Category: Singer

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) ↩︎

James Beale

James Beale, 1836-1918.

James Beale was Cecil Sharp’s most important find when he made his visit to the Hamstreet area on 22nd and 23rd September 1908, providing eight songs for the collector.

Interviewed in 1983, his grandson Charles Beale said that, according to family tradition, James had been a “caravan-dweller” until settling at Hamstreet. This may well have been the case, although there’s nothing in the official records to confirm it.

The family came from Sussex. James’ father Thomas was baptised at Barcombe on 3rd May 1801. He was probably the “Thomas Beal” who married Hannah Saunders at Heathfield, Sussex in 1827; she died and was buried at Heathfield in October 1832. He was certainly a widower when he married Elizabeth Welfare – 21 years his junior – in her home town of Wivelsfield, on 14th November 1840.

James was baptised at Wivelsfield on 4th April 1841. A couple of months later, at the time of the 1841 census, the family was living at Cains Wood, Wivelsfield. James had one older brother, two older sisters, and two step-sisters. His father’s occupation was given as “Railway Lab”. There are two other men given this occupation on the same sheet of the census. Almost certainly these men were employed in the construction of the first railway line from London to Brighton, which was completed in September 1841, and ran close to Wivelsfield.

By 1851 the family had fallen on hard times: James and his parents were residing in Chailey Union House – i.e. the workhouse – at Ringmer. They were described as “Pauper ag lab”, “Pauper ag lab wife”, and “Union house child pauper”. Elizabeth Beale died in 1855, but it appears that Thomas may have survived until 1882 – still “Ag lab pauper”, and residing in the East Chiltington Workhouse.

The next record we have for James, however, is his marriage to 18-year old Charlotte Hall at St Mary the Virgin, Orlestone, on 28th July 1860. The groom, his father, and the bride’s father are all described as labourers. At the time of the 1861 census they were living at Ham Street – address not specified. Ten years later they’re still in Ham Street, and now have 6 children under 10 years of age: William, Charles, Febee, Sarah, Alice, and Henry. James had been listed as agricultural labourer in 1861, but now appears to described as “Fruiterer” (the census enumerator’s handwriting is far from clear).

Still listed as a labourer, and living in Ham Street in 1881, James now has another two children, Sarah Ann and James. Two more would follow before the 1891 census, Thomas and Frederick. In 1901 the family’s address is given as Ruckinge Road, Ham Street, and James’ occupation is listed as “Wood Dealer Timber D (Own account)”. Two years later, the 1903 Kelly’s Directory of Kent lists him as “poulterer”. In truth, he probably turned his hand to a variety of work to earn some cash. Indeed, when taken to court in 1889 by Robert Relf, a coachbuilder from Ashford – presumably to settle unpaid debts – he was described as “higgler, Hamstreet”1 (a higgler is “An itinerant dealer; esp. a carrier or a huckster who buys up poultry and dairy produce, and supplies in exchange petty commodities from the shops in town” – Oxford English Dictionary).

James’ wife Charlotte died in 1905. At the next census, in 1911, now aged 70, he was living with his son Henry at Cyprus House, Ham Street. Both James and Henry are listed as “General dealer”. He died later that year, and was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Orlestone on 17th October 1911.

Cecil Sharp collected three songs from James’ daughter Alice Harden on 11th October 1911. We don’t know the circumstances of this visit, but it must have very nearly coincided with James’ death, and this may well explain why Alice had come to Ham Street from her home at Tonge, near Sittingbourne.

In the 1950s, Peter Kennedy and Maud Karpeles, consciously following in Cecil Sharp’s footsteps, recorded a number of songs from James’ son Albert Beale.

Songs

  1. Kent County Examiner and Ashford Chronicle 22 November 1889 ↩︎

Henry Greengrass

Henry Greengrass, 1859-1949

Henry Greengrass was born on 20th January 1859, and baptised at St James’, Dover, on 12th June. His father, Charles, had been born in Stowmarket, Suffolk. He worked as a Whitesmith, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “A person who makes articles from tin-plated iron or from tin or other white metal. Also: a person who makes iron tools with a sharp edge, or other iron articles with a polished surface”. Henry’s mother Lydia, née Laws, was a native of Folkestone.

