‖the‖Desert’‖(1832)‖was‖admired‖by‖Samuel‖Taylor‖
Coleridge. Pringle edited the annual, Friendship’s Offering, publishing among other
things poems by John Clare (qv), with whom he corresponded; he also published
poems by and corresponded with James Hogg (qv) when he co-edited the
Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, the short-lived predecessor to the famous Blackwoods
Magazine. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 100-104; Douglas (1891), 305; Sutton (1995), 778;
The Collected Letters of James Hogg, Volume 1, 1800-1819, ed. Gillian Hughes
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), 377-8, 399-400; Randolph Vigne,
Thomas Pringle, South African Poet, Pioneer and Abolitionist (Woodbridge: James
Currey, 2012); ODNB. [S]
Pritchard, Michael (c. 1709-33),‖‘a‖weaver’s‖son‖who‖earned a living gardening the
Bulkeley‖estate’.‖He‖is‖represented‖in‖a‖collection‖of‖24‖‘strict‖metre’‖(canu‖caeth)‖
poets. ~ Ref: Constantine (2017); DWB. [W]
Procter, Andrew (b. 1841), of Dalkeith, draper. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 367-8. [S] [T]
Procter, Richard Wright (1816-81), ‘Sylvan’,‖of Paradise Vale, Green Bank, near
Broughton Bridge, Salford, the son of poor parents, barber,‖‘spare-time
antiquarian‖and‖poet’,‖member‖of‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖of‖Manchester‖poets,‖
referred to in Alexander Wilson’s‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Corner’.‖Educated at a ‘dame school’‖
and through occasional lessons at a school in Bury, where he had an uncle, and
very briefly at the Lancastrian school in Manchester, as‖a‖young‖man‖he‖‘bought‖
books‖and‖contributed‖to‖the‖local‖press’‖(DNB), avidly seeking books in market-
stalls and elsewhere. The family moved to Manchester when he was nearly eight,
and his mother, who had tried hard to get him into a decent school, died in 1826,
the year he was ten. Apprenticed to a barber at nine, he went on to set up in as a
hairdresser himself, and part of his shop came to be used as a cheap circulating
library. Procter describes his first attempts to get published in the local
newspapers with self-deprecating‖humour:‖‘My‖Vernal‖effusions‖were‖inflicted
upon most newspapers and magazines in the district, many an editorial sanctum
 being no doubt illuminated at my expense. A rhyming Robin Hood, I was
continually‖aiming‖at‖Poet’s‖Corner; and although I frequently missed my mark,
now and then the target was pierced, much to my satisfaction’‖(quoted‖by‖Axon).
He published under the pen-name‖of‖‘Sylvan’,‖and‖did‖not‖take‖up‖his‖friends’‖
offer to raise subscriptions for a full edition of his poems. However he contributed
to The Festive Wreath (1842); The City Muse (1853); and Literary Reminiscences and
Gleanings (1860), and published an anthology of poetry that including some of his
own, Gems of Thought and Flowers of Fancy (1855). He also published a number of
prose works, centring on reminiscence and a sense of local pride and local history.
They are: The Barber's Shop (1856), prose sketches, with Illustrations by William
Morton, second edition ‘revised‖and‖enlarged’‖with a memoir by William Edward
Armytage Axon, 1883; Literary Reminiscences and Gleaning with Illustrations (1860);
Our Turf, Our Stage and Our Ring (1862), sketches of Lancashire sports; Manchester
in Holiday Dress (1866), on Manchester theatres and amusements; Memoirs of
Manchester Streets (1874); Memorials of Bygone Manchester, with Glimpses of the
Environs (1880). ~ Ref: Reid, City (1853); Harland (1882), 356-7, 365, 540-2, 545-6;
The Barber’s Shop, 1883 edition with Axon’s‖memoir of Procter, via archive.org;
Vicinus (1973), 743; Vicinus (1974), 160; Maidment (1987), 166); NTU; DNB/ODNB;
Wikipedia.
(?) Proctor, James (1826-59),‖of‖Dalkeith,‖of‖humble‖origin,‖tailor’s‖apprentice,‖
carpenter, temperance advocate, religious minister, published A Crack about the
Drink; Or a Poetical Dialogue between a Total Abstainer and a Moderate Drinker
(Dalkeith, 1849). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 79-83. [S] [T]
Proudlock, Lewis (1801-26),‖of‖Callaly,‖Northumberland,‖‘The‖Coquetdale‖Poet’,‖
miner turned schoolteacher, dialect poet. His poems were collected after his
death, and published as The Posthumous Poetical Works of Lewis Proudlock
(Jedburgh: Printed by Walter Eaton, 1826). See also next entry. ~ Ref: Jarndyce
(1980), item 1466; Johnson (1992), item 727; Reilly (1994), 386; Reilly (2000), 378.
[M]
Proudlock, Lewis (fl. 1865-96), coal miner of Dinnington, Northumberland, born at
Folley, near Elsdon, Northumberland. He published Poems and Songs (Haltwhistle,
c. 1865), which includes ‘A‖Dirge.‖(Inscribed‖to‖the‖Memory‖of‖Lewis‖Proudlock,‖
the Coquetdale Poet [qv], who was born at Callaly, in 1801, and died at the early
age‖of‖25‖years‖in‖1826)’;‖The ‚Borderland Muse‛ (London, 1896)—the preface to
this collection mentions his having toiled for 48 years in a coal mine; includes
numerous poems written in dialect and about mining and protesting for the rights
of miners. Proudlock also wrote two novels, The Shepherd of the Beacon or, the Hero
of Khyber Pass. A Story of Coquetdale by Lewis Proudlock, Dinnington,
Northumberland (Hexham: Printed at the Herald Office, 1877); and Crimson Hand,
the Scourge of the Bushrangers, or The Oath Redeemed, A story of Coquetdale Life and
 Australian Adventure. By Lewis Proudlock, Author of the ‘Shepherd of the Beacon’, ‘A
Hypocrite Unmasked’, ‘The Gambler Reclaimed’, ‘Black Will the Outlaw’, Poems and
Songs, &c. (undated, but BL suggests 1890?). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 727; Reilly
(1994), 386; Jarndyce (1998), item 1466; Reilly (2000), 378; inf. Bridget Keegan. [T]
[M]
Pryse, Robert John, (1807-89), ‘Gweirydd‖ap‖Rhys’,‖born at Llanbadrig, Anglesey;
shopkeeper‖and‖writer;‖orphaned‖at‖age‖11;‖‘had‖only‖four‖days’‖schooling’‖
(OCLW); kept a shop at Llanrhuddlad, Anglesey (1828-57), all the while also
weaving and teaching himself Latin, Greek, and English; to begin his writing
career, he moved to Denbigh, then Bangor, and suffered great poverty while
trying to earn a living as a journalist; luck turned in 1870, when he received an
advance for a major work, Hanes y Britaniaid a’r Cymry (1872-4. He won prizes at
the 1883 Cardiff Eisteddfodau. In his time, he was respected as an authority on the
Welsh language, and he put out his own edition of the Welsh Bible (1876). He also
published Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1300-1650 (1885); and The Myvyrian
Archaiology (1870). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Purdie,‖David‖Walter‖(b.‖1860),‖of‖Hutlerbury,‖Vale‖of‖Ettrick,‖Selkirkshire,‖‘The‖
Ettrick‖Bard’,‖farmworker,‖self-styled‖‘unlettered‖son‖of‖toil’,‖published Poems and
Songs (Selkirk, 1897). ~ Ref: Edward, 11 (1888), 297-302; Reilly (1994), 387. [S]
Purdon, George, ‘Jock’‖(1925-98), ‘The‖Miner’s‖Poet’,‖of Nitshill, near Glasgow, later
a‖‘Bevin‖Boy’‖junior‖coal‖miner,‖mining‖in‖Harraton Colliery (locally known as the
kosher pit), Chester-le-Street, County Durham; deeply influenced by Robert Burns
(qv) as well as the Scottish and English regional folk tradition, he was brought up
surrounded by song and music, singing and recitation in family and later in the
miners’ pubs, he became a poet and songwriter; he published Songs of the Durham
Coalfield (Chester-le-Street: Pit Lamp Press, 1977); The Echo of Pit Boots: Pitwork,
Politics & Poetry: The Collected Songs and Poems of Jock Purdon (South Shields: CVN
Print, 1985). Purdon‖is‖credited‖with‖inventing‖the‖word,‖‘Pitracide’,‖meaning‖to‖
murder a pit for economic reasons, an act that has now been carried out on the
entire British coal industry. In a BBC radio programme, ‘Jock‖Purdon,‖The‖Miner’s‖
Poet’,‖first aired in 2015, the singer Billy Bragg, who himself travelled round the
coalfields of South Wales, Yorkshire and the North-East during the strike of 1984-
5 playing benefits, tells the story of his transformative encounter with Purdon,
found‖that‖‘Purdon‖was‖just‖one‖of‖the‖latest‖in‖a‖long‖fertile‖line‖of‖writers,‖poets‖
and singers concentrated in a remarkably small area, who used their experiences
deep‖underground‖as‖inspiration‖for‖their‖work’. (BBC website). Bragg talks to
Purdon’s‖sons,‖among‖others. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 246, 272, 296, 304, 305, 332, 357
note, 360 note, 364 note, 365 note, 366 note; Wikipedia; WCML; work cited. [S] [M]
[OP]
(?) Purdy, Victory (1747-1822),‖known‖as‖‘The‖Kingswood‖Collier’‖and‖‘The‖Walking‖
Bible’,‖popular‖travelling‖preacher‖and‖hymn-writer, published Poetical
miscellanies. With a life of the untutored author, and a facsimile of his hand writing
(Bristol, 1825). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 730. [M]
Purves, Peter (b. 1799), of Dunbar, East Lothian, gardener, teacher, Sunday school
superintendent, librarian, published The poetical works of Peter Purves, Kirkcaldy,
with portrait and prefatory sketch of the author by Isaac E. Marwick (Edinburgh,
Religious Tract Society of Scotland, Kirkcaldy, 1879). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 379. [S]
(?) Purvis,‖William,‖‘Blind‖Willie’‖(1752-1832), of Newcastle upon Tyne, blind son of
a waterman, street musician and singer, composed rhymes and tunes, a
‘traditional‖working‖class‖songwriter’‖(Vicinus). ~ Ref: William Hone, The Table
Book (London: William Tegg, 1878), 231-2; Allan (1891), 54-8, 188; Vicinus (1974),
144, 164.
Purvis,‖William,‖‘Billy’‖(1784-1853), born near Edinburgh, apprentice joiner, theatre
‘call‖boy’,‖poet,‖conjurer,‖clown,‖musician‖and‖proprietor‖of‖a‖travelling‖theatre‖
and of the Victoria Theatre, Newcastle; not much of a poet, but a key figure in
Newcastle popular culture, celebrated in poems and songs by others listed here. ~
Ref: J. P. Robson, Life and Adventures of Billy Purvis (1849) [written by Robson in
the first person, so a quasi-autobiography]; The Life of Billy Purvis, the
Extraordinary, Witty and Comical Showman (Newcastle: T. Arthur, 1875; facsimile
edition, Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham, 1981); Allan (1891), 412-14; Burnett
et al (1984), 253-4 (no. 566a). [S]
(?) Pyott, William (b. 1851), of Ruthven, Forfarshire, mill-overseer’s‖son,‖cloth-lapper,
published Poems and songs (Blairgowrie, 1883; enlarged edition, Dundee, 1885). ~
Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 409-16; Reilly (1994), 388. [S] [T]
Pyper, Mary (1795-1870), b. in Greenock, raised in Edinburgh, the only child of
Scottish‖parents‖‘in‖a‖very‖humble‖rank‖of‖life.’‖Her‖father‖was‖impressed‖into‖the‖
army, ordered away, and never returned; Mary had recurrent illnesses, was
unable to attend school, and was brought up and taught by her now-single
mother. She learned lacemaking from House of Industry, but was too ill to work
at lacemaking, and supported herself and her mother by button-making and work
in a trimming shop. Later she did needlework when available, and sewed shirts
for a tiny income. Pyper read history and literature with her mother in the
evenings, and visited friends in the countryside. Blindness prevented her earning
her living in old age, and her poems were published in an attempt to help her.
According‖to‖the‖introduction,‖‘It‖would‖give‖her‖the‖purest‖happiness‖to‖think‖
that her writings might be of use in conveying to the minds of others those high
consolations which have been the comfort of her life, and are the solace of her
age.’‖Her‖favourite‖poet‖was‖Dryden;‖she‖found‖Robert Burns (qv) ‘rather‖coarse’‖
(Bold). She published Select Pieces by Mary Pyper (1847); Sacred Poems (Edinburgh,
 1865).‖Poems‖include‖‘Apology‖of‖the‖Authoress‖for‖her‖Muse’,‖‘On‖Seeing‖Two‖
Little‖Girls‖Present‖a‖Flower‖to‖a‖Dying‖Person’,‖‘On‖the‖Death‖of‖An‖Infant’,‖‘A‖
Harvest‖Hymn’,‖‘Here‖To-Day, and Gone To-Morrow’,‖‘Abide‖With‖Us’,‖‘To‖the‖
Moon’,‖‘Epitaph—A‖life’‖and‖‘Negro‖Emancipation’.‖Other‖books‖included‖Select
Pieces (Edinburgh: printed by T. Constable, 1847) and Hebrew Children. Poetic
Illustrations of Biblical Character (Edinburgh, William Elgin and Son, 1858). Though
her later poems are more accomplished, the earlier ones are less exclusively
religious and have more thematic variety. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 284-91;
Leonard (1990), 266; Bold (1997), 252; Reilly (2000), 380; LC 5, 221-8; inf. Florence
Boos. [LC5] [F] [S] [T]
Quick, Henry (1792-1857), of the Zennor coast, north-west‖Cornwall,‖miner’s‖son,‖
lost his father in 1805 reducing the family to poverty; beggar, broom-seller,
potato-digger, turf- and peat-cutter, hawker who sold books including his own
privately published poems; a Christian; published The Life and Progress of Henry
Quick of Zennor. Written By Himself, third edition (Hayle: James Williams, 1844), 12
pages; ed. P.A.S. Pool (Penzance, 1963). ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984) 254 (no. 567);
ODNB.
Quinn, Roger (b. 1850), of Dumfries, had an Irish father and Scottish mother, worked
as a shopworker and clerk, was later an itinerant musician in summer, living in a
Glasgow lodging-house in winter. He published The Heather Lintie: Being Poetical
Pieces, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect (Dumfries, 1861), the second edition (1863)
inserting ‘spiritual‖and‖temporal’‖into‖the title. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 381; Charles
Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 224); NTU. [S]
Rack, Edmund (1735?-1787),‖‘Eusebius’,‖of‖Attleborough,‖Norfolk, shopkeeper, son
of a labouring weaver, from a Quaker family, wrote on agricultural matters; Rack
settled in Bath and was involved in setting up the Bath and West of England
Agricultural Society and the Bath Philosophical Society; published Poems on
Several Subjects (1775); Mentor's Letters Addressed to Youth (1777, four editions) and
Essays, Letters, and Poems (1781). ~ Ref: ODNB; ESTC. [C18]
(?) Radford, Joseph (fl. 1841), of Birmingham, Chartist poet, published ‘The‖Charter’,‖
Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser, 2nd January 1841. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956),
96-7; Scheckner (1989), 298, 342; Sanders (2009), 240. [C]
Rae,‖James‖R.‖(b.‖1842),‖of‖Dennyloadhead,‖Stirlingshire,‖‘Jeems’,‖cartwright’s‖son,‖
coachmaker, President of Glasgow Burns Club [Robert Burns, qv], Manager of the
Glasgow Tramway Company, published The Jeems Papers; Prose and Rhyme o’
Leisure Time; The Shanter’s Trip tae Loch Lomond (pamphlet]; The Commercial
(pamphlet); Imperial Poems, by J.R. (1888) [16 pp.]; Songs and Ballads: Consisting of
Songs set to Music, Miscellaneous Poems, Squibs, Epitaphs, &c., &c., &c. by ‚Jeems.‛
Author of ‚The Jeems Papers,‛ &c. (Edinburgh: Robert Hone & Son, 1890), with
music for each song, and a portrait of the author. A prefatory note to Songs and
 Ballads states,‖‘This‖Volume‖of‖Songs,‖ballads,‖&c.,‖has‖not‖been‖brought‖before‖the‖
Public with any poetical pretensions on the part of the Author, but rather to show
that‖a‖great‖deal‖can‖be‖done‖during‖one’s‖leisure‖time‖which‖may‖tend‖to‖self-
improvement; if not amusing or instructive to others, it will at least do them no
harm.’‖Three‖page‖of‖‘Press‖Notices‖of‖Former‖Publications’‖at‖the‖back‖of‖this‖
volume‖welcome‖the‖‘racy‖and‖interesting’,‖good‖humoured‖and‖perhaps‖above‖
all‖sociable‖quality‖of‖‘Jeems’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 209-14; Reilly (1994), 391;
inf. Dawn Whatman. [S]
Rae, John S. (b. 1859), of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, draper in Glasgow and London,
published Poems and Songs, with an Introduction by D. H. Edwards (Edinburgh,
1884). Blair reprints his poems ‘An‖Election‖Song’ and‖‘Eviction’, first published in
the People’s Journal, 20 March 1880 and 23 July 1881. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 216-
19; Reilly (1994), 391; Blair (2016), 165-6, 174-6. [S] [T]
Rae, Thomas (1868-89),‖‘Dino’,‖of‖Galashiels,‖Selkirkshire,‖draper‖and‖factory‖
worker, whose health failed and he died young; he wrote for the Border Advertiser,
published Songs and Verses, with a Preface by Andrew Lang (Edinburgh, 1890).
Borland included his‖poem‖‘Yarrow‖(A‖Memory)’.‖~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 234-
38 and 12 (1889), viii-ix; Borland (1890), 238-39; Reilly (1994), 391. [S] [T]
(?) Ragg, Thomas (1808-81), of Sneinton, Nottingham, son of a bankrupted hosier
and lacemaker, worked for a bookseller, later ordained as a vicar; published The
Deity (1834), praised in The Times, August 11th 1834, as a remarkable and
elaborate philosophical poem‖‘by‖a‖working‖mechanic‖of‖Nottingham’;‖Heber;
Records of the Poor; Lays from the Prophets; and Other Poems (London, 1840, 1841);
God’s Dealings with an Infidel; or, Grace Triumphant: being the Autobiography of
Thomas Ragg (London, 1858). Ragg contributed the following poems to Dearden’s
Miscellany, (1839-40): ‘Volney‖in‖Syria’,‖I,‖12;‖‘Infant‖Eyes’,‖I,‖82;‖‘The‖Fate‖of‖
Genius’,‖I,‖168;‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Lament’,‖I,‖209;‖‘Pleasure’,‖II,‖415;‖‘The‖Bond‖of‖Earth‖
the‖Joy‖of‖Heaven’,‖II,‖515;‖‘Autumn’,‖II,‖552.‖He contributed two essays to the
same publication, the first an extended one: ‘Enquiry‖into‖the‖Origin‖and‖History‖
of‖the‖Ancient‖Britons‖and‖of‖British‖Druidism’,‖I,‖14,‖83,‖211; II, 445-50, 691-7; III,
112-18; ‘The‖Legend‖of‖Demon’s‖Dale, Near Matlock, Derbyshire’, IV, 888. His
own volume, Heber ... and Other Poems, is reviewed in volume IV (1840), 800-1. ~
Ref: [William] Dearden’s Miscellany (1839-40) via Google Books and the Internet
Archive; Hall (1873), 322-; Mellors (1924); Burnett et al (1984), 254 (no. 568).
Raiftearaí or Raftery, Antoine (1779-1835), Antoine O Raifteiri, Antoine O
Reachtabrha,‖Anthony‖Rafferty,‖‘Blind‖Rafferty’,‖of Killedan, County Mayo, blind
weaver’s‖son,‖blinded‖by‖the‖smallpox‖that‖killed‖his‖eight‖siblings,‖violinist and
Irish language poet sometimes called the last of the wandering bards. Raiftearaí
was an itinerant poet who earned a living playing the fiddle and performing his
songs and poems in the homes of the Anglo-Irish gentry. He put out around forty-
 eight poems, some of considerable length. He published (probably with the aid of
a sighted amanuensis) Seanchas na sceiche (‘The‖bush’s‖history‖*of‖Ireland+’);‖Cill
Liadáin (‘Killedan’);‖Eanach Dhúin (‘Annaghdown’);‖Agallamh Raiftearaí agus an
bháis (‘Raiftearaí’s‖discourse‖with‖death’);‖Achainí Raiftearaí ar Íosa Críost
(posthumously‖in‖1848,‖‘Raiftearaí’s‖petition‖to‖Jesus‖Christ’).‖There‖are‖English‖
translations in James Stephens, Reincarnations (Oregon: Corvallis). Raiftearai’s
songs were not written in his lifetime, but collected by others. His best known
poems are still learned in Irish schools, and some of his lines appear on an Irish
bank note. ~ Ref: Seamus Heaney, Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971-2001
(London: Faber, 2002), 236-7; Poems for the Millennium, Vol. 3: The University of
California Book of Romantic and Postromantic Poetry, ed. Jerome Rothenberg and
Jeffrey C. Robinson (Berkeley: California University Press, 2009), 547-8; ODNB;
Wikipedia and other online sources. [I]
Raine, Thomas (d.n.k.),‖of‖Teesdale,‖lead‖miner,‖songwriter,‖‘Bard‖of‖Teesdale’‖
whose‖song‖‘Fourpence‖a‖Day’‖was‖communicated‖to‖Joan‖Littlewood‖and‖Ewan‖
McColl by the retired lead miner John Gowland, of Middleton-in-Teesdale, in
1954. The late folk-song collector and editor Roy Palmer (1932-2015) was making
enquiries online about Raine in 2007, and there may perhaps be information in
some‖of‖Palmer’s‖publications‖(I‖have‖not‖yet‖tracked‖them‖all‖down).‖~ Ref: Lloyd
(1978),‖137,‖348‖note;‖sleeve‖notes‖to‖the‖1954‖record,‖‘Shuttle‖and‖Cage’‖posted‖
online; online sources. [M]
Ralphs, Edith M. (1911-95), of Oldham, dialect poet, market trader and long-term
stallholder in Tommyfield Market, daughter of two theatre managers and at
thirteen a piano accompanist to silent films; a contributor to the Oldham Chronicle,
and a campaigner for Lancashire textiles, she published three slim volumes,
Pennine Hot Pot (?1980); More Pennine Hot Pot (1983); Even More Pennine Hot Pot
(1985).‖Her‖work‖was‖aired‖on‖radio‖and‖TV‖including‖the‖BBC’s‖Woman’s‖Hour,‖
Radio Manchester and Radio Blackburn, and‖Granada‖TV’s‖‘Profile’‖series.‖A‖local‖
press cutting, tucked into a signed copy of Pennine Hot Pot,‖is‖headed‖‘End‖of‖an‖
era‖as‖poet‖Edith‖dies’,‖and‖has‖some‖interesting‖details,‖including‖her‖lifelong‖
membership of the Edwin Waugh [qv] Dialect Society, and the fact that her father
had worked with Charlie Chaplin. ~ Ref: Cheyp, (1978), 38, 74; various copies for
sale online. [OP]
Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758), of Leadhills, later of Edinburgh, major Scottish poet,
playwright, anthologist and bookseller, son of a leadmine manager; after the early
death of his father, Ramsay was apprenticed to a wig-maker, and later became a
shopkeeper. His poetry collections (1721 and 1728), his pastoral drama The Gentle
Shepherd (1725) and his collections of Scottish poetry, The Ever Green (1724) and
The Tea-table Miscellany (1724-9) were influential on later self-taught poets
including Robert Burns and John Clare (qqv). He has numerous items in Sutton,
 including letters and 45 poems or volumes of poetry. The principal collections of
Ramsay papers are in the National Library of Scotland, the British Library,
Edinburgh University Library, the National Archives of Scotland and the
Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. (A Glossary of Scottish words held at National
Library of Wales is attributed to Ramsay, but is written in the hand of Edward
Williams, Iolo Morganwyg (qv).) A major new edition of Ramsay to be prepared
by a team led by Murray Pittock, has been funded by the AHRC in 2017 and will
be forthcoming, a much welcome development given the general weakness of the
Scottish Text Society standard edition. ~ Ref: Craik (1830), II, 206-8; Borland
(1890), 56-60; Crawford‖(1976),‖passim;‖John‖Goodridge,‖‘Allan Ramsay, 1688-
1758’, Index of English Literary Manuscripts, Vol. III, Part iii, Pope-Steele, ed. Margaret
M. Smith (London: Mansell, 1992), 169-261; Sutton (1995), 786-8; Roger Greaves,
‘‚Thigging‖a‖Fable‖fra‖a‖Frenchman‛:‖Allan‖Ramsay’s‖Imitations‖of La Fontaine
and La Motte’,‖Translation and Literature, 8 (1999), 176-96;‖Steve‖Newman,‖‘The‖
Scots‖Songs‖of‖Allan‖Ramsay:‖‚Lyrick‛‖Transformation,‖Popular‖Culture,‖and‖the
Boundaries‖of‖the‖Scottish‖Enlightenment’,‖Modern Language Quarterly, 63 (2002),
277-314;‖Corey‖E.‖Andrews,‖‘‚Almost‖the‖Same,‖but‖Not‖Quite‛: English Poetry by
Eighteenth-Century‖Scots’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 47, no.
1 (2006), 59-79; John Goodridge, ‘Blawing‖off‖the‖Mullygrumbs:‖Two‖Unpublished‖
Poems‖by‖Allan‖Ramsay’,‖The Drouth, 28 (2008), 43-47; ODNB. [S] [C18]
Ramsay, Donald (1848-92), of Glasgow, ‘Clutha’,‖son‖of‖an‖Islay‖ploughman,‖Donald‖
Ramsay, and a Morvern, Argyllshire woman, Flora Cameron; sent to school in
Glasgow at the age of seven and began work at ten‖as‖a‖‘boy-of-all-work’‖in‖a‖
valentine manufacturer, serving his apprenticeship as a printer. Edwards
describes‖his‖gradual‖accumulation‖of‖a‖library‖of‖‘standard‖works’‖in the second-
hand bookshops of Glasgow, finding‖‘a‖cheap‖copy‖of‖Shenstone,‖or‖Thomson, or
Prior’‖where he could. During his time as a Glasgow printer he also began writing
poetry, sending poems and songs to the Glasgow weekly, the Penny Post, under
the‖name‖of‖‘Clutha’, a Latinised name for the river Clyde. In 1866 he moved to
Dublin, then to Liverpool, and in 1868 emigrated to New York and moved on to
Boston, where he would become the senior partner in the Heliotype Printing
Company, and where he resided for the rest of his life, though he actually died in
Liverpool on a trip to the old country and is buried‖in‖Glasgow’s‖Southern‖
Cemetery (now the Southern Necropolis). There is no book publication recorded,
but Edwards has four poems in Scots and English, ‘The‖Daisy’,‖‘Jeanie‖Bell’,‖
‘Love’s‖Whisper’‖and‖‘Poem,‖Addressed‖to‖the‖late‖David‖Kennedy,‖the‖Famous
Exponent‖of‖Scottish‖Song‖and‖Story’‖*David‖Kennedy,‖1825-86, Scottish singer].
Ross prints the first three of these and quotes from the fourth, and also has some
other poems:‖‘Auld‖Ruglin‖Brig’,‖‘Bonny‖Mae MacAlister’, ‘The‖Shadows’,‖‘To‖
Duncan MacGregor Crerar,‖Poet’, two untitled verses beginning‖‘Farewell‖sweet‖
 river‖Clyde’ and ‘When‖shadows‖creep‖across‖the‖square’,‖and‖a‖seven-line
acrostic‖on‖his‖second‖wife’s‖name, Lillian (Whitefield; his first wife was Maggie
Rust), beginning‖‘Love‖found‖me‖in‖a‖dreary‖waste’ . ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893),
233-8; Ross (1889), 202-11. [S]
(?) Ramsay, Grace C., née Cadzow (1822-72), of Lanark, married a tailor, and died
after a long period of suffering. She and her husband Thomas (qv) published
Harp-tones in Life’s Vale: Being Short Poems, Exercises in Verse, and Paraphrases,
including a metrical Version of the Book of Job and the Song of Solomon, by Thomas and
Grace C. Ramsay (Edinburgh and Lanark, 1895). Poems‖include‖‘Our‖Ain‖Fireside’,‖
‘The‖Heart-Soothing‖Harp’,‖‘The‖Dying‖Mother’s‖Farewell’,‖‘The‖Faded‖Flower’,‖
‘Wakened‖Memories’. Note: Reilly claims it is not jointly authored. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 7 (1884), 227-32; Reilly (2000), 382-3; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Ramsay, James (1844-1917), of Airdrie, grocer and provisioner, councillor and
magistrate, freemason and poet laureate of the Airdrie Burns Club [Robert Burns,
qv]. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 239-42. [S]
Ramsay, John (1802-79), carpet weaver and poet. ~ Ramsay was born in Kilmarnock,
the son of James Ramsay, a carpet weaver, and his wife, Jean, née
Fulton. Although Ramsay had little formal schooling, the Bible—particularly the
pastoral language of the Book of Job—is said to have stirred his poetic
sensibilities,‖as‖did‖his‖mother’s‖collection of ancient ballads. Moreover, there is
little‖doubt‖that‖regular‖holidays‖at‖his‖grandfather’s‖Guililand‖farm—with the
romantic view of an old castle on the hill, the wood in the background, the ocean
in the near distance, and an ancient Roman camp where the entire valley of the
Irvine could be discerned—made‖a‖deep‖impression‖on‖Ramsay’s‖youthful‖
intellect,‖as‖did‖the‖link‖to‖history‖in‖the‖abundance‖of‖anecdotes‖concerning‖‘the‖
days‖of‖old’‖passed‖on‖by‖his‖grandfather.‖~‖The‖tranquil‖charms‖of Ramsay’s‖
youth were forced to contend with more prosaic affairs, and at the age of ten he
became draw-boy to his father. During the five years he devoted to this work,
Ramsay participated in a course of self-education with several friends he had met,
with a particular focus on the expression of thought through writing. Ramsay
soon started to compose verses while working at the loom, and his first published
effort—an Epigrammatic piece on a sailor at a funeral—was featured in an Ayr
periodical edited by Mr. Archibald Crawford, author of Tales of My
Grandmother. Ramsay’s‖next‖poem,‖‘The‖Loudon‖Campaign’‖brought‖him‖a‖degree‖
of local renown. He‖also‖contributed‖‘Lines‖to‖Eliza’‖to‖the‖Edinburgh Literary
Gazette, then edited by Henry Glassford Bell, who highly recommended the piece
and pronounced its author as a poet. ~ In 1828, Ramsay wed Elizabeth
Templeton. The unhappiness that characterized the marriage is said to have
resulted‖in‖Ramsay‖becoming‖a‖‘wanderer’,‖having‖‘neither‖home‖nor‖household‖
health’,‖and‖breeding‖a‖‘morbid‖sensitiveness‖as‖to‖persons‖and‖things’‖which‖
 ‘may‖be‖seen‖scintillating‖through‖more‖than‖one‖of‖his‖pieces‖like‖a‖lurid‖
lightning‖through‖the‖murky‖clouds‖of‖a‖thunder‖sky’‖(‘Life‖of‖the‖Author’,‖1871).‖
~ In 1836, Ramsay published his collected poems under the title, Woodnotes of a
Wanderer, which was favorably received and expanded and pruned in further
editions (including Eglinton Park Meeting and Other Poems, 1840). The Ayr
Advertiser (1839)‖wrote:‖‘The‖author‖has‖evidently‖read‖much of the best of poetry,
is a keen observer of nature, and possesses considerable originality of thought, a
lively vein of humour, and is capable of highly appreciating the ridiculous, and
portraying‖it‖in‖a‖strong‖light’. The‖leading‖piece,‖‘The‖Eglinton Park‖Meeting’,‖
about a race-meeting‖in‖the‖country,‖written‖in‖the‖strain‖of‖Tenant’s‖‘Anster‖Fair’,‖
was mentioned by the Dumfries Herald (1840)‖as‖being‖‘full‖of‖humour,‖pathos,‖and‖
description,‖in‖rapid‖interchange’.‖The‖heroic‖couplets‖of‖‘Address‖to‖Dundonald
Castle’‖are‖noted‖in‖‘Life‖of‖the‖Author’‖(1871)‖for‖containing‖‘truth‖as‖well‖as‖
poetry’:‖‘And‖round‖thy‖ruined‖walls‖/‖The‖ivy‖creeps‖:‖thine‖ancient‖glory’s‖fled:‖/‖
Thine ancient tenants numbered with the dead. / Yes, with the stream of time a
wave‖rolls‖on,‖/‖Whose‖surge‖shall‖leave‖thee‖not‖a‖standing‖stone’.‖~‖After‖
attempting business as a grocer, provision merchant, flesher, and spirit dealer, he
roamed Scotland selling his poems for fifteen years. From 1854, he worked for
four years as officer in Edinburgh for the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals. As late as 1871, he published a volume entitled Gleanings of
the Gloamin. ~ John Ramsay died at 495 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, on 11 May
1789. He published Woodnotes of a Wanderer (1836, nine editions to 1869, available
on Google books); Poems (Edinburgh and London, 1836); Eglington Park Meeting,
and Other Poems (2nd ed., Edinburgh, 1840); Gleanings of the Gloamin (1865, 1868,
London, 1870, 1875). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 260-1; Edwards, 3 (1881), 270-3;
Johnson (1992), item 741; Sutton (1995), 788 (letters); Reilly (2000), 383); ODNB;
NTU. [S] [T] [—Iain Rowley]
Ramsay, Thomas (b. 1822), of Kirkfieldbank, Lanarkshire, tailor, published The Sky
Scraper: A Collection of Original & Popular Recitations (London, 1860); and co-
authored with his wife Grace C. Ramsay (qv), Harp-Tones in Life’s Vale: Being Short
Poems, Exercises in Verse, and Paraphrases, Including a Metrical Version of the Book of
Job and the Song of Solomon, by Thomas and Grace C. Ramsay (Edinburgh and Lanark,
1895). Note: Reilly claims it is not jointly authored. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 227-
32; Reilly (1994), 393 *note that Reilly claims it is not jointly authored); Reilly
(2000), 383. [S] [T]
Ramsbottom, Joseph (1831-1901), dyehouse worker, later a businessman; Lancashire
dialect‖poet,‖author‖of‖‘Preawd‖Tum’s‖Prayer’,‖in‖Country Words (Manchester,
1864), and reprinted in his volume of poems on the Lancashire‖‘cotton‖famine’
that had begun in 1861, Phases of Distress: Lancashire Rhymes,‖edited‖by‖‚A‖
Lancashire‖Lad‛‖(Manchester, 1864). Boos notes the way he portrays the extremity
 of‖his‖plight‖in‖the‖dialect‖poem,‖‘Frettin’’,‖where‖‘*s+hame‖at‖his‖debts,
dependence‖on‖charity‖and‖fear‖of‖the‖workhouse’‖have‖driven‖the‖poem’s‖
speaker to consider suicide. Poems in the collection are generally in numbered
eight-line stanzas, and cast in quite heavy dialect forms. Indeed it could be argued
that this collection‖and‖its‖close‖contemporaries,‖such‖as‖Samuel‖Laycock’s‖(qv)
‘Cotton‖Famine‖Lyrics’‖and‖some‖of‖the work of Ben Brierley and Edwin Waugh
(qqv) from these years, represent a new kind of writing, and a significant step
forward in the serious use of Lancashire dialect forms in poetry. The poems in the
collection are: ‘Proem’,‖‘The‖Factory‖Lass’,‖‘The‖Pleasures‖o’‖Eawm’,‖‘Eawt‖o’‖
Work’,‖‘Philip‖Clough’s‖Tale’,‖‘Good‖News’,‖‘After‖Thowt’,‖‘The‖Wife’s‖Advice’,‖
‘Takin’‖Stock’,‖‘Th’‖Owd‖Pedlar’,‖‘Preawd‖Tum’s‖Prayer’,‖‘Frettin’’,‖‘A‖Letther‖o’‖
Thanks’,‖‘Comfortin’’,‖‘Gooin’‖to‖Schoo’’,‖‘Feighrside‖Chat’,‖and‖‘Lancashire‖
Emigrants’ (divided‖into‖I.‖Farewell,‖and‖II.‖The‖Mother’s‖Dream’). ~ Ref: Harland
(1882), 351-2, 491-6, 501-2, 505-6, 508-10; Hollingworth (1977), 154; Maidment
(1987), 86-90, 261-5, 362-4; Boos (2002a), 212; Phases of Distress via Google Books.
[T]
Rankin, Alexander (b. 1842), of Dundee, flaxdresser. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 254-6
[S]
Rannie, John (b. c. 1760, fl. 1789-91),‖‘a‖young‖Scotsman,‖of‖little‖or‖no‖Education’,‖
later a butler in London. Rannie wrote songs for the theatre, and published Poems
(London, 1789; second edition, Aberdeen, 1791); Pastorals, second edition (Perth:
R. Morrison, 1788-90); Poems (London, 1791); Squire Poems (Aberdeen, 1792). His
songs‖included‖‘The‖Girl‖of‖My‖Heart’,‖‘My‖heart‖with‖Love‖is‖beating’,‖and‖‘Sally‖
Roy’.‖A John Rannie, of Aberdeen is listed as a subscriber to Poems, Chiefly in the
Scottish Dialect by Andrew Shirrefs (Edinburgh, 1890). However, he died in
poverty. ~ Ref: Goodridge (1999), item 93; ESTC; Radcliffe. [S] [T] [C18]
Rathmell, Michael (b. 1828), of Huby, Harewood, a Yorkshire, farmhand who later
took a series of menial jobs in Leeds, retiring in poor health in 1884. He published
Spring Blossoms and Autumn Leaves: A Collection of Poems (Leeds: Fred R. Spark at
the ‘Leeds‖Express’ Office, 1886). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 394; COPAC.
Rawcliffe, John (b. 1844), of Ribchester, Lancs., brother of Richard Rawcliffe (qv),
dialect and local poet, bobbin winder and handloom then powerloom weaver at
Blackburn, emigrated to USA, published jointly with his brother, Pebbles fro’
Ribbleside (Blackburn, 1891). ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 194, 253-63, Reilly (1994), 394. [T]
Rawcliffe, Richard (1839-58), of Ribchester then Blackburn, handloom then
powerloom calico weaver, then overlooker, emigrated to Australia to combat
consumption in his final year, published poems jointly with his brother John (qv),
Pebbles fro’ Ribbleside (Blackburn, 1891). ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 194-202; Reilly (1994),
394; Massey page. [A] [T]
Reading, Lucy (fl. 1844), Leeds factory girl, published ‘The‖Song‖of‖the‖Factory‖Girl’‖
(1844), published in Holroyd from a cutting presumed to be from the Leeds Times,
accompanied by a plea‖to‖the‖paper’s‖readers‖to‖help‖save‖the‖author‖from‖her‖
hardship. ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 94-5. [F]
Reay, William (1830-1903), coalminer, artist, poet, friend of Joseph Skipsey (qv), was
born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and died in Waratah, New South Wales, Australia,
where he emigrated in 1860, and where his book of poems was published: Poems
and Lyrics by William Reay, Artist (West Maitland: E. Tipper, 1886), with a
dedication‖to‖Joseph‖Skipsey‖‘In‖token‖of‖his‖sincere‖friendship,‖and‖also‖his‖
genius as a‖poet’. ~ Ref: Kelsey‖Thornton,‖‘A‖Nineteenth‖Century‖‚Australian‛‖
enthusiast‖for‖Clare’,‖JCSN, 115 (June 2012), 8-12; further information in R. K. R.
Thornton’s‖co-edited‖selection‖of‖Skipsey’s‖poems‖(Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne: Rectory
Press, 2014). [A] [M]
Reboul, Jean (1796-1854),‖of‖Nîmes,‖France,‖‘The‖Baker‖Poet’.‖Mixer notes that
Reboul‖‘appeared‖just‖at‖the‖moment‖most‖favorable‖of‖all‖in‖the‖history‖of‖
modern‖French‖literature‖for‖the‖reception‖of‖this‖poetry‖of‖the‖labouring‖class’.‖
He was made welcome‖by‖all‖the‖‘chief‖men‖of‖letters’.‖Although‖Reboul‖‘enjoyed
in his youth but very limited advantages of education, he nevertheless possessed
so much natural love for the poetic art that even amid the cares and labours of his
humble vocation, which he never forsook, he found time to raise himself to an
honorable‖place‖among‖the‖lyric‖poets‖of‖his‖country.’‖Mixer‖prints‖four‖of‖his‖
poems,‖‘L’Ange‖et‖l’Enfant’,‖‘Soupir’,‖L’Aumône’‖and‖‘Consolations‖sur‖l’Oubli’.
(Mixer, 336). Ref: Albert Harrison Mixer, Manual of French Poetry: With Historical
Introduction, and Biographical Notices of the Principal Authors (New York and
Chicago, 1874); inf. Bridget Keegan.
Reed, James (fl. 1861), journeyman slater, published Metrical Memories of the Late War,
and Other Poems (Edinburgh, 1861). Ref: text via archive.org. [S]
Reed, James (d. 1891), of Belfast, lame, a bookseller in Victoria Street, Belfast, printed
a number of poems in in leaflet or pamphlet form, and The Suicide, a poem (Belfast,
1887), Died by his own hand in 1891. He may have written poems‖as‖‘J.‖R.’,‖~‖Ref:‖
O’Donoghue (1912), 396/ [I]
Reed, Joseph (1723-87), son of a Presbyterian ropemaker, took over family rope-
making business; primarily a dramatist, writing several plays, farces and prose
works; published a poem‖about‖‘the‖death‖of‖Mr‖Pope’‖in‖GM (August 1744). ~
Ref: Tweddell (1872), 178-87; Sutton (1995), 793 (plays and letters); ODNB. [C18]
Reed, William (1770-1813), of Thornberry, Gloucestershire, shoemaker poet,
posthumously published Remains of William Reed, late of Thornberry, including
rambles in Ireland, with other compositions in prose, his correspondence, and poetical
productions. To which is prefixed a memoir of his life; by the Rev. John Evans, Author of
The Ponderer (London: Ogles, Duncan and Cochrane, 1815). The volume is
 ‘dominated‖by‖tours‖of‖Ireland‖and‖Wales’‖but‖also‖includes‖‘a‖four‖verse‖‚Ode‖to‖
the‖memory‖of‖Mary‖Wollstonecraft‛’. ~ Ref: Antiquates online booklist P, visited
Jan 5th 2016; inf. Bob Heyes. [SM]
(?) Rees, Evan (1850-1923), ‘Dyfed’,‖collier and writer, born at Puncheston, Pembs.
but brought up in Aberdare, Glam.; ordained in 1884 and moved to Cardiff but
did not hold a pastorate; won prizes at numerous eisteddfodau, including the
Chair at the National Eisteddfod four times (between 1881-1901) and Chair at the
World’s‖Fair‖Eisteddfod‖in‖Chicago‖(1893);‖served‖as‖Archdruid‖of‖the‖Gorsedd
Beirdd Ynys Prydain (see entry on Iolo Morganwg); published Caniadau Dyfedfab
(1875); Gwaith Barddonol Dyfed (no date); Gwlad yr Addewid a Iesu o Nazareth (1894);
Oriau gydag Islwyn (no date). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [M] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Rees, Sarah Jane (1839-1916), ‘Cranogwen’,‖of Dolgoy Fach, Llangrannog,
Cardigan, sailor, poet, schoolmistress, youngest child of a sea captain, educated at
village school, parents wanted her to take an apprenticeship in dressmaking, but
instead she went to sea as a sailor with her father, taking goods through the
coastal‖routes;‖later‖studied‖navigation‖to‖master’s‖certificate,‖and‖English;‖ran‖
school; became a preacher and lecturer and temperance campaigner; published 40
poems as Caniadau Cranogwen (c. 1870). ~ Ref: ODNB. [F] [W]
(?) Rees, William (1802-83), ‘Gwilym‖Hiraethog’,‖born at Chwibren-isaf, near
Llansannan, Denbighshire, shepherd then Congregational minister, blind in his
right eye from childhood smallpox, master of Welsh strict-metre poetry and
winner of numerous eisteddfod prizes; with John Jones of Liverpool established
liberal newspaper Yr Amserau (edited 1843-53), published abolitionist book
Aelwyd f'ewythr Robert (1853); epic poem Emmanuel (1861-7), two volumes; and
religious works, including expositions, commentaries, and a catechism. ~ Ref:
ODNB. [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Reid, George (b. 1843), of Montrose, was raised by his grandparents, and was
completely self-taught, having had no formal education at all. He worked as a
millworker from the age of eleven, learning to read and write‖‘at‖an‖age‖where‖
most‖boys‖are‖almost‖finished‖with‖their‖school‖course’‖(Edwards).‖At‖seventeen‖
he studied arithmetic with another boy, learned Danish over one winter, and
continued his studies with other subjects including geometry and mensuration,
while teaching‖Pitman’s‖shorthand, which he had also acquired, to‖‘a‖few‖pupils’.‖
He acted as an assistant in an evening school for seven years. Reid went to sea for
some time, then worked in a woodyard in Montrose, before becoming an overseer
in a spinning-mill. After thirteen years and in poor health, he worked as an
insurance agent for a year, and then became a draper, servicing the fishing
villages of the Montrose area. He published poems in the Dundee Evening
Telegraph and other newspapers. Edwards‖prints‖two‖Scots‖poems,‖‘The‖
 Canaanite’s‖Daughter’‖and‖‘There’s‖No‖a‖Cheek‖in‖Gordoun‖Dry’. ~ Ref: Edwards,
15 (1893), 37-41. [S] [T]
Reid, Janet (1777-1854), ‘Poem‖Jenny’,‖weaver’s‖daughter‖of‖Salne,‖Fife,‖later‖of‖
Carnock and the Bridge of Allan, did not attend school, worked from childhood
as an agricultural labourer and later as a foot-carrier, bearing loads on her back as
far as Dunfermline. She could read but not write, and in her sixties began to
dictate her modest doggerel rhymes, which were published as broadsheets during
the‖1840s.‖As‖she‖says‖in‖‘On‖Edinburgh‖City’,‖‘For‖my‖uneven‖lines‖you‖will‖
excuse, / For the pen, that valuable thing, I was never learned to use. / Thanks to
the youths that my poems did write, / Although I sate by them and to them did
dite.’‖(Flint,‖‘Poem Jenny’, 7). The poems addressed everyday matters, topical
issues and places she visited, and their popularity is reflected in the fact that one
typical‖poem,‖‘On‖a‖Comfortable‖Cup‖of‖Tea’‖was‖advertised‖as‖being‖in‖its‖32nd‖
edition, and the fact that they were later bound as Some of the Works of Janet Reid.
Her McGonagallesque style attracted‖the‖deadpan‖mockery‖of‖‘J.C.’‖in‖a‖recent‖
TLS: David Flint’s‖painstaking‖recovery‖research‖on‖Reid‖both‖invites‖and‖offers‖a‖
more considered and intelligent perspective. Flint has discovered 71 copies of her
broadsides and a chapbook of 34 poems in Scottish and London libraries. ~ Ref:
David‖Flint,‖‘Janet‖Reid (1777-1854), Forgotten Poetess of Carnock and Bridge of
Allan’‖(People‖of‖the‖Forth,‖17),‖Forth Naturalist and Historian, 32 (2009), 15-32, and
‘Poem Jenny’: Janet Reid (1777-1854) of Carnock & Bridge of Allan (Basingstoke:
published by the author, 2015); ‘NB’,‖TLS, 24 July 2015, 32; further inf. Florence
Boos. [F] [S]
Reid, John (1785-1865), of Paisley, weaver, published minor publications and leaflets.
~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 175. [S] [T]
(?) Reid, John (1808-1841/2), of Paisley, home-educated teacher and surgeon,
bookseller and publisher, religious and historical writer. He published Bibliotheca
Scoto-Celtica (1832)‖and‖William‖M’Gavin’s‖Posthumous Works (1834). ~ Ref: ODNB.
(?) Reid, John (b. 1838), of Glengairn, near Balmoral, received a limited education,
Aberdeen and Leith policeman, railway detective. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 101-5.
[S] [R]
Reid, John Dougall (fl. 1876-87),‖‘Kaleidoscope’,‖of‖Glasgow, son of a marine
engineer who died in Liverpool when the poet was a child; apprenticed as a
draper, enlisted as a soldier in 1876; a novelist, essayist and poet; seven poems
published in Edwards and several in Murdoch. ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 426-7;
Edwards, 10 (1887), 73-84. [S] [T]
Reid,‖John‖Pringle‖(b.‖1862),‖of‖Aberlady,‖Haddingtonshire,‖merchant’s‖son‖
orphaned at ten, gardener and glassworker, published Facts and Fancies in poem
and song (Edinburgh, 1886). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 241-4; Reilly (1994), 398. [S]
Reid, Robert (b. 1847),‖of‖Fyvie,‖Aberdeenshire,‖‘Rowland’,‖shoemaker. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 12 (1889), 98-101. [S] [SM]
(?) Reid, Robert (1850-1922), ‘Rob‖Wanlock’,‖of Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire,
elementary education, clerk in Glasgow and Belfast, emigrated to Canada,
published Moorland Rhymes (Dumfries), 1874; Poems, Songs and Sonnets (Paisley,
1894). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 318-20; Miller (1910), 301-5; Reilly (2000), 387. [S]
Reid, William (b. 1827), of Peterhead, herder, shoemaker, published in
Aberdeenshire press, and The Last o’ the Warlocks (1864) and Auld Ronald: a well-
known local character, and other rhymes (1873). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 349-52. [S]
[SM]
Reid, William (1764-1831),‖of‖Glasgow,‖baker’s‖son,‖worked‖in‖a‖print‖foundry‖before‖
being‖apprenticed‖to‖a‖bookseller,‖known‖as‖a‖Glasgow‖‘character’,‖published
poems in Poetry, Original and Selected (printed in penny numbers by Reid and his
bookselling partner, 1795-98). ~ Ref: Glasgow Poets (1906), 116-24; ODNB. [S] [C18]
(?) Reid, William Hamilton (fl. c. 1780-1800),‖‘a‖day‖labourer‖in‖the‖lowest‖
circumstances’,‖published poetry and prose regularly in the Gazetteer (as did
Robert Bloomfield) around 1793-4; also published an essay on the writings of
William Law in the Gentleman’s Magazine (Nov. 1800). Reid sometimes published
under‖his‖initials,‖and‖seems‖also‖have‖been‖the‖‘W‖Hamilton,‖day-labourer’‖
whose‖‘painting‖of‖a‖Suicide‖and‖Modern‖Fanaticism’‖also‖appeared‖in‖the‖
Gentleman's Magazine (June 1786), and who was the subject of a debate around
‘natural‖genius’‖and‖poetic‖register/ability‖in‖these‖journals. ~ Ref: Robert L. Haig,
The Gazetteer, 1735-1797; A Study in the Eighteenth-century English Newspaper
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1960), 205; inf. Katie Osborn.
[C18]
(?) Renton, James (b. 1841), of Rutherglen, moved to Edinburgh, left school at 12,
worked at W. H. Smith, later a railway clerk, published in Bailie, Ladies’ Own
Journal and elsewhere. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 49-53. [S] [R]
Rentoul, John (b. c. 1830s), of Paisley, weaver, emigrated to Australia, published
Reminiscences of a Paisley Weaver, with Twenty-Six Years’ Experience in Melbourne
(1878). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 346-53. [A] [S] [T]
Reston, Andrew (1818-58), of Glasgow, hand-loom weaver, published in
newspapers. As a young man, Reston went to Kilmarnock where he worked as a
weaver, and after he moved back to Glasgow he combined weaving with a
grocery business. He died fairly young and published no collection, and
comparatively little in the newspapers. Edwards includes a single poem on a
popular Glasgow subject,‖‘Kelvingrove’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 63-4. [S] [T]
(?) Rettie,‖T.‖Leith‖(b.‖1854),‖of‖Old‖Aberdeen,‖farmer’s‖son,‖the‖father‖‘driven‖from‖
his‖holding’‖to‖the‖town‖and‖became‖a‖grazier;‖the‖son‖educated‖to‖age‖10‖then‖
 apprenticed as a clerk, later flour merchant, cashier. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 342-
5. [S]
Revel, James (fl. c. 1659-1680s), published The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon’s
Sorrowful Account of his Fourteen Years Transportation, at Virginia, in America,
unpublished before the twentieth century, now a much anthologised poem in
American Literature teaching anthologies, and an interesting poem to look at as
regards‖‘convict‖poets’. ~ Ref: Basker (2002), 22-4. [OP]
Reynard, James (fl. c. 1855), private soldier, 95th Derbyshire Regiment, published
poem in Housley, on Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War‖(‘On‖a‖dark,‖
stormy‖night‖in‖the‖Crimea’s‖dread‖shore‖/‖There‖was‖bloodshed‖and‖strife‖on‖the‖
morning‖before’).‖There‖are‖several‖other‖unsigned‖or‖initialled‖pre-1900 poems
by common soldiers in the anthology. ~ Ref: Housley (c. 2002), n.pag.
Rhodes, Ebenezer (fl. 1789-1823), of Masborough, near Rotherham, apprenticed as a
Sheffield cutler, later a master cutler. He published Alfred, A Historical Tragedy; To
Which is Added a Collection of Miscellaneous Poems by the Same Author (Sheffield:
Printed for the Author by J. Gales; and sold by him, and G. G. J. and J. Robinson,
London, 1789) and Peak Scenery, or Excursions in Derbyshire, illus. with engraving
by F. L. Chantry (London, 1818-23), two volumes; Modern Chatsworth, or the Palace
of the Peak (Sheffield, 1837). Croft & Beattie note the mixed review given to Alfred:
the title work seen as being full of‖absurdity‖but‖the‖poems‖having‖‘elegance and
neatness’.‖The poems include a‖‘Sonnet‖to‖Helen‖Maria‖Williams’, the poet. ~ Ref:
Grainge (1868), I, 282; Croft & Beattie, III, no. 6; COPAC. [C18]
Rhodes, T. (fl. 1786), published Dunstan Park; or an Evening Walk. A Poem. By...a
Journeyman Ribbon-Weaver (Newbury: private, [1786]), by T. Rhodes, CR LXI, 234.
~ Ref: Jackson (1985). [C18]
(?) Rhydderch, John (1673-1735), of Cemais, Montgomeryshire, printer in
Shrewsbury,‖poet,‖‘best-known‖for‖carols‖and‖ballads’,‖‘devout‖Anglican’‖and‖
supporter of eisteddfodau. His verses appeared in the annual Welsh-language
almanacs he printed and elsewhere. ~ Ref: ODNB; inf. Bridget Keegan. [W]
Rhys, Evan or Ifan Thomas (fl. mid-C18th), of Llwyndafydd, Llandysilio,
Cardiganshire,‖later‖living‖at‖Llanarth,‖poet‖and‖shoemaker,‖poems‖include‖‘Cân‖y‖
Tri‖Slave’,‖describing‖the‖hard-working lives of three characters, the Labourer, the
Cobbler and the Dog. He posthumously published a subscription volume of
Poems, ed. William Hughes Griffiths (Aberystwyth, 1842). ~ Ref: inf. Mary-Ann
Constantine; online sources. [W] [SM]
Rice, Alexander (b. 1865), of Paisley, son of a Londonderry handloom weaver,
preserve-factory worker, poems in Brown. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 512-15. [I] [S]
Richardson, Charlotte Caroline (1775-1825?),‖née‖Smith,‖of‖York,‖‘born‖into‖a‖
working-class‖family’‖(ABC,‖126);‖training‖for‖domestic service at the Grey Coat
charity school, York; at 16 her mother died and she left school to work as a maid;
 she suffered two further bereavements: that of her brother in 1796, and her
shoemaker husband: she married in 1802 and was left destitute when he died of
consumption two years later. Attempts to run a school failed due to illness, and
her poems were published by subscription thanks partly to the charitable
patronage of the philanthropist Catharine Cappe. She published Poems Written on
Different Occasions (York, 1806; third edition of 1809 has Robert Bloomfield (qv) as
a subscriber); Poems Chiefly Composed during the Pressure of Severe Illness (York,
1809),‖and‖individual‖poems‖in‖newspapers‖(ABC‖includes‖of‖these‖‘The‖Negro’,‖
1809). Later volumes ascribed to her appear to be by another writer of the same
name, and recent research by Roger Sales suggests she died in 1825 not 1850 as
given in many sources (e.g. ABC). In fact Grainge in 1868 had been quite clear
about‖this:‖‘She‖died‖in‖college‖yard,‖York, September 26th, 1825, and was buried
in‖the‖church‖yard‖of‖St‖Michael‖le‖Belfrey,‖without‖the‖walls‖of‖the‖city’‖(307);‖the‖
mix-up is a modern one. ~ Ref: Memoirs of the Life of the Late Mrs. Catharine Cappe:
Written by Herself (London: Longman, 1822); Grainge (1868), I, 306-8; Johnson
(1992), item 754; Jackson (1993), 268-9; Sales (1994), 270-1; ABC (1996), 126-8;
Roger‖Sales,‖‘The‖Maid‖and‖the‖Minister’s‖Wife:‖Literary‖Philanthropy‖in‖Regency‖
York’,‖Women’s Poetry in the Enlightenment: The Making of a Canon, 1730‐1820, eds
Isobel Armstrong and Virginia Blain (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 127‐41;
Helen Plant, Unitarianism, philanthropy and feminism in York, 1782‐1821: the career of
Catharine Cappe, Borthwick paper 103 (York: Borthwick Institute of Historical
Research, University of York, 2003); Sutton (1995), 796; Burmester, item 476. [F]
[LC4]
Richardson, George (1807-66), Manchester poet, author of Patriotism: In Three Cantos,
and Other Poems (1844), contributed to The Festive Wreath (1842). ~ Ref: Harland
(1882), 313-14, 326-7, 376, 421, Maidment (1987), 101, 116-19; Vicinus (1974), 162;
LC5, 153-70; ODNB; LC 4, 85-92. [LC5]
Richardson, John (1750-1840),‖of‖Yorkshire,‖‘Yorkshire‖Volunteer’,‖served‖in‖the‖
army, then master of the free school in Sheffield; probably living in Newcastle in
1770s, briefly married; published Poems on Several Occasions, Chiefly Pastoral
(Winchester [1785?], BL 11643.aa.31); Poems on Various Subjects, chiefly Pastoral
(Darlington, 1779, BL 632.df.4). Yann Lovelock adds: the poems at the Spenser and
Tradition site are chiefly anapaestic pastoral ballads; his biography there reveals
he was fool enough to dedicate his book to Col. Althorpe, the man who ordered
the Sheffield massacre (1795). Both James Montgomery (qv) and Joseph Mather
(qv,‖‘Norfolk‖Street‖riots’)‖criticised‖Althorpe‖and‖the‖former‖was‖imprisoned‖for‖
it. ~ Ref: Radcliffe; ESTC; inf. Yann Lovelock. [C18]
Richardson, John (1817-86),‖of‖St,‖John’s,‖Cumberland,‖mason‖and‖builder,‖later‖a‖
schoolmaster, dialect poet, published ‚Cummerland‛ Talk: Being Short Tales and
Rhymes in the Dialect of that County, Together with a few Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse
 (London and Carlisle, 1871; 2nd series 1876) [ODNB incorrectly‖‘corrects’‖his‖title‖
to Cumberland Talk]. He also contributed a series of sketches called Stwories 'at
Granny Used to Tell to the West Cumberland Times (1879/80). ~ Ref: Andrews (1888-
9), I, 97-103; Sparke (1907); Reilly (2000), 390; ODNB; NTU.
Richardson, John Duncan (b. 1848), of South Shields, moved to Hull, a working man
and‖‘poet‖of‖the‖people’,‖temperance‖advocate;‖published Reveries in Rhyme (1886)
and much prose and verse in the London magazines and journals; edited the Hull
and East Riding Good Templar for eight years. ~ Ref: Andrews (1888-9), I, 66-7.
Richardson, R. (fl. 1768), sailor, author of The Dolphin’s Journal epitomiz’d, in a Poetical
Essay (1768), BL 1465.f.55; full text via Google books; the preface refers to his
‘crude‖sailor’s‖pen’. ~ Ref: ESTC. [C18]
(?) Richley, Matthew (1820-1904), of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, tailor, later
caretaker‖and‖librarian‖of‖Mechanics’‖Institute.‖He published The Oakland Garland
(Bishop Auckland, 1879). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 390.
