Edward Haynes, 1925– ?
Ted Haynes was born on 3rd February 1925. He was the eldest son of Mary Ann Hynes, née Millis, and her husband Ted, a basket maker. Both were Romany Gypsies.
At the time of the September 1939 Register fourteen-year-old Ted was with his mother, three sisters and one brother in hop-pickers’ huts at “Spelmonden Farm, Hazel Street”, in the Tonbridge Rural District – probably Hazel Street Farm, Spelmonden Road, Horsmonden. While his younger siblings were “At School” or “Under School Age”, Ted’s occupation was given as “Seeking Work, Not Previously Employed”.
David Stacey met and befriended Ted Haynes at the White Hart at Claygate in the early 1970s. Stacey writes
A regular visitor was Ted Haynes, who had many songs and who listened to, and was clearly interested in, the songs I contributed. Ted was a big man and he kept his eye on me, even warning me one evening to stay by his side because there was a fight brewing. Luckily the battle, a grudge match, didn’t boil over that night although, a week or two later when I wasn’t in the pub, all hell broke loose and someone was thrown bodily through the pub’s plate glass window!1
Recognising Stacey’s interest in the old songs, Ted introduced him to his mother, who was subsequently recorded by Mike Yates. In connection with first meeting Mary Ann, Yates wrote
I had been told that her son, Ted, was a singer and I drove down to Sussex one Sunday afternoon, looking for his trailer. Eventually, I found Ted and his trailer in a field. He was busy and directed me to his mother, who ‘knew all the old songs’. Mary lived in High Street, Brighton, where, according to Ted, she was known to ‘everybody’.2
He does not appear to have recorded any songs from Ted.
- David Stacey, A Gorgio amongst Travellers, Musical Traditions Enthusiasms No 39, 2003, https://mustrad.co.uk/enth39.htm ↩︎
- Mike Yates, booklet notes for Here’s Luck to a Man… An Anthology of Gypsy Songs & Music
from South-East England, Musical Traditions, MTCD320, 2003, https://mustrad.co.uk/articles/luck.htm#sing ↩︎
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