In 1861 they were living at Marine Walk Street, Hythe. Henry was the youngest child; his brother and four sisters were still living in the parental home. By 1871 they had moved to Chapel Street, Hythe, and Henry – still at school at this point – now had a younger brother.

I’ve been unable to trace Henry in the 1881 or 1891 censuses. Possibly he was the Henry Greengrass charged by the Hythe Borough Police in November 1892 of “serving a man in a drunken state”. The case was reported in the Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser, 19th November 1892, where he was described as “late occupant of the Cinque Ports Inn, High Street” – he having already been discharged from his position by the owner of the pub, Mr. Mackeson.

At the time of the 1901 census he was living at 33 St Johns Street, Folkestone, the home of his younger brother Thomas and his family. Henry’s occupation at that time was lamplighter. The previous year the local paper reported that he had been appointed a fireman in the Fire Brigade.1

He was still living with his brother in 1911, being described as “General labourer”. In 1921 he was working as a carpenter for the Corporation Of Folkestone, and boarding at 35 Bradstone Road, Folkestone. At some point before the outbreak of war he moved to Bonnington: the September 1939 Register showed him as being retired, and living at Mount Pleasant, Aldington, in the home of William and Maud Cuttress. His death was recorded in the last quarter of 1949.

Francis Collinson collected three street cries, from him, and a fragment of a longer song. He did not record the date when he collected the songs, but they were published in the Journal of the English Folk Dance & Song Society 1944.

Songs

  1. Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 9th June 1900 ↩︎

William Newport

William Newport, 1892-1958.

William Newport was baptised at St Mary’s, Hinxhill on 13th November 1892. His mother, Marry Ann, née Jordan, came from Wye, his father John from Hastingleigh. The family was probably living at Hinxhill Green when William was born, but by 1901 had moved to Forge Lane, Boughton Aluph. At the time of the 1911 census they were living at Baytree Cottage, Boughton Aluph. John Newport had previously been described in census records as agricultural labourer or farm waggoner, but his occupation was now given as what appears to be “woodreive” – presumably woodreeve, someone responsible for the stewardship of a wood. William, aged 18, was working as a “Groom domestic”.

He married Eveline Annie Turner at All Saints, Boughton Aluph on 16th May 1920, and they continued to live in the village. In 1921 they were living at Kingswood Hill, Boughton Aluph and William was working as a private chauffeur for Mr E. Simmons. This was Ernest Simmons, Retired Master Mariner, who had married the previous year and settled in the village, living there until his death in 1951. It may well be that William Newport continued to work for Mr Simmons; certainly, in 1939 he was listed as “Chauffeur Gardener” – and also “ARP Warden”. By this time the Newports had a couple of children, and were living at Quinneys, still in Boughton Aluph.

William Newport died at the age of 65, in 1958. An obituary in Kentish Express, 23rd May 1958 provided some additional details about his life:

Ashes Scattered On Cricket Pitch

After cremation at Charing on Tuesday, the ashes of Mr. William Newport, 65, of 32, Little Chequers, Wye, were scattered on the cricket pitch at Boughton Lees, the ground which he helped to restore after the last war.

Mr. Newport, who died last Friday, was born in Boughton Lees and at the age of 18 worked as a groom at Fairlawn, the home of Mr. Ernest Simmons. In the 1914-1918 war he served with the motor transport unit and drove Gen. Allenby in Jerusalem.

In the last war he was a corporal in the Home Guard and called the fire brigade when Boughton Aluph church tower was set alight by incendiary bombs. He went to live in Wye when his health failed in 1956.1

Mr Newport was clearly a listener to Country Magazine on the BBC Home Service, because on 15th June 1952 he wrote to Francis Collinson

Dear Sir
I am an interested listener to your Sunday morning broadcast of old songs, so I am sending you these two, that my father used to sing
he used to sing quite a few of them but these are the two that come to mind most readily
one of them I cannot quite complete at the moment, but perhaps my sister will when I see her again, I am afraid I cannot set them to music, though I could hum them to anyone,

Yours truly
W. Newport

P.S.
When I come to write them out I find it is not so easy to know when a line starts or finishes but will do my best
WN

P.P.S
I am spelling them as my father used to sing

The two songs included were ‘True Blue’ and ‘The Thresher Man’.

Collinson must subsequently have paid William Newport a visit, because he noted down both tune and words for ‘True Blue’, and two other songs, ‘Jack Tar’ and ‘Sailor cut down in his prime’. Curiously, he doesn’t seem to have taken down a tune for ‘The Thresher Man’.

