Lucy Etheldred Broadwood, 1858-1929

Lucy Broadwood was born at Melrose in Scotland. Her father Henry was a partner in the well-known Broadwood piano manufacturing company, senior partner from 1861 until his death. In 1864 the family moved to Lyne House, the Broadwood family home near Rusper,on the Surrey-Sussex border.

A talented singer and pianist, Lucy’s interest in folk song was prompted by her uncle, the Reverend John Broadwood, who had assembled a collection of sixteen songs, privately published in 1847, with the title Old English Songs, As Now Sung by the Peasantry of the Weald of Surrey and Sussex, and Collected by One Who Has Learnt Them by Hearing Them Sung Every Christmas from Early Childhood, by the Country People, Who Go About to the Neighbouring Houses, Singing, or “Wassailing” as It is Called, at that Season. This was republished by Lucy as Sussex Songs in 1889, in an expanded edition which included a number of songs which Lucy herself had collected by in the 1880s, and at least one collected by her father.

Having established links with other folk song enthusiasts, notably Sabine Baring-Gould in the West Country, in 1893 – a full decade before Cecil Sharp or Vaughan Williams began their collecting activities – she was able to publish English County Songs. This was edited with John Alexander Fuller Maitland (1856–1936), a music critic and writer who was also a relative of Lucy Broadwood, and a close friend throughout her life. This book attempted to present at least one song associated with each county. Kent is represented by just one song, ‘John Appleby’. In common with a number of other songs in the book, this was not collected directly by Broadwood, but had been sent to her by a correspondent – in this case, by Samuel Willett, “the singing baker of Cuckfield”, in Sussex. Willett had heard it sung by “Kentish hop-pickers”.

In 1898 Broadwood was one of the 110 founding members of the Folksong Society. She became honorary secretary in 1904 and played an important role in establishing the new body, making frequent contributions to its Journal. Her collecting activities took place primarily in Sussex; she does not appear to have collected any songs in Kent. However she was sent four songs with Kentish connections by Mrs Lucy Grahame of St Leonards in Sussex, while Ella Bull of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire sent her a version of ‘Spencer the Rover’, collected “from a Kentish man and woman”.

Edith Sophy Lyttelton, née Balfour, 1865-1948

Born in St Petersburg, the daughter of a London businessman who traded and lived in Russia for many years. She was a member of the “the Souls”, a loose-knit group of intellectuals and politicians active at the end of the nineteenth century. Another member was the Liberal Unionist MP Alfred Lyttleton, whom she married in 1892. They bought Wittersham House, a Georgian Rectory in a state of considerable disrepair, and in 1907 commissioned the architect Edward Lutyens to completely remodel and rebuild the property.

In August 1909 she accompanied Percy Grainger on his song-collecting visit to Samuel Holdstock at Mill House, Wittersham. Presumably, knowing that Mr Holdstock had a stock of old songs, she invited Grainger down to Kent specifically to note these down. A letter from Lyttleton to Grainger, dated 10^th May 1910, shows that she had visited the old man again, in an effort to note down the full words of his song ‘Mary Thomson’ (PG/15/1).

Following the death of her husband in 1913, she became heavily involved in spiritualism. At the start of the First World War she was a founder of the War Refugees Committee, became deputy director of the Women’s Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture in 1917, and served on the Central Committee of Women’s Employment from 1916–1925. In 1917 she was one of the first people to be awarded the newly-created Order of the British Empire, in recognition of her work with refugees. After the war she served as vice-chairman of the Waste Reclamation Trade Board (1924–1931) and represented the UK at the League of Nations on several occasions. As well as her public work, she wrote fiction, non-fiction and plays. Having married into the Lyttleton family, she was related to Humphrey Lyttleton, the jazz trumpeter, and chairman of the radio programme I’m sorry I haven’t a clue.

