John Critchley Prince (1808–1866) was an English labouring-class poet. His ''Hours of the Muses'' went through six editions.

Life

Born at

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

, Lancashire, on 21 June 1808, Prince was the son of a poor reed-maker for weavers. He learned to read and write at a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Sunday school, and at age 9 of age was set to help his father, with whom he worked for ten years, living in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Hyde, Cheshire Hyde is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, which had a population of 34,003 in 2011. Historically in Cheshire, it is northeast of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester. History Early history Newton Hall was prese ...

. Towards the end of 1826 or beginning of 1827, Prince married Ann Orme (baptised 1808, died 1858) of Hyde, near Manchester, when they were both just 18. By 1830 they had two daughters and a son. In 1830 he went to Saint-Quentin in

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

to look for work, but the revolution of July 1830 disrupted his plans, and after two months he made his way via Paris to

Mülhausen Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace aft ...

, where again he was disappointed. He returned on foot to

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

and Manchester, where he found his wife and children in the Wigan poorhouse. In 1840 Prince brought out ''Hours with the Muses'', with the help of a prominent patron. It attracted attention partly because he was a factory operative at Hyde at the time. He gave up that work, and for a time kept a small shop in Manchester, but his life from that point did not go well, as he tried to live mainly by selling his poems, and took to drink. He gained a grant from the royal bounty and from 1845 to 1851 he was salaried editor of the ''Ancient Shepherd's Quarterly Magazine'', published at

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

. Prince remarried, to Ann Taylor (born 1813 or 1814), on 30 March 1862 at

Mottram in Longdendale Mottram in Longdendale is a village in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. At the 2011 census, the population for the ward of Longdendale, which includes Mottram and the surrounding area, was 9,950. Historic counties of England, Historically ...

, Lancashire. Ann was illiterate, but more thrifty, and tidy than his first wife. Soon after the wedding, Prince had a stroke. He died on 5 May 1866 at Brook Street, Hyde, and was buried in St George's churchyard, Hyde. One daughter survived him.J. Sambrook (2004), "Prince, John Critchley (1808–1866), poet". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, OUP). Retrieved 30 September 2019.
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Works

Prince began to write verse in 1827, and from the following year he was an occasional contributor to the ''Phœnix'' and other local periodicals. In 1841 he took part in a short-lived Literary Association, which met at the ''Sun Inn'', Manchester. The next year he undertook a journey on foot to London, recording his impressions and experiences in a series of letters to ''Bradshaw's Journal'', edited by George Falkner. Besides the ''Hours with the Muses'', of which six editions were issued between 1840 and 1857, Prince published: *''Dreams and Realities'', Ashton-under-Lyne, 1847 *''The Poetic Rosary'', Manchester, 1850 *''Autumn Leaves'', Hyde, 1856 *''Miscellaneous Poems'', 1861 A collected edition of his poetical works was published, in two volumes, by Robert Alexander Douglas-Lithgow in 1880. According to a present-day critic, Prince "disapproved of socialism and Chartism and his verse rarely touches on social issues; it consists mostly of anodyne lyrics on religion and nature, and, considering the circumstances of his life, is astonishingly sunny and optimistic."

Notes

Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, John Critchley 1808 births 1866 deaths People from Wigan English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English male writers