John Toy was mentioned in George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872. He was mentioned in a list of possible names for a 2nd or 3rd volume that never appeared. So far I've not come across any mention of him on the internet although there may be mention in some of Tweddell's publications that I haven't yet noticed. If I find anything, it will be posted here.
Sunday, 27 September 2015
James Thompson
James Thompson was mentioned in George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872. He was mentioned in a list of possible names for a 2nd or 3rd volume that never appeared.
I've yet to research him. Any material found will be relayed here.
I've yet to research him. Any material found will be relayed here.
James Thomas
James Thomas was mentioned in George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872. He was mentioned in a list of possible names for a 2nd or 3rd volume that never appeared.
Any material found will be relayed here.
Any material found will be relayed here.
Justice Temple
Justice Temple was mentioned in George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872. He was mentioned in a list of possible names for a 2nd or 3rd volume that never appeared..
Yet to find information on this. Tweddell was associated with historian Robert Temple of Stokesley c 1868. Not sure if this was the same one yet.
Edmund Teesdale
Edmund Teesdale was mentioned in George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872. He was mentioned in a list of possible names for a 2nd or 3rd volume that never appeared.
No further information on this writer as yet.
Saturday, 26 September 2015
J G Grant
More material to come to this.
J.G. Grant wrote a sonnet for George Markham Tweddell in praise of his book Shakespeare, his Times and Contemporaries and Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham. The sonnet to Tweddell appeared in the front of Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872 - here -
J.G. Grant wrote a sonnet for George Markham Tweddell in praise of his book Shakespeare, his Times and Contemporaries and Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham. The sonnet to Tweddell appeared in the front of Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872 - here -
Beowulf and Teesside Beowulf
Richard Briddon, Editor of Teesside's Paranoia Press in 1990, wrote, in the introduction to Mark F.
Rutter's chapbook The Teesside Beowulf, as follows -
"The original Beowulf is without doubt the greatest piece of dark age poetry written in any Teutonic language. Based on a semi-mythical character who is brought in to defeat the warrior-devouring monster, Grendel, and subsequently his even nastier mother; Beowulf was an oral tale written down in Northumbria and 'converted' for the purposes of disseminating the then current (Christian) ideology. It was probably a tale local to the place of its setting down, well known to the monks of the region.
There are two likely sites for it's creation, a northern site at Lindisfarne where famous gospels were written, and a southern site based on the religious centres of Whitby and Durham, (and so neatly encompassing the Teesside area).
Briefly, the argument for the latter is a s follows: Beowulf's traditional burial place is inside the boundaries of modern Cleveland, at the tumulus on Boulby Cliff, the highest point on the North-East coastline. More evidence for the south comes from the Beowulf manuscript which varies considerably from the distinctive Lindisfarne style of lettering, and from the many local Beowulf connections
like the Hartlepool coat of arms, which resembles the opening scene of the poem. It has also been suggested
that Lindisfarne was interested in creating visual art in honour of God, while the other poets like Caedmon, the first English Poet, the south was more interested in literary creation.
Of course it will never be proved, north or south, but surely there is enough to go to prevent the official organisers of Cleveland culture from ignoring the poem's local connections!"
From http://www.sclews.me.uk/m-beowulf.html
"Beowulf is the first major poem in any European vernacular language, and is not only much the longest work of the thirty thousand lines of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) that remain to us, but is incomparably the greatest. The historical period described may be the 6th century AD, but we only possess a much later manuscript. The poem is generally thought to have achieved its present form around the time of Bede (q.v.)."
'Upon the headland, the Geats erected a broad high tumulus plainly visible to distant seafarers...'
"The original Beowulf is without doubt the greatest piece of dark age poetry written in any Teutonic language. Based on a semi-mythical character who is brought in to defeat the warrior-devouring monster, Grendel, and subsequently his even nastier mother; Beowulf was an oral tale written down in Northumbria and 'converted' for the purposes of disseminating the then current (Christian) ideology. It was probably a tale local to the place of its setting down, well known to the monks of the region.
There are two likely sites for it's creation, a northern site at Lindisfarne where famous gospels were written, and a southern site based on the religious centres of Whitby and Durham, (and so neatly encompassing the Teesside area).
Briefly, the argument for the latter is a s follows: Beowulf's traditional burial place is inside the boundaries of modern Cleveland, at the tumulus on Boulby Cliff, the highest point on the North-East coastline. More evidence for the south comes from the Beowulf manuscript which varies considerably from the distinctive Lindisfarne style of lettering, and from the many local Beowulf connections
like the Hartlepool coat of arms, which resembles the opening scene of the poem. It has also been suggested
that Lindisfarne was interested in creating visual art in honour of God, while the other poets like Caedmon, the first English Poet, the south was more interested in literary creation.
Of course it will never be proved, north or south, but surely there is enough to go to prevent the official organisers of Cleveland culture from ignoring the poem's local connections!"From http://www.sclews.me.uk/m-beowulf.html
"Beowulf is the first major poem in any European vernacular language, and is not only much the longest work of the thirty thousand lines of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) that remain to us, but is incomparably the greatest. The historical period described may be the 6th century AD, but we only possess a much later manuscript. The poem is generally thought to have achieved its present form around the time of Bede (q.v.)."