(?) Riddell, Henry Scott (1798-1870), of Sorbie, Langholm, Dumfriesshire, shepherd
and‖shepherd’s‖son,‖attended‖Edinburgh‖University‖(1819-1830), later clergyman
poet, published ‘The‖Crook‖and‖the‖Plaid’‖(around‖1817);‖Songs of the Ark, with
other poems (1831); Poems, Songs and Miscellaneous Pieces (1847); Poetical Works, ed.
James Brydon (Glasgow, 1871), two volumes; ‘Scotland Yet’, and Other Verses
(Hawick, 1898); also wrote a biography of James Hogg (qv) for Hogg's Instructor
(1847). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 190-6; Shanks (1881), 117-29; Borland (1890), 169-74;
Douglas (1891), 308; Miller (1910), 230-34; Burnett et al (1984), 260 (no. 582); Sutton
(1995), 799; Reilly (2000), 391; ODNB. [S]
(?) Rider, William (fl. 1839-1849), of Leeds, printer(?), Chartist radical, heavily
involved with The Northern Star,‖wrote‖‘The‖League’,‖about‖the‖Anti-Corn Law
League. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 98; Scheckner (1989), 299, 342; Schwab (1993) 215.
[C]
Ridings, Elijah (1802-72),‖of‖Manchester,‖silk‖handloom‖weaver,‖member‖of‖the‖‘Sun‖
Inn’‖group‖of‖Manchester‖poets,‖author‖of‖The Village Muse (Macclesfield, 1854);
Streams from an Old Fountain (Manchester, 1863); contributed to The Festive Wreath
(1842); published The Village Muse, Containing the Complete Poetical Works of E.
Ridings (1854). ~ Ref: Reid, City (1853); Harland (1882), 242-4; James (1963), 172;
Vicinus (1973), 753; Vicinus (1974), 141, 145-6, 171, 176, 178; Cross (1985), 147-8;
Maidment (1987); 132-5, 243-9, 337-8; Reilly (2000), 391. [T]
Ridley, George (1835-64), ‘Geordie‖Ridley’,‖of Gateshead, songwriter and performer,
poet,‖sent‖down‖the‖pit‖as‖a‖‘trapper‖boy’‖aged‖eight,‖severely‖injured‖and‖
disabled in an accident which shortened his life, became a songwriter and
performer, his songs printed in cheap popular editions. He published George
Ridley's New Local Songbook (produced by Thomas Allan, 1862); his most popular
song‖was‖‘The‖Blaydon‖Races’‖(1862),‖which‖was‖performed‖at‖Balmbra’s‖Music‖
 Hall in Newcastle on June 5th, 1862 and reported on by the New Daily Chronicle. ~
Ref: Allan (1891), 446-63; Lloyd (1978), 20, 124, 347 note; ODNB. [M]
Rigbey, Richard (fl. 1682-1702), shoemaker (?), published The Cobbler’s Corant (1690-
1702); A New Song in praise of the gentle craft (1682-1700); A New Song, to the tune of
the Prince of Orange’s delight (1689); The Shooe-maker’s Triumph: Being a Song in
Praise of the Gentle craft, shewing how Royal Princes, Sons of Kings, Lords, and great
Commanders, have been Shooe-makers of old, to the Honour of this ancient Trade; as it
was sung at the General Assembly of Shooe-makers, on the 25th of Octob. 1695, being St
Crispin (1695). ~ Ref: Keegan (2001), 204; bibliographical sources; inf. Bridget
Keegan. [SM] [C18]
Ritchie, John (1778-1870), of Kirkcaldy, Fife, son of a flax dresser, handloom weaver,
draper, co-founder with brother William (qv, 1781-1831) and later owner of The
Scotsman, Edinburgh civic dignitary, published Royal soliloquies; The royal Highland
home, and other poems (London, 1863), The Church, and the people (?1865), and other
religious volumes of verse. Details can be found in his brother William’s‖ODNB
entry. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 392’‖ODNB. [S] [T]
Ritchie, S. B (fl. 1887), of Belfast, book-keeper, published anonymously Hours of
Leisure (Belfast,‖1880?).‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 400. [I]
Ritchie, William (1781-1831), born at Lundin Mill, Fife, brother of John Ritchie (qv),
son of a flax dresser, co-founder of The Scotsman, phrenologist. ~ Ref: ODNB. [S]
Ritchie, William (b. 1827), of Paisley, blacksmith, went to Calcutta, then America, all
the while working as a blacksmith, and back to Scotland, poems not separately
collected. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 221-25. [S] [B]
Robb, John (b. 1855), of Kilspindie, Carse of Gowrie, ploughboy, railway porter. ~
Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 162-6. [S] [R]
Roberts, Absalom, (c. 1780-1864), of Trefriw, Caernarfonshire, travelling shoemaker;
lived at Eglwys-Bach, Denbighshire and Llanrwst; collected and wrote hen
benillion (harp stanzas); published one collection of hen benillion called Lloches
Mwyneidd-dra (1845);‖his‖poem‖‘Trawfynydd’‖was‖included‖in‖the‖anthology‖Y
Flodeugerdd Gymraeg (ed. W. J. Gruffyd, 1937). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [SM] [—
Katie Osborn]
(?) Roberts, David (1831-84), ‘Dewi‖Havhesp’,‖of Llanfor, near Bala, tailor, lived in
Llandderfel, and his bardic name comes from a stream hear his home, published
Oriau’r Awen (1876), four englynion appear in Y Flodeugerdd (ed. Alan Llwyd,
1978). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Roberts, Edward (1819-67), ‘Iorwerth‖Glan‖Aled’,‖shopkeeper and minister, from
Llansannan, Denbighshire; served as Baptist minister in Liverpool and Rhymney,
Mon;‖attempted‖to‖compose‖in‖Welsh‖a‖biblical‖epic‖like‖Milton’s‖Paradise Lost,
which he called ‘Y Tŵr’ and‖‘Palestina’ (1851). He published collected poetic works
 (collected by his brother in 1890); Llyfrau Deunaw, ed. David James Jones
(‘Gwenallt’)‖(1955). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Roberts, Elis (d. 1789), ‘Elis‖y‖Cowper’,‖of Llandoged, Denbighshire, cooper; wrote
interludes with moral, religious, and social criticism, including religious
controversy and the American Revolution; published Pedwar Chwarter y Flwyddyn
(1787); Gras a Natur (1769); Cristion a Drygddyn (1788); Y Ddau Gyfamod (1777). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986); Constantine (2017). [W] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Roberts, John (fl. 1863), ‘The‖Bard‖of‖the‖North’,‖miller at Balbirnie Mill, Brechin,
published Groats, and Thoughts while Grinding (Dunbar, 1863). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000),
393. [S]
Roberts, Richard (fl. 1780-1790s),‖itinerant‖ballad‖seller‖(Welsh‖‘baledwr’)‖and‖singer,‖
working both with political and religious materials; his publishers are all in north
and mid-Wales and Oswestry, suggesting a local origin in one of these areas.
Ballads published in Jones, which lists in its apparatus his original publications. ~
Ref: Jones (2012), 100-108, 124-37 (items 3, 7, 8), notes 360-3, 370-3. [W] [C18]
(?) Roberts, Robert (1871-1930), ‘Silyn’,‖of Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire, quarryman,
critic, and poet; worked in a quarry, then received an education at University
College of North Wales, Bala; major figure in twentieth century Welsh revival;
established‖the‖North‖Wales‖Branch‖of‖the‖Workers’‖Education‖Association;‖
associated with W. J. Gruffydd and co-published with him a volume of poetry,
Telynegion (1900); won the Crown at the National Eisteddfod of 1902 for a
pryddest (i.e. a longer poem in free metre) on Tristan and Iseult; published
Telynegion (1900, with W. J. Gruffydd); Trystan ac Esyllt a Chaniadau Eraill (1904);
Cofarwydd (posthumous, 1930); translations, Gwyntoedd Croesion (J. O. Francis,
1924) and Bugail Geifr Lorraine (Souvestre, 1925); novel, Llio Plas y Nos
(posthumous 1945). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [OP] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Roberts, William Isaac (1786-1806),‖of‖Bristol,‖brewer’s‖son,‖clerk‖in‖banker’s‖
office, posthumously published Poems and Letters (London: Longman, Hurst and
others, 1811), full text at archive.org. ~ Ref: Southey (1831), 213-4; Paul Kaufman,
‘Chatterton’s‖brother-poet,‖William‖Roberts’,‖PBSA, 57 (1963), 184-90; Johnson
(1992), item 767; Goodridge (1999), item 96.
(?) Robertshaw,‖Joseph‖(b.‖1822),‖of‖Halifax,‖moved‖to‖the‖Luddenden‖valley‖to‖‘learn‖
the worsted business with his brother-in-law’,‖read‖the‖Remains of Henry Kirke
White (qv) and began to write; from 1853-86 a wool-combing manager in Keighley;
from 1855 editor‖of‖the‖Keighley‖Visitor,‖in‖which‖he‖published‖‘a‖large‖number‖of‖
tales‖and‖sketches’;‖in‖1886‖he‖suffered‖a‖‘paralytic‖seizure’‖and‖retired‖to‖Halifax.‖
He published Yorkshire Tales and Legends by Heather Bell (1862), and Meditative
Hours and Other Poems (1856). ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), 141-6. [T]
(?) Robertson, A. W. (fl.‖1838),‖‘A‖Witness’,‖of‖Aberdeen,‖published‖The Weaver’s
Saturday, A Political Poem inscribed to J.C. Symons Esq., Her Majesty’s Commissioner
 on the Hand Loom Weavers Enquiry (Glasgow, 1838); extracted in the Chartist
Circular, no. 49, Glasgow, 29th August 1840, p. 197; reprinted in Daniel Thomson,
The Weaver’s Craft: Being a History of the Weaver’s Incorporation of Dunfermline, with
Word Pictures of the Passing Times (Dunfermline: A. Gardner, 1903), 367, and in
Norman‖Murray’s‖The Scottish Handloom Weavers, 1790-1850: A Social History
(Donald, 1978). ~ Ref: Index of Glasgow’s Public Libraries (1880); books cited, all via
Google Books; inf. Bridget Keegan. [S]
Robertson, Alexander (b. 1825), of Glengairn, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, farm-worker,
gardener-coachman. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 326-7. [S]
Robertson, Alexander (b. 1848), of Cambuslang, son of a miner and a handloom
weaver, miner, machinist. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 155-6. [S] [T] [M]
Robertson, Isabella, of Dundee, tobacconist and fancy goods shopkeeper, wrote for
the People’s Journal, Glasgow Weekly Mail, and other newspapers; poems include
‘Davie‖Dakers’,‖‘Noddin’‖To‖Me’,‖‘The‖Lanely‖Hame’,‖‘Welcome,‖Bonnie‖
Snawdraps’,‖and‖‘Oh‖Thae‖Bairns’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 168-72; inf. Florence
Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Robertson, James (fl. 1768-88), comedian of York, author of Poems, Consisting of
Tales, Fables, Elegiac and Miscellaneous Poems, Prologues, Epilogues, &c. (1770, 1780;
Third‖Edition‖‘with‖alterations‖and‖additions’,‖London‖and‖Newcastle,‖1787);
Poems on Several Occasions (1773); A Collection of Comic Songs (Edinburgh, 1800),
two volumes. The third edition of his Poems includes‖‘On‖Modern‖Comedy’,‖‘On‖
Mrs. Powell’s‖appearing‖in‖Rosalind,‖at‖York’‖and‖‘A‖New Hymn in imitation of
Wesley’s‖inimitable‖Hymns’. ~ Ref: NCBEL II (1971); Croft & Beattie; LION. [C18]
Robertson, John (1767-1810), of Paisley, son of a grocer, worked as a weaver, joined
the Fifeshire Militia, friend of Tannahill (qv); drowned himself one month before
Tannahill; published ‘The‖‘Toom‖Meal‖Pock’‖(1800,‖frequently‖anthologised),‖in‖
Brown, I, 60-1, no collection. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 536-7; Brown (1889-90), I, 59-
61; Leonard (1990), 5-7; ODNB. [S] [T]
Robertson, John (1779-?1831), weaver, published The Waddin’ Day and Other Poems
(Edinburgh, 1824). ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 117-18. [S] [T]
Robertson, John (fl. 1879), of Perth, letter-carrier, published Original Poems and Songs
(Perth, 1879). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 394. [S]
(?) Robertson, Louisa (b. 1851), born at Auchencairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, and
attended school until sixteen, married, raised her children, and published in
periodicals such as the Kirkcudbright Advertiser;‖verses‖include‖‘The‖Flittin’‖Awa’’,‖
‘Lang‖Syne’,‖‘Allacardoch’s‖Braes’,‖‘Ane’s‖Ain‖Fire‖En’,‖and‖‘To‖the‖Bairns’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 4 (1882), 49-53 and 13; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Robertson, Matthew (b. 1828), of Paisley, drawboy, weaver, worked in post office,
later owned crystal and china shop, published poems in local papers. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), II, 248-51. [S] [T]
(?) Robertson, William (b. 1808), of Longforgan, Carse of Gowries, Perthshire, served
an apprenticeship, lived in London, published Poetic Ramblings (London, 1865). ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 306-7; Reilly (2000), 394. [S]
Robertson, William (d. 1891), of Dundee, left school at the age of thirteen to work in
the spinning mill where his father was overseer; later a grocer and a salesman. ~
Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 57-60 and 16, [lix]. [S] [T]
(?) Robins, John, Jr. (fl. 1806),‖‘a‖solitary‖wanderer‖from‖village‖to‖village‖in‖his‖native‖
Derbyshire’,‖published Sensibility, with other poems (London: Cadell and Davies,
and Exeter, 1806). ‘They‖are‖all‖of‖a‖melancholy‖turn,‖which‖is‖accounted‖for‖from‖
the circumstance of their having been written under the pressure of ill health and
sorrow.’‖(British Critic) ~ Ref: Critical Review, 8 (1906), 102-3; Monthly Review 50
(1806), 101-2; The British Critic and Quarterly Theological Review, 22 (1808), 516-17;
Johnson (1992), item 768.
(?) Robson, Henry (c. 1775-1850), of Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne, poet and
songwriter,‖worked‖as‖a‖printer‖for‖50‖years,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Collier’s‖Pay‖Week’‖
and The Northern Minstrel’s Budget (1824). ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 20, 78, 344 note;
FARNE; Wikipedia.
Robson, Joseph Philip (1808-70), ‘J.‖P.‖Robson’,‖Tyneside dialect poet and
miscellaneous‖writer,‖‘Bard‖of‖the‖Tyne‖and‖Minstrel‖of‖the‖Wear’,‖orphan,‖
apprentice planemaker, then schoolmaster, suffered a disabling stroke; published
Poetic Gatherings; or, Stray Leaves from my Portfolio (Gateshead, 1839); Evangeline: or
the spirit of progress; together with a copious selection of miscellaneous poems and songs,
sentimental, humorous and local (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1870). He also wrote a
biography of Billy Purvis (qv), Life and Adventures of Billy Purvis (1849). ~ Ref:
Allan (1891), 345-87; Lloyd (1978), 20, 215, 268, 354-5 note, 359-60 note; Burnett et
al (1984), 265-6 (no. 595); Ashton & Roberts (1999), 7-31; Johnson (1992), item 772;
Reilly (2000), 395.
(?) Robson, Mark Newton (b. 1861), from the village of Denholm in the Scottish
borders,‖blacksmith’s‖son,‖teacher. ~ Ref: Edwards, 14 (1891), 31-6. [S]
Rodger, Alexander (1784-1846), ‘Sandy‖Rodger’,‖Glasgow poet, son of a Midlothian
farmer, handloom weaver, journalist and radical, author‖of‖‘Robin‖Tamson’s‖
Smiddy’,‖published Hints to the Disaffected ‘Sooty Rabble,’ on their Day of Meeting, in
order to petition for a Reform of parliament, By James Black, esq., place-hunter (eighth
edition, Glasgow, 1816); Peter Cornclips, a tale of real life; with other poems and songs
(Glasgow, 1827); Poems and Songs, humorous and satirical (Glasgow, 1838); Poems
and Songs (Paisley, 1897, ed. Robert Ford). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 57-61; Murdoch
(1883), 17-27; Douglas (1891), 303; Glasgow Poets (1906), 171-80; Maidment (1987),
27-32; Johnson (1992), items 775-7; Sutton (1995), 803 (7 items, poems); Blair (2016),
135; DNB; LION. [S] [T]
Rodgers, Paul (1788-1851), of Greasbrough, moved to Sheffield in 1833 and
published Poems, or Amusements in Rhyme, Written at Various Periods Between the
Years 1815 and 1845 (Sheffield: Thomas Rodgers, 1845), via Google Books. The first
poem,‖‘Greasbrough‖Ings,‖or‖Excursion‖to‖New‖Park‖Gate’,‖has‖an‖interesting‖
footnote on Ebenezer Elliott (qv), quoted in his entry, above, and gives a
description of aspects of the Sheffield cutlery industry, as well as praising Lord
Fitzwilliam (who was among other things a patron of John Clare, qv) for his
humanitarian work. In‖his‖satirical‖poem‖‘The‖Exhibition‖Committee’‖Rodger‖
offers‖a‖caricature‖of‖himself:‖‘Up‖rose‖Paul Rodgers in a trice, / His grizzled locks,
devoid‖of‖grace,‖/‖Stared‖round‖a‖furrowed,‖sharp,‖thin‖face’.‖~ Ref: text as cited;
inf. Yann Lovelock.
Roger, James (b. 1841), of Kirkmichael, Ayrshire, grew up in poverty, worked for
North British Railway Company from 1866, Station Master at Roslin Castle from
1870, published poems in People’s Journal. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 52-4. [S] [R]
(?) Rogerson, David (fl. 1866), newsvendor, author of Poetical Works, with the Author’s
Address to Bambrough Castle (undated, nineteenth-century: one poem dated 1866).
~ Ref: copy seen in BL.
Rogerson, John Bolton (1809-59), of Manchester, poet, left school at 13, apprenticed
clerk, cemetery registrar, amateur actor and president of the Manchester
Shakespearean Society,‖member‖of‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖of‖writers,‖and‖‘editor‖of‖
short-lived‖magazines’‖(Vicinus);‖editor‖of‖The Falcon, or, Journal of Literature (1831)
and The Festive Wreath (1842), published Rhyme, Romance, and Revery, A Voice from
the Town, And Other Poems, and The Wandering Angel and Other Poems (London,
1844); Musings in Many Moods (London, Manchester and Liverpool, 1859). ~ Ref:
Reid, City (1853); Harland (1882), 229-31, 234-5, 240-1, 287-9, 291-2, 298-9, 314-15,
324-5, 427-9; Vicinus (1973), 743, 746-78; Vicinus (1974), 160; Cross (1985), 147-8;
Maidment (1987), 155-6, 188-90; Sutton (1995), 809 (letters); ODNB.
(?) Rollo, John, keeper of a Spitalfields Victualling House, anonymous poet and
prose-writer. Referred to by John Bancks (qv) in 1738. ~ Ref: Christmas (2001), pp.
30-1, 101.
Rolph, Richard (b. 1801), blind peasant, itinerant fiddler, shrimp-seller, later a
religious poet, published A Poetical Discourse (third edition, Bury St Edmunds,
1843). ~ Ref: The Life of Richard Rolfe, The Blind Peasant of Lakenheath (Bury St
Edmunds, 1841); Cranbrook (2001), 226; Copsey (2002), 305.
Rorrison, David (d. c.‖1778),‖of‖Paisley,‖weaver,‖tea‖and‖tobacco‖seller,‖author‖of‖‘The‖
Twa‖Bells’,‖published in periodicals. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 284-90. [S] [T] [C18]
(?) Roscoe, William (1753-1831), poet, writer and abolitionist, Unitarian and
Presbyterian, self-taught son of a market gardener and publican, left school at 12,
became a lawyer. An important figure in the cultural history of Liverpool, among
many other achievements he was elected as an abolitionist MP, helped found
 Liverpool Botanic Garden, studied Italian art and culture and translated Italian
texts including The Nurse, a Poem, Translated from the Italian of Luigi Tansillo
(Liverpool and London, 1798). He edited Alexander Pope, and published a long
anti-slavery poem, The Wrongs of Africa, A Poem. (1787‐8); Poems for Youth, by a
Family Circle (1820); Poetical Works (1857). His best‖known‖verse‖is‖the‖children’s‖
poem The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (1807). He also wrote a Life of
Lorenzo de’ Medici (1796),‖which‖‘was‖an‖immediate‖success‖and‖won‖him‖
international‖fame‖as‖a‖historian‖and‖scholar’‖(Croft‖&‖Beattie). ~ Ref: Tim Burke
‘‚Humanity‖is‖Now‖the‖Pop’lar‖Cry‛:‖Labouring-Class Poets and the Liverpool
Slave Trade, 1787-1789’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 42, no. 3
(2001), 245-63; Dabydeen et al (2007), 422-3; Croft & Beattie, III, nos. 29-30; ODNB;
Wikipedia. [C18]
Rosenberg, Isaac (1890-1918), born in Bristol of Lithuanian Jewish parents, moved to
the East End of London, educated to secondary level and became apprentice
engraver, attending evening classes at Birkbeck, then quitting his apprenticeship
to attend Slade Art College. Moved to South Africa for his health; returned and
joined up in 1915; killed in action in April 1918. An artist as well as a poet, he is
best‖known‖now‖for‖his‖war‖poems,‖esp.‖‘Break‖of‖Day‖in‖the‖Trenches’,‖
‘Returning‖We‖Hear‖the‖Larks’‖and‖‘Dead‖Man’s‖Dump’. He published Night and
Day (1912); Youth (1915); Collected Works, ed. I. Parsons (1979); The Poems and Plays
of Isaac Rosenberg, ed. Vivien Noakes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004),
reviewed LRB Sept 1st 2005. ~ Ref: ODNB; Wikipedia; inf. Anthony Cartwright.
[OP]
Ross, Angus (b. 1830), of Cromarty, pattern-maker in Inverness and Glasgow, lost
used of one hand, worked as an iron-planer at Glasgow Locomotive Works,
published ‘occasional‖natural‖and‖thoughtful‖little‖poems’‖in‖the‖Glasgow‖press. ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 292. [S] [T] [R]
Ross, Anne (fl. 1791-8), apparently a Scottish milliner; describes herself as‖‘a‖humble‖
muse’‖and‖‘a‖stranger...to‖every‖rule‖of‖art.‖She published Poems on Several
Occasions (Glasgow, 1791); second edition the same year; A Collection of Poems
(1798): this is apparently a third edition of the 1791 volume. ~ Ref: ESTC T178588;
inf. Bill Christmas. [F] [S]
Ross, James (fl. 1821-5), handloom weaver of Forfar, published A Peep at Parnassus. A
Poetical Vision (Forfar, 1821), Poems (1825), The Chaplet (undated). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2
(1881), 352-4; NCSTC. (Johnson (1992), item 781, has a Rotherham publication,
Wild Warblings, 1817, probably another poet.) [S] [T]
Ross, John (b. 1801), of Campbelltown,‖‘the‖oldest‖distiller‖in‖Campbelltown’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 7 (1884), 297-9. [S]
Ross, William Stewart (b. 1844), of Kirkbean, Galloway, rural labourer, educated at a
parish school, dominie and writer and publisher of educational works, secularist.
 He published Poems Lays of Romance and Chivalry (1881) and Isaure and other Poems
(1887); and religious works God and his Book (1887; new edition, 1906) and in
Woman, her Glory and her Shame (in two volumes, 1894; new edition, 1906). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 3 (1881), 329-34; Harper (1889), 242 (with a short bibliography); ODNB.
[S]
Rounsevell, John (fl. 1850-67),‖‘The‖Thregatherall‖Shepherd’,‖of‖Alterton‖or‖St.‖Juliot,‖
Cornwall, went to South Australia in 1867, publications include Miscellaneous
Poems, Part IV (Plymouth: I. Latimer, 1850); The Adventures of Joseph Golding, his
courtship, and marriage with Flora Percival, the Duchess of Botcinni: a tale of love in fairy
style, with other poems (Plymouth, 1864). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 400. [A]
(?) Roxby, Robert (1767-1846),‖the‖fisher‖poet‖of‖Tyneside,‖‘born‖at‖Needless‖Hall,‖by‖
the failure of his trustee, had to turn to business, and his long life was spent as a
*banker’s+‖clerk’,‖published The Lay of the Reedwater Minstrel (Newcastle, 1809—
reprinted 1832), published ‘Coquet‖Side’‖as‖a‖broadside,‖1823,‖and‖other‖
publications jointly authored with Thomas Doubleday (qv). There is a memorial
stone‖to‖Roxby‖in‖St‖Nicholas’‖church,‖Newcastle‖upon‖Tyne.‖~ Ref: Allan (1891),
160-2; Miles (1891), X, vi; Welford (1895), III, 335-8; Johnson (1992), item 782.
(?) Rudland, Mary (1854-71), of Sudbury, Suffolk, Sunday School teacher, died of TB,
published Mary Rudland: her sketches in prose and verse, edited by her father (London,
1873). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 400-1. [F]
Rushforth, Benjamin (1804-76), ‘The‖Blind‖Poet‖of‖Bolton’,‖of Elland, Halifax, son of
woollen card manufacturer. Almost self-educated, he was sent to Bolton at the age
of 14 to be apprenticed to a Mr Rothwell, a grocer, for seven years. Returning
home, he joined the East India Company but on the voyage to Madras was
‘attached‖by‖a‖fever‖which‖disable‖him‖from‖active‖service‖and‖rendered‖him‖
nearly‖blind’‖(Sparke).‖Thereafter‖he‖lived‖in‖Bolton,‖making‖and‖selling‖oilcloth
covers, and latterly living in the workhouse. There are two collections of his
verses, Original verses by Benjamin Rushforth, the blind poet of Bolton, published for his
benefit, with an introductory sketch of his life by the Revd. F.H. Thicknesse (Bolton:
Robert Whewell, 1861), 32 pp., and the more substantial Miscellaneous Poems by the
blind poet of Bolton (Bolton: William Parkhouse, 1869). ~ Ref: Sparke (1913), 120;
Reilly (2000), 401); NTU.
Rushton, Edward (1756-1814), of Liverpool, partially-blind poet and radical,
apprenticed sailor and slaver, became ardent abolitionist, tavern-keeper,
bookseller, sight restored in an operation in 1807. ~ He was also co-founder of the
first school for the blind in the country. Born in John Street, Liverpool, Edward
was the son of Thomas Rushton, a victualler. Apprenticed to a Liverpool shipping
company by the age of eleven, Edward was promoted to second mate around five
years later after demonstrating outstanding courage in guiding a vessel—which
the captain and crew were prepared to abandon during a storm out in the Mersey
Estuary—back to port. ~ While on a slaver bound for Dominica in 1773, Rushton
grew so appalled by the sadistic treatment of the captives he remonstrated with
the captain to the point of being charged with mutiny. As the only member of the
crew willing to tend to their suffering, Rushton contracted the highly contagious
ophthalmia,‖which‖left‖him‖blind.‖~‖Rushton’s‖aunt‖took‖him‖in‖shortly‖after his
return—his‖father‖having‖now‖remarried‖a‖woman‖antagonised‖by‖Edward’s‖
presence. The injustices Rushton observed at sea led to the publication of his first
book-length work, The Dismembered Empire (1782), a denunciation of British rulers
and merchants in the framework of the American War of Independence.
Furthermore, in the same year as he published a poetry volume on the tragic
neglect of Thomas Chatterton, his disgust at the slave trade was given further
voice in The West Indian Eclogues (1787). A decade later he wrote to his former hero
George Washington, pointing up the hypocrisy of retaining slaves while fighting
for‖freedom:‖‘In‖the‖name‖of‖justice‖what‖can‖induce‖you‖thus‖to‖tarnish‖your‖own‖
well-earned celebrity and to impair the fair features of American liberty with so
foul‖and‖indelible‖a‖blot’. A similar letter was dispatched to Thomas Paine, but
neither he nor Washington tendered a reply. Nonetheless,‖Rushton’s‖bold‖
reputation prompted Thomas Clarkson to credit his contribution to the
abolitionist cause upon visiting Liverpool. ~ After his marriage around 1784 to
Isabella Rain, Rushton went on to become editor of the Liverpool Herald. This
career was soon cut short after he reproached brutal press-gang practice in several
articles, and rebuffed‖his‖partner’s‖suggestion‖of‖a‖retraction.‖This‖episode‖in‖
Rushton’s‖life‖inspired‖the‖poem‖Will Clewine (1806). ~ When he became a
bookseller‖at‖44‖Paradise‖Street,‖Rushton’s‖outspoken‖political‖convictions‖
deterred potential custom, but not to the extent of preventing him from living out
his life in relative comfort, and giving his children a sound education. In the late
1780s Rushton became a member of a literary and philosophical society—thought
to have been the forerunner of William Roscoe and James‖Currie’s‖ill-fated radical
Debating Society—where the idea of raising funds to offer care for local blind
paupers came into effect. The Liverpool School for the Indigent Blind opened in
1791. Rushton published a collection of poems in 1806, and the following year an
operation by the Manchester surgeon Benjamin Gibson restored his sight,
enabling him to see his wife and children for the first time. ~ Rushton died of
paralysis on 22 November 1814 at his home on Paradise Street, just a few years
after the death of his wife and one of his daughters. The eldest of his four
children,‖also‖Edward,‖became‖a‖prominent‖social‖reformer‖in‖Liverpool’s‖political‖
landscape, advocating Catholic emancipation and prison reform. He published
The Dismembered Empire (1782); The West Indian Eclogues (1787); Will Clewline
(1806); Poems (1806); Poems and Other Writings (London, 1824). The standard
edition is The Collected Writings of Edward Rushton, ed. Paul Baines (Liverpool:
 Liverpool University Press, 2014). This publication, the monograph by Franca
Dellarosa and two special numbers of the journal La Questione Romantica (listed
below) all marked the 200th anniversary‖of‖Rushton’s‖death,‖which‖also‖saw‖a
‘City‖Wide‖Exhibition’‖in‖Liverpool‖and‖a‖service‖of‖thanksgiving‖(BBC News
online),‖as‖well‖as‖‘conference,‖plays,‖public‖speeches...’‖(La Questione, 8, 1-12, 10).
See also John McCreery, William Roscoe and Thomas Rushton (qqv). ~ Ref:
Thomas Clarkson, The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the
Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament, (London, 1808), I, 292-
414; Anon, Sketches of Obscure Poets (London: Cochrane, 1833), 56-71 (via Google
Books); Eva Beatrice Dykes, The Negro in English Romantic Thought (Washington
D.C.: Associated‖Publishers,‖1942);‖C.‖G.‖Martin,‖‘Coleridge,‖Edward‖Rushton,‖and‖
the‖Cancelled‖Note‖to‖the‖‚Monody‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖Chatterton‛’,‖Review of English
Studies, 17 (1966), 391-492; Ashraf (1975), 95-100; Alan Richardson (ed.), Verse,
Volume IV of Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: Writings in the British Romantic
Period, ed. Peter Kitson and Debbie Lee (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999); Paul
Magnuson,‖‘Coleridge’s‖Discursive‖‚Monody‖on‖the‖Death‖of‖Chatterton‛’,‖
Romanticism on the Net (2000), 17;‖Tim‖Burke‖‘‚Humanity‖is‖Now‖the‖Pop’lar‖Cry‛:‖
Labouring-Class Poets and the Liverpool Slave Trade, 1787-1789’,‖The Eighteenth
Century: Theory and Interpretation, 42, no. 3 (2001), 245-63; Mike Royden,‖‘Edward‖
Rushton—Life and times of an 18th Century Radical and the foundation of the
Blind‖School‖in‖Liverpool’‖(online,‖Mike‖Royden’s‖Local‖History‖pages,‖2001),‖Bill
Hunter, Forgotten Hero: The Life and Times of Edward Rushton (Liverpool: Living
History Library, 2002); Franca Dellarosa, Talking Revolution: Edward Rushton’s
Rebellious Poetics 1782-1814 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press: 2015); Franca
Dellarosa,‖‘‚Behold‖in‖These‖Coromantees‖/‖The‖Fate‖of‖an‖Agonised‖World‛:‖
Edward‖Rushton’s‖Transnational‖Radicalism’,‖in‖Goodridge‖&‖Keegan‖(2017),‖116-
29. ~ See also: Radcliffe; Harland (1882), 339-41, 517-28; Ashraf (1975), 95-8; Ashraf
(1978), I, 25, 36; Johnson (1992), item 784; Goodridge (1999), item 100; Jarndyce
(1980), item 1474; Carpenter (1998), 480; Basker (2002), 342-9; Dabydeen et al
(2007) 424-5; ODNB; Wikipedia; LC 3, 9-38. [LC3] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Rushton, James (b. 1848), of Rossendale then Blackburn, draper, published poems in
newspapers. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 325-8.
Rushton, John (fl. 1902),‖of‖Blackburn,‖‘colleague’‖of‖fellow‖weaver William
Billington (qv),‖who‖apologises‖for‖his‖‘poor’‖and‖‘untaught’‖muse. He later
moved to Stockport. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 132-4; Massey page. [T]
Rushton, Thomas (fl. 1770), peruke-maker, dealer in spirits, hairdresser, father of
Edward Rushton (qv), poet, published Party Dissected: or, Plain Truth: A Poem, by a
Plain Dealer (London,‖1770),‖a‖‘pro-government‖satirical‖poem’. ~ Ref: Collected
Writings of Edward Rushton, ed. Paul Baines (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 2014), 1. [C18]
Rushton, William Charles (b. 1860), of Windhall, near Shipley, Yorkshire, factory
worker from the age of nine; at nineteen (when Walter J. Kaye wrote his entry in
Forshaw) he was a working‖woolsorter;‖he‖also‖painted.‖His‖poetry‖‘if‖convenient,‖
lays‖aside‖all‖rules‖with‖greatest‖ease’. He published Rosanus, and Other Poems,
including Odes, Songs and Sonnets (1883). ~ Ref: Forshaw (1891), 155-9 (includes a
pined image of the author).
Russell, Jessie (1850-1923), Glasgow poet and dressmaker. Born in Glasgow on 4th
September 1850, Jessie Paton Laing was orphaned at nine and grew up in the
home of her Presbyterian grandparents, James and Janet Paton, in Torthorwald,
Dumfriesshire. Her mother had hoped she would be a teacher. In fact she entered
domestic service at fourteen when her grandfather died. She then became a
dressmaker,‖and‖in‖1873‖married‖James‖Russell,‖a‖ship’s‖carpenter‖of‖Irish‖descent.‖
She regularly published poems in the Glasgow Weekly Mail (whose editor she
engages‖with‖in‖the‖poem‖‘The‖Muse’s‖Protest’), and she gathered them together
in her volume, The Blinkin’ o’ the Fire and Other Poems (Glasgow, 1877). By 1881 she
was said to have curtailed poetry-writing‖owing‖to‖‘an‖increasing‖little‖family‖and‖
the‖trials‖and‖vicissitudes‖of‖married‖life’.‖Nevertheless the 1881 census lists her as
‘Authoress‖Poetry’‖*sic+,‖living‖in‖Govan‖with‖her‖husband,‖daughters‖aged‖six‖
and four, and a baby son. By 1887-8 she had emigrated to Marton, New Zealand.
Family tradition suggests James Russell was known as a political agitator on the
Clyde dockyards, and speculates that the family may have felt forced to leave
Scotland because of the fallout from this. Russell herself died in New Zealand in
1923 and is buried in Palmerston North. ~ Russell claims that there are severe
limits to what she is doing in her collection:‖‘I‖know‖not‖aught‖of‖learnèd‖themes,‖/‖
Nor of the world of wealth and power; / My little world at home redeems / The
voidness‖of‖a‖leisure‖hour’‖(‘Preface’).‖Neatly-turned deferential modesty is
common enough in the cautious self-presentation of labouring-class poets; this is
a specifically female version that involves a commitment to staying inside the
walls‖of‖the‖domestic‖sphere‖and‖remaining‖ignorant‖of‖‘learned‖themes’‖or‖
‘wealth‖and‖power’.‖The‖home‖is‖her‖‘little‖world’,‖and‖writing‖poetry‖‘redeems’‖
the‖‘voidness’‖of‖any empty areas in this enclosed existence. But in fact her poetry
repeatedly‖examines‖the‖world‖outside,‖commenting‖shrewdly‖on‖‘wealth‖and‖
power’‖and‖social and political issues, including women’s‖suffrage,‖debated‖in‖
dialogue with fellow Glaswegian poet Marion Bernstein (qv). And as soon as you
look‖for‖them,‖‘learned‖themes’‖abound,‖for‖instance‖in‖the‖mythology‖of‖‘The‖
Tower‖of‖Thor’,‖or‖the‖witty‖classicism‖of‖‘The‖Muse’s‖Protest’.‖The‖collection is
rich and varied, and its familiar patriotic, sentimental, spiritual and teetotal
moralisings are leavened by lively celebrations of Glaswegian working-class life.
There are picturesque and comic verses, and at the centre of it, what might be
called‖the‖domestic‖sublime,‖especially‖in‖the‖title‖poem,‖‘The‖Blinkin’‖o’‖the‖Fire’,‖
 where the homely hearth-fire,‖the‖symbolic‖hub‖of‖the‖poet’s ‘domestic’‖sphere,‖
becomes a powerful instrument of meditation and wide-ranging thought. (Tony
Harrison (qv) also likes to draw on images of and in the hearth-fire and the way
that these may stimulate the spirit and the imagination.)‖In‖Russell’s poem the
familiar idea of seeing faces in the fire allows her to draw an account of her life,
centring on its emotional and physical contrasts: poverty, hope, loss, love. A
world, not in a grain of sand but a flickering flame ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 15-16;
A. G. Murdoch (Alexander Murdoch, qv),‖‘Minor‖Scottish‖Poets,‖no.‖33:‖Jessie‖
Russell’,‖Glasgow Weekly Mail, 18th June 1881; Leonard (1990), 306-10; Boos (1995);
Bold (1997), 257-8; Reilly (2000), 402; Boos (2002b), 142; Goodridge (2005); Boos
(2008), 320-27; Boos (2010); LC 6, 287-304; NTU; inf. Florence Boos, and Russell’s‖
New Zealand descendants, especially Andrea Hanaray. [LC6] [F] [S]
Russell, Thomas (b. 1822), of Parkhead, Glasgow, coal-carter’s‖son‖and‖labouring‖
man, published Poems (Glasgow: printed by Bogie & Morison for the author,
1881), and a further volume, untraced. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 309-11; Murdoch
(1883), 192-4. [S]
(?) Ryves, Elizabeth (d. 1797).‖‘This‖most‖unfortunate‖authoress‖was‖of‖good‖family‖
in Ireland, and born about 1760. She owned some property, but was cheated out
of it by some legal shark, and had to turn to literature for a livelihood. She had
much ability, but only earned a poor subsistence, and her extreme good-nature
and generosity prevented her using her small means solely on herself. She died in
destitution in Store Street, Tottenham Court Road, London, in April or May,‖1797’‖
(O’Donoghue).‖She published Poems on Several Occasions, and The Prude, a comic
opera (London, 1777); [anon] Ode to the Rev. W. Mason (London, 1780); Dialogues in
the Elysian Fields, between Caesar and Cato (London, 1785); Epistle in Verse to Lord
John Cavendish (London, 1784; BL copy has handwritten corrections); [anon] The
Hastiniad, an heroick poem (1785); [anon] Ode To Lord Melton (1787); The Hermit of
Snowden (1789), also wrote several other works, including a novel and a comedy,
‘Debt‖of‖Honour’. ~ Ref: Blackburne (1877), II, 225-31; O’Donoghue‖(1912), 412; inf.
Dawn Whatman. [F] [I] [C18]
Salisbury, George (1832-97), of Blackburn, factory worker, auctioneer, journalist,
emigrated to USA in 1874, editor then proprietor of the Fall River Advance. ~ Ref:
Hull (1902), 159-65.
Samuel, James (b. 1869), of Bathgate, tailor, published poems in the West Lothian
Courier, the Christian News and elsewhere. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 322-7. [S] [T]
Sancho, Ignatius (1729?-1780), African servant turned writer, born on a slave ship
headed for the West Indies, brought by his owner to Greenwich, England. He
worked as a butler for the widowed Duchess of Montagu and later her son. He
became a grocer. He was a correspondent of Laurence Sterne, among other
literary connections. Some poems are included in his published letters: Letters of
 the Law Ignatius Sancho, an African (1782), two volumes, printed by subscription.
This has been edited in a modern edition by Vincent Carretta (London: Penguin,
1998; Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2015). ~ Ref: Reyahn King and
others, Ignatius Sancho: An African man of Letters (London: National Portrait
Gallery, 1955); Sutton (1995), 827 (letter); Basker (2002), 232-3; Dabydeen and
others (2007), 428-30; ODNB. [C18]
Sanderson, James (1788-1891), of Earlston, weaver. ~ Ref: Crocket, 121-7. [S]
Sanderson, Robert (b. 1836), of West Linton, Peeblesshire, land surveyor and weaver,
took violin lessons from Alexander Thom, published Poems and songs (Edinburgh,
1865); Frae the Lyne Valley: Poems and Sketches (Paisley, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1
(1880), 67-9; Reilly (2000), 405); NTU. [S] [T]
Sangster, Charles (1822-93), son of a shipwright and grandson of a Scottish army
sergeant, born near Kingston, Canada, d. Montreal. His mother was left a widow
with a large family of small children (Charles was the youngest), and he struggled
after‖a‖basic‖education‖of‖‘the‖first‖two‖Rs’,‖leaving‖school‖at‖15,‖working‖at‖the‖
Ordinance Office, and eventually finding a role as a newspaper writer and editor.
The most acclaimed Canadian poet of his age, Sangster published The St Lawrence
and the Sanguenay (1856); Hesperus and Other Poems and Lyrics (1860); Our Norland
(1890). A nervous breakdown in 1875 and poor health in late life prevented him
from publishing two planned later volumes (though much else was published,
principally in newspapers); these later volumes finally published in the 1970s. ~
Ref: Lighthall (1889), 25, 254, 307, 461-2; Poem Hunter web page; Dictionary of
Canadian Biography, online edition.
Satchwell,‖Benjamin‖(1732-1810),‖of‖Leamington‖Priors’,‖Warwickshire,‖shoemaker,‖
later‖a‖founding‖father‖of‖Leamington‖Spa‖and‖philanthropist;‖published‖The Rise
and Fall of Troy,‖and‖Astronomical Characters and Their Use;‖both‖lost‖works;‖ODNB‖
indicates‖that‖only‖two‖examples‖of‖his‖verse‖are‖known‖to‖have‖survived‖but‖
does‖not‖identify‖where;‖Leamington‖guidebooks‖note‖a‖monument‖to‖Satchwell‖
raised‖by‖his‖daughter,‖and‖refer‖to‖‘his‖rhyming‖efforts‖to‖eulogise‖both‖the‖
waters‖*of‖Leamington‖Spa+‖and‖the‖visitors,‖as‖well‖as‖by‖his‖frequent‖notices‖of‖
the‖same‖in‖the‖provincial‖newspapers‖of‖the‖period’‖(New Guide to the Royal
Leamington Spa,‖London,‖1839,‖pp.‖18-19,‖via‖Google‖books);‖more‖recently‖a‖‘blue‖
plaque’‖to‖him‖has‖been‖unveiled.‖~‖Ref:‖Poole‖(1914),‖161-5;‖ODNB;‖online‖
sources.‖*SM+
Saunderson,‖F.‖(fl.‖1838),‖‘A‖Female‖Cottager’,‖was‖‘one‖of‖the‖only‖named‖working-
class‖women‖writers‖whose‖poetry‖appeared‖in‖the‖leading‖Chartist‖journal’;‖
published‖‘Spring‖Reflections’,‖Northern Star,‖19‖May‖1838,‖7,‖which‖‘is‖in‖fact‖a‖
veiled‖political‖poem’‖and‖‘shares‖the‖Chartist‖unease‖with‖the‖1834‖Poor‖Law’‖
(Timney,‖2014).‖~‖Ref:‖Timney‖(2009);‖Sanders‖(2009),‖230;‖Timney‖(2013);‖.‖*F+‖*C+
(?) Savage, Richard (1697/8-1743), of Holborn, London; shoemaker, poet and
playwright, friend of Samuel Johnson, notoriously claimed illegitimate aristocratic
blood (see ODNB), though details of his childhood and upbringing are murky;
died in poverty and debt; his‖poverty‖is‖also‖described‖well‖in‖Johnson’s‖brilliant
Life of Mr Richard Savage (1744), which recalls with something approaching
nostalgia the days when the two aspiring authors walked the streets all night
because they could not afford proper lodgings. Savage published Miscellaneous
Poems and Translations (1726); A Poem Sacred to the Glorious Memory of our late
Sovereign Lord, King George, etc. (1727); The Bastard, a Poem in Five Cantos (1728); The
Wanderer (1729); Verses occasion’d by the Viscountess Tyrconnel’s recovery at Bath
(1730); The Volunteer Laureat. A Poem (1732); On the Departure of the Prince and
Princess of Orange. A Poem (1734); The Progress of a Divine, a Satire in Verse (1735); Of
Public Spirit in regard to Public Works. An Epistle in Verse... (1737). The standard
modern edition is The Poetical Works of Richard Savage, ed. Clarence Tracey
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962); There is a recent edition of
Johnson’s‖Life: Samuel Johnson, The Life of Mr Richard Savage, ed. Nicholas Seager
and Lance Wilcox (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2016). ~ Ref:
Clarence Tracy, The Artificial Bastard: A Biography of Richard Savage (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1953); Richard Holmes, Dr Johnson & Mr Savage
(London: HarperCollins, 1993); Sutton (1995), 827 (2 items refer to poems, one
letter); Christine Gerrard, Aaron Hill: The Muses’ Projector 1685-1750 (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003), 62-6 and passim; Adam Rounce, Fame and Failure
1720-1800: The Unfulfilled Literary Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2013); Batt (2017); Radcliffe; ODNB. [SM] [C18]
(?) Sawyer, Anna (fl. 1794-1801) lived at Rowberrow, Somerset, and also may have
lived in Bristol and Birmingham; background uncertain but suffered an
unspecified, seemingly tragic misfortune associated with her husband (possible
William Sawyer, formerly of Bristol), and described the poems in her volume as
‘the‖first‖productions‖of‖her‖unpractised‖Muse’;‖published Poems on Various
Subjects (Birmingham, 1801), with subscribers for 700 copies including Hannah
More, Anna Seward, and the Society of Artisans, Birmingham. ~ Ref: Lonsdale
(1989), 503-6; Backscheider (2009), 885. [F]
(?) Sayer, W. F. (fl. 1853), pawnbroker, published Spare Moments (Hackney: George
Pope, 1853) and The Pawnbroker’s Warehouse Boy. ~ Ref: John Hart catalogue 17
(2006), no. 180.
Scadlock, James (1775-1818), of Paisley, friend of Robert Tannahill (qv), weaver,
bookbinder, engraver; poems posthumously published. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I,
527-8; Brown (1889-90), I, 96-101. [S] [T]
Scarlett, Robert (1820-87), of Westleton, Suffolk, agricultural labourer, published
Poems...dedicated by permission to Miss Sarah Row (Woodbridge, 1841). ~ Ref:
Copsey (2002), 314.
Scholes, Adam (b. c. 1840), of Moate, Co. Westmeath, about 1840, moved to Detroit,
Michigan in about 1860. Scholes had suffered from partial blindness for many
years and around 1877, while working in a factory, his blindness became
complete. He then began to compose verses prolifically, four of which appeared in
The Magazine of Poetry, Buffalo, N.Y. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 416. [I] [US]
(?) Scholes, John (?1808-63), of Rochdale, failed hat-manufacturer, later journalist,
contributed to The Festive Wreath (1842). Referred to‖in‖Alexander‖Wilson’s‖‘The‖
Poet’s‖Corner’‖as‖author‖of‖‘A‖Touching‖Scene’‖and‖‘many‖poems’. ~ Ref: Harland
(1882), 341-2, 404-8; Hollingworth (1977), 154.
Scorgie, John (b. 1852), of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, the son of a rabbit-trapper to
the local Laird. A speech impediment kept him away from school until he was
eight, though he proved an‖‘apt‖scholar’.‖At‖the‖age‖of‖twelve‖he‖was‖sent‖to‖work‖
as a cattle-herder, working for two years for a local farmer. He then worked as a
stone-dresser in the Tillyfourie granite-quarry, a trade he was still following in
1883. In Spring 1875 he went to America with party of tradesmen in search of
better wages and steadier work, but returned after two months when these
desiderata failed to materialise. Scorgie was a regular contributor to the
newspapers‖and‖literary‖journals,‖valued‖for‖his‖‘very‖pleasing‖poems‖and‖
sketches‖illustrating‖rural‖life‖and‖character‖in‖the‖north‖of‖Scotland’;‖his‖poems‖
‘give‖evidence‖of‖spontaneity‖of‖flow,‖real‖Scottish‖humour,‖homely‖thought’‖and‖
pleasantly‖free‖from‖‘weak‖maunderings‖and‖unnatural‖rhapsodies’‖(Edwards).‖
Edwards‖includes‖four‖examples,‖‘O!‖Come‖Awa’‖Dearie’,‖‘The‖Rasps’‖(i.e.
Aberdeenshire raspberries),‖‘The‖Coo’s‖Calved‖Noo’,‖and‖‘the‖Doctor’s‖Maid’. ~
Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 321-5. [S]
Scott, Andrew (b. 1821), of Elliott Bridge, Arbirlot, near Arbroath, herd laddie,
weaver, merchant. He had some schooling, from a great-aunt who was over
seventy and kept a school in Dishlandtown, Arbroath, where he was sent at the
cost of a halfpenny a week. He would later offer an interesting sketch of this
schoolroom: ‘In the centre of the room the old lady was seated busy at her pirn
wheel, a little boy at one side trying the alphabet—muckle A, little a, b, c, d, and
so on in the same fashion; on the other side a big girl of ten years bawling in a
powerful contralto‖voice‖the‖chief‖end.‖‚Eh?‖What?‛ Man’s‖chief‖end‖is— is— is—
is— An interrupting voice from the corner plaintively enquiring—‚Is this a doon
loop‖in‖my‖catshank?‛ and the old woman is seen feeling in the locker of her
wheel for her leather whang. A bab of‖noise,‖&.’‖At‖the‖age‖of‖eight‖Scott‖went‖to‖
work as a herd laddie, working near the parish manse of Arbirlot, whose
incumbent, Revd. Thomas Guthrie, took an interest in this scholarly boy, lent him
 books and encouraged him to learn. A Mr Mason, a schoolmaster friend of
Guthrie’s,‖also‖helped‖him‖with his arithmetic and other subjects. He took
pleasure‖in‖reading‖biblical‖passages‖and,‖Edwards‖says,‖‘was‖wise‖beyond his
years’.‖He‖was‖sometimes‖recruited,‖as‖the‖best‖reader‖in‖the‖neighbourhood,‖to‖
read from the Montrose Review to its group of subscribers in the small community.
In 1834, when he aged about 13, his father moving to Carnoustie, and he was
called home to learn handloom weaving. The following year he encountered the
poems of Burns, and began studying ‘Walker’s Dictionary’‖(i.e.‖John‖Walker,‖
Walkers’ Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language,
Abridged by the Revd. Thomas Smith, for the use of Schools, 1834). His interest in
poetry and music began in 1840 when he met another key mentor, James Robbie
(later Professor in the Theological Hall of the Scottish Congregational Union,
Edinburgh), and began to study French, Logic, Mathematics, Grammar and other
subjects, tutored by a J. Proctor, M.A., of Barry, Carnoustie. When handloom
weaving declined he became a village wholesaler. Scott was a mainstay of the
Young‖Men’s‖Mutual‖Improvement‖Society,‖mentoring‖others‖as‖he‖had‖been‖
mentored. Edwards declares of his unusually long and detailed introduction to
Scott (evidently based on interviews with the poet) that‖‘The‖subject‖of‖this‖sketch‖
has a life-story which, if not romantic, is at least unusually interesting as giving us
a glimpse of old times, and as showing how mind will assert itself and rise above
the difficulty of its surroundings.’ He says less about the poems, and nothing
about‖their‖publication,‖but‖prints‖three‖of‖them,‖‘The‖Sleep‖of‖the‖Heavy‖Brigade’,‖
described as a parody,‖‘composed‖on‖reading‖a‖statement‖by‖Rev.‖Dr‖Guthrie‖that‖
he‖had‖seen‖600‖people‖sleeping‖at‖one‖time‖in‖the‖church‖at‖Thurso’;‖‘Charade‖on‖
the‖word‖Cowardice’;‖and‖a‖‘Temperance‖Song’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 134-8.
[S] [T]
(?) Scott, Andrew (1757-1839), of Bowden, Roxburghshire, poet and farm labourer,
called‖‘shepherd‖boy’,‖enlisted‖and‖served‖under‖Cornwallis‖in‖the‖American‖War‖
of Independence, first collection published 1805; Poems Chiefly in Scots [the
Scottish] Dialect (Kelso, 1811, Jedbergh, 1821, third edition 1826); published two
other collections in 1821 and 1826. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), I, 344-8; Shanks (1881),
143-6; Douglas (1891), 76-9, 294; Johnson (1992), items 804-05; Sutton (1995), 827
(letters); ODNB. [S]
Scott, David (b. 1864), of Cowdenfoot, near Dalkeith, second generation coal-miner. ~
Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 57-9. [S] [M]
(?) Scott, James Kim (1839-83), of Hardgate, Urr, Kirkcudbrightshire, of limited
education, tailor, musician, published Galloway Gleanings: Poems and Songs (Castle-
Douglas and Edinburgh, 1881). ~ Ref: Harper (1889), 245; Reilly (1994), 425;
Edwards, 4 (1882), 43-8 and 9, xxv. [S]
(?) Scott, Mary, later Taylor (1752?-1793), of Milborne Port, Somerset, daughter of a
linen-merchant; her husband (or her son, according to ODNB) John Edward
Taylor, went on to found the (Manchester) Guardian newspaper in 1821. She
published The Female Advocate (1774, reprinted Los Angeles: Augustan Reprint
Society,‖1984).‖She‖is‖possibly‖the‖Mrs‖Scott‖who‖published‖‘Dunotter‖Castle’‖and‖
‘Verses,‖on‖a‖Day‖of‖Prayer,‖for‖Success‖in‖War’‖in‖Poems by the most Eminent Ladies
(1780?); The Messiah, a verse epic (reviewed in the Monthly Review, 79, 1788, 277). ~
Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 320-2; Fullard (1990), 566-7; Ferguson (1995), 27-44; ODNB.
[F] [C18]
Scott, Robert (b. 1730), of Fife, apprentice cabinet maker and joiner, published Life of
Robert Scott, Journeyman Wright. In Verse, Written by Himself. With Observations
Moral and Religious (Dundee, 1801). ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), 274 (no. 613). [S]
Scown, George (fl. 1836-76), of Exeter, grocer, draper, hopster, journeyman painter,
published Such is life!: or, the experiences of a West Country painter...containing many
interesting events and incidents connected with his own history, in Exeter, London,
Windsor, and Oxford, from 1836 to 1876 (Oxford, 1876). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 409.
Scully, James (b. c. 1865), of Skibbereen, County Cork, stonecutter, moved to
America at the age if twelve; published Songs of the People (Concord, New
Hampshire, 1893). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 417. [I] [US]
Seath, William (fl. 1869), of Kingskettle, Fife, weaver, published Poems, songs, and
miscellaneous pieces, descriptive and humorous (Cupar-Fife, 1869), Rhymes and lyrics:
humorous, serious, descriptive and satirical (St. Helens, 1897). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 426;
Reilly (2000), 409. [S] [T]
Segrave, Michael (c. 1823-75), of Drogheda, moved to England around 1840 and kept
a small shop in Wigan. A Chartist, he contributed a few poems to the Irishman and
the Irish People,‖and‖is‖represented‖in‖both‖of‖Ralph‖Varian’s‖anthologies,‖Street-
Ballads, Popular Songs (Dublin, 1865), and The Harp of Erin (Dublin, 1869). ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 418. [I] [C]
Sellars,‖David‖R.‖(b.‖1854),‖‘Smalltingle’,‖of‖Dundee,‖shoemaker,‖trade‖unionist,‖
published poems in People’s Friend and elsewhere. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 153-
62. [S] [SM]
Semple,‖Robert‖(b.‖1841),‖of‖Paisley,‖pattern‖designer,‖author‖of‖‘A‖Sober‖Saturday‖
Night’. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 360-64; Leonard (1990), 332-3. [S] [T]
Senior, Joseph (1819-92) Sheffield cutler and blade-forger, published Smithy Rhymes
and Stithy Chimes; or, ‘The Short and Simple Annals of the Poor, spelt by the unletter’d
muse’, of your humble bard, Joseph Senior (Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1882); Additional
Poems to Smithy Rhymes and Stithy Chimes, which have been conceived during the
author’s semi and total blindness (Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1884), copies in Bodleian.
Senior’s‖great-granddaughter Carole became a poet and an illustrator—her work
 was included in a recent anthology of verse translated into Icelandic. ~ Ref: Reilly
(1994), 427; England (1983), 41; inf. Bob Heyes, Yann Lovelock.
Service, David (1776?-1828?), ‘The‖Caledonian‖Herd‖Boy’,‖shoemaker,‖of‖Beccles,‖
Suffolk, later of Yarmouth; published An Elegy on the death of Mr. Swanton, painter,
in Greater Yarmouth (Yarmouth, 1802); The Caledonian Herd Boy (Yarmouth, 1802);
The Wild Harp’s Murmurs (Yarmouth, 1800); St. Crispin, or the Apprentice Boy
(Yarmouth, 1804); A Voyage and Travels in the Region of the Brain (Yarmouth, 1808);
A Tour in Pursuit of idea s, A Picturesque View of all the Yarmouth Public Houses, A
Poem (Yarmouth, 1822); and A Brief Sketch of the Different Professions, Trades, etc. in
the Parish of Gorleston with Southtown (Yarmouth, 1828). ~ Ref: Winks (1883), 313,
314; Johnson (1992), item 809; Cranbrook (2001), 253; Keegan (2001), 206. [S] [SM]
(?) Sewell, Robert (fl. 1834), of Halsted, Essex, published An Essay in Rhyme, in two
parts (Halsted:‖M.‖King,‖1834),‖contains‖‘To‖Burns’‖(Robert‖Burns,‖qv)‖and‖‘To‖the‖
memory‖of‖Bloomfield’‖(Robert Bloomfield, qv), and a list of subscribers (Johnson
(1992), item 813). ~ Ref: Johnson 46 (2003), no. 326; text via Google Books. [S]
Shalvey, Thomas (fl. c. 1872), of Dublin, market gardener, wrote ballads for the
popular Dublin singer James Kearney. His ballads and songs include the very
popular‖‘King‖O’‖Toole‖and‖his‖Goose’.‖He‖is‖included‖in‖D.‖J.‖O’Donoghue,‖The
Humour of Ireland (1894). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 419. [I]
Shand, Alexander (b. 1845), of Drumblade, Aberdeenshire, cattle tending aged nine,
soldier, book canvasser, published Poems and songs, composed at home, Gibraltar and
Canada (Montreal, 1869), The white cockade: poems and songs composed at home and
abroad, third enlarged edition (Glasgow, 1873). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 339-41;
Reilly (2000), 413. [S]
Shanks, George Fergusson Smellie (b. 1862), of Whitburn, later patternmaker of
Glasgow, published poems in the West Lothian Courier, Weekly Mail and other
newspapers,‖wrote‖the‖operettas‖‘A‖Name‖at‖Last’‖and‖‘The‖Wizard‖of‖the‖North’.
~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 291-95. [S] [T]
Shanks, Henry (b. 1829),‖‘The‖Blind‖Poet‖of‖the‖Deans’,‖farmer’s‖son,‖drysalter;‖
eyesight failed c. 1862; published Poems (Airdrie, 1872); The Peasant Poets Of
Scotland And Musing Under The Beeches (Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1881), which
combines a collection of his poem with a historical study of the tradition in which
he saw himself. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 372-82; Bisset (1896), 161-76; Reilly
(2000), 413; NTU. [S]
Sharp, James (fl. 1837-1870s), of Paisley, silk mercer, shawl manufacture, published
The Captive King and Other Poems (1887). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 27-33. [S] [T]
Shaw, Cuthbert (1738-71), born at Ravensworth, near Richmond, Yorkshire,
shoemaker’s‖son,‖school‖usher,‖unsuccessful‖actor. He published Liberty (1756;
attacked in the Monthly Review, 14 [1756], 575-6); Odes on the Four Seasons (Bury St.
