John Stagg (1770–1823) was an English poet from
Cumberland, where he was known as the "blind bard". He is now remembered for "The Vampyre" (1810).
Life
Stagg was born at
Burgh-by-Sands
Burgh by Sands () is a village and civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England, situated near the Solway Firth. The parish includes the village of Burgh by Sands along with Longburgh, Dykesfield, Boustead Hill, Moorhous ...
, near
Carlisle, where his father, a tailor, possessed a small property. His parents decided to educate him for the church, but while he was still young an accident deprived him of his sight and put an end to his studies. For some time he made a livelihood by keeping a library in
Wigton
Wigton is a market town in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies just outside the Lake District in the borough of Allerdale. Wigton is at the centre of the Solway Plain, between the Caldbeck Fells an ...
and playing his fiddle.
In his twentieth year he married. After leaving Wigton for Carlisle, he moved to
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 ...
, where he remained more or less till his death. He visited Cumberland, and also went further afield selling his works, and about 1809 visited Oxford.
Stagg died at
Workington
Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207.
Locat ...
in 1823. He was father of seven children. In
Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk
Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk (15 March 1746 – 16 December 1815), styled Earl of Surrey from 1777 to 1786, was a British nobleman, peer, and politician. He was the son of Charles Howard, 10th Duke of Norfolk and Catherine Brockho ...
, and the Cumberland gentry, as well as among members of both English universities, he had found patrons.
Works
Stagg first published a volume of ''Miscellaneous Poems'' (1790). He was encouraged by patronage to publish his ''Minstrel of the North'', London, 1810 (another edition 1816). His other works were:
*''Miscellaneous Poems'' (Carlisle, 1804; 2nd ed. Workington, 1805);
*a further series of ''Miscellaneous Poems'' (Wigton, 1807; another ed., Wigton, 1808); and
*''The Cumberland Minstrel: being a poetical miscellany of legendary, Gothic, and romantic tales … together with several essays in the Northern dialect, also a number of original pieces'' (3 vols. Manchester, 1821).
Notes
Attribution
See also
*
List of 18th-century British working-class writers
This list focuses on published authors whose working-class status or background was part of their literary reputation. These were, in the main, writers without access to formal education, so they were either autodidacts or had mentors or patron ...
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stagg, John
1770 births
1823 deaths
People from Burgh by Sands
English male poets