Category: Singer

Kate Oliver

Kate Oliver, née Buckman, 1881-1967

Between 1943 and 1952, Francis Collinson collected nine songs or song tunes from a Mrs Oliver of Bethersden. Collinson included her tune for ‘I wish I wish’ in the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, 1946, writing:

Mrs. Oliver of Bethersden, Kent, comes from a naturally musical family each member of which played an instrument, either violin, concertina or piano, and all of them self-taught. She played the airs of the tunes to me on the English concertina and spoke the words to me afterwards. She learned the songs from her father, who knew upwards of a hundred songs. I have noted a number of songs from her in addition to the incomplete one below, including “Blackberry Fold,” “The Cottage in the wood,” ” Mary at the garden gate ” and “The sprig of thyme.” Mrs. Oliver is a woman of middle age.1

Looking at records from the 1939 Register, there are at least three married women in Bethersden, with the surname Oliver, who could meet the imprecise description “a woman of middle age”. The most likely seemed to be Mrs Kate Oliver, if only because her father was Horace Buckman, who George Frampton has identified as having taken part in musical activities in the village before the First World War2. In fact, George has been able to positively identify Kate Oliver as Collinson’s singer – in an article in Bygone Kent he quotes Mrs Oliver’s daughter Mrs Rhoda Sargeant (born 1925), who remembered Francis Collinson visiting the family to note down the songs, and later hearing them sung on ‘Country Magazine’:

My mother learnt the songs as a young girl from her father who played them on his concertina which she learnt to play when she was quite young — it was a natural talent, as she had no lessons except a few tips from her father who was also a natural player.3

Kate was born in 1881, the eighth child of agricultural labourer Jeremiah Buckman, originally from High Halden, and Sarah, née Russell. The 1881 census (shortly before Kate was born) showed the family living at Paris Cottages, Bethersden. In 1891, they were at Bateman Lane, Bethersden, but Jeremiah and his two youngest daughters were back at Paris Corner in 1901 (Kate’s mother Sarah had died in 1896). Kate, now 19, was working as a domestic help.

In 1906 she married farm labourer John Charles Oliver, and at the next census were to be found living at Paris Corner, with a baby son. Her father, Jeremiah had died in November 1910, so John was shown as head of the household. In 1921 their address was 5 St Peters Row, Bethersden; they had another three sons and one daughter. John was now working as a Roadstone Carrier for H Godden Contractor, while Kate’s occupation was shown as “Home Duties”. In September 1939 they were at 5 Council Houses, Bethersden; Kate’s occupation was “Unpaid Domestic Duties”. Three children were still in the parental home, including their youngest child Rhoda, who was approaching fourteen.

Kate Oliver died aged 85, on 20th March 1967. She was buried at Bethersden Methodist Church. An obituary in the Kentish Express, 31st March 1967, gave her address at the time of her death as Bailey Field, Bethersden.

Songs

In his article for JEFDSS, 1946, Collinson mentioned having noted ‘Blackberry Fold’ and ‘The sprig of thyme’ from Mrs Oliver. Neither of these appears to have survived in his collection.

Rhoda Sargeant told George Frampton that her mother sang a song which started “As I walked out one summer morning”. This might have been a version of ‘The Banks of Sweet Primroses’.

  1. Songs Collected by Francis M. Collinson, Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Dec., 1946), pp.13-22 ↩︎
  2. George Frampton, The Millen Family of Bethersden, Kent, Musical Traditions, https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/millens.htm ↩︎
  3. George Frampton, Country Magazine in Kent, Bygone Kent, Vol. 16, No. 7 ↩︎

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Samuel Holdstock

Samuel Holdstock, 1823-1915

Samuel Holdstock was born on 16th May 1832, at Budds Farm, Wittersham, He was baptised at the church of St John the Baptist, Wittersham on 7th June, and remained in the village all his life. His parents were Joseph, a labourer, and Elizabeth, née Tickner. At the time of the 1841 census the family was living at Blackwall, Wittersham. Samuel was the second oldest of eight children, and the household also included the 80 year old Mary Holdstock.

On 11th April 1846, Samuel married Sophia Jenner in the church at Wittersham. In 1851 they were living at Back Road, Wittersham, and had two daughters and one son. Samuel was listed, as he was in most subsequent census returns, as an agricultural labourer. The 1861 census lists the family at 1 Back Street, Wittersham (the same location as Back Road?); Samuel and Sophia have had another three daughters. In 1871 their residence was in the High Street, Wittersham; their youngest daughters, Kate and Caroline, still living in the parental home. In 1881 they were at 5 Main Road; Caroline was still with them, and on the census day they were also looking after a baby granddaughter, Minnie. The 1891 census found them at 4 Swan Road; their daughter Sophia was now living with them, along with two granddaughters, Emma and Mabel.

Samuel’s wife Sophia died and was buried in the parish church on 14th December 1894. By the time of the 1901 census, he had moved in with his daughter Sophia, now married to Thomas Hinkley, a corn miller, at Poplar Cottage, Wittersham (the census has Samuel down as Thomas’s brother-in-law, but that is plainly wrong). Also in the house were Thomas and Sophia’s three children. Samuel was aged 77, but still listed as Agricultural labourer.

Although generally shown as an agricultural labourer in census returns, in 1881 he was described as “Shepheard” (and his daughter Caroline as “Shepheards daur”). In fact, it would appear that he was a skilled shepherd, winning prizes at meetings of the Tenterden Agricultural Association: in 1869 he was placed third for “Rearing the greatest number of lambs (320 lambs, 278 ewes)”1; was third again in 1870 as “lamber of a breeding flock who shall before the 1st June  have reared the greatest number of lambs in proportion to the number of ewes under his management (the number of ewes not to be less than 300 in lamb) of which there must be one-third ewe tags”2; and gained first prize – and a prize of £1 10s. – in 1874 “for rearing 311 ewes 415 lambs”3. On all three occasions his employer was Thomas Chennell, of Budds Farm, Wittersham. He was also awarded a number of prizes at the Wittersham Horticultural Society’s Annual Meeting, in August 1870 – for his extra red gooseberries, herbs, turnips, stocks, scarlet runner beans, calceolaria, cut flowers, marigold, and red potatoes4.

Percy Grainger visited him on 21st August 1909, in company with Mrs Edith Lyttleton, who lived in Wittersham, and noted down five songs – although for only one of these did he note any words. Grainger wrote to his mother the following day

We got though several folksongs yesterday from a very nice old man, his name Samuel Holdstock. How cross I am that I didn’t bring my phonograph with me, for he sings really with charm and with many added syllable “inden” “I’dd” etc.”
One of his melodies was really beautiful: [here he wrote out the tune of the song ‘Mary Thompson’]
I’m so fond of those beginnings (marked*) on the 4th of the key, so uniquely characteristic of English tunes.
Perhaps I will arrange it for 4 voices and let them sing it this evening.

