Timeline 1800 - 1900



TIMELINE 1800 - 1900

"The 19thC", says Daphne Franks, in her pamphlet for the Stokesley Local History Society 1983, "saw an upsurge in the demand for books and periodicals. This was the result of a combination of factors, - the population doubled between 1800 and 1850; the first education act leading to increased literacy,; working men's institutions leading to the formation of the Mechanic's Institute with their own libraries and early forms of working class adult education. The invention of the Steam press, cloth bindings, lithographically developments so that books and periodicals could be produced cheaper and faster to meet demand. The development of cheaper early paper backs (Yellow backs) and the establishment of Menzie's book stalls at railway stations. Publications and periodicals proliferated from the 1840's. For some reason Stokesley had more than it's share of the growth of the new industry as reflected in this time line and Daphne's brilliant booklet - Printing and Publishing in Stokesley.

Broadside Ballad Sheets - Not mentioned by Daphne Franks are W. Fletcher, Printer in Stokesley who produced Broadsides Wisdom (Is the Best Treasure). In Gisboro - Broadside Ballads were published by R. Hodgson, Market Place, Guisboro'. These include The Promised Land / The Poor Tradesman's Lamentation / Wesleyan Ship / The Spiritual Railway (or A Railroad to Heaven) / Drunkenness / Dialogue between Death and a Sinner. I have no dates for these.

1800 A number of anonymous poems that appeared included Willie Waggin' (folk speech) / A Yorkshire Farmers Lament / Johnny Clagclod (1800)

1800 LYKE WAKE DIRGE Richard Blakeborough records it was last sung at a funeral near Kildale in 1800. It later gave it's name to the 40 mile Lyke Wake Walk crossing the North York Moors at their highest and widest points from Osmotherly to Ravenscar.

JABEZ COLE, M.B. (No dates given in Tweddell for this bard, except that 24 years prior to the publication of Tweddell's Bards and Authors (1848) Jabiz was contributing verses to Tweddell's Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter.He resided at Ingleby Greenhow and was a popular local preacher of the Wesleyan Methodist kind. Tweddell quotes a sonnet written by Jabiz in the church yard at Ingleby Greenhow. (Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1801 REV. JAMES HOLME B.A.- Although, as John Holland remarks, is not a native of the county (born in Orton, Westmoreland, is entitled to the character of Yorkshire poet, by more than one collection of sweet, elegant flowers of verse, raised on Eboracian soil. In 1835 he published Leisure Musings and Devotional Meditations in humble Strains of Poetry. Four thousand copies were sold. (Full story of himself and his family in Tweddell's Bard's and Authors)

1805 JAMES CLEPHAN Born at Monkswearmouth / North Durham, Tweddell includes him in Bards and Authors because Clephan spent schooldays and served his apprenticeship as an apprentice in Stockton on Tees. Several of his pretty verses are on South Durham and Cleveland topics. He later worked on the Leicester Chronicle and became editor of the Gateshead Observer. He also contributed to the Newcastle Chronicle. (Source Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1807 JOHN WRIGHT (Bard of Cleveland & Moral Philosopher & Universal Philanthropist). Born Guisborough 17th February. Lived early on in Stokesley and from 10 years assisted in his father's footwear business. At 20 his father set him in business as a hairdresser in Guisborough. He began reading and studying and composed his first poem. At forty, he and his wife sold the business and lived at the Bard's Recess - a house they had built in the shape of an open book with all the dimensions and number of windows aligning with the Biblical Nos 3 and 7, in Newton Rd (opposite what used to be Steven's Garage. It is now just called The Recess. Wright, at his own expense made a life changing decision to published and sell his own poetical works, using his savings from his hairdressing business to finance his books. He and his wife, with pony and gig, traveled during the summer months around the counties of England selling his books and taking new orders. He had printed between a 1000 and 2000 of each book initially. As he said in Memoir of the Author, he never went for bread and his house in Gt. Ayton North Yorkshire is a work of art itself. His first publication was designated Anacreontic poems, in which is contained an Epic poem, (The History of Joseph and His Brethren), also The Wonderful Pyramidal Figure of Jacob's Ladder - 2000 copies published in 1847. His second - A Gem for Everyone - a 1000 copies printed in 1849. 1000 of his third - Comfort - Man was Never Made to Mourn printed in 1852. 1200 of his fourth book - The Privilege of Man printed in 1854 and 1200 of his fifth - a second volume on The Privilege of Man in 1857. The 6th book (which includes a Memoir of the Author from which much of this information is taken, consisted of the third volume on The Privilege of Man. This volume also included a fresh Lithographic portrait of the author aged 52. The title page of his last book describes him as "Author of three thousand pages, comprising eight hundred subjects, Religious, Moral and pastoral. George Markham Tweddell, in the intro the Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham, quotes him as one of the bards earmarked for a second volume of Bards and Authors. However a second volume sadly never came about although we suspect it was in preparation. Many of Tweddell's notes were destroyed posthumously in the Stokesley floods of the 1930's, so any preparatory notes that may have existed would have been destroyed. Among his poems we find Guisborough Spa; The Town and Vicinity of Kirkleatham; The Cleveland Feast Prepared; The Yorkshire Hills.

1807 (Nov) WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Walked to Stockton on Tees from the Lakes. His wife Mary (nee Hutchinson) was staying with relatives on Stockton High St. Allegedly he wrote part of The White Doe of Rhystone while in Stockton on this occasion.

1807 JOHN SLATER PRATT born at Stokesley - son of William Pratt - Printer and publisher in Stokesley and printer publisher himself.

1807 WILLIAM BRAITHWAITE - Stokesley printer and publisher born - he printed and published Ord's History of Cleveland, apprenticed George Markham Tweddell and printed and published the rival paper to his Tweddell's anti-corn law paper - The Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter. Braithwaite's conservative paper was called The Cleveland Repertory and Stokesley Advertiser.

1808 WILLIAM FENWICK PRATT born in Stokesley - also son of William Pratt, printer.

1808 JOHN WRIGHT'S FAMILY MOVE FROM GUISBOROUGH TO STOKESLEY - John Wright was 1 year old.

1808 - 1858 JOHN WATKINS - Poet, Playwright and Chartist. John Watkins is a largely forgotten writer from north-east Yorkshire, with strong Teesside connections. He wrote around thirty books and two or three plays. If his poetry and often-substantial newspaper articles is included his output runs to around 150 pieces, placing him among the most prolific nineteenth-century authors from this region. It is not just the quantity of his output that is important but the place of much at the centre of Chartism, the great movment for parliamentary reform that dominated British politics in the late 1830s and 1840s. The short biography that occurs if you follow the above link which leads to a post on this site, is based on Malcolm Chase's entry on Watkins in the Dictionary of Labour Biography, volume 12, edited by Keith Gildart and David Howell (Palgrave, 2005).

