Anne Geddes Gilchrist, 1863-1954
Born in Manchester of Scottish descent, the majority of Gilchrist’s song collecting work took place in Lancashire. However in the 1890s and 1900s her brother William was Presbyterian minister at Blackham in Sussex, and on visits to stay with her brother she took the opportunity to collect songs and children’s games in the local area. Blackham is very close to the border with Kent, and a few of the singers she encountered had been born and brought up in Kent: agricultural labourer Thomas Coomber and William Ford the blacksmith both came originally from Penshurst, while William’s wife Agnes was from Cowden; Mrs Matilda Jenner was still living in Kent, at Ashurst, but once again, was originally from Penshurst.
You can read more about Anne Gilchrist and her collecting work on the VWML website: Anne Geddes Gilchrist Papers; and in this article by Peter Snape: In Search of Folk Song: The Story of Anne Geddes Gilchrist.
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