Category: Singer

Clarence Rook

Clarence Rook, 1862-1915

Cecil Sharp included two versions of ‘The shooting of his dear’ in the 1905 Journal of the Folk-Song Society. He wrote that “I noted the second version – which is but a fragment – from Mr. Clarence Rook, who heard it sung twenty years ago by a very old man at a Harvest Supper at Homestall, Doddington, near Faversham, Kent”. The readers of the Journal would probably have known Clarence Rook’s name, as he was a successful journalist and author.

His birth was registered at Faversham in the first quarter of 1863, although his death certificate gives his birth year as 1862. His mother was Miriam née Beall, while his father Henry Rook was a bookseller and postmaster in Faversham. The 1871 and 1881 census returns show the family living at 2 Market Place, Faversham; Clarence had one younger sister.

Local newspapers show that he took place in various local entertainments in 1880. For instance in May at the Board Schoolroom in Lynsted, when his delivery of an unnamed song earned an encore1; in Sittingbourne in November, when “A concert of secular music was given at the school-room in Crescent-street, on Monday evening, by the Free Church Choir, assisted by friends from Faversham”, and “the humorous songs of Mr. Frank Shrubsole, and Mr. Clarence Rook provoked much merriment”2 (other songs performed at this event included ‘The bailiff’s daughter of Islington’ and ‘O, who will o’er the Downs’); and then in December, at a Penny Reading given in the Town Hall, under the auspices of the Sittingbourne and Milton Workmen’s Club and Institute3. At the latter event, “Mr. Clarence Rook, of Faversham, created a perfect furore with his comic song about “the big drum, the kettle drum,” &c., and although it had been arranged that there should be no encoring, owing to the length of the programme, the audience would not be satisfied until he re-appeared, when he gave “I am so volatile” [one of the most popular songs of the comedian and singer George Grossmith] with equal success”. At the same event he also played a part in a performance of the comedic play ‘The Heir at law’.

He studied at Oriel College, Oxford between 1881 and 1886, although he still found time to make a musical contribution to the annual general meeting of the Sittingbourne Literary and Scientific Association in December 1885.4 At the time of the 1891 census he was residing at 9 Manilla Road, Clifton, in Bristol, employed as an Army & Civil Service tutor. He married Clara Wright in London, in 1893.

The 1899 Post Office London Directory lists Clarence as a journalist, living at 7 Milborne Grove, West Brompton, SW, and that was also the address recorded for him and Clara in the 1901 census; in 1911 they were residing at 139 Coleherne Court, Earls Court, Kensington.

Rook wrote for various London publications including The Globe, contributing to the humorous “By the Way” column, and The Daily Chronicle, where he founded the “Office Window” column. A brief notice of his death in the Faversham News, 1st January 1916, described him as “the originator and for 15 years editor of “The Office Window” in The Daily Chronicle”.

In the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Anita Levy described Clarence Rook as

a journalist, novelist, and writer of short, witty sketches of Edwardian London and its inhabitants. Bernard Shaw praised Rook as a “very clever fellow”; and Rook was most admired for his novel of working-class life, The Hooligan Nights (1899), an evocative, irreverent portrait of a young petty criminal, Alf, and his felonious and amorous adventures. As a chronicler of the slums of London’s East End, Rook takes his literary and historical place among such eminent contemporaries as George Gissing, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Morrison, and Sir Walter Besant — writers of fiction, non-fiction, and semifiction in the literature of urban life popular in Britain during the 1880s and 1890s.5

In his Introduction to The Hooligan Nights: Being the Life and Opinions of a Young and Impertinent Criminal Recounted by Himself and Set Forth by Clarence Rook, Rook stated

This is neither a novel, nor in any sense a work of imagination. Whatever value or interest the following chapters possess must come from the fact that their hero has a real existence. I have tried to set forth, as far as possible in his own words, certain scenes from the life of a young criminal with whom I chanced to make acquaintance, a boy who has grown up in the midst of those who gain their living on the crooked, who takes life and its belongings as he finds them, and is not in the least ashamed of himself.6

Questions have been raised as to the veracity of what Rook had written, while readers were scandalised by his apparently non-judgmental portrayal of the central character. To quote again from the Dictionary of Literary Biography

The Hooligan Nights consists of twenty-two short, descriptive sketches of the hooligan’s exploits, a format that Rook perfects in London Side-Lights. The reader meets the hooligan Alf on the bustling streets of London’s Elephant and Castle, eager to announce his “philosophy of life,” which Rook transcribes in the harsh phonetics of cockney English: “If you seen a fing you want, you just go and take it wiveout any ‘anging abart.” From there Rook follows Alf in word and deed as he shares his life story over ginger beer in a Lambeth pub, shows Rook around his turf, and introduces him to his girlfriends and criminal associates. In the process Rook recounts such gems as “The Burglar and the Baby,” a charming piece describing Alf ‘s rescue of a choking baby in a house into which he has broken; “Jimmy,” an account of Alf ‘s first mentor in crime; and “The Course Of True Love,” recounting Alf ‘s decision to marry his pregnant lover, Alice. “Holy Matrimony” finds Alf at the church after his marriage, bringing the book to a surprisingly traditional end much after the fashion of a domestic novel.

On the whole, Rook’s approach to representing his working-class hero is remarkably unsanctimonious, reveling in the hooligan’s felonious adventures and attempting to scandalize his middle-class readers, especially when he recounts Alf ‘s brutal treatment of his future wife. In fact, the public was so scandalized on the publication of portions of the work in the Daily Chronicle, as Rook explains in the introduction, that he was accused of making too positive a portrait of criminal life. In defense Rook argues that Alf is real and that “in real life the villain does not invariably come to grief before he has come of age.” He goes on to compare Alf ‘s life favorably to that of a clerk, no doubt raising a few more eyebrows among his readers, and ends by denying responsibility for the book’s contents:  “If under the present conditions of life a Lambeth boy can get more fun by going sideways than by going straight, I cannot help it.” 7

In his newspaper articles, when Rook discusses popular song, he is generally referring to songs such as ‘Two lovely black eyes’, ‘Champagne Charlie’ and ‘Tommy make room for your uncle’, rather than folk songs from the oral tradition. However, having remembered just a fragment of ‘The shooting of his dear’ from the 1880s, he actively sought out the remainder of the words. The following appeared in the Faversham Times and Mercury and North-East Kent Journal, Saturday 21st December 1901:

AN OLD KENTISH BALLAD.