1809 - 1886 WILLIAM KING - Geologist. Born Hartlepool. Curator of the Museum of Natural History. Apart from contributing to a large number of papers on geological subjects to various scientific journals, King's main work was Monograph of the Permian Fossils published by the Palaeongraphical Society of London in 1850.

1809 - 1885 WILLIAM FENWICK PRATT - born in Stokesley to William Pratt Senior. Became the third printer and publisher in the family. Much of his life was spent in Howden, East Riding where he was the sole Printer and publisher - publishing The Lives of Poets in 1838 (now part of the Pratt Collection in Northallerton Reference Library). He returned to Stokesely in 1847.

1809 FRANCIS MEWBURN (Date is when began the practice of solicitor in Darlington (appointed as Baliff by the Bishop of Durham). Antiquarian. Had a role in the battle for the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the frist Railway Solicitor. His only publication - is an octavo pamphlet, which soon reached a second edition issued in 1830, entitled Observations on the second Report of the Commissioners appointed to Enquire into the law of Real Property. Tweddell says "Had space permitted I would have quoted Mr Mewburn's keen exposure of the bungling of Parliament in its legislating on turnpikes; for when he does lay on the lash, he flagellates with a vigour that reminds me of of William Cobbett."Tweddell also quotes an unpublished paper on George Stephenson. (Source Tweddell's Bards and Authors)

1811 - 1853 JOHN WALKER ORD - Writer and Historian. Born Guisborough. In Edingburgh he published the Metropolitan and Conservative Literary Journal in 1836. Later it merged into Britannia in 1843 researched Cleveland's History and published The History and Antiquities of Cleveland (published in 12 monthly installments priced 2/6d in 1844 and printed in Stokesley by Braithwaite where he struck a lifelong friendship with George Markham Tweddell. In 1845 he wrote Rural Sketches and Poems, chiefly relating to Cleveland. In 1847 he edited a poem by Thomas Pierson - Roseberry Topping and work on The Bible Oracles was incomplete on his death. (Tweddell - Bards and Authors).

1812 WILLIAM PRATT noted as a printer, bookseller in Stokesley before this date, printed and published Bibles for sailors printed on a Stanhope Press. His son William Slater Pratt carried on the business later. Pratt printed and published the 2nd edition of Pamela - Or Virtue Revisited and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo and many others. (See the Pratt Collection under Resources in the Navigation sidebar. Henry Heaviside, who went on to be a Printer and Publisher in Stockton, was a Journey man for Pratt. By the 1820's Pratt had installed an American Steam Powered printing press. This Stanhope press sparked off a new era in printing and the firm Pratt and Son expanded rapidly. (Source - Daphne Franks Printing and Publishing in Stokesley)

1815 BYRON (2nd Jan) visited Harlepool for the sea-bath's and married Anne Isabelle Milbanke, daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke - shipping magnet and Mayor of Hartlepool. Byron was also a vistor to Norton House, in Norton on Tees, home of Thomas Hogg (who he'd met at Oxford) and Shelley's first biographer. The couple were married at Seaham Hall in County Durham. Annabella was an amateur mathematician and her new husband nicknamed her his 'Princess of Parallelograms'

1818 RICHARD HODGSON given licence to print in Northallerton (source Stokesley Local History Society).He knew Middlesbrough poet William Mason

1819 JOSEPH RICHARDSON - Printer / Newspaper editor. Born in Hutton Rudby in 1819. Received a smattering of education from the village school mistress and at 9 years old was put into his father's workshop to learn cabinet making, upholstering, painting, paper hanging, and joinery. At 12 of his decision attended night classes in the three R's. He decided early on he didn;t want to follow his father's trade but instead become a printer. As there was no printers in Hutton Rudby, he walked the four miles there and back to get to Braithwaites printing office, 30 the High Street. Formerly the printing offices of W. Pratt - recently moved to the Oaklands. Joseph was allowed the range of of the offices and Braithewaite took very great interest in the boy, his father John Richardson being well respected in Stokesley. Joseph in 1852 went to pioneer the Literary Pilot and the first full length Newspaper - a for runner of the Gazette. See 1852 for details.

1820 - 1849 EDWARD MARSH HEAVISIDES - Born in Stockton on Tees, the son of Henry Heavisides, the Stockton Printer, author, poet, illustrator and musician whose The Pleasures of the Home and Other poems was popular. He became an apprentice in the printing office of Thomas Jennett in Stockton on Tees. Edward published Songs of the Heart. Edward was also a musician, playing the flute, especially Scottish Aires. In 1843 he worked in Stokesley for the printer Braithwaite as printing superintendent and to whom George Markham Tweddell has been apprenticed to around that time. It was here his book Songs from the Heart was published in in 1845. In 1849 he projected a series of suggestive sonnets. A series of papers were also published Past and Present Characteristics of South Durham, and some appeared in the columns of the Darlington and Stockton Times. He was to continue with his prose but sadly contracted Cholera in 1849 at the young age of 28. His father published The Poetical and Prose Remains of Edward Marsh Heavisides after his death and it had large sales. (Source W.H. Burnett - Old Cleveland Writers and Worthies)

1822 PAPER WAR between between Mease (William Pratt) and Armstrong. Robert Armstrong, watch and clock maker and agent for newspapers, on hearing Thomas Mease speak at a Methodist Missionary Meeting in Stokesley 3rd June 1822, was so outraged that he poured his feelings into a printed letter called "A Slap at the Prophet" Robert Armstrong a printing press in his shop the following year, so as to produce a series of tracts called The Missionary or Stokesley and Cleveland Illuminator. These were mainly on the revolutionary ideas of Thomas Paine whose book The Rights of Man had sold over 100 copies in Stokesley. Thomas Mease retaliated with The Extinguisher, a moral instrument. It ws printed monthly by William Pratt 1d per copy. A similar paper war in Stokesley would follow in 1842 between the radical George Markham Tweddell and the local gentry.(Source Stokesley Local History Society)

1823 - 1903 GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL - George Markham Tweddell is a key figure in so many things in the 19thC Cleveland Scene. People's historian, Editor of one of the first Radical Newspapers fighting against the Corn Laws and all oppression; poet (with a new collected works of published and unpublished poems about to be released in 2008), Stokesley Chartist and poetry contributor to the Northern Star; Stokesely and Middlesbrough based Printer and publisher; life-long Oddfellow / Freemason; and part of a network of radical poets. Much more can learned from the new Tweddell website associated with this site by clicking on the above link. His books include The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham and The People's History of Cleveland (unfinished but mentioned by historian Asa Briggs in the Middlesbrough essay of Victorian Cities. His radical Newspaper The Stokesley News (produced when he was only 19) stirred controversy in the local community among the right wing of his day and caused him the loss of his apprenticeship as a printer with Braithwaite and Co. Tweddell merely established his own press and continued, such was his commitment to the cause. His influence takes many forms and is quite widespread and is dealt with in much more depth on the Tweddell site. His influence on this site is also evidence as Tweddell was the first to publish and document the extensive Bards and Authors of our area, and although is book is now out of print, it is still an important document of the literary development of this area. George was born in the Garden House - part of a 15 acre farm along the Stokesley to Gt. Ayton road. Collected Poems of George Markham Tweddell