Percy Aldridge Grainger, 1882-1961

Brought up in Melbourne, Australia, after completing his musical studies in Germany the composer made his living as a concert pianist and private teacher in London between 1901 and 1914. His song collecting work began in 1905 in Lincolnshire. The following year he began to make use of the Edison Phonograph to record folk songs – notably from the remarkable Lincolnshire singer Joseph Taylor. His enthusiastic use of this new technology distinguished him from all other early 20^th century collectors in Britain. By 1910 he had collected songs in around a dozen counties, including five from Samuel Holdstock at Wittersham in August 1909. On that occasion he was accompanied by Mrs Edith Lyttleton, who lived at Wittersham, and had probably invited Grainger down specifically to hear Mr Holdstock sing.

Grainger and his mother went to America at the outbreak of war in 1914. He became an American citizen, and remained in the United States for the rest of his life.

Peter Douglas Kennedy, 1922–2006

Peter Kennedy’s parents were both at the heart of the folk music establishment. His father, Douglas Kennedy, was part of the English Folk Dance Society demonstration team before the First World War, and succeeded Cecil Sharp as Director of the EFDS – and subsequently the merged EFDSS. Peter’s mother Helen was the sister of Maud Karpeles and, like her sister, had been closely involved with Sharp’s folk dance revival, and a founder member of the EFDS.

Peter joined the staff of the EFDSS aged 26, in 1948, working first in the North East, and then in the West Country. In 1950-51 he worked with the American collector Alan Lomax to record material for the England LP in Lomax’s World Library of Folk and Primitive Music series on Columbia Records. Then in 1952 the BBC appointed him one of two principal fieldworkers on its newly established Folk Music and Dialect Recording Scheme. In this capacity he made hundreds of recordings of traditional singers and musicians all over the British Isles. These included recordings of Albert Beale and Charlie Scamp, made in 1954 in the company of his aunt Maud Karpeles.

Kennedy sent a detailed report of his Kent trip to Miss Marie Slocombe at the BBC. She had founded the BBC Sound Archive in 1936, had been appointed Sound Recordings Librarian in 1941 and, as a member of the EFDSS, was a keen supporter of the BBC’s Folk Music and Dialect Recording Scheme in the 1950s.

Kennedy’s report is available to view via the Peter Kennedy Archive, at https://www.peterkennedyarchive.org/1954-2/kent-1954/. It commences

Tuesday 14th January

Picked up Miss M. Karpeles and drove to B.H. [Broadcasting House] to collect Midget Tapes. Thence to Greenwich Pier to enquire after Mr. Richards, shanty-singer. Had left and was last heard of in Cutty Sark exhibition. To Cranbrook and then to see Mr. and Mrs. Henry Scamp at Goldwell Farm, near Biddenham.  Recorded from Albert Beale at Kenardington, Near Ashford:-

FMK 321 (15″)  The Bailiff’s Daughter (some mistakes) – 1’40”

                        In London’s Fair City (Villikens and his Dinah) – 1’50”

                        The Limerick Ditty – 1’30”

                        The Frog and the Mouse – Intro 0’15” (Edit out talk in between) 1’35”

                                                (…”You see you’ve got to get it in” quick out)

FMK 322 (7½”) The Moon Shines Bright (Carol) – 1’35”

                        Where are you Going to My Pretty Maid? – 1’15”

                        Toast: “Beef when you’re hungry.…” – 0’15”

                        The Dark-Eyed Sailor (1/2 way in) – 1’55”

Goldwell Farm is actually on the Tenterden Road, to the South East of Biddenden.

The comments such as “Edit out talk in between” are presumably notes to assist when using the recordings on Kennedy’s As I Roved Out radio programme. The report continued

Friday 15th January

To Mrs. Stanley (Bird) living in a caravan on Mrs. Stern’s farm, 3, Chimneys, Betenham, near Sissinghurst. She and her daughter Peg both had tonsilitis but we got names of large number of songs that she knew. Her life story would be well worth recording. She gave us address of her sister Mrs. Smith, Melton Meadows, Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk. Her husband, Joe, plays fiddle and melodeon and names of other relations in Kent to whom we went the following day.

“Betenham” is in fact Bettenham, about half a mile from the Three Chimneys public house.

The Mrs Smith referred to is Phoebe Smith, née Scamp, whom Kennedy would record in July 1956.