Edmunds,‖1760,‖under‖pseudonym‖‘W.‖Seymour’); the satirical poems The Four
 Farthing-Candles (1762), and The Race (1765),‖under‖pseudonyms‖‘Mercurius‖Spur’‖
and‖‘Faustinus‖Scriblerus’; and his best-known poem, A Monody to the Memory of a
Young Lady Who Died in Childbed (1768, 1769, and 1770), the last edition of which
includes An Evening Address to a Nightingale, an elegiac poem on his three-year old
daughter, whose birth caused the death of his wife. The Race makes reference to
Samuel Derrick (qv). ~ Ref: Newsam (1845), 72-4; Grainge (1868), I, 248-50; Sutton
(1995), 853; Cranbrook (2001), 228; LC 2, 235-50; ODNB. [LC2] [C18]
Shaw, James (b. 1826), pattern-designer, printer, schoolmaster at Tynron,
Dumfriesshire; published A Country Schoolmaster (1899), full text via Google
books;‖a‖kind‖of‖‘literary‖remains’‖with‖a‖long biographical sketch, and selections
from his poetry among his other writings. ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 212-14. [S]
Shaw, John (fl. 1824-5), of Walton, Liverpool, ploughboy, sailor, actor, published
Woolton Green: A Domestic Tale, with Other Miscellaneous Poems (By John Shaw, of
Throstle Nest, Walton, near Liverpool), Late of the Theatre Royal, York, Hull, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, &c. Dedicated (Without Permission) to the Rt. Hon. George Canning
(Liverpool: Printed by Perry & Metcalfe, Lord Street and sold by the Booksellers,
and Robins & Son, London, 1825), text via Google books; Don Juan Canto XVII
(Liverpool, 1824); Don Juan, Canto XVIII (Liverpool, 1825). The elaborate title page
and dedication of his first book gives most of the information we have about
Shaw.‖The‖dedication‖that‖follows‖emphasises‖that‖it‖is‖a‖Liverpool‖production,‖‘(a‖
town‖very‖backward‖in‖its‖literary‖attainments)’—apart from the achievements of
‘Dr.‖Curry’‖(i.e. Dr James Currie, 1756-1805) and‖‘the‖revered‖Roscoe’‖(William‖
Roscoe, qv). His Preface then tells how, after struggling as a farmer,‖‘Chance,‖or‖
Fortune,‖threw‖me‖into‖the‖School‖of‖Thespis’‖(i.e.‖the‖stage),‖and‖how‖‘my‖wild‖
notes that recommended me to the sweet Lady of the‖Woods’—a variant of
Milton’s‖‘wood‖notes‖wild’‖in‖his‖sonnet‖on‖Shakespeare‖and‖a‖phrase‖often‖
applied to labouring-class poets—found an appreciative audience on the stage. Of
his‖title‖poem,‖‘Woolton‖Green’,‖he‖declares‖that‖‘it‖cost‖me‖more‖tears‖than‖any
Author I ever read, except Bloomfield [Robert Bloomfield, qv], and that divine
poet has, with skilful hand, touched the master-chords of the human heart!
Whoever reads that Child of Nature, without being affected, may have other
amiable qualities to recommend him in society, but I envy no one of his
acquaintance’.‖‘Woolton‖Green’‖owes‖much‖to‖Robert Bloomfield and especially to
his poem ‘Richard‖and‖Kate’,‖which‖it‖echoes.‖Shaw’s poems are suffused with
local references and topics (discussed in LC4). ~ Ref: Wendy Hinde, George
Canning (New‖York:‖St.‖Martin’s,‖1973);‖John‖Belchem,‖‘Orator’ Hunt: Henry Hunt
and English Working-Class Radicalism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985); Johnson
(1992), 816-18; Michael Scrivener, Poetry and Reform: Periodical Verse from the
English Democratic Press, 1792‐1824 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992);
John‖Strachan,‖‘Poetry‖of‖the‖Anti-Jacobin’,‖A Companion to Romanticism, ed.
 Duncan Wu (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), pp. 191‐8;‖Tim‖Burke,‖‘‚Humanity‖is‖Now‖
the‖Pop’lar‖Cry‛:‖Labouring-Class Poets and the Liverpool Slave Trade, 1787‐
1789’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 42 (2001), 245‐63; LC 4, 215-
34. [LC4]
(?) Shaw, John (b. 1828), of Paisley, of a limited education, self-improved through
night classes, won local offices of responsibility, becoming in 1861 Inspector of
Poor and Collector of Rates; father of the poet Mary Anne Shaw (fl. 1889-90, not
separately included here). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 293-7; Bold (1997), 254. [S]
(?) Shaw, Thomas (fl. 1824), apiarist (beekeeper:‖he‖terms‖himself‖‘apiarian’‖on‖his‖
title page) of Saddleworth, published Recent Poems, on Rural and Other
Miscellaneous Subjects (Huddersfield: printed for the author, 1824). ~ Ref: Johnson
(1992), item 822; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 328 (with illustration of title page) ; inf.
Bob Heyes.
(?) Sheerin, Eugene (b. c. 1863), of Kilskeery, near Trillick, County Tyrone, lost the
use of his limbs around the age of six, and remained an invalid. Sheerin began
working in the Belleek Pottery Works, County Fermanagh, in 1878, and attended
the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, in 1884-6.‖By‖‘extraordinary‖persistence,‖
his great natural‖difficulties‖were‖overcome’,‖and‖he‖became‖a‖lead‖artist‖of‖
Belleek,‖painting‖landscapes‖on‖porcelain‖‘with‖much‖skill‖and‖taste’.‖His‖poems‖
sometimes appeared in the papers, and there is one in Emerald Gems (Dublin,
1885). He published a collection, Shamrock Wreaths (Dundalk, 1885). ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 423. [I]
(?) Sheil, Richard (c. 1800-1860), of Drogheda, a local printer (who may also have
been‖a‖weaver)‖who‖wrote‖street‖ballads,‖including‖‘Bellewstown‖Hill’‖and‖‘The‖
Repeal‖Meeting‖at‖Tara’. He published Sheil’s Love Songs, volume I. (Drogheda:
The Argus Office, 1834). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 423. [I]
Shelley, William (1815-95), of illegitimate birth in Marylebone, London, worked in
pits, quarries and fields from the age of fourteen, herring fisherman and
agricultural labourer in Scotland; became a policeman in Aberdeen; published
Aston Brook; also, a poem entitled, Are any bodies found? relating to the ferry-boat
disaster on the River Dee (Aberdeen, ?1863); Flowers by the Wayside (Aberdeen and
Edinburgh, 1868). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 139-43; 9, 350 and 16, [lix], who gives a
death date of 1885; Reilly (2000), 414. [S]
Shepheard, James (d. 1718), London coach-painter’s‖apprentice,‖condemned
prisoner, a Jacobite sympathiser who was executed for writing a letter in which he
threatened to assassinate George II; published An Hymn to the Holy and Undivided
Trinity, written by James Shepheard during his Imprisonment in Newgate. Printed from
the Copy which he wrote in a Book given to his Mother two hours before his execution
(1718). See also the broadsheet publication, The Dying Speech of James Shepheard,
Who Suffer’d Death at Tyburn, March the 17th 1717/18. Delivered by him to the Sheriff,
 at the Place of Execution ([London, 1718], Dobell 1644, BL 1851.c.19(29); Foxon
(1975) S397; BL C.116.i.4(70); BL 10350.g.12(16)). ~ Ref: Dobell (1933); ESTC; online
sources. [C18]
Shepherd, William (fl. 1830-2), of Larne, working-class writer, published Christian
Warfare, An Epic Poem (1830) which runs to 1,800 lines of heroic couplets;
Temperance and Independence (1832). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I]
(?) Shield, John, of Newcastle upon Tyne, owner of a wholesale and grocery
business,‖author‖of‖comic‖songs‖such‖as‖‘Bob‖Cranky’s‖Adieu’,‖and ‘Blackett’s‖
Field’. ~ Ref: Colls (1977), p. 37; Bell, 12, 23, 29, 31, 33-4, 66, 73, 312.
Shiells, Sheils or Shields,‖Robert‖(d.‖1753),‖of‖Roxburghshire,‖of‖‘humble‖origins’,‖had‖
little‖education‖but‖an‖‘acute‖understanding’‖(Johnson,‖Lives of the Poets, cited in
ODNB), journeyman printer, poet and editor. Contributed to Johnson's Dictionary
(1748). He published Marriage (1747); Beauty (‘printed‖in‖1766‖together‖with‖James‖
Grainger’s‖The Sugar Cane and‖wrongly‖ascribed‖to‖that‖author’,‖ODNB);
Musidorus (on the death of the poet James Thomson, 1748). ~ Ref: ODNB;
Radcliffe. [S] [C18]
(?) Shirer, Annie (fl. c. 1900), of Kininmonth, Lonmay, Aberdeenshire, dressmaker,
supplied the lyrics of 260 folk songs to the collector Andrew Greig; these may be
found in the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection. She was not a singer, and it seems
probable that she contributed to, adapted or even wrote some of these songs. ~
Ref: Kerrigan (1991), 146-7, 358-9; online open sources. [S]
Shorrock, James (b. 1841), of Craven, West Riding, had a dame school education,
worked as a shepherd, stable-boy, sawpit worker, joiner and cabinet maker; a
temperance poet. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 246-53.
(?) Short, Bernard (1803-42), Irish poet, published Rural and Juvenile Poems (1821); The
Rude Rhymes (1824) and two later volumes in 1829 and 1840; his first book had 330
subscribers and the second an impressive 1,152. He drowned while bathing, being
‘hardly‖under‖self-control‖at‖the‖time’. ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974); inf. Bridget Keegan. [I]
(?) Shorter, Thomas (1823-99), ‘Thomas‖Brevoir’,‖errand boy, watch-case finisher,
journalist, secretary of the Society‖for‖Promoting‖Working‖Men’s‖Association‖and‖
of‖the‖Working‖Men’s‖College. He published Echoes from bygone days: or, love lyrics
and character sonnets (London, 1889); Later autumn leaves: thoughts in verse, with
sketches of character chiefly from our village and neighbourhood (London, 1896); Lyrics
for heart and voice: a contribution to the hymnal of the future (London, 1883); Spring
flowers and autumn leaves (London, 1893). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 433.
Sievwright, Colin (1819-95), of Brechin, Angus, son of handloom weaver, working
72-hour week for the East Mill Company at the age of eight (Reilly), published
poetry in the Weekly News, and a volume, A Garland for the Ancient City: or, love
songs for Brechin and its neighbourhood (with historical notes), second edition
 (Brechin, 1899). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 88-91; Reilly (1994), 434; inf. Kirstie
Blair); NTU. [S] [T]
Sievwright, William (b. 1823), of Brechin, received minimal education, began work at
the age of eleven, became a mission worker, wrote articles on political and social
issues; published poems in the newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 187-9. [S]
Sillar, David (fl. 1789), friend of Robert Burns (qv), published Poems (Kilmarnock:
Printed for John Wilson, 1789), which includes‖the‖poem‖‘To‖the‖Author’ signed
R[obert] B[urns]. ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 822; Croft & Beattie, III, 68; LC 3, 171-
8; ODNB [mentioned in the Janet Little entry, spelled as‖‘Siller’+. [S] [LC3] [C18]
Sim, William (fl. 1885), weaver, of Tillicoutry, ‘but‖for‖many‖years‖resident‖in‖
Sauchie’.‖Beveridge‖prints‖three‖poems,‖‘We‖Fight‖for‖Our‖Bread‖in‖the‖Battle‖of‖
Life’‖subtitled‖‘A‖Song‖for‖the‖People’,‖‘The‖Dull‖Time‖Comin’,‖a‖Sang’,‖in‖which‖
the poet identifies himself as a weaver, and ‘Epistle‖to‖David Taylor’‖(qv,‖1817-
1876). ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885), 136-9. [S] [T]
Simpson, George Muir (b. 1844), of Edinburgh, bookbinder, published Shakespeare,
Rab, and other Poems (1882). ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 329-34. [S]
Simson, James (b. 1858), of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, herd laddie, read books to the
‘untutored‖farm‖servants,‖who‖listened‖with‖the‖greatest‖attention,‖while‖the‖
mistress of the house threatened to burn every book if he continued to read them’;‖
later a reporter; wrote‖historical‖romances‖and‖‘many poetical‖pieces’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 4 (1882), 64-9. [S]
Sinclair,‖Elizabeth‖M.,‖of‖New‖Lanark,‖‘a‖millworker‖poetess‖of‖Ettrick‖Braes’,‖
educated in the school founded by Owen, and was able to read books in her
father’s‖library.‖During‖her‖teens‖she‖assisted local women in housework, but
though‖‘qualified‖for‖a‖pupil‖teachership’,‖nevertheless‖‘owing‖to‖one‖of‖the‖
Government‖regulations’‖she‖was‖unable‖to‖be‖employed‖as‖a‖teacher.‖She‖moved‖
to Selkirk, where she was employed in a Tweed manufactory. Her verses include
a poem on a dying soldier, and another on the pleasures of lovely weather. She
seems to be an instance of someone who tried to leave factory work but was
unable to do so. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 84-8; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
Sinclair, Walter (b. 1803), of Kirkcaldy, baker, sailor, farmer, emigrated to Australia
in 1839. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 306-8. [A] [S]
Singer, John (b. 1861), of Woodside, Aberdeen, spinner. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889),
116-21. [S] [T]
Singleton, John (fl. 1752-77),‖according‖to‖Basker‖‘a‖strolling‖player‖of‖whom‖few‖
traces‖survive’;‖travelled‖to‖America and‖was‖‘a‖member‖of‖the‖first‖theatrical
company in North America, arriving in Yorktown in 1752 and opening in The
Merchant of Venice a few months later in Williamsburg’ (Croft & Beattie). He
wrote a long descriptive poem, included in his General Description of the West
Indian Islands... (Barbados 1767), and separately published as A Description of the
 West-Indies. A Poem, in four books. By Mr. Singleton. During his Excursions among
those Islands (London: T. Beckett, 1776), a poem inspired‖by‖James‖Grainger’s‖
Caribbean georgic poem The Sugar Cane (1764). The‖contents‖of‖the‖poem‖‘are‖very‖
various‖and‖include‖remarks‖on‖climate,‖vegetation...‖‚The‖Indian‖barbeque‛,‖the‖
slave‖trade,‖physical‖geography,‖pirates‖and‖burial‖customs’‖(Croft‖&‖Beattie).‖
Gilmore‖describes‖Singleton‖as‖a‖‘member‖of‖an‖English‖troupe‖of‖actors‖touring‖
the‖*Caribbean+‖region’. ~ Ref: John Gilmore, The Poetics of Empire: A Study of James
Grainger’s The Sugar Cane (1764) (London: The Athlone Press, 2000) 46; Basker
(2002), 166-9; Croft & Beattie, III, 69. [C18]
Skerrett, F.W. (fl. 1920),‖‘our‖locomotive‖poet’;‖published Rhymes of the Rail (Leeds,
1920). ~ Ref: inf. John Lucas. [R] [OP]
Skimming, Robert (1812-82), of Paisley, weaver, published Lays of Leisure Hours
(Paisley: J. Bowie, 1841), and another volume in 1851. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I,
476-80; C. R. Johnson. cat. 49 (2006), item 50. [S] [T]
Skipsey, Joseph (1832-1903),‖‘The‖Pitman‖Poet,’‖of‖North‖Shields,‖mineworker‖of‖
Percy Main Colliery. ~ Skipsey was born in Percy Main, Northumberland—the
eighth child of Cuthbert and Isabella Skipsey. His father was killed by a special
constable’s‖bullet‖while‖defending‖a‖pitman‖during‖an‖acrimonious‖strike‖the‖
same year. This event left the family destitute, and at seven years old Joseph was
sent to the colliery as a trapper boy. ~ Skipsey learnt how to read and tackle basic
arithmetical‖questions‖during‖Sundays‖and‖holidays,‖mostly‖in‖his‖mother’s‖
garret, and he taught himself how to write by candlelight with his finger in the
dust or a piece of chalk on a trap-door linked to the ventilation of the mine,
replicating the print on discarded playbills. During his youth, he earnestly
endeavoured‖to‖learn‖the‖Bible‖‘by‖heart’,‖and‖studied‖the‖works‖of‖major‖poets‖
such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Robert Burns (qv), as well as reading Greek
drama‖in‖translation,‖Goethe’s‖Faust,‖and‖Heine’s‖poetry.‖~‖He spent several years
striving to find a route out of the mines. He experienced periods of employment
on the expanding railway network in London—where he met his future wife Sara
Ann Hendley; they married on December 12th 1868—Scotland,‖and‖Sunderland’s‖
Pembroke‖Pit,‖and‖finally‖to‖Northumberland’s‖Choppington‖Colliery.‖~‖Skipsey‖
printed a volume of lyrics in 1858, with a dedicated to his friend William Reay
(qv), which although no longer known to be extant, caught the attention of
various prominent individuals in the North of England to such an extent a second
edition was called for and produced in 1859. Indeed, James Clephan (qv), the
editor of the Gateshead Observer found Skipsey the position of sub-store keeper at
the Hawks, Crawshaw and Co. Iron Works in Gateshead, where he remained
until 1863. His son William had been killed in an accident on a railway line in
1861. Robert Spence Watson commended him to be sub-librarian to the Literary
and Philosophical Society in Newcastle, but this was not an altogether satisfactory
stint due to the lower comparative salary and Skipsey’s‖insatiable‖appetite‖for‖
reading.‖As‖Spence‖Watson‖writes,‖Skipsey‖‘would‖become‖absorbed‖in some
passage of a well-know author, and he would scarcely recognise the eager and
impatient‖member‖who‖wished‖for‖his‖services‖forthwith’.‖Thus,‖Skipsey‖relocated‖
to pits at Newsham, Cowpen, Ashington, and ultimately Backworth Colliery—
throughout this time he managed to balance hewing coal with writing poetry,
before finally leaving mining for good in 1882. ~ In 1883, it appears that Skipsey
may‖have‖delivered‖a‖lecture‖on‖‘The‖Poet‖as‖Seer‖and‖Singer’‖to‖the‖Literary‖and‖
Philosophical Society. There were several further books, including Carols from the
Coalfields (1886).‖It‖is‖worthwhile‖noting‖that,‖as‖Maidment‖(2002)‖points‖out,‖‘the‖
1830s and 1840s saw the extension of eighteenth century deferential modes of
publication out from the aristocracy into the middle class entrepreneurs of artisan
progress. Often this resulted in quite close personal relationships between obscure
authors‖and‖their‖famous‖sponsors’.‖In‖Skipsey’s‖case,‖he became the obscure
author‖to‖Dante‖Gabriel‖Rossetti’s‖famous‖supporter‖if‖not quite a sponsor.
Rossetti was introduced to Skipsey by Thomas Dixon (1831-80), the Sunderland
cork-cutter to whom Ruskin wrote the letters published as Time and Tide by Weare
and Tyne (1867), an important working-class figure in his own right (though not,
apparently a poet) who‖represented‖Ruskin’s ideal of a cultured working man.
The artist expressed considerable enthusiasm for Skipsey as a man, meeting him
in‖London,‖and‖finding‖him‖to‖be‖‘a‖stalwart‖son‖of‖toil,‖and‖every‖inch‖a‖
gentlemen’.‖Rossetti’s‖enthusiasm‖was‖not‖restricted‖to‖admiration‖of‖his‖person‖
and upon reading his A Book of Miscellaneous Lyrics (1878) remarked that Skipsey
‘recited‖some‖beautiful‖things‖of‖his‖own‖with‖a‖special‖freshness‖to‖which‖one‖is‖
quite‖unaccustomed’.‖Rossetti‖(1878)‖deemed‖the‖poem‖‘Get‖Up’‖as‖‘equal‖to‖
anything‖in‖the‖language‖for‖direct‖and‖quiet‖pathetic‖force’.‖Like‖much‖of‖his‖
work‖the‖poem‖arises‖from‖direct‖observation‖of‖the‖miner’s‖everyday‖life:‖‘‚Get‖
up!‛‖the‖caller‖calls,‖‚Get‖up!‛‖/‖And‖in‖the dead of night, / To win the bairns their
bite‖and‖sup,‖/‖I‖rise‖a‖weary‖wight.‖/‖My‖flannel‖dudden‖donn’d,‖thrice‖o’er‖/‖My‖
birds‖are‖kiss’d,‖and‖then‖/‖I‖with‖a‖whistle‖shut‖the‖door‖/‖I‖may‖not‖ope‖again.’‖~‖
With‖regard‖to‖other‖opinions‖of‖Skipsey’s‖poetry, Oscar Wilde in the Pall Mall
Gazette (Feb‖1,‖1887)‖highlighted‖‘an‖intellectual‖as‖well‖as‖metrical‖affinity‖with‖
Blake’‖adding‖that‖he‖‘possesses‖something‖of‖Blake’s‖marvelous‖power‖of‖making‖
simple things seem strange to us, and strange things seem‖simple’.‖Wilde‖also‖
stressed‖that‖Skipsey‖‘never‖makes‖his‖form‖formal‖by‖over-polishing’‖and‖
concluded‖that‖he‖‘can‖find‖music‖for‖every‖mood,‖whether‖he‖is‖dealing‖with‖the‖
real experiences of the pitman, or with the imaginative experiences of the poet’.‖
Many decades later, Basil Bunting (1976, 13, cited Bigliazzi 2006, 65) lays more
stress‖on‖the‖‘faults‖of‖technique,‖of‖vocabulary,‖and‖of‖syntax<‖added‖to‖the‖
difficulty‖of‖reading‖a‖dialect‖written‖in‖the‖spelling‖of‖the‖capital’,‖but‖
 nevertheless also‖affirms‖that‖the‖poetry‖sometimes‖has‖the‖‘power‖to‖please‖and‖
move’‖to‖the‖extent‖Rossetti‖describes.‖~‖Skipsey‖was‖conferred‖with‖a‖civil‖list‖
pension in 1880 in recognition of his literary output, which also included putting
together popular editions of Shelley, Blake, Coleridge, Poe, and Burns for Walter
Scott’s‖Canterbury‖Poets‖series. Many members of the literary establishment, such
as Tennyson and Bram Stoker, lobbied to have Skipsey appointed as curator of the
Shakespeare Birthplace Museum in Stratford. However, the fraudulent relics he
was duty-bound‖to‖present‖became‖in‖his‖own‖words‖‘a‖stench‖in‖his‖nostrils’.‖He‖
and his wife left the position after two years in 1891 and returned to the north-
east. (This episode formed the basis for Henry James’s‖short‖story‖‘The‖
Birthplace’)‖~‖Skipsey‖died‖at‖Gateshead‖on‖3rd September 1903, and was buried
in the cemetery there. ~ Published Lyrics (first edition Durham: George Procter,
1858; second edition, Newcastle upon Tyne: Thomas Pigg & Co., 1859); Poems,
Songs and Ballads (London and Newcastle upon Tyne: Hamilton & Co., 1862); The
Collier Lad, and Other Lyrics (Newcastle upon Tyne: J. G. Forster, 1864); Poems
(Blyth: William Alder, 1871), A Book of Miscellaneous Lyrics (Bedlington: George
Richardson, 1878); A Book of Lyrics, Songs, Ballads, and Chants (London: David
Bogue, 1881); Carols from the Coalfields, and other songs and ballads (London: Walter
Scott, 1886, new edition 1888); Songs and Lyrics, Collected Revised (London: Walter
Scott, 1892); Selected Poems, ed. Basil Bunting (Sunderland: Ceolfrith Press, 1976);
Selected Poems, ed. R. K. R. Thornton, Chris Harrison and William Daniel
McCumiskey (Newcastle upon Tyne: Rectory Press, 2014).‖Skipsey’s‖great-great-
grandson and co-editor Chris Harrison has released two CDs of his settings of
Skipsey’s‖poems,‖Carols from the Coalfields (GMFA, 2014, 2015). ~ Ref: Andrews
(1888-9), I, 61-5; Miles (1891), V, 515; Robert Spence Watson, Joseph Skipsey, His Life
and Work (1909); NCBEL III (1969), 648; Vicinus (1974), 141, 143, 155-8, 167, 169-71,
197-8; Lloyd (1978), 170, 350-1 note; Maidment (1983), 79; Klaus (1985), 75-6;
Maidment (1987), 93-4, 204-5; Ricks (1987), 526; Reilly (1994), 436; Myers (1995),
75-6; Bradshaw & Ozment (2000), 583-6; Reilly (2000), 421-2; Boos (2002a), 219;
Goodridge (2005); Bell (2006); Bridget‖Keegan‖and‖John‖Goodridge,‖‘Modes‖and‖
Methods in Three Nineteenth-Century‖Mineworker‖Poets’,‖Philological Quarterly,
92: 2 (2013), 225-50;‖Gordon‖Tait,‖‘Joseph‖Skipsey,‖the‖‚Peasant‖Poet‛,‖and‖an‖
Unpublished‖Letter‖from‖W.‖B.‖Yeats’,‖Literature and History, 25, no. 2 (2016), 134-
49; LC 6, 211-40; ODNB. [M] [R] [LC6] [—Iain Rowley]
(?) Skirving, Adam (bap. 1719, d. 1803),‖‘Johnnie‖Cope’,‖of‖Garleton,‖Haddingtonshire‖
farmer, older contemporary of Robert Burns (qv), wrote two much-anthologised
Jacobite‖songs:‖‘Tranent‖Muir’‖and‖‘Johnny‖Cope’‖(the latter published in Burns
and Johnson's Scots Musical Museum [vol. 3, 1790]). ~ Ref: Shanks (1881), 115;
Edwards, 12 (1889), 276; ODNB. [S] [C18]
Skirving, Peter (1829-69), of Edinburgh, a descendant of Adam Skirving (qv), draper
and outfitter, emigrated to Australia. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 276-80. [A] [S]
Sleigh, John, tailor‖of‖Linlithgow,‖ascribed‖author‖of‖a‖poem‖on‖Carriber‖or‖Rab‖Gib’s‖
Glen, published in the West Lothian Courier, and contributor of poems to the
Dundee Weekly News. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 351-2. [S]
Sloan, Edward L. (fl. 1854), of Conlig, weaver bard and freemason, published The
Bard’s Offering: A Collection of Miscellaneous Poems (1854). ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I]
[T]
Slow, Edward (1841-1925), of Wilton, Wiltshire, carriage builder, Wiltshire dialect
poet of common and rural life, later Mayor of Wilton. His mother was a silk
weaver; his father died when he was eleven. His publications include Poems in the
Wiltshire dialect (1877) and Humourous West Countrie Tales (1899). ~ Ref: Wikipedia
and online open sources; not in ODNB.
(?) Smart, Alexander (1798-1866),‖shoemaker’s‖son,‖of‖Montrose,‖Angus,‖apprentice‖
watchmaker, became compositor in Edinburgh, wrote prose sketches and verse,
published Songs of Labour and Domestic Life; with, Rhymes for Little Readers
(Edinburgh‖and‖London,‖1860),‖contributor‖to‖‘Whistlebinkie’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11
(1888), 72-83; Reilly (2000), 423. [S]
Smart, Thomas Raynor (c. 1772-1847), Chartist poet, born near Loughborough of
working‖class‖parents.‖When‖Smart’s‖father‖died,‖his‖mother could not afford to
keep him on at school, so he became a carpenter. Having learnt to read, he then
managed to teach himself Latin, French, Italian and Spanish. He also
demonstrated a talent for verse and contributed to several periodicals. These gifts
and attainments brought him to the notice of the Marquis of Hastings who found
him an appointment as a supervisor of excise which lasted for 17 years. However,
he lost his job as a result of his radicalism and thereafter eked out a precarious
living as a schoolmaster and by making machinery and architectural drawings.
For a time he lived in Loughborough where he was the Chartist leader
Skevington’s‖chief‖assistant.‖He‖then‖moved‖to‖Leicester,‖where‖he‖became‖a‖
supporter of Thomas Cooper. One poem of his was published in the local Chartist
press. ~ Ref: Newitt (2006), 46-51; Newitt (2008), 4. [C] [—Ned Newitt]
Smith, Alexander (1829-67), son of a Kilmarnock lace-pattern designer, lived in
Paisley and Glasgow. He published A Life Drama (1853); City Poems (Cambridge,
1857; includes biographical‖‘A‖Boy’s‖Poem’); Edwin of Deira (Cambridge, 1861,
1862), Poems (New York, 1879); Poetical Works, ed. W. Sinclair (Edinburgh, 1909). ~
Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 467-76; Murdoch (1883), 227-32; Brown (1889-90), II, 264-69);
Douglas (1891), 313-14; Miles (1891), V, 421; N&Q, 8th ser. XII (1897), 7, 57, 118,
174 & 311; Glasgow Poets (1906), 369-76; M.A. Weinstein, W. E. Aytoun and the
Spasmodic Controversy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968); Leonard (1990),
207-14; Sutton (1995), 877-8; Reilly (2000), 424; ODNB. [S]
(?) Smith, Alexander (fl. 1861), of Zetland Cottage, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, published
Agriculture: A Poem in Sixteen Books (Edinburgh, 1861). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 423. [S]
Smith,‖David‖Mitchell‖(b.‖1848),‖of‖Bullionfield,‖Dundee,‖farm‖labourer’s‖son,‖railway‖
clerk, dyer, published in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 211-14 [S] [R]
Smith, Ebenezer (b. 1835), of High Street, Ayr, third-generation shoemaker,
published Verses (Glasgow, 1874); The Season’s Musings (Ayr, 1888). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 3 (1881), 98-102; Murdoch (1883), 288-90; Reilly (1994), 440; Reilly (2000),
424. [S] [SM]
Smith, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Horne (b. 1876), of Hagghill, Barony Parish, Glasgow, the
youngest of six children of a ploughman who was often forced to change farms,
so received no steady education, though she attended schools in Dumbarton,
Hamilton, and Uddingston; left school and at fifteen began work as a dairymaid;
published Poems of a Dairymaid (Paisley, Edinburgh and London, 1898). Poems
show the influence of Robert Burns (qv), and are varied and skilful for the work of
a twenty-one year old author. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 440; Boos (2008), 157-71,
includes photograph; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Smith, James (fl. 1879), shoemaker, of Aberdeen, published Hame-spun Rhymes
(Aberdeen, 1879), copy in Bodleian. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 425); NTU. [S] [SM]
Smith, James (1813-85),‖‘Vinney’,‖of‖Forfar,‖handloom‖weaver,‖teacher,‖published in
the Dundee papers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 191-3 and 9, xxi. [S] [T]
Smith, James (1824-87), of Edinburgh, son of a coach-lace weaver, printer,
compositor,‖reader,‖librarian‖of‖the‖Mechanics’‖Library,‖well-known Scottish poet
and story-writer, published Poems and songs (Edinburgh, 1864), The merry bridal o’
Forthmains, and other poems and songs (Edinburgh, 1866, second edition also 1866),
Poems, songs and ballads (Edinburgh, 1869). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 260-7 and 12,
xvii-xviii; Murdoch (1883), 44-52; Reilly (2000), 425-6. [S] [T]
Smith, John, of Sheffield (fl.‖1821),‖‘engaged‖in‖some‖of‖the‖Sheffield‖handicrafts’,‖
published‖in‖1821‖‘a‖little‖volume‖of‖comic‖songs’‖like‖Joseph‖Mather’s‖(qv). ~ Ref:
Newsam (1845), 97-8; inf. Yann Lovelock.
Smith, John (b. 1836), of Springbank, Alyth, herder, warehouse worker, wholesale
draper. Blair records that Smith published monthly pamphlets of his poems, sold
at a penny each, in 1888, gathering them together as Poems and Lyrics (Perth:
Miller‖and‖Gall,‖1888).‖She‖includes‖in‖her‖anthology‖his‖poem‖‘King‖Jute’,‖first‖
published in the People’s Journal, 7 April 1878. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 198-205;
Blair (2016), 142-3. [S]
Smith, John G. (fl. 1862), stonemason of Ednam, Roxburghshire, left the district
under church pressure because of his satirical poetry; published The Old
Churchyard; The Twa Mice, and Miscellaneous Poems and Songs (Kelso, 1862). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 426. [S]
Smith, John Kelday (d. 1889), of Newcastle upon Tyne (born in Orkney), bellhanger,
local songwriter. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 491. [S]
Smith, John S. (b. 1849), of Creetown and later Dalbeattie, granite hewer, President of
the Dalbeattie Literary Society, published in the local papers. ~ Ref: Harper (1889),
251. [S]
Smith, Margaret (fl. 1870s?), ‘Daisy’,‖of‖St‖Andrews,‖Orkney,‖farmer’s‖daughter,‖
published in‖magazines‖as‖‘Daisy’;‖poems‖include‖‘Heroism’,‖‘Small‖Evils’,‖‘Lost‖
to‖Sight,‖to‖Memory‖Dear’,‖and‖‘No‖Work’.‖She‖helped‖maintain‖the‖family‖farm,‖
and wrote some good poems on the poor and those who help them, and
temperance poems. This may be the same person as Mrs M. A. Smith, who
published two volumes, Poems and Songs (Wishaw: David Johnson, 1873) and
Poems and Songs (Lanark, 1877). ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890), 33-8; inf. Florence Boos.
[F] [S]
(?) Smith, Mary S. (1822-89), who often used the pseudonym ‘Mary‖Osborn’‖(the‖
surname‖of‖an‖employer’s‖family,‖for‖whom‖she‖worked‖as‖a‖‘mother's‖help’‖
[ODNB+)‖or‖simply‖‘Z’,‖of‖Cropredy,‖Oxfordshire,‖shoemaker’s‖daughter,‖became‖
a schoolmistress in Carlisle, a religious and political activist, and a significant
autobiographer as well as a poet: see especially Boos (2017), 44-6 and 223-58 on
her lifewriting, and indeed on her life. ~ She contributed early poems to
Whitridge’s Miscellany, the People's Journal, Cassell’s Magazine, the Carlisle Examiner,
and the Carlisle Journal. She published Poems, By M.S. (1860); Progress, and Other
Poems, the later including poems on the social affections and poems on life and behaviour,
by M.S. (London and Carlisle, 1873); The Autobiography of Mary Smith,
Schoolmistress and Nonconformist. A Fragment of a Life. With Letters from Jane Welsh
Carlyle and Thomas Carlyle (1892); Miscellaneous Poems (1892). A typescript 30-page
‘Checklist‖of‖Mary‖Smith‖Letters,‖Essays‖and‖Poems’,‖compiled‖by‖Professor‖
Florence S. Boos and librarian Rosalind West, is available at Carlisle Library,
where much Smith material is held. ~ Ref: Vincent (1981), 208; Burnett et al (1984),
287 (no. 638); Reilly (1994), 442; Boos (2002a), 220, 221-4; Boos (2002b), 141-2, 144-5;
Boos (2008), 298-320; Boos (2010); Boos (2017), 223-4, 240-58; Florence S. Boos,
‘Mary‖Smith‖(1822-1889): A Radical Journalist under Many‖Guises’, in Women,
Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1830s-1900s, ed. Alexis Easley, Clare Gill
and Beth Rogers (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming); ODNB.
[F]
Smith, Robert Archibald (1780-1829), of Reading, weaver, soldier, music teacher and
choir conductor, friend of Tannahill (qv), published Anthems (1819), The Scottish
Minstrel (1821-4), six volumes, contains more than 600 poems including his most
famous,‖‘Jessie,‖the‖Flow’r‖o’‖Dunblane’),‖The Irish Minstrel, two volumes (1825),
An Introduction to Singing (1826), Select Melodies (1827). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I,
150-57; ODNB. [S] [T]
(?) Smith, Thomas (d. 1877), of Paisley, letter-press printer, poems in Brown. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), II, 187-88. [S]
Smith, William (fl. 1821-9, d. 1831), ‘The‖Haddington‖Cobbler’,‖of‖Haddington,‖East‖
Lothian, who took a particular interest in his poetry (as his titles readily show) in
denouncing the work of the grave-robbing‖‘resurrection‖men’ prevalent in that
period. He published A Collection of Original Poems (Edinburgh, 1821); Verses
Composed on the Disgraceful Traffic at Present carried on of selling the newly dead
(1829); The Haddington Cobbler Defended; or, The Doctors Dissected. By an East Linton
Gravedigger. Being a reply to the poems published by the Resurrectionist men (1829); The
Haddington Cobbler Dissected ... in answer to his objections against dissecting the dead.
(It is not clear whether British Heroism, 1815, Johnson (1992), item 846, is by the
same William Smith.) Ref: J. G. Wallace-James,‖‘A‖Forgotten‖Haddington‖Poet’,‖
The Haddingtonshire Advertiser, 4 March 1910; Tim Marshall, Murdering to Dissect:
Grave-robbing, Frankenstein and the anatomy literature (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1995); Ruth Richardson, Death, Dissection and the Destitute,
second edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000); LC 4, 187-214. [S]
[SM] [LC4]
Smith, William Brown (1850-87), of Saltcoats, self-taught stationer and teacher, poet,
evangelist, an invalid who died young, published Life Scenes, and Other Poems
(1883). Smith was also a painter, trained a choir connected with the YMCA and at
the time of his death was leader of praise in the Free Church, Saltcoats. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 11 (1888), 92-99; obituary in an unidentified press cutting, July 15th
1887. [S]
Snaddon, Alexander (b. 1842), of Collyland, Clackmannanshire, weaver, letter-
carrier, published poems in Alloa Journal. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 115-20;
Beveridge (1885), 89-92, 133-4. [S] [T]
Snell, Henry James (fl. 1870-1), working man of the stained glass works, Cumberland
Market, London, published Love Lies Bleeding (London, ?1870); Poems: Containing,
The Three Twilights...The Shipwreck, and Minor Poems (London, 1871). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 429.
(?) Somerville, George Watson (b. 1847), of Edinburgh, stationer, printer, lived in
Manchester, survived major illness, lived in Glasgow, Sunderland, Newcastle,
settled in Carlisle. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 170-4. [S]
(?) Somerville, Robert (b. 1831), of Halmyre, Peebleshire, Edinburgh grocer,
bookseller, member of Edinburgh Council and Justice of the Peace. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 4 (1882), 163-4. [S]
Soutar, Alexander M. (b. 1846), of Muirdrum, Panbride, Forfarshire, farmworker,
joiner, soldier, published Hearth Rhymes, with an introductory preface by Revd.
William‖Rose‖(Dundee:‖A.‖A.‖Paul,‖1880):‖‘Mr‖Soutar‖is‖a‖Tradesman,‖and‖his‖time‖
for‖cultivating‖the‖Muse‖has,‖therefore,‖been‖limited’.‖For‖other‖‘hearth’‖rhymes‖
 see Jessie Russell (qv), The Blinkin’ o’ the Fire (1877), and Jean Kyd (qv), Poems of the
Hearth (1869). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 101-04; Reilly (1994), 445; Charles Hart
Catalogue 51, item 252. [S]
Soutar,‖Elizabeth‖(b.‖1768),‖‘The‖Blind‖Poetess’‖of‖Dundee, born at Coupar Angus,
daughter of a shoemaker, received some education. She lived in Dundee from the
age of thirteen, and in 1835 published in Dundee a fifty-page book of poems and a
memoir; rejected charity and maintained herself from sale of rhymes; wrote
simple hymns. ~ Ref: Reid, Bards (1897), 437-8; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Southcott, Joanna (1750-1814),‖farmer’s‖daughter‖of‖Taleford,‖Devon,‖domestic‖
servant in Exeter, self-described religious prophetess. From 1792 she began
dictating prophecies in rhyme, producing sixty books of such prophecies in her
lifetime. Her followers in the Panacea Society (established 1920, a charitable trust
since 2012), continue to fund research. Mary Bloomfield, wife of the poet Robert
Bloomfield (qv) became a follower of Southcott. ~ Ref: J.‖F.‖C.‖Harrison,‖‘The‖
Woman‖Clothed‖with‖the‖Sun’,‖The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism 1780-
1850 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979, reprinted 2012), 86-134; Kevin
Binfield,‖‘Justification‖Strategies‖in‖the‖Writings‖of‖Joanna‖Southcott:‖Teaching‖
Radical Women Poets in Conservative Institution, in Behrendt & Linkin (1997),
165-9; ODNB; inf. Dawn Whatman. [F] [C18]
Spalding, Colin (b. 1826), of Rattray, Perthshire, cook, valet, hotelier. ~ Ref: Edwards,
12 (1889), 94-8. [S]
Spence, Charles (1779-1869), of Kinfauns, Perthshire, mason, published From the
Braes of the Carse: Poems and Songs, ed. James M. Strachan (Perth, 1898). ~ Ref:
Reilly (2000), 431-2. [S]
Spence, Peter (1806-83), of Brechin, Forfarshire, son of a handloom weaver, failed
grocer, successful practical chemist and inventor, lived in Perth, Carlisle and
Manchester, published Poems (written in early life) (London, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards,
13 (1890), 136-46; Reilly (1994), 446; ODNB. [S]
Spence, Thomas (1750-1814), radical writer and bookseller, born in Newcastle upon
Tyne, one of nineteen children of a net-maker and hardware supplier, became a
schoolmaster, later a land plan advocate and London radical. ~ Spence was a
radical‖who‖described‖himself‖as‖‘the‖unfee’d‖Advocate‖of‖the‖disinherited‖seed‖of‖
Adam’. He was born on the Quayside, one of the more impoverished areas of
Newcastle. One of nineteen children, Thomas was denied a formal education and
required to work at the age of ten. However, his father Jeremiah, a net-maker,
encouraged him to read and critique the chapters of the Bible, and with the aid of
Revd. James Murray—a radical Presbyterian to whose breakaway congregation
Thomas belonged—he was able to advance from being a clerk to becoming a
schoolmaster‖by‖1775.‖~‖Undoubtedly‖influenced‖by‖the‖Glassite‖congregation’s‖
belief that in order to realise the millennial society in which all land is held in
common,‖‘men‖must‖act‖in‖concert’‖(Political Works, viii), Spence published The
Grand Repository of the English Language (1775), positing the virtue of a new
phonetic‖alphabet‖for‖extending‖literacy‖in‖the‖‘laborious part of the
people’. Despite the work being met with a frosty reception upon publication,
Spence persisted in propagating his phonetic alphabet throughout his life, and
contemporary philologists consider his efforts decidedly significant. ~ Spence
became a founder member of the Newcastle Philosophical Society in 1775, whose
members included Thomas Bewick as well as James Murray. The catalyst for him
delivering a lecture on The Real Rights of Man was a campaign he and Murray
fought to preserve the Newcastle‖freemen’s‖customary‖rights‖by‖thwarting‖the‖
corporation’s‖enclosure‖of‖the‖Town‖Moor. The reading represented the principal
public occasion on which Spence detailed his land plan; it proposed that the
parish should manage all land—the true source of political power—within its
own boundaries, for the benefit of every inhabitant. Spence was expelled from the
society when he published it without permission and hawked it about the streets
of Newcastle, yet this did not prevent the land plan from remaining the backbone
of his later radical political discourses. While in Newcastle, Spence produced his
first‖recorded‖poem,‖‘The‖Jubilee‖Hymn’,‖around‖1782,‖and‖also‖began‖his‖coin-
stamping venture, countermarking slogans to publicise his material. ~ Following
the‖death‖of‖Murray;‖his‖publisher,‖Thomas‖Saint;‖and‖his‖discharge‖from‖St‖Ann’s‖
School in Sandgate, Spence and his son moved to London, where by 1792 he
surfaced as a radical bookseller and author. His vision of a welfare state was
developed over many pamphlets, including The End of Oppression (1795);
Description of Spensonia (1795); Rights of Infants (1797) and The Restorer of Society to
its Natural State (1801). ~ Spence produced a periodical between 1793 and 1795
entitled, One Penny Worth of Pig’s Meat: Lessons for the Swinish Multitude. The
journal‖signals‖a‖rejoinder‖to‖Burke’s‖bewailing‖of‖the‖post-revolution prospects of
education in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)—where‖‘learning‖will‖be‖
cast into the mire, and trodden down under the‖hooves‖of‖a‖swinish‖multitude’—
and reproduced selections from such writers as John Locke, Joseph Priestley and
William Godwin. His own writings were not without irony or humour, and
possessed a style tailored to convert poor men. Tim Burke (LC3, 268) notes that
Spence’s‖‘ballads‖of‖rural‖hardship‖pave‖the‖way‖for‖those‖of‖Wordsworth‖and‖
Coleridge later in the decade, and his lyric works at times demonstrate something
of‖the‖radical‖simplicity‖of‖Blake’s‖Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789-94) of the
same‖period’. Anne Janowitz (1998), 79, suggests that song lyric and poetry make
themselves‖heard‖in‖Spence’s‖prose‖polemics,‖‘either‖as‖a‖coda,‖or‖a‖
representational‖example,‖or‖as‖a‖performative‖exhortation’. Janowitz (72) views
Spence as embodying an alternative trajectory of British Romanticism, articulating
a‖‘poetic‖activism‖which‖valued‖a‖collective‖voice,‖made‖a‖claim‖for‖cultural‖
tradition,‖and‖directed‖poetry‖into‖the‖centre‖of‖political‖life’.‖~‖With‖the‖French‖
Revolution instilling anxiety in the British authorities, repressive measures were
called‖upon‖Spence’s‖propagandising:‖he‖was‖arrested‖on‖20‖May‖1794‖on‖
suspicion of treasonable practices, and owing to the suspension of Habeas
Corpus, held at Newgate Prison for seven months without trial. In 1798, Spence
defended himself with great defiance and bravado against accusations of
seditious practices and disaffection, and had to suffer a year in Shrewsbury
Gaol. Spence was not easily silenced; on his release he published The Important
Trial of Thomas Spence (1803)—first in his reformed spelling, later (1807) in
conventional spelling. He died of a bowel complaint in Castle Street, London on 1
September 1814, but not before introducing two issues of a new periodical, The
Giant Killer, or, Anti-Landlord, and attracting a band of disciples, who convened as
a Free and Easy Club in local taverns to explore his ideas and sing his
songs. Following his death, these Spencean Philanthropists perpetuated his
convictions and engaged in such revolutionary activity as the Spa Field riots of
1816 and the Cato Street conspiracy of 1820. Furthermore,‖advocates‖of‖Spence’s‖
land plan were active in the 1830s in both the National Union of the Working
Classes and the Chartist movement. ~ Spence published numerous unsuccessful
theories on adult education and social justice, including The Grand Repository of the
English Language (1775, Newcastle: T. Saint); A Supplement to the History of Robinson
Crusoe (1782, Newcastle: T. Saint); The Real Reading Made Easy (1782, Newcastle: T.
Saint); The Case of Thomas Spence, Bookseller (1792, London); The Rights of
Man (1793, London); One Pennyworth of Pigs' Meat or Lessons for the Swinish
Multitude, second edition, Vols. I, II, III (London, 1793-5); The Meridian Sun of
Liberty (1795, London); The Coin Collector's Companion (1795, London); The End of
Oppression (1795, London); The Reign of Felicity (1796, London); The Rights of Infants
(1797, London); The Constitution of a Perfect Commonwealth (1798, London); The
Restorer of Society to its Natural State (1801, London); The Important Trial of Thomas
Spence (second edition, 1807, London); The Giant Killer, or Anti-Landlord nos. 1, 2
(1814, London). Pigs’ Meat: the Selected Writings of Thomas Spence, Radical and
Pioneer Land Reformer (ed. Gallop, G.I, 1982); The Political Works of Thomas Spence
(ed. Dickinson, H.T, 1982). ~ Ref: Allen Davenport (qv), The Life, Writing, and
Principles of Thomas Spence (London, 1836); Thompson (1963, 2013), 176-9; Michael
Scrivener (ed.) Poetry and Reform: Periodical Verse from the English Democratic Press
1792-1824 (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1982); P. M. Ashraf, The Life and
Times of Thomas Spence (Newcastle: Frank Graham, 1983); Olivia Smith, The Politics
of Language 1791-1819 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984); Malcolm Chase, ‘The
People’s Farm’: English Radical Agrarianism, 1775-1840 (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1988); Iain McCalman, Radical Underworld: Prophets, Revolutionaries and
Pornographers in London, 1795-1840 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
 1988);‖Worrall‖(1992);‖J.‖C.‖Beal,‖‘Thomas‖Spence’‖in‖The Encyclopedia of Language
and Linguistics eds. R.E. Asher & J. M. Y. Simpson (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1994),
4319; J. C. Beal, English Pronunciation in the Eighteenth Century: Thomas Spence’s
‘Grand Repository of the English Language’ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994); Marcus
Wood, Radical Satire and Print Culture, 1790-1822 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994);
Myers (1995), 78; Janowitz (1998); ODNB; LC 3, 267-74. [LC3] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Spencer, Richard (b. 1831), of Holbeck, Leeds, apprenticed to a brushmaking firm,
published Field Flowers: Poems (Batley and Leeds, 1891). ~ Ref: England (1983), 37,
57, 60; Reilly (1994), 446.
Stacke, Patrick Byrne (1833-93), of Briskey in the parish of Commeragh, County
Waterford, educated at local National Schools, joined the Irish constabulary
around 1850. Some of his poems appeared in The Waterford News during this part
of his life. One of them,‖‘My‖Epitaph’,‖was‖reprinted in several papers, appeared
in the Dublin publication The Favorite Songster (compiled by Edward Ward), and
has been set to music. In 1879 Stacke emigrated to the USA, where he worked as a
journalist, contributing to The Saratoga Sun, The Albany Evening Journal, and
Catholic Telegraph, Boston Pilot, Troy Catholic Weekly, the Troy Press, and others. He
died at Stillwater, New York. ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 435-6. [I] [US]
Stagg, John (1770-1823), of Burgh-by-Sands,‖near‖Carlisle,‖a‖tailor’s‖son,‖known as
‘The‖Blind‖Bard’,‖Cumberland‖poet‖of‖peasant‖life and of dialect and gothic verse,
now best known for his poem‖‘The‖Vampyre’‖(1810).‖Stagg lost his sight in youth
and made a living by keeping a library in Wigton, and playing the fiddle. At the
age of twenty he married and moved to Manchester, where he lived for most of
his life. They had seven children. He died at Workington. Stagg published
Miscellaneous Poems (1790); Miscellaneous Poems, some of which are in the Cumberland
and Scottish dialects (1804, 1805, 1807, 1808); The Minstrel of the North; or, Cumbrian
legends (Manchester, 1816); The Cumbrian Minstrel: Being a Poetical Miscellany of
Legendary, Gothic, and Romantic Tales < together with several essays in the northern
dialect, also a number of original pieces (Manchester, 1821), two volumes; Legendary,
Gothic and Romantic Tales, in verse, and other original poems, and translations. By a
Northern Minstrel (Shrewsbury, 1825). ~ Ref: Spark (1907), 133-4; Johnson (1992),
items 850-7; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 332; DNB/ODNB;‖Wikipedia;‖‘The‖Vampyre’‖
via www.poets.org; inf. Michael Baron. [C18]
(?) Standing, James (1848-78), of Cliviger, near Burnley, bobbin maker from before
the age of eight, later teacher, auctioneer and other jobs, learned French and
German, published Lancashire and Yorkshire Comic, Historic and Poetic Almanack
(1873-7). Boos‖notes‖his‖poem,‖‘Wimmin’s‖Wark‖Es‖Niver‖Done’‖as one of several
male‖dialect‖representations‖of‖women’s‖lives. ~ Ref: Abraham‖Stansfield,‖‘Folk‖
Speech‖of‖the‖Lancashire‖and‖Yorkshire‖Border’,‖Essays and Sketches, Being a few
selections from the prose writings of twenty years (Manchester: Printed for the Author
 by the Manchester Scholastic Trading Co., 1897); Hollingworth (1977), 154-5; Boos
(2002a), 210.
(?) Stanfield, James Field (1749-1824),‖of‖Dublin,‖‘common‖mariner’‖and‖actor,‖
educated‖in‖France‖for‖the‖Catholic‖priesthood;‖suffered‖from‖‘chronic‖financial‖
hardship’‖(ODNB), wrote abolitionist tracts, published a dramatic anti-slave trade
poem, The Guinea Voyage. A Poem. In three Books (London: James Phillips, 1789), ‘in‖
the‖style‖of‖Falconer’s‖Shipwreck’‖(Croft‖&‖Beattie; William Falconer, qv), and
numerous other poems and songs. His prose work Observations on a Guinea Voyage
in a series of letters addressed to the Rev. Thomas Clarkson (1788) gives an account of
his experiences of the slave trade. ~ Ref: ODNB; Wikipedia; Croft & Beattie, III, 84;
inf. Cole Crawford.
Stanley, Benjamin (fl. 1864), cotton spinner (?), of Oldham (?), published
Miscellaneous Poems, Written After Work Hours (Oldham: Hirst & Rennie, 1864),
gathering together at the request of his friends many poems first published in
newspapers. The preface‖states‖that‖from‖‘the‖dawn‖of‖his‖earliest‖youth his work
hours’‖were‖‘spent‖at‖the‖loom’. ~ Ref: Pickering & Chatto, list 227; inf. Bob Heyes.
[T]
Stark, William (b. 1857), of Anderson, Glasgow, postal worker, published poems in
newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 232-8. [S]
Steel or Steele, Andrew (1811-82), of Coldstream, Berwickshire, shoemaker,
published Poetical works, second edition (Edinburgh, 1863); Poetical productions,
third edition (Edinburgh, 1864, fourth edition 1865); Select productions, fifth edition
(Edinburgh, 1867); Poetical works (Edinburgh, 1871). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 76-
80 and 9, xx; Crockett (1893), 158-62; Reilly (2000), 436. [S] [SM]
(?) Steel, Mrs M. (fl. 1839), author of Pathetic and Religious Poems (fourth edition,
Romford: Charles Harvey, 1836), seems to have been a poet of genuinely humble
origins. ~ Ref: text via Google Books; inf. Florence Boos. [F]
Steel, William (fl. 1865-72), letter carrier, later a concert singer, published Southland’s
Natural Songster: Songs and Addresses, Written and Sung by William Steel
(Invercargill, 1865). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 436. [S]
Stephens, Charles Taylor (d. 1863), born in Liverpool to a Cornish mother,
shoemaker by trade, became a rural postman in Cornwall, living in St Ives (where
his mother came from); published The Chief of Barat-Anac, and Other Poems, Songs,
&c. (St Ives and Penzance, 1862), 36 pp., Morrab Library, Penzance; the Preface
states‖‘These‖poems‖were‖not‖written‖with‖any‖intention‖to‖publish‖them,‖nor‖
would they appear in print if the writer were able‖to‖earn‖a‖living‖at‖his‖trade’.‖
The title page quotes a quatrain from the postman-poet Edward Capern (qv):
‘Rough‖stones,‖from‖nature’s‖rudest‖bed,‖/‖Not‖shaped,‖like‖those‖on‖beaches‖laid,‖
/ Unwashed, by any classic surf, / They still retain their native‖turf’.‖The‖title-poem
is a sort of topographical mock-heroic involving the author. According to Wright,
 Stephens planned a further volume, to be entitled Chimes from the Lapstone, and the
Lament of Saint Ia, A Poem, but did not live to publish it. ~ Ref: Wright (1896), 425;
Reilly (2000), 437; inf. Kaye Kossick. [SM]
(?) Stephenson, William (1763-1836), of Newcastle upon Tyne, watchmaker disabled
by‖an‖accident,‖schoolmaster,‖poet‖and‖songwriter,‖known‖especially‖for‖‘The‖
Quayside‖Shaver’‖(first‖published in William Bell’s Rhymes of the Northern Bards,
1812)‖and‖‘The‖Skipper’s‖Wedding’,‖published a volume of his poems and six
songs‖in‖1832,‖which‖includes‖‘The‖Retrospect’,‖a‖long‖poem‖about‖the‖local‖
Gateshead‖characters‖of‖his‖youth.‖‘The‖Quayside Shaver’‖describes‖the‖work‖of‖
the women shavers on the Quayside at Newcastle and their sailor, pitman and
keelman customers. Jenny Uglow offers an intriguing, wider context to this
feature of Newcastle life, in her biography of the engraver, Thomas Bewick:
‘Newcastle‖was‖known‖for‖its‖independent‖women,‖like‖the‖girls‖of‖the‖building‖
trade, hod carriers, bricklayers and slaters, whose antics made critics call for
‚employment‖more‖suitable‖and‖becoming‖for‖these‖poor‖girls‖than‖that‖of‖
mounting high ladders and‖crawling‖over‖the‖tops‖of‖houses‛.‖At‖the‖bottom‖of‖
Side,‖where‖Butcher’s‖Row‖opened‖on‖to‖Sandgate,‖women‖dangled‖freshly‖
butchered carcasses over their brawny arms. In the churchyard and on the quay,
prostitutes gathered, mixing with the fishwives and women barbers, who shaved
the‖sailors‖outdoors‖on‖the‖cobbles’. (Nature’s Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick
(2006), p. 57) Ref: Allan (1891), 119-21;‖‘Tyneside‖Bards’‖website; Wikipedia.