1824 - 1899 ELIZABETH TWEDDELL nee COLE(aka) FLORENCE CLEVELAND- (More on the Tweddell site - follow the link). Elizabeth is particularly admired for the sensitive way her poems caught the speech of local people and expressed their daily concerns in her dialect poetry (Cum stay 't hame teneet). The daughter of Thomas Cole 1787-1867) who was 34 years parish clerk of Stokesley in North Yorkshire and renowned for being the last person to toll the town's curfew bell. As well as being a respected dialect poet whose book Rhymes and Sketches in a Cleveland Dialect is still a collectors item today and whose poems are still read and sung (a new CD is forthcoming as I write, with some of Florence Cleveland's poems being set to much by a local folk group), she was the wife of George Markham Tweddell. In a relationship that was somewhat more egalitarian than the norm for those days, she assisted him in many of his endeavours, contributing poetry to The Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham, in the study of the Cleveland dialect and much more. The history of the Tweddell family is well documented on here if your follow the link above.

1824 JOHN APPLETON REED- Born Stockton on Tees. Printer and Bookseller in Darlington. Friend of George Markham Tweddell. His youthful aim was to get on the staff of The Times as a reporter. His father intervened and he became a solicitor's Clerk. During his Clerkship he often penned a Stanza and his devotion to the muses were considerable, studying poetry, painting and music. Later resident in Durham he kept up friendly correspondence with the principal literati of the north of England. Tweddell quotes some of his early poetical works. (Source Tweddell's Bards and Authors)

1825 First mention William Pratt & Sons

1825 - 1863 WILLIAM MARTIN Born in Pilgrim St. Newcastle. In early youth adotped by a kind hearted maiden aunt, Miss Martin, a member of the Society of Friends, at Great Ayton. Insired by Burns. One of his earliest attempts at versifying appeared in Tweddell's Stokesley News on Sept 1st 1844, and though he never published a volume, he continued to write occasional pieces for the press up until his death when he was buried in the Friends Buriel Groung at Gt. Ayton. He was one of the founders and past Masters of the Cleveland Lodge of Free and Accepted Freemasons and provincial grand sword-bearer of the north and south Ridings. The following verses were written for the Ragged School Wreath a volume of original pieces which Tweddell considered publishing in aid of the funds of the Bury Industrial School. These included Be Kind to the Poor, Alone in the Forest; The Poet's Grave; - Tweddell also includes Martin's poem To Masonry in his Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham. (Source -Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1825 Birth of the Railways. Some Literary / Railway link ups....
Stephenson's engineer Timothy Hackworth, who invented the 'Blast Pipe' for the Rocket and became a prominent Railway engineer himself from his base in Shildon shis Soho firm supplying the first locomotives to Russia 1836, USA (Nova Scotia) 1828 / Germany (1835) / Belgium (1835) (The birth of the Railways also stimulated the birth of the Blues - see the forthcoming article on here) and Hackworth also built the shipping Staithes in Stockton on Tees, played a part in the development of creative writing in the Tees Valley through his great, great, great great grand daughter Margret Weir (daughter of the late Joan Hackworth Weir - a former Cleveland County Librarian). Margaret was in 1988 chair of Middlesbrough Writers group and linking with Trevor Teasdel of Outlet magazine, created the Phoenix Poetry Group in Middlesbrough with Jean Cumbour (also linked to the Stephenson family by marriage!. Margaret also became a co editor of Outlet, a Co founder of the Cleveland Write Around festival (1989) and a Creative Writing tutor for Leeds University adult education. One of Margaret's son's with Trevor Teasdel (Kyle Teasdel) (a descendant of Timothy Hackworth) admisters this site with Trevor. More information on this modern literary development in the section on the Creative Writing movement 1980 - to present.

On another note, thanks to Don Croft, who was before he retired the jovial ticket collecter on the Saltburn to Darling pay train in the 80's and 90's, we learn that "Charles Dickens put out a paper tot he effect that he wanted to ride on the impressive George Stephenson railway that ran from Whitby to Pickering. When the line arrived at the bottom of the incline to be hauled up to Goathland Station, there was an incident, a derailment of the carriage that he was situated in which scared him and he stated that he would never travel on this railway again."

1825 THE STOCKTON, YARM AND NORTON INSTITUTE FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF MECHANIC AND THE PROMOTION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE - established and by 1829 had 320 volumes in it's library, 60 of which were circulated weekly. Members included Christopher Tennant, Thomas Jennet (Stockton Printer / publisher), George Hardcastle (Stockton School master), Thomas Hackworth

1826 FRANK WILKINSON born at Hurworth on Tees. According to Tweddell, he was "a South Durham bard - one of the many children of song who have first felt their inspiration on the beautiful banks of the Tees." Tweddell features quite a bit of his verses written in Hurworth on Tees and abroad. See the full article (when uploaded!) (Source - Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1829 JOHN RILEY ROBINSON,LLD George Markham Tweddell tells us in his 1872 book Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham that John Riley Robinson was born in Dewsbury and therefore was not "a native of, or resident of Cleveland or South Durham..but may be fitly included..as a poet who has sung on Cleveland scenes; and in that sense is more of a Cleveland bard than some who, by birth or residence, have belonged to the district. He tells us John Riley contributed to all the scientific journals for fifty years and wrote the history of Leeds. He was included in Tweddell's book mainly because of his tribute to Henry Heavisides via a poem called Rosebury Topping (a landmark often written about) and which apart from the scenic description, desribers the furnaces in Middlesbrough that "at times pur out such volumes of dense smoke, which sadly mar the prospect, and obscure the view beyond, we bare with them because we know they turn our iron into gold. Developing our hidden wealth, and build such towns as Middlesbrough, which we see whilst standing here, and wonder at it's growth" He also contributed to the Methodist Quarterly. (Source - Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1829 JOHN BREWSTER MA published The Parochial History and antiquities of Stockton Upon Tees. It included a piece on authors Bernard Gilpin and Joseph Ritson and Joseph Reed poetry gallery which included - A Cleveland Prospect by I.S. HALL of Skelton Castle, several versions of Stockton's Commendation, A New Song for the Year 1764 by William Sutton (Edited by Ritson) and ballad by Thomas Hutchinson of Stockton on Tees who was driven out to sea in an open boat and miraculously rescued. (Could Thomas Hutchinson have been related to the Mary Hutchinson - later wife of William Wordsworth who had relations in Stockton and whom they visited?). The Humble Petition of the Last Remains of Stockton Castle; Epitaph - In Memory of John Chipchase - Eminent teacher of Mathematics in Stockton on Tees who died 1816.