MISSING LINES WANTED.

The following paragraph appeared one day last week in the leaderette columns of the Daily Chronicle:-

A curious accident in the neighbourhood of Colchester awakens dim memories of an old Kentish ballad which used to be chanted monotonously at harvest suppers. The accident happened to a Mr. Mussett, who was out shooting wild fowl by night. The account runs: “As Mussett rose to shoot some approaching birds, the other man, it is stated, let drive at him with a punt gun, mistaking him in the dim light for a wild swan.” The melancholy refrain of the ballad runs:–

O! cursed be my uncle for a-lending of me a gun!
For I bin and shot my trew love, in the room of a swan.

It was set to a dismal melody in the minor key, and should linger in the memory of many of Kent. Can anyone supply the rest of the lines?

We have received the following communication on the above subject: –

To the Editor of “The Faversham Mercury.”

Dear Sir, – I wonder if any of the Mercury‘s readers could remember and reproduce the missing words of this song. Little more than I have quoted (in that paragraph from the Daily Chronicle column) remains in my memory, for twenty years have passed since I first heard it chanted by a solemn man with chin-whiskers and a pipe in a Dodington farmhouse. And as you will see the Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men want to disinter it. Another couplet which I can recall runs thus (it is spoken by the girl, supposed to have been shot):-

With my apron tied ower me, I ‘peared like unto a swan;
All underneath the green tree, while the showers they did come on.

Now, surely someone among your readers can supply a few more lines.

Yours,

CLARENCE ROOK

The Daily Chronicle,
Editorial Office
31, Whitefriars Street,
London,
December 13th, 1901.

Given that these were the only words for the song which Cecil Sharp had from Rook, we have to assume that his appeal for the words was not successful.

Clarence Rook died at the age of 53, on 23rd December 1915, his death being registered at St. George, Hanover Square, London. His death certificate gave the cause of death as “paralysis, bed sores and exhaustion”, but also stated that he had suffered for 26 years from Locomotor ataxia, which is often a symptom of syphilis. He was cremated at Golder’s Green.

Songs

The shooting of his dear (Roud 166)

  1. East Kent Gazette, 8 May 1880 ↩︎
  2. Kentish Gazette, 30 November 1880 ↩︎
  3. East Kent Gazette, 18 December 1880 ↩︎
  4. East Kent Gazette, 3 January 1885 ↩︎
  5. Anita Levy, Clarence Rook (1863-23 December 1915), Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol 135, British Short-Fiction Writers, 1880-1914: The Realist Tradition, p304 ↩︎
  6. https://www.victorianlondon.org/publications7/hooligan-01.htm ↩︎
  7. Anita Levy, Clarence Rook (1863-23 December 1915), Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol 135, British Short-Fiction Writers, 1880-1914: The Realist Tradition, p307 ↩︎
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Dave Wickens

David Richard Wickens, 1898-1970

In her report on her October 1953 folk song expedition to Kent, Maud Karpeles wrote that she had recorded a version of ‘John Barleycorn’ from “Dave Wicken”, at Smarden.1 The fate of that recording is, sadly unknown – it is not listed in either the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library catalogue, or the Roud Index.

Dave Wickens had been born at Boughton Malherbe on St David’s Day, 1st March 1898. At the time of the 1901 census his father James was working for his father, William Wickens, who farmed at Park House Farm, Boughton Malherbe. William was originally from Ulcombe. He had been an agricultural labourer, but by 1891 had progressed to farm bailiff, and farmer by 1901. David’s mother was Annie Maria, née Martin, who came from Dover. She and James would ultimately have six children; David was the third eldest, and the second eldest son. By the next census in 1911, James Wickens was farming Park House Farm, and by 1921 Dave was “Assisting Father In General Farm Work”.

Between these dates, however, Dave had served in the Royal Navy. His service appears to run from 6th November 1916 to 18th March 1919. When enlisting, his occupation was given as agricultural labourer. He was 5 feet 3½ inches tall, with dark hair, hazel eyes, and a fair complexion. His service began at HMS Pembroke II (Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey) and included periods at Gibraltar, Woolwich and Greenwich, and on board HMS Dido, HMS Columbine, HMS Hecla and HMS Prince George.

Dave Wickens in his sailor's uniform
Dave Wickens in his sailor’s uniform, probably taken November 1916, when he enlisted at Chatham Dockyard.
The Wickens family circa 1918
The Wickens family circa 1918. From left to right, back row: Dave (in naval uniform), older sister Esther, elder brother James, younger brother Roland; front row: sister Alice, parents James and Annie, brother Edward. Photo taken at Park House, Boughton Monchelsea.

Dave married Ethel Pack in the final quarter of 1924, and the 1939 Register shows them living at Haffenden Farm, Tenterden – roughly halfway between St Michael’s and Biddenden. Dave’s occupation was given as “Farmer Stock Breeder Hw” (i.e. Heavy Worker). His granddaughter Gill Bromley, who has fond memories of visiting her grandfather at Haffenden as a child in the 1960s, writes “Dave was married to Ethel Pack (another big local family) and they moved from a farmworkers cottage at South Park, Egerton to Haffenden Farm before the War in 1938 or 39. They rented it until Dave eventually bought it”.

Wedding photograph from the marriage of Dave Wickens and Ethel Pack
Wedding photograph from the marriage of Dave Wickens and Ethel Pack, 1924.

Dave and Ethel had five daughters, all apparently named after characters in folk songs. One of his surviving daughters recalls him “singing at home, after tea.  There was one song he had to stop singing as it made her cry, because it was sad – The Faithful Sailor Boy”.  Also “John Barleycorn, which she’d found a bit scary as a child (involved “cutting him down at the knees”).  She also remembered him singing carols at Christmas at his mother’s request.  But she couldn’t remember him singing publicly other than in the church choir”.  There’s no recollection in the family of him singing songs in other contexts, although he “did go to the Flying Horse [Smarden] on Saturdays, so maybe there was singing there?”2 It seems likely that he had some kind of local reputation as a singer, or how would Maud Karpeles have encountered him in 1953?

