John McLellan (songwriter)

John McLellan (who lived in the early nineteenth century) was a Tyneside poet/songwriter.

Brief details

John McLellan, (lived c1840) was a Tyneside poet/songwriter, who, according to the information given on page 73 by W & T Fordyce (publishers) in the The Tyne Songster published in 1840, has the song Cobbler O' Morpeth (The) (subtitled - Cholera Morbus) attributed to his name.

The same song, also without comment, except the author's name, appears on page 117 of France's "Songs of the Bards of the Tyne" published by P France & Co. in 1850

The song is sung to the tune of "Bow Wow" according to France's songbook. It is written in Geordie dialect.

The cobbler referred to in the title is actually the nickname used for 'Cholera'. There was a particularly bad cholera epidemic in 1831-32 (and later in 1848-9 and 1853). There were 1,533 deaths in Newcastle in the 1853 outbreak. It was a plague and as was treated as such. Emergency hospitals were opened, places of leisure (such as theatres) closed, ships quarantined, the streets were cleansed by hoses from fire-engines, bodies of victims were excluded from places of worship and graves had to be increased to not less than six feet deep."

See also

Geordie dialect words
The Tyne Songster (W & T Fordyce, 1840)
W & T Fordyce (publishers)
France's Songs of the Bards of the Tyne - 1850

External links

• The Tyne Songster by W & T Fordyce 1840
• Farne archives - The Cobbler of Morpeth
• France's Songs of the Bards of the Tyne - 1850