On 12th November 1952, Mr Newport sent the words for one more song, with an accompanying letter:

Words of ‘Home Rule Song’
Dear Sir
At last I am sending you the “Home Rule” song for which you have the tune, I am sending it to the B.B.C. as I have mislaid your address

This was close to the end of Country Magazine, which ceased to broadcast at the end of the year.

William Newport died at the age of 65, in 1958.

John Newport, 1858-1833

William gave his father, John, as the source of his songs. He was baptised at St Mary the Virgin, Hastingleigh, on 21st February 1858, the son of John, an agricultural labourer, originally from Petham, and Esther née Holliday. The family lived at Kingsmill Town, Hastingleigh, but by 1871 had moved to Bridge Street, Wye. John, the youngest, was by then 13 years old, and already working – like his father, two brothers and a sister – as an agricultural labourer.

He married Mary Ann Jordan on 12th June 1878, at Wye. At the time of the 1881 census they were living at Withersdane, with one child. By 1891 they had one son and three daughters, and were living at Ouseley, Hinxhill Green; John’s occupation was “Farm waggoner”. William, born in 1892, was their last child and, as we have seen, by 1901 the family had moved to Boughton Aluph.

The 1921 census finds John Newport living – without any other family members –at 2 Cliffsea Villas, Roebuck Terrace, Herne Bay, employed as a labourer by R Budd Builder. His death was recorded in the Blean district in the final quarter of 1933.

Songs

Home Rule Song (Roud 163)

Jack Tar (Roud 511)

Sailor cut down in his prime (Roud 2)

Thresher Man (Roud 19)

True Blue (Roud 309)

  1. Thanks to Mark Britton for bringing this obituary to my attention. ↩︎

Bill Rolph

Francis Collinson collected one song – a rather fragmentary version of ‘I’m a man that’s done wrong to my parents’ – from Bill Rolph at St. Nicholas at Wade in Thanet on 19th May 1948. This was just a few weeks before the BBC radio programme Country Magazine was broadcast from the Bell Inn, St. Nicholas at Wade on 13th June 1948.

I’ve been unable positively to identify this singer. Possibly – just possibly – he was Frederick William Rolf (or Rolfe), 1888-1981, who lived at Monkton, just a couple of miles from St Nicholas at Wade. Born at Boughton Aluph, near Ashford, he was still living with his parents at the time of the 1911 census, working as a grocer’s assistant. When he married in May that year, his occupation was given as Milkman. By 1921 he and his family had moved to Thanet – the census gives their address as 3 Parsonage Cottages, Monkton, St Nicholas At Wade & Sarre – and he was working as “Cowman-on-farm” for H.T. Willett, Monkton Parsonage. He was still living in Monkton when his eldest son – also Frederick – got married in 1942, and his death in 1981 was registered in the Thanet district.

Songs

I’m a man that’s done wrong to my parents (Roud 1386)

Tim Fidler

Reginald Harry ‘Tim’ Fidler, 1899-1966.

On 25th June 1942 Francis Collinson collected two songs – ‘Buttercup Joe’ and ‘The Cricketer’ – from Tim Fidler, landlord of The George at Bethersden. He may have been known as Tim but was in fact registered at birth as Reginald Harry Fidler. He was baptised at St John the Baptist, Mersham on 9th July 1899. His parents were Annie, née Plascott, originally from Exbury in Hampshire; and William Joseph Fidler, born at Wickham, Berkshire, but now working as a game keeper, and living at Quarrington Cottage, Mersham. From 1908 onwards, William Fidler was licensee of The Black Horse at Pluckley, where he remained until his death in January 1932 (his son, William Frank Fidler, succeeded him as landlord, but sadly he too died, in April of the same year).

When Tim Fidler married in April 1933, his bride was Elsie Mary Philpott, whose father, William Philpott, the landlord of The George Inn. Mr Philpott died in June 1933 and it would appear that his son-in-law took over as landlord, and remained at the pub until the 1960s (when his wife Elsie died in April 1963, the notice in the Maidstone Telegraph gave her address as The George). Tim Fidler died on 5th April 1966; his address was given as 6 St Peter’s Cottages, Bethersden, so we can assume that he had retired at some point following his wife’s death.

