James Woodhouse (1735–1820) was an English poet from the Black Country village of Rowley Regis. He was known as the "shoe-maker poet" from his trade that supported him during his early years. He made the acquaintance of the poet William Shenstone, who lived nearby, and was encouraged by him to write poetry. In 1764 a collection of his poems was published with the financial assistance of his friends and he acquired some fame as a writer of "humble" beginnings. He acquired literary patrons, the most of important being the "bluestocking" Elizabeth Montagu, who also became his employer. After a dispute with Montagu, he left her service and his final years were spent in London, where he set up a bookselling business. He died in 1820 and was buried at the cemetery of St George's Chapel, near Marble Arch in London.
Contents
Life
Early life
James Woodhouse was born in Rowley Regis in the Black Country region of England in 1735. He was the son of Joseph and Mary Woodhouse, owners of a farm, who had him baptized at St. Giles, the parish church, on 18 April 1735. At this time, the area around Rowley Regis village, which was sited on a ridge crossing the Black Country, was largely rural, although the hand-made nail trade was well established in the district. According to one source, Woodhouse was "taken from school" at the age of seven having learnt only to read and write. He took up the trade of shoe-maker, which supported him and his family in his early years. According to the introduction to his first published collection, Woodhouse developed an "invincible inclination to reading and an insatiable thirst after knowledge" at the age of eighteen, from when he "expended all his little perquisites in the purchase of magazines". He started writing poetry, to the alarm of his father who considered it a distraction from his work, and made the acquaintance of the poet William Shenstone, who lived nearby at the Leasowes in Halesowen.
Becomes a published poet
Shenstone had carried out extensive landscape gardening at his estate, creating a ferme ornée, to which he allowed free access. Then, after extensive damage to the estate by the public in 1759, he restricted general access. On hearing of the damage, Woodhouse wrote an elegy to Shenstone, praising him and deploring the need to close the gardens to the public. From this time, Shenstone encouraged Woodhouse's literary efforts, granting the shoe-maker access to his library. In January 1760, Woodhouse married Hannah Fletcher (who figures as "Daphne" in Woodhouse's writings) at Rowley Regis parish church. They were to have 6 children who were recorded in the local parish records as well as many still-born children. In 1763, a poem by Woodhouse about the spring season was included in a series of volumes entitled The Poetical Calendar although later the poet complained that this had been done without his knowledge and that the text was imperfect. After Shenstone's death in 1763, Woodhouse managed to publish a collection of his poems, entitled "Poems on Sundry Occasions" (later republished as "Poems on Several Occasions") aided by a subscription made by his friends. The collection was published in 1764, and in the same year, a single poem by Woodhouse appeared in the second volume of a collection of the works of William Shenstone. By this time he had "two or three children". He was supplementing his shoe-making income by teaching children to read and write but claimed to be earning only 8s per week. He also acquired new literary patrons, who would assist him in his career, namely George Lyttelton of Hagley Hall and Elizabeth Montagu. In his first published collection, Woodhouse also acknowledged the financial assistance of Lord Dudley and Ward, who put the poet in possession of a free school worth £10 per annum.
The publication of his work inspired a humorous letter to the St. James's Chronicle, which pointed out that shoemaking and poetry writing were not incompatible tasks: "he may surely, by no unnatural association of ideas, think at one and the same time of the Feet of his Verses and the Feet of his Customers; or Hammer out a line, while he is Hammering out the sole of a shoe."
As the "shoe-maker poet", Woodhouse achieved some measure of fame and came to the notice of Samuel Johnson, meeting the writer in 1765 at the invitation of Hester Thrale. According to the later recollections of Mrs Thrale, Johnson advised the poet to: "give nights and days, sir, to the study of Addison, if you mean either to be a good writer, or, what is more worth, an honest man." In his Life of Johnson, James Boswell published some recollections of a friend of Johnson's, the Rev. Dr. William Maxwell of Falkland, Ireland, claiming that Johnson had made disparaging remarks about Woodhouse, stating:
In the employ of the Montagus
In 1767, Woodhouse found employment as a land bailiff on the Sandleford estate of Elizabeth and Edward Montagu. He lived on the estate with his family and initially relations with his employers were good. Letters from Elizabeth Montagu reveal that Woodhouse was an effective bailiff, working long hours during the harvest and supervising planting, ditching, and ploughing. He also produced poems for special occasions such as Elizabeth's birthday. However, tensions arose between the Woodhouse family and Elizabeth Montagu and the relationship gradually soured, a rupture happening in 1778 when Woodhouse left his post, returning with his family to his native Rowley Regis. During his time back in his native region, Woodhouse suffered the loss of one of his daughters, Martha, who died of smallpox. He was reconciled with Elizabeth Montagu in 1781 and re-entered her employ as steward at Sandleford and at her new London home at Portman Square. A final breach with Elizabeth Montagu occurred in 1788 prompted by religious and political differences and Woodhouse left her service for good.
