Elizabeth Tweddell (1824-1899), who often wrote under the nom-de-plume
of Florence Cleveland, and her husband George Markham Tweddell (1823-1903)
enjoyed a modest fame in the northeast of England during the second
half of the nineteenth century. Although this reputation slowly slipped
away in the next century, their work has recently received growing interest
again, especially in the Teesside and North Yorkshire Moors area of
Cleveland. Elizabeth is particularly admired for the sensitive way her
poems caught the speech of local people and expressed their daily concerns
in her dialect
poetry (Cum stay 't hame teneet). George left two legacies,
in the first for the way he encouraged 18th and 19th century North Country
writers by publishing their work and thus preserving it for posterity,
and in the second as an assiduous local historian. Unfortunately, present-day
historians are frustrated by the loss of his extensive notes after his
death in 1903 during one of the periodic floods of the North Yorkshire
town of Stokesley, which is where he and Elizabeth lived for most of
their lives. Most photos of such floods show deep water in the High
Street, but a family photo shows the hard work in clearing up afterwards
by the "flood-mopper
brigade".
This article is based on an as yet unfinished book written at the request
of their descendants to give more insights into the lives of their ancestors.
Despite the genealogical slant of the work, chapter two, which describes
the professional work of Elizabeth and George Markham Tweddell, has
created an interest beyond its intended audience. Although the borough
librarian of Middlesbrough, William Lillie, set up a collection of Tweddell
material in the early 20th century, with the family contributing material
for it, much still remains in private hands at the time of writing (2006).
The consequence of these sources being difficult to access has allowed
a number of misunderstandings to creep into contemporary commentaries
about the couple's work. The present paper, therefore, brings together
information about the Tweddells from both the public and family domain
to throw more light onto their lives and works
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