John Kelday Smith [1] [2] (c1834-1889) was a Scottish-born Geordie bellhanger and songwriter in the middle and late 19th century, many of the songs being in the local Geordie dialect. His most famous song is possibly "Since aw hev been away".
John Kelday Smith was born [3] c1834 in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland, the second son of three of Thomas Smith (b 1804) a sailor, and Sibella Kelday (1802 - 1872), a laundress, but moved to Newcastle as an infant.
According to successive National Censuses, by the age of 17, he was a sailor, presumably on his father's ship, as Thomas was by this time a ship's master. However, he established a business as a whitesmith / bellhanger and by 1871 was a master bellhanger, employing two apprentices in Shield St, Shieldfield, Newcastle. Bellhangers were employed in ship construction as well as bell-hanging and mechanical wiring for bells.
In 1880, he married Mary Thompson (1857 - 1922) of Penrith, Cumberland. They had seven children between 1879 and 1888, of whom five survived infancy. His son, nephew and grandson all bore his name.
John Kelday Smith died on 12 June 1889 at his home Temperance Row, Shieldfield, Newcastle, age 54.
He wrote many local songs and articles that appeared in "Charter's comic publication", "Ward's Almanack" and the "Weekly Chronicle". He also won a prize for a song about the Gateshead Working Men's Club and for an essay on working men's clubs in general.
A few details of Smith appeared in "The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend"—printed and published for proprietors of the "Newcastle Weekly Chronicle" by Walter Scott, Newcastle upon Tyne—at about the time of his death.
These include :-