Reed

JOSEPH REED (1723 - 1787)

The poet and playwright was born the son of a rope-maker in Stockton on Tees, and ran the business with vigour both in Stockton and London all his life. In 1750, he married Sarah Watson in Middlesbrough.

Reed always considered himself an amateur writer, despite his many publications and the success of several plays. He early developed an interest in combative pamphleteering, and between 1761-76 wrote four plays including his two most successful, The Register Office and the comic opera Tom Jones. Both derived from his relationship with the great Henry Fielding. The former work caught the public interest and became a standard afterpiece. The character Margery Moorpout, incidentally, extols Roseberry Topping. His tragedy Dido marked a collaboration with David Garrick, but trouble dogged the work. Joseph Ritson (q.v.) a friend of Reed, prepared it for the press in 1792 but it was not printed until 1808, and then perished in a fire.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
JOSEPH REED (1723 - 1787) The poet and playwright was born the son of a rope-maker in Stockton on Tees, and ran the business with vigour both in Stockton and London all his life. In 1750, he married Sarah Watson in Middlesbrough. Reed always considered himself an amateur writer, despite his many publications and the success of several plays. He early developed an interest in combative pamphleteering, and between 1761-76 wrote four plays including his two most successful, The Register Office and the comic opera Tom Jones. Both derived from his relationship with the great Henry Fielding. The former work caught the public interest and became a standard afterpiece. The character Margery Moorpout, incidentally, extols Roseberry Topping. His tragedy Dido marked a collaboration with David Garrick, but trouble dogged the work. Joseph Ritson (q.v.) a friend of Reed, prepared it for the press in 1792 but it was not printed until 1808, and then perished in a fire.
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