Ebenezer Elliott

ELLIOTT, Ebenezer. b. Rotherham, Yorkshire, 17 March 1781; d. Great Houghton, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 1 December 1849. His father was engaged in the iron trade. He had little formal education, but read extensively and started to write poetry at the age of seventeen. His early efforts were in the romantic style of the time and have little permanent value. The fortune brought to him by his wife was lost through the failure of the business which he had inherited from his father, but money provided by his wife’s relatives enabled him to make a fresh start in the iron trade in Sheffield. This venture was initially successful, reaching a high point in 1837, but then went downhill until 1842, when he...