Author: Elliott, Ebenezer
Biography:
ELLIOTT, Ebenezer (1781-1849: ODNB)
Poet and bar iron merchant, he was born at Rotherham, Yorkshire, to Ebenezer Elliott, q.v., an iron founder, and his wife Ann (Nancy) Gartside. His father was a member of the Berean (Calvinist) sect. An attack of smallpox in childhood blinded and disfigured him. On 30 Mar. 1806 in St. John the Baptist church, Penistone, he married Frances Gartside, a cousin; unfortunately, he invested her substantial wealth in an iron foundry connected with his father where it was lost. The family moved to Sheffield where he set up business and became increasingly active in radical politics. He was known as the Corn Law Rhymer after his best-known book of poems, Corn Law Rhymes. He retired in 1841 and retreated to an estate at Great Houghton near Barnsley where he died on 1 Dec. 1849, survived by his wife (d 1856) and eight of their thirteen children. He was buried at All Saints, Darfield. Elliott's will, in which he identifies himself as "gentleman" was proved on 19 Nov. 1850. A memorial statue is in Weston Park, Sheffield. (ODNB 30 Oct 2018; ancestry.co.uk 6 May 2024) SR
Other Names:
- E. Elliott