Elliott , Ebenezer , 1781-1849 , poet and merchant x Corn Law Rhymer

Ebenezer Elliott was born in Rotherham, Yorkshire, and initially worked at his father's foundry there. After the firm's collapse, he moved to Sheffield and started a cutlery business with money borrowed from his wife's family. He was actively opposed to the Corn Laws and founded the Sheffield Anti-Corn Law Society in 1834. Having written poetry since his youth, Elliott was actively interested in literature as well as business and politics. He published several volumes of Corn Law Rhymes in the early 1830s and consquently became known as the Corn Law Rhymer.