Edward Chicken (1698–1746) was a

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

born teacher, poet and Parish Clerk. One of his poems was "The Collier’s Wedding". He was one of the earliest of the

Geordie Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...

poets and songsters.

Life

Edward Chicken was born in 1698 in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

.
Not much is known of his life except a few snippets, mainly from details from a Mr W Cail’s publication of 1829.
He was the Parish clerk at

St. John's Church St. John's Church, Church of St. John, or variants, thereof, (Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle or John the Evangelist) may refer to the following churches, former churches or other ...

, and lived at (or near) The White Cross, Newgate Street.

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By profession he was a teacher. On 6 February 1719, Chicken married Ann Jordan of Newcastle (d. 1768). Together they had four children: Edward (b. 1721), Catherine (1723-1759), George (b. 1726) who died in infancy, and Eleanor (1728-1810).
Edward Chicken died on 2 January 1746 in Newcastle, and was buried at St. John's Churchyard where a tombstone was erected in his name.

Works

He was the author of "The Collier's Wedding" written in 1729 and gives a somewhat idyllic view of life in

Benwell Benwell is an area in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The place-name 'Benwell' is first attested in the ''Historia de Sancto Cuthberto'' circa 1050 AD, where it appears as ''Bynnewalle'', from the Old English ''bionnan ...

and Elswick, which were two of the many local pits, at the start of the 18th century.
The original manuscript has long since disappeared but a copy, with the colophon: "the foregoing Copied by me this 16 Dec. 1819 from a Manuscript in the Author's hand writing belonging to Mr

lank Lank may refer to: * Lank (surname) * Lank, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, United Kingdom * Lank Rigg, fell in the English Lake District See also * Lanc (disambiguation) Lanc may refer to: __NOTOC__ Organizations * National-Christian Defense L ...

of Edinbro'" ; the "me" in the statement being a "Mr W Cail of Newcastle".
An edition was published by Mr Cail c 1829, this version being in plain English, and not in

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

.
This original transcript was sold by auction in November 2011 for over £1,000. NOTE – A William Cail was practicing as a solicitor in Newcastle c1829, but it is not known if this was the same person.

References

External links

Farne Folk ArchivesAllan’s Illustrated Edition of Tyneside songs of 1891
1698 births 1746 deaths English male poets English songwriters Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne Geordie songwriters {{England-poet-stub