Of the singer, he noted

Samuel Holdstock, born 16 May 1832 [at] Budds, Wittersham, Kent. Here all his lifetime except 2 years in Appledore. [Dealt with] cattle and sheep. Worked up to he was 79, and then got hurt. Wouldn’t sing on a Sunday. Even in his wild days he had never done that. He went up to London to see the Queen’s funeral (Vic[toria]) and he never wished to see another.5

Two years later, in 1911, Samuel was still living with his daughter’s family. Thomas Hinkley was now shown in the census as “miller and baker”, and the family were living at The Mill, Wittersham. Samuel died in the final quarter of 1915, aged 92.

Songs

  1. Maidstone & Kentish Journal 11 October 1869 ↩︎
  2. Maidstone & Kentish Journal 10 October 1870 ↩︎
  3. Epsom Journal 13 October 1874 ↩︎
  4. South Eastern Advertiser 13 August 1870 ↩︎
  5. Quoted in Kay Dreyfus (ed.), Farthest North of Humanness: Letters of Percy Aldridge Grainger 1901-1914, p307-308. ↩︎
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Mary Powell

Mary Rebecca Powell, née Wells, 1835-1920

In August 1910 Francis Jekyll collected two songs from a Mrs Powell, Minster, Isle of Sheppey. This would appear to be Mrs Mary Powell, who had been an inmate of the Sheppey Union Workhouse since at least 1891. Census records from 1891 to 1911 have her birthplace as Linton in Cambridgeshire, or Cambridge. However she appears to have been baptised at Isleham, near Newmarket in Cambridgeshire, on 2nd September 1835. She was the daughter of Edward Wells, a labourer, and Hannah, née Starling. The 1841 census shows the Wells family living in Isleham. Mary was the third eldest of seven children, and there were two other adults and a 15 year old also living in the same house.

Mary was still in the family home at Isleham in 1851, but at some point between then and 1873 it seems that she must have moved to Kent, because in the final quarter of that year she married Thomas Holden on Sheppey. The 1861 census listed Thomas as a carter, working at Eastchurch.

The 1870s were a time of rural unrest throughout the country as, in a movement often referred to as “The Revolt of the Field”, the newly-formed National Agricultural Labourers Union, led by Joseph Arch, encouraged farmworkers to stand together to achieve better working conditions and wages. Formed in 1872, the union’s membership peaked nationally at over 86,000 in 1874. The separate Kent Agricultural Labourers’ Union – later the Kent and Sussex Agricultural Labourers’ Union – was founded as the result of a meeting held at Shoreham on 17th April 1872. This meeting was addressed by Alfred Simmons, editor of the radical newspaper the Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph and he emerged as the main leader of the Kent union (Simmons was not himself an agricultural labourer, but he attributed his commitment to the labourers’ cause to the fact that he and his siblings had been brought up in poverty by his mother, who had been left penniless on her husband’s death). Within three months of that initial meeting, the Kent Agricultural Labourers’ Union had over 4,000 members, and by the end of the year this figure had risen to 6,000. One year into its existence, by May 1873 there were 8,000 union members and the union had a healthy bank balance: subscriptions had brought in £1,25o, plus more than £200 from public donations1. Soon, farmers began to dismiss workers who had joined the union, but the union countered with boycotts of these employers – finding work for dismissed labourers elsewhere in the county and also, following the example of the national union, assisting workers to emigrate to Australia or New Zealand.

A union branch was established on Sheppey following a meeting of 200 men outside the Royal Oak, East End Lane, near Minster, on Saturday 31st May 1873. A detailed report of this meeting was printed in the Sheerness Times and General Advertiser on Saturday 7th June 1873, under the headline “MEETING OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS” (PDF), and it is well worth reading this to get a feel for the nature of the farmworkers’ grievances, and also the eloquence of the speaker at the meeting, a Mr. Harry Howard, of the Southfleet Branch of the Kent union. Howard argued persuasively that “A combination of men was better heard and listened to than the complaints of single individuals. Masters could discharge their labourers by wholesale a short time since, because they were sure of getting others, but that time had gone by: working-men were no longer weak, and their complaints were now listened to”, and summarised the aims of the Kent Union as “to secure an adequate scale of wages for work performed, overtime to be paid for in the coin of the realm, and to secure a certain number of hours as a day’s work”. In conclusion, he suggested that they should adjourn to the pub to formally set up a union branch. This they did, and 70 men joined on the spot.

In 1875 the union pressed for higher wages – asking for 3 shillings a day, and the working day to be set at 10 hours. Employers rejected this, insisting on an 11 hour working day. In April 1865 it was reported that

Nearly all the agricultural labourers of the Isle of Sheppey have turned out on strike, in consequence of their employers not acceding to a request for more wages and shorter hours. The men – most of whom have been in receipt of from 16s. to 18s. a week – are backed up by the Kent Labourers’ Union. The farmers held a meeting, and resolved to maintain an opposition to the demands at any cost.2

The Tablet, 10th April 1875, put the number of striking labourers as “200 to 300 in number”.

A letter in the Sheerness Times, 17th April 1875, signed simply “A FARM LABOURER” sought to make readers aware of how farmworkers were treated by their employers.

The farm labourers are “locked out” because they demand that a day’s work shall consist of ten hours, and I am sure that the majority of your readers will coincide with me that that time is quite long enough for the arduous work we have to perform. Latterly (at the request of the majority of the labourers) a young man was elected branch secretary of the Kent Agricultural Labourers’ Association, and he was immediately discharged from a farm near “Court Tree” for his connection with our Society. This was not all! Although he had held the position of “organ blower” at the Church at Eastchurch for the last seven years, to the satisfaction of all, he has also been peremptorily discharged from that position by the Churchwardens. The salary attached to the above office was the paltry sum of £1 per year, I ask those who deprecate the un-English proceedings of the farmers of Sheppey, to support those on the “lock out” with their mite.

We know that Thomas Holden was a union member and took part in the strike, because this was widely reported – in Kent and elsewhere – in reports of a court case in August 1875. The Sheerness Guardian, 21st August 1875 provided a summary of the case:

AN AGGRAVATED ASSAULT.—At the Sittingbourne Petty Sessions, on Monday last, a farmer named King, belonging to Eastchurch, was summoned for assaulting Mary Rebecca Holden and Jas. Holden, her husband, at Eastchurch, on the 10th of July, 1875.—Mr. Hayward appeared for complainants, Mr. Johnson for defendant. Considerable interest was attached to this case.  Holden is one of the agricultural labourers who have been on strike in Sheppey, and it is understood that in this action he was supported by the Kent Agricultural Labourers’ Union. The assault was clearly proved, and neither of the complainants appear to have given the defendant any provocation. The defendant knocked Holden down insensible, whereupon his wife went to his assistance, and, as she was stooping down to pick him up, King struck her. He knocked her down several times, cutting her eye, breaking her jaw, and finally rendering her senseless. The magistrates characterised the assaults as most brutal and cowardly. For the assault on the man defendant was fines £4 18s. 5d. including costs; for the assault on the woman he was sentenced to fourteen days’ imprisonment with hard labour, and ordered to pay the costs (£2 18s. 5d.) or to undergo further imprisonment for one month.

