Montgomery Manuscripts

Ref: MS 19, 25, 69, 172, 249

Title: Montgomery Manuscripts

Scope: Papers of James Montgomery (1771-1854), Sheffield journalist and poet

Dates: c.1800-1850
Level: Fonds
Extent: 4 boxes comprising 5 volumes, 2 boxes and 2 envelopes
Name of creator: James Montgomery


Administrative / biographical history:

The collection includes reminiscences of Montgomery, poems and manuscripts by him, printed works and illustrations. Also included is a scrapbook entitled Negro's album of the Sheffield Anti-Slavery Society, 1828, and material on Montgomery assembled by Mary Anne Rawson (née Read).

James Montgomery was born at Irvine in Ayrshire on November 4th, 1771. He was sent to a Moravian school at Fulneck, near Leeds at an early age, and left aged 16 to become apprenticed to a shopkeeper. An attempt to make his way in London failed, and he returned to South Yorkshire, where he was appointed assistant editor to the Sheffield Register, to which he contributed extensively. The proprietor and editor of the Register, an ardent reformer, got into political trouble and absconded to America, enabling Montgomery to take over as editor. In an effort to disarm the political hostility of the Government he changed the name of the Register to the Iris, and adopted a more moderate political line. Montgomery underwent two prosecutions for libel, instituted as a means of intimidating the Sheffield political clubs, each time being committed to York Prison. As well as making his journalistic contributions Montgomery was also a poet, The Wanderer of Switzerland of 1806 attracting public attention, and in 1809 he produced a poem on the slave trade, The West Indies, which gained great popularity. He also produced numerous hymns. Montgomery lived in Sheffield for 62 of his 83 years, and in later years was accounted a local hero.

The archive consists of ten items:

  1. Negro's album of the Sheffield Anti-Slavery Society, 1820 (poems, clippings, articles and drawings)
  2. A treasury of pen and pencil memorials of absent friends. Mary Ann Read, Wincobank. Contains manuscript poem A fable by Montgomery, dated May 31, 1823
  3. Album of drawings of residences, landscapes etc., mostly in the Sheffield area, by various artists
  4. Bound volume lettered Autographs, which contains memorials of James Montgomery consisting of portraits, letters with explanatory notes, personal recollections, and notices of some of his friends. Collected and arranged by Mary-Anne Rawson
  5. Poems on the abolition of the slave trade; written by James Montgomery, James Grahame, and E. Benger
  6. Box lettered Autographs, which contains manuscript poems, letters, pamphlets and obituaries
  7. Box containing a first edition and a ms. fragment of The Pelican Island; an engraving of Montgomery from a painting of Westoby; and 136 illustrations of Pelican Island by John Holland Brammall, inscribed by the artist
  8. Envelope containing a manuscript of The Wanderer of Switzerland
  9. Envelope containing 5 letters and poems written by Montgomery
  10. Holograph poem A Mother's Gift. 4 stanzas of 4 lines each, signed, and dated Sheffield Decr. 4. 1826. With other incomplete ms. material on the reverse
  • Related collections: None
  • Source: By donation and purchase from various sources
  • System of arrangement: As acquired
  • Subjects: Slavery; Journalists - Great Britain - Sheffield
  • Names: Sheffield Register; Iris (Sheffield); Rawson, Mary Anne; Sheffield Anti-Slavery Society; Sheffield, Eng.
  • Conditions of access: Available to all researchers, by appointment
  • Restrictions: None
  • Copyright: University of Sheffield
  • Finding aids: Outline list above; full description of materials available