Montgomery, James, 1771-1854

The poet James Montgomery was born in Irvine, Ayrshire, on 4 November 1771. He was sent to the Moravian school (the Moravians are a religious community) at Fulneck, near Leeds, and while there began writing poetry. Work followed in a bakery and then in a store, and then to the offices of the Sheffield Register . Facing prosecution, the proprietor and editor of the journal - a reformer - escaped to America, and Montgomery became the working editor and then the owner of the title which he changed to the Sheffield Iris . He too faced prosecution over his publishing content and he spent time in York Castle prison for describing a Sheffield riot in 1795. Poetry rather than journalism was his forte however and his work included The ocean (1805), The common lot (1805), The wanderer of Switzerland (1806), The West Indies (1809), The world before the flood (1812), Greenland (1819) and The pelican island (1827). James Montgomery died on 30 April 1854.

From the guide to the Papers of James Montgomery (1771-1854), 1841, (Edinburgh University Library)

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