Edward George Bayley, 1870–1937
Charlie Bridger learned at least three songs from a singer he referred to as ‘Nip’ Bailey. One of these was ‘The Birds upon the tree’, which was also mentioned by Woodchurch resident Reg Pellet (1893–1986) as a song he remembered having been sung in the village in his youth. Reg said it used to be sung by a man called George Bailey, aka ‘Old Nip’, and “they did pull his leg over it”1. ‘Nip’ was described by Reg Pellett as a “good all-round farm-hand, hop dryer, hedger and ditcher”, who once claimed that if he “could put his foot on two daisies, he could get a job”.2
‘Nip’ must have been Edward George Bayley, who also appears in census records as George Edward Bayley, or simply George Bayley. He was baptised at Tenterden, St Michael & All Angels, on 5th September 1869, the son of George Bayley, a farm labourer, and Esther, née George. In 1871 the family lived at 1871 Old House Farm, Tenterden, but by 1881 had moved to Stone Bridge, Woodchurch, and they remained in the village. The 1891 census shows them living at Upper Road, Woodchurch, with 21 year old George working as an agricultural labourer. In 1901 they were at Front Road, with George, and his brothers Albert and Harry described as “Ord farm labourer”. In 1911 and 1921 George, still living with his parents, was at Lower Green, Woodchurch; his occupation in 1921 was given as “Farm Work Casual Labourer – Own Account”.
The death of his father was reported in the Kentish Express, 9th July 1927:
The funeral took place on Tuesday of Mr. George Bayley aged eighty-six years, who for over forty years was waggoner at Stonebridge Farm. He leaves a widow, five sons and one daughter. His body was conveyed from his home, at Lower Green, to the church, in the farm waggon he so often had had charge of, and by his special request two horseshoes were nailed on the coffin lid.
His mother Esther died the following year. Edward George ‘Nip’ Bayley died at the age of 67, in the first quarter of 1937.
As a young man Charlie Bridger would help ‘Nip’, who was working as a hop-drier at High House Farm, in the centre of Kenardington.
He couldn’t see very well; I used to go and level his hops for him, ’cause he couldn’t …the old driers they had a chalk mark – red charcoal mark – round the roundel, you know, so if they had so many bags of hops, or so many pokes of hops, they knew that should come up to that certain mark, see, and he couldn’t see that old mark [?] was dark, I remember an old storm lantern hanging up for a light in there. And I used to help the old boy with his hop-drying, of a night. …that was Kenardington …on the corner; not the square ones, the single one right on the corner. High House Farm.3
Charlie was born in 1913 and started work at the age of fourteen, so this would most likely have been in the late 1920s.
When asked if ‘Nip’ Bailey was well known locally as a singer, Charlie replied
No, he was known for singing ‘The Birds upon the trees’, that was all. He used to like a sing-song though, you know. Oh no, he was only known in Woodchurch really for his song ‘The Birds upon the trees’, that’s what they always used to associate him with, for his singing. My old grandfather used to say “Come on Nip”; he used to get his cornet out, my old grandfather; old Nip used to sing, and he used to play. In the pub, this was.
He may have been most closely associated with this one song, but clearly he knew others: Charlie also learned ‘The Ship that never returned’ and ‘The Zulu War’ from ‘Nip’, and he remembered another one called ‘Stick to your mother, Tom’ – “that was a nice one. But I never got that off him”.
Arthur Richard Bayley, 1889–1976
Charlie Bridger was recorded singing a patriotic song ‘Three cheers for the red, white and blue’ and said “Old Nip’s brother used to sing that. Arthur Bayley.”
Arthur was born on 3rd March 1889 and baptised at All Saints, Woodchurch on 18th April. He lived in the family home until at least 1911, and most likely until his marriage to Fanny Hyder in 1919. He would have been of an age to have fought in the First World War, but as a horseman was exempted from military service in the summer of 1916.4
Like his parents and brother George, Arthur’s address in the 1921 census was given as Lower Green, Woodchurch, but he and Fanny, with their one year old son (also Arthur), were listed as a separate household. Fanny died in 1934, and in September 1939 Arthur and his son were living at 1870 Cottages, West End, Woodchurch. His occupation was given as “Horseman & Ploughman”.
Arthur’s death was recorded in the Shepway district 1in 1976. His surname was given, as it had been in the 1939 Register, as “Bailey” rather than “Bayley”.
Songs
‘Nip’ Bayley
- The Birds Upon the Tree (Roud 1863)
- The Ship that never returned (Roud 775)
- Stick to your mother, Tom (Roud 7380)
- The Zulu War (Roud 5362)
Arthur Bayley
- Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue (Roud 23522)
- Adrian Russell, letter to George Frampton, 31st August 1992, referring to correspondence with Reg Pellett 1979-1981. ↩︎
- Quoted in George Frampton, Charlie Bridger – Musician and Singer, Bygone Kent, Vol 15 No 1, 1993. ↩︎
- Charlie Bridger, recorded at his home in Stone-in-Oxney by Andy Turner, 15th April 1983. ↩︎
- Kentish Express, 12 August 1916 ↩︎
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