John McLellan, who lived in the early 19th century, was a Tyneside poet and songwriter.
He is thought to have written a dialect song that draws on the cholera outbreaks of the 1830s.
According to information published in 1840, McLellan wrote the song "Cobbler o' Morpeth", subtitled "Cholera Morbus".
The last led to 1,533 deaths in Newcastle, despite the opening of emergency hospitals, closure of public institutions such as theatres, quarantining of ships, cleansing streets with fire-engine hoses, excluding bodies from places of worship, and requiring graves to be at least six foot deep.
[2] The song, without comment except the author's name, reappeared in 1850 and was sung to the tune of "Bow Wow".