Ann Scamp, née Jones, 1873–1940
Ann was the second wife of William Scamp, and the mother of the singers Phoebe Smith and Charlie Scamp. She was the source of several of the songs in Phoebe Smith’s repertoire, including ‘Young Ellender’ and ‘Higher Germany’.
In 1921, when the family were camping at Mystole near Chilham, they were listed in the census under their alternative surname of Matthews. Ann was 53 years old, and her birth place was given as Forest Row (between East Grinsted and Crowborough), in Sussex. Her occupation was given as “Licence Hawker”, although asked by Peter Kennedy if her mother was a travelling person, Phoebe replied “Well, not exactly, really”. “Betwixt and between?” suggested Kennedy – “Yeah, my grandfather, was a bailiff on a farm”. Kennedy later noted that Phoebe’s mother was “Annie Jones, a wardrobe dealer from Crowborough, Sussex”.1
Ann and Bill must have married shortly after the death of his first wife Louisa in 1892, given that their first son, Sydney, was born in March 1893. Bill Scamp died in 1931. In September 1939 the widowed Ann, along with her son Sidney – both still using the Matthews surname – were recorded as being in a caravan at Brook Gardens, Sevenscore, Minster. She died on 3rd September 1940, aged 67 years, and was buried in All Saints Churchyard, Biddenden. Her gravestone includes the inscription “Dear Mum I will not forget you Phoebe”.2
- Notes to I am a Romany, Folktracks FTX100 (1975), https://folktrax-archive.org/menus/cassprogs/100smith.htm ↩︎
- Mary Ann Jones Matthews, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244418813/mary_ann-matthews ↩︎
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