Collected Poetry of George Markham Tweddell - 1823 - 1903

George Markham Tweddell (1823 - 1903) born in Stokesley North Yorkshire, was a Polymath - a

George Markham Tweddell 1823-1903

Chartist / People's Historian / Printer / Publisher / Author / Poet and much more. You will find out much more about his fascinating life and work if you click the Tweddell Hub and the Tweddell History links above.

Tweddell's Poetry Hub

Much of Tweddell's  work remained hidden away in antiquarian shops and reference or university libraries until fairly recently. I worked alongside one of George Markham Tweddell's descendants - Paul Markham Tweddell to help him bring much of the knowledge and texts from the Tweddell family collection to a wider audience and for reappraisal of his poetry and life's works, much of which is still relevant to the world today.

Where as the Tweddell Hub contains material relating to his books, histories, magazines and much else, the Tweddell Poetry Hub provides links to the various blogs I've set up for the different aspects of Tweddell's poetry.

Paul showed me several manuscript books of  Tweddell's poetry, much of which was published at the time in numerous magazines and news papers world wide but which had never been brought together in one place before. Tweddell did publish his Masonic poems as a book but the rest remained to be collected and published. So in 2009 we set about bringing together his collected works, which can be downloaded as several PDF files, free by clicking on Full Collected Poems in the menu above or here http://georgemarkhamtweddell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/collected-poems-of-george-markham.html

Paul Markham Tweddell who did so much work toward this.

The introduction to Tweddell's poetry that i wrote for the collection and which can be read by clicking the Intro to Tweddell's poetry above, gives starting points for a reappraisal of Tweddell's poetry now that we have, more or less, the full works - and Tweddell was obviously much more Ebenezer Elliot (the Poor Law Rhymer) and a host of his contemporaries wrote both radical and nature poem. We explored aspects of his work that were emblematic or used masonic symbolism and much more. Subject matter ranges from the political and historical issues of his day, to the personal and family, to Masonic and philosophical, to local history and places of his homeland - Cleveland / North Yorkshire to poems about life itself, much of it in sonnet form.
prolific than anyone previously thought. We have explored his links with radical poets like

To reflect this diversity and despite all of the poems being available in the Collected works PDF's, I've created some special on line collections around various themes, which are linked above in the menu. These are - 

• Sonnets of Flowers and Trees. These sonnets from his days of walking the Cleveland hills are not only knowledgeable about plants but, following Wither, one of the best known emblem writers, contain emblems and masonic symbolism, and so work on more than one level. On the blog, the poems are illustrated.
• One Hundred Masonic Poems (1887) This collection of didactic sonnets was published in his life time, written later in life as his health was deteriorating but they reflect his sincere faith in the principles of Masonry, in the days when many of the radical movers and shakers were Freemasons. Tweddell was always open about his membership of the craft and advocated high standards of integrity, reflected in so many of these poems.
• Cleveland (UK) Poems Tweddell was born and raised in Cleveland (North Yorkshire). His love of its moors and hills, towns, villages and industries, movers and shakers, poets and authors are reflected  in these poems which I've brought together in one place, in the hope that it will make an interesting collection and be of use to local historians and researchers. They are often illustrated along with additional material.
• Florence Cleveland This was Tweddell's wife - Elizabeth Tweddell, who forged a lasting reputation as a poet and writers in her own right. Both the Tweddell's were concerned about the dying out of the Cleveland and other local dialects and Elizabeth - writing as Florence Cleveland - wrote and published a collection of poems and stories called Rhymes and Sketches to Illustrate the Cleveland dialect. This book can be viewed and downloaded from the Florence Cleveland link above. Her reputation is still good today and recently the popular young folk duo from Stockton on Tees - Megson - set her her humourous dialect poem Take Thy Self a Wife to music and even named their first album after the poem. There is also a link to more of her work on the Tweddell hub.
• Poets, Politics, History and Life - A further volume of Tweddell's poetry was found by a member of the Tweddell family, which now forms part of the Tweddell poetry Collection. In this volume Tweddell's poetry contains more far reaching subject matter, from poems on the poets of the time, Wordsworth, Southey etc, to commentaries on European politics, history, religions and philosophy and indeed on life itself. It also includes some of his early poems, full of angst and in support of the likes of John Frost, the Chartist leader, sentenced to decapitation for advocating the People's Charter. These interesting collections will be posted below on this blog.

From Yorkshire Poets Past and Present Vol. II, No. 5, ed. Dr Forshaw (Bradford
1889), pp. 70-71]
"Mr Tweddell can justly lay claim to being one of he most prolific writers that
our dear old Yorkshire has produced. As Editor, Public speaker, Lecturer,
Prose-writer and Poet he has won golden honors. To merely give and list his
publications would fill a goodly sized pamphlet. [Here follows a summary!]
Mr Tweddell was born at Garden House, near to Stokesley, on 20th of March,
1823. He is a Fellow of a large number of learned, scientific and antiquarian
societies."

Here is Megson with one of Florence Cleveland's poems - Take Thyself a Wife.

Bro. General Garibaldi.

