Author: Bamford, Samuel
Biography:
BAMFORD, Samuel (1788-1872: ODNB)
The son of Daniel Bamford, a dissenting schoolmaster, weaver and, later, master of the Salford workhouse, and his wife Hannah Battersbee, Samuel Bamford was born in Middleton, Lancashire, on 28 Feb. 1788 and baptised on 11 Apr. He attended Manchester Grammar School but his father objected to his learning Latin and withdrew him; he subsequently trained as a weaver. His early working life was unsettled and included time in the local militia before he settled to work as a weaver. He married Jemima Shepherd (1788-1862) in Manchester Cathedral on 24 June 1810; their daughter Ann had been baptised in Jan. of the same year. A son, Thomas, was born in 1836 but died in infancy. Bamford found inspiration for his reformist politics in the writings of William Cobbett and Robert Burns (qq.v.) and his activities led to a charge of treason in Mar. 1817. He was acquitted but on 16 Aug. 1819 he led the Middleton contingent to St. Peter’s Fields (“Peterloo”); although his group remained orderly and peaceful, he was convicted of inciting a riot and imprisoned for a year in Lincoln Castle. His first book of verse, The Weaver Boy, dates from this time and, on his release from gaol, he increasingly devoted himself to writing, including journalism, verse, and autobiographical works. A poem in support of Queen Caroline, The Queen’s Triumph, was published in 1820 but is too short to be included in this database. Although he remained a committed reformer and a strong supporter of working-class education and activism, he became increasingly disillusioned with the direction radical politics was taking in England and he served as a special constable in Middleton during Chartist agitation there. In 1851-58 he lived in London where he worked as a Somerset House messenger before returning to Manchester where he attempted to earn a living by giving public readings. In 1864 a group of Manchester Liberals subscribed to an annuity for him which supported him until his death at Harpurhey, Lancashire, on 13 Apr. 1872. He was buried in the churchyard of St Leonard's, Middleton. (ODNB 10 Jan. 2023; ancestry.co.uk 10 Jan. 2023)