Tim bobbin: Who Was Tim Bobbin?

Tim Bobbin was the pen name of John Collier (1708–1786), a schoolmaster, artist, caricaturist and writer. Born in Urmston, he spent much of his working life teaching in Milnrow, near Rochdale. So why would I be writing about him I hear you ask? He became known for his humorous writing in Lancashire dialect and his sharply satirical drawings which were mainly poking fun at people across the social classes. His best-known works include:

"A View of the Lancashire Dialect, also known as Tummus and Meary (1746).

Human Passions Delineated (1773), combining caricatures with satirical verse.

Chetham’s Library describes him as a pioneer of Lancashire dialect writing and says his caricatures found a ready market in local inns." (One coming back to its home at the Old Bridge Inn very soon)
Sources used for this information: Chetham’s Library and John Collier biography.

Tim was known as a Milnrow school teacher and became renowned over t'ill for his Lancashire prose and engravings. His connection with Ripponden and Kebroyd came in the early 1750's, he worked and stayed at Kebroyd Mills and was head clerk for Richard Hill. He worked for him for financial reasons but, being a free spirit, he detested work. Tim was a man of many talents and they included musician, poet, artist, pub sign painter and stone carver of the local grave stones! Richard, his boss, was the son of the rich textile trader Samuel 'Sam' Hill of Soyland or Soland as we now know it was known as back int day.

My Dad Tim would describe Tim Bobbin to me as a child when I asked about his painting on the wall, he described him as "a bit of a rascal" and even though he reportedly supervised planting at St Bartholomew’s (showing his good natured side) he was often frequenting local pubs and having a few flagons too many! One such pub would be ours and another The Black Lion; now demolished, it was at the bottom of Old Bank, Ripponden, attached to what is now used as the community centre owned by St Bartholomew's church. Local historians account that Tim Bobbin supervised the plantings of the yew trees around St Bartholomew's in 1751 giving him a specific connection with the graveyard sadly though I can't find any reference today as to wether any remaining trees in the graveyard have a connection to him still.

Famous for painting caricatures of wealthy people locally, in kind jest of course! we, are fortunate to have a painting of the man himself, the one you can see above this blog today, giving us a good idea of his cheeky expression!

In short: he wasn’t Ripponden-born, but local histories place him living and working at nearby Kebroyd in the early 1750s and supervising churchyard planting in Ripponden itself. Those local details are supported by published heritage accounts; I haven’t checked the original eighteenth century records behind them but if I do do then I will write a second part to this series. What I did find was when he left Ripponden and took himself back over Blackstone Edge to his home town of Milnrow he was recorded to say in true Tim Bobbin style, "Twelve teams of devils shall not bring me hither again!" haha! I'll definitely be using this line at some point after it made me lol. xx