Hartlepool and Boulby (Bowlby) From the same site...
"There is a good deal of scholarly controversy surrounding the poem, but there are a number of grounds for believing that Beowulf was a product of the court poets of Northumbria. The work seems to have been transcribed into West Saxon dialect from a Northumbrian or Mercian original and a claim for the great poem to be a part of the North East heritage can be plausibly sustained. The hall of the Danish king Hrothgar (Britain is never mentioned in the poem) is described in terms which might well be applied to that of King Edwin of Northumbria, excavated at Yeavering in Northumberland. The very name of Hrothgar's hall Heorot (Hart) and the mere or pool inhabited by the fearful monster Grendel and his mother, recall the ancient (pre-heraldic) seal of Hartlepool (Hart-le-Pool), now prosaically found on the municipal buses and elsewhere. It depicts a hart being attacked by a hound, reminding us that in Beowulf, a stag would rather be torn by the hounds than venture into the mere where Grendel dwelt. There is also an old tradition that Beowulf was buried on Boulby Cliffs in Cleveland.
'Upon the headland, the Geats erected a broad high tumulus plainly visible to distant seafarers...'
http://www.sclews.me.uk/m-beowulf.html
Old Cleveland
Over a hundred years before Rutter and Briddon, and the above site, W.H. Burnett - poet and editor of Middlesbrough's Daily Exchange, wrote, in his 1886 book Old Cleveland- Local Writers and Local Worthies, thus -
"It is unnecessary to nice the guess made by professor Morley as to the residence of Beowulf on the Bowlby Cliffs (Boulby near Loftus, East Cleveland). It is merely a conjecture, and nothing more. That picturesque locality, inaccessible to invasion as it must have been in early times, was certainly a fit spot to be the cradle of English song...."
"Professor Henry Morley in his First Sketch of English Literature 1873, tells us that on the English coast, strong settlements were effected by the pagan Teutons, who between 600 and 700, made frequent incursions on our shores. " The Teutonic settlers brought with their battle songs an heroic chief named Beowulf ". This legend assumed vast shape, probably in the 7th century, and is one of the earliest specimens of English Literature.........."The original scene of the story," continues Mr. Morley, "was probably a corner of the island of Sealand, upon which now stands the capital of Denmark, the corner which lies opposite to Gothland, the southern promontory of Sweden. But if so, he who in the country told the old story in English metre did not paint the scenery of Sealand, but that which he knew. A twelve mile walk by the Yorkshire coast, from Whitby northward to Bowlby Cliff, makes real to the imagination of all the country of Beowulf as we find it in the poem. Thus we are tempted to accept a theory which makes that cliff, the highest on our eastern coast, the ness upon which Beowulf was buried, and on the slopes which, Bowlby (Boulby), then being read as the corrupted form of Beowulfs-by - Beowulf once lived with his hearth-shares. High sea-cliffs, worn into holes or 'nickerhouses many' with glens rocky and wooded running up into great moors, are not characters of the coast of Sealand, opposite Sweden, but they are special characters of that corner of Yorkshire in which the tale of Beowulf seems to have been told as it now comes to us in first English verse."
The piece on Beowulf from William Hall Burnett's Old Cleveland - Local Writers and Local Worthies 1886. Click arrow to enlarge or down load from Google Drive.
Except pages from Teesside Beowulf by MA Rutter - Paranoia Press (now apparently unavailable).
Beowulf - An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem, Translated From The Heyne-Socin Text by Lesslie Hall
Old Cleveland
Over a hundred years before Rutter and Briddon, and the above site, W.H. Burnett - poet and editor of Middlesbrough's Daily Exchange, wrote, in his 1886 book Old Cleveland- Local Writers and Local Worthies, thus -
"It is unnecessary to nice the guess made by professor Morley as to the residence of Beowulf on the Bowlby Cliffs (Boulby near Loftus, East Cleveland). It is merely a conjecture, and nothing more. That picturesque locality, inaccessible to invasion as it must have been in early times, was certainly a fit spot to be the cradle of English song...."
"Professor Henry Morley in his First Sketch of English Literature 1873, tells us that on the English coast, strong settlements were effected by the pagan Teutons, who between 600 and 700, made frequent incursions on our shores. " The Teutonic settlers brought with their battle songs an heroic chief named Beowulf ". This legend assumed vast shape, probably in the 7th century, and is one of the earliest specimens of English Literature.........."The original scene of the story," continues Mr. Morley, "was probably a corner of the island of Sealand, upon which now stands the capital of Denmark, the corner which lies opposite to Gothland, the southern promontory of Sweden. But if so, he who in the country told the old story in English metre did not paint the scenery of Sealand, but that which he knew. A twelve mile walk by the Yorkshire coast, from Whitby northward to Bowlby Cliff, makes real to the imagination of all the country of Beowulf as we find it in the poem. Thus we are tempted to accept a theory which makes that cliff, the highest on our eastern coast, the ness upon which Beowulf was buried, and on the slopes which, Bowlby (Boulby), then being read as the corrupted form of Beowulfs-by - Beowulf once lived with his hearth-shares. High sea-cliffs, worn into holes or 'nickerhouses many' with glens rocky and wooded running up into great moors, are not characters of the coast of Sealand, opposite Sweden, but they are special characters of that corner of Yorkshire in which the tale of Beowulf seems to have been told as it now comes to us in first English verse."