(?) Stevens, George Alexander (1710-84), of Holborn, London, son of a tradesman
who tried to apprentice him in a trade, but he ran away to become strolling player
(according to ODNB, a rather bad actor); lecturer, playwright; published Religion,
or, The Libertine Repentant: a Rhapsody (Bath, 1751); The Poet's Fall (Dublin, 1752); A
Week's Adventures (Dublin, 1752); Distress upon Distress, (Dublin, 1752); The Tombs,
a Rhapsody (Dublin, 1752); New Comic Songs (1753); The Birth-Day of Folly (1754);
Collection of New Comic Songs (1759); Songs, Comic and Satyrical (1772, contains 134
songs). ~ Ref: ODNB. [C18]
(?) Stevenson, Edith (fl. 1872), ‘Edith’,‖of Edinburgh, published The Yetts o’ Muckart:
or, the Famous Pic-nic and the Brilliant Barn-ball, in Hairst, Auchteen-hunder an’
Seventy-one (Edinburgh, 1872). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 438. [F] [S]
Stevenson, Jane (fl. 1866),‖mason’s‖wife‖whose‖husband‖died‖at‖34,‖leaving her with
five children. She published Verses (Banff, 1866). Her poems‖include‖‘Arndilly’,‖
‘The‖Banks‖of‖the‖Dee’‖and‖‘My‖Own‖Life’. ~ Ref: Boos (1998); Reilly (2000), 438;
Boos (2002b), 147-8; Boos (2008), 146-56; further inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Stevenson, Jane (fl. 1870),‖‘The‖Rustic‖Maiden’;‖cattle‖herder,‖anonymously‖self-
published her Homely Musings by a Rustic Maiden (Kilmarnock: Printed for the
Author, 1870; online via Google Books and www.archive.org). The first page of
her‖book’s‖preface‖recounts‖that‖Stevenson‖herded‖cows‖as‖girl,‖and‖memorized‖
 and imitated old popular songs. (The preface breaks off abruptly, and perhaps the
second page is missing.) She was derided by her family for writing, however, and
thenceforth she wrote in secret; published Homely Musings, by a Rustic Maiden
(Kilmarnock: printed for the author, 1870). (Her name was identified by Florence
Boos from pencil markings in a copy of her volume.) Poems‖include‖‘Written‖on‖
the‖Death‖of‖My‖Father‖and‖The‖Prospect‖of‖Then‖Leaving‖My‖Birthplace’,‖
‘Garnock‖Water’,‖‘The‖Emigrant‖Youth.—Song’,‖Home’,‖‘Companions‖of‖My‖
Youthful‖Years’,‖‘Song’,‖‘The‖Wandering‖Dog’,‖‘The‖Bible’,‖‘Critics,‖or‖the‖World’s‖
Two‖Great‖Extremes’,‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Engineers’,‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Ploughmen’,‖‘Song.‖
The‖Homes‖of‖My‖Fathers’,‖accompanied‖by‖a‖prose‖account‖of‖her‖visit‖to‖where‖
her‖parents’‖families‖had‖lived,‖‘Donald‖M’Donald,‖or‖My‖Sweet‖Highland‖Home’,‖
‘The‖Prophetess,‖or‖Seer‖of‖Visions’,‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Trees’,‖‘Husband‖and‖Wife’,‖‘The‖
Fairy‖Dale’.‖She‖seems‖to‖have‖been‖impressed‖with‖the‖dreaming‖or‖prophetic‖
state, for several poems describe fairies or prophecies. ~ Ref: Boos (2008), 146-56;
Boos (2010); Burmester item 491 and p. 138; further notes by Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Stevenson, John (fl. before 1890), of Paisley, weaver, appeared in miscellanies. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 212-14. [S] [T]
Stewart, Alexander (b. 1841), of Galston, Ayrshire, weaver, book-deliverer, city
mission worker, published Bygone Memories, and Other Poems, with an Introductory
Preface by Alexander Macleod (Edinburgh, 1888). ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 120-9;
Reilly (1994), 453. [S] [T]
Stewart, Allan (1812-37), of Paisley, drawboy and weaver, published posthumous
volume, Poetic Remains of the Late Allan Stewart (Paisley, 1838). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-
90), II, 20-23; Jarndyce (1980), item 1489. [S] [T]
Stewart, Andrew (b. 1842), of Gallowgate, Glasgow. Apart from attending the
Spoutmouth Bible Institute in the East End of Glasgow, including the‖‘Mutual‖
Improvement‖Class’,‖Stewart was self-taught. He worked at feeding a paper-
ruling machine before serving his apprenticeship in paper-ruling. Edwards
writes:‖‘It is said that during this period, like Livingstone at Blantyre, he had his
book attached to the paper-ruling machine under his charge, so that he could
glance at it during his work.’ He was appointed foreman at another paper-ruling
works, running a manuscript magazine at this time. In 1869 he was appointed
sub-editor to the People’s Friend and in 1884 became its editor. He had already
been‖a‖‘frequent‖contributor’‖to‖its‖sister‖magazine, the People’s Journal, writing
poems and humorous sketches, and several times winning the Christmas short
story competition. In addition to myriad miscellaneous contributions to the paper
he was now editing, Stewart published some very successful handbooks on
cookery, and a‖‘most‖unique‖and‖valuable‖collection‖of‖ancient‖and‖modern‖
nursery‖rhymes’,‖Sangs for the Bairns (1884), though this is listed as being authored
by a James Macadam Neilson in all the databases. Edwards, who supplies most of
 the‖above‖information,‖says‖much‖about‖Stewart’s‖involvement‖with‖the‖church‖
and with spiritual education, but little about the poetry, except to say that he had
given‖up‖writing‖it‖‘a‖quarter‖of‖a‖century‖since’,‖i.e.‖around‖1868.‖He‖prints‖four‖
poems,‖‘See‖the‖Proud‖Ship’,‖‘Lines‖on‖the‖Sparrow’,‖‘The‖Botanist’s‖Song’‖and‖
‘My‖heart‖Goes‖Out‖to‖Thee’. ~ Ref: Articles in the British Workman and the Scottish
Pulpit, both c. 1893; Edwards, 15 (1893), 97-103. [S]
Stewart, Charles (b. 1813), of Bailleston, Glasgow, weaver, went to Canada in 1856,
later‖librarian‖of‖Galt‖Mechanics’‖Institute,‖published The Harp of Strathnaver: A
Lay of the Scottish Highland Evictions, and other poems (Galt, Ontario, c. 1885). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 8 (1885), 305-11 and 11, 287-92. [S] [T]
Stewart, James (1801-43),‖shoemaker‖of‖Perth,‖wrote‖verse‖‘Sketches‖of‖Scottish‖
Character’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 211-14; Douglas (1891), 308; online sources.
[S] [SM]
Stewart, James (b. 1841), of Johnstone, Dumfriesshire, farm worker, railwayman;
published The Twa Elders, and Other Poems (Airdrie: Baird & Hamilton, Advertiser
Office, 1886). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 252-8; inf. Kirstie Blair. [S] [R]
Stewart, John Joseph Smale (b. 1838), in Ireland where his soldier father was
stationed, raised in Lochearnhead, brother of Sarah Jane Hyslop (qv), sailor,
travelled in Bermuda and Nova Scotia, took part in the Russian war, later a farmer
and gold prospector in Australia, finally a schoolmaster at Tamarara. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 7 (1884), 61-4. [I] [A] [S]
Stewart, Robert (1806-85), of Paisley, handloom weaver, published some of his pieces
in 1851. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 389-91. [S] [T]
Stewart,‖Thomas‖(b.‖1840),‖‘Rustic‖Rhymer’‖of‖Larkhall,‖Lanarkshire,‖coalminer,‖
published in local press, and a vol. of Doric Rhymes, Some Hamely Lilts (Larkhall:
William Burns, 1875). ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 362-5. [S] [M]
Stewart, Thomas (b. 1859), of Brechin, farmboy, grocer. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 188-
92. [S]
Stewart, William (b. 1835), of Aberlour, shoemaker, shopkeeper. ~ Ref: Edwards, 12
(1889), 89-94‖(Edwards’‖index,‖vol.‖16,‖gives‖a‖death‖date‖as‖1848,‖clearly‖in‖error).‖
[S]‖*SM+
Stewart, William (b. 1867), of Waterside, Lochlee, farmworker. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10
(1887), 139-41. [S]
Stibbons, Frederick (b. 1872), of North Norfolk, farmworker from the age of eleven,
later groom, handyman, assistant miller/merchant, gardener, yachting agent,
insurance agent, milk-seller, oil and petrol company representative, painter and
decorator, golf instructor and caddie; published The Poems of a Norfolk Ploughman
(1902); Norfolk’s ‘Caddie’ Poet. His Autobiography, Impressions, and some of his Verse
(Holt, 1923); Life and Love in Arcadie (1929); In the King’s Country (1931). ~ Ref:
Burnett et al (1984), 198-9 (no, 666); NTU. [OP]
Still, Peter (1814-48), of Longside, Aberdeenshire, cattle herder, father of Peter Still
(qv, 1835-69), poet, published Cottar’s Sunday and Other Poems. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3
(1881), 305-8; Shanks (1881), 153-4. [S]
(?) Still, Peter (1835-69), poet, son of Peter Still (qv, 1814-48) the cattle-herder poet. ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 173 and 16, [lix]. [S]
Storey, Thomas (d. 1898), of Belfast, printer, hanged as a rebel in 1798. He wrote
some poems, two of which were included in Richard Robert Madden (ed.),
Literary Remains of the United Irishmen of 1798, and selections of other popular lyrics of
their times (Dublin, 1846). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 441]
Story or Storey, Robert (1795-1860), of Wark, Northumberland, worked as gardener,
shepherd and schoolteacher, lived in Gargrave, Yorkshire, made the acquaintance
of John Nicholson (1790-1843, qv). He published Craven Blossoms (Skipton, 1826,
Johnson (1992), item 872); The Magic Fountain, with Other Poems (London, 1829);
The Outlaw, A Drama in Five Acts (London, 1839); Songs and Lyrical Poems
(Liverpool, 1837); Love and Literature: Being the Reminiscences, Literary Opinions and
Fugitive Pieces of a Poet in Humble Life (London, 1842); Poetical Works of Robert Story
(London, 1857), which includes an autobiographical preface; and posthumously
The Lyrical and Other Minor Poems of Robert Story, with a Sketch of his Life and
Writings by John James (London and Bradford, 1861). Story contributed to The
Festive Wreath (1842). His poem ‘Mute‖is‖the‖Lyre‖of‖Ebor’‖(1842)‖printed‖in‖
Holroyd, is described as a memorial poem to his fellow wool-sorter John
Nicholson (qv, 1790-1843); if so and it is correctly dated it is premature as
Nicholson died in 1843. A few years ago Patrick‖O’Sullivan helped revived
interest in Story by bringing his work into the Gargrave Autoharp Festival. Philip
Crown’s‖recent‖PhD‖thesis‖‘explores‖the‖writing‖life’‖of‖Story,‖whom‖he‖calls‖‘The‖
Conservative‖Poet’,‖noting‖that‖‘during‖the‖political‖turmoil‖of‖the‖1830s’‖he‖
‘achieved‖national‖celebrity‖for‖writing‖a‖series‖of‖songs‖and‖poems‖for‖Peel’s‖
Conservative‖party’.‖He‖also‖draws‖on‖Story’s‖unpublished‖autobiography‖and
other hitherto unnoted manuscripts. He is especially interested in the contrast
between‖Story’s‖political‖conservatism‖and‖his‖‘progressive‖and‖experimantal‖
approach‖to‖writing’.‖~ Ref: Newsam (1845), 151-5; Holroyd (1873), 32, 128, 197-8;
Vicinus (1974), 14-179 passim; Vincent (1981), 97, 208; Burnett et al (1984), 300-1
(nos. 670-1); Maidment (1987), 144-5; Crossan (1991), 40n33; Johnson (1992), items
872-6; Sutton (1995), 905; Reilly (2000), 442; Keegan (2008), 93-5; Philip Joseph
Crown,‖‘The‖Writing‖Life‖of‖Robert‖Story,‖1795-1860:‖‚The‖Conservative‖Bard‛’,‖
PhD thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2018; ODNB; NTU.
Story, William Walker (fl. 1844), north-east coal miner, co-author‖of‖‘The‖Pitmen’s‖
Union’‖(‘Keep‖up you‖hearts,‖ye‖noble‖boys’),‖with‖George‖Watson‖(qv). ~ Ref:
Lloyd, 258, 358 note. [M]
(?) Stott, Benjamin (fl. 1842-3), of Manchester, bookbinder and poet, Chartist,
Oddfellow,‖educated‖to‖school‖level.‖Referred‖to‖in‖Alexander‖Wilson’s‖‘The‖
Poet’s‖Corner’,‖published ‘The‖Songs‖of‖the‖Millions’‖in‖The Northern Star in 1842,
reprinted as the title poem of Songs for the Millions and Other Poems (Middleton,
1843),‖‘the‖emanations‖of‖fervent‖feeling...of‖an‖almost‖uneducated‖mind’,‖which‖
includes‖a‖‘Memoir’. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 106-9; Vincent (1981), 124n, 188;
Burnett et al (1984), 301 (no. 672); Scheckner (1989), 305-8, 343; Schwab (1993), 217;
Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 258. [C]
Stott, Margaret Watt (b. 1862),‖‘Maggie’, of Montrose, daughter of Mr. J. E. Watt; in
early‖life‖received‖‘a‖fair‖education,’‖and‖afterwards‖worked‖as‖a‖domestic‖servant;‖
m. William Stott in 1882, with whom she lived in Brechin until some years later he
became a station agent in Newtonhall. Stott was described by Edwards as
‘employed‖in‖public‖works‖in‖her‖native‖town’;‖published Poetical Sketches of
Scottish Life and Character. Her verses, all of which were religious, included
‘Waitin’‖The‖Maiser,’‖‘The‖Auld‖Year,’‖and‖‘Only‖Trust‖Him’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10
(1887), 167-9; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Stratton, Nicholas (fl. 1824),‖a‖‘rustic‖farmer’s‖son’‖from‖Huntingdonshire,‖poet‖of‖
humble origins, published Poems on Various Subjects (1824) which includes a poem
on the death of Robert Bloomfield (qv), while the Introduction cites Bloomfield
and John Clare (qv, to whom he presented a copy of the volume that is still in
Clare’s‖surviving‖library) as influences. ~ Ref: Powell (1964), item 369; Crossan
(1991), 37; By Himself (1996); inf. Greg Crossan.
Straycock, James (d. c. 1830), sailor of Yarmouth, published The Son of Commerce, an
Original Poem, in Thirty-four Cantoes [sic], Written by a Sailor. To which is added his
grand ode on the death and funeral of the late Lord Nelson (London: More and Son,
1806). ~ Ref: C. R. Johnson, cat. 49 (2006), item 54.
Streets, John William (1886-1916),‖‘Will‖Streets’,‖‘Sergeant‖Streets’,‖of‖Whitwell,‖
Derbyshire, one of twelve children, largely self-educated coal miner, joined the
Sheffield City Battalion in 1914, died in the Battle of the Somme, 1916;
posthumously published The Undying Splendour (1917. There are a number of his
poems online and in First World War anthologies. ~ Ref: Victor Piuk, A Dream
Within the Dark: A Derbyshire Poet in the Trenches (Matlock: Derbyshire County
Council, 2003); Notts. Archive (correspondence and papers); Great War website;
Wikipedia. [OP] [M]
Struthers, John (1776-1853), of Longcalderwood, Lanarkshire, shoemaker poet,
moved to Glasgow, corresponded with Joanna Baillie and Walter Scott, published
Poems on Various Subjects (1801); Anticipation (1803); The Poor Man’s Sabbath (1804);
The Peasant’s Death and Other Poems (1806); The Winter’s Day with other poems
(Glasgow, 1811); Poems Moral and Religious (1814); The Plough and other poems
(Glasgow, 1816); An Essay on the State of the Labouring Poor (1816); The Harp of
 Caledonia (1819); The British Minstrel (1821); The History of Scotland (1827); The Poor
Man’s Sabbath and Other Poems (1832); Dychmont: A Poem (Glasgow, 1836). ~ Ref:
Wilson (1876), I, 540-51; Winks (1883), 314-15; Glasgow Poets (1906), 132-40;
Johnson (1992), items 880-2; Sutton (1995), 909 (letters); ODNB. [S] [SM]
(?) Sutherland,‖Frank‖(b.‖1844),‖‘Uncle‖Peter’,‖hairdresser,‖of‖Morayshire,‖published
Uncle Peter’s Poems: Sunny Memories of Morayland (Moray: Printed at the Courant
and Courier Office, 1883?). ~ Ref: Murdoch (1883), 399-401; online sources. [S]
Sutherland, George (1866-93), born near Durham but moved early to Berwick,
worked in coal trade at Berwick Station, published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 8 (1885), 209-12. [S] [M]
Sutherland,‖William‖(b.‖1797),‖‘The‖Langton‖Bard’,‖of‖Langton,‖Berwickshire,‖a‖
‘young‖working‖class‖author’,‖son‖of‖a‖Highland‖cattleman,‖joiner,‖grocer,‖
emigrated to America in 1823, published Poems and Songs (Haddington: printed
for the author, by James Miller, 1821), which includes a lament on the death of
Robert Burns (qv) and a poem on Allan Ramsay (qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889),
166-9; Crockett (1893), 137-8; Johnson (1992), item 887. [S]
Swain, Charles (1801 or 1803-1874), of Manchester, dyehouse clerk, poet,
lithographer,‖member‖of‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖of‖Manchester‖poets. He published
Metrical Essays (1827, 1828; dedicated to Charles Tavaré); Beauties of the Mind, a
Poetical Sketch; with Lays, Historical and Romantic (London, 1831, reprinted as The
Mind, 1832),‖dedicated‖to‖Southey,‖who‖wrote‖back‖to‖him:‖‘If‖ever‖man‖was‖born‖
to be a poet, you are; and if Manchester is not proud of you yet, the time will
certainly come when it will‖be‖so’‖(ODNB); The Mind and Other Poems (London:
Tilt and Bogue, 1841); A Cabinet of Poetry and Romance: Female Portraits from the
Writings of Byron and Scott (1845); Dramatic Chapters, Poems and Songs (London:
Bogue, 1847; London: Longman Green Brown and Longmans, 1849, 1850); English
Melodies (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1849); Letters of Laura
d'Auverne (1853); Art and Fashion, with other Sketches, Songs and Poems (London:
Virtue Brothers & Co., 1863); Dryburgh Abbey, and Other Poems (London and
Manchester, 1868); and Songs and Ballads (1867). A copy of Dramatic Chapters in the
possession of the present contributor (editor) has a loosely inserted printed
portrait‖of‖Swain,‖and‖is‖inscribed‖to‖Swain’s‖fellow‖Mancunian,‖the‖
philanthropist and parliamentary reformer Joseph Brotherton, signed and dated
7th January 1855. ~ Ref: Harland (1882), frontispiece and 217-20, 233, 241-, 244-7,
252, 293-4, 311-12, 323-4, 350-1, 355, 363-4, 422-3, 443, 473, 481-2; Vicinus (1973),
743; Vicinus (1974), 160; Cross (1985), 147-8; Maidment (1987), 121-4; Johnson
(1992), items 888-9; Sutton (1995), 910; Reilly (2000), 446; Charles Cox, Catalogue
72 (2017), 367-70; DNB/ODNB, LION.
(?) Swain, John (b. 1815), of Haddenly Hall, Holmfirth, Yorkshire, cloth finisher,
teacher, inspector of letter carriers, lived at Otley, published Gideon’s Victory
 (1835); Harp of the Hills (1851, 1857, 1858); Cottage Carols, and Other Poems (1860;
London, 1861); The Tide of Even, and Other Poems, with Tales and Songs (1864;
London and Otley, 1877). ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 130; Reilly (2000), 446.
Swain, Joseph (1761-96), apprenticed as an engraver, Baptist hymn-writer; published
A Collection of Poems. On Several Occasions (London, [1781]); Redemption. A Poem
(London, 1789, 1797); Walworth Hymns (1792, two editions; 1799, 3rd edition). ~
Ref: ODNB; ESTC. [C18]
(?) Swan, Annie Shepherd (1859-1943),‖Mrs‖Burnett‖Smith,‖‘David‖Lyall’,‖of‖
Mountskip, Gorebridge, farmer’s‖daughter,‖one‖of‖seven‖children‖including‖sister‖
Maggie (qv), briefly attended the Queen Street Ladies College in Leith, but was
not an attentive student and soon quit. Swan became a prolific and popular
novelist, journalist and story writer, and was‖the‖author‖of‖poems‖like‖‘Nae‖Rest‖
Till‖We‖Win‖Home’‖and‖‘Harvest‖Days’;‖she‖paid‖her‖husband’s (James Burnett
Smith’s) way through medical school at Edinburgh University. Blair notes that she
wrote popular romantic fiction for the Peoples Friend magazine and other
periodicals and magazines. She published two volumes of poetry, My Poems
(Dundee and London: John Leng, 1900?), circulated by The People’s Friend) and
Songs of Memory and Hope (Edinburgh: Nimmo, 1911). Blair reprints her poem
‘April‖Days’,‖first published in the People’s Journal, 29 April 1882. See also My Life:
An Autobiography (London, 1934). Arguably the Swan sisters might have been
considered middle class. ~ Ref: Borland (1890), 237; Bold (1997), 254; Blair (2016),
177-8; ODNB; Wikipedia and other online sources; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Swan, Maggie (b. 1867), of Edinburgh, daughter of a former potato merchant who
leased the farm of Mountskip, in the neighbourhood of Gorebridge. The youngest
sister of the better-known poet Annie Swan (qv), Maggie attended a village school
and the Queen Street Institute for Young Ladies, after which she returned home to
help with household duties; published in local journals such as the People’s
Journal,‖and‖her‖verses‖include‖‘The‖Homes‖of‖Scotland’,‖‘The‖Greatest‖of‖the‖
Three’,‖‘Change’,‖‘God’s‖Ways’‖and‖‘The‖Hope‖of‖the‖Spring’.‖Arguably‖the‖Swan‖
sisters might have been considered middle class. ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887); inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Swan, Robert (b. 1853), of Kirkburn, Peebles, draper, published in newspapers. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 10 (1887), 62-6. [S] [T]
Swanson, Thomas (fl. 1878), unemployed collier and dialect poet, published Select
Poems (North‖Shields,‖1878),‖published‖‘to‖support‖my‖wife‖and‖family‖during‖the‖
awful‖slackness‖which‖has‖prevailed‖in‖this‖and‖other‖districts’. ~ Ref: Charles
Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 263. [M]
Swift, John (fl. 1864), of Rochdale, Lance, Private in the King’s Own Light Infantry,
served at Waterloo, published Reminiscences of the Battle of Waterloo (Rochdale,
1864). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 447.
Swiney, J. M. (fl. 1781), of Cork, son of the printer Eugene Swiney, who followed in
his‖father’s‖trade.‖He‖published The Juvenile Muse, an assemblage of original poems
(Cork,‖1781),‖which‖includes‖a‖dramatic‖piece‖entitled‖‘The‖Alarm’.‖~‖Ref:‖
O’Donoghue (1912), 447. [I]
Syme, Henry (fl. 1876-81),‖‘Grandfather’,‖weaver‖of‖Dunfermline,‖published Local
Musings (Dunfermline: A. Romanes, Press Office, 1876). Blair reprints his poem
‘Reminiscences‖of‖the‖People’s Journal’,‖first‖published in the People’s Journal, 29
March 1881. ~ Ref: Blair (2016), 171-3’‖*S+
Syme, James (fl. 1840),‖Chartist,‖author‖of‖‘Labour‖Song’‖(The Northern Star, 26
December 1840) and other poems in the Northern Star and the Chartist Circular. ~
Ref: Kovalev (1956), 80-1; Maidment (1987), 42-4; Scheckner (1989), 309-10, 343;
Schwab (1993), 217. [C]
Symonds, Thomas Dudley (1847-1915),‖of‖Dulwich,‖‘The‖Woodbridge‖Poet’,‖boot‖
and shoe maker, published Sparks from the Jubilee Bonfire (Woodbridge, [1888]). ~
Ref: Copsey (2002), 341. [SM]
(?) Tait, Adam R. (fl. 1839-45), Scottish poet, published Lays of a Lowly Lyre
(Edinburgh: James Brydone, 1845). Whilst we have no more specific biographical
information,‖the‖volume‖tells‖us‖a‖great‖deal‖about‖this‖‘lowly’‖Scots‖poet.‖He‖
offers a familiar self-deprecating Foreword. He‖writes‖in‖‘standard’‖English and
Scots. There are poems about poverty and about fortune, the latter addressed
comically,‖with‖both‖classical‖and‖an‖Edinburgh‖reference‖(‘Dialogue‖betwixt‖a‖
poet‖and‖fortune,‖Auld‖Reekie’).‖There‖is‖a‖patriotic‖verse‖to‖Scotland,‖‘The‖isle‖
that‖owneth‖me’.‖In‖‘Returning‖Home’‖he‖describes‖a‖long‖and‖lonely‖walk‖
through‖‘a‖country‖that‖is‖not‖my‖own’‖at‖the‖end‖of‖a‖working‖week,‖armed‖with‖
a‖walking‖stick‖and‖a‖purse‖of‖‘shillings‖white’.‖There‖is‖a‖poem, ‘On‖the‖Prospect‖
of‖leaving‖Scotland‖for‖the‖West‖Indies’, and another on his wedding day; a two-
part‖poem‖on‖drunkenness,‖and‖another‖on‖‘The‖Shepherd’s‖Sheiling’.‖He‖writes‖
of‖‘My‖Wifie‖and‖my‖Bairnies’.‖It‖is‖sometimes redolent of some of the work of
James Hogg (qv). ~ Ref: volume cited, via Google Books. [S]
Tait, Alexander (fl. 1790),‖of‖Paisley,‖tailor,‖author‖of‖‘A‖Ramble‖Through‖Paisley’‖in‖
his Poems and Songs (Paisley, 1790), wrote poems against Robert Burns (qv, as did
James Maxwell, qv). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), I, 198-206; Leonard (1990), 36-7. [S]
[T] [C18]
Tannahill, Robert (1774-1810), of Paisley, weaver, songwriter, major poet, friend of
Robert Allan (qv), drowned himself. He published The Soldier’s Return...with other
Poems and Songs (Paisley, 1807); posthumously published Poems and Songs, Chiefly
in the Scottish Dialect (Paisley, 1815); see elegies to him in Brown, I, 209-11. ~ Ref:
Renfrewshire (1819/72), xxxii-xliv; Wilson (1876), I, 501-8; Brown (1889-90), I, 86-95;
Douglas (1891), 296-9; Miles (1891), II, 73-86; Ronald‖L.‖Crawford,‖‘New‖Light‖on‖
Robert Tannahill, the Weaver-Poet‖of‖Paisley’,‖Notes and Queries, 211 (1966), 184-9;
 Maidment (1983), 85; Leonard (1990), 38-52 & 373; Johnson (1992), items 334, 892-
3; Sutton (1995), 922; Basker (2002), 679-80; Jim Ferguson, A Weaver in Wartime: A
Life of Robert Tannahill, 1774-1810, a Paisley Weaver-Poet (Saarbrucken: LAP
Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016); ODNB; LION; ‘Robert‖Tannahill‖
Commemoration‖Website’;‖NRA‖(Glasgow). [S] [T]
Tasker, David (b. 1840), of Dundee, mill boy, weaver (warper), mill manager, one of
many protégés of Revd. George Gilfillan; later lived in Carlisle, published
‘extensively‖in‖the‖local‖press’‖(Blair,‖who‖includes‖the‖poem‖‘The‖Bairnies‖at‖
Home’,‖People’s Journal, 6 June 1863), and reprinted many of his newspaper poems
in a volume, Musings of Leisure Hours (Carlisle: James P. Mathew, 1865, reprinted
1878). He‖contributed,‖along‖with‖John‖Paul‖(qv)‖to‖David‖Lundie‖Greig’s‖(qv)‖
volume Pastime Musings (1892). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 280-3; Reilly (2000), 451;
Blair (2016), 35-7. [S] [T]
Tassie, George (fl. 1741),‖of‖Glasgow,‖a‖tradesman‖and‖‘married‖man‖of‖forty-one’,‖
produced religious verses following a conversation with the church leaders James
Fisher and Ebenezer Erskine. ~ Ref: Elspeth‖Jajdelska,‖‘‚Singing‖of‖Psalms‖of‖
which‖I‖could‖never‖get‖enough‛: Labouring-class Religion and Poetry in the
Cambuslang‖Revival‖of‖1741’,‖Studies in Scottish Literature, 41, no. 1 (2015), article
11. [S] [C18]
Tate, Matthew (b. 1837),‖of‖Benton,‖Northumberland,‖of‖‘an‖old‖mining‖family‖of‖
Benton‖and‖Blyth’‖(Lloyd),‖coal‖miner,‖poet,‖published poems in the Newcastle
Weekly Chronicle, and several volumes: Stray Blossoms (1874); Pit Life in 1893 (Blyth,
1894); Poems, Songs and Ballads (Blyth, 1898). His poem Pit Life in 1893, revised and
renamed‖as‖‘Pit‖Life‖in‖1993-4’‖in‖his‖1898‖collection,‖Poems, Songs and Ballads, is a
direct‖descendant‖of‖Edward‖Chicken’s‖The Collier’s Wedding (1730) and Thomas
Wilson’s‖The Pitman’s Pay (1826), and like these and its near contemporary,
Alexander‖Barrass’s‖The Pitman’s Social Neet (1897), provides a rich and valuable
picture of the lives of north-eastern coalminers, their troubles and their triumphs.
~ Ref: Allan (1891); Lloyd (1978), 44, 342 note; Reilly (1994), 463; Charles Cox,
Catalogue 51 (2005), item 266; Newcastle Central Library local collections. [M]
Tatersal, Robert (fl. 1734-5), of Kingston upon Thames, son of a school teacher,
bricklayer who also advertised‖his‖services‖as‖a‖teacher‖of‖‘Writing,‖Arithmetick,‖
Geometry,‖Dialling,‖&c.’,‖author of The Bricklayer’s Miscellany; or, Poems on Several
Subjects ( 1734-5). ~ Ref: Unwin (1954), 72-3; Røstvig (1971), II, 158; Lonsdale
(1984), 278-80, 844n; Klaus (1985), 4-7 and 14; Shiach (1989), 53-4; Phillips (1996),
213; Christmas (2001), 110-15; Batt (2017); Christmas (2017); LC 1, 275-310; ODNB.
[LC1] [C18]
Tatton, William (fl. 1860), working man of Stoke, Devonport, published Edwin and
Marguerite: a legend and other poems (London and Devonport, 1860). ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 452.
(?) Taylor, Andrew B. (fl. before 1882),‖of‖Arbroath,‖‘Quill’,‖compositor‖on‖the‖
Arbroath Guide. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 311-16. [S]
Taylor, David (1817-76),‖‘The‖Saint‖Ninian’s‖Poet’,‖of‖Dollar,‖Clackmannanshire,‖after
a basic education was apprenticed as a weaver and carried out this trade in his
village for some years, during which he wrote poems, some of which were
published in the Clackmannanshire Advertiser. He then moved to the weaving
centre‖of‖St‖Ninian’s,‖Stirlingshire, where he lived for the rest of his life,
contributing to the Stirling newspapers. Taylor wrote songs and music, often
setting his own poems. In 1876 he was drowned in the river Devon while on
holiday at Dollar. He published a single volume, Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the
Scottish Dialect (1862); and, posthumously, The Poems and Songs of David Taylor,
with Memoir, Notes, and Glossary by William Harvey (Stirling: Duncan & Jamieson,
1893). Beveridge prints a group of four poems by Taylor, ‘My‖Ain‖Gudeman’,‖‘The‖
Proof‖o’‖the‖Puddin’s‖the‖Preein’‖o’t’ (with‖a‖tune‖given,‖‘Rock‖and‖the‖Wee‖Pickle‖
Tow’),‖‘Success‖to‖Ye,‖Sandy’,‖and‖a‖shipping‖disaster‖poem,‖‘The‖Wreck‖of‖the‖
‚Countess‛;‖Or,‖A‖Lament‖for‖the Auld Ferry-Boat’. Later in the anthology he
records (as does Edwards) that‖‘Mr.‖David‖Taylor‖attended‖John‖Crawford’s‖*qv+‖
‚Gathering‖o’‖the‖Bards,‛‖in‖Alloa,‖on‖the‖evening‖of‖Burns’‖Centenary,‖*Robert‖
Burns, qv] and delivered the following epistle, which he had written for the
occasion’;‖he‖then‖prints‖Taylor’s‖poem ‘Robin’; and following this, an‖‘Epistle‖to‖
David‖Taylor’‖by‖William‖Sim‖(qv).‖In‖Edwards’ view,‖Taylor‖‘portrayed‖
common-place‖scenes‖with‖his‖vividly‖humorous‖pen’,‖and he includes the first
two‖poems‖listed‖above‖in‖Beveridge,‖plus‖‘My‖Umbrella’,‖‘On‖a‖Bassinette’‖and‖
‘Oor‖Ain‖Mither‖Tongue’. ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885), 61-68, 160-2; Edwards, 15
(1893), 397-400; Reilly (2000), 453; NTU. [S] [T]
Taylor, David (b. 1831), of Dundee, handloom then powerloom weaver, Secretary of
the Nine Hours movement, later an overseer, author‖of‖‘many‖stirring‖poems’
(Edwards). His poems ‘Jute’ and‖‘Ring‖up‖the‖Curtain’, first published in the
People’s Journal, 10 March 1877 and 19 April 1879, are reprinted by Blair. (The Nine
Hours Factory Bill was passed in 1874.) Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 26-7; Blair (2016),
130-32, 155-6. [S] [T]
Taylor, Ellen (fl. 1792), of County Kilkenny, housemaid, daughter of‖‘an‖indigent‖
cottager’,‖published Poems (Dublin, 1792). This‖‘fragile‖little‖book‖apparently‖
gained‖Ellen‖Taylor‖a‖sufficient‖sum‖to‖enable‖her‖to‖set‖up‖a‖school’‖(Carpenter,
2017). ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 455-7; Carpenter (1998), 473; Carpenter (2017), 83;
LC 3, 253-60. [F] [I] [LC3] [C18]
Taylor, James (1794 - c. 1864), The Royton Poet, Lancashire hand-loom weaver and
cotton-worker, self-taught‖and‖‘only‖learned‖to‖read‖and‖write‖at‖the‖age‖of‖
twenty-four‖by‖attending‖a‖village‖school’‖(Sales);‖published Miscellaneous Poems
(Oldham, 1827; 1830); Miscellaneous Poems by James Taylor, ‘The Royton Poet’,
 Published for the Benefit of His Widow (Oldham: Printed for Hirst & Rennie,
Chronicle Office, 1864). ~ Ref: Sales (1994), 264; inf. Bob Heyes; NTU. [T]
Taylor, James (1813-75), of Main of Nairn, near Stanley, Perthshire, journeyman
pattern-drawer, calico printing designer, resided in Glasgow. ~ Ref: Edwards, 4
(1882), 174-6. [S] [T]
Taylor, Jessie Mitchell (1815-80), of Paisley, kept a fruit and seed shop, daughter of
John Mitchell (qv, 1786-1856). Her verses‖are‖included‖in‖Brown’s‖Paisley Poets,
and in Lays of St. Mungo; or The Minstrelsy of the West (1844). Three also appeared
in‖her‖father’s‖The Wee Steeple Ghaist (1840). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 48-51; inf.
Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Taylor,‖John,‖‘The‖Water‖Poet’‖(1578-1653),‖of‖St.‖Ewen’s,‖Gloucester,‖Thames‖
boatman,‖miscellaneous‖and‖travel‖writer,‖claimed‖to‖‘have‖served‖Elizabeth‖at‖
sea‖on‖seven‖occasions’‖(ODNB), and such other adventures as a voyage in a
symbolically paper-made boat and journeys from London to places including
Hamburg, Salisbury and Leicester, all recorded in his writings. Taylor is perhaps
the model for the garrulous boatman in Shakespeare in Love who‖claims‖to‖be‖‘a‖bit‖
of‖a‖writer‖myself’,‖and‖is‖sharply‖told‖by Will to attend to his business (p. 67,
Faber edition, 1999). The real Taylor would indeed very likely have known
Shakespeare, at least as a fare: he met the major poet and playwright (and former
bricklayer) Ben Jonson this way, becoming a friend and admirer, and his work
often echoes Shakespeare. Emma Renaud (1995) and Noel Malcolm (1997) both
read‖Taylor‖as‖an‖important‖early‖exemplar‖of‖‘nonsense’‖writing,‖a‖mode‖
formerly regarded as purely a late Victorian phenomenon. Among‖the‖boatman’s‖
many publications are Taylors Farewell to the Tower Bottles (1622); The Sculler,
Rowing from Tiber to Thames (a collection of verses, 1612); The Nipping and Snipping
of Abuses (1614); Taylors Urania (1615); numerous prose travel tales and political
tracts; Early Prose and Poetical Works (London and Glasgow, 1888); An Alphabet of
Inn Signs, ed. W. E. Tate (Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham, 1968); extract
from The Very Old Man, or the Life of Thomas Parr (1635) in Griffiths (1994), 77. ~
Ref: Craik (1830), II; Southey (1831), 15-87; Hood (1870), 849-67; Unwin (1954), 21-
3; Carter (1972), 27-68; Bernard Capp, The World of John Taylor the Water Poet 1578-
1753 (Oxford, 1994); Myers (1995), 84-5;‖Emma‖Renaud,‖‘A‖Precursor‖of‖Nonsense:‖
John Taylor, the Water Poet (c. 1580-1653)’,‖Cahiers Elisabéthains, 48 (1995), 37-44;
Noel Malcolm, The Origins of English Nonsense (London: HarperCollins, 1997: see
the review of this in the LRB, 13 November 1997); Christmas (2001), 66-7; Laurie
Ellinghausen,‖‘The‖New‖Bourgeois‖Hero:‖The‖Self-presentation of John Taylor
‚The‖Water‖Poet‛’,‖in Labor and Writing in Early Modern England (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2008), 93-120; ODNB; Radcliffe. [OP]
Taylor, John (fl. 1787), stay-maker of Limerick, known as an eccentric; published The
Miscellaneous Works of John Taylor (Limerick, 1787). Carpenter includes a
 humorous poem about the theft a leg of beef he had been promised by his
benefactor Stephen Creaghie. ~ Ref: Carpenter (1998), 428. [I]
Taylor, John (fl. 1827?),‖cotton‖spinner‖of‖Manchester,‖author‖of‖a‖‘Jone‖o’‖Grinfield’‖
broadside ballad on his unemployment and hardship, reproduced and discussed
by Hepburn. ~ Ref: Hepburn (2001), I, 40; II, 377, 387-8. [T]
Taylor, John (b. 1839), of Raddery, Ross-shire, orphaned son of a shoemaker, bird-
scarer,‖stable‖boy,‖merchant’s‖assistant,‖gardener,‖navigator‖on‖the‖Highland‖
railway, took different jobs throughout Scotland before settling in Edinburgh,
published Poems, Chiefly on Themes of Scottish interest, with introductory preface by W.
Lindsay Alexander (Edinburgh,‖1875),‖which‖includes‖an‖‘autobiographical‖sketch’.‖
A‖poem‖almost‖certainly‖of‖his‖authorship,‖‘The‖Navvies’,‖was‖published in the
People’s Journal, 7 July 1866, and is included in Blair. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 77-
80; Burnett et al (1984), 307 (no. 686); Reilly (2000), 453-4; Blair (2016), 58-9. [S] [R]
(?) Taylor, John Francis (1853-1902),‖of‖County‖Mayo,‖originally‖a‖grocer’s‖assistant‖
and mainly self-educated. He printed many poems in the Nation, Shamrock, and
other periodicals with the pen-name‖of‖‘Ridgeway’.‖Taylor‖was‖called‖to‖the‖Irish‖
Bar in 1882,‖and‖made‖Queen’s‖Counsel,‖working‖later‖in‖England.‖He‖suffered‖
from chronic ill-health, and much of his time was given to journalism, for many
years being the Dublin correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. He often wrote
for other papers and reviews, and‖was‖a‖frequent‖speaker‖‘at‖national‖and‖literary‖
gatherings‖in‖Dublin‖and‖elsewhere’‖and‖a‖noted‖Shakespeare‖reader,‖being‖
considered by many to be the finest Irish orator of his time. He published a Life of
Owen Roe O’Neil (1895), and a pamphlet on The Home Rule Problem (1891). He died
aged 52 or 53, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin. ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 451; online sources including the National Museum of
Ireland’s‖‘Our‖Irish‖Heritage’‖page. [I]
Taylor, John Kay (fl. 1847), self-taught apprentice of Oldham, published The Land of
Burns and other poems (1848?), and The Burial of Burns: A Poem (Glasgow: William
Hamilton, 1847) (Robert Burns, qv). The‖latter‖volume‖gives‖the‖author’s‖address‖
as‖‘Heady‖Hill,‖near‖Bury,‖Lancashire,‖and‖is printed in Oldham. At the back of
this 32-page booklet containing the poem and its endnotes, is‖a‖‘Sonnet‖to‖John‖
Kay‖Taylor,‖on‖Reading‖the‖Poem‖Entitled‖‚The‖Burial‖of‖Burns‛’,‖by‖John‖
Critchley Prince (qv). Taylor’‖earlier‖volume‖is‖elusive‖to‖track‖down, and may
have‖been‖in‖pamphlet‖form‖like‖the‖later‖one,‖but‖the‖title‖poem,‖‘The‖Land‖of‖
Burns’,‖appeared‖in‖The Loyal Ancient Shepherd’s Quarterly Magazine, 1-4 (1848),
271-2, whose editor was also John Critchley Prince. ~ Ref: Manchester Public
Library copy of the latter; text via Google Books.
Taylor, Kirkwood (fl. 1899), of Derby, railwayman, published ‘Behold the fowls of the
air': thoughts in blank verse on matters social and religious (Leicester and Wallasey,
Cheshire: 1899). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 465. [R]
Taylor, Malcolm (b. 1850), of Dundee, plumber, private secretary, published in
newspapers, emigrated to America with his family at age 10. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6
(1883), 101-7; Ross (1889), 144-51. [S]
Taylor, Peter (b. 1837), of Auchterarder Moor, son of a mason, messenger-boy from
the age of eleven, later a brewery bottler, mechanic, businessman. He published
Autobiography of Peter Taylor (Paisley: Alexander Gardner, 1903), which includes
extracts from his poetry. ~ Ref: Burnett et al (1984), 308 (no. 689). [S] [OP]
Tear,‖‘Widow’‖(fl. c. 1740),‖of‖Ballaugh,‖Isle‖of‖Man,‖‘the‖only‖Manxwoman‖who‖
wrote‖verse‖in‖her‖native‖tongue‖of‖whom‖there‖is‖any‖account’;‖wrote‖a‖verse‖
lament‖for‖her‖two‖sons,‖‘Illiam‖Walker‖as‖Robin‖Tear’‖(‘William‖Walker‖and‖
Robin‖Tear’,‖c. 1740). ~ Ref: A.W. Moore. Manx Worthies (1901), via www.isle-of-
man.com; Robert Corteen Carswell (ed.), Manannan’s Cloak: An Anthology of Manx
Literature (London: Francis Boutle, 2010), 66-71. [F] [C18]
Teenan, Joseph (1830-83), of Edinburgh, tailor, self-educated, lived in London and
East Linton, published Song and satire (London, 1876). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881),
229-33 and 9, xxv; Reilly (2000), 454; NTU. [S] [T]
Teer, John (b. c. 1809), of Manchester, cotton piecer (weaver) from the age of nine,
later a spinner and a warehouseman, published Silent Musings (Manchester, 1869),
which includes an autobiographical preface. ~ Ref: Vincent (1981), 125n; Burnett et
al (1984), 309-10 (no. 692); Reilly (2000), 454. [T]
(?) Teft, Elizabeth (bap. 1723), of Rothwell, Lincolnshire, regarded Duck as a
precedent‖and‖had‖‘want‖of‖learning’;‖but‖Isobel‖Grundy‖in‖ODNB says she was of
middling rank, though not well off financially, and that little is known of her life
except from her verses; published Orinthia’s Miscellany, or, A Compleat Collection of
Poems (1747). ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 217-19; ODNB. [F] [C18]
Telfer, James (1800-62), of Southdean, Roxburghshire, The Saughtrees Poet,
shepherd’s‖son,‖and‖shepherd,‖later‖schoolmaster,‖poet‖and‖novelist;‖
corresponded with his friend Robert White (qv) and with Allan Cunningham (qv).
He published Border Ballads and Other Miscellaneous Pieces (Jedburgh, 1824), which
is reminiscent of Robert Burns (qv; see ODNB),‖contains‖‘The‖Gloamyne‖Buchte’‖
and‖‘The‖Kerlyn’s‖Brocke’, and is dedicated to James Hogg (qv). ~ Ref: Wilson
(1876), II, 217-22; Shanks (1881), 141; Johnson (1992), item 897; Sutton (1995), 930;
ODNB. [S]
(?) Telford, Thomas (1757-1834), of Glendinning sheep farm, Westerkirk, Eskdale,
Dumfriesshire,‖shepherd’s‖son,‖father‖died‖in‖his‖infancy,‖parish‖school‖education,‖
stonemason, later a major civil engineer (Caledonian Canal, Menai Bridge, Gotha
Canal); published a poem in Ruddiman’s Weekly Magazine (5 May 1779), then
Eskdale (London, 1781, Shrewsbury, 1795). According to ODNB, he wrote at least
twelve poems in his life including an extended poem to Robert Burns (qv), 26
 verses of which were printed in many editions of Burns from 1801. ~ Ref: Miller
(1910), 142-3; ODNB. [S] [C18]
Telford, William (b. 1828-95), of Leitholm, Eccles, Berwickshire, drain digger,
emigrated to Canada as a farmer and smith, published The Poems of William
Telford, Smith, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, Bard of Peterborough St. Andrews
Society (Peterborough,‖Canada:‖J.M.‖Stratton,‖Printer,‖1887),‖with‖a‖‘biographical‖
sketch‖of‖the‖author,‖contributed‖by‖an‖admirer’. ~ Ref: Ross (1889), 187-93;
Crockett (1893), 245-7; text as cited via archive.org. [S]
Tennant, George (1819-56), of Airdrie, orphaned weaver, brother to Robert Tennant
(qv),‖though‖quite‖different‖in‖character,‖Robert‖being‖‘of‖a‖buoyant‖and‖cheery‖
disposition’‖while‖George‖‘from‖his‖earliest‖years‖suffered‖from‖constitutional‖
melancholy’;‖their‖contrasting‖spirits‖being‖‘distinctly‖reflected‖in‖their‖writings’;‖a‖
regular contributor to the Airdrie Advertiser. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 301-302; inf.
Kirstie Blair. [S] [T]
Tennant, Robert (1830-79), of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, orphaned handloom weaver,
postal messenger, letter-carrier, brother of George Tennant (qv); published Poems
and Songs (Glasgow: H. Nisbet, 1865); Wayside musings (Airdrie, 1872); see also the
David Thomson (qv) poem‖‘To‖Robert‖Tennant‖*qv+‖(Airdrie’s‖Postman‖Poet)’‖
(Knox, 213), and various other poems reprinted in the account in Knox (317-27) of
the‖Airdrie‖Burns‖Club’s‖(Robert Burns, qv) celebrations‖of‖Tennant’s‖centenary‖in‖
1930, reflecting the enduring popularity of this cheerful and familiar local figure. ~
Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 168-71; Murdoch (1883), 221-6; Knox (1930), 77-95, 213;
Reilly (2000), 455; inf. Kirstie Blair; NTU. [S] [T]
Terry, Joseph (1816-89), waterman’s‖son‖of‖Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
later lived in Dewsbury, Brighouse, Birstal, and for much of his youth lived on a
boat. He worked from the age of six‖in‖a‖‘setting‖shop’, setting cards in machines,
and was later a navigator and provisioner. Terry published Poems (1874). Burnett
et al (1984) mention an 1848 collection but this is as yet unidentified. His
‘compelling’‖unpublished‖autobiography,‖written‖between‖1865‖and‖1868,‖is‖
extracted in John Burnett (ed.), Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies of Childhood,
Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: Allen Lane, 1982), 66-71. ~
Ref: Burnett et al (1984), 310 (no. 693); Reilly (2000), 456.
Terry, later Prince, Lucy (c. 1730-1821), African slave, considered to be first African-
American poet; she was brought to Rhode Island, became as Christian convert,
and married Obijah Prince who had purchased her freedom. They raised six
children, Terry challenged segregationist laws, and‖also‖‘established‖a‖reputation‖
as‖a‖raconteur’.‖Her‖historical‖poem‖‘Bar‖Fight’,‖written when she was sixteen, is
about the Indian attack on Deerfield, MA (1746). ~ Ref: Phillis Wheatley (qv),
Complete Writings, ed. Vincent Carretta (Penguin, 2001), 199-200; Basker (2002), 99-
100. [F] [C18]
Tester, William Hay Leith (b. 1829), ‘La‖Teste’,‖‘Granny‖McDoodle’,‖discussed by
Andrew Elfenbein in Byron and the Victorians (Cambridge, 1995), 86, as a working-
class‖poet‖indebted‖to‖Byron’s‖early‖poems. Tester published Poems, second edition
enlarged, with Autobiography (Elgin, 1867). The frontispiece photograph in the
volume has the poet posing in working clothes, with a large sledgehammer over
his shoulder, while the‖playful‖‘Autobiography’‖at‖the‖back‖of‖the‖volume‖tells‖his‖
life, in‖Scots‖and‖supposedly‖in‖the‖hand‖of‖‘Granny‖McDoodle’. ~ Ref: Burnett et
al (1984), 311 (no. 695); text via www.archive.org. [S]
Thimbleby,‖William‖(d.‖before‖1825),‖of‖Gedney,‖Lincolnshire;‖a‖young‖man‖‘situated‖
in the humblest walks‖of‖life’,‖who‖died‖at‖sixteen,‖and posthumously published
Poems on Various Occasions (1825). There is a copy of it in‖John‖Clare’s‖surviving‖
library, item 375. ~ Ref: Crossan‖(1991),‖31;‖Robert‖Heyes,‖‘Looking‖to‖Futurity’,‖
unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of London, 1999, 123; Mina Gorji, John
Clare and the Place of Poetry (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2008), 139, note
17, citing the Stamford Mercury, 8 July 1825.
Thistlethwaite, James (fl. 1760-80), of Bristol, friend of Thomas Chatterton (qv),
bluecoat boy apprenticed to a stationer; author of The Prediction of Liberty (1776),
full text via Google Books; The Consultation: A Mock-Heroick, in Three Cantos
(Bristol, 1774, 1775), a satire on the 1774 Bristol election, mischievously and
unauthorisedly dedicated to Henry Burgum (the pewterer whom Chatterton had
duped‖with‖the‖‘De‖Bergam‖Pedigree’), who repudiated it in a pamphlet;
Corruption: A Mock Heroic, In Four Cantos. By The Author of the Consultation
(London, 1780), another election satire, this time on the 1780 Bristol election.
Basker (2002), 193-4,‖includes‖‘Bambo‖and‖Giffar,‖An‖African‖Eclogue’,‖as‖by‖
‘Thomas‖Thistlethwaite’‖*‘S.E.’+,‖dated‖1771, presumably influenced by his then
recently‖deceased‖friend‖Chatterton’s‖three‖African‖Eclogues. ~ Ref: Daniel
Wilson, Thomas Chatterton, a Biographical Study (1869); Dobell (1933), no. 1802;
Croft & Beattie, III, nos. 105, 106; ESTC. [C18]
(?) Thom, John (1834-1909), of Airdrie, son of a hosiery manufacturer, worked for an
ironmonger; completed his apprenticeship and worked in Wolverhampton, then
as a cashier at Rochsolloch Iron Works, Airdrie, finally ran an ironmongery;
published Wallace and Other Poems (Glasgow: John S. Marr; Airdrie: Baird &
Hamilton,‖‘Advertiser’‖Office,‖1873), with a Preface as from‖‘Wolverhampton,‖
1873).‖Poems‖include‖‘An‖Address‖to‖the‖Scottish‖Language’,‖‘Lines‖Written‖for‖
the‖Centenary‖Celebration‖of‖the‖Poet‖Robert‖Burns’;‖two‖poems‖on‖Koscius[z]ko
and‖the‖Polish‖struggle,‖both‖entitled‖‘Ode‖to‖Poland’;‖and‖a‖series‖of‖topical
‘Signs‖of‖the‖Times’‖poems). ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 298-9; main text via Google Books.
[S]
(?) Thom, Robert William (1816-1890?),‖of‖Annan,‖Dumfriesshire,‖surgeon’s‖son,‖
draper in Blackburn, lived later in Glasgow, published Poems (Dudley, ?1860);
 Coventry poems (Coventry, ?1860); Dudley poems (Dudley, c. 1865); The Courtship
and Wedding of Jock o’ the Knowe, and Other Poems, second edition (Glasgow, 1878);
The Epochs: A Poem (Glasgow, 1884); Poems (Glasgow, 1880); Poems and Ballads
(Scotch and English) (Glasgow, 1886). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 221-26; Miller
(1910), 274-77; Reilly (1994), 467; Reilly (2000), 458; ODNB. [S]
Thom, William (1798?-1848),‖of‖Aberdeen,‖‘The‖Inverurie‖Poet’,‖weaver,‖later‖lived‖in‖
London and Dundee, patron of J. A. Gordon. He published ‘The‖Blind‖Boy’s‖
Pranks’‖(1841), first published in the Aberdeen Herald and much syndicated,‖‘A‖
Chieftain‖Unknown‖to‖the‖Queen’,‖The Northern Star, September 1842; and an
important collection, Rhymes and Recollections of a Handloom Weaver (London and
Aberdeen, 1844; second edition 1845). Some‖of‖Thom’s‖papers‖are‖in‖the‖
University of Aberdeen Special Collections, GB 0231. ~ Ref: Hood (1870), 404-11;
Wilson (1876), II, 202-6; Murdoch (1883), 81; Miles (1891), III, 249; Alfred M.
Williams, Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry (London: Elliot Stock, 1895), 166-
88; Robert Bruce, William Thom: The Inverurie Poet—A New Look (Aberdeen: Alex P.
Reid & Son, 1970); Vicinus (1974), 233 note; Vincent (1981), 151 and passim;
Maidment (1983), 84-5; Burnett et al (1984), 311-12 (no. 696); Maidment (1987), 22
(image), 32-6, 63-5; William‖Findlay,‖‘Reclaiming‖Local‖Literature:‖William‖Thom‖
and‖Janet‖Hamilton’,‖The History of Scottish Literature: The Nineteenth Century, ed.
Douglas Clifford (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1988), 353-75; Shiach
(1989), 36, 67-70; Scheckner (1989), 311-12, 343; Zlotnick (1998), 176; Sutton (1995),
946; Ashton & Roberts (1999), 46-57; Sales (2002), 84-94; NCSTC; LC 5, 139-52;
ODNB; NTU. [LC5] [S] [T]
(?) Thomas, Ann (fl. 1782-95),‖of‖Millbrook,‖Cornwall,‖naval‖officer’s‖widow,‖
published a novel, and a volume of poems by subscription: Poems on Various
Subjects, by Mrs. Ann Thomas, of Millbrook, Cornwall, an Officer’s Widow of the Royal
Navy (Plymouth: M. Haydon & Son, 1784),‖‘sold‖also...by‖B.‖Law‖...‖London;‖R.‖
Goadby, Sherborne; R. Trewman,‖Exeter;‖and‖by‖the‖author,‖at‖Millbrook’). Croft
& Beattie note the proximity of Millbrook to Plymouth on the other side of the
Tamar estuary, and the long list of subscribers ‘mainly from Plymouth and
Cornwall’. Poems‖include‖‘Siege‖of‖Gibraltar’‖and‖‘On‖Lord‖Rodney’s‖Victory‖of‖
the‖French‖Fleet,‖the‖12th‖of‖April,‖1782’. ~ Ref: Backscheider (2005), 410-11;
Backscheider (2009), 888; Croft & Beattie, III, no. 107. [F] [C18]
(?) Thomas, David (1759-1822), ‘Dafydd‖Ddu‖Eryri’,‖schoolmaster and weaver, won
prizes at multiple eisteddfodau under the auspices of the Gwyneddigion Society
(1790, 1791); eventually left the Society because of ideological differences with
William Owen Pugh, lexicographer, and Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams, qv);
established his own literary societies in Arfon and taught the bardic arts (his
students were called Cywion Dafydd Ddu, ‘Dafydd‖Ddu’s‖chicks’);‖published his
students’‖works‖along‖with‖a‖selection‖his‖own‖poetry‖in‖Corph y Gaingc (1810; 2nd
 posthumous edition‖in‖1834);‖students‖include‖William‖Williams‖(‘Gwilym‖Peris’),‖
Griffith‖Williams‖(‘Gutyn‖Peris’,‖qv),‖Richard‖Jones‖(‘Gwyndaf‖Eryri’),‖Owen‖
Williams‖(‘Owen‖Gwyrfai’,‖qv)‖and‖John‖Roberts‖(‘Siôn‖Lleyn’). ~ Ref: OCLW
(1986); ODNB. [W] [T] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Thomas, Ebenezer (1802-63), ‘Eben‖Fardd’,‖schoolmaster and grocer, born in
Llanarmon, Caernarvonshire, and settled at Clynnog Fawr; son of a weaver, his
mother‖died‖in‖1821;‖due‖to‖poverty,‖did‖not‖receive‖an‖education;‖‘took‖to‖a‖
wanton,‖drunken‖life‖and<lost‖his‖religious‖faith’‖but‖eventually‖returned‖to‖the‖
Calvinist Methodists (1839); gained acclaim when he won the chair at the Powys
Eisteddfod (1824) for an awdl (‘Dinystr Jerusalem’) imitating an epic poem by
Owen Goronwy (qv); won two other chairs at Liverpool in 1840 and at Llangollen
in 1858; published Gweithiau Barddonol (c. 1873); Detholion o Ddyddiadur Eben Fardd,
ed. E. G. Millward (1968). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Thomas, Frederick (fl. 1883), Devonshire hatter, published Humorous and Other
Poetic Pictures: Legends and Stories of Devon (London, Plymouth and Exeter: W.
Kent & Co and others, 1883). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 467; NTU.
Thomas, George (c. 1791-1872), born at Newtown, Montgomeryshire; owner of a
corn-grinding business in Welshpool, later (1829) settled in Llandysil,
Montgomery, as a schoolmaster and poet; wrote mainly mock-heroic and satirical
verse; published The Otter Hunt and the Death of Roman (1817); The Welsh Flannel
(undated); History of the Chartist and the Bloodless Wars of Montgomeryshire (1840);
The Death of Rowton (undated); The Extinction of the Mormons (undated). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986); Charles Cox, Catalogue 51 (2005), item 273. [W] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Thomas, John (1730-1804?), of Myddfai, Carmarthenshire, manservant, hymn-
writer, later an itinerant schoolmaster then a Congregationalist minister;
published his hymns in a series of volumes, Caniadau Seion (1759-86), but is better
known for his spiritual autobiography, Rhad Ras (1810). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
[C18]
(?) Thomas, John (1742-1818),‖‘Eos‖Gwynedd’,‖of Cerrigydrudion, Denbighshire,
farmer, shopkeeper and first parish clerk of Pentrefoelas. Posthumously
published Eos Gwynedd (Nightingale of Gwynedd, [1845]). ~ Ref: Charnell-White
(2012), 120-31, 411-13. [W]
(?) Thomason, Mary, (1863-1937), dialect poet, teacher at a Wesleyan primary school
in Leigh, her Warp and Weft: Cuts from a Lancashire Loom published posthumously
(Leigh 1938). ~ Ref: Hollingworth (1977), 155. [OP] [F]
Thompson, Hugh (b. 1847), of Rothesay, iron moulder, letter-carrier, published a
volume of Poems and Essays (Rothesay, 1885); poems in Edwards. ~ Ref: Edwards,
8 (1885), 205-9. [S] [T]
(?) Thompson, William Gill (1796-1844), of Newcastle, printer, journalist and poet,
published The Coral Wreath and Other Poems (1821). ~ Ref: Welford (1895), III, 514-
16.
Thomson, Alex E. (1864-86), of Netherton, Brechin, factory worker, painter and poet.
