The Blackbird

In Collinson’s MS the last two lines of verse 5 are highlighted and these alternative lines provided at the foot of the page (although with the note “don’t copy this”):

With my frail [sic] upon my shoulder and a bottle of strong beer
I’m as happy as those with ten thousand a year

21 October 2024

Henry Greengrass

Henry Greengrass, 1859-1949

Henry Greengrass was born on 20^th January 1859, and baptised at St James’, Dover, on 12^th 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, 19^th 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

Bird Scarer’s Cry (Roud 1730)
Broom Seller’s Cry (Roud 9724)
Knife Grinder’s Cry (Roud 21878)
Mutiny at the Nore (Roud 1032)

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

18 October 2024

William Newport

William Newport, 1892-1958.

William Newport was baptised at St Mary’s, Hinxhill on 13^th 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 16^th 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, 23^rd 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 15^th 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 12^th 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 21^st 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 12^th 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)

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

18 October 2024

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 19^th 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 13^th 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)

17 October 2024