Rowland "Rowley" Harrison (1841–1897) was a

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

poet and singer/songwriter, from

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. Possibly his best known work is " Geordy (or Geordie) Black", an example of Geordie dialect.

Early life

Rowland Harrison was born 23 June 1841 in King William Street,

and baptised at St Mary’s Church, Gateshead (according to inscriptions in his family bible). Little is known of his early life, but he started singing in 1864 at age 23 and performed in most of the local concert and music halls including The Victoria Music Hall, Oxford Music Hall, The Empire, The People's Palace, all of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, The Wear Music Hall,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, The Alhambra

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, and many other places even as far away as

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Later life

For many of his songs he wrote both the words and music, unlike many other writers of the time who only wrote new lyrics to old tunes. He was known as "Rowley" and his best-known character was "Geordie Black". He used to dress up as this character for his stage act. He wrote a song about (and a public house was named after) the character. His other jobs were as landlord of the Geordy Black in

and the Commercial Hotel at Winlaton (it was here that he looked after Joe Wilson for a short while) and manager of his own concert halls. One of his innovations was to erect a large marquee, which according to the local stories was "devoted to singing and Entertainments" and where he and others would perform, singing and generally entertaining the crowds at the Newcastle Town Moor Temperance Festival. Rowland Harrison moved to

when he was appointed as manager of the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

theatre. He died there on 9 June 1897 and was buried at Monkwearmouth Cemetery.

Works

His works include: Aud wife that had a bit munny! An' the son that wanted it (The)
Aw laff her bad temper away
Barber's shop
Bathin' lass o' Tinmuth (The)
Bob Chambers (Robert Chambers was a Tyne oarsman who won the national sculling championship in 1859) – written c. 1861
Bonniest lass I’ Sheels (The) – This song refers to North Shields and has a large amount of spoken content. It is often alternatively named "The lass I met at Shields".
Chep on strike (The)
Coal cartman (The)
Deeth of Renforth
Drum Major (The)

Geordy Black "Geordy Black", also known as "Geordie Black" and "I'm Going Down the Hill" is a 19th-century Geordie folk song by Rowland "Rowley" Harrison, in a style deriving from music hall. The song tells the tale of an old miner, reminiscing on his expe ...

Geordy's deeth
Gipsy Jack
Gyetshead publican (or, aw'm always i' the bar)
Gyetshead swell (The) - about a toff, parading around Gateshead in his finest
I'm going down the hill - the alternative name for "

" used in ''Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings'' by Thomas Allan
Jack Simpson’s bairn
Johnny wi' the gaunsey on
Kyuk shop on the Kee (The) (or, the chep that stole the spyuns)
Lad at the slottin' machine
Lad on strike that wes gan te be married (The)
Lass that work'd at Neville's Glass Hoose (The)
Millisha lad i' trubbel (The)
Nowt like a hoose o' yer awn
Pidjon Dan
Police's band (The)
Pride of the haven, Ned Fry (The)
Ratcatcher (The)
Sawdust Jack
Somebody’s stole me bottle
Stivinson's Band trip te Wimbleton. December 1864
Three-happens for a shave, an' thrippence for a crop (The)
Two married men (The)
Widow Broon's lament
Ye think yor clivvor, but yor not A small book of over 50 pages and sized about 5" x 7½" (125mm x 190mm) entitled ''Rowland Harrison’s Tyneside Songs'', containing local songs composed by Harrison (and with an illustrative sketch of "Geordy Black", was published around 1871. It includes most of the above songs.

References

External links

Wor Geordie Dialect - The SongwritersFarne folk archives

Oxford Music Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Rowland 1841 births 1897 deaths English male poets English singers English male songwriters People from Gateshead Writers from Tyne and Wear Geordie songwriters 19th-century English singers

Early life

Later life

Works

See also

References

External links