John Brodie Gilroy
British songwriter
John Brodie Gilroy (1818–1853) was thought to be born on Tyneside. He was a part-time songwriter and full-time printing foreman.
Life
John Brodie Gilroy was born in 1818, it is assumed in the Newcastle upon Tyne area of England. Very little is known of his life except what can be gleaned from Allen's 1891 book of Tyneside songs, which in turn comes from an article in the "Weekly Chronicle"
He was a well-read man and was employed as a foreman at Lambert's Printing Office in Grey Street, Newcastle. He was known as a "man of ready wit and great natural ability, warm-hearted and generous even beyond his means". He was also known for having a fiery temper and would say such extraordinary things when vexed or annoyed "that even the recipients of these blessings could not refrain from laughing". It was said that "few men led a more pure and sinless life than he".
John Brodie Gilroy died at the beginning of 1853 at thirty-five years of age and, eccentric to the last, was buried "at his request, with his trousers and boots on" at Westgate Hill Cemetery
, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Works
He was the author of the extremely popular song at the time called "The Noodle", possibly his only song.
In the early nineteenth century various volunteer forces were formed, among them the "Newcastle Volunteer Corps of Yeomanry".
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This entry incorporates text from “John Brodie Gilroy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.