Songs

Bill Epps

Francis Collinson collected one song at St. Nicholas at Wade, Thanet, on 19th May 1948. This was just a few weeks before the BBC radio programme Country Magazine was broadcast from the Bell Inn, St. Nicholas at Wade on 13th June 1948.

It has not so far been possible to identify a Bill or William Epps living in St. Nicholas at that time.

Songs

William Crampton

William Crampton, 1870-1945

William Henry Crampton was born on 22nd May 1870, and baptised at the Church of St.Michael, Smarden, on 3rd July 1870. His parents were William, a brickmaker, who had been born at Headcorn, and Ellen née Gurr, originally from East Sutton. In 1871 the family were recorded as living at Coopers Cottage, Smarden; 10 years later, they were at Perren Cottage, Smarden. By 1891, now aged 20, William had left home and was out at work, as a waggoner’s mate at Bardleden Farm, just outside the village. At the time of the 1901 census William was once again living with his family, at Berry Court Farm, Smarden. His father was no longer listed as a brickmaker, but as “farmer”; William’s occupation was given as “farmer’s son”.

He married his cousin Kate Town in 1907, and the couple had a son and a daughter, Stanley and Winifred. They continued to live in Smarden: in 1911 they were living at Beggars Bridge, and William was listed as “Waggoner on farm”; in 1921 they were living on the Pluckley Road, and William was employed as a farm labourer by Mr J Buckman Farmer, Biddenden Green (just outside the village, on the Pluckley Road). The 1939 Register shows William, Kate and Stanley at 2 East End Cottage, High Street, Biddenden Green; William is listed simply as “General Labourer”. His obituary in the Kentish Express stated that he had worked on Mr Buckman’s farm for 32 years, until just a few years before his death, while Francis Collinson said that Mr Crampton had worked in agriculture “Until he was nearly 70”. This suggests that he started working on the Buckman farm in around 1908.

When Collinson took down a version of the popular song ‘The Blackbird’ in October 1943, he noted that it came “from William Crampton (my gardener)”. But it seems that, prior to working for Collinson, 6 miles away at Old Surrenden, he had already done gardening work for radio producer Francis Dillon, who had a house at Smarden. According to George Frampton1 “The story goes that, one day, Dillon heard his gardener, who was outside at work,singing The Blackbird.  Collinson was summoned, and the idea of using a singer on Country Magazine was quickly established”. Like the story of Cecil Sharp discovering English folk song after hearing the Somerset gardener John England, this may be a romanticised version of events. Based on the dates given in his MSS, the earliest that we know Francis Collinson noted down any of Mr Crampton’s songs was October 1942, some months after the BBC had begun broadcasting Country Magazine, but that’s not to say that he hadn’t previously heard him singing. And Collinson’s song collecting does seem only to have begun in earnest in 1942.

Mr Crampton died in January 1945. A brief obituary in the Kentish Express, Friday 12th January 1945, ran as follows:

FOLK SINGER.—Mr. William Crampton, of East Cottage, whose funeral took place on Saturday, used to sing folk songs in a traditional style. He was 75 and had been a member of the A.O.F. many years. Up to a few years ago he had worked on Mr. G. Buckman’s farm for 32 years. Among those at the funeral were his widow, Mr. and Mrs. S. Crampton (son and daughter-in-law), Mrs. Moore (daughter), Mr. and Mrs. H. Jarvis, Mrs. Drury (cousin), Miss Ward, Mrs. and Miss Buckman, Mr. E. Ledger, Mrs. Underdown and Mrs. Barnes.

The Maidstone Telegraph, 19th January 1945 reported that the previous Sunday’s Country Magazine programme had featured Smarden’s village grocer, Mr. William Grant, and that “There was also a tribute to Mr. WIlliam Crampton, from the same village, who died recently. William was a fine old type of agricultural labourer, and a grand singer of folk songs”.