~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 353-5. [S]
Thomson, Cecile McNeill, née Sword (fl. 1882), of Ardlissa, Argyllshire; father
moved to Selkirk when she was a child, and leased a small farm; at 17 she became
a‖dressmaker,‖but‖worked‖also‖as‖lady’s‖maid‖and‖nursery‖governess;‖published
in newspapers and magazines, and a collection, ’Tween the Gloamin’ and the Mirk:
Poems and Songs (Aberdeen: A. King and Co.,1882). Her poems, generally
sentimental‖and‖descriptive,‖included‖the‖titles‖‘Grannie’s‖Bairn’‖and‖‘sunset‖on‖
Loch‖Awe.’‖Ref:‖Edwards, 4 (1882), 88-93; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Thomson, David (1774-1855),‖‘The‖Galashiels‖Bard’,‖of‖Galashiels,‖weaver,‖‘artisan
and‖amateur‖poet’.‖Lockhart‖writes‖in‖his‖life‖of‖Scott:‖‘I‖have‖already‖said‖
something of his friendly relations with the people of the only manufacturing
village in his neighbourhood. Among other circumstances highly grateful to them
was his regular attendance on the day when their Deacon and Convenor for the
year entered on his office—which solemnity occurred early in October. On the
approach of these occasions he usually received an invitation in verse, penned by
a worthy weaver named Thomson, but known and honoured all over Teviotdale
as‖‚the‖Galashiels‖Poet.‛‖At‖the‖first‖of‖these‖celebrations‖that‖ensued‖the‖
forthcoming of Rob Roy, this bard delighted his compeers, and not less their
guest,‖by‖chanting‖a‖clever‖parody‖on‖the‖excellent‖song‖of‖‚Donald Caird,‛‖i.‖e.‖
Tinker, the chorus being—in‖place‖of‖Scott’s:‖‚Dinna‖let‖the‖Sherra‖ken‖/‖Donald‖
Cairn’s‖come‖again‛—‚Think ye does the Sherra ken / Rob Mac Gregor’s come again‛‖
and that was thenceforth a standing ditty on the day of the Deacon. The Sherrif’s‖
presence sat the installation of 1822 was requested by the following epistle—’‖
Lockhart quotes three 16-line‖stanzas‖beginning‖‘This‖year‖we‖rather‖’gin‖to‖falter‖
/‖If‖an‖epistle‖we‖should‖send‖ye’,‖and‖then‖continues,‖‘It‖was‖a‖pleasant‖thing‖to
see the annual procession of those weavers of Galashiels [...] as they advanced
from‖their‖village‖with‖John‖of‖Skye‖*Scott’s‖piper+‖at‖their‖head,‖and‖the‖banners‖
of‖their‖craft‖all‖displayed...’‖Thomson‖also‖visited‖Scott,‖in‖the‖company‖of‖James‖
Hogg (qv),‖in‖1822,‖as‖recorded‖in‖Scott’s‖Journal. ~ Ref: J.G. Lockhart, Memoirs of
the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart (Edinburgh: Robert Cadel, 1837), IX, 226-7, via
lordbyron.org; The Journal of Sir Walter Walter Scott (Edinburgh: David Douglas,
1891), 46. [S] [T]
Thomson, David (1806-70),‖of‖Roseneath,‖Dunbartonshire,‖shepherd’s‖son,‖rural‖
keeper, published Musings Among the Heather: being Poems Chiefly in the Scottish
Dialect, by the late David Thomson, arranged and edited (Edinburgh. 1881), wrote a
 poem‖‘To Robert‖Tennant‖*qv+‖(Airdrie’s‖Postman‖Poet)’‖(Knox,‖213). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 2 (1881), 112-17; Knox (1930), 211-17; Reilly (2000), 459; NTU. [S]
Thomson, Hope A. (b. 1863), of Bellshill, Lanarkshire, tailor, brother of William
Thomson (1860-83, qv), educated at Bothwell village school, and the family then
moved to Glasgow, where Hope was put in the care of an uncle who was a
clothier, where he learned the tailoring trade. He subsequently lived in
Motherwell, Inverness and Paisley, before moving to Portree on the Isle of Skye
where he continued to work as a tailor. He had been a reader from childhood and
at‖fifteen‖was‖acquainted‖with‖‘the‖works‖of‖all‖the‖great‖English‖poets’.‖His‖first‖
poem was published in the Glasgow Weekly Herald in 1882, and he continued to
contribute‖to‖this‖and‖other‖newspapers.‖Edwards‖prints‖his‖poems‖‘The‖
Gloaming’,‖‘The‖Shores‖of‖the‖Minch’,‖‘Amid‖the‖Highland‖Glens’,‖‘John‖Howard‖
Payne’‖and‖‘Summer‖in‖Skye’. ~ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893), 152-5. [S]
Thom[p]son, James (1763-1832), ‘The‖Kenleith‖Bard’,‖weaver of Kenleith, born in
Edinburgh, but at a few months old sent to his maternal grandfather, a weaver, in
Kenleith in the parish of Currie, near Edinburgh. At seven he attended the village
school, but contracted smallpox and was taken out to be home educated, while
being put to work at herding. He would‖take‖to‖the‖field‖‘in‖his‖pocket‖some‖
ballads‖or‖book‖of‖songs,‖which‖chance‖had‖thrown‖in‖his‖way’,‖which‖filled‖the‖
hours and gave him an appetite for poetry. At thirteen he began weaving, but in
his‖spare‖time‖‘went‖to‖school‖to‖learn‖to‖write’‖and‖‘amused‖himself in making
rhymes‖on‖his‖schoolfellows’.‖Notwithstanding‖this‖training,‖he‖usually‖kept‖his‖
poems in his head, When his grandfather died he moved to the parish of Colinton,
but shortly returned to Kenleith where he lived for the rest of his life, which was
‘uneventful’‖but‖valued‖by‖his‖community, for his practical skills at butchery,
barbering and bloodletting, and for his verses. Thomson published Poems in the
Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh, 1801),‖with‖‘six‖or‖seven‖hundred’‖subscribers‖
‘including‖most‖of‖the‖nobility‖and‖leading‖personages‖in‖Edinburgh‖and‖
surrounding‖district’‖(Edwards); Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. A New
Edition, Containing Many Poems Never Before Printed (Leith: Printed by William
Reid & Co. for the author, 1819), with a list of subscribers and an autobiographical
sketch; and A Poem, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, on Raising and Selling the Dead,
and the Melancholy Spectacle which was presented to the Inhabitants of Currie, on their
taking two Dead Bodies from a Cart in its way from Lanark to Edinburgh, by James
Thomson, The Kenleith Bard (Leith: printed by William Reid for the author, 1821),
based on a‖real‖‘resurrectionist’‖event.‖Thomson‖in‖a‖Preface‖notes‖that‖he‖was‖‘an‖
eye-witness‖to‖the‖greater‖part‖of‖all‖that‖happened’, while Johnson reproduces
the title page, which has as an epigraph a four-line‖quotation‖from‖the‖poem:‖‘Of‖
a’‖the‖articles‖for‖sale,‖/‖Whilk‖bodies‖think‖is‖lawfu’,‖/‖To‖sell‖the‖Dead,‖it‖bangs‖
the hale,—/‖There’s‖something‖in’t‖that’s‖awfu’!’ Edwards‖prints‖Thomson’s
 eclogue‖‘Sandy‖and‖Jock,‖subtitled‖‘A‖Dialogue‖betwixt‖two‖old‖Men‖at‖the‖Kirk’
and‖his‖poems‖‘On‖Stealing’‖and‖‘Come,‖Hing‖yer‖Heads’ Ref: Edwards, 15 (1893),
315-20; Johnson (1992), items 905-6. [S] [T]
Thomson, James (1827-88), of Bowden, herder then wood turner whose poems
include‖‘Hogmanay’ and ‘Hairst’; published Doric Lays and Lyrics (Edinburgh,
1870; second enlarged edition Glasgow, 1884). ~ Ref: Edwards, 10 (1887), 266-73
and 12, xxiii; Douglas (1891), 256-7, 313, Reilly (2000), 460; NTU. [S]
Thomson, James (1832-1914),‖‘Earnest’,‖of‖Wynd,‖Dundee,‖factory‖worker,‖‘lapper‖to‖
trade’,‖humorous‖and‖descriptive‖poet,‖published in local newspapers. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 389-90; press cutting of a letter to the editor from his daughter
(Mrs)‖Jessie‖Forbes‖(née‖Thompson)‖of‖Aberdeen,‖headed‖‘A‖Dundee‖Song‖
Writer’,‖paper‖unidentified‖but‖clearly‖Scottish‖and‖local,‖letter‖dated‖14 February
1933, tucked in loosely to the copy of Edwards, I in the NTU special collection. [S]
(?) Thomson (formerly Thompson), James (1834-82),‖‘B.V.’, of Port Glasgow,
orphaned‖son‖of‖a‖merchant‖ship’s‖officer, also James Thomson, and an‖‘Irvingite’‖
Christian revivalist dressmaker, Sarah Kennedy; after his father was struck down
with‖a‖‘paralytic‖stroke’‖in‖1840‖and‖his‖mother‖died‖two‖years‖later,‖he‖was‖
brought up in a London orphanage, the Royal Caledonian Asylum, and educated
at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, after which he joined the army as a
teacher, though he was dismissed in 1862. He worked for short periods in
Colorado and Spain but otherwise lived out a precarious existence as an author in
London. Thomson is now regarded as a major Victorian poet and freethinker, best
known for his poetic account of The City of Dreadful Night (1880), which offers a
pessimistic view of the dehumanising effect of the modern city, fuelled in part by
Thomson’s‖own‖darkness,‖long-term problems with depression, alcoholism and
insomnia, but equally reflecting external reality and chiming with portrayals of
the city in other writers of his time, including those of the French poet Charles
Baudelaire. It influenced later writers including Rudyard Kipling and T. S. Eliot,
and‖its‖‘potency’‖(Edwin‖Morgan’s‖word)‖lived‖on‖in‖many‖forms.‖Thomson also
translated poems by the German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine and the Italian
pessimistic poet Giacomo Leopardi whom he particularly admired, and published
Vane’s Story, Weddah and Om-el-Bonain, and Other Poems (1881). Much of
Thomson’s‖prose,‖often‖influenced‖by‖the‖ideas‖of‖the‖atheist‖and‖activist‖Charles‖
Bradlaugh, whom he met whilst on military service in Ireland, was published as
Satires and Profanities (London, 1884), with an Introduction by G. W. Foote, who
considered‖Thomson‖‘the‖most‖brilliant‖genius‖who‖has‖wielded‖the‖pen‖in‖the‖
service of Freethought’ since Percy Shelley,‖and‖‘a‖born‖satirist‖as‖well‖as‖a‖born‖
poet’ (edition sourced via gutenberg.org). One‖of‖Thomson’s‖poems‖reflects‖a‖
memorable argument between his friend Charles Bradlaugh and the Chartist poet
Thomas Cooper (qv), which took place at the Hall of Science, City Road, London,
 in‖1863‖or‖1864:‖‘Versification‖of‖Thomas‖Cooper’s‖Argument‖in‖a‖Debate on the
Existence of God between that Gentleman and‖Charles‖Bradlaugh’‖(Ridler,‖86 and
note, 265). Thomson‖used‖the‖pseudonym‖‘B.V.’‖in‖his‖writings,‖which‖stood‖for‖
‘Bysshe‖Vanolis’,‖from‖the‖poet P. B. Shelley,‖and‖the‖German‖poet‖‘Novalis’
whose poetry he translated, the two initials both marking his literary touchstones
and distinguishing himself from the popular eighteenth-century Scottish poet
James Thomson (1700-1748),‖author‖of‖‘Rule‖Britannia’‖and‖The Seasons. Modern
editions include Poems and Some Letters of James Thomson, ed. Anne Ridler
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1963); The City of Dreadful Night,
Introduced by Edwin Morgan (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2001); James Thomson
(B.V.), The Complete Poems, ed. A. J. Spatz (Arlington, VA: Charles & Wonder,
2012). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 160-72; Miles (1891), V, 327; Robert Crawford, The
Savage and the City in the Work of T. S. Eliot (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1987), chapter 2 (discusses Thomson and Eliot); Ricks (1987), 442-56; Leonard
(1990), 281-95; Tom Leonard, Places of the Mind: The Life and Work of James Thomson
(‘B.V.’) (London: Cape, 1993); Isobel‖Armstrong,‖‘James‖Thomson:‖Atheist,‖
Blasphemer and Anarchist: The‖Grotesque‖Sublime’,‖in Armstrong (1993), 460-78;
Reilly (1994), 470; Sutton (1995), 948; Richard Pawley, Secret City: The Emotional
Life of James Thomson (B.V.) (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America,
2001); ODNB/DNB; Wikipedia. [S]
Thomson, James (b. 1835 [Edwards gives 1825]), of Rothes, Speyside, Morayshire,
crofter’s‖son,‖herder,‖gardener,‖published The Captive Chief: A Tale of Flodden Field,
and Other Poems, second edition (Edinburgh, 1871), Northumbria; The Captive Chief,
and Other Poems, third edition (Alnwick, 1881). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 380-4;
Murdoch (1883), 260-2; Reilly (2000), 460. [S]
(?) Thomson, Margaret Wallace (fl. before 1890), daughter of a card-cutter and
warper. She was distinguished in academic and musical accomplishments,
working first as a teacher and then after marriage as a church organist. Arguably
Thomson should be considered middle-class, by her own attainments. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), II, 556-62; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Thomson,‖Neil‖(b.‖1823),‖of‖Glasgow,‖‘The‖Hyde‖Park‖Foundry‖Man’, tinsmith,
soldier, prison warder, published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886),
388-94. [S]
(?) Thomson, Robert (fl. 1885), of Alloa, clerk in the Goods Department of the
Caledonian‖Railway,‖Glasgow,‖who‖contributed‖‘occasionally‖to‖the‖poet’s‖corner‖
of the Alloa Journal’. ~ Ref: Beveridge (1885), 174-81. [S] [R]
Thomson, Robert Burns (1817-87), weaver then mill manager, grandson of Robert
Burns (qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 151-60 and 12, xvi; Leonard (1990), 235. [S]
[T]
Thomson, Samuel (1766-1816), of Carngreine, County Antrim, Ulster weaver poet,
schoolmaster, publisher of the United Irishmen publication Northern Star, met
Robert Burns (qv); recently extensively recovered in the scholarship of Jennifer
Orr (see refs). ~ Ref: Carpenter‖(1998),‖482;‖Jennifer‖Orr,‖‘To‖Mr‖Robert‖Burns:‖
Verse‖Epistles‖from‖an‖Irish‖Poetical‖Circle’,‖in‖Burns Lives! (undated online
publication on the Electric Scotland web page); Jennifer Orr, ‘Constructing‖the‖
Ulster Labouring-Class Poet: The Case‖of‖Samuel‖Thomson’,‖in‖Blair & Gorji
(2012), 34-54, and Jennifer Orr (ed.), The Correspondence of Samuel Thomson (1766-
1816): Fostering an Irish Writers’ Circle (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012); Orr
(2015),‖passim‖(Thomson‖‘forms‖the‖main‖focus‖of‖this‖study’‖(8),‖and‖there‖are‖
two columns of entries on Thomson in the index); LC 3, 261-6; Radcliffe. [I] [T]
[LC3] [C18]
Thomson, Thomas (1800-79), of Loanhead, Midlothian, house painter and portraitist,
published poems in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 95-98. [S]
Thomson,‖Thomas‖(b.‖1848),‖of‖Edinburgh,‖compositor,‖reporter,‖printer’s‖reader,‖
prose writer and critic. ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883), 78-82. [S]
Thomson, William (1797-1887), ‘Theta’,‖of Kennoway, Fife, worked in linen
manufacture, grocer and general merchant, postmaster at Kennoway, published
Verses (1866); Poetical Recreations (Cupar, 1877). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 321-2 and
12, xi; Reilly (2000), 460. [S] [T]
Thomson, William, shepherd, handloom weaver, trade-unionist, editor, Chartist;
published poetry in the Chartist Circular, which he edited; he was also general
secretary of the Scottish Chartists. ~ Ref: Schwab (1993), 218. [S] [C] [T]
(?) Thomson, William (1860-83), of Glasgow, tailor, brother of Hope Thomson (qv),
contributor to newspapers and periodicals, published Leddy May, and Other Poems
(Glasgow, 1883). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 156-7, 5 (1883), 241-53 and 9 (1886), xxv;
Reilly (1994), 471. [S] [T]
Thorne, Ada Mary (b. c. 1881 - d. 1974), née Williams, sister to Alfred and Charlotte
Williams (qqv), she worked at the Great Western Railway Factory in Swindon,
like her brother. In 1960 the Swindon Advertiser published an interview with her in
which she offered insights into the life of her family, and their love of music and
singing:‖‘We‖had‖some‖wonderful‖times‖in‖the‖old‖days.‖Everybody‖at‖home could
play one musical instrument or another. We had a melodeon, concertina, harp,
tambourine, pipes and mouth-organ. Alfred always joined in with the
concertina—he knew many folk songs but his great favourite was The Last Rose
of Summer. By the fireside at night-time, mother used to take up the melodeon
and play popular tunes and folk-song melodies of the day. We would gather
round‖and‖join‖in‖the‖music‖and‖singing’‖(quoted‖on‖the‖AWHS‖web‖page).‖With‖
Alfred’s‖encouragement‖Ada‖published‖a‖small‖pamphlet‖of‖poems,‖A Summer*’s+
Day and other Poems (London: Arthur H. Stockwell, [1918]). ~ Ref: Leonard Clark,
 Alfred Williams, His Life and Work‖(Bristol:‖William‖George’s‖Sons,‖1945);‖Alfred‖
Williams Heritage Society (AWHS) web page. [F] [W] [OP]
Thorpe, Thomas (b. 1829-92), of Milton, Bowling, Dunbartonshire, moved to
Strathblane with his family, son of a block-printer, served apprenticeship as a
block-printer, then worked as a warehouseman, published poems in magazines
and a privately printed volume, Poems by the Wood, Field and Fireside (1883). ~ Ref:
Edwards, 4 (1882), 22-7; biography and selection of poems published online on the
Strathblane web page. [S]
(?)‖Threlfall,‖Jeanette‖(1821-80),‖of‖Blackburn,‖Lancashire,‖the‖daughter‖of‖Henry‖
Threlfall,‖a‖wine‖merchant;‖she‖early‖became‖an‖orphan,‖shuttled‖between‖
relatives,‖and‖later‖suffered‖two‖accidents—the‖former‖lamed‖and‖mutilated‖her;‖
the‖latter‖rendered‖her‖a‖lifelong‖invalid.‖The‖misfortune‖visited‖upon‖Jeanette‖did‖
not‖negate‖her‖devotion‖to‖God,‖and‖she‖dedicated‖much‖of‖her‖time‖to‖composing‖
Christian‖poems‖and‖hymns.‖In‖1873,‖as‖Jeanette‖mused‖upon‖the‖story‖of‖Palm‖
Sunday,‖she‖wrote‖the‖poem,‖‘Hosanna,‖Loud‖Hosanna’.‖It‖became‖a‖hymn‖that‖
continues‖to‖be‖sung‖in‖many‖churches‖today.‖She‖published‖Woodsorrel; or, Leaves
from a Retired Home (1856),‖Sunshine and Shadow: Poems by Jeanette Threlfall, with
introduction‖(London‖1873).‖~‖Ref:‖Reilly‖(2000),‖461-2;‖online‖sources.‖*F+‖*—Tim
Burke+
Thwaite, John (d. 1941), of Hawes, Yorkshire, shopkeeper and auctioneer, largely
autodidactic dialect poet whose‖poems‖on‖birds‖and‖animals‖such‖as‖‘To‖a‖
Kingfisher’‖are‖‘particularly‖distinctive’;‖he‖also‖wrote‖a‖poem‖on‖the‖1910‖Hawes‖
Junction railway disaster. ~ Ref: Smith, Dales (1987), pp. 10-11, 22-6. [OP]
Todd, Adam Brown (b. 1822), of Mauchline, Ayrshire, in a family of fifteen of whom
six survived, ploughboy, herder for his father, journalist, published a vol. of verse
in 1846, several other small volumes and a novel; The Poetical Works of A. B. Todd
with Autobiography and Portrait (1906). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 130-5; Burnett et al
(1984;‖booksellers’‖catalogues. [S]
(?) Todd, Maggie (b. 1866), of Campertown, Dundee, daughter of a farmer and miller
who leased Windy Mill, Murroes. She published in People’s Journal and a
collection, Burnside Lyrics (Dundee, 1900). Her poems‖include‖‘The‖Summer‖
Queen’,‖‘We’re‖Scotland’s‖Bairns‖Yet’,‖‘The‖Bonnets‖o’‖Bonnie‖Dundee’,‖‘My‖
Laddie‖Days’,‖and‖are‖often‖mildly‖comic‖and‖patriotic. ~ Ref: Edwards, 13 (1890),
33-8; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
Towers, Walter (b. 1841), of Carronshore, Stirlingshire, pattern-maker, songwriter,
published Poems, Songs and Ballads (Glasgow, 1885). ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 345-
9; Reilly (1994), 476. [S]
(?) Townsend, David (b. 1807), of Kettering, Northamptonshire, singer, songwriter
and violinist on the streets of Kettering, published a volume of poems entitled The
Gipsies of Northamptonshire: their manner of life, festive amusements, and fortune telling,
 fifty years ago (Kettering, 1877); Heroes of Kettering, and other records, by David
Townsend, now in the 85th year of his age (Kettering, 1892); The Triumphs of Freedom
(1896); Miscellaneous Pieces (1897). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 477, Reilly (2000), 465;
Northamptonshire Libraries Catalogue; BL.
Train, Joseph (1779-1852), of Sorn, Ayrshire, apprentice, militiaman, manufacturing
agent, exciseman; his father was a land steward, later forced to become a day
labourer; Train was apprenticed to a weaver but worked for most of his life as an
exciseman and indulging his passion for antiquarian lore, which he collected in
numerous substantial historical volumes (with mixed financial success). He
corresponded frequently with Walter Scott and helped to secure items for Scott's
museum; Scott, in turn, tried to support Train as he could and invited him for
multiple visits to Edinburgh. He published Poetical Reveries (1806), Strains of the
Mountain (Ballantyne, 1814), and other works including historical writings. ~ Ref:
Wilson (1876), II, 30-32, Johnson 46 (2003), no. 334; ODNB. [S]
Tulloch, Jessie (d. 1913), daughter of a Tipperary shopkeeper a gifted singer who ran
a‖stationary‖shop,‖and‖a‖‘constant‖contributor’‖to‖the‖Irish Monthly (15 poems
published between June 1888 and March 1905). She also contributed to The Boston
Pilot, the Catholic Herald, The Gael and the Irish Fireside. ~ Ref: Colman (1996) 218-
19. [F] [I]
Turnbull, Gavin (c. 1765 to c. 1816), of Hawick, Kilmarnock, poet and actor, carpet
weaver who‖‘slept‖on‖straw‖in‖an‖unfurnished‖garret‖while‖composing‖songs‖and‖
studying‖the‖English‖poets’‖(ODNB), a friend of Alexander Wilson, ornithologist
(qv); emigrated to America. He was also friends with and was supported by
David Sillar (qv) and Robert‖Burns‖(qv).‖Burns‖wrote,‖‘Possibly,‖as‖he‖is‖an‖old‖
friend of mine, I may be prejudiced in his favour: but I like some of his pieces very
much’‖(ODNB). Poem subscriptions advertised in American publications though
the volumes seem not to have been completed. He published Poetical Essays
(Glasgow: David Niven, 1788); Poems (1794). There is now a full scholarly edition
of his work available, The Collected Poems of Gavin Turnbull Online, ed. Patrick
Scott, John Knox and Rachel Mann (eighteenth-century commons website, 2016). ~
Ref: Eyre-Todd (1896); Croft & Beattie, III, no, 126; ODNB; Radcliffe. [S] [T] [C18]
Turner, Ben (b. 1863), of Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, weaver, Alderman, later a
national trade union leader and socialist politician, has four Yorkshire dialect
poems‖in‖the‖England‖anthology,‖including‖‘Oh!‖Drat‖this‖Working‖Neet‖and‖
Day’,‖and‖writes‖autobiographically of labour. Turner published two poetry
collections, Dialect and Other Pieces from a Yorkshire Loom (Heckmondwyke: Senior
& Co., for the Author, 1909), and Rhymes, Verses and Poems from a Yorkshire Loom
(Pontefract: W. McGowan, 1934).‖His‖poems‖also‖appear‖in‖John‖Hartley’s‖(qv)‖
Clock Almanack for 1932 in the Yorkshire Dialect. His prose works include A Short
Account of the Rise and Progress of the Heavy Woollen District Branch of the General
 Union of Textile Workers (Yorkshire Factory Times, 1917), Sixty Years of Trade
Unionism, 1868-1928 (Trades Union Congress, 1928), and an autobiography, About
Myself, 1863-1930 (1930). Turner supplied Forewords to several books including
Kith and Kin (1931),‖a‖selection‖of‖short‖stories‖by‖‘Jenny‖Wren’‖(Jane‖Atkinson,‖
qv). ~ Ref: Moorman (1917), xxxvii, 81-2; Smith, West (1982), 35-40; England (1983),
18-19, 40, 53; Burnett et al (1984), 322-3 (no. 721); online sources. [T] [OP]
Turner, George (1805-86), of Dunfermline, tailor, soldier, abstinence advocate, blind
poet.‖As‖an‖infant‖he‖moved‖with‖his‖family‖to‖Ayr.‖He‖was‖apprenticed‖‘quite‖
young’‖to‖an‖Edinburgh‖tailor‖but‖did‖not‖take‖to‖the‖work,‖and‖enlisted‖in‖the‖
Argyle Highlanders in 1826, serving for seventeen years before retiring in 1843
due to the unfortunate loss of his sight. In 1868 Turner moved to Arbroath, where
most of his poems were written, and he lived there for the rest of his life. Edwards
notes‖his‖strong‖support‖for‖temperance,‖and‖praises‖his‖‘strikingly‖pure’‖Doric‖
(Scots). He‖is‖‘brimful‖and‖overflowing‖with‖pity‖for‖the‖poor‖and‖the‖oppressed’‖
and‖‘writes‖with‖a‖purity‖of‖sentiment‖and‖depth‖of‖feeling‖rarely‖to‖be‖met‖with’.‖
Edwards‖includes‖four‖poems,‖‘The‖Caumstane‖Laddie’,‖‘The‖Wee‖Shifter’s‖
Lament’,‖‘Stanzas‖on‖my‖Blindness’‖(in‖‘standard’‖English),‖and‖‘Auld‖Bessie’s‖
Lament’. Edwards rightly draws particular attention to the first two of these,
which‖confirm‖the‖claim‖about‖his‖pity‖for‖the‖poor.‖In‖‘The‖Caumstane‖Laddie’,‖a‖
door-to-door‖seller‖of‖caumstane‖(‘a‖soft‖kind of clay used for colouring
hearthstones and door-steps’,‖DSL) is described as he appears on a doorstep. He is
an‖orphan,‖shoeless‖and‖poorly‖clothed,‖with‖a‖‘wee‖bit‖cake’‖in‖his‖hand‖that‖
someone‖his‖kindly‖given‖him,‖and‖a‖‘pockie’‖full‖of‖caumstane‖to sell. The
householder, who is the speaker of the poem, invites him in and feeds him,
offering‖a‖brief‖respite‖from‖the‖cold‖reception‖he‖gets‖elsewhere,‖with‖‘sae‖mony‖
caudrife‖looks’‖as‖he‖tries‖to‖sell‖his‖wares.‖‘The‖Wee‖Shifters‖Lament’‖begins‖with‖
a shift-worker’s‖running‖to‖work‖in‖torn‖clothing,‖desperately‖upset‖because‖the‖
whistle‖has‖gone‖and‖she‖fears‖she‖will‖not‖get‖in,‖and‖so‖will‖lose‖a‖day’s‖work.‖
Her mother is ill, her father a hopeless drunkard (tucking into the verse a drop of
Turner’s‖temperance medicine), her siblings are both dead. In these poems the
voice and stance of the individual shown persuade the reader, and negate any
sense of melodramatising. They seem like real lives and common troubles. The
‘caumstane‖laddie’‖shows‖the‖hardship of small-scale‖entrepreneurial‖and‖‘home’‖
work,‖while‖the‖shifter’s‖lament‖calls‖out‖the‖brutal‖inflexibility‖of‖industrialised‖
time-work discipline. ~ Ref: Edwards, 5 (1883), 261-4; online sources. [S] [T]
(?) Tweddell, Florence, née Cole (b. 1833), of Stokesley, Cleveland, daughter of
Thomas Cole, the Stokesley parish clerk, married George Markham Tweddell (b.
1823, author of The People’s History of Cleveland—see Andrews (1885), 49-54), and
was matron of Bury Industrial School. she published a‖‘slender‖volumes‖of‖dialect‖
verse‖and‖prose’,‖Rhymes and Sketches to Illustrate the Cleveland Dialect (1875), noted
 by‖Moorman‖for‖its‖simplicity,‖homely‖charm‖and‖humour,‖‘well-illustrated by
the‖song,‖‚Dean’t‖mak‖gam‖me‛’.‖Her‖‘most‖sustained’‖poem‖is‖‘T’‖Awd‖
Cleveland‖Customs’,‖and‖she‖is‖also‖well-known‖for‖her‖prose‖story‖‘Awd‖Gab‖o’‖
Steers’. ~ Ref: Andrews (1885), 55-60; Moorman (1917), xxxii-xxxiii (mis-naming
her as Elizabeth Tweddell), 43-6, 121-2. [F]
Tweedale, Robert (b. 1832), of Ballymoney, Country Down, Johnstone and Paisley,
shoemaker,‖son‖of‖an‖Irish‖agricultural‖labourer,‖author‖of‖‘Co-operation: The
Brotherhood‖of‖Man’‖in‖Brown, II, 355-7. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 354-58;
Leonard (1990), 334-6. [I] [S] [SM]
Twissleton, Tom (1845-1917), working farmer, of Settle, Yorkshire, autodidact,
published dialect‖poems‖in‖the‖1860s‖including‖‘The‖Fair’,‖and‖‘The‖Husband‖and‖
Wife’;‖’a‖disciple‖of‖Burns’‖(Moorman; Robert Burns, qv). His Poems in the Craven
Dialect (1869) ran through several editions. ~ Ref: Moorman (1917), xxxiii-xxxiv,
56-62; Smith, Dales (1987), pp. 9-10, 18-21.
Tyre, John (b. 1824), of Paisley, pattern-designer, published a small selection of his
poems in Lights and Shadows of the Fireside (1867); four poems published in Brown.
~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 193-97. [S]
Umpleby, Stanley (1887-1953), North Yorkshire station master and dialect poet. ~
Ref: K. E. Smith, The Dialect Muse (Wetherby: Ruined Cottage Publications, 1979),
22-3. [OP]
(?) Upton, Catherine, (fl. 1780s), grew up in Nottingham and moved to Gibraltar,
‘probably‖as‖the‖wife‖of‖a‖soldier’‖(Todd).‖She‖was‖possibly‖widowed,‖as‖she‖
wrote Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Verse: by Mrs. Upton, authoress of the Siege of
Gibraltar (1784) to support several children. This collection was dedicated to
General Boyd, the governor of Gibraltar. The Siege of Gibraltar was criticised for
poor language and versification, but Upton protested that Dryden and Pope are
praised when they take liberties with their metre (Todd). In a letter to her father in
Nottingham,‖Upton‖describes‖London‖in‖terms‖of‖‘rattling‖coaches’‖and‖the‖
‘discordant‖cries’‖of‖chimney‖sweeps.‖She‖shows‖annoyance‖at‖the‖double‖
standards that ascribe virtue to women but education to men. This may help
explain the discrepancy between presenting herself as uneducated to the Critical
Review and yet earning a living from teaching, the double standard by which
women like Upton were expected to teach children, but not benefit from an
education themselves. ~ Ref: Todd (1987), 311 [F] [C18] [—Dawn Whatman]
Upton, William C. (fl. 1882-7), of Ardagh, County Limerick, tradesman, moved to
America around 1882. Upton wrote occasionally for the Irish newspapers, and
published Cuchulain, A Dramatic poem (Dublin, 1887). He also wrote the story
‘Uncle‖Pat’s‖Cabin’.‖He‖is‖included‖in‖Emerald Gems (Dublin, 1885). ~ Ref:
O’Donoghue (1912), 463. [I] [US]
Usher, John (1810-29), Lammermoor sheep-herder, attended Edinburgh University
to train to become a minister, but died before he had qualified; author of
‘Lammermoor’,‖published in Crockett. ~ Ref: Crockett (1893), 208-9. [S]
(?) Varley, Isabella, later Banks (1821-97), also known by her husband's name as
‘Mrs.‖G.‖Linneaus‖Banks’‖(qv),‖member‖of‖the‖Lancashire‖Literary‖Association‖
(formed‖from‖the‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖group‖of‖Manchester‖poets),‖novelist‖and‖poet,‖
received numerous grants from the Royal Literary Fund, author of The Manchester
Man, a popular novel. Her father, James Varley, was a chemist and amateur
artist. When she was a child, a smoky chimney damaged her eyesight. The
Manchester Guardian published‖Isabella’s‖poem,‖A Dying Girl to Her Mother, when
she was sixteen, and her collection of poetry entitled Ivy Leaves was published in
1843. Prior to her marriage to the journalist and poet George Linnaeus Banks in
1846, Isabella was forced to support herself running a school at Cheetham in
Lancashire following a lawsuit in which her father lost £10,000 over a bleaching
process‖he‖had‖invented.‖~‖As‖a‖result‖of‖George’s‖various‖job‖changes,‖the‖couple‖
led quite an itinerant life, with three of their children being born in locations as
disparate as Dublin, Durham and Windsor. Isabella contributed regular articles to
the newspapers that George edited. ~ As a member of the Ladies Committee of
the Anti-Corn Law League, she campaigned successfully for the repeal of laws
embodying an impediment to industrialisation and free trade. Isabella’s‖second‖
volume of poems, Daisies in the Grass (1865)—containing many poems on the
theme‖of‖a‖woman’s‖difficult‖position‖in‖marriage—was published in the same
year as her first novel, God’ s Providence House. ~ Despite the onset of chronic ill-
health,‖Isabella‖persisted‖to‖write‖novels‖and‖became‖known‖as‖‘The‖Lancashire‖
Novelist’. She‖is‖most‖noted‖for‖her‖1876‖work‖of‖‘industrial‖fiction’,‖The
Manchester Man, first serialised in Cassel’s Magazine, and seen as‖presenting‖‘a‖
vivid picture of Manchester in the 19th century; a time when men from humble
backgrounds‖could‖make‖vast‖fortunes‖through‖mercantile‖activity’.‖~‖At‖the‖time‖
of the 1891 census she was still living with her daughter, Esther, a
dressmaker. Isabella Varley Banks died in Hackney in 1897. ~ She published Ivy
Leaves (poetry, 1843); God's Providence House, (novel, 1865); Daisies in the Grass
(poetry, 1865); Stung to the Quick, A North Country Story (novel, 1867); The
Manchester Man, (novel, serialised in Cassel's Magazine, published 1876 in full and
went through at least eleven editions); Forbidden to Marry (novel, 1883); Bond
Slaves (novel, 1893). ~ Ref: Harland (1882), 300, 364-5, 433-4, 448-9, 484-5; Andrews
(1888-9), I, 1-7; Vicinus (1974), 160; Blain et al (1990) (as‖‘Isabella‖Banks’);‖Sutton‖
(1995), 37 (many manuscripts and letters; ODNB; online sources. [F] [—Iain
Rowley]
Vaughan, Thomas (1813-63),‖of‖Hereford,‖‘The‖Hereford‖Poet’,‖tailor,‖published
Isabel de Bohum, or the Siege of Hereford; and Other Poems (Hereford: William
 Phillips, 1858), dedicated to the President and Members of the Hereford Literary
and Scientific Institution, with a subscription list; posthumously published Morah;
or the Indian Wife: A Moral Tale; also, Songs and Ballads; and, The Apparition: a Tale of
Hereford, founded upon fact (Hereford,‖1863).‖‘The‖apparition’‖is‖a‖prose‖tale.‖The‖
Hereford Times for‖22‖March‖1862‖reports‖on‖‘Mr.‖William‖Jones’s‖lecture‖for‖the‖
Benefit of Mr. Vaughan the Tailor-Poet’,‖held at the Corn Exchange. ~ Ref: Reilly
(2000), 474. [T]
(?) Vedder, David (bap. 1789 d. 1854), of Burness (Deerness), Orkney, orphan, cabin
boy,‖ship’s‖captain,‖prolific‖magazine‖and‖anthology‖contributor. He published
poems‖dedicated‖to‖‘Burns’‖(presumably‖Robert‖Burns,‖qv)‖and‖Ebenezer‖Elliott‖
(qv); The Covenanter’s Communion and Other Poems (1826); Orcadian Sketches [prose
and verse] (1832); Poems—Legendary, Lyrical and Descriptive (1842), and other
volumes, including a memoir of Walter Scott (1832); Sutton (1995), 964. ~ Ref:
Wilson (1876), II, 117-21; ODNB. [S]
(?) Verney, Thomas (fl. 1742), bellman of London, author of A copy of verses humbly
presented to all my worthy masters and mistresses in the ward of Castle-Baynard, by
Thomas Verney, Bell-man (London, 1742), BL 1870.d.1(64). Castle-Baynard is one of
the 25 wards of the City of London; a bellman was a town crier. ~ Ref: ESTC. [C18]
(?) Vernon, Henry (fl. 1871), of Alnwick, Northumberland, published Thoughts of
leisure hours: Poems, songs &c. &c. (Edinburgh: Commercial Printing Company,
1871). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 475; Charles Cox, Catalogue 53, item 271.
Vernon, James (fl. 1842), of South Molton, Devon, and London, Chartist worker-poet,
repeatedly prosecuted, suffered partial paralysis while in prison; published in The
Northern Star and in separate booklets, including The Afflicted Muse (South Molton,
1842). ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 99; Scheckner (1989), 313, 343; Schwab (1993), 219. [C]
Vernon, William (b. c. 1734),‖private‖soldier,‖author‖of‖‘A‖Journey‖into‖Wales’,‖GM,
May 1757; Poems on Several Occasions by William Vernon, a Private Soldier in the Buffs
(London, 1758), BL 11642.de.27. His‖‘Epistle‖to‖a‖Friend’‖(1758)‖imagines‖that‖
readers‖will‖say‖of‖him‖‘The‖youngster‖sure‖expects‖the‖luck‖/‖Of‖(what-d’ye-call
him)‖Stephen‖Duck‖*qv+’.‖Croft & Beattie note that among the other poems,
‘Verses‖on‖the‖Birth‖of‖a‖Brother’‖is‖presented‖as‖his first poem, written in 1751 at
the age of seventeen, while two epilogues are dated Wolverhampton, 1754 and
another poem is dated from the Isle of Wight, 1757. The 200 subscribers include
the major poet and critic Joseph Warton. ~ Ref: GM, May 1757; Poole & Markland
(1928), 109-11; Croft & Beattie, III, no, 131; LC 2, 97-114; Radcliffe. [LC2] [C18]
Waddell, James (fl. 1809),‖shoemaker,‖‘poet‖laureate‖of‖Plessy‖and‖the‖neighbouring‖
villages’,‖published The Poetical Works of James Waddell (Morpeth, 1809). ~ Ref: Iolo
A. Williams, By-Ways Round Helicon: A Kind of Anthology (London: Heinemann,
1922), 137. [SM]
Waddington, James (1829-61), born at Horton, near Bradford, lived at Saltaire, wool-
sorter, weaver, supported an aged parent; posthumously published Flowers of the
Glen: The Poetical Remains of James Waddington (Bradford, 1862), ed. Eliza Craven
Green (qv), whose daughter was engaged to the poet before his demise.
Waddington‖was‖of‖‘retiring‖habits’‖and‖enjoyed‖reading,‖especially Coleridge,
Lamb, Christopher North and Wordsworth. He was elected a first-class member
of the Phonetic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and for some years edited two
phonetic magazines, the Pioneer and the Excelsior,‖‘to‖which‖he‖freely‖contributed‖
essays, tales and short poems’‖(biography‖by‖Revd. A. H. Rix, printed in
Forshaw). ~ Ref: Holroyd (1873), 81, 104-6, 133; Forshaw (1891), 164-7; Vicinus
(1974), 161, 171; Maidment (1987), 187, 196-7; Reilly (2000), 479. [T]
Wakefield, George (1821-88),‖of‖Uttoxeter,‖carpenter’s‖son,‖shoemaker,‖railway‖night‖
watchman and porter at Uttoxeter station, published Poems on various subjects
(1854); The River Dove and Human Life Compared (1856). ~ Ref: Poole & Markland
(1928), 173-5. [R] [SM]
Walker, James Bradshaw (b. c.‖1809),‖of‖Leeds,‖‘working‖man’,‖self-educated weaver
who became a schoolmaster,‖though‖he‖‘struggled‖most‖of‖his‖life‖in‖Leeds‖as‖a‖
woollen‖cloth‖drawer’‖(Cross);‖published Way-Side Flowers; or, Poems, Lyrical and
Descriptive (Leeds,‖1840),‖‘with‖poems‖on‖Nidderdale,‖Laetitia‖Landon‖and‖Leeds‖
Moot-Hall’‖and‖a‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Aeronaut’;‖Spring Leaves of Prose and Poetry
(London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co; Leeds: J. Y. Knight, 1845). ~ Ref: Newsam
(1845) 218-19; Holroyd (1873), 44; Cross (1985), 143; Charles Cox, Catalogue 51
(2005), item 282; COPAC. [T]
Walker, John (fl. 1789), of Liverpool, shoemaker poet, published A Descriptive Poem
on the Town and Trade of Liverpool (1789). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 932, may also
refer; Tim‖Burke‖‘‚Humanity‖is‖Now‖the‖Pop’lar‖Cry‛:‖Labouring-Class Poets and
the Liverpool Slave Trade, 1787-1789’,‖The Eighteenth Century: Theory and
Interpretation, 42, no. 3 (2001), 245-63; LC 3, 143-52. [SM] [LC3] [C18]
Walker, John (b. c. 1747), farm labourer, published Poems in English, Scotch and Gaelic
(Glasgow, 1817). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 931. [S]
Walker, John (b. 1845), of Blackburn, son of a working man, largely self-taught,
pupil-teacher, warehouseman, journalist. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 272-87.
Walker, John (b. 1857), of Rothesay, Glasgow factory worker, artist. ~ Ref: Edwards,
10 (1887), 102-9. [S]
Walker, John (1861-1932), of Wythburn, Thirlmere, Cumberland, worked in wool
manufacture from an early age, wrote for newspapers; published Hubert and
Emmeline: Poems on Nature, and Other Poems (Edinburgh, 1887). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994),
493. [T]
Walker, Samuel, of Shaneshill (1803-85), contributed poems to Belfast journals but
never had a separate collection. ~ Ref: Hewitt (1974). [I]
Walker, William (b. 1830), ‘Bill‖Stumps’,‖cattle-herder, quarryman, published poems
in the People’s Journal. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 102-6. [S]
Wall, John William Henry (1855-1915),‖‘Mervyn‖Dauncey’,‖‘J. H. W.’,‖Bristol‖
shoemaker, poet and activist, a leading figure in the Bristol‖Pioneers’‖Boot‖and‖
Shoe Productive Society and in the Bristol Evening Class Scholarships
Association, Secretary of the local Trades Council, friend of John Gregory (qv),
published poems‖as‖Dauncey,‖including‖a‖train‖poem,‖‘On‖the‖Rail’,‖and‖prose‖on‖
local and historical matters in the Bristol newspapers. ~ Ref: Bristol Record Office,
papers of John Wall ref 37886 (including memorabilia and press cuttings
37886/7/1, 37886/1/5, 37886/7/5, 37886/7/6); inf. Madge Dresser (UWE). [SM]
(?) Wallace,‖Alexander‖(b.‖1816),‖of‖Paisley,‖draw‖boy,‖weaver’s‖apprentice,‖later‖
university educated temperance writer and preacher, published Poems and sketches
(Glasgow, London and Edinburgh, 1862). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 482. [S] [T]
Wallace, Andrew (b. 1835), of Leslie, Fife, son of stonemason, clerk, emigrated to
Canada, returned to Scotland, railway cashier, inspector of the poor, published
Essays, sketches and poems (London and Glasgow, 1869). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 482. [S]
[R]
Wallace, Edgar (1875-1932), ‘Richard‖Horatio’,‖of Greenwich, orphan, raised by the
family of a Billingsgate fish-porter, began writing career while in the army as a
private soldier, became the Daily Mail’s‖war‖correspondent‖(1900),‖published The
Mission that failed: a tale of the raid, & other poems (Cape Town, 1898), and numerous
prose thrillers. ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 495; ODNB.
Wallace,‖George‖(b.‖1845),‖‘The‖Spring‖Poet’,‖cooper,‖soft-goods manufacturer. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 14 (1891), 354-8. [S]
(?) Wallace, William (b. 1862), of Edinburgh, later Glasgow, clerk at 13, telegraph
messenger, porter. ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 202-4. [S]
Waller, John Rowell (b. 1854), of Cragg Head, County Durham, joiner, ironmonger,
engineering worker, lived at Wallsend, published Unstrung links: dropped from the
disjointed chain of a toiling life, as the ringing chorus of nature’s music beat time on the
anvil of a responding heart (Darlington, 1878); Ramblings and Musings (1886); Wayside
Flowers: being, The Battle of Otterburn and other poems (Bedlington, 1881); Woodland
and shingle: poems and songs (Darlington, 1883), and other volumes. ~ Ref: Reilly
(1994), 495; Reilly (2000), 483; Newcastle Lit. & Phil. Library; NTU.
Walmesley,‖Luke‖Slater‖(b.‖1841),‖of‖Blackburn,‖son‖of‖a‖factory‖‘tackler’,‖schoolmate‖
of Henry Yates (qv), member of the Billington circle of poets, and of the
Mechanics’‖Institute. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 238-45.
Walter, Rowland (1819-84),‖‘Ionoron‖Glan‖Dwyryd’,‖native‖of‖Blaenau‖Ffestiniog,‖
Merioneth, quarryman, emigrated to USA in 1852; published Lloffion y Gweithiwr
(Wales, 1852); Caniadau Ionoron (Utica, 1872). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie
Osborn]
Walsh,‖John‖(b.‖1848),‖of‖Blackburn,‖printer’s‖devil,‖weaver,‖dialect‖and‖local‖poet. ~
Ref: Hull (1902), 302-14; biography, photograph and selection of poems online on
the Massey page.
Walton, Ann (fl. 1810),‖‘cottage‖girl‖poet’,‖of‖Harlestone,‖Northamptonshire,‖
published Original Pieces on Different Subjects, Chiefly in Verse (Harleston,
Northants, c. 1810), 37 pp., copy held in Local Studies at Northamptonshire
Central Library. ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 143-5; Northamptonshire Library Catalogue.
[F]
(?) Wanless, Andrew (b. 1824), of Longformacus, Lammermoor, bookbinder,
emigrated to Canada, published several volumes of poetry and Sketches and
Anecdotes (1891),‖dubbed‖the‖‘Burns‖of‖the‖United‖States’ (Robert Burns, qv). ~ Ref:
Ross (1889), 125-35; Crockett (1893), 228-36. [S]
Ward,‖Edward,‖‘Ned Ward’‖(1667-1731), probably born in the English Midlands to
poor parents. though he claimed endowed Leicestershire relatives (Cibber calls
him‖a‖man‖of‖‘low‖extraction’‖who‖was‖not‖formally‖educated); journalist, poet,
pamphleteer, journal editor, prolific popular writer and (among other roles)
publican. He published The Poet's Ramble after Riches, in Hudibrastic verse
(London, 1691), soon after he arrived in the city, and followed this up with many
satirical poems, volumes, pamphlets, serial publications and other surviving
prose works. LC1 includes materials from several of the poetry volumes: A
Journey to Hell; or, a Visit to the Devil, A Poem (1700); A Collection of Historical and
State Poems, Satyrs, Songs, and Epigrams (1717); and The Delights of the Bottle; or. the
Compleat Vintner (1720). His monthly satirical journal The London Spy, which ran
through eighteen instalments in the final years of the seventeenth century, was
immensely popular.‖His‖‘most‖ambitious‖political‖poem’‖(LC1),‖Hudibras
Redivivus, was published in serial form from 1705. As for his role as a publican-
poet, LC1 notes that‖in‖Ward’s‖The Poetical Entertainer, 4, there is a reference to
opening an alehouse in Clerkenwell, tells us that he moved to the Bacchus Tavern
in Moorfields, and quotes Jacob (1723), on the information that‖Ward‖‘of‖late‖
years...has kept a publick House in the City (but in a genteel way) and with his
Wit, Humour, and good Liquor had afforded his Guests a pleasurable
Entertainment; especially the High-Church‖party,‖which‖is‖compos’d‖of‖Men of
his Principles, and to whom he is very much oblig’d‖for‖their‖constant‖Resort.’‖He‖
was a publican for thirteen years. (For more on this subject, see Earnshaw). ~ Ref:
Theophilus Cibber et al., The Lives of the Poets of Great-Britain and Ireland (London,
1753); Howard William Troyer, Ned Ward of Grub Street (New Haven: Harvard
University Press, 1946; London: Frank Cass, 1968); Greene (1993), 103; Sutton
(1995), 974; Steven Earnshaw, The Pub in Literature: England’s Altered State
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000); Christmas (2001), 67; ODNB; LC
1, 1-32. [LC1] [C18]
(?) Ward, John (fl. 1642-43),‖of‖Tewkesbury,‖Gloucestershire,‖‘a‖man‖of‖strong‖puritan‖
feeling’,‖served‖as‖a‖trooper‖under‖the‖Earl‖of‖Bedford;‖took‖part‖in the battle he
recorded in his poem The Taking of Winchester by the Parliament’s Forces. As also the
surrendering up of the Castle. By I.W. an eye-witness (London, 1642); also published
An Encouragement to Warre, or Bellum Parliamente; shewing the Unlawfulnesse of the
late Bellum Episcopale (London, 1642). ~ Ref: DNB via Wikisource. [OP]
Ward,‖Richard‖(b.‖1863),‖of‖Paisley,‖miner,‖emigrated‖to‖America‖but‖returned‖to‖
Paisley,‖published‖pieces‖in‖papers.‖~‖Ref:‖Brown‖(1889-90),‖II,‖507-11.‖*S+‖*M+
Wardrop,‖Alexander‖(b.‖1850),‖of‖Whitburn,‖Linlithgowshire,‖weaver’s‖son,‖tailor,‖
published‖Johnnie Mathison’s courtship and marriage with, Poems and songs
(Coatbridge,‖1881),‖Mid-Cauther Fair: a dramatic pastoral, with other poems, songs, and
prose sketches‖(Glasgow,‖1887);‖Robin Tamson’s Hamely Sketches‖and The Humours of a
Rustic Debating Club‖(Glasgow:‖Aird‖&‖Coghill,‖1902?).‖~‖Ref:‖Edwards,‖4‖(1882),‖
81-4;‖Bisset‖(1896),‖226-36;‖Reilly‖(1994),‖498;‖NTU.‖*S+‖*T+
(?) Waterfall, Henry (fl. 1880), evidently a Sheffield quarry worker: he mentions in
one‖poem‖(‘High‖Noon‖in‖Summer’)‖a‖memory‖of‖quarry-work‖(‘I‖recollect‖/‖Once‖
labouring‖in‖a‖hot‖/‖Dry‖sandstone‖quarry’);‖published Rivelin Rhymes (Sheffield,
1880), named for the river Rivelin that rises in the Hallam moors and flows into
the river Loxley in Sheffield. There is a print of Crookes village opp. p. 42, another
Sheffield location. ~ Ref: text via archive.org; inf. Noel Crack.
Waterfall, Joseph (1840-1902), of Maidstone, Kent, of poor parents, a disabled poet
born with limited use of arms and legs. He had a limited education, and made a
living as a shoe-polisher. His last years were spent in the workhouse at Bakewell,
Derbyshire. His poems were sometimes made from letters individually cut from
old papers, and he also used other cut-and-paste techniques, simpler to do with
his disability, to assemble local guides and miscellaneous materials. His poems
were gathered together as a set of Broadsheets in 1896 and a selection of his work
published as The Poet of the Peak, ed. David Trutt (online publication, 2009). Poems
include‖‘Dorothy’s‖Flight’‖(a‖historical‖ballad),‖‘Christmas‖in‖the‖Peak’, and an ode
on‖Queen‖Victoria’s‖Diamond‖Jubilee. ~ Ref: Online sources including Derbyshire
Record Office blog.
Waters, Daniel (b. 1838), of Wick, house painter, published in Glasgow magazines. ~
Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 253-6. [S]
(?) Watkins, John (1809-1850), popular Chartist poet and lecturer, translator, edited
the London Chartist Monthly Magazine. His poems included‖‘The‖Golden‖Age’,‖and
he also wrote a play, John Frost, and a biography of Ebenezer Elliott (qv), his
father-in-law. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 82-6; Scheckner (1989), 314-17, 344; Schwab
(1993), 219; ODNB. [C]
Watson, Alexander (1744-1831),‖of‖Aberdeen,‖tailor,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Kail‖Brose‖of‖
Auld‖Scotland’‖and‖‘The‖Wee‖Wifukie’;‖published The Anti-Jacobin, a hudibrastic
 poem in twenty-one cantos (Edinburgh, 1794). ~ Ref: Eyre-Todd (1896), 46; ESTC. [S]
[T] [C18]
Watson, George (fl. 1844), north-east coal miner, co-author‖of‖‘The‖Pitmen’s‖Union’‖
(‘Keep‖up‖you‖hearts,‖ye‖noble‖boys’),‖with‖William‖Walker‖Story‖(qv). ~ Ref:
Lloyd, 258, 358 note. [M]
Watson,‖George‖(b.‖1846),‖‘The‖Roper‖Bard’,‖of Dundee, rope-spinner, published
Love’s Task: Poems and Songs, second series (Dundee, 1899). ~ Ref: Edwards, 14
(1891), 36-41; Reilly (1994), 501. [S]
Watson, James (fl. 1863), of Dundee, impoverished worker who left his family in
Dundee some time before 1860 to find better work in the East Indies, recording
this‖in‖a‖Scots‖poem,‖‘Home‖Recollections’,‖published in‖the‖People’s‖Journal, 29
August 1863. Although he misses his‖wife‖and‖his‖‘bit‖laddie‖that‖ca’d‖me‖his‖
daddie’,‖he‖feels‖he‖had‖no‖choice,‖for‖‘Puir‖fouk‖maun‖just‖do‖as‖the‖best‖they‖get‖
done’. ~ Ref: Blair (2016), 40. [S]
Watson, Jean Logan (d. 1885), of Peebleshire, brought up on a farm, mother died
when she was‖seven,‖lived‖and‖died‖in‖Edinburgh‖where‖she‖had‖a‖‘large‖circle‖of‖
friends’;‖wrote‖epitomes‖of‖Scottish‖lives,‖including‖Hugh‖Miller‖(qv),‖published
numerous volumes of fiction and non-fiction prose and verse including Bygone
days in Our Village; Round the Grange Farm,‖‘and‖other‖books‖full‖of‖quaint‖
simplicity and freshness, and breathing from every page, the delightful
personality‖of‖the‖writer’‖(Anderson). ~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 126-31; Alexander
Anderson (qv), Later Poems(1912), p, 86 note. [F] [S]
Watson,‖Jessie‖J.‖Simpson‖(b.‖1854),‖of‖Greenock,‖miller’s‖daughter;‖poems include
‘We’re‖A’‖Weel‖At‖Hame’, ‘Dune‖Wi’‖Time’, and‖‘Come‖Wi’‖Me,‖Bessie’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 3 (1881), 262-5; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S]
(?) Watson, John (1793-1878), of Fearn, near Brechin, farmer and poet, wrote
agricultural reports for magazines and newspapers, published Samples in Common
Sense, in Verse, by a Forfarshire Farmer (Brechin, 1875) [poems]. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1
(1880), 38-40; Shanks (1881), 156-8; Reilly (2000), 486; NTU. [S]
(?) Watson, John (b. 1856), of Longside, Aberdeenshire, railway clerk. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 1 (1880), 291. [S] [R]
Watson, Owen (b. 1912)‖of‖Marlpool,‖Derbyshire,‖coal‖miner‖who‖‘followed‖his‖
father and elder brother into the Shipley pits at the age of 14, immediately after
the‖strike‖of‖’26’‖(i.e.‖the‖miners’‖strike‖that‖sparked‖the‖General‖Strike).‖Watson‖
spent 44 years mining, first as a ganger or pony driver for ten years, then 20 on the
coal face mainly as a ripper, a tunneller keeping up with the coal face, and finally
as a pit deputy for the last 14 years. He worked for a time at the Coppice Colliery,
which closed in 1966. A bronchial condition forced him to retire early, in 1970, just
as the last local pit, Ormonde Loscoe pit, was closing. The author biography in the
extended edition of his poems (1977), from which the above details are largely
 drawn, notes that drawing and reading were his childhood hobbies, and that in
his later years as a miner he gained a reputation as a cartoonist for‖the‖‘Coal‖
News’‖and‖the‖‘Derbyshire‖Miner’.‖His strong and vivacious drawings indeed
illustrate and provide the cover art for his two books: ‘Woodside‖Gangers’,‖his‖
image of two miners heading off to work loaded with baitboxes, drinks bottles
and safety lamps, with their trousers tied at the knee and large flat caps to protect
the head, is a powerful example of this work, and is reproduced several times in
the literature. Although he was, as he ironically puts it in his memoir, ‘groomed
for‖stardom’‖at‖school, as a bright pupil who enjoyed and excelled at English
‘composition’‖as‖much‖as‖drawing,‖economic‖necessity‖in‖the‖wake‖of‖the‖General‖
Strike forced him down the pit, and he writes of his cringing embarrassment at
being seen in the ‘dirt‖and‖rags’‖of‖a‖miner‖coming‖off‖shift‖before‖pithead‖
showers were invented, by his disbelieving former headmaster. His facility at
‘composition’‖would‖re-emerge late in life: he was sixty when he began writing
verses, but the poetry found an audience in the community, in its vivid and
strongly-felt portrayal of a culture, its wit and good humour. Retired miner David
Amos cites as his favourite Watson poem, ‘A‖Miner’s‖Dream’,‖‘where‖a‖miner‖has‖
a‖nightmare‖of‖the‖afterlife,‖going‖to‖both‖heaven‖and‖hell,‖and‖caring‖for‖neither’.‖
Watson’s‖elegiac ‘Ode to the Green‖Hill’‖is‖cited‖and‖quoted‖by‖another‖former‖
miner, John Flint (see Fionn‖Taylor’s‖mining‖website).‖He published a book of
poems, Strong i’ th’ Arm: The Rhymes of a Marlpool Miner (Marlpool: printed by the
author, 1975), reprinted and enlarged with the sub-title Dialect Poetry of the D. H.
Lawrence Country (Ilkeston: Scollins & Titford,‖1977).‖Watson’s‖book‖of‖prose‖
lifewriting has the matching title, Weak i’ th’ Yedd: Marlpool Memories (Ripley: G. C.
Brittain, 1976). There‖is‖a‖setting‖of‖Watson’s‖poem‖‘There’s‖No‖Coal‖Mines‖in‖the‖
Sky’‖on‖the‖vinyl‖album‖Ey Up Mi Duck: A Celebration of Derbyshire (Ram Records,
1978). ~ Ref: works cited;‖James‖Walker,‖‘Miner‖David‖Amos‖and‖Linguist‖Natalie‖
Braber‖on‖Poetry‖in‖Pit‖Talk’,‖Left Lion,‖24‖April‖2017;‖James‖Walker,‖‘Tongue‖and‖
Talk—Pit‖Poetry‖and‖Notts‖Dialect’,‖Left Lion, 15 May 2018; ‘Tongue‖and‖Talk:‖The‖
Dialect‖Poets’,‖episode‖two on the dialect poetry of miners, focussing on the
Nottinghamshire area, BBC radio 4, first broadcast 20 May 2018; WorldCat and
other online sources including‖Fionn‖Taylor’s‖mining‖website. [M] [OP]
Watson, Richard (1833-1918), of Middleton-in-Teesdale, lead‖miner’s‖son,‖iron ore
miner. After an elementary education, Watson began working in the lead-mines
with his father, aged ten. He had been composing rhymes about his classmates
from the age of eight , which brought him to the attention of the Rector of
Middleton, John Henry Brown, who began to tutor him individually twice a
week, even after he began work, introduced him to the canon of English poetry
and read and criticised his earliest efforts. Watson’s‖father died when he was
fourteen, and he became the principal breadwinner for his family. He continued
 composing, and would recite his verses on special occasions, a practice he enjoyed
throughout his life and which helped to gain him popularity. At the age of
twenty-four, he married Nancy Brumwell. By his late twenties he had published
several of his poems in the Teesdale Mercury. Watson became much in demand as a
performative poet, though along with his success went a niggling suspicion of his
tendency to drift‖away‖from‖his‖‘proper’‖work.‖Poor‖health‖dogged‖Watson’s‖later‖
years, including an accidental blinding in one eye and a leg amputation, but he
remained a popular figure,‖and‖continued‖to‖contribute‖to‖the‖‘Poet’s‖Corner’‖of‖
the Teesdale Mercury. He published two volumes of poetry: Poems (1862), revised
and expanded as The Poetical Works of Richard Watson, of Woodland Collieries, late of
Middleton-in-Teesdale, with a brief sketch of the author (Darlington: William Dresser,
1884), reprinted 1930; and Egremont Castle, and Miscellaneous Poems (Whitehaven,
1868). Posthumously published was the 1930 reprint of the Poetical Works, and
Rhymes of a Rustic Bard: The Poems and Songs of Richard Watson (Barnard Castle: The
Teesdale Mercury, 1979); this edition added the substantial poem ‘Middleton-in-
Teesdale‖Fair’ to the corpus of his writings. ~ Ref: James McTaggart, Around the
Hollow Hills [biography of Watson] (Barnard Castle: Teesdale Mercury, 1978);
Reilly (1994), 501; Reilly (2000), 486; Bridget‖Keegan,‖‘‚Incessant toil and hands
innumerable‛:‖Mining‖and‖Poetry‖in‖the‖Northeast‖of‖England’, Victoriographies, 1
(2011), 177-201; LC 6, 33-54; NTU. [M] [LC6]
Watson, Thomas (fl. 1835), gardener of Lasswade, Midlothian, published A Collection
of Poems (Edinburgh, 1835). ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 540. [S]
Watson, Thomas (1807-75), of Arbroath, Angus, worked as a weaver then became a
house painter, contributed to many Scottish periodicals, published Homely Pearls
at Random Strung: Poems, Songs, and Sketches (Edinburgh and Arbroath, 1873). ~
Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 220-4; Reilly (2000), 487. [S] [T]
Watson, Walter (1780-1854), ‘The‖Chryston‖Poet’,‖of Chryston, Lanarkshire, the son
of a handloom weaver and‖a‖mother‖who‖was‖a‖‘careful,‖God-fearing‖woman’,‖
and one of seven children, he was minimally educated, and at the age of ten
began work a s a handloom weaver. In his life he was variously a cowherd,
soldier, weaver. He published volumes of poems and songs in 1808, 1823, and
1843; Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1853); selected works with a
memoir by Hugh McDonald (?1853). There‖is‖a‖detailed,‖full‖and‖useful‖‘web‖
presentation’‖of‖the‖1912‖edition‖of‖his‖poems‖from‖‘one‖of‖the‖few‖remaining
copies‖of‖the‖original‖publication’‖on‖the‖Chryston village website. ~ Ref: Wilson
(1876), II, 33-5; Macleod (1889), 267-69; Glasgow Poets (1906), 164-67; ODNB;
Chryston village webpage, www.chryston.org.uk. [S] [T]
Watson, William (fl. 1820-40), of Newcastle upon Tyne, author of the celebrated
songs‖‘Dance‖to‖thy‖Daddy’,‖‘Thumping‖luck‖to‖yon‖Town’,‖‘Newcassel‖Races’‖
and‖‘Newcastle‖Landlords‖1834’. ~ Ref: Allan (1891), 204-14.