The piece on Beowulf from William Hall Burnett's Old Cleveland - Local Writers and Local Worthies 1886. Click arrow to enlarge or down load from Google Drive.
Except pages from Teesside Beowulf by MA Rutter - Paranoia Press (now apparently unavailable).
Aneurin - Aneirin (Goddodin)
Material from W.H. Burnett's Old Cleveland - Local Writers and Local Worthies.
William Hall Burnett in Middlesbrough 1886 says "We may fairly claim that hereabouts English Literature had its first beginning." He begins with Aneirin and Y Gododdin (spellings vary in different texts)
This is Robin Williamson's reading of Y Gododdin, from his album, Five Legendary Histories of Britain.
600AD
"Aneirin [aˈnɛirɪn] or Neirin was an early Medieval Brythonic poet. He is believed to have been a bard or court poet in one of the Cumbric kingdoms of the Old North or Hen Ogledd, probably that of Gododdin at Edinburgh, in modern Scotland. From the 17th century, his name was often incorrectly spelled "Aneurin"." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneirin William Hall Burnett spells it the incorrect way here.
William Hall Burnett - poet and editor of the Middlesbrough Daily Exchange - wrote, in his book Old Cleveland - Local Writers and Local Worthies in 1886 on the subject of the Celtic bard Aneurin - (Alternatively spelt Ane
"The warrior bard, Aneurin, must, in the old Celtic days have been resident within this immediate district, so that we may fairly claim that hereabouts English Literature had its first beginning. It is a least a fair conjecture that the first of English epic poems were strung together, line by line and verse by verse by a bard who, wandering amongst the valleys of the Swale, might now and again visit the fair plain of Cleveland in the golden east. To Aneurin is ascribed the important fragment of celtic literature, The Gododin, being a lament for the dead who fell in the battle of Cattraeth, identified with Catterick in Yorkshire, where Cymry met the advancing and invading Teutons at the 'confluence of rivers' and fought with them unsuccessfully for seven days...."
Also from W H BurnettThis is where the Cymry met the advancing and invading Teutons at the 'confluence of rivers' and fought with them unsuccessfully for seven days, being at length worsted with fearful slaughter. Of this battle The Gododin tells us -
"The warriors marched to Cattraeth with the day;
In the stillness of night they had quaffed the white mead;
They were wretched, though prophesied glory and sway
Had winged ambition. Were none there to lead
To Cattreath with loftier hope in their speed?
Secure in their boast, they would scatter the host
Bold standard in hand; no other such band
Went from Eiddin as this, that would rescue the land
From the troops of the ravagers. Far from the sight
of home that was dear to them, ere they too perished,
Tudvwlch Hir Slew the Saxons in seven days fight,
He owed not the freedom of life to his might,
but dear is his memory where he was cherished,
When Tudvwlch amain came to that post to maintain,
By the son of Kilydd, the blood covered the plain."
The pdf contains excerpts from the Y Gododdin but below is a link to the full text online.
Read the poem here http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9842?msg=welcome_stranger
Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Gododdin
I'm not sure where I sourced this from in 2005 when I did the original post but it's interesting -
"Gododin
The vulgar opinion is
that the Britons lost the battle in consequence of having marched to
the field in a state of intoxication; and it must be admitted that
there are many passages in the Poem, which, simply considered, would
seem to favour that view. Nevertheless, granting that the 363
chieftains had indulged too freely in their favourite beverage, it is
hardly credible that the bulk of the army, on which mainly depended
the destiny of the battle, had the same opportunity of rendering
themselves equally incapacitated, or, if we suppose that all had
become so, that they did not recover their sobriety in seven days!
The fact appears to be, that Aneurin in the instances alluded to,
intends merely to contrast the social and festive habits of his
countrymen at home with their lives of toil and privation in war,
after a practise common to the Bards, not only of that age, but
subsequently. Or it may be that the banquet, at which the
British leaders were undoubtedly entertained in the hall of Eiddin,
was looked upon as the sure prelude to war, and that in that sense
the mead and wine were to them as poison."
Friday, 25 September 2015
Venerable Henry John Todd
"And now Sir having mentioned one Archdeacon of Cleveland, I ought to mention his successor, the Venerable Henry John Todd, whose Life of Cranmer, revived edition of Johnson's Dictionary and other works, have made his name well known in the world of letters."
From George Markham Tweddell's talk on Local Writers for the Stokesley Mechanic's Institute Saturday 9th November 1850.
More information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Todd_(priest)
The Life of Cranmer - Venerable Henry John Todd http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Archbishop-Cranmer-Henry-John/dp/1117112322
More material to come to this.
More material to come to this.
Rector, the Venerable Leveson Vernon Harcourt
"Another clergyman (the Archdeacon of Cleveland) I must not forget to mention, as his name is both connected with Stokesley and the literary world, i speak of our late Rector, the Venerable Leveson Vernon Harcourt whose Doctrine of the Deluge I trust will find a place in the library of our Mechanics Institute. Have any of that gentleman's correspondents, our worthy Rector for instance was to give the hint, I doubt not that he would be willingly present with a copy."
From George Markham Tweddell's talk on Local Writers to the Stokesley Mechanics Institute 9th November 1850.
