From Ted Briggs
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bethersden, 16th March 1943
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/1/1
The Sergeant in the Wagon Train
From Mrs Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson, Maidstone, Kent July 1944
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/4/24
The Gleaner
From Mrs Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson Maidstone, 16th February 1946
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/2/25A
This song began life as a poem by Jane Taylor (1783-1824), best known for having written the words of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’. The poem is included in The “Original poems” and others, by Ann and Jane Taylor and Adelaide O’Keeffe, edited by E. V. Lucas, with illustrations by F. D. Bedford, available at https://archive.org/details/originalpoemsoth00tayl/page/103/mode/1up.
The following words, noted by Alfred Williams in the Upper Thames region, are almost identical to Taylor’s original lyric:
Before the bright sun rises over the hill
In cornfields poor Mary is seen,
With patience her little apron to fill
With the few scattered ears she can glean.
She never leaves off, nor runs out of place
To play, to idle, or chat,
Except now and then to wipe her hot face,
Or to fan herself with her broad hat.
‘Poor girl! hard at work in the heat of the sun,
How tired and worn you must be!
Why don’t you leave off as the others have done,
And sit with them under the tree?’
‘Oh, no! for my mother lies ill in her bed,
Too feeble to spin or to knit;
My poor little brothers are crying for bread
And yet she can’t give them a bit.
How can I be merry, or idle at play
While they are so hungry and ill?
Oh, no! I would rather work hard all the day
My blue little apron to fill.’
‘Mary, the Gleaner’ from the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Folk Arts collection https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Folk/Verse/381?isCommunityPage=False
The Bold Fisherman
From Mr Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson, Maidstone, 16th February 1946
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/5/25A
Death and the Lady
From Mr Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson, Maidstone 16th February 1946
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/5/29
The song was included in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, edited by Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd, 1959, with six verses in all. In the revised edition, Classic English Folk Songs (EFDSS, 2003), Malcolm Douglas notes that verses 1, 2, 3 and 6 were as printed in the Journal, while verses 4 and 5 had probably been adapted from Alfred Williams’ Folk Songs of the Upper Thames (1923) – these had been collected from Henry ”Wassail” Harvey, of Cricklade in Wiltshire.
Mary at the Garden Gate
From Mrs Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson, Maidstone, 16th February 1946
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/6/8
Where the lambs they skip with pleasure
From Eyton Boulden
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bonnington, 17th June 1942.
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/2/16, COL/2/15B
The neatly written out copy in Francis Collinson’s collection does not appear to be in Collinson’s handwriting, and was quite possibly written out by Eyton Boulding in preparation for the recording of the BBC radio programme Country Magazine which was broadcast on 28th June 1942. It is headed “Chas Boulding’s song” – referring to Eyton’s “Uncle Cholly”, Charles Boulding.
It is unclear why, in that copy, the song is titled ‘Where de Lambs Dey Skip Wid Pleasure’. This kind of substitution of ‘d’ for ‘th’ was often associated with blackface minstrelsy. But in this case it seems more likely that it is an attempt to reproduce the old Kentish dialect, where the same substitution of letters took place – see A dictionary of the Kentish dialect and provincialisms in use in the County of Kent (1888) page vi.
No singer or location is given for this song in the VWML archive catalogue. However the sheet in Collinson’s MS is headed “Pinn Farm, Bonnington, Nr. Ashford”, which was the residence of Eyton Boulding. And it is dated 17th June 1942, which is the same date given in the catalogue for ‘Where de Lambs Dey Skip Wid Pleasure’ (COL/2/16).
A version of the song was included in the Kent-themed episode 5 of BBC Home Service programme Country Magazine, broadcast at 13:15 on Sunday 28th June 1942. The song was sung by baritone Frederick Woodhouse, with music arranged by Francis Collinson, who may have been responsible for the rewritten words.
- At the foot of yonder mountain where the river runs so clear
I have orchards, fair green meadows, and good hops for Kentish beer
There’s fine arching, fine poaching and there’s music everywhere
At the foot of yonder mountain, where the river runs so clear. - If little Mary had been constant then she might have been my bride.
But her mind it was more fickle than the rain upon the tide,
So I took me another for to wed and give me cheer,
At the foot of yonder mountain, where the river runs so clear. - As I walk about my meadows, as I labour in my fields,
When I view the bounteous increase that our toil and patience yields,
I do know I’ve been faithful to the land I hold so dear
At the foot of yonder mountain. where the river runs so clear.
(Source: Maidstone Telegraph, 24th July 1942)
Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor
From Charles Barling
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Ruckinge, 22nd September 1908.
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/1930
Roud 4, Child 73
Kind Sir I am too young
From Charles Barling
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Ruckinge, 22nd September 1908.
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/1931
The Barley Mow
From George Benstead
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Hamstreet, 22nd September 1908.
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/1920