Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Denham, Michael Aislabie
DENHAM, MICHAEL AISLABIE (d. 1859), collector of folklore, a native of Bowes, Yorkshire, was engaged in business at Hull in the early part of his life, and ultimately settled as a general merchant at Piersebridge, near Gainford, Durham, where he died on 10 Sept. 1859. He was an industrious collector of local proverbial lore. His works are: 1. ‘A Collection of Proverbs and Popular Sayings relating to the Seasons, the Weather, and Agricultural Pursuits, gathered chiefly from oral tradition,’ London, 1846, printed by the Percy Society. 2. ‘The Slogans, and War and Gathering Cries of the North of England,’ 1850, and with additions, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1851, 4to. 3. ‘A Collection of Bishoprick Rhymes, Proverbs, and Sayings,’ to which he afterwards added four tracts of the same kind, completing the last about 1858. 4. ‘Cumberland Rhymes, Proverbs, and Sayings,’ in four parts, the last of which appeared in 1854. 5. A similar work relating to Westmoreland, in two parts, 1858, &c. 6. ‘Roman Imperial Gold Coin,’ being a description of a coin of the Emperor Maximus [Durham (?) 1856], 8vo, under the pseudonym ‘Archæus.’ 7. ‘Folklore of the North,’ in six parts, whereof the last appeared in 1856. 8. ‘Folklore, or a Collection of Local Rhymes, Proverbs, Sayings, Prophecies, Slogans, &c., relating to Northumberland, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Berwick-on-Tweed;’ Richmond, Yorkshire, 1858, 8vo. The impression was limited to fifty copies. 9. ‘Minor Tracts on Folklore,’ to the number of twenty, commencing about 1849 and terminating about 1854. 10. ‘A Classified Catalogue of the Antiquarian Tomes, Tracts, and Trifles’ which had been edited by himself, 1859.
[Gent. Mag. ccvii. 539; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. xi. 163, 5th ser. iii. 170; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), Suppl. p. 63.]