Frank Purslow, né Chapman, 1926–2007
Born in Edgbaston, Frank’s early interest in folk song was reawakened when he moved to London after the Second World War – in particular by the singing of Ewan MacColl and Bert Lloyd, and their Ballads and Blues folk club. It was here that he heard his first traditional singer, Phoebe Smith, whom he subsequently recorded for Topic Records with Paul Carter.
Frank regularly attended events at the EFDSS headquarters Cecil Sharp House, and volunteered in the Society’s Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. It was in the library that he encountered the songs which he recorded with guitarist John Pearse for a 1960 LP entitled Rap-A-Tap-Tap: English Folk Songs Miss Pringle Never Taught Us (when released in the United States the LP was retitled Unexpurgated Songs Of Erotica, although this was presumably a marketing ploy, rather than an indication that the songs on the album are at all shocking). More importantly, it was VWML librarian Sara Jackson who introduced Frank to the manuscript song collections made by Henry and Robert Hammond, mainly in Dorset, and by George Gardiner in Hampshire. Frank indexed these collections, and songs from them were made available – in singable versions – in four very popular and influential songbooks, beginning with Marrow Bones in 1965. Long out of print, these have all now been republished.
Frank moved to Bampton in Oxfordshire in the early 1960s. He fooled, danced and played with two of the village’s three morris sides, and played for almost 30 years in the popular Bampton Barn Dance Band. He died shortly before he was due to receive the EFDSS Gold Badge award; this was presented to his half-brother after the funeral.
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