1832 WILLIAM PRATT - Printer and publisher in Stokesley died at 55. His business carried on and developed by his son John Slater Pratt (1807-1867). Began printing books at 30, The High St. (now the newsagents). By 1838 he built Oakland's house as both a residence and printing business premises. John Slater Pratt produced Pratt's popular library, a cloth bound pocket edition priced 6d. He introduced newly published American authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Fennimore Cowper. Besides employing 60 people in Stokesley he also had an office in London.

1832 SAMUEL GORDON F.S.A. SCOT A native of Longton in Staffordshire Potteries but with a residence of upwards 9 years in this district according to Tweddell. Daily writing for for some of the Cleveland and South Durham Newspapers and produced three little books on Cleveland. In 1858, the committee of the Stoke upon Trent Mechanics Institute, with a view to encouraging literary talent amongst working men of the Potteries, offered two valuable prizes, one for the best poem on any subject and the other for the best prose essay on Public and Popular amusements. Samuel won the best Prose essay. More competitions were won before embarking on a career as a journalist with The Staffordshire Sentinel and in 1861 he became a sub editor and reporter for the The Stockton Gazette and Middlesbrough Times and later worked on The Northern Echo.After walking from Teesside to Whitby with Tweddell, he wrote a small work called Rambles along the Cliffs - Saltburn to Whitby. In 1869 he produced Bate's Guide to Redcar and Saltburn by the Sea and The Watering Places of Cleveland ; being descriptions of these and other attractive localities in that interesting district of Yorkshire. (Source - Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1833 - 1911 FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS - Artist. Born Hartlepool. Praised and encouraged by Ruskin and Kingsley for his drawings illustrating the Pilgrim's Progress 1861. Similar success followed his designs for Defoe's Journey of the Plague Year engraved in 1863 and from 1864 he spent part of each year in London in the company of Dante Rossetti, Madox Brown, Burne-Jones and Holman Hunt. (Source - Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1833 FIRST EDUCATION ACT - Led to increase in Literacy. This led to the institution of adult educational foundations, such as the Mechanics' Institutes etc. Many had their own extensive libraries for working people.. Expansion of trade and industry and working class wages, made it possible to buy books. population also doubled between 1800 and 1850 - all factors in the development of Printing and Publishing which became high profile in Stokesley. Further development of the Steam Presses and printing processes and cheaper book productions further increased the development of the industry.

1833 JOHN WALKER ORD - of  Guisborough, embarked on a grand historical poem called England which he dedicated to the king. The second volume of the poem which appeared in 1835 was dedicated to the Duke of Wellington. Ord edited a number of newspapers around this time including The Northern Times - in Sunderland. (Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1835 - 1867 ROBERT EDMUND JACKSON (Later SCORESBY-JACKSON) - Born Whitby. Biographer and Medical Writer. Thesis 1857 - Climate Health and Disease for MD degree. Apat from a number of papers onmedical matters, he also wrote A Life of William Scoresby DD in 1861 and following a series of visits to the main European and Mediterranean health resorts, he produced Medical Climatography, a Topographical and Meteorlogical Description of Localities resorted to in winter and summer by Invalids. in 1862 Further research A New Book on Materia Medica Pharmacology and Therapies 1866. (Source - Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1835 THE STOCKTON LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY was proposed. The building was constructed in Dovecot St. and the society finally wound up in 1964, taken over by the YMCA and in the late 70's became the Dovecot Arts Centre, and part of the ARC Arts Centre stands on the ground.

1838 BYRON WEBBER - Born Stockton - Grandson to Thomas Webber mentioned above. Served his apprenticeship as a letterpress printer, and where he published, in 1860, under the assumed name of Cecil Devon, a small collection of poetic pieces entitled Snowdrift, or Poems for the Christmas Hearth,dedicated to Mr Thomas Nelson for his kindness to Byron Webber. The little volume was favourably noticed in the Atheneum. Tweddell published his Old Winter in Bards and Authors. After leaving Stockton he resided at St. Helier's as sub-editor of the Jersey independent. Returning to Stockton he became a Reporter and correspondent of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle. After which he moved to London engaged on the Sportsman. In December 1861 Webber contributed a Yuletide story to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle - Our Christmas Box of Yule-Tide Stories. Tweddell comments that 'both in Snowdrift and Yuletide, Byron Webber has all the elements of a great man within him. He has only to be true to his own soul to make for himself a proud position in English Literature. (Source - Tweddell - Bards and Authors)

1838 JOHN SLATER PRATT - published Captain Cook's Voyage Around the World and A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

1840's RAILWAY BOOKSTALLS - The opening of Railway bookstalls like Menzie's during the 1940's led to the increase in the publication and sales of magazines and periodicals. The first cheap paperbacks known as 'Yellow Backs' appeared about this time.

1840 -1891 MARY LINSKILL - Novelist. Born Whitby. First book Tale of the North Riding 1871 under her pseudonym of Stephen Yorke - serialised like most of her novels in Good Words. Two novels include autobiographical details - The Haven Under the Hill 1886 includes a descriptions of the Leeds Music Festival and In Exchange for a Soul which appeared in 1887, she gives details of a tour of Switzerland and Italy. Other novels such as Between the Heather and the Northern Sea contain what is probably Mary Linskill's most important feature - description of the Yorkshire countryside. Another of her novels was Clevedon set in Ruswerp. in 1875 and published in Whitby by Caedmon of Whitby. Several short stories were written for the S.P.C.K and several of these including Earl Forrester's Faith and A Garden of Seven Lilies were finished in the mid 80's. She was also a fine painter of countryside scenes, particularly flowers. (Source Cleveland's Hall of Fame). Mary Linskill is related to Bard of the Dales - John Castillo. One of John Castillo's sisters - Sarah Ann Castillo married Robert Coulson, one of their offspring - Jane Coulson married James Tyreman, Stephen Tireman married Mary Cockerill, Mary Ann Tireman married Thomas Henry Linskill in 1839 and Mary Jane Linskill was one of their offspring.

1840 JOHN SLATER PRATT builds Oaklands - residence and home of his steam printing press. Now a nursing home. Built of fine stone - a 'Provincial Palladian'. The 1840's saw a boom in printing and publishing in Stokesley.

1840 WILLIAM BRAITHWAITE established as Stokesley Printer and Publisher. His apprentice was George Markham Tweddell and they were based in what is now the paper shop in the High Street.

1840's MENZIES BOOKSTALL - established at railway stations - gave a good boost to the publishing trade in Stokesley and reflected the growth of cheaper printer and growing literacy.

1840 MIDDLESBROUGH MECHANICS INSTITUTE - Opened. Middlesbrough poet Angus McPherson was, I believe, was involved with this. New building in 1860 acquired.

