author
Edwin Waugh
1817–1890
Best known as the "Lancashire Poet," he brought working-class life, local speech, and the landscapes around Rochdale vividly onto the page. His writing has a warm, observant feel that helped make Lancashire dialect literature widely loved.
4 Audiobooks
Th' Barrel Organ
by Edwin Waugh
Lancashire Songs
by Edwin Waugh
Lancashire Sketches Third Edition
by Edwin Waugh
About the author
Born in Rochdale on January 29, 1817, he was the son of a shoemaker and grew up in modest circumstances. After limited schooling, he was apprenticed to a printer, and that trade stayed close to his literary life as he developed into a poet and prose writer.
He became especially admired for writing in the Lancashire dialect and was often called the "Lancashire Poet." His work drew on everyday people, local customs, and the countryside of northern England, helping preserve the sound and spirit of regional speech in the 19th century.
Among the books associated with him are Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities and later collections of poems and songs. He died in 1890, but he remained an important figure in Lancashire literary culture, with his reputation closely tied to Rochdale and the wider region that inspired so much of his work.