Richard Blakeborough

Born in Ripon in 1850, Richard Blakeborough was an English author and collector of folklore whose work focused on the North Riding of Yorkshire. Archive records describe him as the son of a jeweller and clock maker, and note that his interest in local stories, dialect, and customs began early.

Blakeborough is known for gathering sayings, anecdotes, traditions, and dialect words from Yorkshire life, helping preserve material that might otherwise have been lost. One of his best-known works is Wit, Character, Folklore & Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and library records also connect him with other collections of Yorkshire sayings and local lore.

He died in 1918, but his writing still matters to readers interested in regional history, folk culture, and the texture of everyday speech. Rather than writing from a distance, he recorded the character of a place through the words and habits of the people who lived there.