Robson

JOSEPH ROBSON (1808 - 1870)

Robson was born in Bailiffgate, Newcastle. After a series of manual jobs, his Blossoms of Poesy appeared in 1831, published by William Boag of Dean Street. Despite having 'taken to the arduous task of teaching the young' as William Lawson puts it in Tyneside Celebrities, many other books followed including Summer Excursions in the North of England (1851). Robson also published the Song of Solomon translated into Newcastle dialect and Lowland Scots for Prince Lucien Bonaparte in 1861.

Robson also wrote songs of topical thrust like 'The Paanshop Bleezin' and 'The Zue Exile's return', while such pathetic poems as 'Let us Help One Another', 'The Sichtless, Mitherless Bairn' and 'The Auld Widow's Lament' will, says Lawson 'be read and prized so long as affection burns within the breast of man.' Robson also contributed copiously to the local press and assisted J.W. Chater of Clayton Street 'with that gentleman's ever-welcome local annuals'.

Robson's work was praised by the likes of Eliza Cook and in the 1850s, when he was living in Sunderland, Queen Victoria sent him 20 pounds through Lord Palmerston 'as a slight recognition of his talents as a poet'. He died at his house in Clayton Street and is buried in Jesmond Old Cemetery.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
JOSEPH ROBSON (1808 - 1870) Robson was born in Bailiffgate, Newcastle. After a series of manual jobs, his Blossoms of Poesy appeared in 1831, published by William Boag of Dean Street. Despite having 'taken to the arduous task of teaching the young' as William Lawson puts it in Tyneside Celebrities, many other books followed including Summer Excursions in the North of England (1851). Robson also published the Song of Solomon translated into Newcastle dialect and Lowland Scots for Prince Lucien Bonaparte in 1861. Robson also wrote songs of topical thrust like 'The Paanshop Bleezin' and 'The Zue Exile's return', while such pathetic poems as 'Let us Help One Another', 'The Sichtless, Mitherless Bairn' and 'The Auld Widow's Lament' will, says Lawson 'be read and prized so long as affection burns within the breast of man.' Robson also contributed copiously to the local press and assisted J.W. Chater of Clayton Street 'with that gentleman's ever-welcome local annuals'. Robson's work was praised by the likes of Eliza Cook and in the 1850s, when he was living in Sunderland, Queen Victoria sent him 20 pounds through Lord Palmerston 'as a slight recognition of his talents as a poet'. He died at his house in Clayton Street and is buried in Jesmond Old Cemetery.
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