Story, Robert

(1795-1860)

   Northumberland poet, born at Wark, his education was at the local school. From 1810 he began to teach in various elementary schools and in 1820 he started a successful school at Gargrave, North Yorkshire, his home for over twenty years. About 1825 he made the acquaintance of John Nicholson (see entry), the "Airedale poet" who inspired his volume of poems Craven Blossoms (1826). His political views were at odds with the parents and many withdrew their children from school, creating financial strain. His poems brought him some income and for his support of the Conservatives he was given employment in the audit office. In 1854 he visited Paris and was presented to Napoleon III as a successor of Robert Burns. He died at Battersea, London, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery. Some of his other publications: The Harvest, 1816. The Magic Fountain, 1829. The Outlaw, 1839. Songs and Poems, 1849. The Third Napoleon, 1854. The Poetical Works, 1857. Lyrical Poems, 1861. Some of his poems: "Another Year," "Be Still, My Wild Heart," "Long Within the Danish Camp," "My Own Hills."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Poorhouse Fugitives: Self-Taught Poets and Poetry in Victorian Britain. Brian Maidment, ed. Carcanet, 1987.