More material to come to this.
His family background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Venables-Vernon-Harcourt
More material to come to this.
William Mason, Guisborough.
I already have a post for William Mason on the George Markham Tweddell, so will refer you over to that page. http://georgemarkhamtweddell.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/william-mason-poet-of-guisborough-c.html
William Mason of Guisborough (then spelt Gisborough) was Cleveland poet who studied at Cambridge. George Markham Tweddell wrote an article on him, illustrated with some of his poetry for Tweddell's Yorkshire Miscellany in the 1840's. A pdf version of the article can be found on the above site.
Tweddell says of William Mason - "Should the Yorkshire Miscellany do nothing more than rescue the memory of this great, but ill-fated genius from oblivion; should it only make Yorkshire men acquainted with the merits of one of themselves, over whose mortal remains the green grass has now grown for some years, whilst his countrymen were ignorant of the noble spirit, the comprehensive mind, that once inhabited that frail tenement; should the Yorkshire Miscellany only achieve this one object, and then totally disappear from the literary world, we would not consider our humble labours altogether fruitless."
Joseph Ritson
Joseph Ritson (1752 - 18030 was a lawyer, Writer and Antiquarian.
His collection of the Robin Hood ballads is perhaps his greatest single achievement, called Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant, Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw: To Which Are Prefixed Historical Anecdotes of His Life. In Two Volumes..
Bibliography from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ritson
Verses addressed to the Ladies of Stockton. First printed in the Newcastle Miscellany, MDCCLXXII, 1780
Observations on the three first volumes of the history of English poetry by T. W. in a letter to the author, by Thomas Warton and Joseph Ritson, 1782
A Select Collection of English Songs, 1783
The Spartan Manual, or Tablet of Morality, being a genuine collection of the apophthegms, maxims and precepts of the philosophers ... and other ... celebrated characters of antiquity, etc, 1785
A Digest of the proceedings of the Court Leet of the Manor and Liberty of the Savoy, 1789
Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry: From Authentic Manuscripts and Old Printed Copies, 1791, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-60052-X
The Office of Constable: being an entirely new compendium of the law concerning that ancient minister for the conservation of the peace, etc, 1791
Cursory criticisms on the edition of Shakespeare published by Edmond Malone, 1792
The Northumberland Garland; or, Newcastle Nightingale: a matchless collection of famous songs. Edited by Joseph Ritson, 1793
Law-Tracts. L.P, 1794
Poems on interesting events in the reign of Edward III. written in the year MCCCLII. ... With a preface, dissertations, notes, and a glossary by J. Ritson, by Laurence Minot and Joseph Ritson (editor), 1795
Ancient Songs and Ballads from the Reign of King Henry the Second to the Revolution in Two Volumes, (BiblioBazaar, 2009) ISBN 1-103-18694-9
Bibliographia poetica: a catalogue of Engleish sic poets, of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth, centurys, with a short account of their works, by Joseph Ritson, Philip Bliss, James Boswell, and John Payne Collier, 1802
Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës, 1802, (Kessinger Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-104-02459-4
An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, as a Moral Duty, edited by Sir Richard Philips, London, 1802, (Kessinger Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-4367-7108-0
A catalogue of the entire and curious library and manuscripts of the late Joseph Ritson, 1803
The jurisdiction of the Court leet: Exemplified in the articles which the jury or inquest for the King, in that court, is charged and sworn, and by law enjoined, to inquire of and present, W. Clarke and Sons; 2d ed, with great additions, edition 1809
Northern Garlands, R. Triphook, 1810
The Office Of Bailiff Of A Liberty, 1811
A Select Collection of English Songs, with Their Original Airs: and a Historical Essay on the Origin and Progress of National Song, London, 1813, (Adamant Media Corporation, 2005) ISBN 1-4212-6009-3
The Caledonian Muse: A Chronological Selection of Scottish Poetry from the Earliest Times, 1821, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-73946-3
Some account of the life and publications of the late Joseph Ritson, esq, by Joseph Haslewood, 1824
Life of King Arthur from Ancient Historians and Authentic Documents, London, 1825, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-7661-8100-6
Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway and Murray, London, 1828, (BiblioBazaar, 2008) ISBN 0-554-48196-0
Memoirs of The Celts or Gauls, Joseph Ritson and Joseph Frank, 1829, (BiblioBazaar, 2009) ISBN 1-103-37230-0
Letters from Joseph Ritson to George Paton, 1829, (Kessinger Publishing, 2008) ISBN 1-4370-2591-9
Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To which are prefixed two dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies, London, 1831, (Adamant Media Corporation, 2004) ISBN 1-4021-4753-8
Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw: To Which are Prefixed Historical Anecdotes of His Life, London, 1832, (Adamant Media Corporation, 2004) ISBN 1-4212-6209-6
The Letters of Joseph Ritson edited chiefly from originals in the possession of his nephew J. Frank. To which is prefixed a memoir of the author, by Joseph Ritson, Joseph Frank, and Nicholas Harris Nicolas, 1833, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-72425-3
Gammer Gurton's Garland or the Nursery Parnassus: A Choice Collection of Pretty Songs and Verses, 1866, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-69412-5
Scotish Songs (sic), 1869, (Kessinger Publishing, 2008) ISBN 1-4371-0663-3
Fairy Tales, Legends & Romances Illustrating Shakespeare & Other Early English Writers, 1875, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-7661-4981-1
The Boy Knight ; or, Kindness Rewarded, James B. Knapp, 1877
Ancient Popular Poetry V1: From Authentic Manuscripts and Old Printed Copies, by Joseph Ritson and Edmund Goldsmid, 1884, (Kessinger Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-104-01763-6
Ancient English metrical romances, E. & G. Goldsmid, 1884
Northern Garlands: A Collection of Songs, 1887
A dissertation on romance and minstrelsy: To which is appended the ancient metrical romance of Ywaine and Gawin, 1891, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-78222-9
Joseph Ritson: A Critical Biography, by Henry A. Burd, Illinois, 1916, (BiblioBazaar, 2008) ISBN 0-554-58449-2
Joseph Ritson, scholar-at-arms. With plates, including portraits, and a bibliography, by Bertrand Harris Bronson, 1938
"Born at Stockton on 2nd October, 1752 and educated in the town by Rev John Thompson, he was then
articled to a solicitor, Mr J. S. Raisbeck but soon joined the practice of Ralph Bradley, Conveyancer.
