Author:
John Moffatt (d.1830) of Failsworth [ now in Oldham ], Lancashire poet, Jacobin and tailor [ Elijah Ridings (1802-1872), poet and reformer; Henry 'Orator' Hunt (1773-1835), radical politician ]
Publication details:
One of the letters from Failsworth, Lancashire. The other without place, dated 7 April 1825. 'Poems dating from 1824, 1825 and 1826.
Moffatt is an interesting minor figure. In a 1924 piece titled 'Brief History of the Failsworth Pole', Rev. James Smith writes: 'The Jacobins' Club Library was kept in a room next to that in which Ben Brierley was born, and old John Moffatt, tailor, of "Crockey Hall," opposite the Pole, had charge of the Library'. Smith quotes lines which he considers 'remarkable for their patriotism', noting: 'He must have been a mild sort of Jacobin.' A total of sixteen pages, on eight leaves.
