From Mrs Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson, Maidstone, 16th February 1946
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/6/8
Frances Baker
Frances Harriett Baker née Bell, 1879-1954
Writing in the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society Vol 5 No 1 (1946), Francis Collinson provided a brief paragraph about Mr and Mrs Baker of Maidstone:
His wife also knows folk-songs and I got the following songs from her: “The oyster girl,” “The bold fisherman” and “The sergeant in the wagon train.” She was born at Mereworth in Kent and learned her songs from her father, who used to sit and sing them in the chimney corner in the evening. He knew over a hundred and fifty songs. Mrs. Baker was hopeful of getting some more songs from her sister, but the latter unfortunately died very shortly afterwards, and her songs died with her.
Frances Bell was born on 5th October 1879, and baptised at St Lawrence, Mereworth on 26th October 1879. Her father Josiah was a labourer. Both he and his wife Mary née Cheesman had been born and raised in Mereworth. In 1881 they were living at an unspecified address in Butcher’s Lane, Mereworth; in 1891 the family (now including 5 children) were residing at Moorcocks Cottages in Butcher’s Lane.
At the time of the 1901 census Frances was 21, and working as a cook for farmer John Godwin at Hazlewood, East Peckham. She married Harry Baker at St Lawrence, Mereworth on 19th December 1903, and by 1911 they were living in Maidstone, initially in Upper Fant Road and then later at 5 Evelyn Road.
She died at Maidstone in 1954, aged 75.
Josiah Bell, 1845-?
Frances’ father Josiah was baptised at Mereworth on 19th February 1845. He lived in Mereworth all his life, with censuses from 1881 through to 1911 showing him living in Butcher’s Lane; his occupation was consistently given as agricultural labourer, with the exception of 1901, when he was listed as “Fruit grower, own account”. By 1911 he was a widower, and living with his daughter Kate and son-in-law Jesse Pantrey (also a farm labourer) at Herne House Cottages, Butcher’s Lane. I have not as yet been able to identify his date of death, but this would appear to have occurred before the 1921 census.
Kate Pantrey née Bell, 1886-1944
Frances had two sisters. The elder, Annie Louisa, died at the age of 16, in 1893. Therefore Kate, born 25th January 1886, must have been the sister from whom “Mrs. Baker was hopeful of getting some more songs”. She was still living in the family home in Butcher’s Lane, Mereworth in 1901. In 1905 she married Jesse Robert Pantrey, and they set up home at Herne House Cottages – also in Butcher’s Lane. In 1911 they were living at 8 Kent Street, Mereworth in 1921, with a son and a daughter. By 1939 they had moved to 8 Council Cottage, Herne Pound. Kate died in the second quarter of 1944.
Songs
The Gleaner (Roud 13638)
Mary at the garden gate (Roud 418)
Oyster girl (Roud 875)
Sergeant in the wagon train (Roud 1354)
Although in the 1946 JEFDSS Francis Collinson ascribed ‘Bold fisherman’ to Mrs Baker, his notebooks record that it was actually sung by Mr Baker.
Harry Baker
Harry Baker, 1876-1958
‘Death and the lady’, the only song in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs that was collected in Kent, came from “Mr. Baker of Maidstone”. The song was included in the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society Vol 5 No 1 (1946), with the following note from the collector Francis Collinson:
Mr. Baker of Maidstone, who is in his seventies, has worked all his life as an engineer at Thomas Tillings’. He is a little uncertain in his singing, and I had to ask him to repeat the tune of “Death and the Lady” a number of times before I was certain of having it down correctly.
It only became apparent in the 1990s, when Collinson’s English song MSS became more readily accessible, that he had in fact collected songs from both Mr and Mrs Baker.
Harry Baker was born on 12th December 1876 and baptised 14th January 1877 at St Lawrence, Mereworth. His father William was a labourer, originally from East Malling, his mother was Eliza née Honey, from Mereworth. In 1881 the family was living at New Pound, Mereworth; Harry was the second youngest of the four children in the family home. By 1891 they had moved a couple of miles away, to Dukes Place, West Peckham. Harry, now 14, was described as “Houseboy domestic”. 10 years later they were to be found at Court Lodge, East Peckham; Harry’s occupation was given as Grocer’s assistant.
Shortly before Christmas 1903, on 19th December, Harry married Frances Harriett Bell, at St Lawrence, Mereworth. His occupation at the time was given as “Labourer”. By the time of the next census, in 1911, Harry was working as an Assurance agent for the Prudential and living at 108 Upper Fant Road, Maidstone, with Frances, and a 5 year old daughter, Hilda. They were at the same address in 1921, and the family now included a son, Harry, who had been born in 1912. Harry’s occupation was shown as “Hardener (Steel)”, but in the Employer column it states “Out Of Work”.