1841 PRINTING TRADE IN STOKESLEY - In the 1841 Census return, 12 people were occupied as printers in the town with 3 bookbinders, two bookfolders and one book sewer - a total of 18. Ten years later there would be 62 people employed in the book trade. Many of these lived in the town's west end near Pratt's printing establishment - Oakland's House. A boom in Printing and publishing occurred around this date.

1842 STOKESLEY NEWS AND CLEVELAND REPORTER - Historian Asa Briggs Describes (in the Middlesbrough article of his Victorian Cities)'A glorious year, the year that Tweddell burst into print with the Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter. - His radical Newspaper against the Corn laws etc and incorporating his others poetry too. Briggs also mentions that there two anymous Cleveland poets. Angus McPherson is no doubt one of them and Tweddell whom he mentions. Tweddell's People's History of Cleveland was mentioned too. Asa Briggs quotes this Middlesbrough poem (did Angus McPherson write this or William Mason??)

Asa Briggs writes - 'as a local poet write before the town got to big. The two Cleveland poets were pillars of local 'Culture'; its patrons were Ironmasters.'

Then streets se cliver scan increased; / Smash man! They numbered fifty; / Thor's thrity butchers, man, at least, An twenty tailors thrifty, / Thor's sixty shops for rum an' beer / Thor's four prime shavers too, man; / Thor's sailors, smiths and cobblers here, / and Cleveland poets two, man.

1842 THE BARD AND MINOR POEMS - From the Braithwaite press - Collected and printed by John Lodge of Stockton.

1843 - January 1st. George Markham Tweddell relaunches his radical Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter (against the Corn Laws) with out delay on his newly acquired printing press. As a result of conservative pressure on his employer - printer William Braithwaite who was forced to dismiss him. Part of Tweddell's editorial in this issue was written with the invective of Shelley's Marks of Anarchy and a good 6 years before Marx's Communist Manifesto. "Notwithstanding the base attempt to crush our little periodical, by the vilest and most ungenerous means, yet we again pay our monthly visit to our subscribers, to amuse, instruct...When the Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter first made it's appearance in the political and literary world, it was with a firm determination to lash every species of vice, with an unsparing hand, and to be the unflinching advocate of civil and religious liberty. Fearlessly to tear down the mask from sinister deeds of unprincipled legislators and trafficking politicians, of every party; and to defend..." A rival paper was soon set up instead!

1843 George Markham Tweddell marries Elizabeth Cole (later known as Florence Cleveland - the dialect poet.)

1843 CLEVELAND REPERTORY AND STOKESLEY ADVERTISER - The Conservative rival paper to Tweddell's radical Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter published by Braithwaite Printers in Stokesley. Owing to pressure from the local gentry, Braithwaite sacked his 19 year old apprentice, George Markham Tweddell on account of his radical paper. The rival monthly paper (like Tweddell's paper) also published literary contributions from John Walker Ord under the pen names of Zeta and Angilina. Ord also contributed articles on his friend and tutor (at Edinburgh University) - Dr. Robert Know - who was later implicated in the case of Burke and Hare - the bodysnatchers. It included work by Dr Crummy of Gt Ayton "Diary of a Living Phyician" and poems by the local Edward Marsh Havisides - superintendent of Braithwaite's press. The paper ran fro several years and gives valuable insight into the life of the town.

1843 LEWIS CARROLL whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson moved with his family as an 11 year old boy to Croft on Tees from Cheshire when his father took up the post of Rector. The young boy went to school in Richmond in Yorkshire before moving to Rugby and then to Oxford University where he lectured in mathematics for over twenty years. While at Oxford he penned a story for the daughter of the head of his Oxford College. That little girl was Alice Liddell, and was the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

1843 JOHN CASTILLO'S Awd Issac and the Steeplechase and other poems was published in Whitby by Hare and Richardson.

1844 CHARLES DICKENS visited Marske, Redcar and Loftus. He came to Marske to find the grave of Captain Cook's father buried at St. Germaine's church on the headland. Stayed over night at the Dundas Arms (later Marske Farm) now a terrace of shops in the new town centre near the roundabout.

1845 New Parish Library formed in Stokesley - John Slater Pratt a founder member.

1845 RURAL SKETCHES AND POEMS CHIEFLY RELATING TO CLEVELAND - From the Braithwaite Press.

1845 TWEDDELL'S YORKSHIRE MISCELLANY- A sixpenny quarterly magazine of poetry, reviews and articles.

1846 SOIREE IN MEMORY OF SIR WALTER SCOTT Held in the West Langbaurgh School Room at Stokesley. Among those present were printer / publishers John Slater Pratt, William Braithwaite, George Markham Tweddell, Edward Marsh Heavisides representing the press with guest of honor John Walker Ord. Sir Walter Scott describes River Tees landscape as it runs past Darlington, an area also painted by Turner and Cotman.

1846 JOHN WALKER ORD published his History of Cleveland - printed by Braithwaite in Stokesley. He wrote "In no respect does Stokesley stand second to any similar town in just appreciation of literary merit. A proof of this may be seen in the fact that at the moment we write, three printing presses are at work in the town and a large and expensive 'History of Cleveland' is appearing monthly. The History of Cleveland was printed and published by William Braithwaite, 30, The High Street - now the paper shop on Stokesley High Street.

1847 WILLIAM FENWICK PRATT - Returned to Stokesley from Howden in the East Riding to marry Miss Betsy Dowell. He also occupied what is now the Newsagents at 30, The High St. in Stokesley establishing his business as Bookseller, Stationer, Printer, Bookbinder, Paperhanger and Newsagent. He took the premises over from the most recent occupier - Printer William Braithwaite. Here he published Poems in Dialect by Bard of the Dales - John Castillo of Lealholm. The bookselling side flourished as cheaper newspapers and periodicals for all tastes flooded the market.

1847 1912 BRAM (ABRAHAM) STOKER - could not have foreseen how his creation Dracula would be responsible for so many Hollywood movies set in graveyards when he chose Whitby as one of the settings for his famous tale of Vampireism. The Un-dead Count sails from Transylvania and is shipwrecked off the Whitby coast having first dispatched the entire ship's crew en-route. Taking the form of a large dog or wolf he seeks refuge in the grave of a suicide victim in the graveyard of St. Mary's church.

1847 JOHN WRIGHT (Bard of Cleveland) published his first book at 40 (after writing for a long time and running a barber's shop in Guisbro'. He sold 2000 copies of Anaereontic Poems containing the epic poem The History of Joseph and his Brethren and The Wonderful Pyramidal figure of Joseph's Ladder.

1848 - THOMAS JOHN CLEAVER - According to Tweddell, in 1848 (no birth or death date provided in this instance) 'a neatly got up volume of a hundred and thirty two pages of demy 12mo., was published, by subscription, from the press of the late Mr William Braithwaite of Stokesley, entitled Night and Other Poems, by Thomas John Cleaver, President of the Stockton Literary Club. A portion of the principal poem, which possesses considerable merit, with some minor pieces, had appeared in Tweddell's Yorkshire Miscellany; as had several smoothly written prose pieces from the same pen, which were entitled Tales of the Old Bachelor. (Sources Tweddell's Bards and Authors).