Dave Wickens died on 8th October 1970.

Dave Wickens using a horse-drawn one-way plough
Dave Wickens using a horse-drawn one-way plough (date not known).
Dave Wickens standing in front of a barn, September 1946
Dave Wickens, September 1946
Dave Wickens and dog
Dave Wickens and dog, date not known.
Dave Wickens watching Smarden play cricket in the early 1960s
Dave Wickens watching Smarden play cricket in the early 1960s

I am indebted to Gill Bromley (née Batt) for passing on her own recollections, and those of other descendants of Dave Wickens, and for providing these photographs.

Songs

  • The Faithful Sailor Boy (Roud 376)
  • John Barleycorn (Roud 164)
  1. Maud Karpeles, Folk Song Collecting Expedition Kent October 12th – 17th 1953, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library MK/1/2/4907 ↩︎
  2. Gill Bromley, personal communication, February 2025 ↩︎
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Charles Bassett

Charles Bassett, 1840-1890

The Brighton weekly newspaper Southern Weekly News featured a regular column titled “Sussex Notes and Queries”, edited by Frederick E. Sawyer. In the edition for 9th June 1888, under the heading “Sussex Songs and Music”, Mr Sawyer appealed for information on a range of songs, of which he had only fragmentary texts. One of these was

Hunting song: –
“There was Dido and Spendigo, &c.”
Is not this called “The Berkeley Hunt.”

A follow-up to this request appeared in Southern Weekly News, 8th September 1888:

A correspondent suggested our applying to Mr. Charles Bassett, of Seal, Sevenoaks, Kent, for the words of this song, which we have done, and he now kindly sends them to us and says: – “I think it was in the year 1856 when a friend of mine came from Sussex to reside in this locality, and used to sing the song. It was by this means that I came to know it, so I think it may well be considered a Sussex song. I never saw it in Print, and whether the enclosed are quite the original words or not I am not prepared to say.”

There followed the words of ‘A Hunting Song’, as supplied by Mr. Bassett.

Charles Bassett had been baptised on 3rd May 1840 at the church of St Peter’s, Ightham. His father George, a labourer, and his mother Sarah née Knight, had both been born in Ightham; in 1841 they lived at Butchers Green, Ightham. Charles married Anne Parsons, a native of West Grinstead, in the parish church at Ightham on 16th December 1860. A year later, census returns show them living at Fuller Street, Seal. Charles was employed as an agricultural labourer.

The South Eastern Gazette, 3rd November 1863, reported on a ploughing match held at Sepham Farm near Otham, under the auspices of the Holmesdale Association. Among the prize-winners at this event, in the Implements section – prizes “awarded to agricultural labourers, servants of subscribers, for producing an implement or other article used on a farm, being entirely made by themselves” – were Charles Bassett, with Mr. W. Cronk, Seal, who won 2nd prize for “2 swing-gates, and wheelbarrow”.

By 1871 Charles had taken up the trade of carpenter. Ann was shown as the head of the household in Seal, looking after five of the eight children they would eventually have together, and was listed as “Carpenter’s wife”. Charles was away, working in the building trade at Kingston on Thames in Surrey, lodging at the Victoria Tavern. His occupation was shown as carpenter in the 1881 census, when the family’s address was given as Seal Village.

His name crops up in an unexpected context in a letter printed in the Kent Times, 12th July 1879. The newspaper devoted an entire page to the Kent and Sussex Agricultural Labourers’ Union, in preparation for the union’s seventh annual “demonstration”, due to take place at Rochester on Monday 14th. It was expected that Alfred Simmons, the union’s founder, would be speaking at the demonstration, making his first public appearance since his return from New Zealand – where he had accompanied locked out agricultural workers whom the union had helped to emigrate. The newspaper reports that, in addition to successfully resisting employers’ attempts to lower wages the previous winter, the union had supported “several thousands” of immigrants seeking – and finding – a better standard of life in New Zealand (for more on the formation of the Kent and Sussex Agricultural Labourers’ Union and the labour disputes of the 1870s see the article on Mary Powell).

The newspaper article included a letter home to “George”, from one Reuben Baldwin, “Late of Maidstone, No. 1 Branch”. He extolled the virtues of New Zealand as a place where work was readily available, for good wages, with good working conditions, and where food and other essentials were more affordable than in England. He stressed that

there is plenty of work for them that will work, but it is no use coming out here unless you mean hard work. You must all be prepared to use the shovel and the pick, for they were the first tools I had to use, and it is so with all; you must take the work as it comes. There is plenty of room for more to come out, but they must work; the work is quite as hard here as the old country, and I think harder for the time, only the day work is shorter. Clerks and counter jumpers are not wanted, there is plenty of that class; we want men that will ram in with pick and shovel, for there is any amount of road making going on; I don’t know a better man suited for this place than Charles Bassett, of Seal. He could have his 12s. a day if he was here; please to write to him and tell him to come out to me, for there  is not a better place for him in the old colony.

If this message reached Charles Bassett, he clearly did not act upon it. He died aged just 50, and was buried at the church of St Peter & St Paul, Seal, on 26th April 1890.

Songs

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Dr Johnson

John Martin Johnson, 1898-1962

Francis Collinson collected one song from “Dr Johnson, Smarden”. This would have been Dr John Johnson, who was born in Richmond, Yorkshire in 1898. His mother was Janetta Jane Johnson, née Ayres. His father, Jonathan, was listed in the 1901 census as a boot dealer, but in 1911 – although still at the same address, 20 New Road, Richmond – as a farmer.

John, by then a medical student, was shown as a visitor to the family home in the 1921 census. He married Sybil M Wetherell in Richmond in 1925, and they must have moved to Smarden at some point between then and 1934 – the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, 11th May 1934 reports that Dr J Johnson was to be one of the two vice presidents of the newly established Smarden, Biddenden and Bethersden Nursing Association. Clearly he became involved in village life in other ways: the Kentish Express, 14th April 1939, reported that he was re-elected as a church warden; while the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser for 3rd May 1935 noted that “John Clementson, as “Fergus Wimbush,” and J. Martin Johnson as “Mr. Priestly” were outstanding” when The Rooting Players, from Biddenden and Smarden, presented a dramatic piece titled The Man from Toronto.