Several reports gave the name of the assaulted man as James Holden, but this was a typographical error – perhaps the result of conflating his name with that of the defendant, James King.

This article, from the Sheerness Times and General Advertiser, 21st August 1875, provides some further information:

COWARDLY AND UNPROVOKED ASSAULT.

James King, farmer, of Leysdown, Sheppey, was summoned for having assaulted Thomas Holden, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Rebecca Holden, his wife, at Eastchurch, on Saturday, July 10th.— Mr. Hayward for the complainants; Mr. Johnson for the defendant.

The evidence of the complainants, supported by several witnesses, was to this effect. On the day in question, Holden was in the Wheatsheaf beer-house, Eastchurch, and his wife came to the door with a basket of vegetables for sale. King was at the bar, and he went to the woman and took a bundle of lettuce out of her basket and tore them to pieces. Holden then went to his wife and asked why she allowed her things be spoiled, whereupon King said, “Do they belong to you, Tom,” and he replied “Yes, Jem, and I don’t like to see them spoiled.” King then gave Holden a “chuck” under the chin, saying, “How do you like that,” and this he followed by some “fearful blows”,  knocking Holden down, and rendering him nearly quite insensible. The woman thought her husband was dead, and went to pick him up, when King attacked her, striking her several times, and finally knocking her down on the cellar-flap outside the house, and breaking her jaw-bone. The woman was insensible, and some thought at the time that she was dead. It was suggested in cross-examination that the woman drank the defendant’s beer without permission, and that she sang in the tap-room after her jaw was said to be broken, but this was denied; it elicited, however, that she had been convicted of riotous conduct. Two witnesses were called on the part of the defendant named Stockbridge and Mungham; they endeavoured to prove that the woman was the aggressor, but they gave their evidence in such a way that Mr. Hayward significantly declined to cross-examine them.

The magistrates characterised the assault as brutal and cowardly. For that upon the man they fined the defendant £4 18s. 5d., including costs; for that upon the woman he was sentenced to fourteen days’ hard labour, and to a further term if the costs (£2 18s. 5d.) were not paid.

Nowhere is Thomas’ union membership explicitly stated as the reason for King’s assault on him. But all reports mention the fact that he was a striking union member. In fact the union supported Thomas and Mary in bringing the case, retaining the lawyer Mr Hayward on their behalf.

The longest, most detailed report appeared in the Kent & Sussex Times, 20th August 1875, under the headline “BRUTAL ASSAULT ON A LOCKED-OUT LABOURER AND HIS WIFE BY A SHEPPY FARMER”. This provided the additional information that “The case had been adjourned for a month in order to enable the female complainant to appear, she having had her jaw broken in the assault, and being under medical treatment. She now appeared in court with her face bound up”. Thomas Holden (incorrectly referred to as James throughout the article) is described as “one of the men who were “locked out,” and by growing a few vegetables in his cottage garden occasionally earned a few pence to supplement the Union lock-out pay”. The article includes details of Mary’s testimony – and since we rarely have the opportunity to hear directly from the mouths of traditional singers from this era (even if filtered through the pen of a newspaper reporter), this is given here in full:

I was in the front of the bar of the Wheat Sheaf, at Eastchurch, on the 10th of July. My husband was in the tap-room when I went in. I asked them if they wanted some lettuces or onions, and the defendant took a bunch out of my basket, and threw them down in front of the bar. He repeated this. I said, “If you don’t want to buy them don’t pluck them to pieces.” My husband came up to know what was going on, and the defendant said “are they your’s,” and up with his fist and struck him under the chin. He struck him in the same way again, and then knocked him down. I went to pick him up, and the defendant struck me and knocked me down, cutting me across the eye. When I was getting up he hit me under the jaw, and knocked me down again. I became senseless, and that is all I know about it. I am under the doctor now, and still have the wires in my jaw, which was broken. I did nothing to the defendant, but went to pick my husband up, and that was what I had the blow for. I cannot say how long my husband was senseless, for I was knocked down senseless myself directly afterwards.

Then, when examined by the defence lawyer:

I am quite sure it was the defendant who tore the lettuces to pieces. I did not attempt to drink any of his beer. I saw Stockbridge and Mungham there, and they are witnesses, I ought to have had, but they both live under the defendant and work for him. I was in Mr. Hughes’ summer-house when I came to myself. I should not think I was capable of singing after having my jaw broken.

The evidence given by the landlord James Hughes, and his wife Sarah, as well as three labourers who had been witnesses to the attack, all supported Mary’s testimony. The conflicting evidence given by the labourers Stockbridge and Mungham seems to have been given short shrift – the magistrates told James King that “The assault is a brutal one on your part, and particularly disgraceful in knocking down a woman and breaking her jaw as you did”. At the end of the trial, King paid the damages plus costs – amounting to a total of £7 17s, “and the defendant was removed in the custody of the police to undergo his sentence”.

The anonymous author of the ‘Jottings Grave and Gay’ column in the East Kent Gazette, 21 August 1875 condemned the assault by King, saying that “I should imagine that a more unmanly outrage never disgraced the Isle of Sheppey”, and applauded the fact that the magistrates had sentenced the assailant to two weeks’ hard labour, not just a fine. He concluded that this would demonstrate that there was, as was often asserted, not one law for the rich, and another for the poor. This view was not universally shared however. Reynolds’s Newspaper (originally linked to Chartism, and later the Cooperative movement) ran a report on the trial under the heading “MORE LENIENCY TOWARDS RUFFIANISM”. The Kent & Sussex Times, meanwhile, on 20th August 1875 described the sentence as “FLAGRANT INJUSTICE”. The column argued that

The Hon. Secretary to the Labourers’ Union has acted well in bringing Mr. KING before the magistrates, and it is greatly to be deplored that the Bench acted in so half-hearted a manner in punishing the accused. To such a person as Mr. FARMER KING a fine of a pound or two is no punishment whatever. The only real punishment brought to bear upon him is the fourteen days’ imprisonment, and we emphatically maintain that this sentence is utterly inadequate to the outrageous nature of the offence. It will be very convenient for some persons to know that they may commit a brutal assault upon an unoffending man and his wife, that they may kick the husband and break the wife’s jaw bone, and all upon the risk of “a small fine and 14 days.” Now let us put a case. Supposing instead of a labouring man’s wife this woman had been the wife of a farmer, and supposing instead of a farmer KING had been a labourer, would the punishment inflicted have been the same? We trow not. We venture to think that any working man who attacked an unoffending woman would have been committed for trial, and ultimately sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment. And in that he would have had no more than his due. Yet, here is a farmer who, without receiving provocation, commits a cowardly and aggravated assault upon both the man and his wife, and – because he is a farmer, possibly – a few days’ confinement, and a mere flea-bite of a fine is deemed sufficient.