 |
The engraving is a caricature of Joseph Ritson made
by James Sayers in 1803
|
Ritson soon developed an interst in literature, published pamphlets and became friendly with writers and musicians. In 1772 he became a vegetarian and during the following year he made an archeological tour of Scotland. Two years later he joined a conveyancing firm in London and 1780 he began his own business as a conveyancer in Gray's Inn.
In May 1784, Joseph Ritson was appointed High Baliff of the Liberty of the Savoy, a post which was worth about £150 annually, and at Easter 1784, he became a student at Gray's Inn. Five years later, he was called to the bar and carried on with his conveyancing business with meticulous accuracy.
Away from his business, Ritson had a consuming interest in ancient literature, poetry and drama. he became one of the earliest collectors of local verse and published a number of northern collections during the 1780's and early 1790's, but eccentricity resutled in controvesies with other writers. many of these were conducted in th ecolumns of Gentleman's Magazine and during the mid 1780's he successfully demonstrated that John Pinkerton's Select Scottish Ballads was mostly made up of forgeries.
He made frequent visits to Stockton and in 1781 issued The Stockton Jubilee or Shakespeare in all his glory, a witty attack on the senior citizens of his home town. For a number of years he supported the jacobite cause and following a visit to Paris in 1791 where he found himself in full sympathy with the leaders of the French Revolution, Ritson gave his firm backing to a Republican calander and frequently publicised his democratic views but by the late 1790's he was faced with nervous troubles and financial problems.
As his illness worsened, so his collected works were at risk but he lingered until 23rd September, 1803, when he died at the house of a friend in Hoxton. he was buried at Bunhill Fields and soon afterwards his library of rare books and manuscripts were sold in separate lots. Ref. Local Records of Stockton neighbourhood by T. Richmond in Cleveland Hall of Fame and Infamy
Rev. John Brewster, in his Parochial History of Stockton on Tees tells us -
Read on line or download here
His collection of the Robin Hood ballads is perhaps his greatest single achievement, called Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant, Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw: To Which Are Prefixed Historical Anecdotes of His Life. In Two Volumes..
Read on line or download here
Bibliography from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ritson
Verses addressed to the Ladies of Stockton. First printed in the Newcastle Miscellany, MDCCLXXII, 1780
Observations on the three first volumes of the history of English poetry by T. W. in a letter to the author, by Thomas Warton and Joseph Ritson, 1782
A Select Collection of English Songs, 1783
The Spartan Manual, or Tablet of Morality, being a genuine collection of the apophthegms, maxims and precepts of the philosophers ... and other ... celebrated characters of antiquity, etc, 1785
A Digest of the proceedings of the Court Leet of the Manor and Liberty of the Savoy, 1789
Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry: From Authentic Manuscripts and Old Printed Copies, 1791, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-60052-X
The Office of Constable: being an entirely new compendium of the law concerning that ancient minister for the conservation of the peace, etc, 1791
Cursory criticisms on the edition of Shakespeare published by Edmond Malone, 1792
The Northumberland Garland; or, Newcastle Nightingale: a matchless collection of famous songs. Edited by Joseph Ritson, 1793
Law-Tracts. L.P, 1794
Poems on interesting events in the reign of Edward III. written in the year MCCCLII. ... With a preface, dissertations, notes, and a glossary by J. Ritson, by Laurence Minot and Joseph Ritson (editor), 1795
Ancient Songs and Ballads from the Reign of King Henry the Second to the Revolution in Two Volumes, (BiblioBazaar, 2009) ISBN 1-103-18694-9
Bibliographia poetica: a catalogue of Engleish sic poets, of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth, centurys, with a short account of their works, by Joseph Ritson, Philip Bliss, James Boswell, and John Payne Collier, 1802
Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës, 1802, (Kessinger Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-104-02459-4
An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, as a Moral Duty, edited by Sir Richard Philips, London, 1802, (Kessinger Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-4367-7108-0
A catalogue of the entire and curious library and manuscripts of the late Joseph Ritson, 1803
The jurisdiction of the Court leet: Exemplified in the articles which the jury or inquest for the King, in that court, is charged and sworn, and by law enjoined, to inquire of and present, W. Clarke and Sons; 2d ed, with great additions, edition 1809
Northern Garlands, R. Triphook, 1810
The Office Of Bailiff Of A Liberty, 1811
