George Heath was born in the village of Gratton in the Staffordshire Moorlands on March 9th 1844. He was educated at the village school and then went to work on his father's farm. Later he was apprenticed to a local builder and while working on the renovation of the church in the neighbouring village of Horton he caught a chill which developed into consumption. Just prior to this, in 1863, he had decided to become a poet. What prompted the decision is unknown beyond an entry in his diary which states: “fancy indulged in wildly beautiful dreams to the curl of the shavings and rasp of the saw”. Ironically the illness which Heath contracted and which led to his early death, also served to concentrate his mind on the task of becoming a p…
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Citation: Regan, Patrick. "George Heath". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 November 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5203, accessed 26 November 2024.]