Ben Boucher

[1] According to Clarke, Boucher "took up all sorts of sad, grim, and pleasurable subjects, from the hanging of some wretch at Stafford Gaol, to a dog, or cock fight at Sedgley, or Tipton".

Old shoes to sell, there stands close by, With shabby strings—the same they tie; If in those shoes you walk about, The bottoms soon will tumble out—On a horse kept in poor condition by a local tailor:[1] His back it is both long and thin, His belly has got no corn therein; He looks both naked and forlorn, And takes the whip instead of corn.On a Waterloo Veteran:[1] Charley was young and in his prime, A courting went to widow Pincher; She was shy, and fair, and fine, He was constant and no flincher.

The time arrived when they got married, She had houses, and cows, Sirs, four, But Charley soon them all did swallid, And left her in an evil hour; He went and drank just like an ass, Then came home as you may guess And found her dead; but was not wise, So he’d make her do the exercise; The women did not like such jokes, So they sent off for T. Pitt Stokes— Who neck and crop to the Workhouse took him And in the dungeon they did hook him.

[7] A newspaper article quotes the chorus of a poem written as an "election squib" around 1832:[8] Each proud upstart Tory Was top full of glory Whilst filling his belly with tripe.On the local Radical politician Samuel Cook, who owned a draper's shop in Dudley High Street, he wrote:[1] In Dudley town there lives a man Who deals in silk and clothes, sir; If you trust him your mutton to Cook, He’ll be sure to spoil your broth, sir.John Williams was a draper of the town who had supported reform and had been the Chairman of the reformist electoral campaign for Worcestershire in 1831.

[1] For the 1832 Dudley campaign, Williams supported the anti-reform candidate, inspiring Boucher to write: Where is big John the draper gone, Chairman at last election, The Bowling Green, that source of spleen Which led to his detection.On the Dudley Election of 1834 (won by Thomas Hawkes)[1] Hawkes to Cape—ll gave a note, And for five pounds bought his vote; He therefore thus did change his coat And to the Tories gave his vote.An oil painting of Boucher was made during his lifetime, reportedly at the Miners Arms public house.

As part of the refurbishment of Dudley Market, a bronze statue of Ben Boucher, designed by artist Steve Field and sculpted by John McKenna, was placed on one of a pair of specially-built benches near the fountain at one end of the marketplace in 2015.