Ely Hargrove (19 March 1741 – 5 December 1818) was an English bookseller and local historian.

Life

Born at Halifax, Yorkshire, on 19 March (O.S.) 1741, he was the son of James Hargrove of Halifax, by his wife Mary, daughter of George Gudgeon of Skipton-in-Craven. In February 1762 he settled at

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023. History The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...

, as a bookseller and publisher. A few years later he was able to open a branch business at

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

. Hargrove died at Knaresborough on 5 December 1818, and was buried in the churchyard there.

Works

In 1769, according to William Boyne in the ''Yorkshire Library'', there appeared anonymously the first edition of Hargrove's ''History of the Castle, Town, and Forest of Knaresborough, with Harrogate and its Medicinal Waters'', which was frequently republished, later with the compiler's name on the title-page. The York edition of 1798 had plates and woodcuts by

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 1753 – 8 November 1828) was an English wood engraving, wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, ...

. To the sixth edition, Knaresborough, 1809, was appended an ''Ode on Time'', reprinted in William Hargrove's ''York Poetical Miscellany'' (1835). Hargrove also compiled: * ''Anecdotes of Archery from the earliest ages to the year 1791 . . . with some curious particulars in the Life of Robert Fitz-Ooth, Earl of Huntingdon, vulgarly called Robin Hood'', York, 1792 (another edition, by Alfred E. Hargrove, York 1845). * ''The Yorkshire Gazetteer, or a Dictionary of the Towns, Villages, and Hamlets, Monasteries and Castles, principal Mountains, Rivers, &c., in the county of York and Ainsty'', Knaresborough, 1806; second edition, 1812. Under the signature of "E. H. K.", Hargrove contributed papers to the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term '' ...

'', and wrote an account of

Boroughbridge Boroughbridge ( ) is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-west of York. Until a bypass was built the town lay on the main A1 road from London to Edinburgh, which c ...

to the fifth volume of ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'', was an important 19th-century British people, British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minis ...

''. His manuscript collections on Yorkshire history filled sixteen volumes.

Family

Hargrove married, first, Christiana (d. 1780), daughter of Thomas Clapham of Firby, near

Bedale Bedale ( ), is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Bedale Beck is a tributary of the River Swale, which forms one of the Yorkshire Dales. The dale has a predominant agriculture sector and its related small traditional t ...

, Yorkshire, by whom he had issue twelve children; and secondly, Mary, daughter of John Bower of Grenoside Hall, near Sheffield; she died at York in April 1825, and was buried at Knaresborough, leaving a son, William Hargrove.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargrove, Ely 1741 births 1818 deaths English publishers (people) Historians of Yorkshire People from Halifax, West Yorkshire