Watt, Alexander (b. 1841), of East Kilbride, weaver, slater, day-labourer, from a
family of rhymers, published in local press, including prize poem on Janet
Hamilton (qv). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 136-41; Murdoch (1883), 366-9. [S] [T]
Watt, James E. (b. 1839), of Montrose, self-taught brass-finisher and then weaver in a
Montrose flax-mill, published in the People’s Journal (Blair‖reprints‖‘Nan‖Tamson’s‖
Wean’,‖22‖November‖1862),‖and‖a‖volume,‖Poetical sketches of Scottish life and
character (Dundee,‖1880).‖Blair‖describes‖him‖as‖‘a‖relatively‖well-known
newspaper poet‖who‖specialised‖in‖narrative‖Scots‖verse‖about‖contemporary‖life’.
~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 73-77; Murdoch (1883), 316-20; Reilly (1994), 503, Blair
(2016), 33-5. [S] [T]
Watt, Walter (b. 1826), of Edinburgh, later of Glasgow, tobacco-spinner, violin-
maker, published Sketches in Prose and Poetry (Glasgow, 1881); The Art of Violin
Making [prose work] (1892). ~ Edwards, 8 (1885), 225-30; Ref: Bisset (1896), 145-50;
Reilly (1994), 503. [S]
Watt, William (1792-1859),‖‘peasant‖poet‖and‖precentor’‖(Edwards),‖of‖West‖Linton,‖
Peebleshire, herder, weaver, singer, published vol. of songs in 1835, and Comus
and Cupid (1844); Poems on Sacred and Other Subjects (1860). ~ Ref: Edwards, 2
(1881), 51-5; Murdoch (1883), 144-6; inf. Kaye Kossick. [S] [T]
Watts, John George (fl. 1861-87), of London, Billingsgate fish market porter,
published Fun, feeling, and fancy: being a series of lays and lyrics (London, 1861); The
Blacksmith‘s Daughter, and other poems (London, 1874); A Lay of a Cannibal Island and
Other Poems, Gay and Grave (London: Judd and Co. Ltd, 1887). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994),
503; Reilly (2000), 487; NTU.
Watts, Thomas (1845-87), of Wexford, tailor, published Woodland Echoes (Kelso,
1880). ~ Ref: Edwards, 3 (1881), 70-76 and 12, xxi-xxii; Crockett (1893), 190-7; Reilly
(1994), 504. [I] [S] [T]
Waugh, Edwin (1817-90), son of a Rochdale shoemaker, Lancashire dialect
poet, hugely prolific and successful in poetry and prose: the main
works are listed below. A selection of unpublished letters to Waugh by
budding local writers is included in Maidment, 350-2, and a selection
from‖Waugh’s‖diaries,‖edited‖and‖abridged‖by‖Brian‖Hollingsworth,‖
was self-published by Hollingsworth in 2008 as The Diary of Edwin
Waugh: Life in Victorian Manchester and Rochdale. ~ His principal
publications are A Ramble from Bury to Rochdale (Manchester, 1853);
Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities (Manchester, 1855); Come whoam
to thy Childer an me (Manchester, 1856); Chirrup [a song] (Manchester,
1858); Poems and Lancashire Songs (Manchester, 1859); Over the Sands to
the Lakes (Manchester, 1860); The Birtle Carter’s tale about Owd Bodle
(Manchester, 1861); The Goblin’s Grave (Manchester, 1861); Rambles in the
Lake Country and Its Borders (Manchester, 1861); Lancashire Songs
 (Manchester, 1863); Fourteen days in Scotland... (Manchester, 1864); Tufts
of Heather, from the Lancashire Moors (Manchester’‖1864);‖Besom Ben
(Manchester, 1865); The Owd Bodle (Manchester, 1865); What ails thee, my
son Robin (Manchester, 1865); Ben an’ th’ Bantam (Manchester, 1866);
Poesies from a Country Garden: selections from the works, two volumes
(Manchester, 1866); Prince’s Theatre...The Grand Christmas Pantomime
(Manchester, 1866); The Birthplace of Tim Bobbin (Manchester, 1867);
Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk During the Cotton Famine
(Manchester, 1867); The Owd Blanket (Manchester, 1867); Dules-gate; or a
Frish through Lancashire Clough (Manchester, 1868); Sneck-Bant; or th’ owd
Tow Bar (Manchester, 1868); A Guide to Castletown... (Manchester, 1869);
Irish Sketches (Manchester, 1869); Johnny O’Wobbler’s an’ th’ Two Wheeled
Dragon (Manchester, 1869); Lancashire Sketches (Manchester, 1869); An
Old Nest (Manchester, 1869); Snowed-up (Manchester, 1869); Rambles and
Reveries (Manchester, 1872); Jarnock (or, the Bold Trencherman)
(Manchester, 1873); The Old Coal Men (Manchester, 1873); Old cronies, or
Wassail in a country inn (Manchester, 1875); The Hermit Cobbler
(Manchester, 1878); Around the Yule Log (Manchester, 1879); In the Lake
Country (Manchester, 1880); Waugh’s Complete Works, ten volumes.
(Manchester, 1881); Fireside Tales (Manchester, 1885); The Chimney
Corner (Manchester, 1892). ~ Ref: Reid, City (1853); Harland (1882), 316-
17, 328-9, 343-4, 372-4, 408-10, 503-4, 529-33; Andrews (1888-9), I, 25-31;
Miles (1891), X, vi; Ben Brierley (qv), Personal Recollections of the Late
Edwin Waugh (Manchester: Abel Heywood, [1891]); George Milner,
Edwin Waugh (Manchester: Papers of the Manchester Literary Club,
1893); Vicinus (1973), 750-3; Vicinus (1974), 167, 189; Hollingworth
(1977), 155 (with photograph); Ashraf (1978), I, 26; Martha Vicinus,
Edwin Waugh: The Ambiguities of Self-Help (Littleborough: George
Kelsall, 1984); Cross (1985), 161-3; Maidment (1987), 249-53, 350-2, 366-
8; Patrick Joyce, Democratic Subjects: The Self and the Social in Nineteenth-
Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 23-82;
Reilly (1994), 504-5; Sutton (1995), 983; Zlotnick (1998), 196-207;
Goodridge (1999), item 124; Reilly (2000), 487-8; Boos (2002a), 210;
Hakala (2010a); Hakala (2010b); Brian‖Hollingworth,‖‘Edwin‖Waugh:‖
The Social Literary Standing of a Working-Class‖Icon’,‖in‖Blair & Gorji
(2012), 174-90; ODNB; Massey page; NTU; LC 5, 315-30. [LC5] [SM]
Web, [first name unknown] (fl. 1749),‖‘Web‖the‖Barber’,‖probably‖of‖Oxford,‖
published An Address to the Worshipful Company of Barbers in Oxford; occasioned by a
late infamous libel, intitled ‘The barber and fireworks, a fable, highly reflecting on one of
the honourable members. By a barber (Oxford, 1749). ~ Ref: Foxon, A57.
Webb, John (fl. 1771-1810), ‘Kenrick‖Prescott’,‖weaver of Haverhill, Suffolk,
published Mildenhall (1771); Poems (1772); Haverhill, a Descriptive Poem and Other
Poems (London: printed for the author and sold by J. Nunn, 1810), xxiv, 119,
includes subscription list with numerous local residents, and is described as
‘poems‖by‖a‖journeyman‖weaver,‖born‖in‖the‖vale‖of‖obscurity...The‖poem‖is in the
form of a narrative saga, with numerous direct or oblique References to local
people, places, and events. As poetry it probably has little merit: as an illustration
of working-class‖emancipation‖it‖may‖have‖rather‖more’‖(John‖Drury‖Rare‖Books‖
catalogue 104, 2000-2001, item 149). Haverhill, a long locodescriptive poem,
dedicates several‖pages‖to‖memorialising‖Webb’s friend James Chambers (qv);
there was a second edition in 1859. Three poems or extracts by Webb are included
in The Suffolk Garland (Ipswich and London, 1818), ‘The‖Worthies‖of‖Haverhill’,‖
313-17,‖‘Lines‖in‖the‖Death‖of‖Rev.‖Wm.‖Humphryes, 324-6,‖and‖‘Verses‖on‖James‖
Chambers‖*qv+,‖the‖Suffolk‖Itinerant‖Poet’,‖327-36. ~ Ref: Cranbrook (2001), 243;
Koenraad‖Claes,‖‘Constructing‖authorial‖identities: A Suffolk Weaver Poet in the
Lady’s Magazine’,‖The‖Lady’s‖Magazine‖research‖project‖blog,‖University‖of‖Kent‖
(posted 10 June 2015); COPAC. [T] [C18]
Webb, Richard Davis (fl. 1887),‖of‖Dublin,‖Quaker‖and‖‘well-known‖printer’,‖
published The Mountain of Forth (Dublin, 1967), a poem in memory of Jacob Poole,
the Wexford antiquary, Dublin, 1867. Webb was probably also the ‘R.D.W.’‖whose‖
poem‖is‖in‖Jacob‖Poole’s‖A Glossary, With Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of
the English Colony of the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland
(London, 1887). He was also the father of Alfred Webb, author of the Compendium
of Irish Biography (1878). ~ Ref: O’Donoghue (1912), 474. [I]
(?) Webbe or Webb, Cornelius Francis (1789-1858), sometimes referred to by
contemporaries‖as‖‘Corny’‖Webb,‖of‖Holborn,‖London,‖press‖proof-reader, friend
of John Keats (qv), published poems in the Quarterly Review and New Monthly
Magazine, as well as several volumes: Summer; An Invocation to Sleep: Fairy revels;
and Songs and Sonnets (London, 1821); Sonnets, Amatory, Incidental, and Descriptive,
with other Poems (1820); Lyric Leaves (1832). He later published successful essay
collections and other prose works. ~ Ref: Cross (1985), 133; Sutton (1995), 983
(letters); Radcliffe; ODNB.
Webber, James B. (fl. 1883-95), working man of Melrose, later living in Morrison
Street, Edinburgh, published Rambles around the Eildons (Hawick, 1883, second
edition 1895). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 506. [S]
Webber, John Lake (b. 1832),‖‘The‖Dartmoor‖Poet’,‖of‖Widecombe-in-the-Moor,
thatcher, later a police constable, published a 58-page pamphlet of Poems on
Widecombe-in-the-Moor and Neighbourhood (Devonport: Wood and Tozer, c. 1876).
He is also recorded, in a volume entitled Things New and Old concerning the Parish
of Widecombe-in-the-Moor and its neighbourhood, ed. R. Dymoke (Torquay, 1876),
 published to raise church funds, as having a contributed 10 shillings. The volume
also contains poems by Dartmoor poet Jonas Coaker (qv) who may have
influenced Webber. See Dartmoor’s Policeman Poet: The Verses of Constable John L.
Webber of Widecombe-in-the-Moor 1863-1891, ed. Simon Dell (Newton Abbott:
Forest, 2000)—primarily a reprint of the 1876 pamphlet. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 488).
(?) Webster, Ann (fl. 1825), blind poet, published Solitary Musings (London, 1825), BL
11642.bb.8. There is a short review in the Ladies’ Monthly Museum:‖‘We‖mention‖
this work as a literary curiosity, by no means, however, unique in its kind. It is the
production of a lady who has from her childhood laboured under total blindness,
a calamity not incompatible with a cultivated imagination, of which, in the
present case, there is sufficient evidence. This volume consists of poems, chiefly
moral and religious; and considering the circumstances under which they were
produced, they are‖creditable‖to‖the‖talents‖of‖the‖authoress.’‖Ref:‖Ladies’ Monthly
Museum, 22 (1825), 225; Jackson (1993), 363; MacDonald Shaw (1994), 95-6. [F]
Webster, David (1787-1837), of Paisley, weaver, whose poems include a celebratory
account of ‘Paisley‖Fair’,‖published an Ode to the Memory of Tannahill (1828: Robert
Tannahill, qv); Original Scottish Poems; Humorous and Satirical (Paisley, 1824),
Original Scottish Rhymes with Humorous and Satirical Songs (Paisley, 1835),
pamphlet: An Address to Fame, or Hints on the Improvement of Weaving; newspaper
publications. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 540-41; Brown (1889-90), I, 181-88; Douglas
(1891), 304; Leonard (1990), 92-102; NCSTC. [S] [T]
Webster, George (b. 1846), of Stuartfield, Aberdeenshire, herd lad, ploughman. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 10 (1887), 327-31. [S]
Wedderburn, Alexander (fl. 1836?), of Aberdeenshire, farm labourer, shoemaker?,
published in the anthology, Poems by the People (1869). ~ Ref: Edwards, 6 (1883),
238-41. [S] [SM]
Weekes, James Eyre (fl. 1745-56), of Dublin, shoemaker poet, published Poems on
Several Occasions (Dublin, 1743); The Cobler’s Poem. To A Certain Noble Peer,
Occasioned by the Bricklayer’s Poem (Dublin, 1745); The Resurrection (Dublin, 1745);
The Amazon, or Female Courage Vindicated (Dublin, 1745); Rebellion. A Poem (Dublin,
1745); A Rhapsody on the Stage or, The Art of Playing. In imitation of Horace’s Art of
Poetry (1746); The Gentlemen’s Hourglass, or an Introduction to Chronology (1750); A
New Geography of Ireland (1752); The Young Grammarian’s Magazine of Words (1753);
Solomon’s Temple, An Oratorio (1753). ~ Ref: Christmas (2001), 134-6; Keegan (2001),
204-5; LC 2, 41-8. [LC2] [C18] [I] [SM]
Weir, Daniel (1796-1831), of Greenock, of humble parentage and limited education,
bookseller, published poems in his edited collections The National Minstrel, The
Sacred Lyre and Lyrical Gems. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 155-7. [S]
Welsh, James C. (1890-1954), coalminer, born in the mining village of Haywood,
Lanarkshire, as the fourth child of a fairly large family. ~ At the time he began
attending‖school,‖the‖Welsh‖household’s struggle against poverty was felt most
keenly. Recalling‖that‖he‖would‖marvel‖at‖his‖mother’s‖fortitude,‖Welsh‖later‖
wrote, in his introduction to Songs of a Miner:‖‘I‖never‖cease‖to‖feel‖that‖there‖is‖an‖
insane ordering of temporal things, which condemns the women of the class to
which‖I‖belong‖to‖unreasonable‖and‖unnecessary‖suffering’. He proceeds to extol
those working-class women who begot a generation of miners:‖‘Women‖who‖can‖
give the world sons like these have virtues worth immortalizing’. Welsh’s‖mother
was‖‘famed‖throughout‖the‖local‖countryside‖for‖her‖singing‖of‖old‖Scottish‖songs’‖
records the DLB,‖adding‖that‖‘her‖influence‖no‖doubt‖contributed‖for‖the‖feeling‖
for‖poetry‖which‖James‖showed‖from‖an‖early‖age’.‖After leaving school at eleven,
Welsh went on to labour in the mines at every phase of coal getting up until
around 1915, when he was appointed checkweigher. ~ Although Welsh admits
that‖life‖in‖the‖pit‖was‖‘irksome’,‖he‖states‖that‖it‖was‖‘by‖no‖means‖destitute‖of‖
joy’,‖particularly‖as‖it allowed him to explore an interest in Trade Union
affairs. He went on to work closely with Glasgow socialists in the Independent
Labour Party and was elected to the House of Commons for Coatbridge in the
1922. General Election. ~ Since early life, Welsh harboured dreams of being a
writer—‘when I wanted to express a certain mood I knew no peace until it was on
paper’—and with the singular encouragement of Mr J. Harrison Maxwell, a
Glasgow teacher, and his wife, published Songs of a Miner in 1917. Resisting the
dominant‖literary‖world’s‖labeling‖of‖him‖as‖a‖‘miner‖poet’,‖Welsh‖affirms‖in‖his‖
introduction:‖‘‚Ploughmen‖poets‛,‖‚navy‖poets‛,‖‚miner‖poets‛‖appeal‖only‖to‖the‖
superficialities of life. The‖poet‖aims‖at‖its‖elementals’. In any case, a critic in The
New Age (9 May 1919)‖responded:‖‘After‖reading‖Mr‖Welsh’s‖verses,‖I‖join‖with‖
him in wondering why his occupation is mentioned at all. Except possibly for two
poems, this volume might have been written by a stockbroker or a chimney-
sweep<‖his‖verses‖are‖not‖distinctive‖in‖any‖way’. More recently, Pamela Fox
(1994,‖2)‖writes:‖‘Inscribed‖with‖a‖range‖of‖anxious‖gestures,‖they‖proudly‖claim,‖
and‖just‖as‖insistently‖deny,‖their‖own‖class‖specificity’.‖~‖In‖1920,‖Welsh‖
published a successful socialist coalfields novel, The Underworld: The Story of
Robert Sinclair, Miner. It is recognised by The Cornhill Magazine as the book that
brought Welsh into the public eye, ‘a‖very‖moving‖story<‖probably‖the‖most‖
vivid‖tale‖of‖a‖Trade‖Unionist’s‖life‖since‖Mary Barton’.‖~ Publications include:
Songs of A Miner (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1917); The Underworld: The Story of
Robert Sinclair, Miner (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers, 1920,
available at www.gutenberg.org); and the novel The Morlocks (1924). ~ Ref: The
Cornhill Magazine (1860); The New Age, 23, no.2, 9 May 1919; DLB 2 (1974), 399-401;
Burnett et al (1984), 333-4 (no. 743); H. Gustav Klaus, ‘James‖C.‖Welsh:‖Major‖
Miner‖Novelist’,‖Scottish Literary Journal, XIII, no. 2 (1986), 65-98; Pamela Fox, Class
Fictions—C: Shame and Resistance in the British Working-Class Novel, 1890-1945
 (Duke University Press, 1994); NTU. [M] [OP] [—Iain Rowley]
Welsh, William (fl. 1856-75), Peebleshire cottar of Romanno Bridge, published
Poetical and Prose Works, new enlarged edition (Edinburgh, 1856, third edition
Edinburgh, 1875). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 489; NTU. [S]
(?) West, Jane, née Iliffe (1758-1852), of London, moved to Desborough,
Northamptonshire,‖farmer’s‖wife,‖self-taught poet, patronised by Percy, wrote
novels, poetry, children's literature, and conduct tracts. She published
Miscellaneous Poetry, Written at an Early Period of Life (London, 1786); The Humours
of Brighthelmstone: a Poem (1788); Miscellaneous Poems and a Tragedy *‘Edmund’+‖
(1791); An Elegy on the Death of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke (1797); Poems
and Plays (Vols. 1 and 2, 1799; 3 and 4, 1805); and The Mother: a Poem in Five Books
(1799). She also wrote numerous novels, including The Advantages of Education
(1793), under the pseudonym ‘Prudentia‖Homespun’, and her most popular work,
A Gossip's Story (1796), as well as an account of a tour in Wales and Ireland that
includes several poems (the manuscript is in the University of Cambridge, item in
Add. 738). ~ Ref: Hold (1989), 152-54; Lonsdale (1989), 379-85; Rizzo (1991), 243,
Jackson (1993), 364-5; Andrew Ashfield (ed.), Romantic Women Poets, 1770-1838
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), 153; Sutton (1995), 991; Feldman
(1997), 792-5; Backscheider (2009), 889; Croft & Beattie, III, 154; Radcliffe; ODNB.
[F] [C18]
Westbury, Eliza (1808-28), of Hackleton, Northamptonshire, who ‘During the last
two years of her‖life’‖wrote‖‘about‖one‖hundred‖and‖fifty‖hymns, besides other
poetry’;‖these‖were‖‘composed‖while‖she‖was‖earning‖her‖living‖at‖lace-making
and‖which‖she‖used‖to‖write‖at‖her‖leisure’. She published Hymns; by a
Northamptonshire village female. To which is added, a short account of her life
(Northampton, 1828). ~ Ref: Johnson (1992), item 957; Sibyl Phillips, Glorious Hope:
Women and Evangelical Religion in Kent and Northamptonshire, 1800-1850
(Northamptonshire: Compton Towers Publishing, 2004), 203-65 and‖‘An‖
Introduction to the Life, Hymns and Poetry of a Northampton Lacemaker: Eliza
Westbury (1808-1828)’,‖The Hymn Society Bulletin of Great Britain and Ireland
Bulletin 17 (2005), 309-18; Nancy‖Cho,‖‘‚The‖Ministry‖of‖Song‛:‖Unmarried‖British‖
Women’s‖Hymn-Writing, 1730-1936’,‖PhD‖dissertation, University of Durham,
2007. [F]
(?) Westray, C., Chartist poet,‖wrote‖‘To‖the‖Chartists’,‖Northern Star, 20 February
1941. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 100-1; Scheckner (1989), 318-19; Sanders (2009), 240.
[C]
Westwood, James (b. 1850), of Alloa, self-taught weaver poet, spent his childhood at
Forrestmill‖(‘a‖lonely‖sequestered‖spot,‖and‖where‖the‖young‖and‖gentle‖Michael‖
Bruce [qv]—author‖of‖many‖exquisite‖poems‖...‖kept‖school‖for‖some‖time’).‖
Westwood‖‘entered‖the‖mill as a piecer‖boy‖*weaver+‖in‖1860’‖aged‖ten, rising in
 time‖to‖overseer‖of‖‘a‖flat‖of‖self-acting‖spinning‖jennies’.‖Edwards‖mentions‖a‖
volume, but nothing has been found on COPAC or Google Books. ~ Ref:
Beveridge (1885), 92-98, 127-33; Edwards, 8 (1885), 258-63. [S] [T]
Whalley, Robert West (b. 1848), of Blackburn, weaver from the age of ten,
overlooker, local and dialect poet. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 290-302. [T]
Wheatley, later Peters, Phillis (1753?-1784), of Boston, MA, African-American slave,
probably‖born‖‘between‖present‖day‖Gambia‖and‖Ghana’,‖taken‖to‖America‖as‖a‖
little girl on the slave ship Phillis, after which (with her master, John Wheatley)
she was named. She was the author of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and
Moral (1773; Dobell 2004-5). There has been increasing scholarly interest in her life
and writings in recent years, and good modern edition is Phillis Wheatley,
Complete Writings, ed. Vincent Carretta (Penguin, 2001); there is also a selection of
her verses on the Early Americas Digital Archive, eada.lib.umd.edu. ~ Ref: GM, 43
(1773) 226; Dobell (1933); Lonsdale (1984), 616, 851; TLS, 13 June 1986, 649; Landry
(1990), 237-53; Jackson (1993), 366-9; Wu (1997), 136-41; Basker (2002), 170-82;
Dabydeen et al (2007), 523-5; Vincent Carretta,‖‘Phillis‖Wheatley’s‖First‖Effort’,
PMLA, 125, no. 3 (May 2010), 795‐97; Vincent Carretta, Phillis Wheatley, Biography
of a Genius in Bondage (Athens, GA: Univ. of Georgia Press, 2011); Paula Loscocco,
Phillis Wheatley’s Miltonic Poetics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); ODNB.
[F] [C18]
Wheeler, James (c. 1718-88), labouring man, published The Rose of Sharon: a Poem
by James Wheeler, a Labouring Man (London,‖1795),‖a‖‘dire’‖volume,
posthumously published to raise money for his widow. ~ Ref: LC 3, 177-8.
[LC3] [C18]
Wheeler, Thomas Martin (1811-62), of south London, son of a publican and
wheelwright, woolcomber, schoolteacher, Chartist, poet and novelist, an
autodidact‖who‖‘wandered‖through‖England’‖and‖‘tried‖his‖hand‖at‖various‖
occupations’‖(Schwab);‖contributor‖to‖Northern Star and later The People’s Paper; his
novel Sunshine and Shadow was published in weekly instalments in the Northern
Star between 1849 and 1850. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 102-3; Ashraf (1978), I, 25;
Scheckner (1989), 320-1, 344-5; Schwab (1993), 220; Ian Haywood (ed.), Chartist
Fiction: Thomas Doubleday, The‖Political‖Pilgrim’s‖Progress [1839]; Thomas Martin
Wheeler, Sunshine and Shadow [1849-50] (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999); Margaret A.
Loose,‖‘Chartist‖Revolutionary‖Strategy‖in‖Thomas‖Wheeler’s‖Sunshine‖and‖
Shadow’,‖Philological Quarterly, 92, no. 2 (Spring 2013), 177-97. [C]
Whitaker, John Appleyard (fl. 1861?), of Haworth, of a well-known Methodist
family, apprenticed to a Leeds draper, later an assistant at Cleckheaton, then in
business himself at Great Horton. His father died when he was thirteen. He wrote
and popularly recited poetry from childhood onwards. His first poem was on
Haworth church, while other poems were on religious themes. He took to
 publishing‖in‖local‖papers.‖Forshaw‖prints‖‘To‖Our‖Bards’‖and‖‘The‖Preacher’. ~
Ref: Forshaw (1891), 168-70 (includes photograph). [T]
Whitaker, William (fl. 1870-82), of Blackburn, painter, dialect and local poet. ~ Ref:
Hull (1902), 205-13.
White, Edmund H. (fl. 1847-59), Railway guard for the Great Western Railway and
self-styled‖‘working‖man’,‖went‖blind‖in‖later‖life‖and‖was‖in‖poverty‖in old age
and reliant on patronage. He published Athelstan; a tragedy. Life and Death, an
allegory, and Other Poems (London: W. Strange, 1847); Life and Death (d.n.k.); The
Plebeian and other Tales (London: W. Strange, 1848); Slavery, a Poem in Five Cantos;
The Artisan and other poems (London: James Martin, 1850); Blindness: A Discursive
Poem in Five Cantos, composed in total blindness (London: James Martin, 1856); The
Genius of the Blind: A Poem in Five Cantos Composed in Total Blindness (1859,
presumably a fresh edition of 1856). ~ Ref: online sources; inf. Dawn Whatman.
[R]
White, George (1764-1836), former slave turned Methodist preacher, became literate
at the age of 42; published a narrative of his life in 1810 that includes poetry. ~ Ref:
Basker (2002), 687-8.
White, Henry Kirke (1785-1806), Nottingham butcher’s‖son,‖like‖Thomas‖Chatterton‖
(qv) famous as a tragic youthful prodigy, won two prizes from the Monthly
Preceptor (1800) and wrote regularly for the Monthly Mirror, but became ill and
died while studying at Cambridge. He published Clifton Grove, a Sketch in Verse,
with other Poems (1803) and a posthumous collected works by Southey for the
benefit of his family: The Remains of Henry Kirke White...with an Account of his Life,
(1807), two volumes, which eventually went to ten editions, including two in
America.‖His‖sonnet‖‘On‖Wilford‖Church’‖was‖once‖fairly‖well-known. Robert
Bloomfield‖(qv)‖included‖White’s‖sonnet‖‘On‖Hearing‖the‖Sound‖of‖an‖Eolian‖
Harp’‖in‖his‖anthology‖Nature’s Music (1808).‖It‖was‖thought‖by‖John‖Keats’s‖(qv)‖
friend Richard Woodhouse that Henry‖Kirke‖White‖was‖one‖of‖the‖‘lone‖spirits’‖
who‖‘proudly‖sing‖their‖youth‖away‖and‖die’‖celebrated‖in‖Keats’s‖poem‖‘Sleep‖
and‖Poetry’.‖If‖there‖is‖no‖modern‖published edition or selection of Kirke White
currently available, there is at least a good PhD edition:‖C.‖V.‖Fletcher,‖‘The‖Poems‖
and‖Letters‖of‖Henry‖Kirke‖White:‖A‖Modern‖Edition’,‖Ph.D.‖dissertation,‖
University of Nottingham, 1980. There‖is‖also‖a‖useful‖study‖in‖the‖Twayne’s‖
series,‖though‖it‖does‖does‖cover‖‘poems‖of‖social‖protest’‖such‖as‖‘The Wonderful
Juggler’‖and‖‘The‖Prostitute’. ~ Ref: Cunningham (1834), 92; ‘Chapters‖on‖Poetry‖
and‖Poets,‖Series‖II,‖chapter‖vi,‖Kirke‖White’,‖Dearden’s Miscellany, IV (1840), 708-
16; Miles (1891), X, 81; Cedric Bonnell, Henry Kirke White ([Nottingham: privately
printed, c.‖1904+),‖‘Lions‖of‖Lambkinville’‖series,‖no.‖7,‖reprinted‖from‖the‖
Nottingham Daily Express, 22 and 29 April 1904; Unwin (1954), 118-19; Richard D.
McGhee, Henry Kirke White (Woodbridge,‖CT:‖Twayne,‖1981),‖Twayne’s‖English‖
 Poets series; Vincent (1981), 145-7; Maidment (1983), 84; Richardson (1994), 257-8;
Sales (1994), 271; Sutton (1995), 993-4;‖John‖Barnard,‖‘Keats‖Echoes‖Kirke‖White’,‖
RES, ns 47 (1996), 389-92; Goodridge (1999), item 125; Meyenberg (2000), 229-30;
Basker (2002), 625; Laurie‖Langbauer,‖‘Prolepsis‖and‖the‖Tradition‖of‖Juvenile‖
Writing:‖Henry‖Kirke‖White‖and‖Robert‖Southey’,‖PMLA, 128, no. 4 (October
2013), 888-906, and in The Juvenile Tradition: Young Writers and Prolepsis, 1750-1835
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016), 110-28; ODNB.
White, Isabella (fl. 1869), of Laurencekirk, powerloom weaver, published The Lovers
of the Mountain and Other Poems (Brechin: Printed by D. Burns, Advertiser Office,
1869). The prefatory material offers her sincere thanks to ladies and gentlemen
who have encouraged her to publish. Her volume contains romantic ballads, such
as‖‘On‖Cluny‖Castle,‖Inverness-shire,’‖and‖other‖verses,‖among‖them‖‘On‖
Laurencekirk—The‖Birthplace‖of‖the‖Authoress’,‖which‖briefly‖describes‖her‖
childhood. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 492; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [S] [T]
White, John (b. 1859), of Whitburn, tailor, violinist, comic songwriter, poems in
Bisset. ~ Ref: Bisset (1896), 268-70. [S]
White, Robert (1802-74),‖farmer’s‖son‖of‖Deneholme,‖Roxburghshire,‖poet‖and‖
antiquarian, moved to Otterburn in Northumberland when he was a boy. While
in Otterburn, White attended local schools in between helping herding cattle on
his‖father’s‖farm‖where‖a‖family‖friend‖fostered‖in‖the‖young‖White‖an‖interest‖in‖
literature. In 1825 White moved to Newcastle upon Tyne where he found clerical
work‖with‖the‖brassfounder‖Robert‖Watson‖at‖the‖High‖Bridge.‖White’s‖first‖
poem,‖‘The‖Tyneside‖Nun’,‖was‖printed‖by‖the‖Typographical‖Society‖of‖
Newcastle in 1829 and found popularity locally. Spending much of his leisure
time in the borders with his friend James Telfer (qv), the Saughtrees poet, White
absorbed many of the border ballads and became fascinated with the culture of
the region; the success of his own poetry and the interest in border culture
prompted a sustained career in which he devoted himself to the preservation and
printing of local folklore and songs. His collection of chapbooks and other printed
materials became one of North-east‖England’s‖largest‖of‖such‖material,‖but‖on‖his‖
death and with no heir, was split up between his siblings. White’s‖great‖nephew‖
Professor Sir George White Pickering (1904-80) reconstituted the library and in
1942‖presented‖it‖to‖Newcastle‖University‖(then‖King’s‖College).‖The‖collection‖
contains works by John Dryden, Robert Burns (qv), Mark Akenside, John Keats
(qv), John Milton, John Clare (qv), and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It also includes a
copy‖of‖Joseph‖Skipsey’s‖(qv) Lyrics (1859),‖which‖is‖dedicated‖as‖from‖‘Joseph‖
Skipsey‖to‖Mr‖Robt‖White’. Publications include The Wind. A Poem (1853); England.
A Poem (1856); Tales, Ballads, and Songs (Kelso: J. & J. H. Rutherfurd, 1867); poems
in the later editions of Whistlebinkie; editor of Poems and Ballads of John Leyden
(Kelso, 1858), which includes prefatory material by Sir Walter Scott. White’s‖prose‖
 ‘Autobiographical‖Notes’‖were‖published‖in‖a‖hand-set limited edition of 90
(Newcastle upon Tyne: Eagle Press, the University Library, 1966). ~ Ref: Wilson
(1876), II, 257-60; Welford (1895), III, 604-9; Burnett et al (1984), 336-7 (no. 749a);
Sutton (1995), 994-5; ODNB; online sources. (Johnson (1992), item 962 may also
relate.) [—Gordon Tait] [S]
(?) White, Walter (1811-93), of Reading, upholsterer, librarian and writer, emigrated
to America (New York and Poughkeepsie) but returned in 1839, then moved to
London and became a librarian at the Royal Society. He published The Prisoner
and his dream: a ballad (?1885). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 510; ODNB.
Whitehead, Harry Buckley (1890-1966), of Diggle, Oldham, dialect poet, millworker
from the age of thirteen until retirement, published Rhymes of a Village Poet (1963).
~ Ref: Hollingworth (1977), 156. [T] [OP]
Whitehead, John (1797-1879), of Duns, shoemaker, published in the newspapers. ~
Ref: Crockett (1893), 131-2. [S] [SM]
(?) Whitelaw, James (1840-87), of Dundee, compositor, sub-editor of the People’s
Friend. ~ Ref: Edwards, 11 (1888), 256-62. [S]
Whitmore, William (fl. 1850-59), Chartist poet, housepainter and friend of William
Jones, correspondent of Leatherland (qv), published poems in Cooper’s Journal
(1850) and Firstlings, a collection of his verse appeared in 1852 (Leicester and
London: John Chapman). Through his friendship with John Roebuck, a member
of‖the‖London‖Working‖Men’s‖College,‖his‖work‖was‖brought‖to‖the‖note‖of‖Tom‖
Hughes, who sponsored the publication of a further selection of his verse in 1859
under the title Gilbert Marlowe and other poems, with a preface by the author of ‘Tom
Brown's school days’ (Cambridge: Macmillan, 1859). ~ Ref: Star Of Freedom, 7
August 1852, 3; Schwab (1993), 220; Ashton & Roberts (1999), 62; inf. from
contributor. [C] [—Ned Newitt]
Whitney, Isabella (fl. 1566-73), of Coole Pilate, Nantwich, worked in London as a
servant,‖one‖of‖the‖earliest‖examples‖of‖a‖‘professional’‖and‖secular‖woman‖
poet/writer. Publications include A Copy of a Letter, Lately Written in Meter (1567);
A Sweet Nosegay or Pleasant Posy (1573). ~ Ref: Laurie Ellinghausen, ‘‚Tis‖all‖I‖
Have‛:‖Print‖Authorship‖and‖Occupational‖Identity‖in‖Isabella‖Whitney’s‖A Sweet
Nosegay’,‖in‖her‖Labor and Writing in Early Modern England (Aldershot: Ashgate,
2008), 17-36; ODNB; Wikipedia. [OP]
Whittell, Thomas (1683-1736),‖of‖Northumberland,‖‘The‖Northumbrian‖poet’,‖‘The‖
Licentious‖Poet’,‖miller‖and‖humorous‖poet,‖published The Midford Galloway
(Newcastle?, 1790?); there is also a posthumous Poetical Works (1815). ~ Ref:
Welford (1895), III, 613-15; ESTC. [C18]
Whittett, Robert (b. 1829), of Perth, worked in Aberdeen and Edinburgh as a printer,
returned to Perth then emigrated, in 1869 purchasing a plantation in Virginia to
 set up in business, became senior partner in a publishing firm; published The
Brighter Side of Suffering and Other Poems (1882). ~ Ref: Ross (1889), 110-16. [S]
Whittle, Edward (1855), of Bolton, worked in a cotton mill from the age of ten. He
began‖to‖perform‖‘as‖an‖entertainer‖at‖Sunday‖School‖and‖temperance‖gatherings,‖
and eventually‖took‖to‖entertaining‖as‖a‖profession’‖(Sparke).‖Whittle‖composed‖
his own songs (by 1913 there were sixty of them), and was popularly known as
‘Teddy‖Whittle’.‖His‖songs‖included:‖Aw'm fain to see thi, sit thi deawn!, written,
composed and sung by Teddy Whittle (London, undated, 4. pp. with a portrait). Jesus.
a hymn with music, printed as a broadside (Bolton: A. Blackshaw & Sons,
undated); Sweet little roley poley: a baby song, written and composed by Mr. Teddy
Whittle (n. pub., pp. 4. with a portrait); and Whims and oddities (1895), twelve
songs. These are all in the Bolton Library Catalogue. ~ Ref: Sparke (1913, 147). [T]
Wickenden, William S. (fl. 1819-47), of Etloe in the Forest of Dean, ‘The‖Bard‖of‖the‖
Forest’,‖farm‖labourer,‖‘as‖little‖blessed‖by‖education‖a‖fortune’,‖poet‖and‖novelist,‖
friend and neighbour of Dr Edward Jenner the pioneer of vaccination,‖‘who‖
conferred‖on‖me‖the‖name‖of‖‚The‖Bard‖of‖the‖Forest‛’‖(Passages,‖p.‖22); in his
playful and episodic autobiography (listed below) Wickenden tells of how he
undertook an intensive course of study, and went up to Cambridge as a sizar,
where he took his degree in 1825; he then was ordained as a minister and
obtained a curacy in Somerset. Wickenden published The Rustic’s Lay and Other
Poems (1817); Count Glarus, of Switzerland. Interspersed with some Pieces of Poetry
(Gloucester, 1819); Bleddyn: a Welch National Tale (London: Baldwin, Cradock and
Joy, 1821, two editions); Prose and Poetry of the Bard of the Forest (Cambridge:
Harwood & Hall, 1825); Some Remarkable Passages in the Life of William Wickenden,
B. A., alias Bard of the Forest, Written by Himself (London: Printed for the Author by
W. Fallowfield Slee, 1847). In the Preface to this work Wickenden apologises for
‘the‖levity‖with‖which‖some‖of‖the‖following‖chapters‖are‖written’. He continues,
‘At‖time‖the‖incidents‖alluded‖to‖took‖place,‖the‖author‖was‖a‖wild‖untamed‖Dean‖
Forester, or a not less untamed Cantab. At both these seasons of life, the grave
senior will smile at eccentricities, which would be justly reprehensible at a more
mature‖period.’ The subscribers are all clergymen. ~ Ref: James Burmester
Catalogue 47, items 168-9, 254; Remarkable Passages, via Google Books; inf. Bob
Heyes.
(?) Wight, William (fl. 1820), published Cottage Poems (Edinburgh: James Ballantyne
& Co, 1820). ~ Ref: Jackson (1985); inf. Bob Heyes. [S]
Wightman, Margaret Theresa (fl. 1876), born in Ireland, lived in Dundee, mantle and
millinery shopworker, published The Faithful Shepherd, and other poems (Edinburgh
and Glasgow, 1876). Her poems are accomplished; several praise a Dundee pastor
and‖one‖is‖about‖‘The‖Factory‖Girl’,‖Ellen‖Johnston‖(qv). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 495;
Boos (2008), 22; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [I] [S] [T]
(?) Wildman, Abraham (1803-70), of Keighley, of Quaker stock, wrote verses early
and worked for the Board of Guardians before becoming involved in the shorter
hours movement. As its secretary he wrote to the Duke of Wellington among
others. He drew up petitions in defence of factory workers. He was later in
business (unsuccessfully) and worked as a wool-sorter. Wildman suffered a
number of family misfortunes; his daughter was crippled in a mill accident, his
son disappeared to Australia and his wife died. He became unable to work and a
subscription was raised for his Lays of Hungary to alleviate poverty. He published
Miscellaneous Poems (London: Simpkin and Marshall, 1829); Lays of Hungary.
(untraced on Google, COPAC or Library of Congress catalogue). Holroyd prints
his‖poem‖‘Labour’;‖mentioned‖by‖Ashraf;‖Forshaw‖prints‖his‖‘The‖Factory‖Child’s‖
Complaint’‖and‖‘Lines‖Composed‖on‖the‖Banks‖of‖the‖Aire’.‖Through‖the‖
intervention‖of‖Sir‖Titus‖Salt‖(patron‖of‖John‖Nicholson‖‘The‖Airedale‖Poet’,‖qv),‖
he was allotted an almshouse, where he moved with his disabled daughter, and
saved from the workhouse, which he had feared. The Keighley Local Studies
Library holds manuscript verses dated from 1834-49,‖including‖‘a‖memoranda‖
book with verses written into a worsted spinner’s‖account‖book‖1834-1835’. ~ Ref:
Forshaw (1891), 171-4; Holroyd (1873), 122; Ashraf (1978), I, 37’‖National‖Archives‖
webpage.
Wildon, Robert Carrick (1817-57), of North Bierley, Yorkshire, of humble parentage,
jobbing tailor, who married young and whose‖later‖life‖was‖‘one‖continual‖
struggle‖with‖poverty‖and‖sickness’.‖He‖‘contrived‖to‖educate‖himself‖in‖a‖way‖
one‖can‖hardly‖realize,‖when‖we‖consider‖his‖scant‖means‖and‖opportunities’.‖As‖
these quotations suggest, the headnote on Wildon in Forshaw, written by George
Ackroyd—who had interviewed him—is interesting in its small details and
describes an interaction in which Ackroyd suggested themes to the poet. Wildon
published a number of volumes, died in Bradford infirmary and is buried in
Bingley cemetery,‖a‖‘few‖yards‖away’‖from‖John‖Nicholson‖the‖Airedale‖poet‖(qv).‖
He published The Poacher’s Child: Founded on Facts (London: J. Watson, 1853); Tong,
or a Summer’s Day; The Forbidden Union; and other Poems (Leeds: Christopher
Kemplay, 1850); The Beauties of Shipley Glen, Saltaire, and Lines on Visiting the Grave
of Nicholson, the Airedale poet (Bingley: John Harrison and Sons, 1856), and A Voice
from the Sycamore, on Elm Tree Hill, Bingley (Bingley: J. Dobson, 1856). ~ Ref:
Forshaw (1891), 175-7; Holroyd (1873) II; COPAC. [T]
Will, Charles (b. 1861), of Methlie, Aberdeenshire, asylum attendant, police officer,
published in newspapers. ~ Ref: Edwards, 9 (1886), 365-8. [S]
Williams, [Owen] Alfred (1877-1930),‖‘The‖Hammerman‖Poet’,‖born‖in‖South‖
Marston, near Swindon, Wiltshire; farmworker, steamhammer operator in a
railway factory, self-taught folklorist, poet, translator and writer on rural and
industrial life, army life, and Indian culture, later a market gardener. The
‘hammerman’‖tag‖stems‖from‖Alfred‖Williams’‖twenty-seven years of working in
a railway factory, but perhaps also reflects a certain unbending toughness in his
outlook, seen in his relentless programme of study, for example, or his refusal to
take a foremanship or lighter office work when it was offered to him by his friend
and biographer Henry Byett, an administrator in the railway factory; both of these
choices (and other of a similar kind) would harm his health and ultimately
shorten his life, but he was well aware of these dangers and still chose the harder
path. In person Williams was a quiet and scholarly man: he was described to me
in the 1980s by someone who had attended his lectures sixty years earlier, as a shy
and self-effacing person. His reputation as a local Swindon or a Wiltshire writer is
also in a sense misleading. He certainly loved his county (though he had a poor
opinion of Swindon itself), and a central concern, especially in his prose work,
was to describe what‖he‖saw‖and‖heard‖around‖him,‖and‖‘leave‖a‖permanent‖
record‖of‖the‖language‖and‖activities‖of‖the‖district‖in‖which‖I‖find‖myself’,‖as‖he‖
puts it in the introduction to Folk Songs of the Upper Thames (p. 9). But his interests
were always much broader, taking in folklore and English literature, the classics
and their languages, theories of learning, politics, the history and culture of the
places he visited especially as a soldier in the first world war, Sanskrit and the
Indian myths and stories he translated in the last years of his life. ~ Williams was
an immensely gifted and ferociously determined autodidact, alert to every
possibility of improving and developing his knowledge and applying his gifts as
a scholar and a writer to their maximum potential. He was one of the first to
benefit‖from‖the‖founding‖of‖Ruskin‖Hall,‖Oxford’s‖‘worker’s‖college’,‖in‖1899,‖and‖
took an active interest in everything he experienced, from working in the
Swindon‖railway‖factory,‖to‖cycling‖‘seven‖thousand‖miles’‖(latterly‖against
doctor’s‖orders)‖in‖search‖of‖folk‖songs‖(Clark,‖p.‖93),‖to‖travelling‖in‖Ireland‖and‖
India during his army service. Leonard Clark recounts the story of Williams
chalking Greek words to learn at the rear of his steam-hammer each morning, and
the official who regularly erased them, only for them to re-appear, sometimes in
white‖paint.‖The‖day‖he‖left‖the‖factory‖in‖1914‖he‖chalked‖the‖Latin‖word‖‘vici’‖on‖
the iron plate over his furnace, signalling his triumph over the philistinism and
bullying that had tormented him during his years there (Clark, 21-2, 78). It was a
political as much as a psychological victory against the hostility and lack of
understanding he experienced from his contemporaries. Jonathan Rose quotes
from an unpublished piece by Byett: ‘*Williams+‖was‖considered‖mad‖by‖those‖
villagers to whom animals were just animals, either of value or pests, according to
their type. Said‖one‖‚I‖see’d‖Alfie‖Williams‖t’other‖night‖walkin’‖down‖‚Poor‖
Meadow‛‖wi’‖’is‖’ands‖behind‖’n‖an’‖gawkin’‖up‖at‖the‖sky for all the world like a
b_____‖lunatic.‛‖By‖most‖of‖his‖workmates‖at‖the‖forge‖he‖was‖not‖appreciated.‖
His‖omission‖to‖join‖them‖in‖small‖talk‖while‖waiting‖between‖‚heats‛‖—
preferring to spend the time in studious meditation—was construed by them as
snobbishness’‖(86). Such viewpoints would not stop him, though Williams was
well aware of how uneasy his reading and writing made his fellow-workers,
choosing an epigraph from Burns for the title page of his book about life in the
railway factory: ‘A‖chield’s‖amang‖you‖takin’‖notes,‖/‖And,‖faith,‖he’ll‖prent‖it’‖
(John‖Clare,‖qv,‖used‖the‖same‖quotation‖to‖head‖his‖last‖extant‖poem,‖‘Birds‖
Nesting’). ~ Williams had a Welsh father, Elias Williams, originally of Conwy, a
farmer’s‖son‖and‖woodworker;‖and a Wiltshire-born mother, Elizabeth Hughes.
He was one of eight surviving children (a seventh son if one includes those who
did not survive early childhood). He grew up in poverty after his father left the
family ten years into his marriage, wrecked by drink and heavily in debt, leaving
the mother struggling to support her children, having lost her home to the bailiffs
through‖her‖husband’s‖financial‖failures.‖The‖evidence‖suggests‖that‖despite‖
endless difficulties she brought them up with very great care and ultimately with
success. Alfred attended school in South Marston until his eighth birthday when
he became a half-timer, attending school for part of the day and working for a
local farmer for the rest of it. He worked at the usual jobs given to boys: weeding,
stone-picking and bird-scaring.‖It‖was,‖he‖later‖said,‖a‖‘period‖of‖much‖happiness’.‖
His‖biographer‖describes‖him‖as‖having‖been‖a‖‘passionate-tempered, impulsive
little‖boy’,‖adventurous, hyperactive and prone to swiftly-passing fits of temper.
Like John Clare his‖‘greatest‖pleasure‖was‖roaming‖alone’.‖He‖was‖indignant‖at‖
injustice, and he enjoyed the company of older people. Williams left school at
eleven to work on a nearby farm as a houseboy, and then on another farm,
learning all the tasks of farming. At fifteen he went to work at the Great Western
Railway Works at Swindon, firstly as a rivet-hotter and then as a furnace boy in
the stamping shop. He more than once tried to join the armed services, and
applied to join the metropolitan police, but failed each time on medical grounds.
He grew interested in painting, then shorthand, then politics. In Spring 1897, aged
twenty,‖he‖began‖‘reading‖and‖studying‖in‖earnest,‖and‖a‖deep‖passion‖for‖
literature‖began‖to‖assert‖itself’.‖~‖This‖was‖no‖passing‖interest, and he would
continue to study intensely and deeply for the rest of his life. In 1900 he began a
four-year correspondence course at Ruskin Hall, Oxford, under the supervision
and mentorship of Arthur Hacking. Frustrated by untranslated Latin quotations
in the texts he studied, and increasingly aware of his own ignorance of English
grammar, he began to teach himself Latin, and a programme of intense daily
study, carried out at the margins of his paid work, began. He would rise at four
a.m. and work until it was time to go to work. He would read through his dinner
hour, and begin again almost as soon as he got home, studying late into the night,
though his night-working was curtailed by eye-problems. In 1904 he married
Mary Peck, whose companionship and steadfast support for his studies and
writing was a key factor in its continuance. ~ Williams began writing, and in 1904
was able to send his verse-drama, Sardanapalus, to a London publisher. For
contingent reason it was refused, but raised much interest in him, especially as an
example‖of‖‘self‖help’‖(an‖article‖about‖him‖by‖Frederick‖Rockell,‖‘The‖
Hammerman and Poet: An Example of Self-Help’‖was‖published‖in‖The Millgate
Monthly late in 1907). In 1906 he was invited to write articles on his life for
Pearson’s Magazine; these were not published in the end but perhaps sowed the
first seed for his major prose work, Life in a Railway Factory (1915). He had several
poems published in an anthology, New Songs (1907). He was now talked about in
London as much as in Wiltshire, and in 1909 his first volume was published under
the patronage of Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, a local bigwig who also underwrote
his second volume two years later, and became a valued advisor. In 1910 Williams
was invited to lecture at the Mechanics’‖Institute‖in‖Swindon,‖and‖other‖
invitations followed. The next year he embarked on his first prose works, starting
with the famous account of his workplace, and thence on to his Wiltshire books.
Two further volumes of poetry followed. Williams writes poetry in a traditional,
not to say classical way. He enjoyed a ‘page‖of‖Ovid’‖more‖than‖a‖‘bundle’‖of‖
recent poets, and had little time for his modernist contemporaries, regarding a
volume of Dryden as being worth any dozen modern volumes (Rose, 141). His
many books on Wiltshire and the Upper Thames Valley foreshadow the work of a
later writer of Welsh descent, George Ewart Evans (1909-88), in carefully
capturing the voices and cultures of English rural life. ~ The Great War changed
forever the landscapes and cultures he had described in his first two Wiltshire
books, and presaged a dramatic change in his own life. Clark‖writes:‖‘On‖3rd‖
September 1914, Alfred Williams laid aside his hammer for ever and left the
service of the Great Western Railways, a young man broken in health, and
embittered‖in‖spirit’.‖This overstates his feelings about the factory years, which
were also affectionate. As Clark notes, he usually bounced back from low spirits
and found new sources of enthusiasm. He began gardening (he would eke a bare
living as a market gardener for the last sixteen years of his life), and he set out on
his folk song collecting work. Both Life in a Railway Factory and a collection of War
Sonnets and Songs were published in 1915, the former creating quite a sensation,
the latter reflecting a type of popular patriotism of the time, one which would
lead him into the army as a volunteer soldier the following year despite his poor
health and constitution. (The army pay was also a significant consideration, and
he‖was‖proud‖to‖send‖his‖wife‖Mary‖the‖whole‖of‖his‖first‖week’s‖pay‖of five
shillings.) In January 1917 his unit was sent to Newbridge Barracks in County
Kildare, Ireland, after a stormy, seasick crossing. He sustained a back injury there
that laid him up for some time, and a book-loving Irish nurse, Ada Levinge,
fostered a new interest: Irish literature and the history of Ireland. She would
remain‖a‖beloved‖friend,‖and‖he‖wrote‖two‖poems‖about‖her,‖‘Love’s‖Memory’‖
and‖‘To‖Niam‖on‖Duty’.‖In‖July‖his unit was moved to Edinburgh. He was then
transferred to another unit and moved to Winchester. By August he had pencilled
twelve chapters of his army book, Boys of the Battery. The following month, fully
expecting to go to France, he was posted instead to India,‖and‖began‖‘the‖greatest‖
adventure‖of‖his‖life’‖(Clark,‖104).‖~‖This‖can‖only‖be‖briefly‖summarised‖here,‖but‖
his experiences in India would feed his writing to the end of his life. After a
harrowing seven week journey by ship he arrived in Bombay (modern Mumbai),
then entrained for a 1,600-mile journey to the hill station of Roorkee. He soon
became fascinated by Indian history, literature and culture, as he had with
Ireland, and began to write about it. He visited an Islamic festival in December, a
lone Englishman among 20,000 Indian celebrants, and would go on to take a deep
and philosophical interest in the religions of India, as well as the agricultural,
natural and human history of the subcontinent. By March 1918 he had finished
another prose work, Round the Cape to India. His unit moved south to Cawnpore,
but he struggled with the heat and was relieved to be moved with a small unit up
into the hills, at the Himalayan hill station of Ranikhet. He loved this place so
much he would give its name to the cottage he and Mary built for themselves
after the war. He spent the remainder of his time in India between the places
named above, and others including Calcutta, and by January 1919 had written
seventeen chapter of a further prose work, Indian Life and Scenery. (Both these
Indian works remain unpublished.) In October he finally departed for an arduous
return journey to England. The next two years were largely taken up with
building‖‘Ranikhet’,‖into‖which‖Alfred‖and‖Mary‖moved‖in‖1921,‖and‖the‖struggle‖
for survival on a minimal income. In the early 1920s he published‖his‖two‖‘Upper‖
Thames’‖volumes,‖and‖a‖handsome‖‘Selected’‖poems‖that‖enabled‖him‖to‖add
some of the Indian verses he had written. In his last years Williams became more
reclusive, as he worked on his Indian material, learning Sanskrit to add to his
Latin and Greek, and preparing his final work, Tales from the Panchatantra. This
was published just after he died, and was admired by the Sanskrit scholars of the
day, one of whom wrote an Introduction for it. But‖the‖couple’s final decade is a
story of great hardship, and the final tragedy of‖Alfred’s‖death‖in Spring 1930,
apparently from heart failure, as Mary lay mortally ill in hospital, swiftly followed
by her own passing, underlines just how brutally hard their lives had become.
Williams had suffered from many health problems throughout his life—all
faithfully catalogued by Clark—and he may even have died, at least partially, as a
result of malnutrition: J. B. Jones certainly thought so, and felt very angry about
his‖friend’s‖neglect‖and‖poverty.‖The government awarded Williams a pension in
March, but it did so too late: he was already dead when news of it arrived. ~ It has
always been a reductive and limiting way of seeing Alfred Williams to regard
him, as many did, as primarily‖a‖‘natural‖genius’,‖and a fine example of a
workman practising‖the‖Victorian‖virtue‖of‖‘self‖help’;‖nevertheless his
achievements as a highly disciplined autodidact are quite as remarkable as the
body of writing he left behind, all of which, including the unpublished materials,
deserves our fresh attention. ~ Williams published six volumes of poetry in all:
Songs in Wiltshire (London: Erskine MacDonald, 1909); Poems in Wiltshire (London:
Erskine MacDonald, 1911); Nature and Other Poems (London: Erskine MacDonald
1912); Cor Cordium (London: Erskine MacDonald, 1913); War Sonnets and Songs
(London: Erskine MacDonald, 1915); and Selected Poems, with an Introduction by
John Bailey (London: Erskine MacDonald, 1926). There are five major prose
works: A Wiltshire Village (London: Duckworth, 1912); Villages of the White Horse
(London: Duckworth, 1913); Life in a Railway Factory (London: Duckworth, 1915);
Round About the Upper Thames (London: Duckworth, 1922); Folk Songs of the Upper
Thames (London: Duckworth, 1923). The final work was his translation of Tales
from the Panchatantra, with an Introduction by A. A. MacDonnell, Emeritus
Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford, and Illustrations by Peggy
Whistler (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1930); and there was a further posthumous
abridgement of this for school use, Tales of the East (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1931).
To these we need to add his significant unpublished works, as briefly listed by
Leonard Clark (p. 195) and itemised in his papers in the Wiltshire and Swindon
History Centre (catalogue no. 2598 (1)): Aeneas in Sicily, A Poem; By the Fireside: A
Poem; Dudley Sansum: A Poem; Mark Titcombe, A Rhyme; Rhymes of the Forge;
Sardanapalus (1904, verse drama); Boys of the Battery (1917, prose); Round the Cape to
India (1919, prose); Mid Palm and Pine, or Indian Life and Scenery (1919, prose);
Letters from a Working Man to Working Men (1925, prose); and The Steam Hammer
Shop: A Novel (1927).‖Clark‖also‖mentions‖(p.‖17)‖a‖translation‖of‖Ovid’s‖Ariadne,
and there are many other poems, letters, lecture notes and prose writings among
his surviving manuscripts. ~ It should be noted that Williams was not the only
poet‖in‖his‖family.‖Leonard‖Clark‖says‖that‖his‖mother‖Elizabeth‖had‖‘poetic‖
leanings’,‖and‖that‖‘sometimes,‖while‖working‖in‖her‖garden,‖or‖in‖the‖fields,‖she‖
would begin to compose, though there was rarely an opportunity for her to
commit‖her‖thoughts‖to‖writing’;‖he‖adds‖that‖she‖was‖a‖‘born‖storyteller’.‖Alfred’s‖
brother, Ernest Williams, composed‖‘humorous‖parodies‖which‖he‖used‖to‖sing‖to‖
his‖own‖tunes’‖(AWHS‖page); while two of his sisters, Charlotte [Laura] Williams
and Ada Mary Thorne (qqv) were published poets. Even his father Elias was
‘known‖to‖have‖carried‖a‖pocket‖edition‖of‖Pope’s‖Iliad on‖his‖travels’‖as‖a‖
woodworker. Ada Thorne‖in‖later‖years‖recalled‖with‖pleasure‖the‖family’s‖
musical activities (see her own entry, above). ~ Williams has undergone a local
revival‖in‖recent‖years,‖and‖in‖addition‖to‖a‖‘Friends‖of‖Alfred‖Williams’‖set‖up‖in‖
1970‖there‖is‖now‖an‖‘Alfred‖Williams Heritage‖Society’‖(AWHS),‖which‖has won
 National Lottery money to spread the word about him. There was a Festival at the
Steam Museum in Swindon in 2010 to celebrate his life. Some of his work has been
reprinted, including two prose selections: In a Wiltshire Village: Scenes from Rural
Victorian Life, ed. M. J. Davis (Stroud: Alan Sutton; 1981, 1992) and Round About
Middle Thames: Glimpses of Rural Victorian Life, ed. M. J. Davies (Stroud: Alan
Sutton, 1982, 1992), and a reprint of Life in a Railway Factory, with an Introduction
by M. J. Davies (Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1986). (There have been several other
reprints of this work over the years, most recently in 2012.) As noted above, there
are significant unpublished works in verse and prose among his manuscripts in
the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (formerly Wiltshire Record Office). His
Sanskrit books were donated to the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The library was
unaware of this collection when I enquired about it some years ago, so his books
may be scattered through their collections now. ~ Among the sources listed below,
the invaluable early biographies by Henry Byett and Leonard Clark were written
by individuals who knew him and had talked to those around him. The J. B. Jones
book, written by another of his friends, is a rather rambling set of essays about
Williams, though not without interesting details. Among modern sources, the
AWHS web page is rich in contextual and biographical detail, and there are useful
introductions in the M. J. Davis reprints. ~ Ref: H[enry] Byett, Alfred Williams:
Ploughboy, Hammerman, Poet & Author (Swindon: Swindon Press, 1933); Leonard
Clark, Alfred Williams: His Life and Work (Bristol:‖William‖George’s‖Sons‖and‖
Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1945); J. B. Jones, Williams of Swindon (Swindon: The
Swindon Press, 1950); Unwin (1954), 165-89; Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of
the British Working Classes (2001), 86, 141, 347; ODNB; Wikipedia; AWHS webpage;
inf. Norman Goodman. See also Ada Mary Thorne, Charlotte Williams (qqv). [W]
[R] [OP]
(?) Williams, Anna (1706-83), blind poet, born at Rosemarket, Pembrokeshire, but
moved to London at age twenty-one and spent the rest of her life there; in 1727,
her father moved into the Charterhouse, a school and almshouse for gentlemen
under financial duress, though it is unclear if he was a supporter or a dependent;
Williams became blind after an operation on her eyes in 1752; she was acclaimed
and supported by Dr Samuel Johnson, in whose household she lived, supervising
the household and managing its budget. Johnson helped her with Miscellanies in
Prose and Verse (London: T. Davis, 1766), contributing a preface and several pieces
in prose and verse. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); Gramich & Brennan (2003), 60-63, 395;
Croft & Beattie, III, no. 166. [W] [F] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Charlotte (Laura) (b. c. 1878-9), sister to Ada Mary Thorne and Alfred
Williams (qqv) and a poet herself, publishing poems in the Western Gazette in
1918. ~ Ref: Leonard Clark, Alfred Williams, His Life and Work (Bristol: William
George’s‖Sons,‖1945);‖Alfred‖Williams‖Heritage Society webpage. [F] [W] [OP]
Williams, David Morgan (1928-1997), ‘Mogg’,‖of Black Mill, Llangeinor, Glamorgan,
miner‖for‖twenty‖years,‖invalided‖in‖1966,‖poet,‖‘unofficial‖laureate‖of‖the‖South‖
Wales‖coalfield’,‖published fifteen volumes including Stretch (1970), and Selected
Works (1996). ~ Ref: ODNB. [W] [M] [OP]
Williams, E. (fl. 1864), working man of Bristol, published The City at Night, and other
poems (London: Murray and Co., 1864). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 497.