The 1939 Register has John and Sybil living at “Appletree, Smarden”, presumably Apple Tree Cottage on Cage Lane, which is now a Grade II listed building. He died in the final quarter of 1962.

Songs

My Nan’s a Mazer (Roud 21895)

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Tom Batt

Thomas Batt, 1886-1950

Francis Collinson collected a six verse version of ‘Come Come My Pretty Maid’ from the Batt Brothers of Bethersden in 1942. He had previously collected an identical version, but with only the first two verses, from Tom Batt, also at Bethersden. The Batt Brothers had a half-brother Thomas, from their father’s first marriage, but he died in 1912, so could not have been the singer that Collinson met. The singer was most likely the brothers’ nephew Tom, whose father Alfred Batt, born 1850, was the youngest of their half-brothers.

Tom was born in the third quarter of 1886. His mother was Harriet, née Rudderham. The 1891 census shows his father Alfred as a farmer, at Tearnden Farm, Green Lane, Bethersden. Tom was the third eldest child of five. His uncles, the twins Ebenezer and Harry Batt, who were 15 at the time – and who would become part of the glee-singing Batt Brothers ensemble – also lived at Tearnden, working as agricultural labourers on the farm.

Subsequent census records show that Tom stayed at Tearnden, working on the farm. He was listed as “Farmers son” in 1901 and 1921, and “Farm labourer” in 1911. The 1921 census shows him as married, although his wife was not at Tearnden when the census was taken.

Tom Batt with horse and buggy
Tom Batt with horse and buggy, Tearnden Farm

Local newspaper advertisements show that by 1919 he was branching out into buying and selling motorcycles. For example in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 31st May 1919, he was advertising as follows

1917 4½ h. p. Precision Cluck, good plating and enamelling, good tyres, seen any time, trial given before purchasing; £45 nett cash to first one comes along. – Tom Batt, Turnden Farm, Bethersden, Ashford, Kent.

A similar advertisement in the Kentish Express, 11th May 1934, gave his address as Wagstaff Farm, Biddenden, which was farmed by Victor Millen.

Tom Batt viewing two motor cycles
Tom Batt viewing two motor cycles
Tom Batt on a motor cycle
Tom Batt on a motor cycle
Tom Batt driving a motor car
Tom Batt driving a motor car

Reports suggest that Tom Batt was the black sheep of this respectable chapel-going family. As a dealer, he does not appear to have been too scrupulous about the provenance of the goods he was selling. Under the headline “VICTIMISING MOTOR CYCLE OWNERS. KENT MEN SENTENCED AT OLD BAILEY” the Kentish Express, 17th September 1921 ran a long report which began

Late on Friday afternoon the trial opened before the Common Sergeant of London at the Old Bailey, of Joseph Hill, 42, a shoemaker of The Cottage, Church Lane, Kennington, and Tom Batt, 35, a farmer of Turnden Farm, Bethersden, who were indicted, the former with stealing eight motor cycles […] Batt was indicted with receiving the same well knowing them to have been stolen. Hill pleaded guilty and Batt not guilty and was defended by Mr. Curtis Bennett.

The article concluded

Hill was sent to hard labour for 18 months and Batt to 12 months in the second division.

At some point, as shown in this photo, Tom Batt set up as a haulage contractor.

Lorry belonging to Tom Batt, General Haulage Contractor, outside Kent Wool Grower's Limited, Tannery Lane, Ashford.
Lorry belonging to Tom Batt, General Haulage Contractor, outside Kent Wool Grower’s Ltd, Tannery Lane, Ashford.

The 1939 Register shows Tom’s eldest brother, Alfred, running Tearnden Farm, along with his sister Kate (listed as “Poultry Farmer”) and son, also Alfred. A record for Tom Batt in the 1939 Register has not so far been located, but clearly he was in Bethersden in 1941 when he met Francis Collinson. He died in the first quarter of 1950.

Many thanks to Gill Bromley (née Batt) for providing the photographs of Tom Batt.

Songs

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The Batt Brothers

A report on the autumn show of the Bethersden Cottage Gardeners’ Show, Kentish Express 23rd November 1907, contained the following:

In the evening a diverting entertainment was presented, most diverting contributions being submitted by Miss Creaton, Miss Inge, Miss Skinner and Miss Parker, the Vicar (the Rev. D.H. Creaton), and Messrs. W. Parker, James Batt, Martin and the men’s part-song class. In addition instrumental selections were played by the Bethersden brass band, under the leadership of Mr. Chas. Heathfield.

One week later, on 30th November, additional information was provided:

THE SHOW.– We are asked to state that Mr. James Link, who was such a successful exhibitor at the vegetable show last week, is father to the gardener of Lord Hothfield. The opening ceremony of the above was performed by Mrs. Elmslie, who was accompanied by Colonel Elmslie, C.B., of Forge Dene. We are also asked to draw special attention to the musical contributions in the evening of the Batt Bros., who rendered the anthem, “Awake” and “Dame Durden” in excellent style.

35 years later, ‘Dame Durden’ was one of two songs which Francis Collinson noted from the Batt brothers on 25th June 1942, the other being ‘Come Come My Pretty Maid’ (which he also took down from their cousin Tom Batt). And both songs formed part of the repertoire of the Millen Family (related by marriage to the Batts) when they recorded the CD In Yonder Green Oak in 2000.

George Frampton, in his article The Millen Family of Bethersden, Kent, provides further information on the Batt brothers’ activities:

The Smarden Local History scrapbooks compiled by the local Women’s Institute, which are on microfilm at Ashford Public Library, list two more items in their repertoire: The Mistletoe Bough; and the local version of Nahum Tate’s hymn While Shepherds Watched, to the tune known elsewhere as ‘Lyngham’ or ‘Nativity’.  In both cases, only the tune of each is given, on the assumption that no local variant on the words existed for those generally known.  There are also numerous references present to their singing at various village functions.  The Batt brothers’ singing was evident in the 1920s, when the New Year Old Folks’ Tea was revived.  The ‘Old Friends’ Tea’ as it was renamed had been abandoned with the First World War, but was started up again by the sisters Doris Julia and Kate Batt of Romden Farm, Smarden (a photograph of whom appeared in English Dance and Song in 1969)1 – who were distant relatives of the brothers.  After the repast, there was entertainment supplied from the guests themselves – including Bill Crampton (Dillon’s gardener in 1942) playing his accordion and singing his songs, also from professional performers from Maidstone and elsewhere.  The Batts were often joined for this by their brothers-in-law Victor and Basil Millen from Wagstaff Farm at nearby Biddenden.  The local paper reported that in 1928, the Batt and Millen brothers ‘rendered old glees unaccompanied.’  In 1931, they were referred to as the ‘Messrs. Batt Glee Party.’  Both Batts and Millens were involved in 1932, but after that, no mention was made of this coupling.  In 1937, ‘the four well-known Batt brothers (rendered) their ever popular glee-singing, and their favourite song Just Kitty.’

