GUELPH – Guelph author Ed Butts has released his latest book, The Blacksmith Hereward Kirby Cockin of Guelph, detailing the largely forgotten literary achievements and words of Guelph poet and journalist Hereward Kirby Cockin.
Cockin was born in Frinzinghall, a small community now part of the city of Bradford in Yorkshire, England. He moved to Canada in 1872 at the age of 18.
“He worked for a couple Toronto publications for a while … he was a big fan of cricket, and he liked to play cricket,” said Butts.
“His team had come to Guelph to play cricket against the local team and he really liked Guelph.”
It is said that Cockin moved to Guelph because he “liked the English element of the town”.
Cockin began writing a column in the Guelph Mercury in 1901, with his last column being published in 1908.
“He gave himself the pen name, the blacksmith, after the statue,” said Butts, referring to the old blacksmith statue that used to be located in St. George’s Square.
The statue has since been moved and can be found behind the Sleeman Centre.
Butts writes his own column for Guelph Today, and while looking back through the microfilm archives of the Mercury he began to notice columns written by ‘the blacksmith’.
“I started noticing these columns by a guy who called himself the blacksmith,” said Butts.
“So I started reading them and I just sort of became intrigued because he commented on a lot of local issues and on things that were going on in the world at the time, and some of the things that he had to say I found them kind of funny.”
Butts dedicated countless hours of research, sifting through past columns, biographies, as well as reaching out to Toronto publications and the University of Guelph, to complete his book.
The book features three sections, a biography, poetry and quotations from his columns.
“Some of his poetry is humorous and some of it is, I think, very typical of British Empire poetry of the time,” Butts told the Advertiser. “He was very much British and of the empire, God save the Queen and all that sort of thing.”
Butt said the book offers readers a glimpse into the past and offers insight on Guelph as it was 100 years ago.
“If you read these selections that I’ve taken from his column, it gives you sort of an insight into Guelph of that time,” said Butts. “You get a feeling of what Guelph was like over 100 years ago.”
“I think just the fact that he’s not very well known now sort of makes him underrated,” he added.
“Because in his time he rubbed shoulders with some of the people who were the elite of Canadian literati of that day.”
The Blacksmith Hereward Kirby Cockin of Guelph is available at the Bookshelf in Guelph or by contacting Butts directly at edpbutts@yahoo.com.
