Robert Rose (1806-1849), who styled himself the Bard of Colour, was a mixed-race poet from the West Indies active in early Victorian Manchester.

Life

Rose was born in the West Indies in 1806 or 1808, and is believed to have migrated to Salford as a child. Though himself a gentleman of independent means, he was associated with a group of working class poets known as

the Sun Inn Group The Sun Inn Group was a group of poets (also known as the Manchester Poets and the Bards of Cottonopolis) associated with Manchester, England in the mid-19th century. Taking their name from the public house where they met between 1840 and 1843, the ...

, who met regularly at the Sun Inn on Long Millgate, Manchester. This group included

John Critchley Prince John Critchley Prince (1808–1866) was an English labouring-class poet. His ''Hours of the Muses'' went through six editions. Life Born at Wigan, Lancashire, on 21 June 1808, Prince was the son of a poor reed-maker for weavers. He learned to read ...

, Charles Swain,

John Bolton Rogerson John Bolton Rogerson (1809–1859) was an English poet. He worked in a mercantile firm and afterwards with a solicitor in Manchester; kept a bookshop from 1834 to 1841; contributed to newspapers, and subsequently engaged in journalistic and othe ...

Elijah Ridings Elijah Ridings (1802–1872) was a British poet, writer, and bookseller from Lancashire, England Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. Th ...

, and Samuel Bamford. Rose was said to have been the first to buy a copy of

Philip James Bailey Philip James Bailey (22 April 1816 – 6 September 1902) was an English spasmodic poet, best known as the author of ''Festus''. Life Bailey was born on 22 April 1816 in Nottingham, the only son of Thomas Bailey by his first wife, Mary Taylor. ...

's 1839 poem ''Festus'', which had been slow to leave the shelves of Wilmot Henry Jones, 'the 'Manchester Moxon, the provincial poets printer'. The Chartist bookbinder Benjamin Stott included a sonnet to Rose in his ''Songs for the millions, and other poems'' (1843). The

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

poet John Ramsay dedicated his 1844 collection ''Woodnotes of a Wanderer'' to Rose. Most of Rose's verse was published in newspapers, though two poems, ''The Coronation'' (1838) and ''The Bazaar'' (1839) were published separately. Rose died in police custody on 19 June 1849, imprisoned after a drinking spree. He was 43 years old. He was buried in Manchester General Cemetery on 21 June 1849. His fellow poet John Bolton Rogerson, who was the cemetery's registrar, read a specially composed service over the grave. Lines of Rose's own verse were inscribed on his gravestone: Charles Kenworthy wrote a poem mourning Rose's death. A manuscript of Rose's poetry is held at Chetham's Library. In February 2024 Rose was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 documentary by the poet and beatboxer Testament.

Works

* * * 'Sonnet – The Poets' and 'Fame, Freedom and Friendship'. In * * * 'Moonlight'. In

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Robert 1800s births 1849 deaths 19th-century poets Victorian poets Black British history History of Manchester Caribbean emigrants People from the British West Indies