Author: Rowland, Edward
Biography:
ROWLAND, Edward (1753-1834: ancestry.com, Carlisle Journal)
pseudonym Senex, a Clergyman
The poet’s only book, The Psalms of David by “Senex, a Clergyman,” was published in 1826 by Charles Thurnam of Carlisle, Cumberland. John Holland in 1843 first attributed the book to Edward Rowland, “a timber merchant in Carlisle.” (“Clergyman” sounds more credible than “Woodmonger;” it is an invention, probably by his publisher.) Born in Carlisle in Dec. 1753, the poet was baptized 10 Jan. 1754 the son of Samuel Rowland and his wife, Catherine Hudson. On 24 Oct. 1791 at St Mary, Carlisle, he married Mary Ann Rowland (bap. 9 June 1752), his cousin. She was a daughter of curate and schoolteacher the Rev. Barzillai Rowland and his wife, Elizabeth Cowx. The poet’s eldest daughter, Mary Ann, was born in 1793, his daughter Elizabeth Ann in 1802. His son, Edward Harvey Rowland (b 1795), became a Carlisle solicitor and banker. Originally a tanner, in 1788 Rowland set himself up in business as a timber and iron merchant at Carlisle where he imported, from America and Scandinavia, “Memel Crown Timber … Oak and Fir Laths, Wainscot, Pipe Staves, English Oak, Wood, Wearing Stakes, and Swedish Square and Plate Iron.” By 1791, he was being referred to locally as “eminent.” In 1803, he divested himself of his iron business. Having invested in Carlisle properties in Rickergate (where he had his timber yard), Spring Garden Lane, and Eden Court, he “realized a comfortable independence” and, according to Holland, “retired from business in 1810” (really in or soon after 1812). The poet died on 20 Nov. 1834 at his Eden Street residence in Carlisle. His wife died there on 8 Jan. 1836. (ancestry.com 3 July 2024; CCEd 3 July 2024; Supplement to Boletarium [1787], 31; Newcastle Chronicle, 22 June 1793; Cumberland Pacquet, 28 Jan. 1789, 1 Nov. 1791, 2 Dec. 1794; The Patriot, 25 Jan. 1817, 1 May 1819, 12 Feb. 1820, 24 Feb. 1828, 3 May 1834, 22 Nov. 1834; Carlisle Journal, 23 Oct. 1802, 11 June 1803, 1 Aug. 1803, 25 Aug. 1810, 28 Sep. 1811, 23 July 1814, 27 July 1833, 22 Nov. 1834, 9 June 1836, 13 June 1840; Jollie’s Cumberland Guide and Directory [1811], xix; Report on the Proposed Canal Navigation Between Carlisle and Solway Frith [1818], 47; MR [Oct. 1827], 144-45; Newcastle Magazine 7 [May 1828], 225-28; J. Holland, The Psalmists of Britain [1843], 1: 314-15) JC