John Richardson (20 August 1817 – 30 April 1886) was an English poet. Living near Keswick all his life, he contributed to local cultural life, and published poetry, some in the local dialect.

Life

He was born at Stone House in Naddle Vale, near Keswick,

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, in 1817, one of seven children of Daniel Richardson and his wife Mary née Faulder, who were natives of the Vale. He was educated under the Reverend Edward Wilson, who taught the school of

St John's in the Vale St John’s in the Vale is a glacial valley in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England. Within the vale are a number of farms and small settlements, in addition to several disused quarry and mining works. St John’s Beck meanders nort ...

and was incumbent of its little church."John Richardson"
St John's Castlerigg and Wythburn Parish History. Retrieved 18 March 2019. On leaving school Richardson followed his father's trade as a mason, and eventually as a builder. He rebuilt the church of St John's in the Vale, the parsonage, and the schoolhouse. About 1857 he became master of the school, where he taught until partially disabled by a paralytic seizure about a year before his death. He died on the fell side, near his residence, Bridge House, on 30 April 1886, and was buried at the church of St John's in the Vale on 4 May. Aged 24 he married Grace Birkett, who, with eight of their family of ten children, survived him.

Writings

Many of his writings, which are numerous, both in prose and verse, are in the vernacular of the district of Cumberland in which he had spent his life. He published ''Cummerland Talk: Being Short Tales And Rhymes In The Dialect of That County, Together With A Few Miscellaneous Pieces In Verse'' (volume 1 1871, volume 2 1876). Richardson read seven papers to the Keswick Literary Society, which were printed in the ''Transactions of the Cumberland Association for the Advancement of Literature and Science''. In 1879 and 1880 he contributed to the ''West Cumberland Times'' a series of sketches, "Stwories 'at Granny used to tell". He also contributed to various newspapers pieces of poetry and prose, some of them in the Cumberland dialect. Most of his compositions are characterised by humour and pathos. As a poet and songwriter he had a great local reputation, and his literary work often proved of conspicuous merit.

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, John 1817 births 1886 deaths 19th-century English poets People from Keswick, Cumbria