Williams, Edward (1746-1826), ‘Iolo‖Morganwg’,‖Glamorgan-born stonemason, poet
and antiquarian, an important and controversial figure in Welsh cultural history;
now the subject of a multi-volume research project from the University of Wales
Press and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth,
including a three-volume edition of his Letters, several monographs and a
collection of essays. ~ Williams was born at Pennon, Glamorgan, the eldest of four
sons to Edward, a stonemason, and his wife Ann Matthews, the well-educated
‘daughter‖of‖a‖gentlemen‖who‖had‖wasted‖a‖pretty‖fortune’. Deprived of formal
schooling due to wretched health, Williams learned to read by watching his father
inscribe letters onto gravestones and through his mother teaching him songs from
The Vocal Miscellany. ~‖Williams‖adopted‖his‖father’s‖profession,‖while‖finding‖
time to explore Welsh verse and develop his poetic craftsmanship with the aid of
local bards such as Lewis Hopkin and Rhys Morgan. As a wandering stonemason
in London and Kent from 1773 to 1777 he encountered the Society of
Gwyneddigion and became an active participant in the vibrant Welsh sector of the
capital. It‖was‖during‖this‖period‖that‖Williams’s‖imagination‖was‖stirred‖by‖the‖
manuscript poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym. ~ After returning to Glamorgan,
Williams‖married‖Margaret‖Roberts‖in‖1781,‖‘apostrophising‖her‖as‖Euron‖in‖love‖
poems‖imitating‖those‖of‖Dafydd‖ap‖Gwilym’‖(Morgan). The relationship grew
trying as Williams moved from farming in Monmouthshire to building in
Llandaff to trading along the Bristol Channel, attempting to offset the frustrations
of such drudgeries by copying ancient manuscripts and composing fake Welsh
medieval poetry. Williams fled to Wales to evade his debt creditors in England
before undergoing a spell in Cardiff gaol in 1786-7. Of the four children he and his
wife‖bore,‖two‖survived.‖~‖Williams’s‖discourse‖on‖Welsh‖metrics,‖‘The‖Secret‖of‖
the‖Bards‖of‖the‖Isle‖of‖Britain’—illustrating‖that‖‘Glamorgan‖bards‖had‖never‖
accepted the classical rules of Welsh poetry agreed‖in‖1453’‖(Morgan)—was a
product of his time in prison. Additionally, he produced poems that were
redolent‖of‖Dafydd‖ap‖Gwilym’s‖verse‖to‖the‖point‖of‖being‖included‖as‖an‖
appendix‖in‖a‖1789‖edition‖of‖Dafydd’s‖works‖and‖deemed‖to‖be‖Dafydd’s‖
authentic‖compositions‖for‖over‖a‖century.‖~‖Williams’s‖conception‖of‖Glamorgan‖
bards uniquely perpetuating primeval druidic tradition was submitted in The
Gentleman’s Magazine (November 1789), and in 1791 he revisited London,
declaring that he was the conduit for all the mysteries of Druidism. He staged the
first ceremony—as well as inventing the rites and rituals—of‖‘The‖Gorsedd‖of‖
Bards‖of‖the‖Isle‖of‖Britain’‖at‖Primrose‖Hill‖the‖following‖year. As a figure aiming
to preserve and revitalise Welsh heritage and tradition, Williams became known
by his bardic name of Iolo Morganwg, and the ceremony later became one of the
chief attractions at the National Eisteddfod. Williams stayed in London until 1795,
supported by a large circle of friends, including Robert Southey, who granted him
a moving tribute in the epic poem Madoc (1805). He indulged in his laudanum
habit—of‖which‖he‖wrote:‖‘Thou‖faithful‖friend‖in‖all‖my‖grief,‖/‖In‖thy‖soft‖arms‖I‖
find‖relief,‖/‖In‖thee‖forget‖my‖woes’—and the publicising of myths such as
America’s‖discovery‖by‖the‖twelfth-century Welsh price Madoc, and the existence
of a manuscript at Raglan Castle representing a record of the bardic institution
traced back to the settlement of Britain. He even planned an expedition to
America in search for a tribe of Welsh-speaking Indians, but ultimately left his
young recruit to journey alone. ~ In 1794, Williams produced his first genuine
work, Poems, Lyrical and Pastoral, a two-volume set so popular that its subscribers
ostensibly included George Washington and the Prince of Wales, as well as
Hannah More, Thomas Paine and Hester Piozzi. Tim Burke (LC3, 276) suggests
that‖there‖is‖considerable‖ambition‖in‖Williams’s‖attempt‖‘to‖fuse‖the‖genres‖of‖
lyric and pastoral, in order to construct a new sense of the relationship between
the‖aesthetics‖of‖solitude‖and‖the‖ethics‖of‖community’. Reviewing the volume, the
British Critic (1794)‖wrote:‖‘Highly‖indeed‖do‖we‖disapprove‖of‖the‖violent‖and‖
intemperate spirit which distinguishes Mr Williams in his preface, and many of
his notes, but we are nevertheless equally ready to do him justice as a poet, and to
confess‖that‖a‖portion‖of‖genius,‖harmony,‖and‖taste‖marks‖his‖compositions’.‖~‖
Despite the warm reception of Poems, the near-starvation of his family led him
back to masonry in Flemingston and then shopkeeping in Cowbridge. He joined
Owen Jones and William Owen Pughe as editors of The Myvyrian Arcaiology (1801-
7), three volumes, the first printed corpus of Welsh medieval literature. After
several years delving into Unitarianism, Williams became a founder of the South
Wales Unitarian Society in 1802, the author of its book of regulations and a
considerable quantity of hymns published a decade later. ~ Williams spent his
later years‖in‖his‖cottage‖at‖Flemingston‖working‖on‖his‖magnum‖opus,‖‘The‖
History‖of‖the‖British‖Bards’,‖hoping‖to‖illuminate‖the‖entire‖history‖of‖the‖Druids‖
to the world, surrounded by manuscripts. He died in 1826 before he could
complete it, and the massive collection of material was donated to the National
Library‖of‖Wales‖in‖1916,‖just‖prior‖to‖Griffith‖John‖Williams’s‖commencement‖of‖
his lifetime study of Edward Williams. He‖concluded‖that‖‘although‖a‖pioneering‖
Romantic poet in Welsh, and the most talented writer of the eighteenth-century
Welsh cultural renaissance, he had forged a vast quantity of Welsh historical
material’‖(Morgan).‖~ There are many other publications, and a great deal of
 material still in manuscript, largely held in the National Library of‖Wales.‖Iolo’s‖
letters have been collected and well edited though: see Geraint H. Jenkins, Ffion
Mair Jones and David Ceri Jones (eds.), The Correspondence of Iolo Morganwg
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007), three volumes. ~ Ref: LC 3, 275-96;
ODNB; OCLW (1986); Radcliffe; Prys Morgan, Iolo Morganwyg (Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 1975), Writers of Wales series; Sutton (1995), 999-1000 (collected
papers in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth); Geraint H. Jenkins, Facts,
Fantasy and Fiction: The Historical Vision of Iolo Morganwg (Aberystwyth: University
of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 1997); Damian Walford
Davies,‖‘Models‖of‖Bardic‖Jacobinism‖and‖Gratitude:‖Edward‖Williams’,‖in‖his‖
Presences That Disturb: Models of Romantic Identity in the Literature and Culture of the
1790s (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002), pp. 135-92; Mary-Ann
Constantine, ‘Combustible Matter’: Iolo Morganwyg and the Bristol Volcano
(Aberystwyth: University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic
Studies, 2003); Catherine Charnell-White, Barbarism and Bardism: North Wales
Versus South Wales in the Bardic Vision of Iolo Morganwyg (Aberystwyth: University
of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2004); Mary-Ann
Constantine,‖‘‚In‖a‖Very‖Deranged‖State‛:‖Mary-Ann Constantine on Iolo
Morganwyg’,‖Planet, 171 (June/July 2005), 12-18;‖‘‚Seeing‖Daylight‖All‖the‖Way‛,‖
Planet, 172 (Aug/Sept. 2005), 55-61; A Rattleskull Genius: The Many Faces of Iolo
Morganwg, ed. Geraint H. Jenkins (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2005, 2009);
Geraint H. Jenkins, ‘Perish Kings and Emperors, But Let the Bard of Liberty Live’
(Aberystwyth: University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic
Studies, 2006); Cathryn A. Charnell-White, Bardic Circles: National, Regional and
Personal Identity in the Bardic Vision of Iolo Morganwg (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 2007); Mary-Ann Constantine, The Truth Against the World: Iolo Morganwg
and Romantic Forgery (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007); Mary-Ann
Constantine,‖‘A‖Subject‖of‖Conversation‛:‖Iolo‖Morganwyg,‖Hannah‖More‖and‖
Ann‖Yearsley’,‖in Wales and the Romantic Imagination, ed. Damian Walford Davies
and Lynda Pratt (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007)), 161-79; Marion
Löffler, The Literary and Historical Legacy of Iolo Morganwg 1826-1926 (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2007); Mary-Ann‖Constantine,‖‘‚Viewing‖Most‖Things‖
Through‖False‖Mediums‛:‖Iolo‖Morganwg‖(1747-1826) and English Perceptions of
Wales’,‖in‖Romanticism’s Debateable Lands, ed. Claire Lamont and Michael
Rossington (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 27-38; Charnell-White (2012),
148-201, 416-20; Croft & Beattie, III, no, 167; http://iolomorganwg.wales.ac.uk.
[LC3] [C18] [W] [—Iain Rowley]
(?) Williams, Eliseus (1867-1926), ‘Eifion‖Wyn’,‖schoolteacher and accountant; born at
Porthmadog, Caernarvonshire, received little education outside of Sunday School,
but still became a teacher in Porthmadog and later at Pentrefoelas; in 1896 he
 began work as a clerk and accountant for the North Wales Slate Company; some
of his hymns and poems are still popular as recitation pieces. He published
Ieuenctid y Dydd (1894); Y Bugail (c. 1900); Telynegion Maes a Mor (1906); Caniadau’r
Allt (posthumous, 1927); O Drum I Draeth (posthumous 1929). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986).
[W] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Ernest D. (fl. 1951), coal miner, of Brymbo, near Wrexham, wrote a song
that was published in Lloyd, 130, 348 note. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978). [M] [OP]
Williams, Francis (c. 1690-1762),‖of‖Kingston,‖Jamaica,‖‘free‖negroe’,‖son‖of‖John‖and‖
Dorothy Williams, youngest of three sons, scholar and poet, author of Latin verses
included‖in‖Edward‖Long’s‖History of Jamaica (London, 1774), addressed to the
George Haldane, governor of Jamaica,‖trans.‖in‖Carretta’s‖edition‖of‖Phillis‖
Wheatley (222-4)‖as‖‘On‖Ode’.‖Possibly‖also‖the‖author‖of‖the‖popular‖song,‖
‘Welcome,‖welcome,‖brother‖debtor’.‖Williams’s‖achievements‖were‖‘well‖known‖
on‖both‖sides‖of‖the‖Atlantic’‖(Carretta).‖Recognised‖for his abilities, he was,
according to Long, sent to England by the Duke of Montague, the patron he
shared with Ignatius Sancho, and studied at a grammar school and at Cambridge
University. After returning to Jamaica he set up a school in Spanish Town. John
Gilmore, writing in ODNB, contextualises the poem in the neo-Latin tradition of
poems in praise of great personages, and corrects many earlier biographical errors
including‖Williams’s‖dates.‖Alison Donnell and Sarah Lawson Welsh list the‖‘Ode’‖
as evidence of a pre-twentieth century Caribbean literature. ~ Ref: Alison Donnell
and Sarah Lawson Welsh (eds), The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature
(London: Routledge, 1996), p. 13; Krise (1999), 315-25; Phillis Wheatley, Complete
Writings, ed. Vincent Carretta (Penguin, 2001), 217-24; Dabydeen (2007), 529-31;
ODNB; Wikipedia. [C18]
Williams, Griffith (1769-1838), ‘Gutyn‖Peris’,‖of Waunfawr, Caernarfonshire, but
lived most of his life in Llandygái, quarryman; a student of Dafydd Ddu Eryri
(David Thomas, qv); participated in a bardic ceremony organized by Iolo
Morganwg (Edward Williams, qv) during the Dinorwic Eisteddfod in 1799;
defended the cynghanedd form against Ieuan Glan Geirionydd (Evan Evans, qv) in
Y Gwyliedydd, a Wesleyan newspaper; published Ffrwyth Awen (1816). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W] [C18] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Williams, Huw Owen (1888-1961), ‘Huw‖Menai’,‖‘Hugh‖Williams’‖(Ashraf‖1975),‖
was variously employed, weigher and journalist; son of a miner, he was born at
Caernarfon, and began work as a weigher at Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan in 1906;
political agitator and left-wing journalist and wrote and read in both English and
Welsh;‖began‖to‖write‖poetry‖during‖WWI;‖‘wrote‖from‖time‖to‖time‖about‖the‖
miner’s‖life,‖but‖his‖work‖is‖in‖large measure that of a nature poet in the tradition
of‖Wordsworth’‖(OCLW); published four volumes of poetry: Through the Upcast
 Shaft (1920); The Passing of Guto (1929); Back in the Return (1933); The Simple Vision
(1945). ~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 153-4; OCLW (1986). [W] [M] [OP] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, John (1808-66), of Lecha, St. Just, Penwith, Cornwall, miner, self-taught
village schoolmaster, clerk. His son gives a detailed memoir of his father.
Williams moved to nearby Tragaseal as a small child. He had ‘numerous’‖brothers‖
and‖sisters,‖and‖a‖father‖who,‖‘although‖a‖most respectable man...was once
offered,‖but‖declined,‖a‖mine‖‚captaincy‛’.‖Poverty‖at‖that‖time‖meant‖a‖limited‖
education,‖‘chiefly‖imparted‖to‖him‖by‖the‖parish‖clerk’,‖a‖Mr‖Tregear.‖He‖left
school early to work on one of the mines that employed so many in Cornwall. In
the mine he had a close friend, John Thomas, who became a lifelong companion.
They shared a religious commitment, and began to read and study. Thomas, who
outlived Williams, shared his memories with the son, :‖‘Books‖were‖scarce‖and‖
very dear. Our parents had large families to provide for, and but little money to
spare for books. Our difficulties were many and formidable. Through a religious
agency, we obtained, once a month, a couple of juvenile magazines from London;
I don’t remember that we had any other periodicals at the time. There was a
society connected with the chapel, consisting of a small number of members, who
paid twopence or threepence a month for the loan of a book. Of this also, we
availed ourselves; and from these two limited sources it was that your father drew
almost the only aid he obtained in the pursuit of knowledge, ‚under‖difficulties,‛‖
indeed. Very many of the books thus procured we literally devoured: I have a list
of them by me to the present time.—Your father committed to memory nearly the
whole‖of‖Thomson’s‖‚Seasons,‛‖Burns’‖Poems,‖and‖Scott’s‖Poems.‖He‖could‖recite
all‖of‖‚The‖Lady‖of‖the‖Lake.‛‖Boswell’s‖Life‖of‖Johnson,‖too,‖in‖four‖volumes,‖he‖
had‖at‖heart;‖could‖repeat‖any‖anecdote,‖or‖incident,‖in‖the‖work.‖Foster’s‖
‚Essays,‛‖the‖‚Rambler,‛‖Chalmers;‖‚Astronomy,‛‖and‖‚Religion,‛‖Locke’s‖‚Essay‖
on the Understanding,‛‖Dr.‖Watts’‖‚Logic,‛‖and‖‚Improvement‖of‖the‖Mind,‛‖&c.,‖
&c., he devoured, I may say. Poetry was his delight. He committed thousands
upon thousands of lines to memory. In fact literary work engaged his mind at all
times, as far as the duties of religion, and daily employment, gave him
opportunity.‖...‖His‖mental‖characteristic‖was‖metaphysical.’‖~‖Williams‖published
Miscellaneous Poems (1859); and Poems, by the late John Williams, Edited by his son,
Thomas Williams (London H. Southern & Co., 1873), which includes the memoir
quoted above. The songs are often of a Christian character, and there is some
lifewriting, and a few descriptions of landscape and nature. There is a‖poem‖‘On‖
the‖Emancipation‖of‖the‖Slaves‖in‖the‖West‖Indies‖in‖1834’. ‘On‖the‖Death of Mr.
John‖Davy,‖An‖Eminent‖Mathematician’‖(the‖Cornish‖scientist,‖Sir‖Humphrey‖
Davy’s‖brother)‖reflects‖his‖lifelong‖interest‖in‖intellectual‖endeavour.‖Friendship‖
is another theme that runs through the volume. There are some prose pieces, too,
 including ‘Boyhood’‖and‖‘The‖Old‖School-Room’~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 498; Roger
Collicott catalogue no. 79, 2007; inf. Bob Heyes. [M]
Williams, John Owen (1853-1932), ‘Pedrog’,‖gardener and lay preacher; orphan
brought up by his aunt at Llanbedrog, Caernarfonshire where he worked as a
gardener; got a job for a merchant firm and began preaching in Liverpool in 1878;
prolific‖periodical‖writer;‖‘won‖more‖prizes‖at‖eisteddfodau‖than‖any‖other‖poet‖
before‖or‖since‖his‖day’‖(OCLW, 1986); published autobiography Stori ’Mywyd
(1932). Re: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, John Richard (1867-1924), ‘J.‖R.‖Trefanwy’,‖of Rostryfan, Caernarvonshire,
left blind and without speech from childhood illness, lived in Porthmadog with
an aunt; published Lloffion yr Amddifad (1892); Ar Fin y Traeth (1910). ~ Ref: OCLW
(1986). [W]
Williams, Owen (1790-1874), ‘Owen‖Gwyrfai’,‖of Waunfawr, Caernarfonshire,
cooper; student of Dafydd Ddu Eryri (David Thomas, qv); composed elegies,
epitaphs, copied Welsh poetry, and collected genealogies, as well as worked on
composing a dictionary, called Y Geirlyfr Cymraeg. He published Y Drysorfa
Hynafiethol (only four parts published, 1839); selection of poetry called Gemau Môn
ac Arfon (posthumous 1911); memoir by his son, with a selection of poems, called
Gemau Gwyrfai (Thomas Williams, 1904). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Williams, Richard (c. 1790-1862?), ‘Dic‖Dywyll,‖Bardd‖Gwagedd’,‖blind balladeer,
born in either Anglesey or Caernarfonshire; little is known of his life, but he was
‘described‖by‖his‖contemporaries‖as‖a‖short,‖fat‖man,‖he‖used‖to‖put‖his‖little‖
finger‖in‖the‖corner‖of‖his‖eye‖when‖singing‖ballads’‖(OCLW);‖reputed‖to‖be‖‘the‖
king‖of‖all‖the‖ballad‖singers‖in‖South‖Wales’;‖witnessed‖Merthyr‖Rising‖and‖
Rebecca Riots; seventy-three of his ballads are preserved in manuscript at the
National Library of Wales. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Richard (1842-1917), ‘Gwydderig’,‖of Brynaman, Carmarthenshire, miner,
one of a circle of country poets, emigrated to Pennsylvania, USA as a young man,
where he worked in a mine; spent the last years of his life in his native town in
Wales; a great competitor at eisteddfodau, he won more prizes than anyone
except Elisius Williams (qv). He published Detholion o Waith Gwydderig
(posthumous, ed. J. Lloyd Thomas, 1959). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [M] [—Katie
Osborn]
Williams, Robert (1766-1850), ‘Robert‖ap‖Gwilym‖Ddu’,‖of Llanystumdwy,
Caernarfonshire, farmer and hymn-writer; bardic tutor of Dewi Wyn o Eifion
(David Owen, qv); influenced by Goronwy Owen (qv); ignored contemporary
trends‖in‖poetry,‖especially‖the‖popularity‖of‖the‖mock‖epic,‖and‖wrote‖about‖‘the‖
everyday‖events‖of‖his‖neighbourhood’‖(OCLW);‖his‖most‖famous‖hymn,‖‘Mae’r
gwaed a redodd ar y Groes’, was first published in 1824 in the periodical Seren
Gomer. He published Gardd Eifion (1841); twenty hymns can be found in Aleluia
 neu Ganiadau Cristionogol (collected by J. R. Jones, 1822). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
[—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Robert (1830-77), ‘Trebor‖Mai’‖*=‘I‖am‖Robert’‖backwards+,‖of Llanrwst,
Denbighshire, tailor who belonged to a family of poets; tutored by Caledfryn
(William Williams, qv); published Fy Noswyl (1861), Y Geninen (1860), Gwaith
Barddonol Prif Englyniwr Cymru (ed. Isaac Foulkes, posthumous, 1883). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W] [T] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Williams, Taliesin (1787-1847), ‘Taliesin‖ab‖Iolo’,‖of Cardiff, stonemason,
schoolmaster and poet; son of Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams, qv), said to
have been born in Cardiff Gaol while his father served a bankruptcy sentence;
named after a famous poet of the late sixth century; worked as a stonemason and
kept various schools, serving the longest at Merthyr Tydfil, where he died;
assisted his father in preparing Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain (1829) and believed
all‖of‖his‖father’s‖fabrications;‖won‖Chair‖at‖the‖Cardiff‖Eisteddfod‖(1834)‖and‖a‖
prize at the Abergavenny Eisteddfod (1838). He published two poems of his own,
Cardiff Castle (1827) and The Doom of Colyn Dolphyn (1837). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986).
[W] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Thomas (c. 1769-1848), ‘Eos‖Gwynfa’,‖‘Eos‖y‖Mynydd’,‖of Llanfyllin or
Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa, Montgomeryshire, weaver, prolific writer of carols
and songs, published Telyn Dafydd (1820); Ychydig o Ganiadau Buddiol (1824);
Newyddion Gabriel (1825); Manna’r Anialwch (1831); Mer Awen (1844). ~ Ref: OCLW
(1986). [W] [T] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Thomas (1778-1835), ‘Gwilim‖Morgannwyg’,‖of Llanddeti, Brecon, poet,
later kept a tavern in Pontypool, poems collected as. Awen y Maen Chwf (1890). ~
Ref: OCLW (1986). [W]
Williams, Thomas (1848-1927), ‘Brynfab’,‖of Cwmaman, Aberdare, farmer, lived in
Eglwys‖Ilan,‖Glamorgan,‖‘on‖the‖hillside‖above‖Pontypridd’‖(OCLW), well-known
literary‖figure‖and‖member‖of‖‘Clic‖y‖Bont’, a circle of Pontypridd poets and
musicians; a prolific periodical contributor, his verse remains uncollected;
published a novel, Pan oedd Rhondda’n bur (1912). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [OP]
[—Katie Osborn]
Williams, Watkin Hezekiah (1844-1905), ‘Watcyn‖Wyn’,‖of Brynaman,
Carmarthenshire, miner and teacher; worked underground from the age of eight
until he was thirty; in 1874 joined the Presbyterian ministry and served as
principal at a Nonconformist school; published Caneuon (1871); Hwyr Ddifyrion
(1883); Cân a Thelyn (1895); a translation into Welsh of Sankey and Moody, Odlau’r
Efengyl (1883); and two novels. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [M] [—Katie Osborn]
Williams, William (1801-69), ‘Caledfryn’,‖of Bryn y Ffynnon, Denbigh, son of a
Welsh weaver, worked for his father for eight years before becoming a teacher
and finally a Congregational minister; participated in the Cymreigyddion Society,
 won national reputation at the Beaumaris eisteddfod (1832), and was thereafter
much in demand at local eisteddfod, winning a silver in 1850 at the Rhuddlan
eisteddfod. He published a guide to reading and writing in Welsh, Cyfarwyddiadau
i ddarllen ac ysgrifennu Cymraeg (1822); and poetry volumes. Grawn awen (1826) and
Caniadau Caledfryn (1856). His autobiography, Cofiant Caledfryn (1877, ed. Thomas
Roberts), includes previously unpublished verse. ~ Ref: OCLW (1986); ODNB. [W]
[T]
(?) Williams, William (1801-76), ‘Gwilym‖Cyfeiliog’,‖kept a wool shop at
Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire; wrote strict-metre verse, englynion, and hymns;
posthumous published Caniadau Cyfeiliog (1878). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [T] [—
Katie Osborn]
Williams, William (1814-69), ‘Creuddynfab’,‖farm-labourer and railwayman,
stonemason’s‖son,‖received‖little‖formal‖schooling;‖born‖at‖Creuddyn,‖Llandudno,‖
Caernarfonshire, and began farm work there; worked on a railway in the
Pennines from 1845-1862, and became friends with John Ceiriog Hughes (qv);
served as first secretary of the National Eisteddfod Association; as a critic, he
censured the Neoclassicism of poets like Caledfryn (William Williams, qv) and
encouraged younger poets to write in free meter; published Y Barddoniadur
Cymmreig (1855). ~ Ref: OCLW (1986). [W] [R] [—Katie Osborn]
(?) Williams, William (1850-1917),‖of‖Abersychan,‖Monmouthshire,‖‘The‖Poet‖of‖
Mount‖Pleasant’,‖Great Western Railway railway clerk for 50 years at Pontypool,
‘a‖keen‖eisteddfodwr’‖and‖congregationalist,‖published Songs of Siluria (1916). ~ Ref:
OCLW (1986). [W] [R] [OP]
Williamson, Daniel (b. 1843, fl. 1890-2), of Clyth, Caithness, the ‘blind poet’‖of‖
Inverness and Perthshire. A carpenter’s‖son,‖he was taught to read by his mother
and sent to the parish school at seven. After three years his teachers wished him
to extend his studies, but he ran away from home to Thurso, 20 miles away, and
worked for a farmer carrying dairy produce to the town, which his father when he
discovered him condoned. He became a stable boy, then a page and stable boy,
and then began an apprenticeship as a mason but after nine months returned to
his parents, who now lived at Wick. He began a further apprenticeship as a
mason, being allowed to go to sea with the fishermen in season. He served his
time, spent a year as a journeyman mason, and then headed off to Glasgow,
struggling but finally finding employment there, in Edinburgh and in Birkenhead.
He worked in London for five years but was blinded by sunstroke and, unable to
find a cure, returned to Wick, where he began to write poetry as a kind of therapy,
as he says in his pamphlet publication, On Beholding the Moon for the Last Time (c.
1890; copy in the National Library of Scotland). In 1883 he went to Inverness and
found employment in the Institute for the Blind. He published a book of poems,
Musings in the Dark (Perth: D. Leslie, 1892), and a second edition of On Beholding
 the Moon. He later lost the use of his legs but continued working at the Institute,
being‖pushed‖around‖in‖a‖bath‖chair.‖Edwards‖praises‖his‖‘quiet‖humour’,‖citing‖
his‖poems‖‘My‖Guid‖Mither’,‖‘The‖Dying‖Flea’,‖and‖‘The‖Benighted‖Englishman’‖
and‖printing‖the‖latter‖two,‖along‖with‖‘There’s‖Anything‖Sae‖Sma’’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 15 (1893), 53-60; COPAC. [S]
Williamson, Effie (1815-82), of Selkirk, later a Galashiels weaver, daughter of another
poet,‖‘Mrs‖Williamson’‖(qv);‖published The Tangled Web: Poems and Hymns
(Edinburgh and Galashiels, 1883); Peaceable Fruits by Effie (Edinburgh, 1885). The
author of the volumes may not be the same Effie Williamson as the factory worker
whose poems are featured in Edwards. The latter was a native of Galashiels,
‘poetess‖of‖Gala‖Water,’‖who‖lived‖for‖a‖few‖years‖in‖Ireland.‖She‖received little
education,‖but‖was‖‘fated‖to‖attend‖the‖loom,‖and‖keep‖the‖shuttles‖busy‖flying.’‖
She published in Chambers’ Journal, and wrote sentimental poems on the
countryside, the pains of winter, and her weaving; whereas the two volumes are
almost exclusively religious. ~ Ref: Edwards, 2 (1881), 304-8 and 8, 192-5; Reilly
(1994), 515; LC 6, 319-24; inf. Florence Boos. [F] [I] [S] [T] [LC6]
Williamson, George Joseph (b. 1816), of Rochester, Kent, fisherman’s‖son,‖charity‖
school, errand boy, fisherman, Wesleyan Sunday school teacher, published The
Ship’s Career, and Other Poems (London, 1860), which went through seven editions
to 1874. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 499.
Williamson, John (1864-1922), of Brandon, County Durham, coalminer, and the son
of a coalminer at Wheatley Hill pit. Williamson was a Methodist lay preacher as
well as a poet, and it would be a Primitive Methodist minister, Revd. F. R.
Brunskill (1870-1952) who wrote the thoughtful, locally-printed biography on
which our knowledge of him depends. With its epigraph appropriately from
Williamson’s‖beloved‖Robert‖Burns‖(qv),‖‘Time‖but‖the‖impression‖stronger‖makes‖
/‖As‖streams‖their‖channels‖deeper‖wear’,‖it‖is based on the memoir Williamson
himself‖wrote‖in‖‘two‖manuscript‖books’‖in‖the‖last‖two‖years‖of‖his‖life,‖and‖often‖
sounds like the poet rather than the biographer speaking, though the latter is a
good‖enough‖writer.‖~‖We‖learn‖that‖Williamson’s‖father‖was‖uneducated,‖‘could‖
neither read nor write, and went through life in one long drawn-out struggle
against‖adversity‖and‖pain’.‖He‖had‖strength‖of‖character,‖a‖keen‖sense‖of‖justice,‖
and a love for his family, and was loved by his son, who read to him in his last,
asthma-plagued‖years.‖Williamson’s‖mother,‖of‖a‖kindly‖disposition,‖had‖Scottish‖
ancestry, and encouraged her son. Williamson had a limited education, disliking
school and often playing truant. He went to work at the age of thirteen.
Employment was intermittent, necessitating much moving between pit-villages.
He soon developed an interest in books and studying, and recovering from a pick
injury‖was‖lent‖a‖copy‖of‖Cowper’s‖poems‖(his‖choice)‖by‖a‖neighbour‖with‖a‖
‘small‖collection‖of‖books’.‖(How‖often such a figure comes into the lives of the
 labouring-class poets.) He was also blessed with an Aunt Rachel, who admired
his studies would bring him books when she visited. ~ He was much shaped by
the local Billy Row Sunday School, and took a particular interest in sermons,
which would lead to his own involvement, as a lay preacher. He married Jane Bell
in 1885 and moved to Brandon. ~ As well as travelling to preach, he began giving
lectures, especially on Burns and the Scottish poets, a lifelong enthusiasm which
would‖lead‖to‖six‖trips‖to‖Scotland,‖visiting‖the‖haunts‖of‖Burns,‖which‖were‖‘the‖
only‖holidays‖he‖ever‖had’‖(22).‖(The frontispiece of the Brunskill biography is a
photograph of Williamson standing by the Burns statue at Paisley in 1903.) By the
age of 40 he owned a small library of poetry, with a 100-volume‖‘Burns‖corner’,‖
and he was inspired by the example of Burns to begin writing verse himself. (He
also took an interest in other Scottish poets, and collected them, as well as
‘forgotten‖minor‖poets‖of‖the‖country‖of‖Durham’,‖14.) His poems began to appear
in the local press: he wrote about thirty, mainly for the Durham Chronicle. Among
them‖were‖‘An‖Old‖Pair‖of‖Boots’,‖‘The‖Musings‖of‖Framwellgate‖Bridge’,‖‘The‖
Old‖Miner’s‖Wayside‖Story’,‖‘The‖Aged‖Miner’s‖Last‖Request’,‖(‘Lay‖me‖down‖
among‖my‖cronies‖/‖In‖the‖Churchyard‖on‖the‖Hill’),‖‘When‖the‖Heather‖is‖in‖
Bloom’,‖‘Thoughts‖on‖Brandon‖Hill’,‖‘Primroses’,‖and‖‘To‖My‖Books’‖(‘Ye‖are‖my‖
friends forever true, / Though some are old and few are new’). His prose writings,
also published in the Chronicle, included articles on Durham places, and a series of
‘Brandon‖Memories’;‖he‖also‖wrote‖‘one‖or‖two‖pieces‖on‖Highland‖Mary‖and‖his‖
holiday‖in‖the‖Burns‖country’. ~ Williamson died suddenly, aged 58, and his well-
attended‖funeral‖was‖‘one‖of‖the‖largest‖ever‖witnessed‖in‖Brandon‖district’ (54).
His collection of Burnsiana went to his son Hughie, who had accompanied him to
Scotland on one occasion and like his father was a member of the Burns
Federation. ~ Ref: F. R. Brunskill, Life of John Williamson (of Meadowfield, Durham)
(Willington, Durham: E. Paxton, 1923); My Primitive Methodist Ancestors
webpage; inf. Stephen Regan. [M]
Williamson, Mrs (first name unknown) (1815-82), of Selkirk, mother of Effie
Williamson (qv), daughter of a ploughman, Robert Milne (an exceptional man
who wrote for the Kelso Chronicle), in service until marriage, wrote prize-winning
essays and poems for local papers and anthologies. ~ Ref: Edwards, 8 (1885), 192-
5. [F] [S]
Willis,‖James‖(b.‖1774),‖of‖Sheffield,‖‘the‖topographical‖tailor’,‖published The Contrast,
or The Improvements of Sheffield (1827), a popular pamphlet published by the
Sheffield Iris. Joseph‖Mather’s‖(qv)‖editor‖John‖Wilson‖considers‖that‖‘There‖is‖
something‖original‖in‖this‖song’‖,‖although‖it‖is‖written‖‘in‖the‖rudest‖doggerel’.‖~
Ref: The Songs of Joseph Mather, To which are added a memoir of Mather and
Miscellaneous Songs Relating to Sheffield, with an Introduction and Notes for John
Wilson (Sheffield: Pawson and Brailsford, 1862), 44-45 note; inf. Yann Lovelock.
Willis, Matthew (fl. 1834), farm labourer, self-educated‖poet‖with‖only‖‘two‖half-
days’‖of‖schooling,‖published The Mountain Minstrel; Or, Effusions of Retirement.
Poems (York, 1834). ~ Ref: Newsam (1845) 170; Johnson (1992), item 972.
Wills, Ruth (1826-1908),‖of‖Leicester,‖a‖‘physically‖lame‖factory‖worker’‖(Boos),‖
daughter of a soldier, educated at a dame school, her father died when she was
seven, she worked in warehouses from eight, published Lays of Lowly Life
(London, 1861, second edition 1862); Lays of Lowly Life Second Series (London,
1868),‖both‖in‖Bodleian‖and‖BL.‖The‖‘Preface’‖to‖her‖first‖volume‖laments‖the‖death‖
of Revd. Dr‖*James+‖Legge,‖an‖important‖mentor‖who‖‘would‖have‖introduced‖it‖
*the‖volume+‖to‖the‖public’‖(we‖learn‖in‖one‖of‖the‖poems‖that‖Legge‖had‖been‖‘a‖
missionary‖to‖China’;‖she‖wrote‖a‖‘Lament’‖for‖him,‖included‖in‖Boos).‖A‖four‖
page‖‘autobiography’‖begins‖by‖declaring‖that‖she‖has‖found‖in‖her‖own‖life‖‘little‖
worth‖relating’.‖Her‖parents‖were‖‘poor‖and‖illiterate’‖though‖pious.‖She‖was‖sent‖
to a Dame school where she endured floggings for sticking to her own opinions.
She attended Sunday School. Her father, whose stories from his military service in
India had been a source for her imagination, died when she was seven. At eight
she was sent out to carry out warehouse‖work‖(she‖quotes‖Thomas‖Hood’s‖(qv)‖
‘Song‖of‖the‖Shirt’‖on‖its‖relentlessness).‖Sent‖out‖by‖her‖mother‖to‖gather‖firewood‖
with her sister she developed a love of nature that, together with her strongly felt
Christianity, sustained her. She enjoyed reading and at fourteen was‖lent‖Milton’s‖
Paradise Lost, which‖was‖‘the‖discovery‖of‖a‖new‖world—a world of beauty and
brightness‖of‖which‖I‖had‖before‖no‖idea’.‖She‖could‖hardly‖sleep‖‘for‖the‖echoes‖of
its‖wondrous‖melody’,‖and‖soon began to write herself, getting a piece published
in the Children’s Magazine ‘with‖an‖approving‖note‖from‖the‖editor’.‖The‖Preface‖to‖
the‖Second‖Edition‖adds‖thanks‖to,‖among‖others,‖‘the‖critics‖who‖so‖generously‖
and indulgently‖reviewed’‖the‖first‖edition,‖and‖expresses‖the‖hope‖that‖her‖book‖
may‖‘fall‖into‖the‖hands‖of‖those‖who‖have‖had‖few‖opportunities‖of‖mental‖
culture’,‖to‖inspire‖their‖own‖reading‖and‖writing.‖The‖90‖pages‖of‖verses‖include‖
a‖poem‖on‖‘The‖Work-People’s‖Holiday’‖and‖another‖on‖‘Ann‖Boleyn’.‖Her‖poem‖
on‖‘Bradgate‖and‖Its‖Associations’‖has‖a‖similar‖historical‖theme,‖and‖her‖scholarly‖
footnote reminds the reader that Bradgate Park, six miles north of Leicester, was
once‖Lady‖Jane‖Grey’s‖home. (Another Leicester factory poet, Millicent Langton
(qv), also published a‖poem‖on‖‘Lady‖Jane‖Grey’‖at‖the‖beginning‖in‖her‖own‖
collection).‖Will’s‖‘Song‖of‖the‖Self-Exiled’‖imagines‖her‖speaker‖making‖the‖
momentous decision to leave England for Sydney, Australia. Her ‘Lines‖to‖a‖Lady‖
who‖had‖lent‖me‖Longfellow’s‖‚Song‖of‖Hiawatha‛’‖imitates‖the‖distinctive‖
rhythm‖of‖the‖American‖poet,‖while‖another‖poem,‖‘The‖Child’s‖Morning‖Hymn’‖
is subtitled ‘from‖the‖French‖of‖Lamartine’.‖Boos (2010) notes how unusual in its
treatment‖of‖violence‖is‖her‖narrative‖of‖‘Zenobia’,‖a‖‘poem‖in‖which‖a‖black‖slave‖
kills‖her‖white‖mistress’.‖Overall‖it is a very interesting volume. ~ There is a
 detailed Introduction to Wills and her work, with selected poems and prose, in
Boos (2008), who also identifies a semi-anonymous‖poem‖on‖‘Margaret’s‖Birthday,‖
By‖a‖Factory‖Girl’‖signed‖‘R.W.’‖and‖in‖Wills’‖style,‖in‖The Quiver, a progressive
periodical which also published poems by Fanny Forrester (qv). Boos also locates
several significant reviews of Wills’‖work,‖including‖one‖by‖Edward‖Capern‖(qv).
~ Ref: ABC (1996), 577-80; Reilly (2000), 500; Forsyth (2005); Boos (2008), 219-37;
Boos (2010); Leicestershire Record Office catalogues; [F]
Wilson, Adam‖(b.‖1850),‖of‖Dundee,‖‘The‖Factory‖Muse’, factory worker, published
‘an‖ambiguous‖advertising‖poem’‖on‖‘Athole’s‖Pies’‖in‖the‖People’s Journal, 1 June
1872 and wrote ‘an‖early‖twentieth‖century handwritten collection, Flowers of
Fancy’‖(A.C.‖Lamb‖Collection, Dundee Central Library), which has this dedication:
‘To‖the‖Mill‖and‖Factory‖Operatives‖of‖Dundee these Poetic Trifles are Inscribed
by‖their‖Sincere‖Friend‖and‖Fellow‖Worker,‖The‖Factory‖Muse,‖Adam‖Wilson’‖
(Blair). ~ Ref: Blair (2016), 107. [S]
Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813), of Paisley, author of Lochwinnoch, weaver, pedlar and
packman, later eminent American ornithologist, published Poems (Paisley 1790);
Poems: Humorous, Satirical, and Serious (1791)] The Shark or Land Mills Detected (a
political satire (1793); Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (London, 1816); American
Ornithology (from 1808); The Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson, The
American Ornithologist, ed. Alexander B. Grosart (Paisley: Alex Gardner, 1876).
Michael‖Zizer‖has‖edited‖Wilson’s‖Poetry, Journalism, and Literary Prose and his The
American Ornithology, both on the Early Americas Digital Archive,
eada.lib.umd.edu. A valuable modern biography is Edward H. Burtt, Jr. and
William E. Davis, Jr., Alexander Wilson: The Scot who Founded American Ornithology
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013). ~ Ref: Renfrewshire (1819-72), xxvii-xxxii;
Wilson (1876), I, 418-27; Brown (1889-90), I, 43-58; Leonard (1990), 8-32 & 373;
Johnson (1992), items 974-6; Sutton (1995), 1003; Forsyth (2005), 267-9; Bridget
Keegan,‖‘The Foresters:‖Alexander‖Wilson’s‖Transatlantic‖Labouring-Class Nature
Poetry’,‖in‖Burke‖&‖Goodridge‖(2010),‖51-61; Gerard‖Carruthers,‖‘Alexander‖
Wilson: The Rise and Fall and Rise of a Laboring Class Writer’,‖in‖Goodridge‖&‖
Keegan (2017), 70-84; LC 3, 179-92; ODNB; LION; Radcliffe; texts cited. [T] [LC3]
[C18] [S]
Wilson, Alexander (1804-46),‖of‖the‖Manchester‖‘Sun‖Inn’‖poets‖group,‖youngest‖of‖
Michael‖Wilson’s‖(qv)‖seven‖sons,‖brother‖of‖Thomas‖(qv),‖painter, author of
dialect‖poems‖and‖‘The‖Poet’s‖Corner’‖(The Festive Wreath, 1842), and famed for
‘Johnny‖Green’.‖See‖also‖The Songs of the Wilsons, with A Memoir of the Family, by
John Harland (London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1865). ~ Ref: Vicinus (1969), 35-6;
Vicinus (1973), 746; Vicinus (1974), 160; Hollingworth (1977), 156; Maidment
(1987), 163-6; Hollingworth (2013), 295-8.
(?) Wilson, Alexander Stephen (fl. 1872-88), of Rayne, Aberdeenshire, son of a tenant
farmer. A land surveyor and engineer, he assisted Charles Darwin, wrote on
physics, and published three volumes, A Creed of To-morrow (London, 1872); Songs
and Poems (Edinburgh, 1884); and The Lyric of A Hopeless Love (London, 1888). ~
Ref: Reilly (1994), 517; Reilly (2000), 501. [S]
Wilson, Anne (fl. 1778), author of Teisa: A Descriptive Poem of the River Teese, Its Towns
and Antiquities (Newcastle upon Tyne: Printed for the Author, 1778), in which she
describes herself as poor and living in rented accommodation. ‘All‖that‖is‖
presently known about Wilson’s‖life’,‖as‖Bridget‖Keegan‖writes‖in‖LC2,‖‘is‖
supplied‖by‖the‖autobiographical‖portions’‖of‖Teisa. Thus one passage suggests
that she is probably widowed, for example.‖‘That‖she‖considered her social status
to be marginal may be deduced from her dismay‖at‖having‖to‖live‖in‖a‖‚hir’d‖
house‛‖and‖from‖her‖labelling‖herself‖‚humble‛,‖‚unlettered‛,‖and‖‚servile‛‖at‖
various‖points‖in‖the‖poem.’‖(363) Further evidence of non-elite status is found in
her‖knowledge‖of‖‘certain‖types‖of‖women’s‖agricultural‖work,‖such‖as‖cheese-
making and herb-gathering’.‖She‖‘shows‖interest in labour in general, as
evidenced in her pastoralised passage on mining or the hardships of the Barnard
weavers’.‖Since‖no‖biographical‖details‖have‖yet‖emerged‖from‖the‖archives,‖these‖
internal evidences are valuable, and offer among other things, one way of reading
her poem. ~ Ref: Lonsdale (1989), 354-5; Jackson (1993), 377; Bridget Keegan,
‘Writing‖Against‖the‖Current:‖Anne‖Wilson’s‖Teisa and the Tradition of British
River‖Poetry’,‖Women’s Studies, 31, no. 2 (2002), 267-85; Keegan (2008), 98-121; LC
2, 363-74. [F] [LC2] [C18]
Wilson, Arthur (b. 1864), of Dalry, Ayrshire, weaver from the age of ten; a miner at
fifteen; published a‖‘neat‖little‖volume‖of‖poems’‖(Kilmarnock:‖James‖McKie,‖
1884). ~ Ref: Edwards, 7 (1884), 182-5. [S] [T] [M]
Wilson, Charles (1891-1968), coal miner and local poet of Willington, County
Durham; leaving school at 13 to work as a miner, he attended night school,
became a staunch trade unionist, and gained promotion in his work. He
published Light and Liberty (Durham,‖1914),‖a‖prose‖work‖giving‖a‖‘rather‖
muddled‖case‖for‖the‖need‖for‖the‖planned‖land‖reform’‖which‖the‖outbreak‖of‖
war would stop; this work paved the way for some of his poetic and political
themes, with its concerns about topics like rural depopulation, absentee landlords,
corruption and city living. Poetry volumes include four short collections locally
printed in 1915-16, The Poetical Works of Charles Wilson, The Pitman Poet (London:
Arthur H. Stockwell, 1916), and a number of later works. Wilson was interested in
Joyce and modernism, and in October 1930 persuaded Aldous Huxley to speak to
his local WEA classes. In later life Wilson met with mixed success and failure, but
perhaps‖the‖most‖dispiriting‖detail‖of‖Lewis‖Mates’‖fine‖biographical‖essay‖is‖the‖
information that after his death in a care home at Crook, most of his papers were
 burned, unread. ~ Ref: Lewis H. Mates,‖‘Charles‖Wilson,‖Coal‖Miner‖and‖Poet’,‖
DLB, XIII (2010), 372-81; inf. Stephen Regan. [M] [OP]
Wilson, Daniel (1801-81), of Pineberry Hill, Halifax, self-taught preacher and
bookseller, published Justice and Mercy: A Sacred Poem (Halifax, 1883), Ref: Reilly
(1994), 517.
Wilson, Gavin (fl. 1788), shoemaker poet, published A Collection of Masonic Songs and
entertaining anecdotes, for the use of all lodges (Edinburgh, 1788), Advertisement of
thanks, in verse (Edinburgh, 1780?, 1789, 1790). ~ Ref: Winks (1883), 313; Keegan
(2001), 213-14’‖LC‖3,‖133-4. [LC3] [C18] [S] [SM]
Wilson, Hugh C. (b. 1845?),‖‘Cowper‖Spearpoint’,‖of‖Cumnock,‖Ayrshire,‖herdsman,‖
woodman, bailiff in Beckenham, Kent, published The Rustic Harp: A Collection of
Poems, Songs, etc., English and Scotch (Bournemouth, 1874); Wild Sprays from the
Garden (1879). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 70-2; Murdoch (1883), 406-8; Reilly (2000),
501. [S]
Wilson, Joseph (Joe Wilson, 1841-72), of Newcastle upon Tyne, son of a cabinet
maker and a bonnet-maker, apprentice printer, publisher, highly popular
entertainer, publican: a‖‘traditional‖working‖class‖songwriter’‖and‖performer‖of‖
‘drolleries’,‖a‖form‖of‖stand-up comedy in rhyme and prose. He sang in dialect to
great‖effect‖in‖songs‖like‖‘Keep‖Yor‖Feet‖Still‖Geordie‖Hinney’,‖‘Dinnet‖Clash‖the‖
Door’,‖‘Maw‖Bonnie‖Gyetside‖Lass’‖and‖‘Aw‖Wish‖Your‖Muther‖Wad‖Come’. ~ In
his autobiography Wilson records that he went to work as a printer when he was
fourteen. This gave him the experience and confidence to start printing his own
songs, a process which began with the eight-page pamphlet he produced when he
was just seventeen, under the deliberately homely‖title‖of‖‘The‖Canny‖Newcassil‖
Foaks’‖Fireside‖Budget:‖Joe‖Wilson’s‖Tyneside‖Sangs‖and‖Ballads’.‖By‖the‖age‖of‖
twenty-five Wilson was‖working‖Ned‖Corvan’s‖(qv) former circuit as an
entertainer. His biographer tells us that he‖was‖greatly‖valued‖for‖his‖‘sweet‖tenor‖
voice’‖and‖delighted‖in‖singing.‖A‖founder‖member‖of‖the‖‘Working‖Man’s‖Club’,‖
he was a key figure in establishing popular concerts in the club as an alternative
to the ‘free‖and‖easies’, the informal drinking and singing clubs that proliferated
in the north-east and elsewhere. (Wilson was a propagandist for teetotalism, as
many of his poems and songs attest.) These activities in turn led him to
professional entertainment. As his‖biographer‖records,‖although‖George‖‘Geordie’‖
Ridley (qv), the famous Tyneside songwriter-entertainer, had died two months
before, the charismatic Ned Corvan (qv) and the songwriter J. P. Robson (Joseph
Philip Robson, qv) were still at the height of their powers when Wilson took to the
stage. Because he had moved from an early, sentimental style to a strong ‘local’‖
kind of writing, he was able to match and even eclipse the burlesque, broadly
humorous styles of Corvan and Robson with a new kind of material, subtler in its
humour and more closely observed and naturalistic. In this respect he has
something in common with Manchester poets such as Samuel Laycock (q.v.), who
built poems on familiar, identifiable details of speech and behaviour with which
his‖readers‖and‖audiences‖could‖empathise.‖The‖sight‖of‖‘Geordie’, the archetypal
Tyneside male, for instance, ineptly holding his crying baby while his wife goes to
the shops, and even managing to drop it at one point, while fretfully muttering,
‘Aw‖Wish‖Yor‖Mother‖Wad‖Cum’,‖would‖be‖instantly recognisable and
memorable to a local audience, as would characters like the bonny ‘Gallowgate‖
Lad’,‖the‖subject of a sequence of poems. In ‘The‖Draper’s‖Appeal’ Wilson uses
interpolated prose speech to tie the song to a familiar social environment and a
well-known figure, the street ‘barker’ or patterer. Wilson is highly observant of
details of domestic life and conversation, as well as describing social events and
encounters. His verses are primarily honed for performative entertainment, and
the rhythm and sound of his lines give a sense of what a fine performer of his
material he must have been. But Wilson is also sharply political in some of his
poetry, speaking‖up‖for‖the‖dispossessed‖in‖a‖poem‖like‖‘Charity’,‖or‖for‖the‖‘Nine‖
Hours‖Movement’‖strikers‖in‖‘The‖Strike!’ ~ Having swiftly achieved great
popularity, Wilson‖‘retired’‖from‖the‖stage‖and‖was‖for‖a‖time, notwithstanding
his teetotal sympathies, the publican of the Adelaide pub on New Bridge Street in
Newcastle, before returning to printing, and then once again to music-hall
entertainment.‖He‖records‖in‖his‖autobiography‖that‖his‖father‖died‖at‖the‖‘arly
age‖o’‖thorty-one’‖leaving‖his‖mother‖to‖bring‖up‖four‖children‖alone,‖and‖sadly‖
his own life was cut short at just thirty-three. But Joe Wilson composed his verses
rapidly and fluently, so despite the brevity of his life he produced a wealth of fine
material, leaving a lasting and still much valued legacy within the Tyneside
tradition of labouring-class poetry and songwriting. There is a sense of
community spirit and solidarity in the face of hardship among the North-eastern
poets, and this spirit more often shows itself in humour than in pathos. Wilson
captures this trait perfectly. His Tyneside Songs and Drolleries. Readings and
Temperance Songs (Newcastle upon Tyne: Thomas and George Allan, numerous
editions including one from [1891]) went through a number of editions in the last
decades of the nineteenth century and there are modern reprints of it. There have
been numerous revivals of his work: for example, a Tyneside Theatre production
by‖Alex‖Glasgow‖and‖John‖Woodvine‖took‖up‖the‖singer’s‖life‖and‖works in Joe
Lives (1971), and like other north-eastern labouring-class poet-songmakers of his
era, notably Tommy Armstrong (qv) his work remains popular in folk music
circles.‖In‖2011‖the‖band‖The‖Unthanks‖included‖their‖arrangement‖of‖Wilson’s‖
hymn to the‖unreliable‖Geordie‖male,‖‘The‖Gallowgate‖Lad’,‖in‖their‖live‖set‖and‖
on their album Last. (Some comments here are adapted from the Introduction to
Wilson in LC6). ~ Ref: Andrews (1888-9), I, 72-6; Introduction and biography, and
Joe‖Wilson’s‖brief‖autobiography, from Tyneside Songs and Drolleries. Readings and
 Temperance Songs, as cited above; Allan (1891), 473-82; Vicinus (1974), 144;
Goodridge (2005); ODNB; LC 6, 145-74; NTU. [LC6]
(?) Wilson, John (1731-1818), of Paisley, songwriter, well-known as ‘bar-officer in the
Sheriff‖Court’,‖but‖also‖worked in a weaving factory. Parkhill writes in 1859:
‘...about‖ninety‖years‖ago‖there‖were‖several‖weaving‖factories‖in‖Paisley.‖The‖
most celebrated of these was that of the Cumberland. In this factory there was a
John‖Wilson,‖the‖author‖of‖several‖songs;‖among‖others,‖‘The‖Peat‖Stealing,’‖which‖
was long popular as a local song. Our fathers always spoke of the merriment
which obtained in this factory, always coupled with the names of Wilson and
Lowrie Crawford. Lowrie was what may be termed the butt of the brethren; and
as‖he‖was‖the‖hero‖of‖Wilson’s song, he had both a dread and hatred of the poet. ...
Wilson was a man of sterling talents both natural and acquired. He was long the
bar-officer of the Sheriff Court; and, I may add, he was the first man in Paisley
who‖wrought‖a‖silk‖web.’‖(quoted‖in‖Brown). He‖was‖known‖in‖Paisley‖as‖‘The‖
Philosopher’.‖Brown‖prints‖‘The‖Peat‖Stealing’,‖a‖‘thing of some‖humour’‖whose‖
subject‖he‖describes‖as‖‘the‖prohibition‖issued‖by‖the‖Magistrates‖against‖the‖
taking-away‖of‖peats,‖feal,‖and‖divot‖from‖the‖town’s‖moss’,‖and‖which‖was‖to‖be‖
sung‖to‖the‖tune‖of‖‘Sheriffmuir’.‖~ Ref: Renfrewshire (1819/1872), 26; John Parkhill,
Ten Years’ Experience of a Betheral’s Life (Paisley, 1859), 135-7; Brown (1889-90), I,
27-29. [S] [T]
Wilson, John (b. 1835), of Longtown, joiner, poet, temperance writer. Wilson lost his
father when he was six, and his mother home-educated him along with his three
sisters,‖‘to‖the‖extent‖of‖her‖own‖attainments—reading, writing, and elementary
arithmetic’.‖At‖the‖age‖of‖thirteen‖he‖read‖a‖biography‖of‖Sir‖Walter‖Scott and
‘became‖filled‖with‖enthusiasm,‖and‖with‖the‖fervour‖and‖inexperience‖of‖early
youth, he determined to‖become‖a‖poet’‖(Edwards).‖In‖1852‖he‖was‖apprenticed‖to‖
his uncle, a joiner, and ten years later moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in search of
work where he lived for eleven years before returning to Scotland. Wilson
published Selections of Thought from the Leisure Hours of a Working Man (1874); and
Saved by Song: or How John Strong became a Teetotaler (1882). The latter volume is
described‖by‖Edwards‖as‖‘one‖of‖the‖most‖popular‖of‖those‖‚musical‖
entertainents‛‖interspersed with connective readings—the music being provided
by‖Joe‖Button’.‖Wilson‖also‖frequently‖contributed‖‘prose‖and‖poetical‖sketches‖to‖
the‖local‖and‖temperance‖papers’.‖Edwards‖prints‖four‖of‖his‖poems,‖‘The‖Reason‖
Why’,‖‘The‖Wife’s‖Lament’,‖‘Boyhood’‖and‖‘The‖Language‖of‖Life’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 5 (1883), 377-82. [S]
Wilson, John (fl. 1870),‖coal‖miner,‖author‖of‖‘The‖Colliers’‖Eight‖Hour‖Day’,‖printed‖
on an undated Glasgow broadside. ~ Ref: Lloyd (1978), 274, 360 note. [S] [M]
Wilson, Michael (1763-1840), son of an Edinburgh handloom weaver, printer and
furniture-broker, radical Jacobin, dialect poet, as were his sons Thomas and
 Alexander (qqv). See The Songs of the Wilsons, with A Memoir of the Family, by John
Harland (London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1865). ~ Ref: Hollingworth (1977), 156;
Hollingworth (2013), 295-8.
Wilson, Susannah (b. 1787), of Bethnal Green, daughter of a journeyman weaver,
described‖as‖‘A‖servant‖girl‖who‖has‖evinced‖some‖respectable‖talents‖in‖a‖volume‖
which has been published by subscription for‖her‖benefit’‖(Watkins‖and‖Shoberl).