It concluded

We denounce the decision of the magistrates as entirely inadequate to the offence. It is this partiality for higher class criminals which is daily bringing the law into contempt; and the Sittingbourne verdict adds another to the long string of precedents which eventually must lead to the appointment of stipendiary instead of country gentlemen magistrates.

Sadly, the attack on Thomas and Mary was not the worst tragedy to befall them at the Wheatsheaf Inn. The Sheerness Times and General Advertiser, 2nd October 1880, reported that on the afternoon of Saturday 25th October 1880 the Holdens went to the pub, which “is situate on the borders of Eastchurch parish, in the centre of an extensive agricultural district, and at this season of the year […] is mostly frequented by those engaged in harvest operations, as in addition to being a retailer  of beer and spirits, the proprietor also carries on the business of grocer and general dealer, and the labourers are accustomed to resort thereto for their weekly provisions”. They met William Hadlum and his wife in the pub and, after eating some dinner, went outside to sit on the green in front of the pub.

Shortly afterwards Hadlum, who was the worse for drink, commenced abusing his wife and making so much noise, that the landlord ordered him either to be quiet or to go about his business, whereupon Hadlum stretched himself upon the ground and appeared to go to sleep. Whether he really did so or not we cannot tell, but it seems that after the lapse of about two hours he jumped up and recommenced the disturbance, by challenging Holden to fight. The landlord again interposed, and warned Hadlum off his premises, when the latter suddenly turned round, and exclaiming “This is the way to do it,” rushed at Holden, who was still sitting on the ground, and struck him two heavy blows with his fist, knocking him senseless. Assistance was at once rendered to the unfortunate man, but it was soon discovered that he was past all human aid, and Hadlum was accordingly detained till the arrival of the police, when he was taken into custody and removed to the lock-up at Sheerness. The deceased must have expired immediately, as he neither moved nor spoke after being struck. Hadlum is well-known all over the island, being somewhat of the half-gipsy type and has been generally looked upon as a man to be avoided when in drink, his violent temper and cruel disposition having on more than one occasion led to a breach of the peace. On the other hand, Holden, who was a native of Eastchurch, was a quiet, inoffensive man, and was greatly respected by those with whom he worked.

At the inquest the following Monday, James Hughes the pub landlord said Thomas Holden was a farm labourer who resided in the parish of Warden (just up the coast from Leysdown, in the East of Sheppey), and that he’d known him since childhood. He described what he had witnessed, and his attempts to restrain Hadlum:

as I was approaching him, Hadlum took off his coat and waistcoat. He said he had fought Tom Sayers [a famous bare-knuckle prize fighter], and he would fight the best man in England. He again placed himself in a fighting attitude in front o the deceased, who was still sitting down, and had apparently not provoked Hadlum at all. I pushed Hadlum back, and threw his clothes on his shoulders and told him to go. I said “Holden is not a fighting man, but one of the quietest persons in the parish.” I then turned round to go away, when Hadlum immediately jumped round and said, “This the way to do it.” He then struck the deceased two violent blows with his fist, the first on the temple and the second near the ear, knocking him over senseless from the seat upon which he was sitting. Holden had not attempted to get up or to fight, and the only expression I heard him use was “If you hit me you will have to suffer for it.” So far as I know there was not the slightest provocation given by Holden to Hadlum. Deceased appeared to lay doubled up. I put my hand under his shoulders and lifted him straight. I tried his pulse and could find none, and I then said to Hadlum, “He is dead, you vagabond, you have killed him.”

Once again, we get to hear the voice of Mary Holden. Here is her evidence as reported in the Sheerness Guardian of 2nd October – it is mostly consistent with what appeared in the Sheerness Times, but has a slightly more natural feel, and some additional detail:

The deceased, Thomas Holden, is my husband. On Saturday last, at ten minutes past twelve, he and I came to the “Wheatsheaf Inn” to have our dinner. Hadlum and his wife were there when we came in. After dinner we all four went out and sat on the green in front of the house. No disagreement occurred between my husband and Hadlum, and I sat talking to his wife. Just before five o’clock Hadlum said something to [my husband], but I did not hear what it was. My husband replied, “If you hit me, you’ll have to suffer for it.” He got up, stood in front of [my husband], put himself in a fighting attitude, and said “I care for no man; here I am; I am one of Courtney’s men.” He then struck my husband two violent blows and he fell down dead directly.
The witness here became very excited, and after waiting for some time, she was removed from the room in a fainting condition.

In the first quarter of the following year, 1881, Mary remarried, with Edward George Powell. At the time of the 1881 census, the couple were living at 2 Earlls Cottages, Eastchurch. Edward was 42 years old – three years younger than Mary – and his occupation was given as “Ag lab & army reserve”.

In April 1891, when the next census took place, Mary Powell was for the first time accorded an occupation in the census record – Agricultural labourer. But she is also shown as a Pauper inmate of the Sheppey Union Workhouse in Minster, and there she appears to have remained until her death, three decades later. Edward does not appear to be listed as an inmate of the Workhouse in 1891, 1901 or 1911; in fact, he seems to disappear from the official record after the 1881 census. Mary would have been a resident of the workhouse when she sang her songs for Francis Jekyll. She died in 1920, aged 85.

Songs

An Old Man He Courted Me (Roud 210)

Tarry Trowsers (Roud 427)

  1. This account of the Kent Agricultural Labourers’ Union is derived mostly from Rollo Arnold, The “Revolt of the Field” in Kent 1872-1879, Past & Present, No. 64 (Aug., 1974), pp. 71-95 ↩︎
  2. Midland Examiner and Wolverhampton Times, 10th April 1875 – exactly the same words were printed in local newspapers across the country ↩︎
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Fred Mannering

On the 9th July 1942, Francis Collinson noted two songs from a Fred Mannering at Bethersden, and one from a James Mannering. It has not so far been possible to identify Fred Mannering with certainty. However the most likely candidate seems to be

Frederick Charles Mannering, 1901-?

Born in 1901, he was the son of Henry James Mannering, a farm labourer, and Sarah Jane née Buss. In 1901 the family was living in The Street, Bethersden, and in 1911 at Wilk’s Cottages, Bethersden. Frederick is not listed in or around Bethersden in 1921 or 1939, but his parents are – in 1939 they were living at Prospect Cottages, Bethersden. In the 1881 and 1901 censuses Henry James Mannering is listed just as James Mannering. Perhaps he generally went by the name of James (or more likely Jim). And it’s possible that when Collinson visited the Mannerings in 1942, their son Fred happened to be at home as well.