Saturday 16th January to Sunday 17th January

To Mr and Mrs. Hilden, behind Denaway Cafe at bottom of hill down from Detling Aerodrome before Sittingbourne. Then to Scamps at Lower Halstow and then to Bill Scamp at Tonge, who also had a bad throat. Finally to the Scamps at Chartham Hatch.

 Recorded Charlie Scamp at The Royal Oak [Chartham Hatch]

Kennedy recorded seven songs from Charlie Scamp: ‘Barbary Ellen’, ‘Young Leonard’, ‘Father come Father come build Me a Boat’, ‘A Blacksmith Courted Me’, ‘The Folkestone Murder’, ‘How Old Are you my Pretty Fair Maid?’ and ‘Romany Song’. He also recorded Charlie and Ted Scamp talking Romany, but the recording session in the pub was brought to an abrupt end:

This last recording was interrupted by a police raid! So returned to the encampment. Ted Scamp would be prepared to find people to record Circus, Fairground and Tramp Slang. Rose Matthews in adjoining caravan should also be recorded.

The trip concluded with Kennedy and his aunt making more contacts, but failing to make any further recordings:

Monday 18th January

To the “Sun-in-the-Wood” at Lower Halstow, where we recoded Oliver Scamp, but he had also had a bad cold and was not up to it, but we would like to return and record himself, his son, Oliver and his little daughter Sylvia.

Returned to London and delivered Miss Karpeles to her house.

Clearly it was not Kennedy’s fault that several of the singers he encountered were suffering from winter ailments. And given just how many recordings he did make across the length and breadth of the country, it would be churlish to complain that – so far as one can tell – he never returned to record Bill or Oliver Scamp, nor to record Mrs Stanley’s life story. It is nevertheless frustrating that these opportunities were lost.

Between 1953 and 1958 Kennedy presented the Sunday morning BBC radio series As I Roved Out. In contrast to the earlier Country Magazine, which had used trained singers to deliver songs collected by Francis Collinson, on As I Roved Out Kennedy played his own field recordings of country singers.

Many of Kennedy’s field recordings were issued commercially – for example on the 10 LPs in The Folk Songs Of Britain series issued on Caedmon in the USA, and subsequently by Topic in the UK, on his own Folktrax releases and, since his death, by Topic in their Voice of the People series. Some of Kennedy’s recordings of both Albert Beale and Charlie Scamp have featured on these releases. His archive is now held by the British Library, who were also responsible for the Peter Kennedy website at https://www.peterkennedyarchive.org/ which provides access to the reports he compiled on his collecting activities for the BBC.

Kennedy was a prolific and important collector of folk songs, tunes and dances, but his reputation was sullied somewhat by the rather proprietorial attitude he took towards the material he had collected (claiming copyright not just on the recordings, but on the songs themselves), the notoriously poor production values of his Folktrax cassettes and CDs, and the fact that he was not averse to doctoring field recordings before releasing them.

Maud Pauline Karpeles, 1885-1976

Maud Karpeles was the daughter of Joseph Nicolaus Karpeles, a tea-merchant who had been born in Hamburg, but settled in London and became a British citizen. Thanks to her father she was of independent means, which allowed her to devote her life to folk music. With her sister Helen, she became involved in the English folk dance revival led by Cecil Sharp; both were involved with the foundation of the English Folk Dance Society in 1911. During the First World War she accompanied Sharp on his song collecting trips to the Appalachians. She was more than just a secretary. She provided Sharp, who suffered from frequent and varied medical issues, with invaluable support, both at home and abroad, and also became effectively part of the Sharp family. She in return was a lifelong disciple of Sharp, defending his legacy and promoting his views.

She held roles both with the English Folk Dance Society and its successor, the English Folk Dance and Song Society. After the Second World War she played a key role in establishing and running the International Folk Music Council, and remained active in the folk music world right up to her death at the age of 90.