The report continued:

A FINE MAN

The tribute to Mr. Crampton, of Smarden, was paid by Mr. Frank Collinson, who said: –
“I intended to butt in before when Mr. Grant was speaking. He comes from Smarden, and both Smarden and English folk song have recently suffered a great loss in the death of William Crampton.
“He was one of the few surviving singing men of England. He had a beautiful style, a fine command of the traditional decoration and a great range of the old songs. We have used several of his in “Country Magazine.”
“Moreover, he was in himself a fine man. Until he was nearly 70 he was an agricultural worker, a lifetime spent in making that landscape as dear to you, Mr. Arlott, and all English countrymen.
“He said to me a month or so ago that he had always managed to give satisfaction in this world and he hoped he’d be able to do the same in the next.”
One of Mr. Crampton’s songs, “The Oyster Girl,” was then rendered by the sextet and John Irwin.
It was stated, that the song was obtained from Mrs. Baker, of Evelyn Road, Maidstone, who learnt it from her father.
Mr. John Arlott was the compere.

It seems likely that William Crampton had a wider repertoire of songs than those that appear in Collinson’s MSS – they contain no reference to him singing ‘The Oyster Girl’, for instance. The local history scrapbooks compiled by Smarden Women’s Institute include music and words for ‘The Blackbird’ from William Crampton, with this note:

Mr. W. Crampton was wagoner for many years to Mr. G. Buckman. He had thirty songs or more and played the accordion as accompaniment. His son Stanley remembers them, and sings them to the accordion; his children know them too.

There are regular mentions in local newspapers in the 1930s of Mr Crampton playing his accordion at Old Friends’ Teas in Smarden. For example on 1st January 1931

During the evening a first-rate programme of songs was given by Miss Gould (Maidstone), Mr. Purcell Mudstone), Mrs. E. Ridley, Mr W. Hills, Mr. W. Palmar, Mr. H. Wood, Messrs. Batt’s Glee party and Mr. C. G. S. Freeland. Mr. Turvey gave some very humorous sketches, and Mr. W. Crampton entertained the company with accordian solos. Miss Gould and Miss M. Buckman presided at the piano.2

Again, on New Year’s Day 1932, Mr W. Crampton was one of those who provided the entertainment, alongside “Messrs. Batt and Millen Bros. (glees)”3 while one year later

Songs were given by Mr. Turvey, of Ashford; Mr. and Mrs. F. Buss, of Maidstone, gave a mandoline recital and songs; Messrs. Batt Bros. gave glees; and Mesdames Ridley and Small and Mr. Purcell, of Maidstone, gave songs, and there were recitations by Miss Evans and Mr. Fretter. Old Folks’ Songs were given by Mr J.H. Buckhurst, of Biddenden, and Mr. W. Crampton entertained with his accordion. The musical accompaniments were taken in turn by Mrs. Buss, Mrs. Ashbee and Miss A. Cornes.4

And in January 1934, when “About 75 old people were entertained in the Schools”, he was one of those who provided the entertainment.5

Stanley Crampton, 1907-1991

The note in the Smarden Women’s Institute scrapbook regarding Stanley singing his father’s songs, and playing the accordion, is the only record we have of his musical activities (other than an enthusiastic account in the Kentish Express of his part in a dramatic and musical entertainment presented by Smarden School in April 1922). He was born 10th June 1907, and was still living with his parents in September 1939. His occupation at that time was farm labourer.

He married Kathleen Mary Addy in 1940, and it would appear that the newly-weds took in a number of evacuees during the War. An article in the Kentish Express of 19th June 1981 reported that the couple had stayed in touch with one of these evacuees, Iris Watson, who was 11 years old when she came to Smarden, and “never forgot the kindness of her “Aunt Mary” in the Kentish village so remote from her Catford home” – indeed, Iris and her husband spent their honeymoon with the Cramptons.

The article also states that Stanley “worked at the brickyard and farmed for 37 years”. Stanley Crampton’s death was registered in the Ashford district in October 1991.

Songs

There are two additional songs which do not appear in Collinson’s MSS, but which are ascribed to William Crampton in copies of Collinson’s books, annotated by his friend Pat Shaw, now held by the VWML:

  • Tarry Trousers (Roud 427) – from Collinson & Dillon, Folk Songs from Country Magazine
  • Bold Fisherman (Roud 291) – from Collinson & Dillon, Songs from the Countryside
  1. Frampton, George, The Millen Family of Bethersden, Kent, Musical Traditions, 2001. https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/millens.htm ↩︎
  2. Kentish Express, 10 January 1931 ↩︎
  3. Kentish Express, 08 January 1932 ↩︎
  4. Kentish Express, 06 January 1933 ↩︎
  5. Kent & Sussex Courier, 12 January 1934 ↩︎

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