# List of 18th-century British working-class writers

This list focuses on published authors whose working-class status or background was part of their literary reputation. These were, in the main, writers without access to formal education, so they were either autodidacts or had mentors or patrons. This lack of standardized education gave rise to the notion of the "rough," "untutored," "natural" artist. There was a vogue among middle- and upper-class readers, particularly later in the eighteenth-century and throughout the Romantic era, for writers with an "interesting story of genius-in-rags," for "the Unschooled Sons" — and daughters — "of Genius."

## Writers

* Robert Anderson (1770–1833): "the Cumberland bard"
* Peter Aram (1667–1735)
* John Bancks (1709–1751)
* Anne Bannerman (1765–1829)
* Mary Barber (c.1685 – c.1755)
* John Bennet (fl. 1774—1796)
* Elizabeth Bentley (1767-1839): "the Norwich maiden"
* Thomas Blacklock (1721—1791)
* Robert Bloomfield (1766—1823)
* William Brimble (fl. 1765)
* Michael Bruce (1746–1767)
* John Frederick Bryant (1753-91)
* Robert Burns (1759-96)
* George Campbell (c. 1761-1818)
* Ann Candler (1740—1814): "the Suffolk cottager"
* Margaret Catchpole (1762–1819), convict chronicler deported to Australia
* Thomas Chatterton (1752—1770)
* Edward Chicken (1698–1746): "the Mayor of White Cross"
* Mary Collier (c. 1688 – 1762): "the washerwoman of Petersfield"
* Mary Davys (1674?–1732)
* Robert Dodsley (1703–1764)
* Stephen Duck (c. 1705 – 1756): "the Thresher poet"
* N. Elliot (fl. 1767—1776)
* William Falconer (1732 – c. 1770)
* John Forster (fl. 1797)
* John Freeth (1731-1808): Poet Freeth; John Free
* John Frizzle (fl. 1733)
* William Gifford (1756–1826)
* Jean Glover (1758–1801)
* Constantia Grierson (c. 1705 – 1732)
* Elizabeth Hands (1746-1815): "Daphne"
* Susannah Harrison (1752—1784)
* William Job (fl. 1785)
* Christopher Jones (fl. 1775—1782)
* Henry Jones (1721–1770)
* William Lane (b. 1744)
* Samuel Law (fl. 1772)
* Mary Leapor (1722—1746): "Mira"
* John Learmont (fl. 1791-1818)
* John Leyden (1775–1811)
* Isabella Lickbarrow (1784—1847)
* Janet Little (1759-1813): "the Scotch milkmaid"
* David Love (1750-1827)
* John Lucas (fl. 1776—1781)
* Mary Masters (c. 1694 – c. 1759)
* James Maxwell (1720–1800): the "poet in paisley"
* Christian Milne (1772—1816)
* Henry Nelson (fl. 1725–1729)
* William Newton (1750–1830): "the Peak minstrel"
* Thomas Olivers (1725—1799)
* Anne Ross (fl. 1791 to 1798)
* Edward Rushton (1756-1814)
* Cuthbert Shaw (1739—1771)
* David Sillar (1760-1830)
* Thomas Spence (1750-1814)
* John Stagg: "the Cumbrian minstrel"
* Robert Tatersal (fl. 1734–1735)
* Ellen Taylor (fl. 1792): "the Irish cottager"
* James Thompson (1763–1832)
* Samuel Thomson (1766-1816)
* William Vernon (born 1734)
* W. W. (‘A Weaver’) (fl. 1770-72)
* John Walker (fl. 1789)
* Ned Ward (1667–1731)
* James Eyre Weekes (fl. 1743—1753)
* Phyllis Wheatley (c. 1753 – 1784)
* James Wheeler (c. 1718-88)
* Edward Williams (1747–1826): Iolo Morganwg
* Alexander Wilson (1766-1813): the "Father of American Ornithology"
* Anne Wilson (fl. 1778—1783)
* Gavin Wilson (fl. 1788)
* Jane Wiseman (1673 – 1717)
* James Woodhouse (1735–1820): the "shoe-maker poet"
* Ann Wylie (fl. 1741)
* Ann Yearsley (1753–1806): the "milk-maid poet"; the "Clifton milkwoman"