His best known works are probably "The Quayside Shaver" and "The Skipper’s Wedding" William Stephenson (senior) was born in Gateshead on 28 June 1763 and was one of the earliest of the Tyneside songwriters.
[citation needed] He became an apprentice with James Atkinson, clock and watchmaker, of Gateshead and continued working there afterwards until a severe accident disabled him.
After a long time out of work, and a lengthy spell in the country to recuperate, he decided to change his trade.
Being an educated man and something of a literary scholar, he opened a school on the Church Stairs, Gateshead and became a schoolmaster.
The principal poem is entitled "The Retrospect" and introduces and deals with the eccentric and well known characters of Gateshead, as he knew it in his youth.