Barton, Bernard, 1784-1849

Quaker poet.

Bernard Barton was born in Carlisle in 1784 and attended a Quaker school in Ipswich, before being apprenticed to a shopkeeper at Halstead in Essex in 1798. In 1806 he moved to Woodbridge in Suffolk and went into business with his brother. Apart from a short time spent in Liverpool following the death of his wife, Barton remained in Woodbridge until his death in 1849. He was a minor poet, the friend of Lamb and Southey, and author of ten volumes of verse and also of a number of hymns

English Quaker poet.

Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, was born in Carlisle, and apprenticed as a shopkeeper; after trying several occupations, he became a clerk in Alexander's Bank, where he stayed for forty years. Throughout his life he published poetry, which was often popular, but the verses were uneven, and the general consensus is Barton did not work hard at his poetry. His writing did allow him to become friend and correspondent with several important literary figures, including Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and George Gordon, Lord Byron. His daughter, Lucy, and his sister, Maria Hack, were also writers.

Bernard Barton, English Quaker poet. Author of many volumes of poetry, including Verses on the Death of P. B. Shelley (1822), he is chiefly remembered as the friend of Charles Lamb.

Epithet: Reverend

English Quaker Poet.

Bernard Barton (1784-1849), poet, was born in Carlisle on 31 January 1784, the son of quakers. After attending the quaker school at Ipswich, he was apprenticed to a shopkeeper at Halstead, Essex. In 1807 he entered into partnership as a coal and corn merchant at Woodbridge, but abandoned business in 1808, and became a tutor in Liverpool. He returned to Woodbridge in 1809, and was employed thereafter as a banking clerk. Barton published poems, including the collections The convict's appeal (1818) and Household verses (1845), and was intimate with many of the leading literary figures of his day. He died on 19 February 1849.

Barton's principal correspondent in the letters is Elizabeth Cowell, daughter of the Revd John Charlesworth, and wife of the scholar Edward Byles Cowell.