Lucy Grahame, née Rayden, 1832-1912
Mrs Lucy Grahame, of 3 Markwick Terrace, St Leonard’s on Sea, Sussex, corresponded with Lucy Broadwood in April and May 1904. She sent Miss Broadwood words and music for four songs, three of which were subsequently included in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society. These songs had been learned from the daughters of a Kentish squire, “the last of whom died in 1865 at an advanced age”.
See the following records in the VWML Archive Catalogue:
- Envelope entitled ‘F.S.S. [Folk Song Society] Kent. Mrs Grahame [Lucy Grahame]’ (LEB/5/177)
- Letter from Lucy Grahame to Lucy Broadwood (16 May 1904) re writing out song tunes Grahame remembers from childhood, comparison of ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet’ and ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor’, possibility of meeting Broadwood in person and song relating to ‘Gods and Godesses’ (LEB/5/183)
- Letter from Lucy Grahame to Lucy Broadwood (23 Apr 1904) re sending Broadwood four songs Grahame remembers from childhood, spreading the word about the Folk Song Society and ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet’ written out by Grahame’s niece (LEB/5/184)
Baptised Lucy Rayden in Deptford – then part of Kent – on 15th August 1832, her father William Harris Rayden was a merchant (a “Sworn broker ships & insurance”, according to the 1851 census), and the family lived at Blackheath Hill, Greenwich. Clearly the family was well to do: at the time of the 1871 census, Lucy was living with her three sisters at Wellington Square, St Mary in the Castle, Hastings – and all were listed as living on “income from interest on money”.
Lucy married a Scottish merchant, William Smellie Grahame, at St Leonard’s on Sea in 1877. William was nearly 20 years older than his bride. They set up house in Richmond upon Thames, but at some point following his death in 1894, Lucy moved back to St Leonards. She died at the age of 78, in 1912.
Songs
- Barbara Allen (Roud 54)
- The Iron Peel (Roud 2117)
- The Yarmouth Ditty (Roud 187)
- Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor (Roud 4)
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