Francis Love’s poems

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iain
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Francis Love’s poems

Post by iain »

As has been mentioned elsewhere on the forums, Francis Love (b.1781) was a weaver from Stevenston who was celebrated locally (among masons at least) as a poet and songwriter.

I read through a small book of his poems and songs recently. He’s not the world’s greatest poet and I suspect that the reason he got a book of his work published (presumably with the help of the Masonic fraternity) was because he was a well-established Mason and many of his songs are about Masons and Masonic lodges. One notable exception to this is his piece ‘In Praise of Sheep’. The man was so passionate about sheep that it moved him to song. I suspect though that his passion for sheep stemmed from the fact that, as described in the song, Masonic aprons were made from sheep hide. (Or perhaps I’ve got it the wrong way round and his love of Masonry stemmed from the fact that it allowed him to wear sheep paraphernalia.) Ironically, his song about sheep is probably one of his most important pieces - the description of all the uses of sheep has some historical interest. Also interesting is the fact that the verse about Masonry is essentially repeated, with only a word changed here and there. Perhaps this isn’t a printing or collation error, but an attempt to make the song more ‘Masonic’. (‘It’s not Masonic enough’ was probably a common complaint in 19th century Stevenston).

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Also of historical interest is his song about Stevenston, in which he mentions the important industries of the day.
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He wrote a few epitaphs, including this one on a man whose most celebrated virtue was apparently that he wasn’t a fussy eater.
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Francis Love also wrote his own epitaph, but it is not quite as charming as his preface to his book of songs and poems, which he wrote knowing the book wouldn’t be published until after he died.
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Meg
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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by Meg »

Great find Iain - what a wealth of poetic talent we have in the three toons.

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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by down south »

Francis Love is commemorated in one of Stevenston's Blue Plaques, and there are some brief biographical details of him here on the North Ayrshire heritage trails website:

http://www.naheritagetrails.co.uk/herit ... islove.php

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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by Hughie »

Thanks for this reminder, Iain. We had a page about Francis Love on the Stevenston pages of our old home pages, I'll see if I can add it to the Stevenston pages of the new site in the coming weeks - having a wee holiday.
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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by Penny Tray »

He looks an interesting character as depicted in the following link:-

http://www.169online.com/Francislove.html
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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by drlove52 »

Good day everyone,
My name is Peter Francis Love and I am the four times great-grandson of the Francis Love in this thread. I live in the State of Connecticut in the United States and my older brother, William, and I have been doing some deeper dives into our family history. I am in possession of the silver snuff box mentioned in this thread and my brother has a copy of a book of his poems from the original publication date. I would be interested in any and all information related to Francis Love that anyone would care to share. In particular, as a singer myself, I would be interested to hear about any sheet music that showed Francis Love's poems set to music. It may be of interest to people on this thread that my father, Donald Drewery Love and my mother Shirley Cecile Josephine Atkins represented the marriage of two musical traditions- Francis Love's contributions to poetry and song and that of Sir Ivor Atkins, the organist and choir master at Worcester Cathedral for fifty plus years and the promoter of Sir Edward Elgar at a time when not many people had good feelings for Elgar.
Thank you for any information you might be able to share.
Sincerely,
Peter Love
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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by stivis »

there are a couple of plaques in Stevenston dedicated to Francis Love they have the bar code app on them which I assume give more details,
One is on the Masonic Temple'

https://www.naheritagetrails.co.uk/heri ... islove.php


http://www.169online.com/frances-love
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Re: Francis Love’s poems

Post by Hughie »

Francis Love and family are recorded in all three of Landsborough's early censuses - prior to the official state run censuses.
https://www.threetowners.com/1819-census/

You might also find mention of him here using the unique word or words in search like "Wandhouse" or "Wand House".
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