John Leonard 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 publishe ...

radical poet and songwriter of the early 19th century. His only

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 ...

song was "Winlaton Hopping".

Life

It is thought that John Leonard was born in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, but very little is known about him, or his life.
His father, George, was a gardener and was a described as "a man of some means" owning some property in either Jackson’s Chare or more likely Leonard’s Court (both long since demolished), near Gateshead High Street.
John Leonard was apprenticed as a joiner, but the date of birth and date and place of death are unknown.
As there are no records of his burial in the Gateshead (St. Mary’s ) register between 1813 and 1852, it is assumed he died elsewhere.
A note on one of his manuscripts states that it was partly written during a three months' imprisonment. There is no further record of the offence, place or time, but as he was a radical, and was in favour of

Irish Nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

, writing a poem in praise of

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...

and another denouncing William Pitt, it was possible brought about by his actions over this point.

Works

His output was considerable and included were :- *

Winlaton Winlaton is a village situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. Once in County Durham, it became incorporated into the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear and Borough of Gateshead in 1974. In 2011 the village was absorbe ...

Hopping – the only

poem he wrote, the remainder were of a political and general nature – written c 1814 – The Winlaton Hopping is thought to date back to Saxon times. It was on the weekend after 14 May and was an important weekend in the village. * Derwent Volunteers – A Song written to encourage the men of Derwentside to join the war against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. * Lamentation and confession of a crimp - Song about the activities of a

press-gang Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of ...

agent.

Collections

A volume of manuscripts of his poetry written c1813 and of between three or four hundred pages, is kept in the Reference Library,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

.
A small collection of his poems of 36 pages was published in 1808 by Marshall’s, of

References

External links

FARNE - Folk Archive Resource.North East
– Winlaton Hopping
Allan’s Illustrated Edition of Tyneside songs and readings 1891
English male poets English male songwriters People from Gateshead Writers from Tyne and Wear Musicians from Tyne and Wear Geordie songwriters {{Songwriter-stub

Life

Works

Collections

See also

References

External links