Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Marshall, John (1757-1825)
MARSHALL, JOHN (1757–1825), village pedagogue, son of John Marshall, a timber merchant, was born in 1757 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and received a good classical education at the grammar school there, under the Rev. Hugh Moises [q. v.] After the early death of his parents he lost both money and friends in some disastrous commercial ventures; adopted, but soon tired of a seafaring life; and, in August 1804, set out from his native town with the intention of seeking a post as a village schoolmaster in the lake district. Through a friend named Crossthwaite, proprietor of 'the Museum of Natural and Artificial Curiosities' at Keswick, he obtained a post in the neighbouring hamlet of Newlands, and began teaching in the chapel vestry at a salary of 10l., with board and lodging, 'at which,' he says, 'I was as much elated as if I had been appointed a teller of the exchequer.' In 1805 he filled a vacancy in the school at Lowes water, with a slightly increased salary. There, 'in the neat cottage of Mary of Buttermere' notorious on account of her unfortunate marriage to 'that accomplished villain, 'Colonel' Hope [see Hatfield, John]), he describes himself as spending the evenings after a convivial fashion in the company of a friendly curate. In 1817 he opened a school at Newburn; in 1819 he sought shelter in the Westgate Hospital, and in January 1821 was appointed governor (or head almoner) of the Jesus or Freeman's Hospital in the Manor Chare, Newcastle. There he died, on 19 Aug. 1825. He is said to have much fugitive verse, but only published 'The Village Pedagogue, a Poem, and other lesser Pieces; together with a Walk from Newcastle to Keswick,' 2nd ed. Newcastle, 1817, 8vo. The last piece, in prose, is partly autobiographical, and the whole volume rhapsodically descriptive of the lake scenery. There is attributed to him in the 'British Museum Catalogue,' 'The Right of the People of England to Annual Parliaments vindicated. … From the most authentic records,' Newcastle, 1819. This was probably the production of a namesake, John Marshall, a Newcastle printer. The sister of Marshall's father was mother of the Rev. George Walker (1735-1807) [q. v.]
[Newcastle Magazine, October 1825; Richardson's Table Book, iii. 316; Mackenzie's Hist. of Newcastle, p. 628; Newcastle Courant, 27 Aug. 1835.]