Of course it is also possible that the singer wasn’t actually called Fred at all – it might just have been a nickname (in the same way as another Bethersden singer, Tim Fidler, had actually been baptised Reginald Harry Fidler). But, based on information in the 1939 Register, the only other male Mannerings living in the village were Frederick Mannering’s brothers – and it seems extremely unlikely that, with a brother called Fred, either of them would have acquired Fred as a nickname.

Songs

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James Mannering

On the 9th July 1942, Francis Collinson noted two songs from a Fred Mannering at Bethersden, and one from a James Mannering. It is not possible to be 100% certain of either singer’s identity, but the most likely person is

Henry James Mannering, 1866-1954

He was baptised at the church of St Stephen, Lympne with West Hythe, on 14th January 1866. His residence was recorded as Marwood – presumably Marwood Farm, which is between Bonnington and Lympne. His father George was a labourer, and his mother was Ann née Hawkett. In 1871 the family were living at Mannering Green Lane, Bethersden. 10 years later they were at Snoadhill, Bethersden and Henry James’s first name is recorded simply as James. He was 15, and working as “Ag lab (indoor serv)”.

He was married to Sarah Jane Buss in 1887, and at the next census, in 1891, they were living at Grove Court Cottages, Dowe Street, Pluckley, with a son, Louis. By 1911 they had another four sons: Percy, Frederick, Raymond and Oliver. Although most census records give his name as Henry James, in 1901 he was listed as James, and it seems probable that this (or more likely Jim) is the name he was known by.

James and Sarah remained in Bethersden: in 1901 they were at The Street, 1911 Wilk’s Cottages, 1921 at 4 St Peters Row, and 1939 at Prospect Cottages. James’ occupation is shown as agricultural labourer (or some variation thereof) in all of these censuses, up until 1939 when he is recorded as “General Labourer Retired”.

He died in 1954.

Songs

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Mrs Lurcock

In Francis Collinson’s collection the carol ‘Lazerus’ is recorded as “Collected from Mrs. Lurcock of Bredgar, Kent, and noted down by Miss Alice Travers of Bredgar”. Lurcock is a common surname in that part of Kent, and there is no indication of when the song was noted down by Miss Travers – although the chances are that she wrote it down and sent it to Collinson at some point after May 1942, when the BBC’s Country Magazine programme was first aired. It’s not possible to be 100% sure of the identity of the singer, but the most likely candidate is

Ann Flosy Lurcock, née Drury, 1884-1988

Born on 8th August 1884, her birth record has her as Ann Flosy Drury, although when baptised at St James’, Sheldwich, on 24th August her name was recorded as “Anne Florence”. All subsequent official records have her as Ann without an ‘e’, and where her middle name is given in full it’s never “Florence”, but always “Flosy” or “Flosey”.

Her parents were Charles Drury, a farm labourer, and Keziah née Bramble, and in 1891 they were living in North Street, Sheldwich. By 1901 they had moved to Bunce Court Cottage, Otterden. Ann was at that point the eldest of four children, although ultimately there would be seven children; her father was working as a carter on a farm.

The 1911 census shows Ann working as a “Kitchen maid domestic”, for a Scottish couple, Mr and Mrs Simson, at Ickleford Manor, Ickleford, in Hertfordshire.

She married James Lurcock, a labourer, and native of Bredgar, on 13th May 1916. He appears to have enlisted in the RAF in July 1918, but by the time of the 1921 census they were living together in Bexon Lane, Bredgar. From local newspaper reports they appear to have participated in events run by the Bredgar Cottage Gardeners’ Association, and to have attended whist drives and dances held at the Red Triangle Hut (Mrs Lurcock came third and won a tea strainer in December 1923!).

A newspaper article celebrating her 103rd birthday (East Kent Gazette 13th August 1987) gave details of her life:

She does not claim to hold the key to eternal youth, but believes hard work and a drop of brandy might have helped her to keep going!

Her memory is still sharp and she can recall her full life in minute detail.

She was born the eldest of seven children at the family home in Badlesmere. As a fashionable youngster she remembers having a string of admirers and modern ideas about women at work. She herself worked below stairs as a cook in Hertfordshire and spent a year cooking at a stud farm In Ireland.

Mrs. Lurcock said: “A lot of the people I worked for asked if my family minded me working so far away from home, but I really enjoyed it. I suppose it now sounds a bit like ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ with butlers, footmen and all.”

Although life was hard, Mrs. Lurcock admits there was time to relax at local dances.

She remembers slipping into tight-fitting ‘”hobble skirts” to tempt the lads at the local hop.

And it was at a dance in Bredgar that she met her husband James, who lived in Bexon Lane. They married on 13 May 1916 at Sittingbourne Register Office.

The couple lived in Bredgar and had no children. After her husband died in 1932, Mrs. Lurcock went back to work as a lady’s companion.

Later she shared a home in Rainham with her sister until the latter’s death two years ago. She then moved to Court Regis old people’s home in Milton where she shared her birthday celebrations with relatives. staff and friends.

She died the following year, on 2nd June 1988.

Songs

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John and Ted Lancefield

John Alfred George Lancefield, 1881-1959

Edward Ernest Lancefield, 1885-1954

Francis Collinson collected a handful of songs from John and Ted Lancefield in June and July 1942. At the time they were employed as gardeners at Goldenhurst, Noël Coward’s country home near Aldington. Collinson and Coward were both involved in musical theatre – indeed Collinson had been one of the conductors on the original cast recording of Noël Coward’s musical Operette in 1938. Francis Collinson’s home near Bethersden was less than a dozen miles from Goldenhurst, so it would be surprising if they had not socialised from time to time. Knowing of Collinson’s interest in hunting out old country songs, if Noël Coward knew that his gardeners were singers he would have no doubt have drawn this to Collinson’s attention. Or it may even be that Collinson, on a visit to Goldenhurst, heard a gardener singing and proceeded to investigate.

The Lancefield brothers were both born at Crundale. Their parents were William, an agricultural labourer, and Ann, née Coombs. John was born on 17th August 1881 and apparently baptised at St Mary’s, Crundale the same day. Ted was born 15th April 1885, and baptised on 14th June.

By 1901 the family had moved to Cherry Gardens, Aldington. Ted was living with his parents and, like his father, was an agricultural labourer. John was recorded as “General serv agricultural”, working for John Bailey, farmer, at Falconhurst, Hurst (a couple of miles South of Aldington, and actually very close to Goldenhurst). At the next census in 1911, and in 1921, John and Ted were both living with their mother, Ann – now a widow – at Peacock Cottage, Aldington. Having previously been listed as general agricultural workers, in the 1921 census John’s occupation was given as Cowman, and Ted’s as Horseman, both working for Wheatley Bros Farmers. The Wheatleys farmed at Goldenhurst Farm – Peacock Cottage was 2 minutes’ walk from the farmhouse, and was almost certainly part of the farm estate. Ann died in 1936, but the brothers remained in the house, with one other resident, Dorothy Hills, who was listed as “Housekeeper” in the 1939 Register (presumably for Noël Coward, not for the brothers!). John and Ted were both now shown as “Gardener Heavy Worker”.

