Author: ROSS, James
Biography:
ROSS, James (1776-1836: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born in or near Rotherham, Yorkshire, in 1776, the second son of James Ross, stonemason and Wesleyan Methodist, and his wife Sarah Harrop who had married at Rotherham in 1774. He was initially put to trade with his father who also taught him writing, arithmetic, botany, and some music. His abilities soon became apparent and he was then sent to Hollis’s school in Rotherham where he was briefly a contemporary of Ebenezer Elliott (q.v.) before proceeding to Mayfield’s Academy in Loughborough. He then worked as a schoolmaster for three years at Greaseborough, five years at Swinton, and from about 1813 at Thrybergh, Yorkshire, where he was also parish clerk, noted for his fine calligraphy, and land surveyor. He married Anna Shaw (1784-1856) on 30 July 1808 at Swinton, Yorkshire. They went on to have perhaps as many as twelve children. She was the daughter of a local farmer and musician and gave concerts with her father, singing and playing the harpsichord, at Hooton Hall, Nostell Priory, Thrybergh Hall, and other venues. Although John Holland in Poets of Yorkshire (1845) was unable to discover much about him, Wild Warblings (1817) achieved local fame and Ross was still remembered in Thrybergh in a centenary in 1936. He died on 18 Aug. 1836 and was buried at St. Leonard’s, Thrybergh, where his grave was rediscovered in 1936. (ancestry.co.uk 25 Jul. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 25 Jul. 2022; Newsam, 117-18; Sheffield Iris 23 Aug. 1836; Sheffield Independent 15 and 19 Aug. 1936; Eckington, Woodhouse, and Staveley Express 22 Aug. 1936) AA