Hamstreet – Page 3 – Kent Trad: songs sung in Kent

Clarke Lonkhurst, 1863-1926

Clarke Lonkhurst was the landlord of The Duke’s Head in Hamstreet when Cecil Sharp visited the area in September 1908. One assumes that Sharp visited the pub as a likely source of information about singers in the locality, but he also collected a song – ‘Nobleman and the Thresherman’ – from the landlord. It is possible that Lonkhurst only knew this one song. Or that it was the only one which fell within Sharp’s rather narrow definition of ‘folk song’. Or perhaps, as landlord of a pub, he was simply too busy to spend much time with the song collector.

In the VWML archive catalogue, the singer’s name has been transcribed as ‘Clarke Lankhurst’, but that’s probably an error in interpreting Sharp’s handwriting, rather than an error by Sharp himself. Census records up to 1891 give his first name as ‘Clark’; thereafter, and on his burial record, it’s ‘Clarke’ with an ‘e’. His surname is usually rendered ‘Lonkhurst’, although his baptism record has him as ‘Clarke Longhurst’, and ‘Longhurst’ seems to be the more common spelling when one looks at his father’s and grandfather’s generations. (As an aside, I have Longhursts in my family tree, and it transpires that Clarke’s grandfather John Longhurst, 1786-1857, had a brother named Clark, who was the grandfather of Caroline Longhurst, my maternal Grandad’s mother). But we have evidence of how he spelled his own name, from an endorsement of Harvey’s Embrocation which was printed in The horse-owner’s handy note book or common diseases of horses and other animals, with their remedies (1908): “I have been using your Embrocation for Capped Elbew with great benefit. — Clarke Lonkhurst, Duke’s Head Hotel, Hamstreet, Ashford, Kent, July 29th, 1908.”

Clarke Lonkhurst was baptised at the church of St Mary the Virgin, Orlestone on 19^th July 1863. He was the youngest child of William, 1819-1876, a carrier, and Sophia, née Bolding, 1822-1899. Their residence was given as “Ham St Of This Parish”, and they continued to live in the Hamstreet / Warehorne area.

Clarke was working as an agricultural labourer by the time of the 1881 census; in 1891 his occupation was given as ‘Carrier’, while his father was now ‘Poulterer & farmer’. In 1894 he married Edith Knowler, whose father Frederick was landlord of the Queen’s Head at Kingsnorth from roughly 1865-1816. Encouraged perhaps by his wife’s family, Clarke also moved into the licensed victualling trade: first as landlord of the Blue Anchor Inn, at nearby Ruckinge (probably 1896-1900); then moving further afield to run the Woodman’s Hall pub at Horse Lees, Dunkirk, near Faversham (1901-1906) before returning to Hamstreet in 1906 or 1907. He remained landlord of The Duke’s Head until his death on 16^th August 1926. Actually, referring to him as the ‘landlord’ is perhaps not to do him justice: when his daughter Edith (“Queenie”) was married in Apr 1922, his occupation was given as ‘Hotel Proprietor’, and it’s worth noting that at the time of the 1911 census not only were his wife and daughter “Assisting in the business”, but they employed a domestic help and an ostler.

Newspaper reports of the period show that Clarke Lonkhurst was engaged in supporting local sports and other entertainments: he was on the organising committee for the 1914 Empire Day celebrations; he provided a brake (open horse-drawn carriage) for the Wesleyan Sunday School’s outing to Hythe and Dymchurch in August 1916; he donated 10 shillings to the Hamstreet Goal Running team in March 1923. Meanwhile the Kentish Express for 12^th January 1924 reported as follows:

PUNCH NIGHT – In fulfilment of a promise made by Mr. Clarke Lonkhurst that if the Hamstreet football team won at Warehorne on Saturday he would give a bowl of punch, a smoking concert was held at the Duke’s Head on Saturday. Mr. R. Catt presided. The bowl of punch was handed round, after which an impromptu concert was held, to the programme of which Messrs. H. Dorman, B. Cobb, H. Judge, W. Stickells, G. Benster, C. Lonkhurst [possibly Clarke’s nephew Charles], F. Richardson, W. Wicken, J. Bensted, J. Harden, sen., A. Smart, J. Johnson and the landlord, Mr. Clarke Lonkhurst, contributed.

There are earlier newspaper reports – from before he was a landlord – mentioning the participation of a Mr Lonkhurst in village events. This may well have been Clarke Lonkhurst, although it could also have been one of his older brothers, Charles or William, both of whom lived locally. For instance performing the songs “Daughters” and “In England” at a concert held in the Warehorne Board Schools in 1889¹; while in 1895, after a cricket match between Buffaloes of the Unity Lodge, Ashford and the Duke of Wellington Lodge, Hamstreet, “the teams partook of tea at the Duke’s Head, and a smoking concert followed, songs being rendered by Messrs. Clark, Lonkhurst, W. Roots, G.G. Taylor and Leslie Dudman, who officiated at the piano”.²

After his death, Clarke’s widow Edith continued to run the pub until 1938 or 1939; she died in 1942.

Songs

The Thresherman and the Squire (Roud 19)

Kentish Express, 26 January 1889 ↩︎
Kentish Express, 28 September 1895 ↩︎

Percy George Benstead, 1882-1970

During his September 1908 visit to the Hamstreet area, Cecil Sharp noted a single song – ‘The Barley Mow’ – from George Benstead. In Sharp’s manuscripts, a singer’s age is often inserted in brackets after his or her name. It’s difficult to decipher the single character inserted in brackets after George Benstead’s name. Maybe it’s a ‘Y’, meaning Young.

David Sutcliffe has identified the singer as Percy George Benstead, who would indeed have been only 26 in 1908 – much younger than the singers from whom Sharp typically noted songs. He was baptised at St Matthew, Warehorne, on 14^th May 1882, the son of William, a labourer, and Ellen (or Eleanor; her maiden name has not so far been identified). The 1891 census shows him just as George, living with his parents and seven siblings at Tinton Farm, Mount Field, Warehorne. 10 years later some of his siblings have left the parental home, but George is still there, living at Orman’s Cottage, Ham Street.

In 1907 he was married in Warehorne church to Kate Mills – “of this parish” at the time, but originally from Iden in Sussex. By 1911 they had three young children, and were living at 1 Mount Pleasant, Orlestone. The 1921 census has them living at Orchard Cottage, Ruckinge Road, Hamstreet, with the addition of a fourth child. At the time of the 1939 Register the address for Percy G. Benstead is given as 5 Fairfield Terrace, East Ashford – actually that’s what must have been a fairly recent housing development just off the Ruckinge Road in Hamstreet. His occupation, as in previous censuses, is Agricultural Labourer, but he’s also doing duty as a Special Constable. His wife, Kate, was shown as living at 1 Glanville Cottages, East Ashford – again that’s actually in Hamstreet.

When Kate died on 16^th November 1967, her residence was Quince Orchard, Hamstreet. Percy died the following year, in Epping, Essex.

Songs

The Barley Mow (Roud 944)