Noël Coward had found Goldenhurst (now a Grade II listed building) in 1926 after he placed an advert in the Kentish Times. He rented the property at first, but purchased it in 1927, carrying out a considerable amount of rebuilding and renovation work. The property had extensive gardens – in 1956, in a letter to Laurence Olivier explaining why he was selling Goldenhurst and moving abroad, he stated that he employed “five gardeners all year round”. The Lancefields presumably worked for him as gardeners from the beginning of his time there.

During the Second World War Goldenhurst was requisitioned by the Army, and Coward moved to White Cliffs, a rented house at St Margaret’s Bay. But he returned to Goldenhurst in December 1951, and set about repairing the damage done during four years of Army occupation. Coward’s secretary and biographer Cole Lesley remembered it thus:

Noël swung into action immediately, and so did everybody else. The next four months were beset with the same frustrations we had endured when moving in to White Cliffs; permits were still necessary for repairs and alterations, and the Army’s depredations since the requisitioning in 1940 had reduced the lovely house to a sorry state. Patience Erskine, kind friend of many years, had occupied Noel’s suite of rooms with her two dogs since the Army had finally evacuated, and that was all. Patience had taken care of the very large house, the garden and the grounds—she is a gardener by nature and from deep-rooted love of it—but the thought of getting at least thirty rooms shipshape from their stark and war-scarred condition was daunting.

No matter, I was as excited and eager as Noël at the thought of ‘coming home’. Goldenhurst really was home, which White Cliffs never quite had been, and we would end our days there we thought. Patience moved into a caravan parked near the pond until the pleasant rooms over the garage were converted into a flat for her, and we all worked with a will. The only people who didn’t bestir themselves were the bestowers of permits, until Noël became incensed by the delays.
[ … ]

The permits were granted (though far from liberal) and Patience moved into her flat— known as The Lodge from now on—where one could rely on good talk, an abundant supply of Scotch whisky and a loving welcome. She now ruled her kingdom as head gardener, Old John and his brother Ted her lieutenants, soon joined by a Kentish lad, John Brooks. Young John adored Patience, and indeed helped and served her faithfully until he died too young, twenty years later. For the next weeks we all mucked in, including Noël at weekends, wielding paintbrushes, staggering under the weight of innumerable books, and hanging pictures. 1

Ted died on 17th January 1954. His obituary in the Kentish Express, 29th January 1954, reported that “The funeral took place at the Parish Church [Aldington] of Mr. Ernest (Ted) Lancefield, who lived at Peacock Bungalow since 1908. Before retirinq through ill-health, he worked at Goldenhurst for 36 years and his employers included Mr. Noël Coward for whom he was a gardener. From 1914 to about 1946, he was a Special Constable”.

John survived his brother by 5 years. He was discovered dead in his garden on 11th May 1959, but a post-mortem confirmed that he had died of natural causes. The Kentish Express 22nd May 1959 reported on his funeral:

PLAYWRIGHT REMEMBERED HIS GARDENER

A large wreath of red roses from the famous playwright, Noël Coward was among flowers sent to Friday’s funeral of Mr. John A.G. Lancefield, of Peacock Bungalow, Aldington, who for several years was Mr. Coward’s gardener when the playwright lived at “Goldenhurst”.

For 31 years, and during two wars, Mr. Lancefield was a special constable, resigning in 1945.

As well as noting songs from John and Ted, Francis Collinson records that they gifted to him their collection of broadside ballad sheets. In an article in Kent County Journal, 6 (4), July -Sep 1945, p81 he wrote

The Kentish name for a broadsheet, which is still remembered and used, is a ballet (to rhyme with mallet). These ballets were hawked through the streets of towns and villages all over the country at a penny each, and sung or “cried” by their vendors to any old tune that happened to fit. The most extensive collection of them I have come across was in the possession of the brothers John and Ted Lancefield, of Adlington [sic]; and I have to record with gratitude their kindness in making a gift of them to me, for these old broadsheets are treasure to the song collector. One of these is reproduced below. It deals with a common subject of the broadsheet poets—shipwreck, and it is quite probable that the story was a true one, or at least had some basis in local fact. The Lancefields could not remember the tune to which it was sung, but I did get some other songs from them complete with their tunes—including one with the intriguing title of “The Folkstone Murderer.” The ‘shipwreck ballad’ generally appeals to its hearers in the last verse or in the refrain to help the widows and orphans of the disaster (here the appeal is to the Deity), but it is doubtful if any of the proceeds of its sale ever found their way to this charity!

The ballad which was reproduced in the article is ‘The Wreck of the Northfleet’ (Roud 1174), which was indeed based on an actual event. And the Lancefields had another shipwreck ballad in their repertoire, ‘The Woodside’, which commemorated the loss of a Folkestone vessel and its crew in December 1894.

Songs

  1. Cole Lesley, The Life of Noël Coward, London:Cape, 1976, p308. ↩︎

Alfred Harding

Alfred John Harding, 1869-1946

Francis Collinson noted ‘The Big Plum Pudding’ in Great Chart, 28th June 1944, from a singer whose name he recorded only as “Harding”. If the singer had been female, he would almost certainly have recorded her name as Mrs or Miss Harding so, on this assumption, the singer is most likely to have been Alfred J. Harding who in 1939 lived at 2 Leacon Cottages, Great Chart.

He was born at Maidstone on 26th December 1868, and baptised the following day at Holy Trinity, Maidstone. His parents were Alfred Thomas Harding and Annie, née Simmonds; their residence was given as Ramsgate, and their occupation as “Strolling Player”. In 1871 the census found them at Station Road, Frindsbury, North Aylesford, the parents’ occupation listed as “Theatrical”.

Ten years on, in 1881, at the time of the census, they were lodging at the Wheat Sheaf Inn, Bexhill, in Sussex. Alfred Senior appears to have remarried. His occupation is now given as Photographer; his wife Ellen is listed as “Photographer’s wife”; while 13 year old Alfred is shown as “Photographer’s son” – presumably this means that he and Ellen were assisting in his father’s business.

At the age of 22, on 14th June 1891, Alfred married Eliza Ann Ifield, at St. James’ church, Egerton. The occupation of both him and his father was given as “Marrionette Performer”.

