Losh

JAMES LOSH (1763 - 1833)

On the staircase of the elegant neo-classical Lit and Phil building in Newcastle stands the imposing sculpted figure of James Losh, who lived at The Grove in Jesmond after 1802, having settled in Newcastle in 1798. His legal chambers were in Mosley St. Losh was friendly with both George and Robert Stephenson and was the first chairman of the Newcastle-Carlisle Railway. This was in addition to his other business interests in brewing, coal mining and alkali production. Losh supported George Stephenson in the controversy over the miner's lamp, and received an ill-humoured letter from Sir Humphry Davy for his pains. Debarred from high office because of his Unitarianism, Losh opposed slavery and child labour, and, a friend of Earl Grey, was a moderate progressive in politics, favouring reform of the voting system and religious emancipation. In Newcastle, he was active in support of local hospitals and schools for the poor. In spite of all this, his sentencing policy as recorder of Newcastle seems at times positively cavalier:

Business in and out of court as Recorder. Several prisoners, mostly women, were there for offences not very serious in themselves but there were circumstances such as former guilt, connection with a bad gang, which induced me to transport four or five of them.

It seems Losh used to speak of having seen Marat (q.v.) at his father's house, Woodside near Carlisle, doubtless in the 1770s. A pleasant tradition has it that when walking the perilous Paris streets at the height of the Terror of 1792, the lordly Losh owed his survival to the protection of Marat.

Something of a literary figure himself, Losh published an edition of Milton's Areopagitica and a translation of one of Benjamin Constant's political works. Some of his own impressive speeches were also published. In his diaries, Losh emerges as an urbane and rather supercilious individual, whose complacent and often banal remarks have a strong hint of Mr Pooter in The Diary of a Nobody. He heard Paganini play, but thought his efforts 'much more wonderful than pleasing'. Losh was also a friend of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey (qq.v) , and often visited them in the Lake District, though as a product of the enlightenment, he found Wordsworth's manner of conversation 'too earnest and emphatic', and says of his poetry in 1801: 'Wordsworth... is too often defective in elegance of language and clearness of arrangement. He will notwithstanding some day be a great poet.' Losh remarks of Coleridge, after visiting Greta Hall in 1800: 'He rather talks too much, but so well one readily forgives him'; and of Southey in 1798: 'Southey very gentlemanlike and pleasing, but a little mark now and then of self-conceit, perhaps in reality only of estimating himself properly.' The poets certainly thought well of Losh, however, In March 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge were keen to invite Losh to accompany them on their trip to Germany. Southey visited Losh in Newcastle in March 1809 and writes to his brother on the 14th that Losh came 'nearer the idea of a perfect man than any other person it has ever been my good fortune to know, so gentle, so pious, so zealous in all good things, so equal-minded, so manly, so without a speck or stain in his whole habits of life.' Southey came again in June and again in May 1810.

Losh took a cold view of Wordsworth's political apostasy, as he put it, and was not mollified by a letter from the poet in December 1821. Losh always thought Wordsworth's mystical poetic utterances superficial and in typical Pooterish tones goes on to say in 1824: 'I often endeavoured to cure him of this and until he was spoiled by over-praise and irritated by over-censure and ridicule, I flattered myself that my endeavours were not in vain.' A visit by the poet to Woodside in 1833 has Losh tactfully refraining from bringing up politics. This was a month before Losh's death. Wordsworth paid him the highest possible compliment when he said it had been a great blow to lose both Coleridge and Losh in one year.

