From Charley Appleton
Sent to ‘Felix’ and printed in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 5th November 1932
Charley Appleton
Charles John Appleton, 1866-1949
The following account appeared in the ‘About the Neighbourhood’ column by ‘Felix’ in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 5th November 1932:
“We are all Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough.”
Upon my word, it is really wonderful what an accumulation of correspondence one receives on various matters in the course of a week or two. For example, I was recently a guest at a harvest home supper, and after sampling “a cut and come again” kind of menu, listened to a very few short speeches and many ancient and modern songs.
Of course the good old “Farmer’s Boy,” with its rollicking chorus came up as fresh as, ever, and so did “We are all jolly fellows that follow the plough.”
Our Mutual Friend, Mr. Appleton, of Pay Street.
The above named farmer who is affectionately known in the countryside as Charley Appleton was present at the harvest supper I refer to and he, knowing my partiality for the song, has taken the trouble to write It out and send it to me. I am not by any means hard-up for subjects, but I must make room for Charley’s effort as follows:
When four o’clock comes
Then up we do rise,
And into the stable
We merrily flies;
Then rubbing and scrubbing
Our horses, I’ll vow
We are all jolly fellows
That follow the plough.When five o’clock comes
To breakfast we meet;
With beef, pork and bread, boys,
We heartily eat.
With a piece in our pockets
I’ll swear and I’ll vow,
We are all jolly fellows
That follow the plough.When six o’clock comes
To work we do go –
A trip o’er the plain, boys,
So nimble, you know.
And when we get there, boys,
So noble and bold,
To see which of us
A straight furrow can hold.Our master came to us
And this he did say:
“What have you been doing, boys,
All this long day;
You have not ploughed an acre,
I’ll swear and I’ll vow:
You’re damned idle fellows,
That follow the plough.I turned myself round,
And made this reply:
“We have all ploughed our acre,
You tell a damn lie!
We have all ploughed an acre,
I’ll swear and I’ll vow:
And we are all jolly fellows
That follow the plough.”Our master turned round,
And laughed at the joke:
“It’s past two o’clock, boys,
It’s time to unyoke;
You take home your horses
And rub them down well,
And I’ll give you a jug,
Of the very best ale!”This ditty, with it [sic] glimpse of farm life, many years ago was a great favourite, but with the increasing number of steam ploughs and tractors, bids fair to become but a memory. It is not only the humorous side, but the rough and ready manner of the singing of them that renders the listening to such songs so enjoyable.
There doesn’t seem much in it,”
Yes, in these days one can imagine a townsman declaring as above but anyone who has witnessed those straight furrows across the ploughed land may well marvel at the skill often displayed by the men employed. In this old picture note the time 4 a.m. in the first verse. It meant going into the stable with a lantern to feed the horses and then to breakfast, “with beef, pork and bread boys.” I once witnessed a ploughing match and never since that day have I forgotten what a straight furrow means. We all remember how on one occasion the late Lord Rosebery left the then cabinet and declared he would “plough his lonely furrow alone.” And he did thereafter. I thank our good friend Charley of Pay Street fame for thinking of us benighted townsmen. And that reminds me that on one occasion I met Charley in Tontine Street. He said: “Why don’t you give us a look up at our cottage some day.” I replied, “Ah! that’s a pretty old cottage isn’t it.” Charley replied “It was built before Noah entered the Ark.” Months after I paid a visit to Pay Street and explored the cottage. Well, with its huge beams placed this way, that way, upright or on the slant I found it a most extraordinary place and I should wonder if the gentleman who designed the ark had not had something to do with Charley’s Cottage. Ah! it was a snug little place though, with a duck pond outside and old English flowers smothering the frontage. Tucked away amongst the trees I well liked the old house. Charley and his family lived there many years. But now they reside in a 20th century bungalow and I hope and we all hope that there is much happiness and a life before them.
Charley was born on 11th Mar 1866, and baptised on 6th May at St Anthony the Martyr, Alkham. The 1871 census has the Appleton family living at “Woolverton” (actually Wolverton), Alkham. The household consisted of Charley’s father, also Charles, an agricultural labourer; his mother Jane and her father, William Rolfe; two older siblings and two younger. By 1881 the still growing family had moved to Noah’s Ark Cottage, Alkham, and his father was working as a farm bailiff. Charley however, now 15, was employed by George Seath (“Farmer 217 acres 9 men 1 boy”) as “Farm servant (indoor)” at Lower Standen Farm, Hawkinge.
He was married on 23rd February 1889 at St Michael’s, Hawkinge, to Susannah Kember. The 1891 census shows them living at 30 Queen Street, Folkestone. They had a one year old daughter, and there were three lodgers in the house. Charley was working as a carter for the Corporation, but at some point in the next ten years he took up farming: in 1901 he was to be found at Hawkinge Hall, Hawkinge, his occupation “Farmer & dairyman”. He and Susannah now had three children; her widowed mother, also Susannah, was living with them.
Charley continued working as a dairy farmer, and from 1911 onwards the census records show him at Pay Street near Densole. This would have been where ‘Felix’ visited him in his cottage. By 1932, when Charley appeared in the ‘About the Neighbourhood’ newspaper column, he was living in a modern bungalow. Presumably this was The Cabin, Pay Street, which was given as his address in the 1939 Register. His occupation was given as “Farmer Retired”. He died on 1st January 1949, at the age of 82.
The noted singer George Spicer, although he hailed from the Ashford area, came to work at Coolinge Farm, a large dairy farm to the west of Folkestone, in the mid-1920s. In 1927 he married Dorothy Appleton, who was the daughter of Charley Appleton’s younger brother Sid, and George and Charley must therefore have known each other.