It seems curious that Francis Collinson only noted down two songs from the Batt brothers – he must have been aware of their larger repertoire.  Dan, Harry, Eb and Mark were featured in the fifth edition of Country Magazine broadcast in July 1942, wherein “… a fifty years old song was sung …” – without specifically stating who did the singing.  One can only deduce that he was looking specifically for one type of song – i.e. the ‘folk’ song, rather than anything book-learnt, even though the item concerned may have beenhanded down orally from generation to generation, from friend to neighbour.  Or perhaps it was that in the 1940s, when Collinson was active, glees were still perceived as modern songs or art songs from literary sources and therefore not worthy of transcription.

In 1935, the Batt brothers decided to do a recording of their singing.  They rehearsed at Jim’s farm at Sevington, standing in a circle trying to get the harmonies right, then it was off to London and the studio.  Only a few discs seem to have been cut, and these copies of the record have gone to ground – even among the surviving members of the family, although it is recalled that the tracks concerned were Dame Durden and Stephen Foster’s Uncle Ned.  The record itself did not find universal praise.  As it was, when each of the Batts died, with no direct descendant keen to continue the family singing tradition, the inheritance of their songs remained solely with the Millens.2

George Frampton has identified the singing Batt Brothers as Dan, Jim, Harry, Ebenezer and occasionally Mark. A report on the 1942 Country Magazine radio programme, Kent Messenger, 3rd July, included photos of the brothers who had taken part in the broadcast: Dan, Harry, Ebenezer and Mark Batt. These were the sons of James and Jane Batt of Hodgham Farm, Bethersden.

James Batt was baptised on 29th April 1810, at St Michael’s, Smarden. He married Harriet Lindridge at St Michael’s, Chart Sutton, on 12th October 1831, and the 1841 census found them living at Further Quarter, High Halden. James’ occupation was agricultural labourer, and they had four children. In 1851, still at Further Quarter, they had another three sons. Harriet died in January 1855, and the 1861 census shows James as a widower, living with his two youngest sons at Hodgham, Bethersden. His occupation is no longer agricultural labourer – he is now listed as “Farmer of 12 acres of land”.

In 1861 the household included a 23 year old house keeper, Jane Lengley. She and James were married the following year, and it was her sons who would go on to sing together as the Batt Brothers. At the time of the 1871 census the family were still at Hodgham. James was now shown as “Farmer (14 acres)”. In 1881 James was still “Farmer using 14 acres” but the family was shown as living at Odiam House, Bethersden. The household included two children from James’ first marriage, plus seven sons and one daughter from his second.

James died in 1886, at the age of 77. Jane continue to live at Hodgham until her death in 1914.

Daniel Batt, 1869-1956

Dan, born in the third quarter of 1869, was the third son to be born to James and Jane. He remained at the family farm at Hodgham, working as an agricultural labourer at the time of the 1891 census, when his mother Jane was listed as “Farmer”, and shown as “Helping on farm” in 1901, when his older brother George was the farmer. By 1911, however Dan was farming Hodgham. He married Pluckley-born Annie Pearson in 1916, and by 1921 they had moved to Langley Farm, Bethersden, where they remained for the rest of their lives. Dan’s obituary, Kentish Express, 19th October 1956 described him thus:

A FARMER FOR 30 years at Langley Farm, and previously at Vine Hall, Bethersden. Mr. Dan Batt, 87, of Langley, died in Hothfield Hospital. His wife died over five years ago and there are no children. Mr. Batt a keen all-round sportsman and an excellent shot was one of seven brothers. of whom only Mr. H. Batt survives. Formerly some of the brothers, known as The Batt Glee Singers, recorded for the BBC.

George Frampton records that at various times Dan Batt played trombone in both the Bethersden and Biddenden brass bands.

James Batt, 1871-1941

Jim Batt was born in the final quarter of 1871. Like his older brother Dan, he was working at Hodgham as an agricultural labourer in 1891. He married Alice Link in 1896 and in 1901 they were living on Ashford Road, Bethersden; Jim was working as a butcher.

In 1911 his occupation was given as “Butcher and farmer”, and the family were residing at an address in The Street Bethersden. There were five daughters and two sons, and the household also included a male assistant and female general domestic servant. Another daughter had been born by 1921, when the Batts were to be found at Court Lodge, Sevington. Jim was now shown simply as “Farmer”. He employed his son Norman as a shepherd, while daughters Gladys and Daisy were “Assisting Father”, and son Ashley was “Assisting Father In Farm Work”.

Jim remained at Court Lodge until his death on 27th April 1941. An obituary was printed in the Kentish Express, 2nd May 1941:

DEATH OF WELL KNOWN FARMER
MR. J. BATT. SEVINGTON

Kent’s farming districts and market towns will regret to learn of the death of Mr. James Batt, Court Lodge, Sevington, on April 27. Mr. Batt, who was 69, and who had borne a long illness patiently, had resided at Sevington for over twenty years, and he was recognised as a skilled farmer in all branches of agriculture, including hop-growing, fruit cultivation, sheep-rearing and formerly, dairy-farming.

He was born at Odiam Farm, Bethersden, in which locality he lived for about forty years, during which time he became well-known. as a farmer and a butcher. In 1916 he removed to Headcorn, but after a year he returned to Bethersden, and in 1919 he went to Sevington. He was a keen cricketer and an excellent shot in his younger days. He had the honour to win a silver cup (1936) presented by the organizers of the Ashford Cattle Show for the best grass farm in Kent. Until ill-health caused him to resign, he served on the local War Agricultural Committee for the disposition of plough-lands.

