Cleveland and North Yorkshire rarely feature in the literature maps but there's a surprising history in these parts that led George Markham Tweddell to write The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham in 1872, explaining that -" I have long cherished the idea of a work similar to Chambers's excellent Cyclopedia of English Literature, to be confined to the poets and prose writers of the North of England...to Parody Leigh Hunter, I could name a local writer for every tick of my watch"
The idea was for a much wider North of England work but, as he explains, the idea for a more localised volume came from his friend 'Chips' who proposed the idea in 1860 while Tweddell Master of the Ragged and Industrial school in Bury. On returning to Stokesley, Tweddell, on finding that his friend did not have the time to complete the task, took it on and made it his own as he explains in more detail in the Dedication to the book. It was a surprise to find the book only availbable in the reference library or antiquarian books shops at quite a price when most of this knowledge was largly unknown. In 2005 I bought an original 1872 copy and you can now rdownload the PDF file which is housed on Google Drive.
Click below to read as a flipbook or download Free the original version of George Markham Tweddell's Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham 1872
The book is 392 pages long with woodcuts of the various authors / poets, a dedication, introduction and index and the chapters contain a mix of biography, historical commentary, poems and extracts of prose by the authors. Writers from Whitby to Hartlepool, from 500 AD to the 1800's of varying styles and backgrounds - a treasure trove of literature that includes the following writers -
- Caedmon (Poet of Whitby / Lealholm)
- Walter De Hemingford (Chronicler of Austin Priory Guisborough)
- John Gower (Gower the Moral) (Poet and Chaucer's mentor) Sexhow (Near Stokesley and Stittenham - Sheriff Hutton)
- Rev Bernard Gilpin (Norton on Tees - Writers - 'Apostle of the North of England' 'Father of the Poor')
- Roger Ascham (Kirby Wisk 1515) Writer
- Dean Wittingham (South Durham) (Psalms etc)
- Francis Mewburn (Ormesby, Darlington, Antiquarian and Solicitor to the Stockton and Darlington Railway).
- Lionel Charlton (Whitby - Historian)
- John Jackson (Schoolmaster of Rudby School, Hutton Rudby and poet) (The Cleveland Fox Chase)
- Thomas John Cleaver (Stockton on Tees, Poet, President of Stockton Literary Club)
- The Chaloners - Sir Thomas Chaloner, The Elder, (Guisborough Priory)
- The Chaloners - Sir Thomas Chaloner, The Younger (Guisborough)
- The Chaloners - Rev. Edward Chaloner
- The Chaloners - Thomas Chaloner MP Commonwealthsman
- The Chaloners - James Chaloner MP Commonwealthsman
- Rev. Henry Foulis - (Inglby Manor, Near Stokesley. One of the best read and skillful writers of the 17thC.including The Gunpowder Treason)
- William Martin (Associated with Great Ayton, Guisborough and Middlesbrough - Poet (Be kind to the Poor)
- Joseph Reed (Stockton on Tees. Playwright, The Register Office - a dialect play relating to a character from Great Ayton, performed at Dury Lane, London).
- William Emerson (Hurworth on Tees. Mathematical and Scientific author).
- John Reed Appleton (Stockton on Tees. Antiquarian writer / Journalist and Tweddell's walking companion).
- Jabez Cole (Poet, Ingleby Greenhow)
- William Mudd (Botanical writer, Great Ayton and Curator of Cambridge Botanical Gardens).
- John Castillo (Lealholm. Poet (Bard of the Dales), Stonewaller and Methodist Preacher. Well published (including by Tweddell) and highly popular poet in the area.
- Bishop Brian Walton ( Seamer (Near Stokesley) Plays, Polyglot Bible etc).
