Last November I wrote about Robert Rose who was known as the “Bard of Colour” in 1840′s Manchester.

I have had some fantastic news. A group of people are documenting the headstones at the Manchester General Cemetery at Harpurhey. You can visit their website here.

Following my research into Robert Rose, in March I wrote to the group to see if they could tell me whereabouts in the Cemetery I could find Robert Rose’s grave and hopefully his headstone.

Unfortunately the news wasn’t good: there didn’t seem to be a headstone for that grave number and it looked as if there was just rubble under the surface soil. It seemed the headstone might have been vandalised over the years and ended up amongst piles of broken stones or even as part of a wall around the grounds.

However the Project added some details about Robert Rose to the list of notable burials on its website.

However, this week they contacted me to say the grave and headstone had been found and I have been lucky enough to see the stone. It seems it was one that lay flat all along and was hidden a bit more deeply than they thought. Here’s my sketch of it after a six inch layer of soil was removed temporarily on May 13, 2012.

I wonder how long it is since anyone saw it? The Cemetery buildings were demolished in 1959.

It’s a simple, attractive design, in great condition, and this is the inscription:

In Memory of

ROBERT ROSE,
the Bard of Colour,
who departed this Life
June 19th, 1849, Aged 45 Years.

I’d rather have my tomb bedew’d at eve,
With the lone orphans or the good man’s tear,
Who softly stole at twilight there to grieve,
And sobb’d aloud… THE FRIEND OF MAN RESTS HERE!
I’d rather have this quiet humble fame
Than hollow echo of an empty name.

Having read the various descriptions of the funeral and headstone, it really brings the history to life when you see the monument itself in the present day. We’re so lucky this has survived when so many have been lost.

The headstone has been covered over again to keep it safe and well-preserved. Meanwhile my research into Mr Rose continues.

As Manchester City Council cuts services and grants to various events, it’s essential that the public is able to have an honest debate about what should be funded.

The organisers and City Council exaggerate crowd numbers for this parade enormously, probably by a factor of ten, while the media fail to scrutinise and report accurately.

These photographs below show the true level of attendance at the 2012 Manchester Irish Festival Parade as it passed through the city centre on 11 March.

On the event’s website, the organisers claimed: “100,000 people are expected to flock to the city centre and line the three mile route” and that this was “one of Europe’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day Parades.”

Since the parade, they’ve continued. Claiming that: “Organisers said an estimated 12,000 were packed into Albert Square alone — with more than 100,000 lining the full parade route.” See below for more analysis of these figures.

It isn’t surprising that the spin has continued after the event. I was first alerted to this last year by a fellow photographer who had gone along and afterwards expressed amazement at the low turn out, as compared to the misleading hype. So the small crowds this year aren’t anything new…
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You may struggle to identify this location at first glance because it looks so different. Certainly I got a big surprise last Sunday as I turned the corner from behind the Central Library.
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Wealthy black gentleman was a poet who lived in Salford.

IF Mr. Robert Rose, who calls himself “the bard of colour,” would have taken repeated hints, we should not now have had occasion to request him plainly, as we now do, to cease writing to us, or to any member of our establishment. We have no intention of noticing his book, and do not desire any communication with him.

The Manchester Guardian, 30 September 1840, Notice to Correspondents (a column in which they respond to letters from readers)

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