1848 GOLDSMITH'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND - to which (according to Paul Tweddell) is added a continuation tot he present time by George Markham Tweddell, published by W. Brittain, London 1848.

1849 - 1926 JOSEPH DENT - Born in Darlington where he served his apprenticeship as a book binder before moving to London. He played an important role in the world of publishing. Fired with enthusiasm for literature of all kinds he was determined to provide affordable high-quality books so that working class people such as himself with little money to spare could have access to the world's greatest literature. Everyman's Library was born in 1906 and each book was printed with the words Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide..

1849 JOHN WRIGHT published his second book of peotry A Gem For Everyone (1000 copies)

1849 GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL AND EBENEZER ELTIOT (The Corn Law Rhymer and Chartist). In this year Tweddell (also a local Chartist who had contributed sonnets to the Chartist paper The Northern Star). Although there is no evidence so far that the two ever met in person, there is evidence of written communication and mutual admiration between the two. Elliot had visited and written a poem from Roseberry Topping - a North Yorkshire and Cleveland landmark outside the village of Gt. Ayton and which was quoted in John Walker Ord's The History of Cleveland in 1846. On the death of Ebenezer Elliot, wrote Tweddell wrote a response to Elliot's sonnet - To The Bramble Flower. Tweddell's poem is entitledTo the Bramble (Rubus Vulgaris) in which he refers to Elliot's poem. Tweddell "Brave Elliot loved thy 'Satin threaded flowers,". There's evidence that the Tweddell poem is emlematic in a masonic fashion and Tweddell seems to have been influenced by the radical poet Withers who was influenced by the father of emblematic poetry - Renaissance poet Alciati. (more of this in the forthcoming Collected Poems of George Markham Tweddell - edited by Paul Markham Tweddell and Trev Teasdel.)

1850's George Markham Tweddell Compiling his many North of England Tractates; A small collection of small treatises in prose and verse relating to the North Of England at 1d each. They included his own Cleveland Sonnets to the The Halifax Gibbet and Gibbet Law. Some were illustrated, often with woodcuts and tailpieces.

1851 Census reveals in Stokesley (then the hub of local Printing and Publishing) that 62 people employed in Printing and publishing. John Slater Pratt had erected a steam engine press, printing office, warehouse, gas works behind Oaklands. He invest £1000 in railway scheme. The skilled workers came from outside the area - Scotland, Ireland, London, York, Carlisle, Malton, Helmsley, Stockton. From John Slater Pratt's press poured books for every taste and need, text books, novels, travel, adventure, religious, cookery - illustrated, cloth bound pocket editions (Pratt's Popular library) - possibly forerunners of Paperbacks.

1852 THE LITERARY PILOT - JOSEPH RICHARDSON -Richardson began printing at the age of 28 at his wife's premises in Commercial St. Middlesbrough. He established a letterpress printer and later added engraving and lithographic printing and made considerable success in all the branches. Alamancks and Tidetables were printed and published annually calculated and edited by William Mountain, a slendi nautical scholar. In 1852 Richardson commenced in magazine form with the Literary Pilot. A monthly paper which was succeeded about a year later by The Middlesbro' Chronicle, a broad sheet with advertisements, and on the 5th July he commenced a full sized news paper weekly priced 1d. The Middlesbro' Weekly News and Cleveland Advertiser. It was the first full sized newspaper published in the North Riding of Yorkshire, a news sheet of four pages, enlarged later to 8 pages.. The paper was published at a loss for at least five years after which it became remunerative. (source Yorkshire Bibliographer - Yorkshire Printer-Authors p181) It would be interesting to see a copy of The Literary Pilot - if anyone knows where one is located!

1852 JOHN WRIGHT Published his third book of poetry - Comfort - Man was never made to mourn. 1000 copies.

1852 THE LITERARY PILOT The first literary venture, a monthly magazine started by Joseph Richardson, who previously had been a cabinet maker in Commercial St. Middlesbrough. He called in an auctioneer and sold all his ready made furniture and bought printing materials with the proceeds and became a letterpress printer. The Literary Pilot ran for about a year until in 1853 he launched the Middlesbrough Chronicle.

1853 MIDDLESBROUGH CHRONICLE - Middlesbrough's first Monthly Newspaper started by Joseph Richardson. This was a broadsheet with advertisements at one penny monthly.

1854 JOHN WRIGHT published his fourth book of poetry - The Privilege of Man. 1200 copies. This was the first volume. Second volume came in 1857 and the third in 1860.

1855 - 60 GEORGE MARKHAM AND ELIZABETH TWEDDELL - move to run the Industrial and Ragged School in Bury, Lancashire. Whilst living there George seems have adopted 'Markham' as his middle name publicly. The family returned to Stokesley in 1860 as Elizabeth found combining duties a of matron to the school with those of her growing family too onerous. Tweddell publishes The Odd Fellows' Reciter and Fireside Companion 1855.

1855 THE MIDDLEBRO' WEEKLY NEWS AND CLEVELAND ADVERTISER After duty was removed from paper in this year Joseph Richardson, who had edited The Literary Pilot and The Middlesbrough Chronicle launched a new full sized weekly newspaper for 1d called The Middlesbro' Weekly News and Cleveland Advertiser. It was the first full sized newspaper published in the North Riding of Yorkshire, a news sheet of four pages, later enlarged to 8 pages. The paper was published at a loss for at least five years, after which it began to be remunerative but it had saddled the proprietor with liabilities which were to drag upon him for the next three or four years. This was a Liberal Newspaper but had a brief period under Conservative editorship. There was a later Conservative paper The Weekly Exchange which challenged the most lasting of Middlesbrough's newspapers, the Liberal Weekly Gazette. This became the Daily Gazette in 1869, edited by poet and author William Hall Burnett.

1855 and 1860 THE LIBRARIES ACTS PASSED

Late 50's -End of John Slater Pratt's printing and publishing business. Printing and publishing hey in Stokesley over by 1861. George Markham Tweddell continued to publish however.

1857 The Railway arrived in Stokesley. Publishers used this instead of the Pack horses and wagons.

1857 JOHN WRIGHT published the second volume of Privilege of Man. His fifth book. 1200 copies. The whole of his works contained 240 pages each. The third volume of Privilege of Man in 1860.

1858 BARD OF THE DALES by John Castillo published by William Fenwick Pratt.

1860 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804 -64) - The US novelist and short story writer finished The Marble Faun (1860) while staying in Redcar. (Source - Andy Croft - Write On Supplement of the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette Sept 6th 1996). Until 1857 he held the post of American Consul at Liverpool and visited Redcar two years later to seek solitude and peace to work on his Italian based novel. The house he stayed in was at the junction of High street and King Street in the Town.

