Cecil Sharp was born at Denmark Hill, London, his father was a slate merchant, much interested in archaeology, architecture, old furniture, and music. His mother, Jane Bloyd, was also a music-lover. Sharp was educated at Uppingham, but left at 15 and was privately coached for the University of Cambridge, where he rowed in the Clare College boat and graduated B.A. in 1882.
Sharp taught and composed music, he was interested in folk songs and music, and became interested in traditional English dance when he saw a group of Morris dancers at the village of Headington Quarry, just outside Oxford, at Christmas 1899. At this time, Morris dancing was almost extinct, and the interest generated by Sharp's notations kept the tradition alive.
In August 1903 London music teacher Cecil Sharp visted his friend Reverend Charles Marson at Hambridge and heard John England, the vicarage gardener sing 'The seeds of Love'. This started a remarkable adventure in Englsih music. In Somerset over the next 13 years or so, Sharp visted 122 locations and collected songs and tunes fom 358 named individuals, and gathered children's games from twenty schools. His collections from Exmoor and the Quantocks include:
On a visit in 1907 to MINEHEAD AND EXMOOR where he met:
William Sparks.
William Sparks (1854-1916) was born and spent all his life in Minehead, at 1 Middle Street, Higher Town. His father John was a blacksmith and William followed
in the trade, though
he is also said to
have rented
properties to holiday
makers. His song '
The Two Magicians'
was the only item Cecil Sharp collected from him, but it was
unique in Somerset
and rare elsewhere.
William became ill
1916 and died in Taunton Hospital.
Interestingly he does not
conform to the poor folk singer
stereotype, because he received a lengthy
obituary in the local newspaper, and one of his
sons was serving in the mounted Yeomanry of
the district.
Robert Parish:
Robert Parish (1822-1909) was among several
singers whom Cecil Sharp met in Exford. He
was born in the village and spent all his life
there, working as a gardener and living in Glebe
Cottage, next to the church. His son Robert was a
tailor, and that may be one of the reasons for his
smart appearance in Cecil's photograph. Among the
songs collected from him was 'The Beggarman',
descended from 'Back and
Side Go Bare' which was first
printed in 1557. Robert Parish
remained in good health to the
end of his life, and had taken
his usual walk, inspected his
vegetable garden, and eaten
his dinner when he collapsed
and died suddenly, while his
daughter was making him acup of tea.
Cecil Sharp folk song collector who visted Somerset and Exmoor
Betsy Holland:
Betsy Holland was born at Kentisbeare, Devon, in
1880. Her family were travellers, but did not travel
widely, circulating around mid and north Devon and
western Somerset, though her grandmother had been
more adventurous and came from Wisbech,
Cambridgeshire. It is not known when she married, but
by 1907 she was travelling with her husband and
several small children. Cecil Sharp met her near Simonsbath in August that
year, and was so
impressed that he called
her performance of the
Execution Song 'the finest
and most characteristic bit
of singing I had ever
heard,' He caught up with
the family a few days
later, on the road to Bideford, and then in
January 1908 tracked
down the grandmother,
Rebecca Holland, from Betsy Holland
whom Betsy said she learned the song.
On a visit in 1908 to The QUANTOCKS he met:
John Short. John Short (1838-1933) was born at Watchet, but became a deep-sea sailor, spending his time on windjammers because he did not consider that steamships produced 'real sailors'. After he retired from the sea he returned to Watchet, became the
Town Crier, and devotedly nursed his wife, who was crippled by arthritis. In 1914, he was visited by Cecil Sharp, who in three days collected from him over sixty sea shanties, many of which were not previously known. He was afterwards visited by another sea-shanty collector, Sir Richard Terry. He was a very remarkable natural musician witha deep powerful, yet flexible voice. and retained his singing ability into his nineties. It was only in the last few months of his life that illness confined him to his house. He shares with Cecil Sharp the distinction of having an obituary published in The Times.
Elizabeth Mogg:
Elizabeth Mogg was born in Over Stowey in 1830. She was living in Nether Stowey in 1881 and working as a dressmaker, and although unmarried had a son born at Holford. By 1891 she had
migrated to Doddington,
where she lived in the
household of her brother-in-
law Henry Chilcott, with
James Squires, another
singer. Cecil Sharp collected
from her in Holford and she
was buried from Hilton
Cottages, in that village, in March 1921.
A Victorian passion
Cecil Sharp was not the first or the only Somerset folk song collector. Other collectors busy in Somerset include, Kate Lee (1859-1904), a concert and opera singer who was the first Secretary of the Folk Song Society. She collected sea songs in Minehead in the 1890s. Henry Hammond (1866-1910) and George Gardiner (1852-1910 were
teachers and
educationalists.
They began collecting in
Bath Workhouse
and Hammond in
the Taunton area.
until they moved on to Hampshire and
Dorset respectively. Priscilla Wyatt
Edgell (1872-1934) lived at Cowley
Place, near Exeter, 1904 and besides work in Devon collected in Minehead and mid-Somerset, sending the results to Cecil Sharp. E.T.W. Wedmore was a Folk Song Society member who collected in Minehead. Cecil Sharp also had a number of collaborators, chiefly clergy and their families like D.M. Ross,
a vicar of Langport, Gerald Peppin at Marston Magna, and the Sorby family at Enmore, but perhaps the most remarkable was Alice Snow in Somerton. The daughter and grand-daughter of folk singers, she had risen from a poor background to become a musically-literate elementary school teacher who collected from her grandmother Betsy Pike and others. |
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