Lancashire Dialect

Ding 2013: “Born in Unsworth, Lan., he lived in Radcliffe until 1895. He worked as a mill hand between the ages of 10 and 13. Later he was a cashier at the same mill before he left for Sheffield where he prepared to become a Methodist Minister. Since 1897 he served in different chapels in the north of England. After his retirement he lived in Oxford. He began writing dialect sketches in his late years. He was a member of the Lancashire Authors Association. His son, Harold Fletcher Brooks, donated personal copies of his father’s writings to the Lancashire Dialect Society Collection in the John Rydlands Library.”

Works

Just Fancy! and Other Talks to Boys and Girls. 1926. London: Epworth Press.

Songs of Remembrance. By a Lancashire Lad. 1936. Halifax: J.T. Rushworth & Son.

The Epistle of James in Lancashire Dialect. 1936. Stalybridge: Geo. Whittaker & Sons.

Th’ Amazin’ Stories o’ th’ Bible (i’ th’ Lankisher Dialect). 1937. Stalybridge: Geo. Whittaker & Sons. SC.

Noah Th’ Boat Buildther (in Lancashire Dialect). 1951. Oxford: The Church Army Press, Cowley. SC.

Th’ Good News Accordin’ to Mark. Arrang’t an’ Thranscrib’t...i’ th’ Lankisher Dialect. 1938. Oxford: The Author.

Solomon’s Song of Songs, in Lancashire Dialect. 1939. Oxford: The Author.

Ecclesiastes, in Lancashire Dialect. 1944. Heddington: The Author.

Pilkington’s Factory Stories of Last Century. 1950. Oxford: The Church Army Press, Cowley.

Chaucer’s Cock, and Other Fables. In Lancashire Dialect. 1951. Oxford: The Author.

Jonah in Three Acts. 1951. Oxford: The Author.

For further information about his life and works, see:

Brooks, Joseph Barlow. 1950-51.  Lancashire Bred: An Autobiography. 2 vols. Cowley: Church Army Press.

Peacock, Alison. 1990. “The Papers of Joseph Barlow Brooks (1874-1952) in the Methodist Archives and Research Centre.” Bulletin of the John Rydlands Library 72.2: 121-134. (https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m2240&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF)

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