The 1939 Register shows that they had moved at some point literally just round the corner, to 5 Evelyn Road, Maidstone. As well as Frances, his daughter Hilda – now Hilda Stanley – was also living in the house. Harry was working as “Steel Hardener Heavy Worker”. His employer is not given, but presumably this was Thomas Tilling Ltd. – or, to be accurate, Tilling-Stevens, whose factory was less than a mile away in St Peter’s Street. That factory was designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, the foremost factory architects of the inter-war period. It is now a Grade II listed building, “one of few surviving examples of a group of English factories built using the Kahn Daylight System, an adaptable, efficient and influential system of factory building, developed in America for the construction of automotive factories”[1]. To quote further from the same Historic England record:
Tilling-Stevens Ltd was formed in 1915 after WA Stevens, inventor of the petrol-electric motor, met Richard Tilling of Thomas Tilling Ltd, London’s oldest omnibus operator (established 1847). The men recognised the potential for petrol-electric transmission in motorised buses, and the companies went into partnership together, manufacturing their own vehicles. New premises were added to Stevens’ Maidstone works (known as the Victoria Works) in 1912, and following the formation of Tilling-Stevens Limited the works were enlarged again with the construction of the Wallis Gilbert and Partners factory in 1917 to accommodate production for war requirements.
The company manufactured buses and other commercial vehicles; during the Second World War their work would have been turned over to the war effort, and they produced searchlight lorries for the Army.
Harry Baker died in the second quarter of 1958.
Songs
Bold Fisherman (Roud 291)
Death and the Lady (Roud 1031)
[1] Historic England, Official list entry for Former Tilling-Stevens Factory, St Peter’s Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0ST, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1408072
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)
Eyton Boulding
Eyton Boulden, 1892-1973
The following appeared in the Kentish Express, 16th February 1973:
Church organist and farmer dies
ONE of Bonnington’s best known farmers, Mr. Eyton Boulden, died on Tuesday in Ashford Hospital. He was 80.
Mr. Boulden was organist at Bonnington Church for more than 20 years. Before that he was organist at Aldington Church for 25 years.
He lived at Pinn Farm, Bonnington where he built an organ in a barn so that he could play whenever he wanted to.
Mr. Boulden was one of those rare people who had the same home all his life. He took over the farm from his father and never left Bonnington.
A month later, on 16th March 1973, the same newspaper printed this obituary:
E. M. BOULDEN
AN APPRECIATION
BY THE recent death of Mr. Eyton Miles Boulden at the age of 80, of Pinn Farm, Bonnington, the village has lost not only its Lord of the Manor but a revered figure.
He was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. David Boulden and came of a family which had farmed in the area since the ISOOs. His only surviving brother George, now 89. still lives at Ruffins Hill, Aldington. his brother Bertie farmed at Paddlesworth and his sister Olive was a school teacher and headmistress at Newchurch.
Partly retiring in 1958, it was not until five or six years ago that he rented his farm to his nephews, but he still cared for a few sheep.
Beside farming his other great love was music. He played the organ at Aldington church for 25 years and at Bonnington for 20 years.
Another great delight was the Newchurch Musical Society.
He wrote many stories of the Marsh and researched into its history and into the history of nearby villages and into the history of the smugglers.
He was in great demand as a speaker and broadcast on radio on country matters.
Last year his documentary on the Cinque Ports was put to music and received great local acclaim.
A great reader and a great plant grower, he also painted still life pictures of charm.
Beside being Lord of the Manor he was also a Lord of the Level of Romney. It was owing to him that the village school was purchased for a village hall.
Eyton Miles Boulden was born on 30th Aug 1892, and baptised at St Rumbold’s, Bonnington, on 16th October. He was the son of David, a farmer, and Olive Grace née Foord. As stated in the newspaper report, he lived his entire life at Pinn Farm, Bonnington. He was actually the youngest in the family, having two older brothers and a sister.
In 1911 he was listed in the census as “Farmer’s son working on farm”, in 1921 as “Shepherd & Stock Man”. He married Edith Annie Hogben at St Rumbold’s on 18th May 1923; they had no children.
