Ebenezer Rhodes

Ebenezer Rhodes (1762–1839) was an English topographer, publisher, master cutler and artist. He became a prominent historian of Derbyshire.

Life Born in Masborough near Rotherham, in 1762, Rhodes served a seven-year apprenticeship in the cutlery trade from 1777,

In 1818 Rhodes published the first part of a folio edition of his Peak Scenery, or the Derbyshire Tourist, dedicated to the Duke of Devonshire and illustrated by F.L.Chantrey. This was followed by the first part of Yorkshire Scenery, although other parts were never published. In 1837 Rhodes issued a small Derbyshire Tourist's Guide and Travelling Companion. All his books involved him in financial loss, but his Peak Scenery remains a standard work. Apart from these ventures, he turned his attention to journalism, and for several years edited the Sheffield Independent.

Bankruptcy Meanwhile his business failed and he became a bankrupt. A fund was raised for his support, to which Montgomery subscribed £100, while Chantrey privately gave Rhodes £50 a year. Thereafter he still made a small income preparing steel plates for engravers by a novel process. He died a poor man, on 16 December 1839, at his home in Victoria Street, Sheffield.

Publications Essay on the Manufacture, Choice and Management of a Razor, by E Rhodes Cutler, Sheffield, 1809 Peak Scenery, or the Derbyshire Tourist, dedicated to the Duke of Devonshire and illustrated by F.L.Chantrey, 1824 Yorkshire Scenery, Part 1, London, 1826 Derbyshire Tourist's Guide and Travelling Companion, 1837 The Poets of Yorkshire (Rhodes was included), by William Cartwright Newsam, 1845