She published Familiar Poems, Moral and Religious (London: Darton & Co., 1814),
reviewed in the Literary Panorama, and National Register, new series, 1 (October
1814),‖529.‖The‖Introduction,‖written‖presumably‖by‖a‖patron,‖‘W.H.’,‖describes‖
her‖as‖‘an‖uneducated‖servant‖girl’‖who‖‘fulfils‖the‖domestic‖duties‖assigned‖her‖
with‖conscientious‖fidelity’.‖The‖review‖quotes‖this‖with‖approval,‖notes that the
poems‖are‖‘strongly‖indicative‖of‖religious‖feeling,‖and,‖more‖than‖usually,‖
tinctured‖with‖religious‖phraseology’,‖and‖reprints‖a‖poem‖on‖the‖death‖of‖her‖
father,‖and‖another‖‘On‖a‖Storm,‖Just‖Before‖the‖break‖of‖Day,‖June‖1814’:‖‘We‖
select one‖for‖its‖piety;‖and‖part‖of‖another‖for‖its‖poetry;‖the‖writer’s‖affectionate‖
feeling have rendered her pathetic; and the picture she draws has touches of
nature,‖in‖more‖sense‖than‖one,‖truly‖honourable‖to‖her’.‖The‖title‖page‖quotes‖
Gray’s‖‘Elegy’‖but emphatically‖changes‖its‖gendering:‖‘‚Let‖not‖ambition‖mock‖
her useful toils, / Her homely‖joys,‖and‖destiny‖obscure.‛‖GRAY.’‖The‖Introduction‖
speaks‖of‖the‖poem‖being‖‘lately‖put‖into‖my‖hand’,‖and‖encloses‖an‖‘authentic‖
Memoir‖of‖the‖Writer’,‖which‖describes her humble parentage, her birth in
Kingsland Road (which still exists, in the East End of London), how her mother
was very pious but her father not, and how she improved her reading at Sunday
School‖and‖her‖writing‖at‖an‖evening‖school.‖For‖‘many‖years‖past’‖her‖family‖
lived‖in‖‘a‖little‖cottage‖in‖St,‖Matthews,‖Bethnal-green’‖where‖‘two‖daughters‖still‖
reside‖and‖pursue‖the‖weaving‖business‖to‖which‖they‖were‖all‖bred’.‖While‖‘thus‖
engaged, she says, verses spontaneously flowed into her mind, which she took
every opportunity of committing to‖paper.’‖Following‖the‖deaths‖of‖her‖parents‖
she‖became‖a‖domestic‖servant‖in‖Hackney.‖The‖‘Memoir’‖concludes‖by‖discussing‖
her reading (Watt, scripture, Young, Milton) and the artlessness of her verses,
which she ‘never‖could‖have‖had‖the‖least‖idea‖of‖their‖ever‖being‖brought‖before‖
the‖public’.‖There‖is‖a‖lot‖of‖mortality‖in‖the‖verses,‖along‖with‖lyrical‖description‖
and religious piety. ~ Ref: John Watkins and Frederic Shoberl, A Biographical
Dictionary of the Living Authors of Great Britain and Ireland (London: 1816), 393;
poetry text and review as cited via Google books; inf. Dawn Whatman. [F]
Wilson,‖Thomas‖(d.‖1852),‖of‖Manchester,‖weaver’s‖son‖and‖dialect‖songwriter,‖
dealer‖in‖smallware,‖son‖of‖Michael‖Wilson‖(qv),‖brother‖to‖Alexander‖(qv),‖spent‖
time‖in‖prison‖for‖breaking‖the‖blockade‖against‖France‖and‖smuggling‖gold.‖See‖
The Songs of the Wilsons, with A Memoir of the Family,‖by‖John‖Harland‖(London:‖
 Simpkin,‖Marshall,‖1865).‖~‖Ref:‖Hollingworth‖(1977),‖156;‖Hollingsworth‖(2013),‖
255-8.
Wilson, Thomas (1773-1858), of Low Fell, Gateshead, poet, son of a miner, sent down
the pit at eight as a trapper boy, studied in his spare time with Samuel Barrass,
schoolmaster of‖Carter’s‖Well,‖Gateshead,‖‘himself‖a‖self-taught‖former‖pitman’‖
(ODNB); for most of his life worked as partner in a counting-house in Newcastle,
later a merchant, schoolmaster and alderman; wrote the popular poem The
Pitman’s Pay in‖miner’s‖patois,‖first‖published in Mitchell’s ‘Newcastle Magazine’
(1826, 1828, 1830), later republished as The Pitman's Pay and Other Poems (1843,
1873; the second edition contains additional poems, memoir and portrait and
notes by the author). Other poems were published in the Tyne Mercury, some
reissued with notes‖by‖John‖Sykes,‖compiler‖of‖‘Local‖Records.’‖Wilson is
respectfully remembered in the north-east, as both a major dialect poet and a
philanthropist, and a memorial blue plaque was erected in the reading rooms at
Low Fell, Gateshead in 2016, a resource for the public which Wilson himself had
first established in 1841. Ref: Allan (1891), 43, 258-77; Welford (1895), III, 650-3;
Klaus (1985), 72-4; Sutton (1995), 1006 (diary); LC 4, 257-74; ODNB. [M] [LC4]
(?) Wilson, Thomas (fl. 1839), of Leeds, Chartist, poet; imprisoned in 1839; published
poems in the Northern Star. ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 110; Scheckner (1989), 322, 345;
Schwab (1993), 222. [C]
Wilson, William (1801-60),‖of‖Creiff,‖known‖by‖pseudonyms‖‘Alpin’‖and‖‘Allan‖
Grant’,‖cowherd, cloth-lapper, coal-seller, journalist, bookseller and publisher,
moved to Glasgow then emigrated to the USA (1833), died at Poughkeepsie,
posthumously published Poems (1870, third enlarged edition, 1881), devised
‘Poets‖and‖Poetry‖of‖Scotland’,‖published by his son James Grant Wilson, in 1877.
~ Ref: Edwards, 4 (1882), 29-31 and 13 (1890), 223-31; Ross (1889), 77-83; ODNB. [S]
Wilson, William (1817-50), weaver, of Paisley, published twelve-page collection,
Poetical Pieces Composed by a Young Author (Paisley, 1842). ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90),
II, 66-71; Leonard (1990), 118. [S] [T]
Wilson, William (b. 1830), of Burntisland, blacksmith and watchmaker, published
Echoes of the Anvil: Songs and Poems (Edinburgh, 1866, 1885). ~ Ref: Edwards, 8
(1885), 69-76; Reilly (1994), 519; NTU. [S] [B]
Wingate, David (1828-92), of Cowglen, Renfrewshire, a miner from the age of nine,
later a colliery manager, published Poems and Songs, second edition (Edinburgh
and London: W. Blackwood, 1963; Glasgow, 1883); Annie Weir and Other Poems
(Edinburgh, 1866); Lily Neil: A Poem (Edinburgh, 1879). Edwards says he is ‘one‖of
our best-known‖poets’‖who‖has ‘long‖enjoyed‖the‖warmest‖commendations‖of‖the‖
highest‖authorities’.‖His‖father,‖also‖a‖miner,‖was‖killed‖in‖a‖mining‖accident‖when
he was five and he had three years only of schooling before he became a miner
himself. Around 1850 he started to publish poems in the Glasgow Citizen, later
 placing poems in Blackwood’s Magazine and Good Words. The Edinburgh firm of
Blackwood published his first volume in 1862, and Wingate used the money it
generated to attend Mining School in Glasgow and qualify himself for colliery
management. Eventually he left his post as a colliery manager to focus on his
writing. Wingate was said to have fathered eleven children by his first wife; when
she died he married Margaret Thompson, a grand-daughter of Robert Burns (qv).
‘Throughout‖a‖life‖of‖severe‖and‖perilous‖toil’,‖Edwards‖notes,‖Wingate‖‘has‖
thought much and deeply’ and his poetry, as Gustav Klaus notes, manages to
avoid sentiment and bathos, being written‖in‖a‖‘simple,‖yet‖effective down-to-
earth‖manner’.‖His‖major‖narrative‖poem‖‘Annie‖Weir’‖is a story from a time when
women were sent down the pit as coal-carriers, and shows, as Klaus again notes,
how‖this‖‘ignoble‖chapter‖of‖industrial‖history‖was‖neither‖forgotten‖nor‖forgiven’.
It is also a romantic tale in a traditional Scottish style of the extended, sung ballad.
This combination of romantic traditionalism and simplicity of style, supported by
Wingate’s first-hand knowledge of the conditions of mining—evident in the
author’s‖notes‖to‖‘Annie‖Weir’—won him widespread popularity and praise as a
‘sweet‖minstrel‖of‖the‖sombre‖mine’‖(as John Macleay Peacock [qv]calls him in a
dedicatory poem, ‘To‖David‖Wingate,‖the‖Collier‖Poet’,‖in‖his‖Poems [1880], 101-3).
Wingate also managed well the perils of patronage and the marketplace. The
Annie Weir volume, which has seven pages of subscribers, is prefaced with a witty
and graceful refusal to bow and scrape. ~ Ref: Wilson (1876), II, 459-65; Edwards,
2 (1881), 283-9 and 13, 84; Glasgow Poets (1906), 364-68; Ashraf (1975), 242-3; Klaus
(1985), 74-5, 76; Leonard (1990), 241-60; Reilly (1994), 519-20; Reilly (2000), 503-4l;
LC 6, 55-64. [S] [M] [LC6]
Wingfield, Alexander H. (b. 1828), of Blantyre, Lanarkshire, sent to work in a cotton
factory in Glasgow at the age of nine, emigrated to America in 1847, to Auburn,
NY, later to Hamilton, Ontario, working as a mechanic on the Great Western
Railway for 18 years, then for the Canadian Customs Department. ~ Ref: Ross
(1889), 136-43. [S] [R] [T]
Winthrope, James (b. 1832), Weensland, Hawick, Mill Worker, published a prize-
winning poem,‖‘Woe’,‖in‖the‖Christmas‖Supplement‖to‖the‖People’s Journal, 1868,
reprinted in Blair, on the subject of unemployment and hardship. He also
published a single volume, now lost; he emigrated to Canada. Blair notes that the
poem was unusual for this competition in its refusal of consolatory themes, and
that it was included in the anthology of People’s Journal competition verses, Poems
by the People (1869), 6-7. ~ Ref: Blair (2016), 24-6. [S]
Withers, James Reynolds (1812-98),‖‘The‖Cambridgeshire‖Poet’,‖of‖Weston‖Colville,‖
Cambridgeshire, shoemaker poet, forced to take his family into the Newmarket
workhouse‖in‖1846,‖which‖is‖the‖subject‖of‖his‖poem‖‘Written‖from‖Newmarket‖
Union’,‖a‖verse‖letter to his sister; also published Poems upon Various Subjects, three
 volumes (Cambridge, 1856-61); Rustic Song and Wayside Musings, 4th edition
(London, 1867); Poems (London, 1869). ~ Ref: Maidment (1987), 314-16l; Reilly
(2000), 504-5; Higginbotham (2012), 25-7. [SM]
Withy, Nathan[iel] (fl. 1777-86),‖‘The‖Wandering‖Bard’,‖of‖Wolverhampton,‖self-
taught protégé of Lord Lyttelton, who gave him a cottage on the Hagley estate; he
made mathematical rhymes and sold his versified multiplication tables door-to-
door; published Miscellaneous Poems (fourth edition, Wolverhampton, 1777, Dobell
2101, BL 11632.aa.52); An Admonition to the Watermen (Worcester, 1786?, BL
11622.c.22(2)); A History of England (Wolverhampton, 1785, BL 16098/4724). ~ Ref:
Poole & Markland (1928), 97-9; Dobell (1933); Hepburn (2001), II, 484, 555n. [C18]
(?) Wood, Benjamin (fl. 1879-1904), Lancashire dialect writer, blacksmith, published
‚Sparks from a Smithy‛: Lancashire Recitations, Suitable for Public Readings or Social
Gatherings (Bury and Manchester, 1879); Lancashire Sketches and Recitations (np: The
Times, 1904); Humorous Sketches in the Lancashire Dialect, Reprinted from the Bury
Guardian (np: Thomas Crompton, nd), Amusing Lancashire Readings Suitable for
Public or Social Gatherings (n .p.: T. Crompton, undated), all volumes in
Manchester Central Library, Special Collections. ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 505;
Manchester Libraries online catalogue.
(?) Wood, Athol John (fl. 1851), Chartist poet, published political poems in The Red
Republican, The Friend of the People and Notes to the People,‖for‖example‖‘Thou‖Art‖a‖
Self-Degraded‖Slave’‖(Friend of the People, 1851). ~ Ref: Kovalev (1956), 133-4,
Scheckner (1989), 322-4. 345; Schwab (1993), 222, 229. [C]
(?) Wood, John Wilson (1834-85),‖of‖Cupar,‖Fyfe,‖baker’s‖son,‖apprentice‖baker,‖
studied law, lived in America, returned as grocer and spirit merchant, town
councillor, published The Serpent Round the Soul: a Poem (Edinburgh and Cupar,
1870); The Gipsy Heir, and Other Poems (Cupar-Fife, 1883); Ceres Races. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 9 (1886), xxiii; Reilly (1994), 522; Reilly (2000), 506. [S]
Wood, Robert (1818-1904), of Harwood, near Bolton, was apprenticed to a Mr
Ackroyd, tailor and draper, and went on to run his own business in Burnley until
1850.‖He‖was‖‘an‖extensive‖reader‖and‖traveller,‖and‖wrote‖blank‖verse‖for‖the‖
Bolton Chronicle’‖(Sparke).‖He‖died‖at‖Nuneaton.‖He‖published‖a‖prose‖work,‖The
life, poetry, and times of William Cowper: three lectures delivered at the Wesleyan
Schoolroom, Harwood, Bolton-le-Moors, May, 1864 (Manchester, [1864]. ~ Ref: Sparke
(1913), 152. [T]
Wood, Robert (b. 1850), of Newmills, Ayrshire, handloom weaver, poems in
Murdoch. (Edwards includes a Robert Wood of Newmills, Ayrshire as being of a
retiring disposition and being employed in a large Glasgow warehouse, probably
the same man.) Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 381; Murdoch (1883), 422-3. [S] [T]
Wood, William (fl. 1827), weaver, of Eyam, Derbyshire, published The Genius of the
Peak and Other Poems (London and Sheffield, 1837); copy at York University. ~ Ref:
Johnson (1992), item 990. [T]
Woodhouse, James (1735-1820), of Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, shoemaker poet. ~
Woodhouse, born in Rowley, near Birmingham, was a village shoemaker, and
although he had been removed from school at seven years old, supplemented his
meagre income by teaching literacy. He described balancing his cobbling work on
one knee and a book on the other, switching between the pen and the awl
throughout‖his‖daily‖routine.‖~‖Woodhouse’s‖earliest‖poems‖represented‖petitions‖
to‖William‖Shenstone,‖who‖had‖prohibited‖‘the‖rabble’‖from‖visiting‖his‖
ornamental gardens, The Leasowes, due to their propensity for picking flowers—
rather than admiring the scenery with a detached comportment. Keegan (2002)
suggests‖that‖Woodhouse’s‖affirmations‖to‖Shenstone‖respond‖to‖the‖conviction‖
that the role of the lower orders in tilling the earth and concentrating on the
produce‖it‖might‖yield‖precluded‖an‖ability‖to‖appreciate‖nature’s‖beauties.‖
However, in constructing himself as an exception to the rule, Woodhouse
paradoxically‖buttresses‖social‖distinctions‖even‖as‖he‖tries‖to‖transcend‖them.‖‘An‖
Elegy to William Shenstone,‖Esq.;‖of‖the‖Lessowes’‖(1764)‖contains‖the‖following‖
lines:‖‘Once‖thy‖propitious‖gates‖no‖fears‖betray’d, / But bid all welcome to the
sacred‖shade;‖/‖’Till‖Belial’s‖sons‖(of‖gratitude‖the‖bane)‖/‖With‖curs’d‖riot‖dar’d‖
thy groves profane: / And now‖their‖fatal‖mischiefs‖I‖deplore,‖/‖Condemn’d‖to‖
dwell‖in‖Paradise‖no‖more!’‖Nonetheless,‖the‖overall‖vision‖is‖one‖that‖‘ranks‖the‖
peasant‖equal‖with‖the‖peer’‖through‖an‖inherent‖affinity‖for‖recreation‖in‖nature.‖
~ Shenstone permitted Woodhouse entry not just to the grounds, but also to the
library, which extended his knowledge beyond what he had gleaned from
magazines.‖Five‖years‖following‖the‖introduction‖to‖his‖benefactor,‖Woodhouse’s‖
collection of poems was published, in quarto, priced three shillings. Southey
(1831),‖117,‖notes:‖‘It‖appears‖from‖a‖piece‖addressed‖to‖Shenstone,‖upon‖his‖
‘Rural‖Elegance’,‖that‖books‖to‖which‖his‖patron‖had‖directed‖his‖attention,‖had‖
induced him to write in a more ambitious strain, and aim at some of the artifices
of versification’;‖Woodhouse‖speaks‖of‖‘He‖who‖form’d‖the‖fount‖of‖light,‖/‖And‖
shining orbs that ornament the night; / Who hangs his silken curtains round the
sky;‖/‖And‖trims‖their‖skirts‖with‖fringe‖of‖every‖dye’.‖However,‖it‖should‖be‖
noted that these lines are extracted from a volume published nearly forty years
after the original edition, quite possibly signaling a process of modification to
bring them in line with fashion; indeed, with regard to the development of both
Woodhouse‖and‖Duck’s‖poetry,‖Southey (1831, 118) opines that the freshness and
truth‖of‖their‖language‖becomes‖compromised‖when‖they‖start‖to‖‘form‖their‖style‖
upon‖some‖approved‖model<‖they‖then‖produce‖just‖such‖verses‖as‖any‖person,‖
with‖a‖metrical‖ear,‖may‖be‖taught‖to‖make‖by‖receipt’. ~ Owing to the patronage
of Shenstone and public curiosity concerning a shoemaker Dr. Johnson felt
prompted to meet Woodhouse in 1764. Boswell indicates that Johnson viewed
Woodhouse’s‖celebrity‖status‖with‖derision,‖proclaiming:‖‘Such‖objects‖were,‖to‖
those who patronised them, mere mirrors of their own superiority. They had
better<‖furnish‖the‖man‖with‖good‖implements‖for‖his‖trade‖than‖raise‖a‖
subscription‖for‖his‖poems’‖(cited‖Southey,‖1831,‖192).‖However,‖in‖the‖biography‖
prefixed to the collected edition‖of‖Woodhouse’s‖works,‖Johnson‖is‖said‖to‖have‖
altered‖his‖verdict‖in‖light‖of‖the‖poet’s‖subsequent‖accomplishments.‖~‖Shortly‖
following his rise to prominence, Woodhouse left the shoemaking trade to
become a carrier, and then a bailiff on Edward Montague’s estate—where he was
dismissed for having contrary political and religious attitudes. As Keegan points
out, his falling out with Elizabeth Montagu—who, after Shenstone died,
engendered‖his‖shift‖from‖‘royal‖patronage‖of‖‚natural‖genius‛‖through‖the‖
agency of Thomas Spence, to the moralizing charity of being made a
‚bluestocking‛‖cause’—prefigured her better known involvement in the dispute
between Hannah More and Ann Yearsley. In 1788, Woodhouse prefixed an
‘Address‖to‖the‖Public’‖to‖a‖volume‖of‖poems,‖lamenting‖that‖he‖had‖been‖
‘growing‖grey‖in‖servitude,‖and‖poorer‖under‖patronage’,‖struggling‖to‖support‖
his ailing wife and their 27 children. ~ His 28,000-line autobiographical poem The
Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus includes an ambivalent delineation of
Birmingham‖and‖Wolverhampton.‖The‖images‖of‖Birmingham’s‖‘multiplying‖
streets and villas bright<‖And‖Wolverhampton’s‖turrets<‖Near‖northern‖
boundaries‖tipt‖with‖burnish’d‖gold;‖/‖fields,‖countless‖cotts‖and‖villages,‖
between’,‖that‖‘give‖life,‖and‖lustre‖to‖the‖social‖Scene’,‖give‖way‖to‖the‖violent‖
menace‖of‖human‖industrial‖activity:‖‘Deep,‖sullen,‖sounds‖thro’‖all‖the‖regions‖
roll, / Shocking with groans, and sighs, each shuddering Soul! / Here clanking
engines‖vomit‖scalding‖streams<‖Obtruding‖on‖the‖heart,‖each‖heaving‖breath,‖/‖
Some‖vengeful‖Fiend,‖grim‖delegate‖of‖Death!’‖Woodhouse‖also‖published a
collection of nine epistles entitled Love Letters to My Wife (1803), which are in
actuality discourses on social and religious matters, featuring attacks on upper-
class tyranny. Overton (2007)‖writes:‖‘Like‖his versification—quite elaborate
iambic pentameter couplets, varied by occasional alexandrines—the form is
highly artificial, but it provided an acceptable cover for views that might, if
expressed‖more‖directly,‖have‖provoked‖censure.’‖~‖Woodhouse‖spent‖the‖last‖35‖
years of his life as the proprietor of a book and stationery shop in Oxford Street. In
the way of curiosity and anecdote, it is claimed that Woodhouse was six feet six
inches tall and possessed of tremendous strength. Apparently, he once confronted
a ferocious bull with a stick and made‖it‖‘lay‖down‖and‖fairly‖cry‖for‖mercy’‖
(Southey, 1831, 193). He published Poems on Sundry Occasions (London: 1764);
Poems on Several Occasions. Second edition, corrected, with several additional pieces
never before published (London: Dodsley, 1766), subscribers and benefactors
including Edmund Burke and David Hume; Poems on Several Occasions (1788);
Love Letters to my Wife; written in 1789; Norbury Park, A Poem; With Several Others,
Written on Various Occasions (1803); The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus
Scriblerus...A novel in verse. Part I (1804); The Life and Poetical Works of James
Woodhouse, two volumes (1896); The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus, A
Selection, ed. Steve Van-Hagen (Cheltenham: Cyder Press, 2005). ~ Ref: Southey
(1831), 114-21, 192-4; Winks (1883), 296-7; Tinker (1922), 97-9; Katherine G.
Hornbeak,‖‘New‖Light‖on‖Mrs.‖Montagu’,‖The Age of Johnson: Essays Presented to
Chauncey Brewster Tinker, ed. F. W. Hilles (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1949), 349-61; Reginald Blunt, Mrs Montagu, ‚Queen of the Blues‛, Her Letters and
Friendships from 1777 to 1800, ed. Reginald Blunt (Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 1923), two volumes; Poole & Markland (1928), 81-5; Unwin
(1954), 71, 74-6; Carter (1972), 159-91; Klaus (1985), 6-21; Landry (1990), 14-15;
Rizzo (1991), 243, 254-8; Greene (1993), 111; Richardson (1994), 257; Cafarelli
(1995), 78-9, 81; Sutton (1995), 1009 (letters to Elizabeth Montagu); Goodridge
(1999), item 131; Christmas (2001), 17, 183-210, 215; Keegan (2001), 201, 210-11;
Peter‖Denney,‖‘‚Unpleasant,‖tho’‖Arcadian‖Spots‛:‖Plebeian‖Poetry,‖Polite‖
Culture,‖and‖the‖Sentimental‖Economy‖of‖the‖Landscape‖Park’,‖Criticism, 47, no. 4
(2005), 505-10; Bill Overton,‖‘The‖Verse‖Epistle’,‖in‖Gerrard‖(2006); Keegan (2008),
37-64; Sandro‖Jung,‖‘Shenstone,‖Woodhouse,‖and‖Mid-Eighteenth-Century
Poetics: Genre and the Elegiac-Pastoral‖Landscape’.‖Philological Quarterly, 88, nos.
1-2 (2009), 127-49; Steve Van-Hagen, ‘The‖Life,‖Works‖and‖Reception‖of‖an‖
Evangelical Radical: James Woodhouse (1735-1820),‖the‖‚Poetical‖Shoemaker‛’,‖
Literature Compass, 6, no. 2 (2009), 384-406 (includes a substantial critical
bibliography); Goodridge (2010), 11-23(16-18); Peter‖Denney,‖‘Popular Radicalism,
Religious‖Parody‖and‖the‖Mock‖Sermon‖in‖the‖1790s’,‖History Workshop, 74 (2012),
64; Steve Van-Hagen,‖‘Patrons,‖Influences,‖and‖Poetic‖Communities‖in‖James‖
Woodhouse’s‖The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus’,‖in‖Social Networks in
the Long Eighteenth Century: Clubs, Salons and Textual Coteries, ed. Ileana Baird
(Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2014), 309-33; Adam J. Bridgen,
‘Patronage, Punch-Ups, and Polite Correspondence: The Radical Background of
James‖Woodhouse’s‖Early‖Poetry,‖Huntington Library Quarterly, 80, no. 1 (Spring
2017), 99-134 (a well-researched piece that argues against the idea that
Woodhouse evidences excessive servility to patrons in his early work); Steve Van-
Hagen,‖‘‚But‖Genius Is‖the‖Special‖Gift‖of‖God‛:‖The‖Reclamation‖of‖‚Natural‖
Genius‛‖in‖the‖Late-Eighteenth-Century Verses of Ann Yearsley and James
Woodhouse’,‖in‖Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 55-69 (considers the two poets in
light‖of‖the‖category‖‘natural‖genius’); Croft & Beattie, III, 1278-9; LC 2, 141-234;
ODNB; NTU. [SM] [LC2] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Woodley, George (bap. 1786 d. 1846), born in Dartmouth, began writing at age
eleven while on board a British man-of war, a seaman who published several
volumes of verse, and in 1820 was ordained and went to the Scilly isles as a
missionary; published Mount-Edgcumbe, A Descriptive Poem; The Shipwreck, a Naval
Eclogue; and Miscellaneous Verses on Several Occasions. With notes [Mt. Edgcumbe,
with The Shipwreck, and Miscellaneous Verses] (1804, published anonymously); The
Churchyard and Other Poems (1808); Britain's Bulwarks; or, The British Seaman: a Poem
(1811); Portugal Delivered, a Poem (1812); Redemption (1816); The Divinity of Christ
Proved, from his Love to Mankind ... and the True Church of Christ Ascertained (1819,
second edition 1821); Cornubia: a Poem (1819); A View of the Present State of the Scilly
Islands (1822). ~ Ref: ODNB. [C18]
Woodrow, William (b. 1817), of Paisley, published poems in periodicals, 1878
collection. ~ Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 77-82. [S]
Work, Thomas Lawrence (b. 1838), of Aberdeen, printer, emigrated to Australia. ~
Ref: Edwards, 12 (1889), 211-19. [A] [S]
Wrigglesworth, John (1856-1903),‖‘Hubert‖Cloudesley’,‖of‖Castleford,‖coal‖miner;‖
published Grass from a Yorkshire Village (Westminster, 1897). Also published
several works under the pseudonym Hubert Cloudesley, including a collection of
essays entitled Passing Thoughts of Working Man (London: Elliot Stock, 1890); a
novel, Adventures of the Remarkable Twain (London: Digby, Long & Co, 1899); and a
collection of ten short stories, Idylls of Yorkshire. By Hubert Cloudesley, Author of
‚Passing Thoughts,‛ ‚The Sweetest Maid in Glowton,‛ ‚Grass from a Yorkshire Village,‛
‚Adventures of the Remarkable Twain,‛ etc. (Eland: Henry Watson Lt, n.d. ? 1890-
1900). ~ Ref: Reilly (1994), 526. [M]
Wright, David, of Aberdeen (fl. 1841),‖‘footpost’,‖post‖office‖messenger,‖Chartist‖
activist and organiser and occasional poet. His poem ironically titled ‘British‖
Freedom’,‖dated‖12 May 1841, was published in McDouall’s Chartist and Republican
Journal, 29 May 1841: this is one of twenty-one of his poems that Klaus has located
‘spread‖over‖five‖different‖Chartist‖papers’; it also appears in Scheckner. Ashraf
(1975)‖includes‖his‖poem‖‘Yes,‖we‖are‖free’.~ Ref: Ashraf (1975), 176; Scheckner
(1989), 325; Klaus (2013), 151-6. [S] [C]
Wright,‖Joseph‖(b.‖1848),‖of‖Airdrie,‖hairdresser’s‖son,‖umbrella‖manufacturer,‖friend‖
of Janet Hamilton (qv) from childhood, read to her after she became blind. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 4 (1882), 274-80; Knox (1930), 253-8 (gives birth date as 1847). [S]
Wright, John (1805 - c.‖1846),‖‘The‖Galston‖Poet’,‖born‖in‖Sorn,‖Ayrshire,‖weaver,‖
published The Retrospect or Youthful Scenes. With Other Poems and Songs
(Edinburgh, first edition 1830, second edition 1833; begun in 1824 and inspired by
an episode of unrequited love); The Whole Poetical Work of John Wright (Ayr, 1843).
~ Ref: Southey (1831), xv; Wilson (1876), II, 541-2; Edwards, 3 (1881), 121-30;
ODNB. [S] [T]
Wright, Orlando (fl. 1868-76), of Birmingham and York, mechanic, published A
Wreath of Leisure Hours: Poems, Including an Elegy on the Hartley Colliery Catastrophe
(Birmingham, 1862); Clifton Green: A Poem, etc. (London, York and Scarborough,
1868); Maxims and Epigrams (London,‖1876).‖‘Among‖those‖whose‖fervour‖had‖not‖
fled [by the end of 1914] was Orlando Wright, a Northern artisan ... Much of his
output‖is‖found‖in‖the‖newspapers‖of‖the‖period,’‖John‖Sadler‖and‖Rosie‖Serdiville,‖
Tommy Rot: The WW1 Poetry They Didn’t Let You Read (Stroud: The History Press,
2013). ~ Ref: Reilly (2000), 510; Sadler and Serdeville as cited.
(?) Wright, T. (fl. 1821), of Southtown, Great Yarmouth, wrote a poem to John Clare
(qv)‖in‖‘Standard‖Habbie’‖metre,‖in‖January‖1821,‖‘To‖the‖Helpstone‖Poet’‖(‘Like‖
Shakespeare, Clare, thou’rt‖Nature’s‖child’).‖He‖expresses‖kinship‖with‖Clare in it
by writing that, ‘like‖thee,‖I’ve‖not‖the‖art’. ~ Ref: BL MS Egerton. 2245, ff. 275 r/v;
transcript made by Bob Heyes.
Wright,‖William‖(b.‖1836),‖‘Bill‖o’‖th’‖Hoylus‖End’,‖of‖Hermit‖Hole,‖Haworth,‖
Yorkshire,‖musician’s‖son,‖warp-dresser, strolling‖player,‖soldier,‖‘wanderer‖and‖
conscious‖eccentric’‖(K.‖E.‖Smith‖in‖the‖England‖anthology). He wrote‖‘The‖
Factory‖Girl’,‖published in his Poems (Keighley, revised edition, 1891). He also
published Random Rhymes and Rambles, by Bill o’ th’ Hoylus End (Keighley, 1876). ~
Ref: Forshaw (1891), 180-3 (includes a full-plate etched portrait); England (1983),
25, 43, 56; Burnett et al (1984), 347-8 (no. 776); Maidment (1987), 272-4; Reilly
(1994), 47 & 527; Reilly (2000), 510.
Wrigley, Ammon (1862-1946), of Saddleworth, millworker, dialect poet and local
historian; born in Denshaw, Yorkshire, published Saddleworth: Its Prehistoric
Remains (Oldham: D. E. Clegg 1911); Songs of a Moorland Parish with Prose Sketches.
A Collection of Verse and Prose, Chiefly Relating to the Parish of Saddleworth
(Saddleworth: Moore and Edwards, 1912); O’er the Hills and Far Away
(Stalybridge, 1931). He also published an autobiography with a large subscription
list and a number of other works, all apparently post-1900, include Songs of the
Pennine Hills: A Book of Open Air (Stalybridge: G. Whittaker and Sons, 1938). ~ Ref:
Hollingworth (1977), 156; England (1983), 12, 67; Burnett et al (1984), 349 (no. 780);
Wikipedia. [T] [OP]
Wylie, Ann (fl. 1741),‖‘unmarried‖servant‖of‖twenty-six’,‖inspired‖by‖psalm‖singing‖to‖
produce both variant and original psalmic verses. ~ Ref: Elspeth Jajdelska,
‘‚Singing‖of‖Psalms‖of‖which‖I‖could‖never‖get‖enough‛: Labouring-class Religion
and Poetry in the Cambuslang‖Revival‖of‖1741’,‖Studies in Scottish Literature, 41,
no. 1 (2015), article 11. [F] [S] [C18]
Wylie, David (fl. 1872-83), of County Tyrone, blind cattle doctor and poet in the area
of‖Moy‖and‖Benburb,‖published‖‘about‖1883...a‖small‖pamphlet‖of‖verse,‖with
some‖medical‖receipts’.‖(I‖have‖not‖traced‖this‖yet.)‖~‖Ref:‖O’Donoghue (1912), 490.
[I]
Wynd, James (1832-65), of Dundee, painter, had a poem included in ‘Blackie’s‖book‖
of Scottish song’‖(Alexander‖Whitelaw,‖A Book of Scottish Song, Glasgow: Blackie &
Son, 1843 and many further editions); died in Newcastle upon Tyne. ~ Ref: text
cited; Edwards, 1 (1880), 381-2. [S]
Yates, Henry (fl. 1902-4),‖of‖Islington,‖Blackburn,‖‘The‖Bard‖of‖Islington’,‖handloom‖
weaver, son of a railwayman, living first at Summit then at Blackburn. A dialect
and local poet, he published Songs of the Twilight and the Dawn (1904). Hobbs and
Januszewski also describe‖him‖as‖‘a‖prolific‖writer‖of‖prose‖and‖verse‖for‖
Blackburn and Preston papers and for Ben Brierley’s Journal, Cassell’s Saturday
Journal and‖others’,‖and‖note‖that‖‘some‖of‖his‖lyrics‖[were] set to music by a local
organist‖and‖composer’. ~ Ref: Hull (1902), 221-37; Hobbs (2013); inf. Bob Heyes.
[T]
(?) Yates, James (fl. 1578-82),‖‘serving‖man’,‖patronised‖and‖employed‖by‖Henry‖and‖
Elizabeth Reynolds, published The Castell of Courtesie, [whereunto is adjoyned The
holde of humilitie: with The chariot of chastity thereunto annexed] (London, 1582),
‘entered‖on‖the‖Stationers’ register on 7 June 1582. Three copies are known to
survive’‖(ODNB). ~ Ref: Cranbrook (2001), 247; ODNB. [OP]
Yearsley, Ann, née Cromartie (1752-1806), born in Clifton, a village in
Gloucestershire;‖known‖also‖as‖‘Lactilla’‖or‖‘the Poetical Milkwoman of Bristol’.
Yearsley‖followed‖her‖mother’s‖calling‖as‖a‖milk‖woman,‖and‖learnt‖to‖read‖and‖
write under the guidance of her brother William Cromartie. In 1774, she married
John Yearsley, a poor yeoman farmer, and devoted the subsequent ten years to
developing her‖writing‖while‖fulfilling‖her‖onerous‖duties‖as‖a‖farmer’‖wife‖and‖
mother of six children. After battling destitution in the winter of 1783-84—her
family salvaged from veritable starvation—Yearsley came to the attention of the
affluent Hannah More and other‖members‖of‖the‖’Bluestocking’‖circle,‖who‖
enabled Poems on Several Occasions to be published by subscription. A public
wrangle‖over‖control‖and‖income‖bore‖a‖permanent‖rift‖in‖Yearsley’s‖relationship‖
with her patron. Hereafter, Yearsley would produce her subsequent works
independently. In the 1790s social upheavals in France exacerbated a silencing of
the‖underclass‖in‖many‖quarters,‖and‖Yearsley’s‖main‖income‖in‖her‖later‖years‖
came from a circulating library she opened in Bristol in 1793. She died in obscurity
in Melksham, Wilts., and it was not until the final quarter of the twentieth century
that Yearsley began to emerge from the shadows of literary history. Yearsley
tackled various forms but demonstrated a particular proclivity for occasional,
commemorative and meditative lyric poetry, abounding with personifications and
figures of eighteenth-century verse, including classical allusion. Her work covers
a‖wide‖range‖of‖concerns.‖The‖melancholy‖that‖accompanies‖Yearsley’s‖
preoccupation with death is mitigated by her veneration of friendship‖(the‖‘social‖
angel’)‖and‖her‖celebration‖of‖motherhood‖(‘A‖mother‖only‖can‖define‖her‖joy’).‖In‖
A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade, she exposes the false sensibility that
the‖slave‖trade‖is‖grounded‖in,‖attacking‖the‖‘crafty‖merchants’‖defiling Bristol. ~
Yearsley published Poems on Several Occasions, (London: Thomas Cadell, 1785);
Poems on Various Subjects (London: G. G. J. and R. Robinson, 1787), facsimile
edition (Oxford and New York: Woodstock Books, 1994); A Poem on the Inhumanity
of the Slave Trade (London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1788), via‖Brycchan‖Carey’s‖web‖
page; The Rural Lyre: A Volume of Poems, 1796), reprinted in The Romantics: Women
Poets series (London: Routledge, 1996). Yearsley also wrote a novel, The Royal
Captives: A Fragment of Secret History (four volumes, 1795), and a play, Earl
Goodwin (published 1791). As well as Tim‖Burke’s‖useful‖selection,‖Ann Yearsley:
Selected Poems (Cyder Press, 2003), there is now a full scholarly library edition of
her work, The Collected Works of Ann Yearsley, ed. Kerri Andrews, three volumes.
(London: Pickering & Chatto, 2014): Vol. 1: Poetry and Letters; Vol. 2: Earl
Goodwin; Vol. 3: The Royal Captives. Kerri Andrews has also written an important
study of Yearsley and Hannah More, Ann Yearsley and Hannah More: Patronage and
Poetry (2013), and edited a special number of Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature on
‘New‖Directions‖in‖Mary‖Leapor‖and‖Ann‖Yearsley‖Studies’‖(34,‖no.‖1,‖Spring‖
2015; essays individually listed below and under Leapor). In these three projects
Andrews has made a major advance in the study of Yearsley, and indeed of
labouring-class women poets more generally. Dr Andrews is now working on an
edition‖of‖Yearsley’s‖letters.‖~ Ref: Dyce (1825), 250-4; Southey (1831), 125-34, 195-
8; Joseph Cottle, Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey
(London, 1848), 47-52; Rowton (1853), 184-6; Tinker (1922), 99-104, 6-10, 15-17, 20-
1; Unwin (1954), 68, 77-81; Carter (1972), 192-232; Margaret Anne Doody, The
Daring Muse: Augustan Poetry Reconsidered (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1985), 130-1, 243; Klaus (1985), 6-10, 15-17, 20-1; Moira‖Ferguson,‖‘Resistance‖
and‖Power‖in‖the‖Life‖and‖Writings‖of‖Ann‖Yearsley’,‖The Eighteenth Century:
Theory and Interpretation, 27 (1986), 247-68; Lonsdale (1989), 392-401; Shiach (1989),
45, 56-9; Linda‖Zionkowski,‖‘Strategies‖of‖Containment:‖Stephen‖Duck,‖Ann‖
Yearsley‖and‖the‖Problem‖of‖Polite‖Culture’,‖Eighteenth-Century Life 13 (1989), 91-
108; Blain et al (1990), 1197-8; Landry (1990), 16-23, 33-4, 120-85; Rizzo (1991);
Patricia‖Demers,‖‘‚For‖mine’s‖a‖stubborn‖and‖a‖savage‖will‛:‖‚Lactilla‛‖(Ann‖
Yearsley)‖and‖‚Stella‛‖(Hannah‖More)‖Reconsidered’,‖Huntington Library
Quarterly, 56 (1993), 135-50;‖Moira‖Ferguson,‖‘The‖Unpublished‖Poems‖of‖Ann‖
Yearsley’,‖Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 12 (1993), 13-46; Heinzelman (1994),
101-24; Richardson (1994), 252-4; Sales (1994), 268-70; Cafarelli (1995), 79-81;
Ferguson (1995), 44-90; Sutton (1995), 1031; Caroline Franklin, Introduction to The
Death of Amnon. A Poem by Elizabeth Hands [and] The Rural Lyre, A Volume of Poems
by Ann Yearsley (London: Routledge, 1996); Jerome‖J.‖McGann,‖‘Ann‖Yearsley’s‖
‚Remonstrance‖in‖the‖platonic‖shade, flourishing on a height‛’‖in‖The Poetics of
Sensibility: A Revolution in Literary Style (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, 55-64;
Mary Waldron, Lactilla, Milkwoman of Bristol: The Life and Writings of Ann Yearsley,
1753-1806 (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996); Feldman (1997), 831-
43; Madeline‖Kahn,‖‘The‖Milkmaid’s‖Voice:‖Ann‖Yearsley‖and‖the‖Romantic‖
Notion‖of‖the‖Poet’,‖in‖Behrendt & Linkin (1997), 141-7;‖Alan‖Richardson,‖‘Women‖
Poets and Colonial Discourse: Teaching More and Yearsley on the Slave‖Trade’,‖in‖
Behrendt & Linkin (1997), 75-9; Wu (1997), 150-70; Tim‖Burke,‖‘Ann‖Yearsley‖and‖
the‖Distribution‖of‖Genius‖in‖Early‖Romantic‖Culture’,‖in‖Thomas‖Woodman‖(ed.),
Early Romantics: Perspectives in British Poetry from Pope to Wordsworth (Houndmills:
Macmillan, 1998), 215-30; Goodridge (1999), item 134; Milne (1999), 139-73; Judith
Dorn,‖‘‚The‖Royal‖Captives‛:‖A‖Fragment‖of‖Secret‖History:‖Ann‖Yearsley’s‖
‚Unnecessary‖Curiosity‛’,‖in‖1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics and Enquiries in the Early
Modern Era, Volume 5, ed. Kevin L. Cope and Anna Battigelli (New York: AMS,
2000), 163-89; Christmas (2001), 18-19, 23, 235-66; M. O. Grenby, The Anti-Jacobin
Novel: British Conservatism and the French Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001); Basker (2002), 373-7; Dustin‖Griffin,‖‘Ann‖Yearsley:‖‚the‖
female‖patriot‛’‖in‖Patriotism and Poetry in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002) 262-91; Mary‖Waldron,‖‘A‖Different‖Kind‖of‖
Patronage:‖Ann‖Yearsley’s‖Later‖Friends’,‖The Age of Johnson, 13 (2002), 283-336;
David Fairer, English Poetry of the Eighteenth Century 1700-1789 (London:
Longman, 2003), 207-8, 235-6; Frank‖Felsenstein,‖‘Ann‖Yearsley‖and‖the‖Politics‖of‖
Patronage: The Thorp Archive [I-II+’,‖Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 21, no. 2
(2002), 347-92 and 22, no. 1 (2003), 13-56; Kord (2003), 270-1; Backscheider (2005),
374-5, 412 and passim; Julie‖Cairnie,‖‚The‖Ambivalence‖of‖Ann‖Yearsley:‖Laboring‖
and‖Writing,‖Submission‖and‖Resistance,‛‖Nineteenth-Century Contexts 27, no. 4
(2005), 353-64; Adriana Craciun, British Women Writers and the French Revolution:
Citizens of the World (Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005); Kerri Andrews,
‘Ann Yearsley:‖A‖Literary‖Career‖Reconsidered’,‖Literature Compass, 5, no. 1 (2007),
online publication; Kerri Andrews,‖‘Countering‖the‖‚Poverty‖of‖Thought‖in‖
Novels‛:‖Radical‖Authorship‖and‖The Royal Captives by‖Ann‖Yearsley’,‖
Romanticism on the Net, 45 (2007); Mary-Ann‖Constantine,‖‘A‖Subject‖of‖
Conversation‛:‖Iolo‖Morganwyg,‖Hannah‖More‖and‖Ann‖Yearsley’,‖in Wales and
the Romantic Imagination, ed. Damian Walford Davies and Lynda Pratt (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2007)), 161-79; Dabydeen et al (2007), 533; Keegan
(2008), 77-80; Milne (2008), 15-16, 88-109; Backscheider (2009), 891-2; Monica Smith
Hart,‖‘Protest‖and‖Performance:‖Ann‖Yearsley’s‖Poems‖on‖Several‖Occasions’ in
The Working Class Intellectual in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Britain, ed.
Aruna Krishnamurthy (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009, 49-66; Kerri‖Andrews,‖‘New‖
Letters,‖New‖Poems:‖Ann‖Yearsley‖in‖Context’,‖Women’s Writing, 17 (2010), 185-95;
David‖Fairer,‖‘Close‖Reading‖Yearsley’,‖Burke‖&‖Goodridge‖(2010),‖18-20; Claire
 Knowles,‖‘Ann‖Yearsley,‖Biography,‖and‖the‖‚Pow’rs‖of‖Sensibility‖Untaught!‛’,‖
Women’s Writing, 17, no. 1 (2010), 166-84; Labbe (2010), 177-8; Daniel Watkins,
‘History‖and‖Vision‖in‖Ann‖Yearsley’s‖Rural Lyre’, The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly
Annual (New York: Ames Press, 2010), 223-95; Kerri Andrews, Ann Yearsley and
Hannah More: Patronage and Poetry: The Story of a Literary Relationship (London:
Pickering and Chatto, 2013), Gender and Genre series, no. 11; William J.
Christmas,‖‘Lyric‖Modes:‖The‖Soliloquy‖Poems‖of‖Mary‖Leapor‖and‖Ann‖
Yearsley’,‖Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 34, no. 1 (2015), 65-87; Brycchan
Carey,‖‘The‖Poetics‖of‖Radical‖Abolitionism:‖Ann‖Yearsley’s‖Poem on the
Inhumanity of the Slave Trade’, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 34, no. 1 (2015),
89-105;‖Kerri‖Andrews,‖‘Ann‖Yearsley and‖the‖London‖Newspapers‖in‖1787’,‖Tulsa
Studies in Women’s Literature, 34, no. 1 (2015), 107-24; David‖Fairer,‖‘‚Flying‖atoms‖
in‖the‖sightless‖air‛:‖Issues‖of‖Coherence‖and‖Scale‖in‖Leapor‖and‖Yearsley’,‖Tulsa
Studies in Women’s Literature, 34, no. 1 (2015), 141-62; Catherine‖Keohane,‖‘Ann‖
Yearsley’s‖‚Clifton‖Hill‛‖and‖its‖Lessons‖in‖Reading’,‖Studies in Eighteenth-Century
Culture, 41 (2013) 233-53; Vassiliki‖Markidou,‖‘‚As‖o’er the upland hills I take my
way‛:‖Rural‖Landscape‖and‖the‖Chronotopes‖of‖Memory and Threshold in Ann
Yearsley’s‖‚Clifton‖Hill‛’,‖Victoriographies, 5, no. 1 (2015), 1-16; Steve Van-Hagen,
‘‚But‖Genius‖Is‖the‖Special‖Gift‖of‖God‛:‖The‖Reclamation‖of‖‚Natural‖Genius‛‖in‖
the Late-Eighteenth-Century Verses of Ann Yearsley and James Woodhouse’,‖in
Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 55-69;‖Kerri‖Andrews,‖‘Neither‖Mute‖Nor‖Inglorious:‖
Ann‖Yearsley‖and‖Elegy’,‖in‖Goodridge & Keegan (2017), 85-100; see also Donna
Landry’s‖Foreword‖to‖this‖volume,‖xxi-xxii; Croft & Beattie, III, 187, 197; Radcliffe;
ODNB; LC 3, 57-102. [F] [LC3] [C18] [—Iain Rowley]
Yeats, William (fl. 1792), of Airdrie, flesher, born on a farm, published ‘Airdrie‖Fair’‖
in 1792, reprinted in Knox. ~ Ref: Knox (1930), 306-10. [S] [C18]
Yewdall, John (1795-1856),‖‘the‖Hunslet‖Toll-Keeper’,‖cloth-weaver, toll-keeper, born
in‖Quarries,‖Leeds,‖‘received‖only‖three‖weeks’‖formal‖education’‖(ODNB). He
published by subscription The Toll-Bar and Other Poems (London and Leeds, 1827),
written in the style and (largely) the verse-form of Byron’s‖Don Juan, and
including an autobiographical Preface. It is an unusual volume, offering much of
interest.‖The‖dedication‖of‖‘the‖following‖sheets’‖to‖‘the‖subscribers‖in‖particular‖
and‖the‖public‖in‖general’‖is‖perhaps‖a‖trifle‖airy,‖but‖the‖preface is very specific
about‖the‖author‖as‖‘one‖who‖has‖been‖always‖in‖humble‖circumstances’,‖having‖
‘lost‖his‖father‖in‖childhood’‖and‖been‖accordingly‖‘put‖to‖business‖at‖a‖very‖
tender‖age’.‖Deprived‖of‖the‖‘usual‖routine‖of‖juvenile‖knowledge’‖he‖claims‖to‖
have‖‘never‖received‖more‖than‖three‖weeks’‖education’.‖This,‖‘he‖humbly‖hopes’,‖
will‖soften‖the‖reception‖of‖the‖‘little‖volume’,‖while‖offering‖a‖bracketed reminder
that‖the‖book‖is‖‘throughout,‖couched‖in‖his‖own‖native‖style’.‖(This‖is‖
occasionally in evidence,‖for‖instance‖in‖dialogue‖in‖‘The‖Toll-Bar’—‘dost’‖hear’,‖p.‖
 2—but‖his‖verse‖is‖largely‖written‖in‖‘standard’‖English.)‖Yewdall‖describes‖being‖
apprenticed‖to‖a‖tradesman‖‘whose‖humanity‖towards‖him‖will‖ever‖live‖in‖his‖
grateful‖remembrance’,‖and how‖his‖leisure‖hours‖were‖spent‖in‖‘unremitting‖
diligence‖to‖mental‖improvement’.‖Having‖answered‖correctly‖‘every‖question‖in‖
Walkingham’s Arithmetic’‖he‖feels‖a‖‘strong‖inclination‖to‖obtain‖the‖situation‖of‖an‖
officer‖in‖the‖Excise’,‖but‖lacks‖the‖influence needed to achieve this. He marries
and‖continues‖to‖‘work‖his‖business‖as‖a‖cloth-weaver’‖while‖he‖‘endeavoured‖still‖
further to to instruct himself, by an application to the study of the lower branches
of‖mathematics’.‖He‖is‖proud‖to‖have‖had‖published answers to mathematical
queries‖‘inserted‖in‖the‖newspapers‖and‖other‖periodicals’‖citing‖his‖answers‖
‘printed‖in‖the‖Leeds‖Independent,‖under‖the‖signature‖of‖‚J___‖Y___,‖Hunslet‛,‖
but‖the‖‘serious‖depression‖affecting‖the‖woollen‖trade’‖around‖1820‖(the rise of
the factory system had halved the number of domestic clothiers in Leeds by the
early 1820s) drove him to take the post of a toll-collector,‖‘a‖class‖of‖men‖who‖meet‖
with much unmerited‖abuse’.‖An‖anonymous ‘gentleman’‖had‖approved‖the‖
manuscript‖of‖his‖poetry‖volume‖and‖helped‖collect‖subscribers,‖and‖‘in‖the‖course‖
of two months, upwards of 200 copies were ordered, and the work immediately
put‖to‖press’.‖The title poem begins in mock-heroic style:‖’Awake,‖my muse, and
strike the lyre, / While I in humble strains aspire, / To sing the toll-collector; / Or
things‖seen‖at‖a‖turnpike‖gate,‖/‖For‖curious‖tales‖he‖can‖relate,‖/‖Of‖all‖men‖he’s‖
inspector’.‖All‖must‖pass‖through‖the‖turnpike,‖though‖many‖begrudge‖the toll,
which enables much comic dialogue and plotting, and interposed verses, in the
first‖verso‖‘The‖Miser’s‖Soliloquy‖at‖the‖Sight‖of‖a‖Turnpike’,‖and‖in‖the‖second,‖‘A‖
Dialogue‖in‖a‖Letter‖Bag’.‖There are many interesting details—how sheep are
counted through, for example. Several other poems in the collection relate to his
work and observations as a toll-booth collector, and in this respect it bears
resemblance‖to‖something‖like‖Thomas‖Cross’s‖prose‖work,‖Autobiography of a
Stage-Coachman (1861), which‖is‖concerned‖with‖‘incidents‖and‖occurrences‖that‖
came under the observation of a man who had daily intercourse with all classes of
people’ (Jarndyce 211). Bowers writes of this‖volume:‖‘Yewdall’s‖interest‖in‖the‖
woollen industry is manifest not only in his choice of subject-matter, exemplified
in‖‚Verses‖in‖praise‖of‖Yorkshire‖Cloth‛,‖but‖also‖in‖his‖frequent‖references‖to‖
machinery,‖even‖in‖as‖unexpected‖a‖context‖as‖his‖prospect‖poem,‖‚Almais‖Crag‛‖
which‖concludes‖with‖poetic‖naivety:‖‚Who‖would‖not‖leave his machinery / Just
to‖gaze‖at‖Almais‖Crag?‛’.‖It‖would‖also‖be‖true‖to‖say‖that‖Yewdall‖is‖interested‖in‖
all that goes on around him. ~ Ref: Bowers (1986), 35, 335; Johnson (1992), item
999; Johnson 46 (2003), no. 340; Jarndyce catalogue 211 (2015), item 78; ODNB; text
of poems via Google books.
Yool, James (1792-1860), of Paisley, weaver, active in founding Paisley Literary and
Convivial Association, helped to publish The Caledonian Lyre magazine in 1815,
 contributed to The Harp of Renfrewshire (1819) and later edited the Paisley Literary
Miscellany to which he also contributed, and published The Rise & Progress of
Oppression, or the Weavers’ Struggle for their Prices, A Tale (Paisley, 1813); and
posthumously, The Poems and Songs and Literary Recreations of James Yool, Collected
and Collated for the Paisley Burns Club by William Stewart (Glasgow, 1883) (Robert
Burns, qv). His works were also collected posthumously in manuscript. ~ Ref:
Brown (1889-90), I, 257-64; Leonard (1990), 63-73. [S] [T]
(?) Young, David (b. 1852), of Carmyllie, reporter, farmer; published Unbeaten Tracks
(London: Newman, 1882). ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 99-100; Reid, Bards (1897), 509-
10; COPAC. [S]
Young, David (1811-91),‖‘The‖Solitary‖Bard’,‖of Kirkcaldy, mechanic and millwright
in a linen factory, journalist and poet. For many years he acted as correspondent
to the local papers, and also to the Scotsman, the Dundee Advertiser and the People’s
Journal.‖Edwards‖notes‖that‖he‖has‖a‖‘keenly‖sarcastic‖bent’‖and‖that‖once,‖
suspected‖of‖having‖written‖a‖skit‖on‖some‖‘ministerial‖intrigue’,‖he‖moved‖away‖
to a neighbouring town, but was persuaded to return. It is not clear exactly where
his verses were published, though the newspapers mentioned are the obvious
place‖to‖look.‖Edwards‖makes‖reference‖to‖the‖‘large‖pile‖of‖manuscripts’‖selected‖
by‖Young’s‖‘poetical‖friend,‖Mr.‖Kinlay’,‖from‖which‖he‖has‖selected‖just‖two‖
poems‖to‖print,‖‘An‖Address‖to‖a‖Bat’,‖and‖‘The‖Lass‖o’‖Dysart‖Shore’. ~ Ref:
Edwards, 15 (1893), 282-4. [S] [T]
Young, John (1825-91), of Milton of Campsie, Stirlingshire, moved to Glasgow,
educated from eight to sixteen, boilermaker, carter, disabled in an accident, 1853,
lived in the poorhouse for six years, almost blind in later years; published the
following volumes: Lays from the Poorhouse: Being a Collection of Temperance and
Miscellaneous Pieces, Chiefly Scottish (Glasgow: George Gallie, 1860 [but Murdoch
gives 1859]); Lays from the Ingle Nook: a Collection of Tales, Sketches, &c. (Glasgow:
George Gallie, 1863); Homely Pictures in Verse, Chiefly of a Domestic Nature
(Glasgow: George Gallie, 1865); Poems and Lyrics, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
(Glasgow: George Gallie, 1868); Lochlomond Side and Other Poems (Glasgow:
George Gallie, 1872); Pictures in Prose and Verse: Or, Personal Recollections of the late
Janet Hamilton [qv], Langloan: Together with Several Hitherto Unpublished Poetic Pieces
(Glasgow: George Gallie, 1877); Selections from my first volume, Lays from the
poorhouse: (published November 1860), with an appendix containing some hitherto
unpublished poems (Glasgow: John Gallie, 1881). This final volume includes: ‘On‖
completing‖my‖Latin‖Studies’,‖‘Toothache’,‖‘The‖Waefu’‖Days’,‖‘Wee‖Tammy‖
Totum’,‖‘A‖Voice‖from‖the‖Poorhouse,‖on‖the‖Centenary‖Birth-Day‖of‖Burns’,‖‘My‖
Mother’s‖Chair’,‖‘Lines‖to‖My‖Daughter‖Margaret,‖in‖Ayrshire’,‖‘Uncle‖Tam;‖or,‖
the Intelligent weaver’,‖‘Nanny‖Whiskey:‖A‖Song’,‖‘New-year’s‖Address;‖
delivered to the Inmates of Barnhill Poor-House at their Annual Soiree, Jan. 1,
 1859’,‖‘Verses‖on‖the‖Opening‖of‖the‖Glasgow‖Public‖Gymnasium’,‖‘To‖the‖leal‖
Cronie‖o’‖my‖prime,‖Angus‖M’Donald’.‖His poems, in Scots and English, have a
local and lyrical flavour, often with a temperance theme, and as we can see from
these titles, there is a quite a range of local, occasional, epistolary and lyric poetry,
including‖a‖Bloomfield‖inflected‖poem‖to‖his‖mother’s‖chair (compare Robert
Bloomfield,‖qv,‖‘To‖my‖Old‖Oak‖Table’ and‖‘To‖a‖Spindle’). Occasional poems that
mention‖the‖poorhouse‖suggests‖he‖sees‖himself‖in‖the‖role‖of‖a‖‘poorhouse‖poet’,‖
representing its disadvantaged inmates and their culture with something
approaching pride. ~ Ref: Edwards, 1 (1880), 276-81 and 16, [lix]; Murdoch (1883),
184-8; Glasgow Poets (1906), 358-60; Reilly (1994), 531; Reilly (2000), 514; NTU. [S]
Young, John (b. 1827), of Paisley, drawboy and weaver, published poems in
newspapers; a proposal to publish a volume is also on record (so far untraced). ~
Ref: Brown (1889-90), II, 244-47. [S] [T]
Young, Robert (b. 1800), known‖as‖‘The‖Fermanagh‖True‖Blue’, of Fintona, County
Tyroe, nailer, ‘made a good deal of money out of his poems, in which he fairly
assailed‖the‖Catholics’‖(O’Donoghue),‖Published‖The Orange Minstrel, or Ulster
Melodist comprising historical songs and poems (Derry, 1832); The Ulster Harmonist,
with notes biographical and historical (Derry, 1840); Poems and Songs (Derry?, 1854);
The Poetical Works of Robert Young of Londonderry: Comprising Historical,
Agricultural, and Miscellaneous Poems and Songs, with Copious Notes (Londonderry,
Derby and Dublin, 1863), dedicated to the Earl of Enniskillen. Young was granted
a Civil List pension of £40 (O’Donoghue‖says‖£50)‖in 1866; ‘ostensibly for literary
ability,‖but‖as‖he‖had‖none,‖it‖must‖have‖been‖for‖political‖services;‖(O’Donoghue).
~ Ref: O’Donoghue‖(1912),‖493;‖Reilly (2000), 515. [I]
Young, Robert (1811-1908),‖‘Rabin‖Hill’,‖of‖Sturminster‖Newton,‖Dorset,‖tailor,‖
dialect poet and memoirist, later a wealthy businessman. He began writing
humorous dialect poetry with the coming of the railway, creating the character of
Rabin Hill, a drinker and comic spokesman for dialect and regional life. Young
posthumously published a prose autobiography, recently reprinted as Early Years:
Recollection of Life in Sturminster Newton in the Early Nineteenth Century by Robert
Young, ed. Alan Chedzoy (Dorset Record Society, 2008). ~ Ref: Alan‖Chedzoy,‖‘A‖
Boyhood‖of‖Sturminster‖Newton’,‖Dorset Life (May 2008); source cited.
Young, Robert (fl. 1888?), of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, working man; published Love at
the Plough, and Other Poems (Biggar: John H. Wilson, undated, c. 1888-1900?).
Poems‖include‖‘A‖Visit‖to‖the‖Falls‖of‖Clyde’‖and‖‘Bachelorhood’. ~ Ref: Reilly
(1994), 531; COPAC; Google Books. [S]
Younger, John (1785-1860), born at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, shoemaker,
accomplished‖angler,‖known‖as‖the‖‘Tweedside‖Gnostic’;‖published Thoughts as
They Rise (1834); River Angling for Salmon and Trout, More Particularly as Practised in
the Tweed and its Tributaries with a Treatise on Salmon (1840); The Scotch Corn Law
 Rhyme (1841); The Light of the Week (1849); Autobiography of John Younger, Shoemaker,
of St. Boswell’s (Kelso, 1881). ~ Ref: Winks (1883), 319-21; Burnett et al (1984), 350-1
(no. 783); ODNB; LC 5, 75-82. [S] [LC5] [SM]
Yule, John T. (b. 1848), of Milnathort, Kinrosshire, shoemaker, letter-carrier;
published Mable Lee: A Sketch (Selkirk, 1885), copy in NLS. ~ Ref: Edwards, 3
(1881), 225-9; Reilly (1994), 532. [S] [SM]