7 July 2025

John Clare was born on 13 July 1793, four years after the fall of the Bastille. He lived in a village called Helpstone in Northamptonshire. There may have been about three hundred inhabitants.  His mother, Ann, was illiterate. Although his father, Parker Clare, was an agricultural labourer, he loved to sing folk songs and retell the folktales which had been passed down from one generation to another.

John Clare went to a dame school in the village when he was five. His education was complete at twelve. During this time, he was removed from school periodically to work as a thresher with his dad. He too became an agricultural labourer – ploughing, reaping, threshing, tending the horses and even gardening on the local estate, Burghley House. He also loved music. During his life, he collected over 250 folk songs and played the fiddle.

At first, he was embarrassed about his poetry and hid it away. But it became a compulsion. He always kept a pencil in his pocket and used to drop behind a hedge and scribble on the crown of his hat. Paper was always in scarce supply! Four volumes of his poetry were published during his lifetime. On four occasions, he visited London and was feted as ‘the peasant poet’, some even describing him as the ‘English Burns’. The Bard loved his poems.

In 1820, he married Patty Turner. A literary friend sent him a Cremona violin as a wedding gift. In due course, they had nine children. All but one was literate. Despite the fact that some of his poetry was published and some of the local aristocracy had helped him financially, the ever increasing size of his family put a strain onhis finances. He always struggled to rise above the poverty of his birth!