1860 JOHN WRIGHT published the third volume of Privilege of Man - his 6th book in total. This volume included a useful Memoir of the Author. According to the memoir a 7th work was in progress in 1860.

1860 SHAKESPEARE - HIS TIMES AND CONTEMPORARIES published. Now out of copyright and available on line on Google Books and other sources as will be notified elsewhere on this site.

1861 HEYDAY OVER IN STOKESLEY - By 1861, the heyday of printing and publishing in Stokesley was over, although there were still 3 printers in the town, one bookseller and one author. No employees were recorded at the Printing works at all. Author George Markham Tweddell continued to publish until the end of the century.

1861 WILLIAM MUDD - Worked as a Gardener at Gt. Ayton and later a Curator of the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. In 1861 (which the date on here refers to rather than his birth), William Mud published A Manual of British Lichens which was then reviewed in the Athenaeum.

1861 - 1926 WILLIAM BATESON - Biologist - Born in Whitby. Publications - Materials for the Study of Variation - 1894 and Mendel's Principles of Heridity - A Defence 1902 and Problems of Genetics 1913. His greatest contribution to science was in originating and developing the study of heridity and variation during which he is credited with inventing the term Genetics (Source - Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1862 WILLIAM GLADSTONE - referred poetically to Middlesbrough as an Infant Hercules.

1863 TWEDDELL'S VISITOR'S HAND BOOK TO REDCAR, COATHAM AND SALTBURN BY THE SEA published by Tweddell and Sons. Other publications by Tweddell after this date included Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham, The People's History of Cleveland and its Vicinage - This was to have been in 32 parts but only four were ever published and unfortunately his notes towards the other parts were lost in the Stokesley flood of the 1930's. However Historian's Asa Briggs and Tony Nicholson recognised the merit of this work. The History of the Stockton and Darlington Railway; Furness, Past and Present and Shakespeare, his Times and Contemporaries and 100 Masonic Poems. There were others that were never completed.

1863 MIDDLESBROUGH ATHENAEUM opened 'a society for the cultivation of Literature, Science and the Arts". From 1875 it was known as the Literary and Philosophical Society. It had held it's meetings in two dingy back rooms before that date but now had it's own premises. This society supplemented the work of the Mechanics Institute.

1864 GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL set up in business as a newsagent and printer in 87, Linthrope Rd. and lived at 11, Commercial Street, Middlesbrough. The improvement in their fortunes came about a bequest from Frederica Heaviside, the wife of the late Captain Heaviside of Walthamstow, London. Frederica was one of the daughters of Dean Markham and therefore a sister of George Markham, who was George Markham Tweddell's father. Collected Poems of George Markham Tweddell

1866 - 1921 ERNEST WILLIAM HORNUNG - Novelist. Born Middlesbrough, Grove Hill. His first novel was A Bride from the Bush published in 1908 after living in Australia. In 1899 his real breakthrough had come with The Amateur Cracksman. The central character A.J. Raffles, a master crook who shared Hornung's own consuming interst in cricket. The Raffles books enjoyed considerable popularity in this country, France and the States. Dramatised versions of the books were performed in London's West End and in New York with film versions following. His last book Notes of a Camp Follower on the Western Front included a vivid description of the bombardment of the Arras. He also wrote a number of short stories and light verse eg Wooden Crosses. (Source Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1868 - 1926 GERTRUDE BELL One of the most remarkable women of the early 20thC - she lived near Coatham near Redcar from 1870 (when she was just two years old) until 1905. Her achievements were diverse: scholar, historian, archaeologist, explorer, poet, novelist, mountaineer and gardener and diplomat and friend of Lawrence of Arabia. She was born in Washington Hall (now in Tyne and Wear) but her family moved to Red Barnes in Coatham in 1870. Her father's wealth as an ironmaster and coal owner meant she was able to attend Oxford University where she gained a First in Modern History - an unprecedented feat for a woman at that time. But it is particularly for her work in the Middle East that Gertrude Bell is best remembered. During the first world war she worked for the British Government in the region and is regarded as one of the founders of modern Iraq. For her travel was a passion and the world of the Middle East her 'True call'. As a lone traveller she explored further into Arabia than any other European woman before her. Fluent in Persian, Arabic and Turkish she developed a deep understanding and respect of the Arab nation. Her splendid letters edited by her step mother Lady Bell have been in print since 1927. They make mention of her childhood visits with Lady Bell tot he 'Ladies of Clarence', that is the ironworkers wives of Port Clarence, Middlesbrough. She was buried in Baghdad.

1869 MIDDLESBROUGH DAILY GAZETTE - emerged out of the Weekly Gazette edited by poet, author and editor W.H. Burnett. The forerunner of the current Evening Gazette.

1870 - 1937 SIR JOSEPH WILLIAM ISHERWOOD - Shipwright and Naval Architect. Born Hartlepool. In 1907 Joseph Isherwood published the particulars of his new invention known as the Longitudinal system in the Shipping World. (Source - Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1870 HORATIO TWEDDELL opens Tweddell and Sons Stokesley Office in Market Street (now the High Street) near the Green. Horatio had learnt the trade from his father George Markham Tweddell and joined as a partner. For a period material was being printed in both their Stokesley and Middlesbrough offices. The last book printed in the Middlesbrough office was 1871 after which all books were printed in Stokesley. George and Elizabeth move in with Horatio John Tweddell and his wife Jane in High Street Stokesley between Helm's Shoe shop and the Shoulder of Mutton. in 1875, George and Elizabeth move to Rose Cottage (The Town House) in Commercial St. (now Bridge St. ins Stokesley).

1870 MIDDLESBROUGH FREE LIBRARY AND READING ROOM opened under the Public Libraries Act after enquiries had been made by the Town Council about the financing libraries in Manchester and Birmingham.

1872 BARDS AND AUTHORS OF CLEVELAND AND SOUTH DURHAM - first published in installments by George Markham Tweddell and the later book funded by subscription. A too long neglected work (now in antiquarian shops and reference libraries but soon to be republished). Gives the best insight into the bards and authors of the area from Caedmon to the 1800's with woodcuts or lithographs of some of the authors and plenty of examles of the written work. Influenced later works of its kind including W.H. Burnett's Old Cleveland Writers and Worthies and the ancient poets section on this website which builds and celebrates Tweddell's pioneering work. In the resources section of this site you will find a list of writers and poets that Tweddell intended to cover in a proposed 2nd and 3rd edition VIEW HERE. These edition never appeared but I've noted the names where we have further information on them. Any light anyone can throw on these authors would be welcome.

