Early Life
John was born in Knaresborough, in the English county of Yorkshire, on 15 August 1717 into a poor family, the son of a horse breeder. At the age of six he lost his sight to a smallpox infection. The child was given fiddle lessons as a way of making provision for him to earn a living later in life. He became an accomplished fiddler and made this his livelihood in his early adult years. In 1732 Metcalf succeeded Morrison as fiddler at The Queen's Head (Harrogate) at the age of fifteen. Morrison had played there for the previous seventy years. Metcalf also had an affinity for horses and added to his living with some horse trading. Though blind, he took up swimming and diving, fighting cocks, playing cards, riding and even hunting. He knew his local area so well he got paid to work as a guide to visitors.
In 1739 Jack befriended Dorothy Benson, the daughter of the landlord of the Granby inn in Harrogate. When at the age of 21 he made another woman pregnant, Dorothy begged him not to marry the woman and Jack fled. He then spent some time living along the North Sea Coast between Newcastle and London, including lodging with his aunt in Whitby. He continued to work as a fiddler. When he heard Dorothy was to be married to a shoemaker, Jack returned and eloped with her. They married and went on to have four children. Dorothy died in 1778.
His fiddle playing gave him social connections and a patron, Colonel Liddell. In one much-repeated story the colonel decided to take his young protégé to London, 190 miles (310 km) away to the south. John found the colonel’s leisurely progress too slow and went ahead on foot. He reached London first and then returned to Yorkshire before the colonel. He managed this though on foot and blind and the story demonstrates Jack's determination and resourcefulness.
During the Second Jacobite rebellion of 1745 Jack’s connections got him the job of assistant to the recruiting sergeant who was raising a company for the King in the Knaresborough area. Jack went with the army to Scotland. He did not experience action but was employed moving guns over boggy ground. He was later captured but released.
After the war he used his Scottish experience to begin importing Aberdeen stockings to England.
Read more about this topic: John Metcalf (civil Engineer)
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