A Select Collection of English Songs, with Their Original Airs: and a Historical Essay on the Origin and Progress of National Song, London, 1813, (Adamant Media Corporation, 2005) ISBN 1-4212-6009-3
The Caledonian Muse: A Chronological Selection of Scottish Poetry from the Earliest Times, 1821, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-73946-3
Some account of the life and publications of the late Joseph Ritson, esq, by Joseph Haslewood, 1824
Life of King Arthur from Ancient Historians and Authentic Documents, London, 1825, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-7661-8100-6
Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway and Murray, London, 1828, (BiblioBazaar, 2008) ISBN 0-554-48196-0
Memoirs of The Celts or Gauls, Joseph Ritson and Joseph Frank, 1829, (BiblioBazaar, 2009) ISBN 1-103-37230-0
Letters from Joseph Ritson to George Paton, 1829, (Kessinger Publishing, 2008) ISBN 1-4370-2591-9
Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To which are prefixed two dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies, London, 1831, (Adamant Media Corporation, 2004) ISBN 1-4021-4753-8
Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw: To Which are Prefixed Historical Anecdotes of His Life, London, 1832, (Adamant Media Corporation, 2004) ISBN 1-4212-6209-6
The Letters of Joseph Ritson edited chiefly from originals in the possession of his nephew J. Frank. To which is prefixed a memoir of the author, by Joseph Ritson, Joseph Frank, and Nicholas Harris Nicolas, 1833, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-72425-3
Gammer Gurton's Garland or the Nursery Parnassus: A Choice Collection of Pretty Songs and Verses, 1866, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-69412-5
Scotish Songs (sic), 1869, (Kessinger Publishing, 2008) ISBN 1-4371-0663-3
Fairy Tales, Legends & Romances Illustrating Shakespeare & Other Early English Writers, 1875, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003) ISBN 0-7661-4981-1
The Boy Knight ; or, Kindness Rewarded, James B. Knapp, 1877
Ancient Popular Poetry V1: From Authentic Manuscripts and Old Printed Copies, by Joseph Ritson and Edmund Goldsmid, 1884, (Kessinger Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-104-01763-6
Ancient English metrical romances, E. & G. Goldsmid, 1884
Northern Garlands: A Collection of Songs, 1887
A dissertation on romance and minstrelsy: To which is appended the ancient metrical romance of Ywaine and Gawin, 1891, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 0-548-78222-9
Joseph Ritson: A Critical Biography, by Henry A. Burd, Illinois, 1916, (BiblioBazaar, 2008) ISBN 0-554-58449-2
Joseph Ritson, scholar-at-arms. With plates, including portraits, and a bibliography, by Bertrand Harris Bronson, 1938
"...
Angus MacPherson (Middlesbrough)
Angus MacPherson -
Angus MacPherson was also secretary of Middlesbrough (or North Riding) Infirmary for 32 years 1873 - 1904 and from 1872 secretary of Cleveland Institute of Engineers and was associated with many literary ventures. As I've already written a post on Angus for the George Markham Tweddell Hub on Blogger, I will refer you there. In the post you can view his brilliant poem The Poetry of Toil (in downloadable pdf form) and some others and find out more about his various involvements in early Middlesbrough.
was an amazing, underrated and largely forgotten radical poet of power from 19thC Middlesbrough, writing, at least, around the 1860's / 70's. His poem - Cleveland Thoughts or The Poetry of Toil is a tour de force of working class writing, preserved for us by George Markham Tweddell in his tractates.
Rev. James Holme B.A.
"Though not born in Cleveland, The Reverand James Holme, vicar of Kirkleatham, deserves honourable mention as the author of Leisure Musings and Mount Grace Priory and other poetical works."
A quote from George Markham Tweddell's speech to the Stokesley Mechanic's Institute Saturday 9th November 1850.
"Ready, 32m0., cloth, price One Shilling HYMNS AND SACRED POETRY, by the Brothers, the Rev. Thomas Holme, Vicar of East Cowton ; and the Rev. James Holme, Author of "Leisure Musings," "Mount Grace Abbey," kc. London : Hamilton, Adams," From this site. http://www.connectedhistories.org/Search_results.aspx?pc=%22East+Cowton%22&sr=bu&st=200
More material to come to this from Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872.
"Ready, 32m0., cloth, price One Shilling HYMNS AND SACRED POETRY, by the Brothers, the Rev. Thomas Holme, Vicar of East Cowton ; and the Rev. James Holme, Author of "Leisure Musings," "Mount Grace Abbey," kc. London : Hamilton, Adams," From this site. http://www.connectedhistories.org/Search_results.aspx?pc=%22East+Cowton%22&sr=bu&st=200
More material to come to this from Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872.
Henry Heavisides
More to come to this, including Tweddell's chapter on Henry Heavisides from Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872.
Meanwhile an article I put together for the Tees Music Alliance in Stockton on Tees on Henry Heavisides, printer, publisher, historian, poet and musician.
