Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/71

 He was the author of:
 * 1) ‘John Railton, or Read and Think,’ London, 1854, 16mo.
 * 2) ‘The Life of Cardinal Richelieu,’ London, 1854, 8vo.
 * 3) ‘The Great Sieges of History,’ London, 1855, 8vo.



ROBY, JOHN (1793–1850), author of ‘The Traditions of Lancashire,’ son of Nehemiah Roby and Mary Aspull, his wife, was born at Wigan, Lancashire, on 5 Jan. 1793. His father was for many years master of the grammar school at Haigh, near Wigan, and his eldest brother, twenty-seven years his senior, was [q. v.] John was educated chiefly at home, and in a desultory way. His natural tastes were for music, painting, poetry, and the drama. While yet a child he played the organ at the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel at Wigan, and afterwards for fifteen years acted as organist at the independent chapel at Rochdale. Jerdan, who with other literary men found in him a generous benefactor, states that he had the best ear for music that he ever met.

In 1819 he joined at Rochdale as managing partner the banking firm of Fenton, Eccles, Cunliffe, & Roby. For this position he had, among other qualifications, that of a remarkably clear head for arithmetical calculations. He retired in 1847, through failing health, and removed to Malvern. Roby was drowned in the wreck of the Orion, near Portpatrick, Wigtonshire, on 18 June 1850, while on his way from Liverpool to Glasgow, and was buried at Providence Chapel, High Street, Rochdale. He married, in 1816, the youngest daughter of James Bealey of Derrickens, near Blackburn, by whom he had nine children. She died on 3 Jan. 1848, and in the following year he married Elizabeth Ryland Dent, who survived. There is a portrait of Roby in the Rochdale Free Library; another is engraved in the third edition of the ‘Traditions,’ and a third in the ‘Remains.’

Roby's first acknowledged publication was ‘Sir Bertram, a Poem in Six Cantos,’ Blackburn, 1815, but two anonymous parodies on Scott, ‘Jokeby, a Burlesque on “Rokeby,”’ 1812, and ‘The Lay of the Poor Fiddler, a Parody on “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,”’ 1814, are ascribed to him (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vi. 257). The work by which he is best known, ‘Traditions of Lancashire,’ was issued at London in 1829, 2 vols. A second series followed in 1831, 2 vols. Later editions were issued in 1840, 1843, 1867, and subsequently. The early editions were beautifully illustrated by E. Finden, after drawings by [q. v.] Crofton Croker contributed one of the pieces, the ‘Bargaist or Boggart.’ The tales are rather inflated and overwrought, but are valuable for the local traditions which they embody, though some of the narratives are mainly drawn from the author's fancy. Sir W. Scott had a good opinion of them. Roby also wrote:
 * 1) ‘Lorenzo, or a Tale of Redemption,’ Rochdale, 1820; of this volume of heavy verse three editions came out in the same year.
 * 2) ‘The Duke of Mantua, a Tragedy,’ 1823.
 * 3) ‘Seven Weeks in Belgium, Switzerland, Piedmont, Lombardy,’ &c., 1838, 2 vols.
 * 4) ‘Legendary and Poetical Remains,’ including some of his contributions to ‘Blackwood’ and ‘Fraser, posthumously published in 1854, with a memoir by his widow.



ROBY, WILLIAM (1766–1830), congregational divine, born at Haigh, near Wigan, on 23 March 1766, was eldest brother of [q. v.] His parents belonged to the established church. He was educated at the Wigan grammar school, of which his father was master; he himself became classical master at the grammar school of Bretherton, Lancashire. He owed his change of religious conviction to the preaching of (d. 1804) [q. v.] Having begun to preach in villages round Bretherton, Roby resigned his mastership to enter as a student in Lady Huntingdon's college at Trevecca, Brecknockshire. There he only remained six weeks. After preaching at Worcester, Reading, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, he became Johnson's assistant at St. Paul's Chapel, Wigan, and on Johnson's removal (1789) he became sole pastor, being ordained in London on 20 Sept. 1789. In 1795 he undertook the charge of the congregational church in Cannon Street, Manchester. He began with an attendance of one hundred and fifty, but raised a large congregation, and made his influence felt throughout the county. ‘To no man,’ says Halley, ‘more than to Mr. Roby was nonconformity indebted for its revival and rapid growth in Lancashire.’ In Nightingale's volumes his name constantly appears as a planter of new churches. On 27 June 1797 he went to Scotland to conduct a mission in conjunction with [q. v.] On 3 Dec. 1807 a new chapel was opened for him in Grosvenor Street,