William Armstrong (1804-????) was a Newcastle upon Tyne concert hall songwriter and performer of the 19th century. His most famous song is probably The Newcassel Worthies .
William Armstrong was born c1804 in Painter Heugh [1] (or Hugh), (which was an old lane dating from medieval Newcastle, a lane joining lower part of Dean Street to the higher part of Pilgrim Street), the name possibly derived from the fact that ships tied up here in the tidal parts of the Lort Burn (now filled).
His father was a shoemaker owning a business in Dean Street.
William himself was apprenticed to a Mr Wardle, a painter of White Cross (the site of a previous market cross dating from 400–500 years previous) in Newgate Street.
After his apprenticeship he worked as a journeyman. (It is not known whether he actual achieved the degree of "master" in his trade).
He was admired as the singer "Willie Armstrong" as well as being appreciated as a songwriter, and was known as a performer who enjoyed singing his own songs.
He moved to London c1833-34 after which, very little is known of him or his life.
Many of his songs were of the times, of the Colliers and the Keelboatmen, or humorous occurrences.
Taken as a whole, the collection of songs become a social history of the times as well as a feast of dialect materials
Some of the publications containing his works are :--
The following is a list of just some of his songs :-
Robert Emery was a Tyneside songwriter, born in Edinburgh in Scotland. Possibly his best known work is "Hydrophobie", an example of Geordie dialect.
R. Charlton, who lived in the early nineteenth century, was a Tyneside poet/songwriter.
Phill Hodgson was a Tyneside songwriter, who, according to the information given by John Bell in his Rhymes of Northern Bards published in 1812, has the short song "Jesmond Mill" attributed to his name.
Cecil Pitt was a Tyneside songwriter, who lived in the early nineteenth century
W & T Fordyce was a nineteenth century firm of publishers based in the early years at 48 Dean Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, which later moved to 15 Grey Street, Newcastle. It was responsible for the editing, publishing, printing selling of the book The Tyne Songster.
The Tyne Songster is a chapbook style songbook, giving the lyrics of local, now historical songs, with a few bits of other information. It was published by W. & T. Fordyce of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1840.
Robinson Peter Sutherland was a 19th-century English author, poet and songwriter in Tyneside.
William Watson (1796–1840) was a Tyneside concert hall singer and songwriter in the early 19th century. His most famous song is "Dance To Thy Daddy".
John Marshall was a late 18th and early 19th century publisher and printer in Tyneside, England. He also owned a bookshop and circulating library, and was a purveyor of tea, in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Marshall's Collection of Songs, Comic, Satirical is a chapbook style songbook, giving the lyrics of local, now historical songs, with a few bits of other information. It was published by John Marshall in 1827.
William Stephenson (senior) (1763–1836) was a Geordie (from Gateshead) watchmaker, schoolteacher, poet and songwriter, and father of William Stephenson (junior). His best known works are probably "The Quayside Shaver" and "The Skipper’s Wedding"
William Stephenson (junior) (2 September 1797 – 20 May 1838) was a Geordie printer, publisher, auctioneer, poet and songwriter born in Gateshead, the son of William Stephenson (senior).
The Newcastle Eccentrics were a group of unrelated people who lived in and around the centre of Newcastle and its Quayside between the end of the 18th and early/mid 19th century.
Many Geordie songwriters used aliases, for whatever reason. This article lists many of these aliases, giving in some cases, where known, the real name, and in others, some of the songs or poems attributed to them.
The Tyneside Songster (or to give it its full title – "The Tyneside Songster containing a splendid collection of Local Songs by popular Authors, in the Northumbrian Dialect Printed by J W Swanston, 67 & 69 St Andrews Street, Newcastle and may be had at all Booksellers, Newsagents, &c" is a chapbook of Geordie folk song consisting of 39 songs, crammed into its meagre 16 pages, and published in the 1880s by J. W. Swanston, a Newcastle printer and publisher.
The Newcastle Songster, by John Marshall is a volume of six chapbooks, giving the lyrics of local, now historical songs, but virtually no other information. It was published by John Marshall in stages between 1812 and 1826.