To view George Markham Tweddell's Chapter on Henry Heavisides, click this link to Google Drive version. I can;t make this one display on here as it too many pages.
Below - The Annals of Stockton on Tees by Henry Heavisides 1865
Jabez Cole, M.B.
From George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872.
There maybe more poems to add by Jabez Cole from Tweddell's Newspaper Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter from the 1840's.
In the Register Booke of Inglebye Iuxta Greenhow, they mention Tweddell's page here and add "Mr. Cole, who is the author of a book, entitled 'The Witch of Endor," is still living at Osmotherley."
The witch of Endor;: Being an attempt to prove that Samuel did re-appear; with a discourse on Eliphaz and his nocturnal visitant; or, knowledge limited by limited receptivity Unknown Binding – 1873 by
| Publisher: | Helmsley, W. Allenby, 1873. |
|---|
William Martin - Great Ayton
George Markham Tweddell wrote about William Martin in Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872 and also wrote this poem. Below the poem is the downloadable pdf of the chapter on William Martin, from Tweddell's book.
“I stood beside a newly-open’d grave,
And gazed upon a coffin placed therein,
When straight before mine eyes a vision pass’d
Changing like human life. At first a youth
Full of high thoughts of heaven-born Poêsy, 5
Row’d me along the Leven in his boat;
And, as we floated on the crystal stream,
We held discourse of bards long pass’d away,
Whose songs will not die till ‘the crack of doom.’
It vanished and another pass’d met my view. 10
It was a populous city, and I met
My friend still wooing Poêsy,
And full of high philanthropy. Anon
We met in lodge Masonic, as brethren of
The ‘mystic tie,’ loving the dear old craft, 15
Which none that understand it can despise
Returning to my native vale again,
We met as wont: but health had left his cheeks,
Disease had seized upon his noble frame,
With lion-grip, that could not be removed, 20
Save by Death’s icy hand. The coffin now
Hid from my eyes all that with us remain’d
Of my dear friend. From laurel growing by
I pluck’d a branch, and dropped it in his grave,
Nor could forbear my tears. Let all his faults 25
Be buried with his bones, for they were few
And venial; let his virtues ever live,
Treasured in his friends’ memories, for they were manifold.”
‘Peter Proletarius’ (George Markham Tweddell)
[Bards & Authors, p. 171]
"William Martin was born in Newcastle in 1825. In early youth he was adopted by his kind hearted maiden Aunt - Miss Martin, a member of the society of Friends at Great Ayton. William Martin was inspired by the works of Burns. Tweddell first published him in his newspaper - Stokesley News in 1844, and though he never published a volume, he continued to write occasional pieces for the press up until his death. He wrote a poem called Be Kind to the Poor for Tweddell's proposed collection of poems to raise funds for the Bury Ragged School of which Tweddell was Master but which never got published. Tweddell published his poem in Bards and authors. He became the manager of his Aunt's leather warehouse in Oldham Street, Manchester. He was one of the founders and past master of the Cleveland Lodge of free and accepted Masons and provincial grand sword-bearer of the North. He died in 1863 and buried in the Friends Burial Ground in Great Ayton. his funeral was attended by a great number of acquaintances for miles around - especially by his brothers 'of the mystic tie'."
The full chapter is here in the pdf file. Click the arrow to enlarge and download free.
Francis Mewburn (First Solicitor of the S & D Railway)
Francis Mewburn of Darlington was the first Railway solicitor of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. George Markham Tweddell wrote about his authorship in Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872
Read it in the pdf file below. Click arrow to enlarge, read or download.
The chapter is also on my archive of Joan Hackworth Weir's Archive of material relating to railway engineer Timothy Hackworth.
http://joanhackworthweircollection.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/francis-mewburn-s-d-solicitor-by-george.html
More related pages - Henry Heavisides (Stockton poet, printers, historian and musician's History of the First Public Railway 1912. http://joanhackworthweircollection.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/history-of-first-public-railway-m.html
Timothy Hackworth and the Locomotive by Robert Young (The book on Railway Pioneer Timothy Hackworth) http://www.nrmfriends.org.uk/shop.html
George Markham Tweddell also mentions Francis Mewburn in his book
History of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and its branches - George Markham Tweddell 1869
You can read the book on line via this page (you'll find a link on the page to the ebook) http://joanhackworthweircollection.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-history-of-stockton-and-darlington.html
Roger Ascham 1515 - 1568
 |
From the Cleveland Hall of Fame.
Roger Ascham was born in Kirby Wisk in 1515 -
George Markham Tweddell wrote in more detail about the life and work of Roger Ascham in his pantheon of Cleveland writers in 1872 - The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham.
Click arrow to enlarge and read or download.
Later in 1886 William Hall Burnett wrote about Roger Ascham in his book Old Cleveland - Local Worthies and Local Writers.
Rev. Bernard Gilpin - Norton on Tees
The Reverend Bernard Gilpin D.D.
Vicar of Norton on Tees
"In November 1552 he was presented to the vicarage of Norton on Tees, in the diocese of Durham. Persons appointed to livings in Royal patronage at that time were required to preach before the King, that there might be an opportunity of ascertaining their orthodoxy. Accordingly, on the first Sunday after Epiphany 1553 Gilpin went to Greenwich to preach in the Royal presence. His sermon on sacrilege is extant and displays the high ideal he had formed of the clerical office."