In 1901 they were living at Liverton Street, Lenham, with 3 sons and a daughter (their eldest son, also Alfred, aged 9, appears to be living with his grandparents in Egerton). Alfred appears to have given up the entertainment business – or perhaps it was simply that it was no longer his main source of income; his occupation is now listed as “Ordinary agricultural labourer”.

Eliza died in 1909, but Alfred quickly remarried: on 26th July 1909 he was married at St Mary the Virgin, Ashford, to 22 year old Mabel Harriett Maria Wilson. The 1911 census shows them living at 16 Rugby Gardens, Ashford. There were now 8 children in the household: 5 from Alfred’s first marriage, a new baby, and 2 shown as stepson and stepdaughter (presumably illegitimate, since Mabel was listed as a spinster when marrying Alfred). Both Alfred and his 19 year old son William were listed as “Marionette showman”.

Alfred’s activities as a marionette performer led to at least one brush with the law. The Kentish Express, 28th December 1907, reported on a case at Ashford Police Court concerning a performance at The Foresters’ Arms, South Ashford (literally a two minute walk from his home in Rugby Gardens) on the night of 25th and 26th November. Walter Crittenden, the landlord, was summoned for using his premises for a stage play without a licence, while Alfred Harding was summoned for presenting the stage play. PC Bryerley, who visited the pub on the two nights in question, stated that 2d was charged for admission; forty people were present, including some children, and intoxicating liquors were served. On the second night Sergeant Payne, accompanied by Sergeant Fowle and Detective McGovern, “went upstairs to the long room, where there was a small stage with a drop scene. A performance by marionettes was being given”. The sergeant proceeded to give a summary of the plot of the play – it concerned a man who had left his home in Switzerland to fight against the Peruvians (laughter in court), saved the life of his commanding officer and was raised to the rank of major (renewed laughter), but when the officer’s wife was murdered “eventually the crime was brought home to the dark villain (roars of laughter)”. The case hinged on whether a marionette performance should be classed as a “stage play”. Alfred Harding “said he did not have a licence as he did not think he required one for a marionette performance. He had performed, he added, in many places in Kent and had never received a complaint”. Mr Bracher, appearing for the defence, brought up various cases in support of the defendants’ plea of not guilty, and asked where the line should be drawn – if a marionette show was in breach of the 1843 Act, might not also the performance of a monologue, or a reading from Shakespeare? “He failed to see any difference between a gentleman giving a Shakespearean reading and the defendant, who with his dollies portrayed the wonderful events so vividly described by the police sergeant”. The lawyer said that his client “had performed during the last twenty-one years in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and had lately been employed by Lady Harris at Belmont”. The report continued

The defendant, Alfred Harding, then went into the witness box and described his marionette show, mentioning that he started when a little boy, learning it off his father. The witness caused some amusement by producing one of the puppets, holding it high in order to show how the arms and legs moved. – Mr. Bracher: They have no life? – Witness: They are made of wood, the only life they had was when they belonged to the tree.

 The magistrates dismissed the case against both defendants – “they did not think for one moment think the defendants willingly acted against the law”, and “As regards the complaint against Harding no case had been made out”. They did however express the opinion “that this performance should not take place on licensed premises”.

The 1921 census lists the family at The Leacon, Great Chart. There are now twelve in the household, including another five children born since the previous census. The three older sons are working for local farmers, while Alfred is now an Auxiliary Post Man. In 1939, his occupation is “General Labourer Retired”. He and Mabel are living at 2 Leacon Cottages, Great Chart. Their youngest son, Leslie, is working as a Cowman, and still living with his parents.

Alfred died on 15th December 1946.

Songs

Albert Beale

Albert Edward Beale, 1875-1961

The son of Charlotte and James Beale, and brother of Alice Harden, Albert was born on 18th May 1875 and baptised at St Mary the Virgin, Orlestone on 18th July. The 1881 census found him living in Hamstreet with his maternal grandparents, Charles and Phoeby Hall. Ten years later, aged 16, he was living with his parents, with his occupation described as “Dealer”.

Interviewed in 19831, Albert’s son Charles said that his father was very bright, especially at Maths, and his teacher at the Orlestone Board School in Hamstreet wanted him to become a schoolmaster. However Albert’s family couldn’t afford to keep him at school, so he left school at 14, and spent the rest of his life doing farmwork – although he never really settled at anything. He’d do a bit of work, then do nothing for a while – one farmer said that when Bert was working he’d give him two men’s work just to keep him occupied. Albert himself admitted in 1954 “I been all over the shop, let me tell you the straight truth. I was a rolling stone”2. Asked what jobs he had done, he mentioned milking cows, and what sounds like “chicken packing”. Charles Beale said that his father used to earn a lot of money “chicken picking” – he would walk 7 days a week from Kenardington to Woodchurch (about 2½ miles) when he was doing that.

In the same interview, Albert’s wife said that he had “been a soldier three or four times”, which seems to be about right. He signed up for the 3rd Battalion of The Buffs – the Royal East Kent Regiment – on 26th October 1891. He gave his age as 18, but was in fact only 16 at the time (at the age of 80 he claimed “well I weren’t only a youngster when I went in the Army, nearly fourteen and a half years old”, but he was exaggerating just how young he had been). He was 5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall, weighed 125 pounds, and gave his religious denomination as Wesleyan. His stint in the army did not last long – he purchased his discharge (or more likely, perhaps, his parents did) on 29th October. However on 29th December 1898 he signed up again, this time with the Royal Artillery. His age was recorded – truthfully this time – as 22 years and 5 months. He was now 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighed 146 pounds, was put down as Church of England and, in the ‘Distinctive Marks’ section, a number of tattoos were recorded, as well as a scar over his seventh cervical vertebra. Again, he did not stay long with the regiment – he purchased his discharge for £10 on 10th January 1899.

By the time of the 1901 census he was back living with his parents, listed as “Ordinary agricultural labourer”. On 9th May 1906 he married Ellen Maria Kingsland at Minster in Thanet. Ellen was already the mother of two children, Percy and Florence – almost certainly illegitimate, as she does not appear to have married previously, and no father’s name was recorded on the baptism certificate for either child.

In 1911, Albert was working as “Farm labourer general” at Martin, East Langdon, near Dover. As well as his two step-children, he and Ellen now had a child of their own, Phyllis Bertha Kingsland Beale, who was baptised at St Matthew’s, Warehorne, on 27th March 1910.

The First World War took Albert back into the Army – he enlisted with the Special Reserve of The Buffs, “willing to be enlisted for General Service”, on 11th January 1915. He gave his occupation as “Labourer”, and his address as The Leacon, Warehorne, Kent. Posted on 19th January, he was discharged on 26th March the same year – “not likely to become an efficient soldier”. One assumes that, as the war dragged on, the Army became less fussy about its recruits, for from 2nd November 1917 Albert was back in uniform again, with the Bedfordshire Regiment. The digitised army service records for Albert Beale from this period are not easy to read, but it appears that he may have seen some action on the Western front, before being transferred in June 1918 to the 11th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment – this was a Territorial Battalion, based at Pakefield near Lowestoft in Suffolk, involved in coastal defence. He was demobbed on 31st January 1919.

