James Woodhouse (poet)

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James Woodhouse (1735–1820) was an English poet and cobbler from Rowley Regis in the Black Country. He was known as the “shoe-maker poet” because his trade supported him in his early years. He befriended the nearby poet William Shenstone, who encouraged him to write and let him use his library.

In 1764 a collection of his poems, Poems on Sundry Occasions, was published with help from friends, bringing him some fame. He gained literary patrons, especially Elizabeth Montagu, a prominent Bluestocking who also employed him for a time. After a dispute, he left her service and spent his later years in London running a bookselling business.

Woodhouse was born to Joseph and Mary Woodhouse and baptized on 18 April 1735. He grew up in a rural area where hand-made nails were common. He started life as a shoemaker to support his family and, at about eighteen, developed a strong love of reading and learning. He began writing poetry, and Shenstone’s encouragement helped him.

He married Hannah Fletcher in 1760, and they had several children. In 1763 Shenstone died, and Woodhouse published his first collection in 1764, with subscriptions from friends. He also published poems in Shenstone’s volume. By 1766 his Poems on Several Occasions appeared, dedicated to Lord Lyttelton, with support from Elizabeth Montagu.

In 1767 Woodhouse became a land bailiff on the Sandleford estate for the Montagu family. He lived there with his family for a time, writing poems for special occasions. He left the post in 1778 and returned to Rowley Regis, where he faced family losses, including the death of a daughter from smallpox. He rejoined Montagu in 1781 and later left again in 1788.

Back in London, he set up a bookselling business. In 1803 he published Norbury Park and other poems, and the following year Love letters to my wife. He also wrote a long autobiographical poem, The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus, published in part in 1815; the full work appeared in 1896, edited by a descendant.

James Woodhouse died in 1820 after a carriage accident and was buried at the cemetery of St George’s Chapel near Marble Arch in London. In his will he left his property to his surviving daughter, Elizabeth.

Selected works include Poems on Sundry Occasions (1764); Poems on Several Occasions (1766); Norbury Park and other poems (1803); Love letters to my wife (1804); and The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus (part published in 1815; full edition 1896).