20 April 1872
Samuel Bamford
Lithograph courtesy of Manchester Central Library, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council
Samuel was born in Middleton, he was named Samuel as a memorial to his recently deceased brother.
His father was a tutor, cotton spinner, Governor of a Workhouse in Strangeway and Salford.
Samuel was educated at Middleton free grammar school. After school, he became a weaver, warehouseman, seaman on the brig 'Aeneus' carrying coal from South Shields and London, after six voyagers he left the ship in London and walked back to Middleton and returned to being a warehouseman.
Before he met his wife, he had an affair with a Yorkshire lass who became pregnant, he agreed to pay for the child but later the parish charged him for arrears.
Samuel did not keep in contact with the child.
He married Jemima (Mima) Shepherd on the 24 June 1810 at the Collegiate Church, Manchester, which became a Cathedral in 1842.
After his marriage he returned to weaving and settled down with Mima and a daughter Ann who was born in 1809.
He started to write and publish his poetry, Samuel was sympathetic to the plight of the working classes, and did not approve of violence.
He was arrested at Peterloo and spent a year in Lincoln Castle goal, released in 1821, and went back to weaving.
Samuel became the correspondent of the Morning Herald a daily newspaper in London
and then the Middleton district correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. These jobs allowed him to support himself.
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Last updated 31st May 2017