Bernard Gilpin - chapter from George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872. Click arrow to enlarge or download free.
Another source from Rev. John Brewster's Parochial History of Stockton Upon Tees 1829
John Gower (Gower the Moral)
John Gower was poet, a follower of John of Gaunt and friend and mentor to Chaucer and according to George Markham Tweddell, William Hall Burnett and Cunningham, had his birth in Stittenham, Yorkshire and according to Tweddell resided at Sexhow near Stokesley.
"John Gower was born at Stittenham, in the Parish of Sheriff Hutton in the archdeaconry of Cleveland about 1320, six hundred and forty years after the death of Caedmon." says George Markham Tweddell in 1872
William Hall Burnett in 1886 adds "Evidence is not wanting, however, that his family resided in Yorkshire, and though some accounts describe him as being born in Norfolk, Cunningham, in the English Nation, boldly asserts that he was born in Stittenham, in Yorkshire..Tweddell alleges the Gowers were resident at Sexhow, near Stokesley."
Below are some local 19thC texts on John Gower.
Chapter on John Gower from George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872. Click arrow to enlarge and read on line or download free.
John Gower by William Hall Burnett 1886
Other sources on John Gower http://home.gwu.edu/~jhsy/gower.html
From The Cleveland Hall of Fame.
Walter De Hemingford
Walter de Hemingford was the second writer that George Markham Tweddell wrote about in his 1872
book, The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham.
Earlier in 1850, at a talk on Local Writers for the Stokesley Mechanics Institute, George Markham Tweddell introduced him thus
" The next author to whom I shall refer is an English Historian of the fourteenth century - Walter De Hemingford, who was Canon of the Austin Priory at Guisbo' . The original manuscript of his history, I believe, is preserved in the Advocates Library in Edingburgh. This history was published at Oxford, by that laborious antiquary, Thomas Hearne."
Walter de Hemingford (sometimes called Hemingburgh) died in Gisbro' in 1347. He was Canon of Gisbro' Priory when it was burnt in 1289. His Chronicle was written in Latin.
The Introduction to the Chronicle
The manuscript can be accessed by joining Questia
Here is a pdf of the chapter in Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872 on Walter De Hemingford.
Click the arrow to expand. Can be read online or downloaded free.
Caedmon
Caedmon - First Christian Poet c648 - 670
Sourced from out of print 19thC works by George Markham Tweddell and William Hall Burnett.
In his address to the Stokesley Mechanics Institute, Saturday 9th November 1850, George Markham Tweddell gave a talk on Local Writers (those from the Cleveland area, including down as far as Whitby) and one of the writers mentioned was Caedmon - here's what he had to say -
"The eastern extremity of this district, Sir, produced one of the most celebrated Anglo Saxon poets in person of a poor herdsman, named Cedmon, who afterwards became one of the monks of Whitby. Near twelve hundred years have swept over the earth since his body mouldered into the dust ; but his writings have survived the dark and troubled centuries, and were printed, only nineteen years ago in London. There is much in the personal history of Cedmon, when stripped of the superstitious legends with which tradition has invested it, to remind us of the Scottish plough boy, Robert Burns. His writings, however, bear much greater resemblance to those of John Milton ; so much so, indeed, that I should unhesitatingly declare him the Milton on the Anglo Saxon period era. One will find specimens of his poems in Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo Saxons, in Dr Young's History of Whitby, and in that popular and excellent work, Chambers's Cyclopeadia of English Literature."Cedmon
Poem by George Markham Tweddell c 1872
The old Brigantes from our bosky brooks
And heather-covered hills far were driven;
The Roman legions had been call’d away
From Britain’s isle, to cross their swords with men
Who, rear’d in savage wilds, had over-run
Fair Italy, and sought to rule the world ;
Had made our shores their own, and fixed their feet
So firmly on the sod, that nought could shake
Their footsteps from our soil; when he arose,
Cedmon, the humble herdsman of the swine
That fed on mast of Cleveland’s oaks and beeches,
Or tended beeves that then were wont to graze
In Cleveland’s pastures. He heard old ocean
Dash his wild waves in fury at his feet
Of Cleveland’s Iron cliffs, and saw them foam
As if with rage,—anon lie sleeping on
Our silver sands, their motion as serene
As maiden’s breasts, which merely heave with breathing;
He saw the morning sun rise in its beauty,
Shine in its glory, and in splendour set;
The moon and stars for him adorn’d the night,
As they had done for Homer; flowers came forth
In all their rustic beauty at his feet;
And birds and bees made music for his ears;
And he became—a poet!
Peter Proletarius (aka George Markham Tweddell )
It wasn't until 1872 that Tweddell wrote the first of a proposed series called The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham of which only volume 1 appeared. The first chapter is on Caedmon - here -
in pdf form (Click tthe arrow to enlarge and read or download free.
Later in 1886, William Hall Burnett, (Editor of Middlesbrough Daily Exchange and influenced by the earlier work of George Markham Tweddell, included a chapter on Caedmon in his own book Old Cleveland - Local Writers and Local Worthies with his own take on Caedmon - again reproduced here in pdf form..
Another local text on Caedmon from Gideon's Smales book Whitby Authors and their Publications.
1867
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