Life as a bookseller and final publications
His final years were spent in London, where he set up a bookselling business with the assistance of James Dodsley.
In 1788, Woodhouse published a volume of poems with the same title as his 1766 book, but with different content, namely: Poems on several occasions. These were the first poems that he published since entering the service of Elizabeth and Edward Montagu in 1767. The volume included an "Address to the Public" in which he laments his difficult financial position "with the addition of an unhealthy wife, by whom I have had twenty-seven children". The book, which included a poem in defence of King George III, was sold from premises at 10 Lower Brook Street, London.
Woodhouse composed a number of poems during the following years although publication was delayed until the early years of the 19th century. In 1803, Woodhouse published a collection of poems entitled Norbury Park and other poems, which he dedicated to William Locke, the owner of Norbury Park. At this time he had a premises at 211 Oxford Street, London. The following year he published a collection of verse epistles entitled Love letters to my wife.
He wrote a long autobiographical satirical narrative poem called The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus. The poem was published in part in 1815 but the complete poem was only published posthumously in 1896 by one of his descendants, the Rev. R.I. Woodhouse. The title of the work probably alludes to the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, a work created by the group of 18th century writers known as the Scriblerus Club, and Crispin the patron saint of shoemakers. The poem includes a very critical portrayal of Woodhouse's former patron, Elizabeth Montagu, which is thought be the reason for it not being published in full during his lifetime.
A description of Woodhouse in his final years at his bookshop was given in an edition of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine from 1829:
tall, erect, venerable, almost patriarchal, in his appearance — in his black-velvet cap, from beneath which his grey locks descended upon his forehead, and on each side of his still fine face, — his
Poetical works
A number of Woodhouse's early poems were written in praise of William Shenstone and his estate, The Leasowes. Thus, his first collection published in 1764, included two elegies to "William Shenstone, Esq; Of the Lessowes" and a poem addressed to Shenstone, "On his indisposition in the spring, 1762"
The first of these elegies begins:
PARDON, O Shenstone ! an intruding strain,
Nor blame the boldness of a village swain,
Who feels ambition haunt the lowliest cell,
And dares on thy distinguished name to dwell;
Let no censorious frown deform thy face,
But gladd'ning smiles maintain their wonted grace.
Hence, vain surmise! my muse can ne'er offend
One; who so good? To all mankind a friend.
Also included in the collection was: The Lessowes. A Poem. Woodhouse's first collection also included two other poems: Benevolence, an Ode which was inscribed to some "gentlemen and ladies in London" who had made a small subscription for him, and Spring.
Woodhouse's second collection from 1766, included the poems from the earlier volume but added: Wrote at the Lessowes after Mr Shenstone's Death, Palemon and Collinet, a Pastoral Elegy, and two poems inscribed to Lord Lyttelton. Also included was an Ode to Apollo and a poem inscribed to a countess on the death of a daughter.
His collection from 1788, Poems on several occasions, never before published, comprised the following poems: "Ridicule", "An Elegy on a favourite Child who died of the small-pox" (written in 1779 following the death of his daughter, Martha), "Elegy written in 1784, from the country", "Ode to the Lily" and "A Morning Rhapsody". A contemporary review of the volume stated that Ridicule seemed "principally intended to expose the fallaciousness and scurrility of Peter Pindar".
Selected works
To William Shenstone Esq.; in his sickness, 1764
Poems on sundry occasions, 1764
Poems on several occasions, 1766
Poems on several occasions, 1788
Norbury Park and other poems, 1803
Love letters to my wife, 1804
The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus, 1815 (complete poem published 1896)