1872 STOKESLEY NEWS & ADVERTISER published in Stokesley and continued until 1887.

1871-1938 WILLIAM ARTHUR BONE - Chemist, Bone Technologist. Born Stockton. Papers include The Behavior of Ethylene on Explosion with Less than it's Volume of Oxygen 1892. Much of his research work is published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and the Journal of the Chemical Society. (Source Cleveland's Hall of Fame).

1874 - 1921 FRANCIS ARTHUR BAINBRIDGE - Physiologist born in Stockton. Produced many papers including The Physiology of Muscular Exercise in 1919. (Source - Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1875 FLORENCE CLEVELAND (Elizabeth Tweddell) published the first edition of Rhymes and Sketches to Illustrate the Cleveland Dialect - A work that ran through three editions in its own time and still respected tot his day - a Stockton folk group are currently record some of them as songs.

1877 W.H. BURNETT - poet and editor of the Middlesbrough Daily Exchange published  the 1st Cleveland Anthology called Broad Yorkshire with verses by himself, John Castillo. Florence Cleveland, D. Lewis, T. Browne. He also published Old Cleveland - Writers and Worthies.

1878 - 1939 JOHN MELLANBY Physiologist. Born West Hartlepool. Editor of Physiology Abstracts.Published sixty papers between 1905 and 1938 in the Journal of Physiology and Proceedings of the Royal Society. These contain details of his research work, most of which are concerned with proteins in the blood, coagulation and the secretion of the pancreas. In all three areas several errors were corrected and important breakthroughs made. (Source Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1878 Horatio  John. TWEDDELL published the Stokesley Monthly Record Timetable and General Advertiser. Tweddell and Sons also published a collection John Castillo's Dialect Poems.

1879 JAMES MILLIGAN The second edition of his Hills and Vale of Cleveland published in Middlesbrough The Gazette Steam Printing and publishing Offices. Milligan signed the preface from Gt. Ayton in July 1879.

1880's CHARLES DICKENS JUNIOR read pieces of his father's work for the Local Board of Health in Saltburn in 1880's. The Saltburn and Guisborough Herald said of him "Mr Dickens has not a powerful voice, but he knows how to use it and in parts was exceedingly effective"

1880 - 1944 FRANK ELGEE - Archaeologist and Naturalist - Born North Ormesby in 1907 wrote The Moorlands of the North East Yorkshire, their Natural History and Origin. In 1912 saw publication of Elgee's Classic The Moorlands of North East Yorkshire - The first regional survey published in the country, comprising 15 years research. He was asked to write The Archaeology of Yorkshire. (Source Cleveland's Hall of Fame)

1883 - 1960 CROMPTON MACKENZIE - The popular Scottish novelist was actually born in Hartlepool in 1883 at 23 Adelaide Street. 1911 he published a successful novel The Passionate Elopement followed a year later by Carnival which dipicted theatrical life and sold almost half a million copies. Sinister Street published in 1913 was a description of adolescent life at school and college and in the following yearGuy and Pauline centered around a romance in the West Country. Experiences on the war front led to Gullipoli Memories in 1928 and other secret service work during wartime was recalled in Extremes Meet 1928. Later novels include Poor Relations (1919) / Rich Relations (1920) / Extraordinary Women (1928) / Our Street (1931) / The Four Winds Live (1937) Whisky Galore (1947) which was later filmed with considerable success. Other books are largely reminiscences including Greek Memories (1932) Aegean Memories (1940).

1887 -1976 JACK FAIRFAX BLAKEBOROUGH - Writing and Sporting personality Born in Guisborough - Edited The Hands of Glory 1924 Collection of Tales and Legends from isolated fragments of medieval dialect and folklore.. Delivered lecture to Yorkshire Dialect Society in 1958 - Vice Chair of the society.

1887 A HUNDRED MASONIC POEMS - Sonnets published by George Markham Tweddell.

1890 CLEVELAND SONNETS - by George Markham Tweddell was the second to last book printed in Stokesley by Tweddell and Sons and the last - a second edition of Elizabeth Tweddell's Rhymes and Sketches to illustrate the Cleveland Dialect appeared in 1892 and 1903 edition was published and printed by D.W. Richardson - Printer and Stationer in Stokesley.

1892 GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL produced two unpublished manuscripts of his poems Sonnets on Trees and Flowers and (for want of a title from the author) Rhymes in Manuscript. These poems, some published in journals and newspapers and others unpublished were annotated with details of where they were published. We suspect they were earmarked for publication following his Cleveland Sonnets but remained unpublished and in the care of the Tweddell family. In 2008 Paul Markham Tweddell and Trev Teasdel have prepared the now these manuscripts along with the full collection of his poems for publication with an appreciation and history. Many of the sonnets appear to be emblematic.

1893 - 1968 WILLIAM EARL JOHNS Creator of the fictional pilot hero Biggles was based in Marske by the sea. Within three days of arriving in Marske Capt. W.E. Johns had crashed three aeroplanes, one in to the sea, one into the beach and one through a colleague's back door and managed to shoot his own propeller off twice. Perfect material for an imaginative author! He used his Flying instructor experiences in the first world war as a source for his Biggles Novels. Biggles and Algy first encounter Ginger Hebblethwaite, the son of a Northumberland miner, living rough near the Tees as he journeys south to join the RAF. The encounter is described in Biggles and the Black Peril (1953).

Other poets in this century include - T.P. Williamson who wrote Jilted and Tom White.

1899 ELIZABETH TWEDDELL (FLORENCE CLEVELAND) Passed away at 75. Sadly snow prevented many admirers of the the poet from attending the funeral, but her memory lives on to this day in the area. both she and George Markham Tweddell are buried in what was then the New Cemetery opposite the Water Wheel in Stokesley and along the road to Stokelsey School. George's headstone is in the form of a small open book which has become the emblem of the Stokesley local history society.

1902 JOHN CASTILLO - Castillo's Bard of the Dales first published in 1858 by John Slater Pratt in Stokesley. It was re-published in 1902 by A. W. Johnson & Sons, Caxton House, Windermere. This contained a Life of the Author by himself as per the original.

1903 GEORGE MARKHAM TWEDDELL passed away. He was buried alongside his wife Elizabeth, the poet known as Florence Cleveland. The courtage went part way back to the Garden house where he was born, along the Stokesley to Gt. Ayton rd. He was 80.

1903 FLORENCE CLEVELAND (ELIZABETH TWEDDELL) Reprint of Second Edition of Rhymes and Sketches to Illustrate the Cleveland Dialect Published by D.W. Richardson - Printer and Stationer, High Street, Stokesley. Originally published in 1875 by Tweddell and Sons with a second edition published in 1892.

1903 - 1977 MARCUS LANGLEY Aircraft designer, engineer, inventor and author. Born Middlesbrough. Publications included a paper on Metal Aircraft Construction in 1932 - this led it's becoming a standard work in the years before and during the Second World War and saw his appointment as aircraft design instructor at the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School. He contributed papers to Aeroplane / Flight & The Royal Aeronautical Society Journal for over a century.

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