These later service records give his address simply as The Bungalow, Warehorne. By 1921 the family was living at Bridge Farm Cottage, Warehorne.  Albert was back working as a farm labourer, for Mr E. R. Todd, and the family had grown: Albert’s step-children had moved out, but he and Ellen now had two daughters and three sons. Local directories from 1922 onwards list him at Tinton Farm Cottage, Warehorne, while the 1939 Register shows the family as living at Tinton Bungalow, Warehorne. Albert is listed as unemployed, rather than retired; two of his sons, Robert and Charles are working as cowmen; the third, Reggie, is a farm labourer.

Maud Karpeles visited Albert Beale at some point between October 12th and 17th 1953, when she came to Kent on a song collecting expedition. She subsequently returned with her nephew Peter Kennedy, and they recorded Albert, then aged 80, at Kenardington on 14th January 1954. One of Kennedy’s strategies for finding singers was to look for the descendants of singers from whom Cecil Sharp had collected songs earlier in the century, and his interest in Albert Beale was sparked by the carol ‘The Moon shines bright’, which Sharp had noted both from his father James Beale, and his sister Alice Harden.

Kennedy’s recordings include six songs and a toast, plus talk about his life and where he learned the songs. Asked by Kennedy how he came by his songs, he replied “I used to buy ‘em like… My mother once… I got half a bushel basket full of ‘em, she burnt ‘em”. Kennedy followed up with “But where did you buy them?”, to which the answer was “All over the place. Wherever. Well, you know, when I used to sing, you see…”, while his wife added “You used to buy those penny sheets of songs, out of a newspaper shop, couldn’t you?” Some – such as ‘The Frog and the Mouse’ – were learned at school:

Why it’s a… youngsters, when we was at school, we had it knocked into us, these old songs, with the schoolmaster and that. We didn’t dare say we wouldn’t learn them. Well we had it, or we had a good hiding. That’s how we got ’em…

And clearly some must have been known by several members of the family – perhaps all of the family.

My mother used to lead the choir in Hamstreet Chapel. She used to hang on, you know. You know, now, they stop don’t it when it gets to go from one line to another. She used to turn it. Right round, keep going. Like that. She didn’t stop at all. But by Gor’ she could sing. At the end of a line you used to stop, she only… well she hung on you see, used to go [sharp intake of breath]… but oh, she was high pitched. Yes. Yes.

He’d also go out carolling, “all round here”, with the rest of the family.

Maud Karpeles: How many of you used to go round together?

Albert Beale: All our family.

MK: The whole family?

AB: Yes. We all used to be in the choir at once, ten of us at once, my mother used to sit down in church and lead us…

His wife Ellen pointed out “Ain’t never been [carolling] since we’ve been married… We’ve been married a long time” (48 years at the time of the recording).

Kennedy asks “And your father was a singer too?” to which Albert replies “Yes, yes. So was my brother, he could sing best when he was half drunk, couldn’t he? Oh, he could sing”. Based on information obtained from Charles Beale in 1983, he may have been referring to his younger brother James.

Charles added that his father used to sing mainly at home and family get-togethers, but not often in public. He sometimes played squeezebox (probably the anglo-concertina) when he sang. “He could sing”, Charles said; and his sister was a really good singer too, but “proper music”. It’s not clear if this comment referred to Alice Harden, or another of Bert’s sisters.

Albert knew a lot of songs, but only half a dozen were recorded, because – according to Charles Beale – although Peter Kennedy gave him one or two guineas, he didn’t keep his promise to pay him more when the songs were broadcast on the radio (presumably on Kennedy’s BBC radio programme As I roved out). Kennedy apparently paid several visits to the Beale home, but when he failed to keep his word regarding money, Bert wouldn’t have any more to do with him.

Albert Beale died in the final quarter of 1961.

Songs

Peter Kennedy’s report on his January 1954 trip also mentions

Maud Karpeles noted the titles at least of the following songs, when she visited Albert Beale in October 1953:3

None of these has an entry in the Roud Index.

Discography

The BBC recordings are held by the British Library, and are also available to listen to at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

‘The Moon shines bright’ is available on You Never Heard so Sweet (Topic TSCD673, 2012).

‘The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington’ was included on Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland Volume 1 (Rounder Records 11661-1775-2, 2000).

A fragment of ‘The Frog and the Mouse’ was included on The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 10: Songs of Animals and Other Marvels (Topic 12T198, 1970).

  1. Charles Beale, interviewed by Andy Turner at The Wish, Kenardington, March 1983. ↩︎
  2. Recording of Albert Beale by Peter Kennedy & Maud Karpeles, 14th January 1954 (Folktracks cassette, no number) ↩︎
  3. Maud Karpeles, Folk Song Collecting Expedition Kent October 12th – 17th 1953, https://archives.vwml.org/records/MK/1/2/4907 ↩︎

Alice Harden

Alice Harden née Beale, 1870-1939

Baptised Alice Isabella Beale on 6th February 1870 at St Mary the Virgin, Orlestone, she was the fourth child of Charlotte and James Beale. She lived with her parents in Hamstreet until she married David Thomas Harden on 23rd September 1893. He was a labourer, born in Warehorne, and had been living with his parents at 4 Viaduct Terrace, Ham Street. The married couple were living in Viaduct Terrace at the time of the 1901 census; his occupation was given as “Woodcutter & dealer”.

By 1911 they had moved to Newberry Farm, Tonge, where David took up the post of farm bailiff. They had three children: Ethelbert, Ronald and Athelstan Raymond. Alice and her husband appear to have stayed here until his retirement. She died in the second quarter of 1939.

Having noted down a number of songs from her father James Beale in September 1908, Cecil Sharp returned to Hamstreet in October 1911 – round about the time of her father’s death – and noted down three carols from her. Sharp recorded her name as “Mrs Alice Harding of Sittingbourne”, but her married surname was definitely Harden, not Harding.

Her brother Albert Beale recalled in 19541 that their mother led the choir in Hamstreet Chapel, and that the entire family used to sing in the choir, and also go out carolling at Christmas. The songs collected from Alice Harden were presumably part of the repertoire of the carolling party.

Songs

In his English-Folk Carols (1911) Cecil Sharp noted of ‘Sons of Levi’ (Roud 2430) that it was “Sung by Mr. James Beale and Mrs. Harding at Ham Street”, although he does not appear to have taken the song down from Alice Harden, possibly because her version was identical to her father’s.

  1. Recording of Albert Beale by Peter Kennedy & Maud Karpeles, 14th January 1954 (Folktracks cassette, no number) ↩︎

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