Francis Collinson obtained a single song from him on 17th June 1942. This was ‘Where the lambs they skip with pleasure’, a version of ‘The Streams of lovely Nancy’, and headed “Chas Boulding’s song”. The neatly written out sheet music does not seem to be in Collinson’s handwriting. It may in fact have been written out by Eyton Boulden in preparation for the upcoming Kent-themed episode of the BBC’s Country Magazine. The fact that in this copy the song is titled ‘Where de Lambs Dey Skip Wid Pleasure’ is probably an attempt to reproduce the old Kentish dialect where, according to A dictionary of the Kentish dialect and provincialisms in use in the County of Kent (1888)
The voiced th [dh] is invariably pronounced d; so that, this, then, though become dat, dis, den, dough [dat, dis, den, doa]
From an article in the Maidstone Telegraph for 24th July 1942 we learn that this song featured in the Kent-themed episode 5 of Country Magazine broadcast at 13:15 on Sunday 28th June 1942, on the BBC Home Service:
Uncle Charlie’s Song
In response to requests from many readers we publish below “Uncle Charlie’s Song”—”At the Foot of Yonder Mountain,” which was so beautifully rendered in the recent Kent Country programme by the B.B.C.
The song, which is at least 150 years old, was sung by Frederick Woodhouse, and the music was arranged by Francis Collinson.
The “Uncle Charlie” in question was almost certainly Charles Boulding (1836-1926), a farmer at Bonnington, referred to in his obituary as “Bonnington’s grand old man”. He and Eyton were first cousins once removed, and also related by marriage – his mother’s sister Agnes Foord married Charles’ brother Jesse. David Boulding of the Boulding Study website tells me that the family certainly associate the song with him, referring to it as “Uncle Cholly’s song”. He also relates that almost everyone in Bonnington seemed to be related – either a Boulding/Boulden or a Foord. Apparently Eyton used to say that if you were walking in the dark and someone passed you, and you could not see who it was, “Goodnight Aunty” or “Goodnight Uncle” would almost certainly be a suitable greeting.
We know from a report in the Kent Messenger, 3rd July 1942, that Eyton Boulden was one of the contributors to the Country Magazine broadcast on 28th June. A few years later a report on a Bilsington Womens’ Institute meeting in the Kentish Express, 23rd February 1945, mentions that “A talk by Eyton Boulden on his experiences at the B.B.C. when broadcasting for “Country Magazine” was much appreciated”. In fact he was to make another appearance on the programme, in April 1949 – the Kentish Express for 22nd April listed “Mr. Eyton Boulden, Bonnington farmer” as one of the participants in the previous week’s programme, which covered Romney Marsh.
The Bouldings were clearly a musical family. After the war Eyton bought a church organ and re-built it in a barn on his farm. The Kentish Express 17th February 1950 reported on this:
FARMER ACHIEVES LIFE AMBITION
Builds Church Organ In Barn
WHEN Mr. Eyton Boulden, a Bonnington farmer, was a boy he longed for a keyboard instrument.
As a makeshift he experimented by placing the blades of ivory-handled knives between the leaves of a very thick book, thus making them resemble the keyboard of a piano. Any necessary sounds were provided by young Eyton.
Years passed and a small American organ appeared in his home; later, he watched his sister playing a pipe organ in the village church. Eyton Boulden made up his mind that he, too, would one day play a pipe organ.
PRACTICES UNDER DIFFICULTIES
He had his first organ lesson at the age of 17 in Westwell Church, leaving home after finishing his farm work at 6 p.m., walking a mile and a half to Aldington and then going on a borrowed bicycle another eleven miles. He did not return until nearly 11 p.m. and had to be up again by four o’clock the next morning. In the summer farming left little time for organ lessons.
But practice made perfect, and for nine years he was organist at Bonnington Church, transferring to Aldington Church, from which he resigned as organist last year after over a quarter of a century.
Some years ago he was able to acquire a small practice organ which he kept at his home, Pinn Farm – the former Manor House.
IN AUCTIONEERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT
He continued to read all he could about organ building, realising that if he ever possessed his own instrument it would have to be largely home-built.
Four years ago in an auctioneer’s announcement he saw advertised, ” Three church organs.”
To-day, in a barn adjoining the house at Bonnington, there stands a fine church organ built by Mr. Boulden and a friend. After purchasing the organ, Mr. Boulden spent three days dismantling it and took it to his home in lorry-loads. The components, stored in various places throughout the farm included nearly 800 pipes of all sizes.
The organ which has a beautiful tone, is 100 years old.
Eyton Boulden died on 13th February 1973. He left the organ to his nephew Clive, who moved it to a barn about 400 yards away from its previous home.
Songs
Where the lambs they skip with pleasure (Roud 18820)