Biographicon Dr Declan McCormack

A major influence on the radical Thomas Spence, James Murray was a preacher who used the pulpit and print to promote new ideas. As well as publishing works on religious subjects, Murray was also a grammarian whose book The Rudiments of the English Tongue was published in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in about 1771.In this episode Rachel Hammersley joins me in Newcastle’s Lit and Phil to discuss Murray’s influence in the region at a critical moment in its political and cultural development.Rachel Hammersley is Professor of Intellectual History at Newcastle University (UK).

Richard Pears and I discuss William Newton, arguably northern England's first home-grown architect who was responsible for Newcastle’s Assembly Rooms and Charlotte Square the town’s first fashionable garden square.Richard’s work examines the emergence of the professional provincial architect and his remarkable local archive work has allowed him to supplant the standard ‘urban renaissance’ understanding of eighteenth-century studies with his own powerful argument for a northern ‘rural renaissance’.Dr Richard Pears is the Faculty Librarian for Arts and Humanities at Durham University.

William Shield was born in the village of Swalwell near Gateshead in County Durham. Through the help of his friend, the poet and actor John Cunningham (https://biographicon.net/biographies/john-cunningham/), he became the leader of the Durham Theatre Company band in the 1760s providing him with the opportunity to develop his compositional abilities. After moving to London, he pursued a successful career performing and writing stage works at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden where he earned the respect of Haydn. Shield was made Master of the King’s Musick in 1817.Amélie Addison’s research has uncovered previously unexplored details of William Shield’s social background, his early career in the North, and his compositional influences, offering a new perspective on how these works reflect contemporary perceptions of national identity and culture.Dr Amélie Addison received her PhD from the University of Leeds’ School of Music in 2023.

In All Saints Pavement Church in York City Centre, there is a marble plaque high on the wall, dedicated to one of the most famous provincial theatre managers of the eighteenth century: Tate Wilkinson. It is a material memorial to a brilliant actor whose fame has dimmed to obscurity. Who has heard of him today?In this episode, I talk with Professor Emerita Gillian Russell about Wilkinson, York and the ephemerality of 18th theatre and performance.Gillian Russell is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and formerly Professor of Eighteenth-Century English Literature at the University of York where she was Head of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies (CECS). In 2021 Gillian was awarded the prestigious Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for her latest book The Ephemeral Eighteenth Century.

In this episode, Barbara Crosbie and I talk about why modern English's first female grammarian, Anne Fisher, was such a trailblazer, and the work Barbara has done to revive interest in this significant northern figure.The 18th century Newcastle entrepreneur, Anne Slack, who published under her maiden name Fisher, has been described as the first female grammarian of modern English. However, she has disappeared into the archives and Barbara Crosbie wants to bring her back.Barbara Crosbie is Associate Professor of Early Modern British History at Durham University.

Professor Jon Mee from the University of York joins me in this episode to talk about the cantankerous northern antiquarian Joseph Ritson, the man who is responsible for making Robin Hood a champion of the poor. Ritson was from Stockton-on-Tees and his research into northern verse and song make him an example of early English ethnographer. A vegetarian and radical who adopted the French Revolutionary Calendar, this prickly individual acts as a springboard for Jon to plunge into the world of 1790s English radicalism.Jon Mee is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies in the English Department at the University of York.