He is survived by his wife Mrs. A. Batt, and his daughters and sons Mrs. H. Lorden (Kenardington), Mr. N. Batt (Bethersden), Mrs. S. Burbridge (Headcorn), Mr. A. Batt (Sevington), Mrs. C. Hunt (Sevington), Mrs. A. Chisman (Poole), and Mrs. H. Crump (Bilsington). The second daughter died in 1934. There are nine grandchildren.

Like Dan, Jim played euphonium in local bands, and could also play the fiddle.

Henry Batt, 1875-1964

Harry and Ebenezer were twins, born in the third quarter of 1875. In 1891 both were working for their half-brother Alfred (born 1850) as agricultural labourers, at Ternden Farm, Green Lane, Bethersden. In 1901 Harry was working for his older brother, Charles Batt, who farmed at Barrell Farm, Bethersden. He married Eva Minnie Brown in 1909, and two years later they were living at Sunny Side Farm, Bethersden. Harry was described as “Farmer grazier”. In 1921 they had a daughter, and were still at Sunny Side Farm. Harry’s occupation was given as “Farmer – Employer”, Eva’s as “Farmer – Own Account”. Still at Sunnyside Farm, School Road, Bethersden in September 1939, Harry was by now a widow. His occupation was given as “Dairy & Poultry Farmer”.

Harry was the last of the brothers to survive, dying at the age of 88 in the second quarter of 1964.

Ebenezer Batt, 1875-1954

The 1901 census shows Ebenezer “Helping on farm” for George Batt, the oldest of his brothers, who had taken on the running of the family farm at Hodgham. Later that year he married Elizabeth Pearson, with whom he had three children.

By the time of the 1911 census Ebenezer was farming at Wissenden Lodge, Bethersden. Elizabeth died in 1919, and the following year Ebenezer remarried. His new wife was Dorothy E. Bee, originally from Southampton; they were married in the Pancras Registration District, London. In 1921 they were living at Wissenden Lodge, in 1939 at Kench Hill Farm, Tenterden. Ebenezer retired in 1944 and moved to Sellindge. He died in 1954, at the age of 78. An obituary in the Kentish Express, 26 February 1954 read:

Was Weald Farmer And Hop Grower

Member of well-known Smarden family, Mr. Ebenezer Batt, dairy farmer and hop grower of Wissenden, Coopers-lane, Sellindge, died on Friday, aged 78.

He worked on his father’s farm, when 11. and later farmed Wissenden Farm, Smarden, until 1934 when he went to Kench Hill Farm, Tenterden. In 1944 he went to live in retirement at Sellindge, after farming for nearly 60 years. He was a great sportsman and a fine shot, gaining many awards for clay pigeon  shooting.

His twin brother, Mr. Harry Batt. still lives in Smarden.

His funeral took place at the Tilden Chapel, Smarden, a Strict Baptist chapel dating back to 1726, of whose congregation all of the Batts had been members.

Mark Batt, 1879-1950

Mark was born in the first quarter of 1879. In 1901, like Dan and Eb he was “Helping on farm” at Hodgham, and ten years later was still there as a farm worker. He married Esther A Jarvis in 1920. The 1921 census and 1939 Register both show him farming at Buckman Green, Smarden. He died in the final quarter of 1950, aged 71.

Songs

  1. The photograph appeared in English Dance & Song, Vol 31, No 4 Winter/Christmas 1969, p123, accompanied by the following text: “An interesting old photograph sent to us by Mrs. Helen M. Windibank of Smarden, Kent. It shows a musical group which used to meet at Chessenden, Smarden, Kent for playing and singing together. The photograph was taken in the summer of 1909.
    The Misses Kate and Doris Julia Batt, and Miss Dorothy Morley on the right of the picture were enthusiastic singers. Even then, when travel to London was a great adventure, Kate used to go to Town each week for a singing lesson. They all played and sang during the Winter evenings, at their home, Romden, Smarden. This playing and singing was inborn in the Batt family. As early as 1860 six Batt sisters (the sisters of Mrs. Windibank’s Grandfather) used to sing part songs from an old song book.” ↩︎
  2. Frampton, George, The Millen Family of Bethersden, Kent, Musical Traditions, 2001. https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/millens.htm ↩︎

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Bob Ellison

Robert Ellison, c1836-1916?

Cecil Sharp noted down fourteen sea shanties from Bob Ellison at Belvedere on the 4th and 7th September 1914. Belvedere, between Abbey Wood and Erith, was at that time part of Kent; since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. Although he didn’t specify this in his manuscripts, when publishing one of Bob Ellison’s songs in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Sharp made it clear that he had collected the song at the Sailors’ Home in Belvedere. This was Belvedere House in Erith, run by the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society, which had been opened on New Year’s Day 1876, as a home for “Worn-out and Disabled Merchant Seamen”. The charity remained in Belvedere until 1978, before relocating to Belvedere House, Banstead, Surrey, which still operates as a residential home for men or women from a seafaring background.

Sharp must have written to the Governor of the Home, Captain John Dowdy, enquiring if any of the residents were singers, because his archive contains two letters from the Captain. The first (CJS1/13/1/10/1), dated October 14th 1908, is short and to the point:

Dear Sir in answer to yours re. the old men singing to you I regret very much to say that I have no singing men in my crew. I have asked them times out of number to try but they have no voice left in them. Therefore it would only be waste of time and expense to you to come.

Sharp was clearly persistent, because a subsequent reply  (CJS1/13/1/10/2), dated October 22nd began “You are at liberty to come to the Home and do the best you can”, and advised on the best time of day to visit. We do not know if Sharp visited the Home in 1908, but clearly he did go there in 1914 – by which time, one imagines, there would have been a number of new inmates including, presumably, Bob Ellison. In fact, he not only took down shanties from Mr Ellison, but from at least one member of the Belvedere’s staff: as well as the verses of the shanty ‘Shanadar’ which he got from Bob Ellison, he took down another 3 verses which were “Given me by the Hall Porter of Belvedere” (CJS2/10/3028); and the song ‘Drunken Sailor’, which he collected from George Conway at the Sailor’s Home in Leman Street, Whitechapel, includes a verse which Sharp noted was “given me by Doorkeeper of Belvedere Home” (CJS2/10/3025).

