Blackner however had strong natural abilities including a facility for making rhymes, and a fluency of speech together with being tall and commanding.

He published several pamphlets, including one in 1805 on the Utility of Commerce,' and in 1815 he issued his History of Nottingham (pp.

[3] His works are much referred to today by local historians, moreover they record interesting snippets such as the Brotherhood of the Chair.

According to Blackner, who himself was suspected of involvement with the Luddite group,[5] the name came from a youth called Ludlam who when asked by his father to square his needles just took a hammer and beat them to a heap.

[6] He was the landlord for some years of the Rancliffe Arms, Sussex Street, Nottingham, and died there on 22 December 1816.