- Thomas Webber (Stockton Poet Laureate)
- Byron Webber (Grandson of Thomas Webber, Stockton Poet)
- John Walker Ord (Poet, Historian, author of History and Antiquities of Cleveland, Guisborough)
- John Ryley Robinson (Poet not from the area but had had sung of the area)
- James Clephan (More North Durham but verses about the Cleveland area)
- Henry Heavisides (Stockton printer, poet, author, historian, musician and radical)
- Samuel Gordon (Not from the area but wrote for local newspapers and produced three books on the area)
- Frank Wilkenson (Hurworth on Tees, Poet)
- The Hon Commodore Constantine John Phipps MP (Afterwards Baron Mulgrave) (Mulgrave - another Cleveland Navigator around the time of Captain Cook - Journal of Voyages)
- Rev James Holme - (Yorkshire poet associated with Kirkleatham)
- Rev Thomas Holme & Mary Jane Holme (Related to above. Hymns and Sacrad poetry)
- Rev John Graves - (History of Cleveland).
Tweddell had planned a second volume (and perhaps a third volume) and outlines the writers he had lined up in the dedication to the book. The second volume never appeared and owing to Stokesley flood after Tweddell's death, many of his extensive notes were destroyed, so we have no idea how far he got with the sequel. However many of the names are published or written about by him in some of his books and periodicals such as the Yorkshire Miscellany and Tractates etc. They are listed below and on the Bards and Authors site (forthcoming), I hope to upload such information as I can find about them. Here is the list -
Allan the Antiquary / Allan the Member / Robert Armstrong / Rev J.C Atkinson (Historian) / E G Ayre / J G Baker / W B Baker / Dr Bateman / Wm Bewick / Mrs Blackett / Rev J Brewster (Stockton History) / John Buchanan / Willam Hall Burnnett (Poet and editor of (Middlesbrough) Daily Exchange and author of Old Cleveland) / Margaret Burton / Sir I S Byerley / Rev Charles Cator / Wm Chapman / Rev E G Charlesworth / Sir Hugh Chomley / James Conway / Captain Cook / Stephen Coulson / Timothy Crosby / L F Crummey / Wm Danby / Dr Dixon / W L Dodd / Mrs Earnshaw / Rev G S Faber / Lady Falkland / John Farndale / D Ferguson / Mary Gains / Geo Garbutt / Francis Gibson / Thos. Gill / Rev James Grahame / J G Grant / C C Hall / Archdeacon Harcourt / E M Heavisides / W H Hinton / Dr Ingledew / Robt. Jackson / G B Johnson /
the Joneses / Rev Wm Kay / T F Ker / The marquis of Londonderry / Wm Mason of Gisboro (who Tweddell says he has unpublished poems byfrom his friend Mrs Danby) / Era Mawr / Thos Mease / Mrs Merryweather / Dr Conyers Middleton / Capt Middleton / Mrs Miller / James Milligan / Rev Vere Monro / Sheffield Earl of Mulgrave / James Myers / Dr Robt Newton / late Marquis of Normanby / Rev John Oxlee /
Geo Ord Thomas Pierson / Ralph Punshon / H G Reid / and Mrs the various Richardsons / Thos Richmond /
Joseph Ritson / F K Robinson / Rev Wm Romaine / Thos Rhymer / the Scoresbys / Sir Cuthbert Sharp / Rev David Simpson / Martin Simpson / Thos Simpson / Rev Gordon Smales I G Speed / Henry Spencer / Robt Stephenson / Robt Surtees / G W Sutton / Edmund Teesdale / Justice Temple / James Thomas / James Thompson / John Toy / Rev John Wallis / the Watkinses / Thos Ward / Thos Watson / Richard Winter - who Tweddell says 'whose unpublished tragedy I feel happy to rescue from oblivion fifty eight years after the grave has closed over its author) / Rev Thos Wood / John Wright / Rev Dr Young / and a host of other writers in prose and verse, good and bad and indifferent.
At least 96 writers there...!
Bards and Authors was at first serialised before being compiled into a full book - here's a same of the series -
Further to this will be a post on William Hall Burnett's later book Old Cleveland which in part is a kind of follow on to Tweddell's with some of the same authors and poets but with Burnett's own thoughts and information on them along with others not included in Tweddell's book.
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