Bro. General Garibaldi. [No. 100]

A Hero of the highest type was he!
No Mason ever loved his Country more;
And Doomsday will appear to men before
Again thy see his equal. Liberty
Ne’er had a purer, bolder, wiser Son: 5
No greed of Gold, or Power, or Rank, had he,
But urgent wish to serve Humanity,—
And love from every Patriot he has won.
Hated alone by those who wish’d to enslave
The Minds and Bodies of their Fellow Men, 10
Our Brother’s Name will, to the future Pen
Of Poet or Historian, be brave
And spotless one: and they will him proclaim
As worthy o’er the World of Everlasting Fame!

George Markham Tweddell



"Giuseppe Garibaldi (July 4, 1807 – June 2, 1882) was an Italian general and politician. He is considered, with Camillo Cavour,Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Mazzini, as one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland".

Garibaldi was a central figure in the Italian Risorgimento, since he personally commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led eventually to the formation of a unified Italy. He generally tried to act on behalf of a legitimate power, which does not make him exactly a revolutionary: for example, he was appointed general by the provisional government of Milan in 1848, General of the Roman Republic in 1849 by the Minister of War, and led the Expedition of the Thousand on behalf and with the consent of Victor Emmanuel II.

He has been called the "Hero of Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe. These earned him a considerable reputation in Italy and abroad, aided by exceptional international media coverage at the time. Many of the greatest intellectuals of his time, such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand showered him with admiration. The United Kingdom and the United States helped him a great deal, offering him financial and military support in difficult circumstances....................

Tyneside
Commonwealth arrived on 21 March 1854. Garibaldi, already a popular figure on Tyneside, was welcomed enthusiastically by local workingmen, although the Newcastle Courant reported that he refused an invitation to dine with dignitaries in the city. He stayed in Tynemouth on Tyneside for over a month, departing at the end of April 1854. During his stay, he was presented with an inscribed sword, which his grandson later carried as a volunteer in British service in the Boer War. He then sailed to Genoa, where his five years of exile ended on 10 May 1854."

Read much more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Garibaldi

The Earth-worm (with a letter from Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894), Hungarian statesman

While this may seem to be one of  Tweddell's nature poems, note the letter from Lajos_Kossuth (Father of Hungarian Democracy, Hungarian Statesman, Freedom Fighter, 1848–1849".)

The Earth-worm.
I
Scorn not the Earth-worm, nor e’er deem it vile:
Harmless as useful it has ever been
In e’vry land; for it has help’d, I ween,
To form the soil which it has loved to pile
O’er barren wastes, till the green grass has grown 5
Where all before was bare. Where now the corn
On meadow waves in beauty—trees adorn
The landscape—yea, wherever seed is sown
By man or bird—the Earth-worm has been there
Before them, to prepare for them the soil. 10
But for the Earth-worm, vain had been the toil
Of all our husbandry; for everywhere
It has been Earth’s first cultivation: we
Owe e’en the food we eat to its great industry.
II
Great is the lesson that we all should learn 15
From lowly Earth-worms! Let us not despise
The wisdom which throughout creation lies
For all to study. E’vry mind should burn
With warmest love of Nature’s noble laws:
And if mere Worms can play so great a part
In her economy, then, Man, thou art,
However humble, call’d to aid the cause
Of Progress, and no longer can maintain
That thou art Powerless.* Ev’ry effort made
In a good cause is potent, it will aid 25
The work which needeth ev’ry hand and brain
To bring it to completion. Let the Worm
Teach us to labour on alike in calm and storms.

George Markham Tweddell

 Louis Kossuth
* This great truth is so beautifully illustrated in a Letter which I had the honour to receive from the
illustrious patriot, Louis Kossuth, in 1855, that I am sure the reader will be glad of the extract:
“Thanks for the warm interest you take in the cause of the down-trodden nations. You are quite right
in saying that every man has some influence in the world,— were that all men were penetrated by
that conviction; and would take it for an incitement to do as much as they can; many an evil would
be prevented by it. There is nothing more serviceable to the success of evil-doers that the common
error of many a well-disposed man, that he who cannot do much is justified in not doing anything.
Men should go to school to the ant, or listen to the lesson taught by the falling drop.— Yours
affectionately, Kossuth[§]
pp. 7 & 8 [Sonnets on Birds, Insect, etc]
Leeds Mercury Weekly Supplement, April 12/84. The Freemason, Sydney, New South Wales, April
11th, 1887. Northern Weekly Gazette, September 4th, !897.
[§ Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894), the Hungarian statesman, orator, and the foremost leader of the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49.]
..........................................

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth Read more on this site
Extracts..
"Louis Kossuth; Ľudovít Košút in Slovak; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–49. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe. Kossuth's bronze bust can be found in the United States Capitolwith the inscription: "Father of Hungarian Democracy, Hungarian Statesman, Freedom Fighter, 1848–1849".

In England around 1851 he .....He went thereafter to Winchester, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham; at Birmingham the crowd that gathered to see him ride under the triumphal arches erected for his visit was described, even by his severest critics, as 75,000 individuals...

Back in London he addressed the Trades Unions at Copenhagen Fields in Islington. Some twelve thousand 'respectable artisans' formed a parade at Russell Square and marched out to meet him. At the Fields themselves, the crowd was enormous; the Times estimated it conservatively at 25,000, while the Morning Chronicle described it as 50,000, and the demonstrators themselves 100,000."