Sharp recorded that Mr Ellison was 78 years old, but other than that we know practically nothing about him. However Sharp’s notes for ‘Shanadar’ quote the singer as saying “I am nice and comfortable here but I’m afraid they will want to bury me in a church yard. I would rather be buried on the high seas on a dirty wild night than in Westminster Abbey!”

Looking at the 1911 census return for the Royal Alfred home (listed formally as “The Royal Alfred Institution For Aged Seamen Merchant Service”) there is an inmate by the name of Augustus Ellison. He was unmarried, aged 73, and born at “Durham, Norton on Hill”, presumably the Norton which today forms part of Stockton-on-Tees. When he died in 1916 his age was given as 80 – this tallies with Mr Ellison’s given age when Sharp met him in 1914, so possibly this “Augustus” is Sharp’s “Bob”. However any earlier record of him, in County Durham or elsewhere, has proved elusive.

Songs

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Children at Trosley (Trottiscliffe)

On 29th July 1908 Cecil Sharp noted down six children’s singing games at the primary school in ‘Trosley’. This is in fact the local pronunciation of the village officially known as Trottiscliffe – although it has been referred to as both Trosley and Trotterscliffe.

The following description is from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868, quoted from https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/KEN/Trottiscliffe

TROTTISCLIFFE, (or Trotterscliffe or Trosley), a parish in the hundred of Larkfield, lathe of Aylesford, county Kent, 9 miles W. of Maidstone, its post town, and 2 N.E. of Rotham. The village, situated at the foot of the chalk hills, was given by King Offa to Rochester Priory in 788, and subsequently came to the Bishops of Rochester, whose palace was built here in 1185 by Bishop Granville. The land is partly in hop-grounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury, value £332, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, has been restored and modernised. There is an endowed National school. At a farm in the vicinity Druidical stones, British coins, copper swords, and other relics of antiquity have been discovered.

The name ‘Trosley’ survives today in nearby Trosley Country Park.

Songs

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Charley Appleton

Charles John Appleton, 1866-1949

The following account appeared in the ‘About the Neighbourhood’ column by ‘Felix’ in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 5th November 1932: 

“We are all Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough.”

Upon my word, it is really wonderful what an accumulation of correspondence one receives on various matters in the course of a week or two. For example, I was recently a guest at a harvest home supper, and after sampling “a cut and come again” kind of menu, listened to a very few short speeches and many ancient and modern songs.

Of course the good old “Farmer’s Boy,” with its rollicking chorus came up as fresh as, ever, and so did “We are all jolly fellows that follow the plough.”

Our Mutual Friend, Mr. Appleton, of Pay Street.

The above named farmer who is affectionately known in the countryside as Charley Appleton was present at the harvest supper I refer to and he, knowing my partiality for the song, has taken the trouble to write It out and send it to me. I am not by any means hard-up for subjects, but I must make room for Charley’s effort as follows:

When four o’clock comes
Then up we do rise,
And into the stable
We merrily flies;
Then rubbing and scrubbing
Our horses, I’ll vow
We are all jolly fellows
That follow the plough.

When five o’clock comes
To breakfast we meet;
With beef, pork and bread, boys,
We heartily eat.
With a piece in our pockets
I’ll swear and I’ll vow,
We are all jolly fellows
That follow the plough.

When six o’clock comes
To work we do go –
A trip o’er the plain, boys,
So nimble, you know.
And when we get there, boys,
So noble and bold,
To see which of us
A straight furrow can hold.

Our master came to us
And this he did say:
“What have you been doing, boys,
All this long day;
You have not ploughed an acre,
I’ll swear and I’ll vow:
You’re damned idle fellows,
That follow the plough.

I turned myself round,
And made this reply:
“We have all ploughed our acre,
You tell a damn lie!
We have all ploughed an acre,
I’ll swear and I’ll vow:
And we are all jolly fellows
That follow the plough.”

Our master turned round,
And laughed at the joke:
“It’s past two o’clock, boys,
It’s time to unyoke;
You take home your horses
And rub them down well,
And I’ll give you a jug,
Of the very best ale!”

This ditty, with it [sic] glimpse of farm life, many years ago was a great favourite, but with the increasing number of steam ploughs and tractors, bids fair to become but a memory. It is not only the humorous side, but the rough and ready manner of the singing of them that renders the listening to such songs so enjoyable.

There doesn’t seem much in it,”

Yes, in these days one can imagine a townsman declaring as above but anyone who has witnessed those straight furrows across the ploughed land may well marvel at the skill often displayed by the men employed. In this old picture note the time 4 a.m. in the first verse. It meant going into the stable with a lantern to feed the horses and then to breakfast, “with beef, pork and bread boys.”  I once witnessed a ploughing match and never since that day have I forgotten what a straight furrow means. We all remember how on one occasion the late Lord Rosebery left the then cabinet and declared he would “plough his lonely furrow alone.” And he did thereafter. I thank our good friend Charley of Pay Street fame for thinking of us benighted  townsmen. And that reminds me that on one occasion I met Charley in Tontine Street. He said: “Why don’t you give us a look up at our cottage some day.” I replied, “Ah! that’s a pretty old cottage isn’t it.” Charley replied “It was built before Noah entered the Ark.” Months after I paid a visit to Pay Street and explored the cottage. Well, with its huge beams placed this way, that way, upright or on the slant I found it a most extraordinary place and I should wonder if the gentleman who designed the ark had not had something to do with Charley’s Cottage. Ah! it was a snug little place though, with a duck pond outside and old English flowers smothering the frontage. Tucked away amongst the trees I well liked the old house. Charley and his family lived there many years. But now they reside in a 20th century bungalow and I hope and we all hope that there is much happiness and a life before them.

Charley was born on 11th Mar 1866, and baptised on 6th May at St Anthony the Martyr, Alkham. The 1871 census has the Appleton family living at “Woolverton” (actually Wolverton), Alkham. The household consisted of Charley’s father, also Charles, an agricultural labourer; his mother Jane and her father, William Rolfe; two older siblings and two younger. By 1881 the still growing family had moved to Noah’s Ark Cottage, Alkham, and his father was working as a farm bailiff. Charley however, now 15, was employed by George Seath (“Farmer 217 acres 9 men 1 boy”) as “Farm servant (indoor)” at Lower Standen Farm, Hawkinge.