In 1953 she embarked on a song collecting expedition in Kent. Details of this trip can be found in the VWML archive catalogue, under the heading “Folk Song Collecting Expedition Kent October 12th – 17th 1953” (MK/1/2/4907). This report tells us that Miss Karpeles stayed with Violet Rumney (a school friend), at Sissinghurst from October 12^th to 17^th and ventured out each day – Miss Rumney or her sister driving. Karpeles estimated that they covered about 400 miles during the week, making enquiries at the following villages:

• Headcorn
• Smarden
• Warehorne
• Ham Street
• Appledore
• Stone
• Rye Harbour
• Kenardington
• Sissinghurst
• Frittenden
• Cranbrook
• Goudhurst
• Binningden [sic – probably Benenden]
• Pluckley
• Harrietsham
• Snargate
• Brinzett [sic]
• Brookland
• New Romney (not exhaustively)
• Dungeness
• Lydd
• Ivychurch
• Bethersden
• High Halden
• Staplehurst
• Bethersden
• High Halden
• Staplehurst
• Beckley
• Bettenham

She wrote that she had recorded a version of ‘John Barleycorn’ from Dave Wicken (actually Dave Wickens), at Smarden. And five songs from Albert Beale at Kenardington – as she notes “son and brother of singers from whom Cecil Sharp noted songs”, and it seems likely that she had deliberately sought out any surviving relatives of Sharp’s “informants”.

The report continues

I interviewed  some gipsies, name of Stanley, at Bettenham. They know a number of songs, but I could not ask them to sing  as there had just been a death in the family. I arranged to pay them a visit later on.

I found a number of people who remembered hearing some of the songs, from parents, grandparents, or other old people in the neighbourhood, but they had not themselves learned them.

Contrary to expectation Romney Marsh seemed to be further away from the tradition than the “upland” regions. I suspect this is because they are too isolated.

I found a greater understanding of the type of song I required than is usually the case. This may be due to Frank Collinson’s Country Magazine contributions.

She returned to Kent in January 1954, in the company of her nephew Peter Kennedy, and together they made recordings of Albert Beale and the gipsy Charlie Scamp.

Francis Jekyll, 1882-1965

Known to family and friends as ‘Timmy’, Francis Jekyll (pronounced “Jee-call”) was the nephew of Gertrude Jekyll, the garden designer. After attending Eton and Oxford, in 1906 he took a job at the British Museum as Assistant in the Printed Books Department, working in the Printed Music Section. Between 1905 and 1911 he collected folk songs in Sussex, Herefordshire, Kent and Norfolk, and a number of Irish dance tunes from a fiddle-player at Kilmarnock in Scotland. The material he collected appears in the collections of Ella Leather, Lucy Broadwood, and his close friend George Butterworth – all available to view via the VWML Archive Catalogue.

He noted two songs from a Mrs Powell at Minster in Sheppey, in August 1910. She appears to have been a resident of the Sheppey Workhouse, where George Butterworth collected a further 3 songs in September of the same year.

Jekyll resigned his post at the British Museum in 1914. In a letter to Lewis Jones dated 3^rd June 1999, Francis Jekyll’s great niece Mrs. Primrose Arnander wrote:

I am sure that there was an initial nervous breakdown which must have led to recurring clinical depression, an illness well understood, accepted and treated nowadays but little understood then…

In 1932 Gertrude Jekylll died and left Munstead Wood [her home in Surrey] and its contents to her sister-in-law, Agnes Jekyll, Francis Jekyll’s mother. In 1937 Agnes Jekyll died and Munstead Wood passed in toto to Francis Jekyll. He did not live there for very long, but tried to keep her nursery garden going and was still fulfilling orders up to the war time. Around 1939 Francis Jekyll moved into the Hut, a smaller house in the grounds, and Munstead Wood was let and finally sold. There was a sale of all the contents in 1948; this included books and chattels from Munstead House that had been left to Francis and also, in that sale, he must have sold all his music and books for the contents of the sale included books, scores and periodicals which showed an interest in music that would have been far beyond Gertrude Jekyll. Timmy lived on in the Hut with a housekeeper until his death in 1965. He was a sad and rather lonely figure at the end and was never really able to shake free of his debilitating depression. He attended concerts and festivals of music, but never returned to an active role in the field.¹

He died in 1965, aged 82

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1. quoted in Lewis Jones, Francis Jekyll (1882-1965) Forgotten Hero of the First Folk Song Revival, English Dance and Song, June 2000 ↩︎