tower62pool
Samuel Laycock, Lancashire Dialect Poet (1826 – 1893).
Information taken from:
www.stalybridge.org.uk/samuel_laycock_tribute.htm
Samuel Laycock, Lancashire Dialect Poet (1826 – 1893).
Samuel Laycock was born in Yorkshire at a small hill farm in Marsden on 17th January 1826. His father was a handloom weaver. Samuel had little schooling, apart from at the local Sunday school, because he started work in a woollen mill at the age of nine.
In 1837, when Samuel was eleven the family moved to Stalybridge and he became a power loom weaver in a cotton mill. By the time of the Cotton Famine he had risen to become a cloth-looker, but the depression of the 1860's threw him and thousands of others, out of work.
The cotton famine changed Laycock's life - he published poems inspired by the crisis and as a result he never worked in the mill again. In 1865 he became the librarian and porter at the Mechanics Institute. He left this post six years later after which he seemed to drift for some time. Various unsuccessful enterprises - a bookstall on Oldham market, a photography business in Mossley, a short-term as Curator at the Whitworth Institute in Fleetwood - belong to this period. In 1868, he settled in Blackpool as it was thought the climate would be good for his health. He worked as a photographer at this time and his poems were published in book form, but it is probably safe to assume that his income remained somewhat precarious. Laycock died of influenza, which developed into acute bronchitis on 15 December 1893, at his home, 48 Foxhall Road, Blackpool. He was buried in Layton Cemetery, Blackpool.
His grave can be visited at plot E 31.
Laycock was in the first rank of Lancashire dialect poets of the mid 19th century. He began to be published just at a time when a vigorous oral tradition was making its way into print. He knew the life and experience of his fellow cotton operatives and was able to capture the atmosphere of the times in verse. His poems were written for a working class audience and were printed in broadsheet form, so that cotton workers could afford to buy them. In his later life his poems lost much of their spontaneity - he became a respected figure called on to contribute commemorative verses at format gatherings. Dialect writing became a backwater, harking back nostalgically to earlier times, not commenting on contemporary life, but at his height his poems present a vivid impression of mid 19th century working class life.
The Cotton Famine was a major event in the lives of many people in Stalybridge including Samuel Laycock. Contemporaries believed that the American Civil War, which interrupted the supply of raw cotton, caused the Famine. It is now believed that is was the result of years of over production which had caused a glut on the market. Whatever the causes the result was massive unemployment, which was particularly severe in the Ashton, Stalybridge and Dukinfield areas. All three towns were almost totally dependent on cotton. By November 1862, nearly 42% of the population of the Ashton Poor Law Union (which included Stalybridge) was receiving relief.
Samuel Laycock was one of many cotton workers who were laid off. Like other unemployed workers he used his skills to make extra cash and found that there was a market for his poems, which were published in broadsheet form as "Lancashire Lyrics".
The popularity of his poems is evident from the fact that they were sold to people who were struggling to find the means to live - 14,000 broadsheets were sold. In fact, following the oral tradition of dialect poetry, they were set to tunes and sun in the street. Laycock's poems provide a valuable record of the working class experience of the times. They give expression to an attitude which was probably prevalent among respectable working people, that men should find an honourable way of standing up to the times and not be reduced to complaining about personal sufferings. The poems make clear the domestic problems and misery caused by hard times.
'Bowtons's Yard' and 'Bonny Bird' are Laycocks' best-known and best-loved poems and both were written in Stalybridge. Laycock's poem gives some impression of the people who lived in these conditions and the community life, which grew up in the streets.
More information and poems can be found on these websites.
gerald-massey.org.uk/laycock/b_broadsheets.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Laycock
domain1041943.sites.fasthosts.com/laycock/b_biographical.htm
gerald-massey.org.uk/laycock/b_broadsheets.htm
Samuel Laycock, Lancashire Dialect Poet (1826 – 1893).
Information taken from:
www.stalybridge.org.uk/samuel_laycock_tribute.htm
Samuel Laycock, Lancashire Dialect Poet (1826 – 1893).
Samuel Laycock was born in Yorkshire at a small hill farm in Marsden on 17th January 1826. His father was a handloom weaver. Samuel had little schooling, apart from at the local Sunday school, because he started work in a woollen mill at the age of nine.
In 1837, when Samuel was eleven the family moved to Stalybridge and he became a power loom weaver in a cotton mill. By the time of the Cotton Famine he had risen to become a cloth-looker, but the depression of the 1860's threw him and thousands of others, out of work.
The cotton famine changed Laycock's life - he published poems inspired by the crisis and as a result he never worked in the mill again. In 1865 he became the librarian and porter at the Mechanics Institute. He left this post six years later after which he seemed to drift for some time. Various unsuccessful enterprises - a bookstall on Oldham market, a photography business in Mossley, a short-term as Curator at the Whitworth Institute in Fleetwood - belong to this period. In 1868, he settled in Blackpool as it was thought the climate would be good for his health. He worked as a photographer at this time and his poems were published in book form, but it is probably safe to assume that his income remained somewhat precarious. Laycock died of influenza, which developed into acute bronchitis on 15 December 1893, at his home, 48 Foxhall Road, Blackpool. He was buried in Layton Cemetery, Blackpool.
His grave can be visited at plot E 31.
Laycock was in the first rank of Lancashire dialect poets of the mid 19th century. He began to be published just at a time when a vigorous oral tradition was making its way into print. He knew the life and experience of his fellow cotton operatives and was able to capture the atmosphere of the times in verse. His poems were written for a working class audience and were printed in broadsheet form, so that cotton workers could afford to buy them. In his later life his poems lost much of their spontaneity - he became a respected figure called on to contribute commemorative verses at format gatherings. Dialect writing became a backwater, harking back nostalgically to earlier times, not commenting on contemporary life, but at his height his poems present a vivid impression of mid 19th century working class life.
The Cotton Famine was a major event in the lives of many people in Stalybridge including Samuel Laycock. Contemporaries believed that the American Civil War, which interrupted the supply of raw cotton, caused the Famine. It is now believed that is was the result of years of over production which had caused a glut on the market. Whatever the causes the result was massive unemployment, which was particularly severe in the Ashton, Stalybridge and Dukinfield areas. All three towns were almost totally dependent on cotton. By November 1862, nearly 42% of the population of the Ashton Poor Law Union (which included Stalybridge) was receiving relief.
Samuel Laycock was one of many cotton workers who were laid off. Like other unemployed workers he used his skills to make extra cash and found that there was a market for his poems, which were published in broadsheet form as "Lancashire Lyrics".
The popularity of his poems is evident from the fact that they were sold to people who were struggling to find the means to live - 14,000 broadsheets were sold. In fact, following the oral tradition of dialect poetry, they were set to tunes and sun in the street. Laycock's poems provide a valuable record of the working class experience of the times. They give expression to an attitude which was probably prevalent among respectable working people, that men should find an honourable way of standing up to the times and not be reduced to complaining about personal sufferings. The poems make clear the domestic problems and misery caused by hard times.
'Bowtons's Yard' and 'Bonny Bird' are Laycocks' best-known and best-loved poems and both were written in Stalybridge. Laycock's poem gives some impression of the people who lived in these conditions and the community life, which grew up in the streets.
More information and poems can be found on these websites.
gerald-massey.org.uk/laycock/b_broadsheets.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Laycock
domain1041943.sites.fasthosts.com/laycock/b_biographical.htm
gerald-massey.org.uk/laycock/b_broadsheets.htm