In the fourth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Jennifer Reid encounters the collector of Lancashire dialect poets, John Harland

John Harland 1806–1868 was a renowned journalist and ballad collector. Although originally from Kingston-upon-Hull, as chief reporter for the Manchester Guardian he was aware of all the Lancashire dialect poets and worked hard to immerse himself in people’s lives in Manchester. I’d like to meet him when he was around fifty, so he could spin me yarns about ballads, their singers and whatever else happened in the pubs. I’m not sure I’d like to tell him anything, other than that Lancashire dialect is still being sung. I’d really just want to listen. John Harland, the shorthand king of Britain (Manchester Guardian obituary, 25 April 1868).

Jennifer Reid is a performer of nineteenth century Lancashire dialect and Victorian broadside ballads

You can read all the Class Encounters in this series here.