Edwin Waugh

Waugh (pronounced woff to rhyme with cough) was born in a small cottage in Rochdale, Lancashire, England in 1817 His father was a clog and shoemaker and the family, though working class, enjoyed a reasonable income. However, following the death of his father from a brain tumour at the comparatively young age of 37 when Edwin was only 7 years old, the family fortunes plummeted and for a time he and his mother lived in a cellar.

Before this reversal of fortune Edwin had had 2 years of formal schooling but his education after the death of his farther was mainly at the hands of his mother.

Mrs. Waugh was a devout Methodist and a firm believer in the sanctity of hearth and home, sentiments she passed on to the young Edwin who adored her. It was probably Mrs Waugh who encouraged Edwin's interest in poetry and song as she was noted for her fine singing voice.

Edwin became a shop boy for a Rochdale book seller named Thomas Holden, first running messages and later serving-on in the shop before being bound apprentice to Holden in 1829. Surrounded, as he was, by countless books the young Waugh took every opportunity to read. His tastes were wide spread covering Lancashire life and literature, its history and geography but he also developed a taste for poetry, both in dialect and standard English, particularly that of Robert Burns who had been popularised by the earlier dialect poet John Collier (also known as Tim Bobbin). It is easy to detect the influence of these two great poets in Waugh's own writing.

Eventually he quit the booksellers and began earning his living as a journeyman printer. In this way Edwin travelled all over England whilst still a young man. His early experiences helped develop in him a spirit of what we now call socialism

In 1847 Waugh became assistant secretary to the Lancashire Public School Association.

He began his writing career with written sketches on Lancashire life and characters, in local newspapers particularly the Manchester Examiner. His original metier was prose (Factory Folk, Besom Ben Stories, The Chimney Corner to mention a few of his books) much of it in standard English of the period. His gritty and moving first-hand description of the effects of the Cotton Famine of the 1860s inspired politicians such as Cobden and Bright and probably did more to publicise the plight of the Lancashire mill-workers than anything else at the time.

However it is was the reception given to his early dialect poem "Come Whoam to thy Childer and Me" that persuaded Edwin to take up writing as a full time career.

Waugh became a popular performer travelling far and wide to give recitation of his poetry and to tell stories of Lancashire life in his childhood, and of his many friends and fellow writers. His popularity continued to grow and, in 1887 the City of Manchester threw a massive 70th birthday party in his honour. At the same time the government of the day awarded him a Civil List pension of £90 a year.

Unfortunately Waugh's health began to give out and within 3 years he was dead. It seemed like the whole of Lancashire mourned the loss of this well-respected celebrity who had chronicled their life and put it on display for the rest of the country. He was buried at Kersal Moor after a fine funeral. Although his inspiration lived on and has inspired many imitators but few equals.

SOURCES

Songs of the People edited by Brian Hollingworth. Published by Manchester University Press

Poems and Songs by Edwin Waugh edited by George Milner Published by John Heywood

Waugh's own diaries. Held at the Manchester Public Library

The Real Lancashire by Kathleen Eyre published by The Dalesman Publishing Co.