Losh's brother John was prominent in the Tyneside alkali industry and in 1809 founded the Walker Iron Works, managed by brother William. In 1817, John's gifted daughter Sara Losh and her beloved sister Katherine (with Uncle William) made a continental tour. On the death of her sister in 1835, Sara resolved to build a church at Wreay in her memory, basing her design on the architecture she had seen when abroad. She had no architect, and used a local man as sculptor. The result is one of the most remarkable churches in England. Dedicated in 1842, it has symbolic carving unique to itself and may be said to have anticipated the Arts and Crafts movement by some fifty years. Simon Jenkins calls Sara 'an individual genius, a Charlotte Bronte of wood and stone'.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
JAMES LOSH (1763 - 1833) On the staircase of the elegant neo-classical Lit and Phil building in Newcastle stands the imposing sculpted figure of James Losh, who lived at The Grove in Jesmond after 1802, having settled in Newcastle in 1798. His legal chambers were in Mosley St. Losh was friendly with both George and Robert Stephenson and was the first chairman of the Newcastle-Carlisle Railway. This was in addition to his other business interests in brewing, coal mining and alkali production. Losh supported George Stephenson in the controversy over the miner's lamp, and received an ill-humoured letter from Sir Humphry Davy for his pains. Debarred from high office because of his Unitarianism, Losh opposed slavery and child labour, and, a friend of Earl Grey, was a moderate progressive in politics, favouring reform of the voting system and religious emancipation. In Newcastle, he was active in support of local hospitals and schools for the poor. In spite of all this, his sentencing policy as recorder of Newcastle seems at times positively cavalier: Business in and out of court as Recorder. Several prisoners, mostly women, were there for offences not very serious in themselves but there were circumstances such as former guilt, connection with a bad gang, which induced me to transport four or five of them. It seems Losh used to speak of having seen Marat (q.v.) at his father's house, Woodside near Carlisle, doubtless in the 1770s. A pleasant tradition has it that when walking the perilous Paris streets at the height of the Terror of 1792, the lordly Losh owed his survival to the protection of Marat. Something of a literary figure himself, Losh published an edition of Milton's Areopagitica and a translation of one of Benjamin Constant's political works. Some of his own impressive speeches were also published. In his diaries, Losh emerges as an urbane and rather supercilious individual, whose complacent and often banal remarks have a strong hint of Mr Pooter in The Diary of a Nobody. He heard Paganini play, but thought his efforts 'much more wonderful than pleasing'. Losh was also a friend of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey (qq.v) , and often visited them in the Lake District, though as a product of the enlightenment, he found Wordsworth's manner of conversation 'too earnest and emphatic', and says of his poetry in 1801: 'Wordsworth... is too often defective in elegance of language and clearness of arrangement. He will notwithstanding some day be a great poet.' Losh remarks of Coleridge, after visiting Greta Hall in 1800: 'He rather talks too much, but so well one readily forgives him'; and of Southey in 1798: 'Southey very gentlemanlike and pleasing, but a little mark now and then of self-conceit, perhaps in reality only of estimating himself properly.' The poets certainly thought well of Losh, however, In March 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge were keen to invite Losh to accompany them on their trip to Germany. Southey visited Losh in Newcastle in March 1809 and writes to his brother on the 14th that Losh came 'nearer the idea of a perfect man than any other person it has ever been my good fortune to know, so gentle, so pious, so zealous in all good things, so equal-minded, so manly, so without a speck or stain in his whole habits of life.' Southey came again in June and again in May 1810. Losh took a cold view of Wordsworth's political apostasy, as he put it, and was not mollified by a letter from the poet in December 1821. Losh always thought Wordsworth's mystical poetic utterances superficial and in typical Pooterish tones goes on to say in 1824: 'I often endeavoured to cure him of this and until he was spoiled by over-praise and irritated by over-censure and ridicule, I flattered myself that my endeavours were not in vain.' A visit by the poet to Woodside in 1833 has Losh tactfully refraining from bringing up politics. This was a month before Losh's death. Wordsworth paid him the highest possible compliment when he said it had been a great blow to lose both Coleridge and Losh in one year. Losh's brother John was prominent in the Tyneside alkali industry and in 1809 founded the Walker Iron Works, managed by brother William. In 1817, John's gifted daughter Sara Losh and her beloved sister Katherine (with Uncle William) made a continental tour. On the death of her sister in 1835, Sara resolved to build a church at Wreay in her memory, basing her design on the architecture she had seen when abroad. She had no architect, and used a local man as sculptor. The result is one of the most remarkable churches in England. Dedicated in 1842, it has symbolic carving unique to itself and may be said to have anticipated the Arts and Crafts movement by some fifty years. Simon Jenkins calls Sara 'an individual genius, a Charlotte Bronte of wood and stone'.
Return to Index	On to next Author