He was married on 23rd February 1889 at St Michael’s, Hawkinge, to Susannah Kember. The 1891 census shows them living at 30 Queen Street, Folkestone. They had a one year old daughter, and there were three lodgers in the house. Charley was working as a carter for the Corporation, but at some point in the next ten years he took up farming: in 1901 he was to be found at Hawkinge Hall, Hawkinge, his occupation “Farmer & dairyman”. He and Susannah now had three children; her widowed mother, also Susannah, was living with them.

Charley continued working as a dairy farmer, and from 1911 onwards the census records show him at Pay Street near Densole. This would have been where ‘Felix’ visited him in his cottage. By 1932, when Charley appeared in the ‘About the Neighbourhood’ newspaper column, he was living in a modern bungalow. Presumably this was The Cabin, Pay Street, which was given as his address in the 1939 Register. His occupation was given as “Farmer Retired”. He died on 1st January 1949, at the age of 82.

The noted singer George Spicer, although he hailed from the Ashford area, came to work at Coolinge Farm, a large dairy farm to the west of Folkestone, in the mid-1920s. In 1927 he married Dorothy Appleton, who was the daughter of Charley Appleton’s younger brother Sid, and George and Charley must therefore have known each other.

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James Rye

James Rye, 1800-1901

James Rye featured on more than one occasion in the ‘About the neighbourhood’ column penned by ‘Felix’ for the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald. For example on 13th May 1899:

Congratulations.

Folkestone’s Grand Old Man entered into his 100th year on Thursday last. I need hardly state that I am referring to Mr. James Rye, who first saw the light of day at Adisham, in the year 1800. Mr. Rye is little short of a marvel. He enjoys life immensely. His only ailment is a little deafness, or as he puts it, I am “little ‘ard o’ hearing.” Our old friend reads his daily paper regularly without the aid of glasses, he can sing “The Farmer’s Boy” with any man his own age, and dance a country jig in rare good form. Moreover, his face is almost free from wrinkles, whilst his complexion may be said to be in the pink of condition. It is worth repeating. Mr. Rye was originally employed as an agricultural labourer. He has ploughed over most of the land whereon stands “Fashionable Folkestone,” and can recall the time when this flourishing town was nothing but a mere hamlet. Mr. Rye, too, remembers the time when he helped to succour the wounded soldiers which had arrived at Dover from the field of Waterloo.

And then a longer piece on 12th May 1900, when he reached the age of 100:

FOLKESTONE’S GRAND OLD MAN.

A HUNDRED YEARS OLD YESTERDAY (FRIDAY).

HE IS IN GOOD HEALTH AND SPIRITS.

HE READS HIS NEWSPAPER WITHOUT THE AID OF GLASSES.

A FEW PARTICULARS OF HIS CAREER.

(BY FELIX)

In the small Kentish town of Adisham, James Rye first gazed on the light of day 100 years ago yesterday (Friday). I have frequently alluded in these columns to this truly wonderful gentleman, and the occasion of his attaining his century is sufficient excuse for referring to the interesting subject again. Mr. Rye came to Folkestone as a youth, and has remained in this neighbourhood up to the present. He was a farmer’s boy at Walton Farm, and during his long career has ploughed over most of the land upon which Fashionable Folkestone now stands. The centenarian’s

MEMORY IS WONDERFUL,

and it is one of his fondest recollections that he assisted in conveying the wounded in farmer’s transport waggons from the battle of Waterloo to Canterbury hospital, the soldiers having arrived in sloops at Dover from Ostend. Mr. Rye has led an uneventful life. but of course has noted the great changes that have taken place—the wonderful inventions in machines and science as well as the changes in social existence. But perhaps the greatest wonder in the long length of years that has been granted him is himself. Where is his equal in the land? Daily, bag in hand, he takes his walks abroad, leaning lightly on a staff. He stoops but little, and his general gait would be that of a man between three and four score years. A smile in general illumines his face, which, moreover, is but little lined with wrinkles. Truly Time has been kind to our old friend. Although hearing is defective, his sight is marvellous, for he reads the smallest print without the aid of glasses. The old fellow is serenely happy, and care or trouble appear to be strangers to him. Although

HE ABHORS TOBACCO,

yet he still enjoys a glass of good ale, and declares that for a “night-cap,” nothing can excel a small quantity of the best whisky. Mr. Rye is a staunch Churchman, and many’s the time years ago I have seen himself and deceased wife sitting in the front pew of Holy Trinity Church. But his hearing became worse, and so the old fellow gave up Church going, and fell back, as he remarked to me once, on “the good Old Book,” a portion of which he reads every day. Only a few weeks ago I was in his company, when he sang a rattling country song, danced a hornpipe, and read aloud without the aid of glasses, a portion of an article from a daily paper. Mr. Rye is altogether a wonder, and Folkestone is proud of him. May the remaining years of his life be free from a cloud of care, or a twinge of pain.

He was baptised at Adisham on 15th June 1800. His father was Thomas Rye, and his mother Benedrita née Byrch. James Rye married Susanna Birch at St Martin, Cheriton, on 27th December 1830, and the 1841 census found them living at Cheriton Street. Ten years later they were at Trucks Hall, Newington; in both years James was listed as an agricultural labourer.

In 1871 James was living alone at Cheriton Street, Susanna having died in 1867. His occupation was given as “Grazier & landowner”. That same year he married Mary Ann Holden. The 1881 census has them as “Lodging house keeper” and “Lodging house keeper wife”, at 36 Bouverie Square, Folkestone. Mary Ann died in 1886; at the next census in 1891 James was shown as  “Retired farmer”, boarding with a lady called Elizabeth Cock at Sea Beach Cottage, South View, Cheriton. By 1901 Miss Cock had moved to 37 Broadmead Road, Folkestone, her lodger James Rye accompanying her there; his occupation was given as “Retired farm bailiff”.

James Rye died at the age of 101, being buried on 14th August 1901 at St Nicholas, Newington Next Hythe.

Songs

The Farmer’s Boy (Roud 408)

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