Author: ORRELL, James
Biography:
ORRELL, James (1755-1818: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 12 Jan. 1755 and baptised on 19 Jan. at St. Peter’s, Bolton, the son of William Orrell, joiner, and Elizabeth (“Betty”) Buffe, who had married in the same church the previous year. The Orrell family had been well established in the parish of nearby Turton Tower since 1420. He was educated at Bolton Grammar school. Although he is thought to have left several works in manuscript, Original Poems on a Variety of Subjects (1793) is his only published work. The volume had just over 500 subscribers, mostly from Manchester, Stockport, Burnley, Bolton, Liverpool, and surrounding towns. Many members of his family subscribed. Two poets, Samuel Pattison and John Stagg (qq.v.), also subscribed. The poems were largely religious in character but also included poems on everyday life: “On the Death of James Holland” (executed for croft-breaking and theft on Bolton Moor in 1786), “The Blind Man’s Prayer” and “The Lamentation of a Coal-Horse,” “The Irish Burial.” He died, aged 63, at Great Bolton and was buried on 23 Apr. 1818 at St. Peter’s, Bolton le Moors. The burial register and his will record him as the Parish Clerk. He may have married Betty Entwisle on 31 May 1772 at St. Peter’s, Bolton le Moors, but there are other candidates. (ancestry.co.uk 25 Sept. 2023; findmypast.co.uk 25 Sept. 2023; J. C. Scholes, Bolton Bibliography, and Jottings of Book-lore; with Notes on Local Authors and Printers [1886], 62-65) AA